Chapter Text
Oikawa stood there awkwardly. He was still so shocked at his mother’s actions. Did she really think he needed to get help this bad? That didn’t matter, but the brunet was so confused at what to do. Did Suga think this was a date? Tooru didn’t want to make a wrong move. He didn’t know what to next, he hadn’t gone on a serious date in a while. Even before he was with Tobio, he still didn’t get to go on various dates. He was so into his career, that he barely got a chance to date.
Thankfully, Sugawara seemed to be sane and quickly took hold of the situation, “So, what do you want to do? You get to choose since you are the reason we are going out.”
Oikawa hummed his eyebrows squinting together, the teacher looked at him with fondness. Suga had fallen in love too. What he expected to be a simple attraction bloomed into genuine love. The ash haired man had learnt so much about the other. Oikawa would always greet his son with so much love, he would talk for hours about his nerdy hobbies and he was just so amazing. Suga couldn’t believe that such a great person was in his life. With every day, every interaction, every minute they spent together he fell deeper.
“Let’s go get some drinks at some fancy Izakaya! I haven’t got a drink in a long while!” Oikawa said cheerily.
“Sure! I’ll pay though,” the teacher stated as the duo started to head out.
“No way! Let me pay,” The brunet argued with an adorable pout on his face.
“We are celebrating you therefore you shouldn’t pay.”
“Suga chan…”
“It’s like as if it was your birthday, you shouldn’t pay.”
“You win Suga-chan, but we’ll have to hang out again in order for me to pay you back.”
“Are you asking me to hang out with you again?”
Oikawa blushed a little, but he had to remember his roots. He was prince of his school; he was a pretty boy. He needed to get his pride mode on and be cocky to impress the other. The brunet recoiled and easily put a confident pose.
“I am.”
“Well then, let’s see when we are both free.”
They reached the metro station; their train quickly arrived and so they got in. Unfortunately, the space was very cramped, it was busy hours. Oikawa and Suga were pressed together because of the lack of space. The brunet’s face was in the other’s hair. Tooru couldn’t help but find the other’s scent relaxing. The teacher smelled clean and with a hint of vanilla. The train shook and Suga bumped into the taller one.
“Sorry,” Suga murmured with pink dusting his cheeks.
“It’s okay,” Oikawa stammered.
More people came in, and the two of them were now leaning into each other. Oikawa dint know if he wanted this to be over, or for their train to never get to their destination. It was pleasant having the warmth of another person within your hold. Tooru wanted more of this sensation, he wanted to hold the other in his arms, nuzzle into his hair, be this close to him, and a million more little details. To his demise, the train stopped at their destination. The duo squeezed out of the place, knocking into some people but they were able to get out.
“Does it always get this full? I don’t remember there being that many people other days,” Suga panted as they recovered from their escape.
“I’ve never seen it this full, at least not like this in rush hours,” Oikawa commented as he looked around to find the exit, they had to take to reach the Izakaya.
After the teacher caught his breath, they went out and headed to the place. The city was quite alive. People around were murmuring all kinds of stuff, street vendors were offering the greasiest food possible, and there plenty of couples walking together.
“So Suga-chan, do you actually drink?”The brunet asked as they closer to their destination.
“I do!”The ash haired man replied cheerily.
“You do? Not be rude or anything, but I don’t see you drinking any alcohol,” Oikawa said a little surprised.
“I can drink very well. I’ve been told by my peers that my tolerance is actually frightening.”
“You have to be joking.”
“I’m a teacher. Teaching and drinking kind of go hand in hand.”
“How does that even make sense?”
“I know you know, Oikawa. Kids are a stress. A lovely stress, if I say so myself.”
Oikawa squinted his eyes deep in thought and after a minute of silence, he spoke up again.
“Yeah, makes sense. If I wasn’t an athlete, I’d be drinking my ass off once Tobio got to bed.”
“And you only deal with one, I deal with quite a lot.”
“You have my respect,” Oikawa said in a serious tone ad he bowed at the other.
Suga laughed and quickly responded, “I mean it’s my job and it’s not like I don’t like it.”
They stopped at the Izakaya they had chosen. It was quite unique. It was an old traditional building. It had lanterns hanging around from the outside. It was very traditionally Japanese. They ushered inside and asked a waiter for a private room. A young man leaded them into one of the rooms at the very end, it had a view to small courtyard that was filled with seating spaces.
