Chapter Text
the queer quintet
hitoka the smart :
hows your roommate?
shouyou the tangerine :
he’s super nice !!
he bought me oranges earlier because it reminded him of my hair
kei the bastard :
i like him already
tadashi the sweetheart :
did you check the locks?
make sure you have a door chain on top of a functioning lock
and NEVER put a spare key outside, not even under your mat
pass it to a neighbour or something
shouyou the tangerine :
okayyy kaa-saaaaan
pedro already installed a door chain when he moved here
i think he’s like you
tadashi the sweetheart :
good
but still
be friendly with your neighbour and pass them a spare key
it’s always good to know your neighbours
tobio my babygirl <3 :
ofc youd say that
ur dating urs
kei the bastard :
thus, his point still stands
tadashi the sweetheart :
dont date ur neighbour shouyou
it’s gonna be messy if you guys break up
shouyou the tangerine :
right
i shouldn’t date my neighbour because the break up could be messy
NOT because im already engaged
tadashi the sweetheart :
that’s TRUE
but still
shouyou the tangerine :
mhm
also i think there’s a family next door so
no thank you
im not a homewrecker
kei the bastard :
i still cant believe the twerp got engaged before we did
and you guys started dating AFTER tadashi and i
tadashi the sweetheart :
right?
can u believe it, kei?
wow
almost makes you want to go out and buy a ring
mokumeganeya.com/e/engagementring
(btw i like silver and im a size 9)
kei the bastard :
didnt u want to get married after uni?
tadashi the sweetheart :
THAT WAS BEFORE SHOUYOU AND TOBIO BEAT US TO THE PUNCH
shouyou the tangerine :
technically we’re just engaged
tobio my babygirl <3 :
uwu
hitoka the smart :
never say that again
please
tobio my babygirl <3 :
uwu
kei the bastard :
uwu
tadashi the sweetheart :
uwu
shouyou the tangerine :
uwu
hitoka the smart :
i hate all of you
kei the bastard :
we love you too hitoka
hitoka the smart :
ANYWAY
BACK TO THE TOPIC ON HAND
shouyou !! is your roommate cute ??
kei the bastard :
that was not the topic on hand
shouyou the tangerine :
he is !!
but he’s also in brazil
are you ready for that type of long distance commitment hitoka ?
hitoka the smart :
sigh youre right
ill admire him from afar
tobio my babygirl <3 :
as long as hitoka is the only one admiring him
shouyou the tangerine :
is my precious fiance jealous 👀
tobio my babygirl <3 :
yes
then again, you’re engaged to me and not him
so it’s fine
kei the bastard :
gay
tobio my babygirl <3 :
uno reverse
shou, when do you start training?
shouyou the tangerine :
next week!
so i have seven days to settle in and find a part-time job
tadashi the sweetheart :
what about kenma’s sponsorship?
shouyou the tangerine :
it’s only a partial sponsorship
there’s still a lot more i need to cover on my own
and i want kaa-san to focus on natsu’s education
tobio my babygirl <3 :
what are you planning to apply for?
it’s not like you’re very fluent at portuguese yet
shouyou the tangerine :
ill have you know i held a conversation with pedro earlier
not a full one
but a conversation nonetheless!
also… probably retail
i dont think i can work in f&b if i can’t understand the language
what if someone tells me they're allergic to something and i should take it out of the dish but i didn’t understand it?
i’d kill them
then ill be in jail
and bail is EXPENSIVE
kei the bastard :
i love how his worry isn’t being arrested
it’s the bail money
tadashi the sweetheart :
in this economy?
ofc.
hitoka the smart :
hmm… have you considered being a newspaper boy?
all they have to do is drop off newspapers at someone’s front door
there’s no talking involved AND you’ll get familiar with the area
kei the bastard :
have you been watching american movies ?
hitoka the smart :
shush
the logic still stands
shouyou the tangerine :
that’s genius
i dont know if they have that here but ill figure something out
maybe a delivery guy? like for packages and stuff
tadashi the sweetheart :
that’s called a postman
i think they need certifications or someth idk
but you should still check it out
shouyou the tangerine :
okay!
im exhausted
it’s like 5pm why am i so tired
tobio my babygirl <3 :
because it’s 5am here
and your body needs time to adjust to the new timezone
shouyou the tangerine :
IT’S 5AM THERE ?!
WHY THE HELL ARE THE FOUR OF YOU AWAKE ??
GO TO SLEEP !!
tobio my babygirl <3 :
as if i could sleep when my fiance just moved to a new country
ill sleep when you sleep
it’s not like i have training for the next 2 days anyway
tadashi the sweetheart :
me? sleep?
im worried SICK
are you sure you’re going to be okay there, shouyou?
i know you’re capable and stuff but like
youre SO FAR AWAY
shouyou the tangerine :
ill be fine, tadashi !!
tadashi the sweetheart :
maybe we should sleep on call tonight
all of us
with your videos up
kei the bastard :
no thank u
hitoka the smart :
not tonight
i plan on sleeping like the dead
and the last time i snored on call, kei made a remix of it
so no thank u
kei the bastard :
my best single yet
tobio my babygirl <3 :
tadashi
he’ll be okay
shouyou is safe
don’t worry
shouyou the tangerine :
awwwwwwh thankiew tobio <3
tobio my babygirl <3 :
he’s sharing his location, we have his address and can contact the local police at any time.
also, i got hitoka to find pedro on social media so we can contact him anytime
shouyou the tangerine :
I JUST TOLD YOU GUYS ABOUT HIM
hitoka the smart :
never underestimate a woman’s ability to find people online
also he’s like the most recent person you followed
and his account is public
and he posted a selfie of you two on his story
it wasn’t even that hard
shouyou the tangerine :
sksskkss
well, anything to qualm your worries
if we had cameras in here id give you guys access
tadashi the sweetheart :
okay now that’s just an invasion of privacy
we’re worried but we dont want to watch you 24/7
tobio my babygirl <3 :
ok hear me out–
tadashi the sweetheart :
no
anyway
you should get some sleep, shouyou
shouyou the tangerine :
well yes
but YOU GUYS TOO
it’s 5am HELLO?
tadashi the sweetheart :
we will
kei’s already knocked out
kei the bastard :
not
tadashi the sweetheart :
his eyes were half closed as he typed that
we’re going to go to bed
text us when you’re awake, shou!
shouyou the tangerine :
i will!
goodnight guys <3
tadashi the sweetheart :
good night shou !
hitoka the smart :
goodnight guys !!
tobio my babygirl <3 :
gnight
call me? @ shouyou
shouyou the tangerine :
ofc <3
Almost immediately after Shouyou closed their group chat, Tobio let him know that he was moving to somewhere more private and away from his roommate. Considering that Tobio’s new roommate was Ushijima, Shouyou figured the man wouldn’t care that much but he chuckled anyway at how swift Tobio was to text him.
Moving to Brazil was exciting, but it wasn’t easy. It was not a permanent move, but it was difficult to say goodbye to his friends and family.
He had moments of doubt. Of course he did. Japan was safe . He could still play volleyball professionally, he had a group of friends he considered family and he was dating the love of his life.
But whenever Shouyou would reconsider his decision, he’d be reminded of all the effort it took him to get to where he was. All the training, the wins, the losses… It made him the volleyball player he was today.
And unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Tobio was still ahead of him. While Tobio had been invited to join the JNT at the start of his third year and then the Adlers after his graduation, Shouyou didn’t even receive offers to join any teams. Even if he did, Shouyou didn’t feel like he was at his best yet. He had exhausted all his resources in Japan.
The next logical move was to simply go overseas.
Well, not ‘simply.’ The process was hell . For a good few months, Shouyou’s life revolved around visa applications and visa interviews. He was lucky that he already had a coach in Brazil that was willing to give him a letter to improve his chances for his approval.
In the end, it all worked out.
By the time they graduated, Shouyou’s visa had been approved and he was set to leave after a few months.
With the little time he had left, he wanted to make sure that he spent it wisely and with the people he loved. When he landed in Brazil, he would be on a budget. Which means that he would not be able to easily fly back to Japan when he missed his friends. In fact, if he did have the money for a plane ticket, he would rather save it for an emergency flight back.
So, he helped Kei, Tadashi, Hitoka and Tobio move into their new apartments, trained Natsu when he was home, met up with as many of his friends for lunches and dinners and picked up a part-time job as a barista.
Though, the coffee shop he worked at was in Tokyo and near Tobio’s training gym. Which meant that he left Miyagi a while before he left for Brazil.
It was a little bit of an impulsive decision, but he didn’t regret it in the slightest. Those few months of being able to live with Tobio and enjoy the simplicities of life with him before flying off was exactly what the two of them needed.
