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Five times.
You’ve failed your driver’s license exam about five times now.
Pretty much all the driving schools in the Miyagi Prefecture have lost all hope of trying to teach you how to drive. You were reckless and temperamental to say the least. The amount of road rage you had was on another level that none of these schools have ever dealt with.
It’s not that you’d be confrontational and purposely crash into someone’s car of course, you weren’t like that. It was more of screaming and yelling profanities at the top of your lungs to the point where all your teachers could’ve gone deaf.
But it’s a big deal for you that you need to get a driver’s license.
Why? Because you’re a firm believer that the ability to drive will be able to give you a sense of freedom. The ability to drive means you can go where you want, when you want, and you don’t have to wait for a taxi or an Uber to pick you up.
Since you’re unable to apply for lessons in any driving school in the Miyagi Prefecture, you’ve resorted to your last hope. Your best friend, who had passed his driver’s license exam instantaneously on his first try. He was an excellent driver, the only issue is that all this time he’s rejected you whenever you’d ask him for help.
But you were more determined than ever now that no driving school was willing to accept you.
It’s been about a week since you began tormenting your best friend, following him around university campus like crazy. It was driving him mad.
“Please Tooru!” You whined, trailing behind the tall brunette. “No one’s willing to take me in!”
“Ever thought that there’s probably a really good reason behind that?” He scoffed, not bothering to slow his pace and allow you to catch up. He didn’t even want you there in the first place.
A small pout formed on your lips, “I know! But you gotta help me! I need my license!”
An irritated huff left his lips, “No, I told you a million times. You’re probably gonna crash my baby.”
“I won't! I swear on it!”
He glanced at you from over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow. He was clearly doubting you. “No.”
“Tooru!” You whined.
“You’ve been stalking me for a week now,” He sighed, “Why aren't you getting tired yet?”
“Why aren’t you tired of rejecting me yet?” You retorted.
His steps halted and you crashed into his back, a small ‘oof’ noise leaving your lips as you rubbed your nose. “Why do you want me to teach you so badly?”
“I already told you, I need-”
“No,” He cut you off, turning around to face you as you took a step back. “I’m asking why you want me to teach you.”
You tilted your head, looking up at him. “You’re a great driver and my best friend, I’d think you’d know me well enough to teach me in a way that will suit me, don’t you agree?”
He remained silent for a moment before a defeated sigh left his lips. “Fine,” You were about to jump on him excitedly when he interrupted you, “But you have to follow everything I say.” He warned.
You nodded your head immediately, a wide smile spreading across your face as you enveloped him in a tight hug. “Thank you!” You squealed excitedly.
He tensed up at first before sighing as he wrapped his arms around you, rolling his eyes with a half-irritated smile. “What am I gonna do with you?”
___________
“Tooru!” You jumped on him from behind, clinging onto his back like a monkey.
The two of you were inside the university’s campus, it was the weekend so a lot of people were out and the streets around the campus were empty.
He winced slightly as he steadied himself, “Hi.” He muttered as you jumped down from his back, stepping in front of him.
“So what are we doing today?” You asked excitedly, eager to start lessons with your best friend.
“You’re familiar with the basics,” He crossed his arms over his chest, looking down at you. “You’d probably pass your test if it weren’t for road rage.” He pointed out.
You frowned slightly, “People are annoying.” You mumbled.
He simply rolled his eyes, “First, I wanna see how you drive around campus, if you do good then I’ll have you drive outside, okay?”
You nodded, determination evident in your expression. “Okay!”
He unlocked his car door, opening it for you and allowing you to step into the driver’s seat before closing it shut. He walked around the car before climbing next to you in the passenger's seat, strapping on the seatbelt as you turned the ignition key.
Inhaling a deep breath, you shifted the gear into neutral as you carefully drove to the middle of the road, following the trail around campus slowly. You were too focused on doing well and proving your skills that you didn’t notice Oikawa burning holes into you as he observed every action you took.
