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Sometimes, Miwa feels like she should visit home more often. Not to see her parents, since they’re on business trips around or even outside of the country more often than not, but to check up on her little brother.
Tobio’s almost an adult now, and he’s a good kid overall, serious, earnest, and self-sufficient for the most part, but there’s always going to be some part of Miwa that can’t help but see him as her baby bro, the one she cradled in her arms with awe in her eyes after her parents brought him home from the hospital.
It hasn’t been that long since she’s seen Tobio to be honest. They met up right before the school year began so she could give him a trim after he complained about his bangs being too long. She had teased him about getting a more stylish cut since he was basically on his way to being a hotshot pro athlete after high school, but Tobio stuck to his initial request, and she had cut everything neat and tidy.
Still, it wouldn’t hurt to come home and see him, maybe even catch her parents on the off chance that they’re around, too. Miwa’s busy at work all week, but she manages to get the weekend off. Usually she’d be out with friends, but a lazy weekend with Tobio is probably better for her mental health honestly.
I’m coming to visit this weekend, she had texted earlier in the week. Will be there sometime on Saturday.
Ok. Tobio’s a boring texter, but at least he’s generally quick to reply. Sometimes it’s the only way she knows he’s still alive and not in trouble.
Saturday gets off to a bit of a rough start after she wakes up and realizes it’s almost 11am, but she manages to pack and get to the train station right before the noon train is leaving.
It’s early afternoon when she arrives in her hometown, and the station, as usual, is only sparsely filled. She’d probably never move back home full-time, but sometimes it is nice to avoid the city crowds.
Omw, she texts. 15 min. Are you home?
Tobio sends back a sticker of a cat with its thumb up, leaving Miwa to wonder who taught him how to use that since it certainly wasn’t her. It’s nice to see her little bro advance in the tech world though.
“I’m home!” Miwa calls as she enters the front door. It had taken her a few minutes to find the right key to the house, but she’s just glad that she hadn’t ended up needing to knock.
“… Welcome back,” Tobio replies, a few seconds behind. His head pops up from behind the couch, and from how his hair is a mess, strands going every which way, Miwa assumes that he just woke up from a nap.
“No plans for today?” Miwa slips her shoes off before making her way to the couch where Tobio is curled up. “I thought you’d be out training at least. Or watching some match vids if you were at home.”
“M’sore,” he mumbles, leaning his cheek against the couch cushions. Tobio always looks like a little kid again when he’s half-asleep, and Miwa has to resist the urge to pinch his cheek. “Taking a break today.”
“Practice has been rough, huh?” Miwa reaches to slide a hand through Tobio’s hair, scratching her nails gently against his scalp. It’s how she used to make him feel better as a little kid, whenever he was sick or too tired. He used to stretch out across her lap whenever she did it, too. He’s too big for that now, but she can still keep up part of the tradition at least.
Tobio doesn’t answer, but he tilts his head further into her touch, like a cat asking to be pet. That movement causes his shirt to shift further down, revealing a mark on the back of his neck, a dark purple bruise, clearly in the shape of someone’s mouth.
“Tobio,” Miwa says, using her other hand to tilt his head so she can get a better look, “is this a hickey?”
“Is what a hickey?” The blank look on Tobio’s face doesn’t bode well for whoever left that mark on him. He tries to twist around to get a look, but with the position it’s in, it’s impossible to see unless you’re someone else or have a mirror.
“Stay still for a second.” Miwa pulls out her phone from her bag and snaps a quick photo as Tobio grumbles but doesn’t move. “Someone really did a number on you. Unless you decided to put the vacuum cleaner to your neck for fun.”
She flips her phone over so Tobio can see the picture. “What the hell?” He runs a hand over the back of his neck, right where the mark is. “When did Tsukishima even—“ Tobio’s mouth clamps shut after that, a heavy frown downturning his mouth.
