Chapter Text
It doesn’t take too long for Tooru’s friends to figure out about him and Iwaizumi.
Tooru wasn’t really hiding it, though. Mattsun noticed how much his nose was buried in his phone, and once Mattsun caught on, he’d tell Bokuto.
A couple weeks later, Tooru wakes up with a headache and feeling sick to his stomach.
Bokuto had insisted the night before that he, Tooru, and Mattsun all go out to party as a little celebration of… their relationships, Tooru guesses?
Bokuto and Akaashi had apparently officially gotten together, and even though Mattsun keeps insisting that he and Hanamaki are a temporary fling, his tone of voice and the way he talks about Hanamaki seem to suggest otherwise.
Despite Tooru insisting that Iwaizumi and he aren’t in a “proper” relationship, Bokuto still goaded him into going out.
Tooru hadn’t even meant to drink last night, but the bar they’d gone to was having a special limited-time cocktail.
He’s only met up with Iwaizumi a handful of times since their shopping trip together.
Iwaizumi has taken Tooru to his apartment simply to just show him around (his apartment is clean and extremely cozy), and Iwaizumi has hung around at Tooru’s place a couple times.
He rolls over in his bed to grab his phone.
It’s cold this morning, and he slightly regrets sleeping shirtless, but simply pulls the blanket over him as he unlocks his phone.
Morning texts became a bit of a norm for him and Iwaizumi, though by now, it’s about 11:40 AM.
‹‹ Good morning! Sort of
‹‹ I thought I should let you know that I am horribly hungover
‹‹ Bokuto dragged me to a party last night and I’m kind of a lightweight
›› It’s almost noon, but good morning
›› Frankly I might as well be hungover too
›› Had to work one of the biggest nights of the month last night
›› Are you feeling okay?
‹‹ Big migraine, that’s all
‹‹ Why was it such a big night? :0
›› Someone rented the whole club out for this huge party
›› It was so loud my head was pounding all night
›› I work later tonight, too
›› Ugh
‹‹ Haha :9
‹‹ I should stop by or something, I’ve been wanting to since you told me you worked at a nightclub anyway
‹‹ Would that be weird?
›› Nah
›› It’d probably be more bearable if you were there
That makes Tooru’s heart leap.
In the following weeks since they agreed to try out a relationship, Tooru’s found that for the most part, Iwaizumi’s a very easy person to talk to.
He’d assumed so since the first time he met the guy at the mixer, but Tooru had assumed things might change with an added element of romance, but things between them seem to be relatively cool.
Though, Iwaizumi seems to be honest about his feelings, and it makes Tooru more flustered than he likes to admit.
They haven’t quite labelled their relationship past just… “relationship”, though.
Tooru doesn’t even think he’d mind if they called it something else, but he’s not about to complain now.
Tooru’s phone buzzes again with a new message and Tooru remembers he still has to actually reply.
›› If you’re not too hungover, that is
›› I won’t be offended if you’d rather take the night off
‹‹ Not at all!!
‹‹ I’m the one who mentioned it, after all
‹‹ It’s kind of exciting, getting to see you in your work environment :D
›› It’s nothing too special
›› It’s kind of exciting knowing you’ll be showing up, haha
‹‹ Stop thattttttt ///
›› You’re cute
‹‹ Aaack, it’s too early to get all flustered
‹‹ Gimme the club name already
›› It’s almost noon
›› It’s easy to fluster you
‹‹ Well you can’t fluster me even more than you already have
›› Is that a challenge?
›› Sent an image.
›› (;
Tooru swallows as he opens up the picture Iwaizumi sent and chokes on his own spit at the shirtless selfie.
Iwaizumi is lying on a couch, his bare chest shown, a shy, lazy smile on his face. A sunbeam highlights a strip right under his eyes.
Tooru’s face combusts into all shades of red, clumsily tapping on the “back” button to reply.
‹‹ OKAY OKAY POINT MADE
‹‹ You’re truly a pro
‹‹ Geez, do you always walk around your house shirtless??
›› Sure, if I feel like it
‹‹ Hmmm...
‹‹ Maybe I’ll consider that roommate thing properly now
›› Oh yeah?
›› Gimme your pitch, then
‹‹ Uh
‹‹ I wash dishes, watch Netflix alien shows til 3AM and… I’m an all-around fun person?
›› Hmm hmm
›› Your points are being considered
›› I’ll get back to you within five business days
‹‹ You can flatter me all you want and laugh when I get flustered out of my mind over it
›› Sold
›› And you seem to think I’m much more put-together than you when it comes to this
›› I get flustered too
‹‹ Doesn’t feel like it D:
‹‹ Hold on
Tooru, face still crimson, holds his camera up to his face. He sees himself in the front-facing camera and inwardly cringes at how he looks.
His hair is extremely messy, he’s got slight bags under his eyes, and his skin has goosebumps all over from how cold he is, but he takes the picture anyway and sends it.
‹‹ Sent an image.
Iwaizumi’s typing bubble pops up, then disappears… then pops up, then disappears.
Tooru’s already embarrassed as is, so he sits up and distracts himself by snatching a shirt off the foot of the bed and slipping it on.
He phone pings, and he practically leaps on it.
›› Shit
›› I’m…
›› Gonna save that
Tooru traps a noise in his throat so it doesn’t come out, though it doesn’t stop the blush that spreads over his face.
‹‹ See?! Even when you’re flustered, you act all calm and cool
‹‹ I’ll just save yours too, then!! >:/
›› Fine by me
›› That’s kind of why I sent it, anyway
›› I’m incredibly flustered, I’ll have you know
›› You’re just cuter when you’re flustered
‹‹ STOP IT YOU’RE DOING THAT CHARMING THING AGAIN
‹‹ GIMME THE DAMN NAME ALREADY >:(
›› Hahaha
›› Vermillion
›› Which I imagine is the color of your face about now
›› I clock in at 7PM, I’ll give your name to the bouncer
›› Going to lunch now, see you tonight dummy
‹‹ Have a good lunch!!
Tooru tosses his phone on his bed as he rubs his hands over his face, cooling himself off before stepping out of his room.
He finds Mattsun and Bokuto in the living room, looking not nearly the amount of hungover he’d expected them to be. In fact, Bokuto seems just as lively as he normally is.
Tooru doesn’t think the guy’s ever been fully drunk before.
“Well, what do you know,” Mattsun jokes as he notices Tooru, “He lives.”
Tooru scrunches up his nose as he walks around the couch to face them.
“Just because we don’t all wake up at the crack of dawn…”
“Your coffee’s on the counter.”
“Hey, Oikawa, do you have work today?” Bokuto asks suddenly, bouncing on the couch cushions a little.
Tooru calls back as he wanders into the kitchen to grab his cup of coffee sitting on the counter, as made by Mattsun.
“Nah, I’m on a bit of a vacation for the time being. Threw my shoulder out a couple weeks ago.”
When he returns to the living room, Bokuto’s looking at him seriously.
He waves a hand dismissively as he sits down in the recliner, balancing his mug on the armrest, “I’m fine. I told the coach that too, but he said he didn’t wanna take any chances after my knee.”
“I’ve been keeping an eye on him,” Mattsun reassures, “Since he has a tendency to act fine and then cry in the shower about his pain.”
“That was one time, and my knee was an entirely different story!” Tooru protests.
“You can never be too careful,” Mattsun shrugs.
Bokuto pipes up, “Wait, when’d you throw out your shoulder? You were fine the last time we hung out, right? When Iwaizumi came over for the first time?”
Tooru takes a sip of his coffee.
“It was a little bit after that. It was stinging a bit during my match, but I didn’t say anything about it until after the match was over, and by then, it was pretty bad.”
“You overworked yourself during practice. The day before the match, you mentioned your shoulder was hurting a little,” Mattsun sighs, leaning back on the couch.
“Hmmm,” Bokuto hums, “Well, I was gonna invite you guys to come with me to the carnival, on the other side of town. But if Oiks is hurt, maybe we shouldn’t.”
“I’m not hurt,” Tooru corrects pointedly, “I’ve got plans tonight anyway, sorry, Bo.”
Mattsun reaches over the couch and pats Bokuto’s head. “Bokuto, isn’t the carnival something you should invite your boyfriend to?”
