##
The cherry trees were blossoming and Shouyou had to pause to watch them from a minute, ignoring the sounds of parents calling for their kids and the flashes of photos being taken around him. All morning he'd been feeling a strange mix of excitement and anxiousness and he hasn't decided what to label it just yet. The tube-shaped object in his hand is also a matter of thought for him, one he doesn't want to think about now.
"Shou-chan! I haven't taken your picture with Tobio-chan yet~!"
And then,
"Sho! Quit being slow and come here already!"
He grinned.
##
Mommy's hands are really soft, Shouyou thought as they pet his hair, feeling sleepy from her touch. They were in the park and he wanted to play with the other kids but she had told him they were waiting for someone and that he had to stay, promising that he would be able to play later.
He blinked as she crouched down in front of him, giving him a smile.
"Shou-chan, we're going to be meeting a friend of mommy's from school. They just moved here from the big city. Be a good boy and call her Auntie, all right?" She told him.
Shouyou nodded, curious, just as someone called his mother's name and then a woman was walking towards them. He watched as she waved at his mother and came to a stop in front of them. She was really pretty, with pretty black hair and pretty gray eyes, but then she wasn't as pretty as his mommy. She smiled when she saw him.
"Oh! Is this Shouyou? My, he's so cute! Hi there! How are you?"
He grinned.
"My name is Hinata Shouyou from Yoyogi Preschool! I-I'm pleased to m-meet you!"
The lady laughed, reaching over to pat his head.
"It's nice to meet you too, Shou-chan. This is my son, Tobio." She said, gesturing to the boy beside her.
Shouyou looked at him, frowned at his face and turned to his mother.
"Mommy, is he okay? He looks like he ate something bad. His face is weird."
"W-what did you say?!"
Surprised, Shouyou looked back at the boy in front of him, immediately scrambling to hide in his mother's skirt when he saw his face.
"But it's true! And your face is really scary right now!"
The other boy's face turned red and his eyebrows drew even tighter together, making them look like a straight line. Shouyou stared, fascinated.
"W-well, your face looks stupid too! Like—like the most stupidest thing ever!"
Shouyou's face crumpled.
"YOU'RE MEAN! STUPID MEANIE HEAD!" He bawled, letting go of his mother's hand to crouch down and cry.
"Tobio! You say sorry to Shouyou right now!"
"But he started it!" He heard Tobio whine. Shouyou howled even louder, making the other kids and their parents stare at the commotion. His mother desperately tried to calm him, to no avail.
"NOW, TOBIO!"
There was a moment's pause before he heard some shuffling. Opening his eyes, he saw Tobio crouching down to his level, looking grumpy until he saw Shouyou looking at him, face wet with tears. Now looking guilty, he mumbled,
"I'm sorry for calling you stupid."
Sniffing, Shouyou turned to look up at his mother. She smiled and nodded.
"I'm sorry for saying your face is weird." He replied, rubbing at his eyes.
Tobio nodded. After a second, he stood up and put his hands on his pockets as if he was looking for something. A moment later, he pulled out a handkerchief and offered it to Shouyou.
"Mommy always has me bring hankies. Here you can have it."
He received a wobbly smile in return.
##
With an impatient sigh, Shouyou watched the ball as it was thrown into the air for the hundredth time and landed on the ground with an unceremonious thud, Tobio scowling at the result. He tilted his head and slumped on the floor of the foyer. He didn't really understand what Tobio was trying to do at all, considering the other boy had been doing it for a long time already today. They were supposed to be taking their naps but Tobio had refused to settle down on their shared futon and kept sitting up, the ball his dad had given him for his birthday on his lap even though Auntie had told him to stop playing with it and get to sleep, going so far as threatening to take it away. In the end, after Tobio had looked devastated at the thought, she hadn't taken it and instead had let him out to play in the backyard, shooing Shouyou away too.
"I know you Shou-chan. You'll only end up following him when you think I'm not paying attention." She said, patting his head fondly.
"It's okay, Auntie! 'Yama and I are best friends and best friends are supposed to be together always!" He chirped, smiling.
He'd been given two cookies for his trouble, one for him and one for Tobio, and sent on his way. He had eaten his on the way and after being ignored several times by his friend, ate the other cookie in revenge. He hated it when Tobio ignored him.