The waiter promised he would be returning in a while. Oikawa and Suga quickly got comfortable. The duo sat in front of each other and scanned the menu. It was silent until it seemed like they both had decided what to order.
“Did you enjoy the match?” Oikawa asked nonchalantly as he pretended to keep looking through the menu.
“It was intense. I thought I had seen you play, but damn was I wrong,” Suga chuckled.
“Of course, I wasn’t going all out at our Saturday games! That would be really mean,” Oikawa explained.
“Yeah, it wouldn’t be cool if the other team always won because one of their players literally went to the Olympics.”
“Did Tobio tell you that?”
Tobio had not been the one that had told him first. Suga blushed, he couldn’t just outright admit that he had done a massive google search about the other man.
“Yeah, he mentioned it once. That’s really impressive Oikawa, not every kid gets to tell their friends that his dad is an Olympic athlete.”
Oikawa hummed as a response.
“So, if it’s not rude for me to ask, why did you become a professional player?” Suga asked in a shy voice staring directly at Oikawa’s eyes.
“I fell in love with volleyball at a young age. I saw this match with my friend. I was amazed by the setter and I knew this was what I wanted to do the rest of my life. The one that inspired me was an Argentinian player and so I chose to go there to play.”
“Woah, I’m surprised.”
“What about you? Why did you become a teacher?”
“I was vice-captain in my high school volleyball team. I noticed that it was really enjoyable to help my kouhai. It was such a pleasant experience to coach them out and motivate them. I also have a younger brother, and I pretty much helped raise him. I just kind of knew it was my calling.”
“That’s really nice, and tough. I am new to this whole teaching kids and its really hard. I don’t think I understand it completely.”
“That’s fine! I can tell you; you are wayyyy better than a lot of parents,” Suga revealed.
The waiter came in and took their orders. Oikawa choose a light meal: a simple salad and just one beer. On the other hand, Suga asked for spicy katsudon and choose to have various drinks. After writing down their order, they were left alone again.
“Are you sure you can handle all that alcohol?” Oikawa asked as he looked at Suga.
“Yup. I can outdrink anyone!” The teacher proudly confessed, “You’re probably just sad that I can drink all I want and you can’t.”
“There might be some truth to that,” Oikawa muttered angrily as he rested his head on the table.
The brunet was wondering if he should use this as an opportunity to ask the other about his love life. This was literally the best time to do it. But he was afraid to mess up, he didn’t want to lose such a good friend. But if he never made a move, would he ever have a chance?
“So, Suga-chan, are you dating anyone?” Oikawa asked as he now rested his chin on his palm trying to appear casual.
“Um,” Suga blushed profusely, “I am not.”
“You’re not dating Dai-chan?” Oikawa asked.
Suga squeaked out a laugh and starting snorting. The brunet was serious about the question. He had felt that they were really close from what he saw at their practices. He wanted to know if he really had even the tiniest chance.
The ash-haired man continued to laugh until he calmed down. He wiped the tears off his eyes and sighed to calm himself.
“Oh man, I have to tell Daichi about this. Nope, we aren’t dating. He is a happy relationship with a woman.”
“Can you blame me for thinking that you were? You two are really close!” Oikawa argued as he pouted in embarrassment.
“Nah, you’re not the first. What about you?”
“Nope. Haven’t dated someone in like 5 years?” The brunet answered as he thought back to his previous relationships.
“Woah! Aren’t you famous? I would have assumed all of the ladies would try to take you out,” Koushi asked as he fumbled with.
“Well, ladies and men. But I wasn’t really interested in dating someone,” Oikawa revealed.
Even though he had been single and popular, Oikawa hadn’t dated someone since the beginning of his career. After he left to Argentina, he was so focused on his career that he pushed aside looking for a partner. But Tooru was also young, he had plenty of one-night stands in the past, but it wasn’t like he was going to confess that.
“Focused on your career?” The teacher asked. Oikawa nodded as he looked around, seeing the decorations of the place.
“I don’t blame you! I bet you were pretty busy, being an Olympic athlete and all,” Suga teased with a big grin.
“Why are you so obsessed about that?”
“I mean, how many people can say that they have a friend who played in the Olympics?”
“Only a friend,” Oikawa thought bitterly.
The waiter came in and left their orders. They both gave their gratitude and quickly dug in. Suga was taking a sip of his pint when Oikawa choose to continue their conversation.
