Part 9

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“Iwa-chan…”

Oikawa looked lost again and Iwaizumi sighed in defeat, “Shittykawa, you’re the one who wanted me to be here.”

They were at a bus station, and he, because of Oikawa’s annoying and incessant requests, was there to send him off. Typically it should have been his family… or maybe the rest of Aoba Johsai, but Oikawa wanted him specifically, much to his annoyance.

He would have said No, except Iwaizumi realized that their team losing the last chance they have at nationals doesn’t compare to whatever frustration he felt when he realized that ‘that’ was the last toss Oikawa would give him in an official match.

The two of them will be parting ways in college—with Oikawa going to a local college and him going to Tokyo U, he wasn’t even sure if they would be able to maintain their friendship, let alone any form of communication.

Maybe, he wasn’t the only one having those thoughts. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be sitting here at the bus stop, freezing to his bones on an unusually cold spring morning just to see Oikawa off to Osaka, when he almost didn’t have any sleep last night from packing his things.

“What is it, Oikawa?” He didn’t mean to sound irritated, but he was still at a loss for how to interpret the unusual sadness he was feeling so he might have turned it to aggression, a thing, he realized he had a habit of doing.

It took a few moments for Oikawa to respond, "Don't miss me too much, 'kay?"

“As if I would,” He said, except he also knew he most definitely would.

"Promise, we'll call each other every day, yeah?” Oikawa asked and Iwaizumi was inclined to say ‘No, we don’t have to do that’ because this was probably the first and only time that he was free from dealing with the boy’s antics. 

He wanted so much to get away from the boy’s annoying presence, or so he claimed… because when Oikawa asked him that, his heart started a funny rhythm and the feeling he had that time when he walked home from school after a heated argument about Kageyama, came back.

So he said ‘Yes’ because right at that moment, it felt like that was the only correct answer to give.

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He was not in the best mood when he arrived back in his dorm room after a long day in the lab. He was hungry but too exhausted to even force himself to cook some instant noodles and satiate the gnawing hunger in his stomach. 

He wasn’t supposed to be here. He was supposed to be somewhere in Miyagi for Matsukawa’s birthday. But this stupid storm had to get in the way of his perfectly planned weekend.

It had been months since he went home and between juggling his studies and doing part-time work, plus training for the volley team, he was beyond exhausted and definitely deserved some break.

Yes, that was it and definitely not because he wanted to see a certain, insufferable setter from before who had stupidly gone down with the flu so Iwaizumi even had more reasons to want to go to Miyagi.

He was desperate and helpless which made him very, very antsy. He really didn’t want to deal with anyone else so it came as no surprise when his foul mood bled out the moment someone knocked on his door unannounced. It was too late for some visitor, so it probably was someone on his floor, maybe looking for some booze or snacks to raid. The mood, however, disappeared as soon as it came, especially when he heard a certain voice from the other side of the door calling, “Iwa-chan.”

There was an unusual skip in his heart when he heard that voice but he credited it to shock and disbelief because, no... Oikawa wouldn’t have come here just to—

Except when he tore the door open, Oikawa was there at his doorstep, flushed face hidden beneath layers and layers of damp clothing and when the boy gave him a half-drunk smile, his heart stopped beating.

“ Baka , what are you doing here?!” He demanded, instead of letting Oikawa inside to warm himself or even just to tell him how torn he was seeing him here like this. A few seconds passed before Oikawa answered.

“I… I wanted to see you.” Oikawa whispered, with a giddy smile. Iwaizumi blinked at him, noticing he was acting differently—it was not just the tippling goofy grin on his face but by how his face looked so red and how his breath was too shallow and even the way his lashes fluttered… and the familiarity made him think at how well he knew Oikawa for recognizing even the minute details of his expression for him to realize something was wrong.

Iwaizumi reached out to touch the guy’s forehead and cursed at the surprising heat, “Goddammit, Oikawa. You’re burning. How plastered are you right now?”

Oikawa’s eyes were droopy and he didn’t answer. Iwaizumi frowned, “Does Auntie even know you’re here?”

To which Oikawa shook his head, “Don’t tell okasan.”

“No shit. She’d go ballistic if she found out what you did.” Iwaizumi sneered but led the guy inside his dorm, helping him out of his damp clothes.

“Geez, how many layers are you wearing?” He asked after he already pulled off two coats and one jacket. 

“I get… cold easily,” Oikawa responded.

“I know that.” Iwaizumi sighed, walking towards his dresser to pull out some of his own clothes, “So why even come here?”

It took a few moments for Oikawa to answer and in those mute moments, the guy surprisingly looked afraid. Like Iwaizumi just asked something that threatened his very existence. And then a slow resolve settled on his face and he gave Iwaizumi a pained look, “I just miss you.”

It took another few seconds for Iwaizumi to understand what he meant. It was stupid, Iwaizumi thought, not to mention reckless… so why? Why was he feeling happy about this?

"Neh, Hajime?"

"Hmn?"

"Promise me you won't tell okasan?"

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