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The first time Iwaizumi Hajime sees Oikawa Tooru, he bursts into tears. He is a month and a half old, and his mother laughs as she rocks him gently in her arms, trying to soothe him.
“What, is my precious son’s face so terrifying?” Tooru’s mother asks Hajime in a tone of mock-hurt. In response, Hajime cries even harder, and both mothers can’t help giggling.
It doesn’t come as much of a surprise, then, when the boys grow up fighting. Before they are even old enough to speak, they poke and prod at each other, and frequently make each other cry, all to the amusement of their apparently sadistic mothers, who continue to set up playdates for them despite their behavior. When they are three years old, their favorite activity is chasing each other around the Oikawa family’s backyard, brandishing sticks which are as tall as they are and screaming uselessly until one of them inevitably tackles the other to the ground. The game ends in laughter far more often than tears, so Oikawa Manami and Iwaizumi Sachiko rarely scold them for playing rough.
The mothers deem that they have made very good choices in parenting when, two years later, Sachiko finds her son carefully applying a band-aid to Tooru’s knee. Due to the wailing sort of cries emanating from her son’s best friend, she’s about to announce her presence and intervene when Hajime does something truly spectacular—he puts his arms around Tooru, and within seconds, Tooru stops crying.
Sachiko looks on, unnoticed by either boy, as Tooru quietly sniffles into Hajime’s shoulder, and Hajime awkwardly pats him on the back.
Naturally, she calls Manami right away. “It was the most precious thing I’ve ever seen!” she tells her, and Manami practically coos into the phone, “Oh, I wish I could have been there!”
Fortunately for Manami and Sachiko, there would be plenty more opportunities to watch their sons be absolutely adorable, although a little bit of violence would frequently be a precursor to these adorable actions. They would casually land punches on each other, and then hug goodbye when it was time for them to return to their own houses. Tooru would yank on Hajime’s hair, earning him a hearty kick in the shin, but they still begged to be able to have a sleepover even though it was a weekday. Tooru developed a sharp tongue at a surprisingly young age, and would often turn his insults on Hajime, which usually resulted in one or both of them getting a bloody nose due to Hajime’s vicious propensity for headbutting, but even this ended with one of their mothers finding them curled up together on the couch, napping through the cartoons blaring from the television.
Therefore, when Tooru announces to his mother, at the ripe old age of eight, that he is going to marry Hajime and there is nothing anybody can do about it, Manami simply giggles gleefully and says, “I think you two are very well-suited for each other, although you will have to ask Hajime first.”
After a few seconds of contemplation (and Manami could tell her son was in deep thought, because the tip of his tongue was sticking out from the side of his mouth), the next words Tooru speaks are, “Can I go to Hajime’s house?”
Manami smiles fondly, trying to hold back her laughter. “Did you finish your homework?”
“Yesssss,” Tooru says in exasperation, rocking back and forth on his feet.
“Then you can go.”
Tooru rushes out the door without another word, and Manami dials Sachiko’s number from memory. “My son is currently sprinting to your house with the intention of asking your son to marry him,” she says as soon as Sachiko picks up.
Sachiko laughs so hard she drops her phone.
Tooru does indeed ask Hajime to marry him, the second Hajime opens the door, and Hajime’s first instinct is to shove Tooru as hard as he can, which he does.
“Oww, Iwa-chan!” Tooru whines from his place sprawled out dramatically on the Iwaizumi house’s front porch. “Is that any way to treat the person you’re gonna be with for the rest of your life?”
“I haven’t agreed yet, you butthole,” Hajime says, even as he reaches a hand down to help Tooru up. Tooru clasps his hand, and then a gleam passes over his eyes, and Hajime knows what’s coming but doesn’t have enough time to stop it.
Tooru giggles as Hajime lands, screeching, on top of him, and wastes no time in wrapping his arms around Hajime’s back and rolling them over unceremoniously.
“You’re too heavy,” Hajime protests, but his hands settle against Tooru’s back.
Tooru props himself up on his elbows. “Please marry me,” he says, looking right into Hajime’s eyes. Hajime’s face turns an interesting shade of pink before he lets out a long, dramatic sigh.
“Fine. But—” he starts as Tooru’s eyes light up, “you have to buy me ice cream. Whenever I want it. Forever.”
“I will!” Tooru cries. “I promise!” Then he presses his cheek against Hajime’s chest, letting out a dreamy sigh. “I’m gonna be the best husband ever, Iwa-chan.”
