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Your first meeting was nothing short of disastrous, Iwaizumi fondly recalls.
His peaceful morning walk through the park to campus was shattered by one very loud, very directed at him shouting.
“HEY! HEY YOU!!! THE GUY IN THE DENIM JACKET!!!! HOLD ON A SEC!” a high-pitched yet commanding voice echoes through the practically empty park, cluing him in that it was probably him you were referring to.
He pauses to look skyward, making a silent prayer for the strength to make it through the day, before turning around. He’s met with a red-faced young woman who was currently struggling to catch up to him. You stopped a few feet in front of him, hands on your knees, panting, and he waits for you to catch your breath.
“Hi,” you look up, unabashedly grinning, and he finds you have a surprisingly sweet voice when not shouting. He quirks a brow, inquiring. “Yea so, uh, I'm a photographer," you hold up the camera around your neck, "student, actually, and uh, I just took a photo of you? I mean, I did, cause your back looked really nice with the surrounding trees and sky, especially when you were staring at something, a bird maybe? And with a little colour editing the image would really pop, so the photo turned out really nice," you smiled shyly, looking at the photo in question (presumably).
“O...kay?” he’s not sure how to respond.
“Do you want to see it?” your smile is infectious.
His lips quirk up as he steps closer to you, peering over your arm (it really was a cool photo), “But you’re telling me all this why...?”
“Oh! Right. So, uh, I wanted to know if you would be okay with me using your photo in an assignment? I understand if you want to say no, but that would be such a pity, cause you look so cool here, and if no one else got to see it it would be a tragedy. But it’s up to you really! I could just keep it in my files maybe? If you would allow me!” your face has steadily gotten redder with every word that tumbled out of your mouth, and at the end of your spiel you were looking absolutely mortified, using your camera to hide your face.
“Hey, calm down, it’s fine, you can use it,” he latches on to your shoulders hoping to keep you grounded, you looked on the verge of hyperventilating, “Are you alright?”
“Yea! Yea, I’m fine, I just didn’t expect you to be so,” he tilts his head slightly, brows furrowing, “hot,” you squeaked out.
At your response Iwaizumi's face burns up. He knew people generally found him attractive, but to have it so bluntly said to his face, was not exactly something he was used to. Especially when said with such sincerity.
His hands immediately retract.
“Oh. Thanks, I guess? Uh, I’ll be seeing you then, good luck with your assignment.” He scratches the back of his neck.
“Thank you so much! I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes!” you gave him a low bow, nearly slamming into his chest in the process. Standing back up equally as suddenly, you rushed to introduce yourself, face still the shade of ruby.
He can’t help but chuckle, “Iwaizumi Hajime,” he offers.
Opening your mouth, you’re cut off by an alarm that blares from your bag. As you scramble to shut it off, your eyes bulge. “Shit! I’m gonna be late! Sorry! I need to go now!” You shoot him an apologetic smile before sprinting.
“Thank you again! I’ll treat you someday!” he sees you wave from afar.
Iwaizumi is just left in your dust, amused and wondering how would you, considering he never even gave you his number.
≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾
Your second meeting was pure coincidence.
He was in line at the campus cafe, when the short person in front sneezed so hard they fell backwards into him.
Oof. His hands reached out instinctively to catch them.
“Hey, you alright?” he peers down into their face-
“I’m so sorry!” they tilt up-
and the two heads collide.
He grunts, rubbing his chin where it hurt. The hood falls off their head.
“It’s you.” he could almost laugh at the comedic timing, of course it’s you.
You look up, hands still covering your forehead, and exclaim excitedly, “Iwaizumi! Fancy seeing you here! How are you?”
He chuckles at your enthusiasm, ruffling your (already mussed up) hair, “I’m good, how did your assignment go?”
“It went great! My tutor only had constructive criticism for it. Speaking about that, let me buy you a drink,” you attempt to tame the mess he created, “as thanks,” you grin.
Any refusal on his part was washed away by your insistence, leaving the two of you on the side waiting for your morning brews.
“By the way, is it okay if I ask you something else?”
“Shoot.”
“Ever since that day, I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” you tuck your hair behind your ear, shyly, (he tenses, vaguely aware of where this might go) “and I was wondering if you would maybe, you know, if you’re free, would you be willing to” you took a deep breath, “be my model?” your eyes were practically sparkling.
