.

"Aneki, do I... really have to take Takeru out?"

Takeru stared at his other more likeable uncle. Yuuma may be shy or socially awkward (he wasn't sure which one) and a bit of a scaredy-cat but he really liked how attentive he was of him. Takeru liked how Yuuma taught him many useful things unlike Tooru (he liked him, too, but he liked this shy uncle more).

"Uncle Yuu, you don't have to agree with mom. I can always have Tooru go along with me." The disrespect with not having been called uncle by his nephew caused Tooru to pout. He had just gone down from upstairs to get a glass of water when he heard how Takeru called Yuuma uncle.

Yuuma glanced at his adorable nephew. He had always spoiled him rotten and gave him advice when the little one needed it. But to go outside and accompany him to Lil Tyke's Volleyball Classroom, it kinda made him nervous to be out and about with a lot of people. "I... I think I'll go."

Upon hearing him agree, Takeru beamed and practically threw himself towards Yuuma. "Thanks, Uncle Yuu!" The only female Oikawa in the house at the time, Oikawa Himari, placed a hand on her brother's shoulder, startling him a little. "You'll be okay. Takeru will watch over you, too, alright?"

The brunet resisted a frown from showing. Instead, he let a smile curve on his lips. Himari and Takeru were happy to see that expression but for Tooru who stayed and watched his twin interact with their sister; he knew that it was fake. He would have scoffed if Himari didn't shoot him a stern look almost instantly. It was like she read his mind or something.

Why was she so protective of him anyway? Himari should have known how mean Yuuma was to him when they were kids. As the younger Oikawa and kid Oikawa left hand in hand, Himari turned to face him with a disappointed look. Of course, Tooru avoided that gaze. He felt bad for no reason. "Tooru."

"... aneki."

"Why are you so mean to Yuuma?"

Disbelief overtook his expression. "What... What do you mean? Yuuma's been the one who kept being mean when we were kids!" Why was she looking at him as if he was the one in the wrong?! Himari kept on frowning at him, that disappointed look made his heart twist.

"Tooru—" but he didn't let her finish. He grabbed his coat by the rack and stormed out of the house.

"Me? Be mean to him? He shouldn't have treated me that way back then!" Tooru tried to smother out that burning sensation in his chest; that uncontrollable anger shouldn't burn too brightly. All this drama concerning Yuuma distracted him from the goal he should be focusing on; to defeat Shiratorizawa and finally compete on national court.

As Tooru thought, whenever Yuuma comes home, it was always a certainty that he would have a harder time focusing on volleyball.

"Just go away already..."

.

.

To sum up their outing, Takeru only had one word to say; fun. As he thought, even his Uncle Yuuma was a great volleyball player. His advice on how to block, to set, to receive, to serve; all of them were easy to understand and even easier to practice. Uncle Yuuma guided him every step of the way and Takeru thought he improved by leaps and bounds in just one day.

As the both of them head to a fast-food restaurant (Uncle Yuuma insisted even though he said that it was okay), some random middle schooler acted really weird and pointed at his uncle with a stupid expression on his face. "Gah— it's the Great King!"

"Pardon?" Oikawa Yuuma blinked. He should have been startled badly, should have jumped and walked away quickly but something about the short kid pointing at him with a constipated look calmed his nerves down. Whenever he sees someone even more nervous than him, Yuuma would immediately feel relieved even though he had no concrete explanation for it.

"Y... You already forgot about us?!"

"Dumbass, stop shouting!" The short kid's companion finally spoke up with such a scowl that even Yuuma flinched back. When those narrow eyes that appeared like clear ocean waters on a good summer day flickered to him, he felt his heart thump. "It's been a while, Oikawa...-san."

Yuuma felt a tug on his sleeve. Takeru must have wanted to leave and eat already so Yuuma shot an apologetic smile at the two strangers. "I'm sorry... I think you mistook me... for Tooru."

The owner of those ocean eyes blinked.

"My name's Oikawa Yuuma, his brother."

"Ah," those ocean eyes gleamed in embarrassment and even that short kid flinched back in surprise. "I... didn't know Oikawa-san had a brother."

"As... expected." A bitter smile showed up on Yuuma's lips. Why does he keep hoping for something that would never come true? He should just stop before more cracks appear in his heart. "Well, we'll be going now, um..."

The taller stranger looked lost but the hyperactive shorty responded. "I'm Hinata Shoyo and he's Kageyama Tobio. We're first years from Karasuno!"

Takeru blinked. "You're a highschool student?"

"T... Takeru!" His nephew just had to be so blunt. Well, to be fair, even he thought that Hinata-san was a middle school student. Before the first year high schooler Hinata-san could explode, Yuuma intervened. "We... We'll be going now, Hinata-san, Kageyama-san. A... And I apologize on Takeru's behalf." Without waiting for either of them to reply, an embarrassed Yuuma gently dragged Takeru along.

Takeru couldn't help but snicker when he saw the tips of his uncle's ears turn red. "Let's go eat, Uncle Yuu!"

"Y... Yeah."

And when Takeru saw that soft smile that showed up on his uncle's lips, he hoped that many more moments just like this one happen more often. He barely sees Uncle Yuuma smiling, after all.

That kind of expression... suited him more than his usual ones.