Part of him was concerned, not for you of course. He was concerned for his car, not wanting you to crash his precious vehicle. He didn’t trust you, not after all the stories you told him when you attended driving schools.
It was his first time seeing you drive, he was impressed, to say the least. His assumption earlier was correct, you were an even better driver than he thought, but he knew your road rage was a bigger issue than it seemed.
You’ve always been a rather temperamental person, he knew that really well as you two had grown up together.
Nobody would expect the two of you to be such good friends, he was an extremely provocative person who knew how to get on people’s nerves and you were an extremely temperamental person who could explode at any second.
It was an incredibly incompatible pair yet somehow the two of you made it work. Whenever you were with Tooru, your temper turned into playful banter while his provocative tendencies turned into light teasing.
The two of you had great chemistry, it’s no wonder people would ask left and right if you two were in a relationship, but you weren’t. Though many people swore on their lives that the two of you would make a great pair and they all believed the two of you felt something for each other.
And maybe they were right, but your friends thought you were an incredibly romantically dense person, you couldn’t seem to tell the difference between platonic and romantic feelings.
Oikawa on the other hand was someone who was always in a state of denial. He refused to believe that what he felt towards you was anything but platonic.
“Uh, Tooru?” You called, snapping him out of his trance. “I’ve made like, five rounds around campus and you haven’t said a word.”
His eyes widened as he straightened up immediately, clearing his throat. “Well your driving seems fine, I guess it really was just road rage.”
He noticed the car come to a slow halt on the side of the road as you stared at him curiously. He averted your gaze, feeling a bit awkward and uncomfortable as his ears turned pinkish.
You tilted your head, watching him curiously. “Is something wrong? Why aren’t you looking at me?” Your eyes widened all of a sudden as you began feeling around your face. “Is there something on my face?! What is it?! A bug?!” You panicked.
His eyes widened as his head snapped in your direction, shaking profusely. “No! No, there’s nothing! I just thought about something.”
You placed your hand on your chest as you exhaled in relief. “Oh thank god, I thought there was a bug on me.”
He rolled his eyes. “I know.”
The two of you kept quiet for a moment.
“What now?” You asked, breaking the silence.
He cleared his throat yet again as he adjusted his posture, turning to look over at you as he gestured to the campus gates. “We’re going out.”
___________
You’ve been driving for about ten minutes since you left campus and so far you’re yet to spot any other cars. It came as a slight relief to Oikawa, yet at the same time, he knew he needed to see it first hand so he could figure out what to do about it.
As if reading his thoughts, you suddenly spoke up. “Huh, there aren’t really any cars today.”
“Do you know where Cafe le Roman is?” He asked all of a sudden.
You nodded as you turned a corner, “The one in Matsushima right?”
“Yeah, let’s make a stopover. I’m starving.”
You looked over at him to see a noticeable frown on his face. The way he was tapping his fingers against his thigh was a clear indication that he was indeed hungry. It’s been a habit of his since childhood.
“My treat.” You mumbled quietly.
He turned to look at you, tilting his head. “What?”
“I’ll treat you today.” You repeated, louder this time.
You couldn’t deny you felt a bit guilty after chasing him around, so it was only right for you to do this much for him.
As you drove along the straight, empty road, a sudden thought crossed your mind as you grinned, glancing over at your best friend through your peripheral vision, not wanting to dwell on the guilt any longer.
“You wanna know something?” You asked, breaking the silence as he looked at you curiously, “I have complete control over our lives right now.”
You see him nodding his head in agreement before he suddenly freezes as his head snaps in your direction, his eyes wide. “Why did you say that?”
“That’s a nice-looking cliff over there.”
“Y/N!”
___________
Shortly after your little ordeal of jokingly wanting to crash Oikawa’s car, the two of you finally arrived at your destination. You parked the car smoothly before shutting the car off as the two of you stepped out of the vehicle.
