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The weather during Aobajousai's summer training camp was mercifully cooler than usual. In the evening, as one by one they finished their invididual practice, the teammates tended to gather around the entrance to the gym and relax for awhile before heading off to hit the bath and sleep.
That first evening, everyone had worked to exhausation, and only two members remained on the court. The others watched from the doorway as Oikawa set tosses for Iwaizumi to spike. Oikawa was always last in the gym and Iwaizumi often stayed behind to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn't slip into old, self-destructive habits, they all knew. As they watched, Iwaizumi said something too quiet to hear from across the gym. Oikawa laughed and waved a hand, apparently not the appropriate response, because he earned a volleyball to the face. His whine of "Iwa-chan, why!?" carried easily outside.
The idle conversations the others were involved in came to a halt when Hanamaki gave a mock sigh. "Enough is enough. When are those two going to finally get together?"
At first, no one spoke, gauging the seriousness of Hanamaki's calmly spoken words. Then Matsukawa's mouth turned up. "I don't know, but I've been waiting for the last three years to see it."
Now everyone's attention was focused on the court. Oikawa was punctuating the words he spoke to Iwaizumi with emphatic gestures, perhaps trying to convince him that he didn't deserve another hit. He turned around to pick up the volleyball Iwaizumi had thrown. While he was facing away, Iwaizumi's scowl softened as he looked at Oikawa, though it returned by the time Oikawa turned back around.
"Oh my god," said Yahaba. "I never even realized..."
"Really?" Kunimi asked tonelessly. "I thought it was obvious."
Kindaichi nodded. "They were like this in middle school, too."
Watari looked at them thoughtfully. "I can see it, yeah."
Kyoutani alone remained unconvinced; not surprising, since he'd been on the team the shortest amount of time, and plus he probably looked up to Iwaizumi too much to wish Oikawa on him. "Iwaizumi just hit him," he said.
"That's how they flirt," Hanaki assured him. "Violence and making fun of each other." Kyoutani still looked skeptical, but he just shrugged.
They all broke off when Iwaizumi dragged Oikawa over to the doorway with him in a headlock. "Iwa-chan, you're messing up my beautiful hair," he complained, trying to shake free from the death grip.
"Shut up about your shitty hair, Shittykawa." He nodded to the others. "I'm going to make sure this idiot doesn't stay up too late again, so we're going on."
"Come on, my knee feels fine," Oikawa begged, but Iwaizumi paid no attention to his words as their teammates made way for them to leave. They were halfway across the courtyard when Iwaizumi let go of him, and instead of trying to run back to the gym to practice his serve another thousand times, Oikawa just slung an arm around Iwaizumi's shoulders and they walked side by side like that until they disappeared inside the building housing the team's room for the week.
Hanamaki and Matsukawa wore matching grins. They looked at each other and Matsukawa nodded. Hanamaki said, "What do you guys think about a team project this week?"
Kindaichi tilted his head, not sure where this was going. "What kind of project?"
"Project get Iwaizumi and Oikawa to admit they're gay for each other," Matsukawa said.
"I'm in," Watari said right away.
"What if they get mad at us?" Kindaichi asked. "Oikawa will probably figure out what we're doing..."
"I doubt it, if they've been in denial about their own feelings for this long," Hanamaki said. "And they won't find out if we're careful."
"Let's do it for our upperclassmen," Yahaba decided. Kunimi nodded his assent as well.
"What do you say, Kyoutani?" Matsukawa asked.
"Whatever."
"You aren't going to tell them, are you?" Kindaichi asked worriedly.
"No, do whatever you want."
"Alright, then!" Hanamaki clapped his hands. "We know our goal. We have three days, so let's do this."
Kunimi wasn't sure why, but the first task had fallen to him. He sighed as he scanned the large room's layout. Futons lay in two neat rows in the center of the room. Everyone else was getting ready for bed, but he'd slipped away to get back to the room first.
Iwaizumi's bag rested on the pillow of the futon by Kunimi's feet; Oikawa's stuff was a few futons down. Praying that neither of the two came back and caught him in the act, he switched Kindaichi's things with Oikawa's, so that he would be on the end next to Iwaizumi.
Kindaichi returned first, saw that Kunimi had been successful, and smiled in equal parts anticipation and nervousness. Slowly the others trickled into the room, looking a lot different in pajamas instead of matching uniforms.
Oikawa stopped and stared down at the futon he'd claimed earlier. "Eh, what's this?" He poked Kindaichi's things.
"Ah, sorry," Kindaichi's face turned slightly red as he considered a good excuse to give Oikawa.
Kunimi saved him by explaining, "I asked him to take the futon across from mine."
Oikawa raised an eyebrow but just ended up shrugging. "That's fine, I don't mind where I sleep. I love all my teammates equally!"
