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“So how do you know Shouyou?”
Tobio looks up from the cake and Nekoma’s setter is leaning over him, eyeing him like an alleycat that wants to approach a source of food and simultaneously wants to flee as fast as its legs will carry it. He’s been feeling eyes on him all night — Hinata’s birthday party is small, but he has a knack for befriending weird stragglers who don’t know how to strike up a conversation. The eyes on his back could have come from any number of terrifyingly talented but awkward volleyball players at the party. Until Kozume’s approach, Tobio’s money had been on Aone, who looks like he’s going to benchpress fifty pounds every time a particularly brave partygoer tries to start a conversation with him.
“Hinata-kun and I are on a team together,” he answers, confused. “You’ve seen us play. You’ve played against us.”
His reply seems to have thrown Kozume for a loop, and Tobio realizes (a little too late) that he was probably working off of some pre-written script of Smalltalk To Make Friends At Parties, or something equally unsuited for their relationship as borderline acquaintances that still have never spoken before. It takes a couple seconds before the clearly-uncomfortable Kozume can recalibrate enough to try a new tack.
When he does, it’s in entirely different vein.
Kozume sits down next to him with a soft exhale that Tobio thinks must be at how surprisingly soft the cushions are. Now his intense gaze is focused entirely elsewhere, and Kozume’s body is turned almost completely away from him, angled towards the front door like he’s consciously considering it a viable option for escape.
They sit in silence for a few minutes until Kozume tilts himself back towards Tobio a fraction of an inch and jolts when he realizes Tobio is staring back. It’s weirdly similar to finally meeting a wild animal that didn’t run away the second it saw his face, and Tobio is weirdly completely fine with that. Sitting together with someone else who's just as inclined to zone out and think about other things as he is feels kind of relaxing in a way he doesn't usually get the chance to experience.
“Can I add you on LINE?” Kozume eventually asks, hands curled into fists pressed into his knees. “We could… Practice some time, maybe.”
A scream erupts from another room and Kozume jumps again, but Tobio already has his phone in hand. His LINE profile is a little embarrassing, a blurry photo of one of his own serves and a generic username Tsukishima keeps teasing him about, but Kozume's alarmingly gaming reference-laden one doesn’t seem to be any better. He eyes Kozume, trying to be careful not to startle him but still probably not succeeding in any kind of stealth with his sidelong glance, and finds his new friend grinning, just visible enough to make Tobio feel really, really good about himself.
Hello, the new message alert on his phone chimes, I’m Kenma.