Chapter Text
"Ah, crap," Iwaizumi vaguely heard Saeko say over the sound of his heart pounding.
Eight Karasuno players stood before him, nearly all of whom were staring at him with expressions varying from shock to incredulity. Kageyama was blinking stupidly, along with Shorty. He couldn't decipher the absurd look on their libero's face, but if he had to hazard a guess, he would call it betrayal. Megane-kun sighed and walked past his gawking teammates, followed by the muss-haired boy with the wicked jump float serve.
The only relief from the intense scrutiny was Ennoshita, who he remembered from the train station. Ennoshita's eyes widened before his face settled into a sleepy smile. "Iwaizumi-san. Nice to see you again. I guess i know who you had lunch with." The other boy chuckled as he strode forward and offered a handshake. "Any chance you're rooting for us today?"
Taking Ennoshita's peace offering, Iwaizumi nodded. "After beating us, you better win the whole damn thing."
Ennoshita chuckled. "That's the plan. Dai-san said if we have any shorter goal than that, we should just go home right now."
Throughout this conversation, Iwaizumi tried to ignore Tanaka staring daggers at him, but the longer it went on, the more comically tragic the second year looked. Shimizu was covering her face in embarrassment. He couldn't hold back a laugh. He clapped Ennoshita on the shoulder before coming to stand before the scowling Tanaka and the libero (he added learning that name to his to-do list for the day). He crossed his arms and sighed. "Whatever you want to say, out with it. You're making Shimizu-san uncomfortable."
Both of them gaped at Iwaizumi, caught off guard by his directness. It was the libero who eventually responded. "Are you Kiyoko-san's boyfriend?"
A pair of kicked puppies looked at him with wide eyes, which would have been hilarious if he wasn't nearly shaking with nerves because he honestly did not know the answer to that question. Instead, he leaned towards them and said conspiratorially, "I believe that is up to Shimizu-san. I am at her mercy."
Both of their eyes widened, and the libero nodded in apparent understanding. "Aren't we all?" Tanaka agreed, eyes closed while he clutched at his chest dramatically.
Iwaizumi wanted to laugh but was sure it would sound less like amusement and more like hysteria if he did, and since that sounded like the least likely way to escape this situation unscathed, he mustered a sigh - the kind he reserved for Oikawa skipping class to practice serving. At the sound, the two players in front of him shared a look before turning to him with twin grins. "Please tell us what it's like so we can both die happy," the libero said, with Tanaka nodding emphatically.
"Deal," Iwaizumi answered with a guffaw. For complete idiots, these two were all right. He offered a short bow. "Iwaizumi Hajime, by the way."
The libero puffed up his chest and pointed a thumb at Tanaka. "That's Tanaka Ryuu, Karasuno's next ace, and I," he swished his hand towards himself, "am Nishinoya 'Rolling Thunder' Yuu." When Tanaka snickered and swatted Nishinoya on the back of the head, he scolded and amended, "But just Noya is fine."
"Nishinoya, huh? Chidoriyami?"
Noya nodded. "That's me. We played you guys your third year. Couldn't beat that wicked serve of that captain of yours."
Iwaizumi vaguely recalled the match and that their libero had been exceptionally hard to beat and had gone on to take the top ranking for his position in the tournament. He did clearly recall coveting Nishinoya for Aobajousai, though that never panned out.
Deciding he had done his part to ease the awkwardness of the situation, Iwaizumi gave a slight bow to both Tanaka and Noya and said, "Well, I'll let you boys get ready. Go kick some ass."
"Ossu," they both chirped as they drag-raced towards the Karasuno dressing room.
A soft laugh came from behind Iwaizumi. "That looked a lot more dangerous than it was. We were going to rescue you."
Sawamura was standing behind Iwaizumi, along with Sugawara and Azumane, who were arranged in a pose not unlike the poster Yachi had shown him. He had a feeling his greatest obstacle to acceptance from Shimizu's twelve foster brothers stood before him.
"Iwaizumi," Sawamura acknowledged with a curt nod. "I'm surprised to see you here."
The look Sawamura was giving him was one Iwaizumi could only categorize as a 'dad glare,' which he recalled all too well from the number of times during his childhood that Oikawa had managed misbehave and get Iwaizumi in trouble. Needless to say, it pissed him off, and it took every ounce of goodwill he possessed to keep from standing nose to nose with Sawamura and giving him a hostile glare of his own.
However, his fountain of willpower would not be tested right then. Shimizu stepped next to Iwaizumi and laced her fingers with his. "Hajime is here with me, Dai-san. I hope that isn't a problem."