Hanamaki snorted and Matsukawa hid a grin, but Oikawa, used to his grand statements being met with laughter, didn't react as he fell onto his new futon. "It's too early to go to sleep," he complained as Iwaizumi looked down and made a face.
"You better not snore in my ears," he threatened.
"I don't snore, I sleep like an angel."
"An angel who kicks people in his sleep," Iwaizumi muttered, having had a fair number of sleepovers with Oikawa over the years and knowing the unfortunate truth that even in his sleep, Oikawa never stopped moving. Still, he settled down on his futon and started thumbing through his phone.
"Are you texting somone? Googling uncouth things? Let me see!" Oikawa tried to drape himself over Iwaizumi in order to peek at his screen, but Iwaizumi pushed him off without looking. It was their usual antics, but everyone was paying far more attention to them tonight. Probably too much, they realized when Oikawa raised his head and looked around.
"Why is everyone so quiet?" he asked.
"Our mean captain ran us ragged during practice," Hanamaki immediately answered.
"I've never pushed anyone further than they could go," Oikawa protested, and the sentiment was almost sweet, but his pout just made the other third-years tease him all the more.
Everyone relaxed after that, mindlessly chatting until it was declared time for lights out. "Sweet dreams of crushing Ushiwaka, everyone!" Oikawa said, flipping the light switch down.
Hanamaki texted Matsukawa with his phone under his covers to hide the light. 500 yen says iwaizumi wakes up to oikawa on his futon ;))
dude im not betting against that
Day two of training camp meant phase two of the team's secret project. Much to their dismay, Oikawa and Iwaizumi hadn't ended up sharing a futon in the middle of the night, so it was time to raise the stakes.
Hanamaki managed to find Iwaizumi by himself during lunch break, sitting under a tree with his lunch in his lap. Hanamaki took his own plate over and sat down beside him.
"Where's Oikawa?" Hanamaki asked nonchalantly.
"Don't know." Iwaizumi shoveled rice into his mouth without looking up.
"Hm." Hanamaki broke his chopsticks apart and poked at a piece of chicken. "Iwaizumi, you're his best friend, so you probably already know this..." He trailed off, causing Iwaizumi to look up sharply.
"What is it?" he asked. "Is there something wrong with Oikawa?"
"No, but when I was heading to the bathroom earlier, I heard him talking on his phone. I think it was to one of his fangirls." Hanamaki rolled his eyes to signify exactly what he thought about Oikawa having so many fangirls in the first place. "But it almost sounded serious. Is he trying to get a girlfriend?"
Hanamaki kept his expression as bored and neutral as possible as he observed Iwaizumi's own for any sign of jealousy. Iwaizumi, however, immediately untensed and went back to eating.
"Like any girl would actually date him when they found out what he was like," Iwaizumi scoffed.
"Sometimes, being good-looking is enough," Hanamaki pointed out. "And Oikawa has that, at least."
"Where?" Iwaizumi asked dryly, finishing the last of his rice and standing to throw his plate away, leaving Hanamaki to furiously brainstorm how to discourage Iwaizumi from his tsundere ways.
It was difficult enough to find Oikawa and Iwaizumi apart from one another on a normal day, but at training camp where the whole team was thrown together basically twenty-four hours a day, it was next to impossible. It took Matsukawa luring Iwaizumi away with some excuse about Kyoutani punching a vending machine for stealing his money for Yahaba to have a chance to approach Oikawa alone.
It was around dusk on the second evening and Yahaba had only given up on individual practice minutes earlier, when Hanamaki had winked and pointed at his bag. That was his cue to find the milk bread bought from a local convenience store and take it to Oikawa, who was leaning against the wall at one end of the gym, sweating and breathing hard. He smiled brightly as Yahaba approached him.
"Looking for some tips from your favorite upperclassman?" Oikawa asked in the charming voice that interviewers fawned over.
"Actually, I'm about to head out, but I was told to give you this first." He handed over the milk bread and saw delight and confusion battle it out in Oikawa's eyes.
"Hm, what's this for?" he asked.
"It's, uh," Yahaba faltered at the prospect of lying to Oikawa, but decided that the immorality could be overlooked once the end justified the means. "It's from Iwaizumi-san, actually. He said you'd like it."
Oikawa frowned. "Is Iwa-chan dying?"
Yahaba blinked, unsure how to answer that.
"Or maybe it's poisoned? Laced with sleeping pills to make me stop practicing?" Oikawa took the milk bread but stared at it suspiciously.
"I think it's just because it's your favorite," Yahaba offered.
Oikawa twisted his mouth around, considering the feasibility of that explanation. Then he smiled again. "Now this is how a vice captain should be treating his captain!"
Yahaba breathed a sigh of relief and said goodbye, running out of the gym before Oikawa's piercing eyes saw straight through Yahaba.
