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Tooru's smile is a little too wide. A little to content. A little too bright. This isn't normal – Nishinoya described it as his “ugly smile” and Hajime can see why, but they fail to understand the reason behind it, but Tooru yells the answer before they can ask about it.
"Iwa-chan ! I have a present for you !"
Bad thing, wrong idea, poor – poor everything. Tooru can't get a present right. Hajime should know, they've been friends for twenty years now.
"It's coupons for-"
"I refuse."
Tooru opens his mouth in an offended "O" and pretends to cry until Hajime takes the coupons.
It wasn't that bad of an idea, Hajime is forced to recognise. Ok, the lighting is cheap, and the palm trees look like they're just out of the Lego factory, but the water is warm and the kids quiet enough.
"And you don't need to tan, Iwa-chan, your skin is already amazing ! So this fake tropical beach is kind of like the real deal but cheaper because we're in uni and I'm completely broke !"
And then Hajime hit Tooru on the head because it wasn't coupons, it was coupon, singular, and going to the swimming pool alone for their birthday is pretty lame.
Not that Hajime doesn't enjoy the decadent peacefulness of laying on a deck chair, alone with a glass of iced tea and a sports magazine. Many sports magazines, actually, Hajime will be here all day. Preferably without anyone else bothering them about getting a balloon back from a fake tree, or a sunscreen recommendation, or the brand of their swimming trunks. And flirting, yeah, they were probably all flirting. Hajime is not as dense as people think they are.
The glasses are really, really small though, so Hajime has to get up every now and then to grab a new one. It's a pain to have to pay for so many but the iced tea is freshly made and it's actually really good... what if this time they got several ? That's a nice idea. Even though carrying three glasses is a bit perilous when it's suddenly lunch time and kids are swarming near the bar to get sandwiches. Hajime has almost made it to safe ground when a group of toddlers barrels in at full speed – the glasses fall on the floor with a crash, along with Hajime's patience, but the kids are already long gone. Thankfully it's all plastic, but Hajime mourns the loss of very good drinks - and a non-negligible amount of money.
"Do you want help with that ?"
"Yeah, thank you," Hajime answers without raising their head. Damn kids.
"There, that's everything," the kind stranger says when they've collected all the deceased ice cubes.
"Thank you, s-"
Hajime stops dead in their tracks. In front of them is the most gorgeous person they have ever seen, all pale skin and long silky hair and thin-framed glasses and slim exposed chest and-
"Shimizu-san ?"
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Hajime looks at her, scratches his head when she crosses her arms over her waist, and fidgets. He doesn't fidget.
"I appreciate your concern but it's ok, my team knows already, and the others... I stopped caring."
It's way too awkward. Shimizu in her sports clothes, which are admittedly not flattering, is one of the most gorgeous persons Hajime has ever been blessed enough to see – and they've known Tooru for twenty years of more or less confused aesthetic attraction. But this is an other plane of existence. Shimizu in a bathing suit. Wow.
The rest of the afternoon is spent talking about volleyball, playing a bit on the fake beach volley court, and trying not to look at Shimizu too much. He remarkably fails at that last part. If she notices, she doesn't say.
[From: shittykawa] why is yuu sending me excited arm wrestling kaomojis?
[From: hajime ﾟ.+(〃ﾉωﾉ)ﾟ.] Why would I even know ? Also please tell me he's not gonna do that to me too
[From: shittykawa] arm wrestling is kinda your thing so you probs know what its abt
[From: shittykawa] is it abt the pretty manager???
[From: shittykawa] wtf SHE WON??? HAJIME YOU NEED TO MAKE A REMATCH
[From: hajime ﾟ.+(〃ﾉωﾉ)ﾟ.] She beat me fair and square, Shittykawa. And you didn't answer
[From: shittykawa] no no no i won't let you trample on seijou's honour like that
[From: shittykawa] next time you win (O∩O)
[From: hajime ﾟ.+(〃ﾉωﾉ)ﾟ.] We'll go to the movies next week so maybe then I can ask her to give me a second chance, if you really want to
[From: shittykawa] you have a date w her and i didn't know??? iwachan you wound me ヽ(´Д`;)ﾉ
[From: hajime ﾟ.+(〃ﾉωﾉ)ﾟ.] Yeah well now you know, stop being weird about it
[From: shittykawa] my qpp has a date and i didn't know i'm so offended rn
[From: hajime ﾟ.+(〃ﾉωﾉ)ﾟ.] Shut up, Tooru, I would have told you eventually and you know that
[From: shittykawa] yea anyway i don't care bc i have a date w tobio next week too, haha!!
[From: hajime ﾟ.+(〃ﾉωﾉ)ﾟ.] Poor him
[From: shittykawa] iwachan so rude (∩╹o╹∩)
"Nishinoya was wondering how many dates we went on, by the way."
"Well you've beaten me five times, so I guess five ? Was the pool meeting a date ?"
"I'd think so," she smiles. "He'll be very proud."
Even if it didn't make Shimizu smile – and it does, it's like a small miracle – Hajime would lose their arm wrestling matches every single time because her right arm is a menace. They don't really mind like they would have against Takahiro or Kyoutani, though.
Hanging out with Shimizu is easy, even when they don't do much. Walks in a park, movies, a cat café once, and Tooru pestering them into more arm wrestling matches. Maybe they should do double dates with him, so he'd lose against her once and stop with his whining.
Now that is a good idea.