Kageyama's parents, however, didn't talk to him about anything until almost the end of summer. Which was much farther into the future than he'd hoped.

Either way, he'd been expecting his father to speak with him, but it turned out his mother was the one who would be discussing things.

She sat down on the couch one morning, which had Kageyama stopping in the middle of the stairway, because his mother sitting down wasn't a usual occurrence unless it was on the floor to scrub some obscure corner of the house.

"Are you okay?" Kageyama asked, descending down the rest of the steps into the living room.

She gave a small tilt of her head. "Let's talk for a minute." His mother stared impassively so Tobio couldn't get a read on her.

"Okay." He said, going over to sit by his mother, mind racing through all the things he'd done lately, which wasn't much.

He hadn't seen Hinata in a while, but that was because he'd been waiting for his parents and he didn't want to make things bad again by sneaking out.

"Your father and I have been talking for a while. And we've decided to let you play volleyball again."

Kageyama's heart did a little flip inside his chest at those words. Of course he'd never stopped playing, but now he truly had permission, and he wouldn't have to lie about it anymore.

"We've also decided to allow you to go out with people of your choosing."

"Mama, I—"

"However," she interrupted before he could finish, "you have to tell us who you're going out with and where you're going."

Tobio nodded eagerly. He could do that no problem.

"We'd also like it if you weren't out after dark. Always stay with your friends and don't wander off from them."

"I know, mama." Kageyama wasn't stupid, he knew that going off by himself, especially after dark , would bring trouble.

He ignored that he'd already been out by himself after dark without anyone, and been lost before.

Looking back, maybe he'd done a lot of things he shouldn't exactly be proud of, but at the time it had seemed like the only option. Turned out that all he needed to do was let his parents know his true feelings.

He admitted to himself he could've handled that better too.

"In light of the changes," she continued, and stood up, presumably to go get something, "We thought that we could get you something, to make things a little easier."

His mother returned with a box in her hand. "What is it?" Kageyama asked.

"Why don't you open it and see." She murmured.

Kageyama glanced up at his mother's face and then back down at the box.

He eventually took it from her hands and opened it up to see what his parents had gotten him. "Mama…" Inside the box was a phone, which was something he'd been asking for since the middle of his first year.

"We've already put our numbers in there," she continued, "and if we call or text while you're out we expect you to answer."

"Of course I will." Kageyama said. "Mama, I love it!"

"Very good. I'm glad we had this talk." She said, ending the conversation abruptly.

For some reason those choice of words also made Kageyama feel like they'd just been talking about something he shouldn't have done. "Uh, yeah, me too, mama." Kageyama smiled at her. "Do you need help with anything?"

"No, dear, I'm fine."

"Wait, so…" Hinata stopped his brisk walk, "your parents didn't know we were hanging out all this time?" The orange haired boy asked one day after school.

"No… if I asked they would've said no. So I kept sneaking out."

"That's sad. My mom will pretty much let me go out anywhere, she just doesn't really like it after dark."

"That's what my parents said too." Kageyama said, twiddling his fingers before asking, "Um, Hinata, is it just you and your mom?"

Hinata glanced at him and shrugged. "Most of the time. Dad's always at work. But soon there's gonna be a new baby, cus my mom is pregnant."

"Oh wow…" Kageyama murmured, blinking.

Thinking of the long nights he'd always spent at home, he found himself suddenly wishing he'd had a sibling to be with. Someone who would truly understand what it felt like to live with his parents. They could've protected each other, stood up for each other, lied for each other.

It probably would've been great if that had been the case. Kageyama was sure his sibling would've been amazing.

"Yeah," Hinata continued, "I don't know if I'm ready. Mom's gonna be really busy when the baby comes, she's already busy now. I've never really had to share her before…" Hinata frowned and then looked at him again, "I guess if your mom had another baby though it would've been easier for you to sneak out."

Kageyama shrugged, "Probably. It's no big deal now though. I mean I think it's not. My parents even know I'm out here with you."

Hinata smiled slightly, "I never would've guessed your parents were that protective."

For some reason, that word Hinata used made him cringe inside. Protective. Why did that word make his gut twist, and his heart burn. "Yeah," Kageyama murmured vaguely, swallowing back the fire in his throat.

"I mean, of course they're protective. I just mean, I didn't know they wouldn't let you go out with friends and stuff."

"Yeah, I know. Not many people think that."

Of course they didn't.

