The next morning with his mother made him feel odd. Kageyama couldn't describe he was feeling exactly, but something was off.
Kageyama came downstairs, as usual, and his breakfast was ready for him as always. He could see his mother cleaning, just as usual. She was acting strangely though because when he entered the dining room she quickly left.
It was as if she was avoiding him for some reason.
He supposed that was alright. His mother didn't usually speak to him in the mornings anyway, and he didn't speak to her. After last night Kageyama was especially too tired to hold up a proper conversation this morning anyway.
Which was why he almost let a groan out when he ran into Oikawa as he was entering the school the building. Their eyes locked for a split moment and that was apparently all the incentive Oikawa needed to march over to him.
As he got closer, Kageyama could see Oikawa's expression was angry (frustrated?) and his gaze was definitely pointed at Kageyama.
Tobio did not want to deal with this today.
"Tobio-chan!" Oikawa started, sounding upset.
"Yes?" by Oikawa's narrowed expression he was fairly sure he'd failed to sound interested.
"Do you know what Iwa-chan said to me?"
"You're shitty?"
"No."
"Go away?"
"No! He told me that he's stronger than me just because he can pick you up for a little while! Except you're only like sixty pounds, it's not that impressive!" Oikawa growled.
Kageyama crossed his arms, "What do you want?"
"Right to the point, Tobio-chan, no fun." He pouted. "But since you asked, I'll tell you." Oikawa crossed his arms and continued, "I have to prove I'm just as strong if not stronger than Iwa-chan!"
"So?"
"So Iwa-chan held you for thirteen minutes and I'm going to hold you for fourteen."
"Why the hell were you counting?"
Oikawa's expression changed from triumph to a scowl, "No reason!" he shouted pointing an accusing finger at Kageyama. "Why do you even care, huh!"
"I don't."
Oikawa rolled his eyes, "Today at lunch, meet me there and don't be late!" he said, ignoring Tobio's lack of interest.
Kageyama didn't say anything in response because he still wasn't awake enough to make intelligent conversation, and let Oikawa saunter off.
He yawned and went to class to face another day.
All his classes went smoothly, and Kageyama was actually feeling better by lunch. Last nights events had mostly faded from his mind, except the idea that he needed to talk with his grandparents to find out more about his mother and father.
Everything else faded into the background.
"Tobio-chan~!"
Great, Kageyama, in his semi-good mood, had actually forgotten about Oikawa for a moment.
Tobio took a deep breath and let it out. Normally, he wasn't this annoyed with simply talking to Oikawa, but this thing he wanted to prove was completely ridiculous, it sounded embarrassing, and he didn't really want any part of it.
"Why can't you just pick up something like a weight to prove your dumb strength. You know, like a normal person."
"I don't want to Tobio-chan." Oikawa whined, "Please, you promised you would earlier."
"I said no such thing! You ordered me to meet you at lunch, I never agreed to anything!"
"But Tobio-chan, please!" he gave Kageyama puppy dog eyes. "Please, Iwa-chan says I have noodle arms which isn't true!"
Oikawa did kind of have noodle arms.
"I'll buy you milk."
Kageyama hesitated, before relenting slightly, "Okay, but buy me milk first."
Oikawa pouted, "You think I would lie to you?" he sounded offended.
"Yeah. I can already hear you saying you don't remember saying anything like that."
"Mean Tobio-chan, mean! But fine, I'll buy you milk. But you better not run off while I'm gone!"
"I'm not like you."
"Why's everyone so mean to me." Oikawa grumbled as he walked off to go get Tobio his milk.
Kageyama sighed but didn't run off like he wanted to. Didn't hide somewhere until lunch was over like he wanted. He stayed and waited because now technically he'd made a deal and he wasn't about to give up on his end.
When Oikawa came back over, he was with Iwaizumi. Iwaizumi stared at Tobio and rolled his eyes with a half smile as if to say I know. He probably knew more than Kageyama about Oikawa's antics considering he had to put up with them all the time.
"Here's your dumb milk box." Oikawa dropped it on Tobio's desk. "And now I'm going to prove to you Iwa-chan that I'm stronger."
"Good luck. You'll need it." Iwaizumi said, smirking.
"Hmph, alright Tobio-chan, stand up and Iwa-chan, ready the timer!"
Kageyama sighed and stood up. The three of them were attracting some attention but most students just ignored them like considerate people.
"Okay."
