king's knight • haikyuu

001 | love at first sight

to fall in love is to create a religion
with a fallible god

JULY SEVENTEENTH,
TWO THOUSAND AND FIVE

14:34 in the afternoon

OH, YES, INDEED. It was love at first sight. Eyes glistened with an intangible warmth; fingers itched to touch soft skin. To caress, hold and protect. Yes. It was love. A sacred love. Undoubtedly. Unquestionably.

Laying his cheek on his palm, Sora Suzuki watched as his soulmate coloured in the blank spaces of his colouring book. Summer's embrace had arrived, encompassing the east side of the world with its heat and joy.

A smile tugged on Sora's face, his muscles loosening and relaxing. All he needed was to be in his soulmate's presence. Simply. Purely.

"I'm home!" called Miwa Kageyama, the older girl barging into the Kageyama household with ease. She kicked off her shoes and walked to the living room. Dropping her bag onto the floor, she grinned upon seeing her two favourite boys. "Hey, Tobs! Hey, Sora!"

Tobio's head shot up. "Miwa-nee!"

He scurried off the ground, forgetting his work and racing to wrap his sister in a hug.

"How was class?" he asked with the utmost excitement an innocent child could hold.

"Bleh," she sounded. "Don't remind me. I hate it. Summer school shouldn't exist."

"Next time, don't fail your classes," Kazuyo Kageyama teased, stepping into the room with a tray of drinks and snacks in his hands.

"Let me help, Kazuyo-san!" bubbled Sora, untucking his legs from under him and getting up from the floor. He grabbed the tray, and a wrinkled hand laid on his head.

"Thanks, kiddo!"

Sora beamed up at him.

"How's your drawing coming along?" Kazuyo questioned his grandson, moving to the couch. He plopped onto it with a sigh of relief, the soreness of his knees dissipating.

Sora carefully placed the tray on the table, taking a seat back onto the ground. He watched as Tobio immediately brightened up.

"Great! Look! Look!" Tobio snatched the book off the table and showed it to one of his favourite people on the entire planet. "Sora helped me with some parts!"

"Oh? It looks amazing, Tobio," he complimented. "You're getting good at colouring in between the lines now!"

Miwa snorted. "I could colour in between the lines when I was five," she boasted.

Tobio's bottom lip jutted out petulantly. "Well, I'm better than you at volleyball!"

"Untrue!" Miwa yelled. "You can't even receive yet! How're you better than me?!"

"I just am!"

"Now, now, you two," appeased Kazuyo. He rested his arms on his knees, looking at his grandchildren with fond, elderly eyes. "Let's calm down. There's no need to fight this early in the afternoon."

"It's two," Sora informed. "It's not early in the afternoon. It's the afternoon."

Miwa rolled her eyes. She flipped her hair over her shoulder. "No need to be a smartass, Sora."

Tobio gasped. "Miwa said a bad word!"

"Smartass isn't a bad word!" she defended.

"Miwa," Kazuyo began sternly. He shook his head disapprovingly, and Miwa rose her arms in astonishment, eyes enlarged.

"What?! It isn't!"

"It is!" Tobio glared at his older sister, reaching over for his soulmate and wrapping his tiny arms around his head. He held him close to his chest. "Don't be mean to Sora!"

"I wasn't being mean!"

"You so were!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Both of you–" Kazuyo cut them off, amusement twinkling in his tone–"cut it out. Miwa, smartass is a bad word, so put some change in the swearing jar and get changed. We'll be heading off to the gymnasium in an hour or so."

"Hai, hai," Miwa complied. She grabbed the strap of her bag, hauling it over her shoulder. Annoyance trickled inside her veins, spotting her baby brother stick his tongue out. "I'll eat you alive," she mouthed, dodging her grandfather's austere look.

"Miwa-nee is so mean!" Tobio complained. He looked down and patted Sora's head softly, like one would do to a puppy. "Don't worry, though! I'll protect you from her!"

"I think I'll be alright, Tobio," the older boy laughed. "A knight can defeat any monster."

"I heard that!" they heard Miwa shout before a door was slammed shut, rattling the stairs.

"That girl," mumbled Kazuyo. "I'll never understand her mood swings."

Tobio huffed. "Miwa-nee's always like that. One moment she's happy, and the next, she's angry. Girls are so weird!"

"How will you find a wife then?" Kazuyo knew he was playing with lit matches, the sparks that grew in Sora's eyes once he said those words never failed to entertain him. They shot over to him, narrowed, unhappy.

"I don't want a wife," Tobio grumbled. He flopped onto Sora's lap, forcing his arms to wrap around his petite body. "I want to be Sora's wife! I don't want anyone else!"

And oh, how his words lifted Sora's heart.

"You'll let me be your husband?" he asked, wondering, curious, and slightly hesitant.

Tobio stared at him like he was crazy.

"Of course!" He reached up to cup Sora's cheeks, squeezing them tightly in what little grip he had. "I want to get married and have lots of kids with you! We'll have our little own family. You'll be the papa, and I'll be the mama!"

Cerulean eyes stared down in shock.

Kazuyo Kageyama, whose ageing heart was overfilled with warmth and tenderness, couldn't bring himself to break the news that boys couldn't have children.

Not when Sora looked at Tobio with glossy eyes, tears brimming at the surface.

Not when Tobio had one of the largest smiles on his face that Kazuyo had ever seen.

Oh, yes. This was true love.

Innocent, adorable.

Too bad life's a bitch.