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Tooru wakes up to the late afternoon light flowing through the window of Hajime’s dorm room. After months apart and a flight that felt like years, a nap together was much appreciated.
Hajime is still sleeping soundly on his chest, lightly snoring and drooling as Tooru absentmindedly plays with a ring on his middle finger while his hands are clasped around Hajime's back. It’s been some long months since he’s been able to have Hajime in his arms, so Tooru isn’t eager to let him go anytime soon.
While he loves the life he has made for himself in Argentina, and although he and Hajime have successfully navigated the trials and tribulations of a long-distance relationship, there’s nothing quite like just being in one another’s presence.
They’ve kept up with one another through phone calls and video chats, and on days when they are too busy chasing their dreams, a simple text of “I love you” or “good luck today” or even just a meme they found on the internet or a picture of a stray cat they saw reminds the other that although they are not physically together, they’ll always have a home in each other’s hearts.
One of Tooru’s favorite parts of their relationship is their late-night calls. A five hour time difference means that Tooru is usually getting ready for bed while Hajime is still studying, and he’s happy to just watch Hajime’s brow furrowed in concentration or listen to him rant about his classes before he falls asleep. On days where there is no practice the next morning, he can stay up a little later with Hajime, talking about anything and everything or just enjoying the silence together. They’ll often fall asleep on a call together, and Tooru will wake up to a sleeping Hajime still snoring on the screen. (Hajime doesn’t know that Tooru has a folder full of screenshots of every time this happens.)
But today, he can hear Hajime’s snores for himself and not through the speakers of his phone that rests on the unoccupied pillow of his queen bed.
Today, instead of waking up alone or with the light weight of his fluffy white cat on his chest, he’s got the loving (but heavy!) weight of his Hajime pressing him down onto the twin bed.
Although Tooru is getting a little hungry, feeling grimy from his long international flight, and kind of wishing he used the bathroom in the airport after he and Hajime’s glorious reunion, he still can’t bring himself to wake up the sleeping boy on his chest.
His Hajime.
His Hajime, who rushed to the airport after his last final in excitement to see Tooru again, arriving a few hours early even though he could have easily gone back to his dorm first to shower and change out the sweats and UCI hoodie that he’s currently still wearing.
His Hajime, who pulled him into a crushing hug by the baggage claim and then pressed a short kiss to his cheek because he wanted to wait to give Tooru a real kiss when it was just the two of them.
His Hajime, who held his hand on the drive back and had to be reminded to keep his eyes on the road and off of Tooru.
His Hajime, who was so sleepy after finals week and late nights cram studying with Tooru on a video call that they skipped getting In-N-Out and went straight back to Hajime’s dorm room to take a nap.
Tooru's so lost in thought about the sleeping boy on his chest that he barely notices when said sleeping boy starts to stir.
“Tooru?”, Hajime says, voice heavy with sleep.
“Hmm?”
“How long did we sleep for, what time is it?”
“Well you see Haji, there was this really big nerd using me as a pillow so I couldn’t exactly go check.”
Tooru’s jab is met with a flick to his nose.
“Ah, still so mean Iwa-chan!” Tooru whines as Hajime only pretends to look guilty.
“Would a mean person do this?” Hajime replies, before pressing a soft kiss to Tooru’s nose.
When he pulls back, a blush and a smile are forming on his face. Tooru only gets a second to take in how utterly cute he looks before Hajime is taking Tooru’s lips into a slow and passionate kiss.
When they finally pull apart, Tooru is content to just look at Hajime’s face. Video calls and daily selfies can hardly do justice to the man in front of him.
Tooru tugs at the strings of Hajime’s hoodie, overwhelmed with the love that he’s feeling.
“Hajime”, he starts, “I’m so in love with you.”
“Good,” Hajime says with a playful smile lighting up his face.
“Just good?”
“Great?” Hajime offers.
“Not quite what I was going for.”
“Excellent? Amazing?” Hajime continues, baiting him.
“Still not what I was going for,” Tooru groans. “Haji, aren’t you going to say it back?” he says, pouting.