You locked the doors, the keychain jingling in your hand before you tossed it over to Oikawa who caught it smoothly. He had always had such quick and refined reflexes, and to this day it still amazes you.
You noticed he had a small book bag with him hung over his shoulder as you two walked next to each other.
As soon as you reached the entrance, he reached in front of you and pulled the door open, motioning for you to step inside first.
“Such a gentleman.” You grinned at him teasingly.
He merely scoffed, rolling his eyes as he followed behind you towards the counter.
It took a bit of convincing but you managed to get him to spit out his order first. He always insisted on allowing you to do everything ahead of him, he had a chivalrous nature around you.
It didn’t go unnoticed though.
You along with all of your other friends noticed how differently Oikawa treated you compared to others. But whenever he was confronted about it, he’d simply state that you were his best friend, he was obviously going to give you special treatment.
He finished ordering a milk bread roll and coffee while you followed up with a cheesecake and green tea.
After paying for both your meals, the two of you headed over and sat down across from each other on one of the duo booths by the wall. The air remained silent between the two of you as Oikawa brought out a book and a pair of glasses, putting them on as he set the book on the table in front of him.
In all honesty, you really loved it when he wore his glasses, you always thought it made him look even more attractive, in a classy and smart kind of way. But you wouldn’t tell him that, not in a million years. You’d always tease him playfully about the way he looked with his glasses on, not that he cared. He was too narcissistic for that.
You placed your elbow on the table, resting your chin in the palm of your hand as you watched him read like the nerd he pretended not to be.
“You know,” You began, a small, cheeky grin dancing on your lips. “You look so much better without those glasses.”
He rolled his eyes, already used to your teasing. “Thanks.” He replied simply, before a small smirk formed on his lips as he retorted, “You look so much better without my glasses too.”
Your jaw slacked, completely dumbfounded at his retort. It took you a second to regain your composure before you grabbed a napkin from the napkin holder, crumpling it up and throwing it at his face.
He let out an adorable laugh as he took off his glasses, setting them aside together with the crumpled tissue paper you had just thrown at him.
“I’m kidding,” He smiled, “You look beautiful.”
You gave him a look, “Goodness me, I don’t know what to say.” You replied sarcastically.
“Lie, like what I just did.”
“TOORU!”
___________
“YOU MOTHERFUCKER.” You screeched as Oikawa covered his ears, wincing slightly as he leaned away from you. “TOORU THAT BITCH JUST CUT ME OFF.”
“Calm down woman! Are you mad?!” He exclaimed, rubbing his ears.
“No Tooru, I’m screaming because I’m just so happy someone cut me off.” You deadpanned, giving him a side glance.
He rolled his eyes, “Can you just relax? Quit screaming so much, jeez.”
“Does my screaming bother you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you know what bothers me?”
“Oh god.” He groaned.
“When a BITCH cuts me off!” You growled.
A sigh left his lips, “Forget the driver’s license exam, you need to go to anger management therapy.”
“Damn Tooru, so you major in sports and psychology.” You rolled your eyes as you turned the corner a little too suddenly.
A yelp left Oikawa’s lips as he pushed himself back into his seat, one hand gripping the grab handle and the other gripping your hand on top of the gear shift.
“Are you trying to get me killed?” He growled.
“And what if I am?” You challenged, raising an eyebrow as you glanced over at him.
“Y/N, I swear to god. I need my face!”
You scoffed, “Plastic surgery exists for a reason.”
His eyebrow twitched, a clear sign of his irritation.
He remained suspiciously silent and after a while, you began to notice the feeling of holes burning through your head. You turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow as he glared at you. “Why are you glaring at me?”
“I’m hoping you’ll spontaneously combust.”
You let out a little ‘tch’ noise as you turned your gaze back on the road, thankful that other than the encounter you had with the person who cut you off earlier, the roads remained empty, save for the cars that would drive by from the opposite direction every now and then.