“Oh! Good point,” Bokuto nods with a grin. “I’ll ask Akaashi, then!”
There’s a couple minutes of comfortable silence where Bokuto whips his phone out and taps a message out and Tooru sips his coffee.
Although, as soon as Bokuto’s sent his message, he looks up and asks, “Oh, yeah, how are you and Iwaizumi doing, anyway?”
“Wh- we’re fine,” Tooru stammers slightly, suddenly shy about being put on the spot.
Bokuto waits another beat before tilting his head slightly.
“Is that all?”
Tooru focuses on his mug as he mumbles, “Well, I mean, I’m going to see him at his work tonight. What else is there to say?”
Bokuto smiles with his whole face as he rocks in place.
“Really? I have sooo much to say about ‘kaashi. I don’t know how you don’t have a ton to say about your boyfriend. But I guess it’s ‘cause you guys haven’t been together that long.”
“Wh-! Neither have you! And we’re not… I mean, we’re… it’s not really a…” Tooru trails off, not knowing how to explain that they’re not… DATING, per se, but…
He’s interrupted by Bokuto’s phone pinging with a new message. Bokuto hurriedly checks it and beams when he reads it.
Tooru doesn’t really need the context, but Bokuto tells them anyway, “Akaashi said he wants to go! I’ve gotta go back home and get ready!”
“It’s only like 11:40. The carnival probably doesn’t even open til this afternoon,” Tooru points out, but Bokuto’s already standing up.
“Doesn’t matter! It takes a while to get ready! Gotta make sure I look nice to see him!” Bokuto chirps as he pockets his phone and heads for the door.
“I’ll see you guys later! Have fun! Bye-bye!”
He leaves Tooru and Mattsun in silence, and they bask in it for a couple minutes as Mattsun checks his own phone and Tooru drinks his coffee.
After a moment, Mattsun looks up from his phone and asks, “You going to stay at Iwaizumi’s tonight, Oikawa?”
Tooru looks at Mattsun from over his mug.
“Uh, I mean, I’m just going to hang out with him at his work. He works pretty late, so I’ll probably leave before he gets off work.”
Mattsun hums in acknowledgement. “Where’s his work?”
Tooru rolls his eyes, pulling up the footrest on the recliner.
“Nightclub called Vermillion. Want me to send you a picture of him when I’m there too, mom?”
Mattsun scoffs, “Just checking in case you ask me to pick you up or something after getting buzzed.”
“I won’t!” Tooru huffs, holding his mug with both hands to warm them. “We’re just hanging out.”
“Well, you know, if you end up going home with him, I did end up buying those condoms-”
Tooru kicks the footrest down and puts his mug on the coffee table, quickly standing up.
“I’m going to my room! I’ll see you later!” he calls as he scurries down the hall, leaving Mattsun to snicker to himself.
At 6:30 PM, Tooru leaves the apartment wearing black sweatpants, a black shirt depicting an alien, and a long light blue cardigan.
It’s not the most elegant or fancy outfit he’s pulled together, but the dress code seems pretty lax.
He takes a bus over to the other side of town and finds his way pretty easily to the nightclub from there.
Actually, it’s pretty hard to miss. The club is just down the street from the bus stop, and it makes itself very well known, with large neon arrows flashing towards the bright red LED sign with the club name over it.
There’s already a small crowd in front of the entrance.
As he approaches the club, he wonders how to go about this.
Iwaizumi had mentioned that he gave Tooru’s name to the bouncer, so shouldn’t he have, like, priority access? But it seems that people with a membership to the club actually do have priority access, so maybe he should still wait in line…
It’s a popular club, but it’s also fairly small, so there’s only one bouncer, and he seems pretty stern.
He doesn’t really talk, rather just nods his head to allow someone in or silently shakes his head otherwise.
He has white hair and narrow eyes, but he looks fairly young, maybe only a couple years younger than Tooru. Despite that, he looks like someone Tooru probably doesn’t want to piss off.
He decides to just go to the end of the extremely loose line in front of the club to wait.
It takes about another thirty minutes of standing around to finally get to the front of the line.
He stands in front of the bouncer, not really sure if he should just… give him his name?
When the bouncer stays silent, eyeing him up, he figures he’s going to have to be the one to talk first.
“Uh… I’m Tooru Oikawa, uh, Iwaizumi invited me,” he says, rubbing his arm awkwardly.
The man looks him over, raising his… well, actually, he doesn’t have eyebrows.
Tooru’s not really sure what to do, he hadn’t really thought about what would happen if his excuse didn’t get by.
After a moment of glancing over, though, the bouncer nods to himself and gestures for Tooru to go in.
At first, Tooru’s not even sure if that means he is allowed to go in, so he fidgets his fingers as he asks tentatively, “Uh, can I… go in?”
The bouncer blinks, then nods, stepping aside only slightly so that Tooru can squeeze past him to open the door.
He’s kind of intimidating, but Tooru guesses that’s the point.
He makes his way inside and is greeted with a lobby room, only slightly crowded.
To the left, the smaller room he stands in opens up to a much, much larger room with a stage and a huge floor in front of it for a mosh pit. There’s already a good amount of people waiting around in the mosh pit, waiting for the next band to play.
Tooru imagines he’ll be avoiding that area of the club for most of the night.
Straight ahead of the small lobby room, warm red and purple lights lead down a short hallway to a bar lit with the same colors.
Even from a distance, Tooru can tell the bar is pretty congested, but people are coming and going frequently, bringing their drinks to the pit in the other room.
Tooru follows the hallway at a leisurely pace, despite the hallway being short.
He takes his time admiring the… completely black walls, only lit by the LED lights that guide him through the hallway.
When he enters the mouth of the room, he finds it to be a lot more spacious than he had initially thought. The bar extends from one end of the room all the way to the other, the barstools almost completely filled.
There’s a couple people tending the bar, each wearing white button-up shirts with red waistcoats, complete with either a black tie or bowtie.
At the far right end of the bar, a man darts around, mixing drinks and taking orders from customers. He’s got black-tipped ash blonde hair that curls up at the ends and narrow eyes.
He doesn’t seem particularly friendly, and doesn’t make much conversation with any of the customers, but he seems to be excellent at working quickly.
In the middle of the bar, a tall man with messy jet-black hair seems more interested in chatting with customers than taking orders. He has a sleazy smirk on his face the entire time he chats, and practically leaves the drink orders to the other two bartenders.
And at the left end of the bar, the end closest to Tooru… there he is.
Tooru’s breath hitches as he watches Iwaizumi flit around behind the bar, all grinning and friendly with the customers while sliding drinks across the counter.
Like the bartender at the right end, he seems to multitask well, but is a lot more charismatic than his co-worker.
And… shit. The outfit does look good on him.
As he approaches the bar, Iwaizumi notices him, and his smile slips into that charming, lopsided, toothy grin that had Tooru hooked from the moment he saw it.
“Hey, you,” Iwaizumi greets as Tooru finds an open barstool at the very end of the bar.
Tooru suddenly feels nervous to talk to him, but he finds himself staring at Iwaizumi’s outfit as he lets his mouth run.
“Hey. I’ve never actually been to a nightclub like this before. Pretty intense.”
Iwaizumi chuckles lightly, and it brings Tooru’s eyes back up to his face, illuminated by the red and purple lights that line the bar.
He finishes mixing a drink and slides it over to someone off to the right of Tooru as he replies, “Yeah. And so far, tonight’s been pretty tame. You shoulda seen it last night.”
Before Tooru can come up with something else to talk about, someone calls for an order from Iwaizumi.
Iwaizumi nods to him, pointing to the customer briefly, acknowledging the order as he gets to work on the drink.
“It’s a little embarrassing that you’re here, though,” Iwaizumi says absently, without missing a beat. “Having you watch me work makes me a little nervous.”
Tooru relaxes his shoulders and unstiffens his posture, sinking into the barstool.
It’s kind of relieving to hear Iwaizumi getting nervous.
“I’m not judging you or anything.”
“I realize that this doesn’t really provide much, uh, quality time to hang out or anything,” Iwaizumi says a little sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”
Tooru huffs a laugh.
“It’s cool. I don’t mind just watching you work. I think we’ve already established that we don’t need to do, like… date stuff, to hang out.”
