#yeah. see. i'm barely a baby bird out of the nest (been living in another province for almost ten years already)

[90sbee]

do you ever feel like you're pretending to be an adult instead of actually being one

[blackssuunn-mandoandyodito]

Tabaco y Brea

A Javier Peña fanfic

Pairing: Javier Peña x reader

Warnings: slight angst, slight fluff, sweating?, swearing, running?, somebody needs to explain this to me please.

Word count: 2.5 k

A/N: alright friends, this is the first chapter of a series I’m working on. As you can see, it’s called Tabaco y Brea. If you have any questions, hit me up. I hope you like this, enjoy!

Chapter 1: Stuffy basement

Bogotá was a sight that you had yet to stop being amazed at. Walking through its streets for the first time all those months ago almost brought tears to your eyes. Growing up in the United States and thinking that you may never get out of there gave you little to no reference in this country's culture, although your father being Mexican helped you master Spanish and he showed your way to dance. Early 1981 was not a great year to be in Colombia, but you were here as a DEA agent after all, not as a tourist. You could feel things getting bigger, and you weren't sure how you'll be able to handle it.

As you kept walking, you asked yourself the same question of your everyday life. Why the fuck did you choose to live so far away from the Embassy? 

(You knew the answer, but it didn’t make mornings easier)

The heat made your clothes cling to you with sweat, your hair even in a ponytail was soaked and the headache was just getting stronger the more you walked through the avenue. 

And you were late, dammit!

Your heels could be heard as you started to run to catch the bus, gripping your purse as if life depended on it. With the amount of money they paid you, you could easily afford a car, but attracting that much attention wasn't a great idea. You still couldn't understand how the narcos hadn't managed to get your information. 

The bus was already at the bus stop when you turned the corner, and you didn't know if you could make it. 

"Ey! Ey! Esperen!" (Hey! Hey! Wait!) You started waving your hand towards it, seeing that the last person in line was hopping on. The driver, thankfully, saw you and waited. You started running faster and finally climbed the stairs. It was packed.

 Well, it seemed that you'd go standing. 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

You seriously didn't think you could get more soaked from the heat, sweat even more than you already were.

You were wrong. 

When you got to the Embassy, the entire back of your shirt was plastered to your body. Your thighs were starting to get grazed because of your skirt and your hair was all frizzy and probably resembled a nest of birds. 

You took a deep breath, tried to fix your hair a little bit, and pushed the door. Nobody even glanced at you, and you were glad. If anybody dared to even look at you funny, you were going to lose it.

"Ey compañera. Mala mañana?" (Hey partner. Bad morning?)

Oh, just what you needed.

"¿Qué quieres Peña?" (What do you want Peña?) you rolled your eyes at him. He didn't look much better than you anyway. His pink shirt was sticking to his chest, even though he had several buttons open, letting you see his wet neck. His face was sweaty too, with rosy cheeks and his hair sticking to his forehead. 

You arched your eyebrow. "No tienes mucho mejor aspecto que yo Javier" (You don’t look much better than I do Javier)

He gave a soft laugh, the idiot. You weren't in the best of moods to handle him, so you turned around and walked to your desk, then sat down with a grump.

"Vamos nena, alégrate un poco" (Come on baby, lighten up a little) you glared at him and started reading through the papers you had to check today. It was usually yours and Javier's, that asshole didn't do any of his own paperwork and you were stuck doing both almost all the time. Carina had given you a weird stare the first time you were ranting about it to her, but you were sure you didn't want to know what she was thinking. It was nothing that you didn't know anyways.

Once he realized you were definitely not in the mood for your usual banter, he stopped and sat down in his desk,at the right from yours. Silence (or as much silence as an office can have) settled and the sounds of sheets of paper turning and Javi working with his typewriter slowly calmed you and helped you concentrate with what you were reading. The fan that barely provided you of fresh air at least served as background noise for the amount of stuff that your mind was processing, and it even cooled you down a little bit. The headache was gone and so was the bad mood. After some time had passed and you weren't sweating as much as before, you asked yourself what on Earth was Javi doing if you had his paperwork at your desk.

