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Chapter Text

Tobio had known Oikawa Tooru his whole life. Since he could remember, he had always been around. 
And since he could remember, they hadn't gotten along.

Oikawa Tooru was his brother's best friend. They had met before Tobio was even born and, according to their mother, had been inseparable ever since. 
Sometimes it felt like Tooru lived in their house as well, as whenever Hajime wasn't at Tooru's house, Tooru was at theirs. Always around, always taking up space and suffocating Tobio with his presence.

When they were younger, Tobio had always tried to get the two older boys to let him play with them. And while Hajime rarely said no to his little brother, Tooru made it very clear that he did not appreciate Tobio's presence. 
The amount of volleyballs that had 'accidentally' hit him over the years spoke volumes about that.
Eventually Tobio got really good at dodging and returning balls right to the sender - which only made Tooru like him even less.

To this day, Tobio wasn't sure why Tooru - or Oikawa as he called him these days - did not like him. He could only assume that Oikawa did not appreciate Tobio interrupting his time with his best friend. 
As Tobio got older, he had sometimes wondered whether Tooru had had a childhood crush on his brother. He still hadn't fully ruled out that possibility, despite the fact that it didn't seem like Oikawa had ever made any move on Hajime. Romantically, at least.

And he wasn't even sure whether Oikawa was into guys in the first place. He was famous for the amount of girls who confessed to him and how they still loved him even after he dumped them.
Tobio had lost count of the number of girls who had approached him just because he was Iwaizumi Hajime's younger brother and therefore must know Oikawa Tooru and would surely know a way to impress him.

Tobio made it very clear very quickly that he wasn't interested at all in being their line to Oikawa Tooru. In no shape or form.
That didn't make him very popular, but he didn't care. If Oikawa Tooru wanted to hate him, Tobio would just hate him right back.

The only reason they got along at all was Hajime.
Tobio's brother was the best older brother anyone could ever ask for and Tobio loved him with all his heart.
If you would ask him, he would tell you that Hajime deserved the moon and the stars and everything good. He deserved all the attention that Oikawa seemed to get in his stead - something that Tobio didn't understand in the slightest.
And just like Tobio didn't know why Oikawa Tooru hated him, he didn't know why Iwaizumi Hajime and Oikawa Tooru were best friends.
Tobio knew that Hajime could do better. He could be friends with anyone.
But he chose to be friends with Tooru. No matter what stupid stuff the other did, no matter how far he pushed, Hajime was there to support him - or set him straight when necessary. Those moments were Tobio's personal favourites and he remembered many moments when Hajime would scold his best friend for intentionally hurting his little brother.

Unfortunately Tooru had learned to be subtle. To notice when Hajime was approaching and to hide his hatred under a layer of false politeness.
Whenever they had to acknowledge each other, Oikawa's words were full of false friendliness and hidden meanings.
Which had made it very awkward when Tobio had joined the volleyball team in middle school and Oikawa had been the captain.
Hajime's presence had kept things from getting out of hand, but Tobio couldn't deny that he was trying his best to ignore his captain's presence.

After Hajime and Oikawa had graduated, things had calmed down for Tobio. For the first time in his life, he didn't have to see Oikawa Tooru all the time.
His older brother and his best friend were busy with new friends, a new school and whatever else they got up to. If Tobio knew anything about Oikawa, it was that he was a social butterfly and Hajime was always dragged along for the ride.

Things were looking up for Tobio. He had made friends, he was getting along with his team and he was having fun with volleyball. He tried to ignore that he had Oikawa's old position. He tried to ignore the inevitable comparisons to his senpai. He tried to focus on his own game.
He tried. And tried. And tried.
Until he failed.
And everything fell apart.

Which was probably why his mother decided that Tobio was going to the same high school as his older brother. The same high school as Oikawa Tooru.

"It will be good for you," she said. "Hajime can look out for you and Tooru-kun can make sure the team treats you well if you still insist on playing volleyball."

Tobio hadn't bothered arguing. Like most adults, his mother was delighted and impressed by Oikawa Tooru. "Charming", they always said. "So talented."

A beautiful mask, that's all it was. And Tobio knew what was behind that mask. 
He wouldn't be fooled that easily.

And so Tobio started his first year at Aoba Johsai.

Chapter Text

The first week at Aoba Johsai was rough.

Not that Tobio had expected it to be easy, but it was hard in more ways than he had expected.
He had known it would be difficult to see his old team members again after their last disastrous game. Every practice back at their old school since then had been awkward and a few weeks of not seeing them during the summer break wasn't enough to smooth that over, that much was obvious as Tobio looked around the classroom.
Some of his old classmates shot him disinterested looks, others sneered. Most of them just ignored him though.

"They'll have come around," Hajime had said just this morning during their breakfast together. "It's been weeks. Everyone makes mistakes."

As much as Tobio had appreciated that his older brother had tried to cheer him up, he knew better. Even if he hadn't, Oikawa had given him a taste of what's to come on their way to school.
Tobio was still horrified knowing that not just Hajime, but Oikawa Tooru had been there that fateful day and witnessed his failure. How his whole team had given up on him.
Something that would never happen to an Oikawa Tooru.

As the brothers now went to the same school again, their mother insisted that Hajime took Tobio to school. "At least for the first couple of weeks."
And since Hajime and Oikawa were still joined at the hip, it meant that the three of them were heading to school together.
Hajime had tried his best to make Tobio look at his first day at school in a positive light, but Oikawa behind him had stayed suspiciously quiet.
Which was very unlike him.
If there was anything that Oikawa Tooru wasn't, it was quiet.

That told Tobio everything he needed to know.
He wasn't forgiven.
Everyone remembered what had happened. Who hadn't been there, had heard about it. Possibly his whole future team.
And if Tobio didn't happen to be Hajime's little brother, Oikawa would have made sure that he didn't join the Aoba Johsai volleyball team.

As it stood, Tobio had considered not joining the volleyball team. But the more he thought about it, the more obvious it became that it simply wasn't an option.
He loved volleyball too much.
He loved his brother too much.
He loved playing with his brother too much.

He just couldn't let that opportunity pass. If things still hadn't gotten better when Hajime had graduated, Tobio would reconsider. But for now, he had to take a chance.
Even if it meant having Oikawa as his captain again.

Yawning, Tobio looked out of the window he was sitting next to. The first days of the new school year were always full of mostly organizational stuff that was necessary but not that interesting.
Their teacher had just left and his classmates were already getting up, walking around and talking as they grabbed their stuff for the break, either planning to leave the classroom or eat right there.

No one paid attention to him.

That was by far the preferred option to Tobio, much better than the quiet disapproval and accusation from the first day.
As he looked outside, he noticed the familiar figure of Oikawa Tooru walking across the courtyard towards a tall tree where a girl was standing.
Dread pooled in Tobio's gut, already able to tell what kind of situation he was witnessing. It was just so familiar.
He knew that he shouldn't be watching but somehow he couldn't pull his gaze away.

What would happen? Was this girl one of the ones who got the chance to date the famous Oikawa Tooru? For how long? A week? Two?
Or would he turn her down immediately?
Or maybe he was already currently dating someone. That would be reason enough to turn her down. Or not.
Oikawa might decide he liked her better and just end it with his current girlfriend. If he had one.

Tobio shook his head at himself. He wasn't even sure why he was thinking about this. Oikawa Tooru's love life was the last of his concerns. And none of his business. None at all.
He knew way too much about it anyway, thanks to Hajime.

Outside, Oikawa had reached the girl and was standing in front of her, underneath the tree. From his position, Tobio could only see his back and his perfectly styled brown hair.
He remembered vividly how long it took him every day to make it sit just right.
Tobio found it a rather ridiculous ritual. As far as he was concerned, more sleep or a morning run were far more desirable than spending fifteen minutes every morning just on his hair.

The girl with Oikawa was fidgeting now, looking at the ground as she spoke.
Tobio could imagine what she was saying.

"Oikawa-senpai, I - I - really like you and was wondering if - you'd consider going out with me?"

Tobio had heard tons of variations of that, either from girls or from Oikawa's retellings.
He didn't see the appeal. Why were so many girls obsessed with him? Was a beautiful mask really enough to draw them in?
Couldn't they see what happened to each and every one of Oikawa's girlfriends? Why were they still holding out hope it would be different for them?

Lost in his thoughts, Tobio hadn't paid attention to Oikawa and the girl and when he looked outside again, they were gone.
No sign of where they had disappeared to.
Maybe he had broken her heart and she had run off? Maybe he had followed her to save his image.
A smirk tugged on the corner of his lips at the thought of Oikawa being forced to run after a girl he couldn't care less about.

Forcing his face back to a neutral expression, he got up and left the classroom. It didn't take him long to head outside and over to one of the vending machines.
Humming thoughtfully, he looked at his options. Milk or yogurt…?

Before he could make up his mind, someone had leaned over his shoulder and pushed a button for him.
Shocked by the audacity, he quickly turned around and found Oikawa Tooru standing behind him who was now bending over and taking the drink out of the vending machine.

"What the -"

"Now, now, watch your mouth, Tobio-chan. We wouldn't want Iwa-chan to hear his little brother say nasty words, right?"

Tobio shot him a glare, but Oikawa just smirked and pushed the straw into the juice packet, taking a sip with obvious delight.

"Don't you have anyone else you can bother?"

"Hmm I might. But I'm choosing you. You should feel flattered."

"I don't."

Oikawa shook his head. "Such awful manners, Tobio-chan. No wonder you don't have friends."

"That's none of your business." He turned back to the vending machine and inserted more coins, quickly pushing the button for milk before Oikawa could get himself another free drink.

"Is that so? Because I believe it will be my business to fix your whole situation as soon as you join the team," he sighed and put his arm around Tobio's shoulders, a gesture that Tobio found very annoying and overbearing.
He tried to shake him off but Oikawa wouldn't let him, still thoughtfully drinking his juice through the straw.
"I take my duties as captain seriously, you know, Tobio-chan. And I can't have anyone go and ruin my reputation. Not even my best friend's little brother."

He grinned in an almost friendly way, which confused Tobio for a rather long moment until he noticed the group of students (mostly girls) passing them. A few of them were giving Oikawa and Tobio interested looks.
Tobio wanted the ground beneath him to open up and swallow him whole.
He didn't want to be associated with Oikawa. Being on the same team was bad enough. He knew about Oikawa's reputation. He was inescapable.
Tobio really didn't need any personal association to be added to that.
But here he was. First week of school and already being spotted with him. Alone.
Speaking of which…

"Where's Hajime?"

"Iwa-chan? Classroom, I'd assume."

"Already dumped him for a new girlfriend, didn't you," Tobio said before he could stop himself.

Oikawa narrowed his eyes. "Are you stalking me, Tobio-chan?"

Tobio couldn't help it. He started laughing. "Me? God no. Why would I do that?
But I've known you all my life. I know what you're like.
And if you wanted to keep things secret, I wouldn't meet up where everyone can see you." He nodded towards the tree where Oikawa had been meeting the girl earlier.

Oikawa followed his gaze and then, to Tobio's surprise, sighed. "You saw that, huh? That was her choice, not mine. Didn't mean anything. Forget it."

Tobio frowned. That reaction was… unusual, to say the least. No denial. No bragging either. 

Oikawa finally removed his arm from Tobio's shoulders. "Anyway, I better go back. Break's almost over."
Suddenly the grin was back. "Be a good boy and get along with your classmates, Tobio-chan." He winked and then left, humming to himself.

Tobio stared after him. What was that?
Not that Oikawa Tooru was ever normal. But that interaction had been weird, even for him.
Maybe he'd have to talk to Hajime later and see what he had to say. If anyone knew, it would be him.
Sipping his milk, he went back to the classroom. Hajime would be surprised by Tobio's sudden interest, but it was unlikely he would question it. Especially if Tobio mentioned meeting Oikawa today.

Hajime had never given up hope that his best friend and his little brother would get along one day. 
Tobio was sure it would never happen.

Either way, it couldn't hurt to know what he was dealing with. Know your enemy.
Still lost in his thoughts, Tobio entered his classroom.

Chapter Text

The day went as well as could be expected after that.
Tobio managed to avoid anyone asking about him knowing Oikawa, but then ran into him and Hajime when he was looking for a quiet spot to have his lunch.
Which of course led to Hajime dragging him along to have lunch with him and his friends.

The Seijoh Four.

That's the name they were referred by all around school - and outside as well. Now third years, the quartet had hit it off right from the beginning. On and off the court, they were friends and basically inseparable.
Oikawa Tooru, Iwaizumi Hajime, Matsukawa Issei and Hanamaki Takahiro.

Of course, Tobio had met them all before. It was inevitable with how close the four of them had become. Whether it was at a game or at home, eventually Tobio had had to run into them. 
He didn't really mind spending time with Hanamaki or Matsukawa, but it was unlikely for them to be around without Oikawa's presence as well. And so Tobio tried to avoid the group altogether.
Which was impossible when they were taking up the whole living room or kitchen or were being so loud in Hajime's room that it wasn't even possible for Tobio to sleep.
On those days Tobio wished that his and Hajime's rooms weren't so close to each other and so far away from their parents' bedroom. That would at least make them quiet down a little. No matter how much he had loved being close to his brother when he was little, able to sneak into his room and snuggle up to him whenever he had a bad dream without anyone but them being the wiser, now that he was older, things would be a lot easier if he wouldn't have to run into Oikawa on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night, just because his brother's best friend had decided to stay overnight once again, sleeping - or not sleeping - on the futon that was always ready in his brother's bedroom.
Tobio was way too familiar with Oikawa's teasing about Tobio's choice of pyjamas at this point.

Either way, Tobio found himself standing in front of a couple of benches in the school courtyard where Hanamaki and Matsukawa were already sitting. They didn't even notice the rest of their friends - and Tobio - approaching, seemingly too caught up in what looked like a low-key wrestling match to Tobio. 
It took him a moment to get that actually Hanamaki was just trying to feed Matsukawa something that looked like a rather disastrous attempt at an onigiri and Matsukawa was doing his best to avoid it.

To his surprise, Oikawa sighed and grabbed Hanamaki by his collar, pulling him away from his friend. "Makki, what are you doing there?"

"I'm feeding Matsukawa this delicious onigiri," Hanamaki said with a grin and turned back to Matsukawa. "Say ahhh."

Matsukawa just shot him a glare.

"I think that's a no," Oikawa said and sat down on the bench next to them. He crossed one of his legs over the other and opened his bento box. 
From what Tobio could see, it was colourful and nicely arranged. Someone had spent a lot of time preparing it. Maybe one of Oikawa's admirers?

"And anyway," Oikawa continued casually as he picked up the chopsticks, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't give him food poisoning today. The first years are joining us for their first practice today and I have enough on my hands without Mattsun being out and you feeling guilty about it."

Hanamaki finally stopped trying to feed Matsukawa and leaned back against the bench. "I guess you're right, captain."
Then he noticed Tobio next to Hajime. "If that isn't little Iwaizumi. One of our precious first years. You're going to be joining us today, aren't you?"

Tobio glanced over at Oikawa before nodding. This was so very awkward.

Matsukawa, who had obviously noticed the look Tobio had given their captain, said calmly, "You don't need to worry, Tobio-kun. He's actually excited to have you join."

"Mattsun!" Oikawa protested immediately.

"He's right though," Hajime said and gave his little brother a gentle nudge to make him sit down as well. "You've been excited about today for weeks."

Tobio looked at the benches in front of him. Hanamaki, Matsukawa and their bags were taking up one whole bench, Oikawa was sitting on the other.
Another nudge from his brother.
With no other choice, he sat down next to his ex and future captain, his brother on his other side.

"Yes," Oikawa said, leaning forward so he could look past Tobio at his best friend. "Today. Being captain. Welcoming the first years and helping them become part of the team. That's what I'm excited about.
It's not about Tobio-chan."
He leaned back against the bench and picked up some tamagoyaki with his chopsticks.

Tobio noticed the other three sharing a look that Oikawa didn't seem to catch. Or at least pretended not to. He just couldn't be sure with Oikawa.

"So how do you like Seijoh so far, Tobio-kun?" Hanamaki asked, obviously trying to steer the conversation to safer waters.

"It's fine," Tobio shrugged.

"Just fine? Come on, give us some details. I'm sure you're getting a lot of attention because you're Iwaizumi's little brother."

"People don't really care about that."

Hanamaki laughed. "Of course they care about that. Iwaizumi and Oikawa are famous around here."

"They might be too busy caring about Tobio-chan's failure to be interested in who he's related to and who he might know," Oikawa said quietly but loud enough so both Tobio and Hanamaki, who were sitting next to him, could hear him.
Tobio froze in his seat, feeling like someone had just driven an icicle right into his gut.

Hanamaki frowned at his captain. "Now that's not very nice. Even if what happened back then wasn't good, it's in the past now. It doesn't mean it'll happen again, right, Tobio-kun?"

Tobio didn't answer. His hand clenched on his thigh as he fought to stay in control of his emotions.
Then he felt his brother's hand on his shoulder.

"It'll be fine. I know it was a lapse in judgement and it won't happen again.
We'll have your back. Right, Oikawa?"

"Huh?" Oikawa looked up at his best friend. "Yeah. Yes, of course. Duty as captain and all."

Satisfied, Hajime nodded and turned back to his lunch.
Tobio however had lost all appetite. He doubted everything would be alright. Not with how his old teammates were still treating him.

He was truly dreading the first volleyball practice.
A new team. Old acquaintances. Old teammates. New people.
Hajime's friends.
Hajime.
And of course Oikawa. His old and new captain.
Tobio wanted to throw up.

Chapter Text

By the time class was over and he had to head to training, Tobio seriously considered just going home instead.
He didn’t want to face his old teammates. He didn’t want to see all the judging faces of the people who had heard about the incident.
And he definitely didn’t want to see Oikawa.

The captain had made it very clear that he didn’t need nor want Tobio there and that he was only putting up with him because of Hajime.

Still, he found himself heading towards the gym where the volleyball club was meeting.

Tobio had been to that particular gymnasium before. He had come here with his brother a few times, but had also seen some of his practice games that had taken place here.
That meant he was familiar with both the gym - and also the team that he was about to join.

Quietly, he entered through the front door and looked around. The gym was already busy with people, most of them Tobio recognised.
Oikawa was walking around between them and giving instructions.

Tobio tried not to roll his eyes. Showoff.
Of course he would take it over the top. Even if it was just impressing the new members.
Leaning against the wall, he watched as more and more people entered the gym and eventually Oikawa called everyone over.
The old members of the team formed a line facing the first years.

“Hello everyone,” Oikawa greeted with his typical charming smile, looking at everyone but Tobio. “I’m glad to see so many of you decided to join our team. I’m sure you are already familiar with most of us, but just to be sure we’ll do a quick round of introductions while our co-captain Iwaizumi here collects your forms.”
He gave Iwaizumi a nod who went over to the first of the new members to take care of the paperwork. Tobio couldn’t say he was surprised that Oikawa would get other people to do the boring parts of being captain.

“I am Oikawa Tooru, your captain this year. I’m in my third year here and I’m a setter,” Oikawa continued, still smiling. “If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.
For today, we will take it easy and see how you’ll fit in with the team. We just want to see what you can do, so no pressure at all. If you already have a preferred position, please let either me or Iwaizumi know so we can take it into consideration.
Now I’ll let everyone else introduce themselves - but don’t worry if you can’t remember all the names at once, you’ll learn them soon enough.”
He gestured towards Hanamaki. “We will start with the other third years.”

As Hanamaki started speaking, introducing himself rather loudly, Oikawa made his way over to Iwaizumi and took the papers from him that he had already gathered. Tobio couldn’t understand what they were saying, but after a few moments Iwaizumi went over to the other third years waiting to introduce themselves while Oikawa continued collecting the papers.

It took Tobio way too long to notice that Oikawa was now moving towards him. So when he was standing in front of him, he hadn’t even thought of pulling his form out of his bag.
Instead, he just stared at Oikawa in front of him.

“Tobio-chan,” Oikawa said with a hint of exasperation in his voice. “Stop staring at me and hand me your form. I know I am quite a sight to behold and if it makes you happy I will send you a photo so you can stare at me for however long you want, but I’d rather you not do it in person. It’s rather creepy.”

Tobio stared at him. “I - I’m not -”

“Not what? Staring? Yes, you are. Now where’s your form?”

Oikawa impatiently tapped his foot as Tobio rummaged around in his bag and finally pulled out the sheet of paper, handing it over.
The captain took it without looking at it and then just moved on to the next person.

Tobio did his best to ignore the dismissal and turned back to the rest of the team. By now, they were almost done with the introductions.
He hadn’t heard a single one except Oikawa’s.

Soon they were done and the first years went to the changing rooms where they could put away their bags and get changed.
Tobio didn’t wait for anyone to show him the way and just went ahead to the changing rooms.
By the time the last people entered, Tobio was already back out in the gym and grabbing a ball from the basket.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see his brother and Oikawa sitting on a bench, going through the forms between them.
Deciding it was not worth the hassle, he just went over to a wall and started warming up by throwing the ball repeatedly against the wall.

Eventually everyone was back and warmed up, then Oikawa was addressing them once again. “Good, now that you’re all ready, we’re all going to split up into groups and do some quick matches just to see what we need to work on. If you already know some people you want to play with, go ahead and team up with them now, otherwise we’ll put you together randomly.”

His words caused a lot of shuffling around as everyone looked for their friends.
Tobio stayed where he was. There was no one here that would want to team up with him anyway.

Then there was a hand on his shoulder.
“You’re not even going to try?” Hajime asked quietly.

“They wouldn’t want to be on the same team as me anyway.”

“Well they will be, whether they want to be or not. They’ll have to get used to it.”

Tobio turned around and looked at his brother. “It’s not going to matter anyway. I’m a setter. You already have a setter. Unless Oikawa is injured or something like that, I’m not going to be on the court.”

“Don’t say that, Tobio. Even if you’re not the main setter now, you will still be part of the team. And you could make or break the match.
You never know what might happen.” Iwaizumi gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze as he watched everyone else group together and quickly discuss positions and strategies.

“Not if the whole team hates me.”

“They won’t hate you. Oikawa won’t let that happen.”

Tobio snorted.

“He won’t. That’s his job as captain. And if the team is split up into camps that wouldn’t help anyone. So just give him a chance.”

Tobio sighed but nodded. It wouldn’t make sense to argue about this with his brother. “That still won’t make anyone want me on their team today though.”

“We will find someone, don’t worry. It’s the first day for everyone, so they won’t protest too much. And later on, we will mix up the teams anyway. Oikawa even mentioned something about having some of the established members mixed in to see how the new ones will adapt.”

True to Hajime’s words, Tobio found himself on the court soon enough, playing setter for a team that was mostly second years, but also some first years.
He had known that Seijoh had become rather popular during the last few years, especially because of their success, but it was still surprising to him how many first years were trying their luck with the team.
Some of them obviously didn’t have much experience with volleyball at all - but it also meant that they had no idea who Tobio was and why some players just flat out ignored him.

All in all, things went better than he had expected. Yes, his team didn’t win, but that couldn’t be expected when facing players who obviously had experience of playing together.

Things took a turn though when the third years joined in. Suddenly Tobio found himself in a situation that felt uncomfortably familiar as he faced Oikawa from the other side of the net.
It was middle school all over - just that Kindaichi and Kunimi didn’t even look at him.

Oikawa shot him a grin across the net but Tobio refused to react, instead just focusing on the game. And not falling into old patterns, no matter how much Oikawa tried to push his buttons.

It went well for most of the match.
They even managed to take one set - which very obviously annoyed Oikawa. Although he clapped his hands and congratulated them like a good captain would, Tobio could see the signs all over his face that he was not happy to even lose one set. Even when it was to his own team members, during practice.

Which was probably the reason why he started pulling out all his nasty tricks in the next set, pushing much harder than was fitting for the occasion.

Once the match was over, Oikawa said a few words to them about how they had done well and that he would be putting together a training schedule based on what he had seen that day.
Tobio was barely listening.
After helping with the cleanup, he quickly got dressed again and grabbed his bag.

To his dismay, his brother was still in his volleyball clothing and talking to Oikawa.
Not very keen on it, but without other options, he went over to them.

“Hajime.” He said, not caring that he was interrupting.

“Oh Tobio,” he said with a smile. Then he noticed that his brother was already back in his school uniform. “You’re ready to go already?” He wiped his sweaty face with his shirt. “Give me a moment, I’ll quickly go get changed then we can leave.”
He turned back to Oikawa. “We can discuss the rest tomorrow.”
Then he hurried off, leaving Oikawa and Tobio alone.

Oikawa crossed his arms and gave him a challenging look. “So. You got through the first team practice. Well done,” he said almost mockingly.

Tobio shot him an irritated look. “No thanks to you.”

“So hurtful, Tobio-chan. I’ve been looking out for you the whole time.”

“You mean you were making sure that I don’t cause some kind of scene because it would reflect badly on you.”

Oikawa looked at him for a moment, then he leaned closer, dropping the friendly façade for just a moment. “Maybe. But the fact is that I’ve been keeping an eye on you and it looks like I will have to keep doing that for the unforeseeable future. You truly are a piece of work, aren’t you, Tobio-chan?
And what will I get for all the trouble I’m going through for you? A whole lot of nothing and a kouhai who is vying for my spot on the team. Tell me again why I am doing this?”

Tobio clenched his teeth. “Because Hajime wants us to get along.”

“Exactly. And we both want him to be happy, right? So get your butt into gear and make an effort to fix things with the rest of the team before I have to intervene. Because trust me, you wouldn’t like that.”

Oikawa didn’t wait for a reply and just left for the changing rooms.

Tobio watched him go, glaring at his back. The audacity…

Thankfully Hajime joined him a few minutes later when he had calmed down a bit and they left without Oikawa.

“Oikawa said to just go ahead. He’ll lock up and put away the forms before he heads home.
Okaa-san will be waiting for us already anyway.”

Tobio nodded, staying quiet.

Used to his little brother being more quiet, Hajime didn’t question it and just kept talking as they walked home.

Tobio however kept replaying Oikawa’s words in his head.

Chapter Text

Oikawa's words seemed to be following him everywhere.

No matter what Tobio did, his voice was stuck in his head and there was no escape.
When he woke up in the morning, there it was.
When he went for a run, there it was.
When he was sitting in class, when he was having lunch, when he was at practice, the voice was always there, haunting him.

He didn't want to allow it to affect him, but he also didn't want to find out what Oikawa might come up with if Tobio didn't find a way to at least get along with his teammates.

And so, a week later, Tobio had finally made up his mind and approached Kindaichi after practice. They had been working on basic techniques to at least get everyone to a similar level of knowledge before they started learning sequences of moves that they would be able to use in a match.

"Kindaichi," Tobio said, trying to appear calm. He had been wondering for a while who to approach first, but seeing Kindaichi picking up the balls leftover from training by himself had finally made the decision for him.

For a moment, Kindaichi seemed to consider ignoring him, but then he turned around after all.

"What do you want, Tobio?"

Being addressed by his first name was definitely still a leftover from their middle school days when Hajime had been part of their team. With them sharing the same last name, it had just become a habit that anyone their age or older addressed Tobio by his first name, either by itself or with the added 'kun' (except Oikawa, of course) while his older brother was addressed with the more polite surname.
The younger ones, who had joined Kitagawa Daiichi after Hajime had graduated, hadn't known about this and therefore never understood why everyone was so casual with Tobio.
With the new team, this trend seemed to continue. Not that Tobio really cared how everyone addressed him, but somehow he hadn't expected Kindaichi to just say his name.

Deciding to take it as a good sign, Tobio took a deep breath and continued, "Listen about what happened at the end of last year -"

"I don't want to hear it."

Tobio blinked. "What?"

"I said: I don't want to hear it. I honestly don't care what you have to say.
As far as I'm concerned, you've shown your true colours then and I don't want anything to do with it. I'll play with you when I have to, but I don't want any association with you outside of that. Got it?"

"I - Yes. That's - That's fine."

"Good. So you can go and tell Oikawa that." He turned around to head to the changing rooms.

Tobio's brain short-circuited. "What? Tell Oikawa? What are you talking about?"

Kindaichi stopped walking and turned back around. "Seriously? You're playing dumb now?
We all know you get special treatment from him. You don't need to deny it."

Tobio's eyes widened. Where the heck did that idea come from?
Him? Special treatment from Oikawa?

"I don't get special treatment from him. The only reason he cares at all is that he doesn't want problems within the team."

"Is that what he told you?" Kindaichi shook his head. "Come on. Don't be so naive. You're his best friend's little brother. Of course you get special treatment."

"He hates me."

"Sure he does. That's why he pays so much attention to you."

"He's waiting for me to slip up and make a mistake. He's looking for any excuse to mock me."

Kindaichi just rolled his eyes. "You really don't understand anything, Tobio. Maybe try and pay a bit more attention to the people around you. Then you might actually be able to make some friends this time around."

Then he entered the changing rooms, leaving Tobio behind, alone in the empty gym.

Tobio's mind was reeling. What had Kindaichi been trying to tell him? What did he think he had noticed that Tobio hadn't?
Why would he think that Oikawa was giving him special treatment?
They had known each other for so many years. If anyone should know Oikawa's intentions, it should be Tobio, right?
There was simply no reason why Oikawa would treat him any differently than the rest of the team. Not in a good way, at least.
Except… Hajime.
The only one who knew Oikawa better than Tobio was Hajime. But Hajime wouldn't go and tell his best friend to treat Tobio differently than everyone else. 
His big brother was protective of him, yes, but he also knew that Tobio wouldn't want that. 
So if Oikawa had for some reason decided that Tobio needed to be treated differently, it had to be his own idea. Whether it was caused by Tobio himself or something Hajime had said to him.

Groaning, he rubbed his face. His head hurt.

A noise from the changing room made him look up and a quick glance at the clock told him he needed to hurry and get changed quickly so he could head home with his brother.

After locking up the gym, the Iwaizumi brothers started heading home together - with a very talkative Oikawa next to them.

It was not helping with Tobio's headache.

"It's so exhausting, Iwa-chan," Oikawa was currently complaining rather loudly. "She just doesn't get that training is important, too, and I don't have as much free time as other people."

Tobio rolled his eyes. He had heard about a million versions of this conversation already.
Whenever Oikawa was dating someone, he was complaining about the expectations and demands his girlfriends had.
Whenever he wasn't dating anyone, he was complaining about being lonely and how he'd never find true love. Unless he was bragging about all the girls who wanted to date him, of course.
Either way, it was a whole lot of drama around a whole lot of nothing.

As far as Tobio was aware, Oikawa had never had a relationship that lasted more than a couple of weeks. They always ended for some reason that apparently wasn't his fault at all.
And it always led to even more whining.
It was an endless cycle and Tobio wasn't happy at all about how well he knew it. 
The cycle of Oikawa Tooru's dating life.
He didn't envy Hajime at all that he had to put up with all of it.

Finally they reached Oikawa's house and split up.
It was strangely quiet between them after Oikawa had left, but eventually Tobio spoke up.

"What do you think Oikawa thinks about me?"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he became aware of how stupid they sounded and quickly looked away from his brother. He hoped desperately that he wasn't blushing.

Hajime was watching him. Tobio couldn't blame him. The question was ridiculous after all.

"Why are you asking me that?" He said eventually. His voice was calm and Tobio could tell that he was mostly concerned about the reasons behind his question.

"I -" Tobio gripped his bag more tightly. "I've always been under the impression that Oikawa doesn't really care about me." To put it mildly. "Not more than anyone would care about their best friend's sibling anyway.
And that's fine.
As long as he leaves me alone, I don't really care.
But… today someone accused me of getting special treatment from him. That he is paying more attention to me than others.
And that just doesn't fit my impression of him.
So I've been wondering whether I missed something."

With anyone else, Tobio would have been way too embarrassed to say this much. To even mention this topic.
But Hajime had always been the exception. He knew he could count on his older brother and that he wouldn't judge. He would get an honest answer - even if it was one that he wouldn't like. And Tobio appreciated that.

"Hmmm," Hajime said thoughtfully. "Obviously I don't know what's going on in his head, but I don't think he treats you differently than he would treat anyone on the team who is having some trouble fitting in. At least not that I would have noticed anything.
If he's paying more attention to you than usual, it's because he's trying to figure out how to fix the situation.
I don't think you need to worry about 'special treatment' or anything like that." He smiled encouragingly at his little brother.

Tobio nodded and didn't answer. 
It was about what he had expected.
So why did he have this strange feeling settling in his stomach? 
He couldn't put a name to it.
But whatever it was, Tobio doubted it was a good thing to have a reaction like this to anything that concerned Oikawa Tooru.

Chapter Text

Things felt off after Tobio’s conversation with his brother.
He felt as if someone was always watching him and he couldn’t tell if that was really the case or just his imagination.
And even worse, he couldn’t tell who it was.
Was it Oikawa? Or Hajime? It was impossible for him to tell.

What he could tell was that Kindaichi was paying more attention to him than usual. He was being very obvious about it and while Tobio preferred that over the sneaky approach from whoever that other person was, it was still annoying. As if Kindaichi was waiting for something.
And Tobio had no way of knowing what he was waiting for.
Maybe he was waiting for confirmation of the special treatment from Oikawa he had been talking about? Or some kind of acknowledgement? Agreement even?

Whatever it might be didn't matter to Tobio. He couldn't fix it. He couldn't give Kindaichi what he wanted either way.
And all the constant attention was stressing him out.

Recently, he had approached Kunimi as well, against better judgement, and unexpectedly, it hadn't gone too bad. While he hadn't been happy that it had taken so long for him to address the issue, Kunimi had been more accepting than Kindaichi and had decided it was better to move on since they were on the same team anyway.

Getting back on better terms with Kunimi was both a blessing and a curse.

On one hand, it meant that Tobio had someone to talk to between classes and during practice. He wasn't completely alone anymore.
And through Kunimi he had also gotten to know more of his other classmates - who had apparently thought he was 'scary' for some reason.

"You just don't look that approachable when you're all moody," Kunimi had explained. "And then you're Iwaizumi's brother. They've seen you hanging around with Oikawa, too. That's pretty intimidating."

Tobio had not been pleased. It truly seemed like Oikawa continued being the bane of his existence.

Hanging around with Kunimi also minimised the time he was forced to spend around Oikawa.
Pleased that Tobio seemed to be making progress, Hajime hadn't found it necessary anymore to drag him off to have lunch with his friends and so Tobio only saw Oikawa during training. Which was more than enough for him.

On the other hand, it meant prolonged exposure to Kindaichi.
And that meant one of the two factors of constant attention that were bothering so much was always around him.
Which was probably the reason why he was now sitting on top of a stack of mats in the storage room of the gym with a very irritated captain in front of him.

Oikawa was standing there in front of him, arms crossed and tapping his foot, waiting for a reply that Tobio was refusing to give.
He just stayed quiet.

"Tobio-chan," he said impatiently. "I don't have all day. I'm waiting for an explanation."

Tobio still refused to say anything. Since the moment Oikawa had dragged him in here and closed the door behind them, Tobio hadn't said a word. Not that he had said much all day during training anyway.
But now he really didn't want to speak. He didn't look at his captain as the other stepped closer to him.

"Tobio-chan, if you don't give me an explanation, I'm going to have to suspend you from training. I can't just accept that kind of behaviour," he said quietly, in a voice that felt rather uncomfortably intimate.

Tobio had no doubt in his mind that at least half of the team was taking turns trying to get close to the door of the storage room and listen in on their conversation.

"Do you want me to go get Iwa-chan? Would you feel better if he was here?"

He was talking to him like a child and Tobio could feel his temper boiling over for the second time that day. "Stop talking to me like I'm a toddler, Oikawa."

Oikawa narrowed his eyes. "If you're going to behave like a toddler, I'm going to treat you like one.
Wait no. I take that back. You were way cuter and more well-behaved as a toddler."

Tobio shot him a glare.

"Your behaviour is really not doing you any favours right now, Tobio-chan. First you interrupt training by starting an argument that almost escalates into a fight and then you throw over a ball cart? Someone could have gotten hurt.
That is just unacceptable. So I'd like an explanation now or I'll have to make my decision based on what I've witnessed and what Iwa-chan got from the rest of the team. And I doubt you'd want that."

The only answer Tobio gave was silence.
It didn't matter what he said. Things were definitely not looking in his favour.
The 'argument' as Oikawa had called it had actually just been a few overly loudly exchanged sentences.

That day, Tobio had been practicing basic tactics with a smaller group of younger players off to the side while the older ones used the main part of the gym for some more advanced moves.
He had been bored out of his mind, tense because of the unwanted attention he had been getting all week and kept glancing over to the older players.
Of course, his lack of attention hadn't gone unnoticed by the other players in his group and Tobio could hear them whispering behind his back.

Things had gone fine anyway for a while, Tobio doing what was expected of him and the other players mostly keeping it down enough for him to ignore it. He wanted to believe it was just some normal teasing.
At least that's what he told himself until he heard that offhand comment about how it seemed setters' obsessions with each other apparently always went both ways.
At that point, he couldn't ignore it anymore and had said - rather loudly, he had to admit - "What?" while turning around to the group of players who had been talking.

"Calm down, Tobio-kun," one of the others had said. "They're just fooling around."

"Yes, don't worry. No one cares about your obsession with your Oikawa."

"I'm not obsessed with Oikawa," Tobio had protested through gritted teeth. He just had had enough of that accusation. "He's just my brother's best friend who happens to be the captain and -"

"Yes, yes. You don't need to explain. Go on.
I think he's about to serve. You wouldn't want to miss that."

At that point, Tobio had found himself moving closer towards the group, as if physical proximity would help make them understand that he was not obsessed with Oikawa and had not been watching him specifically.
Unfortunately, he wasn't really paying attention to where he was going and had walked right into the corner of the ball cart.
He didn't know how it happened, but instead of just rolling away from him, as Tobio stumbled, the cart had tipped over and fallen onto the ground with a loud crash that had made everyone in the whole gym stop in the middle of whatever they were doing and stare at him.

Thinking about it logically, Tobio could see how Oikawa had reached the conclusion that Tobio had pushed the cart over in some kind of raging fit. If he had witnessed even part of the leadup to the ball cart crashing, it made sense why he would think so.
But right then, Tobio really did not want to think about Oikawa being right.

It had been humiliating.
Seeing both Oikawa and Hajime approach them. How they had shared one look between them and then Oikawa had grabbed Tobio's wrist and dragged him off to the storage room while Hajime turned to the group of players he had been practicing with.

So Tobio wasn't very inclined to explain to Oikawa (or Hajime) what exactly had happened. He couldn't even imagine Oikawa's reaction to the topic of their 'argument' and didn't want to either.

When Tobio looked back at Oikawa, he was startled by how close he had gotten while Tobio was lost in his own thoughts.
He was now standing right in front of him, leaning over and staring right in his face.
Tobio immediately leaned backwards, trying to get away from him.

"What are you doing?!"

"Do you have problems, Tobio-chan?
Is escalating like that your way of asking for help?"

"I don't have problems, Oikawa," he reached up to his shoulders and tried to push him away to get some distance between them, but Oikawa refused to budge.
Tobio wished he wasn't sitting.

"Obviously you do, considering I just told you two weeks ago to get along with the team and now you're causing a scene like that."

"I wasn't causing a scene. Get away from me."

"Not until you tell me what happened."

"I'm not going to tell you."

"Then I won't move."

"Why the heck not?!"

"Because apparently this is the only way to get you to talk."

Tobio couldn't deny that. He had refused to say much before that.
But that didn't mean he had to accept it.
"Well I'm not going to explain anyway."
He tried to move off the mats and get past his captain but before he could get very far, Oikawa had grabbed his wrist again and before Tobio could even react, Oikawa had him pinned down on the mat. He was looming over him on hands and knees, Tobio's wrists tightly in his grip and pressed down onto the mat by Oikawa's weight.
Tobio looked up at him with wide eyes, trying to process the situation.

"You are going to explain yourself, Tobio-chan," Oikawa said, applying some pressure to his wrists.

"Get off of me." Tobio answered, trying to sound calm while still struggling against Oikawa's grip.

"You're not helping your situation by staying quiet, Tobio-chan. What would Iwa-chan say if I really have to suspend you from practice?"

At that point, Tobio really had enough. "Stop bringing up Hajime! This is not about my brother."

Oikawa lifted an eyebrow. Obviously he hadn't expected that kind of reaction. "Calm down, Tobio-chan. There's no need to shout."

"There is because apparently otherwise you won't pay attention."

"I am paying attention."

"Yes. When you're not too busy thinking about my brother."

Oikawa sighed and sat back on his heels, letting go of Tobio's wrists but keeping his legs pinned beneath him and running his fingers through his own hair. "So this is about Iwa-chan then."

"What? No. Why would this be about Hajime?" Tobio looked up at him in confusion. How did Oikawa come to that conclusion?

Oikawa frowned at him. "It seems to be a topic that bothers you."

"It does not bother me," Tobio said. "It's not Hajime's fault that I'm always his brother first and my own person second."

"That's not true. Of course you are your own person."

Tobio sighed softly and looked over at the wall where the ball cart usually stood. He wasn't even sure why he was talking about this now and with Oikawa of all people. He needed to stop. This was getting way too personal. "I know that. But either way that's none of your business and not the reason for what happened earlier so it doesn't matter."

"What was the reason then?"

Tobio bit his lip for a moment before the word tumbled out of his mouth. "You."

Oikawa stared at him. "Me? Why would you have an argument about me?"

"It wasn't directly about you," he clarified quickly, but he could already feel the blush forming on his cheeks. He still wasn't looking at Oikawa. "I was just a little bored and watching you guys play and then the others somehow started talking about setters being obsessed with each other and I just -
I didn't push the ball cart. I just walked into it and it fell over. I don't know how."
He finally turned his head and looked up at Oikawa who was still staring down at him.
There was a strange expression on his face that Tobio couldn't place.

"You didn't push the cart?"

"No."

"And the argument?"

"No argument. Just - a misunderstanding?"

Oikawa gave him a long look, then nodded and got up, offering Tobio his hand to help him up.
Tobio took it and Oikawa pulled him back up on his feet.

"Good. Glad we got that settled. Next time, just tell me and we won't have to go through all of that."

"There won't be -"

"Yes, there will be, Tobio-chan. And hopefully by then you'll get that I'm not just here to make your life miserable. I take being captain very seriously."

Then Oikawa left the storage room.
It took the feeling of sudden cold air against his palm for Tobio to notice that the whole time he had been speaking, Oikawa had not let go of his hand.

Chapter Text

Tobio didn't know what Oikawa had told Hajime about their conversation in the storage room.
Neither of them mentioned anything about it to Tobio.

At least he didn't get suspended.

On Sunday morning, Tobio was up early for his run. Still yawning and half-asleep, he headed to the bathroom.
He had just reached the door when it suddenly opened and Oikawa was standing in front of him.

"Oh. Tobio-chan. Good morning."

Tobio blinked at him through sleep muddled eyes. "... Oikawa? What are you doing here?"

The older boy ran his fingers through his messy hair. It looked like he hadn't had the chance to fix it yet. "It got late last night so Iwa-chan told me to just stay the night."

"Ah." Tobio didn't know what to say about that. It was rather typical for Oikawa and Hajime to spend time together during the weekend, despite them already being glued together all week.
Tobio wondered what would keep them up so late. He frowned.
No, he probably didn't want to know after all.

"Why are you up so early on a Sunday?" Oikawa interrupted his thoughts.

"Oh. I'm going for a run."

Oikawa tilted his head. He seemed surprised by his answer.
Then it was Tobio's turn to be surprised.
"Can I come with you?"

Tobio stared at him. "You want to go on a run with me?"

"Sure, why not." Oikawa shrugged nonchalantly. "I can't go back to sleep now anyway."

Not really able to come up with a reason why he shouldn't, Tobio shrugged as well. "I guess. I'll just - get dressed and meet you downstairs?"

Oikawa's eyes wandered down Tobio's body, taking in his choice of sleep wear that consisted of just dark blue striped boxer shorts and a white t-shirt that day.
Tobio blushed and he couldn't even say why.
Oikawa had seen him in much more embarrassing pyjamas and it wasn't like the other was wearing a tuxedo. Actually Oikawa's outfit was remarkably similar to his own.
It looked like he had just taken off his jeans and borrowed one of Hajime's shirts for sleeping -

He quickly stopped that train of thought and pushed his way past Oikawa into the bathroom.

"I'll meet you downstairs then," he heard Oikawa's reply before he closed the door and leaned his back against it.
God that was awkward.

He met Oikawa ten minutes later at the front door where he was already putting on his shoes.
Tobio stayed quiet while he put on his own shoes and grabbed his keys.

They left the house after that and Tobio started running, taking his usual route. He didn't check whether Oikawa was following, but he could hear him falling into step behind him.

It was strangely comfortable to be out like this with Oikawa. He wasn't used to him being this quiet, but it was almost relaxing to just run side by side and not talk.
Tobio found himself thinking he could get used to it.

They stopped halfway through at a park to do some stretches.

He was just bending over and touching his foot when he felt a hand on the small of his back and he quickly looked up to find Oikawa standing there.

"You're not doing it correctly," he said gently. "It's not effective when you're doing it like that. You might even hurt yourself."

Tobio didn't dare moving from his position. Oikawa's hand felt like a furnace against his skin. "What am I doing wrong?" He asked. His mouth felt dry. He should have brought some water.

"Here. Let me show you."

Oikawa gently directed his body, showing him how to do the stretches correctly.
Tobio tried his best to focus on how it changed the feeling of the stretches and not where Oikawa's hands were touching him.

"There you go," Oikawa said quietly and Tobio had to suppress a shiver. Why did his voice sound so different like that?

"Thank you," Tobio said just as quietly.

Oikawa nodded and pulled away, going back to his own stretches. Part of Tobio wanted to call him back and feel the warmth of his hands again.
He shook his head at himself and moved on to some other stretches, trying to hide his red face.

As soon as Tobio unlocked and opened the front door, they could already hear the sounds from the kitchen. Someone (Tobio was pretty sure it was Hajime) was making breakfast.
Still feeling a little awkward around Oikawa, he quickly took off his shoes and went into the kitchen.

"Oh, Tobio," Hajime said with a smile as soon as he saw him. "Good morning. Back from your run? Have you seen Oikawa? He was staying here overnight, but I couldn't find him this morning."

"I joined Tobio-chan for his run," Oikawa said. He had obviously followed Tobio into the kitchen and was now getting some water from the fridge. After so much time spent together, Oikawa was treated more like a family member than a guest and he often behaved like he was in his own home as well.

Hajime looked from Oikawa to Tobio for confirmation.
Tobio just shrugged. "We ran into each other in front of the bathroom and he wanted to tag along."

"That's amazing!" Hajime gave them both a wide smile. 

"Don't make such a big deal out of it…" Tobio said uncomfortably as he went over to the fridge to also grab something to drink.
Before he could reach it though, Oikawa held out a water bottle for him.
Tobio looked at him in surprise, then took the bottle. His fingers grazed Oikawa's and he quickly pulled away, sitting down at the table just to get away from him.

Oikawa looked at him for a long moment before moving over to Iwaizumi and looking over his shoulder. "What are you making?"

"Just some pancakes. Nothing special."

"Hmm Iwa-chan's Sunday morning pancakes. What a treat.
I guess I'll make some coffee for everyone then."

Tobio opened the water bottle and gulped down some of it as he watched the other two.
He felt like an intruder despite being in his own home. What was wrong with him today?

While Hajime continued making pancakes, Oikawa got the coffee maker going, then he turned around. "Tobio-chan, help me set the table," he singsonged.

Tobio shot him a glare.

"What an ugly expression, Tobio-chan. It's a beautiful day. Give me a smile."

Tobio really wanted to tell Oikawa to go get lost but he refrained. For Hajime.
How could he ever have thought that being around Oikawa had been comfortable?
Nothing could be further from the truth.

He got up. "I'll go take a quick shower, Hajime. You don't need to wait for me with breakfast, I'll just eat when I'm done."
Then he escaped the kitchen before anyone could stop him.
He had enough of this domestic bliss. He needed a break.

When he finally returned to the kitchen, freshly showered and dressed (he might have taken a few extra minutes to choose something that Oikawa wouldn't comment on - and how sad was it that he knew exactly what Oikawa would say about each of his choices), Hajime and Oikawa were sitting at the fully set table, food untouched in front of them.

"You haven't eaten," Tobio said, still standing in the doorway.

Hajime looked up at him with a smile. "We wanted to wait for you. Oikawa insisted."

Tobio glanced over at Oikawa as he moved over to his seat and sat down. "I told you you didn't have to wait."

"Nonsense, Tobio-chan. We're in no rush. We can all have breakfast together."

Tobio ignored him and addressed his brother. "Where are okaa-san and otou-san?" 

"They're visiting some friends today, remember? They left early this morning."

"Ah right. I remember." Tobio looked down at his empty plate for a moment before Hajime took it and started piling pancakes onto it.
"Are we cooking dinner together then?"

"If you want to." He put the plate back down in front of Tobio.

"I think so," he picked up the fork.

Hajime put some pancakes onto Oikawa's plate as well. "Are you staying or do you have plans for today?"

Oikawa shrugged and took the plate from his best friend before he could put more pancakes onto it. "I don't have plans."

Hajime finally put some food onto his own plate and they all started eating. "Great, then we can all spend the day together."

Tobio wasn't very fond of that idea. "Are you sure you want me to join you? I can find something else to do until dinner."

"Oh but why, Tobio-chan?" Oikawa leaned his elbow on the table and propped his chin up on the back of his hand as he looked at him. "Do you not like spending time with us?"

Tobio tightened his grip on his fork. "No, Oikawa-senpai," he said, putting extra emphasis on the honorific, "but I'm sure you have better things to do than entertaining me all day."

For a moment, Oikawa seemed too stunned to answer. Tobio assumed he would never have expected to be called 'senpai' by him.

"We wouldn't be entertaining you, Tobio. We'd just be spending time together," Hajime said gently. "Like we used to."

Tobio shifted in his seat, feeling rather uncomfortable.
They had spent a lot of time together when they were younger. But even then Tobio had mostly wanted to spend time with his brother and therefore put up with Oikawa's presence.
And these days that just called for disaster.

"I guess…" He said finally.

Hajime's answering smile already made whatever was going to happen worth it to him. 

Chapter Text

Tobio didn't know what to expect of the day when he joined Hajime and Oikawa in the living room.

During breakfast, his brother and his best friend had been discussing what they could do with the day and whether to go out, but by the time they were finished, it had started raining. 
So the decision was made to stay at home and watch a movie.
Tobio hadn’t been invested enough to find out what movie it was.

Looking around, he found only Oikawa in the living room, just setting up the movie.

“Ah, Tobio-chan. Go ahead and sit down, Iwa-chan should join us in a minute. He’s just grabbing some drinks.”

Not really seeing a reason to disagree, Tobio sat down on the sofa. He assumed Hajime would take the other spot on the sofa and Oikawa would then take the armchair.
What he hadn’t taken into consideration was Oikawa’s lack of need for personal space.

So, ten minutes later, Tobio found himself squeezed in between Hajime and Oikawa. All three of them on the too small sofa.

“This is not going to work,” he complained. “We’re not children anymore.”

“Don’t be like that, Tobio-chan,” Oikawa said with a teasing grin. “You loved snuggling up to Iwa-chan and me when you were little. This is exactly the same thing.”

Tobio seriously doubted that but didn’t get a chance to argue as Hajime started the movie.
Grudgingly, he settled into his spot on the sofa.

The movie wasn't really anything Tobio would pick - which wasn't that surprising considering he mostly used the TV to watch volleyball games - but Tobio refused to look away from the screen.
It was just too weird.
Being close to Hajime wasn't anything unusual. They had always been close and even as they got older, that hadn't really changed.
But being close to Oikawa definitely was. He couldn't remember the last time he had even sat next to him like this.
Usually Tobio did his best to avoid Oikawa whenever possible and when it wasn't, he still kept his distance.

Now however he was completely pressed up against his side and it felt like his arm and thigh were on fire wherever they were touching.
Tobio didn't want to acknowledge it. But he didn't even dare moving either.

He desperately wanted to ask Hajime to switch places with him. Or move over to the armchair.
But he didn't move. He just stared at the TV screen and took nothing in at all.

Suddenly there was a hand on his thigh and Tobio almost jumped.
He turned his head slightly to look at Oikawa, only to find the older boy leaning in so close to him that they were almost touching.
Tobio could feel his breath against the shell of his ear as Oikawa whispered right into it. "Relax, Tobio-chan. You're way too tense."

Tobio reflexively pulled back but just bumped into Hajime's shoulder behind him who then gave him a questioning look.
He quickly shook his head and gave his older brother a smile before turning back to the TV.

Oikawa's hand still hadn't moved from his thigh. Instead, his thumb seemed to be rubbing circles into his skin that Tobio could feel way too well through the thin fabric of his trousers.

"Take your hand off my leg," Tobio hissed quietly but Oikawa just chuckled. "What's so funny?"

"Oh Tobio-chan. You're truly overreacting."

"I'm not -"

"Shhh. You'll stop Iwa-chan from enjoying the movie."

Tobio clenched his teeth but stayed quiet. He looked down at Oikawa's hand on his thigh.
This was weird, right?
He glanced over at Hajime but his brother didn't seem to have noticed anything out of the norm.

Maybe this was normal for Oikawa? Maybe that was something he did all the time with people he knew well.
Or it was a lapse in judgement. Maybe Oikawa had hit his head and that's why he had been so … friendly today.

Tobio was tempted to just grab Oikawa's wrist and move his hand away from his thigh. But no matter how much he told himself to just do it, to just move his arm and remove Oikawa's warm hand from his leg, he couldn't bring himself to move this arm at all.

Oikawa's hand didn't move from Tobio's leg until the credits rolled. The rubbing stopped eventually, but the hand stayed exactly where it had been.
At least it hadn't moved upwards, Tobio told himself. He truly didn't know how he would have reacted to that.

Then the credits started and Oikawa's hand was gone in the blink of an eye, as if it had never been there.
But Tobio's body told him very clearly that it had been. The vacated spot suddenly felt very cold.

"That was better than expected," Hajime said as he got up to turn off the TV. "What did you think?"

Oikawa shrugged. "It was fine. I have seen it before, so I could pay attention to some details I hadn't noticed before."

Like my thigh, Tobio thought and was immediately horrified by his own thoughts. What the heck was he even thinking?

"And you, Tobio?"

Tobio looked up at his brother, feeling a bit of panic rising in his chest. He didn't remember a single thing about the movie.
"It was - fine. I think. I -"

At that point, he was saved by their landline phone ringing and Hajime excused himself to go answer, leaving Oikawa and Tobio alone in the living room.

"'Fine', huh?" Oikawa said with a smirk.

Tobio shot him a glare. "Shut up."

"Rude, Tobio-chan."

"You were distracting me."

He knew he had made a mistake by saying that when he saw the expression on Oikawa's face.

"Oh? I was distracting you, Tobio-chan? And pray tell what exactly that I did was distracting you?"

He could tell what Oikawa was doing. And he didn't want to play his games. "No. We're not doing that."
He got up from the sofa, finally putting some distance between them.

"Where are you going, Tobio-chan?"

"To my room," he said, walking past Oikawa to get around the sofa and leave.
Oikawa's hand around his wrist stopped him and he looked down at him. "What are you doing?"

"Stay."

Tobio frowned. "Why? I'm sure you'd rather spend your day with Hajime and I'd rather not be a third wheel."

"Because -" Oikawa seemed to want to say something, but then changed his mind and said, "Because Iwa-chan would be disappointed. He's really excited about spending the day with the two people he's closest to."

Tobio stayed quiet. He didn't want to disappoint Hajime and Oikawa was definitely right in saying that he would be sad if Tobio just holed up in his room instead.
But he also didn't want to spend time with Oikawa. Especially when he was being so weird.
Before he could make up his mind, there was a tug on his wrist and in a strange case of déjà vu, he found himself on his back once again with Oikawa pinning him down.
He looked up at him in confusion.

"... Oikawa? What are you doing?"

"Making sure you're not leaving," Oikawa answered. His voice sounded strangely breathless.

"This - This is really not necessary. Let me sit up."

"Do you promise?"

"Yes, yes. Now get off of me."

Oikawa looked at him for a moment, then nodded and sat back down normally.

Tobio quickly sat back up, putting some distance between them. "You're way too good at that," he mumbled, more to himself than Oikawa.

"Too good at what?" Oikawa asked, who had apparently still heard him.

"Pinning people down." Tobio said seriously and Oikawa laughed.

"You still have a lot to learn, Tobio-chan."

Tobio frowned. "What do you mean?"

The older boy sighed and leaned his arm on the back of the sofa as he turned around to face Tobio.
"Have you ever had a girlfriend, Tobio-chan? Wait. - No. Of course you haven't. Iwa-chan would have mentioned that."

Tobio's frown deepened. He didn't like the thought that his older brother was talking about him to Oikawa. 
But it didn't surprise him either. Of course Hajime would tell Oikawa whatever was on his mind, even - or maybe especially - when it concerned his younger brother.

"Don't look at me like that. I didn't ask, it just came up a while ago.
And we both know he wouldn't be able not to tell me anyway," Oikawa gave him a confident smile. "We're best friends after all."

"I'm aware," Tobio said tonelessly.

"Jealous?" Oikawa asked, still grinning.

"Why would I be."

"Oh I don't know. Maybe because of how close I am to your beloved big brother?"

Tobio crossed his arms. "I'm not jealous."

"Sure you aren't," Oikawa said as he reached over with his outstretched arm and started playing with Tobio's hair. "Feels just like I remember."

Tobio moved as far away from him as the sofa allowed. "Do you have to always be so touchy-feely?"

"It's part of my personality, Tobio-chan. You'll have to get used to it."

"I don't see why. You'll be graduating next year anyway. Who knows where it'll take you then.
It's unlikely I'll see you much at that point."

"Now that's a sad thought, Tobio-chan. Why did you have to bring that up?"

Tobio turned his head and looked at Oikawa. He was looking back at him with a big pout on his face.
It made him feel strangely guilty and Tobio moved a little closer to him again.
"I - It's just a fact? You don't have any reason to want to see me without Hajime around."

Before Oikawa could answer, Iwaizumi came back into the living room. "Sorry that took so long. Okaa-san forgot to bring a birthday gift over to one of our neighbours and had me look everywhere for it."

Oikawa casually turned around to his best friend, the pout completely gone from his face. "Did you manage to find it?"

"Yes. I'll head over to our neighbours now and hand it over."

"Now?" Tobio looked at him in alarm. He didn't want to be alone with Oikawa. Again.

"Yes, apparently it has to be today since they're leaving for a trip tomorrow.
You'll be fine on your own for about half an hour, right?"

Tobio wanted to protest, but Oikawa was quicker. "Sure. No problem at all.
We could come with you though?"

"No, that won't be necessary. It will also give me a reason to leave again quickly. I don't want to be stuck there.
I'll be back soon!" Hajime waved before he left the living room once again.

"Well. Looks like it's just the two of us now, Tobio-chan."

Chapter Text

Spending half an hour with anyone shouldn’t be a problem. Not even if it was someone you had never gotten along with all your life and who had been being so weirdly handsy all day.
Usually, you could just ignore each other and do whatever you felt like doing.
But of course, that wasn’t an option when it came to Oikawa Tooru.

Oikawa Tooru was someone who needed constant attention by the people around him.
Which was probably why he had his own fanclub.

So Tobio truly shouldn’t have been surprised that his plan of just ignoring his captain was not going well.

As soon as Hajime had left, Oikawa had picked up the earlier topic of relationships again and didn’t stop talking.
It didn’t matter that Tobio didn’t even comment on what the other boy was saying, he just kept talking.

“I should have expected it at this point, but I really didn’t think she’d break up with me that quickly. And this early in the year, too.
It’s frustrating, really. Why do they never seem to get that I’m not just using training as an excuse not to see them? Is that really so hard to understand?
They know about me being captain, so why would they -”

“Why are you telling me all of that, Oikawa?” Tobio finally interrupted him. He had heard more than enough about this topic already. He didn’t want to know about Oikawa’s love life.
The more he knew, the more people might ask him about it. And he had enough of people approaching him because of Oikawa for a lifetime.
“I am not Hajime. If you want to complain about your relationships, wait until he’s back and tell him.”

“But he’s gone, Tobio-chan. And you’re great at listening. You don’t judge like Iwa-chan does.
He’d already be telling me off and saying that I wasn’t that into her anyway.”

“Just because I don’t say anything, doesn’t mean that I don’t think that.”

Oikawa laid down on the sofa without warning, putting his head on Tobio’s lap and pouted up at him. “Are you truly blaming me for trying to find love?”

Tobio snorted and crossed his arms. He tried his best not to acknowledge Oikawa’s position, hoping it would make him sit back up more quickly than trying to make him. “You are not looking for love, Oikawa, you are looking for attention.”

“Now you sound like Iwa-chan.” The pout was now audible in his voice.

“Because he’s right.”

“It’s not my fault I am so popular. And you can’t blame me for giving them a chance, right?”

“I can.”

“Can’t.”

“Can. How many relationships have you had by now, Oikawa? You can’t seriously have been thinking that all of them might be the one.”

“They could have been, Tobio-chan. You never know.”

“You should know,” Tobio answered, rather irritated. He just didn’t get Oikawa’s style of dating.
Maybe it was the way he had been raised, with Hajime always teaching him the importance of taking people’s feelings seriously, but he couldn’t ever imagine dating someone without even knowing them just because they confessed to him.

Oikawa reached up and touched Tobio’s cheek, gently nudging him to turn his head and look at him. “Why are you not dating, Tobio-chan? You aren’t that awful that you need to keep yourself locked away from the world. Not that ugly either.
I guess you and Iwa-chan just have good genes with how little effort the two of you put into your looks,” he shook his head disapprovingly and reached even further up to touch Tobio’s hair. “You would look so much cuter with a different haircut. You should let me style your hair for you. You would get so much attention.”

Tobio moved his head to the side to get Oikawa’s fingers out of his hair. “I don’t need attention, Oikawa. I’m not you.”

Oikawa’s hand followed his movement and kept playing with his hair, rearranging it just for it to fall right back into place. “Hmmm true. You really aren’t. But I still think you could do better.”

“I don’t need your advice on how to live my life.” He pushed his hand away, but Oikawa just caught it and brought it in front of his face, studying it. He held it gently with his left while the fingers of his right hand traced the lines of the palm and took in the differences in textures between the cups of his fingers and the rest.

“Of course you don’t, Tobio-chan. But you are still getting it. For free even.” Oikawa pressed his thumb into a spot of Tobio’s palm, causing him to wince.
“Sorry,” Oikawa mumbled quietly before switching over to giving him a hand massage.

“I really don’t see why you’re bothering with that,” Tobio said, watching Oikawa’s fingers working and trying not to make any noises. It was starting to feel rather nice.

“It’s called being a good senpai, Tobio-chan. Looking out for the younger ones, giving them advice when they need it.”

“Not about dating.”

“Yes, especially about that. A first relationship can be really overwhelming, trust me.”

“Well I’m not planning on having a relationship anytime soon, so it doesn’t matter.”

Oikawa stopped the massage and looked up at him. “You’re not? Why not?”

Tobio shrugged. “Volleyball is more important to me.”

A sigh. “I get that, Tobio-chan, but you can have both. You shouldn’t close yourself off from finding love.”

“I am not closed off. I am just not looking.”

“Well start looking.” He turned back to massaging Tobio’s hand. “I could help you, you know? I know a lot of people.”

“That really won’t be -”

Oikawa ignored his protests. “What are you looking for? Do you even know what you’re into yet?
You should, right? You’re not that oblivious.”
He gently put down the hand he had been giving a massage to and moved on to the other.
“Your hands feel so rough, Tobio-chan. Have you been practising a lot? You need to use some good hand cream. Whatever you’re using isn’t moisturising enough.
I can tell you are taking care of your hands and nails, but they’re still rather dry.
So. What are you into?”

“I don’t think -”

“I bet it’s those really timid girls. Or maybe the exact opposite? It would probably be more complimentary to your personality.
Or maybe you prefer boys after all. I bet you do.
Does Iwa-chan know? I can tell him if you want me to. I don’t mind.
I told him about being bisexual ages ago. He really didn’t care. You don’t need to worry.”

“Oikawa!” He finally shouted and Oikawa blinked up at him, looking rather surprised by his raised voice. “Stop making assumptions.”

Oikawa tilted his head, still holding on to Tobio’s hand. “So you’re not?”

“Not what?”

“Gay.”

Tobio blushed softly and turned his head away. “I did not say that.”

“Tobio-chan.” Oikawa reached up and cupped his cheek. He looked unusually serious. “Do you really not know?”

“I just - never bothered thinking about it. It doesn’t really matter, does it?
I can deal with it when it comes to it.”

Oikawa chuckled softly. “That kind of attitude is so you.” He gently stroked over his cheekbone.

Tobio felt the blush burning on his cheeks.

“Adorable,” Oikawa said so quietly Tobio wasn’t sure he had even heard correctly.

“What?” Tobio asked breathlessly as Oikawa’s hand gently moved down and cupped his jaw, his thumb running over his lower lip.

“Have you ever kissed anyone, Tobio-chan?”

“I - “ He swallowed heavily. He could feel Oikawa’s thumb against his lip and he parted his lips just slightly, feeling like he needed to breathe through his mouth to get enough air.

“Just answer the question, Tobio,” Oikawa said very quietly.

“I - haven’t,” he said just as quietly.

“Would you like to?”

Chapter Text

"Oikawa… what do you mean?" Tobio's voice felt brittle and it was taking him a lot of effort to speak at all. His entire focus seemed to be on Oikawa. His head on Tobio's lap, his chocolatey eyes looking up at him. The feeling of his hand against his own and the other still cupping his cheek with that thumb teasingly touching his lips.

"It means what it means, Tobio-chan. I'm asking you whether there's anyone you would like to kiss."

His heart was beating way too fast. He didn't know how to answer that question. He had never really considered it, had always thought it was just something that would happen someday.

Oikawa seemed to notice his hesitation. "Just be honest, Tobio-chan. I promise I won't judge."

"I -" He glanced down at Oikawa's lips.

"Say it, Tobio-chan."

"Well that looks cosy."

Tobio had never seen Oikawa sit up that quickly. Within one moment, his hands were gone and he was sitting casually next to him, looking over the back of the sofa at Hajime in the door to the living room while Tobio himself was still frozen in place, his heart hammering. He had always known that Oikawa's reflexes were excellent, but he had rarely seen them used like this.

"Iwa-chan! You're finally back."

"I am," Hajime said as he walked around the sofa and sat down in the armchair. "Thankfully they had plans for lunch, so I had a good excuse not to stay for too long."
He looked from his best friend to his little brother. "I hope you two got along?"

Tobio couldn't find any words. His throat was dry and he was still reeling from what had happened. He was sure it was written all over his face.

"Of course, Iwa-chan," Oikawa said in his typical confident voice. It didn't give anything away at all. "I told you we'd be fine. We've just been chatting."

"Chatting?" Hajime asked with a frown and looked at his best friend. "You probably mean that you've been talking and Tobio has been suffering through it, right?"

"Iwa-chan!" Oikawa whined immediately. "Why would you say that? I'm a delight to listen to."

"Sure you are, Oikawa." He looked at his little brother. "Alright?"

Tobio just nodded, not trusting his own voice. 

Hajime looked at him with concern in his eyes. "Are you not feeling well?"

"I'm fine," Tobio croaked and coughed to clear his throat. "I guess it was a bit colder than I thought when I went for that run this morning. I'll - I'll go make some tea."
He got up quickly and fled the living room.
Oikawa could deal with this situation as far as he was concerned.

