Chapter Text
＼(＾∀＾)メ(＾∀＾)ノ
When Kei was five, Hinata Shoyou moved in next door. He was oddly enamored by the small boy. Maybe it was because he didn’t have any playmates his own age, or maybe it was because Shoyou was unabashedly loud where he was quiet, but Kei found himself begging his mother to let him go next door and play.
His mother was more than happy to contact Shoyou’s mother and see if he was free, then send him scampering to the neighbors backyard to play on their new swing and slide set. Eventually Kei would leave the house on his own to knock on Shoyou’s door to see if he could play, and even if it wasn’t a good time the two of them would sneak into the backyard and continue their adventures.
From sun-up to sundown they could run around their backyards, stopping only for food and the occasional nap. When the weather was bad they would wander between their houses, going back and forth trying to decide whose toys they wanted to play with.
After a few months or playing together their mothers sat them down with big smiles on their faces, “Guess what!” Shoyou’s mother, Yukimi, said excitedly.
Shoyou’s face lit up with her excited tone, “What? What?”
“You two are going to start school soon!” she cheered.
“Yay!” Shoyou cheered along with her. He didn’t fully understand what that meant but he fed off his mother's infectious happiness.
Kei’s mother smiled as well, “You too, Kei.”
He wasn’t as happy but he wasn’t as easy to please as Shoyou, “I don’t wanna,” he pouted.
But his mother had a secret weapon, “Akiteru goes to school,” she told him lightly. He brightened up at her words and she knew it was working, “He can even walk you two to school sometimes.”
Kei nodded eagerly, “Okay, we can go to school.”
“Yay!” Shoyou cheered again.
On their first day of school Kei and Shoyou walked hand-in-hand, four wide, with their mothers. Kei whined that Akiteru didn’t come with them for their first day but Aki promised to pick them up at the end of the day so he allowed his brother’s absence without too much of a fuss, but he made it clear that he would much rather stay home.
Shoyou, on the other hand, was ecstatic to be going to school. He tried to run ahead a few paces every few minutes but he was always held back by his mother’s firm grip and his own unwillingness to let go of Kei’s hand. Instead he spent the entire walk babbling about what he thought school would be like. He was excited about new people and new toys and new projects and everything school had to offer.
When they arrived at the classroom Shoyou finally let go of Kei’s hand so he could run inside and take it all in. The room was brightly colored and everything was appropriately sized for his five-year-old self.
Kei cried. He wanted to go back home where everything was familiar. He wanted to go down the slide in Shoyou’s backyard and use the crayons that were hidden under his bed. He didn’t want to meet all of these new people.
His mother and the teacher tried to placate him but he cried harder.
Eventually Shoyou came running back to him and took his hand to drag him deeper into the classroom away from the adults. He pointed out everything he noticed about the room and slowly, Kei calmed down. His mother slipped out unnoticed.
During the day whenever one of them got upset they found the other and everything was okay again.
True to his word, Akiteru picked them up at the end of the day, and Kei thought that maybe school wouldn’t be that terrible after all.
When he was six Kei found out that his teacher was getting married. He thought about it hard over the walk home and came to a conclusion.
“Mom,” he said seriously over dinner that night, “when I get big I’m gonna marry Shoyou.”
His mother laughed good naturedly, “Is it because he’s your best friend?” He nodded eagerly at her and she laughed again, “I’m sorry, Kei. You can’t marry Shoyou because he’s not a girl. But I promise that you can be the very best friends forever.”
Kei frowned at her. He didn’t really understand why he couldn’t marry Shoyou. What did it matter that he was a boy and not a girl? Girls were gross, not that he was very close to any of the girls in his class. But he didn’t want to fight with his mother so he agreed that Shoyou could be his very best friend instead.
Akiteru smiled at him at well, he was eleven and knew a lot more about the world than Kei did, “Who knows, maybe Shoyou will have a sister just like him.”
Akiteru didn’t know how right he was, because a few months later when Kei and Shoyou were still six, Natsu was born.
She was impossibly tiny with a tuft of orange hair atop her head that matched her brother and puffy red cheeks. Kei wouldn’t call her cute or anything like that, but she was fascinating. She spent hours not doing anything and then screamed so loudly he could hear her next door. Shoyou was enamored with her, he wanted to hold her all the time but his mother wouldn’t let him.
Kei’s mother sent over food every few days to help out, she said she remembered what it was like in those first few months and she could have used any amount of help-- Shoyou and Natsu had the same age gap as Akiteru and Kei, so he figured that she knew what she was talking about. (And when she thought he wasn’t listening Kei overheard their mothers talking about how it was unfortunate that Shoyou and Natsu’s father didn’t stick around, so Kei assumed that’s why she was really helping.)
Besides the noise and the new rules about keeping quiet and the weird baby smells, the worst part for Kei was how much Shoyou loved his new baby sister. It felt like any free time they had after school he spent with her instead of playing with him, and he hated it. Shoyou was his friend first.
He tried to share how he felt with Aki but his brother just laughed at him. Akiteru may not have been the smartest person to go to with this problem, Kei thought after, considering how much Kei looked up to him and could see himself temporarily forgetting about his friend because of how cool his brother was.
Akiteru suggested that he spend time with Shoyou and Natsu together and he begrudgingly agreed.
At first he didn’t understand what the fuss was about. She was a baby and didn’t do anything even if Shoyou tried to interact with her, but as the months went on she always seemed happy to see him and he became just as enamored.
Natsu wasn’t really his sister but he decided that having a little sibling was a lot of fun.
Shoyou was tired.
With a new baby in the house waking up every few hours demanding something or other, he wasn’t getting all the sleep he was used to. And after a few months of being woken up in the middle of the night over and over again, it was starting to get to him.
Kei could first tell something was wrong when he had to practically drag Shoyou to school. They met up outside their houses, linked hands, and instead of starting their walk, Shoyou slumped heavily onto Kei’s arm and closed his eyes.
“‘m tired,” he whined.
Kei rolled his eyes at his best friend’s theatrics, “Nap at school.”
“Carry me?”
“No,” Kei tugged on his hand causing Shoyou to stumble forward a few steps and they continued to school in the same fashion. Every time Shoyou lagged behind, yawning and rubbing his eyes from lack of sleep, Kei pulled on his hand again so he would catch up.
Usually once they arrived at their classroom Shoyou ran in ahead and greeted everyone, but this time he stayed by Kei’s side and let himself be led.
He let out a big sigh, a sound way too put upon for his young age, and said “You need to find somewhere quieter to sleep.” Shoyou nodded into Kei’s arm but didn’t respond.
