Work Text:
No matter how much her nerves were about to fry her brain, Kageyama Miwa was determined to not let this sibling hangout go to waste.
It was the first Kageyama siblings get-together in a long while, but in just an hour of said get-together, Kageyama Miwa practically forced her younger brother to do some magic in the kitchen. Because as sad as it was, she was no talent with the pots and pans like her brother and their late grandfather were.
Ah, and there was also Tobio’s boyfriend calling him and chatting with him for almost five minutes straight. She couldn’t tell if she wanted to lovingly bully her darling brother for looking so domestic or to clobber that phone to pieces because as nice and polite as Kei-kun was when they first met, he was stealing her time with her brother.
“Mhm… Okay, sure… I made sure to cook enough for the three of us, anyway, so it’ll be fine… No, please. No more strawberry shortcake… Ha-ha, shut it, Kei. We still have those chocolates back at home… Yes, Kei, the chocolates from my fans… Shouldn’t you be heading to your class right now? Oh… Oh, yeah sure, no problem. I’ll see you then. Bye.”
Kageyama Miwa watched from the couch as something flickered in her brother’s eyes as he ended the call with his boyfriend. Boyfriend… Miwa knew that Tobio was a volleyball idiot or a genius depending on the day, a polite and nice boy with a foul mouth when you got to know him, and a good cook and housekeeper because he had to learn to take care of himself. He was all of this and more, but who would’ve thought that her socially awkward brother would be the one to be in a long-term, committed, and loving relationship, much less the first between the siblings?
Putting his phone aside, Tobio turned his attention back to the ramen he had been stirring for the past few minutes. Because of the many years they had spent apart, Miwa regrettably couldn’t call herself an expert on figuring out her brother (unlike a certain someone, she thought with a tinge of bittersweetness). Still, she could tell that something was bothering him, at the very least.
“What’s that look on your face?”
Tobio mumbled something under his breath, his signature pout on his face. Miwa stared at him for a good few moments before her brother properly replied, “He’s going out again.”
“You mean Kei-kun?”
“Who else?”
“Isn’t he just going to his classes?”
Tobio pouted even more. “Yeah, but…”
“But…?”
“Other people might see him.”
Miwa blinked. “What does that even mean?”
“It means what it is!” Tobio retorted, his ears reddening. “Other people might see him!”
“Might see him? It’s a university, Tobio. Of course, people are going to see him,” Miwa laughed.
“Yeah, but…”
“Oh, my god.” Miwa’s chest bubbled with more laughter. This side of Tobio was so unexpected. She didn’t think he had it in him to be this worried. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous at the idea of other people looking at your boyfriend.”
“I’m not jealous —”
“Yes, you are, dumbass,” Miwa quipped.
Tobio grumbled, “Don’t call me that.”
Rolling her eyes, Miwa rose from her seat on the couch and walked to the side of the kitchen. “Alright, not-a-dumbass,” she said, “what about other people possibly treating your boyfriend as their campus crush bothers you?”
“No.”
“I’m your sister, Tobio. You can talk to me.” Despite the playful and teasing atmosphere, Miwa hoped that Tobio understood that her words were genuine. It was not often Miwa would be blessed with the chance to make up for the times she couldn’t be there for him.
Tobio stayed silent, but Miwa could see it on his face. As her brother adjusted the heat and added a few more stuff to the pot, his brows were deeply furrowed and his eyes looked troubled. “You know I’m not good with words,” he ended up saying.
“So?” Miwa cocked up a brow. “And I’m not good at cooking and yet, here you are, helping me out.”
“It’s not that, I swear. It’s just that… they’re with him a lot,” said Tobio, bowing his head. “They see him maybe for a whole day nearly every day. They get to see a new side of him that I probably don’t know that much. They can keep up with whatever he’s talking about, probably better than me. Maybe in a few weeks or few months, he’ll want to hang out with them more than with me. And then… I don’t know. He’ll think I’m too volleyball for him and he’ll just forget about me. And I just—I just don’t like it.” Miwa watched Tobio’s fists clenching against the counter. “I don’t even know why I don’t like it, I hate it. Stupid four-eyes.”
“Woah, woah, why are you cursing him out?”
“Because it’s that bastard’s fault!” Tobio yelled with a petty scowl on his face. “If he didn’t make me fall in love with him, I wouldn’t be going through this!”
Miwa chuckled, watching the scowl turn into his pout again. “It’s not like you chose not to let it happen.”
“Whatever,” Tobio huffed, ducking from her hand that messed with his hair.
He turned back to the ramen that had been simmering. Once he had tasted it and decided it was good enough, he turned the heat off and started preparing the curry. How nice that despite the many changes Tobio was going through, there were still a few familiar things about him — things that Miwa had been there when it first shaped Tobio into the person he was.
