Chapter Text
"Those marks..."
Tobio hissed, hands immediately shooting up to pull a shirt over his bare torso as a last yet futile attempt to cover the abomination on his back. No.
"Kageyama,"
They weren't supposed to find out.
Tobio gripped at the hems of his shirt, letting his bangs cast a shadow over half of his face. He refused to look up. He refused to see the shocked look on their faces gradually transform into one of disgust. He refused to see the disappointment in Oikawa's face grow more in magnitude and witness how Iwaizumi's face fell at the revelation because there's just no way that Kageyama Tobio was their soulmate. He hadn't wanted them to know. Not this way, not ever. He refused to.
He will ruin them.
"Tob--"
He swung to face them, closing his eyes to not catch a single glimpse before he bowed at the waist. "I'm sorry, senpai. I didn't mean to."
Iwaizumi reeled back. "Wha, Kageyama--"
"This doesn't have to mean anything." There was a cold iron coil around his heart. Fighting to not make his voice reveal the wrenching pain in his guts was proving to be a difficult feat as he forced the words out. "You can act like this never happened, I assure you."
You can act like I never happened.
He heard a sharp intake of air in front of him, seeming to echo in tandem with the rapid beating of his heart. When he saw a pair of shoes begin to step into his lowered line of sight, he moved to blindly grab his bag and sling it over his shoulder before quickly side-stepping the approach and making a run for it.
The calls for his name faded the farther he got from campus.
He'd only realized that his face was wet with thick rivulets of tears when he'd shut his house's front door behind him. Ugly sobs ripped out of his throat, but the static in his ears made him fail to hear them. His chest felt constricted, as if somebody thought it was a good idea to wrap thick copper chains around it. He fell to the floor, crying out at the searing pain that seemed to tear his beating heart apart, making him curl into a ball and encase the front of his shirt in a white-knuckled grip. Forcing air into his lungs was like coaxing water to flow through the tiny holes of a concrete dam. It hurt. Goddamn, it hurt.
He thought he'd long forgotten that pain years ago. Time heals everything, they said. The wall would make it all stop, they said.
Tobio, hunched over the restroom sink of Seijoh's campus with hands splayed out on its surface as the last thing holding him up, called bullshit.
It's not like he can say that he isn't used to it. He's aware of the repercussions entailed once a person forcibly tears themselves away from their destined-to-bes. Going against fate wasn't exactly a well-accepted notion, after all. The pain had become a constant company that he learned to live with, even more so when he mastered how to put up and fortify a wall. But it was a double edged sword. The wall dampened the pain whenever it struck, yes. But the strain in his head whenever the wall was up for too long hindered him from functioning well at times. The first time he experienced the wall's strain, he was dead on his feet. Since then, Tobio became adamant on avoiding it from happening again by releasing the wall on weekends, where he's alone and secured inside his home.
But seeing Iwaizumi and Oikawa back at court after so long made every wall strain seem like it can't hold a candle to what he's feeling now.
He dug into the pockets of his gym bag, blindly shoving through the random things he threw inside it. When his hand found purchase on a familiar pill bottle he sighed. Just what he needed.
Tobio popped a pill into his mouth and swallowed it dry. When his chest began to lighten, he sagged with relief. He managed to straighten himself up right before the door slammed open, revealing Hinata calling out to tell him that Daichi's looking for them.
"Oi, Kageyama."
Tobio hummed without turning to look at Hinata as they walked with the rest of the team from behind. Takeda-sensei had asked them to go ahead and wait for him at the bus.
"You looked funny a while ago."
Taking it as an insult, he turned to the smaller boy with a scowl. "What do you mean?"
"When the Great King entered the court,"
And Tobio suddenly felt his throat go dry.
Hinata narrowed his eyes at him. "You were giving him this weird look."
A weird look? He bit his lip, pointedly directing his gaze elsewhere. Was he being that obvious? "You're seeing things, idiot. I wasn't even looking at him."
"Liar!" Hinata's cheeks puffed out. "I saw it! You were staring at him almost in the same way Seijoh's ace was staring at you during the first set."
That made him physically halt in his tracks. "Iwaizumi-san?"
"Ah. You didn't notice?"
He did. He most definitely did. The wall had been troubling him all throughout the game, as if something was prodding against it from the outside. Had he not grown accustomed to putting up with its strain, he would've fallen right then and there.
"No." he forced through gritted teeth. He resumed walking, not looking back if Hinata caught up with him because they've strayed quite far from the group already.
Tobio didn't need to be looking to know that Hinata was looking skeptically at him. He was never really good at lying to begin with.
"Even so--"
"Takeda sensei complimented us." Daichi announced from his place at the front of the group, loud enough to be heard by both of them who'd been hanging back. "But to be frank, if we were facing Seijoh and Oikawa in an all-out match, we'd be lacking greatly."
