In the first days of December, autumn weather finally caught up with this sunny country. Piercing wind and cold rain made going out a particularly unpleasant affair, but Tobio wasn't bothered the slightest by it. He had a stocked fridge, hours of video materials to go through, and no reason to go outside. A blissful, lazy afternoon. And the best thing was…

"Wow, it's the fourth time he tooled a triple block this set. That guy's insane!" Reina was so impressed by the action on the screen that she lifted up her head from his lap.

"You know that we will need to figure out how to stop him a week from now?"

"I bet you can't wait." She smiled and leaned back on him, submitting to his soft caress.

A perfect, blissful afternoon. Why can't it be a normal, everyday thing? Why can't we just live together? He shrugged internally. It is what it is. It's better to enjoy it than grieve about what it could be. He shifted his focus back to the TV. "How?! Did you see that emergency set? How did he… It went the whole length of the court. Hey, are you watching?" Lacking a comment from Reina, he looked at her. She was checking her phone. "Do you want me to rewind it for you?" He asked through his teeth.

"What?" she looked at him, distracted, then her eyes went back to the phone. "Yeah, sure. But wait a moment. Eri sent me something."

He waited… impatiently… for her to read the message. How come these two, whether they were at arm's length or thousands of kilometers apart, would talk about everything, all the time? A moment, however, didn't make Reina focus back on the match. Instead, she started to laugh like a crazy person. Tobio always thought that the expression "die of laughter" didn't make any sense, but he was actually concerned for Reina now. She was laughing so hard that she fell off the couch and had trouble breathing.

"Reina, what the hell?" At those words, she calmed down a bit, but when she looked at him, another fit of laughter seized her. "What is going on?!"

It took three more minutes and a glass of water to calm her chuckles enough for her to speak. "I need to tell you this… hi, hi, hi. I guess, as you're involved… How to start… mmm… mh… hm… Remember when Eri came to visit me 2 weeks ago? There was that trend then, on social media, that Kuroo-san started... Or was it Alisa? You know, with people randomly taking pics holding a volleyball…"

"Was there something like that?"

"Anyway… Eri wanted to post one, too. But in style. So, when we went to see your match, we got a ball from your manager and I took her picture with your team warming up in the background."

"Ok. So?" He still didn't understand the reason for her life-threatening amusement.

"Apparently… ha, ha, ha… some people on the Internet, your fans or her followers, who knows, started to read more into it. Because they dug up that you both went to Karasuno. And this wild theory was formed, that you two are a couple, and she's the one that was helping you film your content."

"What?" Tobio looked at Reina so dumbstruck that she started cackling again and snapped his photo, probably to send it to her bestie. "That's ridiculously… ridiculous."

He never had heard a dumber idea in his life. He thought of Yoshida the same he thought of Yachi, Shimizu-senpai, his sister, or any other girl, except Reina, that he interacted with. That is 'a fellow human being'. If there was any emotion that Yoshida inspired in him, it was that of slight intimidation. He heard from other guys that he was not the only one intimidated by her. But the reasons they gave seemed so weird to him: that she was a self-aware beauty; fierce; outspoken; doing whatever the hell she wanted and being successful at it; letting no one's, especially no man's, shitty opinion put her down. Both his mom and sister were kind of like that too, so all of that was normal to him. No… he was wary of Eri Yoshida for another reason. She was Reina's best friend for as long as he knew them both. So every time he would mess up badly enough for Reina to seek advice, it was Yoshida she would go to. But because Yoshida, understandably, didn't have the same fondness for him that Reina had, she would judge him more harshly. He couldn't tell how many times he would attempt to greet her with a friendly "hello" only to get an "I know what you did and you suck" glare in return.

The only real interaction he had with Yoshida without Reina present was when he was trying to get Reina back. The open animosity and distrust he was met with then made all that glaring in high school pale in comparison. He would be forever grateful for the help he finally begged out of her, but he knew how tentative it was. As far as Yoshida's opinion was concerned, he was still on probation. An "if you fuck this up again, I'm going to destroy you" kind of probation. "That doesn't make any sense… I mean the timing… She is in Japan most of the time, right? How would she film my content?"

