At first, he thought he was just imagining the whole thing. Maybe he was just missing some social cue again. Maybe he was just lost in his thoughts. Maybe he was just tired.
It was early in the Monday morning when he first noticed it at the breakfast. His mother, soft-natured beauty in his forties with a black hair and gentle eyes, was doing her usual morning chores like cooking, washing dishes or cleaning the kitchen after cooking, while Tobio was wolfing down his breakfast rice like he had been starving for days.

"Mom, can you pass me the milk?" he had asked in the between of gulping the food and his mother had smiled and told him to chew his food properly before swallowing but still took the milk from the fridge.
Halfway she had suddenly stopped with the carton in her hand, but it wasn't like normally when you stop to think whether you left the stove on or when you stop to feel your keys in your pockets before leaving your house. It was more like when somebody presses pause while watching a film.

"Uh, mom?" he tried meekly, slightly creeped out by the situation. His mother had the gentle smile stuck on her face and her eyes staring into the distance. She started moving again and put down the carton in front of him.

"What is it, Tobio?" she asked surprised that his son was being so talkative during breakfast.

"Uhm… No, it was nothing", the boy said reaching for the milk and turned his attention back to his food.

By the weekend he had already forgotten about it.

But then he was walking home from practice and a bird flying past him froze in air mid-flight. It had only lasted for a second or two, but it had happened. While watching the bird fly away to the sky, Tobio realized that he had no clue what was going on.
Since then it had been a regular occurrence that nobody else seemed to notice so maybe it wasn't anything serious. A bit scary, yes, but Tobio wasn't one to know about medical stuff and if there really were something wrong with his brain, he wasn't going to let anyone know so near the Spring Tournament qualifiers. And it's not like it caused any major problems or interfered his playing in any way, so what was there to worry about.

Once it happened when Nishinoya dropped his phone on the floor and Tobio got on the libero's good side when he managed to catch it. Then there was the time when he got to pet the stray cat without getting scratched. And all it took was a second or two before everything went back to normal.
So, all in all, it had to be just his imagination and even if it wasn't, it was nothing worth worrying about.

The Spring Inter-High qualifiers arrived quicker than Karasuno was prepared to.
Everyone had been waiting for a rematch against Tooru Oikawa, the ultimate setter of the Miyagi Prefecture and the biggest reason they were dropped out last time.

Karasuno managed to beat some greatest teams of the prefecture to get there, now they were here again, in the top four teams. When they watched the Bluecastle scoring the last important point in the quarter-finals, they got even more fired up for revenge.

The game was wild and full of action from the very first serve.

Hinata had jumped, his mouth was open and ready to shout like he always did before spiking. But Tobio heard nothing and he realized something was wrong when the ball Nishinoya had received took way too long to reach him.

"Again?" he heard a frustrated voice. A frustrated voice from the other side of the net.
The blockers of the Bluecastle were ready to jump for a block. The other players were prepared to receive the ball and head for a counter-attack. In the middle of them stood the Great King with a baffled look.

"Oikawa-san?"

"Tobio?" the older setter looked confused and looked at his team.

"Are you… are you…? Is this...?" Tobio spoke up first though he had no idea what to say. Oikawa spread his hands trying to form his thoughts into words.

"I thought I was imagining the whole thing", admitted Oikawa, still reluctant to talk to him, "well, I was hoping that would've been the case but apparently not."

"Good", he couldn't help but feel relieved, "then there isn't anything wrong with me."

"There is a lot wrong with you", Oikawa shook his head, "are you behind this all? Is this some kind of a messed-up prank you are trying to throw me off with?"

"I don't think a prank can hold a person up in the air like that", Tobio looked at Hinata next to him. He wanted to ignore the cold sweat on his back or how hard his hands were shaking and so far he was doing an alright job at it.

"Wow, Shrimpy's jumping position looks really messed up, how are his knees still working when he doesn't even try to be careful", Oikawa disapproved and took a good, long look at his teammate, "you really are just a bunch of freaks."

"So, how long have you been… uhm… noticed these time stops?" Tobio wanted to change the subject from Hinata's freakiness to the situation. Hinata sure did look dumb stuck in air like that.

"Since September, but it has always only lasted for a second or two", the older answered, "this time things probably got messed up and froze twice in a row or something."

"Why? How?"

