~ FINAL ARC: Family ~

•

The sounds of Tooru's frantic footsteps splashed against the wet pavement of the sidewalk. Rain heavily poured over his head as thunder rumbled and flashed through the gray skies of Tokyo. The streets were empty - only a few people walked with umbrellas over their heads. All except Tooru who ran without one with drenched hair and clothes soaked to the bone.

When he stopped abruptly, a cell phone was gripped in his hand and he dialed up a number with his shaking thumb. White clouds escaped from his lips while he panted from his marathon and held his phone up to his wet cheek.

A few calls have been made and Tooru became frustrated that no one was picking up. Until he scanned his eyes on a certain name on his contact list, he made his last attempt to call one more time. Finally, the ring came to a stop and his eyes shot open once he heard the sound of your voice.

"[Name]!" He shouted with urgency.

You were shocked at his tone and asked curiously. "Tooru, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

Hearing your voice sounded like music to his ears. It's been so long since he last heard it that it almost sent him to tears. He thought he would never hear it again but it saddened him that he couldn't be able to enjoy it since there are matters that needed attention.

"Thank goodness," his voice quivered, sounded relieved yet fearful at the same time. "[Name], I-..."

But he couldn't be able to finish his sentence as tears began to overwhelm his vision mixed with the rain trickling down from his head. Tooru shut his eyes as he gripped his phone tighter in shame.

"I... I messed up. It's Tetsu."

a month earlier

>>>

Snapping your eyes open, you've woken up with a gasp in your own bed. Cold sweat was running down from your legs against the white sheet as chills ran down your spine when you pushed the blanket off of you. You sat up to get yourself adjusted to the low warm light peeking from your white French window.

It didn't take long for you to realize that you had a bad dream, but it certainly felt real to you.

You groaned over at your phone that was sitting beside your pillow, hooked and fully charged. The time displayed itself once you tapped on the screen to see that it's still dawn - too early to have breakfast.

"Again?" You asked yourself.

Again, indeed. Lately, you haven't been getting full sleep all due to the bad dreams you've been having. Every night you couldn't fall asleep peacefully. With Tetsu's empty promise to you that everything will be okay, you anticipated the opposite.

Tooru is still in dark about your lack of sleep, and the only reason you didn't want to tell him is because you didn't want him to worry more than he should. You can wish that your sleep will get better over time, but you don't know how soon that'll be.

Like every other morning, you groggily gotten up to do your routine. Wash, make up, breakfast toast and pressed juice - you started the day like normal. However, your mind is far from normal.

Finding yourself out of your condo, you proceeded to do your morning walk to work with a bottle of cold-pressed juice in your hand.

Your phone buzzed against the pocket of your of your off-white blazer only to see Tooru's 'good morning' text. A weak smile brought up to your lips while your eyes traced the texts, and then you replied back a similar greeting.

While you were fixated on your phone to catch up to your latest posts, a shoulder bumped with yours, forcibly turning you to a different direction.

"Oh, sorry," the voice called beside you before you made a scoff at the person. But telling the sound of it, you recognized them.

Looking up, underneath of the hood of his windbreaker was Iwaizumi. His dark eyes grew brighter once he slid his hood off of his head as he unplugged one of his Bose earbuds out of his left ear. Music was still blaring from the tiny device, almost sounded like a mix of alternative and pop punk into an upbeat song, but he paused it when his finger gave it a light tap.

From the light sweat shining his forehead, he appeared to be in the middle of a jog - all dressed in black Adidas joggers and cloud foam shoes.

"[Name], it's been a while," he said in a calm but surprised tone. "I wasn't expecting to see you in this part of town."

"I live in this area," you answered happily, but it made you realize that he lived the opposite direction. "You don't normally run in these parts, do you?"

"I decided to change my route today. Gotten bored with the neighborhood park so I thought it'd be interesting to run somewhere different," then his gaze fell down to your attire, noticing that the style is different from your casuals. "Are you heading to work?"

You scratched at the side of your cheek in embarrassment. "Er, yeah. I have an early shift today. I promised my parents that I open today so they can get a full rest from closing last night."

He nodded at your explanation, giving praise to your consideration of your parents. But he quirked a dark brow when he looked closely at your face.

"Are you sure you're not referring to yourself? You look paler from the last time I saw you," he noticed, pointing at your dazed face with subtle eye bags creasing against your cheeks. "Are you sick?"

You lightly huffed at his observation and looked yourself in the reflection on your phone. You couldn't fully see it but you can point out the exhaustion that's reeking from your eyes. What's even worse is that you even put on eye cream to lighten it but it still shown flaws.

You are indeed restless.

But you smiled at him to waver the conversation as you placed your phone back into your pocket.

"I'm alright. Just managing my time between work and everything else," you excused, hoping that will undermine it so he doesn't have to question further. "Hey, I don't want to take up your time from your workout or anything."

But Hajime shook his head. "Not at all. In fact, I was just thinking about getting a cup of coffee. Your store sells it, right?"

