Work Text:
Age 6
Tooru was on a mission. It was a top-secret classified mission that not even oneechan was allowed to know about. To be perfectly honest, it was probably on the same level of classification that Area 51 was under in America--Tooru was certain that the American government was housing aliens there. Yes, his mission was very top-secret and of the utmost importance. He had made all the important preparations: gone the library and checked out books, rummaged through his garage to find the needed supplies, and then laid out an elaborate story to fool his parents--he was going out, tousann, kaasan, and don’t ask when he’d be back, but he’d be in time for dinner so have something ready.
Tooru was rather proud of how he had handled the whole situation and boy, wouldn’t Hajime-chan be surprised when he told him how he had 100% tricked his parents with his great story. Thinking of Hajime-chan brought a slight pang to Tooru’s heart, but Tooru pushed it out of his mind. He was certain, the success of the mission meant that everything would at last fall into place, that this time when he presented Hajime-chan with his birthday present, Hajime-chan would finally say yes. Yes, succeeding here was key. And so, with that thought, Tooru hoisted his backpack--oneechan had bought it for him for his last birthday and he was reluctant to part with it even though he was six now because it had a glow-in-the-dark alien head on the outside which would make it easier to aliens to spot him when they came down to search planet Earth-- higher up on his shoulders and leaned the too-large butterfly net against his body and headed towards the ginormous cherry blossom tree that he and Hajime-chan used as a home base for all their adventures.
As Tooru spotted the tree in the distance, he suddenly wondered why he was headed there in the first place. After all, Hajime-chan wouldn’t be meeting him today because this was a surprise present. But, Tooru supposed, starting his search at the tree would be as good a place as any. From all the books he’d read, he’d learned that during the day, it enjoyed being under leaf litter, plants, and fallen logs. Well the cherry blossom tree was a tree with leaves and logs, so Tooru hoped that he didn’t have to venture too far to find one.
Carefully, Tooru leaned his backpack against the trunk of the tree, and then walked slowly around it, spotting a large branch that had fallen during the last summer storm a few weeks ago. Tooru was certain that under there, he would find exactly what he was searching for, but unlike Hajime-chan, Tooru was not the biggest fan of bugs. He wasn’t afraid of them per say, but he’d just rather not have to deal with them. After accidentally seeing a film where a bunch of bugs had swarmed out at one of the characters, his tousann and kaasan had been watching it late at night when they thought that Tooru was asleep, he was hesitant to lift anything that might house too many bugs for his liking. But, this was for Hajime-chan’s birthday. And for Tooru’s future, he thought solemnly. So, with determination, he headed back to where he had placed his backpack, unzipped it, took out his kaasan’s old sunhat, a plastic terrarium that he had lined with leaves and twigs from his backyard, a pair of ski gloves, and grabbed the net that was laying on the ground before heading back to the log. Taking a slow, deep breath to steady his nerves, even though he wasn’t scared, Tooru gritted his teeth and pushed the heavy branch a few feet so that the things living under it would come to surface. Worms, ants, centipedes, and other disgusting critters greeted him. He had to resist the urge to let out of a shout of disgust and shock. Carefully, he bent down, to examine the various bugs that greeted him and with relief, spotted what he was pretty certain was his prey. It had a little horn sticking out, just like a real rhinoceros, which Tooru thought with reluctance was rather cool, and he was fairly sure that not many other bugs had horns sticking out of them. With a pounding heart and a sudden whack, that sent a few of the other bugs flying, he brought down the net on top of the beetle. It tried to take flight within the net, which was exactly what he had hoped it would do, giving him the chance to pinch the mouth of the net shut with his fist. He didn’t want to touch beetle unless absolutely necessary, so quickly opening the plastic terrarium, he shook the bug from the net into its new home, then slammed the lid shut so that it wouldn’t escape. With a tight hold on the handle and his net, he rushed back towards his backpack, praying that none of the bugs had decided to follow him. After a quick glance back and checking that nothing had chased after him, he collapsed against the tree trunk, opened his backpack once more and munched on a package of milk bread. Feeling satisfied, relieved, and a bit sweaty from this whole adventure.
***
“And then a swarm of bugs can flying out at me, Hajime-chan!” Tooru told his friend a few days later on the latter’s birthday as both of them sat on the swingset in the neighborhood playground. “But, not to worry, because I fought them off with my net.” Tooru punched the air with his small fist to illustrate his heroic fight against the bugs. “Anyways, happy birthday, Hajime-chan!” He proudly presented his friend with the rhinoceros beetle that he had been saving for when all their other friends left and it was just the two of them, alone.
Tooru drank in his friend’s expression of shock, turning into undiluted pleasure. Hajime-chan gently lifted the terrarium from Tooru’s hands and brought it up to eye-level, examining every inch of the container as though it were something absolutely precious. Tooru watched his friend greedily, hoping to remember his expression on this day for the rest of their lives. Hajime-chan’s eyes glowed when he spotted the beetle walking around in its new home.
“Wow, Tooru,” he finally breathed, his eyes shimmering a bit. Since it was his birthday, Tooru wasn’t going to ask if he was crying. “Thanks!”
Tooru puffed out his chest just a little bit, “Of course, Hajime-chan! You’re my best friend in the whole world!” He smirked, noting how Hajime-chan had turned a tad pink at those words, but he wasn’t going to take his words back or even bring up that Tooru had noticed, in the fading daylight, that his friend was blushing because now, with Hajime-chan in such a good mood, it was his chance. “So,” he began, suddenly feeling very nervous, scuffing his feet against the wood chips lining the ground beneath the swings, “will you marry me, Hajime-chan?”
