Work Text:
It wasn’t exactly unusual for Seijoh’s resident power couple to be in the throes of an argument that inevitably became the rest of the team’s problem. In fact, that had been such a staple of their time in this club, that both Matsukawa and Hanamaki had inadvertently grown quite accustomed to the procedure for these annoying albeit minor events.
Usually, it was Oikawa that did something to piss off Iwaizumi. It involved a little bit of shouting down the halls and across the net, and sometimes ended with one of both of them with a volleyball in the face, but ultimately the longest either of them had seen these spats last was a full school day, and was usually resolved by Oikawa’s ultimate power move - a pouting, sorrowful performance to rival the greatest stage actors as he sidled up to Iwaizumi with his puppy-eyes and asked for forgiveness. Matsukawa was, and probably always would be, team “ignore his manipulation,” but mostly only because he’d love to see Oikawa’s secret weapon get shut down.
So far, he had never seen him get shut down.
And Matsukawa couldn’t even blame anyone, since he, too, had been the victim of one of these tactics and had also given in.
That is all to say, although their classmates were prone to spats and other arguments and seemed to love getting under each other’s skin, they’d never really seen anything shake them, the way some couples might be shaken. And certainly neither of them had ever seen anything shake Iwaizumi, and if someone was in need of forgiving, it was almost always Oikawa who ended up needing to apologize.
Which is probably why it is so disconcerting to both Mattsun and Makki, as they meet up outside their homeroom, that Iwaizumi approaches them with such a fervor in his walk.
They can see him coming down the hallway, eyes locked on them already with a certain ‘absolutely fucked’ expression that Mattsun was more likely to expect a little kid who’d broken an expensive vase to wear.
“What the hell is wrong with him?” Makki says, reading his mind.
“I don’t know…” Mattsun says, a little bit aware that if something was rattling Iwaizumi it was probably capable of killing Matsukawa, so maybe he should dip into his homeroom and pretend he didn’t see him at all.
“Should we run?” Makki says, apparently still reading his mind.
“Uh-”
But if that was the smarter choice, neither of them make it in time, and the moment Matsukawa straightens up off the wall and tries to turn to head towards the homeroom door, Iwaizumi leaps the last few steps and grabs him by the elbow to turn him around, therefore trapping him.
“I need your help,” Iwaizumi says, immediately, sounding more flustered than either of them had ever heard before.
Mattsun tries to pretend this isn’t overtly terrifying. Iwaizumi once ate a cricket on a dare without flinching. Mattsun doesn’t think he’s even capable of helping anything that he might be doing.
“Yeah? What’s up?” he says, hoping to sound normal. Makki begins to back away, so Mattsun snaps a hand out and grabs him by the front of his shirt to drag him back in a step. You’re not leaving me alone with whatever the fuck this is.
“I… Oikawa is… really very mad at me, and I need something to appease him, like, yesterday, so if either of you have any ideas-”
“Hang on,” Makki says. “Oikawa is mad at you?”
Iwaizumi nods.
“Then just give it time, he usually cools down by the end of classes.”
“No, no, he’s not, it’s not like that,” Iwaizumi hisses, before lowering his voice in embarrassment, glancing around. “It’s not like I just… pissed him off normal, I really fucked up, so I need ideas, now, to make him like me again.”
“This does not feel like something I should be involved in,” Mattsun starts, but Iwaizumi interrupts with:
“Oh, I’m sorry, I know that you have the luxury of not caring right now, but Oikawa is properly pissed at me right now, and it’s Monday, which is fine, because we have the day off, but do you want to walk into a six am morning practice while he’s ready to kill on sight? No? Then help me!”
Mattsun admits he makes a good point. The last few times their fights had coincided with practice, it hadn’t really gotten in the way, but it certainly ruined the experience. Matsukawa liked playing volleyball - he did not like having to play volleyball with his lips zipped shut and not making eye contact with anyone lest he incite an explosion.
And, again, this was highly uncharted territory, what could Iwaizumi have possibly done that got him on the run this fast? Iwaizumi almost always laughed Oikawa’s bad moods off, so… this must be serious.
“What the hell did you do to him?” Makki says, after a second, before glancing back to check the clock on the wall and make sure they still had time.
Iwaizumi immediately purses his lips, clearly indicating that he did not want to say it.
“Dude,” Mattsun says. “We can’t tell you how to apologize if we don’t know what your apology will be for. You gotta tell us if you want help,” he says, very calmly and entirely disguising the fact that he is also prepared to store this admission as blackmail for the rest of his life.
Iwaizumi still looks uncomfortable, and it occurs to Mattsun that this might also be Iwaizumi’s first time being the problem in his relationship, and wasn’t sure how to own up to it.
“Spill,” Makki says. “Come on, the bell’s ringing soon, so unless you don’t actually need any help-”
“Iforgothisbirthday.”
It’s so fast and mumbled, and Iwaizumi practically flinches back as he says it, Mattsun almost misses it.
“You… forgot his birthday?” Mattsun repeats, and evidently at a volume a little too loud for comfort, because Iwaizumi is shushing him next.
“I… yeah,” he says.
“But… that was last week,” Makki says. “Why wasn’t he mad at you then?”
“And also… weren’t you sick?” Mattsun repeats.
“Honestly, sounds like he might be-”
“No, you don’t understand,” Iwaizumi interrupts, pressing his palms into his eyes. “I really forgot. Like… okay, yes, I was sick last week, but I didn’t just… not get him a gift, I… get him shitty gifts every year anyway, that’s not a big deal. I forgot his birthday, and then didn’t remember it. I don’t know what the hell was wrong with me, the only time I texted him last week was on Saturday to ask if the practice schedule had changed and that’s when he told me it had been, like, four days since his birthday. And he’s mad about the fact that I didn’t realize he’d stopped texting me for four days waiting for his birthday wishes.”
“Oh, yeah, so you like…”
“He gave me so fucking long to remember,” Iwaizumi groaned. “It wasn’t like he was waiting at midnight to scold me, I can’t- I can’t believe I didn’t even realize…”
“Yeah, you’re fucked, dude,” Makki laughs, and this gets him a scathing glare.
“Please,” Iwaizumi says after a second, squeezing his eyes shut again. “I just… I need ideas, I need a good idea to make it up to him, because he is so mad.”
“Have you tried… apologizing to him?” Mattsun says, earning himself a very annoyed look from Iwaizumi.
“Yes, Matsukawa, I did that immediately. I probably set him a hundred texts that day trying to apologize before realizing he was ghosting me, and then he wouldn’t pick up my calls, and he didn’t wait for me to walk to school together like usual today, so I haven’t actually seen him yet to apologize in person because he’s fucking avoiding me! Do you have any other stellar suggestions?”
Mattsun puts his hands up in surrender.
“Hot take,” Makki cuts in. “Have you considered breaking up with him? He seems high maintenance and I don’t understand why you bother.”
Matsukawa has never seen Iwaizumi’s expression grow that furious that quickly, turning to look at Makki as if he had personally wronged his family in some way, and Mattsun is briefly worried there’s going to be a second massive argument amid the third years. Thankfully, Makki seems to fear this too, and also puts his hands up.