You gave an immediate 'yes' to him and then he checked his smartwatch that is hidden underneath his sleeve. After raising his arm up to slide his sleeve off his wrist, his eyes read the time to calculate his morning routine. Then he hummed in thought for a few seconds before he looked up at you.

"I don't mind walking you to work. I'm jogging in that direction anyways - if that's okay," he offered kindly and you had nothing against of the idea.

Plus it would be nice to have some company to distract you from other intrusive thoughts.

Iwaizumi followed you first before he gained next to you, walking with the street next to him so you're protected against cars. With that simple gesture, you thought he is capable of being a great boyfriend just by seeing how chivalrous he is.

"So how's Shittykawa and the brat doing these days?" He started when you two reached a stop light, waiting for cars to halt so you two can proceed to walk.

"They're doing good. Tetsu is doing well in school and Tooru is working like a dog right now."

It is true. Ever since you discussed about your future with him, he seemed to be occupied with work more than usual which clearly showed that he is determined to make your life to be in completely his. Although, his work ethics definitely minimized your time with him so the only opportunity you get to see him is after work, depending if your schedule is aligned with his.

It makes you sad and deeply miss him but you knew he's only doing it for the sake of the future.

While he's inputting a lot of hours, you've been putting a lot of time in taking care of Tetsu which it has been nothing but oddly normal. He no longer questioned about Rina's whereabouts or include her name in conversations randomly. It's almost like he completely forgotten all about his connection with her, and you weren't sure if you should be worried about it or not.

"Is he saving up for something?" Hajime curiously asked as he side glanced you, pulling your attention away from your deep thoughts. By his question, you can assume that Tooru hasn't shared his plans to him yet.

So you began to bluff and jokingly said, "I don't know. Hopefully it's a ring or something."

Hajime joined in to laugh, almost chuckling at the idea. "Damn. It's crazy that you guys gotten serious so quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if you got married tomorrow."

"It's funny because he was the one who said he wanted to take it slow. But I guess, overtime, we just couldn't stay away from each other."," you reminded, thinking back at the memory when you had your first kiss with him. However, it didn't take long for him to realize that he wanted a relationship. In fact, he was quite eager to start one.

If Hajime could grimace, he would. Conversations such as these is not his forte. He wasn't used to asking a woman about their relationship with Oikawa. But he sees that this is a sign of commitment - a positive one which he never seen before from his best friend.

"With the brat in the picture, I'm sure it sped up the process of dating," he adverted thoughtfully. "I think it completely caught Oikawa off guard."

"It did for me too," you muttered to yourself. The morning breeze began to soften as more sunlight traveled through the clouds. A thought occurred to you of the topic since this will be one of few conversations you'll ever have with Hajime. "Did you think that Tooru was looking for a relationship before he met me?"

He turned his head to you, seeing that you're becoming more invested of Tooru's past. His life before you made you curious.

Then his eyes trailed away to examine a white crow tit bird building a twig nest on a fork branch. Somehow, it symbolically reminds him of his best friend.

"No, honestly," Hajime finally answered with his hand rubbing at the back of his head. "He was too focused in taking care of Tetsu that he doesn't have time to think about those things. To him, it wasn't a priority."

Then he formed a pause and you thought that will be end of his sentence.

"Until..."

"Until what?" Your eyes found his.

Hajime began to swirl back in time. A memory he thought it had no significance but he realized that it may have relations with you coincidentally. He remembered that the conversation is awfully similar to the one he's already having with you.

"I think this is the longest you've been single," Hajime simply stated.

They both walked on the sidewalk during Tokyo's afternoon lunch hour, looking for a place to have a casual lunch during their break from work. People gathered and strode pass each other in the busy streets of Tokyo. The spring cherry blossom rained petals on top of their heads when a light gust blew chilly air.

Hajime's outburst wasn't random. After bickering with the brunette for fifteen minutes about his love life, Hajime suddenly put the spotlight on him.

"Don't you want to start dating again? Now that Tetsu is a bit older."

Tooru blinked behind his wired framed glasses, but frowned in disapproval. Shaking his head, he turned his head away in disagreement. "No way! I already have a lot on my plate so I can't imagine what it's like to date at the same time. Sounds like a lot of effort to me."

He said too much defensively which made Hajime think that he stepped over a mine or some sort.

Hajime shrugged as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and laid eyes on the amounts of food stores lined down the street. "I'm just saying. You used to take every opportunity when a girl asks you out."

"It's different now that I have Tetsu. It'll be too complicated," Tooru spoke earnestly as determination filled in his deep brown eyes.

"Anyways," Hajime trailed, seeing that the man is showing disinterest in the topic. He gladly changed it, "we should figure out what to eat. Did you know that there's a new bakery? I think your kid will like it."

Tooru leaned his head to the side in confusion, but he snapped his fingers as he recalled the bakery that his friend is referring to.

"Oh, is it finished already?" He asked - only remembering the store when its skeletons were built. Nothing but high beams and columns.

It has been several months since he last saw it so it became a surprise to him when Hajime talked about it being open.