"Hey Javi, what are you doing? At least have the decency to offer help!" you said as he turned to look at you. He smiled, noticing your mood improvement. Pulling his chair with him, he crossed the little space between your desks and opened the folder that he had been looking at.

"There's the Bera I know" You tried to hide a smile at the nickname. "I got some intel that could help us with this bullshit"

His voice, all business know, gave you a sense of peace. Even if he was a little shit most of the time, he was the only one who had been with you since you arrived back in 1979. He didn't have much more experience than you back then, had only been in Colombia for a couple of months himself, but he knew his way around better than you. He taught you the things you didn't know, and if neither of you did then you figured them out together. 

"And what is that intel, agent Peña?" you teased him. You weren't oblivious to his ways of fishing out info, of course. He smacked you lightly in the arm and showed you the papers.

"A cottage on the outside of Cali seems to be a type of safehouse for Escobar's merca," he says while pointing at the pictures that were inside the folder "if this is true, we need to do a raid soon, but we have to make sure the intel is right before we take that risk"

The cottage was small, nobody would pay attention to it if they were walking past. It looked like an abandoned house, and you knew that was exactly what Escobar's men were hoping for. Although you were surprised they were stupid enough to have something even remotely close to a city, that didn't sound right.

You nod, "so that means...?"

He looks at you with a glint of mischief in his eyes.

"That means we need to stay for a few days in Cali, nena"

You have to grip your chair to physically restrain yourself from jumping of happiness. You loved Cali, the very few occasions you had free time you took a bus there (9 hours and all) and spent the nights in the dancing clubs. Cali gave you a sense of love and alleviated the homesick feeling that had been nagging you for years. It reminded you of your father even if this wasn't his country. 

"Are you serious? Don't play with me Javi" he nodded.

"You know I don't play with this shit", his voice sounded serious, almost offended.

He knew how much you enjoyed being there, but you also knew he took his work very seriously. In both cases, you doubted he would joke about something like that, but it was almost too good to be true to believe it that easily.

You started to plan things in your head. Where would you stay? Close to the cottage? Close to downtown Cali? Would you have any free time to enjoy the pleasures of Cali nights? You hoped so because if not you were going to explode.

"So when do we leave then?" you look him in the eyes, a grin spread big on your face. 

"It depends", your smile fell. "We have to welcome the new gringo, remember?"

Ugh, yes. You forgot about that. 

"So when does he arrive?" 

Javi shrugged. "I'm not sure, but it will be this or the next week."

You weren't sure if bringing someone else to this shitshow was a good idea. Enough lives have been lost to this war, and you didn't see the point of putting at risk another one.

"Will we take him with us?"

 “He's not very good with Spanish"

Your smile returned, this time for entirely different reasons. "So we're gonna have some fun with him?"

Javi looked at you, amusement in his eyes. He shook his head.

"I don't think that's a good idea muñeca, he's coming with his wife" (doll)

You got the message, even if he didn't say it out loud. He has a family, something to lose. You don't, not really. Besides your own lives, that is. If you want to play Russian roulette with them, it's your problem. But the new guy had someone to come back to.

So, helping the gringo it was.

"What's his name again?" you ask. You had read about him a few weeks back when they told you he was coming. But you didn't even remember he was coming, much less were you going to remember his name.

"Steve Murphy" Oh yeah, it sounded familiar now. "He did his training directly at Quantico, so he must be good"

That you remembered. He was one of those guys who spent the 18 weeks (although you knew they were only 13 if you did it there) of DEA training in Quantico, inside the U.S. Marine Corps Base and next to the FBI academy. They weren't common here, you and Javi had done it elsewhere. 

"So after we pick him up, we plan this shit out, right?"

