I Fell In Love With You On New Year's Eve

Chapter 14

It was the early morning on the first day of the Spring Prelims and the bus was set to depart from the school in twenty minutes. The entire team should have been in the gym, but the only members present were Oikawa, Iwaizumi, Watari, and Kindaichi.

Oikawa was pacing in the corner of the gym while Iwaizumi was trying (and failing) to calm him down. "I'm going to throw up, Iwa-chan. I'm actually going to throw up. Or pass out. Yeah, that too."

Iwaizumi stood to the side and watched him pace, "Oikawa, you need to calm down. Take some deep breaths. Come on, in...and out...in...and out."

"I am calm! I don't need to breathe!"

"No, stupid, you're having a mental breakdown. Also, I'm pretty sure if you don't breathe, you actually will pass out. And as much as I wouldn't mind giving you mouth-to-mouth, I'd rather not start off my morning that way."

Oikawa faltered for a moment and a semblance of a smile appeared on his face. He started taking deep breaths with Iwaizumi until he saw Kindaichi frantically texting someone before bolting out of the gym shouting as he left, "I'll be right back, I promise!"

"Oh my god!" Oikawa turned on his heel and pointed a finger at Watari, who almost dropped the bagel in his hand. "You."

"M-me?" Watari stuttered out.

"You're officially my favorite," he barked out aggressively, his tone very much a contradiction to his words "I hope you're having a great morning and that your bagel is delicious. I'm buying you ramen later."

"O-okay...thanks?"

Iwaizumi shot him a look that read I'm sorry, he's just stressed, and Watari nodded understandingly.

Just moments later the gym doors swung open violently and Yahaba was pushing Kyotani onto the floor, anger on his face as he did so, "I told you to get your ass in there now!"

The third-years dropped what they were doing and ran over to the pair. Oikawa was in shock as he spoke. "What the fuck is happening right now!?"

Yahaba rolled his eyes, "This asshole was just sitting in an empty classroom and wouldn't leave, so I had to physically drag him here which, mind you, was not the easiest task," Oikawa noted that Yahaba was, in fact, rather red in the face from overexertion.

"Why, Mad Dog-chan?"

Silence

Iwaizumi cleared his throat and glared at the second-year "Kentaro."

"I didn't wanna come. You people get on my nerves."

Oikawa pouted and whined as he spoke, "Why do you only respond to Iwa-chan?"

But before Kyotani even had a chance to answer or, more likely, ignore further, the doors swung open once again, though less violently this time, and Kindaichi came sprinting back in, practically dragging Kunimi behind him, the latter still wearing fuzzy pajama pants.

Oikawa rubbed his temples and let out an exasperated breath. "Do I even wanna know?" Iwaizumi rubbed his back in an attempt to help calm him down.

Kindaichi was very much out of breath as he spoke, "I...was texting Kunimi...asking if he was...close...and he said that he...forgot that today...was the day...of the prelims," he finally managed to get out.

Kunimi only shrugged in response, "oops?"

Iwaizumi was now the one with shock on his face as he spoke next, "So-so you ran to his house?"

"And I pulled him out of bed and dragged him here," Kindaichi finished, having regained his composure.

"But you were only gone for, like, ten minutes!"

"He lives close by..."

Silence

"...and I run fast?"

"You know what," Oikawa threw his hands in the air and walked away, "I don't even care. Everyone grab your shit and get ready to load the bus." He was mumbling indistinguishably as he left, though the team felt that they would be better off not knowing.

Iwaizumi grumbled. "Makki and Mattsun better have a damn good excuse as to why they're not here yet..."

"Wait," Kunimi had suddenly perked up, looking more awake than he had previously, eyes darting around the room nervously, "they-they're not here?"

"No and I'm pissed because we need to leave soon."

"Let's leave now!"

"I'm sorry?"

"Yeah!" Kunimi was practically buzzing with excitement as he gathered his gym bag and grabbed onto Kindaichi, pulling him in the direction of the bus, "if we leave now, maybe they won't make it in time!"

Iwaizumi shook his head and began helping the other members collect their things while Oikawa stood in the doorway and scowled. "If you keep frowning, you're going to give yourself frown lines, Tooru," he called over to his boyfriend who scoffed in response.

"I will have you know, Iwa-chan, that I take very good care of my skin and you of all people should know this, seeing as you-" but he was cut off as the sound of Kunimi screaming loudly from the direction of the bus echoed throughout the gym. "What the hell happened now!?" Oikawa yelled as he ran off in the direction of the scream, the rest of the team trailing close behind.

Iwaizumi was not quite sure what he'd expected to see as he ran up the stairs to the bus, but it definitely wasn't the scene that was currently playing out. It was horrifying. Kunimi was curled up on one of the front seats silently crying and muttering "oh my god, oh my god" over and over as Kindaichi rubbed his back in an attempt to comfort him. He shot Iwa a pleading look. Matsukawa was buttoning his shirt back up and his hair was a mess. He wore an accomplished smirk on his face as he buckled his belt. Oh...oh no. Oh god no. Please tell me they weren't... His eyes made their way further only to see Hanamaki on the floor laughing hysterically with Oikawa on top of him, shaking him by the collar of his shirt, which was also half-undone. Oh my god they were...

"That's enough!" Iwaizumi spoke in a booming voice, making his presence known and effectively silencing the bus. "I don't know what was happening on this bus just now and, to be quite frank, I really don't want to know. Everyone is going to grab their shit and sit down in a seat now. Coach will be here any minute and he will not be walking in to this. Today is an important day and I expect every single one of you to take it seriously. Understood?" When no one answered he barked a bit louder, "Understood!?"

"Y-yes sir!" came a resounding answer as the rest of the team shuffled onto the bus and everyone took their seats.

Once everyone was settled, Iwaizumi plopped down into the seat next to Oikawa in the front and rested his head on the other's shoulder.

Oikawa rubbed his head and leaned down, "thanks, Hajime. You're a really good vice-captain, you know that right? Everyone really respects you."

"I'm pretty sure they're just scared of me."

Oikawa laughed, "Hey that works too."

"They respect you too, ya know."

"Yeah...I know." He sounded unsure but Iwaizumi wasn't given the opportunity to dig any deeper as someone stepped onto the bus.

"Well would you look at this," coach looked proud, "I've never seen you guys this organized and prepared to go before." He chuckled as he continued, "it's kind of a nice change of pace." Everyone laughed nervously but coach either didn't notice or didn't want to know, "Now let's get going, we have some games to win!"

The bus erupted into cheers as they started to drive away. Iwaizumi placed his hand onto Oikawa's thigh and squeezed gently. "You've got this."

Oikawa smiled in return and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "We've got this."