The Clock That Never Wanted to Tell Time

by ded.death.and.deyond

In which Iwaizumi doesn't understand why Oikawa always wants to sleep with him. That is, until it's too late.

Iwaizumi didn't know when it started.

"Hi, Iwa-chan."

Oikawa was sitting on top of his lap, straddling Iwaizumi's hips with both of his legs. There was a huge, sloppy grin on his face as he peered down onto Iwaizumi's face.

"The fuck are you doing?" Iwaizumi asked, squinting up at his best friend's face.

"I'm gonna kiss you. Is that okay? You didn't resist yesterday. Or all the other times." Oikawa's grin grew bigger. He laid a hand on Iwaizumi's cheek that felt quite too hot compared to the mosquitos probably dying of the heat outside the house.

Iwaizumi almost flustered and instead gritted his teeth. Oikawa didn't have to be so direct about it. But before Iwaizumi was able to open his mouth to snap back a reply, Oikawa had leaned down and pressed his lips against Iwaizumi's.

Sighing internally, Iwaizumi hooked a hand on the back of Oikawa's hair and pulled him down further so he could kiss him back. Oikawa licked against Iwaizumi's bottom lip, which made Iwaizumi shiver slightly below Oikawa's grasp. He could even feel Oikawa's smile against his lips.

"You look like you're enjoying this, Iwa-chan," Oikawa gloated, his heavy breath tingling against Iwaizumi's skin. His brown eyes had melted into a hazel, caramel color as they met Iwaizumi's eyes.

Iwaizumi scowled and decided to pull him back down into a deeper kiss. Oikawa smirked and gleefully bit Iwaizumi's bottom lip for entrance, and soon he slipped his tongue inside. Iwaizumi met his tongue with his own and clenched at the bedsheets underneath him to try to contain the rising heat building up onto his groin.

Oikawa hummed, pleased, and lowered his body to grind against Iwaizumi's lower body, which drew a hiss that he quickly swallowed. He released Iwaizumi's mouth and sat back, tapping on the bulge in Iwaizumi's pants. "That was fast." He gave him a lopsided, lazy grin. His face was flushed, and his eyes were half-lidded, but still as obnoxious as ever. "Want to do it here?"

Iwaizumi didn't even hesitate, knowing that he would probably be gently coerced into it either way. "Whatever. Top drawer. Back in the other stuff. You know." He looked away, wondering how long it would take to wash the inevitable mess they would make off of his parents new bedsheets.

Oikawa gave him a cheeky grin before stepping off the bed to retrieve the necessary materials.

Two minutes of bickering later that included "You being extra lazy today, aren't you, Iwa-chan?", "You don't even like being topped, so why bother arguing?", "How submissive of you, Iwa-chan," and "Shut up and just fuck me," Oikawa was ramming Iwaizumi into a sweaty oblivion. They came only moments between each other, and their cum swirled together into one sticky, hot mess all over Iwaizumi's bare chest.

Iwaizumi was left panting, completely spent from doing practically nothing, naked laid out on his back of his own bed next to Oikawa, who was in a similar state. After a few seconds of heavy breathing, Oikawa finally said, "So. What did I come here for in the first place again?"

Iwaizumi scowled at Oikawa. "Get out, you dumbass."

"Hey! That's not how you treat a guest."

Iwaizumi kicked at him. "We were supposed to be studying. Like normal people. But apparently you had different plans."

Oikawa smirked, and Iwaizumi really wished that he didn't look so beautiful underneath the light. "Wasn't it good, though?"

Iwaizumi pointedly looked away from him and instead focused on the light slowly starting to creep out of the mostly-closed window.

Wasn't it good?

It was.

He didn't know what this might mean.

Iwaizumi and Oikawa had known each other ever since they were toddlers. Earlier, even. For all these years, Oikawa had never tried anything. Once, he had a girlfriend, but they had broken up because Oikawa was apparently "married to volleyball". Iwaizumi had a feeling that that wasn't all there was to it.

His feelings were confirmed, when one day of casual studying at Oikawa's house, Oikawa had suddenly thrown himself out of the seat, into Iwaizumi's lap, and started kissing him.

Iwaizumi didn't resist. And just like what Oikawa had said, he never resisted afterwards. When the kissing had progressed into something more, Iwaizumi didn't even mind. It was his first time, but it didn't go as badly as he had originally thought. It was like his body was already adapted to Oikawa's ways years before they actually did it. And a couple of times, it was Iwaizumi who was driving into Oikawa over and over again.