Kageyama didn't know why Oikawa looked like he was gearing up for the hardest challenge of his entire life.
"Okay." He took a deep breath and scooped Tobio up in his arms, but in that split instant Kageyama could tell Oikawa's hold on him was nowhere near as stable as Iwaizumi's had been.
"You're heavier than Iwa-chan made you look."
"Yeah, cus I'm stronger."
"No you aren't!"
"You know, just because I only carried Kageyama for thirteen minutes doesn't mean I couldn't have done it for longer."
"Shut u—"
At that point Oikawa lost his balance and if Iwaizumi hadn't been there they would've both fallen. "Oikawa be careful! We don't need you two getting hurt." Iwaizumi scolded lightly.
"Aw, Iwa-chan is worried." Oikawa said, releasing his grip on Tobio and Kageyama landed on his feet.
"I'm not worried." Iwaizumi said. "I'm just telling you not to be a dumbass and get yourself hurt!"
"So you were worried." Oikawa smirked, turned, and wrapped his arms around Iwaizumi's neck.
Iwaizumi rolled his eyes with a half-smile, "Yeah, yeah, whatever," he murmured, patting Oikawa's head, "you okay Kageyama?" he asked, glancing down at Tobio.
"I'm fine." Kageyama poked the straw into his milk and started to drink it. "Is Oikawa-san alright?"
"He's fine."
"I can speak for myself!" Oikawa paused and then grumbled, "I'm fine." Almost like he was grumpy about it.
"Well don't sound unhappy about it."
"I wouldn't sound unhappy except you already said it and I was going to say how I felt myself!"
"Well if you were hurt you'd start bawling about it."
"Would not Iwa-chan!"
Kageyama took his milk box and his bag and creeped out of the classroom without Oikawa or Iwaizumi seeing him, but he did hear their arguing grow fainter and fainter as he made his way down the hall.
After that incident, the rest of Friday went by smoothly, and Kageyama even managed to avoid Oikawa all through volleyball practice, which wasn't easy, but Oikawa eventually gave up when he saw he wasn't going to get a response or reaction out of Tobio.
He was proud of himself for managing that, proud of himself for being home on time for once and he thought his mother would look proud of him for that too, but she just looked surprised.
Kageyama sighed and took the stairs up to his room two at a time so he could get started on his homework and hopefully finish it before his father got home from work.
Tobio worked until he heard a knock, "Tobio, your father's home." That meant it was time to come down for dinner. It was odd he hadn't heard his father come in though.
Maybe he'd just been really focused on his homework.
When Kageyama got downstairs he said, "Hi, papa," and sat in his chair, "How was your day?"
"It was good, how was your day at school? Did you do well?"
"Yes, to both those things… um, what about you, mama?"
"My day was nice."
Then everything fell silent as they ate. After everyone said how their day was which varied from good to okay, everything at the table was silent unless Kageyama decided he wanted to push his luck.
With what he was planning on doing tomorrow, Tobio decided it wasn't a good idea to test his parents right now.
Once they finished Kageyama went upstairs and showered before getting ready for bed.
He was to see Hinata tomorrow, at noon, and Kageyama was extremely nervous, but also very excited and both those feelings created knots in his stomach.
What if his parents decided to go looking for him and found him hanging out with someone? What if Hinata didn't show up? What if his father got home before he did and his mother came up to get him for dinner and know for sure he was gone?
There were a lot of things that could go wrong with tomorrow, but by agreeing to meet Hinata he supposed he'd already decided those risks were worth what he was about to do.
Kageyama slid out of bed at 8:00 the next morning, not having slept well, but feeling energized.
He went downstairs, ate his breakfast, and then snuck his shoes upstairs to put on later.
His pillow could be used to make his mom think he was sleeping in bed. His mother wouldn't be likely to 'wake' him until dinner, as long as he ate lunch before 'going to sleep'. That meant he'd probably be a little late to meet with Hinata, but that was a small price to pay for not getting caught.
So, Tobio did just that. He ate his lunch at around noon and then slipped his pillow under the covers, yanked on his shoes, and then climbed out his bedroom window.
He had to climb back in to grab a jacket though.
After that he was on his way to meet Hinata, still a bundle of nerves, and worrying that his mother wouldn't fall for the pillow trick. And there was always the possibility that Hinata wouldn't even be at the meeting place.
He probably forgot, now that Kageyama thought about it. There was no reason for him to remember anyway. Him and Hinata weren't best friends or anything. It made more sense that he forgot.
