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Kindaichi had known Oikawa and Iwaizumi for a few years by now. He had spent plenty of time watching their senpais’ chaotic yet sweet relationship. He was there when Iwaizumi was scolding Oikawa for something only the two of them understood, but they were also there when Iwaizumi was taking care of Oikawa despite his annoyance. He was there whenever they saw how Oikawa’s face lit up when Iwaizumi hit his sets, and especially when they were laughing and endearingly making fun of each other before heading home together. By now, Kindaichi would have thought he knew everything about Iwaizumi and Oikawa.
But something had changed ever since the Interhigh Prelims, and Kindaichi couldn’t quite put his finger on what had changed.
He didn’t know why it bothered him so much. But it did, and even though he tried ignoring this feeling (because whatever had changed was none of his business) it was impossible. Oikawa and Iwaizumi’s relationship had always been so striking to him, he would have needed to go blind in order not to notice.
Kindaichi started noticing it the week before the Prelims started, but he had simply assumed it was because they were third years and they were anxious (as well as he was). However, after they had lost to Shiratorizawa, his suspicions grew wider. As they came back to school after the game, Oikawa and Iwaizumi had been the ones to stay later. He remembered Hanamaki asking them to give them space, and since Kindaichi respected his senpais a lot, he was going to do it either way. In spite of that, as he was leaving, Kindaichi remembered he had forgotten his jacket inside the locker room. Before he got inside, through the crack of the door, he saw that Iwaizumi and Oikawa were still not done talking.
Kindaichi quickly hid behind the wall, his cheeks heating up. For some reason, he wasn’t able to move, so he stood there, hearing some parts of their conversation and disobeying Hanamaki.
“I could’ve done so much more,” Oikawa muttered angrily. It seemed like he had repeated that to himself a ton of times already.
“This again?” Iwaizumi thundered. “Don’t tell me you regret stopping staying longer at practice because we lost!”
There was a dreaded moment of silence.
“You’ve got to be kidding…”
“Can you blame me?!” Oikawa shrieked. “Maybe if I had stayed we could have won!”
“You’re not playing alone, we all could have done more!” Iwaizumi was breathing heavily. “It’s like everything we talked about last week didn’t mean a single thing to you!”
“ How does this have to do with anything?!”
“You know damn well it has everything to do with this!”
Kindaichi couldn’t breathe. Were Oikawa and Iwaizumi fighting?
Kindaichi witnessed them bickering and teasing each other all the time. It wasn’t new for him. But he had never seen them fighting. Kindaichi knew best friends fought from time to time, and it was completely normal. But this fight seemed more intense, as if there was some kind of long term anguish stored in their words. For some reason, Kindaichi felt terrified.
Oikawa’s voice broke. “Of course it meant something— I… I just feel so disappointed in myself,” he paused, sniffling. “I’m sorry, Iwa-chan… I—”
“Tooru…”
Tooru.
That was Kindaichi’s queue to leave. He had never felt so embarrassed in his life. Not because of what he had heard, but because he felt as if he had invaded Oikawa and Iwaizumi’s bubble of intimacy. Iwaizumi had called Oikawa Tooru, not Oikawa, not Shittykawa, not dumbass or anything of the sort. Tooru. And not only that, but his voice tone completely changed. Iwaizumi’s strong and deep voice had gone completely soft. It seemed like Iwaizumi’s walls fell down only by mentioning Oikawa’s given name.
Not only that, but it was the second time he had seen his captain break down. It happened once in junior high, but Kindaichi didn’t remember it so well. But he believed he would never forget this second time. Oikawa, who was always so confident and cheerful, who believed in his teammates with everything he had, wasn't the same Oikawa from inside the locker room. For someone so full of life, it seemed like he had shrunk.
Kindaichi’s heart was beating so fast he thought he would faint. As he walked home, his jacket remained forgotten inside his locker.
“And what do you want me to do about this?” Kunimi asked after Kindaichi told him about the entire Oikawa and Iwaizumi fighting situation.
“I just want to understand what’s happening,” Kindaichi frowned. “Stop looking at me like that!”
“Then stop acting as if Oikawa-san and Iwaizumi-san were your parents getting divorced. They probably already got over this fight.”
