Chapter Text
Tobio was nearly horizontal on the couch as his sister’s voice droned on in his ears, too close to lulling him to sleep.
Miwa always chose the worst times to call—it was either right before he was going to sleep or as he was heading to practice, but he supposed that was the best she could do with the time difference between them. They had been repairing their relationship for the past couple of years, finally having the sense to reconnect and make an active effort to be in each other’s lives. No matter how much it might inconvenience him sometimes, Tobio wouldn’t give it up for the world.
"Your comment on our cousin's Facebook post was rude, Tobio," Miwa scolded and that was what took for Tobio to zone back into the conversation. "Yuki is pregnant!"
"How was I supposed to know that?” he grumbled. “I haven't seen these people in over eight years."
Miwa huffed. "You shouldn't have given her a workout regime regardless."
"It's a good one!” Tobio insisted. “Do pregnant people not need to exercise?"
Not that he knew anything about pregnancy. Or women in general.
"You really—that’s not the point!” Miwa replied. She sighed. “I really thought dating someone would teach you to be more emotionally mature."
Tobio rolled his eyes, heat prickling his skin as they approached the dreaded subject. "I'm hanging up."
"Speaking of," Miwa continued conversationally as though he hadn’t said anything at all. Tobio ground his teeth in frustration. "How's Hinata-kun doing?"
"He's fine,” Tobio responded shortly. “We're fine."
"Yeah? Anything new?"
"No, his sets still suck,” Tobio said. “He needs to work on them if we're going to play at the Olympics in a few months."
Miwa made a noise of frustration. "Not volleyball! I meant your relationship!” She paused. “Also, I think his sets are great."
"Of course someone who gave up volleyball for their hair would think that," he replied bitterly. Hinata’s sets were, in fact, quite decent but Tobio needed something to be mad about.
Miwa, unfortunately, didn’t take the bait. Tobio had been hoping he could rope her into a few minutes of sibling banter and then blessedly end the conversation without any more discussion on that topic.
"Your relationship, Tobio,” she said flatly, far too knowing of his tricks, apparently. “How is it?"
He sighed, bracing himself. "It's good. No problems at all."
"He treats you well?"
He nodded. "Hm."
"You treat him well?" Miwa asked pointedly.
"Obviously!" he snapped.
"Hmm." She sounded dubious and Tobio had half a mind to be offended. "I'll see for myself soon."
Tobio was so busy being annoyed that he didn’t even register it at first. The sentence only sunk in a few seconds later, and he froze.
“Nee-san,” he said carefully, as though he was stepping on potential land mines. “What do you mean ‘see for yourself’?”
“As in, seeing for myself. With my own eyes,” Miwa snickered. “Come on, I told you about this a couple of weeks ago! I’m visiting home next week. You better pick me up at the airport, I don’t want any excuses.”
Tobio’s eyes widened, and now that she mentioned it, he did have a vague recollection of Miwa informing him of her visit. She was going to live with him in Tokyo for a bit and then go home to Miyagi for the rest of her stay.
When the silence stretched for too long, Miwa hesitantly said, “Tobio?”
“I will,” he answered at last, still processing the repercussions of his awful memory. “Send me your flight details.”
“Good,” Miwa said, pleased. “I’ll see you soon.”
They said their goodbyes and he hung up.
Tobio sat there unmoving, his sleepiness definitely gone, as his mind started running on a track headed to panic. He swallowed hard and dug his fingers into the cushion he was clutching to his chest.
He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten about Miwa’s visit.
It wasn’t like he didn’t want to see her. He did, very much so, and in other circumstances, nothing about the situation would inspire anything but general happiness in him. But Miwa wasn’t only coming to see Tobio. She was clearly also expecting him to introduce her to Hinata, his significant other.
Who actually wasn’t his significant other at all. Like, even a little.
This is how it started.
Shortly after Tobio and Miwa had started contacting each other regularly, Miwa noticed the state of his nonexistent love life and was convinced that he needed to date people. Despite vehement protests, she began setting him up on dates, most of which were so excruciating that Tobio needed three days of solitude just to recover from them. He didn’t even show up half the time, and the other times he did, his dates were the dullest people on Earth. None of them understood volleyball. It was unbearable.
