Archive of Our Own

“The earliest, as usual.”

Hajime doesn’t bother turning around when he hears voices echoing in the rink, as well as the sound of metal grazing the ice. Instead, he continues staring at the pucks scattered near the crease a few meters away from him. He presses the end of his stick on the ice as he catches his breath. The owners of the voices he heard earlier come to a halt right next to him.

Aran Ojiro lets out a whistle as he follows the direction of Hajime’s gaze. “At this rate, Coach isn’t going to have any say about you dude.” 

“I doubt that.” Hajime mumbles. 

“You give yourself too little credit,” Wakatoshi Ushijima voices out from his other side, his eyes narrowing on the pucks. “As always, your aim is impeccable.” 

“That’s why the juniors always get starry-eyed when they watch you play, even during practice. You’re the superstar of the team.” Daichi Sawamura adds in with a teasing tone.

Hajime rolls his eyes playfully, scoffing. “Alright, what is this sudden wave of compliments so early in the morning?”

“Hey! Don’t start without me!” Another boisterous voice echoes in the rink, belonging to none other than a certain Koutarou Bokuto. He rushes over to them as soon as he steps on the ice. “Man, I can’t believe you guys still beat me here! I even woke up thirty minutes earlier than I usually do!”

Ojiro gives Bokuto a sympathetic pat on the back as soon as Bokuto comes to a halt next to him. “Don’t worry about it, Iwaizumi was already here when the three of us arrived.”

“Again?” Bokuto turns to Hajime.

Hajime just shrugs. “I’m a morning person.”

“I too am a morning person,” Ushijima says. “But I suppose my morning runs always take longer than I expect them to.”

They decide to use their time practicing while waiting for the others to arrive. Sawamura gets into his position as the goalie, while the other four team up in pairs. Ojiro and Hajime against Ushijima and Bokuto. 

“Alright, since Sawamura is our only goalie, we determine the winner by the pair who has the most scores against him.” Hajime explains, making his voice loud enough for Sawamura to hear.

“Bring it on!” Sawamura shouts from his position as he puts on his helmet and glove.

Their game stretches on with each pair still scoreless. It shouldn’t be that hard to score, especially since there’s only five of them playing, but Sawamura is an exceptional goalie, plus with the lack of defense for each pair, the puck gets stolen from one and the other.

A few of their junior members start arriving in the arena slowly, but they all decide to stay in the stands and watch their seniors play on the rink. They rush to wrap up their little practice game, and with Sawamura slowing down against two pairs, Hajime takes this as an opportunity to score. He steals a pass from Bokuto that was supposed to be for Ushijima, and hurries to pass it to Ojiro who sends it flying to an opening that Daichi couldn’t catch up to.

As the puck gets caught up in the net and falls onto the ice, Hajime and Ojiro give each other a high five and couldn’t help the smug looks on their faces as they face their loser opponents. 

“Sawamura was not in his best shape anymore, is all.” Ushijima deadpans, but they all know he is teasing. Bokuto nods eagerly.

“I heard that!” Sawamura shouts, doubled over with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

Hajime snorts. “That’s what losers would say.” Ojiro lets out a loud laugh next to him.

The five of them get off the ice and towards their gym bags. Hajime flops on the floor, stretching out his legs as he grabs his tumbler from his bag and sprays the water in his mouth.

“Iwaizumi-san, you were so cool!” A second-year winger with bright orange hair, Shoyo Hinata, rushes up to them in excitement, even in his skates. “Actually, all of you were so cool!” 

Hajime chuckles. “Thanks, Hinata.”

Their other teammates start approaching them as well, throwing out praises here and there, saying that it’s always cool watching their seniors play, and along with a few ‘you should totally teach me that move , senpai!’ ’ 

Their coaches arrive not soon after and their chattering immediately dies down. Bokuto helps Hajime up from the floor and they all stand in a semi-circle in front of the coaches. The head coach gives them a quick one-over and nods approvingly. “Looks like everyone is here. Good. This morning we’ll only be having conditioning practice, and later we’ll have the official-practice game.”

Hajime crosses his arms against his chest and drums his fingers on his arm. He’s really looking forward to the practice game later. It’s not just their usual practice games, but it's a game that will help their coach pick the roster for the upcoming All Japan Ice Hockey Championship, so he calls it the ‘official-practice game’. Every year their university team participates in the said championship, and Hajime’s never gotten a chance to play in it because more often than not, their coach always picks the seniors for the starting lineup. It’s not unusual since of course as seniors, they have more experience and the coach knows about their potential. Now that Hajime is in his last year and is now the senior, he finally gets to be in the lineup, but of course he won’t just depend on his seniority status, so he’ll be sure to prove to his coach he’s worth it to play as the winger for the championship.

Aside from that, the game is also their coach’s routine to criticize their strengths and most especially their weaknesses, pointing out places where they should work on more. Hajime is always looking forward to it since he’s always opening room for improvement.

Their morning conditioning practice ends abruptly, and their coach reminds them again of the game later and not to arrive late before dismissing them. Hajime shuts his locker and ruffles his own hair to get rid of the droplets from the shower he took. Ushijima, Bokuto, and Ojiro go ahead to their respective classes, while Sawamura waits for Hajime to go to their shared morning class.

“Who do you think will make the substitution lineup this time?” Hajime asks as they walk to their class.

“Nishinoya for sure,” Sawamura answers. “That kid’s got a lot of potential as a goalie. He’ll definitely get the job done if I’m out of commission.”

“For sure. And you’ve been giving him some special training, right?” 

“Special training, yeah right.” Sawamura snorts. “I’m just teaching him what I know. It doesn’t even look like I need to teach him much.”

“I’m sure he’s taking everything you’re passing on to him at heart.”

“Hopefully, but he has his own technique. I trust him.” Sawamura says, turning to Hajime. “How about you? Got anyone in mind?”

“I really want to say Hinata.” Hajime chuckles. “He’s got the speed, y’know? And everyone knows that wingers gotta be fast as lightning. Plus he’s unpredictable. Good for throwing off opponents.”

Sawamura laughs as well. “Yeah, Hinata has a bright future ahead of him. He only jumped into ice hockey last year, but look at the huge improvements he’s made in a year. Your apprentice is really promising.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know if Coach trusts him enough to put him in, especially since it’s the All Japan Ice Hockey Championship, and not just a match against another university.”

“Well technically we will be against other universities in the championship.”

Hajime rolls his eyes. “You know what I mean. Coach always has this official-practice game so he could pick a starting lineup for the championship, but based on our previous experiences he only chooses the seniors every time.”

“Hey, you and Ushijima made it in the roster last year.” Sawamura reminds him. “Ushijima even got a chance to play, if I remember correctly.”

Hajime just shrugs. Sawamura elbows his chest playfully. “We’re the seniors now. It’s our turn for the starting lineup, Iwaizumi. Plus, this might be your chance to make the decision.”

Hajime takes a deep breath, gripping the straps of his backpack. By ‘the decision’, Sawamura clearly means Iwaizumi’s decision whether to go pro or to end his ice hockey journey in university. Among the five of them, he’s the only one who hasn’t decided yet, especially now that they’re in their last year. Ushijima and Bokuto are both going pro, while Ojiro and Sawamura are settling their ice hockey journey in university. 

Hajime really loves ice hockey. He’s known the sport since he watched a match with his father when he was seven, and started playing when he was ten. It's one of the few things he’s passionate about, but he’s not sure if he’s passionate about it enough for it to determine his future. For one, ice hockey isn’t as famous in Japan as baseball or soccer, and getting a chance to play ice hockey in the international leagues is close to impossible. 

He doesn’t know if he thinks that way because he doesn’t believe in himself, or just because he’s not willing to take ice hockey to that level. Unlike Ushijima and Bokuto, who’ve already planned ahead about joining the Japan Ice Hockey League, Hajime is still stuck in the present. Plus, his sports science degree is staring right at him in the face. Juggling a university sport and a medical degree is not a piece of cake (seriously — not even close to it) but somehow Hajime managed to do it because he loved both.

He shakes the thought off his mind, not wanting to wander off during his lectures. The day goes by smoothly, and before he knows it all his three classes for the day are over and he’s heading back to the ice arena of their university. His last class finished a little later than usual, so when he arrives in the locker room a lot of his teammates are already there. 

He thrusts his backpack in his locker and hurries to get into his gear. His surname and the number four is plastered on the back of his uniform, and although it is common in hockey that the defensemen would get the lower numbers, Hajime—a winger—is his own person and an exception to that. Just because.

As soon as their coaches arrive, they immediately start their warmup. As they do their pre-game regime, Hajime does a quick one-over with the juniors. Some look nervous, some excited, and most of them determined. 

Hajime is confident that the five of them (Ojiro, Bokuto, Sawamura, Ushijima, and him) are getting in the lineup. Sawamura is a goalie, Bokuto is their center, Ushijima and Hajime are wingers, and Ojiro is one of the defensemen, leaving one spot for a defenseman left open. 

“Any candidates you’re betting on as your pair?” Hajime asks Ojiro who is stretching next to him.

“Probably Kenji Futakuchi over there. He’s got that look in his eyes.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s a defensemen thing. You wingers wouldn’t know about it.”

Hajime rolls his eyes which makes Ojiro laugh.

After they finish with both their off and on ice warm ups, they all gather in a semicircle around their coach. “Alright, I’ve made sure these team matchups are well balanced and would show each of your strengths and weaknesses, so listen up as I announce which team you’ll be on.”

The coach starts announcing the players on the teams. Hajime is placed on a team with Hinata as his other winger, which has the orange haired boy jumping in excitement. “Iwaizumi-san, I can’t wait to see your amazing wrist shots!”

Hajime grins. “Well I can’t wait for your unpredictable snapshot. You gotta use it when the situation requires, yeah?“

“You can count on me!”

