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If Iwaizumi had a dime for every time he heard his neighbor’s obnoxious laugh through the wall, he would have enough money to buy a penthouse far away with spare change for a bat to beat the guy's head in. He had almost dropped his gardenia plant to its untimely death after having just watered it. As his heart settled down from what seemed like he just ran a marathon, he straightened up to position the white flowers in the window sill. He couldn’t help but admire the petals being nuzzled by the breeze in the dimming light. Iwaizumi wouldn’t call himself a plant lover, nor did he really think himself good at taking care of them as it felt like he was babysitting a child that neither spoke nor moved. It was a new hobby that gave him something to do, especially in times where he couldn’t ignore his neighbor.
As if on cue, he heard the walls vibrate with the same familiar laugh on the other side of the wall. He squinted his eyes in frustration hoping he would be able to burn a hole through the wall and strike fear into the man’s heart for being a nuisance.
With a heavy sigh he looked at the greying sky from his quaint apartment. He had never expected the rainy season to be brutal but at least his plant would be content. The droplets began to fall on the patio and the rain was steadily lulling him to sleep as his heavy feet carried him to rest on his couch. There was no homework to be done, he didn't need to attend his job that day, it was only going to be him and—that damn neighbor who kept giggling with all the girls he brought to his apartment. They often made lewd comments he could hear through the thin walls which he wasn't sure left him blushing out of fury or embarrassment.
He could have sworn that Oikawa Tooru was competing to be the worst neighbor ever. It’s not like Iwaizumi knew the man’s name by stealthily peaking at his mailbox, certainly not. Names of people circulated from ear to ear in the small town—a town too small to not escape the noise he initially moved away from at his old house.
"SHUT UP OVER THERE! IT'S LATE AND I’M TRYING TO SLEEP!" Iwaizumi yelled while banging on the wall. He had no qualms about displaying his true feelings when it came to longing peace and quiet. Silence fell as he finished his pounding and he was slightly taken aback because his tactic had actually worked for once. As trivial as it was, Iwaizumi smiled to himself feeling as if he had won. It was a small victory over people who acted like toddlers, but still a victory nonetheless. Then, there was a banging on the wall that elicited a squeak from his mouth he was sure the party on the other side heard due to their snickering.
"He's no fun! Don't mind him, ladies!" stated the voice with a lilt that could only belong to Oikawa. Iwaizumi groaned while taking his pillow and shoving it on top of his face. He wondered if he should suffocate himself and take the easy way out instead of dealing with an insufferable brat.
Who the hell needed to have twenty parties a week? Okay, Oikawa didn’t actually have that many parties but when annoyance hit him too many times expression in hyperboles helped him cope. He couldn’t let it bother him. Nothing was permanent and these moments would pass before he knew it.
Iwaizumi Hajime closed his eyes and inwardly declared was going to enjoy the weekend even if it killed him.
Yet, it was the crash of Iwaizumi’s gardenia plant hitting the ground that interrupted his slumber and not laughter for the first time ever. The rain poured outside in heavy sheets he could barely see through even if he squinted. The storm was gradually building. Then, as if someone had taken a picture with the flash on, lighting illuminated his apartment with eerie shadows that caused his stomach do a nervous somersault.
He shook his head and slumped to get his poor plant whose soil formed an archipelago on the floor. That was going to be fun to clean up later.
When Iwaizumi was satisfied with the new plastic bowl being used as a temporary vase, he set the plant down on the table at the center of his living room. Reading a book sounded like the most pleasing option at the moment. He admired the pattering of the rain creating a white noise for him to focus.
Unfortunately, as soon as fell onto his couch the whole building groaned and left him in the dark. Reading was now out of the question and he cursed the undeniable entity wanting to keep him from enjoying his weekend. His last resort was to sleep again until he heard a knock at the door, which only confirmed his belief in the unknown entity that much more.
He could only presume it was the maintenance man coming to check the condition of his electricity.
They sure do work fast, Iwaizumi thought, scratching the back of his head. He stumbled across the floor and grappled for his front door’s handle.
He pulled it open only to choke on air.
