Shouyou Hinata and the Mirror of Erised

Chap 3: Sorting It Out

PART 1

Tobio Kageyama was, in general, not a very happy person. He was awkward, terrible with people, and--worst of all--highly aware of both of these facts. His face was almost permanently set in a scowl he was told was not at all appealing on a ten year old. His speech was sharp and perpetually sounded angry. When he tried to smile, he was informed it unnerved people.

Every now and then, Kageyama would try to make friends with the various children. The attempts had never gone well before and often succeeded only in further alienating Kageyama from the rest. Eventually, Kageyama had learned to stop trying.

The neighborhood had a number of children in it. His parents had originally chosen it thinking it would be a wonderful place to raise their newly born son. His mother, a muggleborn witch, wanted to raise Kageyama in the more quaint style she remembered from her childhood. And so, they had chosen a muggle neighborhood. However, when his mother had been killed while fighting during the end of war, this dream had been shattered. His father--a pureblood, though without much status--could not bare to sell the house that his wife so loved. Yet, as he didn't know how to interact well with muggles and he was still devastated by his wife, he shut himself off from both the outside world and to his young son.

When Kageyama thinks of his mother, he still remembers a bright smile and his parents both laughing. All of her pictures had long ago been boxed up by his father. It wasn't , Kageyama mused with too much seriousness for his age, that my father doesn't take care of me. It's just that I don't think he loves me.

His father was sad. This was one of Kageyama's earliest thoughts and one that he still thought with frequency.

Instead of with his family, Kageyama instead ventured outside for companionship. In his neighborhood lived the two best friends Tooru Oikawa and Hajime Iwaizumi. Remembering back, Kageyama originally attended to approach Iwaizumi as he had remembered his father once commenting that Iwaizumi's parents were a muggleborn wizard and a muggleborn witch like his mother. Once he had seen them, however, he was quickly pulled in also by Oikawa's natural leadership and charm. Kageyama held both deep admiration and, at times, aching envy for Oikawa's talent to make friends amongst the neighborhood. Growing up, the two were his heroes.

He had tried initially to be best friends with the two. However, he quickly learned that there was no way to break into the small circle the two friends had created, especially not for someone two years younger. He settled for being their friend and, as Oikawa would sometimes laugh and say, their junior.

The two were some of the few that seemed to accept Kageyama's presence. Iwaizumi even taught him how to play some sports. And, while his remarks could turn bitting if he felt Kageyama was encroaching on his friendship with Iwaizumi, Oikawa often gave Kageyama scattered advice and helped him with his homework.

His hero worship, Kageyama now thought he realized, had taken a downturn a couple of years ago. It was known that Iwaizumi would get his Hogwarts letter; but, nearly everyone was surprised that Oikawa received one, too! Kageyama watched without much bitterness the two friends' excitement about going to the same school. He even smiled at Oikawa's passing comment that Kageyama "try to survive without them for a year" for which Iwaizumi quickly hit him in the back of the head. It only started to hurt Kageyama when Oikawa started progressing by leaps and bounds.

It wasn't that Kageyama envied his hero's success. Honest, he was glad that he was doing well, really.

It was just that, as Oikawa started to succeed, his father had started making wistful comments about his mother before looking at Kageyama. His mother had been the brightest witch of her age. And as news of Oikawa's accomplishments stated to filter in, his father started morosely questioning why Kageyama couldn't be more like his mother or Oikawa. Kageyama's started to turn from admiring the boy to wondering what was wrong with Kageyama that he couldn't be like him.