Tobio was a country boy through and through. Living in the city was something he needed time to adjust to and having to do it alone was not at all pleasing to him. Having Shouyou by his side as he navigated Tokyo and his new training schedule was a blessing.
Another thing that changed for them was their schedule. When they were still in school, they had responsibilities almost all day. When they weren’t at school, they were training and when they weren’t training, they had homework.
This time, they did not have any responsibilities outside of work. When they were done with their shift/training, that was it. They would exercise together or go on runs together but they had no extra responsibilities. They had a lot more free time than they had anticipated before moving there.
It was perfect. They spent all their free time together. From watching the movies they had stockpiled over the years to going on as many dates as possible, they made sure to make as many memories as possible before Shouyou left.
It also meant a lot of talking. Talks about the mundane, like the weather in Brazil and how Tobio would miss Shouyou’s pork curry dish, to talks that were a little more serious. Things like the type of family they want to build in the future and the seriousness of their relationship.
Their time together strengthened their relationship in every way possible. Deep down, both of them have always known they wanted no one else but each other for the rest of their lives.
They have been moulded to fit so perfectly with the other that the idea of finding someone else felt like defying fate itself. All those late night talks and months of preparing for Brazil practically cemented the idea that they were each other’s futures.
Even so, Shouyou and Tobio agreed that getting engaged was a little impulsive on their part. They had no regrets about it, but they knew they jumped the gun just a bit .
Both their mothers were accepting. If anything, they were excited . Both Hinata Katsumi and Kageyama Kanako had bonded when the boys were in their first year of high school. Something about being single mothers and raising volleyball-obsessed sons.
When their sons began dating, they declared each other best friends. So upon hearing the news that their sons were engaged, they bought a celebratory cake. For themselves .
Their friends had… mixed reactions. All of them were supportive of the couple because… Well, they were Shouyou and Tobio. No one could deny the love they have for each other. The hesitation came from those that were concerned at how sudden the engagement had come.
It didn’t take long for those few friends to realise that an impulsive engagement was actually quite on brand for the pair. Everything about them was impulsive. If anything, planning out an engagement did not seem like something they would do.
And so, in true Hinata-Kageyama fashion, they bought their rings the literal morning of Shouyou’s flight to Brazil. They had gotten engaged a few weeks prior but had waited until the last second to purchase the ring. It was very on-brand, at least.
Looking down, Shouyou studied the golden band around his finger. If he was honest, it looked more like a wedding ring than an engagement ring to him but he didn’t care. It was a ring of commitment and that was all that mattered to him.
He started to wonder if Tobio was wearing his. Shouyou was out all day so he kept his ring on, but he knew that Tobio had not gone anywhere since Shouyou had left. Shouyou knew he would be wearing his ring 24/7, but he wondered if Tobio would do the same or take it off at home.
A loud ring interrupted Shouyou’s train of thought. It was Tobio.
“Speak of the devil and he shall appear…” Shouyou muttered to himself and flopped onto his bed before picking up the call.
His fiancé’s face filled up the screen and he beamed. It had been a little over a day since Shouyou last saw Tobio and he already missed him. Then again, Shouyou missed Tobio whenever Tobio went out to do groceries. They were both very clingy with one another.
“Tobi! I missed you!” Shouyou held his phone up and waved at the camera. If he had a tail, it would have been wagging in the background. “What have you been up to? I’ve been updating you guys on my day but I barely know anything about yours!”
The man in question gave a soft smile at Shouyou’s enthusiasm. Even from miles away, Shouyou’s sunshine was as bright as ever.
“I miss you too. Nothing really happened.”
“Nothing? There’s no waayyyy! Did you eat?”
“Yes. Ramen.”
“Okay… Did you go on your usual run?”
“No.”
“Watched anime?”
“No.”
“Read manga?”
“No.”
“What have you been doing then?”
“Waiting for your texts and lying in bed. It still smells like you.”
Shouyou felt his cheeks heat up so he smashed his face into his pillow and began to kick his feet in the air. He was pretty sure Tobio could see what he was doing, if his chuckling was anything to go by.
“Tobioooo! Gwaaah! Now you’re making me miss you even more and my bed doesn’t even smell like you!”
“Check the back pouch of your luggage.”
“What?”
“Check the back–” Tobio was cut off by Shouyou throwing the phone down and hopping off the bed. He couldn’t see anything else but Shouyou’s ceiling but he could hear the sounds of unzipping, fabric moving around and eventually a yell from Shouyou that his roommate would have definitely heard.
“Tobiooooo!” Shouyou called out Tobio’s name as the phone bounced on the bed once more, likely from Shouyou jumping back onto the bed, before it was being picked back up. On screen, Shouyou held Tobio’s beige ICS sweatshirt. “You– I– I can’t believe you left me so many of your clothes! How did you do this?! How did I not notice?! Wait! No wonder I had to pay an extra fee for my baggage! It was overweight!”
“Oh. Sorry.”
Shouyou glared at his fiancé who didn’t look sorry at all. If anything, Tobio looked smug at being able to pull one over Shouyou. The man couldn’t stay angry for more than five seconds. What Tobio did was way too sweet for him to fret over overweight baggage fees.
“Seriously, though. How did you come up with this idea?”
“I was… reading stuff online.”
“Stuff like?”
“Long distance stuff. Some girlfriends say that they steal their boyfriend’s sweaters when they’re going to be apart for a while so that they can sleep in it. But you’re going to be gone for two years so I gave you enough to last a while. If you run out I’ll send you some more but I need to save up for the postage first…”
Tobio was looking off to the side and saying everything as though he had already planned out when he was going to send his next clothing haul to Shouyou. Knowing him, he probably did.
“Awww, Tobi! You’re so cute when you’re not being dumb!”
“Oi! I’m not the dumb one here!”
“Really? How many languages can you speak, then?!”
“Dumbass! That has nothing to do with intelligence!”
“Does too! Kei said something about how knowing multiple languages makes someone smart!”
“Didn’t he say that after you failed another Portuguese mock-test and called you unteachable?”
“Oi–!”
The two of them continued to bicker over the phone, though their grins gave away the seriousness of their squabble. It was nice to know that despite the distance, timezone and lack of physical presence, that they were still them. They were still the Shouyou and Tobio that quarrelled over the tiniest thing as a show of affection and love.
Soon enough, their little debate was interrupted by Tobio yawning mid-sentence. Shouyou was reminded that it was 6am in Tokyo and that Tobio should be in a very deep sleep by then. Actually, Tobio would normally be up and ready to go on his morning run but considering that he had stayed up all night, it was surprising that the man had not conked out already.
“I’ll go to sleep if you go to sleep.”
“Deal. I’m exhausted anyway.”
“Okay, get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you, Tobio.”
“I love you too. Goodnight, Shou.”
Shouyou gave the camera an exaggerated kiss. Tobio rolled his eyes but pretended to catch it anyway and placed his hand over his heart before he ended the call. The gesture was something they began when Shouyou would watch Tobio’s practice matches from the stands. It embarrassed Tobio, but he was far too big of a simp to refuse the kiss.
Alone in the quiet room, the reality of the situation hit Shouyou and he held Tobio’s sweatshirt close to his chest.
He was miles and miles away from home. Away from his friends, his families and every safe place he had ever known. Brazil was uncharted waters and he felt like an untrained sailor trying to traverse the seas for the first time. It was scary .
Despite all that… It was exciting. Shouyou loved a good challenge and he knew that was exactly what Brazil was about to offer him. Beach volleyball was a whole new playing field and he couldn’t wait to get started.
He knew that the nights would feel colder, emptier, but he also knew what was waiting for him back in Japan. He was going to be fine, and if he ever needed someone, they were all just a phone call away.
Shouyou was not fine.
It had only been four weeks since he landed in Brazil and he was exhausted .
He managed to find a job on his third day there. Pedro saw him surfing through some job listings and recommended that Shouyou work for a food delivery service at a restaurant nearby.
Pedro was friends with the woman that owned the place, the pay was decent and the talk was minimal. It would help Shouyou get used to the area, and Pedro could personally attest to the fact that the boss was a friendly woman.
Thanks to Shouyou’s enthusiastic energy and Pedro’s sweet-talking, Shouyou was able to start his training the next day. His days of cycling around Miyagi meant that he was an expert on the slopes and rocky terrain. All he needed to focus on was the actual deliveries and navigation.
The last day of Shouyou’s work training was also the first day of his volleyball practice. Lucio Katou was a kind man and a great coach that helped Shouyou familiarise himself with the rules of beach volleyball.
The beach itself was a very different story. The Brazilian heat was gruelling for someone who enjoyed the cold winters in Japan. The sand made Shouyou feel like he couldn’t run, jump or even serve properly. It was almost like he was learning volleyball again from square one.
