#I feel like Hajimes parents just sort of went By The Book and nothing more.

[hajihiko]

That is generally sad because having parents who aren't really abusive or emotionally straining yet- they don't really feel like people who LOVE you? I guess? Like- Hajime's parents were probably just normal everyday parents like Makotos but, I'm just spit Ballin here, they're less optimistic than Makotos parents, who in contrast, always bonded with their children and loved them right off the bat.

You can feel like a stranger in your family, and that sucks. It's no one's direct fault and no one can point to any huge grievance, which makes it hard to pinpoint, which means you never get the Comfort Of Family or the Tools of Dealing With Abusive Parents- you just. Manage.

#Parents who do their due diligence but cannot connect with their kid once it has a personality and opinions- it's real ask your friends #I feel like Hajimes parents just sort of went By The Book and nothing more. #Convo at the dinnertable was just. How was school? How was work? Any extra curriculars? #The neighbours got a dog. How is your old friend? Oh you havent talked in 6 years? The balcony needs painting. #That's it. Bed time. No one ever gets close at all. It's more polite conversation than you'd have at the bus stop #No interest and most of all no desire or dare to rock the boat. This works. We function as a family. That's the best we can do. #Otherwise we'd bring up a problem which unearths years and YEARS of unhappiness that ruins our otherwise stable life #Every single moment of frustration comes out at once. Because none of it ever got aired out. Cant have that can we?? #So again. How was school? Doing good? Try hard okay? Good night.

[coldflame96]

So stay with me and I’ll have it made

Summary: For Kyo Week. Prompt 5; Rain 

Rating: G

Also found on AO3

This is just ridiculously self-indulgent fluff. 

Kyo woke up and saw that Tohru's side of the bed was empty, neatly made, which hinted she's been gone for quite a while. He vaguely recalled her telling him she was going somewhere and then kissing his forehead, but it was hazy. She always was an early riser, and normally he was too, but today he felt...lethargic. Even just sitting up was a struggle, limbs heavy with fatigue, and he had a headache. Was he getting sick? He heard the gentle patter of something hitting the roof and looked out the window.

It’s raining. That explains it.

Learning that the rain still bothered him even after the cat spirit left him was...annoying, but he was used to it by now. He was sure that was probably the reason Tohru went wherever she was going on her own. He heard some shuffling from down the hall and groaned a bit at the thought of having to get up. Good thing it was a Sunday so he wasn’t obligated to be productive…

He stuck a leg out, mentally preparing to leave the comfort of his bed, and right as he did, his door flew open and Emika toddled in.

“Daddy?” She put her arms up for him to carry her. He smiled at her gently.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he hoisted her up, with effort because she wasn’t a tiny baby anymore and she was getting heavy. “What have you been doing?”

She didn’t answer, tugging at his shirt, holding out a large block. “Play!”

He grimaced. “I don’t know if Daddy has the energy for that today, honey. He’s not feeling too great.”

She cocked her head and he wondered how much of that she actually understood. She was still pretty little.

“No play?” Her huge, brown eyes practically inflated.

He wasn’t getting out of this, was he? But he really didn’t wanna get out of bed…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hajime had only turned his back for one minute, and Emika was gone. Mom had asked him to watch over her while she went to the store since it was raining and Dad never did well with that. It’s not like he couldn’t read outside in the living room just as easily as he did on his bed.

Except that last chapter had been particularly intense and one minute, Emika was playing with her blocks and the next minute, she was gone.

And he had a pretty good idea of where she went.

He rolled his eyes, tucked his book under his arm, and headed towards the parents room.

He saw the door completely open and his suspicions were looking more and more likely. His parents always left the door cracked so they could still have their privacy while not locking Emika out since she was too small to reach the handle.

Sure enough...There she was, sitting on top of Dad’s lap handing him a small collection of blocks (How did she even carry all those?) and he sighed. So much for letting him rest.

They both turned to him at the same time. “Did you need something?” Dad asked.

His voice sounded groggy and Hajime felt a little guilty for not doing his job properly.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I was reading and I got distracted. I was supposed to keep her from bothering you.”

He frowned. “You guys don’t ever bother me.”

He averted his eyes. “Yeah, well, I still should’ve kept a closer eye on her since Mom asked me to.”

“Where's your mom?”

“At the store buying ingredients for dinner.”

Dad gave him a confused look. “We just went shopping the other day.”

He shrugged. “Maybe she wanted to do something special.”

