Chapter Text
Oikawa Tooru loved going on trips. He takes a lot of pictures with his film camera, gets them developed at the store, and keeps them in a box under his bed. Special trips make it into his wall. Hanging pictures of him smiling in swim trunks at Okinawa when he was 6, a winking face next to a grumpy Iwaizumi at a train station to Hokkaido, and a few more that one could say are Oikawa’s very own core memories.
One memorable trip did not make it onto that wall of fame. Pictures left somewhere else for a reason. Pictures kept carefully, it was only seen every once in a while. It was the very first trip Oikawa had with his 3 closest friends.
One disrupts the peace and harmony of everyone, named Hanamaki. One goes “hehe” at everything that could possibly sound dirty, named Matsukawa. One nags and scolds everyone, especially his childhood best friend, named Iwaizumi Hajime.
All four of them were excited, knowing it would just be them in a whole different country. It was a very much-needed vacation and get-together before they go on their separate ways now that they’ve finished high school. They promised to stay in contact, but Oikawa insisted they still go for it because they’ll never know what will happen. Or maybe because they never expected that in a few days, he is planning to live thousands of miles away from them and that they don't happen to know it yet.
All Oikawa repeatedly chanted, for now, was “feel refreshed, nicely dressed, don’t get depressed. ” He’ll tell them soon when he feels the vibe.
“Have you not taken enough pictures already? We haven’t even gotten to the main attraction!” Iwaizumi complained, waiting aside for the pretty boy with his arms crossed and brows furrowed.
“Have you not stared at me enough?” Oikawa retorted teasingly. “I know I look good but you can at least try and help me take them instead of complaining over there.”
No response.
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.
The sound of the shutter button clicking at the same amount of speed slowly tested Iwaizumi’s patience.
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.
Oikawa’s smile settled down to a smirk knowing fully well what he was doing to his personal tourist guide. He took a few more selfies in different spots so he had “more choices” to post on his Instagram feed.
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.
“You know only sexbots leave comments under your posts right?”
“Hey, that’s not true! I have fangirls to serve Iwa-chan!”
“I hope your phone battery dies.” Iwaizumi muttered under his own breath to which Oikawa heard when he lightly jogged to finally catch up to him.
“Rude!”
The two followed the path to the lighthouse standing tall at the end. It was quiet around, except for the wind blowing continuously and the plants rustling every breeze passing by. Their constant bickering noises layered those natural sounds and both agreed that if Hanamaki and Matsukawa were there, it would have been loud as hell but unfortunately, they did not arrive until the next day because of fully booked flights.
Thanks to Oikawa who made such a sudden decision to go on this trip at peak summertime.
A man sitting by the entrance of the lighthouse waved hello at Iwaizumi. He nodded back with a smile and went straight ahead inside. Oikawa smiled too and slightly bowed to the old man in respect, following behind.
Eyes wandered from the ground up to the spiraling staircase that he slowly realized he was going to take.
Why does it feel like training all of a sudden?
“Careful on the fifth step, the floor is kind of uneven,” Iwaizumi warned from above.
It was obvious that he was excited to be back home. All Iwaizumi did this morning was rush him to unpack his things back at the house so they could finally go there. The man kept standing by the door quietly like some athletic trainer passive-aggressively pressuring their athlete to finish the set.
Man does it really feel like training here…
“You go ahead Iwa-chan, I’ll be taking more pics right here for a while.”
Iwaizumi shrugged and proceeded to walk up the spiral stairs. He knew he did enough nagging a while ago so he let his companion take their pictures in peace.
Oikawa whipped out his film camera this time and stood a few steps behind the huge window next to him. As he was positioning himself, a soft familiar hum echoed down the room from above.
A tune he hears once in a blue moon. It annoys him the first few times because Iwaizumi kept humming it when they walk home after school or singing it to his face with such passion when he felt like annoying Oikawa. What drives him insane is the fact that he couldn’t even understand what it means because it’s a whole different language. English would have been easier but no, it had to be in his native language.
Who knows? It could have been a whole diss track in a sweetly melodic tune?
But at this point, he already gave up trying to figure out what's up with that. Iwaizumi doesn’t even listen to the song loudly. Oikawa thinks he just made it up to get back at his antics when he’s done with him. Would have been also nice if he made another song in a different tune but no, it’s the same fucking song every time.
He thinks his body developed the ability to tune out Iwaizumi’s voice when it’s his turn to annoy him.