Clapping her hands together, Miwa called out, “Okay, my baby brother, listen up.” Tobio gave her a weird look and Miwa flicked at his ear. “This is your first and hopefully, your last relationship so let Miwa-nee be the good big sister she wants to be and listen to me. It’s alright to feel this way. Don’t be afraid to feel jealous every once in a while.”
“But I’m not —” Tobio stopped from retorting when he saw the look on Miwa’s face. He slumped his shoulders and furrowed his brows.
“I’m telling you, Tobio,” Miwa continued, bumping her shoulder against Tobio’s so she could have the space to help chop the garlic and carrots, “no matter how stupid or petty these things are, it’s normal. Who cares if you feel sad like that every once in a while? It just means that you care a lot about Kei-kun. Are you getting what I’m saying?”
“I… I guess.” Well, as long as he understood.
“Good.” She patted his head.
It was like Tobio had shrunk into someone smaller. “I just don’t like feeling this… stuff. It feels ugly.”
“Ugly?”
“Yeah. I acted on my ugly feelings back then, and look what happened.”
Miwa winced, thinking back to those days. She remembered that day when she finally visited Tobio back at their family home when he was just in junior high. It had been a few months since they had last seen each other — at Kazuyo’s funeral. Miwa remembered how frozen Tobio seemed during the funeral, but when she saw him again months later, he was like stone. Even more so when he told Miwa that he had been benched, but Miwa knew that Tobio understood it as if he was being kicked out of the team.
In just a few short months, Miwa felt like she lost her brother. But she was no better than his teammates back then, she had abandoned him too. She still left him all alone in that house, too big for a boy like him, and deluded herself into thinking that just a few visits and phone calls were enough to keep their relationship going.
She couldn’t imagine what would have happened to Tobio if he hadn’t found Karasuno, especially Hinata, Yamaguchi, Yachi, and most importantly, Tsukishima.
“Tobio…”
“I know, I know, I’m already past that, Miwa-nee. It’s okay, I’m okay,” Tobio said.
Miwa steeled herself and grabbed Tobio’s face. “Hey — mmpf !”
“Listen here, Tobio,” Miwa started. “You messed up, sure. But so did they — your teammates, your coach. They should not have left you like that, stranded on that goddamn court and for everyone to see. And I —” She choked up. “I messed up, too. I should’ve done better. I’m your sister, older than you by almost ten years, for god’s sake. And to an extent, Kazuyo-san messed up too.”
Eyes wide open, Tobio shook her off. “What, no! Are you an idiot? Don’t say that! You were going through something too, and… it’d be selfish of me to ask Kazuyo to stay longer and for you to stay too.”
“You were a kid, Tobio, you should’ve been selfish.” Ironic how Tobio could be that so-called selfish and arrogant King but only on the court. “And I mean it, be that bossy King outside the court.”
Tobio made a face that made Miwa snort. “Ugh, don’t start calling me that. Also if you’re not gonna finish chopping those carrots and potatoes, just let me do it.”
Miwa slapped Tobio’s hands away from reaching for the carrots and continued chopping them. “Why? Only Kei-kun allowed to call you that?”
A tinge of red colored Tobio’s cheeks and he bowed his head just a bit. “It was more like he forced me to get used to him, and only him, calling me that.”
For a single moment, silence blanketed them. But unlike those silent times from before when Miwa wasn’t unable to reach out and cut through the silence, she forced out an “I’m sorry.”
Her brother tilted his head. “Huh? For what? Is this for making me cook right now?”
“Come on, you should be able to guess what I’m saying sorry for.” But upon taking a look at Tobio’s confused face, she continued, “I’m sorry for not being there for you. I wasn’t a good sister at all. And I know I had no right to continue being your family after all that, but I was happy when you kept answering my calls, even more, when you reached out to me first. It made me happy to know that you still think of me as your sister.”
Looking at her taller brother beside her, she waited while he stewed in surprise. “I — I never stopped thinking of you as my sister,” he finally said. “It did hurt though, when it felt like I couldn’t reach you.” Something inside Miwa sank, but it was to be expected. “But it was because I thought you were going to leave me like they and Kazuyo-san did.”
Oh, that packed a punch, truly. All those years of wondering, waiting, and wavering had led the two of them to this moment.
Abandoning the carrots, onions, and potatoes, she pulled her objectively bigger brother to her side. He almost scolded her for making him almost drop the pork to the floor, but all words died when Miwa wrapped her arms around him.
“That’s it, huh?” Miwa sighed, feeling the tears in her eyes. “You were scared of us leaving you.”
Tobio didn’t say anything, but instead, he hugged his sister back. It was like all that barrier between them had crumbled down, finally. But as Miwa realized, the barrier was something of her own making and her brother had been waiting on the other side the entire time.
When Tobio murmured something about the pork and the curry, Miwa snorted and finally released him from her grip. She quickly dabbed her eyes with the tissues sitting close by.
