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Days are always the same for Tobio Kageyama. He wakes up at 5:30 AM and changes out of his pajamas and into shorts or leggings, depending on the weather, of course, and then puts on his windbreaker, of course. He puts his running shoes on, the same type he’s had since he was in high school, only replacing them when his feet grew or they were unwearable. He then goes on a run, no matter rain or cold, he runs and comes back to his house at 6:25 AM, give or take, and eats breakfast.
Toast, eggs (boiled or fried), rice and seasonal fruit. He cleans the kitchen and takes a shower that lasts about 10 minutes. By 7:15 AM he is gathering the things he needs for work and is always on campus before 7:45 AM. He doesn’t need to be there at that time, but he likes having a few minutes for himself before the usual pestering that comes with the title of Professor Kageyama, in the process of becoming doctor in history, Sugawara reminds him, walking into Tobio’s office, barely two minutes after he did.
It’s the end of Tobio’s second year teaching overall, but the eighth one in which he has followed this same exact routine every weekday. He sighs and looks up from the papers on his desk and stares at Sugawara, who happened to start working on his own doctorate at Tobio’s university, back when he was in his last year of undergraduate.
“How’s the research going, Kageyama-kun?” Suga asks, while fogging his glasses with the cup of coffee he is attempting to cool down before drinking from it.
“Good morning Suga-san,” Tobio starts, “I think I’ll be able to start field work this break,” he says while offering Suga the microfibre cloth he keeps in his office for this exact situation. He feels giddy, which is a little unlike him, but when Tobio is interested in something, when he likes something, he lets his guard down a little, and feels much more than he normally does.
“Look at you all smiles about it,” Suga teases him, “well, you better remember Sugawara-senpai when you start getting all the grants and prizes on your thesis, okay?” Suga finishes cleaning his glasses and returns the cloth to Tobio, who puts it away ready for when he has to retrieve it again for his upperclassman tomorrow morning.
And so, the rest of the day remains the same for Professor Kageyama. He teaches World History I at 9:30 am, reads and grades assignments until lunch time, eats at the cafeteria with Suga, teaches Introduction to Ancient Japanese History at 2:30 pm, and, because it is Friday, he meets with his doctoral advisor. The semester is about to end, and with winter break coming up, it means that Tobio’s research can start being his only priority.
Except, of course, for what Dr. Hashimoto tells Tobio. Yes the department of history will be helping him with his field investigation, almost everything is ready for Tobio’s trip to Brazil. Dr. Hashimoto shows him the paperwork, they got him a residence permit, and he says that he knows someone in São Paulo that can help him with his work. So now Professor Kageyama is staring blankly at the walls in his office on a Friday afternoon at 5:36 pm, instead of driving back home, as per his usual routine.
Shouyou Hinata has been appointed Tobio’s point of contact in Brazil- and will be his roommate for the entirety of his field investigation trip.
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Even in his teen years, Tobio Kageyama’s days were always the same. He ran, he ate, he got ready and he went to school. He found security in repetition, and was charmed to learn about human’s tendency to disturb it. He had a particular fascination with history—he was always hung up on the evidence of human touch, where people came from, how they moved, what they did and where, how the place they lived in changed them and how they had changed it, too.
Tobio knows well—history starts in small moments. One decision, one encounter, one small thing can change the course of humanity forever. And so, this was his small moment.
In his first year of high school, he decides to join the photography club, sort of impulsively. It’s good to have a varied set of skills, Tobio thinks, who knows, it might even come in handy later in life, when he decides to dedicate his time entirely to the study of history. (The upperclassmen that were scouting first years were very pleasant, too.)
He sits nervously in the classroom where the club is supposed to meet, no one else there yet. He looks out the window and momentarily is blinded from the brightness of the sun, when he hears the door of the classroom open. He turns around and forgets to breathe for a second—maybe two.
Tousled orange curls and a smile that shines brighter than sun, deep and sweet honey amber eyes, and a presence that Tobio simply could not describe in words. His whole body felt like it could float. Even as he was living it, Tobio recognized this as his small moment.
