They're Still Children
I turned around to see Oikawa standing beside me, “Oi?”
He smiled at me, “Good Morning, Iwa-chan!”
Makki marched over and smacked Oikawa in the back of the head, “When did you get back?”
“About a week ago,” Oikawa said, rubbing his head.
Takeru rolled his eyes as he walked past his uncle, dragging Akihiko behind him. It was clear that he was making no effort to greet his uncle whom he hasn’t seen in years. In fact, it seemed like he was ignoring Oikawa. Makki and I stifled laughter knowing full well that this was annoying Oikawa and that Takeru was doing it on purpose.
“I missed you at what was supposed to be your birthday dinner,” Oikawa said, smirking, “Where were you, nephew?”
Takeru froze for a moment and, judging by Oikawa’s satisfied look, failed to hide his shock before hurrying into the gym. Makki and I exchanged glances. He was still Oikawa, but he seemed sharper if possible and more patient. Needless to say, we were proud of him, but this would only serve to make him more terrifying than he already was.
“What was that about, Oikawa?” Makki asked as he and I walked over.
“Yeah, Takeru said that you didn’t tell your family that you were back?” I chimed in.
Oikawa cocked his head, “Of course I told them, Iwa-chan. I’m not a monster.”
“But, Takeru . . .” I started, but Oikawa cut me off.
“It was meant to be a birthday surprise for him. I’d show up to the dinner and everyone would cheer and Takeru would be so happy!” he said, dramatically, ”Unfortunately, he never showed up.”
“Based on your face, you know why he wasn’t there,” I prodded.
Oikawa only turned and smiled slyly at Takeru, “I had my suspicions, but I believe I just received confirmation.”
Back on his bullshit, I see.
Oikawa whipped around like nothing happened, “Anyways, I came here hoping to see Makki or Mattsun so we could catch up so If you’re free we should get going, yes?”
Makki and I made eye contact before Makki responded, “Yeah, sure. I’ll just text Matsun real quick.”
I just rolled my eyes, “None of you can ever sit still. I can already feel the migraines that I stopped having years ago come back.”
“Mean, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa pouted.
I smiled to myself as Makki turned back to us, “Mattsun says to just go to his place and then figure something out there.”
“Sounds like a plan!” Oikawa called as he dragged Makki away, “See you later, Iwa-chan!”
I smiled and waved at him. As I watched the two leave I silently thanked his purposeful nature that he didn’t stick around long enough to hear my next announcement.
I turned back to the team and called out, “Okay, everyone, I got a bit of a surprise for you today. We got a practice match and you’ll never guess who we’re playing.”
The boys left to prepare the gym for our guests. They didn’t bother to ask who we were playing because they knew. We only ever really played one team. I could ask other couches about practice matches, but this team was always fun to have the boys play. And their couch agreed.
As timely as ever, I felt a looming presence behind me, “Will you ever walk up like a normal person?”
“Why would I do that?” Tendo Satori drawled.
I rolled my eyes, “Fine.”
Tendo turned to his team, Shiratorizawa, and started giving them instructions. Soon the game was in full swing. Both teams played their best the whole time. When we were in high school Shiratorizawa was by far the better team, but as time has gone on we’ve evened out. Aoba Joshai barely won. Both teams worked together to clean up as Tendo slunk over to where I was observing.
“A little birdy told me that a certain Oikawa Tooru has returned to Japan.”
“How does Ushijima know?” I asked.
Tendo just shrugged, “You know how he is.”
I rolled my eyes, “What does he want?”
“He wants to pay him a visit.”
“That’s creepy, Tendo.”
“I know,” Tendo defended, “But he’s stubborn. What’s worse is Oikawa hasn’t started working yet so he has to go to his house.”
“How does he plan on finding out where Oikawa lives?”
Tendo looked at me with hooded lids.
“I’m not going to tell you.”
“Ushi already knows, Hedgehog,” Tendo said as he looked back at the teams.
I whipped around to look at him, “What? How?”
“I may have made an educated guess which I happened to be able to confirm.”
“How can you read people like that?” I asked, genuinely curious and possibly scared.
“I’ve been studying Oikawa for years, Hedgehog. I know him better than you do, but to be fair that’s because you’re stupid, so it wasn’t hard to figure out,” Tendo said so fast that I only picked up enough to follow what he was saying before he started to list off facts and guesses, “Just moved back to Japan. Has limited people here. You’re here and still close with his family.”
“How did you-”
“Desperate for some comfort right about now. So, I made a guess which was confirmed when I saw and overheard you and your friends catching up while I waited for the team and, voila! I texted Ushi during the game. He’s probably already there.”
I felt like I was seething.
Tendo looked at me and sighed, “I’ll handle cleaning up from here. You can go. I’ll be right behind you.”
I looked at Tendo and nodded before running off, “Thank you. This man is insane.”
I missed Tendo’s sigh as he looked to the sky, “Ain’t that the truth, Hedgehog. Ain't that the truth.”
~~~~~~
I ran to Oikawa’s door and knocked furiously. He didn’t answer so I assumed that he wasn’t home yet. I sighed and decided to just wait for him outside. Ushijima would probably try and stop him as he entered the building, anyways. As I headed outside I thought about the fact that I saw Oikawa for the first time since high school yesterday and I haven’t had a moments peace since. And it’s not a coincidence. Oikawa is a whirlwind and he always has been. You spend any kind of time with him and you just get caught up and flung around for god knows how long. But I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t missed the feeling of getting caught up with Oikawa.
I don’t know how long I’d been waiting before Oikawa walked over to me, “Iwa-chan? Why are you sitting here?”
“There you are,” I jumped to my feet and began dragging him inside, “We gotta . . .”
I was stopped by a familiar voice saying a little too loudly, “Look, I love a good Oikawa bully as much as the next guy, but maybe we leave him alone for Hedgehog's sake.”
Ushijima didn’t even look at Tendo as he answered, “I don’t know who Hedgehog is.”
“Oh, shit,” Oikawa mumbled just loud enough for me to hear.
Ushijima stopped walking right in front of Oikawa and just looked at him. Oikawa assumed an indignant posture. I got flashbacks to high school tournaments. Everytime these two saw each other they did the same thing. It seems graduation and years to grow hasn’t changed that. Tendo and I make eye contact and we can tell that we’re thinking the same thing. These two volleyball superstars are children who will never grow up. We both fight back a laugh. It would be inappropriate and only serve to piss Oikawa off.
“Come to tell me that I should’ve gone to Shiratorizawa, Ushiwaka?” Oikawa said, flippantly.
“No,” Ushijima said seriously, as he says all things, “I came to ask you to play volleyball with me in Poland.”