“Oh my god, Tooru!” Hajime-chan jumped, almost dropping his birthday present.
“What?”
“Don’t be stupid.”
“I’m not!” Tooru pouted. “I’m being serious.” He turned his large brown eyes to face his friend, hoping that Hajime-chan would finally understand just how serious Tooru was being.
“You can’t just go around asking people that, Tooru.”
“Why not? My mom said that if you love someone and want to spend the rest of your life with them, you should propose, Hajime-chan.”
“Yeah, but that’s different.”
“How?”
“It just is, ok?” Hajime-chan huffed.
Tooru wanted to argue more, but he let it drop seeing his friend’s bright red face, and the fact that it was his friend’s birthday. He didn’t want to ruin the special day. “Fine,” Tooru finally nodded. Hajime-chan gave him a searching look, to see if Tooru was really going to drop the subject, and seemed satisfied with whatever expression Tooru was making because he grunted and then returned to examining his new rhinoceros beetle; Tooru’s way of saying I love you.
-----
Age 10
“Hajime-chan,” Tooru sang out, spotting his friend in the hallway during their free time after lunch. Even though the school year was going to be over in a few months, Tooru was still upset that for the first time since they had entered elementary school, he and his best friend weren’t in the same homeroom class. Sure, he had other friends in his class, but for some reason it wasn’t the same as having his oldest friend sit a few seats away from him. “Hajime-chan,” he said again, draping his arm over his friend’s shoulder. He knew this would bother his friend to no end because now Tooru was a bit taller and Hajime-chan did not like having, Stupid Tooru tower over him. The thought made Tooru smirk.
“What?” Hajime-chan grunted, trying to shake Tooru off, but that motion only made Tooru tighten his casually-draped-arm-hold.
“Do you know what day today is?” Tooru continued to sing as they made their way to the school store to get some bread.
“Of course, I do idiot.”
“Really, Hajime-chan?” Tooru pretended to be shocked.
“What’s with that tone?” His friend grumbled.
“I mean, I just thought given your gorilla-like nature, none of the delicate feminine population of our school would dare approach you,” Tooru wheezed as he Hajime-chan had elbowed him in the gut. “See,” he coughed, trying to catch his breath and catch up to his friend, who had used the opportunity to shake Tooru off and rush towards the store. “Hajime-chan, wait!” Tooru quickly walked down the hall, and started running when the other made no move to slow down or wait, in fact, Hajime-chan had started sprinting when he looked back to see that Tooru was on the move. “Hey, wait up! Come on, Hajime-chan!”
“Hurry up, Tooru,” Hajime-chan called. “All the good bread will be gone.”
“You’re the one who punched,” Tooru retorted trying to catch his breath, “me,” he wheezed out. Tooru caught his friend rolling his eyes. “It’s true!”
“Whatever, let’s just go.” They fell into step once more. Tooru didn’t put his arm back around his friend’s shoulder, instead he tried to figure out if his friend had gotten any chocolate today. Apparently, Tooru was not being as stealthy as he thought because soon, Hajime-chan said, “Just ask, if you’re so curious, Tooru.”
“I’m not curious,” Tooru felt himself flush. “I mean, if you want to tell me, as your best friend, but of course it’s not necessary or an obligation or anything.”
“Well, if you’re not curious, then I won’t tell you,” he replied and left Tooru gaping at the sudden betrayal at the store’s entrance while he himself went to buy some bread. Tooru was still standing there, in shock, by the time Hajime-chan had returned and shoved a bag of milk bread at Tooru, then nudged the other back into motion to head back to their classrooms. Tooru still numb and in denial of what had just occurred. “If you want to know, just ask, Tooru,” Hajime-chan finally said, taking a bite out of his yakisoba bread.
“I’ll tell you, if you tell me,” Tooru retorted, not wanting to sound like he was too curious.
Hajime-chan shot him a smirk, before answering, “Fine.”
“Well?” Tooru prodded when his friend didn’t continue.
“Yeah, I got some.”
“Some?”
“You want an exact number?”
“Oh, well, I’m sorry you got so many chocolates that you can’t keep count,” Tooru huffed.
“Don’t be dramatic, Tooru. All the girls in my class gave all the boys chocolates. So I got 10 total, ok?”
“10?” Tooru felt his heart sinking. That was a lot, even if they were chocolates out of kindness. “Well, Hajime-chan, I the great Oikawa, got 17, so if you would like, I can give you 3 and we can share one, so that we’ll both have 13-and-a-half.”
“Save it, Tooru,” Hajime-chan held out his hand. “You know I don’t like sweet things that much anyways. You keep them.” And with that, he slid open the door to his classroom, “See you after school,” and headed inside.
With a heavy heart, not one that even milk bread could fix, he slid open the door to his classroom, which was right next door, gave a weak wave to his friends, and sunk down into his chair. He quietly lifted his desk open and stared at the chocolate he had made with his oneechan the night before and had put into a simple bag, so that Hajime-chan wouldn’t be embarrassed or anything by it. He and his sister molded the chocolate into the shape of Godzilla and even used bittersweet chocolate because Tooru, of course, knew that his best friend in the whole world didn’t like sweet things. With a quiet sigh, he closed the lid of his desk and putting on the brightest smile he could muster, turned to his friends and joined in their frivolous conversation.
