Aeonian - Oikawa Toru x Reader

Ch. 03 - A Cry for Help

"Come on, Tobi," I said, dragging him by the arm towards the gymnasium. "Stop dragging your feet, come on!"

"Wait, I can- I can walk on my own," he protested. I laughed a little at his defensiveness, and looked back at him. He continued to drag his feet, and I continued to drag him along.

"Yeah, not going to happen," I said right away. I glanced back at him over my shoulder briefly, seeing that his eyes were averted and his cheeks absolutely fiery with blush. I bit my cheek to keep from laughing some more, and faced forward once more. "You're not going to disobey your future manager, are you?"

"No, I... Let me walk!"

I let go of his hand, only to skirt around him to press my hands to his back and push him along, instead. I could only laugh when he stated that somehow this was worse, and so I resolved to take his hand again.

"If that's what you think, then I suppose this is alright for you," I said mischievously. He rather wisely resigned himself to his fate, and I kept my amusement to myself for the time being. When we reached the gymnasium, we could hear the activity inside well before stepping into it. It seemed that there were already drills being done, but I knew we weren't late.

Today we were holding tryouts for the team. And this year, my final year of junior high, someone very special had finally joined Kitagawa Daiichi. It was obvious, but I'll say it anyway: my younger cousin, the terribly aloof Tobio Kageyama.

And I was so excited for him to join the team I managed. For him to join Hajime and Toru and me...

My heart was alight with excitement as we crossed the threshold into the gym. We were already in the proper attire, and I'd already dropped everything I needed by the bench where I usually set up. So I led him right inside, and we passed easily through the crowd of students with my guidance.

When I saw Toru and Hajime, dressed in the gray shirt and dark shorts that were their practice uniforms, I called to them. Seeing only me at first, they both smiled - though the smiles dimmed when from behind me emerged the boy I was still leading.

"Introducing someone very special," I said proudly, yanking on Tobio's arm to pull him to stand beside me. He stumbled a little, but stood tall and addressed his seniors right away.

"Kageyama Tobio," he said in introduction, bowing to them respectfully.

One of Hajime's eyebrows arched upwards, and Toru crossed his arms over his chest. "Kageyama, huh? So this is the relative we've had to hear so much about?"

"Don't be rude, Oikawa," Hajime said sternly right away, punching his arm.

"He's heard all about you guys, too," I said happily. "He's so excited to work with you guys!"

Hajime smiled at my cousin. "We'll see how you do in the tryout," he said. "But if you're as skilled as our manager has suggested, you should have no problem at all."

"I'll do my best," Tobio said.

"Great," I said excitedly, bouncing slightly on the balls of my heels. "Oh, this is gonna be so fun!"

—

It, in fact, was not fun.

It was an obvious, plainly observable fact even to my comparatively untrained eye that Tobio was gifted with an insane level of innate skill for the sport. He was talented right from the start. I'd been present for so many of our grandfather's initial lessons of the sport. It was, in a way, as inherent in our family as the blue eyes Tobio had.

I looked more like my father, but everyone else in the family looked distinctly Kageyama - perhaps that was why grandfather had looked upon him and Miwa so fondly as they rallied back and forth.