Tobio frowned, looking down at his feet with contemplation. The captain was right. If Oikawa had been assigned as setter from the beginning of the game, their chances of winning would go bleak in an instant. His prowess as a player was too great to be dealt with by a team as incomplete as theirs. With no libero to tighten up their defense and an ace spiker who can take on three blockers by himself, they barely dodged the bullet with this victory.
Hinata tensed beside him, as if he was gearing up to make a protest but--
"Spoken like a true captain I see."
His heart felt like it was suddenly a good idea to plummet to the ground. The group stopped walking, a collective sound of confusion and questioning 'oh's resonating among them. Tobio kept his gaze glued to to his feet, refusing to look up because his back was burning and the weight inside his head made itself known once again. He clenched his hands into fists when he realized that sweat had gathered in his palms, making them feel every blow of cold air at full force.
Of course. He'd be there.
"The Great King makes his entrance." Hinata declared, going into a defensive stance behind Tanaka as the second year's face twisted into a taunting one.
"You got a problem?" Tanaka neared him, head raised high.
"What do you want?" Hinata added, imitating the elder's tone. "Wanna fight, huh?"
Oikawa straightened up, a placating smile plastered on his face. "Now, now, there's no need for hostilities." He directed his gaze to Hinata, effectively making the small spiker tense up. "By the way, your last one-touch and broad attack was amazing, chibi."
That tore Hinata out of his defensive demeanor, a blush coating his cheeks and a hand coming up to rub the back of his head at the sudden compliment.
"Let's give it all we got the next time, right from the start." Oikawa's tone lowered, and Tobio didn't have to strain his ears to understand the underlying challenge behind it. "Your offense was amazing, there's no doubt about that. But your receives are slow." From his peripheral vision, he saw Tsukishima wince ever so slightly. "Surely you'll reach your limits very quickly. And I'm not the only one who hits powerful serves."
It'd been a long time since he's faced off Oikawa in a match. The boy was an impressive player during his younger years, Tobio can most certainly vouch for that. If the rumors were said to be true, then Oikawa Tooru would be more monstrous now; a true, and full-fledged king, as he'd daresay. He'd watched a couple of the third year's high school matches, and he can count on a single hand the total times they've lost a match with him at court. With every single hit Oikawa makes with the ball, the sound would always seem like it's bouncing off inside Tobio's ears, even louder than the crowd's cheers.
He can't say that he hasn't ever dreamed of facing Oikawa in an official match. But who would've thought that it's actually now happening sooner than later.
He also hasn't dreamed of forming a closer relationship with Oikawa ever since he realized that he's fallen not only for him, but for Iwaizumi as well. But look at what Fate suddenly decided to complicate things with.
Something seemed to pulsate inside his head, as if to remind him of the lengths he'd desperately tried to reach for the sole purpose of isolating himself from the two people his world used to revolve around on.
Tobio mentally slapped himself, forcefully clearing his head because thinking about that was the least thing he needed right now.
All his attempts proved futile, however, when a pair of shoes stepped into his line of vision.
"Tobio-chan."
Now where was that hole that's supposed to swallow him full?
Tobio persistently stared at the concrete, the only expanse of space that separated his and Oikawa's feet.
"Can we talk?" A pause, as if the realizing that they weren't alone. "Privately."
No. Not now. No.
Or at least that's what Tobio instantly wanted to respond with.
He hadn't told anyone from KitaDaii that he was joining Karasuno, never told a single soul how he'd ripped into two the letter from Aoba Johsai when it appeared in his mail. He'd been dead set on avoiding them for as long as he could. But, in retrospect, crossing paths with them would not be impossible so long as he continues playing volleyball, and the sport partook in such a huge chunk of his life for him to give it up on so easily.
He'd intended to avoid them during his freshman year, at least, but Fate seemed to be laughing at him when their very first practice match ended up being against the very school he feared hearing the name of.
Tobio raised his head, directing his gaze to his team who'd been looking at the exchange with varying degrees of confused and expecting looks. Tanaka seemed apprehensive, not looking away from Oikawa for a single second. Hinata looked slightly worried, if the scrunched eyebrows and the frown on his lips were anything to go by. When his eyes landed on Sugawara and Daichi, it didn't take him too long to understand the question in their eyes.
Do we need to step in?
Right from when he first put on the black Karasuno jacket, he knew that this one would be different. Something about this team, no matter the current incompletion, made him feel . . . assured. Surprisingly. He hadn't been able to get to know them better yet, and Tobio hardly ever places his trust on anyone so easily. But this team made him feel like he can.
And that was all the reassurance he needed to say, "Of course, Oikawa-san."