"For god's sake, you can't expect me to know everything!" Oikawa raised his voice and marched back to where he was standing earlier, right next to Iwaizumi. "Let's just stay still and hope this will be over soon, so I can get back to kicking your butt and we will never have to talk about this again. "

"I'm starting to get hungry", Oikawa informed him, "and bored. But mostly hungry. How long has it been? At least two hours, I guess."
Oikawa glanced at the clock on the wall, but it had been frozen in the same time for... well, it felt like hours. They had held their positions firmly but preparing for something that may never happen was exhausting. He let out a deep sigh and lifted the volleyball net to walk under it and out from the court.

"What if the game starts and we aren't there?" Tobio asked nervously, his eyes following Oikawa walking past him. He didn't really care if Hinata missed a spike or two, but it would be really bad for him to be gone when it was time to set the ball.

"Yeah, well what if it doesn't start and we pass out because we are hungry and tired and exhausted because we were stuck just waiting for it? We shouldn't give up, but we shouldn't weaken ourselves either."
Tobio couldn't argue with him, not because his logic was flawless but rather because he didn't know what say. He stood there wondering how did Oikawa always get the last word in their talks?
He watched Oikawa making his way to the bags of the Karasuno's team and reaching into them. Kageyama was just about to ask him what his rival was doing when he turned to him.

"Does your team have anything to eat? Or do we have to become outlaws and break into the café at the entrance?"

"I think there might be some fruit left somewhere", Tobio thought how during the break they fed themselves with apples and sport drinks, "coach doesn't like us getting too stuffed in the middle of the games."
After losing their last tournament game, they were treated to a huge lunch, but Kageyama felt like that information wouldn't make Oikawa feel any better about this situation.

"Or maybe you just don't have the budget for anything else", smiled Oikawa condescendingly at Kageyama's grumpy frown and proceeded to go through every bag one by one, "huh nothing but cheap energy bars and water bottles, well that's what I thought…"

"That's rude. Why aren't you going through your team's bags?" Kageyama walked up closer to him before he had turned inside-out every bag they had brought with them.

"Because there is nothing in them, of course. Makki and Mattsun finished off everything down to the very last crumb. That's it. I'm going to go check out the café", Oikawa decided and threw the useless bags away.

"Wait", Tobio hurried after him, since he really didn't want to be left alone right now.

"Following me like a baby duckling", Oikawa looked displeased, "fine, we should probably stay together anyway."

Their walk to the café was silent, the only sound being their footsteps and occasional frustrated huffing. They were both nervously waiting for the game behind them start again and mentally preparing themselves to rush back to the court. But they reached the entrance with nothing extra happening.

The café had a few customers in. Tobio had actually never been there but it was nicer than he had expected. There were a few small round tables with beige tablecloths and black wooden chairs spread in the room. The room had big windows and up in the corner was a tv screen, probably meant to play ongoing games. The lady with a green apron at the cash register had stopped while giving back the change to an older man with a coffee cup in his hand. Oikawa bravely walked behind the counter and past her to browse through the sandwiches.

"Should we leave some money for them?" Tobio asked.

"We probably should but I don't take my money with me to the games", Oikawa answered throwing some sandwiches to the counter, "do you want an orange or an apple juice?"

"Is there any milk?" he asked, and Oikawa rolled his eyes. Milk was so much better than juice anyway so what did he roll his eyes for? After a moment of searching, Oikawa got up with a juice bottle in one hand and a small milk carton in the other assuring Tobio that the café wouldn't go bankrupt because of a few sandwiches and drinks.

"If you're that worried, then we will just have to come back later to order enough food to make up for this", Oikawa sighed and climbed over the counter.
The sandwiches were wrapped in plastic and stuffed with cheese and salad.

Half of the stuffing tried to spill out when Tobio unwrapped his meal. He was hungrier than he had realized so he ended up gulping the food faster than his breakfast that morning. Oikawa looked horrified at his table manners, he seemed to be only halfway done with his. Tobio was used to his lunch breaks being quiet and peaceful, but this wasn't a similar comfortable silence. He glanced at Oikawa, who seemed to be lost in his thoughts.

"Hey", Oikawa spoke up, "wouldn't it be fun to go find Ushiwaka and make him do something really embarrassing?"

"What?"

"We could draw on his face with a marker or pull down his shorts", the third-year kept suggesting.

