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Are we good at 3?
i have to watch my sister today.
my parents went out.
sorry!!!
Can I come over?
I’ll help.
I can bring snacks.
sure. i’ll tell natsu you’re coming.
He said he’d help.
But as soon as he rang the doorbell, he started to regret it. (just a tiny bit)
Shouyou stood before him in baggy clothes, shirt slightly hanging from his shoulder, and a warm smile on his face. Behind his legs stood the orange-haired little girl, in a pink dress all the way down to her knees, hair put up neatly in pigtails, smiling coyly at him. He kneeled down and cocked his head, shooting her his best smile, and she giggled before welcoming with a hug, wrapping her tiny arms around his neck and squeezing him tight.
He was never good with kids – so he could only think she might be short on a few fuses. It was the only explanation he could come up with. But he didn’t mind, he enjoyed the attention he got from her and he enjoyed having an excuse to spend time with the orange-haired boy who looked down at them with the sweetest smile on his face.
“Welcome!” She giggled, spinning around and looking up. “This is our house!”
“Thank you,” he said back, giving Shouyou the grocery bags. “I brought snacks.”
“So you told me over text,” he chuckled, taking the bags and walking towards the inside of the house. “Make yourself at home! I’ll put these away!”
He had told him, indeed. He didn’t know what to bring, didn’t know what the little girl enjoyed and didn’t want to seem foolish by bringing something a child wouldn’t enjoy. He hadn’t been the most conventional child and he didn’t really have any children around him, so it was only fair that he needed help choosing something to bring. Shouyou just sent him lots of kaomojis, mostly making fun of him.
“Tobio!” The little girl gripped his hands tightly, dragging him upstairs. “Look, look!”
He tripped over his own feet lots of times, hoping he wouldn’t fall down the stairs. She was relentless, dragging him around mercilessly, as if he wasn’t a guest but someone she had known her entire life – when it hadn’t even been two months since they met up for the first time, when she got lost in a grocery store and thankfully he was there to keep her company until her brother came around, desperate and screaming her name at the top of his lungs.
“This is my room!” She said, finally letting go of his crushed fingers.
It was…
Not at all what he was expecting it to be. He expected a little girl’s room to be somewhat like Miwa’s – but Natsu’s room was bland and mostly white, with a few plushies and dolls thrown around. Huh, he thought. I was hoping to see a bit more pink and maybe some makeup scattered around, too. Well. She’s only a child, right? It’s only fair that there’s no makeup around.
He was wrong.
So, so wrong.
Because half an hour later, Shouyou was sat across from him on Natsu’s room while she made him hold a makeup bag filled with pink brushes and cutesy stickers among other things he was used to seeing in Miwa’s bag but had absolutely no idea what they were supposed to be or why she’d be needing them for.
She had put a strand of Shouyou’s hair up with a star-shaped clip and was now working on his makeup. He thought about the time when his own sister started getting interested in makeup and how she would always run around trying to put makeup on him, but never actually did. Maybe he could let her. Maybe sometime. Maybe he would, yeah. Shouyou didn’t seem to mind, smiling sweetly at her whenever she gasped and blurted out a no, no, Sho-chan, stay put or else it’ll come out bad!
It was mesmerizing.
He was mesmerizing and the relationship between them was mesmerizing.
His chest hurt and he didn’t know why. Maybe he had too much coffee today.
“Sho-chan!” She yelled, once again, and Shouyou chuckled, shaking his head.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” He was giggling and when their eyes met, he sighed. “Kageyama is all on his own there, why don’t you give him a makeover as well? After all, he came all the way here so he could play with you as well.”
He didn’t know it was possible for someone to whip their heads around as fast as the little girl did and his heart actually skipped a beat. She smiled up at him, eyes twinkling, and he tried his best to smile back even though he didn’t really want to be given a makeover, not really. But she was so thrilled he couldn’t help but relax under her touch when she started playing with his hair, standing in front of him. He dared to look up at her and almost chuckled when he saw how concentrated she looked.
Must be nice, he thought, having such a close relationship with your sibling. He didn’t really know when they started to drift apart, Miwa and him. He remembered them competing over the stupidest things, sometimes, like who could chug water the fastest (which ended up in a tiny Kageyama Tobio curled up over the kitchen sink, choking) or who could run the fastest. He usually lost – and, eventually, they stopped doing that and it seemed that, in the end, they didn’t really have much in common, personality-wise. Maybe he should try talking to her when he got home. Maybe they could start a new relationship.
“See?” Natsu said, suddenly, and Kageyama almost jumped. “Tobio stays put when I tell him to stay put! You should learn from him, Sho-chan!”
He smiled smugly at the orange-haired boy as if he’d just won a contest.
“You wouldn’t be smiling like that if you knew what you looked like right now,” Shouyou giggled, covering his mouth. “I didn’t know you’d look so good with pigtails, Tobio.”
