Kageyama leant against the cold cement wall outside the bathrooms at Aoba Jousai with his head on his arm and phone to his ear. With each word being said draining his strength and will to fight against it any more.

Karasuno were having a practice match with Aoba Jousai again. Kageyama was already pissed from all the 'king' jokes that had been thrown at him progressively throughout the day from his former teammates of Kitadaiichi particularly Kindaichi who'd been picking at him almost every chance he got and Tsukishima, so it came as no surprise to Kageyama that he was losing it already. He couldn't deal with this for much longer. He knew he shouldn't have called back when he missed his parents' call. He should've waited until he got home to deal with them.

"Kageyama why haven't you quit that ridiculous sport already?! You're grades are suffering and we will not have a failure for a son! Stop being a child and focus on what really matters."

Kageyama sighed and closed his eyes, there was no point fighting back at this point he may as well just let his mother talk, god knows his father will be on the phone right after she was done with him.

"Why are you like this Kageyama? We didn't raise you to be a failure, what is wrong with you? Why are you so useless?"

Kageyama could hear the phone change hands and he braced himself for his father. He hated the man from the bottom of his heart; he absolutely despised this man that made his life hell. He didn't even call him by the name they gave him! They were his parents, why were they like this? Surely this wasn't normal, he'd been over to Hinata's house before and met his parents only once but Hinata's parents adored their son like he was the most precious thing on earth along with their daughter.

"Now you listen to me boy and you listen good. You are quitting that sport today, you hear me? I will not take your insolence any longer. Your mother and I have cleaned out your room and-"

"You can't do that!" Kageyama yelled into the phone haughtily, his eyes snapping open in shock before he'd realized what he'd done and felt dread pool in his stomach.

"How dare you interrupt me!" Kageyama could have held the phone a foot from his ear and still perfectly heard the words his father was spitting out at him. "You good for nothing trash!" Kageyama was unaware that he had tears in his eyes, nor that Oikawa and Kindaichi had frozen in place just around the corner as they heard his outraged cry into the phone and were waiting for Kageyama to finish his call before they walked around the corner feeling as if they were intruding.

"You and that stupid sport obsession of yours has made you arrogant! You think you're a genius? You're a waste of a human being. Pathetic. To think that any son of mine would dare to interrupt me. Who do you think you are? A king? You're useless and stupid-"

"SHUT UP!" Oikawa and Kindaichi flinched at his emotional yell. They really wanted to leave but curiosity had them rooted to the ground listening to Kageyama's breath quicken the more got upset, it was heavier and choked as if he were fighting against something.

"Oh hit a nerve did I brat? Good when you get home I'll teach you a lesson in respect you won't ever forget. You need to be punished. A few hits with the belt doesn't seem to be enough anymore-" "Shut up." Kageyama muttered "I'll make sure you never see that pathetic team again you hear. I'll make sure you can never set another ball for that overly loud red head midget-" "Please, stop." "You'll never play again. You'll focus on your work get into a good university and make some money. To think that you couldn't even get into Shiratorizawa. You are the biggest disappointment of my life. You were a mistake. Our lives would have been better without you in it. We should have abandoned you when we had the chance-"

Kageyama couldn't listen to it any longer. He clenched his fist against the wall before turning sharply and destroying his phone before he heard anymore. His chest was heaving and all of a sudden it was too much. Everything seemed to slam into him like a meteorite and try to squash him flat. His tears threatened to spill as he slid to the ground arms crossed over his knees and head resting on top. He held his breath, trying to get himself under control as his body shook with the effort of keeping in the sobs he so desperately wanted to let out.

Oikawa and Kindaichi looked to each other, both with confused looks. Do they walk out and ignore Kageyama, try to help him, act normal or walk away? Shrugging half-heartedly the older of the two decided they may as well do what they came here to do and stepped around the corner with his teammate close behind him. It took all of two-seconds for them to read the situation and wish they'd walked off instead. It was too late now.

"Oh looky here it's Tobio-chan." Oikawa drawled, shooting a concerned glance over at Kindaichi when he received no acknowledgement from Kageyama. Oikawa flicked his head toward Kageyama and Kindaichi seemed to get the message as he nodded and stepped forward.

"What's wrong? Is the king of the court not going to lower himself to talk to us commoners today." It was so quiet they almost couldn't hear it but they heard the muffled whisper Kageyama used to reply thought they didn't know what he said. Kindaichi tried again.

"What was that your majesty, we didn't quiet catch that."

Oikawa and Kindaichi jumped back when Kageyama's head shot up and he stared at them, eyes filled with a heart wrenching mix of fury, devastation and tears as he screamed at them.

