Sugawara Koushi is an average third year college student. He wants to be a teacher to tiny humans and help shape the minds of the future…or however the pamphlet for the education program advertises it. He does want to teach at a pre-kinder or kindergarten level, just without the cheesy sales pitches that his program tries to shove down their throats. His best friend Daichi says it’s a bad idea to let him around young and impressionable kids, but he isn’t as chaotic as he used to be.
Since graduating high school and entering college, Sugawara has grown. He’s matured in ways he thought he would never be capable of. Like he’s calmed down his antics and is more responsible than he was in high school. So much so that he’s apparently boring and a buzz kill. Well that’s what his boyfriend, now ex-boyfriend, said when he stormed out of Sugawara’s apartment yesterday afternoon. Sugawara was taken aback since they were doing homework for a project they had due the following week. Then his ex got a text, blew up on Sugawara, and broke up with him.
Sugawara was more mad than he was sad, a year and a half with the jerk went down the drain in an instant. It’s Friday evening, and Sugawara was busy looking around his studio apartment, looking for everything that belongs to his ex and shoving it inside a box.
“If he wants to break up, fine. That’s fine. That jerk can do all his own work and his own projects. Jerkwad!” Sugawara mumbles as he finds another piece of clothing that belonged to his ex shoved under his bed. “Why is this here?”
Sugawara was confused, he was finding everything in odd places. Like a sock in a junk drawer, and a t-shirt in the corner of his linen closet in the restroom. Now a pair of basketball shorts under his bed. It was like a scavenger hunt that Sugawara didn’t want to play but was forced to. He wanted every trace of this buttmunch out of his apartment and out of his life. He finishes with his search and places the box on the table when he receives a call from his best friend.
“Hey beotch, what’s up?” Sugawara greets after picking up the phone.
“Ew, don’t call me that. Anyways, what are you doing?”
Sugawara sighs, “Semi, I already told you. I’m searching my entire apartment for Shin’s belongings. I’m pretty sure I just finished.”
“Oh good. Then you’re free. Come to a party with me.” Semi Eita says.
Sugawara groans into the phone, letting his childhood best friend know his distaste of the idea. “Semi, every time you invite me out to a party, you leave me alone in some corner. Then you stay MIA and I end up leaving, worried sick about you until you come knocking on my door in the morning from your walk of shame.”
“Ok, first…breathe. There’s no need to scold in one breath. Second, You actually need to let loose for a night instead of searching for a lone sock that some jackass may or may not have left in your apartment. So get dressed, look nice, I’ll be there in twenty to pick you up.” Semi commands and then hangs up before there’s any kind of protest.
Sugawara groans and walks over to his bed and plops down face first. He kicks and punches the bed like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. When he gets it out of his system, he turns his head to the side so he can breathe better and sighs. He stays like that with his face smushed up and his feet hanging off the end of his bed for a few minutes. His phone tells him he has fifteen minutes until his over the top best friend will be barging into his apartment. With a groan he gets up and starts to get dressed.
*-*-*-*-*
“Oh come on Suga, you look great. Stop being a grumpy pants and get out of my car. Let’s have a good time and then we can get breakfast in the morning.” Semi promises and opens his door.
He waits for Sugawara to get out and locks his car. They walk hand in hand to the front of the line. The bouncer sees Semi and smiles, letting them in while telling the rest of the people in line to shut up. “Have a good time boys. Oh, Semi, Futakuchi is in the back waiting for you.”
“Awesome, thank you!” Semi calls back and leads Sugawara to the kitchen. They get themselves drinks and then Semi leads them outside to a group of boys standing around a table with cups lined up. “Beer pong? Such a lame party game.”
“It’s only lame because you suck at it.” A tall brown haired boy says as he hugs Semi. “Hey babe, you look great.”
“Why thank you. You remember my bestie?” Semi asks as he points to Sugawara.
“Hey Suga. Where’s Shin?”
“I don’t know. He broke up with me.” Sugawara says and crosses his arms over his chest.
Semi smacks his boyfriend in the chest, “Kenji, I already told you this!”
“Oops. Sorry Sugs. I forgot.”
“Hey Futakuchi! Stop being whipped and play your turn!” a loud sandy haired boy calls from across the table.
“Shut it Kamasaki!” Futakuchi yells, “Sorry babe, gotta play,” then he turns and takes his turn, making the ball into four cups before he misses. “Ha! LOSER!”
Semi cheers on his boyfriend and seems to forget that he dragged his best friend along. Sugawara fades into the background as Futakuchi wins the round and a new one is set up. This time they play in teams and Semi joins as his partner. Sugawara sighs and decides to walk around the house and see if he can find a nice corner to sit and hide in.
