Kageyama went home that night, but he decided not to tell his parents about his soulmates yet. The more he mulled over the conversation the more he realized that getting it to go well would be next to impossible. The topic of soulmates was not a good idea to bring up when he already needed a favor from them.
Asking them to sign the permission slip so he could go to Tokyo with the team for the training camp was objectively more important to him than starting an argument he could start when he got home.
"So," Kageyama started quietly, picking at his food, "my volleyball team is going to a training camp in Tokyo and I sort of need you to sign the permission slip so I can go."
Before this, Kageyama had contemplated forging the signature and giving his parents a lie and trying to cut off their communication with the school that way they would never find out.
But in reality, that was way too much work, and for once just following the rules would be infinitely easier.
He could always forge the signature somehow as a backup plan. Doing something like that had gotten him in trouble before though, so not only was the honest way easier, it would probably be better for him.
"You want to go on a volleyball trip?"
Kageyama paused, not liking the tone in his father's voice or the look in his eye before slowly nodding.
"Then I guess you better get at least a C on your next assignments."
Kageyama paled. Apparently he hadn't disappointed his parents enough to have them completely give up on his grades.
If he was being honest though, he had been failing more than he'd been passing lately. Getting higher marks at this point seemed like a fever dream.
"That high…"
"Yes. I'm tired of watching you waste your academic potential. So you better get high marks or you will not be going on that trip, and you will be studying the entire weekend instead."
Kageyama remembered back to a time studying was all he would do and instantly wanted to bang his head against a brick wall. "Okay," was all he could say.
"Which class?"
"All of them."
Kageyama hated this deal.
But he nodded anyway, finished dinner, and went upstairs to study for the first time in a long time.
Tobio couldn't even make sense of any of it though, and Hinata didn't help either.
So instead of doing homework neither of them had any idea how to do they just talked on the phone for two hours instead.
"We should ask someone to tutor us." Hinata said the next morning as they walked into school.
"You aren't the one who has to get C's to go on the trip."
"Friends don't let friends suffer alone. Besides it isn't like my mom is exactly happy about my grades. She keeps telling me to get them up, but studying is just so boring." Hinata sighed. "It's way more fun to get distracted."
"Who would we even ask?"
"We could ask one of the third years. They all get decent grades so I'm sure they could help us with our first year stuff."
Kageyama honestly doubted that, based on his own experiences with remembering things from years ago, but Kageyama had never been particularly talented at school. He suspected all the grades were from studying all day, but he didn't naturally pick stuff up like Oikawa.
"What if we're bothering them though…"
"We aren't bothering them, they love us," Hinata said smirking. "We're the adorable first years. We're like babies to them."
"How do you know that?"
"Duh, third year middle school? Remember all the first years that came in? Everyone would call them the 'baby first years'? I mean, some called them fresh meat… but they were just the bullies mostly."
Kageyama didn't remember that at all, but he hadn't talked to many people his third year in middle school either so he wasn't a good judge.
"I guess so."
"Either way, it wouldn't hurt to ask, right?"
Kageyama shrugged.
"Alright, well, I'll ask Suga-san and Daichi-san, you ask Asahi-san!"
"Okay I guess." Kageyama said, still not wanting to ask the third years for help. But he could see he wasn't going to be changing Hinata's mind and so his only option was to go along with Hinata's plan.
Later that day at practice, most people were practicing individually, and some people were in small groups.
Asahi was practicing alone, and this was probably Kageyama's best chance to ask if he would help. Tobio looked over at Hinata who gave him a thumbs up and waved him over.
Taking a deep breath, he turned away from Hinata and walked up to Asahi.
"Um, Asahi-san…"
Asahi stopped what he was doing and turned to Tobio nervously. "Yeah, what is it Kageyama?"
"Oh nothing. I was just wondering if…" Kageyama took a moment to think of what he wanted to say, "you could tutor me and Hinata a little bit this week."
"Oh, well," Asahi paused for a minute before continuing, "my grades have started slipping recently and my mom got kind of upset so I have to get them up again. I don't think I have enough time this week… if you still need help later though, I could help you guys."
Kageyama opened his mouth to respond but was rudely interrupted.
"So the king needs a tutor, huh?"
Tsukishima had a tendency to taunt loudly so everyone in the gym heard and was now most likely listening even if they pretended not to be.