Except this time, it wasn’t just him, Izumi and Kouji. He had one of Shiratorizawa’s alumni coaching him and a few new volleyball friends to guide him along. It was thrilling. His passion for volleyball grew brighter and brighter by the day.
Though, he felt like the sun was getting just as bright too. He had bought an embarrassingly large amount of sunscreen but nothing could prepare him for just how many heat rashes he was about to develop in his first few weeks there. Katou himself had experienced his fair share of heat rashes while getting adjusted to the new elements after moving to Brazil.
Shouyou’s training, on top of his part-time job, meant that he barely had energy for anything else at home.
For the first few days, Shouyou would still make an effort to catch up with as many of his friends and family back at home. As the days went by and Shouyou began getting more and more lethargic by the time he arrived back, the catch ups began getting less and less frequent.
Now, Shouyou would get home and hop on a discord call with Tobio, Hitoka, Tadashi and Kei, talk with them for half an hour before falling asleep on the couch. As he slept, the rest of them would continue whatever they were talking about and slowly funnel out until Tobio was the only one left.
Tobio would then do some chores or exercise on the call until it was time for dinner in Brazil. Then he’d wake Shouyou up (usually through blowing into his mic) so that his fiancé could eat and not sleep until the next day.
There wasn’t much talking, but Shouyou always made up for it with pictures and videos in his group chats or on social media. He was determined to keep his friendships intact and strong by the time he returned.
Though, he wasn’t concerned when it came to his relationships with Tobio. They had fallen into a routine quite fast.
Apart from the post-practice calls, they had multiple routines that slowly developed as they began to memorise each other’s schedules. Since they knew when the other had to be up in the morning, they would forgo setting an alarm and instead let the other person wake them up with a phone call (or ten).
Whenever Shouyou was out on deliveries and Tobio was at home or going on a run, they would stay on call together but focus on their tasks rather than on a conversation. It did kill their data usage quite a bit, but their schedules did not line up perfectly to do that all the time.
Some nights, they would even sleep on call. Or rather, one of them would fall asleep on call while the other went about their day. The perks of using Discord as their means of calling was that if Tobio had to leave the call for three hours to meet Ushijima for lunch, Shouyou would still be on the call for Tobio to join again when Tobio got back home and Shouyou would not get disconnected.
For a while, Shouyou was wondering if they were taking things a little too far. After some thinking, he figured that they weren’t as chronically online as he thought they were. Both their practices go on from mornings till the late afternoons and they both had a tendency to stay behind for extra reps. Sometimes, they would even go out for meals with their teammates and be out a little longer.
It wasn’t like they didn’t have free time either. They did do things on their own sometimes, but slowly started to prefer the other’s company. Since they did not need to talk every time they were on call, they were perfectly content with laying in bed, reading manga and looking to their side to see their partner doing the same on his own bed.
It was peaceful. It was exactly what they needed after a long day of work and training.
It was weeks later when Shouyou realised he had gotten a little too comfortable with the peacefulness. He let his guard down when he had needed it the most and it resulted in the most awkward encounter Shouyou had with his neighbour.
Shouyou was so late. He had to be at work in fifteen minutes and there was still drool on his face.
He had fallen asleep in the late afternoon because he saw that Tobio decided to sleep in their Discord server and decided to join the call. Unfortunately, Shouyou started to feel tired after a few minutes and promptly fell asleep as well.
Usually Pedro would wake him up if he caught Shouyou asleep on the couch but his roommate was still passed out in his own room after drinking the night away.
“Goddamnit…” Shouyou cursed as he caught a glimpse of the clock beside their front door. Not only was he late for work, but he was supposed to have woken up Tobio half an hour ago. Since Tobio had not texted him since their last conversation, Shouyou assumed that his partner was still asleep and so-very late for practice.
With one hand digging through his bag for his keys and another hand focused on spam calling his partner, Shouyou didn’t pay too much attention to what was outside the door and almost walked into his neighbour as she came out of her apartment.
“Sorry– Ah, desculpe !”
Shouyou stepped back and bowed. In the back of his mind, he knew that was not customary in Brazilian culture but it was so ingrained in him that he didn’t have time to process his actions in his haste to get to work.
“ Oh, it’s fine! Are you… okay? ”
The man nodded and gave her a friendly smile to qualm her worries, which was immediately proven redundant when Shouyou tripped as he tried to take a step towards the elevators. He had stepped on his shoelaces.
As if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, his neighbour attempted to catch him but she had underestimated his weight and he breezed through her arms, straight onto the floor.
“ Oh my God! ” She rushed forward to help him up, and Shouyou wanted nothing but to stay there on the ground. Maybe he could fake an injury and get out of work. Then again, he needed the money. Kenma’s sponsorship could only do so much.
“ Leave me on the ground… Please… ”
“ Nonsense! It’s gross here and you remind me too much of my daughter. I can’t just leave you out here. ”
Shouyou let her help him up and ignored the fact that he reminded her of her toddler. He had seen them in the hallways before and she was literally four years old. This was definitely something he was not going to tell the guys later when they called to catch up.
Once Shouyou was back up, she grabbed the bag and phone from his hand and insisted that he tie his shoelaces first. If Shouyou didn’t already know that she was a mother, he would have assumed she was the ‘mom-friend’ of her group. He did as she said and apologised repeatedly for the chaos.
“ Don’t be sorry. I came out here for a smoke even though I knew I shouldn’t. If anything, you’re saving me from myself. ”
Shouyou strained his brain trying to understand what she said. He was getting the hang of Portuguese but his vocabulary was still very limited. He must have given her one of his blank stares that Kei had chastised him about every study session because she showed him the cigarette in her hand and made a gross face before tossing it into the bin by the elevators.
Somehow he managed to get it. Still, he thanked her one more time before collecting his stuff back. He noticed that his phone call to Tobio failed once again and clicked on the call button before getting ready to rush off.
“Thank you… Uhm…”
“Sofia!”
“Sofia! My name is Hinata– Wait. My name is Shouyou.”
Sofia chuckled a little and made a joke about how he messed up his own name. Shouyou didn’t know how to say “In Japan we refer to each other with our last names but Pedro taught me that it’s more casual to use first names here in Brazil” in Portuguese so he simply laughed along and ran down the stairs. It was faster than the elevator anyway.
As he ran, he heard his phone stop ringing and assumed that the call failed for the nth time. Before he could check on it, he heard multiple curses coming from the other side of the line.
“Good morning, sleepy head.”
“Fuck! Shit… Oh, shit . I’m late. I’m– Where’s my bag…”
Shouyou listened to Tobio fumble around while unlocking his bike from the bike rack. Shouyou was also very late so he needed to focus on getting to work as fast as he could.
“I gotta go to work. I’m late too. Sorry for not waking you up on time, Tobi! Be safe at practice today!”
“It’s fine, it’s on me. I should have set an alarm as back up. Be safe on your way to work. I love you, dumbass.”
“Love you too, Bakayama.”
Shouyou threw his phone into his bag once the call ended and started booking it to the restaurant. His boss was going to kill him.
Turns out, Shouyou’s boss did not kill him.
Five months after the first and only time Shouyou had been late, he was still working as a food delivery boy. After a few months of cycling around his not-so-small town, he was able to familiarise himself with the area and was more efficient with his deliveries.
Additionally, he was starting to get the hang of beach volleyball. His days were still long and tiresome, but he no longer felt the urge to crash on the couch the moment he came home. It meant that he had more free time for activities other than volleyball and working.
Like Minecraft.
Tadashi managed to convince their entire friend group to download the game. He didn’t give anyone a reason to say no. He knew everyone had laptops that could run the game and if they couldn’t afford it, he was going to get the game for them.
It didn’t take too long until they started playing together. Tadashi was their captain in high school for a reason. Though, with college, volleyball and part-time jobs, it was rare for all five of them to be online at the same time. Tobio and Kei were especially busy since Tobio was training for the Olympics and Kei was balancing college, volleyball and a part time job while the rest only had two things to deal with.
That evening, only Shouyou, Tadashi and Hitoka were running around in their Minecraft server while talking about each other’s day on a call.
“Shouyou! How’s Pedro?”
“Wow. I’m doing great, Hitoka. Thanks for asking.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“I’m ignoring your question.”
Shouyou fired an arrow at Hitoka and ran away to explore some caves before she could retaliate. In the background, Tadashi laughed at them then continued to tell the story on how he almost flunked another class because he chose an essay topic that he knew would rile his close-minded professor up.
For the next two hours, the trio exchanged stories about school and work. Both Tobio and Kei were at practice which meant that Hitoka was stuck listening to Shouyou and Tadashi talk about their respective partners.