He shook his head, closed his mouth and blinked three times. A sigh escapes him unauthorized.
“Hey there! Are you here for the photography club meeting too?,” the boy moved towards Tobio and bowed slightly, still smiling with such radiance that annoys stars, “my name is Shouyou Hinata.”
And history was made.
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Almost 15 hours from Haneda to Paris, 6 hours in Paris, and another 12 hours from Paris to São Paulo. Just two days ago Tobio was still grading final tests from the safety and comfort of his office, in freezing-cold Tokyo. It was surely going to be a tough adjustment to summer temperatures. He boarded the airplane in Japan on December 21st at 8:50 am, and even though it had been more than 24 hours since, when Tobio looked at his phone after going through customs at Guarulhos airport, it read December 22nd - 7:23 am.
He looks up to see the little crowd of people awaiting for the travelers to come out, and spots a cardboard sign that says Happy birthday (again, lol) Kageyama-kun!, and none other than Shouyou Hinata holding it while jumping on his spot. Tobio can’t help the smile forming on his lips, even if accompanied by a frown. His phone starts vibrating, his e-sim finally up and running, and so his frown disappears when he opens his messages
Shou (8 hours ago)
Happy birthday Tobi! Can’t wait to see you in a few hours~
When Shouyou and Tobio finally reunite in the midst of a sea of people greeting each other with screams, laughs, kisses and hugs, Tobio feels like his limbs are frozen, even though he is sure every cell of his body must be sweating in this heat. Shouyou looks older, of course. Maybe not much taller, but fuller—Tobio realizes this is the first time they meet as grown adults, out of their childhood homes, with jobs and goals and dreams of their own to fulfill.
Shouyou smiles widely at Tobio, melting him; he messes with the orange curls, slightly shorter than before, like there hasn’t been years since he had done that, and lets Shouyou grab his bags and guide him towards his car. As Shouyou walks in front of him, he starts to notice other things. Shouyou is much tanner than last time they had seen each other in person, but it is not something that surprises Tobio- Shouyou is much better at keeping everyone updated through social media- so yeah, Tobio’s seen him. There’s freckles all over his body, and fading tan lines from sunglasses. He is wearing green sport shorts and a black tank top (loose, thank goodness), and a pair of white sneakers that are dirty and remind Tobio of high school.
Tobio looks at Shouyou and grieves the time they’ve been apart but also is excited to learn the history behind every new mark on and crease on his body, every new book on his shelf, every new food he’s learned to love and cook, every reason he’s had to create a new habit.
“What do you think, then?” Shouyou turns around after loading Tobio’s bags on the back of his jeep.
“I’m sorry, what?” Tobio hadn’t really noticed Shouyou speaking to him the whole walk to the car- he was too busy trying to process the adult version of his high school crush standing in front of him, like he was making a wish to the same shooting star he saw passing through the sky as a kid. Would he make the same wish? He still felt like a kid, after all.
Shouyou laughs, “I was asking if you were hungry. If you are too tired we can go straight to my apartment, it’s about an hour and a half drive from here.” He opened his jeep and Tobio climbed on the passenger seat rigidly, feeling like he was in a too intimate spot suddenly. “Or, we can have some breakfast in Liberdade- that way you can both have a proper birthday meal and see the place you traveled so many kilometers to study in person,” Shouyou puts on sunglasses and turns the radio at a random station, singing in portuguese once he recognized the melody.
Tobio’s stomach growls and the memories of the past couple days mix in his head, not remembering what was the last thing he ate or drank. He knows the routes they were about to navigate through, even just from seeing them in maps and reading their names on articles and academic papers, but he still felt the need to ask, “if we go to Liberdade, we don’t deviate too far off from the route to your apartment? I could use some curry right now, honestly,” he throws his head back slowly and covers his eyes with the back of his hand, sighing.
“It’s barely 8 am Kageyama, but luckily for you, I know a place that serves curry at this hour,” Shouyou sets the aircon on high and lowers the sun visor on Tobio’s side, “just close your eyes and relax for a little, I’ll tell you when we get there.