Miwa understood his problem but her solution to it was even worse, because at the end of it, Tobio ended up sitting opposite Tsukishima Kei on a blind date, who did understand volleyball but also found sadistic pleasure in bringing out the worst side of Tobio. The night had been colossally disastrous and Tobio had refused to talk to either Tsukishima or his sister for a whole month.
Tsukishima had, at least, returned the favour.
Miwa had sheepishly backed off for a few months, but then she went abroad and was suddenly gripped with worry that Tobio was all alone in a big city now and needed someone ‘special’ in his life. He got where she was coming from but he still wasn’t on board with it. She was quite a bit older than him and was at a point in her life where she was beginning to settle down, whereas Tobio was at the peak of his career and was not interested in dating.
Or people in general.
The thought of being set up on random dates again had been so agonising that Tobio snapped and told her that he was already seeing someone. That had shut his sister up for good. He didn’t really consider himself the master of deception or anything, but he was rather proud of that lie. What she didn't know couldn't hurt her.
Until it had all come to bite him back because just vaguely saying ‘someone’ wasn’t cutting it anymore, and Miwa started to press for details about the person he was so into.
Overcome with the panic of being caught in a horrible lie, Tobio didn’t know what to say. So, he’d said Hinata. The dumbass and their rivalry occupied some part of his mind at all times and it was the first name that came to his lips amidst her relentless probing.
Miraculously, it worked.
Tobio said he was dating Hinata, and somehow, Miwa bought it without hesitation, sounding ecstatic about it. Although she knew of Hinata, she had never met him, and probably thought he and Tobio had some secret high school romance.
Whatever. It wasn't like she was going to call Hinata and check. As long as he gave her ambiguous updates on their ‘relationship’, Miwa could stay happy in the knowledge that he wasn’t alone, and he could live peacefully without any stupid dates thrust upon him.
Except now Tobio was in deep water because his elaborate trick had backfired on him. He realised that, in hindsight, this was inevitable since it was virtually impossible that Miwa would never return to Japan. Besides, he did want to see his sister from time to time, but it had never even crossed his mind how this lie would factor into it.
Could he fix this in some way? There was no way he was going to come clean because 1. It was embarrassing and 2. He would rather die than be set up on random dates again.
He sat up straighter, running his fingers through his hair and trying to think of a plan to still make this work. He had a week to execute it.
Maybe he could tell Miwa that he and Hinata had broken up…which would’ve worked if he hadn’t just told her that they were doing well in their relationship.
Tobio clenched his fists in frustration.
What if—what if he just told her that Hinata wasn’t in town? His team was based in Osaka after all…but no, stupid Hinata was very much in town because he had been chosen for the National Team, with training for the upcoming Olympics already underway. Even Miwa knew that.
Dumbass Hinata. Stupid Hinata for being good enough to play for the National Team and ruining my plan to deceive my sister—and nope, he couldn’t even complete that thought because Tobio had wanted this. For so long.
He had been over the moon when he'd received the overexcited call from Hinata about being selected for the National Team, because he loved playing with Hinata on the same side of the court just as much as he did on the opposite. So no, no matter what, Tobio couldn’t wish against the constant flow of the sheer happiness that had entered his life ever since they’d started playing together again. It hadn’t taken them any time to sync up on the court again and their quick was just as incredible as before, even more so now. Tobio hadn’t felt this alive even when he’d played against Hinata for the first time in the Jackals vs Adlers match.
Hinata. Hinata. Hinata.
It always came down to Hinata Shouyou in the end, and Tobio shoved his face into the cushion to muffle his groan.
There was only one option left, something he wasn’t even sure if people did in real life.
Tobio felt his heart race as he weighed the pros and cons of his choices, but in the end, there was already a clear-cut winner. One of his options might hurt Miwa, and the other wouldn’t if he played it right.
There was never a contest in the first place.
Tobio knew he was acting weird.
His decision was weighing on him like a mountain and he couldn't help but be a little nervous about it. He tried to be normal and he knew that most of his teammates were buying it, but one look at Hinata told him that he wasn't fooling the spiker.
Hinata kept darting curious glances at him throughout practice, catching Tobio staring at him far too many times for it to not be embarrassing. One of his tosses to Hinata was even half an angle off its mark, which was just unacceptable.
