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Iwaizumi Hajime had always wondered why his childhood friend often looks over his shoulders. They lived in a safe neighborhood and nothing terribly drastic ever happens. Yet he would catch him looking back, an anxiousness that came out of no where would fill his mask. Whatever it was that bothered him, he never asked. Maybe it was something he wanted to keep to himself. Maybe it wasn't all that important as Hajime first thought.

But it worried him when Oikawa started showing bouts of anger during practice. His friend had an amazing grasp on his emotions and he rarely ever gets angry. He had been getting annoyed ever since that genius first year came to Kitagawa but it never reached a level where his friend would actually raise a hand on a freshman.

It might have been the stress. It might have been the fear coiling around him, squeezing every last bit of confidence out of him. But Hajime had always been there to keep him in check so that Oikawa would never make a decision he would regret on the long run. Those bouts of anger, however, continued. Despite his efforts, his setter kept getting frustrated over the simplest of things.

One of them happened tonight.

Oikawa stayed behind for the umpteenth time this month to practice more at the gym and Hajime, as always, waited for him to finish. The halls were dark, lighted only by the dim lights. Nights this past few weeks were cold and dreary, something that annoyed Hajime. The Spring Tournament was just around the corner and this cold night might cause one of his teammates to catch a cold.

As he got closer and closer to the entrance of the gym, the sound of a ball slapping hard against the floor reached his ears. Too loud on his opinion. Alarmed, he quickened his pace, only to be greeted by the sight of Oikawa panting and heaving, his arm outstretched after performing one of his jump serves. He was drenched in sweat, his shirt clinging to him like second skin. Yet, that wasn't what caught his attention.

No, it was the expression he was making as he tried to catch his breath. Eyebrows furrowed, lips set into a frown, and a fire burning in his eyes. It wasn't one of determination but one of hatred and Hajime didn't understand. Neither Kageyama nor Ushiwaka was in the vicinity; so what made his setter snap in this cold, shiver-inducing night?

"Shittykawa."

And in a blink of an eye, that expression that seemed so out of place vanished. Oikawa greeted him with that god awful smile of his, the one that Hajime hated the most. "Iwa-chan, did you wait for me?"

"What does it look like? Just hurry up and clean up, it's already this late." Hajime showed his phone, his lockscreen displaying the team photo and the time. His friend blinked, surprised, before that fake smile of his morphed into a truer one. "Oops? I won't take long then, Iwa-chan!"

Watching him prance around like an idiot, at least, relieved Hajime to some degree. Acting like that meant that whatever bothered him was forgotten... at the moment. Still, what caused Oikawa to make that kind of expression? It was... new. It was a different kind of hatred than when he almost hit Kageyama that one night. Hajime rubbed his hands together before blowing as he cupped them around his mouth.

As long as he watched over him, he didn't need to worry too much.

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"Oi... kawa?"

It was Saturday afternoon and they opted not to have practice this weekend. After all, everyone's been staying late the past few days. They deserve some day off, right? Hajime expected his weekends to go Oikawa-free but why was said setter standing in front of his door, eyes swollen and nose red? Tear tracks stained his pink cheeks and it was obvious he'd been crying for a while now. Sobs with no tears attested to that.

"Shit," Hajime cursed and grabbed his setter's wrist, dragging him inside. Neither of his parents was there which he was thankful for. He was pretty sure Oikawa would have hated being seen like this by Hajime's parents. "What happened?"

The setter had always been in control of himself but in this past few weeks, that wasn't the case. Oikawa became easily irritable. Little thing could make him snap and everyone had been a little on edge with him being like that. Fortunately, Hajime was able to mediate Oikawa's mood down. But to see him so vulnerable...

Hajime didn't like it.

He left the sobbing setter for a moment to grab a glass of water from the kitchen. Even when he sat down beside Oikawa, the tearless cries he made didn't cease. The silence had his mind running a mile in a second. What made Oikawa like this? What could have happened to reduce the annoying and nonsensical Oikawa into a crying mess?

The ace didn't know how long he waited but it was long enough to make his legs numb when he had sat crisscross beside his setter. Watching with a careful eye, the setter took a handful of gulp of water as the cold liquid soothed his sore throat from all his sobbing. "Iwa-chan..." the ace perked up, listening attentively. "... I really am nothing but a loser, aren't I?"

Moving before thinking, Hajime smacked him upside the head like he always does, causing the setter to go off balance and fall off the couch. "What was that for?!" Instead of that pitiful expression, Oikawa finally showed a different face, one that Hajime was familiar with. "Who in the world told you that? I swear if you told yourself that, I'm throwing you out the window!"

Oikawa shrieked and crawled away from his reach. The familiarity of it all caused all the tension from Hajime's shoulders to ease. Seeing that he wasn't violent anymore, the setter picked himself up off the floor and wiped away the remaining tear tracks on his cheeks. "It's not that. I guess... something happened back home. I didn't even realize I came here until you opened the door."

"Did your brother-in-law tease you again? I told you not to take him too—"

"-my brother's home-"

"- seriously, didn't I?" Hajime paused before giving Oikawa a look. "Who is what now?"

"My brother," the setter played with the hem of his shirt. "Is home."

"... you have a fucking brother?"

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