realization - iwaoi

chapter three

Iwaizumi was trying his very best to not look uncomfortable. The girl in front of him was certainly nice to look at but her giggles made his eardrums hurt and it was very obvious that he was not the reason she was here, though technically she was his date.

Oikawa seemed uncomfortable as well fidgeting nervously with his fingers like he did when they were playing against a particularly strong opponent.

Hajime resisted the urge to still Oikawa's fingers by sliding his through the gaps of Oikawa's. He did this sometimes when he was sure they were alone and it seemed to help Oikawa quite a bit.

In this situation, though he knew it would send the wrong signals. The girls might even assume the two of them were in a relationship. Holding hands didn't always have to be romantic in Iwaizumi's opinion.

Two friends could definitely hold hands platonically. Girls did it all the time.

Still, it would be inappropriate.

"So how was your day Oikawa-san?" The girl Oikawa had knocked over asked. She was pretty with dark brown hair and dark doe eyes that were framed by long lashes. Her friend was equally as pretty with lighter hair and a rounder face that displayed the apples of her cheeks when she smiled.

At first, Iwa hadn't even known which one he was supposed to be taking out but then he noticed it didn't matter anyway as they were both only interested in Oikawa.

He watched his best friend blush and lightly touch the back of his head with his right hand.

"Oh, Iwa-chan and I had a test today. I think I did well but it was quite hard so I'm not sure." He told them as they clung to his every word. One of them frowned slightly when she noticed the pet name Oikawa had given Iwaizumi. At first, it had been annoying to Iwaizumi to be referred to as Iwa-chan but now he felt weird when Oikawa called him anything else.

"Wow, you are so smart Oikawa-san," said the one with lighter hair and gave him an endearing smile.

The other one nodded in agreement and almost knocked over the salt shaker when she stretched out her hand to grip Oikawa's.

A frown formed on Iwa's face but he pressed his mouth shut.

Oikawa was clearly taken aback by her action but her words stopped him from doing anything.

"It is admirable how you can have such good grades while also being such a good volleyball player." Her voice was almost shrill now and it took a lot of self-restraint for Iwaizumi not to roll his eyes.

"O-oh." The shy stutter the girl had managed to coax out of Oikawa made Iwaizumi's chest throb in pain.

God, why was he feeling this constant pain when he was around Oikawa. It didn't feel like it was something that was easily fixed either. No Advil could help him deal with this pain.

This was not the time and the place to think about internal struggles but the way these girls looked at Oikawa made Iwaizumi's blood boil.

"Thank you. Tough I'm nothing compared to Iwa-chan. He's way better at school than I am. Probably better at volleyball as well but he's just too humble to show it."

And then it was all gone. The anger Iwaizumi had felt seconds previous was gone and replaced with a familiar warmth spreading through him.

How could Oikawa be the biggest asshole there was and be the sweetest person as well. The most handsome person, the most interesting person, the smartest person, the most talented.

Oikawa smiled down at him and his heart swelled with happiness.

"Not true, Shittykawa." He murmured and earned a real laugh from Oikawa that increased the warm feeling spreading through his body.

"As I said, he's just too humble. But let's order, I'm getting thirsty and I sadly have somewhere to be later in the evening."

Smart move, Oikawa. Smart move.

•

The "Double-Date" dragged on for a long two more hours and ended only when Iwaizumi- quite rudely reminded Oikawa of the thing he needed to be at.

"Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me Iwa-chan. I'm sorry, this was a lot of fun." Now Oikawa didn't even try to make himself sound believable and Iwa was glad about it.

He as well only gave them a half-hearted smile as he and Oikawa paid for the drinks and left the diner quickly.

God, if Iwaizumi had to have listened to those girls one more second the situation would have escalated. Normally he was pretty calm but something about their constant comments about how good-looking, smart, and interesting Oikawa was made his blood boil.

Not that those things weren't true but he didn't like how they sounded coming out of their mouth. They didn't know Oikawa. They lived in their little fantasy-worlds where everything was happy and pretty.

"Iwa-chan you seem really worked up about something," Oikawa said which made Iwaizumi even angrier. Of course, he was worked up. He had just sat there and had to listen to his best friend get objectified for several hours.

"Are you jealous?" He asked and gripped Iwa's arm lightly, which made the two come to a halt.

Iwaizumi hadn't even noticed how far they had distanced themselves from the diner until he took a look around.

"Why would I be jealous?" He asked with a snarl and saw Oikawa visibly get more worried.

"I-i just thought maybe you wanted them to pay attention to you too. I'm sorry I shouldn't have just invited you when I knew you didn't want to come in the first place."
Oikawa stuttered, his long fingers still wrapped around Hajime's wrist.

Iwaizumi shook him off and huffed out a breath. Clearly, Oikawa didn't understand what the actual problem was. Now that Iwa came to think of it he couldn't really place his finger on the issue either. He just knew he was pissed off and those stupid girls were the reason.

"I don't want their stupid attention, Toru. And you shouldn't want it either. They don't really like you. They like whatever fantasy they have of you in their heads."
Yes, that sounded plausible and came closest to what Iwaizumi felt. But he sounded too damn condescending telling Oikawa what to like and what not to like.

"I know that Hajime. Don't worry I'm not stupid enough to think that they know me and their compliments don't flatter me in the slightest."
Iwaizumi groaned because he realized how he sounded like an insecure asshole and that was probably what Oikawa thought of him as well.

"Hajime I really don't get it. I didn't want to make you upset but I don't get what exactly you're so upset about. If you're not jealous that is."
Yep, it was exactly like Hajime thought. Oikawa thought he was jealous and he had confirmed his suspicions by acting like an idiot and not being able to voice his feelings exactly.

"It's not that- I- I really don't know how to explain it to you but those two- argh they were just so fucking- I m-. They were just so wrong about you."

Oikawa took a step back and furrowed his brows. He looked a bit taken aback and hurt?
Then it hit Iwaizumi that he had said the wrong thing again- or that it had come out wrong.

"N-no you don't get it. Fuck Toru they were right about everything they said. You are handsome and you're the best volleyball player I know and also really, really smart but it just annoys me so fucking much that they say those things but they don't know you. Their compliments are hollow and fake when they shouldn't be. Because you are all those things. But they say them to get you to like them not because they are true."
Iwa took a long breath but he wasn't sure if he had gotten the words out right.

The look on Oikawa's face was unfamiliar to him but with one big step, Oikawa closed the distance between them and pressed Hajime's head against his chest, with his arm around his shoulders.

Iwa's breath hitched but he wrapped his arms around Oikawa's torso and inhaled the scent of his best friend. His chest ached but he would take any chest pain for the joy of hugging Oikawa.