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Being in love with your childhood best friend was probably very easy, right?
Wrong. And neither was confessing to them.
It was everything but easy even though Hajime hadn’t even tried doing it to begin with. It wasn’t just the fear of rejection, there was also colossal fear of losing Tooru and considering the fact that they’ve never spent a day without each other for past twelve years, Hajime very much preferred keeping his feelings to himself rather than confessing and risking the friendship he and Tooru formed when they met each other for the first time at age of six in the park after Tooru accidentally threw volleyball in the back of his head.
He didn’t know if Tooru felt the same, and he didn’t ask his friends to find out and then tell him because he was more than sure that Tooru didn’t feel the same. Hajime could always read Tooru like an open book and plus, Tooru had never been very good at lying to Hajime about his feelings and this wouldn’t be an exception as well.
If Tooru felt the same for his friend, Hajime would be able to figure it out by now.
But he didn’t and Hajime somehow managed to make it work - being best friends with Tooru and trying to ignore the urge to grab him by the collar of his shirt and press his lips against Tooru’s, or to yell in his face that he was the one Tooru was supposed to go out with instead of some random girl from their school, or to wanting to tell him that he dreamed about two of them getting together after confessing in the park where they first met whenever Tooru asked him what kind of dream he saw the night before.
He had no idea how, but he did make it work.
But apperantly god’s punishment for it was to make him listen to Issei and Takahiro calling him “a fucking moron” before adding ”you never pay attention to how he looks at you” every time they hung out together while Tooru was in another room or wasn’t with them and they forced him to tell if anything had changed between them.
“Come on , even Kyoutani can see the look Oikawa has in his eyes when he’s looking at you!” Takahiro exclaimed after banging his forehead down on the coffee table years ago when they were still in high school.
Hajime couldn’t stop himself from letting out a huff of laughter. “It’ll be better if he just puts Yahaba out of his misery and tells him that he feels the same.”
“Look who’s talking.” Issei bit back, that teasing smile on his face that Hajime had always hated for some reason.
‘It makes you look like you’re up to something mischievous.’
‘I’m always up to something mischievous.’
“You can’t judge me when I had to listen to you two seperately pin over each other for three goddamned years.” Hajime argued, resting his chin on his fist.
“You pinned over me with him?” Takahiro asked while looking at Issei with his eyebrows furrowed. Another boy looked like he just got accused of murdering a puppy.
“Oikawa gave me some shitty advice and pick up line that was like is your name WiFi? Because I’m really feeling a connection. What was I supposed to do? ” Issei fired back with a wave of a hand in the air.
Hajime felt like something in his mind clicked.
“Wait-- When I first told you about my feelings for Tooru, didn't you mention something like that before adding ‘tell him this, he’ll like it’?”
“I thought you were joking, you can't even blame me.” Issei shrugged before continuing, “Plus, you wanted me to believe that you fell in love with Oikawa ?”
“He has a point.” Takahiro said, looking up from his phone only to see Hajime’s disappointed look on his face. The boy placed his phone back on the table and threw his hands up in the air. “Look, like Issei said, you can’t even blame us here, it would be easier for us to believe that you fell for me than that you fell for Oikawa. Come on, how did that even happen?”
“Why would I fall for you out of everyone?”
Issei had to cover his mouth to stop himself from giggling while Takahiro gaped at him and he was about to start a heated argument with Hajime, when they heard the ding sound coming from the bell at the top of the door.
“Finally, Oikawa, did you come here by boat or something?”
Ignoring Takahiro’s comment, Tooru took off his coat swiftly and placed it on the back of his chair, a big grin on his face.
“Did Kageyama fall down and break his bones or why are you grinning like that?”
“He didn’t, but this isn’t about him anyways!” Tooru rolled his eyes, his grin that was way too forced to be real not leaving his face even for a second. “And I was late because I got another confession.”
“Oh god, poor girl.”
“I actually accepted this one!” Tooru announced with a cheery voice.
