The light's shining on my eyes wakes me, in foreign surroundings. The bed is comfy, but navy sheets cover me in the simple room. I hear a shower running, and vaguely wonder whether Tobio is the kind to shower in the morning rather than the evening, even though he showered yesterday evening.

My boyfriend. Yesterday seems so unreal… the argument with Koshi… the rain… the kiss…

Somewhere in my mind registered the shower being turned off, but I don't want to leave the lingering warmth of the covers. Wait… this is Tobio's room, I was supposed to sleep in the guest room.

The en suite bathroom door opens and Tobio steps out, and blushes as he looks at me.

"Um… good morning." He mumbles.

"Good morning Tobio, sorry for stealing your bed." I say with a smile, but his blush only deepens and he turns his face away.

"Yeah, it's fine." He mutters. "I'm going to get breakfast ready… you can take anything you need."

"Thanks." I say slightly awkwardly as he leaves the room. As I climb out of the bed I contemplate for a while if I should change clothes, but Tobio's t-shirt is all I really have and its easily long enough to wear out, it could even be called fashionable.

I laugh aloud. Tobio and fashionable aren't words I put together, it's just right now athleisure is so popular that he just looks to be following trends.

I tread downstairs after him and murmur thanks as he sets the table for us both.

"I can't believe it's another day of school after all that happened yesterday." I say, and Tobio just nods not really meeting my eyes and focussing on eating.

"It's straight into Japanese history, bad luck for you." I continue, my brows furrowing as I notice Tobio's unresponsive posture. "Tobio, is something the matter-?"

"I'm really sorry I slept with you last night!"

"Huh?!" A million thoughts rush through my head as I try not to jump to conclusions.

"It was really late and you were already on my bed and then you were asleep and then I intended to leave but the you grabbed onto me and then I fell asleep and I'm really sorry it was so inappropriate to do that I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He rapidly stands and bows repeatedly and I hurry to catch him by the shoulder.

"Stop doing that Tobio you'll hurt yourself!" I say as he looks back at me with a bashful look.

"…sorry."

I laugh lightly as I try to gather my thoughts.

"Wait… so you're sorry you slept in your own bed last night? Tobio I was the one who fell asleep in your bed, if it's anyone's fault it's mine." I say sweetly.

"So… you aren't angry?"

"Tobio, in all honesty… I don't mind physical contact that much." I say, suddenly realising my words and hurriedly looking away. "I mean… I find being close to certain people comforting… so I don't mind it at all. I probably slept a lot better with you being there." My face feels like it's on fire as I explain, before biting my lip and sitting back down.

"Come on, let's eat we do have to get to school, and I need to go home first for uniform." I say, overtly trying to change the subject.

"So you like physical contact? Like… hugs?" Tobio says, as though he's never heard of the word hug before.

"I was trying to change the subject…" I mumble to myself. "Yes, I like hugs. But obviously if you don't like skinship that's fine too."

Tobio seems to become lost in his own thought, so I quickly finish eating and clear away.

12321

"Come on, let's go Tobio." I call as I bend down to tie my shoelaces. As I stand up I feel a warmth on my back and Tobio is helping me put my coat on. "Ah- thanks."

"I'll walk you home and wait for you." He says, opening the door for me as we start to walk down the stairs.

"No, you don't have to. In fact it may be better if not since my mum is home and I… I kinda told her I was staying at Chou-chan's, so if you walk me there and wait outside it'll be suspiscious." I admit.

"You didn't tell her you were with me?" Tobio questions as we step outside.

"Er- well how do you think she would've reacted if I told her I was staying alone with just you?" I supply, and Tobio's face goes pink.

"Fair enough." He says and we start walking. "I'll drop you off at the end of your road then."

"Do you have volleyball after school today again?" I ask and his eyebrows scrunch up.

"I don't know, I'll have to ask." He replies. "You have basketball, right?"