Hajime’s team is playing against Ushijima’s team. Hajime takes it as an advantage since he’s been playing with Ushijima as a co-winger, so he can read some of Ushijima’s moves. Ushijima is good either way, but better at being a left winger since he’s left-handed. As expected he’s the left winger in their team, paired with a second-year named Tsutomu Goshiki as a right winger.

The game was a blur as soon as it started. The opposing team wasted no chance trying to score, but Hajime has Nishinoya Yu in his team as their goalie. Sawamura seemed to be right when he said Nishinoya was on another level, because he was able to block off Ushijima’s famous and powerful snapshot that even other universities are wary about. 

The game goes on until the scoreboard shows 3-2, in favor of Ushijima’s team. Hajime glides over the ice as he moves the puck out of the defense zone, and he’s about to pass it over to their center, when he loses his balance and almost trips, messing up the angle of his blade and rolling off the puck at a direction slightly away from the center, causing the opponent’s right defenseman to gain possession of the puck and take control of the game. 

Hajime is a little shocked over the misshape, but shakes it off and continues to focus on the game. 

The match ends in a 4-4 tie, and their coach does not bother with the usual overtime period, saying he’s already seen what he wants to see. The next match doesn’t start long, and Hajime watches in the stands as wipes of the beads of sweat on his forehead with the towel around his neck. 

When all of the matches end, they’re all gathered again off the ice and on the benches. Hajime leans against the wall as he waits for the coach to announce everything, including his observations.

“Alright. First we’ll start up with the roster and then specifically the starting lineup.“

The players in the roster were all whom Hajime had expected. And in the end, their coach announced the starting lineup which was composed of the five seniors (like everyone expected) and a certain Motoya Komori as the other defenseman. Ojiro grins and gives Komori a pat on the shoulder.

“Those who were not included in this year’s championship roster, don’t think you can skip out on practice.” Their head coach grumbles. “Since we have that covered, let’s move on to the notes I have here of everyone’s strengths and weaknesses that I have observed. Let’s start with the second-years.”

Their head coach, Coach Suzaku may seem grumpy and intimidating, but Hajime thinks he's an amazing coach since he’s really hands-on on the team. He makes sure to bring out the best in every player, and gives a little advice in working on improvements.

“Alright for the seniors, we have Iwaizumi.” Coach Suzaku announces, and Hajime stands straight. “As always your wrist shot is a scoremaker, you’re strong in defense and breakways, and in offense as well. You’re an amazing winger, Iwaizumi.”

“Thank you so much, Coach.”

“But,” Coach Suzaku looks up from his clipboard and looks directly at Hajime. “You’ve been a little sloppy on the ice lately. Your greatness is nothing if you’re sloppy on ice, you hear me? You gotta improve your balance and your stance, Iwaizumi. Other than that, I commend you for your skills.” 

“Of course, Coach.”

As soon as their coach finishes his segment and dismisses them, they all do their post-game regime before heading off to their respective ways. Hajime is preoccupied thinking about what Coach Suzaku told him as he puts his gear in his locker. He grabs his backpack from the locker and announces to the remaining people in the locker room that he’s leaving, getting a mix of goodbyes and have a nice evening!

Hajime had just stepped out of the arena and was about to head home to his apartment, when he heard someone calling him. “Iwaizumi-san!”

Hajime stops on his tracks, turning around to see Hinata catching up to him. “Oh, hey Hinata.”

“You were incredible today!” Hinata beams. “Your wrist shot got us that tie!”

“Well you were amazing out there too. You even made it on the roster.”

“I know! I still can’t believe it! I mean, I won’t be playing obviously since you and Ushiwaka-san are, but still!” He exclaims, but then he shakes his head. “But this isn’t about me. What the coach told you—“

Hajime waves his hand nonchalantly. “Ah, don’t worry about it. I’m not that affected by it since Coach is right, and even I’ve been noticing that I’ve been a little sloppy on ice.”

“So, what are your plans? If you want, I know someone who can help!”

“I appreciate it, Hinata, but I think I’ll try and figure this out myself.”

Hinata nods in understanding. “You’re so cool, Iwaizumi-san!” 

“You give me too much credit.”

“You just think that before you give yourself too little credit, senpai.” Hinata shakes his head disapprovingly. “Anyway, I have to go! I’ll see you when I see you!”

Hajime watches Hinata disappear from his sight before he continues walking out of the campus and to his apartment. 

Hajime could smell the scent of caffeine as soon as he entered the ice arena. The receptionist, Aiko, seems to be having her morning coffee, and Hajime doesn’t blame her. He walks over to her slowly, hitching up the strap of his gym bag on his shoulder. “Good morning.”

Aiko stops blowing off the steam from her cup of coffee, glancing towards Hajime’s direction. “Oh, Iwaizumi-kun! It’s you! I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Yeah, I've been using the arena at school.” Hajime chuckles.

“I see, so what brings you here then?”

“Aside from it being really early, we don’t have practice every Tuesdays because it’s when the ice is getting resurfaced.”

“But you’re still here to do some training on your own even though it’s supposed to be your day off?” Aiko raises an eyebrow at him.

“Oh come on, Aiko-san. Didn’t you miss me at least?”

Aiko takes a sip from her coffee before answering. “Well, it is nice to see you again.”

Hajime smiles. “See? Plus I won’t be long, I have a class at ten.” 

“Have at it,” Aiko nods at the closed doors leading to the rink. “There’s someone in there already, by the way, so I hope you don’t mind sharing.”

Hajime blinks. “Someone’s here this early?”

Aiko shrugs. “He must be training too. No casual skater would come by this early, y’know.”

“Ah, you’re right. Well, I’m heading in then.”

“Knock yourself out.”

Hajime gives Aiko a wave before turning his back on her to head inside to the rink. Even from afar, Hajime could already hear the sound of blades grazing the ice. Instead of heading straight to the benches, he decides to settle on the top of the stands. From above, he can see the person skating around the large rink.

From his movements, it’s obvious he’s not a casual skater just hanging around here for a morning skate. Hajime squints his eyes to get a good look at the skater’s face, and as soon as he sees the fluffy brown hair, recognition hits him. The skater is none other than Oikawa Tooru, a figure skater who is slowly but surely rising in the ranks. 

Hajime has seen a lot of his pictures lately, since Oikawa Tooru had just arrived back in Japan after staying in the U.S for a whole year to train and compete in the U.S International Figure Skating Classic, where he won gold. 

Hajime is awestruck when Oikawa suddenly does a toe loop and lands perfectly and with ease. He can’t believe he’s seeing Oikawa Tooru’s skating routines with his own eyes. Hajime continues to watch Oikawa do his freestyle practice, involving forward and backward strokes and crossovers, spins, and jumps. He always lands perfectly, like the ice is waiting for him to connect with it again. 

Hajime knows a few things about figure skating, since he likes watching competition videos on YouTube from time to time. He’s always in awe at how figure skating is so different from ice hockey. Maybe Hajime should’ve learned to figure skate when he was younger. He would’ve been better at cutting corners and pivoting, as well as maintaining his balance. He can’t help but feel a little envious as he watches Oikawa Tooru's insanely good footwork. 

Hajime takes a deep breath and decides that he should start now if he wants to get some training done before he has to head back to university before his 10AM class. He descends down the stands and settles on the benches to put on his skates. He gets up to grab one of the hockey sticks that the arena has for rent and turns around to walk to the rink, but sees Oikawa Tooru leaning forwards with upper body leaning onto the walls of the rink. He’s looking at Hajime so intently that Hajime starts feeling a bit nervous. “Uh, hello.”

“Hello.” 

“You’re Oikawa Tooru.” Hajime says, internally cursing himself for stating the obvious.

“I am.” 

Hajime clears his throat. “I recognized you from the articles I saw on the internet.”

Oikawa nods. “Okay,” he glances at the hockey stick Hajime is holding. “You’re a hockey player?”

“Yeah.”

Oikawa immediately straightens up. He looks so much taller up close, even taller than Hajime. He’s wearing a fitted black turtleneck shirt and black ice skating pants that hug his long legs perfectly, paired with his also black skates. Even after his quick routines earlier, his hair still looks neat and not even a tad disheveled. His cheeks are a little rosy from the cold, and Hajime realizes that photos on the internet don’t do any justice to Oikawa Tooru’s real beauty up close and personal.

“— so I’m sorry.”

Hajime blinks. He was so busy staring at Oikawa that he didn’t realize the figure skater was saying something. “Huh?”

Oikawa puts a hand on his hip . “I said that the rink is mine this morning, so you have to do your hockey somewhere else, I’m sorry.”

Suddenly the fuzziness in Hajime’s head about the figure skater vanishes as he comprehends what he had just said. “What? But Aiko-san didn’t say anything about you renting out the whole rink.”

“I was assuming no one else would use the rink so early so I didn’t bother, but I was wrong so now I have to rent it for the morning.”

“But I’m already here! You just can’t change your mind.”

“Why not?”

Hajime scoffs in disbelief. “You know what, you can do whatever you want but I’m staying to train whether you like it or not.”

Oikawa raises an eyebrow, which Hajime admits makes him look a little more intimidating. “Look, I don’t think you’re getting the gist here. I need the rink to train for Worlds. I’m sure you know all about the Worlds, and you are training for… university ice hockey, I assume?” 

Hajime can feel his blood boiling at the mocking tone laced in Oikawa’s voice. “The All Japan Ice Hockey Championship, actually.”

Oikawa doesn’t look even a little impressed. “Like I said—“

“No,” Hajime grits out. “Like I said, I’m staying whether you like it or not. I don’t care if you’re some international figure skater who recently brought home a gold medal or that you’re competing for fucking Worlds. You don’t own this rink nor did you rent it for the morning, not until I was here at least. So there’s nothing you can say that will make me leave.” 

Hajime steps on the ice and skates away from Oikawa and to the other side of the rink, not bothering to turn back around to look at him. Maybe he should’ve expected Oikawa Tooru to have an inflated head and ego, being an international figure skater and all, and especially because he had just won gold in a recent international championship. 

