Work Text:
"But Mom, this is so lame!" Himiko groaned as she dropped her head to the table in defeat.
"Baby, I know that you don't like taking your brother around, but I really need your help." The business woman was already tapping away on her phone and grimacing at whatever email was currently taking up her attention. "Your dad won't be back before sunset and I don't want the boys out that late. Weirdos always show up after dark."
"There are lots of weirdos during daylight hours too," the teenage girl bemoaned, "and I'll be one of them."
"Taking your brother and his little friend trick or treating is not weird," her mother huffed in disbelief. "And I'm not even asking you to dress up! Just, take them out in the little wagon. They might get too tired walking all around the neighborhood."
"Can I at least call Shirabu over to hang out once we're done?" She placed her hands in the prayer position, hoping that it would be enough to convince her mother. "We won't be too loud and will wait till the boys are asleep before putting on a movie!"
"Don't let them eat too much candy," her mother negotiated before nodding. "And no scary movies. But yeah, you can have Shirabu come over if her mother agrees to it."
"Okay! Thanks!"
And that was that. Her mother was off with phone in hand and shouting a goodbye to her son in the backyard before rushing out to catch a train. Himiko sighed in aggravation before dragging herself to the backyard to see if those two dummies were finished preparing their costumes. She wasn't sure what exactly required that much cardboard and tape, but it was probably something dumb. She could hear the excited chatter before finally turning the corner and her mouth dropped open in surprise.
"There!" Iwaizumi declared happily. "All finished!"
"Wow, do I look cool?!" Tooru squealed, his voice almost an entire octave higher than normal from sheer excitement. "Is it cool, do I look cool?!"
With all the seriousness that his little face always mustered, Iwaizumi nodded. "Super cool, Oikawa. You look so cool."
"YAY! GO GET YOUR COSTUME ON!!!"
Iwaizumi ran over to a pile of material and Himiko stared at her little brother with a disbelieving smile. The brat was currently taped into a cardboard reproduction of the Tokyo skyline, drawn with smudgy black paint and with metallic silver glitter shimmering as windows from the skyscrapers. The skyline was wide enough that Tooru was probably going to be overhanging the sidewalk a few good inches on either side, and his dumb little smile seemed even wider. He didn't even care that his fingers were coated in the black paint or that he had glitter smudged across his forehead. And when Iwaizumi came back with his costume, it all made even more sense.
"Look at us!" Iwaizumi crowed excitedly, hopping forward the last few steps. His large green tail swung wildly as he settled next to Tooru. "It's perfect!!!"
"WE LOOK EXACTLY LIKE IN THE MOVIE!!!" Tooru cried happily, swinging his cardboard skyline as he danced in excitement, Tokyo never looking so happy to be in the presence of the monster Godzilla.
"These costumes are the best!" Iwaizumi agreed as he jumped up and down. "Those pictures we printed really helped!"
She glanced over to the side to see a stack of pages pinned under various rocks and even one of their mother's potted plants, each one with a view of Tokyo's skyline. For as weird as her little brother was, Himiko had to admit that he and his little friend had put in a lot of work in their matching costume, and they were too pleased with themselves for her to feel right about teasing them too much.
"Are you boys ready to go?" she asked, finally stepping out into the backyard and into view.
Two sets of excited eyes zoned in on her and she couldn't help but laugh.
"What do you think of our costumes?!!!" Tooru screamed, actual starlight seeming to beam from his eyes.
"We wanted to be something cool together!" Iwaizumi declared just as excitedly. His scrawny hand immediately grasped Tooru's chubby one and they both glanced up at her with baited breath for affirmation.
She wanted to tease them like she usually did, but Himiko was feeling oddly proud of the boys. "It looks pretty cool, guys," she answered and the two boys began bouncing around excitedly. "Whoa, hold up Tooru! You're going to break your buildings if you keep bouncing like that!"
After a little bit more of tape and a couple of adjustments, Himiko had the two boys ready to go and followed behind with a little wagon in case they got tired of walking. There was no way in hell that she was going to carry either of them. Although they were both a good ten years younger than she was, Himiko was surprised by how tall both of them were getting. Iwaizumi had a good inch on Tooru, but she was certain that her little brother would end up the taller one. Neither of the Iwaizumi parents were particularly tall, but her mother was fairly tall for a woman and had several family members that were over six feet.
As she followed behind the boys, Himiko couldn't help but grin at the cuteness. She would never admit to Tooru that she found him cute, and normally the little hellion wasn't, but he was always a bit different when Iwaizumi was around. He seemed softer and happier, always eager to touch and cling to his best friend. It had started in the daycare they first met, and had progressively gotten stronger. They were always holding hands and sharing food, Tooru's light brown eyes sparkling happily as he hung on Iwaizumi's every word.
It was puppy love, she was sure. A puppy love that had grown steadily over the years and been nurtured over hours bug hunting and making mud pies. Even when Iwaizumi wasn't around, he was all that Tooru could talk about and it wasn't long before he was begging to go and visit. Both sets of parents had tried to get them to spend more time with other friends so that they wouldn't be so dependent on each other, but it hadn't worked well.
Tooru was a very strange child with strange interests and he wasn't shy about talking about them; most other children weren't interested in hearing him blab on about potential life outside of earth or the layers in the ocean and the likelihood of prehistoric creatures still living in unexplored areas of the earth. They wanted to talk about cartoon shows or even comics, but Tooru had no patience for those things when there was better things to talk about, so he was left alone more often than not. As for Iwaizumi, the boy wasn't a particularly friendly kid, but he was usually able to find a group of children to hang out with if they could play some kind of sporting game. But as much as he enjoyed hanging out with others who appreciated his input more and let him speak up, the poor kid would always purse his lips and look around for Tooru, too easily giving up his games and other friends if the other boy wasn't in his near vicinity.
Even now as they walked from house to house, Iwaizumi nodded along to whatever her brother was chatting about, their free hands glued together. It had to be uncomfortable for Tooru as his too-wide costume was constantly smooshed and turned crooked to accommodate Godzilla by his side, but he didn't complain a single time. He was too happy.
It didn't take long for the boys to tire out after a long day of play and working on the costumes, and Himiko quietly pulled the boys around the neighborhood with the small smile on her face. She had no idea that the pictures of the two of them sitting on her phone would become some of Tooru's favorites, that day embossed in his mind with the shimmery romanticism that childhood evoked. Or that one day in the future with the Tokyo skyline as a beautiful evening backdrop, she would see those very same pictures on the wall of memories that led all the guests to their seats for a very special occasion. One that would have those two starry-eyed boys still staring at each other like no one else in the world mattered more.
And on that day in the future, she wouldn't even try to hide her smile.