It happened out of the blue, really. That's what it felt like. Practicing with his teammates in the late night for an upcoming match the next day, and it all came crashing down on him like everything else did in his life.

Tobio dislocates his right knee.

"Landed wrong", he cursed at himself as two team mates helped him hobble over to the bench. But he knew it was much more than a simple misplacement of his feet. His whole knee throbbed and Tobio grit his teeth in anger; anger at his knee, anger at everyone surrounding him who wouldn't just give him room to breath, and mostly angry at himself. He could've prevented this. Could have watched where he landed and the angle he was in and… He was disappointed. Tobio knew what this meant, and he didn't want to face the gruesome facts.

He wasn't to play until his knee fully healed.

He didn't dare call Shouyou and tell him; he knew how Shouyou got when anyone got hurt and especially if it was Tobio. He was driven to the hospital out of pity and texted Shouyou the whole way. He told him about staying overnight at his friends house so they can practice more for the match tomorrow. Shouyou didn't even question it, like he knew this was going to happen, and agreed happily, sending him emojis of kisses and smileys.

The doctor tells him to not stand on the knee as much as he can, to prop it up when he gets home and to ice it every day. Tobio was handed crutches and he so wanted to decline them, knowing Shouyou would eventually find them and ask about them, but the doctor insisted.

"It's better for you to use instead of a brace," she said. "You won't have to use your leg as much. You need to let your knee heal properly and if you use the brace from the start, it won't."

So Tobio grumbled under his breath and slowly, slowly, made his way out to the front where one of his friends was waiting there, ready to drive him home.

"You fucked up your knee pretty badly, huh?" Kuroo chuckled, smacking Tobio's shoulder as he opened the door to let him in. Tobio shot him a look and chucked his crutches into the back, buckled in, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I hate this."

"It happens, you should know this. You went out with Oikawa for how many months?" Kuroo scoffed, getting in the driver's seat and started the car. "He fucked both his knees up first semester of college, and kept getting yelled at each time he showed up to practice. He never let them heal properly, and now look where he is. Always holed up in his apartment, not answering my texts or hanging out with me. His friend, Iwaizumi, has to check up on him every day to see if he's still breathing."

Kuroo took a breath, and Tobio looked over at him through his peripheral, knowing he wasn't done talking just yet. But with each word that Kuroo spoke, they sunk into Tobio's ears and flooded his entire body, registering it as the truth. Because Kuroo was right, he was always right.

"You know me, Kageyama, you know how I get when my friends vanish off the face of the earth, not letting me know if they're alright or need help. And I'll be damned if that happens with you, you understand?" Tobio nodded. This felt like something his mother would say to him, and it made Tobio swallow back the frog that suddenly appeared in his throat. "So I will help you with this, with helping get your knee back in shape in time for the tournament, and for Hinata to not notice."

"He might notice before. He has a keen set of eyes." Tobio sighed.

"Well, if he notices, then so be it. But don't leave him in the dark for so long, okay? You and him have a kid to raise, and if mistrust comes between either of you, then it won't do the kid any good." Kuroo glanced over at him, pulling up to Tobio's driveway. He helped Tobio out on his feet and up to the door, letting Tobio open the door and stumble his way inside.

"When is Hinata getting home?" Kuroo asked, looking around the apartment.

"Probably later, he has to pick up Natsu from school around five." Tobio laid down on the couch, dropping his crutches beside him on the floor. He could feel the day's energy rushing away from him, leaving him with a sense of dread and tiredness. He heard Kuroo move something from the left of him, then he felt his leg being lifted and something ice cold pressing against his knee and he hissed. Kuroo mumbled an apology and placed a blanket over Tobio, who didn't even know that he had closed his eyes, and ruffled his hair before taking his leave.

Tobio tried his best to keep off his knee, he really tried. But when Shouyou wanted him to do everything at once and how he was supposed to keep this from Shouyou and trying to keep Natsu from making a mess in the kitchen; it was too much. His knee was straining with each movement he took and he knew. He knew Shouyou knew, but wasn't saying anything about it.

That alone was hurting him the most.

A few weeks go by, and Tobio could feel his knee getting better. He willed himself to start using his crutches to go to practice, his coach telling him he couldn't obviously play but can still watch. He used his crutches to go shopping at the grocery store whenever Shouyou was out so he wouldn't notice. He used his crutches to even walk around his apartment at times, because stumbling and tripping into walls over and over just wasn't doing it for him anymore.

Tobio started using the brace he bought about a month after the accident. It helped a lot. He could wear it pretty much always without anyone knowing; wearing it under his pants was great when he agreed to take midnight walks with Shouyou a couple nights before. It still hurt to put pressure on his knee, or stand on it for numerous times a day, but he grinned and beared it.

