A/N: This story is written for Jas (TheRottenGirl) as part of the Advent Calendar event over on the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry forum. Hope you like it :)

Word count: 744

"Is this supposed to be one of those movie moments when the two protagonists say goodbye with teary eyes and promise to not forget about each other and all that?" asked Iwaizumi with a contemplating expression that—to Oikawa's own surprise—didn't fit him at all. Maybe it was because Iwa-chan always looked frustrated: while focusing on a maths problem, while playing volleyball—although that was probably concentration as well—and while conversing with Oikawa. Now, however, he wasn't frustrated; he looked genuinely deep in thought without the outside world there to distract him.

Considering his sentence, that kind of sentiment felt misplaced.

"Yes, it is," answered Oikawa, cutting off his own line of thought. "Thanks for ruining the moment." For further effect, he pouted, which only earned him one of the smacks that he'd always hated, but which lowkey became a routine between the two of them. "Way to be mean, Iwa-chan."

"It's not like you're going thousands of miles away, Trashkawa," Iwaizumi added, and the frustration came back to his features in an instant; this development relaxed Oikawa. Then, the realisation that it made him relaxed surprised him somewhat. "There are like, two hours of travel between our universities?" continued Iwaizumi, possibly not noticing the bewildered expression of his best friend. Possibly, because while Oikawa was about ninety-nine-point-nine percent that he had noticed, he was similarly sure that he chose to ignore it intentionally.

If there was anything Oikawa had learned in the past decade about Iwa-chan, it was that from time to time, he himself wasn't sure whether Iwaizumi was ignoring something for the better or out of pure disinterest.

Oikawa shook his head just a bit more furiously than intended. "Maybe, but you're not going to be there to walk me home after classes. Besides, who am I going to test the worst ramens of Japan with?!"

"We can meet up at weekends," Iwaizumi said. "You can come here, and I can visit you." He sighed, then pointed at the timetable of departures that hung above them. "You're going to miss your train."

"This is where Makki would say something like 'he's going to miss you even more,'" Oikawa blurted out of nowhere, and he let out a quiet chuckle at the exact same time Iwaizumi did. How uncool, laughing at your own jokes, he thought.

Before he could make another remark about how chuckling didn't fit Iwa-chan either, the other cut him off.

"You really are going to be late, though," Iwaizumi said. That made Oikawa weigh his possible choices and their possible outcomes for about two seconds before he launched himself onto the other boy, who was not prepared for the embrace, so Iwaizumi staggered for quite a while before steadying the two of them. Which was only possible thanks to the tremendous amount of training he had done on his legs, but that wasn't much of a matter.

There were people staring, like in all those cliché movies—and also because the two boys really were quite the sight—but for the time being, none of that mattered.

Goodbyes were hard, and Oikawa came to learn that in those few moments. Just like one of those tropes in books where the protagonist wants the clocks to cease ticking for a neverending moment so that they and their companion could be side-by-side for eternity. But then, the clock wouldn't stop ticking, and the two characters would have to move one. It was moment such as that.

Oikawa didn't need words because he knew what would perspire soon enough, knew how much he would miss his best friend—how much he already missed him—and he knew what would have been said had there been actual words. He didn't need a verbal affirmation because there was a silent promise that had been made and that was quite enough for him.

A promise that they would meet, possibly every week, and watch terrible horror movies and eat terrible ramen and that meanwhile, Oikawa would learn how to take care of himself, just so he could show off to Iwa-chan with his newfound independence the next time they met. A promise that such a measly little distance couldn't tear them apart, because they weren't meant to be torn apart in the first place.

All just a promise, but it was a promise Oikawa locked down tightly somewhere deep within his heart as he waved at Iwaizumi before sprinting towards his train.

A/N: In case you're wondering:

(So, the story behind this is that I was first planning a university!fic with lots of angst and pining but a happy end because I live for those, but then I had this idea for a fic with the title/theme 'Five Stages of Pining' and I was gonna write that. Turns out, in order to do that, I'd have had to essentially write whatever I had in mind originally, and extend it with this fic, which were to be the first stage. Then, I thought that I wouldn't be able to put an essential idea which I've found on Tumblr in the fic, so I was back at the planning stages, with this short and the beginning of what is going to be 'Five Stages of Pining' written. So, since the other one is not completed and it's probably gonna be a couple thousand words, I decided to rework this part and make it a one-shot, and store the rough outline and first couple hundred words of 'Five Stages of Pining' for later. Story time over.)