Chapter Text
Oikawa swallowed thickly, eyes boring down into his plate, a single glizzy left upon it. This wasn’t the first time he had been presented with a meal as such. In fact, he had spent the last half an hour working down nearly identical franks. This one, however, felt different. He… felt different.
“Hey, you alright?”
Iwa’s gaze was fixed on Oikawa, tinted with concern. They had been training for the upcoming Glizzy Challenge for almost a year now, with the official event being just three weeks away. What started as a lighthearted eating contest between Hinata and Oikawa became a serious competition, rescheduled a year later after the two had proper time to prepare. Throughout the past eleven months, Oikawa had eaten glizzy after glizzy, getting to the point where he was practically swallowing the sausages whole. There was no doubt in Iwa’s mind he would crush Hinata. But of course, he never would have gotten there without the training of his best friend, Iwaizumi Hajime.
Iwa’s voice broke Oikawa out of his assumed trance and he looked up with a sheepish smile. It was silly for him to be thrown off by mere unease, but Oikawa knew he was already past the point of no return; he was not going to finish this glizzy.
“Yeah, guess I’m just not feeling too good! Do you mind if we take a break for now?”
A break. It wasn’t like Oikawa to ask for a break. If he had asked for a break every time he filled himself to the brim with processed meats, or when he became too nauseated at the smell of sizzling, simmering weiners, he never would have gotten to where he was today. Of course, Iwa knew this. He wasn’t just his friend in these trying times—he was a mentor. A coach. He had been there every moment of Oikawa’s training, teaching him the best ways to wolf down weenies and guzzle down glizzies. While it was his job to push Oikawa to his limits, it was clear something was off. There was something lurking behind Oikawa’s smile, peering dully through his troubled eyes.
“How about we take the rest of the day off,” Iwa started to stand, tucking his pocket watch away. “We can pick up where we left off tomorrow and I’ll start cleaning this up for you.”
“No! Wait—”
Oikawa caught Iwa’s outstretched wrist before he could snatch away the glizzy-bearing plate. “I can clean up my own mess. What are you, my mom?” He let out a playful laugh, trying to reassure his friend. “Go sit on the couch and find something for us to watch! I’ll get this done quick.”
Oikawa took his plate in one hand and gathered all the now empty, once glizzied plates in the other. Strolling into the kitchen, he began briskly tidying up, not wanting to keep Iwa waiting too long. When he returned back to the glizzy plate, however, he couldn’t help but resume his deep stare upon it, his captivation rooted deep. But why? A few minutes passed, and Oikawa felt as if the world had slowed. He couldn’t tear his eyes away, and everything around him had become so loud. The faint sound of Iwa flipping through cable T.V. channels was bleeding in from the other room. A bird chirped outside, the clock ticked rhythmically. Iwa settled on something, apparent by the now-steady drone of the T.V. Without thinking, Oikawa reached out and slipped his fingers around the sausage, grasping it tightly. Slipping it into his pocket, he turned around, preparing himself to go rejoin his friend.