Bubble Burst

Chapter 4: Where We At


(34) my discotheque Juliet teenage dream

Shimizu Kiyoko was one dashingly attractive woman –one sideway glance was all it needed for any boy to confirm it.

Oikawa, of course, as the worshipper of any God's beautiful creature (oh, and in case of doubt, that always included himself) spotted it right on as well. Firstly, during that preliminary match back in high school. Secondly, on the first day of work, where she was clearly the most striking newbie in the company.

Beauty was in the eye of the beholder of course. When Oikawa first came to Tokyo for this job, he expected to bedazzled by dozens of stylish Tokyo girls. His expectation was met, thankfully. Nevertheless, he did not expect that even when compared to other girls who wore trendier clothing or latest makeup trends, Shimizu was still up to, if not exceeded, the par.

A classic beauty, Oikawa decided as he gazed at her back profile during the company's dinner. Not exactly a goody-girl-next-door beauty, or the cold chic beauty, but simply… a Classic.

And Oikawa, a collector in his own field, took pride in claiming the Classic.


(35) sweet dreams, i gotta go now

Along with the personal pride, there was of course, the urge to boast.

"Please do not repeat what you did this afternoon, Oikawa-san," Shimizu eventually noted as she took her turn to climb on top of him.

This was their, what, fourth Friday night spent together (with intervals, of course) and this was probably the first line she spoke to him after the soft 'come in' half an hour prior.

"What I did?" he echoed, half-focused, because Shimizu's hand was always good in his lower region.

"Casually giving remarks about my apartment interior in front of other people," Shimizu clarified. "I am not particularly comfortable with the publicity."

Oikawa tried to recall to whom he had really boasted this over. Iwaizumi, certainly, though the childhood friend straight-out laughed out loud at the mere thought. In his sober condition, he was certain that he had not told any of their working colleagues blatantly, but he was not 100% positive that he had not when he was drunk.

"And, er…if I have?" he tested.

Shimizu always dimmed down her bedroom lamp so when she stared down at him, most of the time he could not really see. But this time, Oikawa nearly could feel the coldness that was translated through the air and through the absence of the strokes in his building eagerness.

Shimizu was always a woman with the fewest words, but her eyes? Her eyes would always speak the clearest message and Oikawa did not want to test it.


(36) you're nothing but a cold heart covered in gold

What Oikawa hated the most was being left in the middle, so he obliged to Shimizu's term. This whole ordeal was an arrangement –one that he wanted to keep for quite a while –, so Oikawa would try his best to fulfill his end of the deal.

He pushed down the image of the shock on the face of the Karasuno teams. Rubbing salt on their wounds would need to wait a little bit more.


(37) we're different and the same, gave you another name

If Shimizu had her terms, Oikawa had his too, of course. He did not bring his terms to the table as straightforward as Shimizu did, but there was no need for straightforwardness when probably half the community knew about it.

Oikawa never felt the need of establishing a proper relationship to underlie his urges satiation. Simply put, he slept around and he would give every girl that would come to his bed (or him to their beds, whichever) the queen-like treatment, with the condition that he bowed not only to one queen.

Sex with Shimizu Kiyoko was always a blast, but sometimes he needed varieties.

"Have a nice Friday night, Manager-chan!" Oikawa shouted at her the next Friday night as they both walked out of the company building: her, alone and heading straight back to the apartment, and him, with the company of a girl and heading to the said girl's residential area. The girl Oikawa was with clutched him a little tighter (ah, maybe wrong choice tonight, this one did not seem to be a sharing player), but he just needed to call out Shimizu when he was with another girl to prove and draw the line.

Drawing the line was probably not really required when it came to Shimizu though. With other girls, Oikawa often had to make it really clear that he wanted no strings attached, but Shimizu never questioned him and never refused to let him into her apartment when he was in the mood for a girl who allowed him to do it without much of pillow talks needed.

Which made her perfect, really. Oikawa had dreaded the worst outcome if Shimizu was not fond of his terms. Not particularly because of anything, but because simply, she was still his neighbor and he did not want any bad sentiment between them. Like, what if he needed the phone number of the apartment's plumber (he confirmed that Shimizu had a neatly-written of all possible emergency contact on her fridge door)? Or if there was a giant cockroach he could not handle? He needed a good, dependable and capable neighbor and Shimizu certainly exceeded the threshold.

Considerations like these, he thought, was what made him grin wider whenever he knocked on her door and she left it ajar for him.