"I don't want to pull down Ushijima's shorts", Tobio said slowly.

"Me neither! Obviously! But it would really serve him right", Oikawa had a weird grin on his face, but suddenly it faded away and turned into a grimace, "eww… Imagine if the time started again when I'm halfway pulling his shorts down…"
Oikawa stood up again. Tobio got ready to get up as well but the other looked at him funnily.

"I'm going to the bathroom so may I have a little privacy, please? Or are you going to follow me there as well?"

"O-of course not!"

"I wonder if the time is staying still outside, too", Oikawa wondered out-loud, "or are we just stuck in a weird alternative dimension where there is no way out? Ooh, maybe there was a distortion in the time and space continuum and we stumbled into a space between parallel universes?"
They didn't know it, but if it were a regular day, it would be getting dark out already.

"Parallel… what?" Tobio was sure Oikawa was saying something smart, but it was too complicated for him to grasp any of it. He was getting too tired to focus on anything. But he sure didn't like that look Oikawa was giving him right now.

"Oh you, Tobio, do you know anything about the time and space continuum or parallel universes?" Tooru laughed

"No", he admitted, "but if you are so smart then why won't you tell me about it?"

"It's when… it's how…. Whatever, it would just go in one ear and out the other with you anyway so there's no reason to bother", Oikawa brushed it off as if it didn't matter, "seriously, have you never seen a sci-fi-movie? Or any movies, really."

"I've seen some movies", he grumpily defended himself, "so, are we going to take a look outside?"

The match day was sunny and bright with a pretty blue sky and only a few small clouds. Everything looked normal until you realized that nothing was moving. If things had been creepy inside the gym, then they were at least 10 times creepier outside it. Everything was eerily calm and lifeless. Well, the games inside had already started so there weren't many people outside and the tournament venue wasn't right next to a heavy traffic, but the complete lack of sound must have been one of the worst things about the whole situation. No cars driving by, no birds singing, no people talking – it made Tobio feel even worse. Seeing the world around them entirely stopped was now more evident than before.

"Hmh, I don't know what you expected", Oikawa's voice was so smug he could've said" I told you so" instead.

"But wasn't this your idea though?"
Without saying a word, Oikawa sat down on the concrete stairs, he was suddenly being too quiet and Tobio didn't know how to hold up a conversation.

"Maybe we should go back inside", he suggested, somehow it felt a lot safer indoors.

"Yeah? And do what? Keep waiting?" Oikawa answered, his brows furrowed, refusing to look at Kageyama. "Do you hate me or something?"

"What? I don't. I don't hate you", Tobio was confused, "I thought you hated me."

"I don't hate you", Oikawa took a deep breath before continuing," but I don't think I like you enough to be stuck with you for the eternity either."

"This isn't my fault."

"Who cares, I'm getting tired anyway", the third year turned his back to Tobio and stormed indoors.
"There might be something to sleep on in the storage room", Oikawa said when they returned inside, thinking that anything would be better than cold wood floor and made his way into the storage right next to the gym. The room was filled with volleyball nets and ball carts. It smelled stuffy inside. Oikawa took a long look at the equipment and called Tobio out to give him a hand. Oikawa seemed to be in a better mood all of a sudden, Tobio thought, maybe he wasn't the only one stressed out by this situation.
They built themselves a comfy nest to the back of the storage room. Next to the court, just in case the time started flowing again and they would need to hurry back to the game. Sure, that would need a creative explanation, but Oikawa assured them that they would come up with something.

"We take turns sleeping because I don't want to be caught sleeping with you in the storage room in the middle of our semi-final game", the third-year ordered. Tobio was going to say that they would be caught together anyway but Oikawa didn't leave Tobio any time for a counter-argument.
They had used yoga mats and spare sport vests as paddings. Sure, the equipment smelled like old sweat and musky dust, but it was better than laying straight on the floor. And the firm gymnastic mattresses did sort of work as cushions.

"I take the first turn because I'm older and having a harder time because I'm stuck with you, while you on the other hand must be having the time of your life because you're getting to spend time with me", he continued and turned his back to Kageyama, starting to settle down on the mattresses, "wake me up immediately if something happens or I'll make you regret it."

"I really hoped it would've just been a nightmare", Oikawa mumbled and let out a big yawn when he woke up, "I really, really hoped so."

