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The day after Ushijima leaves on an academic field trip, his mitsuba nosedives off the terrace table and lands on the floor of the balcony.
Oikawa spends thirty minutes scooping the soil back into the pot and arranging it around the parsley. At the end of the half hour he is cursing Ushijima out loud and also cursing himself for ever agreeing to move into this stupid apartment with stupid Ushiwaka-chan.
He is angry about his past mistakes too. Numerous mistakes: fixating on Ushijima as his number one rival in his school days, trying to be a good teammate when they started university, forgiving Ushijima for all the crushed dreams, letting Ushijima kiss him. Ushiwaka-chan, who is going to be sad about this plant when he returns at the end of the week.
Oikawa puts the plant on the kitchen table and texts Iwaizumi. Neither of them have the slightest interest in horticulture, but Iwaizumi always knows how to get Oikawa out of trouble.
After two minutes, seeing that Iwaizumi hasn’t responded, Oikawa calls him. The call goes straight to Iwaizumi’s voicemail. “Yeah, leave a message,” Iwaizumi says in his cute, gruff voice, “unless you’re Oikawa, in which case, stop calling me, Dumbass! I’m busy!”
“Iwa-chaaan!” Oikawa says after the beep. “Help! Help me please, Iwa-chan, it’s an emergency. Call me, call me, call me.”
The mitsuba is tilting over in the soil. Oikawa considers adding an extra sentence to his message, something about how Iwaizumi needs to help or he will find himself making space for another person in his apartment very soon, but that sounds too desperate. Oikawa hangs up. No need for Iwaizumi to have further confirmation that Oikawa Tooru is horrible at relationships.
Iwaizumi had warned him two years ago that getting involved with Ushijima Wakatoshi was a bad idea. “You’re both stubborn assholes,” Iwaizumi had said. “You really want to spend all your free time arguing with Ushiwaka?” But Ushiwaka isn’t as stubborn of an asshole as he used to be back in Miyagi, and he’s also a teammate now. In fact, Iwaizumi has started to take his side whenever Oikawa makes the mistake of arguing with Ushijima in public. And Iwaizumi will probably be too loyal to say it, but when this relationship ends Iwaizumi will believe that the fault lies more with Oikawa than Ushijima.
“You just don’t understand, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa says, poking the mitsuba. “Try living with a guy who makes you promise that you’ll take care of his five plants while he’s away. He actually asked me to talk to them too! What am I supposed to talk about, Mitsu-chan?”
The other four plants, three other herbs and a strawberry plant, look okay. In fact, Ichigo-chan is extending its leaves towards the sun, looking radiant. Ushijima bought that one at his first Tokyo farmers market, which he had gone to with Oikawa. It likes Oikawa more than the others.
Oikawa had watered them all after waking up this morning. Then he sat at the kitchen table, drinking coffee while catching up on his Facebook feed and planning out a trip to the Cosmo-Planetarium for next weekend. No one likes to go to the planetarium with him, and Oikawa is not comfortable buying alien merchandise from the gift shop when he’s with other people, but Ushijima is weird himself and also interested in the solar system, so they go together occasionally.
After purchasing two tickets, Oikawa had walked out onto the balcony to wave goodbye to his neighbor, Kyo-chan the chef, who brings him a pizza every Friday and who was now going on vacation, when he brushed a little too close to the mitsuba. And that’s when it happened.
“You’re so sensitive, just like your mom,” Oikawa scolds the mitsuba as he adjusts the roots.
He wishes that there were daycares for plants. Or plant-sitters. He wants to drop them all off to one and not pick them up again until Saturday.
He is about to send an angry text to Ushijima when he remembers Akaashi Keiji. Akaashi likes plants almost as much as Ushijima. Well, Akaashi is more interested in eating them than growing them, but those two have been going to farmers markets together. They’re friends, kind of.
It annoyed Oikawa a little at first, but after observing their interactions, he realized that this odd friendship is actually a good thing. Ushijima can talk about agriculture with Akaashi as much as he wants, get it out of his system, and then he can concentrate on more important things, like fucking Oikawa properly.
And now that friendship will come even more in handy. In a matter of minutes, Oikawa has called Bokuto and persuaded him to give the phone to Akaashi (after promising a practice game), and then gotten Akaashi to agree to plant-sit (after promising 5000 yen).
“So hardhearted!” Oikawa says after making the second promise. “I wonder why? Is it an effect of growing up in the city? Oh, you city-boys.”
