Just as you are

By ArokuRaita

Disclaimer: 'Haikyuu!' belongs to Haruichi Furudate and this fanfic was written nonprofit.

7. Sacrifices

Sugawara was lying on his bed, sleepless. He knew that the idea that had taken shape in his mind was dark. It had nothing to do with strategy or justice, but it was closer to the premise of 'the end justifies the means'. When he told Tsukishima, the blonde boy looked at him with wide eyes and a half smile. "Suga-san, it's great, but... Are you sure? If you want, I'll do it, I'm used to saying that kind of things", he said. The third setter had replied that everything was fine, but now he doubted it. Suga buried his face in the pillow.

"I can't back out now. Kageyama, Daichi... forgive me"

Kageyama played as always during class, not noticing the looks of love and hate he received from his teammates. He was happy for playing volleyball, nothing more.

Tsukishima saw Sugawara approaching the dark haired setter and leaving the gym together. He didn't feel particularly nervous, but wanted to know what kind of words his senpai would use to diminish Tobio's confidence. So, he tried to get close to the window, where he could hear quite well. But no one else should notice, or it could cause problems for his third year ally.

"Kageyama, we need to talk about your attitude in the last weeks"

"Ah! Tell me, senpai"

"Well, I think it's not appropriate for you to smile all the time…"

"Hinata told me something similar before... It's just that playing volleyball is my passion, and sharing it with my friends is great! I don't remember having felt something like this before".

"Really? Er... I think that's... nice"

I knew Sugawara-san couldn't do it, Tsukishima sighed. After taking a deep breath, he opened the gym's door.

"Suga-san, by any chance, do you have ...? Oh, are you with Kageyama? I'm sorry to interrupt you"

The gray-haired young man looked at him, stupefied. The brun setter, on the other hand, had his eternal smile on his face. Apparently, he hadn't noticed anything.

"I just wanted to ask if you have an extra towel that you can lend me, Suga-san. I can't find mine". It was a mediocre excuse, but it was the first thing that came to his mind. "But, since I see you here, Kageyama, I'd like to tell you that I miss your previous personality: it intimidated the opponents. With your current attitude, I can't stop thinking that you are a weak player"

He thought about adding 'false, prudish and cloying attitude', but 'weak' had already done the job. Color and smile had disappeared from Tobio's face.

"I-I'm not weak, Tsukishima-kun"

The honorific 'kun' caught him off guard. That the King of the Court referred to a common plebeian in such a way was too funny. He almost laughed, but Sugawara-san's face stopped him.

His senpai was looking at Kageyama with concern!

"Kageyama, you're not weak..." He felt Kei's eyes pierce him furiously. Koushi avoided looking at him while he looked for precise words and added: "However, that's the impression you give. And that's negative for our team. Please think about it"

That words had affected number 9, apparently, because his expression was sad. How could I do something like that? What kind of senpai am I?, Suga asked guiltily to himself.

"I understand, Sugawara-senpai. I'll try to do something about it"

Tsukishima glanced at his two companions. Sensitive people were very annoying.

When class was over, Sawamura called Kageyama and asked him what was happening, because he seemed depressed. The young man told him about his talk with Sugawara and Tsukishima (adding that he would work even more to be stronger). When going home, he declined all the invitations that some teammates made him to accompany him and went alone to his house. He didn't even want to hang out with Hinata. Tobio felt as if his chest was empty. But it was Friday; the next day, he would meet his senpai and they would have a good time. He wouldn't call him 'weak' or ask him to change his attitude. At least, he hoped so.

Night passed quickly and Tobio woke up late. He got ready as best he could and ran to the meeting point with Oikawa-san, who was waiting with a smile on his face. Although there were no girls surrounding him, many young and adult women turned to look at his face.

Tooru had arrived an hour earlier, only because he was nervous. He didn't even pay attention to the feminine glances: all he cared about was his kouhai and what he would think of him. Do I look good? Will he like me? When he saw him arrive (a few minutes after ten o'clock), he felt a great relief, because Karasuno's setter was coming... with his gym clothes.

"Hello, Oikawa-san! Forgive me for being so late, have you been waiting for a long time?"

"No, don't worry... Hey, did you wear this because it was the first thing you found? Were you that belated?"

The young man shook his head.

"I'm using clean clothes. In fact, it took me longer to choose them than to be ready. And I brought a ball. Today we'll play volleyball, right, Oikawa-san?"