One would think that after years of dating, Shouyou and Tadashi would have moved past the simping-stage but they have not. If anything, things have gotten worse now that Shouyou and Tobio were engaged and Kei and Tadashi started living together. The latter’s shenanigans affected her more than the first because she made the smart decision to move in with them when college started.
As she was building a trap to surprise Tobio and Kei when they spawned in the game next time, something Shouyou said caught her attention and she tuned in to their conversation.
“Sorry. What did you say about kids, Shouyou?”
“My neighbour’s kid!”
“Which neighbour…?”
“Sofia! The one that brings over homemade brigadeiro a lot! She has a little girl named Ana. Sofia isn’t doing so well so I offered to take care of Ana whenever she needed rest and I was home. You’ll like her, Hitoka! She likes to draw!”
“Oh! Thank God . I was a little distracted while you guys were talking and thought you said something about taking in a child. As in, adopting one.” On the other side of the line, Hitoka heard Shouyou choke on air and Tadashi began laughing.
“Shouyou?! Taking in a child?! One day, maybe. But Shouyou literally killed our only cow yesterday so I fear the thought of him with a child.”
“Excuse me?!” Shouyou yelled into the mic. From Hitoka’s location, she saw Shouyou run out of the cave and began to chase Tadashi around with his sword. “Virtual cows and real life children are very different, okay! And I’m sad about losing Ushi so you can’t use that against me!”
“Shouyou, we have no milk .”
“I DIDN’T MEAN TO DO IT”
“YOU KILLED OUR COW!”
“YOU KILLED MY SPIRIT!”
Hitoka watched as Shouyou finally caught up to Tadashi and they both swung their swords at the same time, effectively killing each other simultaneously. She smiled in satisfaction and went out to pick up the loot they dropped.
As chaotic as their Minecraft nights were, and as much of a dent the game put on her wallet, she was glad that Tadashi convinced them to get the game. Despite living with two of them, everyone led very different lives and followed very different schedules.
Having everyone on call was near impossible nowadays, but having a shared world where they can come on at any time meant being able to leave nice little surprises for the others to see when they logged on.
She knew that it gave Shouyou and Tobio a sense of closeness as well. With them being so far apart in real life, it was nice to have a shared space online. She knew that Shouyou always left Tobio an orange flower whenever he was online without the other and that Tobio would do the same for Shouyou but with a blue flower.
Personally, she was a little concerned for Shouyou and Tobio when Shouyou left for Brazil. She knew their love was strong, but their clinginess was stronger. Those two have been joined at the hip since their first year.
It had been almost half a year since Shouyou left and the couple was still as strong as ever. With the convenience of technology and volleyball to keep them busy during most hours of the day, the two of them have been able to stick to a healthy schedule that gave them a lot of time together while also having time to spend with others as well.
Hitoka had met up with Tobio a couple of times to hang out. Sometimes, they would return to Karasuno and check in on their underclassmen whenever Tobio wanted to visit his mother. Hitoka was glad to see that he had not changed since Shouyou left. If anything, moving to Tokyo had helped him with his social skills and independence.
Though, it was clear as day to her how much he missed his other half.
She had caught Tobio fiddling with his ring a lot whenever they went to places that they used to go with Shouyou a lot. When they went back to visit Coach Ukai at Sakanoshita, Tobio bought an extra meat bun on instinct and didn’t notice it until they were already walking to the bus stop.
Hitoka gratefully accepted it even though they both knew she had grown tired of meat buns in their second year and stopped eating them then. She also ignored the way Tobio gripped the paper bag a little too tight on the rest of the walk back.
A loud cry from outside her room snapped Hitoka out of her thoughts.
Kei must have returned home, which meant that it was time for dinner and Tadashi ran out of his room to greet his partner like the golden retriever boyfriend he was. Knowing Tobio’s schedule, the setter himself should be getting off practice soon as well.
“Oop. Kei’s home and Tadashi launched himself at him.”
“Yeah, I figured. Are you heading off now?”
“Yup. Kei bought dinner and I’m starving. Unless you want me to stay on a little longer?”
“No, no! It’s okay, enjoy your dinner! Tobio said he’s getting on soon and I want to show him the romantic lake I built for him!”
“Shou, it’s in the shape of a dick.”
“We’re gay! We’re into that!”
“I hate all of you. Goodbye.”
Hitoka left the call before she quit the game. The last thing she saw before leaving their world was Shouyou’s character running towards her with a sword.
As hectic as their games together were, she was happy that everyone was still as close as ever.
There were times that Shouyou and Tobio wished they were closer . In fact, most days Tobio wished that he was mentally linked to Shouyou because then it would be a lot easier to wake him up.
Shouyou and Tobio took their wake up calls seriously.
As expected, both of their schedules began to get busier and busier as they progressed on with their careers and training. There were days where they barely had time to rest, let alone spend time with each other. So, the only time they got to talk on those days would be when they woke each other up.
Most of the time, things worked out fine. They would be able to wake up within one or two calls, talk for ten minutes then carry on with their morning. Sometimes, they would even go on morning/evening runs together.
Though, there were days where waking up was not an easy task and having to wake someone else up was even harder. The morning after Pedro convinced Shouyou to go out drinking with him was definitely one of those days.
tobio my babygirl <3
Online
[ Missed call from tobio my babygirl <3 at 5:30 AM ]
[ Missed call from tobio my babygirl <3 at 5:35 AM ]
[ Missed call from tobio my babygirl <3 at 5:40 AM ]
shouyou wake up
[ Missed call from tobio my babygirl <3 at 5:45 AM ]
wake up you’re going to be late
sofia is going to kill u
[ Missed call from tobio my babygirl <3 at 5:50 AM ]
[ Missed call from tobio my babygirl <3 at 5:52 AM ]
[ Missed call from tobio my babygirl <3 at 5:55 AM ]
[ Missed call from tobio my babygirl <3 at 5:58 AM ]
dumbass
wake up
oi
[ Missed call from tobio my babygirl <3 at 6:00 AM ]
nvm
im going to kill u
[ Missed call from tobio my babygirl <3 at 6:01 AM ]
[ Missed call from tobio my babygirl <3 at 6:03 AM ]
[ Missed call from tobio my babygirl <3 at 6:05 AM ]
[ Missed call from tobio my babygirl <3 at 6:08 AM ]
[ Missed call from tobio my babygirl <3 at 6:10 AM ]
OH MY GOD
ASDSDFKJHKSJDSKSDJ
OH MY GOD
IM LATE
really?
i didnt notice
SDJKJSDKJ
THANKS TOBI
IM SKDJKSD SPEEDING
stop
youre going to trip and fall off your bed
…
you tripped and fell off your bed, didnt u
shut up
im kdjhfkjhs
GONNA BE SO LATE
this is what u get for getting drunk at midnight with pedro
even tho u know u needed to b awake by 10
I KNOW BUT
LIKE
FREE DRINKS
alcoholic
workaholic
okay im running out now
okay
be safe
i love you
i love you too
enjoy your evening, tobi
ill call u later
will u go to sleep anytime soon?
nah
call me
okay !!
<33
After a few months in Brazil, Shouyou learnt that being late was not as frowned upon as it was in Japan. When Sofia asked him if he could babysit Ana at 7pm and he arrived right on time, she told him that she did not expect him to appear at seven on the dot.
Same with Pedro. When they had plans to eat with Pedro’s classmates, Shouyou would be dressed and ready half an hour before Pedro even came out of his room. The man had to explain to Shouyou that when they made plans for 5pm, what they really meant was 5:30pm.
Having grown in a culture where punctuality was everything, it took Shouyou a moment to adjust. Though, he was aware the whole ‘late’ culture did not extend to work or volleyball practice. Katou and his boss, Maria, had shown him how important punctuality was to them.
Except, his plans that day did not involve work or volleyball. Rather, he had to babysit Ana at Sofia’s place while the woman went for her chemotherapy treatment.
Shouyou deduced early on that Sofia was ill, but he never went out of his way to ask the woman about her condition. Pedro was aware of Sofia’s situation, but he told Shouyou that it was her story to share since there was so much more to her story than her condition alone.
When Shouyou finally learnt more about Sofia, he was rendered speechless.
Two weeks prior, Sofia knocked on Shouyou’s front door with the intention of asking Pedro to pick Ana up from daycare but Pedro was not home so Shouyou made the quick trip to bring the little one back. He did not ask or need an explanation for why Sofia could not have done it herself, but the woman invited Shouyou over for tea after she had put Ana to sleep and began to tell him more about herself.
Sofia had cancer. It could have been manageable but she discovered it late and delayed her treatment due to financial reasons. Her condition was exacerbated because she took on extra jobs to pay for her treatment and cover the expenses of raising Ana.
