Day Dreaming (Too Close For Comfort)

by sunsquid

Summary:

"Why am I tied to your bed?"

"Who says it's my bed?" Shouyou says, shrugging.

"Why am I tied to any bed that's not my own?"

Shouyou fakes a look of surprised innocence. "You'd rather be tied to your own bed?"

Notes:

not enough yandere content in this fandom

edit: as i update this please let me know if I have left something out of the tags that should be there !

Chapter 1

The room is cold and quiet. Shouyou can hear the other’s slow, soft breathing. He leans up onto his elbows over the soft white pillows that are arranged all around and between them, puffy like how he always imagined clouds would feel. He looks over the side of Kageyama's face, the lines of his features, and thinks  you're just as pretty as you were in high school.

He wonders if he's still as much of an obtuse asshole. Shouyou, for one, has certainly changed. 

He must have gotten too close or breathed on his face too hard, because Kageyama's eyes tense for a moment, then drift open. When he sees the pair of eyes staring back at him, he jerks backwards, as far as he can go while laying down, and wakes up pretty quickly. 

"H-Hinata?" He tries to sit up straighter, but the ropes around his wrists pull tight. They're fastened to the base of the headboard, underneath the mountain of pillows. "What are you doing? Where are we?"

Shouyou smiles and sits up. "Wow, you haven't insulted me yet! This is already going better than I thought it would."

Kageyama pulls against the ropes again, as if they'll let him go this time if he asks nicer. "Hinata, tell me what's going on."

Shouyou springs up and jumps off the side of the bed. He doesn't look away from Kageyama, and Kageyama doesn't look away from him. Shouyou doesn't say anything. He just walks around the bed, circling Kageyama, and reaches out for the nightstand. On top of it sits a pitcher full of water, two empty glasses next to it. He pours himself one, still keeping eye contact with Kageyama, and drinks slowly until the whole glass is gone. 

He sets the glass back down on the tabletop silently. "There's nothing in this water," he says. "Thirsty?"

Kageyama's jaw drops open. He takes in the implications of Shouyou's words and tries to swallow nervously. Tries to, Shouyou thinks, because he hasn't had anything to drink for over twelve hours. He nods, pushing himself upright. His hands are fastened so that he can't get more than a few inches between his fists and the mattress. 

Shouyou smiles. He knows it's not as cheery as it used to be, but it's still sweet, and probably still like looking into a lightbulb. He fills the second cup. Kageyama has no reason to suspect that the cup itself might have something in it. He crouches on the edge of the bed and knee-walks to the center where Kageyama is. "Go slow so I don't spill anything," he says.

Kageyama nods and tilts his head to meet the cup. He's been surprisingly docile so far, uncharacteristically agreeable; even suspiciously so, given the state he woke up in. He's wearing different clothes than he was when he went to bed, he's tied to someone else's bed in a room he's never seen, and an old high school rival/friend/teammate is giving him water that he's been sure to mention is not drugged. Shouyou wonders how afraid he is. 

Kageyama finishes the glass and Shouyou pulls it away, leaning back on his heels to set it on the nightstand. He turns back to Kageyama to find an assessing stare. "That's the Kageyama I remember," he remarks, smiling. "I was wondering why you hadn't started shouting yet."

Kageyama scowls. "I'm not gonna shout, dumbass. I just want you to tell me why I'm tied to your fucking bed."

Shouyou's eye twitches at the word "dumbass." His hand shoots out like a spot of lightning across Kageyama's face so hard that he falls to the side, wrists trapped underneath his body. Shouyou puts a hand on the back of his shoulder to keep him down.

"Don't call me that," he says, voice sober. 

Kageyama is taking shaky breaths under his palm. His eyes are open, and shocked, and a little terrified. The visible side of his face is red in the shape of Shouyou's hand. "Okay," he says. "Okay, I won't call you that. Can I call you Hinata?"

Shouyou scoffs and rolls his eyes, letting go of Kageyama's shoulder and sliding off the bed. "Obviously," he says, pouring himself another glass of water. Kageyama struggles to sit up without the use of his hands. 

"Okay," Kageyama says again. "Will you tell me what's going on?"

Shouyou tilts the glass back and drains it before responding. In his head he's counting backwards from a minute. "What do you mean?"

At that, a familiar flush of frustration and indignance comes to Kageyama's face. "What do I mean?" he sputters. "Why the fuck am I—"

Shouyou shoots him a warning glare. Kageyama knows he doesn't like vulgarities. Kageyama snaps his mouth shut and starts over, taking deep breaths. "Why am I tied to your bed?"

"Who says it's my bed?" Shouyou says, shrugging.

"Why am I tied to any bed that's not my own?"

Shouyou fakes a look of surprised innocence. "You'd rather be tied to your own bed?"

Kageyama has to look away for a moment to collect himself. Shouyou indulges in a silent giggle. "Why," Kageyama starts again, looking up, "am I tied down, here, with you?"

Shouyou gives him another sweet little confused scrunch of his brow. "Who would you rather have tied you up?"

Kageyama drops his head. "Goddamn it," he whispers. It takes visible effort for him to lift his head again, which he seems not to notice for himself. He's too busy glaring at Shouyou, who quirks a smile right back. "Hinata," he says earnestly, "please tell me what I'm doing here and what you want from me."