***
“Tooru.” He snapped to attention. Hajime-chan had been saying something about their club volleyball practice and Tooru didn’t have to energy to respond, so he just nodded along. Apparently, he was not doing a very good of pretending to be interested. “Tooru,” Tooru felt Hajime-chan grab his arm, stopping both of them in their tracks. “You’ve been weird ever since lunch. What’s wong?”
“Nothing,” Tooru muttered trying to shake of his friend’s surprisingly strong hold.
“Tooru.” He tugged Tooru’s arm to make them face each other. “Does it have to do with the chocolate?” Tooru didn’t reply. “It has to do with the chocolate. The girls gave them to everyone in our class.”
“I know,” Tooru finally sighed. “It doesn’t have to do with the chocolate.” He saw Hajime-chan raise a brow. “Really.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Come off it, Tooru. We’re best friends, we’re supposed to tell each other everything. The good and the bad.” He glared to emphasize the weight of his words. Tooru understood even though he wished he didn’t. Their friendship had never had secrets, so why was Tooru starting now.
“Just drop it Hajime-chan, please.” Tooru noted the startled expression that flashed across his friend’s face and watched as he ran his hand over his face, as though debating with himself over something. It seemed that he had resigned himself to whatever it was and reached to unzip his backpack, finally letting go of Tooru’s wrist. After rummaging through--there must’ve been a lot more chocolate in there than he had told Tooru--he pulled out a badly wrapped, in ufo paper, package and tossed it to Tooru, who with his natural athleticism caught it easily. “What’s this?”
“Just open it,” he mumbled, turning red. Tooru always liked how Hajime-chan would turn red from the base of neck upwards. He bet that Hajime-chan’s feet also turned red. Slowly, he ripped open the package, taking care because he wanted to keep the wrapping paper. Usually, Hajime-chan would be impatient about this sort of thing and tell Tooru to hurry up, goddammit, but he probably guessed that Tooru liked the wrapping paper a lot because for once he just stood there and fidgeted with the leather bracelet that he, and Tooru wore an identical one, had gotten one summer when they went fishing with their dads. Tooru slid out the box inside and saw that it was alien shaped chocolates. He felt his eyes widen in shock and then start to tear up because Hajime-chan had gotten him chocolates on Valentine’s Day too. “I saw it the other day and thought you’d like them,” he muttered.
Tooru swung his own backpack around, opened it, and pulled out the chocolates that he had made and handed them over. He watched as Hajime-chan’s eyes widened to match Tooru’s own shocked expression as he tore open the package. “Oneechan and I made them last night. We used that bittersweet chocolate too.”
“Is this why you were being so weird today?” Hajime-chan asked, holding up the chocolate in Tooru’s face. Tooru nodded. “Jeez, Tooru. Why didn’t you just give them to me?”
“Why didn’t you just give me yours then?”
“I wasn’t being weird about it!”
“Well, you’re only supposed to give people you like chocolate today!”
“Well, of course I like you stupid,” Hajime-chan retorted. “I mean,” his face flushed an even deeper red. “We’re best friends. Best friends can give each other chocolate on Valentine’s Day.”
Tooru narrowed his eyes at what he was certain was his friend trying to save face. He wasn’t letting it go this time. “I meant it when I asked you all those years ago, Hajime-chan,” he said, trying to keep his voice as light as possible.
“What are you talking about?”
“You don’t remember?”
“Remember what?”
“What I asked you on your seventh birthday.”
“How am I supposed to remember that? That was ages ago,” Hajime-chan shrugged.
Tooru narrowed his eyes further, trying to figure out if he was lying. “I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t remember,” Hajime-chan said, crossing his arms, challenging his friend.
“Marry me,” he stated, crossing his arms, accepting his friend’s challenge.
“Don’t be stupid.”
“I’m being serious.”
“Me too.”
“Why not.”
“Because.”
“Because why?”
“We’re going to be late.”
But, I love you, Hajime-chan, was what Tooru wanted to scream at his friend, but the other was already walking home without a backwards glance.
-----
Age 14
Tooru was feeling shitty. Ever since Tobio-chan had come to Kitagawa Daiichi, Tooru knew that he had slowly been losing it. But how else was he supposed to feel when suddenly another genius came to stand before him. God, how he hated that word. Genius. Geniuses. What was so great about them? They didn’t work as hard as he did. It just came naturally to them and people praised them for it. How was that fair? He and Iwa-chan worked to the bone every practice, but suddenly someone like Tobio-chan or Ushiwaka-chan shows up and he’s pushed to the bench. He knew that he shouldn’t have tried to punch Tobio-chan and he was thankful that Iwa-chan had stopped him before he had done something he’d regretted, but that didn’t stop him from feeling shitty.
“Here,” Iwa-chan said, tossing him an icepack for his nose and plopping down on the ground next to him outside the gym. Iwa-chan insisted that Tooru needed some fresh air. And, even though he didn’t want to admit it, Iwa-chan was right. The fresh, crisp night air was helping him clear his head. And Iwa-chan’s surprisingly insightful words: The team with the better six are stronger--were still ringing in his head, making him feel calmer, or maybe it was an after effect from Iwa-chan’s head butt. Iwa-chan began, “You--.”
“I know,” Tooru interjected. “Thanks Iwa-chan, for always having my back.” He held up a v-sign to lighten the mood. Tooru saw his friend scowl and then scrunch up his features as though he were restraining himself from smacking Tooru again, which truth be told he probably was. When Tooru had first started making that v-sign during their first year of junior high, he had done it just to piss off his friend, but eventually, over time, it had become second nature, muscle memory, so even if he didn’t want to do it, his fingers just moved themselves. He’d never admit that to Iwa-chan though.