He hangs up. He is going to crush them in their practice game. Or maybe not, provided Akaashi keeps the plants healthy.
***
Oikawa has just finished bringing the plants down to the bench in front of the apartment building when Iwaizumi arrives.
“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa says, dusting off his hands. “It’s too late now. Where were you when I needed you?”
Iwaizumi frowns at the plants. He says, “I came to see if you were crying wolf again or finally getting eaten by a wolf. Guess it’s neither. You’ve just gone off the deep end.”
“How rude! I’m being a responsible adult right now. I am taking care of an adult situation carefully and calmly.”
“What-”
“Hey!” Bokuto calls from across the street. He is pulling a little red wagon. “We’re here! I can’t believe we’re going to be babysitting plants?! Weird! Right, Akaashi?”
“What the hell,” Iwaizumi says.
As soon as he reaches the bench, Akaashi picks up the mitsuba. “Ah,” he says, his tone very judgmental.
“It wasn’t my fault!” Oikawa protests. “Anyway, make sure you feed them and give them enough sunlight and only eat from them sparingly. And don’t tell Ushiwaka-chan. No one likes a tattletale. Or you’re not getting the money!”
“Actually,” Akaashi begins.
“You’re paying up right now!” Bokuto says. “None of that work first, pay later stuff, no way.”
Oikawa knew this would happen. People are so predictable. He pulls out a sack of coins from his pocket and counts out 5000 yen.
Akaashi sighs heavily as he pockets the coins.
“And what about offering us tea, huh?” Bokuto asks, looking at the stairs that lead up to the second floor.
Oikawa replies, “I only offer tea to friends who help me out without asking for monetary compensation. Bye-bye now, I have to leave and so do you.”
Bokuto sticks his tongue out as he picks up one of the herbs. He places it in the wagon. After transferring all five to the wagon, he and Akaashi finally leave.
Iwaizumi says, smiling, “I can’t believe this.”
“You look scary, Iwa-chan.” Oikawa smiles too, but he is worried. “What can’t you believe?”
“You.”
“What about me?”
Iwaizumi rolls his eyes. “Are you really going to make me spell it out? Just do me a favor and hide your matching mugs and other gross stuff before I go up there again, so that I don’t gag.”
“There are no matching mugs.” Oikawa runs a hand through his hair. “What a romantic notion, Iwa-chan! Ushiwaka and I are just roommates with benefits. I’m not tied down or anything. Let’s go party.”
***
Oikawa wasn’t planning on getting his own place in Tokyo until he graduated from university and became a famous psychiatrist. The dorms are tiny and uncomfortable, yes, but he can’t afford anything better. He barely gets anything from his job as a part-time coach at Mirai Volleyball Center. Also, the center is frequently short on money and can’t pay their part-timers on time.
However, at the end of their second year, Ushijima said he was getting an apartment and would Oikawa like to move in with him? Ushijima had been blushing a little as he asked, and Oikawa was charmed.
He answered a few days later, after weighing the pros and cons of such an arrangement. The deciding factor had been the fact that Iwaizumi was also getting an apartment. Oikawa didn’t want to live by himself in the dorms, and he didn’t want to move in with Iwaizumi because their friendship is important to him. There are certain things one shouldn’t do with a close friend, like start a business together, let him marry one of your family members, or become roommates. The venture could work out, but it could also go horribly wrong, resulting in an end to the friendship.
He said yes to Ushijima, and they picked out this 1LDK near their university in March. They moved in on April 7. They have been living together for four months now.
The place is double the size of his dorm, with a wide balcony where Oikawa does his reading on warm days. The balcony faces out onto a busy street, and it’s fun to watch the pedestrians.
The internet connection is good in this apartment, so he asked his mom to bring over his desktop from home. He has it set up in the living room. He can marathon Star Trek or watch volleyball matches on the computer whenever he has trouble sleeping, which is most of the time. Sometimes Ushijima joins him, to ask concerned questions and make chamomile tea usually, and then Ushijima falls asleep on the couch.
The hardest part about living together is probably the sharing. Ushijima used up the hot water in the shower the first day they moved in, and then he was baffled when Oikawa got pissed off. Ushijima had the audacity to say, “Am I supposed to use lukewarm water? Why don’t you take your shower at another time?”
He has gotten better about the showers, but he still has to be reminded of other things, for example, that he shouldn’t spread his clothes all through the wardrobe, or hog the space heater and the AC unit, or let his family members visit without telling Oikawa first. Ushijima has a tendency to think that the whole world revolves around him. Helping him change his habits has been an arduous process.
