Author's Note: So remember when I said it was a two for one special and that I would upload the second part the next day but forgot since I forgot that Fanfiction doesn't have a scheduled upload feature? (^◇^；)

Long story short I suck, but here's the chapter I promised you guys like a week ago lol.

As always, critics always welcome! (^_^)

Chapter 7: The Ball In My Court Is an Olive Branch

Oikawa rubbed his shoulder as the whole of Karasuno left. "Seems like you've found a team that really cares about you, Tobio-chan."

"I did." Tobio said proudly, standing tall as he braced himself for the snide comment he knew would be coming. Instead, Oikawa gave him a small and seemingly genuine smile.

"I'm glad you're doing well with them." Tobio froze at that. There was not a hint of mockery in his tone or the usual haughtiness that he was used to when speaking to his old captain. Instead, when he looked at his face he saw… Relief, though there was a sadness that lurked beneath the surface. Tobio couldn't think of anything to say to that, too shocked to respond. Oikawa scratched the back of his head awkwardly and sighed.

"Iwa-chan's waiting not far from here. Will you come with me?" he asked calmly. He extended his hand for Tobio, face up as if inviting him to take it. Tobio stared at it for a second, but decided to ignore it and just gave a small nod, not willing to make any physical contact with him. He knew being close to even one of his soulmates was bad for his health, and even though he took every precaution he could beforehand, he was worried that any form of touch, even accidental, would be pushing it.

Oikawa sighed, dropping his hand. "Follow me."

Tobio followed behind him, finding it funny that even after everything that had happened between them, he still found himself following Oikawa, both literally and figuratively.

He had always felt inferior to his old captain. Every skill he lacked Oikawa seemed to have in spades. He had always had such an easy time talking to others, motivating them to give it their all and seemed to always bring out the best in them. Meanwhile Tobio was awkward and had a hard time communicating with others, and in all his time practicing alone he hadn't built any team oriented skills. He was a great setter, of that he never doubted. He knew he could get the ball to anyone on the court and it would be the ball he determined would be best in the moment. But that didn't always mean he knew what the team needed.

Being with Karasuno this time around he knew that they were more willing to hear him out, but if he was truly honest with himself that was due in large part to Hinata's blind faith in him. They seemed to really care about him now, and had proven it multiple times, but he knew that if Hinata hadn't ever come to Karasuno, it could have easily ended up like another Kitagawa Daiichi situation.

Meanwhile with Oikawa it had never mattered who he was working with or what team he was on. He was able to pick up on their skills quickly and adapt so seamlessly. Not to mention his all around skills in setting and serving. Hell, Oikawa could have probably jumped in on the Karasuno side and easily replaced him, which both amazed and infuriated him.

Looking at the familiar sight of Oikawa's back, he felt the divide between them, and could almost see it as they turned around the side of the school building.

Iwaizumi was waiting there, trying to look casual but Tobio could see his shoulders were tense. Iwaizumi looked up as they approached, seeming to be just as nervous as Tobio was.

All three of them stood there for a moment, none of them sure how to break the silence. Tobio felt the seconds tick away and felt his anger and frustration grow. Tired of waiting, he decided to just rip the bandaid off.

"So, who was it that set up the match?" he said, trying to keep his voice as casual as possible.

"I did." Oikawa answered, not surprising him in the least.

"And the texts?" Iwaizumi's eyes widened slightly, and he turned to Oikawa.

"That was also me." Oikawa answered calmly, surprising both Tobio and Iwaizumi.

"What the hell Oikawa? We both agreed to wait until after the match!" So it was a collaborative effort. Interesting. "I swear to god if you sent something bad-"

"It wasn't anything bad." Oikawa interrupted, his tone cool. "I was just telling him that we wanted to talk to him and that we would be seeing him soon if he was interested in giving us his time."