They never actually talked about it afterwards. Actually, they never talked about it, period. Neither brought it up anytime else, and there was practically no warning when it would happen again. One minute Iwaizumi would be trying to convince Oikawa that the government was not trying to cover up that the moon landing was fake, and the next minute Oikawa's dick would be in Iwaizumi's ass.

This was normal, right?

"Makki! Mattsun!" Oikawa excitedly waved as he pulled Iwaizumi by the wrist to the table where their friends sat.

"All hail the holy presence of the Great King," Hanamaki and Matsukawa solemnly announced simultaneously as Oikawa and Iwaizumi arrived at the weekly visits to one of their favorite ramen shops.

Oikawa crossed his arms and pouted as he dropped into a seat across from the two. "Stop, now you just sound like Chibi-chan."

Hanamaki and Matsukawa ignored him as they turned to Iwaizumi, who sat in the seat next to Oikawa. "All hail the holy presence of the Great, Yet Miserable Sidekick of the Great King," they said in the exact same, monotonous tone.

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and snatched a menu off the table. "You guys are insufferable. Although you aren't wrong."

Hanamaki and Matsukawa smirked simultaneously, and Iwaizumi briefly wondered if they were clones of each other.

They all had officially graduated Aoba Johsai High School, but Iwaizumi still found himself being pulled along to these weekly ramen nights to "connect with our fellow Seijoh Third Years," courtesy of Oikawa. Nevertheless, Hanamaki, Matsukawa, and even Oikawa weren't exactly bad company. Iwaizumi didn't mind. He found that he didn't mind a lot recently.

"Guess who was invited to the Club Atletico San Juan? In Argentina?" Oikawa said excitedly after they had ordered.

Iwaizumi looked up from his tall glass of ice-cold water. Oikawa had already told him beforehand, but it was still surprising to hear yet again.

Unsurprisingly, Matsukawa and Hanamaki both shared looks of surprise. "Really?" Matsukawa said, playing with the slice of lime on his drink. "I heard they were good."

"Nice, man!" Hanamaki said, grinning. "Can't wait to see you get destroyed in the Olympics."

Oikawa pulled back from his seat and covered his mouth in feigned offence. "Makki, how rude!"

"I'm joking," Hanamaki replied, still grinning. "As a setter, right? You'll do great, really."

"Congratulations," added Iwaizumi, a sliver of a smile forming on his lips.

Oikawa turned towards Iwaizumi and beamed. "Iwa-chan, where are you going? Any prestigious college?" he asked, as if Iwaizumi hadn't told him already.

"Yeah. I don't know how I could manage living anywhere else, so I'll be staying here in Japan," Iwaizumi answered, mostly to Matsukawa and Hanamaki. "Studying sports science."

Matsukawa and Hanamaki shared a look, before they smirked simultaneously, and it was Hanamaki who said, "Guess even the married couple has to separate, huh?"

Iwaizumi choked on his own water. "What did you say?"

Matsukawa and Hanamaki just looked at Iwaizumi with a certain polite interest. "You guys are practically a married couple," Matsukawa repeated. "Right?"

"Um." Iwaizumi looked over to Oikawa, who had suddenly gone still. He was strangely quiet, in complete contrast to his personality, and was staring rather dully at the marble table in front of them. "Oikawa-"

"Here you go, boys," a waitress chirped as she lowered four large bowls of noodles to each respective person.

From all of the years Iwaizumi had spent knowing his best friend, he could tell Oikawa was grateful for the interruption by the way his eyes grew bigger at the sight of the food. Either that, or Oikawa was just happy to see his miso ramen.

Either way, the conversation abruptly changed to all the hot noodles Hanamaki and Matsukawa could inhale before their tongues fall off and somehow to all the different types of aliens the government is hiding from the general public, to which the latter was mostly led by Oikawa.

He seemed completely back to normal, which Iwaizumi deemed was good.

The front door slammed open and a certain tall, brown-haired setter announced his presence. "Iwa-chan!" Oikawa cried twenty decibels louder than a normal person would. "Pardon the intrusion!"

Iwaizumi almost fell out of his seat. "What the fuck- How did you-"

Oikawa sprinted into the living room where Iwaizumi sat and started violently shaking Iwaizumi's shoulders. "You have to help! I literally have no time left and I don't know how I'm going to be able to do everything and-"

Iwaizumi shoved Oikawa back and stood up to face him. "Shittykawa, slow down. First tell me how the fuck you broke into my own house."