However, there have been entertaining moments too. Ushijima gets embarrassed about little things like peeing in the toilet when Oikawa is brushing his teeth in the bathroom. And Ushijima still blushes on laundry days, when Oikawa takes Ushijima’s underwear out of the basket and puts them into a laundry bag. Also, Ushijima closes the curtains whenever Oikawa starts dancing to pop songs in the living room.
On the whole, Ushijima is a good roommate. He does all of the grocery shopping and cooking, while Oikawa does the laundry and the cleaning. Ushijima has gotten better at cooking since they moved into the apartment, and Oikawa is fantastic at cleaning when he makes the effort. Their floors, walls, furniture, and dishes are always sparkling. The grime surrounding their toilet when they first moved in is gone, and he has also removed the soap scum that was on the shower door. Now he has a better view of Ushijima’s sexy body when Ushijima takes a shower.
And, of course, they’ve been having more sex since they started living together. Their bed is larger and more comfortable than their dorm beds, so there is more space to be adventurous. They have more time for fucking too because they don’t have to walk to each other’s place. And they can skip the dating and the niceties and just get right at it. Ushijima is amazing in bed when he’s not feeling embarrassed.
The apartment isn’t exactly home, but Oikawa wouldn’t mind staying here for the remainder of the time he has left at university.
***
Oikawa walks up the stairs to their apartment just in time to see Ushijima unlocking their front door. He beams, happy that they are reuniting in this way. It would have been awkward to greet Ushiwaka from inside the apartment, like a housewife waiting for the husband. Oikawa certainly has not been waiting for Ushijima to return. It has been a good week, full of partying and trips to the beach and quiet hours in the gym, where he practiced his serves without Ushijima interfering. And, anyway, he talked to Ushijima once each night, and texted him a few times each day, and two nights ago he had put on Ushijima’s cologne before going to bed.
“Tadaima,” Ushijima says, and as Oikawa is replying, kisses him on the mouth.
“Well, aren’t you impatient, Ushiwaka-chan,” Oikawa says. He can smell mint gum on Ushijima’s breath. Ushijima must have spit it out after getting off the train.
After they walk into the apartment, Oikawa slides his tongue into Ushijima’s mouth, as far as it can go, licks the roof of Ushijima’s mouth. Then he withdraws his tongue, sucks on Ushijima’s bottom lip.
Oikawa wants nothing more than to spend the next twenty-four hours in bed with Ushijima’s complete attention on him, and he is getting ready for it, is sliding his fingers underneath the band of Ushijima’s briefs, when Ushijima says, “Wait. I have something for you.”
He takes out a paper bag and withdraws a slice of milk bread from it. “It’s fresh,” he says. “The bread was made with the milk of a prized cow in Hokkaido. The lady who owns the cow baked a loaf for each of us.”
Ushijima had brought a flower crown the last time he went on a trip, but he was probably too busy to make one this time around. Oikawa had worn the crown every day, until all the petals and leaves were dried up and falling out. It was beautiful, vibrant in Oikawa’s hair. Ushijima has a photo on the lock screen of his phone.
But Oikawa does like milk bread. “Thank you,” he says, and opens his mouth wide so that Ushijima can feed him.
He sucks on Ushijima’s finger after he swallows the last bite. Ushijima gives him a quick kiss and then goes into the kitchen to put the rest of the loaf away.
Oikawa leans against Ushijima’s back as Ushijima puts the bread on the counter. He is kissing Ushijima’s jaw and putting his hands up Ushijima’s shirt, rubbing those lovely pecs, when Ushijima turns to look at the balcony. Oikawa realizes, just as Ushijima stiffens, that he has forgotten to pick the plants up from Akaashi’s apartment.
He withdraws his hands. Ushijima walks out onto the balcony, asks, “Where are they?”
Ushijima returns to the apartment and looks around while asking, “What happened? Where did you move them? Was there a thunderstorm recently?”
Oikawa isn’t sure why, but he finds himself saying, “Guess I couldn’t take care of them after all.”
“What?” Ushijima blinks at him, like he is having a hard time processing the situation. “What?”
Oikawa perches on the arm of their sofa. He shrugs a shoulder. A part of his head is saying stop, stop, stop, but he keeps going. “Oops?” he says.
“They’re dead?” Ushijima asks, voice very low.
Oikawa feels oddly relieved. Now he knows that he was right about Ushijima. Of course Ushijima would jump to conclusions. Ushijima only thinks highly of Oikawa’s setter skills. That’s all.