"Yeah, we've reduced practices to only twice a week after school for this month since its time for upperclassmen to get going with their university applications, and even after that we have another month and a half of full practice till the next national competition." I tell him.

"…Our prelims are after yours then? For the spring tournament?" He says.

"Yeah, by a couple of weeks-woah!" I accidently start to cross the road when a bicycle rider wizzes past, and Tobio pulls me in by the waist.

"Are you alright? Be careful!" Tobio says, and I notice he's right above my face as I look up.

"That was close, thanks Tobio. I can't believe my reflexes were so slow." I say.

"It's a blind corner." Tobio says, and after looking thoroughly we cross the road. After a few moments, it hits me his arm is snug around my waist, his hand resting comfortably on my hipbone.

"Er… Tobio you don't have to hold me." I mumble quietly slightly embarrassed.

"Huh?" He questions, and I look up just as he looks down, as I'm sure his blushing gaze is mirrored on mine as we both refuse to look away. "I thought you liked physical contact?"

"I do, but you don't have to do it if you don't want to." I reply, finally looking away. Tobio's socially awkward as it is, I don't want to make him feel worse.

"What makes you think I don't want to?" I'm struck out of my thoughts as Tobio retorts back, face closer to mine than ever. I can't find any words in me to reply.

"You know you're asking a guy whether he wants to touch you or not? Are you crazy?" He says. And my blush deepens as words desert both of us.

Ah… I really am stupid. I know Tobio's quiet and a little awkward and I like that about him but… what was I thinking, he is a guy.

At least he doesn't mind.

After my face has cooled down a reasonable amount, I turn my body towards Tobio as we walk and place my hands lightly on the lapels of his school blazer, which in turn wraps his arm firmer around my body.

He guides our steps and I could almost close my eyes at the comfort I get from this. My head feels fuzzy and warm.

"I'll leave you here." He says as we get to my road, and as I curl out of his arms I take his hand.

"Thanks." I say softly with a small smile, and the corners of Tobio's straight face lift, ever so slightly. As corny as it sounds, as I walk towards my house and he turns the other way, the warmth of my hand makes me smile.

And then my day gets much, much worse.

12321

"Rui-chan, how was it at Chou-chan's? I'm glad you had some time off, you work so hard." My mum greets as I enter the house.

"It was fun mum, I'm just back for school clothes." I say hugging her. "Actually, do we have any painkillers? I feel like I'm getting a headache."

"Go upstairs and get changed, I'll get you some." When I come back down around half an hour later, my mum's waiting.

"Is your headache bad?" She asks me and I frown slightly as the fuzzy feeling has gotten a lot worse.

"I don't really know…" I say as I pick up the glass of water and the pills. My mum comes up to me and places her hand on my forehead, and I see her eyes right in front of me, go wide.

"Rui dear, you're burning up!"

"I am?"

And there started the rush of my mum getting me back out of my school uniform, and straight into my bed. I couldn't get any rest as I rolled around in bed, even though my headache was dulled by the painkillers. My body had gone all clammy, and I felt like shit. My throat feels scratchy, I feel hot and cold all over, I'm sweating profusely yet I feel like I'm shivering.

"Here, drink up."

"Mum, it's disgusting!" I moan as she feeds me the bitter herbal tea that she believes heals all ills. I manage half of it before just shaking my head.

"What were you doing yesterday? Or even this morning? Were you drinking enough?"

"…I probably didn't drink enough water…" I mumble, curling up deeper into my covers.

"What about sleep? You didn't stay up all night with Chou-chan did you?"

"No mum… we went to sleep quite early." I mumble, going through yesterday's events. "Ah…actually, I was out in the rain for quite a bit."

"Darling! You should take better care of yourself!"

"Mum, what do you think is the best way to take care of my schoolwork?" I ask her and her frown increases.

