The Introverted Kitten's First Date

A Puppeteer, A Tactician, A Teacher, and Two Guardians walk into a gym...

~~~

Oikawa, in every aspect of his life, thought himself a tactician. In volleyball as a setter, in school in the social hierarchy, and even in romance. He'd swooned many ladies in his day, sometimes even as a side effect of what he'd planned to get a girlfriend.

Though that was much to Iwaizumi's chagrin.

And of course, when a tactician makes a plan, it's for the long run. He plans to make the battle, no matter its outcome, put the war in his favor.

That was the case when he heard that Kenma and Hinata were dating. He had no personal stake when it came to their relationship, and he found that it probably wasn't using his time beat.

However, in the long run? It'd be perfect.

While this was his last year at Aoba Johsai, he was thinking of little else than what he and his team could gain from it. He knew full well that there was no way that Hinata wasn't going into volleyball. He was an even bigger volleyball junkie than Ushijima and himself, which by that alone was a feat.

As Iwaizumi knew, and frequently scolded Oikawa on, his intention was simply to make sure that he could distract Hinata as much as possible, and Kenma was the perfect way to make that happen.

Yet, as he quickly learned, being a matchmaker was harder than playing the game, than fighting the war. Especially when the pieces you move around in the game of chess are pieces you don't know the function of.

Oikawa was a simple tactician.

Yet, it did not mean his logical and rational connections were not prone to emotion. That emotion wasn't necessarily due to actual emotion, but to determination.

At times, the tactician fell into a tunnel-vision stare. He could mainly focus on one thing for one time, like a super prolonged hyper-fixation. Most people would simply call it a hobby, but the tactician commonly felt his interest too strong to simply be categorized a hobby. It was practically an obsession.

Yet, of course, similar to the puppeteer, the plan he contrived simply fell apart, not able to withstand the onslaught of external factors he did not expect to have to take into account.

That's when he saw Kuroo talk to Kenma. About the exact.

Same.

Topic.

Oikawa couldn't help but feel the power slip from his hands, sift through his fingers like sand would.

He had to resort to a last chance.

He sent a text to Kenma.

Hey! It's me, Oikawa! Come to the gym at about 7:30 so I can talk to you once more before you ask Shrimpy out, got it?

That was his only hope. Whether or not Kenma came was up to him, but he didn't think going there for a bit would hurt in the slightest.

Of course, he didn't think it was the most honorable way to distract your opponent. Besides, despite his actions and how others perceived his immature tendencies, he valued beating an opponent while they were at their best heavily.

Yet, when it came to his dear underclassman...he couldn't help himself. There was somewhat an innate instinct when it came to Kageyama, to beat him no matter what, the grudge and resentment for superior talent always ringing at the back of Oikawa's mind.

Oddly enough, Iwaizumi had been the only one to realize and question what his friend was doing. Mad Dog had questioned what he was doing, but without the context of the call, he had no lead to go off of.