“You always have mine too,” he shrugged and both of them fell into a comfortable, familiar silence. After a while he continued, “You know, it doesn’t matter.” Tooru looked at his friend. “You know, being a genius or anything. We’ll work hard. We’ll show them. And if we don’t beat Ushiwaka in middle school, then we still have high school. We’ll beat them. One-by-one, we’ll beat them all,” he stated with an intensity that was laughable, yet infectious.
For once, Tooru didn’t feel like making fun of his friend. “Yeah,” he finally sighed, flopping to lay down on the grass. He lifted a hand towards the night sky. Even now, after ten years, Tooru was still obsessed with space. It was one of the two things, volleyball and aliens, he’d not grown out and probably never would. It gave him comfort in a strange way. That even with all the changes that had inevitably come with growing up, he still loved gazing up at the stars at night and wondering if extraterrestrial life existed. He was certain that it did and that the Americans knew things, but every time he had mentioned this to Iwa-chan, the latter just rolled his eyes and took on a blank expression which deterred Tooru from wanting to explain his conspiracy theory further. Tooru was pretty sure that Iwa-chan had developed this expression just to stop Tooru from going on and on about it, and even though Tooru wanted to discuss in depth with him just out of spite, the glazed over expression was powerful enough to stop him mid-sentence, so he’d given up and found other prey. His love of space, volleyball, and now that he’d thought about it, Iwa-chan had remained solid constants in his 14 years. “Hey, Iwa-chan?”
“Hm?” Tooru glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Iwa-chan’s eyes reflecting the twinkling stars and forced himself to look away from the oddly mesmerizing, tranquil sight.
“We’ll be together forever, right?” He asked his friend softly. It was always one these sorts of days, looking up into the vast night sky, that his nerves started getting the better of him. And to be fair, he’d just experienced that whole traumatizing experience of almost punching Tobio-chan in the face, even though the kid probably deserved it, but excuse him for wanting some reassurance from his friend.
“Oikawa, don’t be stupid.” Tooru snorted at the phrase. He’d heard it so often through the years, he was surprised when Iwa-chan went a whole day without using it. “What?” He snapped. “You are being stupid. Of course we’ll be together forever. I’ve stuck with you this long haven’t I?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tooru pouted, even though Iwa-chan was still staring up at the stars.
“You’re joking, right?” Iwa-chan shot a glance over to Tooru.
“Excuse you,” Tooru stuck his tongue out, “I have a shining personality or so my fans tell me.”
“What 14 year old has fans?”
“This one, obviously.”
“Ok, shittykawa.” Tooru could practically hear Iwa-chan’s eye roll. “Regardless, of your shining personality,” Tooru heard the sarcasm drip from his friend’s voice, “or lack thereof, I’ll be by your side no matter what, always. Even if one day you decide you don’t want me there, I’ll still be there. So get used to it.”
Tooru felt himself flush. Iwa-chan wasn’t one for saying sweet things, but when he did, it was always straightforward and so Iwa-chan like that Tooru couldn’t help the heat that race through him. Taking a deep, shaking breath to make sure his voice didn’t betray that his heart was practically jumping for joy, he said, remembering to keep his voice as light and sing-songy as possible, “I didn’t know that Iwa-chan was such a romantic.”
“Shut up. And I’m not,” he grumbled in response.
“Hm, you know Iwa-chan,” Tooru continued with his light tone and brought his hand up to his chin in a thoughtful gesture, “If this is your proposal, it’s not very good.”
“What are you talking about?” Iwa-chan sighed.
“I mean it, Iwa-chan. When I proposed to you on your 7th birthday, I went through all the trouble of getting you a rhinoceros beetle, which you still have the skeleton for, I might add. That was pretty romantic if I do say so myself. You’re going to have to do better.”
“I’m not proposing to you, idiot,” Iwa-chan snapped. “I was just letting you know that we’ll be together forever because you seemed really worried about it, ok?”
“Well--”
“Forget it,” Iwa-chan said, getting to his feet. “Forget I mentioned it at all.”
“Aw, Iwa-chan,” Tooru said, drawing out each syllable of the name that ran so smoothly off his tongue. “Are you getting embarrassed?” He held out a hand, allowing his friend to hoist him to his feet.
“It wasn’t a proposal, asshole. I was just stating some facts.”
Tooru was about to laugh at Iwa-chan’s grumpiness when he realized, “Wait, so does that mean you’re really going to propose to me one day?” His tone took on a breathless quality without his intending it. Even though the whole Tobio-chan debacle was not yet 24 hours old, he was starting to feel a hell-of-a-lot better.
“What? How did you jump to that conclusion, Oikawa? I just said it wasn’t a proposal.”
“So that implies that when you do propose, then it’ll be really obvious and I’ll know it,” Tooru countered, keeping his voice as level and cool as he could manage, given that Iwa-chan was basically admitting, after almost ten years, that he wanted to marry Tooru just as much as Tooru wanted to marry him.
Suddenly, Iwaizumi stopped in his tracks and turned to face Tooru, putting their foreheads together. “Did I hit you too hard on the head or something?” Just as quickly as he’d grabbed Tooru’s head, he released his hold and stepped back, searching Tooru’s eyes. He held up a few fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up? Maybe I gave you a concussion.”
“Are you my mom, Iwa-chan? I’m fine and it’s two.” Tooru watched as his friend pursed his lip together, trying to determine whether or not Tooru was really ok. “I’m fine.”
