Best I Ever Had [IwaOi Angst]

Chapter 13

Iwaizumi doesn't think anything of it when he gets the text from an old friend one monday afternoon.

yo!!!! you in this friday?

And so he immediately types out his response,

yeah, i'll be there.

He switches over to his phone app, hitting the top contact and pressing the cell to his ear. It rings a few times before being answered.

"Hajime?"

"Hey, Koto." He replies with a smile, "I wanted to make sure that you could have Kaede this weekend?"

There's a hum on the other line, "It is my turn isn't it?" and he can hear a certain mischievous tone flit through the receiver, "Why do you want to be so sure? Hmm?"

Iwaizumi rolls his eyes, "It's the monthly get-pestered-in-a-bar-by-my-high-school-friends-day this friday." He reminds simply, leaning against the wall by his kitchen. He can see Kaede eating her after school snack at the table. She has her eyes glued into one of her new books that one of her friends gave her.

Hamasaki laughs in his ear, "You mean, Hajime-gets-drunk-despite-himself-and-regrets-it-in-the-morning night?"

Iwaizumi huffs a bit, turning away so Kaede doesn't notice him watching, "Well?"

"Don't worry, I already promised Kaede we'd go to the aquarium. She's very adamant about petting the sharks."

"They let kids pet sharks?" Iwaizumi repeats, tightening his grip on the phone. He looks back over at Kaede and sees she hasn't stirred, other than to flip a page with her tiny hands.

She chuckles again, "Oh right, I wasn't supposed to tell you that."

"Koto--" He begins, tense.

"You worry yourself silly sometimes, Hajime." Hamasaki sighs, and there's a bit of a sad tone in her voice. A knowing, sad tone. It makes him pause. He frowns. "Anyway, have fun ok?" She continues, a bit forced.

"I'll try." Iwaizumi replies honestly, and it feels a bit hollow when he hangs up. He lets out a sigh. It'll be good for him, seeing his friends again after the mess his life had become with Oikawa's reappearance.

The thought of him makes his skin crawl. He rubs his face, leaning heavily on the wall. He needs to figure out what to do with Oikawa. Because he can't leave it as is. Because he misses him. He's missed him so God damn much.

But he deserves an explanation. And he refuses to give in until he gets one. Oikawa can't weasel out of every consequence.

He's putting his foot down.

"Dad?"

Iwaizumi looks over, hands falling back to his side, "Yeah?"

Kaede squints at him, "Why are you sad?"

"I'm not sad." Iwaizumi replies, perhaps a bit too quickly. He strides over to sit beside her and quickly deflects, "What are you reading?"

Oikawa gets a call from an unknown number one monday evening, and he's tempted to ignore it. But, despite his better judgement, he answers the phone tentatively, "Hello?"

"He lives." Sings a voice from the other line.

Oikawa frowns, eyebrows scrunching forward, "Excuse me?"

"Back from the dead, and he doesn't even give his best friends a call." Comes another, deeper voice, and it's like there are two people fighting for ownership of the communication device.