Shouyou found the crutches three months after Tobios accident and Tobio almost spilled entirely on what happened but caught himself just in time. "It's for a friend, he asked me to hold on to them for him." It was a blatant lie, anyone could see it, but if Shouyou realized that it was indeed a lie, or he was just as dense as he's always been and hadn't, then he never said anything about it. As usual.

His knee was fully healed half a year later and Tobio couldn't be more than happy to be back on the court with his teammates. He was absolutely thrilled during practice and hitting serves left and right, setting balls to the spikers over and over again. Shouyou was there this time with Natsu, watching him practice. He usually visited whenever he had Natsu had time off, which was always on the weekend or sometimes a weekday, depends. Natsu was calling out Tobio's name and shouting at him happily, clapping his hands as they watched Tobio's team play against another team from Tokyo.

Tobio concentrated on the ball, watching it fly over the net and have it received with little difficulty, the ball flying back over to him. He jumped, lifted his hands to set the ball, landed, and he heard Shouyou's choked gasp before he even felt the impact.

Ah, it seemed to have happened again.

A strangled cry was heard echoing the gym, and Tobio only realized after that it was his own voice. How could he have been so stupid enough to have landed the wrong way again? He collapsed on the gym floor in nothing but pain. He knew from the doctor the first time he visited that if this happened again, if he tore the ligaments again, then he wouldn't be able to play volleyball. Muffled shouts was heard but Tobio didn't, couldn't, pay attention to them. Not with the searing hot flashes of pain flaring up throughout his entire body from trying to move his leg.

"-bio!" Tobio looked up, away from his knee. He saw Shouyou running towards him and dropped to his knees, hands flailing around as if not knowing what to do or where to put them. "T-Tobio, are you alright?! Oh my god, oh my god," he cried, wincing at the sight of Tobio's knee.

"It hurts." Tobio said dumbly, shrugging a shoulder. He tried sitting up, with Shouyou's help, and ended up moving his leg in the process and he grit his teeth in pain. "Fuck, it hurts," he said again, this time digging his fingernails into his gym shorts.

His coach made everyone move aside to assess the situation. He knew of what happened last time, of course, so when he gave Tobio a look, Tobio knew exactly what he meant by that and he grew slack against Shouyou. Shouyou began talking with the coach, about taking him to the hospital to get him treated, and the coach agreed and helped Tobio stand as best he could. Shouyou and another teammate helped Tobio out to Shouyou's car and into the back seat to stretch out his leg. Shouyou leaned inside with a worried look and put a hand on Tobio's leg softly.

"How are you feeling? You messed it up pretty badly, from what the coach said. But I mean, you can see how badly it-"

"Shouyou."

"O-Oh, sorry!"

"I'm feeling alright. I can hardly feel the pain anymore."

"That's good. Tell me if it starts to hurt again. I'll drive slow over bumps." Shouyou gave him a weak smile and shut the door, walking around the car to the driver's seat, Natsu hopping into the passenger seat. The ride to the hospital was uneventful, save for Tobio whacking his head on the window when Shouyou rolled to a stop at the light. He hobbled inside the emergency room and sat down in one of the chairs, dropping his head back and allowing his eyes to slip shut. Shouyou sat beside him after coming back from the front desk, saying that the doctor would be with them in a moment.

Natsu wandered in after locking up the car and sat beside them, looking worried. "Will you be okay, Tobio?" She asked, holding his hand in hers.

"Mm," Was all he said in response, squeezing Natsu's hand tight. The doctor finally emerged from behind the double doors and ushered them into a room. He sat down on the chair and faced Tobio, clipboard in hand and started asking about what happened. Tobio relented and told him what exactly went on, leaving out the fact that he had dislocated the same knee prior to this, about half a year earlier.

The doctor examined his knee, asking if it hurt when he touched his knee there, here, and Tobio nodded stiffly each time. The doctor wrote some things down on his clipboard and met Tobio's eyes.

"You will need to have an x-ray to conclude that you didn't break a bone or have any cartilage damage." He said, helping Tobio onto a wheelchair he had brought with him from the waiting room. Shouyou and Natsu followed after them like lost puppies, all worried and scared that this might affect Tobio's career. Tobio already knew his career was over with, with a pained gut feeling.

"The damage to your knee is pretty severe," the doctor says, looking over the x-rays on the monitor. "It seems to have stemmed from an injury to the same knee beforehand, along with you landing wrong on it."

Shouyou's head whipped around to face Tobio and Tobio couldn't even meet his eyes. He knew why Shouyou was looking at him, what the expression he was wearing meant. He just didn't want to face the facts that his-

"-volleyball career is over. You can't continue to play with an injury such as this. Even having it healed properly, you still wouldn't be able to. You will always be in danger of having a dislocation happen again, your knee is very weak and unstable. If you don't want to risk having knee surgery, or harming it even more, I'd suggest to not play any strenuous sports anymore. It'll only be beneficial."