Iwaizumi looked at Tobio, looking for assurance and seeming to be afraid to find out. Tobio found himself staring at him before he gave him a small nod in confirmation. Iwaizumi sighed with relief.

"Why do you two want to talk to me after all this time?" Tobio couldn't stop the question from coming out. He had been tossing and turning every night about this and he refused to let them drag him around about it anymore.

Oikawa and Iwaizumi flinched at that. Iwaizumi stared at the ground in shame, but Oikawa's gaze didn't shift, and looking into his eyes Tobio could see the sadness and regret lingering under the surface of his determined stare.

"Tobio, we owe you an apology. Especially me." Oikawa started. Tobio felt his jaw slack in shock. Oikawa sighed, seemingly to collect his thoughts before continuing. "We were horrible to you, I was horrible to you, and frankly one apology would never be enough to make up for how I treated you back in Junior high."

Well that was definitely not what he thought he would hear from him. Never in his life did Tobio ever think that Oikawa Tooru would ever own up to his mistakes, least of all actually apologize to him. Oikawa bit his lip, but kept going.

"When you first came on the team, we were excited to have another setter. We were both worried that when I left there would be no one. I was honestly relieved that there would be a new setter to take my place." Oikawa paused, seeming to steal himself before continuing. "At first, I was ecstatic to see how much potential you had, and couldn't wait to help you grow like the rest of our team. But…" Oikawa trailed off, seeming unsure how to continue. Iwaizumi placed a comforting hand on his back, and Tobio had to tear his eyes away so he wouldn't be consumed with the hurt and envy he felt searing his gut at the sight of the affectionate gesture.

"I realized how fast you were growing. You have such a natural gift and at the time I was afraid that I would fall behind, that I wouldn't be good enough for the team anymore. That you might replace me before I even graduated. I was afraid that the team wouldn't need me anymore and that it would be the end of my volleyball dreams.

"There's no excuse for how I treated you when I lost confidence in my abilities though. It was wrong, and stupid, and selfish, and I…" Oikawa took a deep, calming breath. "The night that our soulmarks fully formed was after the game that I had been subbed out. It was just a simple substitution. There was no reason for me to panic but I did. In my head my worst fear had come true; That I wasn't good enough and I wasn't needed, and when you asked me to teach you how to serve, I-I saw red and I… I just lost it and I-" Oikawa stopped, his breath becoming shallow and quick. Iwaizumi immediately started rubbing his back, whispering soothing words to calm him down.

Tobio was frozen where he stood. Oikawa thought Tobio was better than him? That Tobio could somehow replace someone as talented as him? The mere thought of it boggled his mind. For him, Oikawa had always seemed like the perfect setter. The setter that he wanted to be, the setter that everyone could depend on; the perfect setter.

But was that wrong of him?

Because Oikawa wasn't that much older than him, he was a kid too. He wasn't perfect just like any person, and in idolizing him, he may have unintentionally placed Oikawa on a pedestal, which probably made Oikawa feel pressured to measure up to everyone's expectations. And from what Oikawa was telling him, they were more alike than he could have ever guessed. They apparently had the same insecurities, though clearly they dealt with them differently. While Tobio became guarded and more irritable, often snapping for no reason, Oikawa seemed to have been hiding behind the facade of the confident senpai that knew everything, hiding his fears behind sardonic smiles and biting comments. Even so, did that make them so different? In the end they both had the tendency to bottle up their feelings, hiding them in a box until they couldn't stuff it down anymore and it exploded in their faces. In the end, they both just wanted to feel not only wanted, but needed.

Could he really hate Oikawa for having his insecurities consume him when Tobio himself had done the very same thing last year?

"I'm to blame too." Iwaizumi continued, pulling Tobio out of his thoughts. "I knew something was going on with Tooru, I could tell something was off, but I didn't say anything. I asked him about it a few times but that was it. I had no idea what was going on, all I saw was him being petty so I yelled at him for it and made it worse. I was completely clueless."

