Chapter Text
Oikawa knew being college-bound was going to be a hassle. All of that time put into practicing for the spring interhigh was finally catching up to him and, although he would never regret it, the consequences were rather daunting. When the tournament was over and done, Oikawa barely had time to reflect as he found himself juggling approaching finals, entrance exams, and scouts from all over Japan all at once. Before he knew it, he found himself accepting a scouting request from a university in Tokyo and the new school year began faster than he could keep up with the changes in life. However, he had made it through everything, for the most part—things normally had a way of working themselves out in time for him in the end, so he let his guard down for a second before a horrible realization dawned on him.
Oikawa Tooru had nowhere to live.
In all honesty, this should have been his very first concern, but Oikawa was a busy guy—he had other things to worry about and housing had just totally slipped his mind. He considered commuting, but the cost of gas expenses and time spent driving were too much. Studio apartments all over Tokyo were all filled and it was too late to look into dorms. By the time Oikawa had looked into every possible option, it was already two weeks before the school year began and he had absolutely nothing.
However, Oikawa found his salvation and shining beacons of angelic light in the form of the former Karasuno volleyball club captain when he bumped into him while getting coffee. As it turned out, Sawamura Daichi was going to the same university and was looking for another roommate to help out with the rent and, without much prior thought, Oikawa jumped on the opportunity. It didn't occur to him until later that he didn’t actually know that much about Sawamura or his roommates at all.
Nevertheless, after a week and thirty minutes of driving around absolutely lost in Tokyo in a rental car, Oikawa finally found himself standing in front of apartment 314 with his suitcases in tow behind him and his phone pressed against his ear.
“Iwa-chan,” he said gravely into the phone. “If you don’t hear from me in the next hour, I’m probably dead. Sawamura might be responsible. That’s Sa-wa-mu—“
“Calm down, Oikawa, you’re not gonna die,” Iwaizumi interrupted.
“You don’t know that—I am a vulnerable and pure soul and easily taken advantage of—“
“That is literally the most bullshit I have ever heard come from your mouth in my life—“
“I am a pure soul, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa insisted. He stared at the doorknob and sighed, his keys still clutched in his hands. “Why couldn’t I just go to college in Miyagi with you?” he mumbled.
There is silence on the other end for a second before Iwaizumi spoke again. “You’re going to one of the best universities in Japan, Oikawa—you can’t just stay in Miyagi forever.”
“But I miss you,” Oikawa said, his voice heavy. “It’s going to be weird going without you for four years.”
“Yeah,” Iwaizumi said after a long while, his voice cracking just the tiniest bit. “I know.”
“Aw, Iwa-chan, are you crying?” Oikawa teased.
“Hell no,” Iwaizumi answered so briskly that Oikawa could practically see Iwaizumi's deadpanned look.
“It’s okay to be honest with yourself once in a while,” Oikawa teased.
“Shut up, Asskawa,” Iwaizumi said. Oikawa heard a loud noise coming from Iwaizumi’s end and Iwaizumi saying something he couldn’t really discern before the other boy returned to the phone. “Hey, I gotta go now, alright?” he said. There’s a slight pause before Iwaizumi continues. “If I have time, I’ll come and visit you next week, so don’t do anything stupid.”
Oikawa’s eyes grew wide. “Wait, really?” Oikawa asked, a grin curling on his lips.
“If I have time,” Iwaizumi repeated even though both of them know Iwaizumi would make time to get to Tokyo. “Later, Oikawa.”
“Bye, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa replied. “Don’t fall in love with anyone else while I’m gone, okay? Although, I mean, how could you, considering—“
“Bye, Oikawa,” Iwaizumi interrupted before there’s a click and the sound of a dead tone ringing through Oikawa’s phone.
Oikawa shoved his phone back in his pocket, feeling much more elated than before. If Iwaizumi was going to visit, he was going to have to make his room perfect or at least perfect enough for Iwaizumi not to make fun of him for it. Besides, he probably wasn’t going to die. Sawamura seemed like a pretty reasonable guy—what could possibly go wrong?
