Someday

Flaming red hair.
Four years my senior.
Tall, fast and irritating.
Yet.... She had the most gorgeous smile I've ever seen...
Victoria-senpai....

Tsukishima tipped his head back as he drained the last dregs from the water bottle Yachi had handed him. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand as he sighed. Kuroo had been pestering him all week and to his demise Kuroo had gotten Bokuto to help him, dragging him to blocking/spiking practice. Akaashi felt a little bad for the two always dragging the unwilling teen into their practices however, aside from when Kuroo made the comment about Hinata, Tsukishima had never actually walked out of a practice with them. Taking his empty water bottle, he went to rejoin the rest of the team inside the gym only to look over and see the Nekoma vs Fukurodani going strongly. He watched as Kuroo timed his jump and completely blocked out Bokuto's spike.

'Tall, fast.' 

"Yay." Kuroo drawled, grinning like the cheshire cat when he landed. 

"Grr!" Bokuto growled and Tsukishima found it amusing how you could practically see an anger mark on Bokuto's temple.

Kuroo looked over from his taunting and caught Tsukishima's eye and tossed him a smirk which caused the blonde's eyes to widen before he scowled and looked away with a huff and a "Tch." 'Tall, fast. Talented and irritating. Just like them...' 

-

Tsukishima was tossing and turning in bed that night, his sheet kicked off and brows pinched together tightly and breathing a little deeper than normal.

"Hey! Come back! That's mine!"
Light laughter left the girl in front of him. "Gotta catch me then slow poke~" She teased before turning her back to him and continuing to run around the playground by the classrooms. 
"Give it back!" Tsukishima (7 years old) whined as he continued chasing her around the playground. "Victoria!" Tsukishima occasionally found himself staring at her hair as he chased her, long, bright red and shining beautifully in the sun. He squinted at the brightness of it and slowly, his own voice and her laughter faded into nothingness as the redness took over his vision before fading to white, then cutting to black.

-

When everything focused again he was sitting on a seesaw, watching captivated as Victoria sung. They were both older, Tsukki being ten and Victoria being 14. She'd moved schools but her and Tsukki had promised to keep visiting each other and they kept meeting up at the public park though, in Tsukki's case, in private. He didn't need his older brother and mum teasing him about having a girlfriend. Her hair was much shorter, sitting above shoulder length, but just below her jaw, instead of coming down to the bottom of her back. 'She looks so sad when she sings,' he found himself thinking. But he always, and would forever, find her singing beautiful. At the time he didn't understand what she was singing about but he figured it was something sad. "What's the song called Vicky?" He asked when she finished.
She smiled and sat beside him, patting his curly blonde head. "Emotionless by Good Charlotte." 
He immediately looked worried. "Are you okay??"
She chuckled. "I'm fine Tsukki. I just really like the song."
He relaxed and smiled. "Okay."
She grinned her blinding grin, everything going white as she murmured, "Uh huh." Before it went black again.

-

When he opened his eyes next, he found himself lying on his back, head resting on Victoria's lap. She was sitting and he was lying on the bench under the large tree they called theirs. She was humming and running her fingers through his hair, her other hand holding a book. "What're you reading?" He murmured sleepily.
"Hm? Oh, I'm reading Alice in Wonderland."
The boy wiggled so he was sitting up and snuggled up, hugging her arm. She switched hands holding the book and wrapped her now free arm around him. "What's it say?"
"I'm reading Alice having tea with the hatter. See? Twinkle twinkle little bat~ How I wonder where you're at~ Up above the world so high~ Like a tea tray in the sky~ Twinkle twinkle little bat~ How I wonder where you're at~" 
Tsukishima laughed a little and she smiled.
"Did you sleep well little mr sunshine?" she asked as she marked her page and put the book down. 
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Little mr sunshine?"
"Yeah. Because your blonde curls and your smile look like the sun." She said, grinning before messing up his hair. 
"Ahah no! Vicky!" He whined through laughter.
Victoria's grin grew evilly and she suddenly started tickling him.
"Ah!" He gasped. "Nuuuu!! Victoria!!" He cried as he thrashed and squirmed, laughing and gasping. "No stop! Stop it!" His glasses were knocked askew in their playful struggle and when Kei was having trouble breathing she relented.
"Meanie." He huffed, sitting up and righting his glasses. 
"Ehehe sorry, couldn't resist."
"Hmph." He crossed his arms and looked away but couldn't stop the smile and the giggle that left him when she hugged his waist and pulled him into her, nuzzling him.
"Aw you know you love me Kei-chan~~"

-

"S-Senpai?"
Victoria gave him a sullen smile. "I'm sorry Kei-chan. I have to leave town, I can't stay here."
"But Victoria-"
"Victor."
"V-Victor, you can come stay with me and my family, we'll look after you," Kei said with desperate hope. Summer had just ended and had been spent mostly hanging out at the park with Victoria or playing volleyball with a club or his brother and his friends. However their visits started becoming less and less frequent until she stopped showing altogether. Kei continued going to the park, but only sat under the shade of their tree, hugging his knees and looking around for a mess of red hair that never came. Until today.
And only to have his elation shot down by hearing "I'm leaving Kei."