Kindaichi sighed. “What about that time we got earlier to practice?”
Kunimi finally looked up from his phone, he frowned for a few seconds and suddenly had a realization. “Right!”
Two weeks ago, Kunimi and Kindaichi had arrived earlier at practice because they had nothing better to do with their time. Kindaichi remembered hearing noises from inside the volleyball court. When he and Kunimi stepped in, Iwaizumi, who was very ( very ) close to Oikawa, pushed Oikawa (almost sending to the other side of the court) away from him and stared at Kunimi and Kindaichi as if they were ghosts. They were both as red as tomatoes and were panting loudly.
“Is everything alright?” Kunimi asked, narrowing his eyes.
Oikawa smiled, a fake laugh escaping his lips. “Yeah, everything’s fine ! What brings you two here?”
“Uh… practice,” Kunimi deadpanned.
“Ah! Of course! Silly me!”
“Are you sure everything is okay? You two seem… distressed?” Kindaichi asked again, a bit more worried than before.
“Nothing to worry about, Kindaichi,” Iwaizumi said, walking towards Oikawa and passing his arm around the latter’s shoulders. Iwaizumi made an attempt at smiling, but instead, it looked like he was aggressively gritting his teeth. “Right, Shittykawa?”
“ Riiiiiiight, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa’s smile was a little bit more convincing than Iwaizumi’s. But that didn’t mean a lot at the moment. “Since you’re already here, why don’t you start getting warmed up?”
Kunimi and Kindaichi stared at each other for a few seconds before shrugging and starting warming up. During the rest of practice, not only on that day, but the several other days after, whenever Oikawa and Iwaizumi were too close to each other, they would start frowning and eyeing each other strangely. Something was definitely wrong.
As Kindaichi was reviewing the memory, it hit him. “Do you think Iwaizumi-san was hitting Oikawa-san?”
“Are you stupid ? Obviously not!” Kunimi scoffed. “Why the hell would Iwaizumi-san do that?”
Kindaichi opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. As Kunimi silently judged him, it became clear how stupid that assumption was. First of all, Iwaizumi would never do that. He could be tougher than most, but he was far from being a violent person. Second, it was clear how much Iwaizumi cared about Oikawa, even if he wasn’t the softest person on the planet. Kindaichi realized that that was the stupidest thing to ever come out of his mouth.
“You’re right,” Kindaichi sighed and sat down in front of Kunimi. “I don’t know why I’m so worried about this. I just don’t understand what’s happening.”
Kunimi rolled his eyes. “Want me to help you discover?”
“You think I’m going crazy, so don’t bother.”
“So? You’ll probably think about this forever if you don’t discover what’s going on.”
Kindaichi’s eyes lit up. “Are you serious?”
“Believe it or not, yes,” Kunimi said, not even believing his own words. “Look, I won’t act like Sherlock Holmes or anything, but I’ll be by your side in case you want to act like Sherlock Holmes,” he paused as he watched Kindaichi’s smile growing wider. “But you know who could be your Watson? Yahaba.”
“You’re totally right!” Kindaichi exclaimed, getting up from his chair. “You’re the best, man!”
Kunimi looked around. “Yeah, thanks. Now calm down, will you? I was enjoying my peace and quiet.”
“Shit. Sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
Kindaichi didn’t find the time to talk to Yahaba before practice, so, while the team was stretching in pairs, he made sure to help Yahaba. While he was stretching, he noticed that Oikawa and Iwaizumi weren’t together and not only that, they were on completely different sides of the court. Also, Oikawa didn’t tease Iwaizumi, like he always did. It was like they were complete strangers.
A sharp pain hit Kindaichi on the back of his knee when Yahaba put some pressure over his shoulder blades, and he let out a loud groan.
“That’s what you get for not focusing,” Yahaba said.
“My bad,” Kindaichi muttered, taking a deep breath and massaging the area.
“It’s fine. You seem distracted, what’s on your mind?”
Bullseye, Kindaichi thought while containing a smug smile from his lips. Even though he knew he would have to address the subject, Kindaichi thanked Yahaba for asking, because he had no idea how he would introduce the subject. Even after spending the entire day thinking about how to talk to Yahaba about it, nothing came to his mind.
