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"Damn it Tobio! Why can't you ever do anything right?!"
The shrill screech made Tobio flinch against the wall he was being backed up into, his mother approaching with rage drawn across her face and a thick ceramic vase in a hand that she'd picked up her way towards him.
"I'm sorry."
"That's not good enough. You're not good enough! It's no wonder your father left if he had such a pathetic failure as a son." She scathed. Tobio averted his eyes and apologised again, playing the submissive role up as much as possible in the hopes that she would leave him alone for the night without getting too violent, the hope that she wouldn't hit him with the vase she was carrying with the obvious intent to do so.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She mimicked mockingly, stopping in front of him and leaning down so her mouth was right by his ear. "You'll never be able to make it better you dumb cunt. You're apologies mean as much as you do. Nothing." She murmured in his ear.
She pulled back with a smirk as Tobio bit his bottom lip and swallowed back the urge to cry. She slapped him once around the head and laughed.
"Pathetic. That's what you are. A pathetic, worthless little brat."
"I'm sorry."
His mother paused for a second, and then slapped him again. Harder. Hard enough to make the world blur before she placed a hand on his chest and shoved him into the wall.
"All you can fucking do now is apologise for your fuck ups! I can't believe I wasted sixteen years of my life on you! It's all your fault you dirty little guttersnipe!"
She raised the vase and slammed it into the side of Tobio's head. It shattered as he went down, banging his cheekbone on a decorative statue and biting his tongue after the crack was followed by waves of reverberating agony. He tasted blood in his mouth and jerked as the pointed toe of his mother's stilettos shoved into his abdomen.
He gasped and curled in on himself, closing his eyes and tensing in anticipation of another blow but her feet moved away from him instead. He cracked open an eye and circled an arm around him middle as he looked around for his mother. She stared at him from across the room, considering him as if she'd seen him in a new light. Her eyes were dead as she searched him. Eyes roaming up and down as he shakily got to his feet with the support of the wall.
He was dizzy, his head was throbbing like someone had been beating it like a drum and his cheek bone was a hub of lightning quick excruciating stings and pulsing agony. His stomach ached but it was dull compared to that of his face, in saying that though the pain was sharp and made it hard for him to draw breath as shock settled in with a fight to jolt his lungs into hyperventilating.
"Get out."
Tobio's head shot up and he stared into her blank uninterested gaze.
"Huh?"
"I said get out. I don't want you here in my house. Leave."
"What- Mum I."
"GET OUT YOU DUMB LITTLE PRICK! I NEVER WANTED YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE, YOU'VE FUCKED UP MY LIFE FOR LONG ENOUGH BOY! I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN YOU HEAR!" She reached back and grabbed a glass bowl off the kitchen bench. Her knuckles turned white from the force of her hold as she drew back her arm and threw it across the room. Tobio ducked as it shattered above his head and rained shards down his shirt and over his head.
He spun around the corner and ran for the front door. He didn't stop to grab a coat nor slip his shoes on his feet, he flung the door open, rushed out and slammed it behind him. Running as fast as he could from the place he'd called home, out into the snow whirling around him with the crazy energy of a building storm.
He felt numb. Internally as well as physically as he slowed to a walked and then stopped, leaned against the closest fence and doubled over. The soles of his feet stung where rocks poked into his flesh, his stomach still ached though the biting cold dulled his nerves to a manageable level. It didn't stop his head from throbbing though, nor did it relieve him of the dizziness. The world did back flips around him, snow swirled, a light passed over him and he was face to face with the snow-covered sidewalk before he even knew he was falling.
#
Warm hands dragged him up out of the snow. A voice was asking questions 'are you alright?' he'd been lying face down in the snow in nothing more than shorts and a t-shirt, he reckoned his head was bleeding from the vase and there was probably blood on the snow where he'd been laying... Yeah, he was fine.
Tobio didn't manage to get the words out though. Whoever had found him had lifted him up and was taking him somewhere and vaguely Tobio realised that this may not be a saviour but something more sinister all together. The person called out for someone and was banging on what Tobio assumed was a door of some sort that was swung open in haste and allowed to bounce off a wall.
"Oh dear god! Quickly Akiteru inside, inside. Put him on the couch and put the kettle on."
Light footsteps bustled off and Tobio entered a warm place, was put down on a couch so squishy and comfortable he thought he may fall unconscious regardless of how dangerous he knew that to be and heavy footsteps rushed off as the light ones hurried into the room.
They flurried around at his head, a soft whoomp signalled something of the blanket variety had been dropped on the floor followed by a clack as something hard and weighty was placed somewhere close by. Probably on a table.
The woman tutted concernedly as she turned his head from side to side, assessing the damage before her warm papery hand disappeared and a clasp was undone. Tobio couldn't hear a squeak of old hinges over the squealing of the kettle slowly picking up steam, getting louder and higher pitched and more determined to pierce into his skull like a drill bit made of fire ants and covered in acid.