At that moment, Hajime felt like his entire world crashed down right in front of his eyes, but whatever Tooru and that girl had going on (or at least tried to have going on) only lasted for about a month. Tooru told them that it was too distracting for him to be in a relationship, but Hajime knew that the reason of their break-up couldn’t be that stupid. But he didn’t ask Tooru anything more about it, not that he really wanted to know in the first place.
After that, till the end of the year, Tooru avoided getting into a relationship. Of course he was still getting tons of confession letters every day, but he was turning down girls (and sometimes even boys) without breaking their hearts too harshly.
Maybe it was selfish, but Hajime was glad that Tooru was not accepting their confessions, it meant that Tooru had a little bit more free time that he could spend with his best friend instead of a person he was going to break up with soon anyways.
They were the way they used to be.
Until they weren’t.
Until Tooru announced that he was moving halfway across the world.
Hajime was happy for him, he really was because in what world would he be unhappy about the fact that Tooru was going to follow his dream and get better and better - if it was humanly possible, really - at volleyball.
He wasn’t angry at Tooru for moving halfway across the world, he was angry at himself for not being brave enough to confess to him - even when they were standing in the middle of airport, Tooru trying to hold back tears and Hajime feeling like a part of him was getting torn away from him right in front of his eyes. And he could not do anything.
“We’ll keep in touch, I promise. ” Tooru had whispered as he buried his face in Hajime’s neck, but little did they know, saying that was way easier than doing it.
A few weeks later, Hajime went to California to study sports science and it was a complete mess . His new friends were amazing and all but Hajime had never been the person who really loved changes - unlike Tooru.
But it only took him a week or two to finally get used to living away from his home, to living away from Tooru. After that, it wasn’t homesickness that didn’t allow him to sleep at night, it was the fact that he and Tooru fell out of touch.
They still texted each other here and there, but not like they used to before.
Both of them were so busy with studying and with new friends and with, basically, everything , that sometimes they even forgot to text each other for a whole week.
But now, years later, they were going to face each other again and Hajime was absolutely losing his mind over it.
“It’s going to be fine, it’s Oikawa we’re talking about, come on.” Issei said, tapping Hajime on the back twice before looking at Takahiro next to him. “Tell him, he always believes you.”
“He never believes me.”
“I never believe him.”
“Fuck both of you,” Issei rolled his eyes before grabbing the cushion from the couch and throwing it directly into Hajime’s face. “Get your shit together.”
“I do have my shit together!” Hajime fired back, placing the teal cushion in his lap. He sighed out and took the beer bottle from the floor as he threw his head back and stared up at the ceiling. “It’s just- We haven’t seen each other in years and we fell out of touch as well, what if he realized that he’s better off without me or that he doesn’t need me in his life anymore--”
“And this is what you call having your shit together?” Issei interrupted.
Hajime raised his head and flipped his friend off. “Fuck you.”
“I’m married so no, thank you.”
“Both of you, stop talking for the love of god.” Takahiro exclaimed and sat up, slapping the back of Hajime’s head slightly before continuing. “He’s not going to say that stuff. When I called him this morning and asked him when they would be here, the first thing he said to me was ‘What time does Iwa-chan get to work?’ So, shut up, get your shit together and act like a normal human being when you see him tomorrow.”
Hajime was not panicking. He was definitely not. How could he even think about panicking after Takahiro slapped him across the face and told him ‘don’t even dare to panic’ this morning while his husband giggled behind him like a little kid.
“Iwaizumi-san, is everything alright?” He couldn’t stop himself from almost jumping out of his skin when he heard Kiyoomi speak up unexpectedly next to him.
“What? No! Wait, no, I mean, yeah--” Okay, maybe that was not very believable.
Kiyoomi raised an eyebrow at him and Iwaizumi had to resist the urge to fall down on his knees and bang his head on the gym floor.
He let out a short sigh and instead of really banging his head on the gym floor, he slid his hand in his messy hair and spoke up again while not tearing his gaze away from Bokuto and Hinata. “I’ll be seeing Oikawa in a few hours here.”
“Isn’t he your childhood best friend? Why are you--?”