He takes a deep breath and drops the puck on the ice to start working on his edgework drills. He frowns when he realizes that he didn’t even get to do his warm up, and as an athlete he knows how important warmups are. He subtly looks back at the direction he came from, frowning even more when he sees Oikawa sitting by the benches off the ice.

Hajime decides to do some on-ice warm ups instead, and as soon as he finishes he begins with his edgework drills. He texted Coach Suzaku last night asking a few tips to work on improving his stance on ice, and he replied saying Hajime should try doing some edgework drills, so that’s exactly what Hajime’s going to start with.

As he moves around the rink, Hajime can feel a pair of eyes watching him, but refuses to let it bother him. Besides, Hajime had also been watching Oikawa with his freestyle routines earlier, so he can’t go on complaining if Oikawa is watching him do his edgework drills. 

Who cares if he’s watching, the little voice in Hajime’s mind says. He doesn’t know about ice hockey anyway. 

But he's a professional ice skater. He’d notice in a flash that my stance on ice is sloppy, another traitorous pessimistic voice pops up in his head. Hajime curses whoever decided to have the rink in university resurfaced during Tuesdays. If it was on some other day like a Sunday, then right now he’d be at the arena in school and he would not have met the egoistic and selfish Oikawa Tooru who is shooting lasers from his eyes staring at Hajime and is probably judging him.

After a few more drills, Hajime leans against the walls to catch his breath. Oikawa is back on the ice on his side of the rink, gliding and performing spins. 

Hajime scoffs as Oikawa does a layback spin, completely showcasing his flexibility. Hajime pushes himself off the wall to continue with his edgework skills. “What a showoff.” He mutters out of spite.

Hajime does another round of drills until he decides that he has to wrap up his morning training already if he wants to get to his 10AM lecture. As he gets off the ice, he makes sure to put back the hockey stick and puck and plops down on the bench to remove his skates and shove them in his bag.

He changes into his navy blue sweater and puts on his low cut Converse. He hitches up his bag on one shoulder and glances at Oikawa who is still busy gliding along the ice. Hajime just shakes his head and heads out of the rink, pays Aiko for the hours he used up, and then rushes out of the arena to catch the subway back to his university.

When Hajime is in the subway, he’s not surprised to see that it’s crowded since it’s already rush hour. As stand next to a metal pole in the subway, he puts on his AirPods and takes out his phone, opening the Safari app. He stares at the blank search bar for so long before he sighs and types out Oikawa Tooru.

A lot of recent articles immediately pop up, along with Oikawa's biography on Wikipedia. Hajime chooses to click on the second article which had a picture of Oikawa standing on a podium in costume with a gold medal around his neck. He looks happy in the photo, a bright smile on his face as he stands in the middle of two other skaters, and no matter how high quality the photo is, it still doesn’t seem to capture Oikawa’s good looks as it does when seeing him in person. But maybe a photo of him is better, since he wouldn’t be able to open his mouth because that seems to ruin everything.

Hajime clicks out of the news website, not bothering to read whatever praises they are singing to Oikawa. He clicks on the Wikipedia website instead and skims through the paragraph written about Oikawa’s life. It states that Oikawa started figure skating at a young age, and has only recently made a name for himself when he won silver in the Japan Figure Skating Championships two years ago, but before that Oikawa didn’t seem to be anyone of importance.

There’s a photo of Oikawa at the championships two years ago, and Hajime feels like he’s looking at a private moment. Oikawa is gripping on the strap of his silver medal, tears threatening to fall from his big brown eyes. His expression is glaringly different from his recent photo from the U.S International Figure Skating Classic. In that one he looked really happy and confident, but in this one, although he looks happy, he also looks almost as if he’s relieved. 

  “ Todaimae station.” 

Hajime looks up from his phone as he hears his stop approaching. He quickly closes the tab showing Oikawa’s photo, wondering why he searched about him in the first place when Oikawa had been rude to him at the rink. Hajime puts his phone back in his pocket as the train comes to a stop. As he steps outside, the thought of the figure skater is immediately pushed to the back of his mind as he rushes to campus for his lecture.

Hajime isn’t surprised when he meets Oikawa again a week after their first encounter. It’s a Tuesday again, so the ice arena at campus is closed for resurfacing and it’s the team’s day off. Resurfacing the rink won’t take even more than an hour, Hajime knows that, but still the rest of the arena is being cleaned and their coach requires them to have at least one day off from practice. 

And maybe Hajime should’ve listened to his coach, because if he did, then he would still be sleeping his ass off in his single bed in his apartment, especially since his only morning class got cancelled. But Hajime is Hajime, and he insists on working on his balance and stance if he can. Even if it meant he had to face a certain bratty figure skater at seven in the morning.

As soon as Hajime drops his bag on the bench, Oikawa is already there, his upper body leaning on the walls of the rink. He’s still wearing black skate pants and black shiny skates, but this time paired with a tight white shirt with a generous neck line. “It’s you.”

“Yeah. It’s me,” Hajime mumbles as he kicks off his shoes to put on his hockey skates. “It’s surprising how Aiko-san said you’re here, yet you didn’t rent the rink for the whole morning.”

Oikawa cocks his head. “Why would I?”

Hajime looks up at him like he had just grown a second head. “Have you forgotten your whole spiel to me last week? About you having to practice for Worlds or whatever.”

Oikawa rests his elbow on top of the wall and puts his chin on the palm of his hand. “You stood your ground, so I respect that. Besides, we both used the rink that day and I was fine.”

“So you realized you were wrong and just being selfish and egoistic.”

As Hajime comprehends what he just said, he couldn’t help but wince. He supposes he took it too far. He doesn’t know Oikawa that well either to be making such assertions. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that.”

Oikawa raises an eyebrow. “I doubt that. But I’ll forgive you if you tell me your name.”

Hajime blinks. “My name?”

“Yeah. You know my name, it’s only fair that I get to know yours. Plus, your apology is on the line here.”

Hajime rolls his eyes. “Iwaizumi Hajime.” 

Oikawa breaks into a smile. “Alright. I forgive you, Iwa-chan.” 

“What?” Hajime frowns. “That’s not my name!”

“Yes it is. Just the cuter and non-mouthful version.”

“No.”

Oikawa pushes himself off the wall. “Looking forward to skating with you, Iwa-chan!”

“Stop calling me that!” Hajime yells, but Oikawa is already skating away from him. 

Hajime just shakes his head in disbelief and starts doing his warm up stretches. When he finishes, he grabs a hockey stick and puck like last time and skates to the side of the rink opposite from Oikawa. The ice arena is even bigger than the one at Hajime’s campus, so both of them had enough space to do their own training. Oikawa skates around in zigzags and circles, but he doesn’t try to cross the imaginary line they mutually created without even consulting each other.

So Hajime also stays on his side of the rink, working on his edges by the specific edgework drills he’s doing. He pretends he’s in a game, doing the usual moves he does — turning, stopping, gliding, cutting a corner — he really digs his skates on the ice, trying to maintain the smooth movements, but he still gets a little sloppy and messes up his accuracy.

Hajime decides to take a break when he feels his knees ache a little. He heads back to the benches to drink some water and eat the granola bar he brought. Oikawa also gets off the ice and sits on the bench across from Hajime. “Aren’t you leaving yet?”

“Why? You feel like owning the rink again?”

Oikawa pouts at him. “Rude! It’s not that… just, you left at a time like this before.”

“Oh,” Hajime puts the wrapper of his granola bar in the zipper pocket of his bag. “I had class at 10AM that day. But today I’m free for the morning.”

Oikawa nods. “I see.”

“Do you stay here till noon?”

“Yeah,” Oikawa answers, stretching out his legs. “And in the afternoon, I do off-ice training.”

Hajime grimaces. “You train all day?”

Oikawa rolls his eyes. “No. I have two hours of homeschool in the evening. My off-ice training ends around five.”

“So you train for 12 hours. Everyday.”

“12 hours is nothing,” Oikawa waves his hand nonchalantly. “You’d be surprised how many hours a day I train a month before a competition.”

“I don’t even wanna know.”

Oikawa laughs, putting his hands on the bench and leaning back a little. “How about you? Shouldn’t you be training with your team?”

“Tuesdays are our day off.”

“Ah, so that’s why you come here on Tuesdays. To train on your own.”

“Something like that. I’m working on my —“

“Mobility and stability?” Oikawa cuts in.

“Uh… yeah.”

“I figured. You’re doing edgework drills.”

Hajime furrowed his eyebrows. “How did you know?”

“It’s just obvious, especially to someone like me who always has to be conscious about balance and stability.”

“You can just say you noticed how sloppy I was.”

Oikawa laughs again. “That too.”

“Well I’m working on it, alright? I gotta have it under control if I want my team to win in the championships.”

“What other training are you doing to improve this?”

“Just edgework drills for now.”

“You know,” Oikawa gets up from sitting on the bench. “Just because you're sloppy on ice, doesn’t mean you have to practice on ice only. You have to consider doing off-ice training and maybe also consider that it’s because of…” he looks down at Hajime’s skates, a judgmental look in his eyes.

Hajime glares at him. “I’m not a rich professional skater like you. It isn’t like I can buy hockey skates like it’s a bag of chips from the convenience store.”

Oikawa shrugs. “I’m just telling you what other factors can affect your performance on ice.”

“Whatever,” Hajime gets up from his seat as well. “I just have to train harder.”

“I like your spirit, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa calls out as Hajime steps on the ice and skates to his side of the rink.

He looks down at his slightly worn-out hockey skates. Hajime’s mother gifted them to him during his highschool graduation, so he’s had them for almost five years now. It may not seem like it’s been a long time, but for an active player like Hajime it’s no surprise his skates are worn-out. The skates are not as stiff as they were when he first got them, and it’s now too small for him if he’s being honest, but he always chose to just ignore it since he didn’t really have enough money at the moment to be thinking of buying new high quality hockey skates.

