#he just pines a lot
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In Time You Get Your Rewards
tsukishima kei x reader words; 6507 synopsis; love takes patience. a lot of patience for tsukishima kei. at least they could be friends for now.
Comparing the times on wrists was everyone’s favorite way to pass the time. Seeing if one’s time matched someone else’s before the time ‘officially’ ran out. Sometimes they would be correct and other times it wouldn’t. Tsukishima was obsessed with the time on his wrist. He thought that he spent much more time on the numbers on his wrist more than anybody else.
Because he still had time.
It seemed like everybody else had already found their soulmate. Most met through school, sometimes from when they were toddlers. But for Tsukishima it was an extreme source of embarrassment that he still had time on his left wrist.
He felt like it wasn’t fair that he hadn’t met his yet. The bitterness for the time on his wrist grew immensely when he started his first year in high school. He still had a little over six months before he could meet his soulmate. Yamaguchi found his before him, Hinata found his before him, even Kageyama Tobio found his.
Tsukishima often lay awake at night staring at the time slowly passing by. Second by second and then minute by minute. She did the same, sitting cross legged on her own bed staring at the time. They went to different schools, and had no idea about the other, but all the same they hyperfocused on that timer imprinted on their skin in black markings.
When Tsukishima played volleyball, he wrapped his wrist in bandages because the time ticking by would distract him from the game at hand.
After the game against Johzenji, he packs up. As Karasuno is exiting the gym, celebrating their wins, Tsukishima feels his wrist itch, he looks down to it and shifts the bandages slightly. While doing so, he bumps into someone.
“Hey! Watch where you’re walking!” She pouts as she puts her hands on her hips. She’s wearing the Aoba Johsai uniform. And she looks pissed. Tsukishima puts his hands up. A pang goes through his heart, but he can’t quite place it. He deems it an unfortunate side effect of playing volleyball for a whole day.
“Maybe if you weren’t such a garden gnome, I would have seen you. But hey, blame it all on me.” Tsukishima rolls his eyes, intending to try and walk past her, but he bumps into her shoulder again. That in turn seems to anger her even more.
“A garden gnome?” She purses her lips together and rolls up her sleeves, “You wanna go? I may be shorter than you but I can still pack a solid punch.” Two of the Aoba Johsai volleyball members come rushing up and tug her back by her arms. She’s still trying to swing her arms around, biting at her schoolmates and telling them to let her go. She even throws her leg out to try and get Tsukishima.
He mocks her with a short laugh, just stepping backwards to avoid the kick she was trying to aim at his shins.
“We are so sorry.” The Aoba Johsai teammates both bow profusely, apologizing in unison. When Oikawa Tooru storms up to the scene all hell breaks loose. She starts to tattle on Tsukishima to Oikawa, and Oikawa pouts a little, patting her on the head. Tsukishima is entertained by her, but also desperately wants to call her a range of insults, brat or crybaby being the top two options floating around in his head.
He can’t quite place another feeling deep within his stomach when Oikawa tugs on her arm and brings her into his side. Tsukishima raises an eyebrow when Oikawa holds onto her shoulder and uses his other hand to squish her face.
“Now, now, Kindaichi and Yahaba, let's hear our dear manager’s point of view. I know for a fact that L/N-chan almost never starts a fight without a reason.” Oikawa tries to settle everything, but the younger members of his team keep snapping and complaining about Tsukishima. Tsukishima felt like he did nothing wrong and just wanted to find a moment to escape. She lurches out of Oikawa’s grasp, but he pulls her back to prevent Tsukishima from getting mauled.
Tsukishima’s wrist is burning now. He rubs it against his leg, trying to ignore the pain.
Her wrist feels irritated as well. When she looks down, she gasps. Covering her mouth with her other hand, staring at her timer.
Sugawara finally takes notice of the scene and pulls Tsukishima away before anything can start. Tsukishima can hear Oikawa ask her what’s wrong, as Tsukishima is being dragged away by Suga. Her voice feels distant as she starts to cry a little bit.
Tsukishima feels tired from the long day as he walks home with Yamaguchi. The tingles of his wrist still emanate and he scratches at the bandages intermittently.
“Say, Tsukki, I wonder, it isn’t very smart of you to cover your soulmate timer.” Yamaguchi fiddles with his backpack straps. A volleyball keychain dangles down from the strap, his soulmate had gotten him that. Tsukishima wondered if his soulmate would do cringey things like that.
“What are you talking about?”
“Haven’t you heard some of those urban stories, people hiding their soulmate timer end up meeting them but not realizing it. Then they have to wait longer until they pay attention and notice the timer.” Yamaguchi shrugs before walking off to his street. He turns around to yell a closing statement, cupping his mouth with his hands to amplify his voice, “Just something to think about!”
Leaving Tsukishima to stand at the crossroads.
When Tsukishima gets home, he gets a pair of scissors and cuts up the large bandages he used to cover his wrists, cutting the fabric to use for wrapping his fingers instead. Satisfied, he tucks the strips of fabric into his bag. While Tsukishima busied himself getting ready for bed, he never expected to see what he saw.
A ten-minute timer. He swallowed thickly, his hand went limp and his toothbrush fell onto the floor. He’d have to boil it in hot water to get the germs out, but he was too preoccupied with running down the stairs.
Going into the living room he stares at his mom with such an intensity that it frankly kind of scares her.
“Do you have people coming over?” The words spill out clumsily.
“I don’t think so, why?” She sets down the book she was reading to pay more attention to her son, who was obviously in some state of distress.
Tsukishima only holds his wrist up to show his mom. She gasps and then starts to smile. Loud and abrasive knocking is heard from the front door. Tsukishima looks at his mom, and she just waves him off to go answer the door. Tsukishima takes a deep breath before opening the door.
“Hey asshole.” She has her arms folded and she glares at him.
