The drive back home was the longest drive of his entire life. His mother didn't speak to him, she didn't look at him, she didn't berate him, she didn't tell him to apologize, she just drove.

Kageyama almost found peace in driving through the dark roads late at night, staring out the window at mesmerizing traffic lights. He couldn't relax though when he could see his mother's stony face in the rearview mirror.

He and his mother just drove and finally they came up to their house and his mother parked the car in the driveway and turned off the engine. Other than that, she didn't move and neither did Tobio. He sensed she had something to say to him.

Finally, the air filled with his mom's tiny voice, "Tobio," he had to strain his ears hard to hear what she was saying, "please, just do what we say." Her voice broke at the end of her sentence but he didn't know why. "Please just do what he says. Please. I know it's hard, I know you just…" she paused as if trying to figure something out before continuing, "but you can't. Stop, okay. Stop. No more running off, or staying out late or…" She cut herself off, turning to look at him and because of the glow of the porch lights he could see her tears.

And he didn't understand. He didn't think he'd ever seen his mother cry. She never cried. His father cried more often than she did.

"Yes, mama." He said. He wasn't sure what else to say. Had Tobio been hurting her? He didn't even think that when he wasn't home his father would've yelled at her. But it made sense he would. He remembered she would make herself scarce when he was angry and wondered how many times she'd stopped herself from flinching when he screamed. He just never knew.

He never knew she was scared of him too.

His mother nodded at his answer and opened her car door so Tobio did the same. When they got to the front door, his mother had no more tears. Her face was as he'd always remembered. Carefully polite and mostly unchanging.

Would he be like her? If he listened to his father, would he turn out like she did? Would he be cold and polite to his children, would he hide his emotions behind a wall. "Mama," he said before she opened the door. She turned to him. "What happened to your soulmate?" he asked.

"I left her." His mother said. "For your father." And she opened the door.

Tobio almost choked when she told him her answer.

From that moment, he vowed not to be like her.

But then again wasn't he already becoming her? He hid his emotions too, he was abandoning his soulmates too. He was already on his way to turning into her. And suddenly he wanted to know more about her life from before him, before even his father. She never told him what her life was like, he'd never even thought to ask.

When they walked into the living room, his father was nowhere in sight. He didn't come pounding down the stairs when he closed the door either. "Your father's sleeping. I told him I would talk to you."

She took off her shoes and went into the kitchen, "Do you want anything?"

"I can get it mama." He said, waving her off several times before she actually went to bed, her expression blank like always. "Thank you, mama." He knew she couldn't hear him, but he figured he'd say it anyway.

He knew this didn't change anything between them, he knew she'd still never keep his secrets, knew she'd always end up agreeing with his father. But for the first time, he believed he may have understood a little bit of why she did that. It was the same reason he'd had for obeying his father all these years. Fear.

Kageyama warmed up his own food, careful not to let the microwave go off, and ate as quickly as possible before padding up to his room.

He twisted the door handle before shutting it and letting go, a trick he'd somehow always known. He didn't remember learning it, he just knew.

Now that he was safely alone in his room, Tobio let out a sigh of relief and crawled into bed. He should brush his teeth, and he should shower, but that might wake his father up and while his mother had placated him, Kageyama still knew not to wake him.

Tobio didn't even bother changing into his pajama's, just lied down in bed, swimming in Iwaizumi's sweatshirt, remembering everything that had happened tonight, everything that had happened in the months he'd known them. He had to remind himself not to get involved. His soulmates didn't want him. He didn't blame them for that. Sometimes Kageyama didn't even want himself. Like right now as he remembered the tears in his mother's eyes, guilt twisting his stomach painfully.

Tobio took a deep breath and let it out, rolling over to try and get some sleep.

But it was one of those nights.

He kept waking up feeling as though he hadn't slept, his heart racing and he felt as though he were awake all night long even though the hours passed far too quickly for him to be completely conscious.

When he decided to roll out of bed at eight o'clock his mother was already downstairs, cleaning as she always did. His breakfast was on the table, and despite himself he wanted to talk with her. He didn't really have anyone else besides her. He didn't have any real friends to talk to all the time, and his father would blow things out of proportion and lecture him.

"Mama…"

"Yes, dear."

"About last night, about what you said…" Kageyama paused, treading carefully as he could feel his mom's eyes snap up on him. "Are you happy?" was she happy here? Was he happy? Was his father happy? When was the last time he'd been happy in his home, with his parents? When was the last family dinner that was fun? Not quiet, not ending with an argument, but fun?