Nobody noticed it except Hinata, and Miya Atsumu apparently, the other setter of the team, who raised an eyebrow and hollered, "Where's your head at, Tobio-kun?"
And that was just the last straw. Tobio's face burned as a timeout was declared, and he took a few, composing breaths.
This was horrible. This was awful. He couldn't let anything in his personal life affect volleyball. This court was sacred ground. Tobio mentally slapped himself and resolved to deal with it later.
Thankfully, his game regained its usual quality in the second half and the rest of practice went smoothly.
But then it got over and Tobio's jittery nerves returned with full force in the locker rooms, his eyes inadvertently sliding to Hinata where he was changing a few feet away from him.
He was pulling a shirt over his head, covering the lean muscles of his back, and Tobio could see when they physically tensed under his scrutiny.
Hinata felt his stare immediately and whipped around to meet his gaze. His eyes were narrowed with suspicion and Tobio quickly looked away like he was just caught doing something he shouldn't be.
He inhaled, exhaled and waited.
Right on cue, Hinata stomped up to him with his hands on his hips. His hair was wet and fell into his eyes.
Tobio suppressed the urge to brush it away. It was getting long again, a few weeks away from Tobio's favourite length on him. He would never admit out loud that Hinata’s hair was something he had an opinion on.
"Hey, Kageyama!" Hinata called, and Tobio cringed at the sheer volume of his voice. Why did he have to be so loud?
All eyes in the room turned to them and Tobio wanted to disappear.
"What?" he hissed.
"Wh—What the hell is up with you today?" Hinata's voice wavered a bit, his confidence waning when Tobio turned around to face him with a menacing glare. "You keep giving me these looks and it's creeping me out."
Tobio stared back at him, unable to answer with everyone’s eyes on them.
"Well? Answer me!" Hinata cried. He squared his shoulders and straightened to his full 172.2 cm of height. "You wanna fight?"
Tobio rolled his eyes. Ten years and he still hadn’t changed a bit.
He stuffed his jersey into his gym bag and shouldered it with one strap. "Walk with me."
Hinata blinked, caught off-guard. "Huh?"
"I said walk with me, dumbass," Tobio repeated.
"Where?" Hinata tilted his head to the side, the fight in his stance melting away and confusion taking its place.
"Nowhere,” Tobio answered, desperate to leave the locker room where he could feel multiple pairs of eyes boring into him. He was extremely uncomfortable, and why couldn’t Hinata just ever do what he was asked?
“To the bus stop? Just come outside," he gritted out when Hinata still didn’t seem like he was going to move.
"Why?" Hinata’s eyes were wide, and he was looking like Tobio had suggested he sell all his organs on the black market.
"Why are you looking so scared?” Tobio asked. “I'm not going to murder you and dump your body in a ditch."
Hinata’s eyes got even bigger and he took a deliberate step back. "That sounds really specific."
Tobio was about to lunge at him and strangle him till he stopped being idiotic, but then someone snorted—he was pretty sure it was Komori—and the tension abruptly broke. A couple of people chuckled and got back to their business, the hustle and bustle of the place returning.
Tobio deflated, sighing in resignation “You’re an idiot,” he informed Hinata. “Do what you want, I don’t care.”
The lines of worry on Hinata's forehead eased as well, and he snickered, walking over to his locker to get his bag. "Fine. Let's go, Yamayama-kun. I'm curious about what you have to say now."
Tobio glanced back at him, and just to be contrary, said, "Who said I have something to say?"
Hinata raised an eyebrow, falling into a step beside him. "You don't? So, you just want to walk with me to enjoy my company?"
Tobio's neck heated up and he quickly backtracked. "No, I do have something to say."
Hinata sniggered, nudging him. “I knew it. You can’t lie to save your life.”
Tobio swallowed, thinking of how lying was the very skill he was hoping to rely on for the next week. Hinata’s words weren’t reassuring.
They walked outside the Ajinomoto Training Centre and the cool evening air did nothing to calm Tobio’s nerves. Hinata was humming softly by his side, not a care in the world, and for a moment, Tobio second-guessed his decision to drag him into a potentially disastrous mess.
