Work Text:
1.
It wasn't fair how popular Iwaizumi was. Oikawa Tooru decided that from the first week of first grade. They'd met three months before when Iwaizumi moved in across the street, and he found the other boy playing with a volleyball in his yard. Now, with the new school year starting, they were in class together. It sounded great in theory. They could hang out every day, play games at recess, and even walk home together. In practice, it did not turn out that way.
He quickly learned everyone in class thought Iwaizumi was the coolest person ever. Tooru could see why; he wasn't stupid. Iwaizumi was athletic and acted all tough. He seemed awesome to all the boys in their class who wanted to be just like that. They didn't understand him at all. They liked him for their cool ideals of him, not like Tooru, who knew he could be rude and annoying, but liked him anyway.
Yes, Iwaizumi seemed super cool. He was really good at most things he tried. On the playground, he excelled in just about every sport, so everyone wanted him on their team. They didn't understand what really made him cool. Iwaizumi was cool because of things like how brave he was. He could do all kinds of scary things like picking up bugs and climbing tall trees. Just last week, he saved Tooru from a particularly nasty spider, even if he called him a scardycat after. Or how fun he was to play volleyball with. Even his dumb obsession with Godzilla because he let Tooru talk about his own love of aliens.
Unfortunately, it didn't matter why they wanted him because it didn't change any of the facts. Everyone thought Iwaizumi was super cool and wanted to play with him, but they didn't want to play with Tooru. He knew the other boys in his class thought he was lame. Last year, they never asked him to play and laughed when he got upset, calling him a crybaby. Now they saw him as 'that kid who follows Iwaizumi around'.
When recess came that day, he could already see some of the other boys beginning to crowd around his best friend, asking him to play soccer or something. Sometimes he tried to play games with them, but for teams they always picked him last and no one ever wanted to let him have the ball. Today, he didn't want to do that. So instead of wandering over to Iwaizumi, hoping maybe today he would ditch them, he decided to just play alone.
He quickly realized he didn't want to play alone, so instead he sat down behind a big tree to sulk. Maybe Iwa-chan will get sick of his annoying friends and come find me, he silently hoped, already knowing that would never happen. Even if he got sick of his other friends, he wouldn't know where Tooru was.
Just his luck, it seemed Iwaizumi and his dumb friends chose the clearing by his tree for their game. At least they couldn't see him since the truck was big enough to conceal him. He pulled his knees up to his chest, trying to make himself a bit smaller. If they saw him hiding back here, they would laugh at him.
"Let's pick teams!" he heard a boy, who he was pretty sure was called Hirose, yell out. "Iwaizumi and I will be captains."
He heard some other boys yell out some different replies, mostly agreements about who should be captains and debate over who got to pick first. It always went this way. Tooru hated team picking. It made it very clear who the worst players and social outcasts were. The only time he didn't get picked last was when Iwaizumi was captain.
"I want Murata," Hirose yelled. He waited along with the others for Iwaizumi's pick, but instead he got silence. Apparently, the other boys were waiting too because Hirose egged him on. "Come on, hurry up and pick. Who are you even looking for?"
"Where's Oikawa?"
What? Iwaizumi was looking for him? He thought the other boy hadn't even noticed he left, too focused on his 'cooler' friends.
"Who cares? Not like you really want him on your team, anyway," Hirose insisted, and a small part of Tooru wondered if he might be right. No one else wanted him on their team. "He's not here right now. You don't need to pretend you like him because you feel sorry for him."
"I do like Oikawa."
And Tooru knew that tone. Iwaizumi was mad. Actually mad, not just the annoyed fake-mad tone he used all the time. This was like the time he'd accidentally broken Iwaizumi's favorite Godzilla toy, and they didn't speak for three whole days.
"Really? Why would you want to hang out with that loser?" another boy chimed in. "He cries like a little girl any time he falls."
"He's annoying, too," Hirose added. "My older brother says boys who cry all the time like him are sis–"
But Tooru never got to hear the rest of what he had to say because instead he heard Iwaizumi's fist collide with Hirose's face.
"At least he's better than you," Iwaizumi snapped, and Tooru decided he should do something in case he decided to take another swing. Even if it did feel very satisfying to hear Hirose get punched and finally shut up. "I would rather play with him than jerks like all of you any day."
But before he got the chance to rush over and stop his friend from doing anything to get him in more trouble, another voice joined the conversation.
"Iwaizumi!" their teacher yelled, sounding a bit surprised, along with her anger. Even if he acted all tough, Iwaizumi was normally surprisingly well-behaved in class. Nothing like the troublemaker Tooru played with at home. "What is the meaning of this?"
