Chapter Text
Squeaks and shouts resounded all around the apartment, coming from a loud television that was showing a replay of the college girls’ league finals. Two people sat cuddled together on the couch before the screen, watching silently a match that had already been lived through.
On the screen, a player dressed in white and gold side-stepped and leapt into the air, pressing the tips of her fingers into the ball that came barrelling towards her. She set it towards an identical looking girl, hair shorter, that rushed to the net, jumped, and slammed the ball with a fearsome strength.
“And there it is! The perfect move from the Kageyama sisters! Beautiful!”
“I have to say Satoshi, the way Kageyama Tobio sets the ball is just perfect!”
“And how Asuka pile drives it into the court, spectacular! These girls are amazing to watch!”
“And of course, we can’t forget those perfectly close saves by one Komori Motoya! Such grace when diving to the ground!”
“Indeed! But have you heard the news Yuuta?”
“Oh? You mean that news?”
“Of course I mean that news!”
Both announcers turned to look at the camera, therefore the people watching, to address the news they were speaking of.
“It has just been confirmed by the girls themselves--”
“With the graduation and final college match of Kageyama Asuka, the ace of the Lionesses--”
“Kageyama Asuka, Kageyama Tobio, and Komori Motoya, have all been offered positions on the women’s national volleyball team, Hinotori Nippon!”
Tired laughter sprouted from one of the figures watching, amusement overcoming her as the two men fought over who got to declare the news. The person beside her pinched her nose and she swatted at his hand. Hands began poking at one another in favor of the television program, fingers gliding over exposed skin in tickling movements.
Laughter came from both figures, but Tobio suffered more, having been in a vulnerable position in the first place, her legs draped over Kei’s thighs, arms tucked beside her, and head on the taller’s shoulder.
Now she was slowly inching off the couch, trying to escape from her boyfriend’s clutches. As she fell to the floor, trying to catch her breath, she heard the television guys speak once more, both enthusiastically exclaiming.
“And we here at Volleyball Highlights have received the first invitation ever to interview the three famous ladies that create the golden Lioness iron defense and destructive offense!”
“The three have previously stated they wanted nothing to do with interviews, feeling it interrupted their personal lives, but we have gained approval from all three!”
“The three all gave different reasonings but the gist of it all was that they wanted every single girl in Japan to know that they can be who they want and do what they want.”
“Indeed. These girls are certainly inspirational to all little girls.”
Tuning back out, Tobio glanced up at Kei, the blond staring down at her with a raised eyebrow. She pursed her lips, squinting at him. Kei snorted, leaning down to stare closer to her face.
“I thought you all said you’d never give the media hounds the thrill of changing your words around.”
Tobio sighed, flinging herself up into a sitting position. She turned to be sitting towards Kei, resting an elbow on a raised knee and letting her head fall on her hand. She yawned, smacking her lips together, vision going dark as her eyes began to close. “We wanted… to, um, show that we are there… that we won’t stand for any… mockery. We need to show… that we will stand, um, stand against them, and, uh…”
She trailed off, Kei snickering and falling to his knees in front of her. He reached around her body and maneuvered her limbs into a more comfortable position to carry. “You can explain more when you aren’t exhausted. And I will tell Goshiki to stop with their partying all the time and stealing you away.”
“Nooooo…” she dragged out the word as Kei stood, stumbling slightly, with Tobio in his arms. She slapped her hand weakly against the blond’s chest but nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck. Kei’s shoulders shook with restrained amusement and he began carrying her to their shared bedroom.
Tobio being carried by Kei to bed had become a common occurrence ever since they moved in together. Tobio had always been falling asleep anywhere her body recognized as comfortable, whether it be at the kitchen table, or the couch (even standing up once!), Tobio would just fall asleep, exhaustion from the day weighing down on her.
When Kei moved in three months ago, he started off waking her up but had been forced to deal with a whiny brat and just resorted to carrying her to bed. It made things easier, as Tobio just started changing into pajamas any time she came home.
It had been four years. Two years of peacefully playing volleyball with Karasuno and two years of going to Asuka’s university on a scholarship. One of the only colleges that would accept Tobio as the girl she is and not want her for the boys’ volleyball team.
After nationals her first year, the official volleyball people had reviewed their written rules that stated whatever gender a player identified as, they were required to participate in the properly gendered team.
However, there was a few exceptions. Because Tobio had not known she was female before registering for high school, she was placed in the school’s registry as male. And when her parents had tried to change Tobio’s gender, the school said they couldn’t and she would have to remain registered as a boy.
Because of this, the school would not allow Tobio to be on the girls’ volleyball team, and as such could not follow the rules set by the volleyball officials. Except the officials (some of them) were understanding and there was another vote to allow her to play on Karasuno, if the team registered as a co-ed team.
So the boys’ volleyball team registered as a co-ed team, but the school still regarded it as the boys’ team and refused any other girls to join the team. It was accepted half-heartedly by the players, but they understood why it had to be that way.
Karasuno had not managed to make it to Nationals in Tobio and Kei’s second year, due to an injury that Hinata obtained (which he made worse by never resting and playing on it too early). But in their third year, with Tobio receiving the captain title and Kei as her vice captain, they led the team to Nationals once more.
They still didn’t get along well in the latter half of their first year, preferring to barely acknowledge each other instead of insulting one another. But Morisuke had been right when he said that being around someone for most of your free time kind of makes you not hate them so much.
