Work Text:
It all started with a peculiar comment.
Oikawa was a calculating guy, for better or worse. He was quick on his toes, serving back with precision on court and with smart comeback off court. He knew what he wanted and he had a charming way of gathering people to follow his lead. Oikawa was both a leader and an influencer who knew what his strengths were.
Tobio knew all of this. After all, he was the starry eyed kouhai who used to worship the ground Oikawa walked on. Perhaps, his admiration back then in Kitagawa wasn’t limited to volleyball, but also a helpless crush on someone who despised him. You didn’t almost strike your wannabe protege with love right?
So it weirded him out when suddenly out of nowhere, his brunette senpai casually threw a what seemingly an innocent sentence to their team. Just like other teenagers, both Oikawa and Tobio (more emphasis on the former) outgrew their rivalry. Or maybe it was the captain of Chuo University volleyball team that decided he had had enough of his animosity towards the blue eyed freshman and locked them in the gym closet to sort out their thing. A night in the closet and teary eyed Tobio finally managed to smack some sense into Oikawa. And the fact that both of them were in the same team that happened to be led by a more mature, bigger version of Karasuno’s former number one who wanted his brilliant setters to not squabble every practice.
“You should just go out with me instead.”
Tobio turned his head so fast he almost got a whiplash. He thought he misheard, but how could he misheard when there were only two other person sitting in front of him at a particularly empty cafe. Kuroo was cackling while Oikawa examined his fingers casually as if he didn’t just spout nonsense before.
“Ohoho, and you thought you would be a better choice?” Kuroo asked gleefully. Too gleefully, in Tobio’s opinion.
Oikawa scoffed, still not looking at Tobio. “I know I am better than that sorry excuse who ghosted Tobio-chan.” He rolled his eyes before finally glancing at the wide eyed setter and poked his cheek with a straw. “And you need to learn not to pull in selfish, conceited guys like him. I thought you were a genius.”
Tobio finally opened his mouth to protest. “He was in my class, and he approached me first.”
“Aww, you’re so cute Tobio. I’ll find you better boys from now on,” Kuroo said, pinching the boy’s cheek, because contrary to common opinion by strangers who didn’t know Tobio, said boy was very touchy and surprisingly loved being pampered. Kuroo assumed it came with being the youngest of the family.
Tobio pouted, sipping his milk. “Whatever, I didn’t even like him. His lost”
With that, the sad tale of Tobio’s love life, or lack of thereof, came to an end. Or so he thought.
There were perks of sharing a house with another person. Rent would be cheaper, you got a room for yourself instead of sharing with other people at the student dorm, you got a living room, a kitchen, and a small but decent balcony overlooking the bustling city. But for Tobio, living with another person, specifically two guys who happened to be his former senpai and rival, it also came with a liability: being an errand boy.
He enjoyed living with Kuroo and Oikawa though. When he first got the acceptance letter to Chuo University, Sugawara was happy but concerned at the same time, because he knew his kouhai could be useless outside of the volleyball court. It was a sheer luck that he happened to hear that Kuroo was currently renting a three bedroom apartment with Bokuto and Oikawa. And that they had an empty room because Bokuto moved out to live with his girlfriend. The silver haired boy, like the mother hen he was back in high school, helped Tobio moving out from Miyagi to the bustling city of Tokyo, making sure his kouhai did arrive safely at Kuroo and Oikawa’s apartment instead of getting lost somewhere. It was helpful that Tobio knew who he was rooming with, and both Kuroo and Oikawa were surprisingly tidy around the house. The only down side was the groceries. With three young athletes in the house, they went through their food quickly. Since Tobio was new (or perhaps he couldn’t say no to the opportunist Kuroo and sarcastic Oikawa), he was tasked with the sacred duty of replenishing their fridge weekly.
“Tobio-chan!! we run out of milk!” hollered Oikawa from the living room.
Tobio groaned, still engrossed in his calculus assignment that was supposed to be due tomorrow. “Check the cabinet, Oikawa-san!”
Came the reply from the brunette. “I won’t be hollering if I haven’t checked!”
Another groan left Tobio’s lips, who rolled his eyes. Oikawa wouldn’t die just from one day without milk. It was a mistake though, not replying, because Oikawa wouldn’t be ignored. And soon enough, his room door was opened before a huffy college volleyball athlete who was supposed to be older than Tobio came in.
“Tobio-chan did you hear me? we run out of milk!”
The blue eyed setter grunted, still not looking up from his assignment. “I heard you.”
Oikawa squinted, walking closer to him. “You’re supposed to buy the groceries today.”
Tobio kept writing. “Can’t today. I need to finish this assignment, it’s due tomorrow. Coach will yell at me if he gets another warning from my teacher.” It was true. Apparently, their coach wanted all his athletes to be balanced phsyically and educationally.
Oikawa huffed and peeked at his assignment, tilting his head at the scribbled notes. He pointed at one number. “This is wrong.”
“What do you know about Calc II?” Tobio pouted.