“Sorry, sorry, shit, dude, it was meant to be a joke, just trying to lighten the mood-”
“I… I know, I’m sorry, I just-” Iwaizumi shakes his head, trying to pull himself together and stop panicking. “I’ve… never fucked up like this before, especially not with him. What if he never forgives me? I don’t know what I’m going to do if he doesn’t forgive me.”
It’s actually a little heartwarming, Mattsun thinks. Iwaizumi really enjoyed playing up his annoyance with his boyfriend, and though reasonably Matsukawa had been aware that, since they’d been dating about two years, Iwa must actually like him, he’d never really… shown it before. It was kind of cute.
It’s also going to be Mattsun’s downfall, because now he empathizes with Iwaizumi, which means he’s going to help him, and that makes this whole affair his problem too.
Thankfully for him, the bell chooses to chime in that moment, and he’s spared the rest of this conversation.
“Shit,” Iwaizumi says.
“Just try and relax,” Mattsun assures him. “We’ll do some brainstorming in class and get back to you. I’m sure we can come up with something Oikawa likes enough to let this… admittedly hilarious and horrible mistake slip.”
Iwaizumi does not look reassured, but there’s nothing he can do, because the bell has rung.
---
Matsukawa finds himself actually trying to come up with a plan that would appease Oikawa. Mostly, his line of thinking is inspired by movies and shows he’s watched, and the miscellaneous ways people make it up to each other in chick-flick stories. Fortunately for him, it feels shockingly applicable to the situation - Oikawa, after all, really liked drama and being the center of attention, so going with some big gesture might be the best way to get back into his good graces.
More than anything, though, he hopes Iwaizumi can figure it out this afternoon so that morning practice can be normal.
By the time lunch rolls around, he has half a dozen ideas, none of which are particularly good, but all of which can be presented to the council for discussion. The council being a no-less-panicked Iwaizumi who keeps running his hands through his hair in a nervous tick, and Makki, who’s mostly concerned with the fact that his mother has undercooked the chicken in his lunch and now probably shouldn’t eat it.
“Alright, so, if you can’t just… apologize to him,” Mattsun says, side-eyeing Makki as he tries to decide if eating slightly raw chicken is a worthwhile risk or not. “I think you gotta go big. I mean, have you tried giving him the birthday gift you missed?”
“I… considered that, but the gift is kinda lame, I don’t exactly… I mean neither of us do a ton for our birthdays to begin with, so…”
“Well, get something nicer, and then go over there and…” Mattsun waved a hand. “Kiss-and-make-up. Easy.”
Iwaizumi stares at him for a moment, before saying: “Okay, this is why you’re single.”
“You asked for ideas, but I didn’t promise good ones,” Mattsun replies, before reaching over to swat the chicken Makki had been about to eat out of his grip.
Makki doesn’t even protest, just decides he’s probably right and finally lifts his head to join the conversation.
“I think Mattsun's right,” he says, followed by: “But… I don’t know if you should go birthday themed. Lean into the romance, right? Like you fucked up, real bad, I don’t think someone as prissy as Oikawa is going to want you to pander to the mistake you made. Just… buy him some fancy chocolate or something else he likes and dress up a bit and go over and grovel on your knees for forgiveness. He’ll like that.”
Iwaizumi nods, looking lost in thought for a second before saying: “Yeah, okay… yeah, that sounds good, he will like that…”
“And speak of the Devil,” Makki adds, nodding. “We got ourselves a sighting of the man of the-oh, no, nevermind-”
Makki had been pointing out Oikawa himself as he’d come around the corner of the school, presumably on his way somewhere, but as Iwaizumi whipped his head around, he didn’t even have enough time to try and just shout an apology or get his attention. The moment Oikawa notices him sitting there, he turns on his heel and has disappeared back around the corner.
“Holy shit,” Mattsun laughs, as Iwaizumi’s shoulders slump forward in despair. “You weren’t kidding. Normally he’d milk it for attention but he really doesn’t wanna talk to you right now.”
Iwaizumi groaned, putting his hands on his face again.
---
Mattsun finds himself assisting in this issue after school as well. Iwaizumi basically sprints out of school and into the city the moment the bell rings, his plan requiring rather quick action. Get flowers, get chocolates, and then be at Oikawa’s house before him, so that he can stand physically between Oikawa and his front entrance, hopefully allowing him enough time to shout an apology before the flighty, pissed off setter has a chance to run away again.
Which means Mattsun is on decoy, stalling Oikawa at school for as long as possible. Thankfully, Oikawa had already had an after school meeting arranged with some classmates from his homeroom, having a project due in a week or so that requires some attention. Mattsun is never quite so glad to not be in those prep classes as he is when Oikawa is explaining how many extra group projects there are. Unbearable.
(Though, he supposed, if Oikawa had a problem with group projects, he probably wouldn’t have been captain of their entire sport’s club.)
Mattsun, then, has to find a way to kill however long Oikawa will be busy. He paces around the hallway, texts Makki to complain about the fact that he agreed to help Iwaizumi with this, and then hopes Iwaizumi moves fast and gets what he needs to get done before Oikawa is even out of this group meeting.
Unfortunately, forty-five minutes later, he hears laughter from inside and hears chairs squeaking, and the little group is splitting up and heading out. He steps back in the hallway, letting a young woman pass by, shortly followed by a pair that seems more interested in their conversation than him, and then, finally, Oikawa stepping out last, shutting the door behind him.
He jumps, when he turns around and sees Mattsun already standing there.
“Uh… hey,” he says. “Sorry, did I-” and now Oikawa is glancing around himself, as if looking for a clue as to why Matsukawa of all people was ambushing him forty-five minutes after the final bell had rung.
What’s a normal way to stall?
Can’t let him know what Iwaizumi is doing, but…
“Uh… just… wanting to… check in with you?” he tries, hoping he doesn’t sound too suspicious. “I just… noticed you’d… sprinted away from us at lunch today, I guess?”
Oikawa, at least, has the sense to look a little ashamed, lifting a hand up to fluff his hair, as if it wasn’t already perfectly styled.
“Ah, sorry,” he says, forcing a smile for him. “That wasn’t about you, don’t worry.”
“Oh, I… didn’t think it was,” he agreed. “At least, I’d hope if you were… avoiding me you’d tell me why…”
“I… would,” he assured him, before saying: “Did… did you wait this long just to ask if I was mad at you?”
“...not exactly,” Mattsun says, putting his hands into his pockets. “Uhm… I just… I guess I heard that you’ve been… having a bit of… conflict with Iwa? He says he hasn’t spoken to you in a while, since you’re avoiding him and ignoring his texts.”
This, predictably, makes Oikawa scoff, and he crosses his arms. “Let me guess, you’re going to tell me I’m being crazy and over-reacting?”
“What? No! No, I would never, certainly not, no,” Mattsun says, waving his hands. “Just… Iwa seems really remorseful, so-”
“Well… good!” Oikawa says. “He should feel that way. The bastard has known me for fifteen goddamn years and he forgot my birthday? What kind of boyfriend does that? I’ve never forgotten his birthday, or any other special occasion! And on top of that, he didn’t even… Apparently, he’s perfectly okay going five whole days without speaking to me, and then will just pop back in asking about scheduling like it’s all fine and dandy! How would you feel if your best friend forgot your birthday?”