"He was being mean to Oikawa," Iwaizumi protested, and it was clear he had no intention of backing down. He was going to get himself in trouble all because of Tooru.
"Oikawa isn't here, Iwaizumi."
"That didn't stop him from saying mean things."
"Hirose, Iwaizumi, both of you are coming with me. Iwaizumi, I will need to call your parents about this because punching someone is never ok. You can tell me what he said so I can talk with him about that. Hirose, you need to go to the nurse's office, but afterward we will need to have a talk about your behavior as well."
Tooru could hear them leaving, and the other kids began to talk again. He stayed put. Even if he moved, they wouldn't be able to play for the rest of recess anyway, and he couldn't do anything to help now. No one even knew he heard the whole thing. Instead, he spent the rest of the time under the tree. He saw Iwaizumi again in class, which meant he wasn't in too much trouble. He probably would be upon arriving home, but Tooru's mom was walking them back today, so that bought them a little time to hang out.
He didn't originally plan to bring up the incident, but after school, when they were waiting for his mom to come, he couldn't resist. Iwaizumi had probably just thrown away all his popularity for him. Did he really prefer his company to all the boys that wanted to play with him?
"Iwa-chan, would you really rather play with me than the other boys?" he asked, causing the other boy to look up from the bug he was trying to catch.
"You heard that?" he asked. "Where were you?"
"Behind the tree."
"Oh."
"Did you really mean it?"
Iwaizumi looked at him for a moment like he had said something stupid. For a second, Tooru thought he might say something like that he regretted it. Or that he wished he just held his tongue to avoid getting in trouble. He didn't.
"Why would I have said it if I didn't mean it?" he finally asked, rolling his eyes. "You're way more fun to play with than them, even if you are a crybaby."
"Hey! That was mean, Iwa-chan!"
"I was nice too, Stupidkawa!"
And soon they were laughing. Even if Iwaizumi was mean a lot and called him names, Tooru liked him better than everyone else. Even if the rude nicknames sounded mean, they never actually felt that way.
"I want us to play together forever!" he declared, grabbing Iwaizumi's hands in his own with a big smile on his face. "You have to promise we always will. No matter what."
"What about when we're too old to play?"
"We'll never be too old for volleyball."
"But what about when we're married? We might not even be near each other."
"Then I'll just marry you, Iwa-chan!"
Iwaizumi's face went bright red, and suddenly he wasn't meeting Tooru's eyes. Was there something wrong with his idea? He thought it was great. This way they never had to worry about being apart. They could live together and play volleyball every day.
"Don't be stupid, we can't get married," Iwaizumi protested after a moment. "But fine, I promise we can play together forever."
"But why can't we get married?" he asked, giving his best sad face. The one he knew would make the other boy fold instantly. "Then we can be sure we don't end up apart."
"Fine," he mumbled, dropping Tooru's hands and turning around to where his mom was now calling for them. "We can get married one day. Now shut up so we can go home."
The whole way home, Tooru couldn't keep the vibrant grin off his face. Iwaizumi Hajime was the best friend he could ever ask for, and they would stay together forever.
2.
Weddings were boring. It didn't take Tooru long to decide that. Everyone who talked about them made them seem beautiful and romantic, but they were boring. Sure, the part where his sister walked down the aisle in her pretty dress was kind of nice, and he supposed the vows and kiss were alright. Overall, he just wanted to leave. Maybe if they hadn't opted for a Western-style wedding, there would be less stuff, not that he knew much about what Japanese weddings entailed either. This was his first wedding.
When they got to the reception, he was ready to leave. Sitting there in his stuffy dress clothes was bad enough, but now he was stuck at dinner, and for the rest of the celebration he would spend it in a room where no one was his age. His sister was fourteen years older than him, and pretty much all his other cousins were about the same. The next youngest after him was already in high school. He was still only eight, barely starting 3rd grade. Being the baby of the family used to be so nice when everyone doted on him. Now none of his cousins wanted to talk to him, too busy with their lives to want to play with a little kid. If only his mom had agreed to let him bring Iwaizumi. That would make this whole night better.
If Iwaizumi were here, they could talk about interesting things like volleyball or the cool movies they watched—yes, even the lame Godzilla ones Iwaizumi liked that weren't nearly as awesome as the alien ones—instead of boring adult stuff. Then after dinner, when everyone else was distracted with dancing and more boring talk, they could sneak out and go find somewhere to play. That sounded much better than mostly ignoring the boring conversations his family was having.
"Don't look so miserable, Tooru," one of his aunts chided, because of course they wouldn't let him dodge their boring adult conversations forever. He heard just enough to know it was mostly about marriage and jobs. He knew just enough from the bits he caught to have heard the same aunt talking to him now complaining about how even though her daughter was older than his sister, she still wasn't married. "Your sister is getting married. You should be excited. With any luck you'll have a nephew or niece soon."