“I haven’t seen him for ages and I’m scared that I’ll panic and accidentally tell him I’ve been in love with him since high school.” Hajime cut him off with a small smile on his face.
That was when Kiyoomi’s eyes widened. “Oh . ”
“Yeah, oh.” Hajime chuckled.
Kiyoomi opened his mouth to tell him something but before he could have a chance, a door opened and Hajime felt his heart dropping in the pits of his stomach.
Of course, Tooru still looked as beautiful as Hajime remembered, but the main difference was that he wasn’t a boy from high school anymore. The person who had just stepped in the room was now a man and Hajime found himself falling in love with him all over again.
Tooru was wearing some old sweatpants and a plain shirt and had a duffle bag thrown over his shoulder. He looked like he hadn’t gotten a normal amount of sleep for the past few days.
He looked around the gym to find his childhood best friend and Hajime could swear, even from that distance, he was able to see something sparkling in Tooru’s eyes when the latter finally noticed the athletic trainer standing on the other side of the room.
Tooru's grin grew wider as soon as he started taking steps towards Hajime.
“Hello."
Hajime didn’t know how much he had missed Tooru’s smile until he finally saw it in person again. It caused his heart to do a flip in his chest but Tooru did not have to know that.
“Hi...” Hajime replied with a smile on his face and hands in the pockets of his pants. He knew their meeting would be a little bit awkward but he didn’t think it would be this awkward.
“I’m going to--” If Hajime was being honest, he kind of forgot that Kiyoomi was standing next to him until the man spoke up. Before he could say anything, the latter was already walking towards Atsumu, leaving Tooru and Hajime alone.
Hajime couldn’t stop himself from scratching the back of his head awkwardly. “So… The olympics.”
“The what?” Tooru’s eyes widened. “ Oh , yeah. The olympics.”
Were those freckles on his face? And oh god , the way those brown eyes were sparkling.
Hajime was going to die because of someone named Oikawa Tooru.
To save himself and Tooru from another awkward silence, Hajime spoke up again. “You remember what I told you that night right?”
“That you’ll give your all to defeat me?” The way the corner of Tooru’s lips twitched upwards caused the breath to get caught in Hajime’s throat.
“That I’ll give my all to defeat you.” Hajime confirmed with a smirk on his face.
He wasn’t surprised when he earned that shit-eating grin from Tooru before he spoke up again. “Bring it on then.”
Suddenly, Tooru looked down at the watch on his wrist. “Shit, I have to catch up with my team, then go see my parents and then go back to my team to practice.”
“Is practice going to end late?” Hajime couldn’t stop himself from asking.
“No, I don’t think so. Probably around 8 pm.” Tooru looked like he was hesitating to say the next words. “If you don’t have plans tonight-- maybe we could hang out.”
“You mean only two of us or--”
“No, I mean the four of us, like we used to before.”
Hajime prayed that Tooru wasn’t able to see the disappointed expression on his face.
“This hurt me to watch.” Hinata said to Hajime when Tooru walked out from the gym.
“I know…” Hajime whispered with a low voice, trying to hide the way his cheeks reddened from embarrassment.
It would be great if Takahiro waited for Hajime to finish drinking and then speak up instead of doing it right away and almost causing his friend to choke on the liquid in the glass.
“Shoyo told me about that very awkward reunion between you and your second half.”
Issei, being the better friend, slapped Hajime on the back a few times so he could breathe out properly again.
“First of all,” Hajime held out his index finger and coughed again. “Oikawa is not my second half--”
“I didn’t even mention Oikawa but go off, I guess.” Takahiro interrupted with a wide grin on his face, ending up earning a lazy eye roll from Hajime.
“Oikawa is not my second half,” Hajime repeated again before taking the glass in his hand again and continuing. “And how the hell do you even know Hinata that well?”
“Ah, we’ve been texting each other ever since our first match against Karasuno in high school.” Takahiro answered, slightly waving his hand in the air as if it was the most obvious thing ever. “He’s a cool guy.”
“He’s completely like you, but the main and only difference is that he’s not unemployed.”
