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Oikawa Tooru was the happiest he's been in months.
In the arms of the one you love, how can you not be happy? Iwaizumi finally came back home after six agonizing months of being deployed god knows where, and after spending a couple of days with his family Oikawa had him all to himself.
So yes, he was happy.
Keyword being 'was'.
".......What?"
"I'm leaving. Tomorrow morning."
"But......But you just got back! You can't be leaving so soon!" Oikawa said loudly, untangling himself from Iwaizumi's hold. "You told me you were leaving next month! What happened!?" He was basically yelling at this point, but it didn't make a difference to Oikawa. Iwaizumi was leaving him. Again.
Iwaizumi's expression was unreadable, and he turned away from Oikawa as he spoke, "They need more people out there, Oikawa. I just got told I would be drafted. Please do-"
"'Don't be mad'?" Oikawa scoffed, getting up from the couch to pace the living room. "I haven't seen you in six months. You've only been here for two weeks, and you're already going to leave me?"
"I can't just refuse, Oikawa." Iwaizumi said, looking down at the floor.
"Why not!? I know fighting for our country is important, but aren't I important too? What about me? What about your family?" Oikawa said, stopping in his tracks to face Iwaizumi.
"I'm fighting for it all!" Iwaizumi said, his voice rising in volume. He was getting more and more irritated by the second. "I fight for not only our country, but for you all! Why can't you see that!?"
"I don't need you to fight for me! Especially if it's somewhere where you could possibly die!" Oikawa threw his hands into the air, exasperated.
There was a moment of silence before Oikawa spoke up again, "I just need you here, with me," Oikawa said, voice softening as he carded his hands through his hair. He could feel tears gathering in his eyes. Iwaizumi noticed Oikawa hunched over and quickly got up to wrap his arms around him, pulling him close.
"You know I have to go." Iwaizumi said simply, hugging Oikawa closer as he felt something wet make contact with his shirt.
"I just- I worry so much....And- and you were gone for so long last time....What if you never come back.....I-I don't know what I w-would do if I lost you-" Oikawa choked out, sobs wracking his body. Iwaizumi tightened his hold on Oikawa, slowly bringing them both to the floor.
"Nothing will happen to me. I promise, Oikawa. I'll come back to you, to my family, to everyone. I promise." Iwaizumi said, petting Oikawa's hair as Oikawa soaked his shirt with his tears.
"I-Iwa-chan....." Oikawa said, looking up at Iwaizumi. He leaned forward and kissed Iwaizumi's nose, bringing his head back down to Iwaizumi's chest as he said, "I love you, Iwa-chan."
"I love you too, Shittykawa." Iwaizumi said fondly, kissing the top of Oikawa's head. Oikawa snorted at the nickname, burying his face into Iwaizumi's shirt and inhaling the familiar scent of his cologne. He really didn't want Iwaizumi to leave again, but Oikawa knew just how stubborn Iwaizumi was. He also didn't want to start a fight on what was probably Iwaizumi's last day with him, so he stayed quiet in Iwaizumi's arms, the steady beating of his heart eventually putting Oikawa to sleep.
~~~
"Stay safe, Hajime. I'll miss you," Iwaizumi's mother told him, kissing his cheek and bringing him into a tight hug.
"I will, mom. Don't worry. I'll miss you too," Iwaizumi said, hugging her back just as tight. His mom let go of him and he walked forward to his dad, who brought him into one of those handshake-and-then-hug things that every guy seems to greet each other with.
"Come back in one piece, yeah?" His dad tried to joke, slapping his back affectionately. Iwaizumi chuckled, hugging his dad for a few moments before letting go. He turned to the last person that was there to bid him farewell.
He walked up to Oikawa. He could tell Oikawa was trying not to make a scene. The glossiness of his eyes as he stared back at Iwaizumi was enough to say that much. But as Iwaizumi brought him into his arms, just like the night before, Oikawa broke. He let out a choked sob, grabbing onto Iwaizumi's uniform as he cried. Iwaizumi held him tight, tears threatening to spill from his eyes as he held Oikawa's face gently in his hands, kissing wherever he could reach.
"I-Iwa-chan...P-Promise me you'll be back, okay? Promise me....Y-You'll come back for me, okay?" Oikawa said, his grip on Iwaizumi's uniform tightening as he let out another sob.
