Chapter Text
Kageyama’s world stopped spinning for a split second as he heard the uproar of the crowd around him.
He had won.
His chest fell and rose with heavy breaths. Tobio slowly withdrew his épée from Romero’s weak point; the point he had hit to win. Romero lifted his head, a defeated look in his eyes.
“And to think I underestimated you, kid. Nice one.” Romero let out a humorless chuckle and rose to his full hight to confront the crowd. A fake smile ran across his face as he waved a hand to his fans and left the arena, leaving Tobio to be invaded by relentless fencing enthusiasts.
“Tobio Kageyama, the young rookie, takes the win!”
“Will you be heading North to participate in the Argentine Fencing Nationals?”
“Don’t you feel bad for Romero!?”
Kageyama didn’t have time to deal with this. He’s never been any good with people and right now he was exhausted. Tobio waved them all off in the most polite manner he could muster and trekked through the courts to the exit.
Tobio had just grabbed hold of the doors handle when he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. He whipped around to dismiss the fellow, but instead was greeted by a recognizable face.
“Tobio-chan,” the head of the National Argentine Fencing Association, Oikawa Tooru, spoke slowly, “I am marveled by your display today.” He grinned while Tobio stood in shock.
“Oikawa-san… You came to watch.”
He laughed. “I couldn’t miss it for the world! Congratulations on the win.” Kageyama dusted off his suit and removed his gloves to give Oikawa a proper hand shake. “Thank you.” He said hesitantly.
“You know, Tobio-chan, only certain people can pull off winning like that. You’ve got some talent.” He chuckled again, “I’d like to invite you.”
Kageyama’s confusion was evident. “To what?”
Oikawa grinned from ear to ear, “to my annual winter ball in Buenos Aires, near the national fencing center. Make sure to bring your left foot and your right one, too! Anyways, I’ve got things to tend to, my sweet Tobio-chan. I’ll see you there!”
With that, Oikawa hurried away and left Kageyama standing there in confusion. He knew of the annual ball held in Buenos Aires, the one with mostly famous fencers and other celebrities, too. What would he be doing there? He would have to prepare something to wear and find a way to get there on time as well… and another thing,
Kageyama didn’t know how to dance.
He would have to learn how to tango as that was the main dance practiced at the ball. Oikawa told him to bring his right and left foot, but he only had two lefts to give.
Kageyama didn’t have time to think about that know. He pushed the doors open and headed to his competitor’s tent. He had parked his horse-drawn carriage nearby, and was ready to leave.
“Matsukawa, have you fed the horses?” He approaches his crew with the question.
“No sir. We were actually expecting you to appear up on the stage. I mean, me and Makki thought it was the award ceremony, no?” Matsukawa looks over to his partner to stifle a laugh at Kageyama’s forgetfulness.
Oh shit. He was supposed to be up there.
Kageyama speeds away, leaving his crew to double over at whatever it was they found funny. He pushes through the crowd, dodging reporters and fans. When he makes it to the stage just outside the fencing arena, a man with terribly died hair leads him to his position backstage.
Kageyama has to stand in line with the two other competitors who came before him. Romero being in second.
“Hey, kid. Thought you could just run off?” Romero smiles at him.
“Yeah sorry… I got too ahead of myself.” Kageyama admits. He curiously asks, “Where are you headed after this?”
Romero sighs deeply before letting out a hearty chuckle. “I was hoping to go back to Uruguay for the holidays. Well really, I was expecting to head to Buenos Aires for the winter ball, but you deserve that more than my old geyser self does. Enjoy it, kid.”
Pity filled Kageyama’s stomach. Getting first place meant he could get an entrance to Oikawa’s huge party, but he couldn’t even dance. Romero’s surely gone many times but still…
Before Kageyama could regret anything else, he was being beckoned onto stage by the announcer. The rest of the ceremony was a blur of people cheering and Kageyama getting asked questions that he wasn’t sure he could answer without a lawyer present. Once he got the strap of cloth with the cold, gold metal on the end, he scurried offstage and to his post.
“Have you fed the horses now, Mattsun?” Kageyama inquires.
“About that… We’ve run into a slight issue.” Matsukawa hesitantly leads him to the carriage, next to where the left back wheel should be. “We believe it’s been robbed.”
Kageyama stares at the empty space where the wheel should be and takes a deep breath. “What the hell?!? Weren’t you and Hanamaki watching over it the whole time? Who was here when it was robbed?”
“Listen, man, we looked away for one seco-“
“And why would you do that!?”
“Hey, it’s just a wheel we can get it replaced.”
Kageyama cooled his head, trying to search for a solution. “How long till we can get a new one?”
“About a week i’d say. Makki already put in the order, but it’ll take a while.”
“Will the inn be willing to keep us for a bit longer?”
“We’re gonna have to check, sir.”
Kageyama turned on his heels and began walking to the nearby town where he was staying.
“Hey, wait! Kageyama you gotta wait for us!” Matsukawa yelled to him as he walked away.
“Get my wheel and then talk to me!” Kageyama responded out of pure annoyance.
: :
When Kageyama finally stood outside of the tacky inn where he rented a room, he took many heavy breaths. He had jogged a little to make it here before the sun set. After recovering, he headed inside to see if he could console the owner of the rooms.
The wooden double doors of the inn opened to a small bar and restaurant that was the heart of the inn and seemed to give it life. A few people sat in the low tables, eating an early dinner. No one was at the bar at this hour, but the bartender with the two toned hair was still on duty. He was doodling something to pass time with the lack of customers.
Kageyama sped walked past them to head to the reception area where he could speak with the inn owner. He moved towards the desk where the white haired man stood. “Hello- Kita, is it?- I’d like to extend my stay for maybe a week.”
“Of course,” he answered with gentle eyes, “that’d be an extra 200,000 pesos.”
Kageyama should have known it’d be more money, but he didn’t think about that beforehand. He reluctantly pulled the money from the wallet in his bag. It wasn’t like he was breaking open his piggy bank for it, but he doesn’t usually spend great amounts of money.
He thanked Kita and rushed upstairs to his rented room. He unpacked and changed quickly so he could throw himself on the small bed with, thankfully, clean sheets.
He didn’t mind the stay being elongated a bit, he had no need to head to Buenos Aires yet. Kageyama would have to check when the exact date of the ball would be, but he knew it was sometime in December. November had just begun and the trip from Ayacucho wasn’t too bad by horse.
However, transportation was the least of his concerns for that ball.
Kageyama would need to find some sort of bluff for not being able to tango. Or some miracle teacher to guide him.
For now, he shook those thoughts out of his head and tried to sleep. He was sure some person would be willing to spare their time on him and show him how to dance.