In the kitchen, he quickly put some water into the electric kettle and turned it on, then leaned against the counter, gripping it tightly as he desperately tried to calm down.
What was even happening to him?
What was that situation just now? And why did he react that way?
It didn't make sense. 
And what was up with Oikawa asking him questions like that anyway? 
It had almost sounded like… like Oikawa had offered to kiss him. But that couldn't be true. Surely Oikawa had just been his usual intrusive self and had tried to figure out whether Tobio had a crush on anyone so he could tease him about it.
But the touching… 
Tobio shivered when he remembered the feeling of Oikawa's hands, his fingers against his palm, his thumb on his lips…

The sound of the kettle beeping pulled him out of his thoughts and he quickly grabbed a mug and a teabag to prepare some tea.
Deciding to be nice, he also made some tea for Hajime and Oikawa (he tried not to question why he remembered what kind of tea Oikawa liked).
He had just filled all the cups with hot water, when there was an arm around his waist and Tobio almost spilled hot water over himself.

"Careful with that, Tobio-chan. You wouldn't want to burn yourself." Oikawa took the kettle from him with his free hand and put it down on the counter. "Oh and I see you're already making tea for all of us. I was just coming in here to ask you to do that."
There was a gentle squeeze to his waist and then Oikawa's arm was gone as he went over to the cupboard and grabbed a box of cookies.

Tobio just stared at him. What was Oikawa doing? What was he even thinking?

"Keep your mouth closed, Tobio-chan, I know I'm stunning but that's truly not an attractive look on you."

Tobio blinked at him. "My mouth is closed."

"Is it? I'm pretty sure it was about to fall wide open. Some people might take that as an invitation, you know?" Oikawa started arranging the cookies on a plate.

"I - What?" Tobio was truly and utterly confused now. Why did Oikawa always have to speak in riddles?

"You'll get it eventually," the older boy said as he took the plate and one of the mugs. "Or not. Who knows.
Can you take the other two mugs?"
He didn't wait for an answer and went back into the living room.

Tobio stared at the door Oikawa had just walked through (he really needed to stop staring so much), then shook his head and grabbed the two mugs before following.

Oikawa had already put the plate of cookies down on the table and settled back down on the sofa, leaving Tobio with no other option but to pass Hajime his mug and sit down on the sofa once again.
Since it was just the two of them on the sofa this time, there was more space than earlier during the movie, but Oikawa was still closer than Tobio would have liked.

Hajime thanked him and reached for a cookie to go with his tea. "So what should we make for dinner? We might have to go get some more ingredients if we don't have everything at home."

"How about curry?" Oikawa suggested, taking a sip of his tea and soon he and Hajime were discussing possible options of what to cook and what they would have to get for it.

Tobio wasn't really listening. He quietly sipped his tea, enjoying the warmth from the liquid. He was finally calming down again.
His heart rate was back to what it should be and he felt like he could breathe normally.
The situation felt back under control.
And with Hajime there, he immediately felt calmer as well. 

By the time he had finished his tea, the other two had decided on what to cook and Hajime had made sure that they had all the ingredients for it.
They had now settled in and a comfortable conversation was happening between Oikawa and Hajime while Tobio mostly just listened.

Tobio was feeling relaxed almost to the point of getting sleepy, but after all the excitement earlier, he really couldn't complain.
He wasn't even bothered when he felt Oikawa's knee bumping against his from time to time or when their feet touched once. It was brief and easy enough to ignore.

By late afternoon they got hungry and went into the kitchen to get started on making dinner.
It wasn't the first time for them to cook dinner together and although it was usually just two of them and not three, they easily figured out who would take care of which task and so dinner was ready rather quickly.

During dinner, Oikawa and Hajime discussed plans for practice that week and for once Tobio couldn't stop himself from giving some input.
He fully expected Oikawa to scoff and tell him he wasn't in any place to talk about this, but to his surprise, his captain looked at him thoughtfully and then nodded, agreeing with him.
Feeling strangely pleased, Tobio found himself smiling through the rest of dinner.

They cleaned up the kitchen afterwards and then Oikawa announced that he would be heading home.
It startled Tobio out of his good mood for a moment. He had almost forgotten that Oikawa would have to go home at some point and they all had school the next day.

"Yes, it's getting late," Hajime agreed. "We'll see you tomorrow then."

Oikawa nodded. "Of course. Ah, Tobio-chan, what about that book you wanted to show me?"

Tobio frowned at him. "Book?"

"Yes. The book we talked about earlier." Oikawa shot him a long look but it took Tobio an even longer moment to realise that Oikawa was trying to give him a reason to follow him out of the kitchen without Hajime getting suspicious.

"Oh. Yes. Let me grab it." He left the kitchen, hearing Oikawa saying goodbye to Hajime and following.

Tobio headed towards the front door, but before he could reach it, he found himself pushed up against the wall and Oikawa right in front of him.

"Not a word to Iwa-chan, understood?"

"What?" Tobio looked at him in confusion. He had no idea what Oikawa was even talking about.

"Our conversation earlier. You won't mention it to him."

Tobio really didn't understand anything at that point. "Why would I tell him anything about that?"

Oikawa took a deep breath, looking rather relieved, and pulled back. "Good."
He went over to the door and put on his shoes.

Tobio hesitated, then spoke up again. "Oikawa."

"Yes?" The other turned around to face him as he put on his jacket.

"What… was that? Earlier?"

"You'll have to be more specific than that, Tobio-chan. A lot of things happened 'earlier'."

"Why did you ask me that? About… kissing?"

Oikawa's eyes lingered on him for quite awhile before he answered. "Just curiosity, Tobio-chan. Don't worry about it."
He turned around to the door and put his hand on the handle, but didn't open it.
With his back to Tobio, he added, "If you make up your mind though, you know where to find me."

Then he left the house without looking back, leaving Tobio behind even more confused than before.

Chapter Text

Things were feeling off after that particular Sunday.
If Oikawa had been like a constant presence beforehand, it was almost like he was avoiding him afterwards.

Tobio didn't even find out about his injury until Hajime mentioned it offhandedly.

"Wait. He's injured? What happened?"

Hajime had looked at him, curious. "You didn't know? He twisted his ankle during training and while he can walk and all, he needs to take it slow.
He's been complaining all week about how he's not allowed to run and jump and therefore can't work on his serve."

"As if that needs to be worked on…" Tobio mumbled. Oikawa was famous for his serve after all. It was what had inspired Tobio's own serve and he still couldn't get anywhere near Oikawa's strength and accuracy.

"Anyway, you don't need to worry. He should be right as rain soon enough."

Tobio had just nodded and parted ways with his brothers when they reached the school.

He still didn't see much of Oikawa after that and it was starting to make him feel restless.
No one else seemed to be noticing anything.
If anything, he heard concern about Oikawa's injury, but no one seemed to find his behaviour odd or find him less present than usual.
Not even Hajime.

A few days later, Oikawa called all of them to come together before training so he could talk to them about practice matches.
"As you all know, we've been working on some new strategies and figuring out who will be starters for our first official match this year.
So we've organised a few practice matches to test out different player combinations.
However our first match is a special one.
Because of my recent injury, I'm not allowed to participate and the third years have agreed it would be a good opportunity for the younger and less experienced players to get a chance to show what they can do.
Our opponent is the Karasuno High School volleyball club. They've contacted us to ask for a practice match and it's the perfect opportunity since they're a school that used to be in the top five, but hasn't been doing too well recently.
It'll be a challenge, but you won't have to worry too much so you can take a few more risks. It'll also give us the opportunity to feel them out a bit and see whether they might be coming back.
The team from Karasuno will be joining us on Tuesday, so we have a lot to work on.
Today we will start putting together a team and you'll be working individually with other players who have the same position as you do.
Tomorrow we'll start doing matches and see whether we need to switch someone out to make the team work together smoothly, so don't get too comfortable if you've been chosen as a starter today.
Good. I think that's all for now. Any questions?"

No one said anything, so Oikawa nodded and started dividing them into pairs so they could work on techniques.
Of course, Tobio and Yahaba as the two uninjured setters were put together, but before they could even discuss what they wanted to work on, Oikawa suddenly stood behind them.

"So. This is a big chance for both of you.
Just so you know, we haven't decided yet who's going to play as setter on Tuesday. We want to see how each of you works with the team, so we will keep switching you in and out.
Show me what you can do," he gave both of them a slap on their shoulder and went back over to Iwaizumi who was busy instructing the other third years.

Tobio could feel Yahaba's eyes on him. "They're putting us up against each other."

"Not very surprising," Tobio agreed. "Oikawa is very hard on himself as a setter and we'll be representing him and the team during that match. He wants us at our best."

"But he's right. It is a good opportunity."

"It is."

Yahaba held his hand out to him. "May the better setter win."

Tobio looked at him in surprise, but then shook his hand. 

Practising with Yahaba was surprisingly pleasant. Tobio would have expected him to be upset that a first year like Tobio had the same chances to play during the practice match than him, but the second year student didn't seem to be bothered by it.
He wanted to show that he deserved the spot, he told Tobio and Tobio had to admit it made him like Yahaba a lot more immediately.

By the time training was over for that day, Tobio felt much more relaxed around him and they had started a friendly conversation between them while they practised.
When they parted ways, Yahaba even gave Tobio a pat on the shoulder and a smile before leaving.
Tobio hadn't felt this good about practice in quite awhile.

As the week went on, Yahaba and Tobio kept switching places during games, but it never seemed to affect their budding friendship.
Instead they found themselves discussing strategies and the different play styles of the players.
All the while Oikawa was just conspicuous by his absence. He didn't talk to the younger setters like the other players talked to their younger equivalents and mostly just stood off to the side watching and talking to Hajime.
Tobio tried to tell himself he was just keeping his distance so he could make an unbiased decision as their captain, but something still twisted in his gut whenever his eyes landed on him.

By the end of Friday's training, the starters for the practice match were clear - except for the setter. And since Oikawa loved a bit of drama (at least Tobio was pretty sure that was the one and only reason for this particular idea), he arranged for a few hours of additional practice on Sunday, just for that decision.

As he stood off to the side and fixed his shoe laces, Tobio could already feel the pressure. There was a lot of attention on him today.

"Nervous?"

Tobio looked up at his brother. Hajime was looking at him with a gentle smile.

"You'll do well. Just don't let the pressure get to you. Pay attention to your teammates and give them the balls they need."

Tobio straightened back up. "Should you even be giving me advice right now? Isn't that cheating?"

Hajime laughed. "Maybe. But you don't need to worry. Both you and Yahaba have equal chances of playing on Tuesday.
Just do your best."

For a moment, Tobio considered saying something about Yahaba being the senior setter in this case, but then decided against it.
The terms had been set out clearly from the beginning. Now they just had to deal with it.

It was decided to play two sets with the setters switching after one set, since Oikawa still wasn't allowed to play and therefore one team would be without a setter otherwise.
Tobio joined the team of the third year and substitute players for the first set.

Hajime smiled encouragingly and nodded as they got into position.
It had been a long time since Tobio had been on the same court as Hajime and he couldn't help feeling a little excited about it.

Oikawa was playing referee and gave the signal for the first serve.

It felt good to be playing again. Good to be surrounded by a team and give them just the toss they needed.
Tobio wasn't familiar with all of the players, but he enjoyed the challenge of having to adjust quickly.
And it didn't hurt that most of the players on his side of the court had a lot of experience and were just really, really good.

They easily took the set and Tobio found that he had barely remembered that he was in the middle of a competition.

He nodded at Yahaba as they passed each other after the set and switched places.
Tobio took a deep breath to try and focus. He didn't want to make the same mistake again.
He needed to play in a way that would help this team - his team - and prove his worth.

He closed his eyes for just a second, then opened them as he heard the whistle and waited for the first serve.

It almost felt like they had just won a difficult match. The air was filled with excitement and everyone was in high spirits. 
The choice had been obvious, so everyone said. The way he had worked together with the team was second to only Oikawa, he heard someone say and Tobio couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he went over to his water bottle.
Kindaichi and Kunimi nodded at him in passing, with Kunimi going as far as giving him a small smile, and Tobio knew that today had been a step in the right direction to fully fixing things between them.
Even Yahaba had come over to Tobio and said, "I don't even need to hear Oikawa say it. It's obvious you earned that spot. Congratulations. But don't get lazy. I'll be right on your heels."
They laughed and Yahaba squeezed his shoulder before going back over to his friends and Tobio watched him go with a soft flutter in his stomach.
He couldn't remember the last time he had been this happy. A huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

They quickly took care of tidying up the gym and after getting changed, Tobio found himself leaning against the wall outside and drinking his water while waiting for his brother.
Other members of the team passed him on their way out, most of them giving him a nod or even saying a few words.

It seemed like everyone was already gone when Oikawa left the gym and turned around to lock up behind him. Then he noticed him. "Oh. Tobio-chan. What are you still doing here?"

"I'm waiting for Hajime."

Oikawa stared at him. "Iwa-chan already left. He said your mother called and wanted him to pick up some stuff from the convenience store on the way home.
I believe he sent you a message?"

Tobio frowned and quickly pulled out his phone, only to find the battery completely dead. 

His captain sighed softly and pocketed his keys. "Come on. I'll take you home."

"That really won't be necessary -"

"Oh come on, Tobio-chan. We live in the same direction, it's late, dark and your phone is dead. I'm not letting you walk home on your own." Without waiting for a reply, he walked past him, expecting Tobio to follow.

Tobio made a face but then caught up with him, not wanting to be left behind.

They walked side by side in silence for a while. Tobio was staring at the ground, holding onto his bag with one hand, while Oikawa had both of his hands in the pockets of his jacket and was looking straight ahead.
Eventually Oikawa finally spoke up. "You did well today."

Tobio looked at the older boy with obvious surprise on his face. He truly wasn't used to praise from Oikawa.

"Not as good as I would have done, obviously, and I'm not even talking about your tosses, although they were good enough.
No, I mean with the team. You showed them that you can work with them and adjust accordingly. You're winning their trust and proving that you've improved since that last match with your old team."

"I - Thank you?"

Oikawa shrugged. "I am your captain and I have to acknowledge when you've made progress. Especially after I told you that you needed to work on this in particular.
Don't get your hopes up though. You'll have to work a lot harder than that if you want to replace me."

"I don't want to replace you," Tobio said without thinking.

Oikawa turned his head and lifted an eyebrow at him. "No? But that's exactly what should be your goal. It would be mine if I was in your position."

"I'm not you, Oikawa."

"Indeed, you aren't."

They were quiet again for a while, then Oikawa spoke up, apparently unable to stop himself. "You seem to be getting along rather well with Yahaba."

Tobio blinked. Did he get along well with Yahaba? They did have fun during the last couple of days. He was easy enough to talk to when it was about volleyball and he hadn't gotten angry when Tobio had won today.
"He's alright," he finally settled on.

"And Kunimi, right? You spend a lot of time with him."

"We're in the same class," he shrugged.

"Is that all?"

Tobio stopped walking, forcing Oikawa to do the same and turn around to look at him. "Why are you asking me that, Oikawa?"

"Is it that wrong to show interest in my kouhai? Especially one that has had trouble with relationships beforehand?"

Tobio clenched his hands to fists. "It's really none of your business." 
He started walking again and quickly moved past Oikawa, only to be stopped by his hand grabbing his wrist.
"Let go," Tobio tried to pull his arm free.

"No. I told you already I'm not letting you walk home on your own."

"Why do you even care? I haven't even seen you for weeks except during training, where you ignored me, and now you're pretending to be concerned?" He continued struggling against Oikawa's grip.

"My god, Tobio-chan, you're just so dense sometimes."

"I'm not -"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as Oikawa had pulled him closer with a tug on his arm, his free hand going up to cup Tobio's cheek and their lips met.

Chapter Text

For a moment, Tobio just stood there, frozen in place. He didn't understand. His brain couldn't compute what was happening. 

They were kissing.

Oikawa was kissing him.

How was that even -

Oikawa's hand had moved down from his wrist and interlaced their fingers, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.
Tobio wasn't sure whether Oikawa could tell what was going through his mind, but it was enough to pull him out of his thoughts and back into the moment.

He didn't know what to do. Oikawa's lips were… soft. Warm, despite the cold air around them.
Slowly, he found himself relaxing into it, his eyes closing and his body sinking against Oikawa's while he got lost in the feeling of his lips. He could feel Oikawa's hand on his cheek gently directing him and followed his unspoken instructions without hesitation.

Tobio didn't know how long they stayed like that, kissing in the middle of the walkway, just a few steps away from a streetlight.
What he did know was that eventually, Oikawa broke the kiss, pulling away just far enough so he could speak.
He was still so close that Tobio could feel his breath on his face.

"Alright?" He asked quietly, sounding a little breathless.

Tobio couldn't find words, so he just nodded. 
He could feel Oikawa's eyes on him as he slowly took a step back, his hand slipping from his cheek but the other still holding onto Tobio's.

"Breathe, Tobio-chan," Oikawa said gently and only then Tobio noticed he had been holding his breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Tobio took a deep breath and finally dared to look at Oikawa's face. His cheeks were a little flushed, whether it was from the cold or the kiss was hard to tell, his lips still slightly parted.
Tobio found his gaze immediately drawn to those lips. Had they really just been touching his own?

Oikawa coughed and Tobio forced himself to stop staring at his lips and look into his eyes instead. "We should head home."

Tobio nodded, not really knowing what else to do. How did you behave after suddenly being kissed like that?

Looking unusually insecure, Oikawa fixed the strap of his bag, pushing it back up onto his shoulder with his free hand and continued walking.
He was still holding Tobio's hand.

They stopped in front of Tobio’s home, Oikawa giving his hand a squeeze before finally letting go.

“Well. You’ve made it home, Tobio-chan.”

Tobio nodded, still not sure what to say or how to behave.

“Goodnight then. I will see you tomorrow.”

He nodded again, feeling rather stupid. He should be doing something. Say something. Ask what all of this was about, but he just stayed quiet as he watched Oikawa disappear down the street.
Then he turned around and went inside.

Hajime wasn’t back yet, so Tobio used the chance to escape to his room.
He was sure that what had happened was written all over his face and his brother would be able to tell immediately.
And he couldn't deal with that yet. He didn’t even know what he himself thought about it. 
Had he really just had his first kiss? With Oikawa Tooru?
The one guy who had always been the bane of his existence, who he had never gotten along with? The guy who was his brother’s best friend since childhood?

Tobio closed the door behind him and went over to his bed without even turning on the lights. He sat down and buried his face in his hands, rubbing his face for a moment before he ran his fingers through his hair and flopped down on his back.
He stared up at the dark ceiling and his fingers wandered up to his lips, tracing them.

They felt like they always did.
Somehow Tobio had been sure they would feel different now, with how much they seemed to be burning. Or maybe that was just his imagination?

He rolled over and buried his face in his pillow with a groan. Why did this have to happen to him?
Why did Oikawa do something like that in the first place?

There was a knock at his door and Tobio sat up quickly. “Yes?”

Hajime opened the door. “Oh, you’re home.” 
He went over to his bed and sat down next to him.

“Why didn’t you answer my messages? I was getting worried.
If Oikawa hadn’t told me he walked you home, I would be out looking for you now.”
He looked around. “And why haven’t you turned on the lights?”

Tobio’s brain seemed to stumble as soon as Hajime mentioned Oikawa, but his brother didn’t seem any different than usual, so he had hope that Oikawa hadn’t said anything about what exactly had happened during that walk.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “My battery died.”

“Ah. Of course.” He shook his head fondly and took the phone from him, putting it on the charger. “There we go. Just don’t forget it tomorrow.”

Tobio nodded, keeping an eye on Hajime. He truly didn’t seem to know anything.
All he could see was concern that Tobio hadn’t reacted to his messages.

“So why are you sitting in the dark?”

“I just didn’t feel like turning on the lights,” Tobio shrugged. It was true enough.

“You’ll ruin your eyes, Tobio.” Hajime reached out and ruffled his hair. 

Tobio ducked and tried to get away from him. “I’m not a child, Hajime.”

“I know,” he said with a smile. “But you’ll always be my cute little brother.
I am proud of you, you know? For what you achieved today.”

Achieved? How was kissing Oikawa an achievement and why would Hajime be proud of that?

Hajime however continued talking and Tobio was suddenly very thankful for the darkness hiding his expressions when he got what his brother had actually meant. “You showed the team that they can rely on you and you can be a true asset on the court.”

Tobio nodded slowly. That topic made much more sense. “Oikawa said something similar to that.”

“Did he?” Hajime looked rather pleased. “Well that’s a pleasant surprise.”

“He also said that he would have done better and that I’ll have to work a lot harder if I want to replace him.”

Hajime sighed. “That sounds like him, yes. You can ignore that bit. That’s just his ego.”

Was kissing me also just his ego?

Tobio knew that he could tell Hajime about the kiss. His brother would likely not even be mad.
Not at him, at least.
He would try to help him get his thoughts in order and then probably head straight to Oikawa and punch him in the face.
And for some reason Tobio didn’t want that. It didn’t feel right.

“Are you going to come down for dinner?” Hajime asked.

Tobio gave a simple nod. “I’ll just change out of my uniform.”

“Sure. I’ll tell okaa-san.” Hajime got up and headed to the door.

“Hajime?”

He stopped and turned around. “Yes?”

Tobio hesitated. This was the opportunity to tell him. To get some help to make it make sense.
“I had fun playing with you today,” he said eventually.

Hajime smiled. “Me, too. It’s been awhile.”

Then he left the room and Tobio knew he had missed his chance to tell his brother about what exactly was happening between him and his best friend.

During dinner, Tobio stayed mostly quiet, lost in his thoughts. Hajime seemed to assume he was thinking about practice and left him alone, but kept giving him encouraging looks even as he told their parents about practice that day.

Afterwards, Tobio excused himself rather quickly, stating he was tired and wanted to get enough rest for training tomorrow as he still had a lot to work on to be ready for the match on Tuesday.

He returned to his room and after getting ready for bed, he laid down, reaching for his phone. It wasn't fully charged yet, but for the moment he didn't care about that.
He needed answers.
And there was only one person who could provide those to him.

He pulled up Oikawa's contact and pressed the call button.
It rang. And rang. And rang.
Then it went to voicemail.
Tobio hung up and stared at his phone for a long moment. Then he sent a simple text.

[Call me.]

Then he put his phone back on the charger and put it down on the bedside table.
He would get his answers, he would make sure of that.
He wasn't really sure what he wanted the answers to be, but he could deal with that when it came to it. For now he just needed to know Oikawa's intentions.
Why had he kissed him? What did he expect now?

For the first time in his life, Tobio wished he had listened more to Oikawa's rambling about his relationships and dates. Perhaps that would have given him some kind of idea what all of this meant.

Sighing, he rolled over onto his side.

It had been nice, he had to admit as much to himself. He had enjoyed kissing Oikawa.
But as good as it had felt, he didn't want to be the next one in the constant string of Oikawa's girlfriends. 
Lovers, he corrected himself. Or partners.
If anything had been proven that day, it was Oikawa's claim to be bisexual.

Either way, Tobio was sure that he didn't want to be another two-week fling. He would rather have nothing than that.
Especially since he didn't even want to imagine what that might do to the friendship between Hajime and Oikawa.
Even this kiss had the potential to cause a rift between them and as much time Tobio had spent not understanding and avoiding the connection between his brother and his best friend, he didn't want to be the cause for it to fall apart. He knew how much that would hurt Hajime.

That thought settled in his gut like a heavy weight.
Maybe he should just forget that anything had happened. They could go back to how things had been before and their friendship would be safe.

It would be for the best.
So why did his heart hurt so much?

Chapter Text

Oikawa did not call him back.

Tobio didn’t know what to think of it, but he forced himself not to think about it too much. He refused to allow one kiss to influence him that much.
Even if it had been his first. Even if it had been with Oikawa.

He had more important matters to focus on.
Like practice that day. And the match the day after.
So Tobio left for school early so he could avoid Oikawa on the way to school, tried his best to pay attention to class and spent his time with Kunimi and Kindaichi.

He still thought about Oikawa.
He still suddenly remembered this kiss at random times of the day.

Luckily Oikawa himself didn’t show up, so Tobio felt prepared enough to face him by the time they headed towards the gym.

The first other team member they ran into was Yahaba.
He grinned at them and put his arm around Tobio’s shoulders, walking towards the entrance with him. “So. Nervous? Don’t worry, I’m ready to step in if you mess up today.”

Tobio laughed softly. He was glad Yahaba wasn’t mad at him for taking the place as starting setter for the practice match.
The smile froze on his face when they entered the gym and his gaze fell onto Oikawa. Their captain had turned around at the noise of so many people coming in at once and for just a second, an expression of genuine annoyance seemed to flash over his face before settling back into the normal, pleasant expression he usually wore during training.
He gave them a nod of greeting and turned back to his conversation with Matsukawa.

Tobio couldn’t stop himself from looking over at the group as he followed the others to the changing rooms. Had he imagined that expression on Oikawa’s face?
It wasn’t like him to openly show emotions like that unless he wanted to use them to his advantage. Well. Or whenever he was around Tobio.
He could remember tons of irritated and annoyed looks directed at him over the years.

Tobio sighed softly and entered the changing rooms. This whole situation with Oikawa was making him question everything he had known about him so far, all the things he had learned to expect over the years.

Training was a welcome distraction.

Volleyball had always been his way of escaping anything that bothered him and while it was the thing he loved doing most, it was also what he turned to when he needed to get away.
So despite the fact that he knew that their coaches and Oikawa were watching their team - and Tobio - very closely to ensure they’d be prepared for the match the next day.
It was almost a little strange to see the two adults giving all the instructions when usually Oikawa took care of it by himself or with Hajime’s help.
Tobio wasn’t quite sure what the usual procedure here was, but somehow he had a feeling that this was mostly happening on Oikawa’s influence and wasn’t how things were normally done at Seijoh.

They ended training early so they could get enough rest for the next day and after a few words from their coach about adjustments and things to pay attention to, they were all free to get changed and head home.

After getting dressed, Tobio went over to his brother who, as he noticed too late, was still talking to Oikawa.

“Nonsense, Iwa-chan. Just go ahead and go home. I can take care of this. It’s bad enough that I won’t be able to be there for the match tomorrow.”

“You’re not coming?” Tobio said before he could stop himself.

Oikawa sighed and looked at him. “No, Tobio-chan. I’m afraid I have other obligations, since I won’t be playing anyway.”

“What Oikawa means,” Hajime interrupted him, “is that he has been skipping out on his doctor’s appointments and now someone has to look at his ankle to make sure everything has healed properly. Otherwise Coach Irihata won’t allow him to start training properly by next week.”

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa whined. “You didn’t have to say it like that.”

“If you had gone to your appointments like a normal person, you wouldn’t be in this situation, Crappykawa.” Hajime said with a shrug before turning to his brother. “Ready to go?”

Tobio nodded, trying not to show his concern about Oikawa’s injury. It was none of his business how he handled his injuries.

“Let’s go home then.” Hajime grabbed his jacket.

“Don’t embarrass me tomorrow, Iwa-chan! You’ll be acting as captain and I can’t have you ruin our reputation!”

“Huh?!” Hajime turned around, his fist clenched and lifted, reading to punch his best friend - since they had already put all the volleyballs away.

Tobio stepped in between them. He really didn’t want to spend any more time here than necessary. With Oikawa. After what happened the day before.
That Hajime didn’t know about.
“It’s not worth it, Hajime. Let’s go home.”

His brother seemed ready to argue, but then clenched his teeth and lowered his fist. “Yes. Let’s go.”

Tobio glanced back at Oikawa before following Hajime out of the gym. He couldn’t tell at all what their captain was thinking.

“Is Oikawa’s injury really that bad?” Tobio finally asked his brother on their way home. He didn’t want to show too much interest in Oikawa, but for some reason, he needed to know.

“No. He’s fine,” Hajime said, taking a sip from his water bottle. “He just refuses to attend his doctor’s appointments whenever they coincide with training. As if we couldn’t handle a single practice without him.” He rolled his eyes.

“You think that’s the only reason?”

Hajime looked at him. “What do you mean?”

Tobio quickly shook his head. “Nothing. It just doesn’t make sense to me that Oikawa wouldn’t have his injury looked at.”

“It’s nothing serious, that’s probably why he’s being such an idiot about it.”

“You’re probably right.” Tobio looked at his feet. “So he’ll be back to normal by next week?”

“Yeah. As soon as he gets the official go ahead from his doctor.”

“I know I am a fascinating personality, but you really don’t need to talk about me all the time,” Oikawa’s voice could suddenly be heard from behind them and they both turned around.

At some point during their walk home, Oikawa had apparently caught up to them.

He was standing a few steps away from them, a confident grin on his lips.

“Oikawa. Didn’t you want to lock up behind everyone?” Iwaizumi said with a frown on his face.

“I did,” Oikawa shrugged as he passed them. “You two are just too slow, so I caught up with you without even trying.”

“You probably hurried after us just so you could say that, Dumbass.”

“Tsk tsk, such words in front of your little brother, Iwa-chan. Aren’t you supposed to be a role model or something like that?”

“That’s rich coming from you,” Hajime said, following his best friend and Tobio didn’t have any choice but to follow as well.
Out of all the ways to end this day, this was probably the most awkward one Tobio could imagine.

He trailed after his brother and his best friend while they had one of their usual half-arguments and tried not to think about what had happened when he had walked this exact same path just one day prior.

They were even nearing that damn streetlight now.

Tobio glanced over at Oikawa, but he didn’t even seem to be paying attention to where he was going, looking at Hajime as he passed by under that lamp.

He felt himself flushing and quickly turned his face away in case either of the other two might look at him by chance and notice.

Why was he even thinking about this? Oikawa obviously didn’t care.
Maybe he didn’t even remember.
It probably wasn’t a big deal to him at all. He kissed people all the time after all. Had girlfriends. Went on dates.
All those things that were still alien to Tobio.

He didn’t even notice when they reached their home and Oikawa said his goodbyes to Hajime.
His brother already went up to the door, busy searching his pockets for his keys, but Tobio stopped for a moment, looking after Oikawa.

He hadn’t expected it, but for just a moment the older boy looked back over his shoulder, looking at Tobio and their eyes met.
He didn’t stop walking and neither of them said anything or even gave any indication of having noticed the other’s attention, but somehow those few seconds sent a thrill running down Tobio’s back and he knew this wasn’t over yet.

Chapter Text

The day of his first practice match as part of the Aoba Johsai volleyball club, Tobio woke up early and found himself unable to go back to sleep. So instead of trying to force it, he got dressed and went downstairs to make some breakfast.

Hajime joined him about half an hour later. "Good morning, Tobio. You're up early."

"Morning, Hajime. I made breakfast. It's just about done," he gave his brother a quick smile.

"Let's eat then, so we won't have to rush so much to get to school in time."

Tobio nodded and with Hajime's help, he set the table and served their breakfast.

It was comfortable to share a meal with his brother. It reminded him of how much he loved his brother and that he could count on him no matter what.
Which made it even harder that he couldn't just tell him about his first kiss. Because of who it was with.

He tightened his grip on his chopsticks and pushed the thought away.
He wouldn't think about Oikawa today. He wouldn't even have to see him today.
It was an Oikawa-free day.
With Hajime. And volleyball.
It was going to be a good day.

Except that when they left the house together, Oikawa was waiting outside.

"Good morning, Iwa-chan!" He said with a bright smile. "And Tobio-chan, too," he added, only sparing him a quick glance before turning back to his best friend.

"Morning, Oikawa," Hajime said and started heading to school.

Tobio shouldn't have been surprised that Oikawa was waiting for Hajime. He knew they walked to school together most of the time.
But somehow, in his brain, Oikawa not being at practice had equalled him not being at school. Which obviously made no sense at all, in hindsight. Oikawa's doctor's appointment wouldn't take all day.

Still, it didn't mean he had to interact with Oikawa. Tobio had more than enough experience spending time with his brother and his best friend while ignoring one of them. He had basically mastered that skill over the years.

So Tobio fell back a little and allowed the other two to get a headstart before he followed them.
That way he didn't have to talk or listen to Oikawa and the chances that the captain would make any comments at or about him sunk drastically.

Feeling rather pleased with how quickly he had escaped that situation, he continued his walk to school.

But of course, things were never that easy when it came to Oikawa Tooru.

About two streets away from school, Tobio suddenly found himself almost running into him.
Oikawa had been leaning against a wall just after a corner, effectively hiding him long enough that Tobio couldn't avoid him in time.
Hajime was nowhere to be seen.

Tobio quickly took a few steps back to get some distance between them again. "Oikawa? What -
Where's Hajime?"

"I sent him ahead with some preparations to take care of for the practice match today," Oikawa shrugged.

Tobio frowned. "Shouldn't you be taking care of that?"

"Maybe," he said carelessly and Tobio only noticed that Oikawa had been backing him up against the wall when he suddenly felt his back colliding with it. Oikawa put his left hand against the wall right next to Tobio's head and leaned closer, causing Tobio's heart to stutter and then quickly speed up at the sudden proximity. "But I wanted to talk to you. Alone."

"You could have called me. I tried to call you. You didn't answer. Nor did you call me back." He really hoped he didn't sound as petulant as he thought he did.

"This really isn't something I want to discuss over the phone, Tobio-chan."

"Then why didn't you just tell me that? And ignored me instead?"

Oikawa sighed and ran his free hand through his hair. "It's not that easy, Tobio-chan. I didn't exactly plan any of this."

Tobio crossed his arms. "Well you're not making it any easier, I can tell you that."

"I know," Oikawa said quietly, moving even closer, leaning his forearm against the wall and causing Tobio to be fully pushed up against the wall behind him. They were so close, their chests were touching and he could have felt the warmth of Oikawa's body if it wasn't for his closed jacket.

"Then why… are you doing this?" His mouth felt dry. His eyes flitted down to Oikawa's lips for just a second, remembering how they had felt against his own, before looking back up into Oikawa's eyes. From this short distance, he could see all the little different coloured specks that made up his eye colour.
He had a feeling it was about to happen again. Oikawa was going to kiss him again and he wasn't sure whether he wanted to run or welcome it.
Something in his stomach fluttered.

"Isn't it obvious?" He leaned even closer as he spoke, their lips almost touching.

Tobio didn't know what to answer and it turned out he didn't need to anyway as Oikawa sealed his lips with a kiss.

The kiss felt different than their first in the way that it didn't make Tobio freeze in shock and unable to move.
No, this time it felt familiar and it was almost too easy to let himself be carried away by the feeling.
Without his conscious decision, his eyes had closed as he accepted the kiss, allowed Oikawa to claim his lips once again.
Tobio found himself sighing softly and with a confidence that he couldn't explain, he lifted his hand up to cup Oikawa's cheek, keeping him in place so he couldn't just break the kiss.
Oikawa seemed more than pleased by that action and his free hand moved down to Tobio's waist, pulling him away from the wall just enough so he was flush against him.

They kissed for what felt like hours but likely were only minutes, but when they finally broke apart, they were both panting, bodies still entangled and neither of them made any indication of wanting to change that.
Quite on the contrary, Oikawa's arm moved and wrapped itself around Tobio's waist, holding him close.

"As much… as I'm enjoying this," Oikawa said breathlessly, "I'm afraid we don't have much time."

Unable to find words, Tobio just nodded. He didn't want to pull away. He felt comfortable in Oikawa's arms.
Still he didn't protest as Oikawa slowly retracted his arm and took a step back, bringing some distance between their bodies.

"We will need to talk about this, Tobio-chan."

Tobio nodded again. What was wrong with him that kissing Oikawa seemed to always leave him speechless?

"But we can't do that now. I'll - I'll come up with something. I'll figure out a place where we can meet so we can talk."

"Why can't we meet at your place?" Tobio frowned, apparently finally able to find his voice.

"Because Iwa-chan could show up at any point, obviously. You know that he has a key to our house just like I have one for yours."

That - made a lot of sense, actually. 
Tobio wasn't very keen either on his brother barging in on him and Oikawa having a - a what? A heart-to-heart? A conversation?
He wasn't sure what the right term was in this case. 

Oikawa glanced at his watch. "We really need to get going. Iwa-chan will get suspicious if I'm late for class."

Tobio took a deep breath and pushed himself off the wall, quickly patting down his clothes to make sure there wasn't any dirt on it from leaning against the wall while - 
He blushed at the thought of what he had just done. Again.

He looked up and found Oikawa watching him, an expression on his face that Tobio couldn't place.

"Ready?"

Tobio gave an answering nod.

"Let's get going then."

They started quickly walking the rest of the way to school, neither of them speaking.
And if their hands brushed up against each other from time to time, neither of them mentioned that either.

They split up when they reached the school grounds, not even stopping to say goodbye before they hurried to each of their classrooms.

During class, Tobio found his attention drifting and thinking back to that moment with Oikawa instead of paying attention to what their teacher was saying.
He couldn't believe it had happened again. That Oikawa really had kissed him again after the way he behaved after the first time.
He definitely hadn't forgotten about it, that much was clear now.
But Tobio still didn't know about Oikawa's intentions. He had simply no idea why Oikawa had kissed him in the first place. And why he had done it again.

At least Oikawa had agreed that they would talk about it. Maybe that would give Tobio the answers he needed, although he didn't even know what he was hoping to hear.

Lunchbreak finally pulled Tobio out of his musings and the discussion between Kindaichi and Kunimi about the practice match later that day was enough to finally push Oikawa and his stupid kissable lips to the back of his mind.

After class, they all hurried over to the gym to get changed and start warming up before the other school's team arrived.
There was a certain air of excitement all around as they set up the court and took care of some last minute preparations.

It was a little weird for Tobio to have Hajime coordinate all that was happening and answer the questions that would usually be directed at Oikawa.
He knew his brother would be an amazing captain, but Hajime just never seemed to feel the need to be in the spotlight like Oikawa did and over the years, they seemed to have figured out exactly how far they could go without stepping on each other's toes.

Tobio was in the middle of warming up with the rest of his team by tossing them and making some last adjustments, when the doors to the gym opened and a large group of boys entered.

Karasuno had arrived.

Chapter Text

For a moment, the Karasuno volleyball team seemed rather overwhelmed by the size of the Aoba Johsai gym. They were looking around, seemingly rather impressed. One tiny boy with orange hair even had his mouth hanging wide open. He looked vaguely familiar, although Tobio couldn’t tell why.
Then their captain seemed to call them to attention and they all bowed in greeting.
After answering in kind, Aoba Johsai’s members went back to their warm-up, not paying much attention to the other team.

Tobio watched as Hajime went over to them and greeted the captain, exchanging a few words with him.

The Karasuno team in their black outfits stood out rather starkly against all the Aoba Johsai players in white and seafoam green as they walked around the gym and settled down on a few benches where they put down their bags and started taking off their jackets so they could warm up.

"They look a little intimidating, don't they?" Yahaba suddenly said next to him, making Tobio jump as he hadn't noticed him approaching. "Kindaichi and I ran into them outside and their captain had to hold them back before they could do something stupid."

Tobio looked at him. "Something stupid?"

Yahaba shrugged and took a few gulps from his water bottle. He would not be starting today, but it was obvious he was ready to jump in when necessary. Tobio wondered whether he should feel intimidated by that, but found himself just pleased that the other setter hadn't given up and was taking this just as seriously as he did.
"I'd rather not find out."

Tobio turned back to the other team, watching them as they started their warm-up routine. "I doubt they can be as intimidating as Oikawa when he gets all competitive."

Yahaba laughed. "You might be right there. Too bad he isn't here today, huh?" He gave Tobio a look out of the corner of his eyes that he couldn't place. "We could use a bit of intimidation from our side.
Although I think Iwaizumi can do just as good of a job at that. He just goes differently about it."

Tobio frowned at him. "Hajime isn't intimidating."

"Maybe not to you, but you're his little brother. Honestly, I wouldn't want to find out what he does when someone hurts you."

"My whole team hurt me last year and Hajime didn't do anything to them."

"Yeah, but that's different, right? It wouldn't have helped you if he had interfered.
But you could still tell he was mad."

"What?"

"Let's just say Oikawa got even better at dodging volleyballs that week."

Tobio stared at him, but Yahaba just smiled. "Just telling you what I saw. You can draw your own conclusions from that."

They were called over to their coaches then and while they put on the training bibs with their numbers on them, they all got some last minute instructions on which players to pay attention to.
Then they took the court.

Karasuno’s players seemed a little confused as to why Aoba Johsai’s third years all stood off to the side, none of them on the court for starting, but after a few words from their captain that Tobio couldn’t understand, they looked much more focused as they got on their positions.

Tobio’s team had the first serve.

Karasuno's team was… a mess. Tobio couldn't remember ever seeing anything quite like it and part of him couldn't help thinking that Oikawa would have a stroke if his team ever played like that.
How they even managed to score was beyond him.

However, he refused to let his guard down. He watched their players closely, taking in all the information he could.
Their setter was decent enough, but played in a way that Tobio could only call 'polite'. It was tame and while it served the purpose well enough, it was miles away from players like Oikawa who could tweak every toss to a player's needs and create opportunities where there were none.
Their captain was a decent enough all-rounder, but he basically had to handle the defence on his own as they didn't have a libero.
The tall guy was someone that Tobio had an immediate dislike for that he couldn't explain, but he obviously didn't use all of his skills and the advantage of his height.
The other guys were nothing special, although one seemed a little aggressive and could probably have done some nice spikes if he got the chance.
What confused Tobio the most though, was the presence of the little guy. He created more chaos than anything else and Tobio wondered if that guy had ever played volleyball before. Maybe it was their tactic to try and confuse them…?

The first set was easily won, so they went into the second set with confidence.
Karasuno seemed to have pulled themselves together though and suddenly they had a different game on their hands.

They had probably underestimated them, Tobio considered after they had somehow lost the second set. They had let their guard down and paid for it with this lost set.
It was rather embarrassing and spoke of inexperience - which wasn't surprising since a lot of them actually were.
Their coaches were not happy at all and so for the third set, they decided it was time for a different strategy.

"We're going to do a trial run with what this year's team might actually look like. Now, Oikawa isn't here, but the younger Iwaizumi will do well enough for today," Irihata gave Tobio an acknowledging nod that told him that he hadn't completely failed during the last set. 
He felt Hajime's hand on his shoulder and smiled at his older brother before turning back to their coaches.

"Our team for the last set will be Iwaizumi Hajime and Tobio, Matsukawa, Hanamaki, Watari, Kindaichi and Kunimi.
Have you finished your warm-up?"

The third years had just nodded in agreement, when loud squeals could be heard from the girls watching from the balcony.
Tobio felt like his stomach jumped up to his throat before sinking back down very quickly.
There was only one person who would get this kind of reception.

He didn't even have to turn around to confirm his suspicion, the girls above him did it for him with their loud screeches of "Oikawa-senpai!"

"Ah, Oikawa," their coach said as Oikawa had casually walked over to his team and joined them. Tobio noted that he was already in his volleyball clothing. “How is your foot?”

“Perfect,” Oikawa answered with a wide smile. “I’m allowed to fully participate in training again. I told you it wasn’t so bad.”

“You need to be more careful.” Irihata gave him an irritated look. “We need you on the court.”

“Please don’t push yourself, Oikawa-san!” One of the girls called and Oikawa waved at her and her friends with a pleasant smile.

Tobio was pretty sure one of the girls up there just fainted after that. He himself felt like throwing up, although he wasn't quite sure what caused this reaction.
He turned away from the others and looked over at the other team, but he could still hear Oikawa’s voice behind him addressing Hajime: “Did you play that badly because you were so stressed out over having to take over as captain for me?”

Karasuno’s players were watching them. No. They were watching Oikawa.
Because of course they were. At least a few of them likely recognised him.
Seijoh’s famous captain, the talented and oh-so-popular Oikawa Tooru.
Suddenly Tobio could understand Hajime’s seemingly constant urge to throw a volleyball at Oikawa’s head.

“Go warm up. And be even more thorough than usual,” Irihata said to Oikawa behind him and Tobio felt his stomach drop to the background sound of Oikawa’s squealing fangirls.
He was running out of time, it seemed.

Tobio allowed himself one quick glance over at Oikawa who was starting his warm-up routine off to one side of the gym before he joined the other Seijoh players on the court.
Hajime gave him a quick smile and Tobio couldn’t help but feel a little better.
He was playing a match with Hajime.
Not just at home, for fun, but with an actual team against an actual opponent.
And even if it wasn’t an official match, it meant a lot to him.

He pushed Oikawa’s looming presence out of his mind and focused back on the game.
It was their turn to serve.

With the substitution of almost half of the starting line-up, the dynamics on the court within Aoba Johsai’s team took a drastic turn.
They had never played in this constellation before, but all of them were experienced and at least vaguely familiar with each other, so it didn’t take them long to adjust and soon they were scoring point after point.
Tobio didn’t like admitting it, but Oikawa’s style of leading his team was paying off.
They were working like one entity.

Karasuno however did not give up. Tobio had to give it to them, no matter how many points they lost, how much closer they got to losing the third set and therefore the game, they didn’t stop trying.

And then the whistle blew. Tobio turned around with a heavy feeling in his stomach, fully expecting that his time on the court was over now since Oikawa had returned.
But to his surprise, it wasn’t him who had to leave court. It was Kunimi.
Oikawa was coming in as a pinch server, not setter.

Tobio could feel the tension in the air growing as Oikawa took the ball and moved behind the line to serve.
The other team could tell something was coming and the watching students around them were talking excitedly, eager to see Oikawa’s famous serve.

Tobio took a deep breath and wanted to turn back to facing the other team, but for a moment, he met Oikawa’s gaze and that flutter in his stomach was back.
He quickly broke eye contact, feeling his cheeks burning up. What was wrong with him?
He seriously hoped no one on his team was paying attention to - it was bad enough that the players on the other side of the net could see his face very clearly.
At least they wouldn’t know what his expression meant. Probably.

He only half-listened to Oikawa taunting the other team before finally making his first serve.
It wasn’t very surprising that it was an ace.
Tobio could hear the cheers from Oikawa’s fanclub.

The game was over quickly after that.

Karasuno managed to stop Oikawa’s second serve, but stood no chance of taking the set.
They were missing players and strategy.
Still, Tobio could see the potential. He frowned.
It wasn’t unusual for him to be able to take in and appreciate the talents of other teams, but it was rare for him to see potential in a team like Karasuno.

As he walked over to the bench to grab his water bottle, he could hear Oikawa and Hajime arguing about who needed to shake the hand of the other team’s captain.

“You’re the captain, Oikawa, go and do your duty.”

“I wasn’t even supposed to be here, Iwa-chan, my appointment was just over much quicker than expected and -”

“Just do it, Lazykawa.” There was a shout from Oikawa then and when he turned around, he could tell that Hajime had gone back to his habit of hurling volleyballs at his best friend.

“You! King!”

Tobio frowned and turned around to face whoever was standing behind him and shouting at him. He lifted an eyebrow at the sight of the human tangerine from Karasuno.
He had no idea what his name was. “Are you talking to me?”

“Of course I am! I swore I would win against you, remember?”

Tobio just looked at him in confusion, before something clicked in his brain. “Oh. From last year. I don’t remember your name.”

The other one looked visibly upset at that. “My name is Hinata Shouyou!”

“I see. Iwaizumi Tobio. Nice to meet you,” he said politely.

The other frowned. “Iwa- Isn’t that the name of that guy over there?” He pointed over at Hajime who was, of course, talking to Oikawa. But this time Matsukawa and Hanamaki had joined them.

“That’s my older brother,” Tobio said calmly, taking a few gulps of water.

Hinata gaped at him, then shouted (rather loudly), “That’s so cool! I wish I had an older brother I could play volleyball with. And he’s your team’s ace, right? I’m going to become Karasuno’s ace.” He said with a confident grin.

“Not if you play like you did today.”

“Youuu,” he said angrily, drawing out the last vowel. “I’ll show you! You’ll see what I can do.”

“I will wait to see your improvement at Interhigh then.”

“You can bet on it!” He said, huffing. “I will even show you before then. Give me your phone number.”

“What?”

“Your phone number. I’ll show you how much progress I am making.”

Tobio hesitated but then agreed to exchange numbers. Then Hinata hurried and went back to his team since they were about to leave.

“Making new friends?”

Tobio turned around to his brother. “I’m not sure whether I would call him a friend. He just remembered me from a match in middle school.”

“Well. Doesn’t mean it can’t happen in the future, right?” He smiled at him.

Tobio shrugged noncommittally.

“Come on. We need to help clean up around here before we can head home.”

Chapter Text

When they finally got home, Tobio felt both drained and elated.
It had been such a long day. So much had happened.
But he couldn’t deny that things were looking up.
He held on to that positive feeling as long as he could even as the days after that slowly chipped away at it.

Class was boring and volleyball practice was all about preparation for their first real match.
It was a little frustrating for Tobio to know that it didn’t matter how well he had done during the practice match, he wouldn’t be playing again anytime soon.
Kindaichi and Kunimi on the other hand now had rather good chances of getting to play.
He tried not to let it get to him.

On top of that, Oikawa was mostly ignoring him again. Unless they were walking to or from school with Hajime, he didn’t talk to him at all.
Tobio was starting to get a little sick of Oikawa’s hot and cold attitude.

On Friday, on their way to school, he overheard Oikawa and Hajime discussing going to the amusement park the next day. It sounded like Matsukawa and Hanamaki would be joining them as well.

Tobio shouldn’t have been surprised about it.
It was one of the last chances before they’d be too busy with Interhigh preparations and extra practices and he knew the four of them often spent time together, even outside of school.
But somehow it bothered him this time.
Which is probably why he didn’t even hesitate when Kunimi asked him whether he wanted to join them for a movie night that same evening.

“You can stay overnight, if that makes it easier. The others are staying as well,” he said with a shrug.

So, after practice, Tobio went over to Hajime and told him about going home with Kunimi.
He could feel Oikawa staring holes into his back, but he ignored him completely.
Sometimes it just felt good to be petty.

Hajime seemed a little hesitant, but since it was officially the weekend now, he didn’t have much reason to protest and instead just reminded him to call their mother if he wouldn’t be home for lunch the next day.

“Have fun with your friends,” he finally said and smiled at him before turning back to Oikawa who was still standing next to them with his hands on his hips and was now giving Tobio a rather cold look.

Tobio clenched his teeth and nodded at him before just turning around and walking over to the group with Kunimi.
He wasn’t going to let Oikawa stop him from enjoying some time with his friends.

Their little group of first years soon reached Kunimi's home and after greeting Kunimi's older sister (their parents apparently not being home for the night, the main reason why they were having this impromptu movie night at Kunimi's), they all settled on the floor with blankets and pillows.
Tobio decided to help Kunimi with drinks and snacks instead of joining in on the debate of what movie to watch first.

Kunimi quickly gave him some instructions on what to grab and then started preparing some popcorn.
"I'm surprised Iwaizumi let you go. He and Oikawa didn't look too pleased when you went over to talk to them," Kunimi said and Tobio could tell he was trying not to sound too interested.

Tobio just shrugged. "Possible. But I'm not a child anymore, so he can't really say anything. They'll be out all day tomorrow anyway, so he can't really say anything about me being gone for one night."

"Oh?" Kunimi glanced over at him. "Where are they going?"

"Amusement park," he said while grabbing some different bottles of soda and water from the fridge. He had been here a few times before, in middle school, and it felt rather strange to be back after their fallout at the end of that year. "I think Matsukawa and Hanamaki are joining them as well."

"Ah. Not a date then."

Tobio, who had just been about to take a sip of water from one of the bottles, choked and had to wipe his mouth before turning to look at Kunimi, forcing out a "What?"

"You know. A date. Wouldn't be too surprising, don't you think?"

"You think that Oikawa and my brother are dating?"

"No. I don't," he said with a shrug. "I just wouldn't be surprised if they were."

"They're friends. They have been friends since before I was even born."

"Exactly. And they're still spending basically every free minute together. Is it really that weird to think there could be more between them?
Or how else would you explain that Oikawa never seems to have a girlfriend for longer than two weeks?"

"He says they don't get why he spends so much time training."

"Mhm. And who is there when he is training?"

"... the team?"

Kunimi shot him a 'really?' look. "Iwaizumi-san, obviously."

"That still doesn't mean they're dating."

"Of course not. I'm just saying it's a possibility.
But honestly, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they went on a double date with two girls either."

Tobio shook his head and finally took a few gulps from the bottle. He knew for a fact that Oikawa and Hajime were not dating.
No matter what was going on between Oikawa and Tobio, Oikawa would never hurt his best friend like that and kiss his brother behind his back while he was dating him.
Tobio was sure of at least that much.
Still, the thought made him feel sick.
As far as Tobio knew, his brother was straight. At least, he had never had any indication that he might be anything else. So what if Oikawa wanted to be with Hajime in that way and because he couldn't, he settled for Tobio instead?
It would at least explain his weird behaviour if Tobio was just there to be a quick fix whenever Oikawa felt like it.

The thought still lingering on his mind, he followed Kunimi back into the living room and after putting down the drinks, he got comfortable on the floor with the others.
Thankfully no one seemed to notice his mood as they started the movie and focused on the screen.

They were halfway through the movie when Tobio felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.
He frowned as he pulled it out and checked who was calling him. No one but Hajime and his mother ever called him, so he was more than shocked to see the screen light up with Oikawa's name.

"Oh what's that?" Kindaichi said with a look at Tobio. "Big brother already getting worried and checking in on you?"

"Nope," Kunimi said as he was leaning closer to Tobio so he could look at the screen as well. "It's Oikawa."

"Oh god, that's even worse!"
The others laughed.

"Well. Aren't you going to answer?" Kunimi said calmly. He wasn't laughing.

Tobio shrugged and got up, heading in the kitchen so he could answer the call in private.
He had no doubt the others were going to try and listen in.

As soon as he had accepted the call, he could hear Oikawa's voice. "Tobio-chan! Finally. You took ages to answer."

"I'm sorry, I'm at Kunimi's right now and -"

"Yes, yes. I know. I heard what you said to Iwa-chan earlier."

Tobio sighed. "Why are you calling me, Oikawa?"

"Hmm? Oh yes. I wanted to ask you to come with us tomorrow."

"What?"

"To the amusement park. Tomorrow."

"But - why?" Tobio was really confused now. Why would Oikawa ask him to come to the amusement park with them? And why now when he could have done it that morning instead when he had been discussing it with his brother?

"Well, we have a ticket left over and Iwa-chan thought you might have fun coming along."

Tobio clenched his hand to a fist. Of course. Of course he was supposed to be the last option, the one to fill in the gap. "I'm not a substitute that will come running whenever you snap your fingers, Oikawa."

"What? Tobio-chan, what are you talking about?"

He took a deep breath and unclenched his hand. "Nothing. I'm not coming."

"Tobio-chan, -"

"No. Goodnight, Oikawa." He ended the call without waiting for a reply.
The phone in his hand immediately rang again and he declined the call and turned off his phone. Let Oikawa deal with explaining things to Hajime if he tried to call Tobio and couldn't get an answer.

He pushed his phone back into his pocket and went back into the living room.

"What did Oikawa want?" Kunimi asked as Tobio sat back down. He could tell everyone was looking at him now.

"Nothing. Well. He wanted me to do something for him and I refused. That's all."

"You refused to do something Oikawa asked you to do?" Kindaichi sounded unwillingly impressed.

"Yes." Tobio said calmly. "He can ask someone else. I don't owe him anything."

Kunimi nodded. "Good for you. He can leave the orders for the court."

The topic was done after that and they turned back to watching the movie.

Chapter Text

Tobio had a lot of regrets.
The most recent one being that he (and the others) had fallen asleep on the floor during the third (or fourth?) movie and now he was very, very sore.

He was sore when he got up, he was sore when they had breakfast together and he was still sore when he left Kunimi's house to head home.

He didn't get very far.
He had just said goodbye to the others and pulled out his phone while walking to finally turn it back on, when someone behind him grabbed his wrist and forcefully turned him around to face them. He was ready to fight and punch his attacker right in the face when he noticed who it was.

"Oikawa?!"

"Shhh, Tobio-chan. They'll hear you."

"But what - what are you even doing here?"

"I'm here to pick you up, you idiot."

"Huh?"

Oikawa groaned, looking rather exasperated at Tobio's slow uptake. "I'm here," he said slowly, "because someone," he sent him a pointed look, "hung up on me yesterday and then turned off his phone."

Right. "Right. But that doesn't explain anything." Tobio finally pulled his wrist free and took a step back. "How did you even get here? How do you know Kunimi's address?" He seriously doubted Oikawa had ever been at Kunimi's home.

Oikawa crossed his arms. "Please. I'm your captain, Tobio-chan. It's really not that hard for me to look up your addresses."

"That's abuse of power, you know?"

Oikawa shrugged carelessly. "It's not like I'm using it for anything shady." He reached for Tobio's hand. "Now come. Iwa-chan is waiting for you."
Then he looked him over. "Why are you walking so stiffly anyway?"

Tobio quickly pulled his hand away before Oikawa could even touch him. "I told you already I'm not coming with you." He shot him an irritated look. "And I'm sore. That's all."

Oikawa lifted an eyebrow. "Sore?"

"Yes. Sore. It's not a big deal." He turned away but Oikawa grabbed his wrist again.

"Why exactly are you sore, Tobio-chan?" Oikawa said with a strange expression on his face.

Tobio huffed and rolled his eyes. "Because I slept on the floor."

Oikawa relaxed immediately, but also managed to look disapproving at the same time. "You shouldn't be sleeping on the floor, Tobio-chan."

"It wasn't planned. I just ended up falling asleep during the movie. Now leave me alone."
He pulled his arm free from Oikawa's grip.

"Don't be ridiculous, Tobio-chan, I'm just taking you home."

"I can walk home by myself, thank you very much."

Oikawa narrowed his eyes. "Why are you being so prickly recently? First your behaviour yesterday and now this."

"Me? I'm not the one who kisses someone one moment and then ignores them the rest of the time."

He lifted an eyebrow. "So you're jealous."

"Jea- Where the heck would you get that idea from?"

"You just told me that you dislike that I'm paying attention to other people."

"Why would you -" Of course Oikawa was going to take it that way. Of course he wouldn't see what he himself might have done wrong and would look for the failure on Tobio's side. "No. You know what? I'm not even going to have this discussion with you.
I'm going home."
Tobio turned around and continued his way back home.

"Tobio-chan!" Oikawa was following him.
"Playing hard to get really is not a good look for you."

"I'm not playing hard to get," he growled in response. "Leave me alone, Oikawa."

"Tobio-chan." 

The seriousness in Oikawa's voice finally made him stop.
"I - I'm sorry. I really didn't come here today to argue with you."

Tobio slowly turned around to him and saw Oikawa almost sheepishly scratching the back of his neck.

"I've been… worried."

"Worried?" Tobio asked with a frown.

"Yes. Worried and -" He sighed and let his hand sink back to his side. "And jealous."

Tobio was rather confused by that admission. "Why would you be jealous, Oikawa?"

"Because - you're spending time with them."

"My friends?"

"Yes. Kunimi and the others. You spend a lot of time with them."

"You spend time with Hajime and your other friends all the time," he pointed out.

"I know. But that's normal for me. You - you're much more picky about who you spend your time with."

Tobio couldn't deny that. Oikawa was much more of a people-person than he was.
"None of that ever bothered you before. So why now?"

Now it was Oikawa's turn to frown. "Things have changed between us recently. So of course my feelings about it have changed as well."

"What exactly has changed between us, Oikawa? Because I still don't even know what any of this is.
As far as I'm concerned, you've been pushing me, trying to see how I'll react. Then you've kissed me twice, just to drop me right afterwards, like a hot potato. And now you're telling me you're jealous that I'm spending time with my friends?
That just doesn't make any sense to me.
You don't seem able to make up your mind about what you want from me. And I've had enough of you playing with me while you figure that out."

"Tobio-chan… it's really not that easy. Iwa-chan -"

"Yes. I know." Tobio interrupted him. "Don't you think I know that? I live under the same roof as him. I've known him - I've known both of you all my life. I know what things are like between you and it's not hard for me to imagine how he'll react if he ever finds out about all of this.
I talk to my brother about everything. How do you think I feel about not being able to tell him about this?
I simply can't do it anymore. All of this back and forth.
Either you want it or you don't. Make up your mind.
I'm going home."

He turned away from Oikawa and started heading home. 
This time, Oikawa didn't try following him.

Tobio had just turned the last corner that would lead him to his home when he heard running footsteps behind him. He moved a bit closer to one side of the sidewalk to allow whoever was running up to him pass by, but instead there suddenly were arms around his waist and familiar lips against his.

The kiss only lasted for a few seconds before Oikawa pulled back, his arms still around him. "You. I want you, Tobio-chan," he said quietly.

"Oikawa -" Tobio started but the other just shook his head to stop him.

"No. Let me finish. 
You're right. It's not fair of me to have expectations of you when I'm not making any commitments.
I obviously haven't been very clear about my intentions and that's my fault.
I was so preoccupied with not letting Iwa-chan notice that anything had happened between us that I forgot how that would make you feel. I thought I'd get the chance to explain but somehow that didn't happen.
And I've hurt you with that, so - I'm sorry."

Tobio stared at Oikawa. He couldn't remember ever hearing Oikawa apologise and sound like he actually meant it.

"But I am serious, Tobio-chan. I'm not just doing this to play games with you." He reached up and caressed his cheek. "I've wanted this for a long time."

"What about Hajime?"

Oikawa sighed. "I don't know. Honestly, I have no idea. But - if you decide that you want to try this, then we'll figure it out."

Tobio almost didn't dare ask. "If I want… what?"

"Me. Dating me. Being my boyfriend," Oikawa said, his thumb caressing over Tobio's cheekbone just like that day on the sofa. "Whatever you want to call it.
But I would very much like to call you mine."

Tobio took a deep breath. His heart was beating so fast it felt like it wanted to jump out of his chest.
There is was. His answer to what all of this meant.
Now he just needed to decide what it was that he wanted.

"Yes," he said finally. "Yes, I want that."

Oikawa smiled at him. It was a smile that Tobio had never seen on his face, even in all those years of knowing him. It was very close to his usual genuine smile, but somehow gentler. More intimate as if it was something that he would only allow very few people to see.
It made that something in Tobio's stomach flutter.

"Will you finally kiss me now?" Tobio asked when he felt like tension between them was starting to make it hard to breathe.

Oikawa laughed softly. "So impatient, Tobio-chan."

Tobio sighed. "Fine, if you don't want to …"
Then he started to extricate himself from Oikawa's arms.

Oikawa immediately tightened his hold on him and didn't allow him to escape. "Where do you think you're going, Tobio-chan?"

"Home. Hajime is probably about to come looking for me anyway."

Oikawa pouted. "What a way to ruin the mood, Tobio-chan. Mentioning Iwa-chan like that."

Feeling unexpectedly bold, Tobio answered. "Then you should just make me shut up."

Oikawa blinked at him, then laughed. "Fair enough." He pulled Tobio's face closer and kissed him gently.
It was probably the softest kiss they had shared so far, just gentle lips moving against each other, but it made the fluttering sensation in Tobio's stomach reach an intensity he had never felt before.
He wrapped his arms around Oikawa's neck and kissed him back eagerly, finally feeling like it was exactly the right thing to do.
No more doubts. Just the sensation of Oikawa's lips against his.

When they finally broke apart, neither of them tried to pull away. They stayed exactly how they had been, arms wrapped around each other.

“Come to the amusement park with us," Oikawa said quietly. "I want to spend the day with you."

Tobio hesitated. "Are you sure that's a good idea? We could be found out before we even had the chance to make up our minds on how we want to handle the situation."

"I know. But it won't just be the two of us and Iwa-chan. Mattsun and Makki will be there as well.
They'll be busy having fun and arguing about what to ride next or what food to get. So as long as we aren't too obvious, no one will notice anything."

Tobio frowned. He really couldn't see Hajime arguing with Hanamaki and Matsukawa over something like that. "Are you sure you aren't talking about yourself and Hajime arguing?"

"Well, maybe. But trust me, the others bicker quite a lot as well."

Tobio still hesitated.

"Listen, Tobio-chan. Do you think you'll be able to keep your hands off me for one day, especially with your brother being around the whole time?"

Tobio thought about it. He had been fine so far with keeping his distance from Oikawa when it was needed. And with Hajime around, he likely wouldn't feel comfortable being close to Oikawa anyway.
They'd be busy and with there being five of them it was unlikely that he would ever end up alone with Oikawa.

"I think that won't be a problem," Tobio said finally.

"Don't sound so confident about that, Tobio-chan, you're hurting my feelings," he pouted.

"You mean I'm hurting your ego," he lifted his chin defiantly, "by not agreeing with all of your fangirls how utterly irresistible you are."

"And yet you're still here in my arms, with your lips all red and swollen from kissing me."

Tobio's eyes widened a bit, blushing as he self-consciously touched his lips. Was it really that obvious…?

Oikawa chuckled softly. "Don't worry, Tobio-chan, no one will notice anything." He leaned closer and whispered into his ear. "Unless you want them to, of course. I can easily arrange that."

A shiver ran down Tobio's spine and he quickly pulled away from Oikawa, taking a few steps back.

Oikawa was giving him a satisfied smirk.

Flustered, Tobio looked away and nervously fixed his clothes although there really wasn't much that he could fix considering he had slept in them.

"Let's get you home before Iwa-chan truly puts together a search party." Oikawa put his hands into his pockets and walked past him.

"Wait. You're coming with me?" Tobio hurried after him.

"Of course. I told Iwa-chan I would pick you up and convince you to come with us on the way.
Which I now have done," he said with his usual smug expression.

"I doubt my brother would have agreed if he had known how exactly you'd convince me," Tobio mumbled.

"Good thing he doesn't know then," Oikawa answered with a wink and led him the rest of the way home.

Chapter Text

Hajime was already waiting for them when they reached the Iwaizumi household.

"Tobio!" He immediately wrapped his arms around his little brother. "You took ages to come home. I tried calling you. Is your battery dead again?"

Tobio briefly hugged him back before stepping back. "I'm fine, Hajime. Just overslept. I turned off my phone last night because Oikawa kept pestering me with texts about the amusement park and when I was about to turn it back on this morning, I almost ran into him. I'm sorry."
There. Close enough to the truth.
He hated lying to his brother, even when he had a reason to do it.
"But you really don't need to worry so much. I'm turning 16 this year. I can handle staying overnight at a friend's house and walking home in the morning."

Hajime smiled softly. "I know. But I can't help but worry about my little brother." He ruffled Tobio's hair, causing Tobio to protest and fight him off.
Then Hajime turned to his best friend. "Thanks for picking him up, Oikawa."

Oikawa shrugged nonchalantly, but Tobio had a feeling it was just an act. Something seemed to make him uncomfortable. "I still had a score to settle after Tobio-chan ignored all my texts."

"So are you coming with us, Tobio?"

Tobio nodded. "Just let me put my bag into my room and get changed out of these clothes. I've been wearing them since yesterday and even slept in them."

"Alright, go ahead. We'll wait in the kitchen."

Tobio hurried upstairs to his room. He put the bag down by the bed and went over to the wardrobe to grab some fresh clothing.

He had just taken off his shirt when the door opened quietly and closed again.
When he turned around to face whoever had come into his room without knocking, he found Oikawa leaning against the door.

"Oikawa? Shouldn't you be downstairs with Hajime?"

Oikawa shrugged. "He thinks I left to use the bathroom."

"But - you didn't?"

"Well I did use the bathroom. I just took a detour on the way back." He smirked, looking pointedly at Tobio's naked chest. "And I think it was already worth it."

