Author's Note: I am SO SORRY for being MIA; thank you for being so patient! Please enjoy!
...o0o…
After the tumultuous start to the week, the casual domesticity that followed felt like an out of place chapter in a fast-paced fantasy epic. Even the weather remained pleasant and settled, with cloudless skies and warm temperatures.
Stuck inside, Kageyama slumped further into his chair, grumbling.
"How about this," Suga said, far too cheery considering they'd nearly spent two consecutive hours reviewing and correcting last week's unfinished homework. "If you get these last two questions right, we'll stop for today."
Their impromptu study session had started after Suga had gotten home from work. Kageyama had been uprooting dandelions, kneeling on the ground as he dug into the dirt with a garden spade. Suga had almost walked right by him, content to let the teenager do his own thing. He had his own lessons to plan, after all. But.. but Tobio-kun was frowning down at the weeds, so dedicated and quiet; it would be wrong to leave him outside by himself.
School work was the first thing that came to mind, but little did Suga know just how much school work there was to go over.
Kageyama sluggishly repositioned himself, mustering the energy to sit straight and refocus on the remaining questions. Suga took a sip of his tea, watching him over the rim of the cup.
This unit was all about quadratic equations and distributing quadratic equations and factoring quadratic equations.
The bane of Kageyama's existence read pleasantly: solve the following expressions, so the teen tried to do just that… Except he didn't even know where to start. Kageyama scrunched up his face, leafing through the scrap paper.
"Remember," Suga said patiently by his ear, his chair pulled close as he tapped the +33 and +14X of the first question. "What do we do with these numbers?"
Kageyama thought about it, scanning the red-marked draft paper.
...Multiply something? Add something? There was some rule in here that he was forgetting. Suga-san said something again, pointing more emphatically at the numbers, and Kageyama wracked his brain for the answer.
Academics weren't his strong suit, after all.
Before he'd moved in with his sister, he would spend hours like today working through pages upon pages of homework in the hopes that the confusing words and inconsistent numbers would somehow become more coherent through sheer willpower. Not that it did much good at home, even when he did manage a passing grade. With Miwa, she always tried to help, but it had been too long since she'd been in school, and her reading his textbook aloud didn't help as much as he pretended.
"Okay," the older man said, with a slight air of tiredness. Kageyama cringed down at the papers in front of him, realizing he'd been staring blankly for too long.
"We're going to try something new," he continued, and Kageyama followed the movement of the pencil as it drew out a wide X instead of chancing a look at the disappointment on the other man's face. Suga placed the constant on the top and the coefficient on the bottom, leaving the two sides empty.
"What two numbers can we multiply to get 33 and add to get 14?" he simplified, pushing the paper and pencil in front of the teenager. "When you get your answer, write the numbers here."
As Kageyama considered the question, he found himself actually understanding. 11 and 3! The simplified visuals made the impossibility of the equation look... manageable. He answered the question with a spark of confidence he hadn't felt in a really long time.
"Yes!" Suga cheered, swiping the paper into his hands and slapping a butterfly sticker onto the corner of the page. His grin was so wide and proud Kageyama couldn't help smiling back, the blue wings of the swallowtail vibrant and bright in the corner of his eye.
So maybe this wasn't so bad after all.
He got the last question right on his first try, and he hadn't even needed a hint, either.
The squirming, wriggly feeling in his stomach came back stronger than ever when Suga laughed, poking his shoulder and saying so sincerely, "I knew you could do it!"
Kageyama tucked his chin into the collar of his jacket, warming. "Oh… okay. Can... can I go outside now?"
"Until it gets dark," Suga said, allowing him a few hours before sunset.
Not needing to be told twice, the teenager raced up the stairs, returned with his volleyball tucked under one arm, and then disappeared out the backdoor with an endearing, lopsided smile.
Grinning, Suga shuffled the papers together, sliding the extra layers of draft paper inside Kageyama's thin math notebook and organizing the pile of textbooks off to the side.
Today was really nice, Suga decided resolutely as he stood to follow Tobio-kun outside, stretching his arms above his head. They made good progress.
