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Hajime had come home to the apartment he shared with the one and only Oikawa Tooru and witnessed things that many would call horrifying. There was the time Oikawa caught a dishtowel on fire, setting off their building’s sprinklers, any instance where he was with Hanamaki and Matsukawa, who once nearly broke their TV playing Mario Kart, and in one case, he was standing on a table shrieking about some sort of bug on the floor, because “There’s no way I could kill it, Iwa-chan, it’s friends would come after me! I’m too recognizable!” The wall by the door had seen one too many serves and was covered with small dents, the tops of cabinets were scorched, and you couldn’t take two steps without tripping over something.
Hajime wished he could say he was used to it, and he was. Sort of. He could handle Oikawa’s moods as well as Oikawa’s friend Akaashi did with his boyfriend, Bokuto, aggressively care about him in the only way Hajime knew how, and simply hug the taller man when he needed it.
Oikawa had seen Hajime at his worst, and vice versa. They had been best friends since childhood, and boyfriends since the second year of high school, after all. Hajime would trust Oikawa with his life. He was known by their mutual friends to be fluent in ‘Oikawa-speak’, which he was told was a compliment. To him, Oikawa was a simple constant of life, not unlike the sound and feeling of a well-placed spike on a volleyball court. Just like how Hajime knew the Earth was round, he knew Oikawa- and his stupid alien footie pajamas that Hajime would never admit he found quite adorable- was there to stay.
So when he opened the door to their apartment in eastern Tokyo, shivering slightly from the wind, why did it surprise him so goddamn much to see his idiot boyfriend laying face-down in a mess of pillows, blankets, and was that one of his sweatshirts?
As soon as Oikawa heard him close the door with a sigh, he bounded up from his pile with a sheepish smile. “Oh! Iwa-chan! Welcome home!”
Hajime opened his mouth and closed it several times. Oikawa waited, twisting his fingers together and trying to seem as innocent as possible.
“Shittykawa. What.”
Hajime gestured to the mess on the floor, now recognizing a few scattered chairs and quilts. Oikawa pouted, kicking at a nearby pillow. “I don’t know. I just saw something cool and wanted to recreate it! It’s not my fault we don’t have the right place for a pillow fort, Iwa-chan!”
Hajime sighed. “A pillow fort? One of those things kids make?”
Oikawa looked insulted, sticking out his tongue. “It’s not just for kids, Iwa-chan! It can be for responsible adults too!”
Hajime raised an eyebrow. “Like yourself?”
Oikawa nodded smugly, crossing his arms over his chest. “I am extremely responsible, Iwa-chan. I am the epitome of responsible-ness. I am a symbol of responsibility to young children. Just yesterday, I-”
Hajime cut him off. “You said you saw a picture? Let me see.”
Oikawa looked startled but fumbled for his phone. Hajime figured he could help Oikawa out and make a pillow fort. There was no way it could be that hard.
“WHY THE HELL WILL NONE OF THESE DAMN BLANKETS STAY WHERE I PUT THEM?!”
Hajime was regretting his decision to agree to be a good boyfriend about fifteen minutes after Oikawa showed him the new bane of his existence.
The fort Oikawa wanted to make looked deceptively easy. A tent-like structure, multiple fluffy teal blankets formed a roof, with pillows, quilts, and comforters as a floor. Fairy lights were draped along the sides and a computer sat in the middle. Hajime begrudgingly agreed it looked nice and cozy, a good place to lay with his boyfriend and make fun of the trashy alien movies Oikawa picked out.
He was pretty sure Oikawa liked it for the aesthetic, but what the hell, Hajime had naïvely assumed, shrugging and gathering a few blue blankets.
But. The blankets continued to collapse, the pillows fell over, nothing stays where it was supposed to, and it was starting to piss both Hajime and Oikawa off.
“Oh my God, why is this so hard?” Oikawa whined, plopping down on the floor next to a fallen pillow. Hajime picked one nearby up, tossing it up and catching it while he tried to think of ways to successfully stack a few pillows.
He watched Oikawa pout at his pillow, hugging it between his arms.
Hajime reacts on instinct and hits Oikawa over the head with a fluffy, circular pillow.
He researched it once, why humans need to squeeze or hit cute things. He was fascinated with the result: it’s called cute aggression, and it likely occurs to help deal with emotional responses when encountering something cute. It might have developed to prevent the pre-modern humans from being incapacitated by cuteness.
So whenever he hit Oikawa, it was an instinct. Definitely not his fault at all. Honestly, it could even be seen as a compliment.
“Ow! Iwa-chan!” Oikawa yelped, covering his head with his pillow. Hajime smirked, hitting him again.
Oikawa scrambled up from the floor, holding his pillow in a defensive position and taking a few steps back. Hajime gave the other man no time to recover and lunged toward his boyfriend, swinging the pillow like a bat. Oikawa ducked and tried to hit Hajime in the legs to knock him over, but only succeeding in making both of them stumble.