“It” Hajime smirks, looking down at Tooru.
“Ah” what a tease! “and here I thought distance made the heart grow fonder,” Tooru scoffs lightly.
“A bit too fond I think” Hajime replies gently, and before Tooru can dig at him for being such a tease, Hajime is cupping his face and looking at him like he hung the stars in the sky (the only stars in the sky that Hajime knows are the ones Tooru pointed out for him- well except the sun, but he thinks Tooru is brighter than that one too) then says,
“Tooru, you’re the love of my life, and you’d be stupid to think that I’m not so in love with you too.”
Tooru's too overwhelmed with the cute little laugh Hajime lets out after his declaration to tease him for dropping an insult into his confession.
So instead, he pulls Hajime closer by the hoodie strings with his right hand and takes Hajime’s face into his left, cradling his love in his palm.
“Cold” Hajime shivers, his eyes still crinkled from laughter as he moves his hands to grip Tooru’s shoulders.
“Hmm?”
“Your ring.”
Tooru goes to move his left hand away but Hajime doesn’t let him.
“It’s alright, I was just startled at first. I like that you wear rings now,” Hajime admits.
The silver ring on his middle finger had been a gift from one of Tooru’s more fashionable teammates for his 20th birthday. Tooru's bought more of his own now, but his favorite is still the first simple silver band he received that reminds him of the family he’s found in Argentina.
“Would you like to wear rings too Haji?” Tooru questions, still gently caressing Hajime’s face.
“Hmm. Maybe.” Hajime considers. Argentina has been good for Tooru’s taste in clothing and jewelry. “If you picked them out for me, I would wear them,” Hajime decides. The I would accept any gift you gave me goes unsaid but is felt by the both of them.
“Really now?” Tooru smirks in response, “Anything I picked? What if I picked one that was really lame?” he jokes, poking Hajime’s cheek with his right hand then holding it, now cupping Hajime's face in both of his palms.
Hajime makes an exaggerated thinking face before replying, “Well I like you, and you’re really lame, so I’d probably still wear it.”
“Iwa-chan! I can’t tell if I’m supposed to be flattered or insulted right now,” Tooru scoffs.
Hajime just chuckles, gently smiling at Tooru then closing his eyes, still tired from their nap.
A comfortable silence washes over them, but the topic of rings has Tooru wanting to break it.
“There actually is a ring I’ve thought about getting you before Haji,” Tooru says quietly, lightly rubbing his thumbs across Hajime's face.
“Oh? Do tell, Tooru,” he replies, eyes opening with interest, and Tooru sees a glint of recognition in them, like Hajime knows exactly what he’s going to say.
They’ve rarely talked about marriage explicitly before, but the undercurrent of forever has always been there. They know that right now their professional lives are a bit too hectic and uncertain to settle down, but they’ve always found certainty in the love they have for each other.
Tooru knows that now is the time for him to chase his dreams of being a volleyball player on the world stage while he’s young and his body is in its prime, and he knows that now is the time for Hajime to learn and study to become the pillar for others that he has always been for Tooru. For now, they’ll continue to support each other despite the distance between them, with the knowledge that the home they have carved out for each other in their hearts will one day become a physical place where they can share the pride of what they’ve both accomplished.
But on the few occasions that they have been able to see each other after going overseas, Tooru has to fight the urge to just get eloped on the spot. Words could never truly describe what he and Hajime mean to each other, but he’d like to think that “husband” is at least a little closer than “boyfriend”.
Yet Tooru resists because he knows that whether married or not, he is Hajime’s forever. And although Tooru has always been the one of them who’s more prone to bask in attention, he knows that Hajime wants to celebrate their love too.
Tooru wants to celebrate with their family and friends from Japan, and with the new family and friends that they have both made across the ocean. Tooru also wants to take Hajime on a long honeymoon because the world should really be celebrating the love between Hajime and Tooru too.
The timing isn’t right for this yet though, but no matter when they get married, Tooru knows that their bond is unbreakable, no matter what word describes their partnership or what jewelry they wear on their finger or whose last name they share.