"You can't blame yourself for that, Iwa-chan-"

"I can and I will!" Iwaizumi snapped, startling both Oikawa and Tobio. He winced and muttered a quiet 'sorry'. Oikawa gave him a weak smile and squeezed his hand in reassurance. Tobio felt an ache in his chest.

He hated this. He hated that their mistakes and insecurities made them drive him out of the bond. He hated that they had rejected him. He hated that they had both blocked him. He hated that he had to continue to suffer from that rejection every time he coughed up a flower. But most of all, he hated that instead of hating them for what they did, he wanted to comfort them, to assure them that everything would be okay.

And he hated himself for the way his heart ached with longing every time he saw them.

Tobio sighed in frustration.

"If what you said was true." Both of them stood up straight, waiting for him to continue. Tobio pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to remain calm. "If you're telling me the truth, then why did you chase me away? Why did you say what you did when I ran away? Why did you block me?"

Iwaizumi grimaced, his expression dropping to one of sheer pain and regret. Oikawa still didn't look away, showing Tobio the emotions swirling in his dark irises.

"After I-" Oikawa swallowed nervously "After Iwaizumi stopped me from hitting you, and we felt the soulmark complete itself, I… I wasn't thinking right. I thought that you were going to take Iwa-chan too, and I just… Lost it."

Oikawa's eyes teared up then, but he didn't let them fall. "Once I had calmed down, I realized what I had done, and I panicked. I wanted to follow you and apologize immediately, but-"

"But I said it was a bad idea. I knew how much we must have hurt you, and right after the bond had formed… I was afraid that we would cause more harm if we tried to approach you immediately." Tobio had to hold back a snort at that.

"You still blocked me." Tobio accused, trying to quell his anger with deep breaths. Their conversation would go nowhere if it turned into a shouting match.

"That was me." Oikawa admitted, looking ashamed. "I… It took me a while to calm down, and when the anger went away I thought that I shouldn't be in the bond, that you both would be happier without me."

Tobio's anger fizzled out at that. In its place was growing concern. The way Oikawa was talking… Was worrying.

"He tried to break the bond. I freaked out and stopped him. Then I…" Iwaizumi paused to calm himself. "You gotta understand that Tooru has a lot of demons-"

"Iwa-"

"No Tooru, if we want to have a relationship with him he deserves to know why we fucked up so bad."

"Hajime." Oikawa said sternly. "This isn't about me."

"Yes it is. I was terrified that I was gonna lose you and I was fourteen and clueless about how to help. I… I was afraid that we had already lost you, and the emotions that were coming through on the bond were so intense that I couldn't even think straight, so I…" Iwaizumi paused. Tobio didn't move a muscle, didn't even breathe, afraid of what he would say. "I said that we should temporarily block the bond with you since it was so intense so that we could get Tooru some help, so he could get better. I thought that once he got better, we could tear the block down and tell you everything, but-"

"But no one told us that there were different kinds of blocks, or even how to put one up properly in the first place, so we did a quick search on the internet to figure out how to put one up and we did it. We didn't realize that we did it wrong. The block that we had put up was too strong, and we had no idea just how dangerous putting up a block like that could be, especially when it had just formed."

Iwaizumi nodded. "So after we realized how badly we messed up, we went to my parents and asked for help. They called the doctor right away and she recommended a specialist and we called them and told them the whole story. He said that with a heavy block it takes time to break it down, and that it… It could destroy the bond which could put you at risk."

"So we started having appointments with him once a week, and he taught us how to properly take it down and we've been pulling the block back bit by bit." Well that would explain why the flowers changed so frequently and seemingly at random. Still, that didn't answer the most important question.

"If you were trying to fix everything, why didn't you contact me at all? Why didn't you tell me any of this before now?" He asked evenly, trying to keep his cool. He didn't want them to see how much their words were affecting him. He didn't want to be swayed by their words only to get hurt again.