Iwaizumi feels light-headed. It's amazing how every other sentence from you gives me whiplash, he thinks, it must be a skill. He mentally heaves a relieved sigh, happy that he didn’t need to reject another date offer.
His silence causes you to fidget, looking away, “Uh, it’s really okay if you don’t want to, I just thought you would be a good fit for my next project, and you seemed like a nice guy, so I thought it would be worth a shot, and I could always-”
"No, no, I’d be glad to help you out," he finds he prefers you when your eyes have a shine to them, and it’s not like he had too much on his plate at the moment.
The smile you show him is infectious, and he really can’t stop his features from mirroring your own.
You actually remember to exchange numbers this time, promising to text him about the specifics of the photoshoot soon before (once again) rushing off for class.
As he’s walking, iced coffee in hand, he mulls over the fact that he’s entirely comfortable around you, despite barely even knowing you.
≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾
Your third meeting was certainly a colourful experience.
On the mentioned day, Iwaizumi finds himself sighing when Hanamaki ushers a mousy looking you into the gymnasium.
“Found this one outside muttering “Iwaizumi” in a panic,” he gives a good natured laugh, “figured she could use some help.”
“Thank you so much! There’s way too many people here, I thought this was just a practice match…” you trailed off.
Iwaizumi’s nostrils flare, “It is, and it’s all because of a specific bastard,” he jabs a finger in the direction of Oikawa, who was currently surrounded by girls.
You take a quick photo, “And who is he? Seems popular,” you inspect the photo.
“Oh? You’ve never heard of Oikawa Tooru? College superstar?” Hanamaki leans in towards you, smirk in place.
Seeing you shrink back, Iwaizumi instinctively moves closer. Makkis eyebrows lift.
“Oh! I’ve heard that name before! My friends talk about him sometimes! This is my first time seeing him though,” you happily snap another shot, “they’ll like these.”
He watches you review the photos when Matsukawa appears next to Makki, “Who’s this?”
“Oh right, let me introduce you guys,” and he calls over the rest of the team for a round of introductions, ending with Oikawa, who waves at you from across the court before calling everyone to start warm-up.
Throughout the game you stay near the sideline, careful to keep away from the ball’s trajectory (you can’t afford another camera), snapping as many impactful shots as you could. You managed to get a few good shots of everyone, and some satisfactory shots of Iwaizumi.
It comes to a close with him scoring the winning spike and you rush to get every possible second of it. As you watch the team celebrate the point through the lens he suddenly looks straight at you, and flashes you the biggest grin you’ve ever seen him sport.
And it’s like the world goes silent and you’ve forgotten how to breathe. The only saving grace you have is your fingers instinctively pressing the trigger, cementing this moment in time.
You’re shocked out of your reverie by the shutter clicking and you hurriedly smile and flash him a thumbs up, hoping the warmth of your cheeks was unnoticeable from the distance.
As soon as he’s done with the after match meeting he rushes over to you, followed by a couple of teammates who were interested in the photos.
“You alright?”
“More than alright! This was my first time watching volleyball and so close to boot! You were amazing! Spectacular! Especially that last point! I got some good shots of it! Wanna see?”
In your excited rambling you failed to notice the faint pinkness of his face, thrusting your camera towards him.
Soon a little group had gathered around you, jostling to get a better view of the shots you took. Scrolling through one by one each shot was met by rambunctious comments as they marvel at how they match looked through a camera. Nearing the end of your roll, Matsukawa makes a comment.
“Why are so many of these photos of Iwaizumi though?” his eyes hold a teasing glint that looks out of place with his mouth still in a fine line. (You choose to ignore the concealed assumption for the sake of your heart.)
Your mouth forms an O, looking straight at the person in question, “Did you not tell them?”
He avoids your gaze, “I didn’t, just that you were our photographer for this match,” he scratches his neck.
You let out a mirthful laugh at his embarrassment, eyes twinkling, “To answer, the only reason I’m being your photographer is cause Iwaizumi agreed to be my model for school, and I’m doing it as thanks,”
"If you need a model, wouldn't someone like me be better?" Oikawa flashes you a cheeky smile.
