Work Text:
The Longest Day
The longest day must have an end: (saying) any period of unhappiness, failure, etc., however lasting it seems, must finally come to an end.
The radio is on, and Haiji hums distractedly along with a catchy pop song as he finishes the last touches on dinner. Half of his attention is on the clock on the wall as it steadily approaches seven, the other half on the food. It’s been a good day so far, but he’s ready for it to end so he can indulge in his second favorite pastime: relaxing with cuddles and a movie after dinner. Three minutes before seven, the unmistakable sound of a key turning in the keyhole reaches his ears and Haiji smiles.
“I’m home,” Kakeru calls right before closing the door. Haiji can almost picture him sitting down to take off his shoes.
“Welcome home,” Haiji says when his husband of one year enters the kitchen. A pair of arms come around him from behind and Haiji lets himself rest back on Kakeru’s chest, turning his head to the side to peck him on the lips. “Dinner’s almost ready.”
“You could have waited for me. I’d have helped.”
“I know, but I was in the mood.” Haiji shrugs and stirs the soup.
Kakeru hums, kisses his neck. “Thanks. Smells delicious.”
“You always say that.”
“It’s always true.” Kakeru yawns a little and lets him go. Haiji turns to look at him with his brow furrowed in concern. Kakeru smiles a little crookedly. “Sorry. Tired,” he says, and he looks it. The week’s been rather exhausting, particularly for Kakeru as the coach assistant for Kansei, who got seeded for the fifth year in a row after finishing fourth in the last Hakone Ekiden. The students and the coach are really hyped up, and so the training has gotten more intense lately, even when Kakeru is not running.
Haiji’s knee throbs.
“It’s okay, I get it. How did it go today?” he asks.
“Good.” Kakeru nods, and his eyes are alight. “The kids are strong. They have a good chance this year, too. They may even get first place.”
Haiji smiles, a bit nostalgic. “I’m glad.”
“How was your day?”
“Mah, the usual. You know, walking in the morning with Nori, revising a couple of articles, cooking. Oh, and—”
He’s interrupted by Kakeru’s phone ringing, which is uncommon to say the least. Kakeru frowns and takes it out of his pocket, then glances apologetically at Haiji. “Sorry, I’ll—”
Haiji makes a ‘go on’ gesture with his unoccupied hand, then turns back to the meal while keeping an ear on Kakeru’s conversation, as he hasn’t left the room.
“Thanks,” Kakeru says, and he must have accepted the call, as the next words out of his mouth are: “Hello? Yes, this is Kurahara speaking.”
There is silence for a moment as Kakeru listens. Haiji turns down the burner and turns to the rice.
“What?” Kakeru’s voice croaks and breaks and, alarmed, Haiji turns off the fire and turns back to Kakeru, already wiping his hands on the dishtowel. His husband is as pale as a ghost. Alarms blare in Haiji’s mind. “I—and my… my parents?” A beat, two. “Oh.” Kakeru is biting his lip now, and Haiji fears his phone is going to crack from how hard he’s clutching it. “No, no. Please, let me—let me discuss it with my husband, first. Yes. Yes. Thank you, I’ll call you back. Thanks.” Kakeru hangs up and his arm falls limply to his side. He looks so unsteady on his feet that Haiji grabs him and silently moves him to a chair, on which Kakeru all but collapses. He lets his head drop on his hands and Haiji puts a comforting hand on his back, rubbing between his shoulder-blades as he waits for him to get himself together.
“Kakeru?” Haiji prods after some long minutes have passed. His stomach feels heavy with apprehension. “What’s wrong?”
Kakeru takes in a deep breath and raises his head. He looks at him and the dark blue eyes Haiji loves so much are red-rimmed and wet, though no tears have fallen yet. “My sister. She died. She and her husband both,” he says in a dead voice. “Car accident.”
“Oh, Kakeru...” Haiji doesn’t know what to say. Kakeru’s relationship with his family is strained, almost as much as his own, and so Haiji hasn’t met either his parents or his older sister more than three or four times in the five years they’ve been together, and they didn’t even appear at their wedding. Still, the news is shocking, and it has obviously affected him badly.
Before he can make up his mind, however, Kakeru continues. “And...” he says, then hesitates. “They had—have a kid. He’s seven. No family on his father’s side, and my parents,” he grimaces, “they don’t want anything to do with him. The social worker—she asked if I was willing to take him in, or he’ll enter the system.”
Haiji closes his eyes, a throbbing pain shooting through his core at the words. A boy, left completely alone. It aches. When he opens them again, he finds Kakeru’s eyes on his face, expression sad.
“We don’t have to, you know,” he says. “It’s only—”
“No, Kakeru,” Haiji interrupts, taking one of Kakeru’s hands between both of his. “We can. We will. Your nephew—he’s just a boy, and he’s going through something terrible now. He needs support, and we can give it to him.”
“He lives in Miyagi. He goes to school there. Taking him away now would not be the best idea, so we’d have to move,” Kakeru points out, but the arguments are weak.
Haiji shrugs. “So? I can work from anywhere, you know that. You too, for that matter, though the track team will surely miss you.” It’s his turn now to hesitate as he studies his husband’s troubled face. Softly, Haiji adds, “You want to do this, right?”