And in their second year, with Ennoshita’s pushing and… encouragement, the two became acquaintances. They could actually play volleyball together without it becoming a game of insults or patronising comments. They learned to work together and had become quite a formidable team, comparable to Hinata and Tobio.
Hinata and Tobio had practised together over the summers, polishing their teamwork and when they reached third year, it was to the point that they could communicate without many words. Yamaguchi had sometimes joined the duo in practicing, learning a jump serve from Tobio, making it his own.
But coming of their third year, when Tobio had inherited the captain title from Ennoshita and Kei had been named her vice captain, Kei and Tobio’s relationship changed drastically. They still weren’t quite friends yet but they often had to interact closely together as captain and vice captain, having to get together to discuss the potential first years and the improvements of the second years.
Gradually they got closer, just as all captains and vice captains do. They were begrudging friends, further proved as the others (Yachi, Hinata, and Yamaguchi) often planned group “hang outs” on weekends. However, it wasn’t until their first year of college that their relationship truly took off.
Tobio had always known she had wanted to play volleyball in college, except most schools only saw her as a boy, considering the team she played on. She got many offers for male volleyball teams, only getting a few for female teams.
Then she got an offer from Asuka’s own college in Kyoto. The school was offering her a full ride scholarship to play on their team beside her sister. Apparently the team’s coach had heard a lot about Tobio from Asuka and was convinced the two sisters would be a devastating match on the court, although never having played together before (the coach was proved right when they won the finals Tobio’s first year).
It was learned, after Tobio had been moved to Kyoto, that Kei was going there as well. He had been offered a scholarship, by way of his father, to a law school in Kyoto, earning an internship at his grandfather’s old law firm.
Because the two were so much farther away from everyone else, they naturally stuck together. Tobio had Asuka and later Motoya, but Kei knew no one besides Tobio. He had begun hanging around her more often, when he could and didn’t need to study or work. The two had become closer friends than what they were in high school, most of their arguments being petty, earning them the teasing term “married hoes” by Asuka and Motoya.
It wasn’t until the middle of their first year, the end of the first semester when finals were right around the corner that their relationship took a turn from friendship to something more. Kei had showed up at Tobio, Asuka, and Motoya’s shared apartment looking like a dead animal that had been eaten by a cat, spit up, and pushed into a dishwasher.
He had been a mess and completely unresponsive to any but Tobio when she got home. Tobio had cooked dinner at that time and a sweet treat for the blond, before pushing Kei to the living room’s couch and sitting close beside him, covering them both with a soft purple blanket.
Asuka had put on an old movie, Jurassic Park to be exact. And though the movie was for Kei’s benefit, the man had merely passed out against Tobio, his entire body dead weight against her side. Tobio’s heart had swelled and she flushed, but could no longer pay attention to the movie.
She had merely pressed her lips lightly to his forehead and pressed into him, wrapping his hand in hers. She had dozed off, head resting against his. When they woke up that next morning, they were in the same position, though Kei’s glasses were removed from his face.
They had both been flustered messes, partially refusing the accept the feelings that had grown there and partially just wanting to stop the farce they started. It had only ended when Sakusa, who was visiting Motoya at the time, walked out of the hallway, through the living room, and into the kitchen. When he passed them he stated blandly, “You either recognize what you feel or don’t speak again because those feelings are not going to stop.”
Both of them had sputtered and refused to meet each other's’ eyes. They were redder than apples and it made Motoya snort when she walked through the area next.
“Kiyoomi’s right wedding hoes. Get your shit together!”
Suffice to say, Kei had gotten pissed off at them telling him and Tobio what to do and he growled under his breath at them, “Don’t act like you know me.” And he leaned into Tobio, one hand on her cheek, the other wrapping their fingers together. He pressed their foreheads together and their eyes met, breath mingling together. “Is this okay?” he had breathed.
Tobio’s breath had hitched but she nodded once and then their lips were being pressed together.
It had been a chaste and soft kiss, just a brief brush of lips that left them both in flustered messes and sitting on opposite sides of the couch. It was definitely unusual for them to both be as they were acting but it was a very entertaining sight as told by Motoya and Asuka any time it was brought up.
But they eventually worked out their feelings, as best as emotionally constipated (as Hinata, Yamaguchi, Yachi, Asuka, Motoya, Morisuke, etc. have called them) people could. And they learned as they went. After all, they weren’t people to really accept bullshit (when Tobio could actually recognize it) so they called each other out a lot and that was their communication efforts. But it worked for them.
Tobio was abruptly thrown from Kei’s arms and into their bed, which she immediately burrowed into, tossing blankets over her exhausted body. Kei rolled his eyes and snorted at her, shaking his head. He walked from the room and towards the bathroom. Tobio sighed happily and relaxed into the bed, limbs spread out in any position.
By the time Kei came back into the room, Tobio was on the cusp of sleep and awake, her breathing slow and deep. Kei clicked his tongue and folded blankets over her still body, crawling in beside her, moving her sprawled limbs carefully so he could press against her back. He buried his face into her soft hair, causing Tobio to let out an abrupt snort and smack her lips together, wiggling back against Kei even more.
The blond snickered but relaxed, releasing a tired sigh. And then the two were drifting off to sleep, surrounded by warmth and love.