It was as children when they first met each other. At the age of five they were both at a festival in Miyagi. What caught his eyes was the little orange ball pushing past him at eye level, yelling for his mother and father, tears crowding his eyes.
Kageyama's hands shot out and grabbed hold of the boy before he even realised he'd moved himself, stopping the distraught boy in his tracks.
"Let me go! Let me go!" He yelled thrashing against Kageyama's grip.
"Oi calm down, its ok. Are you lost?" Kageyama asked turning the boy to him and smiling in what he thought was comforting and warm. The boy shrunk away from him as much as he could in Kageyama's tight grip on his arms.
"Mummy~." The boy started to cry and Kageyama's face fell as he began to panic and shake the boy.
"What's wrong? Why are you crying? Hey, calm down would you, I won't hurt you."
The boy looked up at Kageyama with wide innocent eyes and sniffed rubbing away his tears.
"You promise?"
"Mn." Kageyama nodded and rubbed they boys' fluffy orange hair. "What's your name?"
"Shouyou but my mummy calls me Shou-chan, you can to. What's your name?" Hinata asked, his mood taking a 180 instantly, Kageyama was thrown for few seconds by the sudden change before stuttering his way through his name.
"K-Kageya-yama T-Tobio." He replied. Hinata gave him a face splitting smile and wrapped his arms around Kageyama's left one, his lost parents forgotten.
"Let's be friends! I want to see the stalls, T-Tobiuo!" Hinata exclaimed dragging Kageyama along with him.
"W-Wait a second! My parents, if we're going to see stalls we need money." Kageyama shouted, Shouyou paused and seemed to deflate from his previous enthusiasm.
"Ah…" Hinata looked down at the ground, playing distraught child to a tee. Kageyama took pity on him and pulled him back to his parents who'd been watching exchange in amusement.
"Mum, can I-?" Kageyama's question was left unsaid as his father held out some money to him and grabbed his shoulder. "You be very careful now Tobio, you hear. We're trusting you enough to leave you on your own. Constant vigilance son. We'll meet at the fish stand at the front of the festival before the fireworks start." He said. Kageyama nodded, his eyes lighting up with enthusiasm.
"Thanks dad, bye!" He called over his shoulder as he dragged Hinata off to the nearest game booth, Hinata cheering happily behind him.
"Let's goooo T-Tobiuo!" Hinata yelled, Kageyama dragged Hinata up next to him and glared at him.
"It's Tobio." He said. Hinata tilted his head to the side.
"I said that, Tobiuo." Hinata replied, oblivious to his mistake. Kageyama narrowed his eyes.
"No you said Tobiuo, it's Tobio." Kageyama growled, Hinata smiled at him and nodded in understanding, Kageyama sighed in relief and they continued on to the stall Kageyama had chosen as their first location.
…
"What's the difference?" Kageyama slapped Hinata in the back of the head and pulled him to a stop.
"Do I look like a fish to you!?" He yelled incredulously, Hinata paused and looked at him, tilted his head sideways and laughed. "Shou-chan you dumbass!" Kageyama yelled slapping Hinata on his head again. Hinata just laughed him off and dragged him to stall, pushing his hair out of his face.
The stall they went to first was a ring toss, looking at the prizes Hinata squealed at a little orange bear with a blue leg and a long white ribbon around its neck, Kageyama paid for three rounds of ring toss so Hinata could get it, it was always 'Just one more' and his 'just one more' turned into 'just several more' until he finally got a ring around the bears head and jumped and squealed in excitement, crushing the bear in a back breaking hug, Hinata's hair kept getting in his way at the last second. As soon as Kageyama got him to calm down they left the stall, they were wondering around looking for a new stall, Hinata hugging the bear with one arm and holding Kageyama's hand with the other.
"Hey Tobiuo."
"It's Tobio." Kageyama replied instantly.
"I still don't see the difference." Kageyama snorted and tugged on Hinata's hand, sending him stumbling into a pole. "You wouldn't, you're not the one being called a fish."
Hinata was squatting on the ground clutching his head when he looked up at Kageyama with tears in his eyes. "That hurt To-chan!"
"To-chan!?" Kageyama stepped back in shock, 'Where the hell did To-chan come from?'
"You don't like the way I say you name, so now you're To-chan. Now I can't get it wrong!" Hinata exclaimed shooting up and bouncing back from his former hurt in seconds. "Ah! I almost forgot, here."
Kageyama looked down at Hinata to see him holding out the bear.
"What?" Kageyama was confused as Hinata pushed the bear into his arms.
"It's for you, I got it for you." Hinata replied, his face a little red from the pole made him look shy and embarrassed about giving the bear to Kageyama.
"Thanks, I guess."