Iwaizumi could have mistaken the wet person at his door step for a drenched puppy. What was his usual clean, swept curls were soaked and clinging to his face. Brown eyes frantically squinting to avoid the rain drops dripping from his brown hair to his water dusted eye lashes. Unrecognizable from his usual appearance, the man’s teeth were chattering and he was silently trying not to make eye contact with Iwaizumi at the door.
"I was w-wondering if I c-could use your h-heater," Oikawa said rubbing his hands along his biceps attempting to warm himself in a way Iwaizumi found incredibly hard not to stare at.
"The electricity is out," Iwaizumi grunted. "Nice try."
He began to close the door but was suddenly stopped by a strong hand.
"Wait!" The voice cried sounding a hint out of breath. “I... please, just let me come in... please."
Iwaizumi could feel a small vibration on the door and he noticed the hand holding it trembling in the slightest. He stared back at Oikawa’s wide brown orbs slowly carving their way into his soul. He absently nodded his head while opening the door to let the soaked man in.
It was the most quiet that he had ever seen Oikawa since moving to his new apartment. It felt surreal and Iwaizumi was wondering if he had accidentally transferred himself into a new dimension.
There was a clap of thunder and Oikawa unexpectedly shrunk down into himself, clutching his hands around his head and rocking back and forth in a soothing motion.
"Hey are you alright?" Iwaizumi asked, eyes widening by a fraction. He would have broken into his usually angry habits with the guy but there was something about this situation which made it less appealing.
“Y-yeah I'll be alright—“There was another boom of thunder and Oikawa began chanting to himself while absently staring at the wall. Iwaizumi decided to take that for an obvious sign of “No, not alright”.
"Hey do you trust me?" Iwaizumi called from down the hallway leading to his bedroom. Oikawa broke from his odd ritual and look up with eyebrows knit in confusion.
"Do I have a choice?"
“Alright, take off your clothes,” Iwaizumi said plainly, emerging from the bedroom with a blanket.
“WAH, I’M NOT TAKING MY CLOTHES-“Oikawa’s protesting was cut off by a dry set of pajamas hitting him in the face.
“Just put those on! You’re dripping all over my floor!” Iwaizumi was trying not to grind his teeth together and not raise his blood pressure, but his unruly neighbor rolling around on the floor creating a puddle was making it very hard not to do so.
“Okay, I’ll put them on but you have to turn around you pervert,” Oikawa’s sing-song voiced teased Iwaizumi as his cheeks turned darker.
“Like I wanted to see you anyways!”
Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and went to get a towel. When he came back he noticed the clothes were clinging snug against Oikawa’s body. He was only a size down from the man but his clothes were admiring the guy’s body very well.
“You’re the one who’s going to make the floor even wetter if you don’t wipe the drool from your mouth,” Oikawa said poking Iwaizumi in the cheek with his forefinger. Iwaizumi swat it away and Oikawa rubbed his finger pretending to be hurt. Then there was a flash of lightning and a rumble of thunder that shook his apartment. It was still dark in the room but Iwaizumi could see Oikawa take shelter under the blanket at the foot of the couch.
Iwaizumi sighed and sat down beside the trembling form on the floor.
“Stop trying to put on a brave face,” Iwaizumi scolded. “I know you’re scared.”
Oikawa didn’t answer and kept his face hidden in the blankets. Iwaizumi could see droplets of water still falling from his hair and clinging to the comforter. They sparkled as the lightning flashed outside, mimicking a calming beauty in a time of turbulence.
“You should really dry your hair,” Iwaizumi stated. He heard no response as the howling of the wind snaked through slits in the window sill and echoed around the room. After a while of becoming adjusted to the howls Iwaizumi could make out a faint whimper from underneath the blanket. “Hey, you’re going to be fine…. Look, I’ll get you something to drink.”
He lightly pat Oikawa’s back in reassurance and made a move to the kitchen when a firm hand gripped against his forearm. Iwaizumi turned around with confusion decorating his face.
“Y-you can dry my hair if you w-want to,” Oikawa’s wide eyes pierced him and even though he didn’t say it, the unyielding gaze told him not to leave. Iwaizumi tentatively took a seat on the couch with Oikawa between his legs.
