The Storyteller (Oikawa Tooru x reader)

7. meaningful

After your strangely enjoyable lunch with Karasuma, the day sped past, leading into Friday afternoon, in which you were ready to head home, to spend the weekend with your father. However, while you were walking towards the gate, Rin's voice caused you to stop, and turn back. 

"(Y/n)!" she called out, from behind the main building; she was sporting a soil covered apron, and a surprisingly large smile, along with a slight tint of joyous pink to her cheeks. "Could you come over here for a moment?"

With a sigh, you obliged, straying off course, and strolling over to her. "What's wrong? Don't you have gardening club?" you asked, gesturing to her dirty clothes.

"Yes, yes, but I need your help for something!" she replied hurriedly, beckoning you over to where a lot of flowers were. "You know a lot about flowers, right? Kinda weird, since I'm in gardening club instead!" she giggled to herself at the thought, and even you let slip a smirk at the irony.

"So?" you prompted, folding your arms (you were desperate to get home, in case you couldn't tell).

"Well, when the time comes, I want to give flowers to Oikawa-kun," Rin spoke firmly, "so could you pick out a flower that means something nice?"

Your eyes flickered over the assortment of plants, before you spied a bunch of slightly wilted red carnations. "Those," you pointed bluntly at them.

"Did you only pick those because they're red? For a communism joke?" Rin asked, though she went over to them, and inspected them closely.

"No," you replied dully, "they mean, 'my heart aches for you'."

"Oh! That's so poetic and romantic!" your friend gasped, clasping her hands together in glee. "I can't wait to be able to talk to him. You better hurry up with talking to him (Y/n), because my feelings for him are so overwhelming."

You wanted to correct her so badly. No, she wasn't in love with him. No, this wasn't a fucking shoujo manga where everyone gets what they want in the end. No, you couldn't just talk to him like that.

It wasn't that easy; nothing ever was. Since when had she gotten delusions of grandeur? 

Perhaps they'd always been there, along with her barely noticeable superiority complex.

Again, you let out a sigh, as you peered over at another set of flowers, that were further down, and were worse for wear, dried up at the edges.

"I'll try my best," you murmured, your gaze fixed on the half dead lot of fox gloves, symbolizing insecurity. 

-

Saturday and Sunday disappeared unfairly fast, leaving you to come to school on Monday, and let the day drag out, filled with the white noise of lessons and Rin's half minded rants on how beautiful Oikawa was. At the end of the day, you began to walk home, however you were quickly sidetracked by a small shop at the corner of a street.

As you stood silently, skimming over the Japanese in the newest edition of Shounen Jump weekly (you had never been good with reading kanji), your finger unwillingly reached underneath your glasses, to rub your eyes. Sleep was now somehow a rarer occurrence than usual… pity, you could use the rest.

With a wistful sigh, you placed the magazine back on the rack, and then bought a chocolate bar, so you wouldn't look rude for leaving the shop with nothing. However, when you stepped outside, you were met with the sight of a child, who looked on the verge of crying.

Now, normally, you hated kids, but you were a decent human being, believe it or not, so the least you could do was inquire what was wrong.

So, you stepped over to them cautiously, and asked, "Hey… are you lost or something?"

The kid looked you up and down, before mumbling, "Y-You're from Aoba Johsai, right?"

"... yes," you answered, after realising he'd recognized your uniform.

"Do you know Tooru?" the child demanded. When you stared at him blankly in confusion, he added, "Oikawa Tooru! He's my uncle!"

For a moment, you were stunned into silence, shocked at how often you were coincidentally getting involved with this young man. "Uh… vaguely. I don't know him personally, or have his number." You replied, scratching the back of your neck.

"He was supposed to pick me up from volleyball practice!" the boy declared, his tone rather humorously sounded insulted, but as he should've been. "I bet he's gone off with his stupid fans!"

"I-I'm… sorry to hear that," you stuttered, struggling to hold back laughter. "He should be very ashamed of himself."

"He should! Because I went off to find him, and now I don't know where I am!" he huffed. "Uncle Tooru is an idiot!"

You softened, when you noticed there were still tears in his eyes. "Tell you what," you spoke carefully, kneeling down to his level, taking out the chocolate bar you'd bought previously, and holding it out to him, "I'll stick with you until he shows up. Have some chocolate."

The boy sniffed, before taking the item from you begrudgingly. "Fine," he mumbled, fiddling with the wrapper. "My name's Takeru," the boy finally resolved to tell you  after a bite out of his chocolate bar.

"Well, hi there, Takeru," you chuckled lightly, "I'm (L/n) (Y/n), you're free to call me what you like. Now, if you wouldn't mind informing me, where was your volleyball practice?"

"Lil Tykes Volleyball Classroom," Takeru spoke, muffled by his loud chewing.

"Lil Tykes Volleyball Classroom…" you repeated slowly, pulling out your phone and  typing it into google maps, and then looking up the directions. Not surprisingly, Takeru had not wandered far from it, as it was about a five minute walk away.

"What are you doing?" the boy leaned over your shoulder, peering anxiously at your screen.

"Just seeing where you were before. It's not too far, so it's best if we get back so that Oikawa will see you when you get there." You mumbled, looking up. "Shall we go?"

"I want a piggyback," Takeru stated, causing you to choke on your own spit.

Yet, with a grumble, you shrugged off your bag, and Takeru climbed on; with a grunt, you stood up, and propped your phone up with one hand, before trekking in the direction of the volleyball class.

When you finally arrived, you let Takeru sit on the steps, and continue to eat the chocolate that you bought. Oikawa was yet to show face, so you decided to stick with the boy until he came. Though, you didn't really want to see him, you knew that just abandoning Takeru wouldn't be right.

"How do you know Uncle Tooru?" Takeru asked, as he kicked his legs.

"We met once at a party. We haven't talked since," you murmured, eyes focused on your phone (you were reading some headcanons for your favourite anime character).

"Do you not like Uncle Tooru?" Takeru questioned curiously. 

You pondered on the query, then answered with a quiet shrug. "I don't know him well enough to decide whether I think he's a good person," 

"That's smart!" Takeru commented, grinning widely.

A small smile flickered across your face. "It's a bit more reasonable than judging the book by it's cover, that's for sure."