Iwaizumi Hajime sat hunched over his desk, angrily scratcIwaizumi Hajime sat hunched over his desk, angrily scratching out words on a thick stack of papers- his work for today. Not only had he received twice the amount of work as usual, but the author had left stupid, silly mistakes for him to clean up. This was not worth his time. At the sight of another misspelled word, he threw down his pen in frustration and ran his fingers through his hair. At this rate he was going to get another headache.
His work as an editor had never been easy, but with the addition of a new inexperienced author his workload went through the roof. It wouldn't have bothered him too much, but this new author repeatedly made the same mistakes and didn't even seem slightly remorseful. He sighed. Mulling over it wasn't going to fix his problems.
With a grunt he pulled himself out of his desk chair, rolling his stiff shoulders and cracking his back. Usually his time out of the office was spent relaxing or hanging out with friends, but that obviously wasn't going to happen today. His usually peaceful evening was being spent at his home office, doing the work that he hadn't been able to complete during work hours.
With a quick glance at the clock, Iwaizumi decided now would be an okay time for a break and he headed over to his kitchen to brew a pot of coffee. He would be needing it tonight. After preparing the pot he sank down onto his worn, plush couch he had found at a garage sale cheap and grabbed the remote. As he sipped at his coffee he flipped through the channels, letting his mind drift over conversations he'd had at the office today. He squeezed his eyes shut as a short burst of pain shot through his head. No more thinking about work.
He finally settled on a cooking channel, trying not to be discouraged by his lack of culinary skills. He felt a bit jealous of the people on TV who got to sample all of that delicious food while he was stuck drinking crappy instant coffee in his tiny house trying not to have an anxiety attack over work. He bitterly switched channels again out of petty jealousy and stopped on some celebrity interview. Oikawa Tooru, a famous actor, was flashing his friendly smile to the camera and answering the prying questions with an air of confidence and no hesitation. Iwaizumi would never be able to do that. Ugh. He flipped the TV off with a sigh. Nothing relaxed him these days.
The tired man rolled over onto his stomach to relieve his tired back muscles of the burden- or he was going to roll over onto his stomach- when a series of loud bangs on his front door sent him to his feet in an instant. He grabbed a lamp out of instinct and ignored the sparks that shot out of the socket when he pulled the cord out of the wall. He could worry about that later. He approached the front door slowly, his muscles tensing as he prepared for an attack. He heard muffled, panicked shouts from outside and his heart jumped. The absolute worst thing that could happen was a murderer trying to come in and kill him (not that he was too put off by the idea at this point), but he doubted that was the case in his nice neighborhood, so he forced himself to relax. He thought he heard the panicked word 'hurry' and peeped through the door's window. The guy looked clean-cut enough. With a sigh he unlocked the door and opened it, revealing a frightened man who looked oddly familiar. He could worry about that later though.
"Shut the door!" The man shouted, but he didn't wait for Iwaizumi to move, taking it upon himself to shut the door. He also locked it, and secured the old-fashioned chain lock that was more for looks than actual use.
The taller man huffed out a breath of relief before leaning against the door and sliding slowly to the ground, droplets of sweat rolling down his gorgeous body. Iwaizumi shook his head at that thought. And then it clicked- the reason he felt a vague tugging of recognition when he first laid eyes on this attractive man. He did know this man. This was Oikawa Tooru. Iwaizumi decidedly ignored the startled pumping of his heart as he processed this information, instead opting to question exactly why the oh-so-famous Oikawa Tooru decided to drop by.
Before he could, though, Oikawa spoke up. "You might wanna put that down. I feel slightly threatened." There was an amused glint in his eye that made Iwaizumi inadvertently blush before his gaze travelled to the lamp in his hand.
Without thinking, Iwaizumi snapped. "How about you don't order me around in my own home? I will kick you out right now if you don't behave." He stalked over to the coffee table, replacing the now useless lamp and collapsed into the couch. "You nearly gave me a heart attack." His pulse was finally beginning to slow down but he was still ticked. "Care to explain why you just barged into my house?" He couldn't help the mean bite in his words.
The other man drawled out a slow, almost confused response. "You do know who I am, right?"
A vein flared in Iwaizumi's forehead. "Yes, I know who you are. Do I need to rephrase the question to suit your highness's delicate ears?"