Oikawa fumbled with the keys for a moment before he finally unlocked the door and turned the knob, taking a deep breath before throwing it open.
Before he could even take a look at the living room, Oikawa’s gut was immediately greeted by a large styrofoam projectile that was fast enough to knock the air out of him. Oikawa keeled over, clutching his stomach before he heard someone speak.
“Shit, you aren’t Sawamura,” the voice said as another started bursting into raucous laughter. When Oikawa looked up, still clutching his stomach, he saw two young men holding the largest Nerf guns he had ever seen. One of them, a stocky boy with black hair streaked white that Oikawa recognized from playing volleyball, was looking at him sheepishly, trying to hide the gun behind his back like a guilty child, while the other, a slightly taller boy with unruly black hair, was trying to hide his laughter behind his hand.
“Sorry, dude I thought—“ the guy with streaked hair began, scratching the back of his head. “I thought you might’ve been Sawamura and, see, we’ve been waiting here for like two hours for him to get here—“
“Oh, hold up,” the black-haired man interrupted the other by hitting him in the stomach with his Nerf gun. “Aren’t you that pretty boy setter from Aoba Jousai—Oikawa something?”
As the pain began to fade, Oikawa tried to give them a smile that probably turned out to be more of a grimace, unsure of what to think of the fact that his reputation as (undeniably) gorgeous preceeded the knowledge of his given name. “Yeah, that’s me,” Oikawa answered.
“Awesome, Sawamura said he’d find us a new roomie—glad to see he doesn’t disappoint,” the black-haired man shoots him a smile that looks more like a smirk. “Welcome to the man-cave, Oikawa—“
“‘The man cave’?” Oikawa repeated with a raised eyebrow. The other two ignored his look of disbelief.
“I’m Kuroo Tetsurou—film major and the guy who got us this humble abode,” the black-haired young man said with a grin that looked more like a smirk, he gestures to the shorter man with his gun. “This is Bokuto—he’s the one who shot you.”
“Dude, you can’t just out me like that,” Bokuto objected, as if his guilty gait was not obvious enough. Bokuto shot Oikawa a bright smile and grabbed his hand to shake it, startling the setter in the process. “Bokuto Koutarou—child psych major and one of the top four aces in Japan!”
“O-oikawa Tooru—art major and setter,” Oikawa stammered as Bokuto shook his hand with such excited vigor that he almost lost his balance.
“Oh! Are you playing for the university?” Bokuto asked.
“Yeah, I was scouted, so—“
“Hey, me too!” Bokuto said, his eyes growing wide. He gives Oikawa a hard thump on the shoulder. “I guess you’ll be setting to me from now on!”
Before Oikawa could reply, Kuroo tossed his nerf gun at him with a grin as Oikawa fumbled with the toy. “You came just in time, Oikawa—Sawamura’s gonna be here any minute now and we were low on ambush power.” Kuroo hopped over to the couch to pull out another gun from behind it. “Get your stuff out of the hallway and you can join the force.”
Oikawa stared at them blankly for a second before realization dawned on him. “Oh—wait, no I don’t think I—“
“C’mon, Oikawa, it’ll be fun!” Bokuto said, giving Oikawa a hard whack on the back. “Have you ever seen Sawamura mad?”
“I don’t think I want to,” Oikawa said.
“Well, you’d be missing out because it’s hilarious,” Kuroo said as he loaded his gun with bullets.
“Yeah, his veins get all big and pulse-y and his eyebrows combine into this v-shaped unibrow like a hairy black caterpillar,” Bokuto added.
Kuroo gave a dreamy sigh. “It’s kind of magical.”
Oikawa bit his lip. As magical as he was sure Sawamura’s anger would have been, he wasn’t ready to get on his roommate’s bad side just yet. “Sorry, guys, I don’t think I want to get on his wrong side right—“
“Who’s wrong side?”
