Work Text:
Iwaizumi walked in the door, expecting Oikawa to be asleep like he normally was by the time he came home. Instead, he found his husband sitting at the dining room table, nervously fiddling with his fingers and staring at a candle lit on the table. He’d stopped leaving a place set for Iwaizumi sometime last week, but he sat in Iwaizumi’s chair now so he could better see when he came home.
“We need to talk.” He said quietly.
Iwaizumi nodded and set his stuff down by the door. If this went bad, he’d just be picking it up again as he went back out the door. “Okay.”
Oikawa waiting for him to sit down, but Iwaizumi stood in the entryway to the kitchen across the room instead. “I know.” He said softly, his voice thick with emotion.
“Know what?”
“How you’re feeling lately.” Oikawa looked down at the table where his hands were clasped. “I don’t know how much of it was intentional, but I’ve been noticing for a while now.”
Iwaizumi sighed and ran a hand through his hair, looking down at his shoes. “Emi is asleep, right?”
“Yes. She had tryouts tomorrow, so she needs her rest.” Don’t start yelling and wake her up seemed to be understood.
“I wasn’t sure how to tell you this but-”
“But I figured it out.” Oikawa had done his best to deny it. Had hoped for so long Iwaizumi really was just getting caught up in work and needed a reason to come back to them. That didn’t seem to be the case as his worst fear started to unfold in front of him. “Late nights at work, forgetting to tell me when you’re coming home, leaving early in the morning without stopping to say goodbye except as you are literally walking out the door.” Oikawa gripped his hands so tightly his fingertips turned white.
Iwaizumi just felt tired. “So what do you want me to say?”
“It’s not what I want you to say, but what I won’t let you.” Oikawa wiped his eyes and looked at Iwaizumi finally. “You’re not going to leave me.”
“Why is that?” He challenged.
“Because of Emi.” He unclasped his hands and revealed a small necklace, one they had given to their adopted daughter when she was seven with a picture of the three of them together the day they’d brought her home. It was the same picture Oikawa had next to their bed and Iwaizumi had on his desk at work. “Because of what we promised her as soon as we gave her this.”
~
I waizumi lifted Emi onto his shoulders and spun around, hearing her laughter filter through the house. Oikawa had just finished setting out little party favors for her birthday as they sauntered in, Iwaizumi gently helping her to the ground. Emi’s face lit up as she took in everything, spying a little silver box in the middle of the table. Oikawa let her open the present, taking Iwaizumi’s hand in his and squeezing it gently. He squeezed back, both of them holding their breaths as she opened it. There was a little silver chain with a heart pendant settled in on some tissue paper and Emi looked up at them with a big smile.
“A necklace!”
Oikawa nodded and knelt down to show her that the heart opened to reveal a small picture of the three of them. Without giving himself time to rethink, he quickly explained to her that she had been adopted right after being born and came to live with them. Emi denied it at first, refusing to believe that they weren’t her real parents but she knew hardly any of the kids she’d ever met had two dads. She cried into his chest while they both assured her they loved her more than they could ever say. That her mother had been a good person who just wasn’t ready to have a daughter and knew that they would care for her.
Emi’s tears slowly dried and when she was okay again, Oikawa fastened the necklace around her neck. Iwaizumi took her hands in his and looked her right in the eyes.
“Emi, did we ever tell you what your name means?” She shook her head and he smiled. “It means blessing. It means beautiful. We gave you that name because you were the best thing that’s ever happened to us. You are our daughter and nothing could ever change that we love you.”
Oikawa kissed Iwaizumi’s cheek. “We all love each other, Emi, because we’re a family. And we'l love each other forever.”
~
Iwaizumi looked at the necklace and felt a pang in his chest. “She finally took it off?” He said trying to avoid the topic for the moment. Since that birthday, Emi had never taken it off and it was amazing it hadn’t been broken yet.
“I found it on the floor in her room.” Oikawa said, almost letting tears spill out of his eyes. He’d done his best to hide their problems from Emi, but she was such a smart girl she must have noticed too. That had been the point of no return for him.
Iwaizumi’s heart hurt a little more hearing that. “So what do you want to do?”