Kakeru bites his lip so hard that it wouldn’t surprise Haiji if it started bleeding. “Yes,” he says at last. It comes out of him in a breathless whisper. “I do. But—”
“Nothing,” Haiji says, assertively. “You call that social worker back and tell her we’ll do it, and then we’ll eat dinner. We’ll take a bath, we’ll sleep, and tomorrow we’ll worry about everything else. Okay?”
Kakeru stares at him for a moment, then his lips curl up in a small smile. “...Okay,” he says, and his eyes regain a little of his usual spark. Thank god. “I love you, you know?”
Haiji blinks, a little surprised, then grins. “Yeah, I do. I love you, too.”
Tobio is small, and quiet, and sullen. At least that’s the first impression Haiji gets when meets him for the first time, two months and three weeks after his parents’ funeral. They had to put all their affairs in order before moving from Tokyo to Miyagi, and it took some time in which Tobio had to live with a foster family. Finally, after more than two months of endless bureaucracy, funeral arrangements and job transfers, they were able to move and bring the boy home.
It’s Kakeru who went to the funeral and interacted with Tobio first, and so it’s him who picks him up from the foster home and drives him and his small bag of possessions back to their recently acquired two-story house. The rest of the things are already there—they’d moved a lot of the old furniture in Kakeru’s sister’s home, but not all. Some of the furniture is theirs, and some is newly bought. They had considered moving into Tobio’s old house, but in the end, they decided not to, as the new environment would make things easier for Tobio, according to the child psychologist they spoke to before making their decision. A sense of familiarity with old furniture and things would make him feel secure, but the new house and disposition would stop some of the pain and the feeling that they are trying to replace his parents by invading their home.1
When Haiji first looks at the boy, something in him seizes at how similar he is to Kakeru—a head full of black hair, pale skin, dark blue eyes assessing and sharp. He walks behind Kakeru’s legs, clutching a volleyball of all things to his chest, and Haiji mentally curses his bad knee as he feels the need to kneel to be face to face with the boy.
“Hi,” he says instead, trying to infuse as much warmth as he can to his smile. “My name’s Haiji. I’m Kakeru’s husband. Can I call you Tobio?”
Tobio’s eyes grow wide and then dart away from Haiji’s, lips pursed.
The silence stretches.
Haiji despairs. What did he do? Does Tobio hate him already? He searches for answers and reassurances in his husband’s face only to find him biting back a smile.
“Okay,” a small voice says, interrupting his thoughts. Tobio’s cheeks are red, and he’s still not looking at him. He’s adorable, Haiji thinks, and smiles.
“Welcome home, Tobio.”
“Why don’t you run with Kakeru-san?” Tobio asks one morning, around three weeks after the boy came to live with them. Kakeru has just returned from his morning run and is taking a shower while Tobio sleepily sits at the table, waiting for Haiji to finish breakfast. The summer holidays have just ended, and Tobio is still adjusting to the early schedule.
Haiji prepares Tobio’s plate and sets it in front of the boy, hums. “Well,” he says, tapping a finger over his right knee. “I did, in the past.”
Tobio tilts his head to one side and blinks. He looks like a curious cat. Or a baby bird. Haiji suppresses a smile. “But not anymore?”
Haiji shakes his head. “No. I badly hurt my knee, and I can’t run anymore.”
“Oh.” Tobio’s face scrunches up in a frown. He looks pained. “I’m sorry.”
Haiji chuckles and carefully ruffles Tobio’s hair. “Don’t worry, squirt. It’s not your fault.”
Tobio bats his hand away and pouts. It’s adorable. Then he frowns again. “Still. You love running, don’t you? Like I love volley,” he asserts. “It has to hurt.”
Damn Kuraharas and their observational skills, Haiji thinks fondly. His smile is softer than his usual one when he answers. “It does, a little. But I can still walk, and I can still watch Kakeru run, and that’s enough for me.”
Tobio ponders over his words as he eats, and Haiji finishes his and Kakeru’s plates just as Kakeru enters the kitchen.
“Morning,” Kakeru says, unknowingly mimicking Haiji’s earlier gesture as he ruffles Tobio’s hair, and then kisses Haiji on the cheek before sitting down on his place. He claps his hands together. “Thanks for the food.”
“Morning,” Haiji says, sitting down too. “Have a nice run?”
Kakeru hums as he takes a bite, and after that, the two of them make light conversation while they eat. At one point, Kakeru frowns a bit and looks from Haiji to Tobio’s pensive form, then back to Haiji again, eyes questioning. Haiji shrugs and smiles, mischievous, and Kakeru huffs a little but lets it go.
After they finish, Kakeru sends Tobio upstairs to change into his uniform and then helps Haiji with the dishes. They don’t talk, but their silence is comfortable and warm, and when they’re done Haiji gives him his and Tobio’s lunch boxes and in turn receives a kiss of both thanks and goodbye. Then Kakeru goes to the foyer to wait for Tobio to take him to school, while Haiji sets up his laptop to work on an article he has to finish for next week.