Sawamura looked back and forth between the two of them several times, mouth hanging open. Finally, it was Sugawara who broke the stalemate by clapping Iwaizumi on the bicep with more strength than his slender frame should rightly possess. "It's nice to have you, Iwaizumi-san! We have to get our Miyagi cheering section somehow. Did you come here with Nee-san?"
"Yeah," Iwaizumi answered, refusing to rub the sore spot in his arm. "You better kick some ass, Karasuno. I don't lose to runners-up."
Sugawara laughed loudly, and Azumane chimed in with a soft chuckle. Even Sawamura's mouth twitched up in a reluctant smile. "We'll do that." With a warm grin, Sugawara passed by Iwaizumi, and Azumane could not follow fast enough. Iwaizumi couldn't help but mark the glaring skittishness in a guy the size of a rugby player.
This left Iwaizumi alone with Shimizu and Sawamura. "Shimizu, could you excuse us for a moment?"
Next to him, Iwaizumi saw Shimizu give Sawamura a sharp look before stepping back and joining Yachi and Saeko. He had a pretty good idea what was coming next. Iwaizumi crossed his arms. "Are you giving me the big brother speech, Sawamura?"
"Do I need to?"
"You tell me. You don't know anything about me."
"Exactly."
Iwaizumi's jaw clenched. "Look, I don't want to start anything. But I don't owe you anything, either, and neither does Kiyoko. If you want to know something about me because it is relevant in some way to you personally, by all means - ask. But I will not be interrogated or threatened by Big Brother because of the team I play for. If you were dating my sister, I would give you the benefit of the doubt. I deserve the same."
Sawamura considered him for a long time, his expression unreadable. Iwaizumi began to think he had been a bit too direct until Sawamura harrumphed and cracked an actual smile. "Honest . . . I'm good with that." He extended his hand. "Take care of her, Iwaizumi. She means a lot to us."
Iwaizumi tried not to sigh in relief as he took Sawamura's peace offering. "Of course." He stood his ground as Sawamura headed towards the locker room, biting back a satisfied smile when he heard Sugawara berating his captain for being mean. Apparently, Sawamura's acceptance was enough to cause the rest of the team to scatter.
At last, he was left alone with Saeko, which he never thought he would be grateful for until then. She ruffled his hair and grinned at him. "Well, looks like ya still got all the important pieces intact. How about we find a place to sit? I hear the Nekoma and Fukurodani boys are gonna be here. They're friends of the family, so to speak."
While Iwaizumi had no idea who the hell Nekoma was, he knew he had heard of Fukurodani someplace before but did not say that aloud. Instead, he followed Saeko back to the elevator and listened to her loudly converse with someone named Makoto, who was giving her directions through the complex, and eventually they found their way the ticketing counter. Thank god for Makoto, he thought to himself as he observed Saeko ask the ticket person which direction the parking garage was.
Saeko paid for her ticket, and Iwaizumi flashed his athletic conference ID, and soon they were ushered to their section. Their assigned seats were not great, but the usher waved at them and mentioned that they would be able to move closer to the court when their team was playing. At this, Iwaizumi breathed a sigh of relief that he wouldn't be forced to regret not bringing the glasses he never wore.
Soon they were following the sound of someone bellowing Saeko's name and arrived to a mishmash of people who looked like they should not be running in the same circle. There was a swath of red-clad players, alongside a few in black and white, green and white, and black and blue. They all seemed pleased to see Karasuno's delegation. One of the players in red leapt from his seat and bellowed, "Saeko-neesaaaaaaaaannnnnn!"
Opening her arms abruptly and almost hitting Iwaizumi in the face, Saeko shouted, "Tora-kuuuuuunn!" They embraced loudly and aggressively as many of the players trickled over to greet her, as well. If at all possible, Iwaizumi felt even more out of place than during the showdown with Sawamura and very much like a third wheel. He was rescued, however, by a player in a black and white jacket, whose expression sat somewhere between disinterest and derision.
"Sorry about them," the black-haired boy said. "They're all a little high-strung. I'm Akaashi, by the way."
Shaking Akaashi's hand, Iwaizumi offered his own name and tried not to sigh in relief when Akaashi pointedly looked at the seat next to him.
"So, Iwaizumi-san," Akaashi started, "what brings an Aobajousai player all the way to Tokyo?"
Iwaizumi jolted at the question. He hadn't expected anyone outside of Karasuno to recognize him. "How'd you know?"