“Can I get you a drink or anything? On me,” Iwaizumi offers.
Tooru waves a hand dismissively. “Nah, it’s probably better if I don’t take any alcohol. Don’t have a drive home, and I’m pretty lightweight.”
The middle bartender taps Iwaizumi on the shoulder.
“Iwa, mind getting a peach daiquiri for me?” he asks with a lazy grin.
Iwaizumi scoffs at him, lightly shoving the man’s shoulder.
“Get it yourself, Kuroo. Unless you’re ordering it, then pay up.”
The man, Kuroo, gestures to the three girls sitting in front of him and says pointedly, “I am currently engaging in a very lovely conversation, Iwa. I’d hate to put it on pause.”
“Then quit your job,” Iwaizumi rolls his eyes.
Kuroo turns to the bartender on the far right and begins to pester him instead, though from the glare of the right bartender, he’s not going to get far.
Iwaizumi slides his finished drink to the customer from before as he calls to Kuroo, “And stop bothering Semi. He’s sure as hell not gonna make your drink.”
Kuroo huffs a sigh as he turns around and begins preparing the drink himself, and the bar seems to fall into a flow for a while.
Tooru finds himself watching Iwaizumi’s movements as he makes drinks.
He wears a tie with his outfit, and his sleeves are rolled up to his elbows.
Tooru recalls him mentioning about going to the gym with his friend Akaashi. He must work out regularly, with how the seams on his rolled up sleeves almost threaten to tear when he moves his arms in certain ways.
Otherwise, Iwaizumi moves in an almost elegant way, in the way he slides the drinks across the counter, or the way he pours the liquid into glasses.
He’s a professional charmer, flashing handsome smiles at customers as he takes their orders.
Professional charmer actually describes Iwaizumi perfectly, Tooru thinks.
“You’re staring,” Iwaizumi notes to the side amusedly as he hands off another drink.
Tooru blinks, realizing he’s talking to him, and becomes acutely aware of his own eyes.
He darts them down to the dark counter, but shyly brings them back up to look at Iwaizumi’s beaming face.
“You’re just… very pretty. It’s hard not to stare.”
That seems to shift Iwaizumi’s cool demeanor for once. His movements falter, if ever so slightly, and he blinks a couple times before regaining control of his hands.
It’s only for a second, but Tooru notices it.
Is… is Iwaizumi’s face a little red? Or is it just the light from the bar?
Iwaizumi breathes a laugh and avoids Tooru’s eyes as he mumbles, “See? I do get flustered.”
Oh. Now Tooru’s face is heating up.
Iwaizumi barks a proper laugh as he continues on with his drink-making.
“Hey, don’t go getting flustered, too.”
Tooru smiles at him, but he gives himself a little mental cheer at seeing Iwaizumi get a little embarrassed.
Iwaizumi’s co-workers are giving him side glances, though. Tooru’s not really sure what that means, but he decides he’ll figure it out if they talk to him. Which they don’t seem to want to do.
They make idle conversation whenever they can, though the club starts to really fill up around 9 PM, when one of the bands starts playing in the next room.
Once the music starts, the bar clears out a bit, so Iwaizumi gets more time to… well, to yell over the blaring drums at Tooru.
Despite being in the next room over, the band is clearly heard from the bar, and it’s loud. Tooru can only imagine how loud it is from the mosh pit.
They settle on just listening to the songs for the most part.
The music isn’t actually all that bad. It’s not something Tooru would typically listen to, but he doesn’t dislike the genre.
Iwaizumi explains that they usually have certain nights scheduled for certain genres of music, and tonight happens to be a punk rock night.
Iwaizumi’s co-workers seem practically unaffected by the loud music - the bartender on the far right, Semi, seems to actually enjoy the music quite a bit, bopping his head along to the beat.
Iwaizumi even taps his fingers on the counter to the music himself.
During an intermission between bands, the bar gets a bit crowded again, and they’re back to conversing whenever Iwaizumi has time to chat on the side.
Tooru’s watching him mix juices and vodka together when a man shoves his way onto the barstool next to Tooru.
Tooru would have just ignored the guy, had he not practically yanked the previous customer out of the seat to sit down in the stool.
He’s exactly the kind of person Tooru would imagine to embody “punk rock”. He has an undercut, blonde hair slicked back, piercing in his ears, leather jacket, the whole thing.
“Yooo, Hajime! You’re still workin’!” he calls, waving his hand despite sitting right in front of Iwaizumi.
Iwaizumi lifts his head from where he’s mixing and flashes a friendly smile.
“Yuuji, hey. You playing tonight?”
“Yuuji” sticks his tongue out with a smirk as he chirps, “Yeah, after this band! You should ditch the bar and come watch!”
Tooru can see a silver stud embedded in his tongue. Just to really top off his image.
Yuuji sounds like a first name, Tooru realizes. They’re on a first-name basis?
Tooru doesn’t really stop the frown that settles on his face.
Iwaizumi shrugs, pushing his mixed drink to a customer to the right of Yuuji.
“No can do. Gotta work.”
Yuuji makes a whining sound, throwing his head back dramatically.
“Awwww, c’mon! You gotta see me perform! I’m the hottest when I’m all sweaty on stage and rockin’ a guitar!”
Tooru decides to not deny his feelings - he doesn’t like this guy.
He doesn’t have any reason to, he hasn’t even introduced himself to the guy, but he just… doesn’t like him.
Iwaizumi puts his hand on his hip as he faces Yuuji.
“Are you gonna order a drink, or did you just come by to see my face?”
He raises an eyebrow, and Tooru suddenly feels awkward and stiff, the heat completely gone from his face, from his entire body.
Yuuji gives him a toothy grin, scrunching his nose up a little as he chuckles.
“Admit it, you wanted to see my face! Y’know, if you’re not busy after the show, we can-”
“Think your bandmate is calling you,” Iwaizumi interrupts, gesturing behind Yuuji.
Yuuji (and Tooru) turns to see a man standing by the hallway back to the lobby room, spouting a similar undercut with golden blonde hair. His fringe swoops over his hooded eyes though, and he has a smirk that rivals Kuroo’s in sleaziness.
Yuuji pouts a bit, but ultimately stands up.
“Aw, well. You’ll hear the music from here. I’ll come by after the show to hear what you think!”
Without another word, he trots over to his bandmate, who turns and leaves with him.
Iwaizumi had interrupted that last bit, but Tooru definitely caught on to what Yuuji was saying at the end.
And it makes Tooru’s stomach churn.
“Sorry about him,” Iwaizumi says calmly, “He’s a lot.”
Tooru turns back to Iwaizumi, not sure what to say, but his face apparently says more than he can, because Iwaizumi scratches the back of his neck.
“He’s Yuuji Terushima. We had, uh, a couple… flings before I started going to mixers and stuff. Before you and I met, I mean. We’re not, like, doing anything now, though. He’s just a big flirt, no matter who he’s talking to.”
Yuuji Terushima. Tooru can’t even picture him and Iwaizumi as… anything, fling, couple, whatever.
Is that the kind of guy Iwaizumi was into? Is into?
Piercings, leather jacket, punk rock…
Iwaizumi hadn’t even said anything about him and Tooru to Terushima, either.
Tooru knows that might be unreasonable, especially giving their relationship such a loose title as “relationship thing”, but he still feels like he’s somehow been indirectly dumped.
He slides off the barstool, waves of exhaustion and nausea coming over him.
“Woah, you okay, Oikawa?” Iwaizumi asks, moving to come around the counter to reach out to him.
Tooru shoots him a weak smile (it’s clearly fake, he knows that) and mutters, “Think my hangover just caught up to me, that’s all. I’m gonna head out for now.”
Iwaizumi’s mouth pulls into a tight line, his expression unreadable.
“I guess it was pretty intense for someone who’s never been,” he says, trying to crack a smile, but looking just as weak as Tooru’s. “It’s cool. Want me to walk you out?”
Tooru shakes his head, not quite meeting Iwaizumi’s eyes.
Iwaizumi replies slowly, voice sounding strained and awkward, “Alright. Careful on your way back, then. Have a good night.”
Tooru flops onto his bed as soon as he gets home and falls asleep almost immediately.
A week passes and they don’t really talk much.