“I want you to pretend.” Oikawa stood up and slowly walked up to his husband. “I want you to keep that promise we made to our daughter that we would love her forever. I don’t want her to grow up ever thinking that we live in a world where people can fall out of love after making those types of promises to each other.” As he said it, the words created a wall in his mind. He needed it there to keep himself from crying hysterically and falling into Iwaizumi’s arms. Those arms probably wouldn’t catch him this time.
“Okay.” Iwaizumi said slowly. “Okay, I will. For Emi.”
Oikawa nodded and dropped the necklace into his open hands. “For Emi.”
As he walked out of the room, Iwaizumi noticed a pillow and blanket were out on the couch and could only assume they were meant for him. Pretending to be in love now was going to be a lot harder than pretending not to be in love when they were kids.
The next day, Iwaizumi woke before Oikawa and Emi, both so she wouldn’t noticed they hadn’t slept in the same room and so he could make breakfast. While Oikawa had begun to master eggs, Iwaizumi knew Emi loved how he made waffles. When she came out, her pj’s still on and her hair a bit of a mess but a giant smile plastered on her face, he realized how little he’d seen it recently.
Emi stood on her toes and hugged him as he leaned down. “Morning, Dad.” She said brightly.
“Good morning, Emi.” Behind her, Oikawa came into the room looking amazed to see Iwaizumi cooking. “Morning Tooru.”
He blinked before pasting on a smile. “Morning Hajime!”
Emi didn’t seem to notice how they avoided looking at each other. She just seemed happy to have Iwaizumi back. That day when he looked back at the table where he’d set Emi’s necklace, it was gone as she and Oikawa left the house. He smiled and was a little alarmed at how unsure he was about how long it had been since that had happened.
A few days after that, Emi waited eagerly by the door for Iwaizumi to come home from work. He always came back in time for dinner now and listened to Emi talk about her day. As he came in the door, she jumped up and down, eagerly shouting out that she’d made her middle school’s volleyball team.
Iwaizumi dropped his bag and picked her up, praising her for how proud he was. Oikawa leaned against the door, smiling as he remembered how good things used to be. It had been about 3 months since he’d smiled without thinking about it, three months since Emi had been waiting by the door for her dad to come home.
They still weren’t okay though. Once Emi was in bed, Oikawa would go back into their room, trying hard not to notice how everything in it reminded him of Iwaizumi who would spend his nights in the living room.
Emi’s first game was against a fairly good middle school, but she was confident that she’d win since Iwaizumi had been teaching her different ways to spike. She wanted desperately to be the ace of her team like he was, but for now she was a Wing Spiker.
Oikawa noticed that since helping Emi play, Iwaizumi started talking to him easier. It was like this whole pretending thing might be close enough to work out.
Then one night Iwaizumi didn’t call to say he was leaving work.
Emi assured Oikawa that he’d forgotten since he’d fallen back into the habit and that he’d be there in time to eat with them. They waited another hour before Iwaizumi finally texted Oikawa to say he was just then leaving the office. Oikawa tried to cheerfully put a spin on it like he had simply lost track of time, but Emi’s face seemed to say she only half believed him.
Though he tried to be quiet about it, Oikawa found himself getting close to yelling at Iwaizumi multiple times, not even letting him defend himself. As it turns out, Iwaizumi had been roped into a very important meeting which could given him some advancement opportunities and once he’d finally gotten that part out, Oikawa felt a bit like an ass.
“Hajim-”
“Don’t worry about it.” He held up his hands. “I should have texted you as soon as I found out about the meeting. It’s fine, I’m just going to go to bed.”
Oikawa shuffled back into the bedroom and fell onto the bed he was so sick of sleeping in alone. “I miss you, you idiot.” He sighed into the arm that lay across his face.
Out on the couch as he turned on the TV, Iwaizumi felt sick. He hated fighting with Oikawa even now when he... it just felt wrong. He’d spent so long by his side he wasn’t even sure what was going on in his own mind anymore. It wasn’t like Oikawa had ever done anything to warrant Iwaizumi falling out of love with him yet here they were... separated by less than fifty feet and unable to say more than simple phrases to appease their daughter.