As he squinted against the pale sunlight, his mind was already thinking of ways to better explain the teen's English homework. Kageyama seemed to do better with a more visual-spatial approach, so he could try to draw out the different meanings…
"Ah, you play setter, right?"
Standing in front of him with a stern-looking expression, Kageyama hesitatingly held out his volleyball.
Surprised, Sugawara tilted his head and blinked rapidly.
"Your boyfriend said you did, and I play setter too," he added uncomfortably, bringing the ball back to his chest self-consciously. "So I just thought it'd be—"
"Yes," Suga interrupted immediately, laughing brightly at the pleased, fuzzy feeling in his chest, "yes, of course I'll play. I'd be happy to!"
He stepped out onto the garden pebbles to join the teenager with an excited, "So how do you want to do this," closing the door behind him with a gentle click.
...o0o...
Daichi eased the front door open, calling out a greeting as he took off his shoes and jacket. He poked his head into the kitchen, expecting to see Koushi reading a trashy romance novel on the couch or maybe Kageyama watching some television.
"Welcome home," Suga answered back, not looking up. Kageyama was just as focused, murmuring an empty "hi."
Using the warm orange glow from a floor lamp, the two were kneeling on the floor, opposite a set of flowery playing cards.
Daichi curiously made his way over, standing behind Suga's shoulder as he took a plum blossom with a dark scroll.
"Tobio-kun's only played Hanafuda once before, so I'm going easy on him," Suga joked before saying to the teen after he picked up a red-bloomed peony and successfully completed his set, "So now you can either say koi-koi and it'll be double or nothing, or you can stop now and take your points for this round."
"Okay," Kageyama responded, glancing up from his cards. Daichi subtly shook his head, tilting his chin towards Suga's nearly complete collection. The kid bowed his head, biting down a smile, "Uh, I'll finish?"
"Aw," Suga whined, before his eyes narrowed with warranted suspicion and he leaned back to glare at his partner. "Did you help him?"
"Kageyama-kun made the decision," he answered matter-of-factly, raising his hands in surrender and sharing a conspiring look with Kageyama-kun over the top of Suga's head. The teenager's smile widened, and Daichi noticed in the back of his mind that the bruise on the kid's chin had faded into the faintest of yellows.
"Uh-huh."
Daichi laughed, "Alright, alright, I'll leave you two alone for now."
He heard an unsure "koi-koi" when he got to the top of the stairs, and he smiled to himself. It wasn't until he was changing into a light sweater that he realized Kageyama hadn't reacted to his uniform at all.
"Koi-koi!" his partner exclaimed loudly from downstairs, accompanied with the clacking of the cards thrown together, but then it was almost immediately followed by the nervous laughter of someone who'd messed up.
Yeah, he was glad to be home.
...o0o…
"Home is where the heart is, and my heart is with you," Oikawa teased, flopping into his chair and sending a cocky peace sign to the staff member who was studiously watching him over the top of her hardback. She harrumphed noisily, and Sugawara very pointedly ignored them both.
"Dramatic, but I'll take that as a yes," Suga answered under his breath, sending Daichi a quick text explaining that they'd have company over Thursday evening. "Bring saké and Iwaizumi-kun."
"I see who you're really here for, you don't fool me."
"Who? Iwaizumi-kun? Cause then yes, absolutely. That's not a secret."
"Wow."
"Wooow," Suga mimicked back, grinning from ear to ear. Finished with his phone, he set his bento on the table, pushing an apple in front of Oikawa in a generous show of goodwill.
"I came out to have a good time, and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now."
Suga snorted and punched his friend's shoulder, a bit too harshly given the way he floundered and needed to use both his hands to regain his balance. It was well deserved though.
Once he'd settled back into his chair, that coy, playful look shifted — just so — into something more serious and concerned. It was the smallest of changes: a downward tilt of his chin, a pursed lip, a dark, molten look in his eyes. "Everything okay though? With the teenager?"
Suga leaned back, crossing his arms as he glanced around at the other tables with forced casualness. Oikawa's frown deepened. "Yeah. He's a good kid."
"You sure?"
"What— of course I'm sure!" Suga huffed, affronted. He picked at his rice with a single chopstick. "He hasn't mentioned us being… y'know, in forever. At least a couple days, I'm sure, and he's normally very polite anyway."