His mother sighed and arched her back out when she stood up from scrubbing the floors. "Yes, I'm very happy." She said.

Kageyama bit his lip, "Mama you never leave the house. And you don't have any friends." He stated bluntly, knowing she wouldn't get mad at him. He knew she never got mad at him. He saw the differences between her and his father. They weren't necessarily good differences, but they made her easier to talk to. He knew she wasn't going to start yelling at him and insulting him as his father seemed to be doing more and more lately.

"I'm aware."

"You clean all day, and you're here all by yourself. Don't you get lonely?"

His mother gave him a polite smile, "No. I don't get lonely."

"But mama, you—"

"Kageyama!"

He flinched from her sharp tone and quieted when she leveled him with one of her practical stares, "If I were unhappy, I wouldn't be here."

He knew that wasn't true. He knew there was a million other reasons for her to stay. She was scared, maybe she was insecure, maybe she didn't know if she could take him with her if she left. Maybe she just didn't care about trying to better herself anymore.

Maybe they'd all just gotten used to it.

"I know what you're thinking, Tobio." He didn't doubt her. "Your father is not a monster. He is not the evil man you see him as."

That wasn't true. He loved his father.

But doubts stirred in his heart.

"He is a person as much as you and I. A much different person, perhaps, but I will not have you thinking such thoughts. With that said… would you prefer I left?"

Tobio still immediately shook his head. He would have no one if his mom left, she would not be there to use her logic to calm his father's emotions, she would not be there to stop him from yelling, she would not be there for him to call her. She would not be there to make his meals or his bed, she would not be there to clean the house, do his laundry. She would not be there.

And as much as he didn't want to admit it, they would not be able to live without his father either. He brought in money, he brought structure.

Kageyama wanted to leave them both, but at the same time he realized he would never want that to happen. He would never want anything to happen to either of his parents. He needed them, and beyond that he wanted them. They were all he'd ever known. This was the only home, the only family he'd ever known. And it was comfortable.

His mother went back to scrubbing the floor and he didn't speak to her for the rest of the day. His mother's response had shaken him, forced him to think.

What if his parents left him?

…

Tobio was glad when school started back up, no more long boring days at home, and he didn't have to see his mother nor his father so much. He didn't want to admit it, but he got sick of their faces.

He went back to class and volleyball practice. Life was always much better with school involved.

And as January and February flew by graduation was suddenly approaching way too quickly. He wasn't ready for Oikawa and Iwaizumi to graduate, though they seemed pretty excited about it.

Of course they were though. Kageyama shouldn't even be feeling this way. He shouldn't want them to stay, he should be happy they were leaving. That would make it so much easier to ignore them. He didn't feel happy though, and he didn't want to pretend to either.

"Why so down, Tobio-chan?" Oikawa came over, sitting beside him and poked his cheek, pouting a little. Kageyama turned and looked at him silently for a long time.

"No reason." Kageyama finally mumbled.

"Good, because guess what?"

"What?"

"Guess!" Oikawa smirked and poked his cheek again.

"You're being a shithead again." He growled and smacked Oikawa's hand away.

"No, silly~. Maybe I shouldn't tell you since you were so mean."

Tobio just kept glaring at Oikawa and didn't offer any sort of apology.

"Fine." Oikawa rolled his eyes. "It's Kunimi-chan's birthday today. And he's invited everyone on the volleyball team to his party. I'm supposed to make an announcement to the team about it after practice since apparently he can't even be bothered to invite people to his own party."

"Are you sure I'm invited?"

"Well you're part of the team, aren't you?"

"I guess so…" Kageyama murmured. "I don't think I can go though, I'm supposed to go home right after practice."

"Aww, come on. You really can't come even for just an hour."

No he couldn't. After last week's incident he knew he was walking on thin ice. But at the same time he'd never been to a party. He really wanted to go.

"Come on! We can play truth or dare, and spin the bottle." Oikawa gave him and innocent look. "It'll be fun."

Tobio didn't know what any of those games were, and they sounded kind of dumb to him, but he nodded anyway. "Okay Oikawa-san. I'll go."

"That's great! The party goes till six. You think you can handle that?"

"Why wouldn't I be able to?"

"Cus you're a little crybaby."

Kageyama turned and shoved Oikawa off the bench. "Eat shit."

"Iwa-chan's teaching you too much!"

