Hajime Iwaizumi was a prideful man, sure, he could admit that. He was ill tempered, and impulsive at times with the things he said. However, that didn’t mean he didn’t care… He cared a lot, which is why the petty fights seemed so stupid now. His girlfriend had a way of pushing his buttons during arguments, not intentionally, just she didn’t understand when he was angry he wasn’t good at pulling punches. She didn’t appreciate his bluntless as much as he wished she could, and their last argument was a doozy.
—
“It’s like you don’t even care. Why did you have to start an argument in front of all of our friends? You totally overreacted!” The girl threw her purse on the couch, turning quickly on her heels to look her at her boyfriend with an accusatory stare.
“Oh excuse me, am I just supposed to let your ex act all smug and mighty about how long you two were together? Was I supposed to grin and bare it when he hugged you for far too long? I know you’re blind to it but that guy has feelings for you and he’s a total dick about it.” Iwaizumi stepped forward his blood already boiling.
“Haijime! How many times do i have to tell you we are just friends. Nothing is going on between us, and it was entirely unnecessary for you to act that way, or to put your hands on him. Do you not trust me? I would never do anything with him even if he did have feelings he knows we are nothing more than friends now.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, what the fuck? Why do you always twist my words? I don’t trust him around you.”
“Well that’s not for you do decide! I can hang out with whoever I want.”
“Fine! Go hang out with him then I won’t stop you hang out with whoever you want, you don’t have to worry about me anymore.”
“I can’t keep having these arguments anymore Hajime… I think… I think i need a break from this. I’m just going to go.”
—-
He couldn’t even work up the courage to stop her from packing a bag and leaving their shared apartment.
That was days ago, Iwaizumi had been couch hopping, not wanting to be in their shared space at first, but also not wanting to admit that. Finally Oikawa encouraged him to go back, and now he was dreading sleep. He walked into the living room their fight still fresh. The breakup text he received the following day hanging heavy in his pocket still. It was like he was going through the motions. He ate his convenience store dinner, took a long bath, and finally sat in their room. Deep down he knew, knew that they just weren’t ready for this kind of relationship. They were both too sensitive and not great at communication. He did love her, and he had hoped moving in together would have worked out. It didn’t, it just made fighting harder to get through, and dinners awkward. He finally managed to lay down, pulling her pillow to his side, and holding it. It smelled vaguely like her shampoo, and memories of good times flooded him too suddenly. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, and drift to sleep, holding onto those memories.
Daichi:
Daichi was the type of man to love hard. He was a romantic through and through; usually that would be a good thing, but in this moment he hated that personality trait of his. It was spring of his Freshman year of university when Daichi met her. A manager for the basketball team, and honestly it disappointed him that she wasn’t involved with volleyball. But she was bright, enthusiastic and had this soft kind smile that seemed to make her radiate an angelic light. Needless to say he had fallen pretty quickly. The college he decided to go to didn’t have a huge volleyball program, but he still wanted to participate in the sport. It also wasn’t a bad thing that the volleyball team shared a gym with the basketball team and he could get time with the pretty manager.
There was always a magnetic feeling between them, and Daichi always showed up early to chat her up, and help her with setting the court up. The more they talked the more the boy fell for her. It only took him a week before he had asked the girl out on a date. Y/n quickly became a sort of light in his life. She was insanely supportive, and never pressured him to prioritize her over his love for volleyball. Things were blissful, and they moved quickly as a couple. After the semester ended they looked for apartments together, and moved in together. Their home was humble, but daichi loved the small touches she’d add to the place. She had a love for houseplants, and quirky colorful statement pieces. Their relationship was strong, and they had built a beautiful little life together.
That was all years ago, and Daichi was a salaryman now. His hours were long, and he spent most of his time sitting behind a desk. It wasn’t the most fulfilling life, but honestly, it supported their life and that was enough to keep him content.
Was it his dream job? No of course not. But he loved his girlfriend, and she always cheered him up at the end of a long day. His girlfriend became a teacher at a local middle school, and funnily enough one of the boys from their university started working as the coach for the basketball team. Daichi thought it was nice, knowing his partner was excited about having a familiar face and their team wasn’t half bad either. As long as she was smiling Daichi was happy, and supported her decision to help out as the team’s faculty advisor. He knew things were hard when he wasn’t around as much due to work. So he was happy that she had something to do with her time that he knew she truly enjoyed.
However, happiness doesn’t last forever… It had been another long shift, and Daichi had stopped at a local bar for a quick bite to eat and a drink after work. He didn’t usually do this but, he didn’t want to wake up his lover with cooking and drinking in their living room. About halfway through his meal he had heard a familiar laugh. His head lifted up on instinct and man, how he wished he hadn’t. His sweet, angelic girlfriend was on the arm of a tall man, laughing and playfully pushing him away as he kissed at her neck and pulled her closer. His stomach sank, and had to swallow down the bile rising in his throat. Her eyes met his, and he saw a few emotions flick through those eyes he had come to love over the years. Shock, shame, and then quickly, it become pity. He was frozen, and he wanted to get up, pull his lover away from this man and punch the smug bastard right in the jaw. His muscles tensed, his eyes became dark, and his face fell into an expression that used to put the fear of god into his kohai’s.
