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The sun barely peeked through his curtains when Oikawa yawned awake, phone lit up and jingling Iwaizumi's personal ringtone.
"What is it," he groaned into the pillow. He knew Iwaizumi would call to make sure he was up in time, but it didn't hurt his head any less.
"It was your idea to leave this early, Lazykawa. Come on, I'll be outside in a minute."
The call ended and he kicked the alien bedspread off his waist to pull on the jeans and t-shirt he'd laid out the night before. Excitement fluttered in his stomach as he brushed his hair and grabbed his bags from the floor, slipping out of the house just as day broke. He waited until Iwaizumi pulled up to the driveway, rolling the window down and popping the trunk.
Iwaizumi grinned at him, eyes glinting in the low light. "You ready, Tooru?" He feels his heart lurch at the sight of his best friend in the car.
Oikawa slammed the trunk on their duffle bags and slid into the passenger seat, practically vibrating with anticipation. They'd spent the better part of two months planning this road trip for right after graduation; a last adventure before they separated for college. With his vehement nod of agreement, Iwaizumi backed out of the driveway and started down the road.
“Quit messing with the radio. I don’t want to listen to your shitty pop music the whole way.”
Oikawa’s hand didn’t fall from the dial. “But Iwa-chan, it’s so much happier than that stuff you listen to.”
“That “stuff” is metal, and it doesn’t need to be happy to sound good.” He swatted Oikawa’s hand away, who crossed his arms with a huff. He tried to ignore the back of his mind, which quietly counted all of the “Iwa-chan”s that left Oikawa’s mouth, as if waiting for the final one.
Trees rushed by as Iwaizumi sped along, Oikawa’s hair blowing in his eyes and the evening light settling across his cheekbones. Iwaizumi wished he weren’t driving so he could stare. But the sun was setting and they hadn’t decided where to stay for the night, so he turned down the next exit down into a small town with signs promising cheap hotels and fast food.
Hajime had spent a lot of time wondering how their nights were going to go. Years of volleyball camps had taught him that Tooru was awful at sleeping in unfamiliar places, and he usually tried to stay up as late as possible to avoid staring at the dark ceiling for hours. This time, his questions were answered when the hotel desk clerk asked if they wanted two twin beds or two full sized.
“Justonequeenplease,” Oikawa blushed, staring downwards to avoid Iwaizumi’s widened eyes. He didn’t say anything, just let Oikawa accept the key and followed him up to the room. It was certainly a surprise, but he couldn’t say he hated the idea. Contact as close as a queen sized bed was normal for them, from almost-piled futons at training camps to late-night movie marathons sprawled on top of one another across Oikawa’s couch, but it didn’t make Iwaizumi any less amused. Oikawa unlocked the door and he threw the bags on the bed. It didn’t creak much under the weight, and Iwaizumi was thankful.
“Are you going to stare at your shoes the rest of this trip?” Oikawa’s blush intensified at being spoken to and Iwaizumi laughed. “Go take a shower. If I have to sleep next to you, you’re going to wash all of that gel and shit out of your hair.”
Oikawa looked visibly relieved, and grabbed a towel from a pile of neatly folded ones. The corner of his mouth twisted up in a smile. “Mean, Iwa-chan.” He closed the bathroom door and Iwaizumi took to studying the small TV at the foot of the bed.
A quick search through Oikawa’s luggage confirmed that he had indeed packed three seasons of X-Files DVDs for a week-long road trip. He fiddled with the disk player and remote, sliding one in as the sound of the shower came to a stop. The brunet stepped out of the bathroom, towel-drying his hair as Iwaizumi stood up from in front of the TV. He noticed the DVD box and a shocked expression splayed across his face. Iwaizumi snickered.
Oikawa’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Iwa-chan, why are you being so nice to me? It’s weird. We hadn’t even planned to get a hotel room, so why are we here?”
“I knew you were going to be a handful until you were used to being out of the house, Shittykawa. And that you weren’t going to say anything about it.” He pulled Oikawa down onto the bed by the hem of his stupid alien pajamas and slid in on the other side, pressing play on the remote. “So just shut up and sleep.” The theme song echoed through the room quietly, and he laid back to watch until Oikawa’s breathing slowed and evened out.
Iwaizumi drove.
Oikawa drove Iwaizumi insane.
“I swear to god, if you point out one more “green object” I’m going to pull this car over.”
“But Iwa-chan, that’s what I-spy is all about!”
“Not when I’m trying to drive, Shittykawa. All I hear is you saying “tree, tree, grass, hey there’s a cow!”,” he groused, eyes tearing from the road to glare at his companion. Empty land barreled past as they drove, and Oikawa was supposed to be reading Iwaizumi the directions he’d written down on the stolen notepad from the hotel, not pointing out flora and fauna.
“No fun,” he sunk down into the seat, arms crossed and cheeks puffed out until a new song blared from the radio. He started singing along loudly, voice off-pitched and cracked, and as much as Iwaizumi wanted to cringe he could only laugh at the other boy.