As soon as Hajime finished the sentence, now it was Issei who almost choked on the water in his glass and Takahiro looked at Hajime like the latter just accused him of killing a puppy.
“Who’s not unemployed?” Hajime nearly dropped the glass on the table when someone behind him threw their arms around his shoulders and placed their chin on the top of his head. “Ah, you meant him. Jeez, Iwa-chan, you’re so tense and-- why are you drinking?!”
“Get off me, asshole!” Hajime exclaimed while shrugging Tooru off him, ignoring his friend’s low grumbles as he flopped into a chair next to Hajime. “And I’m drinking because I want to.”
“Nope,” Tooru shook his head and literally snatched the glass from Hajime’s hand. “We have a big game tomorrow and I won’t allow you to be half asleep on the bench when I kick your team’s ass and crush Tobio down on the ground.”
“Why do I have to be awake for something that will not happen?” Hajime fired back, earning a small, offended gasp from Tooru. Yep, he had definitely missed this asshole.
“Have a little faith in me, will you?”
Just when Hajime was about to say something, he got interrupted by Issei.
“Game is at 9 pm, both of you will have enough time to sober up, now drink because I don’t want to listen to you whining the whole night.”
Tooru opened his mouth to probably protest Issei’s statement, but before he could, Takahiro was already coming back to their table and shoving the glasses in their direction.
“Nice try, but we all know Tooru will be drunk as soon as he finishes the third glass.” Hajime said while crossing his arms in front of his chest and leaning back in the chair.
“Third? You’re giving him too much credit, Hajime,” Issei argued, ignoring Tooru’s offended whining. “I’m thinking he won’t be able to go on after the second glass.”
“Okay, what the hell.” Tooru exclaimed before slapping Hajime’s arm painfully because he was the one sitting most closely. “You guys haven’t seen me for years and this is how you show me how much you’ve missed me?”
“It’s because we haven’t missed you.”
“I hope you choke on that drink, Makki.”
“It’s Matsukawa now, dipshit.” Takahiro fired back with a wide grin stretched across his face.
Tooru pouted before saying, “I still can’t believe you two are married.” Then he suddenly gasped and turned to face Hajime. “Iwa-chan, when are you going to marry me?”
Hajime was grateful that he wasn’t drinking at the moment when the words left Tooru’s mouth, but somehow he still managed to choke on air. “Excuse me?!”
There was a slight movement under a table and then Tooru’s loud cry echoed in the bar.
“ Ow! What was that for?!”
“Stop saying stuff like that if you don’t mean it.” Issei replied with a serious tone and before Tooru could react, he was already changing the topic. “Anyways, how is your team feeling about tomorrow's game, Hajime?”
Tooru wasn’t much of a drinker, he always claimed that he hated the way his clothes smelled the next day or how dry his throat was. That was two main reasons out of a thousand more why he refused to drink no matter what.
Unless he was hanging out with his stupid friends who called him boring whenever he refused to drink. In reality, they just wanted to see him being the stupid one because that was exactly what he always became when he drank.
This time wasn’t any different either.
“Iwa-chaaannn, let’s dance!” He whined out and tried his best to drag Hajime out from the chair, who was almost half asleep on the table. “ Hajime !”
“Hmmhmm.” Tooru shook him harshly before sinking his sharp teeth in Hajime’s shoulder. “ Fuck off! This is a bar, Oikawa, not a disco club.”
“Dance with me or I’ll tell everyone about that one time when you--” The couple across them weren’t able to hear what Tooru was using to blackmail Hajime because he leaned forward and whispered it in the latter’s ear, causing the athletic trainer to quickly open his eyes and stare at his friend with shocked expression.
“You wouldn't even dare.”
“Do not test me, Iwa-chan.” Tooru grinned.
“Maybe making them drink was a mistake…” Issei whispered to his husband without tearing his eyes away from Hajime and Tooru. God, it was embarrassing.
“Yep.” Takahiro sighed out. He placed his glass of water down on the table and got up.