"Everybody knows Oikawa Tooru's team," Akaashi stated matter-of-factly. "We weren't sure whether to expect you guys, Shiratorizawa again, or if our feathered friends here would pull an upset."
"How does a Tokyo team know a team from podunk Miyagi?" Iwaizumi asks, genuinely curious.
Akaashi pointed towards a black-haired boy in a red jacket, who was razzing a short blond kid with a bad dye job. "They're old rivals with Nekoma, who is a neighboring school to ours. They were invited to our multi-team training camp. I'm from Fukurodani." He pointed at the couple of guys in green, "They're from Shinzen," and then to the ones in black and blue, "and they're from Ubugawa."
A couple of those names rang a bell for Iwaizumi. "Shinzen made nationals last year, and your team made it for the past two."
Nodding, Akaashi directed his attention to one of his teammates, who was wrestling with the Nekoma guy from earlier. "That's Bokuto. He's our ace."
Iwaizumi gaped at Bokuto, who he definitely knew by name as an ace himself. One of the top five spikers in the country was crawling over seats like Spider-man. "Is he always this, er, active?"
Akaashi let out a sound that could have passed for a whimper. "You have no idea."
So much for being intimidated by the opposition, Iwaizumi thought to himself. "Yeah, Oikawa's like that, except he has a problem with too many fangirls and practicing himself to death. I've had to throw him over my shoulder more than once and drag his dumb ass home."
"You're the vice, aren't you?" Iwaizumi nodded. "So am I." Akaashi sighed heavily. "When did that stop being cool and start being the official captain babysitter service?"
Iwaizumi shrugged. "I don't know. Sugawara and Sawamura don't seem to have that problem."
"Which is completely unfair." Akaashi slouched in his chair. "So, you never did say why you're here with Karasuno."
Damn, Iwaizumi thought. He had hoped to avoid that question, but Akaashi seemed like a sane sort of guy, so it did not bode as ill for him to tell the truth. "I'm with Shimizu-san. We're, um, maybe-dating."
Quirking a brow, Akaashi nodded appreciatively. "Lucky guy. That idiot and his Karasuno buddies —" he gestured towards the loud Nekoma boy who had nearly tackled Saeko, "— don't stop talking about her."
"I know," Iwaizumi said with a chortle. "They were my welcoming committee. Not as scary as Sawamura, though." He shivered just thinking about Sawamura's oddly intimidating presence. "Is he always that frosty?"
"Sometimes," Akaashi agreed. "But you're in one piece, so must have survived the gauntlet. This bunch won't give you such a hard time."
Akaashi quieted when four teams filtered onto the court below. This was the first time Iwaizumi had looked at his surroundings. The floor really was orange, and it was easily the largest building he had ever been into in his life. Just the fact that their seats were high enough for the players to look like ants put the size of the gym into startling perspective.
He could see Karasuno's black against a team in yellow, and the next court had blue and white versus pink and white. All the teams were preparing to warm up. "They do two-court play in nationals?"
Shaking his head, Akaashi said, "No. Most teams do a pre-warm-up session to get the muscles moving, then go stretch, and those are the teams who will play next."
"Hmm," Iwaizumi replied numbly as he squinted to watch Karasuno's tiny players. "Can we move up soon? I want to get a good look at that ridiculous new toss of Kageyama's."
"Yeah, probably," Akaashi said while getting out of his chair. "Although I think I've seen enough of that one for a lifetime. It took them forever to get it right. It was almost painful to watch, but when they did, it took a week to convince Bokuto-san that I can't do a toss like that."
Iwaizumi huffed. "Sounds like Oikawa a little. He's been convinced that he can't beat Kageyama for the past six years." At Akaashi's surprised expression, he explained, "Back in middle school, Oikawa and I were Kageyama's senpais." Sighing, Iwaizumi shook his head and followed Akaashi to the rail. "We weren't very good ones, though. A lot of his problems with teamwork come from Oikawa not showing him the way and me not making him do it. I'll always regret that."
Akaashi's lips pinched together pensively. "I see. I think he's going to be okay, though. Hinata's energy is a good foil for his moodiness, much like Bokuto-san and myself."
"You don't seem all that moody to me," Iwaizumi answered.
With a meager smile, Akaashi looked up at his roughhousing friends. "That's because you're normal, Iwaizumi-san. If you weren't, I wouldn't still be talking to you. I get enough of that from Bokuto-san."
Iwaizumi laughed. "You're honest. I like you."
