Chapter Text
“Oi, Shittykawa. Is your knee better now?”
Iwaizumi Hajime, his best friend for who knows how many years, glanced over past Oikawa’s shoulder at his right knee, his voice slightly wavering.The question was sudden, and it had taken Oikawa by the surprise. The brunet looked up from his growing pile of study notes and stared at Iwaizumi, then his knee. He moved it around a bit, and even though he didn’t have his knee brace or tape on, it didn’t hurt at all, huh. He swore that it hurt so much just yesterday that he broke down crying after practice after everyone except Iwaizumi had left, comforting him in the cold, small room.
“Thank you for thinking about me so much, Iwa-chan~ Couldn’t keep your mind off me, hmm? Of course it’s fine now,” Oikawa replied slyly. Iwaizumi proceeded to smack him on the head.
“I don’t believe you,” he replied. “But we’ve been studying for hours now, cramming this shitload of information in our heads. There’s still practice tomorrow, so we should probably go to sleep.”
Huh? Oikawa’s eyes darted around the room, eyes stopping once he spotted his phone on the table. Opening it up, it read 11:45 PM. He frowned. It felt like it was still five in the afternoon, and they had just came to Oikawa’s house after exhausting hours of volleyball practice. Now that he had mentioned it, it was true that Oikawa was getting rather tired, his eyelids threatening to drop down, encasing Oikawa’s body in sleep. He didn’t want to sleep now though, not when it was so pleasant spending moments of silence and yet still bantering around with his best friend on a school night. Before he could even protest, Iwaizumi brushed Oikawa’s cheek with his fingers, right under his eye. Their faces were just inches apart, with Iwaizumi looking intently into Oikawa's eyes and the area around it.
Holy shit why is Iwa-chan so close I could feel him breathing on me this feels slightly nice but I'm getting really anxious please don't start panicking now Oikawa Tooru shit sthisthisth hs hsit---
“You’re so tired your eyes have even started shitting,” Iwaizumi said, completely obliviously to Oikawa's internal struggle.
“Iwa-chan, you’re so mean!”
Oikawa dramatically stood up from his desk and sulked to where his light switch for his spacious bedroom is, closing it quickly so that Iwaizumi would hurry up to the guest futon on the ground and sleep before he would realize that Oikawa’s face was blushing profusely from the touch of Iwaizumi’s fingers just seconds ago and soon, the two had fallen into a deep slumber- or rather, Oikawa would’ve, if it haven’t been a sudden aching pain in his right knee area.
Shit.
The digital clock on his bedside table read 6:00, the alarm going off signaling that it was time for Oikawa to get his ass out of bed. He moved his right knee once again, waiting for a reaction. With a cracking sound, a burst of pain shot through his body. So his knee wasn’t better, not at all. He should’ve known, after all, he did not have a study session with Iwaizumi yesterday night. Oikawa was spending that Monday night at the doctor’s office for a checkup on his knee, and being horribly chastised by the doctor for overworking himself again and now it was Tuesday morning.
Shit.
It was all a dream, and that dream made Oikawa realize something very important. He didn’t realize why it was like this, because it was just a meaningless dream, right?
Shit, he couldn’t stop the trains of thought going on through his mind, with every one of them colliding with each other. He had been friends with Iwaizumi Hajime for more years than the fingers on his two hands, but never had he ever even thought like this, even considered it.
But he did now.
He was painfully crushing on - perhaps even in love with - his best friend.
These days, he’s been borrowing a lot of Iwazumi’s things lately. it started with a pen, to notebooks, to even his stupid oversized shirts. Unfortunately, he was also keeping them longer than he needed to.
It was the first period Tuesday morning, and Oikawa realized that he was thoroughly unprepared for class. Today was getting off to a bad start, not to mention that dream. It makes him giddy whenever he thinks about Iwaizumi now, his warmth caressing Oikawa’s face like the sun warming him up on a summer day. But the fast beating of his heart quickly disappeared and was replaced with disappointment when he realized that it was impossible for Iwaizumi to love Oikawa like that. Stupid, he chided himself.
He had to ask Iwa-chan sitting two desks away from him for a pen since he forgot his supplies, but didn’t want to risk the professor overhearing Oikawa not focusing in class and catch him chatting with Iwaizumi.
‘Iwachan let me borrow a pen! i forgot my things in my locker and sensei might kill me if i interrupted class to go now > v @)b’ texted Oikawa. And, send.
Good job, he thinks to himself. Looking up, he caught Iwaizumi glaring at him at him just when the phone in his back pocket buzzed a mere second later. Judging by his pissed glance towards Oikawa’s general direction, he probably concluded that it was from him. “What do you need now,” he half whisper, half shouted.
Oikawa moved his right wrist on his empty sheet of lined paper, mimicking the motion of writing with a pen. Iwaizumi sighed, zipped his case open and brought out a plain looking ball point pen, throwing it at him. Just like Iwa-chan to only own bland things, Oikawa thought as he smiled to himself.