“We should take them home. You drive them and I’ll get Hajime’s car or he’ll kill me tomorrow morning.”
Issei clapped his hands together. “I thought you’d never say that, thank god, I hate this place so much."
“Hey, lovebirds-- This isn’t a wedding why the hell are you two slow dancing--”
As soon as Hajime opened the door after spending five minutes trying to fish out his keys out from the pocket of his pants, Tooru barged in without waiting for the owner of the house. He headed straight towards the kitchen, claiming that he was craving chocolate cake.
“I don’t have a chocolate cake.” Hajime yawned, toeing out from his shoes and going to the kitchen himself as well.
If he weren’t drunk out of his mind, he would never allow Issei to drag drunk Tooru in his house but he almost fell asleep halfway home and didn’t have time to tell Tooru to shut up when he started whining.
Tooru was almost sitting inside the fridge - he had his ass comfortably seated on laminated flooring and his upper torso shoved straight into the fridge, looking for the cake.
“I already told you, I don’t have a chocolate cake--”
“Iwa-chan,” Tooru murmured and when Hajime opened the fridge door wider, he saw that Tooru had his head resting on the food container. “I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
“Don’t throw up on my dinner.”
“Don’t talk about throwing up or I will throw up.” Tooru warned.
“You started.” Hajime rolled his eyes, thinking that Tooru was just messing with him but he was proven wrong when Tooru made a gagging noise. “Okay, get up.”
“Can’t. Too tired--” And then there was another gagging noise. Hajime exhaled sharply and grabbed Tooru’s arm, ignoring his yelp as he forced his friend to get on his feet.
Before Tooru could protest any further, Hajime was already dragging him into the bathroom.
Hajime opened his mouth to tell Tooru to throw up in the toilet instead of his clean floor if he was still nauseous, but his friend was already dropping himself on his knees and emptying his stomach in the toilet bowl.
Hajime couldn’t stop himself from making a face at the noises Tooru was making but he still forced himself to squat down next to another man and start rubbing his back softly.
After five or more minutes, Tooru was finally done vomiting in Hajime’s toilet - thank god.
“Brush your teeth, I’ll get you clean clothes.” Hajime said, not really sober but not very drunk either now. He helped Tooru get back on his feet again and handed him a new toothbrush before walking out from the bathroom to his bedroom to give Tooru one of his shirts.
When Hajime got back in the bathroom, Tooru was sitting on the side of the bathtub, staring down at the tiled floor as if he were dissociating.
“You here?” Hajime asked before yawning again, shoving the shirt in Tooru’s hand.
A little hum was the response he got and he didn’t say anything else to another man anymore, he turned around and started brushing his teeth as well.
Again, he was the one who had to drag Tooru in his bedroom but the fact that Tooru didn’t pass out and fell backwards in the bathtub was something that shocked Hajime, if he was being completely honest.
The second Hajime brought Tooru closer to his bed, the taller one was already dropping himself on the duvets before letting out a relieved sigh.
“I’m not taking your pants off.” Hajime grumbled and without bothering to take off his own pants, he laid down next to Tooru as well.
After a few minutes of silence, right when Hajime was about to drift into sleep, he heard Tooru murmuring something under his breath. “Hmm?”
“Pretty.” Tooru whispered with his eyes half lidded before bringing his hand up to gently touch Hajime’s cheek. “You’re pretty.”
“Wrong,” Hajime whispered back. “You’re the pretty one here.”
Maybe, maybe if his mind still weren’t so hazy because of alcohol, maybe he would know better and stop the next words that were going to leave his mouth. But before he could, the sentence was already slipping past his lips.
“I’m in love with you.” He murmured before closing his eyes.
Deep down he had a shred of hope that Tooru was already asleep and he didn’t hear what Hajime said, but he was proven otherwise right after.
“What did you say?”
‘ Ow ’ was the first thought Hajime got as soon as he opened his eyes the next morning.
It took his brain a few seconds to remember the events of last night, while turning around to see Tooru peacefully sleeping next to him was enough for his heart to drop into the depths of his stomach.