From there, they settled in to watch warm-ups, as Karasuno was playing in the first game. The other spectators flocked to the railings, and Iwaizumi found himself scrunched between Akaashi and the loud Nekoma guy, who introduced himself as Kuroo. It wasn't hard to see how a guy like this could make friends with Karasuno players; they were of a similar boisterous nature, tinged with a darkness that Iwaizumi couldn't put his finger on. Iwaizumi refused to pin it on the fact that the guy was probably ten centimeters taller than him.
Karasuno began receive warm-ups, but Iwaizumi found his attention straying from the uniformly decent receives to the girl handing the balls to the coach. It was still pretty far away, but he could see her mouth praises to each of them, even offering small smiles to the first years. He didn't realize he was staring like an idiot, cheek in his palm like a love-struck dunce, until a wry chuckle came from beside him.
"Is someone else in love with Manager-chan, too?" Kuroo teased.
Iwaizumi snapped his hand to his side and stood up straight. He was just about to tell Kuroo to mind his own business when Akaashi spoke up. "Leave him alone, Kuroo-san. That's his girlfriend."
Kuroo just laughed. "Good. Maybe those imbeciles will stop mooning over her."
Akaashi sighed. "Not likely, but it's nice to dream."
Wary of inserting himself into the conversation, Iwaizumi simply resumed watching Shimizu, who was now assisting the Karasuno coach in spiking drills. He couldn't help but notice that her hair shifted like a silken curtain every time she moved, and here and there, it would catch the light. A few weeks ago, he would have kicked his own ass for even thinking such things, but there was something about Shimizu that turned him into an unabashed sap.
He nearly fell over the railing when a hand landed on his shoulder like a lead weight. "Got it for Manager-chan?"
Bokuto stood behind him, a jolly smile across his face that Iwaizumi found it difficult to be angry at. However, not a fan of having his personal space violated, Iwaizumi turned around and gave his fellow ace a slight bow. "It's good to meet you, Bokuto-san."
As intended, the gesture perked up Bokuto and got him to release Iwaizumi's person. "I see my reputation precedes me, even in Aobajousai."
"Indeed it does," Iwaizumi said darkly, ready to take back every nice thought he'd had about Bokuto simply because of the arrogance. "Ushiwaka is the big boy on campus in our neck of the woods. I almost wish I had seen the match between him and Karasuno."
Kuroo nodded solemnly. "Ushiwaka is a tough customer. Lefties are hard to read."
"I broke a finger last year trying to block one of his spikes," Iwaizumi admitted. "Oikawa threatened to egg his house for it."
Bokuto laughed loudly. "I wish he had, just so we could see the look on his sour little face. Oikawa sounds cool. I wanna meet him!"
"I don't think the world is ready for that yet," Iwaizumi muttered, drawing a chuckle out of Akaashi and a smirk from Kuroo. Bokuto merely looked at them all, clearly feeling left out of the joke. Feeling a little bad (but not too much) about that, Iwaizumi asked, "So, anyone here playing today?"
Akaashi nodded. "Both Nekoma and Fukurodani are representing Tokyo this year."
Iwaizumi raised a brow. "And Karasuno went to training camp with you guys? No wonder they were like a completely different team when we played them at the Spring High."
"Oh, we wiped the floor with them," Bokuto supplied. "They only won three sets out of sixty-something."
Glaring at his teammate, Akaashi hissed, "That was rude, Bokuto-san. Just for that, I'm not going to set for you after the games today."
"Akaashi, why do you hate me?" The pout on Bokuto's face looked hilariously out of place on such a big guy, and Iwaizumi couldn't help but guffaw. Bokuto stomped away, interviewing everyone in their extended group to find some poor soul who would set for him, while Kuroo followed him and mocked his efforts.
"Weird," Iwaizumi mused aloud.
"Weird," Akaashi agreed.
Warm-ups began to wind down, with underclassmen and managers hurriedly shagging stray balls. The teams lined up and bowed to the crowd, and then to each other before taking their starting formations. Once she was on the sidelines, Shimizu sought him out and gave a little wave once she spotted him. He ignored the wolf-whistles from behind him and gave her a crooked smile. He thought his heart was going to jump out of his chest when she blushed.
For a moment, Iwaizumi considered blowing a kiss, but as he was surrounded by some of the best players in the country and wanted his dignity intact, he decided to abstain. He wasn't sure if he was up to that level of public displays of affection quite yet.