The brunette rolled his eyes and flicked his kouhai in the forehead, ignoring his yelp and pulled a chair. “Scoot over, dummy.” He couldn’t have the whole apartment starving because their errand boy was too stupid for the mandatory Calculus II assignment. Tobio should be grateful Oikawa was not only brilliant at volleyball, but also smart enough to stay in the top 5% of his cohort.
Tobio, still pouting, reluctantly moved aside and let Oikawa checked his assignment. Truth be told, he’d been this close to just give out and sat the rest of the season out due to failing Calculus. Or begged Tsukishima to help him. Just the thought gave a chill down his spine. He couldn’t decide which one was worse. Still, Tobio shook his head and tried to concentrate to what Oikawa was explaining, which was a little bit hard because he just realized Oikawa had zero spatial awareness and was essentialy crushing Tobio to the wall beside him. From their close proximity, Tobio could smell the older guy’s cologne, which smelled better on him. Tobio had once sneaked a sniff when Oikawa left the bottle in their living room, and it didn’t smell as good as when Oikawa wore it.
“Hey, are you listening to me?” Oikawa grumbled, pinching the boy’s cheek.
Tobio pulled away, “Yes I am.”
“What did I just say just now?”
Silence.
Then a sigh, from Oikawa. He wiped his face before scooting even closer, gently guiding Tobio’s face to actually read the problem in front of them. “You’re lucky your cute baby fat saved your otherwise stupid looking face. Now look here, I’ll explain this one more time.”
Tobio felt his cheeks warmed at the gentle hand guiding his face. Or perhaps it was the proximity of his, objectively speaking, handsome senpai. He still couldn’t decide if Oikawa was insulting or complimenting him though so he kept his mouth shut and for once concentrated towards the assignment in front of him.
In Karasuno, they used to baby Tobio, especially Sugawara. The boy might be emotionally constipated and verbally challenged, but he was sensitive. He may not always expressed his thoughts eloquently, often times bordering offensive that it triggered Hinata and Tsukishima. When words failed, it was the slap to his back that told him they could still try one more time. It was a tackle to the ground that told him even though he yelled at his teammates, they understood and that they had his back as well. It was a pat on his head that assured him Sugawara didn’t feel threatened by his position. It was taped fingers wiping his tears away and a steady heartbeat against his that wordlessly allowed him to cry and that Tsukishima also took their matches seriously. He took comfort in physical touches and enjoyed it very much.
So Tobio couldn’t help the confusion and warmth he felt when Oikawa suddenly draped his jacket over his shoulder as they walked home from practice, the night rain fall steadily. They both stayed after practice for extra drills, because of the upcoming match and Oikawa would be the starting setter, while Tobio was just being Tobio.
“Oikawa-san?” Tobio looked up to see his brunette senpai checking his phone.
“What”
“This is your jacket.”
Oikawa snorted. “Very abstute observation, Tobio-chan.”
Tobio squinted his eyes, why was Oikawa-san being so, weird. “Why are you giving me your jacket?”
Oikawa finally looked up from his phone, the other hand still holding their shared umbrella steadily. “Because idiots get sick easily from cold and I don’t want you to spread your germs all over our pristine apartment.”
If Tobio felt warmth from the jacket before, it was easily snuffed out by the biting remark from Oikawa. He glared and pushed the jacket away. “I don’t need your jacket.”
Oikawa glared harder and held Tobio’s shoulder before the jacket could fall to the already wet ground. “Don’t, you brat! It is expensive.”
“I don’t wanna wear it if you’re being mean,” Tobio retorted.
Oikawa gritted his teeth, “It’s cold and you know you have the immune system of a five years old. I am being so caring right now” He pulled the jacket up back to cover Tobio’s shoulder.
“That! You always say mean things to me. I know you don’t like me but you don’t have to trash talk me every five minutes,” Tobio talked back, his eyes strangely hot with unshed tears. He knew what people said about him being a genius on court but not off court. He may be a little bit slow but he was tired of Oikawa spouting mean things to him.
Looking at the teary blue eyes and stubborn glare, Oikawa sighed, his own ears feeling hot suddenly. He looked away before muttering, “I’m sorry okay? I don’t want you to get sick, I mean it.” With a softer tone and another pat to Tobio’s shoulder to fix the jacket. He hesitated a little bit before leaving his hand there, pulling Tobio closer to him so the rain didn’t get him.
Feeling a bit silly and warm, Tobio glared down to the ground, wishing he knew what to say in this situation. On one hand, he was ashamed of his childish outburst, because now it seemed like Oikawa was consoling a little boy. On the other hand, he rather liked having a solid hand circling his shoulder, providing warmth and something he couldn’t name, especially coming from Oikawa. Tobio shook his head and blinked. He had played with fire before, and it burned him badly. He wouldn’t try to solve the hot and cold behaviour from Oikawa.
Being in the team of a college volleyball team meant that sometimes they had friendly matches and joint practices in the middle of the season. The perks of being in Chuo was that funding wasn’t a concern, allowing them to book a sensible lodging whenever there were out of city matches. After three years of sleeping together with the Karasuno teams to save funding, Tobio welcomed the luxury of having a hotel room, with hot shower! He was ready to enjoy the room to himself, perhaps rewatching the japan national team match on the TV before sleep when he realized who he was rooming with.