As he stared at his sleepy childhood best friend and long-term crush, he couldn’t stop himself from quietly cursing under his breath for getting so drunk that he ended up confessing to him.
Maybe he didn’t hear it?
‘“What did you say?”’
No, he definitely heard it.
Hajime had to resist the urge to bury his head in the pillow and yell at the top of his lungs because fuck . This was why he rarely got drunk. He was going to kill Issei and Takahiro.
Something Hajime couldn’t stop himself from doing when he got up from the bed and felt the flash of pain in his head was loudly groaning out.
Another very good and valid reason why he hated getting drunk.
Praying to god for Tooru not to wake up any time soon, Hajime swiftly collected his clothes and almost ran towards the bathroom, hoping to take a quick shower and then leave the house without having to face Tooru after everything he did last night.
“I’m going to murder you.” Hajime hissed to the person on the other side of the phone as he quietly closed his front door and started walking towards his car.
“Good morning to you too.”
“Did he and Tooru finally fu--”
“I’m going to murder your husband as well.” Hajime interrupted before Takahiro could finish the sentence and slammed the door shut.
“So much anger in your short body, Hajime.” Issei tutted, and Hajime just knew that his friend had that shit-eating smirk on his face. Hajime opened his mouth to throw a petty insult at his friend, but Issei was quick to cut him off. “Now, why are you so angsty in this beautiful morning, what way did you chose to fuck up.”
“You two got me so drunk yesterday that I accidentally ended up confessing to him!”
A short pause was what Hajime got before, “Oh.”
“Oh? Oh?! That’s all you have to say?!”
“Well, what did he say?” Takahiro butted in.
“Nothing, I started acting like I was dead asleep so he had to leave me alone. Now, he’s asleep in my apartment and I’m in my car trying to figure out what I should do.” Hajime said without taking a breath in. “Did you two die?”
“So, you and Oikawa didn’t fuck? I did all that work for nothing, huh.”
“I’m coming to your house right now and you better run and hide for your fucking life ‘Hiro.”
“Hey, Hajime--” The athletic trainer felt the blood in his veins freezing as soon as he realized who the voice behind him belonged to. He gripped the clipboard in his hand and continued walking towards the bench, acting like Tooru didn’t just call out for him. “Why are you--”
Suddenly, Hajime stopped and turned around to face his very confused friend.
“We both have a game we need to win, Oikawa.” Before Tooru could even manage to let out a single word, Hajime was already putting down the stupid clipboard on the bench and rushing over to his team.
Even without facing Tooru, he knew that the latter was looking at him.
He used to do it so often in high school - he would get angry at Hajime over something petty and stop walking when they were going home; he would just stand there and stare at Hajime until his best friend felt intimidated by his action.
But the main difference between the way he used to stare back then and the way he was staring at Hajime right now was that this time, he was just confused instead of angry.
Confused why the hell was Hajime ignoring him and not letting him talk.
Just when Tooru was about to become his stubborn self as well and go after Hajime, he felt someone touching his shoulder gently.
“It’s time to start.” His teammate told him quietly.
Tooru nodded without taking his eyes away from his gorgeous best friend who was also unbearably hot in that ridiculously tight polo shirt.
Just when an older man took a step back and Tooru looked down at how the gold medal pridefully hung around his neck, his eyes welled up with tears.
It was almost unbelievable that he won.
After how much he worked on himself his entire life, after so many obstacles, after so many falls, after everything - he couldn’t believe that he had finally, finally achieved his dream.
He could hear his teammates yelling in joy as they hugged one another with wide grins on their faces but there was only one person Tooru was not tearing his eyes away from. And from those green eyes and freckles and that breathtaking smile on his face.
The person that Tooru knew if didn’t exist in his life, he would never be able to achieve what he did and he would not be standing there with a gold medal around his neck.
None of it would happen if it wasn’t for Hajime. None of it would happen if it wasn’t for Hajime putting up with him since they were six years old; practicing till their bodies started to ache; looking after Tooru when Tooru didn’t look out for himself; knocking some sense into Tooru’s thick skull how it’s nearly impossible to win only by yourself.
