If you look at my reblogs, you’ll see where this idea came from! All credit to them!!❤️
Toshio is still young, four years younger than his favorite person—Tobio Kageyama! He’s looked on as his brother struggled with his grandfather’s death and volleyball team rejecting him, remembering the day he came home so clearly.
Normally, he’s calm and collected, always saying a simple “I’m home” as soon as he opens the door. That day, though, was different. Toshio clung to his older sister as she cooked for them, making his favorite—a big bowl of steaming hot soba!
He heard the jingle of keys and knew Tobio was home, but he didn’t hear his voice. Instead, he heard something much worse—
He dropped his bag and ripped off his shoes, sprinting away to his room with his eyes stuffed against his elbow as he cried, desperate to hide away from the world.
Toshio was concerned, to say the least.
He walked over to Tobio’s bedroom door, gently knocking on it before he stepped in. He was a little scared of getting yelled at, but he also knew Tobio better than anyone else. He never liked to yell, he never liked the insults he threw at his teammates, he never liked being aggressive nor assertive.
Tobio instead just doesn’t answer, his body covers with his duvet as he cried buckets of tears into his pillow.
Toshio sits down on the bed next to him, gently lifting the blanket to see his face.
Toshio, much like his older brother, is autistic, but Toshio struggles with speech and instead uses his AAC device or uses sign language, not yet good enough at writing Japanese to communicate that way.
Once he could see Tobio’s eyes move to him, he gently signed to ask what was wrong, concern ever resent on his baby face.
Tobio doesn’t like talking about his feelings, and he’s always struggled forming bonds with other people outside of volleyball. That’s all he really cares for, anyway.
But Tobio also doesn’t want to make his little brother worry, he’s his favorite person and would do anything for the kid.
He raises and arm up, letting Toshio slide under the covers and cuddle him. They’re both very touchy with their affection, and whenever one of them is sad, the other brings them in for a hug and they hold each other for a while until something else interrupts them.
“Toshio…I’m sorry. I made you worry. I had a bad day at volleyball practice and during our game. I went too far and yelled at my teammates and…they didn’t even spike my toss. What is wrong with me..?” Tobio mumbled, curling around his little brother.
Toshio turned and signed back to him, telling him that it’s okay, he’ll have high school to think about and will get a new team there.
The kids right, he always is. It always surprises him at how clever his little brother is, especially compared to him
“You’re right. You’re right. When you’re old enough, you can come to my matches. We can play together one day, too.” He says, imagining a day when he’s older, tossing to his little brother as he practices for his first high school game.
“I wan..want to play with To-Tobio…” Toshio mumbles, looking at his older brother expectingly.
This is a big deal for Tobio. He has never heard his little brother speak before, thinking that he’d never manage to learn and he’ll just have to get good at sign language. He has always wanted to talk to him, but he also never wanted to pressure him because of his disability.
“You….okay. You’ll play with me. We’ll play together one day, I promise.” He says. Then he wonders. “How long did it take you to learn that.
Toshio chuckles a little, looking embarrassed as he signed that it took 11 months just so he could say a single sentence, and not even properly! His older sister had been teaching him all this time, and she told Toshio to save it for when Tobio was feeling especially down, like now.
As they grow older, their bond never declines. Tobio helps him with speech, and Toshio teaches him things he should’ve known by now in school. He’s lucky he has a gifted brother.
When Tobio and Shoyo start dating, he meets Natsu. They’re not fast friends, with him still not being able to talk much and being really shy. They’re learn to tolerate each other and at least be friendly, knowing they’ll be around a lot with their older brothers dating and being at each other’s houses so much.
When Tobio goes professional, he always makes sure to shout out Toshio in any interview he can, always waving to him before he sets as he tells Tobio his seat number before the game.
Toshio doesn’t get into volleyball like he does, instead becoming a professional linguist and going from struggling with his first language so much as a child to speaking quite well several when he’s an adult. Tobio has tried to attend his lectures when he becomes a professor, but he has no idea what the actual fuck is going on in any of them
Sorry if this was a little long, I love long fics and this was VERY self indulgent!!! Again, all credit for the idea goes to @tobiostangerine for the idea!!