“Don’t glare at me like that.”
“Why shouldn’t I?” He huffed.
“Because you look adorable and it makes me wanna drive us off the edge of a cliff.”
He let out a little growl. “Try me, bitch.”
You simply smirked, staring straight ahead, “You seriously underestimate the power I have over our lives right now, Tooru.”
___________
“Seriously Y/N, where are we going?” He asked for the billionth time, “Is this a kidnapping? Are you taking me hostage?”
You rolled your eyes, remaining silent.
You had planned to take him to a surprise location, it was late in the afternoon and you remembered how pretty the sunsets were when you had first found the place a couple of weeks ago. You wanted to watch the sunset there with your best friend, but right now you also wanted to strangle him for his persistent interrogation.
The first time he asked, you told him it was a surprise and that was it. But of course, that wasn’t enough for Oikawa, so he kept pestering you. Not that it did anything for him though, you've been immune to his pestering since you were children.
“Look, Y/N, babe.” He started as you held back a scoff of disbelief. “I know I’m pretty, I know. But do you really have to go to such lengths as to kidnap me?”
“Tooru, baby.” You turned to him, speaking in a mockingly sweet tone. “If you don’t shut your mouth I will shove my shoe up your ass.”
“Kinky.”
The car swerved.
Oikawa let out a surprised yelp as he clung to his seat for dear life. You gave him a smug smile as he clenched his jaw.
He knew you did that on purpose.
Not that it made it any less dangerous of course. But it’s not like he could get mad at you for it, he knew it’d be pointless with how thick-headed you were.
“I hate you.” He muttered through gritted teeth.
“Yeah, love you too baby.”
He let out a pouty huff as he turned away, and you failed to notice the pinkish color taking over the tips of his ears.
You continued your little escapade to the hidden location and Oikawa had finally given up on asking you where this place was as you moved on to more light-hearted conversation.
He told you a couple of stories about Takeru, his nephew. He really adored his nephew, so much that the number of pictures he had with Takeru could rival the amount he had with you, and you’ve been friends since birth.
Not that you minded of course, you adored his nephew almost as much as he did. Unfortunately for Oikawa though, Takeru liked you a little bit more.
He’d always found his uncle Tooru a bit overbearing and narcissistic, but it’s all in good nature. Oikawa was a great guy, ambitious, hard-working, you name it. You dare say he’s downright perfect.
Finally, the two of you arrived in front of a forest, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. You stepped out of the car first as Oikawa sat in confusion, at least until you opened the passenger’s door.
“Where…?” He looked at you, pure confusion in his eyes.
You simply smiled, beckoning him to trust you. “I told you, it’s a surprise.”
“I don’t like surprises.” He mumbled.
“Not even mine?” You tilted your head teasingly.
He rolled his eyes, a smile planted on his face as he shook his head, allowing a gentle laugh to escape his throat. “Maybe.”
You reached out a hand and he took it, stepping out of the car. Your hand held onto his as you slowly led him through the forest, you had memorized the path through it.
After about ten minutes of walking, the two of you finally arrived, emerging from the trees. Letting go of Oikawa’s hand, you walked forward, toward the edge of the cliff.
The two of you had made it right on time, the sun was setting and the sky was a blazing orange color. You sat on the edge, looking over the shoulder and motioning for Oikawa to take a seat next to you, to which he complied.
“It’s beautiful.” He mumbled in awe as he stared at the sunset.
You looked over at him, watching how the sunlight painted his skin a golden color. “Yeah,” You agreed, watching him, “Beautiful.”
___________
The sun had almost completely set as the two of you lay next to each other on the grass, indulging in conversation about your past memories together, both good and bad. It was nice to catch up like this, the two of you had always spoken with playful banter, but it had been a while since you both were able to really open up to each other.
“Tooru?” You called as he hummed quietly. “I really missed you.”
You heard him moving around as he sat up. “What do you mean?” He asked, looking down at you. “I’ve always been here.”