That night, as Kei was just about to drift off to sleep, he heard a knock at his door. He looked towards his door and held his breath but didn’t hear anything else so let himself drift again. But there was another knock.
“Aki?” he asked groggily.
The door creaked open slowly and Shoyou peeked his head in, his bright orange hair shining in the moonlight. “Can I sleep here?” he whispered, looking around like he was afraid of getting caught and kicked out.
Kei rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t dreaming but when he saw Shoyou still standing there he rolled over in bed to make room and lifted the blanket to invite his friend in. Shoyou broke into a grin and dove into the bed, immediately making himself comfortable on Kei’s pillow.
“You took a bath, right?” Kei mumbled into the invading orange mop.
Shoyou stopped wiggling, “Yeah, why?”
He yawned, “Don’t want your germs all over my bed.”
He scowled and opened his mouth to reply but Kei was asleep before he could come up with something.
In the morning Yukimi went into Shoyou’s room to wake him up for school to find his bed empty. In her shock she almost dropped Natsu but she regained her composure at the last second. She searched the house from top to bottom, calling his name all the while, but there was no trace of her son.
The more she looked the more she could feel her panic rising. There would be no reason for him to run away, and she was pretty sure that his father wouldn’t just take him like that.
She left the house in her pajamas, still clinging to Natsu, and searched the yard. There were traces of him all across the yard because he was never one to put away his toys, but nothing hinted at where he could have gone. Except some of Kei’s toys were intermingled with her son’s and she rushed to the Tsukishima house to see if they had seen her son.
She frantically knocked on the door until Tsukishima Kurena answered and she begged to ask Kei if he had seen Shoyou.
When she was led deeper into the house she didn’t expect to see the two boys curled up peacefully asleep in Kei’s bed.
“Shoyou!” she said, a touch too loudly but relieved to find her son uninjured, “there you are!”
At the sound of his name Shoyou jolted awake and fell out of the bed. Kei sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes to see his mother and Shoyou’s mother standing in the doorway, “Why are you all in my room?”
Shoyou’s mother frowned at him, “What’s he doing in your room?” she pointed to Shoyou who was still splayed out awkwardly on the floor and making no attempt to get up.
“I was sleeping,” he said helpfully, “Natsu was keeping me awake so I came here!”
“You can’t leave the house without telling me!”
Shoyou yawned and stretched, “But you were already asleep.”
She let out a frustrated noise like she knew that she wasn’t going to get anywhere with her hard headed son, “You can’t do it again.”
He does it again.
Practically the moment Kei left his house he took Shoyou’s hand. It was their first day of elementary school and Kei was not a fan of change. The only thing that made going to elementary school bearable, besides clinging to Shoyou’s hand, was the fact that this was the only year he and Akiteru would be in school together, so he also got to walk with his big brother.
On the walk to school Aki told them about all the cool things they could do at school and all the friends they were going to make. Shoyou ate it all up, jumping up and down and trying to run ahead, but Kei wanted to go back to their small pre-school where he already knew everyone.
Shoyou grinned at him and asked, “Are you excited?” and didn’t even notice when Kei didn’t respond.
Akiteru dropped them off at their classroom, they were lucky enough to be in the same class, before he left for the opposite side of the building. Kei watched him go and felt the dread build up in his stomach. It doubled when Shoyou let go of his hand and entered the classroom without him.
Even at seven years old Kei knew that he and Shoyou were a bit different. Shoyou had no qualms about talking to everybody and anybody about literally anything, while Kei preferred to hang back and do his own thing or do things one-on-one. So he felt left behind when his friend immediately started talking to all of the other children in the classroom. They seemed egged on by his infectious exuberance and the volume of the room rose, but Kei stood to the side and watched.
Eventually a teacher quieted them down and had them all sit, and Kei found that he was excited that he was going to learn a lot more here than he did at their old pre-school, and he hoped that it would make up for Shoyou leaving him behind.
His worries were unfounded though, because no matter how many laps of the room Shoyou did, or how many people he spoke to and charmed, he always returned to Kei’s side. He tried to introduce Kei to people (always as “my best friend Kei” which made him feel better) but he was already a bit overwhelmed by starting a new school, he didn’t want to meet so many new people, so Shoyou backed off.
After the last bell Shoyou appeared by his side again and slipped his hand into Kei’s so they could walk home together. They not-so-patiently waited for Akiteru to finish talking to all of his friends because they were instructed by their mothers to all walk together, but soon Aki joined them too.
About half way home Aki said, “Y’know, you two don’t have to hold hands anymore.”
Shoyou looked up at him like he didn’t understand what he was saying, “Why wouldn’t we?”
“You might get picked on by the older kids at school. You two aren’t babies who need to hold hands to walk in the street.”
Kei involuntarily tightened his grip on Shoyou’s hand but it was unnecessary because Shoyou made no motion to let go. Instead he formed a fist with his free hand and raised it like he was ready to fight off invisible enemies, “I’ll take on any bullies!” he yelled.
That night, Shoyou snuck out of his bed and into Kei’s house, silently made the familiar journey down dark hallways; and when he finally made it to Kei’s bedroom, he found his friend sitting up in bed waiting for him.
“Are we too old for this?” Kei asked immediately.
Shoyou frowned and joined him in the bed. He had started sneaking into the Tsukishima house to sleep because Natsu was a baby and her crying was keeping him awake, but now she was just about two years old and mostly slept through the night. After about a month of sneaking out Kei’s mother showed Shoyou where she hid an extra key and both of their mothers just seemed to accept that it was going to happen, so they weren’t getting in trouble for it.
“Do you want me to stop?”
He flopped down on his back, “Not really.”
Shoyou laid down next to him, “Then I won’t,” he said with a finality that even Kei didn’t have the heart to argue with.
When they were seven, another amazing thing happened. Akiteru introduced them to volleyball.
Akiteru was on the school’s team and he was good. He was very good. Sometimes they got to watch him practice and they sat in awe as he consistently served the ball over the net or hit a particularly good spike.
It was Shoyou who demanded that Aki teach them how to play. At first Akiteru just gave them a volleyball while he was at practice and had them pass the ball back and forth, they were terrible at it and spent more time chasing after the ball than passing. But Shoyou wasn’t satisfied with that, so at home Aki actually spent time showing them how to position their arms and plant their feet.
They spent hours passing the ball back and forth, until their arms were red and the sun went down and their mothers were calling them in for dinner.