“I was going to talk to you about it. Didn’t you notice Oikawa and Iwaizumi-san are acting differently with each other?”
Yahaba thought about it for a second, before saying. “I don’t think so?”
Kindaichi scoffed. “ You, the biggest Oikawa supporter, didn't notice? I’m surprised.”
“Fuck you, Kindaichi, just get to the point!”
“Don’t you think they’re a lot more distant than they were before?” Kindaichi asked. “Normally, they bicker and tease each other all the time. Now… it’s like they barely talk.”
Yahaba looked up to where Oikawa and Iwaizumi were standing. “Now that you’ve said it, I can see what you mean.”
“I also saw them fighting on the day we lost at the finals,” Kindaichi whispered.
“Shit, was it that bad?”
“I didn’t stay to see if they were able to talk it out. But Oikawa-san seemed very frustrated at himself, and Iwaizumi didn’t take that very well—”
“What if one of them wants to leave the team?” Yahaba said, interrupting Kindaichi. It seemed like he had just had a realization, but his voice was full of panic.
A shiver ran through Kindaichi’s spine. “What makes you think that?”
“I can’t think of another reason for them to be mad at each other. They’re literally partners! Like, we see them bicker all the time and that doesn’t stop them from being inseparable… for them to distance themselves from each other? Something really bad must have happened,” Yahaba let out a shaky sigh. “What if they’re ignoring each other so that they get used to playing without each other? What if Oikawa-san is transferring to…” Yahaba paused dramatically. “ Shiratorizawa?”
“He would never!”
“Who knows? He really wants to go to Nationals, and come to think of it, him and Ushijima would be an unstoppable duo…” Yahaba said. “Not only that, but Oikawa-san has the brains and the talent to get into a tough school like Shiratorizawa.”
“You think it might be the reason?” Kindaichi muttered. “We have to do something about it!”
Yahaba took a deep breath. “We’re just making assumptions. We have to ask someone,” his eyes scanned the court. “Someone like Hanamaki and Matsukawa-san.”
“Let’s do it after practice!” Kindaichi said.
Yahaba nodded, eyeing Kindaichi worriedly. From afar, Kunimi and Watari watched the conversation, trying their best not to start laughing at their friends’ theories.
“How long until they notice?” Watari asked, holding back his laughter.
“No idea,” Kunimi said, sighing.
“Should we tell them?”
“I want to, but I have a feeling they won’t believe us. They have to hear them say it.”
Watari sighed. “We should stop them if things get out of hand, though.”
“Let’s hope they won’t.”
Once they were done stretching, the team practiced attacking and defending before playing a game against each other. Irihata, their coach, started separating the teams.
Thankfully for Kindaichi and Yahaba, they were put on the same team, which meant…
“Iwaizumi, you join Yahaba’s team. Oikawa, you join Kyoutani’s team,” Irihata announced.
Oikawa and Iwaizumi eyed each other for a few seconds, before going to opposite sides of the court. Instinctively, Yahaba and Kindaichi looked at each other, eyes wide in shock. Many things were going on inside their heads. First: Oikawa and Iwaizumi weren’t on the same team. Second: they didn’t seem bothered by that. Third: the combination of these two facts was certainly not helping disprove their suspicions about Oikawa leaving the team to join Shiratorizawa.
The game started, and most of the players were taking it as seriously as they normally could. But Yahaba was standing in front of Oikawa, and Iwaizumi was on his left, and they never looked at each other Not even once. Which clearly showed something was very wrong. That made the palms of Yahaba’s hands sweat a lot, so, when he set the ball to Iwaizumi and Iwaizumi got blocked by Oikawa of all people, Yahaba thought he was going to faint.
When the ball hit the floor and Iwaizumi and Oikawa’s eyes met for the first time in forever, Oikawa was staring at Iwaizumi exactly like how he stared at his opponents during official matches. No teasing. No bickering. No sarcasm. Just pure silence. Except for the grunt that left Iwaizumi’s lips when he turned his back to Oikawa.
“Sorry, Iwaizumi-san,” Yahaba was able to mutter.
“It’s fine, Yahaba. We’ll get it the next time,” Iwaizumi said, giving him a reassuring smile.