Now it was Oikawa's turn to look surprised, like he hadn't expected Tobio to agree so easily. Daichi nodded in understanding, immediately calling out to the rest of the team. "Guys, let's go ahead. We'll be waiting for you at the bus, Kageyama."
"Don't take too long." Sugawara added. Tobio only gave them both a nod as they parted ways, with the team headed to the parking area and Oikawa asking him to follow him to the gates.
The usual campus noise surrounded them the farther they got from Karasuno. It was a bit late, almost half an hour to six in the evening. Tobio looked around the area, noticing a few students loitering here and there. He blatantly avoided looking at the older student walking a few steps ahead of him. However, when silence began to settle in between them, Oikawa spoke up. "So, Karasuno eh?"
Tobio glanced at Oikawa to see that the older wasn't looking at him, so he hummed in affirmative instead of nodding.
"Why?"
He inwardly debated. Telling Oikawa about the letter was automatically out of the question. He had to settle on a palatable answer. "I didn't get accepted into Shiratorizawa, and I heard that Coach Ukai was coming out of retirement."
"Ah, the one they call herder of vicious ravens. I didn't see him in today's practice match, though?" Oikawa shot him a side glance.
Tobio looked away. "He was hospitalized, they said."
Oikawa huffed a laugh. "Tough luck, Tobio-chan."
They finally reached the gates, stopping by the empty pedestrian lane and standing in wait for the red light to turn green. It dawned on Tobio then that he had no idea where they were headed, but when he was about to raise the question Oikawa beat him to it.
"Why didn't you go to Seijoh like almost everyone else in KitaDaii did?"
And that's when Tobio's throat closed up, the question in his tongue disappearing before it could even be voiced. Noticing his immediate silence, Oikawa turned to look at him, slightly tilting his head to the side. "Tobio-chan?"
Tobio refused to look straight into those eyes. He'd known that this was where the conversation was headed to, that the question would eventually be raised one way or another. Thankfully, there were multiple reasons he can use. He just didn't want to point out the biggest and most significant one.
"They wouldn't want me there." You wouldn't want me there. "We didn't exactly . . . part on good terms."
Oikawa hummed in thought. "We weren't able to watch your last game, but Kunimi and Kindaichi did mention about it," he turned to look at Tobio with a pointed look, an unusual gleam in his chestnut brown eyes. "King."
Tobio flinched. Hearing that name from everyone else was one thing. He didn't like it. He knew that they were mocking him, that they see him as a tyrant everyone should fear and discriminate. But hearing it roll off Oikawa's tongue in such a tone suddenly made the metaphorical crown upon his head feel heavier than before, as if it was making him bow his head. A king who's forced to submit. What a laughable statement it was.
"So you know." Tobio dared to look up, to see the familiar face of Oikawa twisted into amusement; mocking him, degrading him, because he knows that Oikawa is fully aware of how high he looms over Tobio, of how powerful his control is over the first year. But to his surprise, Oikawa looked completely serious, looking back at him with a face void of any smile or even the slightest hint of mischief. It was completely unreadable, and all the more confusing to Tobio.
"Yes." Oikawa said. The light turned green, and the third year resumed walking. "We know."
Tobio moved to follow him, until the realization struck him right then and there.
We?
He stared at Oikawa's back, who was heading across the street. When he trailed his gaze forward, that's when he understood.
At the sight of the familiar Aoba Johsai jacket wrapped around a well-built, spiky haired man standing in wait on the opposite side of the street, Tobio finally understood.
The pounding in his head instantly came back with renewed vigor.
"Oikawa-san . . ." he called out. But the back of the third year kept moving further away from him.
And suddenly, Tobio decided that he can't do this.
The pain was back. The strain was back. He just took a pill but the strain was now coming back. And now his hands don't seem to be responding to him. His bag was slung over his shoulder. All it would take was a quick search on one of the front pockets for the bottle he is currently in desperate need of because the strain was back and it's bearing harder than before. His breath hitched, realizing that he was completely frozen. This wasn't supposed to happen.
"Oikawa-san." he tried again, louder this time. But Oikawa didn't turn nor pause in his steps.
He'd been able to deal with it back at the game. He'd been able to focus his mind elsewhere. They needed to win, and he needed to set the ball. That was it.
But now there was nothing. No goal focus on, no match to win. The only thought racing through his head was that his soulmates were there. Soulmates. The people he was destined for. The people Fate wrote into his life to be with. The very people on the other side of the wall.
They are there and suddenly everything was collapsing.
And it was taking him along with it.
"Oikaw--"
That's when he heard it.
Further down the street, the sounds of a loud engine and screeching wheels weaved its way through the road. It was headed straight towards them, and the civilians were screaming about getting out of the way and calling the police. Headlights, sparking on and off, was the first thing he saw.
'The brakes are broken!' being the last thing he heard before he made the jump.
"OIKAWA-SAN!"