Chapter Text
Argentinian Date & Time:
Thursday, 7/16/19, 2:00 P.M
Puerto Rican Date & Time:
Thursday, 7/16/19, 1:00 P.M
Location:
Alvarez Muñoz Marín International Airport
To be frank, the plane ride from Dallas to San Juan had been a disaster.
Throughout the entire duration of their flight, Hajime- who had gotten the aisle seat- was sat next to a screaming baby. What made it worse than it should’ve been was the assumed mother didn’t even try to get her baby to stop crying, she just let them cry for three horrific hours until a flight attendant had asked her if they needed to have an emergency landing to send the baby to the hospital.
The baby was crying so much to the point where people thought they were dying.
Although the baby itself didn’t feel like they were necessarily dying, Hajime most certainly did. It just happened to be his luck that as soon as he had boarded the plane, he realized he left his earphones behind on the table during the ‘fight’ he had with Matsukawa in the Whataburger food court.
He would have just asked to borrow one of Hanamaki’s or Matsukawa’s, but a few days before they got to Hajime’s they had bought themselves a pair of headphones that wrapped around the top of their heads instead of earphones like Hajime’s that were inserted shallowly into the ear to be able to listen to.
If he were being honest with himself, the screaming baby wasn’t even the worst part about the whole trip. The worst part was the fact that after they got off the plane, they had to go through immigration services.
Immigration services aren’t bad in theory- it is important to check if passengers have any illegal things of theirs after all but what makes them miserable to go through is when they decide to throw out all of Iwaizumi, Hanamaki, and Matsukawa’s things out of their bags to check.
Though Iwaizumi and Hanamaki didn’t take too kindly to this, the person who took the most offense to it was Matsukawa.
“Did they seriously have to unpack every single little thing? This is so stupid,” Matsukawa grumbled as he rolled his clothing back up to fit back into the suitcase.
Iwaizumi nodded his sympathy alongside Hanamaki who spoke next, “Hey Iwa, was immigration this bad in America too?”
“Not really. They put our bags through an extra security check-in first while they searched us, then searched through our bags, but that’s about it. Ours weren’t dumped out completely.” Iwaizumi’s voice sounded strained as he spoke, clearly still agitated from both the horrendous flight and having to deal with re-packing his bag that took him an hour to pack beforehand already.
“That’s surprising,” Matsukawa said, “you would think that Americans would be the ones with the strict immigration protections given their history,” he too sounded stressed, and he was realistically the one to be feeling the most resentment out of the three of them. (Matsukawa was the one to have security issues through the flights already. This just added to the stress of it all.)
Iwaizumi sighed, “Well, what’s done is done. Let’s be thankful they put us into our own room. I doubt Hanamaki would want people to see his kitten boxers.” He and Matsukawa laughed.
“You guys are just boring. This is why I like Oikawa more.” Hanamaki grumbled, shoving his clothing into his suitcase in a disorderly manner.
Matsukawa and Iwaizumi ignored the insult and gave him a weird look, “Are you seriously not going to try to make your things organized? They’re going to get wrinkled.” Iwaizumi stated.
Hanamaki rolled his eyes, “Whatever. I’m going to end up taking them out anyway, so what’s the point in folding them?”
“So you have some chance of looking presentable.” Matsukawa huffed.
“Presentable for who? I’m sure Oikawa has seen worse.”
Iwaizumi cut in, “I’m sure Tooru knows someone who has an iron; wrinkled clothes aren’t our biggest issue here. We don’t want to keep Tooru waiting.”
Matsukawa and Hanamaki nodded, and diligently put their items back into their suitcases. (The diligence was more on Matsukawa’s end rather than Hanamaki’s.) To no one's surprise, Iwaizumi got done packing his stuff first. The security guard in the room saw he was done and gruffly ordered Matsukawa and Hanamaki to pack their things faster.
Hanamaki stuffed his things in his suitcase hurriedly, looking more annoyed than Iwaizumi would like. Briefing a glance at Matsukawa yields the same result; Iwaizumi guesses the stress from the flight and lack of sleep is catching up to them.
“I’m going to call Tooru and let him know we’ll be meeting him by the baggage claim,” Iwaizumi grabs his phone out of his pocket and dials Oikawa’s number.
Hanamaki and Matsukawa don’t respond, but they do walk a bit faster to meet Oikawa. It’d be nice to sleep in a comfortable bed as opposed to a barely cushioned airplane seat.
They walk fast paced to the baggage claim, and once they’re there Iwaizumi calls Oikawa.
“Hello- Hajime, where are you guys at?"