"It's still boring," he whined, even though he knew his mother would probably scold him for being rude and pouty. "I would much rather go home and play."
"One day you'll understand when you get married," his grandmother insisted, ruffling his hair. "You'll find a lovely woman and have a beautiful wedding of your own."
He tried to imagine what that would be like. Him, but all grown up, watching some faceless woman in a pretty dress walk down the aisle. It didn't seem right. He didn't want some random woman. Weddings were supposed to be a special thing with someone you cared about. So he replaced the woman with Iwaizumi in a tux. That felt better, but still not quite perfect. He decided he wanted to be one who walked down the aisle while everyone stared, whispering about how good he looked all dressed up. He liked that idea a lot more.
"Well, you seem pretty happy about that," his aunt says, and he realizes he must have been smiling. "Already have someone in mind?"
"I want to marry Iwa-chan!" he declared, feeling his grin get even wider. Of course, he would want to marry Iwaizumi. They promised they would two years ago, after all.
His aunt and grandmother both gave him the kind of smile he had come to realize meant they thought whatever he did or said was adorable. He had always been good at making people think he was adorable. His mother, on the other hand, suddenly froze up, a look he couldn't decern on her face. Didn't she like Iwaizumi? Maybe she hadn't heard. That must be why she wasn't gushing like his other relatives.
"And who is this Iwa-chan?" his grandmother asked, giving him a great excuse to keep talking about the other boy. "Is she a girl in your class?"
"Iwaizumi Hajime is my best friend!" he declared proudly, but for some reason, that wiped the smiles off all their faces. He decided to keep going because maybe they didn't get it. "He's in my class. He also lives across the street from me, and so we get to hang out every day! Marrying him would be so great he–"
"Tooru!" his mother snapped, cutting him off. She looked very angry for some reason. "That's enough."
"But Mom–"
"You can't say things like that!" she scolded, and from a quick look around, it was clear no one would come to his rescue on this. Whatever he said must have been very wrong. "You can't marry a boy."
Oh. So that was why everyone went so quiet when he gave Iwaizumi's full name. That was the moment they realized Tooru was talking about a boy. He couldn't see why that mattered, though. He always heard marriage was about who you loved most, so why couldn't a boy marry another boy?
"But what if I don't want to marry a girl?" he protested, because he never was very good at leaving things alone. Their expressions all stayed stony, and he knew he was making things worse.
"You will. You are a boy, and boys marry girls."
"A boy dating a boy is wrong," his aunt chimed in, and it left a sinking feeling in his heart. "It's unnatural."
He could feel the tears starting to fight their way up at her words, but he didn't quite know why. If it was wrong, why did them telling him that hurt so much? Shouldn't something that was wrong seem wrong?
"Hey, Tooru," a voice from behind him called, making him turn, hoping his feelings didn't show on his face. He found his cousin Heizo smiling at him, a stark contrast to the looks everyone else had. He must not have heard any of their conversation, or he wouldn't have that smile. "Looks like you're done eating. Why don't we go do something fun so you don't get stuck talking with grown-ups all night?"
He got up without any hesitation. He also decided not to point out that Heizo was also an adult now that he was in college. If it would save him from this conversation, he would take whatever excuse. He'd always been one of Tooru's favorite cousins anyway.
They headed off, Heizo grabbing his arm and pulling him away when his other relatives tried to protest his fleeing the conversation. Hopefully, he wouldn't need to explain anything from that conversation to him. If he heard anything else like what his mother and aunt said, he really would cry.
He expected them to head where people were beginning to gather to dance, but instead, Heizo steered them towards a side door and away from the festivities. Tooru was glad for the chance to collect his thoughts and get out of the room, away from the conversation, so he didn't say anything. Neither of them did until they settled down on a bench his cousin found a little outside of the venue.
"They're wrong, Tooru," Heizo said, and he wasn't quite sure what he was talking about, so he waited. "There's nothing wrong with being gay."
"Gay?" he asked, because although he'd heard the word before, no one ever really explained. It normally sounded like a bad thing from the conversations he heard, but it didn't sound like one now.
"Someone who likes people of the same gender. Romantically. A boy who likes boys instead of girls."
So he did hear the conversation. He saw Tooru needed help and came over just to save him from it. To let him know the words causing that sinking feeling in his chest were wrong. He didn't know if he believed it quite yet. His other relatives inside sounded very serious, but so did Heizo.
"I'm gay," he added when Tooru just stared at him without speaking, offering up a reassuring smile. "I have a boyfriend even if I don't tell our family about him."