He missed Emi and he missed how he used to feel around Oikawa, but nothing seemed to make sense anymore. And then there was this other man at the office who just- Iwaizumi couldn’t quite get him out of his mind. He was new but they’d had several occasions to talk and he’d found out that the man’s name was Kuroo Tetsurou. He was tall and smart and pretty damn attractive. Not that Oikawa wasn’t also those things...
Iwaizumi buried his head in his hands. Out of all the stupid things he’d ever done, maybe this job was the stupidest.
Almost a month after their fight, Oikawa and Iwaizumi managed to try watching TV together. Oikawa sat in an arm chair while Iwaizumi took the couch and they put on a show they used to watch, but neither of them felt right about it. Eventually Oikawa excused himself to bed, though Iwaizumi could have sworn he heard crying if ever so faintly.
The next morning Iwaizumi found himself face to face with Kuroo in the elevator. The other man made some polite conversation before stepping off a floor before Iwaizumi who couldn’t get the short interaction out of his mind for the rest of the day. This continued on, he’d attempt to do more with Oikawa like helping to clean dishes after dinner, then running into Kuroo the next morning. It was beginning to mess with his mind more and more so he tried avoiding Kuroo only to be landed in a marketing assignment with him.
Kuroo was supposed to be an up and coming salesman and Iwaizumi had trouble remembering they were supposed to be working sometimes. The project went over smoothly and by the time they were leaving their last meeting together, somehow Kuroo had gotten his phone number.
Oikawa, try as he might, still managed to watch Iwaizumi enough to notice something had changed. He seemed to be hiding something even though they barely spoke if Emi wasn’t around. It was all becoming too much for him and he stopped trying to entertain Iwaizumi’s ideas of getting them to connect again.
As he reached around Oikawa for a sponge to help scrub the dishes, Oikawa put his down and turned his back to the sink, looking him dead in the eye. “Hajime, I know something is up. Again.”
Iwaizumi froze in place, his mind going a hundred miles an hour. “I-”
“I don’t care who it is, do you understand?” Oikawa said coldly. “Emi has her finals game tomorrow night, if you mess this up for her, I swear to-”
“Just for her?” Iwaizumi blinked. “You’re- you don’t care if I...”
Oikawa’s shoulders fell. He seemed to swallow hard before answering. “No. I don’t.”
“You don’t mean that.” Iwaizumi shook his head.
“I do.”
“You don’t.”
“I do!” Oikawa lied. His eyes filled with tears as the pain of the last couple of months hit him in a wave. He was angry and scared and sad and all he wanted was to go back to when they loved each other without all of this mess keeping them apart even though they were close enough to kiss. Oikawa wanted to kiss him so badly it hurt, he missed the soft curves of his lips and the gentle roughness of his hands. He wanted to hold him again, to feel his heartbeat right next to his own but instead he pointed to the door. “Get out.”
“Tooru-”
“Get. Out.” He said through gritted teeth. “I’ll tell Emi you left early in the morning but you better be there for her game. After that... well we can figure this out but until then just fucking get out.”
Iwaizumi huffed and stormed out, grabbing his things on the way and unsure of where he was going. He just got in the car and drove, spotting a cheap motel and finally stopping. Only then did it hit him, he’d just been kicked out of their house. Oikawa had kicked him out. With a pretty fair acceptance that all of this was really over. Now all bets were off and that meant that tomorrow morning...
Iwaizumi didn’t see Kuroo right away like normal. Instead, it was on his way out- trying to leave earlier than normal to get to Emi’s game before warm up even started- that he spotted him. As soon as he did, he pulled the taller man into a kiss. Kuroo was surprised at first, but smiled and kissed him back. The doors opened and they pulled apart just long enough for them to slide closed again, thankful no one decided to get on. At it again, Iwaizumi sucked at Kuroo’s bottom lip, biting playfully like he used to do to Oikawa.
When they got back up to Iwaizumi’s floor, he urged Kuroo into his office. Kuroo breathed a sigh as Iwaizumi locked the door behind them and kissed him again. Stumbling backwards, Kuroo found his way to Iwaizumi’s desk and sat up on it. Their hands fumbled with each other’s clothing until both shirts fell to the floor. Iwaizumi’s hands gripped Kuroo’s shoulders while he nipped along the edge of his jaw. Kuroo let out a soft moan and gripped his hips, playing with the waist of his pants. Iwaizumi felt Kuroo move underneath him and suddenly there was a cold pair of lips tracing down his chest to his stomach. It was his turn to let out a soft moan.