His cheeks burn all of a sudden and he adverted his eyes somewhere else. Of course she’d tie his hair up in pigtails, he thought. Suddenly, she pressed something on his nose and he had to fight the urge to sneeze, furrowing his brows and closing his eyes for a second. When he opened them up again, dark brown eyes stared back at him, sparkling with excitement.
She nodded, stepping back for a second to stare at him.
“Oh, wow,” he could hear Shouyou giggling. “You look great with stars on your face, Kageyama! You should get star-shaped tattoos sometime soon.”
“Sho-chan, stop making fun of him!”
He wanted to smirk victoriously at him and use Natsu as a human shield of some sorts, but as soon as she said those words, Shouyou grabbed her and tackled her down in a tight hug, tickling her sides and laughing along with her. He wondered if Miwa had ever done that to him at some point, if they were ever that close or if they were just two kids that happened to grow up in the same house. He’d have to ask her that.
His eyes stung with tears all of a sudden and he adverted his gaze – his chest hurt and he didn’t know why. They were both still laughing and it was all he could hear. Maybe I’ll talk to her about our childhood when I get home, he thought. It would be nice, rebuilding their relationship.
“Wait!” She shouted through giggles. “Wait, I can’t breathe!”
Shouyou stopped the tickling, but still held her in his arms, holding her close and nuzzling the side of her neck. They looked so much alike, the same soft orange hair, the same brown eyes – although, if he was to be completely honest, he would definitely point out the fact that the boy’s eyes were much deeper, as if they held something mysterious beneath the brown pools. But that’s only if he was to be completely honest, though. He’d never say it out loud. Not to him, at least. Maybe he’d talk to Miwa about it. How do you tell someone you like them? What if they reject you? She seemed to know a lot about this stuff. He’d definitely ask her.
Natsu was pouting, crossing her arms in front of her chest, refusing to look up at her brother and Tobio thought she was the most adorable kid he had ever seen in his entire life. Maybe it’s because she looked so much like her brother – or maybe it’s because he liked the way she was always excited, always eager to show him something she found extremely interesting (even when it wasn’t), or maybe it’s because she made things seem simpler than they actually were.
But it definitely had something to do with the fact that she looked like him, he thought.
“Are you alright?” Wide dark brown eyes stared up at him and he realized he had been staring blankly for longer than he thought. He tried smiling, but she wasn’t having it. “Do you want me to bring you sweets? No one can be sad with sweets, that’s a fact!”
He couldn’t help but giggle, nodding slightly and stroking her hair.
“Yeah, I’d like that,” he mumbled, and she was on her feet in a matter of seconds, running down the stairs singing something he couldn’t quite comprehend.
Shouyou still sat across from him, head tilted to the side and bottom lip between his teeth. Tobio knew he looked ridiculous and didn’t really need a snarky remark from him – he braced himself for it, but it never came. He was just staring. Endlessly staring, licking his lips and blinking lazily as if he was a work of art to be appreciated – which couldn’t be further from the truth, he thought, having stickers glued to his face and probably a bit of lipstick on his cheeks.
And then he smiled.
What an adorable, childish smile, Tobio thought. He wouldn’t say it out loud, but it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen before.
“You don’t look that stupid,” he chuckled and Tobio snorted.
“Yeah, right,” he shook his head. “You’re not one to talk, though.”
“But I’m the big brother,” he crossed his arms in front of his chest, smiling victoriously. “I’m supposed to look stupid sometimes.”
He had a point.
Not that Tobio would know, being the youngest sibling and all.
“Thanks for coming over,” he whispered, tilting his head to the side again. “Natsu likes you a lot and she keeps pestering me to bring her along whenever we meet up to play.”
Tobio chuckled, nodding. “I like her a lot, too.”
I also like you a lot, is what he couldn’t bring himself to say. It’s weird, isn’t it? They met each other by chance and now they’re always meeting up and playing together and now he’s sat on his little sister’s bedroom and he has weird stuff on his face and his hair is in pigtails and it’s still so comfortable, so ethereally relaxing that he can’t bring himself to ruin it by saying something wrong.
Shouyou nodded, smile growing a bit more. He opened his mouth to say something – but Natsu opened the door loudly, stomping inside the room with a tray in her hands, smiling widely at Tobio. He couldn’t help but smile back.
“I brought snacks!”
She sat down next to him, looking up with a silly grin on her face. He mimicked it and she giggled, shaking her head and grabbing a cookie, giving it to Shouyou. They started talking about something and all he could think about was how great it would be if he could be a permanent addition to the scene unfolding in front of him, how great it would be if he could be a part of that and not just a bystander.
It made something twist in a funny way inside his tummy.
Before he knew it, a smile was tugging his lips up and Natsu was the one to point it out, with an excited what’s so funny?! that had him dropping his head so they wouldn’t see the blush spreading across his cheeks.