Shouyou pouts sympathetically like you would at a whining puppy. "Sweetie," he says, walking forward to take Kageyama's face in his hands, "you're here so we can spend some quality time together. It's been too long, don't you think?"

Four, three, two, one. Kageyama's baffled and desperate expression fades back into one of deep, drugged sleep. This nap should last about an hour, Shouyou muses. He stacks the cups up and takes the pitcher in the other hand to bring to the kitchen. It's just enough time to cook dinner.

Despite what he'd insinuated to Kageyama, it  is  his bed, and it is his apartment, on the seventeenth level of a regularly inhabited high-rise. It has a lovely floor-to-ceiling view of the city that he's looking forward to Kageyama seeing when he wakes up for dinner.

Speaking of which. Shouyou cleans the dishes in his hands and sets about pulling things from the fridge. The sun should be setting soon, and he wants to take advantage of the natural light while it lasts.

 

Kageyama wakes easily enough when Shouyou puts a gentle hand in his hair to stir him. He grumbles for a moment or two, before flinching like a struck dog at the sight of Shouyou looking down at him. He's still wearing his apron, and this time he's left the door to the room open behind him.

Without the heat from the stove next to him, Shouyou realises that it's quite cold in here. He smiles sheepishly at Kageyama, who still seems to be in a daze. "Sorry, I didn't mean to let it get so chilly." He reaches down to Kageyama's hands, which he pulls away on reflex. He doesn't have very far to go, though, and he relaxes automatically when Shouyou begins to loosen the knots keeping them fastened. None of his blood flow has been cut off, Shouyou notes with pride. He'd practised the ties on his own feet for long enough to get the hang of the right amount of pressure. "You can keep a blanket on while we eat, okay?"

Kageyama's stare is wary but unwavering, like Shouyou's an optical illusion. He swallows, and his voice comes out a little thick. Shouyou’s rubbing his wrists to make sure he has full feeling in them. "You said there wasn't anything in that water." He sounds legitimately hurt, making Shouyou's heart sting.

Shouyou smiles at him, taking his hands properly to pull him to the side of the bed. There's a throw blanket on the end of it and a pair of socks on the floor next to the nightstand. Shouyou kneels in front of him and grabs the socks, pulling them onto Kageyama's feet while he answers. "There wasn't," he says, smiling up at him. "I think you were still tired."

Kageyama shakes his head but doesn't say anything. He doesn't know how to catch Shouyou's lie. 

Once his socks are on, Shouyou stands. He pulls the blanket over Kageyama's shoulders and steps back for him to stand up. "Come on," he says. "I made curry."

Kageyama should be just famished enough to border on desperate. He stands on command. "Good," Shouyou says, smiling. He lets Kageyama hold the blanket in place himself, turning to walk out of the bedroom. He knows Kageyama will follow, because he doesn't have anywhere else to go and because he's probably already thinking about how to get away, and the exit is most likely to be in this direction. Shouyou isn't worried about him getting away.

Beyond the threshold of the bedroom is an open-plan apartment, with one door on the opposite side that leads to a bathroom and a door nestled just beyond the kitchen that leads to the hall. Kageyama idles about, not sure whether he'll be scolded for exploring, while Shouyou plates the food.

"Go ahead and explore, get it out of your system," Shouyou says, setting the plates on the dining table. It's a four-person table with three chairs, in front of the giant windows at the side of the room facing the city. Kageyama's inching towards the front door. Shouyou doesn't stop him, only passing behind him to reach the icebox. "Go on," he says, looking over the top of the refrigerator door at him. "Try it, so you can see."

Kageyama narrows his eyes. "See what?"

Shouyou reaches into the fridge to grab two bottles of water. "So you can see what happens when you try to leave."

Shouyou lets the door fall shut, banishing the wall between them. He tilts his head to the side and looks at Kageyama like he used to look at someone when they suggested he stop pushing himself so hard or insinuated he couldn’t meet a challenge. He must seem demented enough to scare Kageyama away from the door, because instead of reaching for the handle, he says, "I'm hungry."

Shouyou smiles. "I'm not surprised. Come over here."

They walk back to the dining table. Shouyou puts the bottles down. Kageyama moves to pull out a chair, but Shouyou stops him. "Not so fast," he says.

Kageyama looks at him. He takes his hand off the chair, which pleases Shouyou immensely. "Kneel on the floor," he says.

"What?" 

Shouyou's smile is normal and friendly. "Kneel on the floor, Kageyama."

"Why?" he asks. His grip on the blanket is failing, and he pulls it back up over his shoulders anxiously.

Shouyou frowns at him. It’s a frown he’s taken his time to explore, to make the most of an unhappy grimace on his bright, cheery face. The effect is immediate and obvious; Kageyama's hand tightens on the edge of the blanket, and he sways back so far he has to take a step to catch himself from falling. 

"Come stand in front of me," Shouyou says.

It's obvious that Kageyama doesn't want to. He's probably already expecting to get slapped again. He does so slowly, staying out of arm's reach. "Closer," Shouyou says.