Argentinian Date & Time:
Thursday, 7/16/19, 2:28 P.M
Puerto Rican Date & Time:
Thursday, 7/16/19, 1:28 P.M
Location:
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Airport
“Toto, take deep breaths with me, alright?”
Alvarez and Oikawa are sitting on one of the benches. Alvarez has one hand rubbing his shoulder while the other holds Oikawa’s phone to his ear. Oikawa is in the midst of an anxiety attack, and Alvarez is helping guide him through it. It’s been about twenty minutes since he first started calling Iwaizumi. Alvarez took the phone from Oikawa so Iwaizumi can help and tell him how to help.
Breathlessly, as if he’s run a marathon, Oikawa speaks, “I’m- I’m alright. Can you please give me the phone?” Alvarez hesitates, but Oikawa holds out his hand and persists, so he hands it to him, “Hajime?”
“Tooru, how are you feeling?”
“I could be better. I could be here with you instead of sitting on a bench with the fool who sent you three-thousand damn miles away from me.” Oikawa spat venom at Alvarez. To his credit, Alvarez looks wholly ashamed of himself.
Iwaizumi sighs from over the phone, “Please don’t blame him. We saw the tickets, we should’ve noticed. Don’t be mad at him.”
Of course, Iwaizumi gets through to Oikawa just as he always has. He’s his anchor, his source of healing. Oikawa will listen to what Iwaizumi says, and he means it.
Oikawa looks away from Alvarez into the rest of the airport. He’s purely at a loss for what to do. He’s scared for his friends lost in a foreign country, and he’s scared of the thoughts plaguing his mind of every possible bad outcome that might happen.
He feels himself begin to cry once more, “What are we going to do?” He looks at Alvarez.
“Put it on speaker, we need to make a plan,” Alvarez says. Oikawa surprisingly listens.
“Give us a few minutes to get settled down somewhere. We’ve had a shitty flight and I’m not sure that without food I’ll get through this. I’ll call you back.” Iwaizumi sounds agitated. It’s understandable, Oikawa would probably be in a worse state if he were in their shoes, but he finds himself still feeling hurt.
He turns his phone off and sits back against the hard bench. Alvarez doesn’t move to sit in a different position. Oikawa sees him rub his hand over his eyes and put his face in his palms.
As much as Oikawa might say he hates the man, he still doesn’t want to make him feel bad, “I’m sorry for what I said earlier.” He mumbles. Alvarez shoots his head up and looks at Oikawa in astonishment. Oikawa instantly feels on edge, “What are you looking at?” He asks, affronted.
Alvarez shakes his head and laughs, “Nothing, nothing. You’re sweet when you want to be, but you’re still an ass most of the time.”
“And you wonder why that is,” Oikawa grumbles, but much to his disdain Alvarez laughs again.
“I should be the one saying sorry, Toto.” Alvarez sounds genuine as he talks like each word is coming right from his heart, “I didn’t mean to cause you this much stress on your birthday, you don’t deserve it.”
Oikawa waits a minute before responding, “Why don’t I deserve it?”
“Because..” Because I love you, he wants to say, “Because I want you to be happy.”
Oikawa looks him in the eyes, sitting straighter on the bench to be at eye-level with him, “You know we can’t be together.”
Alvarez chuckles, but it sounds less positive and more self-deprecating, “Ah, I forgot how perceptive you can be. You’re good at reading between the lines, Toto.”
“Alvarez.” Oikawa says sternly.
“I know what you mean, and I know you love your Hajime. He’s good for you, yeah? He treats you right?”
Oikawa nods, “He’s the love of my life.”
Alvarez licks his lips, fighting against the tears he feels that are forming fastly, “I figured. You talk about him constantly, and I’ve seen your pictures on your Instagram. You two look happy together.”
Oikawa takes one of Alvarez’s hands in his, cupping his own hands around it like he’s sharing warmth, “Don’t wait for me.” He says seriously, looking straight into Alvarez’s eyes.
“I won’t. Not anymore.” Alvarez doesn’t hold any malice in his words, instead, he sounds content. It’s acceptance.
They’re quiet until Hajime calls back.
Oikawa puts the phone back on the speaker and sets it in the middle of the bench, “How are you guys feeling?”
“We could be worse, but we aren’t good either. I think we’re going to get a hotel for the next night or so then see if we can get tickets straight to Buenos Aires.” Iwaizumi says. They aren’t on a video call, but Oikawa knows Matsukawa and Takahiro are sitting somewhere around him.