Yahaba nodded and then immediately turned to Kindaichi, who seemed to be thinking the same thing as he was: We’re screwed.
Much to both Kindaichi’s and Yahaba’s dismay, they were only able to talk to Hanamaki and Matsukawa during lunch on the next day. Kindaichi wasn’t able to pay attention to most of his classes in the morning, and Kunimi had to wake him up from his thoughts several times. Which, in a way, was very surprising, since Kunimi was the one to almost fall asleep in class most of the time.
Kindaichi had agreed to meet Yahaba in front of the cafeteria doors right after the end of his class. Yahaba had to find an excuse to leave class earlier, which was something he hated doing. Luckily for him, Watari would cover for him, and hopefully he wouldn’t get scolded by his teacher as badly. So, five minutes before class ended, Yahaba excused himself and headed towards his meeting point with Kindaichi.
Surprisingly, as Kindaichi arrived, he was accompanied by Watari and Kunimi of all people. Kindaichi had probably talked to Kunimi about the subject first, as he did with almost anything. That brought a smile to his face, at least he and Kindaichi weren’t embarrassing themselves alone. Come to think of it, it was kind of a mean thought. Oh well, Yahaba thought.
“Kunimi, what brings you here?” Yahaba asked, beaming.
“Kindaichi and my legs, what about you, Yahaba-san?”
“Stop being a smartass, Kunimi. We’ve got a job to do!” Kindaichi said, nudging Kunimi on the arm. The latter looked at Watari as if he was exhausted, and Watari made an expression Yahaba couldn’t quite read.
“Correction, you’ve got a job to do. I’m not saying anyth—”
Kunimi was interrupted by none other than Matsukawa’s deep voice. He and Hanamaki were talking and they were so into their conversation (something about Iwaizumi getting pissed off after Hanamaki said water is wet), they didn’t notice the first and second years standing next to them.
“Matsukawa-san! Hanamaki-san!” Yahaba shouted as the two third years were leaving the cafeteria. He turned back to see Kindaichi right behind him, standing there awkwardly together with Kunimi and Watari. He realized that he had just shouted in the middle of the corridor, and a bunch of pretty girls were staring at them. For once in a lifetime, that didn’t stop Yahaba. “Kindaichi and I have to ask you guys a question!”
Kindaichi froze at that, and Kunimi commented. “What a great Sherlock Holmes you are, Kindaichi.”
“Shut up!” Kindaichi stuttered when Hanamaki and Matsukawa stopped in front of them.
Yahaba looked back at Kindaichi, waiting for him to ask the question. Kindaichi, however, looked to the side, avoiding eye contact. Yahaba sighed, trying to ignore how irritated he felt at the moment. Kindaichi put all of these crazy theories inside his head and he had to ask the questions? Unbelievable, Yahaba thought.
“What’s up?” Matsukawa casually asked, stuffing his hands inside his pockets.
“So… are you two feeling better from the Prelims?” Yahaba asked, smiling awkwardly.
“Uh, I guess?” Matsukawa asked, narrowing his eyes and looking at Hanamaki, who shrugged. “Why?”
“What about Oikawa-san? Is he feeling better?” Yahaba asked, almost interrupting Matsukawa.
“I think so. The asshole is probably more determined than ever,” Hanamaki scoffed, making Matsukawa chuckle.
“Really? You think he’s feeling determined?” Kindaichi asked, his voice shaking.
“Yes? Isn’t that what I just said?” Hanamaki responded.
Way to fucking go, Kindaichi thought while smiling awkwardly. Maybe he just wouldn’t appear to practice the next day. Or better, maybe he should never go back to school, since he was such a dumbass.
“And Iwaizumi-san?” Yahaba asked.
“He’s also fine?” Matsukawa answered.
Kindaichi felt like his brain was going to explode out of anxiety, so he went straight to the point. “Do Iwaizumi-san and Oikawa-san hate each other now?”
What the actual fuck, Kindaichi, Yahaba thought, slowly turning his head to the latter.
Hanamaki and Matsukawa side-eyed each other, before Hanamaki answered. “Oh… yeah definitely.”
“What?!” Yahaba and Kindaichi shrieked.
