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In all three years Shouyou had acquainted with Tobio, he had never seen him with such a visage.
His eyes were akin to a midnight sky; dark, empty, and lifeless. His lips were thin, quivering slightly in pursuit to conceal his sorrow. His breath was ragged, uncontrolled, as if his lungs were pierced from inside.
It was a rare occasion that the whole Kageyama family gathered in one place, and when it did one of them was lying in a casket.
Shouyou wasn’t really fond of Captain Kageyama. It might sound heartless to some, but Shouyou was pretty sure Tobio’s own father figure was one of the main sources of his teenage angst. He wasn’t abusive. No, not at all. But his presence in Tobio’s life was as rare as snow in the summer. His words were as sharp as a dagger. And his own image of a perfect son had more or less ruined Tobio from the inside.
His own father made him sleepless, made him drown in his own darkest cognition, made him who he was before he met Shouyou.
But despite all of that, the fact that Tobio had to bid an early goodbye to his father was anything but cruel. One might think being freed from such a person was liberating, but Shouyou knew it was anything but for Tobio.
Captain Kageyama was no more, and Shouyou could’ve prevented that.
Shouyou loved to swing. He swung in between tall apartments, and office buildings. Hell, even between sacred places. He cherished it when his sweat-stained skin interacted with the howling of eastern Japan’s breeze. From high above, the sun became his guidance, reminding him of the time that had passed and the direction he was heading in. The tapestry of clouds offered him their protection, shielding Shouyou away from the scorching sun or the severe wind.
When Tobio was away (as a Japan under-19 representative, he was often subjected to skip schools - to his great delight, of course), Shouyou spent much more time suspended and soaring in the current. The sky was unfettering; he wasn’t bound by the force of gravity, nor he had to adhere to rigid norms. Each moment of flying offered him a kiss of liberation, of defying earthly bounds.
Still, the only companion he had was the flock of voracious crows. And despite the utter freedom dancing in the sky had offered him, Shouyou still fancied his time on the ground. Considering he could spend his precious time with the person, he treasured the most.
Despite having (possibly indefinitely) retired from volleyball, his unadulterated love for the sport hadn’t vanished into thin air. No, not at all. To this day, nothing was more exciting than the piercing sound of a powerful spike, a devastating kill block, or the smell of Air Salonpas. But alas, he had no other choice when his life had taken a left turn.
After a sting on the back of his neck on his way back from school, he woke up with his hands stuck onto his pillows so tight, he spent roughly 15 minutes in his room trying to find the solution. In a very Shouyou manner, he panicked of course. He surfed on the internet, but his search wasn’t exactly fruitful. And so, he needed to take the accordance with his own hands.
Still, his limbs being sticky wasn’t the only unnatural ability he gained. Even if he was infamous for his crazy jumps and speed in the prefecture before, his vertical and reaction time were more unearthly. On top of that, he could produce his own spider webs from his palm. If someone would forecast Shouyou as an embodiment of a human spider, he too would just laugh it off. But this wasn’t his dream, this was his reality.
He knew what he could do with his newfound ability, but then he had to bid farewell to his first love.
Shouyou was awfully terrified when he first announced to the rest of the club that he would not play volleyball anymore. He knew that disappointment and bewilderment from his coach and teammates would take over his announcement. But above all, he could not bear to face Tobio. The same Tobio who trained night and day with him, who with his best shot deciphered Shouyou’s condition, whom he had promised to beat one day.
Shouyou had fully expected Tobio to avoid him like the plague, as he abandoned his pledge as well as the matter that connected them to a deeper level. Sure, he was disgruntled that Shouyou could not fulfill his promise, nevertheless, he offered him his relentless support. The Kageyama Tobio that everybody knew had blossomed into a more mature, level-headed, and yet still single-brained individual.
And with that, their friendship had flourished into something else. Something that includes many light kisses, fond embraces, and dreams about the future. Yet, the real Shouyou was still unbeknown to Tobio.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Tobio to keep his secret from the masses or that he was terrified that Tobio would leave him first thing first if he knew the truth. No, not at all. Being a new superhero in town meant that threats entailed him and his loved ones wherever he went. And by all means, Shouyou tried his hardest to shield Tobio away from those potential immense threats.