Emika decided at that moment that Dad wasn’t paying enough attention to her and started tugging his shirt again, whining. “Daddy, play!”

“Alright, I’m sorry. Your brother distracted me.” He gave him a sly look, almost secretive.

Hajime rolled his eyes. “I can take her if you want. So you can rest.”

His dad raised an eyebrow. “It’s fine, Hajime. You’re not her parent, so she’s not really your responsibility anyway.”

That was...technically true, but the dismissive tone sort of made him feel a little spiteful. Leaving the room would make it seem like he failed. He tsked and sat on the other side of the bed, the made side, next to them, and leaned back on the pillow, opening his book. His dad looked amused.

“What are you doing?”

“Reading.”

“Alright then.”

He was told to watch over his baby sister and if she was gonna be in here, then so was he.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kazuya’s episode of his favorite cartoon had just finished and it was then that he noticed he was the only one left in the room. Where did Emi-chan and Nii-san go? They were in here just a second ago. Were they playing hide and seek? He jumped from his spot. Well, if they’re hiding, I’m gonna find them.

First place he checked was under the couch. Nothing.

He opened the closet door. Nope.

He saw that Mommy and Daddy’s room was open and cocked his head. Their door wasn't usually open and Daddy wasn’t feeling well. And like a lightbulb, it came to him. They’re hiding in the closet!

He pressed himself to the corner, prepared to sneak up on them, but then did a double take when he saw Nii-san sitting in Mommy’s spot reading, Daddy sleeping next to him.

“Why are you in here?” he asked curiously, and Nii-san jolted, glaring at him..

“Shh!” he pointed at Daddy next to him, and he only just noticed that Emi-chan was on top of him, also sleeping.

“Sorry,” he whispered. Just looking at how comfy they were made him feel sleepy.

He went to his brother’s side, hopping over his long legs to press himself next to Daddy.

“What are you doing?” Nii-san hissed. “If you wake them up, you’ll be sorry.”

He maneuvered his way under the covers, warm from Daddy being there, and gave his brother a triumphant look.

His daddy groaned and both of them froze, Nii-san getting that look he usually did before getting mad at him, but then Kazuya felt an arm around him, bringing him in closer to his dad’s side, and then nothing. He relaxed.

“Nii-san, you should nap with us too. It’s warm under here.”

His brother didn’t look up from his book. “No.”

He pouted. “Why not?”

“Because I’m not a baby and I don’t need a nap.”

“I’m not-” he yawned in the middle of his sentence, “I’m not a baby.”

“Uh-huh.”

And the sound of the rain mixed with the heat of the blanket knocked him right out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tohru sighed, carrying her bags for dinner. She’d been gone longer than she thought due to the market being surprisingly packed for a rainy Sunday.

She opened her door, putting the umbrella in.

“I’m home!” She called out. But there was no response.

Huh, that’s strange. In a house with three children and a husband, it normally wasn’t this quiet.

She put her perishables in the fridge and walked down the hallway. Where was everyone?

She was about to ask Kyo-kun if he knew anything or see if he even was still here, but paused in the doorway at the sight before her.

There was her husband, asleep to her lack of surprise, but the interesting part was all the kids around him, also asleep. Emi-chan was on his chest, Kazu-kun was burrowed under the covers next to him, gripping his shirt, and Hajime-kun was on top of the comforter on her side, pressed against his little brother, an open book in his hand, like he’d fallen asleep while reading.

They were all practically one pile and it was quite possibly one of the most precious things she’d ever seen in her life. She got her phone out to take a picture and moved closer so she wouldn’t have to zoom in. Oh, she was definitely sending this to Uo-chan.

“Don’t,” Kyo-kun grunted.

She pouted. “Oh, you’re awake?”

“Have been since you walked in.”

She knew he was always very in tune with her, but she never thought that extended to her just entering a room. She almost felt bad about waking him.

“Right.” She kissed his forehead. “I’m sorry for disturbing you then.”

She made to leave, but felt a yank on her arm as she fell onto the bed, her husband’s face now in front of her, looking tired but amused.

“Nah, you’re not going anywhere.”  

“Kyo-kun,” she huffed, “It’s Sunday.” Sunday was normally the day she caught up on her chores.

And he knew this and was being smug.

“Should’ve thought about that before coming in here.” His grip tightened. “Now you’re stuck with us.”

She sighed in defeat. She supposed there were worse ways to spend a Sunday than in her husband’s arms, surrounded by her family.