Javi nodded. "I hope so"

He went back to his desk and you kept going through the paperwork. It was not an easy task, but that one time you made Javier do his own, he had taken so much time to do it that you passed the deadline and the boss ripped you both a new one. After that, you did a silent agreement where you did it all, Javier providing all info necessary and taking the blame if anything was wrong, even if it didn't happen frequently. He'd bring you Colombian coffee when the weather wasn't as hot as now, he knew you didn't like the one at the office and thought it "tasted like dirt", he would listen to you rant about certain reports and say whatever he thought you needed to hear in those moments.

You enjoyed spending your time with him, even if most of it you were arguing about something. 

The day passed rather quickly, with so much to do you didn't even have time to glance at your watch or even the clock hanging in the opposite wall.

Soon, it was time to leave again, but you hadn't finished your work and it was due to a couple of days. You hated doing things just before delivery time, so you decided you were going to stay and work some more. It wasn't like someone was waiting for you anyways.

Half of the work was done, so you weren't going to stay much. Just enough so you could go back and finish tomorrow.

"Ey compañera, hora de irnos" (Hey partner, time to go) Javier sounded tired, and you figured trying to find leads and speaking all day with your superiors was exhausting too. You hated doing the calls, so he took that one for both of you. 

"No me iré Javi, debo avanzar un poco con esto"  (I won’t leave Javi, I need to get ahead with this) He frowned at you, with his beige jacket already in his hands. You figured you looked tired too, all day reading was doing an impact in your eyes.

"What do you mean you're not leaving? You just spent 12 hours doing paperwork, you need to rest"

You sighed. He was right, you knew that, but you wouldn't be able to finish if you didn't stay. 

Seeing he wasn't going to get an answer because you were stubborn and ignored him if you had already made a decision, he hung up his jacket again and pulled his chair close to your desk. Then, glaring at you, he sat down and propped his elbows in the table, letting his face fall between his hands.

A few minutes passed, and you were starting to get uneasy under the power of his stare.

"Javi? What are you doing?"

He didn't answer.

"What?" you asked, defensively. "Do I have something on my face?" 

He shook his head, still not saying anything. 

"Javier!"

He started laughing at your bothered yell, finally releasing you from the pinned look he was giving you. You let out a frustrated sigh, understanding what were his intentions.

"You're gonna glare me into leaving, aren't you?"

His nod was your only answer, accompanied by a grin spread across his face.

The thing about your relationship was that even if you fought almost every day for the stupidest things, he took care of you. He made sure you got rest, ate decent food, got home safe. He protected you in the raids, even if you weren't his main focus. And you did your best to take care of him too, but he wouldn't let you.

At least not like you wanted. 

He would go almost every weekend to search for the love you were so willing to provide for him in other women, in his so-called informants. And it hurt you, more than anything else. 

You smiled at him.

"Let's go"

He smiled too, standing up. You saved your files in one of the drawers, took your coat, and rounded your desk.

Out of the office, everything was silent. The sun had already set, leaving you at the darkness of the night. You checked your watch. It was...11 PM already, damn. You didn't know it was that late.

"I'll drop you off at your home", his voice was soft.

You nodded, not trusting your voice. Everything with Javi was difficult at night. You were looser because of the tiredness, fed up with everything. You wished to be between his arms, it was the only thing you asked for. But you knew you couldn't.

Both of you climbed into his Jeep, and he drove off to your apartment. 

"Why did you choose to live far from the Embassy anyways?"

He had asked the same question a thousand times before, and it was always the same answer. He never looked at you when he said it, his attention straight out the windshield. You couldn't figure out why he kept doing it, no matter how much you tried, no matter how much time you spent thinking about it.

"I wanted to get to know Colombia, not just the stuffy low-rise bunker in the basement of the U.S. embassy."

Once you got to the apartment complex, he parked his car and stretched to open your door. 

"Good night compañera" (partner)

You smiled in response, took your purse and jumped out of the car. Feeling his stare boring into your back as you walked to the door, you got out your keys and turned around. 

Once you waved him goodbye, he bowed his head and turned on the engine leaving with a creak of tires.