Hajime grunted as he parried away one of Oikawa’s attacks, immediately responding with one of his own. He stepped over a fallen blanket, waiting for the perfect chance to hit. After a moment of circling each other, Oikawa chose death and ran toward Hajime, yelling.
Hajime smoothly sidestepped and stuck his leg out, letting Oikawa trip and then hitting the poor man in the back with his pillow. Oikawa rolled over onto his back and grabbed Hajime by the foot, dragging him down as well. With a surprised grunt, he fell on top of Oikawa.
“Iwa-chan, get off, you’re so heavy!” Oikawa pushed at him, whining. Hajime snickered and rolled off, settling next to Oikawa.
“Do you want to try to make another fort? Or something else?” Hajime propped himself up on his elbows, looking over at his boyfriend.
“I had a fantastic idea. Remember Akaashi? He’s, like, really good at this kind of stuff, so we could ask him for tips!” Oikawa grinned at him, already reaching for his phone. Hajime just nodded and watched as he fumbled around on the device, listening to Akaashi’s ringtone.
“Oikawa-san? Do you need something?” Hajime shuffled closer to Oikawa when he heard Akaashi’s calm voice.
“Keiji-chan, Iwa-chan and I can’t figure out how to make a pilow fort! Help us!” Oikawa said, somehow managing to project his pout into his voice.
Akaashi hummed. “Well, have you been using chairs and sofas? Bokuto-san and I always make sure to use those. We simply drape the blankets over the back of the chairs or turn the cushions on the sofa on their side and put a quilt on there. One moment.”
Oikawa looked at Hajime wide-eyed. He motioned to the chairs that were pushed along the walls of their apartment, and Hajime sighed. Of course their issue would have such a simple fix. They could hear muffled sounds on Akaashi’s side of the phone, and Oikawa cheerfully exclaimed, “Thanks for your help, Keiji-chan!” and hung up. Hajime stood up and stretched as Oikawa immediately began to drag the chairs into posistion.
Together, they tried this new pillow fort technique. Oikawa set up the chairs and Hajime placed the blankets on top, letting one fall over the back and clipping another over the front where they could easily go in or out. They placed pillows inside, leaving room for them to snugly lay down. While Hajime was setting up his laptop, finding a movie for them to watch, Oikawa trotted off into the bedroom and he could hear the other man rummaging through a closet.
Hajime grabbed Oikawa’s glasses from their perch on the windowsill and placed them in the fort, alongside some snacks and drinks.
“Iwa-chan! Help me with the lights!” Oikawa yelled, and Hajime crossed over to him.
“Oi. Tooru.” Hajime took some lights from Oikawa, looking up at him because of that damn height difference.
Oikawa peered down at his boyfriend. “Yes, Iwa-chan~?”
“Tell me the truth. Did you want to make this fort for the aesthetic?”
Oikawa pouted, wrapping a strand of fairy lights around a finger. “Well, kind of, but I also thought it’d be fun and, uh, romantic?”
Hajime sighed. “Idiot, you didn’t have to make a pillow fort to romance me. For some reason, I actually like you and enjoy your company.”
Oikawa grinned at him, flashing the smile that caused all his fangirls to swoon. “Aw, Iwa-chan, how cute! I love you too!”
Hajime grabbed the front of Oikawa’s shirt, only noticing now that it was one of his. He pulled him down for a soft kiss, and Oikawa nearly dropped the rest of the lights in his hurry to yank Hajime closer. He obliged for a moment, but stepped back and took all of the fairy lights with him, walking over to drape them over the fort. Oikawa hummed, admiring their work.
Honestly, the fort was almost ethereal. The two only owned soft teal and white blankets, because Oikawa was still loyal to Seijoh, and those colors alongside the darker blue pillows and fairy lights made a magical combination. The lights and dark setting gave it even more of a mystical appeal, like a fairytale grotto. Even the chairs didn’t take away from the overall effect, instead of adding a more realistic gesture. It looked homey and inviting, but also matched the aesthetic that Oikawa wanted perfectly.
Hajime dropped to his knees and crawled inside, Oikawa right behind him. They wormed underneath the extra quilt they had placed on the floor, propping up the pillows and rearranging the computer a bit. Oikawa laid one long leg over Hajime’s, wrapping his arms around the smaller man’s waist. Hajime leaned into the touch, cherishing the rare moment of peace.
“What do you want to watch?” He spoke softly, wanting to uphold the gentle appeal of the fort, hoping it would last of the night.
Oikawa shrugged, the movement causing his chin to dig into Hajime’s shoulder. “Something about space!”
Hajime rolled his eyes but found a documentary on the Milky Way. The rest of their night was filled with quiet conversations, light touches, and Oikawa taking pictures to post to Instagram.
Because, after all, he had to keep his aesthetic, Iwa-chan!