He pushes the thoughts aside and instead tries a new set of drills, placing cones on the ice which he can use to speed skate around. He glides around them while positioning his hockey stick and pushing around the puck. He does a drill thrice, rearranges the cones, and does the speed skater inside and outside edgework. As he finishes his last drill, he catches his breath and sees Oikawa leaning on the wall and watching him, and not doing his own usual routines.

Hajime raises an eyebrow at him. “What?”

Oikawa smiles and skates towards Hajime. He stops right in front of him, stretching out his hand. “Can I try?”

Hajime looks up at him, still catching his breath. “Try what?”

Oikawa nods at the hockey stick he’s holding. Hajime hands it to him cluelessly, and Oikawa happily takes it from him. He looks like he’s feeling out the feel of the stick in his hand, but then he grips it with more confidence. Hajime doesn’t know why, but he skates back a little to give Oikawa some space.  

In the blink of an eye, Oikawa is already speed skating around the rink, hockey stick in hand pushing around the puck. He’s fast, and Hajime can’t even keep up with his footwork. His strides are great in both length and width, and not once does the puck move away from the blade of the hockey stick. He zigzags across the cones and then stops coolly in front of Hajime even after skating at almost 30 kmh. 

Oikawa straightens up easily, handing back the stick to Hajime. “Here.”

“What was that?” is what comes out of Hajime’s mouth after recovering from his shock.

Oikawa cocks his head, fake-innocence plastered on his pretty face. “What was what?”

“How did you do… all that. Move like that with the stick and the puck.”

Oikawa lets out a contented sigh. “It’s always nice to hear the shock in someone’s voice, especially from a hockey player.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Hajime’s breath hitches as Oikawa leans closer towards him, their noses almost touching. “Didn’t expect a delicate figure skater like me to know killer hockey moves?”

Hajime furrows his eyebrows, looking anywhere but Oikawa’s face. “I wasn’t thinking that. I was just surprised. You look like you know your moves. You must’ve played before.”

Oikawa leans away from him, and Hajime lets out the breath he was holding. “You’re right. I played hockey before. Highschool.” 

“I’ve never seen anyone move that fast and precisely before,” Hajime mumbles. 

“Well, my stickhandling was a little rusty,” He waves his hand nonchalantly. “But you gotta admit my moves are better than yours, Iwa-chan.” 

Hajime rolls his eyes. “Oh yeah, you’re so much better than me, please teach me how you do it.” 

“Okay.”

Hajime turns to Oikawa. “I was kidding.”

“I’m not.”

“Literally what are you saying?”

Oikawa shrugs. “I’m just offering.”

“To teach me.”

“Well, not teach, per se,” Oikawa says. “Obviously I can’t teach you hockey, that’s not my forte. But I can help you. You saw me, right? And I’ve been watching you. I think I know how to help.”

When Hajime doesn’t answer, Oikawa lets out a chuckle. “You’re in no way obliged to say yes to me, Iwa-chan! Don’t look so scared. Like I said, I was merely offering. You can think about it.”

Hajime does think about it. He thinks about it as soon as he leaves the ice arena and heads back to his apartment. He thinks about it during his lectures, he thinks about it during practice, and he thinks about it before he goes to bed.

He won’t deny Oikawa’s little demonstration impressed him a lot. If Hajime moved like that during the championships, he’d surely be of great help to his team. And even though Oikawa’s head is a little inflated and he annoys Hajime a lot, he seems serious and maybe genuine in helping him out.

“Okay,” Hajime tells Oikawa as soon as he sees him again, a week after their previous conversation. “I accept your offer.”

Oikawa looks surprised, but then he gives Hajime a teasing smile. “Sounds more like you’re doing me a favor instead of the other way around.”

Hajime frowns. “Did you want my answer or not?”

“Iwa-chan can’t take a joke.”

“Can we start already?” Hajime grumbles, taking out his skates from his bag.

“Wait, no! Put that back.”

Hajime gives him an incredulous look. “Why?”

“We’re not gonna do on-ice training today. For your first day with me, you’ll start with off-ice training.”

“Like?”

“Cardiovascular fitness activities. Just trust me, Iwa-chan. I know what I’m doing.”

That’s how Hajime finds himself jogging at Yoyogi Park at 7AM, on a chilly November, with a famous figure skater. Oikawa is jogging ahead of him, and it’s not because Hajime is slow because he’s really not, but Oikawa seems to be overly enthusiastic about jogging and Hajime… isn’t.

“Iwa-chan, hurry up! I would never have thought you’d be so slow!”

“I’m not slow! You’re just basically running already!” Hajime calls out. Oikawa decides to jog in place as he waits for Hajime to reach him, and as soon as he does, he matches his pace. “Do you jog often?” 

“Only sometimes.”

“You should try to do it often. I’m not kidding when I say it’s helpful.”

“I just don’t do much off-ice training,” Hajime says. “I’m a medical student so I can basically only train during practice.”

“You’re a medical student?” Oikawa asks, surprise laced in his voice. “I’m surprised you have some time on your hands now, if that’s the case. And I’m assuming you’re in your last year.”

“Yeah. Fortunately the bloodshed won’t start till after the championships. So for now I can focus on the championships and give it my all.”

Oikawa only hums in reply, but as Hajime glances at him, he sees a small smile on his lips.

They do another lap around the park before finally taking a break. Hajime is sitting on the grass, catching his breath, while Oikawa is doing lunges in front of him. Today, he’s not wearing his usually fitted shirts and skater pants. Instead, he’s wearing an Adidas tracksuit.

“Are you sure it’s okay for you to be out and about like this? Aren’t you a famous international athlete that brings pride to the country?” Hajime asks as he watches Oikawa continue with his lunges.”

Oikawa scoffs, not bothering to look at Hajime. “I wouldn’t call it bringing pride to the country.”

“What do you mean? You literally won gold at the U.S International Figure Skating Classic.”

“Iwa-chan has really done his research,” Oikawa teases. “But, still. It’s not Worlds, nor is it the Olympics.”

“It’s still—”

“Iwa-chan! You shouldn’t be slacking off,” Oikawa says loudly, effectively cutting him off. “Come and do lunges with me. This is an important exercise since it focuses on the knees.”

Even though Oikawa denies his fame, they run into a few of his fans as they head back to the ice arena. Hajime steps away subtly, letting them coddle over Oikawa. He hears them congratulating Oikawa and praising his performance, and Oikawa expresses his thanks. They take some pictures with the figure skater before they leave, and Oikawa immediately looks around to look for Hajime.

“What was that about not being a famous international figure skater?” Hajime teases, approaching Oikawa again.

Oikawa pouts at him. “You seem to be forgetting that I am blessed with very good looks. It may have some contribution to my fame.”

“From what I heard, they were singing praises about your performance and not much about your looks.”

“So you think I’m ugly? You’re so mean, Iwa-chan!” 

They stop by a small bakery to buy a bottle of water, and as Hajime pays, Oikawa is busy pressing his face against the glass where there’s a display of different pastries. “These all look so good!”

The old lady by the counter chuckles. “They’re all fresh from the oven, dear. You should try one.”

Oikawa takes a step back from the glass. “Oh no, it’s okay! I was just—”

“Which one do you want?”

Oikawa turns to Hajime. Hajime nods at the display. “Pick one, I’ll pay.”

Oikawa’s face immediately lights up, and presses his face back on the glass again to review over his choice. Hajime ignores the weird feeling that started bubbling in his chest from Oikawa’s reaction earlier.

As they enter the ice arena, Oikawa finishes eating his chocolate banana muffin. He looks contented, his cheeks a rosy shade from the chilly November wind. It’s amusing how Oikawa’s skin seems to be sensitive to the cold, but Oikawa practically lives on ice. 

“You seem so happy over a muffin,” Hajime says. “Don’t tell me you’ve never had pastries before?”

“I have,” Oikawa answers, sitting down on the bench and taking out his skates. “Milk bread is actually my favorite food. Too bad they didn’t have any at the bakery.” He says with a pout. “I just rarely eat pastries because of my strict diet. I think that was my first pastry in a whole year.”

“Ah, right. I see.”

“How about you, Iwa-chan? Do you like pastries?” 

“They’re alright.” Hajime answers, taking out an extra shirt from his gym bag. 

“‘Alright’? You’re so boring!” He looks up to Hajime as he finishes putting on his skates. “What food do you like then?”

“I don’t know,” He thinks about the agedashi tofu his mom makes. “Probably tofu.”

“That’s such an Iwa-chan answer.”

“Whatever the hell that means,” Hajime pulls his current shirt above his head to change into a fresh new pair that’s void of sweat. 

He puts on his navy blue sweater and ruffles his hair a little. He shoves his sweaty shirt into his bag and zips it shut before slinging it over his shoulder. He glances over at Oikawa. “I gotta get going if I want to catch my morning class.”

“Oh,” Oikawa blinks at him. “Alright. I’ll see you next Tuesday?” 

Hajime rubs the back of his neck. “Actually, I might come here if I have more free time in my schedule. I was wondering if I could have your number so I could text you if I’m coming or not?”

“You know what, nevermind.” Hajime continues when he sees the teasing look on Oikawa’s face. Oikawa just laughs at him and starts reciting his number. Hajime types it in his phone quickly. “Okay, uh, I’ll text you.”

“Okay. I’ll be waiting for it then.” Oikawa smiles at him. Hajime can’t help but notice how his cheeks look a little rosier than usual.

Once Hajime is on the subway on the way to his university, he stares at the empty text box in his and Oikawa’s conversation. His thumbs hover over the keyboard as he thinks about what to send to the figure skater.

To: Oikawa Tooru
[09:38:17 AM]

Hey, Oikawa. This is Iwaizumi.

He doesn’t press send just yet. He stares at the message for a while, and deletes it when he realizes it sounds so dry. He doesn’t know why he’s so bothered when that’s how he usually texts everyone. He’s never been fond of emoticons.

The train stops at the station before Hajime’s, and a crowd of people go in and out. Hajime, who was standing near the door, gets a little jostled by the crowd. He takes a step back and glances at his phone again and mutters out a curse when he sees the message filled with random letters he must’ve accidentally sent when he was jostled by the crowd.