The chores could wait a couple hours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kyo blinked his eyes open, wincing a little at how bright it was. Why is it so hot? He was sweating. And his chest felt like there was a weight on it. His vision cleared and he saw his daughter on top of him, Tohru against his side, Kazuya and Hajime on the other side. He was completely trapped. He couldn’t get up even if he wanted to.

He saw the sun peeking in through the window. It had stopped raining at some point, but that was fine.

He wasn’t dealing with it alone anymore, holed up in his room and miserable. Now he was surrounded by the people he loved the most, his entire world.

It could rain forever for all he cared.

He was content.

#kyoru #kyo sohma #tohru honda #hajime sohma #fruits basket

[yourdanganronpaimagines-blog]

Ohhh, I feel blessed with all of these new Danganronpa blogs opening up. Welcome Mod Kaede, I hope you enjoy this all you and are happy! Hm I would like to do a request of an upset S/O, who just came home crying after there was a massive family argument and seeking comfort from Nagito, Hajime, Fuyuhiko, Shuichi and Koichi. Filled with fluff please, apologies on how big this is. Thank you!

Thank you for your kind words! And don’t worry about it being too specific! The more details the better! This took some time so I apologize for taking awhile!

I think I went a little overboard with Fuyuhiko’s sorry about that!

Nagito,Hajime, Fuyuhiko, Shuichi and Kokichi with a s/o that’s upset after a family argument!

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu  Baby gangsta

-Fuyuhiko was just laying down on the couch in the living room watching some yakuza movies while waiting for you to come back from your family’s home. You told him that’d wouldn’t be long and that you’ll come back in an hour or two

-While he was watching the film he heard the door creak open very slowly and once he heard your footsteps he looked up at you “yo how was the f**king din-” he stopped right before he was gonna finish his sentence to see  tears rolling down your cheeks while hearing your heavy breathing 

-”What the f**k is wrong? Why are you f**king crying?” He ran over to you and shook your shoulders while keep on asking the same question while hearing him cursing  and asking desperately trying to get you to speak up

-”I - I  ha -ha -had  a  rea - really b- bad fight with  m - m -  my  famil- family”  

-You finally spilled out the whole story, not very clearly since you were stuttering and sobbing so much 

-Once he’d finally heard those words he gave you a big hug why the f**k is baby gangsta hugging me

-”Tch, you should’ve f**king told me sooner, I can understand how you f**king feel, my parents used to fight 24/7 and it always did make me feel like a piece of sh*t” you smiled a bit knowing that he can understand how you feel

-You returned his hug and Fuyuhiko led you over to the couch and kissed you on the forehead 

- He thought of putting on a movie of your choice while watching it you two were cuddling while he was comforting  you 

-”Don’t give a damn sh*t of them right now, you should probably calm down first and maybe tomorrow you can go sort this sh*t up because I can’t handle seeing you like this” and gave another kiss on your cheek

-You felt so much better after that and happy that you were lucky enough to have somebody like Fuyuhiko 

-When the movie was almost half finished you dozed down and Fuyuhiko held your hand and put you on his bed

Nagito Komaeda  bagel boi

-Nagito was just reading one of his books while waiting for you to come back home from your family’s place

-He heard the door open up and he looked up with an excited look on his face ready to ask you about your day

-When he saw you make your entrance he wasn’t greeted with his hope filled s/o but his s/o with tears flowing down her eyes, her hands trembling and hearing her sobs he closed his book and walked over to you

-”My dear s/o, what’s the matter? What made you filled with so much despair?”

-”F- fam -family  f - f -f -fight” you cried as you tried to stop tears from flowing down your cheeks

-You stuttered so much and when you  finally got your words out, and before you knew it bagel boi   Nagito brought you into a tight hug 

-Really he didn’t know what to do, he was panicking on the inside 

-He asked you to sit on his couch while he went to go get some blankets for you

-When he came back he offered to go ahead and spread some fluffy blankets on top of you and he sat beside you and red a bit of his book to you while you were laying down on his shoulder

-When he heard your cute snore he giggled a bit and kissed your forehead

-”I love you”

Hajimeme Hajime

-Hajime was just upstairs in his bedroom doing nothing in particular but just waiting patiently for you to come home 

-He heard the door open up he got of his bed to go see you until he heard your voice, it wasn’t a very pleasant way you sounded, it sounded like you were crying? 

