𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝐶𝑂𝑁𝐶𝐸𝑃𝑇 𝑂𝐹 𝐵𝐸𝐺𝑈𝐼𝐿𝐼𝑁𝐺 ┊ 𝐻𝐴𝐽𝐼𝑀𝐸 𝐼𝑊𝐴𝐼𝑍𝑈𝑀𝐼

𝟭𝟴 - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆

┅ ┅ ┅

Slamming Naomi against the door as it closed, Iwaizumi didn't take his time melting into her lips.
The backroom of the library was available to them-thanks to Iwaizumi's volunteer key-and they locked themselves in for complete privacy.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, her mind not knowing what to think.
Riko's words had messed with her. Her own words were messing with her.
Naomi was doing this because she was upset. She wasn't doing it because she desperately needed to kiss a boy she's been lying to for a month now.

Iwaizumi planted his hands on her legs and drew them up her thighs. His fingertips rested underneath her skirt, right below her hips.
Naomi could feel her own body rejected his touch. However, if she rejected it, she thought he'd begin to doubt her.

Resting her head on his shoulder, he began to kiss her neck as his fingers ventured under her small shorts and made their way under her underwear.
Naomi's toes curled and her legs began to squirm as his warm fingers pressed against her skin.
Iwaizumi's knuckles made it past the hem of her underwear before Naomi pushed his chest, "Stop! Please! Please stop!"

He backed away, watching as she covered her face.
Naomi's chest rose up and down rapidly, her body tense with anxiety.
"Itsuwaru, I'm sorry."
He took a step towards her, cautiously grabbing her wrists.
"I should've asked. I'm sorry."
Even if she wanted to fake it, she couldn't. Even if she wanted to pretend it was someone else, she couldn't.

Because it wasn't someone else.

"I can't. I can't do this," she weeped.
"It's okay. You don't have to," Iwaizumi told her, not knowing the true meaning of her words.
"I can't, Iwaizumi-San. I can't," her hands covered her eyes as she couldn't make herself even look at him, "I can't act like I'm okay with all this. I can't keep trying to be this girlfriend that I don't even want to be."

"Naomi," he sighed, removing her hands and placing them on her cheeks.
"You don't have to be anybody else but yourself. There is no specific girlfriend that I want but yourself."
"You can't say that shit," she cried, "You can't."
"I can't tell you lies, Naomi. I want you to know that my words are nothing but the truth. I only want the true and honest you. You don't have to be an act for me."

Naomi had tried to be an act for Oikawa. She tried to be exactly what he wanted and it still didn't work. Now she was trying to be what she thought Iwaizumi wanted, but she had been wrong.
Iwaizumi didn't want a girlfriend who'd go on fancy dates or have sex in random closets.

Iwaizumi just wanted her.
And that was the hardest thing for Naomi to understand.

┅ ┅ ┅

"Hipster."
"What? No. Definitely a geek."
"No way. Who owns a car that color and isn't a hipster?"
"They had StarWars stickers on the bumper. Geek."
The two leaned back against the bus stop bench.
"That was a mom car."
"The van? For sure," Naomi smiled, "how many kids you reckon?"
"At least four."
"I'd say five."

Iwaizumi looked over at the bus sign to see that the next one wouldn't be arriving for twenty more minutes.
"Dude, you missed the old lady car. Had fucking cat bobble heads on the dashboard."
"How'd you see the dashboard? It's pitch black," he chuckled, looking down the road.
"Windows were far from tinted. For sure old person car."

Naomi kept looking at the street for any more passing cars, but Iwaizumi fiddled with the zipper on his sports jacket.
"Itsu," he sighed, "I'm sorry."
"Stop talking about it," she grumbled, "you missed the real hipster car."
"Naomi," he insisted, turning towards her, his knee touching hers. "Talk to me. Don't act like it didn't bother you, because it clearly did."

Taking her eyes off the road, she saw his stern eyes that begged for her to elucidate her feelings.
"What needed to be said was said, Iwaizumi. Seriously. I thought I needed to prove to you how serious I was about you, but when it came to it-I just couldn't do it."
"Naomi, you don't have to have sex with me for me to know we're dating. That's not how this works."
"I know, now at least. I just felt like I've been such a terrible excuse for a girlfriend."
He grabbed her hand.
"I said it before and I'll say it again. The only qualification for being my girlfriend is being you, Naomi. You don't have to force yourself to do anything you don't want to do."

He lifted her up from the bench.
"We have better chances walking home than catching this damn bus."
Hand in hand, the couple walked down the street, the darkness was like an open veil and they currently felt invincible.

"I loved strawberry milk a little too much," Naomi laughed, walking backwards, her hand still holding onto Iwaizumi as their arms dangled in front of her. "Like I had full on tantrums in elementary when the cafeteria was out. They had to feed me regular milk along with strawberry's just to get me to shut up."
"Crying over strawberry milk shortages was not on my girlfriend bingo card."
"Really weird thinking about it now, since I don't even drink milk."

She looked behind her for a moment before looking back at him.
"I tried to get Tobi off of milk, but he refused."
"Tobi?"
"Kags. Kageyama?"
"Right, you called him that nickname."
"And he'd-"
"He'd get upset when anyone else called him that."
Naomi joined his side again, holding onto his hand and arm.

"I tried to give him a damn strawberry and he gagged on it."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. Boy lives off milk and meat."
He laughed at the irony.
"I don't think I had many food obsessions," he looked up, trying to think back, "maybe pineapple, but my mom treated it more like a desert than a snack."
Iwaizumi suddenly began to grin.
"But! I did have an obsession with beetles! I'd go out for hours and put as many as I could find in a jar."

She chuckled nervously.
"The hell'd you do with them?"
"Kept em for a bit. Just to look at. I didn't kill them, Miss Vegan, I cried whenever I found dead bugs."
"Cool, so we both cried over stupid things."
"Stupid things? I think bug lives are more important that milk not being pink."
She pushed at his shoulder for a bit, the lights from the upcoming neighborhood were finally making him more visible.

"Oikawa hates bugs, though. He'd cry whenever they were alive."
He leaned down to her ear, "and he likes milk in bread form."
"You two are really different," she noted, "not just personality wise."
"I'm aware," he sighed, "seems like we're always thinking like opposites, but when it comes to volleyball, we just click. I don't know how to explain it."

Naomi noticed the flowery design on her house's gate from afar.
They stopped in front of it, where Naomi squeezed at his hands.
"Iwaizumi, I really should thank you for today. All my life I've been trying so hard to make people like me and it's actually so relieving to know I don't have to be like that with you."
"I'm glad. The real Naomi is all I want."

Leaning up by using his shoulders, Naomi placed a kiss on his cheek.
"Then the real Naomi is all you'll get."