"Really?"
"Yeah, and if you're gay, I just want you to know that there's nothing wrong with it. You still have time to figure yourself out, but if you are gay, I didn't want the things they were saying to be the only thing you heard about it. I wanted to tell you that you'll still have people in your life who care no matter what. To make sure you know there is nothing wrong with it, because how could loving someone be wrong just because they're the same gender as you?"
And suddenly the tears he held back inside were sliding down his face. He didn't think they were all because of what he heard back at the table. He felt Heizo's arms wrap around him, pulling him in for a hug, so he buried his face in his shoulder. For a moment just let himself cry. It all felt so confusing.
"If you are gay, I'm not promising it will be easy. It won't. I just want you to know that it's ok and no matter what you will still have people on your side. No one ever told me that until I was almost done with high school. Things are hard now, but they're getting better every day. More people are becoming open-minded, and hopefully one day, no one will act like it's wrong. Then if you want, you can marry a guy."
"Are you going to marry a guy?"
"I want to one day, but it's not legal in Japan yet. Right now it wouldn't be recognized as official, but that's going to change one day. In fact, just last year the Netherlands became the first country to legalize gay marriage, so others should follow soon."
Tooru had never heard of the Netherlands. He knew it must be somewhere far away, like Europe, but if they could make something like that possible, the idea they could have it too seemed a bit more within reach. His family had tried to teach him that liking boys was wrong, but he liked what Heizo said better. He liked hearing that things would hopefully get better soon.
"Now, how about you tell me a bit about this Iwa-chan before we go back inside?"
That idea sounded amazing. Maybe weddings weren't completely terrible.
3.
"Hey, Iwaizumi," Hanamaki called from his spot on the floor. "Truth or dare?
For some reason, they ended up having a sleepover after Hanamaki suggested it would be a fun bonding activity for their little group of Seijoh volleyball first years. Iwaizumi had grumbled about slumber parties being for elementary schoolers, but after Matsukawa said his parents would be gone that weekend and they could do it at his place, Tooru convinced him pretty fast.
"What are you? Ten?" Iwaizumi asked, rolling his eyes. Their movie had just ended, and it left them with nothing to do. It seemed like a pretty good way to fill time to Tooru, and he hadn't played truth or dare in ages.
"Come on, Iwa-chan. It'll be fun!" he insisted. Even if he didn't agree right away, he would. He always did.
"Fine. Truth."
"Who was your first kiss?"
That one made Iwaizumi pause for a moment, considering his answer longer than Tooru would have expected. He actually began to wonder if he would even give them an answer, or just claim the game was stupid.
"Nagano," he finally muttered, not really meeting any of their eyes. "In middle school."
Hanamaki and Matsukawa both seemed a bit disappointed by the answer since they didn't know the name, but Tooru did. Nagano had gone to Kitagawa Daiichi with them. That wasn't the interesting part of the answer, though. The other two couldn't tell with just a family name, but Nagano Taisei was a boy. More specifically, the pitcher on their baseball team, and Tooru decided he remembered him being a bit annoying. Had Iwaizumi actually given away his first kiss to him? Also, did that mean he was gay? Was that his type?
"Nice man," Matsukawa said, offering him a fist bump. "Was she hot?"
"Uh yeah," he replied, looking a bit awkward at the question.
"Eh, not really," Tooru protested, because he was nothing if not petty. It didn't really do much but get him a weird look from Iwaizumi and laughs from the other two.
He knew by now that he liked his best friend in a less-than-platonic way, but he definitely needed to shut his mouth, or they would realize that. Acting all jealous over your friend's first kiss was not something most people did. He was curious to know if this really meant Iwaizumi liked guys. Having your first kiss with one seemed like a strong sign, but maybe not. Or maybe Taisei had a sister or something. He would need to ask later when it was just the two of them. He didn't like that it would require Iwaizumi's past relationship, but he would have to if he wanted to find out.
"Matsukawa, truth or dare?" Iwaizumi asked, clearly keen to move the conversation on to a different topic. That was good because Tooru hadn't liked that last topic very much either.
"Dare."
Iwaizumi paused for a moment to consider, clearly having gone in with no real plan of what kind of dare to give. After a moment, he grinned, making it clear to Tooru he had some annoying idea. Thankfully, it wasn't directed at him for once.
"Do my share of clean up after practice tomorrow."
"That's not how this game works," Matsukawa insisted, shaking his head. "It has to be something I can do here. Also, that totally violates the spirit of the game."
"Fine, just do twenty push-ups then," he suggested with a shrug, not bothering to think up another good idea.