Mattsun has to think about this for a second, before he says: “I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think Makki even knows when my birthday is to begin with.”
Oikawa huffs. “Okay, that might not be an equal comparison, but - look, I get that Iwaizumi didn’t mean to do it, but he still did. And I’m still mad about it! And between you and me, he’s a little bit up his own ass about being right all the time, so maybe he deserves to flounder a bit. And - yeah, and considering the frequency that he has me bending over for him - I don’t know where he gets the audacity from. I deserve much better. I don’t want to forgive him right now.”
Immediately too much information. Maybe I should fake my own death and run away.
“He… uh… shit, okay,” Mattsun says, at the same time Oikawa has started walking past him. He turns to hurry after him. “But this isn’t like… I mean, you guys are Oikawa-and-Iwaizumi, like… surely you’re going to forgive him eventually, right?”
“Dude, right now, I don’t know, I’m so pissed off I feel like I want to break something.”
Matsukawa is briefly overcome by the mental image of an Oikawa this furious, practicing his serves across a net at a Matsukawa who just wants to play sports with his friends.
He shivers.
“Okay, but… like… again, you’re… you’re Oikawa-and-Iwaizumi…”
“You keep saying that like that means anything,” Oikawa snipes back.
“...doesn’t it?”
“I thought so!” he cries, throwing his hands in the air. “I really thought so. But apparently it doesn’t mean enough, if Iwaizumi can forget about me so easily…”
Mattsun bites his lip, trying to think of something to say, but before he can, Oikawa has started speaking again.
“Look, I know you probably only care because you’re going to have to deal with us both at practice tomorrow, and… I get it, okay? I promise, I have no intention of ruining practice for anyone. I will… find a way to be civil for a couple of hours a day.”
“Ah… great, thanks… but… I mean, I do also care because you’re my friend, so…”
“Uh-huh, real convincing.”
“It’s true!”
It takes about sixty seconds - the time it takes to get to the front of the school - for Oikawa to realize Mattsun was following him.
“Oh,” Mattsun says, laughing. “Ah, just… since we’re leaving at the same time, may as well walk home together, yeah?”
“Huh? I didn’t… think you lived this way?”
“Well, I gotta go to a store… oh, you wanna go shopping with me? I need to pick up a few things and could use the company. I’ll buy you something as a treat. What is it you like? Energy drinks?”
Oikawa cocks his head to the side, staring at him for a second before deciding whatever level of weird Mattsun was being, it was within the normal range.
“Sure, whatever,” Oikawa says, rolling his eyes and heading down the steps at the front of the school, to head on his way. Mattsun skips to keep up. Despite having what many had described as ‘freakishly long legs,’ he’d never been a particularly quick walker, especially when next to someone like Oikawa, who seemed to move as if every goddamn second of his life was a race and he was one second away from breaking into a sprint.
So he has to lengthen his stride just to keep up with Oikawa, frantically trying to decide what he ‘needed to pick up’ and trying to discreetly check his phone to, hopefully, get the a-ok from Iwaizumi that everything was set up.
Nothing yet. Shit.
So Mattsun points at the first drug store he sees.
“Here, this one,” he says.
“Oh?” Oikawa replies, stopping and turning back to him. “Just a couple blocks up is a proper store, you don’t wanna head up there?”
No, because Iwaizumi might be there and I don’t know how long he’ll be.
“Uh… no, no point,” Mattsun says, before shoving open the door and holding it for Oikawa. “Come along, you…”
Oikawa gives him a baffled look, but shakes his head and heads in, shifting his bag over his shoulder.
“You’re lucky I need to pick up some things anyway,” Oikawa mutters.
“Oh? Like what?”
“Iron.”
“Bricks?”
“...supplements, you doornail,” Oikawa says, frowning at him.
“Oh, that makes sense,” Matsukawa says, nodding seriously. “That’s what you get for eating like a toddler.”
“Okay, I didn’t come here to be lectured, just - go grab whatever it is you need.”
“Aye aye, cap’n.”
“Fuck off.”
Mattsun wanders away, desperately racking his brain for a product he could buy that would look normal. Medicine, probably, right? Did he actually need anything? Ah, who cares.
He finds a shelf of generic medicines, and then mentally concocts some kind of long winded explanation about his mother being sick and having run out of cough drops and flu medication. Then, he realizes he did this far too efficiently, and he still doesn’t have a text from Iwaizumi, so when he sees Oikawa coming around the end of the aisle, he turns and books it to avoid being seen and decides to just play a game of hide and seek in the store to stall a little longer.
“Mattsun?” he hears, from the aisle, as Oikawa undoubtedly struggled to figure out if he’d been wrong about which aisle his friend had gone into.
Mattsun, meanwhile, slips into one of the small grocery aisles and hides by some peanut butter.
He sends a text of warning off to Iwaizumi, that he wasn’t going to be able to stall for too much longer, and it’s just when he’s sending the message that he hears Oikawa’s voice:
“There you are.”
He jerks his head up, laughing awkwardly. “Sorry, sorry, just… texting Makki…”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Uhm… uh-” he turns quickly, to head down to the coolers, scanning over the items. “I… promised you something, what… flavour do you like? Ah, you’re a peach-bitch I imagine, here-”
“That is the most insulting thing anyone has ever said to me?”
Mattsun turns around with the drink. “Am… am I wrong?”
“I will not answer that.”
“Great.”
Mattsun heads up to the counter, and finally gets a text from Iwaizumi:
All set. Thank you so much.
Oh, thank god.
With his unnecessary medication, and realizing that Oikawa didn’t even ask what he was getting and therefore he hadn’t needed to draft such a specific lie, they both head out of the store and back down the street, onwards towards Oikawa’s house.
When Mattsun is pretty sure Oikawa is about to ask why the hell he’s still walking with him when he lived in the opposite direction, he hurries to speak before he can:
“So… I know you said you were still mad about everything, but… like, Iwaizumi was saying you weren’t even letting him apologize for it, so… like… do you plan on… ignoring him forever, or…?”
Oikawa seems surprised by the line of questioning, before saying: “Uh… I guess not, but… right now, I just… I mean, it’s not like you’d understand, you’re the most single man I’ve ever met.”
“Hey! Wait… yeah, hey…”
Oikawa laughs, before saying: “See… I know he’s sorry. Of course he’s sorry. I don’t need to hear him say it.”
“Then… what, you just want to sulk and make him feel bad?”
“Does it make me an asshole to say yes?”
“Maybe.”
“Mhm. I dunno, like I said before I just… I don’t want to talk to him right now. I don’t even know what I - oh, shit,” he says, cutting himself off as he stops walking, staring down the street to where Iwaizumi was standing outside his house. “That bastard-”
“Oh, imagine that,” Mattsun says, feigning surprise. “I mean, I guess you should have expected this, right? Iwaizumi doesn’t bow out when he cares about something, so…”
Oikawa scowls at him, and Matsukawa is actually surprised that he manages to continue being in a bad mood despite Iwaizumi’s appearance there - he’s not changed, though he probably didn’t have enough time, but he is holding a small but neat bouquet of roses in a white ribbon in one hand, a box of chocolates in the other.