It was his ‘gnome’ from earlier in the day. She was still in an Aoba Johsai uniform, and while Tsukishima did prefer the black uniforms Karasuno had, he could see why some people liked the girls uniforms at Aoba Johsai better. The lilac skirt did have its positive attributes, mostly the length, or the lack thereof.
“Hey?” Tsukishima is taken aback. “You’re not exactly who I imagined to be my soulmate.”
“I didn’t exactly want an oblivious idiot who bumps into girls to be my soulmate either.”
Tsukishima smirks before pulling her in close. “So how exactly did you figure out where I live?” She pushes away from him using her hands against his chest. He wonders how close he can get, if it’ll trigger her fight response again, if he’ll get to see her threatening to punch him. He figures the closer he gets, the more likely he is to have annoying her down to a science.
Plus, they were soulmates, so she had to feel something for him regardless of if he was bothering her or not.
“You have a very nice manager.” She huffs.
Tsukishima thinks back to how Kiyoko was looking at him weird during the bus ride back to Karasuno. He doesn’t know if he’d call Kiyoko nice, especially since she forgot to tell Tsukishima that she’d run into his soulmate and then just didn’t bring it up at all.
“I’m Kei.” He holds out his hand. Better late than never to get to know her on a slightly more formal playing field.
She shakes his hand and introduces herself in return. The warmth that runs up from their hands into their arms is soothing, like getting to go to bed after a tedious day.
“Nice to finally meet you.” Tsukishima uses her hand to pull her into him. Wrapping his arms around her waist. She tries to pull away again, but gives up once Tsukishima reaches to poke her flat in between her eyebrows.
Tsukishima reasoned she was more bark than actual bite.
“Eh, I don’t know how nice an asshole can be.” She taps her chin with her index finger, still wiggling out of Tsukishima’s grasp.
“I can be nice when I want to.”
He kept trying to be nice to her, when he wanted to, the next year as well.
He responded decently quickly to her text messages at least. He even introduced her to his family. They would eat dinners together at each other’s houses, and she showed him how to bake all kinds of treats. He always pretended to not care for them, but when she let out a hum after eating a fresh cookie out of the oven, he just had to give in and eat one too.
Second year was easier to go through, minus the teasing from his friends about his soulmate. Tsukishima just couldn’t give them enough information for their liking.
“What’s she like?” A classmate had asked once.
Tsukishima leaned back in his seat for a second, thinking about how last week she had refused his offer to carry her bag when they went to get new pencils at the corner shop. He thought of the time she shoved her hand onto his face, covering his lips when he tried to lean in once during a movie at her house.
“She’s like me.”
The response from his seatmate was just a groan in dissatisfaction, “Well, that sure tells me a lot. She’s a sarcastic, son of a bitch weirdo with a music obsession who ends up with a dent in the top of their head from wearing those thick headphones.”
Tsukishima could handle those kinds of comments about himself, but when they were also applied to her, he felt like there was something off kilter in the universe. “She doesn’t use headphones, she prefers earbuds.”
“She prefers earbuds.” The seatmate lifted up his pointer finger and pretended to push up imitation glasses on his nose, mimicking Tsukishima. A few of the other classmates chuckled a little in response.
He just rolled his eyes. Then he pulled out his flip phone, sending her a quick message.
To- (soulmate 😐): i just defended your honor i should be rewarded
From- (soulmate 😐): no
To- (soulmate 😐): i wonder what i’ll be getting as my gift
From- (soulmate 😐): what do you want, i’m in class
To- (soulmate 😐): i want a reward for keeping your name clear from these hooligans i go to school with
From- (soulmate 😐): …
To- (soulmate 😐): wow
To- (soulmate 😐): you must really care about me
From- (soulmate 😐): sure do.
Tsukishima shoved his phone back into his pocket. Tapping his fingers along to the beat of the song playing in his headphones, the wood of his desk numbing his fingers a little bit from the resistance.
They were slowly becoming- something. He couldn’t sense if they were friends, more than friends, less than friends, or even in the realm of being in a relationship.
But she did give him encouraging words from time to time, such as his favorite thing she’s ever told him right before the Inter-High tournament began.
He had almost swooned dramatically when she had come up to him and told him, “I hope you don’t trip on your shoe laces and that you can make one half decent block,” before going back to her own team to hand out water bottles.
After the last day of the tournament, and Karasuno not making it to nationals, but rather Date Tech making it, she had found him sitting on a bench all alone near the laundry room of the gym.
She didn’t say anything. She just sat down next to him, bumping her knee into his.
“I don’t want to joke around right now. We almost had it in that last set.” Tsukishima felt bad for being so prickly with her, but he had completely fumbled some of his blocks and he felt like an embarrassment.
“I’m not making any jokes.”
What she did next did come as a surprise to him, she pulled his hand from how it was clasped with his other one, resting over his legs in front of him. She intertwined their fingers and pressed the back of his hand to her lips.
She mumbles something that he can’t quite distinguish, but then she pressed a kiss to each one of his knuckles. When she finished what seemed like a small ritualistic behavior, she rested their hands on her thigh.
Tsukishima held down a smirk that was attempting to crawl over his face. In an almost craving way, he broke his hand free, and instead gripped the expanse of her bare thigh, going as far as pushing his pinkie and ring finger under her skirt a little.
She makes eye contact with him and gives him a flat look.
“What?” He feigns ignorance so well he might as well be considered an imbecile of the highest regard.
“Yeah, right. I’ll let it slide because you’re being whiney and ornery.”
His smirk really did have a mind of its own. He wondered what else she’d let slide just because he was in a sour mood.
He pushed his hand up just a little more, but she gripped his wrist bringing his hand down to her knee instead of her thigh.
“Okay, that’s enough kindness and affection for one day.” She stood up, ruffling Tsukishima’s hair since she could now reach it while he was sitting down. “We can hang out at mine if you want later. You did great today Kei. Sometimes we just lose. That’s how life is. We lose and we win.”
