Conquering the Great King

Chapter 2 Conquering Karaoke

Iwaizumi didn't go back to the bar for two weeks in a row. Not because he didn't want to see Oikawa. Not that he did want to see Oikawa.

It had nothing to do with Oikawa.

Iwaizumi had been busy. Busy with work, busy appeasing his parents, busy doing things. He didn't have time for the place, even when he got off early two times in one week. Even on Friday.

He was busy.

When he walked in and the Great King was nowhere to be seen, he sighed. The breath felt weird coming out of his mouth. He wasn't sure what that sigh tasted like. He wasn't sure sighs normally had tastes. Was this how his brain typically functioned? Was he in need of whiskey that badly?

Iwaizumi fell into his normal spot with spectacular heaviness.  He yanked on the knot of his tie with such aggression that his neck almost bobbed forward. He slid a sip of whiskey around his mouth, a slight hum purring over his lips at the smoky burn that trailed down his throat.

Slowly he felt his muscles unwind around his spine, felt his legs relax into complacent heaviness against the booth seating. The haze that crawled over his vision was welcome, needed. Iwaizumi had felt like he was moving all too fast the past two weeks, like his mind and body were driven forward as if being chased, but he didn't know by what. It created a sense of uneasiness, of urgency, and now being able to sit down and let his thoughts melt into the fog of smoke was a tobacco scented blessing.

He was probably there for half an hour before he felt the chill of the door swinging open, heard the high blithe greeting that pulled his thoughts back into focused coherency.

Iwaizumi allowed his eyes to loll to the side, following Oikawa Tooru as he sat himself at the bar next to someone he spoke to often enough to assume they knew each other outside of nightlife.

That's all Iwaizumi allowed his gaze to linger before he brought his eyes forward, sipping his drink.

Oikawa spent a large portion of the night faced very purposefully away from him. Laughs that would normally illicit him swinging around in his barstool left him facing forward, silences that would normally prompt him to scan the room had him scanning the alcohol shelves instead.

That was fine. Whatever would help to dissipate an already imaginary bond and set things back to equilibrium was fine with Iwaizumi.

Some sort of jazz was on in the background, very light. Iwaizumi preferred metal and rock over everything, but jazz was nice too. Iwaizumi's eyes were closed, his chest and cheeks warm. He was beginning to think that it was about time he headed out. It wasn't especially late, but he had been able to relax to his heart's content. No need to spend too much more on alcohol.

There was the squeak and squish of fake leather and a heavy sigh, a whine clinging to the breath that left his throat.

"Ah, can't we stop the whole 'I definitely didn't have sex with you and don't know you at all' routine?"

Iwaizumi's mouth was already set into a hard line when his eyelids started climbing open. "You were the one acting strange," Iwaizumi commented, staring at Oikawa's exasperated expression from across the table. "I'm in my normal spot doing my normal thing."

Oikawa's head fell heavily to the side, his hair bouncing as his lips pulled hyperbolically down into a pout, "I thought that's what you would want, Iwa-chan."