“Kageyama is embarrassed because you glued star-shaped stickers onto his face, Natsu,” he said in a low tone, but loud enough so he could hear him. Natsu gasped, covering her mouth with her tiny hands.
“I’m sorry! I’ll take them off, I promise!” She grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her. She looked worried, dark brown eyes twinkling and brows furrowed. He shook his head, breaking free from her grasp.
He got up and took a few steps back. She tilted her head to the side in the same way Shoyo had done earlier – and he couldn’t help but snort. Shouyou was staring at him, dumbfounded, not knowing what he was doing, furrowing his brows as if asking have you lost your mind?, mouth hanging open in awe.
And he felt stupid – remembering the pigtails and stickers and makeup all over his face.
But he crouched a bit, staring at her and smiling as if he was plotting something all along – which he hadn’t, but she was a kid and probably wouldn’t notice. And then he lunged forward, grabbing her and pulling her up, tickling her sides while he held her high, glued to his own body as if he was afraid to drop her to the ground when she was squirming so much.
She giggled, clawing at his shirt, shaking her head and pleading that he put her down.
“Sho-chan!” She gasped, still laughing. “Help!”
Shouyou got up and, just as he had done earlier, crouched before looking at her menacingly, lunging forward and attacking her with even more tickles. She howled, throwing her head back and laughing until she was gasping for air, closing her eyes and repeatedly shaking her head. Her voice didn’t come out anymore, and both Shouyou and Tobio were also gasping for air, giggling along with her.
Tobio dropped to his knees, still holding her, and Shouyou stared down at them with loving eyes.
Slowly, Natsu nuzzled his neck, throwing her arms around him and holding him close as if she was afraid he’d let her go, as if she didn’t want him to leave. She sighed, resting her head in the crook of his neck.
“That was fun,” she whispered.
He kneeled at that spot for a while, feeling her softly breathing on the sensitive skin of his neck, feeling every fiber of his being shake whenever her pigtails brushed his earlobe. She started to hum softly, clutching at his shirt, and he couldn’t help but sigh when he felt her slowly relax, more and more until he was sure she had fallen asleep.
It was only when her grip softened on the fabric of his shirt that he dared to look up.
Shouyou was grinning, eyes squinted lovingly and he lost his breath, his heart missed a beat. He tried smiling back, but his muscles didn’t respond. He must’ve looked stupid, with stickers on his face and hair tied up in pigtails, but Shouyou wasn’t making fun of him – much on the contrary, in fact, and there was a weird, tingly feeling in the pit of his stomach and he was afraid he’d end up dropping Natsu on the floor if he didn’t look away.
So he did.
And then he got up, still holding her tightly against his chest, daring to cup her head and feel the soft hair entangled in his fingers. She smelled like chocolate and he didn’t really want to let go because that would mean he could go home – and he didn’t want to, not really.
“Here,” Shouyou whispered, patting the bed. “I’ll tuck her in. You can go take that mess out of your face.”
He nodded, walking towards her bed and softly placing her on top of the duvet. She furrowed her brows, whining softly before curling up to Shouyou. She blabbered incomprehensible words in her sleepy daze, clutching Shouyou’s shirt and trying to pull him close. Shouyou just stared down lovingly at her, brushing her fringe out of her face, softly caressing her cheeks.
He couldn’t help the tug he felt at his heart before he slipped out of the room.
It was a few minutes later that he found himself sat at the doorstep, face clean and hair down again, staring at the road in front of him. He already had his shoes on, thinking about the plans they’d made for today. They were supposed to meet up at the park and practice and then probably go out to eat something after they exhausted themselves and after that Tobio would probably bring him home and then, well, who knows?
But he liked coming here and he liked spending time with the easily-excited-orange-haired little girl. Maybe he’d come over more often and maybe they’d have to come up with more excuses about their super-hero agendas. She seemed to have forgotten about that, though.
“Oh, good! You’re still here.”
He turned around and saw Shouyou smiling down at him, messy hair and clean face. His shirt seemed to be stretched out, probably from how hard Natsu was clutching it, and Tobio could see his collarbones showing. He looked away, trying to hide his burning cheeks.
“Sorry for making you come all the way here,” he said, sitting down next to him on the porch. “Natsu can be very… demanding when it comes to something she really wants to do, so I’m sorry if I ended up dragging you into something you weren’t comfortable with.”
“Yeah,” he snorted. “I didn’t really think I’d spend my Saturday having a makeover by a six-year-old, but it was nice. Except the pigtails.”
Shoyo giggled. “Noted. I’ll make sure to make her remove the pigtails next time.”
“Next time?”
He dared to look at him, biting his lips anxiously. Shouyou blinked a few times, tilting his head to the side and squinting – only to grin so widely his eyes closed. He was sure his heart stopped when he opened his eyes again, staring straight at him, a soft, sweet smile still plastered on his face.
