CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

      "He's avoiding me."

      Yuki turned around, facing Misaki who had a strangely annoyed look on her voice. In a very careful tone, she asked, "Who is?"

      "Our lovely captain, of course," Misaki hissed out, almost slamming the door of her locker. "And I don't even know why. Did I do something to him?"

      "I'm sure you didn't," Yuki answered, even more careful. She was totally lying though. Yuki had noticed that Oikawa had been secretly glancing at Misaki when she wasn't looking and she had done the same. Clearly, there was something going but Yuki was pretty sure both of her seniors didn't realise that or if they did, they were completely ignoring it. "Maybe he's just busy."

      "Busy for three days?" Misaki said, zipping up her jacket. "How can someone be busy for three days? He's barely been replying to my texts too. Don't you think that's a little weird?"

      "I'm sure he just forgot or something," Yuki said. "I mean, you joke about him being too clingy with you and Iwaizumi-senpai, so maybe this is a good thing. He might just be giving you space."

      "But I don't want that!" Misaki exclaimed, a little too loud. Realising her tone, she apologized. "Ignore that."

      That confirmed it. There was something going on. Did Misaki-senpai like the captain? Judging by the way she was currently looking, Yuki thought she probably did. And that might also be why she was annoyed and confused as to why Oikawa-senpai was avoiding her. "Do you like Oikawa-senpai?"

     At her question, Misaki gave her a confused look. "What? Of course, I like him. He's my best friend."

     "As in more than a friend."

      Misaki went silent immediately, leaning against the cold metal of the locker. There seemed to be a rather resigned look on her face. "Is it that obvious?"

      Well then. Yuki hadn't expected this answer. "A little bit. Do you have a crush on him, senpai?"

      Misaki groaned, turning and pressing her head against the locker. "I'm in way too deep to call it a crush. I'm pretty sure I love him. Stupid me. Stupid, idiotic me."

      Yuki walked close to her, placing a hand on her back. "You're not stupid, Misaki-senpai. I think you're just confused. Maybe you just go find him and talk. And just ask him why he's avoiding you."

      "Should I just be straightforward then? With good old Stubbornkawa?

       'Stubbornkawa? That's new.' Shaking her head, Yuki patted Misaki's back. "Yes, yes, that should work. I'm sure he'll listen to you. Or you can always scare him into listening to you."

       Misaki snickered softly. "Maybe."

       Yuki smiled at her. Squeezing her arms, she added, "Go now, senpai. There's still like forty minutes left for the break to end. Just use it to find him. You have time."

      "Yeah, okay. I'll do that."

      (God bless Yuki Nohara's existence.) (Misaki will have to treat her to ice-cream later on.)

      Misaki found him easily. A little too easily, actually. Sometimes, she thought that she had an inbuilt Oikawa radar, which would always know where he was. She was unlucky (or lucky maybe) that way. "Oikawa, wait!" She called out to the boy, who had started retreating down the empty corridor the moment he had seen her. Even Iwaizumi was not with him. That was strange. "Hey, stop and listen!"

     Oikawa was practically speed-walking away. So he was avoiding her. That hurt a lot. What had she even done that was making him ignore her like that? As far as she remembered, she hadn't really said an unkind word to him in the past week; all she had done was join in on Makki, Mattsun and Iwa teasing him, which was a usual thing. Surely, he wasn't affected by those. Then why...

     "Fine!" Misaki said, huffing in anger. "Don't talk to me. See if I care anymore!"

      Misaki stopped following him and turned on her heels, walking away. It was almost pointless trying to make his stubborn ass listen and she almost hated herself for trying. It was pointless, yet it hurt really bad. There was still half-an-hour left before practice would begin again. 'I'll just cry my eyes out in the bathroom. And forget about ever telling him a thing.'

      Oikawa, meanwhile, was cursing himself. He wanted to tell her everything, but all his courage had fizzled out the moment he had seen her. And now, he had to watch her walk away because he wanted to keep quiet. He had done the very thing he had promised never to do. Impulsively, Oikawa speed walked to her and grabbed her hand. He had to say it; he had to apologize.

      "What are you doing?" Misaki asked. "I thought you didn't want to talk to me."