But Shoyou wanted to hit the ball like he saw the other kids do. They all looked like they were having so much fun and he wanted to join in. Kei offered to try and set the ball like they saw the other kids do so Shoyou could hit it, even if they didn’t have a net, and Shoyou eagerly took him up on his offer.
Kei threw the ball up in the air and tried to copy how he saw the others set it and Shoyou ran up and tried to hit it. He missed. They tried again and again but the outcome was always the same.
Eventually Kei let out a frustrated growl and said, “Aren’t you too short to play volleyball anyway?” It was mean of him to say and he knew it the second the words left his mouth. Shoyou was one of the shortest people in their class.
Shoyou looked confused, “I haven’t started growing yet. Just you wait, I’m going to be so much taller than you when we grow up!”
“Whatever, lets try again.”
Over a year later Shoyou wasn’t that much taller but Kei had grown. He had grown a lot. They were in their second year of elementary school, their first year without Akiteru there, and Shoyou still felt like a baby.
Eventually during their walk to school he held up their joint hands, “Don’t you feel like you’re walking your baby brother to school?”
“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you from all the way down there,” Kei taunted. Shoyou tried to kick him but Kei dodged him.
“When it rains you get wetter than I do,” he stuck his tongue out.
Kei snorted, “What does that even mean?”
Shoyou stuck out his tongue, “Rain hits you first so it hits you most.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
They fell into a comfortable silence for the rest of the walk, Shoyou lightly swung their hands back and forth between them. By now most of the other students had gotten used to seeing them like that, they got a few weird looks but no one really gave them trouble. Kei was quick to glare at anyone who stared at them for too long and Shoyou often looked curiously back at them until they got uncomfortable.
“You know,” Shoyou said before they entered their classroom, “if I don’t get really tall I’ll just have to be the best at jumping.”
At school they separated from each other and Shoyou flitted from classmate to classmate, friend to friend, while Kei sat at his desk with his headphones on blocking out everyone else. Shoyou had a lot of friends, both in their class and other classes, who kept him busy throughout the day. He stopped by Kei’s desk every once in a while but was always quickly pulled away to participate in one game or another. Kei didn’t particularly like it, but he didn’t let his feelings be known.
Shoyou always tried to get Kei to play with them but Kei consistently declined. Interacting with big groups of people made him a bit nervous. They made up games and rules on the fly and he didn’t want to get things wrong and be made fun of and look bad. So instead he kept to himself and got all of his work done ahead of time.
He knew that a lot of the other kids thought he was weird because he didn’t want to play with them, but Shoyou was his saving grace. Shoyou would always loudly declare that Kei was his best friend if he ever heard anyone saying anything bad about him; and the other children listened to Shoyou, so if he said Kei was okay then he must be okay.
When the last bell rang Shoyou would appear by Kei’s side. Every day he waved off offers to play with his friends and chose to go home with Kei instead. On their own they would pick up a volleyball and practice themselves because they weren’t old enough to join the school team, or go to the junior high to see Aki practice, or go home and see Natsu, or any of the other many things they had perfected doing just the two of them.
It was Shoyou who noticed that Kei was squinting all the time. He pointed it out one night when Kei was trying to read but he waved it off as nothing to worry about. But Shoyou kept watching him and pointed it out again when they were trying to do homework and his mother overheard and then he was subjected to rounds of questions over what he could and couldn’t see.
After school one day he was whisked away to the optometrist who told him that he needed glasses. He made a face and told his mother that he didn’t want glasses. She rolled her eyes and told him that he needed them and to pick a pair.
He refused and she picked a pair for him.
A few days later when his glasses were ready to be picked up, she got them without him and presented them to him at dinner. It was a smart move because Akiteru, Shoyou, and Natsu all begged him to try them on and when he finally did they heaped on the praise until he was embarrassed enough to keep them on.
At least the glasses his mother chose weren’t terrible.
Natsu doesn’t really understand that she only has one house, one mother, and one brother. Because at three years old she has grown used to being shuffled between her house and her neighbor's house, being played with by Shoyou or Kei or Akiteru, and being cared for by her own mother or Kurena.
Shoyou and Kei seemed to have free range of both of their houses, and Natsu followed suit, coming along with them when she could. They were six years older than she was and didn’t always want her following them around, especially when they were practicing volleyball, but they managed to make time for her.
She liked to sit and color at the table while they did their school work. Every day when they came home from school Kei made sure that they got all of their work done. Shoyou always complained about it but with Kei’s help they would finish everything and get to playing. Sometimes Kei would sit and draw animals with her if Shoyou took a particularly long time finishing things.
When Akiteru got home the three of them raced to the door to talk to him. He would laugh and try to take off his shoes while answering all of their questions. Shoyou complained that Natsu asked silly questions, but Aki always answered her questions first. (He said Kei was never as cute as Natsu was so he was going to keep her, whatever that meant.)
Shoyou and Kei either begged Akiteru to teach them something new, or pleaded with him to come watch what they had learned. Aki always gave in and no matter the weather the four of them would head to the backyard to play volleyball. Natsu knew that Kei liked to set the ball for Shoyou to spike, and that the two of them were good at passing the ball back and forth for long periods of time. But she really liked that after Aki helped them he would get the soft volleyball and try and teach her as well.
Eventually someone would call them in for dinner, and by now their mothers had given up and the two families ate together too. They alternated where they ate unless something came up. Their dinner table was always loud and full of conversation about volleyball or school. Kei was the quietest one out of all of them but Natsu liked to talk to him about animals sometimes and he would tell her all the things he learned about specific animals in school or in books.
At night Natsu peeked into her brother’s room, sometimes he wasn’t there and she knew that he was with Kei next door, but sometimes both of them were there. She thought they were funny at night because Kei was always trying to read while Shoyou kept up a one-sided conversation like Kei was actually answering. She liked to play with her toys on the futon they rolled out for her and watch Kei slowly page through his book while Shoyou leaned heavily against him and said every word that came to mind.
She mostly knew that families didn’t look like hers, but this was hers and she liked it.
Occasionally Shoyou had detention and Kei walked home alone. The first time he left by himself Shoyou searched the entire school for him and then ran home to find Kei coloring with Natsu. He yelled at Kei for leaving without him but Kei simply frowned back and told him that if he wanted them to walk home together, he shouldn’t get in trouble.
For a while that actually worked. But when you’re friends with practically everybody things have the tendency to get a bit rowdy. Whenever a teacher gave Shoyou detention he would immediately look at Kei with big pleading eyes, silently begging him to wait up, and Kei always shook his head. If he wanted them to walk home together he shouldn’t have gotten in trouble, those were the rules.