Day faded into night, and they spent their first night sleeping in the car on the side of the road. Iwaizumi passed out from the exhaustion of driving all day, but Oikawa could only stare out the window at the light-dampened stars. He thought the open area would be better for stargazing, but they were still too close to the cities. He sighed, rolling over with a blanket tucked around his shoulders to face Iwaizumi’s sleeping form. The other boy breathed evenly, perpetual pout relaxed in an expression Oikawa loved to see on him. He brushed his fingers along the tanned jawline, flinching slightly as Iwaizumi grunted in his sleep at the contact. He withdrew his hand and matched his breathing to Iwaizumi’s, hoping it would lull him to sleep.
The sun shone mercilessly on the pavement as they drove through the last of barren landscape. Small houses were beginning to sporadically line the countryside, growing denser as they approached the suburbs.
The car sputtered and Iwaizumi gulped audibly. “Tooru?”
“I said more fried rice, what are you…”
He reached over to shake Oikawa’s shoulder. “Tooru, wake up.”
“Huh? What is it, Iwa-chan?” his sleep-addled voice echoed through the unfortunately silent car.
“We broke down.”
“I didn’t break anything this time. Why is it always my fault?”
“Tooru!”
“Huh!” this time he jolted awake, knee hitting the underside of the dashboard. He muffled a curse and looked around. “Why are we stopped in the middle of the road?”
“We’re on the shoulder. The car broke down.”
“Do you know where we are? What if we’re lost in the middle of nowhere? Do you have cell service?” His voice increased in pitch as he scrambled around, searching for his phone. His heart raced, this was not something he had planned for on this trip—not something he should have had to plan for. The car was Iwaizumi senior’s, only four years old and running smoothly.
That was the whole reason they had decided to take it.
Iwaizumi cursed the car as Oikawa searched for a tow-truck company on his phone. He noticed signs not too far in the distance, and tugged Oikawa’s sleeve.
“What is it?” he hissed, still on the phone.
“I’m going to go see what those signs say.”
“I swear if you leave me alone in this piece of—“
“Come with me, then.” And he was getting out of the car, making his way around to open Oikawa’s door. The other boy climbed out as well, hanging up the call.
“Fine. But just so that I can tell the tow truck where we are.”
“Idiot, you called without even knowing that much. Let’s go.” He grabbed Oikawa’s wrist, leading them both down the gravel shoulder. Other, luckier, cars zoomed past, wind flipping the setter’s hair into his eyes. He stumbled, but Iwaizumi grabbed his arm before he fell.
“Be careful. And move over more. I don’t need to call a tow truck and an ambulance.”
He ran his fingers through his bangs. “Mean, it’s all this stupid wind. I can’t see a thing.”
What he wasn’t expecting was for warm fingers to lace together with his own, and for Iwaizumi to pull him closer to the side of the road. “Let’s just see where we are, Shittykawa.”
He prayed to every deity he could think of that the blush he could blame his redness on the sun.
L.A. was smoggier than either of them expected.
They wandered around the romanticized city, waiting for their car to be finished in the shop. Oikawa cheerfully pointed out every tacky souvenir shop he saw, and Iwaizumi sighed but allowed him to use him as his own personal mannequin, draping him in hats and over-priced t-shirts. He actually bought two refrigerator magnets, handing one to Iwaizumi silently. He slid it into his pocket next to his wallet, hearing the unsaid words from his best friend’s glossed expression.
“Iwa-chan’s fridge is going to look so pretty once I’m done with it. We should get one from all of the cities we visit!”
“This is only a two week trip. How many tourist cities can we actually make it to?”
“Yee of little faith, Iwa-chan! We can at least make it to Vegas.”
“We’re not old enough to gamble.”
“Who needs gambling when we can buy fridge magnets!” he pulled down several more, studying them closely.
Iwaizumi nudged him before stretching out his shoulders. “Don’t buy so many from here. Let’s go to the beach before the car gets done.”
They left the shop, Oikawa waving happily to the blushing cashier as they walked until the large buildings gave way to soft white sand and crashing waves. Surfers floated on top of the water, making the sport look easy. Their bronze bodies attracted the gaze of sunbathers draped across the beach. The sea breeze fluttered the various flyers on the fronts of boardwalk shops.
Oikawa’s eyes glittered like the waves, forcing Iwaizumi’s breath to catch. He cursed himself, vowing not to stare as the setter shed his shirt and ran towards the water.
“Hey, look,” Iwaizumi pointed as he caught up with him, guiding his gaze to a flier stapled to a lifeguard chair. It advertised a beach volleyball tournament for later that afternoon.
He didn’t realize Oikawa’s eye could light up brighter.
“One last game, for old time’s sake?” The words caught him off guard as something with a finality, as if saying them aloud suddenly made them more real. But it was true, they were going to difference universities. They were splitting onto different volleyball teams.
That didn’t lessen his desire to stand next to his setter on the court one last time, though.
“Iwa-chan, you’re going to make me cry. You don’t want someone as beautiful as me to cry, do you?” he brushed his bangs down over his eyes subtly, fake lilt in his voice hiding something true.
Iwaizumi smacked his arm. “If you’re not careful I’ll make you cry for real.”
Oikawa pouted, but splashed out of the shallow water nonetheless. “Come swim with me.”