Always the same story, isn’t it? Ever since junior high, or maybe even before, people have been enamored with one part of Oikawa or the other. The looks, the voice, the abilities. They choose not to think about the less attractive parts of him until later. The girlfriend he had in high school initially liked him because she thought he was funny, but she hated him later because of his commitment to volleyball.
“You can buy new plants, Ushiwaka-chan,” Oikawa says. “It’s not the end of the world. The world is, in fact, full of pants.” He points to the windows. “You can just go outside and pick some up. And, anyway, you’re always putting those herbs in our food. How do you think they felt?! Now, tell me about your trip! How was it?”
Ushijima balls his hands into fists. He has a hard time adjusting to anything that disrupts his daily routines or upsets his worldview. That’s another one of his bad habits, this one track-mind; although it isn’t as bad as some people’s, like Tobio’s. It is going to be a long, boring night. Oikawa relocates to the armchair.
“You could have called me and asked me what to do about them,” Ushijima is saying now. “They can’t have wilted that fast, Tooru.”
“You ought to have left them with someone more responsible, hm?”
Now Ushijima is turning red. A thrill of anticipation goes down Oikawa’s spine. Ushijima is a sight to behold when he is angry. The rage becomes almost tangible around him, and his eyes get so narrow. He always looks like he is going to explode, but then he works it off, usually by running ten kilometers or slamming his volleyballs around.
Ushijima must be tired tonight, however, because after glaring for five minutes, he stomps off to the bedroom with his bag. Oikawa listens to him slamming the wardrobe drawers as he puts his clothes away. That’s one of Ushijima’s good habits, keeping his shit organized. Oikawa wouldn’t have been able to live with him otherwise.
Oikawa glances at the empty balcony and then at the bag of fertilizer and the watering cans lined up on the shelves next to the balcony doors. It was probably a bit too mean, letting Ushijima think the plants have been thrown away. He just returned from a long trip.
Oikawa gets off the armchair, goes outside, calls Akaashi. He will go get the plants tonight. But it’s going to take him awhile to forgive Ushijima for doubting him. He may never forgive Ushijima at all.
***
Ushijima is already asleep by the time Oikawa returns. Oikawa has to make two more trips down the stairs to get the remaining plants from the cab. He places them all on the balcony, back to their original spots. The mitsuba looks a bit lopsided in its pot, but it is doing well. According to Akaashi anyway.
Oikawa goes into the bedroom and sits at the foot of the bed. Ushijima is curled up on the right side of the bed, leaving enough room for Oikawa. He must have been exhausted, to have fallen asleep so quickly despite his distress over the plants.
His face is pressed hard into his pillow. Another bad habit. What is more annoying is when he turns over and presses his face between Oikawa’s shoulder blades. Oikawa has to poke Ushijima until he wakes up again and moves back to his side of the bed.
Four months is enough time to get used to each other’s habits. It should be enough to learn how to trust one’s partner too, but clearly Ushijima hasn’t progressed that far yet.
Oikawa knows that he can be a little cryptic at times, but that is no reason to think that he would actually mistreat the plants. That is what people who aren’t in the habit of swapping saliva and cum with him, and haven’t taken care of him when he had a fever of 40-degrees Celsius, and don’t sleep so close to his heart, might think about him. Ushijima ought to know better.
Oikawa considers going out into the living room and watching Firefly for the rest of the night, but this is his bed too. He paid for half of it. They have been splitting bills on everything in the apartment, and the rent too. Well, except for last month. Oikawa couldn’t pay his share because of his work situation. He could have borrowed it from his family, but he also wanted to see what Ushijima would do. So far, Ushijima has been nice about it. He paid for both of them and hasn’t asked to be reimbursed. Oikawa will pay him back before they go their separate ways.
There are better guys out there. Ushijima isn’t much of a conversation partner, or remarkably handsome, or very kind. There are other Wing-Spikers who are more talented than he is. Oikawa can find anyone he wants. His fan club has one hundred members, even though he is past twenty years of age.
He is going to stay on the bed tonight, Oikawa decides, but he won’t sleep next to Ushijima. He wants to punch Ushijima in the face, wake him up, yell at him, but they aren’t kids anymore. Oikawa pulls his knees up to his chest, hugs his knees, rests his head on his arms.
***
He wakes up some time later to find Ushijima putting a pillow behind his back. Oikawa lies down. Ushijima starts stroking his hair, which is damp and gross with sweat, and Oikawa falls back asleep.
