Kageyama didn't see Oikawa again until shortly before the summer training camp. He had been walking around, trying to find somewhere to practice now that the gym was closed, when he spotted Oikawa coming out of the local volleyball club. He had been surprised to see him, even more surprised when the older boy hadn't immediately walked away from him. Yeah, Oikawa hadn't exactly been happy to talk to him, he made that painfully obvious when he asked his nephew to take a picture of Kageyama bowing to him, but he had actually listened to him. Not only had he listened to him, he had also given him advice.

At that moment, Kageyama was too focused on volleyball to really catch onto the fact that Oikawa had actually helped him. But later, after summer training camp. After he and Hinata had finally nailed that new quick, Kageyama had sat in his room, contemplating the words and gestures Oikawa had unknowingly given. Or maybe it had been knowingly. Kageyama didn't know how Oikawa's brain worked. The other boy was certainly more intelligent than Kageyama could ever be.

Received 14:23: Oikawa mentioned he talked to you. Everything work out?

Sent 14:26: We're getting there.

It was shortly after that that Kageyama was walking to his apartment after staying after practice with Hinata and he stopped short when he saw not only Iwaizumi leaning against his apartment building, but a pouting Oikawa ask well. Kageyama quickly glanced around, wondering if perhaps they were waiting for someone else, when Iwaizumi spotted him. "Kageyama!"

So, no. No one else.

Kageyama slowly made his way toward the two, noting that Oikawa had lost the pout but was now staring at him impassively. "Mind if we come up?" Iwaizumi asked when Kageyama got in front of them. Kageyama, who had no idea what was going on, just nodded and led the way into the building and to his apartment. He opened his door and gestured for the two boys to precede him. They did so, standing awkwardly in the entrance as Kageyama moved into the apartment and switched on the lights.

"You can go ahead," Kageyama muttered, pausing by the refrigerator. He wasn't sure what he had – probably just water. He didn't really remember the last time he had gone shopping.

Kageyama grabbed drinks and walked to where the two boys were sitting on the floor around a small table. Kageyama's apartment was one room, his bed by the window, a small desk across from that. The kitchen consisted of a counter, stove and refrigerator. He slid to the floor across from Oikawa, handing the two drinks. They both thanked them, though Kageyama noticed Oikawa's eyes flickering around the room, a frown pasted on his face.

"Uh, what are you two…"

"I thought I could help you with that homework we talked about the other day," Iwaizumi said slowly.

Kageyama decided not to question it. It was true he needed help with his English homework and he wasn't going to turn the other boy down. It didn't explain why Iwaizumi had randomly shown up, and it really didn't explain why Oikawa was there, but he figured he'd find out at some point. Kageyama grabbed his bookbag, pulling out his notebook and opening it to the correct page. He pushed it toward Iwaizumi and then blinked as Oikawa grabbed it from Iwaizumi's grasp. Iwaizumi glared at his best friend, but Kageyama thought he also saw a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes.

"What do you need help with, Tabio-chan?" Oikawa said, the usual brightness lacking from his voice.

"Uh…all of it?" Kageyama muttered.

Oikawa winced and shot a glare toward Iwaizumi, "Really?" he hissed.

Iwaizumi shrugged his shoulders and motioned toward the book. Oikawa sighed and turned back to Kageyama. "Okay, listen Tobio-chan…"

Kageyama had no idea how this had happened. At first, Oikawa had been helping him with his homework. The next thing he knew, he was telling the two boys about the summer training camp in Tokyo while eating food that Iwaizumi had left (at some point) to pick up.

Kageyama hadn't even noticed him leaving.

"Ah! I wish we could have gone!" Oikawa groaned. He pointed a chopstick at Kageyama. "You should be grateful, Tobio-chan! Training with all those schools…" he broke off, looking slightly dreamy.

"Idiot," Iwaizumi cut in. Oikawa began to protest but Iwaizumi ignored him. Kageyama fought back the urge to smile. He couldn't smile – Hinata had told him on more than one occasion that it made him look scary. He couldn't smile in front of Oikawa. Not when the older boy seemed to actually be getting along with him. "So, who did you practice with?" Iwaizumi asked.

"What?"

"You said that shrimpy and the tall glasses kid practiced with the captains from Nekoma and Fukurodani. Who did you practice with?"

"Oh," Kageyama's brow furrowed. "No one."

Iwaizumi's mouth fell open and Oikawa scowled, "Tobio-chan!"

"No, I mean, it wasn't because…" Kageyama sighed, "The toss. The one Hinata wanted," he glanced at Oikawa and then looked away just as quickly. "The one you said to give. I had to practice."

