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“what’s your name?” oikawa finally gets to ask his savior, such a simple question in the midst of such a difficult conflict.
“IW-0401,” he shouts back, a number lacking all the humanity that he had shown oikawa.
“what?” except it’s hardly a question, but an expression of disgust at the empire and all that they’ve done, the empire that they're still running from.
“that’s the only name they ever gave me!” the stormtrooper yells to him over the roar of adrenaline in his ears.
“well I’m not going to call you that-“
the beams piercing through the stars ahead of him call for more focus than the act of naming—but a passing belt of space rocks—a blip in his vision, remind him of the last day he skipped rocks across the spring before the stormtroopers—ones so very different from the one with him now in the tie fighter—left his home in ruins and him ruined to survive alone.
“i’ll call you iwa-“ he calls out, the sound foreign on his tongue. there was no one to discuss the shapes and the colors of the rocks with anymore after that day, and no one but him left to understand it anyway.
“iwa? that’s hardly more letters than in the name i’ve got!”
they could die at any instant, yet this trooper finds time to bicker over the trivial matters of life.
his tenacity and his willingness to follow oikawa anywhere attracted him, and the honest eyes that peered into his and ordered him into this disastrous escape plan were many things—
and somehow in the midst of the flying of sparks and the clanging of boots and the firing of blasters, one of these things was cute.
“-chan,” he finishes. “I’ll call you iwa-chan!”
“I may not know much,” iwa-chan shouts over the turbulent movement of the tie fighter, “but I know that’s not a real name!”
a blast to the side, strong enough to send them tumbling off course into the sky, reminds oikawa that while iwa-chan’s name may not be real, the looming threat of death is undeniable.
“we survive this,” oikawa screams as the side of the tie fighter sets alight, “and I’ll give you a real damn name!”
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but just as quickly as iwa-chan found oikawa, oikawa loses him.
and when they do meet again it’s with a firm embrace and the pride that they’re alive and have done more than just survive.
iwa-chan has his jacket, salvaged from the tie fighter crash, and with a wink of his eyes oikawa tells him to keep it, it suits him—and so the conflict marches on, two rebels forever entangled in a war across the stars.
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iwa-chan’s changed now. he's seen the other side of the white helmet, stared and shot it down. he’s risked his life and himself for victory, always managing to stay alive.
he’s here, still clad in oikawa’s rebellion jacket, broad shoulders of an ex-soldier trained to kill, filling it better than oikawa’s ever did.
iwa, he had called him before, the name of the rocks in his mother tongue that he had no one to share with until they met.
and the rocks he skipped across the peaceful spring now seem so long ago. a lifetime of running and rebellion have changed him.
but he’s found peace now, with a firm man who brings him the peace of the still spring water.
“izumi” oikawa whispers, “Iwaizumi,” he completes.
“hmm?” Iwaizumi mumbles wearily, face pressed against his neck.
“we survived, didn't we?” oikawa had made a promise.
“more than that” iwaizumi hums back.
“i said I would give you a real name if we survived.” and somehow, they did.
and a silence fraught with the tension of all that was lost for them to survive washes over them.
“but iwa-chan has grown on me,” iwa-chan eventually whispers back, “though I’ll take any name you give me,” and it’s the truth.
“iwaizumi,” oikawa strokes the soft hair of the rough man in his arms, “iwa-chan,” he pulls his softness closer, savors what he had once lost, and then remembers that now that he’s found it again, he has the chance to start anew.
hajime, tooru thinks, my beginning.
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