The second training camp came not too long after the first. Once again Tsukishima had been planning to stay away from Kuroo at all costs, as not only would it reduce his chances of screwing up but also would help him to squash these feelings once and for all. The only place he couldn't ignore him was the court, but he found himself getting more adjusted to mentally blocking out thoughts of him during a game.

The first day was over fairly quickly, though it still seemed to drag on with practise games and laps doing flying receives. Everyone else in the team was planning on more practise, even Yamaguchi, but Tsukishima just didn't see the point. They had been practicing all day, there was no need to force themselves to practice more than that.

He was walking back to the area of the school where they would be staying, looking forward to having a nice warm bath and heading to sleep. For once he wasn't filled with thoughts about Kuroo, since the thoughts of a bath and relaxing his aching muscles were much nicer. He knew some people were still practising late at night, his own team were, so he didn't pay any mind to the people in the gym.

"Oi, Megane-kun! Come jump some blocks for us?" That familiar voice, he was pretty sure he could recognise it anywhere by this point. Now Tsukishima couldn't help but pay attention to the people in the gym, as he glanced over and saw that familiar bed hair — he couldn't help but think it looked soft and fluffy despite its odd style — and hair with black and white spikes.

He really didn't want to deal with Bokuto and Kuroo right now. The pair were obviously best friends, and it was clear from how they'd acted over the meal breaks that they were troublesome. 'Think about your bath, Kei. Bath. Bath. Bath. Kuroo.' "Shit." He swore under his breath, before plastering on a smile and waving his hand in a dismissive motion. "I'm finished for the night, my apologies. Now if you'll excuse me," he told them, looking away and trying to get the thought of Kuroo's legs out of his mind.

He'd not been paying attention to them earlier in the day, since he was trying to avoid these sorts of thoughts, but looking over now he could see how nice they were (well defined, long- and oh god the thighs) and frankly he was embarrassed that it had come to this.

He was just about ready to walk off again when he heard Bokuto speak up. "Come on, there's no point in spiking without blockers," he whined, causing Tsukishima to roll his eyes. It was stupid, why did they want him of all people. He wasn't that great, it would be much better to have someone from Nekoma or Fukurodani.

Glancing back at the two with a bored, slightly annoyed look, he let out a sigh. "Why does it have to be me. Why not someone from Fukurodani?" Don't get him wrong, a part of him really wanted to spend time with Kuroo, but not when he was with Bokuto. It was likely the two of them would just get up to mischief and he was afraid he would lose his sanity if it was just those two and him.

Luckily, he spotted Fukurodani's setter coming over, and he felt relieved that even if he did end up joining them he wouldn't be completely alone. He knew that the man (was it Akaashi?) was actually calm and responsible. "Bokuto's spiking practise is endless. Nobody in our team wants to deal with blocking since they'll be stuck here for a while, so they left to go to another gym."

Kuroo nodded in agreement and smirked, seeming to have come up with some sort of idea. Tsukishima hated that he found that smirk hot, and once again was having a minor internal gay panic. He managed to keep a straight face though, and listened to what he had to say. "You know, he may not look it, but Bokuto is one of the top five spikers. It would be good practise for you as a middle blocker," he said, giving him an innocent smile and shrugging. "Besides, I'm busy whipping this idiot into shape, otherwise I would be blocking for Bo. It's your choice, Megane-kun, but I'd consider it a compliment to your skills that someone of Bokuto's level finds you a worthy blocker."

'Ah, fuck it'  he thought, sighing and walking into the third gym and past the three men. "Whatever, Pain-in-the-ass Kuroo-san. Let's just get this over with," he said, standing on the other side of the net. If he had been looking, he would have seen the thumbs up and wink that Bokuto sent to Kuroo. Akaashi saw it, of course, and just rolled his eyes.

Tsukishima began blocking for Bokuto, managing to block a few but mostly not being able to stop them. Bokuto certainly was strong, his cross shots and straights were both excellent and almost unpredictable. Even times when he had been certain it was going to be a straight, at the last second the spiky haired male had done a cross shot. That god-awful 'hey Hey HEY!' whenever he got a spike through was infuriating. At least Akaashi seemed to notice his frustrations and gave him a tired, sympathetic smile. "Congratulations, Bokuto-san, you got through all of one blocker," he told his spiker, rolling his eyes. It at least made Tsukishima chuckle when he saw the pout on Bokuto's face and heard him whine about 'Aghaashi!' or some horribly pronounced version of the setters name.

"How about two blockers?" It was Kuroo that had spoken up, walking over to Tsukishima's side of the net and standing beside him. If he'd thought that focusing when Kuroo was across the net was hard, this was a whole new challenge. They were standing pretty close together, and he could almost feel the warmth from the other male. He could certainly smell him, and even despite the stench of sweat from their many games he found he liked the smell. It was a mix of coffee and baked goods, and whatever cologne it was he'd decided to use to counteract the sweat. Tsukishima almost missed Kuroo telling him to 'take care of Bokuto's straight', and when he'd heard he almost didn't register the words because of his voice. Low and mellow and smooth; he'd just been talking about volleyball but it made his heart beat faster and he wanted to let out a dreamy sigh.