Bokuto gave a yelp from behind Oikawa and Kuroo’s eyes went wide with fear and, before he knew what was happening, Oikawa found himself screaming as well as he whipped around and fired at whatever was behind him, his eyes closed tight.
The person behind Oikawa fell to their knees and Oikawa slowly pried his eyes open.
“Oh, shit,” Kuroo said as Oikawa’s jaw fell open. At his feet, Sawamura Daichi himself stood with his arms clutched over his stomach, giving Oikawa the sternest glare he had ever seen on an 18-year-old young man.
“Well, it was nice meeting you, Oikawa,” Kuroo said from behind him.
“Yeah, see you later, maybe,” Bokuto added. Their guns clattered to the ground behind him before Oikawa heard the sound of footsteps sprinting behind him and a door slamming closed.
Oikawa gave Sawamura what he hoped was his most charming smile, but was probably more of a grimace. The silence was unbearable and the look that Sawamura gave him made Oikawa feel like he was about to be grounded for a month with no phone.
“H-hey, Sawamura-kun,” Oikawa finally began. “So, uh, you’re looking great, uh—“
For someone who was probably the shortest out of the four roommates, Sawamura Daichi really had a way of making himself seem bigger, Oikawa discovered. His eyes went dark and his brows furrowed together, not quite like the caterpillar unibrow that Bokuto described, but still in a way that was both kind of impressive and very terrifying as Daichi seemed to age twenty years in one stern look.
“Kuroo and Bokuto started it!” Oikawa blurted out childishly.
“Traitor!”
By day three, Oikawa finally found himself somewhat adjusted. After that incident, Sawamura had begun set up the first of the apartment’s several ground rules: Kuroo and Bokuto were not allowed to use their nerf guns in the apartment because they were probably going to hurt someone or break something. Afterwards, Oikawa settled into his own bedroom while Daichi had another and Bokuto and Kuroo were to share the master bedroom, which they apparently didn’t mind at all.
Oikawa was being cautious for now, but he found himself getting along with his roommates somewhat. Sawamura was a pretty agreeable guy, even though Oikawa thought someone should do something about the stick that was probably up his ass 60% of the time; Kuroo seemed like a pretty fun person to talk to in general, although his apparent distaste for E.T. was kind of deplorable; and Bokuto was, well, just a bit exhausting to be hanging out with for more than an hour at a time, but generally pretty cool.
However, there was a just a tiny problem—Kuroo and Bokuto were dating.
Of course, the fact that they were dating was not the actual problem, and technically they had never actually said they were dating and Oikawa’s hunch could be very off (which was unlikely). However, after three nights of residing in the room next to them, the setter could no longer take it.
Oikawa shuffled out of his bedroom, his blanket wrapped around his shoulders like a cape, grumbling as he walked away from the sounds of loud moaning and a bed frame slamming against a wall, his hand tracing the walls in the dark, too tired and irritated to turn on the lights. He was sure the couch was here somewhere, Oikawa supposed as his foot hits a box lying on the floor. It had only been the third night, so he couldn't really be blamed if he knocked something over (he thought as he bumped into a wall nose-first, sure that that was supposed to be the hallway exit), but either way Oikawa eventually found (or, rather, banged his knee) on the back of the couch, away from Kuroo and Bokuto's room and the sounds of their absolutely and unnecessarily loud sex.
With a relieved sigh and his blanket draped around his shoulders like a cape, Oikawa hopped over the back of the couch only for his knee to land on something that felt less like a couch cushion and more like someone's stomach. The figure lurched forward with a scream and, before Oikawa could apologize, knocked his head into Oikawa nose so hard that the setter fell off the couch, nearly hitting his head on the coffee table as a metallic taste begins to fill his mouth.
"O-oikawa?" Sawamura asked weakly. "Holy shit, are you okay?"
"Uh, I think my nose is bleeding and you may have destroyed my knee with your abs," Oikawa answered, his voice nasally as he reaches up to pinch his nose. "Are you okay?"