When he wakes up next, the sunlight is pressing against the thick curtains. Ushijima is sitting next to him, legs crossed, phone in hand.
“’Morning,” he says. He rests his thumb on Oikawa’s cheekbone.
The pad of his thumb is rough. Ushijima has naturally dry skin, and it gets worse in the winter. His right hand had suddenly started bleeding last March, the skin splitting from the cold, dots of blood seeping into the textbook he was highlighting. “Haven’t you ever heard of lotion?” Oikawa had said, pulling a bottle out of his bag. “Really, Ushiwaka-chan, what are we going to do with you?”
Instead of taking the bottle, Ushijima had held his hand out. Although Oikawa doesn’t approve of coddling people, he had lathered the lotion onto Ushijima’s skin, carefully worked it into his hand. Just this once, Oikawa had told himself, but of course he has done it more times than he can count ever since. He likes Ushijima’s hands, the broad palms and the thick fingers. They are nice to the touch, and the fingers feel very good inside of him too. Oikawa is going to miss them.
Oikawa sits up. He realizes that his shirt is sticking to his back. It is only seven, and the room is already stuffy. It is going to be a hot day.
His neck is aching. Oikawa rotates his head, trying to work out the stiffness. He really ought to have slept on the sofa, or not slept at all. He isn’t sure why he gets so unreasonable about Ushijima. It is a habit that he hasn’t been able to get rid of despite his best efforts.
Ushijima kisses Oikawa’s neck. Then he massages Oikawa’s nape. The shoulders too.
Oikawa frowns. Ushijima is only being nice because he saw the plants. Well, it’s a little too late. “You really piss me off,” Oikawa says, pushing him away.
Ushijima raises his eyebrows. “Me? You’re the one who threw my plants away.”
“What are you talking about?”
Ushijima closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, like he is trying to reach the reserves of patience buried deep inside him. He has been doing that at least once a week since they moved in together. Oikawa used to find it amusing.
“Alright, Tooru,” Ushijima says. He opens his eyes. “I’ve been thinking, and I realized that you probably threw them away because they were bothering you in some way. What was it? Were they infested with fungus gnats?”
Ushijima’s breath is stale, which means that he has not left the bedroom yet. Maybe he has not seen the plants. Perhaps Ushijima is a kind person after all, willing to believe the best about people. Or, Oikawa reminds himself, maybe Ushijima has seen the plants and now feels bad about jumping to conclusions. So, he is just acting kind, pretending that he really does believe Oikawa is a well-meaning person, because he wants Oikawa to love him.
“That can be alarming,” Ushijima continues, nodding. “It doesn’t usually happen, but I ought to have warned you. It must have been hard for you to see those insects.”
Oikawa attempts a smile. “I’m not that weak, Ushiwaka-chan,” he says. “Iwa-chan used to collect bugs when we were younger and then put them down my shirt. And Takeru and I used to collect beetles when Takeru was younger. Now he’s getting older and doesn’t want to play with his uncle anymore.”
“What was it then?” Ushijima asks.
“Aren’t you chatty this morning,” Oikawa says, getting off the bed. “I want coffee.”
Ushijima frowns, but he follows Oikawa out into the hall and then goes into the bathroom. Oikawa takes a seat at the kitchen table. He needs to see Ushijima’s reaction to the plants in order to understand the situation. Ushijima is a bad actor, so it will be a genuine reaction.
After brushing his teeth, Ushijima walks into the kitchen. He walks over to the counter, takes the coffee beans out of the cupboard, spoons some out into the grinder. “We’re running low,” he says, peering into the bag. “I’ll pick some up today. Unless you’re going that way? Can you buy a bag? I need to go the gym.”
“Of course,” Oikawa replies. He fiddles with his cellphone. Ushijima is engrossed with his task.
Oikawa says, “You haven’t told me about your field trip! How was it? Were you having constant erections as you looked at the farms?”
“Don’t be gross,” Ushijima says. He picks up their mugs from the drying rack and places them next to the espresso machine. He takes out another spoon. “The trip was okay. It was disheartening to see how many resources are being depleted because of urban development.”
He glances at the balcony, finally, finally. The spoon drops from his hand. His eyes have gone very wide. Oikawa checks the oven clock. After a full two minutes, Ushijima finds his voice again.
“What,” Ushijima says.
“Surprise!” Oikawa says. He feels a little sick. Ushijima isn’t pretending. “There they are, your plant children, all accounted for, healthy, and happy to see their mommy again.”