He’s surprised when instead of hearing two ‘we’re leaving’ as it became the norm, Tobio enters the kitchen, backpack on, and addresses him.
“Haiji-san?” he says.
Haiji takes off his reading glasses. “Yes, Tobio?” he asks, curious. This is an interesting deviation in the routine. He wonders.
Tobio scuffs a socked feet on the tatami floor and doesn’t look at him. “Would you, um. You and Nori. Walk me to school?”
His heart skips a beat, but he’s already closing his notebook and standing up. “Yes,” he says, “I’d love to.”
The pleased flush on Tobio’s cheeks and the small smile he tries to hide by looking down feel like enormous progress to Haiji, after so long of being held at arm’s length.
It is the middle of the night and something wakes him up. Haiji blinks, bleary-eyed and confused, and squints in the dark trying to pinpoint what it could have been. Kakeru is deeply asleep still, so it was not him. The house is quiet. There isn’t any wind outside.
Then, a tug on the bedsheets, and when he looks his eyes have adjusted enough to the lack of light to make out Tobio’s little hunched form.
“Tobio?” he asks, voice raspy with sleep. “What’s wrong?”
A sniffle is his only answer, and Haiji knows. Another nightmare. It’s not the first Tobio’s had since they moved in together—he’s had them on an off since the very beginning, and he’s woken them up with cries of screams before—, but it’s the first time that he’s come over to them instead of the other way around. Without even thinking about it, Haiji scoots over closer to Kakeru, making space for Tobio and lifting up the covers. His movement wakes Kakeru up; he huffs and blinks awake with an unintelligible grunt.
“C’mere,” Haiji says, gesturing for Tobio to climb up on the bed.
The boy hesitates, sniffles again. Haiji waits patiently.
“You can sleep in the middle,” comes Kakeru’s voice, heavy with sleep and seriousness both. “Nothing will happen to you if you’re in the middle, right?”
It seems that breaks whatever resistance Tobio has, and the boy starts crying in earnest. Alarmed, Haiji sits up and hovers awkwardly for a moment, wondering what to do, what is happening and why, oh god, he’s so out of his depth—
Kakeru rises and walks around the bed, then lifts Tobio up by his armpits. In his surprise, the little boy hiccups and stops, and then Kakeru maneuvers them until they are back on the bed, with Tobio curled up in the middle between the two of them. Tobio is still as a board for a couple of seconds, then relaxes into Kakeru’s arms. Haiji’s heart warms and expands as he carefully lies back down, on his side this time, and shares a smile with Kakeru over the messy dark hair of the boy who’s finally letting them in.
“I want to go to Kitagawa Daiichi,” eleven years old Tobio says one day, out of the blue.
Haiji blinks and trades a glance with his husband, who looks equally lost.
“Okay?” Kakeru says. “Any reason in particular?”
Tobio shrugs, but his eyes sparkle. “I saw a match today. Their setter—Oikawa-san is amazing. I want to learn from him. I want to play with him and his team.”
Ah, volleyball. That explains things. Kakeru smiles, and Haiji does, too. It’s nice to see Tobio so excited for something, when he usually dislikes going to school.
“Well, Kitagawa Daiichi is not that far from here,” Kakeru muses. “I’ve run past it sometimes. Around eight kilometers, I think?”
Haiji nods. “Yeah, I think so. And there’s a train that goes there nearby. We’ll have to see about money, but I don’t think it will be a problem. And the entrance exam will be your responsibility,” he points, looking at Tobio seriously. The boy nods so hard that Haiji can’t help but chuckle. “But yes, you can go,” Haiji says. “If it’s what you want.”
“It is!” Tobio beams. “Thank you!”
The door opens but before Haiji can say ‘welcome home’, it slams closed. There’s running steps that go upstairs and then a second bang, and something unpleasant twists in Haiji’s stomach at the sound.
Tobio’s temper is not something easily aroused—he’s completely different from Kakeru in that respect—and it’s startling and not a little bit worrying, since it’s been so long since the boy felt like slamming doors (back when their first year together was coming to an end and the anniversary of the death of his parents had just passed, when suddenly the grief and the pain was too much and manifested in angry outbursts, nightmares, and so many tears. It had been a terrifying time for Haiji and Kakeru, they’d felt so lost, so out of their depth… But the experience made Tobio open up more, and it let them get closer, letting their little family to actually begin to bond. Haiji sometimes thinks they are too young to be the parents of a thirteen years old, being only thirty-four himself and Kakeru thirty, but that’s undoubtedly what they’ve become, even if they never call Tobio their son out loud, and he never calls them anything but their names. At least he’s dropped the -san).
“Tobio?” he asks tentatively, knocking on his door twice before opening it a crack. There’s no answer, but the ragged, hitched breaths tell him that his son is not okay and so Haiji quickly enters, sitting right beside him on the mattress.
“Oh, Tobio, what’s wrong?”
“N’thin’” he says, voice muffled by the way his face is hidden on the pillow. “G’way.”
Haiji sighs and runs his fingers through Tobio’s hair. “Something must have. You never slam doors if nothing happens,” he points out. “So tell me. What upset you so much?”