"Good night Javi"

-

Tag list: @dynphomaniac

[worthlesspride]

For the fic related requests, the first thing that came to my mind was Oikawa making Iwaizumi watch one of his k-dramas. Those two watching Makki and Mattsun was one of my fave bits of the fic :) I'd also love to know what makes Iwa call Makki and Mattsun super romantic! I'm also super curious about Oikawa and Semi in the past and also the idea of Semi trying to train Goshiki really tickles me.. I'm going to stop now.. suffice to say I loved WYCF and look forward to anything extra!

Thanks so much for the ask! I think I’ve covered everything. They’re all below, in no particular order. I had to do a cut because I wrote you several essays. 

Semifrowned down at the drink in his hand. He already felt the threads of hispatience unraveling. “Tsutomu?”

           “Yes!”

           “What drink did I ask for?”

           “A tequila sunrise!”

           Semi cut his eyes up to Goshiki, wholooked as if he was holding his breath as he awaited Semi’s response. “What isthis?”

           Goshiki looked at the drink and thenback up at Semi. “It’s a… a tequila sunrise?”

           “Are you asking me or telling me?”

           Goshiki’s face fell. “I don’t know?”            Semi closed his eyes and tooka breath.

           He still wasn’t sure why Ushijimahad thought it was a good idea for him to train Goshiki. His temper was notsuited for this. “What kind of liquor is in this, Tsutomu?”

           “Vodka?”

           “It’s a tequila sunrise,” snappedSemi. He put the drink down on the bar a little too hard; a bit of alcoholsloshed over. “Tequila. Why would youput vodka in a tequila sunrise?”

           Goshiki flinched back and stutteredover himself. “I-I am sorry, Semi-san! I didn’t mean to! I thought… Okay,tequila, okay. Please let me try it again! I promise I can do it! I am sorry!”

           “Stop yelling,” said Semi. The drinkhad spilled over onto his fingers and he wiped them on the leg of his pants.“It’s fine. You’ve only been doing this for a week. It’s okay to makemistakes.”

           Even if those mistakes were thedumbest ones Semi had ever seen.

           He took another breath and tried tocalm himself even more. He couldn’t lose his temper on Goshiki. He didn’t thinkthe kid would ever recover.        

           “I’m sorry,” said Goshiki again. Helowered his voice only slightly.

           “Just go read through the studyguide I made you,” said Semi. “We open in less than an hour. It’s Friday, soit’s going to be too busy for me to do everything myself. I’m going to needyou, Tsutomu.”

           Goshiki lit up like a Christmas treeand returned to full volume. “Yes! You can count on me, Semi-san!” He turned onhis heel so quickly that he nearly stumbled and rushed off toward the back ofthe building.

           Semi propped his elbows on the bar,hid his face in his hands, and breathed a sigh of exasperation.

           Footsteps approached, and longfingers danced lightly up the length of Semi’s spine.

           Semi didn’t flinch. “What?”

           “Look at you, raising up ourprecious baby bird,” cooed Tendou. His fingers went higher, threading gentlyinto Semi’s hair. “He’ll be ready to leave the nest any time now.”

           “If I don’t end up killing himfirst.”

           “Now, now,” said Tendou, the grinevident in his voice. “You know you like Tsutomu. It’s impossible not to likehim.”

           “I like him alright,” said Semi.“It’s just having to deal with him that’s the problem.”

           Tendou’s hand fell away. He leanedback against the bar. “You’re doing fine. He’ll be slinging drinks like aprofessional in no time.”

           Semi dropped his arms and stood straight,frowning up at Tendou. “Some people are unteachable. He might be one of them.”

           “You’re being dramatic.”

           “A tequila sunrise,” said Semi,gesturing toward the drink on the bar. There were several other mixed cocktailsscattered about, all of them made improperly. “With vodka.”

           Tendou shrugged. “Sounds alright tome.”

           “I think our customers won’t agree.”

