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The last thing Oikawa expected to find washed up on his private island was Kageyama Tobio.
He had half a mind to kick him back into the waters.
But…lying prone on the beach, barely breathing, yet looking strangely soft, for a second - just for a second - Oikawa was transported back to when he had seen Tobio for the first time.
A mere ten-year-old boy, looking at Oikawa with strangely hopeful eyes.
The shine hadn’t lasted very long in their line of profession.
He dragged his unconscious body back to the villa.
When Tobio woke up, it was in a strange, sterile-looking room.
And as soon as he tried to move, he felt something pull him back.
A handcuff, tying him to the bed.
So he had managed to end up in the right place.
The next time he opened his eyes, Oikawa Tooru was holding his wrist, trying to check his pulse.
Tobio hadn’t moved, yet somehow, Oikawa looked at him immediately as if he had announced himself awake.
Oikawa gave him a hard, steely look before inquiring.
‘Care to explain, Tobio-chan?’
Tobio opened his mouth and then closed it again.
Oikawa pressed ahead. ‘How did you know I was living here?’
Tobio swallowed before answering. His throat was really dry.
‘Can I have some water?’ he croaked out.
Oikawa stared at him for a minute before responding.
‘Heal fast,’ he said, ‘so I can kick you out of here as soon as I can.’
The first time they had met, Tobio had been unaware of Oikawa’s real identity.
At that time, Oikawa had just started to learn the skills required in his line of work.
Tobio had caught him in the middle of sneaking out of the museum through a secret passage. It hadn’t been a very expensive score, but it had been well-guarded still, and Oikawa deemed it perfect for practice.
‘What are you doing?’
Oikawa had almost dropped it. Almost.
‘Hey, little guy!’ he had managed to stutter out instead, putting on a bright smile. ‘What are you doing here?’
Tobio had stared at him unblinkingly before replying. ‘Just exploring.’
Must be a crafty kid to have managed to find his secret passage. It was clear he wouldn’t be able to use it anymore. It pissed him off.
‘I’m also just exploring,’ Oikawa replied, trying to send the kid back. ‘This is not a safe passage, you should go back. Your dad would be worried.’
‘I don’t have a dad,’ Tobio had replied. ‘Or mom.’
Oikawa hesitated. ‘Who takes care of you then?’
‘Grandpa.’
‘Okay,’ Oikawa let out a sigh of relief. ‘Go back to him then, he’d be worried.’
‘I know you.’
‘Wh-what?’
‘I’ve seen you play before. When I want to watch Nee-chan’s games. You play volleyball. You have a really cool serve.’
‘Oh.’ Oikawa had felt strangely touched for a moment, despite the risky situation he had been in. If it hadn’t been for his career-ending injury…he probably wouldn’t be here. ‘Um. Yeah. Thanks, uh-?’
‘Tobio.’
‘Tobio. Tobio-chan. That’s a cute na-’
‘You are stealing something.’
Oikawa froze. ‘What?’
‘My grandpa takes care of the museum,’ Tobio had said, deadpan. ‘He told me sometimes people try to steal things. I think you are one of them.’
‘Well, you are wrong!’ Oikawa replied, alarmed, trying to get himself out of this situation as best he could. The boy recognized him. If he reported back to his grandfather-
‘I won’t tell,’ Tobio had said then, taking Oikawa by surprise. ‘But…on one condition.’
Oikawa’s hands had started sweating.
‘If you promise to come to play with me tomorrow,’ Tobio had said, eyes shining, ‘and then the day after, and teach me your serve, I won’t tell.’
How lonely was this boy? If he was bargaining with a criminal just so he could play with someone…
‘Of course!’ Oikawa had lied. ‘Of course, see you tomorrow then, Tobio-chan!’
‘Okay!’ Tobio had replied. ‘See you tomorrow!’
Oikawa had wondered, years later, after the same Tobio-chan grew up to become a detective, specialising in art thefts, effectively ending his career after a long chase across the globe and forcing him into an early retirement, if things would have turned out differently had he gone to play with Tobio-chan that day.
‘So’, Oikawa asked him three days later, finally breaking the ice between them, ‘who do I have to send flowers to?’
Tobio looked at him in confusion. He was in the middle of taking his medicine. He wondered if Oikawa had mixed something in it to make it extra bitter.
Oikawa rolled his eyes in irritation. ‘Who beat you up?’
‘Oh,’ Tobio sighed. ‘No one. You wouldn’t know them.’