By that time, Sofia was already estranged from her ex, Ana’s father. Sofia did not get into detail, but Shouyou got the gist of it. He was an ass, his family was an ass and Sofia did not have any of her own family members left so she took Ana and moved to Rio de Janeiro. She waited six whole months to see if the guy or his family would call her but they never did.
Since then, Sofia had done everything she could to make sure that if anything happened to her, he would never get custody of Ana. To do so and make sure everything was legitimate, she had to hire a lawyer. The legal fees, their new cost of living and Ana’s new babysitter meant that Sofia had to work her ass off to make sure nothing fell apart.
The plan was to work a couple of jobs for a few years, earn enough money to be relatively stable, then drop some of her part-time jobs to continue her education. She was a twenty year old mother with a two-year old and had to drop out in her last year of high school because her ex convinced her to quit school so that she could live with him in another city.
For a year, Sofia’s plan was working. She had paid off all the legal fees and her savings were starting to grow. Ana’s babysitter was going to be graduating and moving away by the end of the year but Sofia already planned to register Ana at a kindergarten by then.
Unfortunately, things turned south after a work-mandated health screening.
Sofia had always had health issues. She was tired all the time, she got bruises from the smallest bumps and she couldn’t seem to gain weight. Though, they never stood out as a red flag to her. She attributed everything to the fact that she had multiple jobs and never stopped to rest a day in her life.
The doctor thought otherwise. After a few tests and another appointment, Sofia was told that she needed a biopsy. Despite not having any confirmation at that point, Sofia already knew what the results were going to be. She considered herself quite unlucky, after all. Ana was her one and only lucky charm.
Maybe it was denial or a genuine belief that she was going to be okay, but Sofia refused the initial treatment. They were offering her surgery but it was going to cost her more than what she had already saved up. There were loans she could have taken up, but those meant she needed to pay them back with interest and if something happened to her, Ana would bear the responsibility.
So, Sofia went back to work. She tried to eat healthier and exercise, but continued to push her body to its limits. She planned to work for another year or two, then start seeking treatment.
It was a dumb idea and she knew it was a dumb idea but she felt like she had no choice. Ana had always been Sofia’s top priority and Sofia refused to touch the money she had been saving up only to spend it on one surgery.
Sofia barely managed for another year before collapsing on her way home from work. The doctors told her the cancer had spread. They could no longer operate. Chemotherapy was her next best option. This time, her doctor had managed to convince her to start treatment and after some long talks, Sofia allowed herself to use some of her savings to pay for the treatments.
That was where she was at then. She was still at the start of her chemotherapy treatment so she did not know what was going to happen next. It did not stop her from working multiple jobs, but she did drop the most laborious one because chemo took a toll on her.
Shouyou stayed silent throughout the entire sharing session. Tears were rolling down his cheeks and he was squeezing the tea cup in his hand but did not interrupt her the whole time. Though, at one point, she began to choke as she told him how hard it was to go through everything on her own and Shouyou reached out to hold her hand on the table.
By the end of it, Shouyou was speechless. He thanked her for sharing her story and apologised for not knowing what to say but that he wanted to help in any way he could. They did not discuss the plans for Shouyou to babysit Ana every once in a while that night. Instead, Sofia nodded and the two of them hugged it out on the couch.
When Shouyou went home that night, his frustration at how unfair life was to his new friend had grown because he started to research her condition as well as whatever schemes could have helped her. It was how he realised that her cancer could have been curable had she been able to afford the initial surgery.
Days later, Sofia was over at their apartment because Pedro had invited her over for lunch. Shouyou was on a call with Tobio and Sofia opened up to him as well. She did admit that it was mostly because she had seen how much Shouyou had been affected by the news. Shouyou was upset but did not talk about the details to Tobio because he did not want to disclose Sofia’s story to him.
Tobio was the one to bring up the idea of babysitting Ana. Ana’s kindergarten had a free daycare service but they were only open on weekdays. Tobio suggested that Shouyou could babysit Ana on the days Sofia had chemo, or whenever Sofia was feeling under the weather, so that the woman could rest. The schedules did not align perfectly , but it was still a big help.
While Shouyou knew that Sofia could go for her appointment any time within a certain period that day, he still wanted to arrive as early as possible so that Sofia could head off sooner. The earlier she had her treatment, the more hours she got to rest after it.
Knocking on Sofia’s door, Shouyou did his best to make himself look presentable and not like he had just woken up. When the door swung open, Sofia greeted him with a smile, already dressed to go out. She glanced at his ears and noticed that he was not wearing his AirPods.
“Where’s Tobio?”
“He’s probably exercising. Why?”
“Why aren’t you on a call with him?”
“Because I’m babysitting Ana!”
“Nonsense. Pass me your phone!”
Confused, Shouyou unlocked his phone and passed it to the woman. A few seconds later, the sound of ringing filled the air, preceded by the sound of the call being picked up. Tobio’s voice rang loud down the hall because Shouyou’s speaker volume was way too high and Sofia began to say something before realising Tobio did not understand Portuguese.
“Tell him you guys don’t need to stop calling just because you’re babysitting Ana. I’d like it if you gave her your full attention, but I know you’d do that anyway. My house is your house, feel free to make yourself comfortable.” Sofia patted him on the shoulder, gave him a wink then walked past Shouyou. “I left some instructions on the fridge! Ana is still asleep, but please wake her up for lunch. See you later!”
Shouyou stared at the woman as she disappeared into the elevator.
“She left? Just like that?”
“Yeah… She said there were instructions on the fridge…” Shouyou stepped in and glanced over at her open kitchen and saw three pieces of A4 paper filled with writing. “Ah. That’s why she didn’t say much. She wrote me an essay.”
“Pft. Good luck. Can you even read?”
“Oi! Excuse m–” Shouyou stopped himself. He could read Japanese just fine but Portuguese… “Maybe you have a point.”
“Ha, dumbass.”
Shouyou stuck his tongue out like the mature adult he was and locked the door behind him. Apart from the few toys scattered around the floor, Sofia’s apartment was significantly cleaner than his own. He made his way to the fridge and blinked at the lines of Portuguese in front of him.
“It’s a good thing you woke me up. This is going to take some time to decode and I need to get it done before Ana wakes up…”
“I can’t believe you were almost late and the place you had to go to was literally right outside your door.”
“Shut up, Tobio. You’ll wake Ana up.”
The setter went silent but kept the stupid smirk on his face. Shouyou told himself there and then that he was never going to be late for anything ever again, especially since he was in Brazil and could not physically wipe the smug look off Tobio’s face.
Despite Shouyou’s best efforts, there were days where he would still find himself running late to things. Shouyou liked to attribute it to the fact that he was born later than his due date so, really, he was destined to always be late for things no matter how much he tried.
It was the only way he could explain how Tobio’s Olympic game was about to begin in half an hour and the delivery boy was still speeding off to his last delivery of the night.
It was unbelievably unfair that Tobio was in the exact same country as Shouyou and they could not see each other because athletes were not allowed to leave the Olympic village. Tobio nearly fought with his captain about the rule but thankfully Sakusa managed to talk some sense into the man.
It did help that their captain was Ushijima and the man had a soft spot for his roommate. He sympathised with the longing to be with a long distance lover, after all.
Though, it was nice to be in the same timezone for a week. They would wake up at the same time, eat lunch on call and watch the sunset together. If they were not able to see each other, they were still going to make the most out of Tobio’s visit.
Shouyou just wished he could toss Sofia’s homemade brigadeiro into the Olympic village for Tobio to try but Shouyou did not want to get arrested. Shouyou wanted to watch Tobio play in the Olympics for the first time in the comfort of his living room, not a cold jail cell.
Then again, with how slow Shouyou had been with his last few deliveries, he might end up having to watch Tobio’s game through his tiny phone screen on some random pavement.
It felt like forever, but Shouyou finally dropped off his last order of the day and began to make his way back to his apartment. He had ten minutes left so he was a little hasty when passing the customer their food. Luckily they were regular and Shouyou could apologise or give them a brigadeiro the next time he went by.
Shouyou thanked the traffic gods that the streets weren’t jam packed that night and he was able to speed back home on his bicycle. He had a feeling Tobio and Tadashi would be quite upset to hear that he had gotten into an accident.
Two minutes away from his apartment building, Shouyou caught a glimpse of the television inside of the convenience store near his place. It was Tobio's match and the teams were already on the court and lining up to greet each other.
He had time. Shouyou had never jumped off his bike, locked it and ran up the staircase so fast.
“I’m home! Pedro turn on the–”
“It’s on, it’s on! Hurry, sit down!”
Shouyou ran in and jumped onto the couch, scaring both himself, Sofia and Ana. He did not know the two of them were there but exchanged a quick greeting before paying attention to the screen.