-He rushed downstairs to see you looking down shaking and covering your face with your hands

-” A- are you ok s/o?:”

-The words were much too difficult to form out you said random gibberish and kept stuttering and Hajime kinda shaped out what you were trying to say

-Once he’d finally got the idea he quietly muttered “dammit!” while trying to think of what to say next to try make you feel better 

-”S/o don’t worry it’s gonna be ok, they’re your family I’m sure that you’re gonna be able to figure it out!” He had an unsure smile on his face and quickly looked down 

-He whipped your tears with his hands and give you a hopeful smile, trying to lighten up the mood a little and it worked a little, you returned a smile and that made him sigh in relief 

-You both went upstairs to his room and you quickly went over to lay  down on his bed 

-He put his hand behind his neck and followed you over 

-You both talked about the problem for an hour and then the conversation changed into a light happy one

-It was nice to have talk with him every now in awhile 

-”Please don’t be upset like that again s/o it r - really made me heartbroken” he said that with a little sweat coming from his forehead to his cheek

-You rolled over to him and giggled a little bit “I promise I won’t!” And kissed him on the forehead

-Now he’s a blushing mess

-Help him

Emo Boi Shuichi

-Shuichi was up in his office trying to figure out the culprit of a murder case

-Everything was normal except you weren’t there helping him out, instead you were over at your family’s home

-It was really late until he heard the keys clanging together and hearing the door open up 

-”Shuichi? W- where are y -you?” Was that the sound of… sniffling?

-”In m- my office s/o!” the sound of nervousness was in his voice

-He started to think about it as he tried to write on the piece of paper his hand was vibrating trying to form out the words with the ink of his pen but instead he formed random scribbles

-The door to his office was already opened so you just walked in exposing your entire face to him

-Red eyes,shivering hands and salty drops flowing down your eyes one after the other 

-Shuichi being really concerned dropped his pen and rushed over to you “s/o whats wrong? Why are you crying? What happened?” Question after question you tried to tell him everything but it’s like you forgot how to speak

-”A r - really bad fight br- broke out between m - me and my *hic* f - famil -family” 

-The tone in your voice obviously put everything into place being understanding Shuichi nodded his head gave you a hug “it’ll be ok s/o, let’s calm you down before we try to figure out a solution” he comforted while gently patting your back

-He offered you to sit down on his chair while he stood up looking down in a focused look

-”S/o why not solve it tomorrow? They obviously s - should calm down too it’ll make the problem alot easier, wanna help me solve this case? Of course you d- don’t have to it’s just an offer!” He asked, you could tell he’s unsure with his idea by seeing a little sweat coming down to his cheek and fiddling with his hands

-You nodded in agreement and he went off to  go get a second chair 

-For the next few hours you two were solving the case and you did point out a good few clues to maybe help him find out who the killer is 

-You sounded so cheerful again and that brought a smile to his face relieved that his s/o is feeling better

-When he was just about to finish up you have him a kiss on the cheek.

-A blush blossomed on his face and that made you giggle a bit

-You completely forgot that you were upset in the first place!

 Panta Child Kokichi

-Kokichi was chilling on the couch drinking his panta as always, he was trying to think up some good pranks to pull off on his s/o something she has never encountered before

-He heard the knock on the door, Kokichi stole your keys before you left so it was a joy to hear that

-As he skipped to the door very slowly he eventually made it and opened the door 

-”Hey s/o! How is everything! Where are your keys why did you knock?” He said with a happy  expression without taking a look at your face, puffy eyes,runny nose and tears streaming down to your chin

- When he did notice his reaction was alot different it’s Kokichi what do you expect “hey s/o what’s wrong? What’s wrong what’s wrong? Hey hey!” He seemed to be pretty excited? Who knows it’s Kokichi

-”I -I had a m- massive family argument..” your words were sloppy and nobody could really understand what you were saying without having to repeat the sentence a few times

-When you sobbed out the words Kokichi started crying even more then you did! ”I’ll get my secret organization to pull of a brutal prank!” Kokichi wailed, this was an interesting turn of events

-He skipped back to the couch to go get a panta bottle for you and himself “if you ever need my help just call me! I’ll give them what they deserve!” Of course that’s not gonna make anything better but you couldn’t hold back your giggles

-The two of you were just cuddling on the couch while Kokichi was talking about ways to get revenge “Kokichi, that’s not gonna fix anything! Or make anything better!” You gave him a light  punch on his arm

#kokichi #kokichi ouma #Mod #Mod Kaede #Akamatsu #Danaganronpa #2 #v3 #danganronpav3 #danganronpagoodbyedespair #fuyuhiko kuzuryuu #fuyuhiko #shuichi #saihara #komaeda #kuzuryuu #nagito #fluff #Hajime

[rageprufrock]

Preview: Something Borrowed [Haikyuu! Iwaizumi/Oikawa]

So I’m bored and I thought I’d inflict my WIP on all of you because why not. This is not, I repeat, not going to be 80K. 