The older one sighed. His kouhai was as cute as clumsy. At least that remained the same.

"I hadn't planned a match for today, Tobio-chan. I didn't even bring clothes to change. I'm sorry".

A pout of sorrow appeared on the Karasuno student's face, but disappeared immediately.

"Er, then... What will we do?" he asked, confused.

Tooru decided to take a chance.

"Have you ever been on a date, Tobio-chan?"

The younger one's eyes were wide open due to surprise.

"No. Isn't that something that's done only with women?"

"Men can also have dates between them. And this would be like one".

"And what do we have to do?"

Oikawa was surprised of himself. By now, he would've beaten his kouhai for being so stupid, but he just wanted to start the date. They had been standing at the same place for a long time. So he put an arm around his kouhai's shoulder and took him for a walk.

"Lots of things: we can have ice cream, watch a movie, eat hamburgers, or go to a karaoke... OK, make volleyball tosses too (but don't ask me to show you my serve!), go to an amusement park..."

"Can we do all that in one day?" the brun boy said, impressed. His eyes were shining.

"If you have money and time, yes. If not, you have to settle for one or two options"

"Can it be three? I brought money"

My adorable kouhai will kill me with his cuteness, the captain of Aobajohsai's team thought.

The first place that Tobio chose was the amusement park. He laughed as never before, tried all the mechanical games, got dizzy in one of them, managed to get to the bathroom to throw up and went out, ready and willing to try more games. His companion watched him, astonished: it was as if he had never gone to an amusement park before! When he asked, Kageyama replied that his parents had invited him throughout his childhood, but he wasn't interested because there were no volleyball courts.

Second place was the cinema. They went to see an action movie and moved away from the screen and other spectators. There, Tooru passed one of his arms over his partner's shoulder again, while the first year watched special effects in silence, with a stunned face.

"¿Do you like the movie, Tobio-chan?" Oikawa asked, caressing the young man's shoulder fondly. When he didn't reply, he looked at him: in darkness, Kageyama seemed to nod. He's such a fool! Doesn't he realize I can barely see him? Oikawa exclaimed to himself.

Once outside, they went to a fast food restaurant and ordered hamburgers. Luckily, Kageyama had a lot of money with him, because he ate thrice than his senpai.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were starving?"

"But I'm not that hungry, Oikawa-san..."

Definitely, the boy was a fiasco as a partner for a date, for both women and men. The third year setter looked at him, with his cheek resting on his hand and a smile on his lips.

It had been a great day.

"In the end, we couldn't play volleyball. I'm sorry, Tobio-chan" Oikawa apologized when they arrived at Kageyama's house.

"It doesn't matter, I had a great time and did many new things" he replied.

"I'm glad. Well, then, I'm going..."

"Ah, T-Tooru! Do you wanna come to my house for a moment? I have volleyball videos, some magazines and curry"

His sense of hospitality revolves around what he likes, but it's so sweet that I can't say no, Tooru told to himself.

"If it doesn't bother you, of course I do. Thank you"

Once inside, Oikawa wondered why he disliked Kageyama so much. Did he hate him just because he was a volleyball genius? But he was almost useless without that! He didn't know how to have fun doing other things, he didn't have other interests or conversation topics, and he even didn't know how to make friends (except in Karasuno and now, with his new personality)... To put it bluntly, he had no life outside volleyball.

It was sad. It was sad. And I didn't realize that his volleyball talent was the only thing he had and valued about him!

"Oikawa-san, I'll warm up some rice and curry for dinner ... Eh? Are you really that hungry?"

Tobio had only said something about food and his senpai was hugging him with affectionately. What to do? The only thing that he could think of was to remain still in the same place.

"I'm sorry I was such a bad senpai during Kitagawa Daiichi years. I was selfish and I know I hurt you. I'm so sorry, Tobio! The only thing that makes me happy is that now you have a team that loves and respects you..."

Kageyama's chest began to shake as if he had hiccups. Is he laughing? Oikawa moved back and saw his kouhai crying. His expression was of pure pain.

"I don't know if they love me, Tooru!"

Only three more chapters!

I remember it hurt me to write about Suga being deliberately cruel with Tobio and feeling grateful with Tsukki, lol.

After this fanfic I really wanted to write an OiKage fic. And I'm on it!

Regards and thank you very much for your reviews!