And he looks desperate. Mattsun figures if his boyfriend had shown up like this, he’d at least have heard him out.
But Oikawa just puts his hands in his pockets and wanders a little bit closer, eyes narrowed and distrusting.
“Hi…” Iwaizumi says, to break the ice, though Mattsun feels like the ice remains thick and unbroken. “I… am hoping you’ll give me a chance… to… tell you how sorry I am-”
“Mhm… nah,” Oikawa replies, before turning to the side to slip past him.
“Wait-”
Iwaizumi spins around, holding out the flowers to him. “Uhm… I… I feel awful, and I don’t like fighting with you, and I… um… I’m not asking you to just… forgive me right away, but… if… if you could… if we could try and-”
Mattsun has never heard Iwaizumi this tongue-tied. It’s like he’s never spoken to Oikawa in his life, stammering and messy and unprepared.
He’s scared.
Does Iwaizumi actually think Oikawa might not forgive him?
That’s stupid, though. They’re Iwaizumi-and-Oikawa, that’s like trying to split an atom apart.
And then, Oikawa says: “Iwaizumi,” in the most painfully uninterested voice, and even Mattsun has to flinch back, because he can’t remember the last time Oikawa hadn’t used a nickname for him. “If I’d wanted to hear your apology, I would have replied to your texts.”
Oh holy shit.
The blood drains from Iwaizumi’s face, and he’s left standing there in silence, struggling to find something to say. When nothing is said, Oikawa turns to head up the steps to his house, and Iwaizumi panics, lunging forward to grab his wrist to try and keep him there a little bit longer.
“Hey, please, baby-” Iwaizumi starts, though it’s painfully evident he doesn’t have any clue on what he wants to say.
Oikawa, surprisingly, lets himself be stopped, turning to stare at him and wait.
This seems to shut Iwaizumi’s brain down, and he ends up just staring up at him, dumb look across his face.
“Alright, this has clearly gone absolutely spectacularly,” Oikawa says after a minute, before saying: “Have a good night,” and pulling his hand free to head up to the door. Iwaizumi lets him go this time.
The door shuts.
Matsukawa wishes he could just teleport home, because he respects Iwaizumi too much to feel like he has any right to see him like this, but all Iwaizumi does is stumble back a few steps, lifting both his arms up over his head, flower petals falling over his shoulders, staring at the door with a nearly shell-shocked expression.
Mattsun chews on his lip for a moment, before stepping forward to put a hand on Iwa’s shoulder, squeezing gently.
“Hey, man-” he starts, but the moment he speaks, Iwaizumi interrupts with:
“He’s going to break up with me.”
“W-what? No… no, I’m sure that’s… that’s not…” Mattsun starts to say, but he honestly doesn’t have enough experience with this sort of thing. “He wouldn’t, not for something so stupid… It’ll be okay…”
“I… I don’t know what I’m gonna do,” Iwaizumi says, looking over at Mattsun, eyes wide and wet. “I can’t let him break up with me, I need to fix this, I need to figure out how to fix this.”
“We… we will…” he says, followed by: “You know, I don’t think… I don’t think the tactic was wrong, I just think you fucked up the speech, you gotta come in hotter than that, you know? Let’s… let’s… brainstorm some… better words you can use-”
This, thankfully, seems to compute with Iwaizumi’s panicking brain, and he nods along. “Yes… yes… okay, good… yes…”
And Iwaizumi turns to beckon him along, and Mattsun realizes this means he’s probably not going home until much later this evening, and it’s a good thing he doesn’t actually have a sick mother to worry about.
He sends a text to Makki to advise that the Oikawa-Iwaizumi situation is significantly worse than they’d believed, and that he might want to consider skipping practice tomorrow.
---
“Okay, so… where do you think you went wrong?” Mattsun starts, realizing that he does not spend a significant amount of time in Iwaizumi’s bedroom. It’s… sort of empty. He tries to not look overtly like he’s peeking around the place, though that’s exactly what he’s doing. It’s pretty much what he expects. School work, books, relatively tidy but with a couple of loose sweaters thrown over his desk chair. There’s their silver medal from last year’s interhighs hanging on the wall, and a couple of photos printed out, stuck haphazardly around the room wherever they could be stuck. Matsukawa sees himself in some of them, which is weird, especially since Iwaizumi rarely takes photos.
It occurs to him that it’s probably Oikawa who’s cataloging and then printing their lives, handing the pictures off to Iwaizumi as he deemed necessary.
“Uhm… I don’t know…” Iwaizumi says. “I… wasn’t… speaking loud enough?”
“Uh… sure, that could have been it,” Mattsun agrees, awkwardly, reaching up his bookshelf to pluck a loose photo from where it had been resting against the books. It felt weird, to be lecturing Iwaizumi. That was not the usual dynamic they had. “I think… well, when I was talking to Oikawa this afternoon, he said that he knew you were sorry. So… I dunno, I’m thinking maybe he doesn’t even want an apology from you.”
Iwaizumi groaned, flopping backwards onto his bed and stretching his arms out. “What does he want, then? Why does he always have to be so impossible? It’s like he wants to fight with me. What do you mean he doesn’t want an apology?”
Matsukawa is staring at the photo, and misses his cue to speak. The picture isn’t one he’s ever seen before - which means neither Iwaizumi nor Oikawa had ever posted it to social media. The lighting isn’t super good, the sun above them washing them out, and based on how they both look at it had to be at least a year old. Oikawa has both his arms wrapped around Iwaizumi’s neck, kissing his cheek. Iwaizumi, squinting as he tilted his head up into the sun, is focused on taking the picture of them.
Mattsun has never been in a long-term relationship like this one. He doesn’t really know the ins-and-outs of navigating something like “forgetting your boyfriend’s birthday,” but he’d like to think, despite everything, he had a pretty good understanding of his friends.
He waves the picture slightly.
“I think he just wants you to remind him that you care, dude,” Mattsun says. “Oikawa’s a lot more delicate than I tend to realize, that’s for sure, but you, you’re like… a stone statue. Like, until this day, I honestly couldn’t have even said that you cared about the relationship, certainly not this much. And… you didn’t even tell him you loved him, in your weird stammering apology.”
Iwaizumi stares at the ceiling for a second, before slowly pushing himself to sit up and look at him.
“I… but… of course I care, Oikawa knows I care, I wouldn’t be dating him if I didn’t.”
“I mean, maybe he doesn’t know,” Mattsun says. “I mean, Oikawa’s the kind of guy that’s printing you out photos of all your friends to pin around the room. You… you know, just gotta remind him that you keep the photos around, that you appreciate the effort, that you feel the same.”
Iwaizumi sighed. “It… doesn’t come naturally, to me,” he says. “I thought Oikawa understood that, so… I assumed it wouldn’t be that big of an issue.”
“Mhm… and maybe it wouldn’t have been, if you hadn’t gone and managed to forget his birthday for a whole week.”
“It was only five days!”
“That is not that much better.”
Iwaizumi scowls at him, before pulling his knees up to sit cross-legged on the bed. “Well, then,” he starts, sounding a little annoyed. “What do I tell him?”
“Well… how do you feel?”