He’s about to type out an apology when he receives Oikawa’s reply.

To: Oikawa Tooru
[09:39:01 AM] 

Skhdk

From: Oikawa Tooru
[09:39:15 AM]

?

who’s this?

Hajime sighs and continues typing his apology.

To: Oikawa Tooru
[09:39:41 AM] 

Sorry, that was an accident.

This is Iwaizumi.

Oikawa’s reply comes immediately.

From: Oikawa Tooru
[09:39:57 AM] 

ah, you have such a way with words iwa-chan!

Hajime rolls his eyes.

To: Oikawa Tooru
[09:40:06 AM] 

I told you it was an accident.

I’ll be at my station soon. I’ll text you if I have some more time on my hands other than Tuesday.

From: Oikawa Tooru 

[09:40:19 AM] 

it really sounds like you’re doing me a favor than the other way around :p

but anyway, you’re the university student

ok ok, have a nice day iwa-chan!!

Hajime reads Oikawa’s replies twice and clears his throat when he notices he was smiling down at his phone.

Even though he didn’t get to skate on ice today, he doesn’t feel like his morning has been wasted. He’d never say it out loud, but he’s really looking forward to training more with Oikawa.

Hajime enters the ice arena with a bounce in his step. He greets Aiko a good morning and heads straight to the rink with a cup of coffee for him, hot chocolate for Oikawa, and a paper bag filled with freshly baked milk bread from the bakery near his apartment.

It’s been a whole month since Hajime’s been coming to the ice arena whenever he can, going over his mobility on ice with Oikawa. They’ve been practicing on and off ice, and Hajime realized that Oikawa can be a little strict if he wants to, and sometimes they have back-and-forth bickering, but at the end of the day they always find a way to get in tune with each other.

Hajime’s in a really good mood that he decided to bring breakfast for Oikawa, and his favorite food at that. Yesterday during practice, Coach Suzaku told Hajime he’s seen some improvement in his movements, and that he should keep it up. They also have a game on Saturday with another university, and Hajime’s looking forward to it.

Hajime slows down when he hears music around the rink. Hajime never managed to arrive earlier than Oikawa. Whenever he arrives, the rink is usually quiet aside from Oikawa’s humming and the sound of his blades grazing the ice. It’s the first time he arrives at the rink with music playing. 

He places the food on the bench and walks over to the walls to watch Oikawa on ice. He seems so absorbed in skating along with the music that he must’ve not noticed Hajime’s arrival. Hajime watches in awe as Oikawa moves around the ice, lifting his legs and moving his hands around gracefully. In the month they’ve been training together, Hajime’s never gotten to see Oikawa do a full routine like this — the last time he saw Oikawa do a routine was during their first encounter. 

Hajime’s not familiar with the music playing, but it sounds a little melancholic and a mixture of an R&B ballad and classical orchestra. Oikawa matches the pace of the music as the beat gets faster. Hajime feels his breath hitch when Oikawa does a triple loop and lands perfectly, not going off beat even for a second. He looks one with the ice, like it’s pulling him back to ground when he does a jump.

The beat continues to go faster and faster, and Oikawa attempts to do what seems to be a quadruple salchow. He spins flawlessly in midair, but lands on the wrong edge of his skates, making him fall on the ice.

“Oikawa!” Hajime yells, quickly kicking off his sneakers and putting on his own skates. He doesn’t bother to adjust the lace and just skates towards Oikawa. Oikawa pushes himself up from the ice, his arms a little shaky.

Hajime immediately kneels down next to him. “Hey, are you okay?”

Oikawa turns to Hajime with wide eyes, something akin to horror shining in them, but he quickly masks it up with nonchalance. “ Oh it’s you, Iwa-chan. I didn’t even notice your arrival.” 

Hajime gently grabs Oikawa by his elbow to help him up. “That landing looked pretty bad, Oikawa. Does anything hurt?”

Oikawa gives Hajime a smile. It looks so fake with irritation clearly seeping right through, Hajime almost feels like he’s being burnt as he continues to hold Oikawa by his elbow. “Oh yeah, I sure know that Iwa-chan! No need to rub salt on the wound.”

Hajime sighs. “I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just worried you might be hurt.”

“I’m a professional figure skater. This happens all the time,” Oikawa grits out. “I’m fine.” 

“Okay, come on,” Hajime slowly helps him up from the ice, and even though Oikawa keeps insisting that he’s fine, he still lets Hajime help him. They skate back to the benches together, and Oikawa turns off the music using a remote control next to his bag.

Hajime sits on the bench across from him, just next to the food he brought for Oikawa. Oikawa tilts his head up, letting out a shaky exhale as he stares at the high ceilings.

Hajime stays silent. He’s never seen Oikawa look so uneasy like this before. Oikawa’s always been a care-free spirit around him — always teasing Hajime whenever he can, being bossy, being annoying and whiny, yet Hajime wouldn’t want it any other way.

“Sorry you had to see that,” Oikawa says, looking at him with apologetic eyes. His voice sounded smaller than usual.

Hajime chuckles. “Are you kidding?”

Oikawa continues looking at him with those big brown eyes of his. Hajime stretches out his feet to gently kick Oikawa’s. “I actually feel really honored to see that. Was that your performance for Worlds?”

“Yeah. My coach said I should start perfecting my routine if I want to stick to it until the competition.”

“You made the choreography all by yourself?”

“Only this one,” Oikawa mumbles. “But I do make my own choreographies. The coaches just never approve of them so I end up doing a different choreography.”

“They sure as hell should approve this one.”

Oikawa laughs, but it’s dry and humorless. “Not after that failure of a quadruple salchow they won’t.”

“Failures are bound to happen, you just happened to land on the wrong edge.”

“That’s the point. I shouldn’t have.”

“Oikawa,” Hajime leans forward, placing his elbows on his knees as he looks Oikawa in the eyes. “I’m a hockey player, yet my mobility is sloppy. So I trained, and Coach told me this morning that I’ve had some improvements.”

“Really?” The light sparks back in Oikawa’s eyes. “That’s great, Iwa-chan! I told you I’d be of great help—“

“The point is,” Hajime cuts him off. “Your choreography might be imperfect now, but that doesn’t mean it will always be. You still have time, don’t you?”

“Well, I do have to showcase the choreography to them by January to get their approval or not.”

“So that’s a yes,” Hajime grins at him. “You should show them that it’s your choreography that will bring home gold from Worlds.”

Oikawa smiles, a smile so different from the fake one he gave Hajime before. This smile has content seeping through it. 

Hajime thinks Oikawa’s never looked more beautiful. 

“What’s that?” 

Hajime pulls out from his daze, quickly averting his eyes from Oikawa and to the paper bag out of embarrassment. “Oh, uh, this?” He picks up the bag and hands it over to Oikawa. “It’s yours.” 

Oikawa takes the paper bag from him and peeks inside. “No. Is this what I think this is?”

Hajime can’t help but feel smug about getting Oikawa’s favorite food. “It is. I heard it’s tasty too.”

Oikawa takes out the small loaf bread from the paper bag and excitedly takes off half of the wrapper to rip off a piece of the bread and pop it in his mouth.

“It is good, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa says, giving him a thumbs up as he chews on the bread.

Hajime grimaces. “Don’t talk when your mouth is full.” Hajime hands over his hot chocolate. “Take this or you might choke to death on that.”

“And you got me hot chocolate too? Who are you and where is Iwa-chan?”

“Nevermind. I really do hope you choke on that.”

Oikawa continues to happily munch on the food Hajime brought him. He seems to be back to his normal self, the uneasiness that was oozing around him suddenly dissolving. He knows it’s not because of the milk bread, but because of what he said to Oikawa earlier. But still, Hajime wouldn’t mind stopping by that specific bakery every time he goes to the ice arena.

“By the way,” he clears his throat. “We have a game this Saturday.”

Oikawa raises both his eyebrows, swallowing down his food before answering. “Really? Against who?”

“Waseda.”

“Ugh, those guys are really good. They’re always in the top three if I remember correctly.”

“You’re right,” Hajime takes a sip from his own coffee that’s gone a little cold. “So I think this game would be a great help to at least familiarize their moves and all.”

“I doubt they’d be using their power moves for the championship.”

“Well, they’re cocky too. I’m sure they’ll be wanting to show off so we’ll use that to our advantage.”

Oikawa nods, taking a big bite from his milk bread. Hajime clears his throat and starts rubbing the back of his neck, a habit he does when he’s nervous. “You can come and watch, if you want—and if you have the time.”

Oikawa looks taken aback by the offer. He slowly puts back the remaining milk bread in the paper bag. “You really want me to watch your game?”

“Yeah—I mean, why not? You’ll see how I move in an actual game if you do. I know my coach mentioned my improvements but I wanna hear from you too.”

Oikawa stares at Hajime like he’s examining him, and Hajime suddenly feels really embarrassed and just wants this bench to swallow him whole. But then, Oikawa jumps up from his seat and grabs Hajime’s wrist. “Alright, we have to train then!”

Hajime lets himself be dragged onto the ice. “So you’ll go?”

“I’ll have to check my schedule first,” Oikawa turns to him. “But still, I don’t want you messing up so start those edgework drills, Iwa-chan!”

Hajime rolls his eyes. “So bossy. I don’t even have my stick with me!”

“Come on, Iwa-chan! I can’t be better than you in both figure skating and ice hockey.”

“Of course you’ll be better than me at figure skating, asshole!” 

“Exactly! So be better than me at ice hockey.”

“I am better than you.” 

“You gotta win that game against Waseda to prove it!”

Hajime rolls his eyes and starts putting cones on the ice, stealing a glance at Oikawa from time to time as the figure skater keeps running his mouth. 

Hajime really hopes Oikawa will show up to his game.

“You guys know the drill right? Right?” Bokuto asks, jumping in his spot.

“Losing is not an option,” Sawamura recites. “We know.”