"Tobio," Reina said, still chuckling, "you don't need to explain to me I'm the one who films your content. I know."

"And even that match. If there was anyone on the court she was interested in, it wasn't me," he said, recalling what little he remembered from the event outside of gameplay.

"Oh, I know which one of your teammates she was interested in. Mutually. And I know where that interest took them that night."

"Really?" He wasn't that surprised. Considering the two people involved... "Eh, whatever. I don't care. But tell her to clear this mess up."

"She will. Eventually." Far from being concerned, it seemed Reina thought the whole affair hilarious. "I guess she just wants to see how big it will blow up."

"Does she enjoy confusing people online as much as you do?"

"Eri is so much better than me at this. She's a pro. Literally. A big part of her income comes from trolling her followers one way or another."

"Reina, tell her to clear this up. IMMEDIATELY. I don't want to be paired with anyone but you," he said more sternly. With a semi-reluctant "Alright…" she got to writing a response to her friend, stating Tobio's demand. Afterward, they went back to watching the match, but an air of restlessness overtook them, and Reina was glancing at her phone every few minutes. When it buzzed sometime later, she grabbed it without delay. The thing she saw on the screen brought consternation to her face.

"What is it?" he asked and Reina passed him the phone so he could see the statement Yoshida had posted: "To end all rumors and address your inquires. I confirm I know Kageyama Tobio personally and was classmates with him in high school, but we were never an item. However, I'll share a secret with you… his actual fiancé is my best friend!". It was accompanied by a muted vid of Yoshida making solemn, over-the-top faces, and ended with a cheeky "Ups, I said it." gesture.

"Ugh, Eri and her love of drama. She's doing it for the views," Reina commented, not so amused anymore.

"I don't mind." Tobio was actually psyched. Yoshida calling Reina "his fiancé" publicly… Wasn't it a direct sign of her approval? He felt honored.

"Oh, really? Wait till they start pairing you with every model she's friends with."

"You're the only one she calls her best friend."

"We're sisters. But people don't know that. Maybe I let her post a picture or two with me from our Europe trip a year ago, but I doubt they would dig that up and connect the dots. Well, if they do… then the Internet is scary."

"Then… maybe we should cause some uproar ourselves… make a statement of our own." He wouldn't waste a chance when it presented itself. On the court or in life.

"Wow, do you really want to brag about me to everybody?"

He nodded eagerly.

She gave him an uncertain glance, then said nonchalantly, "Whatever. Do want you want." Yoshida was one thing, but maybe she didn't want to have him paired with those models after all.

"Hmmm… What should I write?" He got to the task at once. "Oh, I know. Let's take a picture first!" He pulled her close and opened up his camera, but she swiftly escaped his embrace.

"Tobio, seriously!?" she pointed at herself. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt… well, his sweatshirt, paired with slouched knee socks. No makeup. And he made a complete mess of her hair when they were cuddling earlier. She's so beautiful. I want to do things to her. Again.

Recognizing the look on his face, she just sighed and started browsing through her phone. "Here, pick one of those and I'll send it to you." She handed him the phone with a curated selection of their couple photos.

"When did you take them? I don't recall half of it." He browsed through the treasures she secretly kept on her phone.

"Tobio, I told you before. The best pictures you have—"

"Yeah, I know… This one. But send me all of them."

"What do want them all for? What will you do with them?"

"Stare at them when you're not around," he answered frankly. That was exactly what he would do.

"I knew you would choose the one with you hugging me possessively from the back," she commented on the photo he picked for posting.

"It has to be explicit. You have no idea how hard it always was to convince people that I have a girlfriend. Apparently, I don't seem like the type. They wouldn't believe it without hard proof. So this one's good. You look like you're mine. You can even see the ring." He pointed at the hand she gracefully placed on his arm in the photo.

"I had to hold your arm back a bit, otherwise I would suffocate," she attempted a complaint, slightly blushing. He saw how she started at being called his. "You're really into that, aren't you? Back-hugging me possessively."