Before Kei left for the day Shoyou stopped by his desk and said, “I hope your hands get so cold they fall off.”
Kei covered his mouth to try and stifle his laugh but his half-aborted laugh drew the attention of most of their classmates, “That’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“Kei!” he complained, “Wait for me.”
“And once,” he kept laughing, unable to stop now that he had started, “you asked me if cereal was soup.”
Shoyou crossed his arms, “Well it could be.”
Kei stood up and patted Shoyou’s head as condescendingly as possible, “I’ll see you later. I’ll try not to lose my hands without you.” Shoyou stuck his tongue out and Kei stifled another laugh.
During his walk home he didn’t expect to see some other kid getting bullied. The other boy looked small, he was curled up but Kei couldn’t imagine that he was that much bigger than Shoyou. Kei almost pretended that he didn’t see anything. He could have kept walking home and nobody would know that he didn’t stop to help that kid.
But in the back of his mind he knew that if Shoyou was there with him he would have already jumped in and tried to fight them off. But Shoyou was the kid who, three years ago, said he’d fight off any bully who looked at them wrong for holding hands, so his best friend was a different breed of animal and perhaps basing his actions off of what he would do wasn’t the best decision.
The bullies noticed him watching and turned to face him instead. Kei simply scoffed the word “Pathetic” at them and used his towering height to his advantage before they fled.
Kei glanced at the still cowering boy and wondered if he should do anything to help, but he knew that he wasn’t the best with words and he already helped by making the bullies leave.
He kept walking.
At home he didn’t tell Shoyou or Akiteru what happened. Both of them would have heaped on the praise and it would have made him uncomfortable. But he did quietly tell Natsu that he helped someone on the way home before asking her to keep it a secret. She was happy that he trusted her with something so important.
Kei didn’t expect to see that boy again. He especially didn’t expect to run into him outside of the gym on the day of volleyball tryouts.
They were finally old enough to join the school’s volleyball team. Kei and Shoyou had the day marked on the calendar and Shoyou had talked about nothing else for weeks prior. While they confidently walked into the gym, the other boy didn’t seem too sure. But then he saw Kei.
“It’s you!” he said, surprised to see Kei.
Kei rubbed the back of his head, he didn’t want to explain to Shoyou how the two of them sort of knew each other because he didn’t want him to make a big deal, “Who are you?” He tried to lie.
The other boy didn’t pick up on his hints, “Yamaguchi Tadashi, you saved me from bullies!”
Shoyou turned to him with stars with his eyes, “Wow, Kei, you’re so cool!”
He quietly chuckled, hoping to abate some of the awkwardness he felt. It didn’t work. “So,” he said instead, “Volleyball?”
“It seems less scary than other sports,” he said quietly.
Shoyou took Yamaguchi’s hands and jumped up and down, “Volleyball is so much fun. Aki has been teaching us and he’s an ace and we can teach you and we can have so much fun together.”
Kei watched Yamaguchi immediately be charmed by Shoyou, “Is Aki your brother?”
Shoyou opened his mouth then closed it and made a face. Kei laughed beside him, he was pretty sure that he was going to say that yes, he was his brother, before he realized that Aki isn’t actually his brother. Kei put his hand on Shoyou’s head, “Aki is my brother. Sho is my neighbor, we grew up together.”
He nodded eagerly, “Kei is my best friend and Akiteru is his brother and Natsu is my sister and my name is Shoyou. Hi!”
Yamaguchi looked a bit dizzy taking in all of the information but he nodded, “Hi.”
Yamaguchi was a new student, which was why Shoyou didn’t know him already. But after the three of them made the volleyball team and traded class information, they began spending a lot more time together.
During school Yamaguchi didn’t get caught up in Shoyou’s antics. Instead he went and sat with Kei. In the beginning they didn’t talk much, Kei put on headphones and quietly got ahead on his schoolwork and Yamaguchi read the latest manga. After a few weeks Yamaguchi asked for help on some math work and after that they did their work side-by-side and occasionally Kei would point out something he was doing wrong and show him how to fix it.
Yamaguchi was happy that he made a friend. Shoyou was way happier than all of them combined over the fact that Kei had made a friend, which caused Kei to grumble and turn red.
As he spent time with them, he couldn’t help but think that they were a little weird. He didn’t live too far from them so he met up with them on their walk to school and the first time he did and saw them holding hands he did a double take. Kei glared at him, just daring him to say anything, and he kept quiet. Shoyou smiled at him but stopped swinging their hands back and forth.
He watched them for a while. They held hands in the morning, even through the school grounds, but separated before they entered the classroom. Shoyou jumped from friend group to friend group but always made sure to pay attention to Kei. If Kei was having a particularly bad day, Shoyou stayed by his side. (And Yamaguchi only learned to tell if he was having a bad day because Shoyou stayed by his side.) On the walk home they held hands again.
Volleyball practice was much like the classroom. Shoyou was friends with everyone and bounced around but he always returned to Kei’s side and partnered with him when he could.
After a few months, Yamaguchi had to ask.
“Don’t you think it’s weird?” he blurted out one day during lunch when Shoyou was off doing who knows what.
Kei shot him a look, “What?”
Yamaguchi shoved food in his mouth like it would stop him from asking his own question, “You two holding hands all the time?” he asked quietly.
His face burned with embarrassment, most people left them alone about the whole thing, “It’s not that weird,” he mumbled, “It’s a habit. We’re best friends. We’ve been doing it since we were five.” Kei was aware he gave too many excuses too quickly.
But Yamaguchi just sighed wistfully, “I wish I had a best friend.”
“You can be our best friend,” Shoyou popped up out of nowhere to say.
Yamaguchi almost fell out of his chair and when he steadied himself he found Kei glaring at him. He waved his hands, “No, it’s fine, you guys are already--”
Shoyou slapped him on the back, “It’s fine! The more the merrier, right Kei?” He smiled at Kei and Yamaguchi watched him soften.
“Yeah,” he took a deep breath and tried again, “Yeah. We can be friends.”
They were a bit weird, but he liked them. Shoyou always seemed happy and Kei was a bit possessive but he was smart and funny, and after a year of friendship Yamaguchi easily said that they were his best friends.
Kei had always been tall. Taller than anyone in his class. Much taller than Shoyou.
He didn’t know that growing was going to hurt.
During dinner he tried to massage his leg without anyone noticing but his mother caught him. She stopped her conversation with Yukimi and turned to him with a concerned look, “Do your legs hurt?”
The table, minus Natsu, quieted. He kept his gaze in his lap and nodded. He wasn’t sure why he was trying to hide the fact that his legs hurt but he didn’t like everyone suddenly worrying about him.