"Are you fucking volunteering?" Kageyama asked, hoping to shut him up quickly.
It seemed to work and that normally would've been the end of it but Sugawara spoke up, "That's a great idea. You first years should all have a study session together."
"I don't know if…" Daichi started but Sugawara kept going.
"It's like a study session but also like a bonding session." Nobody said anything. "It's such a great idea!" Sugawara said, validating himself even though Kageyama didn't think it was a good idea at all.
All it was, was a chance for everyone to be miserable and it might turn into a fist fight, Kageyama wasn't sure. It depended on how much of an ass Tsukishima decided to be.
"That's a nice idea." Asahi said. "Then everyone would be getting something out of it. Kageyama and Hinata need tutors and all the first years could get to know each other better."
"I know, it's genius."
"Well I don't know if I would—"
"Genius." Sugawara interrupted. "So, do you guys have any plans tonight?"
"N-no." Kageyama stuttered without thinking and then cursed himself because he should've said yes. If he had plans then he would have an excuse to not do this.
"I have plans." Tsukishima said, pushing his glasses up.
Kageyama nodded in mock understanding, congratulating Tsukishima on his nice save, not that he'd ever admit that out loud.
"Well cancel them. You guys are gonna have so much fun hanging out together. Wouldn't you agree, Hinata-kun?"
"Yes-no…" Hinata furrowed his eyebrows. "Maybe?"
"And Yamaguchi doesn't have any plans either, right?"
"Well… I mean not really." Yamaguchi said, glancing around at the other three.
"Great! You guys will have an awesome time."
"Studying?" Kageyama asked doubtfully.
"For sure!" Sugawara exclaimed adamantly, poking Kageyama's forehead. "I can't wait to hear all about it."
Kageyama nodded slowly while Sugawara turned back towards the rest of the third years.
"What just happened." Hinata whispered.
"We're gonna have a long night is what just happened." Tsukishima said sharply and stalked to the other side of the court.
Hinata and Kageyama just stared at each other before continuing practice. Tobio felt dead inside. All he'd wanted was a tutor and somehow he had to study with Tsukishima now. He knew none of that would probably end well.
Later that evening, Kageyama and the other three first years gathered by the gate, although no one said anything for at least five minutes.
"So, whose house are we going to?"
"We can't go to mine." Kageyama said.
"Well… we could go to mine but it's a bit far."
"My dad really doesn't like me inviting people over without telling him a day in advance."
They all looked at Tsukishima who seemed annoyed, but he was always like that. "Fine." Was all he said and started walking away.
They all followed Tsukishima to his house and went inside. Tsukishima's house was normal, as far as Kageyama could tell. Two stories, neutrally colored, and bright.
Tsukishima went behind one of the corners of the house where a lot of noise was coming from and Kageyama heard voices but he was too far to hear the conversation until there was a loud yell, "You have friends?" and then a yelp right after.
"They aren't friends." He heard Tsukishima say before he came out of the room and motioned for them to follow him upstairs.
"You sure like dinosaurs, huh." Hinata said jokingly when they entered the room. Kageyama had to admit there were a lot of things dinosaur in the small bedroom.
Tsukishima glared at him, "At least I'm not obsessed with a stupid sport."
"Yeah, well you play the stupid sport too you jerk. So shut up."
Tsukishima did and Kageyama decided to bring up the reason they were all supposed to be there in the first place. "So, studying… my parents said if I don't get overall C's in all my classes assignments this week I can't go on the volleyball trip."
"Yeah, and I'm not letting him suffer through studying alone."
"How noble." Tsukishima replied sarcastically.
"I know."
"So, what do you guys need help with the most?" Yamaguchi asked.
"Math and literature." Kageyama had always been the worst in those subjects no matter what year he'd been in.
"Science. I've been getting F's on all the assignments."
"Probably because you don't study." Tsukishima commented.
Hinata shrugged, "Probably."
Kageyama only had about an hour or so to study so they all got to work.
Tsukishima was a really mean teacher, meaner than even Oikawa who took every opportunity he could to boast about his intellectual skills that Kageyama hardly cared about.
"I'm trying to understand, but it's hard to think about anything except punching your smug face." Hinata complained after a few minutes of studying.
"Well if you sat up straight and actually paid attention then this would go faster and I'm not even smug. You're just being annoying."