He was pretty sure it wasn't normal.

Over time, as Hinata and Kageyama's friendship progressed, Kageyama didn't worry as much about talking to Hinata. Didn't really worry if he said something awkward or dumb, because Hinata didn't make him feel that way. Even now, the conversation about his parents and how wrong Hinata was should've made him feel awkward and uncomfortable, but it didn't. He was a little angry that Hinata shoved it off as nothing but he was also glad Hinata was doing that. He didn't like it when people tried to pry into his home life without him initiating the conversation. He didn't really like how much Oikawa and Iwaizumi knew about that, because he would really rather keep that all to himself. He wasn't sure if he was ready for even those closest to him to know how he felt inside sometimes.

"So, Yamayama-kun," the voice pulled Kageyama out of his thoughts, "have you talked to your soulmates anymore since we last saw each other?" Hinata wiggled his eyebrows.

Tobio flushed slightly, "Not really. My parents finally got me a phone, but I don't have their number or anything—"

"Hey! Right! I forgot you didn't have a phone before! Okay, I have an idea!" Hinata said, interrupting Kageyama mid sentence.

"Tomorrow, we should go to their school. You at least know what school they go to right? Then, we'll talk to them and you can ask for their number!"

"What?" Kageyama asked, feeling his heart rate speed up in horror at the mere thought of asking for something like that. "We're not close enough for me to ask that kind of question!" Kageyama cried.

"It's not like your asking for a make out session. And if you don't have their number you can't talk to them and how do you expect to get closer unless you can meet up with them?"

"B-but what if my parents see!" Kageyama knew his parents knew at least part of his soulmates names due to that night. And they were totally smart enough to figure out the rest and realize who he was talking to.

"So? There's a thing called a contact name, and you can put it as anything you want. It doesn't have to be their real name." Hinata shrugged.

"But we're still not close enough! I can't just ask for their number. It'd be weird."

"Only if you make it weird Yamayama-kun. Plus, I really wanna meet your soulmates!"

Kageyama bit his lip and wrung his hands together, glancing from the pavement into Hinata's eyes. There were a million things that could go wrong. If he thought about it too much he knew he would start feeling sick and shaky because that's what always happened. "Okay," he finally gave in before he could think of more reasons to say no, "but you can't tell my parents if you ever meet them. And you can't tell my soulmates I'm their soulmate either."

"Done! I'm so excited Yamayama-kun, I'm sure you three look so sweet together!"

"Um… right." Kageyama mumbled nervously. "Anyway, I should be getting home now… it'll get dark soon."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, you're right. Okay Yamayama-kun! See you tomorrow~." Hinata gave him a cheeky grin and a wave that intensified the nervous feeling in the bottom of his gut.

"Bye." He murmured and waved before turning around to head home.

It felt nice to be able to walk in through his front door instead of having to climb through his window and worry about a million things that needed to be done before his parents checked on him so they wouldn't know he was ever gone.

"You're back." His mother said when he walked through the door.

With a quick glance he saw his father wasn't back yet, so he may have been working a little later than usual. "Hi mama."

"Can you set the table please?"

"Yes." He answered and put down his bag before heading into the kitchen, picking some plates and silverware out of the cupboards.

The silence in the room weighed heavily on him and Kageyama felt the need to start a conversation somehow. "So, mama, how was your day?"

"It was good. I got a lot done."

Didn't she always?

"Is papa working late tonight?"

"A little," she said, "but he should be home soon enough. How did you enjoy your day with Hinata-kun."

"It was fun. We talked about teachers and school. We also talked about volleyball. Hinata-kun says he's practicing but his school doesn't have a volleyball team, so he can't play until high school."

"Does he know where he's going yet?"

Kageyama shrugged, "He said Karasuno, which means we'll probably not go to the same school again, since I plan to go to Aoba Johsai." Kageyama was slightly disappointed when he heard that, but it also meant they'd probably play against each other eventually, and Kageyama was excited to know who the better player between them was. Who had the better team.

Still, he kept Karasuno in the back of his mind.

"Darling," his mother interrupted Kageyama's thoughts, "your father just texted. He says he'll be home later than expected. Would you rather wait for your father and get more homework done, or are you hungry now?"

"I'm hungry now…"

"Alright." His mother filled up his dishes and then set to work, cleaning more as he ate.

The next day, at volleyball practice after school, Kageyama felt incredibly nervous for what he and Hinata had planned that day. Go to his old senpais new school and ask for their numbers?