Iwaizumi Hajime was born just a month before Tooru, sudden screaming arrivals next door to each other in their cluttered little residential street. For their families, it had made sense to pool childcare, and so since they were the littlest of babies, they've been tucked into cradles and playpens together, fallen asleep with their tiny hands clutched together. "So sweet," Iwa-chan's mother used to say, and Tooru's mom used to tease, "Maybe one day Hajime-kun will have Tooru for his bride." Growing up Tooru used to hear this teasing all the time, but it made perfect sense to him: of course one day when Iwa-chan was older, and Tooru was older, they would put on nice kimonos and get married so that they'd never be apart again, and their parents couldn't separate them just because it was getting dark and it was time for dinner.

***

Iwa-chan's campus and Tokyo Medical University Hospital are both in Shinjuku, so when they'd gone apartment-hunting in the city Iwa-chan had said, "Don't make the commute too awful for me, Shittykawa," and disappeared back into his books. If Tooru had left it to Iwa-chan, they'd probably have ended up in some terrible spot halfway between Shinjuku and Koto, where FC Tokyo practices, and they'd both be miserable.

It's much better this way, with their cute little third-floor walk-up in Takadanobaba on a quiet residential street. There's a row of bicycles out front, and it's a six-minute walk to the station, just a few hops way from Iwa-chan's campus, and a 40 minute ride to Tooru's gym. There's a balcony for their laundry — because Iwa-chan's an old man, and thinks all their clothing smells weird unless it's dried in fresh air — and plenty of sun in for the little greenhouse Tooru's cultivating in the tatami room: a droopy English ivy and a voluble philodendron, a jade plant with chubby fingers and a wispy spider plant, the green cloud of an asparagus fern. Tooru never thought he'd picked up his Okaa-chan's green thumb, but he loves the sight of them: bright green and thriving.

Sunday mornings are Tooru's favorite: he doesn't have practice, and Iwa-chan takes the morning off from studying. They go to the grocery stores early, and after they get home Iwa-chan cooks lunch and Tooru fusses over their little garden, and they have just enough time to watch a dumb movie and fall asleep under the kotastu before the alarm goes off telling Iwa-chan to go meet his study group at the library.

It's not the easy everyday togetherness of their childhood, but it's not the awful loneliness of Tooru's first year in Tokyo, either, when he'd been on the development team and Iwa-chan had been back in Sendai taking a ronin year to study for his entrance exams. Tooru had lived in a dismal little studio apartment with a leaking sink and lied about eating combini food all the time, and he used to cry on the walk home from the gym because he missed his house and his mom and his Iwa-chan so badly.

"Oi, Trash-kawa, you're probably scaring the locals," Iwa-chan used to yell at him over the phone, but his voice had sounded as awful and tired as Tooru felt.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he had lied, and scrubbed at his face with the cuffs of his team jacket on the street, at the Family Mart, walking into his shabby little building with its dark and dusty hallways. "Oikawa-san is as sparkling as ever."

The day Iwa-chan had texted, Tokyo Medical, and followed up with, do you wanna be roommates or are you attached to that shithole I had to drive you back to last month? Tooru had screamed in dizzying, embarrassing joy at the combini checkout line and been forced to abandon all his purchases to run out — immediately — into the night and call Iwa-chan to scream in dizzying, embarrassing joy right in his ear.

And even though the days are still tough and the nights are still long, Tooru gets to come home to the sound of the TV chattering on low, Iwa-chan moving around their apartment, the green bobbing leaves of their plants.

***

Sometimes Tooru forgets how strange it must be, on the outside looking on them.

Even now, it's still rare to see an alpha and an omega living together without wedding rings and family registries getting involved, and Iwa-chan gets a lot of dirty looks from old biddies in the neighborhood when they realize that nice young married couple in the building next door isn't married at all. (Another reason it was lucky Tooru had done the apartment hunting: there was no way Iwa-chan would have been brazen enough to ignore the landlady's poorly concealed disapproval when she'd seen the application papers for her new tenants.) People must think, "oh, those young people, where are their morals? living in sin before marriage?" and, "how irresponsible, they'll just get carried away during a heat or a rut, and have to make it official anyway — why delay?"