Tobio stills, but doesn’t say anything. In this, he and Kakeru are very similar indeed, so Haiji simply waits, keeping up with the soothing gesture as he lets Tobio process and collect his wits.
“Oikawa-san hates me,” he finally says, voice nasal but understandable as he turns his head from the pillow towards Haiji, though he doesn’t make eye contact. “I don’t know what I did, but he hates me.” His lower lip trembles, and so does his voice when he adds, “It hurts, dad.”
Dad. Tobio called him dad. Tobio is suffering and called him dad, and Haiji can’t do anything but hug him to his chest and whisper empty reassurances as Tobio breaks out in fresh tears.
Haiji vows to himself that he’ll get to the bottom of this one way or another. Nobody hurts his son like this and gets away with it.
In the end, nothing comes out of it. Regretfully.
Oikawa graduates and neither Tobio nor Haiji (nor Kakeru, for that matter, who had to be physically contained when he learned what happened or he’d have stormed into the school to shake the older boy until he explained and apologized) get to the bottom of things. With Oikawa gone, though, Tobio is made the regular setter for their team, and he enthusiastically invites them to come to their first matches. Haiji knows a lot more about volleyball than Kakeru, as he works from home and has a lot more time to read about it, but both of them make the time to go and cheer for the team as much as they can. Kakeru doesn’t get many things even after Haiji explains them, and there are many technicalities that Haiji doesn’t understand, either, but their boy is playing and having fun, and that’s all that matters.
Volley is interesting, more complex than it looks like at first sight, and even though Haiji doesn’t understand it completely he does get that their Tobio is a little genius at it. He’s good, even he can see it from where he sits on the bleachers, and the praises from the commentators match his opinion. For Tobio, volley is everything, like running is for both Kakeru and Haiji, so they support him with all they have.
They can’t go to every single match, of course. Sometimes they are not even held in Miyagi, and they both have work and other responsibilities, but they do try, and they know Tobio loves them for it. He always extends the invitation, always.
Or, he did.
That’s why when, during Tobio’s second year at middle school, suddenly two months have gone by and there hasn’t been one, they get worried.
“You’re busy,” Tobio says when they ask. He doesn’t meet their eyes, though, and Haiji knows he’s not being completely sincere. “It’s not important.”
They press a little, and they are surprised and a little hurt when Tobio explodes with a, “I don’t want you to come!”
He doesn’t know what they did wrong. If they’ve done something wrong, even. Maybe it is a phase, or maybe it has something to do with his classmates or teammates, but Haiji doesn’t know and Tobio won’t tell them, and it’s driving them insane. He’s fourteen and surly and snappier than he’s ever been, and Haiji doesn’t know what to do. Kakeru doesn’t, either. They both feel useless and tired and hurt, and even though they try not to sometimes they take it out on each other, causing even more hurt. They always make up, because their fights are stupid and they both know at this point that they’re meaningless and that they come from a place of helplessness and stress, but for some months before and after Tobio’s fifteenth birthday, the house is tense like a bowstring ready to snap.
“Did you fill your application for Aobajohsai?” Kakeru asks one night while they’re having dinner together. “Give it to me so I can—”
“No.”
“—hand it… Sorry?”
“I haven’t. I’m not going.”
Kakeru looks imploringly at Haiji, lost for words. That school had been Tobio’s dream for a while now, so Haiji understands where the uneasiness and surprise are coming from. “Okay,” Haiji says. “Where do you want to go, then?”
Tobio shrugs, scowling down at his food. “Dunno. Haven’t searched. Just—not Seijou.”
Haiji breathes in deep, then exhales slowly. “Okay, then. We could help you look?” he offers.
“No, it’s okay. I’ll tell you later.”
Kakeru is biting his lip, and Haiji feels equally wrong-footed. What can they do but accept?
“Okay.”
The first impression after Tobio’s first day at Karasuno High School is not a good one, not when the first thing Haiji hears is Tobio muttering angrily under his breath.
“… that idiot, how dare he, what even, it, argh!”
“Tobio?” he asks tentatively, hoping for at least some context.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” is what Tobio says instead, and his scowl is so pronounced that Haiji drops the matter immediately.
“Okay,” he says, and worries that they’ve made a mistake. Still, it’s not like they could have sent Tobio somewhere else, as he didn’t pass the entrance exam for Shiratorizawa and he doesn’t want to go to Aobajohsai, either. He just hopes things get better.
“You’ve been practicing a lot, lately, huh?”
Tobio shrugs, but actually answers. “There’s gonna be a match. Three-on-three. I want to win.”
“Oh, I see.” He doesn’t, really. Why three-on-three? Aren’t there six players per team in a match, at least? Still, Tobio is actually talking to him about it, so Haiji asks, “Is your partner good?”
“He’s an idiot,” Tobio deadpans, but somehow it doesn’t sound like he’s actually insulting him, whoever he is. His face isn’t as hard, his eyes aren’t as distant, and Haiji feels hope stir in his chest. Maybe… “But he’s not so bad.” Tobio shrugs, a little awkward, and shoves a rice ball inside his mouth. “His receives suck, though.”
It’s the most he’s shared about anything to do with his volleyball team in more than a year, and Haiji is elated. Maybe sending him to Karasuno was not a mistake after all.