Tobio looked down at his naked chest, blushed and quickly grabbed his fresh shirt.
It shouldn't be a big deal. He had changed in front of Oikawa and the other team members so many times over the years, but somehow this felt different.

"Oh you don't need to put a shirt on for my sake, Tobio-chan. I'm rather enjoying the view."

Tobio shot him an annoyed look that probably didn't have any effect at all with his cheeks being this flushed and pointedly put on his shirt.

"What a shame," Oikawa said as he walked across the room, over to Tobio. "But probably better for both of our sanity."

Tobio took a step back, hitting the wardrobe behind him. This felt way too familiar already. "Oikawa, we can't -"

"Relax, Tobio-chan. I remember what we agreed on." He put his hands on Tobio's hips. "I'll be back downstairs in a minute. Iwa-chan won't notice a thing."

"In - a minute?" He swallowed heavily. Why did Oikawa's proximity always have such an effect on him?

"Yes," he said, leaning closer so their lips were almost touching. "In a minute."
Then he kissed him again and while a small noise of protest escaped Tobio's lips, he still kissed him back, let himself get swept away by the feeling.
Maybe it was knowing that they were on a time limit, but their lips moved against each other with an urgency that hadn't been there before and Tobio found himself making small noises that he couldn't even explain.
There was a brief moment where he thought he felt something wet against his lips that might have been Oikawa's tongue but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

When Oikawa finally broke the kiss, he couldn't have said if it truly had been just one minute or maybe an hour.
He was out of breath, panting heavily against Oikawa's lips that were still so close to his own.

"I should go," Oikawa said quietly, sounding as if he wanted to do the exact opposite.

Tobio shivered as Oikawa's thumb played with the hem of his shirt, just grazing the skin underneath. "You - You should," he nodded. 

"Can't stay in the 'bathroom' forever or Iwa-chan will start wondering what I'm doing in there."

"Probably fixing your hair," Tobio said with a soft smile as he reached up to do exactly that. He didn't remember running his fingers through Oikawa's hair while they kissed, but the evidence was rather obvious.

"Well obviously my hair can't be anything but immaculate when I'm going out in public," Oikawa answered with a serious expression that caused Tobio to snort. Oikawa chuckled softly and pecked his lips once more while he wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, holding him for a brief moment before he fully pulled away.
He took a deep breath and looked at Tobio. "Alright?"

Tobio nodded, still a little out of it.

Oikawa looked at him for a long moment, then closed his eyes and shook his head at himself. "You're going to be the death of me."
He glanced at the door. "Get dressed. I'll meet you downstairs."

Then he finally left Tobio's room - after a quick glance into the mirror and fixing his hair.

Once the door had closed behind Oikawa, Tobio closed his eyes for a moment. He took three deep breaths before he opened them again. 
This situation was such a mess.
And while Oikawa already thought Tobio was going to be the death of him, Tobio truly wouldn't be surprised if Oikawa ended up being the cause of his death in turn.

After finally finishing getting dressed, Tobio went downstairs to meet his brother and Oikawa. 

The two of them were sitting in the kitchen, drinking something that looked like coffee. Oikawa was laughing and Hajime was smiling, looking rather amused.
The scene looked so comfortable, so familiar it made his heart hurt. He didn't want to ruin this.
But he knew that what was happening between him and Oikawa had the potential to do exactly that.

Hajime noticed him standing in the doorway. "There you are, Tobio. Do you want something to drink before we leave?"

Tobio shook his head. "I had breakfast with the others."

"Ah that's good. Then you won't have to eat something now and be all rushed," Hajime said with a nod while Oikawa frowned at him. 
Tobio ignored that.

"When are we leaving?"

Hajime looked at the clock above the kitchen counter. "In about ten minutes. We're meeting the others at the bus stop."

"Okay. Should I bring anything?"

"Just the usual. Jacket, hat, sunscreen. Oh and maybe -"

"You're such a mother hen, Iwa-chan," Oikawa interrupted him.

Hajime rolled his eyes. "It's called 'being responsible'. Not that you would have ever heard of that."

"Iwa-chan! Mean!" He crossed his arms and pouted.

Hajime just shrugged and turned back to his brother. "Come on, sit down with us."

Tobio walked over and pulled out the chair next to Hajime so he wouldn't have to sit next to Oikawa. What he hadn't remembered was that now Oikawa was opposite of him, meaning he took up most of Tobio's field of view.

"I'm glad you've decided to join us," Hajime continued, seemingly unaware of Tobio's struggles. "It's been awhile since we got to hang out like this. It'll be fun."

Tobio nodded, trying his best not to look at Oikawa - which Oikawa noticed of course and smirked at him.

Hajime sighed. "Can you at least try and get along for the day?"

"What?" Oikawa turned his head and looked at his best friend.

"The two of you. I'd appreciate it if you managed not to fight today."

"Me? Fighting with Tobio-chan?" Oikawa put his hand on his chest. "I'm offended."

"You're not offended, you're being a drama queen." Hajime took a sip of his coffee. "As usual."

"Iwa-chan," he whined. "Aren't you supposed to be my best friend? You're being so mean to me."

"You have enough people feeding your ego. Someone needs to put you down a notch from time to time."

"I disagree. I'm amazing, so people should be telling me that."

"Of course you would think that." Hajime shook his head and finished his coffee. "We should get going."

They quickly cleaned up the kitchen and after putting on shoes and jackets, they made their way to the bus stop.

Chapter Text

They managed to get to the bus stop and to the amusement park without too much trouble, as far as Tobio was concerned.

Oikawa and Hajime had been doing most of the talking until they met up with Matsukawa and Hanamaki who seemed surprised to see Tobio with them but didn't seem to mind either. After that, the four of them quickly settled back into their comfortable way of talking whenever they all spent time together and while Tobio didn't participate much, it by far wasn't his first time being around Hajime and his friends like this. 
He'd be fine.

They had just passed the turnstiles and Tobio was watching a guy in a costume selling some balloons when Hanamaki turned to him.

Tobio blinked at him. He hadn't heard a single word that had been said to him. "What?"

Hanamaki put his arm around his shoulders. "I was asking what you want to do, Tobio-kun. Since those idiots over there can't seem to agree on anything," he gestured over at his friends.

There was some protesting from Oikawa at being called an idiot, but Hanamaki just ignored that. "So?"

Tobio shrugged. He didn't really want to get involved in this. "I don't really mind."

"Oh come on, little Iwaizumi, just tell us!"

Tobio made a face at the nickname. "I guess the roller coaster sounds fun."

Hanamaki nodded eagerly. "The big one?"

"Sure?"

"You heard it, guys. Tobio-kun chooses the roller coaster."

"I didn't -"

"Shhh!" He waved his hand. "It's fine. We'll get to everything, you just helped us decide what to do first."

Suddenly the arm around Tobio's shoulders was forcefully removed and when he turned around, he found Oikawa bodily pushing Hanamaki towards the queue for the ride, saying something about how if they're going to do it, they should hurry before the line gets too long.

Tobio stared after them in confusion.

"Don't worry about those two," Matsukawa said next to him. "They just need to get their energy out before they can behave like normal human beings."
He shrugged and followed his two friends.

Tobio turned to Hajime who just shrugged as well and they hurried to join the others.

The day seemed to go smoothly after that first little hiccup. They rode a few rides during which Tobio somehow managed not to sit next to Oikawa.
They took a break for some snacks and drinks, but since they kept walking around as they ate, that wasn’t a problem either.
Tobio was almost feeling relaxed and even happy in a way by the time evening came around.

Unfortunately, things took quite a turn at that point.

They had less than hour left before the fireworks and Tobio had excused himself in the middle of an argument between Hanamaki and Oikawa over what they should do in that time to head to the bathroom.
When he came back, he found only Oikawa waiting for him, his arms crossed and tapping his foot.

“Oikawa?” Tobio looked around in confusion. “Where did everyone else go?”

“To that roller coaster that Makki wanted to ride again.”

“And Hajime?”

“With them.”

“But - why? He didn’t sound like he wanted to ride that one again.” Tobio frowned.

“He got dragged along. Apparently Makki thought it would be funny if they left us on our own and waited for the fallout.”

“And Hajime agreed to that?”

“No. But he didn’t really get a chance to argue.”

“But -”

“Tobio-chan,” Oikawa interrupted him. “I get that you’re confused, but is the reason why they’re gone really that important right now? Fact is that they left and it’s just the two of us until we meet up again for the fireworks.”
He stepped closer to Tobio. Tobio’s eyes widened a little as he finally fully grasped the situation.
“Almost like a date, isn’t it?” Oikawa said, gently taking Tobio’s hand.

Tobio glanced around, but no one paid attention to them. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” He asked quietly.

“I do.” He leaned in and pecked his lips. “Let’s go on a date, Tobio-chan.”

Tobio swallowed heavily, blushing but then nodded.
Oikawa gave him a smile and then pulled him along.

“Where are we going?” Tobio asked, walking quickly to keep up with Oikawa. His … boyfriend.

“Just one of those boat ride attractions. Anywhere where I can hold your hand, really.
Originally I had planned on going on some rides, but since my friends so conveniently threw this opportunity into my lap, I’m not going to waste it.” He glanced over at Tobio. “Are you hungry? We can grab some food afterwards. There should be enough time.”

“I - Maybe a little?”

“Good. Boat ride and then food. Sounds like a good enough plan for a date, right? Especially a spontaneous one like this.”

“I think so? I’ve never been on a date.” Tobio said honestly, without really thinking about it.

Oikawa just smiled more brightly. “Good.”

“Is there … anything I should know?” Tobio asked, feeling a little silly that he even had to ask.
Oikawa had probably been on tons of dates.

“No,” Oikawa shook his head. “Just be yourself, Tobio-chan. You can leave the rest to me. A date is all about having fun together.”

“That’s all.”

“That’s all. The rest is up to us.”

Tobio felt his cheeks burning at the word ‘us’ and quickly looked away. 

Oikawa gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “You’ll be fine. It’s not that different from what we’ve been doing all day. I’m not going to jump you as soon as you’re letting your guard down. Well. At least not in public.”

Tobio looked at Oikawa with alarm in his eyes and got a laugh in return.

“Relax, Tobio-chan. I’m just teasing you.”

They had finally reached the boat ride and joined the small queue. Not many people seemed interested in doing this ride around this time of day and so they were soon sitting in a small boat, squeezed onto a tiny bench.

Oikawa leaned back in his seat, resting their joined hands on his thigh and looking completely at ease, but Tobio felt uncomfortably reminded of sitting on the sofa with Oikawa that one particular Sunday very recently.

The boat started moving, but Tobio’s focus was completely taken up by Oikawa’s body next to him and the feeling of his thumb running over the back of his hand.

Oikawa leaned closer to him. “I’m glad you came with us today. That we get to have this moment between the two of us,” he said quietly.

“Really?” Tobio glanced up at his face.

“Really. I didn’t think we would get a chance to do something like this for quite awhile. Or at least not without having to make up a ton of excuses.”

Tobio nodded slowly. “That makes sense. So … we should probably make the most of this?”

“That’s exactly my plan,” he quickly pecked his cheek and Tobio felt like his face was on fire at this point.

“You are very - affectionate.” He turned his face away from him, but didn’t try to pull away.

“Well I have to get my fix while I can, don’t I? Considering we’re exclusive now, but I still can’t kiss you whenever I feel like it.” He took Tobio’s hand into his other hand and moved the now free arm around his shoulders.

“Does that bother you?” Tobio asked, biting his lip.

“Bother me? No, I wouldn’t say that,” he nuzzled Tobio’s neck and Tobio couldn’t suppress a shiver. “But it is a little inconvenient.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologise, Tobio-chan. It’s not your fault. We’ll just have to find ways to meet up without Iwa-chan noticing.”

“So you don’t want to -”

“Shhh. I really don’t want to discuss that now. We will have more than enough time to figure things out at a later point. Let’s just enjoy the date right now.”

Tobio hesitated. He knew they needed to discuss that topic, but he also understood why Oikawa wasn’t very keen on it right now.
He sighed softly and then relaxed against his boyfriend. “Alright. Date first.”

Oikawa didn’t answer, but Tobio could tell he was smiling.

They stayed like that - Tobio refused to call it snuggling - until the boat ride ended and they had to get out.
Still hand in hand, they went back to the food stalls.

“What would you like to eat, Tobio-chan?”

Tobio looked around at the different options. "Takoyaki?"

"Sure," Oikawa pulled him over to the stand and ordered. He paid before Tobio even had the chance to protest and once the food was in his hands, he led him a few steps away from the booth so they wouldn't be in the way.

"Now this will be rather hot, so be careful you don't burn your tongue," Oikawa said, picking up the toothpick.

"Yes, Oikawa, I know. I -" 

It was only then that he got what Oikawa's intention was. He had picked up one of the octopus balls with the toothpick and was lifting it up to Tobio's lips.

"Oikawa, -"

Oikawa just used the opportunity to push the food into Tobio's mouth. "Don't forget to chew. You don't want to choke."

Tobio shot him a glare and chewed. The food was very hot, but also delicious.

Oikawa picked up another takoyaki and put it into his own mouth this time.

They continued in a similar manner, Oikawa feeding him no matter how much Tobio protested that he could feed himself.

"Just enjoy it, Tobio-chan. It's romantic."

Tobio couldn't answer, his mouth still full of food.

Once they were done, Oikawa threw away the utensils and took Tobio's hand again.
He glanced at his watch. "We have about ten minutes until we should go meet the others. Is there anything in particular you want to do until then?"

Tobio looked at Oikawa, his face still a little pink. He did have an idea what he would like to do. But…

He took a deep breath and decided to just go for it. "Can we go somewhere more private? I - I really would like to kiss you."

Oikawa stared at Tobio for a long moment, surprise written all over his face. "Tobio-chan -" Then he smiled. "Of course. That's a great idea."
He looked around and finally pulled Tobio over to a dark corner between a booth and a big tree.
As soon as they were hidden enough by the shadows, he turned around to Tobio and put both hands on his hips.
"We don't have much time, so we need to be quick. And we also can't leave any evidence."
While he spoke, he crowded Tobio up against the wall of the booth.

Tobio stumbled a little as he walked backwards until he felt the wall behind him, but Oikawa's hands kept him on his feet. He nodded and wrapped his arms around Oikawa's neck. "No ruining your hair, got it."

Oikawa laughed, sounding a little breathless already. "Cheeky little bastard."
Then he closed the distance between them and kissed him.

Tobio was starting to suspect that they had a thing for doing things on a time limit, maybe even doing them behind other people's backs. Or it was just the fact that this was still so very new for them and they barely had any opportunity to indulge, to experiment and figure out what they liked.
Whatever the reason was, the kiss was urgent and passionate, just like the one in Tobio's bedroom had been. Their lips moved eagerly, exploring and tasting as much as they could in the short time they had.
Tobio could feel Oikawa pushing him even harder against the wall, one of his legs between Tobio's. A small gasp escaped him at the feeling of Oikawa's body pressed up against his own and Oikawa seemed to take it as encouragement as the next thing Tobio felt was Oikawa's tongue running over his lower lip.
For a split second, Tobio hesitated but then he parted his lips just a little bit.
Oikawa pushed forward slowly, giving Tobio time to adjust or pull back if he needed to.
It was a strange feeling, having someone else's tongue in his mouth and Tobio wasn't quite sure what to do so he just allowed Oikawa room to explore.
Eventually he felt Oikawa's tongue moving against his own and tentatively tried copying the movement.
Oikawa made a pleased sound from the back of his throat and, encouraged, Tobio tried moving his tongue more, trying out what felt good and what Oikawa seemed to like.

They likely would have stayed like that, tangled up in a dark corner of the amusement park, much longer than planned if Oikawa's phone hadn't gone off with a text alert.

They broke apart, both panting and Oikawa quickly pulled out his phone without pulling away from Tobio.
Tobio tried his best to calm down his breathing as he watched Oikawa unlock his phone and read the text.

"It's Iwa-chan. They've found a good spot for the fireworks and are waiting for us."

Tobio nodded, but as he wanted to push off the wall, Oikawa stopped him.

"Yes?" Tobio asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"You might want to… take a moment."

"What? Why?"

"You look rather thoroughly snogged. If you go meet them now, they'll know exactly what you've been up to."

"And what exactly am I supposed to do about that?" Tobio crossed his arms. "And wouldn't you have the same problem anyway?"

"I have much more experience hiding things like that, Tobio-chan."

Tobio gave him a displeased look.

"Don't be jealous, Tobio-chan." He reached out and caressed his cheek. "It never was anything special."

"But I… am?" Tobio asked hesitantly.

"I wouldn't risk losing my best friend for just anyone, would I?"

Tobio really couldn't argue with that.

Oikawa leaned his forehead against Tobio's, looking into his eyes. "You are special, Tobio-chan." 
He leaned in to kiss him again, but stopped himself at the last moment.
"As much as I want to kiss you more, we really should go meet the others."

Tobio nodded. His throat felt very dry.

After taking a deep breath, Oikawa took a step back and fixed his clothes and hair.
He also gave Tobio a once-over and once he was satisfied that neither of them looked like they just had their tongues down each other's throats, they headed towards the spot where they would meet their friends.

"Just leave the storytelling to me," Oikawa said. "I'll come up with something to tell them about what we've been up to."

"You think they'll believe it?"

"It shouldn't be too hard to convince them. I'll just complain a lot and then they won't want to hear more anyway."

Tobio nodded slowly, vividly remembering what Oikawa sounded like when he started complaining about something. He couldn't imagine anyone wanting to listen to that.

Oikawa's hand brushed against Tobio's and he stopped walking and turned to him. "They're just over there. Are you ready?"

"I think so," Tobio said, glancing over at the direction Oikawa had indicated, but then looking back at Oikawa instead. "Just one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Don't ignore my texts again."

Oikawa stared at him for a second, then laughed. "Understood. I wasn't going to anyway but …"
He took Tobio's hand for just a second to give it a squeeze before letting go again. "I'm glad to hear that you want to stay in touch with me."

"Well," Tobio looked away, trying to hide the fact that that damn blush was coming back again, "you are my boyfriend. And even if I can't see you, I want to be able to contact you."

"Of course, Tobio-chan. I understand." He looked over at the crowd again. "Let's go. The firework's about to start."

He turned around and went ahead to the spot where Hajime, Hanamaki and Matsukawa were waiting for them. Tobio waited a few seconds before following, keeping some distance between them.

The spot that the other three had chosen was a patch of concrete that was shielded by a bench on one side and by a gift shop on the other. They were sitting on the ground on something that looked like park maps and were talking animatedly.
Well. Mostly Hanamaki.

Oikawa joined them and sat down between Hajime and Hanamaki with a loud, long-suffering groan. 

Matsukawa and Hanamaki exchanged a look before Matsukawa spoke up. "Do we even want to know what happened?"

Tobio moved over to Hajime's other side and sat down as well. Hajime turned his head and Tobio could tell he was quickly being checked over, but when his brother couldn't find anything out of place and no sign of distress, he turned back to his best friend who was now telling a tale of being recognised and then followed around by a group of girls.
It was truly ridiculous in Tobio's opinion and yet it was such a typical story for Oikawa that no one seemed to question it.

Instead, as predicted, they quickly found a way to change the topic so they wouldn't have to listen to the story any longer.

Once the fireworks started, Tobio risked a glance over at Oikawa. He seemed relaxed, looking up at the sky and watching the fireworks. Tobio wished he could be closer to him and hold his hand right now. Maybe even lean against his shoulder.
But he knew it was good that they weren't sitting next to each other and couldn't get tempted.
'He pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around his legs, finally looking up at the fireworks as well.

Maybe next time he would get the chance to do that. 
Maybe next time they wouldn't have to sneak around and hide in dark corners.
Maybe next time he would be allowed to openly show that Oikawa Tooru was his boyfriend.

Chapter Text

[Makki said my art project looks like some kind of experiment gone wrong. I told him he just can't appreciate true beauty.]

[Which of these shirts says 'I'm handsome, I know, but don't approach me, I'm taken'? Image attached]

[Saw you in front of the vending machine today. Milk again? Really, Tobio-chan?
I guess some habits never die.]

When Tobio had asked Oikawa to answer his texts, he hadn't been aware what kind of floodgates he was opening.
Ever since that day at the park, Tobio had been bombarded with such an influx of texts (most of them inconsequential) that he actually had to mute the notifications for Oikawa's number in order not to raise suspicion.

He shouldn't have been surprised that Oikawa, a naturally talkative person, would act similarly over text.
However most of the texts made so little sense to Tobio, that he had no idea how to answer them.
Not that Oikawa seemed to expect a reply.
Some of the texts were sent in such a short amount of time that Tobio couldn't have answered them all, even if he tried.
Oikawa seemed perfectly satisfied as long as Tobio answered some of them. And Tobio couldn't deny that a small part of him was pleased that Oikawa spent so much time talking to him, even if it wasn't in person.

They still hadn't had a chance to properly discuss how they wanted to handle the situation. All they had agreed on so far was that it wasn't a good idea to tell Hajime without a plan and that they couldn't tell anyone else without telling Hajime first.
And so, for the time being, their relationship stayed a secret.

Of course it didn't go unnoticed that Oikawa had stopped his seemingly endless stream of dating and while his friends seemed confused but not too concerned (Tobio had overheard Hanamaki saying something about 'their baby finally growing up' and it had made him want to clean out his ears with a toothbrush), the rest of the school appeared to take it as a challenge.

As far as Tobio could remember, Oikawa had always gotten a lot of attention but now it was reaching new heights.
Never before had so many girls at once (and, if the rumours were true, also a few boys) made such an effort to try and catch his eye.
It got to the point that the third years were keeping a tally sheet on how many confessions they witnessed or heard about and even how many times practice got interrupted because of it.

Tobio felt a little bothered by it, but the constant observation by so many parties also meant constant updates and those were reassuring him that none of the confessions were successful.
On top of that, he had all the texts and a few late night calls from Oikawa complaining about the situation. Not the attention, of course, but the confessions and having to come up with polite answers to all of them without revealing the true reason.
It was enough to convince him that Oikawa was still serious about them and dedicated to making it work.

Unfortunately it had turned out to be rather difficult for Tobio to actually see his boyfriend outside of practice and the walks to and from school with Hajime that he tried to avoid because of how guilty they made him feel.
Since the day at the amusement park they had barely had a handful of stolen moments together when it was just the two of them.
Most of them had been behind the gym before or after practice when they both had managed to get away for just a few minutes, but one had also been in Tobio's room when Oikawa had slipped out of Hajime's room in the middle of the night during a sleepover.

It truly wasn't ideal and the more time passed, the more frustrated they both grew and the more risks they were willing to take - as proven by those short few minutes in Tobio's room.

Tobio knew they would have to figure out a way to meet up soon or they wouldn't even make it until the Interhigh Preliminaries in June that they were training so hard for and that were part of the reason why they had so little free time.
He didn't even want to imagine what that would be like if Oikawa and Hajime were on bad terms.

Finally, during the first days of June, an opportunity presented itself.
It was the week before Hajime's birthday and their parents had announced they would be visiting some relatives on the weekend.
Not too keen on coming along, both Tobio and Hajime had made up excuses about how they needed the time for studying since they were so busy with practice during the week.
On Friday evening, they said goodbye to their parents and got comfortable on the sofa together.
While they were watching a movie, Hajime told him about his plans for Saturday.
Something about a group project that they had been putting off.

"I'm really sorry, Tobio, we've had this planned for ages now and it's really hard to find another day that works for everyone."

"It's fine, Hajime. I can handle being on my own for a day."

"Are you sure?" His brother looked like he felt almost guilty that he didn't move his plans around to spend time with Tobio.

"Yes. It's just a couple of hours in the grand scheme of things and it's not like you'll be gone all night either. We'll still be stuck together all Sunday."

Hajime nodded slowly. "You're right. But you can call me at any point, okay?"

"Of course. But that really won't be necessary.
Who else will be there?" Tobio asked as he reached for his water, only half-interested in the reply but still eager to continue the conversation with his brother. It had been way too long since they had the opportunity to just get comfortable and chat.
Usually the only chance they got in their everyday lives was during the walk to school and back home - if Oikawa wasn't with them.

"Just a few classmates," Hajime said with a shrug. "I don't think you know any of them."

Tobio turned to look at his brother with a frown. "You're not working with Oikawa? Or one of the others?"

"No. The groups were randomly put together which is what makes it so hard for us to meet up and finish this thing. Everyone in my group has their own schedules and is in some kind of club.
It's a nightmare."

"Sounds like it…" Tobio said, his thoughts racing. Hajime would be out all afternoon.
And for once he wouldn't be meeting up with Oikawa or anyone that would notice Oikawa's absence…

"You could invite someone over, you know? You don't have to stay here on your own all day," Hajime said eagerly, obviously not wanting Tobio to be on his own even if it was just for half a day. "Maybe Kindaichi and Kunimi? You seem to get along rather well recently. And you could study together.
Or maybe even that new friend? You know, the one from Karasuno.
You probably wouldn't get much studying done in that case, but you could go outside and play some volleyball."

Tobio tried to shrug noncommittally. It was true that he had become friends (again) with all three of them, but that really wasn't what was on his mind.
"I'll text them and see if they're free."

Hajime smiled. "That's a good plan."

Tobio did not text Kunimi, Kindaichi or Hinata.
Instead he called Oikawa as soon as he was alone in his room and could be sure that Hajime wouldn't be coming in anytime soon.

"Tobio-chan!" Oikawa answered after just a few rings. "How unusual of you to call me this late. Usually it's me who has to do all the work."

"Because your schedule is unpredictable and I'm not very keen on calling you when someone might be with you," Tobio said, a little irritated. It wasn't the first time they had had this discussion.

"I know, I know. So to what do I owe the honour of your call?"

"I -" Tobio began but then stopped. How did he say this without sounding too eager?
"Remember that we agreed to call if any opportunity to meet up showed up?"

"I do," Oikawa said slowly. He sounded as if he didn't quite believe this might be going where he hoped it was going.

"Well our parents aren't home for the weekend and Hajime just told me earlier this evening that he'll be gone all afternoon tomorrow. Some kind of group project?"

"Ah yes. He got rather unlucky with that group, split up from the rest of us."

"So uhm…" Tobio nervously clenched his hand to a fist and opened it again. "Do you have time tomorrow? Do you want to come over?"

"I'll have to switch around a few things, but I'll make it possible," Oikawa said seriously and Tobio was thankful that he didn't try and use the opportunity to tease him. "Text me once Iwa-chan has left?"

"I will." He swallowed heavily. "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Tomorrow," Oikawa agreed. "Goodnight, Tobio-chan."

"Goodnight, Oikawa."

Chapter Text

Saturday brought two big challenges.

First, he needed to get through the whole morning and lunch with Hajime without accidentally giving away who was going to come over later that day. And how nervous it was making him.
In order to avoid any questions in the first place, Tobio had opted to tell Hajime that he would be spending the day on his own instead. At least this way he wouldn’t have to make up any stories about what they had been up to and why that ‘friend’ was already gone again by the time Hajime came home.

The second challenge began as soon as his brother had left the house.
He had sent a text to Oikawa and now he had to wait.

Tobio felt rather silly about how antsy this whole situation was making him, but he couldn’t help it. This was so much worse than nerves before an important volleyball match.
Trying to find something to occupy himself with, he walked around the house, straightening things up and even re-making his bed. 
He blushed deeply as he looked down at his now very tidy bed. What the heck was he even doing? It wouldn’t make any difference whether his bed was made or not.
It probably would be better anyway if they stayed far, far away from his bedroom in the first place.

At least until they had finally made a decision on how they would handle this whole situation.

Cursing himself at where his thoughts were already going again, he ran his fingers through his hair and turned to leave his bedroom.
As he passed his mirror, he stopped for a moment.

He hadn’t really thought about what clothes he put on this morning, but now he wondered if he should maybe have changed out of his tracksuit bottoms and t-shirt into something more date-appropriate. 
Because … this was a date, right?

Shaking his head at his own ridiculousness, he finally left his bedroom and went back downstairs.
He had just grabbed something to drink from the fridge when he heard the front door opening.
For just a second, his stomach dropped and he thought Hajime had returned because of something he forgot, but then he heard Oikawa’s voice calling his name and he relaxed, remembering that Oikawa did have a key.

“Kitchen!” He called back and finished pouring the cold water into a glass.
He gripped the glass tightly and lifted it to his lip, forcing himself to just take a sip instead of turning around and looking at Oikawa who was just entering the kitchen.

He knew that decision had been a mistake, when he felt arms snake up around him from behind and he was pulled into a hug. “Hello, Tobio-chan.”

Tobio swallowed quickly and managed not to choke, but he still coughed a little before answering. “Hello, Oikawa.”

Oikawa leaned his chin on Tobio’s shoulder. “You can call me by my first name, you know? I don’t mind.”

“I haven’t called you by your first name since I was five.” Tobio glanced over at his face and then quickly looked away when he noticed how close it actually was.

“Hmmm indeed you haven’t. But the situation is quite different now, wouldn’t you say?”

“... Yes. But I’d still rather call you Oikawa.”

“Why?” Tobio could tell Oikawa was pouting.

“Because,” Tobio said as he put down his glass, “I’d rather not risk slipping up around others. It would lead to a lot of questions.”

Oikawa sighed. “I guess you’re right. We’ll wait before we move on to first name basis then.”
He pulled away from Tobio and went over to the table, placing his jacket over the back of a chair. “So how much time do we have until Iwa-chan’s back?”

“He said he’d be back in time for dinner, but he’d text me if he’s running late.”

“So a couple of hours then.” Oikawa turned around to him. “I’m guessing you want to discuss things first?”

“I think that would be better, yes. We have been putting it off long enough.”

“Let’s move to the living room then. If we’re going to have a serious conversation, I want to at least be comfortable.”
He led Tobio over into the next room and sat down on the sofa, patting the seat next to him.
“Sit down.”

Tobio made a face but then sat down next to him, keeping some distance between them.
This conversation was important and didn’t want Oikawa’s hands all over him, distracting him.

Oikawa crossed his legs and turned to him, but for once kept his hands to himself. "So. Iwa-chan. We need to figure out what to do about him."

Tobio nodded. That much was obvious.

"I assume you want to tell him."

Tobio nodded again.

Oikawa rolled his eyes at his lack of words but just continued. "Believe it or not, I agree. We need to tell him.
It's way too hard to keep this a secret and I think we stand a better chance if we tell him on our own terms."

"That sounds good," Tobio said, already feeling a little lighter.

"However," Oikawa continued, "I have no idea how to tell him without him losing his mind over it."

"What do you mean?" Tobio frowned. Hajime was protective, yes, and he likely at first wouldn't be very happy about this new development, but Tobio knew his brother first and foremost wanted him to be happy.

"Tobio-chan," Oikawa said impatiently. "This scenario is basically Iwa-chan's worst nightmare. He'd never want you to date me."

"You're his best friend," Tobio pointed out. "And he wants us to get along."

"Yes. Get along. Not date." He ran his fingers through his hair, looking rather irritated that he had to spell everything out for him. "Listen. What Iwa-chan would want for you is a nice, quiet girl who doesn't push you around or asks anything of you you're not ready to do. She'd be around your age, tiny and cute and have about as much sex appeal as a tomato. And the same level of experience as one."

Tobio frowned at that last analogy but Oikawa just waved it off.

"What I'm saying is that I am not that.
I'm older than you, I've got way more experience with dating, I'm not shy and I rarely hold back.
All the things that would make alarm bells go off in Iwa-chan's head.
I am basically a walking red flag."

Tobio nodded slowly. That kind of made sense although he hadn't expected Oikawa to be this self-aware. "And we can't exactly hide that fact since he knows everything about your dating life."

"Basically. What we need is an approach that will give us enough time to explain that we -
That I'm serious about you and this isn't just some fling where I'm taking advantage of your innocence. We also need to convince him that I didn't trick you into this.
And all that before he either finds something to throw at me or tries to strangle me with his bare hands."

"So you're saying I should talk to him by myself."

"What? No, I didn't say that. Where did you get that idea?"

"Well I doubt that Hajime would get physical with me like he does when he's angry with you."

"He'd think I coerced you into doing that so I could shirk responsibility."

Tobio sighed, getting a little frustrated. "What else should we do then? We can't not tell him."

Oikawa shrugged and laid down, his head on Tobio's lap like it had been all those weeks ago.
A lot had changed until then.
"That's where I'm stuck, Tobio-chan. I know what we need to do if we want to make this work, but I don't know how."

Tobio looked down at him, allowing Oikawa to take his hand. "Do you think there even is any way for him to accept…" us "this?"

"Well, the worst case scenario is him breaking with me and not allowing you to see me again.
Outside of training, obviously."

"I don't like that," Tobio said seriously.

Oikawa laughed softly. "Me neither, Tobio-chan." He sat up, propping himself up with one arm on the other side of Tobio's legs, leaning over him.
Tobio blushed at the sudden proximity.

"But that's the risk we're taking," Oikawa said quietly, seriously. "It has been ever since this thing between us started."

"He'll - Hajime will be mad when he finds out we have been keeping things from him for so long."

"Likely, yes." Oikawa leaned a little closer.

"So we need to tell him soon."

"We do." Oikawa's face was so close now that Tobio could have counted his lashes and Tobio's heart was beating oh so quickly suddenly, the relaxed atmosphere replaced by something that felt like static in the air between them.

Tobio swallowed, but his throat was dry. "When should we tell him?"

"I don't know."

They were breathing the same air and Tobio's breathing was close to panting at this point. His lips parted as he tried to get enough oxygen, but all he could see, feel, hear and smell was Oikawa.
"Will there ever be the right moment?"

"... I don't care."

And then they were kissing again, Oikawa's warm, plush lips against Tobio's as he melted into the sofa, Oikawa half on top of him.
He could feel Oikawa's chest against his own, their shirts rubbing up against each other as their legs tangled and Oikawa's hands ran down his sides, stopping just above the waistband of Tobio's bottoms.
Tobio didn't even remember opening his mouth but suddenly their tongues were moving against each other again and Tobio's fingers were in Oikawa's hair, keeping him in place.

They kept kissing like that for what felt like hours, taking advantage of the fact that for once they had the time to explore and didn't have to worry about anyone discovering them.
Oikawa's hands wandered around while they kissed, playing with the hem of Tobio's shirt and teasing the skin underneath and once giving Tobio's backside a playful squeeze before moving back up to safer areas. It could have been overwhelming, but Tobio found himself enjoying the sensation, how Oikawa managed to keep tiptoeing the line without ever actually going too far.

When they finally stopped kissing, neither of them moved away. They stayed cuddled up on the sofa, their limbs entangled and Tobio's head against Oikawa's chest while Oikawa's hands soothingly caressed along his spine.

"We will figure something out, Tobio-chan," Oikawa said quietly. "I promise."

Chapter Text

They lost track of time. 
Of course they did.

Their only saving grace was that they weren't making out when Iwaizumi came home.

Oikawa had just gone to the bathroom while Tobio went into the kitchen to grab some drinks when he heard the front door opening again.

Tobio's eyes widened and he barely had enough time to send a text to warn Oikawa before Hajime entered the kitchen.

"Hajime. You're home."

"Yes, finally," Hajime answered, sounding exhausted. "We managed to finish the project but it was a struggle."

"I - I'm sorry to hear that," Tobio said, trying to hide his panic.

"Well. It's fine," he said and groaned as he stretched his back. "Do you mind if we order dinner? I don't really feel like cooking."

"Ordering food sounds fine."

Hajime nodded and went over to the table to grab the menu from the restaurant where they usually ordered food.
Tobio went over to the fridge to finally grab something to drink, hoping it would help calm his nerves a little.

"What's this?"

Tobio turned back around to Hajime and froze. He had forgotten about Oikawa's jacket.

"Is that… Oikawa's jacket?" Hajime looked a little confused.

"Uhhh," Tobio said, trying to quickly figure out how to handle the situation. He couldn't exactly lie about who the jacket belonged to as Hajime had obviously recognised it, but maybe he could come up with some explanation on how it got here. "Yes, it is. Oikawa -"

"Iwa-chan!"

Both Tobio and Hajime turned to look at Oikawa who was standing in the doorway with his usual confident smile on his face.

"Finally you're here. I've been waiting for you.
Tobio-chan said you were working on that project with Saito-chan?"
He grabbed the water bottle out of Tobio's hands while passing without even looking at him and went over to the table. He half-sat down on the table, one leg dangling off of it as he opened the bottle and took a few gulps directly from the bottle.
"How was it?"

"Fine. Lots of unnecessary discussions but it's done now, so that's all that matters." Hajime crossed his arms. "What are you doing here, Oikawa?"

Oikawa shrugged. "Got bored so I thought I'd drop by."

"Why didn't you call beforehand? I could have told you I'm not home."

"When do I ever call ahead, Iwa-chan?" He shook his head. "I have a key, so I don't see how it would be necessary.
And Tobio-chan said you would be home for dinner, so I decided to just wait. Keep him some company since he was all on his own."

Hajime shot his brother a concerned look. "Did he bother you?"

Tobio shook his head, still reeling a little from Oikawa's sudden decision to just show up. "It was fine."

Hajime looked sceptical, but nodded, turning back to his best friend. "So you're going to have dinner with us then?"

"Awww you're treating me to dinner, Iwa-chan? That's so nice -"

"Don't get your hopes up, Cheapykawa. You're paying for your food."

"But Iwa-chan -"

Hajime ignored him and finally grabbed the menu so they could order.

Once the call was made, Hajime went upstairs to his room to put his bag away, leaving Oikawa and Tobio alone in the kitchen with the words "I'll be right back. Try not to kill each other."

"That," Tobio said very quietly once it was just the two of them, "was very, very reckless."

"It was ingenious, Tobio-chan. We're ahead of the narrative now. 
Listen. We're showing Iwa-chan that we can get along without raising his suspicions, giving him time to get used to the idea of us being friends.
And then, in a couple of weeks, we can both start dropping hints that there might be some attraction between us that has the potential to be more than friendship.
We'll give Iwa-chan time to wrap his mind around that and ease him into it before we eventually tell him that we've decided to try and start dating."

Tobio wasn't convinced, watching Oikawa with crossed arms. "So we're going to lie to him. For even longer."

"It's an adjustment period, Tobio-chan. So we don't drop our relationship on him like one big bomb."

He sighed. "I guess."

Oikawa stepped closer to him and reached out, gently rubbing his arm. "I know you don't like hiding things from your brother, but it'll be worth it in the long run. You want him to support us, right?"

Tobio looked up at him, giving in. "I do. And I want your friendship to survive as well."

Oikawa smiled, looking a little touched by Tobio's concern. "And it will. We just need to take it step by step."

Tobio nodded and leaned against his boyfriend. Oikawa wrapped his arms around him, holding him for a brief moment before kissing his forehead and taking a step back, bringing some distance between them.

"It'll be alright." He went back over to the table and had just sat down when Hajime returned.

He looked between the two of them and nodded. "You managed not to kill each other, good."

"Of course I didn't kill Tobio-chan, Iwa-chan. I'm offended you'd even think so."

"You're offended by anything you don't want to hear, Oikawa." Hajime went over and sat down opposite of his best friend. "So why are you really here?"

Tobio, who had just been considering leaving his brother and Oikawa alone until their food arrived, stopped immediately and looked at them.

"Me?" Oikawa looked at Hajime with big, innocent eyes. "I already told you that I was just bored and -"

"No. The real reason. I know you better than that.
You wouldn't have waited for me if you didn't have a reason."

"Iwa-chan -" Oikawa glanced over at Tobio for just a second.

Hajime seemed to have noticed the look and sighed. "Would you mind leaving us alone for a few minutes, Tobio?"

Tobio swallowed heavily but nodded. "Sure."
Then he left the kitchen, forcing himself not to look at Oikawa as he did so.

"So what is it?" He could hear Hajime say as he went over to the stairs.
It was very tempting to stay right there and listen in and for a moment, he wasn't sure what he wanted to do. He hesitated but eventually his conscience won and he went upstairs to his room to wait.

It was excruciating. Time didn't seem to want to pass.
What were they talking about?
He couldn't hear any shouting, so it was unlikely Oikawa had told Hajime the truth.
Which left the question what he had told him.

After what felt like hours, the doorbell rang and Tobio took it as his sign that it was safe to head back downstairs.

Hajime had just opened the front door and accepted the food, so Tobio took it from him and carried it into the kitchen while Hajime paid.
Tobio doubted that Oikawa would actually end up having to pay for his food.

He put the food down on the table, only glancing at Oikawa who was still sitting in the same spot as before. He didn't get a chance to ask what had happened as Hajime joined them just a moment later, but Oikawa's relaxed posture told him that things weren't as bad as he had feared.

During dinner, the conversation had moved on to safer topics like the upcoming Interhigh Preliminaries and the teams they might be facing, depending on who made it past the first round.

"Oh Iwa-chan! Don't forget the plans for your birthday next week." Oikawa said after dinner while they cleaned up. "We've been planning for weeks now, so don't go and ruin it because you 'don't want anything big'."

Hajime sighed, his hands deep in dishwater. "I've told you from the very beginning that I don't want that but neither of you wanted to listen."

"You're turning 18! That's a big step. You'd be considered an adult in some countries.
And we can all use a bit of letting loose. It's the perfect opportunity!"

"You're all just looking for an excuse to misbehave."

"You sound like a parent, Iwa-chan. Like an old man."

Hajime threw the wet dishrag at him.
Oikawa barely managed to dodge it, then picked it up from the floor and threw it back to him.
Hajime went back to washing the dishes.

"Anyway. I haven't forgotten, Oikawa. 
I hope you at least listened to my request and haven't invited a ton of people."

"Nope, not that many," Oikawa said with a cheerful shrug. "But we haven't gotten around to asking the team yet."

"Oikawa!"

"What? We can't not ask them, Iwa-chan. That would be rude."

"That wouldn't even be a problem in the first place if you had kept it to just the four of us."

"But where would be the fun in that?"

Hajime shook his head. "Sometimes I question why I'm friends with you."

Oikawa grinned brightly, putting his arm around Hajime's shoulders. "Because I'm just that amazing, Iwa-chan. You can't resist my charms."

Hajime shrugged him off. "You're insufferable."

"And yet you love me," he batted his eyelashes, but Hajime just rolled his eyes and reached for the tea towel to dry his hands.

"Didn't you want to leave?"

"So rude, Iwa-chan. Throwing me out when we're having a moment."

"You might be. I'm not," Hajime said. "And I've had a long day, so I'm going to bed.
Feel free to see yourself out."
He turned to Tobio who was still busy with the last of the dishes. "Goodnight, Tobio. Just don't pay attention to that idiot here, he'll leave once he has been ignored for a while."

Tobio nodded. "Sure. Goodnight, Hajime."

Hajime smiled at him before leaving the kitchen.

Tobio turned back to the drying rack and picked up the last plate.
He didn't dare looking at Oikawa.

"So." Oikawa leaned his back against the counter next to him with crossed arms. "You're probably curious about what I told Iwa-chan."

Tobio kept his gaze on the plate he was drying. "That's between you and him, isn't it? Considering he didn't throw you out and you're not injured either, I can guess that you haven't told him the truth."

Oikawa chuckled softly. "Smart. And you're right, I didn't tell him anything about you."

Something about the way Oikawa had phrased that made Tobio finally look at him.
"What did you tell him then?"

"I told him that there is someone I'm interested in and that I'm serious about it."

Tobio stared at him. "You did?"

Oikawa nodded, turning to him so he was now leaning against the counter with his side, one hand resting on top of it. "I thought it would be best to give him part of the truth at least."

"What did he say?" Tobio forced himself to look away just long enough to put the plate down on top of the others.

"He seemed happy for me that I have found someone I'm really interested in and tried to give me some advice on how to proceed."

Tobio nodded. "That sounds like something he'd do."

Oikawa moved a bit closer to him and put his hand on Tobio's hip. "It does. He's a good friend. Very supportive."

"He wouldn't be if he knew who you were talking about."

"Likely. But I hope he'll come around." He leaned his forehead against Tobio's.

"Me, too." Following his instincts, Tobio closed the distance between them and kissed Oikawa, wrapping his arms around his neck despite the dishtowel still in his hand.

Oikawa seemed surprised but pleased as he wrapped his arms around him and kissed him back.

Chapter Text

June 10th 2012, Hajime's 18th birthday, arrived in what felt like the blink of an eye.

One moment, Tobio was sitting down in class, the next he was behind the gym again, pressed up against the wall and sharing almost desperate kisses with Oikawa. Then training.
Rinse and repeat.

It felt like Tobio was caught in a loop with very little changes.

And then it was the weekend already.
Saturday was taken up by an all-day extra practice, leaving Tobio exhausted and his muscles sore as they played in different teams but kept being switched around in order to figure out the final constellation for their first official match that year.
It meant that Tobio barely even had time to breathe. And he wasn't even their main setter.
He didn't even want to imagine how Oikawa felt.

After training, Oikawa, Hanamaki and Matsukawa dragged Hajime straight to Oikawa’s place so they could prepare for the party.

“So you can’t change your mind, Iwa-chan.” Oikawa had said, then glanced back at Tobio. “I guess you should come along as well, Tobio-chan. We can’t give Iwa-chan any excuses.”

Tobio had watched with a frown as Oikawa had grabbed his brother by the arm and pulled him along.

“You better not argue with him,” Hanamaki had said with a shrug, “he’s been planning this for weeks.”

They arrived at Oikawa’s house shortly after, taking turns with quick showers and preparations. Tobio was glad that it was the weekend and he had worn casual clothing on the way to practice instead of his school uniform. That would have looked really out of place for a party.

Despite Hajime’s protests about the party, he still helped the other three with preparations and generally didn’t look too displeased about being there, casually chatting with his friends while he chopped up vegetables for some kind of dip.
Tobio, feeling a little out of place, was thankful for Matsukawa’s gentle nudges that gave him hints on what to do next - or at all.
As long as he was occupied and didn’t have to watch Oikawa and his brother, he was fine.

Less than an hour later, people were starting to arrive and once Yahaba showed up, Tobio finally found himself relaxing properly as he had someone to talk to.

“So you’ve been dragged here early, hm?” Yahaba said to him while he suspiciously inspected some of the offered drinks.

“Yeah,” Tobio said with a shrug. “Didn’t even get a chance to go home.”

Yahaba made a face. “That sucks. And now you’re stuck here all night with Oikawa and the others.”

“That would have happened anyway though,” Tobio took a sip of his water - that he had gotten straight from the tap, just to be sure. He didn’t trust Hanamaki and Matsukawa anywhere near food and drinks. “Oikawa made it pretty clear that he was going to use me to make Hajime come here.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Yahaba nodded and finally picked up one of the cups. “Our dear captain loves using people to his advantage after all. Whether it’s on court or off.”

Over the course of the evening, Tobio decided that parties weren’t so bad when he knew the people there and at least got along with most of them.
He could talk to Yahaba, Kunimi or Kindaichi when he felt like company or just go and find something to eat when he wanted some time to himself.

He tried to avoid Oikawa for most of the night, but sometimes it was just not possible not to see him.
The Seijoh Four had found their spot in the living room and whenever he passed them, Tobio couldn’t help thinking that it was kind of like Oikawa was holding court right there with his best friends around him as his advisors.

When it got close to midnight, Hajime’s three best friends took it upon themselves to make everyone gather in the living room.
Oikawa dramatically presented a cake with eighteen burning candles and after everyone counted down to midnight, Hajime blew them out.

Tobio saw Hajime laughing happily as Oikawa wrapped his arm around his best friend’s shoulders and wished him a happy birthday and his stomach twisted in a weird way. It was such a reminder of why he went along with Oikawa’s ridiculous plan on how to reveal their relationship to Hajime.
Seeing his brother being relaxed and joyful like this made worth every ounce of guilt Tobio felt over lying and keeping secrets.

Around 1 am, people started getting tired and Oikawa explained the different options on where to sleep to the few first-years as everyone else already seemed familiar with them.

Tobio was just considering whether a futon in the living room with Kindaichi and Kunimi or going up to one of the guest rooms with Yahaba was a better idea, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to face his brother.

"You should stay in Oikawa's room," Hajime said quietly.

Tobio was sure he had misunderstood him. "What?"

"Oikawa's room. There's a futon there that you can have."

"But -" Tobio wanted to protest but Hajime was already calling Oikawa over to them.

"Hey, Lazykawa! I'm going to stay here, so Tobio's going to sleep in your room. He can have my futon."

Oikawa stared at his best friend. "But that's your place to sleep. You always sleep there."

"And I'm saying that I want him to have it. So stop making a fuss and accept it. It's my birthday, remember?"

Oikawa made a face but didn't protest.

Hajime nodded, satisfied. "Good. Goodnight then. I'll see you two tomorrow. Or I guess today."

He turned around and wanted to go over to Hanamaki who was helping to rearrange some of the futons to make more space, but Tobio stopped him.

"Hajime."

His brother looked at him.

Tobio hesitated for a second but then just said "Happy Birthday."

Hajime smiled and nodded. "Sleep well, Tobio. Don't let Oikawa bother you too much."

After Hajime had left, Oikawa sighed. “Follow me then, Tobio-chan.”
He led Tobio up the stairs and to a room that Tobio still remembered from years ago to be Oikawa’s.

Oikawa went straight over to the wardrobe to pull out a futon that had obviously taken up permanent residence there, just like there was one in the corner of Hajime’s room in case Oikawa stayed over.

“Close the door behind you,” Oikawa said. “I’m not very keen on any of those idiots out there coming in when I’m trying to sleep.”

Tobio nodded and closed the door, then allowed himself a quick look around the room. There wasn’t really much to see, telling Tobio how little time Oikawa actually spent in here.

Oikawa had put up the futons by then and it was only then that Tobio realised that Oikawa did not have a bed.

“You prefer a futon?” Tobio found himself asking.

Oikawa glanced up at him before he got up to grab some duvets and pillows. “I just find it more convenient as it doesn’t take up much space. Means I can use the whole room whenever I need to.”
He threw some pillows on top of the futons.
“Just to be clear though, I wouldn’t be putting the futons together like this if it was Iwa-chan staying with me in here.”

Tobio blinked at him, then blushed. “O-Of course. I didn’t think -”
He looked down at the futons. They really were right next to each other.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Oikawa shrugged. “They know better than to come in here.”
He bent over and pulled out some pyjamas out of his wardrobe. “You should go and use the bathroom. It will likely take a while to get your turn and I doubt you want to change here in front of me.”

“Uh,” Tobio stared at Oikawa for a second before he noticed that that meant he was effectively staring at his butt. He quickly looked away. “I don’t exactly have anything to change into. Just my clothes from practice.”

Oikawa straightened up, looking at him. “Well you certainly won’t be wearing those.”
He gave him a once-over. “I guess you can sleep in that then. Just take off your jeans.”

Tobio shot him a wide-eyed look.

“Oh don’t be like that, Tobio-chan. It’s not like you’ll be naked. And you’ll be covered by the blanket anyway. I just doubt it would be comfortable to sleep in your jeans.”

There wasn’t much to be said after that.
They both took their turn in the bathroom and settled in on the futons.
Tobio was glad when the blanket was covering his legs which was a rather unusual feeling for him. He really wasn’t that shy usually, but apparently being in a relationship with Oikawa made a big difference here.

Oikawa was lying on his side, looking at him, their hands intertwined between them. “I certainly did not expect this outcome today,” he said quietly. “But I can’t complain about it at all.”

“It’s been a long time since I last was in here.”

Oikawa nodded, running his thumb over Tobio’s skin. “We were still children then. And your mother always made Iwa-chan take you along when he came over.”

Tobio groaned. “Don’t remind me. It was so obvious you didn’t want me there.”

Oikawa moved a little closer to him so he could put his arm around him. “I want you here now.”

Tobio allowed himself to lean his head against Oikawa’s chest. “That’s good to hear.”

“Who wouldn’t want to be alone in their bedroom with their scarcely dressed boyfriend in their arms?”

Tobio gave him a gentle shove and Oikawa laughed.

“I’m just teasing, Tobio-chan.”

“It’s not funny.”

“Isn’t it? I think it’s very flattering how shy you get around me sometimes when it doesn’t seem to bother you at all to get changed in front of a whole room full of boys.”

"It's different."

"I know." He cupped his cheek, making him look up at him. "And that's exactly why I like it so much." He traced Tobio’s cheekbone. “You can trust me, Tobio-chan. I know I have … reputation, but I would never do anything to you that you don’t want.
Just say the word and I’ll stop.”

Tobio nodded, leaning into his touch. “I know. I never doubted that.” He hesitated for a moment before he continued. “How … How much experience exactly do you have?

Oikawa sighed softly and moved his hand back down to Tobio’s waist, holding him in a loose embrace. “More than you’d think in some ways and less in others.”

Tobio frowned. That didn’t tell him anything.

“I’ve had a lot of relationships, Tobio-chan. Some shorter, some longer, none of them really significant. So of course, I have experimented a lot, fooled around. But - at some point I just always stopped. Diverted. Took the easy way out. It just didn’t feel right to go beyond that point and luckily I am a smooth enough talker than no one ever questioned it.”
He pushed his hand under Tobio’s shirt, resting on the small of his back and causing shivers to run down Tobio’s spine. “So to answer your question: I am not inexperienced, but there are many things that I have never done. Things that I would like to try out with you, whenever you’re ready for that.”
He placed a soft kiss on his forehead. “I knew that you would need time to get used to all of this, to the thought of even kissing me and being physically intimate with me in any way. Whether it’s just an embrace or holding you like I am now or more.
I will wait. So take however much time you need.”

Tobio swallowed heavily and nodded. It was relieving to hear that Oikawa seemed aware of the situation between them, of how different their situations were, even with just two years between them.

“You’ll do fine, Tobio-chan.”

“I - Thank you, Oikawa.”

Oikawa smiled softly and kissed him gently. “We should get some sleep now. I doubt we will get much of it, but we should at least try.”

“You’re right … Goodnight, Oikawa.”

“Goodnight, Tobio-chan. Sleep well.”

Chapter Text

When Tobio woke up on Sunday morning, he was very comfortable and warm. 
He couldn’t remember the last time his blankets felt this cosy and smelled this nice.
It took him longer than he’d like to admit to notice that he was snuggled up against Oikawa, his head on his chest and Oikawa’s arms comfortably wrapped around him.

He blushed softly when he finally realised their position, but he also didn’t want to move. Who knew when he would get a chance like this again.
Oikawa moved his leg in his sleep, making Tobio notice two things.
First: His leg was thrown over Oikawa’s.
Second: He really should bring some more distance between their hips.

Careful not to wake Oikawa, he tried to slip out of his arms.

“Where are you going, Tobio-chan?”

Tobio, half-sitting up, looked down at his boyfriend, who had just opened his eyes. “Oikawa … I didn’t think you were awake.”

“I have been for a while now. Just didn’t feel like moving.” He moved to the side just enough to bring some distance between their bodies but could still keep his arms around him.

“Good morning, Tobio-chan.”

“G-Good morning, Oikawa.” He said, a little shyly. He really didn’t know what to do in a situation like this.

Oikawa reached out with his free hand and caressed Tobio's cheek, playing a little with Tobio’s messed up hair. “Did you sleep well?”

“... Yeah. Really well,” Tobio said honestly, causing Oikawa to smile sleepily.

“Good. So did I.” He pulled him down and wrapped one arm around his neck as he kissed him. “I love waking up like this,” he whispered against his lips.

Tobio blushed even more deeply at that. Neither of them had ever used that word in any kind of context between them.
Well. Maybe for volleyball.
He carefully laid back down next to his boyfriend.
“How long do you think we have until everyone’s up?”

“If we want to make sure no one finds us like this?” Oikawa rolled over onto his side, propping his head up on his hand. “Not too long, I’d reckon. It’s probably better if we get up sooner than later.”

Tobio sighed softly. “I guess you’re right. You never know what the team comes up with.”

“Makki and Mattsun, especially. They might get some weird ideas once they hear we’ve been staying in here together.”

“They seem to be the type for that.”

“They are. They would be the ones to lock us up in a broom closet just to see what happens.”

“What would they expect to happen?”

Oikawa shrugged. “Anything, probably. As long as something happens, they’d be satisfied.”

“Scary.”

Oikawa laughed. “A little. But let’s not worry about them for now. We still have a couple of minutes, so let’s use them.”

Tobio lifted his eyebrow at him. “Use them how?”

“You know,” he smirked. “Kisses … Touching … All those things that Iwa-chan would frown upon.”

Tobio made a face.

“Don’t make that face, Tobio-chan. Don’t you like my kisses?”

“I - Yes, I do, but -”

“So shush and let me kiss you.” Oikawa leaned over and kissed him gently, his lips moving lazily against Tobio’s.
Tobio couldn’t help but wonder how many more different ways Oikawa could kiss him. It continued to surprise him.

They got up shortly after that, Tobio putting his jeans back on and Oikawa fully changing into fresh clothing while Tobio had his back turned to him. He tried very hard not to think about being alone in a room with a naked Oikawa.

“All done?” Oikawa said eventually and Tobio turned around to face him. He looked casual, but handsome.
Don’t stare, he told himself.

“I am. You?”

“Almost.” He moved up to him and crowded him until Tobio’s back was against the door. Oikawa put his hands on the door next to Tobio’s head. “There’s one more thing I need to do.”

Tobio had a pretty good idea what that one thing was.

They left Oikawa’s bedroom a few minutes later, Tobio still slightly flushed a little dishevelled but he doubted anyone would pay attention to that considering he had to literally sleep in his clothes.

“Everyone still seems to be asleep,” Tobio said quietly.

“Indeed. We should figure out some breakfast for those who want it.”

“Usually I’d already be up around this time and making Hajime’s birthday breakfast,” Tobio said as they entered the kitchen.

“Ah, yes. I remember Iwa-chan telling me about that. You do that every year, right?”

Tobio nodded. “Ever since I was old enough for our mother to allow me to use the stove by myself. It was a disaster the first time around though,” he chuckled softly.

“I bet Iwa-chan loved it anyway.”

“He did. He was so touched, I was worried he might cry.”

“He’s such a mother hen when it comes to you,” Oikawa shook his head.

“We’re just close.”

“I know.” He looked over at him. “You always have been.”

"So have you." 

They looked at each other for a long moment, then seemed to both decide to just leave this topic alone and start working on the breakfast preparations.

Oikawa broke the silence between them soon enough, telling random stories about his friends and the team.
He was just telling Tobio about the prank that Matsukawa and Hanamaki had played on him after finding out that Oikawa was going to be their new captain, when Tobio turned around to turn down the heat on the stove and froze in his tracks. 
Hanamaki was standing in the doorway, casually leaning against the doorframe with crossed arms and watching them.

Tobio felt the smile fade from his face rather quickly.

"Well," Hanamaki said, pushing himself off the doorframe and entering the kitchen. Tobio wondered how long he had been standing there, watching them. "This looks cosy." He grabbed the pot full of freshly brewed coffee and filled some into a mug. "And rather unexpected, isn't it? I thought you two don't get along."
He took a sip of the black coffee, made a face and started adding sugar.

"Makki! I was just telling Tobio-chan -"

"Yes. I heard you. Quite an unusual conversation for two people who can't stand each other." He stirred his coffee. "I just find it very interesting."

Tobio's heart was racing and only the fear of burning the food was enough to make him move again.

"There's nothing interesting here, Makki. I was just having a normal conversation with Tobio-chan."

"Indeed. Remind me again when you two have ever had a conversation that didn't include Iwaizumi?" He looked at his friend and took a sip of his coffee.

Oikawa shot him a glare and turned back to his task of cutting up some fruit without answering.

Hanamaki smirked over the rim of his cup. "So when exactly are you going to tell him?"

"Tell who what exactly?" Oikawa said, his next cut looking rather aggressive.

"Iwaizumi. About you two."

"Iwa-chan knows everything he needs to know."

"Does he?" Hanamaki lifted an eyebrow. "Doesn't look like it to me."

Oikawa put down the knife and looked at his friend again. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh nothing big. Just your little relationship that you've been keeping a secret from all of us."

Both Tobio and Oikawa stared at him.

Hanamaki put his mug down.
"It was rather obvious to me, ever since that day at the amusement park. Your reaction to me putting my arm around Tobio-kun's shoulder was just way too obvious and immediate to be anything else. And then the way you've been acting during practice recently?" He snorted. "Honestly, I was sure you were about to strangle Yahaba whenever he talked to Tobio-kun. Or maybe you'd make Kunimi and Kindaichi go up in flames instead. Rather amusing to watch.
I really thought you would have told us by now though. I guess it's because you haven't talked to Iwaizumi yet?"

Oikawa stayed quiet.

"I'm impressed, honestly. You must have been keeping it to yourselves for weeks now and barely anyone seems to have noticed anything."

"Makki -"

Hanamaki waved him off. "Relax, Oikawa. I'm not going to tell anyone. Don't you think I would have done that already if I wanted to?
I just think you should open up about all of this sooner rather than later. Drawing it out is not going to do any favours."
He picked up the mug again. "I'm going to leave you two alone now, to do -" He made a vague gesture with his hand. "Whatever it is that you do when you're alone. See you later!"
He didn't wait for a reply and headed to the door, but turned back around once more before leaving.
"Ah and captain." He paused until Oikawa was fully looking at him. "Try not to drop this bomb before Interhigh? We can't have our dream team on bad terms if we want to win against Ushiwaka. Have fun!"
He waved and left the kitchen.

It took them a rather long moment to recover.
Tobio's mind was racing.
Hanamaki knew.
Hanamaki knew.
He had figured out what was going on between them.
And - he was okay with it. 
He had known for so long already and apparently hadn't told anyone. For their sake.

"You have some good friends, Oikawa," Tobio said quietly.

Oikawa looked at him and snorted. "Where exactly did you get that from now? Makki just took the deepest pleasure from showing us that he knows more than we want him to know." He turned back to the cutting board.

"He has known about us for weeks and kept it to himself."

"No, he has been suspicious for weeks and now used the opportunity to see if he's right.
He doesn't know anything."

"He sounded rather sure to me."

"Of course he did. Doesn't mean he is though." Oikawa pointed at him with the knife. "Don't tell him anything, Tobio-chan. Assume he knows nothing, just like anyone else."

"But -"

"No buts. The less anyone knows the less they're able to tell."

Tobio couldn't argue with that.

Chapter Text

People started waking up soon after that.
A few left immediately, others decided to grab some breakfast.

Tobio found himself sitting between Kindaichi and Kunimi as he ate his breakfast. They were both complaining about a second year team member who had had his futon close to theirs and had apparently snored very loudly.

"It was awful," Kunimi said, shaking his head. "Barely got any sleep at all."

Kindaichi agreed, "I didn't know anyone could snore that loudly."

"That does sound like it would make it difficult to sleep," Tobio said calmly, a small smile on his lips.

"You should know. I've heard Oikawa snores as well."

Tobio looked at Kindaichi. "He doesn't."

"No? Does he get all handsy then?"

Tobio tried his best not to blush but he wasn't sure whether he was successful. "Why - Why would you think that?"

"He'd be the type for it," Kindaichi shrugged.

"Maybe if it was the right person next to him," Kunimi said, looking only half-interested in the conversation. "I doubt he's interested in getting all handsy with Tobio. Iwaizumi would have his head."

Kindaichi laughed. "True. I guess you're safe then, Tobio."

Tobio felt a little sick. He didn’t want to think about how his friends would react when they found out the truth.

Kunimi frowned at him. “Are you alright?”

“Huh? Y-Yes, of course.”

“Oikawa …” He glanced over at their captain who was sitting at the other end of the table with his friends. “Didn’t do anything, right?”

“N-No. Of course not. We just went to bed and that was it.” Tobio hoped his voice didn’t waver as he told that little lie. But in a way, it wasn’t even a lie. They had gone to bed and - except for those few kisses and their conversation - nothing had happened.

“Good,” Kunimi said with a nod. “Because no matter how entitled he thinks he is, doing something like that just isn’t right.”

Tobio ended up being one of the last people to leave. He wasn't really surprised about it, considering how polite his brother tended to be. So they left after helping up with the cleanup and after Hajime had said goodbye to his friends (with Tobio awkwardly standing behind him - thankfully Oikawa didn't look at him).

"Thank you for going along with all of this," Hajime said to him as they headed home. "I know this isn't really your kind of thing."

Tobio shrugged. "It was fine. I got to talk to my friends."

"Yeah but you also had to put up with Oikawa and everyone else." He looked rather concerned.

"That couldn't be helped. And I see them basically every day anyway. So it's fine." He looked over at his brother. “Why did you make me sleep in his room?”

Hajime shrugged. “I guess I just wanted to make sure you’d actually get some sleep. I know you’re not one of Oikawa’s biggest fans, but I trust him. He can be a pain in my ass, but he’s still my best friend.
And I - I guess I was hoping you would start getting along a little better once you actually take the time to get to know each other. You two have been holding this grudge for way too long already.”

Tobio bit his lip, feeling like stomach was weighed down by a stone the size of a volleyball.
He was such an awful brother.
“I … We have been getting along better recently. Since I joined Aoba Johsai.”

Hajime looked at him. “You have?”

He nodded. “I just have to avoid asking him about his serves.”

Hajime winced. “Yeah. That’s a bit of a touchy subject, isn’t it?” He nudged him with his shoulder. “We can work on it together again. No need to ask Crappykawa.”

Tobio smiled tentatively. “I would like that.”

“Then we will do that. Maybe we will still have some time after dinner with our parents.”

“I doubt it. It’s your birthday and this party already stole half of the day. They won’t let you get away this easily.”

Hajime sighed. “They’ll make a big fuss won’t they?”

“Of course they will. You know what they’re like. You’re exactly like them when it’s my birthday.”

“How could I not make a big fuss on my little brother’s big day?” He wrapped his arm around Tobio’s shoulders. “Since we’re talking about it. Do you have any ideas already?”

“Hajime. It’s over half a year until my birthday.”

“Just enough time if you ask me.”

Tobio shot him a look. "Focus on Oikawa's birthday first. I don't even want to imagine the tantrum he'd throw otherwise."

"I guess you're right. But I don't have to take care of that alone."

"You might as well."

"Hey! My friends aren't that bad."

Tobio shrugged and laughed, Hajime joining in after a few moments.

They had finally reached their home and headed inside.

After that it was basically one whirlwind of food, gifts and fussing by their parents over how quickly they were growing up.

Safe to say, Tobio was exhausted by the end of the day and happy when he finally got some time to himself.

Things didn’t get any less stressful after that. The Interhigh preliminaries were getting closer and closer and they had practice almost every day in order to prepare for that.
The starting team was basically set by then and the pressure on the seven of them was obvious to anyone, but Tobio especially since he happened to be close to four of them and to two more by extension.

Each of them showed their nerves in a different way.
Hajime’s way of coping was the most familiar to Tobio, since he had witnessed it many times over the years. His brother would be more quiet, but also more easily agitated, making him boil over much more quickly.
With Kindaichi and Kunimi it was mostly ranting about the amount of training they had to do, sore muscles and other bruises from volleyballs. Tobio could tell it was mostly just a way for them not to keep everything bottled up and tried his best to ignore it whenever the topic came up.

And then there was Oikawa.
Their captain was doing his best to appear calm and confident, but the whole team could tell how much pressure he felt with the upcoming matches. He was so desperate to finally beat Shiratorizawa and the team was eager to help him achieve it.