The house is a decent sized six bedroom with two different living rooms, a kitchen and a dining room. There’s four bedrooms upstairs with two bathrooms and a laundry room. Downstairs holds two office rooms that were turned into bedrooms, a full bath and a half bath. He’s been here a few times, so he has a favorite corner he likes to hang out in. Suga heads to the smaller living room, and finds his favorite chair already occupied.
He pouts and decides to go look in the other living room to see if there’s an open corner in there. He barely makes it into the room and sees it’s jam packed. Sighing, Suga gives up and decides he’ll just go sit outside close to Semi. He turns around to head back to the back and sees none other than his ex-boyfriend, Shin. “Well, fuck.”
Sugawara looks around and sees this one kid he kind of recognizes from a few of his classes. He skirts over to him and sits next to him, “Hi!”
The spiky haired boy makes his green eyes go wide and looks at Sugawara like he has two heads. “Um, hi?”
“Quick, I need you to pretend to be my date. I’ll explain everything later, I promise.” Sugawara says and before the boy can respond, Sugawara is hearing his name.
“Suga? Suga! What the…Who is this?” Shin asks as he pushes his way through the crowd.
Sugawara rolls his eyes, “Why do you care, Shin? You broke up with me…and you came with Sakura? Dumb Sakura from Lit?”
Shin crosses his arms, “She’s better in bed, if you catch my drift. Who is this?”
Sugawara opens his mouth to respond but is stopped when his classmate speaks up. “I’m Iwaizumi. We actually have four classes together, and I’m Suga’s date. So maybe you should go back to your date and leave us alone.”
Shin gets visibly mad as he looks at Iwaizumi, “And what are you going to do if I don’t?”
Iwaizumi stands up and towers over Shin, he looks down and crosses his arms over his chest. “I won’t ask again. Leave. Us. Alone.”
Shin takes a step back and opens and closes his mouth before turning and walking away, grabbing Sakura by his wrist and dragging her along. Sugawara’s mouth drops and then turns into a smile. “Oh my…wow. Thank you so much.”
Iwaizumi turns and looks down at Sugawara, “Well, I don’t like jackasses. Besides, you’re a sweet guy, as far as I know of. You don’t deserve that toxic waste to ruin your life.”
Iwaizumi sits back down and smiles. Sugawara blushes, “Thank you. Um, I’m Sugawara Koushi.”
“Nice to meet you Sugawara Koushi. I’m Iwaizumi Hajime.” Iwaizumi introduces himself and holds his hand out.
Sugawara takes it and they do one shake but neither move to let go. They stare at each other for a moment before they awkwardly laugh and let go of the other’s hand. “Well, I guess I’ll let you get back to your night. I’m going to go find a corner to hide in until enough time has passed and I can leave without being ‘rude’.”
Sugawara stands up and pats his pants as if he’s dusting himself off. He moves around the chair and feels a hand at his wrist. He looks down to see Iwaizumi holding him. “I’m not doing anything…if you would like to do nothing…together.”
Sugawara laughs and nods his head, “I’d like that.”
Before Sugawara can sit down, the music gets louder and it becomes hard to hear. Iwaizumi stands up and slides his hand down so he’s holding Sugwara’s. He motions with his head and Sugawara follows him. Iwaizumi leads them to one of the bedrooms on the first floor, he kicks out a couple and then slams the door shut behind them. Sugawara looks around and sees aliens and volleyballs and…”Is this you?’
Sugawara points to the picture that is on the dresser, it shows two young boys in a park. One boy has dark hair in spikes, a black tank top that has the lines of a football on the front and is holding a net over his shoulder and behind his head. The second young boy has chocolate waves, with a lime green shirt that has a hoodie and an alien head on the sleeve. He’s looking up at a volleyball and his hands are up like he threw the ball up.
Iwaizumi paws at his neck and blushes hard, “Um, yeah. This is my best friend’s room, I thought it’d be a good place to hide and talk. He’ll more than likely end up in his boyfriend’s room at the end of the night. I usually come in here to hide or sleep when I’m forced to come to these things.”
“Aww,” Sugawara giggles, “That’s adorable. I was dragged here too. My best friend’s boyfriend lives here as well, Futakuchi.”
“Oh, so you’re the Suga that Semi is always talking about?” Iwaizumi says as he walks over to the bed and takes a seat.
Sugawara blushes and takes a seat next to Iwaizumi, “Yeah. That’d be me. So why the net?”
Iwaizumi looks at the picture on the desk and smiles, “Well, I liked to go bug hunting as a child. My favorite bugs to catch were cicadas, but I always let them go right after catching them. Oikawa would tag along and hunt for aliens.”