Iwaizumi gently place the towel on the young man’s head. He began to rub unsurely, trying now to ruin the brunet’s hair as he was sure he would never hear the end of it. They were silent the whole time, but at least he could tell the man was no longer trembling.
“You’re good at this thing,” Oikawa hummed barely above a whisper. Iwaizumi lifted an eyebrow.
“Yeah, you kind of act like my little siblings,” he shrugged. “They also get scared of these things.”
“Aaah, that makes me sound so uncool,” Oikawa pouted, poking out his lower lip. He wriggled in feigned frustration and threw his head back onto Iwaizumi’s lap. Iwaizumi blushed deeper and reflexively threw the man to the side.
“You were never cool anyways!”
“Says the man who never leaves his apartment.”
“It was just for this weekend!”
“And the weekend before that and also the weekend before that one…”
“How did you—why do you care? You have friends. Shouldn’t you be with them?” Iwaizumi spat. He felt like a child trying to justify himself.
“They’re really not my friends…” Oikawa whispered more so to himself. “They just hang out with me because I offer them things.”
The ‘things’ Iwaizumi wasn’t sure of, but he didn’t have a response to Oikawa’s dejected tone.
There was silence between them as the rain continued to tap at the windows. Then Oikawa shifted between his legs.
“So….who fancies you?” Oikawa inquired taking a chance to glance at Iwaizumi from the corner of his eye.
“Excuse me?”
“The plant on this table…it’s a gardenia,” Oikawa said with a slightly visible blush creeping onto his face. Even through the darkness Iwaizumi’s expression showed how confused he was.
“What does that have to do with anything?” Iwaizumi’s frown immediately got the better of him. They were just flowers—
“Those flowers mean ‘you are lovely’,” Oikawa said as his gaze suddenly became more interested in his toes. “The person who gives you those type flowers gives them to you if they presumably like you.”
Iwaizumi couldn’t see his face but what he could feel was the heat already on his cheeks crawling down his neck and to his ears. He ceased rubbing Oikawa’s hair with the towel and blinked his eyes twice in a failed effort to gather his thoughts into something organized.
“Uh,” he managed to grunt accompanied by decent head nod. He suddenly remembered the young lady giggling and inquiring about a lover when he merely wanted to buy the flowers to preoccupy his time. That cleared up a lot of confusion.
“Oh you don’t have to tell me… I was just curious,” Oikawa smirked from under the towel moving it out the way with the side of his palm. Iwaizumi’s train of thought suddenly left from its station as his words finally became tangible.
“Wait—it’s nothing I just…like flowers?” Iwaizumi confessed as if he had come to an odd realization with himself.
“Me too,” Oikawa said with a smile wide enough to crinkle the edge of his eyes. Iwaizumi stared into brown as he succumbed to the urge to smile back at the person wrapped in the blanket. Suddenly, a flash of lighting lit the room and a clap of thunder shook the apartment. The both of them were caught off guard and they jumped. Iwaizumi let out a squeak at a higher octave than expected causing making him clasp a hand over his mouth in embarrassment.
Oikawa began to chuckle, not at Iwaizumi, but more to himself.
“Look at me, scared as a kitten in between your legs, wearing your clothes, and I don’t even know your name—“
“Hajime,” the word slipped out of Iwaizumi’s mouth before he could stop. “Hajime Iwaizumi.”
There was a pause.
“That’s cute.”
Iwaizumi didn’t know what to say, but he could still feel Oikawa trembling right next to his knee. The handsome young man seemed to always desperately try and put on a brave face.
Iwaizumi slid down the edge of his couch, and without thinking, he took part of the blanket and draped it around himself. Oikawa could feel the heat of the man radiating beside him and it miraculously calmed him down.
“What are you doing?” Oikawa asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement.
“You really don’t have to do this alone,” Iwaizumi suggested. There was something about his tone that made it clear Iwaizumi was in no mood for arguing, something confident underneath, even though he could barely look Oikawa in the face when he said it. He wrapped the blanket around them so they were safe in each other’s proximity.
Oikawa absently nodded his head and closed his eyes until his eyelashes tickled his pale cheeks.