Mattsun notices something wrong before a week even passes, but Tooru keeps avoiding him so he doesn’t have to talk about it.
Tooru’s never really considered himself a jealous person, but he realizes that may only be because he’s never been in a relationship like this.
Jealousy makes him feel stupid, though.
It makes him feel like he’s getting all worked up and sulking over nothing, or that he’s finding issues where there aren’t really any.
Realistically, he knows that Iwaizumi dodged Terushima’s obvious advances and hasn’t actually shown any interest in Terushima; he even told Tooru about his past relationship with Terushima to try to put him at ease.
And Tooru knows he should trust Iwaizumi that he’s not secretly sleeping with someone else while he and Tooru have this relationship thing going on, but…
Jealousy is a real monster, he finds.
Once his shoulder heals, he’s able to busy his mind with practice for a bit. He puts his all into volleyball and works hard to keep himself active.
But only a half week later, his shoulder relapses and he’s taken off the starting lineup for the rest of the season to heal.
It’s the salt in his open wound, the kick to his bruise, the fuel to his flame, and Tooru holes himself up in his room for a couple days.
Mattsun tries to lecture them the days after Tooru’s sent home, but after Tooru locks himself in his room, Mattsun mostly leaves him alone.
It’s not often that Tooru gets like this, but Mattsun usually leaves him alone when he does, letting Tooru sort himself out.
But one day he wakes up in the morning to find a wide-eyed familiar face sitting in his desk chair, legs slung over the armrest of the creaking chair.
Tooru’s not even sure what day it is, let alone the time. He’s kind of just let days pass by for the past week; he’s kind of lost track by now.
He sits up, rubbing his eyes. He’s lucky he’s actually wearing a shirt this time, though he highly doubts his friend would even mind otherwise.
“Morning!” Bokuto chirps, slightly jostling the chair so it creaks more.
Tooru glances at the clock on the ledge over his bed. It’s about 6:30 AM. What the actual hell.
“What are you… doing here?” Tooru groggily asks, wondering if Bokuto would just leave if he laid back down and went back to sleep.
Bokuto’s making the chair squeak more, and it’s getting on Tooru’s nerves now.
“Mattsun told me that your shoulder’s pretty bad. He’s out right now, but I wanted to check up on you,” Bokuto says, a serious undertone in his voice.
Tooru hazily reaches up to squeeze his own shoulder, wincing slightly when he squeezes a bit too hard.
He should be wearing a shoulder brace at all times until he’s fully healed, but he finds it uncomfortable, so he skips out on wearing it most of the time. What his doctor doesn’t know won’t kill him, he figures.
“It’s my fault. The doctor told me to ease myself back into practice once I got back, but I pushed it.”
“You go pretty hard with volleyball, huh?”
“I had a lot on my mind,” Tooru half-heartedly snaps.
He’s too tired to actually get angry, and all his frustration had simmered out over the past couple of days holed up in his room. He doesn’t really have it in his heart to fully snap at Bokuto, anyway.
Bokuto tilts his head, sits up in the chair as he pries, “Oh? What’s up?”
He pulls his legs down to plant them to the floor and gives Tooru his full attention.
Actually, he’s so attentive that it makes Tooru a little nervous. Bokuto’s attention is usually a bit scattered, but Tooru guesses Bokuto’s pretty good at listening when it counts.
He’s a good friend, like an actually good friend.
Tooru awkwardly explains his situation and his feelings.
He’s not exactly used to confiding in others with his problems. Mattsun’s always an open ear, but Tooru prefers to just hold onto his own problems rather than ask for help.
It’s not that he has trouble relying on people, he just figures he can fix things himself most of the time.
But Bokuto just has an air about him that makes him feel dependable.
There’s a raw emotion that Tooru can’t name in pouring his thoughts out to Bokuto. Maybe it’s only heightened because he’s only just woken up, but he finds his throat tight by the time he finishes talking.
Bokuto sits for a moment, absorbing everything thoughtfully.
Tooru’s not even sure what Bokuto could say to all his venting, but Bokuto leans forward in the chair and meets Tooru’s eyes.
“Have you… talked to Iwaizumi about this, Oikawa?” Bokuto asks, quirking his eyebrow slightly in question.
Tooru fidgets with the hem of his shirt, eyes drifting down to the floor.
“I… don’t really know how to. It’s just, like, stupid insecurities.”
Bokuto huffs a laugh (or maybe a scoff, but Tooru’s going to believe otherwise) and his serious face melts back into a bouncy expression.
“It’s not stupid if it’s bothering you, though.”
Tooru’s not sure what else to say to that. A thread comes loose from the hem on his shirt and he begins picking at it.
The string starts unravelling, and Tooru tries to rip it off but only succeeds in pulling the thread more.
Bokuto continues after a pause, “If it’s bothering you, don’t you think it’s bothering Iwaizumi, too?”
Tooru glances up at Bokuto, beaming with his whole face.
His throat feels dry, and he sits as still as he can, his mind still slightly hazy.
“Wanna know somethin’, Oiks?” Bokuto pulls his legs up into the chair, somehow finding space in the small chair to hug his knees to his chest without falling off.
“When Akaashi and I started dating, I was really really nervous. I hadn’t been in a long-term relationship before, and I was worried I wouldn’t be enough for him, or that I wasn’t a good enough partner or whatever.”
Tooru attempts to rip his loose thread off again, but continues to rip his shirt’s seam.
He listens intently though, recalling that Bokuto asked for advice a couple weeks ago.
“But after you and Mattsun told me to talk to him, I found out that he was actually just as worried as I was!”
He rocks a little in the chair, causing it to squeak.
“I had all these, like, misconceptions in my head about him. That he knew what he was doing, or that he was looking down on me as a partner, stuff like that. I had this idea of him in my head that ended up being completely different from the actual person.”
Bokuto puts his legs down from the chair and rolls it closer to the bed where Tooru sits.
“Since I had this different concept of Akaashi in my head, I kind of started expecting things from him. Like, I thought things I was feeling were obvious and he was just ignoring them. But you know what?”
Tooru looks back up at Bokuto, letting go of the long thread.
His face is a little more serious, but his eyes are still wide with attentiveness.
“People observe in different ways, and you can’t just expect people to know things, obvious or not. Even if my emotions were obvious, if I’m not the one bringing them up, no one else is obligated to, you know? It’s not Akaashi’s job to ask what’s wrong with me if I don’t say anything, and the same goes for Iwaizumi. There’s no reason he should believe otherwise if you said nothing was wrong with you.”
Bokuto leans back in the chair, crossing his arms like he’s thinking.
“Of course, it goes both ways. Confrontation can be a little scary, but it’s never nearly as bad as you think it is.”
Tooru lets it all sink in for a moment.
It makes sense, he knows that. Bokuto’s partially just spitting Tooru’s advice back to him, but he has his own wisdom, too.
There’s just one more thing Tooru’s concerned about…
“Uh,” Tooru begins nervously, “I… I really like him. I don’t want this thing to end between us, and I’m really worried it might if I bring all this stuff up.”
Bokuto tilts his head a little in confusion.
“Iwaizumi himself said that he likes you too, right? Why would his feelings suddenly change?”
When Tooru says nothing, Bokuto continues with a grin, “You know Oikawa, not all confrontations or disagreements have to end badly or in a breakup.”
Hearing it out loud is obvious; there’s no actual reason for Iwaizumi’s feelings to change. But somehow, Tooru feels like his mind’s been blown.
Tooru slides out of bed and in one swift pluck, he tears the loose thread off of his shirt.
“I’m gonna go out,” he mumbles, crossing the room to rummage in his dresser for clothes.
Bokuto watches him with a satisfied expression. He stands up from the chair and slaps Tooru’s non-injured shoulder.
Tooru makes sure to thank Bokuto before he leaves, though Bokuto insists that he didn’t really do all that much.
Tooru makes a note to buy Bokuto lunch sometime.
It’s been rainy all day, and it seems like the overcast sky stretches into the afternoon, too.
It doesn’t help Tooru’s mood or his nerves.
He’s fine on the bus to the other side of town, but when he’s standing in front of Iwaizumi’s door, he gets all anxious all over again.
He’s actually been standing outside of Iwaizumi’s door for about two minutes.