           Tendou reached up to flick a pieceof hair away from Semi’s forehead. “I think you worry too much, Semi-Semi.”

           Semi scowled at him.

           “Anyway,” said Tendou, “isn’t itbetter to deal with Tsutomu than Shirabu?”

           Semi barely held back a twitch.“Yeah, I guess.”

           “It’s fine,” said Tendou. He took astep forward, into Semi’s personal space, and grinned down at him. “Besides,you’re the best bartender I know. If anyone can train Tsutomu, it’s you.”

           Semi rolled his eyes, but his badattitude weakened as Tendou leaned closer, his breath sweeping across Semi’slips. “You know what Ushijima said about PDA at the club.”

           “I don’t see Ushijima,” said Tendou,slipping a hand around Semi’s waist. “Do you?”

           Semi’s mouth tugged into a smirk. Hetilted his head back, felt the first brush of Tendou’s lips, and then:

           “Semi-san! I have a question!”

           Tendou stepped back, and Semi took acleansing breath.

           He couldn’t lose his temper. If heyelled at Goshiki, the kid would be crushed.

           Goshiki was trying. He couldn’t helpit.

           “What, Tsutomu?”

           Tendou smiled, more softly thanusual. “You’re doing great, Semi-Semi,” he said quietly, as Goshiki half-joggedtoward them. “I’m so proud.”

           Semi rolled his eyes, but couldn’thelp the soft warmth in his cheeks as he turned away to help Goshiki.

Why Iwaizumi thinks Makki and Mattsun are too romantic: 

1. Ontheir two-month anniversary, Matsukawa sent roses to Hanamaki while he was onshift. It was a classic bouquet of a dozen red roses, and the card was a simplecollection of XOXOs.

 2.They got matching tattoos. When Iwaizumi asked, Hanamaki agreed to show him. Hestarted to push his pants down, and Iwaizumi decided he didn’t want to know,after all.

3.They use disgusting pet names for each other; sweet cake, cherry blossom,sunshine, doll face, sugar lips.

4. Anytime they get coffee, Matsukawa always has the barista draw a little heart inthe foam of Hanamaki’s drink.

5. Onetime, Mattsun was so focused on his phone that he completely ignored everythingIwaizumi was saying. Iwaizumi looked over his shoulder and found a screenful ofhim arguing back and forth with Makki about who loved each other the most.

6.Hanamaki sent Matsukawa identical roses on their three month anniversary, withanother collections of XOXOs.

7. Duringshift change, they leave obnoxious notes for each other on the patrol roombulletin board.

8.Once, Hanamaki left his phone at Iwaizumi’s place. Iwaizumi picked it up tosend Mattsun a text to come get it, and was greeted by a history of sexting thatincluded detailed descriptions of touching each others’ faces and discussinghow beautiful each of them were. Iwaizumi barely stopped himself from throwingthe phone in the garbage.

9.When Oikawa dragged them all to karaoke, Hanamaki serenaded Matsukawa with thesappiest love songs that Iwaizumi had ever heard.

10.Once, Iwaizumi received a picture message from Matsukawa, followed immediatelyby an urgent text of “THAT WAS MEANT FOR MAKKI. DON’T OPEN IT.” Iwaizumiintended to delete it, because he had no interest in seeing Matsukawa’s dick.Oikawa insisted, and they were gifted by a picture of Matsukawa’s bathroommirror, steamed over from a hot shower, little hearts and doodles drawn in thesteam.

((Allof these things are done intentionally because Makki and Mattsun get greatpleasure from Iwaizumi’s reactions.))

Althoughhe didn’t like to admit it, Oikawa knew exactly what Semi was doing.

           He’d known for a while; much longerthan he cared to think about. He’d denied it for so long that he’d nearlyconvinced himself it wasn’t happening, but some things were impossible toignore.

           Finding a stash of cocaine in hiskitchen cabinet was one of those things.

           Oikawa had been quite calm about it,because although he’d been in denial, he’d already known. It wasn’t a surprise.