“Hey!” Hajime protests. “Who says you get to be the husband?”
Tooru looks up, staring at Hajime like he’s slow. “We’re both the husbands, dummy,” he says.
“Oh,” Hajime says, placated. “Okay.”
-
They are twelve when they realize that their friendship is more than a little different than that which exists between most boys their age. For one thing, most boys are interested in girls, and while girls certainly seem to be interested in Tooru, neither he nor Hajime are particularly interested in them. For another, when most boys have sleepovers, they don’t sleep in the same bed and wake up in a tangle of each other’s limbs in the morning. They don’t share their lunches with each other, they don’t casually and unthinkingly run their fingers through each other’s hair, and they don’t practically live at each other’s houses.
“Well, there’s one way that we can explain our apparently strange behavior,” Tooru says out of the blue one day when they’re thirteen and sitting in the grass behind their school.
“Huh?” Hajime says. He’s a little out of breath from what was possibly their most hellish volleyball practice to date, and he silently vows to go running on his own time more often.
Tooru isn’t looking at him, but is instead focused on the cloudy sky. “We could tell them that we’re dating.”
Hajime’s eyes widen as they lock onto Tooru’s. He opens his mouth, closes it again, and then directs his gaze to the grass near his shoes. “Are…umm,” he says, visibly struggling for words, “are we…dating?”
Now it’s Tooru’s turn to look sharply at him. “What are you…” he trails off, looking way more confused than he has any right to be, in Hajime’s book, at least.
“Are you asking me out?” Hajime says in a rush, eyes darting from the ground to Tooru and back again.
“Oh,” Tooru says, like the idea hadn’t even occurred to him, “well. Iwa-chan. This is awkward.”
“No shit,” Hajime says, finally meeting Tooru’s eyes. “So answer my question.”
“Well,” Tooru begins, scratching the back of his neck absently, “I was kind of under the impression that we were dating. You know. Already.”
Hajime scowls without quite meaning to, his eyes widening. “What.”
“I just assumed!” Tooru cries. “You know, we’re always together, you’re always taking care of me, I just thought—”
“I’m always taking care of you because you’re an idiot who can’t do it himself!” Hajime splutters.
“Well, okay, but doesn’t that mean—”
“Mean what?!”
“That you, you know…” Tooru looks embarrassed, which is not a look that Hajime sees him displaying often. “…That you like me.”
Hajime glares at him with such intensity that Tooru is a little shocked when laser beams don’t shoot from his eyes. “That I like you,” he says slowly from between gritted teeth. “That I like you.”
“Well,” Tooru says, face steadily coloring more and more, “don’t you? Iwa-chan? I like you. I like you a lot. Possibly more than anyone else in the wor—oof! Ouch, what the hell?!”
“Do I like you,” Hajime says from his perch on top of Tooru’s chest, his hands roughly mussing up his hair. “Of course I like you, you enormous idiot! How could I not? I’m just upset because apparently we’ve been dating for—for—”
“Forever?” Tooru supplies helpfully, between winces of pain.
“Forever, and I didn’t even know!”
“I’m sorry!” Tooru wails. Hajime’s hands abruptly leave his hair, and the weight on his chest disappears as Hajime instead plops down next to him. He sits up and looks Hajime in the eyes, trying to will away the flush he can feel still spreading across his face. “But…since you do like me, then…we should date.” He pauses, then adds, “For real. Officially.”
Hajime gazes at him for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed, face tinged pink. “Okay,” he says finally, smiling a little. “Yeah. Okay.”
Tooru just stares at him, the corners of his lips turned up just the slightest bit, and Hajime watches in horror as Tooru’s eyes begin to fill with tears.
“Don’t cry, you idiot!” Hajime yells, grabbing Tooru’s face in both his hands, staring him dead in the eyes. “Why are you crying!?”
At the same time the first tears fall from Tooru’s eyes, his face breaks into a blinding grin. “I’m just happy, Iwa-chan!” he says, sniffling a little. “I didn’t realize how nice it would be to actually hear you say that you like me!”
Hajime just huffs and gently brushes the tears from Tooru’s face, unsure of what to say. Tooru’s hands come up to take hold of Hajime’s wrists, and he gently removes Hajime’s hands from his face and holds them on the ground between them.
“Iwa-chan,” Tooru says quietly.
“Yeah?”
“Will you stay over tonight?”
Hajime flushes bright red, his hands jerking in Tooru’s grasp. “What are you…!”