For Tobio the whole situation meant both less stress and more.
He didn’t feel the pressure of the starting team, nor even the pressure that the third years who were likely to come in as a pinch server felt. All in all, it was unlikely for Tobio to be playing at all, but he didn’t let that stop him from training just as hard as everyone else.
The weight on Tobio’s shoulders came mostly from trying to help the people around him to stay as calm as possible in this situation.
He listened to his friends’ ranting and he tried his best to take care of any chores at home so Hajime didn’t have to do them.

With his boyfriend though, things were a little more complicated.

Oikawa's way of coping was to dive headfirst into the situation and to do even more training than everyone else, which in turn made Hajime worry about him which meant his nerves were stretched even thinner.

So Tobio's only way of trying to improve that situation was on the one hand not to make any demands for Oikawa's time (Tobio himself wouldn't have wanted anything or anyone taking up practice time in this situation either), but on the other hand also give him an opportunity to think about something else and get his mind off things.

It took him a while to figure out how exactly to achieve that.

The trick was to make Oikawa come to him instead of pulling him away from training which would have made him think that Tobio was interfering with it. This way, it was always Oikawa's decision to take a break - which Tobio then could easily reward with some stolen kisses. 

He didn't tell Oikawa how great of a setter he was. They both knew it and Oikawa wouldn't have taken kindly to such praise. So instead he told him about the little things he noticed.

Things that only another setter would notice.

Like the small twists that Oikawa added to his tosses whenever he tried something new.

Or he showed concern when he noticed a bruise or a newly bandaged finger.

All in all, Tobio felt good with the way he had chosen to approach things since Oikawa always seemed calmer after one of those stolen moments. And that in turn made everyone else relax a little.

That didn't mean that Tobio wasn't frustrated though.
He had accepted his place as a new player on an already well-established team. Frankly, he had known what it would be like from the moment he had even considered applying for Aoba Johsai (not that that had been necessary in the end, they had approached him instead).
But that didn't make it any less frustrating to know he wasn't needed.

The closer the first official match came, the more the focus shifted away from everyone but the starting seven.

During another extra practice on a Saturday the week before the preliminaries, Tobio found himself being watched closely by Yahaba. The other setter had gotten into the habit of spending any minute where he wasn't needed during training around Tobio.
Tobio didn't really know what to make of it.

"You look a little tense, Tobio-kun," he said and gave him a once-over. "What are you so worried about?"

"Doesn't it ever bother you?" Tobio said without thinking as he continued watching Oikawa going over the same move over and over again with all the players from the starting lineup. "Knowing that you won't get to play?"

Yahaba shrugged. "Of course it does. But you have to remember that it's not forever.
Oikawa and the others are going to graduate soon and then it'll be just you and me, Tobio-kun." He sent him a grin. "And then we'll see who becomes the next setter."

"As if you even stand a chance," Tobio said playfully, knowing by now that Yahaba could take a joke like that and wouldn't hold it against Tobio that he said something like that.

"Now now, Tobio-kun. Just because you've been training with Iwaizumi all your life and the captain gives you special treatment doesn't mean you're automatically better than everyone else on the team. Give us some credit."

"I do. I just know I'm better."

Yahaba laughed and gave him a friendly shove. "That's some confidence there."

In that moment, Tobio met Oikawa's gaze. He could tell he wasn't happy.
But before he could even do anything, a volleyball hit Oikawa straight in the gut after ricocheting off the floor right in front of him.
Oikawa groaned and bent over in pain, hugging his hurting stomach.

"Oh no, so sorry, Captain," Tobio heard Hanamaki's voice say. "I thought you would have seen that ball coming or I would have warned you."

Oikawa sent him a glare and started shouting at him.

Yahaba next to Tobio giggled.
"Unusual for Oikawa not to be paying attention to what's going on on the court."

Tobio watched Oikawa with concern, but he seemed to have recovered already as he gave Hanamaki a stern talking to. "It's probably just the pressure. It's getting to all of us."

Yahaba looked at him thoughtfully. "Maybe."

Tobio wasn't really surprised when Oikawa was suddenly standing next to him when he had gone outside to refill everyone's water bottles.
What did surprise him was what he said.

"I'm going to tell Iwa-chan."

Chapter Text

Tobio was sure he had misheard. "You're going to what?"

"I'm going to tell Iwa-chan," he said almost casually while opening up his water bottle and holding it under the tap. "About us."

Tobio stared at him. "Are you sure? I doubt he has even noticed anything about us getting along yet."

"I am. I'm going to wait until after Interhigh and then tell him."

"And you really think that's a good idea?" He forced himself to keep filling water bottles as they spoke, just in case anyone was watching them.

"Probably not," Oikawa shrugged. "But it's just time. I'm sick of watching others make a move on you and not being able to say anything about it."

"What are you talking about?" Tobio asked with a frown.

Oikawa sighed. "You're so oblivious sometimes, Tobio-chan. Yahaba, earlier?"

"We're friends."

"Doesn't mean he can't want more."

"I seriously doubt he does. He keeps talking about that manager from Karasuno."

"The one with the black hair and glasses? Good luck with that. She didn't even look my way when I tried talking to her once."

"You tried talking to her?"

"Just to see how she'd react. And it usually gets such interesting reactions from their team."

Tobio shook his head. "You have a weird sense of humour, Oikawa."

"Doesn't stop you from liking me, does it?" He put his arm around Tobio for just a brief moment, giving his waist a gentle squeeze before letting go again. "Anyway. I've made up my mind. We're going to Interhigh, we'll beat Ushiwaka-chan and then I'll tell Iwa-chan the truth."

Tobio tried not to bring up the obvious question what would happen if they didn't win against Shiratorizawa and nodded. "Do you want me to be there when you do it?"

"We'll see about that. I'll let you know in time." He glanced over at the doors to the gym. "Hey, Tobio-chan?"

Tobio looked at him. "Yes, Oikawa?"

The kiss was over so quickly that Tobio barely had time to process it. "Don't let Yahaba or any of the others get too close to you. I really can't stand it and it's distracting."

"Uh. Sure?" He blinked at his boyfriend.

Oikawa gave him a grin, looking rather satisfied with his reaction and went back inside.

To say that Tobio had doubts about Oikawa's plan would be an understatement.
There was just so much that could go wrong about it. They simply had no idea what was going to happen at Interhigh. 
And no matter how it ended, bringing up that topic in the midst of either frustration or celebration just simply didn't seem like a good idea.

Tobio knew that he could stop Oikawa, tell him to wait a bit longer, but part of him was eager to finally open up about all of this. They had been keeping this secret for so many weeks now and by the time Interhigh was over, it would have been almost two months.
Maybe they would be able to find some quiet time to talk to Hajime in the days after Interhigh. When emotions had settled down a bit and they weren't as busy with practice.
But would they still have the nerve to go through with it at that point?

No one seemed to have noticed their little conversation and by the time Tobio came back inside, Oikawa was already back on the court.

The time until Interhigh preliminaries really started to feel like a countdown after that.
It seemed like Tobio's whole life depended upon those (hopefully) 3 days so close in their future.

The day they got the jerseys with their numbers on them was both exciting and anticlimactic at the same time.
On the one hand, it made Tobio feel like he was finally an actual member of this team. On the other hand, the number on the back really drove home what his position was.
Not that Kindaichi's or Kunimi's numbers were much lower than his, but it still showed him his place once again.

Oikawa however seemed delighted by Tobio's number.
They were alone in the changing rooms after training when a shirtless Oikawa leaned over him from behind and stole the jersey out of Tobio's bag.

"Oikawa!" Tobio had turned around to him, his own shirt that he had been about to put on pressed against his chest.

"I'm just looking, Tobio-chan." He held the jersey out in front of him and looked at it. "14. It's like you're combining the numbers of me and Iwa-chan."

Tobio blushed immediately. "I doubt that's the reason for me getting that number."

"Still a nice coincidence."

A jersey flew at Tobio's head and he caught it reflexively.

"Put that on. I want to take a picture."

Tobio put his shirt down and looked at the jersey in his hands. His eyes widened a bit when he saw the big number 1 on it. 
"But that's yours."

"I'm perfectly aware of that, Tobio-chan. Now put it on." Oikawa was already busy pulling Tobio's jersey over his own head.

"But I can't possibly -"

"Just do it, Tobio. It's just for one picture."

Tobio sighed and looked at the jersey (Oikawa's jersey!) again, then put it on.
With a satisfied grin, Oikawa wandered over to him and put his arm around Tobio's waist.
He held out his phone in front of them. "Smile, Tobio-chan."

"Oikawa, I can't just -"

Oikawa next to him sighed but ignored his protests as he took more pictures. For the last one, he even quickly turned his head and kissed Tobio's cheek.
Tobio pulled back and looked at Oikawa in surprise. Their eyes met.
They only hesitated for a moment before they were kissing, right there in the changing room. Tobio couldn't have said who started it, but there was one more click of the camera app and then Oikawa's arms were around him as they kissed. It felt like it had been ages since they had a chance to do this even though it had just been a couple of days.
Tobio could feel Oikawa's hands moving under the jersey and caressing over his back.
The noise that escaped him made him break the kiss.

"N-Not here, Oikawa. They might come back."

Oikawa sighed and leaned his forehead on Tobio's shoulder. "Unlikely, since they're probably all already busy eating some of that grilled meat but you're right. They might come back because they've forgotten something."
He hugged Tobio quickly before pulling back. He smiled at the sight of him.
"If having my boyfriend wear my jersey doesn't give me good luck, I don't know what will."

"How about a fist in your face?"

They jumped apart immediately and looked at the doorway, Tobio's stomach quickly filling with dread.
No. No.
Not now.
Not this close to Interhigh. This couldn't be happening.

"I-Iwa-chan -" Oikawa started but he didn't get very far as his best friend approached him. He stumbled a few steps backwards, unsuccessfully trying to get some distance between him and an obviously livid Hajime.

Iwaizumi stopped right in front of him, crossing his arms. "What. Exactly. Is the meaning of this?"

"I -"

"You have one chance to explain yourself. Don't waste it."

Oikawa glanced over at Tobio who took a deep breath and then moved closer to his brother. "Hajime…"

"Not now, Tobio."

Tobio continued anyway. "Hajime, it's not his fault."

Hajime turned his head and looked at him. "How? I doubt putting on Oikawa's jersey was your idea."

Tobio glanced down at his chest. Right. He was still wearing that. "No, that wasn't my idea, but -"

"Then I don't want to hear it right now." He turned back to Oikawa. "Explain."

Oikawa seemed to have used the moment to gather up his courage as he was now looking straight at his best friend. "Tobio and I are dating."

Hajime lifted an eyebrow. "You are what?"

"Dating. We were going to tell you after Interhigh."

"After -" He looked from Oikawa to Tobio, who couldn't help but shift nervously from foot to foot, and back. "How long has this been going on?"

"A couple of weeks."

"Weeks?! And neither of you thought it might be a good idea to, I don't know, tell me that my best friend and my little brother are dating?!"

Neither of them had an answer to that.

"Who else knows?"

Oikawa hesitated.

"Who. Else. Knows. Oikawa?"

"Just Makki."

"Hanamaki."

"Yes. He figured it out himself."

"Unbelievable." Hajime turned away from them and started pacing up and down.

"Iwa-chan, we really wanted to tell you. It just - wasn't that easy."

"Not that easy?!" Hajime exploded and Oikawa stumbled backwards, over his bag and fell onto the floor, barely managing to catch himself so he didn't get hurt. "I'm your fucking best friend! You can talk to me about anything!"
He shook his head and ran his fingers through his own hair, pulling at it as if that might help him calm down. "This really isn't what I meant when I asked you to try and get along with Tobio."

"Iwa-chan…" Oikawa said, getting up very slowly in case Hajime got angry again. "I didn't plan this, really. Neither did Tobio-chan.
It just… happened. But I swear to you that I'm serious about this."

Hajime turned around and looked at him.

"You know I wouldn't say this lightly. And I wouldn't risk our friendship that carelessly.
I have never been this serious about a relationship before."

"You mean it." 
It wasn't a question, but Tobio saw Oikawa nodding anyway.

"I do."

Hajime sighed and looked from Oikawa to Tobio. "He isn't forcing you into this?"

Tobio shook his head.

Hajime shook his head. "I still don't like this. Any of this. And I especially dislike that you kept it a secret from me."
He gave each of them a stern look.
"But now really isn't the time to talk about this. Everyone's waiting outside."
He turned to his brother. "Go to your friends. They're probably wondering why you're taking so long."
Then he turned to Oikawa. "And you. I don't want to hear anything from you for the rest of the night. And you keep your paws off my brother, understood?"

Oikawa opened his mouth to say something but Hajime didn't even give him the chance to.

"No. I don't want to hear it. You're lucky I'm not just straight out telling you to end it.
So you'll behave and wait. Understood?"

Oikawa pouted but nodded.

"Good. Now can I trust you to get dressed without being all over each other or do I stay here and play chaperone?"

As Oikawa didn't seem very inclined to answer, Tobio said quietly, "We'll be fine, Hajime."

"I'll wait outside then." He shot Oikawa one last warning look and left the changing room.

Chapter Text

They didn't speak while they quickly changed into their normal clothes, each lost in their own thoughts.
Tobio wanted to say something to Oikawa, tell him it would be alright, but he was worried Hajime would hear and take it as further betrayal.

"Tobio-chan," he heard Oikawa's quiet voice behind him.

Tobio turned around to find Oikawa standing behind him, his arm outstretched and Tobio's jersey in his hand. 

"You might want this back."

Tobio nodded and took his jersey, switching it with Oikawa's. "Thanks."

Oikawa nodded, folding the jersey before putting it into his back. "No problem."
He zipped up the bag and put the strap over his shoulder. "I'll go ahead then."

"Alright."

"I'll see you outside."

Tobio nodded again and Oikawa left the changing room.
He could hear him exchanging a few words with Hajime right outside the door, then steps moving away.

Tobio leaned his head against the wall.
His head was empty but his stomach felt heavy with guilt and dread.
Hajime had caught them. He had seen them before they even had a chance to tell him anything.
And now everything was in shambles. Two days before Interhigh.

He forced himself to take his bag and leave the changing rooms.
Hajime was still standing next to the door, waiting for him.
When he saw him, he quickly looked him over, nodded and then left to join the others outside.

Tobio's stomach clenched uncomfortably. He couldn't remember a single time in his life when Hajime wouldn't even talk to him.
Yes, they had had disagreements and silly arguments, but nothing that was unusual for siblings. They always made up. They always figured things out.
But now Tobio wasn't so sure whether Hajime would be able to forgive him for this betrayal.

He went outside and over to the area of the schoolyard where they had set up their little barbeque.
Of course, Tobio was the last one to show up but his friends had left a spot open for him, so after grabbing a plate and something to drink, mostly for appearances as he wasn't hungry at all, he sat down next to them.

"There you are, Tobio," Kindaichi said. "Took you ages."

"Yes," Kunimi agreed, shooting him a look. "We were starting to wonder whether Oikawa made you clean the whole gym by yourself."

"No," Tobio shook his head. "I just tried to avoid him which he noticed and took as a challenge. Made everything take twice as long."
His friends really didn't need to know that they had spent most of the time in the changing rooms and what exactly had happened there. 

"Sounds like him. He's so petty sometimes," Kindaichi said with a shrug before getting up to grab some more food.

Kunimi was still watching Tobio. "You look rather worried. Or sad. Did Oikawa say anything to you?"

"What -" Tobio startled. "No. No, of course not. I guess the whole situation is just getting to me a bit."

"You're not the only one there. I think everyone's feeling it right now." He took a look around at the team around them, most of them still in the middle of eating.

Tobio had to admit that under any other circumstances, he would have enjoyed this barbeque quite a lot. Sitting together with the whole team, enjoying dinner together right before a big match. It was truly a bonding moment.
If it hadn’t been for the weight in Tobio’s stomach that stopped him from enjoying the food altogether. 

"I just thought you might know what happened between Oikawa and Iwaizumi."

Tobio choked and coughed. "Wh-What?"

Kunimi was thankfully not looking at Tobio. "Well Iwaizumi left earlier and then Oikawa came back by himself, followed by Iwaizumi later. They haven't exchanged a single word since then."

Tobio followed Kunimi's gaze over to the group of third years. It made his heart sink.
Usually Oikawa and his brother would be sitting next to each other and even if they weren't actively talking, you could tell they were at ease around each other.
Now it felt Tobio could actually see ice in the air between them.

"I - have no idea. Maybe they had an argument? They've both been tense recently."

"Maybe," Kunimi said, not sounding very convinced. "Let's just hope they'll figure that out before the first match. I can't imagine things going well when they're like this."

Tobio silently agreed.

Over the course of the evening, Tobio tried his best to focus on his friends, their conversation and the food. But sometimes he couldn’t stop his gaze from wandering over to Oikawa and Hajime. Their weird behaviour had been noticed by at least the rest of the Seijoh Four at this point and Tobio often noticed them exchanging worried looks.
He could only hope that they would figure out a way to make Hajime and Oikawa patch things up quickly.

Once though, he met Oikawa’s gaze and Oikawa, after quickly glancing over at Hajime to make sure that he wasn’t watching him, gave him a rather sad smile. It wasn’t much. But it was better than nothing.

Needless to say that Oikawa did not walk home with Tobio and Hajime that night.

It was an odd experience, walking home with Hajime in silence and he wasn’t very keen on ever doing it again.
Tobio lasted about half of the way before he started glancing over at his brother every few steps.

Eventually Hajime sighed. “Out with it.”

“I’m sorry, Hajime.” He said quietly.

“I know. But that doesn’t change what you have done. Or what Oikawa has done.”

“Yes. I know,” he looked at his feet.

“Do you love him, Tobio?”

Tobio looked up in alarm, a blush immediately blooming on his face.

Hajime looked at him, waiting for an answer.

“I - I don’t know.” Noticing his brother’s frown deepening, he quickly added, “I just don’t know what that’s supposed to feel like. This is the first time I’ve ever experienced anything like this.
I’ve never even wanted to be close to someone the way I want to be close to him.”

Hajime kept watching him for a long moment, then took a deep breath and visibly relaxed. “I thought you might say something like that.”

“What? Why?”

“Because you’re generally a very honest person, Tobio. Which is probably why I was so - disappointed that you didn’t tell me about this. Were you really that worried about my reaction if you just told me the truth?”

“I just didn’t want to ruin your friendship with him.” He looked back at his feet. “You’ve been friends for as long as I can remember.”

“Exactly. So why would you think that our friendship would break apart this easily?”

Tobio immediately lifted his gaze and looked up at Hajime. “But -”

“No but. I am mad right now. Really mad. But not because you two are dating. I am mad because you have been doing it behind my back.
You two are some of the most important people in my life and certainly the ones I trust most, so finding out about this really felt like betrayal.”

“I understand.”

“You never even told me that you prefer guys.”

Tobio bit his lip. “I couldn’t have told you. I didn’t know.”

“So this is truly a lot of firsts for you, hm?”

Tobio nodded.

“I guess I get why you didn’t tell me then. A first crush can be really overwhelming and I can’t even imagine that crush being Oikawa. And having him reciprocate it.” He shook his head.

“Oikawa once said that him and I dating is probably your worst nightmare.”

A startled laugh escaped Hajime. “He might actually be right there. He certainly wouldn’t have been my first choice for you.” He looked over at him. “But that choice is not mine to make, is it?”

Tobio hesitated. “So you are not … going to stop us from dating?”

“No,” Hajime shook his head with his usual soft smile on his lips and ruffled Tobio’s hair. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t give him a stern reminder of what happens if he doesn’t treat you right.”

Tobio laughed softly, dodging his brother’s hand. “I think he is getting away rather easily with that.”

“I think so, too.” He smiled and wrapped his arm around his brother’s shoulders. “But let’s not tell him that just yet, alright? Let him stew over this overnight. I am too curious to see what he will come up with to make this up to me.”

Chapter Text

The next day was a rest day.
It was supposed to give them a chance to prepare and ensure they weren’t too sore from previous training.
Obviously it did not help with nerves.

Tobio was thankful that he had had a chance to talk to Hajime the night before as he wasn't sure how he could have gotten any sleep otherwise. Or survived the day ahead of him.
He knew he still had a lot to make up for, but at least they were on the right path again.
Now it was just a matter of what Oikawa decided to do.

Since Hajime had to catch up with some classwork before class, he went to school early, leaving Tobio to head to school on his own that day.
It had been quite some time since he had actually walked to school on his own, but he didn’t really mind. It gave him time to enjoy the nice weather and try his very best not to think about volleyball or Oikawa.

Once he arrived at school, he checked his phone one last time (just a text from Hinata, talking about Karasuno’s first match the next day that he answered to rather quickly) and turned it off.
He then went ahead to the classroom.

He spent a couple of minutes talking to Kunimi and Kindaichi before class finally started.
It was enough to keep Tobio’s mind occupied for the moment.

Lunch break came with a bit of a shock for Tobio.

He had just been discussing whether they wanted to head outside to eat their lunch with Kunimi and Kindaichi when the door to the classroom opened and Oikawa came in.
The whole class stared at him and Tobio was pretty sure that he was instantly recognised by pretty much everyone in the room.

Oikawa looked around once, spotted Tobio and his friends and made a beeline over to them.

Tobio could see Kunimi and Kindaichi exchanging confused glances next to him, but he didn’t look away from their captain, wondering what he was doing in their classroom.

“Tobio-chan!”

Tobio tried not to groan. That definitely got everyone's attention.

Oikawa was now standing in front of them and put both hands on Tobio's desk as he leaned forward. "I need to talk to you. Now."
Then he noticed the other two. "Hello Kindaichi, Kunimi-chan."
He didn't wait for a reply and turned back to Tobio. "Are you coming?"

"Coming where?"

"I just want to step outside so we can talk in private."

Tobio sighed. He at least needed to keep up appearances enough for everyone not to question Oikawa's presence too much. "I take it this is about my brother?"

"Wha-" Their eyes met. "Yes. Yes, of course this is about Iwa-chan. What else would it be about? Now come on."

Tobio rolled his eyes but got up. "Just go ahead and have lunch without me," he said to his friends. "Who knows how long this will take."

The other two nodded, looking mostly sympathetic, but also a little amused.

Tobio then followed Oikawa out of the classroom, trying to ignore the whispers coming from his classmates.

Oikawa led him away from the classroom, down a few corridors until they were outside. Apparently he thought this was the safest place to talk.

"You are aware that they're all talking about us now, right?" Tobio said as soon as they were outside.

"Yeah yeah. Let them talk.
They'll talk even more anyway when word spreads about our relationship."

"Ah. So you're not breaking up with me then." Not that Tobio had been really worried about that. It was still good to hear.

"What? No, of course not. That would be pretty stupid, don't you think? Right after things fell apart. No, at this point, I might as well go ahead with it."

"But that's not why you came to find me, right?" Tobio crossed his arms, watching him.

"Of course not. I wanted to check in on you."

Tobio frowned. "What?"

"I wanted to see how you're feeling after all of this. I know how badly both you and Iwa-chan take it whenever you fight." He tilted his head, examining Tobio's face. "But you seem strangely calm."

Tobio turned his face away.

"Did you talk to Iwa-chan already?"

"We… might have talked a bit while walking home."

"What did he say?" Oikawa asked, strangely quiet.

"He mostly wanted to know more about my feelings towards you and about the situation. Why I didn't tell him about liking guys and things like that."

"Doesn't sound like the most pleasant of conversations."

Tobio shrugged. "It was alright."

"So is he… still mad?"

"Yes. That's what he said." He glanced over at Oikawa's face. "But he also seemed to understand a little better why we didn't tell him."

Oikawa let out a sigh of relief. "I guess my balls are safe for the time being."

Tobio shot him a rather scandalised look.

"Relax, Tobio-chan. I'm just joking."

Tobio decided it was time to change the topic. "So you haven't talked to him yet?"

Oikawa sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "No. He's been giving me the silent treatment all day. Makki and Mattsun are already giving us weird looks."

"And you going to my classroom didn't make them ask any questions?"

"I didn't exactly tell them where I was going," he waved off the question.

"Of course not." Tobio shook his head, looking back at him. "You should talk to Hajime."

"Yes, yes, I know, Tobio-chan. I'm just trying to figure out what to say."

"The truth?"

"It's not that easy!"

Tobio stepped closer to him and took his hand, making Oikawa look at him. There was obvious surprise on his face. "I know it's not easy, but I think Hajime would appreciate it. Especially considering the circumstances."

Oikawa looked down at their joined hands. "I guess you're right, Tobio-chan." Then he frowned at him. "But I do not appreciate this. I'm supposed to be the older one here. I should be giving you advice, not the other way around."

"This is a special case though. Hajime is my brother."

He pouted. "I guess I can accept that. For now.
Soon Iwa-chan and I will be the bestest of friends again and then you'll be asking me for advice."

Tobio really wanted to roll his eyes again. "Sure, Oikawa. Just try and fix it before the match tomorrow? I don't think the team would appreciate their captain and vice captain being distracted before an important match."

"Alright, alright. I'll see what I can do, okay?"

"You better. That's part of your job, captain."

Oikawa lifted an eyebrow, smirking teasingly. "Oh? Care to repeat that for me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on, Tobio-chan, say it again." He stepped closer to his boyfriend.

"No." Tobio turned his face away so he didn't have to look at him.

"Please? I want to hear it."

"You don't deserve it."

Oikawa gasped. "So mean, Tobio-chan!"

Tobio shrugged and made the mistake to look over at Oikawa who was now standing very close to him, still holding his hand. He swallowed heavily and quickly looked around but they were still alone. "You might - You might want to take a step back, Oikawa. Remember what Hajime said yesterday?"

"Hmmm but Iwa-chan isn't here, is he?" He gave Tobio's arm a gentle tug, pulling him even closer.

"Oikawa -"

"Shhh. Just let me… recharge." He leaned their foreheads together and closed his eyes, slipping his free arm around him. "I barely got any sleep last night. I deserve a moment with my boyfriend."

"What if - someone sees us?"

"Let them see. Iwa-chan knows about us, so anyone else can think whatever they want to."

"You're planning on telling people?"

Oikawa opened his eyes again. "Eventually, yes. I certainly don't intend to keep you a secret. If anyone asks, I'll tell them. And if someone sees us, they see us.
Everything else will happen by itself."

With how popular Oikawa was around school, Tobio didn't doubt it. As soon as a few people knew, word would start spreading around quickly. He wasn't sure how he felt about it, but it was probably unavoidable when dating Oikawa Tooru.

"And it will make everyone else back off at last," Oikawa nuzzled his cheek.

"Huh?"

"Nothing, Tobio-chan. I'm just looking forward to everyone knowing you're mine."

"I think people will be more interested in your choices than mine, Oikawa."

"Which in turn will make them know that you're mine. Same result." He placed a kiss on his cheek before pulling back. "I should go back now. Lunch break is almost over."

Tobio gave him a confused look.

"Problem, Tobio-chan?"

"You're not going to… you know. Kiss me?"

Oikawa smirked. "Why? Do you want me to?"

Those words sounded way too similar to the ones from all those weeks ago when Oikawa had asked him whether he had ever been kissed before. 
Tobio blushed. "I just thought…"

"I'm already stretching Iwa-chan's rules by meeting you like this, I doubt he would appreciate hearing about us openly kissing in the schoolyard." He took Tobio's hand and kissed the back of it. "Soon. Be patient, my little Tobio-chan. Once things have settled with Iwa-chan, I will kiss you until you beg me to stop."
He carefully let go of his hand. "I'll call you later and let you know of any progress. Try not to think about my lips during class." He sent him a wink before heading back inside, leaving Tobio alone and his heart racing.

Chapter Text

Tobio knew something was off the moment he entered the kitchen.
His brother moving around in here had sounded mostly normal from far away as but now it was obvious that everything was just that little bit more aggressive.

Concerned, he watched as Hajime put away dishes while setting the table for dinner at the same time.

Since they hadn't had practice that day, their school day had ended at different times and they hadn't gone home together. Therefore Tobio had simply no idea whether anything had happened to his brother.

He stood in the doorway for a few minutes, just watching his brother move around before he even noticed him.

"Oh. Tobio." Hajime still didn't look too happy. No smile, no warm greeting.

"Hajime… is something wrong?"

"Wrong?" He put some glasses back into the cupboard. "Not exactly the word I would use."

Tobio went over to a chair and sat down. "What word would you use?"

"How about… betrayed?"

Tobio froze in his seat. "What?"

"Oh you know. The feeling you get when you specifically tell your best friend not to do something but he goes ahead and does exactly that? That feeling?"

Tobio was rather impressed that Hajime's voice was still comparatively calm. He had a feeling that it had not been when he had spoken about his topic the first time.
"What… exactly did that best friend do that you told him not to do?"
Tobio had a pretty good hunch about what it might have been.

"Oh I don't know. How about meeting up with my little brother behind my back?"

There it was. Tobio didn't see any reason to pretend he didn't know what Hajime was talking about. "I'm sorry, Hajime."

Hajime leaned against the counter with crossed arms, looking at him. "Why are you apologising, Tobio?"

"Because I went along with Oikawa?"

Hajime shook his head. "I doubt you had much of a choice about it."

"But -"

"No, Tobio. Or are you telling me that this was actually your idea?"

Tobio stayed quiet.

"I thought so." He turned back to the rest of the dishes.

After a few moments of silence, Tobio asked quietly, "How did you know?"

"Please. How could I not know? The whole school was talking about it by the end of day.
Seriously, what was he thinking?! Of course I would hear about it if he just walked into your classroom." He closed the cupboard rather aggressively. "It's as if he wanted me to find out!"

"He just wanted to talk, Hajime," Tobio said softly, not wanting to make things worse.

"Talk, sure. You know, I wouldn't even mind so much if I hadn't specifically told him to hold back!" He threw some cutlery into the drawer. "He only would have needed to apologise and be open about it. Maybe, maybe ask before he does something.
And he just goes and repeats the exact same thing that caused the problem in the first place!"

"Nothing happened. I promise, Hajime."

"Yes. Yes, I know," he said with a sigh, sounding a little resigned. He noticed the look Tobio was giving him. "One of our classmates saw you two together. She was a little confused about it, so she asked the three of us about it.
That's how I initially found out. Before it went all around school."

"And you confronted Oikawa?"

He gave a nod. "Yes. Found him right before lunch break was over. I might have lost my temper a little."

Tobio wasn't really surprised about that part. While Hajime would never lose his temper around Tobio, Oikawa made Hajime boil over on a regular basis.
"What did… Oikawa say?"

"Not much. Mostly just tried to dodge." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Went to the infirmary instead of back to class to have someone have a look at his split lip."

That didn't sound good at all.
Not that Tobio was worried that Hajime would ever seriously hurt his best friend, but it certainly didn't sound like they would make up any time soon.
Of course it couldn't be that easy.
"I haven't heard about that," he said eventually. He would have expected talk about Oikawa having a split lip - or even him and Hajime fighting - to travel even more quickly around school than talk about him entering a random classroom.

"I think Hanamaki and Matsukawa made sure no one saw us. And Oikawa must have told some lie about what happened. I wouldn't know."

Tobio looked over at his brother and at once walked over to him, putting his arms around him from the side and hugging him. "I'm sorry, Hajime."

Hajime gently touched his arm. "You don't need to apologise. I know none of this was your intention."

They stayed like that for quite awhile, neither of them speaking a word and each of them lost in his own thoughts.
They finally broke apart when their parents joined them for dinner and neither of them acknowledged their conversation in the kitchen afterwards.

Two hours later, Tobio was lying on his back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.
He had already packed his bag for the next and he knew he wouldn't be able to focus on homework right then, so he had decided not to even try.
Instead he thought about the match the next day.
It really wasn't looking too good for them now. Hajime and Oikawa were more at odds with each other than they had ever been and Tobio didn't even want to imagine what effect that might have on the team.

He felt guilty, to say the least. It was as if all of this was his fault and he didn't know how to fix it.
Rolling over, he picked up his phone from the nightstand.

He hesitated for a second, but then sent a text to Oikawa. He hoped Hajime wouldn't take it as even further betrayal.
But then, he wasn't contacting him out of any romantic reason, so he doubted it even counted.

[Heard about your split lip.]

It took Oikawa a few minutes to answer. [Iwa-chan told you then.]

[He did.] He hesitated another moment. 
Texting Oikawa was weird.
[Are you hurt?]

[Mostly my ego, Tobio-chan. You don't need to worry.]

[Can't exactly just turn that off.]

[Awww Tobio-chan. Will you come over and nurse me back to health? ♥]

[Hajime would have your head.]

[As if he didn't already.]

Tobio really wanted to tell Oikawa that he should have known it was a bad idea but decided against it. He had a feeling that his boyfriend was already beating himself up about it anyway.

[Will you be alright?]

[Of course, Tobio-chan. It will take a lot more to take me down.]

[You went to the infirmary.]

[I did. It was the easiest way to cover up what happened.]

[What are you going to tell the team? They're bound to notice something.]

[I haven't made up my mind about that yet.]

Before Tobio could think of an answer, another text from Oikawa showed up.

[How would you react if I told them about us?]

Tobio stared at the text for a long time. How did he feel about that idea?
[I don't think I would mind much, but I doubt now is the right time.]
He trusted their team and while there would likely be some jokes at their expense, he had no doubt they would be generally accepting.

[You're probably right. They'd end up being too distracted to focus on the match.]

Obviously that wasn't the true problem here, but it was very Oikawa to focus on this part.

[I want to see you before the match.]

Tobio stared at the text. That was… a really bad idea. Especially considering how they got into this mess.

[I'll need something that will cheer me up.]

He sighed softly. He understood why but he really didn't want to go behind his brother's back. Again.
He nervously bit his lip as he got up and went over to Hajime's room. He hesitated for a second before knocking.

After getting the go-ahead, he went inside.
Hajime was kneeling on the floor, packing his bag. There was volleyball gear all around him on the floor, waiting to be put inside.
"Oh Tobio. What's up?"

"Oikawa wants to see me."

To Tobio's surprise, Hajime just sighed. "I thought he might." Noticing his brother's expression, he added, "It's his usual way of coping."

Tobio moved over to Hajime and sat down on the floor next to him. "What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know, Tobio. What do you want to do?"

"I don't want to hurt you even more. I don't want to go behind your back. But -" Be honest. "I also want to see him."

"I see." Hajime put his shoes into his bag. "I guess you should go and meet him then."

Tobio looked at his brother. "Are you sure?"

He sighed again. "Yes. No matter how mad I am at him, I wouldn't want that to affect your relationship with him. I don't want you to be unhappy and I can tell how hard you're trying. Unlike someone else." He rolled his eyes. "Just remember not to stay too long, it's already getting late."

Tobio nodded and got up.

"And Tobio?"

He turned back to his brother. "Tell him if he tries anything funny, that split lip will be his smallest problem."

Chapter Text

Tobio arrived at Oikawa’s place just fifteen minutes later. He hadn’t bothered getting changed, staying in his comfortable tracksuit bottoms and had only thrown on a jacket and some shoes.

Oikawa’s mother answered the door, making Tobio feel just a little self-conscious. He hadn’t seen her in awhile. 
“Uh. Hello, Oikawa-san.”

“Tobio-kun!” She smiled. “What a nice surprise! What are you doing here so late? Is Hajime-kun coming as well?”

“No. No, he’s not coming. I’m actually here to see Oi- Uh. Tooru.”

She looked rather surprised for a moment, but then smiled again. “Of course. Go ahead, you know where his room is.”

Tobio nodded and quickly took off his shoes before heading up to Oikawa’s room.
He knocked at the door, trying to calm down his fluttering heart.

“What is it?” Oikawa’s voice could be heard from inside.

Tobio opened the door.

Oikawa was sitting on the floor in front of a screen, apparently in the middle of watching some old matches. He turned his head to the door and froze when he saw Tobio.
"Tobio-chan," he blinked, looking rather surprised. Tobio couldn't help but notice the cut in the middle of his lip and the bruise on his cheekbone. He was even wearing his glasses, which was always a sign of something being off. Tobio couldn't even remember when he had last seen them on him. But he could remember what a big fuss it had been when Oikawa had first gotten them and refused to wear them. To this day, Hajime often had to remind Oikawa not to strain his eyes just because of his vanity.

"What are you doing here?"

"You wanted to see me," Tobio said quietly as he closed the door behind him and went over to Oikawa, sitting down next to him on the floor.

"But - Iwa-chan -"

"Said that it's fine."

Oikawa looked at him in disbelief. "What?"

Tobio sighed. "After our text conversation, I went and talked to him. He didn't seem very surprised when I told him you wanted to see me and eventually told me that I should go."

"That sounds almost too good to be true."

"He also told me to tell you that if you try anything funny, your split lip will be the least of your problems."

"Now that sounds more like him."

Tobio looked at Oikawa's face, watched him shift around a bit as if he was feeling stiff or uncomfortable from sitting on the floor. He reached over and took Oikawa's hand, pulling it closer in the process. Oikawa looked at him again.

Neither of them said anything as Tobio started tracing the lines on Oikawa's palm with his fingertip. They stayed like that for a while, both watching the movements of Tobio's finger.

Eventually Tobio said quietly, "Why did you want to see me? What was on your mind when you wrote that?"

A slight shrug. "I just wrote what was running through my mind at the time. I thought I'd feel better with you here." He slowly looked up into Tobio's eyes. "I do."

Tobio blushed softly at the intensity of that gaze, the motion of his finger finally stopping. "I'm not doing much," he said softly.

"You don't need to. You made an effort and actually came here. That's more than enough."

"You asked me to," Tobio stated plainly.

"Yes. Indeed, I did. And my lovely boyfriend came to comfort me." He reached up with his free hand and touched Tobio's cheek.

"I don't know how to comfort you."

"Well I could think of a few things," Oikawa said, smirking for just a moment but it faded rather quickly. It told Tobio more of Oikawa's emotional and mental state right then than he wanted to admit. "But I doubt any of them would be advisable currently. With all these threats looming over my head."

"Threats? As in multiple?"

Oikawa shrugged casually and reached over to his already prepared futon to grab a few pillows. He arranged them and patted the one right between them, obviously telling Tobio to move closer. "Did you really think Iwa-chan would let me get away with just that one?"

Tobio hesitated but then sat down next to Oikawa, so close that their shoulders were touching. "I guess not. But none of them have stopped you before."

"True, but we also have a match tomorrow and I'm not letting you take my place that easily, Tobio-chan." He pulled a blanket up over their legs and reached for the remote, rewinding a bit. 

"What are we watching?"

"I'm going through old games of the two teams who might be our first opponents tomorrow."

"Senkawa Kita or Oomisaki, right?"

Oikawa shot him a slightly impressed look and nodded. "Yes. Oomisaki will be the likely winner between those two, but I doubt either of them would be much of a challenge for us."

"You've probably already seen through all their players and their strategies at this point and if they have any new, interesting players, you'll see through those in the first five minutes of the game anyway. So no. Likely not a big problem."

Oikawa gave him a strange look.

"What?"

"Was that - a compliment, Tobio-chan?"

Tobio rolled his eyes. "I've known you for long enough to know how your mind works, Oikawa. And how you analyse every player on your own team and every other team you face."

Oikawa put his arm around Tobio's waist and leaned his chin on his shoulder. He was smiling. "I think it's a compliment."

Tobio blushed, refusing to look away from the screen. "Take it however you want."

"I will." He turned his head so instead his cheek was resting on Tobio's shoulder as they continued watching the match.
At some point Oikawa's free hand had reached over and taken Tobio's hand between them, moving it over to Oikawa's lap.
It was strangely comfortable to sit with Oikawa like that and watch recordings of old matches.
They talked little, only occasionally mentioning something about a player's habit or a particularly interesting move.

When the match finally ended, Tobio didn't really want to move, but he still forced himself to check the time. "It's getting late."

Oikawa sighed in response and nuzzled Tobio's neck. Tobio did his best not to react to that. Especially when Oikawa placed a soft kiss on his skin.

"I promised Hajime I wouldn't stay too late."

Oikawa's other arm wrapped around Tobio's waist as well, holding him tightly. He still didn't say anything.
Tobio took it as a sign of his inner battle between wanting Tobio to stay and not wanting to make his best friend even more mad.

He turned his head a little and found himself with his nose buried in a tuft of Oikawa's brown hair. It… smelled rather nice, he had to admit.
He already knew that Oikawa's hair was unusually soft from how many times he had run his fingers through it while they kissed (a habit he couldn't seem to shake). And while he was well aware of how many different products Oikawa used to get his hair to be this way, he wondered which of them was responsible for the smell.
Before he had really thought about it, he found himself leaning in, trying to get more of that smell while his fingers ran through the soft strands.

Oikawa made a soft sound and Tobio could feel the tension bleeding from his shoulders. "That feels nice," he said quietly right next to Tobio's ear, causing a small shiver to run down his spine. 

"I should leave soon," Tobio said just as quietly, still playing with Oikawa's hair.

Oikawa sighed and lifted his head from Tobio's shoulder, sitting up. Tobio's hand slipped down to the back of Oikawa's neck, resting there. Tobio could feel every breath the other took and even more noticeably when Oikawa looked at him and swallowed heavily. "Tobio-chan."

Tobio didn't answer and moved his hand until he could gently trace Oikawa's split lip with his thumb.

Oikawa winced softly despite how faint Tobio's touch was in the first place.

"This is my fault," Tobio said quietly, finally voicing some of the guilt he felt over this situation to the other concerned party than his brother.

"It's not," he gave a small shake of his head. "You should know as well as I do that this isn't the first time something like this has happened."

Indeed, Tobio could remember a ton of times that Oikawa and Hajime would fight when they were children. But it had been a long time since it had escalated like this.

"And we both know that Iwa-chan would fight literally anyone when it's about you." He chuckled softly. "I've lost count of the amount of times he's hit me or thrown something at me because I dared to say something bad about you."

Tobio rolled his eyes. That truly wasn't surprising. Oikawa could never keep his mouth shut when it was about that.
Probably one of the reasons why they had never gotten along in the past. "You should have known better."

Oikawa shrugged carelessly. "Maybe. But my point is that you don't need to worry so much.
I'll figure out a way to make it up to Iwa-chan. I always do."

"But what if this is where he really draws the line?"

"Do you think he'd have let you come here if that was the case?"

Tobio bit his lip. "I don't know. Maybe."

"Well, I don't. I'm sure it means that there's still a chance to fix this." Suddenly Tobio found himself wrapped up in Oikawa's arms again. "Thank you, Tobio-chan," he said very quietly and Tobio could tell from the tone of his voice, how deeply he meant his words. "I was… I was feeling a little … deflated before you came over and now I'm a lot better."
He pulled back and placed a quick kiss on his lips. Tobio could tell that even that had been rather painful by the expression that crossed Oikawa's face before he could catch it.

"We should - probably not do that until your lip has healed," Tobio suggested.

"It's not that bad."

"Bad enough." Tobio insisted and got up. "And I need to get going anyway. Just like you need to rest. The team needs you tomorrow."

Oikawa looked at Tobio's feet as he answered, "Do you need me, too, Tobio-chan?"

Chapter Text

Tobio and Hajime left the house early the next morning. They had had a light breakfast together, then Tobio had cleaned up the kitchen while Hajime prepared some lunch boxes for them.

They hadn't talked much about the evening before or what had happened at Oikawa's home. Hajime had merely given him a once over, asked whether Oikawa had done anything to him and after Tobio had shaken his head, the topic was done. 

Now however, that they were on the way to the bus that would take them to the Sendai City Gymnasium where they'd be playing their first match that day, Tobio could tell how much the situation was actually affecting his brother. Hajime was looking tense and wasn't talking much as they headed to the meetup spot.

Tobio wondered if he should say something. If there was anything he could do to make this just a little bit easier on his brother.
If there was, Tobio couldn't think of it in time.
He could only hope that Hajime's friends would be able to take his mind off things - and that actually seeing his best friend who was currently dating his little brother wouldn't make things worse.

As far as Tobio himself was concerned, his best plan was to not shove his relationship with Oikawa into his brother's face and just try and act as if there was nothing at all happening between him and his captain.
Well. Except their obvious connection through Hajime.

So Tobio was relieved to find that his friends chose to sit towards the front of the bus while the third years all moved to the back.
He sat down on an empty seat in front of Kunimi and Kindaichi and placed his bag on the seat next to him. Deciding the best he could do until they got there was sleeping, he tried to get comfortable.
Thankfully most of the others seemed to have similar ideas and so it wasn't too hard for him to doze off once they were on their way.

He was woken by his phone buzzing in his pocket. He frowned as pulled it out, wondering who the heck would be texting him now. His suspicion of it being Hinata was proven right when he unlocked the phone to a string of excited texts and pictures of the gym Tobio's team was still on their way to.
Apparently Karasuno had already arrived.
Which wasn't very surprising as they would be playing the first round of the preliminaries, unlike Aoba Johsai.

[Iwaizumi! This is all so cool!]
[When are you guys getting here?]

Tobio rubbed his eyes. At least Hinata had finally started using his actual name instead of calling him 'king'. Although how exactly Hinata made the distinction whenever he was talking about Tobio and Hajime was still a big question to him. Maybe Tobio would have to introduce him to the way the team handled that particular issue.
He looked out of the window. He had no idea when they'd arrive.

[Should be there soon. Still on the bus.]

[Hurry up! I want you to watch our first match!]

Tobio rolled his eyes. As if he would go and tell the bus driver to go faster just because Hinata was too impatient to wait.
Just as he was about to put his phone back into his pocket, it buzzed again.
Sighing, he unlocked it and looked at the screen, wondering what Hinata could possibly want now, when he noticed that the text he had gotten wasn't from Hinata at all.

[Who are you texting, Tobio-chan? Because it isn't me. When it really should be. 
You haven't been paying attention to me at all today. 
Do I already need to fight off your new suitors?]

Tobio had to force himself not to turn around and shoot a rather annoyed look towards the back of the bus where Oikawa was sitting.

[You are overreacting.]

[And you're avoiding my questions.]

[We agreed to keep things on the low for now so we could all focus on the match today.]

[That was yesterday, Tobio-chan. When I was running high on endorphins from holding my boyfriend in my arms all evening.]

[You're such a needy drama queen.]

[Just for you, Tobio-chan ☆⌒(≧▽° )]

He stared at the message. At that moment, he was seriously questioning why he was dating that guy.

[I'm bored, Tobio-chan. Iwa-chan is ignoring me, pretending to be asleep and Makki and Mattsun are playing some game.]

[Play with them.]

[I'd rather play with you ~]

Tobio could feel a headache coming on.
[Stop flirting and focus on the upcoming match, Oikawa.]

[You've learned to recognise when I'm flirting with you? I'm so proud of you, Tobio-chan! Just a couple of weeks ago you wouldn't even have noticed and given me that cute, confused look.]

Tobio tried his best not to blush. He glanced around. Thankfully everyone was still asleep or at least not paying attention.
[Fine. What will you need to make you shut up and actually focus on your duties as captain so we won't end up looking like some imbeciles who have no idea what they're doing just because their captain and vice captain are too busy with other things to pay attention to the game?]

[Rude, Tobio-chan. You must have gotten that from Iwa-chan, such a bad influence.]

Tobio didn't answer and just waited for Oikawa to make up his mind.

[Alright, Tobio-chan. Two things.
First, don't ignore me. We don't need to be all lovey-dovey, but we don't need to be ignoring each other either.
Second, try not to let any other guys make a move on you. Especially when I'm not watching.]
[Scratch that last bit. No matter whether I'm watching. Don't let them do it at all.]

He sighed. At least they wouldn't be doing stuff behind everyone else's backs again.
[Fine. Is that all?]

[If you want to declare your undying love and devotion to me in front of the whole team and preferably every other team in the gym as well I'm not going to stop you.]

[You might as well prepare your own funeral then because Hajime would kill you.]

[And you say I'm dramatic.]

[Because you are.]

[I'm just asking for my boyfriend to love me.]

Tobio could feel his face heating up. It took him quite a while to come up with an answer.
[We've only been dating for two months. Isn't it a bit early to be talking about love?]

[For some people it might be, for others it wouldn't. But obviously I wouldn't be doing it over text.]

Well. That was relieving. Probably.
And he should probably switch back to the topic at hand, especially since they should arrive any time soon.
[Just tell me whether you'll be alright now. The team needs you.]
He hesitated for a second, then sent another next.
[Remember what I told you yesterday.]

He was too embarrassed to actually write down what he had answered the day before when Oikawa had asked him whether Tobio needed him. But in that moment right then, Tobio had been able to tell that Oikawa needed to hear Tobio's actual feelings, no matter how hard it was to say anything like that out loud.
So he had kneeled back down in front of him and said calmly, "Of course I do. I might not need you like other people do, but you have always been an inspiration for me, even when I couldn't stand you as a person. And now I just have even more reason to need you, don't I?"

Oikawa's answering text distracted him from his thoughts. 
[I could never forget that.]

[So stop stalling and do your thing.]

[Don't worry, Tobio-chan, I will.]

Tobio's phone finally stayed quiet after that, but he had a feeling it was mostly because they had finally arrived.
It got a little chaotic as everyone got out of the bus. Although they hadn't even entered the gym yet, It was already rather busy as a lot of people from other teams were still walking around outside, trying to pass the time.

As they headed inside, Tobio tried to stay close to Kunimi and Kindaichi, but it still didn't stop him from hearing the squealing coming from a group of girls as they passed. Or rather Oikawa did.
Tobio didn't need to see it to know what exactly was going on back there. It happened way too often and he had never liked it. It was just so ridiculous to him that they would behave like that. As if that would get them any serious attention from Oikawa.

Inside, it was already busy with other teams lingering around and more people coming in and leaving.
As their team walked over to a couple of benches where they could unpack and relax for a bit before their warm-up, Tobio couldn't help but notice that they drew quite a lot of attention. The whispers that followed them were rather loud after all.
He wondered how many of these people had played (and probably lost) against Aoba Johsai in the past and who had just heard of them. Or Oikawa. Or both.

It was then that their coaches noticed that their captain actually wasn't even with them anymore and had just disappeared somewhere along the way. An embarrassed looking Yahaba had to explain to them that Oikawa was still outside, talking to those girls from before.

Tobio tried very hard not to roll his eyes. Of course. Of course Oikawa wouldn't be able to resist the attention.

It was probably the worst timing possible for something like that, Tobio thought as Hajime was sent to go get him. He could see the anger plainly written on his brother's face as he passed him.

This was so not good at all.
Hajime was already at odds with Oikawa and this would be adding to his irritation even on a normal day. 

With not much other choice but following the rest of his teammates, he went over to the benches. He had barely put down his bag when he heard someone shouting his name. Or rather his family name which meant Tobio didn't react at first.
But when the voice kept repeating the name often enough for the whole team to start paying attention, he turned around and found himself facing Hinata.

"Finally, Iwaizumi. I've been calling you for ages!"

"Sorry," Tobio said quietly, rather aware that everyone was staring at them. "I thought you meant my brother."

"Wha- Ah! Of course! The ace." Hinata looked around, face lit up in excitement but turned into a frown when he couldn't spot Hajime. "He isn't even here. Is he sick? You guys just arrived, right? We've been here for ages. I can't wait to finally get started."

"Yes, Hinata. We just arrived." Tobio answered quickly. He desperately wanted to get away. "My brother's fine, he's just outside. How about we -" He tried to think of somewhere to go where the team wouldn't be watching them like hawks. "Go over to your team instead? I'm sure they're already wondering where you went and I still have a bit of time, so you could introduce me to them."
He had little interest in getting to know Hinata's team but it couldn't hurt. Who knows when and where he might meet them again.
And at least they would be away from his own team.

Hinata shrugged and the smile was back. "Sure. Follow me."

Tobio exchanged a quick look with Kunimi who simply nodded, quietly telling Tobio he would take care of his bag while he was gone. Then Tobio followed Hinata over to meet his team.

Chapter Text

"Are you going to watch my first match, Iwaizumi?" Hinata asked excitedly, almost skipping instead of walking next to Tobio.

"Tobio." Tobio said, but Hinata just looked at him in confusion and Tobio sighed before adding. "Call me by my first name, Hinata. Everyone does."

"Oh. Why?"

"Because of my brother, obviously. It gets confusing to have two people with the same name on the team so people tend to call Hajime by our last name since he's the older one and me by my first name."

"Ah that makes sense then." Hinata nodded thoughtfully. "But your brother isn't even here."

"Just do it, okay?" Tobio was really trying to stay calm but with everything happening around him, it was getting rather difficult.

"Fine, fine." Apparently even Hinata noticed something was off, because he continued with, "You seem a little tense today, Iwa- I mean, Tobio. Are you worried that your team will end up losing against mine?"

"What? No. Of course not. I don't have any reason to think anything but that we'll win."

"We'll prove you wrong then!"

They had finally reached Hinata's team who had found their spot near one of the doors to the actual gym. Tobio could already hear noises from teams warming up inside.
As they approached, one of the Karasuno members, a short guy that Tobio had never seen before, noticed them and pointed at them, drawing everyone else's attention to them as well.

"Look! I've found him!" Hinata said to them, gesturing wildly with both of his arms. 

A guy who Tobio recognised as their setter gave him a polite nod. "You're one of Aoba Johsai's setters, right?"

Tobio nodded back, bowing slightly as he introduced himself. "Iwaizumi Tobio. Nice to meet you."

The other smiled. "Yes, I remember. My name is Sugawara Koushi.” He bowed as well. ”We didn't get much of a chance to talk to each other during the practice match, did we?"

Hinata was already busy arguing with the other short guy. It sounded like they had had a bet whether Hinata actually knew Tobio or he had just made it up.

"Yes, it seems like it," Tobio said to the other setter, wondering quietly whether he had acquired some new skills just like Hinata had. "Good luck for your first match later."

Sugawara smiled. He seemed to smile a lot in general. "Thank you. You guys are exempt from the first round, aren't you?"

Tobio gave an affirmative nod. "Yes. I think most of the team will be splitting up to watch different matches until we meet back up for warm-up."

"Well I hope you'll have the time to watch at least part of our game then, it would mean a lot to Hinata." 

Their conversation was interrupted by a guy who was apparently that new coach that Hinata had mentioned in his texts calling the team to head inside for their warm-up.
Tobio turned around to Hinata to excuse himself, but before he could even say anything, Hinata had grabbed his wrist and pulled him along inside.

"Hinata, what are you doing?"

"Just come along! We still have a couple of minutes. And I want to show you what I've learned since we last met."

Tobio was only too painfully aware how much he stood out in his white jacket amongst all of Karasuno in their deep black. He was sure they were drawing quite a few strange looks.

Despite his protests however, ten minutes later Tobio found himself standing next to Karasuno's coach, watching their warm-up.
He really shouldn't be there, he knew that much, but he didn't want to disappoint Hinata.
Since no one from Karasuno seemed to mind at least, he stayed just long enough for Hinata to show him a couple of things before he came up with an excuse to leave.
"You really need to focus on your match now, Hinata. And you don't want to show all your new moves to someone from another team before you actually get to use them, right?"

Hinata had frowned but nodded. "You'll watch our match, right?"

"Yes. I'll just head back to my team to grab my bag first."

Satisfied, Hinata turned back to his team and Tobio was free to leave. He walked over to the doors as quickly as he could without actually running.
As he made his way over to his team, he could already tell from afar that a lot of them had left to find seats to watch games. Kunimi however was still sitting right next to Tobio's bag, eating a sandwich.

"Thanks for taking care of my bag," Tobio said as soon as he reached him.

Kunimi just shrugged. "There wasn't much to do anyway. Gave me an excuse to stay here and listen to Oikawa and Iwaizumi fight when everyone else left."

Tobio stared at him. "They fought?"

"Yes, they did. Rather loudly, too. I think it was about Oikawa stopping to talk to those girls outside, but it didn't really make that much sense if you ask me. Unless they're a couple but have been keeping it a secret from us and now Iwaizumi is jealous whenever Oikawa talks to girls.
I mean, no offense but shouldn't Iwaizumi be used to Oikawa doing that kind of stuff by now? No one else was surprised by it, not even the coaches.
Do you know anything, Tobio? What's going on with those two?" He took a bite of his sandwich.

"I - might have an idea what's going on but it's not that they're a couple." Tobio said cautiously. This was the second time that someone had mentioned something along those lines. Was that really what people thought?
He looked around. "Where are they now?"

Kunimi shrugged. "Oikawa went towards the stairs so he's probably going to watch one of the games and Matsukawa took Iwaizumi outside so he could cool off. Going for a walk or something like that."

"I should probably go talk to him." Tobio grabbed his bag and put the strap over his shoulder.

"To whom? Your brother or Oikawa?"

Tobio froze in the middle of the movement and looked at Kunimi.
"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing. Just asking." Kunimi said, his expression unreadable.

Tobio wasn't sure what to make of it but he decided there were more pressing matters. "Both, probably. But since Hajime is with Matsukawa, he should be fine for now. So Oikawa first."
Kunimi tilted his head, looking curious, so Tobio added quickly, "Even though it likely won't lead to anything. I'm probably the last person he wants to talk to."

"Good luck with that. By the way, any idea how he got that split lip? He didn't have it when he came to our classroom yesterday."

"No idea. You'll have to ask him if you want to know," Tobio said. He really did have no idea what the official excuse was for that and he didn't want to end up contradicting it.

"I guess I'll just have to listen to the rumours then." Kunimi shrugged.

"Rumours?"

"Yes. Since Oikawa came to our classroom yesterday everybody's been speculating what's going on and now that he has that split lip, it's just getting crazier and crazier." He looked at his sandwich thoughtfully. "What did Oikawa want from you anyway?
Everyone says it must have been connected to the injury he got later and that Oikawa and Iwaizumi seemed to be on bad terms even before then."

Tobio hesitated. He had apparently failed to notice how much of this situation was already out in the open at this point.
The only thing missing from those rumours was that Tobio was the reason for all of it.
He suddenly felt sick.
"He did ask a few things about Hajime, but you know that Oikawa would never tell me anything about what's going on with him," he finally said, hoping it would be enough. "But I should get going now before things escalate even more. I should at least be able to help Hajime calm down a bit."

Kunimi nodded and turned back to his sandwich.

Tobio held on to the strap of his bag as he quickly hurried towards the stairs that Kunimi had indicated.
Once he had reached the seats, he looked around. Usually Oikawa wasn't too hard to spot, but today he seemed to have made an effort to stay hidden.

Tobio wandered around for a while before he finally found Oikawa, sitting in one of the empty back rows and staring at the court. Tobio doubted he actually saw anything happening down there.
To someone who didn't know Oikawa, it might have looked casual how he was sitting there with his hands in the pockets of his jacket, but for Tobio it was easy to notice the little differences that spoke of a different state of mind.
Quietly, he made his way over to him and sat down on the seat next to him.

Tobio knew Oikawa had noticed his presence, but neither of them spoke for some time. Even as Tobio reached over to him and pushed his hand into his pocket so he could wrap his hand around Oikawa's clenched fist there wasn't a reaction from his captain.
The only kind of acknowledgement he got was the fist unfurling so they could interlace their fingers. Tobio took it as a good sign.

Eventually, Tobio spoke up. He didn't look at Oikawa as he asked quietly, "So what happened?"

Oikawa sighed softly. "I'm sure you have figured it out by yourself already. Iwa-chan did not appreciate me paying attention to anyone but you and accused me of not being serious about you. Not in so many words, of course, since there were people around, but it was pretty clear what he meant anyway."

"I had guessed as much." He gave Oikawa's hands a gentle squeeze. "What did you answer?"

"Basically that those girls were just fans and that I was being nice to them but it didn't mean anything." Oikawa finally turned his face to Tobio. "You know that, right, Tobio-chan?"

Tobio nodded. He truly hadn't been worried about that part. Maybe a little annoyed, but that was basically the norm.

Oikawa sighed and leaned against him, resting his head on Tobio's shoulder that reminded him a lot of how they were watching the recordings the night before. He was really thankful that the rows around them were empty or they would likely have drawn quite a bit of attention. "I hate this," he said quietly, almost like a confession he didn't want to make. "I hate fighting with Iwa-chan and I don't know how to fix it."

He sat back up so he could look at Tobio and part of Tobio couldn't deny that he was a little disappointed that the moment had been so short. "How do you do it, Tobio-chan? How do you fix things between you and Iwa-chan so quickly? You two never seem to fight for long. Even when you were children. Iwa-chan and I would sometimes go for days without speaking before it either got physical or one of us put down his pride and apologised. But you two… you would fight and the next day you'd be just as close if not even closer." 

There was an audible pout in his voice and on his face and before Tobio could think better of it, he had leaned over and pecked Oikawa's lips. He couldn't even tell why exactly he had done it, maybe to make that pout disappear or because of the broken tone of his voice but Tobio knew it had been the right thing to do when some of the tension in Oikawa's shoulders melted away. 
He was surprised by the action, that much was obvious, but it also seemed to have cheered him up just a little bit. Tobio could see some of his confidence coming back.

"I tell him the truth," Tobio said simply with a small shrug. "It's always been like that. Hajime appreciates honesty, even if he doesn't like what he gets to hear. So whenever we fought, one of us would end up feeling bad about it, go find the other and talk about what was really going on. Usually there's more to a situation that is visible at first glance." A smile tugged on the corners of his lips as he remembered their habits from back then. "I often stayed in Hajime's room during those nights. He would grab some snacks and we'd get comfortable on his bed, all snuggled up in pillows and blankets.
I think it's why we're so close. We just told each other everything back then and part of the tendency to do that just never died."

Oikawa smiled, but it looked rather sad, before he snuggled into Tobio's side again. There really was no other way to describe it. "You really are. I was so jealous about it sometimes."

Tobio frowned and looked down at the brown tuft of hair on his shoulder that was all he could see of Oikawa's head. "Jealous? Of me?"

"Yes. Your relationship with Iwa-chan. It always looked so easy for you. And even if something went wrong, you always had the fail-safe of being his little brother."

"I never thought about it like that."

"Of course you didn't." Tobio was sure Oikawa was rolling his eyes at this point. "But I did. A lot. Part of the reason why I found you so irritating." Oikawa's free hand had wandered down to Tobio's thigh now, drawing circles with his index finger. "You didn't have to make an effort, you just got it by being born into the same family. And then you had to be talented in volleyball on top of it. Do you know how annoying that was?"

"Truly. The audacity," Tobio said sarcastically.

Oikawa sighed again and spread his hand, fully resting it on Tobio's thigh. "So you think just talking to Iwa-chan will be enough to fix everything?"

"Probably," Tobio said with a shrug of the shoulder that didn't have Oikawa's head leaning on it. "But unfortunately we don't really have the time for that now. Hajime is probably still fuming which means he wouldn't be willing to listen just yet and you can't talk freely with the team around anyway.
So we'll have to settle for something temporary, even if it isn't ideal."

Oikawa turned his head just enough so he could look up at Tobio's face. "Why didn't you go find him? Iwa-chan, I mean. You're usually good at making him calm down. Why are you here with me instead?"

"I've been told Matsukawa took him outside for a walk."

"Ah. That makes sense." He turned his gaze back to the court. "They're probably all talking about it, aren't they?"

"I'm not sure. When I got back, most of them had scattered off somewhere."

"Speaking of that." Oikawa sat up, but leaned in very closely to Tobio's face. "Care to tell me what you were doing over there with Karasuno?" He gestured over to the court and as Tobio followed the direction of his hand he noticed that the area where  Karasuno was warming up was in plain sight from this area.

"I -" He felt his face heat up. "I was talking to Hinata and he introduced me to his team. We're friends."

"Hinata? Which one is that?"

Someone, save him from Oikawa's jealousy. "Small, orange hair? Middle blocker and aspires to be Karasuno's ace?"

Oikawa frowned. "That one? Really?"

"We had met before during a match in middle school. He recognised me when we met during the practice match and came over afterwards to tell me how he was going to beat me in our next match.
Then he asked for my phone number."

Oikawa stared at him. "And you just gave it to him?
Wait. After the practice match? Why do I not remember that?"

"I think you were busy talking to their captain. You know. Doing what you’re supposed to do?” He shrugged. “I just didn't see any reason not to give him my phone number. It's not like he can do much with it."

Oikawa shook his head. "You're so naive sometimes, Tobio-chan. The phone number is usually just the start."

"For what? He wanted to text me about his progress with volleyball."

Oikawa rolled his eyes. "Naive."

"You're just being jealous again."

"I have to be if my boyfriend is so obtuse he doesn't even notice when someone is trying to hit on him. Especially when I just told him not to let anyone make a move on him."

"What, you think Hinata was trying to hit on me? That's ridiculous."

Oikawa shot him a pointed look. "You didn't even get it when I started hitting on you. How would you know in this case?"

"It's just - different. I barely even knew Hinata at that point."

"That's even worse!"

Tobio took a deep breath before he replied, "Listen, even if he was trying to hit on me, which he isn't, it doesn't mean I'll respond to it. I'm with you. I've made that decision myself and I don't have any intention of changing my mind about it any time soon."

Oikawa made an unhappy face but didn't respond which Tobio took as unwilling agreement.

"Do you really think I'll just jump at the chance as soon as someone else shows up?"

"Well that's basically what happened with us. I just happened to be first."

Tobio lifted an eyebrow at him. "What happened to 'I'm so special no one can touch me anyway'?"

"I'm being serious here, Tobio-chan."

"So am I. I haven't been interested in anyone before you. And as it stands, you're the only one I've ever been interested in. We're together.
Why would I be looking anywhere else?"

Oikawa leaned back in his seat with a pout. It was apparently just one of those days. "This would be so much easier if we just told everyone."

"You want to go down there and hold hands in front of the whole team? Fine then, let's do it. It's not like it can get much worse than now anyway. People are already considering that you and Hajime are having a lovers' quarrel at this point, so distraction levels are through the roof. I doubt adding a hint of the truth to that will change much."

"You're not serious."

"Of course not. But what I'm saying is that I'm ready. We're just not telling them because things are messy enough as it is." He looked at his boyfriend, soothingly tracing his thumb with his own. "The best thing we can do now is fix things between you and Hajime enough so you'll get through the game. We need to win this and for that the team needs you two to work together."

Chapter Text

They found Hajime and Matsukawa outside, sitting on a bench underneath a tree and sharing what looked like drinks from a nearby vending machine.

Matsukawa was the first to notice them and after giving Oikawa a once-over, he got up. He said something to Hajime and went over to them. "Fix it," he said quietly to Oikawa before heading back inside.

Tobio could feel Oikawa tensing up again next to him. They had tried to avoid the other team members on their way out, but this part had been unavoidable. Still they both continued their way over to Tobio's brother.

Hajime was watching them, leaning back against the tree with his arms crossed. He didn't look that angry (anymore, Tobio assumed) but he didn't look too pleased to see them either. Especially together.
At least they weren't holding hands anymore, although Tobio had the suspicion that Oikawa would actually have liked that quite a lot.

Tobio looked from Hajime to Oikawa and back. "Should I leave you two alone so you can talk in private?"

Hajime sighed and shook his head, sitting up straighter. "I don't have anything to say that you shouldn't hear, Tobio."

"Me neither," Oikawa agreed, unusually quiet.

"Alright. Let's hear it then," Hajime said, looking at his best friend.

Oikawa opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Tobio interrupted him.
"I don't think now is the time to discuss that."

They both stared at him.

