Pairing: Oikawa & Iwaizumi

Summary: Iwaizumi had broken up with Oikawa a while ago, it was for the best, they had both agreed. But now it's Thanksgiving and he's stag at his family dinner, not that that stops everyone from bringing up his well-loved ex-boyfriend.

Word Count: 2,058

Sex: No

In a Tub Just Thinking of You

"Hajime," his favorite little cousin ran from the backyard into the kitchen where his aunt and he were exchanging stuffing recipes.

"Asami," Iwaizumi laughed and pulled her into his arms.

"I missed you," she smiled and cuddled into his arms.

"You missed me?" He asked holding her a little ways away from him. "I barely recognized you with how big you've gotten."

"I've grown three inches," she said proudly.

"Wow, no way," he kissed her forehead. She started to squirm.

"Where's Toru? I want to show him how much I've grown," she said it smiling almost as if she didn't understand the devastating blow she'd just delivered to Iwaizumi. Which to be fair she didn't.

"Oh, he's not coming today sweetheart, I'm sorry. I should have told your mom."

"But doesn't he miss me?" her eyes welled up with big crocodile tears.

"Of course he misses you," Iwaizumi kissed her head softly. And I miss him he thought to himself sadly. "He just, he was writing a paper, he couldn't put it off."

"That sounds very responsible," Asami's mother said. "Why don't you go play with Kantaro outside?" she took her daughter from Iwizumi's arms and set her down ushering her out the door.

"Thanks, aunt Kana," Iwaizumi smiled at her.

"He's not writing a paper is he?" Kana said suddenly and Iwaizumi had half a mind to take his thank you back. He hadn't wanted his little cousin to stop talking about it so that he could talk about it with someone else.

"No, he's not. We're not together anymore."

"Oh Hajime," she hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry. I know how much he meant to you. Sometimes things happen, don't blame yourself." I'm not, he wanted to scream. If it was anyone's fault it was shittykawa's. Him and his stupid flirtatious attitude, going around hitting on anything that moved, even girls, which made no sense to Iwaizumi since he was positive the guy was gay. Either way with them headed off to different colleges it had made the most sense. Iwaizumi loved Oikawa, he just didn't trust him.

"It's fine aunt Kana," he squeezed her for a moment. "I just want to see my family and forget about the whole thing," he smiled and pulled away. "Besides your broth is about to boil over." She squealed and quickly turned her attention back to dinner, talking only over her shoulder to him. It drove Iwaizumi crazy that no matter how many times he proved what an excellent cook he was he was never allowed to help contribute to family meals in any fashion, even a salad would be nice at this point. But he sighed, watched his aunt Kana cook and convinced himself to believe what he told his aunt, it was fine.

He believed himself for about twenty minutes until relative after relative asked about Oikawa, or in some audacious instances just came up and started talking about it. It would be nice if his family could give the pretense of not being horrible gossips. So forty minutes later he excused himself from his senile grandmother asking who in hell would give her great-grandchildren now. It was too frustrating explaining to her that biologically that wasn't going to be him anyways and if he was going to adopt he could do it just as easily alone. So he went up to his great aunt Susan's bedroom and locked himself in her spacious bathroom. No one really came up here when the family was together anyways so he felt pretty secure that no one would notice. If anything they would notice their topic of gossip was gone before they noticed the bathroom door shut. He had wanted to sit somewhere that made sense, like a stool or the counter but his great aunt Susan was a slob and the chairs in front of her vanity were covered in rejected outfits from today's hasty morning routine and the counter was littered with different kinds of makeups and face washes. So instead Iwaizumi sat in the tub and didn't resist as he slid into more of a laying position.

Looking up at the ceiling he started to really question his decision to leave Oikawa for the first time since it had happened. Of course, he had slaved over the choice for weeks before finally telling his ex. But since he had said it he had locked his option to look back away, kept it under lock and key. But now, with everyone else around him questioning his choice, his uncle Steven had been the one to wrangle out of him who had left who and uncle Steven was married to aunt Lydia who couldn't keep a secret to save the whole human race.

He and Oikawa, in a lot of ways it had been the most exhausting two years of his life, well one year and ten months. But exhausting or not, they had been happy. He pulled his phone out, his screen saver was now a team picture of Aoba Jousai before their last game, instead of one of the ridiculous faces that Oikawa had a habit of switching it to. He opened it and went into photos, unlocked the album he had banished all of their pictures to. He still had every ugly screensaver that idiot had put on his phone, something Oikawa had a habit of relentlessly teasing him for. He had the pictures from their six-month anniversary trip. The two had taken the train to Tokyo for the day and actually bothered to go and find the real Tokyo Tower, instead of just pointing at random tall structures or wondering silently. They had stayed the night in Tokyo so they could enjoy watching it light up. They had quite a few pictures from that anniversary and a lot of the times Iwaizumi thought his favorite should be the one of them kissing in front of it, the sky pitch black and the tower shining brilliantly behind them, Oikawa shining even brighter. But it wasn't, he loved it still of course, but his favorite by far was the picture of Oikawa staring out of the observatory window, smiling like he had just seen an alien spacecraft, face turned halfway back at Iwaizumi, frozen in time smiling. Oikawa had blushed vibrantly when he realized Iwaizumi had snapped a picture, and Iwaizumi liked that one too, smiled now as he stared at it.