He’s hyping himself up, going through conversations in his head, though he figures he’ll probably just forget everything as soon as he sees Iwaizumi’s face.
Tooru takes a deep breath and goes to knock - only for the door to fly open before he can even lift his hand.
Iwaizumi crashes into him - into his injured shoulder, to be exact - and Tooru reels back with a small yelp.
Iwaizumi gasps, stepping back and scanning Tooru’s face, surprise clear on his face.
“Shit, sorry, are you okay?” he moves closer, noticing the way Tooru’s holding his shoulder.
Tooru’s shoulder is burning, but he launches into his pre-planned preface loosely, “Uh, sorry for not texting or calling or anything for like a week, there’s been a lot going on. I wanted to, uh, come talk about some stuff, but if you’re about to head out or something, I can, uh, come back some other time?”
It’s sloppy and not nearly as eloquent as Tooru had planned for it to be, and his face is kind of heating up with embarrassment and awkwardness, but there it is, he’s said it.
Iwaizumi’s breathes a shallow laugh as he reaches up to brush aside a piece of hair on top of Tooru’s head.
He steps to the side and gestures into his apartment, “I was actually just about to come to your place, believe it or not. C’mon.”
Tooru steps into Iwaizumi’s neat apartment quietly. His first hurdle is cleared, at the very least.
Now comes the hard part.
“Hey,” Iwaizumi starts as he leads Tooru over to the living room couch. “Uh, I sort of heard that you got injured. You okay?”
Tooru realizes he’s still holding his shoulder and drops his hand quickly, sitting down on Iwaizumi’s couch.
“I’m okay,” he says through his tight jaw. “How’d you hear?”
Iwaizumi rubs the back of his neck, sheepishly chuckling.
“Hanamaki. He said Matsukawa was worried about you, though I didn’t hear all that much about what was going on. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“It’s tender, but I’m off for the season so it can heal,” Tooru mumbles miserably.
Iwaizumi gives him a concerned look and Tooru shakes his head, bringing himself back on track.
“That’s not what I’m here for. I wanted to talk about what’s been on my mind lately.”
Iwaizumi scoots closer to him, eyes meeting Tooru’s.
Tooru swallows. Here goes nothing.
“About last week… uh, about Terushima, actually,” he stutters awkwardly, fidgeting his fingers in his lap.
Iwaizumi breathes out softly in a way that hints that he knows what it’s about, but he says nothing, so Tooru continues, “Uh, I was a little uncomfortable, that’s all. I might have gotten a little jealous.”
Iwaizumi smiles softly, running a hand through his short hair.
“Yeah, I kind of… figured. You looked like it,” he says sheepishly.
Tooru frowns, and Iwaizumi quickly continues before Tooru can think to say anything, “I didn’t want to say anything to you if you didn’t want to talk about it. Sorry, I really should have said something, though.”
It’s like Bokuto said, though. It isn’t Iwaizumi’s job to bring up Tooru’s feelings, whether Tooru wears them on his sleeve or not. And yet here he is, apologizing anyway.
“No, I mean…” Tooru shifts a little where he’s sitting. “I shouldn’t have just walked out like that. I promise I’m not normally a possessive person or anything.”
Iwaizumi chuckles gently. “No, but I should have said something to Yuuji. He probably would have backed off if I had just mentioned our relationship.”
“Well, I guess that’s probably part of my fault anyway, with how loose I was in labelling this whole relationship thing.”
Tooru’s easing up, relaxing his shoulders.
“Guess I have a jealous side of me. Sorry you had to see it.”
Iwaizumi shakes his head.
“I’m glad I got to see it. Makes me feel like you actually like me,” he jokes.
“I do actually like you,” Tooru scoffs automatically, without thinking.
He reels his mind back a bit once the words are out of his mouth, and he ends up getting a little shy about saying it so upfront.
He clears his throat with a curt chuckle, covering himself up, “Anyway, I’ll do better with keeping the ugly parts of me down.”
Iwaizumi grins, inching closer to Tooru so their thighs press against each other.
“It’s not ugly, it’s just another part of you. You don’t have to be embarrassed about being jealous or anything. I like you all the same. It’s not like finding out about your jealousy has changed any of my feelings about you.”
Tooru thinks his heart skips at that. His face is definitely a little warm.
“Stoooop,” he murmurs, laughing, “I’m already flustered.”
Iwaizumi leans closer, shoulder brushing with Tooru’s.
“You’re cute,” he replies softly.
It sounds so different when it’s said out loud as opposed to text.
Damn, Tooru’s heart is pounding. Professional charmer. Yup, that’s perfect for Iwaizumi.
“I’m literally going to have a heart attack.”
Iwaizumi slides an arm around Tooru’s waist, pulling their bodies flush against each other.
“Then you may not like this next question; can I kiss you?”
YES YES YES is what Tooru’s brain instantly screams.
He holds himself back from yelling that, though. He doesn’t have to admit that he’s been waiting for this ever since they met. Even if he has.
“You’re such a gentleman,” Tooru mumbles shyly, “You don’t have to ask for something like that.”
He lets Iwaizumi’s fingers trace his cheekbones, fingernail tenderly sliding under his eye, trailing down to run his thumb over Tooru’s chin.
Tooru watches his eyes the whole time, getting lost in the emerald green that sweeps around Tooru’s face, eyes hooded as they land on Tooru’s lips.
Iwaizumi leans forward, and Tooru instinctively closes his eyes. There’s the briefest of pauses before Iwaizumi presses their lips together, but Tooru notices it.
But the kiss overtakes any other thought in his mind.
Tooru’s no stranger to kissing. He’s kissed plenty of people, especially in the past years he’s hopped around mixers.
Few of them were actual kisses and rather rushed, sloppy make-outs resulting in shallow attraction that never lasted long. Even the ones that were actual kisses weren’t exactly affectionate or anything, still just the outcome of passing attraction.
It’s different kissing someone he’s actually fond of. Something about it is so much softer, so much more intimate.
Maybe it feels better after resolving issues or something.
The point is, Iwaizumi kisses him and Tooru melts.
He’s so caught up in the kiss that he doesn’t quite register the way Iwaizumi’s hands are combing through his hair soothingly until he feels Iwaizumi carefully pull a tangle loose.
He realizes he should probably do something with his hands too; they’re just sitting in his lap awkwardly.
But just as he thinks that, Iwaizumi pulls back and their eyes meet again.
“Did you hesitate?” Tooru teases with a small chuckle, finally getting his hands on Iwaizumi’s face, caressing his cheek.
Iwaizumi leans into it like a cat, closing his eyes and humming, “You looked so pretty, I forgot for a split second that we were kissing and I wasn’t supposed to just look at you.”
Tooru thinks about just burying his face into Iwaizumi’s again, but instead leans forward and presses their foreheads together.
Iwaizumi’s eyes flutter open, and god, Tooru thinks he can almost feel them brush against his skin.
“You should come to see me at work again tonight,” Iwaizumi murmurs, his hands sliding down to comfortably rest at the back of Tooru’s neck.
He pulls, and he kisses Tooru again, short and brief this time.
“We’ve got some lost time to make up for. About a week, to be exact.”
Tooru purrs happily into his lips, “I’ll be there.”
Tooru easily finds his way to the club, and the bouncer seems to recognize him immediately.
Which is impressive, considering Tooru’s only been to the club once and it was a week ago, but he supposes the guy just has a good memory. Probably why he’s the bouncer in the first place.
He heads down the hall to the bar as soon as he steps in the door, and finds that Iwaizumi actually isn’t there yet.
The bar is virtually empty anyway, though it seems like none of the bands have played yet, so Tooru figures once the music starts, the crowds will start pushing their way in.
One of the bartenders notices Tooru lingering around the hallway and waves him over.
Kuroo, if Tooru recalls correctly, gestures for Tooru to sit down in front of him.
“Sup. If you’re waiting on Iwa, he’s in the back getting dressed. Should be out in a bit. Can I get you a drink in the meantime?”
He grins, flashing his teeth.
“No, I’m fine,” Tooru waves him off. “How did you know I was waiting for him?”
Kuroo’s grin turns into more of a smirk as he chirps, “He asked if you’d come by on the days he wasn’t working. You two together or somethin’?”