"Hinata, please—"

"Closer, Kageyama." His tone is becoming less and less forgiving. He watches Kageyama mentally tally who could get to the door faster. Shouyou waits for him to think better of it.

Eventually, Kageyama's resolve crumbles a tiny bit more. He steps forwards into Shouyou's reach.

"Thank you," he says softly. "Now, kneel."

Kageyama takes another five seconds to consider why he's being asked to do something so ridiculous, and whether or not he should. He ends up gently lowering himself to the floor.

Shouyou takes in the sight of Kageyama looking up at him. He frowns apprehensively, looking cowed, and a small bruise is forming on his cheekbone. Shouyou breathes a sigh and sits at the table. "Okay," he says, opening one of the water bottles.

"Okay?" Kageyama asks. 

Shouyou nods. "Come sit down up here and eat."

Kageyama just looks at him for a few seconds, incredulous. Shouyou looks back.

"It'll only get colder."

Kageyama frowns harder and stands up, blanket barely clinging to him before he pulls it up again. This time when he puts a hand on the back of the chair it's with a touch of hesitation, like Shouyou will still change his mind.

He’s not sure about the food until Shouyou starts to eat. He’s gazing out over the horizon, trying to give Kageyama a sense of freedom to look over the food and choose whether or not to eat it. When Shouyou is almost halfway done with his plate, Kageyama hasn’t yet picked up his spoon. Shouyou takes a gulp of water to clear his mouth before speaking. “I’m not going to ruin your trust in me by poisoning or drugging your food,” he says. He meets Kageyama’s gaze, which flicks back and forth between him and the plate. “I know you’re hungry,” Shouyou adds. “It’s either eat now or wait until breakfast.”

Kageyama is still frowning at his plate, but reaches out for his spoon. Shouyou looks away as he starts to eat, back to his own food. “Good,” he says.

Chapter 2

It's difficult to reconcile the image of sweet, stupid little Hinata from high school with the one sitting in front of him now. 

On one hand, Tobio can’t say he’s too shocked not to understand the reality of it all; the fact that this isn’t the most shocking revelation he could have conjured scares him a little more than the situation itself, maybe. If he’d woken up to a knife in his side, he’d be more shocked, but the spark of mania Hinata had occasionally displayed in their younger days could have led him to this conclusion on its own, if he had been paying more attention to the little fireball way back when. Sitting in his kitchen, now, blanket wrapped around his shoulders and a spoon full of food that he can’t taste in his mouth, he wishes he had.

 

At the end of the night, Tobio’s miffed with himself to realise that he hadn't made a dash for the door all day long. Maybe tomorrow, he thinks, he’ll have an opening. One that isn’t accompanied by the weight of Hinata’s stare and his thinly veiled threats.

That was what that had been, right? See what happens when you try and leave.

Maybe there was some sort of trick to the door itself; maybe there was a trap in the handle, or waiting on the other side. Maybe it was just Hinata’s intention to chase after Tobio and drag him back to the apartment by the hair. Neither seemed like an option he wanted to entertain. Despite his confidence in a physical fight against the brat, he can’t shake the lingering nerves from not only waking up from being drugged and snatched from his own home, but immediately tricked into being drugged again.

The next most pressing thing to creep up on him is the revelation that Hinata intends to share the bed with him. 

“It’s not like it isn’t big enough for the two of us,” he says, rolling his eyes when he notices Tobio idling by in the doorway. He’d cleared the half-eaten plate from in front of Tobio when he’d finished his own food, and Tobio had made it mostly clear in his reluctance to eat that he wasn’t offended by the action. “It’s either in here or on the couch. I don’t mind either way, but it’s more comfortable in here.”

Tobio looks away while Hinata changes into pajamas. He thinks about his words for a moment. He didn’t hear a question in Hinata’s tone, nor did he find any suggestion in his expression. Despite what he’d said, he’ll be disappointed if Tobio picks the couch. Right? He doesn’t really want to incur whatever new wrath Hinata has managed to make for himself, nor does he want to be tied back down again. Or slapped. Or drugged. He steps away from the doorway, into the room, and approaches the other side of the bed.

Hinata’s smile, when he notices, is warm and clear. “I turned the thermostat up a few notches. I like it cold, but I noticed you were shivering earlier. Tell me if you get too cold.”

Tobio will do no such thing. Waking Hinata was a bad idea when they were kids, and he has a feeling it’s a worse one now. He will shiver throughout the night if he has to. Instead of voicing these comments, he pulls the cover back from the bed and climbs in. It feels strange, going to bed without brushing his teeth. He doesn’t mention that either. 

Hinata touches a switch on the wall and the lights die. There’s still light in the bright night sky, from the moon and the stars, but the windows in the bedroom are frosted, meaning it’s diffused pleasantly. The entire apartment is suspiciously nice. Tobio wonders what the hell Hinata did to score a place like this.

He also wonders if he'll be able to sleep. He doesn't know how long he was out initially or the second time, but now that he's sober and awake, he suspects he'll be all slept out, left to stare at the frosted window opposite him the entire night, just nodding off when the sun begins to rise.