Tobio fights the urge to smile, and loses.
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When Tobio was younger, and the world seemed so much bigger than it is, he sat for hours in front of his grandfather's library sofa, listening to him talk and tell stories of the ancient and modern world, just as if he had been present in the makings of history. Honestly, if Kazuyo Kageyama had told Tobio he had been there, Tobio would’ve believed him.
“There’s times when people move in large quantities,” Kazuyo once told Tobio, “sometimes they need something they don’t have at home.”
“Like when mom takes us to the supermarket for things to make curry?” Tobio chimed in.
Kazuyo laughed before continuing, “sort of. It’s a little more like Miwa living in Tokyo to be near a school where she can learn what makes her happy.”
“Ah, I see. People move to be happy?”
“Sometimes people move to be with someone they miss, sometimes they leave because they have no other choice but to leave,” Kazuyo closed the book on his lap and patted Tobio’s head. “Let me tell you about a very interesting place in South America…”
Tobio grew up fascinated with history- the evidence of human touch, where people came from, how they moved, what they did and where, how the place they lived in changed them and how they had changed it, too. Once he had heard about Liberdade, the neighborhood in São Paulo, Brazil, he started spending a lot of his evenings and nights reading every and any essay or book written about the Japanese immigration to Brazil.
Of course, you must approach history without any biases, as you should do with any science. Tobio wanted to learn that, but early in high school you’d find him 35 links of wikipedia deep, criticizing this and that country, cursing governments for trying to reduce a certain population by encouraging the exodus of another, trying to understand the logic behind subsidized immigration, but ultimately he was captivated and ridiculously engrossed in the largest japanese population outside of Japan- and that’s how he decided he’d discover all that could be discovered about that interesting place in South America his grandpa used to tell him so much about when he was young.
He also decided then, that if he ever missed someone he loved, he’d leave to anywhere in the world if he needed to. Sometimes people move because they miss someone, anyways.
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When Tobio opens his eyes again, the car has come to a stop, and Shouyou is turning off the motor before watching him pathetically blink, willing himself back into full consciousness.
“Good morning sleeping beauty! We are here!” Shouyou is almost yelling to his face, he laughs, taking his sunglasses off and avoiding Tobio’s subconscious attempts to grab his head.
After Tobio rubs his eyes too many times, he looks out the window and is a little surprised with the amount of people walking in and out of shops, restaurants and cafes. Along the street at which they are parked, there are red streetlights, with lampshades in the shape of lanterns. There’s ads and store names written in Japanese alongside its equivalent in Portuguese.
As he steps out of Shouyou's jeep, Tobio thinks it's surreal to be in the place he has read so much about, the main reason he was in Brazil, even. He sees Shouyou approach a cafe with tables and chairs propped outside, it was a bit small compared to the places surrounding it, and from the way Shouyou walked into it, saying hello to some of the clients, and even stepping behind the counter to talk with the barista, Tobio guesses he must come here often.
Tobio finds an empty table inside of the cafe, he sits with his back to the street, and starts inspecting the walls flooded with pictures. Most of them are of people showing different plates to the camera, some of the pictures are at the beach- he even sees Shouyou in one of them, a volleyball at his hip and the man next to him in the group looks like the person he was just talking to behind the counter. He hears Shouyou’s laugh approaching, he’s saying something Tobio can’t understand. Tobio realizes Shouyou’s voice seems softer in Portuguese, a lot more melodious and sweet than what he is used to. He thinks the sweetness he is used to, though. Even if the same type of kindness Shouyou offers to everyone.
He takes the seat in front of Tobio, carrying a couple of cups with what seems to be smoothie, maybe. There’s spoons in the cups. “Curry is in the makes, good sir. In the meantime, I brought you your first Brazilian experience, açai.” Shouyou takes a spoonful while Tobio stops to study what was given to him. He has heard of açaí bowls before, but has never had the chance (or hasn’t had enough curiosity, actually) to try it. There’s some banana slices, coconut and almond flakes and honey on top of a purple-ish puree.