Before Kageyama could even so much as blink after taking the bear Hinata had grabbed his arm and run off toward a stall that had grabbed his attention. You had to catch goldfish with those rice paper nets. The next stall, they brought masks. Hinata whined for a black mask with orange paint looking like it was melting, Kageyama settled for a white mask with black of the same design as Hinata's, tying the masks to their heads they ran to their next stop. The stall was covered in deep purple drapes; a dark table with an old man in a turban and a curly moustache sat in the middle of the stall behind a foggy glass ball.
Hinata ran up to the man and jumped on the chair in front of him across the table, leaving Kageyama to stand behind him. "Hey, hey mister, what are you doing?" The man looked down at Hinata and smiled kindly at him, resting a hand on the ball.
"I read futures." He said, Shouyou's eyes sparkled and he wowed in awe.
"Really!? You can see the future? Can you do it with that ball?" He asked jumping up and down in his seat, the man laughed and pat Hinata on his head.
"I sure can, you want me to read your future for you? It's on the house just this once."
Hinata looked confused, and lost some of his enthusiasm.
"What's on the house?" He asked warily, not sure of what the new term meant or if it was bad or not.
"It means free, you don't have to pay." The man said. Hinata jumped onto the chair he was sitting on and leant over the table.
"We don't have to pay really, really? Do you mean it!?" He yelled in the man's face.
"Yes, but it's just this once, what do you want to know?" He asked as Hinata sat down again, holding his chin in thought. Hinata looked to Kageyama and his face lit up. He turned to the man with a blinding smile.
"Hey old man, will To-chan and I be friends forever?"
The man considered Hinata and Kageyama for a moment before turning to his ball and starring into it. The fog started to turn, faster and faster, suddenly the fog was gone. The man was staring wide eyed into the ball, his eyes glassy and his face creepily blank. Hinata waved his hand in front of the man's face and called out to him, getting no response in return. They looked at each other. Hinata was obviously asking Kageyama what the hell was going on telepathically. Kageyama shrugged and jumped when the man gasped and swung toward them smiling crazily.
"You will meet again." Was all he said. Kageyama dragged Hinata away from the man in the awkward silence that followed the prediction, neither of them spoke until they were far, far away from the creepy fortune teller.
"That was weird."
Kageyama smacked Hinata over the head and growled at him.
"That was your fault, whatever gave you the idea that that man would be normal." Kageyama asked glaring at Hinata, who shrugged and smiled at him in return.
"Did you hear what he said though? He said we'd meet again, we'll be friends forever To-chan, isn't that great!" Hinata exclaimed bouncing up and down, Kageyama sighed and smiled back. It was far too easy to fall into Hinata's pace.
"But he didn't say we'd stay together, he said we'd meet again. That means we won't see each other for ages after this right?" Kageyama said. The words effect was instantaneous on Hinata. He stopped jumping and his smile fell.
"Ehhhhh! But, but To-chaaan, I want to stay with you forever and ever." Hinata whined clinging onto the front of Kageyama's shirt. Kageyama looked down to the bear and pulled Shouyou over to a secluded bench hidden by one of the stalls that you couldn't see at normal height. He fiddled with the white ribbon for a few minutes before holding it out to Hinata who stared at it until Kageyama sighed, dragged him closer and spun him around on the chair.
"It's for you, so we can find one another if we don't see each other for ages, even if we forget the others face or voice, or even this entire night. We can remember our promise to meet again by remembering this ribbon." He said tying the ribbon in Hinata's hair. "Promise me we'll find each other." Kageyama muttered, Hinata stiffened and turned him when he was done tying the ribbon in his hair and gave him the same bone-shattering hug he'd given the bear that night.
"I promise."
A high whistle pierced the air and broke the atmosphere around the boys. The loud boom that followed sending brightly coloured sparks flying across the sky. They weren't in the best position to see but it was good enough for them.
"Ah fireworks are sooo pretty." Hinata whispered in awe.
"Mn, they are, aren't they." Kageyama whispered back.
Hinata broke the silence between them ten minutes later.
"Ne To-chan?"
"What Shou-chan?"
Hinata smiled at him.
"Weren't we meant to meet your mummy and daddy before the fireworks." ^_^
Kageyama jumped off the chair.
"I forgot! Come on we have to hurry!" He yelled, dragging Hinata along behind him by his wrist as the boy laughed at him for forgetting something so important.
"Shut up dumbass! In case you forgot, you're supposed to be lost!" Kageyama yelled at him. Shouyou flailed in his grasp as he panicked.
"I'M LOST! OH NO I'M LOST TO-CHAN! AND I FORGOT. I NEED TO FIND MY MUMMY!" Kageyama skidded to a stop in the middle of the crowd watching the fireworks and let Shouyou run into him. He grabbed Hinata's shoulders and stared to shake him.
"Shut up, how could you possibly forget that you were lost, are you an idiot?" Kageyama yelled at him, slapping him over the head.
"I am not an idiot To-chan. You're so mean." Hinata yelled back, holding back tears. Kageyama sighed and grabbed his hand.
"Come on we'll find your parents as soon as we find mine." He replied dragging Hinata along behind him.