“That’s cute. Why did you let them go?” Sugawara asks as he scoots back on the bed so he can lean against the wall.
Iwaizumi does the same before he answers, “They have a short lifespan, so I always felt bad…what about you?”
“What about me?” Sugawara asks.
“Anything interesting?” Iwaizumi says and turns to look at Sugawara.
“Hmm…I’m not that interesting. I took a college prep course in high school with my other best friend. Me and Semi went to different schools, and I was a lot more chaotic back then. According to my ex, I’m a buzzkill now.”
“I don’t believe that one bit. I find you very interesting and fun.” Iwizumi says with a smile.
Sugawara blushes and looks down at his lap, he brings his hands to his lap and plays with his fingers. Iwaizumi reaches over and grabs one of Sugwara’s hands with his own and laces their fingers together. “Thank you.”
There’s a comfortable silence that falls between them until the door opens and a tall guy that is giggling enters the room. “Hey, Iwa-chan!”
“Oikawa.” Iwaizumi says and tightens his hold on Sugawara’s hand a bit.
Semi enters after Oikawa and smiles wide. “Oh my god, Suga! Where have you’ve been? You’re missing all the fun.” Semi falls onto the bed beside him and lays his head on Sugawara’s lap.
Sugawara starts to run his hand through Semi’s hair and smiles softly. “I’m having fun babe, but I’m having more fun now that you’re here.”
Semi giggles and turns to face Iwaizumi and points at him, “Don’t hurt my friend, lover boy.”
Oikawa comes out of his bathroom and laughs, “yeah, Iwa-chan. Don’t hurt my friend.”
“Shittykawa, do you even know him?” Iwaizumi challenges and smirks when Oikawa goes quiet. “Exactly.”
“Whatever, Let’s go Semi. The party is right outside that door.” Oikawa shakes his butt and Semi gets up and follows him out the door.
“Those two…” Iwaizumi starts.
“Are trouble,” Sugawara finishes. They look at each other and laugh. “Ok, rapid fire questions. When’s your birthday?”
“June 10, and yours?”
“No way! Mine is June 13! Hmm, favorite food?”
“Agedashi Tofu.”
Sugawara gasps, “Wow, mine is spicy mapo tofu. The spicier the better.”
“Spicy food is good, How tall are you?” Iwaizumi asks.
“176.8 cm, and how tall are you?”
“181.6 cm.”
Sugawara hums his approval and Iwaizumi blushes, “I like tall.”
Iwaizumi blushes harder. “Ok, um…what are you in school for?”
“Education. I’d like to be an elementary school teacher.”
“Oh yeah? What grade?”
“Pre-k or kindergarten.”
“Noble. That age scares me.”
Sugawara laughs at Iwaizumi’s confession. “Ok, and what about you Mr. Hotshot?”
Iwaizumi laughs, “I like you. I’m majoring in sports science. I’d like to be an athletic trainer.”
Sugawra’s mouth drops. “That’s so cool. What got you into Sports science?”
“Believe it or not, Oikawa. He doesn’t know when to take a break so I’d like to be able to help. Him, other volleyball players, other friends.”
“That’s sweet, you really care about him.” Sugawara says softly.
“Yeah. I guess I do.” Iwaizumi says with a smile. “What about you? Why a teacher?”
“I’d like to help shape young minds, help raise more good people and sharp minds.” Sugawara says, “You know, just help make the world a better place one child at a time.”
“That sounds…well, interesting.” Iwaizumi admits.
Sugawara shrugs, “I guess so…that’s what the pamphlets in our counselor’s office say at least.”
“Wait, so that’s not why you want to teach young kids?” Iwaizumi questions.
Sugawra laughs, “Nope. Honestly, I just like kids that age. They’re sweet and honest to a fault. They’re eager to learn too and it’s adorable to watch. I want to keep that excitement in them and build a good foundation for them to build on.”
“Well that sounds a lot more interesting and much more noble of you.” Iwaizumi admits with a smile.
The two fall into a comfortable silence and Sugawara rests his head on Iwaizumi’s shoulder. He looks at the clock on the desk and sees it’s just past midnight. “Well, I guess an appropriate time has passed. I best get going. Thank you for a wonderful night, I’m glad I came out and met you.”
“Thank you for keeping me company and making this night bearable. Do you, maybe, want to exchange numbers? Can I take you out on a date?” Iwaizumi asks as he gets off the bed and holds a hand out for Sugawara.
Sugawara takes the proffered hand and slides off the bed. He blushes, “Yeah. I’d like that.”
They look at each other, green looking into brown eyes. And slowly close the gap between them as Iwaizumi cups Sugawara’s face with one hand, “May I?”
“Please.” Sugawara says and closes the gap for him.