“Yeah, they like…” Matsukawa started, but then paused dramatically. “It’s been rough. But you know how Oikawa gets when his pride is hurt and Iwaizumi calls him out for it.”
“Yeah, especially after his talk with Ushijima,” Hanamaki nodded, snapping his fingers.
“ What did they talk about?!” Kindaichi asked frantically.
“It isn’t the first time that it happens, but something along the lines of Ushijima telling him that he should have gone to Shiratorizawa instead of our school,” Hanamaki said.
“What?!” Yahaba scoffed.
“Yeah… and Oikawa being Oikawa, he obviously didn’t take that well,” Hanamaki continued.
Yahaba wasn’t breathing properly. “Did he say that to you guys?”
There was a moment of silence, until Matsukawa said, “This is the type of shit he only says to Iwaizumi, so…”
At that, Yahaba had already stopped listening. His thoughts were zapping inside his brain like lightning bolts, processing everything Hanamaki and Matsukawa had told him. In less than a second, everything seemed clear. He knew why Iwaizumi and Oikawa were fighting! Oikawa was thinking about transferring schools and didn’t tell Iwaizumi about it! Iwaizumi discovered, got pissed off and they fought, which of course was another reason for Oikawa to want to leave! Which also obviously explained why they weren't talking to each other at practice!
Yahaba couldn’t breathe. His eyes widened at his realization.
Oikawa was definitely leaving Seijoh, and they didn’t have Iwaizumi to convince him to stay.
No, this can’t be happening!, Yahaba thought, his hands shaking. For once in his life, he hated that he was right. How could his stupid theory from the other day be so close to the truth? Was he psychic or something? Based on what was happening, Yahaba wasn’t doubting that possibility.
“Alright, thank you so much! See you later, bye!” Yahaba squawked, robotically walking away and grabbing Kindaichi by the arm. Matsukawa was still talking when he said that.
“Wait, Yahaba—” Hanamaki called out, but Yahaba was already far away.
“I’m doing the talking, alright?” Yahaba announced.
“Why?” Kindaichi asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Because considering the mess you were during our talk with Hanamaki-san and Matsukawa-san, I think I’ll be better at convincing Oikawa-san and Iwaizumi-san.”
“Oh yeah, because you were acting super normal when talking to them,” Watari shot back.
“Maybe we should let him leave,” Kyoutani muttered.
“Shut up, Kyoutani!” Yahaba shrieked, ignoring Watari’s comment. “God, why did you even bother to come earlier if you’re going to be a jerk about all of this?”
“It’s not like you gave me a choice,” Kyoutani hissed, making Yahaba roll his eyes.
It was true. Earlier that day, Yahaba started explaining the idea to Kyoutani and at first, he said no. To which Yahaba said something like: You’re coming whether you like it or not, and, If you don’t come I’ll never set the ball to you again.
Kyoutani couldn’t object to that, so he did as Yahaba said.
The first and second years had agreed to arrive 20 minutes before practice started so Kindaichi and Yahaba explained what was happening between Iwaizumi and Oikawa, and then they decided who would say what. That, of course, took longer than expected. Mainly because Kyoutani and Yahaba wouldn’t stop being petty with each other, so at every three words Yahaba said, Kyoutani would interrupt him. 10 minutes had already passed and they hadn’t gotten to an agreement.
“Why should we say anything? You’re the ones the most bothered by this,” Kunimi stated.
“Because Oikawa-san needs to understand we all want him to stay—”
“Stay where, Yahaba-chan?”
Oikawa.
“Oikawa-san! Hiiii!” Yahaba said in a high-pitched voice.
Oikawa, Hanamaki, Matsukawa and Iwaizumi got into the gym, already wearing their uniform. That made a shiver run down Yahaba’s spine, because unless they were already wearing their practice clothes earlier, it meant they were in the locker room changing, which could mean they heard their entire conversation.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit! Yahaba thought. Act naturally, Shigeru!
“What’s going on, you guys?” Oikawa smiled. “You never arrive this early at practice!”
At that, some weird sounds were coming out of Yahaba’s mouth. It was like he had completely stopped functioning. What is going on with me? Yahaba thought.
The third years looked at each other before eyeing Yahaba worriedly. “Yahaba, are you alright? Do you need to go to the nurse?” Iwaizumi asked, walking closer to him.