"Listen," he said. "Both of you are still upset and you're tense because of the game today. So let me say something first, okay?" He waited for both of them to show their agreement before he continued. "I know that this situation is messed up. There's a lot of stuff going on and a lot of heightened emotions but I hate seeing you like this. Because of me." Both Hajime and Oikawa looked about to interrupt him but he didn't let them. "No. It is because of me. You don't need to tell me that's not the case because I know it is. But I also know that you can get through this. You've been friends for so many years, no matter what stupid stuff either of you did. I know that you care about each other. And about me. About the team.
I am sure that you will be able to get over this and continue being friends. But if you talked right now, in this situation, you two would just end up shouting at each other once again and we really don't need that. So, please. I beg of you.
Just put it aside for the rest of the day and tomorrow if necessary and focus on everything but this.
Whatever I can do to make it easier for you, I will do it. Just tell me. I'm here to help you because I care.
Just don't make the situation worse than it already is by not giving it your all when you're back on the court today because you can't even look at each other. You'd regret it.
You would regret it for the rest of your lives and you'd feel guilty over it because you let your team down."

Neither of them said anything after Tobio's little speech. Tobio looked from one to the other, starting to get a little nervous whether he had gone too far. Their faces didn't tell him anything about what was going on inside of them.

But then Hajime got up and put his hand on Tobio's shoulder. "You're right, Tobio." He gave him a small smile then turned to Oikawa. "You're ready to do this?"

Oikawa looked back at Hajime and then simply nodded. 
It was unusual for him not to say anything, but Tobio was willing to take it as a sign of how serious he was about this.

"Let's go back inside then," Hajime said. "They're probably waiting."

“Wait.” Tobio looked at them. They had both already turned around to head back inside. “What do you want me to do? How should I behave?”

Hajime looked at him. “You don’t need to behave in any particular way, Tobio. Just be yourself.”

That wasn’t very helpful at all. “But it feels like no matter what I do, I am making things worse.”

“Just - stick to your friends and everything will be fine.”

Tobio glanced over at Oikawa. He didn’t look very pleased, but shrugged as if saying ‘If that’s the only option’.
“Okay, Hajime.” Tobio nodded. Then he followed them back inside. He noticed how much distance was between Oikawa and Hajime as they walked and couldn’t stop himself from hoping that things really would be back to normal soon.

When they arrived at the benches again where Tobio had last seen Kunimi, not many team members had returned yet. From the noises coming from inside the hall Tobio guessed that the first round had just started.
He felt a little guilty that he had already missed some of Hinata’s first match, but he also knew this matter had been more pressing.

“Hajime, I’ll head inside to watch Karasuno’s match,” he said quietly to his brother. Oikawa had already gone ahead over to Hanamaki and Matsukawa and Tobio hoped he had gotten the memo that he really didn’t have to worry about Hinata and therefore wouldn’t get jealous over this once he heard of it.

Hajime smiled and nodded. Tobio had a feeling that his brother was a little relieved that Tobio wasn’t bending to Oikawa’s every will and neglecting his friends. He didn’t even want to imagine Hajime’s expression if he ever saw them hold hands. “Sure. You should go and see your friend play.”

Tobio nodded and hurried up the stairs so he could get to the seats before anyone could stop him. He spotted a few members of his team already watching the game but decided against sitting with them and instead found a free seat a bit away from most other people.
Thankfully it wasn’t too busy.

It looked like the game was in the middle of the first set and Karasuno didn’t seem to be doing too badly. They were making some mistakes, but also scored quite a few points, putting them in the lead.
As the match went on, Tobio found himself getting lost in it, finally getting his mind off his own situation.

Karasuno took the first set without too much trouble.

During the short break between sets, Tobio noticed Hinata looking at the crowd, his gaze lingering at Tobio’s team mates before moving on. He could tell the moment he had noticed him as he smiled brightly and waved enthusiastically, obviously not caring at all what others might think of it.
Tobio gave a small wave back and relaxed back in his seat, waiting for the second set to start.

“So how’s the game going for Karasuno?” A voice said next to him and when he turned his head, Oikawa had just taken the seat next to him.
Of course. Tobio should have expected him to come here sooner or later. He was surprised though to find that none of the others had followed him.

“They just took the first set,” he said and turned back to the game.

“Ah,” Oikawa nodded. “Well it was to be expected from what they showed during the practice match.”

Tobio nodded, watching as the teams went back onto the court. “I didn’t expect you to come watch this match. I’m sure there are more interesting ones.”

“Probably. But this one has two advantages over the others.”

“Two?”

“Yes. Firstly, they’re one of our possible opponents in a later round and secondly, you are watching it.”

Tobio sighed. “Do you really think now is the time to flirt with me?”

“I actually do. I doubt we will get much of a chance later and I’d rather do something harmless now when we’re alone than risk irritating anyone later.”

It was obvious who Oikawa was actually talking about. “Makes sense. Where did the others go?”

Oikawa shrugged. “Said they didn’t feel like watching anyone, so they stayed back at the benches to have some lunch.”

That also made sense. It would give them enough time to digest before the match.

The second set started and they watched quietly for a couple of minutes.

“They have a few players I don’t recognise,” Oikawa said quietly.

“Hinata mentioned them to me,” Tobio said without looking away from the court. “Apparently they are former members who returned after our practice match with them. Their coach is also new.”

“You can tell that they have someone giving them advice now. They seem to have improved a lot since we last saw them.” He looked over at Tobio. “Interesting though that he would reveal that much to you about their team.”

Tobio shrugged. “Hinata doesn’t think like that. He isn’t manipulative like some people here.”

Oikawa gaped in an exaggeratedly shocked way. “Tobio-chan! How could you say something like that about your boyfriend?”

“Did I say I was talking about you?”

“It was obvious you were.” He poked his cheek. “So cheeky. Maybe I should complain to your captain about you.”

“Oikawa. You are my captain.”

Oikawa smirked. “And isn’t that convenient?”

“For you, maybe.” Tobio pushed his hand away, but Oikawa just caught it and used it as an excuse to hold onto his hand instead. “You shouldn’t be doing that. Some of our teammates are right over there.”

“Let them see if they think there’s anything to see. It’s not like we’re making out in public.”

“You get rather reckless when it’s about this type of thing.”

“What can I say, it’s one of my vices.”

“What if Hajime saw us? Or they told him?”

“That … wouldn’t be ideal, but at least then he wouldn’t be able to complain that I am not serious about you.”

Tobio sighed. It really was useless to try and get Oikawa to act more sensible about things like this. He turned back to the game.

Karasuno was already on their way to winning the second set.
Oikawa did not let go of Tobio’s hand until they had actually won.

Chapter Text

They left right after the game, meeting back up with the rest of the team for the warm-up.
Tobio noticed he and Oikawa were getting quite a few strange looks for arriving back together, especially since they were on their own, but Oikawa didn’t seem to care, saying goodbye to Tobio with a nod before heading over to his friends.

Kunimi and Kindaichi were wearing the exact same weird expression when he joined them again.
Tobio frowned at them. “What?”

Kindaichi, obviously trying not to smirk, answered in a forced-casual way, “Oh nothing. Anything you want to tell us?”

“Uh. No?”

Kunimi gave him an innocent look that Tobio took as not innocent at all. “Are you sure?”

Tobio looked from one of them to the other. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“No? Despite the fact that you just came back from who knows where with Oikawa? After he came to our classroom yesterday, just to talk to you?” Kindaichi was smirking now.

“We just happened to both watch the Karasuno game. I don’t see the problem with that.”

“It’s just very interesting how it looks like Oikawa just replaced one Iwaizumi brother with the other.”

“What?! Why would you even think that? That’s ridiculous.”

Kunimi answered, more seriously, “Just look at the facts, Tobio. There’s something weird going on between Iwaizumi and Oikawa. You and Oikawa have famously never gotten along, but suddenly you seem to be talking to him all the time. You’re obviously hiding something from us.”

Tobio stared at them, thoughts racing. He had no idea what to say.

“Listen, it’s just weird that you three seem to be thinking no one will notice anything. We’re not blind and we all spend a lot of time together.”

“It’s not -” Tobio was still struggling, figuring out what to say. “It’s not my place to say anything about this?”

“So there is something going on then,” Kindaichi said, sounding rather eager.

“I just don’t know what you guys want me to say. Whatever issues Oikawa and my brother have is between them. I just happen to live with one of them, so it’s hard not to notice sometimes.”

“And Oikawa?”

Suddenly there was an arm around Tobio’s shoulders. “What about me?”

Tobio wished there was a hole that would open up and just swallow him whole.

Kindaichi and Kunimi stared at Oikawa who was obviously now standing next to Tobio. With his arm around his shoulders as if it was the most normal thing for him to do. Well. It might have been. If he was Hanamaki, Matsukawa or even Hajime (under normal circumstances). But he wasn’t. So this must look like a very weird thing to do.

Kunimi seemed to recover a bit more quickly. “We were just concerned about you, Oikawa-san. So we asked Tobio whether he knows anything.”

“Well, isn’t that nice of you to be so concerned about your captain,” Oikawa said with a very fake smile. “But maybe you should just ask me next time instead of bothering Tobio-chan.”

Kindaichi and Kunimi shared a meaningful look and Tobio had the strong feeling that every single one of their suspicions had just been confirmed.

Tobio decided it was time to change the topic. “What are you doing here, Oikawa?”

“You three apparently weren’t paying attention when Irihata was speaking just now. Everyone is already heading over to one of the courts to warm up. You’re the only ones who didn’t move at all.”

Tobio looked around and found that Oikawa was right. Everyone else had already left.

Kindaichi got up quickly. “We’re on our way.”

Oikawa nodded, “Good. Come along, Tobio-chan.” He pulled Tobio with him before he even had the chance to protest, his arm firmly around his shoulders.

“What are you doing?” Tobio asked quietly when they were out of earshot.

“Reminding Kunimi-chan and Kindaichi to behave around my boyfriend.”

“They don’t know I’m your boyfriend.”

“Not yet.” Oikawa’s arm slipped down from Tobio’s shoulders and around his waist instead. “But they will soon and then they’ll remember this.”

“You are really pushing this ‘possessive-protective boyfriend’ thing.”

“Get used to it, Tobio-chan,” he singsonged. 

“Is that really necessary?” Tobio tried to move away from Oikawa, rather aware that Kindaichi and Kunimi would be right behind them, but was only pulled closer again. Well. At least they would have seen him struggle against it.

“Yes.” Oikawa said firmly, in a tone that showed he wouldn’t argue about it.

“Well you still need to let go of me before we get there.”

“For now.” He finally removed his arm from around Tobio. “And just because I don’t want to make Iwa-chan even more mad.”

“He hasn’t calmed down at all?” Tobio looked at Oikawa, watching his expression.

Oikawa sighed. “Well. As much as can be expected. But obviously this is all just temporary.” He took a deep breath and put the smile back on his face. “Well. At least we are talking to each other when the others are around and when it’s necessary, so it’ll be fine. Let’s get warmed up, Tobio-chan!”

They finally joined the rest of the team inside of the gym who were already in the middle of their warm-up routine. Tobio couldn’t stop himself from watching Karasuno for just a moment as they passed. They were just starting their game against Datekou, it seemed.
As Tobio and Oikawa reached the rest of the team, they were also joined by Kunimi and Kindaichi. Oikawa left them to go over to the third-years while Tobio waited for Kindaichi and Kunimi so they could warm up together.

They were in the middle of some tosses when Tobio had finally had enough of the looks the others were giving him. “Just say whatever you have to say.”

“What, you are not going to get Oikawa to make us stop bothering you?” Kindaichi said mockingly.

“It’s not my fault he decides to insert himself into every situation.”

“True. But since when do you have two overly protective big brothers instead of one?”

“Trust me, I didn’t ask for it.” He threw the ball a little harder than intended.

Kunimi managed to catch the ball and threw it back. “You don’t need to take it out on us.”

“Yeah, just because Oikawa suddenly decided to be all over you isn’t our fault,” Kindaichi agreed.

"He's just doing it to be obnoxious," Tobio said. It wasn't even a complete lie.

"I guess that whole not-dating thing isn't working out for him, is it?" Kunimi asked as they moved over to the side to do some stretching.

"What do you mean?" Tobio looked over at him.

"Well look at it. Since he stopped dating, at least half of the school is after him, he's getting into more fights with Iwaizumi and apparently he's bored enough to start pestering you instead."

Kindaichi nodded, "You're right. I wonder why he doesn't just date one of those girls again. It would probably fix a lot of his problems."

"He must have a reason not to do it," Kunimi said with a shrug. "I don't see why else he would bother. He never seemed to care before."

"Wait," Kindaichi's eyes widened. "Do you think - Do you think maybe Oikawa and Iwaizumi like the same girl and that's why all of this is happening?"

"You might be onto something there…" Kunimi turned to Tobio. "Is that why you couldn't tell us anything?"

Tobio wasn't sure whether he should be relieved or annoyed at their conclusion. They had been so close to the truth, but in the end their strong belief that Oikawa was exclusively straight had brought them down to the wrong result. 
"I already told you it's between them. I'm not going to talk about it."

"Well it was worth a try," Kindaichi said with a sigh. "I'm sure we'll hear all about it eventually. Things never stay secret for long when it's about Oikawa."

Tobio had to agree there. But he wasn't sure what kind of reaction this particular truth would bring.

They were all called over to stand in line to greet the other team soon after that and then over to their coaches for some last instructions. It was almost time for the game to begin.
Tobio cast a nervous glance over at Oikawa and Hajime, but they didn't give anything away. It seemed their stance to keep their personal lives out of this held up, at least for now.

Once the coaches were done, Oikawa took a step forward, addressing the team. 
Tobio didn't pay much attention to his words, instead looking around the circle that his team had formed. He knew they all had noticed that something was not right between Oikawa and Hajime, but now, after seeing them act at least civilly around each other, they seemed calmer and it gave Tobio a small boost in confidence that all of this might end well after all.

Oikawa had just ended his little speech and everyone was about to head to their designated spots when their eyes met for a brief second.
The confidence in his eyes, the will to win. It was enough to make a shiver run down Tobio's spine.

Then they broke eye contact and the whole team left to finally get onto the court and begin their first game of the Interhigh Preliminaries.

Chapter Text

Tobio hated staying in the designated area and having to watch as the whole game unfolded. He was itching to get his hands on the ball and play, but instead he was stuck in one spot and could only watch.

Not that this particular game was very nerve-wracking. It became clear very quickly that the other team just couldn't keep up with them.
Neither Oikawa nor Hajime were at their best, but they worked together well enough and the team made up for the rest. Even if they hadn't, Tobio doubted it would have made much of a difference.
This match just wasn't a big challenge for them.

And so it was to no one's surprise that they easily took both sets and walked away as the winner. 
Tobio could hear some girls calling Oikawa's name again as they all gathered their stuff.
It was a strange feeling that they'd be heading home already now. It was as if he hadn't really done anything yet and the main event was still about to start when it had just ended.

Tobio didn't speak much as they headed outside and to the bus, the others chatting excitedly about the match and moving on to the second day of the competition. He followed their group to the bus and got in, finding a seat without really paying attention.

He looked out of the window as everyone settled in and finally the bus started moving.
He was starting to feel drained now that they were done for the day. He just hoped that Hajime and Oikawa would manage to get through the bus ride without another fight.

Sighing softly, he closed his eyes and tried to get some rest. It was better than the alternative of thinking about everything that had happened. They might have won, but the situation was far from solved and they still had a whole day to go tomorrow that would only get harder.

Tobio slept through the whole bus ride and so, when they arrived, he grabbed his bag still half-asleep and got off the bus. They managed to get through the after-match meeting rather quickly and so they were free to leave soon after.
Tobio didn’t bother heading to the locker room, knowing there was nothing there that he needed. Kunimi and Kindaichi said goodbye to him in passing while Tobio looked around for his brother.
He finally found him, talking to his friends right outside the locker room. They still seemed to be in the middle of a conversation.

Tobio didn't want to interrupt them, although he really wanted to go home, so he approached them slowly, hoping they were just finishing up.
After five minutes though, when everyone else had already left, it became obvious that they weren't anywhere close to done and he fully approached the group.

Hanamaki was the first to notice him. "Tobio-kun!"

The whole group turned around to him.

Tobio looked at them a little awkwardly. "Uh. Hi." He had the distinctive feeling that he was missing something by the way they were staring at him. "Why are you guys looking at me like that?"

"Oh no reason. We were just discussing how long it'll take Oikawa to accidentally reveal your relationship to the rest of the team."

Tobio stared at him. Then at the others.
Since when were they openly talking about this? And since when did Matsukawa even know? He could only assume that one of them must have told Matsukawa the truth at some point as he didn't seem in the least surprised. 
Hajime didn't look amused at all.

"I'm not going to reveal anything," Oikawa said with a pout on his face. "Iwa-chan and I have an agreement."

Tobio looked at them in surprise. This was the first time he heard of anything like that. Maybe it was a recent development? They did have a whole bus ride to talk. If they had kept their voices down, it might have been possible to have a private conversation.

Hanamaki laughed. "You might have an agreement, Oikawa, but do you really think you'll manage to stick to it? We've all seen how you react when anyone even talks to Tobio-kun."

Before Oikawa could start protesting, Hajime turned to Tobio. "Let's go home."

Distracted from what he had actually wanted to say, Oikawa looked at them. "You're leaving?"

Hajime nodded. "Come along or don't, it's up to you. I'm not going to stop you."

Oikawa hesitated, but then nodded. "Alright then."

They said their goodbyes and then three of them started heading home together.

It was the most awkward walk home Tobio could remember and he had had a lot of awkward moments when Oikawa had been with them.
Tobio wasn't quite sure how to behave. Neither Hajime nor Oikawa was speaking and while the air wasn't filled with tension because of their disagreement, things obviously weren't fine either. 
Looking between the two of them, he didn't know what to do. Should he walk next to Hajime, try to get him to open up a bit?
Talking to Oikawa obviously wouldn't be a problem for Tobio, the guy loved to talk after all, but knowing him he'd probably end up using the chance to hold hands or something that and then Hajime would probably murder him right there and then.

The silence felt oppressing. It was like a heavy weight on his shoulders, pushing him down and making it hard to keep walking. He wanted to know whether there had been any progress. Whether there was anything he should know, where they were all standing at this point. But he also didn’t want to make them talk about this if it made things worse.
He could only hope that they had found some way that would ensure the second day of the preliminaries wouldn’t be a repeat of the first.

They finally reached their home and Hajime turned to Oikawa. “You have five minutes.” Then he went to the front door.

Tobio watched him, a little confused why he would give Oikawa time and then just leave. He was about to call him back, but then he felt a touch against his right hand and looked up at Oikawa instead. Oh. So that’s what he meant.
He glanced back over to his brother who had already gone ahead inside. Sometimes he truly didn’t know what he had done to deserve Hajime. Even in this situation, despite how much he probably hated the thought, he made an effort to give Tobio a few minutes with his boyfriend when he didn’t have to worry about hurting his brother by being with him.

Oikawa gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “We’re on a time limit. Again.”

Tobio turned to him, looking into his eyes. “It seems to have become a bit of a theme.”

Oikawa half-smiled and wrapped his free arm around him.

“What have you agreed on with Hajime?” Tobio asked quietly.

Oikawa sighed. “Basically an extension of today and to avoid touchy subjects as much as possible until after all of this. So you likely won’t be seeing much of me tomorrow off court.”

“Because I’m a touchy subject.”

“Not like that, Tobio-chan. But the chances for me to do something around that Iwa-chan would find unacceptable, especially right now, are rather high.” He cupped his cheek. “So try and behave so I don’t have to step in.”

Tobio shot him a look that was very much not amused. “I will not sit around on my own all day just to make you feel better. We’ve talked about this. I get that you don’t like it, but you don’t have to worry about anything happening from my side.” He stepped closer to him so their chests were pressed against each other and he was close enough to kiss him. “It’s you and me.”

“Tobio-chan,” Oikawa said, sounding a little breathless.

Tobio bit his lip, then answered quietly, “Tooru.”

Oikawa slipped his other arm around him as well, holding him, their foreheads against each other as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “What are you doing to me?”

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking that?”

A soft chuckle. “Maybe.” He opened his eyes. “Can I kiss you?”

Tobio looked back into his eyes. “What about your lip?”

Oikawa ran his tongue over his lower lip, drawing Tobio’s gaze down to the movement. He blushed and Oikawa smirked. “I think we’ll be fine. We just shouldn’t push it too far.”

“As if we’d even have the time for that.”

“A lot can happen in five minutes, Tobio-chan.”

“We probably have about two left.”

“Then we better hurry.” He finally closed the rest of the distance between them and kissed him gently.
Tobio responded eagerly, pushing himself up on his feet to deepen the kiss without increasing the pressure on Oikawa’s split lip. He wrapped both of his arms around his neck and played with his hair. He hadn’t even realised how it had been since they had last kissed like this. And how much he had missed it.
There had just been so much going on, their minds focused on other things and their few moments of intimacy had been limited to handholding and a few pecks.
Tobio’s heart felt like it was trying to jump up to his throat with how quickly it was beating as he felt Oikawa’s arms tighten around him, pulling him even closer.

When their lips finally disconnected, Tobio found himself still tightly wrapped up in Oikawa’s arms, breathing the same air as they tried to catch his breath.
Oikawa’s lips looked plumper and more red than usual and Tobio found himself moving one of his hands so he could gently run his thumb over them.

“Don’t tempt me, Tobio-chan,” Oikawa said quietly, his voice sounding a little husky.

Tobio couldn't help it, he had to push him just a little bit. "Tempt you to do what exactly?"

"Something that Iwa-chan definitely wouldn't approve of and that would ruin any chances of staying within our time limit."

Tobio tilted his head. "Now I'm curious what exactly is going through your mind."

"It's better that you don't know, Tobio-chan." He pecked his lips once more before stepping back, bringing enough distance between them that no one would have been able to tell that they had been kissing passionately just moments ago.

"It can't be that bad." Tobio looked at him and Oikawa laughed.

"Trust me, Tobio-chan, it can. Maybe I'll tell you one day but now really isn't the time for that kind of conversation. Iwa-chan is probably already waiting impatiently for you to come inside."

Tobio glanced over at the house. He really hoped his brother hadn't been watching.
Not that he thought he would, but even the idea made him feel a little awkward. "I guess I should get going then."

Oikawa nodded. "You should. You need to rest."

Tobio snorted. "I didn't even play today, Oikawa. And I doubt I will tomorrow either."

"You never know what might happen, Tobio-chan. It's better to be prepared."
He glanced over at the front door of their house and when Tobio followed his gaze, he saw his brother standing there.

"It's time." Hajime said calmly.

Tobio nodded and turned back to his boyfriend. "Goodnight, Oikawa."

"Goodnight, Tobio-chan. Rest well."

He gave Oikawa a quick smile before heading to their front door, passing Hajime without looking back.

He was already in bed when he finally remembered what he had forgotten to tell Oikawa and sent him a quick text.

[You played well today. We're counting on you for tomorrow, captain.]

Chapter Text

Tobio didn’t notice the reply to his text until he was already on the bus. The morning had been a little more chaotic than the one before as both he and Hajime had run around the house with things they needed to do before leaving.
Now he finally settled into a seat with a sigh of relief, putting down his bag next to him. Most of the others had already found their seats and were talking animatedly. Tobio rummaged through his bag, trying to find his phone so he could listen to some music when Yahaba was suddenly standing in front of him.

“Hey, Tobio-kun. Mind if I sit with you?”

Tobio looked up at him. He wouldn’t have minded sitting by himself, but being able to talk to Yahaba didn’t seem too bad either. “Sure. Go ahead.”

He pulled his bag off the seat and onto his lap instead as he continued looking for his phone.

Yahaba sat down next to him. “So how have you been? Lots of stuff going on yesterday, right? Let’s hope it won’t be as bad today. If we’re lucky, we’ll be playing three games after all.”

Tobio nodded distractedly, finally pulling out his phone. “Fine, found it a bit annoying not to get to do anything though,” he said, hoping it would be enough to ensure they’d stay on the safe topic of the game and not whatever was happening around it.

Yahaba laughed. “Fully get that feeling, but well, what can you expect in our position, right? Maybe one of us will get a chance as a pinch server today.”

“Hopefully. I’d leap at any chance to even touch the ball.”

“Maybe Oikawa will let you touch it if you ask him very nicely.”

Tobio gave him a confused look and Yahaba chuckled.

“Just touching though, no tossing.”

Tobio rolled his eyes. “Of course not.” He turned to his phone, noticing he had gotten multiple texts that he hadn’t even looked at. 

The newest notification was about texts from Hinata. Tobio wasn't really surprised.
He had seen part of their game against Datekou during their own warm-up and while he hadn't had much of a chance to look into it more, he had heard that they had won - which made Karasuno their next opponent.
Of course Hinata would be excited about that.

He quickly read through the texts that mostly consisted of Hinata expressing his excitement about the game, what they had done to win and how good he felt about winning itself. That was followed by texts that Hinata had apparently sent while watching Aoba Johsai’s game, commenting on it and repeating over and over how they would beat them the next day.
Tobio shook his head at the sheer amount of messages, but took the time to quickly answer that there was no way in hell they'd win before moving on to the next notification.

It was from Oikawa. The timestamp said the message was sent late last night.
Curious, Tobio opened it.

[You are starting to call me ‘captain’ quite a lot, Tobio-chan. Something I should know?]

Tobio almost choked and Yahaba looked at him in concern. “Tobio-kun? Is everything alright?”

“Y-Yes, of course,” Tobio stuttered. He could feel his face getting warm. What was Oikawa even thinking? Tobio had tried his best to be supportive, not be too frustrated about not playing and this was the kind of response he got?

“Are you sure? Your face is a little red.” He reached out and touched his forehead. “Are you getting sick?”

Tobio immediately moved away to avoid the touch. “I’m fine. Really.”

Yahaba pulled his hand back, nodding slowly. “Alright. If you’re sure.”

“I am,” he forced a smile and turned back to his phone. Should he even bother answering?
The message had already been sent last night, so quite a while ago. And Oikawa was with his friends now, so he wouldn’t be checking his phone anyway. It would likely only tempt him to do something stupid. But still, he couldn’t just ignore it.
He hesitated for a long moment, then sent a text back.
He didn’t wait for a reply and put his phone back into his bag. Whatever replies he might get, they could wait.

As he talked to Yahaba during the bus ride, Tobio could hear his phone going off in his bag again and again. 

“Don’t you want to … you know. Check your phone?” Yahaba asked eventually. “It sounds like you’re getting a lot of messages.”

"Probably just spam," Tobio said with a shrug. "Been getting a lot of it recently."

"Oh. That sounds annoying."

They continued their easy conversation until they finally arrived back at the Sendai City Gymnasium and got out.
It wasn't as busy with other teams as the day before as a lot of them were already out, but Tobio noticed that more people seemed to have come to watch.

The attention they got as they went inside felt like a déjà vu and for a moment, Tobio feared there'd be a repeat of the situation that had led to all that conflict between Hajime and Oikawa the day before. Luckily though, Oikawa seemed to remember his promise and just waved at the girls in passing, staying with the team as they all headed straight to the court to warm up.

Things progressed quickly from there. Tobio found himself warming up not too far away from Oikawa, so he could hear all the things he was saying to the other players as they did some practice tosses. He seemed to be in a good mood, so Tobio hoped the night before and at least having an agreement with Hajime was giving him some peace of mind. It would certainly be beneficial for the whole team.

His thoughts were interrupted when suddenly he found Hinata standing in front of him, grinning widely. Tobio stared at him. He hadn't even noticed him approaching.
He really is rather fast.

"Tobio!" He said excitedly. "It's finally time! We're so going to beat you!"

Tobio tightened his grip on the volleyball he had been warming up with. "You're welcome to try, but you're not going to succeed."

"I'll show you!" Hinata said confidently, drawing a lot of attention from Tobio's teammates around them. He was not looking forward to Oikawa's reaction to this.
Already he could see him behind Hinata turning his head to watch them.
"Are you playing today, Tobio?" 

Hinata's question pulled Tobio's attention away from Oikawa. "What? Uh no. Unless they need me as a pinch server or something like that. Oikawa is the setter."

Hinata pouted. "But I want to play against you."

"You'll have to wait until next year then. They're not just going to replace the main setter, who is a third year and the captain, if they don't have to."

"Is he better than you, Tobio? Could he beat you if you played against each other? We watched your game yesterday, his serves were so cool!" 

Tobio didn't know what to say. He had never actually played against Oikawa outside of training. As it happened, they had always been part of the same team when they were in the same age group.

Hinata was still talking. "But no matter how cool his serves are, we'll still win. Have you seen our libero?"

"The other short one?"

Hinata nodded quickly. "Yes! His receives are amazing. You'll see."

"Trust me, I'll be watching the whole time." He glanced over to where Karasuno was warming up. "Shouldn't you be warming up with your team though?"

"Probably but hey! How about we warm up together?"

Tobio looked at him. "What?"

"You know. We could try some tosses. It could be fun!"

"We can't just do that. We're on different teams. That are about to play against each other."

"So?" Hinata looked at him with innocent eyes. "The game hasn't started yet. And you just told me you're not playing anyway."

"It's still not possible, okay? We're already drawing enough attention just by talking like this."

Hinata looked around. "You're right, they're all watching us. Hey, Tobio, why don't you introduce me to your team? I wanna meet them."

"I really doubt now is the time for that. I think we're about to start?"

"Okay, but then after the match."

"I think you'll be too devastated by your loss by then."

"Just you wait! That'll be you!" Hinata lifted his chin defiantly which would have been much more impressive if he hadn't been so much shorter than Tobio.

"We will see. But if you still want to be introduced to some of my teammates, you can come find me after the match." No one said he'd have to introduce him to everyone. Kindaichi and Kunimi would be enough.

"Good. I'll see you after the match then!" He waved as he ran back over to his team.

Tobio shook his head and turned around to go find his friends so they could finish their warm-up together. As he passed him, Tobio noted that Oikawa wasn't watching him anymore, apparently fully focused on a conversation with Matsukawa. He wasn't sure what to make of it.
Hopefully it was just a sign of commitment to his promise.

They were called to come together soon after that, greeting the other team and then the coaches giving them a few reminders of what they had learned about Karasuno from the practice match. 
Oikawa then turned to them once again, just like he had done the first day. 

"We've had an easy start yesterday but we cannot count on it being the same way today. It's only going to get harder. Stay focused and keep trying."

They all nodded in agreement and Oikawa walked past them, heading onto the court first. "Well then, as always." He turned his head and looked back at them. "I believe in you."

They stood together for one last moment, their hands together before they took their places.
Tobio could hear some girls shouting Oikawa's name for the umpteenth time that day. They were really trying hard today.
For just a moment, he wondered how they'd react when they found out that Oikawa was dating another boy.

Pushing the thought away, he stood in his designated spot and waited for the game to begin. Karasuno had the first serve.

The game went about as expected. They weren't handed the win easily, but it also wasn't Shiratorizawa levels of difficulty.
Tobio found himself watching Oikawa and his brother quite a lot, noticing the small shifts in their play and the lack of any unnecessary interaction that told him that not all was well between them. He glanced at the rest of the team but no one seemed to notice anything, not even when Hajime scored and Oikawa acknowledged it with little more than a nod.

Hinata, on the other side of the net, seemed frustrated. His team was struggling with Oikawa's serves and Tobio found himself wanting to remind him that most teams would be struggling in this situation. Even when Oikawa wasn't at his best, his serves were still deadly.

"They're really putting up a good fight, aren't they?" Yahaba whispered to him at some point in the second set and Tobio found himself nodding without taking his eyes off the game. "It'll be interesting to see where they are in spring."

They won. Two sets, but closer than many of them had probably expected.
Tobio wasn't surprised. He had seen the progress Karasuno had made already.

They hurried over to the edge of the court to thank the other team, bowing, shaking hands.
Finally they thanked the audience. Oikawa's fangirls could be heard despite the noise from everyone else. 

Tobio glanced over at Karasuno's team. They were already packing up.
Before he had really thought about it, he was making his way over to Hinata.
They only had a small break before the next game and he still needed to change into his other jersey, but that would have to wait.

"Hinata!"

Hinata turned around to him. "Tobio?" He seemed sad but also a little confused why Tobio was calling his name.

Tobio stood in front of him awkwardly for a moment, then stretched out his hand. "Good game. I can't wait to see what you'll be able to do by Spring High."

Hinata looked at his hand for a moment, then took it with a rather teary smile. "We'll show you what we're capable of."

"I know." He squeezed his hand once, then let go. 

They stood there for a long moment, then they both nodded and hurried back to their teams.

Kunimi gave him a strange look when he returned. "What was that?"

Tobio shrugged, quickly going through his bag to pull out the second jersey. "He's my friend and I wanted him to know that they played well."

Kindaichi, who had been about to take a drink from his bottle, stared at him. "You did what?"

Tobio turned his head. "Did I say something weird?"

Kindaichi and Kunimi shared a look but before Kindaichi could say anything, Kunimi just shook his head. "No. But you better hurry and get changed now, we don't have that much time left."

Unexpectedly, the next game was easier than the one against Karasuno. They easily took both the first and the second set and their coach even felt safe enough to swap out a few players in the middle of the game so their starting players could get some rest for the third game of the day.

Which was how Tobio finally found himself actually playing. Not as their setter, of course, but he was still on the court and playing and that's all that mattered right then.

It was a weird feeling, he had to admit, to spike a ball that Oikawa had tossed just for him. They had never done it before but somehow the other setter still seemed to know exactly how Tobio would hit the ball. It was strangely intimate and as he gave Oikawa a high five before heading back to his spot, he felt his face burning. It was as if he had just bared his soul and his entire relationship to Oikawa for everyone to see.

Tobio tried his best not to think about it for the rest of the day.
Not during the rest of the game, not during their third and final game for the day and not during the bus ride home.
He finally did think about it when he was sitting on his bed late at night and unlocked his phone, staring at the last of Oikawa's messages.

[Time to pay up, Tobio-chan.]

Chapter Text

Tobio nervously bit his lip as he stared at the text. He had sent Oikawa that message on the bus rather recklessly, wanting to get back at him. 

But now he kind of regretted it.

He scrolled back up to the text he had sent this morning. 

[Get us successfully through the day and I might tell you.]

Underneath there were messages that Oikawa had sent all throughout the day.
Tobio hadn't expected him to take his text this seriously. Hadn't even thought he would read it until he got home, but it seemed like Oikawa had seen the message while still on the bus and his mind had lingered or at least come back to it again and again all day long.

[Are you challenging me, Tobio-chan?]
[That's a dangerous game to play. You should know better.]

[What do you mean with 'successfully'? Just winning or also no more fights with Iwa-chan?]

[Fine, since you're not going to answer, I'll just assume it's both.]

[You really are trying to push my buttons today, aren't you? Talking to that little shrimp right in front of me.]

[I was very close to having a few choice words with you for running off after the tangerine like that without even excusing yourself, I'll have you know. That's really bad manners.]
[I hope you know what you're doing. You don't want to get his hopes up.]
[On another note, you better prepare your answer, Tobio-chan. We've already won one out of three games and I have no intention of stopping.]

[Two out of three. I'm on a roll.] 
This message even had a photo attached to it, a selfie Oikawa must have taken of himself between matches. He was winking with his tongue sticking out between his lips and doing a v-sign with his fingers. Since he was still wearing the alternative version of their jersey, Tobio assumed it was taken right after their second match.
[I didn't know you were any good at spiking though. We'll have to look into that more.]

[Three out of three. And no more fights with Iwa-chan so far. I would say I'm basically guaranteed to win this at this point.]

[Do you always have to talk to so many people during bus rides?]
[Once we're official, you're definitely going to be sitting with us instead.]

And then finally the text that he was trying to find a reply to.
[Time to pay up, Tobio-chan.]

Tobio really didn't know what to write. It was so embarrassing, no matter what he said. Either he would have to admit to somehow liking calling Oikawa captain or he would have to say that he was just using Oikawa's curiosity to get him to focus on their games that day. And whatever he chose, Oikawa would have it in writing.

He hesitated, but then instead of starting to type, he pressed the call button. He doubted Oikawa would mind, they hadn't had an opportunity to talk all day after all. It meant that the agreement between Oikawa and Hajime was safe and when they had walked home, Tobio had noticed that tension between them had decreased. They had even talked briefly about the game the next day. It gave Tobio hope that they might actually have a chance of winning tomorrow.
And that things would eventually be alright between Hajime and his best friend.

“Tobio-chan!” Oikawa’s voice answered after a few rings. “Are you calling me to pay for your debt? How unexpected. Do you mind if I put you on speaker? I just came back from a shower and need to get dressed.”

Tobio blushed deeply. He tried really hard not to imagine what Oikawa might look like right now. “S-Sure. No problem.”

“Alright, here we go.” Tobio could hear Oikawa moving around as he spoke. “So. Anything you want to tell me, Tobio-chan?” There was the sound of a wardrobe opening and Oikawa rummaging around for some clothes.

“I - “ He was rather distracted by the sounds coming from the other end of the phone call.

Apparently he was taking too long to answer since Oikawa spoke up again, asking teasingly, “Tobio-chan? Are you still there?”

“Uh yes. Yes, of course. What was the question again?”

Oikawa laughed softly and apparently he had picked up the phone again as his voice was right in Tobio’s ear. “Are you a little distracted, Tobio-chan?”

“N-No! Why would I be?” He felt like he needed to hide his burning face despite the fact that Oikawa couldn’t even see it.

“I think your imagination is running wild right now, Tobio-chan. How naughty.”

“That’s not true!” Tobio protested, but Oikawa ignored him.

“Do you want me to send you a photo, Tobio-chan?”

Tobio was too shocked to answer. Oikawa couldn’t be serious.

“I wouldn’t mind, you know? Just don’t show it to Iwa-chan. He would have my head.”

“I -” Tobio coughed awkwardly. “I’m good. Thanks.”

Oikawa chuckled at how obviously flustered Tobio sounded. “Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

“Well. Let me know if you change your mind.” There was the sound of something soft falling onto the floor, then the rustling of clothing.

“Hajime would kill you if he knew you even suggested this,” Tobio said quietly, rubbing his face. It felt like he was radiating heat.

“He won’t know unless either of us tells him, Tobio-chan, and we’re not going to do that, right?”

“... I wasn’t planning to.” He didn’t even want to imagine talking to Hajime about something like this. Especially when it was about his best friend.

“Good. So there shouldn’t be a problem, right?” There was a quiet thump as Oikawa apparently laid down on his bed and then his voice sounded very close again. “Now. The actual reason why you called me.”

Tobio didn’t answer.

“I’m waiting, Tobio-chan.”

“I -” He nervously bit his lip. “What exactly do you want to hear from me?”

“Whether you have a thing for calling me captain. And now stop stalling, Tobio-chan. I fulfilled my part of our agreement. I even went above and beyond and didn’t say anything about your little friend. Now spill.”

“You did send me those texts -”

“Tobio. Spill.”

He sighed. “Fine. I honestly don’t know if it’s a thing for me. You know I don’t have much experience with any of this. - But wouldn’t it make things rather awkward if it was?”

“Not really,” Oikawa said carelessly. “It’s not like you call me that during practice or something like that anyway.”

“So why do you want to know then?”

“Just curious, I guess. And it could be a really good way for you to tell me when you’re feeling, you know, needy or something like that. People wouldn’t be able to tell.”

“I don’t feel needy,” Tobio disagreed.

“No? You never feel like you just want to kiss me or be close for no reason at all?”

Tobio stayed quiet.

“Thought so.” Tobio could hear the smirk in his voice. “Don’t worry, Tobio-chan, it’s normal to feel that way when you like someone. And we’re in a relationship. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

“Do you feel that way sometimes?”

Oikawa laughed. “Of course I do. Why do you think I kissed you that first time?”

“Because you were jealous of Kunimi.”

“Well, yes,” Oikawa said slowly, “but that was just part of the reason. I had wanted to kiss you for a while at that point. Remember that day on the sofa? I almost kissed you then.”

Of course Tobio remembered that day. His own reactions to Oikawa’s attention had confused him and made him question himself for days afterwards. “Why didn’t you?”

“Well firstly, Iwa-chan came in and I am not just going to steal his little brother’s first kiss right in front of him. That would be like signing my own death certificate.”

Tobio snorted at that.

“And secondly,” Oikawa continued, “it just felt like it was too soon. I had no idea how you’d react and I honestly wasn’t very keen on getting a punch in the face. Or two, considering Iwa-chan would likely have followed up with another one.”

“So you were … testing the waters?”

“Basically. I wanted to see how you’d react and if there was any possibility at all that you might be interested.”

“Then you got more information from my reactions than I did. I was just really confused after that day.”

Oikawa chuckled. “Maybe. But then I have more experience with this kind of thing. And I think the fact that you didn’t immediately push me away and basically just went along with whatever I did, was rather telling.”

“I guess you’re right,” Tobio said with a sigh as he laid down on his back. “Sometimes I still question my sanity for dating you of all people.”

“I think it speaks for your taste, Tobio-chan.”

“Of course you would.” He rolled his eyes. “You would date yourself if you could.”

"Maybe. But that would be a little boring, wouldn't it? And I couldn't just keep me to myself, that would be such an awful thing to do."

"Your fangirls wouldn't survive it."

"They're always so devastated when they hear about me dating someone."

Tobio hesitated for a moment, before asking the next question. "How do you think they'll react when they hear about you dating a guy?"

“I honestly don’t know. But as far as I am concerned, they can think whatever they want as long as they keep it to themselves.”

“What if they don’t?”

“Then we’ll deal with it when it comes to it. You don’t need to worry, Tobio-chan. Between Iwa-chan and me, no one will bother you.”

“I’m not worried about that. Although I am not looking forward to whatever might happen when the rest of our school finds out.”

“They’ll talk about it for a couple of days and then it’ll die down. It always does.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Of course I am. And at least then we don’t have to hide all the time anymore.”

“I am not going to make out with you in the middle of the schoolyard, don’t get your hopes up.”

“We will see about that, Tobio-chan.”

“That wasn’t a challenge!”

“I can be irresistible when I want to be, Tobio-chan. And we already know you have a weakness for me.”

“Doesn’t mean I just lose all of my common sense around you.”

“Some might argue that you do.”

“Some would be wrong.”

“It’s cute how deeply in denial you are, Tobio-chan.”

Tobio blushed at the word ‘cute’. “I’m not in denial!”

“Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better. You’ll learn eventually that I am right.”

“Or you will learn that you’re wrong.”

“Challenges, challenges, Tobio-chan. I will be looking forward to proving you wrong.” A stifled yawn. “It’s getting late and we have a big day tomorrow. We should try and get some rest.”

“I guess so.” He stayed quiet for a moment before adding. “I watched you today. I could tell you were really pushing yourself to do the best you could for the team.”

“Maybe I would have pushed even harder if I had known you were watching me.”

“You can still do that tomorrow. I’m just glad you and Hajime managed to get along well enough through the day."

"I know, Tobio-chan. We're all trying our best." There was a smile audible in his voice as he continued. "Iwa-chan looked so proud of you when you did that spike and scored."

Tobio rubbed his cheek, hoping it wasn't getting red for the millionth time that night. "I'm sure he did. He taught me how to spike after all."

"I'm not surprised to hear that. I could recognise his style. Although it wasn't exactly the same. Have you ever thought about following in his footsteps?"

"No, not really. Maybe when I was really young, but it just never really crossed my mind. I prefer playing as a setter. You get so much more control over the game and you have the most contact with the ball out of everyone."

"We can certainly agree on that. Although you would have done well as a wing spiker if you had wanted that. Would have been interesting to see you and Iwa-chan compete for the same spots."

"You mean so you wouldn't have to compete with me?"

"I didn't say that."

"But you thought about it."

"Honestly? No. Maybe it would have made our relationship in the past easier but I can't say I'm mad about where we are today."

Tobio swallowed heavily. "Yes. Me neither."

"Goodnight, Tobio-chan. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Oikawa."

"Have some sweet dreams. Preferably about me."

Before Tobio could even think of an answer to that, Oikawa had ended the call and Tobio found himself just staring at his phone for quite a while, trying to calm down his racing heart.

Chapter Text

Tobio couldn’t quite tell how it had happened, but somehow he found himself on the bus next to Oikawa, surrounded by him, Hajime and his friends.
He remembered talking to Hajime as they got on the bus and standing there for a moment, trying to finish up their conversation quickly, then there were more people getting on the bus and suddenly he was sitting among the Seijoh Four, aka the only people on the whole bus who knew about his relationship with Oikawa, with his boyfriend right next to him.
Tobio didn't know how to feel about it.

Hajime also didn't seem to know how exactly to take it as he kept glancing over to them just to look away quickly afterwards.
Whenever it happened, Matsukawa and Hanamaki would follow his gaze, as if they were waiting for something to happen.

Oikawa however didn't show any signs at all of this being something unusual. He kept talking to his friends and his hands stayed a safe distance away from Tobio.
Eventually, Tobio found himself relaxing. He hadn't slept well at all that night and had been hoping to get some more rest on the bus. He didn't think he could fall asleep in this situation but at some point sleep must have won after all, as he felt someone shaking him gently.

"Tobio-chan, it's time to wake up."

Tobio didn't react. He was rather comfortable right here.

"Come on, Tobio-chan, we've arrived. Everyone else has already gotten off, we're the last ones on the bus."

Tobio slowly opened his eyes. “What?”
He moved his head a bit and noticed that he was leaning against Oikawa, his head on his shoulder. Oikawa was watching him, obviously trying not to smile.

“We’ve arrived.”

“Oh.” He yawned and sat up.

“Did you not get enough sleep last night?”

“Just couldn’t fall asleep.” He yawned again as he reached for his bag.

“I see. Well, I hope you feel a bit better now.” Oikawa got up. “Makki and Mattsun certainly loved the sight of you falling asleep on my shoulder. Iwa-chan didn’t look too pleased, but he also couldn’t say anything about it.”

Tobio followed him quietly as they got off the bus. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine, Tobio-chan, you don’t need to apologise. No harm done. Makki might have taken some pictures though.”

“Can’t say I am surprised about that,” Tobio said with a sigh. “Let’s just hope they’ll keep them to themselves.”

“You are taking this rather well, Tobio-chan.” He glanced over at him.

“I guess I’m just too sleepy to care.”

Oikawa chuckled and stopped him before Tobio could enter the gym by putting his hand on Tobio’s wrist. Considering the time, it wasn’t very busy outside of the gym.
The only people arriving this early would be the two teams for their warm-up and the audience hadn’t arrived yet.

Tobio turned around just as Oikawa took a step closer to him, speaking quietly. “A kiss for good luck?”

“You know we shouldn’t. There are people around here and the rest of the team is waiting. You need to do a proper warm-up so you don’t get injured again.”

Oikawa’s hand slipped down his arm to take his hand. “Just one kiss. Please, Tobio-chan.”

“What if Hajime comes back and sees us?”

Oikawa frowned, looked around, then pulled Tobio away from the door and around the corner.

“Oikawa, where are we going?” He stumbled after him.

“Somewhere more private so we won’t get caught.”

Tobio looked around sceptically as he followed Oikawa wherever they were going. “And you know a place like that here?”

“Obviously not. But we’ll find something. It’s not like it needs to be anything elaborate. We’re just talking about a kiss after all. Ah! Over there.”
He pulled Tobio over to a hidden corner that was formed by a wall and some stairs. The other side was blocked by a tree, effectively making it impossible to see anything that was happening in the corner unless you were standing right in front of it.

Oikawa pulled him closer with his hands on Tobio’s hips and backed him up against the wall before he even had much of a chance to protest. “We should be fine here for a couple of minutes before they start looking for us.”

“You are completely ridiculous, just so you know.” Tobio shook his head and wrapped his arms around his neck. 

“And yet you are just fine going along with it.”

“I must have lost my senses after all.”

There was the hint of a smile tugging on the corner of his lips as he leaned closer to kiss him. “You must have.”

“What are you going to do about it?” He cupped his cheek, caressing along his cheekbone.

“Kiss you even more senseless.” He closed the last bit of distance between them, kissing Tobio much more gently than Tobio had expected.
Tobio automatically closed his eyes, easily sinking into the feeling of their lips moving against each other. He knew they didn’t have too much time and they couldn’t get carried away, but he couldn’t help but enjoy feeling his boyfriend’s lips against his own. It was exciting in a way that was familiar to him by now. 
Tobio surprised himself by actually parting his lips and licking over the split in Oikawa’s lower lip. Oikawa made a low sound in the back of his throat and opened his lips as well, pressing his body closer against Tobio’s.
Tobio gasped softly as their tongues met, moving eagerly. It had been a long time since they had a chance to kiss like this and Tobio found himself savouring every second of it. His hand on Oikawa’s cheek moved to cup his jaw and he could actually feel how it moved as they kissed.

Tobio finally pulled his head back, almost hitting the wall behind him with the back of his head as he ended their kiss. He was already breathing hard and looking at Oikawa, he could tell that he had pulled away just in time. As Oikawa had promised, he had never pushed Tobio to do anything he didn’t want to do, but at that moment, Tobio himself wasn’t sure when he would have finally put on the brakes.

“We - need to get back.” Tobio said breathlessly.

Oikawa nodded, but didn’t pull away. His lip was starting to bleed.

Tobio moved his thumb to brush away the drop of blood and Oikawa surprised him by poking out the tip of his tongue and licking it. Tobio blushed deeply, his eyes drawn to the movement and unable to look away. He swallowed heavily and unconsciously bit his lip.

Oikawa leaned closer again and since Tobio's head was already against the wall behind him, there was no way for him to move out of the way. "Tobio-chan."

Tobio looked up into his eyes. They seemed darker than usual and he found himself drawn in by them, even as he felt one of Oikawa's hands creeping under his jacket and shirt, touching the skin at his waist. 
"Oikawa… we can't. They're going to start looking for us."

Oikawa closed his eyes for a moment, obviously fighting an inner battle.

Moving his other hand up to Oikawa's face as well, he gently caressed his cheek. "Hey."
Oikawa opened his eyes.
"We're going to head back now and get warmed up and then we'll finally win against Shiratorizawa and go to nationals. This is our time."

Oikawa nodded and took a step back. "You're right. It's time we show Ushiwaka-chan what we're capable of."
He turned around and walked a couple of steps before turning around again. "I expect you to pay attention, understood? Don't miss a thing."

Tobio pushed off the wall and caught up with him. "Yes, captain." 
Then he walked past him. He could hear Oikawa cursing quietly, but he just kept walking and didn't stop until he had reached the gym and gone inside.

The team was already in the middle of their warm-up and obviously their coaches weren't pleased at all to have both Oikawa and Tobio come in late on such an important day.
The only thing that saved them from a very long lecture was the fact that they wanted them (or rather Oikawa) to get warmed up properly and so they were running lapses soon afterwards.

Tobio was very aware that most of the team kept glancing over at them, whispering about the strange delay in their arrival. He could hear words like 'fight' and 'special treatment' being thrown around and did his best to ignore all of it. They'd find out the truth soon enough anyway.

They moved on to some stretches and then split up as Oikawa had to go through some tosses with all the players to see what shape they were in that day and Tobio went over to Yahaba instead.

"Ah, there you are, Tobio-kun. Haven't seen you all morning," he said with a greeting nod.

"Yeah, I ended up sitting with Hajime and the others by accident." Tobio said as he grabbed a ball from a nearby ball cart.

"Can't imagine that being very relaxing."

"I ended up falling asleep."

Yahaba stared at him. "Really? I can't imagine falling asleep with those four around me."

"You seemed to do fine at Hajime's birthday party?" He threw the ball up in the air a few times, trying to get a feel for it, then put it back into the cart and picked another.

"There were other people there and I didn't sleep anywhere close to them, in case you didn't notice. Where did you sleep that night anyway? I don't remember seeing you anywhere."

Tobio turned away so Yahaba couldn't see his blushing face as he couldn't stop himself from remembering sleeping in Oikawa's arms that night. "Oikawa's room. Hajime insisted."

Yahaba made a noise that seemed to express sympathy. "Can't imagine that being very relaxing."

"It was fine. He kept to himself and so did I."

"That's lucky then. And you two seem to be getting along better recently as well.

"You think so?" Tobio asked with feigned disinterest , tossing the ball over to Yahaba to do some passes.

"Yeah, I heard a lot about how Oikawa doesn't get along with Iwaizumi's little brother at the beginning of the year and when you first joined, it did look like that was the case but now things seem to have calmed down between you two."

"I guess we just quietly got to an agreement because of Hajime."

"Probably," Yahaba shrugged. "Must be rather convenient."

"What do you mean?" Tobio asked with a frown.

"Well he can't really say anything against you, can he? If he did, his best friend would get mad at him."

"It really doesn't work that way, Yahaba."

"No?"

"Oikawa and I never got along, even as children, so Hajime knows that. He only steps in when he feels like it goes too far."

"You've known Oikawa for that long?"

"All my life," Tobio nodded. "Hajime and he became friends before I was even born, so he's just always been around."

Yahaba glanced over to where Oikawa and Iwaizumi were warming up with the others. "That is rather impressive."

"When I was younger, I always hoped they'd get sick of each other eventually but it never happened so I gave up on that idea."

Yahaba laughed. "You must have been rather disappointed."

Tobio shrugged. "Maybe a little. I should have known better though with how inseparable they've always been."

"So they tell each other everything then?"

"Probably?" Tobio wasn't quite sure where this line of questioning was going. "I have no idea what they talk about behind closed doors."

"So you never tried to eavesdrop on them?"

Tobio snorted. "No, why would I? I heard so much of Oikawa's stories already, I was glad when I didn't have to listen to more of it."

"And now? Like, do you know why they're fighting?"

So Yahaba had noticed after all. "Yes, I happen to know in this case. But I'm not going to tell you," he added before Yahaba could even think of it. "It's between them."

"I wasn't going to ask," Yahaba said with a strange look on his face. "I'm pretty sure I already know."

Tobio wasn't sure what to say to that. 'Good for you'? Or was he supposed to ask what Yahaba thought the reason was?

"I think," Yahaba said, catching the ball and leaning closer to Tobio. "That it's actually about you."

"Me? That's ridiculous." Tobio said quickly, trying not to panic.

"Just look at it, Tobio-kun. It must be something big for them to be fighting over it over multiple days and even right before a match. It must be a topic that concerns both of them and that they're both invested in.
So what topic matches that description and is present enough for them not to be able to escape it, even here? 
Obviously it's Iwaizumi's little brother who happens to be on the team and therefore with them the whole time.
Makes sense, right?"

"They - They wouldn't fight over me just because I'm here, Yahaba, that wouldn't make sense. They'd be fighting constantly then."

"True. So I'm wondering what exactly happened between the three of you that would cause such a big discord?"

Tobio didn't answer but Yahaba didn't seem to expect an answer anyway.

"Just wondering, you know." He threw the ball back to Tobio just in time before they were all called over to their coaches.

Chapter Text

Tobio knew things were not going to go well as soon as he saw the look Hajime had sent Oikawa right before the game started. He didn't even need the constant replay of Yahaba's words at the back of his head for that.

He didn't know what exactly had made Hajime this mad at Oikawa again, but he could only assume that it had everything to do with the situation during the bus ride and Hajime being able to draw his conclusions about why exactly Oikawa and Tobio had arrived so late for warm-up.

They should have thought about it, that much was obvious now. Even without witnessing it, at this point Hajime had enough evidence to be able to tell what had happened. Tobio wasn't quite sure what the agreement between his brother and Oikawa entailed, but he was rather sure that kissing Tobio wasn't on the list of things Hajime had agreed to.

He wished he could talk to his brother. Remind him that he didn't need to worry so much and that they weren't doing things like that to hurt him, but all he could do was watch as the game fell apart. Bit by bit.

By the time Shiratorizawa took the first set, Tobio knew it was too late to turn things around.
Their spirits were broken and while they were still fighting, all the past losses were weighing on their minds and pulling them down.

It was painful to watch.

Every score by the other team felt like a kick in the gut and he could feel the desperation and frustration of his own team in every single one of their moves.

It wasn't a devastating loss. In the end, the scoreboard didn't mirror the way the result felt to them. 
But both sets going to Shiratorizawa was enough to give them the win, whether there was a big difference in points or not.

Everything felt a little blurry afterwards.
Whether it was thanking the audience, packing up or the ride home.
No one spoke much and if they did, it was never more than a whisper.

Hajime sat with Tobio for the bus ride and although no one mentioned it, they all noticed.

They walked home quietly, just the two of them, and once they arrived, Hajime went straight up to his room.
Tobio knew that his brother would need some time before he would be ready to talk about everything that had happened.

But Tobio couldn't sit still. He helped their mother prepare dinner and brought it up to Hajime's room, leaving it outside so they didn't have to talk.
He helped his mother clean up the kitchen after dinner and then went outside to the garden, just to have something to do. He would have gone for a run if he could, but it was getting rather late and he didn't want to add to Hajime's worries.

He played with one of their old volleyballs until it was too dark to see what he was doing. He had just decided to head back inside, when he noticed Hajime watching him.

"You used to do this all the time when you were small," Hajime said quietly, "staying out here and playing volleyball until it's dark."

Tobio nodded. "Okaa-san would get so mad at me for not even coming in to grab a jacket."

Hajime smiled, but it looked a little forced. "I remember. I guess you already had a tendency back then to lose track of other things when you're fully focused on something."

"Hajime…"

His brother shook his head. "I don't know what I expected. Of course he would use the first opportunity he could get to sneak off with you. That's just how he is. And I can't even really blame either of you. I've had crushes before, I know what it's like to be in a new relationship and how you tend to forget whatever is happening around you."
He sighed softly, looking down at his feet. "I guess I'm just conflicted. He's my best friend and you're my little brother. I know both of you like the back of my hand. I know what you're like and I can see how you two could be good for each other, but I can't help also seeing the potential for disaster." He reached up and pulled at his own hair.
"I want to protect you, but I also want to be supportive. I want to wish him all the best and see him be happy, but I also feel like I should rip out his eyes for looking at you this way."
He looked over at Tobio. "I'm sure you know as well as I do that Oikawa has a lot of flaws and that he can easily overwhelm almost anyone with his presence, making them go along with whatever he wants to. And I guess I'm just worried you'll get swept along and end up going at a quicker pace than it is good for you. That you'll end up regretting it."
He gave him a sad smile. "And I know it's ridiculous, because if you've proven one thing in the past, it is that you're not afraid to say no to Oikawa and go against him. You're the one person I know who has never held back his opinion on him and told him right in his face what you were thinking."
Hajime continued looking at him, almost as if in pain. "I just wish it was anyone else but him. I'm sorry."

Tobio looked at his brother for a very long moment before he answered. "I understand."

Hajime looked surprised. "You do?"

Tobio nodded. "I get why you're conflicted and why you wish I was dating someone else." He gripped the volleyball in his hands more tightly. "But I'm not going to change my mind on this, Hajime. I don't know what will happen in the future, but right now for me it's him or no one at all.
I know it won't be easy. There's nothing easy about him, not when you're me at least, but I haven't chosen him because it's easy or he happened to be available at the time.
He," Tobio could feel himself blushing, but he knew his brother needed to hear it. "He makes me happy, Hajime. I know it doesn't make any sense at all considering our past, but it's the truth. And I'm not willing to give that up. Not as long as being together makes both of us happy."
He put the ball down on a garden chair.
"I hope that you'll eventually come around to accept that. We're not together to hurt you and I know for a fact that Oikawa was very worried about losing your friendship when all of this started. It means a lot to him.
Just like you mean a lot to me."

"I'm not trying to break you two apart, Tobio. I'd never do that to you. I just hate how you keep going behind my back and betray my trust."

"It's not intentional. The last couple of days have been hectic for all of us. There was a lot going on. You know that as well as I do.
And the team still doesn't know about Oikawa and me, so we don't have much of a choice but to be secretive. It's not about hurting you, I promise."

"Are you going to tell them? The team?"

"We're planning to."

"You might get some backlash, you know that, right?"

"Yes. I know. But I'm prepared to deal with it should it come to it." He looked at his brother. "I am serious about this. And so is Oikawa.
You really should talk to him. Hear it from his own mouth."

Hajime nodded. "I'm planning to."

"Good." Before Hajime could stop him, he had gone over to his brother and pulled him into a hug. "I love you, Hajime. You're the best big brother I could ever ask for."

Hajime froze for just a moment, obviously not expecting the hug, but then he also wrapped his arms around Tobio. "I love you, too, Tobio. And if Oikawa is really as serious about this as you seem to think he is, then we'll find a way to make it work."

Tobio smiled at him. "I know he is. Or can you ever remember him dating someone for this long and not even telling anyone about it?"

Hajime chuckled, as if against his will. "You might be onto something there.
Just - do me a favour and keep it down around me. I don't want to see him with his tongue down your throat."

"Then you will have to stop getting mad at us for sneaking off. You can't have both."

Hajime sighed. "I see, we'll have to have some serious discussions about this arrangement." Then he blinked and stared at his little brother. "Wait. Does that mean that he -"

"Hajime." Tobio interrupted him before his brother could follow that particular train of thought. "Nothing happened between us that we both didn't agree to, alright?"

Hajime looked truly concerned now. "But - clothes -"

Tobio was really fighting a blush at this point. "Stayed on. Completely."

Hajime looked as if he wanted to ask more, but then decided against it and nodded. "Good."

Tobio had a feeling that Oikawa would still get something to hear about this but as far as Tobio was concerned, nothing concerning had happened between them. At least nothing that would make Hajime rip his head off.

"But you'd tell me if he went too far, right? If he made you uncomfortable."

"I would tell him first and if it was still necessary to talk to you afterwards, I would, yes."

"I guess I can accept that." He looked at Tobio. "Snacks in my room?"

"I'll have a shower and then join you there."

Hajime smiled and then went back inside. 
Tobio took a deep breath, looking up at the stars. 

Things were far from alright just yet, but hopefully they were taking a step in the right direction.

Chapter Text

Going to school the next day was stressful for multiple reasons.
Firstly because they didn't have any break during the weekend because of Preliminaries.
Secondly, they had missed a day of class because of them.
Thirdly, they had lost.
And lastly, everyone knew about it.

It wasn't the first time that Tobio had to go back to school after a loss, but the pressure was definitely bigger now than it was in middle school and before. It was obvious how much hope from both students and teachers had been on their shoulders and how disappointed they all were by their failure.
He couldn't imagine what it must be like for Hajime and Oikawa or even any others of the third-years.

As it stood, he spent his time with Kunimi and Kindaichi and tried to ignore everyone around him as much as possible.
Kindaichi and Kunimi at least understood what it was like to be on the receiving end of all of this disappointment. It gave them a strange feeling of companionship despite not talking much at all.

But of course missing nationals didn't mean that they were free from practice and so after class the three of them headed to the gym together.

"What do you think we're going to do today?" Kindaichi asked, much quieter than usual.

Kunimi shrugged. "Probably torture us with all that went wrong yesterday and make us run extra for losing."

Kindaichi made an unhappy noise. "As if losing yesterday wasn't punishment enough."
Tobio could only agree.

Kunimi opened the door to the gym and they all went inside.
Tobio looked around a little nervously, not sure what to expect.

He hadn't heard from Oikawa at all since the day before, partially because Hajime had been by his side the whole time, partially because he hadn't even gotten a reply to the hesitant text he had sent him last night, asking how he was.

The gym was busy, but lacking the usual energy and noise that came with practice. It was as if someone had turned down the volume.
He followed Kindaichi to the changing rooms, noting that neither Oikawa nor his brother had arrived yet, but Hanamaki and Matsukawa were standing in a corner, talking. Tobio felt like his stomach was twisting with discomfort. He doubted that was a good sign.

His worries were proven incorrect however as Oikawa and Hajime came in just as Tobio was about to leave the changing rooms.
He stopped in his tracks and stared at them, shocked at actually seeing them together.
They weren't talking, but there didn't seem to be any malice between them. Just the quiet suffering that was present all throughout the team today.

Oikawa finally seemed to notice him and Tobio felt his heart skip a beat when their eyes met. 
"Oh. Tobio-chan." His voice was lacking his usual vigor, but Tobio could tell he was trying.

Hajime looked up at the mention of Tobio's name and didn't hesitate to go over to his brother, putting his hand on his shoulder. "Hey. How was your day?"

Tobio shrugged. "Pretty much what I expected. You?" He glanced over at Oikawa and Hajime followed his gaze for a moment.

"About the same. But it'll be fine."

Tobio nodded, feeling relieved. "That's good to hear." He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I'll let you get changed then."

"Sure. I'll see you outside."

Tobio gave him a nod and then headed to the door. He met Oikawa's gaze once more as he was leaving and he could tell that there was something he wanted to talk about.
Tobio gave him a small sign with his head to show that he understood and then left the changing room.

Practice was hell.

Their coaches didn't have any mercy on them for playing matches three days straight and pushed them hard with lots of stamina based exercises.
By the time they were done, most of them were lying on the floor, panting and desperately trying to catch their breath. Only very few of them even managed to stay on their feet, dripping sweat all over the floor.

Tobio was sitting up against a wall, taking small sips from his water bottle. He had the advantage of not having played much the days before, but training had still been hard on him. He just didn't look like he was dying - unlike some of the others.

Irihata had just left the gym and Mizoguchi had mercy enough to give them a couple of minutes before they had to start cleaning up.
Tobio saw him talking to a still standing Oikawa who nodded and wiped his face with a towel, then Mizoguchi left as well.

"Alright, guys," Oikawa finally called over to all of them. "I know you're tired, but none of us is going home until we've at least cleaned up a bit. So let's pull ourselves together and get this over with. You don't need to overdo it, take it as slow as you need to, but let's not stall for longer than necessary."

There were all around groans as people pushed themselves back up on their feet and started grabbing stuff to put away.
Tobio decided to grab a mop and start cleaning the floor since he doubted many of the others would have enough energy left to do so.

By the time he was done, the gym was almost empty.
Hajime had just left for the changing rooms and Tobio could hear someone approaching him. It didn't take a genius to figure out who it was, even with the few other people still around them.

"Tobio-chan," Oikawa said quietly.

Tobio glanced over at him, not wanting to draw attention to them. "Yes, Oikawa?"

"I'm sorry for not answering your text yesterday. I just - needed some time to myself."

Tobio was a little surprised by that confession, but he appreciated the honesty nonetheless. "You don't need to apologise, Oikawa. I get it. I just wanted you to know that you could talk to me if you felt like it."

Oikawa half-smiled. "I know. And knowing that you were thinking about me and were worried enough to go out of your way and text me meant a lot to me. 
You talked to Iwa-chan yesterday, didn't you?"

Tobio looked up at him. "I did. Did he tell you?"

Oikawa shook his head. "No. But it was obvious from the way he acted today that it wasn't just remorse because of the game. There was something else on his mind."

"I see." He glanced around. They were alone now, but likely for not too long. Anyone could leave the changing rooms at any point. "Well, I'm glad it helped you guys to take a step towards fixing things."

"You're not going to tell me what you two talked about then?"

"Not now. You two need to have a proper conversation between just the two of you first."

Oikawa nodded. "We're planning on it. But first," he took Tobio's hand. "I want you to start thinking about when and how you want to tell the team about us."

Tobio frowned at him.

"Not like today. Or even tomorrow. Obviously the situation with Iwa-chan takes priority. I'm just asking you to start thinking about it."

Well. That wasn't too bad. "I guess I can do that."

Oikawa smiled at him, then glanced over at the changing rooms. "I really would like to kiss you right now, but we don't want to end up getting caught again, so I'll refrain from doing so for now.
Maybe we will be able to find some time to meet up this week? Considering we won't have practice every day now and Iwa-chan finally knows about us."

"Talk to my brother and then we'll see what we can do."

"You're so mean sometimes, Tobio-chan," Oikawa whined.

Tobio shrugged. "Just making sure that things between you two don't get worse. Now go get dressed."

But instead of doing that, Oikawa grabbed the mop from him. "No, you go get dressed. I'll take care of this."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. You're basically done anyway, I just need to put the mop away. Go ahead. Iwa-chan is probably waiting for you."