“Suga-chan,” Oikawa said as he stared at his food. The silver-haired man was taking a bite of his food, and at the sound of his name he perked up. Koushi’s cheeks were full of what he was eating resembling a squirrel. The Argentinian found it adorable.
“Thanks for coming today. It’s really important to me,”Oikawa said truyhfully.
The teacher quickly swallowed and did his best to answer properly, “Oh it’s nothing! You paid for the tickets and all. And even if you didn’t invite me, I would find a way to see you play.”
“You would’ve?” Oikawa asked as he leaned closer.
“A hundred percent! With all of the praise Tobio-chan gives about you!” Suga laughed, “There’s not a single day in which he doesn’t tell me something about you.”
“But when the kid is with me all he does is insult me!” Oikawa whined. Tobio had gotten much more comfortable with his father, but it seemed like he would continue to be reluctant of praising his father. When Tooru wasn’t around, he would proudly list all of the amazing skills his father had. But for some reason when Oikawa was there, he would praise him but at the same time diminish him.
“He’s just shy, I’ve seen it. It’s not only with you. Whenever Shouyo-kun does something cool, Tobio struggles to praise him. It’s really cute,” Suga explained as he downed his pint in one go.
Oikawa stared at the other surprised at the amount of alcohol that had been downed in one go. Suga cheerfully raised his pint and clicked on a button that called the waiter.
“Are you still doubtful of my drinking skills,” Suga joked as the waiter came in to refill his glass.
“Yup, you look like a complete light weight,” Oikawa leaned in staring at Suga with defiant eyes.
“I’ll make sure to show you just what I am capable of,” The teacher said as he too leaned in.
They both stayed at that position, their noses mere inches away from each other. The intensity of their glance seemed to be much more than simple teasing. An underlying motive behind the vigor behind their stare.
Oikawa noticed what they were doing and quickly leaned back into his chair. Both of the adults blushed harshly and looked around in order to distract themselves from what had just happened.
Suga coughed awkwardly, “So since your team won, are they advancing or was this just a friendly game?”
“We advanced on the league; we will start having more games. I’ll be pretty busy from now on.”
“Even more busy, then. It’s pretty impressive, your team I mean.”
“Coach has done a good job of shaping us up. We owe it to her, she’s crazy in a good way.”
Oikawa was almost finished with his meal; he was starving after playing. Meanwhile, the other man took his precious time savoring his food. But when it came to his drinks, he was straight up chugging them and even though he was on his fifth one, he didn’t even seem tipsy. Suga really wasn’t lying.
“I have a feeling Tobio will want to see all of the games I partake in; would you mind joining him?” Oikawa asked as he took his last bite.
“Of course, this was really fun. Only if it isn’t on a weekday, I don’t think I can manage it.”
“No worries, you are already helping quite a lot.”
“It’s nothing.”
“It is,” Oikawa changed his demeanor. His face darkened, he was truly being serious now. “I don’t know what would be of me or my family without your help. I don’t know how many times I have to repeat it to you, but I am truly grateful to you.”
“Oh, come on! Give yourself some credit!” The teacher said as he raised his glass to drink more of his beer, “The reason you’re here is thanks to all what you did by yourself.”
“Sure, but I’m also here thanks to all those who helped. Which includes you,” Oikawa replied with pink dusting his cheeks.
After their last conversation, the bill came in and Suga insisted that he would pay. Tooru argued, but in the end, he gave up and let the other one do as he pleased.
They both walked in silence to the station. The sun was coming down as they got in their train. This time it wasn’t as full, so they were able to sit beside each other, seeing the beautiful scenery of the lively city.
Koushi was looking around, until he felt something on his shoulder. The brunet had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He was truly tired from all the working out he had done. The teacher smiled shyly and let the other rest. He deserved to sleep peacefully for the remaining time of their trip.
Suga liked the feeling. It was grounding having someone lean on him. And it was even better since the person doing it was an extremely attractive young single and queer man. Suga was truly cherishing this moment, even though it wouldn’t be permanent.
Tooru was woken up by his companion as they finally reached their station. They both quickly got off and got out. It was time to part ways, but Oikawa was going to assure another chance with the other.
“This was pretty fun,” Suga smiled brightly.
“Yeah,” Oikawa stuttered out. He was getting really nervous, not dating anyone had affected his flirting and charming skills.
“See you on Monday!” The teacher waved as he turned around ready to walk back home.
Oikawa stood there making up his mind, he needed to choose what to say. His fists clenched as he began to build his confidence again.