“I… you… Oikawa-san… Shiratorizawa…” Yahaba mumbled, still in shock.
“What?” Iwaizumi asked.
Just like earlier, Kindaichi’s anxiety took over, so he shrieked. “ Oikawa-san are you transferring to Shiratorizawa?”
Every single eye fell on Kindaichi. Oikawa slowly blinked twice.
“Huh.”
“ Iwaizumi-san you and Oikawa-san have to sort your shit out so that Oikawa-san doesn’t go to Shiratorizawa!” Kindaichi said, the words blurting out of his mouth. He had never spoken this fast in his life.
Now, it was Iwaizumi’s turn to say, “Huh.”
Yahaba shook his head and blinked a few times, he looked at Iwaizumi and Oikawa confidently. As if all the nervousness from a few seconds ago had completely disappeared. “We noticed something weird was going on between you two! You weren’t acting as yourselves during practice!”
“And what does this have to do with…” Oikawa paused, making a confused face. “Shiratorizawa?”
“Well, you annoy each other all the time and never take it to the heart! So, since you were barely talking during practice, we came to the conclusion that you and Iwaizumi-san fought because you wanted to transfer to Shiratorizawa because we lost the other day!” Yahaba continued, but now his expression softened. “You have to stay, Oikawa-san! We know you can take us to Nationals, and even if you don’t, you’re always going to make our team great! We all think that! Really!”
Oikawa was so in shock, his mouth forming a straight line, his eyes widened and his eyebrows almost disappearing behind his bangs. He was looking at Yahaba and the rest of the team (who were nodding and humming in order to encourage Yahaba) in complete disbelief, blinking slowly every two seconds.
“Iwaizumi-san!” Yahaba shouted. “You and Oikawa-san have to stop fighting! You’re the one whose opinion matters the most to him,” he pointed at Oikawa. “Don’t let him give in to Ushijima’s antics!”
Oikawa waved his hands in the air, scrunching his nose and closing his eyes. “Wait a second… You think I want to transfer to Shiratorizawa because we lost… and that Iwa-chan and I fought, and that because of this we weren’t talking as much during practice?”
The first and second years nodded. Oikawa and Iwaizumi looked at each other before glancing back at Hanamaki and Matsukawa, who for once were completely quiet.
And so the four of them burst out laughing.
Yahaba and Kindaichi slowly turned to each other, and then to the rest of the team. However, they and Kyoutani seemed to be the only ones confused with the third years’ reaction.
“Oh my God… you have it all wrong…” Oikawa said after he and the rest of the third years were able to compose themselves.
“Honestly, you two deserve an award!” Hanamaki said, wiping a tear out of his eye. “You were able to make them think the complete opposite of what’s actually happening!”
“ What is actually happening?” Kindaichi asked, frowning.
Oikawa turned his head to Iwaizumi, beaming. “Should I do the honors, Iwa-chan?”
Iwaizumi stuttered, his cheeks and ears turning red. “Go ahead,” he mumbled before looking to his side and covering his face with one of his hands.
And so, Oikawa intertwined his fingers with Iwaizumi’s.
“Iwa-chan and I are dating!” he announced, his smile growing wider at every second.
Yahaba and Kindaichi slowly looked down at their intertwined hands, then up to Oikawa and Iwaizumi again.
Oh.
Oh?
Oh!
Oh.
“What?!” Kindaichi, Yahaba and Kyoutani shouted at the top of their lungs. The three of them were completely dumbfounded, muttering things no one else understood. That, of course, not only the third years, but the rest of the team burst out laughing once again.
Kindaichi noticed that Oikawa and Iwaizumi did not let go of each other.
“So… you’re not going to Shiratorizawa?” Kindaichi asked, his voice fading away.
“ Fuck no!” Oikawa scoffed.
“And you two didn’t fight?”
“No?” Iwaizumi answered, his cheeks still red, but now his smile was as wide as Oikawa’s.
“But…” Yahaba started, calming himself down. “Why weren’t you talking as much during practice?”
