Chapter Text
“Dad!”
Mei peeked her head around the corner into the kitchen. Shouyou nodded pointedly at the sink, where his hands were currently submerged in soapy water, as if to say, “I’m in the middle of something here.”
“Have you seen my knee pads?” she asked.
“Did you check the laundry?”
“The laundry!” Mei replied, smacking her forehead. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Shouyou rolled his eyes. “Who raised you to be so sarcastic?”
“Tobio.”
Shouyou placed a clean plate on the rack to dry. “I’ll have to have a word with him later.”
Mei sidled up to her father and rested her head against his shoulder. She was almost as tall as him now, a fact that Tobio liked to rub in his face.
“He offered to teach me how to drive.”
“You’re underage, and he drives too aggressively,” Shouyou protested. “We can’t have his road rage rubbing off on you. Your mom’ll have my head.”
“Spoil sport.”
“You don’t want me to teach you how to drive?” he asked, drying off his hands.
“Tobio’s more fun,” Mei replied.
“In twenty five years, I’ve never heard anyone say that Kageyama is fun.”
“Are you guys talking about me in here?” Tobio asked, idling into the kitchen. “I just got chills.”
“You should have them all the time,” Mei replied. “Now that the whole country is talking about you.”
Tobio glowered.
Shouyou laughed. “How does it feel to be the center of attention for the first time?”
“Like I’m living in a fishbowl,” Tobio grumbled.
“Well, it’s not every day a pro athlete announces his retirement and comes out on the same day.”
Tobio wedged himself between the Shouyou and Mei, draping an arm around each of their shoulders. Shouyou smiled to himself. Now that Tobio’s secret was out, it probably wouldn’t be long before people connected the dots and figured out about Shouyou. He didn’t mind. He probably still had one more good season in him, but if this story broke and ended his career, that would be okay too. It was hard to believe there was a time when he thought he’d have nothing without volleyball. Now his life was overflowing.
Tobio dropped his arm from Shouyou’s shoulder to pull his keys out of his pocket. He jingled them in front of Mei.
“Are you ready to go back to your mom’s?”
“I can’t find my knee pads,” Mei replied.
“They’re in my car. You really need to stop leaving your sweaty knee pads in my car.”
“Whatever. Your car stinks anyway.”
“Do you want to learn how to drive or not?”
“I’m sorry. I love you.”
Shouyou sighed. “Take my car, it’s smaller,” he said sternly. “And stay off the main roads. And if Chiharu blows a gasket, I’m telling her you two ganged up on me.”
Mei grinned. “Love you, Dad,” she said, going in for a hug.
Shouyou wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “Be safe,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “See you next weekend.”
“Okay, okay. Let go.”
“Why did you have to go and turn into a teenager?” he said, releasing her. “I miss when you used to be cute.”
“Yeah, well, I take after you, so I had to grow out of it eventually.”
Tobio cackled.
“Tobio, why are you teaching my kid to talk to me the way you do?”
“Aw, Dad, you know I’m just teasing you. You’re still my favorite of all my dads.”
“I still think you’re cute, Shou,” Tobio said, leaning in for a warm kiss.
It didn’t give Shouyou butterflies the way it used to, but it made him feel safe, a feeling he once thought he could never have with Tobio.
“Do you have to do that in front of me?” Mei protested. “You’re gonna see each other in an hour, and then you can be as gross as you want.”
“Oh, believe you me, we’re gonna be so gross later.”
“Ugh!” Mei cried, throwing up her hands. “That’s it, I’m waiting in the car.”
Shouyou chuckled as Mei stormed out of the house. He looked up at Tobio. “You’re really okay?”
“I’m getting used to it,” Tobio replied. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do with all this free time though. Maybe I should start coaching.”
“Don’t do it. You would be the meanest coach ever. Everyone would quit.”
“Are you gonna keep me busy then?”
Shouyou swatted his arm. “I’m still working. Take a pottery class, or whatever it is old people do.”
“You’re older than me!”
Shouyou laughed. He brushed a lock of hair out of Tobio’s eyes. He made a mental note to bug him later to get a haircut.
“I love you,” he said, his voice serious.
“Pssh. I know.”
Shouyou’s car horn blasted from outside, and Tobio rolled his eyes. “I’d better go.”
“Go,” Shouyou replied. “Don’t let her speed. And don’t get pulled over.”
“I know, I know,” Tobio said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.
Shouyou smiled as he watched Tobio bound out the door. He was proud of the unconventional family he’d built. The fruits of his labor. It hadn’t been an easy journey. In the last ten years, he’d learned three very important lessons.
First, that it’s never really over until you quit trying. That was a lesson he’d had to learn a few times over.
Second, to always look forward, because regret won’t get you anywhere.
And third, that Tobio did not have the patience to help with math homework.
He wondered if Tobio remembered what day it was. He didn’t expect him to. It wasn’t like Shouyou had his divorce papers framed or anything. Ten years ago, he’d been having what he thought was the worst day of his life. He’d had no idea what was about to start in that courthouse parking lot.
That wasn’t where it really began, of course. If you wanted the whole story, then it started with a middle school volleyball tournament, where Shouyou Hinata met Tobio Kageyama for the first time.
Shouyou thought that maybe the gods knew what they were doing after all.