Auntie was hanging clothes on the other side of the yard and Shouyou had already offered to help her earlier because he was so bored but she said no, telling him to keep an eye on her son. Shouyou thought it was easy since he didn't have to follow Tobio anywhere like he used to before the ball arrived. Shouyou really hated that ball. Tobio used to play with him a lot before it came and now he was being ignored! Pouting, he slumped even further.
"Stupid ball. Stupid 'Yama!" He muttered to himself.
'Pay attention to me!' He wanted to scream.
After watching the ball fly wobbly in the air for the hundredth time and his friend get more and more upset, he asked loudly, making sure his irate friend heard him,
"'Yama! What're you doing?!"
"What do you think, dummy?! I'm trying to toss it!" Tobio replied, throwing it again.
They watched it sail through the air straight to the tree, getting stuck in between the branches. Tobio glared up at it as if it was going to get unstuck through the power of his eyes. Shouyou suspected it could, his friend had pretty crazy eyes sometimes.
"Toss? Aren't you just throwing it?" Shouyou asked the back of Tobio's head, confused.
Tobio whipped around and glared at him. Shouyou blinked, non-plussed.
"If you paid attention to my Dad when he was telling us about it, you would know, idiot!" Tobio said, turning his attention back to the ball. Shouyou's eyes narrowed.
"Well, I don't like baseball or football or whatever your stupid game is called so why would I care what a toss is?! It's stupid!" He snapped, standing up.
His friend turned so fast it made him dizzy just by looking at him. Blue eyes glowered at him. Shouyou narrowed his in reply.
"What did you say?!"
"I said it's stupid! It's a stupid game and I hate it!" He screamed, stomping towards the other boy and hitting him repeatedly in the chest, ignoring Tobio's 'Hey, stop that!' and continued, "You're always going away and you forget about me! You don't pay attention to me anymore and I hate it! I hate it!"
Tobio finally got a hold on his wrists and held them down, staring at him in bewilderment.
"What are you talking about?" He asked.
"Ever since you got that stupid ball, all you've done is practice and practice! You haven't paid attention to me at all! It's just a stupid ball! "
"Haaaa?" was the baffled reply.
Shouyou let out a frustrated noise and stomped on Tobio's foot. His friend yelped and let go of him to crouch down over his hurting appendage.
"Stupid Kageyama! Dumbass Kageyama!" He yelled angrily, turning and trudging off, Mr. Suzuki forgotten behind him.
Tobio stared after him, utterly confused.
##
Shouyou was trying not to cry where he was sitting in the middle of the playground, biting his lip and squeezing his eyes shut. His leg was hurting and he was scared because his mommy wasn't there to make it go away with her kisses.
He could die!
His eyes opened at that thought and he gasped. Everyone knew that when you got hurt and weren't treated then you died! Oh no! He didn't want to die! Sniffing, he tried to stand up and ended up crying out at the pain. He didn't want to cry but it hurt so bad.
"Mommy!" He whimpered, lip trembling and clutching Suzuki-san tighter to his chest.
Suddenly, a shadow loomed over him and he looked up.
"To-chan! My leg hurts!" He wailed, now clasping Tobio's shirt instead and pointed to said appendage.
"That's your knee, dummy!" Tobio said, putting a comforting hand on his hair. He crouched down and looked at Shouyou's skinned knee. He looked like he wanted to poke it and Shouyou whimpered at the thought, shying away.
"It doesn't look too bad." Tobio stated, standing up again.
"But it hurts!" He whined, pulling at his friend's shirt.
"'Kay. Wait here. I'll go call sensei."
He nodded and buried his face in Suzuki-san's fur, sniffing. A few minnutes later, he was carried off to the clinic, Tobio following closely behind them, where he cried and cried because now it hurt even more. The nurse wasn't stopping even though he told her it hurt!
"To-chan, it hurts." He whimpered to his one ally, who had been looking really meanly at the nurse for his sake. His hand was squeezed a second later.
"Hey, don't call me that." Tobio said suddenly.
"Huh?"