The front door opens with a bang, and then it follows the sound of thumping feet. Haiji is immediately on alert and rises from his seat, completely ignoring his laptop, heart beating loudly inside his ears. What—?
“Dad, dad!” Tobio’s voice calls, and he sounds exhilarated. Happy in a way Haiji hasn’t heard him in years. Then his boy finally rounds the corner and comes into his field of vision and he looks just as happy as he sounds as he exclaims, “We did it! We won!”
Haiji can’t help it and he smiles, so big and so bright that his cheeks hurt from how hard the muscles pull. “That’s amazing, Tobio! Congratulations! How—?”
“It was so cool, dad! It was like fwump! And then Hinata just fwaaa! And then the ball thwacked right there, and we won! Tsukishima’s face was priceless!” he explains with sound effects and liberally applied gestures and he looks so vibrant that suddenly Haiji feels himself tearing up. It’s a lucky coincidence that Kakeru arrives just then and inserts himself into the conversation before he could make things awkward with his tears.
“What are we celebrating?” his husband asks, but there’s already a smile tugging at his lips. Tobio’s happiness is contagious.
“Dad! We won! We’re in!”
Kakeru’s smile rivals Tobio’s own, and it’s a sight that makes Haiji’s heart practically burst from happiness. It feels like such a long time since he last saw Tobio smile like this, since the last time the three of them have been so happy together.
“That’s great, Tobio! Who is ‘we’?” Kakeru asks, curious, and Haiji turns to their son at the same time, also wanting to know.
“Me and Hinata, that dumbass shrimp I mentioned before. He’s actually not so bad once he stops being annoying and focuses on what he’s doing. He’s tiny but he can jump so high, it’s amazing. But don’t tell him I said that. Ever. You too, dad. Not a word.”
Haiji chuckles. “Of course, of course. And when will we meet this friend of yours?”
“We’re not friends!” Tobio exclaims, but the color on his cheeks doesn’t agree with his words. “I don’t know, he lives over the mountains and bikes all the way to school. Maybe someday, though.”
“Invite him over sometime, then,” Haiji asks. He really wants to meet this boy, because it’s been so long since Tobio was anything but sullen and closed off, so he has to meet the people who are helping him back out of his shell. And it sounds like this Hinata is definitely one of them.
“Yes, do so,” Kakeru says, and by the expression in his eyes when he looks at him, he’s thinking the same thing Haiji is.
Tobio purses his lips and looks away, but he is obviously pleased when he says, “Okay.”
“Is this your house, Bakageyama?” Haiji hears a loud, excited voice coming from outside their house. “Wow, it isn’t as big as I thought it’d be, somehow. Are your parents home? Do you have a backyard? A net? You must have a net, right, Kageyama?” The door opens, and so the next words seem to be a lot louder. “Ne, answer me!”
“Shut up, stop being so loud, idiot,” Tobio hisses. There’s a thump. “And take off your shoes.”
“What do you take me for, stupid? I was going to!” the voice—Hinata, it must be—says, offended, and Haiji chuckles a bit as he makes his way towards the foyer to greet his son and his guest. “And you still didn’t answer my questions.”
“Yes, this is my house. Yes, I have a backyard, and a net. And yes, at least one of my dads is here.” Haiji can almost see Tobio rolling his eyes.
“One of your—?”
“Welcome home, Tobio,” Haiji says, unintentionally cutting off whatever it was the small, ginger-haired boy was about to say. Somehow, he’s nothing like Tobio described him, and exactly the same. Haiji smiles at him. “And you must be Hinata-kun. Nice to meet you, I’m Tobio’s dad, Haiji.”
The boy’s eyes have grown wide, and what he says next is a bit unexpected. “Wow, Kageyama, you look nothing like your dad! He looks so nice! His smile is not terrifying at a—” Tobio grabs him in a chokehold and gives him a noogie, and Hinata flails. “Ah, what are you doing! Stop!”
“Idiot! Show some respect!”
“Stop! Stop, Kageyama!”
“Sorry, dad,” Tobio says, and his face is red but he lets the little ball of verbose sunshine go. Haiji has to force himself not to laugh at their interactions. Then he turns to Hinata and growls, “Say hello like a normal person, idiot.”
“Oh, oh! Sorry, Kageyama-san.” To his credit, he does look a bit remorseful. Then he bows. “Thank you for having me over.”
Haiji chuckles. So much energy! “It’s fine. Though the name is Kurahara. You can call me Haiji, if you prefer.”
Hinata frowns, obviously thrown at the correction, but doesn’t ask. He nods instead, and says, “Haiji-san, then. Thanks for having me over. My name is Hinata Shouyou. I’m Kageyama’s teammate.”
“He knows that already,” Tobio says.
“Shh, it’s polite! You told me to be polite! Make up your mind!”
Haiji laughs, feeling incredibly happy, and the two stop arguing to look at him with wide eyes.
He thinks he hears Hinata say something like ‘wow, your dad is so pretty’ but he doesn’t pry.
“Why don’t you go change? And feed Nori for me, yes? Kakeru will be home soon, and then we’ll have dinner and then you can do whatever you want,” he offers.