“...I dunno…”
“Iwaizumi. You have got to work with me here.”
“I don’t know! I don’t know, okay, it’s… weird, talking about this shit with you.”
“Well, don’t get me wrong, I’d love to go home, can I? If you don’t wanna-”
“No, no, no, I need your help,” Iwaizumi says quickly, reaching a hand out to stop him from leaving. “Don’t leave.”
“...fine. But then you gotta try, okay.”
“...I… am trying…”
Matsukawa lets his breath out, taking a brief pause to pinch between his eyes, before saying: “Okay, well… Do you love him?”
Iwaizumi makes a huffing noise, looking away from him.
“Iwa. Do you?”
“...yeah, maybe, so? What about it?” Iwaizumi mumbles, fiddling his fingers together.
“So, open with that. Say… Oikawa, I’m really sorry about what happened, I love you so much, and I promise I’m never going to let something like this happen again, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Mattsun says, waving a hand.
Iwaizumi is still sort of sulking over the whole affair, glaring up at him for a moment before saying: “You think that’ll be enough?”
“Well… no,” Mattsun says. “But… as an outline, you gotta, embellish it a bit, make it nice and fluffy, and… oh, you know what you should do?” he says, reaching to set the photo he was holding back on the bookshelf. “You should do it at school.”
Immediately Iwaizumi looks a thousand times more uncomfortable, shaking his head. “What? No, no, no. No. Nope. Everyone will be able to hear me, I… no… no no…”
“Exactly!” Mattsun says. “Oikawa will eat that shit up, because you’ll hate it so much. He likes attention, though, so give him attention. It’ll prove you’re willing to tell the world how you feel and all that.”
Iwaizumi groaned, and maybe, Mattsun thinks, it really is a testament to just how much Iwaizumi was afraid of losing this relationship that he only ends up nodding some kind of agreement.
“Okay, okay, okay,” he says. “Yeah, sure… now… what else do you think I should do?”
---
Matsukawa tries to keep Makki in the loop as much as possible, though their gossipy text messages making fun of Iwaizumi for fucking up aren’t particularly productive. He gets into school early enough to change before the bulk of the club starts showing up, and hangs out in the locker room waiting for their practice to start.
Iwaizumi comes in with his head down, clearly not looking to engage with anyone as he set about changing for the morning.
A heavy thump beside him alerts him to Makki sitting down and leaning into his shoulder.
“So?” he says. “Honest opinion, how bad do you think the practice is gonna be?”
Mattsun purses his lips, watching Kindaichi hover awkwardly behind Iwaizumi for a minute, clearly with a question, before eventually giving up and just leaving the locker room when he couldn’t get his attention.
“I don’t know,” he says. “Nothing got resolved yesterday, but… when I spoke to Oikawa it wasn’t like he was flying off the handle or anything. Just keep your head down, it might be-”
Mattsun cuts himself off as Oikawa wanders into the locker room, and finds himself holding his breath. Okay, this will be fine. Everything will be fine.
Iwaizumi, who apparently downgraded to the survival instincts of a baby, turns around almost immediately to head over to him.
Oikawa seems surprised, setting his bag down as he turns to look at him as Iwaizumi puts a hand on his shoulder to get his attention.
“Oh god,” Makki says, preemptively wincing.
“Hey,” Iwaizumi says, using an incredibly soft voice that Mattsun wasn’t sure even belonged to him. “Uh… I… uhm… just… wanted to apologize for… last night, clearly that didn’t make things better, uhm… so whatever-”
“I know,” Oikawa says. “I got all of your texts, it’s - look, I just want to get through practice without ruining the lives of the first years, okay? You don’t need to-” and here he just waves a hand at him.
Iwaizumi doesn’t seem to know what to do with that, but it’s also probably the case that he doesn’t really know how to take no for an answer or stand down during a challenge, because he seemed to just roll with this and take it as another minor roadblock.
“Yeah,” he says, running his hand down from Oikawa’s shoulder to his arm. “Hey… you… you know I… you know I love you, right? And it’s killing me, being shut out like this, so…”
Mattsun thinks he’s going to pass out if he doesn’t start breathing soon, but he’s not sure how to do that without making any excess noise. He’s not the only person in hell - Kunimi, trapped on the other side of them, can’t get to his locker without moving in close beside Oikawa, and therefore, isn’t changing.
Makki has wrapped his hands around Mattsun’s arm, tugging on it as if to signal look, look at them go!
For a moment, Mattsun actually thinks Oikawa might be about to forgive him, there’s a very brief second where he softens his expression, looking perhaps a little guilty for having caused him this much stress, but when he speaks, it’s only to say:
“Yeah… look, I need to get changed, so…”
Iwaizumi takes a second to process this, before backing up and putting his hands up. “Right. Sorry.”
Makki groans, squeezing his eyes shut.
“I really thought that was gonna work for a moment,” Mattsun mumbles under his breath, as Iwaizumi grabs his water bottle and disappears to head to the gym. Oikawa doesn’t say anything as he gets changed, a horrible forewarning of the mood he was in.
---
Practice starts relatively normal. They do warm-ups, stretching and light running, the only real difference being the space between their two captains and the furious discomfort across the first year’s faces. Mattsun tries to hang back and not make himself a target.
They pair off for drills, and Mattsun winces at the speed in which Oikawa finishes calling the direction, and then turns around to grab Yahaba as his partner and walk off. Mattsun has never grabbed Makki that firmly in his life, the moment he saw Iwaizumi turning to find him.
“Partners,” Mattsun says, dragging Makki over to where they could line up for the drill.
“Whooo,” Makki replies, probably less wound up about this than Matsukawa was. Iwaizumi scowls at them both before turning to nudge one of their second year bench kids. Well, maybe the only good part of this whole affair will be that kid getting to train with their ace player. He certainly looks terrified enough.
It’s distracting, though. Iwaizumi is barely focused, glancing around himself far too often and trying to keep his eyes on his boyfriend, rather than the volleyball he’s supposed to be passing. The second year doesn’t dare speak up about it.
When the drill is called to a close, Mattsun moves in to stand with Makki again as the group reconvenes to move on.
“I’m not sure what else we can do,” Matsukawa says, a little hopelessly. “Maybe we’re in hell. Maybe we’re being punished for something we can’t remember doing.”
Makki snickers, before nudging him gently. “Please, if we were being punished we’d be that kid,” he replies, nodding to Iwaizumi’s poor second year buffer who’s found himself standing between both captains, and looks like he’s going to shake out of his skin.
Mattsun laughs in response, just loud enough for Oikawa to notice, and shout:
“It’s something funny, Matsukawa?”
He straightens his face, shaking his head sternly. “No sir,” he says. “Just waiting for orders.”
“Good. We’ll do spiking drills, then. Two lines - Yahaba will set the other line,” he says, followed by: “Afterwards we’re gonna head outside and do some sprints… we’ll do some faux-matches in the afternoon practice, so I wanna get in some basic training now…”
He’s not as confident as he usually is, Mattsun notes. Maybe the fight was distracting him more than he was pretending it was.
Either way, Oikawa was a lot of petty things, but sacrificing his precious setting was never an option for him, so he’s glad the drill will force them to behave normally.