Neither Iwaizumi or Oikawa spoke for a moment and Kageyama looked up at the two, confused. Iwaizumi was staring at Oikawa. Oikawa was staring at Kageyama. "You-you had to practice?!"

Kageyama frowned. "Yes? It was difficult. I kept messing up. A few times, in the practice matches, I got it all wrong. Sometimes it was too short. Others too long. Hinata wasn't able to hit any of them," he muttered the last part, still upset about the fact.

He then heard a sound he hadn't been expecting. Oikawa. Laughing. In Kageyama's apartment.

And he didn't even seem to be laughing at Kageyama.

It wasn't that mean or mocking laugh he was used to. No, this was different. Somewhat disbelieving. Pure amusement. "You- you – messed up a toss? More than once?" Oikawa laughed.

Okay, so he was making fun of him?

"You really are a crappy guy," Iwaizumi muttered to his best friend, whose laughter sputtered out at the words. He turned to Kageyama. "He just meant that it isn't often you can't get a toss."

"Oh," Kageyama thought back to the multiple times the last few weeks that his tosses had been less than perfect and shrugged. "It happens. Especially with someone like Hinata."

Oikawa was still staring at him. "Hinata? Shrimpy?"

"Hinata had never played on a real team before Karasuno," Kageyama explained. Both Oikawa and Iwaizumi's eyes widened in surprise. "The junior high he went to didn't have enough people sign up. So he taught himself. Problem is that it's difficult to learn how to receive…or block…or even spike alone. So, he's kind of a mess. But he's quick. And he's learning."

"I knew that his receives were mediocre," Oikawa muttered, still looking faintly surprised. "I didn't really expect that."

"You sure are telling us a lot," Iwaizumi said, his eyebrows raised. "Should you be telling us these things?"

Kageyama shrugged, "We're…different now. I don't think it really matters." He looked at the other two boys proudly, "Our team is completely different than we were at Inter-High."

Oikawa rolled his eyes, "Okay, Tobio-chan. We'll still win!"

Kageyama shrugged, not wanting to start an argument. For the first time, he felt like he and Oikawa might actually be getting somewhere. He didn't want to ruin it.

Just a little while later, Iwaizumi and Oikawa stood and bid goodbye. "We'll come back next week," Iwaizumi said, not even looking toward Oikawa who was once again pouting, though less forcefully as he had been.

Kageyama found himself agreeing and he went to sleep that night wondering what the hell was going on.

Oikawa and Iwaizumi returned each week to help Kageyama with whatever homework he had. Iwaizumi always left at some point to get them dinner, which he refused to let Kageyama give him money for, and then they spent the next couple hours talking. Surprisingly enough, the only argument Oikawa and Kageyama had gotten into was because Oikawa wanted to rearrange the apartment and Kageyama refused. The older boy had pouted for an hour before Kageyama finally gave in.

More and more things seemed to have appeared in the apartment ever since. Kageyama was sure that blanket on his bed was new. And there seemed to be more and more volleyball videos by his television – some that he had watched with Oikawa and Iwaizumi and some he knew he had never seen. He kept finding other things, random things, that he knew hadn't belonged to him.

Things had been going well those weeks. He had talked to his mother often, practice had been going great, all their new moves seemed to be coming together, and he had even managed to get along with Tsukishima. Apparently there were others in school who had noticed Kageyama's good mood. People in class had actually been speaking to him and a couple of girls had even handed him notes – not that he had read them, but the thought was nice.

He probably should get around to reading those.

Things had been going so well that Kageyama felt terrified when he made his way to his apartment, prepared to see Iwaizumi and Oikawa, only to see one person missing. "Where's Iwaizumi?" He asked bluntly.

"Rude," Oikawa snapped. "I came all the way here to help you when Iwa-chan had to go home! I could have decided not to come!"

Kageyama frowned, "Iwaizumi went home?"

"Tobio!"

"Come in, Oikawa," Kageyama said, feeling the corner of his mouth twitch. Oikawa followed him in, grumbling as they went into Kageyama's apartment.

"What do we have today?" Oikawa asked, grabbing Kageyama's bag and digging through it himself. Kageyama saw him pause. Kageyama, who had been getting the two of them drinks, paused when he saw the look on Oikawa's face. It was a look he hadn't seen in quite awhile. That look that said how pissed he was but he was trying to cover it. "Tobio?"

Kageyama wondered, briefly, when Oikawa had dropped the honorifics.

"Huh?"

