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“It’s past midnight, Issei,” Iwaizumi said, fumbling with his phone in the dark. He brought it up to his ear before he spoke again. “I’m trying to sleep, you know.”
Iwaizumi was sat alone in his bedroom. His phone screen was his only source of light, and even that was on its lowest brightness setting.
“Trying to sleep, huh?” Matsukawa said. “Well, that explains why you picked up on the first ring.”
Iwaizumi didn’t reply, just rolling his eyes instead.
“So now we’ve established that that was a lie,” Matsukawa said, his voice impish and low, “wanna do something fun?”
“Your idea of fun, or mine?”
“Ideally, both.”
Iwaizumi sighed. He sighed louder than he needed to, really, just to make sure that his discontent carried through the phone. “Fine. What is it?”
“How do you feel about sneaking out?”
“Sneaking out is your idea of fun?” Iwaizumi chided. “What are we, twelve?”
“It'll be romantic.”
“Romantic isn’t the same as fun.”
“Then you’ve been doing romance wrong. Let me change that."
Though some small part of Iwaizumi wanted to resist the bad influence that his boyfriend was representing, a much, much bigger part of him wanted to try breaking the rules. He had to admit that, for once, he wanted to try doing something dumb and spontaneous, something almost comically teenaged - something like sneaking out. His parents were always telling him not to grow up so fast, after all, and maybe they had a point. And maybe letting himself do something dumb just this once was an important part of adolescence - by extension, of not growing up too fast.
Besides, it was a Sunday, so it wasn't as though Iwaizumi would have anywhere to be or anything to do during the day. He could spend the daytime resting back up and be ready for school again on Monday.
He was fairly sure that this was a bad idea, but Iwaizumi decided that just this once, he wasn't going to let that stop him. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m in.”
Matsukawa made a goofy, excited sound. “I’m glad you’re on board, because I’m already outside your window. Would’ve been a real bummer if you’d said no.”
“Issei.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re joking, right?”
“Nope.”
Iwaizumi put his phone down on his bed and walked over to his window. His room was on the front side of the house, and so his window overlooked the front yard. Sure enough, when Iwaizumi pulled back the curtain, Matsukawa was standing out there, keeping towards the bushes along the left-hand side. He was half-hidden in the shrubbery, the position made awkward by the gangliness of his limbs.
Matsukawa waved up at Iwaizumi.
Iwaizumi stuck his middle finger up at Matsukawa.
Iwaizumi walked back away from the window, picking up his phone again. “You look like a stalker.”
“Oh, Hajime. Anybody could tell I’m not a stalker. A stalker would be far better hidden.”
“Fine. You look like an amateur stalker.”
Matsukawa made a so-so noise. “I’ve heard worse.”
Iwaizumi laughed, shaking his head. “So how am I supposed to get down there, anyway?”
“Well Hajime, you walk to the stairs, then down the stairs, then unlock the door, then open it-”
“Thank you, Issei. I hadn’t thought of that,” Iwaizumi said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Seriously, how am I getting down there?”
“Well if the front door is out, I guess you could try the power of gravity.”
“I’m not jumping out of my window.”
“Oh, come on,” Matsukawa said. “Don’t be such a baby. I’ll catch you.”
“I don’t trust you, and even if I did, you’re all bone. You’d be terrible at breaking a fall.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
Iwaizumi resisted the urge to say, ‘Yes, I do. I could not sneak out in the middle of the night.’
Instead of saying that, Iwaizumi put his phone down on the bed again and changed. He threw off his pyjamas, pulling on some jeans, a shirt and a hoodie as quickly as he could. When he zipped up his jeans, Iwaizumi heard a faint wolf-whistle from Matsukawa through the phone.
“What are you whistling for?” Iwaizumi whispered at the phone, keeping his voice low. “You can’t even see me getting changed.”
“I could hear you getting changed though. Yeah, I only had the audio, but it was still pretty hot.”
“Shut up, Issei,” Iwaizumi said, stifling his laughter. He was smiling, and he hated it; he hated that Matsukawa could make him smile so easily just by saying the dumbest, most ridiculous things. Just as much as that, he hated the way Matsukawa could make him agree to pretty much anything at all, including sneaking out of the house at night on a whim, with no forethought or planning whatsoever.
Though to be fair, those were both things he loved about Matsukawa as well.