"I think you may have kneed a hole into my gut, but no big deal," Sawamura said. "So, you too?"
"What?"
"Can't sleep because of..." Sawamura's voice trailed off and Oikawa sighed.
"Because Bokuto and Kuroo's loud banging? Yeah," Oikawa confirmed.
Sawamura sighed heavily and a blanket is thrown over Oikawa's face. "Alright, that's it, we need to talk to them."
"Right now?" Oikawa asked, throwing the blankets off of him as Sawamura handed him a box of tissues. He plugged up his bleeding nostril with a tissue and stood up, following Sawamura down the dark hallway.
"Yeah, right now," Sawamura said, reaching up to give Bokuto and Kuroo's door a firm knock. By then, the sounds had stopped, but light was streaming from the bottom of the door so they had to be awake.
The door swung open and Oikawa got an eyeful of Kuroo Tetsurou abdominal muscles that he always knew that Kuroo probably had but never really wanted to confirm. Kuroo looked a bit sluggish, his normally erect hair is unusually flaccid and his forehead is damp with sweat. “Guys, it’s like 3AM—shouldn’t you be asleep?”
Oikawa blinked in disbelief while Sawamura giving the black-haired young man a deadpanned look. “Well, I mean,” Oikawa began carefully, “we can’t exactly—“
“You both need to chill,” Sawamura interrupted Oikawa, his arms crossed. “There is no way we can sleep if you guys are going to have loud sex every single night.”
Kuroo gave them a dramatic yawn, stretching his arms and his hand reaching for the door. "Do we really have to talk about this right now, it's--"
"Three in the morning, yes we're aware," Sawamura said, blocking the door with his foot, "which is exactly why we have to talk about this right now."
Kuroo sighed, but shrugged nonetheless. "Alright, Dad, just hold up," Kuroo teased, turning around. "Bokuto, get up!" Oikawa peeked past Kuroo to see a lump under their blankets that only gave Kuroo a whine in reply. "C'mon, dude this is your fault anyway," Kuroo said, sauntering over to the bed to prod the lump with a finger.
"Today would be nice," Oikawa said.
Eventually Kuroo managed to get a very drowsy looking Bokuto on his feet, a quilt draped over his shoulders and wrapped around his body, and his hair oddly flat against his head. "Morning," Bokuto said through a yawn, raising an angled brow at Oikawa. "Dude, what happened to your nose?"
"Sawamura-kun head butted my face," Oikawa shrugged, unplugging his nostrils once he noticed that the bleeding had stopped.
"Well, hey you kneed me in the stomach, so we're even," Sawamura countered.
"Well, apparently your abs are made of steel or something so it doesn't really feel even," Oikawa muttered.
Kuroo gave a solemn nod. "Your abs are pretty solid actually," he agreed.
"Rock solid," Bokuto added, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
Sawamura's cheeks suddenly flushed a shade of pink and his arms clutched his stomach protectively. "L-look we're not here to talk about my abs--"
"We're not?" Bokuto said, blinking owlishly as if he were genuinely surprised.
"No, actually we're here to talk about how you guys really need to keep it down this late at night," Sawamura said sternly.
Bokuto's expression suddenly turned guilty and the corner of Kuroo's mouth twitched. "It's Bokuto's fault," he said simply as Bokuto frowned at his betrayal. "I told him to keep it down, but--"
"Hey! I can't help it," Bokuto defended himself. "Especially if you keep--"
"Gross, Bokuto, please don't," Oikawa interrupted before the other boy could go into too much detail.
"I really don't care what you guys are doing, can't you just try to keep quiet when some of us are asleep?" Sawamura asked, massaging his forehead.
Bokuto pouted, pulling his quilt closer to his body. "That's pretty difficult when you sleep at ten like an old man," Bokuto said.
Oikawa covered his mouth to stop his chuckling and Kuroo turned away, his lips pursed tightly to keep them from smiling. Oikawa swore he saw a vein in Sawamura's head pulse.