Tobio looked at his boyfriend for a long moment and then quickly placed a kiss on his cheek before hurrying off to the changing rooms.

On their way home, Tobio couldn't stop glancing over at his brother. He looked a lot more relaxed than he had yesterday or even this morning.

Eventually, Hajime sighed. "Out with it then. What did Oikawa say to you?"

Tobio blinked. "Say to me?"

"Yes. After practice. You didn't think I would notice if you're the only ones who hadn't come in to get changed yet?"

He guessed that did make it quite obvious that they must have been talking to each other. Or at least be doing something with each other, even if it hadn't been talking. 
He pushed that thought away very quickly before he could get a red face and Hajime would draw the wrong conclusions. "We just talked about yesterday. And that he's hoping we'll be able to spend some time together this week."

Hajime looked slightly alarmed. "Like a date?"

"He didn't call it a date. It sounded more like he just wants to meet up outside of school."

"A date then."

Tobio groaned. "No, Hajime. Unless you count sitting together and discussing how to proceed as a date. And I told him anyway that he needs to talk to you first."

A look of surprise appeared on his brother's face. "You did?"

"Of course I did. Our relationship can't work if you two don't figure out how you want to deal with it all. It wouldn't be good for you, your friendship and certainly not my relationship with either of you. So I think that it should be our top priority."

"Since when have you gotten so wise, Tobio?" Hajime looked at him with a rather emotional smile.

Tobio rolled his eyes, trying not to feel too embarrassed. "You're exaggerating. I've just watched this for long enough and it's really time you two talk about it."

Chapter Text

Tobio had no way of knowing how long it would take Hajime and Oikawa to figure things out between them. He wasn't sure what outcome to expect either. There were just too many variables.

So while he waited, Tobio instead focused on the question that Oikawa had given him. When and how should they tell the team?

It was a difficult question for Tobio to answer.
He had never done anything like that, for obvious reasons and he didn't even know where to start. 
At first he thought that it would have to be before or after training, since that was when everyone would be there. But that option felt too formal. It wasn't like they were getting married. It was just dating.
And then there were the reactions. He had no idea how everyone would react to this reveal. How would they feel about it? Would their reactions be positive? Negative?
As he kept thinking about all those possibilities, it was easy to tell that it was getting too much for him. Too many what ifs, too many things that were just impossible to predict.
So he decided to let it rest for a couple of days. It's not like he needed to make a decision immediately.

Then, on Friday evening, Hajime came in to Tobio's room to tell him that he and Oikawa finally had a chance to talk.

"So you have patched things up between you?" Tobio asked cautiously as Hajime sat down on the bed next to him.

"Yes, I think so. I think we've both been over the fight for a few days by now. Losing such a big match really puts things into perspective, you know?" Hajime said with a shrug.

Tobio nodded. He could see that.

"So we basically just sat down and talked about all of this. How this thing between you started. And then Oikawa told me about - about his feelings for you."

Tobio couldn't help blushing at that. He really did not want to know what exactly Oikawa had said. "I see."

"I told him that I want to support you two but that I'm also not very keen on seeing him all over you, so we've set a few guidelines that should help."

"Like?"

"Like not making out in front of me if you can help it. In return, I'll look the other way if you happen to be gone from time to time."

That sounded fair, so Tobio nodded again.

"I also told him what exactly he can expect if he ends up hurting you."

"I'm not surprised to hear that."

Hajime looked at him. "You were right though. He really seems to be serious about you."

Tobio's lips formed a small smile that he quickly tried to hide. "He hasn't given me any reason to think otherwise."

"He said you're going to tell the team next? Are you sure you're ready for that?"

"I think so. We can't hide our relationship forever, especially considering Oikawa's behaviour. It'll be easier once it's all out in the open."

"That might be true, but once the team knows, it's only a matter of time until the whole school knows. News like that travel fast."

"I know, Hajime."

"People might look at you differently once they know you're dating another boy. Especially one like Oikawa."

"I am aware of that. But that won't change no matter how long we wait. And at least this way, it's on our own terms."

"You'll have to tell our parents first then."

Tobio's head whipped around. He hadn't thought of that. "What?"

"You can't keep it from them, Tobio. They'd want to know something like that and I doubt you want them to hear it from anyone else."

"But how do you even bring up a conversation like that?"

"I'll help you, Tobio. We'll figure something out together."

Tobio swallowed heavily then nodded. "Thank you, Hajime." He sighed. "Why does it have to be so complicated? It would be a lot easier if I was dating a girl, wouldn't it?"

Hajime put his arm around his shoulders. "Being different is always more of a challenge, Tobio. But to the people who love you, it won't matter in the end. They'll love and support you no matter what."

"You think so?"

"I know so." He squeezed his shoulders. 

Tobio smiled at him. "Thanks, Hajime."

"Anytime." He looked at his brother. "There's one more thing."

"One more?"

"Yes." He scratched the back of his head. "I know you probably don't want to talk about this, but it's important."

"Okay…" Tobio frowned. He didn't like where this was going.

"About - you know. Getting intimate."

Tobio could feel his face getting hot immediately, pulling away from his brother. "No. Hajime, no, I'm not talking to you about that."

"Would you rather talk about it with our parents?" He lifted an eyebrow at him. He still seemed rather calm although a little embarrassed.

Tobio shook his head. "I'd rather not talk about it at all."

"But you can't just go in blind, Tobio. Maybe if you were both the same age you could figure things out together, but even then it would be better for you to know what you're getting into."

"I can look things up, Hajime. You know, like other people do. I don't need to talk to my brother about doing stuff with my boyfriend - who happens to be my brother's best friend."

Hajime stared at him.

"What?"

"You just called Oikawa your boyfriend."

Tobio's face felt like it was on fire at this point. He hadn't meant to say that. It had just slipped out. He groaned.

"It's fine, Tobio. I guess I should really get used to the thought. It's just not something I ever expected to hear you say.

"I wouldn't have expected it either."

Hajime nodded and put his hand on Tobio's shoulder. "We don't have to talk about this if it makes you this uncomfortable. I'm just asking you to figure things out beforehand, in whatever way you choose to do so. If you want to talk to me, if you have questions, I'll try to help you as well as I can. 
This isn't really an area where I have much experience myself, to be honest, but I want you to know that you're not going through this on your own."

Tobio nodded. He appreciated Hajime's concern and offer, but he doubted that he could ever get to the point where he'd want to ask his brother about this kind of topic.

"In any case," he shook his head at himself. "Can't believe I'm saying this. But you should talk to Oikawa about this if you haven't already. Just so you're on the same page."

Tobio didn't even want to imagine what his face must look like at this point. "We - might have bumped into the topic at some point."

"I probably don't want to know how that kind of topic came up, but I hope that the conversation went somewhere along the lines of age 80 and upwards."

"What, I'm not even getting the option to wait until after marriage?" He asked sarcastically.

"Two men can't get married in Japan, Tobio, I'm afraid you'll have to stick to my version."

Tobio groaned. "So you're going to make me move to another country first? Unbelievable."

They looked at each other for a moment, then burst out laughing. 
The conversation had turned from something so serious to just plain ridiculous.
It was one of the many reasons why Tobio loved his brother so much. They could talk about topics seriously one moment, then be laughing about it the next. And it still wouldn't affect the intention behind it.
Tobio knew that his brother was looking out for him, wanted to protect him the best way he could and no matter how uncomfortable this conversation had been, he could tell that Hajime was trying to help him.

"You don't need to worry, Hajime," Tobio said once they had calmed down their laughter. "I'm not going to do anything I'm not ready for."

"Or at all." Hajime gave him a stern look that Tobio chose to ignore.

"You know that's just not realistic."

"You could at least pretend that it's an option. You know. For my peace of mind."

He sighed. "Fine. It's not like I was planning on talking about this in the first place anyway."

Hajime gave Tobio a long look. "However this may go, I sincerely hope the best for you. Both of you."

"No more ripping out his eyes if he looks at me the wrong way?"

"I did not say that. You're still my little brother after all. Even if I have given you two my blessing for now doesn't mean I can't change my mind in the future."

"Now you're just being dramatic. I think I'm starting to see why Oikawa's your best friend."

"At least I'm not the one dating him."

He gaped at his brother, then couldn't help but laugh about it himself. "I don't fully get it either. Why it has to be him."

Hajime shrugged. "Those things usually can't be explained. They just happen."

Tobio's phone went off on his bedside table, alerting him that he got a message, and they both turned and looked at it.

"Is that him?" Hajime asked as Tobio leaned over to grab his phone.

He unlocked it and read the message. "No. It's from Hinata. He's - inviting me to his birthday party?"

"Oh that's nice. When is it?"

"Tomorrow apparently. He says it's spontaneous."

"Do you want to go?"

Tobio scratched his head. "I think so. But I have no way to get there."

"I'm sure one of our parents will drive you if you ask them."

"I guess so." He frowned, thinking about it. He was sure that Oikawa wouldn't be happy when he heard about it, but he didn't want to bring that up with Hajime considering the two had just made up. "I should go and ask them."

Chapter Text

Tobio arrived at Hinata's right around lunchtime. He wasn't quite sure what to expect as he rang the doorbell, but he could assume that at least part of Hinata's team would be there.
He hoped they wouldn't be too mad about their loss against them the week before.

Instead there was a small girl running up to him and hugging him as soon as the door opened.
He stared down at her, not quite sure what was happening. Her hair colour gave him an indication of who she was though.

"Nat-chan!" Hinata came running to the door, chasing his little sister. "I told you not to -
Oh. Hi Tobio."
He bent over and picked up his little sister. "Sorry about that. This is my little sister Natsu."

"Hiii!" She smiled and waved at Tobio who awkwardly waved back.

"Come on in," Hinata let him inside with a gesture and closed the door behind him. He put his sister back down on her feet and she ran off to somewhere inside.
"I'm so glad you could come, Tobio. I wasn't sure whether you could make it on such short notice."

"My mother has a free day today, so she had time to drive me."

"Lucky!" Hinata grinned.

"I didn't have much time to get you a proper gift though." He held out a small gift bag to him. "Happy Birthday."

"Oh that's fine, don't worry about it." He smiled and took the bag. "I'm just glad that you're here. You can finally properly meet everyone!" He led him inside to what appeared to be the living room.

There were already quite a few people there. Tobio assumed they were all from Karasuno, but he found it rather hard to recognise them without their black jackets and jerseys.

"Everyone! Tobio is here!" Hinata called over to them, making Tobio a little uncomfortable as now everyone was staring at him.

"Uhm. Hello," he said with a quick look around.

There were a few responding hellos before Hinata was already grabbing Tobio's wrist and pulling him over to the first group of people to introduce him to his friends.
He didn't get much of a chance to talk to them beyond basic information before Hinata dragged him over to the next group.
By group three Tobio was starting to feel rather ridiculous. Like some kind of pet that Hinata wanted to show off.

"Hinata," Tobio finally stopped him when it looked like the other boy was about to go for round two. "It's alright now. I've met everyone. You don't need to stay by my side the whole time."

"But you don't know anyone but me here," Hinata looked at him with wide, innocent eyes.

“I know, Hinata, but you don’t have to take care of me the whole time. As long as your team isn’t secretly planning to kill me for last week, I’ll be fine.”

Hinata laughed. “Of course not! And you weren’t even playing then. So I’m sure there’d be better targets anyway.”

“I’m not sure whether I should be offended or relieved now.”

Hinata shrugged. “Let’s just go and eat some cake. I wanna hear about Aoba Johsai. What’s it like?”

And so they grabbed some cake and sat down on the sofa, talking about their schools and volleyball. It was actually rather comfortable and even when other members of Hinata’s team joined them from time to time, Tobio didn’t find it to bother him.
It was easy conversation and none of them seemed to hold a grudge.

They were in the middle of a discussion of which position was the coolest when they were interrupted by a shout from across the room.

“Oi! Iwaizumi!”

Both Tobio and Hinata turned into the direction of the call. The call had come from their libero, Nishinoya and the guy next to him (Tobio was pretty sure his name was Tanaka).

"What are the girls like at Seijoh?"

Tobio stared at him but the other two just looked at him expectantly. And not just them. The whole room had suddenly gotten suspiciously quiet.
“Uhm. They’re - okay, I guess?” He didn’t really know what to say. “I don’t really talk to them.”

Hinata frowned at him. “You are so boring, Tobio.”

Tobio blushed. “I’m just not interested in them constantly asking about my brother and Oikawa.”

“Do they do that a lot?” Sugawara asked, looking mildly curious.

“They do,” Tobio said with a nod and a rather unhappy look on his face. “As soon as they find out about me being Hajime’s brother, it basically can’t be avoided. It already was that way back in middle school.”

“You were already going to the same school as him back then?”

Tobio nodded. “Kitagawa Daiichi. Oikawa went there as well. Our mother wanted Hajime to look after me, so it was never really a question where I’d go. Even for High School, I pretty much knew from the beginning that it would be Seijoh.”

“So you guys go way back then.”

“Hajime and Oikawa have been friends all their life, so I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know them.”

“The Great King can’t be that popular,” Hinata interrupted them suddenly.

Tobio looked at him. “Who?”

“You know,” he made a vade gesture with his hand. “Your captain. The Great King.”

“You mean Oikawa?”

“Yes! Obviously.”

“Why would you - You know. Nevermind. I don’t think I even want to know.” He shook his head. “But yes, he is that popular. Didn’t you notice his fanclub at the game?”

Both Nishinoya and Tanaka looked somehow displeased and interested at the same time. “So that’s normal for you guys?” Tanaka eventually asked.

“It’s normal for Oikawa,” Tobio clarified. “The rest of us just have to deal with it.”

“And it’s always that way?”

“I bet it’s different when he has a girlfriend,” Nishinoya said confidently. “And then all the other girls must be crying and unhappy and -”

Their captain coughed rather loudly at that point, interrupting the libero before he could finish his sentence. “I think that’s enough.”

Tobio covered his face with one hand. This conversation was so uncomfortable.

Hinata gave him a small nudge, whispering. “So does he have a girlfriend?”

Tobio looked over at him, face hidden from the room by his hand. “Why do you even want to know that?”

“Just curious,” he said, shrugging and smiling.

Tobio sighed. “No, I don’t think he does. Officially, he’s currently single.” It wasn’t even a lie.

“Ha! I knew it. He’s not actually that popular.”

“Can we please talk about something else?” Tobio said with a pained face.

“Sure,” Hinata nodded and proceeded to tell Tobio about their manager, who was apparently called Kiyoko, and how Tanaka and Nishinoya kept trying to get her attention.

It was certainly a much safer topic for Tobio and he soon found himself relaxing again.

Tobio couldn’t deny that he was enjoying himself around these people. He had found himself talking to almost anyone at some point in the afternoon and soon he was actually laughing along to their jokes and at their antics.
The only slightly awkward moment was when Hinata's little sister decided that the best place to sit was going to be on his lap and Tobio literally had no idea how to handle it. He was only used to being the younger sibling and except for Kunimi, he was usually one if not the youngest in his group of friends.
It probably also didn't help that he ended up spending a lot of time if Hajime's friends instead of his own.
Luckily though, Natsu didn't seem to have high expectations of him and just snuggled up into his chest and fell asleep.
Hinata was nice enough to remove her and put her into bed after that which Tobio rather appreciated.

By the time Tobio’s mother came to pick him up, he didn’t really want to leave yet. The others had settled in to watch a movie and wanted to order some dinner soon, but since Tobio’s trip home was a bit longer than for the rest of them, he didn’t have much of a choice but to say his goodbyes and leave.
At least it wouldn’t be the last time, as a few of them had already told him he should join them for training sometime.

They picked up some groceries for dinner on the way back home and Tobio noted curiously the amount of food his mother was getting. It seemed a bit much for just the four of them.

“Are we having a visitor?” Tobio asked as he helped his mother carry the bags into the kitchen.

“Tooru-kun is here. He’s upstairs with your brother.”

Tobio struggled not to react visibly, but his mother seemed to notice anyway.

“I know you aren’t his biggest fan, but you’ll get through one dinner with him,” she said. “Now go upstairs and tell them dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes. And don’t forget to wash your hands before you come back downstairs.”

With not much of a choice left, Tobio slowly went upstairs.

So Oikawa was here. With Hajime.
It shouldn’t be that surprising, really. They often met up during the weekends.
It was probably a good sign that they were picking up that habit again.

Tobio hesitated for a moment, then knocked at the door to his brother’s room. “Hajime? It’s me.”

"Come on in." Hajime answered after a few seconds and Tobio opened the door.

Both Hajime and Oikawa were sitting on Hajime's bed. Hajime was leaning against the headboard and facing the door while Oikawa was sprawled out across the rest of the bed, his head against the wall.

"Ah Tobio," his brother said. "Home already? How was the party?"

Oikawa seemed to perk up at the word 'party', looking from Hajime to Tobio.

"Birthday party," Tobio clarified quickly. "And it was mostly just sitting around together and talking. With some cake.
It was fun though."

"Whose birthday party was it?" Oikawa asked, looking as if he was only mildly interested in the answer.

"Hinata's. He turned sixteen."

"From Karasuno?"

Tobio nodded. "Anyway, okaa-san wanted me to tell you that dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes."

"Sounds good," Hajime said.

"I'll leave you two alone then," Tobio turned around to leave the room.

"You don't have to go, Tobio."

Tobio turned back around to look at them.

"It's not that long until dinner anyway, you can spend the time with us if you'd like to."

Tobio hesitated. "Wouldn't that be a little awkward?"

Hajime glanced over at Oikawa who seemed to have chosen exactly that moment to learn how to stay quiet. Hajime rolled his eyes.
"Maybe a little, but we'll have to get used to it eventually. And it's probably better for us to go through that now than in public."

Tobio nodded slowly. His brother had a point there. He looked around, unsure on how to behave. 
There wasn't that much space on Hajime's bed and he didn't want to make things even weirder than they already were.
He had just made up his mind to go sit over by the desk when Oikawa moved to the side and made some space between him and Hajime.

"Come here, Tobio-chan. Join us."

Chapter Text

Sitting on his brother's bed with his brother and his boyfriend was one of the strangest experiences Tobio had ever had.
He had laid on this bed countless times before, snuggling with his brother and even sleeping here. And he had seen his brother and Oikawa lying on it, just talking, playing games or even doing some studying.
Maybe the three of them had even done this before, at some point when they were children, but Tobio could never have predicted this particular scenario.

Hajime was still sitting up against the headboard, cross-legged and looking at his best friend and his brother on his bed with an unreadable expression on his face.
Tobio had taken up the free space in the middle of the bed that the two others had created between them for him. He was sitting with his back against the wall.
Oikawa was next to him, half sitting, half lying on his side and propped up on one arm. He was close to him, but not close enough that they were touching. His eyes however were following him.

Tobio was glad that Oikawa held back from touching him in any way in front of Hajime. He wasn't quite sure how his brother would react if they even did as much as hugging or holding hands.

Tobio decided to break the silence. "So what have you two been up to? I doubt you've just been lounging around on this bed all day long."

"Not quite, but most of the time," Hajime said with a shrug. "Oikawa hasn't actually been here that long, so we've spent most of the time catching up."

Tobio nodded. That did make sense. They would have a lot to talk about now that they had made up. 

"What about you though, Tobio-chan?" Oikawa asked. "It sounds like your day was much more exciting than ours. Did Karasuno treat you well?"

"They were all quite nice to me," Tobio said with a shrug. "Curious about how our school is different from theirs. They invited me to come practice with them sometime."

"I hope you said no, Tobio-chan. We can't have you telling them all our secrets." Oikawa said, only half teasing.

"If Tobio wants to play with them, it's none of our business, Oikawa," Hajime said. 
Tobio couldn't help but notice that he didn't use a nickname to end that sentence.  

"What kind of secrets would I even tell them about?" Tobio said, deciding it was better to move on with this topic. "I doubt there's much that I know that they don't that they'd be interested in."

"But what if they try to steal you from us?" Tobio could tell that his boyfriend was fighting the urge to wrap his arms around him. Mostly to add to his dramatic message.

"They have a setter." Tobio gave Oikawa a look, telling him to pull himself together.

"Yes, but they don't have you."

Tobio stared at him.

"You've seen their setter. How he plays. He's good, but you're better. So I'm not letting them have you."

He blinked. He wasn't sure whether this was possessive boyfriend Oikawa or possessive Captain Oikawa. "I - wasn't planning on switching teams anyway."

"Good! You better not even think about it."

"Oi, Shittykawa," Hajime interrupted him before he could say more. "Cut it out."

"But Iwa-chan -"

"No. Tobio can make his own decisions. And he already told you he's not just going to leave. So it's enough."

"But what if they try to seduce him into changing his mind? You never know what they might come up with."

"Just because that's what you would do, doesn't mean it's the normal thing to do."

"I don't need to seduce anyone into anything. They follow me because they want to."

Hajime looked over at Tobio. "Are you sure that this is the person you want to date?"

"Iwa-chan! That's such a rude thing to say!" He reached over and covered both of Tobio's ears, so the rest of what he said sounded muffled to Tobio. "Tobio-chan is a special case. He doesn't just follow me, so this doesn't even apply to him in the first place."

"Whatever," Hajime rolled his eyes. "Just take your hands off of him."

Tobio truly should have expected it, but it still came as a surprise when instead of pulling away, Oikawa put his hands on Tobio's shoulders and pulled him back against him, wrapping his arms around him from behind. He leaned his chin on Tobio's shoulder and looked at his best friend. "I don't want to."

"You're just doing that to rile me up and see how far you can go."

"Maybe partially," Oikawa said with a shrug. "But how else are you going to get used to it?"

"I'd rather not get used to it at all."

"Awww Iwa-chan, but then you'd have to miss out on our wedding."

Tobio turned his head and looked at his boyfriend. He was starting to question his sanity.

"You're way too young to get married," Hajime said, crossing his arms. "And it's too early for you to even think about that. With your track record, you'll need to get through far more than a few months of dating before entertaining that kind of thought."

"Tobio-chan, your brother is so mean. You should tell him off for speaking to your boyfriend like that."

Tobio just rolled his eyes. "You both need to stop using me for your petty fights."

"Petty? I'm never petty, Tobio-chan, how could you say that?"

"You're always petty," he shook his head. "But thankfully I'm used to that."

"Awww Tobio-chan," he nuzzled his neck until a cough from Hajime made him stop.

"I think that's enough," Hajime said. "We should head downstairs anyway."
He got up from the bed.
"And you two might want to consider using the chance to tell our parents about all of this. I'll be right back."
He left his bedroom, leaving the door wide open.

Tobio stared after him, then turned to his boyfriend. "I'm not very keen on telling my parents just yet," he said bluntly.

Oikawa shrugged. "That's fine. We don't have to tell them now." He placed a kiss on Tobio's neck, causing him to shiver. "We'll wait until you're ready. At least this way I won't have to worry about not being allowed inside of your house anymore."

Tobio gave him a confused look. "Why would you worry about that? You even have a key."

Oikawa sighed. "Because, Tobio-chan, your parents might not like the idea of us meeting up behind their backs and doing - the kind of things you do when you're in a relationship."

"Oh. That - makes sense." Tobio felt himself blushing. "But just because we're dating, doesn't mean we're immediately doing all those things."

"Of course not, but that doesn't stop them from worrying about it. It's just like with Iwa-chan. He knows that we can't do much in this short amount of time and are unlikely to do it with the door open, but he's still standing right outside the door and listening."

Tobio blinked and turned to the door. 

Hajime had just come back inside. "How did you know?" He asked Oikawa.

"Please. As if you'd leave me alone with your baby brother for even one minute. On a bed, nonetheless." He kissed Tobio's cheek and then got up. "But as you can see, he's right as rain. Completely untouched."

"He better be." Hajime sent him a warning glare before he looked over to his brother. "You coming?"

Tobio nodded and got up, hoping that his face wasn't as red as it felt.

They left Hajime's room and went downstairs to the kitchen.

"Ah there you all are, very good," their mother said. "Wash your hands and then you can set the table so we can eat."

It didn't take them long to take care of the tasks. It was routine at that point. Oikawa had joined them for so many dinners over the years that he might as well be living with them with how quickly they set the table and already started cleaning up the kitchen while they waited for dinner to be ready.

They all sat down for dinner soon after with the conversation mostly centering around their parents asking Oikawa about the matches the week before, what he had been up to and why he hadn't been over for so long. 

Tobio stayed quiet as he ate. He didn't really have anything to contribute after all.
Instead his thoughts drifted off to how much it said about Hajime's and Oikawa's friendship that him not being at their house for about two weeks already made his parents wonder where he had been. He watched Oikawa's lips moving as he talked and found himself wondering what his parents would say if they knew what other things those lips had gotten up to recently.

He shook his head at himself and quickly lowered his gaze, hiding his blushing face behind his hair. What was he even thinking?

Chapter Text

After dinner Tobio volunteered to stay back in the kitchen to help clean up while the other two already went back upstairs. He wasn't very keen on a repeat of the situation from before dinner and was hoping this way he would be able to just slip into his room unnoticed.
So, once he was done, he quietly made his way up the stairs and, staying as far away from Hajime's room as physically possible, to his room.

What he hadn't expected was Oikawa on his bed.

"Wh- What are you doing here?" Tobio looked around quickly. "Does Hajime -"

"He knows," Oikawa said, sitting up. 

"He does? But -" Tobio couldn't believe that his brother would just agree to let them spend time together. Alone. In Tobio's bedroom. "How?"

Oikawa sighed. "How about you calm down first and sit down? I'll explain it to you."

Tobio hesitated but then moved over to the bed. He sat down, keeping some distance between them. 

"Good," Oikawa said, taking his hand. "Now. We don't have that long, but Iwa-chan agreed that we can have a couple of minutes to ourselves."

Tobio frowned. "I doubt he just agreed to that."

"Well," Oikawa said slowly, running his fingers through his hair. Tobio's eyes followed the movement almost automatically before he even noticed what he was doing and forced himself to look back at Oikawa's face. Oikawa smirked, he had obviously noticed. "I might have mentioned that he has the choice between watching it happen or just knowing it's happening."

"You can't be serious."

He shrugged. "He needs to get used to it, Tobio-chan. I get that it's weird for you two and I'm not very keen on him watching us either, but I'm not going to stop kissing my boyfriend because of that. So we will have to figure out how to deal with it." He moved his free hand to Tobio's thigh as he leaned closer. "Or do you not want to kiss me anymore?"

"I -" He swallowed around the lump in his throat and nervously looked away. Oikawa's face was so close. "I do still want that."

"Good. Because so do I." He moved even closer until their lips met. It was a rather wet kiss, with their lips parted and moving eagerly against each other. Tobio found himself leaning into it, his hand on his cheek and chasing Oikawa's lips whenever they left his for even a moment.
He didn't know exactly how it happened, but eventually he found himself lying on his back, Oikawa on top of him. Tobio's arms had settled around Oikawa's neck by themselves, holding him close as their tongues met between their mouths and Oikawa's hands teasingly wandered down his sides.
Tobio was very aware of the touch, but it didn't feel threatening. He knew he could stop it at any point. One sign from him and it would be over.
But he didn't want it to stop.
Instead, he responded by adjusting his position, giving Oikawa easier access to the hem of his shirt.
He gasped softly when he finally felt his fingers against the skin of his waist, just on the sliver of skin that was revealed where his shirt had ridden up.

Oikawa broke the kiss, his lips moving over Tobio's jaw and down his neck instead and Tobio found himself turning his head in order to give him better access. He muffled his own voice by covering his mouth with the back of his hand but even that didn't seem like enough. His face was burning and he felt uncomfortably warm.

Then there was something wet against his neck and Tobio's eyes widened in shock, needing a moment to understand that it was Oikawa's tongue on his skin.

"O-Oikawa -"

"Shhh," he said quietly against his skin. "You don't want Iwa-chan to hear you, do you?"

Tobio quickly shook his head.

"So try and be quiet for me."

"But -"

Oikawa pushed himself up onto his elbows so he could look into Tobio's eyes. "Yes? Do you want to stop?"

"I - I don't," he admitted, face flushed and breathing hard. "But I think we should. I don't want anyone to walk in on us."

Tobio had expected Oikawa to protest or at least look annoyed, but instead he just reached up and caressed his red cheek. "Alright, Tobio-chan. We'll end this here for now." He leaned in and kissed him again, but much more gently this time, just the feeling of their lips touching.
Tobio lifted his chin, intensifying the kiss just a little and that's how they stayed until there was a knock at the door to his room.

"I guess that's our cue." Oikawa said, sitting up and back on his heels. He looked over at Tobio and an oddly pleased look appeared in his eyes before he got up. 

It was just in time as the door opened and Hajime came in. "I hope you two are decent because if not -" He looked from Tobio who was still lying on his bed, looking very red and probably rather disheveled, to Oikawa who was standing next to it, giving him a wide, smug grin. "You know what, I don't even want to know. This is enough to scar me for life already."

"Oh but Iwa-chan, you missed the best part." Oikawa said, still grinning. "You know the bit where -"

"Stop right there, Crappykawa. If you want any chance of this ever happening again, you'll be nice and quiet now so I can forget I even agreed to this in the first place."

Tobio nervously fixed his shirt as he sat up. So Oikawa had told the truth about Hajime knowing about him being here. Not that he thought that Oikawa would take a risk like that just after they made up, but it was still nice to get confirmation.

He looked from Oikawa to his brother, hoping it wasn't written all over him what he had been up to. Hajime however was still busy staring down his best friend.

Oikawa didn't seem too bothered by it.
"I guess I should get going then. - Ah, I almost forgot." He turned back to Tobio. "You're free tomorrow, right?"

Tobio frowned but nodded. He still had some homework to do but he didn't have any other plans. 

"Perfect. I'll text you and let you know when I'm coming over."

"Coming over?" Hajime asked suspiciously.

"Relax, Iwa-chan. Tobio-chan and I just need to make a decision on how we're going to tell the team about us and I don't want to have that discussion over the phone."

"And you can't do that now?"

Oikawa crossed his arms. "If we talk about that now, it'll be too late for me to head home. I'd have to stay the night."

Hajime looked at Tobio, then back at Oikawa. "Oh whatever. Fine, you can stay. You could just have asked, you know? Instead of going through all of this effort to make me invite you to stay." 

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Iwa-chan."

"Of course you don't," he sighed and rubbed his temples. "I'll go set up the futon. You two try and behave."
He shot Oikawa another warning look before he left Tobio's bedroom, leaving behind a still smug Oikawa and a rather confused Tobio.

"Did you really plan that?" Tobio looked at him.

"How do you think I usually get him to let me stay?" Oikawa shrugged and flopped back down on the bed. 

"He's not going to let you stay in here, you know."

"We'll see about that, Tobio-chan." He winked at him, propping his head up on his hand. "So. Have you made up your mind? About telling the team?"

Tobio sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "I just can't think of a good way to do it. Maybe it would be better to just let them figure it out themselves."

Oikawa lifted an eyebrow at him. "So you just want to make out in front of them instead?"

"What? No! Of course not," Tobio could feel his face heating up again. "I just meant - you know. We could hold hands or something and let them make their assumptions. I'm sure they'll ask eventually."

"Hmm true. Some of them would certainly be nosy enough to do that. And once one person knows, they'll all know." He reached over and started walking his fingers up Tobio's thigh. "Too bad Makki and Mattsun already know. They'd be perfect for this job."

"They'd do it in the most humiliating way possible."

"That's the risk you take when you don't do it yourself, Tobio-chan."

"How would you do it then?" Tobio stopped Oikawa's fingers before they could wander even higher up his leg - which meant he had walked right into his trap as Oikawa grabbed his hand, pulled him down and rolled them over so he was pinning him down onto the bed.

He smirked down at him. "Something like this," he said before giving him a passionate kiss.

Tobio tried to protest but Oikawa just used that moment to push his tongue between his lips and thoroughly explore his mouth. He knew he should be pushing him off, that now really wasn't the time to be making out but he couldn't help it. Kissing Oikawa was seemingly becoming addictive to him. So instead he just kissed him back.
Oikawa didn't seem to have any intentions of stopping either, pushing Tobio down into the mattress with his body weight, both wrists pinned down next to his head.

Had anyone asked Tobio if he could ever like such a scenario or even enjoy it, his answer would have been a resounding no. But now he couldn't deny that he actually did enjoy it.
Oikawa's weight over him felt steadying in a pleasant way and for once he didn't have to worry about what to do as he could only respond to Oikawa's challenging lips anyway. 

Suddenly the kiss was broken and Oikawa's lips were near Tobio's ear instead. "Something like that," he whispered right into his ear before teasingly tugging at it with his teeth. Tobio shivered.

"Right - Right in front of everyone?" He asked huskily.

"Right in front of everyone," Oikawa confirmed. "So there's no way they can mistake it for an accident." He moved his lips down Tobio's neck. "Or maybe I'd just leave a pretty mark right here." He placed a kiss right above his collarbone. "Watch how they start noticing it one by one during practice and gossip about it, wondering where it came from, who marked you like that."

Tobio shifted on the bed, his emotions too entangled for him to even begin to unravel them at this point. His face was radiating heat and his heart was racing. Still, he found himself baring his neck to Oikawa as if in invitation.

Oikawa seemed pleased by that reaction as he gave the spot he had kissed before a little nip. "And then, when they are all busy discussing it, I'd go up to you and kiss you right there, effectively giving them the answer." He sucked on his skin and a small gasp escaped Tobio. "Would you like that, Tobio-chan? Would you like me to leave a little mark on you?"

Tobio shook his head, but not in disagreement. It was mostly confusion, him trying to clear his head enough to figure out what he wanted.

"I would like it a lot, you know," Oikawa said quietly. "Let people know you're taken and mine. But unfortunately we need to behave." He sighed and pushed himself up so he could look down at Tobio. "No matter how alluring this sight here is." His thumb caressed along the veins on the inside of Tobio's wrist. Tobio had a feeling that Oikawa didn't even notice he was doing it.

"You really - are obsessed with kissing in public," Tobio said, still rather breathless.

Oikawa laughed softly. "That seems to be part of the effect you have on me, Tobio-chan. Not only do I find it incredibly annoying when someone steals your attention from me, but I also seem to want to show everyone that you're mine. And what better way to do that than to kiss my boyfriend in front of them?"

"I'm sure there are a lot of ways to show that," Tobio said evasively.

"But this one is the most fun." He pecked his lips. "Or are you denying that you like my kisses?"

"I feel like that's a trick question," Tobio said, trying to free his wrists.

Oikawa grinned. "Answer me, Tobio-chan, or I'm not going to let you get up."

"I'd rather not." He continued his struggle. He had a feeling it was only a matter of time until Hajime came back.

"Oh? Does that mean you want me to continue instead? How naughty. First your behaviour during that phone call recently and now this? You keep surprising me, Tobio-chan."

"That's your interpretation."

"Indeed, it is, Tobio-chan." He glanced over at the door. "It really is too bad we don't have more time." He rolled them over without warning, pulling Tobio on top of him and wrapping his arms around his waist.

Tobio looked down at him, confused by the sudden change in position and mood. "Oikawa?"

"Yes, Tobio-chan?"

"What are you doing?"

"Holding you, obviously."

"But - why?"

"Because I can, obviously. Iwa-chan knows about us now and we're not sneaking around anymore. We were just discussing telling about a dozen people that we see basically every day, among them your closest friends." He reached up and caressed Tobio's cheek. "So I'm enjoying that I can hold you like this now and we don't have to worry about getting caught."

Tobio looked away. These gentle touches combined with the way Oikawa was looking at him still made him feel a little embarrassed. "But we still haven't decided how we're going to do it."

"We'll figure it out, Tobio-chan. In the end, the result will be the same."

"You mean the whole school gossiping about your relationship?"

Tobio's head whipped around, looking at his brother in the doorway. His expression was hard to read, but Tobio guessed that was one of the better options considering their current position. He tried to get up, but Oikawa tightened his arms around him, preventing him from going anywhere.

"You know that the gossip isn't in my hands, Iwa-chan. People just love talking about me."

"As someone who has had to deal with it for years and years, I'm only too aware of that fact. And I also know that you love the attention, even when it would be better for you to keep things quiet." Hajime had now moved over to the bed, looking down at them with crossed arms. "Either way, the futon is set up, so you can go to sleep whenever you're ready."

It was obvious even to Tobio that Hajime actually meant 'now'.

"Thanks, Iwa-chan, but I'm actually quite enjoying my cuddle with Tobio-chan," Oikawa said with an innocent voice while nuzzling Tobio's neck.

"If you think I'm going to let you sleep here, you're wrong." Hajime said firmly. "I can see what you're trying to do and it's not working."

Chapter Text

Needless to say that Oikawa did not sleep in Tobio's room. 
Hajime took it upon him to forcibly split them up and drag his best friend to his own bedroom instead, quickly telling Tobio goodnight before they left.

Therefore it was rather surprising to Tobio that when he woke up the next morning, he found himself wrapped up in someone's arms, a warm body behind him.

For a moment, he considered that he must still be dreaming, but it didn't take him long to accept that this was actually happening when he could feel the person behind him nuzzling his neck. 

Tobio blushed softly at the action although he couldn't help questioning what exactly Oikawa was doing in his bed and how the heck he had gotten there.

Slowly, he turned his head to look at his boyfriend, but all he could see from this angle and with Oikawa's face pressed against his shoulder was some of his brown hair.

"Oikawa?" Tobio asked quietly.

There was no reply. Maybe he was still asleep. 
Or he was faking it.

"... Tooru?"

There still wasn't any kind of reaction, so Tobio could only assume that Oikawa really was asleep. He sighed softly and settled back onto his pillow.
He felt very aware of Oikawa's body behind him, the feeling and the warmth coming from him. How their legs were entangled under the blanket and Oikawa's arms wrapped securely around his middle. He could feel his nose against his neck and every single one of his exhales tickled his skin.

Tobio took a deep breath and tried to suppress a shiver. When exactly had Oikawa snuck in here? 
He couldn't remember being woken up by him so Oikawa must have been really quiet when coming in. And he doubted that Hajime knew about this.
Which meant that Oikawa would need to be back in Hajime's room before he woke up.

Considering that it wasn't that bright yet in his room and since Tobio usually got up early for his morning run anyway, he could only assume that it wasn't that late yet and Hajime was hopefully still asleep. However he didn't want to take any risks. He had had enough tension and disagreements for quite awhile.

So, while he tried to figure out how to wake Oikawa without giving him a reason to pin him down on the bed once again, he reached down and tentatively touched Oikawa's hand that was resting on his belly, lifting it up in front of his face. He could tell that Oikawa took good care of his hands. The skin was soft despite how much he trained and the nails were short and evenly cut.
Tobio traced the fingers with his own, getting lost in the feeling of his skin and the differences between their hands.
He moved his thumb across Oikawa's palm, noting the spots that were rougher from hitting the hard surface of a volleyball during serves and how the tips of his fingers seemed to mirror that.

Following a sudden whim, he moved the hand closer to his face and placed a kiss on the open palm. 
Embarrassed by what he had just done, he quickly lowered the hand back down onto the mattress.
What a silly thing to do. He shook his head at himself. He should just wake Oikawa up and be done with it.

Slowly, Tobio tried to roll over onto his back, as much as that was possible within the cocoon of Oikawa's arms. It took him a while but eventually he was facing Oikawa.
The easiest way to wake him up would probably be calling his name or shaking him, but somehow Tobio didn't want to do that.
Oikawa looked so relaxed in his sleep and considering the last two weeks, Tobio didn't doubt that he still had some sleep to catch up on.

For a moment, he fought the urge to just snuggle close to him and go back to sleep, but then he reminded himself how much trouble they'd be in if Hajime found them like this after he had explicitly said that Oikawa wouldn't be sleeping in Tobio's room.

Tobio reached up and cupped Oikawa's cheek, caressing over it with his thumb. He hesitated for a moment, but then decided to just follow his instinct. After all, they were basically an official couple now and there wasn't anyone in this room but them. 
"Oikawa," he said softly. "It's time to wake up."

Oikawa's eyes opened for just a moment before closing again, apparently intending to go right back to sleep.

"Oikawa," he repeated but didn't get a response. He sighed and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "Wake up."

Oikawa blinked a couple of times before opening his eyes. "Tobio-chan…" He still sounded rather sleepy and relaxed as he pulled him against his chest, arms tightly around him. "Good morning."

Tobio was starting to feel a bit like an oversized plush toy. "Yes. Good morning to you, too."

Oikawa was starting to pepper sleepy kisses all over his face. "Why did you wake me up? It's still early, isn't it?"

Tobio blushed at the open display of affection. Was this how it was always going to be now? Was Oikawa always this affectionate or was it just because he was still half-asleep?
"It is but -" He turned his face away to escape but Oikawa just grabbed his chin and kissed him on the lips instead.

"But?" He asked right after ending the kiss, looking straight into his eyes.

"But - we don't know when Hajime will wake up."

Oikawa sighed. "That's really not the kind of conversation I want to have right after waking up with my boyfriend in my arms."

“I’m afraid that can’t be helped for now.” He patted his chest. “And I want to go for a run anyway.”

“Oh?” Oikawa perked up. “Then I’ll just come with you.”

“On my run?” Tobio frowned at him.

“Yes, of course. I’d get bored anyway now that I’m awake. And Iwa-chan can’t say anything about us going running together.” Oikawa smiled at him. “It’ll be like before we started dating.”

“You mean when we literally couldn’t talk for two minutes without fighting?”

Oikawa shook his head. His hand was caressing along Tobio’s side, but continuously wandering lower. “It wasn’t that bad back then. Maybe before that, but I think we actually got along rather well that day. I showed you how to improve your stretching exercises, remember?”

Tobio blushed as he thought of that particular moment. He barely remembered what Oikawa had shown him back then, he had been so distracted by what his hands had been doing.

Oikawa seemed to notice what was going through his head and smirked softly, making Tobio look at him again by gently lifting his chin. “Seems like that lesson left a rather big impression on you, hmm, Tobio-chan?”

Tobio turned his head to remove Oikawa’s fingers from his chin. “You’re imagining things.”

“If you say so.” He said, still smirking. He gave his butt a gentle patt. “Let’s get up then. I need to grab some clothes from Iwa-chan’s room before we can get going.”

Tobio shot him a glare and batted his hand away before getting up from the bed. “Do I even want to know how many clothes you have stashed away in his wardrobe at this point?”
He went over to his own wardrobe to grab some tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt.

“Just a few.” Tobio could hear Oikawa getting up behind him. “The bare necessities, not more.”

Tobio snorted, bending over to grab some socks from the bottom drawer. “Do you even know what ‘bare necessities’ means?”

“Hmmm actually I do.” Tobio had just straightened back up and turned around, when Oikawa had stepped in front of him and wrapped his arms around him. “A kiss before I go?”

“You are literally just going to the other side of the hallway.”

“I still want a kiss first,” he pouted.

Tobio sighed. “You are such high maintenance.”

“You should have been aware of that already before you started dating me.”

“I was,” Tobio shook his head. “But apparently that was not enough to stop me.”

“A good decision if you ask me,” he leaned a little bit closer to him.

“I wasn’t asking though.” Tobio lifted his chin defiantly.

“You’re still getting a reply though.” He kissed him gently, resting his hands on Tobio’s hips.

Instead of kissing him back though, Tobio pulled away and went over to the door. “Hurry up and grab your clothes, I’ll go get dressed in the meantime.” He left his bedroom without waiting for a reply, smiling smugly to himself.
He knew that Oikawa would likely make him pay for this little act of insolence, but for now he was rather proud of showing his boyfriend that things weren’t always going to go the way he wanted.

He met Oikawa again about fifteen minutes later when he was downstairs, putting on his shoes. He quietly finished tying them and glanced over at Oikawa while he grabbed his keys.

Oikawa had changed into some shorts but he was still wearing the same shirt from before.

He looked… handsome. Casual but handsome in an effortless way. Tobio actually kind of liked how his hair was still messy from sleep.

Trying not to read too much into his own thoughts, he instead asked out loud, "Ready to go?"

Oikawa, who had just finished putting on his own shoes, nodded. "Let's get going, Tobio-chan. I still have some plans for today."

They left the house and started jogging at an easy pace that still allowed them to talk without it affecting them too much.

"What plans do you have for today?" Tobio asked.

"Have you already forgotten, Tobio-chan? I'm taking you on a date."

Tobio almost stumbled over his own feet. "What? A date?"

"Yes? I asked to make some time for me this weekend, remember?"

"But you said you just wanted to spend time together. And we did that last night. We are still doing it now, actually."

"I really have to spell everything out for you, don't I?" Oikawa shook his head. "We're dating, Tobio-chan. We're a couple. Have been for weeks now. And still we haven't had a single proper date. Just that one secret one at the amusement park.
It's about time we go on a real date."

"I guess you're right, but -"

"No but."

Tobio made a face and switched tactics. "What are we going to do then? Do I need to - dress up or something like that?"

"No, that won't be necessary. Although I would appreciate it if you didn't just wear tracksuit bottoms like right now. That's not really date-appropriate."

"I have no idea what is date-appropriate, Oikawa. You know that I've never been on a proper date. And even if I had, I honestly doubt that would help me be prepared for a date with you."

"That may be true, Tobio-chan, but you really don't need to overthink it so much. I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't want anything too extravagant for a first date. You'll be fine."

"You're not going to tell me what we're going to do, are you?"

"Nope," he winked at him. "You'll have to wait and see. It'll be a surprise."

Chapter Text

Oikawa left after breakfast, telling Tobio that he would come pick him up after lunch.

Unfortunately for Tobio, Hajime had heard him. "So it's a date after all?"

Tobio turned around to his brother who was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, looking at him with crossed arms. "Yes. He told me during our morning run. I had no idea that he was planning anything like that."

"That's Oikawa though. He'll tell you one thing and then do something that will just remotely fit what he said. You can either get used to it or fight it, but he'll just do it over and over again."

"I know. I've seen him do it before."

"And how do you feel about it?"

"... Nervous," he admitted. "I've never been on a date before."

"Not exactly what I was asking, but I appreciate the honesty. You'll be fine though. Just don't let him have any weird ideas."

"That's literally impossible, Hajime."

"Fair enough. Then don't let him act on those weird ideas. And you know you can call me anytime, right? If anything goes wrong, if you need an out, I'll be right there."

"Didn't you just tell me that I'd be fine?"

"You will be. I'm just telling you that you'll always have me as a backup plan. No matter what."

"Thanks, Hajime." He gave his brother a quick hug. "But I better go take a shower now. I didn't get a chance to after my run."

"Go ahead then," Hajime said with a nod. "But let me know when you're leaving."

Tobio nodded in agreement and hurried upstairs. 

The next few hours felt like some kind of slow torture. Tobio was getting convinced that someone must have slowed down time just to mess with him.
After his shower, he returned to his room and tried to focus on homework for once, but it was useless. He couldn't get anything done.
Nothing else that he tried could keep his attention either so eventually he just found himself standing in front of his wardrobe and trying to figure out what exactly was date-appropriate to wear.
He didn't want to look like he was trying too hard but then his date was Oikawa.
Tobio wouldn't be surprised at all if he would look at him and be immediately able to tell how much time Tobio had spent staring at his clothes.
And he somehow doubted that he even owned anything that Oikawa would deem 'too much' for a date. His wardrobe consisted mostly of comfortable clothes to wear around the house and sportswear. He did own a couple of jeans, but he rarely even wore those as most of his time that he wasn't wearing either of the first two options, he was wearing his school uniform anyway. He wasn't even sure whether most of those jeans still fit him since he always grabbed for the same ones. That he had worn yesterday for Hinata's birthday.
He had a feeling Oikawa would notice if he wore the same jeans two days in a row. Tobio could already imagine the complaints he would be hearing over him wearing the same jeans to go to a birthday party and for a date.
He sighed and pulled out the other two pairs of jeans. He'd just have to try them on and see if they still fit.

The first pair was a complete disaster. He could get them on but they were obviously too short on him. Frustrated, he took them off and threw them across the room before reaching for the second pair.
He could immediately tell that the cut was different to the ones he usually wore. They seemed to fit him, but they were somehow less comfortable than the other ones. 
They'd just have to do. Maybe they were just a little stiff from getting washed and it would get better as he wore them.

As he started searching for a shirt to wear, his phone rang and he answered without checking who the caller was.
"Hello?"

"Tobio!" Hinata's voice answered. "It's me!"

"Oh. Hi Hinata," he said, still looking through his shirts with his free hand. "Why are you calling?"

A groan. "I'm just so bored! I'm supposed to do homework but it's so dull, I can't focus."

"So you decided to call me instead?"

"Yes! If I called one of the others they'd probably just tell me off and I'd end up getting in trouble for not doing what I'm supposed to do. But you're not even going to our school, so I'm safe."

"I guess."

"It's brilliant! I'm a genius for thinking of it."

"What if I was doing my homework?"

"Are you?" Hinata sounded slightly concerned.

"... No."

"See? No problem there. You have all the time in the world to talk to me.” Tobio could hear the grin back in his voice.

“Actually, I’m getting ready to go out.”

“Oh? Where are you going?”

“Uh,” Tobio hesitated. He didn’t really know what to answer. Should he tell the truth about going on a date? He doubted Oikawa would mind, but it was likely that Hinata would mention it to his team and it was definitely not time for that yet. They needed to tell their own team first.
“I uh - don’t know where we’re going.”

“How do you mean?”

“I - They said it’ll be a surprise.”

“Ohhhh mysterious! Are you going with your friends?”

“Something like that, yes.”

“Your team then,” Hinata said confidently.

“Uh no. Actually it’ll just be me and one other person.”

“Oh well there’s nothing wrong with that. You can have a lot of fun, even when it’s just two people.”

Tobio didn’t answer.

“So who are you hanging out with then?”

Tobio stayed quiet for a long moment. He couldn’t really avoid answering that question without Hinata getting even more curious. “I - I can’t tell you.”

“Oh why? Wait. Is it a girl?” Hinata sounded really excited.

“I just said that I can’t tell you!”

“But why? It can’t be that bad.”

“It’s just - something I can’t talk about yet, okay?”

“Fine.” It was clear that Hinata was sulking. “But you’ll tell me as soon as you can. Promise?”

Tobio sighed. “Promise.”

Hinata was back in his good mood after that, chatting amicably while Tobio focused on finally choosing a shirt to wear.
Luckily Hinata didn't seem to mind that Tobio didn't say much. Him making a noise from time to time to show that he was still listening was enough for him.

Tobio was convinced that Hinata would have continued like that for hours if he hadn't finally interrupted him, reminding him that he needed to get going.

"Ah, yes, right!" Hinata said. "You're going out. Have fun with your -" He paused, obviously trying to think of the right word. "Your whatever-it-is-that-you-can't-tell-me-now-but-will-tell-me-as-soon-as-possible then!"

"Uh - sure." Tobio answered, feeling rather stupid.

"I'll text you about meeting up soon!"

"Sure, Hinata."

"Byeee!"

Tobio said goodbye as well and ended the call. He took a deep breath and looked over at the clock. 
He really didn't have much time left and he still hadn't chosen a shirt.

He should have known that he was asking for disaster.

Tobio was just considering going for a different t-shirt altogether, only to then tell himself he was being ridiculous and should just pick whatever he grabbed first, when the door to his bedroom opened and he quickly turned his head to see who it was - although the lack of a knock should already told him everything he needed to know.

"Tobio-chan!"

They both froze, staring at each other.

Oikawa was the first to recover. He closed the door behind him, then crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe, looking at him with a rather smug expression. "Well. That's a pleasant surprise. Certainly not how I expected our date to begin but I'm definitely not opposed to it, you know."

"I - I was just - getting dressed," Tobio managed to say.

"I can see that." He pushed himself off the doorframe and casually walked over to him, as if Tobio wasn't still shirtless. "But you don't have to put a shirt on for my sake, you know."

Tobio shot him a glare that he was sure wasn't very effective considering how red his face must be at this point. "I'm not going to walk around shirtless just so you can ogle me, Oikawa. And didn't you say we were going somewhere anyway? I doubt it's appropriate not to wear a shirt there." He paused. "Unless we're going swimming." He frowned. "We're not going swimming, are we?"

"No, we're not. I should have thought of that though. If this is the view I get."

Tobio quickly turned away from him and snagged the first shirt he could reach. Before he could put it on however, Oikawa had taken it out of his hands.

"This is what you're going to wear?"

"What's wrong with it? It's just a shirt."

Oikawa was looking at it sceptically. "You might as well be wearing one of those baggy volleyball shirts I've seen you wear," he shook his head. "What are your other options?"

Tobio gestured to the two other shirts on the bed.

Oikawa sighed, obviously not very excited by either of them. "You really need to work on your fashion sense, Tobio-chan." He grabbed the blue shirt and pushed it into his chest. Tobio accepted it automatically. "Wear this one," Oikawa said. "At least the colour will bring out your eyes."

Tobio didn't move. "Why does my fashion sense matter? I barely wear anything but my school uniform anyway."

"Because we will be seen together, Tobio-chan. And I'd rather not have my boyfriend look like he got dressed in the dark." He made a gesture with his hand and dropped the other shirt back onto the bed. "You should get dressed now before I decide that this will be a clothing-optional date instead."

Tobio turned around quickly and pulled the shirt over his red face. He really didn't want to think about any clothing-optional dates now.

"Are you ready to go then?" Oikawa asked from behind him.

Tobio looked at him over his shoulder and swallowed hard before nodding. "Yes. Let's get going."

Oikawa smiled and took his hand, pulling him out of his room.

"Wait," Tobio said suddenly as they headed towards the stairs. "I promised Hajime I'd let him know when I'm leaving."

Oikawa shrugged. "Sure. Let's reassure Iwa-chan then that I'll bring you back home at a reasonable time." Without much hesitation, he walked over to Hajime's room and opened the door. "Iwa-chan!"

Tobio rubbed his face, but before he even realised, Oikawa had pulled him along into his brother's room.

Hajime was sitting on his bed, a book on his lap. His eyes seemed to be immediately drawn to their joined hands as soon as they entered. "What do you want, Oikawa?"

"We just wanted to let you know that we're leaving now."

Hajime lifted an eyebrow at the 'we'.

"We should be back in time for dinner."

"You mean you are definitely going to be back in time for dinner."

"Well," Oikawa said innocently. "It's already getting a bit late now and you know how things go sometimes. You just can't make it in time no matter how much you try. So Tobio-chan and I might just grab some food somewhere on the way if that was the case."

"Oikawa," Hajime said warningly in a low voice that sounded more intimidating to Tobio than if he had been shouting.

Oikawa did not seem to share that feeling. "Yes, Iwa-chan?" He said with an innocent smile.

"You'll be back by dinner." Hajime glanced over at Tobio, down at their joined hands. Then he sighed. "If you can't make it, you'll let me know. And you'll eat and head straight back. Understood?"

Oikawa gave him a bright smile. "Of course, Iwa-chan."

Hajime looked at him seriously. "I don't need to remind you of our agreement, do I?"

Oikawa waved it off. "I remember, don't worry. See you later, Iwa-chan!"

He pulled Tobio out of the room before he had a chance to say more than 'goodbye'.

Chapter Text

Oikawa refused to tell Tobio where they were going, even after they had gotten onto a bus that took them who-knows-where.

"Relax, Tobio-chan. I'm not taking you anywhere shady, I promise."

"Then why won't you tell me?"

"Because it's a surprise, obviously." He took Tobio's hand between them and looked into his eyes. "Let me show you what a proper date is like." 

Tobio looked down at their hands. "I think I'd like that."

"Of course you're going to like it. I'm amazing at dates, I'll have you know."

Tobio rolled his eyes and looked up at him. "You certainly have had enough of them."

"Tobio-chan!" Oikawa whined.

"What? Do you know how many date stories of yours I've had to listen to over the years? It must have cost me hours of my life."

"Did it bother you?"

Tobio tilted his head. "Listening to you bragging and whining?"

"No. Hearing about me going out with other people."

"Honestly? No. Or if it did, I didn't notice," he shrugged. "I just found it irritating that I had to hear about all that stuff that I wasn't interested in in the first place. And then I couldn't even say 'I don't know' without lying when someone asked me about your relationship status."

"I take it that happened a lot." Oikawa smiled, looking rather smug.

"Yes. I was starting to feel like I'm some sort of dating agency for both you and Hajime."

"Wait. Iwa-chan, too?"

"I'm his brother. Of course they'd ask about him." 

"But they asked more about me, right?"

Tobio shot him a look. "Does that really matter now? Do I have to remind you that you're on a date with me?"

Oikawa ran his fingers through his own hair. Tobio couldn't deny that he looked handsome like this. This kind of casual clothing suited him well, although even Tobio could tell he had taken care in choosing what to wear. But then he could probably have worn anything and looked good in it.

"I've not forgotten that I'm on a date with you, Tobio-chan," Oikawa said, looking at him again. "How could I? I've been waiting for this for so long." He leaned back in his seat. "I wouldn't have liked it, you know? If I heard about you going out without someone else."

Tobio snorted. "And how likely would that have been? You probably wouldn't even have noticed anyway. Even more likely that I would have made sure you don't find out, if possible at all."

"Because you'd have expected me to use it against you?"

Tobio nodded. Before all of this between them started, that's exactly the kind of thing he would have expected from Oikawa.

"I guess I have to make fun of myself then."

Tobio frowned at him. That wasn't the answer he had expected. "What do you mean?"

"I'm the one going out with you now." He gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "And I'm very happy about it."

"So am I. Although I truly never expected to be the next one in your endless string of dates."

"I don't think that even applies to you, Tobio-chan. Usually a date would be one of the first things to do, not something that happens after weeks of sneaking around and dealing with the kind of stuff we have been dealing with. I wouldn't fight with Iwa-chan for just anyone."

"You didn't really have a choice about it if you wanted anything to do with me."

"I would have found a way, if I had really wanted that. If I wasn't serious about you, this would have all gone very differently."

"I know. I could tell." Tobio looked at him seriously. "One of the few perks of knowing you all my life."

Oikawa nudged him. "There are a lot of perks to knowing me."

"Oh really? That's news to me." Tobio said and Oikawa sat up, leaning into his personal space.

"You're so cheeky, Tobio-chan. No respect for your senpai at all."

"Senpai, captain, brother's best friend… You may be all of that but right now you're just my boyfriend. And as such, you'll just have to put up with it."

"Well I can't really argue with that, can I?"

"Indeed, you can't." Tobio leaned back in his seat and Oikawa copied his movement.

"We should arrive any minute now," Oikawa said with a glance out of the window.

Tobio looked outside. He recognised the building. "The planetarium?"

Oikawa shrugged. "I didn't want it to be like all the dates I've had before. And I thought this would be a rather easy place to start."

"You just chose this so you have an excuse to talk about aliens."

Oikawa gaped at him. "Iwa-chan told you about that!"

Tobio rolled his eyes. "Actually, he didn't. I just overheard you talking about it."

"You were eavesdropping?"

"No, I wasn't. I just couldn't sleep and Hajime's door was open, so I heard bits of your conversation while passing." He shrugged. "It's basically unavoidable with our rooms being so close together."

"I guess I can consider myself lucky that never was the case with me and my sister," Oikawa said as he got up.

"It's not all bad," Tobio said as he followed him.

"You mean the fact that you could sneak into Iwa-chan's room and sleep in his bed?" He asked as he got off the bus.

Tobio gasped and almost didn't follow in time before the bus doors closed. "He told you?"

"Of course he did," Oikawa said, taking Tobio's hand again and pulling him along. "I'm his best friend. And you know he loves talking about his cute baby brother."

Tobio groaned.

"And when you were really little, you always insisted on joining us, but then just ended up falling asleep. I think there were more than a couple of times when Iwa-chan just let you sleep instead of bringing you over to your own room." He scratched his head. "Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure there was one time when we all fell asleep on his bed."

"Can we please talk about something else? It's really weird to me that you remember things about me that I don't even remember."

"Take it as a compliment, Tobio-chan. It must have left quite an impression on me for me to still remember after so many years."

They entered the planetarium together and Oikawa bought them some tickets (although Tobio had protested that he could buy his own ticket).

"We're just in time. The next screening is about to start," Oikawa said as he led him inside and to their seats.

Tobio looked around curiously as he sat down. He couldn't remember if he had ever even been in this place before. "Do you come here often?"

"From time to time," Oikawa shrugged. "I'm usually too busy for it."

"But you're not too busy today?"

Oikawa smiled and reached for Tobio's hand. "No. The only thing on today's schedule is to spend time with you."

"Should I feel honoured now?"

"You should indeed. After such a huge effort on my part."

The lights in the room dimmed down then and the movie started playing above them.
Tobio leaned back in his comfortable reclining seat and looked up at the stars that were projected onto the dome above them.

"They look so real," he said quietly.

Oikawa didn't answer, he just interlaced their fingers. 

Tobio found himself glancing over at him from time to time, watching his expression. Oikawa looked fascinated by the scenes playing above them as they listened to the deep voice of the narrator. It was a different kind of fascination than the one Tobio was used to seeing on the volleyball court.
About halfway through, he allowed himself to move over his seat until he was eventually close enough so their shoulders were touching. Oikawa turned his head just a little and Tobio finally gathered up enough courage to properly lean against him, his head on Oikawa's shoulder.

Oikawa didn't seem to mind, merely shifting around a bit to make the position more comfortable for both of them.
They stayed like that for the rest of the show.

When the lights turned back on, Tobio didn't really want to move just yet, but he still sat up. "That was more interesting than I expected."

"More than you expected, hmm?" Oikawa shook his head while getting up from his seat without letting go of Tobio's hand. "Do you not have any confidence in my taste?"

Tobio allowed Oikawa to pull him up onto his feet and they left the room together. "Your taste can be rather questionable sometimes."

"Tobio-chan! How can you say that? I'm on a date with you after all."

"Also questionable taste."

Oikawa stopped and turned around to him. "I don't want to hear that from you. Ever.
You're not questionable taste."

"But I am, Oikawa. I am basically a combination of some of the worst options possible for you."

"I don't care," he stepped closer to him and cupped Tobio's cheek with his free hand, obviously not caring that they were in public. "You might not seem like the best option to other people, but you're the option I've chosen. And that's all that matters."

Tobio gently shook his head, not wanting Oikawa to remove his hand from his cheek. "You're ridiculous."

"I just know what I want, Tobio-chan." He pecked his lips before taking a step back. "Let's go. I want to have a look at the exhibition before we leave and we don't have that much time left if we don't want to risk Iwa-chan's eternal wrath."

They spent some time walking around the planetarium, looking at the small but condensed exhibition they had in one area of the building. It seemed to be mostly for people to have something to do while they waited for the next screening.
At least Tobio assumed that's what all of this was about from what Oikawa said while they walked around, looking at the different displays. 

There weren't many other people around and so Tobio didn't feel too bad about holding hands in public. They did get a few strange looks from an older couple and a young girl who then seemed to ask her mother about it, but he chose to ignore that. The opinions of these people did not matter and he wasn't going to allow them to stop him from enjoying his date with his boyfriend.

As they left the planetarium, it was already almost time for dinner. Tobio couldn’t say he was surprised that Oikawa would do anything he could to extend their date past Hajime’s suggested time.

“You should text Iwa-chan now, Tobio-chan. So we don’t forget,” Oikawa said as he pulled him down the street. Apparently he already had a place in mind where he wanted to go.

Tobio sighed, but pulled out his phone and sent his brother a text telling him that they were on their way to grab some dinner now.
Hajime answered, reminding him not to be late, then Tobio put his phone away again.

“All settled,” he said.

“Great,” Oikawa said with a big smile on his face. “Let’s end our date the right way then.

“The right way?”

“Yes. I do have a few more things in mind that I want to do before I take you back home.” He winked.

“That sounds suspicious, you know?”

“You don’t trust me, Tobio-chan? I’m offended.”

Tobio looked at him disbelievingly. “You’re not. You’re pleased.”

“Alright, maybe I am. But how could I not be?" He pulled Tobio close enough so he could put his arm around his waist while they walked. “It’s finally just you and me and no one around who might disturb us.”

Tobio shot him a look. “Don’t get any weird ideas.”

“What kind of weird ideas, Tobio-chan?” Oikawa asked with a teasing smile. “I am dying to know.”

Tobio blushed and turned his face away. “You know what I mean.”

“I think I can make an educated guess, but I would really love to hear it from you instead.”

“I’m not going to say it, Oikawa.” More quietly, he added, “At least not while we’re walking around in public. You might be comfortable with that kind of thing, but that doesn’t mean that I am.”

“Later then,” Oikawa said with a nod. “Ah, we’ve arrived.” He pulled Tobio into a café without even removing his arm from his waist.

It was a smaller place and it looked rather homely. They were greeted by an older woman, who just smiled at them and led them over to a table, obviously not bothered at all by their open display of affection.

They sat down at the table (on the same side, since Oikawa seemed to refuse to be anything but glued to Tobio’s side) and Tobio reached for the menu. “This place seems like a bit of a secret spot. Not like something you’d just find on the internet. How did you find it?”

“I stumbled over it one day after going to the planetarium. I had to wait for the bus, so I just walked around for a bit and found it. I decided to just try it out and it was surprisingly good.
I thought you might like it here.” He leaned even closer and nuzzled Tobio’s neck.

Tobio shivered as he felt Oikawa’s breath against his skin. “It’s - nice. And we definitely don’t need to worry about being seen here.”

“Stop thinking about that, Tobio-chan. People are going to find out about us soon enough anyway. It doesn’t matter if they find out a day sooner or later.” He placed a kiss on his cheek.

“So you don’t care whether they just happen to see us like this?”

Oikawa sighed and pulled back enough so he could look at his face. “I’ve already told you that I’d kiss you right in front of everyone if it was up to me. So no. I don't care if they see me being affectionate to my boyfriend."

"Even though I'm a guy?" He bit his lip. He hadn't meant to say it, but the question had been lingering on his mind for quite a while at this point. 

"Tobio-chan, I'm very well aware that you are in fact a guy. I've known that before all of this began, I knew it when I made my first move on you and I know it now. Some people might be opposed to dating someone of the same gender, but I don't see anything wrong with it.
Yes, it's easier for me to date a girl, but I've known for many years that this is and would be a possibility, too. That I could feel this way about another guy, that I might end up being more attracted to someone of the same gender and choose them over all the girls who want to date me.
So I have come to terms with it. I want to date you, so I'm going to do it and if people think that makes me a different person than when I was only openly dating girls, then that's their problem. It doesn't make me a different person. I'm exactly the same. The only difference is that they'll know.
I'm not going to live my life differently just to please them."

“But what if it affects your chances to play volleyball professionally?” He noticed that he didn’t even know whether that was Oikawa’s plan. It was Tobio’s and he’d be surprised if Oikawa wasn’t at least considering it, but he couldn’t just assume things. “Or whatever else you’re planning to do after school?”

“They’d be stupid not to take me because of something like this. My talent and my drive to succeed won’t change just because I have a boyfriend.”

Tobio poked his forehead. “You’ve got such a big head.”

“And why wouldn’t I? I even managed to charm you.”

The older woman came over to their table to take their orders and Tobio quickly picked something random from the menu. He hadn’t really looked it over while they were talking.

“So what about you then, Tobio-chan?” Oikawa asked, taking his hand and gently caressing it with his thumb.

“What about me?”

“Are you worried about ‘coming out’?”

"No, not really. I'm used to people just seeing me as Hajime's weird little brother. That's fine. I don't care as long as they don't bother me.

So I'm just not looking forward to all the attention I'm probably going to get because I'm dating you."

Oikawa nodded. "That actually makes a lot of sense. But it'll die down quickly enough and they'll move on to something else.
It's just the first couple of weeks."

"How can you be so sure about that?"