"Honestly, we were afraid." Iwaizumi admitted. "We were afraid that you would never talk to us again, and-"

"And I had to work on myself." Oikawa interjected. Tobio stared at him, wide eyed. "This thing I have… The problem with dealing with issues properly wasn't anything new to us, but we had just chalked it up to me being petty and left it at that. But that wasn't it. I wasn't dealing with my problems at all and selfishly I was taking it out on people who didn't deserve it. After what happened with you I realized that I needed some help, some professional help, so I started going to therapy. I still go every week, never missing an appointment. I don't ever want what happened that night to happen again." Oikawa stated firmly, his eyes unwavering.

"At the end of our second year we nearly had the block completely down, and we wanted to see you again as soon as possible to explain everything, so we went to your last game in junior high." Tobio winced, the memories of that game coming to the forefront of his mind unwittingly. Oikawa continued. "I wanted to see how much you had grown since we left as a player, how you were leading the team we left behind. In retrospect I guess we expected to see the same kohei that used to follow me around, demanding that I teach him how to jump serve and asking Iwa-chan to spike for him over and over again." Tobio closed his eyes, not wanting to see the disappointment he knew they felt. "We were horrified by what we saw. You had changed so much, and for the worse, and I knew it was our fault. I don't know what all led you to that moment but I knew that we had, unintentionally or not, driven you to that point, and I was scared. I didn't see the amazing setter that I knew you could be. I saw a kid that was falling apart. A kid that had no one to support him."

"Why did you tell me not to go to Seijoh?" Tobio couldn't help but ask in a quiet voice, finally opening his eyes. Iwaizumi looked horrified.

"You said WHAT?!" He practically bellowed, rounding on Oikawa in a sudden burst of rage.

Oikawa's eyes widened and he shook his head frantically. "No, I didn't! I swear!"

"But you said-"

"I approached you after the game, it's true. I admit I wanted to test the waters. I had to know why you had turned out that way, what had happened in the time that we were gone that made you change so much. I was scared by what I saw up close. You just seemed… So lost. When I looked at you I didn't see that sweet and clumsy kid that we knew to be our soulmate. You honestly looked like a shell and I had no idea how to fix it. I know you probably didn't want to see me at all but I thought that maybe if I goaded you a little I could get to the bottom of it and fix it."

"Tooru-"

"I know the way I went about it was wrong, but I promise I wasn't trying to make it worse. I thought that if you came to Seijoh we could help you heal but when I asked if you were planning on coming to our school you didn't respond, and you looked so scared and sad that I didn't know what to do. So I goaded you a little bit, trying to get you mad at me so you could have something else to focus on. It was stupid but when I saw the look on your face I was scared. Scared for you.

"After that game I begged the principal to let you into Aoba Johsai but you had already been accepted. I felt relieved at first, thinking I-we could finally be there when you needed us, but you never came. It took a while but we were able to find out that you had chosen Karasuno instead, and as soon as we found that out I demanded that we have this practice match with your team, but I messed up again and sprained my ankle so I could only be there for the last bit, but-" Oikawa suddenly smiled. It wasn't like his usual, cheshire like grin, but a small, truly happy smile. "What I saw today was not the lost kid from before. I saw the setter I knew you were, with a team that can help you grow in ways that I can't, as much as I hate to admit it."

Iwaizumi chuckled at that. "You have no idea how proud we are of how you played today, of how much you've grown in such a short amount of time. You worked with your team and you were willing to rely on them when needed, even encouraging them when they needed it. And don't think I didn't catch that smirk you sent to Kindaichi after Hinata nailed your first quick."

Tobio blushed slightly, not really knowing what to do with himself with all the praise. He honestly didn't know what to do period. This was nowhere near what he expected when Oikawa asked if they could talk to him a week ago in a random text. It was so much to take in that he honestly felt overwhelmed.