"Call me KAGEYAMA. K-A-G-E-Y-A-M-A." He spelled out, chest puffing out in pride. He'd been working hard to memorize it for days and was pleased that he could spell it out perfectly now.
Shouyou frowned, completely forgetting about his knee at the face of his friend's new accomplishment. He wanted to spell his name aloud too!
"K-A-G—eh? What was it again?"
"K-A-G-E-Y-A-M-A!" Tobio repeated, smug at being able to do it again.
Shouyou pouted.
"That's not fair! You were going too fast!" He whined.
Tobio scowled at him, letting go of his hand. The nurse shook her head fondly, anticipating another fight between the two. She smoothed down a bandage on Shouyou's knee. The two were known to have fights that were quickly resolved the same day so she wasn't too worried. She'd keep an eye on them though, before they got too loud and disturbed the other children.
"No I wasn't!" Tobio denied hotly, crossing his arms. "You're just stupid!"
"I'm not! I'm not stupid! You take that back, you meanie head!" Shouyou screamed, immediately prompting the nurse to try to shush them.
"No! You're stupid! Stupid head Hinata!"
Shouyou's face crumpled and he jumped out of the bed. He started hitting Tobio's face with Suzuki-san repeatedly, shrieking "I hate you I hate you I hate you! Stupid Tobio!" until the nurse pried him and sent them back to their classroom where their teacher had them sit in the time out corner. Tobio held out his hand and Shouyou beamed, accepting the truce.
Later, when they were lying on their blankets next to each other for nap time, Tobio rolled over to face him.
"I'm sorry for calling you stupid." He said, placing a hand in the space between them with its palm up.
Shouyou smiled sleepily and grabbed it. Tobio immediately scooted closer until they ended up sharing the same blanket.
"It's okay. I didn't mean to say I hate you too. Now we're even."
Tobio looked relieved at that.
"I don't like it when you call me that." He said quietly, lower lip jutting out slightly.
Shouyou blinked slowly, yawning.
"Why not?"
He wrinkled his nose.
"It's for babies. I'm not a baby anymore." He explained, tone petulant.
"But I can't call you Kageyama! That's your mommy and daddy! It would be confusing!" He complained.
"Call me something else, then."
Shouyou paused thoughtfully, brightening a few moments later.
"I know! How about 'Yama'? Sensei said it means 'mountain'! And mountains are cool and strong-looking aren't they? I like them." He stated, snuggling into his best friend's side and feeling an arm wound around him and dragging him closer.
Tobio thought about it for a second before nodding.
"'Kay."
##
There was a knock on his door, and he heard his mom's muffled voice asking him if he was alright. Shouyou didn't know if he was alright, all he knew was that he still angry—but it was slowly giving away to the hurt and guilt he'd been feeling the past couple of weeks. He sat up. This was no good. He hadn't meant to explode his feelings all over Tobio, he was sure his best friend hated him now. He hadn't even talked to him all day yesterday at school. Shouyou knew how important volleyball was to Tobio, it was the only thing his dad and him bonded over, the only thing that made him feel connected to his overworked and absent father. He frowned at the thought of said man. Tobio's dad was a jerk!
Waving the thought of the man away, he plopped down again. But it wasn't fair. Volleyball shouldn't be taking his best friend away from him—Tobio was his! They were best friends and nothing should come between that.
Shouyou hugged his pillow tighter, missing the jerk already. He sighed, rolling over and putting the pillow over his eyes. He really did feel guilty though. He'd been selfish and hurt his friend's feelings—best friends didn't do that to each other.
"I guess I should go say sorry. I don't want him to hate me." He mumbled.
Distantly, he heard the doorknob turn and the door open. Soft footsteps walking towards him and his bed dipped with the weight of another person. Thinking it was his mom checking up on him, he ignored it and smooshed the pillow even harder on his eyes, not wanting to talk. Suddenly, he felt a warm weight across his stomach and arms around his torso.
"Sorry."
He lifted the pillow away from him and peered down at Tobio, whose face was digging into his belly.
"My mom told me what you meant. I'm sorry." He heard his friend mumble.
