Conquering the Great King

𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵 29

Iwa-chan was waving goodbye to the Sales Duo when Oikawa tugged on his shirt.

"You want to go for a walk?" he asked. "I was thinking we could walk by the beach. Get some fresh air."

Iwa-chan blinked at him, "Sure."

The sun was already moving out of the sky, but Oikawa knew they had enough time to watch it dip under the ocean if they kept moving. The air was still a little chill, but the bitter cold of winter was slowly receding. Oikawa looked forward to spring.

There were still quite a few people on the street. There were flutters of speech and the low murmur of traffic in the distance, but the air maintained a very steady peacefulness.

"Oh, the pier," Oikawa grabbed Iwa-chan's hand and led him forward so they could lean against the railing to watch the slow descent of the sun.

Iwa-chan's hand moved down to his pocket and withdrew a cigarette. It hung limp from his lips before he lit it, the tip's orange glow sitting in odd harmony with the oil painted colors of the sky.

They both leaned against the wooden fence and faced out toward the ocean. "I liked the restaurant," Oikawa chatted, stealing a glance at the side of Iwa-chan's face.

Iwa-chan nodded, slightly turning his head away from Oikawa to blow smoke from his nose in the other direction.

Oikawa stared at him. "That's one of the ways I knew Iwa-chan was starting to like me," he said after a small moment's silence.

Iwa-chan fully turned to look at him then. His gaze searched Oikawa's face, but he didn't say anything.

"The smoke," Oikawa said. "When we first met you used to blow it directly in my face. Now you go out of your way to keep it away from me."

Iwa-chan's expression didn't change as he inhaled on his cigarette. Then, maintaining steady eye contact, he sent a stream of air and smoke through his lips at Oikawa.

Oikawa pursed his lips, eye regarding him flatly, "Rude, Iwa-chan."

Iwa-chan half turned away from him and huffed a laugh, a puff of smoke coming with it. Finally he sighed, "You're perceptive."

Oikawa blinked out over the ocean, the waves flaring orange under the press of the setting sun. "You are too, sometimes." Oikawa went on, exasperated, "How is it you can't tell when someone is obviously interested in you, but you can see that I'm upset the moment you open the door to your apartment?"

Iwa-chan was quiet for a moment. Finally he answered, "It's simple, I guess." He didn't turn to look at Oikawa as he explained, "I don't have a lot of experience with love and relationships and all that. It's hard to recognize, for me. But self-doubt, insecurities, stress... that I deal with every day. That I recognize."

Oikawa turned to look at him. The sun was making his skin glow warm, the breeze lightly carding through his hair. He was staring out at the ocean, the glowing creases in the waves reflecting in his eyes. His mouth had abandoned any sort of expression, and instead sat heavy on his face, the corners turned down just in the slightest. Oikawa could have stared at him forever. He realized he loved that face, no matter the expression.

Oikawa turned to look back out over the water. The breeze made his hair tickle his forehead and the back of his neck.

His voice was lower with his next words, "You're worried, aren't you?"

There was a silence. The sun was slowly sinking into the ocean, its colors bleeding out into the waves.

"Yes," he said after a long moment of consideration.