Playing Catch Up
Oikawa pulled me into the elevator and pressed for floor three. I was so caught up in seeing an old friend and being forced to spend time with him and all his new friends that I didn’t make the connection that not only did Oikawa live in the same apartment building as me but we were even on the same floor. Oikawa was practically giddy the entire ride up. He was talking a hundred miles a minute about all the games he played with Argentina and the broad strokes of his career. He was talking so fast, in fact, that I couldn’t keep up with what he was saying. I just smiled as he talked and thanked whoever may or may not be waiting for us after we die that I had kept very close tabs on Oikawa’s career and had watched every game. Oikawa was still talking and I was still enraptured by the words I couldn’t process as Oikawa made his way closer to my apartment. We were so caught up in each other that I didn’t notice when we passed by my door labeled as 3D to the door labeled 3E. Oikawa unlocked the door and we both went inside.
I regained some kind of sense when Oikawa left me in his living room as he walked into the kitchen. The set up was familiar to me for some reason, but there was something about it that threw me off a bit. The room I was in was an open space that had both the living room and the dining room in a sort of L shape that, when the kitchen was added, made a square. Before me was a couch, coffee table, and a tv. Directly to my left was a door that led to the kitchen. Just passed the kitchen door was an open space furnished with a dining table and some chairs. There was a little widow in the wall between the kitchen and the dining room and two doors on the back wall that led to a bedroom and a bathroom.
I wasn’t sure how I knew that, but I did.
“You can take a seat on the couch while I get us some tea, okay?” Oikawa called from the kitchen.
“Look at you, being a good host. Guess you finally became an adult in Argentina, huh?” I joked as I sat down.
Oikawa gasped, “Mean, Iwa-chan!”
“Looks like I was wrong. You still aren’t an adult,” I laughed.
As much as I teased him and treated him like a nuisance I really had missed him. And I know that he knows that. That’s how we’ve always been. Sometimes people think I hate him because I always say that I do, but those who really know us know that’s not true. It’s never been true and I don’t think it ever could be. We’ve been able to pick out the hidden messages of “I can’t let you get hurt” in “dumbass” and “you’re one of my favorite people” in “you’re so small” for as long as I can remember and this was the first time I really thought about it. Before Oikawa left it was so second nature for us to treat each other the way we did that I never thought twice about it. Now, after not talking for years, our ease with each other is more obvious. I’d had a lot of friendships over the years and none of them were anything like the one I had with Oikawa.
“Ah, my constipated friend, what has you so deep in thought?” Oikawa asked as he handed me a cup of tea and sat down.
I took the tea and glared at him, “I’m not constipated, dumbass.”
Oikawa laughed, “Okay, but you were thinking about something. What was it?”
I looked at him and smiled only a little.
We were never really vulnerable about feelings, at least not real ones. We dealt with those on our own, but as I’ve grown I’ve become more comfortable with saying how I feel honestly. In my experience, it only serves to make people closer and so I try to not lie about how I feel. Except when it comes to Mori and how I feel about her, but that’s something else entirely. But I don’t feel ashamed of having honest emotions so there was nothing stopping me from answering Oikawa honestly.
“Just thinking about how much I missed you.”
Oikawa’s face went slack and he paled a little. I was terrified that I’d done something wrong or that maybe he was sick. He slowly turned his head away from me and took a slow sip of his tea. I’d never seen him react like this to anything before. He looked awful and a little scared.
“Hey, Oikawa, are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” he said with a strained voice and his eyes glued to the wall which made it seem like he wasn’t okay, “I’m mostly curious about what is new with you since we’ve already talked about me so much.”
I wasn’t convinced, but I didn’t want to push him, “I’m a principal at an elementary school right now. It’s not the easiest job, but I’ve always liked working with kids.”
“You have,” Oikawa nodded, still not looking at me but his voice stopped shaking.
“Yeah, um,” I tried to act like I wasn’t worried about him, “I’m the coach at Seijoh now.”
He perked up a bit and finally looked at me, “Really? Good old Seijoh? Anyone we know still there?”
I laughed, partially in relief, “You remember that ancient history teacher?”
“Mr. Gomes?” he asked loudly, already on the brink of hysteria.
“On my first day he walked two first years up to me and said ‘you managed Oiwaka Turoo so well that I trust you with these two’ before leaving them in the gym.”
Oikawa was practically on the floor at this point, “Oiwaka Turoo? Why doesn’t he just say out right that he hates me?”
We were both in fits when the door bell finally rang. Oikawa opened the door for who I recognized as an older Kuroo Tetsurou and Kozume Kenma. Kuroo had aged well, I guess. His hair was still a dark and tangled mess, but he seemed to have found a way to make it seem professional. Kenma’s hair was even longer then I remembered. So much so that he had it mostly tied in a low bun. Kuroo and Oikawa embraced as Kenma just rolled his eyes without looking up from his phone before moving to sit in the spot on the couch that Oikawa just evicted. By this point I had stood up and was standing awkwardly beside the couch. Kuroo let go of Oikawa and walked towards me as Oikawa closed the door. When Kuroo finally saw me a smirk spread across his features. The way he walked over to me was almost cat-like.
“You must be the infamous Iwa-chan,” he said slyly.
I didn’t like that at all.
“Iwaizumi is fine,” I said, trying to sound friendly.
Kuroo put his hands up in defense, “In my defense I had no idea what your name was until now.”
I looked at Oikawa who very quickly ran off to the kitchen.
I chuckled and extended my hand to Kuroo, “I see. Well, nice to meet you, officially.”
He took my hand, still looking mischievous, but now we were a united front against Oikawa’s shenanigans, “The pleasure’s all mine.”