Oikawa thinks about the plan while Alvarez speaks unexpectedly, “I’m truly sorry I messed up with the tickets. If you want I can buy the next set of tickets for you-”
“No, you don’t have to do that,” Iwaizumi reassures, though he sounds less kind and more annoyed. Neither Alvarez nor Oikawa can tell if it’s because of the stress or anger directed at Alvarez, “I can buy our tickets myself. If anything, you can reimburse us for the costs of the tickets individually.”
“That’s reasonable. I’m once again so sorry for the trouble I’ve caused,” Alvarez sounds genuine. Oikawa knows the tears lining his eyes aren’t from guilt, but he knows Alvarez feels the weight of the mistake on his shoulders.
Iwaizumi signs, “Thank you for the apology. Is Tooru there?”
Oikawa cuts in, “I’m still here.”
“Great, can I talk to you privately for a few minutes?”
Oikawa looks at Alvarez. Alvarez shrugs and leans back against the bench. Oikawa puts the phone off speaker and stands off the bench to walk away from the baggage claim area outside in the pick-up line.
“How are you, Tooru? Really?” Iwaizumi gets to the point, making Oikawa want to laugh.
Oikawa doesn’t laugh, but he does smile cheekily knowing how considerate Iwaizumi can be, “I was a wreck earlier, but I’m doing relatively better now. I’m just worried about you guys. You know English, but Mattsun and Makki barely learned anything outside of high school.”
Iwaizumi chuckles, “Yeah, they’re idiots, he’s nearly sleeping next to Matsukawa in the massage chairs they had at the malls back in California.”
Oikawa laughs, “Are you serious? Send me a picture!”
“I wish I was joking. Matsukawa is the crankiest I’ve ever seen him, and that’s including seeing him during training camps at Seijoh. I’ll send you a photo.”
“Great! I can’t wait to humiliate them on Instagram; it’ll be payback for the pictures they posted of me on my birthday last year.” Oikawa grumbles.
Iwaizumi chuckles harder despite his exhaustion, “They leached off your fame. Serves you right.”
Oikawa gasps, “You’re supposed to be on my side, not theirs! I’m your boyfriend after all.”
“Yeah, you are.” Iwaizumi says. Instead of the teasing tone Oikawa expected, Iwaizumi sounds proud. He sounds grateful. It successfully stuns Oikawa into silence, being swept off his feet is a feeling he’ll never get fully used to, but it isn’t a bad feeling.
“Can we switch to FaceTime? I have to tell you something.” Oikawa asks.
“Sure.” Iwaizumi hangs up and switches the FaceTime app and calls Oikawa from there. He greets Oikawa when he picks up the call.
“I think I know why the plane tickets sent you guys to Puerto Rico instead of Buenos Aires.”
Iwaizumi looks at Oikawa dubiously, “Shouldn’t Matsukawa and Hanamaki hear this too then?”
Oikawa shakes his head, “I don’t want them to just yet. This is more of an issue between you and me, but when they get here after they’ve slept off their jet lag we can tell them.”
Iwaizumi nods thoughtfully, “That sounds reasonable. So, what happened?”
Oikawa turns around to see where Alvarez is, and sees him still in his spot on the bench, scrolling idly through his phone. He takes a deep breath in, “I’m pretty sure Alvarez intentionally flew you to Puerto Rico.”
“I thought you two were friends? Why would he do that?”
Oikawa doesn’t say anything for thirty seconds. He looks visibly distressed, “We had a moment earlier where he pseudo-confessed to me. Obviously, I told him off as nicely as I could, but it got me wondering if he sent you guys there on purpose so he’d be able to confess.”
Iwaizumi’s exhaustion shows prominently over the phone. He has dark purple eyebags and his eyebrows seem to be permanently furrowed. Oikawa notes that he looks like he’s thinking hard about what Oikawa said, considering it in his mind and thinking about the possibilities of it being true.
“You know Alvarez better than I do, so I’ll let you make the judgment. He knows we’re dating, doesn’t he?”
“He does. That’s why I partly doubt he did it on purpose. He said himself he knew we were serious, and that he didn’t stand much of a chance anyway.” Oikawa walks over to the airport wall to lean his back against it. He knows if Alvarez were to be within earshot of their conversation, he wouldn’t be able to understand them because he doesn’t know Japanese, “I hope I’m not right about it, but I also know it’s too big of a mistake to be a coincidence.
“I feel really upset, Hajime. We spent an entire car ride to the airport, we practiced every day, and sometimes we even shared lunch together. He had plenty of time to get it off his chest, but he didn’t. He chose to put you guys in danger being in a country you’ve never stepped foot in!” Oikawa hadn’t realized he was this aggravated until now. He’s breathing hard by the end of it, feeling livid for letting himself be played like a fool.