He gets a bit of the puree on his spoon and sniffles it, then carefully puts it in his mouth, the texture reminds him of sorbet, and the flavor is sweet and tart- “the perfect start-kicker after such fatiguing days, huh?” Shouyou says, as if he was reading Tobio’s mind, finishing his train of thought. Tobio looks up from his cup to see Shouyou smiling with his eyes closed, a sight he hasn’t experienced in a while.
A young lady brings out a couple of plates with rice and curry, and fried eggs in a third one. Tobio whispers obrigado as she sets the food on the table. Shouyou claps his hands together and bows for a few seconds before grabbing another spoon, he says “I hope you have another plentiful year, Kageyama-kun” before he starts eating.
“T-Thank you, Hinata,” Tobio replies, his hands still clasped against each other.
It must be the smell of the food, or the sweetness in the açai, but Tobio feels more awake than ever, like a sunflower blooming in midday. He smiles to himself thinking that if Shouyou is his sun, he’s done photosynthesis for the first time in years.
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Do you wanna go to the arcade? I wanted to practice taking pictures in places with many light sources. Do you want to come to my house? My sister can make us curry for dinner, we can do homework afterwards. Do you want to mess around using photoshop? I downloaded it on my dad’s computer, yeah sure we can stay after school. Anything and everything was a good excuse to linger back with Shouyou. Tobio understands why Shouyou is popular, he understands why everyone can talk to him so easily and why everyone needs him, and he wouldn’t be surprised if half of the school was in love with Shouyou- but what he didn’t understand was why Shouyou responded with sure, Kageyama-kun to his pathetic excuses of hang-outs.
It’s their second year of high school already, they turn into upperclassmen, and they are somewhat needed in club activities. Tobio had discovered he had a bit of a knack for photography- or maybe he was incredibly motivated in the subject. Either way, he had embodied the ‘accidentally became important at work’ meme and that’s why he was sweaty on a Saturday morning, taking pictures with a group of first-years at a hakusai field.
He hadn’t brought his big camera that day; he needed to be hands-free at any given moment when Shouyou needed an extra pair. Tsukishima, that bastard, had called him a well trained puppy, who could blame him though? As cheesy as it could sound, Shouyou had some sort of gravitation in him, a force that made Tobio spiral around him. Those golden eyes would scream at him I’m here, look at me, I need something only you can give me and then sweetly smile to the first-years that clearly had joined the club just to plague Shouyou.
“Tch,” Tobio scoffed as he moved away from the annoying scene of giggly underclassmen being charmed by Shouyou. He started to gather around things left behind, a tripod, a reflector; when he heard a shutter, he turned around to see a camera and Shouyou Hinata behind it.
“Tired already, Kageyama-kun?” Shouyou said, after taking a couple more pictures of Tobio and letting out an airy laugh.
“As if,” Tobio was quick to respond. “I’m not the one that was basically jumping in my seat the whole drive here.”
Shouyou giggles, “well, I really enjoyed our first-year trip, I can’t help but get excited to be back here with you.” He smiled at Tobio as the wind unruled his longer curls. Tobio put down all he was carrying and moved closer to Shouyou, and slowly, as if trying not to frighten him, lifted his hand to tuck a few curls behind his ear. And Shouyou let him.
They both turn around hearing a click from behind them, one of the first-years pointing a lens at them.
“Oh- uh. I’m sorry to interrupt. I can delete it if you want!”
“Don’t you dare, Aoiki, let me see it! I bet it’s really good…” Shouyou was naturally indulgent with their juniors. So Tobio continued his labor, moving things around and being ready to help, but with a prolonged tickling stayed on his hand, shaped like a curl, warm as the summer, nagging him for the rest of the day.
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After they eat, Shouyou convinces Tobio that he needs to get some proper sleep, and despite his protests and despite his sudden spurt of energy, Tobio complies and quickly dissolves and relaxes in the car ride, he is thankful to have landed in Brazil on a Sunday morning instead of a Monday afternoon.
“So, how’s the thesis going?” Shouyou says, startling Tobio, who was just dozing off, staring out the window.