You cock your head, appraising Oikawa. He preens under your stare.
"It wouldn't work for this project,” shaking your head slightly, “you know your own attractiveness, and have made it a part of your identity. On the other hand, Iwaizumi has confidence that solely stems from other aspects of his life, this causes him to radiate a kind of rugged charm that just pulls people to him. Like some kind of reliable pillar, it makes you want to depend on him. That kind of energy was exactly what I was looking for!" you beam.
The boys blink, clearly surprised at your answer. Oikawa is the first to break the silence, laughing.
"Wow, Iwa! I didn't know you had such amazing energy! Wonder if you would share any of that with me someday!" he pats him on the back harder than necessary. Iwaizumis’ face burns as he glares at his best friend, daring him to say another word.
At Iwaizumi's less than stellar response, you start to worry you’ve said something wrong, "Oh, uh, I didn't mean to imply you weren't attractive! In fact I think you're probably one of the most attractive people I know, uh and I didn't mean to call you a pillar! It's just a phrase!" you slap a hand across your mouth, eyes going wide. A pillar? Seriously? God, could this get any worse?
“Let me walk you out,” Iwaizumi grits out as his friends laugh.
Newsflash, it can.
You withdrew into yourself, resigned to just let him push you out. The walk to the gym entrance is silent.
Just as you were about to split, he speaks.
“Sorry...about them,”
You look back, surprised. “Uh…?”
Eloquence.
He gives you an embarrassed smile, “They can be a bit much, but they mean no harm.”
Oh. It still takes you a second to realise that his earlier irritation was not directed at you, and you mentally sigh in relief. “It’s cool, they were nice,” you smile.
“You looked really uncomfortable in there,”
“Ah,” you rub your neck. “I’m just... not the best around big groups,”
“Ah.” He echos.
The two of you shift awkwardly.
“I’ll be going now,” you make to leave, “Thanks again,”
“No problem.” He laughs, ”Think you gave me too much praise back there,”
“Nah, just cause you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there,”
The huge smile that accompanied your words causes his heart to skip a beat.
“See you around,” you give a little wave.
“Uh-yea, see ya.” He watches you walk away, heart threatening to jump right out his chest. Before he can even begin to contemplate what just happened, an all too annoying voice interrupts him.
“You’re into her.”
“Am not.” He huffs toward the brunet.
Oikawa just laughs, “She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s into you too.”
“Keep talking and I’ll kick your ass.” The taller boy skirts away, giggling. He doesn’t miss the way Iwaizumi’s cheeks pink.
≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾
Your fourth meeting was Iwaizumi’s’ prayers answered.
After the match, the two of you don’t cross paths much, opting instead for online communication.
Due to both of you being terrible texters, the text conversation never goes too in-depth. Mostly keeping to studies, interests and random topics. It’s only when one of you calls the other, that the conversation intensifies, lasting several hours.
After one such call, Oikawa groans from the doorway. Iwaizumi instantly springs up from his bed.
“Why don’t the two of you get together already,” he drags out the last word.
“Why are you in my room.”
“It’s 1am, you’re messing up my beauty sleep.”
“You were eavesdropping,” he squints, tone accusing.
“The walls are thin! It’s hard not to,” Oikawa defends himself, “besides, you laugh like a goddamn horse.”
At Iwaizumi’s glare, he backtracks, hands raised defensively, “I’m kidding! Kidding! Goodnight Iwa,”
“Close the damn door!”
He sighs, finally alone and wonders how is he going to ask you out for a meal. (Just to hang out, definitely not a date)
When you text him again.
Damn, this is as close as he’ll come to believing in higher power.
The next week, he rushes down to the gallery after his evening class.
He makes it with half an hour to spare. Looking around, he quickly spots some familiar portraits and makes his way over. He sees you engaged in conversation, and he likes to think that the way your face lit up upon eye contact had something to do with him.
You cut the conversation and step towards him.
“You made it!” He lets out a chuckle, “Course I would, sorry I’m late, class got dragged,”
“No, no, glad you’re even here,” you wave your hand flippantly, drawing his eyes to the rest of your body, where you had worn a simple cocktail dress.
“You look great,” slips out.
