"Oh, so I'm the annoying one? Nicely played!" Izuki shouts, crossing his arms over his chest. "Who's the guy who committed a technical foul for complaining too much? Oh right, it wasn't me,"
Hyuuga snaps back, "If you would just shut up for once! I don't even know why I'm dating you in the first place! Take a hint, no one wants to hear your annoying puns anyway."
He regrets it the instant it's out of his mouth. Izuki's black eyes are wide with hurt and anger, his jaw slightly open. He's tense, and Hyuuga wants to go over, say something to make it better.
"Shun, I-"
He is cut off by his boyfriend angrily spitting, "Have it your way." and stalking out of the door of their small shared apartment.
"Shun!" Hyuuga shouts, starting forward to catch him, but the eagle-eyed boy is already gone, having vanished into the elevator mere seconds before.
Hyuuga sinks onto his knees, unfamiliar tears prickling at his eyes.
He always knew getting into a relationship with Izuki wouldn't be all roses and sunshine, and he knew they would have their fair share of fights, but for their very first big fight to end this way...
It's dishearteningly crushing.
Izuki stalks angrily out into the street with no idea where he's going. He allows his feet to carry him, mind full of thoughts of how horrid Hyuuga is, and what right he has to keep insulting him. For all that he may love Hyuuga, Izuki will not stand for being treated like shit.
He stops, eventually, and looks up only to realise he has come to Tokyo University. The university he and Hyuuga study at together.
In frustration, he pulls out his phone and fires off a text.
He knows he'll find his way back to their little apartment tomorrow, but for tonight he just needs to see a face that is not Hyuuga's.
When he receives the reply, he smiles wanly and enters the university with a flash of his student ID.
Kiyoshi's dorm is warm and welcoming, full of books and pencils and basketball jerseys tossed everywhere. Snack packets lie open on the desk, and Izuki has to wonder if he's been taking tips from Murasakibara. He voices this concern, and Kiyoshi waves it off by saying that he is a tired college student and snacks are his coffee.
Izuki can relate. Coffee is his lifeblood almost, now that he's in college.
They talk for a little while, reminiscing the old days back at Seirin. It's fun and lighthearted banter, and Izuki finds himself almost forgetting about the fight he's had with Hyuuga.
Almost.
In all honesty, Kiyoshi expected this sooner.
He'd been predicting to himself since Hyuuga and Izuki moved in together that they'd fight, and one would invariably end up on his doorstep. He's surprised they've held out this long, really.
It's been about twenty minutes since Izuki landed up, and they are reliving the old days, skirting the topic of Hyuuga carefully until Kiyoshi feels he can bear it no longer.
"Izuki, what did Hyuuga say?" he asks gently. For all his puns, Izuki is quite calm and level-headed, a perfect fit for the hot-headed Hyuuga. He wouldn't take offence at something small, knowing his boyfriend's rash temperament.
Izuki's face crumples, and tears gather in the corners of his eyes.
"He said I'm stupid, and annoying, and he doesn't know why he ever wanted to be with me in the first place. He said I make too many puns, and that I should just take a hint because no one ever wanted to hear them anyway," he whispers hoarsely. His head is in his hands now, and he's crying, Kiyoshi can tell.
Kiyoshi moves over to his friend, puts his arms around him. Izuki's puns can be annoying at times, but Hyuuga has gone too far.
"I'm sure he didn't mean it," he says comfortingly.
And he is. Because for all that Hyuuga is brash and rude, he really does care about Izuki. You can see it in the way he looks at the smaller boy, in the way he smiles when Izuki is happy.
So Kiyoshi does his best to offer comfort, to persuade Izuki that Hyuuga does love him.
Eventually, Izuki falls asleep on the spare futon that Kiyoshi always has ready just in case he has to host someone else.
Kiyoshi looks at his friend's peaceful face and thinks, I always wanted him to be mine, this pure, perfect being. Hyuuga, as a friend I beg you, please don't throw away Izuki. He's too precious to lose.
And if you do, I'm always here to pick up the pieces - and I won't let you have a second chance.
The night is not fun.
Hyuuga tosses and turns, missing the feeling of Izuki's warm body cuddled close next to him, of his arm thrown carelessly over Hyuuga's waist, of his face, so relaxed while asleep - a far cry from the agitated, overworked college boy he has become.
He doesn't sleep a wink. All the while he's up, thinking of how badly he's hurt the one he loves, his other half.
I'm so sorry, my love. I'm so sorry I hurt you. is the only thing that he can think the whole time.
When he finally rolls out of bed and starts getting ready for college, he knows what he has to do.
Izuki is thankful for the small mercy that he is a lot smarter than Hyuuga.
This equates him having all advanced classes, as opposed to Hyuuga's regular classes. His biology major also differs from Hyuuga's business major, so that basically means they're on opposite sides of the building.
They don't have any classes together, not even lunch, and this is possibly the first time he is glad about that.
He doesn't want to face his boyfriend yet.