“Okay, good. Good. I can’t wait to beat Waseda.” 

“Isn’t your roommate on their team?” Ushijima asks.

“Yes, that’s the point.” Bokuto grins. “If we win, Kuroo will have laundry duty for a whole month, and I get bragging rights! How cool is that?”

“Very cool,” Ojiro nods, indulging Bokuto’s enthusiasm. “We definitely have to win now.”

“Right!” Hinata jumps in their conversation. “Not having laundry duty for a month sounds so appealing.”

“Right!” Bokuto repeats, grabbing Hinata’s shoulders and shaking him. “You always get me, Shoyo!” 

Hajime shakes his head in amusement before checking his phone. He opens the conversation he has with Oikawa, and the last messages they sent to each other were them just bickering about a selfie Oikawa sent to him last Thursday. Hajime badly wants to send him a text, but he doesn’t want to seem pushy. There is also the fact that Oikawa is a literal international figure skater. He may not be J-pop artist-level famous, but he still has his own fans so attending a university hockey game won’t do him any good.

When the game starts, Hajime doesn’t feel that nervous. He’s always been calm and composed during games, but this time he’s feeling rather determined knowing that he’s been working on smoothening his movement which will give him better aims and greater chances of scoring. 

The first period ends with the scores being 0-1, in favor of Waseda. During the quick break, Coach Suzaku goes over some things he observed from the first period, and gives them a breakdown on what they can do to turn the tides in the second period. After the quick meeting, Hajime sprays some water in his mouth and adjusts his hockey skates.

“Iwa-chan!”

Hajime almost breaks his neck as he snaps his head to the direction of that voice. His drags his eyes along the stands, and at the top he easily sees someone waving their hand above their head. Hajime can’t help the tug on the side of his lips. Oikawa looks so out of place from the crowd. He’s wearing a cream-colored sweater, a white beanie, a pair of glasses, and a white mask. Even though most of his face is covered up, Hajime can recognize him from those big brown eyes behind his specs, and the fringe of brown hair peeking out from his beanie. And maybe because of that ridiculous nickname too.

“Was he calling you?” Ojiro asks from next to Hajime.

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa calls again loudly, waving his hands even more when he notices Hajime looking over his direction. “Do your best or else you’ll never be better than me!”

“No,” Hajime answers, turning to Ojiro. “I don’t know him, actually.”

Ojiro raises an eyebrow, obviously not believing him. “Really? Your smile tells me otherwise.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Ojiro shrugs and bends down, pretending to fix the lace on his skates. “I’ve just never seen you smile like that before.”

Hajime is about to ask more, but a loud whistle cuts him off. Ojiro just gives him a teasing smile before he gets up from the bench and heads back to the ice, Hajime following behind him.

If Hajime was worried about people recognizing Oikawa, Oikawa didn’t seem to care about them at all. Throughout the second period of the game, he’s been the loudest person in the stands and Hajime can’t help but feel embarrassed. The people standing next to him even moved away from him. Hajime can’t even make out what he’s yelling most of the time because it’s muffled from his mask.

The second period was over as soon as it started, and the third period started in no time. The scores between the two universities are now tied at 3-3, so their play during the third period is more tense than usual. At the 17 minute mark, Hajime skates over to Bokuto. “Bokuto, when we pass the puck to you, do a slapshot, okay?”

Bokuto gives Hajime a doubtful look. “You sure it’ll work? Their goalie will probably expect it.”

“No,” Hajime mumbles. “Their goalie seems to focus more on the left, so we’ll take advantage of that. Aim a slapshot to the right.”

Bokuto nods, this time looking more determined. “Alright, you can count on me.”

They use their last three minutes carefully. Hajime is able to steal the puck from the opponent with the help of the pivots and cuts he’s been practicing on, and he immediately passes it to Ushijima. Waseda’s goalie immediately moves left, leaving the right side to the defensemen. When Ushijima passes to Komori, the opposing team seem convinced they’re going to aim for the goalie, but Komori does a quick turn to pass the puck to the back towards Bokuto, who’s already in position. He winds up his stick and doesn’t waste a second for  the shot, and the puck wooshes past the goalie, hitting the net and dropping onto the ice. The loud buzzer sounds echo around the rink just a few seconds after.

“Yeah!” Bokuto yells loudly, pumping his fists in the air. 

Hajime glances up in the stands, and his eyes immediately meet with a pair of brown ones behind foggy glasses. Even though Oikawa’s face is all covered up, Hajime knows he’s smiling. He can’t help but smile back.

Hajime receives a text from Oikawa that he’ll be waiting outside the arena. Thankfully their post-game meeting doesn’t last long with their coach’s short words of encouragement and a few reminders. After they all shower, they make a unanimous decision to move their celebration tomorrow night, since they still have practice in the morning.

Hajime hurries to get dressed after a quick warm shower. He shoves all his gear in the locker and slams it shut. He’s about to grab his bag and go when Sawamura puts a hand on his shoulder. “Someone’s in a hurry.”

“No idea what you’re talking about.”

“You’re not going to meet up with that person cheering for you that you claim to not know, right?” Ojiro asks, grinning mischievously.

Hajime groans. “I can never catch a break with you guys.”

“You know him? He seemed quite loud during our game.” Ushijima says.

“Oh yeah!” Bokuto chimes in. “Akaashi was watching in the crowd too, and he told me that that loud guy even got into a fight with a student from Waseda. He seemed really scary.”

Hajime buries his face in his palms as he hears what Bokuto just said. Daichi laughs next to him. “Alright, we won’t be keeping you anymore. Go and meet your special someone.”

“I hate you all!” Hajime says loudly as he leaves the locker room and hurries out of the small arena. As he steps out, he wraps his scarf around his neck even more, keeping himself warm from the cold that December brings. He scans the area and sees Oikawa sitting on the bench, scrolling on his phone.

“Oi,” Hajime calls as he stands in front of Oikawa. “What is this I’m hearing about you starting fights?”

Oikawa pouts at him. “Iwa-chan, you sound just like my mom when she found out I got into a fight back in fourth grade!”

“You shouldn’t be starting fights with university students, dumbass. Are you forgetting who you are?”

“As if they recognized me,” Oikawa scoffs. “Can’t you see my brilliant disguise? Plus, why are you lecturing me! After all the effort I’ve done to come and watch your game. Hmph.”

Hajime’s demeanor shifts. He takes a seat next to Oikawa. “Ah, yeah. I wasn’t expecting you to show up, actually.” 

You liar. His inner conscience screams at him. He chooses to outright ignore it.

Oikawa elbows him playfully. “And miss watching Iwa-chan play? No way! Plus, your team won so I guess that means you are better than me at hockey.”

Hajime hums. “Feels weird hearing that from your mouth.”

“Hey, I’m a fair person plus I honor my word,” Oikawa says, scrunching his nose. “Anyway, are you celebrating with your teammates tonight?”

Hajime shakes his head. “Not tonight, we decided to do our little celebration tomorrow. We have morning practice so we can’t risk that.”

“That’s great!” Oikawa grabs his arms. “Which means you’re free tonight right?”

“I guess…” 

“It’s your lucky day because I’m also free for the evening! We should have dinner together. It’ll be my treat, since you’ve had your victory today.”

Hajime raises an eyebrow in amusement. “Really? I wouldn’t say no to free food.”

Oikawa gets up from the bench. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

Instead of a restaurant, Oikawa drags Hajime to a food market. As expected there are a lot of people, but Oikawa doesn’t seem to mind and looks over the food being sold in every stall they pass by instead. Hajime just follows Oikawa around, mumbling about how they’ll never get to eat if Oikawa can’t choose what he wants to try. Finally, Oikawa decides to try some takoyaki.

As Oikawa talks with the vendor, Hajime takes the time to just look at him. He’s spent some time with Oikawa off-ice, but definitely not like this. Hajime’s always looked at Oikawa as the international figure skater, but looking at him like this—under the yellow light of the food stalls, with the steam from the takoyaki pans floating around him, his glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose as he leans over to check if the takoyaki is finished—he seems different. In a good way. In a way that has Hajime’s heart stuttering.

When Oikawa turns to him, Hajime forces himself to get a grip.”Iwa-chan, which flavor do you want?”

“Uh…” his eyes hurried to scan the menu plastered at the front of the stall. “I’ll just have the regular.”

Oikawa orders the curry and cheese flavored one. He offers one to Hajime. “You should try this! This is their best seller. It’s really good.”

Hajime feels like his whole face is burning when Oikawa tries to feed it to him, and he has half the mind to decline, but then he’s already taking the takoyaki  in his mouth. Oikawa looks at him expectantly. “Good, right?”

Hajime just nods even though the flavor isn’t the one on his mind right now.

After having takoyaki, they go from stall to stall to try more food like yakitori, ikayaki, and yakisoba. Hajime starts complaining about how full he is after having two bowls of yakisoba, but Oikawa drags him to another stall. “You can’t be full yet, Iwa-chan! They have tofu here!”

“Fine, but this has gotta be the last one.”

“We can have sweets after this. The imagawayaki I saw earlier looked really good.”

Hajime rolls his eyes and tries to hold back his smile. Oikawa orders teriyaki tofu for himself and agedashi tofu for Hajime. The tofu is nothing compared to what his mother makes him, but Hajime still nods in approval.

“Is it good? Let me try!”

“You have your own tofu.”

“Rude!” Oikawa pouts at him. “After I shared my takoyaki with you earlier and emptying out my wallet right now.”

Hajime snickers and picks up a piece with his chopsticks, directing it towards Oikawa’s mouth. “Take it before I change my mind.”

Oikawa looks victorious as he takes it into his mouth, giving Hajime a thumbs up. “I like it. Teriyaki is better though.”

“Take that back right now.”

Oikawa swallows it down and sticks his tongue out at Hajime, like the child that he is. Hajime shakes his head and finishes up his tofu.