"That's good."
"Yeah. We played volleyball last night actually, and he's a natural, you wouldn't believe it unless you saw it… what?"
"I didn't say anything."
"But you made a face."
"I didn't make a face."
"You made... I'm not doing this with you."
Oikawa smirked around his apple. "Maybe you made the face."
"I rescind my invitation."
"No take-backs!" Oikawa sing-songed childishly, waving a hand in the air. "That was part of the deal, Refreshing-kun!"
"What deal?"
"To our friendship."
Well now he felt mean. "Alright fine," he acquiesced with a put-upon sigh, "You are re-invited to dinner tomorrow."
"If I must," Oikawa returned cheerfully.
At once, timed to perfection, the two burst into carefree giggles. It was like they were in their own happy little bubble, protected from the judgmental gossip and glares around them.
"We're so dumb."
"So dumb."
Except it doesn't take much for a bubble to pop — just one sharp cough, one 'accidental' push, one snide, cutting remark. This time, however, the needle-pointed edge didn't come from another teacher: it came from one of his students almost two hours later.
"Your broom is not a lightsaber, Itsuki-kun!" Suga called out, catching the small troublemaker in the act, right before he could start an unprompted battle with two of his friends and make even more of a mess in the room they were trying to clean.
Pouting, the ten-year-old went back to sweeping the floor, murmuring low pssshew-psshew sounds with every crumpled piece of paper he brushed into the dustpan.
After a day of hard work, it felt nice to sit back and watch his bright, playful students bound across the classroom, chatting about the latest anime on television or the newest game to hit the market. The windows were wiped, the trash carried out, and the floor swept and mopped to cleanly perfection.
Suga surveyed the room with a pleased smile, waving to the children as they happily lumbered out the door.
"That game's so lame, Yūki, take it up the bum hehe," Henkō-kun laughed, throwing his apple-green backpack over one shoulder.
Yūki-kun blushed to his ears, slumping down as he joined his friend. "Oh, yeah I guess. Lame."
"Henkō-kun," Suga gasped by the door, thrown by the rough language. The classroom had emptied substantially in the last few minutes, but there were still small groups of children clumped together with no great desire to leave. If they had heard their classmate, none seemed too bothered. "Why did you just say that to your friend?"
Surprised by the sharp tone, Henkō-kun stopped and explained unsurely, "Because Pokémon: Diamond is boring and slow?"
The two boys shared a confused look, clearly at a loss for why they were being singled out.
Suga sighed, trying to quell the frenzied storm of bees in his chest, swarming and stinging and sizzling inside his ribcage. His sweet students were nine, ten years old— he knew, logically, that this was learned behavior, unknowing and unintentional. It wasn't their fault.
"We're just kidding around, sensei," Yūki-kun defended uncomfortably.
"It was a joke."
It's just a joke, homo. Don't be so sensitive.
He shook his head, forcefully dislodging the tainted stain of malice from his past.
"You shouldn't say things like that," Suga urged, softening his tone and smiling gently at the two, hoping that that would be the end of it.
Instead of taking him at his word, Henkō-kun demanded, "I don't understand, Tomi-sensei would always laugh. Why is it bad?"
Oh. Of course.
Suga had never been told what had happened with the previous teacher: why, exactly, there was a quiet but quick search in the middle of the school year for a replacement. Oikawa-kun had been especially tight-lipped, dodging all his questions and never failing to change the subject.
Now it made a little more sense.
"Because it's hurtful and cruel… When you get older, you'll understand."
Henkō-kun frowned. "I already know what it means. It's about," his voice dropped into a paranoid whisper, and he cautiously looked around to see if anyone was listening, "sex. But it's bad and weird and gross and wrong 'cause it's two guys."
"Yeah," Yūki added helpfully, "homos."
Damn that horrible, horrible teacher. He refused to let the man's rancid legacy corrupt these children's brilliant, curious minds.
"Uh-huh," Henkō nodded, proud of his infallible argument. It didn't last long, though, as he kicked at the ground, asking embarrassedly, "Wait, what's that mean again?"
Suga answered them both, jumping on the chance to explain, "It's when a boy loves another boy."
"Oh."
"That's really boring."
"Yeah."