He coughs once, before answering. “Well, I guess it’s going well. I’m here after all.” Tobio shrugs.
“It just took you about, what, five years?” Shouyou sounds and looks unexpectedly serious as he speaks, “and I know we were better at texting a few years back, and you know, we were both doing research at the same time at some point, and, uh, right, teaching and I was traveling for a lot of that time and…” Shouyou is breathless and Tobio is confused, “It’s just that… I’ve missed you, Tobi. Please don’t become a stranger, ever.”
Tobio is scared Shouyou will hear his heart beating out of his chest, because he certainly can. He frowns, frustrated with his mind, trying to respond. “You’ve annoyed me for way too long, I don’t think I could ever ignore you, even if I tried.”
Shouyou giggles, “I know I can always trust your promises.”
“Promises-?”
“See?” Shouyou pouts his lips and then with one hand points at his eyebrows, in a frown. “You only do the pout and frown combo when you are focusing really hard, and you never focus really hard on saying something unless you mean it,” he goes back to the smile, and looks more relaxed than before.
Tobio is speechless for a few seconds, but decides to avoid the topic even if that could mean embarrassing himself in the near future. “Uhm, well, I saw you finished your masters- are you thinking of doing a thesis yourself?,” Tobio says, as nonchalantly as he can.
“Oh congrats Shou, oh thank you Tobio,” Shouyou teases Tobio, smirking, “but yeah, not that many Japanese people who have traveled half the world end up finishing their degree and completing their masters in geography in Brazil. Once I came here and wandered from teaching in high schools, taking random photography and drawing classes, I’ve been spending a lot of time learning about cartography and photography journals and how to use them in undergraduate and graduate classes in geography and other social studies.”
Tobio blinks a few times before Shouyou continues talking. Suddenly he feels like he’s back in high school, drunk on Shouyou’s voice and mind, full of ambition and passion he had only seen in himself before- one of the million reasons that kept him falling in love with Shouyou. “So, uhm, yes and no. It may sound silly but I don’t think I’m ready for a doctorate just yet. I do teach some classes at UNESP but I have to basically live on campus those months. I only do so a semester at a time,” they stop at a red light and Shouyou sighs and looks at Tobio for a second, “I learned that I love the beach, and I can’t seem to stay too much time away from it.”
Tobio smiles, remembering their high school days again, and how Shouyou had whispered to him his dream, like it was a confession, I want to see the world from its coasts, first. The only true border nature ever created between humans, and to that- we built boats.
Shouyou’s voice kicks Tobio back into the present, “Dr. Hashimoto has been trying to convince me to go back and get a teaching degree, too. I think that’s the only reason he keeps contact with me even after transferring out halfway through undergraduate. But, you know, it worked out in my favor in the end.”
“How so?” Tobio shivers at the sight of Shouyou’s smug smile. That usually means he’s planned something. Or, that’s what it meant back when he lived to see Shouyou every day.
“I get to keep you a whole summer to myself.”
Yeah, whatever Shouyou had planned,Tobio would fall for it.
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After another hour of driving, and several times of Tobio’s head hitting the window, nodding off, they finally make it to Praia Grande. Shouyou parks alongside an apartment complex and gets Tobio’s luggage, while Tobio is assimilating the scenery around. Shouyou doesn’t live exactly at the beach, but everything around surely indicated there was a beach close. Surfboards alongside some of the doors of the complex, palm trees everywhere he turned, and everyone he could see was tanned to an extent.
Tobio follows Shouyou closely through gates, through hallways and up stairways, scared of losing him out of sight, of losing any more time together. Shouyou finally stops in front of a door, opens it and tells Tobio “minha casa é sua casa.” Tobio feels his cheeks burn as he steps into Shouyou’s apartment. The layout is very different to what apartments look like in Japan, yet everything in this place reminds Tobio of home. There’s pictures of Miyagi on every wall- he even recognizes some of the pictures, remembering being there when they were taken.
Tobio looks at pictures over a couple more times. He exhales loudly before speaking. “Are all these pictures from when we were in club?”