What if they took it the wrong way? What if they thought it was a confession? What if they thought he was flirting somehow? What if they figured out Kageyama was their soulmate?

Despite all the progress he'd made, Kageyama was still terrified that would happen. Scared of how his soulmates would react, and nervous of what they might want from him even if they did accept him, which wasn't likely.

"Kageyama-kun, could you try to make your set a little slower this time?" Kindaichi asked, snapping Kageyama out of his thoughts for the third time that day.

Get your head out of the clouds you stupid moron Kageyama scolded himself.

"Um, yeah, sorry." Kageyama apologized, hoping they didn't swap him out despite all the mistakes he'd made that day.

"It's alright."

Kageyama shook his head, hoping to snap himself out of it several times, but in spite of his efforts, most of his sets were off that day, his receives too.

He was just glad today wasn't a practice match or anything.

After practice, he and Hinata met up in their usual place, by the store where they'd first hung out. "Yamayama-kun!" Hinata cried when he spotted him, waving and before a smirk crossed his face. "You ready."

Kageyama nodded. He wasn't really ready, but he had to admit that despite all his nervousness, Kageyama did kind of want to ask for their number. If he managed to get it, he was pretty sure the pros would far outweigh the cons. It actually made him feel excited too. His palms were sweating and his heart was racing a million miles a minute. Sometimes, he was sure he would fall his knees felt so weak.

In all honesty, he wasn't sure if Oikawa had ever gotten a phone or not, but he could at least for sure get Iwaizumi's. If Iwaizumi said yes, that is.

"So where do they go to school?" Hinata asked as they were walking.

"Aoba Johsai. It's a pretty good school with a good volleyball team. Lots of students from my middle school attend there when they graduate."

"Oh, that's cool. I thought you were just gonna go there for your soulmates." Hinata giggled. "But I guess you have other reasons for it too."

Kageyama nodded with a small smile. "Yeah." He murmured. "So, um, what about you Hinata, do you ever talk to your soulmate?"

"Yeah," Hinata said. "She's really nice, bur kinda nervous a lot. I don't know a ton about her though, she seems really busy a lot of the time, which is okay. I don't always have a pen on hand either."

"That's nice. You like her though?"

Hinata nodded and started walking faster until he could turn around and walk backwards while staring at Kageyama. "So, Yamayama-kun, I've been wondering… what do your soulmates look like?"

"Won't you see them soon enough?"

"Well yeah, but I wanna know how you describe them."

"Oh, okay. Well, the first one is Oikawa-san and he's got brown hair, and eyes, light. He's tall and he's got thin arms and legs. He has an annoying voice that sometimes makes me want really nice ear plugs. Iwaizumi-san is shorter than Oikawa-san, and he's broader with muscly arms and stuff. He's also got a nice voice that I like and dark brown hair that's really spiky."

"Huh…" Hinata mused, falling silent for a moment before laughing, "I don't know what I was expecting, but something more like- his eyes remind me of the flickering embers in a dying fire, and his hair is so soft. It's like a silk pillow case that I could touch forever and never get tired of its smoothness."

Kageyama raised an eyebrow, "Uh, do I look like a romance reader to you?"

"Yeah, kinda."

Tobio glared and crossed his arms, "Whatever, I'm not like that."

"If you say so~" Before Kageyama could retort, Hinata added in squeaky, excited voice, "We're here!"

That proclamation sent another wave of dread through his body. "You know what," Kageyama said, "I don't think we really have to do this, let's go somewhere else, I mean, this would really boring for you anyway, we should just go do something else."

"Yamayama-kun, you're so close! Don't back out now! Come on, you've got this. You're tall, and nice, and handsome! They have to give you their number!"

"I don't know…"

"Hey, those two kinda look like the people you described!" Hinata pointed off in some vague direction and grabbed Kageyama's hand, sprinting towards whoever he saw.

Unfortunately, as they drew closer, even from the back, Kageyama could tell it was indeed Oikawa and Iwaizumi which made his pulse spike again.

"Hinata-kun…" Kageyama whispered, tugging his wrist back lightly and then bit his lip when Hinata didn't answer him.

"Hi!"

I hope a hole opens up in the Earth and swallows me whole.

Iwaizumi was the one who paused and took a quick survey around to see where the noise came from before his eyes landed on Hinata and Kageyama.