Tobio stomped off, fuming. He just always had to do that, didn't he? Make a dig at Kageyama, try to piss him off. He didn't understand what Oikawa's problem with him was, and he knew he wasn't going to get an answer out of him.

Suddenly he wanted his pillow he could chuck across the room and slam into the walls and floor.

One good thing from Oikawa's teasing was he started practice feeling energized from his anger. On the other hand he also felt a little queasy from deciding to go to the birthday party. He'd escaped his father's wrath two months ago for running away and he didn't think his mother was going to be able to hold him off again.

But he'd been perfectly willing to face his father's anger that day. So why not this time? He'd never even been to a birthday part before. It would be worth it.

That was what he told himself anyway.

Deep down he knew this was selfish and irresponsible. And even deeper he kind of wanted to be selfish and irresponsible.

After practice Oikawa gathered everyone up in a large group, "You're probably all wondering why I've called you here today." He said.

"Out with it!" Iwaizumi growled.

Oikawa scrunched his nose in distaste and pouted, "Rude Iwa-chan!" He stuck out his tongue. "But anyway. The reason I've called you here is to inform you that it is Kunimi-chan's birthday, as you all are aware, and this is your official threat to attend his birthday party."

"You mean invitation?"

"No. I mean threat. You better come or else you won't get cake."

"What kind of cake?" someone called from the back and a group of boys let out a snicker.

"Stop being horny." Oikawa demanded. "There are children here."

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes at Oikawa's attempt to be responsible and Tobio didn't know what was happening at all anymore. He just wanted to go to the party.

"Okay, everyone follow Kunimi-chan~!"

For some reason Kunimi looked dead inside to Kageyama, but then again, he'd have that look too if he was constantly talking to Oikawa.

They all followed Kunimi, who's house was basically right across the street from the middle school. It just now occurred to Kageyama he didn't know where any of his classmates lived, and none but Oikawa knew where he lived.

Kunimi's house was large. So big Kageyama couldn't comprehend it. He had an upstairs and a basement and everything was completely open on the main floor. The only wall besides the four making it stand was a small room where he assumed a bathroom was.

Maybe it wasn't so huge, but it felt big with all the open space. He could see everything. He could see the kitchen and the living room from the same spot. It was amazing to say the least.

When he looked to the kitchen he saw a woman he assumed to be Kunimi's mother. Unlike her son, however, she gave them a big smile when they all clambered inside her house. "We're so glad you could make it!"

Kageyama didn't mean to, but he sort of tuned out everything she was saying and focused on her facial expressions. She was so expressive, her face changed in mere seconds with different degrees of excitement and joy. He couldn't figure out how she was so happy, or why for that matter. Did people not often come to Kunimi's parties?

Immediately after thinking it, he mentally slapped himself. That wasn't a nice thing to think.

After his mother's introduction everyone spread out over the house. There were multiple things to do. Board games, a lot of guys were eating the food, and Oikawa was dragging people over to karaoke so Tobio made sure to stay clear of him.

He wasn't really sure what to do, but some guys were not in their right minds. There was a backflip competition in the backyard, though no one had managed a backflip and they all landed on their backs.

It looked painful to Kageyama, even worse than karaoke. "Tobio-chan~. You look lonely, you can't be lonely at parties."

Great, he shouldn't have thought about karaoke.

The open floor plan that Kageyama had loved earlier he now hated because there was nowhere to run and hide. "I don't sing." He'd never sang. He didn't listen to music either. He didn't know any songs.

"It's okay, you're supposed to be bad."

Kageyama didn't think Oikawa was bad.

The song that played was very upbeat and Kageyama had never even heard of it before.

He sung that song to the best of his abilities, which still was still extremely horrible, but then Oikawa made him sing three more after that and he started getting annoyed.

"How are you still singing?"

"I've got a good voice." Oikawa said triumphantly.

"He's got a lot of practice running his mouth all the time." Iwaizumi grinned.

"You're mean!" Oikawa put the mic down and ran over to jump on top of Iwaizumi.

"Shittykawa you're gonna break my—"

He didn't get to finish because Oikawa threw himself at Iwaizumi and the other boy's main focus was keeping them both upright.

"You're the one who's always bragging about his big muscles."

"No I'm not."

Kageyama never heard Iwaizumi bragging about his muscles, so it was probably more likely Oikawa was lying.

Iwaizumi still hugged Oikawa back and he saw Iwaizumi's arms tighten for a moment before pulling away. "Someone's in love~." One boy teased.

"If you had taste you would be too." Oikawa said.

No one knew if he was talking about himself or Iwaizumi.