Tooru squirms in his seat a little. It’s actually kind of endearing that Iwaizumi would ask, but he also kind of feels bad for leaving Iwaizumi hanging like that.
“Uh, well, kind of? It’s, uh, complicated,” Tooru says awkwardly.
“Kuroo, you’re making him uncomfortable,” the bartender to Kuroo’s left hisses. “Leave him alone. Iwa will probably get mad if you bother him too much.”
Kuroo shrugs dramatically, sighing. “I’m just keepin’ him company until Iwa gets here. You should try making some friends too, Semi.”
Semi shoots Kuroo a glare but says nothing else, so Kuroo turns back to Tooru.
“You sure you don’t want a drink?” he asks, then gestures to a marker board behind him. “We’ve got a special for tonight.”
Semi pipes up flatly, “He probably doesn’t want to be drunk if he’s meeting up with Iwa. Get the hint, Kuroo.”
He’s not wrong, but Tooru probably would have put it a bit more politely.
“Don’t you have anything better to do?” Kuroo snaps mildly.
Semi breaks into a small smirk, seemingly satisfied.
“Nope. Night rush hasn’t come in yet.”
Kuroo rolls his eyes as Semi slides over to them, officially joining their conversation.
“Y’know, now that I think about it, Iwa hasn’t been seeing anyone lately, has he? I mean, other than this guy.” Kuroo mumbles idly as Semi rearranges some of Kuroo’s things behind the counter.
“Your section is so messy…” Semi mutters to himself before replying to Kuroo, “Well yeah, Kuroo. If they’re seeing each other, they likely won’t go around seeing anyone else.”
Kuroo scoffs, swatting at Semi’s hands.
“Quit it, everything’s organized how I like it. All I’m saying is that Iwa isn’t the type to settle.”
Semi shoots a sharper glare than before at Kuroo.
“Kuroo, he’s right there. Don’t say something like that in front of him.”
Tooru suddenly feels awkward, but he’s not really sure what to add to the conversation.
He doesn’t really mind the subject, but he doesn’t know what these two are expecting him to say.
“It’s just a bit of gossip. What about that undercut guy Iwa was seeing?” Kuroo begins putting the things Semi had moved back around.
“Dude, literally read the room,” Semi nudges Kuroo, exasperated. “Iwa clearly isn’t seeing him anymore if this guy is seeing him.”
Tooru figures that’s the one thing he can slip into the conversation.
“Uh, my name is Tooru Oikawa,” he introduces himself awkwardly, picking at the edge of the barstool he’s sitting in.
“Shame,” Kuroo shrugs, unfazed, “That guy was pretty cute. What was his name? Terushima? If he comes by again and Iwa’s done with him, I might make a move.”
Semi scoffs, “Assuming he’d even be into you. If his type is Iwa, you’re definitely not his type.”
Kuroo groans, leaning on the counter. “Dude, Iwa’s everyone’s type. I’m probably way more charming than him, anyway. What do you think, Oikawa?”
He suddenly turns to Tooru, throwing a wink over his shoulder.
Tooru can definitely agree that Iwaizumi is everyone’s type - a dependable, polite, understanding guy.
He doesn’t mean any offence and maybe he’s biased, but Kuroo is nowhere near as charming as Iwaizumi, though.
Semi sighs, shaking his head a little. “You can just ignore him, Oikawa. Flirting is all he’s got going for him.”
Tooru chuckles softly, resting his elbows on the counter and propping his chin up in the palm of his hand.
“I think you’re asking the wrong person. I’m going to think Iwaizumi’s more charming no matter what.”
Kuroo feigns shock and despair, clutching his chest, as Semi cracks a grin.
“We’re gonna get along great,” Semi snorts, shrugging Kuroo off when the latter dramatically drapes himself over Semi’s shoulders.
“How could this happen… Iwa overtaking me in charm...” Kuroo exaggeratedly wails, flopping over the counter in defeat.
A deeper, familiar voice replies from behind Tooru accompanied by a hand that rests on Tooru’s shoulder gently, “I don’t think you ever had a chance, Kuroo.”
Tooru spins around to find Iwaizumi approaching the counter, dressed up in his waistcoat and tie. He grins at Tooru when he passes by, his hand lingering on Tooru just a bit longer.
“Hope these two weren’t bothering you too much,” he says pointedly as he slips behind the counter.
Tooru breathes a laugh.
“Nah, they were just keeping me company. You look good.”
That last bit sort of just… slips out of Tooru’s mouth without his meaning to, but Iwaizumi gives him that ever-charming lopsided grin and Tooru figures it’s better he said it.
Kuroo continues to whine, “Semisemi, switch places with me. I can’t work next to this guy! He’s gonna steal all my customers!”
Iwaizumi scrunches up his nose when he laughs, and it’s… very cute.
“Maybe watch and learn, Kuroo. You might pick up some tips by working next to me.”
There’s a commotion from the lobby room that Tooru guesses is the first band of the night arriving. Judging by the sounds of chatter, more people are starting to fill in.
Semi moves back to his own spot at the end of the bar, and Tooru slides down the bar to sit on Iwaizumi’s end.
The people start to flit in and out of the bar, chatter constantly filling the bar.
Semi seems to be back to being withdrawn and quiet, working his end efficiently and swiftly. And Kuroo’s chatting up customers more than working, same as last time.
Iwaizumi’s focus stays on Tooru for the most part, making idle chat in between taking orders and making drinks.
They don’t even really talk about much. Tooru tells Iwaizumi about how after he left Iwaizumi’s apartment earlier that day, he found Hanamaki at his apartment with Mattsun.
Iwaizumi tells Tooru about how Bokuto’s started coming over to his place to hang out with him now too.
Tooru jumps slightly when a gruff voice approaches the bar, calling to Iwaizumi.
“Hajime, you’re back!”
He shifts to spot Terushima, sauntering over closer to where he sits. Terushima takes a seat next to Tooru as Iwaizumi turns to him, hands on his hip.
“Yup. I’m back. ‘Cause I work here.”
He throws a glance at Tooru that Tooru almost misses, but he notices.
Terushima laughs, maybe a little too hard, but Tooru won’t say anything.
“Aww, Hajime, don’t be so cold! I’m pretty much stuck here while the buses are out!”
Tooru perks up, looking to Terushima.
“The buses are out?” he echoes, blinking.
Terushima looks at him like he hadn’t noticed Tooru was even sitting there, answering, “Huh? Oh, yeah, it started raining pretty hard. The buses can’t drive super far because of the heavy rain, so they’re out for the evening. Think the trains are closed, too.”
Tooru hadn’t even heard it start raining over the noise of the club. Though now, if he really listens, he thinks he can hear a bit of thunder… unless that’s from the stage room.
It’s kind of hard to tell.
Iwaizumi catches the frown on Tooru’s face and casually offers, “Wanna stay at my place for the night?”
Tooru whips his head back around to face Iwaizumi, taken aback by the sudden offer.
He’s been to Iwaizumi’s apartment plenty of times, but he’s never actually stayed the night. Unless…
Is there an undertone that Tooru’s not picking up on? Or does Iwaizumi really just mean “stay the night”? Shit. Tooru’s not good at this.
Before he can say anything, though, Terushima hums in response.
He faces Tooru and asks flatly, “Huh? Who are you?”
They still haven’t given it a label. Should Tooru just tell him they’re in a relationship? That they’re seeing each other? They did just kiss earlier…
Iwaizumi chirps, “He’s my boyfriend. We’re dating.”
Tooru makes a noise - something actually fairly similar to the shocked noise that Terushima makes. Terushima glances at him too, raising an eyebrow.
But Iwaizumi flashes that infamous toothy grin, and Tooru’s heart melts. He suddenly feels like crying, but not because he’s sad.
“Aww,” Terushima complains openly, “So you settled, huh? Damn. Well, whatever.”
He starts to leave, a flippant expression, but Tooru catches the slight scrunch of his nose in slight annoyance.
“Hey,” Terushima calls over his shoulder before he gets out of earshot.
Tooru lifts his head to glance at him, and he meets Terushima’s eyes for the first time.
He can’t quite label the expression, but Terushima barks, “Well, whenever you’re done with Hajime, send him my way, yeah?”
God, the audacity on this one.