Henkō-kun and Yūki-kun turned back to Suga expectantly, and he smiled fondly at how quickly the boys had dismissed the subject altogether once romance came into the picture. He settled back on his heels, relaxing.
"See, not so weird or wrong after all. Just two people who love each other, like your mom and dad."
That comparison seemed to clear up any confusion they had about the morality of different sexualities. Afterall, a healthy, loving relationship shouldn't be considered 'wrong' simply because it's not a man and woman.
"I guessss," he conceded easily enough, but then added more importantly, "But I still think Diamond is—"
...o0o…
"—Fantastic! See you there!" Suga hung up the phone, turning his attention back to the English papers strewn across the kitchen table.
Kageyama stopped scribbling a doodle of a volleyball in the margins to stare back curiously. Suga took that time to ruffle his hair, snorting at how little the teenager had gotten done in the five minutes he'd been on the phone with Daichi.
"We need to go grocery shopping for tomorrow. Want to come?"
Kageyama shrugged, in the process of trying to flatten down his hair. It was very clearly not working. "Okay."
"Finish this first, though."
The teenager groaned, but it didn't take him too long to fill in the correct verb for the sentence: 'everyone recieved a letter with information about training' after the elementary teacher correlated the missing word to language commonly used during a volleyball game.
"Good. But remember, I before E, except after—"
...o0o..
"—seafood? Shrimp gyoza maybe? Or no, how about noodles and…"
He rolled his eyes, trailing after Daichi as he picked up and then discarded different packaged food items every three seconds. They had lost Kageyama a while ago; he'd disappeared down the dairy aisle, and they hadn't regrouped since.
"Oikawa-kun likes milk bread, if that helps."
"It doesn't," Daichi answered, but he turned the shopping cart towards the bakery section anyway.
Suga hid his smile in his scarf, walking by his side. "And Iwaizumi-kun likes agedashi tofu."
Ten minutes later in the candy aisle, their teenager reappeared, precariously holding five different flavors of milk in an unbalanced pile. His blue eyes were barely visible above the tall, boxy products.
Daichi sighed. "Go ahead."
Kageyama's worried expression lifted almost immediately, and he neatly deposited his collection next to the carton of eggs and two indulgent boxes of strawberry and chocolate pocky.
As a group, they did one last sweep through the big-name aisles: fresh produce, household items, meat… In the personal care section, Suga added two toothbrushes and a bottle of lavender-scented shampoo.
The baby stuff at the end of the lane brought him up short, however, and he stood to the side, nearly transfixed by the image of an open-mouthed, smiling baby with those big, big eyes.
This was dumb. He was staring sadly at a bunch of pastel-colored diapers.
Daichi quietly slipped their hands together, squeezing. The warmth grounded him, and Suga smiled up at his partner, thankful.
"Pardon me," an elderly woman interrupted, edging her basket around the three. Kageyama immediately stepped back, bumping into Suga who then leaned into Daichi like they were personified falling dominos or something.
"Sorry," Tobio-kun whispered, at once shuffling a step away and hunching into his timeworn jacket. His hands were starting to slip into the pockets, so with athletic speed, Suga nimbly hooked their arms together and tugged the kid back to his side. He had to laugh at Tobio-kun's wide-eyed, dumbfounded expression.
"Too slow," he teased, snug and warm in the middle of the group.
Daichi tried to reclaim his hand when they moved down the aisle, so Suga compromised by linking their arms together instead. This new, weird layout consisted of Kageyama and Daichi holding the cart with their only free hand, while Suga marched between them doing nothing helpful whatsoever. It made pushing their grocery cart very difficult, and it steered too far to the left more often than not. They were lucky it didn't crash into another shopper, to be honest.
To reward them for only smacking into one shelf (nothing fell, but a few people did look at them funny), Suga took the shopping cart to the checkout line himself, rolling down the pet aisle at a brisk, steady pace. Daichi was quick to follow on his heels, exhausted from all the decisions for the dinner.
So it was just by chance that he looked back when he did. Halfway down the lane, Kageyama had pulled to a stop, and he'd just given the ceiling cameras a cursory look.
