Work Text:
Day 3 ~ Reincarnation ▪︎ Hurt/Comfort ▪︎ Fantasy
Being popular wasn't easy.
As much as Oikawa enjoyed the attention, as much as he enjoyed the fans, he hated the responsibility. He hated the stress that came with maintaining this image. He hated how all the boys looked at him in the hallway with so much hatred for stealing all the girls' attention.
These were the thoughts running through his head as he stared at his glasses before he went to school. He'd stayed up too late watching old game footage to see what to work on as a team. One game became two, and two became three as he stared at the bright computer screen with nothing but his contacts on.
Thus, leading to the huge headache he currently had. He sighed, putting his contact in before placing his glasses case in his bag, deciding that he'd just put them on after practice.
"Tōru, honey! Hajime is downstairs to walk you to school."
"Coming!" He looked at himself in the mirror one more time, fluffing out his bangs before grabbing his bags and running downstairs. He smiled to see Iwaizumi and his mother talking so casually. "I'm ready!"
"Geez, you're the captain, idiot. You can't be the last one there." He grabbed Oikawa by his jacket, practically dragging him out the door.
Oikawa's mom laughed. "Bye, you two! You should come over for dinner tonight, Hajime!"
"I'm glad that you and my mom are getting along," Oikawa said, looking at the streetlights as he swung their hands in between them.
"Where is this coming from?" Iwaizumi just looked at him. "I've known Okaasan for years. She's like my second mom."
"Yeah…" He met Iwaizumi’s gaze. "She was really happy that it was you, y'know? She told me that she wouldn't want my first to be anyone else."
"Why are you being so sappy all of a sudden?"
"...No reason."
"Tōru…?"
"I just found a letter from my dad last night."
"Really? He's been gone for almost a month now, right?"
The brunette nodded. "And that he wasn't here when we told my mom…"
Iwaizumi knew where this was going. "The people who really care about you don't care. They're happy for you, in fact. Issei, Takahiro, the rest of the team, Okaasan, my parents…we all love you." He gently smacked the back of Oikawa's head. "So why are you getting so upset about someone who hasn't really been a part of your life? I know he's still your dad, but c'mon, Tōru. You know you deserve better than him."
"You're right. I don't know what I was getting so worked up about." He smiled. "Thanks, Iwa-chan! Now let's go to practice!"
"You wear glasses, Captain?"
Kindaichi's comment caused everyone in the locker room to turn towards the third year.
Oikawa turned from his position in front of the mirror, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah…but because of volleyball I don't typically wear them to school."
"Are you okay?"
Oikawa smiled. Kindaichi was too kind for his own good. In all honesty, his headache had gotten worse during practice. The dull throbbing behind his eyes became almost unbearable to the point where he was more than relieved to take his contacts out. "I'll be fine, Kindaichi. It's nothing to worry about!"
"Idiot probably stayed up all night staring at a screen," Iwaizumi said, not even looking at Oikawa. "That's how your eyesight got so bad in the first place."
"Look at Iwa-chan guessing correctly!" Oikawa said, shrugging his blazer on before smoothing out his sweater vest. He then adjusted his hair and his glasses.
He wouldn't admit that he was more than a little scared to go to class with his glasses on, but until his headache went away, he knew he didn't have much choice.
"We should probably start heading to class now," Yahaba said, looking at his watch. With that, the group split.
The third years didn't make it far before a group of girls came walking towards them.
Them being Oikawa.
Makki and Mattsun managed to avoid the crowd. Iwaizumi stayed off to the side like he always did.
The brunette in question was greeted by a variety of "Good morning, Oikawa-sama"s as well as other very formal (too formal if you asked him) greetings.
"Good morning," he smiled (Iwaizumi knew it was fake), giving them all a wave. "It's lovely that you all thought to come and greet me today."
"I didn't know you wore glasses, Oikawa-sama," one of the girls said. Iwaizumi noticed Oikawa tense a bit, but he never dropped his smile. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I just have a slight headache is all," he said, waving it off dismissively. "So I decided to wear my glasses."
"I like them," a lot of the girls said, which Oikawa was genuinely glad for.
He looked at one of the nearby clocks on the wall. "This talk's been lovely, but I have to get to class now." We waved them all off.
"He looks so nerdy with his glasses."
Iwaizumi perked up as he listened in on the hushed conversation of a few girls walking by.
