All These Years (Kageyama x Reader)

Prologue

~•Y/n First Person POV•~

As I was writing in my journal, I saw a lonely boy playing volleyball. I would look up every once in a while to see him concentrating really hard. He was practicing hitting the ball over the net. Is he aiming for that water bottle, I thought. I couldn't explain why, but I was so invested into seeing how this would play out. There's no way he's going to be able to hit that. He took a deep breath and threw the ball into the air. When the ball finally collided with the ground, my jaw dropped.

It hit . . . ?

The boy looked really happy, but when he looked around, he saw no one was there for him. His mood deflated. I decided to run up to him on the spot. He needs to know how awesome that was! "That was so cool!" I said loudly.

"What was?" he looked at me weird.

"The way you made the ball hit the water bottle! How did you do that?" My eyes had stars in them.

"I just did it," he replied.

"I'm L/n, Y/n," I smiled.

"I don't care." The raven haired boy turned back to the court.

"What's your name?"

"Why do you care?"

"I'm just trying to be nice."

"Well, stop. It's weird."

"Why won't you just tell me your name?"

"Because it's not important."

"Yes, it is!"

"No, it's not. We're not friends."

This hurt my feelings. A lot. "I was just trying to help you not feel lonely . . ." I muttered.

"I don't want your pity," the boy stated.

"It's not like that! I-"

"Please, just go away."

I stopped talking and turned to leave. "I'm not giving up on you. I will know your name someday." And with that, I left.

I ran home to my house that day to find my babysitter on the phone. I was going to ask her to play, but remembered what happened the last time I tried to ask. So I just ran to my room and looked out the window. Are my parents ever going to come home? I began to write about my day in my journal.

I wrote about the raven haired boy I met that day. I wrote about how lonely he looked while playing volleyball. I wrote about how his skill amazed me. I wrote about my determination to make him my friend. I wrote about my own loneliness, and how I wished my parents were home. I wrote about how I wished I had a friend that would run up to me and shout about something cool I did; or just any friend at all.

I kept seeing that boy everywhere after that day. We went to the same primary school. We were even in the same class! He sat in the back while I was put up front. Even though he always protested, I would always sit next to him at lunch. If he wasn't telling me to leave him alone, we would just sit in silence together. At recess, I would always follow him out and just watch him practice volleyball by himself. I'd sit and write about what was happening and described what I saw. I eventually learned his name to be Tobio Kageyama.

I didn't learn it because he told me, but because the teacher called on him one day when he wasn't paying attention in class. When I learned his name, he really got annoyed with me. I'd use it in every sentence. I kept annoying him all that year until it was time for our parents to decide what junior high we were going to. He and I didn't choose the same school, so I didn't see him often after that, but I still got to see him.

I had grown used to the fact that he would always push me away and never put much effort into our "friendship". I was okay with it. I was okay with it because he was the only person in my life that had ever let me stay. No matter how much I annoyed him, he always let me stick around. He was the only person who would let me each lunch with him, and then continue to bother him at recess. That was enough for me.

His attitude toward me didn't change until the end of our second year of junior high. He asked me if I could help tutor him even though we went to different schools (we live a few blocks away from each other, so it wasn't inconvenient). I accepted, and right after our first study session, he asked me if I could tutor him again the week after that. And then the week after that. And so on until it became a daily thing. We didn't study all the time. Sometimes we would forget to even pull out our books. He began to open towards me. I was going over his house daily and his family soon became accustomed to my presence. My babysitters after school stopped showing up since I would always just leave.

Then we both entered Karasuno high school and we're still friends. Not much changed with him and his family life. I, on the other hand, was going through a lot changes. My parents were never around. I don't even know where they are, to be so honest. All I know is that they send me enough money every month to pay for the bills, my babysitters, and some food money. It worked out fine at first but then other expenses came into the mix. Like if I had an emergency, or if I needed to go to the doctor, or if I just wanted to buy myself something nice.

Once I entered secondary school all the babysitters quit. All except Ukai One and Ukai Two. They were always my favorites because I was always closest with them. I let them go though because I didn't have enough money to keep them, and I was old enough to be on my own. I asked Ukai Two if I could work at his convenience store and he hired me on the spot.

I still haven't told Tobio this. None of it. It's just been so long that I don't know how I would even bring this up. How am I supposed to explain it when I don't even understand it myself? We always hung out at his house, but we eventually started coming to mine. I can tell he suspects there's more to the story.

I've met them once time in my lifetime and on that day . . . Let's just say, I'm not what they wanted and when they finally met me, they weren't happy. It's hard to think about my parents and not get angry. I've never had a normal life. I never had them around to celebrate my birthday and holidays, to go on family vacations, to congratulate me for doing something good in school. I guess I could have spent the time with Kageyama and his family but that's not right. That's his family, not mine.

When Ukai Two learned what was actually going on in my family last year, he tried his best to support me. He even bought me a little locket for my fifteenth birthday! He gave it to me and said, "you like jewelry, right?" It was the first birthday present I had ever received. I still wear that locket everyday. As a boss, he isn't strict with me. He actually has to be the one to keep me from signing up for so many shifts. I'm really thankful for him and his grandfather; I'm not sure where I would be without them.

At Karasuno I've already made some friends. Mina and Yachi are the ones I care about the most, the rest I really don't talk to outside of school. Kageyama tries his best to make time for me even though he's always at volleyball, but that's alright!

I'm really happy here. There's just a lot for me to handle on my own, but I'm managing, and with Tobio by my side, I feel okay.