He grabs her hand as it’s still in his hair.
The air is stagnant.
He looks up to her, brown eyes slightly narrowed but containing more in them than she could distinguish. She felt like he was studying her for an exam of sorts. She returned his glare with ease, looking right into his eyes.
“We’re so much alike it hurts sometimes.” He lets the words out softly, if she hadn’t been paying careful attention to him then the squeaks in the gym would’ve overpowered his voice.
“Well, that’s why we’re soulmates. Built in best buddies.”
She left him alone, to consider her words. Buddies?
What the hell did she mean by buddies?
At her house, Tsukishima felt comfortable. The moment he crossed the threshold, the smell of fresh linen, honey lemon tea and her shampoo overpowered any sort of smell he had carried with him throughout the day. He had gone home and changed into casual clothes, then he made his way to her house. The walk to her house was long enough to let him ponder, keeping his hands warm in the pockets of his zip up hoodie.
He slid the hood of his jacket down when her mom opened the door and greeted him, and he absorbed the feeling of being at her house. He had decided to not text her, assuming that she would know that he wanted to hang out.
“She’s in her room, you should be able to just go in. Does your mom know you’re here?” Her mom took Tsukishima’s jacket from him and hung it up on the coat rack.
“Yes she does. Do you need me to leave at a specific time?” Tsukishima remembered his manners and bowed in gratitude to the older woman.
“Well, if it was up to me, I’d be fine with you sleeping over instead. She’s the one you have to get through to.” When she laughed to herself a little, Tsukishima nodded, deciding to make his way down the stairs to the basement bedroom. He ignored the use of the word ‘instead’.
He never should ignore ‘instead’ because ‘instead’ hurts a lot more than he could realize.
In the moments following him opening her bedroom door, he got a shirt thrown at him and was witnessing something that made his jaw clench tighter than ever before.
“Kei, what-” She pushed the curly brown haired boy off her bed, he was shirtless, and the shirt Tsukishima was holding in his hands likely belong to Mr. Wide-Eyed-Frozen-in-Place.
“What- what-” He fake stuttered, replicating her reactive words, then he spat out, “What the hell more like it.”
The curly haired brunette looked between Tsukishima and her rapidly. He tried to cut the tension with a laugh. “I’m Ito, nice to meet you.”
“Oh, shut up you Dr. Suess-wanna be.” Tsukishima threw the shirt back at him. He scrambled to shrug it over his shoulders, Tsukishima then noticed that his shoulders were much broader than Tsukishima’s own. A self-consciousness that he didn’t know was possible crept up, crawling and leaching itself on each of the prongs on his spine. He shuddered.
“Well, I’m just gonna,” Ito went to hug her goodbye but a scoff from Tsukishima deterred the action.
Tsukishima folded his arms from where he was standing. She bit down on her bottom lip, lips that Tsukishima noticed were particularly swollen and plump.
“This is just great.” Tsukishima sat down next to her on the bed, she curled her feet up, so she could wrap her arms around her legs and rest her head on her knees. “I suppose that you’re one of those people who view the whole soulmate thing as arbitrary.”
“I suppose you’re one of those people who view soulmates as sacred then.” Tsukishima can tell she’s joking around a little. If there was anything to genuinely joke about then he would’ve been the one making the joke.
He shoved her legs a little, so she slipped on the bed and broke out of her fake shell of limbs.
“Ito?” Tsukishima posed.
She filled in the gaps, “Ito Yuuta, second year at Aoba Johsai, swim team captain, biggest dork I’ve ever met.” She did like him though, he was nice, he just didn’t have the same charming wit that Tsukishima had. She felt a little bit like a complete jerk now realizing that Tsukishima had seen her kissing someone who wasn’t him.
“So you’ll let just any loser kiss you then?”
“Just preparing myself for you, cutie pie.” She reaches out and pinches his cheek.
Tsukishima fake vomited, sticking a finger almost into his mouth.
They rubbed off the strangeness, and she mentally took a note to lose Ito Yuuta’s number.
She pursed her lips, “I’m not quite ready to be with you the way I think you want to be with me.”
His mouth goes dry, and he emptily chews, trying to break apart the stale taste in his mouth. He never realized just how serious it all could be. Soulmates at seventeen. The way that he perceives it is that, you’re supposed to be the one who knows you best, and intrinsically, your soulmate was supposed to be that. How are you supposed to be soulmates with someone if you didn’t even know them well enough to order their food at the corner store?
He figures this is the moment he makes a shift. He’d just have to work harder to get to know her. And he’d have to stake a claim. Maybe claim was the wrong word, but clarifying to her that they were something rather than nothing to each other was the highest priority.
“I got myself a stupid soulmate.” He chimed.
Instead of a funny retort from her, she just smiled. He laid back onto her bed, and she copied the motion. He had his hands on his stomach, tapping his abdomen. She rolled onto her side, brushing against his fringe a little.
“Just, uh, don’t go around kissing other dudes.” Tsukishima closed his eyes and brought a hand up to his face. “I sound totally batshit crazy. Do whatever you want, I just don’t want to witness whatever that was ever again.”
She laughed, and it was like they were in another world. They both agreed to just be friends, for now.
He wondered if they’d ever become more than this in-between. Was there an expiration on becoming something with his soulmate? Some people never did much with theirs, choosing to remain as friends. Some people got married as soon as possible. Others bided their time and waited until they were ready to handle the responsibility of someone’s heart.
She agreed to not kiss anyone else for the time being.
They watched Clueless on her TV, and he kept complaining that it was weird that a fifteen year old was in love with a college kid, or that the college kid actually reciprocated. Not to mention the whole step-sibling thing.
“I don’t know, college kids have a sort of je ne sais quoi. Think of Akiteru for example, he’s just like Paul Rudd in this movie- entirely delicious.”