The game had already started but Tobio was not on the court yet, so Shouyou had not missed his play. However, Sofia let him know that Shouyou did miss the first point of the game; Atsumu’s service ace. While that would have been cool to watch, Shouyou was glad that it was Astumu’s service ace and not Tobio’s.
As Shouyou got comfy on the couch, Pedro walked in and sat beside Shouyou. The couch was getting crowded so Shouyou hoisted Ana up to sit on his lap and began to explain the game to Ana. His subpar Portuguese skills were sufficient since Shouyou was used to explaining volleyball to people using ‘gwah’s and ‘bamm’s.
When Tobio was swapped in to play, Ana’s eyes lit up in recognition. She pointed at the screen and pointed towards Shouyou’s phone, where Tobio was his lockscreen.
“Tobio?”
“Yes! That’s my fiancé, Tobio!”
“Fiancé?” Ana turned to look at him and quirked her eyebrow. Shouyou did not know if he had used the wrong word for ‘fiancé’ or if Ana simply did not know what a fiancé was, so he smiled at her and brought up the hand with his engagement ring on.
“Yes! One day I’m going to marry him.”
“Oh, Marry! Yay!”
“Yay!”
A whistle from the television prompted the two of them to pay more attention to the game. Shouyou lifted Ana up and flipped her around so that she was facing the screen and wrapped his arms around her little body, resting his head on her hair.
In the corner of his eye, he saw Sofia take a picture of the two of them and made a mental note to ask her to send it to him later.
When Tobio walked up to the court, Shouyou felt his heart stop.
Tobio was as handsome as ever. His JNT uniform fit him just right and made all his muscles pop out in the best way possible. When the camera zoomed in, Shouyou saw the outline of their ring on a chain underneath Tobio’s shirt and felt warm and fuzzy about the small detail.
Though, what truly made Shouyou stare was how much Tobio looked like he belonged on that court. It did not matter that Tobio was not the starting setter, Shouyou knew that he was about to make a lasting impression anyway.
After all, Kageyama Tobio was the King of the Court. Not the name people used to ridicule him, but the name he had reclaimed for himself in his first year at Karasuno.
The emotions began to hit Shouyou. He was so incredibly proud of Tobio. All those extra practices and staying up late to watch volleyball rallies has paid off. Shouyou had watched Tobio work hard and devote himself to the sport for the past five years of their life.
Shouyou knew Tobio had been playing volleyball longer than he did and the thought of little Tobio growing up and becoming the man he was that day was more than enough to get Shouyou to shed a tear. It was then when Shouyou remembered the whole reason Tobio started playing volleyball: his grandfather.
Kageyama Kazuyo would be so proud of the man Tobio had become.
Soon enough, the waterworks began and he began sniffling hard as Ana covered the top of her head to stop Shouyou’s tears from falling on her hair.
“Shouyou?! Are you okay?!”
“I’m– I’m just so proud of him! I can’t stop crying!”
Tobio jumped up for a serve and landed a service ace. Shouyou collapsed onto the back of the couch and wailed.
(Sofia made sure to document each and every one of Shouyou’s reactions so that she could post it on her Instagram story. She knew that some of Shouyou’s friends followed her and that they would love to see everything unfold.)
Months after the Olympics, Shouyou found himself more and more immersed in the local culture. It was such a shame Tobio was not allowed to roam around when he was in the country because Shouyou had so much to show him.
Brazil was unpredictable in the best way possible.
Shouyou loved Brazil and he loved learning more about the culture around him. Pedro was not much of a cook but he would bring Shouyou to some of the best local restaurants in their area (that were within their budget) or buy street food on the way home.
Restaurants in Brazil were a lot more livelier than they were back home. People would sit down for hours to have their meals because they’d have lengthy conversations in between bites. The environment was a lot more toned down as well. When Pedro addressed their waiter as ‘bro’ and ‘buddy,’ Shouyou assumed Pedro knew the waiter.
“ Oh, I’ve never met him before today! ”
“Really? You acted so casually around him!”
“That’s just how it’s like, Shouyou! Everyone here’s your bro!” Pedro laughed as he slung his arm over the volleyball player and patted his shoulder.
That was another thing Shouyou loved about Brazil. Everyone was so friendly . He would meet people for the first time and they would come up to hug him as they talked about whatever Pedro had told them about him. Granted, Shouyou was still working on his Portuguese so he could only hope what they said were good things.
Something about Brazil made him feel so welcomed. Shouyou felt at home there. He felt as though he was surrounded by people equally as extroverted and enthusiastic as him. It was amazing .
Though, as fun as Brazil was, it only made Shouyou miss Tobio even more.
Everytime Sofia would knock on their door and give them her homemade pão de queijo , Shouyou would look at the plate of cheese buns and wish he could share them with Tobio. Not only because pão de queijos were delicious, but Sofia’s baking was the best he has ever tasted.
Whenever Shouyou would go on runs, he would imagine Tobio was running somewhere behind him. Not beside him or in front of him, but behind him so that it was easier to pretend. Tobio would have loved the amount of inclines and tree-lined running paths his neighbourhood had.
Everything about Brazil was amazing. Shouyou wanted nothing more than to share the experience with Tobio.
Except, they couldn’t. Flight tickets were expensive and they both did not have enough time in their schedules for a visit like that.
It did not stop Shouyou from hoping that one day he would be able to introduce Tobio to Brazilian culture. He already had a long list in his notes app for where he would take Tobio on a date, what types of dishes he was going to learn so that he could cook them for Tobio when he returned, which snacks and knickknacks he was going to buy before his flight back so that he could share it with Tobio and even some local activities that he would want to do with Tobio.
Soccer was one of them.
Soccer wasn’t necessarily a Brazil-only sport, but it was definitely the most popular sport in Brazil. According to Pedro and Sofia, everyone that grew up in Brazil has toyed with a soccer ball at least once in their life.
That led to the two of them (and Ana) teaching Shouyou how to play soccer at a park near their apartment complex. The last time Shouyou even touched a soccer ball was back in middle school when he would help Kouji practise for his club.
“Okay, Shouyou.” Pedro stood in front of Shouyou with the ball under his foot and grinned at the Japanese man. There was something about that smile that Shouyou did not trust. “ I’ll pass you the ball. All you have to do is get it past me and kick it into the goal .”
Shouyou’s Portuguese had gotten better over the months, but he was still far from fluent. Thankfully, he understood the instructions due to Pedro’s helpful and expressive gestures.
Kicking a ball into an old and rusty goal seemed like an easy task. Or, it would have been an easy task if Pedro didn’t steal or block the ball every two seconds. The man passed it back whenever he did so because this was all for Shouyou to learn how to play the game.
Shouyou was suffering. As if dealing with blockers on the volleyball court wasn’t bad enough, he had to deal with sweepers on the field. His footwork wasn’t the best either. In the span of fifteen minutes, Shouyou had managed to trip seven times and once was from stepping on his own foot.
From the goal, Sofia laughed at Shouyou’s terrible attempt and yelled out something to Pedro. Shouyou’s brain was too focused on actually getting the ball to bother translating, but she must have told Pedro to give Shouyou a chance because Pedro kicked the ball to the smaller man and stepped aside.
“ She said you should try to score. ”
Finally, he could try to earn a point. Shouyou tried to dribble his way to the scoring line but in reality he was just kicking the ball too fast and chasing after it. Once he got to the line, he paused and Sofia gave him a friendly smile. Suddenly, he didn’t trust her smile either.
“ Kick with the side of your foot. Come on, try it. ” The woman lifted her foot and pointed to the inner side of it while making a motion on how to kick it.
Shouyou was not that much of a novice that he didn’t know how to kick a ball but he appreciated the refresher. If he was honest, he might have kicked it with the front of his foot and the ball would have definitely ended up on the road.
It looked simple enough. All he had to do was kick it in, so he did.
Except the ball didn’t go in. Sofia kicked back at the last second and the ball ended up smacking Shouyou’s face.
“ Oh shit– I’m sorry! ”
“Shouyou!”
Shouyou couldn’t believe it. If he had a dollar for every type of ball that had smacked him in the face after it had been blocked, he would have two. It wasn’t much, but it was weird that it happened twice.
Thankfully, his nose wasn’t bleeding but his face did hurt. Shouyou did not realise it earlier, but soccer balls were heavier than volleyballs. It was amusing that he had to find that out through getting hit in the face rather than by carrying the ball and realising it.
“I’m okay!” Shouyou smiled and waved them off in an effort to calm them down as they ran towards him. Unfortunately the effect was ruined because when he removed his hand, there were a few scratches on his cheek and those were bleeding.
Both Sofia and Pedro were fretting over him and speaking Portuguese way too fast for him to translate. He did understand the multiple times Sofia said ‘Oh my God’ and ‘I’m sorry’.