"You're the one that's into me back-hugging you possessively. You squeal with delight every time I do it." He looked at her with unfaltering confidence. It made her even more flustered, but she couldn't deny that straightforward observation. He smiled. I won. I don't know at what exactly, but I won.

"Look." He showed her what he wanted to post. "This much is fine, right?"

"To clear things up, this is my fiancé. No one else. Now piss off. Jeez, Tobio. At least delete that piss off part. You shouldn't be rude to your followers."

He posted it the way she suggested, but they didn't go back to watching volleyball. He was too preoccupied with monitoring the reaction his post got.

"It's the first time I've seen you invested in reading comments on your social media," Reina said after watching him being glued to his phone for half an hour.

"Reina, we're so hot," he said with excitement. "Everybody says that we look so hot together."

"Huh? And how many of them call me a bitch and want to burn me at the stake?" she asked with a sneer.

"A few. But they are brutally swarmed by those in our favor, so I don't think we need to react to them. It is actually fun to watch. Instant kill." A sinister smile showed up on his face. He had no sympathy for Reina's haters. No matter how devoted to him they thought themselves to be. Then he spotted something he was hoping for. "Oh, I must show you this one."

"Tobio, like you once said, I don't care what people I don't know write about me." Despite she was trying to act like it didn't affect her, he knew how tense she was. In contrary to him, she put her phone far away from her reach and was just staring at it with her arms crossed over her curled-up knees, not daring to check her feed.

"But this is someone you know. Look, it's Tsukishima. He wrote, The Return of the Queen. Weird. Is it some kind of reference? Oh, and then Yamaguchi, as a reply to him, There can be only one... Queen."

He heard a faint giggle from Reina.

"And this must be Yachi, although I'm not sure about the nickname. Maybe she changed it, but Yatta! Yatta! I hoped Eri meant you. Oh, my gosh! I'm so happy! Aaaa! Teary face, smiley face, so many faces… It must be her, right?" He glanced at Reina. She relaxed a bit and leaned back on the couch. His dry delivery of Yachi's excited comment kept a soft smile on her face.

"Who else… Liev Haiba?! Hey, I remember when you first showed me that girl's picture, with a 'This is my girlfriend. Now piss off.' Hahaha, high school, fun times."

"Wow, did you actually say it like that?"

"I might've. Miya, One ball, one girl, one life. That from him? As far as I know, none of his relationships lasted longer than 2 weeks. Hmmm… The King and Queen of Karasuno High," he read a random comment, "were we ever known as that?"

"Who knows? It rather sounds like something Tsukishima would say for laughs. Maybe it spread out of context, just like king of the court thing"

"Now random people are trying to figure out if we went to high school together, and who are you anyway… Meh, I had enough." He was glad that he made things clear, but didn't feel obliged to explain himself to people. What they thought didn't really matter. There were other things he'd rather do. He tossed his phone onto the coffee table and looked at Reina. "What were we supposed to watch next? Or maybe… it's still early, but let's make dinner already. What do you think? I'm getting hungry and I wanted to try that new recipe my teammate gave me. The cannelloni... something. His mom made it when he invited me to his house. It was so good I ate three servings. I think I bought all the things we need for it." He stood up and reached his hand toward her.

"Sure, cooking together is fun." She let him pull her up, looking more at ease now. Not thinking about the past, not planning for the future, ignoring the present even. Just being together like this… Let's just enjoy it.

8i8

Thursday 11:12

Tobio: Don't make plans for Christmas, ok?

8i8

Author's notes:

The volleyball picture trend is actually a semi-canon reference. Haikyuu-Bu! chapter 78, if you haven't read it.

Sidenote: Despite Tobio's fears, Eri was always rather fond of him. He was one of the very few guys, that didn't try to hit on her or even looked at her that way. She found his polite indifference soothing. But he really pissed her off when he broke her best friend's heart because she always believed in them.

So… what do you think? Let me know. There's nothing better than reading comments for me. I have no one to talk about Haikyuu IRL. If you have any thoughts, please share. ^_^