It must be the jealousy, or rather the triumphant feeling of seeing Terushima walk away like that, but a surge of confidence pulses through Tooru long enough for him to spit back at him with a smile, “Don’t hold your breath. I don’t plan on sending him anywhere else.”
There’s absolutely no denying that the look Terushima flashes him makes Tooru feel incredibly smug, but he says nothing else as Terushima leaves down the hall.
He hears a low whistle to his right and turns back to where the bartenders are looking at him. He suddenly feels sheepish about his line, and he squirms in his seat as Kuroo cracks a huge grin.
Iwaizumi, on the other hand, is rubbing the back of his neck shyly as well.
He gives Tooru a bashful look, and Tooru can clearly see the blush on his cheeks this time.
“I was gonna apologize for Yuuji again, but that kind of made me all embarrassed,” Iwaizumi mumbles, chuckling a little.
Tooru shakes off how cute it is (it’s very cute) and asks, “Y-you said we were dating.”
Iwaizumi tilts his head a little as he replies, “Aren’t we?”
“We are!” Tooru answers, probably a little too quickly.
He thinks he prefers that term at this point, anyway.
“It was just… weird to hear you call me that. Good weird, I mean.”
Iwaizumi snorts, “What, boyfriend? You can call me yours too, if you want.”
“You’re doing that thing again where you’re stupidly charming, stop it,” Tooru mumbles, hands covering his reddening face.
“‘Stupidly?’ And I’m just talking like normal,” Iwaizumi retorts.
Kuroo groans, shrugging his shoulders, “That’s so unfair, Iwa. You’re not even trying and the poor guy is already a blushing mess.”
Iwaizumi snorts, reaching over and ruffling Tooru’s hair, “A talent, I guess. Comes with a prize, too.”
His fingers brush over Tooru’s cheek.
Kuroo makes a gagging sound.
“Ew, stop, we’re still working.”
The night ends early due to the rain. Once the bands stop playing and the people filter out of the club, Tooru can hear the pounding of the rain much more clearly.
He sends a quick text to Mattsun notifying him that he’s staying at Iwaizumi’s for the night.
Mattsun replies back with a winking emoji and Tooru promptly ignores it.
Iwaizumi’s apartment is just around the block, so they sprint down the sidewalks to the building.
They get drenched in the process, and Tooru almost slips going up the stairs to Iwaizumi’s apartment, but they make it inside without much trouble.
“Make yourself at home,” Iwaizumi calls as he dips into the bathroom to grab towels.
Tooru’s not exactly a stranger to Iwaizumi’s apartment, but he just stands in the doorway, not wanting to drip water all through his house.
Iwaizumi laughs at him when he comes back, though.
“You don’t have to be so polite,” Iwaizumi hums as he leads Tooru by the hand into the living room.
His hand is warm and damp, but Tooru doesn’t really mind. They’ve only held hands a couple times in the past weeks, but Tooru still gets shy about it whenever they do.
Iwaizumi’s fingers lace between Tooru’s so comfortably that Tooru just swoons every single time.
He swoons every time he gets to touch Iwaizumi in any capacity, though, be it Iwaizumi ruffling his hair or simply bumping shoulders with him.
They sit on the couch and dry their hair off, though that doesn’t help their soaked clothes making wet spots on the cushions.
They sit in relative silence, the pounding of the rain outside filling the space between them.
The more Tooru sits in his thoughts, the more nervous he’s getting about the whole situation.
The best way to know is to just ask, right? It’ll be extremely awkward if he’s got the wrong idea, but…
“You can use the shower,” Iwaizumi says before Tooru can get the question out.
Tooru has to backtrack in his mind to actually grasp what Iwaizumi said.
“Oh, yeah, sure,” he says, standing up.
“Feel free to use the shampoo and stuff, whatever you need,” Iwaizumi calls as Tooru’s making his way to the hall.
Before Tooru can turn down the hall, out of range from Iwaizumi, he glances over his shoulder.
Might as well get it out of the way.
“Uh, hey, Iwaizumi?”
“Hm?”
Tooru swallows his pride and his nerves.
“Um, when you invited me to stay the night, did you… want to do it?”
Tooru’s a grown-ass adult, but he’s still skirting around the word like some teenager. He blames the nerves.
Iwaizumi’s eyes widen for a moment, but he doesn’t look particularly shocked.
He scratches his cheek a little shyly as he replies, “Oh, I mean… we can, if you want. I really did just invite you because it’s storming out, but I don’t mind if you wanted something else.”
Oh god, Tooru’s starting to burn up.
He squeaks out a vague okay! before speeding down the hall and into the bathroom.
Admittedly, Tooru’s showers are fairly long, but he makes sure not to spend a worrying amount of time in it.
Still, though, he mostly uses the time standing around in hot water, trying to comprehend what will happen when he steps out.
Iwaizumi will definitely want to take a shower too, so that gives Tooru more time to mentally prepare himself.
Tooru sees the coconut shampoo he uses, and when he goes to use it in his hair, he’s practically swimming in Iwaizumi’s scent.
He’s being creepy. He forces himself back on track.
Iwaizumi didn’t seem all that nervous or worried.
This wouldn’t be his first time, huh?
Tooru kicks himself at that.
Obviously it wouldn’t be his first time, he already said he and Terushima had a thing going on a while back.
...Has Terushima used this shower before? Used this shampoo?
Dammit, it’s no use getting jealous when Tooru’s already won.
Besides, it’s not like Tooru’s never done it, either.
Sure, the handful of times he did, it was with people he doesn’t even remember the names of now, but that’s not the point.
Still, he’s never done it with someone he’s in a committed relationship with.
Geez, that sounds so intimidating. “Committed” relationship. Well, that is what dating is, though.
…Iwaizumi’s shampoo smells extremely nice.
He even lends Tooru some of his clothes to sleep in, and they smell just like Iwaizumi as well.
In the end, Tooru steps out of the shower exactly in the same mental state as when he stepped in.
Except maybe he’s still kind of swooning over smelling like Iwaizumi. He should stop that, it would probably sound creepy if he said that out loud.
Iwaizumi ducks into the bathroom soon after Tooru, and Tooru goes to wait in Iwaizumi’s bedroom. They don’t say much between the exchange, but Tooru doesn’t even know what he’d say.
It’s late now, almost 11:30 PM. If they did it, wouldn’t it be kind of noisy? Wouldn’t Iwaizumi’s neighbors be bothered?
He spends the full 25 minutes that Iwaizumi is in the shower sitting on his bed, worrying about things like that.
And when Iwaizumi appears in the doorway of his bedroom, Tooru's pulse skyrockets.
Iwaizumi casually scrubs his hair with the towel that hangs around his neck and takes a seat next to Tooru on the bed, so close that their thighs press against each other.
Tooru can’t find words when Iwaizumi leans forward and kisses him briefly, gently pushing Tooru to lay on his back.
Tooru’s working sentences through his head as Iwaizumi’s hands find their way at the hem of Tooru’s shirt and start to lift-
Tooru catches Iwaizumi’s hands and frantically pulls back, yelping a sharp, “Hey, uh-!”
He doesn’t know what else to say, so he leaves it at that.
Iwaizumi’s hands fly up and out of Tooru’s grip, and he leans back so that none of his body is touching Tooru at all.
He stands up, actually, off the bed but still facing Tooru.
There’s a beat of silence as Iwaizumi moves so that Tooru can sit up, but he starts talking as soon as Tooru is upright.
“I’m sorry,” he says quickly, a little breathlessly. “I think I read that wrong, my bad. I’m really sorry.”
Tooru kickstarts his brain and pushes words out finally, “No! I mean, no, it’s fine. I’m just, uh, a little more nervous about this than I thought.”
Iwaizumi shakes his head, still keeping a distance out of reach from Tooru.
“No, I should have made sure. I’m used to just jumping into it, but…” he shakes his head again. “Sorry. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah! I’m okay. I’m sorry.”
Iwaizumi breathes a breath that Tooru thinks might be relief.
“Oikawa, we don’t have to do this, you know. I don’t mind if you don’t actually want to.”
“No, I mean, you want to. I’ll be fine. I’m the one who asked in the first place.”
Tooru’s eyes drift down to the floor, fidgeting his fingers.
“I don’t want to if you’re not fully on board.”
Iwaizumi steps forward, trying to catch Tooru’s eyes.