Yet, Shouyou could not avoid when harm came Tobio’s way. He was still a mere human after all. A superhuman, yes, but not someone who could foresee the future to protect his loved ones.
Being the lack of a better term (for now), Tobio’s partner, his schedule had been embedded in Shouyou’s deepest cognition. Tobio was supposed to arrive at Sendai Central Station from Tokyo Central Station at 4:17 PM, on platform three, with the Tohoku Shinkansen line. Since this was Shouyou, he suspended in air from the town of Karasuno all the way to Sendai, other options be damned. He wanted to be the first figure to greet Tobio at the Central Station after a successful campaign with the under-19 national team.
Shouyou observed Tobio’s Shinkansen from afar, as he itched to finally greet his boyfriend after a week of no physical interaction. The bullet train traveled fast, with no plan to stop before it was designated to. Then out of a sudden, the rail bent toward the center of the earth, ready to tilt the high-speed bullet train and eat its passengers alive. Everything happened in a swift motion, and before the conductor could even react, a giant mole crawled out of the huge hole he had made.
Shouyou was stuck between a difficult and a hard place; should he fight the mole or stop the Shinkansen?
Shouyou jerked his head between his two options, his heart said Tobio and the other passengers, but he could not just ignore the giant mole in the room. He needed to think fast, and not just fast, but faster than a bullet train.
Suddenly he heard someone shout, “You take care of the passengers, I’ll handle the mole!”
Without any second thought, Shouyou ran and swung toward the Shinkansen. His heart leaped from his chest due to his great adrenalin, he kept his breath steady despite the heaviness in the air. And while at the same time, he tried to succumb to the possibility of losing Tobio forever.
His spider webs stopped the Shinkansen before it could reach the danger. Passengers wailed and screamed, dispersed, and ran away from the train in a frenzy. Shouyou tried his best to assist the children, elderly, and disabled, but what he anticipated was a certain tall, blue-eyed figure to show his face among the crowds.
The police force came to aid him in his rescue mission. They were a huge help sure, but as a superhero, he could offer more than those police officers, hence his hands were always full.
Between the chaos, suddenly a familiar jet-black mane wearing a familiar black tracksuit came out of the second to last cart. His eyes bulged in great panic, his head shifted left and right in search of assistance, and he held onto his backpack tightly, as if his life depended on it.
Shouyou swung to the very figure he had been in pursuit of when he suddenly realized a large block of concrete was on track to fall exactly above the person he had been dreading losing. His instinct moved him rapidly toward the very same person and pushed him out of imminent danger.
Their bodies became one, entangled in a frenzy, yet relieving squeeze. Because Kageyama Tobio was now in his embrace, breathing – haggardly - but nonetheless breathing.
His own gut reaction drove Shouyou to jerk his head away from Tobio’s shoulder to check in on his condition. Tobio looked battered, yet relatively unharmed. A spatter of blood was gushing from above his left eyebrow and his lips, but at least he was here, in Shouyou’s embrace, all safe and sound.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Tobio winced slightly. “Y-Yeah.”
Shouyou put Tobio’s right arm across his shoulder and helped him lift himself up. Despite Tobio having a hard time raising himself from the ground and clutching his left ribs in pain while doing so, his determination was far greater than the injury he suffered. They walked shoulder-in-shoulder to the nearest safe place, a place where the attack victims like Tobio were granted aid by multiple actors.
They kept on walking and walking, among the rumble, among the dust from the concrete. Shouyou knew they haven’t walked that far, but the state Tobio was in right now prevented them to arrive at a safe space sooner.
Each of Tobio’s breaths felt like a melody of ache. His every step was heavy; as if he was pulling himself out of his own misery. He coughed, he whimpered, yet he showed incredible resilience, like a bird with broken wings trying to fly.
Shouyou had to bid goodbye to him as soon as the paramedics found them. He knew Tobio needed him, but he had a bigger fish to fry as a safeguard to the citizens of Sendai.
“Oh, Shouyou-kun! Come in! Tobio’s in his room.”
