Chapter Text
Twenty-Seven
At six a.m., Hajime’s phone rings. He fumbles for it in the dark and hears Oikawa complain beside him as light floods their corner of the room. He grabs his phone, pausing to look at the number.
“I’m on rest, Hajime. Turn it off.” A predictable whine.
Hajime rolls his eyes as he accepts that call and presses it to his ear. “Hello?”
“Iwaizumi?” He vaguely recognizes the voice but can’t place it before it continues in English. “This is Coach Morales.”
“Coach Morales?” He asks and it clicks a moment later. “Oh. Oh! Let me get Tooru for you.”
Oikawa holds out his hand, face still buried in his pillow.
“No, I’m calling for you actually. I watched the game against Argentina and your team looked strong, powerful. I was impressed with their stamina, especially against someone like Oikawa. We both know he’s excellent at making people work for it.”
“Thank you, sir.” Oikawa sits up beside him and pulls the phone from his fingers, placing it on speakerphone. He gives it back to Hajime and lays back down, one arm thrown over his eyes.
“Anyways, I’m calling because I recently had to let my trainer go. He wasn’t pushing the team hard enough. Argentina won but my players on that team didn’t look nearly as in shape as Japan’s. Obviously, Oikawa has been talking about how impressive you are for the past couple of years, it was clearly evident in that game that he wasn’t just blowing smoke up your ass.”
“Uh, thank you again, sir.”
“Yeah, yeah. Listen, I’ll get to the point and let you get back to sleep. I’d like to bring you onto my staff as the lead trainer. You know your stuff, clearly good at your job. If you’re interested, fly back with Oikawa and we’ll have an informal interview to discuss our views of the team. We’ll get you a tour of the facilities so you can see what you’d need to get this team better.”
Hajime is silent for a beat, heart hammering in his chest. He looks down at Oikawa, who has gone still, waiting for Hajime’s answer. He doesn’t have to think about this, not really. “That would be great, sir.”
“Great. I’ll email you the details of the position.”
Hajime quickly gives his email and hangs up, a buzzing silence left in the call's wake.
“You don’t have to take it.” Oikawa says into the silent room. “A better opportunity could come up.”
“A better opportunity? To be the trainer of a team that supplied almost half of an Olympic-level team? The Olympic team that took gold? Are you kidding me?” He flicks him in the cheek. “This is an excellent opportunity and it gives me everything I want.” He scoots closer and pulls Oikawa’s arm from his eyes. “This is it. If he makes it official, it’s you and me, Tooru. You and me together for fucking ever.”
Oikawa grins and pulls Hajime in for a kiss, morning breath only a mild bother. “You really are incredible at your job. I’ve been using your plans over my trainers for years. You deserve this.”
His cheeks heat and he shoves a pillow over Oikawa’s face. He doesn’t want to look at him when he confesses this. Oikawa struggles to pull it off but gives up when Hajime starts to talk.
“You know, Shittykawa. I chose sports science because of you because I know what it looks like to push a body past its breaking point and I wanted to be able to help people reach those goals and be the strongest person they could be.” He doesn’t lift the pillow but Oikawa’s fingers find him and wrap around his wrist, squeezing lightly. “I was terrified when you went away to Argentina. I was terrified that you would push yourself until you finally broke and I wouldn’t be there to kick your ass until you got it together again. I wanted to be able to do that for other people, wanted to be able to push them further than they thought they could go.”
Oikawa does yank the pillow off his face then, shit-eating grin wide across his stupidly pretty face and Hajime is so in love that it’s humiliating. He reaches out and cups Oikawa’s cheek before smacking it, the impact loud in the quiet room.
“Since we’re awake, we’re going to start on brunch. Our families will be here in four hours.”
Oikawa groans and rolls closer, pulling at Hajime until he lays down with him. “I’m taking a rest. I just achieved my lifelong dream, let me sleep in.”
“You achieved it three days ago.”
“And I’ve been working towards it for twenty-seven years. So, that means that I deserve at least twenty-seven days of rest.”
Hajime pulls him close and peppers kisses along his collar bone, the small group of freckles on his shoulder, the corner of his jaw, and finally his lips. “What’s our next goal? To win it together? I made my team of monsters and you still crushed it. I guess that means you win that stupid challenge we made when we were seventeen.”
Oikawa’s laugh sets Hajime’s heart racing, sets the blood in his veins on fire. “A draw, actually. I’m your original monster, idiot. I just told you you’ve been the one training me these past few years and you were the one that’s been forcing me to be better since we were kids.”
Hajime pulls him closer, burying his face into the crook of Oikawa’s neck. “We’re getting a new apartment. Yours is too small.”
“Whatever you want, Iwa-chan.”