“I might have to actually drown myself in the tears of my ancestors, they'd be ashamed of you, betraying me for my brother.”
“I’d never do such a thing, but if Akiteru wanted a taste test, who am I to deny-”
Tsukishima sat up and covered her mouth with his hand. He slowly shook his head from side to side. It was damning how riled up he could get with just one statement from her. Though, he supposes they match that way, knowing exactly which chord to strike in order to make the other entirely irate.
In third year, it was much more common for them to spend time together, still with an ambiance of annoyance but underneath all the banter, all the forced charm, all the pseudointellectual grown-up talk, they were just them.
There he was, jumping up for another block, shifting his feet from where he had been sitting and lunging upwards, fingers outstretched just barely going over the net. He landed, having successfully blocked Hinata’s spike. In response, Hinata groaned and pulled on his hair, Kageyama shrugged.
Yamaguchi clapped his hands, telling the juniors on the team why Tsukishima’s block was successful and how to replicate his technique.
“Or you know, just grow taller and not have to work on technique.” He laughed in response to Yamaguchi’s glare.
Tsukishima had grabbed a towel from Yachi and was drying the sweat from his hair. His shoulders were sore from the work out he and Kageyama had done the night before. He was aiming to see how much width he could put onto his shoulders before the school year was over. Kageyama was already three centimeters broader than him despite them starting at around the same shoulder width.
Once the gym had been cleaned, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were changing in the locker room. Yamaguchi fidgets with his ponytail hair tie.
“You need to get a haircut, your whole shaggy thing is a major deterrent for any sort of friendship we have going on.”
“Maybe if your hair was longer, she’d actually come to watch us practice. And you could finally put all those lateral raises and shoulder presses to good use. You know, for your aesthetic purposes in trying to get hotter for her.” Yamaguchi finished taking his shirt off and ran hands through his hair, turning around and trying to wave the strands in Tsukishima’s face.
Tsukishima grabbed the top of Yamaguchi’s head and shoved him away. “She can’t come watch us play because she’s busy with her team, my little manager extraordinaire.” He faked jazz hands and put his regular shirt back on, stuffing the volleyball uniform into his black duffel bag.
She had given him a keychain, of herself. Well, it was her photo in a holder that was decorated with dinosaurs and strawberries, there were shaker emblems in the hollow space of the rectangular cube, of stars and volleyballs. It was a visual atrocity, none of it working together cohesively, but he loved the keychain all the same.
It dangled from his duffel bag when he slung it over his shoulder, and Yamaguchi chuckled a little, rushing to put his shirt on so he could walk out of the gym with Tsukishima.
“Wait up!”
It was a shade of light orange fading into purple outside, and Kageyama, Hinata, Yamaguchi, and Tsukishima were making their way down the street to the crossroads where they went their separate paths. She usually met up with Tsukishima there as well, despite his reluctance for her to walk around late at night.
Seeing her with a wad of tissue up her nose and a pack of ice on the side of her face was ultimately the worst way to put an end to the night. The other boys quickly caught on and bid their farewells, sensing an air of undisclosed intimacy.
Tsukishima sucked in a deep breath, setting his duffle bag down on the ground next to her and using his hand to hold the ice pack for her. He used his other hand to lift her chin up so he could see if there was still blood coming out from her nose.
He didn’t even have to say anything for her to start explaining, she kept trying to hold the ice pack herself, but he kept anxiously swatting her hand away so he could hold the pack himself.
“It was a stray ball gone entirely haywire. The first years we have are on crack cocaine I swear.” She winced a little when he applied some pressure from the ice pack to her temple. “Ouch, stop, let me do it instead.”
He let out a clicking sound, being gentler with the ice pack.
“It’s nice that you care, but please I need to get home.”
“Just a little bit longer.” Tsukishima pulled her down to the street curb, so they could sit down. “The best they could do for you was an ice pack and a wad of paper to stick up your nostril?”
“I know, I’m out here working my ass off for the volleyball hooligans and I don’t even get princess treatment when they pop me in the face with their balls.” She sets the ice pack next to her foot, kicking at the plastic a little.
He laughed, his shoulders shaking a little.
She pulled out the tissue, tucking the bloody end into the main body of the tissue and shoving it into her pocket. She covered her nose, knowing there was some dried blood on her upper lip, she turned her head around so he couldn’t see her.
“Hey, c’mon, I know what blood looks like,” He shakes her knee a little, teasing her. “I think I have a wipe in my bag,” Tsukishima pulled the bag into his lap, searching around. He hands her the disposable wipe and she rubs it under her nose.
“How do I look?” She turns back to him, giving him a smile.
“You look great. You always look great.”
She bumps into his shoulder with her own and he winces slightly.
She frowns a little, “You got hurt at practice?”
“Ah, let’s go with that.”
She figures that since he gave her something to clean her face off, she should give him something back.
“Want me to rub your shoulders a little?” She brought a hand to the shoulder closest to her, and started to rub her thumb in a circular motion on the back blade.
He swallows, his fingers twitching from a want to hold her hand that was on his back. She shifts so she’s behind him, sitting on her calves as her knees press against his back a little. Her thumbs are on his shoulder blades and her fingers wrap around the bulk of his shoulder to reach his collarbones. Her ministrations reduce the aching in his muscles but only intensify the buzz he gets when he’s around her.
“If you keep doing this I might fall in love with you.” It’s wistless but carries an appetite that itches to be satiated.
The sun had finally set, streaking the sky with strands of reds and yellows at the cusp of the edge of the earth that was visible to them. The sky directly overhead was deeply purple and dark navy blue. Some white splatters of stars dotted the universe.
“Who’s to say you aren’t already in love with me?” She wraps her arms around his neck, resting her chin on the top of his head.
He moves his head, and hers falls down a little, no longer able to use his head as a support for her chin, he presses a quick kiss to her jaw.