"I'm not sure if we're making progress or just slowly convincing Iwaizumi and Oikawa that the other has been replaced by an alien double," Hanamaki said.
Kunimi said, "Maybe we need to be more direct."
"Like, just ask of one of them if they like the other?" Kindaichi asked.
"Too direct."
"But if we could bring the topic up..." mused Matsukawa. He looked at Hanamaki and held out his hand. "Let me see your phone."
"What for?"
"I thought of an idea and I need to download a stupid app for it. And your phone is already full of stupid apps, so I figured it wouldn't make a difference."
"Fair enough." Hanamaki let Matsukawa fiddle with his phone for a minute. He then turned the screen to face the teammates that had huddled about. "Leave the set-up to me," Matsukawa said when he saw they got the gist of the plan from the name of the app.
Matsukawa waited until everyone was in the room for the night, lounging about thumbing through sports magazines or scrolling through their phones. "So, Hanamaki," he said clearly enough for everyone to hear, but not so loud that it seemed like he wanted them to. "Any luck with that girl you're after?"
Hanamaki sighed deeply. "No. Apparently she thought I was a basketball player, not a volleyball player. Even though a spike is objectively more impressive than a slam dunk."
As expected, Oikawa couldn't keep himself out of the conversation. "What's this, Makki got shot down? You should've come to me for expert advice!"
"On how to get dumped by girls?" Iwaizumi asked without looking up from his phone.
"Jealousy makes your face even uglier than normal, Iwa-chan."
One headbutt later, Oikawa turned back to Hanamaki, rubbing his side with an exaggerated pout on his face. Hanamaki somehow resisted making a joke about rough foreplay. He said instead, "It's hard to find the right person when you're too focused on volleyball to have a life."
"You should date a volleyball player, then," Matsukawa said.
Hanamaki raised an eyebrow. "Are you offering?"
"Anything for you, bro." They grinned and bumped their fists together.
Yahaba said, "I think Hanamaki-san would be better with someone more serious." He looked pointedly at Kunimi.
Oikawa gasped. "Are you saying he should prey on his underclassman? How awful!"
Figuring it was time, Matsukawa picked up Hanamaki's phone, which was identical to his down to the case, and found the app he'd downloaded earlier. "Everyone, wait. I'll solve this problem once and for all. Or..." He paused dramatically. "Madame Match will." He put the phone down where it was roughly in the center of the mess of futons. Everyone gathered around and looked at the cartoonish drawing filling the screen of an old woman with a crystal ball.
Let Madame Match unveil your greatest compatibility! read the on-screen text above two boxes for inputting names.
Iwaizumi almost choked on a laugh. "What the hell, are we back to middle school?" he asked Matsukawa.
"Don't insult Madame Match," Hanamaki said. "She sees all, knows all."
"Yeah, okay." Iwaizumi watched in amusement as Matsukawa typed in his and Hanamaki's names.
Madame Match predicts... this relationship has a 95% chance of success.
"I think Kunimi already lost," Kindaichi said.
"Good," Kunimi mumbled.
"Do another one!" Watari added.
"Let's see." Matsukawa looked around the room at potential victims before testing the invisible ties of Kyoutani and Yahaba.
Madame Match predicts... this relationship has a 53% chance of success.
"That's tough," Hanamaki said. "I wish you two luck in navigating the ups and downs of your love life."
Kyoutani turned away, face strangely red, and Yahaba coughed, at a total loss for words. Somehow, the plan hadn't seemed this embarrassing when he'd first seen the app.
"Alright, Madame Match," Hanamaki said. "Work your magic again." Taking over for Matsukawa, he typed in Oikawa's name. Oikawa craned his neck further, eyes widening just a bit as Hanamaki's fingers paused over the second blank. Then, before Iwaizumi could punch him instead of Oikawa for once, he typed Iwaizumi's name in a rush and hit enter.
"The fuck," Iwaizumi said.
Madame Match predicts... this relationship has a 0% chance of success.
For a second, everyone stared at the screen. Then, Hanamaki and Matsukawa collapsed in a pile of contagious laughter; even Kunimi cracked a smile. The only two who were completely silent were the two in question.
Iwaizumi just nodded. "Sounds about right."
Oikawa looked deeply offended. "Iwa-chan! You know we are perfectly compatible!"
"He has a point," Hanamaki managed to say between laughs. "No one's more in-sync at practice than you two."
"Thanks, but I'm not handing my future over to Madame Match or this idiot." Iwaizumi jerked his thumb at Oikawa before crawling back to his futon.
"Put in our first names," Oikawa demanded. "Madame Match was clearly thinking of a different Oikawa and Iwaizumi."
"Hey. Shittykawa." Iwaizumi's glare had Oikawa backing down, and perhaps it was for the best; when Hanamaki checked their first names later on, the result was the same.