(Although Tooru might already know the outcome of that last one- when he was helping Hajime pack up his room a few years ago, he found a journal from their first year at Aoba Johsai. On the last page, he found Iwaizumi Tooru and Oikawa Hajime written in the margins, though the latter was written considerably more times. Both he and 16-year-old Hajime seem to agree that they’ll be Oikawas, and something tells him that his present-day Hajime does too. Tooru hasn’t told Hajime that he saw this yet, but once he does, Hajime is never living it down. Tooru has forever to make sure of this.)
While the timing may not be right for wedding planning or name changing paperwork just yet, it is right for answering Hajime’s question. He’d asked Tooru about a ring, and his Hajime deserves an answer.
“I’m actually not quite sure what this ring will look like yet, but it’ll be something that we both like” Tooru begins, pausing to drop his right hand in order to hold Hajime’s left “and you can wear it right here,” he tells Hajime as he gently caresses his ring finger.
“Okay,” Hajime smiles softly.
“Just okay?” Tooru prods. He loves his Hajime and his simple but honest words, but he’d like a little more of a reaction to the topic of marriage.
“I wasn’t done yet!” Hajime laughs, “I was thinking, you know. You should try it sometime.”
“Excuse me!? I’ll have you know that I did a lot of thinking while you were drooling all over me in your sleep!” Tooru tries to pout but he can’t help the smile that forms in anticipation of Hajime’s thought out words.
Hajime pokes his tongue out at the jab from Tooru, but chooses not to insult him back in favor of telling Tooru how he really feels.
“Well,” Hajime starts “you know my love for you is unconditional” (Tooru does, but hearing Hajime say it makes his heart squeeze in adoration) “but I have one condition to wearing a ring.”
“What?” Tooru asks nervously.
“You wear one too,” Hajime says, lifting his right hand from Tooru’s shoulder and taking Tooru’s left hand off of his face, caressing his ring finger “right here”.
Tooru breathes out a sigh of relief in hearing that Hajime wants a physical promise of forever too.
“Why were you so nervous?” Hajime asks, still stroking his ring finger, “You know it’s you and me forever right Tooru?”
“Of course I do Hajime, it’s just nice to hear you say it” Tooru replies, smiling up at him.
Hajime smiles even brighter back at him and then it’s just the two of them, still holding hands and the promise of forever in between them.
They don’t need to say anything more, so instead of speaking, they take in the face of the person who has taken their heart forever. Hajime appreciates the new freckles on Tooru’s skin from the warm Argentina sun, while Tooru appreciates the relaxed expression on Hajime’s face as he is temporarily free of the stress of school. For a brief moment in time, they get to exist in a bubble as if nothing else matters but each other.
“Hey, Hajime?” Tooru says, finally breaking the silence.
“Yeah?” he responds, his gaze on Tooru somehow growing even softer.
“Can you get off me now? I need to pee.”
“Seriously Shittykawa? We were having a moment,” Hajime complains, but he laughs and slowly stands up to let Tooru get off of the bed anyway.
The return of his insulting nickname gives Tooru the perfect opportunity to remind Hajime of his 16-year-old fantasy.
“You know Haji, once we get married you’ll be Shittykawa too” Tooru smirks.
“Goddammit,” Hajime groans, but his fond eyes and the smile he can’t fight back betrays his grumbling.
“Yeah,” Tooru laughs, “Can’t wait for forever with you too babe.”
“Who says I’m waiting?” Hajime says as he grabs Tooru’s hand to pull him out of the dorm room. “Our forever has already begun.”
Tooru thinks back on how the hands in his right now used to drag him to hunt bugs, wiped his tears when he cried, high-fived him after a good toss, and always picked him back up when he needed it.
Then Tooru thinks to the future and how the hands in his right now will stroke his hair to help him fall asleep, will massage his sore muscles after a game, will hold his hands for any or no reason at all, and will always pick him up back when he needs it.
And he thinks, yeah Hajime, it already has.