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Hey you with the pretty face
Welcome to the human race
A celebration, Mr. Blue Sky's up there waitin'
And today is the day we've waited for
— Mr Blue Sky, Electric Light Orchestra
☼
Iwaizumi Hajime sees the sun mapped onto the soul of Hinata Shouyou for the first time when they meet at an Aoba Johsai versus Karasuno practise match. While teammate Oikawa Tooru stares competitor Kageyama Tobio down with a piece of netted string separating the both of them, Iwaizumi’s eyes divert to the piece of the sun embodied in a boy that stood no taller than 5”3 but stood taller than anybody on the other side of the court.
It was the brightness of a fresh page in the summer sun, the kind that brought a smile even as you let your eyes rest a moment. It was the sort of brightness that kindled something beautiful within, and at the same time stirred a connection with the nature around. It was one of the brightness that radiated from the soul which was so vibrant that it began to merge with every being around them which chose to breathe.
He is cute, Iwaizumi thinks. It is not the kind of cute that both men and women alike would fawn over to suit their own personal taste buds, but it’s the kind that sticks with you even when you’re passing by a thirsting lawn of grass and flowers and you immediately think of them. It’s the kind that when you think of sunflowers and a warm summer breeze.
Hinata Shoyou feels exactly like that warm summer breeze that chooses to stray away from Iwaizumi Hajime the moment he leaves the gymnasium.
“You’ve been deep in thought, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa Tooru points out, spring flowers choosing to let go from their branches around them. Iwaizumi feels his falling alongside them. The only difference is that nobody actually watches him.
“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa stops, and Iwaizumi does the same. He looks down at the petals sketching a circumference surrounding his feet, unable to meet his best friend in the eye. “What’s on your mind?”
“Tooru,” Iwaizumi begins to formulate the words in his mind. How do you put — “do you think of somebody when you look at the sun, and you want to press their mouth and feel the heat from that star? Do you think of somebody when you see a wilting sunflower and immediately want to water it?” — into words?
Oikawa thinks for a moment. And then he smiles — he smiles in the same way that when Hinata Shouyou does, it puts a New York City Friday night with smiles as bright as city lights to shame. Iwaizumi sees Hinata Shoyou.
“I do, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa says, and Iwaizumi doesn’t expect that answer. He doesn’t ask who or when, but he just nods. He didn’t have to know — Oikawa would soon open up and tell him anyway. He doesn’t know if he would do the same. Best friends, as they would say.
Iwaizumi lies down on his godzilla duvet and wonders if it’s a crush. He wonders if Oikawa’s was considered to be a crush. He doesn’t really know (does he want to know?).
He looks at the moon that night and thinks of the embodiment of the sun (who is probably looking at the same moon right now).
The sun only grows greater in heat. It begins to weigh Iwaizumi down, and it soon becomes almost oppressive. Iwaizumi wants to get out of the heat, so so bad. It’s almost like a fire that he wants to desperately put out.
Iwaizumi is a firefighter, but he doesn’t really think he wants to put out this fire, though.
Aoba Johsai loses to Karasuno in a gruelling match. Oikawa Tooru misses the final ball, despite seeing it coming. Iwaizumi chooses to break down right there and then. He thinks about the fact that he chose to lose on the last time he stands on the court. He thinks about the fact that he will never play alongside his best friend anymore. He thinks about never playing with the brilliant sun standing on the other side of the —
— Oh, God.
“Iwaizumi-san!” he hears a small voice that stands up, strong and tall. He quickly wipes the tears from his face and turns around. “Hinata Shouyou,” he says, clearing his throat.
“It was an honour to play against you today! I’ll never forget you as Aoba Johsai’s ace!” Iwaizumi feels as if the sun’s rays were eating him alive. He was just an ace, Aoba Johsai’s ace to him. He still chooses to smile anyway. “Likewise. I look forward to see where Volleyball takes you in life, Hinata Shouyou.”
At that, the sun grins even brighter, as if he knew his toll on the boy that stood before him. “See you soon!” With that, he runs off and hops onto the back of a protesting Kageyama Tobio. He’s gone.
Why does the heat stay with you even when the sun chooses to disappear?
Oikawa Tooru smiles at a distance. His sun turns back around and walks towards him, and he places a reassuring arm over him. It burns. But it doesn’t really matter to Tooru — if he were destined to burn alive into ash, he’d let it happen if it were by his own sun.
He knows the same sun that shines for him chooses to allow itself to be shone by somebody else.
Oikawa Tooru chooses to pursue Volleyball in Argentina. At the airport, Iwaizumi sobs into his shoulder, and Oikawa finds himself laughing away as he pats his back reassuringly.
“Text me everyday, dumbass. Promise?” Iwaizumi says, and Oikawa nods his head. “I promise, Iwa-chan.” Oikawa pulls away from the hug and looks into the eyes of his sunshine.