“How long has it been happening?” His mother asked.
Kei shrugged but Shoyou spoke up around a mouthful of food to say, “Probably about a week.” The attention turned to Shoyou who was surprised that everybody else seemed surprised, “What? I sleep next to him. The past few nights he sounded like he was in pain but when he woke up he was fine.” He shrugged at Kei as if to say ‘sorry I didn’t say anything about it’ and turned back to his food.
“It’s probably growing pains,” his mother said, “You’ve been shooting up lately.”
Kei turned to his brother, “Did it hurt when you grew?”
Akiteru shook his head, “Not that I remember.”
“Not all children have growing pains,” Shoyou’s mother said, “Not even all tall children.”
Kei bit his lip and shuffled food around his plate, “I guess Shoyou won’t have to worry about them then.”
He slammed his hands on the table and both of their mothers immediately reprimanded him but he didn’t notice, “Hey! I may be short right now but I can jump way higher than you!”
“Yeah, yeah,” he waved a hand dismissively.
After dinner Kei and Shoyou took Natsu into the backyard to play volleyball. She was five now and they were teaching her how to pass the ball. Akiteru hung back to talk with their mothers, which was unusual, but they didn’t question it.
It didn’t take long to tire Natsu out and Shoyou took her next door so Yukimi could put her to bed.
When he did, Akiteru popped his head out and asked if he and Kei could talk. Kei nodded eagerly, Aki was his idol and he would take any chance to talk to him, so he followed his brother into his room and didn’t notice his nervous energy.
“Kei, do you. You. Have you,” he started and stopped a few times before a resigned look crossed his face, “Do you know anything about puberty?”
Kei scrunched up his nose, “Is this about growing pains? They’ll go away.”
“What do you know about puberty?” he asked again.
“I know that I’ll grow, and my voice will change, and my body will grow hair. Why?” He figured that answering his brother’s question was the best way to get his own question answered.
Akiteru sighed, “Anything else?”
Kei took a second to think, “You get smelly? Why?”
“Mom and Shoyou’s mom think you two should finally sleep separately.” Kei looked at him confused, the two of them had been sharing a bed for practically half their life. Akiteru sighed again when he realized his brother wasn’t going to connect the dots, “Kei, please don’t make me talk to you about your penis.”
He physically recoiled, “What! My-- What? Why?”
“Kei,” he groaned, “don’t do this to me. During puberty you will have wet dreams, do you know what that means? Do you really want to do that around your best friend? Or have him do that around you?”
He turned bright red, “I don’t want to talk about this around you!”
“Good!” Aki was turning red as well, “I don’t want to talk to you about it either! Talk to him about it instead!”
Kei left Akiteru’s room and headed to his own where he absentmindedly rubbed his legs until Shoyou showed up again. He meant to talk to him but the second he saw Shoyou he felt like he was going to burst into flames, never in his life had he been more embarrassed than when he was talking to his brother and now he had to do it again. With Shoyou.
Shoyou gave him an odd look, he could see that Kei was floundering but he had no idea what it was about. He knew that Kei would come out with it eventually so he took a seat on Kei’s bed and grabbed one of Kei’s legs to try and help ease the pain.
He immediately pulled his leg away. They couldn’t have this conversation while touching, “Sorry,” he mumbled when he saw Shoyou’s hurt expression, “Aki said weird things to me.”
Shoyou took his leg again, “Puberty? My mom talked to me too,” his hands paused on Kei’s shin, “Do you want me to leave?”
“No, stay. If,” he looked across the room to avoid looking at Shoyou, “if it gets weird we can stop.”
Kei was nervous about their first day of junior high. He didn’t like going to a new school, he didn’t like going from an upperclassman to someone who didn’t know their way around, and he didn’t like that Shoyou didn’t seem worried at all. How was it that he had to do the worrying for both of them?
Shoyou couldn’t wait for them to walk to school and start the new year so they headed out extra early, hand-in-hand like always, hoping to get to school with plenty of time to spare-- until they remembered that they agreed to meet up with Yamaguchi and they had to wait at their designated meeting spot.
Shoyou swung their hands higher than usual and Kei pretended that he wasn’t holding on tighter than he would any normal day.
Yamaguchi also arrived at their meeting place early and was unsurprised to see his friends waiting. He stood on Kei’s other side and the three of them began walking to their new school.
In elementary school no one was bothered by them holding hands, at least no one was bothered to their faces, but they had started so young people didn’t mind and as the years went by everyone simply got used to them. It was weirder not to see them together. But at the junior high people didn’t know them.
At the junior high people looked at them like they were weird.
Kei really didn’t like it.
When they walked in the front gate he heard snickering but he didn’t think that it was directed at them, there was no reason to think that. But then someone stepped in their path and loudly said, “Hey weirdos, the elementary school is back that way.”
Shoyou squinted at them, “But we’re junior high--”
“Really?” The guy cut him off, “A baby like you who needs to be walked to school is a junior high student? Don’t make me laugh!”
Kei inadvertently tightened his grip on Shoyou’s hand. He was suddenly too aware of how many people were looking at them. The other guy’s booming voice had drawn a crowd and people actually were laughing at them.
“I’m not a baby!” Shoyou yelled, taking a step forward.
The other guy laughed loudly, “Are you going to try and fight me? So if this guy,” he pointed at Kei who still hadn’t managed to say a word, “isn’t your big brother is he your boyfriend then? Are you two gay?”
Shoyou let go of his hand and tried to launch himself at the guy but Yamaguchi stopped him. Kei had completely forgotten that he was there too. “C’mon, it’s not worth getting in trouble over this,” he tried to console his friend, “Let’s find our classroom.
“Yeah,” Kei agreed robotically.
Shoyou tried to catch his eye but Kei avoided looking at him.
On the way home Shoyou tried to take his hand again but Kei pulled away. He didn’t want a repeat of this morning. He didn’t want to be weird or be targeted. Shoyou was hurt but he didn’t try again. The walk home was sluggish and awkward, void of their usual chatter.
When they pulled up to their houses they paused, unsure of what to do. Everyday for years prior one of them would have pulled the other into their house, or they would have wandered in without thinking. But now things were different.
Kei shoved his hands in his pockets, “I’ll see you at dinner.”
When the door closed behind him and Shoyou wasn’t beside him, everything felt wrong.
Dinner wasn’t too much better. Their mothers and Akiteru immediately picked up on the fact that something was wrong. The first and most obvious clue was that they weren’t together before dinner, but then they also hesitated before sitting down at their usual spots next to each other.