“Let’s get some ice cream,” was Iwa-chan’s only reply as he started heading towards the locker room.
“But,” Tooru began, weakly, and seeing that Iwa-chan had squared his shoulders, meaning that he was going to stubbornly refuse to continue the conversation, Tooru followed and quietly added, “I love you too, Iwa-chan.” He could’ve sworn that Iwaizumi hesitated in his steps for half-a-second but it was so quick that by the time Tooru blinked, Iwaizumi was walking along as though nothing had happened and as though he hadn’t heard the three big words come out of Tooru’s mouth. With a sigh of resignation, Tooru followed, knowing that if he just kept waiting, like he had been for all these years already, Iwa-chan would come to his sense.
-----
Age 17
The weekend following their loss against Karasuno during the Spring High Tournament, Tooru insisted on taking the whole team out for the promised ramen meal--for once Mattsun and Makki weren’t scrounging for free food like a bunch of leeches--and then decided to drag them all to an arcade. He was certain that they needed some mindless entertainment to stop replaying moves from the match that they wished they’d done better because, and Tooru knew from experience, it would only drive them crazy. Unlike the usual rowdy bunch, no Makki and Mattsun ruthlessly making Kindaichi blush about his senpai-fever, no Kunimi occasionally piping in with one-liners, no Watari cracking jokes with Yahaba, and Iwa-chan telling everyone to keep their voices down because they were in a public place, dammit, learn some control. At first Tooru tried to lighten the mood, bringing up random, trivial topics like video games they all played or if they’d seen the trailer for the latest upcoming summer film, but after Kyouken-chan had actually grunted in response to one of Tooru’s questions instead of usually steadfastly ignoring him, Tooru gave up and solemnly ate his bowl of ramen. He reached under the table and sought out Iwa-chan’s hand, and instead of Iwa-chan snatching his hand away because he was afraid that either Mattsun or Makki would see and begin their version of torture, or as they preferred to call it, good fun, Iwa-chan let Tooru grab and hold steadily onto his hand as they ate their way through the meal in silence.
Once Tooru finished paying, for a bunch of people sulking they could sure eat a lot, thankfully he used the club funds to pay or else Tooru was pretty sure he’d have to live on the street given the total, he led the way to the arcade, grabbing Kyouken-chan by the wrist when the latter tried to sneak away. The rest of the team followed in silence. Iwa-chan brought up the rear, keeping pace with Kunimi in case the first year got too tired on their walk and decided to head back home. It was just another example of how in sync they were both on and off court, and Tooru resisted the strong temptation to smile at the thought. After Tooru counted to make all nine of the team had made it to the arcade in one piece, he let them run wild, or as wild as they could be in their current state of mind. Tooru shot Yahaba a look, letting him know that as future captain, it was his turn to step up to the plate and help everyone get out of their slump. Yahaba nodded, and with a grim expression, dragged Watari and Kyouken-chan towards one of the shooting games. Tooru knew that Yahaba and Watari enjoyed playing first person shooter games from all the club sleepovers they’d had because both of them had never once lost against anyone but each other. Hopefully playing it here, surrounded by a bunch of other high schoolers, bad disco lighting, and unnaturally upbeat JPOP would bring Watari back to his normal goofy self. And as for Kyouken-chan, well, at least he was making an effort to be a part of the team now. That thought brought a slight jolt of pain and regret, and just a little guilt, into Tooru’s gut because he had wanted to show Kyouken-chan just how great being part of a team was, but now, he sighed, well Yahaba would do great.
Makki had spotted the claw machines and subsequently dragged Kunimi towards them. Apparently it was Kunimi’s hidden talent to be an absolute ace at those games, and fighting against Makki’s height and strength was too much work for the first year, so he allowed himself to be led over to one filled with, what looked to Tooru, plushies of various foods. Mattsun and Kindaichi decided to follow, while Mattsun shot a look over to Tooru, who shrugged in response, nodding his head in Iwa-chan’s direction. His friend was still standing there in a daze, not taking in anything, and Tooru wanted to shake some life back into him.
“Iwa-chan,” Tooru said, poking his arm, hoping it would cause some sort of reaction, even if it was to reach out and try to smack Tooru across the back of his head. Nothing. “Hey,” Tooru started waving his hand in front of him. “Iwa-chan? What do you want to do?” He asked when he finally got the other’s attention and then gestured vaguely around the whole arcade. Instead of getting a helpful response, Iwaizumi just shrugged, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his sweatshirt. Tooru resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Come on, Iwa-chan. I’ll let you win,” he said, hoping to get Iwa-chan’s fighting spirit back up.
“Fine, let’s go do that,” Iwaizumi motioned to crane machines were their two friends and kohai were. Tooru saw Makki and Kindaichi had returned to their normals selves and were cheering Kunimi as he won his third prize, while Mattsun was leaning against the side with a bemused expression.
“You want to do the claw machines?” Tooru asked, dumbfounded. Normal Iwa-chan hated the crane machines, mostly because he didn’t have the patience for them and because Makki and Mattsun constantly tried, and succeeded, in getting Iwaizumi to drop whatever he had managed to pick up.
“Yeah,” Iwaizumi shrugged, “they look like they’re having fun.” Not one to argue with that and with something that might get Iwa-chan out of the slump he’d been in since their lost, Tooru obediently followed. They stopped behind Kunimi as Makki yelled, “Yes, Kunimi! Grab it! Show the machine who’ s boss! You! You!” Just as Kindaichi spluttered, “Be careful! Oh my god. It looks like it’s slipping! I can’t watch!” Kunimi unfazed by all the noise surrounding him, easily dropped the tamago plushie down the hatch and Makki, with a greedy expression, dove his arm into the slot to retrieve it. He now held four food plushies, two under each arm.