“What the hell,” Ushijima says, his tone remarkably like Iwaizumi’s. He walks out to the balcony and examines the plants with both hands, like he can’t believe they are real.
“Would you like me to pinch you?” Oikawa calls. “Or punch you? So you can verify that you’re not dreaming?”
Ushijima turns around. He looks more hurt than angry. Oikawa feels his stomach clench painfully.
He hates disappointing people he cares about. Anger and irritation are easier to deal with, things he can respond to easily. His girlfriend had been furious when she was breaking up with him, had been yelling about how he never had time for her, had thrown a volleyball at his head. He had yelled back, and that was the end. And Iwaizumi and his family members are constantly irritated with him. He just has to stop being annoying, and they love him again.
But Ushijima has gone back to the espresso machine and is looking a little lost.
“That wasn’t funny,” Ushijima says, five minutes after he first saw the plants. He puts the ground beans into the machine.
“It wasn’t meant to be,” Oikawa replies.
“What was it meant to be then?”
This wasn’t supposed to happen, Oikawa reflects, looking at the kitchen counter. This was never supposed to happen. They don’t have matching mugs, but they may as well. Ones that say Toshi and Tooru. Maybe with a large heart extending from one to the other, enclosing the names.
Oikawa folds his hands on the table. He knows he has to choose his words carefully. He needs the right words, delivered in the right tone, so that Ushijima will forgive him.
“Tooru,” Ushijima says.
“It was an accident!” Oikawa protests. “I was just out on the balcony, and Mitsu-chan fell, and I didn’t know what to do. And I didn’t want to destroy any more of your plants, so I paid Akaashi to take care of them.” He sounds whiny and immature, he realizes. And yet he can’t stop. “I took them all downstairs by myself! And then I forgot to pick them up. I went and got them later. That’s the whole story. Alright? Happy now?”
Ushijima’s eyebrows are almost at his hairline. Oikawa frowns. So much for choosing his words carefully.
The coffee starts pouring into the carafe. Ushijima waits for it to finish. Then he froths a cup of milk. He pours coffee into the mugs, adds the frothed milk and sugar to Oikawa’s. He brings the mugs over to the table.
“Why didn’t you tell me this last night?” he asks as he sits down.
Oikawa considers making another joke, but he is feeling a little drained. He licks the foam rising above his coffee. It tastes as good as he knew it would.
He says, “It was wrong of me. I’m sorry.”
Ushijima accidentally jostles the table, almost knocking over their mugs. When Oikawa looks up, he sees that Ushijima’s mouth is hanging open from surprise. Oikawa smiles as he asks, “Have you never heard me apologize before?”
“Not to me.”
“Well, that’s because I haven’t done anything wrong before.”
“No, you’ve done many wrong things.”
Oikawa waits. Ushijima looks like he is thinking about something. He is probably trying to process the story of the plants, trying to dredge up some forgiveness from within himself. Oikawa knows now that he will have to be more careful in the future, provided that there is a future with Ushijima.
After awhile, Ushijima says, “The parsley is fine. How much did you have to pay Akaashi?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Just tell me next time.”
“Alright.”
Ushijima looks at Oikawa for a moment, and then he starts laughing. Oikawa jumps in his seat, startled. Ushijima rarely ever laughs, so it comes as a surprise each time.
“I can’t believe,” Ushijima says, covering his face. He is still laughing. “You. Lugging the pots up and down the stairs.”
Oikawa leans over the table to punch Ushijima in the arm. “That’s not funny, Waka-Baka!” he says. “They were very troublesome, you know? You have to make it up to me.” He is so relieved, he wants to laugh too.
“Come here,” Ushijima says, pulling the front of Oikawa’s T-shirt.
“Right here?” Oikawa smiles. He walks around the table, climbs into Ushijima’s lap. “Right in front of the children?”
“Alright, in the bedroom,” Ushijima agrees. He lifts Oikawa up as he stands, and Oikawa wraps his legs around Ushijima’s waist.
“You’ve gotten stronger, Ushiwaka-chan,” Oikawa says, kissing the tip of Ushijima’s nose. “Good. I’m glad you’re putting your hours of strength-training to good use.”
“I hope you can keep up,” Ushijima says, smiling.
“Oh, please.” Oikawa puts his arms around Ushijima’s shoulders. “The days when you beat me in anything are long past.”
“Yeah? We’ll see about that.”
Oikawa likes this kind of competition very much. There are no losers here. He loves to win, always, and this is like winning, Ushijima holding him so close, the tenderness just beneath the firm grip. Oikawa likes where he is right now.