None of it would happen if it wasn’t for Hajime believing in his best friend when Tooru didn’t believe in himself in the first place.
Not really caring about the people around him anymore, Tooru was quick to slip away from his teammates and start walking towards where Hajime was standing, feeling the corner of his lips twitching upwards even more as he got closer and closer to him.
“Maybe I should've worked harder to kick your petty ass.” Hajime shrugged with still that breathtaking smile on his face and Tooru felt something inside him melting.
“Maybe, but now it’s too late because I already have this,” Tooru grinned and pointed at the gold. The realization of what he was going to say next caused the temperature to rise in Tooru’s body. “which I couldn’t have gotten without you.”
Hajime’s face fell in confusion as he tilted his head slightly.
“You won that because of your hard work, Tooru. And because you kicked my team’s ass but still.” Hajime shrugged. “It has nothing to do with me.”
“Silly, silly Iwa-chan.” Tooru shook his head and brought his hands up to take off the medal without breaking eye contact with Hajime. When he was finally holding the gold in his hands again, he took another step towards Hajime to close the distance between them before smiling softly and putting the medal around Hajime’s neck in front of the whole stadium.
“No matter what I do in my life, it will always have everything to do with you, Hajime.”
The next thing Hajime knew was that he was being pulled forward by Tooru who still had his hand gripped around the medal and the olympic champion was pressing his lips against the athletic trainer’s while wrapping his free hand around Hajime’s waist, pulling him closer until their chests were pressed against each other.
“The,” When they parted and Hajime spoke up, he could barely recognize his voice. “The whole world just saw you do that.”
Tooru gently brushed his hand across Hajime’s cheek, his forehead still pressed against the shorter one’s.
“Let them see, I have absolutely nothing to hide.” Tooru whispered before cupping Hajime’s jaw with his hand and staring into his eyes. “Hajime, I’m in lo--”
Before he could have a chance to finish speaking, one of his teammates tapped slightly on his shoulder and said, “It’s, erm, time for interviews.”
“Ah, for god’s sake,” Hajime couldn’t stop himself from letting out a chuckle when Tooru threw his head and groaned out. “Fine, I’ll be there in a second.”
Hajime freed himself from Tooru’s grasp and took a step back, biting the inside of his cheek lightly as he removed the gold medal from his neck and handed it over back to Tooru.
“It’s fine,” Hajime said and brought Tooru's hand up to his lips, placing a small kiss on his knuckles that caused Tooru’s cheeks to heat up. “You can tell me later.”
“But--”
“I want you to tell me later,” Hajime interrupted, letting go of Tooru’s hand and moving past him before looking over his shoulder with a smile on his face. “I know you know very well where to meet me tonight.”
It took Tooru a few seconds to realize what Hajime meant.
“And you claim you’re not romantic, huh.” Tooru fired back, his voice full of smugness.
“Oh well.” Hajime replied as he turned around again to face him, his green eyes sparkling like gemstones. “And Tooru? Happy birthday.”
“I hope you didn’t say anything stupid during interviews.” Hajime spoke up as soon as he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him from behind.
“Do you have eyes on the back of your head as well because what the hell.” Tooru whined.
“I’d recognize the sound of your footsteps anywhere.”
“You’re such a creep. And what if it was someone else? Wouldn’t that be embarrassing?”
“Nothing can be more embarrassing than what I did yesterday night.” Hajime replied, trying to ignore the way his cheeks and the tip of his ears heated up.
Tooru let out a chuckle but didn’t say anything to that, at least not until he sat down on the swing next to Hajime and turned to face him.
“Really? I thought you’d think this,” Hajime felt his heart stopping in his chest when Tooru fished a folded paper out from the back pocket of his jeans. “is the most embarrassing thing you have ever done.”
“Why did you go through my stuff?” Hajime asked just when he felt a drop of rain on the top of his head.
Tooru shrugged. “I woke up all alone in your bedroom and I had nothing to do, so I decided I would do anything for the sake of entertainment.”