“Tooru, it’ll be alright. I’ll find a good, safe hotel and can book us a stay. English may not be the official language, but I’m sure someone will know the basics enough that I can book us a night stay.” Iwaizumi placates Oikawa calmly, knowing that if he gets mad as well then Tooru will leech onto his anger and make it his own.
“Are you sure I don’t need to book the hotel?”
Iwaizumi smiles, “I’m sure, Tooru. We have it figured out. Whether or not Alvarez purposely sabotaged our vacation should be dealt with later when we’re in the same country. For now, let’s focus on what’s in front of us or the rug will be swept from under our feet.”
Oikawa laughs, “You’re right. I’ll let you book the hotel now, and I’ll stay in one here so I can be ready for you whenever you arrive. Make sure you book the soonest tickets, alright? I don’t want any more delays.”
“Are you sure you’ll be ok? I know you’re mad at Alvarez.”
“I’m fine knowing you’re safe. Call me back when there’s an update; I love you, Hajime.”
“I love you too, Tooru.”
Argentinian Date & Time:
Thursday, 7/16/19, 3:34 P.M
Puerto Rican Date & Time:
Thursday, 7/16/19, 2:34 P.M
Location:
Alvarez Muñoz Marín International Airport
Iwaizumi found that his assumptions about Puerto Ricans were correct. While many didn’t know fluent English, lots of them knew enough to hold a basic conversation. He was able to book a night in a hotel quickly speaking English and some Spanish he learned from Oikawa.
The next thing he had to do was order their plane tickets. Three thousand miles can take anywhere from four and a half hours to six depending on the speed at which the plane is flying. He wasn’t looking forward to the next few days they’d spend traveling when they should be spending them relaxing in Oikawa’s apartment.
He spent the next few minutes bouncing between flight planning websites trying to find the cheapest and fastest flight. It was harder to do than he initially thought it would be. Round trip tickets for three adults ranged anywhere between one thousand dollars and two thousand which he anticipated. He wasn’t going to order the tickets for their return flights just yet though, not wanting to go back through San Juan, Puerto Rico as an extra stop.
Fortunately, he found he could get tickets for as minimal as one thousand and two hundred dollars for the three of them to get to San Juan, Argentina.
Quickly, he called Oikawa again, talking happily without giving Oikawa a chance to respond when he first picked up, “Tooru, I’m ordering the tickets right now, I found a great deal- wait, let me go wake up Matsukawa and Hanamaki.”
“Hajime I can’t understand you unless you talk slowly,” Oikawa said exasperatedly.
Iwaizumi didn’t listen. His eyes were burning with the effort of staying open, and he was excited that he was able to get a good deal on the tickets without burning a hole in his wallet. He jerked Matsukawa and Hanamaki awake when he reached them; the massage chairs were already turned off so they weren’t as relaxed as they’d been when the massager was on.
“I’m getting up, stop shaking my shoulder,” Matsukawa grumbled. He was cranky, Iwaizumi knew that, so after shaking Hanamaki a few more times, he walked back to their table.
Iwaizumi forgot he was still on the phone with Oikawa until he overheard Oikawa talking with Alvarez, “We can book a room at a hotel later, for right now we have to listen to Hajime’s plan.”
“Tooru, what hotel?” Iwaizumi asked worriedly.
Oikawa groans, “We figured that you guys would have to land in Buenos Aires, so I was going to book two hotel rooms for Alvarez and me to stay in so we would be there when you guys land.”
Iwaizumi shook his head despite Oikawa not being able to see him, and he motioned for Hanamaki and Matsukawa to rush to the table. They picked up their pace and got to the table in close to ten seconds.
With Hanamaki and Matsukawa there to listen, Iwaizumi began, “First, we’ll be taking a plane back to Houston, go through about an hour layover there, then hop on a flight to Buenos Aires for nine hours. After that, we’ll have about a forty-five-minute layover there, then take close to a two-hour flight and land at the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento airport in San Juan. We should finally be with Tooru before noon. Does that sound like a good plan?”
Matsukawa and Hanamaki nodded in front of him, not verbally answering, but Iwaizumi took their agreement in stride anyway. Oikawa was the one to speak up, “How much did it cost?”
“One thousand two hundred dollars. It’s within our budget.”
“Great! That sounds like a solid plan. You double-checked to make sure you’ll be landing in Argentina, correct?”