But the truth isn't anything like that at all: they sleep in separate rooms, and they've only ever kissed once. They were 8, and Tooru had a meltdown because he'd seen a cute omega girl from the other side of the neighborhood hold Iwa-chan's hand for almost 15 seconds before Iwa-chan had pulled away. Even now, a full two decades later, Tooru can remember his panicked fury, the way he'd felt his tiny heart going nuclear in his chest until Iwa-chan had said, "Ugh," and kissed him, rough and impatient and with a loud smack, right on the lips. He'd demanded, "Are you happy now?" but he'd been blushing as he'd said it, and Tooru had been so shocked he'd gone mute, been quiet all afternoon, holding Iwa-chan's hand and feeling unaccountably shy, trailing him home.

Tooru remembers overhearing one of his mother's friends laughing, "Gosh, Tooru-kun and Hajime-kun are just a foregone conclusion, aren't they?" and his mother answering:

"A little, but it's so sweet — and it's good to know someone will be taking care of him."

For years, Tooru had clutched that close to the heart, waiting for the foregone conclusion to arrive. But his first heat came and went — leaving behind all kinds of horrible new rules: no more sleepovers, no visiting during his time of the month — and then high school came and went, and there were no conclusions to be had. And after a while even Tooru had to admit that maybe everybody had been wrong; he tried not to think about it too much because it hurt the way his knee does: a chronic ache, something they can't fix, that he's learned to cope with since there aren't any other options.

But sometimes, when he's out and about, someone they know only a little will say, "How's your husband doing?" and Tooru will flash them his biggest, brightest smile and say, "Still busy — first-year interns, you know!"

It's sort of pathetic and exactly the kind of underhanded thing Iwa-chan would give him grief over, but that's why it's staying Tooru's secret, and not Iwa-chan's business at all.

***

Anyway, the point is they were fine, just fine, until Iwa-chan's dad got involved.

***

Tooru doesn't like it, but Iwa-chan's family likes to call during Sunday morning grocery runs. He knows it's mean, because obviously Auntie Iwaizumi misses her son, too, but honestly Oikawa has Iwa-chan all to himself for maybe 12 waking hours a week. But sometimes, it's nice, too, hearing Iwa-chan's side of the conversation as they buy cabbage and carrots, pick through the shitake mushrooms and try to remember if there's any red miso left.

"Ah," Iwa-chan says, when they're buying negi.

"No," Iwa-chan says, when they're looking at all the fruit, so expensive it makes Tooru's toes curl, even though the strawberries look amazing: dark red like rubies and gleaming.

"It's fine," Iwa-chan says, and it takes Tooru a minute to realize it's directed at him, and then Iwa-chan's grabbing a box of strawberries and putting it in their basket, even though it's going to cost an arm and a leg. "Ah — nothing. Just Oikawa was looking at fruit — no, we're fine. Kaa-san, we have enough money."

Tooru leans over Iwa-chan's shoulder so he can sing-song, "Don't worry, Auntie! I'm a very reliable breadwinner!"

Iwa-chan puts a hand in Tooru's face in shoves him away — rude, and says, "Ah? Otou-san? What is it?"

Tooru touches Iwa-chan on the hip, points down the aisle, and Iwa-chan nods before turning back to the phone call, mumbling, "Um — I think so, why?" Tooru goes to buy milk bread and Iwa-chan's awful dried fish strips, in the orange plastic bag, more dish detergent, and Iwa-chan's drying, horrible bar soap he likes. He buys more houjicha, a new thermos to replace the one that's been leaking all over Iwa-chan's books for a week, and he elbows past a bunch of neighborhood homemakers to grab two dozen vitamin jelly packs on buy two get two free sale. By the time he meets Iwa-chan in the dairy aisle, his arms are full, and normally this would be when Iwa-chan would sigh and say, "You always get too much stuff in one trip," except today he's just holding a carton of milk staring like an idiot into the refrigeration case, slack-jawed.

"But —Otou-san," Iwa-chan is saying, and Tooru stops at the end of the aisle, worried.