A small pout appeared on the celebrity's face. "I was being chased by a mob of fans and your house was the first one I passed." At the look of annoyance that flickered on Iwaizumi's face, Oikawa defended himself. "I was in actual danger! I swear!"
The shorter man nodded slowly. "And if my door gets torn down by crazy fangirls...?"
His response was immediate. "My company or I will pay for the expenses, of course. Just let me hide in her until my manager arrives... Please?" he nearly begged.
A small sigh left the black haired man's mouth, before he nodded more surely this time and gestured to the couch. "Would you like some tea?"
A small smirk appeared on Oikawa's face and he nodded. "I would love some tea."
At his cocky response, Iwaizumi shot out of his seat and had to physically restrain himself from punching the guy in the face. "On second thought, you can make your own damn tea."
"Aw, don't be cruel!" The star whined, letting his soft lower lip pout.
"Shut up. If you distract me from my work I'll punch you." Iwaizumi said gruffly, stalking out of the room before he could do any more damage. He wouldn't be surprised if Oikawa sued him by the end of this encounter.
He tried to focus in on his work again, but he couldn't help thinking about the unfairly attractive man in the other room. The initial shock had worn off but he was still left dazed. He had seen the other man before on many TV shows and in a few movies; Iwaizumi knew he was no stranger to the red carpet. This man was the real deal. And he was in Iwaizumi's house. He didn't know if he was angry over how self-entitled the man seemed, or how easily he made his heart stutter.
At the sound of approaching footsteps, he looked up from his work to see a smiling Oikawa peering through the doorway.
"What."
"Would you tell me your name?" He asked in a bubbly, high-pitched voice.
"Why?"
"Well, you know mine, right? It's only fair..." He rubbed the back of his head, a shy smile on his face.
The editor grunted. "I guess so. I'm Iwaizumi Hajime."
Oikawa brought a long finger up to his chin and tapped it, his eyes travelling to the ceiling as if deep in thought. "So Iwa-chan!" He concluded.
"No!" Iwaizumi nearly shouted, pushing his chair back to stand up and slam his palms on the table.
The celebrity fled from the room giggling. "Ahh so scary, Iwa-chan!" His airy voice sighed as he retreated.
"Ugh." Iwaizumi wasn't used to getting so worked up over someone. He sat back down, trying to calm the angry stutter of his pulse with slow breathes.
He picked up his pen again and scribbled out corrections to some of the easy to spot mistakes. Does this author even proofread? He groaned.
Just then, a savory smell wafted into the room and he inhaled deeply, sighing in delight. He missed days when his mother would make him dinner and he would simply have to come to eat when she called for him. Wait. What? The black haired man shot out of his seat and rushed towards the kitchen, whipping Oikawa around from where he crouched over a cutting board. Oops. Oikawa cried out, knife clattering from his hand while he cradled a new cut on his other hand.
"Dude. What are you doing in my kitchen?" The shorter man gritted out.
The star pouted for a second, then grimaced in pain, wincing. "Well I wanted to make you dinner as thanks for letting me hide out here!" His defense was airy and annoying.
Iwaizumi let his gaze travel over the kitchen. There was a pan with some sizzling vegetables on the stove that was letting out the aroma he had smelled in his office, and a cutting board sat on the counter with a raw chicken half cut.
"Where did you even get that?"
Oikawa giggled despite the pain in his hand. "Heh heh, I have connections..."
Iwaizumi returned his gaze to the celebrity. "Then why didn't you use those connections to get out of here?!" His voice rose as he spoke.
A small blush appeared on Oikawa's cheeks. "I lied... it was in your fridge."
Iwaizumi slapped a palm across his own face in exasperation. "Why would you lie about that?" He muttered to himself. "Anyway, let me see your hand."
The taller man reluctantly gave Iwaizumi his hand and he inspected it. Without warning Iwaizumi pulled the other man by his hand into the bathroom. "Sit down on the toilet." He ordered.
Oikawa complied, and cried out when the other man wiped alcohol over the incision. He wrapped a soft bandage around the cut and Oikawa immediately pulled his hand back defensively, as if bracing himself for another attack.
"Sorry about that. I didn't realize you were cutting something." Iwaizumi admitted, a small blush flitting over his cheeks.
Oikawa smiled. "It's all better now. You're so nice, Iwa-chan!"
"How am I being nice at all?" He retorted in a dry tone.
Oikawa shook his head. "You're nice in a different way."