Tobio nods, then grabs Hinata’s elbow. “Okay. C’mon, follow me.”
The two disappear up the stairs and Haiji is aware he’s looking at the door they went through with a dopey smile, but he can’t help it. He’s happy. Tobio’s obviously made a very good friend in Hinata, and the changes in his mood and overall attitude are astounding. He’s smiling more, he’s talking more, he’s sharing what happens to him at school and practice and he’s so much happier now than he was during middle school, and Haiji is so glad.
The front door opens again and less than a minute later there are arms around his waist and a kiss to the back of his neck. He sighs and lets his husband hold him.
“What has you smiling so much, love?” Kakeru asks, voice warm and chest even warmer against Haiji’s back.
“Tobio and Hinata are here,” he says. “He’s so good for Tobio. I’m just—You’ll see.”
Kakeru hides his face in the crook of Haiji’s neck. “I’m glad.”
“Me too.”
“Excuse me. Sorry. Excuse me. Ah, excuse me.”
“It’s so full! It was never this full when he played before, was it?”
“It’s a different level, and this is the final in an important tournament’s qualifiers! Of course it would be full!” Haiji says, exasperatedly. “Ah, excuse me.”
“Do you see th—”
“Ah! Look! That must be them.” Haiji studies the black cloth. “‘Fly’, huh? A fitting name for the little crows.”
Kakeru squints at him. “Is that a metaphor?”
“No, that’s their banner. Look, right there.” He points to it, and Kakeru follows with his eyes.
“Oh! Let’s go, then.”
They elbow their way into the relatively small—compared to the people in purple, at least—group of people behind the huge black banner. As they get closer, they can finally hear the cheering for Karasuno.
“Oh, we’re in the right place, then!” Haiji says cheerfully, dragging Kakeru by the hand with his right and waving at the two men that turned to watch them with wary eyes. “This is Karasuno’s section, right?”
They brighten. One has a convenience store uniform on. “It is! You here to cheer for them?”
“Yup! Our little Tobio is playing! Had to see him, right, Kakeru?”
“Of course.”
There’s a woman with short blond hair and sharp make-up who turns then and looks them up and down, before her eyebrows rise high up in her forehead. “You’re Kageyama’s family, then?”
“His dads! Hi, nice to meet you! I’m Haiji, and this is Kakeru.”
“...Huh.” She nods her head at him and says, “I’m Tanaka Saeko, Ryuu’s sister. That’s number 5 over there, if you don’t know.”
Haiji looks over where she points out, and finally sees where Tobio and his team are warming up and stretching in their black and orange uniforms. He looks for number 5 and locates a young man with a bald head and a huge grin. He’s warming up together with a boy that’s about the same height than Hinata, with more orange than black on his uniform and an equally large grin. For some reason, they remind him of Joji and Jota.
“Brings back memories, huh?” Kakeru asks beside him, looking not at the same people Haiji is but a little to the left. He follows his gaze and blinks in surprise at the young man with long hair up in a bun who is talking with Tobio and a tall blond with glasses. Fuck, for a moment he has a Nico-chan-senpai flashback. He misses the guy. They should invite him over sometime. And the others, too.
“Those are Asahi and Tsukishima. Oh! Apparently, this one here is his brother, Akiteru,” she adds, bodily dragging a boy that looks a lot like the tall one with glasses to them. The boy sputters at the manhandling but waves.
“Hi! Nice to meet you.”
“Anyway,” Saeko interrupts before either Haiji or Kakeru could answer his greeting, but the boy looks resigned. “The one with the freckles is Tadashi. The small one with the grin next to my brother is Noya, he’s a second-year also. Number one is the captain, Sawamura, and the pretty one next to him is Suga, both are third years with Asahi. There are some boys missing right now, so I’ll point them out to you later when they come.”
“Ah, thank you so much, Saeko-san. Tobio’s mentioned them all but he isn’t so great at descriptions, and the only one we’ve met so far is Hinata-kun. By the way, where is he?”
Saeko laughs, and it’s so loud it’s almost startling. “Ah, the little sunshine must be in the bathroom right now. He always has stomach problems right before a game. Nerves, probably.”
“Oh. Does it affect him badly?” Kakeru asks, concerned. Haiji is, too.
Saeko waves her hand in front of her face in a dismissive gesture. “Nah. Once he’s out in the court is like everything else disappears. It’s actually pretty amazing to watch, you’ll see. Ah, it’s about to start.”
Watching Karasuno play, watching Tobio play, is nothing like the previous games they’d gone to, back when Tobio was a second year at Kitagawa Daiichi and before he stopped asking for them to attend. Somehow, Haiji has missed how much he’s grown in the meantime—even though he’s aware Tobio’s shoot up like a weed and is now taller than both of them, it’s still startling to see. Their team is noisy and rough around the edges still, but it works for them. It suits them. He has some idea of combination plays and what it means when they shout some calls, but he’s grateful that Akiteru knows what’s happening, being a volleyball fan. He analyzes and explains the plays as they happen, both to Saeko and the two of them. Kakeru is almost vibrating where he stands beside him, excited and following each movement on the court with his sharp eyes. Haiji is no better, hands clutching at the railing as he screams and cheers together with the rest of the group of Karasuno fans. He has the feeling that it will get bigger after this match, because even he can see how good they are.