Iwaizumi chuckled, “Yes, I did. I would talk to you more, but Matsukawa and Hanamaki are glaring at me, so I’m going to order a taxi and take us to our hotel.”
“Alright, be safe Hajime. I love you.”
“I love you too.” Iwaizumi didn’t have to prepare himself for the usual teasing from Matsukawa and Hanamaki because of how tired they are. Both of their eyes are halfway shut and their movements are slow like their brains are covered in a light fog. They start walking outside to the pick-up area not long after Iwaizumi orders a taxi on his phone.
The sight of Matsukawa and Hanamaki walking like zombies makes Iwaizumi want to laugh. When he’s particularly very exhausted, his brain seems to overdose on an adrenaline-like chemical that makes him extra perky. It crashes once he hits the comfort of a bed or a couch.
Matsukawa and Hanamaki are scarily alike, opposites to Iwaizumi. Matsukawa gets crankier the more tired he becomes, while Hanamaki gets strangely quieter. He previously described it as his head feeling full of stuffing. He can hear everything perfectly, but his eyes start to hurt around the edges screaming at him to go to sleep.
Fortunately, the taxi gets there in under two minutes, and they arrive at the hotel safely. Iwaizumi ordered a single room for the three of them. He collapsed on the bed after setting his luggage down by the bathroom door. Hanamaki did the same to the other bed, leaving Matsukawa to climb into bed next to Iwaizumi. (Hanamaki kicks in his sleep, they found that out in their first year of high school when he’d be forced to separate his futon from the team during training camps.)
They’re nearly instantly asleep, not bothering to even attempt to change their clothes after picking out the most comfortable ones for the plane.
Argentinian Date & Time:
Thursday, 7/16/19, 6:13 P.M
Puerto Rican Date & Time:
Thursday, 7/16/19, 5:13 P.M
Location:
San Juan, Argentina, Oikawa’s Apartment
Alvarez drove to Oikawa’s apartment after Iwaizumi hung up the phone. He offered to stay and help Oikawa with what he needed, but Oikawa declined and told him he’d see him tomorrow to go pick up his friends from the airport. He’d have Iwaizumi text him his flight details in depth once he woke up.
Alvarez called him when he was making dinner, “Hey Toto. Coach wants to talk to us about tomorrow, are you up to doing a conference call?”
Oikawa sighed, “I can be. I’m kind of busy making dinner right now, so give me ten minutes, alright?”
“That’s fine. I don’t want to stress you out or anything.”
“You won’t if you call me back later. Bye, Alvarez.” He didn’t wait for an answer before he hung up.
He’s been in a grumpy mood ever since he arrived back at his apartment. The stress is starting to weigh on him, so he took a quick two-hour power nap to destress. It partially worked, but he still felt angry about it all.
He finished making his dinner in five minutes and spent the other five minutes eating in silence. He was entertained by his thoughts, thinking about actually getting to see Iwaizumi tomorrow.
His phone rings, and he picks it up without looking at the screen, “Hello.” He greets.
“Hello, Tooru and Alvarez. Mind explaining to me what is so urgent at this time?” José Blanco asks kindly.
Oikawa stays silent, so Alvarez clears his throat awkwardly and speaks up, “I’m afraid Toto and I might need to skip practice tomorrow morning.”
Oikawa can hear the puzzlement in José’s voice when he says, “Excuse me? The both of you need tomorrow off?”
Alvarez continues the conversation for Oikawa, “Yes. We were supposed to pick his friends up from the airport today, but there was a problem with the tickets, so they’ll be arriving sometime tomorrow before practice lets out.”
“And how urgent is it so they can’t hire a cab to drive themselves to the training facility to wait?” José sounds skeptical, but it’s for a good reason, “I don’t think I have to remind the both of you that you’re exceptional players. Our team needs you. While I understand where you’re both coming from, I don’t think it’s essential that you skip practice.”
Oikawa responds to José this time, “We understand as well. I think I’m going to go shower, thank you for your time, Blanco.”
“I’m sorry, Tooru, Alvarez. Remember this is not an average nine-to-five job. I’d give you grace if it was just one of you, so if you want to work something out amongst yourselves you can. Text me whether or not you will be attending practice tomorrow,” José sounds like he’s walking around on his side of the phone before he stops to finish and hang up the phone, “Have a good evening you two.”
Oikawa goes quiet after he hears the familiar sound of José hanging up the phone. He sets his forehead down against his dining table and closes his eyes. He can feel a tension headache forming at his temples and behind his eyes, he’ll likely have to take a practice off anyway if it gets worse.