That is, if Hinata agreed.
A sudden possibility dawned on Tobio, knocking the breath out of him.
What if Hinata refused?
It had never occurred to him that Hinata might actually decline his plea for help—he had just assumed that he’d be on board with it. But that was stupid, because rationally, Hinata should decline—pretending to be someone’s boyfriend for a few days was weird and Tobio personally would never agree to it.
Oh god, what the hell was he going to do if Hinata didn’t want to do it? What would he do when Miwa met his team and found out he had been lying about a boyfriend this whole time, and was basically the lamest person to exist? What if Miwa was so disappointed with him that she decided she didn’t want to see him ever again, and he lost one of the most important people in his life? What then?
Tobio’s heartbeat quickened and his fingers anxiously curled into fists.
Hinata must have noticed the sudden tenseness because he looked over in concern, tilting his head to the side as he studied Tobio. “Kageyama? You okay?”
Tobio couldn’t bring himself to nod, because he wasn’t okay. The whole plan seemed ridiculous now, doomed to fail, and he felt nauseated at the thought of asking Hinata to do something so dumb.
“Kageyama?” Hinata sounded a bit worried. He stretched out an arm in front of Tobio to stop him and came to stand across him. “Hey, what’s going on?”
Tobio jerked when he felt Hinata clutch his bicep, trying to ground him. “Kageyama, you need to breathe slower.”
His words washed over Tobio, and he hadn’t even realised how shallow his breathing had gotten. The pressure of Hinata’s fingers digging into his skin unravelled the knot in his chest and he shuddered an exhale, finding Hinata’s warm gaze and locking in on it.
“I need a favour,” he choked out, unable to keep the words in any longer. The uncertainty of it all was going to kill him.
Hinata’s eyebrows furrowed. “A favour?” he echoed. “A favour from me? Is that what you wanted to talk about?”
Tobio gave a stiff nod.
Hinata didn’t even contemplate it. He just grinned wide and said, “Okay, I’ll do it!”
Huh?
“Dumbass!” Tobio exclaimed, shocked. “I haven’t told you what it is yet!”
Hinata shrugged and resumed his position beside Tobio. “Whatever it is, I’ll do it. You don’t have to look so constipated about it. I thought I was gonna have to call an ambulance for a second there.”
Tobio couldn’t believe this guy sometimes. “Be serious about this! Don’t just say ‘yes’ before knowing what it is!”
“It’s your favour!” Hinata pointed out, sending him an annoyed look. “Why are you discouraging me from agreeing to it?”
“Because anyone can take advantage of you if you act like this!”
“But you won’t, so what’s the problem?”
Heat flooded Tobio’s face as Hinata’s words registered, and he hurriedly looked straight ahead, hoping his height and the cover of darkness would hide his blush.
“Fine,” he ground out. “Don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”
“You’re being so weird, Kageyama,” Hinata remarked. “Did you actually kill someone or something?”
Tobio shot him a glare. “Of course not!”
“Then why are being like this? I’ve never seen you so antsy before,” Hinata said, scrutinizing Tobio like he was trying to read his mind.
With how extraordinarily well they synced up on the court, Tobio was scared that he actually might.
“I just—” he swallowed, bracing himself. Now or never. “I need you to pretend to be my bo—partner for a few days.”
Hinata’s eyes grew wide and something like hurt flashed over his face. “Pretend? I thought we were partners! At least on the National Team. Aren’t we?”
Tobio restrained the urge to smack him upside the head. “Not like that, idiot! I mean, partner in life! Like a boyfriend!”
Hinata’s mouth snapped shut.
Before he could say anything, Tobio rushed to explain. “I—Miwa—my sister—was being really annoying setting me up with people a while back, so I told her that I was seeing someone, and then she asked me who it was… and I don’t know…I just said it was you. And now she’s coming to visit, and, um, wants to meet my boy—boyfriend. Uh, you.”
Tobio inwardly cringed at his lacklustre, completely unconvincing explanation and waited for Hinata to say something.
Hinata looked blank as he processed the information, then confused, and then, for some reason, he looked enlightened.
"Oh,” he said pensively, as though putting the pieces of a puzzle together. “So, basically, you told Miwa-san that I'm your boyfriend? Even though I'm not?"