Oikawa and Iwaizumi chuckled, looking at each other for a few seconds. “We were actually doing that on purpose because… Well, we didn’t know how to tell you guys we were dating…”
“So we distanced ourselves from each other during practice so you guys wouldn’t suspect anything…” Iwaizumi continued. He turned to Oikawa, chuckling. “What were we thinking?”
“Honestly, Iwa-chan, this wasn’t our smartest decision!” Oikawa laughed, hiding his face by supporting his forehead on his boyfriend’s shoulder. Iwaizumi smiled at the affection, looking at Oikawa lovingly.
“Understatement of the century ,” Matsukawa smirked. “You guys are so stupid!”
Iwaizumi and Oikawa flipped him off at the same time, making Hanamaki and Matsukawa roll their eyes. They were probably thinking the same thing.
“But… What about that day Kunimi and I arrived earlier at practice?” Kindaichi asked. “You know, the day you pushed Oikawa away from you when we arrived. Weren’t you fighting?”
“Kindaichi, I swear to God, ” Kunimi hissed. “They were obviously not fighting! Come on, use that gigantic head of yours for something useful!”
Kindaichi frowned and looked at the floor for a few seconds.
Oh.
How could he have been so oblivious? I’m such an idiot, Kindaichi thought.
“You were kissing!” Kindaichi exclaimed, finally looking up.
Iwaizumi groaned, once again covering his face with his free hand in an attempt to hide his blush. Oikawa started laughing, closing his eyes and looking at the floor.
“In the volleyball court, really?” Matsukawa shrieked.
Before Oikawa or Iwaizumi could defend themselves, Hanamaki muttered. “Mattsun, you insensitive asshole! Their first kiss was on this court, of course they decided to make out in here of all pla—”
“Oi! Watch it, Makki!” Iwaizumi hissed, making Hanamaki shut up.
“Now, I have a question. Why the hell did you think I’d ever want to transfer to Shiratorizawa?” Oikawa asked, still not believing how absurd his question sounded.
“This… might have been our fault…” Matsukawa muttered. When Oikawa and Iwaizumi stayed quiet, waiting for an explanation, Matsukawa sighed and said. “They came up to us bombarding us with weird questions about us feeling better about the finals… and then Kindaichi asked us if you two hated each other, Makki and I said that you did, because the question was completely insane!”
“And where does Shiratorizawa appear in all of this?” Oikawa asked.
“I might have mentioned your talk with Ushijima?” Makki said, smiling shyly.
Oikawa’s face fell at that, and Iwaizumi was clearly trying not to jump on his friends’ necks. He was having a very hard time.
“Look, we were joking! We didn’t expect them to believe us!” Hanamaki countered. “I mean, come on! In what universe would you two genuinely hate each other? That’s impossible!”
“Also, Makki here tried to stop them and explain it was all a joke but Yahaba had already left!” Matsukawa said.
“So all of this madness happened because of you two?” Iwaizumi was smiling, but his voice was anything but friendly.
“Technically, if you two had just owned up to your feelings and acted normally during practice, they wouldn’t have come to us asking if you hated each other…” Hanamaki said. “So, not really.”
“Alright, that’s it,” Iwaizumi hissed, and so he sprinted in Hanamaki’s direction, making the latter screech loudly and start running for his life.
At some point, Hanamaki just let Iwaizumi literally kick his ass and the two calmed themselves down and went back to where the rest of the team was standing. Since everyone was a lot more calm, Oikawa finally said. “Just to make things clear, I would never go to Shiratorizawa. No matter how much people try to convince me, it just won’t happen. I want to take you guys to Nationals, because as I always say, I have faith in you. There’s nothing I believe more than in my team.”
Oikawa was saying those words with such confidence, it was impossible not to believe him. No matter how many times he repeated them, they were always real and genuine, and that made Kindaichi and Yahaba realize how stupid this whole situation was. It was Oikawa Tooru they were talking about! He would have to be completely brainwashed for him to ever consider leaving Seijoh.
Not only that, but there was nothing he believed more than Iwaizumi. They knew he would never leave Iwaizumi behind for Shiratorizawa of all things.
But, just to make sure, Yahaba asked. “So, just to make things even more clear, you don’t hate each other?”
“That’s still under debate, apparently,” Iwaizumi answered.