"Idiot," Iwaizumi muttered, giving a chaste kiss to Oikawa's lips, "I already made that promise yesterday."
"It's always a good thing to renew promises," Oikawa said, kissing Iwaizumi again before he could reply.
Iwaizumi pulled himself away from Oikawa after a few moments, watching as Oikawa wrapped his arms around himself. He looked....small. And vulnerable. Nothing like the Oikawa he grew up with. The Oikawa that had confidence to spare. Right now, he looked like he was a child again, watching from the sidelines as Iwaizumi did something crazily dangerous.
All Iwaizumi wanted to do was go over to Oikawa and make him feel confident again. He wanted to wrap his arms around Oikawa and tell him that everything will be okay, he's there for him, Iwaizumi will make sure nothing happens. But Iwaizumi can't, so he takes the last of his luggage, says goodbye one last time to the three most important people in the world to him, and heads straight for his plane.
Oikawa watched Iwaizumi as he departed, eyes never leaving him until he was officially out of his sight. He exchanged goodbyes with Iwaizumi's parents before making his way to his car, finally letting loose all the emotions he couldn't show in public. After a few minutes of silently crying to himself, he put the car into reverse and made his way out of the airport parking lot and into the busy streets.
It seemed like everything grew dull as Oikawa was driving back to his apartment. The green of the trees and the grass seemed less vibrant. The skies were no longer a vivid blue, but a murky shade of the sea as if a storm was about to descend.
All in all, it was pretty depressing.
Oikawa tried to get his mind out of the gutter by turning on the radio, trying to focus on the pop song blasting through the speakers of his car. It sounded like one of those cliche love declarations. This really isn't something he should be listening to right now. He surfed through the radio stations, each one playing a different song about love and being loved and it made Oikawa sick to his stomach. After a skipping a few more stations, he finally found a song that didn't sound as cheery and bubbly as the other songs he had to suffer through. It sounded familiar, in fact, and he turned the radio up as the strumming of a guitar was the only thing that could be heard from his car.
I only wanted to have fun,
Learning to fly learning to run,
I let my heart decide the way,
When I was young
Oikawa remembers the first time he met Iwaizumi as a kid, shyly walking up to Iwaizumi and asking if he could play volleyball with him. Iwaizumi looked hesitant at first, of course, but eventually he gave in, glad to finally have someone to play with. If it weren't for that one encounter, that one burst of courage Oikawa had that day as a child, he probably wouldn't have found Iwaizumi, wouldn't have been able to love and get to know him, wouldn't have been as happy as he was with him. Just thinking about something so little having such a drastic impact on his life made his stomach churn, and he almost ran the red light he was coming up to. He realized he got lost in his thoughts and focused more intently on the song still playing over the radio.
I know I'm not the only one,
Who regrets the things they've done,
Sometimes I just feel its only me,
Who can stand the reflection that they see
Oikawa remembered all the times Iwaizumi was there for him, helping him return from the dark places of his own mind, from the depression he underwent when he found out about his knee. Iwaizumi was there whenever he needed him, whenever he needed someone to remind him why he was there, living and breathing. Remind him why he shouldn't give up. A honk from behind him jolted him out of his thoughts. He looked up and realized the light had turned green, driving forward before returning to his thoughts. The song played in the background, one small part catching Oikawa's attention:
I wish I could live a little more,
Look up to the sky not just the floor,
I feel like my life is flashing by,
And all I can do is watch and cry
Oikawa hadn't realized he was crying until the road became a blur in front of him. He wiped at his eyes furiously, gasping for air as he tried to focus on the road instead of the music and his own feelings.
It appeared he reacted a second too late, a horn blaring harshly at him before a delivery truck crashed straight into the side of his car. The only thing he remembered was his cry for help before everything went black.
~~~
There were people yelling. He could barely breathe, and people were scurrying around him, and he couldn't even feel his body but his mind is awake, and the pain he feels is unbearable-
Despite everything running through his mind, there was one thought that drowned out everything else, an infinite tune that was louder than anything he could hear or think. So he decided to sing along.
He hummed along to the tune, slowly slipping into unconsciousness as he thought of the last words his brain could process:
I feel like my life is flashing by,
And all I can do is watch and cry
~~~
He got home way earlier than he thought he would.