The match began with a whistle, and the volleyball player in Iwaizumi was rapt right at the first serve. He couldn't see the name of the team on the scoreboard, but Number 3 for the yellow team had one of the most wicked jump serves he had ever seen. He could match Oikawa's aim, but with Ushijima's power. There was a collective gasp when Nishinoya was able to receive it and keep it in the air.
Karasuno took an early lead in the set, which Iwaizumi figured was due to them being a relative unknown. The same teams tended to make the national tournaments over and over; they all knew each other almost as well as Nekoma and Fukurodani did.
However, as Iwaizumi thought might happen, Karasuno's offense was slowly but surely stifled by blockers that easily had ten centimeters greater height on average. The only player on Karasuno who could actually look their opponents' two middle blockers in the eye was Megane-kun.
Iwaizumi wasn't surprised when Karasuno lost the first set. It wasn't a shock when they didn't fare much better in the second. Behind him, Bokuto loudly lamented his 'favorite kouhai' being blocked, and Akaashi cringed.
When Karasuno's loss skirted from the realm of likely to obvious, Akaashi sighed and said, "Maybe next year. It should be interesting to see how they respond when they come to camp this fall."
"You're not a third year?" Iwaizumi asked. "I thought since you were the vice . . ."
Akaashi shrugged. "Our team doesn't work that way. If you're the one who leads the way, you're the captain. It doesn't matter what your age or jersey number is. Bokuto-san was the captain his second year."
With a slight smile, Akaashi got up and said, "Well, it's close to time for us to do our pre-warm-up. It's been nice to talk to someone sane for a change."
"Yeah, you too," Iwaizumi replied truthfully. "Good luck out there."
"Thank you, Iwaizumi-san." Akaashi bowed slightly and left to wrangle Bokuto away from Kuroo.
This left Iwaizumi alone, so he decided to go check in on Saeko. He felt slightly guilty for dumping her as soon as they arrived in the gym, but she was chatting with a few guys who looked like they were in their twenties (her friends, he suspected) and his absence did not look terribly noted.
No one looked to be in a terribly good mood, and the guys Saeko was with looked really into the game. The one in glasses was grinding his teeth and pulling his hair, and Iwaizumi looked down on the court to see Karasuno's Number 12 getting ready to serve with that jump float serve of his. The guy didn't look old enough to be the kid's dad, but it was obvious he cared about how Number 12 did.
Iwaizumi leaned back against the rail and resolved to finish watching the game, no matter the score. Karasuno was down by eight points, with the opponent having already hit twenty points. The ending wasn't hard to predict.
Still, it made him think of Shimizu and how this loss would affect her. Would she cry? The thought of tears in her eyes made Iwaizumi's belly roil uncomfortably. He had enough difficulty dealing with Oikawa's ugly crying, but best friends and girlfriends are very different things. He could just punch Oikawa a couple of times and the ship would right itself, but girls were alien to him. His sister was never much of a crier unless it suited her purposes.
The match ended with a monstrous spike from the yellow team's ace, and Iwaizumi understood the feeling all too well as Karasuno collectively deflated. What did surprise him, though, was that not a single player fell to his knees. They stood still, chests heaving and eyes watering as they watched the other team form a gleeful dogpile on the other side of the court.
On the sidelines, Shimizu had an arm wrapped tightly around Yachi, holding up her kouhai. The coaches looked remarkably stoic as they shepherded their team to the net for the handshake line. Both teams filtered over to bow to the crowd, and Iwaizumi realized how helpless he was when he was forced to watch tear-stained faces go through the motions. As a player, he grasped it as something to do that didn't require thought, but it was so much worse to watch. He wanted to say 'good game,' despite knowing what a loathsome phrase it was to hear.
Iwaizumi looked over to Kuroo, who was standing next to Bad Dye Job. "So, Kenma, what can you tell me about this game?"
"Shouyou is really bad at serving," Kenma answered.
Kuroo scoffed but didn't deny it and then asked, "What else?"
When Kenma stayed silent, Iwaizumi offered, "Karasuno's serving couldn't even compete."
"Right you are, Iwa-chan." Kuroo gave him a smirk when Iwaizumi bristled at the nickname. That expression screamed of someone who loved pushing buttons, and he was on his way to pushing Iwaizumi's.
Unwilling to give Kuroo the satisfaction, Iwaizumi brushed off his irritation and continued with his previous thoughts. "Karasuno only has two jump servers, and Kageyama is the only one who can aim worth a damn. The yellow team probably has guys on the bench who can bring it more than any one of Karasuno's starters. Including Kageyama."