"I don't--"
"You kinda do," Oikawa agreed.
"At least I don't hog the bathroom for two hours every morning to do my hair," Sawamura said, glaring at Oikawa.
Oikawa's jaw dropped as Bokuto and Kuroo broke out into giggles. He shot them a glare. "Shut up, you and your terrible bed head have no right to laugh, Kuroo-chan."
That shut Kuroo up for sure while Bokuto only laughed even harder and Oikawa found himself grinning triumphantly. Kuroo opened his mouth to object when Sawamura stepped between them.
"Quit it, guys--we just moved in, let's save the brawls for something actually important," he said, glaring at Bokuto, who was still laughing.
"Bokuto started it," Kuroo mumbled
Bokuto stopped his laughter to give Kuroo a hurt look. "Brotrayed by the bae again."
"Bokuto, Kuroo--keep it down somehow," Sawamura said. "Get a muzzle or something--I don't care how, just do it."
Kuroo let out a low whistle. "Oh, actually--"
"Nope, shut up--just do it," Sawamura interrupted.
"Aye aye, Cap'n," Kuroo said with a mock salute.
"And Oikawa," Sawamura began, turning to the setter with a stern look.
Oikawa blinked. "Me?"
"Yeah, get out of the bathroom faster--we only have one and you're not the only one who has to use it--no 'buts'," Sawamura added quickly when Oikawa opened his mouth to argue.
Oikawa pursed his lips and folded his arms together. "Fine."
The four of them stood in silence for a second, Oikawa sulking at the situation turning on him--after all, it wasn't his fault that it took a lot of work to look this good.
"So," Bokuto finally said, "now what?"
"Uh, I was just going to go to sleep," Oikawa shrugged.
"I'm not really all that tired anymore, so I think I'm just gonna watch a movie," Sawamura said.
Bokuto and Kuroo automatically perked up. "Like a movie night?" Kuroo asked.
"Uh, wait, I--"
"Movie night!" Bokuto cheered, throwing up his fists and opening his quilt-cape to flash the group in all his glory. Oikawa shielded his eyes and Sawamura looked away warily. "Can we watch a musical?"
"I don't--"
"I have Enchanted on Blu-ray," Kuroo suggested.
"Wait--"
"If Bokuto puts on some pants, we can share my popcorn," Oikawa offered as Bokuto wrapped his quilt around himself again.
"Deal," Bokuto agreed.
"Guys--" Sawamura's voice was drowned out by Bokuto and Kuroo passionately chanting "Movie night!" and he frowned. "Hey!" Sawamura raised his voice over their cheers and they all looked at him. Sawamura opened his mouth, his brows furrowed as if he was debating internally, before letting out a sigh. "I call the middle couch cushion."
Bokuto whooped and Kuroo gave Sawamura a hard thump on the back. Despite his eye rolling, a smile curled on Sawamura's lips. Oikawa found himself smiling as well until Bokuto stepped forward to join them. Oikawa whipped his arm out, blocking Bokuto's path. "Pants," he reminded him.
Bokuto looked down at his bare leg sticking out from his quilt and turned back. "Right!"
On day five, Oikawa found himself particularly busy. He had his first volleyball practice of the school year, which took up a good portion of the day despite the fact that it was just the coach going over the training regimen to scare of weak players and upperclassmen jeering at the first-years. Afterwards, he went to buy textbooks and supplies, and mourning the weight of his wallet and emptiness of his bank account, before heading off to visit some relatives in Tokyo that absolutely insisted that he stop by for "just five minutes" that ended up being two hours.
So when Oikawa returned to the apartment, hungry and weary, it took him a while to register Sawamura and Kuroo wrestling on the living room floor, Kuroo facing down and Sawamura sitting on the taller boy's ass.
When he closed the door behind him, the other two boys looked up in the middle of Sawamura's hand pressing Kuroo's face into the carpet.
"Do we have a rule about keeping intimacy in the bedroom yet?" Oikawa asked.