Matsukawa mumbled a small complaint about having to do push-ups at a sleepover, but still dropped down to complete the task. It wasn't really that entertaining since they didn't seem to be any trouble for him. When he did finally finish, he sat back down, flipping Iwaizumi off, then turned his attention to Tooru.
"Oikawa, truth or dare?"
"Hmm," he said, putting on a little show of thinking about it as he tried to decide which one Matsukawa would have something worse for. "I'll go with truth."
Matsukawa paused for a moment to think about his question. Tooru expected something about all his fangirls, prying into what he may have done with them. That would be fun to see the look on his face when he got nothing out of that line of questioning. Without knowing he was gay, none of them knew what kind of questions to ask to get any real information.
"If you had to choose someone from school to marry, who would it be?" Matsukawa asked after another moment of thought.
"Iwa-chan, of course!" he answered, letting the words slip out of his mouth before he even had the chance to think about them. The idea had just come to him the moment he heard the question.
He wasn't sure if it was the speed of his answer or the answer itself, but that certain got a reaction. Hanamaki and Matsukawa both seemed momentarily at a loss for words, their usual jokes not coming as fast. Iwaizumi had started choking on a very poorly timed sip of his water, which kept him from saying anything for a moment as well. He needed a way to play this off and quick.
"What?" he asked with a shrug, putting on his best show of the whole thing being a funny joke. "I've known you the longest. Besides, you already promised to marry me."
Ok, maybe that last part wasn't needed. It got even more of a reaction from Iwaizumi than the first, a blush starting to creep across his cheeks. The other two were now glancing back and forth between them and back at each other, but seemed more keen to observe than comment. Tooru would have to worry about that later. Right now he only cared about one person's response.
"What are you–" Iwaizumi spluttered out, still trying to regain his composure. Then a look of understanding flashed across his face. "Oh my god, Shittykawa, we were like five when that happened. Why do you even remember that?"
"Six," he corrected, then kept going because he couldn't resist. "And clearly you also remember it. I remember it because of how you valiantly punched Hirose for me. What's your excuse?"
"I was the one who did the punching, remember that, dumbass!"
"Ah, so my knight in shining armor does remember both defending me and his promises of marriage!"
"You do know we can't even get legally married, right?"
"Are we really going to let something like that stand in the way of true love?"
"You are actually insufferable. No wonder you're stuck on this; no one but me would ever agree to marry you."
"So you do want to marry me then?"
And at that moment it suddenly dawned on both of them that they were not, in fact, alone. Hanamaki and Mastukawa were staring at them like they were crazy, which, given their argument, seemed a bit fair. They were sitting here debating the validity of a proposal from first grade, and neither of them had denied interest yet. Oh, also there was the fact that they were both guys, who, as far as the other two knew, were straight.
Tooru decided he'd already dug the hole deep enough and shut his mouth, waiting for them to respond. His mind flashed back to the reactions from his family back at his sister's wedding, but he didn't think his friends seemed like the kind of people to care about that. At least he hoped.
Hanamaki and Matsukawa glanced at each other, seeming to have some kind of silent debate he couldn't understand. They'd only known each other for like eight months at this point, yet somehow they seemed to have this weird ability to know what the other was thinking. When they turned back to face them, they both spoke at the exact same time.
"Dibs on being Iwaizumi's best man!"
Just like that, all the tension vanished from the room. Iwaizumi started laughing, and Tooru let out an offended squawk. Count on the two of them to twist the whole situation into an obnoxious joke.
"No way, you get Oikawa," Matsukawa insisted, talking like this was a serious debate about a real wedding, rather than a joke about one that would probably never happen.
"No fair, he's way more high maintenance!"
"Why are you all so mean to me?" Tooru whined, doing his best fake pout. "Just keep in mind whoever picks me gets me as theirs, and you already know I would put together a killer bachelor party."
"Sorry, man, Matsukawa is going to be my best man," Hanamaki replied, with a shrug. "I could never give the spot to anyone but my best bro."
The two of them fist bumped at that, and Tooru made a show of rolling his eyes at their antics. Why were his friends such idiots?
"Fuck you, you're both uninvited."
And that set off another round of laughter from the whole group. And if Tooru found his mind drifting off to the thoughts of his imaginary wedding to Iwaizumi for the rest of the evening, that was no one's business but his own.
4.
"Why do you have to live so far away?" Tooru complained at Iwaizumi through the screen of his laptop.
"You're the one who moved to Argentina."
"And you were in California for a good chunk of that. Even if I was still in Japan, we would have ended up doing long distance."
"I never would have asked you to stay in Japan no matter how much I miss you."