It was absolutely disgusting, these feelings. As much as he liked Kuroo, he also hated him and how every stupid thing he did seemed to be so attractive at the same time. He didn't know how he was meant to deal with these feelings.

Tsukishima snapped back into reality when he saw Akaashi about to set the ball to Bokuto, and made sure he'd block a straight if it came. It looked like it would be a straight, but Bokuto commonly changed things up. Sure enough, he didn't do a straight, yet Kuroo had known and he had blocked it. The older teen smirked victoriously, and the spiky haired male pouted once more. "Dammit, Kuroo," he whined, before looking to the blond and frowning. "You know, you're tall and your smart, but your blocks are pretty weak. I feel like I'll snap your arms if I spike with full power."

"I'm still growing taller and developing muscles," Tsukishima retorted, glaring at him and rolling his eyes before glancing to Akaashi for help. The setter saw and was about to speak up, probably to chastise him for being rude or something (he was experienced with keeping Bokuto in line, after all), but Kuroo spoke up first.

"If you talk like that, Megane-kun, shrimpy is going to hog all the glory. You two play the same position right?" he remarked, taunting him a little and smirking. Kuroo hadn't been intending to truly be rude, just to motivate him a little more.

Nobody in the room was expecting Tsukishima to plaster on a smile (the same fake one he used when he was annoyed or taunting someone himself, not a proper, happy smile) and say what he did. "I guess it can't be helped, though, right? The difference in our natural talent is too great," he said, glancing over as some of the other Nekoma members entered the room. "Anyways, it seems that I'm not needed anymore. Night." With that, Tsukishima left the room, heading back towards the main gym where he'd left his knee pads.

When he got there, Sugawara was about to leave. The third year came over to Tsukishima, wearing a kind smile. He seemed to notice something was wrong, he'd noticed for a while but just never had the right time to say anything. "Hey, Tsukishima. Do you mind if we have a little chat?" he asked gently, gesturing for the tall blond to follow.

"Sure, Sugawara-san," he muttered, sighing and following him out of the training hall. "What seems to be the problem? If it's something to do with my blocks, I'll do something differently in our next game."

Sugawara shook his head and sighed softly. "No, Tsukishima. I know something is off, you haven't been yourself lately. It's happened the last few times we've faced off against Nekoma, too. I just want to know if you're okay. Is someone insulting you? I can have a chat to their coach or captain to get it to stop if that's the case," he said kindly, obviously trying to be careful with his words.

"No, nothing like that. You don't need to talk to anyone," Tsukishima replied quickly, shaking his head. "I'm only telling you this because I feel like you're one of the few people that won't tease me or react badly. Sugawara-san, I'm gay."

It took the silver haired male a second to register, but when he did he lit up into a grin. "Oh, thank gosh, I was so worried that it was something bad like people were bullying you or something. Not that I think you'd let them get away with it, but still. I'm bisexual, but male leaning. Daichi and I are dating, but so far only you, Asahi and Kiyoko-san know about it. So it's guy problems you're having?"

Tsukishima only nodded wordlessly, trying not to look too shocked at the revelation. He'd known his two upperclassmen were close, but not this close. "Something like that. I'm almost certain he's taken, though, not to mention the fact that he can be a pain in the ass. I'm screwed, Sugawara-san. Why am I even telling you this? Hell, I haven't even told Yamaguchi about this, even if I'm pretty sure he knows."

"Don't worry, it's fine! I won't tell anyone, I promise. But I just want you to know that if you ever need to talk about anything, Daichi and I will be happy to listen. I get it's tough, I thought Daichi liked Yui-san, the captain of the girls volleyball team. It was so hard to play with him for a while, I couldn't stop staring at him and it was really awkward. One day he asked me what was up and I confessed everything, and it ended up alright. The point is, I get it, Tsukishima. That's all I needed to talk about, so you're free to go now." With that, Sugawara grinned and left, walking towards the building. Moments later, Daichi and Yamaguchi came out, the older patting him on the back.

"Nekoma's Captain, huh? Good for you, Tsukishima," Daichi said, walking beside him. "Whenever he's around you look just like Koushi used to before we dated. I'll be rooting for you!" Tsukishima could only watch in horror as Daichi caught up to Sugawara.

Meanwhile, Yamaguchi was laughing at his reaction. "I kinda figured it was someone from Nekoma, but I didn't think it would be their captain. Who would have known Tsukki's type would be tall, dark and handsome?"

"Shut it, Yamaguchi."

"Hehe, sorry Tsukki!"