When Iwaizumi slightly opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Oikawa staring at him with his typical pout on his face.
"Ah, you finally woke up", the taller brunet said with an amused laughter in his voice. "Seriously, Hajime, you're such a sleepyhead. I fell asleep after you but woke up way earlier than you!"
"What time is it?" the vice-captain muttered and sat up, scratching the back of his head tiredly. "I should probably be in a patrol already."
"That's the first thing you say?" Oikawa sounded offended. "Are you even awake? I thought you would say at least something about this." He waved his right hand in front of Iwaizumi's face, and the vice-captain had to blink his eyes in amaze. The sniper really had a right arm now, it was a metallic prosthesis that looked just like a real arm. It was exactly the same size as Oikawa's left arm, and it was even made to match Oikawa's body structure.
"Right", he aspirated. "Holy shit, Tooru, that's incredible", he reached to the prosthesis and tapped the metallic surface a few times. "I fell asleep without even noticing it? I must have been deadly tired or something. It looks just like a real arm."
"Those strings don't really belong to it, they are there just to support the prosthesis' weight until my shoulder is healed", Oikawa explained. "And yes, you didn't say a word yesterday. But now you are even more excited than me", he laughed brightly. "This is awesome, Hajime, I can move the fingers without a problem already." He wiggled the metallic fingers and then bended his elbow, smiling widely like a child who had just got a new toy. "You can't even think what this feels like!"
"I really can't", Iwaizumi admitted, still observing the prosthesis with sharp eyes. "Mr. Collins really did an excellent job. When will you be able to use it normally?"
"Will said that I should let it rest a few days, but then I can slowly start using it properly", Oikawa told. "Moving it like this isn't a problem, but I shouldn't carry anything heavy. But I can attend to patrols and thing like that tomorrow already!"
"Tomorrow?" Iwaizumi repeated. "So soon? That's amazing, Tooru! Those medicines had are really incredible."
"I know right, my shoulder has healed really quickly thanks to them", Oikawa chuckled. "But now I want to know what I have missed. You said you had an awful day yesterday, so I think many things happened?"
"You can't even guess", Iwaizumi huffed and crossed his arms, leaning back in the bed. "Well, firstly, Sugawara is back. He brought his sister, Elysia, here too."
"That's good to hear", Oikawa noted. "Is he okay?"
"Yes, he is", Iwaizumi assured. "Elysia seemed to be fine with moving here, so I think everything is okay for now with them."
"What's wrong, then?" Oikawa asked and tilted his head, a little worried light in his eyes. "You hardly ever complain about your day, so calling yesterday 'shitty' must have some reasons behind it?"
"Oh", Iwaizumi mumbled. "I said that?" He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to get a hold of last day's memories. "Well, Kuroo is the main reason."
"I knew he would not do anything good in here", Oikawa huffed. "Who did he trash this time?"
"My dad", Iwaizumi sighed and made Oikawa fall quiet. "Kuroo somehow found out that the Dolls that killed my father were his friends, and you can just guess what our precious leader did with that information. He called me soft for letting Sugawara stay at his family's, compared me to my father, saying that it was my father's softness that killed my family." Iwaizumi slowly shook his head. "I kinda snapped and threw a knife towards him. It luckily just scratched his ear just as I had meant it to."
"Even I wouldn't have believed that Kuroo would do something like that!" Oikawa spat. "He knows very well how sensitive thing that is for you. He deserved that scratch."
"He really did", Iwaizumi agreed with a sigh. "The problem about that is Tsukishima. He isn't happy with my behavior, if I'd say it like that. But that's okay as long as he listens to Daichi at least. I just hope he won't try to leave."
"Why everyone here is such an asshole", Oikawa sighed and run his fingers through his hair. "I completely understand why you were tired and done with that day."
"Actually the main reason is that I couldn't sleep well before", Iwaizumi mumbled and leaned on his hands. "I tried to take a nap after Kuroo left, but seems like his words triggered the old memories enough."
"Nightmares?" Oikawa guessed. "Just like a few years ago?"
"Yup", Iwaizumi sighed. "And illusions. It started to snow when I went outside a little later that evening. It reminded me of that day and I saw the snowflakes as blood drops. Fuck, Tooru, I almost lost my mind while a short patrol."
"That sounds bad", Oikawa mumbled and observed Iwaizumi's eyes with his look. "But you slept well now?"
"Yep, not a single dream", the vice-captain told. "I think I will be fine in few days if nothing triggers the memories even more."