"I think he looks cute in a nerdy kind of way."
"I mean…he is top of his class. Maybe he secretly is a nerd."
The third girl in the group laughed. "No way! He's too sports-minded to care about his grades."
"But he has to be kind of smart, right…?" The conversation got quieter as the girls walked away. It took all his willpower not to chew them out for talking about him like that.
He turned to face Oikawa again. From the look on his face, he'd heard the conversation perfectly clear.
The brunette turned to him with a smile. "C'mon, Iwa-chan! We should get to class."
That sad smile would haunt Iwaizumi for the rest of the day.
"Walking all by yourself today, Oikawa-sama? Where's your little guard dog?"
Oikawa had half a mind to not turn around. He had to stay after class because his headache had caused him to fall asleep in his last period. He'd been sent to the nurse by a very concerned Japanese Literature teacher only to return to be gently lectured about taking better care of himself.
He sighed, continuing his walk to the gym. "I don't have a guard dog."
"Your precious Iwa-chan didn't want to walk with you today?"
"You don't get to call him that."
He was harshly turned when one of the boys grabbed his shoulder. This was the first time Oikawa had seen who was bothering him.
They were two boys who were about 5 cm taller than him, which was an impressive feat in and of itself. The only person he knew who was taller than him was Mattsun.
Oikawa wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone considering his headache hadn't gone away and he was already late for practice. "Can you just leave me alone? I'm already late for practice-"
"The rumors are true. Looks like Nerdikawa does need glasses."
The brunette soon found his world very very blurry. "Hey! Give them back!" His bullies held his glasses over their heads, but with his jump height, it wasn't hard to get them back.
He quickly shoved them back on his face. To say he was annoyed was an understatement. "Look, I'm already late so just get out of my way-"
One of the boys grabbed the collar of his button down. "We're not done talking yet."
"I said get out of my way!" He shoved the boy. He stumbled back a few steps.
The two taller boys just looked at each other. "Did he just shove me?"
"I think he did."
"Pretty Boy thinks he can play rough now, doesn't he?" He grabbed Oikawa's wrist before hooking his arms under Oikawa's.
"Hey, let go!" He lost his height advantage so that on top of his headache didn't put him in a good position.
"I think it's time we show our resident Pretty Boy how much we appreciate all the attention he hogs," the one holding him said. "Without his little guard dog, it should be easy."
"Then I'll start with these." His words were accompanied by a harsh, loud slap to Oikawa's face, sending his glasses into the depths of the blurry hallway.
Oikawa growled. "If you think I care about how a bunch of brutes like you feels, I don't! It's not my fault you're just jealous of something I can't control!"
The two looked at each other above Oikawa's head. "You hear that? The little gay boy thinks he's better than us."
Oikawa stopped breathing. "W-What are you talking about?" How do they know that?! They can't! They're just throwing around empty threats! They don't know that it's true!
"He gets all the girls' attention when he doesn't want any of the action. What a player."
"I'm not a player!"
"Oh, really?" The boy holding him sent a kick to the back of his knee.
He hit the ground with a groan.
"Thought we forgot about your little knee injury back during your first year? It had the girls all over you, fretting over you, worrying about you. Bet you loved the attention, Player."
He honestly didn't. He found it touching at first, but then he just found it annoying. "I'm not a player…" He felt his eyes sting. Just his luck.
"Aw, look. Now the little gay boy's gonna cry."
"Shut up! I'm not gay!"
"Really? Anyone with two brain cells can see how much you love on Iwaizumi. It's disgusting really."
"He's gay for his best friend!" One of the kids sent another kick to his knee. Oikawa had to bite his lip to keep himself from screaming.
He tasted iron in his mouth.
"Shut up…"
A kick to the stomach. "What are you gonna do about it? Go and cry to your little boyfriend, gay boy?"
"Shut up!"
"Hey, why don't you knock it off!"
"Where is that idiot? Practice started nearly thirty minutes ago!"
"I heard some of the girls in my class saying that he went to the nurse," Matsukawa said, passing a ball back and forth between him and Hanamaki. "They asked me what was wrong and I just assumed it was his headache."
"Did he text you or anything?" Makki asked, spiking the ball against the wall when the coach looked in their direction (he'd trusted the third years to practice on their own while the two coaches handled the underclassmen).
"No," Iwaizumi looked towards the door.
"Maybe he's still in there," Makki shrugged. "He seemed pretty out of it this morning."