Akiteru frowned at them, “Did something happen at school?”
Shoyou opened his mouth to answer and Kei could already hear him spilling the whole story so he cut him off with a quick, “No,” and a sharp look.
But obviously Akiteru didn’t believe him and Shoyou’s downtrodden expression didn’t help, “What happened?”
“We were picked on,” Shoyou mumbled to his plate.
If they didn’t pick up on something being wrong before then seeing Shoyou not being eager to eat a meal would have clued them in right away. Even when he was sick he was happy to see a plate full of food.
Kei’s mother sighed and he had to stop himself from glaring at her, he didn’t think that was an appropriate reaction to their plight, “You knew it was a possibility, what happened?”
Shoyou opened up to them about the whole story, how the upperclassman mocked everything from his height to their supposed sexualities and openly laughed in their faces.
“I don’t understand,” he stabbed his plate, “No one minded before.”
“You two are getting older,” Shoyou’s mother said kindly, “maybe it’s time you separated a little bit.”
He hit the plate more forcibly and was scolded, “But what’s the problem if we’re close? No one will explain it to me? They just say we should stop?”
Their mothers exchanged a look. Kei wondered how much they talked about them. He knew that they had given up on trying to get Shoyou to sleep in his own house when Natsu was a new baby-- but now they were twelve and that was seven years ago.
“It’s a bit… unconventional,” his mother said diplomatically.
“Well I don’t care,” Shoyou said before shoving more food into his mouth than Kei thought humanly possible.
Kei had to decide if he cared. He needed some time.
When Shoyou popped up in his bedroom later that night Kei realized that he never had time to himself, and for the first time that bothered him.
“Go away, Shoyou!” he yelled.
Shoyou’s eyes widened and he took a step back, Kei had never yelled at him before. Sure, he had heard Kei raise his voice before but it had never been directed at him, “I. Okay,” he turned and ran away.
Kei stood frozen for a moment, rage still uncomfortably filling his chest, and he didn’t even have time to think about what he had done when Akiteru peeked in.
“What was that about?”
Kei burst into tears. He didn’t know he was going to cry until he was already doing it so he was equally as surprised as Akiteru. He pushed his glasses up his forehead and tried to wipe away the tears but they kept coming and coming. Akiteru let himself into the room and pulled Kei into a hug and Kei let himself sob harder.
He was exhausted. He did something new today which was always hard for him, he was laughed at for doing something he liked, he yelled at his best friend for doing something they always did. It was too much.
Akiteru rubbed his back until he calmed down.
“So what are you going to do now?” Akiteru asked eventually.
Kei wiped his eyes again, “I wanna go to Shoyou’s house but he probably doesn’t want to see me,” he mumbled.
Akiteru pushed him lightly, “I bet he does.”
“No,” Kei shook his head, “He doesn’t.”
That night for the first time in seemingly forever, Kei tried to sleep by himself. He tossed and turned until the moon was high in the sky and the rest of the household was asleep. After flopping around for too long, he had to admit to defeat. He snuck out of his own bed and over to Shoyou’s house to see if he was still up.
Shoyou was asleep on his bed, laying back-to-back with Natsu. But the futon that Natsu usually slept on was laid out on the floor with a blanket and the pillow that Kei preferred. He crawled in and fell asleep almost instantly.
When he woke up it was to a redhead on both sides.
After their first day, junior high wasn’t too bad. They continued to hold hands on their way and from school and just like in elementary school, people got used to them. And, just like in elementary school, it helped that Shoyou had a penchant for making friends with practically everybody that he spoke to.
The three of them were in the same class so Yamaguchi came over after school and volleyball practice most days and they worked on their homework together. Shoyou was easily distracted during class but with both of their help he was keeping his grades up.
When they finished their homework the three of them, plus Natsu, went into the backyard to play more volleyball if the weather allowed. Their junior high team was okay but really they were waiting for Akiteru to get home so he would tell them stories about Karasuno and how being the ace in high school was much harder than it was in middle school.
When Akiteru got home the four of them clamored to greet him and he laughed at his eager fan club but as the year went on he came home later and later, citing longer and more difficult practice, and he was often too tired to talk to them.
Kei didn’t mind too much though, his brother was the ace of a powerhouse school and he had to work hard.
So Kei, Shoyou, Yamaguchi, and Natsu worked hard as well.
Kei was thirteen when his world fell apart.
Shoyou was thirteen when he saw that his dreams were possible.
It was a bit cruel that these events happened at the same time.
For once they had disobeyed Akiteru and went to see him play on the Karasuno volleyball team. Rumor had it they were good enough to get to Nationals and there was no way they were going to miss seeing something as cool as that.
As they watched the court Shoyou pulled roughly at his arm, “Kei, Kei, look,” he pointed at one of the Karasuno players, “He’s so small. He’s small and a starting player. I could do that too.”
Kei could hear the wonder in his voice but he was too distracted to answer. Aki wasn’t on the court. And he wasn’t on the sideline. When he met his brother’s gaze from across the gymnasium he felt like his whole world stopped. He felt like he was dying in slow motion. Kei blindly grabbed Shoyou’s wrist and slid his hand down into his friend’s so he would have something to hold on to. He knew his grip must have been painful but Shoyou didn’t complain.
“Aki,” he gasped out.
Shoyou scanned the court, “Where is Aki,” he looked up at Kei and followed his gaze across the room until he too saw the person who was like a brother to him, “Oh.”
Yamaguchi looked between the two of them frantically, “Do you want to go?”
Shoyou nodded but Kei didn’t move, “C’mon Kei,” he tugged on Kei’s arm, “Let’s go.” Shoyou spared a longing glance at the court where the Little Giant was flying, but he knew he couldn’t stick around to watch.
Kei let himself be led home, he was vaguely aware of Shoyou telling Yamaguchi he could go home, but he was too caught up in his own head.
His brother had lied to him. Akiteru lied to him. How long? Why? Why would he lie to him? Akiteru was his idol, Kei believed in him, wanted to be just like him. He just couldn’t understand.
Shoyou brought him to bed and climbed in next to him even though it was the middle of the day. Shoyou reached up and took off Kei’s glasses, lightly pressed a hand to his shoulder so he would lay down, and ran his fingers through Kei’s hair until he fell asleep. It was nice.
He woke up later partially because he was cold and partially because he heard yelling-- Shoyou yelling. He sat up in bed and pulled the blanket closer around him. He was sluggish from napping and the room was blurry but he could hear Shoyou clear as day, yelling at Akiteru for lying, for lying to Kei. He told him that even if he wasn’t the ace or on the team he would still be their favorite player but right now it was his fault that his best friend was hurt.
