Chapter Text
It was no use. Tobio Kageyama couldn’t sleep.
He’d tried what felt like every possible position; sleeping on his side, sleeping on his back with his hands on his chest, sleeping on his stomach, sleeping diagonally across the mattress, spreading out like a starfish…
None of it helped. All that happened was his sheets were now tangled around his feet in a sweaty pile, his left arm had somehow lost blood circulation and was uncomfortably tingly, and he sported red crumpled pillow marks on his cheek.
He could see that the early morning sun was just starting to creep through the thin slats of the blinds over his bedroom window, hazy and golden pink. Sitting up resignedly, he rubbed his eyes and cracked the window open to relieve some of the room’s stuffiness - he always seemed to run hot at night. He walked back over to his bedside table and tapped his phone where it lay in its usual nighttime spot, charging. The screen lit up immediately, informing him it was six in the morning; around the time he’d normally get up anyway. But as he was off this week, he was hoping to maybe sleep in a bit. He’d never really tried it, but supposedly some people enjoyed waking up well after the sun had risen, and not going on ten kilometer runs every morning.
Oh well, he thought, stumbling to the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. He’d been getting up before six since middle school. There was no real reason to break the habit now.
He’d moved into his current apartment almost two years ago, right after coming back from the Rio Olympics. High off of his professional success, and Miwa’s insistence that his previous place was a “shit hole”, he’d decided to search for a new one. He’d thought it might be nice to have a working shower, for once.
“Ne, Tobio-kun, this one is really nice! Maybe if you ever take a break from practicing you could throw a party here,” Miwa said, a hint of sass in her tone, walking through the large empty space.
The walls were a pale cream color, except for the large wall where the front door was, which was exposed dark red brick. The windows were wide and airy, and a glass sliding door led out onto a small balcony. It was just one bedroom and one bathroom, but that was perfect for Tobio. The kitchen was a reasonable size, with lots of space for prep, and even included two island counters ideal for barstool seating.
Tobio made a noise of dissent at Miwa’s words and leaned back against the brick wall, arms crossed. Like that was ever gonna happen. He hardly ever went to parties at other people’s homes, let alone willingly invited that madness into his own space. Really, the only person who ever came over was Hoshiumi-san, and he tended to simply just invite himself. Or worse, he would show up completely unannounced and take control of the TV for the next four hours.
He looked around the apartment, the July heat combined with the stale, dusty air making him feel a little claustrophobic.
“I like the balcony,” he admitted, walking over and sliding the glass door open. It was just a small outcropping, barely big enough for a chair and maybe a small end table. The apartment building itself was square, but at the center of it was an outdoor courtyard space with a few sakura trees, now fully green and growing in midsummer, which all the balconies overlooked.
“Yeah, but you can see into everyone else’s apartment! Look,” Miwa observed, “You have a neighbor directly across from you.”
It was true - just across the courtyard was another balcony, attached to a different unit, directly facing Tobio’s apartment. The shades on all of the windows were currently drawn, though, preventing him from otherwise looking directly inside the unit.
“Actually, that apartment is vacant,” the property manager supplied.
“That’s not so bad, then,” Tobio mused. “Plus I keep my shades closed most of the time anyways. I don’t want people spying on me.”
Miwa laughed. “Who do you think is going to be spying on you?! Your opponents? Fangirls?”
Tobio ignored her. “It’s not a dealbreaker for me, I just need a place to sleep. And it’s close to the Adlers’ gym.”
Miwa smiled, half soft and half nagging. “I hope you use it for more than just sleeping! You need to live a little, Tobio.”
He scowled, lip jutting out. He was living just fine, thanks. He was an Olympian! Scouted by one of the best teams in the V-League! At the top of his game! And, apparently, fangirls on twitter thought he was hot, so he was helping introduce a whole new generation to volleyball! That was pretty important work, in his opinion.
Now, in early March, as Tobio leaned back in his yellow patio chair and sipped his sencha tea, he could concede that maybe Miwa’d had a point back then. His days lately consisted mostly of waking up, going on a run, eating breakfast, going to practice, coming home, and making dinner. Sometimes he’d watch a few episodes of some random anime, and then he’d go to sleep.
It was a bit lonely, he admitted. He didn’t like to admit it, though. He didn’t enjoy feeling like something was missing. Or someone.
Admitting any kind of loneliness made Tobio feel… unsteady. When Kazuyo-san had died, Tobio had been so young. He’d suddenly lost not just his grandfather, but also his coach, his best friend, his caregiver… one person with so many crucial roles. He’d found himself full of grief and with nowhere to put it. He was overflowing with it, the feelings inside him tumultuous, unpredictable, and threatening to burst out at any moment. He’d kept trying to calm them down somehow, so that he could at least contain the feeling, or reroute it somewhere else for the time being, but they’d felt untameable.