"By the way, Iwa-Chan, you should know that Tetsu is not allowed to eat sweets except Saturdays," Tooru scolded, a bit displeased that his own best friend forgotten about his golden rule in parenting. - as if he should've known better.

Hajime scowled at that as he made a stink face at him. "What kind of rule is that? What an abnormal parent."

"Kids get cavities too! I want my son to have perfect teeth," he argued.

"You're the one who should be disciplined on sweets, sugar fairy, not him," he snorted. Wavering the small argument, Hajime gestured his head to another direction where the traffic of people are heading. "Well, let's just check it out and see what they have."

Tooru nodded and continued to walk beside until they found themselves near by a boho style with a touch French cafe. They witnessed numerous of people sat inside and outside of the store along with a extensive line out the door. Both men became intrigued and overwhelmed by the popularity for the small shop.

"How did you know about this place? I wouldn't think you have much of a sweet tooth," the Argentinian athlete added as he wondered his eyes at the customers walking out with drinks in their hands. Everything that the store sells looks delicious to his eyes.

"Makki told me. According to him, there's a cute girl who works her." The comment at the end gave the brunette to chuckle under his breath.

"Is that why you wanted to come here?" Tooru snickered as he shown suspicion on his face playfully.

"I said that your kid would like this place," he quickly defended as rage tweaked on his brows, growing annoyed of Oikawa's distasteful accusations. "Isn't his fifth birthday coming up? You should be at least looking at cakes since you can't bake for shit."

Tooru whined, "You're so mean. I at least try."

"I will wack you," he retorted. At this point now, his threats are no longer intimidating to Oikawa.

Tooru only glanced through the window to witness a crowd forming. Hungry and parched people were waiting to get served. Even their expressions were delighted either they looked at the delicacies or had a bite - clearly showing that everybody enjoyed their stay despite how long the wait is.

"Well, it is pretty busy so it must be good. But I don't think I have the patience to stand in line," Tooru commented with impatience. He was never a fan of waiting, especially when it comes to food.

So, his friend shrugged.

"If you say so. But that croissant sandwich looks good," Iwaizumi pointed through the window which made the brunette to follow his finger.

Tooru peeked lazily with relaxed eyes to see where the line of croissants could be. But within a span of a second, his eyes grew interest and his pout formed into a small line.

Behind that display was a girl who was grabbing the same sandwiches that Hajime was implenting with a gloved hand, placing them inside of a brown pastry bag and handing them to a customer she was talking to.

He couldn't make out her expression or how her features due to the crowd blocking his view from examining. He can only inspect the side profile and the back of her head. But it was enough for Tooru to be mesmerized because he felt somewhere deep inside his chest that he should be keep looking - as if he was compelled to meet her eyes.

For some reason he felt anticipation, completely entranced by the image of the girl - that the void in his chest began to fill with a foreign emotion he never felt in a long time.

Just when she was about to turn in full view, a voice caused him to flinch and averted his eyes away to his side.

"Excuse me but are you Oikawa Tooru who played in the Olympics?" It was a teenaged boy dressed in his red and black warm ups. Along with another boy who dressed the same. Telling from the duffel bag he was carrying, Tooru recognized the color and printed text near the zipper. He's a student in Nekoma.

He replied unsurely. "Ah yeah."

"Can we get a picture?" Stars were filled in their eyes as they contained themselves from jumping up and down in their positions.

Immediately, Tooru was flattered yet embarrassed by the question but regardless of how uncomfortable he is, he took a picture with them anyways. It's been a while since somebody recognized him as a celebrity now that he moved out of South America to be with his son.

"Thank you!" The two boys humbly bowed after Tooru gave them their phones back, and then ran off while they think of their posts in their social media.

Hajime watched the scene unfold with narrowed eyes. But he began to notice that there are others who are giving them second glances, whispering to themselves while they speculated them. Some looked curious and some were confused.

So he held onto Tooru's shoulder to steer his attention away from the window again. "Yeah, let's get out of here before you draw more attention on yourself."

"Um, sure," he replied without question, following his tracks in a hurry before he took one last peek inside the bakery again.

But the girl was no longer there where he last saw her. A slight disappointment crept to his chest but the thought slipped out of his mind as he carried on with his day with cold hands stuffed in his pockets. He never thought to look back twice.

"Nothing." Hajime shunned the topic away to keep the conversation short, thinking it'll be a hassle to explain but it only grew your curiosity even more.

You can tell that he was being secretive or perhaps wasn't all too interested into the topic so you just let it fall from your mind.

"I'm just happy that my best friend met you," he smiled kindly - a genuine smile that you've never seen from him before. You can feel the sincerity in them through his brown hued eyes. "I think he's been waiting for someone like you for a very long time."

And you can't help but to smile back at him. You wanted to nod and gave him your gratitude but truthfully, you're the one who's been waiting for someone like Tooru. Somehow, it definitely felt like fate brought you two together in mysterious ways.

____________________________

Posted: 09-09-2022

🌱

____________________________