Tobio's mother was an art major, having gone back to college when Tobio was old enough to take care of himself on his own. He liked that about her, that she was able to go back and achieve her dream of going to college without having to rely on anyone and he wanted to be like that.

Strong. Passionate.

He thought he could understand what those simple words meant. He is strong, he tells himself each day before he gets ready for school. The kids in his classroom just don't see it.

He is passionate, he tells himself every day when he's playing volleyball in his backyard by himself. He just doesn't know how to show it.

Little things like this help bring him down and lowers his self confidence day by day, and the only ones who are able to bring it right back up again are his mother.

And Shouyou.

He doesn't speak much of Shouyou, mainly because he doesn't have to in order for others to see that he deeply cares about the smaller boy. Shouyou stuck with him for the past four years and helped him through the bullying he was submitted to on a daily basis. He kept lifting Tobio's spirits by playing volleyball with him when they were done with school (they went to separate schools) and by telling him that,

"One day, those bullies are gonna get proven wrong by you!" Shouyou smiled, spiking the ball when Tobio tossed it to him. "They're gonna see how strong willed you are and how amazing a friend you are and they're gonna think back like, 'Woah! I sure was stupid to think that we should bully that Tobio kid over there-' OW!" Shouyou fell to the grass and rubbed his head where the ball made impact with it. He pouted at Tobio, who was red in the face.

"It's- It's fine, please stop. I don't want to talk about this- the bullies, um, yeah." Tobio worried his bottom lip and crossed his arms, swinging his gaze to the grass and away from Shouyou. "The ball is over there."

The bullying went on and Tobio never bothered to tell anyone about it. Only Shouyou knew, and that took a toll on him also. He never liked people worrying about him and with Shouyou constantly asking if anything happened or if he was hurt, he was close to snapping. And he did. He instantly regretted it after when all he remembered was Shouyou running away from him and looked like he was crying.

That was the first fight they had.

Tobio still regrets yelling at Shouyou because he can never get the terrified look out of his mind.

"What is it, Tobio? I'm kind of busy right now."

"Momma, show me some of your art please!"

Tobio's mother set down her pencil and held back a sigh. Ever since her son had that fight with Shouyou, he's been coming up to her and asking to see her drawings or if he could have some paper and pencil so he could draw. Tobio never told her about the fight, but she knew and she didn't want to upset him more by telling him that she knew so she kept it to herself.

"Of course, sweetie. Here, have some paper too. There's a pencil on the desk in the living room if you need it."

"Thank you! I'll draw you something real pretty." Tobio beamed up at her and walked out of the room, clutching the paper and folder of his mother's drawings to his chest. He sat down in the middle of the floor in the living room and spread out everything to his liking. His eyes traced over the drawings his mother drew and they were so pretty and intricate and he wanted to be like her, to be able to draw as good as she does. He was always a momma's boy and if he could do this one thing right, then he'd be complete.

A few hours went by, his mother coming and going from the living room but not stopping to look what Tobio was drawing. She answered the door and let in Shouyou who came to visit and he skipped his way over to Tobio, his smile bright as ever.

"Tobio! What are you doing? I thought you were gonna play volleyball today?" Shouyou asked, dropping down in front of Tobio and looked at his drawings curiously.

"Not today. You want to draw with me? I'm drawing volleyballs." Tobio smiled shyly, lifting up his paper to show Shouyou. He gawked at it, his eyes shining bright.

"Tobio, that's amazing! How do you draw so good? Teach me!" He whined, smacking the volleyball that was in his lap.

"Oh, well, it's not all that good. I'm just looking at my mom's art to see how she does it. She's really, really good! She draws flowers and scenery and sometimes people and I think she said she drew me a couple times too." Tobio looked proud as ever, sitting up on his legs. He pushed some of his mother's drawings over to Shouyou for him to see and the latter practically lit up with fascination and adoration.

"These are so pretty! Wah, I wish I could draw this good." Shouyou whined, carefully looking through each drawing.

"Draw with me today, and see how it goes!" Tobio suggested, passing him some paper and an extra pencil he had. "We can share my eraser. I only have one."

And that's what they did for the rest of the evening, the living room floor covered with papers scattered everywhere, designs on them of volleyballs and Tobio and Shouyou and trees and flowers and all sorts of stuff. Tobio's mother came out when it was around seven o'clock and smiled at the mess they both made.

"Looks like you both had some fun in here." She laughed.

"We drew so much, mom! Thank you for letting me see your drawings." Tobio smiled, and Shouyou shouted, "Yes, thank you!" at the same time.

"It's getting a bit late, start packing up. I'll walk Shouyou home since it's not that far."

Both boys complied and soon the living room was spotless and Shouyou was waving goodbye to Tobio. "See you later!" He called, grinning broadly.

Tobio put himself to bed that night, having grown out of his mom tucking him in each night. He sighed and rolled over, a heavy feeling resting in his chest. He closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep.