Not to mention, he was essentially on his own. Miwa’d had her own grief to cope with, and his parents weren’t around enough to help with the burden in any substantial way. Tobio had eventually managed to suppress his grief just enough to hide it away, cram it all inside a suitcase, zip it shut tight, and push the whole thing into a dark, cobwebby corner deep in his mind. And he’d shoved some extra anger on top, too, just to make sure the grief couldn’t possibly escape.
Over time, slowly, the grief softened, but the loneliness didn’t. He still felt that hole in his heart, even now. That empty spot where someone should be.
That’s not to say he didn’t have any friends. All throughout high school at Karasuno, he’d had amazing senpais like Daichi and Asahi and Sugawara, Tanaka and Nishinoya… And as he’d become a third year himself, he’d had to admit that he was impressed by his kouhais. They’d carried on the Karasuno legacy, and even now Karasuno continued to be a powerhouse school. He loved his time at Karasuno, he loved his teammates, and he appreciated how much he’d grown as a player and as a man. But, during all that time, he’d never quite felt that moment - that moment where he’d found not just a teammate, but something beyond that. A true partner. Someone always willing to give it one more shot. Someone who challenged him. Someone who he could always count on to hit his tosses, no matter how tired or far away they were. Someone who made him feel invincible. Someone who would always say, “I’m here!”
He gazed out across the courtyard, feet propped on the railing and deep in thought, staring blankly at the vacant apartment across from his own. He thought it was a little odd that no one had ever lived there in his almost two years of renting.
Until now, apparently.
The blinds of what was probably the living room suddenly rose, shocking Tobio and revealing a woman that looked about his own mother’s age. She was short, with brown hair. Tobio was so surprised at the sudden revelation that he just gawked at her, his mouth hanging open. Her eyes finally landed on him through the window as well, and she gave him a small wave. In a daze, he slowly raised his arm and gave a small wave back. Then she turned away, picking up a box and walking further into the apartment where he couldn’t see her anymore. Tobio heard some muffled voices as well, a high-pitched laugh like a girl’s, and someone else calling, “Kaa-san!” The second person was a male, most likely, from the deep tone. Was a family moving in?
Feeling a bit creepy, Tobio walked back inside his apartment to rinse his now-empty mug and get ready for his daily run.
Once out on the sidewalk, he started at his normal pace, rounding the corner to the other side of the building. On the adjacent street, he noticed a yellow car stuffed with cardboard moving boxes. How they saw through the back window was a mystery. As he jogged past it, he saw a young girl, maybe mid-teens, with bright orange hair emerge with a heavy-looking box in her arms. She didn’t pay Tobio any attention as she headed for the front doors of his building with a determined expression. Tobio watched her enter, noticing the track jacket she wore - Niiyama Girls Volleyball.
Volleyball!, his brain helpfully supplied. He vaguely remembered Niiyama as being one of the top girls’ teams in Miyagi. He thought they even went to Nationals with Karasuno a few times. Good for her, he thought, appraisingly.
By the time he returned from his run, sweaty and satisfied, the car full of boxes was gone; whoever was moving in must be done unloading by now. He had to admit he was curious about his new neighbor, enough that he kept alert for anything else new or unusual. God, Miwa was right - he really did need to shake up his life if this was his idea of entertainment.
Fortunately for the new neighbors, Tobio was relatively distracted for the rest of the morning, cooking some tamagoyaki and getting ready for Adlers practice. But when he returned home hours later after a grueling session, he was reminded again of them.
He heard the music as soon as he opened his front door, drifting through his open living room windows. It was upbeat and lively, a bopping rhythm made for dancing. Bum bum bum, biddy bum bum! It reminded him of Rio, the one evening he and Ushijima (surprisingly) snuck out of the Olympic Village and walked along the beaches of Copacabana just as the sun was beginning to slide below the horizon. The warm air had been full of laughter and music, tourists and locals alike walking, swimming, drinking, sitting on colorful blankets on the sand, and playing beach volleyball. He and Ushijima had even watched a few matches from the shadows, critiquing their forms and also making notes to try out some of the more ingenious moves that could easily be applied to their formations.
The music that was now playing was rising to a crescendo, the beat ramping up with horns and bass and guitar, stringing together a hypnotic melody. Curious, Tobio walked to his window and peeked through. A young man, hair as bright as the Niiyama girl he’d seen earlier, was dancing around the kitchen in a gray sleeveless tank top and athletic shorts, holding a broom like it was his lover and swaying his hips to the beat. At first, Tobio didn’t know whether to laugh or not. But the man moved like honey, tantalizing and smooth and glimmering, the dim kitchen lights making his skin glow tanned and golden, his hair so vivid and wild. He looked like a sunset, bright and sultry and captivating.
