always...

chapter 56 - oikawa

oikawa stood at the kitchen sink, washing his plates from dinner. his moms were arriving home later that night from their most recent trip, but it was still another night he ate alone.

he placed the wet dishes in the dishwasher and then ran some water to soak the pots and pans he used to cook his meal.

suddenly, the doorbell rang.

oikawa paused, tilting his head, confused because he wasn't expecting anyone.

are they back already? he looked at the time on his phone. their plane isn't even supposed to land for another 4 hours...

the doorbell sounded again, several times in a row, the loud ringing echoing throughout the house. oikawa shut the kitchen faucet off and grabbed one of the dishrags to dry his hands off as he rushed to the front door.

he unlocked and opened it only to reveal iwaizumi, standing there in the brisk fall night in nothing but jeans and a t-shirt.

"tōru..." he sniffled quietly.

iwaizumi's eyes were puffy and red and his voice shook ever so slightly. there were no tears on his face, but oikawa was sure that there were only moments ago.

"hajime, what are you doing here? what happened?" oikawa asked him, pulling his friend inside the house and out of the cold.

"i-i'm so stupid," iwaizumi muttered to himself, tugging at his hair as tears puddled in the corners of his eyes. "i don't know how i could be so goddamn fucking stupid!"

"hajime, calm down, please. breathe, okay? slow down and tell me what happened," oikawa tried to keep his voice steady despite the pang in his chest that he felt from seeing iwaizumi in so much anguish.

"i-i was supposed to go out with kaede tonight...i went to her house to pick her up and i called her...b-but she didn't answer," iwaizumi started, his fists clenched. "the door was open and i let myself in to go find her...i went up to her room a-and-AGH!" the ace yelled, ripping his hand from oikawa's grip.

"iwa, i'm serious, please calm down. sit," oikawa gestured at the bar stool next to the counter.

iwaizumi took a deep breath, trying to follow his friend's instructions.

"she was cheating on me."

oikawa felt a chill roll throughout his body followed by anger swelling up inside of him.

"she, what?!" oikawa practically screeched.

"she has been for weeks now...fucking some guy from the basketball team," iwaizumi stated coldly.

"hajime, i'm so sorry...what did you do?" oikawa tried to calm down and retain his previous composure.

"i-i just felt so goddamn stupid...for thinking that she was different...for getting attached to her...i...i think i loved her tōru. i'm so fucking tired of this shit..." iwaizumi's voice shook again as he choked back a sob.

just hearing iwaizumi's voice crack like that broke oikawa's heart more than hearing that he loved someone else.

"i-i dumped her on the spot. i told her we were done and she didn't even bat an eye...she just turned back to him and left me standing there. i didn't know where else to go, so i walked here," iwaizumi finished explaining.

oikawa pulled iwaizumi into a tight hug, rubbing circles into his broad back.

"i'm sorry iwa..." he whispered. "no one ever deserves to be cheated on or treated like that..."

"stop apologizing, please. it's my fault for believing that she was different from the others and for opening up to her like i did," iwaizumi insisted as he slowly withdrew from oikawa's embrace.