 

Unfortunately, Tobio's prediction proves to be fairly accurate. Hinata's breathing evens out and deepens eventually, and Tobio briefly entertains the idea of slipping out of bed and venturing out of the apartment entirely. Just as he thinks to do so, Hinata turns over in his sleep, facing Tobio's back. It makes a chill race down his spine.

He's able to nod off three or four times throughout the night, growing more and more exhausted as the hours tick by but unable to slip into sleep permanently with the foreign walls staring down at him and Hinata just behind him. 

Eventually the dappled pane begins to grow a lighter and lighter colour, until just the top edge is beginning to turn the ripe golden colour of the morning sun. Tobio wishes he could feel the heat of it on his face.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

Tobio begins to notice a single, repeating clicking noise from behind him, like something hard hitting something hollow. He's beginning to wonder what the sound is when it suddenly gets louder. It goes on for another four beats, then increases in volume again, beginning to sound incredibly grating. He's just about to turn around with a barely-tampered glare in his eyes when Hinata wakes up making a sound like something between a sigh and a gasp. Tobio freezes and squeezes his eyes shut, though he knows his accelerated breathing will give him away as awake if Hinata decides to check.

He sits up next to Tobio and picks up his phone from the bedside table. The clicking stops.

Hinata stands and opens the closet. There's a moment of fabric shifting, and then the closet is closing again. He hears Hinata pad around to this side of the bed and can see it from behind his eyelids when Hinata's shadow passes over his face. He doesn't say anything before stepping out, though, and he shuts the door behind him. 

Tobio's shoulders are trembling. When he hears the door click shut, they drop two inches that Tobio hadn't realized they'd hiked up to. He tries to even his breathing, telling himself he can actually fall asleep now, but all his exhaustion has been shocked through and turned cold with fright. He doesn't think he'll be able to sleep for the rest of the day.

Especially not when the door opens again two moments later and his pulse skyrockets. He can't help it; his face scrunches up.

"Haven't slept much?"

Tobio can't open his eyes. He gives a tiny shake of his head.

"That's okay. I'm going to shower and make breakfast, so try to catch a nap. I want to eat together before I go."

The door closes again before Tobio can process all of what was said. He decides to focus on the most pressing issue and set aside the dread of sitting down for another meal soon. He takes deep breaths until everything else fades from his mind, slowly, until he goes slack with drowsiness.

 

He wakes up, again, to the sensation of cold fingertips. Instead of in his hair, this time, there are two pressed just above his eyebrow horizontally. He tries not to tense up too badly before prying his eyes open. He's still trying to convince himself that there's some kind of reason to all of this that doesn't end with him as a prisoner of Hinata's.

Hinata is gazing down at him with a passive smile. Behind him, the light has moved about an hour. His voice is soft. "Come get breakfast. I'll explain a few things."

The fingers remain against Tobio's skin until the words sink in. When they do, his expression clears up with interest. Hinata's smile narrows with conspiracy and he pulls away, leaving Tobio to stand at his own pace.

 

Breakfast proves to be fish, eggs, and soup. Hinata doesn't make him kneel this time. Tobio feels a little dazed from his nap, and a little like he can't breathe deeply enough. His eyes hurt, and his throat is sticky. The soup helps a little, as does water. There's a small blue pill next to his water bottle this morning, and the sight of it makes his fingers shake so he tries his best to ignore it as Hinata eats quickly across from him. Tobio is practically starved, so he tries to match Hinata's pace, remembering how he took his plate last night. 

"The door behind you leads to the bathroom, which has a separate shower and tub," Hinata says. He's paused in eating, but gestures for Tobio to continue, which he does, eagerly. "You can use anything you find in there. You can also eat anything you find in the kitchen, though I don't recommend snacking too much because I'll be cooking regular meals for you. Also, please don't use the stove."

Tobio takes a sip of water with an apprehensive expression. He doesn't know why he's being told this. "How long do you want me to stay?"

Hinata doesn't answer him. He just tilts his head back a little and to the side, a knowing smile on his face. "I'm going for a jog and will probably be out running errands until afternoon. Shower, sleep, and eat if you wake up hungry and I'm not here. Try to get as comfortable as possible."

Tobio's temper flares. "Do you intend to keep me like a pet?"

Hinata's mouth presses flat, but Tobio clenches his shaking fists in the top of his pant legs and looks down so he can keep talking without losing his nerve. "Are we just playing house? Does anybody know where I am? Why do you want me here? Where even are we?" He's yelling. "I don't recognize any of the buildings down there! I'm sick of this fucking game already! Tell me what's going on!"

Tobio's entire body is shaking by the end of his outburst, and furious tears are splatting against the edge of his plate. His breath is shaking in his chest, and the longer Hinata goes without saying anything, the tenser he gets. He can't look up now. If he looks up and sees Hinata's face before he gets an answer, all the fight will lose to his nerves and he'll give in to anything Hinata says to avoid some strange new punishment. He doesn't want Hinata to hit him, or tie him up again. He doesn't want to have to run for the door. He doesn't want to have to fight Hinata, if it comes down to it. He just wants an answer. Any answer.