“You’re not even in swim trunks. What are you going to do if you get your shorts soaked?”
“I don’t care, just come with me.” There was an intensity to his expression, voice solid and commanding in a way Iwaizumi didn’t dare argue with. Instead, he allowed himself to be dragged into the ocean by the one boy who promised to be the reason he drowned.
When they reached Vegas, Oikawa realized that they hadn’t been taking pictures of the trip, much to Iwaizumi’s chagrin.
Now there was an entire album in his phone of pictures, most of them awful candid shots. They spent two days wandering the city, Oikawa worrying his lower lip every time he thought about the fact that this was the last city they would visit before turning around to go home. They had only planned a short trip to begin with, and funds were tight after their car repairs. They had visited several smaller towns on their way over, and travelled through the desert, but the knowledge that this was the final stop sent pangs of sadness through him that he didn’t want to deal with.
Iwaizumi noticed the habit, but didn’t say anything.
They rented a hotel for a proper night’s sleep before driving back. Iwaizumi’s back thanked him as he stretched out on the bed, waiting for Oikawa to finish in the shower so that he could take one. He pulled out his phone to search for the final destination he wanted to visit, scratching out the directions onto his next stolen notepad.
When Oikawa curled up to him that night, he could only relax into the feeling, sleep evading him.
They piled back into the car the next morning, Oikawa feeling refreshed to drive and Iwaizumi groggier than he had been before he went to bed. Though Iwaizumi was the better driver of the two, Oikawa animatedly begged the keys from his grip and slipped into the driver’s seat.
“Ready to break some hearts, Iwa-chan?”
Iwaizumi grimaced at the loud voice. “You’ve already broken my patience, so why not?”
They started out on the highway, radio blaring as Oikawa sang along to the trashy lyrics, and Iwaizumi pressing his head to the glass next to him. Oikawa swerved as he drove, slight but enough to touch the turtles and make Iwaizumi swear every time his temple vibrated. He laughed too loudly and glanced over periodically at his passenger, a bright grin across his face.
“You never told me where we’re going, Iwa-chan,” he kept the wheel straight, travelling steady down the road. Aside from a few “turn here”s, he had stayed on the straightaway, and Iwaizumi had done all the navigating, only half-joking that Oikawa couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag. Somewhere along the way Iwaizumi changed the radio station, and Oikawa recognized an old Stone Temple Pilots song flowing from the speakers. He tuned it out in favor of the version being quietly hummed next to him.
“You’ll find out when we get there. It’s not too far from our route.”
They continued through until nightfall. Craggy walls began to form on the sides of the road, and Oikawa realized that they were driving up an incline.
The road winded up the side of the mountain until they came to a precariously perched rest stop on at the peak. Oikawa climbed out of the car, long legs stretching and yawning to pop his ears. Iwaizumi followed suit, walking around the car. Oikawa briefly wondered about the grin the spiker was repressing, but was met with a calloused hand brushing chestnut hair from his eyes.
“Look up.”
So he did.
They had climbed above the little light pollution of the unpopulated mountains, and from that altitude the sky stretched endlessly above them. Tooru gaped at the sight, head tilted back against Iwaizumi’s broad shoulder. The stars smattered across the darkness seemed close enough to touch. “It’s so beautiful,” he whispered into the chilled night air. Iwaizumi wrapped his arms around his waist.
“Tooru.”
Butterflies threatened to escape his ribcage. He turned around in Iwaizumi’s grasp, wrapping his arms around his neck without thinking. He glowed just as brightly in moonlight as in sun. “Hajime?”
Iwaizumi’s throat tightened when they locked eyes, the heavy gaze cutting off his words. “I—um—“
“Shut up,” Oikawa’s words rasped from his lips, eyes dark as they dipped to avoid the others.
“I didn’t even—“
There was a fleeting press of lips against his own. More like a swipe, really, but his heart threatened to escape his chest and his brain demanded another. Tooru’s mouth was hot, burning him up as he reveled in the flames. A tongue flicked against his lower lip, and he parted them immediately, twisting his fingers in the curls at the nape of Tooru’s neck. He lapped into Hajime’s mouth, tongues sliding against each other languidly and lips pressed together messily.
Maybe some of those stars had aligned, because when Oikawa pulled back gasping, Iwaizumi still had the prettiest setter he’d ever seen bundled up in his arms.
“I love you, Hajime.”
Laughter echoed through the empty air. “I was supposed to say that to you first, idiot.” But the affection bubbling in his eyes as they shivered in the night breeze sent sparks down Tooru’s spine.
They climbed back into the backseat of the car to sleep, piled in a tangle of limbs as they had been planning to when plotting the trip, just to avoid hotel costs. They slept almost sitting up, pillows awkwardly squished between them and the car doors, but able to stretch out their legs in the space of the middle seat. Somehow, even squeezed into such a tight space, Oikawa felt more elated than he had ever before.
Whatever space he could share with Iwaizumi was the one he wanted to stay in forever. And as Iwaizumi softly stroked the setter’s hair in the dark, fingers ghosting and warm bodies pressed together, they finally felt it.
Home.