He cocked his head as if to say 'Well, go on then, explain'.
"I don't know..." He blushed a little. "You treat me like an actual person?"
"As opposed to what?" He raised an eyebrow.
The celebrity's blush deepened and he shook his head quickly. "Never mind, it's nothing!"
The crease behind his eyebrows deepened. "Okay?"
The smell of burning food distracted them both. "Shit! Iwa-chan, you didn't turn off the stove!" It sounded odd, Iwaizumi noted, for such a bubbly, childish voice to shout out profanities.
"How is this my fault? You turned it on in the first place!" He bellowed.
They rushed back into the kitchen and turned off the stove. "I worked so hard on it..." Oikawa whimpered.
Somehow, a faint glimmer of sympathy worked it's way into Iwaizumi's chest. "It's not too badly burned. We can still eat it."
Oikawa's eyes brightened. "Really?"
He hesitated after another glance revealed that the veggies were completely charred. "Yeah..."
The star cheered and he pulled some plates out the drawer above Iwa's head.
"How the hell do you know my kitchen so well?" The shorter man grumbled, making his way toward the table.
"I was bored! I needed to explore..." Oikawa whined defensively. "I didn't have anything to do and you just left me alone!"
Iwaizumi huffed out a sigh. "Do you ever stop complaining?"
What was he saying? He was being a total hypocrite, given he had been complaining to himself since he got home from work. He decided not to mention that to Oikawa though.
The celebrity was scooping black veggie onto their two plates and he set one of the plates in front of the shorter man's seat. He reluctantly picked up a fork and stabbed at the gross food on his plate, not sure how to go about eating this without puking it all up.
Oikawa seemed to be having the same internal struggle, poking at his food and watching little charred crisps flake off of the food with each prod.
"Itadakimasu." Iwaizumi clapped his hands together and picked up the veggie in his fork. He shoved it into his mouth before he could stop himself and watched as the Oikawa's eyes widened in amazement. He forced himself to chew, slowly, and then swallowed.
The celebrity seemed to take this as a challenge and shoveled all the food into his mouth in fast procession until it was gone. Iwaizumi watched in amusement.
"Yum! Now let me wash the dishes!" He offered.
The shorter man shook his head, jaw set. "Not trusting you with that after this disaster." He gestured to the gross food still laying on his plate.
Oikawa pouted but said nothing, allowing Iwaizumi to take up his plate and rinse it off in the sink before placing it in the dishwasher.
Not soon after the dishes were cleaned, they were sitting on the plump couch watching some quiz show when the doorbell rang. Iwaizumi pushed himself to his feet with a sigh and opened the door (after unlocking the many layers of locks the other man had set in place) to reveal a short woman in a suit.
"Hello. Is Oikawa Tooru currently residing at this address?" Her voice was professional and coy.
Remembering the mob of fans chasing Oikawa, he decided to proceed with caution. "Who are you?"
Before she could respond, said celebrity came up behind him and greeted the lady casually. "Hey there, Noriko-san!"
Her gaze honed in on the man and she narrowed her eyes. He flinched back but said nothing more.
"I am this man's manager. He seems to have caused you trouble. Do you have any complaints, sir? We would like to settle them now rather than later. As you know, if you make any public statements it could give Oikawa-san a bad name."
His eyes widened at her suggestion but he replied calmly. "I have nothing to complain about, nor will I make any public complaints. Would you like to come in for a moment, anyway?"
She nodded, looking satisfied with his answer. After considering for a moment, she stepped inside and closed the door behind herself. "If any news outlets or interviewers approach you, we ask that you either refuse to answer their questions or keep your answers vague. The media can fabricate a story out of nothing, and since Oikawa-san is having a spike in popularity lately we can't let anything taint his name."
Iwaizumi nodded slowly. This was going to be more trouble than he first thought. He glanced over at Oikawa. He was sitting next to his manager, eyes in his lap and his twiddling thumbs gave away his discomfort.
She addressed Oikawa. "You have paparazzi waiting for you outside." Oikawa sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Do you have a scarf?" Oikawa shook his head.
"I see you brought my hoodie though. That will work." The celebrity supplied.
She nodded and handed it to him. Iwaizumi tried to ignore the way his muscles flexed as he pulled it over his head, and the way his shirt lifted up to reveal a strip of pale skin. The hood covered his hair and the manager gave him some sunglasses to wear.