The police officer part of his brain became on high alert, noting the fidgety hands, the subtle-but-not-subtle-enough checkover for surveillance, the criminal history of minor theft… It didn't need to be spelled out.
Yet Daichi wanted to trust the kid, and he thought Kageyama wanted to trust them too. Nothing today had suggested anything untoward, but he could never be too sure.
Against the better part of his professional judgement, he continued after his partner, not looking back. Whatever happened, they would make it right. He was choosing to trust the kid.
"Hey, where'd you disappear to?" Suga wondered, packing their produce into reusable bags while the clerk efficiently scanned the items. She didn't give either of them more than a single curious glance.
"Wanted to see something," he said, helping with the groceries.
Kageyama joined them when there were three items left to pack up. His left hand was in his pocket, and his right... was very clearly holding out a bag of cat treats. "Daichi-san, Suga-san? Can you please buy this for me? I'll pay you back when we get home, I just don't have any money on me and…"
"Of course," Suga answered, tugging the item free and handing it to the worker to be scanned.
"And you don't need to pay us back," Daichi added, knowing his partner would agree. "Think of this as an all expenses paid vacation."
"Oh, are you sure?"
"We are."
"Then thank you, Daichi-san, Suga-san!"
The teen helped them pack up the subaru, keeping the cat food in his hands and smiling to himself. It was a gentle look, different from the excited, wobbly grins or the scary leers.
For some reason, Suga felt like both smiling and crying at the sight.
"You alright?" Daichi asked as he buckled his seatbelt and started readjusting the mirrors.
"I think so," he answered truthfully, looking out the window.
The car ride was silent but companionable. They all helped carry the groceries inside, and while Suga and Daichi were organizing the fridge and pantry with the new items, Kageyama stepped outside to search for the homeless tabby cat with the sunny-green eyes and curiously striped fur.
He started with the backyard, following the stepping stones down and around the side of the house. The shrub of camellias was starting to bloom along the border wall, dotting the glossy foliage a brilliant red. Kageyama bent down to smell the petals, closing his eyes and breathing in the faintest hint of jasmine, rich and sweet.
Around him, the neighborhood was a quiet presence. It was different from the overpacked residential-care facility Kageyama had been forced to call home less than a month ago. There, he never knew what was going to happen — was the staff in a forgiving mood, were the older kids satisfied, was there enough food for dinner and could he sneak some extra into his room that night? — but here, he almost felt secure.
It was peaceful. Safe.
He opened his eyes, looking back at the house. A porch light blanketed the garden in an orange sheen, illuminating healthy leaves and delightful bursts of color. The violets looked happy, tall and creamy in their ceramic pot. A full recovery, Kageyama thought.
"Meeeow."
The tabby curled around the pot, then padded over to wind around his ankles, peering up at him with bright, curious eyes. A smile burst onto his face, and he leaned down in an excited rush, trying to pull a stick of tuna free. At the sudden, unexpected motion, the stray hissed, slipping away and disappearing inside a low shrub with heart-shaped leaves.
"Damn it," Kageyama whispered, looking forlornly at the cat treat in his hands.
The front door opened and he turned at the sound. Suga was leaning against the frame, Daichi a step behind him.
"Give her time," the older man advised, coming over and crouching down. Glowing eyes peered back at Suga through the leaves. "Slowly."
Kageyama reached his hand out carefully, holding out the strip of meat.
The stray watched them for a couple more minutes before ducking under the leaves and coming forward to nibble on the treat. He gave her another one, petting the rough fur in long, gentle strokes.
"She's cute," Daichi said lowly, standing back and smiling as the others doted on the cat, oscillating between treats and pets between the two of them. The tabby now seemed delighted with the generous attention.
Before they went inside for dinner, they made sure to leave out a bowl of water and some tuna under an upturned milk crate, wary of larger animals getting into the food.
"See you later," Kageyama told the cat warmly. The cat watched the door close, meowing softly.
Above them, the waxing moon rose steadily in the darkened sky.
.
tbc
.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I'm sorry again for taking so long with this chapter; I re-wrote it five different times (not exaggerating) and was just not feeling any of it. Ended up watching a video on writer's block, though, and that seemed to help me actually write and keep it down… ANYWAY. We're almost done, whoo! See you next time!