Hinata sighed and rolled over on his right to face Tsukishima, legs draped over Kageyama's lap.
"Are you happy?"
"You still aren't sitting up."
"And I'm not gonna."
"Guys, what the fuck is polynomial division?" Kageyama asked, feeling terrified and overwhelmed after looking at the single problem in front of him because everything seemed like it was in a foreign language. It was like trying to understand English but worse. Way worse.
"Never heard of it." Hinata said.
"We just talked about it in class today…" Tsukishima said, irritated. He sounded like he was barely restraining himself from choking Hinata to death.
"I must've been looking at Kageyama's volleyball notes."
"You were reading my notes!"
"Well what else was I supposed to do?"
"Maybe listen to the lecture." Tsukishima growled. "Maybe if you did that you'd at least have some idea of what I'm trying to teach you!"
"I know I'm a difficult student which was why we wanted Asahi and not you. I learn better with teachers who are patient."
"I'm patient enough not to smack you."
"I think I'm gonna cry." Kageyama interrupted while trying to follow the unhelpful instructions in the textbook.
"Then cry."
"Look, it's just like normal division, but harder." Yamaguchi tried to explain. "So, how many times does x go into x³?" Yamaguchi asked.
"I don't know." Kageyama said. He didn't even really know what that meant.
"Well, that's okay, we can learn how."
"I think Yamaguchi-kun is a better teacher than you. He makes it sound easy, whereas you just use a bunch of words I don't understand." Hinata said. "I've never even heard of polynomial division, but now I feel as if I can do it already."
"Yeah, good luck with that. I hope you fail."
"That is so rude." Hinata said. "I'm going to go learn with Yamaguchi."
Tsukishima rolled his eyes and put his headphones back on while Yamaguchi tried to teach them both polynomial division.
"Sorry that took you so long, I'll start paying more attention in class." Kageyama said after about an hour of studying.
"Oh, it was no problem. But paying attention in class probably would help you get better grades."
"Probably." Kageyama grumbled. "Um, thanks for letting us use your house to study too."
"Don't be so polite. It's disgusting."
"Fine then, go to hell you blonde tree." Kageyama said and rolled his eyes. Tsukishima didn't say anything but had that familiar look of irritation and superiority Kageyama always wanted to smack him for. He must've just been waiting for Tobio to be rude so he could be rude back.
"Have a horrible night."
Kageyama flipped him off with one hand and with the other grabbed Hinata's wrist, dragging them both off.
"That was pretty fun, huh?" Hinata said after they'd walked a little further from Tsukishima's house.
"You have an odd idea of fun."
"Well, we learned something new and we got to do it with teammates!"
Kageyama just stared blankly at Hinata. How could he have so much energy after all of that. He felt completely drained and just wanted to go to sleep.
"I can't believe we spent so long just learning one thing, but I mean math is pretty complicated and I don't think it will take as long to study for the other stuff besides maybe science because science has complicated stuff and math too. But with the other stuff it's just memorizing a bunch of things and with literature I guess you just have to be good about reading a bunch of boring stuff!"
"Why are you so excited? You realize we have to do it all over again tomorrow, right?" Kageyama groaned.
"Because it's cool to do stuff with other people!"
"No," Kageyama groaned, leaning into Hinata slightly as they walked.
Hinata paused before he said. "You're more touchy than normal."
"M'just tired. And you're like a stuffed animal."
Hinata fell silent for a moment, looking thoughtful, "I don't know if that's a compliment or not."
"It's a compliment. This time."
"Tobio, you're so mean! What the hell do you mean 'this time'. It's either a compliment or you're making fun of how short and adorable I am. Oh, and my fluffy hair that everyone wants. Actually, never mind, stuffed animal is a compliment, cus they're cute and loveable!"
"Some of them have the look of murder in their eye."
"Even better." Hinata said and elbowed Kageyama off of him. "You better get home before you face plant because you aren't paying attention. You almost bit it like five times now."
"I'm just lucky." Kageyama mumbled. He probably wasn't that lucky though, considering the time where he did actually face plant on the sidewalk. But he'd been twelve or something, and he hadn't been wearing shoes so it was different.
"Sure~." Hinata teased. "Just make sure you get those graded papers this weekend and hope they're all C's. But, if all else fails I know how to turn any letter into an A."