“Are any of those Kunimi’s?” Iwaizumi asked.
“It’s my money.”
“Kunimi’s effort.”
“Kunimi, baby, you don’t want any of these right?” Makki asked, caressing his new collection.
Kunimi had the sense to look horrified at his senpai’s words. “Please don’t ever use the word baby in my presence again, Hanamaki-san.”
“See? There you go,” Makki grinned at Iwaizumi, completely ignoring Kunimi’s remarks.
“Are you guys gonna try?” Mattsun asked, still leaning against the machine as Kunimi continued his crane hunt.
Iwaizumi just grunted with a shrug in response. “We’ll be back. I want to see what other prizes they have.” The other four gave a brief wave and turned their attention back to the tuna sushi plushie that Kunimi had managed to grab, while Tooru followed Iwa-chan down the aisle to the opposite end to a machine filled with boxes, coming in various bizarre shapes like eggs and dinosaurs to name a few, that contained cheap plastic rings.
“Um, Iwa-chan?” Instead of an answer to Tooru’s unspoken question though, Iwaizumi inserted two 100 yen coins and then proceeded to expertly move the claw above one of the egg shaped boxes. Clicking the red button, they watched, in silence, as the claw lowered and closed its grip around the egg, and held their breath as it carried it precariously over to the hatch. Without Makki and Mattsun around to jostle Iwa-chan, he was surprisingly calm and good at it, Tooru thought. With a gentle thud, the box dropped down the disposal and Iwaizumi reached it and grabbed it. Without opening to check the contents, he put it into his pocket. “You’re not even going to look?”
“Nah, I just wanted to see if I could do it without Hanamaki or Matsukawa nearby,” he said, giving Tooru a rare smile that made him want to throw his arms around Iwa-chan, even if half the team might be watching. As though, Iwaizumi knew that was exactly what Tooru wanted to do, he said, “Come on, let’s go see what Watari and Yahaba are up to.” He grabbed Tooru’s wrist and led the way towards the second years. Tooru caught Mattsun’s eye, Makki was too busy directing Kunimi on what to pick up next, and glared at his friend, daring him to say something, especially while Iwa-chan was in this state. Mattsun ended their unspoken conversation with a shrug and turned back to the claw machine crew just as Makki shoved a few of his plushies into Mattsun’s arms.
***
By the time the team had parted ways after a good two hours at the arcade, everyone was in much higher spirits. Tooru thought this was pretty excellent proof that he had been a good captain to his team. He’d like to see that Sawamura bring his team out of a deafening slump. With goodbyes that were much more cheerful than their hellos had been hours earlier--they made plans to play some three-on-three on Monday for fun--they all headed in separate directions home.
Tooru fell into easy step with Iwaizumi after so many years, more than twelve now, of walking around together. Through the years they had matched each other’s strides and now it was second nature and walking around the streets of their hometown with anyone else always felt somewhat awkward to Tooru. Unlike what most people, Mattsun and Makki, thought, Tooru didn’t constantly yammer on their walks home. Silence was a comfortable companion for him and Iwa-chan, and plus after a long day, where the team had gotten rather rowdy by the end of their time together, silence was just what Tooru needed.
Lost in his own thoughts, mostly about how much he was going to miss the team, he was surprised to see that instead of heading to one of their houses, Iwa-chan had led them to the old cherry blossom tree that had been their base camp for so many adventures when they were younger. Without checking to see if Tooru had followed him all the way up the hill, Iwaizumi plopped down on the ground, leaning against the trunk. Tooru followed suit. They hadn’t been here since they started high school, Tooru thought with nostalgia. It was comforting though, that even after all this time with many changes that had taken place, the tree was still here and just as large as he remembered from his childhood.
“Here,” Iwaizumi said, tossing him the box he’d won earlier from the claw machine, and breaking Tooru’s short trip down memory lane.
“Do you want me to give it to Takeru?”
“No, it’s for you.” Iwaizumi sat up and turned to face Tooru. “Open it.”
With hesitation, Tooru opened the egg to find a simple silver ring and a temporary alien tattoo inside. Apparently the egg-shaped box was supposed to represent aliens or something, and Tooru snorted at the manufacturer’s ignorance. “Thanks?”
“It’s a promise,” Iwaizumi grumbled, running his hand sheepishly behind his neck. “I don’t have any money now but--.”
“Are you proposing?” Tooru yelped, jumping to his feet.
“Yeah, I guess,” he responded looking up. “I’m not getting down on one knee though, so sit back down.” He tugged the bottom of Tooru’s shirt, while Tooru felt like he might throw up from happiness. “Anyways, yeah, I don’t have any money right now to get us proper rings, but it’s just so that we know and for one day.”
“Is this why you’ve been so quiet today?” Tooru asked, finally.
“Huh? Yeah, I guess so.”
“It wasn’t about the match?”
“No, I realized after that match that our time together was running short and I wanted to do something would make you, and I guess me, feel certain in our future together.” Tooru felt his eyes water and in order to Iwa-chan not to point out that he was an ugly crier, Tooru threw his arms around Iwaizumi’s neck. He felt Iwaizumi wrap his arms around him, and slowly rub gentle circles on his back. “Don’t cry, Tooru. It’s supposed to be a happy thing.”