      Oikawa winced. Her tone had been normal enough, but there had been an underlying harshness to it, almost like the sharp edge of a knife. "Come with me," He quietly said. He tugged her along the corridor, still holding onto her hand. They arrived at an empty hallway somewhere close to the gym.

      "Will you tell me what's going on?" Misaki crossed her arms, staring at him with those intensely dark eyes as she leaned against the wall. "If you don't want to say a word to me, you don't have to. I'm not gonna force you to."

     "No, it's not like that!" Oikawa immediately shook his head. "I just think Misa-chan would stop being friends with me if I said it, so I don't know if I want to admit it out loud."

     "Why would I even stop being friends with you? We've known each other for more than ten years, loser," She said, very matter-of-factly. "I don't think anything could make me stop wanting to be friends with you."

       "But this will," Oikawa answered, frowning. "You will definitely not want to be friends with me if I told you."

      "Did you kill someone?"

     "What?! No! Of course not!"

     "Then what's the thing that will end our friendship, Oikawa? I don't think it could end over anything, except if you repeated what you said in the gym that night."

     "I would never do that!" Oikawa declared haughtily. "I learned my lesson."

     "Good, so tell me then," Misaki said. "If I want to not be friends with you after that, I'll decide."

      Oikawa swallowed. There was nothing to be nervous about. Nothing to be nervous about except that he was almost about to confess his very romantic feelings for his best friend to her. And she didn't even like him back. So, it was not going to turn out good. Besides, Misaki was probably going to say no. He just knew it.

     "Okay," Oikawa took in a deep breath. "I'll regret this later, Misa-chan, but I'll say it. I..uhh..from a while ago...umm..no, actually, I think since our first year, I stopped thinking of you as a childhood friend."

      "Well, that hurts," Misaki said normally, even if she was feeling a stabbing pain in her heart. "You stopped thinking of me as a friend since back then?"

     "Will you let me finish, Misa-chan?" Oikawa gave her a pointed, yet serious look and Misaki immediately went quiet.

     "I stopped thinking of you as a childhood friend, because I fell for you."

      'Eh? Did he just-?' Misaki's eyes widened as Oikawa kept on speaking. 'My ears are ringing, aren't they? Because there's no way he'll return my feelings. No fucking way.'

     "I really love you, Misa-chan and I want you to be my girlfriend. You know, Himeko-chan broke up with me because of you," Oikawa said, with a nervous laugh, not even looking at Misaki. He didn't have the courage to. "She thought I talked about you a lot and I kept comparing her to you in my head, which I think I was. And that was wrong of me. But I can't help it, okay? I just really liked you in more ways than a friend should. And then I started loving you. And it's not fair. It's really not fair you have to be this pretty and that I think about you everyday. You're perfect to me and you mean the world to me. But you don't like me like that and I don't expect you to. Because there's definitely someone better out there for you than me." ('You idiot, stop spitting out your insecurities right now. Stop speaking.')

      "That's all I wanna say," Oikawa said. He did not dare look at Misaki. Sure, he was supposed to be the confident captain of the volleyball club but in front of Misaki, he was just a normal person and a walking cliche who fell for his best friend.

      "Is this why you were ignoring me? Because you love me?" She asked quietly. Oikawa just nodded.

      Suddenly, Misaki grabbed his right hand and placed it on her chest, right where her heart was. Confused, Oikawa immediately stared at her. He nearly gasped in surprise when he saw the red blush covering her cheeks. Through his hand, he could feel her heartbeat go very fast. Almost too fast really.

      "Do you feel it, Oikawa?" Misaki looked up at him, an uncharacteristically shy smile on her face. "Do you feel my heart? It does that whenever I'm around you. Don't you think that's weird?"

      "Um," words had completely disappeared from Oikawa's throat. 'What does this-?'

      "You know the guy I mentioned?" Misaki whispered, but he heard her clearly. "When I was walking with you and Iwa? It's you. I love you and it's making me feel stupid. I think about you everyday too and I'll think about you when you leave for Argentina. But yeah, you're the guy I love."

      "You-?" Oikawa looked at her as she pulled his right hand away from her chest. Instead, she intertwined her fingers with his and looked up at him with the warmest and most beautiful smile he had ever seen on her. "Misa-chan, you really -"

      "I love you too, Tooru Oikawa. Please be my boyfriend." Misaki said with utmost love and kindness in her voice.