"So you noticed too." The duo turned to Iwaizumi. "Did something happen to Oikawa?"
"Family drama," Iwaizumi shrugged, smacking the ball against the wall. "Not my place to talk about it."
The other two third years frowned. They'd known Oikawa long enough to know that family drama was tough for the brunette.
"Maybe we should go check to see-" Hanamaki was cut off by a loud smack. The three third years looked around. No one else in the gym seemed to notice. "The hell was that?"
"He gets all the girls' attention when he doesn't want any of the action. What a player."
"I'm not a player!"
Iwaizumi froze. "There's no way…"
"What?" Makki and Mattsun just looked at each other and shrugged.
Matsukawa placed a hand on the vice captain's shoulder. "Haji? You good?"
"Hold on a second." He kept listening to the conversation. Whoever these people were, they either weren't far away from the gym or they were really loud.
"Thought we forgot about your little knee injury back during your first year? It had the girls all over you, fretting over you, worrying about you. Bet you loved the attention, Player."
"Knee injury…?" Iwaizumi’s heart sank to his stomach. What has that idiot gotten himself into? He ran out of the gym.
"Iwaizumi, wait!"
"Hajime!"
Makki and Mattsun ran after him. Matsukawa, being much taller than the both of them, was easily able to catch up with Iwaizumi. "Dude, what's up?"
"That voice! I'm positive it was Tōru."
"How do you know?"
"I heard someone talking about a knee injury when they were a first year."
Makki cursed under his breath. "Well, where is he?"
"I don't know!"
"What are you gonna do about it? Go and cry to your little boyfriend, gay boy?"
The three of them rounded the corner.
"Shut up!"
Iwaizumi’s vision went red.
"Hey, why don't you knock it off?"
The two boys turned after Hanamaki started yelling. The first one grinned. "Looks like you were right, Hanamaki. The little gay boy does wear glasses."
"Look, Pretty Boy…" The second boy grabbed Oikawa by his hair, holding up his head. He let out a pitiful whimper. "Your little guard dog's here."
Iwaizumi lunged before he even realized what he was doing. Despite being noticeably shorter than both of them, he managed to pin the one farthest from Oikawa to the wall. "The hell did the two of you do to him?!"
"Look. The little Guard Dog has a bark."
"Shut up!" He punched one of them in the face. The boy looked dazed. "Or I'll show you a bark."
"Woah, woah, easy Haji." Matsukawa had to physically drag the older boy away. "They want you to get angry."
"How are you not pissed?!"
"Believe me. We are." Makki glared at the two. He wanted to pummel the two just as bad as Iwaizumi had.
"See what I mean, Gay Boy? You just let your little bitch defend you."
Iwaizumi stopped struggling to get out of Matsukawa's arms. His glare turned murderous. "I dare you to say that again, bastard."
"I said…Gay Boy here just lets his little bitch fight for him. And whaddya know? You're proving my-"
This time, he was cut off when Makki threw a punch that sent him to the ground. He then proceeded to grab the boy's collar, standing over him and leaning here. "Now you listen, you little bastard. You have three seconds to get out of here before I pummel you into the ground."
"And what are you gonna do?"
Hanamaki smirked. Even Matsukawa got chills just looking at it. "Have you ever wondered how strong a wing spiker can punch?"
"Try me."
"You asked for you, you son of a-"
"What is going on here?!" Makki didn't turn. "Hanamaki Takahiro!"
Only after hearing his full name did he turn, letting go of the boy's collar. His eyes widened, the adrenaline slowly wearing off. "Coach…"
He looked around at the scene, his eyes landing on Oikawa before he turned back to his players. "I asked you three a question."
Hanamaki's eyes narrowed. "I'll tell you what's going on! These two bastards from my class decided that it was a good idea to…to pummel Oikawa until he could barely stay conscious!"
Irihata sighed, his own blood boiling as he looked at Oikawa. "And the three of you decided to throw punches?"
"Iwaizumi and I did. Issei didn't." Hanamaki couldn't even look his coaches in the eyes.
"Is that true, Iwaizumi?" The teen didn't respond. "I expect an answer, Iwaizumi."
"Yeah…I threw a punch."
"...Alright. Sadayuki?"
"On it, sir."
"Coach Mizoguchi, hold on!" Matsukawa let go of Iwaizumi as their other coach grabbed Oikawa's two bullies. "You're seriously getting Iwaizumi and Hanamaki in trouble too?!"