“Going through my drawers is the quality of entertainment?”
“No, not at all.” Tooru denied almost immediately, causing the laugh to escape Hajime’s mouth. “But finding a love letter dedicated to me was quite amusing.”
“Don’t you dare--” Hajime groaned when he saw Tooru unfolding the paper.
“Dear Tooru, Shittykawa, Oikawa, I can’t believe I’m going to say this but--” Before Tooru could have a chance to continue reading, there was a pebble flying in his direction. “Ow!”
“If you continue speaking I will wrap the chain holding this swing around your throat and I will choke you.”
“Last part sounded so kinky, Iwa-chan.” Tooru must’ve seen the disappointed look on Hajime’s face because he was quick to put the paper back in his pocket and throw his hands up in the air in defense. “Why didn’t you send it?”
“What do you think, idiot.” Hajime huffed. “I didn’t know what your reaction would be, I didn’t know if you would even receive it or not, I didn’t know what would happen if you read it and then reached out to me to tell me you felt the same. Maybe you were even married in Argentina, I didn’t know anything.”
“Why the hell would I be married?”
“You’re full of surprises, how was I supposed to know?” Hajime fired back just when rain started to pour down even more.
“Well, I wasn’t even in a relationship while being there, really.” Tooru shrugged, looking up at the sky. “Few one night stands? Yeah, but I never looked at anyone seriously because…”
“Because--?”
“Because none of them were you.” Tooru whispered, his eyes still glued on the clouded sky. There was a short pause before he finally decided to look back at Hajime and continue talking. “Because I’m in love with you .”
“This is the park where we first met.” Hajime said almost immediately, like he didn’t even hear what Tooru had just said. “We were six, and I was minding my business while looking for bugs when I suddenly felt someone throwing a volleyball in the back of my head.”
“It was an accident!”
“It still hurt like bitch and I accidentally dropped every bug I had collected on my palm, I almost bursted out crying and wanted nothing more than to make you stick your head in the ground.” Hajime didn’t even try to hide the smile that broke on his face when Tooru looked at him with wide brown eyes.
“So, you’ve been that evil since childhood.”
“I spent hours collecting those bugs and you made me lose all of them, of course I would want to do something evil to you.” Hajime replied while getting up from the swing and stopping in front of Tooru, sliding his hand in his friend’s wet hair. “But as soon as you helped me get up from the ground, looked at me with that small smile on your face and offered to help me collect more of them, that anger towards you suddenly disappeared.”
“And you’re telling me all of this because that was the moment when you fell in love with me, Iwa-chan?” Tooru asked as he started to wiggle his eyebrows mischievously.
“No, I’m telling you all of this because we met and became friends exactly here, exactly at your birthday years ago,” Hajime started before taking a step back and holding out his hand for Tooru to take, which he did, just like he always did. “and I want this to be the place where everything changes for us.”
“You’re proposing here?! Right now?!” Tooru’s eyes widened.
“Not right now, but maybe years later I will do that here as well.” Hajime shot him a small grin and intertwined their fingers together. “But before marriage we need that whole ‘we’re dating’ phase so I have to as--”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t even--”
“Yes, Iwaizumi Hajime, I will date you.” Tooru said quickly like if he didn’t let the words out as soon as possible, Hajime would run away from him. “Or be your boyfriend, whatever you were going to ask!”
“You ruined everything, Tooru, this was supposed to be romantic!”
“Ah- ha ! So, you admit you’re romantic?!” Tooru exclaimed, something in his eyes twinkling.
“I hate you so much.”
“Didn’t you just ask me to be your boyfriend?”
“I’m starting to regret it, really.”
“No you’re not. Now hurry up and kiss me!”
“Jesus, Tooru, it’s July, why are you shivering?!”
“It’s because we’re standing under pouring rain!”
“Let’s go home then.”
Tooru felt something warm spreading in his body when the words left Hajime’s mouth before his boyfriend threw his hand over Tooru’s shoulders and pulled his body closer.
“Yeah,” Tooru smiled. “Let’s go home.”