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Ushijima watches, fascinated, as Iwaizumi takes a few experimental puffs from the blunt before flipping it and clamping his mouth around the burning end. He feels his eyebrows furrow in concern, his mouth hangs open slightly, a complaint at the tip of his tongue—
His eyes widened when Kevin surges forward to inhale smoke at the other end, his hand coming up to grasp at the back of Iwaizumi’s neck, to keep him still.
Both boys pull away, laughing.
“You always give it to me good, Hey-Jimmy” Kevin says, slapping him on the back before turning to his left to get someone to top off his Henny.
Iwaizumi just rolls his eyes at the nickname, having grown tired of correcting him. He stands up to stretch, catching Ushijima’s eyes and giving him a playful wink as he passes the joint to the next person.
Ushijima blinks, watching as the other boy smooths out non-existing wrinkles in his name-brand shirt as Iwaizumi makes his way over to him.
“You good, man?” Iwaizumi asks as he nears him, pulling out a seat beside him.
Ushijima just nods.
“Bro, I think you broke him,” Ryan laughs, from his place beside Ushijima, “You out here talkin’ about us being the bad influence and shit, then you go on and do that,” He shakes his head.
Iwaizumi has the decency to look a bit embarrassed, before shrugging him off. “Okay, but I'm not peer pressuring him into anything,” he rebutted.
“Ushiwaka! Let me do you,” came Kevin’s loud voice, Ushijima looked up to see him waving the joint, and shook his head no. “Ehhhhh, suit yourself man,” Kevin pouts, placing a hand dramatically on his heart, pretending to be shot at then turning away to continue his conversation with his girlfriend.
Leaning back, Ushijima eyes both men beside him, “What time are we going?” he opens the question up to either man.
Iwaizumi shrugs, “In an hour or so, just gotta wait for David to get here,” as he swirls at his glass, eyeing its contents before taking a sip.
“I see.”
David Cho, was Iwaizumi’s roommate since freshman year back at the dorms. The two had gotten along so well that they decided to get an apartment off campus the following year and their place usually ended up becoming the meeting spot for get togethers.
Ushijima has heard enough stories of the guy but has never officially met him until now. He thumbs at the fanny pack that Iwaizumi had handed to him when he had arrived at the apartment earlier that day, absentmindedly tracing at the letters that spelled out SUPREME .
“Oh, and Steven’s coming too” Ryan pipes up, as if just remembering.
“Shit, forreal? I thought he was busy with that co-op.“
“You’re saying that like that’s gonna stop him from pulling up.”
Iwaizumi just shrugs, nudging his elbow into Ushijima until he looks up. “Hey, something you should know though,” he leans in closer to the taller boy, Iwaizumi’s lips barely grazing the shell of his ear. Ushijima could feel the hairs on his neck stand as he fights the urge to shiver, “Steven’s gay.”
Ushijima blinks. “That's not an issue,” he says, confused.
Iwaizumi rolls his eyes and makes a point to look at him up and down.
“Oh.”
Iwaizumi grins leaning back, “You’re exactly his type,” and Ushijima feels his cheeks tingle with warmth. “He’ll back off though, if you tell him.”
“But if you’re down,” Ryan scoots his seat closure, grinning at him, eyebrows wiggling suggestively, “Be sure to let him know.”
Ushijima downs the contents of his cup.
—
Ushijima is listening to Hanna, Ryan’s girlfriend, having a small break-down over her O-chem exam when David walks in, slightly frazzled, pulling at his shoes.
“Oof,” Iwaizumi says, interrupting Hanna's train-of-thought to pour the newcomer a drink. “You look like you need it, dude.”
Thanking him, Ushijima watches as David downs it in one gulp, shoving the cup back into his hands. He looks up when he spots Ushijima next to him and introduces himself quickly, before disappearing down the hallway, shouting out that he’ll be ready to go in ten.
Iwaizumi lets out a low whistle.
-
David is nice, Ushijima thinks as the group makes their way downstairs. He adjusted the cap that the other man had given him to wear, a bucket hat, saying that it would go well with his outfit when he had walked out of his room, freshly showered. Kevin had teased him, saying that he was going to pull all the girls.
Whatever that meant. He didn't want to pull at girls. That was rude.
The group had decided to split up since they all couldn’t pile into Ryan’s car in broad daylight, after putting all their essentials in the back of Ryan’s car, then waited for the Uber came to pick up David, Seo Jin and Kevin before heading out.
Traffic, as expected, was a nightmare and it took at least fifteen minutes of circling around to find a decent parking spot. Close enough to the venue but far enough that they can escape the rush of traffic coming out.