Tobio shouldn't have done this, this was a dumb idea. He should just turn around and go back home before he really got in trouble.
For some reason his body wouldn't turn around, however, he just kept walking.
He supposed he had to make sure Hinata hadn't forgotten. He would just go to the meeting place, and once he made sure Hinata wasn't there, he could just turn around and walk off.
When Kageyama got to the little store though, Hinata was waiting there, looking around, probably for him. Suddenly Tobio felt bad for even thinking of just going home.
Well, now that he'd seen Hinata was here, it'd be wrong to turn around and leave. So he walked up, feeling nervous. It wasn't like last time they'd met spontaneously.
Hinata liked him enough to actually take time out of his schedule to hang out. Kageyama couldn't disappoint him.
"Hey," Tobio's voice cracked and with that he wanted to slam his head into a wall and then crawl into a hole and never come out. He felt sweat start forming on the back of his neck and reached a hand up there to wipe it away before it could crawl down his back.
It was strange he was sweating since it wasn't even too hot out, but he supposed it was from all his nervousness.
"Hi Yamayama-kun!" Hinata bounced over towards him with one of his beaming smiles.
Kageyama almost said 'hi' again but then remembered he'd just said it, so that would be dumb of him. "You came…"
"Of course I did, I said I promised. Besides, all of my other friends were busy today, so I'm glad you didn't have any plans so we could hang out again!"
Tobio didn't know why but his entire body heated up when he heard Hinata say, 'other friends'. Did that mean he thought of Kageyama as one of his friends?
Hinata was still grinning at him so he gave a small smile in return, "So what do you want to do?" Kageyama hoped Hinata had something in mind because he'd never hung out before with anyone and had no idea what they could do together.
"I've never really hung out with anyone outside of school, so I don't know."
"Oh… well I'll be your first friend and teach you all the rules of hanging out."
"What are the rules?" Tobio asked hoping it wasn't long because he had trouble remembering a lot of things sometimes.
"Okay, take notes Yamayama-kun. Number one, you need to have fun."
Then Hinata stood there and waited. Kageyama started to wonder if he actually expected note taking because Tobio didn't bring any paper or a pencil for that matter. "What's rule number two?"
"There isn't one. With me, we're always just gonna have fun okay. We don't have to talk about or do anything we don't want to.
"So we don't do serious stuff?"
"Not if we don't want to."
And as much as Kageyama liked making deep connections with people when he got the chance, taking the time to really get to know them. Not just their favorite ice cream or color but something more substantial. Of course, he didn't know anyone that well, not even his own parents, however he knew he would like to know more about those things. About Iwaizumi, and Oikawa, about his parents. If they told him those things it would make him feel wanted and important.
Hinata's offer felt different though. Not like he didn't want to be close, but like he just wanted to have fun. Kageyama wanted to have fun too, that's why he was here in the first place. He wanted to leave behind all his problems and worries and just have fun.
"Okay, Hinata."
Hinata smiled at him and took his hand, "Alright, let's go in that store. It's got lots of candy. I can even buy some for us." He pointed.
"Oh, you don't have to do that." Kageyama said quickly.
"But I want to. Besides, it's for me too."
Kageyama was still lost about this friend thing, because only his parents and Oikawa now had ever bought him something and he was pretty sure Oikawa only bought that nightlight to tease him, even though it had actually helped so he wasn't sure that counted.
They entered the store and Kageyama was instantly hit by a huge array of candy. So much candy everywhere, he'd never seen so much in his entire life.
In fact, he'd never gone in any of the stores along this street. To him, this had always just been his route to school, never something he could explore.
"Yamayama-kun, don't they look good. Come over here," Hinata waved him over vehemently to a specific jar of candy and pointed at it. They looked like some kind of gummy.
"These are my favorites, let's get some! What are your favorites?"
Kageyama had never had candy before, he had no idea. "I don't know." He shrugged. "Never had candy."
"You poor child," Hinata put a hand on his arm which felt a little dramatic to Kageyama, "today that all changes. What candy looks good?"
Tobio browsed the store and Hinata did too. There were all types of candy. Hard candies and soft, with all kinds of flavors. He didn't even really know where to start. "What about this one?" He pointed to a long, stick like candy with a chocolate tip. There were other flavors, but he thought that particular one looked good.
"Ooo, pocky?" Hinata turned to him with a mischievous smirk, "Ever heard of the pocky game?"