"DO NOT CALL ME THAT."

Silence fell between the three as Kageyama's voice echoed around the empty courtyard. Oikawa and Kindaichi felt it was too empty given the situation. Kageyama had never been one for emotional out bursts such as this and they had no idea how to handle a Kageyama who wasn't over bearing, egocentric and arrogant. The difference was too much for them, having Kageyama yell at them that was normal. That they could deal with quite easily. Kageyama crying and yelling at them was something they realized they'd never wanted to see and wished they could forget.

Kageyama dropped his head onto his arms again, hiding his face as much as he could. He could no longer suppress the sobs that tore from his throat.

"T-Tobio-chan?" Oikawa approached Kageyama awkwardly and crouched in front of him. Kageyama tried his best to ignore Oikawa until he felt his seniors hand rest on his head gently and he looked up at him in shock, his tears still running down his face as he took in Oikawa's deadly serious expression, one that was rare when he wasn't on court. He heard and felt Kindaichi sit next to him and tensed when Kindaichi's warm hand rested on his back. He didn't move away.

"What happened?" Oikawa asked. If this were any other situation Kageyama would have told him to 'fuck off' and 'leave him alone', hell if he was wearing any other expression other than the one he had on he would have thought Oikawa was making a joke out of him, but the genuine worry and concern plastered onto Oikawa's face told him otherwise. This wasn't the overly confident if somewhat assholeish court Oikawa, nor was it the off court flirtatious jokey Oikawa. He was seriously concerned for Kageyama. Kageyama just didn't want to tell him anything.

Oikawa sighed as Kageyama just kept staring at him with his out of place, sorrow-filled teary eyes. "Tobio-chan, it's ok, I swear I won't tell anyone and I can vouch for Kindaichi-kun as well. You can tell us what happened. We heard you're end of the phone call. What's going on?"

Kageyama whined and shook his head, going to hide his face again before Oikawa caught him and made him look.

"Tobio. Tell me what happened. I won't make fun of you. I promise. I want to help." He was sincere, Kageyama could tell. Against his will he found himself pouring out his heart to both Oikawa and Kindaichi.

"It was my parents. They called during the match and I knew I should've just waited until I got home instead of calling them back but I did it anyway…" Kageyama stopped for a breath and before he could decide not to talk any more Oikawa had urged him to continue, he did without a second thought.

"I knew what was going to happen when I spoke to them. I get the same thing every time they call or they actually at home. They ridicule me and call me pathetic, a mistake, an idiot. Are constantly on my case because I couldn't get into Shiratori, always telling me to quit playing and telling me I'm making a stupid mistake wasting my life playing volleyball with everyone." Kageyama's voice had raised a few octaves as he spoke. His breath hitched every other word and his tears cascaded down his face faster and fatter than ever before.

"They're always telling me that they expected better, that I'm a failure and I'm useless. I'm good for nothing and a waste of time, effort and money. Punish me at the slightest of wrong doings like not pushing in the fucking chairs in around the dining table after I clean up from having dinner with them when they're actually there. Having streaks on the windows and dust on my desk, a crumb on the counter or a ring on the coffee table."

Kageyama had retreated mentally from them as he fell silent. Oikawa and Kindaichi couldn't believe their ears, everyone at Kitadaiichi had just assumed Kageyama was a spoilt brat who got everything he wanted and still wasn't happy. They never even thought for a second that this could be the reason for his social ineptitude. Suddenly Kindaichi was struck with a horrified feeling as he remembered a brief but tense conversation he'd had with Kageyama two years ago when they were in their second year at Kitadaiichi.

It was hot in the gym where they practiced, the team currently taking one of the many breaks they'd had and were going to have over the course of that day and the next few days of practice all of which were expected to be at least 30 degrees. The only person not resting was Kageyama, who was repeatedly throwing balls up into the air from random spots on the court to where his imagined spiker would be, the team had to admit that if they were better they'd be able to pull off most of what Kageyama was currently tossing. Unfortunately they weren't at that level much to Kageyama's frustration and everyone else's irritation as he constantly barked at them in his arrogant angry voice to 'go faster' and 'jump higher'.

Kindaichi watched Kageyama jump and toss over and over again until something under Kageyama's shirt caught his eye. It was a rather large purple-blue splotch on his stomach, now that Kindaichi had seen it as Kageyama jumped again, arms rising above his head taking his shirt with it as he came back down to earth, the air blew it up he noticed that Kageyama's body was littered with bruises big and small.

"Oi Kageyama, what's with all the bruises?" He called out across the gym. If anyone had been paying close attention to Kageyama at that moment they would have noticed him tense and look of panic that raced into his eyes, but nobody did and Kageyama glared down at Kindaichi as if he'd personally offended him.