"People talk about me all the time, Tobio-chan. Good stuff and bad stuff. Why would this be any different?"

Chapter Text

Unbelievably, they made it back home in time before Hajime started having a meltdown.

They were just walking up to the front door when Tobio's phone notified him of a text from him.

[I hope you're on your way home.]

"Iwa-chan's getting impatient already?"

Tobio nodded. 

"Well let's just go ahead inside then. So he can see I brought you back safely."

“You’re coming inside?”

“Of course I am. I’m not just going to leave.” Oikawa shook his head and went up to the door to unlock it. Tobio stared for a moment before he remembered that Oikawa had a key.

He followed him inside and took his shoes off. “We should go talk to Hajime first before he thinks we’re ignoring his text.”

Oikawa nodded. “Go ahead. I’ll just pop into the bathroom first.”

Tobio nodded back and hurried upstairs. He knocked at his brother’s door. “Hajime?”

“Come in!” His brother’s voice answered.

He opened the door and went inside. 
Hajime was sitting at his desk, apparently still doing some homework. He smiled at Tobio.
“Ah, you’re back. I was starting to get a little worried.”

“We were just heading up to the door when you texted, so I thought I’d just come up here instead of texting back.”

Hajime got up and walked over to him. “Is everything alright?”

Tobio frowned up at his brother. “Yes? Of course.”

“You seem rather quiet for just getting home from your first date. So I’m wondering if something happened.”

Tobio quickly shook his head. “No. Nothing happened. We had fun.”

“What’s wrong then?” Hajime gently touched his shoulder.

Tobio swallowed heavily. Sometimes he hated not being able to hide anything from his brother. “I guess … I’m just sad it’s over already?” He rubbed his neck and looked down at his feet, feeling a bit embarrassed. “And tomorrow we will be back in school, so it’ll either be back to hiding or we’ll have to reveal everything which will then mean a ton of chaos. I can’t say I am looking forward to either option.”

Hajime nodded. “That’s understandable. So you two haven’t decided yet what you are going to do?”

Tobio sighed softly and shook his head. “No. We’ve discussed a couple of options, but it doesn’t feel like we’ve found the right one yet. Or at least we haven’t settled on one.”

“Well you don’t need to rush anything. You can take your time and figure out how you’re going to tell everyone.”

“I just don’t want to hide anymore, Hajime. It’s been two months now and I know that isn’t that long but it feels really long. I hated hiding things from you and I don't like hiding things from my friends.”

“Why don’t you start with telling your friends then?”

“Hajime, if I tell my friends it’s basically the same thing as telling the whole team. Your friends already know after all.”

“That’s true, but you can still tell them on your own. No one else needs to be there. Not even Oikawa.”

“I don’t need to be where?” Oikawa said as he entered the room.

Hajime looked at him over Tobio’s shoulder. “Oikawa. I thought you had gone home already.”

“Did Tobio-chan not tell you? I just went to the bathroom.” He stepped closer and put his arm around Tobio.

Tobio shot him a look.

Hajime rolled his eyes at Oikawa’s obviously possessive gesture and crossed his arms.. “I take it you have no intentions of heading home just yet?”

“Not yet,” Oikawa shrugged. “But you don’t need to worry, Iwa-chan, I do intend to sleep at home tonight.”

“What a relief, Lazykawa.”

He pouted. "Why do you want me to leave that badly, Iwa-chan? I brought Tobio-chan home in time and as you can see, nothing bad happened to him. You don’t have any reason at all to be mad.”

“I am not mad. But your behaviour is suspicious. You’re either planning something or have already done something that I wouldn’t like.”

“Such distrust, Iwa-chan. I am truly hurt.”

“No, you’re not. You’re just pretending to be because you think it will stop me from asking further questions.”

Oikawa laughed and scratched the back of his head. “Well maybe that was part of it. But you really can’t complain too much today, Iwa-chan. And if you don’t believe me, you can always ask Tobio-chan. You know he wouldn’t lie to you.”

“Just go and - do whatever you think you need to do before leaving. It’s getting late and we all have school tomorrow.” Noticing the look on Oikawa’s eyes, he added. “Don’t get any ideas. I’m not that far away. I can still hear you.”

“Fine, fine. We’ll be quiet.” He grabbed Tobio’s wrist and pulled him out of the room.

“That’s not what I - “ Was the last bit Tobio heard from Hajime before Oikawa had already closed the door behind them.

Tobio looked over at Oikawa. “You will hear about this tomorrow.”

Oikawa shrugged, already heading over to Tobio’s room. Since he still hadn’t let go of his wrist, Tobio was forced to follow. “Or he’ll have forgotten by tomorrow because something else has come up. I’ll deal with it when it comes to it.”
He opened the door and went inside, turning on the lights. Then he turned around to Tobio who had just entered the room and was now staring at the door, asking himself whether he should even bother to close it.

“It’s fine, Tobio-chan. I am not going to stay that much longer anyway.”

Tobio turned around to him. “Why did you want to come inside then?”

Oikawa stepped closer to him. “To say goodnight, of course. And to ask whether you’ve made up your mind about what you want to do tomorrow.”

Tobio knew what he was talking about. He looked up at Oikawa’s face as Oikawa put his hands on Tobio’s hips, waiting for his reply. 
Suddenly, the answer was obvious to him. No more doubts. “I think we should tell them. Many of them seem to be wondering anyway what has been going on between Hajime and you and how I play a part in it, so I think it’s time we tell them the truth.”

“And you’re sure about this?” Oikawa said in a serious tone, looking right into Tobio’s eyes. “Once it’s out, you won’t be able to take it back that easily.”

“I am sure. I’d rather deal with it now and have it all out in the open.” 

“Alright then, Tobio-chan,” he nodded. “Do you want me to tell them? Or what do you have in mind?”

“I think we should just stop hiding."

"What exactly do you mean by that?" He tilted his head.

"I want to be able to spend time with you without worrying about being seen. No matter whether it's in school or during practice or anywhere else. I want to be able to tell my friends about us and not have to come up with excuses for everything that's happening.
I don't think we need a huge announcement, but I know the team at least deserves to know what's going on. So we'll show them."

Oikawa lifted an eyebrow. "Tobio-chan, are you telling me that you do want me to kiss you in front of everyone?"

Tobio sighed. "It's not really the way I'd choose, but it's probably the quickest way to get everyone to understand.
So if we don't get an opportunity to just tell them, yes. Then I want you to just kiss me."

"I like that plan," Oikawa said, looking rather pleased. "I'll let you explain that to Iwa-chan though."

"We'll do that together."

"Together?"

"Yes. I'll join you and your friends for lunch and then we'll talk about it. Then everyone who knows about us will be on the same page."

"Ohhh a lunch date, Tobio-chan? And you're even the one who suggested it! You're really making so much progress.
Although you could have at least asked, you know?"

Tobio rolled his eyes. "I doubt you can call it a lunch date when my brother's going to be there."

"Details," Oikawa said with a wave of his hand. "We're a couple and we're going to have lunch together, so it's a lunch date."

"You're not going to budge on this, are you?"

"Of course not. Why would I?"

"You're unbelievable." Tobio shook his head, but still wrapped his arms around Oikawa's neck.

"I know," he smirked. "Aren't you lucky?"

"That depends on whether my boyfriend will even be alive by tomorrow because if he keeps stalling for much longer, my brother is going to kill him."

"I'm not leaving until we've had a proper end to our first date."

Tobio frowned. "A proper end?"

"A kiss, Tobio-chan."

"Oh. Of course." He blushed. He really should have guessed that.
Still, Oikawa wasn't moving.
A little confused, Tobio looked up at him.

"I'm waiting, Tobio-chan," he said with an innocent smile.

Tobio blinked. "You - You want me to - ?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I want."

Tobio swallowed heavily. He was rather comfortable with being kissed at this point, but initiating one still seemed like a rather daunting task. 
He moved his hand to cup Oikawa's cheek, then leaned in and closed the rest of the distance between them, not giving himself any time to think about what exactly he was doing until their lips actually connected.
Thankfully Oikawa seemed to not be interested in drawing things out even longer and just kissed him right back, taking control of the kiss.

Still, it was Tobio who broke the kiss after just a few moments. He didn't want to get carried away with the open door right next to them.
"I think - that's enough for a first date kiss." 

"Really? What was our kiss at the amusement park then?' Oikawa asked teasingly.

"I thought that didn't count as a date?" Tobio asked, a little confused.

"It counts if we want it to count, Tobio-chan. It's that simple."

"But - we can't kiss like that right now. Hajime -"

"Is in his room."

"But that doesn't mean he'll stay there. And it's late anyway, so you need to go home.
We don't have the time to make out."

Oikawa sighed. "You really have a lot to learn about dates, Tobio-chan." He shook his head and quickly pecked his lips before Tobio could stop him. "Well. That just means we'll have to go onto another date soon so I can teach you."

"That's not - You're just making up excuses at this point."

"Why would I need excuses to go out with my boyfriend?" He winked at him. "But I really should get going now. I'll see you tomorrow, Tobio-chan. Sleep well."

"Goodnight, Oikawa." And then Tobio surprised himself by leaning in once again and placing a gentle kiss on Oikawa's lips. "Sleep well."

Oikawa blinked at him in surprise for a couple of seconds, then smiled softly. The honest kind of smile that was so rare to see and that made Tobio's heart flutter. "I'll see you tomorrow, Tobio-chan."

Then he left Tobio's bedroom. 
Tobio could hear him stop by Hajime's room and say goodnight to him as well, then steps disappearing down the stairs and eventually the front door.

Tobio sighed softly and finally closed the door to his room.
Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

Chapter Text

As Tobio got dressed the next morning, he felt strangely calm.
He had expected to be nervous in some way, maybe even restless, but neither of that was the case. He was sure that he had made the right decision for himself and he was ready to face whatever chaos it might cause.

He left the house together with Hajime who was fussing over Tobio's tie for some strange reason.

"Hajime, I tied it exactly the same way I do it every day. Why are you making such a big deal out of it today?" He tried to push his hands away.

"Because you'll get reprimanded if you leave it like this. Just let me fix it for you."

"Good morning! Iwa-chan! Tobio-chan!" Oikawa was waiting right outside their house and waving at them with a wide smile. Tobio wouldn't have been surprised if he had started sparkling like some guy from a shoujo manga. "You two are rather lively this morning, aren't you?"

Hajime finally stopped fussing with Tobio's tie and turned to his best friend. "Good morning, Oikawa." He looked him over, eyes narrowing in suspicion. "You seem to be in a good mood today."

"I am actually," he waited for them to reach him then took Tobio's hand without hesitation.
Tobio blushed a little but didn't say anything.

Hajime followed the movement with his eyes. "So you've made up your mind then," he said eventually, looking at Tobio.

Tobio nodded. His throat felt too dry to talk.

"I see," his brother didn't look very happy about the decision, but Tobio could tell it was mostly out of concern. Tobio could tell he wanted to say more, but then Hajime just shook his head. "Let's get going. We don't want to be late."

"Tobio-chan, your tie looks atrocious today. You really need to fix that." Oikawa said as they started heading to school.

Tobio groaned. "What's with this obsession with my tie today? It looks fine."

"No, it does not. I will not allow my boyfriend to walk around like this on our first day as an official couple." He forced Tobio to stop walking and started undoing his tie.

"Oikawa, will you please stop that? It looks like you're trying to undress me in public."

"If I wanted to undress you in public, I wouldn't do it like this, trust me, Tobio-chan. Now hold still while I fix this." He started redoing the knot.

Tobio couldn't help but be reminded of one of those cheesy romantic movies his mother liked to watch where someone always seemed to get their tie fixed right before their wedding. 
He forced the thought out of his mind, hoping that his face hadn't given him away. Now really wasn't the time to think about Oikawa and weddings.

"You have gone so quiet, Tobio-chan," Oikawa whispered into his ear. Tobio jumped. He hadn't even noticed Oikawa getting so close. "What's going on in that little brain of yours?"

"N-Nothing. I just thought we'd be done more quickly if I stayed quiet."

"Are you two coming?" Hajime called over to them, looking rather irritated. "Leave the flirting for after school."

“Iwa-chan, does that mean you’re allowing me to come over after school so I can spend some time with Tobio-chan?”

Hajime sent him a look. “No, it does not.”

“But you just said -”

“I know what I said, Crappykawa. Don’t try and use my words against me.” He turned around and continued walking.

Tobio took Oikawa’s hand. “Come on. We can talk about this later. For now we shouldn’t risk being late.”

Oikawa seemed to want to protest, but looked down at their joined hands and then nodded. “Let’s get going, Tobio-chan.”

They walked a bit more quickly to catch up with Hajime and soon the three of them reached their school. As it was already rather late, the area around the gate was busy with students arriving and entering the school premises.

Tobio wasn't surprised that quite a few of them looked over to them as they passed. It was always this way when he was around Oikawa and Hajime, so he was used to getting a few strange looks before people usually turned back to either Hajime or Oikawa, deciding that Tobio wasn't as interesting.

This time however it didn't take long for the staring to increase instead and whispering to start all around them as people began to notice that Oikawa was holding Tobio's hand. 
Although it made him rather uncomfortable, Tobio tried not to visibly react to it. He just gripped Oikawa's hand a bit more tightly.
Oikawa and his brother were still talking, continuing their conversation from before as if nothing happened at all, but Tobio could feel how Oikawa gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, reminding him that he wasn't on his own.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Tobio could see a few girls pointing at them as they walked past them, but he didn't acknowledge them. This would just be the start of it, he knew that much. He couldn't already lose his head now.

He still took a deep breath of relief once they had passed the biggest part of the crowd and were heading towards the main building where they'd have to split up to head to their respective classrooms.
Tobio was looking forward to that moment with mixed feelings. On one hand, he wouldn’t have to deal with the constant staring that came with being around the other two, but on the other hand, he would be alone to face whatever comment he might get to hear even after this short first outing.

"You go ahead already, Iwa-chan, I want to talk to Tobio-chan for a second," Oikawa said when they reached the corridor where they needed to split up.

Hajime gave him a long look, obviously trying to figure out his intentions, but then nodded. "Don't take too long, class is about to start."

"It'll only be a minute," Oikawa said with a nod, then Hajime left them alone. Or as alone as they could be in a busy school corridor.
Oikawa seemed to notice that as well, so he pulled him over to a wall, where they wouldn't be seen immediately when someone passed them. 
"Are you alright, Tobio-chan?" Oikawa asked in a hushed voice.

"I'm fine," Tobio said. "I'm just not fond of the staring, even though I should be used to it by now."

"It's different now though, isn't it? Usually it's not you they're staring at, it's the people you're with."

"I know. But you're still the reason they're interested at all. If I was with anybody else, no one would care."

Oikawa reached up and cupped his cheek. "I'm sorry, Tobio-chan."

Tobio shook his head. "You don't need to apologise. I've signed up for this, remember?
It's not like I didn't know what I was getting into when we started dating."

"I'm just making sure you haven't changed your mind. This is probably the last point where we could still explain it all away."

“No,” Tobio shook his head again. “I don’t want to explain it all away. I’ve made up my mind and I’m going to stick to it.”

Oikawa smiled softly. “I was hoping you’d say that.” He pressed a quick kiss onto Tobio’s lips.
“We really need to head to class now. I’ll see you at lunch.”

Tobio nodded in agreement and Oikawa pulled away for a second, only to turn back around and peck his lips again. Then he winked and hurried off to his classroom.

Tobio leaned back against the wall with a sigh, running his fingers through his hair. He really needed to pull himself together.
He allowed himself three deep breaths, then he pushed himself off the wall and went upstairs to reach his own classroom.

He wasn't quite sure what to expect when he entered the classroom, but no one seemed to pay any attention to him. So no one from his class had seen them and the news hadn't spread yet.

Feeling a little lighter, he went over to Kunimi and Kindaichi. They were both looking at something on Kindaichi's desk.

"Morning," he said as he sat down at his desk and started taking the books he needed for class out of his bag.

"Morning, Tobio," Kindaichi said with a nod. "You're late today."

"Yeah, we ran into Oikawa on the way here and you know how long it can take when he starts talking," he said with a shrug. It was weird to talk about Oikawa like this, knowing that he'd have to tell the other two about their relationship before they heard about it through rumours. He just wasn't very keen about doing it in their busy classroom where anyone could overhear their conversation.

"I can imagine what that was like. With his big news."

Tobio froze and slowly looked over at Kindaichi. He couldn't possibly mean…? No. If Kindaichi and Kunimi knew about him and Oikawa, they wouldn't be talking about it like this. And neither of them looked disappointed or angry either. "Big… news?" He asked cautiously.

"Oh come on, you must know. I bet he never shuts up about it."

Tobio tried his best not to panic. "I - I'm really not sure what you're talking about."

Before Kindaichi could answer, Kunimi had taken the magazine they had been looking at earlier from Kindaichi's desk and turned it so Tobio could see. "He's talking about this article about Oikawa in ‘Weekly Volleyball’. There’s even a photo of him.”

Relaxing instantly, Tobio took the magazine from Kunimi. The article they had been talking about filled an entire page and included not just a photo of Oikawa, but also one of Hajime, Matsukawa and Hanamaki, mentioning underneath it that the third years would be staying on the team for Spring High.

He read through the article, but there wasn't anything in there that he didn't already know. Not that that was very surprising.

"Why are they talking about his favourite food?" Tobio frowned. "That has nothing at all to do with volleyball."

Kunimi just shrugged and said, "It's probably included because they hope it'll make some girls buy the magazine."

Kindaichi laughed. "We'll probably have to deal with an influx of milk bread as gifts after this because they'll all hope that it'll increase their chances to get noticed."

“They couldn’t possibly think that that’s going to work,” Tobio said with a shake of his head, passing the magazine back to Kindaichi.

He shrugged, putting the magazine back into his bag. “I wouldn’t complain about some free snacks.”

“As if Oikawa would just share that stuff.” Tobio said, rolling his eyes. “I doubt he’d even give half of one to Hajime.”

“Too bad,” Kindaichi sighed but then quickly quieted down as their teacher had called for them to be quiet so class could begin.

Chapter Text

Tobio knew that he needed to say something about Oikawa to Kunimi and Kindaichi before he met up with Oikawa - or rather all of the Seijoh Four. The chances of them hearing some kind of rumour or whispering about it while he was gone was just too big.
He knew that the people who had seen them this morning were likely already talking about it and discussing it with more people.
Chances that the whispers would have reached his class by the end of lunch break were very high, he knew that much by experience.

He had seen it so many times in middle school and now at Seijoh it seemed even worse. Every time there was even the smallest rumour or what some people liked to call 'scandals', the knowledge of them spread around quickly and by the end of the school day basically everyone had heard of it in some way. Even if the rumours that people had heard by the end of it might vary.
Obviously that didn't just happen to Oikawa, but he was certainly one of the favourite subjects for this kind of gossip.

It didn't take a math genius to tell that the chances for news about Oikawa openly holding hands with another guy were very good.

So Tobio didn't have much of a choice but to turn around to Kunimi and Kindaichi as soon as the teacher had left and ask them quietly, "Do you guys have a minute? There's something I want to tell you but I'd rather not do it here."

Kunimi looked intrigued, but Kindaichi just frowned at him. "Something you don't want to talk about here?"

Tobio nodded. "Yes. I promise it'll make sense once you know what I'm talking about."

"And will this conversation take long? Like should we just eat our lunch somewhere outside?"

"No, I don't think -" 

Tobio didn't even get the chance to finish his sentence as a loud "Tobio-chan!" interrupted him. He stiffened and slowly turned around in his seat towards Oikawa who was heading straight towards them. He didn't even need to look around to know that everyone was staring at them. Oikawa's call had ensured that and that it was the second time this was happening didn't help either.

"Oikawa, what are you doing here?" Tobio asked him, trying to talk quietly so the people around them who were very obviously trying to listen to their conversation wouldn't be able to hear.

"Picking you up for lunch, obviously," Oikawa said, not bothering to keep his voice down.
Then he seemed to notice Kunimi and Kindaichi. "Ah, Kunimi-chan and Kindaichi. Hello," he waved at them with a wide smile. The two seemed a little confused by this turn of events but still greeted him politely.

Tobio glanced over at them before turning back to Oikawa. "You wouldn't have needed to do that. I told you I'd meet you for lunch."

"Of course I didn't need to, but I wanted to. Are you coming now? We still have a lot to do before the end of lunch break."

Tobio glanced over at Kindaichi and Kunimi. He didn't really have much of a choice now if he didn't want to reveal his relationship with Oikawa in front of his whole class.
"Yes," he said with a soft sigh. "I'm coming."

He quickly grabbed his lunch from his bag, then got up. He turned to his friends. "I'll talk to you later."

"Sure," Kunimi said with a nod while Kindaichi just continued looking confused.

Oikawa allowed Tobio to pass him, then followed him out of the classroom. Tobio almost expected him to initiate some kind of physical contact, but Oikawa surprisingly refrained from it.

As soon as they had left the classroom, Tobio could hear his classmates starting to discuss what they had just witnessed.

Tobio sighed as he walked down the corridor with Oikawa, heading towards the stairs that would lead them outside.
The people who passed them gave them curious looks that Tobio mostly attributed to Oikawa's presence in this area of the school, near the classrooms of the first years.

"That was really unnecessary," Tobio said quietly as soon as they were outside and not surrounded by people anymore.

"Was it, Tobio-chan?" Oikawa said, not looking very concerned at all.

"Yes. I just wanted to take a moment to tell Kunimi and Kindaichi about us and then I'd have come to the benches where the four of you usually have lunch."

Oikawa looked at him. "You haven't told them yet?"

"No," he said and ran his fingers through his hair. "I didn't want to tell them before we had actually made a decision about how we're going to handle telling the team. And today I just haven't gotten the chance yet. I'm not very keen on having that kind of conversation in front of my whole class."

"You can tell them before practice today. You should have more than enough time then since we're starting a little later today anyway."

Tobio nodded. He remembered that being mentioned when it was announced they'd have practice today. Usually Monday was their day off, but this week the gym was going to be closed for inspections on Friday, so practical was moved to Monday instead.
"I just hope they won't be paying too much attention to the gossip today," he said as he quietly directed Oikawa to make a small detour over to the vending machine.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. So far no one has approached me and asked about it."

"People have been in class so far. You know that things will change now that it's lunch break."

"Hmm maybe I should take you back to your classroom later and see whether the reaction changed already." Oikawa smirked.

"You're enjoying this way too much," he glanced over at him before turning to the vending machine and inserting some money. "You know that people are probably already talking about you coming to my classroom again right now."

"At least they're just talking about me coming there. I was very tempted to just give you a kiss right there."

Tobio sighed as he picked up the drink he had just bought. "Of course you were. But we really don't need to unnecessarily fuel the flames already."

Oikawa lifted an eyebrow at him. "Already?"

Tobio shot him a look and continued heading to the spot where they'd meet the others. "Yes. Already. We're focusing on telling the team first, remember? Not creating a school-wide scandal by making out in my classroom."

"That's too bad. The reactions would have been very amusing, I'm sure."

"And Hajime would kill you as soon as he heard about it," he said quietly as they passed a group of other students who were enjoying the nice weather outside. "Did you even tell him where you were going before heading to my classroom?"

"I did actually. I told him you're going to have lunch with us."

"I'm surprised he just let you go." 

"Who says he did?" Oikawa said with a cheeky smile, apparently not caring that they were now in earshot of his friends.

"Who says who did what?" Hanamaki asked, looking up at the two of them as they approached.

"No one in particular," Oikawa said evasively and pulled Tobio over to one of the benches, making him sit down next to him. "We were just talking about practice later today."

It was pretty obvious to Tobio that neither of the three bought the explanation at all and they merely let it slide because they couldn't be bothered to argue with Oikawa right then.
Oikawa himself looked completely at ease as he unwrapped his lunch and then put his arm around Tobio.
Tobio tried to ignore it and opened his yogurt drink, taking a few sips. He really needed to get used to things like this. They were only going to happen more from now on.

Hanamaki and Matsukawa exchanged a look before Matsukawa spoke up. "So is there any particular reason why Tobio is joining us today and you're suddenly being so open about what's going on between you two?"

Tobio allowed himself a quick look over at Hajime. His brother hadn't said anything so far and while Tobio could tell that he was paying attention, his eyes seemed glued onto his food.

"Tobio-chan and I have decided that it's time to let people know about us," Oikawa said casually between bites of food. "So we're starting by not hiding as much and then we'll tell the team today."

"So that's what all the fuss is about then," Matsukawa said with a nod. "I was wondering what's going on this time that has everyone talking so much. It was pretty obvious there was some kind of gossip going around, but I didn't expect it to be intentional."

"What exactly should we prepare for, Oikawa?" Hanamaki asked, lifting both of his eyebrows. "What have we missed?"

"Not much so far. A few people saw us holding hands this morning and obviously Tobio-chan's classmates saw me when I picked him up for lunch, but that's pretty much it," he said with a shrug.

"So if someone asks about that, which will happen sooner or later, what do you want us to tell them?"

Oikawa looked over at Tobio instead of answering and Tobio could tell it was a silent request for him to respond to this question.

"The truth," Tobio said simply and looked at them. "That we're dating."

"Well that's easy enough," Matsukawa said with a shrug. "Anything else we need to know?"

Tobio frowned, thinking about it. "I don't think so?"

"That's exactly right," Oikawa said and placed a quick kiss on Tobio's cheek causing him to blush. 
Hanamaki and Matsukawa shared an amused look and Tobio was really glad that he couldn't see Hajime's expression.
"We will take care of the rest."

"Alright," Hanamaki said. "We'll direct all the crying girls your way then, Oikawa."

Oikawa quickly turned his head. "Makki!"

"What? You'll know there'll be some of them who will be upset that you started dating again and I doubt any of us are in the mood for dealing with that."

"And let's not even start with the ones who will be upset that you're dating a guy," Matsukawa added.

"Maybe some of them will think that's better than him picking another girl over them though?" Hanamaki pondered. "You know, thinking they didn't have a chance anyway."

"Or it'll just allow people who aren't female to get their hopes up."

"I'm right here, you know?" Oikawa interrupted them. "I can hear what you're saying and I do not appreciate it."

"You really shouldn't be complaining. You get to spend happy time with your boyfriend while we get to deal with all the fallout from this," Hanamaki said with a face that said he knew from experience what to expect.

"It's not my fault most people prefer asking my friends instead of asking me directly," Oikawa huffed and leaned back on the bench, a bit closer to Tobio. "If someone asked me, I'd tell them and they wouldn't have to speculate as much."

"And what would you tell them?" Hajime asked suddenly and everyone looked at him. Even Tobio couldn't stop himself from glancing over at his brother.

Oikawa next to him swallowed heavily and then looked at his best friend as he answered seriously, "That I'm in a happy, committed relationship and that's not going to change anytime soon, no matter what anyone has to say about it."

Chapter Text

"What do you think, should we ditch these idiots for a bit and spend some time alone?" Oikawa asked just loud enough for all of his friends to hear. The break was almost over and both Tobio and Oikawa had finished their lunch by then.

"Ohhh Oikawa is eager for some smooches," Hanamaki said with a laugh and made some kissing noises behind them.

"You don't have to worry about us, we don't mind watching you get all lovey-dovey with your boyfriend," Matsukawa added, causing Hanamaki to laugh even harder.

Tobio saw how Hajime sent both of them an annoyed look.

"Relax, Iwaizumi," Hanamaki said, gesturing with his hand. "You know we're just making fun of Oikawa, not Tobio."
Then he turned to Tobio. "Although I am really sorry for you. How did he get you to agree to this?"

Tobio blinked. "He did not do anything … ?"

"Exactly," Oikawa took Tobio's hand and pulled him up with him as he got up from the bench. "Tobio is dating me because he wants to, not because I made him do anything."
He stuck out his tongue at his friends and Tobio suddenly wondered how this guy was two years older than him.

"Come on, Tobio-chan," Oikawa then said and started walking away from his friends, dragging Tobio along behind him.
As he glanced back, he could see Hanamaki and Matsukawa laughing, while Hajime was watching them leave. He tried to give him a quick reassuring smile before he hurried to properly catch up with Oikawa so he wouldn't be dragged around the whole time.

"You do know that they're going to tease you about this as soon as you're alone with them again, right?" Tobio asked quietly.

"Wouldn't be the first time, won't be the last time either," Oikawa said carelessly. "You'll get used to it."

"Me? Why would they be doing that to me?"

"Because you're my boyfriend, Tobio-chan. That makes you part of our group," Oikawa smiled at him. "I mean, you already were kind of an extension of our group anyway because of Iwa-chan, but considering you'll likely be hanging out even more with us now, I'd say you'll be properly integrated soon enough."

Tobio frowned at him. "What do you mean, 'hanging out'?"

"During lunch break and so on. Obviously you can't sit with us in class, but other than that -"

"Oikawa," Tobio interrupted him. "I don't have any intention of becoming part of your friend group."

"What?" Oikawa stopped walking and looked at him.

"They're your friends. And Hajime's.
Believe it or not, I have my own friends that I want to spend time with. Just because we're a couple doesn't mean that I will be glued to your side at every opportunity.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind spending time with the four of you, but I don't intend to do that every day and just ignore my friends in favour of yours."

"So you don't want to have lunch together every day?" Oikawa seemed to be trying not to pout and was failing spectacularly.

Tobio sighed. "Listen. I'm not saying that. But I'm not going to change all of my habits just to make them fit yours. We'll just need to figure out the right balance between being a couple and spending time with our friends.
I get that you're not used to that and that most people you've dated so far probably jumped at the opportunity to spend time with the famous 'Seijoh Four', but I'm not like that. I don't care about any of that.
I don't like you because you happen to be popular or good-looking or captain of the volleyball team or whatever else people find so fascinating about you that they think they need to form a whole fanclub around you.
I like you because I like you and that's it." He blushed softly, realising that his last words sounded a lot like a confession.
Maybe it was because of what Oikawa had said to Hajime earlier that he had the confidence to say things like this now, but he didn't regret saying it out loud.

Oikawa stared at him for a long moment, his eyes flickering all over Tobio's face. Then he stepped closer to him and took his face into both of his hands. "Has anyone ever told you how special you are?"

Tobio could feel his face heating up immediately. "N-No?"
Maybe Hajime had or his parents, but that wasn't the same as this, he could tell.

"Then it's about damn time," he said and kissed him. It didn't matter that they were still in the middle of the schoolyard, that anyone might see them right then.
Tobio didn't care either.
He put his hands on Oikawa's chest and kissed him back eagerly, feeling the thin fabric of the shirt of his summer uniform and the muscles underneath and for a second he wondered what his skin would feel like underneath his fingertips instead of the shirt.

Oikawa didn't hesitate to move their lips together and his hands moved down to Tobio's hips instead, pulling him flush against him.
Tobio didn't have much of a choice but move his arms up and around Oikawa's neck if they didn't want to have them squashed between them and the action brought them together even closer so not even a sheet of paper would have fit between them.
Oikawa released a pleased sound from the back of his throat and nipped at Tobio's lower lip. Tobio could tell what he wanted and didn't hesitate to part his lips and grant his tongue entrance.

Tobio didn't know how long they stayed like that, the only thing he remembered was the sound of the bell that signaled the end of their lunch break finally making them pull apart.
They were both panting and Tobio flushed deeply when he saw Oikawa licking his lips.
What was this guy doing to him?

"We -" He coughed to clear his voice. "We need to head back."

"Unfortunately, yes," Oikawa said, still not letting go of him. Instead he even leaned closer and whispered into his ear, "I'm so tempted to just skip class and find a hidden spot where we could continue this." 
A soft chuckle that made Tobio shiver as he felt Oikawa's breath against his ear. "But I guess that'll have to wait until later, right?"

"Later?" Tobio asked breathlessly.

"Yes. Later. After practice. Although I do hope we'll still get a few minutes beforehand after you've talked to Kunimi-chan and Kindaichi." He pecked his lips. "I'll take you back to your classroom."

"You don't need to -"

"I already told you, Tobio-chan." He took his hand. "I know I don't need to. But I want to."
He smiled at him and started heading over to the school building.

"You're just hoping someone will see us," Tobio said but despite his words, he didn't try to free his hand from Oikawa's.

"Maybe. Can't hurt to let your classmates know what they're dealing with if they make a move on you."

Tobio rolled his eyes. "You're ridiculous. They barely pay any attention to me. The only reason they even know who I am is because Hajime and I have the same surname."

"I don't think that's the case, Tobio-chan."

"No? Try and ask them then. See what they'll say." When he noticed Oikawa's expression, he quickly added, "I don't mean you should actually do that. They probably wouldn't even tell you the truth anyway since it would be you asking and they'd want to please you with their answers."
Tobio shook his head. "People really do weird stuff when it's about you."

"Why don't you do weird stuff when it's about me, Tobio-chan? I'd love to see that," Oikawa said with a wide grin.

Tobio looked at him and said dryly, "I'm dating you. That is a very weird thing for me to do."

Oikawa pulled him close without warning, forcing him to stop walking as he moved in front of him and cupped his cheek with his free hand. "It's the best thing you could ever do."

"Of course you'd say that," Tobio looked down at his feet, feeling a little embarrassed. They were standing so close to one of the lesser used entrances to the school building.

"And so should you."

Tobio glanced up at Oikawa's face, his open, soft expression. Then he mumbled quietly, "Just because I don't say it out loud, doesn't mean I don't think the same."

Before he could say more, Oikawa was kissing him again. Thankfully, it was just a quick kiss this time. "You are so cute when you get all shy like this, Tobio-chan. I never knew how red your face could get."

"That's not cute, Oikawa, that's embarrassing."

"I think it's cute."

"Well, you're biased."

"And you're wrong."

"I'm never wrong."

Tobio snorted. "You definitely are."

"Tobio-chan!"

Tobio chose to ignore that. "I need to go back to class. Hajime will get mad if he finds out that I was late and he'll be even more mad if he finds out that you were the reason for it."

Oikawa pouted but nodded. "We wouldn't make Iwa-chan mad unnecessarily."

"Oh but necessarily would be fine or what?" Tobio asked as he opened the door to the building and went inside.

"Exactly!" Oikawa followed him, still casually holding onto Tobio's hand. Tobio doubted he had any intention of letting go until he really had to.

"You really are impossible." They hurried over to the stairs and up. The corridors were already mostly empty at this point, telling them how late they already were.

"Improbable, Tobio-chan, I'm very much possible."

"And insufferable."

"Now that's just mean. You spend way too much time with Iwa-chan, Tobio-chan. That's where all these manners come from."

They had finally reached the level where Oikawa's classroom was. "You should go. If you come back to my classroom first, you really will be late."

Oikawa made a face but nodded. "I guess you're right. Text me when you're done talking to your friends? Then we can meet up before practice and you can tell me how it went."

Tobio nodded as well. He doubted there would be much time left, but a text was unlikely to hurt anyone. "I'll see you later then."

"Of course you will, Tobio-chan. I'll make sure of that." He winked and squeezed Tobio's hand before letting go of it and heading down the corridor towards his classroom. 
Tobio watched him go for a moment, his eyes taking in his whole form before he quickly turned around and hurried up the rest of the stairs to his classroom.

He arrived at the same time as the teacher who gave him a chiding look but allowed him to quickly slip inside before him.
Tobio wasn't surprised that people were looking at him when he came back into the classroom considering the scene Oikawa had caused earlier, but as soon as they saw the teacher behind him all the voices quieted down and the focus shifted away from him.
Tobio hurried over to his desk and sat down, quickly pulling the books he needed out of his bag. 

He couldn't see Kunimi's and Kindaichi's expressions like this, but he was sure they were staring at him. He only hoped that it was just because of what they had witnessed earlier.

Chapter Text

When there was a small break between two classes, Tobio knew that this was probably his last chance to tell his friends before they heard about his relationship with Oikawa from someone else.

So as soon as the teacher had left the classroom, he turned around to them.
"Listen. I really need to talk to you now. Can we go outside to the corridor?"
Since it was in-between classes, he hoped there wouldn't be too many people milling around.

Kunimi and Kindaichi exchanged a look between them but then nodded and got up.
The three of them had just reached the door when a girl at the back of the classroom shouted "Oh my god!" loudly enough that every single person turned around to her.
She was staring at her phone, her hand covering her mouth in shock. Tobio's eyes widened and when she started quickly looking around the room as if searching for someone, Tobio knew he had only seconds left.
He quickly grabbed Kunimi and Kindaichi by the wrists and pulled them out of the classroom, closing the door behind them.

The two stared at him in confusion.

"What was that about?" Kindaichi asked.

Kunimi leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. "I have a feeling that Tobio knows exactly what that girl was so surprised by and that's why we're out here. Am I right?"

Tobio swallowed hard. His heart was still racing from how close that had been.
He just hoped no one would try and follow them now. He took a few steps away from the door, just in case.
"I have an idea what it's about, yes."

Kindaichi tilted his head. "Is this about why you had lunch with Oikawa today?"

Tobio took a moment to breathe and nodded. He was suddenly getting rather nervous about telling them. "Yes. That, too."

Kunimi seemed to pick up on his mood and uncrossed his arms. "It can't be that bad."

"Well no. It's not, it's just - 
I'm not sure how you'll react."

"You won't know until you tell us, Tobio," Kunimi said calmly. "And if that situation in there just now is any indication, you should probably tell us now so we have time to talk about it before the teacher comes back."

"Yes. You're right." Tobio lifted his head and looked from one to the other. Just say it.
He clenched his hands to fists and finally said. "I'm dating Oikawa."

Kindaichi's eyes widened and he looked too shocked to speak. He could only stutter, "Wh- Wh- "

Kunimi however started laughing. Tobio frowned at him. That was a reaction he hadn't expected. 

"Why are you laughing?"

"Because of your face. You might as well have told us someone just died with how serious you were," he said, still laughing quietly. Then he went over to him and put his hand on Tobio's shoulder. "Good for you though. It was obvious that something was going on with you, but wouldn't have guessed it was this. I thought you were just caught up in something between your brother and him, but this makes a lot more sense. I take it that’s why Iwaizumi and Oikawa have been at odds recently?”

Tobio nodded, scratching himself behind his ear. “Yeah. Hajime, he … Well. He kind of walked in on us and got mad.”

Kunimi snorted. “I honestly can’t say I am surprised that Oikawa would get you into that kind of situation.”

“Me neither,” Tobio admitted. “I just wish it hadn’t happened right before Interhigh.”

“Well that is unfortunate indeed, but it isn’t your fault. It was an accident. And they managed to play together anyway, so that’s the most important thing.”

Next to them, Kindaichi made a strange noise and they both turned around to him.
“But - I thought - The rumour?” He looked utterly confused.

So one of them had heard about it after all.

“Someone from class 2 told me earlier today that his friend saw Iwaizumi and Oikawa holding hands this morning - but I didn’t think - I thought they were just mistaken.
That actually happened? And it was you?”

“Uh,” Tobio said awkwardly. He should have expected that. Not many people knew his first name after all and with how rumours went sometimes … “Yes. That was me. Not my brother.”

“And - you didn’t tell us until now?”

“Well … yes,” Tobio said nervously, glancing at Kunimi before looking back at Kindaichi again. Kindaichi was starting to sound more upset with every single sentence. “We decided it’s time to tell the team, but I wanted to talk to you guys first.”

Kunimi gave a nod. “Appreciated.”

“But - isn’t Oikawa like - straight anyway?” Kindaichi interrupted and Tobio started to wonder whether Kindaichi was about to have an aneurysm with how much he was struggling to form full sentences.

Before Tobio could answer however, Kunimi did for him. “Obviously not, if he’s dating Tobio.”

"I just thought - I had never heard about him dating a guy before." Kindaichi looked rather lost.

"Does it make you uncomfortable?" Tobio asked quietly.

"What?" Kindaichi looked up very quickly and shook his head. "No. No, of course not. It's just so - unexpected.
I mean. We've been on two teams together now and I've seen how you two interacted and it was never even amicable. And now you're suddenly together? That's a lot to wrap my head around."

"I get that," Tobio said with a nod.

"And -" Kindaichi looked rather uncomfortable as he continued. "He's our captain. That's a little weird, you know?"

“I’ve known Oikawa way before he became captain of any team,” Tobio said slowly. “So I get that for you guys that might be different, but I always saw him more as my best friend’s brother than my team’s captain, if that makes sense.”

Kunimi nodded. “It does. Although I guess that doesn’t really apply anymore at this point either.”

Tobio blushed a little and ran his fingers through his hair, but he was smiling. “I guess.”
He was relieved that his friends didn’t seem mad or upset about him and Oikawa being a couple.

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Kindaichi said suddenly and the smile faded from Tobio’s face.

“Kindaichi,” Kunimi said, but Kindaichi didn’t let him continue.

“We’re your friends and you’re only telling us now when the whole school is about to find out?”

“Kindaichi.” Kunimi repeated, louder this time, but was ignored once again.

“How long has this been going on with you two? You said that Iwaizumi-san caught you two before Interhigh? So this has been going on for weeks at least and yet you didn’t say anything. You lied whenever we mentioned anything about Oikawa.” He was progressively getting louder, but now he took a deep breath and continued at a normal sound level. “Did Oikawa’s friends know?”

“Kindaichi,” Kunimi tried once again but Kindaichi shook his head.

“No. I want to hear it all now.” Kindaichi looked at Tobio. “Did Hanamaki-san and Matsukawa-san now?”

Tobio stayed quiet but that was apparently enough of an answer for him.

“They did! Of course they did. Because we’re not as important as friends as Oikawa’s friends are? Do we just not matter to you?
Why don’t you just straight out replace us now and spend all of your time with them? Oh, right. They’re two years older, so you can’t and you’d be alone here.
How convenient that you have us as placeholders.”

“That’s not -” Tobio tried desperately to find the right words. “That’s not true. We didn’t tell them anything. Hanamaki just -”

“I don’t want to hear it. You should have told us sooner.”

Tobio nodded. “I should. I’m sorry.”

Kindaichi looked a little taken aback by that, as if he hadn’t expected Tobio to just accept his anger and apologise. Then he shook his head. “Listen, what’s happening between you and Oikawa is your business, I don’t really care either way. I just don’t like it when you are lying to us.” He looked away. “But I guess I also get why you did it.”

Tobio looked at him in surprise.

“Oh don’t look like that. It’s not that hard to get why you’d keep it a secret.” He shifted from one foot to the other. “So you’re making it public now?”

“Yes. Bit by bit.” Tobio said. He glanced over at Kunimi who was leaning against the wall again. “I’m not looking forward to all the attention, to be honest.”

“That’s what you get for dating Oikawa out of all people,” Kunimi said with a shrug, then turned his head as they could hear approaching footsteps.. “Come on. Sounds like our teacher is back and we don’t want to be caught out here.”

He went over to the door and opened it. Tobio could already hear the noise coming from inside. He was not looking forward to this at all.
Hopefully their teacher would arrive before anyone could approach him.
He followed Kunimi and Kindaichi back inside and avoided looking at anyone as he went over to his desk.
People around them were still talking, but it all sounded like some kind of white noise to Tobio. He couldn’t understand a single word they were saying.

Thankfully their teacher came back just a few moments after Tobio had sat back down, so the talking stopped altogether and he could relax for a bit.
Or at least, he tried.
He could feel how the eyes of his classmates kept straying over to him and it made him rather uncomfortable. So Tobio did his best to keep his head down and at least pretend that he was paying attention to class.
He scribbled down notes and his eyes never moved anywhere but the teacher, the blackboard or his notebook.

He wasn't quite sure what to expect once class ended.
Would someone approach him and ask about the rumours?
Would they ignore him and just keep whispering behind his back?
Would they maybe try and ask his friends instead like it seemed to be the case with Oikawa and his friends?
How much did they even know?

Finally, their teacher said they were done for the day and told them to pack up their things.
Tobio still wasn't quite sure whether he should expect anything, so he just started putting his stuff back into his bag, when his eyes landed on his phone inside of his bag.
Right. He needed to text Oikawa now that he had spoken to Kindaichi and Kunimi.He moved his phone to his pocket instead, then got up.
No one said he had to wait around and see what his classmates might do if they got the chance.

"I'll see you at practice," he said to Kunimi and Kindaichi. 

Kindaichi just nodded, but Kunimi said "Say hello to Oikawa from us."

Tobio stared at him for a moment, then just shook his head instead of answering and hurried out of the classroom before anyone could stop him.
As he headed outside, he pulled his phone out to send the promised text to Oikawa.

[Talked to them between classes. Heading outside now.]

He put his phone back into his pocket and kept walking, hoping to find some spot outside where there weren't too many people around.

The school grounds were still busy as classes had just ended and most people were either heading to their clubs or leaving. This meant that Tobio passed quite a few people, no matter where he went, but thankfully most of them didn't seem to pay attention to him or just didn't recognise him.
He did notice that a few started whispering excitedly when they saw him, but he chose to ignore it. It was likely he would only see more of that during the next couple of days.

Tobio had just sat down on the grass underneath a big tree when his phone notified him of Oikawa's response.

[Just got done with class. Still need to talk to one of my teachers. I'll join you afterwards. Just tell me where exactly you are.]

Tobio sent him the description of where he was, then leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes.

So far he couldn't complain too much about how the day had gone. It was pretty much what he had expected.
People were talking but at least he had gotten to tell his friends before they had heard everything through the rumours. Things would be fine between them, he hoped. Now they just had to tell their team.

Chapter Text

"Tobio-chan!"

It was about ten minutes after Tobio's last text when Oikawa showed up, waving at him already from quite a distance away.
Once he had reached him, he dropped his bag next to Tobio's feet and sat down next to him, taking his hand without hesitation.

"Sorry I made you wait," he said and kissed his cheek.

Tobio blushed softly at the unexpected and open display of affection and quickly shook his head. "It's fine. I didn't mind spending some time on my own after everything that has already happened today."

"That's understandable. You must have gotten a lot more attention than usual today."

He shrugged. "I tried to ignore it as much as possible, but I doubt that will be possible come tomorrow. One of the girls in my class got a text earlier and I'm pretty sure it was about us. So by then, everyone will know and they'll be talking. It's just a matter of time until someone asks me about it.
Or maybe they already asked Kindaichi or Kunimi, who knows."

"You said you got to talk to them?" Oikawa asked while he gently caressed his hand with his thumb.

"Yes, thankfully. We were just leaving the classroom when that text came in.
Kindaichi was rather angry that I didn't tell them sooner and lied about our relationship, but I think we'll be fine once he has calmed down a bit." Tobio allowed himself to lean against Oikawa and rest his head on his shoulder.

"And Kunimi-chan?" 

"Surprised but supportive. Kindaichi definitely was the one who asked a lot of questions."

"I hope it wasn't too bothersome?" Oikawa reached out with his free hand and played with Tobio's hair. Tobio wasn't quite sure whether he was trying to mess it up or fix it.

"No. I think he was mostly trying to wrap his head around the situation."

"At least you got through it and now they know. Whatever they might do with that information is up to them."

"Yes. I know." He stared down at their joined hands. "Kindaichi mentioned something about you being the captain and that making it weird. Do you think that's what people will think? That I'm just trying to get 'special treatment' as it has been so nicely said before?"

Oikawa's hand froze and Tobio could tell he was looking at him. "Someone told you that you get special treatment? From me?"

"Yes," he looked up at Oikawa. "Already before we got together. But also recently. There seems to be a consensus on that."

"And why exactly do they think that?" Oikawa didn't look the slightest bit amused.

"The usual reason. I'm your best friend's little brother," he shrugged.

"And you're worried that might get worse now that they'll know we're together."

"No. Not really worried. I just don't want everyone to think I'm getting opportunities because I'm your boyfriend, that's all."

"Tobio-chan," he took his chin between his fingers and made Tobio look up at him again. "If people can't see your talent, then they're just blind. And if they choose not to see it, it means they're jealous.
It's as simple as that."

"That won't stop them from talking."

"No, it won't. But you'll have to get used to that, I'm afraid. Just prove them wrong and show them what you can do."

Tobio gave him a gentle shove. "As if I'll even get a chance for that until you've graduated."

Oikawa just grinned and Tobio rolled his eyes. 

"I think that's enough serious conversation for now though, don't you think?" Oikawa said, caressing his cheek. "We don't have that much time left until we need to head to the gym, so we should use every minute of it." 
He leaned in a little closer. "I haven't even gotten to kiss you yet."

"You kissed me during lunch break," Tobio said. He could already feel his heart picking up speed as Oikawa moved closer to him.

"That was ages ago, Tobio-chan," Oikawa said quietly.

"You're just being overly dramatic again," Tobio said just as quietly.

"I mean it though. I've been wanting to kiss you this whole time," Oikawa's voice was almost a whisper at this point.

"... Then why are we still talking?" Tobio asked, leaning close enough that their lips were almost touching.

Oikawa didn't hesitate anymore and kissed him right then, not holding back in any way.
Maybe it was the fact that they were finally allowed to do this in public without worrying about being seen, maybe it was the opposite that they were in a spot where they couldn't really be seen, but he pulled Tobio closer until he found himself almost sitting on Oikawa's lap as they kissed.
Oikawa's eagerness was almost a little overwhelming. His hands seemed to be everywhere and his lips just never stopped.
Tobio could feel how he tugged on his shirt and he had to grab his wrists to stop him from pulling it out of his trousers so he could reach the skin underneath.

Oikawa seemed to get the hint and let go of the fabric but instead his hands wandered further down to Tobio's backside, resting there and applying just a little pressure to push them even closer together.
Tobio made a small noise of surprise but he didn't mind the placement of Oikawa's hands too much. As long as he wasn't doing more than this, at least.

By the time they finally broke apart, Tobio was straddling Oikawa's legs, still flush against him with his arms around his neck. They were both breathing hard as if they were in the middle of the last set of a particularly hard volleyball match.
Part of Tobio was glad that they didn't have time to continue at this point, that now really wasn't the time and place to even consider anything more, but another part of him was also a little disappointed.
He decided not to question that part too much and wanted to slide off Oikawa's lap, but was stopped by his hands.

"Stay," Oikawa said quietly, nuzzling his neck and placing a kiss there.

Tobio shivered. "We'll be late."

"Don't care." He started placing more kisses on his neck.

"You're the captain, you can't be late for practice," Tobio protested rather breathlessly. He really should make him stop, but he just couldn't bring himself to move his hands from the back of Oikawa's neck to his shoulders and push him away.

Oikawa sighed and leaned his forehead on Tobio's shoulder. "I hate when you're right."
He gave Tobio's backside another cheeky squeeze that made Tobio make a rather embarrassing squeaky noise.

"S-Stop that," Tobio said and tried to move off his lap again.
That obviously was the wrong thing to do as Oikawa pulled back a little and smirked at him. Just a moment later Tobio found himself on his back, Oikawa on all fours above him.

"Is this better, Tobio-chan?"

"I -" He blinked up at him. "I don't know?"

"You don't know?" Oikawa lifted an eyebrow at him. "I guess I should be a good senpai then and help you figure that out, hmm?"

"I don't think that -"

Before he could even finish that sentence, Oikawa was kissing him again, preventing him from saying anything else. Especially Oikawa's tongue in his mouth was doing a rather good job of that.
He made a noise of protest, trying to remind Oikawa that they needed to get going, but Oikawa simply didn't seem interested in that fact and kept kissing him for a few minutes longer before he finally broke the kiss and laid down next to him on the grass, his hand on Tobio's hip.

"You're getting us in so much trouble, do you know that?" Tobio said as he looked over at him.

"Nonsense, Tobio-chan. Do you really think I'd be that careless?"

Tobio frowned at him.

"I'll let you in on a little secret." He moved a little closer to his ear. "I got a message from Mizoguchi earlier, telling me that he's running late and we'll be starting about ten minutes later than planned. If possible though we should use that time to get warmed up already so we wouldn't waste so much time."

Tobio stared at him. "And you didn't tell anyone?"

"I told Iwa-chan before I went to meet up with our teacher. He said he'd let everyone know."

"So why did no one tell me then?"

"I might have told Iwa-chan that I'd tell you since I was answering your text then anyway."

"But you didn't. Why?"

He shrugged. "I decided to just tell you when we met up. And then I got distracted and I wanted to see how you'd react.
I'm very flattered you'd risk being late to practice for me, you know?" He smiled smugly.

Tobio shot him a glare. "That's rather manipulative."

"Maybe a little, but no harm done, right?
We will still make it in time and I learned some more information about my boyfriend." He kissed his cheek. "I wouldn't risk getting you into trouble that carelessly. And you know that I take my duties and practice very seriously."

Tobio was still not very happy about it, but he nodded. He couldn't deny that last bit and part of him had obviously trusted Oikawa enough to let him continue despite his concerns about running late.

Oikawa got up and offered him his hand to help Tobio up, which he gratefully took.
They grabbed their bags and headed to the gym, hand in hand.

"What do you think the situation will be?" Tobio asked as they walked. "How many of them will have heard of the rumours?"

"Most of them, I'd say. Whether they believe them is a different question."

Tobio nodded. "So there'll be a lot of attention on us right from the beginning."

"That's probable, yes. Although I'd assume that walking in like this will answer a lot of their questions already." 

They were getting close to the gym now and Tobio could already hear the sounds of people warming up inside when Oikawa suddenly stopped walking.
Tobio turned around to him. "Oikawa?"

"I just had an idea." There was a mischievous spark in Oikawa's eyes.

Tobio frowned. He wasn't sure whether he liked where this was going. "An idea?"

"Yes," he smiled at him. "We're going to have some fun with this, Tobio-chan."

Chapter Text

“I really don’t think now is the time to mess around, Oikawa,” Tobio said. “This is important. We cannot mess it up.”

Oikawa stepped closer to him, still smiling. “And we won’t. Actually, we won’t even be doing anything.”

Tobio frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

“We’re going to do exactly what Iwa-chan would want us to do.”

“But Hajime would want us to stay as far away from each other as possible.”

“Indeed, he would.” Oikawa said, obviously waiting for Tobio to figure out himself what he was talking about.

“So … You don’t want us to interact at all?”

“No. Not necessarily. But not more than we usually would during practice.
You were concerned about them thinking you’re getting special treatment, right?”

Tobio nodded slowly.

“So we’re going to show them that’s not the case. We’re going to show the team that the change in our relationship will not affect them in any shape or form. Neither in practice nor during matches.”

"But I don't see how that's 'fun'." He looked at Oikawa, still trying to understand what he was talking about and what he meant when he said they were going to have fun with this.

"Oh that's easy. It's pretty certain that they already know about us, right? Or are wondering what's going on at least."

Tobio nodded again. 

"So don't you think it'll be really confusing for them if we don't act like that at all?"

Tobio didn't really see how that would be fun. "You've got a twisted sense of humour, Oikawa."

Oikawa pouted. “You'll see that I’m right, Tobio-chan. Unless - you don't want to do it?" He tilted his head questioningly.

Tobio hesitated. "I do think it would be good if we could show them that they don't need to worry about us being a couple.
But how would we tell them then?”

“We’ll just reveal it at the end of practice. You can leave that to me. Other than that just act like you normally would and ignore whenever they say something to you, alright?”

“What - What if they ask about the rumour?”

“Hmm,” Oikawa said thoughtfully. “Just tell them that they’re welcome to think whatever they want to? Or that they shouldn’t listen to rumours.” Oikawa shrugged. “I’m sure you can handle it just fine.”

Tobio wasn’t so sure about that and apparently Oikawa could tell from his expression.

He gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Listen. If you change your mind at any point today, you can come over to me and we’ll tell them right away. No questions asked, okay?
We’re in this together, don’t forget that.”

Tobio took a deep breath and nodded once again. “Alright then.”

Oikawa smiled and quickly kissed his forehead. “Let’s go then. Or we really will be late.” He smiled at him before he let go of his hand.
“I’ll meet you inside.”

He was gone before Tobio could even say anything more.

Tobio shook his head at himself, running his fingers through his hair. What had he gotten himself into?
He could already hear some people greeting Oikawa who had apparently just reached the changing room, but he allowed himself a moment to take a deep breath. He just needed to face the situation, one way or another. It would be over soon enough.
He put his hands into his pockets and headed towards the changing rooms as well..

There were only a few people in the changing room, among them Hajime and Oikawa. They were talking (or rather Oikawa was talking at Hajime) which Tobio decided to take as a good sign. Things between them seemed back to normal at last.

He moved over to one of the empty benches and started taking out his clothes. He didn't pay much attention to what was happening around him as he got changed, barely even noticed the door opening and closing a few times.

"So. You and the captain, huh?" Someone said behind him and Tobio turned around slowly. 
It was a second year that Tobio had never talked to before. He was a middle blocker who hadn't been chosen to go to the preliminaries recently if he remembered correctly but he couldn't for the life of him think of his name. Nor of the other boy next to him who was eyeing him sceptically.

"What are you talking about?" Tobio asked calmly. Just don't let him get to you, Tobio reminded himself.

"Playing dumb, I see. Or maybe you just think you can get away with anything now?"

Tobio glanced around the room. It was just the three of them. The others must have left already. "If you're just going to speak in riddles, I'm not going to waste my time with you. In case you haven't noticed, we're supposed to be at practice already."

He put his bag into one of the lockers. Hurry.

"You're really going to pretend that you aren't spreading his legs for him?"

Tobio, who had just closed the locker and wanted to head to the door, stopped in his tracks. "What?"

The other guy sneered. "You're such a bad actor. We've all seen the photo. We know what's going on. How did you get him to agree to it? I doubt you're that good."

"It was probably out of pity," the other guy said.

"Probably," the first agreed. "Why else would Oikawa go for something like him?"

Tobio looked from one to the other, trying not to flush at the insinuations. "I literally have no idea what you're talking about. What photo?"

The first guy sighed dramatically. "Your denial really isn't helping you, you know? Not even the whole school has seen a photo of you two kissing."

Tobio felt all the colour drain from his face. "... What?" He asked again, voice much weaker.

The other two guys shared a look and smirked at him. "Oh? You really didn't know that you've been photographed? And here I thought you did it on purpose."

"You look rather into it in the photo," the second guy said. 

"He probably got off on knowing that he was getting photographed."

They both laughed.

"I -" Tobio shook his head. Arguing with them wouldn't do him any favours. He needed to get out of here. He turned around and headed straight to the door.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?"

A hand wrapped around his wrist and pulled him back. "We still have a few questions for you, you know."

"Let go." Tobio said with glare, trying to free his wrist.

"Oh but why? So you can run to Oikawa and tell him about this? I don't think so."

The other guy had now moved over to the door and was blocking it by leaning against it.

Tobio's mind was racing. Training hadn't officially started yet. How long until someone came looking for them? Or maybe there was someone who still needed to get changed?

"What do you want from me?" Tobio asked, trying to sound calm while he still struggled against the grip on his wrist.

"Let's see. What could we possibly want from a little fag who gets special treatment? Who always gets chosen over more experienced, older players?"

"Must be very convenient to be the vice captain's little brother."

"But that wasn't enough, was it? So you decided to just use your body and seduce the captain. Because who could possibly say anything about your special treatment when you've got both of them wrapped around your finger?"

"That's not true! I do not get any special treatment from anyone," Tobio said angrily. "Neither Hajime nor Oikawa would ever let anything like what you insinuated influence their decisions for the team. It doesn't matter if you're related to them, their friend or even enemy. It's all about talent and the work you put into this.
I worked hard to get where I am. And I'm not going to allow you to blame me for your lack of tenacity."

Neither of the two seemed very impressed by what he had said. Nor willing to believe him.

"'Worked hard'?" The second guy sneered. "I doubt spreading your legs a couple of times counts as hard work."

The first guy let go of Tobio's wrist and shoved him hard by the shoulder so Tobio stumbled backwards until he collided with some of the lockers. "You won't allow us, huh? Let's see then what you can do. Convince us that you can do more than get down on your knees for someone." He smirked.

"I don't have to prove anything to you," Tobio said, holding his shoulder that had hit the edge of the locker rather painfully, but he refused to make any noise or show it on his face.

"Don't you? Then how about we tell the coaches about all of this?"

"I have done nothing wrong. You don't have anything you could use against me."

"I think we do, actually," he said, smirking. "I doubt the coaches would appreciate hearing how you've manipulated everyone into speaking out in your favour and risked causing a rift through the whole team just to get ahead."

"I didn't do anything like that!"

"So that stuff happening during preliminaries wasn't about you then?"

Tobio swallowed heavily. "You don't know anything about what happened then. You weren't even there."

"We've heard enough about it from the rest of the team and trust me, no one is happy that you got to go and then ruined everything."

The other guy spoke up, looking at the clock on the wall. "Finish it up. We shouldn't get caught in here with him."

The first one nodded. "Listen up. You've got two choices. Either you go ahead and quit the team or we're going to tell the coaches this lovely, lovely story about what happened in the last couple of weeks and show them that very nice picture of you kissing Oikawa as proof. Understood?"

Tobio didn't answer. He just glared at him.

"Understood?" The other repeated, banging his fist against the locker right next to Tobio's head.

Tobio nodded, still glaring. He had no intention of letting these bullies win.

"And don't even think about running to Oikawa or Iwaizumi. Actually, why don't you just head home? No one will miss you at practice anyway."
He shot him a rather dishonest smile and the two of them left the changing rooms.

Tobio didn't move. He just watched them go.
Once the door had closed behind them, he slid down to the floor.
His shoulder still hurt, but at least it wasn't the right one.

He knew he should get up and head to practice but he needed a moment to compose himself after this.
He chuckled bitterly and ran his fingers through his hair. 
What a mess.
They hadn't even told the team yet and Tobio had already gotten to face basically everything he had been worried about. He leaned his head back against the lockers. 
Weirdly enough, he wasn't upset. If this was the best those bullies could do, he'd be fine.
It hadn't been pleasant, but it wasn't anything he couldn't deal with.
The loss of and subsequent fallout from that last match in middle school had hurt way worse than this. Back then, it really had been Tobio's fault and he had paid for it.
But this time it was just two guys looking for someone to take the blame for their failure and while Tobio did feel guilty about Interhigh, he had talked about that enough with Oikawa and Hajime that he had made peace with it. They wouldn't use that against him.

Tobio was just pushing himself up from the floor, careful not to put any strain on his left shoulder, when the door opened.
When he turned around, he saw Kunimi standing in the doorway, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Tobio?" He noticed how he was holding his shoulder. "What happened? Are you hurt?"

Tobio shook his head. He wasn't very keen on recounting what had just happened. "Just my shoulder. I don't think it's too bad though."

Kunimi hurried over to him so he could have a look at his shoulder. He pushed Tobio's sleeve up until he could see the skin underneath. "That looks rather red. Did you walk into something?"

"Collided with the lockers."

Kunimi frowned at him. "You collided with the lockers? How did that happen?"

Tobio sighed. "Someone shoved me."

"What? Who?"

Tobio shrugged and winced immediately because he had moved his shoulder. "Don't know their names."

Kunimi looked at him, but seemed to decide that Tobio was telling the truth. "Let's get you some ice to put onto that, just in case. You can tell me later what exactly happened.
Although I'm pretty sure that I won't be the first one to make you tell that story.
Or do you want me to get someone to have a proper look at your shoulder?"

Tobio shook his head. "I don't think that'll be necessary." He tried to move his shoulder again and made a face when it hurt more than expected. He must have hit a bad spot.

Kunimi had obviously been watching him because he now pushed him over one of the benches, careful not to get near his injured shoulder. "Wait here. I'll get someone."

"Not -"

"Not Oikawa or Iwaizumi-san, I know. But they'll find out eventually. You can't just miss practice without anyone noticing, you know?"
He turned to the door.

"Kunimi," Tobio called after him.

"Yes?" He turned back around.

"Thank you."

Kunimi nodded and gave him a tiny smile. "Anytime."

Chapter Text

Kunimi returned with Mizoguchi just a few minutes later, an ice pack already in his hand.

Mizoguchi thankfully didn't ask too many questions, just instructed him to take off his shirt so he could take a proper look at his shoulder.

Tobio had to allow Kunimi to help him out of the shirt so he didn't have to move his arm too much and then turned around so Mizoguchi could look at it.

It took him a few moments to check his shoulder over but then finally told him that it was likely only a bruise. He instructed him to put ice on it and try not to move it too much, at least for the rest of the day. If it didn't get better, he should see a doctor.

Once Tobio had put his shirt back on and was holding the ice pack against the hurting shoulder, he sent Kunimi back to practice.
Then he looked at Tobio. "So what happened?"

Tobio stayed quiet. He really didn't want to drag the coaches into this when he could just deal with it himself.

"Iwaizumi-kun," Mizoguchi said seriously. "You need to tell me what happened. Was this an accident? Or did someone cause it?"

"I'd rather not talk about it." Tobio said quietly.

Mizoguchi crossed his arms. "I understand that, but if it concerns the team, I need to know about it."

Tobio just looked at his knees and didn't answer.

"Do you want me to get someone else? Would you rather talk to your brother for example?"

"No!" Tobio instinctively leaned forward and winced when that made pain shoot through his shoulder. He took a deep breath and sat back up.

"Then I'm afraid you'll have to tell me."

Tobio bit his lip. "It was - a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding?" Mizoguchi didn't sound very convinced.

"Yes. Some… people seem to be under the impression that I'm getting special treatment because Hajime is my brother." 

"Well that's obviously not the case. Who are those people? We'll make sure to talk to them about this. If they have concerns, they should be talking to us, your captain or vice captain, although obviously the latter wouldn't be an option in this case. Still, that's our job.
And resorting to violence is not acceptable in any case."

"I don't remember their names," Tobio said honestly, fully knowing that it sounded like an excuse.

Mizoguchi looked at him. "I understand that you don't want to tell on your teammates, but this is a serious matter, so I can't just let it slide."

Tobio didn't answer.

Finally, Mizoguchi sighed. "Alright then. You can tell me tomorrow before practice. Or Irihata-sensei, if you prefer. If you haven't come to either of us by then, I'm afraid I'll have to address the issue in front of the whole team."

Tobio looked at him with wide eyes.

"You don't have to come by yourself, if it makes you feel better," Mizoguchi said with a reassuring smile. "We're really just trying to help you and ensure that everyone on the team is on the same page."

Tobio nodded, knowing that it didn't make sense to try and argue.

"Good. Please stay here for now, I'll let your brother know about your injury so he can take you home."

"That - really won't be necessary."

Mizoguchi shook his head. "I cannot allow you to walk home by yourself under these circumstances. But you don't need to worry, I'll be discreet."
He headed to the door. "Please don't move around too much, you don't want to accidentally make things worse."
Then he left the room.

Tobio groaned and leaned his head back, looking up at the ceiling. He could already imagine what Hajime's reaction would be like.

Indeed, Hajime came all but storming into the changing room, looking around frantically until he spotted Tobio on the bench and hurried over to him. "Tobio!"
He sat down next to him, already trying to look at where Tobio was still pressing the ice pack against his shoulder. "What happened? Mizoguchi said you're injured?"

"I'm fine, Hajime. It's just a bruise."

"But -"

Tobio shook his head. "I really don't want to talk about it right now. Can we just go home?"

Hajime seemed to want to protest, but then nodded. "Let me just quickly change out of these sweaty clothes, then we can go.
Do you want to get changed as well?"

Tobio shook his head again. "No. It's still warm outside, so I'll be fine. We'll just need to grab my bag before we leave."

Hajime nodded and went over to one of the lockers. Tobio politely looked the other way while Hajime changed out of his sports clothes and didn't turn around until Hajime came back over to him.
With a few instructions, Hajime got Tobio's bag out of the locker and put both of the bags over his shoulders. Tobio wanted to protest and say that he could carry his own bag, but he knew his brother wouldn't let him anyway.
They left the changing rooms and passed by the gym as they left the school grounds. 
Tobio couldn't stop himself from glancing through the open doors, but he couldn't see anything from this angle. 

