Haikyuu!! x Reader

A Softer Side {Iwaizumi Hajime} (Request)

Based off the headcanon that iwa has a soft spot for children :)
Requested by @Himie-sama and @akaashoe
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Iwaizumi tapped his foot impatiently and crossed his arms in front of his chest as he looked around the park angrily. You watched him for a moment before returning your attention to Takeru, who was telling you a very intense story about a summer volleyball camp he'd just been to.

The three of you were currently standing outside of the local recreational center, where Takeru was going to be playing and practicing volleyball with his friends from school. You and Iwaizumi were supposed to be going on a date, but Oikawa had called Iwaizumi and asked him to take Takeru to the recreational center since he was running late. He'd also said that he'd be there as soon as possible to take over and watch Takeru, but he hadn't shown up yet, and you could tell Iwaizumi was growing more and more impatient.

Once Takeru was finished telling his story, he looked up at Iwaizumi, then over at you. "Where's Uncle Tooru?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

At that moment, your cell phone started ringing, so you fished it out of your bag and answered it. "Hey, Tooru."

"(F/n)-chan! I need you to tell Iwa-chan that I'm not going to be able to make it to the recreational center today!" he responded.

"Why?"

"Because I met a cute girl in the park on the way there and now we're having lunch together!"

"You ass... Why couldn't you just tell him yourself?" you groaned and pressed your fingers against your temple.

"Because he would get mad at me! Anyway, I've gotta go!"

Before you could respond, he hung up on you, leaving you boiling with anger inside. You shoved your phone back into your bag and took a deep breath. "So, Tooru's not coming. He's on a date." Like the one we were supposed to be on, you wanted to add.

Iwaizumi growled softly and shook his head. Takeru hung his head in disappointment, and you could see the sadness in his eyes. You and Iwaizumi both noticed this, and your boyfriend shot you a pleading look, as if asking if it was okay that your date took a backseat for an hour or two while you watched over Takeru. In response, you nodded with a smile.

"Hey, buddy, don't worry about your uncle for now. (F/n) and I would love to watch you play," Iwaizumi said as he kneeled down next to Takeru so that they were evenly matched for height. He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and smiled slightly at him when Takeru looked over at him.

"Really...?" the young boy asked, his eyes wide with hope.

Iwaizumi nodded and patted his shoulder. "Of course. You have your water bottle, right?" He checked Takeru's backpack and made sure that he had everything before the three of you walked into the recreational center, and downstairs into the gym where the volleyball net was already set up.

You couldn't help but smile as you watched a group of young boys run over to Iwaizumi and greet him with excitement. It appeared that he had his own fanbase, but that didn't surprise you since he was actually a lot better with kids than he would appear to be. He listened to them all chatter with excitement before giving them all safety warnings and letting them run off to play.

Iwaizumi let out a long sigh as he sat down on the bleachers with you, wrapping his arm around you and placing his hand on the side of the bleachers next to you. As he placed a kiss on your cheek, he murmured, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Hajime. I really don't mind watching them since they're all so cute," you assured him with a bright smile, "Besides, they all really look up to you."

He chuckled slightly and ran his hand through his spiky black hair. "Well, I'm always here when Trashykawa isn't," he stated.

You opened your mouth to respond, but you paused when one of the boys called out to Iwaizumi. "Iwaizumi-senpai, will you help me with my serve?!" he requested as he stood on the end line, holding a ball timidly in his hands.

Iwaizumi nodded and squeezed your hand gently in apology before getting up and helping the boy serve. You felt warmth inside of you as you watched him go through the motions of serving with the young boy and encourage him to try again when he missed. Soon enough, he managed to serve it over, and Iwaizumi congratulated him with a high five.

You thought it was adorable to watch him work with the kids and teach them volleyball techniques since they looked up to him and went by every word he said. Even though Oikawa annoyed the hell out of him and took advantage of his loyalty sometimes, Iwaizumi was always there for Takeru to help babysit him and take him to play with his friends when Oikawa couldn't. The soft side of your boyfriend that always came out around kids was something you never thought you'd see, but was something that you enjoyed nonetheless.

When the kids stopped playing to take a water break, one of them challenged Iwaizumi to an arm wrestling contest. All of the other boys crowded around as Iwaizumi and the other boy locked hands and rested their elbows on the bleachers. At first, Iwaizumi simply held his arm firm and prevented the boy from making any leeway. Then, he pretended to struggle and allowed the kid to push his arm further and further down until his hand hit the bleachers.

"Ah! You win again!" he panted, feigning exhaustion, much to the boy's satsifaction. The boy cheered and hopped up and down while all of his friends looked at him in awe.

It was the cutest thing you'd ever seen.

After that, the boys had requested his help with passing and hitting, so he'd given them some instruction. While he helped them out, you took pictures of them since they all looked so cute as they watched him and listened closely to him, showing that they had all the respect in the world for him.

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After they'd finished playing, you walked back outside the recreational center with Iwaizumi and Takeru, showing them the pictures you'd taken of them.

"Look, Takeru! You hit that one really hard, remember?" you said as you showed him a picture of him hitting a ball.

"Yeah! It was like wapow!" Takeru replied cheerfully.

You giggled, but soon stopped when you saw Oikawa standing a few feet away with the girl he must've gone on a date with. "Takeru! How'd it go?" he asked as he patted his nephew's head.

"It was fine except for the fact that you ditched me. But at least Iwaizumi was there!" Takeru explained.

Oikawa looked over at the girl accompanying him and then back over at you and Iwaizumi. He had this look on his face like he was going to request that you take care of Takeru until he was done with his date, but the two of you were anxious to spend some time together.

Iwaizumi gave Takeru a high five and congratulated him for doing a good job before grabbing your hand.

"Iwa-chan, me and (girl's name)-chan were going to go to the movies..." Oikawa called out towards him as the two of you started to walk away.

"I'm sure Takeru would love to see a movie with his uncle!" Iwaizumi called back over his shoulder. The two of you snickered as you imagined the look on Oikawa's face and heard Takeru asking what movie they were going to watch together.

He then tightened his grip on your hand and walked into the park with you. "Tooru's more of a child than Takeru is," you sighed with a smile.

Iwaizumi chuckled at your comment. "He's the only kid I can't deal with."