Tobio continued to gawk openly, standing like an idiot alone in his dark apartment, simply staring out the window while still holding his volleyball bag. He couldn’t look away; he was completely hypnotized. Okay, sure, maybe back in the day he’d admired more than just Oikawa’s form as he served, and, yeah, no one could deny that Daichi had thighs of steel. A little bit of gay panic here and there was totally normal. But, the key difference was, Tobio had never wanted to do more than admire from afar. Like going to an art gallery, he enjoyed perusing, but had no intention to actually buy any art. It had just never appealed to him. But watching this man, this goofy, energetic ball of light, Tobio wanted.
Just who was he?
The man continued to dance through his kitchen, tossing the broom from hand to hand like a ballroom dancer would spin their partner. He was singing along, too, though Tobio couldn’t make out any of the words. It was definitely a different language, maybe Spanish or Portuguese? That would explain the music, too. Maybe he really was from Rio.
Tobio jumped as the music suddenly paused. The man set aside his broom and picked up his phone curiously. “Moshi moshi? Ah, Kenma! I was just gonna call you, I…”
His voice drifted away as he moved out of the kitchen and deeper into the apartment, probably towards the bedroom.
Closing his mouth and swallowing the embarrassing amount of spit that had collected, Tobio finally dropped his volleyball bag and went straight to the shower, head full of orange-colored thoughts.
Tobio continued to catch glimpses of his new neighbor over the next several weeks. It seemed that the man was indeed the only occupant, as he never saw the woman or the redheaded girl again. As Tobio tried his hardest not to be a creep, he couldn't help but notice a few things:
First, he was loud. Tobio’s initial impression had been fairly accurate for what he could expect from the mysterious man on any given day. He was always running his mouth, whether he was singing (in a variety of languages), talking on the phone while gesticulating wildly, or yelling while watching TV. The only time the apartment was quiet seemed to be late at night.
Second, he played volleyball to some extent. Tobio had seen him walking around with a volleyball under his arm, as well as tossing to himself while seated on the floor of his messy living room, the ball bouncing effortlessly off his fingertips. Tobio wondered if he had nice fingernails. Was that weird? He’d also seen a poster of the 2016 Japan Men's National Volleyball Team pinned up in the new neighbor’s living room by their television. Tobio didn’t know whether to be flattered or incredibly embarrassed that this unknown man had a poster featuring Tobio in his living room. It felt a bit surreal that this stranger probably knew who he was prior to moving in, while the reverse was not true.
Third, he was energetic. Like, wired. If his hands weren’t tossing a volleyball, he was dancing, fidgeting, doing yoga, or simply pacing around his apartment. He never seemed to stop moving. Tobio was grateful that he wasn’t the tenant who lived below. The constant clunking of footfalls was probably annoying.
Fourth, he had a lot of friends, which also tied into the noisy point. People were constantly coming and going; talking and drinking on the small patio, eating takeout, watching movies… Tobio swore he once saw this man and Kozume-san of all people, a friend-but-not-quite-friend from Karasuno’s rival school, Nekoma, playing video games late into the night. Was this guy also a famous Youtuber? He seemed to be perpetually hosting some kind of party or casual get-together. It looked fucking exhausting, but he seemed to glow even brighter when surrounded by others.
He also seemed to be always smiling. His huge grin was obvious even from the several meters between their apartments. It made something in Tobio’s gut feel funny. He himself never smiled that much. But maybe he would too if he had a face like that.
And finally, Tobio grudgingly resigned himself to the fact that his first impression had been right again; the guy was… kind of decent-looking. Okay, fine, he was fucking hot. In addition to his sunset hair and tanned skin, he seemed to be absolutely stacked. He was lean and compact, definitely on the shorter side for an athlete, but he had muscles that Tobio could admire even through a window and across the courtyard. His thighs alone could rival Daichi’s. He definitely had to be some kind of professional, or semi-professional, volleyball player, but Tobio hadn’t ever seen him at any of his own games - neither in the stands nor on the court. He’d been keeping a subtle eye out, but no flash of orange ever emerged.
Now that the V League was on break again, Tobio found himself with more time on his hands. This meant, unfortunately, that his teammates also had more free time.
The incessant pounding currently emanating from the other side of his front door turned out to be Hoshiumi-san, showing up uninvited but somehow right on cue. Tobio shook his head softly to himself, fighting down a smile.
