sᴏᴄɪᴀʟ ʙᴜᴛᴛᴇʀғʟʏ 🦋 || 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘴𝘶𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘪𝘸𝘢𝘰𝘪

𝐒𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫

"What's the softest way to say, you took away my friend, my buddy." - Jack stauber, just take my wallet.

•

Hanamaki smiled from his place on the playground swing as he saw Matsukawa approaching, a cigarette hanging from the man's mouth and a natural slouch in his posture.

"At least the exercise from walking combats the lung cancer, aye?" Matsukawa took the cigarette out of his mouth, butting it out and chuckling at Makki's comment before sitting on the swing besides his boyfriend.

"Yeah...at this rate i might get another month in when my body does finally decide to give up on me."

They fell into a comfortable silence after that, basking in the midday sun, faintly listening to the laughter of the kids running around the park.

Hanamaki looked over at Mattsun, eyeing the flushness of the guys cheeks.

"Why are your cheeks so red? Can't tell wether you're overheating or somehow really cold...or maybe you're blushing!" Hanamaki laughed, throwing his head back while gripping onto the swing chains, making them jingle in protest to the sudden movement.

Matsukawa couldn't tell the man that he was blushing because the image of bedhead Iwaizumi wouldn't get out of his mind.

"It's because I'm sat next to you dear." Mattsun chuckled as Makki calmed down, the old swingset creaking under the seemingly subliminal weight of the two high schoolers.

"So...Iwa texted me, said that his friend wanted to meet us."

"Hm? Oh, that Toru kid?" It made Matsukawa's chest flutter at the thought that Iwaizumi had been talking about them to his other friend. Made him wander how other people saw him, if they saw the same insecurities that he couldn't seem to get rid off in his head. They seemed so prominent to him, so unbearably prominent that surely everyone else could see them, right?

"Yeah that's the one, next time Haji visits he wants us to come with him."

"Visits?"

"Toru's house."

"Oh, okay, sure."

They fell back into the silence again, except this time a cloud had floated over and covered the sun. The warmth was still there though.

Hanamaki was mindlessly humming to himself as he started to rock his swing back and forth, kicking at the gravel underneath him, a small smile adorning his face.

Matsukawa sat still in silence as he observed every little detail about Hanamki. From the acne scars to his uneven bangs, down to his scruffy converse and back up to the way his shirt hung off his shoulders and wrapped around his stomach.

"You are..." He hesitated, took a deep breath, turning away from Makki's anticipation filled gaze. "So beautiful."

And Makki laughed again, but this time adoringly, his hands covering his face, ears and neck and cheeks tinting red. He lifted his feet off the ground and kicked them back and forth happily in contradiction to the angry creaking of the old swing set.

He inhaled shakily, his shoulders lifting heavily then solemnly dropping as he exhaled happily.

Matsukawa chuckled lovingly.

"You okay?"

Hanamaki exhaled again, airily this time, removing his hands from his stark red face, his cheeks were flushed, complimented by the man's chronic acne.

"Yeah." His words were soft and breathy, as if he was floating on cloud nine from the one simple compliment from Mattsun.

Makki exhaled once more, laughing slightly afterwards as the swing stopped creaking, seemingly sensing the now blissfully tranquil mood between the two lovers, not wanting, or simply not being able, to get in the way of that. Like nothing could.

Matsukawa thought for a moment about what it would be like if Iwaizumi was sat on the swing on the other side of Hanamki, and if he was, would Toru be sitting on the one next to that one?

It made his stomach churn, his fingers itched to reach for another cigarette but he didn't want to ruin the mood with his cancer sticks.

-

"Your room hasn't changed at all." It was weird hearing Iwaizumi say that since the man hadn't stepped foot in Oikawa's room in four years, since they were thirteen and so tremendously caught up in each other's lives.

"Oh, yeah. Never really thought about changing it really. Didn't have the motivation." Iwaizumi understood that, nodding his head absentmindedly as he looked around the room.

It was as bland as it was back then with it's undecorated beige walls and twin bed that seemed much too small in such a big room.

There wasn't even a clock on the wall, not even a broken one that you can't be bothered taking down so you were forever stuck in the night, or morning, or midday when in the room.

Iwaizumi remembers berating Oikawa for the plain walls and basic bedding when they were kids, telling the boy that he was boring. It was all playful ofcourse and if it really did affect Oikawa much then surely there would be a broken clock placed upon his room somewhere, right?

Oikawa only had one desk against the wall, there was a notebook and a laptop and a couple pens on it but that was it.

His bedding was white but impossibly spotless. Like he hadn't even touched the bed since the bedding was put on there.

The whole room made it out to seem that no one lived there at all. It was quite sad really.

"If you want, i have some posters that I wasn't going to put up in my room, you can have them, I'll help you put them up."

"No I'm okay." He said it with so much certainty and yet he hasn't looked at Iwaizumi at all since they stepped in the room.

They both awkwardly stood in the middle of the room, Oikawa seemingly staring at nothing as he had his back turned to Iwaizumi and Iwaizumi staring at the way Oikawa's shoulders slightly lifted and fell as he softly breathed.

There was so much room to breathe aswell, almost too much that it actually felt ironically suffocating. Well, to Iwaizumi at least.

"I think I'll be going now, I'll bring my friends next time i visit."

"Okay."

Oikawa didn't turn to Iwaizumi as he said it, it was almost like a cold dismissal, and yet he had such a soft, tender voice.

That was Oikawa now though, no longer unpredictable and loud but soft and tender.

Iwaizumi didn't recognise his old friend anymore.