Just a little more time.
Not yet.
Hyuuga pushes his door open, already knowing what he'll find when he enters.
As expected, Izuki is sitting on the couch, body language tight and closed-off.
It still makes his heart skip a beat. Still makes him blink, not believing that Izuki is here, real and whole, in front of him.
"Hey," he says, causing his boyfriend to look up.
"Oh, it's you," Izuki says coldly. His face is set, blank and calm and completely unfeeling, and for a brief moment Hyuuga wonders if he has been taking lessons from Akashi.
"Yeah, I live here, so..." he trails off, throwing his bag into the corner and going into the kitchen to grab a sandwich. When he comes out, Izuki is standing up, the same blank expression on his face.
"We need to talk," he states.
And those words flip a switch within Hyuuga, and suddenly things are pouring out of his mouth that he has no control over. All he knows is that he has to make things right.
He has to make things right before he loses the best thing that has ever happened to him.
"I'm sorry," he blurts. "What I said was out of line. I - you have to know I never meant it! I shouldn't ever have gone there, but I was - I was angry, and it's no excuse, but I have to make things right because it's all my fault and I - I can't lose you, Shun, I just can't. I would cut off my dick for you. I love you,"
On hindsight, probably not the most romantic of desperate makeup speeches. But it will have to do.
Izuki quirks a dark eyebrow, that unnervingly Akashi-like expression still on his face; but now it's not a wall of ice - now it's a questioning face.
And then a beautiful smile blossoms on his lips, and he asks, "Cut off your dick? That's a little extreme,"
Hyuuga scowls, looking at the ground. Of course that's the part Izuki chooses to fix on.
"I just gave you this long flowery speech about how I love you, and that's the part you pick?" he snorts.
"Well, yeah," Izuki laughs, "that's the only bit of it that's not cliché. You know I hate cliché stuff."
Then he gets serious. "I guess I'm sorry too. I know my puns annoy you, and sometimes I just make them to get on your nerves. It's childish and immature and I'm sorry for that."
Hyuuga stands stock-still, in shock that Izuki is apologising. He shouldn't be - it's Hyuuga's fault.
But Hyuuga is not sixteen any more, and he knows to accept that his partner is maturely apologising to him, coming down to his level though he doesn't have to, and he appreciates this.
So he smiles and spreads his arms.
In a moment, they are full of Izuki.
The eagle-eyed boy has buried his face in the crook of Hyuuga's neck, soft hair ticklish against Hyuuga's skin. They stay like that for a while, just relishing each other's presence, knowing that whatever fights they may have, they'll always end up like this - in each other's arms.
Eventually, they make their way to the sofa, and Hyuuga lazily turns on the TV, where some old English romance movie is playing. He drags a blanket over the two of them, and Izuki curls up to him in that way he always likes to, head on his shoulder, watching quietly as Hyuuga slips an arm around his waist.
"I didn't sleep last night," Izuki admits softly. "I missed you too much."
Hyuuga hums in response. "I'm here now," he says.
They fall asleep like that, wrapped up in each other. The fight is behind them for good now, and a clear tomorrow awaits.
"I'm never falling asleep like that again," Izuki grumbles later, rubbing at the crick in his neck.
Hyuuga grins and kisses his forehead.
Izuki eyes him suspiciously. "...why are you so affectionate today, Junpei?"
"Nothing," he hums. He's loath to admit that he's revelling in Izuki's presence after that terrible night without him.
But unluckily for him, Izuki is smart.
He sees the light of realisation dawn in those black eyes.
"...oh my god, you missed me," Izuki says with the biggest, cheesiest grin possible. "You missed me, you giant lunk!"
Hyuuga shakes his head, blushing furiously. "I did not,"
"Did too," Izuki teases.
They banter all the way to college, where they meet Kiyoshi.
"Oh, it's all resolved now?" he asks, pleasant smile on his face.
"You were with Kiyoshi, I figured," Hyuuga grins.
Izuki smiles. "You know me so well,"
The bell rings, loud and high, and Kiyoshi winces.
Izuki jolts. "Shit, I have to go!"
He kisses Hyuuga on the lips, and then he's darting off with a called "I love you, Junpei!"
"I love you too," Hyuuga mutters with a small smile.
"Come on," Kiyoshi says, "We'll be late otherwise,"
Hyuuga casts one last glance at the direction Izuki ran off in and smiles.
"Yeah." he says, and follows Kiyoshi to another dull class.
Kiyoshi smiles bitterly to himself as he sees Izuki call out an 'I love you' to Hyuuga and bound off.
I wish you were mine...
But you're not...
And you never will be.
Swallowing the sudden lump in his throat, he smiles at Hyuuga.
"Come on, we'll be late otherwise."
"Yeah," Hyuuga replies distantly.
Kiyoshi wants to hate him for having everything he has ever wanted - but he can't.
So he plasters a grin on his face and ignores the thorns piercing his heart.
Ignores the way his soul bleeds for one he cannot have.