A Reason for Being

43. Don't touch

"Oikawa, are you done getting ready yet?" Iwaizumi huffs as he enters his roommate's bedroom. He was frustrated trying to figure out how to tie a tie.

"I don't even want to go to this stupid thing," Tooru whispers as he begins to button up his black shirt.

"I know. But we still have to go. Is Annalise meeting us there?" Iwaizumi asks. The two of them share the large bedroom mirror as they both figure out how to tie a tie.

Even though Tooru's response was "I don't know." the two knew the underlying tone was more along the lines of "I don't care."

"What happened after dinner last night?" After picking up Alisa from the airport, the four of them went to dinner. Things seemed to be going well until they all went to the apartment. All Iwaizumi saw was Annalise running out of Tooru's bedroom.

"Nothing." Tooru bluntly responds.

Even though overly arrogant at times, he always admired Tooru's tenacity. He never let many things get him down. Tooru always pushed through. Usually, when his best friend was down, Iwaizumi's unfiltered responses got a rise from Tooru. But saying something crude seems inappropriate at the moment.

"It's stupid," Tooru whispers. He was embarrassed for feeling upset.

"C'mon, Tooru. You can talk to me."

Iwaizumi wasn't naive, knowing whatever was going on with Tooru and Annalise was nothing short of a publicity stunt. That twinkle in Tooru's eyes, the ones he gets when he truly feels deeply, was missing. But like Tooru, Iwaizumi played along with the charade.

"I flipped out on her for grabbing Juno," Tooru responds.

Juno. The reversible octopus plus.

Iwaizumi remembers meeting Tooru as a kid, that same angry octopus, he teased Tooru once for it. "Why don't you flip it over to the happy side?" Young Iwaizumi attempted to flip it over, to which it was halted by a screaming Tooru. "DON'T TOUCH IT!" Young Tooru cried out. "It has to stay on the angry side, okay?" He held Juno tightly in his little arms.

Years passed, and Juno became a distant memory for the two of them, stashed in a box in storage at their original shared apartment back home. Iwaizumi found it when he was clearing out the apartment.

Tooru forgot all about his stuffed animal until Iwaizumi brought it along when he moved back in with him.

Like in his childhood, he instantly became attached to it once again. Not realizing it himself, until Annalise tried, as Iwaizumi tried, to flip Juno to the smiling side.

"Aw, it should be on the happy side, not the angry side." Annalise giggled.

"Leave Juno alone. He's angry for a reason."

But unlike Iwaizumi, she did not understand that he was serious. She playfully teased him, which only upset Tooru.

"I said DON'T TOUCH IT!" And just like that day, he not so nicely snatched it away from Annalise's hand.

"Annalise doesn't understand the significance of Juno, you know. Hell, I don't even get why you're so attached to it." Iwaizumi responds as he pets the small plush.

"Let's get this over with," Tooru responds. Even before the Juno mishap, the charade, the forced smiles he put on for the media, it was all exhausting. He did not want to keep pretending. Tooru hoped that maybe he would feel something for Annalise, but each day he was with her, the pit in his stomach continued to grow.

"You two look so handsome!" Alisa claps her hands.

"I do, yes," Tooru responds. "Iwa-Chan looks constipated."