Once he was as ready as he could be under the circumstances, Iwaizumi picked his phone back up off the bed, hung up on Matsukawa, and opened the window just wide enough that he could slip through the gap. It was definitely a big enough gap for Iwaizumi to fit through, but that fact did nothing to stop his feelings of unease as he climbed out of it. He went legs-first, his lower body dangling down the wall. He eased his way forward, lining himself up with Matsukawa’s outstretched arms.
Iwaizumi steeled himself, and when he was ready, he jumped off from the windowsill. There was a half-second of free-fall before he felt Matsukawa bear some of the weight of his landing, and he bent his knees as he hit the ground, a good habit learned from all his years of volleyball. The instant he landed, Iwaizumi felt a childish kind of rush, the kind that only comes when you're doing something that you know you shouldn't be.
All in all, much to Iwaizumi’s surprise, jumping out of a first floor window wasn’t that bad. It stung a little when he hit the ground, sure, but it was simple enough that it crossed his mind that he could do this more often, were he so inclined. So long as he was careful, and had someone to break his fall, he probably wouldn’t get injured.
“See? It’s not so hard,” Matsukawa said.
“Why do you sound like you have a lot of experience with this?”
Iwaizumi could only just see it beneath the moonlight, but Matsukawa smirked at that.
The night air was cold compared to his bedroom, and so Iwaizumi held himself with something of a hunch, balling himself up in his hoodie to try and stay warm.
“So what do we do now?” Iwaizumi asked.
“No idea. Honestly, I hadn’t thought this far ahead. What do you wanna do?”
Matsukawa started walking, and Iwaizumi fell into step next to him, following Matsukawa out of the yard and down the road. He didn’t know where Matsukawa was headed - and Matsukawa probably didn’t know either, come to think of it - but that was okay.
“Well, what do kids usually do when they sneak out?” Iwaizumi asked.
“I think they get drunk, usually.” Matsukawa shrugged slightly.
“Well that sounds boring," Iwaizumi said.
"Yeah," Matsukawa agreed. "Something, something, love is the only drug I need."
With that, Iwaizumi felt Matsukawa take his hand. It caught Iwaizumi by surprise, and his first instinct was to pull his hand away from Matsukawa’s, but he didn’t. There was nobody around at this hour to see them holding hands, and even if there was, Iwaizumi wasn’t sure he would care. He didn’t have to care about anything, so long as he had Matsukawa with him.
“I reckon we could hop the gate at the park,” Matsukawa said. “That sounds fun.”
“Isn’t that illegal?”
“... Yes.”
“Let’s not do that.” Iwaizumi gave Matsukawa a suspicious side-eye.
“I was kidding,” Matsukawa said, but Iwaizumi wasn’t entirely sure that was true. “My house is empty if you wanna go back there. You could even stay the night.”
That last part made Iwaizumi’s thoughts wander to his plans for the night. That, in turn, made Iwaizumi realise that going back to his own house could not be a part of those plans, because he’d forgotten to bring his keys with him, and he doubted he could scale the wall and get back in through his bedroom window.
He didn’t want to admit any of that to Matsukawa, and he’d always wanted to spend a night alone with Matsukawa anyway, so Iwaizumi just rolled with it. “Yeah, staying at yours sounds good.”
“Slumber party!” Matsukawa said, the words chimed in a sing-song voice. He squeezed Iwaizumi’s hand as he said it.
Iwaizumi laughed his usual hearty laugh before saying, “It’ll be nice to finally get to sleep together, you know?”
At that, Matsukawa’s walking slowed a bit. He looked over at Iwaizumi with an expression that was hard to make out in the dark. Iwaizumi assumed it was surprise.
“What?” Iwaizumi asked, slowing down to match Matsukawa’s new pace. “Stop looking at me like that.”
Matsukawa shook his head, and in doing so seemed to bring himself back to reality. “Sorry, sorry,” he said, and started looking forward again rather than staring at Iwaizumi. “I’m still getting used to us being an actual couple, rather than it just being me awkwardly flirting with you.”
Iwaizumi squeezed Matsukawa’s hand. “Don’t worry about it.”
“It hurts when you squeeze my hand, you know,” Matsukawa said. “You’re too strong. It gives me the creeps.”
“You squeeze my hand all the time.”
“Yeah, but you’re built like a Greek God. I’m a stick-man. It’s different.”
Iwaizumi laughed, squeezing Matsukawa’s hand again, lighter this time.
“Ow,” Matsukawa said, feigning pain. He cast a hurt look at Iwaizumi.
Iwaizumi laughed again, shaking his head. “Let’s just get back to your place already.”