Shouyou finishes putting Tobio’s bag in his guest room. He lets out a laugh as he scratches the back of his head. “Oh, yeah. They are. There are one or two from after high school around somewhere too, but I wanted home on my walls, you know.”
“This one from the silhouettes project,” Tobio pointed at a picture of his own shadow over the sidewalk that goes into the Sendai Museum. They had gone with the other people from their grade that were also in photography club to complete the project together. It was embarrassing for Tobio to see Shouyou submit this specific photo for it, but today Tobio feels honored to be featured on this wall at all.
“Yeah, I forget you have such a good memory Kageayama-kun!” Shouyou playfully hits Tobio’s back and then enters the guest room with Tobio tailing behind. “You should sleep a little. I’ll come get you later. If you fall asleep, do you want me to wake you up for lunch, or?”
“That’s okay,” Tobio feels a little overwhelmed, all those hours traveling, seeing Shouyou again, and seeing himself exist in Shouyou’s home, to be seen by Shouyou and to remind Shouyou every time he turns around in his apartment- it was all a bit much for him right now. He needed time alone to compose himself, even if he couldn’t sleep. “I think I should rest until dinner.”
“Okay, let me know if you need anything,” Shouyou smiles one last time in Tobio’s direction before exiting the room and closing the door behind him.
Tobio peels off some layers before sitting on the bed. He looks at the nightstand looking for a place to put his phone and watch on, noticing a photo frame. Perplexed for a few seconds, Tobio turns to lay flat on the bed and groans loudly into one of the pillows. He quickly sits up again and grabs the photo frame. He’s never seen this picture before, but he surely remembers when it was taken. He smiles as he stares at his second-year-self carefully tucking a curl behind Shouyou’s ear, rows and rows of hakusai plantations all around them.
He falls back onto the bed, thinking that he should sleep. Thinking he has more reasons to stay awake, though.
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A lot of people get sad when they finish high school. The idea of saying goodbye to what is known and to people you grew accustomed to did scare Tobio, but he was more excited for what was to come. What are the chances that Shouyou Hinata, who he had been crushing and yearning over all his high school years, would be going to the same university as him? He had learned that Shouyou loved geography in ways that he loved history, too. It was a little too perfect. Destined, if he ever believed in that.
In university they would spend time together, much like they did in high school. Granted, they were not in all the same classes, and Tobio had opted out of doing anything related to photography, but he still had the privilege to observe Shouyou Hinata shine and illuminate him and others around him. People were drawn to Shouyou, they moved like planets around a star, always in the spotlight. Tobio would take his own share of attention, though unintentionally. He just really likes history and anything to do with its study- and it showed. It was only a matter of time when the professors on their respective areas started to catch an eye on both of them.
At the end of their second year of university, Shouyou and Tobio were in the same statistics class. “Look, we both need to take this math class- we should plan to do it at the same time, that way I can help your dumbass study whenever you don’t understand something”, Shouyou giggled, “Kageyama-kun, you do realize I have to take way more math classes for geography, right?” Tobio scoffed, “whatever, I already signed up for it”, is how they had ended up suffering together in the worst statistics night class in existence.
One night, nearing finals, they were in Tobio’s apartment in Tokyo, studying. The place was small and stuffy, but Shouyou said he liked it because it was quieter than his own. Shoyou was sitting on Tobio’s bed, leaning on a wall, next to the only window in the room, he put down his pencil and sighed. He opened the window and stared up into the sky.
“Tobio, I’m taking a leave of absence.”
Tobio was in shock. He knew Shouyou was up to something- he had observed him long enough to figure out that much. “What? Why?” He hoped he didn’t sound as defeated as he felt.
Shouyou turned his eyes from the sky to meet Tobio’s. Honey-copper eyes melting Tobio’s cold-blue. “I need to see the world. I need to remind myself what this all is for.”
Tobio pouted and frowned. He understood Shouyou’s decision. He tried to smile while thinking how to respond. Shouyou trusted Tobio enough to tell him this much- but nothing else seemed to comfort Tobio right now more than the mere fact that they would be in each other’s lives forever, hopefully.