He pleaded with her. "Please, mum and aniki won't mind I swear,"
"Kei, you don't know that."
"But they're both really understanding,"
"I thought my parents were too Kei but that's not how the world works." She said, her voice becoming tighter with each word.
"But-"
"I'm a freak Kei. I'm a girl but nothing feels right, mum and dad kicked me out, you're just a child still Kei, I wish you could but you can't help me."
"I-I can try! Please don't leave Vicky please!" Tears brimmed his eyes, glasses starting to fog a little.
"I'm sorry Megane-kun." She-He said, ruffling Kei's hair before kissing his forehead.
Kei gripped their wrist. "Don't leave me please! I don't want to be lonely again!"
He looked away and stared resolutely at the ground. "Kei,"

"Please Vicky!"
"No Kei-" They started, a growl in his voice.
"I love you! I love you senpai!" he sobbed. "Please, please stay."
They fell silent and Kei thought idly, 'Why isn't it raining? Isn't it supposed to rain when sad things like this happen?' It was a painful reminder that life wasn't like the movies. "Kei, you're only a child, you don't know what love is."
"But you know you're not a girl?"
"I've never felt right as a girl, it always felt more right for me to be a boy yet no one understands that. You're a child and even if you weren't how could you love someone like me? How could you ever love a boy!" His voice had been steadily rising before he snapped at Kei, causing him to flinch. "Oh, no Kei, I'm so sorry," He said quickly, going and kneeling by Kei and gently holding his arms. "Kei," they said softly as they watched tears run down his face. 

Kei rubbed his eyes with the back of his sleeve as his shoulders shook a little while he sniffed. "B-But I love you s-senpai, wh-whether you're a boy o-or a girl,"
"I'm sorry Megane-kun." Victor cupped his face and kissed his forehead. "Goodbye." And with that they ran off.
"Vicky!!"

His eyes slowly opened, tears running down the side of his face and dropping silently onto the pillow. "..... Victoria..." He mumbled. Getting up, Kei fumbled around for his glasses before stumbling out of the room and down the hallway to the bathroom. The night air was cool on his hot skin and Kei made his way blindly, occasionally bumping into the walls. He was still half asleep and reality kept blurring with memories? Dreams? He wasn't too sure anymore. He stumbled to a stop, using the wall to support himself as his head snapped to the side.

His cheek stung from the impact of his father's hand. "How dare you even suggest bringing someone like that into our home?" The two were talking in private.
"Please dad, it's still Vicky-"
"Quiet! And what's more absurd, is that you are barely ten and you think you know anything about love? And then suggesting something as, as disgusting!" He spat. "As loving another boy!? What is wrong with you!"
He cowered before his father. "D-Dad, please, I-I'm sorry," He sobbed.
"Kei, I never want to here anymore of this ridiculous nonsense about... anything with boys. You are a boy and you are meant to be with girls. Understood?"
Kei held his cheek, snivelling and hiccupping. 
"Understood!!?" He yelled causing the boy to jump.

"Yes!" He cried.
"Whoa, Megane-kun?"
"Vick-" He turned and saw Kuroo standing in the hallway, next to a door that lead to the Nekoma room.
Kuroo rubbed the sleep from his eyes, frowning. "Tsukki?" He started towards him. "You okay?" Kei's eyes were wide, tears running down his face and he looked pale and panicked.
Kei's mind was scrambling to make sense of things again. 'No, boys, bad, pain, no, no feelings, lock it away, nothing, go away, go away, go away, "Go away!"
Kuroo paused with a start. "Wha-?"
Kei sprinted down the rest of the hallway and locked himself in the bathroom. 
"Tsukishima!" Kuroo yelled after him.

He slammed the door shut and ade sure it was locked before he slid down the door, hugging his knees tightly and rocking as he cried heavily into his legs, but did his best to make no sound. Kuroo was too similar to his first love and his first mistake, too much and too soon. Boys were bad. Feelings for boys were bad. Victor was bad. Kuroo is bad. Kei needed to get out. And so, the next day, to most people's curiosity, but not all, Tsukishima was absent from practice.