      Oikawa grinned brightly. He was suddenly feeling rather happy. "If I'm your boyfriend, does that mean we get to kiss? I'm a very good kisser, Misa-chan! And you're very cute so we will both have amazing kisses."

      Rather shyly, Misaki said, "Shut up. It's not like I've kissed anyone before."

      "Eh? Really? You haven't kissed anyone at all, Misa-chan?" Oikawa asked in shock. Because, surely, he wouldn't be as lucky as to be the person to take Misaki's first kiss. There was no way his luck was that great.

     "No, never," Misaki sounded so adorably shy; Oikawa swore he could feel his heart bursting out of the sheer cuteness of it. "I may have thought about kissing you though. A lot."

     "Well, you're in luck then!" Oikawa immediately proclaimed. Internally, he was doing a victory dance. He was so damn lucky. "I've thought about that too. You're very pretty and I'd very much like to kiss you."

     "You're pretty too," Misaki raised their intertwined hands to her lips and pressed a soft kiss on his hand.

      Before Oikawa could overthink further, he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. He could tell that Misaki didn't know what to do as she slowly kissed him back, so he gently pulled his hand from hers. And then, Oikawa cupped her cheeks with both his hands, holding her softly, carefully, like she was the most fragile thing in the world (which she was not). Every single nerve in his brain short-circuited as she pressed a more firm kiss to his lips. Because yeah, he had kissed other people before but those were nothing compared to this. It felt like stars were going supernova inside his chest and he felt like he was floating above the clouds.

     Misaki was gripping his arms rather tightly and her fingers were almost digging into his skin, but he didn't really care. Nothing else mattered anyway. He traced her bottom lip with his tongue as he did his best to pour all his unsaid emotions into their first (of many) kisses. And Misaki did not shy away from returning the feeling.

      When they both pulled away for air, it was with reluctance. Oikawa pressed his forehead against hers, closing her eyes. Now, all he felt was pure happiness and utter bliss and he never wanted it to end.

     "How was that?" Oikawa mumbled against her forehead. "Good?"

     "Perfect," Misaki answered with flushed cheeks. "Just absolutely perfect. We should do that again."

     "You don't even have to ask."

      He leaned down again, ready to kiss her a lot more passionately. Just as the two were about to kiss, they heard a coughing noise. Immediately, the two of them jumped apart, but still held hands. They turned around, only to see all the third years standing there. Even Yuki was there, hiding behind Iwaizumi with a kind smile. Misaki immediately covered her face with her free arm.

     "Umm, how long have you guys been standing there?" She asked, grabbing onto Oikawa's arm that was now draped over her shoulder.

     "Long enough to hear your disgustingly sappy confessions," Iwaizumi answered, almost smirking. "You two really are the most oblivious idiots I know."

     "And you made me lose a bet to Iwaizumi and Matsukawa," Hanamaki said as he walked up to Misaki, also draping an arm around her shoulder. She promptly pushed him away, stepping closer to Oikawa, who stuck a tongue out at Hanamaki.

    "I got richer because of you two so thanks," Matsukawa said cheekily, crossing his arms.

     "I just saw them in the hallway and joined them," Yuki admitted with a sheepish smile. "You two are cute together."

     "You guys are so mean! Except Yu-chan, she's nice" Oikawa said, putting his head on top of Misaki's. "Stop being jealous of us!"

    "No one's jealous of you, Shittykawa," Iwaizumi deadpanned.

    "Yeah," Hanamaki said. "We're just worried for Misaki's sanity since she's gonna be your girlfriend."

     "Misaki, if he troubles you, let us know," Matsukawa smirked, winking at her. "We'll help hide the body."

    "I know a great spot for that actually," Yuki piped up, also smirking a little now

    "Yu-chan! Don't you join in with them! And stop letting them corrupt you!"

      Somehow, then, they were all laughing at Oikawa, even Misaki, who had a quiet smile on her face. She didn't mind the teasing; she supposed it came with the territory of being in a relationship. But she was happy; more happy than she had ever felt. This had all worked out really well for her and for Oikawa. It was all good.

    In the midst of laughing at one of Hanamaki's dumb jokes, Misaki's eyes caught Iwaizumi's, who mouthed. 'You good now?'