But Hinata doesn't say anything at all. He just stands up and starts to stack his dishes. Tobio closes his eyes when he reaches over to take his. He walks to the kitchen and the tap starts running. Tobio sits in the same position the whole time, head down and eyes closed, and tries to force his shoulders to relax from the tight, trembling position they'd taken up by his ears. His breathing slows down enough that he stops crying, and by the time Hinata comes back over, his tears have started to dry. He opens his eyes in the silence. Hinata is standing next to him.

"That pill is a general painkiller. You're gonna develop a headache soon from sleep deprivation and a few other things, so take it as soon as possible." Those cold fingertips land in his hair like spider legs and rotate his head so that he's looking up at Hinata through red-rimmed, itchy and exhausted eyes. "I'll see you later."

Hinata opens the door by grabbing and turning the handle down, like any other door by that design would. He locks it from the other side afterwards, the arrow of the bolt whipping up with a small squeak.

Tobio's alone. He looks down at the pill, and the half-empty water next to it. He looks down to the street. In a minute, he sees Hinata disappearing around a building on the left.

Chapter 3

Tobio's alone.

He slowly lets his body relax from the hunch he's been pinched in since he woke up. He takes a long, slow glance around the apartment, looking at the small kitchen, the couch and TV, the door to the bathroom. The walls are a gentle white, and the floor tile is grey-blue. There’s a plain brown couch in front of a television, a small side table. The kitchen is nice, but basic. It’s clean. It doesn’t look like somewhere Hinata would live at all. Tobio’s head slowly fills with fog, with unaskable, unanswerable questions.

Why am I here? Can’t I just leave? Why did Hinata  kidnap  me? What’s going on?

Tobio’s gaze falls through the floor. His socks stand out against the tile.  Why does Hinata hate me now?  He tries to think back on their relationship. Maybe they didn’t always get along. But never in a million years would Tobio consider that Hinata would develop actual antagonism towards him, especially not enough to make him so malicious. The more Tobio thinks, the fewer things make sense. He hasn’t even heard from Hinata in years. It was weird, at first, after high school, but eventually Hinata just… phased out of their social circle. He’s not sure he was the closest to, after that. It obviously wasn’t Tobio.

Slam!

Tobio jolts violently and turns just in time to see a bird flail against the window and turn away, half-falling and half-flying back away from the building until it's mostly righted. Its flight pattern is wobbly, and as Tobio watches it drift away, it continues losing altitude. The longer it goes, the farther it falls, until it's out of sight between two buildings below his line of sight. It probably hurt something in the impact.

Tobio looks down at his hands. They’re shaking again.

 

The bathroom is small and simple, with one tub, one shower stall, one storage cabinet, and a toilet and sink on the opposite side. In the storage cabinet, there’s a small stack of clothes. Tobio looks down at what he’s wearing right now; grey sweatpants, a knit white sweater, and the socks. His feet are sweating. He pulls the socks off and leaves them on the floor. The stack is the exact same clothes, over and over again.

The shower’s pressure is just a little too hard to be comfortable, and Tobio keeps the temperature cool. All the soap is plain. No labels on the bottle, no colour. They smell okay. The toothbrush he grabs off of the sink is packaged in plain cardboard. It’s disposable, recycled plastic, plain white. The toothpaste is the only thing that even has a brand, but it’s generic.

Tobio realises in the middle of scrubbing his hair with plain shampoo that he hadn’t taken the painkiller. The main reminder is the pounding growing behind his eyes. He grimaces. Doing what Hinata tells him to puts a bad taste in his mouth. He doesn’t want to play into whatever he wants without a fight, but he also doesn’t want to incite… anything. He wonders if there’s something else in what Hinata’s already given him, something to make him docile. But his body feels normal, the dregs of whatever sleep drug having worn off a while ago. He should leave. He should just dry off, get dressed, and leave.

His body feels normal. There’s no unnatural feeling in his limbs, other than plain exhaustion. He wonders what part of the city he’s in.

He more so notices that the water’s stopped than he decides to reach out and turn the valve over. He’s clean. He’s also really, really tired. He doesn’t know how much sleep he’s gotten over the past however many hours, or if any of it has actually been restful. His head pounds.

He dries off and gets dressed. His next step is so simple, he thinks. He just has to walk out the front door and leave. When did Hinata say he’d be home? Is there any chance of Tobio running into him on his way out? What would he do? Are the elevators close to the stairs? Would Hinata use the elevators? He doesn’t think he can predict. Wait, wasn’t he just running a few errands? No, he said he’d be back in the afternoon. Evening. Was it evening?

He takes the pill, if only because the worst it will do is put him to sleep like the last drug and he doesn’t want Hinata to see he’s disobeyed him when he gets back. He thinks about flushing it, but doesn’t. He doesn’t know why.

He wants to sleep off the headache while the painkiller kicks in. He's in the bedroom looking at the bed before he knows it. He thinks about the feeling of Hinata behind him last night, trying to guess whether or not his eyes were open. At a certain point, he wasn’t even sure if he was hearing the pattern of his breathing right.

I don't want to sleep in this bed.

Why didn’t he say he’d sleep on the couch last night? Surely it would have been worth the risk that Hinata would be upset with him. Maybe he had plans to watch him to make sure he wouldn’t leave? Tobio should check for cameras, he thinks. A shiver runs down his spine at the possibility that he could be watching right now, analysing Tobio’s movements.