“Oh, um, thank you, you don’t look too shabby yourself,” your smile takes on a bashful shade and he looks around at the other patrons, grimacing.
“Bullshit, I didn’t know it was such a formal event, otherwise I would have dressed better,”
Your eyes quickly scanned his outfit, dark wash jeans paired with a white tee and bomber jacket, “You look fine,” leaning in, you stage-whisper, “If you ask me, you look a lot more put together than most of the people I’ve seen today.”
“Earlier on someone even came in piss-drunk,” you laugh.
“No way, midday?”
“Yes! Security had to escort them out, total mess.It was entertaining though,” you gently guide him towards your portion of the exhibition.
5 portraits titled Magnetism hung neatly on a wall. Two of them of him, he notes.
“It’s just a student exhibition, so it’s not much,” you explain, chuckling.
He frowns, “Don’t downplay your skills, you worked hard and got selected right? That counts for something,”
Your face goes slack for a moment before morphing into a soft smile, “Thank you, I do have a bad habit of that.”
He feels a warmth creep up his neck, shitshitshit, that’s not good for his heart, quick-
“So what’s the inspiration behind your portraits?” He shifts his attention towards the exhibition (ie. away from your warm eyes)
This easily distracts you and you go into an excited monologue about your motivations and what you were trying to convey through the atmosphere, lighting and editing. He manages to keep up with half of it (it has nothing to do with how cute you looked animatedly waving your hands around).
You move on to explaining each photo and how they embodied a different aspect of Magnetism that you wanted to convey to the viewer, ending with the photo you took of him the day you met.
“Fun fact: this is my second favourite photo of you,” you grin cheekily.
He plays along, “Why so?”
“Caaaaause it led to us meeting!” Your playful demeanour shoots an arrow straight to his heart.
Now grinning, he continues the banter, “And is the other photo your favourite?”
“Nope! That’s the third, because it shows everyone’s trust in you,”
He’s a little intrigued now, “Then which is the first?”
“That’s a secret!” You wink, cheeks flushed.
Andddddd there goes his heart.
He’s forced to come to terms with the fact that his infatuation with you has turned into a full blown, rock to the face, crush. And all in the span of a second.
He flushes, “Well, maybe another day then,” and turns back to the photos.
“None of these people are facing the camera. Why is that,”
“I’ve been waiting for someone to ask me that all day!” And you go into another spiel. He realises just how much he enjoys listening to you speak about your passions.
Soon the curator announces the closing of the gallery and the two of you make your way out. You make an offhand remark about still needing to cook so he immediately suggests grabbing a bite together and you are just as quick to agree.
After enjoying a wonderful dinner at a local restaurant, and just as he tries to get away with paying the bill you stop him.
“Hey! I’ll pay half, let me see the receipt,” you reach for the check, only to have it pulled out of your grasp.
“Nah, my treat,” he continues to wave the check out of your reach.
“Oh come on, you don’t have to, this isn’t a date or anything,” and he freezes at your words.
He’s caught off guard by how much he wishes it was, if only the little words would dislodge themselves from his throat and let him ask you out.
With him distracted you lunge for the check and succeed, happily scanning through and making calculations. Once done you hand it back to him and promptly transfer the money.
You leave the restaurant in high spirits while Iwaizumi kind of feels defeated. He still offers to walk you back to your dorm, which you agree to after minimal convincing.
The walk back is filled with conversation that flows naturally between the two of you, making up for your horrendous texting game. It’s something he finds he doesn’t mind, as long as he knows you actually like talking to him, he’s fine with waiting hours for a reply.
“So, this is me,” you come to a stop in front of an old building. It’s not far from his apartment, he makes a mental note.
“This is you,” he cringes inwardly.
Thankfully, you just laugh, “Thanks for coming to the exhibition and spending time with me, I really enjoyed that…uh...”
His lips turn up, teasing, “Not-date?”
You flush, “Yea, that not-date,”
Both of you stand in comfortable silence, unwilling to part. He knows how stupid this is, two idiots just skirting around a relationship, but he doesn’t know what he should do. Sometimes he wishes he was a teensy bit more like Oikawa, but the thought is vanquished before it could even begin to take root.
“So,” you break the silence, “see you around?”