Oikawa rolled his eyes. “You see, Iwa-chan’s a brute, so he’s not good at sorting things out in his tiny brain— Ouch!” Oikawa shrieked when Iwaizumi smacked him on the head. “See! You’re just proving my point!”
“And you’re a dumbass, Shittykawa,” Iwaizumi muttered.
At that, the entire team smiled. It was good to finally hear Oikawa and Iwaizumi’s stupid bickering again. They would have never imagined that they would miss it. And not only that, but Oikawa and Iwaizumi were also missing just being themselves around their team.
Iwaizumi took Oikawa’s hand again, squeezing it lightly as a form of reassurance. “Of course we don’t hate each other. It was stupid of you guys to ever think that.”
That made Oikawa smile shyly at Iwaizumi, who couldn’t resist but smile brightly as well.
Yahaba and Kindaichi started bowing down, apologizing several times. Oikawa had to repeat several times that it was fine, he wasn’t mad, just very confused. While Oikawa and Iwaizumi were trying to deal with the awkward situation, Hanamaki and Matsukawa were, once again, laughing their asses off.
The madness ended when Mizoguchi and Irihata entered the gym and ordered them to stop fooling around and start warming up. Without thinking twice, Iwaizumi and Oikawa decided to help each other out, and so they followed Hanamaki and Matsukawa to wherever they were heading.
Yahaba and Kindaichi, however, were so embarrassed they barely talked to each other for the rest of practice, much to Kunimi’s amusement.
On the next day, Iwaizumi, Matsukawa and Hanamaki appeared at practice five minutes earlier. The rest of the team was also arriving, but to their surprise, Oikawa was nowhere to be seen. That didn’t go unnoticed by Kindaichi, but differently from last time, he decided not to jump to conclusions.
“Do you know what happened to Oikawa?” Matsukawa asked Iwaizumi.
“No idea—” Iwaizumi is interrupted by something vibrating in his pocket. “Speak of the devil,” he lifted his phone, showing that Oikawa was calling him. Kindaichi smiled at Oikawa’s contact name on Iwaizumi’s phone: Tooru <3. “Hey, dumbass, where are you?”
They could only hear Oikawa’s voice on the other end of the line, but couldn’t understand a word of what he was saying. They didn’t need to, because by the faces Iwaizumi was making (from eye rolling, to smiling endearingly and chuckling), it was clear Oikawa was just being Oikawa.
“Alright,” Iwaizumi said, after hearing Oikawa ramble for a while. His eyes suddenly widened before he mumbled, “ Iloveyoutoo.”
Hanamaki and Matsukawa started laughing at Iwaizumi’s sudden silence. Oikawa said something on the other end of the line, and that made Iwaizumi groan. “I love you too,” Iwaizumi said more clearly, blushing furiously. “Okay, see you in a little. Bye,” he turned to the rest of the team, but the words coming out of Iwaizumi’s mouth were a little too fast. “ A teacher held back Oikawa to talk to him about some stuff and he was only able to leave now. He’ll be here in a minute.”
“You two are so cute!” Hanamaki said exaggeratedly, and Matsukawa started making very loud kissing noises. Which earned them (well deserved) punches on the stomach. Iwaizumi couldn’t see them doubling back in pain because he had already left in the court’s direction.
They had just finished warming up when Oikawa arrived. He apologized several times to their coaches and to the rest of the team, he also didn’t hold back when practicing his serving as a way to own up to everyone. He was standing next to Iwaizumi, and when their coaches were distracted, he turned to his boyfriend, lifted Iwaizumi’s chin with his fingers and planted a soft kiss on his lips. Kindaichi couldn’t help but stare when he saw Oikawa wording, You’re still coming to my house after practice, right?, and when Iwaizumi answered, Of course, dumbass.
But Kindaichi smiled especially at how Iwaizumi seemed blissed after this short interaction. Differently from earlier, he didn’t seem flustered (despite the blush on his cheeks), he actually seemed very happy.
After practice, when he saw Oikawa and Iwaizumi leaving hand in hand, Yahaba and Kindaichi glanced at each other, and based on their satisfied looks, they knew they were thinking the same thing.
There wasn’t a universe where Iwaizumi Hajime and Oikawa Tooru didn’t love each other.