"You should not be thinking about work when you have a 40 degree temperature! I do know you've got all your homework for next week done already, you are my daughter." She scolds as she leaves, and I moan and roll over, before eventually falling into a lull of sleep.

12321

"Rui? Darling?" I hear my name being called and I purse my lips as I look up.

"There's someone here to see you." I hear my mum say as I force my eyes open.

"Tobio?" I question, and I blink extremely confused. I'm not hallucinating am I…?

There in the middle of my room stands Tobio, dead straight looking slightly flustered.

"I'm here to deliver your schoolwork." He says.

"Yes, well lets air the room out, darling do you want to sit up or?" My mum busies herself as I push myself up onto my elbows and sit up fully, as my mum leads Tobio onto a cushion next to my bed.

"You said there's a Japanese history essay she needs to look through? Rui-chan do you feel up to it?"

"I'm sure I can manage." I say, when I know I can't. My whole head feels like its teetering off a cliff and I can barely remember what Japanese history is. I just want Tobio to hug me like he was this morning… that would be nice…

My mum leaves the room as Tobio opens up his notebook and starts reading out his notes.

"What's going on Tobio… you don't even make notes, and you've written the two sections in the wrong order, they should be chronological this is history." I murmur, my voice croaky and slow.

"Thank God, if you're saying that you mustn't be too ill." Is all he says, and then shuffles forward.

"Are you alright? I tried making notes like you do… but I got confused, what are the bits you usually do in red?" He says, his eyebrows pulling together.

"Instructions on exam technique." I smile lightly. "What are you doing here Tobio?"

"…Ah… well… you should have told me you were feeling ill." He retorts moodily out of context and I blink. "I was back at school and you didn't arrive, and then I thought something could've happened."

"How did you know I was ill then?" I ask.

"I had to ask sensei. I really need your phone number now." He says and I recite my number to him in reply.

"Is there anything you need, or do you want to do something?" He asks me and I shake my head.

"I haven't been ill for ages… this feels horrible." I mumble.

"Do you want to watch a movie or something? I have my laptop with me." Tobio suggests.

"Let's finish Battle Royale, we only got fifteen minutes in that lunchtime." I say smiling slightly, and Tobio takes out his laptop and places it at the end of my bed. As he moves to sit beside me on my bed, as much as I want him to…

"No, there'll be too many germs… I know it's a temperature not a cold, but you shouldn't get too close." I say regretfully. All the same he just nods and gets another cushion to make himself comfy by my bedside, and leans on his elbows on my bed as he hits play.

Of course, we're in silence as we watch, but after a particularly thrilling scene I suddenly notice the heat covering my body is different to the one surrounding my hand, and when I glance down, sure enough my hand is enclosed in Tobio's. The corners of my lips lift up, and as the dialogue in the movie dwindles…

"Thanks for coming… it's made me happy."

He doesn't reply, but there's an increase in pressure on my hand as he squeezes it after my cheesy confession.

12321

My temperature hadn't come down by the next day, so while I was another day at home, my mind was at rest knowing Tobio was indeed taking notes for me, and no matter how scrawled and messy they were, as long as they had the information, I could work with it.

As my mind cleared throughout the day, by the afternoon I felt clear enough that I opened up my file on fast win tactics, and continue where I left of brainstorming ideas. Now we're national champions, there's no way we'll be underestimated, so pretending we're worse than we are is only going to widen the point gap in our opponents' favours. Therefor we need to start on the winning side, but still leave room for expansion. Luckily none of the first-string players fully revealed all their skills, so we have surprises and anymore we can develop in the next few months to use as expansion in the later game stages.

Even though I can't lose myself in overconfidence, I know I still have many skills to unroll. In most reports I was dubbed as a Point Guard that scores three pointers, so if I really need to change the pace I can go for drive-ins, and that's an easy change up from the slower pace of three pointers. The two schemes probably end up scoring the same amount of points in one time frame because of the extra point from three point shots, but if we're ever up against more violent teams, fouls and free throws tend to mean fast drive-ins are the way to go.