    'I'm happy,' She mouthed back. Misaki swore she saw the softest smile appear on Iwaizumi's face for a second, before it disappeared. Good ol'softy Iwaizumi. None of her words had been lies. She really was happy. Too happy.

    'I guess I'm getting my happy ending after all.'

      Somehow, Misaki's plan to hangout with Yuki fell through. Or it would be better to say, Iwaizumi stole her place, practically forcing her to walk home with Oikawa. But really, she didn't mind it at all. She was now dating Oikawa after all.

      Even thinking about that made her blush and smile. Misaki looked down at their intertwined hands as Oikawa babbled on about something completely random.

     "I'm very happy," She said out loud, grabbing Oikawa's attention.

     Oikawa smiled, not a fake one, but one of his real, heartwarming smiles. "I'm happy too, Misa-chan. I'm glad this happened today."

     "I would have slipped up soon enough and then you would have found out so yeah," Misaki said. "But you're my boyfriend now and that's the best thing that could ever happen to me."

      Instead of replying properly, Oikawa found himself stuttering. "I-I'm never getting used to compliments from you."

     "Well, get used to it, because there's gonna be a lot of that."

     The sun was setting, casting an orange and golden glow over the sky. A beautiful way to end a beautiful day. Sometimes, an overabundance of happiness was a completely good thing. Misaki weirdly felt like she and Oikawa were somehow going to end up together. That sharing a birthday had practically made them soulmates. 'Soulmates, huh? That's a heavy word.'

     Oikawa's phone suddenly buzzed. They both came to a stop in the middle of the road, but stepped sideways. Oikawa would have let go of Misaki's hand, but in the end, decided to use his free hand to take out his phone.

     "Is it someone important?" Misaki asked, trying to peer into his phone.

     "Nope! It's just Yu-chan and Makki sending pictures from today," Oikawa turned his phone screen to face her and her cheeks immediately grew hot. The photos that Hanamaki and Yuki had sent had been of their kiss. Damnit. Her heart suddenly felt like it was racing.

      'When had they even clicked these?' Misaki thought as she stared at her utterly-in-love face. She had never thought she'd be smiling that and especially not towards Oikawa. Even while they were kissing, there had been a smile on her face. And she hadn't even realised that. "What are you gonna do with those?"

      "Misa-chan, it's fairly obvious, you know," Oikawa flicked her forehead, albeit gently. Temporarily letting go of her hand, he tapped the photo of Misaki's smile, setting it as his wallpaper. "You're gonna be my lockscreen now."

     "EH?" Misaki's eyes widened as her cheeks flushed even more. "Do people actually do that? Set photos of their girlfriends or boyfriends as their wallpaper? I thought that only happened in movies or books."

     "Misa-chan, you know you really sound stupid, right?"

      "Hey!" Misaki playfully shoved him away. She stepped close to him, just a minute later. "I'm just inexperienced with relationship stuff. I don't know how all of this works."

     "Leave it all to me. I'll be the best boyfriend ever," Oikawa declared. Immediately after, he leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. Subconsciously, Misaki touched a hand to her lips.

     "Uh wow, I'm not getting used to that," She mumbled out, her face a burning red that was even more prominent due to her red hair.

     Oikawa couldn't help but laugh. Misaki was an incredibly confident person, who rarely let anything affect her, but one kiss from him and she became a shy, blushing mess. He was so taking advantage of this. He put his phone back in his pocket. 

     He grabbed Misaki's shoulders and pressed another kiss to her lips, this time a longer, more passionate one. He hadn't realised before, having been too engrossed in the fact that he was finally getting to kiss his Misa-chan, but her lips tasted like strawberry. And even if Oikawa liked milk bread more; on Misaki, strawberry tasted sweeter.

     As she pulled away, Oikawa shifted, burying his face into the crook of her neck. It was an awkward position but he didn't care. He was just happy. "I love you, Misa-chan. So very much."

     Underneath the rays of the setting sun, Misaki said, "I love you too, Tooru. More than anything else in this world."

    The two don't say a word. And they don't need to. Both of them just know. The silence was not empty. It was full of love, hugs, happiness and a warmth that would soon completely engulf the two. They were ready to accept that.

    Really, they were ready to make the best of what there was and what would come in the future.

no words, except...

enjoy 😊😉

(also please do comment because I love hearing what you all think <3)