Tobio barely dared to breathe. "Yes."
"You have a crush on me?" Hinata asked next, completely casually, and Tobio nearly broke his neck whipping around to gawk at him.
"What?” he screeched. “Of course not! How can you say that?"
"It's fairly logical to assume from your story, Tobio-kun," came a lilting drawl from behind them as Miya Atsumu butted into their conversation with a shit-eating grin, as Miya Atsumu was wont to do.
“How?” Tobio demanded a little hysterically.
Miya shrugged, swinging an arm around Hinata’s shoulder as they both narrowed their eyes at him. “Why else would you take Shouyou’s name?”
Tobio didn’t even know the answer to that himself. “I—” he floundered under their scrutiny, cheeks burning. “I don’t know! It just happened. He’s annoying, so he stays on my mind sometimes. That doesn’t mean I like him!”
Hinata gasped in offence and stuck his tongue out at him. “Meany-yama! I’m not annoying! Just admit you like me.”
“No.”
“Then I won’t pretend to be your boyfriend!” Hinata decided, and Tobio’s blood went cold.
“You can’t do that!” he protested. “You already said you would!”
“Well, now I’m taking it back,” Hinata announced.
“On the contrary, Shouyou-kun.” Miya held up a finger sagely, and both Tobio and Hinata turned to stare at him.
“It sounds fun,” he proclaimed sagely. “You should do it.”
Hinata gazed at Miya in wonderment as though he was dropping precious drops of wisdom. "You think so, Atsumu-san?"
Miya started to nod with an air of self-importance, but then promptly cried out in pain as pale, slender fingers gripped his hair and yanked him back.
"Why are you trying to ruin people's lives every time I take my eyes off you?” said Sakusa Kiyoomi, who had materialised behind Miya. He took his hand out of Miya’s hair and wiped it clean with a wet wipe. “Stop meddling and butting into conversations you're not a part of. It sounds like a recipe for disaster."
"You're butting in too, Omi-omi!" Miya objected indignantly. His all-knowing saintly countenance melted into that of a puppy at the appearance of his boyfriend.
Sakusa tsked through his mask, a dark curl flopping onto his forehead ominously. "Only to get you out of it."
"Thank you, Sakusa-san," Tobio said, nodding in appreciation.
Sakusa nodded in acknowledgement and they shared a look of camaraderie.
Miya stared between them in bafflement. "Tobio-kun!” he cried dramatically. “The betrayal! I thought we were friends."
Tobio shrugged, unbothered. Hinata muffled a snicker into his palm, and Miya labelled him a traitor too.
A slight breeze ruffled through their drying hair, and Sakusa sighed, looking up at the darkening sky. “Come on, Atsumu,” he said quietly. “We should go. I’m tired today.”
Tobio expected some kind of whiny retort from Miya, but to his surprise, the setter’s eyes just softened as he gazed at Sakusa. He wordlessly held out a hand for Sakusa to take.
Sakusa hesitated for just a moment before fitting their fingers together and now Miya just seemed to be outright melting into a puddle, a victorious grin lighting up his face.
Tobio shifted uncomfortably, feeling like he was intruding on something private.
“For the record,” Sakusa said before departing, twisting back to pin Hinata and him with a serious look. “It really does sound quite risky. Whatever you do is your business, but be careful.”
A chill ran down Tobio’s spine and he jerked his head in affirmation, sensing Hinata do the same by his side.
They watched Miya and Sakusa walk off hand-in-hand, a vision of dark and light against the mutely painted dusk sky. Miya swung their arms between them a little, talking about something animatedly while Sakusa watched him, his eyes visibly crinkling above his mask with a hidden smile.
Tobio didn’t claim to know much about these things, but to him, they looked really in love. It was nice.
Something tugged at his heart and he found his eyes straying to Hinata’s form. His hair had mostly dried now, looking fluffy and soft. If Tobio moved his arm just a little, he could touch Hinata’s hair with his desperate hand, and then shift it further to wrap it around his shoulders. Hinata could tuck cosily into his side, his arm circling Tobio’s waist as he looked up at him with a smile brighter than the stadium lights they played under.