“Okay, I’ll see you later,” was all he could say to Shouyou, who was still sitting on his bed in Tokyo, with a statistics book on his lap.
Shouyou smiled widely, and laughed lightly between his next words, “Yeah, see you later, Kageyama-kun!”
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Tobio hears a faint knock on the door a few hours after he was left alone to sleep, but that he used to unpack and nearly crash out a couple times. “What?” he says, not turning away from where he was, putting the last few of his socks away in a dresser next to the bed.
The door opens, and Tobio hears a plop behind him, he turns around to see Shouyou hold a pair of socks in his direction, already laying on his bed, around the rest of the clothes he had laid out to put away. He frowns and takes one by one the pieces that Shouyou passes him, the familiarity of their movements scare Tobio.
“Maybe you are tired, I don’t know,” Shouyou started saying while passing Tobio a t-shirt, folded to perfection, “but I am going out for a run, if you want to come. I know you usually go in the mornings, but running along Praia do Forte with the sun setting is magical if you ask me.” He looks at Shouyou staring upside down from where he is still laying on bed, he smiles, making the whole room glow, forcing Tobio to blink too many times.
Tobio feels the last forty or so hours dripping on his skin, wearing him down. Exhausted would be an understatement. And yet he goes and searches amongst what is put away and what is not put away yet, and he finds a pair of running shorts, a t-shirt, and his blue running shoes.
He sits down next to Shouyou after changing in the bathroom, who is looking at something on his phone. As soon as Tobio sat down, Shouyou drops an arm on Tobio’s lap and absently touches his knee. It's electrifying, and Tobio feels the need to touch Shouyou back, so, bravely, he stretches his arm over Shouyou and stays there, propped above him, part of his torso against Shouyou’s, burning at the contact with the sun.
“I was thinking we could eat dinner after running,” Shouyou doesn’t look away from his phone, now running his fingers along Tobio’s legs, like it was nothing, “I should let you have authentic Brazilian cuisine before subjecting you to my cooking, what do you think?”
“Hmm, whatever. Are we running back afterwards?” Tobio hopes he doesn’t sound as choked up as he feels.
Shouyou finally puts his phone away and looks right into Tobio’s eyes. “We’ll see when we get there.” He winks at Tobio and gets up making his way towards the front door.
Tobio slaps himself once to check whether or not he is awake or if he’s still asleep in the plane.
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Tobio is thankful that he is tired enough to go through the next forty minutes or so, moving by inertia and gravity. Or maybe it's just love. He shakes his head a few times as he sees Shouyou slow down and stop for a second. Shouyou is wearing running attire that fits him too well. Along with the exhaustion and borderline dehydration, this could be the closest Tobio Kageyama will ever be to being high. Shouyou walks up to a mini mart while Tobio stretches a little before sitting down on a bench facing the beach. Shouyou was right, the sunset at the beach is something magical.
A few moments later, Tobio feels cool from the breeze, and the sports drink that Shouyou bought him made him feel like he had been born again. They sit side by side on the bench, and just people watch with the comfortable sounds of waves in the background. He hears Shouyou take a deep breath beside him so he turns to face him.
Shouyou is still a little sweaty from the run, and literally glows in golden and yellow and pink from the sunset. Tobio wants to count the freckles on his face, the ones that are new to him. He also feels an urge to run his hand through Shouyou’s hair, feeling the orange curls through his fingers was just a natural thing back when they were in high school and even in the two years they shared as undergraduates. Tobio doesn’t understand how he has lived five years without it.
Shouyou tilts his head towards Tobio and laughs softly. “Your face screams that you want to mess with my hair,” he moves a little closer to Tobio, “it’s okay. I missed you too.”
Tobio feels like he is probably making a disgusted face- but he couldn’t help that his shock looked just like disgust. Shouyou laughs harder.
“How do you do that?” Tobio manages to say.
“Do what?”