When they finished high school, and both revealed their plans to leave the country, they knew long-distance would be hard. Tooru had made up his mind before he revealed his plans to the other man that the path he wanted to take involved moving to Argentina. He knew it was hard for Hajime to think about living so far away from him, but he never once asked him not to. Even when almost everyone asked if he was sure he wanted to, citing all the things that could go wrong, he never said anything to discourage him. A week later, he told Tooru he decided on school in America, and he couldn't help but wonder if knowing they would be apart anyway gave him the push to make that choice.
They still called almost every night, doing what they could to work around their busy schedules and time zones. It was hard, but they made it work. Even if they only got a little less than a year of their relationship before ending up so far away, he couldn't regret any of his choices. Well, maybe he regretted waiting so long to confess at least a little.
"One day we won't be so far apart," Tooru reassured him. "We can live together and see each other every day. We've made it through almost seven years of a long-distance relationship; we can make it through a few more."
Hajime didn't respond to that, just got quiet. They normally avoided talking too much about the distance, so maybe that was why. It was hard, but neither of them could ask the other to just give up their life and job to move across the world. They had both built careers in their respective location. Tooru was on the Argentinian national volleyball team, and Hajime was the athletic trainer for the Japanese one. With the Olympics coming up soon, moving now wouldn't be possible for either of them.
"At least we get to see each other at the Olympics," he pointed out, hoping to cheer his boyfriend up a bit. They both always looked forward to any chance to see each other, and even if they would be busy, the Olympics would give them plenty of chances. It did not give him the reaction he hoped; Iwaizumi seemed to be silently debating something. Even over a screen, Tooru knew how to read him. "What's wrong, Iwa-chan? If you don't tell me, I can't help."
"I'm looking at jobs in Argentina," he blurted out, the words coming so quickly Tooru almost didn't catch them.
For a moment he thought he may have imagined it because he had imagined that exact scenario so many times over the last eight years. Hajime moving to Argentina. Them living together. Being together every day. Spending the rest of their lives together.
"I know you want to keep playing with your team there until you retire, so moving isn't a choice for you, but I can work there too. I love my job here, and the people I work with, but I want to be with you more."
"Hajime–"
"And before you say anything about how you wouldn't ask me to give up my job and life for you, I'm doing this because I want to. I've been thinking about it for a while now. I hadn't planned to tell you yet, but I started looking into jobs there a month ago. I wouldn't do it if I wasn't absolutely sure."
This was real. It was better than anything he imagined because this was going to become his reality. After the Olympics, they would live in the same county again. They wouldn't have to call every night just to see each other. He could wake up with Hajime by his side every morning.
"I love you so much," he said, because he didn't know what else could show what he felt. "I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you."
"That almost sounded like a proposal," Hajime said with a laugh.
"It is legal here," Tooru reminded him, unable to keep the stupid grin he knew he had from appearing on his face. "And I do want to marry you."
"No matter how much I want to marry you as well, let's focus on me moving to Argentina for now. We'll have enough on our plates with that and the Olympics."
"Of course, Iwa-chan."
He knew there was something more behind what Hajime was saying. With how long they knew each other, he could always tell. He didn't think it was bad, and if his intuition was right, the other man had thought about them getting married more than he let on. He decided to leave it alone for now since, at this moment, just knowing they would be living together already made his day.
5.
Tooru stood outside his parents' door for the first time in almost two years. He had spoken to them plenty of times over the years since he moved out, but he rarely ended up in Japan anymore, so in-person visits were rare. They still shared important life updates, and he knew they watched his games from their messages. There was one update about his life he had never given them, though, and that was the thing that kept him from knocking right away.
He had arrived in Japan for the Olympics the night before and stayed with Hajime at his apartment. He knew he needed to eventually tell his parents about his relationship, but until now he kept letting himself find excuses not to say anything. After his sister's wedding, he never mentioned the possibility of him being gay again, even when he knew for sure. With them moving in together, he decided it was time.
He raised his hand and knocked, trying not to let any of his nerves show on his face. The wedding was the only time he ever heard his parents mention queer people. Since then, they never said anything else negative, but they hadn't said anything positive either. There was no way of knowing how this would go.
"Tooru!" his mom called, greeting him with a cheerful smile and hug when she opened the door. "It's so good to see you; you look so grown up! I can't believe my son is competing in the Olympics!"
He smiled back and let her usher him inside. She was already talking about dinner and suggesting he stay the night even though he told her he had a place to stay. She insisted that going back to Tokyo this evening would be completely impractical. He decided not to mention that Hajime would be arriving in Miyagi soon and they planned to stay at the Iwaizumi residence that evening if things went poorly. They had told his parents a few years earlier, or more accurately, Hajime's parents kept dropping hints they knew. When his father apparently slipped up one time when Hajime visited and called Tooru 'Hajime's boyfriend,' they stopped even bothering to hide it.