“I know.” You whispered, “But we’ve been so busy that we never really got to be just us.”
He remained quiet, absorbing your words.
“I know I don’t say it a lot.” You continued, “But I hope you don’t forget that I love you.”
Silence.
You sat up, looking over at him. He seemed lost in thought, his expression was troubled. “Tooru?” He looked at you, “What’s wrong?”
He moved over to you, a little too close to the point where his upper body hovered above your legs as his face neared yours.
You remained still, feeling your heartbeat speed up as you kept your eyes locked on his. You could see so many different emotions lingering behind his eyes, but there was one that stood out the most, confusion, as if there was something he wanted to confirm.
You couldn’t even comprehend what was happening until you felt a pair of soft lips press against your own. Your eyes widened, but for some reason, you didn’t push him away.
Instead, you closed your eyes and leaned in, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him closer. You felt his warm hands cup your cheeks as he pressed his lips harder against yours, almost as if he was searching desperately for something.
You didn’t know how long the two of you had kissed, but the moment he pulled away the two of you were breathing heavily. You could feel your heart flutter and your cheeks warm as you opened your eyes, only to find him already staring straight at you.
“Tooru...” You lifted your hand, placing it on his cheek as he leaned into your touch.
“What are we?” He asked, his expression was dead serious, but behind his eyes lingered a hint of anxiety and nervousness.
You leaned in, pressing your forehead against his as a sigh left your lips, “You tell me.”
He closed his eyes, almost as if your response pained him. “Please just answer.” He whispered.
You remained quiet, his fear of rejection increasing as the seconds passed.
He let out a defeated sigh, ready to get up and leave until he heard you speak quietly, “I don’t know what we are,” You began as he felt a sharp pang in his chest. “But,” You traced his cheekbone with the pad of your thumb comfortingly, “I wanna know what we could be.”
His eyes shot open in surprise. You could see the clear hesitation in his eyes, holding him back from believing your words.
The truth was, despite your friends believing that you were romantically dense, you weren’t. You’d known for a long time that you’d fallen for your best friend, you simply chose to push it aside. It’s not that you weren’t willing to confess, because you were. But you were afraid.
Tooru Oikawa meant the world to you, and the last thing you’d ever want was to risk losing him.
Despite all your friends saying that he felt something toward you, you’d always dismiss it. Even if he did treat you special, that never excused the fact that he’d always entertain his fangirls. In the aftermath, it only led you to believe he truly felt nothing romantically toward you.
You let out a surprised yelp when he suddenly pulls you into his arms, the two of you landing on the grass as he holds you tightly. “You’re not lying right?” He asked with excited hope, he sounded like a small child. “You’re really serious?”
You pushed yourself up, hovering over him as you gave him a genuine smile, nodding. “I am.”
Looking at his face, you couldn’t help but feel your heart melt at how adorable he looked at that moment. You just couldn’t help yourself as you leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss on his forehead as his eyes closed, savoring the feeling.
When you pulled away you watched as his eyes fluttered open. All of a sudden you noticed a light shade of pink covering his cheeks, his expression suddenly turning shy and embarrassed.
“What’s with that expression?” You tilted your head, laughing quietly.
He covered his face with his hands, shying away from your gaze. “This is a really weird position.”
Your grin only widened. “Now why did you think about that of all things? I thought we were having a moment.” You heard a small squeak come from him, his face growing a shade darker.
“Please shut up.” He whined, earning a laugh from you.
You stood up, dusting the grass and dirt from your jeans as you pulled him up after you. “Come on now little one, don’t be shy.” You teased.
“I can’t tell if I wanna kiss you or throw you off this cliff.” He growled.
You paused for a moment before turning to him, “Can I choose?”
“Y/N!”
___________
About a month had passed since that one fateful day, and to sum it all up, let’s just say you never got that driver’s license, but hey! That’s okay, because you gained a personal driver anyway.