Chapter Text
It's three days later, Friday, 5:13 pm, when Oikawa throws open the door to their apartment and eyes where Iwaizumi is eating overcooked ramen on the faux suede couch.
"Did you just run here?" Iwaizumi questions around a mouth full of chicken flavored noodles.
Oikawa slams the door shut and grins, head nodding up and down excitedly.
Iwaizumi sighs and puts down his dinner, but there was a gleam in Oikawa's eyes that Iwaizumi hadn't seen in a while. It made his chest feel tight.
Oikawa ruffles through his backpack as he walks toward the couch to join Iwaizumi. "Guess who just got a 90-fucking-3 on their history test?"
"Oh man, I knew I was going to pass history this semester, but I didn't know I was going to ace it," Iwaizumi says thoughtfully, stroking his chin.
Oikawa joins Iwaizumi in a huff and pulls a stack of stapled papers out of his backpack. "Look!" He all but screams, shoving the test in Iwaizumi's face, "I even got a bonus question right!"
The papers dancing in front of Iwaizumi's eyes say "93" in red pen across the top, but Iwaizumi can't stop looking at the glee dancing across Oikawa's face.
Iwaizumi carefully takes the test from Oikawa's hands and hears him whisper "and it's really all thanks to you."
"You were the one who aced the test, not me, dumbo," Iwaizumi quips back, flicking Oikawa's forehead. Iwaizumi doesn't want to hear him whisper, not right now, with him this close.
Oikawa smiles. "But I wouldn't have been able to ace that test without the help of my ace."
Iwaizumi groans and covers his face with the test papers as Oikawa's laughter swirls around them.
"No, but really Iwa-chan," Oikawa pulls the paper's back from Iwaizumi's face, "I would have slept through the test and failed without your help." His smile is bittersweet, the marks on his neck almost gone, but still dancing around his collarbones. Iwaizumi wants them completely erased.
"Do you..." Iwaizumi starts, swallows, and ambles on, "want to stay in tonight? I mean, instead of going out with your partying friends...?" He trails off, staring back down at the test he's clutching.
After a beat, Oikawa's back to beaming, a quiet "yeah," slipping out. "But we're going to have to find some better food for a night in than your shitty microwave noodles."
"My noodles aren't shitty, you're shitty! Shittykawa that is," Iwaizumi grumbles, placing Oikawa's test down on the coffee table. "Just because you have a 'sophisticated palate' doesn't mean you can make fun of those who don't."
"You are eating noodles that you heated up in the microwave and then added suspicious prepackaged powder to." Oikawa retorts, rolling his eyes, "I'm surprised you're still alive after eating that junk."
"You just have to balance it out with like an apple or something," Iwaizumi responds, standing up. He picks up his noodles and walks into the kitchen, debating. Throw them away to appease Oikawa or eat them now? He looks down at the lukewarm noodles as Oikawa's head whips around to glare at him.
"That's not how it works at all. Now toss out those noodles Iwa-chan, I know what you're thinking."
Yeah, Iwaizumi thinks, sometimes you really do.
They're sitting on the couch, watching Godzilla (the original one as Oikawa insisted) when Iwaizumi realizes their knees are almost touching, and Oikawa has yet to explain his actions from three days ago.
Iwaizumi turns to face Oikawa, bringing his knee up on the couch and resting his shin against Oikawa's thigh. Oikawa turns to look at him, eyebrow raised, while Iwaizumi arranges his thoughts and tries not to stare at the fading marks traveling across Oikawa's neck. The loose tank top he's wearing isn't helping.
Iwaizumi takes a deep breath and speaks. "Are you going to talk to me about what happened few days ago, about how it's been happening for these past two months, or are we going to not talk about it?"
Frozen, like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, until he reaches up to cover his neck, Oikawa stays silent.
The movie struggles on in the background, black and white images flashing on the screen, but neither one pays attention.
"I'm not...." Oikawa starts, "I'm just—"
"Because it's okay if you have a girlfriend or something," Iwaizumi interrupts, looking away from Oikawa's fragile facade and coughing into his hand. "I just can't have you getting drunk all the time on a school night, you know?" Iwaizumi isn't sure if Oikawa really knows.
"Is that really what you think I'm doing?" Oikawa mutters, gritting his teeth. "Going out and having some fun with a random girl?"
It's Iwaizumi's turn to pause as he hears the malice in Oikawa's tone. "You never told me, Tooru. You never said anything about it."
Oikawa jumps up from the couch, fists clench and he stares down at Iwaizumi breathing heavily. "Do you really believe that I'm going out just to mess around with a girl?" He snarls.
"You never said anything, Tooru." Iwaizumi reiterates, tone firm.
"Because you never fucking asked!" Oikawa laughs, the tone sour and off putting. The sound makes Iwaizumi sick.
"I figured you would tell me, but you didn't, so this is me asking," Iwaizumi says, sitting up straighter.
"I never said anything because I'm dumb, I'm petty, I'm just so worthless Iwa-chan—"
"No, you aren't," Iwaizumi growls, standing up and grabbing Oikawa's shoulders. "You are intelligent, you’re kind, and you are worth so much more than—"
"Stop," Oikawa whispers, tears sliding down his cheeks.
Iwaizumi halts, looking into the eyes he's seen almost every day since childhood, the ones that are now glistening and dripping.
"Oh Iwa-chan," Oikawa grabs Iwaizumi's hand and places it on his cheek. "Oh Hajime, I went out to forget you so I wouldn't ruin us."
Iwaizumi can't breathe, but he feels Oikawa's tears sliding down his hand. He finally allows himself to look at those lips, the ones he avoided for too fucking long, and takes a deep breath.
"Tooru, you idiot," Iwaizumi whispers, "don't go out to forget me when I'm here waiting for you." Iwaizumi leans in and presses his lips gently on Oikawa's trembling ones, once, twice, three times, before he pulls back. "I've been waiting for you to come home the entire time."
"Hajime," Oikawa sighs, before leaning in to kiss Iwaizumi, and all he can feel is fire.
Fire, eating him up from the inside, licking up his chest and into his throat. It's burning his heart and Iwaizumi wants to cry as his lips move against Oikawa's, so he does, his entire body engulfed in flames he never wants to put out.
After another moment, Iwaizumi pulls back and breathes, oxygen burning his lungs, and laughs, pulling Oikawa in a tight hug. "I love you, I love you so much Tooru."
Oikawa smiles into Iwaizumi's shoulder, hugging him tighter. "I love you too Hajime, I love you too."
Standing there, in the middle of their living room, Iwaizumi knows there are things they still need to discuss, problems that still need to be solved, but he's waited years to feel those lips against his own, so he kisses Oikawa again and refuses to let go.
Oikawa, arms circling Iwaizumi's neck, knows that Iwaizumi doesn't want to let go, but it's fine, he doesn't either.