serendipity

oikawa tōru is not a genius [tōru oikawa]

[ 883 words ]

[ listen to ---> form now on' by hugh jackman & the greatest showman ensemble ]

Volleyball always came first. 

Ever since he could remember volleyball was what he lived and breathed. Sure, other things were important - Iwaizumi, his nephew, his fans - but the sport was always first priority.

Then she came. 

Not much changed, only the little things - how early he came to school or left, how hard he studied, who he spend his lunch with - but it wasn't enough to cause havoc.

Volleyball stayed being first.

Eventually he became a third year, and the push to focus less on volleyball and more on his education grew. His coach, other teachers, and even other students at Aoba Johsai knew he'd get a scholarship to a college or university. After all, he was the best setter any of the schools teams opponents would ever have to go up against. 

So despite the push to study, volleyball was still first. 

She had no problem with his obsession with the sport - she knew it was better than having to be stuck inside at a desk all day - but she knew he was playing a dangerous game. Sure, volleyball wasn't violent - even though some injuries could impair the player for weeks on end, Oikawa being at the receiving end of one such knee injury - but he was playing dangerously.

He was smart, calculating. He knew the plays before they happened, and he could adapt to anything - or anyone - that was thrown his way. His mind worked as fast as the ball was tossed. He was a genius. On the court he was dangerous - and that was the problem.  

He became haughty, smug, he knew he was the best, and that got into his head - even though Iwazumi tried his best to stop it. 

Kageyama Tobio might have been the king, but Oikawa was the King of Kings. 

Oikawa always had this facade on; he was always perfect, always happy, and always willing to oblige - but he wasn't actually like that. 

She was one of the very few people who knew what he was like behind that mask, and she hated it. She almost wished she never saw who he really was. He was worse with his flaws than what he was as a flaw-less setter. 

He was perfect.

He was generous.

He was confident.

And yet he was careless.

He was greedy.

He was broken. 

And on their graduation night - a mere couple hours before she was to leave to America for the inevitable future - she let him know everything that he was. He didn't like it one bit. 

She screamed, and yelled, and wept, told him everything she'd been holding back for the years they had known each other. 

"I love you, but you make me hate you!"  She let her heart and soul free, and all he did was stand there and scowl at her. So she left. 

Volleyball always came first anyway, and Oikawa would never go after someone who wasn't content with him keeping it that way. 

Or so she thought. 

A couple steps later and he would've missed her - the airport wouldn't have let him into the terminal after her, but he caught her just before. 

The rain from outside had made is hair flat and suit - the same one from the graduation party - soaking wet. He was a mess, and he wasn't hiding it.

"I'm sorry." he'd said, voice trembling, tears in his eyes as he looked at her. She looked back at him, only turning to face him side on. He might be ready to cry, but she wasn't. Not again. Not yet.

"I'm a fool. And an Idiot." he slowly stepped closer, the staff too shell-shocked to stop him. This sort of thing only happened in movies, or stories. This sort of thing never happened in real life. 

"I can only hope you'll forgive me. I can only beg for you to forgive me. For another chance." She turned to him, uncertainty painted on her face, but her white knuckles and slightly trembling lip was telling Oikawa otherwise. 

"I'm not asking you to stay, to give up your career and dreams. Not for me." he sobbed, small and quite, but he sobbed. With that she knew it was really him - not the setter, not the mask or the ugliness underneath it - it was the Oikawa that hadn't seen the light of day for many, many years. 

"I'm asking if - after everything - if you still love me." She did. You could never stop loving someone like Oikawa, especially since she'd declared her love for him a few hours before. 

She left, but with a promise to keep in contact and to return. Oikawa kept with volleyball, and she always made sure to watch his smaller games, and she traveled all the way back to Japan from America to attend his bigger ones. He was forever grateful that she was still around.

He was even more so when he decided to become a coach. The smile on her face was worth it, even if he only now played in the neighborhood team. 

While volleyball always came first, from now on it wasn't. 

Oikawa Tōru is not a genius, but with some help he can be.