Shouyou felt as though his heart would burst in his chest, feeling warm and tingly and really really good. He grinned for a moment before the guilt slammed down on all of his happy feelings. Lips drooping and eyes turning down at the corners, he gently pushed on Tobio's shoulder to make him sit up. Once they were sitting face to face, he said, holding onto the other's hands,
"I'm sorry too. I was being selfish. I know how important volleyball is to you. I'll try not to be a brat about it anymore."
Tobio looked at him for a second before nodding. Shouyou beamed and hugged him, nuzzling his shirt.
"So…you knew the game's called volleyball?" Tobio said nonchalantly after a few moments of silence.
Shouyou blushed.
"W-well, yeah! I'm not as stupid as you think, you know." He stammered, slowly letting go and avoiding his best friend's eyes. He sprang up from the bed and dug around his bag, pretending to be looking for something.
He could literally feel Tobio's stare at the back of his head but he refused to look. He heard some rustling and felt something poke him on the back. He turned.
"Did you just kick me?!" He asked, incredulous.
"You wanna play volleyball with me? I won't make fun of you when you fall on your face. Well, I'll try not to." Tobio replied, ignoring his question.
His voice was taunting and his lips were twisted into a smirk. Shouyou immediately felt his hackles rise.
"Oh yeah?! We'll see about that! Don't be so cocky, you jerk! And stop smirking, it's creeping me out!"
Whack.
"Ow!"
##
"Shou-chan, don't you find Kageyama-kun scary?" Izumin asked as he patted down the roof of their castle, voice low and cautious.
Shouyou, who had been busy trying to make a wall to surround their castle with, looked up in confusion.
"Huh? Why would he be scary?" He asked.
Izumin bit his lip and shrugged, looking nervous and eyes darting around the playground before scooping more sand out of the play box and starting to build a wall on his side. Shouyou tilted his head curiously and looked around for Tobio, wondering where he had run off to. He'd been with them earlier but quickly proclaimed their game boring and left, much to Shouyou's dismay and Izumin's relief. He saw him a few ways away from the football game that was being held, although it looked more like a game of basketball than football, seeing as the ball wasn't being kicked as much as carried around while the players shrieked and ran around. The other kids seemed to be inching away from Tobio slowly, maybe because he was looking grumpy again. He watched his friend for a while before deeming him to be okay, it wasn't his bad grumpy face, just his normal one, so there was nothing to be worried about.
He turned back to the castle in front of him just as Izumin spoke up.
"Well, he never smiles, you know?" Izumin said, shrugging again. "And—and he's so mean too. He's pretty scary. Everyone says so."
Shouyou frowned.
"Eh? 'Yama's not that mean! And that's just the way he's always looked—even when we were littler. He's not scary at all." He defended.
Izumin didn't look convinced.
"Um, really?"
Shouyou nodded, smiling.
"'Yama's like candy, you know? He's hard on the outside but really soft and gooey on the inside! He can be mean sometimes, but he always says sorry when he gets really mean so it's okay. Mommy says that sometimes he just doesn't know how to e-e-express himself better. " He explained, attention back on the castle. "I'm his bestest best friend so I would know."
"If you say so, Shou-chan."
##
His hands stung and he felt his heart racing against his chest. His arm hurt a bit and his legs were trembling from the height of his jump. He stared at his red palm and marveled.
"Hey, what position are you?"
Tobio turned to him from where he'd picked up the fallen ball, mouth open in a way that was usually followed by a loud listen to me when I'm talking, idiot but paused when he saw Shouyou's face. He blinked and faced the net.
"I'm a setter."
##
Shouyou squeezed Tobio's hand, feeling his heart race, nervous and excited. He was staring at the clock, wishing it would go faster. Tobio rolled his eyes.
"Calm down, idiot." He scolded but his was tone gentle.
"But! 'Yama! I can't! I can't calm down!" Shouyou squeaked, visibly vibrating in his seat.
They were sitting in the living room at the Kageyama house, waiting for Shouyou's parents to arrive. He had been staying over the last few days while his parents were in the hospital. They were about to arrive in a few minutes.
"Do you wanna play for a few minutes? Until your mom and dad get here?" Tobio asked.
Instead of answering, Shouyou immediately jumped up from the couch and dragged him out of the house with the hand still holding onto his. Tobio managed to call out 'Mom, we'll be in the backyard!' before the door shut behind them. He let Shouyou lead him to the court, something that his dad had built a few years ago, and put the ball in his hands without a comment.