He lets out a breath and nods, “Yea, definitely,” and you wave.
He waits until you’re safely in the building before making his way back, sighing way too much for someone in college.
He spends the walk thinking about how much he enjoyed that “not-date”, and hopes soon he could enjoy an actual date with you.
≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾
Your fifth meeting was the end of Iwaizumi’s patience.
It’s been weeks since he’d realised his feelings for you. And he knows you feel the same way towards him too. You’re not subtle.
You are, however, extremely oblivious and respectful. Ever since he had mentioned early on in the friendship that he wasn’t looking for anything relationship-wise, you had dutifully dodged every single one of his advances. At this rate, your non-existent relationship was on the road to nowhere.
He’s sick of it, and at his wits end.
He finds Makki and Mattsun lounging in the living room.
“Hey, uh,” both heads turn his way. “I need some advice.”
“Well, my friend,” Makki moves, patting the newly vacated seat next to him, “you’ve come to the right place,”
As the couch dips under him, he takes a moment to register that Yes, he is really doing this, before he launches into detail about his feelings, frustration with the state of things and asks for help.
"Simply put,” Makki interjects, “you want to do the do, want to pound that duck, want to woohoo her-"
"What the fuck is a woohoo," Iwaizumi cuts him off sharply.
Mattsun's jaw drops. Makki gasps in delight, clapping his hands together, "A woohoo is when two sims who love each other very much-"
"Oh my god," he sinks his head into his hands, "you're referencing the sims, to talk about sex."
Oikawa sticks his head through the door, "Who's trying to woohoo who?"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP." Iwaizumi screams.
Oikawa dramatically places a hand on his heart and almost looks hurt before realisation dawns. “This is about little miss photographer, isn’t it?” He smirks when Mattsun wiggles his brows suggestively as a response.
Iwaizumi lets out a heavy sigh, resigned, "Yes, it's about her. Also, no," he turns to the strawberry blond, "I don't just want to have sex with her."
"So you do want to bang her," he could feel the smugness emanating from all three of them. The vein on his forehead threatens to pop. He passes a hand over his face, wondering if an aspirin could save him now.
"Just... just help me think of a way to ask her out,"
"Why don't you just ask her straight out? Always works," Oikawa supplied.
Iwa groans, “If I ask her out normally she’ll think its just as friends,”
A pause.
"Also I want it to be special, like a cute story for the future, you know?" he admits. Makki coos.
Silence falls.
After some time Matsukawa pipes up, "I... might have an idea,"
All heads swivel towards him. "She's a photographer, right?"
≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾
"Iwaizumi! Over here!" you excitedly wave him over.
"Thanks for willingly being my model again," you grinned, "somehow that physique of yours seems to get me better critiques. ...Wait a minute, does my tutor have a crush on you?" he sighed when you seriously pondered that thought for a moment.
You give him a brief rundown of your assignment and what you needed him to do. It was rather simple this time as the focus was more on lighting, you just needed him to walk casually and look at the camera every once in a while.
After the first couple of shots you see him reach into his pocket and pull out some sort of banner? Your brows furrow as you continue snapping shots. Only when he fully unfurls it do you cease movement, letting your camera slip out of your hands entirely.
Thankfully, your camera strap works perfectly and the weight of it dropping against your neck brings you back to life and you snap your mouth shut.
Iwaizumi Hajime stands five feet away from you, holding up a small banner that reads “Please go on an actual date with me.”
“I- You- what….?” Is the best you come up with.
He grins, “It reads, I really like you, please go out with me,”
“You like…?” Seems like you’re full on malfunctioning now, and about to overheat too.
“I like you, have been liking you for a while now,” he rubs his neck nervously, “so, what’s your answer?”
You nod frantically, no longer trusting your mouth. His grin stretches impossibly wide.
You’ve always known you were a bumbling idiot and a mess. But now looking at his laughing face backlit by the setting sun, you can’t help thinking that maybe being an idiot wasn’t all that bad.
The shutter clicks.
This might just be your favourite photo yet.
≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾
(Matsukawa is later asked how he knew you would like such a gesture. “Judging from the way you spoke of her, I figured she was into sappy shit, and that you probably secretly was into it too.” He gets headlocked for a full five minutes.)