Kuroo laughed. "I dare you to say that to Kageyama's face. Are you a fast runner?"
Kenma socked Kuroo in the shoulder. "Don't bait him, Kuroo. It's rude." Kenma dug a portable gaming device from his pocket and started it up. "Besides, we all know he's right."
Iwaizumi did a double take at Kenma, who he never would've mistaken for a volleyball player if not for the jacket. He wondered what position this kid played for Nekoma and whether he was a starter. Asif he sensed eyes upon him, Kenma looked up at Iwaizumi, blinked slowly, and resumed his gaming. Iwaizumi had a sudden wish that this guileless boy had watched a few of Seijou's matches. They could have done with some impartial critique, and maybe they would be standing on the court instead of Karasuno.
The Nekoma boys began drifting towards the exit, and the few Shinzen and Ubugawa players returned to their assigned seats. That left Iwaizumi alone with the contingent of Karasuno fans. Saeko seemed unnaturally deflated, and the blond guy next to her looked like he was about to cry.
"Tough break," Iwaizumi offered, as he didn't have anything relevant to say but did not relish the awkward silence of the group.
Saeko sighed. "Ryuu is going to take it hard. I don't know what I'm gonna say."
"You don't have to say anything, Nee-san," Iwaizumi replied. "There isn't a thing you could say that he doesn't already know, and nothing that will make him feel better. Losing sucks, so you either work hard to win or get used to being mediocre. Just deal with whatever he decides to do."
The three guys with Saeko nodded. The one with dark hair and glasses squinted at him. "You play for Seijou."
Readying himself for another round of Crows Versus Hajime, Iwaizumi nodded and introduced himself. To his surprise, however, the dark-haired man merely snorted. "I thought that was you." He extended a hand. "Shimada Makoto." He gestured to the older blond man. "Takinoue Yuusuke."
The younger blond guy waved. "Tsukishima Akiteru."
Iwaizumi bowed and shook each hand in turn. They seemed like a good lot, and the older two vaguely reminded him of Matsukawa and Hanamaki. That was around when he remembered where he had heard Shimada's name. "Thanks, by the way, for helping with directions."
"No problem," Shimada replied, blushing a little. "We got lost ourselves, and we figured we'd save Saeko-kun the trouble."
Saeko sighed at the sound of her name. "We should go wait for the boys."
They walked as a group back the Iwaizumi and Saeko had come, and it felt like a wake. He felt like he was attending the funeral of the Karasuno third years' aspirations of glory. It was weird to Iwaizumi how similar it was to the death of Seijou's push for a championship, even though he personally had no stake in either the path to victory or the spoils of it.
But it would've made Shimizu so happy.
It was a long wait outside the changing room before someone emerged, and that person was Yachi. She walked straight to Saeko, who hugged her tightly. Iwaizumi could hear the younger girl sobbing into Saeko's chest, which would have looked comical had he not got the chance to know both of them and genuinely care if they were in distress or not. Shimada stroked Yachi's hair while Takinoue fidgeted awkwardly, and Akiteru stared at the door of the changing room.
Shimizu came out next, her expression appearing calm save for grinding teeth and clenched fists. Iwaizumi could not claim to know Shimizu very well, but he did recognize how much effort she was putting into holding herself together. It made his chest tighten uncomfortably. Quickly, he excused himself from the group and walked up to her.
Taking both her hands into his larger, rougher ones, he laced their fingers together and brushed a kiss against her forehead. "I'm so sorry, Kiyoko."
Her hands trembled in his, and Iwaizumi knew she was about to lose her fight to stay cool. She would hate to do that in front of everyone, especially the team, so he put an arm around her shoulder and guided her to a nearby stairwell. They sat on the top step, and Shimizu buried her face in Iwaizumi's shoulder and let go. Her soft, hiccuping sobs echoed off the concrete; the sound made Iwaizumi want to throw up.
For fifteen long minutes, they sat there with Iwaizumi's arms around Shimizu. No one came looking for them, and he suspected that wasn't a coincidence. When her tears wound down to long, deliberate breaths, he quietly asked, "Do you want to go back?"
Shimizu nodded into his shirt, and with that, he helped her to her feet. His hand was on the door leading back to the locker room hallway when hers stopped him. She stroked his cheek and brought his face down to hers for a lingering kiss. "Thank you, Hajime."
They walked back to where they had left the Karasuno party hand-in-hand and left the building the same way. No one said a word about it, and Iwaizumi thought that this might be actual acceptance from Shimizu's sprawling second family.