Iwaizumi/Oikawa, Pokemon AU
If there’s one thing in life that Hajime is looking forward to, it’s turning ten and starting his own adventure.
Tooru still just wants to play sports, and Hajime calls him a little kid because even though he really likes sports, too, big kids and grown-ups are Pokemon trainers. And Hajime is very mature, Mama says so, and he really wants to be a Pokemon trainer.
“I’ll be a trainer, too, I guess,” Tooru says, when Hajime talks about it, and the casual tone of his voice makes Hajime mad. Tooru doesn’t understand -- he already has his Elgyem, his very own Pokemon that his big sister caught for him. Hajime doesn’t have a big sister, and he doesn’t have a Pokemon. He’s going to get one, though. He’s not allowed to get a Pokedex or a Pokemon from Professor Juniper until he turns ten, but he got a bug net for his ninth birthday and bought three Pokeballs with his birthday money and he is going to go catch himself a Pokemon.
It’s harder than he’d expected, he quickly realizes, when he’s exhausted and scraped up and the sun is setting on his first day on the hunt in the woods. He’d seen three Sewaddles and two Patrats and a Pidove, but they all got away from him. One of the Patrats had even run off with the Pokeball that Hajime threw at it, and Hajime had chased it, yelling, until he lost it in the tall grass.
So he’s down to two Pokeballs.
Still, he’s not deterred. He goes out into the woods every day, sometimes staying out for hours, or the entire day, in his dogged pursuit of his own Pokemon.
You can’t get anything in life without hard work. That’s what Mama always says.
Hajime thinks his Mama is a very smart lady, but he also sometimes wonders if she forgets about Tooru. The only thing Tooru worked hard at was volleyball. And he already had a Pokemon.
“Iwa-chaaaan,” Tooru complains, having followed Hajime out into the woods one day, “can’t you come and play volleyball with me? This is boring!”
“Nobody told you to come,” Hajime says, as gruffly as he can. Tooru whines.
“But it’s boring without you!”
“I have to catch a Pokemon.”
Tooru squats next to a pile of rotting leaves and pokes at them with a stick, pouting dramatically. “Your birthday is soon, why can’t you just wait until you can get one from Professor Juniper?”
Tooru doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand, and so Hajime doesn’t answer.
Suddenly, Tooru shrieks and falls backwards, scrabbling on the ground. A pudgy, magenta Pokemon hisses at him from where he’s disturbed its hiding place among the leaves. It rears up on its stubby legs and clacks its pincers aggressively. Tooru shrieks again.
“Iwa-chan! Do something! Get it! Ewww!”
Hajime gasps and brings his net down on the Pokemon. It screeches, and Hajime and Tooru both wince at the grating sound. Hajime holds the net down with both hands and it doesn’t escape.
Tooru is jumping up and down beside Hajime. “Throw a Pokeball at it! Throw a Pokeball, Iwa-chan!”
Hajime fumbles for a Pokeball from his pocket, and his one-handed grip isn’t enough to keep the Pokemon subdued but Tooru leaps into action, adding his own strength to Hajime’s, and together they manage to keep the Pokemon trapped until Hajime gets the Pokeball out of his pocket and throws it.
It wiggles, and they watch it together, panting. The net droops, forgotten. Hajime’s entire body is tense, his entire focus narrowed to that one wobbling Pokeball. It shakes once more, then goes still. There’s a faint click.
Hajime just stares at it.
Tooru whoops and throws his arms around Hajime’s neck. “You did it! You did it, Iwa-chan, you caught your first Pokemon!”
Hajime bends over and picks up the Pokeball in a shaky hand and stares at it some more. He can’t believe it. After days and days in the woods… he finally caught a Pokemon. Tooru hugs him again. Hajime finally smiles, and it breaks across his entire face, spreading wide until his cheeks hurt with the force of it.
“I did it,” he says, full of awe and excitement. “I caught a Venipede!”
And oh, he thinks, staring at the Pokeball in his hands, the Pokeball that holds his very own Pokemon, now he really can’t wait to turn ten.