Iwaizumi opens the trunk and grabs a bunch of water bottles and starts passing them around, “Gotta stay hydrated,” he says when Ushijima comes to collect his.
They receive a text from Steven when they’re waiting in line to get in, “He’s already inside, getting a drink,” a ding sounds, as another message says that he’ll meet them by the gates.
-
Iwaizumi is lecturing them about the game plan which consists of: the buddy system, check-in times to regroup, what to do if they are separated, and not taking anything from strangers,” He aims this at Ushijima.
“And most importantly,” he continues, “If you’re late getting back here when it’s time to leave,” Iwaizumi directs his glare this time at Kevin, who refuses to meet his eye, “We’re won’t leave you behind, oh no. But you’ll owe us a round of drinks, next time we go out. Also, I’ll kill you.”
Kevin just shoots finger guns at him.
-
Ushijima pulls up the rave mask that he borrowed from Iwaizumi. He feels eyes on him and turns.
Iwaizumi is staring at him with a weird look on his face.
He stares back, “Is there something on my face?”
And watches as Iwaizumi’s hand comes up to adjust the mask, fingers lingering on his cheek a second longer than necessary before pulling away abruptly. Ushijima lets out a breath he doesn’t realize he’s holding. His heart suddenly wants to beat out of his chest.
He is suddenly thankful that the mask hides the majority of his face, because right now it’s burning.
-
He meets Steven, a tall wiry kinda guy with longish brassy blond hair pushed back with a plain black headband, accentuating his already high cheekbones.
“Ew, Steven, your hair,” Kevin says in a way of greeting, meeting the other man halfway and going straight for a hug.
“I’ll kill you, Nguyen,” Steven responds pulling back, as Kevin starts running the his fingers through the other man’s hair, “I didn’t have time to tone it before making the drive,” he whines, smoothing his hair down before accepting a hug from Seo Jin, giving a quick peck on top of her head, “We’ll talk later, babes,” and then going to greet the rest of the group.
“Dude, it really is you!” he says, when he stops in front of Ushijima, “I for sure thought, Kevin was back on his bullshit when he told me you were going to be here!” He shoves his hand out, and it surprises Ushijima for a bit when the handshake is a strong, firm one.
Ushijima could feel the other man sizing him up, before a giant smile breaks out in his face and suddenly he’s asking a million questions all at once.
Ushijima feels an arm snake around his shoulder, a hand patting at his chest, as he hears Iwaizumi’s voice a little too close to his ear as he is speaking to Steven, telling him to slow down.
Steven pauses, eyes flying between the two, one eyebrow raised as his mouth forms an “o”. Shaking his head he snorts, rolling his eyes with a laugh. “Well why didn’t you just say so.” He turns around as if to look for someone and visibly brightens when he sees David jogging towards them, “David!” he latches on to a bicep, “As the only other person who doesn’t have a date in this group. We have to stick together! Beside you have to make sure I don’t do anything stupid anyway or else I’ll call your girlfriend for child abandonment. It's me, I'm the child.”
David chuckles good-naturally albeit concerned, looking back at both Iwaizumi and Ushijima, confused, but allows himself to be dragged away as Steven pulls him along.
Ushijima watches as Steven pauses as if remembering something, turns back to face him, eyes meeting, “Let’s get a picture together later, yeah?”
-
They dance and drink and at some point get separated from the group as more and more people shove forward to get closer to the stage.
Iwaizumi makes sure to pull Ushijima to his side, hands firmly gripping at the athlete’s slim waist, using his shoulder to shove back at the group trying to squeeze past them.
He’s only a little bit disappointed when the hot ABG dancing on him moments earlier, disappears into the crowd. He sighs, hooking his chin at the junction where Ushijima’s neck and shoulder met, breathing in the stench of sweat and cologne, peering over to look for any familiar faces.
He feels Ushijima tense up and pats at his stomach in an apology, trying not to think about the hard planes of muscle he had just felt through them. Iwaizumi pulls away, muttering something about needing a drink, hooking a hand around the crook of Ushijima’s elbow as he drags them to the bar area.
Trying not to think too hard about those fleeting thoughts.
-
Iwaizumi chalks it up as a combination of being touch starved and missing home. Oikawa used to be the more touchy feely one of the two and now that he is gone, Iwaizumi concluded that it was just natural to gravitate to the next best thing that connected him to his old life.
Yeah, that’s definitely it, he reasons as he watches a group of girls huddle closer to Ushijima, laughing at whatever came out of his mouth.
He doesn’t like the way his heart clenches or the sudden drop of his stomach.
He drains his cup in one go.
-
Iwaizumi is definitely drinking too much at such a short amount of time.
