maid café special (4/4)
"Why are we here."
It was a Saturday afternoon and Iwaizumi was staring – maybe glaring – up at the large characters on the side of a building that labelled it as part of Karasuno High School. Big posters and bright signs were plastered on the walls, welcoming them to the cultural festival and inviting them to explore the stalls run by the different classes and clubs, and there were people streaming in and out of the school, all chattering and laughing excitedly.
He turned his gaze to Oikawa, who was inspecting the posters innocently, as if it had been by chance they had come here. In truth, Oikawa had begged last night for him to accompany him though he had refused to tell Iwaizumi exactly where he wanted to go. It was only with the ironclad promise between childhood friends that Oikawa would buy him lunch – and any snacks he wanted – for a whole week that Iwaizumi had been convinced to come.
"Just curious about what Karasuno has to offer for their cultural festival," Oikawa said lightly. He smiled winsomely at Iwaizumi, daring him to question his false – and frankly terrible – excuse but Iwaizumi only scowled. He had his own suspicions, of course, but Oikawa would never confirm them. "Let's go, Iwa-chan!"
Rolling his eyes, Iwaizumi followed him into the school. It was smaller than Aoba Johsai but the stalls were just as brightly decorated, the students just as hardworking and enthusiastic about their festival. And to Iwaizumi's relief, none of Oikawa's fanclub could be seen. There was no way they could have predicted he would be here at another school's cultural festival but he was still the recipient of a number of admiring glances as they walked through the school.
"I think they're nearly finished," Iwaizumi said, eyeing the emptying stalls and people packing up. "Where are you going?"
"You'll see," Oikawa answered airily as he continued to poke his head around the school. He breezed past the stalls and swept past the classrooms, letting his gaze linger on their occupants before he moved on.
"You know, the point of a cultural festival is to enjoy all of this," Iwaizumi pointed out, gesturing to all the attractions they had walked by. "Where are we going?"
"I know," Oikawa said agreeably, and nothing else. But he didn't – or couldn't – hide his interest when they entered what looked like the hallway for first-year classrooms, slowing to a dawdle and making the most of his height to peer into the classrooms. Iwaizumi kept pace, noting that there were hardly any members of the public inside, confirming his suspicions.
It was at the last room, belonging to Class 1-1, that Oikawa stopped. The decorations, menu signs and arrangement of the table and the chairs suggested they had hosted a café, but it was empty, with only students running around as they packed up. Some of them, Iwaizumi noted with amusement, were wearing costumes – black and white outfits, reminiscent of those found in a maid café.
And one of them had orange hair.
Oikawa saw her at the same time he did, freezing mid-step just as they passed the entrance. It was clear to Iwaizumi that this had been his aim the entire time, so he waited for Oikawa to smile and turn on the charm.
Instead, there was silence as Oikawa stared.
And stared.
And stared, gazing at Hinata Shouyou in a maid costume as if she had hung the stars and the sun in the sky.
Iwaizumi could admit she did look adorable, despite how ridiculous the maid costume was – it was a soft, delicate look that hid the strong lines of her arms and legs and emphasised her small stature – but whatever effect her appearance had on him appeared to be magnified a hundredfold on Oikawa, who was still completely lost to the black and white costume and the girl wearing it. He was so stiff that Iwaizumi thought he'd only hurt himself if he tried to elbow Oikawa in the ribs, but that urge only grew stronger as Oikawa continued to gape, eyes wide and jaw dropped.
Before he could do anything, another girl in costume ran over, her nametag pronouncing her Hirata Mamiko. "Hi, welcome to Class 1's maid café!" she said quickly. "I'm sorry, but we're about to close."
Iwaizumi waited a beat to see if Oikawa would snap out of it, but he didn't even seem to have heard her. Fortunately, the girl took it in stride, giving Oikawa an appraising look before she said, "Hinata should be free, if you're here to visit her."
Without waiting for a reply – a wise decision, since Oikawa was incapable of speech for the moment – she called Hinata over. Her voice, loud and commanding, drew the attention of the other students and Iwaizumi was thankful that he had an excellent immunity to any kind of embarrassment, courtesy of being Oikawa's best friend, as they all turned to stare.
Mamiko's voice also had the added benefit of waking Oikawa from his daze. He snapped his mouth shut with an audible click as Hinata approached, her brows furrowed as she stared disbelievingly at them. Iwaizumi could hardly blame her – two third-years from another school, a rival school at that, inexplicably showing up – but her expression soon softened into a shy smile.
"Hi, Tooru-kun, Iwaizumi-san," she said hesitantly.
"Shou-chan!" Oikawa all but cooed, smiling brightly at her.
Iwaizumi murmured his greeting, content to let Oikawa take over the conversation. The familiar nicknames they used didn't surprise him in the least – if anything, it was just one of many pieces falling into place – but what did interest him was how focused Oikawa was. He had smiled and nodded politely at admiring girls as they'd entered the school but as soon as he had seen Hinata, it was like nothing else in the world mattered – including any semblance of rational thought, to Iwaizumi's amusement.
There was no planning ahead or multitasking from Oikawa – no, Hinata Shouyou had his full, undivided attention. He really was a sucker for cute girls, almost as much as he was a sucker for volleyball – and that also meant she was on the receiving end of his charm at full power. Oikawa couldn't stop smiling at her, couldn't stop complimenting her, couldn't stop the blush spreading across his cheeks – neither could she – and he couldn't stop himself from standing so close to her. It was nauseatingly sweet to see Iwaizumi's best friend so smitten, especially when he saw how red Hinata was and how she kept stumbling over her words, despite the mundanity of their conversation. It was amusing to see her talk so excitedly about the café and what had happened; even more so to see how intently Oikawa was listening, as if Aoba Johsai hadn't had their fair share.