Tobio made a few other friends when he went into fifth grade. Well, he wouldn't exactly call them friends because they were far from what Shouyou actually was, but he hung out with them nonetheless. They were interesting and had a lot of stuff to show off and picked fights with kids in lower grades. Tobio didn't understand what made them so appealing to hang around with, but forgot all about his worries whenever he went out and watched them bully other kids.

It was refreshing, to say the least, to finally be on the other end of the stick instead of the receiving end. Getting bullied for four years straight took a toll on him and he was able to lash out his aggression that had built up. The others encouraged him on and rooted for him and he felt great afterwards. Whenever they finished up picking on smaller kids or actually fighting with them, they all would go out and eat and laugh about what they just did.

It was in the middle of fifth grade when Tobio finally joined in on smoking with them and getting his first taste of beer.

"What's with that face, Kageyama?" Oikawa laughed at him, pushing some stray hairs from his face. "You never tried bourbon before?"

"I haven't actually. Where'd you get this from? Aren't they expensive?" Tobio asked, taking the cigarette from Oikawa's mouth and taking a drag from it.

"It's my dad's, but he's always gone with my mom and is never home so I just took it from his stash." Kuroo shrugged. He leaned back on the bench they were sitting on in the far corner of the park, unseen to anyone unless they walked back there. He grabbed the bottle back from Tobio but Terushima snatched it away.

"Yeah, me 'n Kuroo always take stuff from his dad's cabinet. He never notices anything is gone too." Terushima smirked, setting the bottle down in the middle of the table. "Mm. I also have some stuff my friend gave me a while back." He pulled a small bag out of his pocket and held it up, wiggling it in his hand.

"No way, dude!" Kuroo gasped.

"Give me some!" Oikawa almost shoved himself over the table to grab at it but Terushima just pulled it back to his chest. He looked over at Tobio and wondered why he didn't freak as much as the other too and then he realized why. Sometimes he felt bad for Tobio for being a bit more innocent than they were.

"Kageyama, this is weed. You know what weed is, and what to do with it, right?" Tobio nodded fast, not wanting to look completely stupid in front of his peers. Kuroo smacked Tobio on the back and smiled at him.

"Light it up."

Tobio wasn't himself when he was high, and he actually rather liked it. He was pulled away from the negative thoughts bouncing around his head and instead, he's experiencing a world like never before. He was glad he brought his backpack with him and he pulled out his sketchbook and pencil, quickly scribbling all over it.

Kuroo and Terushima looked at Tobio in awe as they watched how quickly he was drawing and how fast he was finishing each one.

"Woah."

"Yeah."

"That's so cool, how he can just, like, draw whatever and not care."

"Hey, Kags, draw me next!" Oikawa sang, laying across the table with his head in his arms, eyes closed. He finished off the bottle of liquor while everyone else got their high and they were all content.

"Mm." Was Tobio's answer, not lifting his head to acknowledge Oikawa. Oikawa huffed indignantly and buried his face in his arms again. Kuroo leaned over Oikawa's legs to look at what Tobio was drawing and he harshly nudged Terushima and Oikawa. They both looked over at Tobio and was amazed by what they saw. Tobio was drawing someone, someone they obviously they didn't know but Tobio did, and it was beautiful. The lines were smooth, the still movement of the clothes, and the soft flow of Tobio's hand when he flicked it over the paper to create those beautiful lines.

"Dude, what the fuck." Oikawa frowned, slamming his fist against the table. "Why are you so good at drawing? You never told us!"

"Who are you drawing anyways? It doesn't look like anyone we know." Kuroo finally said after a long silence. At that, Tobio finally glanced up from his drawing and blinked at the other three that were crowded around him. He tilted his head to the side, furrowing his brow.

"Oh. Well, um. This is my friend. He doesn't go to our school, but we hang out almost everyday." Tobio tucked a stray hair behind his ear and pulled his sketchbook to his chest. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because it looks like you really like this dude if you're drawing him." Terushima scoffed, tapping his cigarette against the side of the table, smoking billowing out of his mouth.

"I-I what? No, we're just friends." Tobio mumbled, drawing his eyes back down to the book.

"Tell me that when you finally realize it, buddy." Kuroo laughed, smacking Tobio on the back. He leaned back in his seat and yawned, stretching his arms above his head. "We should head back. I'm tired and I'm fucking hungry. Let's get some pizza and chill at my place." The chorus of 'yeah's' and 'okays' followed when everyone but Tobio got up from the bench.

"Are you coming, Kageyama?" Oikawa huffed. He crossed his arms and leaned against Kuroo, who was also leaning on Terushima.

"I don't think so. Not today anyway. But today was fun so we should do it again sometime." Tobio cracked a smirk, shoving his book into his bag. Kuroo nodded and they waved goodbye, leaving Tobio alone at the bench to stir in his thoughts. Everything came crashing down about what he just did and he groaned, slapping a hand to his face.

