phantasmagoria - iwaoi

↦ JULY 17TH

"Iwa-chan, your sundae's melting," Oikawa points out, pushing around the sloppy mess of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry lumps in his boyfriend's bowl absentmindedly with his spoon. "That's not going to taste good."

The evening sun is warm, but not too warm that Hajime can feel its usual sweltering heat. Oikawa is seated before him, dressed casually in a light grey sweatshirt and dark, faded jeans. His legs are crossed, one over the other as his right foot dangles in the air freely.

The ice-cream parlor they're at is sparsely packed, despite it nearly being the weekend. There are a few high schoolers here; Iwaizumi can recognize them from their uniforms thanks to various practice matches held during his own time as a student.

"That's okay, I'm not that hungry anyway," Hajime says off-handedly, as Oikawa continues to swirl the multicolored mixture around with his dessert spoon, delighting himself in the kaleidoscope of colors that emerges before looking disgusted at the final outcome.

He looks up from his mess at Hajime with concern in his eyes. "Are you sure, Iwa-chan?" Oikawa inquires, cocking his head to the side. "We can get something else if you like-"

"Nah, I'm good," Hajime interjects, giving him a reassuring smile. "Trust me on this."

Oikawa's forehead wrinkles in response as he leans in. "Iwa-chan, this isn't a life or death situation, this is about ice-cream," Oikawa quips, his nose wrinkling a little as well. "If you wanna get something else we can-"

"Idiotkawa, I said I'm fine," Hajime snaps, making Oikawa recoil a bit, but his boyfriend's expression never flinches, never changes.

Oikawa's stubbornness is quite frankly one of his most defining features, as Hajime's always noticed (but never goes as far as to say it out loud). There's something about the way he riles up at the slightest mention of competition, how far he's willing to go to achieve whatever it is he has his mind set on. It's an admirable trait, but it can be annoying at times.

Oikawa leans back in his chair, crossing his arms in front of his chest with a huff as he does so. "Don't come to my house and eat all the food my mom's prepared for me," he sneers, giving Hajime a dirty look.

"That has never happened," Hajime coolly replies, giving Oikawa a small smile.

"Has to! You've eaten too much food that's meant for me!"

"Absolutely not, Greedykawa."

"Stop making up new names for me!"

Oikawa's looking away from Hajime now, a sour expression on his face. The sun is beginning to set, the sky turning a beautiful mix of oranges, yellows, and purples. Up high, Hajime can make out the tiny white pinpricks of stars that are slowly beginning to shine in the twilight sky.

The ice-cream parlor is slowly gaining more and more patrons. There are couples filling up the previously empty tables, as families and some more students mill around the surroundings, chatting amongst themselves excitedly.

"It's going to start soon," Hajime comments, as Oikawa impatiently checks his watch every five seconds. "Just wait a little."

"It's usually never this long," Oikawa complains, the sour expression on his face souring even more. "They started it just when the sun was a few meters above the horizon last year. What's taking them so long today?"

Hajime doesn't reply, but shakes his head in annoyance. Oikawa shuffles in his seat, agitated.

He's about to launch into another complaint when a loud crash is heard in the sky, followed by an explosion of red and gold across the sky. Hajime watches with gentle eyes as Oikawa's sourness sweetens itself; his face relaxes and his eyes seem to smile at the colorful display before him.

The fireworks continue, bursts of a myriad of colors that bring forth "ooh"s and "ah"s from the crowds below. There's green, gold and purple, and sometimes the occasional teal, which makes Oikawa's smile larger and larger, and he'll occasionally point it out to Hajime with an excited giggle.

But Hajime doesn't have his eyes on the display before him. He's seen it multiple times before, has the entire set memorized that he can see it play out in his sleep if he wants to. It's quite a simple yet fascinating progression of colors, but it's nothing compared to the blissful joy that explodes across Oikawa's face with every burst of light in the sky.

The fireworks display ends soon, with appreciative applause echoing all around them as its finale. Hajime's sight goes from Oikawa's wonderstruck face to the now-melted sundae before him, which is a large puddle of brown, yellow, and pink. His eyes go back to the sun, which is now a few inches away from sinking into the horizon. The sky is now painted a deep indigo, with slight strands of pink reaching from the sun's edge into the night sky.

Twilight is fast approaching, Hajime notes, when he sees more white dots appear in the sky, gleaming brightly against the dark backdrop.

"That was prettier than last year," Oikawa says softly, his mellow voice cutting through Hajime's wall of thoughts. "It's the same display but it was prettier. I can't explain how." Hajime looks at him, slightly confused. But Oikawa's warm brown eyes are that of a gentleness and sincerity Hajime hasn't seen in a while.

"It lasted three minutes!" Oikawa points out with glee, gesturing to the time on Hajime's phone. "Which is the exact number of days until my birthday! You better be getting me a gift, Iwa-chan!"

"I'm not going to say anything because your hopes will just go up," Hajime grumbles, settling back into his chair as Oikawa gives him a larger than life smile. "And you're annoying when you do that."

That's a lie; it's really cute when he's being whiny. But I'm not going to boost his ego.

"So mean, Iwa-chan!" Oikawa whines, his childish grin turning into a complacent pout.
"Someone has to be."

Oikawa settles back into his seat with a huff, the sour expression from before coming back to take up residency on his face. It makes Hajime chuckle; it's truly a sight to see when he's in one of his moods.

They sit in comfortable silence for a while, Oikawa looking around at the families that have gathered there, placing orders for ice-creams and other various sweet treats. Hajime can see him visibly twitching in his seat, itching for something sweet.

Hajime's about to call out to the waiter to place an order for Oikawa when a woman approaches him. She looks like a mother, given the tired eyes and larger than life stress lines that are indented into the skin of her forehead. She seems exhausted beyond words, but she still manages to give Hajime a warm smile.

"Is this seat taken?" she asks in a soft voice, before whipping her head back to yell something at one of her kids, who's messing around with her bag.

Hajime looks at the chair before him, now empty of Oikawa's presence. There's nothing there that remains to tell that he had been there before, except for the lingering scent of baby powder.

Hajime didn't even get to say goodbye.

"No," he says, choking on his own voice and hoping that she didn't notice. "No it's not taken, you can have it." He gives her a comforting smile despite the sob that threatens to break out from his throat.

Her eyes turn up into a satisfied smile, and she murmurs her thanks as she takes the chair back to her own table. Hajime watches as she scolds her child one more time before making him sit in the chair, muttering something to herself inaudibly.

The sun has disappeared below the horizon, the last few remaining strands of pink light going below with it. The moon has come out, fully lit up and shining brightly down on them. Yet with the comforting warmth the moonlight gives, it does not take away the coldness Hajime feels inside his own aching heart.