"Toss!" Shouyou instantly demanded.
Tobio let out an exasperated sigh
"Make sure you hit it this time, dumbass." He called out teasingly, lifting the ball and gently tossing it, gritting his teeth as it swayed uncertainly in the air. He still wasn't able to toss it to where he wanted to, not unless he gave up some power and speed. And when the times where he somehow managed to, it was predictably weak and easily hittable, something that frustrated him a good deal. He still needed to train a lot, and learn a bunch of things before he was at national-level.
As expected, Shouyou was able to hit it. He turned to his scowling best friend and yelled, beaming,
"See?! I'm not hopeless after all!"
"Hmph."
"Boys! They're here! Come quickly!" Tobio's mother called out, bringing an abrupt halt to their practice.
With a delighted shout, Shouyou grabbed the other boy's wrist and immediately scrambled inside, running through the hallway to the living room. His parents were sitting on the couch and his mother was carrying a small bundle in her arms. He ran to his parent's side, still dragging Tobio along, peered down at the bundle and saw chubby pink cheeks, big round eyes, a small button nose and mouth, and a familiar tuft of red hair.
"Natsu-chan! Natsu-chan you're finally here!" He gushed.
He gasped, enraptured, as small hands reached out. Cautiously, he offered a finger and beamed when it was immediately held onto.
"Yama! Yama, look! She's holding my finger! My baby sister!" He babbled, unable to take his eyes off of her. His parents laughed.
"Yeah, I can see that, stupid." Tobio snapped, although it lacked its usual bite as the little girl turned her attention to him, her eyes curious.
Admittedly, he was a little apprehensive as to how she would react to his presence. He knew the other little kids were a little scared of him, which he never did understand, and cried if he so much looked at them. He didn't want that do happen with Shouyou's little sister, though. He wanted to be liked by her, which was surprising because he wasn't like that with the other kids, but she was Shouyou's sister, which made a lot of difference.
She stared at him for a long time and Tobio was starting to think he would have to back off so she didn't end up crying, when she suddenly reached out and made grabby hands in his direction, smiling cutely. Shouyou nudged him when he only stared back at her, visibly surprised at her delight. Copying what his best friend had done earlier, he offered her his pointy finger and jumped when she immediately clamped onto it with her small, soft hands.
"Natsu-chan! We're your big brothers and we're gonna take care of you from now on, okay? We love you!" Shouyou babbled happily, caressing her cheeks with his other hand, eyes wide with adoration.
Natsu giggled. Tobio fell a little more in love.
##
It happened rather unexpectedly one day.
As usual, they were practicing in the court in the Kageyama family's back yard. As usual, Shouyou was hitting the balls as much as was missing them. And as usual, Tobio was praising and chiding him in turns, although admittedly he was doing more of the latter than the former. Shouyou had the speed and the agility to be better than he currently was, Tobio knew. His best friend would be amazing when the time came, and together they would be incredible; but for now, they had to keep practicing and looking for that something to make them really click.
He was getting ready to toss, fingers poised, when he heard a loud crash, like glass breaking, come from the house. Jolted out of his concentration, he jumped and the ball slipped from his fingers when they twitched in surprise. It flew through the air, spinning far more rapidly than usual, towards Shouyou who had jumped, who didn't know, who might get hit—
"Sho!"
Thwack.
He blinked.
"Yama! Did you see that?! I hit it! I hit it perfectly! Man, that felt awesome! It was like bam! when it hit my hand! Let's do it again!"
Tobio slowly exhaled, willing his heart beat to calm down. Shouyou was alright, he didn't get hurt, he had to get a grip, Shouyou was okay and he hit the ball—
"Wait, you hit the ball?!" He asked, stunned.
Shouyou looked at him strangely.
"Um, yeah? Didn't you see? Look! My hand's so red!"
He stared at his best friend's proffered hand to the ball lying on the other side of the net, uncomprehending. That ball, it was too fast and it should've been impossible to catch, much less spike. Even pros would've had had a hard time with it and Shouyou—he'd actually hit it and it would have scored too, if they had been in an official match.