Lush green hills contrasting the blue skies filled the viewfinder of his camera, he pressed the shutter and rolled the film a few times - determined to hang that one up on his wall for sure. It was like a postcard came true to life before his eyes.
At the end of the stairs, Iwaizumi was waiting on the floor munching on a cereal bar. “Why didn’t you go out?” Oikawa asked, stretching out his hands like a kid asking for a piece. Iwaizumi gave him his remaining snack and stood up, “I want to see your reaction when I open the door.”
He then proceeded to slide it open and the fresh air rushed in to greet them. The strong bright sun rays immediately bounced off the floor, making them squint before their eyes adjusted to a full view of the sea and the hills meeting together. The bluest of blue and the greenest of green.
Oikawa’s jaw dropped with a matching gasp as they stepped out to the sun.
“Now this is Batanes Island in its full glory!” Iwaizumi proudly exclaimed, almost bragging. He lets him enjoy his bragging rights because the scene is truly breathtaking like he said.
“You come to this every summer?!” Oikawa said in disbelief.
“Yup, I also go to this lighthouse every time.”
“How come you never showed me pictures of this place?” Oikawa leaned over the rails and processed carefully how many natural colors he was seeing at the moment. He’s frying his eyes out.
“Gatekeeping, I guess.” Iwaizumi joked, earning a glare from the guy who was eating his snack bar. “I really wanted to bring you guys here and see it for yourself.”
“I see… Do you go here all alone?”
“Yeah sometimes, other times with my cousins.”
“Must be nice to have this all to yourself,” Oikawa mused.
Must be nice to have you all to myself.
“Mhm, last summer I brought soda and chips here and waited for the sunset while sitting over there. I even called you that time, remember?” Iwaizumi looked over to Oikawa who took a few seconds trying to remember which phone call was that.
“The one where I kept saying to turn off the goddamn fan?”
Iwaizumi burst into laughter at the memory, “Yep.”
“I thought you were on the balcony or something!”
“Well, this is a balcony.”
“Shut up.”
Iwaizumi laughed again at his response. He seemed to really enjoy getting back on his pretty annoying companion. The afternoon sunlight was starting to burn their skin so they went around to the other side of the balcony and sat on the shadow cast off by the top section of the lighthouse. Oikawa unzips his bag full of snacks and leans back on the wall, completely relaxing off his tensed body.
“Gummy worms, sour tapes, pocky sticks, and red velvet Oreos. Seriously?” Iwaizumi said, rummaging through his bag full of sweets.
“Don’t eat it then! Who says I wanna share?” He scoffed and snatched away his bag.
“Check out mine.” Iwaizumi unzipped his own bag and presented each snack he brought one by one. Cereal bar. Oatmeal cookies. Sandwiches in ziplock bags.
He gave him a weird judging look. Silence filled in. An eruption of laughter from the two followed. Why am I on a picnic with a grandpa?
“Forgot to bring drinks though.” He told Iwaizumi.
“S’okay I got coke zero and zesto from auntie’s store.”
“What’s zesto?”
“It’s a juice pack.”
“I’ll try that one!”
And so the two started eating in peace. Iwaizumi did eat a few of Oikawa’s snacks and he also tried his sandwiches. Apparently, Iwaizumi makes good peanut butter sandwiches. He even explained the step-by-step process of how he makes them to which Oikawa listened attentively. What a dork.
Never mind the fact that his friend looks extremely attractive sitting next to him with his right arm extended behind him to support his upper body weight as he leaned back. He was smiling and laughing more often ever since they arrived here in the Philippines, it was seriously difficult to miss and ignore.
Middle high school Oikawa would have lost his shit at the sight.
But he’s over it. Or so he convinced himself that he was. The mental images of his hot best friend that play in his head when he helps himself say otherwise. He looked away to the distant road that splits the hill in two. Keep your shit together, Tooru.
All that internalized scolding he made to himself, matched his aggressive biting and munching of gummy worms.
“Slow down, dumbass.” A concerned Iwaizumi poked a hole through the juice pack and offered him the drink. Oikawa took it without breaking his stare into the unknown. “What are you thinking about?”
Definitely not your exposed guns flexed unconsciously to support your body.
He choked in surprise and beat his chest a few times to recover. Adjusting in his seat he said, “just how we lost to Karasuno in our last game.”
“Wanna rant?” Iwaizumi suggested, sitting properly ready to lend an ear.