In spite of his previous animosity with Captain Kageyama, Shouyou had always been welcomed with open arms by his wife (now widow). Mrs. Kageyama herself wasn’t a perfect mom; she was more or less as absent as his late husband since she prioritized her work and friends rather than her offspring. But hey, at least, she held no grunge against Shouyou.
Shouyou had been to the Kageyama’s residence a heap of times. He knew where Tobio stacked his Monthly Volleyball, where his parents kept his childhood picture, and where they stored their tea assortment. He knew the residence like the back of his hand, yet the house still felt like it was keeping shrewd of mystery.
Most of the mysteries were between its own resident, nonetheless. Shouyou could feel that each family member didn’t know about one other that well, despite sharing the same blood, flesh, and roof on top of their head.
Shouyou opened the door to Tobio’s room gently. “Mom, I swear I don't play-“ Tobio stopped tossing his ball above his head and tilted his head slightly toward the door. His face was adjourned in surprise as he wasn’t expecting a visit from him. “Shouyou?”
“I thought the doctor asked you to not play volleyball for two weeks?” asked Shouyou while closing the door decorated with various volleyball posters and drawings.
Tobio tossed the ball to the ground. “I didn't play. I just tossed it.” He then lifted himself up to a half-seated position and crossed his arm against his chest. “What brings you here?”
“That’s how you greet your boyfriend? Geez.”
Tobio furrowed his brows. “I thought you have to babysit Natsu at this time?”
Being a superhero, one must create a façade of themselves; Shouyou notwithstanding. Babysit, surprise visits from family members, helping with chores. They were just one of the few excuses he had given to Tobio. Lying to Tobio was difficult, incredibly so; but Shouyou had no other choice. Though he wondered to himself how long he was going to keep this persona away from Tobio. Or worse, what if Tobio had found out before he told him?
“Well, yeah, my aunt is in town, so she babysits her instead,” lied Shouyou. His aunt wasn’t in town, he just hadn’t had the energy to patrol Sendai and its surrounding area after Tobio’s near-death experience. “Anyway, I came to give you your homework.”
Tobio clicked his tongue and pouted. Shouyou secretly found Tobio’s pout adorable, although others might find it ghastly. “Don’t they have any mercy for someone who currently suffers a head injury?”
Shouyou plunged himself onto Tobio’s bed. His playful lopsided smirk decorated his already witty demeanor. “Oh, so now you have a head injury?”
“Huh, dumbass. I’ve told you!”
“Yeah, but you were playing with your ball earlier.”
Tobio defended his half-witted action that stemmed from his pure love of volleyball and his inability to stay still. “I was just tossing?”
“Yeah, but what if it falls over your head?” Shouyou immediately jumped from Tobio’s bed. He then grabbed Tobio’s ball from the ground and tossed it above his head, imitating Tobio’s individual setting practice. But instead of juggling it with his ten fingers, he let it slip away to fall onto his face. “See?”
“Umm… yeah. I didn’t think that far ahead.”
Shouyou found himself sitting next to Tobio again. His eyes cast a downturn and he slightly caressed Tobio’s fresh stitches. “Just rest, okay?” He kissed the very same area that might leave a lasting scar. “I met Yachi earlier; she said the whole team already misses you.”
Spending time with Tobio was anything but an uneventful endeavor. Time seemed to pass in haste when they were entertaining each other, throwing each other loving bicker, stealing kisses from one another, or indulging in each other’s embrace. Time was supposed to come to a screeching halt when he was with Tobio, alas the reality was much crueler than that. Sometime after the sun started to shy away from the sky that offered Shouyou great freedom, he had to bid goodbye to the person he wanted to be always in his vicinity.
Shouyou was pedaling as fast as he could since the sun started to close on its horizon, hiding behind the mountain that hugged the town of Karasuno. His mom always nagged him when he arrived after dark, as one could not predict what sort of creature was hiding behind in the darkness of a mountainous area.
Shouyou was huffing and puffing into the heavy air, when suddenly a lady in a motorbike stopped him on his track, preventing him from traveling closer to his home. “Hinata Shouyou?”