Daichi got up, and as he walked up to the pair, his anger dissipated into a sharp pain. They exchanged glances before the man coldly walked passed the pair. He made his way to their shared apartment, throwing his briefcase to the side, shrugging off his jacket angrily. He waited for her to come home, to explain herself. Instead, his phone lit up, she was calling him?
“Daichi? Hey, listen I’m really sorry you had to find out about this like… well like that. I promise you it happened very recently and I was waiting for your schedule to calm down so we could talk about this face to face, but that’s kind of out the window huh? I love you. I really do, but I just can’t keep doing this. Our lives are the same thing in and out everyday. You’re always working or stressed from work and I guess I just felt… underappreciated. That’s not an excuse and I’m not at all blaming you but, i think it’s better that we split up. I’ll come get my things tomorrow while you’re working. I’m really really sorry Daichi.”
Daichi once again felt bile trying to fight it’s way up his throat. His eyes burned and threatened to spill over with emotion. The grip on his phone was too tight. He didn’t say a word, anything he said wouldn’t matter, she wasn’t his anymore. So he hung up.
Things started to fall into place for him. The way she hesitated to become a faculty advisor at first, looking to him for permission. The way she started spending more time on her makeup in the morning, and planning her outfits at night. Her demeanor becoming more like their times as silly school kids in love. He realized now that it wasn’t just the job and her love of basketball making her happy… He thought back to a time when she talked about her first love. A senpai on the team that he had never official met, something in his gut told him if he asked her now for his name, it would be the same man that worked with her now.
Daichi threw his phone unceremoniously onto the couch, and pulled at his tie. He slowly made his way over to their shared space. It felt tainted now, like this whole happy facade that only he was blind to. He walked to his dresser, pulling open the top drawer, and pulling out a small jewelry box. This next check was the last one he needed to officially pay off the ring that he had bought her. A ring that was meant to symbolize their past, present, and future. He laid in their bed, now his bed, and set the ring on the pillow where she used to rest. He let the tears fall silently, and let the dull ache in his chest lull him to sleep. Maybe when he woke up, it would all just be a dream.
Kuroo:
The tall man wasn’t one for romance, he had more to focus on, especially in high school. Volleyball, keeping his grades up, nationals, entrance exams; the whole nine yards. So when he finally got into a university, with a good volleyball program, and a great science program he was excited to not be so stressed out. God, was he wrong. The science program was more intense than he had anticipated, and university level volleyball was nothing to scoff at. To make things worse he had met the perfect girl. A shy girl from his bio lab, who’d hide her smile when she’d laugh, and she always laughed at his science puns. She was adorable, and kuroo was as charming as could be. It didn’t take him long to get her to agree to a study date. Okay so maybe he had to call it a study session because she got a panicked look on her face when he called it a date, but good enough!
All and all it went pretty well, he made her laugh, and they had gotten on topics passed that of biology labs, and micro-organisms. Soon their study dates just became real dates, and she spent a significant amount of time at his dorm. It wasn’t long until they fell into natural roles of boyfriend and girlfriend. Even with all of the stress she understood completely, they stayed up together working on homework, and she came to every game. Things were pretty great. Sure they had some arguments and sometimes the stress made him want to close himself up in his room for days at a time.
So when things imploded it wasn’t loud or dramatic. It was as natural as them coming together was. They had been getting closer and closer to finals week, and things were lining up in all the wrong ways. His team was knocked out of their tournament far too early, and now this. His girlfriend was at his door which wouldn’t normally be a happy thing but she didn’t look happy.
“Hey, come in, what’s wrong?” Kuroo pulled her into the room gently, sitting them on the bed. She looked ready to cry and the sight broke his heart.
“I’m sorry, it’s so late and I know you’re probably trying to get work done.” She had a way of procrastinating when it was something important, so kuroo took her hand in his and raised his brows at her.
“Come on, you know you’re welcome here anytime. Now calm down and tell me what’s on your mind.”
“Tetsuro, listen… I really like you and you’re a great guy but… I really am drowning in all this school stuff. I think we should just maybe be friends? I really like hanging out with you and truthfully I haven’t made many friends other than you so I really hope things don’t have to be weird between us. But if you need space I totally understand!”
It was endearing how nervous she was, but honestly it made a lot of sense. Kuroo himself was stressed enough to feel like his world was crumbling. He knew he should be sad, but honestly he thinks he needed a friend more than anything. He missed Kenma, Yaku, hell he even missed Lev and Taketora’s loud antics. He gave the girl a hug and flashed a charming smile.
“Please, how many times do I have to tell you how kind I always am? Friends sounds like a great plan.”
Like that his first college relationship was over, and it was bittersweet. He cared about the girl, but he knew this was best for both of them. Later that night after they both spent an hour bitching about their bio teacher and looking over past labs together frantically. He walked her back to her dorm. Kuroo laid in his bed, pretty satisfied with his first semester. He made some great memories, and he slept pretty soundly. Kuroo was happy with his decisions and with how things had ended, and he knew he’d have a great friend who he could tease about her lapse in judgement freshman year for the rest of their lives.