Silence engulfed the both of them again and Iwaizumi wiggled his toes.
“I can talk to about the plant,” Iwaizumi blurted.
Oikawa snorted. “No, the silence is fine.”
Iwaizumi simply nodded his head and the two of them huddled under the blankets. Sometimes they squeezed closer together at a few claps of thunder that surprised them every now and then. Oikawa leaned his head into Iwaizumi’s warm neck and clamped his eyes shut to distance himself from the lighting.
Iwaizumi could no longer tell if his heart was beating faster because of the dangerous storm or from the man beside him.
Into the night, they sat together until Oikawa’s fear was wrestled into submission by his tiredness. He later jolted himself awake when he noticed the hum of the rain beating against the windows had ceased.
Feeling the pressure on his should was gone, Iwaizumi shifted his half-lidded his eyes as he weakly smiled at him. Oikawa quickly noticed how his arms were wrapped tightly around one of Iwaizumi’s. He didn’t want to let go and he felt no need to. They were thick and protective, so strong—
“Did you enjoy your nap, sweet prince?” Iwaizumi laughed. Oikawa scoffed and lightly pushed him away.
He noticed how tired Iwaizumi looked as the sun began to peek its head above the window sill. Oikawa’s eye widened to reflect the light as he gasped, “Did you stay awake this whole time?”
“Well, somebody had to make sure you were alright,” Iwaizumi said as if cuddling with neighbors afraid of storms was something he did every day.
“Oh, Iwaizumi!” Oikawa sang and clapped his hands in glee. Without warning he engulfed his neighbor in a warm embrace. “All for me? You shouldn’t have—“
“I was trying to make sure you weren’t so scared you’d pee on my floor.”
Oikawa gawked at him and then folded his arms in protest and Iwaizumi laughed. The sun was rising and they both soon began to wonder what time it actually was. When the thought of his part-time job came to mind, Oikawa groaned and puffed his cheeks in disapproval.
“Look I have to go to work so…” Oikawa said collecting his belongings because it just seemed right. Iwaizumi sat silently and watched as Oikawa walked to the door, minus the other’s warmth that kept him company throughout the stormy night. Iwaizumi was racking his mind for something to say when Oikawa stopped short at the door.
“Do you want your clothes back?”
“Just keep them for now. I don’t think yours are dry yet,” Iwaizumi shrugged.
There was another pause between the two. Their ends of the room suddenly seemed a bit colder.
“You know… you can come over sometime. With me and my ‘friends’,” Oikawa murmured while turning his gaze up to the ceiling and playfully interlocking his finger behind his back. He peeked around the corner to see Iwaizumi’s amused look.
“No thanks,” Iwaizumi said flopping down on the cushions where the exhaustion pinned him to his back. He shut his eyes as his body complained from its lack of rest. He heard Oikawa let out a deep sigh as he turned for the front door again.
“Thank you, Iwaizumi,” He said softly. “I really mean it.”
Just when Iwaizumi thought the man was leaving he could feel a presence over him.
Before he could comprehend what was happening, he felt soft lips peck his as light as a feather. Swiftly gone and quick as the footsteps walking to the door.
“Think of that as payment for your troubles,” Oikawa lilted. Iwaizumi’s eyebrows slid up.
“Uh, are you busy today?” Iwaizumi called. He had no idea what he was doing, his arms felt like ice as a chill ran through them when he sat himself up on the couch. “Do you want to…you know, maybe…uh… talk about my plant?”
Oikawa rolled his eyes and came back into the living room with a judging smirk.
“You don’t want to hear about my plant, do you?”
“I would rather listen to you rave about aliens, but talk about the gardenias anyway,” Oikawa chirped joining Iwaizumi snugly on the couch. One day off of work couldn’t hurt too much. Oikawa sat on Iwaizumi’s firm back and the man released a grunt of fatigued dissatisfaction but he didn’t move him.
Too tired to protest, Iwaizumi began his story when he first walked into the florist shop and set his eyes on the gardenias. All the while, the young man on his back nodded and hummed eagerly to every word.
Maybe Oikawa Tooru wasn’t going to be such a bad neighbor after all.