"None of your business." He snapped and turned away to grab another ball. If anything that should have raised alarms with at least the older students, but nobody cared to notice the stronger sense of hostility in Kageyama's words, nor the on guard expression and tense body language as he set up his toss.

"Oh I'm sorry your highness, I didn't know I was stepping on a land mine." Kindaichi shot back. Kageyama glared at him mid jump and messed up his toss, sending toward his senpai's and swearing loudly before called out a warning just a little too late for anyone to dodge.

"I got them when I was training." Kageyama snapped as he stalked out of the gym and didn't return until the next mornings practice.

Kindaichi pulled up Kageyama's shirt before anyone could stop him and cursed loudly. Oikawa looked over at Kageyama's back and clenched his fist not saying a word. Kageyama's back was a collage of colours, blue, purple, yellow, green, covered with welts and cuts mostly covered with gauze where he could reach and flaming red where he couldn't cover them, his skin was shiny in a few places as well, almost as if he'd been burnt. Kageyama jumped away from them faster than Hinata could complete their freak spike and pulled down his shirt, stretching it down a little too far as more bruises and a patch of gauze could be seen peeking above his collar.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kageyama demanded, hiding behind aggressive behaviour despite the shock in his eyes and the tears that had failed to stop falling.

"What the fuck did they do to you Kageyama?" Kindaichi replied starring at the bruises he could see at the top of Kageyama's collar. Kageyama was at a loss, he couldn't tell them, it wouldn't change anything, the last time he'd told someone what had been going on they moved away and it got worse. He couldn't tell them. He couldn't.

"Nothing, I got them training." Oikawa and Kindaichi winced at the weak excuse they'd heard far too many times before when they'd asked about the bruises. Honestly, now that they thought about it, whenever someone asked about Kageyama's bruises in middle school he always gave the same answer, 'training', and everyone fell for it, eventually they stopped asking. How did they not notice?

Looking back on it now there were times when Kageyama was slightly off kilter. His behaviour a little too odd. He'd walk into practice with a limp or his arms wrapped in bandages from his wrists to his elbows, his spikes were slower than even their normal spiker or faster than the ones he dished out in games when they were having a tough time. Days where Kageyama didn't talk to anyone and days when he looked so exhausted he could just collapse and never wake up.

The entire team had ignored every sign that something was very wrong. If they'd just payed the slightest bit of attention to Kageyama past his terrible personality they'd notice how he kept his distance from everyone both physically and emotionally. How, when someone would pat him on the back for a good serve before they all hated him, he'd wince or flinch away before contact was even made. How did they miss it?

Kageyama started to get up as quickly as possible. He'd stopped crying but he could tell it wouldn't last long. He wanted to get away from them, and he wanted to get away now.

Oikawa and Kindaichi had different wants to him and grabbed hold of him before he could escape. Kindaichi let go first and Oikawa pulled Kageyama to him. Kageyama was half on his feet when Oikawa pulled him; he stumbled forward and fell into his lap, whacking his chin rather painfully on Oikawa's shoulder and almost biting his tongue whilst Oikawa held him and didn't let go. Kageyama struggled against Oikawa, gave it his best to get away. The heat that had settled in his stomach making it's way up his throat freezing his muscles and heating his body uncomfortably.

"Let me go." He muttered, his voice cracking. Oikawa held him tighter as trembles shook Tobio's body and shook his head.

"No."

"Please let go." Kageyama's voice was rising in pitch and he sniffed, his throat constricted and he let out a choked sob.

"Nope." Oikawa shifted into a more comfortable position instead of kneeling on the ground he sat and put his legs over Kageyama's and shifted closer. He moved one hand to Kageyama's head and entwined his fingers with his hair, guiding his head downwards so his face was pressed between his neck and shoulder as he felt wet drops sink into his shirt. Kageyama was crying again. He was shaking and clutching Oikawa's as if it was his only lifeline.

"Oikawa." Kageyama whimpered weakly, wrapping his arms around Oikawa and hugging him tightly, as if afraid he'd disappear.

"Shh, it's ok now Tobio. Nobody can hurt you here. I promise." Oikawa replied squeezing Kageyama and running a hand through his hair in a way meant to sooth him.

"I'm sorry." Oikawa looked down at Kageyama confused and then at Kindaichi sitting uselessly beside him, meeting only the same confusion he felt. Why would Kageyama apologize?