Oikawa was panting and leaned over to catch his own breath before pulling out a suspiciously familiar key dangling from a keychain with a Godzilla on top.

"You-"

Oikawa finally stood up and grinned widely, a red flush still on his face from running.

"Remember a few days ago? After we," he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, "you know. You let me stay over for the night because it was late. In the morning I crawled out of bed and borrowed this." After seeing Iwaizumi was about to explode in fury, Oikawa added, "For emergencies. Like right now."

Iwaizumi sighed and crossed his arms. Why had he even been surprised? "Whatever. What do you want?"

Oikawa's grin almost completely disappeared. "They just called. I'm leaving for Argentina in two weeks."

Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow. "And? Isn't that great?"

"No!" Oikawa exploded, his energy somehow completely regenerating. "They should've called me at least a month beforehand! How am I supposed to pack up all of my stuff and magically ship them all into Argentina in two weeks?"

"What kind of problem is that?" Iwaizumi paused and restarted. "Okay, whatever. But how does this relate to me? I'm trying to do real work here, you know."

"Help. Me," Oikawa suddenly said in a deathly intense voice, grabbing both of Iwaizumi's shoulders. "Help me pack. I have to look at all the apartment leases, and talk with my parents, and somehow ship my stuff halfway across the world. In two weeks. So. Help."

Iwaizumi pressed his lips together and studied his best friend. To him, Oikawa was being overly dramatic for no reason, but Iwaizumi saw no other choice but to agree.

"Fine. What do you want me to do?"

The days seemed to pass by quickly.

A bit too quickly.

It seemed to go even faster for Oikawa, who was visibly getting even more stressed every single time Iwaizumi saw him. Which was practically every second of the day.

For some strange reason Iwaizumi never asked about, Oikawa would always make up some excuse to throw himself into Iwaizumi's presence practically 24/7. Because it was summer break, Iwaizumi really didn't have any excuse to turn Oikawa down. He already had everything for his university sorted out and didn't have anything else to do.

Still, it was a bit disconcerting. Oikawa's usual easy smiles were lessening, and even when he did smile, it was harsher and more forced. He became more irritable over the smallest of things. It was like there was a ticking clock counting down in Oikawa's mind, but Iwaizumi didn't know what it was for.

"Here, look, Oikawa," Iwaizumi said, gesturing to the bright light of the computer screen in front of them. "This apartment's cheaper than the other ones."

It was way past midnight, and they were cooped up on Oikawa's bed. Blearily, Oikawa yawned and glanced at the screen briefly before saying, "Pass. It looks like Godzilla shit on it."

Iwaizumi tore his eyes away from the screen before staring at Oikawa, wondering if he heard that right. "What's with that weird comparison? Oikawa." He nudged his friend, who was practically nodding off onto Iwaizumi's shoulder.

"Huh?" Oikawa sat up again and frowned at the screen. "Oh. It's true. You see those walls? It's probably supposed to be some abstract crap but it's the same color as someone's shit." He leaned his head against Iwaizumi's shoulder again.

Iwaizumi looked at him. "You've skipped the past twenty apartments. Seriously, Oikawa. What's with you? You're not usually this picky."

Oikawa gritted his teeth. "I'm just trying to pick a reasonable apartment, mind you. It's not my fault the ones in Argentina are so bad."

"Then why do you want to go to Argentina so badly then?" Iwaizumi frowned. This really wasn't like Oikawa at all.

Suddenly, Oikawa went still for a second before pulling himself off Iwaizumi's shoulder. Iwaizumi almost missed the warmth. "Just shut up," Oikawa almost whispered, but there was a peculiar heat in the back of his words.

"Why do you get so defensive when I talk about Argentina-"

"I said shut up," Oikawa snapped.

Iwaizumi peered at his friend in the darkness around him and narrowed his eyes. "I'm trying to help you, Oika-"

"I said shut up." Oikawa's eyes were narrowed, too, and practically seething with fury.

They stared at each other for several long seconds before Iwaizumi finally stepped out of bed. "Fine, then. If you don't want my help, I may as well just leave." He started to pick up the backpack he left on the floor. "Goodnight, Oikawa."

Iwaizumi was about two steps out of the bedroom door before Oikawa called out, "Wait!"

Sighing, Iwaizumi turned around. "What."

Oikawa had an arm reached out, as if he could physically reach out to Iwaizumi, who was three yards away. The heat in his eyes was gone and was replaced by a certain desperate expression. "Stay."