At that declaration, Kageyama almost said, 'I guess I have good taste', but clamped his mouth shut at the last moment and nearly died from his almost mistake.

"Speaking of love, we should play 7 minutes in heaven." One boy said, wiggling his eyebrows and everyone else groaned.

Kageyama had no idea what that game was.

"I love that game!" Oikawa exclaimed.

"I thought you liked me," Iwaizumi elbowed Oikawa's ribs playfully.

"I do! But I also like this game!"

"I guess as long as you don't end up kissing a creep."

Of course all the boys in the room immediately took offense to that, and over half didn't even seem to want to play.

But as always, Oikawa managed to rope everyone into it eventually. They decided the two chosen people would go into the bathroom. They also decided to all go down stairs into the basement, because apparently it was 'scarier' down there. Kageyama didn't know why that mattered though.

"Alright, Iwa-chan, why don't you pick two people out of the bowl first." Oikawa said, holding the bowl out.

Iwaizumi shrugged and picked two people at random out of the bowl of names they'd created. "Kunimi and Kindaichi." He read and an exclamation of 'ooo's' filled the room which just seemed to make the two first years embarrassed.

They went into the bathroom and the door was locked behind them and he waited out with the rest of the group. He decided that this was an extremely boring game. Then, after seven minutes, the door was unlocked and they both came out.

"Did you kiss~."

"No." Kunimi said simply and Oikawa pouted for a moment before selecting two more names himself.

"Looks like it's me and… Tobio-chan." The same guffaws and teasing from earlier came directed at him and Oikawa now and suddenly he understood why Kunimi and Kindaichi had been so embarrassed.

Glancing from his lap up to Oikawa he saw the other boy get up without complaint and so he followed him into the bathroom, and the door shut.

He heard a click.

"I thought you didn't like kissing." Kageyama blurted out as soon as they were left alone, remembering that Oikawa and Iwaizumi had never even kissed before.

Oikawa rolled his eyes, "I don't really. But this is a game of drama. You never know what's going to happen to two people when playing 7 minutes. They might find out that they've secretly liked each other for years.

The bright light was blinding due to the white tiles and countertops and when Oikawa leaned against the wall he could've almost looked like an angel. "Why? Hoping to get a kiss Tobio-chan?" Oikawa teased lightly.

"No!" maybe.

Oikawa stared at him and then shuffled a little closer, "Speaking of discoveries Tobio-chan, I have something to ask you."

"What?"

"Why do you always wear long-sleeves?"

"I don't want to answer that."

"No one's hurting you right?" Oikawa pressed and moved closer until he was standing right in front of Kageyama, towering over him.

"No." Kageyama shook his head. He didn't even understand what Oikawa meant. Why was he asking him this? Why did he even care? Why was it so important?

"Can I see then?" Tobio instantly assumed he meant his arms and when he saw Oikawa slowly reaching for his arm that only confirmed it. It was as if he thought Kageyama were a scared animal who would bolt at any moment.

It wasn't as if he'd be able to leave anyway.

Tobio almost let him do it, because what was the worse that could happen? He'd get rejected? His parents would find out? His father would yell at him again?

That wasn't anything new.

But at the last moment he remembered why he couldn't let them see. Not Oikawa. And not Iwaizumi.

He was scared. He was afraid of rejection, he was afraid of his father's anger, afraid of the dark, afraid of tiny spaces, so afraid. So he took a step back and yanked his arm close. "You can't." Kageyama murmured.

"Why?"

"Because of my soulmate!" He was careful to keep the noun singular.

Oikawa stared at him for a long moment before he asked carefully, "You don't have one?"

Kageyama shook his head and despised the look of pity Oikawa gave him. Not having a soulmate was one of the greatest tragedies a person could experience. People without soulmates were seen as unwanted, as someone incapable of being loved. Some people bullied the soulmateless, and others pitied them.

And Oikawa was only giving him that look of pity because of yet another lie. Not because of something real. "I'm sorry," Oikawa said at last.

Kageyama shrugged and glanced up then down from the floor to Oikawa's face. He wasn't sure what to say, but figured he had to say something. "Um… Oikawa-san. Why are you so concerned with my family?"

Oikawa took a deep breath and sighed tiredly before answering, "Well it's just that you can never be too careful. I want to make sure you're not being hurt or… abused or anything." Oikawa seemed hesitant to say the last part.