"No," Kageyama shook his head.
"Well, I mean it's supposed to be a game, but people just use it as an excuse to kiss each other mostly. At least that's what happens in anime."
"You watch too much TV."
Hinata rolled his eyes, "You sound like my mom. And watching too much is better than not watching it at all!"
"I don't think so." Kageyama said. "I've never watched this anime you're talking about and I'm perfectly fine."
"Mhm," but Hinata's hum sounded skeptical. "Maybe, but it's okay to act young you know."
Kageyama had no idea what Hinata meant by that so he just raised his eyebrows and gave a questioning look. "Well," Hinata started, "you act like grumpy old man already. You don't watch TV, you don't eat candy, you don't like kids—"
"I don't NOT like kids," Kageyama defended himself, "they just make me nervous."
"Yeah, well, you should live a little."
"I do!"
Hinata grabbed the pocky sticks and his gummies and put them on the counter to pay, "What do you do then?" Hinata thanked the lady at the register for the candy and Kageyama nodded at her, trying to smile without looking strange but he'd probably failed.
"Last night I stayed up ten minutes passed my bedtime to get my homework done."
"Oh yeah… I have homework to do." Hinata mused, tapping his chin. "I guess I'll do it later. Anyway, Yamayama-kun, where do you want to go next? I'm pretty open to anything."
"Um… what if we went into that store?" Kageyama pointed to a random one because he was panicking and had no idea what he wanted.
"That's an underwear store for women."
"Oh… never mind then, I—"
"Let's do it."
Hinata grabbed his hand and dragged him over, peeking into the windows secretively like they were doing something illegal. "We're secret agents and we have but one mission." Hinata whispered.
"What?"
"How can we make stuffy old ladies glare at us the hardest."
"Won't they not like that though?"
Hinata shrugged, "I guess not, but they're mean to me too. Some horrible woman told me I'm not supposed to know the word fuck and kept insisting I was eight when I'm twelve! It was so annoying." Hinata grumbled.
"What if we went in that game store over there."
"Oh yeah, there's this new really cool game, you've gotta see." Hinata bounced up and away from the window, dragging Kageyama over to the new store that had caught his interest.
They browsed the store, Hinata tugging him around everywhere that was supposedly interesting.
Eventually, after a couple more stores and endless amounts of conversation, Kageyama asked, "What time is it?"
Hinata whipped out a small phone from his back pocket and glanced at the time, "4:30. Wow, it's late. Time flies huh?"
"I have to get home. But, here's your pocky candy. Play the game with someone you like."
If you asked whether Iwaizumi and Oikawa flooded into his mind when Hinata said that he would've denied it profusely. But he'd be lying.
"Ooo, you definitely have someone in mind~." Hinata teased when he saw the expression on Kageyama's face.
"No." Kageyama murmured, feeling the tips of his ears go red.
"Who is it? Who, huh~?"
"Just some classmates! I have to go!" Kageyama turned around and raced down the streets, partly because he wanted to run away from the embarrassment, and partly because he really did have to go.
"See you later, Yamayama-kun!"
Kageyama came to a halt and turned to see Hinata waving frantically at him. Tobio tried to smile without looking weird and raised his hand in a shy wave of his own before continuing to run.
He looked down at the pocky in his hands, wondering where in his room to hide it. His mother always went through all his things when she was cleaning, and the only thing she never touched was his schoolbag. Sometimes she'd just move it somewhere random that apparently looked cleaner than where Kageyama had put it.
He noticed when he got home that his father's car wasn't in the driveway yet. Tobio let out a sigh of relief and walked to the side of the house where he managed to pull himself up and into his bedroom.
He took a quick glance around the room but his mother was nowhere to be found and neither was his father. The pillow he'd shoved under his covers was intact.
Kageyama let out another sigh and shut his window, kicking off his shoes, figuring he'd sneak them downstairs late tonight when his parents were asleep. It'd be unlikely for his parents to notice they were gone anyway.
Kageyama hid the shoes under his bed, and shoved the pocky in his school bag, hoping it wouldn't break and zipped it back up.
After, Tobio flopped down on his bed, moving the pillow to it's rightful place on his bed.
For today he was safe.
A/N Ahhh sorry this took me so longed, or if it was rushed or boring but this is kind of a filler chapter and I hope it was still somewhat enjoyable! Thanks for reading, reviews are lovely!