Kei laid down again and pulled the blanket over his head. He didn’t want to cry over his brother’s betrayal. He didn’t want to cry over Shoyou standing up for him.
The voices got lower and they weren’t yelling any more but he could still hear stern sounds even if he couldn’t make out words.
Eventually his bed dipped again and Shoyou tugged at the blanket asking to be let in. Kei opened it and allowed him into his cocoon.
“He’s going to try and talk to you,” Shoyou whispered, “You should let him.”
Kei nodded.
Karasuno made it to Nationals that year and Akiteru hesitantly asked Kei and Shoyou if they wanted to go see them play.
Kei had been rather shy around his brother since he found out that Aki had been lying to him, but Shoyou had forced them to talk and they were slowly getting better. Going to see Karasuno was risky because it reminded him of the betrayal, but he really did love volleyball and he would love to see the top teams in the country compete.
So he agreed to go.
On the way to Tokyo Shoyou burst and finally asked Aki about the short player he saw before. Aki laughed and told him that he was nicknamed the Little Giant and he was one of the best players on the team, if not the best player, and he was even a year younger than Aki himself. Kei could see the stars growing in Shoyou’s eyes.
“Do you want to meet him?” Akiteru asked.
Shoyou nearly jumped out of his seat, “What? I can meet him! Yes!”
Akiteru laughed again, “I’ll see what I can do. We’ve talked before and we practice together but we’re not best friends,” he tapped on his chin, “But I bet if I tell him that I know someone who wants to be like him then he’ll agree to meet you.”
“Yes!” Shoyou threw his hands in the air and almost punched Kei in the face, “I can’t wait! Let’s go to Nationals.”
After Karasuno advanced to the semi-finals Akiteru finally found time to talk to his teammate and ask if he had a moment to talk to a fan. Shoyou jumped up and down eagerly waiting to see if he would be able to meet his new idol.
Eventually Aki came back with a short, black-haired man in tow. Shoyou looked up at him with wide eyes and, for once in his life, was left speechless.
Akiteru put a hand on Kei’s shoulder, “This is my little brother Kei,” Kei was already taller than the other boy despite being years younger, “and this,” he put his other hand on Shoyou’s head, “is my pseudo-brother Shoyou.”
“Hello,” he said shyly, eyes flickering between the two. Shoyou was surprised, his on-court aura was nothing like his off-court persona, “Tsukishima tells me you both play. What position?”
Kei nodded, “Middle blocker.”
Shoyou grumbled, “They barely let me play.”
Shoyou swore he felt the atmosphere of the room change when the Little Giant looked at him again, “You just need to prove you belong on the court.”
The Spring Inter-Middle Tournament was everything that Shoyou wanted it to be. He was surrounded by junior high teams and even if he was going to spend most of the tournament on the sidelines, he was ecstatic to be there. He clutched Kei’s hand as they walked in and he tried to point out every exciting thing he saw on the way.
Even though Kei was a starting player, damn him and his height, his love for volleyball had cooled after what happened with his brother. Shoyou could still see the spark in his eye when he played but he could also see that Kei was doing everything he could to not nurture that spark into a full blown fire.
Shoyou wanted to blow on it until the whole gymnasium was up in flames.
Okay, maybe his metaphors needed a bit of work.
Their school won the first match of the day and Shoyou alternated between watching just Kei and watching the entire rest of the court-- which was easy when Kei kept being rotated out for the libero. Shoyou didn’t get to step on the court for that match but even Yamaguchi got to play for an entire set.
When the match was over Kei leaned heavily against him, he was hot and sweaty and Shoyou wanted to complain but instead he handed over a water bottle and watched other teams play.
Their second match of the day was against Kitagawa Daiichi. As Shoyou watched them warm up his attention was solely on their setter and his super cool, super fast sets. He could feel his hands and feet itch to try and hit one of those, he didn’t understand why his team looked so unhappy with them. Shoyou watched as the setter failed to sync up with his teammates and he knew, deep down, that he could hit those.
He pointed out the setter to Kei who told him that he was Kageyama Tobio, and he was a bit famous for being a jerk, or something like that
“But Kei,” Shoyou said with stars in his eyes, “Don’t you think his tosses are the coolest?”
Kei watched as Kageyama failed yet again to sync up with his spiker and scoffed, “Not at all. If he keeps tossing like that we should win, easy.”
They didn’t win.
They didn’t win, but Shoyou got to play for a bit and it was exhilarating. He finally felt like he got to show off what he could do, it just sucked that it was at the last tournament of his junior high school career.
But Shoyou always looked up. There was always next year. There was always high school and Karasuno.
On their way out of the building at the end of the day, Shoyou suddenly started running-- pulling Kei along with him-- so he could catch up with Kitagawa Daiichi’s setter. When he was finally within speaking distance he stopped and announced “Next time, I’m going to win!”
Kageyama regarded him coolly, “You’re going to have to get a lot better if you want to beat me.”
“C’mon Shoyou,” Kei tugged on his hand as he glared at Kageyama, “He’s not worth it.”
For the entire ride home Shoyou chatted about how cool the tournament was and how cool Kageyama was. When they got to Kei’s room Shoyou was surprised when Kei picked up the volleyball from his desk and asked if he wanted to go outside for a little bit.
They fell into a familiar pattern, Shoyou threw the ball over Kei’s head for him to set to Shoyou to spike. Shoyou was so caught up in the euphoria of more volleyball that he didn’t notice Kei frowning.
Their first day of high school started like any other day. Kei and Shoyou met up in front of their houses after getting dressed in their own bedrooms, linked hands, and made their way to their meeting spot with Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi was already waiting for them and quickly took his spot next to Kei and the three of them, instead of making the left turn towards the junior high, turned right towards Karasuno.
When they passed through the gates of the school, Kei tensed, their first day of junior high still fresh in his mind, but no one paid them any attention. The other students were too busy with their own friends or trying to find their own way around to worry about if two of the students were holding hands.
Shoyou tried to pull him towards the gym because he wanted to see where they would be playing volleyball for the next three years but Kei wanted to make his way towards their classroom and get himself situated before class started, they had gotten lucky and the three of them were in the same class yet again-- Shoyou definitely had their help to thank.
“Please, Kei,” Shoyou begged, “Just one look.”
Kei let go of his hand and shoved his shoulder, “Go look at the gym and I’ll see you in class.”
