Chapter Text
He sits up in the bleachers, high above the court, observing the product of his training. Once an eager little kid, Tobio is now a shell of what he used to be. While memories of Tobio outranking himself used to haunt his younger self he now looks at the prodigy fondly as he watches. Tobio was his creation, but, he couldn’t help thinking that he pushed the boy too far. Drunk with victory Tobio ruled the team with an iron fist, a rightful king of the court. The stern king leads a life of loneliness and paranoia: living friendless and in constant fear of a coup.
With all of the skills that Oikawa gave him Tobio should have been able to thrive as a Setter in his place but somewhere along the line the plan went awry. When Oikawa was awarded the ‘Best Setter’ at his graduation, he could see a fire lit in Tobio’s eyes, a want for the title, to follow his mentor's footsteps. Part of what made Oikawa the setter he was, was his interaction with his team. He was open and honest, bending and adjusting to what his Hitterss, and more importantly, what his team, needed. He was a natural born leader, someone who could control the situation with just a series of hand gestures to get a play across. He wasn’t Kitagawa Daiichi’s Ace, but he carried the team as if he was. That’s where Tobio failed.
After Oikawa left Tobio was the only person with the necessary skills to take the Setter position, but he had shoes bigger than he could fill in Oikawa's absence. It was expected of him to slip in and fill Oikawa's position without problem or hesitation; that’s not what happened. Tobio is more closed off, more demanding than Oikawa ever was. While Oikawa would give pointers and helpful instruction, Tobio would demand greatness. He was a fantastic Setter but because he was well aware of his skills it made him selfish, thinking the people around him needed to change rather than him needing to change. He through set after set with his Hitters barely grazing the ball with his fingertips with a scolding “be faster” following each missed toss. He was out of control, determined to be the best, making him blind to the fact volleyball was a team sport. He regarded it as a collective of individuals that better themselves separately for a result rather than a collective unit that betters themselves together. He didn't adjust to his Hitters like Oikawa did.
He was the sun and Tobio, Icarus, with a volleyball as his wax wings. He was living in the shadow of the former Setter, and Oikawa wasn't surprised as the ball fell to the ground and silence swallowed the court. He flew too close to the sun, and his wings melted. His kingdom was finally tired of the abuse from him trying to live up to his mentor, so they let him fall into the ocean for it to tear him to shreds. Tobio didn't love the sun, in fact, he rather hated it and how it limited him. He was always limited to Oikawa's shadow, so he pushed towards the sun, trying to show that he was bright too until Tobio was thrown away from it as a forceful reminder that he could never shine as bright as the sun. He watches as Tobio walks off of the court dejectedly with peers snickering behind him. Whoever said public humiliation was the worst form of torture couldn't have been closer to the truth because as he watches Tobio taking his place on the bench, head hung with shame and frustration, he looked like he wanted to disappear.
All hope wasn’t lost on him yet though, an “Ace” (if you could call him that) who was playing for a middle school he had never heard of before, Yukigaoka Junior High. The shrimp stood at 162 cm., with wild orange hair and a personality that Oikawa swears could outshine the sun itself. He was a polar opposite from Tobio, but they had one thing in common; the both valued being on the court for as long as possible, and that sparked a passion in Tobio’s eyes that he hadn’t seen since he had started playing volleyball in junior high. He was working with his team, acknowledging the other team’s skill on the court, and over everything else he seemed to be having fun. While the shrimp’s team wasn’t good, it lit a fire in Tobio that Oikawa hadn’t seen for a long time. That was a few days ago, but the speech that the kid had given Tobio after the game was enough to last a lifetime.
When he ran into Tobio before the match, today he could see the fire burning dully in the male’s eyes, a kind of fire that had finally returned after years of dormancy. While it couldn't change him overnight, Oikawa was positive that his Icarus was being given a second chance by the sun and maybe, this time, things would even end up differently, perhaps, this time, he could even be happy. Maybe Tobio would even be able to shed the role of “The Selfish King.” While he doesn’t want to be bested by Tobio just yet, he hopes the shrimp has set the setters heart and mind on fire to show that if Tobio doesn’t evolve he won’t be anything but the lonely king. Time can only tell though because right now all that Oikawa can see is a dejected junior high student who has had his wings clipped by his "friends."