‘Don’t insult me, Tobio-chan,’ Oikawa replied calmly. ‘I may not be an active participant anymore, but I still know the players in the game.’
Tobio should have known. ‘I- I can’t tell you-’
‘I wasn’t asking,’ Oikawa said. ‘It’d do you well to remember that you are on my private island, under my roof, as my prisoner. I don’t trust you, and I still haven’t forgiven you.’
Of course. Of course he hadn’t.
‘Then why didn’t you let me die?’ Tobio asked in a dull voice.
Oikawa didn’t reply.
‘Can you please let me out of this room? Just for an hour? I can barely walk, I’m not going to attack you.’
‘As if you could,’ Oikawa snorted. ‘But fine.’
After a week or so, Oikawa got used to Tobio hobbling around in his villa.
And asking stupid questions.
‘Are you still in touch with Iwaizumi-san?’
‘Did you attend Hinata’s wedding?’
‘Is this stolen or bought?’
‘You can cook?’
‘Did you read about the gang I busted last year?’
‘Do you still play volleyball?’
‘Tobio-chan,’ Oikawa snapped, ‘please just watch the match in silence.’
They were watching a V-league match. Tobio’s favorite team was playing against Oikawa’s. They were eating momos. It was almost like they were two buddies hanging out.
If only.
‘I waited every day for a month after that, you know,’ Tobio said abruptly. ‘I kept hoping you’d show up.’
Oikawa ignored him.
‘Then I finally told my grandad…and he told me the truth.’
Oikawa remembered. He had to go into hiding for a year.
‘And then, when I got my first case, and your signature was written all over it, because I had studied your old cases diligently…I - I was elated.’
Oikawa had stopped paying attention to the game.
‘I wanted to meet you again. I thought you were so - so talented.’
Talented? Oikawa almost laughed.
‘Even though I wanted to catch you so badly, it was always selfish. It was never for some higher ideal, for the sake of justice or anything. It was only - only so I could beat you. Only so I could stand with you as an equal.’
‘You destroyed me,’ Oikawa interrupted, voice shaking with suppressed rage, ‘you ruined my life, Tobio. Don’t act like all you did was just beat me at a game. Fuck yo-’
‘I didn’t destroy your life,’ Tobio said, ‘you chose this -’
‘Shut up,’ Oikawa yelled, ‘don’t lecture me! Don’t deny the gravity of what you did!’
‘I’m not,’ Tobio said, trying to calm him down, ‘I’m just saying, we could still -’
‘We aren’t doing anything,’ Oikawa said, standing up. ‘Let me make it very clear. Just because I haven’t killed you, doesn’t mean I care for you. I have my reasons, but none of them concern you. So keep your mouth shut for as long as you are here and then never come back again.’
‘You are living on a private island, in your scenic villa, with enough money in your bank account for the next generation to survive on, after doing just a year in prison for all that you did. Your life is just fine, Oikawa.’
‘Iwa-chan!’ Oikawa whined on the phone. ‘Can you stop being so rational?’
‘One of us needs to be.’ Iwaizumi sighed. ‘How is Kageyama doing?’
‘Fine,’ Oikawa pouted, ‘still trying to talk to me. I hate him, please get him out of here.’
‘I can’t,’ Iwaizumi replied seriously, ‘he has been reported missing, but the gang who got him is still out there. If they got even a scent of him, he won’t be able to survive this time.’
‘Well, can’t we do something about them?’
Iwaizumi paused for a bit. ‘Oh. So you want to avenge him?’
‘No, I don’t!’ Oikawa snapped. ‘I just want him out of here, and if that requires sending a few bad guys to jail so he would leave me alone -’
‘We could work on it,’ Iwaizumi replied thoughtfully. ‘I have a few friends who could help, but we’ll need him too, obviously. Since he was already working on their case.’
‘Fine,’ Oikawa said, ‘let’s do it.’
‘Thank you,’ Tobio said, after their first meeting with Iwaizumi’s friends.
‘I’m not doing it to help you,’ Oikawa replied, not looking at him, ‘I’m just doing it so -’
‘- so you can kick me out of here, I know,’ Tobio said, but he was smiling, and that pissed Oikawa off.
‘Fuck off.’
‘What did I do?’
They continued cleaning up. Oikawa washed the dishes in silence, and Tobio quietly wiped them dry.
‘How is your sister?’
‘She’s fine,’ Tobio said, ‘wish I could tell her I was alive though.’
‘We can’t risk that,’ Oikawa warned him. ‘Does she have a husband?’ he then asked casually.