“Toto, if you want me to, I can pick them up by myself.” Alvarez offers.
Oikawa sighs, “It’s alright. I’m not feeling too well, so I can get an Uber to take me there and pick me up tomorrow. You should go to practice.”
“If that’s what you really want, then I’ll do it.”
“Ok, have a good night, Alvarez.”
“You too, Toto.”
Oikawa hangs up and does as he said and takes a shower. He hopes Iwaizumi and his friends are doing alright.
Argentinian Date & Time:
Thursday, 7/17/19, 12:54 A.M
Puerto Rican Date & Time:
Thursday, 7/16/19, 11:54 P.M
Location:
Doubletree by Hilton Hotel
Iwaizumi wakes up feeling tired but very well-rested. He feels better than he had earlier that day. The hotel room is encased in total darkness save for the light on Matsukawa’s phone casting on his face.
Hearing Iwaizumi move around, Matsukawa turns his phone flashlight on and shines it at him, “Good morning, or good night I should say.”
Iwaizumi smiles, “What time is it?”
“It’s close to midnight. I woke up about twenty minutes ago and got a shower.”
Iwaizumi nods, using the flashlight from Matsukawa’s phone to turn on the lamp that’s on the nightstand. He digs in his pockets in search of his phone but finds out that it’s dead when the battery symbol on the front flashes with a frowny face.
He gets off the bed and walks to where he threw his luggage on the ground carelessly, looking in his bag for his charger. He plugs his phone into an outlet and charges it.
“Hey,” Iwaizumi begins as he opens his luggage for a new change of clothes, “Can you text Tooru and let him know we’re ok? Tell him my phone’s dead but I’ll call him after my shower.”
Matsukawa nods, “Roger that.” He seems to be in a much better mood now that he isn’t sleep-deprived.
Iwaizumi takes his showers quickly, finding that he rushes through his bathing routine quickly knowing that he gets to talk to Oikawa after.
When he gets out of the shower, he finds Matsukawa video chatting with someone while eating a breakfast bar. Instantly, he recognizes the sound of Oikawa’s voice, so he rushes over to Matsukawa’s bedside. He’s pleased to see Oikawa’s pixelated face smiling at him.
“Hey, Hajime! Are you feeling well rested?”
Iwaizumi chuckles, smiling brightly too, “Very, but I know that you should be getting some sleep at this time, right?”
Oikawa shrugs, “I wanted to make sure you guys were all ok before sleeping. Blanco let me take tomorrow off so I can greet you guys at the airport. What time is your first flight?”
“Ah, let me check my phone,” Iwaizumi gets his phone off the charger and powers it on, idly listening to Matsukawa and Oikawa talk. He moves to sit on the bed next to Matsukawa in the frame so Oikawa can see him too, “It’s actually a bit late, we should be at the airport by six. Our plane takes off at seven fifty-one.”
Oikawa nods, “Ok, and I’ll be expecting you guys by noon?”
“Yes. Then we can finally put this travel nightmare behind us.” Iwaizumi groans.
“Until we have to return to Japan.” Matsukawa leers.
Oikawa tuts, “Let’s not focus on the negatives. I still have a bunch of things planned for us to do! I’m going to make sure after you guys get rid of most of your jet lag, then we’ll do everything!”
Matsukawa is the one groaning this time, not noticing Hanamaki who has popped his head into the frame beside his, “Hello ‘Kawa.” Hanamaki yawns.
Oikawa waves, “Hi Makki! You guys are going to be awake all night at this rate.”
Iwaizumi and Matsukawa shrug, looking indifferent about it, “It can’t be helped. When I first arrived in California for my first year, it took me three weeks to be completely over my jet lag.” Iwaizumi points out.
“Since Oikawa wants to terrorize us, I doubt we’ll get any chance to get over ours.” Matsukawa teases.
Oikawa gasps, “Don’t worry, you guys can sleep when I’m at practice, or you can walk around acting like a group of nerdy tourists.” He snickers.
“No way; we’re going to be waiting on you to show us around so we can embarrass you.” Hanamaki smiles cheekily, not hiding his excitement at having a chance to tease Oikawa.
“I’ll abandon you.”
“We’ll tell the police!”
“With what Spanish vocabulary? I bet less than two percent of the population can even speak Japanese-”
“That’s enough you two,” Iwaizumi is used to interrupting small quarrels between them, this time being no exception, “Tooru, you need to rest. We will get more sleep before our flight to Houston tomorrow, but we can’t have you as sleep deprived as we will be. At least one of us needs to have our heads screwed on right.”