Maybe he thought Tobio would be offended (not that he'd ever cared about that before)

He had no need to worry though because Kageyama almost could've laughed at his response. How could Oikawa even think he was being abused? Even consider it? He'd never been hit, he didn't walk around with bruises everywhere, his parents didn't threaten him.

"Oikawa-san… where would you get that idea?"

"I just… never mind. Just forget it." Oikawa waved the subject off quickly, obviously just as uncomfortable with the conversation as Kageyama was.

"Okay," and as soon as he uttered the word the door to the bathroom unlocked and opened to let them rejoin the rest of the group.

"Did you kiss?" Iwaizumi asked when they came back in view.

"Yes we did. Tobio-chan's so cute I couldn't help it." Oikawa sang, plopping down next to Iwaizumi.

"Ugh, so his first kiss was with a creep?"

"Why am I the creep now?" Oikawa pouted. Iwaizumi shrugged. "Well fine, Iwa-chan, I guess you caught me. We didn't kiss."

"Then what'd you do?"

"Talk."

"About what?" Iwaizumi's eyes narrowed.

Oikawa only giggled and dodged the question, "You're so protective of him, Iwa-chan. Loosen up a little bit, I didn't do anything mean."

Iwaizumi sent a glance up at Kageyama, who shook his head. For once Oikawa actually hadn't done anything mean.

The rest of the party continued over the next hour, but soon it was time for everyone to go home for the night.

Now came the consequences of his adventure.

Kageyama wasn't exactly in a hurry to get home, but the longer he was out the worse it would be, he knew that. And after what happened a couple months ago, this act of rebellion was even worse. He was fairly sure his father was still angry at him for running away. Who knew what he would do now that Tobio was coming home late. He didn't even have a good excuse.

Oikawa and Iwaizumi offered to walk him home but he denied adamantly. He didn't want them to possibly hear his father going off and yelling at him.

As he trotted down the sidewalk, the sun went down and it started getting colder. Now that it was march the weather had begun to warm up, but it wouldn't be until the end of the month that people brought out their short sleeves. He still had half a month to look normal in his long sleeves.

He saw his house in the distance and for some reason it felt like the temperature dropped several degrees. Maybe because he knew what was waiting.

When he got to the front door, all he could do was take a deep breath and open it, therefore accepting the consequences of his actions.

Kageyama immediately assessed the room for people. Was his father upstairs? In the dining room? Where was his mother? Tobio didn't see him in the living room, and after a minute of listening he could hear his mother clambering around in the kitchen, so maybe he was in the dining room waiting for dinner. It was around that time anyway.

But when he went into the dining room, his father wasn't there either, so he went into the kitchen to ask his mother. "Mama?"

"Oh god!" his mother dropped the knife she was holding and if she hadn't moved her foot quickly enough who knew what would've happened. She moved in time though, and turned to him, heaving a heavy sigh.

She'd looked so… uncomposed just now. It was strange. "Tobio, don't scare me! And what are you wearing! Your father has guests coming over tonight, that's why he's late. Now hurry upstairs and get ready, why are you still in your school uniform!"

"Guests?"

"Yes, guests! And this house is a complete mess and Tobio just go change please." She actually sounded frantic.

So Kageyama nodded and hurried off, not sure what to think of his mother's attitude just now. She only got like that when she was incredibly stressed. Just how important were these guests?

Kageyama showered as quickly as he could and dried his hair before slipping on some clothes. They weren't fancy or anything, but they were dressier than what he would normally wear to dinner.

Even if he sat there and thought all night he wouldn't be able to remember the last time they'd had company over.

Tobio had just finished sliding on his jacket when he heard the front door open and loud voices fill the normally dead silent place he lived in.

Kageyama had always been shy when it came to new people, which was why he just crept down the stairs without making a noise and peered around the wall to get a view of the doorway instead of going out and making his appearance known.

He saw a man and a woman in the doorway. They had dark hair and blue eyes, that looked a lot like his. But there dark hair had gray patches, and their faces were crinkled around the eyes and mouth especially. They were certainly older than even his mother and father.

Tobio was content to watch them from his perch on the stairs but then his mother came from the opposite side of the stairs from the kitchen and saw him sitting at the top of the stairwell. "What are you doing up there Tobio, come down," his mother was back to her composed and polite self, "come meet your grandparents."

A/N I feel like this isn't my best chapter, but it's as good as it's gonna get. I have about as much idea as you guys about what's gonna happen next chapter (close to zero) but yeah... we are going to learn more and more about Kageyama's parents! Anyway, hope you liked this chapter, reviews appreciated!