he was about to feel offended; an automatic reaction to the question iwaizumi tossed at him, almost too carelessly. the expression was already on its way to etch itself onto the fine defined curves of the setter’s matured face, but realization caught up rather quick, stopped him from showing off his usual infantile antics in front of his best friend. because iwaizumi should have known oikawa’s height, he thought, then recognized the truth – oikawa did grow since high school. a fact that was never shared with the one he used to tell anything and everything to.
“ i’m 186cm. ” he declared, proud and mighty. well, 185.5cm to be exact, but he did not have to know that. keen eyes flit around, from left to right, took in the height of the attractions around them and the possibilities of succeeding in the plan iwaizumi had crafted up in a matter of seconds. it could be working, oikawa mused, gave a nod along with a sound of affirmation. “ i can climb up the ticket selling booth of the rollercoaster ride and help you up before they see us. ”
his gaze went back to the man beside him, lingered on his features – maybe longer than necessary. too many unspoken feelings laid between them, created a big, fat, undeniable elephant in the room. instead of letting it get in the way of their plan, however, the setter used it as some sort of incentive; a way to motivate himself to survive and get out of there safely just to finally be able to speak to him. really, truly speak about anything that made his heart feel awfully heavy. “ are you ready, iwa - chan? the coast seems clear, but we gotta hurry. ” the nickname slipped off his lips naturally, unforced, and he took a peak outside again just to be sure his words weren’t untrue. “ we have to go. ”
iwaizumi let his eyes wander from oikawa's head to his toes at the taller man's reply about his height. "if you say so..." he answered and clicked his tongue for a moment. at least he was stronger than shittykawa which was easy to tell. a faint memory of him researching about the japanese man who had joined argentina's volleyball team returned to him. back then, when the two of them had walked different paths, gathering information of the guy who had been by his side for most of thr time and who had at the same moment become a stranger on tv, felt like he was able to keep up with his friend's life. even when he technically didn't as he had been pretty busy himself. being able to look at him now, after everything had become an utter mess, made him feel like they could finally fill up the gap between them again.
"i don't think i need your help to climb up, when i have these guns to help me." the shorter man prompted and revealed a well trained biceps. it was probably not the time to joke around, when there were mascots on the hunt for them, but uniting with oikawa was like jumping back in time and return to their silly and dumb highschool days.
at the sound of the familiar nickname, he snorted in response: "i told you thousand times before, don't call me that." not that he actually minded. it was a name that was forever linked to his childhood friend, to his best friend, to oikawa. so how could he actually hate being called that way? "let's go." he nodded at the other as a signal to make a run for it and with swift steps, they easily made it to a nearby ride without being seen. it was higher than expected, but he was confident both of them, one, an athlete at his full bloom and him, a former player who was not slacking off in terms of physical abilities and who was a coach after all, would be able to climb on it without problems.
as someone who was even called a gorilla by hanamaki and matsukawa before, he even outclimbed his taller friend and reached out a hand to him. "here, take my hand and let me pull you up."
