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Oikawa had never been more pissed off with Iwaizumi when he decided to forgo volleyball once they had reached university.
Sure he didn’t get scouted to the team but that didn't mean he couldn’t make it in with general tryouts. Iwaizumi was a great all-around player he could play any position, except maybe setter, and be an asset. Hell, he wasn’t even an awful setter, he could toss in a pinch. But no, Iwaizumi had approached his boyfriend shyly for the first time in his life and told him he was going to try out for baseball instead of volleyball. He wanted to try something new and the volleyball team would be strong without him. The baseball team didn’t have the reputation volleyball did so he might be able to make a difference for them.
Oikawa hadn’t spoken to him for 3 days.
When Iwaizumi made starting lineup he hadn’t spoken to him for a week.
He watched Iwaizumi come home covered in sweat and dirt and sunburns on his already dark skin and grumbled about how volleyball was a much less barbaric sport. He was angry. He felt betrayed. He and Iwaizumi were supposed to be a pair. Perfect trust and all. He knew Iwaizumi didn’t have his heart set on professional sports but he hadn’t expected him to stop playing with him by choice.
Iwaizumi seemed to understand why Oikawa was upset and he gave him space. But he still did all his normal things. He made dinner for both of them, he yelled at Oikawa to clean his hair out of the drain, he kept careful tabs on him because he knew he would be prone to excessive practice since he was so upset. He had even turned up at the volleyball team’s first friendly even though Oikawa hadn’t told him there would be a match.
Oikawa stared at the line in front of him and spun the ball in his hands trying not to scowl as he heard a familiar rough voice shout “Nice serve, Tooru!” from the stands. Oh, given names now, huh? He tossed the ball and launched himself into the air slamming the ball down on their opponent’s side of the net with a bit more force than usual.
Oikawa avoided Iwaizumi after the match even though he knew his boyfriend was looking for him, but he couldn’t hide forever.
“Nice match, Oikawa!” Iwaizumi hollered running up to him and putting up a fist looking for a bump. “Your form looks great, you’ll be starting for sure.” He looked so excited for him and so genuinely excited about the match that Oikawa returned the bump, if not a little weakly.
“It’d be better with you there.” He said weakly shouldering his bag and walking toward the exit. Iwaizumi frowned.
“I was there. I was there cheering for you like I always am. Your spikers are killer so don’t act like you don’t have people to toss to. I want to come to your games. I want to play two on two with you on the weekends. It’s not like I hate volleyball because you know damn well that's not true right?” He glared at Oikawa who nodded meekly. “I’m still going to support you and deal with you asking for someone to receive serves with you when there's no real practice so stop acting like I’ve abandoned you and will burst into flames if I touch a volleyball.” He punched Oikawa’s shoulder lightly.
“I’m just going to miss playing with Iwa-chan,” Oikawa said resting his head on Iwaizumi’s shoulder and looking down.
“I know. I’m gonna miss it too you know.” Oikawa looked up at him. “But like I just said, you can drag me out with the guys anytime you need a secret weapon for a pick-up. Now come on, I’ll buy you milk bread on the way home, okay?”
Both the boys were well into their regular season by the time Oikawa had a free evening for one of Iwaizumi’s home games. Iwaizumi had been to games as often as he could to cheer on Oikawa but Oikawa hadn’t been to one of his yet. Partially because he was busy and partially because he hadn’t entirely forgiven Iwa-chan yet. But this evening he had no game, no practice, and it was a Friday so he really had no excuse not to go support his boyfriend who was starting in a game with their rival school.
Oikawa knew nothing about baseball. Absolutely nothing. So he had managed to convince Kuroo and Bokuto to come along with him after practice one day. Bokuto was apparently a big fan so he found himself squished between the energetic spiker and Kuroo, the sly bastard had managed to sneak in a 6-pack and was sipping his beer smirking as Oikawa tried to absorb the information Botuko threw at him.
“So instead of a coin toss to see who goes on the offensive first, the visiting team always starts on offense. Which is batting right?” Bokuto explained to Oikawa who nodded. “So Iwaizumi is on the home team so they’ll be in the field first, do you know what position he’s playing?” Oikawa stared at him blankly.
“They have positions? I thought they just kind of ran after the ball when it came toward them.” Bokuto starred, shocked, and Kuroo laughed spitting his drink out.
“Do you know his jersey number?” Kuroo asked once he had gotten ahold of himself. Oikawa thought back to a few days ago when he had been digging through the laundry for socks and had come across Iwaizumi’s clean uniform before huffing and shoving it aside.
“6 I think?” Oikawa said shrugging. “Does that seem right?” Bokuto wrinkled his brow in thought.
“Well, yeah that’s a number but 6 is usually a position for upperclassmen. Maybe it was a 9?”