"Oi, you don-"

"I do, I'm sorry. About everything that happened in middle school. The way I treated everyone and how I played. I'm sorry." Kageyama sobbed into his shoulder. Oikawa looked at Kindaichi, giving him a look that said 'you take this one' as Kindaichi had been on the end of Kageyama's behaviour to the point where he chose to abandon him in the middle of a game just to make a point.

"I-it's ok Kageyama. We all forgave you when we first saw you play with Karasuno, in our first practice match." Kindaichi sounded awkward and uncomfortable. He looked awkward and uncomfortable. This situation was way out of hand. Something he'd never imagine in his wildest dreams. Thinking it best not to ask the question out loud Kindaichi tapped out a message on his phone to which Oikawa shook his head. Kindaichi sighed and put his phone away before leaning on the wall behind him and watching Kageyama cry into Oikawa's shoulder.

Why wouldn't Oikawa let him go get Karasuno's coach at the very least? What were they going to do, wait until someone from Karasuno stumbled upon them or they left thinking Kageyama left before them? They couldn't keep Kageyama no matter how much of a mess he was now; they had to tell someone about this, they had to tell an adult. Kageyama couldn't live like this anymore.

The sound of Kageyama's sobs started to die down to the occasional sniffle; his body stopped shaking and relaxed in Oikawa's embrace suddenly, his arms falling to his sides as his breathing evened out. Oikawa glanced at Kindaichi before gently moving Kageyama away from him to see his face. His eyes were closed; the last of his tears drying quickly on his face leaving marks on his cheeks and rimming his eye slightly puffed eyes in bright red. Kageyama was unconscious.

"Kindaichi. Help me with him." Oikawa whispered. Kindaichi nodded and stood up stretching before he grabbed Kageyama's top half so Oikawa could turn around and placed Kageyama on Oikawa's back, throwing his arms over Oikawa's shoulders and helping him to stand once he'd gotten a good grip on Kageyama's legs to keep him in place.

"Grab the phone." Oikawa ordered as he walked off back towards the gym leaving Kindaichi behind and hoping that he wouldn't run into any wondering crows on his way back. He'd rather only explain the situation once. The shock Oikawa had still hadn't worn off yet and he didn't want to tell Karasuno without Kageyama's permission but he knew that if he didn't then Kageyama wouldn't ever mention it and nobody would be able to fix it.

Just his luck as Kindaichi caught up to him carrying the pieces of what used to be Kageyama's phone he ran right into Tsukishima as they turned a corner. Tsukishima took one look at him and Kageyama, his eyes narrowed suspiciously as crossed his arms and glared down at them.

"What did you do to him?" He demanded instantly, Oikawa gave him a strained smile and backed up a little trying to show he meant no harm.

"We helped him, we did nothing bad. If you would help me and take him that'd be great. He's a little heavier than expected and I don't think I can carry him to the gym. I'll only explain what happened once so don't bother asking now but make sure the entire team is there. These types of things tend to become distorted past first hand information." Oikawa spoke fast, he could almost feel the tension reverberating through Tsukishima as the blondes face took on a dark look and he nodded, almost effortlessly plucking Kageyama from Oikawa's back and carrying him bridle style back to Karasuno change rooms and calling everyone back from their search.

The Karasuno team slowly trickled into the room, each member asking the same questions every time they entered and getting the same answer, 'we won't repeat this, wait until everyone's here.' Of course that didn't stop some of the more boisterous members (Hinata, Nishinoya, Tanaka) from asking further questions all of which were skill fully avoided by Tsukishima until they gave up and waited it out until Ukai (who was last to arrive) finally entered the locker room and leant against the wall next to the door smoking a cigarette.

"All right you two. Tell us what this is all about." Ukai ordered. Oikawa nodded and stepped to the front of the room, standing directly in front of Tsukishima who had Kageyama lying next to him with his head in his lap and Kindaichi sitting by Kageyama's feet.

"You all remember when Tobio left to make a phone call at the end of them match?" Oikawa asked receiving nods from everyone.

"He was calling his parents, who apparently had nothing nice to say to him." Oikawa heard a gasp from Karasuno team and glanced at Hinata who looked a little red and glanced at the floor.

"Kindaichi and I over heard the end of the conversation on Tobio's end. He was very upset and destroyed his phone to get out of the conversation." A few sighs were heard around the room as the Karasuno team realised why they weren't able to get a hold of Kageyama's phone.

"We… after everything was silent for a while Kindaichi and I deemed it safe enough to continue what we were supposed to be doing but Tobio-chan was…" Oikawa stopped, he really wasn't sure about this. He knew Kageyama would be pissed that he'd told them.