Tsukishima, huh? Miwa thinks. Vaguely, she feels like she’s heard that name from somewhere, maybe one of Tobio’s teammates on the volleyball team or something. “Your boyfriend likes to bite, I guess,” she offers, aiming for teasing.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Tobio says, scowling. “He’s just. You know. We play volleyball together.”
“Okay, well is he nice at least?” Miwa doesn’t really care if Tobio’s not dating whoever gave him the hickey, but she hopes that this Tsukishima guy isn’t some kind of jerk. Her little bro can take care of himself, but that doesn’t mean she’s not going to want to hurt whoever treats him badly.
“Well,” Tobio says, which is not a good sign. “He’s, uh, he can be? Probably.” Miwa is already despairing over his taste in men. A jerk who likes to bite. His only saving grace, to Tobio at least, is being a volleyball player.
“Tell him not to give you a hickey next time,” she advises. “If he doesn’t listen, let me know and I’ll go get grandpa’s old gardening shears.” Miwa doesn’t normally condone violence, but she’s willing to make an exception for Tobio.
“… Okay, nee-san,” Tobio says, though the furrow in his brow tells her that he doesn’t understand how that’ll help. “I will.”
Miwa sighs. “Alright, good enough. Now tell me what you want to eat tonight. I’m only going to be here for the weekend so get all your requests in now.”
“Curry,” Tobio says automatically because he’s predictable like that. At least it’s pretty easy to make.
Miwa isn’t necessarily nosy about Tobio’s relationship, but she does text him how’s lover boy? every now and then to make sure they’re okay.
He’s fine, is Tobio’s usual reply. Or sometimes, Tsukishima’s blocks are getting even better because even when it comes to dating, her little bro’s going to have volleyball on the brain.
Tsukishima never upgrades to nice from what Miwa can tell, but Tobio’s feelings toward him seem to soften up nonetheless. She’s glad that things seem to be going well at least.
“Nee-san, what should I do if someone starts avoiding me for no reason?” Tobio rarely calls her, and to have him asking her this of all things is even more surprising.
“Is this about Tsukishima?” Miwa asks. “Do you need me to get the garden shears?”
“No,” Tobio says, “I can get them myself. I just want him to talk to me, and he keeps running away.”
“Did something happen? It seemed like you guys were doing alright before.”
“I don’t know.” Tobio’s voice dips, sullen. Miwa can already imagine him sulking now. “It was normal last Friday. He was going to spend the night, but then he rushed out during dinner and hasn’t talked to me since.”
Miwa considers calling Tobio out for having his boyfriend over all the time, taking advantage of their parents’ extended absences, but now’s not the time to get into the weeds with all that. “Maybe just give him some time,” she says. “He might be stressed about some other things. It’s basically college entrance exam time right now, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Tobio says. “I guess I’ll just wait a few days for now.”
“You can always chase him down, too, if he’s still avoiding you after that” Miwa offers. “You’re faster than him, aren’t you?”
“Of course!” He almost sounds offended that she would even suggest otherwise.
A few more weeks go by after that, and Miwa’s too busy to pay much mind to what’s going on with her little brother’s love life. It’s not until Tobio texts her late one night, an uncharacteristic move since he’s usually asleep by 10, that she remembers what’s going on.
We’re okay now, Tobio texts. Kei’s just stupid.
Congrats on upgrading to first name basis, Miwa texts back. I’ll have the garden shears ready the next time he’s being stupid.
Miwa finally gets to meet the infamous Tsukishima during Karasuno’s graduation. He’s tall and blond, and when she first sees him, he’s stoically holding up another man who’s crying into his shoulder.
“I can’t believe how much you’ve grown up, Kei!” the man manages to get out through sniffles. “It’s like it was just yesterday that you were a baby in my arms…”
“Nii-chan, I hate you right now,” Tsukishima says, but he still hugs his older brother back.
“I’m just so proud of you!” The man finally straightens up, wiping tears away from his eyes. “You’ve come so far. You’re graduating high school and you’re off to college. And you even have a boy—!”