“...I’m really sorry,” Tooru mumbles, tightening his jaw.
Iwaizumi scoffs softly, reaching out and holding out his hand near Tooru’s head and pausing, as if wordlessly asking permission to touch him again.
Tooru glances up at him in response, and he gently combs his fingers through Tooru’s still-damp hair, sliding them down to caress Tooru’s cheek.
He murmurs, “You don’t have to apologize. I’m sorry I sprung it on you.”
“I feel bad, though,” Tooru mutters, leaning into Iwaizumi’s hand. “I don’t… not want to do it with you. Eventually.”
Iwaizumi huffs a laugh, moving to sit next to Tooru on the bed again without moving his hand.
“Don’t feel bad. We can do it whenever we’re comfortable.”
Tooru lifts his eyes to properly look at Iwaizumi.
This guy… honestly, how does such a wonderful person exist? Of all the people Tooru could have met that night, of all the people his friends could have organized a mixer with, how in the world did the universe work for him to meet such an angel?
Tooru groans as he wraps his arms around Iwaizumi and buries his face in the latter’s hair.
It’s almost dry due to how short it is, and it smells just like Tooru’s.
“You’re such an amazing person, what the hell?” he mumbles into Iwaizumi’s hair.
Iwaizumi pulls his hands around Tooru, embracing him back as he laughs softly. He reaches up and his fingers draw circles around Tooru’s shoulders, extra tender around his injury.
Iwaizumi whispers, “You’re just as amazing. I hope you see that some day.”
There’s something about those words that strikes something in Tooru.
He really does feel like crying now.
“I’m actually really tired. Can we sleep?” he asks instead, exhaustion running over him all at once.
It’s hard to believe the state he was in earlier in the morning compared to now.
“Mm,” Iwaizumi hums, untangling himself from Tooru to turn off the light.
He crawls back into bed as Tooru’s settling in. Iwaizumi’s bed is big enough for them both to sleep on either side without touching each other, but Iwaizumi pulls Tooru in and spoons him.
Tooru… has never been spooned before. But there’s something protected and safe about it, and Tooru finds himself falling asleep quickly despite the noise of the storm outside, buried deep in the scent of coconut.
Tooru wakes up to a warm, cozy bed. The sun’s warming a spot on his pillow, just missing his head, but he can still feel the heat from the beam.
He can hear the soft plap as leftover drops of water drip from tree branches to the roof of the apartment along with birds chirping.
And he can feel strong arms still wrapped around him, and a warm breath on the back of his neck.
He… kind of wants to see his face, but he worries he might wake Iwaizumi up if he moves too much.
As gently as he can, he twists his body so that he disturbs Iwaizumi as little as possible.
He’s successfully able to spin around so that he’s facing Iwaizumi without waking him up, and Iwaizumi’s arms are still loosely holding Tooru.
He’s calm and beautiful as he’s sleeping, heavy breaths mixing in with the soft, cozy sounds of the morning. When his eyes are closed like this, Tooru can see how long his eyelashes are and how there’s a small, hardly visible scar on his chin.
Tooru’s not sure where he got the scar, but it’s so subtle, that Tooru almost feels like he’s found a secret about Iwaizumi that no one else could have found out.
He reaches out and brushes his thumb over the scar - he can hardly feel it, either. It’s so small and there likely isn’t any big story behind it, but Tooru still finds it endearing.
Iwaizumi’s breathing slows and his eyelashes flutter. His eyes droop like he still wants to close them, even as he’s blinking them awake.
He licks his lips, flexes his fingers, furrows his eyebrows, shifts his jaw, his nose even twitches a little.
His fingers seem to find Tooru’s hip and he squeezes gently, seeming to remember that Tooru is there. He opens his eyes and settles them on Tooru’s silently.
They don’t say anything for a couple minutes, just stare into each other’s eyes. Tooru finds a new appreciation for Iwaizumi’s sharp green eyes, seeing them up close like this.
After a moment of silence between them, Iwaizumi leans forward and kisses Tooru’s forehead.
He moves right back after he does, like he’d never done it in the first place.
Tooru’s heart is fluttering all over the place. Getting to see Iwaizumi wake up definitely stirred something in him.
He’s been sure about Iwaizumi, deep down, ever since they first talked. He may have been in a little denial about him simply because he didn’t want to admit he fell so quickly.
The first time he’d hung out with Iwaizumi, that shopping date, he’d briefly thought about what it would be like if he and Iwaizumi were living together or married.
At the time, it was just a passing thought, nothing more. He wouldn’t have been able to imagine it then, especially since they’d only met again recently.
But now, after everything… Tooru might be able to imagine it now.
Maybe it’s jumping the gun a bit. Putting that much trust and commitment in someone else is scary, especially since they’ve only had this thing going for a little over one and a half months.
After all, Iwaizumi, being such an attractive and wonderful person, could easily ditch Tooru if he ever found someone else or got tired of Tooru.
In fact, it’s probably more likely that he’d find someone he’d fall for more than Tooru, but Tooru supposes his own opinion of himself just isn’t all that high to begin with.
Maybe he’s just getting ahead of himself after they made up from their little spat. Maybe Iwaizumi doesn’t feel the same way. Maybe Tooru’s just getting that honeymoon effect prematurely.
But...
But Tooru doesn’t think he really minds.
Even if he gets dumped, he’s willing to risk the heartbreak for someone like Iwaizumi.
Even if Iwaizumi breaks his heart, it’d still kind of be an honor that his heart was even Iwaizumi’s at all.
Is that too sappy? He won’t say it out loud, at the very least.
Instead, he lets a different set of words slip out of his mouth, still sleepy, whispered in the quiet morning.
“I think I’m in love with you.”
Iwaizumi perks up a little, like that woke him up a bit.
He watches Tooru carefully, as if waiting for Tooru to snort and say “Just kidding!”.
But when Tooru doesn’t, he lets a toothy grin cross his face, pulls Tooru closer and kisses his cheek.
“Good. Because I’m in love with you.”
Tooru’s unpacking boxes of his things. He’s never actually realized how much stuff he’s accumulated over the years he’s lived with Mattsun until he packed it all up.
Admittedly, he tends to just buy things he thinks are cute, even if they’re useless.
He could probably do with some cleaning of his little trinkets, but… well, this little keychain plush of a rabbit is cute.
Iwaizumi brings another box in and sets it down in the middle of the empty living room.
Their furniture delivery ended up getting delayed, so they’re left with a mostly empty apartment for the time being.
They have a mattress, but no frame, so at the very least, they won’t be sleeping on hardwood tonight.
Despite their apartment being virtually empty right now, it doesn’t feel lonely at all. In fact, the thought of living their life into this apartment together is more than enough for it to feel cozy and homely already.
Iwaizumi heaves the box down next to Tooru, and he plops himself down on the floor next to Tooru with a grunt.
“What is in this box?” he grumbles, pulling the cardboard flaps open.
Tooru scoffs, “Books, I think. Mattsun packed that one, so it’ll be organized at least.”
Iwaizumi pulls out a book titled “Loving Yourself: A Guide to Seeing Yourself Through a Different Lens” and flips through it.
Tooru glances over and notices and chuckles softly.
“Ah, that. Bokuto bought that for me a couple years ago. I haven’t read it in forever, but I remember thinking it was such a nice gift,” he hums, leaning over and resting his head on Iwaizumi’s shoulder as he rifles through the pages.
“Do you still need it?” Iwaizumi asks, closing the book and setting it back in the box. “I think you’re wonderful.”
Tooru breathes a laugh, humming when Iwaizumi reaches up and pushes a stray piece of hair out of his face.
He knows that. He knows Iwaizumi thinks he’s great, he’s said so a million times in the handful of years they’ve been together now.
Of course, Tooru thinks Iwaizumi is wonderful, too. He’s always been wonderful, an amazingly kind and perfect human being since the moment they met.
Iwaizumi has never been shy to tell Tooru how gorgeous he thinks Tooru is, though.
He’s always been adamant about making Tooru believe that he’s attractive and an incredible person, and Tooru thinks maybe it’s starting to rub off, too.
He loves Iwaizumi more than anything, and if Iwaizumi loves him, well...
“No,” Tooru whispers, “You make me love myself.”