As usual, Oikawa sets high when Mattsun does his run-up, forcing him to leap a little higher than he normally would like to. I’m sure your vertical can stretch a bit, he’d say with a playful wave of his hand. Let’s keep doing it this way.
So Mattsun doesn’t bother complaining and slams the ball down as hard as he can.
“Looking sharp,” Oikawa comments. “A faster run would be better, just because we’re in practice doesn’t mean we can half-ass it. You’re not Kunimi.”
“Got it,” Mattsun says, turning to drag himself back to the back of the line.
He can’t help but turn to watch Iwaizumi go, half wondering if Oikawa would pull some bullshit to mess with him, but of course, that doesn’t happen.
Iwaizumi’s spike hits the floor on the other side of the net with a resounding bang! that makes the first year that was catching balls jump. Mattsun raises his eyes, wondering if Iwaizumi was intentionally showing off, or if he was just burning his anxious energy off.
Iwa turns to look at Oikawa, expecting the usual critique or comment, the way Oikawa always did. Oikawa looks back at him, hands still half raised as if he forgot to lower them.
After a second Oikawa just turns to where Makki is waiting to toss his ball for the drill, and says:
“Good job.”
“That’s it?” Iwaizumi replies.
Mattsun wants to run over and glue his mouth shut himself.
“Yeah. You did good. What else is there?”
“No… jump higher, no sharper angle, no try a cross next time, no nothing? Just good, and move on? I thought we were here for practice.”
“You’re an excellent spiker, there’s not always going to be something I can comment on,” Oikawa dismisses.
“There is always something you can comment on, you’re you, you have a problem with everything we do, that’s…” Iwaizumi cut himself off with a groan, gritting his teeth together. “I have apologized over and over and over again, I don’t know what else to do to get you to stop punishing me for one stupid mistake!”
“You’re in the way of the next spiker,” Oikawa replies. “Can you stand to the side?”
“No, not until you tell me what the hell is bothering you so much. Because as far as I can tell, you’re just mad for the sake of being mad. Unless that’s the point, unless you’re just… you’re just sick of me, and you don’t want to fix things, in which case I don’t understand why you don’t just break up with me now and get it over with.”
Oikawa stared at him, chest rising as he forced in even breaths and kept himself as neutral as he could.
Mattsun considers running in to grab Iwaizumi and just drag him out of the gym.
That sounds so callous, he wants to scream, he wants to grab Oikawa and shake him, tell him that breaking up was Iwaizumi’s worst nightmare, that this was all some terrible miscommunication, that he’s just projecting and it’s not as bad as it sounds, but he can’t really do that, and he has to trust that Oikawa’s social intelligence will win out.
Oikawa eventually just shakes his head, looking to the ground for a second before saying: “I need to run a practice for everyone else. It’s not about me and you right now, so… either rejoin the line or take a water-”
Iwaizumi has turned to storm out before he even finishes the sentence.
Oikawa has the audacity to look surprised, staring off at him as he leaves, before making a soft hmmp noise, and waving a hand to Makki, who was next in line.
“Alright, send it high so I can set it,” he says.
Makki shakes his head, holding his volleyball to his chest tighter. “No, I don't want to anymore.”
“Toss me the fucking ball-”
“Ohhhmygodokay-”
---
Iwaizumi does not make a reappearance at the morning practice, which might be for the best but is also incredibly unnerving. Mattsun is torn between concern for his friends, and his desire to stay the fuck out of it. Thankfully, he’s able to coast by in his classes since he shared them with neither Iwaizumi nor Oikawa.
He passes notes to Makki until the teacher threatens to hit him with a ruler, and then he tunes her out.
“Maybe we should ditch and go eat lunch off campus,” Makki says, picking at his nails. “The alternative is waiting with targets on our backs for one of ‘em to find us.”
Mattsun sighs. “As much as I want to take you up on this, I gotta go find Iwaizumi. It’s really not like him to have dipped like that…”
“Alright, well, when you’re still suffering in this Hell, don’t say I didn’t try,” Makki replies.
“You’re not coming with me?”
“Dude, you’d need to offer me real money to convince me to stick around for this.”
This makes Matsukawa laugh, and he shoves him playfully. “Alright, loser. I’ll see you back in class then.”
Makki hums an agreement, and Mattsun strikes off on his own to see if he can track down Iwaizumi. He hopes he doesn’t run into Oikawa, but he begins practicing his lines to use on him just in case.
He does, actually, find Oikawa, sitting alone outside, and has to sneak by him in a group of second-years with his head ducked to avoid it.
Thankfully, it’s not so soon after that that he finds Iwaizumi in a stairwell, knees drawn up and head resting against the old paint. His eyes are closed, and if Mattsun was optimistic, he’d say he was meditating. He’s not that optimistic, though.
So he kicks Iwaizumi in the back and shoves him down the stairs.
It’s only four steps to the landing, though, so Iwaizumi mostly just shrieks and flails until he hits his back, turning around to look up at him in betrayal.
“Dude!”
“That’s what you get for being a moron,” Mattsun replies. “What the hell was that this morning?”
And Iwaizumi immediately groans, deciding to just lay down on the landing and give up.
“I don’t know,” he says. “It’s like my brain shuts off when I’m looking at him. I don’t want to be an asshole but he just - makes me so mad, and he’s being such a bitch about it. Like I get it, I fucked up, I know I did, but… what’s the benefit of not even letting me try and make up for it? I just want him to like me again. It’s not fair.”
“You sound like you’re four.”
Iwaizumi just scoffs, tilting his head to the side, and Mattsun takes a brief pause to send an update off to Makki before trotting down the steps and taking a seat at the bottom one. He watches Iwaizumi for a moment longer, before sighing and saying:
“Oikawa still likes you, dumbass,” he says. “You’re just… so abrasive and hard to like, he’s probably just forgotten it temporarily.”
“I’m hard to like? What about him? You know how many times he’s woken me up in the middle of the night to complain about something? The bastard will intentionally scroll through Shiratorizawa’s public social media and then decide to make it my problem at like two in the goddamn morning. And I put up with it! And… and he’s so bossy, and he always thinks we’re going to be late for reservations so we leave so early and then end up sitting there for thirty minutes, and I… I… I know I’m not easy to like, but neither is he, I thought we… had each other’s backs on that front. That… we’d… forgive the shitty things…”
Mattsun just offers him a halfhearted shrug. “I don’t know what to tell you, man. But, you know, Oikawa isn’t… he… I thought you were getting close, in the locker room this morning. Oikawa doesn’t want to be fighting with you, so… whatever it is, maybe… maybe it’s just time. Maybe give it a break, and… give him some space, and he’ll realize he’s dangerously codependent on your attention and come slithering back to you like the bottom feeding leech he is.”
Iwaizumi is quiet for a moment, closing his eyes, before saying: “Don’t talk about him that way.”
Mattsun swallows, mumbling an unconvincing apology, but any further conversation is interrupted when the door from above opens up, and one of the first-year teachers comes trotting downstairs, a stack of books in her arms.
She seems amused by Iwaizumi on the ground, staring at him for a second, before looking at Mattsun and saying: “the floor is dirty, you know.”
