Chapter Text
Typically, the week in between the end of one school year and the start of another doesn’t seem all that significant--it’s just a week, after all, and nothing other than the class schedule really changes after the break. But now, in being the spring break marking the end of his third year, the whole situation somehow carries an entirely different connotation when, at the end of the week, Oikawa’s going to be attending an entirely new school, in an entirely different part of Japan. He has to start from the bottom all over again, and without his team to boot--it’s a change, to be sure, and the fact that he isn’t yet sure if he’s handling it well really doesn’t explain why he’s waiting in the middle of a park at two in the afternoon for something that could possibly be even worse.
This is probably a bad idea. He flips his phone open just to see the message he sent stare accusingly back at him. They haven’t talked for some time, and haven’t even seen each since their last match--there isn’t much to say when one of you has officially ended the other’s high school sports career. It turns out the problem in aiming to win is that someone else has to lose, and Oikawa had never even really considered that point of view until faced with it properly himself.
Except, even with this marked endpoint--the end of high school, the end of his captaincy, the end of seeing even the same people on a day-to-day basis, whether he wanted to or not--Oikawa isn’t satisfied. Shaking hands with Suga on the court should logically have decided who stood as the victor and who would have to move on, but as the weeks continued to pass and Oikawa still didn’t feel like he’s succeeded in being either one, he finds he might just have to finally admit that maybe this is a situation where him losing doesn’t necessarily equate Suga winning, or even the other way around. It’s a mildly terrifying thought, that if he’s willing to to take the leap and push it for himself, they both can win, but if the way his brain continues to drift towards Suga’s eternally kind smile far more frequently than strictly necessary is anything to go by, then it’s clear that winning here isn’t achieved in avoiding.
He still isn’t sure if he wants to try this. Still, it’s impossible to un-send a message, and since Suga has already replied, he doesn’t really have much of a choice but to wait.
“Oikawa?”
Oikawa looks up to see Suga standing at the edge of the road, looking down towards where Oikawa has seated himself by the riverbank. He steels himself against the now seemingly inevitable feeling of being thrown off-balance, although he must have come across as surprised, because Suga smiles brightly and holds up his phone.
“You did text me first this time, right?” he says lightly, and even though Oikawa is regretting having done so with every bone in his body, he grins cheerfully and and waves Suga down. This is bound to end badly--Oikawa isn’t even sure why or how but he’s sure it is--but starting next week he’s going to be leaving home and having to fight from the bottom all over again, so it’s not like he has anything to lose any longer, and he is determined to see this through.
“I did indeed!” he says as Suga carefully makes his way down the hill. “Come on, sit down, the grass is fine!”
Suga smiles softly. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it!” he says, settling himself down next to Oikawa, whose mind decides to go completely blank when Suga’s shoulder brushes up against his own. “You wanted to talk?”
Oikawa manages a vague noise of agreement, because of course now with Suga actually sitting here, it suddenly feels infinitely more difficult to admit why he called Suga down here, much less that he might have been wrong before to not have. Somehow, the gap in time since they last saw each other has made his apparent inability to remain in control even worse; but then, he already knew that.
“It’s all a bit strange, having actually graduated, isn’t it?” Suga says after Oikawa fails to break the silence first.
“It is!” Oikawa agrees, and internally curses himself because small talk is not what he’s here for, and also this isn’t particularly a subject he wants to linger on at the moment. “It’ll be a pain having to work my way up all over again, but I’ve done it before, and I will do it again!” Suga smiles in understanding.
“When do you start?” he asks.
“Next week! You?”
“Same! So where are you going?”
“Tokyo,” Oikawa says, and Suga immediately perks up.
“You too!” he says, and Oikawa absolutely does not feel a spark of hope.
“Well, Tokyo is a big place!” he says. Suga hums.
“That is true.” Suga grins and nudges Oikawa’s shoulder with a joking laugh. “Well, you aren’t by chance going to Todai, are you?”
There’s a beat of silence in which Oikawa stares at Suga, and it takes Suga a moment to figure out why. “R-really!” he says, looking positively delighted, and Oikawa finds himself startled into grinning back. “That’s great! Oh, it’ll be good to have at least one familiar face there--but seriously, isn’t that a coincidence!”
“It certainly seems to be!” Oikawa manages to get out, because Suga is very close right now and it really has been a long time since he’s had to face this directly, and he has to remind himself that there’s still an answer he needs to gain from this, and escaping isn’t going to do that any good.
“I guess this means I’ll be competing directly with you now,” Suga adds as he settles back down--he seems to have noticed Oikawa’s discomfort, and looks mildly embarrassed, even as he continues to grin. Oikawa finds it’s difficult not to grin back, and ignores the fact that he can feel the back of his neck starting to burn.