'We apologize profusely for any trouble this may have caused. If you're being harassed by anyone, please call this number and our company can sort it out for you."
He accepted the piece of paper the woman handed him and tucked it away and his pocket. He doubted he would ever use it.
"What should I tell them?" Oikawa finally spoke to his manager.
She sighed, her eyes narrowing at him again. "Why did you have to go out in public again? Sunglasses can only do so much, you know. You've caused a lot of trouble for the company today..." She contemplated for a moment. "I think ignoring them is the best way to go for today. Just get to the car as fast as you can." Oikawa nodded and stood up. He took a few deep breaths before he opened the door. Two very muscular guards stood on either side of the door and police held back a mob of cameramen and screaming fans. Oikawa turned back toward the other man and gave a small, apologetic, almost sad looking smile before he strode outside, closely flanked by the body guards. His manager followed close behind. Iwaizumi almost started at the large crescendo that him stepping out of the room brought to the crowd. Flashing lights blinded him and there was so much shouting that Iwaizumi couldn't pick out a single word the interviewers were shouting toward the celebrity. Oikawa walked quickly with his head down and a guard left his side to push an excited man who chased the star back into the mob of people. Iwaizumi's eyes were wide. Who knew simply walking outside could be so chaotic for some people?
He slammed the door when he saw a cameraman walking toward him, cursing to himself. He locked the door, and despite how much it amused him when Oikawa did it, slid the chain lock shut too.
He fled to his office but the noise was audible through the thin walls of his house. He hoped his neighbors would forgive him. He sighed, finally giving up on getting his work done and pulled all the blinds shut. The noise faded after about an hour and he could finally relax, but it still haunted him. What if those people came back looking for the celebrity and broke into his house? What if somebody got jealous and attacked him? And with a start, he realized that the fears running through his head probably ran through that seemingly-naive celebrity's head every second of every single day. Who would ever want to be that famous?
Feeling restless, he headed towards his kitchen to get a bowl of icecream and turned the TV on to flip to the local news channel.
"...and we were lucky enough to get an interview with the man himself! Here is Jan, live at the station interviewing the one and the only Oikawa Tooru!"
Iwaizumi's head snapped up. What the hell. Why was this guy popping up everywhere? But he couldn't help but watch. The camera zoomed in on Oikawa who looked relaxed and serene, as if today never happened.
"It's amazing to meet you, Oikawa-san. We are delighted you accepted our interview." The lady, (Jan, was it?) gushed.
"It's a pleasure to be here." Oikawa replied smoothly.
"I guess we will start off with the big question that all your fans are dying to know. We've all read about it in the fan magazines. Are you and Kiyoko Shimizu really a thing?"
Iwaizumi saw Oikawa's eyes widen for a fraction of a second and look off to the side of the camera before he spoke, immediately regaining his cool. "I'm afraid I cannot comment on that."
Iwaizumi had heard that name before. He didn't care enough right now to look her up.
"Ooh, sounds suspicious to me..." The interviewer giggled.
Oikawa gave her a flirtatious smile. "How about another question?"
Iwaizumi snickered. That seemed like a subtle 'It's none of your damn business' to him.
"We always see you surrounded by screaming girls at all the award shows. How are you able to weed out those attentions and see which girls like you for you?"
The celebrity thought for a moment. "You can kind of just tell. Most of the time. You can tell when someone is treating you like they would treat anybody else and not holding you on some sort of pedestal."
The interviewer nodded. "That's very thoughtful. When the fame gets to be too much, who do you call?"
"I don't call anyone. I signed up for this and I feel that I need to enjoy what I can and not dwell on that bad stuff. Many people dream of having the fame that I do. I'm truly blessed." A smiled graced the attractive man's lips before he looked slightly off camera again. He raised his eyebrows and then nodded. "It looks like we need to wrap up this interview. Thank you for having me in." He stood up and quickly walked away from the set. The camera followed him and TV watchers could see him being escorted quickly out the door by his manager and a set of guards. Dejavu.
"He's pretty famous, isn't he..." Iwaizumi mumbled to himself. He flipped off the TV and went to the freezer for the bowl of ice cream he had been craving. He wasn't sure why the flavor didn't feel as enticing as usual. He also wasn't sure why his heart was still stuttering hours after the excitement of the incident ended.
HI! I'm Shannon. Thanks for reading.
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