The next huge chunk of unadulterated Oikawa pictures was from the time that an alien exhibit opened. Iwaizumi had taken Oikawa as a surprise, he had wished it had been closer to a birthday or anniversary or something but it hadn't, so it was just a regular outing. It hadn't stopped Oikawa from going absolutely nuts, though. He had cried when they had gotten there, shared an overly passionate kiss for where they were and dragged Iwaizumi around the inside for six hours, insisting on getting pictures of the exhibits without him but also with him looking at them. Of course, his phone had died about four hours in so Iwaizumi's had to suffer the rest of the alien overload. The pictures were close to the two hundred count with very little real substance, except when they were in an interactive exhibit and Oikawa got spooked by a moving life-sized alien. That set also had the first erotic pictures the couple had ever taken together. Anniversary or birthday be damned that was still the best sex Iwaizumi had ever had. The couple sexted a lot, sending nudes back and forth but it was the first time that Iwaizumi had taken pictures of Oikawa while they were together, and the first time he had allowed him to do the same. It was not, however, the last time.

The next set predictably was their one year anniversary. For their one year, Oikawa had booked them a week stay at Hoshino Kyoto, it was breathtaking. With a river just a mile away from the hotel the two had spent hours taking ferries or fishing or just messing around in it. The hotel was gorgeous and Iwaizumi was ashamed to admit that he was surprised Oikawa had done something so wonderful for him. There was a lot of fresh air in the hotel and the two had spent most of their time outside, thankful to be away from the city. They had done several hikes and enjoyed the countryside before returning home. The vast amounts of nature and the hotel's own beauty meant it was nearly impossible for Iwaizumi to pick a favorite picture from the trip. But if he had to try it was most likely tied between the picture of Oikawa sitting in a Cherry Blossom tree smiling down at him or the one of them kissing, one inside and one just outside the window. But if he was being honest the one of them holding hands and Oikawa's ill-timed selfie as Iwaizumi helped him crossed a river was pretty cute too. He scrolled down a bit and smiled instantly seeing the picture of the picnic Oikawa had set up for them too, another cute one. He was just as mesmerized a few moments later by the picture of Oikawa in a traditional kimono for the lantern festival he had insisted they go to. He had told Iwaizumi that they were really lucky the festival coincided with their anniversary. They had gone, of course, and Iwaizumi suddenly remembered that he had planned to propose at that festival someday. But now, that would never happen. Because now they weren't together.

He was just about done scrolling through the pictures to the bottom when he noticed some he hadn't seen before. They were pictures of Oikawa, really stupid looking ones, the kind that would have been his screensaver. The kind that, that made Iwaizumi remember how much he loved him. He started to cry. Just because something was the best thing for you didn't make it any easier. He still thought about the ring stuffed to the back of his sock drawer all the time. He still ran into Oikawa at school. He still avoided eating at certain places because they used to go there all the time, together. He still woke up confused and alone sometimes. He still whispered 'I love you' to the cold night air. He still thought about their future. He could still remember what his heartbeat felt like the quick stutter underneath his ear. He could still remember it all. And it hurt. He loved his ex so much.

"Iwa-chan?" he heard suddenly and his heart stopped. He wiped quickly at tears that were still escaping from his eyes and looked at his phone as if it burned him. "Iwa-chan," he heard again. He had called someone, he blinked at it.

"H-Hello," he raised it to his ear, some of his tears getting smashed between his flushed cheeks and the cool glass of his phone.

"Hey, are you ok?" Toru's soft voice floated into his ear. He had sounded annoyed before but now he just seemed concerned.

"I'm fine," Iwaizumi said sniffing.

"Did you forget the homework or something?" Toru sounded wary.

"Uh, no, sorry, I um I didn't mean to dial you."

"Oh," his voice was strained, pain. "That makes more sense. Goodbye then, I'd hate to keep you."

"Asami has grown three inches," Iwaizumi spat out suddenly.

"Oh," Toru was surprised. "Wow," he cooed as if she could hear him now. "She's getting so tall."

"Ya, I'm at my family's stupid Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone's asked about you." Iwaizumi rolled his eyes anticipating Oikawa's predictable 'naturally' or 'did you think they wouldn't'.

"I'm sorry that must be hard," Iwaizumi was surprised. It was a very un-Toru answer.

"It's fine, I should have expected it," Iwaizumi sighed.

They were both quiet for a few minutes, neither wanting to hang up but both found it hard to find something to talk about.

"I miss you Toru," Iwaizumi finally said.

"I miss you too Hajime. Do you want to come over?"

"That's probably a bad idea."

"You're probably right."

"I can excuse myself and be there in twenty?"

"I'll leave the door unlocked."

"Wait Toru."

"Ya?"

"Make it thirty, I have to stop by my house and grab some socks first."