"Oh, uh… hi." Iwaizumi said, yanking on Oikawa's arm to get him to stop walking. "Hey Kageyama."

"… Hi."

"So," Hinata started, "you're Yamayama-kun's senpais from middle school?"

Before Iwaizumi could say anything Oikawa scrunched his nose, "Wait so instead of being known to the public as an amazing volleyball player I'm now known as Tobio-chan's old senpai!" Oikawa complained. "This is a disaster!"

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, "Yes, we are Kageyama's senpais from

middle school. Who are you?"

"I'm his best friend, Hinata."

At that Oikawa snickered, "Your best friend is a grade schooler, Tobio-chan?"

Kageyama flushed and was about to take the bait before Hinata jumped in. "I am in middle school." Hinata corrected. "And I'm even older than Yamayama-kun."

"Are you serious?" Oikawa asked. "It's just you're so short."

"Not short, you're just tall!"

"Yeah, you're just huge!" Kageyama added in his best friend's defense, feeling even more embarrassed for some reason when Oikawa made a funny face he couldn't read.

"So," Iwaizumi interrupted before Oikawa could say anything else, "why the visit today?"

"Oh…" Kageyama muttered, "um… no reason really it's just uh… we haven't seen each other in a while.

"Tobio-chan missed me!" Oikawa cried dramatically and threw himself at Kageyama however Iwaizumi dragged him back.

"It has been a while." Iwaizumi admitted. "We've just been so busy with school and volleyball and such, I've completely spaced about a lot of other things."

"Oh, right, of course you have! I know you're busy and I don't want to bother you or anything—"

"You aren't bothering us." Iwaizumi interrupted before he could finish. "It's good to talk to you again. School going well?"

"Oh, yes, it is."

"Well what about your parents?" Oikawa asked, sticking his nose in the air with a sneer that was obviously meant to make Kageyama blurt out something he didn't really want to say.

Iwaizumi gave Oikawa a glare and then turned back to Kageyama, "You don't have to tell us that. I mean if you want to, I'm listening, but—"

"It's going great, actually!" His outburst seemed to take Iwaizumi and Oikawa back but Kageyama just continued, though less vigorously, "I mean, it's good. They got me a phone." Kageyama took it out of his pocket to show them.

"Wow Tobio-chan… I can't believe you actually got a phone."

"That's um… actually kind of why I'm here today. I was wondering if…" Kageyama glanced at Hinata who nodded encouragingly, "if maybe I could have your number? It's completely fine if not but um… yeah."

Iwaizumi smiled fondly, "Of course you can. Here," he reached out and Kageyama handed him the phone.

Iwaizumi punched in his number and then handed it back to Kageyama, "There you go, both our numbers."

"What! Iwa-chan, I never agreed to that!" Oikawa whined indignantly. "You can't just give out my number to whoever you want!"

"What do you mean I can't, I thought I just did." Iwaizumi retorted, flicking Oikawa's forehead.

"Ow, Iwa-chan! You're so mean!"

"Whatever you say, Shittykawa." Iwaizumi rolled his eyes before turning back to Kageyama, "Anyway, we should hang out sometime, I'll text you."

"O-okay Iwaizumi-san."

Iwaizumi smiled lightly at him and waved before walking off with a pouty-looking Oikawa who was still dramatically complaining.

After they were gone, Kageyama glanced at Hinata nervously, "Do you think I did okay?"

"Oh yeah, you were great!" Hinata cried giving him a reassuring look. "You guys are so cute, I can't believe they haven't realized you're their soulmate based simply on how sweet you act with them!"

"I don't act sweet!"

"Especially with that one. Iwaizumi-san? You're very obviously head over heels."

"No!"

Hinata smirked, and started talking in a horrible imitation of a dramatic and flirty voice, "Oh Iwaizumi-san~ I don't want to bother you but let me just look at you with these big puppy eyes specifically designed to make you melt like putty in my hands so that you'll give me your number, your soul, and anything I desire."

Kageyama just stared at Hinata. "… I think you're the one who reads too many romance stories." He finally muttered.

"Haha… guilty."

A/N Here we have Kageyama talking with his parents and Iwaizumi and Oikawa making another appearance! Yay, bet you guys missed them (maybe?). Anyway, I still have tons more planned for Tobio and his parents however that might end up taking more of a back seat now so that I can focus on Oikawa and Iwaizumi's relationship with Kageyama.

Also more Hinata, we always love him.

Thanks so much for reading, reviews always appreciated!