Kiss him, his head tells him. Oikawa grins and pulls away and turns his back away, letting the rays burn him from the back. Iwaizumi wonders why Oikawa doesn’t turn around once more to wave goodbye.
Once Oikawa is reassured that the sun was out of his vision, he crouches down on his knees and sobs.
Yesterday's all forgotten
And today we start rocking
Somewhere underneath the rainbow
— Bringing Back the Sunshine, Blake Shelton.
☼
“Iwa-chan?” Oikawa can’t help himself from choking on the sob that was quickly rising in his throat. “Hey, dumbass,” Iwaizumi scratches the nape of his neck, unable to meet the eye of his best friend. Exactly like that day when they identify the suns within themselves (but not with each other, though) (so much for best friends, huh?).
“Oh, Iwaizumi-san!”
Iwaizumi’s smile immediately finds itself falling. “Hinata Shouyou?” Oikawa ‘ah’s, turning around as Hinata claws his hands onto Oikawa’s shirt. “Shouyou is training here in beach Volleyball. He’s just staying with me for a bit,” Oikawa sounds sheepish, almost.
Hinata Shouyou looks different. He’s more muscular, and he wears a sleeveless shirt that revealed his growing biceps. He is a stronger, braver person than before. Hinata Shouyou wasn’t afraid.
On the top was flawless skin and eyes that shone brightly — making Iwaizumi want to get to know the person within the stronger persona. There was something of the warrior in him combined with a gentleness that made his heart reach out.
Their eyes meet, and before Iwaizumi could turn away with a shyness a genuine grin spread across Shouyou’s face, turning it from handsome into divine. In that moment, his body flushes with warmth. This was a person he wanted to know more than he’d ever felt before.
He still manages to shine ever brightly for Iwaizumi.
Iwaizumi nods and they both let him in, Hinata bombarding him with question after question. What was Iwaizumi doing, doing here, about his future plans, about him.
That was the amazing thing about Hinata Shouyou. There could be a thousand people in the room, but he never made it about himself. He never even tried, but he still managed to shine the brightest in the space of closed walls. Every single damn time.
“Hey, Shouyou,” Oikawa speaks up. “Why don’t you show Iwa-chan the sunset from the beach? I’ll join you both in a bit.”
“That’s a great idea, Oikawa-san!” orange hair flapping as he jumps in delight from his sitting position. Iwaizumi does the same. Something is strange.
The thought gets pushed to the back of his head as he is suddenly seated next to Hinata Shouyou, and they gaze at the sun, not knowing Iwaizumi had one right next to him.
The coastline was brilliant in the evening sun that kissed the canvas surrounding it rust, ruby, rasin. Chalky white ribbon of cliffs, jagged and folded, shrinking into the distance. Below the cliffs they were seated at were beaches of rocks made rough by the barnacles upon them. Each beach was divided by wooden groynes that stretched out to greet the coming waves, some like gap-toothed children, were missing planks. Foamy crests of the crashing waves were the only sound other than the cry of the gulls.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Iwaizumi turns to the boy whose hair blended in the background of the sky. Hinata looks mesmerised. He looks beautiful. The sun, a sight beheld by billions in the world, but Iwaizumi thinks it doesn’t even stand close to the boy next to him, inside out.
“It is,” Iwaizumi says. God, he wants to hold his hand. Calloused, soft, hands — lips, mouth, chapped. “You are too, Hinata Shouyou.”
At that, Hinata turns to meet Iwaizumi’s eyes. Sun held in the pupils, with and without the reflection of the interminable. “I’m… what, Iwaizumi-san?”
Iwaizumi takes in a deep breath, expectant eyes with even more expectant lips expecting an answer. “You are very beautiful, Shouyou. You always have been.”
Iwaizumi doesn’t really want the answer right now. He moves his face forward closer to the sun’s and presses his mouth against his. Press your mouth against Hinata Shouyou’s to have a taste of the sun in its raw, raging form. It is warm and succours at the surface, but be careful — if you get too close, it’ll kill you. Just like the sun does, effortless and mercilessly.
Iwaizumi is a firefighter, and he is in contact with the greatest heat source in the world. And yet, he still refuses to put the fire out. He would willingly burn to ash alive if Hinata Shouyou was his source of light, source of warmth, source of death.
He pulls his lips from Hinata’s and immediately finds himself shaking his head. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”
“No.. It’s okay, Iwaizumi-san,” Hinata’s now wet lips curl upwards, as a small giggle escapes from them. “I would love to do that again. I liked that.. a lot.”
They smile as the sun sets. and the night breeze begins to envelope them. But still, to Iwaizumi, his sun shone brighter than ever.
From the distance, Oikawa smiles. His sun was happy, even if it weren’t with him — and suddenly, that was all that mattered. Finally, his own sun could shine brightly, even without him.
Oikawa is a firefighter, but he chooses to burn in the fire of Iwaizumi Hajime anyway, vowing for a lifetime the refusal to ever put it out.