           He’d taken the drugs out of thecabinet, calmly walked into the bathroom, and dumped the powder in the toilet. Aftera single flush, there was no proof that the cocaine had ever existed. He buriedthe bag at the bottom of the garbage can and went about his day as if nothinghad happened.

           He was calm about it, but Semicertainly was not.

           Semi came home late, which had beenhappening more and more often. Oikawa heard him come in and open therefrigerator. There was beer, but Semi probably didn’t grab one. He had beendrinking less; likely because he’d replaced the need for alcohol with the needfor something else. There was the sound of a cabinet opening, a long pause, andthen the cabinet door slammed shut so loudly that Oikawa winced.

           Footsteps stomped closer and Oikawaresumed brushing his teeth, staring blankly at himself in the bathroom mirror.Semi threw the door open as Oikawa spat in the sink, the taste of minttoothpaste clinging to his tongue.

           “Welcome home, Semi-chan,” saidOikawa, forcing a smile. It looked out of place on his face, like someone hadjammed a puzzle piece into the wrong place. “How was your day?”

           “What the fuck, Tooru?”

           “Not so good, then,” said Oikawa. Heleaned close to the mirror and pulled his lips back to check his teeth.

           Semi grabbed his shoulder and spunhim around, slapping his hands onto the sink on either side of Oikawa, caginghim in. Semi was a little shorter, but the intensity of his glare made up forthe difference. “What. The. Fuck.”

           Oikawa kept his face impassive,though his heart thundered in his chest. “You’re going to have to be morespecific, Semi-chan. You’re not giving me much to work with here.”

           “Where is it?”

           Oikawa tilted his head. His bloodran hot with panic, but he made himself raise a causal brow. “Where is what?”

           “Don’t play dumb with me,” snarledSemi. “Where the fuck is it?”

           Oikawa had only seen Semi like thisa handful of times.

           All of them had been in the pastmonth.

           “I’m still not certain what youmean,” said Oikawa, “but if you’re talking about the drugs that you draggedinto my apartment without my permission, then consider them gone.”

           Semi’s face contorted, scowldeepening, eyes flashing. He pulled back, fists tight at his sides, and for afleeting second Oikawa thought he was going to hit him.

           Then Semi turned on his heel andtook a single step away. “This isn’t your apartment,” he snapped. “We livedhere together, Tooru.”

           “That doesn’t mean you can stashyour drugs here. I’ve told you I’m not okay with this.”

           “And I’ve told you it’s not a bigdeal,” said Semi. He turned back toward Oikawa, and his expression was only alittle tamer. “I’m only selling to make some quick cash. We can barely affordto pay rent. I want us to have nice shit, you know? I want to get a nice place,and a car, and not have to worry about scraping together enough to eat for theweek. Once we’re okay I’ll stop.”

           “We’re okay now,” said Oikawa. Hewanted to step closer, but he was a little wary. He cared about Semi, but whenhe got like this, he was a little frightening. “Everything is fine, Eita. I’mhappy the way we are. I don’t need anything else.”

           “Well I do,” snapped Semi. “I wantmore. We deserve more, and I’m going to get it for us. I’ll stop soon, okay?”

           “Selling it is one thing,” saidOikawa, quietly, “but using it is a different story. You’ve got to stop doingthat now, Eita. It’s messing with you.”

           “I’m not using,” said Semi. Thewords were angry, bitter. “I might take a bump every now and then but it’s nota big deal. It’s not like I’m addicted or anything.”

           Oikawa should have swallowed hisnext words. “Then why are you so upset that your stash is gone?”

           Semi looked up at him, and his glarewas poison. “Because you need to stay out of my shit. It’s not your business,Tooru. Don’t fucking do it again.”

           He stormed toward the bathroom door.

           “Where are you going?” said Oikawa,following despite himself.

           “Don’t worry about it.”

           Oikawa stumbled into the living roomjust as Semi slipped back into his shoes. “You’re going to get more, aren’tyou?” said Oikawa. “You can’t stand the thought of going a night without it. Doyou see what you’re doing to yourself, Eita?”