“Please don’t finish that sentence.”
They manage to actually get through introductions a few minutes after that, after Tsukishima’s brother had dried his eyes enough and calmed himself down so that it’s not awkward to approach them.
“Nee-san, this is Kei and Akiteru-san, his older brother,” Tobio says, with a nod in each of their directions. “Kei, Akiteru-san, this is Miwa-nee.”
“Oh, it’s nice to meet you, Miwa-san,” Akiteru says, with a slight bow of his head. “I didn’t know Kageyama had an older sister.”
“Nice to meet you,” Tsukishima says, perfectly polite, though the way his back has tensed up is a subtle sign of his nerves. Miwa considers letting him off the hook today; it’s his graduation after all, and Tobio obviously wants them to get along if he’s introducing her to his boyfriend.
She’s an older sister though, and teasing younger brothers is what she lives for. She still remembers those few arduous weeks during the beginning of the year too, when Tsukishima had been driving Tobio crazy with his avoidance.
“Hmm, so you’re the boyfriend, huh?” she says, giving him an appraising once over just to see him squirm. “I hope you’ve been treating Tobio well. He’s my cute little brother, you know, and I’d hate to see him hurt.”
“Nee-san, I told you that the garden shears weren’t needed anymore,” Tobio says, which is incredibly funny since both Tsukishima and his brother blanch at the implication.
“No,” Tsukishima says, face flushed pink. It’s almost cute how embarrassed a big guy like him can get. “I wouldn’t do that to him.”
“I’m sure,” Miwa says, and then, since she can’t keep up the ruse any longer, she laughs. “Don’t worry, I just wanted to try doing that at least once. It’s good to meet you, too.”
Akiteru jumps in to take over the conversation then, gushing so much about his little brother’s positive traits that Miwa is almost convinced that he’s trying to get her to date Tsukishima instead. It’s not necessary; if Tobio thinks Tsukishima is fine, then that’s fine enough with her. But it’s amusing to see how flustered Akiteru gets, so she lets him continue, nodding along sagely every now and then, even if she’s mostly tuning him out.
“Hey, we’re going to say hi to our old senpais for a little bit,” Tobio says, breaking in once Akiteru has to take a second to catch his breath. Tsukishima is looking somewhere in the distance, like if he ignores his older brother enough, he can pretend he doesn’t exist. “We’ll be back soon.”
Miwa waves them off. “Go have fun. Text me if you’re going to stay for a while, though, and I’ll just head home first.”
“Kei really is a good kid,” Akiteru says earnestly once their little brothers are gone. “I know that there were some issues between him and Kageyama before, but it’s been worked out now.”
“I know,” Miwa says, with a good-natured roll of her eyes. “No need to gas him up to me so much. If Tobio’s happy, then I’m happy, too.”
“So, no garden shears?”
“No garden shears.” She pauses for a moment, considering. “Not right now at least.”
Later that night when Miwa and Tobio are alone together on the back porch of the house, she nudges his shoulder. “Tsukishima seemed nice.” Well, maybe “nice” isn’t really the best way to describe him, but it was clear how much Tsukishima liked her brother at least.
“He’s not,” Tobio says, “but that’s fine.”
“Tsukishima, is that you?” Miwa slides her sunglasses up to her forehead to get a better look, and yes, that’s her little brother’s boyfriend sitting at a table outside of a popular new cafe. What a small world.
“Miwa-san,” Tsukishima greets, with a polite tilt of his head. “Are you out shopping?”
“Yeah, I’m having a bit of a ‘treat yourself’ day,” she explains, lifting up the various bags in her hands. “What about you?”
“Just taking a break from studying,” he says. “This cafe is supposed to be good, so I wanted to try it. If you’re free, you can join me if you want?” Miwa assumes that he’s just being polite, and she probably should refuse the offer, but honestly, she’s kind of in need of a break after the last few hours of shopping she’s done.