“Now that’s a great question from you, let’s keep those kinds of inquiries coming.”
She liked to pester him with questions well into college, especially as they sat side by side in their anthropology class.
“So how do I tell the difference between the 1400s and 1300s? Professor keeps saying we can clearly see the difference between a vase from the 1350s and a vase from the 1410s but honestly they both look like piles of crust to me.” She was tugging on his hand under the desk they were sitting at. He just kept taking his notes, transcribing what the T.A was talking about for an upcoming exam.
“Okay, Kei. I see how it is. Leaving your lovely girlfriend to struggle in the same class you begged her to take with you.”
He shushes her a little, grabbing her hand with his free one. “I’ll help you after class.”
He got a glance of the zeroes in black on his wrist.
He looks at her wrist, matching zeroes. He was glad that he bumped into her that day.
They were soulmates. It was plain to see, plain to feel, plain to understand.
The T.A closes a notebook and dismisses the class, he announces he’s going to his office to grab something and then he’ll be back to answer some questions.
Tsukishima sets his pen down and grabs her face with both hands, she raises an eyebrow at him and tries to lean back.
“This doesn’t feel very academic in nature, this is definitely not an answer to my question, so what is this?” She gesticulates her hands between the two of them.
“This is me kissing you.”
He rushed to close the distance between them. Their noses bumped into each other before he tilted his head a little bit. When he slid his tongue into her mouth, she whimpered a little and nudged his chest. But he stayed connected to her. Tsukishima could hear the classmates that hadn’t left yet making some barraging comments, he didn’t care.
He tried to pull her into him, lifting her slightly by the back of her knee and trying to bring it around his body with zeal. He licked her bottom lip before nipping at it. She went with it, resting a hand on his chest and leaning into the kiss slightly.
Tsukishima pushed the rolling desk away slightly, and used a hand to bring her chair closer to his. When she placed her other hand behind his neck and toyed with the strands of hair along the back of his head he kissed her with more pressure. He kept trying to coax her into his lap as he kept tugging on the back of her knee.
The T.A got back and dropped a stack of papers, seeing as Tsukishima had just given up on coaxing her and had entirely just pulled her into his lap of his own volition. She was so embarrassed when the teacher’s assistant had, in a voice barely below a scream, chastised them and said they’d need to write a paper on proper classroom conduct.
Tsukishima had zoomed through his essay, spending the rest of the hour in the office drawing shapes on her back with his fingers, lackadaisical with his motions. She had almost, just barely, snapped at him when he pressed a kiss to her shoulder.
“I’m sorry.” He drew a heart on her back in a wide sweep motion, before changing his tactic and using just his finger tips to scratch her back lightly.
“You are not sorry.” She said with teeth clenched, pausing writing her essay.
“Yeah. I’m not. I just really wanted to kiss you.” To Tsukishima’s words, she just clicked her tongue at him.
“There’s nothing hot about anthropology so I don’t know what gave you the animalistic urge to kiss me like that.”
He pouted a little, then picked up the pen from her paper and twirled it between his fingers.
“While anthropology may not be hot, you definitely are.”
She groaned in response, trying to take her pen back. He just shook his head no and gave a traditional Tsukishima ‘tsk, tsk, tsk’. He took the paper from her as well, writing the rest of the outlined points rapidly so they could get out of the office and into their apartment.
“Remember when you kissed me in the middle of class, and then the T.A got so mad at us. I want more memories like that, and I suppose I’ll get them because now we’re legally stuck together.” Her hands were shaking a little, reading the paper in front of everyone.
Tsukishima was easily able to ignore everyone else, focusing on the way she had done her hair. He had heard the vows beforehand. She didn’t trust anyone else but him to be a proofreader for her little speech. She also wanted him to get out all the cringes so he didn’t tease her during the wedding because then her dad would’ve gotten mad at him.
They had gone over their vows together the night before, curled up on their couch, joking and laughing at what the other had written.
“You cannot say that you can’t wait to replicate our college graduation night over again, that’s foul.”
“We have a better car now.” He shrugged. She hit him with her stack of drafts repeatedly.
“And you need to add in how much you love me.”
“I’m marrying you, isn’t that clear enough for a statement of love?” Tsukishima groaned and threw his head back onto the couch.
“Yeah, that’s not gonna cut it, mister. I need you on your hands and knees in gratitude. I need you wallowing in desperation for me. I need you to be obsessed.”
Tsukishima could do that. He quickly wrapped an arm around her waist, tugging her over his lap so she was straddling his thighs. He let his hands rest on the small of her back, before sliding around to rub her thighs languorously. Tsukishima sighed in contentment when she slumped over him a little, tucking her head into the nook of his neck.
“There’s a lot I’m sorry for,” Tsukishima blinked a few times, she hadn’t included a bit like this when he read her draft. “And there’s a lot I wish that I could go back and redo. I’m sorry for you because I know that I’m stubborn, and I’m sorry that I made you wait until college so we could date, despite knowing we were soulmates in high school. You did a great job of sticking it out. And you stuck it out for me, the girl who tried to fight you in the middle of a gymnasium after you accidentally bumped into her.”
Tsukishima didn’t expect to get choked up. When he looked over to his family, Akiteru was sobbing uncontrollably as their mom rubbed Akiteru’s back. Tsukishima glanced over to his friends, and Yamaguchi was forcing a smile despite looking completely overwhelmed with tenderness.
“I’m gonna tease you now so don’t bite my head off when this reception is over okay? I stuck it out too for you, especially when you kept trying to kiss me all throughout high school, or when you would slide your hand over my thigh.”
Tsukishima blushed and he used his hands to cover his face with an incredulous noise erupting from his throat. He hoped that her parents would have selective hearing for that specific part of her vows.