"For what? You practically said you didn't want my help."

Oikawa slunk back into his seat as if defeated, but he still stared at Iwaizumi with a longing in his eyes. "What if I want you to stay for something else?"

Of course. He wanted that.

Iwaizumi didn't respond.

Slowly, Oikawa crawled out of his bed and slinked closer to Iwaizumi, who didn't move. When he was about a foot away, he reached out an arm to gently touch the side of Iwaizumi's face. "Can I?"

Iwaizumi stared at him. Finally, one word slipped out of his mouth. "Why?"

Oikawa stared back. "What do you mean?"

"This." Iwaizumi gestured vaguely. "Like… you kissing me. Having sex with me."

Oikawa's eyes widened. "Did you not want it? Did I… accidentally do it without your consent? Oh my God, I'm so sor-"

"No, stop." Iwaizumi stepped back so Oikawa's hand would fall from his face. "That's not what I mean. Why do you do it?" He paused. "Like, are we friends with benefits? Or are you just after my body, or something?"

He'd expected Oikawa to smirk or laugh at Iwaizumi's stupidity, but to his surprise, he did neither. Oikawa just stared at Iwaizumi and then turned away. "I…"

Iwaizumi sighed audibly. "Seriously, you're not helping. You've been acting weird all week. You yell at me to shut up and act all depressed or some shit and then you want to fuck me? What is wrong with you?"

"...We don't have much time left," Oikawa said so softly Iwaizumi thought he had misheard.

"What are you talking about?"

Oikawa didn't look up from the ground and stayed silent.

"Okay. Whatever. Get yourself figured out. I'm leaving." Iwaizumi turned to leave.

"Wait!" Oikawa snagged Iwaizumi's arm to stop him.

Iwaizumi turned around and tore his arm away from Oikawa's strong grip. "What?"

"Please, stay. Really," he said, softer again.

"What the hell is your problem?" Iwaizumi huffed. "Just leave me alone. Find some other girl to fuck." He turned to leave, and this time for real.

"Wait, Iwa-chan!" Oikawa half-yelled, a desperate edge to his voice as he tried grabbing pieces of clothing that weren't there.

Iwaizumi had pulled himself out of reach and glanced back to say, "Leave. Me. Alone."

The last thing Iwaizumi saw before he successfully reached the doors of the house and into the night that swallowed him whole was Oikawa's pained expression that had hints of tears welling up on what was once a beautiful face.

Maybe it was because of the eerily quiet that used to be constantly pierced by an annoyingly high-pitched voice. Maybe it was because of the obnoxious humidity and heat. Maybe it was because Iwaizumi now had a bit too much time on his hands.

Whatever it was, Iwaizumi couldn't shake off the surprisingly obvious absence of his best friend in his everyday life. It shouldn't have been like this. He's definitely gone without his best friend for weeks at a time, especially during the summer where they used to go on separate family vacations.

And now, it had only been twenty-four hours—twenty-five now that Iwaizumi glanced at his clock—since he had last seen or heard from his best friend, and yet Iwaizumi was restless.

Iwaizumi rolled over to the side of his bed to glance at his alarm clock again. It read 2:47 am. He groaned and sat back, messing with the covers. Why was a petty argument with Oikawa keeping him up? It wasn't like he never argued with him, in fact, quite the opposite. Maybe it was because Oikawa usually spent only thirty minutes sulking around before trying to make it up with Iwaizumi.

But now it had been over twenty-five hours without any contact.

This was ridiculous. Sighing, Iwaizumi shoved a pillow over his face and tried to sleep for the eighth time that night.

He was about a few minutes in and starting to feel like he was actually about to fall asleep when his phone started blaring "Hellevator" by Stray Kids on full volume.

Iwaizumi cursed out loud and sat up so fast his head started spinning. "The fuck?" He had a normal ringtone for literally every single other person except for… He violently flipped his lamp light on and glanced on the text on his screen.

Tooru Oikawa.

He cursed out loud again. What was he calling for at three in the morning? Iwaizumi considered ignoring the call. He just wanted to sleep; he didn't want to deal with whatever bullshit Oikawa was trying to pull on him this time.

"What do you want," Iwaizumi said into his phone, already regretting every second of it.

"Hello, Iwaizumi," someone that wasn't Oikawa responded.

Iwaizumi squinted at the contact printed on his phone before holding it up to his ear again. "Hanamaki?"