‘Huh?’ Tobio looked confused. ‘No. She is a lesbian.’
‘Wait, really?’ Oikawa stopped in the middle of rinsing a mug. ‘Oh. Well, that explains why she didn’t respond to my charm back in high school.’
‘Oh no,’ Tobio said truthfully, ‘she just didn’t like you. She told me.’
‘Tobio-chan,’ Oikawa said, torn between being offended and laughing at Tobio’s bluntness, ‘you really lack tact.’
Tobio shrugged. ‘ I liked you.’
Yeah, Oikawa thought, fighting back the blush spreading across his face, he really lacked tact.
‘Kuroo-san,’ Tobio greeted the newest entrant to their little group, ‘I haven’t seen you in a while.’
‘Kageyama-kun!’ Kuroo greeted him with a smile. ‘It’s good to see you. Glad you are still alive.’
‘Yeah me too,’ Tobio replied absent-mindedly, wondering how well Kuroo knew Oikawa. Kuroo was a detective, like him, but he was famously known to solve cases by hook or crook, and being on good terms with ‘well-connected’ people like Iwaizumi, friends who may or may not always be on the side of the law.
He also always seemed to ‘know’ things. And that’s what worried Tobio.
‘Did he find out?’ Kuroo asked him after cornering him in the bathroom while everyone else was talking.
‘No,’ Tobio replied nervously, ‘don’t tell him.’
Kuroo raised his eyebrows. ‘He doesn’t know?’ His eyes scanned Tobio from head to toe. ‘And he’s still letting you stay in his house? And planning to bust the people who tried to kill you?’
Tobio shrugged uncomfortably. ‘He has his reasons.’
Kuroo opened the door to leave, smirking. ‘I wonder what they are.’
‘Oikawa-san, can we watch-’
‘Okay, I’m done pretending to not care. What the hell were you and Kuroo up to in the bathroom that day?’
Tobio froze. ‘Um. Nothing.’
‘Tobio, you are shit at lying. Tell me.’
‘It was nothing.’
‘This is making me more curious-’
‘It was just a conversation-’
‘Were you guys making out?’
‘Huh?’ Tobio recoiled. ‘No!’
Oikawa frowned, pinning Tobio under a sharp gaze. ‘Are you lying?’
‘I’m not!’ Tobio exclaimed. The only person he’s ever wanted to do that with was-
‘Okay…’ Oikawa said after a pause, still looking at him carefully. Tobio shifted his gaze to the TV instead.
‘Can we watch the match now?’
‘What could Tobio-chan and Kuroo have to talk about?’ Oikawa mused on the phone with Iwaizumi.
‘Why?’ Iwaizumi sniggered. ‘Are you jealous?’
‘I’m not jealous!’ Oikawa replied, even as his face heated up. ‘I’m curious. And cautious.’
‘You could ask Kuroo,’ Iwaizumi suggested. ‘He’d probably tell you. For the right price.’
‘That menace.’ Oikawa sighed. ‘I’m not going to ask him. It’s probably nothing.’
‘Well then, you’ll probably just have to get it out of Kageyama.’
‘Is that -’
‘Yes.’
‘Cake?’
‘Yes.’
‘For me?’
‘Yes.’
‘Because it’s my -’
‘Happy birthday, Tobio-chan.’
Tobio looked at the cake in awe. Oikawa had prohibited him from entering the kitchen all day, but Tobio could have never imagined it was because of this.
Oikawa had switched off the lights in the room, so that only the lit up candles illuminated Tobio’s face, while his own remained partially in the shadows.
‘Oikawa-san,’ Tobio tried to swallow the lump in his throat, ‘thank you for this. You didn’t have to -’
‘Just cut the cake, Tobio,’ Oikawa said, a hint of teasing in his voice. ‘Be grateful later.’
Tobio picked up the knife.
‘Oh wait, make a wish first!’
Tobio hesitated for a moment, before closing his eyes. Then he blew out the candles, the only source of light in the room.
‘I’ll switch on the lights,’ Oikawa said, but Tobio grabbed his hand to stop. Oikawa paused, and watched, as Tobio cut out a small slice of cake.
‘Here,’ he said, leaning forward to feed it to Oikawa, who he could barely see. But as he leaned closer, and so did Oikawa, his hand collided with Oikawa’s cheek instead of his mouth, who let out a breath of laughter, before enveloping Tobio’s fingers in his mouth.
He licked them clean, before pulling Tobio forward and kissing him on the mouth.
When Tobio woke up the next day, Oikawa was gone.
The villa was empty.
