Pinky-promise Vol 2 (Iwaizumi Hajime x Reader)

[3/10]

Iwaizumi

Just for a moment there, I caught a glimpse of her old self. Not really who she was, no, but just a shadow. A shadow of the smile. A shadow of a laugh. A shadow of (F/N). Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled, but I couldn't exactly show it to her either. If I were to aggressively show my excitement, she would just retreat into that shell she built around herself, and we would be at square 0.

As I walked out of the dorm building, I was immediately jumped by none other than yours truly, trash personified, Oikawa Tooru. "Iwa-chan!" He screamed, nearly rendering me deaf. "What do you want, Trashikawa?" He seemed rather taken aback by my aggressive reply. As if he wasn't used to it by now.

"How were your classes so far?" He asked, making me frown. "Okay, what do you need? Did you get into a fight with (Bff/N) again?" As I said that, he whined, his head falling back and a hand covering his face dramatically. "Iwa-chan, you're so mean to me! Can I not be interested in how my best friend is?" I had to roll my eyes. No, it's not that I wanted, or knew I should, my eyes rolled on their own account. Entirely on reflex.

"No. Now, what's up?" I knew that if I was blunt for long enough, he would stop with the theatrics, which he did. We went to the café on the campus, one where we usually went and where (Bff/N) worked, and ordered what we always did.

"You really don't believe me that nothing is up?" Oikawa asked, whined again, and turned to (Bff/N), who just placed the drinks on our table. "(Bff/N)-chan! Iwa-chan's being mean to me!" I saw her arch an eyebrow at him, and then looked at me, before turning back at him. "Right. Which he totally isn't always." She muttered and walked away, making me snicker. With everything that's going on, I had t give it to him. He had found a funny girl. "Anyway! Iwa, there's this party tonight, and we really should go. (Bff/N) is making the drinks, so it should be pretty good!"

I didn't need to think twice to find an excuse.

"We have the tryouts tomorrow morning, Oikawa." His eyebrows came together, and he tilted his head like a lost puppy he is. Or a dumb puppy, not sure anymore. "But you said you won't even be trying out for the team." Right. I did.

"Well, I changed my mind. Do you not want me to try out?" I knew that attacking him was pointless. Deep down, I always knew that, yet whenever it came to him, I just couldn't help myself. I cared for him, I knew that, but the guy just went on my nerves so much.

"No, no, Iwa-chan!" He was about to say more, but (Bff/N) showed up. She sat in a chair next to him, giving the two of us the biggest smile. I was really glad to see that they were slightly rubbing off of each other. Maybe someday they would actually be able to balance each other out. As she looked at me, my gut suddenly twisted and I opened my mouth. I knew I shouldn't have, or I should have played it smarter, but the whole situation has been getting me pretty tense.

"I've seen (L/N)." She visibly froze at my words. Had she known that her former best friend was here or was she as surprised as I was? My mind was swirling with possibilities. I blamed her, I know I did. Why though, I have no clue. (L/N) and I never really spoke. We were only connected those few days while we were helping our best friends. So why did I expect her to tell me where (L/N) was?

"Right..." She dragged out, her gaze falling onto the table between us. "I have, too." Oikawa's eyebrows shot up. He looked between me and (Bff/N). "Really? Where was she? She didn't graduate with us." He asked, feeling the serious tension that was coiling around us. "We didn't speak." She sounded quite defeated and just a tad bit awkward. "Well, I'm just glad she is okay." To say I was surprised that came from Oikawa was an understatement. I think my neck hurt me from how fast I looked up at him. (Bff/N) did, too.

"Are you glad, though, Tooru?" She asked, single hand still holding onto his on top of the table. He nodded. He gave us both a look as if we were crazy, as if our disbelief was the odd thing here. "Yeah. She helped set me up with the most beautiful girl there is. Of course, I'm glad she is okay." There it is. I just stood up. I couldn't take this. Tossing the money on the table, I walked out, my mind swirling with different scenarios of why wouldn't I know anything about (L/N) and why she was so weird that day.

It's been a few days since we had that art class together. I haven't had the time to look for her on the campus after that, and we haven't just bumped into each other either. This is why I was so surprised when the moment I was around the corner from the café, I bumped into her. Literally.

Behind the café were all the outside sports courts, beginning with baseball and then ending with the beach volleyball. I liked walking by these courts during the day because not that many people were here during class time. It was peaceful, but also refreshing, away from the cars, away from the rush, and I could also occasionally see people just sitting in the middle of courts. Chilling.

So you could see why I never expected anyone to be standing right by the stands of the tennis court. She yelped, I grunted. I think. I might have screamed, but my masculine pride wouldn't let me remember that.

"What the hell? Iwa?" She sounded surprised, but between the two of us, it was me who was actually bewildered. I stood there a few seconds, completely silent, just observing the quiet, yet smoldering sadness in her eyes. "(L/N)." I acknowledged her. She stood still. It was very shocking to see how her every cell tensed under my stare as if she was hiding something behind her stoic form. I looked over her shoulder, but the only thing there was the tennis court, unoccupied and pristine. "What are you doing here?" She asked me after a moment of silence. Now that I think of it, actually, it might not have been a whole moment, it was probably just milliseconds, but time slowed down whenever my brain was in overdrive.

"I was just walking around. You're waiting for a practice?" The moment those words left my mouth, the moment her gaze steeled, I wanted to hit myself. I'm not sure why, because there was no way for me to know that that very question would bring her so much pain, but it did. I caused her pain.