I don't want to sleep in this bed.

He eyes the pillows and the floor.

I don't want to sleep in this bed.

 

Tobio needs to leave his apartment. He lives on the bottom floor. That’s weird, his apartment usually isn’t this dark. The walls don’t have any windows. He’s sitting on his carpet. Has his carpet always been this colour? It’s so dark, like years and years of dirt are caked up. He’s laying down, now. His face feels grimy when he peels himself away, trying to sit up again. He’s floating all around inside his head, swaying up too fast and back down. His head doesn’t make a sound when it hits the floor. He can barely get his arm under himself. Standing feels like a very, very tall task right now. His legs are weak.

Oh fuck, he’s gonna vomit. He heaves once, twice, and realises that nothing is coming out. Of course not, he thinks, there’s nothing inside him. The room is swimming. Right, he needs to leave. He stands up as fast as possible, which isn’t very fast. His head swings up so hard he’s afraid it’s gonna hit the ceiling. He sways dramatically to the left on the first step. He can barely see the door.

He keeps looking up. No, he’s falling backwards. He catches himself with his hip on the couch. He yells even though he didn’t feel it. He starts stumbling forward again. Why is this taking so long? His feet can’t get the direction right. His legs are shaking. The floor is moving underneath him.

“Please,” he says, not sure who he’s talking to. There’s someone behind him.

He makes it to the door. He grabs the handle and pulls as hard as he can. It doesn’t budge. He twists harder. There’s something connected to the handle. It squeals like metal when he pulls on the handle again. It’s glistening, like a spiderweb. He follows the line with his eyes, turning around. It leads behind him, going up, up, up.

It disappears into the far corner, in the ceiling. He walks over to it. There’s something watching him. There’s a spider holding the other end of the string. He doesn’t notice it until he’s far, far too close. He falls backwards from shock, but he crashes straight into the person behind him.

Tobio opens his eyes with a low whine. There’s carpet scratching against the side of his face. Tears and grime pull his eyes shut over and over again while he tries to breathe deeply enough to think.  Fuck. The truth of his situation crashes back into him like a physical wave, pressing him into the floor. A flood of panic follows it, like a puppet being jerked on its string, and he bolts upright. 

He’s still in Hinata's apartment. He slept on the floor. It seems like his head abandoned the pillow at some point. the blood rushes around inide him, making him lightheaded. What time is it? What time is it?  He stands frantically, sleep mulling his movements. He grabs the pillow on his way up and sets it back on the bed. The nightstand on the other side has a clock on it. It’s just a few minutes after noon. He scrubs at his eyes desperately and takes a few deep breaths. 

He can’t breathe right. He can’t swallow. Something in between his throat and the rest of him has gone wrong. Tobio can barely open his eyes. Eventually his gasps for breath turn into sobs. He falls into the bed, shaking with the force of his tears. Why can’t he leave? Why can’t he just open the door and leave? He hasn’t even looked at it since the first time! What’s wrong with him?

It takes him a long time to calm down. He imagines someone shushing him, trying to calm him down. He counts up to four a few times to regulate his breathing. He’s never felt like this before.

It’s okay,  he tells himself.  It’s okay, just for now, it’s okay. You can breathe, it’s safe. It’s okay.

When the panic passes, more exhaustion settles over him like a vicious blanket. He pushes himself onto his elbows, letting his head bob around listlessly until he’s together enough to stand. He doesn’t like it in this room right now.  Stand up,  he tells himself gently.  Go slow.

 

With his body and the clothes on his back, all he now has, he approaches the door. He stares at the doorknob. His heart is beating faster than it ever has before, maybe.  So you can see what happens when you try to leave.

There  has  to be some kind of trick here. Tobio didn't see anything on or around the door when Hinata left. He still can’t figure it out. He extends his hand, anticipating the feeling of cold metal under his palm. He stops a few inches away, listening intently. The harder he listens, the fuzzier everything gets. Is he imagining the tap of distant footsteps? Can he really hear anything under the low hum of the refrigerator next to him?

How could it possibly be so hard to reach out and open the door? There has to be something waiting for him  somewhere.  Hinata wouldn’t possibly just kidnap him to let him leave without some kind of insurance that he couldn’t get out. He seemed awfully confident that Tobio couldn’t, or wouldn’t leave.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.

He ends up on the couch, looking out the giant window. The remote to the TV is sitting on the side table next to a plain lamp. He doesn’t turn the TV on. He just stares at the city below him. He scans the area over and over again, but no buildings spark his recognition no matter how long he looks or how hard he thinks. He wonders about his workout routine, whether or not he’ll be able to keep it. He wonders about his team. Is anyone looking for him? Surely someone has to know by now that he’s gone. Where would they look? Where is his apartment from here?

The questions swim into his mind and don’t leave, swirling around like smoke until he can’t see anything but his own desperation and confusion.  Leave,  the voice says, over and over again. At this point, he has to admit to himself that there must be something other than fear keeping him here.

He wonders how  either  of them got here. It was a shocking blindside to Tobio, sure, but how did  Hinata  end up here? What happened to the kid he knew?

Chapter 4

Notes:

tw for brief needle use

Shouyou’s life does not look how he thought it would just a few years ago. 