“Yes?”
The lady stepped off his bike and inched closer to Shouyou. Shouyou promptly knew something that was inherently wrong might’ve happened. Otherwise, why would a very stern unknown lady be searching for him? “Were you at the event of the giant mole attack in Sendai?”
Shouyou’s heart leaped faster and faster, he felt as if it had pierced through the outer layer of himself. He held onto his bike tightly, looking for any sort of crutch, any sort of support, and yet his hands still could not stop trembling. “Who are you?”
“I am you, just from another universe.”
He sneered sarcastically. Honestly, he had not heard such a good joke in a long time. “Ha ha, funny.” Despite his witty reply, Shouyou was anything but in full composure. No one knew his persona, yet this lady spoke as if they had been acquainted. His mind was running wild as to what action had prompted her to say those words to him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She released webs from her palm and snatched Shouyou’s leg, prompting him to hang in the air upside down. “Believe me now?”
“Okay, yeah, let me down.”
The spider-lady dropped Shouyou just like discarded trash to the ground. She then put her hands on her hips. “Kageyama Tobio. Does that name ring a bell?”
Shouyou could still smell something nefarious with the lady. Maybe she was a spider villain? Who knows. I mean who could blame him when it was the first time, he met one of his kind? “Um… no?” The spider lady showed Shouyou the white of his eyes and threatened him again with her webs. Shouyou gulped and glanced anywhere but the lady’s eyes to avoid her deadly stare. He prayed that by revealing his knowledge of Tobio nothing dangerous would come upon him. “Yeah, yeah, he’s my friend.”
“Friend?” snickered the spider lady with complete amusement. Shouyou was startled, why would she, a person he had just met could entangle the true relationship between the two of them?
“Okay, okay. He’s my boyfriend, happy now?”
“Figures.”
Shouyou curled his brows. Had his personal data been recorded in some sort of superhero database from the moment he got bitten by a spider? “Huh, seriously. Who are you?”
“Kageyama Tobio was supposed to die in the event of the giant mole attack.” She then narrowed her eyes. “Yet, he didn’t.”
He chuckled. What the hell was she talking about, this was his job. Save the civilians, capture the bad guys, prevent deaths. Was this woman such a bad superhero that she had to drag him into being one too? “Of course not, I saved him.”
She pursed her lips and shook her head slightly. “Yeah… and that wasn’t supposed to happen.” She then took a glance at her watch-like device. “Did someone aid you that day?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you see his or her face?” asked her while she was still playing with her device.
“No,” answered Shouyou sternly. He wasn’t going to bulge from this spider-lady (or spider-lady-villain, okay that was too mouthful) and her weird notion that Tobio was supposed to be six feet underground. “I don’t know okay! And Tobio is supposed to live anyway!”
Shouyou seemed to be pushing this lady to her wit’s end. “No, he didn’t! You saved him, and now you broke your own canon!”
Shouyou could not comprehend anything that this person was saying. Tobio supposed to die? Broke his own canon? He understood none of that bullshit and it seemed he too had reached his own breaking point.
“And I supposed to let him die? Let his mom bury her own son less than a year after she buried her husband? Let his talent become unknown to the whole world? Let him become a footnote in history? Fuck no!”
She inched closer toward Shouyou and shouted at him in utter frustration. Hands flailing everywhere, voice cracking, nose flaring. “Yes! Yes, yes yes! It happened to all of us and was also supposed to happen to you!”
Shouyou held himself strong before he delivered his final verdict. “No, Tobio should not die that day.”
The spider woman sighed. Both were too headstrong, too unyielding. She saw no point in debating over a matter Shouyou would not understand. “Anyway, if you ever see the person who aided you that day again,” she gave him a similar watch-like device, “don’t hesitate to give us a call. I have a mess that I still need to take care of.”
The device was something he hadn’t seen before. True, Shouyou possessed less than-ideal engineering skills and did not keep up with the latest technology, but he could sense that the device was undoubtedly from the far future. Shouyou was still toying with the device, cracking what it might’ve been, when a playful feminine voice startled him.
“I heard you broke a canon event.”