“Are you scared of Kei-kun leaving you?” she asked after moments of silence.
She watched as Tobio’s grip on the knife almost slipped. Tobio’s eyes closed like he was willing himself to focus on the question alone. It looked like he was in pain just from the question alone. But just as Miwa was about to say something, Tobio finally answered, “If Kei wants to leave me, I’d accept it… But I don’t think I’d live with myself knowing I did something or became someone that drove him away. It’s just —”
“Frightening?”
Tobio nodded. Look what happened because of us, Kazuyo-san, Miwa thought, smiling wryly.
“You know those are quite deep-seated thoughts you have there, Tobio,” she said, trying to lighten up the mood. “Not something I’d expect just because you’re jealous about your boyfriend being the campus crush.”
“Shut up,” Tobio scoffed.
“Finally accepting that you’re jealous, huh?”
“I didn’t say anything!”
Miwa only laughed as she finally finished the last of her chopping duties. She handed the board back to Tobio who swiped it from her so quickly when he saw the grin on her face. Well, she was grinning for sure, but not because of how easy it was to tease Tobio.
“You know, this is something you and Kei-kun should talk about,” Miwa stated.
Immediately, Tobio furiously shook his head. “No, no. This is nothing. I don’t have to tell him anything.”
Miwa sighed despondently and leaned back against the counter. “What did I just say?” It was like their previous heartfelt conversation flew into one ear and out the other.
“He’ll just laugh at me.”
“And? Punch him if he does, duh. Break up with him too, while you’re at it.”
Tobio rolled his eyes. “Like he’d let me.”
“There it is!” Miwa clapped her hands. “Didn’t you tell me that he’s obsessed with you? That he’d been pining for you ever since you were in middle school but you didn’t even know he existed?”
Somehow, Tobio seemed shy and embarrassed about that fact. “Yeah…?”
“Yeah, he’s not gonna think up any thoughts of replacing or leaving you, Tobio.” Miwa confidently shook her head. “If anything, he’s probably sitting down in some lecture hall, drowning out his sensei’s words because he’s too busy thinking about you. Or he’s probably fuming at some rando on social media about a dating rumor you got yourself and another teammate in.”
Tobio frowned. “Dating rumor? Why would there be dating rumors about me?”
“You need to check your socials more, baby bro. Also, Sho-kun told me Kei-kun likes to go on and on and on about so many of your fangirls and fanboys looking at you during your pro-matches. He seems to be the jealous type in the relationship, I see.”
“Eh, why would he be worried about that?”
“And yet, another thing you two can talk about! That boy’s not leaving you anytime soon when you two need to get over your heads and start talking.” Miwa cackled at the almost frustrated look on her brother’s face.
“Yes, haha.” For a split second, Miwa wondered if Tobio got that dry laugh from his boyfriend.
“Okay, but seriously, Tobio.” She stared at him, silently asking him to drop the spatula and focus on what she was saying. “You two love each other and I can see it. You don’t have to hide or run away from him nor does he have to run away from you. Now come on, wipe away that disgusting pout —”
“But Kei thinks it’s cute,” said Tobio, blocking his face away from her pinching hands.
Miwa rolled her eyes, raising her hands as if in surrender. “Ugh, okay, whatever. Just let it be, okay? Just let it all out to him, Tobio. You two will work it out together, I promise. Relationships are just like volleyball, okay? It’s teamwork.”
“Right… Teamwork. Just like volleyball.” His eyes lit up like Christmas lights, it was almost hilarious to watch.
Miwa snorted. “Of course, you’d listen to a volleyball comparison.”
They spent the rest of the time finally finishing up the curry that Tobio had been craving for a week or so. Between small talks here and there that were mostly carried by Miwa, Tobio had slowly become more and more comfortable. Once they finally sat down and ate, it was like Miwa had forgotten what was she so nervous about. Tobio was here and was practically giving her the chance to be a better sister. She was not going to squander it or disappoint him.
“Oi, Tobio,” she called out when Tobio was tying up his shoelaces, the packed leftover ramen and curry meant for Kei-kun by his side. When he looked up, Miwa smiled. “I mean it when I said I want to be better, so please give me that chance. Let’s do this again sometime soon.”
When a smile spread across Tobio’s face, it was like Miwa had traveled back years in the past when they both lived in the same house and she was styling his hair. Yes, past grievances and regrets be damned, she was going to be that sister she wanted to be for him.
“Sure!”
—
Tobio smiled as he heard the door to their shared apartment open. “ Okaeri ,” he greeted Kei once he finally entered the dining area.
“Tadaima, ” greeted his boyfriend back, wrapping his arms around Tobio and kissing him on his forehead. Tobio easily melted in his embrace. “So, what’s this about you being jealous of the people I go to university with?”
Tobio answered by knocking his head against Kei’s chin and running to their bedroom, leaving Kei who was dying of laughter while he called his snitching sister.