Shoyou looked like he was going to complain that they weren’t going with him, but changed his mind at the last second and raced away, “Okay! See you later!”
Kei and Yamaguchi went inside the main school building and easily found their desks in class 1-4. Yamaguchi chatted about what he thought high school was going to be like and Kei listened while he watched other students file inside, occasionally offering his own comment.
About a minute before the warning bell was going to ring, Shoyou stormed into the classroom with a beat red face and slammed his hands on Kei’s desk.
“Kageyama--”
“--the setter from Kitagawa Daiichi?” Yamaguchi asked.
“is here and he didn’t even remember me!” Shoyou hoisted himself up on Kei’s desk and swung his feet back and forth to try and abate some of his agitated energy, “But then he did remember me and he said that I sucked!”
Kei chuckled.
“Shut up, Kei! How am I going to beat him if we’re on the same team?” He groaned and ran his hands down his face, “This sucks. He sucks.”
“But,” Yamaguchi said placatingly, “You’d get to hit his tosses, you said you really liked them.”
Shoyou perked up, “They were really cool.”
Kei pushed Shoyou off his desk, “Don’t you have your own seat?”
After the first day of class Shoyou managed to cajole Kei into stopping by the gym even though volleyball practice hadn’t officially started yet. He promised that people would be there and said that it was important to make a good first impression, but really Kei agreed so they could walk home together afterwards.
Before they entered the gym Kei grabbed for Shoyou’s hand, he didn’t like new places or new people, especially ones who were definitely going to judge him on sight. Shoyou gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and led him inside with unwavering confidence.
There were not a lot of people in the gym.
They were quickly approached by the captain and vice captain of the team, Daichi and Suga. Daichi welcomed them and explained that this wasn’t everyone but that their team was small. This definitely wasn’t the powerhouse team that Akiteru used to sort of play on.
His stomach twisted when he thought of his brother but he stamped down the feeling. They were fine. This was fine.
He noticed Suga taking in their clasped hands.
“Are you two dating?” he asked when he realized Kei had caught him looking.
Kei tried to let go but Shoyou kept his grip, “No,” Shoyou said simply.
Yamaguchi snickered beside them, “They’re best friends.”
Kei glared at him because he didn’t like how he had said that and when he looked back at Suga he was… Kei couldn’t actually decipher his expression but he decided he didn’t like that either so he scowled at him, seniority be damned.
Daichi looked between the small group like he was trying to put together a puzzle, “You three have known each other long?”
“Yes!” Shoyou said too loudly, “Kei and I have known each other since we were five and we met Yamaguchi when we were ten I think. And we’ve been playing volleyball together forever because--”
Kei pulled on his arm, “He doesn’t need our life story.”
“Good,” Daichi said, “then you know how to work together. That’s good for a team.”
“When does practice start?” Kei asked.
“Officially, next week,” Suga answered, “But we’ll be here every day.”
Shoyou looked up at him with wide and eager eyes, “See, I told you it was a good thing to come today. Now we get to practice!”
Kei pushed his glasses up his forehead and rubbed his eyes, “I want to go home, Shoyou, and I didn’t bring clothes to change into.”
Shoyou frowned at him, “I told you to bring clothes this morning!” He let go of Kei’s hand, “But fine, I’ll see you at dinner.”
As Kei watched Shoyou run over to Kageyama and beg him to toss to him, he overheard Suga ask Yamaguchi if the two of them lived together and his friend shrugged and responded, pretty much.
Kei left the gym and walked home by himself. His chest burned.
When Kei got home Natsu was already at his kitchen table working on her homework. She was almost ten and had fallen into Kei’s routine of doing her work as soon as she got home from school. Kei couldn’t help but think that she was much smarter than her brother.
He sat down across from her and tried to see what she was working on, it was only her first day of school too, so he was surprised that she had anything to do, but they were all simple assessments to see how far along she was with certain subjects. At a glance it looked like she was doing rather well.
“Hi, Kei-nii,” she said without looking up, “Sho not here?”
“No.”
He must have sounded grumpy because she put down her pencil and looked up at him, “What’s wrong?”
Kei looked over her shoulder and stared intently at the wall behind her, “Nothing, he’s playing volleyball.”
“Without you?” she asked, confused.
He paused. Was that what was bothering him? That Shoyou was doing something without him? That Shoyou seemed so happy to be doing something without him? He nodded at Natsu.
Natsu scoffed at him and for a second he forgot that she was Shoyou’s sister and not his, “That’s stupid. He thinks you’re the best to play with. But if he’s not here will you play with me?” Kei pointed to the work in front of her, “I’ll do it later.”
Usually Kei was the one advocating for getting your work done first, but this time he let it slide and nodded again, “Let’s go to the backyard.”
When Shoyou came home, hours later, he found Kei and Natsu in the backyard passing the ball back and forth. Neither of them knew when Natsu had gotten so good but she only let the ball drop when she saw Shoyou watching them.
She walked up to her brother and punched him in the arm, “Be nice to your best friend, dummy.”
“Hey,” Shoyou complained as he looked between his sister and his friend, “What did I do?”
But neither of them answered him.
Dinner was a confusing affair for Shoyou because Kei and Natsu kept up a constant stream of conversation that he couldn’t seem to break into and he didn’t know why he was being left out. Eventually he stopped trying to interrupt and talked to their mothers about his first day of high school. They were eager to hear about how it went so he did a dramatic retelling of his entire day until he got to the part where Kei went home without him and it clicked that maybe that’s where he went wrong.
“Good night, Kei-nii,” Natsu leaned over and kissed his cheek before rising from the table, “thanks for playing with me but I need to finish my homework. You should have made me finish before!”
Kei smiled at her, “It was all easy stuff, and you’re smart,” he pointed to Shoyou, “smarter than that guy, at least.”
“Hey!” Shoyou said, partially offended but mostly happy that he was being included even if it was to be insulted, “I’m plenty smart! We’re in the same class.”
“Thanks to my help.”
“I’m still there!” he crossed his arms and Kei laughed at him. It felt like things were back to normal.
When they were in Kei’s bedroom for the night Shoyou reached out and grabbed Kei’s shirt.
“Hey,” he said hesitantly, “Are you mad at me?”
A few expressions crossed Kei’s face before he answered, “No, I’m not.” But then he brushed Shoyou’s hair out of his eyes and pressed a kiss to his forehead, “Good night Shoyou.”
Kei climbed into bed and rolled over so his back was to Shoyou. Shoyou stared at him.
That was.
That was completely normal. Right?
He climbed in after him.
＼(＾∀＾)メ(＾∀＾)ノ