"Me too", answered Tobio focused on filing his nails. He had sat down near the sleeping boy, but he wasn't comfortable with so much time to spare. Usually he just practiced on his times off but now it felt weird to do so in front of so many frozen players.

"The lights are still on", Oikawa looked up at the ceiling lights, "Tobio, does this mean we have infinite electricity?"

"We can turn them off", Tobio offered and didn't understand why Oikawa was giving him that weird look again.

"You know, if there were a pair of perverts in this same situation, there would probably be a lot more skirt flipping involved", Oikawa said looking up at a group of cute girls in the crowd through the slightly opened door, "I have my fangirls, so I don't need to even think about stooping myself that low. Fortunately, they have me keeping an eye on you in case you try anything creepy."

"That's gross", Tobio mumbled at him after finding the smiling girls cheering for Bluecastle, based on their white blazers and light brown skirts, "I would never do that."

"Do you even have any interest in girls? Like that cute new manager of yours or the cuter old manager of yours, which do you prefer? I personally- "

"Why so many questions?" Tobio interrupted, not wanting to find out about Oikawa's preferences any more than necessary.

"Well my dear Tobio-chan, I'm bored and stuck in a timeless vacuum with you, and no, I'm not feeling like talking to a brick wall, but I must admit that this is slowly starting to feel like it", Oikawa yawned and closed his eyes," so tell me, do you even like girls? In middle school you never even mentioned having a crush on an idol or an actress like all the other kids."

"I had a crush on you", he admitted, "but I don't really care about girls."

"Well fine, so that is a no then", Oikawa snorted," you really know how to make things awkward."

"Did you know? That I- "

"Had a crush on me, yes of course I knew, who wouldn't? Half the first years have had a crush on at some point. Even if they would never admit it to themselves", said Oikawa with a way too smug smile on his face.

"No, I didn't mean like- fine whatever", Tobio left it that and put the nail file back to his pocket before leaning back to the mattresses. It got really quiet and listening Oikawa's steady breathing was making Tobio realize how tired he really was.

"Don't fall asleep, it's my turn to sleep now", he mumbled adjusting his pillows.

"Sleep tight, Tobio-chan."
Tobio woke up. Staring at the ceiling of storage room made him feel hopeless, a feeling he didn't know how to deal with.
Oikawa's brown eyes were glazed and staring at the wall. It might've been one of those moments where the best option was to stay quiet.

"Oikawa-san? Is… is everything alright?"

"What if I'm going to be stuck with you forever? What if we will never get back? What if the game will never, ever end and my team is never going to unfreeze again?"

"Or what if", he tried to be encouraging, but had a hard time even trying to convince him, "we probably shouldn't give up yet."

"Using my words against me", sniffled Oikawa, curling up to an even smaller ball into the corner, "that's really low, Tobio."

"Are you crying?

"No, Tobio, I'm laughing, because I'm so happy and full of life. Stop being so stupid and just leave me alone for a while."

"I'm not leaving. The game might start while I'm gone."

"Oh, wouldn't that be JUST MY LUCK, everything turning back to normal when my face is all puffy and red from crying", he whined, "at his rate I'll never get to date cute girls again. Or crash Iwa-chan's place because there is no more milk bread at home. Or kick Ushiwaka's butt in the finals."

"Then I'll defeat him. And you'd have to go through me anyway", Tobio reminded and that made Oikawa shake his head with unreadable face. Comforting others wasn't something Tobio was especially good at. He still wanted to try. He felt like he needed to.
He slowly walked closer to Oikawa, he moved carefully like when tried to get close enough to the stray cats to pet them, somehow fearing that the other might escape.

"You'll get out", he said, "I don't know how, but you will, and I will, and we'll get to finish the game."

"Of course, volleyball is your number one priority…", chuckled Oikawa, "You can't know for sure",," but thanks I guess."
They sat there in the silence for a long while.

"Hmm… hey Tobio", the older boy sounded like something was definitely on his mind and Tobio turned slightly to look at him with a questioning expression on his face. Oikawa still had slightly puffed eyes from crying but he wasn't trying to hide them anymore.

"What?"

Oikawa leaned his head against Tobio's head and raised his hand to the first-year's face.