“If you don’t mind too much,” she says, a grateful smile on her face as she sets her bags down and slides into the other seat at his small table. “I won’t take up too much of your time."
“It’s fine. I’m free until the evening anyway.” Tsukishima raises his hand to catch the waitress’s attention, and she quickly brings Miwa a menu to look at.
“What’s in the evening? You have some fun plans with friends or something?” Miwa asks, as she skims over the menu. The cafe has both trendy drinks and more simple, classic ones, and she debates over which she should get. She’d prefer to drink something simple honestly, but a trendy drink always makes for good social media pictures.
“Something like that,” he says, and Miwa knows when someone isn’t up for giving out details, so she just hums in acknowledgement as she tries to make her final decision what to get.
“How’ve you been?” she asks after she places her order with the waitress. In the end, she just went with a simple herbal tea and a chocolate croissant, no social media pictures required. “I know Tobio’s been busy as hell with the Adlers, but I’m sure college is a different beast.”
“Busy. The workload is heavier, but I’m not in class as often as high school at least.” Tsukishima takes a bite of the half-eaten cake on his plate, chewing and swallowing before he continues. “I’m also trying to see if I can join Sendai’s Division 2 team, if not this year than next year.”
Miwa is about to ask Tsukishima more about the tryout plans when a chime interrupts her. It’s not her phone, which is always set to vibrate, so it has to be Tsukishima’s. He has it out face up on the table, which lets her see his lock screen as it lights up.
It’s a picture of Tobio, his hair damp and messy, with his face half-pressed into a pillow. It’s cute—as well as incredibly sappy—and she can’t help but grin. “Cute photo,” she says, giving Tsukishima a knowing look.
Tsukishima doesn’t blush, but it’s a close thing. “It’s one of the only good photos he’s sent me,” he says, quickly picking up his phone so it’s out of her view. Apparently whatever message he received is even worse than Miwa’s teasing though, since whatever is on the screen actually has his blushing bright red.
“Oh man, what did you get?” Miwa leans forward, curious, even if she knows there’s no way he’s going to show her his phone.
“It’s nothing,” Tsukishima says, too quickly for it to be actually nothing. He shoves his phone into his pocket before picking up his fork and taking a vigorous bite of cake.
Miwa probably shouldn’t push, but she’s too curious now, so she forges ahead. “Who was it from? Tobio?”
“It wasn’t from him.” Oh, so it was definitely from Tobio. Miwa takes a moment to think. What could her brother send his boyfriend that would get him so embarrassed. It takes a moment for the dots to connect, but when they do, Miwa can’t help but laugh.
“Did he send you nudes? In the middle of the day?” She’s smart enough to keep her voice relatively low though, not wanting to embarrass either of them in public.
“He didn’t!” Tsukishima’s voice is too loud, so he has to drop his volume abruptly when a nearby table gives them a dirty look. “They’re not—they all suck anyway, so it doesn’t even matter.” So Tobio did send his boyfriend nudes in the middle of the day, and they may or may not suck, but Tsukishima is enough in love that it doesn’t even matter.
“I’m not going to ask for details,” Miwa says, raising her hands in surrender. She definitely doesn’t want to see her little brother naked, even if this whole situation is infinitely funny to her from an outside perspective. “But, like, maybe try not to be so obvious about what’s being sent if you don’t want people to ask questions.”
“I regret asking you to sit with me,” Tsukishima mutters, which is fair honestly.
“We’ll make Tobio off limits for the rest of the meal, how about that?” she offers. “Tell me about your plans for trying out for a team, at least. I really do want to know about that.”
They do manage to have a pleasant enough conversation after that, which is probably helped by the fact that Miwa treats Tsukishima to another piece of cake as an apology for teasing him.
Maybe it’s some kind of older sister sense, but the day Tobio leaves for Italy, Miwa calls Kei to check up on him.