He moaned and flopped a hand up to his head.
"Oh! Are you awake?"
"…"
She grabbed one of his hands and linked her fingers with his.
"Squeeze if you're awake dear." She said. Tobio squeezed and her grip tightened.
"Squeeze once for yes twice for no, ok?"
One squeeze.
"Are you homeless?" She asked. Two squeezes and Tobio paused. Was he homeless? He was kicked out but would he really not be allowed to go back? He squeezed once before she had a chance to ask another question.
"Hmm, unsure are you? That's ok; you can stay here for now. Were you kicked out?"
One squeeze.
"Did the person who kicked you out do this to you?"
…
No squeeze. The woman sighed but didn't drop his hand.
"It's alright. Your head must hurt, is anywhere else in pain?"
One squeeze. The woman placed a hand on his leg.
"Does here hurt?"
Two squeezes. She placed a hand on his stomach as the kettle finally stopped whistling.
"Does here hurt?"
One squeeze.
"Anywhere else?"
Two squeezes.
"Alright, I'm going to tend to your injuries. Do not fall asleep, try your best to open your eyes and I'll have Akiteru bring you some tea."
Two squeezes in quick succession, he couldn't stop himself at the mention of that detestable beverage.
"What is it dear, I have to treat your injuries!"
One squeeze. The woman stayed silent for a pause.
"You're not allowed to fall asleep." She said sternly.
One squeeze.
"You don't like tea?"
…
No squeeze. The woman laughed, high and bright.
"That's fine dear, I'll have Akiteru make you some hot chocolate then ok?"
…
No squeeze. The woman's hands disappeared and his own heavy limb dropped to his side. The woman rummaged through the box beside her, undoubtedly a first aid kit, for the supplies she'd need to take care of him.
"Akiteru, a hot chocolate for our guest please dear."
"Alright."
The clicks of cups and spoons from the kitchen were the loudest noise in the house after that. The heavy footsteps, Akiteru no doubt, re-entered the room and set down three cups on a wooden surface and stepped away.
"I'm gonna go give this to Kei. Did he come around?" Akiteru asked.
Kei?!
"He's not unconscious. He's just exhausted. Poor baby, somebody threw him out into that storm-"
"Tsukishima?"
"Oh, he knows us."
"Maybe he knows Kei, he looks about his age."
"Go and call him down then Akiteru. It'd be better having someone he knows around."
"Right, I'll go and get him." Akiteru placed Kei's cup back on the table and walked out of the room, his footsteps sounding significantly less rushed with the knowledge that the kid he'd picked up was relatively ok… considering things.
The woman, Tsukishima-san, continued on with tending his wounds. She cleaned the gash on his forehead, walked off and when she came back she spread some kind of cold gel on the cut before she pinched it, waited, ran a finger over it and then carefully placed a bandage over it.
Tobio had flinched every time his head had been touched. The wound was tender and unpleasant, it still throbbed and he knew he probably had a concussion and tomorrow he would have a raging headache but he hoped by then that some of the pain would have ebbed away overnight.
Then she prodded his cheek and he couldn't help the yelp that escaped him as he jumped away from her hand and his eyes fluttered open. His vision was blurry and the lights felt a little too bright but the world was no longer spinning and for that he was grateful. Two sets of footsteps entered the room and one stopped short as the heavy ones continued until their owner was in his view.
That must have been Akiteru. He looked like Kei. Blonde hair, a bit duller than his brothers but the same golden eyes though they were much warmer than Kei's.
"King!" Kei sounded shocked. His voice was its normal low dry timbre but laced with slight disbelief as he walked around the couch and got a good look at Kageyama's face. "What on earth happened to you?"
"None of your business." Tobio looked away, off towards Akiteru so he missed the irritated twitching of Kei's eyebrows. Akiteru's coy smile playing on his lips behind a steaming mug said he saw it.
"Now, now boys, no need for hostilities right now. Right Kei. Let's just sit down, get you all better again and we can talk about this later ok?" Tsukishima-san smiled at them. Kei nodded, passed in front of Tobio and sat down beside him as Akiteru passed him a mug of tea. Kei accepted it without a word and sipped at it in silence as his mother continued the prodding of Tobio's cheek as he tried to avoid her light fingers.
"Hold still a moment… What's your name honey?" Tsukishima-san asked, holding his face still by his chin.
"K-Kageyama Tobio."
Tsukishima-san paused and looked him right in the eye with a steely gaze.
"Kageyama Tobio. I've heard of you."
Tobio stiffened, that tone… What had Kei been saying about him? With that tone he half expected the woman to throw him out in the next few moments.
"Your father is Kageyama Gakushuu correct?" She asked. Tobio nodded slowly and shallowly.