“Next time,” he sighed. “Unless you got scared of a little girl putting some makeup on your face?”
“As if,” he chuckled. “Thanks for letting me come over today. I had lots of fun.”
He nodded. “Thanks for asking to come over. It was fun and Natsu is probably going to sleep for the rest of the day. You can stay a bit longer if you want, though.”
He considered it.
He thought about both of them sat on the couch, watching crappy TV shows and munching on the snacks they didn’t even touch. He thought about how he would have to keep his heart from bursting out of his chest, how he would have to suppress his own feelings because he knew Shouyou liked to snuggle whenever they weren’t practicing and Natsu wasn’t with them. Maybe that would be nice, he thought.
But he didn’t think his heart could take it.
“I have a few things to do at home,” he said and Shouyou nodded. “I promised my sister I’d help her out today,” lies “and she’s probably waiting for me already.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you had a sister!”
“Yeah, I’m the little brother she had to watch over sometimes,” he shrugged and Shouyou snorted.
“I bet you were a handful.”
“Yeah, I might’ve been,” he sighed. “Maybe I should thank her for putting up with me when I get home.”
“You should,” Shouyou smiled. “It’s tough being the older sibling.”
“You should see what it’s like to be the youngest,” he joked, gathering his strength to get up. “Tell Natsu I’ll come around some other time so she can give me another makeover. Just… no pigtails.”
He howled, throwing his head back. “Noted!”
They stared at each other for a few seconds before Shouyou raised his eyebrows and smiled.
“We should reschedule our practice, then! Are you free tomorrow?”
Tobio smiled down at him, nodding lightly. This guy…, he thought before turning his back to him and starting to walk down the road. He’s going to be the death of me.
It was only when Miwa started setting the table for dinner that he started thinking about the things he wanted to talk to her about, the things he wanted them to reminisce over and find out where they’d gone off track, when they stopped being so close. So he kept staring at her from across the kitchen counter, not really knowing how to start a conversation. How did he start bringing up something like that? Hey, sis, why did we drift apart after a while? Why don’t we ever talk about anything that’s going on in our lives? Do you have a boyfriend? How do you know if you’re in love? How do you confess?
Yeah, there was no way in hell he was going to do that.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” She snorted. “Creepy”
“Sorry,” he huffed, shaking his head. “I just… I made a friend a few months ago…”
She crouched over the counter, dropping her head onto her hands, looking up at him expectantly. She raised her eyebrows as if urging him to continue, smiling wickedly at him.
“Stop thinking weird things,” he threw a napkin at her. “She’s six and I helped her find her brother when she got lost in a grocery store. Kind of.”
“Right?” She giggled. “And what does that have to do with why you’re creepily staring at me from behind the kitchen counter?”
Tobio opened his mouth, but all of a sudden he didn’t know what to say. Weren’t they fine the way they were? It’s not like they hated each other, after all. It’s not like they couldn’t stand the other’s presence. They just… didn’t really share much.
“I went to their house today,” he said, finally. “And they have this really good relationship and I just kept wondering why we kind of drifted apart, I think?”
He wasn’t looking at her anymore.
Maybe she’d laugh it off and say that’s how they’ve always been, that maybe he remembered wrong, that it was never any different. Maybe she’d call him crazy and tell him to stop overthinking the simple things – they were fine the way they were. It didn’t matter if they weren’t like the others, is what she always said whenever one of them was down, because they were special in their own ways and didn’t need to be any different.
But she didn’t say any of that.
“We did, didn’t we?” She giggled. “Hm, I don’t know. I think it happens after some time. We have a pretty big age gap as well, so that was probably it.”
He looked up and found her staring at him with a sweet smile on her face.
“But we could try to talk a bit more and get to know each other again,” she shrugged. “Hi! I’m Miwa.”
He snorted.
“You’re supposed to introduce yourself now, dude,” she whispered through her giggles.
“I’m Tobio,” he chuckled, shaking his head.
“Nice start! But you know what? We can get to know each other after dinner because I am starving and I swear on my life I am going to take a bite out of your arm if you don’t hurry up.”
“On it,” he giggled.
It was nice, living on their own. Their parents weren’t around much and they had to learn how to live on their own after their grandfather died a few years prior, but they were handling it. It must have been hard on Miwa, being the older sibling, to suddenly be responsible for a house and a little brother. But she was rocking it.
He respected her a lot for everything she was doing. Maybe he should tell her that later.
“So,” she says between bites. “I heard you muttering to yourself when you were in the kitchen…”
He looked up, raising his eyebrows questioningly. She grinned mischievously at him, cocking her head to the side and Tobio swore he was going to die when he heard the words that came out of her mouth:
“What was that about wanting to know if you’re in love?”