“I think I’ve grown another centimeter,” he said in lieu of a greeting, before nudging past Tobio into the apartment.
“Hoshiumi. Welcome. No, no, help yourself,” he replied sarcastically, but with no real heat.
Behind him towered Ushijima. “Kageyama. Good evening. I hope we aren’t interrupting anything.”
Tobio shook his head. “No, I just finished dinner. Come in.”
Hoshiumi strode right over to Tobio’s television, plugging in his own Nintendo Switch that was customized with Kamomedai-colored joy-cons, and loaded up Rocket League while Ushijima made himself comfortable on the far end of the sofa. Tobio closed the door behind them and offered the two a glass of water, serving himself one.
“Nah, but do you have any snacks? I’m starving after today’s practice.” Tobio, Ushijima, Hoshiumi, and Romero had met up at the local park in lieu of their in-season practices, playing several intense 2v2 matches.
Tobio thought for a moment, mentally cataloging the items in his fridge. “I’ve got some Yakults and some leftover salmon?”
Hoshiumi made a face. “Can I order takeout?”
Tobio shrugged. “I don’t care. It’s your money. I already ate.” He sat down on the couch in between the two and picked up one of the spare controllers that Hoshiumi had brought.
“Ate what? Yakult salmon?” Hoshiumi’s face morphed into an exaggerated look of disgust before he button-smashed through the game’s loading screens.
“Salmon is high in omega three fatty acids and yogurt is a good source of natural probiotics,” Ushijima supplied.
“Yeah, but not eaten together! That’s weird. Especially if the Yakults are banana flavored or something. Ew.”
They all continued to banter back and forth as they played, interspersed with the occasional jab or moan about a cheap play.
Tobio sighed and leaned back into the couch cushions as the next round was loading, before asking, “so, Ushijima, how was France?”
“Yes, tell us all the dirty details, loverboy,” Hoshiumi added, wide eyes fixed on Ushijima.
Ushijima furrowed his brow in response, half confused and half unsettled. “There are no dirty details. Tendou keeps his flat very clean and tidy.”
Hoshiumi actually paused the game in order to level him with a half-lidded, exasperated stare.
Ushijima continued, undeterred. “It was nice. I do not speak the language very fluently, but luckily Tendou does, and he knows all the best places for food and visiting. We even saw a Paris Volley exhibition game. I think we could beat them,” he added thoughtfully.
Tobio chuckled a little under his breath. “That’s good news for us for the next Olympics.”
“Hell yeah,” Hoshiumu agreed. “But how are you and Tendou? Still going strong? I mean, if the marks on your neck are anything to go by, things are great.”
For possibly the first time in his life, Ushijima blushed. “Things are as strong as ever. A relationship with a fertile foundation can last many seasons.”
“How poetic,” Tobio said teasingly.
“What about you, Hoshiumi? Has anyone worthy caught your eye?” Ushijima asked.
Hoshiumi made a face. “Nah, not really. I’ve been on a few dates but they never seem to amount to anything in the end. They always want more time than I can give them. Volleyball comes first, you know?”
Tobio and Ushijima both nodded.
“Tendou is a very patient partner and understands the complexities of dating a professional athlete, but I can see how that would be hard to come by,” Ushijima said.
“Definitely,” Hoshiumi agreed. “It just never seems to work out. But whatever… Anyone interesting you’ve been seeing, Kageyama?”
Tobio, in fact, had been literally seeing someone very interesting, but he knew that wasn’t what Hoshiumi meant. And he wasn’t about to tell the two of them that he had a crush on a neighbor he’d only seen via basically stalking him through his living room window.
“Nope,” Tobio replied, popping the p with an air of finality, before grabbing his glass of water and taking a long gulp.
“Really? Not even like a hot neighbor or anything?”
Tobio choked on his water, coughing and spluttering before shaking his head vehemently. Ushijima pounded him on the back a few times.
“Thanks,” he wheezed out.
“Bummer,” Hoshiumi said.
They resumed the game and Tobio’s mind wandered again towards his hot neighbor. He wondered, since he seemed to be somewhat into volleyball, what would the man be like if he dated Kageyama, a professional athlete? Would he come to all of Tobio’s games? He imagined how nice it would be to see that smiling face in the crowd after every game, wearing a KAGEYAMA jersey identical to the one on his own back. How comforting it would be to hear a familiar voice yell his name after a spectacular set. How invigorating it would be to lock eyes with someone right before he served, mentally saying, just wait ‘til you see this one.
It sounded… kind of awesome, honestly. So much so, in fact, that he continued to imagine it for the rest of the evening.