"He's a cold man. Poor boy, to be stuck with a man like that. And your mother by god! I met the women once." Tsukishima-san shuddered as she let go of him and grabbed the antiseptic and some cotton balls. Tobio knew what she meant. His mother was… something else. But his father.
"He wasn't always like that." Tobio muttered. He remembered a time when his father had smiled at him, handed him a volleyball telling of how much he'd loved to play in his youth and how he regretted not following on with it. He always said he never regretted becoming a doctor though, just that he'd stopped playing.
Tsukishima-san hummed but didn't reply as she leant forward and dabbed a cotton ball soaked in antiseptic on the graze adorning his cheek. He flinched back but she followed him, dabbing away until all the blood was soaked up and the wound was suitably sterilized. She softly spread another plaster over another cut and lifted his shirt before examining his stomach. It was then he realised that he shivering, freezing in the warm house that had taken him in. The bottom of his feat ached and he was so cold…
Tsukishima-san dropped his shirt and Kei shoved a mug of hot chocolate into his hands, still lightly steaming despite how long it had been sitting on the table. Tsukishima-san got to her feet, packed up the first aid kit and shoved it to the other side of the table before she picked up a blanket and, Tobio isn't sure how, wrapped it around him.
"You drink that and warm up a bit. I'll go run you a bath and find you some clothes. Ah! I threw out the extra futon. Well I'm sure you can just share with Kei. Right Kei?" Tsukishima-san stared at Kei. He didn't meet her eyes.
"Yes mum."
"Good boy Kei. Such a good, welcoming friend." She said and bustled off to complete her self-assigned assignments as Kei sighed and clicked his tongue. She was teasing him for being so unfriendly before.
The three of them sat in silence until they heard the bath running and Tobio took a sip of his hot chocolate.
"Ah, you put chilli powder in this." He said. In the corner of his eye he saw Akiteru stiffen and take a nervous sip of his tea.
"It's good for warming up." Tobio said, and let the matter drop. They sat in an awkward silence, sipping at their drinks until Tobio couldn't take it anymore and turned to Kei. "You never told us you had a brother?"
"And you never told us you're being abused by your parents, so I guess we were both hiding something."
"KEI!" Akiteru was horrified. Tobio was dumbstruck. He had no idea how to react to that. Anger wasn't coming; Kei's tone didn't lick at his short temper like it usually did when Kei bit at him.
"What is wrong with your head? You can't just say something like that. Apologise to Tobio-kun! I'm so sorry for his behaviour Tobio-kun, please forgive him." Akiteru had slapped his cup down on the table and jumped up and bowed deeply in Tobio's direction.
Kei stayed silent.
"Ah~, it's fine Akiteru-san. I don't think he said it to be mean… at least, it didn't sound like he meant it that way."
Kei was pointedly looking at the bottom of his cup. Ignoring the both of them as Akiteru insisted that Kei's words were inexcusable and Tobio tried to placate him.
"Would you look at that, I'm out of tea." Kei just about fled to the kitchen to get away from them. He was kicking himself over his own choice of words but he couldn't help himself. They'd just spilled out before he could stop them.
Akiteru didn't shut up until their mother came back down stairs to tell Tobio that the bath was ready for him and there was a change of clothes as well as a towel. By that point though Tobio had long since given up on trying stop Akiteru from fumbling over apology after apology and had resorted to ignoring him and drinking his hot chocolate.
He placed his empty cup on the table and limped off upstairs, following Tsukishima-san to the bathroom. Kei snuck around Akiteru and slunk upstairs to his room before he was subject to yet another lecture on his demeanour towards other people.
#
Tobio took his time in the bathroom. Whether that was because his injuries were slowing him down or he was just taking his sweet ass time relaxing was questionable. Kei was getting slightly worried that the setter had fallen asleep and drowned. He wanted to go to bed but if Tobio came into his room and found him already asleep he had no doubt that he would go back down stairs and sleep on the couch.
Whilst he didn't have a problem with not sharing his bed, Tobio was injured so a couch wasn't the best place for him to be sleeping. And his mother had told him Tobio was sleeping with him, so Tobio was sleeping with him. It would also allow him to make sure Tobio didn't die in his sleep from head trauma, though he probably shouldn't be sleeping for a few more hours anyway.
When he did finally emerge from the bathroom, followed by a tumble of fog, he was clean, dry, and warm and dressed in Kei's too big clothes and suddenly, Kei was thankful he was wearing some too big clothes as well. He knew he was gay, or at least Bi, he wasn't too sure yet. He also knew that Kageyama was very attractive. Cute even, he had a cute face when he wasn't scowling and when he was scowling he was handsome. Any other expression made him look like a puppy.
Kei didn't want to go to bed anymore. Maybe in a bit of time, give it time… His mother shut his bedroom door behind Tobio and they stared at each other in silence until Kei found it safe to move. He walked over to his bed and sat on the end.