"Fuck…" He sighed, pushing off from the bench and started to make his way home, the evening sky slowly turning a blue and purple gradient. It took him almost half an hour to even get to his housing area mainly because of how high and slightly tipsy he was. Regret was a thing he would come to feel in the morning, but right now he was living life. He liked this. He turned down the street that led up to his house and a sudden flash of bright orange crossed his vision. He swallowed and tried to hurry his pace, moving to a fast walk but that wasn't enough to escape the sudden assault of questions from a certain someone.

"Tobio! Where were you today? I went to your house to see if you were home but your mom said you left before she even came home! What the heck? We were supposed to hang out today!" Shouyou shouted, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Tobio wet his lips and shoved his hands into his pockets and grunted. He didn't really want to deal with Shouyou's bullshit today.

"I was out with some friends," He hesitated when he said 'friends', and he frowned more. "Why is it any of your concern?"

"Because you promised we would hang out today, Tobio! You can't just drop this last minute and not tell me! What the heck?" Shouyou cried, flinging his hands up.

"We don't always have to hang out every single day, Shouyou! I can make plans and do other things besides going out with you. I'm not obligated to have my time each day dedicated to you." Tobio narrowed his eyes at the smaller boy. Why was he getting so upset for, and for that matter, why was Shouyou getting mad at him for not hanging out with him? His brain was all a jumbled mess and he put a hand up to cover half his face. He groaned.

"B-But that's what we do! That's what we have been doing for the past four years!" Shouyou finally lowered his voice and it gave off a sad tone. Shit, he upset him. Guess he might as well finish it off with one final blow.

"Yeah, but I have other friends now. I can spend time with them too, not just with you. Get that through your head, Shouyou. Don't you have other friends too?" Tobio tried to maneuver his way around Shouyou but he wasn't having it. He stayed in front of Tobio and shoved him back whenever he tried to push past him.

"Yes I do. But none are available as much as you!"

"So what?" Tobio grunted, rolling his eyes.

"Tobio, dammit, what th-" Shouyou paused mid-sentence and sniffed the air suddenly. A gust of wind enveloped them and he scrunched up his face in disgust. "What's that smell?"

"What smell?"

"I don't really know, but it smells gross. Wait," Shouyou frowned and stepped closer to Tobio, taking a big whiff of the front of his shirt. "Ha- Have you been doing… drugs?" He whispered.

"I don't understand."

"You smell like something my mom told me way before that was bad for you and that I shouldn't do it. I don't know what it is but she told me it was a distinctive smell," Shouyou gazed up at Tobio with shining brown eyes and his bottom lip quivered. "Have you?"

"Yeah, so what? It's not like anyone can stop me. I'm free to do whatever I want, so back off."

"Y-You're not supposed to, Tobio! It's bad for you! What if your mom finds out or or or the police or someone? You're not even old enough to do drugs!" Shouyou was crying now. Why was he crying?

"It's not a big deal, and you shouldn't worry about it. Stop trying to tell me what I can and cannot do." Tobio finally gave up and shouted at the smaller boy, shoving him roughly out of the way. Shouyou choked out a gasp and tumbled to the ground, landing hard on his backside. He sat up quickly and stared after Tobio, swallowing the thick frog that was lodged in his throat. He stood up and ran after Tobio and grabbed the back of his shirt, yanking him back, making the taller boy stumble to catch his balance.

"Please, Tobio, please don't do this! I don't want you to get hurt and I know drugs are bad for you and your body and you shouldn't even be doing them this young. You're only eleven!" Shouyou sobbed, clutching Tobio's shirt tightly in his fists, not breaking eye contact with him. Tobio grimaced and looked away, not wanting to see the hurt shining bright as day in Shouyou's eyes.

"Shouyou, I like it. Weren't you the one who told me all that time ago that if I loved something, that I should go after it? My mom told me the exact same thing. I like what I did today, it helped calm me down more than I was ever able to do before. Please understand this." He whispered, his hands shaking when he balled them into fists.

"You're just going to hurt yourself in the long run, Tobio. I'm not going to give up on trying to make you stop. I don't want anything to happen to you." Shouyou slapped Tobio hard on his bicep and pushed him away, running down the street towards his house. Tobio watched him go and he hung his head low on the way back to his house. His mother wasn't home thankfully since she went back out to work overtime and he went up to his bedroom. He shut the door and flopped onto his bed, groaning loudly into his pillow. He was so stupid. So, so utterly stupid.

He flipped onto his side and rummaged through his bag that he threw beside his bed and pulled out his sketchbook, flipping it open to the page he drew Shouyou on. He let another sigh escape his mouth and traced over the lines of the drawing, his high finally coming down enough for him to understand what had just happened and what he did that day.

"Fuck." He mumbled, curling up on his bed with the sketchbook still held tightly to his chest. "I'm so fucking stupid."

It takes Shouyou four more years to persuade Tobio to not do drugs anymore. Four, excruciatingly long years.