"What are these?" He asked pleasantly, pulling out the notes Kageyama had received.

Kageyama glanced at them briefly before shrugging, "Don't know. Some girls gave them to me."

Oikawa blinked, looking first at Kageyama and then down at the notes. His eyes traveled back to Kageyama once again. "Tobio, have you read these?" Oikawa asked pleasantly, holding the notes away from him as if they had a particularly bad odor.

"No? I mean, I was going to but I just haven't-" Kageyama broke off as Oikawa ripped the notes in half. Then again. And again with a completely blank look on his face. "Oikawa, what are you-"

"Do you know why girls give you notes, Tobio-chan?" Oikawa asked pleasantly. Kageyama frowned in confusion. What happened to the no honorifics? And why did he feel a chill run out his spine when Oikawa spoke with that tone?

"Uh,,,"

"Girls give notes to guys that they like," Oikawa said, still in that sickly polite voice. "I would know. I get at least five a day."

"Okay?"

"But you know the difference?" Oikawa asked, slowly climbing to his feet. "I turn them down. I tell them that, as great as they are, I actually have someone."

He what? Kageyama thought his ears were ringing. Someone…else…?

Who?

"Seriously, Tobio-chan?" Oikawa asked, a scowl on his face. Kageyama frowned. Oh. Apparently he had said that last part out loud. "What the – why do you think I'm here?!"

"To help me with homework?"

Oikawa groaned. "I told Iwa-chan this was a bad idea! But he convinced me to come here and now look what happened! Things were fine when we barely spoke! But now – Why did you have those notes, Tobio-chan?!"

"Because they gave them to me?" Kageyama asked, just as confused now as he was when this conversation started. He glanced around Oikawa, looking at the strips of paper. "I don't remember who those are from," Kageyama informed him. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Oikawa's mouth dropped open and he stared at Kageyama in disbelief. "I – ugh!" he yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. "You are impossible! How could you not get it?"

Kageyama was definitely missing something. "I don't …what?"

The next thing Kageyama knew, he was pushed back onto the bed, his shirt pulled off. "Oikawa!"

But Oikawa was staring down at the mark on Kageyama's chest. Kageyama felt his breath catch in his chest as Oikawa moved, his hand shaking as he slowly reached out and gently ran a finger of the mark. It was like Kageyama's entire body light with electricity. He gasped loudly, reaching up to grab Oikawa's hand and pressing it more firmly against the mark. He closed his eyes in an attempt to keep himself from losing control.

"Tobio," Oikawa whispered, his own voice cracking. Kageyama forced himself to open his eyes, staring up at Oiakwa as he gasped. Slowly, ever so slowly, Kageyama lifted his free hand and gently moved it toward Oikawa's chest. Oikawa grabbed it with his own hand, pressing it back against the bed and Kageyama felt a lump rise in his throat. Right. Right, he couldn't…Oikawa didn't want…

But then Oikawa was stripping off his own shirt and he had lifted Kageyama's hand toward his mark. Kageyama gasped once again as his hand was gently placed on the mark. Oikawa gasped loudly, mimicking Kageyama's earlier action and pressing his hand harder against the mark. "You are mine," Oikawa said, his voice a low hiss. "This is my mark. Mine, mine, mine!"

"Yours!" Kageyama agreed, gripping Oikawa's hand even tighter as Oikawa leaned forward and gently pressed their foreheads together. The two sat like that for an unknown amount of time when both jumped, breaking contact as Oikawa's phone went off. Oikawa groaned loudly, reaching into his pocket and pulling the phone out. Kageyama continued to rest against the bed, staring up at the ceiling. What – what was going on?

"Iwa-chan," Oikawa growled as he answered the phone. He moved, rolling to lay beside Kageyama. His arm was pressed against Kageyama's. " Uh huh," Oikawa said, answering whatever Iwaizumi asked. "Well…it didn't exactly go according to plan," he said, making Kageyama turn to look at him. He blinked when he saw that Oikawa was already looking at him. Their noses were a finger width apart and Kageyama could feel Oikawa's breath against his lips. "No, no. I don't think I messed it up," Oikawa continued talking, still staring at Kageyama.

Kageyama jumped as he felt Oikawa's hand wrap itself around his own. "Hmm," Oikawa said, a slight smile on his face. "Yes, okay. Okay! I admit it Iwa-chan. You were right," he smiled gently. "I think we're going to be fine. And Iwa-chan?" he paused for a few seconds as his hand tightened around Kageyama's. "Thank you."

He hung up and Kageyama's lips stretched into a smile.