He wondered for a moment what they’d look like to others if they walked like that, too. Whether they’d also look like they loved each other.
His stomach clenched tightly and he nearly jumped when Hinata was suddenly in front of him, darting his eyes shiftily. “So…”
Stupid, he scolded himself. These thoughts are stupid. Get a grip on yourself.
Tobio felt jittery with unnamed emotions. “So.”
"You know I would do anything for you, Kageyama,” Hinata began, pushing his hands into his pockets, "but Omi-san is right, it is kind of risky. We'll have to tell lots of lies."
I would do anything for you, Kageyama.
Tobio's stomach swooped low. How did he just say things like that? Tobio would probably choke and die before saying something so heartfelt so sincerely, but Hinata pulled it off like it was nothing, as he always had. Especially when it came to Tobio.
“What do you think?” Hinata prodded when he didn’t answer for a second too long.
Tobio blinked, and then mentally slapped himself to pay attention.
I would do anything for you.
He exhaled, fidgeting with the zipper of his jacket. "You don't have to,” he told him finally. “In fact, you probably shouldn't. I’ll... think of something else."
There was a fire in Hinata’s molten brown eyes when they met Tobio’s. "But I want to help you!" he insisted. "You're my best friend and you’ve helped me a lot. I want to help you too!”
Again with saying things that made Tobio's brain go haywire. “Hinata…”
“No, I'll do it! I'll help you out,” Hinata announced, leaving no room for argument. He had turned into the determined beast that Tobio usually only saw on the court, and honestly, he knew there was no fighting that. “We'll fake the heck out of this relationship. We'll be awesome at it!"
Tobio stared at him helplessly, unease curdling his guts. Despite being the one to come up with the idea, he didn’t share Hinata’s confidence. "Are you sure?"
"Yep!” Hinata confirmed, bouncing on his feet. “I have a sister, I know how they are. Don’t worry about it!"
Tobio raised an eyebrow. "Natsu's also setting you up on dates?"
"She doesn't have to." Hinata smiled coyly and a flash of irritation coursed through Tobio at lightning speed. He knew Hinata meant it as a joke, but he still didn’t like what it implied. "But also,” Hinata continued, making a face, “everyone she knows is a teenager and that's gross.”
Tobio chuckled, his irritation fading away as soon as it had appeared. “I’ll have Miwa contact you, if you want.”
“What, after we fake-breakup?” Hinata snorted. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Oh, right. They were still doing that.
Tobio flushed. “Yeah. Sorry. I hope you aren’t feeling forced into it or anything,” he said. “You’re a dumbass, but it still wouldn’t be right making you do this out of some misplaced sense of responsibility.”
Hinata rolled his eyes, stomping his feet in frustration. “Kageyama, it’s not—”
“Besides, there’s no way I’m letting this actually be a favour,” Tobio informed him, crossing his arms. “I’ll pay you back somehow.”
“Oh yeah?” Hinata challenged. “How?”
“How about this?” Tobio proposed. “I'll offer you two undisputed wins in our tally for being my fake boyfriend.”
There was an instant shine in Hinata’s eyes, and Tobio could almost see him salivating at the offer. Those two wins would put Hinata in the lead and Tobio had to quash the competitive monster inside him urging him to take his words back.
It was fine. He’d take the lead again in no time.
"Two?” Hinata considered it, and then shook his head. “Give me twenty.”
“Twenty?” Tobio sputtered. “We’re not pretending for a year! Five.”
"Fifteen,” Hinata insisted.
"Ten.” Tobio’s heart sank at the fleeting thought of how long it would take to defeat Hinata ten times. “And that’s final.”
There was no way he was going higher than that.
Thankfully, Hinata agreed and didn’t push him any further.
“Deal!” he said cheerily and thrust his hand forward.
Tobio took it gingerly, and they shook on it.
“Well.” Hinata grinned up at him, adjusting the strap of his gym bag. Tobio’s chest constricted for unknown reasons. “Text me the details, okay? See you, Kageyama!”
“Yeah,” Tobio breathed as he watched him sprint to the bus stop. “See you.”
The stars twinkled mischievously over Tobio’s head, and the warmth of Hinata Shouyou's hand still lingered on his cold fingers hours after they’d parted.