“Suga-chan!” Oikawa shouted making the other man stop and look back at the brunet.
“Yes?” The silver-haired man asked carefully tilting his head to the side, he was a little confused at the commotion.
“We should dot his again,” Oikawa muttered just loud enough for him to be heard. He was blushing so hard that his ears got red, all of his previous blushing couldn’t compare. “I mean, we should go out more often. Just me and you. And sometimes maybe Tobio could come with us too, I think- “
“That sounds lovely, Oikawa. Tell me when your free and we can go out again. See ya!” Suga answered as he rushed away.
Oikawa stood there for a couple of minutes, processing what just had happened. The other one had said yes, sure it wasn’t like an explicit ‘let’s go on a date’, but it was something.
‘This could really work,’ Tooru thought to himself. He victoriously raised his hands and praised himself, causing other people to stare at him.
Tooru walked to his childhood home, with a happy strut. What a great day this man had. The debut of his Japanese volleyball career was amazing, he had gotten the chance to hang out with a beautiful man and lastly the promise that they would hang out like that more often. Truly it was a blessed day.
He opened the door, and fund his mom drinking tea and watching the tv in the dark.
“Hi, mom. Where’s tobio?” The man asked as he took his shoes off.
“You’re back?! Tobio’s sleeping in your old room,” Hanako said as she looked at his son, “Why are you here?”
“What do you mean by ‘why are you here?’. I’m here to pick up my son,” Oikawa asked as he joined his mother on the cozy couch.
Hanako face palmed her face, and her son only stared at him with confusion.
“I was supposed to take care of Tobio for the whole night,” The woman binked as she brought up her cup of coffee to her lips.
Oikawa frowned in confusion and waited for her mother to explain.
“You could’ve invited him to your house, since Tobio was here. And like you know,” Hanako explained awkwardly as she moved her hands explaining her motives to her son.
“Mom! First of all, you just told me you’d take care of Tobio, but didn’t say for how long. And second, I wasn’t planning on sleeping with him, I am serious about him,” Oikawa flailed his arms around scarred that his mother planned for him to get laid.
“Oh,” his mother said with her mouth wide open, “Sorry about that then! But still, if you ever want to see him again on your own, leave my grandkid here.”
“Thank you, mom. But please, don’t do this again. It’s sad that my mom had to help me this much to get laid,” Oikawa sighed as he slumped in the couch.
Suddenly, his father came into the living room. He looked very sleepy and he walked in silently. Oikawa perked up and quickly greeted him.
“Hello Tooru, your mom showed me your game,” Juro said as he placed his glasses on.
“I recorder it fully, your dad was really proud of you,” Hanako stated as she stood up to clean her cup.
“Still am. Tooru, you may want to sleep here for today. Tobio’s dead to the world,” Oikawa’s father suggested.
“I’ll sleep with Tobio. Thanks dad,” Oikawa stood up, “I still have some old clothes here, I’ll sleep in them.”
Before the brunet could go upstairs to sleep, his father stopped him.
“Tooru,” He said in a very serious tone that made his son’s arm hairs stick up, “You better bring this man your mom always talks about.”
“Not you too!” Oikawa whined and stared at his mom with an angry glare, “I am going to sleep! And I hope one day I can introduce him to you dad. Goodnight!”
Oikawa stomped angrily upstairs, he then remembered his sister was probably sleeping and so he started to walk up with more care.
He silently opened the door to his old room. As he came in, he saw Tobio sleeping soundly on his bed. Oikawa smiled warmly. The raven had a trace of drool coming out of his mouth, he was sprawled diagonally and was clutching an old alien plushie Oikawa had left back home.
The brunet rummaged in his old closet and found some old t-shirts and gym shorts. He decided to take a quick but thorough showed before he went to sleep. He sneaked out of the room.
Oikawa took his time in the shower, happily humming a song. He recalled the events of the day, and he was extremely pleased. This day had been a true wonder for him. A realization that his life and career wasn’t over. That he’d always find a way around it. After his long and well-deserved shower, the Argentinian stealthily entered inside his room again.
He smoothly laid down besides his son, and cuddled close to the younger. Tobio looked angelic. His small chest rose up and down at a steady pace. Oikawa looked at his kid fondly. Tooru got close and kissed his son on the forehead. He laid sideways besides him and hugged him tightly.
Tobio made a light noise of complaint but then he snuggled up close to his dad. Oikawa closed his eyes happy at how the world was on his favor.