"We're fighting," Sawamura explained.
"Again? I thought you said we were gonna save that for something important."
Kuroo lifted his head from the carpet. "This is important--Sawamura's trying to cheat me out of my donut."
"My donut," Sawamura corrected him.
Oikawa looked over to the coffee table, where a pink box once filled with donuts sat, empty aside from one glazed donut sitting in the corner. Bokuto had brought home a box of two-dozen donuts yesterday and told them that it was for everyone (around the same time, Bokuto had also become Oikawa's favorite roommate) and they inhaled the pastries like their lives depended on it. However, apparently, it seemed like someone (Oikawa) had cheated and taken more donuts than they were rationed (it was Oikawa).
"Why don't you guys just split it?" Oikawa asked.
Kuroo scoffed, "I'm a grown man, Oikawa--"
"Debatable," Sawamura muttered.
"--I need at least one full donut to satisfy me," Kuroo continued, ignoring Sawamura's jab.
"So, what, you're going to roll on the floor until one of you kills the other?" Oikawa asked.
Kuroo and Sawamura look at each other before looking at back at Oikawa, nodding. "Essentially, yeah," Sawamura shrugged.
"Why don't you guys settle this more definitely?"
"Y'mean like with a fist fight?" Kuroo asked.
"No, I mean, with arm wrestling," Oikawa suggested. The other two boys quirked their brows at him and Oikawa shrugged. "That's how we settled things in Seijou."
"I thought your ace was undefeated," Sawamura said.
"That's not important--what matters is that it worked and I let Iwa-chan win," Oikawa said quickly. "Besides, it's faster than you guys knocking over furniture and draining our deposit for a donut." Oikawa lifted the pink box off of the coffee table and gave the surface of the table a light pat with his free hand. "You guys can even do it right here."
Sawamura got off of Kuroo and Kuroo rolled towards the coffee table, sitting up to face Sawamura, who sat on the other side. Their elbows sat firm on the surface and their hands clasped together. Oikawa could almost see the intent to kill in their eyes.
"Alright, ready?" Oikawa asked. "And... go!"
The battle began and Kuroo and Sawamura's fists tightened, their brows furrowed in great concentration and intensity. Their teeth were grit as sweat beaded down their faces, which were red as neither refused to budge. Their fists tipped back and forth relentlessly as the boys arm-wrestled as if their lives depended on it. The veins on the back of their hands bulged and their free hands' fingers gripped at the surface of the table in their brawl. The tension was so thick, someone could probably cut a knife through it.
Oikawa, on the other hand, was standing by them, observing their match with one hand on his hip and a box with one very delicious-glazed donut in the other--and he was hungry.
"No pinching, Kuroo-chan," Oikawa said as he reached into the box.
"I'm not!" Kuroo said, not taking his eyes off of their fists.
"Your nails are digging into my skin--that's cheating," Sawamura argued through his teeth, pushing Kuroo's hand back.
"I have long nails, alright? I can't help it," Kuroo defended himself. "Besides, your elbow is moving all over the place!"
"Yeah, Sawamura-kun, no cheating," Oikawa chimed in as he finished half the donut.
"My elbow has been in the same place the whole time," Sawamura argued.
Their hands were locked right where they started and Oikawa was licking his fingers of the donut's sugary residue. This match was lasting a lot longer than he thought it would and he kind of had stuff to do, places to be.
Oikawa closed the donut box. "Okay, this is clearly getting you guys nowhere," he said. "I still say you two should just do yourselves a favor and split whatever's left."
"You were the one who told us to settle this with arm wrestling," Kuroo said, looking up at Oikawa with a raised brow. However, the grip he and Sawamura had on each other loosened.
"And you know what, you guys proved that you guys are perfectly matched in strength so there are no losers in this apartment," Oikawa said. "Except maybe Sawamura a little because he sleeps at ten."
"Hey--"
Oikawa set the box on the table besides the other boy's arms and put his hands on their shoulders. "Enough arguing--there will be other donuts, but you guys are like brothers now."