Shouyou had hit it.
Slowly, he felt a smile stretch his lips. They really were going to be amazing.
"Uh, Yama? What are you thinking about? You're kinda freaking me out with that smile of yours." He heard the other boy whimper, audibly scared.
His hand shot out to grip Shouyou's hair and pulled, earning a yelp.
"It's true, though! Your smile is creepy as heck—ow! Ow! Hey, Yama! Stop it!" Shouyou whined, trying to pry him off.
Abruptly, he let go and went off to pick up the ball, calling out,
"Get ready. We'll be trying it again."
##
"Hey dad, will you play volleyball with me?"
His dad didn't look at him. He hadn't looked at him for days, maybe even weeks.
"I can't, sport. Maybe next time."
He nodded to the shut door.
##
"Uwah!" Shouyou cried, body wiggling in excitement as the crowd went wild at the ace's slam through the opposing blockers. "The ace is so cool! That spike went through like it was nothing!"
"Pipe down, you idiot! You're so loud!" Tobio scolded, pushing at his shoulders to stop him from moving around so much.
Shouyou ignored him, jumping up from his seat on the floor when the ace scored again and the referee whistled to signal the end of the match; yelling so loudly he almost out-yelled the noise from the TV. He turned to his best friend and hugged him, swept up along with the exhilaration of the team's win on the screen.
"I'm gonna be an ace too! You'll be my setter and I'm gonna spike all your tosses! We'll win every match, from the nationals to the Olympics!"
Tobio scowled and pulled at the back of his shirt, trying to get him off of him.
"Oi! Don't decide that all by yourself!" He chided, eventually giving up. His best friend was stuck to him like they'd been glued together.
Abruptly, Shouyou let go to stare at him, eyes wide with apprehension.
"You don't want to?" He asked, voice suddenly meek.
Tobio blinked, frown disappearing.
"That's not it, stupid." He said firmly, and watched as Shouyou immediately relaxed.
"Then, why?" Shouyou questioned. Then, with a somewhat disbelieving noise, he asked incredulously, "What, you don't think we can do it?!"
Surely that wasn't it! Tobio was cocky as heck when it came to volleyball but he made up for it by being actually great at the sport. Even an amateur as Shouyou, who has only been playing for a year or two, knew that!
Tobio sighed then promptly flicked Shouyou's forehead, ignoring his indignant whine, and continued,
"A lot of things can change. You might not even like volleyball when we get to middle school or even high school anymore."
"Haaaa? Why would I do that? And! Why do I have to be the one who changes his mind?! You can change yours too, ya know!" Shouyou said, shaking the other boy's shoulders in demand.
Tobio paused.
"Hmm, yeah."
Shouyou's jaw dropped.
"What?! What do you mean by that?! Hey! Answer me!"
##
"Dad—"
"Not now, Tobio."
##
"Hey!"
Tobio looked up from where he had been staring at the ground. Shouyou was glaring at him, hands at his hips. At that moment his best friend kind of reminded him of his mother.
"I've been looking for you all day, dumbass! Your mom's really worried about you, you know!" Shouyou said, poking him in the forehead.
They weren't in the same class this year so Shouyou hadn't seen his best friend since the other boy had dropped him off in his classroom. He had noticed that Tobio was unusually quiet on their bike to school and had worried himself silly the all day when he hadn't seen him at lunch. After school, when he had stopped by Tobio's classroom, he'd been told he had already gone home. By the time he'd gone to the Kageyama's, all he'd found was Auntie crying in the kitchen and no Tobio in sight.
It was only a lucky coincidence when that he'd decided to go to the playground first, where he found his friend sitting on the swing set, hunched over.
Glare softening, Shouyou crouched down in front of him and gazed up at his face, leaning against his knees. Tobio was frowning so hard it was almost funny but Shouyou knew there was something really wrong just by the extra wrinkle in his forehead.
"What's wrong?" He asked, pulling at Tobio's fringe gently.
"I…" A pause, before he sighed. "I don't want to play volleyball anymore."
Shouyou was so shocked he had fallen on his butt.
"W-what?! Are you serious?!" He demanded, world shaken. There was no way his best friend had just said that! Not volleyball-obsessed Kageyama Tobio!
