Awkward Coffee Date
Oikawa rolled his eyes dramatically, “Oh, my god, Ushiwaka! Do you ever stop?”
“At least hear me out,” Ushijima said, clearly expecting this response.
I took this moment to step forward, “There’s a cafe just over there where you can sit down and talk.”
Ushijima nodded, “That sounds like a good idea.”
Oikawa just rolled his eyes and followed Ushijima to the cafe. Tendo gave me a look as he walked past me. I understood what he meant in the same way that I understood him earlier, but this time the message was different. These two care about volleyball far more than we have ever cared about almost anything. We know this so we are willing to sacrifice a lot for them to get to be happy. Tendo gets annoyed by Ushijima’s fixation on Oikawa and I don’t want to lose my best friend again, but if that’ll make those two happy then we’ll support them all the way. It was an almost painful realization, but I knew that it was true and it probably always had been.
And probably always will be.
“Iwa-chan?” Oikawa’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
I looked up and saw him standing a few feet away while Tendo and Ushijima were right outside the cafe door. Oikawa gave me the look that he always did when I was being dense. I knew what he was trying to say, but it was just so funny when he thought I was stupid. I furrowed my brows and cocked my head.
Oikawa rolled his eyes, “Come on. We have the world’s most painful meeting to attend.”
I pointed stupidly at myself, “Me too?”
He marched over and grabbed my arm, “Yes, you, dumbass,” as he began to drag me towards the cafe.
See? We’re both cruel to each other.
I walked into the cafe with these three very tall men behind me. Mori gave me a look as I came in. She could tell things were oddly tense between me, her good friend from college, and the three intimidating strangers behind me. I walked up to her and smiled. She seemed to relax until Oikawa dramatically draped himself over me.
He smiled slyly at her, “I see you started making a drink when you saw Iwa-chan. Is he a regular here?”
Mori looked determined as she answered, which I didn’t understand, “Yeah. Iwa always gets the same thing.”
Oikawa’s eyes widened, “Iwa, huh? I’ll have the same thing.”
“Add a shot of caramel to his,” I rolled my eyes.
“Iwa-chan, stop policing my coffee!”
“You won’t like mine. Ushijima, Tendo, order. I’ll be buying.”
“I’ll have a lungo!” Tendo called over Oikawa’s head, “And he’ll have an Americano.”
Mori shook her head, “Did you say Ushijima? Like Ushijima Wakatoshi the volleyball player?”
I furrowed my brows, “You watch volleyball?”
“Yeah. I started in college.”
“Who’s your favorite team?” Tendo asked.
“Well, I didn’t know much about volleyball so I just watched Iwa’s favorite team.”
“Oh?” Oikawa asked, “And who’s Iwa’s favorite team?”
“Argentina” Mori said at the same time as I said “Japan”.
Mori and I looked at each other very confused.
“Who said that Argentina was my favorite team?”
“You never missed a game,” Mori insisted, “We’d all try to hang out on weekends and you’d turn us down saying that Argentina had a game. You still do that.”
Oikawa looked at me with a look that was too touched for my liking, “Iwa-chan you watched every game?”
I pushed him off of me, “Bring us our drinks. We’ll be staying here. Thank you.”
With that I guided everyone to a table. Oikawa, avoiding the inevitable, suggested that we wait for our drinks before we started talking. Tendo took this opportunity to catch up with Oikawa as I explained everything to Mori over text. I told her that Oikawa and I went to high school together and played volleyball. Ushijima and Tendo played for an opposing team. The tension between Oikawa and Ushijima were especially high until graduation. After graduation Oikawa became the setter of Argentina’s volleyball team (she said he looked familiar), Ushijima started with Poland’s volleyball team, and Tendo decided to be a chocolatier and the coach of Shiritorizawa’s volleyball team. She thought that was all very cool and mocked me as she gave us our drinks. It wasn’t obvious to everyone else, but I knew. That was all she needed.
Ushijima opened his mouth to speak, but Oikawa held up his finger as he took a sip. He was stalling. I took a sip of my drink and gestured for Tendo and Ushijima to do the same. I kicked Oikawa under the table and he gave me a scandalized look. I gave him a look which I knew that he understood to mean ‘stop stalling and get on with it, dumbass’. He gave me his signature pout, but listened.
“Okay, Ushibaka,” he said, “What did you want to talk to me about, again?”
“First, congratulations on moving back,” Ushijima said, as he grabbed something from under the table, which was odd as I don’t remember him having anything, “I brought these as a house warming present.”
It was a fucking cardboard box full of fucking strawberries.
Oikawa and I just stared at it in silence for a solid minute before Tendo spoke up, “Ushiwaka visits Japan often enough to maintain a garden! His strawberries are especially delightful.”
“Ah,” Oikawa said awkwardly as he took the box, “Thank you.”
Ushijima nodded before continuing, “I came here to invite you to join me in Poland to play volleyball.”
Oikawa simply smiled at him, “No.”
“Oikawa,” I scolded quietly.
He threw me a ‘what’ look as Ushijima spoke again, “I understand that you left Argentina’s team so it seemed like the perfect time to invite you to join me in Poland.”
Oikawa stiffened, “I’m sorry, Ushijima, but I cannot play volleyball with you. Now nor ever.”