“I’m,” he hiccuped, “I’m not crying.”
“Liar,” Iwaizumi murmured, planting a soft kiss on top of Tooru’s head.
They stayed like that for however many moments until Tooru whispered, “You still haven’t asked.”
“What?” Iwaizumi mumbled against Tooru’s neck. Tooru shivered from the sensation.
“The question. You haven’t asked the important question.”
“Why do I have to ask?”
“Because, I’ve asked you three times now.”
“If you’re going to keep count, I don’t know if this is going to work out,” Iwaizumi countered, laughter coloring his voice.
“Come on, Hajime.”
“Fine.” He pulled back just enough so their noses were touching before asking, “Oikawa Tooru, will you marry me one day?”
“It took you long enough,” Tooru responded, before allowing tears to fall freely and before leaning into to kiss his Hajime, who should’ve just accepted Tooru’s proposal from the beginning all those years ago since the outcome was inevitable.
-----
Age 22
Tooru checked his phone one last time. He had triple checked, quadruple checked that everything was perfect. After their final year in university, Iwa-chan had accepted a fellowship to go to Europe for one year and Tooru insisted that he go, even though it would be the first time since they were born that they’d be apart for so long. As Tooru told Iwa-chan during the weeks leading up to his departure, they’d lasted this long, a year apart would be nothing.
How Tooru came to regret those words during the long winter nights when he didn’t have Iwa-chan’s flaming furnace body next to his in their small Tokyo apartment that suddenly seemed much too big. But, at last the date that Tooru had circled and drawn hearts around on his wall calendar came, and Tooru wanted everything to be perfect on this day because he was going to give Hajime the greatest surprise. Making sure that he didn’t have bags around his eyes, those late night rotations at the ER were taking a toll on his appearance, Tooru put on his favorite pair of jeans and instead of throwing on one of Iwa-chan’s sweatshirts that he’d left behind, or rather that Tooru had stowed away in the hidden depths of their closest so that he wouldn’t pack them, Tooru dawned a clean tshirt with a crisp cut blazer. In Tooru’s own opinion, which was contrary to popular opinion rather humble not conceited, he thought he looked extremely handsome and wouldn’t be surprised if some people didn’t give him a double-take, mistaking him for a celebrity, as he waited at the gate for international flights.
Some of the girls there tried to catch his eye, but Tooru kept his gaze focused on the automatic door. He didn’t want to miss Hajime walking out, and the nerves that maybe his Iwa-chan looked completely different and he wouldn’t recognize him after so long hit Tooru with forcefully in the stomach. Tooru gave his head a slight shake. He was being ridiculous. Of course he would recognize Hajime. He had literally known him his whole life. And one year in Europe wasn’t going to change his appearance that much. Right? Right? As Tooru started to chew on his bottom lip, he wished he’d demanded that Iwa-chan send him more pictures during his time abroad. Iwa-chan always sent photos of the places he’d visited and the photos that he was going to submit to his gallery exhibit when he returned home instead of selfies, which was what Tooru really wanted to see. Wallowing in despair that Hajime would probably look completely unrecognizable, he jumped when said person was standing directly in front of him, looking as though he’d just flicked Tooru on the forehead--he had, the tingling pain came once Tooru had snapped back to reality.
“Earth to Oikawa.”
“Iwa-chan! I--” he didn’t get to finish as Hajime enveloped him in a hug that was so painfully familiar and missed that it made Tooru’s eyes water. It must be the age, Tooru thought, or the stress of being a doctor. The smallest things had started to make him emotional. Eventually, they released each other, Tooru remembering that they were in the airport and couldn’t just hold each other for eternity, which was what he wanted to do truth be told. Even though Iwa-chan had been gone for a year, he still smelled the same. That cheap pine soap mixed with something that was just Hajime.
Iwaizumi entwined their fingers together and led them towards the parking garage, both of them pushing the trolley filled to the brim with suitcases and a few boxes together. “You look tired,” he finally said as they waited for the elevator to take them to the lower levels.
“Being a doctor isn’t exactly easy, Iwa-chan,” Tooru grumbled as Iwaizumi smirked.
“Only what? Four more years?”
“Something like that,” Tooru agreed while Iwaizumi chuckled. Apparently being away for so long had put Iwa-chan into a more pleasant and agreeable mood. During their ride back to the city, they leaned against each other, just holding hands, not having to say anything. It was as though Tooru had come home, even though it was the other way around. Funny, he’d never actually believed the phrase that home could be a person until now, but given how peaceful and how right everything felt, Tooru was certain that for him, home was a person, Hajime.
***
Tooru had decided that by the river where they’d taken so many runs during their time at university was the perfect place. So, with his heart pounding, he was surprised that Iwa-chan couldn’t hear it, he led the way to their favorite bench, keeping everything as casual as possible. They’d fallen back into step easily and conversation came just as naturally as the silences did. Now that he was back, it was like Iwa-chan had never left. The only reminder of his trip abroad was all the suitcases and boxes that cluttered their apartment and had yet to be unpacked. They’d get to it in the coming weeks, Tooru was certain. Well, if Iwa-chan had his way, he’d have done it all that night because he was much more organized that Tooru ever had been. All the anxiety that had hit him like a bullet had been for nothing. A year apart was good reassurance, in the end, that they were meant to be.
“For a second I thought you really wanted us to go running,” Iwaizumi yawned as he settled comfortably on their bench. Both of them had changed into sweats, since they didn’t have plans to socialize today.