Tooru smirks at him. “Are you thinking dirty thoughts, Iwa-chan?”
“What?” Hajime splutters. “No! I just—”
“Because you know,” Tooru interrupts, leaning in closer, “it’s okay if you are.”
Tooru walks home with a bruised forehead and a bloody nose, but Hajime still stays over.
-
All of their friends are surprised when Hajime and Tooru are still dating in their first year of high school. They’ve gone through their fair share of fights, both verbal and physical; awkward dates that inevitably ended with them arguing over who should pay; and immature, fumbling attempts at kissing; but none of these things ever came close to ending their relationship. It just seemed natural and right that they should be going through this together.
After a while, it stops being surprising that the two are still dating. On their graduation day, their fellow third-years congratulate them for their relationship lasting so long. Tooru smiles, looking a little smug, like he’s extra proud of himself for having been able to withstand Hajime’s prickly personality for as long as he has. Hajime kicks him in the shin with no real malice, and Tooru glares at him as if his point has just been proven.
When the graduation ceremony is over, Manami and Sachiko can’t help but run to their sons, monopolizing them before their friends have time to find them in the crowd.
“I’m so proud of you two,” Manami cries, wrapping her arms around both of them and squeezing, before opening one arm to allow Sachiko to hug them, too.
“Congratulations,” Sachiko says, her eyes filling with tears as she directs her gaze to Manami, who is sniffling helplessly. “I can’t even describe how happy I am that our two wonderful boys are still together.”
Tooru blinks once and reaches for Hajime’s hand. Hajime takes it, looking at him curiously, and only has a second to process what is about to happen before Tooru lets out a pitiful cry and bursts into tears.
-
“Tooru,” Hajime says carefully, on the night before they move into their new apartment together. They’re lying side-by-side on Tooru’s bed, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling. They had been helping each other pack all day, going back and forth between their houses to ensure that they had everything they would need. “Are you…uhh…”
“Hmm?” Tooru says quietly, turning his head toward Hajime.
Hajime huffs and looks away. Tooru doesn’t miss the faint pink dusting his cheekbones, even in the dark of his room. He inches closer to Hajime; rests his head on Hajime’s chest. Hajime’s hand immediately comes up to stroke through his hair, and Tooru sighs happily.
“I was just thinking,” Hajime begins, still looking away, “that college is going to be very different from high school.”
“Yeah,” Tooru agrees. His left hand comes to rest on Hajime’s right hip. “I’m pretty nervous, honestly.”
“Me too,” Hajime admits. His hand stills in Tooru’s hair for a few seconds before beginning to comb through it again. “It’s gonna be okay though, right?”
Tooru lifts his head to look Hajime in the eyes, frowning slightly. “Of course it’s going to be okay. Are you really that worried, Iwa-chan?”
“Well,” Hajime says, gaze shifting from Tooru’s eyes to the ground and back again, “I guess I’m not that worried, you know…since you’ll be there.”
Tooru smiles at him before settling his head back against Hajime’s chest. “That’s right,” he says. “I’ll always be there for you, Hajime.”
“Idiot,” Hajime hisses, flicking Tooru in the forehead. “Don’t decide to use my name for the first time in conjunction with that sappy bullshit.”
“Why?” Tooru says, looking back up at him with a smirk on his face. “Does it embarrass you, Ha-ji-me?”
Hajime growls and rolls them over abruptly. With Tooru pinned under him, he begins tickling his sides, and Tooru shrieks with laughter. Hajime grins triumphantly, collapsing on top of Tooru when he feels that he’s punished him enough.
“I’m serious, though,” Tooru says a few moments later, after he’s managed to catch his breath and stop laughing. “I will always be there for you. And do you know why?”
Hajime frowns, looking at Tooru in confusion.
Tooru cocks his head to the side. “Are you telling me you don’t remember?”
“Remember what?” Hajime asks.
“That you promised you would marry me!” Tooru says.
Hajime stares at him for a few seconds, his expression totally blank. Then he drops his head onto Tooru’s shoulder and groans quietly.
“Hmph,” Tooru says knowingly. “So you do remember.”
“Yeah, I remember,” Hajime mutters into Tooru’s shoulder.
“So you know that I’ll be with you forever.”
Hajime lifts his head and smiles at Tooru, pausing for a moment before saying, “You better buy me some ice cream tomorrow.”
Tooru grins and hugs Hajime closer to him. “I love you,” he says.
Hajime grins right back. “I love you too.”