“Really, I’m okay! It doesn’t hurt–” Shouyou was cut off by something tugging on his shirt from the back. Turning around, he saw Ana looking up at him with curious eyes. In her hand was a small band aid that had a cartoon character he was not familiar with. She looked at him for a few seconds then held the plaster up for him to grab.
“ Medicine .”
Shouyou looked down in surprise. Ana spoke to him in English rather than Portuguese and surprisingly, he understood. He knew the little piece of latex was not ‘medicine’, but he understood the word association. Maybe all those years of Kei smacking his English vocab list against Shouyou’s head actually worked.
He squatted down and accepted the bandaid with a smile. His English was somehow just as bad as his Portuguese despite taking it for three whole years in high school, but he figured he should respond to her in the same way.
“Thank you very much.”
“English?!”
“Yes. I learnt it in school!”
It seemed as though that sentence was a little too complex for her limited language skills, so he repeated it in broken Portuguese and she smiled.
Shouyou had gone over to watch Ana a few times by then. Usually it was only for short moments when Sofia got called in for a last-minute shift or on days the woman had chemotherapy. Despite having interacted with the little girl multiple times, she still managed to surprise him every visit.
When he put the bandaid on, Ana smiled and made grabby hands at his face until he bent down. Once he was at her level, she kissed the area the bandaid was on and ran back to the bench. Once she sat back down, Shouyou collapsed on his knees and grabbed his chest.
“She’s so cute. I’m crying.”
“You’re not crying.”
“I’m crying.”
Pedro and Sofia rolled their eyes and kicked the ball back to him. If he was still able to be a drama queen, then he was fine for another round of soccer. At first, Shouyou tried to protest and offered to teach them volleyball instead.
“If you practice soccer with us, we’ll introduce you to volleyball 2.0.”
That got Shouyou to stand back up and hound Pedro. “Volleyball 2.0? What’s that? There’s another type of volleyball?” The shorter man was practically jumping in place and looking up at Pedro with wonder in his eyes.
The two Brazilians shared a look. Got him .
“Shouyou, have you heard of footvolley?”
Shouyou grinned as he placed the footvolley ball he bought into a parcel, along with a note that said not to use the ball until Shouyou was back in Japan.
Despite being in Brazil for over half a year by that point, Shouyou and Tobio still had not sent each other packages yet. Now that they were finally trying to, they could see why they hesitated on it.
Shipping fees were expensive , keeping the weight lower than two kilograms was difficult and there were five different types of courier services and an even wider variety of shipping options. They had never sent anything overseas before so they were both very fussy with the details and getting things perfect. The last thing they wanted was for their parcels to get lost in transit.
“Oi, dumbass! That’s not my postal code?”
“Haaah? What do you mean that’s not your postal code?!”
“That’s my apartment number.”
“Why the fuck is your apartment number so long?!”
“Language! There’s a child here, dumbass!”
Said child was currently playing with a lego set that Shouyou had gotten her with his second paycheck. Sofia was feeling sick again so Shouyou was taking care of Ana in his apartment. When Sofia knocked on his door, Shouyou was on a call with Tobio. Instead of hanging up, Shouyou kept the call going because he wanted to introduce the two of them to each other.
Unfortunately, Tobio’s awkwardness with children was present even though the child was thousands of kilometres away. In all honesty, it was entertaining and endearing for Shouyou to watch. Ana didn’t mind the man’s awkward sentences so Shouyou simply let Tobio struggle on until Ana got distracted by the legos he had set up for her in his room.
“She can’t understand Japanese, dumbass.”
“Stop calling me ‘dumbass’! Also, children can pick up different languages at a young age!”
“I’ll stop calling you a ‘dumbass’ when you stop calling me a ‘dumbass’.”
“I can’t. You’re actually a dumbass.”
“Dumbass.”
“Dumbass.”
“Dum–”
“Dumbass!”
The two volleyball players stared in horror. They were too engrossed in their task that they did not notice the little girl put down her lego pieces to pay more attention to them.
Shouyou really hoped that Ana wouldn’t repeat the word around Sofia or Pedro because the two adults knew what the word meant. Knowing the girl, she would proudly show off her new Japanese skills to her mother.
Oh no.
“Shouyou… Did Ana just…?”
“Sofia is not going to be happy when she finds out Ana’s first Japanese word is ‘dumbass’.”
The two of them watched as Ana wobbled over to plop herself on Shouyou’s lap. She stared at Tobio for a few seconds before giving him a toothy smile and pointing at him. “Dumbass!”
Shouyou lost it. He burst out laughing so hard that he fell backwards onto the carpet. He sneaked a peak at Tobio on the screen and laughed even harder at how offended his fiancé looked.
Tobio was speechless. Usually whenever someone called him a dumbass, he would retaliate back. Except Ana was a child who did not even know what the word meant. All she knew was that Shouyou kept referring to him as ‘dumbass’ and so she associated Tobio with that word.
If anything, Tobio should be upset at Shouyou. His fiancé was losing his shit on the floor and Ana was sitting on top of him, staring at Tobio through the screen. Tobio couldn’t even tell Ana that it was a bad word because he did not know how to speak Portuguese.
“Shouyou… Shouyou! I– Stop laughing! Oi!”
Shouyou heard Tobio’s pleas for help but made no move to help him. Just the idea of Tobio’s brain going on overload because he didn’t know how to react to a child calling him dumb sent Shouyou into another round of laughter.
In the middle of everything, the kettle went off. Shouyou and Pedro did not own an electric kettle so they had to heat up their water on the stove, which meant that the annoying and high pitched whistle was not going to stop until Shouyou took it off the range.
He struggled to roll himself onto his knees so that he could stand up. “I… I need to go get the kettle. I’ll be– Pfft!” Shouyou glanced at Tobio and put a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing any further. Tobio’s expression was similar to the first time he saw Natsu cry in front of him. Shouyou labelled it as his ‘fight or flight’ face. “I’ll be fast! Help me look over her!”
At that Shouyou booked it out of the room.
“Shouyou! Don’t leave me alone here!”
Unfortunately, Shouyou did leave him alone there and even closed the door behind him as he left.
He wasn’t that irresponsible, he knew that he shouldn’t leave a toddler in a room for too long. But the alternative was letting the kettle whistle forever and possibly explode, which is a lot more unsafe for a child. He did not want to let Ana near the kettle either after an incident involving Natsu when she was Ana’s age, so he left her inside the room.
Shouyou only took two minutes to move the kettle off the fire and pour the hot water into two mugs with instant hot cocoa powder inside it. He would have taken longer, solely to see how much Tobio could suffer, but he really did not want to leave Ana alone for too long.
When he returned, Tobio and Ana were in an intense staring competition and Tobio was holding a second phone in his hand.
“What are you two doing?”
“Shouyou!”
The setter’s shoulders immediately sagged and he leaned back against the couch. Shouyou noticed that in the two minutes he was gone, Tobio moved from the bedroom to the living room.
After he set the two mugs on the table to cool down, Shouyou settled back on the floor in front of his phone and pulled Ana into his lap. While she could not understand him and Tobio, she seemed very interested in listening to them talk.
“How was she? Was she a good girl?”
“She was fine. You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“I can tell. Why do you have another phone in your hand?”
“It’s Ushijima-san’s. I didn’t know how long you would be gone or how loud your phone is. If she choked on a lego, I was ready to call 192.”
“Aww!” Shouyou couldn’t help but coo over his partner. He was adorable , Shouyou almost felt bad about enjoying the man’s panic. The fact that Tobio probably ran out of his room to ask Ushijima for his phone in case he needed to call the Brazilian EMS while he video-babysat Ana was kind of wholesome.
The man on the other end pouted and Shouyou was about to say something flirtatious about how cute his pout looked when Tobio’s camera moved and he saw a shoulder on the other end of the couch.
“Tobio, is Ushiwaka there?”
Instead of answering, Tobio tilted his phone to show his fellow Adlers teammate sitting on the other end of the couch and reading some kind of manga. Ushijima looked up and gave Shouyou a friendly nod before returning to his readings.
“I didn’t have an extra phone so I had to use his. Ushijima-san is also very good with children so I wanted him on standby in case Ana cried.”
That was way too wholesome. Shouyou was about to burst and melt right there on the spot.
At the mention of her name, Ana perked up and grinned at the camera once again.
“Dumbass, dumbass, dumbass!”
Shouyou was glad that he had not drank the hot chocolate yet because he would have spit it all out. Instead, he threw his head back and laughed so hard his sides were starting to hurt.
“Did that little girl just call you a ‘dumbass’ in our language, Kageyama-san?”
“No.”