By the time I hear the doorbell ring, my morale is much higher and my file much thicker, and I pull myself out of bed to go and meet Tobio in our main room.

"Kageyama so lovely of you to come by again. More schoolwork? We're very thankful, Rui is so worrisome over her schoolwork."

"Ah-yes-of course-" Tobio stutters slightly as he bows his head and I smile.

"Did we get any art homework?" I ask.

"Rui! Are you well enough to be up, honey sit down!" My mum scolds but I brush her away and move of my own will to sit down and bring Tobio over.

"No art work, but…er… apparently our knowledge was so inadequate in class, our history essay has been increased to a four point essay rather than three." Tobio tells me as he gets out his notes. As I start looking over them thanking my mum as she brings over some drinks, Tobio clarifies things for me before we both start to work on the history essay we postponed in favour of Battle Royale yesterday. Our work is quiet apart from a few queries, which is probably good since if we converse too casually, mum will probably pick up on how close we are and start questioning.

"I'm just going to go to the supermarket okay, I'll be back soon." I hear my mum call, and as the door slams Tobio looks up at me.

"When you say you're feeling better…how much better?" He asks and I frown slightly, confused.

"I fell pretty good I guess, no headache, my voice is better, my temperature is only a little high-" I break off into a laugh as Tobio slides round the table and curls me into his arms, and my head tucks easily under his.

"Hmm,I know I admitted to being a touchy person, but is my Tobio also a touchy person?" I question jokingly, and all I get is a grunt in return as he strokes my hair. I carry on writing my essay but as his hands snake round my waist I get distracted.

"Tobio, I really have to finish this I must be so behind, I've missed two days." I chide.

"No you don't, you're ahead of everyone and you know it." He murmurs and I sigh. "You could miss weeks even months and still be top of the class."

His hands pry my fingers open from my pen and I giggle slightly as I snuggle in closer.

"It feels much longer than two days. Three days ago I didn't know you liked me." I say softly, and his cheeks flush lightly.

"Well, I, er…" He trails off, obviously embarrassed by something, maybe the way I'm looking up at him, or how my hands are on his waist silently admiring the muscle build up there. "It's probably because we were really close before anyway."

"Hmm…" I nod in agreement, and lean heavier against him and into his Karasuno sports sweater.

Then all of a sudden we hear the door unlock and we're out of each other's arms in a heartbeat, and I pick up my pen and try to regain my train of thought.

"Good evening, mum what's for dinner-?" Koshi breaks off as he walks in and meets my eyes. I swallow as my mouth waters in anxiety, as neither of us break eye contact.

Until Tobio blocks the view.

"Kageyama-kun, what are you doing here?" Koshi asks, surprise turning into authoritive upperclassman. "You've missed practice two days in a row!"

What? How could I have forgotten, we were talking about it before I got home that morning! There's no way Tobio would've missed volleyball!

"Yeah, well I was here, looking after your sister." Tobio retorts strongly, and my breath catches. There's a moment of silence and though I can't see it, I can tell the boys are now staring off.

"Rui, you'll be in big trouble with mum for having a boy round-"

"She knows Tobio is here, he came round yesterday too to give me schoolwork." I say coldly.

"Tobio, you should've gotten someone else to give them to her, you're needed at practice-"

"Stop pretending to be the oh so good upperclassman Koshi, everyone sees straight through you. I hope you enjoyed these last two days of practice, it'll be the last time you see the position of first setter."

I'm back! Kind of. This is ridiculously late, and in all honestly life got in the way as well as a little writer's block, so I apologise for that, but I'm starting to realise anime/manga fanfics are harder to write than books, since getting my usual amount of description to match the style of animation is hard! Anyway, this chapter was mostly fluffy, a bit nothing-y really but I hope you can all bear with me until I get into my stride again! Read and review as always!