After that exchange, there was a noticeable spring in Matsukawa’s step, and it stayed there for the rest of the walk back to his house. It wasn’t far from Iwaizumi’s, only about ten minutes away for a couple as tall and long-legged as they were.
The roads they were taking all cut through the suburbs, too far from the town centre for there to be any street-lights around. There was some ambient lighting from houses they passed that still had their lights on, and some from the moon too, but for the most part it was just the two of them walking through the dark. It was kind of embarrassing for Iwaizumi to admit, even just to himself, but he liked how dark it was out - it made him feel all stealthy and roguish in a way that he, as a serial follower of the rules, had never really felt before.
It was coming up to one in the morning by the time they got back to Matsukawa’s house. While Matsukawa fumbled around in his pockets for his keys, Iwaizumi tried to come up with a convincing lie for his parents.
His best idea was to text his parents around six in the morning, telling them that he’d gone out for his morning run, forgotten his keys, and then after realising he’d locked himself out, he’d gone to Matsukawa’s and spent the morning there. He’d been a good kid all his life so far, so his parents would probably give him the benefit of the doubt.
Iwaizumi wouldn’t feel too bad telling a lie like that, either - after all, a few parts of that lie even had a grain of truth to them if you squinted.
Once Matsukawa finally got the door open, they stepped inside. It wasn’t warm in the house, but it was a little less cold indoors than out, and that was good enough for Iwaizumi. He shut the door behind them as they entered, and both of them left their shoes by the front door.
“Want me to turn the heating on?” Matsukawa asked.
“Nah,” Iwaizumi said. “We’ll be cuddling in a minute anyway.”
“Good point,” Matsukawa said, “but for the record, hearing you say ‘cuddling’ is really weird.”
“Because you’re still not used to us being boyfriends?”
“That, and it’s just not a word I ever expected to hear out of your mouth.”
“Well, get used to it,” Iwaizumi said. “I happen to like cuddling.”
“Oh, cool. In that case, I’ll let you choose where we do the cuddling,” Matsukawa said. “My room?”
“Your room is probably a mess,” Iwaizumi said. “When’s the last time you changed your sheets?”
“Let’s not go there, literally or figuratively,” Matsukawa said. “We could do it in my parents’ bed, if we wanted to be even more cliché than we already are.”
“That’s a definite no.”
“Fair. How about the couch? There’s probably some pretty bad movies on at this time of night,” Matsukawa said. There was a certain satisfaction present in his voice as he said it, as though bad movies were the only good kind of movie in his world.
“That sounds good,” Iwaizumi said, smiling. “You get a blanket, I’ll find something to watch?”
“Sure. See you in a minute,” Matsukawa said before disappearing up the stairs.
That settled, Iwaizumi let himself in to the living room. He’d been to Matsukawa’s place enough times that he didn’t need to turn the lights on to find his way around. He did think about turning the lights on, but he decided against it; some of the magic of sneaking out at night would be lost if he made things too well-lit, and so he settled for the dull glow of the TV instead. He sat down, picked up the remote, and started leafing through the channels.
Like Matsukawa had predicted, the kinds of movies playing on TV at this time of night were truly, indisputably awful. Every one Iwaizumi had seen listed so far was the kind of movie that even Matsukawa would have trouble liking ironically, but there was something nice about that - it meant there was no pressure on Iwaizumi to actually pick something good.
It also made him realise that they weren’t there for the movie - they were there for each other, and nothing else. There was something even nicer about that.
By the time Matsukawa got back, Iwaizumi had found the perfect movie for them: a crappy Godzilla knock-off. Crappy, so that Matsukawa might enjoy it ironically; Godzilla, so that Iwaizumi would enjoy it, because he’d never quite grown out of that phase. Matsukawa was carrying a blanket now, but also of note was the absence of his pants. He strolled in to the living room in just his socks, boxers, and a long-sleeved shirt.
“Issei, why aren’t you wearing any pants?”
“I can’t cuddle in skinny jeans,” Matsukawa said, and for once, Iwaizumi had no choice but to concede that Matsukawa had a point. “Honestly I’m not sure how anyone could cuddle in any kind of pants. You should take off yours too, Hajime.”
Iwaizumi laughed. Tonight was already ridiculous, and so he figured, why not? Not wearing any pants was but a drop in the bucket of ridiculousness at this point.
“If you insist,” Iwaizumi said, stepping up from the couch and unzipping his jeans. He left them to fall on the floor in a pile, taking his hoodie off as well and leaving it on the floor next to his jeans.
Iwaizumi sat back down on the couch, and Matsukawa flopped down next to him, dropping the blanket over them as he did.