"Jesus that quick is gonna cause us some trouble." Oikawa lamented, tapping his chin in thought. Tobio couldn't help but smirk at that.

"That aside." Oikawa said, turning serious. "We called you here because we wanted you to know the truth. We wanted to check in on you and make sure you were okay, and also…" Oikawa faltered for a second.

"We wanted to know if you would be willing to give us another chance." Iwaizumi finished for him. Tobio's eyes were impossibly wide. Oikawa was quick to continue.

"We know that this is a lot and you don't have to accept it right now or ever if you don't want to." Oikawa winced at his own words. "But no matter what you choose, we will accept it. You are under no obligation to pacify us at all, this is strictly your choice."

Tobio's mind was reeling. He was so shocked by all of this that he couldn't even respond. They saw how distressed he was and hurriedly continued.

"You don't have to decide now, there's no rush." Iwaizumi said, giving him a reassuring smile that only proved to make it worse. Oikawa nodded in agreement.

"Absolutely. That being said, we did have a request." Tobio braced himself for what Oikawa was about to say. "We want to take the block down fully." Tobio froze.

"What?" he blurted, feeling a cold starch fear grip his chest. His doctor had said that dropping the block at this point could be dangerous, and if they had already started taking it down and were at the last few steps, all three of them could be putting their health at serious risk.

"We aren't expecting you to accept us with open arms, but we refuse to keep hurting you. If you don't want to be with us we can all go to the specialist we've been seeing so that you can learn how to put up a healthy block, that way any negative side effects would be placed on us and not you. Since there's three of us the doctor said there was a lesser risk if we were the ones that were blocked rather than you."

"No!" Tobio blurted. Both seniors looked at him in shock and hurt, but Tobio couldn't give in. "I just… Don't drop the block yet." Tobio stuttered, feeling like his head was about to explode. "I-I need time to think about this."

They both nodded eagerly.

"Take all the time you need Tobio-chan."

"We'll wait for you." Tobio didn't know how to respond. This was… It was all too much. Iwaizumi reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone. "If you don't mind, could I have your number? Shittykawa got it without permission so I thought I'd ask."

"Iwa-chan!" Oikawa whined, pouting dramatically. Tobio nodded dazedly that it was fine and Iwaizumi went to hand Tobio his phone, but their fingers accidentally brushed against each other. Immediately Tobio felt his chest constrict immediately, choking his air supply. He dropped the phone and covered his mouth in an attempt to hold back the coughing, not wanting any of the developing flowers to be seen.

"Kageyama? What's wrong?" Iwaizumi asked, alarmed. He reached out for him but Tobio dodged him. Oikawa stepped closer.

"Tobio-chan? What's going on? Are you okay?" Oikawa called, but it was getting harder and harder to breathe.

"I have to go." He said, his voice raspy. Iwaizumi managed to grab his arm before he could leave.

"Wait Kageyama, something's wrong, I think we need to get you to the hospital." Iwaizumi insisted, unknowingly making it worse. Tobio winced, the skin under Iwaizumi's palm felt like it was on fire. He quickly wrenched his hand free and started backing away.

"Kageyama!" Tobio heard a shout and knew it was Hinata, probably having felt his symptoms through the bond. He tried to leave but cringed as his arm was grabbed, thankfully a layer of clothing protecting his now hyper sensitive skin.

"Wait! Kageyama, what's happening? What's going on?" Iwaizumi insisted, and Tobio tried to respond but his voice was cut off by another round of coughing. He felt a petal come up and into his hand, and he was quick to hide it from his soulmates.

"KAGEYAMA!" another voice called, this time it was Sugawara.

"Please let me go now. I need to go to my team." Tobio pleaded, getting desperate as his air supply was slowly being cut off.

"But-"

"Let him go Iwa." Oikawa said firmly. Both of them whipped their heads around in shock. Tobio saw the calculating look on his face and prayed to every deity he could think of that he wouldn't be able to work out what was going on. He stuffed the petal in his pocket half haphazardly and quickly made his way towards where he thought the voices were coming from. He stopped and turned back for a second.

