6 months (iwaizumi x oikawa)

chapter 1 - The day he was supposed to die

It was the first time in 3 years that Iwaizumi and Oikawa saw each other again in person. The former ace smiled. Oikawa had spent the last few years in Argentina while he himself was in Japan. He wonders if his best friend was better off than he was then. He had worried that Oikawa would have been lonely, but he also knew that the idiot always made friends easily. That had been his way, and Iwaizumi didn't think that was a bad thing in any case. He looked out the window. Oikawa was going to call before he got to his house but Iwaizumi could imagine that he had forgotten - or why was he so late? He took his cell phone out of his pocket to see if he had missed a call or a message, but there was nothing.

It was now 6:30 in the afternoon and Oikawa should have been there around 6p.m. and he wasn't there yet. Was he delayed by fans? It was true that his friend had always been very kind to his fans and had never refused them anything, but for so long? Hajime closed his eyes and sank into thoughts. He would never admit it openly, but he had missed him. Even if he wanted to punch him more often and staple his mouth shut so that he could never again say such nonsense, he had missed him. Maybe it was exactly this stupidity that he admired so much. This naivety made it incredibly difficult and at the same time incredibly easy to help him.

Iwaizumi

Where are you, dumbass?

Oikawa

I'm on my way, Iwa-chan!

I got held up, I'm really sorry

I should be there in 20 minutes.

I promise!

Iwaizumi

I hope so for your sake, shittykawa

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes. There was a 0% chance that his best friend would be there in 20 minutes. 20 minutes basically meant he should be there in 30 to 45 minutes. The boy went to the kitchen and took out a frozen pizza. "Heat it up for 10 minutes and leave it in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. So if I heat up the oven in 5 to 10 minutes, it should be enough," he mumbled and stretched. He was too clumsy to cook and he didn't want to order anything - the frozen pizza was the ideal invention for him.

The doorbell rang. Iwaizumi, who had just taken the pizza out of the oven, answered the door and looked at the clock with a smirk. 7:08p.m. He was late, as expected. He opened the door to see Oikawa freezing in front of him with a backpack. His friend had barely grown, but the fact that he was taller than Hajime despite everything annoyed him immensely. "Unpunctual as usual." said Iwaizumi with a grin. "I dropped my cases off at home and then got a little delayed," Oikawa replied, stepping into the apartment. "There's no 'I missed you' or anything like that?", Iwaizumi wanted to know as he closed the door behind Oikawa. Tooru turned to his best friend and opened his arms. "Of course I missed you, Iwa-chan!" he said. Iwaizumi shook his head with a laugh. "You'll have to earn your hug," he said. After pouting for a moment, Oikawa looked at him hungrily. "It smells like pizza." he whispered as if he was afraid someone would hear. "Special for you, it's waiting for you in the living room."

"Now would you like to tell me why you are no longer in Argentina?"

"I missed Japan."

"How long are you staying here?"

"I don't know yet. My contract in CA San Juan is up and I was thinking about playing in Japan again."

"Did you get an offer then?", Iwaizumi now wondered. Oikawa sighed. "I'm not really in the mood to talk about volleyball," he replied honestly. Iwaizumi nodded slowly.

"I saw you met with Tobio," Oikawa said with his mouth full.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, dumbass. Yes, we met by chance - how do you know?"

Oikawa swallowed his slice of pizza. "Because you uploaded a picture with him, idiot. How did he get on?"

Iwaizumi looked at him skeptically. "Since when do you care about something like that? He's developed really well, it's obvious - you shouldn't be surprised. But in terms of character, he hasn't changed at all. Temperamental and yet so quiet." he answered.

"I do hope you say the same about me!" responded Oikawa amused.

"What, that you're temperamental and yet so calm? That would be the biggest lie ever!" said Iwaizumi innocently.

"You know that's not what I mean! That I've evolved well. Better than him...?"

Iwaizumi looked at him and couldn't help but think of how wonderful he could beat him right now. "You're an arrogant asshole, but I'm sure you've evolved. What did you do in Argentina?"

The rest of the time at dinner, Oikawa talked about his time in Argentina. The player smiled and laughed, but Iwaizumi didn't have the feeling that he was really happy at that moment. Was he hiding something from him? Had he lied to him? Or had Iwaizumi perhaps done or said something that had hurt him?

"I'll just clean up the kitchen. You do..whatever you want in that time.", Iwaizumi explained. Oikawa nodded. "I'll go to the balcony, okay? I love the view here.", he replied and looked at the balcony. The former ace nodded. " Do that.", he muttered and went to the kitchen.

Oikawa talked and talked and Iwaizumi felt like he just couldn't stop. He liked listening to him because there was something soothing about it, but he didn't know if he could hold back or if he would eventually tape his mouth shut. Slowly, he noticed that the TV was turned up louder. "Sometimes I really think he's a deaf idiot," he muttered, continuing to wash the dishes. When Oikawa said nothing at all, Hajime froze. It was too quiet for his best friend.

He went into the living room and saw Oikawa sitting on the balcony railing. Without hesitation, he went to the balcony and held Oikawa by the shoulder. "This is dangerous, Tooru." he said, holding him even tighter. "Don't be such a wet blanket, Iwa-chan! The worst that could happen would be for me to fall down here," he whispered. Didn't he know that this wasn't a harmless scenario? Hajime didn't realize until he turned Oikawa's face toward him that tears were rolling down his face. "What's wrong?" he asked him softly. "Why are you holding me, Iwaizumi? Why can't you let go of me? Why can't I let you down?"