“Nice toss!” he whispered.
Iwaizumi looked away, scowling.
When class was over, he didn’t ask for his pen back, so Oikawa simply kept it clipped onto a page of his notebook to remind himself of Iwaizumi.
With a jolt, he realized that this was the pen that Iwaizumi used the most often.
iwa-chan! i had to go for a check up yesterday for my leg and didn’t get to listen to the lesson!! lend me your notes and homework pls ; _ ;
Oikawa was normally composed, but when his mom came to the school during class hours Wednesday afternoon telling him that his doctor rescheduled his appointment to approximately twenty minutes from now, he was fuming. But of course, the carefully practiced smile never slipped off his face, even when he was in the car sending the text message to Iwa-chan, even when he was in the office listening to how he should be more careful, the X-rays just came back and it didn’t look too well, he should take a break from volleyball, all that kind of shit that he just didn’t need to hear right now. Not when the Inter-High was going to start so soon. Forty minutes and four new rolls of tubetape later, his mom drove him back home. To rest for a bit, she had called it.
So now Oikawa Tooru was utterly alone while his family was out grocery shopping instead of working, and Oikawa being dragged out of class to listen to something surreptitiously said to him so many times he could become a billionaire if he had a dollar for every time his doctor told him what he did every appointment. Normally he would practice volleyball in the yard after school, or do his schoolwork, study for a bit, then fall asleep after updating his twitter account, but today he felt like doing none of that. Not to mention that he didn’t even know what his homework is, being pulled out of school so early. Twitter seemed like the easiest thing to do that would keep his mind off of his now knee ebbed with pain, but just as he opened the lock screen a text was waiting for him:
Check your mailbox, Shittykawa. You don’t have to return the notes tomorrow, they’re only a photocopy and you probably don’t need them anyway with your stupidly high intelligence oh wait fuck forget i said that your ego is high enough as it is
It didn’t take long for him to type a grateful ( and mildly insulted ) reply.
Humming, he taped up his knee ( albeit cringing a bit at the sloppily done blob on his leg ) and went downstairs to retrieve his prize. Just as Iwaizumi promised, the notes were there, even titled, colour coded by subject and everything. His best friend was really amazing. But what he appreciated even more was how beautiful his best friend’s writing was until now, the elegant free flowing kanji filling the entire page - and all these years, Oikawa had never realized. What was happening to me why am I doing this to myself why am I even thinking about Iwa-chan’s goddamn amazing handwriting, he thought.
It was going to be impossible, studying with such a distraction.
The week passed by quicker than Oikawa would’ve liked, and they were soon approaching the beginning of the Inter-High preliminary rounds; this wasn’t the best time to slack off and take a rest just because he busted a knee. He was already a mess by the time school ended and it was the weekend, then it was Monday again.
It was way too early in the morning, and Oikawa had to have a cup of coffee. He was bleary eyed and tired from another check up at the hospital last night, not being admitted until nine and only arrived home at 11, taking an hour to shower and finish the rest of the schoolwork and reading due the next day.
Honestly, the rule about no food in the gym and locker rooms was probably for his own good, but he was too tired to think logically. As he was going to put his bottle of hot coffee away in his locker, too late did he realize the cap was still barely screwed on and it spilled all over his uniform shirt before he could change into his gym clothes.
Ah, dammit.
His teammates’ eyes were all on him as he realization crept towards his barely functioning head. He had yelled out way too loud, shaking everyone up.
“Oikawa, what the f- oh.”
Iwaizumi’s voice trailed off as he glanced at the mess that was Oikawa Tooru, half covered in warm coffee that looked like piss against his white shirt.
‘Uhhhhhhhh,” Iwaizumi stared at Oikawa for a very, very long time. Long enough to make the brunet slightly self-conscious and he felt the beginning of a frown appearing on his face. Noticing the signs of Oikawa’s discomfort, the raven haired boy cleared his throat awkwardly before starting again. “I have a spare shirt for situations like this, if you want.”
Oikawa grinned.
“Thanks Iwa-chan! I’ll wash it give it back to you tomorrow at practice!”
Iwaizumi simply told Oikawa to hurry up and change, not noticing his best friend’s stares on his toned tan body as he took his shirt off and exchanging it for his gym shirt. Not noticing how the brunet’s right leg slightly quivers when he takes each step towards the gym. Not noticing the extra layers of tape he put on his knee, the thickness exceeding the usual.
Meanwhile, Oikawa realized that he was being incredibly creepy, smelling Iwa-chan’s shirt a bit and hoping his actions were subtle enough that his teammates wouldn’t notice.
Oh, is this how my hoard of fangirls feel about me? he thought, grimacing as he walked his way towards the gym, not knowing that it would be the last time he would play for a while.