Tobio only shrugged. Shouyou scrambled to his feet, hands gripping the sides of the swing, willing the other boy to look at him.
"But why? You love volleyball! You can't just—" His hands were now holding Tobio's shoulders, shaking him.
"Why?! You said you wanted to be the best setter in Japan! You said that you're going to toss for me in the Nationals! You promised that we'd play together! Are you taking it back now?!" He asked, chest aching at the thought.
Tobio wrapped his hands around his wrists tightly, making him stop. He still refused to look at Shouyou as he said, voice high and tight,
"I told you, didn't I?! People change their minds all the time and I just did!"
"Impossible!" He declared, because he knew his best friend would never, never ever, not want to play volleyball. "I know you! You don't just change your mid like that, not over volleyball! And besides! That was about me changing my mind, wasn't it?! And I haven't! I still wanna play! And I wanna play with you!"
There was no response. He let out a frustrated noise.
"Yama…did something happen? With auntie and uncle?" He asked softly.
Tobio only shook his head, unwilling to talk.
With a loud hmph, he pushed at his friend's shoulders until he wasn't hunching over anymore and unceremoniously plopped himself on his lap. Tobio spluttered indignantly, trying to push him away. Shouyou clung to his neck like a limpet.
"What do you think you're doing, you dumbass?!"
"You didn't want to look at me." Shouyou said, shrugging.
"So you thought sitting on my lap was a good idea?! Get off already! Someone might see!" Tobio demanded, cheeks a bright red.
"Well, you're looking at me now, aren't you? And relax! No one's around! It's pretty late after all."
Tobio stopped struggling at that.
"Now, tell Shouyou-sama what happened!" He ordered imperiously, an impish grin on his face. His best friend rolled his eyes at him.
"What makes you think that something happened?!" Tobio sniped, folding his arms across his chest and looking away.
Shouyou tilted his head.
"You've been acting really weird since this morning, your mom was crying when I went to your house and now! Now you're saying you wanna quit volleyball! How is that not weird?" He stated, poking the other's cheek.
Tobio swatted his hand away with an irritated 'stop that' and refused to speak.
"You know, I won't be getting off your lap until you tell me. And you'd just have to drag me with you if you wanna leave 'coz I'm not letting go. You should know this by now, Tobio-chan!" Shouyou teased, looping his other arm around the other boy's torso to prove it.
Tobio twitched at the nickname and Shouyou knew he was this close to getting put into a painful headlock. He smiled.
"Tobio-chaaan~" He wheedled.
With a supremely annoyed huff, Tobio covered his mouth with a hand.
"Alright already! I'll tell you so quit it!" He snarled. Shouyou immediately shut up.
"Mom and dad…they've been arguing a lot lately. And now they're getting a—a divorce." He mumbled.
"What?!" Shouyou initially exclaimed in shock but after a moment's pause, he slumped.
It really shouldn't have been much of a surprise considering the amount of times he and his best friend had had to listen to their muffled arguments inside Tobio's room. At the time, Tobio hadn't wanted to talk about it and Shouyou hadn't pushed. He tightened his hold on the other boy and buried his nose in his neck.
"I'm sorry." He mumbled and felt Tobio winding his own arms around him. He gave him another squeeze.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, him unwilling to let go, wishing he could do something to make him feel better and feeling completely helpless.
"Dad—he—he cheated on mom." Tobio whispered against his ear, tightening his hold. Shouyou let out a outraged noise at the news. Kageyama-san really was a jerk! A big jerk!
He could feel his shirt getting wet and had to hold back his own tears. His heart was hurting and he couldn't even begin to imagine how bad his best friend must be feeling that he would cry. He'd never cried before.
'I'm sorry.' He wanted to say again, but couldn't, not when he knew it wouldn't make his friend feel any better.
Instead, he held him even tighter and hoped it was enough.
##
Crash.
He stared wide-eyed at the broken vase in front of him.
"Are you crazy?! That could've hit your son!"
"I'm leaving! I'm leaving, you hear me?!"
"Go then! Go and see your woman! You don't even care about your son anymore, do you?! You aren't just leaving me, you're leaving him too! You're the one who tore this family apart, remember that you selfish prick!"