“Oikawa-san!”
Said guy turned around. “Wait, they said I’m rooming with Haru-chan,” Oikawa exclaimed.
Tobio didn’t know whether to step back to the lobby or braced himself for a night with his senpai. He was really tired from the practice though, and the bed looked very inviting. He decided a few snarky remarks was worth the fluffy bed and hot shower. “Haruka-san switches with me because he wants to go out late with Tachibana-san.”
Deeming his response acceptable, Oikawa resumed sorting through his carrier bag. “I’m taking this side of the bed.”
Tobio walked further into the room and just realized the one king sized bed in the middle of the room. “Oh..”
Oikawa fished out clean clothes for sleeping and his toiletries before zipping it up and walked past Tobio to the bathroom. “You should be grateful for being in the same room with the great Oikawa-san.”
Tobio rolled his eyes, “Just shower quickly, I wanna sleep early tonight.”
“Big baby” Oikawa remarked from the bathroom. The door was closed and for awhile, Tobio had the room all to himself while waiting for his senpai to finish. He quickly put his belongings to his side of the room before stretching and decided to check the balcony while waiting for Oikawa to finish. The cool breeze was nice enough and soon he started dozzing off before a cool hand poked his cheek. He opened his eyes blearily to see OIkawa fresh from the shower, his hair still damp.
“Go shower before you get cold,” Oikawa said. He gently pulled the younger setter on his feet.
Tobio blinked his sleepiness, letting Oikawa helped him stand and pushed him back inside. He grabbed his towel and quickly got into the bathroom, wanting to sleep as soon as possible. When he was finished, the room was dimly lit, Oikawa on the bed browsing through his phone. Tobio quietly got into his side of the bed, sighing in relief when the cold sheet touched his skin. He nuzzled the pillow and marveled at the bounciness of it. He might have to ask the receptionist what brand they were using.
Oikawa glanced at him, “sleeping already?”
Tobio hummed, his back facing Oikawa. “I’m sleepy.”
Oikawa said nothing after that, so Tobio closed his eyes, his drowsiness kicking in again. He barely felt the shuffling from Oikawa, he must be preparing for sleep as well. The light above them got turned off all the way, the only source of light coming from the entryway and for a moment, the room was really quiet. Tobio liked it, dark and quiet. He was on his way to dream land, when suddenly he felt an arm snaked between his waist, a solid body behind him.
“Oikawa-san?” Tobio whispered, still tired but alert.
The arm around him tightened, and there was a sigh right behind his ear. Tobio felt himself getting pulled closer to the warm body behind him. No sound.
Slowly, Tobio lifted his hand and gently draped it over Oikawa’s hand, his heart beating faster like he was on the court. This was dangerous. He was getting cozy and warm and he didn’t want it to end. He tapped Oikawa’s finger and whispered again. “Oikawa-san.”
Oikawa interlaced their fingers and squeezed, “Yeah.”
Wriggling his toes, Tobio decided to ask him. “Why are you hugging me?”
There was a silence, the warm body still holding Tobio securely, before Oikawa sighed into Tobio’s neck, his voice barely whispered, “Because I wanted to.” He felt goosebump on the younger’s skin and softly kissed it. “Because I cannot spend another night without having you in my arms.”
Tobio released a breath he didn’t know he was holding, all of the sudden his face went hot. All of the sudden, Oikawa’s behaviour became clear. The offhanded remark, the late night teaching, the gentle hands guiding him. Still, he couldn’t help and whispered, “Do you like me?”
Another squeeze of the hand, before Oikawa slowly maneuvered his position so that Tobio was facing him. Taking his chin to meet his eyes, Oikawa nodded. “Yes, I like you, Tobio. And if you’d let me, I want to keep holding you like this every night, waking up to you by my side every morning, and..” his voice dropped again to a whisper, warm hand gently cup Tobio’s jaw, a hint of finger swiping his lower lip gently. “..and kiss you every time I want to.”
Tobio gulped and shuffled impossibly closer to Oikawa, hugging him close. He could feel the older’s heartbeat against his hand and he was glad he wasn’t the only one being nervous and giddy about this situation. “You want to kiss me?” he whispered.
Oikawa pressed closer, their nose touching. “Yes, if you’d let me,” he whispered, one hand still tracing Tobio’s lip while his other hand was back circling the boy’s waist, not wanting him to pull away.
For awhile, Tobio let their breath mingling together, before he closed his eyes and moved to meet Oikawa’s lip. He swore he felt his heart skipped a beat when their lips touched. He never kissed someone before, and it felt..right. Oikawa’s lips was soft, which was not something he ever noticed about, but he liked it. He exhaled softly before shuffling even closer to Oikawa, softly tangling his hand over the brunette’s hair, drawing a soft groan before Oikawa held him tighter, kissing him harder.
"You’re mine now, Tobio-chan,” Oikawa mumbled between kisses.
Tobio grinned softly against his lips, pulling away just to give a nod and shyly kissed the tip of Oikawa’s nose. “And you?”
Oikawa smiled, before leaning in and kissed him softly. Yours, always yours, Tobio."