“You’ll be trying out for the team, then!” he says. Suga smiles and stretches his arms out in front of him.
“I figured it was worth a shot! After all, it can’t hurt to just try.” Suga offers a bright grin, and Oikawa tries very hard not to read too much into what the gesture might mean. “And in any case, it would certainly be interesting to play with you on the same team!”
“Well that would be assuming we would both get on!” Oikawa says with a laugh, and he can feel his heart rate speed up when Suga suddenly gets a competitive gleam in his eye. “We are going back to being annoying first years, after all!”
“There’s always a chance,” Suga says simply, although there’s a clear tone of confidence that is probably affecting Oikawa far more than it should.
“There is a chance,” Oikawa agrees, and Suga laughs.
“Should I take that in terms of the fact that it’s a university team, or that I shouldn’t get my hopes up because I’m dealing with you?” he asks, sounding perfectly good-natured. Oikawa tries to keep his steadying breath as subtle as he can.
“Mostly the former,” he says lightly, and Suga actually straightens at that, looking at him with a kind of surprise he had caught a glimpse of on the bus--and the image of that moment suddenly re-surging in his brain doesn’t exactly make this admittance any easier. “I wouldn’t rule out the latter, though!”
Suga laughs again, bumping his shoulder against Oikawa’s yet again. “Well, if that’s the case! I think I can handle that--after all, I think I have a pretty good idea of what your weaknesses are by now, I shouldn’t have too much of a problem with that!” He actually winks at that, and Oikawa can only gape at him for a moment before he points at him accusingly, desperately trying to ignore the fact that his face is sure to be bright red.
“You’re horrible! You’re secretly awful and no one knows because you’re so nice!” He’s sure his shouting is drawing the attention of anyone who happens to be walking by on the path above, and Suga cracks up, even as Oikawa shoves at him, letting himself fall back onto the grass. He laughs even harder when Oikawa sticks his tongue out at him, and makes no move to get up, even when Oikawa kicks vaguely at his feet.
“So mean,” he mutters to himself as Suga is clearly trying to calm himself down. “Mean, Suga-chan!” Suga just grins at him, his giggles eventually fading out into silence.
“Oikawa?”
“What?” Oikawa can’t help but pout. Suga just continues to smiles up at him and folds his hands over his stomach.
“What did you ask me out here for? You never did clarify.” Oikawa stills, but before he can force himself to answer, Suga adds, “I just want to make sure I’m on the same page here.”
If the way he’s been teasing him is anything to go by, then Suga is definitely on the same page as Oikawa here, maybe even a few ahead, but Oikawa still can’t quite bring himself to put it into words--he isn’t even sure if he knows how. “And yet you’re the one who came all the way over here without even knowing why I asked you to! If anything, that makes me more curious about what it is you want, rather than me!” Suga lets out a soft hum.
“What do you think?” Suga sounds like he’s genuinely curious, but Oikawa can’t quite keep himself from scowling in annoyance at the obvious turn-around.
“Oh I think I have a pretty clear idea of what it is you want,” he grumbles, and Suga lets out a laugh.
“I suppose that’s fair!” he says, and he tilts his head, his hair brushing against the grass. “Hmm, if it’s something I want--maybe a kiss for good luck?” He says it lightly enough to be a joke, but Oikawa is almost positive Suga means it genuinely, and the fact that everything he’s been wondering has just been confirmed and he has the opportunity to act on it is almost too much for him to fully comprehend, much less force himself to act on. This is what he came down here to find out though, and everything is changing around him anyway--Oikawa may be a tactician, but Suga has been an anomaly since day one, and even Oikawa knows you sometimes have to take risks to reap the rewards. He doesn’t have to lose to Suga over this. He must have waited a beat too long, however, because Suga suddenly looks concerned and he moves to sit up. “Ah! Unless that’s not why--” he starts, but he stops as soon as Oikawa moves, and before he can back out of this, Oikawa leans over.
It’s just a brief press of the lips, but Oikawa feels it all the way down to his toes, and when Suga moves to lay back down against the hill, Oikawa finds himself following the motion, bracing himself over Suga so that there’s nowhere for him to move to, trapped against the grass. Suga can’t seem to stop beaming.
“One more chance, then?” he asks, his cheeks flushed pink, and for a moment all Oikawa can do is stare.
“I’m not going to lose to you,” he says instead, and Suga laughs.
“I wouldn’t expect you would plan to!” Oikawa entirely fails to move away as Suga continues to grin back up at him, and after a moment Suga shifts his head against the grass again with another soft hum. “I don’t suppose you plan on letting me up anytime soon?”
“I haven’t decided yet,” Oikawa mumbles, and Suga’s grin grows even wider.
“And I’ll be seeing you next week?”
“Right,” Oikawa says, and with another bright smile and a laugh, Suga tugs him back down.