They start walking away from the crowded street food market as soon as Oikawa gets his hands on the chocolate flavored imagawayaki he’s been wanting to try. They walk side by side, with Hajime’s hands in the pocket of his pants and Oikawa finishing off his dessert. 

“Eat a little slower,” Hajime scolds him. “No one’s gonna try and take that from you.”

“It's so good though!” Oikawa tells him, taking one last bite before throwing the wrapper in a garbage can they walked past by. 

Hajime takes out his water bottle from his bag and hands it over to Oikawa. “Here.”

Oikawa beams as he takes the water bottle from him. “Thank you! How did you know I was thirsty?”

“You’re eating sweets.”

Oikawa just shrugs and drinks from Hajime’s bottle. Hajime checks the time on his wrist watch. “It’s already eight.”

“Really?” Oikawa hands him back the now empty bottle. “I didn’t even notice.”

“Because you were busy stuffing your face with food,” Hajime snorts. “It’s getting late. Do you want me to—”

“Bring me to the nearest ice skating rink? Absolutely!” Oikawa clings onto his arm. “Let’s go skating, Iwa-chan.” 

“Is skating the only thing that’s in your mind?”

“I can’t help it.” He answers cheekily. “Now come on! The night is young.”

The nearest rink was 20 minutes away. It’s an open rink, and it seemed a bit crowded which is expected since it’s winter season. Oikawa pays for the fees and they put on their rental skates. Oikawa takes off his mask and shoves it in his pocket. Hajime looks around anxiously. “What are you doing?”

“It’s fine, Iwa-chan. My glasses will still cover for me.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

Oikawa just grabs his wrist and drags him to the ice. Oikawa wobbles a little, and Hajime is stunned before he breaks into a laugh. “Did you just wobble on ice?”

Oikawa glares at him. “I’m just not used to skates that aren’t mine!”

“Oh my god,” Hajime keeps laughing. “You wobbled on ice. This means I’m now better than you at hockey and figure skating.”

“Oh wow,” Oikawa deadpans, but then he starts wobbling even more, but this time on purpose and in an overexaggerated way. “Help me, Iwa-chan!”

He pretends to almost fall forward, and Hajime should’ve just let him fall face first on the ice, but it’s like his hands move on a mind of its own because he quickly grabs onto Oikawa’s hands to support him, their fingers interlocking. 

“Dumbass, what are you doing?” Hajime chuckles.

Oikawa gives him a cheeky smile. “Since you’re so much better than me, why don’ t you teach me how to skate?”

“Alright,” Hajime answers, playing along. “You ready?”

“Always.”

Hajime slowly skates forward, which has Oikawa skating backward. With their fingers still interlocked, Hajime maneuvers them on ice, making sure Oikawa doesn’t bump into anything or anyone. Oikawa lets out a laugh, his breath coming out as vapor from the cold. “This feels like dancing.”

“I guess it does.”

They skate around the rink just like that, like the other people around the rink didn’t even exist. Hajime basks in the feeling of having Oikawa’s slender hands in his, the way Oikawa’s fingers fit perfectly in the spaces between Hajime’s own fingers.

Hajime looks up at the figure skater. Oikawa is looking back at him, his cheeks rosier than usual and his eyeglasses a little foggy. His teeth seem to be chattering from the cold. “Are you feeling cold?”

Oikawa laughs. “Iwa-chan, I practically live on ice. Of course not.” But his teeth continue to chatter.

Hajime shakes his head and lets go of Oikawa’s hands. Oikawa straightens up, looking at him curiously. Hajime takes off his blue scarf and wraps it around Oikawa’s neck instead. “Just because you’re used to the cold doesn’t mean you’ll never feel it anymore.” He mumbles. “There.”

Oikawa seems caught off guard, and he lifts his hand to touch Hajime’s scarf. “But you’ll feel cold, then.”

“I’m wearing a jacket with a thick sweatshirt underneath. You’re only wearing a sweater. I’ll be fine.”

Oikawa just stares at him. Hajime can’t clearly make out the look in his eyes since his eyeglasses are a bit foggy. “What?” 

“You were right. I was feeling cold,” Oikawa says slowly, gripping onto Hajime’s scarf. “But not anymore. Thank you.”

After skating, Hajime walks Oikawa to the subway station. He tells Oikawa to keep the scarf and just give it back to him when they see each other again, and Oikawa thanks him again and tells him he had a great time. 

When Hajime is back in his apartment, he doesn’t sleep and instead thinks about how rosy Oikawa’s cheeks were, how his laugh sounded like bells, and how his hands felt tender to hold. The vision of Oikawa at the rink wrapped around his scarf flashes in his mind again, and Hajime really wanted to kiss him.

He wanted to kiss Oikawa Tooru.

Hajime covers his eyes with his arm and groans. Who is he fucking kidding, anyway. He likes Oikawa. He’s liked him for a while now, even. And it was bound to happen, if he really thinks about it. It’s Oikawa. Oikawa who gets on Hajime’s nerves whenever he can, Oikawa who is bossy and cocky, Oikawa who can’t get enough of sweets, Oikawa who is passionate about figure skating, Oikawa who wants to bring pride to the country, Oikawa who helped Hajime improve his stance. Oikawa who takes Hajime’s breath away every goddamn time without even knowing.

Hajime chuckles, shaking his head at how ridiculously cheesy he sounds at the moment. 

He comes to terms with it calmly and unsurprisingly. He likes Oikawa. That’s it.

Hajime doesn’t get to see Oikawa for most of December, since he went home to Miyagi for winter break and Oikawa stays in Tokyo. They still send messages to each other everyday, and sometimes Oikawa calls Hajime on FaceTime whenever he’s practicing at the rink. He also sends tons of his selfies to Hajime (and Hajime pretends to be annoyed but he has every single one saved in his camera roll) and in most of them, he’s wearing Hajime’s blue scarf. 

So when Hajime shops for Christmas gifts for his family, he couldn’t help but buy the cream-colored scarf that he thinks would look good on Oikawa. The texture is soft yet thick, which would feel comfortable and warm at the same time.

The holidays go by in a blur. The new year arrives, and Hajime finds himself back in Tokyo. He purposely heads back a day before their practice is scheduled to resume so he can meet with Oikawa. It’s the first time he’s seeing Oikawa again after coming to terms with his feelings. He doesn’t know why he’s nervous, his gift feeling heavier in his bag than usual. 

He greets Aiko a good morning and a happy new year before heading straight to the rink. He hears the familiar R&B ballad slash classical orchestra music booming all over the rink and sees a figure moving around the ice.

Hajime puts his bag down on the bench and watches Oikawa from the sides. Oikawa is wearing what he wore during their first encounter — a black fitting turtleneck shirt and the same black skating pants that hug his legs perfectly. He has his eyes closed as he glides around the ice, and Hajime can’t help but feel a bit worried, but Oikawa looks more calm and composed than he was when Hajime saw him practicing before. This time, his eyebrows aren’t furrowed and his body is less stiff. 

He opens his eyes slowly before he does a flawless camel spin. As always, it causes Hajime’s breath to hitch, seeing Oikawa perform spins and jumps with his own eyes. 

The beat of the music becomes more and more familiar, and so do Oikawa’s moves. He does a toe loop jump and lands perfectly, connecting with the ice once again. Hajime nips on his lower lip as Oikawa glides around the ice, moving his hands in interpretative gestures. 

Hajime recognized the upcoming part, when Oikawa does the supposed quadruple salchow. It seems to happen in slow motion in Hajime’s eyes. Oikawa jumps, spinning gracefully in midair, and then he lands on the ice with his right foot, spins, and glides on the ice with his arms outstretched along with his left foot — and then he’s back on two feet again skating backwards.

He slows down when his eyes meet with Hajime’s. The consecutive expressions that appear on his face go from confused, to surprised, to excited. “Iwa-chan!”

Hajime grins. Oikawa skates towards him, abandoning the music. “You’re here!”

“Why are you surprised? I texted you last night.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to show up today. You only told me you’re coming back to Tokyo.”

“Oh, right. Well here I am.”

Oikawa turns off the music before turning back towards Hajime. “By the way, I know you said to return your scarf when we see each other again, but unfortunately it’s still at the laundromat.”

Hajime shakes his head. “It’s fine, Oikawa. In fact,” He takes out the gift from his bag, clearing his throat as he hands it over to Oikawa. “Here.”

Oikawa looks at it like it’s a foreign object. Hajime wrapped it up with some Christmas wrapper and tied it up with a red bow. Hajime nudges it over to Oikawa. “Take it, it’s my gift to you.”

Oikawa slowly takes it from him. “What’s this?”

“Open it.”

Oikawa opens it up slowly and carefully. Hajime keeps telling him to just rip the wrapper but he’s being ignored. As Oikawa finally removes all the tape, he takes the scarf in his hands. “It’s so soft.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“I love it, Iwa-chan.” Oikawa says softly, looking at him. “Thank you.”

Hajime looks away, trying to control the blush on his cheeks. “Sure.”

“But I can’t believe you beat me to it.”

Hajime looks back at Oikawa. “What?”

Oikawa puts the scarf on the wrapper and gets something from behind his bag. It’s a slightly big box, wrapped in sparkly wrapper in a neater way than Hajime’s, topped with an elegant blue bow. “I got you a gift too!”

“Oikawa, you didn’t have to.”

“What, only you can give gifts? Who are you, Santa?” Oikawa snorts, giving the box to him. “Here. Open it! I’m excited to see your reaction.”

Hajime hesitantly takes the box and puts it on his lap. It’s a bit heavy, and he gathers up all the patience he has to remove the wrapper and not rip it off. As soon as he sees the brand on the box, he freezes. “Fuck.”

“Well?” Oikawa asks excitedly. “Open it!”

“Oikawa, what—”

“Shh! Just open it, Iwa-chan.”

Hajime does what he is told and opens the box. The brand new hockey skates looked gorgeous. “Oikawa, you can’t be serious.”

“But I am,” He says matter-of-factly. “I checked the size of your old skates, and figured they might be a little small already so I bought them a size higher. You should try it.”