“Nah I’m good, it just annoys me how perfect it would have been to end our last year with a victory.”
“You’ll have plenty more wins, Oikawa. I have never met anyone as determined as you and worked as hard as you did.”
“Thanks, Iwa-chan.” Oikawa gave him a small smile and felt a little better at the reassurance. Though he felt kinda bad because it really wasn’t what’s been bothering him.
“What are your plans after school anyway? You never told me yours.”
Well, there are three reasons why he never told Iwaizumi his plans: 1) He is going to Argentina to pursue a volleyball career which is all the way across the other side of the world. 2) He didn’t want to get emotional saying goodbye to his friends so he tried avoiding it as much as possible. 3) He couldn’t bear to think how this decision would affect their friendship.
So ever since he decided he would pursue this career and train in another continent, he kept it to himself and to his family. He knew specifically that if the Seijoh team found out about this, their last game would have been more frustrating than it already was. Those little brats.
“I’ll still play volleyball. Although I think it would be better to talk about future plans when the four of us are here. So let’s just come back tomorrow with the two idiots.” He answered, obviously avoiding the topic.
Iwaizumi wasn’t satisfied with his response but he did not push through anyway. “Okay, but someday you better treat me to dinner when you start earning big.”
He chuckled and shook his head, “as long as you pay for the drinks.”
Time passed by as they talked about the most random things they could think of, seemingly never running out of topics despite living most of their lives together. The blue skies now painted pink and orange put a different glow on the scenery. Oikawa wanted pictures of the sunset so they started cleaning up and walked to the other side.
He took one with the film camera and a few more with his phone. A hand reaches out, offering to take pictures of him. Though it was helpless because of the constant wind blowing, Oikawa attempted to fix his hair and posed for the camera. Click.
“Do you think we can come back here together every summer?”
Unexpectedly, Iwaizumi then proceeded to turn his back to him and raise the camera a little. Oikawa’s body reflex made him step closer and tilt his head to Iwaizumi, holding up a peace sign. Click.
“Yeah sure, together. ”
For millions of reasons, a subtle blush crept up to his cheeks after realizing what he did. Iwaizumi barely initiates pictures, let alone selfies. His delusional self felt so special, there was a party at the back of his head for such a simple action. So he turned immediately to the sunset and prayed the crimson red blends in with the golden rays painting their skin a warm color.
Oh what else could make this worse for him? Iwaizumi then stood next to him with literally no space in between, leaning his face on his right hand as he stared at the same view. Well, maybe not the same view anymore. Because Oikawa’s staring at a completely different view now.
Suddenly, a small hint of sadness crept in. He thought of how much he’s going to miss him when he finally leaves. How no one’s going to wake him up when he’s too driven by his passion. How he gave up his feelings because their friendship weighed more to him than anything else in the world. How he’s literally going to be apart from Iwaizumi for a long time, uncertain if they will ever have time again to meet personally. His whole life was spent with him and now he had to learn to be on his own. He wished for nothing to change. For things to remain the same between them. Yet he was aware that time and distance would eventually make them distant towards each other.
A voice at the back of his head tells him to confess since he considers those “feelings” for Iwaizumi gone now anyway. But he sternly refused, afraid it might just make things weird. It wasn’t worth risking everything. Things are too good now to be ruined. Iwaizumi is too perfect to be ruined.
On the ride back home, Iwaizumi noticed how his best friend became quiet, mind occupied. Totally different from their ride on the way to the lighthouse where he kept telling him to slow down the motorcycle because his hair that he fixed all morning was flying all over the place. He knew something was bothering him for quite some time but he also knew to just give him space and he’ll come around soon to tell him what’s wrong.
When they arrived at the house, a woman in her 40’s was waving by the porch. Grilling barbecue and something wrapped in foil. That is Iwaizumi’s aunt, Auntie Joy. The older sister of his mom. Both sisters look younger than their age and have such beautiful complexions, Oikawa pointed out they have the same soft personality too except Auntie Joy is more bubbly and energetic than Mama Iwaizumi. When they arrived yesterday, Oikawa realized how rich their family truly was because they own a huge native stone house on a cliff with two floors, a huge ass porch, and a basement that overlooks the ocean. How cool is that?
Auntie Joy seems to be the temporary solution to ease up Oikawa’s mind because he immediately felt good around her.
“Tooru! Hajime! Did you guys enjoy your date?” Auntie Joy shouted using her fan as a megaphone.