And Ushijima doesn’t know if he should stop him.
But when Iwaizumi’s feet start to sway, Ushijima pulls away from the nice girls that he was talking to and immediately hooks one of Iwaizumi’s arms around his neck, his other arm snaking around his friend’s waist, stabilizing him and forcing the shorter man to lean his weight on him.
Ushijima turns back to give the girls an apologetic look before leading them away to a much less crowded area.
-
Ushijima sets him down on the grass, watching as the other man immediately lies down and just breathes.
He opens his fanny pack, takes out a water bottle and takes a swig at it first before passing it down to Iwaizumi, who struggles to lift himself back up into a sitting position.
Ushijima joins him on the ground, and tries not to move too much when he feels the other man move closer, then his breath halts when Iwaizumi leans over and drops his head on his shoulder, as they watch the starless night sky together.
And after a while, he finds himself leaning back, letting his cheek settle into Iwaizumi’s hair.
“You okay, bro?” came Iwaizumi’s tired, gruff voice.
Ushijima snorts, “I should be asking you that.”
-
David and Steven find them at the same spot after calling them half an hour ago, asking where they were.
Steven takes one look at Iwaizumi and forces him on his feet. “Up, up, up!” he says, pulling at Iwaizumi’s arm, until he’s standing on his feet. Steven hooks an arm around Iwaizumi and explains that he’s gonna go take him on lap around the field, “To get his blood pumping again and sweat out some of the alcohol,” when Ushijima opens his mouth to protest.
“You two should start heading to the meeting spot, so we can get outta here before traffic gets bad,” nodding at them before dragging Iwaizumi away.
“They’ll be fine,” David reassures him, slapping Ushijima’s back.
Worry still present on his face, Ushijima nods. David lets out a laugh, “C’mon they’re probably waiting for us,” and starts to walk towards the entrance of the venue.
Ushijima hesitates, looking back one last time at the direction Iwaizumi had disappeared to, before following.
-
They've been walking for quite some time now.
And the fog in his head starts to clear, somewhat.
“You were practically marking him,” Steven drones on to no one in particular, as he fiddled with the portable phone charger, trying to find that sweet spot that got his phone to charge.
Blinking at him, it takes a second for him to fully understand what his friend was saying.
“What”
Steven looked up, sensing his confusion, “Hmm?”
“I wasn't marking him,” Iwaizumi said slowly, just as Steven says “Aha!” as his phone lights up.
“Really? Then explain why I was suddenly scared and horny, when you cockblocked me from that athletic hunk,” Steven jokes, clasping a hand on Iwaizumi’s arm as he lets out a laugh, his body swaying slightly. Iwaizumi immediately reaches out to steady him, watching as the other man wipes tears out of the corner of his eye as he tries to calm himself down.
Doubling over again in laughter at seeing Iwaizumi’s concerned face.
“Dude, I’m kidding, well...” Iwaizumi feels scrutinized, as Steven looks him up and down appreciatively, “...I've said it once and I'll say it again, I'm down if you are.” A wink, “But make sure to invite your hot friend, too.”
Iwaizumi’s jaw dropped. “We’re not like that! I’m not...”
“Yeah, and I’m het,” Steven said, sarcastically, giving Iwaizumi a pointed look, before shaking his head, “Bisexuality is a thing, my friend.” Steven pats his arm, stopping to squeeze at the hard muscle there, fascinated, “They’re actually a majority but most people tend to invalidate their existence when in heterosexual relationships.” Steven rolls his eyes with a scoff, letting go of Iwaizumi as they start making their way back, “But!” He continues on, enthusiastically, “I’m more than happy to explore this with you once both of us are more coherent, yeah? I don’t wanna just start talking and confuse you even more than you probably already are.”
He gives Iwaizumi one last cheeky grin and tosses him a water bottle and orders him to drink.
-
Iwaizumi is quiet, Ushijima notices, concerned as he adjusts Kevin’s dead weight on his back. Seo Jin flitters to his side, and he crouches down slightly to her level, as she reaches up to adjust the sunglasses they had placed over Kevin’s eyes, to make him look more presentable.
He's been quiet ever since he got back from his walk with Steven. Ushijima turns his gaze to the latter, who had both arms around the girls, talking animatedly.
He slows his pace, until he falls into step with the other man. Making sure he had good support on the person on his back, before reaching his other hand over and taking Iwaizumi’s hand. Squeezing it, just like how Tendou used to do it, when he’d notice Ushijima with his head stuck in the clouds.
To anchor him back.
The squeeze back, shouldn’t have made his heart go aflutter.
-
“Aha aha ahaa.”
“Shut up, Kevin.”
-
FIN.