Three months seemed to breeze right by Iwaizumi as thoughts of returning home filled his mind, and now that he was able to be here again he couldn't help but to be overjoyed. Hopefully he doesn't get any more surprises like last time that'll cause him to abruptly leave everything behind again.
As he got off the escalator in the airport, he spotted his parents first and immediately walked over to them.
When Iwaizumi's mother saw her son, she quickly closed the distance between them with a hug that knocked the air out of Iwaizumi.
"M-Mom- Can't breathe-" Iwaizumi wheezed out.
His mom loosened her grip instantly, smiling sheepishly as she kissed both of his cheeks. "Sorry hun, got a little carried away there," She laughed, patting his arm once more before his dad walked up to them, pulling Iwaizumi into his own short hug.
"Glad you're back home safe," His dad said, holding Iwaizumi by his shoulders to examine him. He nodded, letting go of Iwaizumi altogether as Iwaizumi looked around the airport.
"Where's Oikawa?" He asked, looking back at his parents after a few more seconds of searching for said person. His mother had her head bowed, covering her mouth with her hands as his father looked at him with an unreadable expression.
"Hajime," His father said carefully. There was something about the tone of his voice that gave Iwaizumi a bad feeling. "The day you left, Tooru....He-"
"He got into an accident," His mother finished, and Iwaizumi's eyes widened like saucers. What? No. He was fine though, right? Of course Oikawa was fine. The look his mother gave him told him otherwise, but he refused to believe that anything had happened to him.
His mother must have seen the distress flitting across his features, so she said "They tried everything they could, Hajime, but...." She trailed off, tears gathering in her eyes as she clung to her husband.
"He was in critical condition. He didn't even make it to the hospital," Iwaizumi's father said softly, watching Iwaizumi carefully for his reaction.
Iwaizumi stood still for a couple of moments, mind going blank at the news. So Oikawa was....gone? That wasn't true, right? He was fine, right? Maybe he misheard his parents. There was no way Oikawa just-
His mind stopped all at once when he remembered what his father told him:
"The day you left, Tooru...."
Iwaizumi finally faced his parents, his expression vacuous as he asked softly, "So he's been gone for three whole months and I never knew?"
Iwaizumi's mother tackled her son, bringing him into another tight embrace as tears spilled from her eyes. Just thinking about what happened and seeing her son's expression when he found out was too much for her.
"I'm sorry..." She said, her voice trailing off as she cried softly.
"It's not your fault," Iwaizumi told her, on the verge of tears. This was no place to cry, he told himself. "Can you take me to him?" He asked, looking at his mom. She looked up at him and nodded, letting go of him as they all made their way to the car.
"Can you take my stuff to your house? I'll call when I wanna to get picked up," Iwaizumi said, getting out of car. His mother nodded, kissing him one last time before he closed the door to the car. His parents drove off, leaving him to his thoughts as he wandered around the graveyard.
It took him a while, but he finally found who he was looking for. He sat next to the gravestone, the words carved on it mocking him with their meaning. He really was gone. And that thought was the last straw for Iwaizumi. He was done being strong. There was no one to be strong for anymore, he thought. He pulled his legs up to his chest as painful sobs rattled his body, shaking him as he cried into his arms.
A few minutes passed by before he calmed down enough to lift his head, and he looked toward the gravestone as he spoke, "Hey, Oikawa. It's been a while. For both of us," He sniffled and dropped his legs into the grass, continuing to talk to Oikawa, visualizing him as if he was actually there. His heartwarming smile, the affectionate light brown of his eyes, the softness of his hair as Iwaizumi gently ran his hands through it. The warmth of Oikawa's hand in his, his slightly chapped lips as he kissed Iwaizumi with enough emotion to make his knees weak.
Before he knew it he was crying again, but he continued to talk through the hiccups and the sniffles as he told Oikawa everything that happened to him in the last three months.
"I guess not much has happened to you, huh?" Iwaizumi said, a humorless chuckle escaping his mouth. He stayed silent for a while, watching as a tree in the distance swayed with the wind.
"Well," Iwaizumi sighed, getting up from the grass and dusting off his uniform, "My parents will worry if I stay any longer. It was-" He cut himself off, looking down at the gravestone. "It was good to see you, Tooru." He finally said between the lump in his throat.
He walked away from the gravestone and pulled out his phone, ready to call his parents to pick him up. He turned and looked at it one more time, a lone thought running through his mind before he dialed his mom's number:
I kept my promise.