“Why are you telling me?” Mattsun complains, as Iwaizumi starts to laugh.
“Just saying,” she says, before looking down at Iwaizumi. “You okay there, Hajime?”
“Just fine, sensei, thank you.”
“Alright, well… enjoy the floor, then,” she says, before slowly turning to head off and continue down the stairs.
---
Afternoon practice rolls around far too quickly. Matsukawa feels like this day has taken off six years of his life, but he has two more hours to suffer through.
And then, the most curious thing happens.
Iwaizumi doesn’t show up for practice.
He almost starts panicking on Iwaizumi’s behalf, when Oikawa has called them to circle up and is noticing the missing head from the crowd.
“Huh,” Oikawa says, before breaking into a cackling laugh. “Must have forgotten about this, too.”
Oh… shit…
Mattsun elbows Makki, trying to convey: Hey, do you know where the fuck Iwaizumi went? And in response, receives a sharp elbow back that replies: If you elbow me again I’m going to punch you.
Matsukawa wants to be a good friend, and briefly considers lying to cover for him, some ruse about being sick, or having a family obligation, or whatever, before realizing that to do that, he would need to out-contend Oikawa on the ‘knowing details about Iwaizumi’s life’ front, and that wasn’t going going to happen.
So he keeps his mouth shut.
“Well… alright, Matsu-chan, looks like you got yourself a promotion.”
No, please, literally anything but that.
“We’re gonna run a few faux games, so you’ll be leader on the second team. I’ll read out the list and then you can take your people over to plan a strategy.”
“... Yes sir,” Mattsun decides to go with, since it seemed the least likely to cause problems.
---
Mattsun had thought the game might end up being actually sort of fun. It’s a good distraction, and Oikawa likes playing volleyball, so hopefully it’ll bring everyone’s mood up. Get a little sweaty, work off that energy, all good things.
Oikawa looks absolutely miserable.
Mattsun’s psychic premonition about shaking in his shoes as he tries to receive furious and violent serves comes true, and after a few sets and complete rotations, his arms are burning, and he’s starting to question his choice of companionship.
“You have got to shape up,” Oikawa calls, rather snidely, as another one of his goddamn demon serves goes ricocheting off his arms and into the wall.
“I’m a middle! Not receiving well is practically part of the job,” he shouts back, a little bit fed up with being the punching bag.
“Exactly! So you should expect to be targeted if you’re playing the back row. So get good and don’t be an easy target.”
“Oh, shut up,” Mattsun says, as one of the first year runners tosses a volleyball under the net for Oikawa to catch, turning to line up for another serve.
Matsukawa really does intend to pick the next one up. He really wants to. Their team is losing pretty badly and it’s embarrassing. But no matter his best efforts, when he dives in to get it, he vastly fucks it up and ends up getting nailed in the face.
There’s an assortment of gasping and laughter, as Mattsun hits the ground and struggles to get up on his elbows again, bleary and disoriented.
“Mhm… you’ve… gotten stronger… that’s for sure…” he mumbles, sitting back on his heels. “Wasn’t this bad the last time ‘ya got me.”
“Christ, Mattsun, your nose is bleeding,” Makki replies, ducking under the net from his side to come over to him. “Are you feeling alright?”
“I feel… bad…”
Oikawa does look guilty, but Mattsun knows, even if he was targeting him with his serves, it was his bad placement that put the ball in line with his face. He’s about 60% sure Oikawa hadn’t done that intentionally.
He feels warm hands cradling his face, and then his head is being tilted upwards, and he’s left looking quite closely at Makki’s own face as he peers down at him.
“Keep your head tilted back, the blood is dripping everywhere…” Makki mumbles.
With one of Makki’s hands resting firmly on his face, Mattsun can only take about three seconds of being held like this before he can feel heat burning under his skin as his face lights up.
“Ah - Aaah-” he stumbles backwards, escaping Makki’s grip just in time to watch one of the first years come jogging up with a bundle of paper towels.
“Stupid, get back here-” Makki mutters, chasing after him.
“Get him off the court,” Oikawa calls, sounding a little annoyed by the dawdling. “And - you, little guy-” he adds, pointing to one of the second years sitting on the bench. “Go get the mop, there’s blood on the floor - Mattsun, you okay?”
“I’m… I’m good-”
He’s actually already starting to feel better, less dizzy at least, but Makki is insistent on helping him to his feet and staying close against him as he takes the paper towel from the younger kid and tilts his head back to try and stop the bleeding.
Makki’s arm leads him off the court, and eventually he’s sitting down on a bench against the wall.
“Let me… get you some more…” and Makki is off without finishing his thought, leaving Mattsun to sit here and lament his lot in life alone.
Truly these had been a bad few days. And the worst part is, since Iwaizumi wasn’t even here, it probably wasn’t going to be any better tomorrow.
“Hey-”
He turns his head, looking down to see Makki come sliding in beside him, phone in one hand, more paper towel in the other.
“Ah, thanks,” Mattsun replies, around the blood he could taste in his mouth.
“Is it… stopping?”
“Yeah… almost…”
Makki folds his hands together on his lap, looking rather cross for a second, before a shouting across the gym alerts them to the fact that Oikawa has started berating a couple of the other kids for not knowing how to mop correctly.
“You know what,” Makki says, eventually. “I’m gonna put a stop to this.”
“You’re going to kill Oikawa?”
“What?” he replies, in alarm, turning back to look at Mattsun.
“Just… sounds like you’re planning on killing him.”
“...not yet. No, I mean-” Makki pauses to laugh, swatting at him lightly before saying: “This… bitchy-Oikawa thing, he’s intolerable on a good day, I cannot put up with angst-drama-queen-Oikawa for one second more.”
“You… how? I’ve been trying to help them fix this for two days,” Mattsun replies. “It’s thankless, fruitless work.”
“Yeah, but you and Iwaizumi are idiots,” Makki replies, pushing himself to his feet. “Watch a master go to work.”
Mattsun tries to kick him in the knees for that comment, but Makki dances out of the way and heads across the gym towards Oikawa. Curiosity getting the better of him, Mattsun adjusts the paper towel on his nose, finds that his nose has stopped bleeding, and hurries to follow him to listen in.
“Hey,” Makki greets, using his foot to get Oikawa’s attention, from where he was standing off to the side waiting for the cleaning to be done.
“Hey.”
“Here, read these,” Makki says, handing his phone over to Oikawa.
What’s this?
Oikawa seems to have the same question, but just looks down at the phone, thumb scrolling quickly.
“I… have no interest in you and Mattsun’s sexting.”
“Wh-what? No! Huh? Wh-” Makki immediately fumbles to grab his phone back. “That is not - we do not. You are… I… hate you. Here, try again-” he puts the phone back to where he wanted it, and hands it back to him. “Just scroll down, and actually read them.”
Oikawa rolls his eyes, but does as asked. After a second, Oikawa looks up and asks:
“Why… why are you having me read this?”