“Tooru.” He sighed. Kuroo pulled away and looked at him quizzically.
Iwaizumi took a moment to register what he’d said. He’d called out Tooru.
Over Kuroo’s shoulder he spied a picture of him and Oikawa when they moved in together after college. Another picture had their hands linked between them, wedding rings flashing. Then of course, the three of them; him, his husband and their wonderful daughter. Iwaizumi saw the photos through the filtered light between the blinds of his room, hit with the realization that he was wrong.
He had been wrong this entire time.
He loved Tooru, he loved him more than anything.
He loved his husband and hated himself for forgetting it.
Without really hearing himself, he sent Kuroo away, aware of his annoyance but far beyond caring. He drifted to the pictures and pulled out more from his desk drawer. Him and Oikawa, their friends, their daughter. Emi, so full of life and confidence just like Oikawa even if they weren’t biologically related. His eyes filled with tears as he gripped the picture they had all shared, the one of Emi’s first day as a part of their family and he finally realized what an idiot he’d been all this time.
Running through the office, down the stairs and out to his car- he realized he’d forgotten most of his important paperwork but he’d be damned if he went back for it now- he hurried, his body buzzing. Iwaizumi raced home, hoping to be there before they left, but he was too late. He probably broke at least 10 traffic laws getting across town, but he pulled into the school parking lot just behind Oikawa’s car.
Emi hopped out and gathered her things without seeing Iwaizumi but Oikawa did. He crossed his arms as Iwaizumi raced up to them. “You know I was hoping to see you back at the-”
Before he could finish his sentence, Iwaizumi gripped his arms and pulled him into one of the most desperate kisses of his entire life. He held Oikawa too him like he was afraid he would break, caressing his arms and face so gently Oikawa stood there dazed for a moment. It was as if no one else existed but them in this moment, that time and space had aligned to give them this chance and he wasn't about to let it slip away.
When Iwaizumi pulled away, he was breathless from running and kissing. He smiled and hugged his little girl who wasn’t so little anymore and kissed Oikawa again right before he could say anything. Both Emi and Oikawa looked at him like he had lost his mind, and maybe he had. He used to joke about having to be crazy to have fallen in love with the Great King Oikawa, but he’d take being crazy over anything else if it meant he got to be with him and their daughter.
“Hajime...” Oikawa finally beathed, almost hesitating to accept that the last few minutes had even happened.
Iwaizumi cupped his face with both hands. “I love you.” He said, firm but emotional. “I love you, I love you, I love you, dammit.”
Oikawa’s eyes seemed suspicious for a second before he smiled, his eyes scrunching in the best way, the way that made Iwaizumi want to kiss him again. Emi hugged their torsos and whispered, “I love you both.”
Iwaizumi kneeled down and pulled her onto his shoulders again just like when she was seven, standing up and kissing Oikawa, still not nearly ready to stop. “I love you both.”
“I love you both.” Oikawa agreed, smiling so brightly they could almost forget these last few months had happened.
Emi went on to win her game and they celebrated that night with all her teammates. Iwaizumi and Oikawa sat together along the bar of a diner they went to, watching her talk animatedly with all her friends.
“I love you.” Iwaizumi said, taking Oikawa’s hand in his. “I love you like I promised I would forever. I’m just sorry that I caused all of this mess.”
Oikawa shook his head. “I love you, Hajime. Through it all, I loved you. I could never stop. I only hoped you would find your way back. To me, to our family.”
“How did you know I would?” He was so in awe of Oikawa. It was like he'd known all along, not letting him move out, asking him to pretend and remember how they'd once been; it was like he knew and maybe he did. Iwaizumi knew that if there was one person in this world who knew him, it was his husband.
Oikawa shrugged. “Because I’m too adorable to leave?” Iwaizumi punched his arm lightly and he laughed. “Okay okay. But seriously? I didn’t know. I just... had a feeling.”
Iwaizumi looked him over, seeing the sunlight fall around his face. He was still as beautiful as the day they got married or the day they met. He had wrinkles by his eyes from laughing so much and a ring on his left finger, but he would always be that boy he fell in love with.