Walking down some steps after any other practice, Shouyou turned abruptly to say something to Tobio. He twisted his ankle in a crack and fell backwards, putting too much weight on the limb already turned the wrong direction. Tobio caught him before he fell all the way back but the damage had been done. Shouyou was screaming in pain, immediately drawing the rest of the team like a flock of crows. Tobio's face, scrunched in horror, never changed as the rest of the group swarmed him to get him out of the crack. 

He wasn't able to proceed in volleyball past high school thanks to that one tiny ankle injury. 

If he could have, he would have gotten his foot amputated. Learning how to jump with a prosthetic might have enabled him to continue playing. But he was never approved for surgery, and his insurance wouldn't cover a limb removal unless it was life-saving, which they refused to apply to his livelihood and career. Shouyou held on to his dreams until his fingers bled, but the light faded and died every day no matter what he did. It ended after graduation, with Shouyou on his knees in his bedroom screaming at his floor, tears streaming down his face. It was all gone. 

To stop chasing volleyball was never in his plans. Even now, he can't let it go. He practices the motions what little he can alone, trying not to think too much about the wave of community he once had that was meant to propel him all the way to the top. 

Instead, he lives a very normal life. He was able to secure enough education to work for a small public office, which pays well after his three-year contract was upgraded, and includes benefits to stabilize his future. A small part of him still swears he would rather live in a ditch with a volleyball and a net. And a murder.

He exercises, cooks and cleans, lives quietly, and has not had much luck making friends since school. He's pretty sure it's not just where he is, but why. He could reach out to his coworkers, neighbors, connections from professional training school, or even past friends from high school. His head just isn't in the right place for friendship right now. 

There is something--someone he wants, though. He follows Kageyama slowly, gently, through the thrum of the mid-afternoon crowd. He's walking to night practice, just like always. He'll stop for a small dinner first at a stand he likes near the Adlers’ gym. He gets two fried cutlets and cabbage salad. It's just enough to get him through four hours of team volleyball training. 

Shouyou has the keys to Tobio's apartment. He's been following him for over a year. 

Kageyama knows. He’s caught Hinata in the act more than once. At first Shouyou was still as a statue, trying and failing to come up with some sort of story. I’m in the area for work, or Oh my God! Kageyama-kun, it’s been so long!

But Kageyama didn’t say anything, as he watched Hinata latch his apartment door back shut. His hands shook in fear but he just stood and watched. Shouyou stepped back, re-pocketing the keys. They stood and looked at each other. Then Shouyou backed up a few steps. Kageyama hesitantly took the handle of his door and twisted it open, and it gave because why would Shouyou have locked it? Then Tobio spun into his apartment like his life depended on it, like his annoying neighbor was coming down the hall. The lock snapped loudly behind him.

Shouyou waited on a knife’s edge for the police to knock on his door, or a court order to show up in the mail. But days passed, and nothing happened, weeks passed, and Shouyou went back to watching, just to see what would happen. Kageyama seemed to have all but forgotten. He was doing the same thing and had been every day that Shouyou was away, according to his online bank account.

Shouyou couldn’t believe it. Kageyama really just let it wash off his back. It makes him clench his teeth so hard they creak, even now. And he continued to do so, even after Hinata let him see him trailing him home one night. He just turned and kept walking. It's Kageyama's own fault he triggered this. 

Kageyama didn't know how to keep being Hinata’s friend without volleyball tying them together. So he left him behind.

Now Shouyou wants everything back. 

He’s memorized his schedule, his habits, and keeps track of everywhere he goes. It’s Shouyou’s second full-time job. He knows where he eats and how often. Kageyama has a very strict schedule and a rough budget for each month. Shouyou has carefully taken all of this into account so he can acclimate Tobio's body to his home as quickly as possible. Using familiar tastes and patterns will trick his brain into thinking it's still in the swing of its usual track. 

He’ll make sure Kageyama's disappearance is due for the course to the people around him. Tobio's rest week is coming up thanks to the season recently ending, and Tobio and the Adlers making it all the way to the finals, securing their number one spot. Shouyou has been keeping track of the professional teams obsessively ever since the day he was forced to sit and chew on the sideline.

Tobio goes to practice and stays late as usual. He typically eats a protein bar and a banana on the way back but they’ve strangely disappeared even though he remembers packing them in his night bag. He apparently doesn’t feel like stopping into a convenience store. So he just heads home. 

He unlocks his door, turns the light on, shuts the door, and takes his shoes off. Then he puts his practice equipment on the floor next to the entrance and takes out the bag of dirty clothes, tossing it onto the lid of the washing machine before heading deeper into his place. 

If that bitch was so sure that Hinata was no threat...

Tobio sighs deeply and opens his fridge. He pulls out a bottle of electrolyte water and pops it open, planning to replace his midnight snack with a little extra sleep and a big breakfast, what he always does when he works too late or forgot something to eat after night practice. 

If seeing him in the middle of the street at night, or pressed up against his apartment door listening in, didn't bother him in the slightest...