At this point, he knew he should have told his own parents, but every time he almost did, he stopped. He would get to the moment where he planned to start the conversation and decide now wasn't the time. Tonight he wouldn't back down. He even made sure to stop himself from trying by mentioning to his parents he had something important he wanted to talk to them about. When they tried to fish for clues on what it might be, he shut them down, but tonight all those questions would get answers.
"Would you like some tea?" his father asked as they made their way into the house. "I was just about to make some."
"Yes, please," he replied, thankful his nerves at the coming conversation didn't show in his voice. He didn't want them to think something was wrong.
"Why don't you and your mother go sit down in the living room, and I'll bring it in," he suggested. "Then we can talk about your big news."
He nodded, following his mother into the living room to wait. She asked him a lot of questions about how he was and updated him on how one of his cousins was having a baby and the other things he missed. He was glad she didn't try to ask him about his news just yet. He also noticed she didn't ask any questions about relationships this time.
When his father arrived with the tea, he got a few more minutes to collect his thoughts before the questions started. He chimed in on the current conversation about his recent volleyball matches, which let him hold things off a bit longer. A few minutes later, when that topic hit its end, he knew exactly what was coming.
"So, Tooru, you said you had important news," his mother finally asked, broaching the subject he could no longer avoid. She sounded a bit hesitant when she continued. "Is there, by any chance, someone special in Argentina?"
"Honey, let him talk," his father insisted, in a tone that told Tooru he at least thought he knew something. "He's going to tell us."
Someone. His mother said someone, not a girl. Every time she asked before, she would ask about women specifically. She never left any room for other possibilities until now. That was a good chunk of the reason he never said anything. Now, even with that easy path she opened for him, he decided on a different way of explaining. One where he didn't need to immediately say everything.
"Hajime is moving to Argentina," he explained, doing everything he could to keep his voice level.
For a moment, none of them spoke. He saw his parents glance at each other, and he could tell from their faces they understood what he really meant to tell them. That without having to say the words 'I'm gay and dating Iwaizumi', they knew.
"How long have you been seeing him?" his father asked, and it made Tooru think maybe he knew for a while the same way Hajime's parents did.
"About nine years now."
He could see the shock on his mother's face at that, but at least she didn't seem upset this time. He could understand that finding out your twenty-six-year-old son had been in a relationship since high school without telling you was a bit hard to hear. He always knew this would be a hard conversation. At least his father was smiling.
"Does he make you happy?" his mother asked. There was so much in her voice, and he could tell she didn't fully understand, but at least she was ready to try. She loved her son, and if he was happy, she would never take that away.
"Very happy," he promised. "I can't imagine my life without him. I'm going to marry him someday."
"Thank you for telling us," his father said, and Tooru could tell he meant it. That his parents still saw him as their son, still loved him, which was all he needed to hear.
"How long have you known?" he asked, because he could tell at least his dad knew for longer than he let on. His lack of surprise at this new information made it clear this wasn't new to him.
"That you're gay or about Iwaizumi?"
"Both."
"I suspected you might be gay in high school, but I didn't start to think you were with Iwaizumi until a few years ago. I could tell from the way you talked about him. It's the same way I talk about your mother."
"Perhaps some time you could invite him around as your boyfriend this time," his mother suggested, and he wasn't afraid anymore.
"He's at his parents' house. We were planning to stay there tonight."
"Then what if you have dinner here?" she offered, giving him the exact olive branch he hoped for. "Give us a chance to get to know him as the man you plan to marry instead of just your best friend."
"I think I would like that."
+1
"Oikawa, as your best man, I fear it is my job to tell you to stop checking your hair in the mirror and just get ready to walk down the aisle," Hanamaki insisted, for what was probably the third time. "It looks great. And even if it didn't, he'd still want to marry you."
Tooru knew he was right, but he couldn't help making sure. He wanted to look absolutely stunning for the best day of his life. He had been waiting years to marry Iwaizumi Hajime. He would make sure things went perfectly if it was the last thing he did. He spent enough time planning and double-checking every detail to make that happen so it would.
"Makki, are you sure it looks perfect?"
"We both know you will never think it's perfect, but yes, your hair looks great. So does your suit, before you ask."
"You're the best. I don't know what I would be doing without you right now."
"Probably freaking out over something ridiculous. Now don't go getting all emotional on me; you don't want to cry before the wedding even starts."
"Oh fuck off."
But he pulled Hanamaki in for a hug. He really was glad to have him helping. He was surprisingly good at keeping him from freaking out too much, ready with a joke for anything that happened.