“I’m fine,” Kei says, no hello. He’s probably been fielding calls from well-meaning friends and family all week, so Miwa doesn’t blame him for his curtness. She probably wouldn’t have even picked up honestly. “It’s not the end of the world just because the king is out of the country.”
“You still use that nickname for him?” she asks, not bothering to hide her amusement. Miwa knows the backstory behind the name, which she finds kind of overdramatic, but that’s teenage boys for you. The fact that Kei still uses it after all these years is cute though.
“Miwa-san.” Kei’s voice is so aggrieved that she refrains from teasing him too much. It seems like he’s been through more than enough lately, especially with Tobio moving thousands of miles away.
“Do you wanna go out for dinner tonight? My treat.” Kei’s an adult and can take care of himself, but he’s also basically another little brother to Miwa now. She can’t let him sulk by himself if she can help it. Also, it’s not like Kei eats all that much anyway, especially for a professional athlete. Her wallet will be able to handle his appetite.
There’s a 70/30 chance of him saying “no,” so when Kei says yes, after a too long pause where he leaves her hanging, Miwa is mostly just surprised that he didn’t try harder to get out of the invitation. Tobio leaving really must have done a number on him.
They go to a yakiniku restaurant that Miwa likes to frequent with her coworkers after a long day of work. Kei, she knows, won’t really care either way about the food there, but there’s also a nice French bakery close by that’s open late. If he’s still down after dinner, they can stop by and get some cake.
They’re taken to their own private section, another reason why Miwa chose this place, and since Kei pushes the menu over to her when the waiter brings it to their table, she ends up choosing what to get. At least she knows what he likes and dislikes by now after all the times they’ve eaten together, as well as all the times Tobio has called to tell her about not-as-riveting-as-he-thinks meals he’s made to get Kei to eat more.
They sit in silence for a while after they order, and Miwa doesn’t bother to push Kei into talking. He’ll spill everything eventually, she knows. It takes a few more minutes after their food comes and they begin eating for it to happen, but it does happen.
“I’m not mad at him,” Kei begins, but he stops himself just as abruptly, his mouth twisting as if there’s a bitter taste. “… It’s a good opportunity obviously. And he deserves to play against bigger and better opponents, but I just…”
“You can be mad,” Miwa says. She places another few slices of grilled meat on his plate so he doesn’t forget to eat completely. If Tobio’s not here, someone’s gotta keep Kei’s dietary habits on track. “Even if you want the best for him, too.”
Kei ducks his head until his bangs shadow his eyes. “I don’t want to be mad,” he admits quietly. “But I am, even if it’s stupid. We’ve been together—forever—but we barely even saw each other even when he was just in Tokyo. And now he’s on the other side of the world.”
“I hate that he’s gone, and I wish he hadn’t said yes so quickly, like it was a foregone conclusion that he was going to go.” Kei pokes at the meat on his plate, but doesn’t bother to pick it up or eat it.
“Did Tobio not talk to you about it first?” Her little brother can have his head in the clouds when it comes to anything that’s not volleyball, but Miwa doesn’t think that he would choose to blindside Kei like that, not after they’ve been together so long.
“He did,” Kei admits, though he’s still frowning. “And we talked everything out as much as we could, like how we were going to stay in touch, what we would do for the summer. And it all made sense, but I just…”
He sighs, placing his chopsticks back down. “I already missed him when he was in Tokyo, but now that he’s going to be in Rome? And our schedules will be out of sync even more? I don’t know anymore.”
“I don’t want to break up with him,” Kei says. He doesn’t look at Miwa as he speaks. “I want to be with him as long as possible, but right now … I just wished he had stayed close to me for once.”
“Tobio loves you,” Miwa says. She has no advice for this kind of situation, having no experience with long-distance relationships herself, but she knows that Tobio wants the same thing as Kei, even when they’re farther apart than ever. “Maybe it’ll be harder to remember that since he’s so far away, but he does, and he’ll do whatever it takes to show it to you.”