Tobio stared at the linoleum floor at a spot where the lights from above shined on the surface. He hardly realized Shouyou started pushing him back out to the waiting room and out into the cold air. He swallowed thickly and his vision swam, dropping his head forward in defeat. Shouyou must have heard him, since he told Natsu to wait in the car and kneeled down in front of him. He cupped Tobio's face and lifted it to meet his gaze, and a soft pair of lips met his own for a brief second before pulling away.

"Tobio," Shouyou whispered, leaning his forehead against his. "I'm so, so very sorry this happened." Tobio didn't have to hear him say it for him to know that he was truly sorry, just from how his voice sounded hoarse from holding back tears.

"I kind of figured this would happen sooner than later."

"...Something similar happened before, didn't it?" Shouyou lifted his head and creased his brow. He ran his thumbs under Tobio's eyes and up to his brow, smoothing out the wrinkles.

"Yeah, and I feel like an asshole for not telling you." He sighed, leaning into Shouyou's touch.

"Dislocation?"

"Mm."

"Same knee?"

"Yeah."

A heavy sigh sounded from Shouyou's lips and he shook his head, a pained sob forcing itself from his throat. "I should have known from the start, with the way you seemed to be hiding stuff from me. I could have helped prevent something like this from happening again-" Tobio grabbed Shouyou's hand tight in his own and shook his head fast.

"No, no, you couldn't have. No one could have prevented this, Shouyou, it was inevitable. It has always been inevitable. Once you break something or dislocate something, you always have a chance of doing it again. Even if you haven't, you still have a chance. It's not your fault, and it's okay, trust me, I'll get through this. I will."

It was never okay.

Several months pass, and Tobio was still not faring any better than he had from the start. Everytime he saw a volleyball, or heard someone mention volleyball, it was tore at his heart and clawed at it viciously. He knew he couldn't play, knew for a fact, and this damn knee brace was proof of it. It was always a casual reminder that "Hey, you suck, can't play volleyball anymore. What a loser."

Even Shouyou knew, felt it too. He sat beside him one night at the dinner table after everything was put away and Natsu went off to bed. He took Tobio's hand in his and ran his thumb over the knuckles, bringing it up to kiss the back of his hand. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired, anxious, bored. What should I be feeling right now?" Tobio grunted, tapping his pencil on the table, books and papers spread out before him. He was studying, now that volleyball was out of the question. It sucked, but he had to in order to get through his second degree. He groaned and dropped his pencil, lifting his hand to card his fingers through his hair. Shouyou frowned sadly.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" He asked, hoping there was something, anything, he could do.

"Not really."

Shouyou hummed under his breath. "I know you haven't… In awhile, but have you thought about pursuing your art as a replacement option?"

"I never wanted art. I only ever wanted to play volleyball, you know this."

"Yes, okay, I know, but you can't keep dwelling on this. It sucks, it's a terrible outcome. Yes, I know. You only remind me of this every single day," Shouyou rolled his eyes. "Just think about your art, and how it can take your mind off of this. Draw anything pertaining to volleyball, to your hearts content."

"I don't know."

"Tobio," Hinata gripped his hand. "Please. If not for you, for me." Tobio slid his gaze from the papers and over to Shouyou, a pained expression flashing across his face.

"Alright, I'll try."

Drawing was one of those things where you can get your mind off of something but still have that certain topic on your mind at the same time. It was ruthless.

Tobio had been drawing non stop, forgetting easily about his homework that he had to finish. He had no care in the world. If he couldn't play volleyball anymore, he was still able to draw anything pertaining to volleyball. Pictures of random individuals, all blurred, spiking and setting balls. Shouyou spiking a ball in the uniform, Tobio remembered, from when he was back in high school. Oikawa and himself lounging around, tossing a volleyball back and forth. He, Kuroo and Terushima. He drew and drew and drew until his hand gave up one night and Tobio wasn't able to draw again until afternoon the next day.

He was happy, to say the least. Despite what happened.

Shouyou came up behind him and wrapped his arms around Tobio's shoulders one day and kissed his neck, nuzzling his nose into Tobio's hairline. "I'm so proud of you," He whispered, sincerity leaking through his voice. Tobio smiled, a genuine smile, and leaned back into him, turning his head to the side to kiss Shouyou's temple.

He all but forgot about his knee, simple as that, and how the dislocation severely fucked over his chances of becoming a pro again. He still had his art, and he was forever grateful that Shouyou was the one to help bring it back in his life when he had forgotten that it was his second chance at a life he never thought of having.