“But, you chipped away at me. Slowly. With a sort of dedication that would impress even the builders of the Pyramids. I wish that everyone got to see that side of you, but I’m glad that I got to experience it first hand. The side of Tsukishima Kei where he knows what he wants and pursues any path to achieve it. My Kei, who when faced with obstacles, decides that the obstacles aren’t a problem for him and that he can keep going.”
He wipes away the tears prickling away at his eyes.
“So, here’s to the future. Here’s to our lives pressing onward. I say that we win some and that we lose some, and you say back to me that you deserve a reward for doing either. Winning or losing, you want a reward for the experience. From this experience, getting to know me, and then dating me, and then being engaged to me, I hope that now that we’re moving onward that I’m enough of a reward.”
He knows he isn’t supposed to interrupt her, but he does, “You’re the only reward I need.”
She turns the paper around. She’s laughing a little, ignoring the tears on her face. Tsukishima looks at where her finger is pointing to. And right below her line of hoping she’s enough of a reward, clear as day is a prediction she had written.
Cue Kei saying something cringey in response, 10 bucks it’s “You’re the only reward I need.”
Tsukishima clicks his tongue and rolls his eyes.
But it was true.
She was all he needed.
He remembers reading something about soulmates during high school. Or maybe it was about relationships in general, but that’s not the point. The article had said something along the lines of, when you date someone you’re competing with that person.
You compete to be worth something to that someone, to be worth the time they would be spending on themself instead.
Tsukishima thought that was all a load of bullshit.
Love isn’t something you compete for, or something you build up virtuous worth for. Love is natural and doesn’t require anything but patience and effort. He didn’t need to compete to be worth anything to her, he just had to be himself.
#haikyuu#haikyuu x reader#hq#hq x reader#tsukishima kei x reader#tsukishima x reader#tsukishima kei#tsukishima#soulmate au#lilly's red string of fate#fluff#haikyuu fluff#slow burn?#slow burn mostly#he just pines a lot#playful banter out the wazoo#playful banter
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interesting how fords been surrounded by triangles his entire life. looks like ford and bill were always doomed to meet each other
ford did seem to think that he is destined to be in gravity falls, destined to be part of greater things, and bill also thought he was "destined for so much more"
to quote on alex, "that's ford's great flaw, is arrogance. is he believes that there's special people, and everyone else. that human attachments are actually weaknesses. and the song and dance that he’s giving dipper right now, is the song and dance that he gave mcgucket, back when they were younger… ‘you and me are different, we’re better than everyone else. we have a path that no one else can understand, and only us can do this.’"
i think at some point bill really thought ford was the one that UNDERSTOOD him (well, ford did think "why did rudolph not simply kill the other reindeer? he shouldve burned his workshop to the ground"). some of his henchmaniacs didnt seem to actually like bill at all
quick edit for something ive found:
this is from "dreamscaperers", and apparently ford had been dreaming about the cipher wheel for weeks before he even found the cave. enough times that he was even able to perfectly draw the wheel on the journal. bill didnt even know about ford yet.
#gravity falls#the book of bill#billford#stanford pines#bill cipher#funny how one of the reasons bill gets obsessed with ford is due to a lot of their similarities#yet hates stan because of their similarities#bill didnt count on fords moral code being different from his#he probably thought 'if i liberated my dimension and left my family behind then why wouldnt ford?#both of our families just ended up dragging us down'#he still misses them and calls himself a monster for destroying his dimension but yk#hell keep lying to himself until he believes it#ford pines
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Fiddauthor divorce arc speedrun <3
After 30 years of searching for his lost brother through demonic rituals and summonings, Ford has become a bit of a notorious demon collector over the years. He's made a LOT of deals with MANY different demons over the years; from minor and harmless little entities to big and powerful overlords. Most of the time, these deals aren't really a one-way situation, so a lot of demons have a strong grip on him just as much as he does on them. It often ends up being a mutual sort of destruction, as in: "I know I'm but a mere mortal trifling with things I couldn't begin to fathom, and I know you will destroy me eventually; but I don't care as long as I get to destroy you too." He just needs to live long enough to find his brother.
The red hands are essentially pieces of himself (his soul, you could say??) that he wields as his method of restraint to the demons he has "tamed" so far. They act as a leash to contain each demons' powers, and he can loosen or tighten his hold on them as much as he wants. The number of hands required to contain a demon really depends on their individual strengths, but 3-4 hands are already very energy consuming.
YES, I gave all of his demons stupid names. SUE ME.
#been listening to a lot of lady gaga these days so this happened#my art#gravity falls#gravity falls au#Ford and Fiddleford beat each other's ass over 30 year feud- 40k caught on camera#Fiddleford goes to jail for being a cult leader- disruption of peace and kidnapping after the fight <3 he's in his flop era#they both suck- Im sorry- I can't make morally pure characters they need to be GREY and SUCK JUST A LITTLE BIT#it's part of the fun!!#i have so much to say about this AU but I cant verbalise all of it so y'all have to be patient with me alr#ford pines#grunkle ford#stanford pines#fiddleford hadron mcgucket#fiddleford mcgucket#fiddauthor#HWINEBHABWNAJCAHOWEEATOWEUB AU#tw scopophobia
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Holiday Classics
Been thinking about Ford watching the 70s Animated Lord of the Rings Movies... (companion comic to this post!)