“So, how do you wanna do the cuddling thing?” Matsukawa asked. “Any preference?”
“Not really. Let’s just do whatever feels right.”
At that, Matsukawa shuffled over to Iwaizumi, close enough that their bare legs were touching beneath the blanket, the intimate warmth making Iwaizumi shiver. Iwaizumi felt Matsukawa’s arm loop around his back, and Iwaizumi looped an arm around Matsukawa in return. Iwaizumi leant his head on Matsukawa’s shoulder, and Matsukawa tilted his head so that it was leaning on Iwaizumi’s, and when their heads and shoulders were resting on each other, Matsukawa pulled the blanket up over their chests.
After a couple of minutes spent like that, Iwaizumi asked, “How’s this for you?”
“Good,” Matsukawa said. “Like, really good. So good I don’t wanna move.”
“Yeah,” Iwaizumi said, smiling. “Same here.”
Pressed up tight like this, Iwaizumi could feel the rumble in Matsukawa’s throat when he spoke and breathed. It was so intimate that it was strange, but in a way that was somehow pleasant at the same time. And more than just pleasant, it felt safe; it felt as though nothing could touch the two of them so long as they were together.
Every time the crappy, cheesy CGI Kaiju showed up on the TV screen, Matsukawa chuckled to himself, and Iwaizumi could feel the bass rumble in Matsukawa’s throat again. It was an oddly soothing sensation, one that made Iwaizumi feel warm, and calm, and impossibly comfortable, as well as thankful for the opportunity to curl up like this in the first place. The whole thing together was delightful and dreamy, so much so that Iwaizumi was having to put conscious effort into keeping himself awake.
When the movie finally ended, Iwaizumi wiped at his eyes. “Issei,” he said, his voice a little hoarse from how tired he was, “I need to make this an all-nighter. Do you have any coffee?”
“Yeah. Though I can think of a few others ways of keeping you up all night, if you’re interested,” Matsukawa said, nudging Iwaizumi’s side.
Iwaizumi couldn’t tell how serious a proposition that was. “I’m sure they’d be very effective,” he said, chuckling softly, “but I think I need coffee right now.”
“Sure. There’s hot chocolate too, if you’d rather have that than coffee.”
“How about both?”
Matsukawa laughed before giving a delighted sigh. “You’re such a visionary, Hajime. That’s why I love you.”
It always caught Iwaizumi by surprise whenever Matsukawa said ‘I love you’ so casually. ‘I love you’ wasn’t something either of them often said. Or, not something they often said with words, anyway; they were the kind of couple that said it with actions, with easy conversations, and with the casual, carefree demeanour they both took on only when they were alone together.
“I love you too,” Iwaizumi said. Though there was a sleepy laziness to his expression, his smile shone wide and bright in the dim-lit room.
Matsukawa disentangled himself from Iwaizumi. He bent down, giving Iwaizumi a peck on the lips before leaving the room.
When Matsukawa came back a couple of minutes later, it was with two mugs of coffee, and two mugs of hot chocolate. He was having trouble carrying all four of them at the same time - two of the mugs were hanging by his pinky fingers - but he managed, and set all of them down on a table in front of the couch before getting back under the blanket with his boyfriend.
“I know you hate fun and like your coffee black,” Matsukawa said, “but I added a couple of sugars, just to help you stay awake.”
“Thanks,” Iwaizumi said.
He meant it, too. He was thankful for how thoughtful Matsukawa was, and for the way that he could always count on Matsukawa to look after him, right down to the very last detail.
Iwaizumi went for the hot chocolate first. He knew that if he started drinking the coffee too early, he’d caffeine crash and fall asleep before dawn, and then his entire plan to get away with sneaking out would fall through. He couldn’t let that happen - if it did, his parents would be watching his every move for the next month at least, and then Iwaizumi wouldn’t be able to sneak out like this again for a long, long time.
That would be a major problem, because Iwaizumi wanted to do this again, and soon. It was far flung from what Iwaizumi would usually get up to in the evening, but that didn't make it bad - on the contrary, it made it thrilling, in a decidedly teenage way, and kind of romantic too.
It had been both fun and romantic, actually - just like Matsukawa had said it would be.
As soon as Matsukawa got back under the blanket, the two of them went back to cuddling, leaning on each other, their heads together, only ever leaving the warmth of their shared blanket to reach for one of the mugs on the table. They sat like that together until the sun came back up again, laughing at and chatting over one bad movie after another, the very first of a great many nights spent blissfully in each other’s arms.