"Yeah. Hi," Hanamaki said with an audible yawn. "Please pick up your boyfriend from his own house. He's tiring me and Matsukawa out."

"What?"

There was another yawn. "Oikawa. You know." There was an audible sob that sounded suspiciously like Oikawa's. Hanamaki sighed. "He somehow managed to drag Matsukawa and me into his house at the dead of night just to cry about you."

"He did what?"

"Iwaizu-" There was the sound of a new voice calling something in the background before there was a shuffling noise of the phone being passed around.

"Iwaizumi, seriously, please." This time it wasn't Hanamaki's voice, it was Matsukawa's. "He won't stop crying. I honestly think Satan is possessing him or something because I have no other idea how he's able to have enough energy to use up two boxes of tissues."

Iwaizumi gritted his teeth. He was going to regret everything he was about to do and say that night. "Fine. Drop him over to my house. Or make himself come. He has a key. I literally do not have the energy to drag myself over."

"Roger, Iwaizumi," Matsukawa said, and Iwaizumi could almost hear Matsukawa's smirk. "He'll be there in five."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. 'Night, Matsukawa. Hanamaki." Iwaizumi said tiredly before hanging up.

He collapsed back into his bed, completely drained. It was a mistake to pick up that phone at all.

It only took three minutes before someone creaked open Iwaizumi's bedroom door so loudly Iwaizumi almost shit himself before realizing it was just Oikawa.

"Iwa-chan…"

Oikawa was standing in complete darkness save for the alarm clock's light, but Iwaizumi could still see that his nose was red and his eyes were puffy. He looked absolutely wrecked.

Sighing, Iwaizumi waved him over. "Come here."

Oikawa stepped toward him but hesitated. He looked at him with an unspoken question.

Iwaizumi sighed again. "Seriously. Get your ass over here."

It might have been Iwaizumi's imagination, but there was a gentle smile on Oikawa's face as he slowly crawled into an empty spot on the bed, as if Iwaizumi was going to turn him down again.

Iwaizumi didn't. Instead, he huffed, rolled closer to Oikawa's warm body, and wrapped an arm around his waist. "Talk tomorrow, okay?"

Oikawa practically melted into his touch. "Yea."

"'Night, Oikawa."

"'Night, Iwa-chan."

This wasn't the first time they had slept together. Still, when Iwaizumi woke up the next day, he couldn't help but think that that was the best rest he had ever had.

"Good morning, Iwa-chan!"

Iwaizumi groggily woke up to see Oikawa standing over him holding a tray with a large bowl of what was probably miso soup on top of it. He was wearing Iwaizumi's mother's apron, and he looked completely back to his usual self. "Don't worry, I told your mother I was here beforehand."

"What time is it?" Iwaizumi shut both of his eyes closed again, not wanting to force himself up just yet.

"Just five minutes after six o' clock!" Oikawa announced cheerfully.

Iwaizumi groaned and rolled away from him. "Only three hours of sleep? There's no way in Hell I'm getting up now. You must be some kind of devil or something for being able to get up so early."

Oikawa poked at Iwaizumi's back. "Hey, don't go back to sleep! The soup I cooked will get cold. Or the soup that your mom cooked and I… helped taste. Still, though."

Iwaizumi's eyes suddenly flashed open and he turned back to Oikawa. "Wait, why are you here?"

Oikawa took a step back, and his happy expression almost completely dissipated. "You don't remember?"

Iwaizumi blinked. Oh. "Oh," he repeated out loud. "Yeah, whatever." Cursing mostly to himself, he forced himself to rise from the bed. Completely self-aware that he was shirtless from the heat of the summer, he snapped with no heat, "Stop staring, creep."

Oikawa only smiled back fake-innocently as Iwaizumi dragged himself into the closet. "Go downstairs and wait for me," Iwaizumi instructed. "We need to talk."

Thirty minutes and a shower later, they still hadn't talked. Well, they had, but not about what either of them had wanted to talk about. Instead, Oikawa had murmured about inconsequential things while Iwaizumi sipped the miso soup Oikawa had half-made. At times, there were lapses in the conversation where neither of them spoke and settled in a quiet, yet comfortable silence.

"Hey, Iwa-chan?" Oikawa asked quietly, looking up from his cup of coffee.

"Mm."

"Can we go on a walk?"

This got Iwaizumi's attention. He looked up from his bowl. "Why?"

"The weather is really nice outside." Oikawa's eyes glanced everywhere except at Iwaizumi and shrugged like it was nothing, but Iwaizumi knew better.