"You should take a few day's vacation, then", Oikawa recommended. "A sickness leave or something. You look still tired, and you won't last even two days without proper sleep if you also work."
"Can't do that", Iwaizumi hummed. "Kuroo took three weeks off my vacations as a result of defending Sugawara. I can't take even sickness leaves in next three weeks."
"Does he really want to kill you or something?" Oikawa aspirated. "That's insane! He wouldn't have done that if it was someone else than you. What's his problem?"
"Either he wants to see if I am really prepared to be a leader someday or he wants me dead. Either way I need to go talk to him, he can't keep doing this if he wants everyone to stay here", Iwaizumi sighed with a clearly bored tone in his low voice. "Let's see what kind of shit he makes up this time."
"I think you should just stay away from him, but you have a point", Oikawa mumbled, face as unamused as his face could probably be. "The situation really sounds like it's falling apart."
"It really is", Iwaizumi agreed and shrugged slightly. "If Kuroo wants to keep triggering me and making the others uncomfortable, he should take responsibility of that."
"Good luck then", Oikawa said and slapped Iwaizumi's back lightly. "Kuroo should at least know which topics he shouldn't talk about with you."
Iwaizumi gazed the other brunet, rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yea, he knows those topics well, and that's why he will most probably make me talk about them."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Iwaizumi knocked the white, wooden door that had many cracks and detritions in its paint. After hearing an approving sound from inside he opened the door and stepped in a small, stuffed room. The walls were full of shelves which were almost bursting of documents and books. Kuroo was standing in front of one of the shelves and tried to fit one more book in it.
"I really need more space, don't you think?" the raven-haired Cat noted. "Maybe I should order one more shelf from that kind smith. She would make me a new one, right?" He turned to look at his vice-captain and instantly lowered the book to the desk next to him. "Uh-oh, that isn't a nice face. You clearly have some serious facts to tell me."
"You aren't wrong with that", Iwaizumi admitted. "I came to ask you to stop showing up when the other soldiers are in the headquarters. They don't like you."
"That's way too harsh", Kuroo sighed and kept going with his overdramatic whining: "I have put my soul and heart in this job, and this is what I get?"
"Maybe you should take that heart back to yourself and try to sympathize for a change. Most of the soldiers hadn't even seen you before, and you choose to give such a beautiful first impression. Especially Tsukishima seems to be done with your shit already. You put me on a tough spot, too, running away from your responsibilities like that", Iwaizumi stated, keeping his voice calm. "You should act like a leader."
"I'm a busy guy", Kuroo hummed. "Is the situation too tough for you? You are supposed to be my vice-captain, Iwaizumi. Did I hurt your feelings yesterday?"
"That scratch in your ear should be a proper answer for that", Iwaizumi stated. "Do you really have something against me? You knew I would react like that."
"Shortly put: you are too popular", Kuroo answered surprisingly quick. "Always so reliable and kind. I need to show the short-tempered side of you before the soldiers follow you rather than me. As a leader of this little group I can't risk my position."
Iwaizumi squinted and tilted his head a bit. "You are surprisingly honest. Care to continue?"
"Well, since you aren't the type to whine to people, I guess I can tell", Kuroo chuckled shortly. "I'm not satisfied with you as my vice-captain. You are too soft for that position. But if I'd kick you out now, the possibility of rebellion would be high. So I just need to turn the soldiers against you before doing that", he grinned and raised his chin. "The other option is to break you. And I think I have a good start on that."
"You are even more of a shithead than I thought", Iwaizumi spat. "Challenge accepted. Let's see if you can kick me out of here. But before that, you really need to promise me to keep away from the other soldiers", the brunet continued. "You can trash me all you want, but you have to admit that it would be bad if they'd leave this place."
"I don't make promises for softies", Kuroo hummed and turned his back for Iwaizumi. "Someone who can't get over a few deaths doesn't deserve my promises."
"Easy for you to talk, since you haven't lost anyone", Iwaizumi snarled. "You should try experiencing a trauma. It doesn't have an on-off -switch."
"Ah, you are right", Kuroo chuckled. "I haven't lost anyone, because my relatives know who are their enemies."
"Again with that?" Iwaizumi huffed. "Looks like we are done. As your vice-captain I guess I have to put up with your shit, but let me tell that you make it really, really difficult." He turned around and headed to the door, not giving a single glance to his leader again.
"You are a complete failure, Iwaizumi. I wonder why Ukai ever saved you from the Dolls."
Iwaizumi slammed the door shut behind him, feeling the anger boiling in his veins. How did Kuroo always get the last word?
