6 months (iwaizumi x oikawa)

chapter 2 - I promise

Iwaizumi pulled Oikawa down from the balcony railing and looked at him with wide eyes. "Please don't hurt yourself, Oikawa," the shorter man muttered. Oikawa smiled tiredly at him. "I wanted one last meal with you so that our last memory would be beautiful, Iwa-chan. Then why can't I get it done? Why do I get so weak at the sight of you?" he wanted to know quietly. "Because we're best friends, Tooru. Because we' ve always been," Hajime explained. Oikawa wiped away his tears and looked into the distance. "I can't find any sense." he whispered. Iwaizumi now noticed that Oikawa was trembling. "Come inside with me, please. It's really cold." he said, slowly pulling him inside. It hurt him to see how blank Oikawa's expression was. "Give me some time, Oikawa. I'll show you that your life isn't meaningless. I'll give you a purpose for living."

Oikawa sat on the sofa and stared at the table while Iwaizumi made him something warm to drink. "Hot chocolate?" asked Iwaizumi from the kitchen. "Yes, please," Oikawa replied loudly enough for Hajime to hear. While the milk was boiling, Iwaizumi looked for marshmallows. After all, Tooru loved those with hot chocolate.

He came back into the living room with two cups. "Did something happen?" he asked as he put the cups down. He looked at his friend. His posture was completely different from when he was in school. Of course, Iwaizumi knew about his depression, but he had no idea it had gotten this bad. "Not really, no.", Oikawa answered honestly and picked up his cup. "Not really?". Oikawa nodded and sipped his drink. "I have such an emptiness inside me," he then explained. Iwaizumi looked him in the eye. "An emptiness?" he wanted to know. Again, Oikawa nodded. "It's not that I'm sad all the time. I just don't have fun playing volleyball anymore. In general, I don't feel much joy. As I said, that doesn't mean I'm sad all the time! I'm just not excited either. It's like I'm an empty shell.". Iwaizumi bit his lower lip. Not even having fun playing volleyball anymore?"And that's why you don't see any point in life anymore?", he tried to understand. "Right.". Iwaizumi now took his hot chocolate as well. "I'll stick with it, Tooru. I'll show you that life can be beautiful too. I won't let you die. I promise I won't."

"What if I have an accident?", Oikawa wanted to know with a smirk. Iwaizumi lightly boxed him against the arm. "I won't let you do that either, dumbass," he replied. Oikawa sighed and looked at him. "I'm not going to stop you. In fact, I'd like it if you could succeed.", he murmured taking another sip. "Now don't look so sad! Honestly, don't look so sad, please.", he added. Iwaizumi smiled slightly. "Let's play volleyball on Monday," Iwaizumi said. "Two of us?" Oikawa asked confused. Iwaizumi shook his head. "I'm sure I can get some people from our old team together," he replied, looking at his cell phone. He was still in contact with most of them, as he had always watched their games, and he had even trained with players like Kyotani (mad dog) from time to time. Maybe Oikawa would enjoy playing with them again. "And where should we do that?". Iwaizumi jumped up when he heard Oikawa. "I still have Irihata's number. I can ask him if we can use the Aoba Johsai hall when it's free - you know they always take a break on Mondays," he replied thoughtfully. That might actually work. Oikawa had to restrain himself from laughing. "You mean they're all still here?". He hadn't thought that far ahead. "Then only a few people will come, so what? We can do a two-on-two or three-on-three, after all. Don't worry about it.", Iwaizumi replied and started thinking about who might come. Kunimi? Would never agree. Kyotani would definitely come. Maybe Yahaba and Kindaichi would come, too. He was still in contact with Matsukawa, so he would definitely say yes. Oikawa snapped in front of Iwazumi's face. "Are you still here?"

"Yes, sorry. I was in thoughts.", Iwaizumi replied. "Do you promise to give me a chance to help you?", Iwaizumi wanted to know anxiously. Oikawa nodded and then smirked. "You wouldn't take a no for an answer anyway, Iwa-chan," and he was right about that. Iwaizumi had promised him - he wouldn't let him die.

The time until Monday went by way too fast. Iwaizumi spent the days making a lot of phone calls and planning. Fortunately for him, some players, including even Kunimi, were able to come. He had researched on the internet what else could be done to have fun, but most of it just didn't fit Oikawa. One thing he really wanted to do was build a snowman with Oikawa. He had loved that as a kid and they hadn't done it in probably 10 years. It was cold, but there wasn't any snow yet. It was already late November so it would probably take a while before it snowed. Iwaizumi sighed as he still had to wait outside for Oikawa. "That boy just never shows up on time," he muttered, looking up at his room. They were going to walk to school together and then meet the others, but if Oikawa took that much time, they might be gone again by the time they got there. He wondered if he should ring the bell. Oikawa's parents had always been nice to him, but once they started talking to him, he knew he wouldn't be able to leave for several hours.

"There you are!", Iwaizumi said with relief when he saw Oikawa. "I'm sorry I really thought I would be ready on time.", the former captain quickly apologized. "At least you apologize, shittykawa.", Hajime replied with a smile. He immediately noticed that Tooru was cold. "Got used to the weather there in Argentina?" he wanted to know shaking his head as they started walking. His friend nodded, annoyed. "I'm looking forward to warming up," he muttered shivering. Iwaizumi took off his scarf . "At least this will keep you a little warm," he said, wrapping his scarf around Oikawa's neck. He heard something like, "Thank you." before they continued walking. "I like the smell of that scarf. Did you rewash it?", Oikawa wanted to know curiously. Iwaizumi looked at him a little wryly. "Oikawa, the scarf just smells like me."