“I can’t accept this.” Hajime closes the box. He knows how expensive the brand is, he’s checked the website tons of times to marvel over their skates. To have it gifted to him is too much.

“Why not?” Oikawa sits next to him. “It’s yours, so you’ll have those skates till you go pro! Consider them a lucky charm.”

“When I go pro?”

Oikawa glances at him. “Well, you are going pro, right?”

Hajime sighs. “I don’t know.”

Oikawa bumps their shoulders together. “It’s okay if you don’t want to, I’m sorry for assuming. You just seem so passionate about ice hockey, so I thought…”

“No it’s alright,” Hajime answers. “It’s not that I don’t want to. I just don’t know if I’m making the right decision if I go pro. I just don’t see myself in the big leagues, like I don’t have a future with ice hockey.”

Oikawa hums. “I understand. The decision solely depends on you, but can I offer you some advice?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“I was just like you when I first started figure skating,” Oikawa starts. “I mean, I really wanted to go pro but I also doubted the future I had if I did. There are a lot of great figure skaters in the country, and for a nobody like me, it’d be hard to climb the ranks. But just because it was hard, doesn’t mean it was impossible. That was my mindset. It took me some time, but I slowly did it. Now, I’m competing for Worlds, the biggest figure skating competition next to the Grand Prix and Olympics.” Oikawa flashes him a smile. “I didn’t just waltz into where I am today. That’s why I have to prove myself for Worlds, so I keep going forward instead of backward. I want to showcase my own choreography so I can show the world I’m here because of myself, and no one else.”

Hajime is at a loss for words as Oikawa finishes. Oikawa gives him a pat on the shoulder. “You don’t have to decide now, Hajime. Ice hockey will always be there, and your degree as well when you graduate from university.”

“Thank you, Oikawa.” He whispers. “I guess I have to keep these skates then, if I ever do go pro.”

Oikawa gives him a teasing look. “You better. Now come on, try them out!”

He does try them out, with Oikawa. He feels lighter with his new skates, and more comfortable that allows him to skate faster than he usually did. They stay in the rink till early noon, playing hockey against each other, and Hajime watching Oikawa do his choreography.

“Iwa-chan,” Oikawa calls when they’re taking a break on the benches.

“Hmm?” Hajime glances at him. “You wanna grab some lunch? I can order. I mean, it is kind of late but—”

“I’m leaving soon.”

Oikawa doesn’t sound sad or apologetic. He sounds more hesitant, like he’s testing the waters with Hajime. “I have to do the rest of my practice in Canada, with my coach.” 

“Oh.” Hajime keeps looking at his phone. “When?”

“Third week of January,” Oikawa answers. “I won’t be around for your championship.”

Hajime knew that already, of course he did. Oikawa’s own competition was in March, so it’s understandable that he’ll be doing more intense training and practice, along with his coach.

“It’s okay, dumbass.” Hajime chuckles. “You have your own competition to worry about.”

Oikawa laughs softly. “Yeah. I think I’ll be back by April,” he says. “I’ll probably be taking a long break after Worlds. Maybe focus on homeschool. And you’ll probably be busy with your internship, so I th—”

“Tooru,” Hajime cuts him off. “I’ll be here. When you come home.”

“Here. Here, in this rink.”

“Yeah,” Hajime answers. “I probably won’t be skating any time after championships to focus on my internship, and you won’t be skating much as well since you’ll be on break. But I’ll still be here. I promise.”

“Okay,” Oikawa answers. “Then I promise to come back too.”

“You better come back with gold, alright?”

“Iwa-chan is so high maintenance.” 

“Damn right I am.”

They stare at each other after that, and then break into a fit of laughter. Hajime knows there's something lingering between them, but they don’t mention it, nor do they bring it up.

Not yet, at least. 

Hajime’s team won second place in the All Japan Ice Skating Championship. He did hope that they’d win first place, but he’s not disappointed that they reached second place. It’s been 17 years since his university was included in the top three, so they still made history which still makes him feel like a winner.

Oikawa congratulates him through a video call. They haven’t been talking much, but they have a mutual understanding that they’re just really busy. Oikawa’s own choreography has been approved by his coaches to be his performance for Worlds, so he’s working extra hard for it. Still, he tells Hajime that he watched some of Hajime’s matches, and he’s really amazed by the accuracy of Hajime’s wrist shot, and that he should show it to him in person next time. Hajime tells him he will.

Oikawa’s competition comes next. Hajime watches it on an illegal live stream he found on social media.  When Oikawa comes into view, Hajime feels his heart pounding in his chest. He looks absolutely ethereal, with his brown hair pushed back neatly, aside from the few stray strands on his forehead. He’s wearing a black sparkly costume, his pants having a few gold touches on them, and the half of his top, including the left sleeve, is covered in black feathers. 

Hajime holds his breath when Oikawa starts his performance, which he now knows is called the Black Swan. He watches as Oikawa does the routine he’s familiar with, the one he watched with his own two eyes. Oikawa’s movements are more thorough now, but he still looks calm and composed. Whenever he does his jumps, Hajime grips onto the edge of his desk, but Oikawa lands safely in every single one There a few identifiable mistakes, like when he missed a beat from doing his camel spin, or when he slightly wobbles after landing from a jump, but in Hajime’s eyes, it’s still the best thing he’s ever seen.

He gets a standing ovation from the audience, and a score of 287.52 from the judges, making him first place among the other four competitors who’ve already performed.

In the end, he gets beaten by a Swedish skater, with only a 1.8 difference. Oikawa wins second place. He brings home a silver medal.

Waiting for Oikawa to come back home felt like years to Hajime, even though he was busy with graduation requirements and his upcoming internship. He talked to Oikawa on the phone after his competition, and although he was only second place, he tells Hajime he’s been secured a spot for the upcoming Winter Olympics in December.

Hajime arrives first at their usual ice arena for the first time. He greets Aiko a good morning, and Aiko has that knowing look on her face as she greets him back. Hajime heads to the rink, looking around, but nothing’s changed. He hasn’t been coming here since after his championship, which, okay, has only been two months ago.

He puts on the skates Oikawa got him and skates around in circles. He tries to do those spins that Oikawa showed him a few times, but stops when he almost falls face first on the ice. 

Suddenly, Hajime hears a loud bang, like the door getting hit on the wall. Then, he hears hurried footsteps. Hajime turns around and sees Oikawa approaching. Hajime skates towards the sides and Oikawa drops his bag on the bench and jumps onto Hajime. Hajime, although caught off guard, catches him in his arms, but still falls onto the ice on his back with Oikawa on top of him.

“What the hell!” he groans out loud. “I think I broke my back!”

“Iwa-chan, I’m home!”

Hajime gets a good look at Oikawa who’s right on top of him. His hair is a little disheveled, and he looks tired from the long flight, but his excitement covers it up. He’s wearing a white sweater underneath a black coat, a familiar cream-colored scarf wrapped around his neck. Hajime momentarily forgets about the pain in his back. “Welcome home.”

“Thank you. I went straight here from the airport.”

“I can tell,” Hajime answers. “Congratulations, by the way.”

“Thank you. I hope high-maintenanced Iwa-chan doesn’t mind that I only brought silver.”

“You brought more than just silver,” Hajime rolls his eyes. “You brought pride to the country as well, and a spot to the Winter Olympics.”

“I know! It feels so surreal. I would’ve thought I’d start moving backwards after only winning silver, but I still got my ticket for the Winter Olympics.”

“You deserve it.”

Oikawa smiles at him. “Congratulations on your championship too, Iwa-chan. You made your university proud.”

“Yeah, we’ll probably be in the history of the sports section on the university website.”

Oikawa laughs. “Something like that.”

Hajime hums, pushing away the strands of Oikawa’s hair falling onto his eyes. Oikawa lets him. “Thank you for coming here, Iwa-chan.”

“Of course. I promised, didn’t I?” Hajime scoffs. “Besides, I didn’t get to tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

Hajime takes a moment to stare at Oikawa's curious face. It's been a while since Hajime's realized his feelings for him, and even though they'd been apart for a few months, his heart still stutters by just looking at how absolutely beautiful Oikawa is and just by having him so close. He'd thought about it, during the time they'd been apart, whether he'd confess or not. 

But right now, in the situation they're in, with Hajime laying on the ice and Oikawa right in his arms fresh from across the world, he's sure he has to. He knows he'll regret it if he doesn't.

“That I’m in love with you.”

Oikawa jerks back in surprise. Hajime suddenly feels nervous from his reaction. He’s about to start rambling about how Oikawa doesn’t have to reciprocate and then stumble into an apology, but his thoughts get cut off when he feels Oikawa’s lips press against his.

Hajime doesn’t even get to fully register it when Oikawa’s already pulling back, his cheeks rosier than it usually is. Hajime missed seeing them.

“You don’t think it’s too fast?” Hajime asks, eyes filled with worry.

Oikawa just laughs. “What do you mean? I’ve been in love with you since the day I first met you. You really told me off that day.”

Hajime can’t help the amused look on his face. “You have?”

“Yeah,” Oikawa answers softly. “That’s why I was afraid we’d drift apart as soon as I left. I wanted you to stay in my life.”

Hajime puts his hand on Oikawa’s nape, pulling him closer. “Well, consider this a jackpot then. Because I’m crazy about you, Tooru.” He murmurs against Oikawa’s lips before pressing them together again.

Hajime can feel Oikawa smile into their kiss, his fingers running through Hajime’s hair. 

As much as Hajime loves the feeling of kissing Oikawa, he pushes him away and starts getting up from the ice. “Okay that's it, I can’t feel my back from the cold.”

“Always the romantic, Iwa-chan.” Oikawa gets up from the ice and offers his hand to Hajime. As he grabs onto it, Oikawa falls over to him again from slipping on the ice because of his crocs. They both end up in their previous position.

“You are an idiot.” Hajime tells him.

Oikawa gives him a cheeky smile. “You love me, anyway.”

Hajime does.