“Why would an upperclassman have such a high number?” Oikawa asked
“Well,” Kuroo explained “In baseball, the numbers are assigned to positions on the field rather than significance on the team like volleyball. There are 9 positions on the field but the Captain isn’t necessarily number 1 he’s whatever number his position is.” Oikawa was so confused but he didn’t have much time to mull it over because the announcer roared over the stadium welcoming to the game and beginning to introduce the teams.
The visiting university came out first with Oikawa’s friends hurriedly explaining what each position did as they ran out. Oikawa was going to need a refresher as the game went on. When their team ran out in their familiar red Oikawa kept his eyes peeled for his boyfriend. When ‘Iwaizumi Hajime- Number 6- Shortstop’ came over the loudspeaker as the aforementioned player ran onto the field and high fived the pitcher on his way to his post between third and second.
“Woah, Oikawa was right, he must be pretty good,” Kuroo said leaning back and crossing his arms. Oikawa huffed.
“Of course he’s good, he’s good at everything, why is short... whatever he’s playing, so special?”
“Well, it’s not more important than another position or anything.” Bokuto explained “It usually just tends to be a tough spot. It’s a defensive position right? Most balls wind up in that area because most batters are right-handed. You have to be fast and athletic to be able to anticipate and catch the ball and you have to have a really strong arm to get it all the way across the field to wherever it needs to go. Plus you have to back up second base if there's a double play...” Bokuto stopped rambling when Kuroo poked him and he noticed that Oikawa looked totally lost. “It's just a really demanding position. You stay very busy and you don’t get a lot of credit when the game is done.”
Oikawa nodded vaguely, he got it, a little bit, he thought and turned his attention to the game as the first pitch went out.
***
As the game went on Oikawa found that the game wasn’t quite as impossible to understand as he thought. He supposed it was just easier for him to understand when he could see what Bokuto meant as he bounced up and down next to him.
It was clear their university wasn’t as strong as the other team. The visitors had some heavy hitters at the plate and their second baseman was like a magnet under pop-flys. Oikawa found himself getting into the game and getting into shouting matches with Bokuto about plays while Kuroo laughed next to them.
Iwaizumi wasn’t just good. He was a fucking savior. He would run for anything that came his way, clearly, years of diving for spikes left him unafraid to bodily throw himself across the field to make a catch. And after watching the left fielder scoop up a grounder and try to toss it to first to tag the batter out and land pitifully short and out in the middle of right field, Iwaizumi’s arrow-straight, long-reaching throws looked impressive. Oikawa knew he could bat, thinking back fondly to the athletic festival where he had soundly beaten Mad-Dog, connecting with Kyiotani’s pitch and losing the ball in the woods behind the school. But here, in the midst of a game Iwaizumi was solid and confident behind the plate, habitually tapping the dust off his cleats before settling comfortably into his stance.
Not to mention Oikawa was mad at himself for never coming to a game before because that uniform should not be allowed on his fit boyfriend. The tendons that moved in his forearms were only highlighted by his batting gloves and Oikawa was utterly familiar with the biceps under his sleeves. Now, volleyball shorts were one thing. But the tight white pants and red knee socks that were stuck tight to his legs and ass were severely distracting to Oikawa. He knew he was always ogling Iwaizumi’s arms but this very blatant reminder of his thickly muscled thighs and his tight ass, particularly when the majority of this game was spent with your ass sticking out, keeping your body at the ready, made Oikawa want to see just how much more those pants could take.
****
They lost. 11-9 in 10 innings. Iwaizumi’s team came back in the 8th and 9th but a fortunate double for the visitors in the extra inning had closed things out. Oikawa ran down to the chain-link fence next to the home team’s dugout, spotting Iwaizumi take his hat off and rub his forehead with the back of his arm, just smearing some dust across it, and called to him. Iwaizumi looked around confused before he spotted his waving boyfriend.
“Oikawa?” He said trotting over “You came?”
“I wanted to see you in action.” Oikawa said “I’m sorry I’ve been so uptight. You’re really good Iwa-chan. Really, really good. They need you.” Iwaizumi looked at him, a bit convinced that Oikawa was trying to play him somehow before seeing that he was serious. He put his hand up on the fence and Oikawa put his hand up and linked their fingers together through the chain.
“Thanks, Tooru. That means a lot.” He said quietly, uncharacteristically soft. Oikawa snuck his long fingers through the holes and wrapped them in Iwaizumi’s jersey tugging him forward and kissing him quickly through the fence.
“I’m taking you up on those two on twos though and....” He said with a sly smile leaning in to whisper so Iwaizumi had to lean in too. “I’d like to see more of you in your uniform, just you and me.” Iwaizumi blushed hideously and tried to jumble out something before coughing out he needed to get back to the team. Oikawa smiled and waved him away thinking maybe baseball would be a welcome addition to his life.