"I-I'll call you, I promise." He had no idea why he felt the need to promise to contact them, but he didn't have time to dwell on it and hurried around the building, nearly crashing into him.

"Thank god, Kags! Here, I got your inhaler, take it quick!" Hinata shoved the little device into his hands and Tobio took in the medicine hurriedly. He felt immediate relief, his chest pain subsiding enough that he could get in a full breath. He saw Suga and Ennoshita run up to them.

"Oh thank god you found him." Suga sighed with relief, immediately fussing over him. "Have any flowers come up?"

"Just one petal." He answered, his voice coming back but still raspy. Suga nodded and checked his pulse as Hinata gave him his water bottle, which he took gratefully and chugged it down.

"Do you feel any more that need to come up?"

Tobio paused, taking a deep breath to assess the damage and found that his lungs didn't really feel full. It just felt strained, like he had just ran a marathon at full speed without breaks. "No, it's just sore."

Suga frowned at that. "Just in case we should have Takeda-sensei drive us to the hospital."

Tobio grimaced at that but didn't say anything, the worried looks on his friends faces and the panic he still felt through his bond with Hinata enough to convince him to not argue. Hinata took his bag for him, and he was going to protest and insist he could carry it but he moved too quickly and immediately felt dizzy. Ennoshita caught him in time and immediately slung Tobio's arm over his shoulder, helping him towards the bus. Suga whipped out his phone and sent out some texts, presumably to tell the others they found him.

They carefully made their way up the couple of steps and Ennoshita took him to the back seat so he could lay down. Hinata and Suga fussed over him, both helping him adjust slightly so that he had his legs propped up to help regulate his breathing. Suga pulled a blanket out of the emergency kit and threw it over him, tucking it around him as Tobio started to shiver slightly from shock. Hinata sat down and placed Tobio's head in his lap, his jacket folded neatly and placed on his thigh to make it more comfortable. Tobio felt the shivers calm as he felt the waves of warmth coming off of him.

Tobio felt really bad for scaring his friends, and worse, making them run around to look for him. He looked at them; Hinata, who was gently running his hands through his hair and staring ahead at nothing. Ennoshita, who was talking to the newly arrived Takeda-sensei and the rest of the team. Suga, who was checking his pulse again and he felt incredibly guilty when he saw just how badly he had scared them.

"Sorry." he mumbled groggily, the warm feeling Hinata was forcing through the bond making him drowsy. It was so quiet that Hinata and Suga were the only ones that had heard him.

"What on earth are you sorry for Kageyama?" Suga inquired, giving the hand he was holding a gentle squeeze.

"I didn't mean for this to happen, I-" Suga pressed his fingers to his lips, shushing him.

"Kageyama, this is not your fault." He said kindly, but firmly. "You never asked for this condition, it was forced upon you. If anything, we should be sorry that we let you be alone with them."

Tobio shook his head. "They didn't hurt me."

Suga and Hinata shared a look before the setter tucked the blanket under Tobio's chin, fidgeting again with the ends of the blanket. "What do you mean?"

Tobio coughed slightly, and reached for the water bottle again to take another sip before continuing.

"They… They just wanted to talk to me. They… Apologized to me, said… Asked what I wanted… Said they'd wait for me, and…" Tobio was finding it harder and harder to stay awake, the excessive stress and lack of sleep taking it out of him, not to mention the attack.

"They what?!" Hinata shouted, withering at the disapproving look he got from Suga.

"Why don't you get some sleep, Kageyama? Today's been kinda crazy, and I'm sure you're exhausted." Suga suggested, readjusting the blanket around him so he was essentially in a blanket burrito. Tobio nodded tiredly and fell asleep almost immediately. His last thought before passing out;

What should I choose?