“I know he does,” Kei says, the smallest quirk to the corner of his mouth. “He never lets me forget. I guess the distance is just hitting me harder this time.”
“You guys will be fine,” Miwa assures him. “I don’t even have friends who have as long or as strong a relationship as yours. Be upset as much as you want if you need to, but don’t let that kind of negativity swallow you up.”
“Okay, I’ll do my best,” Tsukishima says. He still doesn’t look great, but his expression isn’t as forlorn as it was before at least. “Thanks for hearing me out.”
“Anytime,” Miwa says. Then she points her chopsticks toward his plate. “Now, eat. You gotta get your money’s worth tonight since it’s my treat.”
After dinner, as they’re leaving the restaurant, Kei’s phone chimes, and when he pulls it out to check the message, his mouth pulls up into a reluctant smile. Just from that alone, Miwa knows who messaged him.
“Tobio made it to Rome safely,” Kei says, gazing down at the text with a sort of reverence reserved for the truly besotted. “And he already misses me apparently.”
“You guys are sickening,” Miwa says, but she’s smiling. The two of them are going to be just fine.
The wedding reception is in full swing now, and Miwa snags a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. It’s good stuff, high quality, even though she knows that neither Tobio or Kei have the palate to appreciate it. After the blood pressure-spiking morning before the ceremony, the raucous atmosphere—courtesy of too many athletes and too much alcohol in one place—of the reception is almost calming.
She hasn’t seen Kei or Tobio for a while now, but she assumes that they’re hiding out somewhere else for a quick breather from the crowd. God knows that they had to be dragged into planning the wedding at all. If they had had it their way, the wedding would’ve been an elopement with whoever they could get on short notice as their witnesses.
Miwa doesn’t let their disappearance bother her. At this point in the night, they’ve more than earned some time away from everyone else.
In the meantime, she drinks some more champagne and finishes the rest of her slice of cake. It’s good, though that’s probably because Kei’s pretty picky about his sweets. From what he told her before, Tobio had said yes to every option they tried until Kei barred him from giving his opinion anymore.
Hinata manages to drag her out onto the dance floor, too. “Miwa-san!” he calls, “let me sweep you off your feet with this new move Bokuto showed me!” And he does, with great flair. The way he blushes red as an apple when Miwa returns the favor a moment later is even better.
Miwa’s laughing at the flustered expression on Hinata’s face when she spots the guests of honor sliding back into the reception hall out of the corner of her eye. For the most part, they look no worse for wear than when she last saw them, so she’s not too concerned.
She leaves Hinata to dance with Yachi after that, hoping to get some time alone for a bit, but she quickly runs into Kei and Tobio. “Where’ve you guys been?” Miwa asks, wrapping an arm around Tobio’s waist as he bumps into her. Obviously he’s had more than a few drinks tonight.
“I was getting Kei a snack,” Tobio says. “Strawberries from the cakes.”
“Already taking care of your husband huh?” When Miwa turns to face him fully, she notices that Tobio’s hair is swept in the opposite direction than how she styled it this morning. His collar is also a bit rumpled, like it had been messed up and then hastily straightened up.
“You guys really couldn’t wait a couple more hours, could you?” Miwa shakes her head. Degenerates, both of them. Reaching out, she tips Tobio’s jaw so she can see his neck more clearly. “At least Kei didn’t leave a huge mark on you this time.”
“No need for that,” Kei says, coming around to Miwa’s other side. “Everyone knows he’s a taken man now anyway.”
"We're husbands," Tobio says quite seriously, like Miwa wasn't there the whole time during the ceremony earlier in the day. "Kei can't leave me now."
Kei rolls his eyes. "Like that was ever a possibility."
"I'll get the garden shears if he ever does," Miwa promises, grinning as Kei starts to protest and Tobio just nods contentedly against her shoulder.