Ever since Hajime proposed at the Tokyo Olympics, he had quickly gone into full wedding planning mode. He had waited years for this and launched himself into making sure every detail turned out perfect. They had decided to hold the ceremony in Japan since most of their family and friends lived there, even if all the legal stuff had to be done in Argentina. He made sure to personally oversee all the details for the ceremony and reception. Luckily, Hajime knew how he was with throwing himself into everything and also exactly how to stop him from stressing himself out. He was the luckiest man alive.
"I can see you starting to get sentimental about this, and I'm gonna need you to save it for the altar," Hanamaki insisted, pulling him away from his train of thought. "Here, if you start feeling too sappy again and need to stop yourself from crying, just remind yourself how embarrassing my best man speech is gonna be."
"It better not be! And if it is, keep in mind I will get my revenge when I'm your best man."
"Who says you're gonna be my best man?"
"Well, it can't be Mattsun anymore since he'll be the one you're marrying."
"Tooru, are you ready?" his mom called through the door, cutting off their banter.
He took a few deep breaths before calling out an affirmative and making his way out where his parents were waiting. The next few minutes were something of a blur as he got into place. He heard the music start and waited for his moment. For his parents to walk him down the aisle to where Hajime waited to become his husband. To the next amazing step in his life. Hanamaki's embarrassing wedding speech, he reminded himself, because if he thought too much about how happy he was, he might cry before he even walked down the aisle.
When he finally did begin his walk down the aisle, the moment he laid eyes on Hajime at the end everything else faded away. He knew everyone in the room was looking at him, but he could only look forward at the man in front of him. The most important person in his life, who he would spend forever with. Iwaizumi Hajime looked so handsome, and he almost couldn't believe all of this was real. All the trivial matters he spent the morning worrying over didn't matter anymore.
He was beside him at the altar before he knew it. Most of the words the officiant spoke went right over his head because all that mattered to him was the man right in front of him. It was probably for the best that Hajime was first to say his vows because Tooru would have missed the cue to start completely.
"The first time you asked me to marry you, we were six years old," Hajime began, and he couldn't help the small laugh that escaped him because, of course, he would bring that up now. "I agreed even if I thought you were being an idiot, so really this has been over twenty years in the making. You have been by my side as long as I can remember, and there is no one else I would want to spend the rest of my life with. I love your strength and determination. Your unbreakable will that kept you always chasing your dreams, even if it meant taking risks. I promise I will always be there to support you in everything. Even when you say stupid things that I secretly find endearing, and I tell you to shut up. I love you, Tooru, and I want to find out what forever is like for us."
Maybe Hajime going first hadn't been so lucky after all because he could feel happy tears slipping down his face already. His vows were so perfect Tooru couldn't even be mad he got accused of saying stupid stuff while they stood at the altar. Besides, he admitted to finding it endearing in front of tons of witnesses, so he could bring that up forever. Right now he needed to pull himself together and say his vows so they could just kiss already, because after that little speech he really wanted to kiss him.
"You just had to go and be all sweet and make me cry right before my vows," he started. It made Hajime—and from the sound of it, a lot of the guests, but they weren't important right now—laugh. "My whole life you have been there to support me. First as my best friend, then boyfriend, now you're going to be my husband. I have never once had to question if you were there for me, and I promise to make sure you will know I'm always there for you too. Most people aren't lucky enough to marry their best friend or to have known their spouse as long as we have. You know me better than I know myself. I am so happy I get to spend the rest of my life with you."
He could see that Hajime was crying too now, even though he insisted the night before that he wouldn't. He could hear the officiant speaking again, and when he was asked if he 'took Iwaizumi Hajime to be his lawfully wedded husband', he stumbled out his 'I do'. They slid their rings into each other's fingers. Right now he just wanted to kiss his husband. Clearly, Hajime was thinking the same because they were leaning in before they could finish being told to do so.
The kiss was perfect. It was far from their most passionate and heated, but he liked this moment even better. It did take a lot of his willpower to stop him from deepening it and remember there were a lot of people watching.
"You can't call me Iwa-chan now," Hajime whispered to him when they finally pulled apart, but stood with their foreheads still pressed together. "I'm not Iwaizumi anymore."
"Don't be silly, Hajime," he replied, unable to stop himself from laughing. "Even if you took my family name, I can call you Iwa-chan all I want. Or I could come up with an even better little nickname."
"I'm not sure I want to know what your idea of a better nickname would be, but I know I'll find out anyway."
He knew he was grinning like an idiot right now, but didn't even care. This was the best day of his life. After so many years, he finally married Iwaizumi Hajime—Oikawa Hajime now, he reminded himself, and already knew that would never get old—and they could spend the rest of their lives together.