"If you want me to let go, then now is your moment to say it", he said. Tobio got extremely aware of his heartbeat, his heart sounded like it was trying to jump out of his chest. The boy was scared that if he breathed out, it might actually happen. He said nothing, he didn't know what the right answer was.

"Tobio? You didn't freeze too, right?" Oikawa asked, his brown eyes full of worry.

"N-no I'm…", he cleared his throat, he didn't like how meek his voice sounded, "I'm still here."

"Thank god, I almost got a heart attack", Oikawa sounded like he had also been holding his breath, "you really shouldn't scare me like that, that's awful of you."

"Well, how am I supposed to do anything when you're being so close?" he argued flustered and immediately regretted it because it made Oikawa back away and move his hand to Tobio's shoulder.

"Do you want me to stop? I told you to speak up if – "

"No!" his shout made the older boy flinch. "I mean. No. I don't want you to stop." To even think about Oikawa's hand stopping to caress his face so gently like that, seemed wrong. Teasing smile appeared on the older boy's face when he moved closer again.

This time Tobio was brave enough to lean back into him. Oikawa was warm, his skin felt soft and his hair smelled really good even though they were stuck in a stuffy gym with dozens of sweaty athletes. Part of Tobio, the part that made it hard for him to trust other people after the infamous toss that happened last year, wondered if this all was just a mean trick to mess with him. But it felt to nice that maybe it wouldn't matter if it were just a trick, he thought.
Oikawa sighed and carefully shifted his hand up to mess with Tobio's black, unruly hair. The way Oikawa's body was weighing on him, he could do nothing but tighten his grip around the white uniform shirt.

"Hmh, your hair would look nicer styled up like this", Oikawa's voice was calm and low even when making fun of him, "well it would be a lot nicer even if you brushed it at morning before taking off."

"My hair is just fine", Tobio grumbled into the shirt.

"Sure, it's just fine. Like your beanpole teammate's skills are just fine", Oikawa said, "but it could always be better." Thinking about Tsukishima in this situation creeped Tobio out, but it also made him think back at the ongoing game.

"Do you think we will ever finish the match?" he wondered.

"I don't know", Oikawa answered sighing, "to be honest, I'm getting sick of this waiting around. Maybe we should just get out of here and make the best out of bad situation. Maybe we could grow old like they did in Futurama…"

"I don't know that", Tobio felt like he was going to fall asleep there in Oikawa's embrace which was something he didn't think would ever happen. He felt how the boy under him flinched after hearing his words.

"Wow, Tobio. We really have to have binge-watching night someday", Oikawa mumbled into Tobio's ear and for a passing while Tobio thought that maybe it wouldn't be too awful having to spend the rest of his life with Oikawa. Though it would be really difficult to play matches with just the two of them, he thought and drifted off into sleep.

"Bring it here!" shrieked Hinata already on his way to the jump. Tobio opened his eyes and fortunately his instincts took over when the ball approached the optimal distance from his hands, from the net and from the spiker, and he sent the toss to a flying middle blocker already ready for the Freak Quick.
The ball hit the court right next to the Bluecastle's libero and the judge whistled the point for Karasuno.

"Nice kill!" yelled their supports from the sidelines.
They were back in the gym and back on the court. The team was surrounding him and moving in to congratulate Hinata on his spike the Bluecastle's team was looking upset and telling each other to brush it off and focus on the next play.
Quickly Tobio turned his head to where Oikawa was standing before the time had stopped and he looked just as disoriented as Tobio was sure he did himself right then. Oikawa looked back at him with a look Tobio couldn't recognize but it made him feel like he was on his first year of middle school.

"Kageyama? Kageyama!" The yelling next to his ear made him return back to Karasuno's side of the net and forced him to tear his eyes away from Oikawa.
Hinata was probably been standing there for a while now already judging by the look he was giving Tobio right now. Now their other players were staring at him too. Even the coach looked concerned.

"Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?" asked concerned Sawamura peeking behind Asahi.

"No, I'm fine", he answered, "just thinking."

"You better not clam up like you did last time!" Hinata looked at him with fire burning in his eyes. "We can't read thoughts you know!" Kageyama just shrugged him off and focused on Asahi's next serve. Oikawa's touch was still burning on his cheek.

Oikawa gave him a flickering smile and, in a way, Kageyama hoped the time would stop again because he had so many questions and he wasn't ready to be just rivals again and he still didn't know what a Futurama was.