"We're what?"
"Celebrate your newly found brotherhood and share," Oikawa continued, giving them some very dramatic pats, leaving them dumbfounded. "I'm proud of you guys." Oikawa gave them a meaningful look before heading off, feeling their confused stares on his back as he retreated into the hallway.
No later than two seconds after Oikawa closes his bedroom door, he heard Sawamura's voice reverberate through the apartment with the intensity of a thousand horns.
"Oikawa!"
They added a new rule to their growing list of apartment regulations that day: anyone (Oikawa) who was caught eating more than their ration of communal donuts was to be banned from their stash until they (Oikawa) had learned their lesson.
It was kind of worth it.
Day seven landed on a Friday and, if Oikawa were to reflect on his week, he would have found that his living situation was pretty nice. He got along with his roommates pretty well, even if they did argue a bit and some of them had some really weird habits, but generally, he enjoyed their presences. He had been excited to talk to Iwaizumi all about Tokyo all week and had been eagerly awaiting his visit.
Oikawa should clean-boxes were still littered all over his room and his laundry basket was overflowing with clothes. He should be thinking about what to wear tomorrow or where he should take Iwaizumi out for dinner.
Yet, Oikawa was lying on his back on his bed, his eyes blank and his fingers mindlessly setting a volleyball towards the ceiling. There was no hint of the excitement that he felt this morning in his current state. In fact, all he felt was bitterness.
He had known that college volleyball was a whole other level of mastery--in fact, he was hyper aware of it, which is why he worked his ass off over the summer to make sure he was could stand on the same level as everyone. However, despite all of his carefully honed and even obviously greater skill, he found himself on clean-up duty along with all of the other freshmen. The seniors on the team ignoring him, yelling at them that they missed a spot. Bokuto was by him the whole time, his wide eyes following the motion of the volleyball on the court, with a mop handle gripped so tightly in his hands that it broke with a snap that echoed throughout the gym. Before he knew it, Oikawa and Bokuto found themselves arguing with some of their seniors before they were told that maybe they should leave for the day to sort out their emotions. Oikawa left the gym with a bitter taste in his mouth and neither Bokuto nor Oikawa spoke to each other the entire way back to their apartment.
It had been about two hours now since Oikawa had closed his bedroom door with a frustrated slam and collapsed in his bed. There was a knock on the door that Oikawa did not reply to before the door creaked open and Bokuto peaked in.
"Hey, Oikawa."
The ball landed in Oikawa's hands and he looks over at Bokuto, not turning his head away from the ball. "What's the point of knocking if you're just going to come in anyway?" the setter asked coldly.
Bokuto only shrugged. "I dunno, I just wanted to ask if you wanted to watch a movie with us."
Oikawa sighed, looking back at the ceiling. "Not today, Bokuto-kun. Sorry."
Bokuto left the room with a dejected look on his face and Oikawa felt a little guilty, but he was too tired to deal with it. Not even half an hour later, the door opened again and Sawamura stepped in.
"Hey, we're going to go on a fast food run," Sawamura said, his voice softer than Oikawa was used to. "Do you want anything?"
"No, I'm not really hungry," Oikawa mumbled. His stomach decided to betray him right at that moment and began growling.
Sawamura raised an eyebrow. "Are you--"
"I'm sure," Oikawa interrupted briskly, turning away from the door.
There is a moment of silence before he heard Sawamura sigh behind him and the door closes behind him quietly.
Oikawa doesn't even realize he had fallen asleep until a bright light finds its way past his eyelids and the door swings open with a bang.
"Oikawa, this is an intervention," Kuroo's voice said, rousing him from his dazed, post-nap state.
Oikawa sat up, squinting at the door to see Kuroo standing with his arms crossed in his doorway, Bokuto and Sawamura behind him. "Wh-wha?"
"You heard me," Kuroo said. "You haven't eaten since--" Kuroo paused and looked toward Bokuto.