In Iwa-chan's second year of medical school Uncle Iwaizumi had gone to the hospital with chest pains. It had turned out all right, but he still remembers getting that awful phone call at 2 a.m. from Auntie because Iwa-chan was so tired he'd slept through six calls from home, having to wake him — the awful drive back to Miyagi, the dingy yellow tiles of the hospital hallway. He'd missed practice for two days, running errands and helping his Okaa-chan cook. Iwa-chan doesn't cry — he always says that's Tooru's job because he's awful like that — but he'd cried that first night in the hospital: from relief that it was just a small heart attack, from worry, and Tooru remembers sitting hand in hand with Iwa-chan in the hospital hallway, pretending not to see anything.

"I just — ! It's completely — ! Fine," Iwa-chan snarls and hangs up the phone, and Tooru snaps into action when he sees the way Iwa-chan's gorilla-fist is squeezing the carton in a way that means imminent milk explosion on aisle seven.

"Iwa-chan," Tooru hisses, dumping his armful into their shopping basket and peeling Iwa-chan's fingers off of the milk. "Let go!"

The milk actually has cartoonish finger wrinkles on it, and Tooru puts it in their cart because there's brazen and then there's being rude to people who aren't Iwa-chan, and starts steering them out of the grocery store.

"Well?" he asks, once they're in line to and pay and the vein in Iwa-chan's forehead looks less like it's going to explode. "What was that about? Is Uncle okay?"

The vein throbs again. "He's fine," Iwa-chan growls, and mumbles, "Sorry," to the poor checkout boy — a tiny omega probably no older than 18 — who'd visibly flinched.

"Ignore him, he's just cranky," Tooru sweeps in to say, flashing the kid a million-watt grin and nudging Iwa-chan out of the way. Iwa-chan had had one last growth spurt at the very end of high school, and closed the height difference between them, which was firstly infuriating for Tooru, and secondly problematic for the poor people who had to interact with Iwa-chan regularly, since now he was even taller, built like a brick house, and had the kind of face that left you instantly afraid you were going to get your ass kicked. One day, he was going to be a terrifying doctor.

They manage to make it out of the grocery store, their breath clouding and a shiver stealing through him, and Tooru trots up next to Iwa-chan, their arms pressed together. Tooru can feel how tense Iwa-chan's muscles are, through his jacket, the hunch of his shoulders, and he wonders what Uncle said, if Auntie's okay. If Iwa-chan says Tooru talks too much, then Tooru thinks it's fair to say that Iwa-chan talks too little: everything he thinks and feels compressed into some angry fist in his throat — and then it's Tooru's job to dig and dig and dig until he figures it out so he can fix it.

"So Uncle is okay," Tooru says, waving at a little alpha girl who lives nearby: she has two long braids and a transparently adorable crush on Tooru, based on the blushing. "Is Auntie okay?"

"Leave it alone, Shittykawa," Iwa-chan grunts, hangs a left down their little street.

Tooru shakes his head. "No, nope," he declares. "It would be irresponsible — you almost went Incredible Hulk on our grocery store dairy aisle."

"Fine," Iwa-chan mutters. "They're both dead. They called me from beyond the grave."

"You're awful," Tooru says, stomping his foot, leaning against Iwa-chan's shoulder hard as he checks the mailbox: bills, magazines, a letter from the bank. He presses his forehead into the familiar broadness of Iwa-chan's back and says, quiet, "I care about them, too, you know."

Iwa-chan freezes for a beat at the mailbox, his entire body tensed, and it's a long time before he lets out a sigh — exhausted, and says, "Yeah — come on. Let's go inside first."

***

Iwa-chan's never just been Tooru's childhood friend; it's easier to explain it that way, but it's never been completely honest. They were always too close; they didn't split off for their own interests, their own more-appropriate friends as they grew older. They had clung, stubbornly and against all odds, to one another through three different schools and multiple decades.

"Don't you ever wonder if there's someone you're missing out on?" Tooru's sister used to ask him, when she'd bring Takeru home and their parents were off spoiling their first grandchild.

"No," Tooru had told her, unshakeable then and unshakeable now with certainty. "There's no one better in this world than Iwa-chan."

She'd flushed, despairing, embarrassed for him, and said, "I can't believe you two."

"I believe us," Tooru had said, stubborn, and he meant it then as he means it now.

Maybe he's being an idiot; maybe the whispers in high school had been right. Tooru's not immune to doubt. But somewhere deep, he doesn't think he's wrong — to believe, to wait, to trust that Iwa-chan understands.

***

Except evidently Iwa-chan did not understand.

"God, don't cry," Iwa-chan groans.

"I'm not crying!" Tooru cries, dragging the cuffs of his hoodie — of Iwa-chan's hoodie up to scrub at his face.