“Go, go, go, Ka-ra-su-no! Fight, fight, Ka-ra-su-no!”
“Go, Tobio!” they scream in unison at one point, and it’s then that Tobio finally seems aware that they are there. His eyes grow wide and then crinkle at the corners in excitement and determination.
“Eh? Who are they, who are they?”
“Ah! Kageyama, your dads came!”
“Kageyama’s dads?!”
“Haiji-san, Kakeru-san! Cheer for us!”
“Concentrate!”
“Ossu!”
It’s a long match, and a very difficult one against the favorite school, but they win.
When it’s over and they finish celebrating Tobio comes to them, flushed and exhausted but blinding in his happiness, and Haiji squeezes Kakeru’s hand because this is it, this is how their boy should always look, should always feel, and he’s so so grateful to this team for bringing him out of the dark.
“You came! What did you think?”
“Of course we came! We wouldn’t miss it for anything!” Haiji says, ignoring the fact that Tobio’s positively drenched in sweat to bring him close for a short hug and a congratulatory pat on the back.
“You did amazing. Your team is amazing,” Kakeru says, putting one hand on Tobio’s right shoulder and squeezing. “You had a lot of fun, right?”
“Yes!”
“Haiji-san! Kakeru-san! Did you see me? Did you see me?”
“Hinata moron! Don’t hog my dads!”
“Shouldn’t you be stretching?”
“Oh, no, Daichi-san is gonna kill us!” Hinata yelps. “Let’s go, Bakageyama!”
“We’ll see you later, Tobio.”
“Yeah. Bye, dads.”
They look as their boy trots back to the rest of his teammates while bickering with Hinata, and they feel at ease. After everything he’s gone through, after everything he didn’t tell them and they couldn’t help him with, their boy has found his place in the world and is happy again.
That’s all they’ve ever wanted for him.
“Shall we go home, then?” Kakeru asks, his hand closing around Haiji’s.
Haiji turns to his husband and smiles. “Okay.”
FIN
Omake:
Shouyou isn’t sure what to expect when Kageyama invites him to his house one day. Sure, they’d gotten closer after playing together and developing their freak quick, but are they friends? He thinks they are, even though they are rivals (what does it matter if they are also comrades in the same team?! They can be rivals, too!). He accepts, of course he does, because Kageyama is so awkward and so mysterious and Shouyou is curious, so sue him. If nothing else, they will surely have time to play even more volleyball after practice ends, and that’s always a win in his books.
The house is not that far away and Kageyama walks, so Shouyou walks with him while dragging his bike. It’ll be his first sleepover in high-school! He never thought it’d be in Kageyama’s house of all places, but it is what it is, and Shouyou is going to enjoy it!
They finally stop at the entrance of a two-story house and Shouyou quickly gives it a once-over, and is slightly disappointed that it isn’t that much different from his own house. Somehow, he had been waiting for something…grander, maybe. A big house to fit the image of the King of the Court engraved in his mind.
“Is this your house, Bakageyama?” Shouyou asks as they walk up the path towards the front door. He leaves his bike propped next to a tree while Kageyama goes to open the door. “Wow, it isn’t as big as I thought it’d be, somehow. Are your parents home? Do you have a backyard? A net? You must have a net, right, Kageyama? Ne, answer me!”
“Shut up, stop being so loud, idiot,” Kageyama hisses as Shouyou follows him inside. “And take off your shoes.”
“What do you take me for, stupid? I was going to!” Shouyou rolls his eyes and sits down on the step to do just that. Curious, he notices the many pairs of running shoes stacked neatly next to other types of shoes. There’s also volleyball shoes that must belong to Kageyama. “And you still didn’t answer my questions,” he pointed out.
“Yes, this is my house. Yes, I have a backyard, and a net. And yes, at least one of my dads is here.”
Shouyou frowns. “One of your—?”
“Welcome home, Tobio,” a man says, and Shouyou’s heart skips a bit at the surprise. He hadn’t heard him coming. When he looks at him, Shouyou’s brain screeches to a stop. The man is nothing like Shouyou pictured any family of Kageyama at all, with his brown hair and soft smile and amber eyes. “And you must be Hinata-kun. Nice to meet you, I’m Tobio’s dad, Haiji.”
His dad?! So young! So pretty! What even!
“Wow, Kageyama, you look nothing like your dad!” he exclaims, unable to keep his opinion to himself. “He looks so nice! His smile is not terrifying at a—” Kageyama grabs him in a chokehold and noogies his head, and Shouyou flails. “Ah, what are you doing! Stop!”
“Idiot! Show some respect!”
“Stop! Stop, Kageyama!”
“Sorry, dad,” Kageyama says, and Shouyou has never heard him sound so apologetic for anything. Ever. Then his voice is back to normal as he snaps at him, “Say hello like a normal person, idiot.”
“Oh, oh! Sorry, Kageyama-san.” Kageyama lets him go and Shouyou promptly bows down towards Kageyama’s dad. “Thank you for having me over.”