(38) so goodbye, apathy (as i'm trying)

There were those weekends where he was in no mood of knocking on Shimizu's door, in no mood to drink with his friends, in no mood to chat with Iwaizumi or Iku, in no mood to lay around with other girls either. Sometimes those weekends extended to another or two. Sometimes it was only part of the weekend.

He was just walking through the corridor toward his room with a plastic bag from the convenience store when Shimizu locked her own and they passed by the corridor.

"Evening, Manager-chan."

"Good evening."

"Going out?" he asked.

"Meeting my Kouhai," Shimizu responded.

"That's nice," he beamed quickly.

"You're not going out?" she asked.

The notion of Shimizu taking the initiative to ask him first was like once in a total eclipse (which was not impossible, but still rare enough) that he paused for a second before he chuckled his reply. "Just want to snuggle in my comforter alone tonight. Finishing some re-runs of basketball games I haven't watched," he said with a grin.

"I see," Shimizu noted and Oikawa hated the fact that he could still catch even the subtlest way Shimizu's eyes fell to his knees. "Well, I'll get going then. Have a nice evening, Oikawa-san."

"You too, Manager-chan," he passed her another cheeky smile before he got into his apartment and locked his door.

His left knee throbbed again; dull and persistent –like the drumming noise the ball made that Oikawa wished never to echo in his mind again.


(39) 'cause you're holding onto heaven, but you're hanging by a thread

"Have you ever regretted not telling Mr. Refreshing your feeling?"

Either Shimizu was already half-asleep or that any reference to Sugawara Koushi required at least two seconds of deliberation, but in any event, her reply did not come fast enough.

"What?" she asked him.

"Have you ever regretted," Oikawa repeated as he played with the click of her bed lamp. "Not telling him how you feel about him?"

"…It wouldn't make much of a difference." Shimizu replied, and she sat up on her bed to put her glasses on.

"Maybe it would have, you know? Don't you ever wonder?" Oikawa asked.

"He has a girlfriend," she paused again. "A fiancée."

"Well, any guy without a ring is still unclaimed. And if you ask me, even if you put a ring on him, a guy could never be fully claimed."

"Suga is a loyal man and I don't have any plan on ruining anybody's relationship," Shimizu defended. "He is not like you, Oikawa-san."

Oikawa did not find it insulting the least. With a chuckle, he thought he would like to remind her, "All guys in this world are alike, Manager-chan. And you know what? Women are not the only one with intuition. When we went to Odaiba together with him and his fiancée? It's not proven, but I guess I can see a slight sentiment in Mr. Refreshing's eyes when he looked at you. If you ask me, you actually could have had it, you know?"

"Just like how you could have had that brilliant volleyball career?"

His chuckle died down.

Shimizu sighed and she walked out of her bed. Even the sight of her bare butt cheeks did not please Oikawa as much as it usually did.


(40) a piece of something to call mine

Oikawa knew not even Shimizu's favorite color. He did not know at which point of life did she start wearing glasses. Or whether she was closer to her mother or father. Or how and why she fell for Mr. Refreshing.

He knew none of those and he had no reason to anyway. Shimizu and him were not particularly friends, and not even friends with benefits either (when Oikawa had brought the notion of the latter to her, Shimizu reminded him that they did not even know each other's birthday and he kind of agreed to that being a prerequisite).

Still, friend or no friend, when Oikawa felt bad, he just felt bad. Admitting that he might have been at wrong came with a struggle, though usually it came easier when it was directed to the female population than the male ones. And when he decided he had to apologize to Shimizu, she was away on a business trip to Kyushu for the rest of the week.

…and he kind of needed the plumber's phone number too.


(41) maybe we forgot all the things we are when we are together

When Oikawa met Shimizu again, it was on the next Wednesday. She was just getting out of the elevator when he was about to get in. The startle and the lack of space that vaguely reminded him of his Sims players nearly made him stumble.

"I'm sor –"

"Excuse m –"

"Oikawa-san?"

"Manager-chan?"

"I'm sorry about the other days."

There. The apology came from his lips. And it came from hers too.

The look, the blink and the chuckle were all nearly in synchronization that Oikawa would have laughed had it not been for the closing elevator doors.

"Well, I assume we both forgive each other?" he inquired from inside the capsule as he held the door hold button.

She nodded and the faint smile on her face in response to his grin was an enough assurance before he allowed the elevator doors rolling close.

"Yes."


(42) i'm just trying to get us on the same page

Oikawa started by asking Shimizu what her favorite color was.

She stared at him, again –and he noticed she always did it when she was trying to decipher where he was going on with this. He did his best maintaining his smile, and eventually she answered.