Upon being reminded that Ushijima was there to witness everything, Shouyou laughed way too hard and fell backwards, cradling Ana so that she didn’t fall off and hit her head. The little girl had no idea what just happened but started laughing along with Shouyou anyway.
From the floor, Shouyou heard Tobio grumble something to Ushijima and excused himself to return to his room. Once he was in his room, he began asking Shouyou to explain to Ana that it was a bad word and that he was not a dumbass.
“No.”
“God, why are you so annoying? Just do it, dumbass.”
“I said–”
“Dumbass!”
“Ana, No!”
As it turned out, Sofia did not get mad at Shouyou and Tobio for introducing her daughter to Japanese insults. Shouyou claimed it was because she had a good heart, Tobio claimed it was because Shouyou told her about it during her birthday massage that he had paid for.
While Shouyou felt as though he made the right decision there, his wallet did not. That massage was not cheap. Shouyou was so broke.
In addition to the massage, Shouyou had recently paid for his share of rent and splurged way too much money on toys for Ana. Honestly, he was seriously considering talking to Kei or Kenma about money-management but he was not ready for the verbal beat down they were definitely going to give him.
It wasn’t like he had time for a second job either. Shouyou spent most of his time at the beach, working hard on getting better at beach volleyball and finding a partner to play with. Not that many people let him join in on their games, so he stayed there for as long as he could after practices so that he could play with the few groups that did.
Slowly but surely, he was building a reputation for himself.
Despite that, it wasn’t like he was earning any money playing volleyball. He had not partook in any big competitions, did not have any sponsors or even found a single Brazilian real in the sand. There was no time left in his day to take up a second job, so he needed to learn how to budget.
Pedro helped him as much as he could on that front. The two of them looked into cheaper grocery options together and talked about how to reduce their electricity bill. It helped that Pedro was struggling just as much as Shouyou was so they were both committed to the idea of saving up on bills.
Despite Shouyou’s financial woes, he had a habit of looking at flight prices every night. From Brazil to Japan and vice versa. He knew that it was pointless and that neither him nor Tobio would be flying any time soon, but a man could dream.
The two of them were doing well for a couple maintaining a long distance relationship. Sometimes, it barely even felt like they were apart with how often they called and texted throughout the day.
Despite the state of their relationship, it was inevitable for physical longing to hit Shouyou hard every once in a while. There were days where Shouyou would come home and feel as though he was physically and mentally drained out.
Those days were the hardest because all he wanted was a hug from Tobio and for his fiancé to tell him that things will get better, but he couldn’t. Tobio was an ocean away.
When Shouyou had those days, he would pull out one of Tobio’s shirts from his ‘Tobio Stash’ and put it on while looking up flight prices back to Japan. Some nights, on the very rare ones where he was stuck in the silence and emptiness of his own room, he would shed a few tears from being so far away from home and away from any comfort he had ever known.
Thankfully, those days were few and far between. Tobio, Hitoka, Tadashi and Kei were almost chronically online so it was not often that Shouyou’s bedroom was ever quiet. From Minecraft nights to weekly tea sessions, he knew one of them was always free for a call.
Him, Pedro, Sofia and Ana had grown a lot closer the last few months so if he ever needed a hug, he could always go to them. They weren’t Tobio–Tobio’s hugs were special–but they were still people close to his heart and their touch always managed to bring him the comfort he needed.
Shouyou’s favourite nights were the days he could combine his two favourite groups of people. Sometimes, Pedro would join them on their Minecraft server and he could witness Hitoka flirt with the man in the most broken Portuguese Shouyou had ever heard and Kei apologising on her behalf after every attempt.
On other days, Shouyou would be over at Sofia’s apartment while being on a video call with Tobio as they babysat Ana together. (And, yes. Tobio always had Ushijima’s phone on standby to call 192 whenever Shouyou walked off frame.)
Shouyou was glad for his friends. In all honesty, he did not know how he would be able to make it through his two year stint without them. Even though the hard days were rare, they were difficult to get through. He could not imagine going through them every night and with no one to see refuge in.
The thought of how much his friends have supported him throughout the last few months got Shouyou to suck it up and pick up his phone.
the queer quintet
shouyou the tangerine :
kei
did you know
your bank balance can go into the negatives
kei the bastard :
what the fuck
shouyou the tangerine :
let’s talk about that
kei the bastard :
how are you stressing me out and you’re not even in the same country as me anymore
shouyou the tangerine :
it’s my god-given talent, really.
Now that Shouyou thought about it, his actual god-given talent was being able to stay alive no matter what happened to him.
It was the only way to explain the way he survived a near-fatal car accident as a baby, falling out of the fifth floor window in middle school, the multiple spikes to the head in high school and, now, falling off his bike and rolling down a very steep hill.
The man swore that this kind of fall and roll would have killed someone. Hell, he was pretty sure he had read news articles where it did . Somehow he managed to survive with nothing but a few cuts and grass in his hair.
His bike was a wreck, but it wasn’t like it was the first time he had crashed his bike.
“Shouyou? Shouyou! Fucking hell, if you don’t answer me soon I really will dial 192. Shouyou!”
Frantically, Shouyou patted the grass around him to find the phone he had dropped. Him and Tobio were on another one of their ‘let’s do our own thing’ calls before Shouyou’s little accident. Shouyou hoped the setter wasn’t meditating or something because this was not the most peaceful interruption.
“I’m fine! I’m fine! I tripped a little but I’m totally okay!”
“Totally okay– What?! You were falling for like two minutes straight!”
“It wasn’t that long… I think?”
“Did you hit your head? Can you walk straight? Do I need to call 192– Ushijima-san! I need to borrow your phone again–”
Shouyou was quick to turn on his camera and show Tobio that he was actually fine and that he was not hurt. He even stood up and walked around to show his fiancé that he was not concussed or anything of the sort.
Tobio frowned and reluctantly agreed not to call 192, on the condition that Shouyou go to a nearby clinic later in the day. Even though Shouyou felt fine, he was planning to go to the clinic anyway. They were athletes and he knew enough that he should at least get himself checked out in case he did get hurt. As Shouyou agreed with Tobio’s terms, he did his best to ignore the voice in his head telling him how expensive a doctor’s consultation would cost.
The two of them talked about how Shouyou was going to get home and that he could walk back since he wasn’t too far. Throughout the conversation, Shouyou noticed how Tobio’s frown stayed on his face despite Shouyou trying to keep things light.
“What’s wrong, Tobi?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re frowning.”
“It’s nothing.”
Well, obviously something was going through Tobio’s mind. If things truly were fine, Tobio wouldn’t hesitate to tell him what was going on. The man had always been very open with what he thought, after all. Both their mouths have landed them in some pretty hot waters before.
With some prompting, Shouyou finally got Tobio to tell him what he was thinking.
“For a few seconds, I thought you were actually hurt and all I could do was call up an ambulance. Even then, I don’t even know if the call will go through since I’m in Japan. You could have been unconscious and bleeding out for all I know and I… I hate how I can’t just run to you anymore.”
“Tobi… I’m okay, I promise.”
“Yeah, but what if you weren’t? It… It scares me shitless to think about something happening to you… If– If you were hurt then–”
“Then nothing. I’m not hurt, Tobio. I’m okay.” Shouyou tried to give Tobio a gentle smile but the setter was still on edge. “I’m sorry for making you worry. I know that life is unpredictable and accidents can happen, but I promise I will be as safe as I can.”
“You almost got hit by a truck.”
“But I didn’t because I was paying attention to the road. Things are okay, I’m completely safe.”
“Promise?”
“I promise. I’ll come home to you in one piece.”
At that, Tobio finally stopped frowning. He still looked exhausted and Shouyou started to feel bad about that. Shouyou knew that Tobio had an extra difficult training session the previous day and was likely hoping for a calm morning.
Shouyou settled down on the grass to talk more to Tobio and calm his worries before walking back home. Besides, he didn’t want to show Tobio the state of his bike in case that would cause Tobio to worry even more.
For over half an hour, the two of them talked about their days or what their plans for the day were. Both of them had a match coming up, except Tobio’s match was against Kei’s team so they were more interested in that. Though, Tobio still asked Shouyou questions on his own match and his progress because he knew how much Shouyou loved to talk about beach volleyball.
As they talked, the sun began to rise and the first rays of sunlight were making Shouyou glow in a way that only someone as orange as him could. It also highlighted how much more tan Shouyou had gotten in the year they were apart. It was visible how much the shorter man had changed, and yet Shouyou was still the same Shouyou Tobio knew and loved.
“Shouyou… Could you promise me something?”
“Of course. What is it, Tobi?”
“Promise me that when all of this is over, you’ll come home.”
“Of course. One more year, Tobio. I’ll come back home.”