“And you’re depending on Oikawa for that?” Matsukawa jabs at Oikawa teasingly.
“We’ve lost a good man, Matsukawa.” Hanamaki agrees, his voice sounding like fake melancholy.
“A good man indeed.” Matsukawa winces as he feels Iwaizumi jab an elbow into his ribs.
Iwaizumi reaches behind Matsukawa to whack Hanamaki’s head, “Serves you two right. No more distractions, ok? I love you, Tooru. Get some sleep.”
“I love you too, Hajime. Though I can’t say the same for the two gremlins behind you.” Oikawa winks, ignoring the laughing faces of Matsukawa and Hanamaki making kissy faces and pinching Iwaizumi for being cheesy.
Once Matsukawa sees that Oikawa hung up, he shuts his phone off and lays back in the bed, “So, what plans do we have for tomorrow before our flight?”
Iwaizumi thinks about it, and so does Hanamaki if his silence is anything to go by, “I’m not sure. I think it’d be nice to spend it relaxing in the pool, or watching some crappy show on my laptop.”
Hanamaki hums, “I like that idea. It gives us some time to relax before we spend over twelve more hours flying.”
“We should make sure to get Iwaizumi a new pair of headphones while we’re at the airport. Who knows if we’ll be stuck with another screaming baby.” Matsukawa says, laughing at Iwaizumi’s expense.
Iwaizumi rolls his eyes in annoyance, but he doesn’t get a chance to respond when Hanamaki interrupts, “I’ll be surprised if the baby even has vocal cords by now with how much they were screaming.”
“You still didn’t have to listen to it.” Iwaizumi huffs.
“No volume of my music could cover the sounds of screaming unless I wanted to go deaf.”
“I think I did for a minute after we got off the plane,” Iwaizumi says, “I don’t want to think about it anymore. Let’s just watch some movies, yeah?”
Matsukawa gets his laptop out of his luggage, connecting his computer to the hotel wifi. They spend the next few hours watching a few different movies ranging from a variety of genres from horror to romance.
Hanamaki falls back asleep halfway through the second movie, but Iwaizumi and Matsukawa manage to stay awake and watch a few more movies until dawn. By then, they’re each yawning and decide to crawl back into the other bed to catch up on some more rest.
When they’re all fully awake and coherent at the same time, it’s one o’clock in the afternoon. Oikawa messaged their group chats a couple of times checking up on them which they responded to eagerly.
It’s only six more hours before they set off to Houston again, then to Buenos Aires and San Juan, Argentina.
They spend the majority of the six hours lounging around in silence. They choose to spend some time in the pool like Iwaizumi mentioned they could do earlier, and they spend some other time scrolling through their phones and giving updates to Oikawa about how they’re doing.
They’re delighted to find that they have the pool to themselves for the day, nobody has come down except for the pool managers. No lifeguards are on duty either, so it’s just them.
Naturally, that leads them to do some childish games. The pool goes down to six and a half feet, just a bit taller than Matsukawa is, so they have fun trying to toss each other into the deep end and doing cannonballs to purposefully get water in everyone's eyes. Their fun hadn’t lasted longer than two hours, unfortunately, when they got interrupted by a family with two small children walking in.
Politely, they excuse themselves and make their way to their hotel room to dry off and change clothes. It feels like not even an hour has passed by the time it’s five thirty, and they’re running their swimming trunks in the hotel dryer to put back into their suitcases.
When their swimming trunks are fully dry and warm fifteen minutes later, Iwaizumi calls them a taxi and they head to the airport, ready for their second attempt.
Argentinian Date & Time:
Thursday, 7/17/19, 9:45 A.M
Puerto Rican Date & Time:
Thursday, 7/17/19, 8:45 A.M
Location:
Ministro Pistarini International Airport
After what feels like a lifetime, they finally arrive in Argentina. This time though, customs aren't as brutal, but the clothing in their bags are most likely going to have a few wrinkles on them. They have forty-five minutes before their flight to San Juan takes off, meaning they have relatively twenty minutes to get to their gate, maybe even sooner.
Once they’re off their plane, ten minutes have already passed. They were seated in the back of the plane, which was the quietest spot, but it meant they had to get off the plane very late.
With their carry-on bags in hand, they run to see the board where their gate will be posted.
“Iwaizumi, can you read this?” Matsukawa asks, glaring at the board. He’s tired, cranky, and really doesn’t want to miss their next flight for any reason. Hanamaki beside him is silent, slouched over with a neck pillow sitting on his nape.