No one wanted to admit defeat, but the final hours of training camp were dwindling away and practice was business as usual. Which meant, of course, a steady stream of banter between Oikawa and Iwaizumi, interrupted only by the flawless combos those two executed like they could read the other's mind. During a water break, while the two were distracted (that is, when Oikawa stole Iwaizumi's water bottle so he wouldn't have to refill his own and ended up getting chased around the gym until the coach yelled at them), the rest of the team conferred on any last-minute strategies.
"I've got nothing," Yahaba admitted. "Maybe we should just try to get them together by graduation?"
"Maybe we should just leave them alone," Kunimi said.
"As if," Matsukawa and Hanamaki said together.
Hanamaki went on, "We have a responsibility to them as our friends to ensure their future happiness."
"Plus, this is fun," Matsukawa finished.
"We still have another shot. Practice isn't over yet. It's time to invoke the most classic of shoujo manga tropes," Hanamaki said.
"Which is?" Kindaichi asked.
Matsukawa answered for him. "Obviously, the accidental fall on top of your crush scenario. The accidental kiss would be even better, but we're not miracle workers."
"This is getting out of hand," Yahaba said with a heavy sigh.
"That's what we're aiming for," the third-year duo concluded in a tone that let the underclassmen know it was far too late to back out.
They ended up doing a practice match to finish out the day. Those who were still going along with Hanamaki and Matsukawa's plans were not quite up to par, too focused on trying to knock Oikawa into Iwaizumi but never finding the perfect opportunity. They knew it would have to look like an accident, but none of their members were that clumsy, and it was match point for Oikawa's team before they realized it.
The other side was just two points behind, and the air in the gym thickened with tension, despite it just being a practice match among teammates.
"We're not handing the game over!" Hanamaki said, and his teammates shouted their agreement behind him.
"That's fine, we'll take it anyway," Oikawa smirked, getting into position to serve.
Somehow, Watari received the intense serve, and Yahaba tossed for Hanamaki to spike. Matsukawa received it on the other side, sending it easily to Oikawa.
"Iwa-chan!" Oikawa called out, letting the ball fly from his fingertips towards Iwaizumi's outstretched palm. He slammed it down between Watari and Yahaba, settling the game.
"Yes!" Iwaizumi pumped his fist and turned to Oikawa for a high-five- only to have Oikawa throw his arms around his neck and pull him close.
Their teammates gaped as Oikawa pressed his smiling lips to Iwaizumi's, eyes half-closed. Iwaizumi froze for a moment before relaxing, putting his hands on Oikawa's waist, and kissing him back.
The sudden cheer from their teammates was raucous as everyone recovered from their shock. Even the practice match's losing side felt victorious, though Hanamaki could be heard lamenting the missed opportunity of his classic shoujo trope over the others' catcalls.
Coach Mizoguchi clapped his hands to get their attention. "Hey, we're here to practice volleyball techniques, so cut that out!"
"Sorry, sorry!" Oikawa laughed, drawing away from Iwaizumi without breaking eye contact with him. They both looked pleased, their cheeks faintly pink, but nothing could top the triumph on their fellow third-years' faces.
"Looks like our project was a success," Matsukawa said under his breath.
Hanamaki nodded proudly. "This training camp will never topped."
It was a fifteen minute walk from the train station to the street where Iwaizumi and Oikawa lived. Oikawa was in high spirits, slightly swinging his and Iwaizumi's hands between them and humming random pop songs.
"When did you figure out what they were trying to do, anyway?" Iwaizumi asked curiously. After the team's cheers, all the weird behavior from the past few days had made sense, and though he was somewhat annoyed that they'd been meddling in his and Oikawa's business, he knew they'd meant well. Probably even Matsukawa and Hanamaki had.
"The second day. How did you not guess, Iwa-chan?" Oikawa laughed. "You know, this is all your fault, because you're not subtle at all. They could probably tell how in love you are with me in one glance!"
"Shut up, Asskawa," Iwaizumi said without malice. "If you knew what they were doing, you could've just told them. Drama queen."
"But they worked so hard for our sakes! They deserved a grand finale for that."
"You're so gross." Iwaizumi shook his head in disgust. "And don't think I'm going to kiss you like that after every game."
"Iwa-chan," Oikawa whined, "always so cold-hearted to me..."
"Shouldn't you be used to it by now?"
Oikawa smiled and looked into the distance, a nostalgic look softening his gaze. "Oh, I am. But really, who knew that what we tried to hide for the last five years so as not to disturb the team's harmony ended up being exactly what the team needed to come together?"
Iwaizumi squeezed his hand. "I'm glad it doesn't have to be a secret anymore."
"Aw, Iwa-chan wants to show me off to the whole world!"
The slap to the back of his head didn't dampen Oikawa's mood at all, especially since it was followed up by a chaste kiss to his lips that told him his words weren't so untrue after all.