"I'm sick of you blaming me for everything that's gone wrong with your life! I've given this family everything I had for years! I'm done, you hear me?! Done!"
"Fuck you, you bastard!"
Slam.
##
The sun has long disappeared when they decide to go home. The streets were quiet and they only met a handful of people along the way. Which was why Tobio was confused as to why, exactly, Shouyou felt the need to hold on to his hand.
"What if we get lost, huh? Don't you know it's safer to stick together?!" Shouyou reasoned after the hundredth time his best friend had asked.
"What are you, a kid?" Tobio snarked back.
"Oh, come on! We used to do this a lot when we were younger!"
"Exactly."
Shouyou rolled his eyes and smiled. No matter how many times Tobio had complained about the hand holding over the years, he'd never once let go. This time was no exception.
"Hey, Yama?" He called out after a few minutes of silent walking. Their connected hands swayed to and fro between them.
"What." Tobio deadpanned.
"I'm here."
"What?" The other boy repeated, stopping.
Shouyou looked at him.
"I'll always be here. No matter what."
Tobio raised an eyebrow.
"Duh."
##
"Come to Kitagawa Daichi with me!"
##
"Hey,Yama! Yama!" Shouyou called out as soon as he entered the Kageyama household, throwing a wave at Auntie before he ran up the stairs and barged into Tobio's room.
Said boy was lying on his bed with a ball in his hands. He looked to have been about to toss it up when Shouyou entered. Grinning, he jumped into the bed and lay face down on his best friend's belly.
"I saw it!" He said, words muffled by his friend's shirt. He was breathless and sweaty from biking as fast as he could back home.
"You saw what?" Tobio asked, gently prying him off and pushing him until he sat up before he started wiping Shouyou's sweat off with the tissues he had on his headboard.
"The Little Giant! I saw him!" He replied, swatting the other boy's hands away.
"The what?"
"The Little Giant! He's Karasuno's ace! Me and the others were biking around town and I saw their match on TV!" He said excitedly, waving his hands around.
"Karasuno? Isn't that the school in the next town? The one that went to Nationals this year?" Tobio asked, perking up once he recognized the name.
"Yeah, yeah!" Shouyou nodded. "He's only like, 170cm and he blasted through the other team's blockers like they were nothing, like they weren't there! He was like 'paw'! He was flying!" He gushed, whole body trembling.
"Wow." Tobio commented, impressed. He resolved to do a little research later.
"He was so awesome! I'm gonna be just like him! I'm gonna be the next Little Giant!" He proclaimed, arms thrown up in a V. His eyes glazed over.
"Okay, future Little Giant. Before you go saying things like that, why don't you concentrate on actually trying to grow taller? You haven't been drinking milk like I told you! Hey, are you listening? Hey!" Tobio hit Shouyou with his pillow to draw him out of his daydreaming and into reality.
"But Yama! You've seen my parents! They're not exactly giants or even average! I'm doomed." He moaned, lying down the bed and hugging a pillow sullenly, ignoring Tobio's milk comment. He hated milk. Ugh. He didn't understand why the other boy was so adamant about it and how he managed to stomach so many juice boxes of it a day.
Tobio couldn't really say anything to that.
"Well," He pulled the pillow away and poked Shouyou in the forehead. "With my toss and your speed and jumping power, no blockers will be able to stop you. You'll be invincible." He stated confidently.
Shouyou grinned.
"We're gonna be amazing."
##
"Well, duh, where else would I go, dumbass? You'd be lost without me!"
##
This is my first attempt at: writing a gay fic and a kid fic AU. I haven't written anything in a year so I'm rusty. I just hope it isn't utter rubbish.
This is part one of three one shots in a series. I thought of making it multi-chaptered but then steady updates, something I hesitate to commit to right now, might be expected so. This part is what I call in my head as the Elementary Arc, pardon my lack of imagination.
THIS WHOLE FIC WAS JUST AN EXCUSE FOR ME TO WRITE KAGEHINA SHAMELESS CUDDLING AND NUZZLING. I wanted to put more but decided not to. There's still the next parts! I just really wanted kagehina cuddles dammit.
The next part will come when it comes. /shot