"Okay. My parents won't be back until later, anyway." Iwaizumi rose from his seat and started walking towards the door. He looked back at his best friend, who was still staring at the table in front of him. "Oikawa?"

Oikawa rose suddenly and started tripping over his own feet to follow, still refusing to meet Iwaizumi's gaze. "Ah, yeah, sorry."

Neither Iwaizumi nor Oikawa spoke after that, even after they started walking down the neighborhood. It was quiet, as if on edge as Oikawa seemed right beside Iwaizumi. The tension was obvious, and it only grew with every silent second, but Iwaizumi wasn't about to break it. He would let Oikawa speak when he felt it was right.

After a few more silent minutes, Oikawa finally spoke, but it was as soft and hesitant as ever. "Iwa-chan, do you know what day it is?"

Iwaizumi had to rack his brain to remember. "Uh… a Wednesday, I think? In August."

Oikawa didn't respond. Iwaizumi almost thought he wasn't going to speak again for the rest of the walk, until Oikawa finally said, impossibly quieter, "Two days."

"Huh?"

"Two days," Oikawa said louder. "Two days until I leave for Argentina."

They passed a cherry blossom tree before Iwaizumi spoke, choosing his words carefully. "Isn't that… good?"

"No."

Iwaizumi turned to look at Oikawa, who was watching his feet walk underneath him. "What are you talking about?" he said softly.

Oikawa bit his lip and stopped in the middle of his walk. "Iwa-chan, I…" He took a deep, shuddery breath before continuing. "I'm in love with you, Iwa-chan."

Iwaizumi stared at his best friend. "Wh-"

"Two weeks, Iwa-chan. I only had two weeks left to spend with you." Oikawa looked away and balled his hands into fists. "I was trying to delay the inevitable. I'm… sorry. For the other day. I was just so irritated that I didn't have enough time left with you."

"I… don't understand."

"Don't you get it, Iwa-chan?" Oikawa looked up again, and there were hints of tears in his eyes. "I love volleyball. You know that. That's why I wanted to go to Argentina. I wanted to have a chance at the Olympics. But you know what I'd be leaving behind?" He walked closer to Iwaizumi and gently placed a hand on Iwaizumi's cheek. "You, Iwa-chan. I'll be leaving you." His hand dropped into a fist on Iwaizumi's shoulder as he looked away, his eyebrows furrowed. "You're everything to me. So guess what happens when I leave? I leave everything, Iwa-chan. Everything. Everything I've ever known. And for how long?" Oikawa stepped back and gestured wildly to the entire world. "Who fucking knows? Months, maybe. Years. All of eternity, even."

"Iwa-chan…" Oikawa said, drawing in a shaky breath. "I've had feelings for you ever since we were children. I was so scared to tell you. I would always gaze at you every moment you were there, and sometimes…" Oikawa smiled, but now there were gentle tears sliding down his rosy cheeks. "Sometimes you'd look back. But what if you just looked at me as a friend? I thought I could hide them in a treasure chest in my heart forever, as long as I stayed by your side. But…" He dropped his gaze again as tears started to stream down faster. "I… can't, Iwa-chan. I can't always stay by your side. I'm going to Argentina. And…" He paused and said softer, "I might not ever be coming back, Iwa-chan.

"So I thought, let me be with Iwa-chan before I leave. That's why I didn't want to date you, because I knew it wouldn't last. I just wanted to be with you. Even if it is just for a second. Because it doesn't matter, right? Compared to a century, a second is nothing." Oikawa paused and took another shaky breath. "So, I just wanted to ask you…" He looked up and took both of Iwaizumi's cheeks in his hands with the most longing than Iwaizumi had ever seen before.

"Iwa-chan, will you be with me? Just for one more second?"

That was all Iwaizumi needed to hear before he finally closed the distance between them and kissed him. It was nothing like the rough kisses they had shared before; instead, it was surprisingly gentle, soft, and slow.

Iwaizumi cradled the sides of Oikawa's face and deepened the kiss. He could feel the salty tears on Oikawa's cheeks against his lips, but he didn't care. "Oikawa," he murmured. "Come home with me, okay?"

"Okay."

Iwaizumi released Oikawa and dropped his hand into Oikawa's. He knew he wouldn't be letting go of it for a long, long time.

"Hey."

Oikawa turned towards him, his face still red from tears. "Yeah?"

"This won't be the last time."

Yet with every step they took towards Iwaizumi's house, he couldn't help but wonder if it was.