“Well, Mattsun told me what you said to him. About how you can’t possibly be that special to Iwaizumi if you were that easily forgotten, but-” and Makki leans in to poke at Oikawa’s shoulder. “This is two days worth of exactly how hard Iwaizumi has been working to try and figure out how to make it up to you. So hard, in fact, that I haven’t received a single text from Mattsun that wasn’t about it. Bitch, your boy went so far as to ask for help. Actually, that was the first thing he did, Monday morning. I’d never seen Iwa ask for help for anything, but he didn’t even try and do this on his own, that’s how scared it was of fucking it up more. So… I don’t know, man, I’m not in your brain, maybe you secretly hate him for another reason, but… if it’s because you think he doesn’t care, then you’re more stupider than I thought.”
“More stupid.”
“No, I’m pretty sure I’m right about this.”
Oikawa stares at him, before sighing and looking back down to the phone. After just a second, he cracks a bit of a smile, undoubtedly entertained by posthumously living through Mattsun’s plight of servitude.
“I just… we’ve known each other fifteen years,” Oikawa says, quietly. “I just… I… It sucks that he forgot my birthday, but… what sucks even more was thinking that… maybe this is a sign that he’s losing interest. Fifteen years is… a long time to continuously care about someone, and… maybe not tomorrow, but… maybe in a year, or two, maybe one forgotten birthday will be looked back on as the first sign he was going to leave me-”
“Oh, no,” Mattsun breaks in. “No, no, no,”
“Oh, my god, where did you come from,” Oikawa says, as Mattsun pushes himself between them.
“Maybe you missed those messages, but Iwaizumi almost started actually crying when you walked away from him last night. He was pathetic, like a true… soggy little man. So scared you were gonna break up with him.”
This makes Oikawa laugh slightly, handing Makki’s phone back to him. “Is that so?”
“It is so so. I’d never seen him look that distressed. Now- Oikawa, my man,” Mattsun says, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I agree with you. In a lot of cases, this absolutely could be a sign of the end. But… you know, man, I just don’t think that’s it this time. Sometimes a mistake is just a mistake.”
Oikawa is quiet for a moment, before mumbling: “Thank you… both of you. You guys are pretty cool friends.”
“Way better than you deserve,” Mattsun agrees, clapping his back. “So, what are you gonna do? Go run off, find your man, make a big scene?”
Oikawa laughs slightly, before saying: “Ah, no. I will… send him a text message this evening if I don’t hear from him before then.”
“You are cold,” Makki says, whistling. “Remind me never to date you.”
“I wouldn’t let that happen anyway,” Oikawa assures him, before saying: “Well, shall we?”
And rather cheerfully turns to order the first years - who, somehow, still haven’t figured out how the mop works - to get off the court so he can do it for them.
“Hey,” Mattsun says, nodding to Makki. “You should text Iwa, tell him the coast is clear to make a big apology-”
“Oh, I already did that,” Makki says, waving a hand. “Why do you think he’s missing practice? I send him Oikawa’s favourite non-bread meal, his favourite type of flower, which - not roses, dude, that’s like Oikawa 101, kinda embarrassing for him to have tried roses, actually - and his favourite chocolates and candies and a decent actual birthday gift idea, and told him to get his shit together. I knew I was gonna sort this out this afternoon.”
Mattsun stares at him, slightly stunned “What? You were that confident you could fix things today?”
“Well… yeah,” he says, holding up his phone. “You did such a bad job playing Cupid that you got me like two hundred text messages only thirty-six hours in, I didn’t need to wait any longer.”
Mattsun continues to stare at him, before breaking into laughter and smacking him on the shoulder.
“You son-of-a-bitch, what kind of conniving mastermind are you?”
“The kind that you should definitely thank with some raman,” Makki says, folding his hands behind his back.
“Is that so?”
“Mhm. What do you say? Oikawa’s gonna go home and get his back blown out so me and you may as well get some dinner, yeah?”
Matsukawa has no idea how to respond to that sentence, nor what it insinuates based on equating the two things, and ends up staring at him, mouth open like an idiot, until Oikawa saves the day by shouting:
“Alright, stop flirting where I can see you and get your asses back over here to play volleyball.”
---
Wednesday morning. Blissful morning. Not filled with anyone getting yelled at and no weird tension.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Makki says, poking at Mattsun’s side as Oikawa and Iwaizumi come through the locker room door together. “It worked. It worked. I’m awesome.”
“It was a team effort.”
“Nah. God, I wish I could have seen how that conversation went down. Y’know, I was getting kinda used to being privy to their private lives through you. Kinda sucks that Iwa’s probably gonna go back to being an emotionally frigid robot, but…”
Mattsun shrugs. “Eh, as long as balance has returned to the universe, I don’t care.”
“True, true…”
Well, it’s not exactly true that balance is restored - if anything, it seems to have been over corrected. Oikawa looks like he’s absolutely joyful, giggling softly and petting his hands down Iwaizumi’s arms and then up to preen his hair and then poking at his cheek. And for once, Mattsun does not see Iwa bark and bite at the prodding hands as he would have normally expected him to, but rather he seems overwhelmingly content, a very calm aura radiating off him.
He even, for the first time in the last year that Mattsun can remember, lets Oikawa give him a kiss there in the locker despite everyone being able to see him do so. And then Oikawa pulls away to get changed.
“Hey,” Mattsun comments, when Oikawa takes his shirt off and there’s one more noticeable change. “What’s that?”
Oikawa lifts his head, turning to look over at him, before looking down at himself.
“Oh, this?” he says, very giddily, before using a hand to lift up the silver necklace that was hanging around his neck, showing off the pendant. Mattsun has to lean in to see what it is, the delicate metal curving into a beautiful flower design. “A belated birthday gift from my dearest. Isn’t it gorgeous? And it’s a waterlily, which is my favourite flower. I can’t believe Iwa-chan remembered that, I think I only mentioned it once.”
Makki has never looked so smug in his life.
Mattsun ignores him. “Ah, yeah, I… didn’t think you were a jewelry guy, at least - you’d never… worn anything before-”
“Ah, well…” Oikawa says, leaning in as if he was telling a secret. “I’m not really, but Iwa-chan’s wearing the matching one, so I’m definitely a jewelry guy now-”
Iwaizumi scoffs, from across the room. “Don’t tell them that,” he grumbles, tugging his practice clothes on to undoubtedly hide the chain around his neck. “They don’t need to know that.”
Oikawa sticks his tongue out at him. “Oh, boo, you’re no fun.”
“And you’re a pain in my ass.”
“Please, you love me. Couldn’t bear to live without me.”
Iwaizumi just scoffs and rolls his eyes, though it contains no venom at all, before he says:
“Whatever, brat, just hurry up and get changed so we can start practice and actually get some training done this time.”
Oikawa giggles, giving him a playful salute of acknowledgement, before turning on his heel and hurrying to get changed.
Mattsun watches him for a second longer, before Makki is nudging him and indicating they should start walking. He’s just about out the door when Oikawa calls:
“Oh! Mattsun?”
He stops, turning back to look at him. “Yeah?”
Oikawa’s expression softens, and, quietly enough to avoid anyone else hearing from out in the gym, says: “Thank you. For… sticking with him. I sometimes worry if I wasn’t here, he… wouldn’t have anyone watching his back, so… thanks.”
Mattsun can’t even make a joke to that, he just gives a slight nod and mumbles: “Yeah, any time. See you out there.”
“See you out there.”