           “Fuck you,” snapped Semi. “You don’tknow anything about it.” He slung the door open, but hesitated before hestepped outside. He looked over his shoulder at Oikawa and said, “I’ll be backlater.” He paused, considered, and added, gruffly, “I love you.”

           Oikawa felt his heart break in hischest. His throat went tight and the tears pressed at his eyes, but he simplyshook his head and said, “Yeah, sure. I love you, too.”

           Then Semi was gone, and Oikawa droppedonto the couch and sobbed.

           Oikawa should leave. He knew heshould. Everything between them was wrong lately. The drugs were the problem,and Semi clearly wasn’t going to stop using them anytime soon. It was in hisbest interest to get out before things got worse.

           He wiped at his eyes and took ashuddering breath.

           He should leave, but he couldn’t.

           Oikawa thought about when he and Semihad first started dating, and the way Semi looked at him like he was somethingto be admired. He thought about all the flowers Semi had bought him, which hadbeen dried out and preserved in a wooden box in the wardrobe. He thought aboutthe way Semi had held his hand and smiled at him and kissed him like he was somethingto cherish.

           Oikawa should leave, but he caredtoo much about Semi to do it.

           Maybe things would get better.

           Maybe they would go back to normal.

           …and maybe they would only getworse.

           It was a good thing Iwaizumi lovedOikawa so much.

           If he hadn’t, he was pretty sure hewould’ve hated the moron.

           Oikawa gasped much too dramaticallyfor the situation and seized Iwaizumi’s arm in a death grip. “Iwa-chan! Hedidn’t die in the car crash! He came back!”

           Iwaizumi looked at him blankly, thenslowly returned his focus to the TV screen.

           This drama was the singular mostidiotic thing Iwaizumi had ever seen, and he’d seen a lot of stupid things.            

           “Of course he came back,” saidIwaizumi. “They all come back. It’s the same characters doing the same thingsover and over again. Don’t you think it’s a little bit predictable?”

           “How dare you.”

           “I’m just saying, these shitty soapoperas are-”

           “Don’t finish that sentence,Iwa-chan.” Oikawa folded his arms with a huff. He tried to scowl, but it lookedmore like a pout. “This is prime entertainment. It’s a masterpiece.”

           Iwaizumi fought against an eye rolland barely won. He settled more comfortably into the couch and bumped hisshoulder against Oikawa’s. “Fine. It’s a great show. I love it.”

           Oikawa slipped him a sidewaysglance. “Don’t patronize me.”

           “I’m not.” He tugged at Oikawa’scrossed arms, freeing one of his hands and fitting their fingers together. “Ifit makes you happy I like it. It’s fine.”

           Oikawa’s pout lessened. He squeezedIwaizumi’s hand and again focused on the television. “I wonder how his daughterwill react. She should be happy, but then again, the sex scandal he had beforethe wreck might have pushed her away.”

           “Doesn’t really matter,” saidIwaizumi with a shrug. “There’s no way that’s his actual daughter. Her dad isthat guy with the bad haircut. Her mom had a secret affair with him fifteenyears ago.”

           Oikawa turned his head slowly, hisface blank. “No, she didn’t.”

           “Well they haven’t admitted it yet,but it definitely happened. It’s all in the context. Remember that conversationthey had a few episodes ago? They dropped hints all over the place.”

           Oikawa’s mouth fell open. “What thehell, Iwa-chan? You’re spoiling the show!”

           “I’m not spoiling it if it’sobvious.”

           “It’s not obvious! Get out of myhouse.”

           “I live here, too.”

           “Getout of my house.”

           Iwaizumi snorted and wrapped an armaround Oikawa’s shoulders. Oikawa resisted the embrace, but the struggle washalfhearted. He sank into Iwaizumi’s side with a huff.

           “I hate you, Iwa-chan.”

           “Love you too, Tooru.”