But what made Iwaizumi snort was when the girl from earlier cleared her throat and both Oikawa and Hinata jumped, too absorbed in the conversation and each other to notice her. "Would you like to use the photobooth?" Mamiko asked. "I can take some photos for you, if you'd like."
"Yes, that's a great idea!" Oikawa exclaimed, glancing down at Hinata. "Then we can commemorate how cute you look today, Shou-chan! If you don't mind, of course."
Iwaizumi didn't miss the irony as Oikawa flashed his most winning smile at her – after all, it was usually girls asking to take photos with him – but he thought it was fitting. Hinata was the first girl that Oikawa had liked in a long time, the first girl who shared his passion for volleyball, and more than that, she was the first girl whose friendship and relationship he was putting effort into developing. With his natural charisma and charm, it was unprecedented for Oikawa to actually flirt, and to do it so sincerely.
Unfortunately for him, the girl he was flirting with needed something more than charm to win her over. But since Iwaizumi suspected that something more was probably volleyball-related, he figured Oikawa wasn't doing too badly.
"No, it's okay," Hinata said cheerfully, and though she didn't share Oikawa's enthusiasm, she did laugh lightly. "I've already taken a lot of photos today."
"Oh?" Oikawa said, the corners of his lips turning down into the beginnings of a pout. "Who did you take them with?"
"Just my team," she answered easily, and although Oikawa did look more relieved, the pout remained – he probably wanted to be special in having a photo with Hinata – but he recovered quickly and tugged her over to the photobooth. Iwaizumi dawdled behind the, shoving his hands into his pockets as he watched them pose together. Hinata was taller than the average girl but Oikawa was older and also taller than the average boy, so the top of her head only just reached his chin. His arm was wrapped around her shoulders as they both grinned, throwing up matching victory signs.
The camera clicked and whirred as Mamiko took their photos. "Did you want a photo as well?" she asked, turning to Iwaizumi.
He snorted and shook his head. "No, thank you. I don't particularly enjoy being a third wheel," he was about to say when Oikawa stepped forwards and snagged his arm.
"Don't be a spoilsport, Iwa-chan," he sang, yanking him over.
Iwaizumi glared, forced to take a few stumbling steps closer, which was enough for Oikawa to drop his arm but he was already standing right next to Hinata. "Just one photo," he sighed, letting his expression soften into a smile for the camera.
Several photos later, along with many sincere expressions to thanks (to them, to the photographer, to Hinata), Iwaizumi and Oikawa were finally out the door. "Are you happy now?" he asked drily, eyeing Oikawa's lovestruck grin.
Oikawa huffed, only slightly embarrassed. "Very," he answered.
"Tooru-kun! Iwaizumi-san!" They both jumped slightly at the sound of Hinata's voice, turning back to see her poke her head into the hallway. "Um, I just need to get changed so if you don't mind waiting, we can leave together…?"
"Yeah, that's fine," Iwaizumi said, knowing that Oikawa wouldn't hesitate to agree.
And Oikawa didn't hesitate – in fact, he was a little too enthusiastic in responding, resulting in an incoherent splutter. "I-I-um, yes! That sounds great, Shou-chan!" he managed, nearly shouting in his haste to get the words out.
Iwaizumi stifled his laughter – Oikawa Tooru, with his reputation for flirting and his fanclub, was so flustered by a girl that he was nearly struck speechless. He briefly lamented the fact that Makki and Mattsun weren't around to see it, and struggled to hide his smile while Hinata, only briefly taken aback, called, "I'll be right back."
When she was out of sight, Iwaizumi allowed himself a dark chuckle and a hearty pat to Oikawa's back. "Smooth," he said, smirking.
"Shut up, Iwa-chan."
But the joke was on Iwaizumi in the end. By the time that Hinata had walked them to their bus stop, she had already gotten his phone number – to Oikawa's chagrin – and a promise that they would play together. And in return, he had learnt three things about her.
The first was that she was cute, and not just in appearance. There was something endearing about her natural exuberance, and although she was loud and excitable, her enthusiasm was always so earnest that it became infectious instead of annoying. He could see why everyone on her team doted on her and why no one, not even him, could say no to her.
The second thing was that she loved volleyball. That much he had guessed before, but she spoke so passionately, and sometimes incomprehensibly with all those sound effects, about her training and her matches, her teammates and her opponents that there was no mistaking how dedicated she was to the sport. It was clear that she worked very hard to be where she was now, and she had no plans on stopping.
The third and most important thing was that Oikawa Tooru was in love with her, and she didn't have a clue.
Hinata: *exists*
Oikawa: 😍😍
Hinata: *wears maid costume*
Oikawa: 😍❤💕 💖👍😘✨ ❣💞💓💗💖💘💝💟✨
fun fact: this chapter was originally written in Mamiko's POV, but as much as I enjoy writing outsider's perspectives on relationships, I felt that Iwaizumi had better insight into Oikawa's character and behaviour hehe
updates from here on will probably be a little slower, as this was the last chapter that I've pre-written completely. but there are definitely some in the works! thank you for your patience and support ❤