Oikawa beamed at her, “Definitely, Auntie Joy, it’s breathtaking up there at the lighthouse.”
“See I told you he’d love it there!” She said to Iwaizumi. “You guys should rest for a while in your rooms while we prepare dinner.”
“Okay Auntie, I’ll help out in a few minutes!”
“Me too!”
She waved her hands no. “Not you Tooru! You are a guest! So no helping around!”
He chuckled and waved at her, “alright, alright! It smells good auntie, can’t wait for dinner!”
As they walked upstairs to their rooms, Oikawa told Iwaizumi how amazing it is that auntie Joy studied Japanese just so she could get closer with her brother-in-law and her very own nephew. Iwaizumi then told him how she always made sure he never felt uncomfortable too whenever he stayed here without his mom. What a lovely lady.
At dinner, Oikawa came down to a busy floor. Auntie Joy was going back and forth from the kitchen to the dining area. Iwaizumi was setting down the plates. His cousins were preparing the drinks.
He walked up to Iwaizumi and started helping with the utensils but auntie Joy somehow managed to swat his hands away and told him to go sit down and wait. The two boys looked at each other and burst into a fit of laughter.
They started eating around 8 pm after a prayer led by auntie Joy herself. A bunch of seafood lay in front of them ready to be devoured. Oikawa licked his lips and salivated like a dog.
Damn, those shrimps are humongous!
The barbecue and fish that auntie Joy was grilling a while ago looked absolutely delicious. Oikawa had never seen a table this colorful with food. Even the soy sauce had tomatoes and onions in it!
“Thanks for the food!” the Japanese boys said in unison before they started digging in.
Oikawa sent pictures of the food at the group chat, Matsukawa responded with a picture of his sad half-empty cup noodles and a picture of Hanamaki beside him eating a ready-to-eat meal at a convenience store.
The conversation during dinner went on smoothly. Half of it was auntie Joy catching up with Iwaizumi and the other half was her trying to get to know more about Oikawa. She managed to let the other kids get to know the guest despite the language barrier and everyone enjoyed the fun translations that auntie Joy kind of struggled with, especially Iwaizumi who could understand both languages very well.
Things took a turn when asked about what they wanted to do after graduation. Oikawa knew it would be rude to dodge the question this time because Auntie Joy asked it herself, so he finally gathered up the courage to say it casually like it was nothing.
There was a long pause before he said, “I’ll be living in Argentina and train under this great setter that inspired me ever since, and hopefully I make it into the national team.”
“Wow, that’s such a great opportunity for you!”
“Hold on- Argentina?”
He flinched at the simultaneous responses. Fuck. Might as well drop every information at this point. “Thank you, auntie Joy, I actually leave in two days after we get back from this trip!”
“Oh, so that’s why you suggested for the four of you to go here? Kind of like a Despedida party!” She said with a puzzled face.
“Two days?”
He has been avoiding looking at his friend sitting across from him but he caught his eyes for a moment when turning to auntie Joy and saw how upset he was from the new information he was getting.
“Who will accompany you there, Tooru?” She asked in concern.
“It will actually just be me but it’s fine, auntie, I need to learn how to be independent.”
“Oh you’re very much just like my sister, she also went to Japan all by herself to work hard. You should ask her for some tips on how she was able to adapt easily to the new environment!”
“I’ll take note of that.” He winked and took a sip of his soda.
“Doesn’t it scare you though? Moving to a new city is already scary, how much more could it be for a whole new country with an entirely different language and culture?”
“It honestly hasn't synced in my mind yet but anything for my goal, auntie.”
One more quick glance at Iwaizumi who stopped chiming in the conversation. He sure was having some deep thoughts, Oikawa hoped he would understand but he also wouldn’t be surprised if he gets upset for a very long time about this.
“Okay but make sure to visit here when you want to go on vacation okay? I’ll cook lobsters and shrimps for you all the time.” She told Oikawa with an endearing pat on his shoulder. Her sweet gesture was very much appreciated.
For the rest of the night, Iwaizumi couldn’t even make it subtle that he was ignoring him. As Oikawa helped in cleaning up the table and grabbed a glass of water to bring upstairs, he was waiting for him by the kitchen island. Oikawa waved goodnight at Auntie Joy and the kids in the living area before they went upstairs.
Now that they were alone, he mentally prepared himself for what Iwaizumi was about to say. But to his surprise (or dismay), he just went straight to his own room and mumbled a low goodnight before closing the door.
Great. Well if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions.