Yamaguchi takes a lot of pride in
Tsukishima’s wings, probably because he doesn’t like his own.
He’d met Tsukishima when they both
had the gray fluff of childhood, and even then he was certain Tsukishima would
have amazing wings. And middle school proved him right fairly early, because
Tsukishima was one of the first students whose wings changed colors. (Yamaguchi
felt proud about that too, even if Tsukishima repeatedly told him that he was
being ridiculous because when people’s wings changed color was not a reflection
of anything.)
Tsukishima’s wings were a pale
yellow, the color of intuition and grace, that halfway down were a deep royal
purple, the color of nobility. And Yamaguchi honestly thought the combination
was the prettiest arrangement possible, because Tsukishima’s wings were like
sunlight fading into dusk, and they were definitely the prettiest wings in
their middle school class. And Yamaguchi said so, repeatedly. (“Shut up, Yamaguchi.
It’s not a compliment for boys’ wings to be pretty.”)
On the other hand, he just felt…
rather resigned about his own wings. It really didn’t come as a surprise that
his were the dullest colors in the class, but it was a little
embarrassing how… ugly they looked.
“You’re like a sparrow!”
one girl said, when Yamaguchi first entered his class after his wings changed
color, and from then on the nickname stuck and he hated it, even when he
tried to laugh it off.
There are so many things that he
hates about his wings.
First, there’s the colors. He has
beige wings with random brown feathers speckled throughout, which is
undoubtedly the most boring combination of colors possible, not to mention the
ugliest arrangement. Like a sparrow.
So the arrangement is definitely the
next worst thing about his feathers. Solid colors are generally
considered the prettiest wings, which is why bi-colored wings like Tsukishima’s
are some of the best you can get. Models have wings like
Tsukishima’s. Speckled wings just make Yamaguchi look… spotted. Sickly. Boring and
sickly.
And finally, there’s the meaning behind
his colors, which is just humiliating to an already humiliating
situation.
“Tadashi, you’re being
absurd,” his mother tells him. “You should be proud of your colors!
You’ll have such a great career! Even though employers aren’t supposed to judge
people by the color of their wings, they usually do, and colors like yours are
highly sought after.”
“Mo-ooo-om,” Yamaguchi
wails. “You’re not helping!” Beige is the color of loyalty, and brown
the color of hard work, and basically his wings are saying, “I’m a good
corporate flunkie, hardworking and loyal” and that’s just embarrassing.
It’s like showing to everyone in the world that he’s never going to be any
kind of star, or leader, or talent.
He’s just… loyal and hardworking.
Which are the same kinds of adjectives people use to describe their dogs.
*
“You care too much about this, Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima says, and
Yamaguchi ducks his head because he knows it’s true. He can’t help but be a
little fixated.
“But it’s true, there are so
many really awesome wing colors in Karasuno,” Yamaguchi insists, because
that had been the original statement that caused Tsukishima to reprimand him.
“I’ve never met any solid-color wings before and there are two here,
and—”
“And they’re idiots,“
Tsukishima says, rolling his eyes, "Which somewhat proves why you
shouldn’t care what colors people have.”
“Our Captain has gold-tipped
wings, did you see that?” Yamaguchi continues. “That’s so
amazing.”
“And he has dark brown. Like
you,” Tsukishima says pointedly.
Yamaguchi falls silent, because it’s
not the same thing at all, but it will only irritate Tsukishima further
by trying to say that. Sawamura Daichi’s near solid dark brown tipped in gold
was regal in a way that Yamaguchi’s speckled wings were not.
“You never see your good
points,” Tsukishima says, irritated. “Your wings are fine.”
Yamaguchi shakes his head, since
there’s no point in trying to explain the difference to Tsukishima.
He probably does care too much about
this, though.
“Your wings are still the
best,” Yamaguchi volunteers, since gold-tips and solid colors aside, he
still thinks Tsukishima has the prettiest wings.
“Shut up, Yamaguchi.”
A/N: Woooo I might write wingfic for
the entire Karasuno team. Just a heads up on that one =D (KagaHina here)