"Before morning practice!" Bokuto chirped.
"Before morning practice?" Kuroo repeated, looking at Oikawa with wide eyes. "Shit, we need to get some food in you."
"I don't want any," Oikawa said stubbornly.
"And we're going to watch a goddamn happy movie--moping is getting you nowhere," Kuroo continued, ignoring Oikawa's protest. "How the hell are you going to have your goddamn boyfriend over if you're gonna be like this all weekend?"
Oikawa glared at them, unable to think of a retort, before turning on his side, away from them. "Go away."
"We're not leaving until you agree to movie night and an actual meal," Sawamura joined in.
"I don't want to."
"Too bad, you're joining us for movie night," Kuroo insisted.
Oikawa scoffed. "Make me." There was a pause and a shuffling of feet by Oikawa's bed and, before he could register what it meant, a blanket was thrown over his head and wrapped around him. "Hey!" Oikawa protested.
"Bokuto, you get the legs and I'll get his head," Kuroo said as Oikawa felt himself being lifted up. "Sawamura, you lead the way."
Oikawa began moving his arms. "What are you--"
"Stop thrashing around, Oikawa, we might drop you," Kuroo warned as Oikawa begins to feel himself being moved out of his room.
His head lightly hits the door on the way out and Oikawa lets out a loud ow mostly out of shock than out of genuine pain.
"Whoops, sorry," Kuroo said.
"No, you're not," Oikawa said, pouting despite the fact that no one could see his face.
"Heh, yeah, I'm not," Kuroo snickered.
Oikawa was thrown unceremoniously onto the couch before he could get himself out of the blanket. When he finally navigated his way out, Sawamura dumped a plastic bag on his lap.
"We have a burger for you when you actually get hungry," Sawamura said as Oikawa have him a confused look, "but I thought this might actually help you feel better."
Oikawa opened the bag and was automatically touched by the sight of milk bread. He looked up at Sawamura with wide eyes. "How did you know?"
"Iwaizumi mentioned they were your favorite."
"Since when were you in contact with Iwa-chan?"
"Since he and Suga became roommates," Sawamura said. Oikawa moved his feet so the other boy could sit down. "He's pretty worried about you--Suga kept asking me about you for him so often that I thought he had a crush on you for a bit."
Oikawa couldn't help but crack a small smile at that. "Aw, Iwa-chan," Oikawa hummed to no one in particular. "Don't worry, Sawamura-kun, Iwa-chan's the only guy for me anyway."
"Why would I be worried?" Sawamura scoffed just as Bokuto shut off the living room lights, but in the glow of the TV, Oikawa could see Sawamura's ears tinted red.
"Alright, bros, you guys ready?" Bokuto asked, sitting on the couch so that his legs are draped across Oikawa's thighs.
"Since when were we bros?" Oikawa scoffed with no real malice behind his tone.
"You said it yourself on Wednesday," Kuroo said, lifting Oikawa's head so he could take his spot, letting Oikawa rest his head on his lap.
"I said it so I could shall a donut."
"Yeah, but it's kinda true now," Kuroo shrugged.
"Us volleydudes gotta stick together," Bokuto chimed in with such genuine enthusiasm that Oikawa couldn't help but chuckle.
"Thanks," Oikawa smiled as the movie began.
"Don't mention it," Kuroo smirked, rubbing Oikawa's head. "Just but us a new thing of donuts and we can call it even."
They fell silent as the movie played and Oikawa wasn't really too sure what they were watching, but he felt warm and comforted in their silence in a huge puppy pile on the couch. The sounds of the movie were soon muffled by the sounds of Sawamura, the old man that he was internally, snoring through the movie. Kuroo slapped a hand over Bokuto's mouth before he could whine and wake him up. Oikawa let out a quiet chuckle as his eyelids feel heavy and Kuroo's leg suddenly feels less like a leg and more like a pillow and, before he knew it, Oikawa's eyes are closed and he feels a bit lighter.
Things were going to be all right here.