"It's just coffee," Iwa-chan says, and to be fair he looks almost as upset about it as Tooru feels, which solves exactly zero problems and makes Tooru feel no better at all. Iwa-chan sighs and reaches over, saying, "Come on, Oikawa — "

"No!" Tooru yells, twisting away because if Iwa-chan gets one of his massive, heavy paws on him Tooru knows he's weak and pathetic and will just let himself get dragged into Iwa-chan's annoyingly chiseled chest and be petted into consolation. "No way! Don't you dare, you — you — you person who goes on omiais."

It's genuinely upsetting that Tooru is 184 cm and a professional athlete and Iwa-chan studies 25 hours a day, and somehow is still strong enough to grab Tooru by the elbow and haul him close, across the length of the sofa until Tooru's pressed up against — he knew it! — Iwa-chan's chest.

"God damn it, Shittykawa," Iwa-chan snaps, angry and embarrassed and a little upset the way he always gets a little upset when he makes Tooru cry. "It's not an omiai."

Tooru's not strong enough to break the grip of Iwa-chan's gorilla hands, so he doesn't bother trying, just pushes to keep as much space between them as possible because his stupid lizard brain has been trained since birth to roll over at the smell of Iwa-chan's skin, and right now, he wants to be angry.

"You're going out with some slutty, stupid, husband-hunting omega — "

"If anybody said that about you I'd punch them," Iwa-chan cuts in.

" — extra slutty, extra stupid, extra husband-hunting omega," Tooru says, getting shriller with every syllable, "and you are going to wear a suit, and it's the suit I made you buy and you are absolutely the worst and — "

"It's just coffee," Iwa-chan yells. "And I'm only going because Otou-san's boss asked, okay? It doesn't mean anything!"

Tooru had spent days picking out the single tie he has managed to compel Iwa-chan into owning; he cannot believe someone else is going to reap the fruits of his tender labor. He can't believe Uncle Iwaizumi would betray him this way, after how when they were 12 Uncle Iwaizumi said, "Tooru-kun, you'll have to be patient with our Hajime, he's not very affectionate," and Tooru had said, "Don't worry, I'll wear him down." The traitor.

"What do you mean it means nothing?" Tooru says, and he's crying again, Iwa-chan's angry face going blurry and his contacts feeling weird in his eyes. "This skank — "

"Oh my God," Iwa-chan sighs.

" — probably saw that picture of you Makki took without your shirt on and decided she was going to become some hunky doctor's wife," Tooru wails, and he is completely aware of how crazy he sounds and how ridiculous this is but he's so upset because this is Sunday, and Sunday's are supposed to be nice, and instead this Sunday is the worst. This Sunday will leave a psychic scar on all other Sundays, because probably Iwa-chan will meet this shitty omega girl and decide, "this is fine," and marry her after spending 25 years scent-bonded to Tooru and what if Tooru gets suicidally drunk at their wedding and sleeps with Ushijima.

Iwa-chan sighs again, like he's the one hard done by here, unbelievable, and tugs and tugs at Tooru until he gives in, until Tooru is pressing his face into Iwa-chan's collarbone and fisting his hands into Iwa-chan's shirt. Iwa-chan smells like clean, dark earth on a summer night, a little bit like the ocean, the green bass notes of grass — like something that belongs to Tooru.

"It really is just coffee," Iwa-chan says, gruff and low and into Tooru's hair, running a hand down his back. "And Otou-san already knows that — he knows, okay? He only asked me to go because his boss asked for a favor. Nothing's going to happen, okay?"

Tooru squeezes his eyes shut, curls in more closely to the reassuring, familiar shape of Iwa-chan's body. "I hope she's ugly."

"Such an asshole," Iwa-chan mutters.

"I hope you hate every second of it," Tooru goes on. He sounds muffled and nasal from crying and he means it, every word. "I hope it ruins coffee for you forever."

They spend the rest of the afternoon on the couch watching endless episodes of Unsolved Mysteries. Iwa-chan falls asleep an hour in, and Tooru lets himself press an ear to his chest, listen to the steady, reassuring thud of Iwa-chan's heartbeat, fist his hand in Iwa-chan's shirt.

You're mine, Tooru thinks, his eyes hot and his throat aching and something wild and instinctive sharpening its claws in his belly. I'm not giving you up to anybody.

***

#haikyuu #iwaizumi/oikawa #iwaoi #wip