Tobio finishes the water and rinses out the bottle, tossing it and its lid into the recycling bin under his sink. He already washed up and changed into clean clothes after his practice, so all he does to get ready for bed is brush his teeth, stretch one last time, and change into basic pajamas: t-shirt and underwear. Once he’s under his comforter, he’s asleep in under a minute, snoring lightly. 

He hasn't a care in the world, Shouyou thinks, looking down at him. He leans over the bed, with his hands on his knees, staring into Tobio's face.

If knowing Shouyou was keeping tabs on him didn't warrant a reaction from Kageyama, Shouyou thinks, then what will? He pulls out a small gauze-wrapped wire contraption about the size of a face mask and places it carefully over Tobio's nose and mouth. The gentle gauze keeps him from feeling it, though Shouyou doesn’t let it rest directly on his face. Instead, he holds it extremely still, as flush as he can get to Tobio’s mouth and nose without waking him. Then he retrieves a small spray bottle with some strong chemicals and mists it into the gauze in tiny bursts. After a few layers of the liquid and a few minutes, Tobio's slumber sinks from natural to absolute. But it isn’t quite enough. Hinata goes to the foot of the bed and peels back the blanket, then pulls a small syringe out of his bag. He kneels next to Tobio's foot and uncaps the needle, quickly injecting a vein in the top of his foot. He then recaps the needle, planning to dispose of it later. 

Shouyou starts instantly setting up what he needs to. He gathers Kageyama's keys, wallet, computer, phone and chargers, toiletries, and a week’s worth of clothes. He packs it all into one of Kageyama's duffel bags so quickly that someone watching on would be certain that he had practiced it multiple times. He packs socks, underwear, shoes; he does the dishes and empties the food that would otherwise spoil while Kageyama is gone. He puts all the dirty clothes into the washer and starts the cycle. He’ll be back tomorrow to put away the dishes, dry and put away the clothes, take the trash out, and to leave messages from Kageyama's laptop and phone to his friends, teammates, and family, saying that he'd rented a little house on the coast for his rest week and will be staying there, implying to most of them who were adept enough that he was lying about resting, and was using the vacation as an excuse to continue to train, spending his rest week playing beach volleyball. It was suspicious in the opposite direction from Shouyou himself, and no one would question Tobio's refusal to answer their probes about it. They’d let him enjoy his week however he wants. 

Ushijima has an emergency copy of Tobio's apartment key. Shouyou figures his family members probably do as well, but they live over two hours away whereas Ushijima lives fifteen minutes away. So he’ll get everything done quickly tomorrow before there’s a possibility of Ushijima stopping by. 

After everything is correct in the apartment, and everything Shouyou needs is in bag, it’s time to transport Tobio. 

With the duffel bag around his neck and Tobio dressed in all black and piggybacking unconsciously off his back, Hinata skips down the back staircase of Tobio's apartment building, giddy as a kid. There’s only one security officer in the entire building and he’s at the front desk reading. Shouyou is able to get all the way down stairs into the car park without seeing anyone. It’s 1:40AM. His moped is there waiting for him. He slumps onto it with Tobio balanced on the passenger seat. He leaves the duffel bag where it is hanging off his neck and holds Tobio's arms in front of him while he fishes around in his pocket. Tobio's hair is soft, and it tickles Hinata's cheek. He smells good. 

Hinata has soaps waiting for him at home that are all the same scents, but different brands. Kageyama’s hand soap at home was pear-scented, so Hinata bought a citrus and pear replacement. His vanilla and cedarwood shampoo became vanilla and pine. Shoyou’s been using them for a few days. He figured that close enough to jog his memory was the right amount of familiar, when it came to hygiene. If Hinata prepared the exact same products, the smell would remind him of his apartment and jar him out of the experience. Hinata zip-ties Tobio's wrists together in front of him. Then, he leans down ever so slightly and loops one around Tobio's foot, tying him to the passenger foot rest. He does the same to the other side. 

He also has a length of black nylon cord readied, which he quickly whips around both of their torsos, tying them together securely. The zip-ties are also black, all to keep them from being seen if he passes anyone who cares to look on the way home. He doubts he will. 

He sets off after he’s sure everything is secure and pulls up to his own building around thirty white-knuckling minutes later. He parks right in his usual spot. He cuts the zip ties and undoes the cord. He resituates Tobio, who is still sleeping soundly thanks to the heavy medication Shouyou injected. He holds him tightly as he makes his way into his building, which conveniently has an electronic check-in. He takes the elevator to his floor, not trusting his ability to ascend seventeen floors with a body and not worried about the cameras. Tobio looks like a drunk lover draped over his back like this, and that’s the story he’ll use if he has to.

Soon enough, he’s unlocking his own front door and slipping inside. He goes straight to the bedroom to deposit Kageyama. He strips him of the all black outerwear back to his pajamas. Then he pulls a soft sweater over his head and a pair of sweatpants on his legs. He reaches down under the headboard and finds the ties he'd fastened there just for this: he slides the soft, thick cotton belts around Tobio's wrists, trapping him here. Shouyou is so overwhelmed by joy that he leans in and kisses Tobio's temple. After he’s tied in place, Shouyou makes the bed around him and tidies the room. Then he takes the duffel back into the main room, where he sorts everything that he’ll need access to from everything he can put away. 

Tobio won’t need any of his personal things.