Kageyama stopped walking. He hadn't thought of that. "What the fuck…" he breathed to himself. "Why didn't I think of that?" Kageyama had spent the past few years scraping by on lies, bending and obliterating the rules but he was out maneuvered by Hinata fucking Shoyo.
"I've done it for a few of my grades. If you don't want to look too suspicious you can turn D's into B's. And all kinds of things. You can change percents too of course, it's all easy. But don't do it too often."
"That's a great idea…"
You could just get good grades. Nothing wrong with a little effort, right? Kageyama shoved those thoughts out of his head. There wasn't anything wrong with effort, but he only had so much effort to give, and Kageyama put almost all of it into volleyball.
"I know. If you need help doing it just let me know. See you later!" Hinata waved and left while Kageyama walked a little faster home since it was starting to get dark.
Kageyama started paying more attention in class, if only a little because his mind would often wander towards volleyball and then the training camp which eventually led him back to paying attention.
"I can't believe you're struggling this much to get average scores on assignments and tests." Tsukishima grumbled at lunch.
"Hey, we're trying! Now, back to literature. What's happening again?"
"Hinata-kun, we just read it today…" Yamaguchi sighed.
"I spaced out, I'm sorry. It's just so boring. Why can't the main character ever play volleyball or something?"
"Most people's lives don't revolve around sports, you know."
"Just because most real people's don't doesn't mean authors couldn't make more characters like that, Tsukki."
Tsukishima's eye twitched, "I told you not to call me that."
"Oops." Hinata didn't sound too apologetic though since Tsukishima had a plethora of unflattering nicknames for the both of them.
Kageyama and the other three kept studying for the remainder of the week and when his teachers handed back the graded homework assignments for that week to take home, Kageyama saw he'd managed to get C's on a few assignments and even a B in math. But he'd failed the literature homework and gotten a D in science.
He turned the two grades into a B and A and meddled with the percentage.
Kageyama was proud of himself anyway. He'd studied all week and got some decent grades. He wasn't going to let it go to waste because of a stupid literature grade.
He kind of liked the feeling of getting good grades, especially seeing all his hard work get him a B with no cheating involved so it prepared him better for exams.
Maybe he could spare a little extra energy and study a little more for good grades.
"Look, mama," Kageyama said when he got home, handing her his results. He watched her look over them all and faintly worried when she lingered on the literature grade before moving to the next.
"These are wonderful, Tobio," she said although Kageyama wouldn't have been able to tell that's how she felt from her face alone. "I'm sure your father will be happy with the results as well. I can tell you worked extra hard for this one." She said, pointing to the literature grade.
"Um… yeah. This one's good too though." Kageyama countered, pointing at the math one.
"Yes, they're all nice. I just know you've always struggled with literature in particular."
Her unwarranted praise on that particular grade made him feel a little guilty, but he could always work harder next time and show her a real grade for literature he received.
That Saturday, Kageyama boarded the bus with the rest of the team. "I see you managed to get your parents to let you go." Hinata commented sitting next to him on the bus.
"Yes, I only had to change two grades. I did really well on the assignments this week."
"You did average." Tsukishima commented from the other side of the bus.
"Only because of your average teaching, you ass."
"Fuck you."
"You guys should be nicer to each other sometimes." Hinata said. "We're all teammates so we should try to get along."
"We'll get along when I can look at you without straining my neck."
Hinata pouted and continued complaining. Kageyama ignored the conversation in favor of staring out the window. He wondered what playing against another team besides Seijoh would be like. He hadn't talked to Oikawa or Iwaizumi this week but maybe he would talk about the training camp with them when he got back.
Maybe they could go on a date too.
Kageyama's mind wandered back to volleyball eventually and he dreamed of perfect sets until they arrived in Tokyo.
A/N When you've been on a chapter so long every line starts to feel cringy and predictable XD
But anyway, I did it! I've been postponing editing this for about a week for no particular reason. But today i went on the first vacation I've been on in a while and I had some time so I edited the rest of it. I didn't have the confession to his parents in this one cus I realized I'd postponed this part of the story for long enough, so that'll just have to happen another time. Cus I started writing the argument and wow it did not go well and I realized if I caused that now, this would take forever to happen. So that argument will have to wait for a few more chapters. Anyway, thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Reviews always appreciated!