"Tobio-chan was seated against the wall hiding his face from, well, everything. He was shaking a little as well. Kindaichi and I tried to provoke him a little but we got no reaction out of him until Kindaichi called him King of the court. He snapped at us and when he looked at us… He was so angry and upset, he had tears in his eyes and he quickly went back to hiding his face. When we approached him and got him to talk a little he told us of the abuse his parents dish out to him every time he has contact with them." Oikawa internally smiled as he saw all the members of Karasuno tense, getting an angry glint in their eyes, even their little ray of eternal sunshine Hinata looked pissed, if not the most pissed off out of all of them.

"Most of the time it was only verbal and it was bad." Oikawa paused and let them digest this new information about their teammate until Hinata spoke up as something Oikawa said sparked an alarm in him making his voice come out strained, dark and dead.

"You said most of the time."

Nobody spoke; they hardly dared to breath in the aftermath of that one statement. Oikawa looked down, clenching his fist. Kageyama's situation made him so angry, how could no one have noticed? How could he not have noticed? He spent more time with Kageyama than anyone else back in middle school.

"They got physical as well… There are bruises… All over his body, welts and cuts, a few burns as well. All from his parents."

Oikawa turned back to Kageyama and told Tsukishima to hold him up. Kageyama was like a ragdoll, his head lolled onto his chest, his body slouched as Oikawa grabbed Kageyama's shirt and pulled it up to reveal the patch work of colourful bruises, cuts, welts, burns and gauze that was Kageyama's body. There were gasps all around the room and swears from more than a few. Hinata was one of the swearers, as tears filled his eyes. Tanaka, another swearer glared at the marks as if hoping he could scare them off Kageyama's body.

Asahi and Sugawara both actually burst out in tears and Daichi who sat next to Sugawara wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close for comfort as he stared with hard eyes at his kouhai.

Nishinoya, the last and the worst cusser jumped up from his place and slammed a fist into the lockers behind him leaving a dent before slamming his head into the exact same spot and making it worse. Ukai dropped his cigarette, he had nothing to say or actions to fulfil but stare in shock at the abysmal state of Kageyama's body along with Takeda. Tsukishima nearly dropped Kageyama in shock and Yamaguchi paled and slapped a hand to his mouth looking queasy.

Oikawa dropped Kageyama's shirt, turned to Karasuno and bowed deeply.

"We're leaving Tobio-chan to you. Please take care of him and help him."

"W-we will." Hinata replied, Oikawa stood from his bow and smiled at Hinata before motioning to Kindaichi as he left the room, Kindaichi following right behind him.

Silence fell as the door to the locker room slammed shut, nobody knew what to say or do. Tsukishima had put Kageyama down again and got up to follow Yamaguchi as he bolted for the toilets, white as a sheet. The team ignored the sounds that floated back to them, not worrying too much since Tsukishima was with him. Everyone was too caught up in their own thoughts about Kageyama to worry about Yamaguchi chucking up his guts.

They were so caught up in their thoughts, they didn't even notice when Kageyama stirred and sat up, looking around the room owlishly before realising where he was until Tsukishima walked back in with Yamaguchi and paused in the door way.

"Kageyama."

Everyone's attention snapped to Kageyama, the intensity of their gaze making him very uncomfortable. Looking at each one of them again he sighed and averted his eyes to the ground.

"You know." It was a blunt statement void of emotion that made them all a little sick. Hinata was the first to recover and he nodded.

"We know." He confirmed. Kageyama sighed and rested his head in his palms not willing to look at anyone.

"You know...fuck." Kageyama repeated letting out a heavy breath. He was crying again, tears dripping onto the floor and running down his arms. Hinata raced over to Kageyama, placed his hands either side of Kageyama's head and pulled his head up so he could see his face and smiled a Kageyama.

"It's ok Kageyama." Hinata said pulling Kageyama into a hug. "I'm here." He whispered in his ear. To Kageyama it was as if Hinata had screamed it at him like the first time Hinata had screamed those very same words from behind him, the happiness he felt then had tripled upon hearing those words again. Kageyama wrapped his arms around Hinata as well and glanced teary eyed at the rest of the team before hiding his face in Hinata's shoulder.

"Oi king, we're here as well." Tsukishima called from across the room, Kageyama smiled into Hinata's shoulder and hugged him tighter. He despised that nickname, he really did, it just didn't carry the familiar painful stab to his chest whenever it fell from Tsukishima's mouth. He knew he was being mocked, but he knew Tsukishima didn't actually mean half the rude things he said to everyone. Kageyama was no longer crying tears of despair. He was so happy he could burst, he still hid in Hinata's shoulder but his voice was loud and clear for the team to hear. Full of emotion, full of happiness.

"I know you're here. I'm sorry. Thank you."