"I'm sorry that you're missing practice because of me," Tobio said quietly as they headed through the school gate.

"Don't worry about it. You're way more important than one missed practice." Hajime glanced over at him. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"

Tobio sighed. "Some idiots thought it would be easier to blame me for their lack of talent instead of working on themselves."

"And is that all they blamed you for?"

Tobio looked at his brother. In moments like this one he really hated how well they knew each other. That Hajime had been able to tell right away there was more to the story than Tobio had revealed.
"No. It wasn't," he said simply.

Hajime nodded. "I thought so." A small pause. "Is this about Oikawa?"

"Hajime, I'm really not very keen on repeating all the stuff they've said to me."

Hajime clenched his teeth. "It was that bad then."

"It was mostly just stupid assumptions. Nothing I can't handle."

"But you shouldn't have to handle it in the first place! This is exactly why I think you should have waited."

"Waiting wouldn't have changed this, Hajime. And I'd rather just deal with it than having to hide." He sighed. "Although I could have lived without having a photo of us going around the very first day."

Hajime's head whipped around. "There's a photo?"

"Apparently. I haven't seen it myself though."

"What's on it? You two holding hands this morning?"

"No." Tobio blushed a little, but didn't elaborate.

"What is in the photo, Tobio?" Hajime said, putting emphasis on every single world.

"Us kissing," Tobio said almost inaudibly.

"I'm going to kill him. I'm so going to kill him tomorrow."

"No. Hajime." Tobio stepped in front of him to ensure he got his intention. "It wasn't his fault. I don't even know when they took that photo and I doubt Oikawa knows either. I hadn't even known it existed until those guys mentioned it."

"But he kissed you when people could obviously see you!"

"So what," Tobio said harshly. "He kissed me and I kissed him back. If you're blaming him, you have to blame me as well. I know you're just trying to protect me, but Oikawa has never done anything to me that I didn't want. I could have stopped him at any point, told him not to kiss me in public, but I haven't. And I'm not going to. This is my choice.
So don't blame him for a decision I've made."

"I doubt you initiated any of that."

"I could have."

"You're not the type for that, Tobio. You don't crave attention like he does."

"This isn't about attention. It's about being open about who you love and not having to hide it just because we happen to have the same gender."

Hajime looked at him, suddenly much more quiet. "You love him?"

Tobio blushed deeply and looked away. He hadn't meant to say that. Especially in front of his brother. "I - I don't know. I haven't really had the time to think about it. And we haven't even been dating for that long so -" He shook his head and tried to hide behind his hair.

Hajime hesitated, then said, "Alright. I understand. Let's just go home. If we waste even more time, we risk Oikawa catching up with us."

"Does he… Does Oikawa know about my shoulder?" Tobio asked quietly as they picked up walking home again.

"No," Hajime shook his head. "I think he noticed you not being at practice before anyone else, but he didn't say anything until a bit later. Then Kunimi was sent to look for you and I could tell Oikawa got a little worried, although he tried to hide it.
After that we only saw Kunimi coming back, talking to Mizoguchi and leaving with him. We were too far away to hear what they said.
When Mizoguchi came back, he pulled me away from everyone else before he told me anything and then I went straight to the changing rooms to look after you.
So Oikawa doesn't know anything at this point."

"I need to tell him, don't I?" Tobio said with a pained face.

"You do. You should probably text him as soon as we're home if you don't want him to come straight to our house. Although he might do that anyway."

"He's going to be so mad."

"At those idiots who hurt you, yes. And rightfully so. I'd be punching them myself right now if making sure you get home safely wasn't my first priority." Hajime's expression was truly deadly for a moment, then he took a deep breath to calm himself down. "But I think he'll be more concerned about your injury first. He'll make sure that you're alright and to hear the whole story from you and then he'll get mad.
That's just the type of guy he is."

"Do you think there's any chance that he won't come over after he hears about my injury?"

"Only if he physically couldn't."

"Or you told him not to come."

"I'm not sure even that would stop him in this case."

Tobio sighed. "So there's basically no way around it."

"Why are you so against it?" Hajime looked over at him. They had finally reached their home and made their way over to the door.

"I just don't want to drag him into this. I can handle things myself but I know that he'll make it his business as soon as he knows.
And he won't let it go no matter what I say.
And then it'll affect the whole team which is exactly what we don't need right after everyone found out about our relationship."

"That actually makes a lot of sense, Tobio. But I'm afraid that's basically unavoidable at this point."

Chapter Text

By the time Hajime had helped Tobio change into his pyjamas (which was a little awkward, but it could have been worse - at least it wasn't Oikawa doing it) and Tobio was sitting on his bed, both Tobio's and Hajime's phones must have received about a dozen messages and calls, but neither of them had a free hand to answer.

Hajime rummaged through his bag and pulled out his phone. "I'll call him and tell him what happened while I'm getting you a new ice pack. Just try and don't move around too much."

"Alright, Hajime," Tobio said, suddenly feeling rather drained.

"I'll be right back," he said, already lifting the phone to his ear as he left Tobio's room.

Tobio sighed and leaned back against the wall. Maybe he should have asked Hajime to bring some painkillers as well. Just so he would be able to sleep through the night.

Quietly, he got up from the bed and walked over to his bag. With one hand he pulled out his phone and sat back down on the bed.
As expected, most of the texts were from Oikawa, but he had also gotten one from Kunimi.

Before he could decide which one he wanted to read first, Hajime was back, still on the phone.

"What do you mean you got suspended?!"

Tobio turned his head and stared at his brother but Hajime shook his head, quietly telling him that he couldn't answer questions right now.

As Tobio couldn't hear the answer from the other end of the phone call, he turned back to his own phone, hoping he'd find some answers there.

Oikawa's texts didn't provide much new information at all. They mostly consisted of a variation of 'Are you alright?' and 'What happened?'. The last one was telling him that he was on his way to their house.

He closed the messages without answering, knowing that it wouldn't make sense to answer since Oikawa was talking to Hajime anyway and he'd likely arrive before he could even read the text.
Then he opened Kunimi's text.

[Hope you got home alright. I saw Mizoguchi telling Iwaizumi-san something and then he left, so I guess he was told to take you home.
Things got a little crazy here shortly after he left. Oikawa almost beat up some second years and they all got suspended until the matter has been discussed and settled.
I can only assume that those were the guys you had a run in with earlier. They must have said something really obvious and stupid for Oikawa to act out like that. I've never seen an expression like that on his face, not even during a match.
The whole team is talking about it now, so you better be prepared for that.]

Tobio stared at the text. He couldn't ever remember getting a message this long from Kunimi, but he couldn't even put into words how much he appreciated that Kunimi had made an effort to tell Tobio everything he needed to know.

[Made it home fine. Hajime is mad, but that's to be expected. He is talking to Oikawa on the phone right now. I think Oikawa's telling him about the suspension.
Oikawa seems to be on his way over here as well.
Thanks for the heads-up, I really appreciate it.]

To his surprise, Kunimi answered immediately. 
[No problem. Let me know if you need anything.]

Tobio smiled and put his phone down so he could finally take the new ice pack and hold it against his aching shoulder. He had just managed to wedge it between the wall and himself so he didn't have to hold onto it the whole time, when Hajime ended the call and turned around to Tobio.

"He's here."

Tobio swallowed heavily and nodded. He could tell from Hajime's expression that whatever Oikawa had told him hadn't been reassuring in the slightest.

When Oikawa entered Tobio's room, Tobio immediately knew why.
Oikawa was still in his volleyball clothes, apparently he had only bothered to switch to his normal shoes before leaving. But that wasn't the concerning part.
The concerning part was how obvious it was that he had been in a fight.
While there were only a few small cuts on his face, his whole appearance was more disheveled than Tobio had ever seen it before and his knuckles seemed to be bleeding. In all his life, Tobio had never even heard about Oikawa not being careful with what happened to his hands.
Tobio was sure that there were more signs of fighting hidden underneath his clothes.

Hajime took one look at his best friend and muttered, "I'll go get the first aid kit," before he left the room.

Oikawa barely acknowledged him before moving over to Tobio on the bed. He dropped his bag somewhere along the way and sat down next to him, taking both of Tobio's hands in his. He looked strangely serious.
"Are you alright? What happened?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" Tobio asked.

Oikawa shook his head, looking him over for injuries. Apparently using just his eyes wasn't enough either as he moved one of Tobio's hands over so he could hold both of them in one hand and reached up with the free hand, oh so gently touching Tobio's face.
"I was so worried when you didn't come to practice. I'm so sorry. I should never have let you out of my sight on a day like today."

"No, I'm sorry," Tobio said, quietly allowing Oikawa to continue his examination. "I should have paid more attention to who was in the changing room with me."

"You don't need to apologise, Tobio-chan. They should apologise. Not you."

"You don't even know what happened."

"I have a fairly good idea. And I wouldn't even need that to know that it's their fault and not yours." He glared, but Tobio could tell it wasn't directed at him.

Tobio gently turned Oikawa's hand that was holding his, examining the damage. "Is that why this happened?"

"That happened because they were stupid enough to talk badly about you when I could hear them." Oikawa clenched his hands, obviously still angry. "But I'm pretty sure they deserved that and more."
His eyes wandered over Tobio's form again. "Where did they hurt you?"

"Shoulder." He gestured towards his left shoulder and the ice pack between his shoulder and the wall. "One of them pushed me backwards and I collided with the edge of a locker. It's only a bruise though."

"A bruise that's bad enough that you couldn't even come to practice and Iwa-chan had to take you home immediately. You really shouldn't act as if that's nothing, Tobio-chan." He leaned closer to his shoulder although Tobio doubted that he could see anything through the light blue t-shirt he wore as a pyjama top. "And don't even get me started on the kind of stuff they probably said to you on top of that. That kind of behaviour is just unacceptable!"

Hajime came back with the first aid kit and put it down on the bed next to them. He was looking at their positions, how Tobio was holding Oikawa's hand and how Oikawa's other hand was still up in the air next to Tobio's face.
He sighed but then just shook his head and sat down on the bed behind Oikawa who still was facing Tobio.
"You can continue this later, Oikawa, but let me at least take care of your injuries first."

Oikawa didn't seem very keen on letting go of Tobio so he turned around just enough so he could offer Hajime his free hand. The other was still held by Tobio's. "Please start here, if you don't mind."

Hajime nodded and started pulling out some supplies from the first aid kit.
They all stayed quiet for a few moments and Tobio couldn't help thinking how strange it was for all of them to be sitting on his bed like this. Then Hajime broke the silence, his eyes on the task in front of him.
"I believe the two of you both have some stories to tell, so why don't we all make it easy on us and just tell them now."

Neither Oikawa nor Tobio answered, so Hajime took it upon himself to continue. "Let's start chronologically, shall we?
Tobio." He glanced up at his brother. "Tell us what happened to you. Everything.
I know you want to deal with this yourself, but we can only decide how to handle things once we know what exactly happened."

Tobio hesitated. He really didn't want to make this situation worse than it already was by telling them everything those bullies had said to him, but as he looked at Oikawa's beaten up face he doubted it could get much worse at this point.
So he took a deep breath and started telling them about the whole scene in the locker room. How they had waited until they were alone. How they had then asked him about Oikawa and told him about the photo. He told them about being accused of getting special treatment and chosen over older players because of his connection to both Hajime and Oikawa. He recounted colliding with the locker and the threats the guys had made.
He didn't leave anything out. Not the crude words, not the insults, not even the part about them accusing him of using his body to get Oikawa's favour. 

Once he had started, it was easier to just tell the story and he was glad that neither of them interrupted him.
Hajime kept quietly taking care of Oikawa's scrapes and scratches, but his hands were shaking with anger.
Oikawa just held tightly onto Tobio's hand and when Hajime silently asked for his other hand, he just turned around so he could hold Tobio's with his now bandaged one. He refused to let go of him for even one second. The expression on his face was a mix of guilt, anger and worry.

Tobio told them about Kunimi coming to find him when he was alone in the changing room, about Mizoguchi taking over and finally Hajime coming to take him home.
He ended his story there, his mouth feeling rather dry from talking so much.

Hajime had put away the first aid kit and was angrily clenching his fists while Oikawa simply held onto Tobio with both of his now bandaged hands.
Tobio had the feeling that if they had the chance right then, they'd have beaten up those guys together.

"I can't believe those bastards said stuff like that to you," Hajime said quietly, in a voice that shook with suppressed anger.

Tobio looked over at Oikawa. He wasn't quite sure what kind of emotion he had expected to see on his face, but it was definitely not this expression of pure guilt. It was so unusual for Oikawa that for a moment Tobio didn't know how to react.
Then he intertwined their fingers and Oikawa looked up at him.
"I do not blame you for this."

"But -"

Tobio shook his head. "They've obviously been thinking that way for quite some time now. Maybe right from when I joined and they heard about me being Hajime's brother.
They needed someone to blame and I was a convenient target. They would have approached me anyway, sooner or later.
It just happened to be now because they thought they could use the rumours against me."

"That doesn't make it right, Tobio-chan."

Tobio shrugged and tried not to wince at the pain running through his shoulder. He would really need to ask for those painkillers later.
"But it doesn't make it your fault either, so stop blaming yourself." He looked right into Oikawa's eyes, trying to convey how serious he was.

"Oikawa," Hajime said and they both turned their heads to him. "He's right. You blaming yourself is not going to help anyone.
Just tell us what happened after I left."

Chapter Text

Oikawa tightened his hold onto Tobio's hand for a moment, then released it again, holding his hand ever so gently instead. Tobio hoped he wasn't in too much pain.

Then Oikawa started speaking.
"After you left, Iwa-chan, everyone started whispering, trying to figure out what was going on. Irihata kept trying to make everyone focus on practice, but it was basically impossible.
The only ones who weren't speaking were Kunimi-chan and Kindaichi. I'm not sure whether Kunimi-chan told Kindaichi anything about the situation, but either way they stayed away from everyone else and didn't participate in the discussions.
Makki and Mattsun were clearly worried, but they were trying to talk about other stuff."

"Probably trying to make you think about other things than what was happening," Hajime said roughly and Oikawa nodded.

"I think so, too. But I felt restless and I couldn't really focus on anything. I hadn't seen Tobio-chan since we parted ways outside of the gym and now that Iwa-chan was gone, it was obvious something had to have happened. I know you wouldn't miss practice if you couldn't help it," Oikawa looked at Tobio with a small smile.

Hajime rolled his eyes. "You're both idiots when it comes to that."

Both Tobio and Oikawa chose to ignore that although Tobio had to quietly agree. He and Oikawa really were similar in that aspect.

"Eventually I decided to just go and ask Kunimi-chan what he knows and I passed those two second years. Their behaviour was so different from everyone else that it caught my attention.
Everyone was speculating, some more worried, some less, but those two were laughing. I doubt they even noticed me with how caught up they were in their conversation. Can you imagine? Not noticing me?"

"Just continue," Hajime said. He obviously didn't have the patience to deal with that side of his best friend right now.

"Fine. So I stopped and listened to what they were talking about. 'Probably crying like a baby right now,' they said. And 'Big brother had to come to his rescue'.
It was pretty clear from that point who they were talking about, so I went over to them and waited until they noticed me."

"What happened?" Tobio asked calmly.

"At first, they refused to say much. Tried to make excuses, but it was pretty obvious that they were lying. When I kept calling them out on their lies, one of them finally snapped and he -" Oikawa hesitated. "He said something rather nasty. So I punched him."

"What did he say, Oikawa?" Hajime asked, frowning. Tobio could tell he was already getting angry again. "It must have been really bad for you to lose it like that."

Oikawa glanced over at Tobio and shook his head. "I really don't want to repeat that. Tobio-chan doesn't need to hear it."

"Say it, Tooru." Tobio said and Oikawa looked at him, obviously surprised by the use of his first name. "I can handle it."

Oikawa swallowed heavily but then nodded. "Alright. If you two insist. But don't say I didn't warn you."

"We're ready, Oikawa." Hajime said.

Oikawa took a deep breath and then quoted, without looking at either of them, " 'The captain coming to protect his whore. That little bitch must be really good at spreading his legs to have you wrapped around his finger like that.' "
Oikawa looked as if he wanted to wash out his mouth with bleach just after saying it.

Tobio stared at him. Strangely enough, it didn't bother him that much what those guys had said about him. It was just more like the stuff he had already heard directly from them.
But what did bother him was how it seemed to affect Oikawa. His whole posture and expression was so unlike everything Tobio was used to from him and he hated that there wasn't anything he could do to fix it.
There wasn't even anything to say. So all he could do was hold onto his hand and silently reassure him that he was alright and they'd get through this.

"If they had said that in front of me, they wouldn't have gotten away with just suspension," Hajime almost growled.

Tobio turned to him. "They got suspended?"

"Yes," Oikawa answered instead. "Both of them did and so did I.”

Tobio looked at him, not knowing what to say. He had overheard that part from the phone call earlier, but it was something completely different to hear it from Oikawa himself.

“We were all involved in the fight, so it’s to be expected. Until they’ve heard what we all have to say, they can’t know who started it and what the appropriate punishment is for each of us,” Oikawa said. “I don’t regret it. They deserved every single punch and more.”

Hajime rolled his eyes. “I cannot disagree with that but it was still a reckless thing to do in the middle of practice.”

“I really don’t want to hear that from you of all people, Iwa-chan!” He lifted his chin. “And anyway, if anyone could do it, it’s me. They won’t just risk ruining my future over something like this.”

Hajime smacked the back of his head. “This is exactly the way of thinking that makes you so obnoxious.”

“Iwa-chan!” He rubbed the back of his head and looked over at him with a pout. “That hurt! I am already in pain. I don’t deserve this kind of treatment.” He hugged Tobio’s without warning, burying his face in his chest. “Comfort me, Tobio-chan.”

Before Tobio could even react, Hajime had grabbed Oikawa by the back of his shirt and pulled until he fell backwards onto the bed. “None of that, Crappykawa. You don't get to use Tobio as an escape."

"He's my boyfriend!" Oikawa protested. "He's hurt. I'm hurt. We've gone through a difficult situation today and now I can't even cuddle with him?"

"You know exactly that's not what I'm talking about!"

"Hajime. Oikawa." Tobio calmly interrupted them. "Is that really necessary right now?"

Oikawa used the moment to immediately snuggle back up with Tobio and Hajime sighed. "No. I guess not."
He looked at Oikawa. "You're not going to leave him out of your sight tonight, are you?"

Oikawa hesitated. "Not if I can help it," he finally said honestly. "I'm sorry, Iwa-chan, but after what happened today, I really want to stay with Tobio-chan."

Hajime made a face that spoke volumes of his opinion on that, but then just got up. "Fine."

Both Tobio and Oikawa looked up at Hajime in surprise.

"Just this once. And if I find out that you've done anything but sleep and taken advantage of my trust in you, I'll throw you out myself and make sure you never spend a single moment alone with Tobio again."
He headed to the door. "Keep in mind that he can't put any strain on that shoulder. I'll go get you some clothes to change into." He sent Oikawa one last warning look before he left the room.

"I - did not expect that." Tobio said slowly.

Oikawa looked at him with a brilliant smile. "It's a good sign, Tobio-chan! Iwa-chan is getting used to the thought of us being together."

“Maybe," Tobio said, still staring at the door. "But I think it tells us much more about his mental state right now. He must be really worried about both of us to just allow you to sleep in here.”

“It's probably a combination of both if we're being honest." Oikawa reached for Tobio's hand, caressing it gently with the tips of his fingers. "The most important thing for Iwa-chan is that you're safe. He'd prioritise your safety over anything else, no questions asked.
So what happened today is probably one of the worst things he could ever imagine.
Not only did you get bullied and insulted, you even got hurt. And he wasn't there to protect you.
But you don't need to worry, Tobio-chan. He will be fine. He just needs some time to process all of it. Although I'm afraid during that time you'll have to suffer through him being even more overbearing than usual. He needs to see that you're alright."
He looked up at him. "Right now, you're already doing the best thing you could ever do for him."

Tobio frowned at him. "But I'm not doing anything?"

Oikawa shook his head. "The way you've handled all of this so far, that you didn't let it break you despite how horrible it was, that's much more admirable than you probably realise. And it's what's reassuring Iwa-chan that you'll be alright. It's what he needs right now.
So just keep doing that, Tobio-chan." He placed a gentle kiss on his lips.

"What about you?" Tobio asked quietly, looking right into Oikawa's eyes. "Will you be alright?"

"Of course, Tobio-chan." He smiled softly. "You don't need to worry about me either. It's just a few scratches."

"You came in here with your knuckles bleeding and told us that you got suspended because you got into a fight. That's more than just a few scratches."

"Awww Tobio-chan. You're worried about me, that's adorable! I'm so happy to see how much you care about me." He sat up, taking both of Tobio's hands in his. "But you really don't need to worry about that at all. Don't even think about it.
Everything will be fine. We'll take care of those bullies and then no one will touch you ever again, I'll make sure of that."

"You really don't have to go that far," Tobio shifted uncomfortably and almost dislodged the ice pack that was still wedged between him and the wall. Although it was almost fully melted by now anyway. "I can handle myself. And I can handle this."

"But you shouldn't have to, Tobio-chan. That's the point." He reached up and cupped his cheek. "You and I. We're a unity. If they're messing with you, they're messing with me. What you go through, I go through.
So no matter what happens to you, you're not alone. You don't have to deal with it all by yourself." He clenched his teeth in suppressed fury, but his touch against Tobio's skin stayed gentle. "Those idiots made the mistake today of not just angering me, but also touching you.
I'm not going to let that slide. Even if they went down on their knees in front of me and begged, they wouldn't get away with this. I'll make sure of that."

Tobio leaned into the touch of his hand against his cheek. "You're almost a little scary when you get like this."

Oikawa chuckled quietly, his expression softening. "You wouldn't want me as your enemy."

"Indeed, I don't." Tobio turned his head and kissed Oikawa's palm. "But luckily you're my lover instead."

"Lover?" Oikawa looked at him in surprise.

Tobio shrugged, blushing a little. "Well. Eventually, right?"

Oikawa swallowed heavily. "Yes. Eventually."

Chapter Text

Hajime came back with some clothes for Oikawa a few moments later and Tobio was very thankful that it hadn't been any earlier.
He really didn't need his brother to hear anything that he could misinterpret.

"Here." Hajime dropped the clothes onto the bed next to Oikawa. "You might want to bring over some more clothes soon if you plan on being here as much as you have recently."

Oikawa nodded and picked up the clothes. "Thanks, Iwa-chan." He kissed Tobio's cheek before getting up. "I'll be right back."
He left the room, leaving Tobio and Hajime by themselves.

Tobio reached for the melted ice pack and removed it before sitting up. "I'm seriously considering taking some painkillers before going to sleep today."

"It's that bad?" Hajime looked at him, face scrunched up with worry.

"I'm fine, Hajime. I just don't think I'll be very comfortable because it hurts whenever I accidentally move my shoulder."

"And I doubt having Oikawa with you will help there."

Tobio looked up at him. "I'm surprised you're not making him sleep on the futon."

"It would be a waste of time. I know that he'd climb into your bed anyway the second I'm out of the room," Hajime shook his head. "But at least I know he won't do anything while you're injured. He's not that reckless and I can tell he cares too much about you to do that."

"That's a lot of trust you put into him."

He shrugged. "He's still my best friend. And whether I want to or not, I know what he would or wouldn't do." He smiled at Tobio. "And I also know that you can take care of yourself."

Tobio could tell that Hajime wanted to give him a hug but held back because of his shoulder.
"You can hug me, Hajime. It's just a bruise.
I'm not going to die if you touch it accidentally."

Hajime hesitated for a second, then sat down and hugged his little brother, overly careful not to get anywhere near his shoulder or make Tobio move it accidentally.
Tobio hugged him back, as well as possible without moving his arm too much.
"Love you, Hajime. Thank you for always being there for me," he said quietly.

"Anytime, Tobio. You don't need to thank me.
And I love you, too."

“You two really never change, don’t you?” Oikawa’s voice came from the door, causing them to pull away.
Tobio looked over at his boyfriend. He was now wearing grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt with a cartoon alien on it. He looked … cosy somehow.

“What do you mean with that, Oikawa?” Hajime frowned at him.

Oikawa shrugged carelessly and went over to the desk, sitting down on the chair there.
“You’ve just always done that when something happens. Snuggling up together and reminding each other that you love each other. No wonder it made me jealous.”

Hajime seemed taken aback by the honesty and ease that Oikawa admitted that with. “You’re admitting that you were jealous?”

"I didn't know at the time, but looking back at it? Yes. I was jealous." He shrugged again, obviously trying to act as if it wasn't a big deal. "I don't have that kind of bond with my sister. And you're my best friend.

So whenever that little bundle over there," he nodded at Tobio, "joined us, it felt like he won without ever even competing. He won just by being born as your brother and no one could take that from him."

“So you decided to date him?”

“No. Me dating Tobio has nothing to do with it. Actually, quite the opposite. How do you think I felt when I started to notice that I looked at him differently than before? I started questioning my own sanity.”

“I question your sanity every day.”

“Iwa-chan! Mean.”

Hajime ignored him and turned to Tobio. "Hearing this does not bother you at all?"

Tobio shrugged with one shoulder. "No. He told me all of this before."

Hajime’s eyes widened a bit in surprise and his eyes moved from one to the other before they finally settled on Oikawa. "Huh. You really are serious about this, aren't you?" 

It wasn't really a question but Oikawa still answered. "I am. I told you I am.”

“The stuff you say and the stuff you mean are two different things, Shittykawa.”

“Not in this case.”

"Yes. As bad as this situation is, you've definitely proven today that you meant everything you said to me."

Tobio looked from one to the other, feeling like he had missed something. What was Hajime talking about?

“Anyway,” Hajime said as he got up. “It’s getting late and we all need rest. You should call your mother and tell her where you are before going to sleep, Oikawa.”

“Already taken care of, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said with a grin.

“When -” Hajime shook his head. “Nevermind. Of course you did that before you even got here.” He turned to Tobio. “I’ll go get you those painkillers.”

“You really don’t need to, Hajime. I can do that myself.”

“Let me do it for you, Tobio. It’s the least I can do.”

Tobio sighed and nodded. “If you insist, Hajime. But I will still need to get up from time to time, you know? You can’t do everything for me. Especially because of one bruise.”

“That’s not going to stop him from trying, Tobio-chan.” Oikawa said, getting up from the chair. He put his hand on Hajime’s shoulder. “Go ahead. I’ll make sure he stays put.”

Tobio stared up at them. "Are you teaming up on me?"

"I don't think you can call it that, Tobio-chan. We're just taking care of you after all."

Tobio made a face. “I guess this is why they say you shouldn’t be dating your sibling’s best friend.”

Hajime gave him a strange look but Oikawa just laughed and laid down on the bed next to Tobio. “Regretting your decisions already, Tobio-chan?”

"No. Why would you think that?" Tobio asked honestly.

Oikawa chuckled and reached over to cup his cheek. "You're just so adorable when you're being clueless."

"Okay, I'm leaving before I have to see more of this," Hajime interrupted them. "Behave, I'll be right back." 

He left Tobio's room.

"You are aware that you both are overdoing it, right?" Tobio asked with a frown.

"I obviously can't speak for Iwa-chan, but I'd say we are both aware of it. But can you really blame us after what happened today? You're his little brother and my boyfriend. Of course we're going to be a little overprotective." He caressed Tobio's cheek.

He sighed. "Just don't start following me around like some bodyguards. Or stalkers."

"Those are two very different things, Tobio-chan."

"And they both fit, depending on how you'd do it."

"I'm your boyfriend though. So I guess I'd be a bit of both if it was necessary." He snuggled closer to him.

"That's a little creepy, Oikawa."

"Just a little? Good to know," he smirked. "I'll have to keep that in mind."

"That's not -" Tobio shook his head. "Let's just talk about something else."

"If you insist, Tobio-chan. Although I'd much rather kiss you right now."

"Hajime will be back any moment. I doubt you'd want him to walk in on us."

Oikawa shrugged. "He'll see it anyway sooner or later. And at least it would just be an innocent kiss, so it could be way worse."

"You shouldn't even be thinking of more," Hajime's voice came from the door. "Tobio is only fifteen."

Oikawa didn't seem concerned by the interruption at all. "May I remind you of what you got up to when you were fifteen, Iwa-chan? I remember quite vividly -"

"Stop it right there if you don't want me to conveniently forget about your injuries for a couple of minutes, Shittykawa."

"But I'm hurt, Iwa-chan. You wouldn't do that to me, would you?" Oikawa said with a pout.

"How about not letting you sleep in here then?" Hajime said, dangerously calm.

Oikawa did not even dare replying after that. He just wrapped his arms tightly around Tobio's middle.

"Better." He passed Tobio a glass of water and the painkillers. "There you go. That should be enough to get you through the night. But you can call me at any point, if you need me. Just make this idiot go and get me. At least that way he'll be useful for once."

He smiled at Tobio and ruffled his hair. "Sleep well, Tobio." He looked down at Oikawa. "And you, too. Remember that I'm just across the hallway, so don't get any ideas."

"Goodnight, Hajime," Tobio said quietly. He found it rather embarrassing how often his brother felt the need to remind them not to do anything too intimate.

Oikawa didn't answer, still sulking.

Hajime rolled his eyes at the overly dramatic reaction of his friend and left the bedroom, turning off the lights before he closed the door.

Tobio took the painkillers, then gave Oikawa a little nudge. "Let go. I want to lie down properly."

Oikawa released him from his arms just long enough for Tobio to lie down and find a comfortable position, then he pulled up the covers and laid down as well, spooning him from behind with his arms wrapped around him. "Goodnight, Tobio-chan."

"Goodnight, Oikawa." Tobio responded, although he wasn't sure how he was supposed to fall asleep when Oikawa was this close to him. This was anything but relaxing.

Oikawa nuzzled the back of his neck as he snuggled close but to Tobio's surprise, he didn't try anything else. “I’m so glad you’re alright,” he whispered against his skin. “I hate what they did to you and that I couldn’t do anything to stop it.”

Tobio didn’t answer for a long moment. He took Oikawa’s hand that was resting on his belly and intertwined their fingers. “I hate that you got hurt.”

Oikawa chuckled softly, so quiet it was almost just some irregular breaths against Tobio’s neck that made him shiver. Then he placed a kiss on his skin. “It’ll heal. And it was worth it, if you ask me. If I had known everything they had done …” He shook his head and hugged him more tightly, still careful of Tobio’s shoulder. “Those guys were lucky I only knew of their behaviour during practice.”

“I’m glad you didn’t know.” Tobio could feel how Oikawa behind him froze, but he continued. “I don’t want you to get in trouble for me. It’s bad enough that this is one of the first things the team will know about our relationship, we don’t need it to affect their view on you.” He lifted Oikawa’s hand and kissed the back of it. “And you injured your hands. What if there had been permanent damage? I don’t think I could have forgiven myself then.”

“It wouldn’t be your fault, Tobio-chan. It would be theirs, understood? Never blame yourself for anything those bullies have done.”

Tobio carefully rolled over onto his back. He could barely see Oikawa in the dark, but that only made him even more aware of how close he was. “I’m not blaming myself. At least I don’t think I am.”

“What would you call it then?”

“I don’t know. I’m just … confused, I guess. A lot has happened today.” He bit his lip. “Is it weird that I still don’t regret it?”

“No,” Oikawa said quietly. “I don’t think it’s weird. Unusual, maybe, but not weird. Most people would at least partially regret their actions after this, wonder where it went wrong and whether they made the right decision.”

“I don’t need to wonder about that. I know I’ve made the right decision.”

“You have a lot of confidence in me.” Oikawa’s voice sounded almost a little shaky.

“I guess I do. But if I had the chance to change anything today, I am not sure that I would.
Well. Maybe except for the photo. We really didn’t need that part.”

Oikawa laughed. “That photo … I wonder when they took it. There were a few opportunities today.”

“During the break, I hope. The other one …” Tobio blushed and was glad that Oikawa couldn’t see it in the dark.

“Would be a little spicy?” He could hear the grin in his voice.

“Would get you banned from our house forever.”

Oikawa sighed. “Probably. I guess I should try and get my hands on it before Iwa-chan does. Just to know what we’re dealing with.”

“... You just want it so you can show it off, don’t you?”

“I doubt there are many people who haven’t seen it yet, Tobio-chan.”

“Yes. But it’s the same thing like with those damn switched jersey pictures you insisted on. You like having them just in case.”

“You know me too well,” Oikawa said, not sounding guilty at all. It seemed more like he was enjoying himself.

“The bane of growing up with you.”

“You should consider it an honour. Do you know how many people would pay to be in your position?”

“What, stuck in bed forever because my brother and my boyfriend have decided I will never be able to do anything on my own again? I doubt anyone would want that.”

“Oh Tobio-chan, you really have no idea, do you?”

Tobio frowned. “What do you mean?”

Oikawa shook his head, tickling Tobio’s skin with his hair in the process. “It’s fine. You don’t need to get it.” He leaned over him and kissed him gently. Tobio had to admit he was a little impressed how well he aimed even in the dark. “Let’s go to sleep. You have school tomorrow and I’m afraid it won’t be any easier tomorrow than it has been today. You will need all the rest you can get.”

“I guess you’re right. There will be lots of questions. And you need to prepare to talk to the coaches. Explain the situation.”

“Don’t worry about that, Tobio-chan.” He pecked his cheek. “It’ll all turn out fine.”

Tobio wasn’t so sure about that, but he nodded anyway. “Goodnight, Oikawa.”

“Goodnight, Tobio-chan.”

Chapter Text

Tobio doubted he would ever get used to waking up in Oikawa's arms. This was only the third time, but it still felt like the first.
Almost, at least.

This time, Tobio wasn't the first one to wake up. The difference that little detail made became obvious rather quickly, even for someone who had just woken up.
Because Oikawa apparently didn't see any need to hold back just because the other person was still asleep.

Oikawa was still behind him, his arms around him but one of his hands had wandered under Tobio's shirt, teasingly touching the skin underneath. Meanwhile his lips were busy pressing kisses on his neck and Tobio was pretty sure that's what had woken him up.

Tobio must have made some unexpected movement that gave away that he was awake because Oikawa suddenly spoke between kisses. "Good morning, Tobio-chan. Did you sleep well?" 
He didn't even wait for a reply before placing more kisses on his skin.

"I -" He swallowed heavily. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Lovingly waking up my boyfriend, isn't it obvious?"

"I'm pretty sure that usually doesn't require your hands under my shirt."

"Maybe not. But where would be the fun in that?" He playfully nipped on his skin. "And your neck was just too tempting."

"My neck?"

"Yes. Irresistible. Just like you." He moved over until he was on top of Tobio, using his arms to keep most of his weight off him. He didn't even give Tobio a chance to react and just leaned down and kissed him.

Tobio made a noise that was half surprise and half protest, but relaxed into the kiss after a few moments and started kissing him back. Out of habit, he wrapped his arms around Oikawa's neck, only to be painfully reminded why that might not be the best idea right now.
He dropped the left arm back onto the mattress, instead bending it and placing his left hand on Oikawa's hip.

Oikawa didn't seem to mind that at all, the hand under Tobio's shirt moving even higher up on his chest.
He broke the kiss and whispered into his ear, "Careful with that shoulder, Tobio-chan. You don't want to make it worse."

"You're literally on top of me and you're telling me to be careful?"

"I am indeed. But in case you haven't noticed, I made sure not to put any pressure on your shoulder. I didn't even go near it."
Oikawa's hand continued caressing the skin under his shirt. "You've built up some muscle here, Tobio-chan. I remember how slim you used to be. Like you might break if a ball hit you the wrong way."

Tobio shivered. "That - It wasn't intentional? It just happens."

"Not to normal people, Tobio-chan. But with you? I'd even believe it." He moved down Tobio's body until he could place a kiss right next to his navel. 

"O-Oikawa, we really shouldn't -"

"Shouldn't?" He looked up at him. "Maybe not. But it seems like I just can't resist you." He traced the edge of his waistband with one finger. "Can you blame me for that?"

"I'm not blaming you, I -"

Oikawa had pushed himself back up so he was level with Tobio's face and cupped his cheek. "Shhh. I know." He kissed him again and this time he stayed there, slowly deepening the kiss as he laid down half on top, half next to Tobio, entangling their legs.

They were still kissing when Tobio's alarm went off.

Tobio tried to pull away so he could reach over and turn off the alarm, but Oikawa just put his hand on the back of his head and kept him in place. He made a noise of protest but Oikawa just broke the kiss for a very short moment, saying “Ignore it” before he continued kissing him.

It didn't take long for the door to open and Hajime to come in. "Tobio, why can't you ever turn your damn alarm off before you go running? You shouldn't even be -"
He froze when he noticed Oikawa and Tobio still on the bed. They had barely managed to break the kiss, meaning they were still quite tangled up in each other and Tobio's shirt was pushed halfway up his chest.

Hajime clenched his teeth and took a deep breath, then shook his head. "At least take the time to turn that alarm off if you have to make out this early in the morning."
Then he turned around and left Tobio's room.

Tobio stared at the door. Out of all the possibilities for his brother to react, this was the last one he would have expected.

Oikawa didn't seem to be bothered by it. He reached over to the nightstand to grab Tobio's phone and turn the alarm off.

"He… didn't get mad," Tobio said slowly.

"Did you expect him to?"

"Yes?" He turned his head and looked at him.

Oikawa chuckled and put his arm on Tobio's hips. "Iwa-chan isn't delusional. He knows that we've done more than share one or two innocent kisses. I think he just prefers to pretend that it's not happening and you're still the innocent little boy who kept following him around all the time."

"Then why does he keep telling you not to get any ideas and stuff like that?"

Oikawa shrugged. "That's just the protective big brother in him. He needs to at least try and protect your innocence."

“That sounds way worse than what we’ve actually done.”

“Are you suggesting we should change that?” Oikawa smiled innocently, but his thumb was teasingly caressing the skin tight above his waistband

"No, I am not. So don't get any ideas."

He sighed. "Now you sound exactly like him."

"... I have to get ready for school, in case you've forgotten about that. I can't just stay in bed with you." He said as he sat up, deciding he really didn't want to have this kind of conversation right now.

Oikawa wrapped his arms around him from behind, stopping him from getting up. He didn't say anything and just started kissing his neck again.

"Oikawa." Tobio said flatly, trying his best not to let the kisses affect him.

"Hmm?" He nuzzled his neck and placed more kisses on it.

"I need to get dressed."

"Do you really?"

"Yes? Hajime will actually get mad if I'm late. And even more mad if it's because of you."

"If I let you go, will you get dressed in here?"

"What?" Tobio turned his head but because of their position he still couldn't see much of Oikawa's face.

"If I let you go, will you get changed in here instead of the bathroom?" Oikawa repeated as his lips moved to the back of Tobio's neck.

"You can't be serious," Tobio said, his face getting rather red very quickly just by thinking about that possibility.

"But I am. And it's not like you have never gotten changed in front of me before." His hand wandered back under Tobio's shirt.

"You know exactly that's not the same thing."

"Only because you're making a big deal out of it."

"I'm not going to change my underwear in front of you." Tobio felt like his cheeks were on fire.

"Someday you will," Oikawa said quietly. "And you won't even worry about it." He sighed and placed one final kiss on his hurt shoulder, on top of the fabric.

"But at least take off your shirt so I can have a look at your shoulder. I want to see how bad the bruising is."

"Just the shirt?" Tobio asked tentatively.

"Just the shirt," Oikawa confirmed with a nod, releasing him from his arms but not moving away from him.

Tobio hesitated but then decided that being shirtless really shouldn't be that big of a deal. Even if he was sitting on his bed with his boyfriend.
He took off his shirt, careful not to move his left shoulder too much as he did so.
He kept his back to Oikawa, refusing to look at him.

For a few moments, nothing happened. Then he could feel gentle fingertips against his skin. "That's quite the bruise. How painful is it? Can you move your shoulder at all without it hurting?"

Tobio was thankful that Oikawa's voice sounded serious instead of his usual teasing. "Small movements are fine, but I wouldn't want to lift my arm unless I couldn't help it."

"You'll have to be careful during practice then," Oikawa said, placing a kiss on the bruise. "I know you will insist on participating, but you'll have to stick to running and things like that. No tosses, understood?"
He gave his hip a gentle pat. "Now go get dressed."

Tobio nodded and got up, walking over to the chair where Hajime had left his folded up uniform the night before.
Oikawa had laid back down on the bed and was watching him, but Tobio refused to acknowledge it.
"What are you going to do?" He asked instead, hoping the conversation would be enough to distract from the fact that he was still shirtless. He considered putting his shirt back on, but that just seemed like unnecessary strain on his shoulder considering he would need to put on his uniform shirt in a couple of minutes anyway.
Instead he picked up his uniform and went over to the wardrobe to grab some fresh socks and underwear.

"Hmm? Oh I'll be going to school with you, of course. What else would I be doing?"

"But - your suspension?" He turned around and looked at Oikawa after all, his arms full with his clothes.

"I am aware of that, Tobio-chan, but I need to go to school to explain the situation anyway. They told me to come in right away today.
I'm assuming it's because I'm in my last year and if the situation can be cleared up quickly, I can still attend most of my classes today."

"Then I'll come with you."

Oikawa blinked at him. "What?"

"I'll come with you. I've been told to tell them about the situation before practice but Mizoguchi didn't specify when. So if me telling him about what happened can help you in any way, I'll do it right away."

"You don't need to do that, Tobio-chan. You'll get in trouble for missing class. And I know that won't be an easy conversation for you to have."

"Which is exactly why I should get it over with, right? And having my boyfriend there to support me can't hurt either."

"Tobio-chan…" 

Tobio wasn't quite sure how to interpret the expression on Oikawa's face but if he had to guess he'd say that he was… moved?
He looked away, trying not to get embarrassed. "I'll go get dressed now. You might want to do the same if you're coming to school with us."

He quickly left his bedroom before Oikawa could answer. Thankfully he did not run into Hajime on the way, so he didn't have to explain why he wasn't wearing a shirt.

Chapter Text

The most surprising part of that morning was probably that they somehow made it to school in time. They even had a little time left to spare.
Between the amount of time it took Oikawa to get ready and him being overly clingy all morning, no matter what Tobio tried to do right then, Tobio had been sure they wouldn't even get there during first period.

It was probably Hajime's efforts that had made it possible, since Oikawa certainly wasn't any help and Tobio had enough to do with trying to make him keep his hands to himself.
It took multiple evil looks from Hajime and him finally threatening to break his wrists for Oikawa to stop. At least whenever Hajime was in the same room.

When they reached the school gates, they found Hanamaki and Matsukawa already waiting for them. 
"Ah finally," Hanamaki said. "We were starting to wonder if the three of you were even coming to school today."

"Wouldn't have been very surprising if you didn't after yesterday," Mattsun added and Tobio wondered how much they knew about everything that had happened.

Oikawa stopped in front of his friends, giving a careless little shrug. "Not much of a choice. They wanted to discuss the 'situation' right away."

"So no hiding, huh?" Hanamaki looked at Oikawa and Tobio noticed how his eyes wandered down to their joined hands for just a moment. "Have you seen the photo yet?"

"You got your hands on it?" Oikawa smirked, looking rather pleased. "Show me."

Hajime, who was standing on Tobio's other side, sighed deeply. "How bad is it?"

"Not too bad," Matsukawa answered soothingly as Hanamaki pulled out his phone and started tapping on the screen as he opened the picture. "Just two guys kissing. I doubt it would even have gathered much attention if Oikawa wasn't one of them."

Tobio and Oikawa shared a quick look and Tobio knew they were thinking the exact same thing. The photo had been taken during the break.
Relief flooded through him and he felt like he could breathe a little easier. Oikawa gave his hand a little squeeze while leaning over so he could see the screen of Hanamaki's phone.

"I think they got a rather nice shot," Hanamaki said with a grin. "Very clear and lovey-dovey. No one can easily explain that away."

Hajime looked as if he had just bitten into a lemon and Tobio had a feeling he was torn between not wanting to see the photo and wanting to just get it over with so no one could sneak it up on him.

"I think we look adorable," Oikawa said, already stealing the phone out of Hanamaki's hands. Probably to send the photo to himself.

"You always think you look adorable," Matsukawa said.

"Even more adorable then," Oikawa responded without looking up from the screen. "Look, Tobio-chan."
He suddenly turned the screen around so not just Tobio but also Hajime next to him could see it.

The photo was indeed one of them kissing during the break as Tobio could tell from the background and the fact that they were - well - standing. It was taken from such an angle that both of their faces were easily recognisable and there wasn't really left much to the imagination what exactly was happening between them.

Tobio blushed and turned his head away. It was weird to see himself like that and to know that other people had seen it as well.

"Who did you get it from?" Oikawa asked as he gave Hanamaki his phone back.

"I have my sources," Hanamaki said with a shrug. "But I think you could probably get it from almost anyone at this point. From what I heard it has been spreading like wildfire ever since lunch yesterday."

Matsukawa nodded. "Lost count of how many times I've been asked about it already. And some people really just don't want to accept what they see. Someone actually asked me whether it was part of a bet."
He looked at something behind Tobio. "But I guess if the two of you keep behaving like this, those questions will die down rather quickly."

Tobio wanted to turn around and see what he was looking at, but Oikawa used that moment to let go of his hand and wrap his arm around him instead, pulling him into his side and resting his hand on Tobio's waist.

"They're more than welcome to ask me about it as many times as they like," Oikawa said confidently. "The answer will always be the same." He placed a kiss on Tobio's cheek and Tobio could hear gasps behind him.
He tried not to blush.
Oikawa really was even more clingy than usual today and apparently did not see a reason to hold back his affections today, even with people watching them.

"Good luck dealing with all of that today, Tobio-kun," Matsukawa said, gesturing towards Oikawa. "Are you regretting your decision yet?"

"Rude, Mattsun! I can hear you." Oikawa stepped behind Tobio and wrapped his other arm around him as well, hugging him. "You're just jealous this is all mine."

"My condolences, Tobio-kun," Hanamaki said with a serious expression.

"Why are we friends again?" Oikawa pouted and buried his face in Tobio's neck. "Comfort me, Tobio-chan."

Hanamaki took a step over to Tobio and stage-whispered so everyone could hear, "Blink twice if you need us to help you escape."

"I - I'm fine," Tobio answered, a little flustered. "He's been like this all morning."

Hanamaki lifted an eyebrow. "All morning?"
He moved over to Matsukawa. "Looks like we missed something."

"It does look like it," Matsukawa answered with a nod. "The clothes should have given it away though."

Tobio frowned. What could possibly be wrong with their clothes? They were just wearing their school uniforms after all.

Hanamaki narrowed his eyes, taking a closer look at them. "You're right, I should have noticed that." He looked over at Hajime. "And Iwaizumi's pained face."

"Very true, he looks like he's seen something out of one of his nightmares come true."

Tobio glanced over at his brother. He didn't look very happy but far from what Matsukawa described.

"What did you see, Iwaizumi?" Hanamaki asked Hajime, with an expression that was apparently supposed to look sympathetic. "You can tell us. We're here for you."

Hajime was not amused. "I'm not giving you anything more to gossip over."

"Oh," Hanamaki looked delighted. "So there is something to gossip over. I'm intrigued.
Go on. Tell us more."

"I'm not saying anything," Hajime said, crossing his arms.

"Spoilsport," Hanamaki said with a pout. "We'll find out anyway sooner or later. Oikawa can never keep his mouth shut after all."

"Hey!" Oikawa protested immediately but was ignored by his friends.

"Maybe it was just the photo," Matsukawa suggested appeasingly.

"Hmm possible," Hanamaki agreed thoughtfully. "But sometimes I think there's something else."

"Mattsun," Oikawa interrupted suddenly, his voice a little more quiet. "Are those girls behind us finally done taking pictures?"

Tobio stiffened in Oikawa's arms. That's what they had been talking about earlier? Some people were taking pictures of them? Again?
Was that something that he would have to get used to now? Getting photographed at random times?

Matsukawa glanced over Oikawa's shoulder. "Done with pictures but still staring. Doesn't look like they're going to stop anytime soon.
You will either have to give them a proper show or we should just go inside. It's about time anyway."

"Hmm," Oikawa made a noncommittal noise and whispered into Tobio's ear. "What do you think, Tobio-chan? Should we give them a show?"

"No, you're not." There was sudden movement as Hajime apparently kicked Oikawa's butt, making him jump and let go of Tobio at once.

"Iwa-chan! That hurt!" He whined. "Why would you do that to me? I haven't even done anything and I'm already injured."

"Not injured enough apparently with how you're behaving."

Oikawa started arguing back but Tobio was distracted from it by an arm wrapping around his shoulders. He turned his head to find it was Hanamaki's. 

"I really do not envy you for getting to deal with that for the rest of your life."

"I wouldn't envy myself either," Tobio responded and Hanamaki laughed.

"Let's head inside. We'll see how long it takes them to realise you're gone."
He pulled Tobio with him as he and Matsukawa started heading through the gates and towards the school building.

"Hanamaki?" Tobio asked quietly. "What happened yesterday at practice? After Oikawa left, I mean. He told us about punching those two guys but I have no idea if there's anything else I should know."

Hanamaki looked at him, finally taking his arm off Tobio's shoulders. "Ah. Not much, really. People started talking obviously. I mean, when have you ever seen Oikawa get that violent? That's usually Iwaizumi and even then it's nothing serious. Not like this." He made a face. "Basically Mizoguchi made Oikawa leave first and then those idiots so they wouldn't run into each other on the way out. The rest of us had to stay, stretch and clean up until the three of them were gone.
I guess he didn't want us to ask them about the fight or something like that."

"Did - Did anyone hear what they said to Oikawa?" Tobio bit his lip nervously.

"Not that I know of. They were mostly wondering what happened and if it had to do with the kiss photo. A few of them asked us about it, but obviously we couldn't tell them much either. Not that we would have anyway."

"You should probably try not to walk around on your own today," Matsukawa said seriously. "People are less likely to harass and ask you questions if you're with somebody else."

Tobio turned to him as they entered the main building. "You think it's going to be that bad?"

"The photo by itself would probably be enough for that, but if anyone figures out that that fight yesterday was about you as well? Yeah, I'd say that's a lot of stuff to be curious about. And you know how things can get when Oikawa is involved."

Tobio looked from one to the other. "You're rather familiar with that, aren't you?"

Hanamaki shrugged. "Comes with being friends with him. Although I'm sure I don't need to tell you about that."

"We weren't - friends before." Tobio said, scratching the back of his neck. "I just happened to know him because of who my older brother is."

For some reason, Hanamaki was grinning then and Matsukawa looked like he was trying and failing not to do the same.

"That's more than enough for most people," Matsukawa said. "And now you two have basically created the perfect topic for everyone to talk about."

"Exactly," Hanamaki agreed, nodding a couple of times to show how strongly he agreed. "Oikawa is dating again after weeks of nothing - which was quite the story by itself, I'll have you know and it was not fun to deal with - and then it's not even a girl he's dating."

"And there's photographic proof of it."

"So yeah. Prepare for lots of attention, unwanted questions and unsolicited comments."

Matsukawa gave him a sympathetic look. "You're the more approachable one out of the two of you because they haven't created this picture-perfect image of you and put you on a pedestal like everyone seems to do with him."

"We know that's not actually the case, but you need to keep in mind that most people don't know him that well. They only see what they want to see."

"Or what he wants them to see."

"Very true," Hanamaki nodded again.

"I doubt it can get much worse than what happened yesterday," Tobio said quietly, not realising that neither of them knew about the incident in the changing rooms until he noticed their confused faces.
He quickly shook his head. "Nevermind. I'm just -
I have been dealing with attention because of my connection to both Hajime and Oikawa all my life. I know that this will be different because it actually concerns me this time, but that's not news to me.
This was going to happen anyway sooner or later if we didn't want to hide forever.
I can handle it as long as it's just words."

Hanamaki and Matsukawa shared a look and didn't reply to that.

Chapter Text

Oikawa and Hajime caught up to them a few moments later, just as they reached the floor where the classrooms of the third years were.
Hajime gave Tobio a slightly worried look but relaxed once he noticed he was still with Matsukawa and Hanamaki.

"Tobio-chan!" Oikawa immediately took Tobio's hand and pulled him close, pouting a little. "Why did you just leave?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Tobio could see Hanamaki and Matsukawa smirking.

"You were busy with Hajime," he said simply. He really hadn't had any reason to stay and watch that. "I'm not going to stay glued to your side just because we're together."

"But I missed you."

Hanamaki and Matsukawa were trying very hard not to laugh, but Tobio could still hear them.

"We were separated for like five minutes. Maybe ten. And you were distracted. When would you even have had time to miss me?"

Before Oikawa could answer, Hanamaki gave him a nudge. "Get a room, you two. Not everyone wants to listen to your flirting."

Tobio shifted uncomfortably and avoided looking at his brother. He really didn't want to see his reaction to that kind of comment.

"It's not my fault you don't have a cute boyfriend to flirt with," Oikawa said with a shrug, putting on an air of superiority.

Hanamaki looked over at Matsukawa and grinned and Tobio got the distinctive feeling that he was missing something.

"Let's just get going," Hajime said, sounding rather exhausted already. "Class is about to start."

Matsukawa nodded and the two turned towards the classrooms.
Hanamaki shot Oikawa and Tobio a wide smirk. "Behave," he said and then hurried after the others.

“He can’t really think we’re just going to start making out as soon as they leave us alone, right?” Tobio asked as he watched them leave.

“Isn’t that exactly what we did yesterday, Tobio-chan?” Oikawa asked with a smug smile, then glanced at his watch. “We should get going, too. As much as I’d prefer actually following Makki’s advice and finding somewhere quiet, we have a few matters to take care of.”
He pulled him along down the hallway until they reached one of the smaller unused classrooms.
He knocked and opened the door as soon as he got a reply.

Tobio was a little surprised to find both Mizoguchi and Irihata waiting for them - or rather waiting for Oikawa - but considering Oikawa was the captain of the team, they were probably just taking the matter rather seriously.

Oikawa greeted them politely, but Mizoguchi frowned when he noticed Tobio.

"Iwaizumi-kun? What are you doing here?" His eyes wandered down to their still joined hands before quickly moving away again.

"I uh -" Tobio started awkwardly. "I'm here to talk about what happened yesterday. It matters to Oikawa's case as well."

"Just sit down. Both of you." Irihata said, obviously not in the mood to waste time.

They moved over to some nearby chairs and sat down. Due to the distance between them, Oikawa was forced to finally let go of Tobio’s hand.

“How is your shoulder, Iwaizumi-kun?” Mizoguchi asked gently and it just went from there.
Over the course of the next hour, Tobio once again recounted everything that had happened in that changing room and he was thankful that Oikawa was with him as the disbelieving looks he got from the coaches from time to time would have felt much worse without his steady presence by his side.
It was rather reassuring to be able to look over to him and quickly confirm if a matter should be shared or kept to themselves, like the type of relationship they had and the contents of the photo those guys had tried to blackmail him with.
Unfortunately they didn’t have much of a choice about it considering their relationship was one of the main points that they had tried to use against them.

Neither of their coaches commented on anything he had said and asked Oikawa to tell them about the fight instead.

Oikawa leaned forward and started calmly telling them about what happened.
It was rather unusual for Tobio to see him like this, he rarely saw him interact with teachers and other people he needed to show deference to, but it was easy to recognise why the teachers would find him charming and attentive.

“So that’s how it is,” Mizoguchi said finally, his arms crossed. “That is indeed a problem.”
He looked over at Irihata who just nodded.
“But it does not excuse starting a fight. Your personal matters cannot affect the team.”

Tobio swallowed heavily. That did not sound good.

“However. Under these circumstances and because this was a momentary lapse in judgment, we will let it slide just this once. You are free to return to your classes. We will see you later at practice.”

Almost not believing his ears, Tobio thanked them and got up, but before either him or Oikawa could reach the door Irihata spoke up.
“I don’t care what you do in your free time, but all of this stays off the court. Understood?”

It wasn’t that hard to get what he really meant. They nodded and finally left the room.

Tobio let out a sigh of relief once the door closed behind them. He wanted to say something, but instead he found himself pushed up against the wall with Oikawa’s lips against his. 

“Let’s get out of here. We still have ten minutes before the next period.”

Needless to say that Tobio did not make it to his classroom in time.
It was rather uncomfortable to have to go up to his teacher and explain where it had been while hoping that he didn’t look as if someone just had their tongue down his throat.
Thankfully his teacher didn’t seem too interested in his story and just told him to sit down.
Tobio did his best to ignore the stares of his classmates and sat down.

He barely paid attention in class. By the time it was time for their lunch break, he could already barely remember anything their teacher had talked about.
He went outside with Kunimi and Kindaichi, thankful to finally get out of the sticky classroom where everyone was staring at him constantly.
Not that it was much better outside.
The attention never seemed to fully go away, no matter where he went.

His friends seemed to notice that Tobio wasn’t really in a mood to talk and didn’t try to make him. They just stayed by his side while carrying on their own conversation.

They were walking around a bit to stretch their legs when Kindaichi suddenly spoke up, just loud enough that both Tobio and Kunimi could hear him. "These girls have been following us for at least five minutes now. Shouldn't we say something? This is getting rather ridiculous."

"Just ignore them," Kunimi said. "If we don't, it'll only be an encouragement. And not just for them, but for everyone."

"I'm sorry you have to deal with this because of me," Tobio said quietly. 

Kunimi shrugged. "Better this than the screaming fangirls. This version is easy to ignore at least."

"And it's not like they're interested in us anyway," Kindaichi added, sounding only a little annoyed.

"They're not really interested in me either," Tobio pointed out. 

"You're literally dating the most popular guy in the whole school. Of course they're interested in you."

"Because of Oikawa. They're interested in him. And probably why the heck he'd choose me over all the girls he could pick from."

Kindaichi looked rather uncomfortable now. "Well. I guess that's true but that's not your fault. That choice is his, obviously."

"Won't stop them from blaming me for it, will it?"

Kunimi gave him a concerned look. "Did someone say something like that to you?"

Tobio ran his fingers through his hair. "No. Nothing like that." For a moment, he considered mentioning what had actually been said to his face, but then decided not to. He had had to relive that memory enough times since it happened. "But it honestly wouldn't surprise me if that's what they're thinking."

Kunimi was apparently also thinking about the day before because he looked at Tobio's shoulder. "How is your shoulder?"

"A bruise," Tobio unconsciously reached over to touch his injured shoulder, rubbing it. "Can't lift my arm without pain, so I can't do any tosses today."

"That's unfortunate." Kunimi said as his eyes followed the movement. There was a strange look in his eyes for just a moment, but then it was gone again. "But at least it isn't anything worse."

Tobio nodded. He was glad about that part.

"So we'll only have one setter out of three today?" Kindaichi asked.

"No," Tobio shook his head. The others looked at him in confusion so he added, "Oikawa's suspension has been retracted."

"Already? That was really quick," Kindaichi said.

"That's why I came to class later. We were explaining the situation to the coaches."

"Ah that makes sense then. Glad the situation has been resolved already."

Kunimi looked at Tobio. "But if Oikawa's actually here, why are you spending the break with us?"

Tobio blinked at him. "Why not? You're my friends."

Kunimi shared a look that spoke of long suffering with Kindaichi. "We're talking about the guy that has caused school-wide gossip by coming to our classroom just to fetch you. Twice."

"He just wanted -"

"To talk? Sure he did. That's why you have love bites all over the back of your neck."

"What?" Tobio flushed and quickly reached up to cover the back of his neck with his hand. "How -"

"I'd say you should know how they got there, but you didn't even know that they're there?"

"N-No," Tobio rubbed his skin, but obviously he couldn't feel anything there.

Kindaichi moved behind him and pulled his hand away so he could have a look.
He laughed. "He was very thorough, I'll give him that."

Tobio groaned. "How has no one even mentioned this to me?"

Kunimi shrugged. "It was probably hidden by your shirt collar most of the time. I only noticed because your shirt exposed the skin when you were rubbing your shoulder. So you might want to make sure that stays in place for the rest of the day."

"Hajime is going to kill me if he sees this." Tobio quickly fixed his collar. He was tempted to button up his shirt all the way to be sure that nothing was exposed but it was just too warm for that and would have looked really awkward. And suspicious, probably.

"Then I hope whatever you two did was worth dying for," Kindaichi said, still snickering.

"We didn't do anything!" Tobio protested, his cheeks burning.

"No? How do you explain the hickeys then?"

Tobio didn't know how to answer that. He could only assume that the love bites were a result of this morning, whether it was while he had still been asleep or afterwards. He could remember multiple times where Oikawa's lips had been kissing that particular area.

"That naughty, huh? Can't even tell us?" Kindaichi snorted, seemingly having the time of his life.

"I just don't know when it happened, okay?"

Kindaichi lifted both eyebrows. "I see. So there have been multiple occasions then."

Tobio made a rather loud noise of frustration.

"I'd rather not hear any details anyway," Kunimi said calmly and they both stared at him. 

Kunimi shrugged. "It's their relationship. What happens between them should stay between them." He glanced over at Tobio. His neck specifically. "Although Oikawa seems to be the type to share just a bit too much."

"He's… open with his affections."

"I can imagine that. But please don't make out right next to the court. No one wants to see that."

Kindaichi coughed. "I'm not so sure about that. Considering how quickly that photo went around, I think a lot of people would actually really like to see that."

Tobio's only response was a loud groan.

Chapter Text

Tobio wasn't quite sure how he made it through the rest of the school day, but somehow he did.
And he was still waiting for the ball to drop.

No one had dared to approach him so far and he was starting to wonder whether maybe the photo had been enough confirmation so people didn't feel the need to ask him directly.
That didn't stop the staring though. It felt like everyone was watching him, waiting for something to happen and he had no idea what it was.

But it didn't take him too long to find out.

When he left his classroom with Kunimi and Kindaichi, there were unusually many people milling around in the hallway for apparently no reason at all. 
Tobio found that rather confusing as most people who didn't have any club activities after class would just head home and those who did usually just wouldn't waste their time here in the first place.

Then he heard someone calling his name and he knew exactly what was causing all this strange behaviour.
Tobio turned around in the direction of the voice, but to his surprise it wasn't just Oikawa, but all of the Seijoh Four heading towards them.

No wonder everyone was suddenly so interested in the first year classrooms.

Tobio closed his eyes for just a moment, hoping against hope that there was a good reason for this.

"Oh my, the king and the entire royal court," Kindaichi said quietly behind him. "Are we having a wedding reception or is this some kind of ritual you have to go through?"

Tobio shot him a look. "I have no idea what they're all doing here."

"But you can't deny that's exactly what it looks like with everyone making space to let them through."

Tobio had to admit that much. It really was a fitting comparison.

"I would attribute that particular fact to the expression on the knight's face." Kunimi said.

"You mean Iwaizumi-san?" Kindaichi said, nodding. "Very fitting."

"You two are really asking for them to hear you," Tobio replied quietly just as the other four finally reached them. 

"Tobio-chan!" Oikawa said, smiling brightly.

"Oikawa," Tobio said quietly, very aware of the fact that it got noticeably quieter around them as people tried to listen to their conversation. "What exactly are you doing here?"

"Picking you up for practice, of course," Oikawa said as he took his hand. 

Tobio could hear some audible gasps around them. He looked at the other three. "All four of you?"

Hanamaki shrugged and grinned. "Iwaizumi didn't want to risk leaving you two alone, so we decided to tag along and enjoy the show."

"Show?" Tobio frowned at him.

"You know," he said carelessly. "Oikawa trying to be all over you while Iwaizumi tries to stop him."

Hajime looked very much not amused by what his friend was saying, but Oikawa seemed to not even be listening to the conversation.

"Tobio-chan, where were you during lunch break? You didn't even answer my texts."

"I was having lunch with my friends," he gestured at Kindaichi and Kunimi next to him. He had a feeling they were both fighting to keep a straight face. "I didn't have my phone with me."

Oikawa sighed and wanted to answer but Tobio quickly stepped closer to him and interrupted before he could. 
"Can we please continue this conversation somewhere else? We're getting a bit too much attention right now," he whispered so only Oikawa could hear him.

"Do you not want to be seen with me, Tobio-chan?" Oikawa asked teasingly but just as quietly.

"You know that's not what I'm talking about."

Oikawa leaned over to Tobio's ear so he could whisper right into it. "Maybe we should just give them what they're waiting for."

Before Tobio even had a chance to react, Oikawa had been pulled back by Hajime.
"You really have zero self-control." He shot his best friend a warning glare. 

"Iwa-chan!" Oikawa complained, moving around until he could escape Hajime's grip on his shirt. "I didn't even do anything this time."

"This time," Hajime repeated pointedly before turning to Tobio, Kunimi and Kindaichi. "Let's get going, we need to head to practice."

Tobio nodded and the three of them followed the third years down the corridor and to the stairs that would lead them outside.

"Is this something we need to get used to now?" Kunimi asked, loud enough that Hanamaki in front of him heard him and turned around.

"Honest answer? Yes. That and worse. You should have seen them this morning," Hanamaki said with a smirk.

Kindaichi looked over at Tobio but Tobio refused to acknowledge it.

"I doubt it can be as bad as that photo," Kunimi said, sounding a little bored and like he wished the conversation was over already.

"Well there wasn't any actual kissing but I think it's just a matter of time until we all get to witness that."

"Basically unavoidable," Matsukawa agreed.

Tobio didn't even know what to say to this conversation, so he tried his best not to listen in the first place. It was embarrassing enough to know that they were most likely right.
He glanced over at Oikawa and Hajime who were at the head of their group, wanting to see whether they had paid any attention to what had been going on behind them, and caught Oikawa’s gaze.
He blushed and quickly looked away.
Great. Now Oikawa probably thought he had been staring at him the whole time.

They reached the changing rooms that were thankfully empty and got dressed. Tobio turned his back to the room as he struggled with changing his shirt.
He had a feeling that Hajime was probably using the opportunity to have a look at the bruise on his shoulder, but it took him a moment to realise that the bruise wasn’t what he should be worried about.
He quickly turned around and looked over at his brother, but unexpectedly, Hajime wasn’t even looking at him and didn’t seem to have noticed anything.
As Tobio glanced around the room, his eyes met Kunimi’s.

“It’s fine,” Kunimi said quietly. “No one noticed. Just put your shirt on.”

Tobio nodded and quickly pulled his shirt on, ignoring the pain the movement caused. “Did you … Did you look at it?” He asked Kunimi, keeping his voice down.

“The bruise? Yes. Not pretty.”

A wave of thankfulness for his friend flooded over Tobio and he gave him a quick smile. “I’m somehow not surprised by that.”

Kunimi leaned a bit closer to him. “In all seriousness though, that shirt doesn’t cover much at all. You might want to try and stay away from your brother during training if you don’t want him to see it.”

“I guess it’s good then that I can’t participate normally anyway,” Tobio said with a sigh. “How likely is it that no one will notice until I can change back into my other shirt again?”

Kunimi didn’t answer but the look he gave him told Tobio everything he needed to know.
Not likely at all.
He really needed to have some words about this with Oikawa.

As they left the changing rooms, Tobio made sure to be the last one to head out. Even if he couldn’t fully avoid it, he needed to at least try.
He had just stepped through the door to the changing rooms, when someone grabbed his wrist and Tobio quickly turned around, already expecting those bullies to be attacking him again.

“Tobio-chan.”

He relaxed when he noticed who it was who had stopped him and that the hand on his wrist was actually rather gentle.
“Oikawa.”