“I might enjoy running, Iwa-chan, but I’m not crazy enough to make you do it after you’ve just come back home.”
“That’s good,” Iwaizumi said, leaning back and closing his eyes.
“Iwa-chan,” Tooru said softly, drinking in the chiseled features he had missed so much during the last year.
“Hm?” Iwaizumi kept his eyes closed. Tooru watched as his chest rose and fell with each slow, deep breath.
“Hajime,” Tooru tried again, clearing his throat. It was now or never. Tooru didn’t couldn’t comprehend why he was so nervous.
“What’s wrong Tooru?” Iwaizumi sat upright, turning to give Tooru a searching look, worry etched in his features. “Are you getting sick?” He reached out his hand to place it against Tooru’s forehead.
“No, I just, um,” Tooru fidgeted and then stopped, shocked, because he never fidgeted.
“Did something happen while I was away?” Iwaizumi asked, suddenly, eyes narrowing in suspicion, which Tooru knew wasn’t directed at him but against whoever might’ve done something to him.
“No, nothing’s happened, Iwa-chan,” Tooru shrugged away the thought. “I, well,” he reached into his pocket and fumbled for the small velvet box and held it out awkwardly. Both of them looked down at the both, as it lay there in Tooru’s palm, as though time had suspended around it. “I used my first paycheck to buy it,” he told it, nervous to meet Iwaizumi’s gaze. He saw Iwaizumi move his own hand into his pocket and pull out a similar looking box and holding it out it to Tooru.
“I used my first paycheck too,” Iwaizumi told Tooru with a smile. “We’ve worn these cheap rings,” the one that Iwaizumi had won at the claw machine all those years earlier and one that Tooru had bought at the summer festival before they went off for university, “for a long time. How about an upgrade?” Tooru met Hajime’s eyes and both of them opened their boxes to reveal two simple, similar in design, silver rings.
“You used your first paycheck to buy this?” Tooru asked as Hajime slid the ring onto his ring finger.
“You did the same,” he said as Tooru slid the ring he had bought onto Hajime’s ring finger. Just like he knew it would, the ring fit perfectly.
“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re pretty romantic when you want to be, Iwa-chan?” Tooru leaned his head against his oldest and closest friend’s shoulder.
“I do remember you saying something like that during our last year at Kitagawa Daiichi,” replied Hajime, wrapping his arm around Tooru’s shoulder as both of them sat quietly watching the river run steadily below them.
-----
Present Day
Tooru closed the album of his and Iwa-chan’s pictures through the years as his daughters ran to the opened living room door and into their dad’s wide open arms.
“Hello, beautifuls,” Hajime said, picking them both up, one in each arm, easily. Even after twenty years of not playing volleyball, Tooru was impressed that Hajime had been able to keep in such good shape. Well, he supposed it gave one incentive to stay fit when his job called on him to travel to sometimes dangerous places to get those stunning photographs every now and again.
“Daddy, did you have a good trip?” Their eldest daughter, age 8, asked, while her younger sister, age 4, started crawling over her dad in order to get to her favorite position which was on his shoulders.
“I did, but I missed you all a lot.”
“Did you get us any presents?” Their youngest daughter asked, once she’d comfortably seated herself on her dad’s shoulders.
“Is that all I am to you, princess? Just a walking pile of presents?”
“Of course not, daddy,” she giggled, leaning down to press a sloppy kiss on top of her dad’s head.
“What have you been up to?” Hajime asked, giving his eldest daughter a kiss on the cheek and pressing a kiss into his youngest daughter’s palm, since that was the only part he could reach at the moment. Tooru smiled taking in the picture of Best Dad Iwa-chan. He wanted to snap a photo and send it to Makki, to rub it in his face that Iwa-chan was definitely a much better dad that Mattsun, no matter what Makki claimed.
“Papa was telling us the story of how you proposed to each other,” their eldest daughter replied, gesturing to the closed album on the coffee table. Tooru met Hajime’s skeptical glance over the top of their daughter’s head. “I can’t believe you made papa propose to you three times.”
“Tooru--.”
“Daddy, presents!” Their youngest daughter demanded from her princess perch.
“They’re in the hall. Why don’t you two go get them and bring them here so we can open them together?” Without waiting, both girls squirmed out of their dad’s embrace and bolted out the living room into the hallway. Tooru also tried to sneak his way out. “Not so fast,” Hajime said, grabbing Tooru’s wrist. “Just what crap are you telling them?”
“Language, Hajime.”
“Well?” Still not releasing his hold on Tooru’s wrist.
“I was just telling them the story of how we got together. Is that a crime?” Tooru exclaimed.
“Don’t fill their heads with bullshit at such a young age,” Hajime grumbled.
“What do you mean? What my mom said worked didn’t it?” Tooru poked Hajime lightly in the chest. “She said when you--”
“--love someone you should propose.”
“And she told me that when I was their age and look at us now,” Tooru smirked, feeling rather pleased with himself for proving his point.
“Look at us now,” Hajime repeated before pulling Tooru in for a long, deep kiss. It was Tooru’s favorite kind of kiss, slow like they had all the time in the world and familiar because he and Hajime had practiced and perfected this kiss through all the years they had spent together.
Before Tooru could lose himself completely in the kiss, he heard a shriek, “Don’t look, Mika! Daddy and Papa are kissing!” Smiling against Hajime’s lips, giving them a slow lick in promise of later, he pulled back to see his friend grinning back at him, and together both of them turned to their little girls, whose arms were bursting with all the goodies that Hajime had brought back from his latest adventure.