He returned the day after, cheerfully greeting Tobio at breakfast without an explanation. And a clean, unsaid warning not to discuss what had happened.
The meetings continued, and the day to execute their plans came closer. And so did the day Tobio would have to leave the island for good.
They hadn’t discussed the kiss at all after that day. In fact, Tobio felt as if they had gotten even more distant, with Oikawa carefully hiding behind a wall, not giving Tobio a chance to talk about anything substantial.
Tobio knew what was holding him back.
‘Did something happen between you two?’ Kuroo asked Oikawa one day.
‘What? No,’ Oikawa lied.
Kuroo didn’t believe it. ‘Did you fight?’
‘No.’
‘Did he tell you?’
Oikawa looked at him sharply. ‘Tell me what?’
Kuroo shifted. ‘Nothing.’
‘What? Tetsurou! Is there something you two know that I don’t?’ Oikawa pounced on him.
Kuroo tried to escape. ‘No.’
‘Is this what you two were talking about that day in the bathroom?’
‘How do you know about that?’
‘Tetsurou,’ Oikawa said, his face utterly serious, ‘is it about me?’
Kuroo confirmed there were no openings for him to escape, before answering. ‘Yeah…’
Oikawa took a deep breath. ‘Tell me.’
Kuroo sighed.
Tobio had tried to catch Oikawa in private, to hold a conversation longer than ten minutes, but he hadn’t been very successful. Tensions were already running high, and amidst all their preparations, it just didn’t feel right to have a conversation like this with him.
And yet.
Every night he dreamt about their kiss. The kiss that had been the culmination of years of obsession with Oikawa, the stuff his wildest dreams had been made of, and it drove him crazy that it was Oikawa who had led them into it.
And while he understood that Oikawa had completely valid reasons to keep him away, for the rest of his life, to continue to hate him, to never see him again, he still wished he could -
‘So you were never going to tell me?’
Tobio knew immediately.
Slowly, he turned around. Oikawa’s face was indecipherable, only looking for confirmation.
‘Kuroo-san?’
Oikawa nodded.
‘I -’
‘I’m surprised you didn’t want to lord it over me,’ Oikawa said, ‘or maybe you wanted me to find out like this, so you could just -’
‘No!’ Tobio replied, desperation creeping into his voice, ‘I never wanted to - I just didn’t think you deserved it, so I -’
‘Destroyed the evidence that could have sent me to jail for life,’ Oikawa finished the sentence.
Tobio swallowed. ‘Yes.’
Oikawa sighed, running his fingers through his hair in exasperation. ‘So that means…you’ve saved my life, twice. And you didn’t even tell me about it.’
Tobio tried to think of the right thing to say. ‘You saved my life too.’
Oikawa glanced at him. ‘Is that why you came here?’
‘No,’ Tobio shook his head, ‘that didn’t even cross my mind. I came here because…I didn’t know where else to go.’
Oikawa sighed again. ‘God, you…you just do things without thinking, Tobio. I don’t know how to feel about this. I don’t know how I feel about you -’
‘I do,’ Tobio said, throwing all caution to the wind, ‘I like - no, actually -’ Tobio took a step forward, ‘I love you, Oikawa-san. I really do, I have for a long time, and the last couple of months that I’ve spent here with you have been the best months of my life, and I don’t want us to never see each other again after this, and I know you don’t love me back, but you kissed me that day, so you must at least like me a little -’
‘Tobio,’ Oikawa interrupted, looking alarmed, ‘calm down -’
‘No listen to me, please -’
‘Tobio, shh, shh,’ Oikawa was coming closer, holding Tobio’s face in his hands, wiping his tears - Tobio hadn’t even realised he was crying - and then they were standing with their foreheads touching as Tobio took deep breaths, trying to keep himself from sobbing, but it was too much, with Oikawa’s arms around him, hands rubbing his back soothingly, mumbling sweet things to him.
When Tobio woke up the next day, Oikawa wasn’t there.
The villa was empty.
He had barely gone out to the beach since the day he had washed up there.
Oikawa called out to him, waving. A volleyball net had been set up.
‘I hope you applied sunscreen,’ Oikawa said as he walked up to him, ‘I just know you get the worst sunburns. I’m not taking responsibility for that.’
‘What are we doing?’ Tobio asked, a little dazed.
‘Fulfilling an old promise,’ Oikawa replied with a small smile.
Tobio’s face broke into a big smile.
‘C’mon,’ Oikawa nudged him, ‘don’t you want me to teach you my serve?’