"Nothing in particular. But if I have to choose, perhaps black?"


(43) loose lips sink ships

"You know, she's not as pure as we all think."

Then, there were those Friday nights where Oikawa just wanted to take a break from girls in general. While not always, he was often times more Bros than Hoes type of guy anyway. The few first-years in the PR division gathered together for another round of sakes and fritters after work. And grown-up men would always be boys at the end of the day. Have four of them together, a good supply of alcohol, and they would go from the business-like respectable members of the society to secondary school boys who graded girls in their class.

"Who?" Oikawa asked as he bit on his skewer.

His colleague who first brought up the issue, Oda, dunked his umpteenth cup of sake before he proceeded. "You know, that so-called proper goddess from the Distributorship Division?"

Oikawa only silently played with his skewer as his other two colleagues dreamily sighed in unison, "Shimizu Kiyoko-san…"

"Yeah," Oda confirmed. "Beneath that goody-girl and aloof experience, she's a total slut. I actually only want to do it to her once, but she came to me and begged me for another chance. I would have loved to give it to her, but she was kind of lousy with her blowjob."

"You slept with her?!" the man sitting beside Oikawa shrieked so hard that Oikawa even needed to pull his shirt to remind him to calm down. "I don't believe it. She rejected a ton of suitors! No offense, but why would she choose you?"

"Well you know that kind of girl who likes to play hard to get at first. She's totally that type. All she cares about is image, I guess. Ask her in private, and really, she'd be the one begging for your dick. I asked her in private during last month's company dinner, and we went straight to the room after that."

"Argh, don't taint my image of her!"

"Oh well that's true. I must admit I am kind of disappointed too."

"Damn you, lucky ass."

"I'm not that lucky. Any guy can ask it from her if he plays it right. Follow that tip and you can have her. Sure she'd be happy too."

Oikawa remained silenced during the whole conversation. Of course, he did not expect Shimizu would go to that extent. Oikawa playing it non-exclusively was nothing new and he was aware Shimizu had no complaint to it. But to know that Shimizu was secretly playing his stunt? He must admit that it was surprising, though technically speaking, not too farfetched. To a girl like Shimizu, anyone other than Sugawara Koushi must have been fitting so long that they could give her the hallucinogen effect she was chasing.

So it turned out that Oikawa had been degraded not only to Mr. Refreshing's replacement, but he was also someone completely replaceable.

He must have found it funny because all so sudden Oikawa laughed in the middle of the boys' conversation.

"Dude, what's wrong with you?"

Oikawa shook his head and grinned his candy advertisement smile. "Nothing."


(44) if you had your gun, would you shoot it at the sky?

"Just to give you the assurance, I'm cool if you want to do it too, Manager-chan."

She stared at him quite intently, always taking a moment to figure out the context of which he was talking about. This time, she must have been unable to find it, because she asked it straight out.

"I'm sorry, what is this about?"

"Well, not that it needs any clarification to begin with, but I am a fair player," he said. At times, he thought. "I mean, I can only hope that whoever else you're doing this to would also be understanding. I must admit I enjoy doing this with you and it would be a damn shame if I can't do it with you again."

Her deep stare was prolonged, and when it ended, it was with a sigh.

"…You also believe that rumor?"

He shrugged; with a nonchalant tug of smile. "Rumor or not, just want to let you know, I'm cool with it," Oikawa then paused to add, "I mean. Like I said, I just wish it'd be okay for you to spare some times for me because –"

"I don't just sleep around with guys, Oikawa-san."

Her words were trying to pull the tug of smile lower, but Oikawa maintained it up. "Okay. That's cool. Anyhow, it's always your preference."

"It always is my preference," Shimizu confirmed; her tone iced up a bit. "And I…" she hung the words mid air. The next sigh that escaped her lips was almost inaudible. "Well, you're right. It really is not your problem."

"Right?" Oikawa grinned, and he stood up from her sofa and grabbed his coat. "Had a great night. Thanks, Manager-chan. Let's do it again sometimes."

She did not answer, and even if she did, Oikawa did not stay long enough in her room to hear it.


To be Continued


Song List

(34) Shut Up and Dance – Walk the Moon

(35) Sweet Dreams – Andra and Mara

(36) Leaving You – Audien

(37) Goodbye Apathy – One Republic

(38) Everytime You Go – Ellie Goulding

(39) Oh No – Bring Me the Horizon

(40) Pure Shores – All Saints

(41) Rather Be – Clean Bandit

(42) The Listening – Lights

(43) Cherry Tree – The National

(44) Laura Palmer – Bastille