Den Iwaizumi X Oikawa

Teaching

Warning: includes language.
Disclaimer: all the characters except Nakamura belong to Haruichi Furudate. Nakamura is a fictional character of my own making. None of the art is mine. Full credits go to the artists. Author-chan out!

Without warning, a certain brunette jumped on Iwaizumi, literally knocking him to the floor. Oikawa. The setter slowly crawled off him, his expression frantic. "Iwa-chan, where were you?! I was worried!" He yelped. "And what happened to your face?!"

Hajime hadn't realized it, but he had a huge black eye and very colorful bruises all over from his fight with Komi. Tooru cupped his face. Hajime flinched. "Ah!"

Oikawa moved back instantly. "I'm sorry! But Iwa-chan, what happened?!"

Hajime covered his eyes. His mind raced, trying to think up a good lie. 

"I felt like I was going to puke," he said. "I ran out of the classroom before I did. I went to the nurse and she told me to go home, so I did. I went for a walk to clear my headache. Unfortunately for me, I ran into a gang along the way," he said with feeling. That wasn't entirely a lie; the local gangs knew him or his reputation, as his conversation with the Foxes proved, but he had never gotten into fights with them. "Suffice to say, I made it, but there were a lot of them and only one of me," he finished. 

Tooru stared. "Oh, Iwa-chan! I'm sorry. But why did you turn your location off? I was worried!"

Shit, Hajime thought. "I wasn't in a great state of mind, I was dizzy and kind of confused. I didn't really realize what I was doing. My phone died several hours ago. I'll turn the location back on when I charge it." Lie, lie, lie, he thought.

Tooru frowned. "Well, okay," he said, mollified. "But you need to be more careful! You had me worried," he admitted.

"Relax, Crappykawa. I was just a little out of it," Iwaizumi replied.

"How bad was the fight? Do you need a doctor?" Oikawa asked.

"No. I'm fine, really. I'll probably be a little sore tomorrow, but that's all."

"Are you sure? Can you go to school?" Tooru demanded.

"Yeah. I'm fine," the ace assured him. He opened his mouth, about to invite Tooru to have breakfast, since it was already morning. Just then, Oikawa's phone went off. He looked at it and yelped.

"Akane wants to meet me! I'm sorry Iwa-chan, I have to go!" He quickly grabbed his stuff and hurried out the door.

Hajime sighed. He would never admit it, but he enjoyed having his crush fuss over him. And it would be so nice to have a meal together, we haven't had one almost since they started dating, he thought gloomily. He sighed again. Well, I'd better get ready for school.

He never turned his location back on. He wanted to test whether Oikawa would check it.

That day, Iwaizumi was sore. He'd fought a lot, and he hurt all over. He glanced into the mirror and groaned. The bruises on his face hadn't faded one bit. He had more injuries in other places, too, but he could cover those up with clothes.

He scowled. "Fuck it," he declared. He walked to morning practice. Tooru always walked with Akane now, so he didn't bother waiting for him. Mattsun and Makki gasped in unison when he came in.

"Iwaizumi, what the hell happened?" Mattsun demanded, marching over with Makki.

The ace sighed. "I felt sick yesterday at school, so I left. Took a walk to clear my head, but I ran into a gang instead. This," he said, pointing at himself, "is the result."

The meme couple winced in sympathy. "That sucks," Makki said sympathetically. Mattsun nodded emphatically. 

"Iwa-chan!" Oikawa called out. "Are you sore from yesterday?" Hajime nodded. "Sit out of practice for today," Tooru said. The spiky haired male sat down on a bench to watch. He critiqued the others on their form, helped them improve. He missed being on the court, but he rather enjoyed this perspective too. Mostly because he could discreetly watch Oikawa the whole time.

Afternoon practice was much the same.

Tooru never asked about turning his phone location back on. Yep, he forgot. Or he just doesn't care, Hajime thought sadly.

For once, he didn't go to the Den after practice. He was too sore, and Makki and Mattsun had said they might drop by his house later that day. He did not want any awkward questions to be asked if he was absent.

He got home and napped. He did his homework.

Rap, rap, rap. Makki and Mattsun were knocking on the door. The spiky haired male opened it and let them in.

"Man, you're so lucky you live alone," Makki commented. 

"Yeah, you can do all kinds of things and your parents would never know," Mattsun agreed.

"Whatever. Suck each other's dicks someplace else, I just cleaned this place," Hajime told them.

The meme couple scoffed in unison.

They hung out for several hours, eating dinner together. The meme couple went home when it got dark. Iwaizumi smiled as they left. That was fun, we haven't gotten to hang out like that for a while, he thought. Been even longer since me and Oikawa hung out. The smile dropped off his face at the thought. He got into bed.

With a muffled curse, Hajime rolled over and fell asleep.

7:32 am
Takeo: Yamamoto, you still have to teach me how to shoot
Yamamoto: i gotcha bro. meet me by the Raven's Nest bar at 6 tonight and I'll teach u
Takeo: Will do.
Yamamoto: 😊
Seen.

That night, Hajime learned how to shoot. He was anxious, but he didn't let it show. Fake it till you make it, he thought. Yamamoto offered him a deal on some older guns, but he refused. It's one thing to know how to use guns. It's another to own them. If someone finds them in my house or spots me with a gun, I'm screwed. I'll stick with just knowing how to use them. That'll work better if I get into a situation where I need to defend myself and guns are involved anyway.

Several days passed. Iwaizumi, Nakamura, Tanaka, Yamamoto, and Futakuchi went to strip clubs and dance raves. They even dragged him to an opium den for fun, but he absolutely refused to try any drugs. He just made sure his friends didn't do anything too stupid while they were high.

Oikawa spent all his time with Akane, as usual. He rarely talked to Iwaizumi at all now.

On Saturday night, the spiky haired male headed to the Den as normal. Nakamura, Yamamoto, Tanaka, and Futakuchi greeted him with raised mugs. "Takeo, my man!" Yamamoto called.

"Heya, kid," Nakamura said. Iwaizumi- no, he was Takeo now- replied in kind and sat down beside them at a table in the corner.

"Why the long face?" Futakuchi asked, laughing at his own joke. He couldn't hold his liquor, as the ace knew from experience.

"People are shit," he responded vaguely.

"Ain't that the truth," Nakamura said sincerely.

Yamamoto nodded emphatically. "They are! Just the other day, I took money from these high-and-mighty rich assholes. And they had the nerve to call me a bad person!" Nakamura, Tanaka and Futakuchi commiserated. Takeo slapped him on the back.

"That's rough," he said. He didn't know if Yamamoto was joking or not. Probably not.