“I don’t fucking know, read my mind somehow.” Tobio feels the frown forming on his forehead, even without him allowing it. Somehow his hand had found Shouyou’s head, and somehow Shouyou’s finger ran over his face, making lines of fire wherever they touched.
Shoyou’s eyes are following the edges of Tobio’s face and he smiles, fondly, with nostalgia and familiarity. “You always wear your thoughts on your face, in how you move and how you speak. I’m just an expert in reading them.” It seems like Shouyou wants to say more, so Tobio doesn’t move, doesn’t even breathe for the next few seconds, expectantly. “Eventually, though, you end up telling me.” They are sitting closer than what Tobio remembered. Sea breeze doing little to keep him from blazing hot due to their proximity.
Suddenly, Shoyou turns again to watch the beach, but leans back onto Tobio, his head placed perfectly between his shoulder and neck. He grabs Tobio’s hand to go around him and holds it between both of his.
“In high school people used to come to me when they were worried about you. At first I thought it was because we were almost always together in club or whatever, but then Suga-san once told me that it's because you talked to me,” Tobio feels Shouyou laugh against his chest. “Does this feel weird to you? How easily we have fallen into talking again? into touch? After five years, Tobio- I” Tobio hears Shouyou’s voice quaver, he grabs him by the shoulders, so they are facing each other again. A few tears fall from Shoyou’s eyes, and Tobio slowly cleans them with his thumb. And Shouyou lets him.
“I think I get it. It’s familiar. Ordinary,” Tobio whispers.
“Part of our routine.”
Tobio Kageyama understands, then, he is about to live another small moment.
He clears his throat, heart racing and his stomach hurting so bad he could cry, “yeah, like I could wake up to do it every day, too.”
Shouyou looks up from where he had been holding onto one of Tobio’s hands. “If you are about to say what I think you will, it took you a long time to put those thoughts into words, Yama.”
Tobio groans and rolls his eyes. “It feels weird to say. I- well. I didn’t plan this-”
“Clearly,” Shouyou teases, and Tobio huffs before continuing.
“I don’t let people know me like you do, Hinata.”
Shouyou giggles, “I know. And I will take that much. I like you too, Tobio Kageyama.”
Tobio’s eyes widen and he unconsciously shakes Shouyou, holding him from his shoulders, hugging him.
“Wait,” Tobio stops moving, and Shouyou stops laughing, too. “What! When? Why-” he doesn’t realize he is crying until Shouyou wipes his face.
“I’m not sure, I guess there were moments in high school that really reasserted it, but in all honesty, it must have been since that day we met at club orientation.” Shoyou scratches his temple, trying to hide his embarrassment.
And so, history was made, again.
Tobio smiles with such warmth in his heart that could burn a million stars. He grabs Shouyou’s shy face between his hands and kisses him. Shouyou whines in surprise, but is quickly to return it, bringing Tobio closer, trying to melt them together. Maybe they remember they are at a public beach after a few whistles thrown their way, so they just laugh and walk hand in hand.
Later, they eat churrasco and catch up on things they had missed of each other, and make some more promises to each other (knowingly this time.)
Fim.
⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊
Sugawara-san (5 hours ago)
tell hinata I say haiiii
Me (just now)
I’m extending my stay in Brazil, Sugawara-senpai.
omg hello suga-sannnn
Sugawara-san (just now)
WHY ARE YOU SAYING THAT NOW, YOU’VE BEEN THERE LESS THAN A DAY
ALSO HI HINATA (IM GUESSING THAT WAS YOU)
Me (just now)
image.jpg
Sugawara-san (just now)
WHY ARE YOU WEARING MATCHING RINGS, YOU’VE SEEN EACH OTHER LESS THAN A DAY AND YOU ARE ALREADY WEARING MATCHING RINGS WHAT IN THE FUCK
Me (just now)
Hinata bought them a while ago, it seems.
It makes sense to me.
Sugawara-san (just now)
I BETTER BE SOMEONE’S MAID OF HONOR OR WHATEVER THEY CALL THEM OKAY?
Seen
Sugawara-san (just now)
oh and happy birthday- again. it’s still december 22nd for you somehow lol.