Kageyama-san chuckles, and it’s warm and amused and for some reason it makes Shouyou feel funny. “It’s fine. Though the name is Kurahara. You can call me Haiji, if you prefer.”
Kurahara? What? Shouyou frowns, but figures that there’s some history there that he doesn’t know and doesn’t have the right to, so he doesn’t ask. Instead, he nods.
“Haiji-san, then. Thanks for having me over. My name is Hinata Shouyou. I’m Kageyama’s teammate.”
“He knows that already,” Kageyama says, and Shouyou scowls.
“Shh, it’s polite! You told me to be polite! Make up your mind!”
Haiji-san laughs. It’s loud and bright and so unexpected that Shouyou jumps a little bit in surprise as he turns back to look at the man. His eyes are half-closed and his face is stretched in a smile, and it strikes Shouyou as incredibly beautiful.
“Wow,” he says to Kageyama, without any input from his brain. “Your dad is so pretty.” And he immediately blushes.
Kageyama gapes at him, but before he can say anything in response, Haiji-san interrupts them.
“Why don’t you go change?” he says. “And feed Nori for me, yes? Kakeru will be home soon, and then we’ll have dinner and you can do whatever you want.”
“Okay. C’mon, follow me,” Kageyama says, and drags Shouyou by his elbow up the stairs.
“Who is Nori?” Shouyou asks as Kageyama takes him to his bedroom, which is disappointingly similar to his own, only neater.
“Our dog. He’s quite old, even if he doesn’t act like it.”
They get changed and then get down. Kageyama fills a little plate with dog food and guides Shouyou to a back door. It’s the backyard Kageyama promised, and Shouyou’s eyes grow wide at the net and all the volleyball equipment lying around.
“Uwaaah!” he exclaims as he runs, exited, to inspect the net and everything else. “You really have it nice, Kageyama! Look at all these things!” His eyes search Kageyama’s crouched form and find him patting the head of a tiny Shiba inu that looks really friendly. “Ah, Kageyama! Nori-san is so cute! Hello, Nori-san!”
Nori the dog barks happily at him and Shouyou can’t help but pet him in earnest, laughing when the dog manages to make him fall and starts enthusiastically licking his face. As he tries to push the dog away, he catches a glimpse of Kageyama looking at them, and his breath hitches for a moment because Kageyama is smiling, truly smiling, and not his terrifying forced smile. It’s smaller and way less bright than Haiji-san’s, but for a wild moment, Shouyou thinks it’s just as beautiful.
Then Nori licks his face from the bottom of his chin to the middle of his forehead and Shouyou sputters in disgust at all the dog slobber on his mouth and nose, and Kageyama is laughing so hard at his side that he’s doubled over.
Jerk.
“Boys! Dinner’s ready!” Haiji-san’s voice calls them from inside the house, and Kageyama finally takes Nori off him so that Shouyou can stand back up.
They enter the house together and he follows Kageyama to the bathroom to wash their hands (and his face, because yuck). It smells absolutely divine inside, and Shouyou’s stomach growls in appreciation and hunger, which is immediately answered with a similar sound by Kageyama’s. He laughs and teases his teammate as they make their way back to the dining room, where they sit comfortably on a western-style table set. Then Haiji-san comes in from the kitchen, followed by another person, and Shouyou freezes.
Haiji-san looks nothing like Kageyama, but this man does. Same hair, same eye color, same impassive face. This one he can actually believe to be Kageyama’s dad. But then, Haiji-san is Kageyama’s dad? Oh, but Kageyama did say that one of his dads was home, right, so one of… Aha!
“You have two dads!” Shouyou declares loudly, smashing one closed fist over his open palm in a gesture of sudden comprehension.
Kageyama and Kageyama’s dad blink at him and it’s almost eerie how similar their expressions are. But then, Kageyama’s dad turns his head to one side and chuckles, warm and amused, while Kageyama himself frowns and crosses his arms as he looks at Shouyou.
“Yes? I told you, didn’t I?”
“No, you didn’t!”
Kageyama shrugs, unconcerned, but there’s something sharp and calculating in his gaze that Shouyou hasn’t seen unless they are standing on the court and facing a rival team. “You have a problem?”
Shouyou’s eyes grow wide and then emphatically shakes his head. “No!” he says, then turns to Kageyama’s dads who are looking at them with amused expressions. Shouyou knows he’s blushing, but he has to make things clear right now! “I think it’s great!”
Haiji-san laughs again, loud and bright like his first laugh, and it’s just as beautiful as it was before. Shouyou is a little spellbound.
“‘Is great’? Are you an idiot?” Kageyama grumbles, but the sharp edge in his eyes has gone away, so Shouyou counts it as a win.
“Hello, Hinata-kun,” Kayama’s dad who isn’t Haiji-san says, and his voice is softer and warmer than Shouyou expects. “My name is Kurahara Kakeru, but just Kakeru is fine.” Uh, so both of Kageyama’s parents are Kurahara? There must be a story there, but it’s not the time to pry, not really. Kageyama will tell him some time or not, it’s his decision.
“Nice to meet you, Kakeru-san! Thanks for having me over!”
“It’s our pleasure. Now, let’s eat, shall we?”