#the other two VHS tapes Fidd's is holding are Rankin-Bass' The Hobbit (1977) and Return of the King (1980)! The 70s animated pseudo-trilogy!#A lot of people pointed out on my other lotr 'crossover' post that Ford would have seen the 70s movies!#And i wont lie i entirely forgot they existed. But now i remember i have so many feelings on it okay. Ford my silly LOTR nerd#I dont think he would have seen Bashkis in theaters. far as I can tell it was a VERY limited (likely mostly CA) run in the middle of winter#but Rankin-Bass'? Aired on NBC & ABC. He absolutely woulda watched them or rented a VHS later. Which is why he's most excited by Bashki's#He's just such a nerd. I need him to nerd out. But also lowkey angst on how his single focus on bill/the portal lead#him to neglecting even the small things in life. Like knowing a VHS release of an adaptation of his favourite book series had come out#GF fanart#Gravity Falls#gravity falls comic#Fan art#fanart#fiddleford mcgucket#fiddleford hadron mcgucket#young fiddleford mcgucket#*holds two random VHS tapes in one hand to check Fidd's pose in the 2nd panel makes sense* Well thats mathamatically feasible!#young stanford pines#stanford pines#ford pines#Book of Bill#comic#artists on tumblr#my art#Grunkle ford#fiddauthor#cause Fidds is not talking about the movie there. Well okay he's talking about the portal but He COULD BE TALKING ABOUT- *I am dragged off*
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Random idea I got this morning thinking about how small little things (mostly about missing important moments of the past) make the boys emotional and sorrowful.
#gravity falls#stanley pines#stanford pines#stan twins#sea grunks#comic#sketches#my art#stan pines#ford pines#stan hugs#no id#long post#it’s up for interpretation#my thoughts behind this are stan talking about the summer with the kids#and then ford getting hit with a ‘wow I missed out on so much’#and getting emotional#but it’ll be ok because he’ll have plenty of things to look forward to#plus I know he misses the kids a lot just like stan does :(#queue
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Hi so I might’ve made a painting of my Inquisitor while trying to mimic Solas’s style so I can pretend he made it
#I’ve titled it Decade of Pining#I’m handling the wait for veilguard well as you can see#I didn’t sleep last night and just worked on this woops#at least I have the day off today so it’s no biggie#but I am perhaps a bit delirious#i think this is good for my first try#but i need to work on making things more simplified if i wanna do this again#especially in the face he doesn’t do faces tbh#I struggle a lot with not over complicating things#always have#i just wanna add more#i know no restraint#solas#dragon age#shivana lavellan#my art#dragon age fanart#solavellan#da4#dragon age veilguard#da:tv
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Monster Falls girlies how we feeling about this one.
Happy Fiddleford Friday Y'all
(Bonus art under cut)
And one for the fiddauthor peeps
#this took 12 HOURS#i think it turned out well#his pants were the hardest to design tbh bc of the way his mechanics work 😅😅#i used a lot of old tech for reference but couldnt fit all the cool bits i wanted in to o just ran with the laptop chest#i hope you guys can understand my explinations of how he functions with the doodles too 😅#this also might be for a personal au instead i havent decided yet#fiddleford mcgucket#fiddleford hadron mcgucket#gravity falls fiddleford#old man mcgucket#monster falls#monster falls au#gravity falls au#gravity falls#the book of bill#tbob#gravity falls fanart#gravity falls fandom#fiddleford friday#FIDDLEFORD FRIDAY!!!!#happy fiddleford friday#fan art#illustration#digital fanart#fiddauthor#ford pines#monster falls fiddleford#monster falls ford#art :p#Bill Synther Lives
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stan dreaming about the portal incident constantly...
#the implication that he tends to nap on the couch a bunch because he doesnt get a lot of sleep in general#but that being right where the axolotl appears....#stan reliving the worst moment of his life while a god is just vibing next to him 😭😭😭#stan pines#stanley pines#gravity falls
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omg i need to start posting my doodles here ive been drawing a lot… i luv these two Ughghhhghhggh(lays down and doesnt get back up
#sorry for yaoiposting all the time There will be more#i read all of j3 on friday and nearly cried. it killed me#the better world pages????? Dude#THE ENDING???? dude#im SICK!!!!!!!!#i need to draw fidds a lot more i dont feel 100% with how i draw him just yet >:[#he is fun to draw though hehe#fiddleford mcgucket#stanford pines#fiddauthor#gravity falls#felix art
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they're watching magical mystery cure. me too girl, me too
#stanford pines#ford pines#great uncle ford#grunkle ford#mabel pines#mabel#ford#gravity falls#gf fanart#fanart#digital#divine draws#mabel put ford on mlp#he LOVES twilight sm#mabel is a pinkie pie girl with rarity as a close second#stan loves discord#he also wont say it but he loves luna (luna and celestia)#(him and ford are luna and celestia)#dipper loves twilight ofc but also loves fluttershy and rainbow dash#cause she's just so cool#he relates to spike a lot too lol
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idk what we’re all calling the concept of fiddlestan working together but i’m calling my version the portal partners AU 🙏🏼
#gave it a name bc i was kinda tired of calling it the Fidds and Stan Work Together on the Portal AU#it’s called portal partners bc they’re partners in fixing the portal partners in running the shack AND partners in life#ik i’m not the only one to think of an au where they start working together after ford goes missing#but i don’t see a lot of people really showing the older version of them ? i don’t think ?#like i’ve seen canon older fiddlestan but not older fiddlestan after working together for 30 years ? idk#also figured fidds would look different in a world where he doesn’t lose his mind in his 30s#🤷🏻♂️#gay old men#yay#stan looks and acts the same btw he just happens to also have a very longterm bf to be gay with#gravity falls took place before gay marriage was legal (jesus christ that’s crazy to think about) so that’s why i say very longterm bf#(this means ford would be back in time to attend their wedding tho so. best man ford real. fidd & ford may be sort-of-exes but it’s fine)#gravity falls#gravity falls au#fiddlestan#also… petition to start calling fiddlestan fiddley#bc fiddle(ford) + (stan)ley …. fiddley… u see the vision????#fiddley#🙂↕️🙏🏼#stanley pines#fiddleford mcgucket#gravity falls fanart#idk man i’m gonna tag the au too ig#portal partners au#gravity falls portal partners au#???#my art#(i guess? used a fidds base then redrew it with my changes so idk)#rystiart#sorry if someone’s done smthn similar bc i feel like this idea of them working together is pretty popular maybe 😭
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Opened up Journal 3 to get ideas of words to type for the website/ compare and contrast the vibe to the perspective gained with the Book of Bill and uh
Interesting verb choice there, Sixer
#journal 3#gravity falls#the book of bill#ford pines#billford#SEDUCE?????????? SEDUCE?#THATS the verb you chose?? there's a lot of different verbs out there my guy#like if you are just be verbose (which we all know he is) there's a lot of other words out there you could use#gay gay homosexual gay#god this has been here the whole time#and I just went eeeehhh maybe it makes sense whatever instead of seeing that it was like. right there.