“Maybe? I think I should ask one of the workers here for help since there aren’t any English translations I can see,” Iwaizumi looks around and sees a worker at a help desk. He walks over, happy there isn’t a line, “Hello, do you speak English?”
The worker looks up and smiles at him, her red lipstick cracking a bit in the corners of her mouth, “I can speak some. What may I help you with?”
Iwaizumi feels relieved that the first person he finds can at least partly understand him, “Can you let me know which gate I’m supposed to be at?” He hands her his boarding pass.
She takes a look and types on her computer for a few seconds, looking back up at him with a polite smile and a blush on her cheeks, “You will be in gate twenty-eight.”
“Thank you.” He says genuinely, then he steps away to let the person he didn’t know was behind him speak to her. Looking up, he sees he’s only by gate one. He surveys down the long row of gates, finding that it stops at twenty.
He speeds walks to Matsukawa and Hanamaki, “We need to hurry up and go, our gate is across the damn airport!”
Matsukawa and Hanamaki perk up visibly, but not in a positive way. They look terrified, so they all haunch their bags up their shoulders and run across the airport. They walk between slow-walking single people and families with children, barely missing running a small child over more than once before they get to their gate.
“Now boarding gate twenty-eight, boarding group A may line up in a vertical line in front of the checking desk.”
“We’re boarding in group B,” Matsukawa states, moving to sit in one of the now vacant chairs. Iwaizumi and Hanamaki follow soon after.
Iwaizumi gets his phone out once he’s seated.
Recipient: Tooru <3
Sender: Hajime
>>We landed safely in Buenos Aires. We’re waiting by our gate now getting ready to board.
Recipient: Hajime
Sender: Tooru <3
>>OMG!! HAJIME TWO MORE HOURS UNTIL I CAN SEE YOU GUYS (✧ω✧)
Recipient: Tooru <3
Sender: Hajime
>>I love you, and I can’t wait to be able to see you. We’re about to board now, so I have to go, but I’ll call you when I land.
Recipient: Hajime
Sender: Tooru <3
>>YAY! im so excited for this!!!! have a safe flight i love you more (*￣▽￣)b
This time around, there was no screaming baby, but there was a bird.
Someone had managed to smuggle a bird onto the plane. The bird had a fun time flying around their cabin, and some of the people were laughing until the bird laid a few presents in their laps.
Despite their exhaustion, Matsukawa and Hanamaki were two of the people laughing. The bird landed on the seat right in front of Hanamaki, staring at him intently, then at his bag of miniature peanuts, then back at him. He didn’t want to make any assumptions that birds can sustain eating a peanut and live.
With the bird distracted, a flight attendant was able to catch the bird and put it back into its concealed cage. The flight was short, so there was no need for an emergency landing, but Iwaizuumi knew there’d be consequences for the woman who let her bird loose.
With the excitement of the escaped bird over, the three of them got roughly an hour of sleep before the plane was landing. They were seated in the middle of the plane, so in about ten minutes they were officially in the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento airport, San Juan, Argentina.
Argentinian Date & Time:
Thursday, 7/17/19, 12:00 P.M
Location:
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Airport, San Juan, Argentina
The first thing they did was a cheer, quietly to themselves. The airport was bustling with anxious passengers and tired flight attendants, so they didn’t want to cause too much of a commotion- not that they had the energy to do so anyway.
Iwaizumi harshly got his phone out of his pocket and dialed Oikawa who picked up immediately, “Hajime! I see you guys have landed safely, I’m by the baggage claim.”
“Great, good, I’ll meet you there, Tooru.” Iwaizumi smiled, hanging up then turning to Matsukawa and Hanamaki behind him, “He’s by baggage claim.”
They ran to the baggage claim area as fast as they could given how exhausted they felt. They ran down the two flights of escalators, and Iwaizumi barely thought about it before he ran right up to Oikawa, hugging him tightly.
Oikawa had been facing away initially, so Iwaizumi was hugging his back tightly. Oikawa gasped, wholly surprised by the sudden hug. He thought they’d come from the other direction, but it wasn’t a big deal.
He turned around in Hajime’s arms and hugged him tightly, feeling tears swelling in his eyes. Their moment lasted ten seconds until they were flanked on both sides by who could only be Matsukawa and Hanamaki.
“Don’t forget about us, we’re here too.”
“It’s ok, Matsukawa. We might be chopped liver to them, but we still get to leech off their money.”
They shared a laugh, pulling away at the same time. Oikawa stuck close to Iwaizumi like he was super glued to him.
They might be tired, and a little cranky, but nothing beats finally being together.