"They did attack too so I don't have a choice," Mizoguchi answered. "But I'll see if I can explain everything to the principal and lessen their punishment, especially considering that club suspension is already going to be involved from us."
Mattsun sighed, looking at his two best friends. "...Yes sir."
Irihata waited for Mizoguchi to leave before he spoke again. "As for this club suspension…" Hanamaki and Matsukawa flinched. Iwaizumi remained unresponsive. "One day for Matsukawa, three for Hanamaki and Iwaizumi, plus extra laps and three laps of diving drills for a week when you all get back. You'll get a two day break before that happens, Matsukawa. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir…"
"Iwaizumi?"
"...Yes sir."
"Good. Now go home, all of you. Your punishment starts tomorrow." He started to walk away before he stopped. "I understand the intent behind your actions. I really do. But remember that violence is never the option. Think of the impression you'd be putting on the first and second years if they were to find out about this." With that, he turned the corner and walked back to the gym.
Hanamaki growled. "This is bull! Why do we have to be punished for defending a friend?!"
"Just let it go, Hiro," Matsukawa sighed, walking towards Oikawa. "Coach could've been much harder on us."
"Says you! You only get a day because you didn't do anything to help!"
"Hiro, that's not fair…" Matsukawa frowned when Oikawa weakly pushed him away. He looked at Iwaizumi instead, who just nodded. He then felt something hit his back. He didn't have to turn to know what it was.
"I know, that was mean. I'm sorry, Issei."
"I get it. I'm upset too." He turned so Hanamaki's head was on his chest. "But there's nothing we can do about it so let's just go home." He turned to Iwaizumi. "You'll get Oikawa home safe, yeah?" He watched as the brunette in question pitifully hit the ace's back in an attempt to get out of the piggyback ride Iwaizumi was giving him. It really was a sad sight.
"Yeah…"
"Alright…later, I guess."
The walk back to his house was suffocatingly silent. For one, Oikawa wouldn't talk to him when they got to Iwaizumi’s house, or when he sat the setter down on his bed before going into his bathroom to grab his first aid kit.
Now, the two just sat on Iwaizumi’s bed, Oikawa wrapped up in Iwaizumi's arms, in silence, an ice pack gently tapped around Oikawa's knee and another one held on his face by Iwaizumi.
It was another good thirty minutes before Oikawa spoke. "Iwa-chan?"
It kind of surprised Iwaizumi a little. He brushed Oikawa's bangs from his forehead. "Yes, Tōru?"
"...Do you think I'm a nerd?"
And here was the conversation he was dreading to have.
"No."
"Do you think I'm stupid?"
"Not at all."
"Do you hate my glasses?"
"Of course not! I was the one who helped you pick them out, remember?"
He felt something akin to a nod against his chest.
"Do you think I'm weak?"
"No."
"...Do you regret dating me?"
Iwaizumi paused before he answered, completely stunned. "What?! Tōru, babe, no! Of course I don't regret dating you!" He dropped the ice pack, lifting Oikawa and turning him so they were face to face. "I love everything about you! I love how caring you are." He kissed his forehead. "I love how you put 110% into everything you do." This time, his nose. "I love how you geek out whenever you see something alien related." His uninjured cheek. "I love who you set big dreams for yourself to achieve." Each new compliment was paired with a kiss somewhere on his face.
"And I love that all of it makes you Oikawa Tōru. And I would gladly proclaim my love for you to the world if that's what you want me to do." He carefully kissed his boyfriend on the lips, careful not to bother where Oikawa had split it open. "So you don’t listen to anyone else because I think you’re amazing. The people who actually care about you think that too. And you don't have to be perfect for people to love you. Because I love you, imperfections and all."
For the first time, Oikawa actually met his gaze. Iwaizumi couldn't help but smile. Oikawa really did look cute in his glasses. "What did I do to deserve you, Hajime?"
"Absolutely nothing." He kissed his forehead again. "Because you deserve all the good in the world."
Oikawa snuggled back into Iwaizumi’s arms, putting the ice pack back on his cheek and closing his eyes. "...I love you, Hajime."
"And I love you, Tōru. Now, rest. You've had a long day."
Not even five minutes later, Oikawa had fallen asleep. Because for the first time in a long time, he felt truly safe. Truly loved in the arms of the person who cared about him most.