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The Reverse Grunkles + Bill
#gravity falls#book of bill#bill cipher#ford pines#stanford pines#reverse falls#reverse falls au#stanley pines#grunkle stan#grunkle ford#Stan gleeful#Stanley gleeful#Stanford gleeful#ford gleeful#bill decipher#bill has a funky coat just because I wanted him too#idk in my mind his dimension has shape based clothing for scientists and important people#also glasses cause why not#ford and Stan used to be a sideshow attraction like mason and Mabel#no will cause I don’t care for him#Stan has gold and diamond accessories#Stan cares for the twins since bud cares for Gideon but he’s more selfish when it comes to it kinda like pacificas parents#like cannon stan would joke about selling the twins for safety but stan would do it#they’re all a little messed up#there’s not a lot of reverse! Stan and ford surprisingly
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McGucket: i’ve abandoned my own professional aspirations and have been neglecting my wife and our young son to be with help you make yours come true, i’m utilizing my mechanical genius just for you, here’s a gourd and an axolotl that remind me of you, here’s a snow globe of our lab, here’s six-fingered gloves I knitted for you, i’ve stayed by your side despite being repeatedly traumatized by these terrifying monsters, i’ve put my mental and physical health in jeopardy for our project, i’ve built a memory erasing device so that I can fix my anxiety and continue helping you, *erases your memory* forget I said that, here’s a thesis paper I’ve written for you so you can publish your research and end this dangerous and isolating endeavor, i've sacrificed so much, did I mention I left my wife to be with you
Ford: *keeps truth about project a secret*, *throws gourd away*, *puts you in harms way*, *dismisses your fears*, *frustrated by your lack of commitment*, *takes you for granted*, *breaks snow globe*, *suspicious of your intentions*, *questions your loyalty*, *releases axolotl*, *prioritizes and trusts a triangle over you*, *accuses you of betrayal*, *calls you weak-willed*
(^ imagine the vine boom after each one)
#this is a joke don’t come for me#I know bill was responsible for a lot of it#and ford did regard him as a good friend and wouldn’t have been able to do it without him#he remembered to do a couple nice things for him#ford was just too oblivious to fidds idolization of him to appreciate him enough#or maybe subconsciously he was aware to some extent and thought it was helpful to his goals#just re-reading journal 3 the way ford speaks about him is sometimes not the nicest#gravity falls#the book of bill#stanford pines#fiddleford mcgucket#bill cipher#thisisnotawebsitedotcom
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Stan: Kids, your Grunkle Fidds and my brother are out running errands. You know what this means...
Dipper and Mabel: *Nod Dramatically*
-Seconds Later-
Fidds, Looking at His Phone: *Groans Softly*
Ford: What's wrong, Fiddleford?
Fidds: You're a genius, we both know that.
Ford: Uh... yes?
Fidds: Then can you find any reason in your giant brain why my husband INSISTS on sendin' me pictures of the youngin's sittin' in dangerous places and messagin' me in all caps where they are?
Ford: ...
Also Ford: How did he convince you to say yes???
#Gravity Falls#Fiddlestan#Pines Family#Stanley Pines#Stanford Pines#Fiddleford McGucket#Dipper Pines#Mabel Pines#He Put Mabel on the Top of the Fridge and Dipper on the Roof#MABEL ON THE FRIDGE#DIPPER ON THE ROOF#And Just Face it Ford#Fidds Was the One Who Proposed#It Took a LOT of Reassurance to Get Stanley to Accept the Proposal was Real
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i’ll find you again in every universe. let us be a little more honest, let us have a little more time.
#vashwood#vash the stampede#nicholas d wolfwood#trigun#despite it all though badlands rumble is like. the only universe where we get wolfwood thinking vash died first... and i think that means a#lot to their relationship and how it may bloom if there was more to badlands rumble considering vash literally saw wolfwood carrying a piece#of vash after his supposed death. u know! despite the short time they were together vash still meant so much to wolfwood that he couldn't#just move on or forget him in anyway. needed to keep a piece of him for himself and the rest of his days. but ofc vash lives and wolfwood#was like ill beat ur fucking ass into tomorrow. there's just so much honesty in vash being able to see that gesture bc he wouldnt know#otherwise just how much he might mean to him. ANYWAY. trimax with with the eternal pining featuring the two chapters where imo#where the both of them really fell for each other... i wrote my thoughts about this on another comic i did before#but vash solidifying his feelings during the hospital arc -- ww solidifies his when he realizes his allegiances are permanently with vash#98 my lovelies but also to me they are so one-sided bc ww pined like no tomorrow and vash only realizes after ep 23?24? his heart did tickle#whenever ww complimented his smile though#and tristamp vw my beloveds. it really just feels like they get the chance to be closer and closer and more honest with each other#with every version that comes about. in trimax they knew how little time they had but struggled so desperately to get closer. in 98 ww felt#more willing to forsake for vash. in badlands rumble theyre Angry but as mentioned earlier ^ more blatant truth... due to circumstances#mainly but has the chance to lead to discussions and tristamp literally. first day of knowing each other ww saves vash - 2 days later vash#saves ww like. Man. AND NOW THEY MAY POTENTIALLY GET EVEN CLOSER!!!! with s2....#ruporas art
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