"Do you want to tell me what happened?" He asked. Tobio looked uncertain, conflicted and a little desperate at the thought. Would it help if he told someone else? It didn't help the first time…
Tobio walked over to the bed and stood awkwardly in front of Kei. He gestured for Tobio to join him and waited for him to settle on the bed next to him. Tobio had his hands in his lap; he twisted his fingers and cracked his knuckles before settling on scraping the top of his nails with the thumbnail on the opposite hand. A nervous tick Kei had seen many times at Karasuno. He only just realised what it meant.
"You don't have to tell us, but we can help. Mum's a nurse and dad's a lawyer, if you need help they'd never reject you."
They sat in silence. Kei didn't say anymore, waiting for Tobio to speak his mind if he chose to do so.
"My mother did it…" Tobio murmured. Kei thought of his own mother, scary, intimidating, caring, loving, sometimes overbearingly so, and felt sad. Not everybody had that. Not everybody had parents who loved them like his did. He was a hundred percent sure that Tobio had just been adopted into the family though.
"Did what?"
"She hit me with a vase. In the head. I fell and cracked my cheekbone on a table next to me but she just kicked me in the stomach and slapped me around. And then she kicked me out."
"Why did she kick you out? It seems like the only who needs to leave is her." Kei snapped. He stiffened and mentally slapped himself when Tobio flinched. Like he needed yet another person to leave him, no matter who it was.
"Because." He said. Kei turned to him, the emotion in Tobio's voice hinting at his need to cry. "Because I'm a stupid, worthless, pathetic fuck up."
It was one thing, Kei thought, for on outside party to call Tobio that. Another one completely when his own mother was the one saying it and another one completely when Tobio was saying it. Kei wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him into his side.
"No you're not."
Kei would never know how much those three words affected Tobio.
Tobio pulled away from Kei and discreetly wiped at his eyes. "We should go to sleep. I'm tired."
Kei nodded and got up to turn off his bedroom light.
"What side do you want?" Tobio asked. Kei thought about it. He usually slept on the inside but he had a feeling that Tobio would be an inside person too. Though for completely different reasons than he was.
"I'll take the outside. That's where I usually sleep." He said, flicking off the light. They got into bed and shuffled around into comfortable positions, back to back, Kei was certain he'd wake up before Tobio like this so he'd at least have time for a shower. Tobio looked exhausted as it was, he probably wouldn't wake up until midday.
#
Tobio tossed over in his sleep, flailing and muttering into the pillow. His knee shoved up into Kei's back and almost shoved him off the bed if it weren't for him jerking backwards as he woke up, the sudden drop he'd woken up to jolting his senses. He backed up onto Tobio, his palm pressed down on his stomach and Tobio cried out in his sleep. Kei jumped away as far as he could without falling off the bed but leaned back in when he realised Tobio was having a nightmare.
He sighed and rubbed at his eyes only to find he'd forgotten to take off his glasses before he'd gone to sleep and now he'd put fingerprints on the lenses. He felt a flash of anger at his fingerprints for existing, little greasy bastards putting marks all over his vision. He tore them off and dropped them on the bedside table behind him before he sunk back under his dooner and caught Tobio's hand before it could smack him in the throat.
"Wake up Tobio, it's just a nightmare." He said. He didn't want to wake anyone, but Tobio stayed in his own personal brand of hell.
"Tobio." Kei shook him.
"Tobio!" Kei blocked Tobio from kneeing him in the balls and cringed at the setters frozen feet.
"Sorry." Kei reached over Tobio and flicked his cheek. Tobio woke with a stifled whimper on his lips and Kei felt a stab of guilt through his heart.
"Sorry, sorry. But you were thrashing around during your nightmare." Kei murmured, dropping Tobio's hand and snuggling under his dooner till his was comfortable. Tobio muttered his thanks and closed his eyes, the frown between his eyebrows said he wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon though.
"Turn over." Kei said. Tobio's eyes opened and Kei saw how confused he was by the request.
"Why?" He asked.
"Just turn over." Kei insisted. "I won't hurt you again, I promise."
Tobio hummed disapprovingly but complied and turned his back on Kei. Kei smiled behind him and shuffled closer, he dug an arm under Tobio and draped his other over the top of Tobio's body. He stiffened in Kei's arms but said nothing until Kei had pulled him closer, his back touched Kei's chest as Kei's arms wound around him and held him securely in their grasp.
"My brother used to do this whenever I had a nightmare when I was a kid. Go to sleep." Kei muttered in Tobio's ear. "You'll be fine."
Kei was asleep within minutes. That much Tobio was certain of. He wasn't sure just how much longer he stayed awake; revelling in this feeling Kei had given him. This warm, strong feeling. He felt safe wrapped in the arms of Tsukishima Kei.