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Some would say that the most logical reaction would be to state the truth, plain and simple. Bite the bullet. Rip off the Band Aid. Whatever phrase you could use.
But Oikawa Tooru could beg to differ.
“Oh Tooru, have you got yourself a boyfriend yet?”
“Tooru, that friend of yours, are you two dating yet?”
“He’s so cute, why don’t you go for him?”
His family was certainly… interesting during the holidays. Tooru had been close friends with Iwaizumi Hajime ever since they were little boys, and once he came out at gay to his family, they’ve been connecting the two of them. He’s pestered about it every Christmas season when he visits Shiroishi from his current residence in Argentina. Was Hajime ever there to witness the embarrassing questions? Luckily, no, and Tooru decided that he didn’t have to tell him about any of it. It wouldn’t hurt the shorter male – if he knew, the only thing it would create was, well, an unavoidable awkward atmosphere.
Why could Tooru disagree with telling his family the truth? That he wasn’t dating Hajime and didn’t think he ever would? Because he couldn’t stand to see the looks of disappointment on their faces. Tooru had always had the need to be the best at everything (especially in sports during school) because he couldn’t bear to have his family disappointed in him. It was difficult, as it would be for most people.
But if he visited home again without bringing a partner, that might be more disappointing than telling his family that their hopes of him and Hajime wouldn’t be fulfilled.
So what was Tooru’s solution?
Begging and whining.
“Iwaaa! I need youu!” The male called out as he knocked hastily on his friend’s apartment door, drawing out the vowels of his words.
“Yea Tooru?” Hajime asked gently as he opened the door and peeked through at his panic-ridden friend. Tooru said nothing but hurriedly pushed his way into Hajime’s apartment and sped to his kitchen where he took out a slice of white sandwich bread and a jug of whole milk and ate them together, humming.
“Tooru, you can’t eat other people’s food without asking first,” Hajime said in a tired voice, shutting the front door behind him as he fell down onto the faux leather loveseat in the living room.
“I feel like you’re the exception to that rule, though,” Tooru replied, taking another bite from the milk-soaked bread and walking slowly towards where Hajime was sitting.
“Am I now?”
“Yes, yes you are.”
“I still think you should ask me,” the spiky-haired male said briefly before snatching the slice of bread from Tooru’s hand, receiving a shriek from Tooru and grasping hands coming his way in an attempt to take back his snack. “Anyways, what’s this all about?”
Hajime’s house was frustrating for Tooru. It was so perfect in every way possible, and he felt so right there, but it wasn’t his. He could only visit, yet he had never found an apartment that he enjoyed being in as much as he did. His apartment? No. His family’s house? No. Only Hajime’s.
Around the holidays, it always smelled faintly of peppermint and cypress. During the rest of the year, it smelled of whatever essential oil Hajime favored at the time. Sometimes lavender, others lemon. It all depended on his mood. He had a diffuser in his kitchen, bedroom, and living room, and they all carried the same scent.
Hajime always had the comfort food Tooru enjoyed. Sometimes he wondered if that was purposefully, but he decided against it – why would Hajime bother to have Tooru’s favorite foods at his apartment, when Tooru was nothing but a childhood friend that he met at a playground in Japan one day?
But overlooking every one of the details, Hajime’s home was simply a comfort to Tooru, and at this time, he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. As he plopped himself down beside Hajime on the loveseat, a sigh escaped his throat, and he began to speak.
“My family has been pushing me to get a boyfriend, and when I go back home for the holidays this year… I guess I’ll just be pestered again. They talk about it every day, and if I show up without a partner…”
“Just get to the point,” said Hajime, “what do you want from me?”
“I… want you to be my boyfriend.”
Hajime blinked. Once. Twice. Again and again, trying his best to process the situation. Had he heard right? No, he couldn’t have. After twenty years of knowing each other, Tooru wouldn’t be asking him to be his partner now. Would he…?
“I SAID THAT WRONG I’M SO SORRY OH GOD,” Tooru blurted through the silence as he watched Hajime’s reaction. “I meant, um, would you pretend to be my boyfriend? Just for the holidays, and then we could stage a breakup afterwards.”
Another second of silence. Hajime stopped. His functioning dwindled. For a moment, only a moment, he thought his friend truly wanted to date him. He hadn’t dated anyone for a reason – he hoped that one day, Tooru might end up having feelings for him. But if this is what he really wanted, Hajime would have to learn to deal with it. A fake relationship. That was it. Nothing more.
“No” was all he said in response.
“But maybe consider it? I need this, Hajime. I don’t want to be the only single one at my family reunion this time.”
“What will I have to do?”
“Barely anything! Just be prepared with a story of how we got together, and maybe some cute things we do together. You won’t even have to kiss me or anything, promise.”
“No kissing. No touching. No extra lovey-dovey shit. No sleeping together. I’ll do it. Got it?”
“Yes, I understand, oh my god thank you so much, I owe you the worl-“
“Please, stop. You can thank me later, but now I have to buy a fucking plane ticket to Shiroishi,” Hajime said through gritted white teeth, rubbing the tips of his thumb and middle finger together repeatedly.
“Actually,” Tooru began with a cute smirk, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a small slip of paper for Hajime to see, “I already bought you one.”
One more moment of quiet before words left Hajime’s tongue.
“You keep your plane ticket in your back pocket?”
“Th-that’s not the point, why did you have to point that out-!” Tooru pouted defensively. “You were supposed to admire the fact that I bought a plane ticket for you, but I guess that’s fine.”
“Oh alright, well I still don’t think you should have kept that in your pocket, that could have easily been stolen. Be smarter next time,” Hajime responded before snatching the piece of paper from his friend’s fingertips and slapping it down on the side table. “Now, when do we have to leave?”
By the time the two of them were in a cab being driven to Tooru’s old home, Tooru had taught Hajime everything he needed to know about the Oikawa family. How his mother made green tea for everyone every night, and how his two aunts wrote a Christmas song together every year, hoping for it to become a hit when they post it on YouTube but nothing ever truly happening. So many details, but Hajime seemed to soak all of it up, and Tooru hoped his performance would be enough. He hadn’t told anyone in the family that he was bringing a boyfriend – the surprise that he would receive worried him, but he knew it would probably be okay. Probably.
“Tooru, is that you? Is that my little boy?” A soft, cracked voice called from nearby as the Uber car arrived at the house. A woman of about fifty years in age, with greying auburn hair and slightly wrinkled, pale skin, began making her way to the car. A smile grew on Tooru’s lips – his mother, Emma Oikawa. One of the sweetest people you’d meet, even though she tended to be a bit pushy from time to time. She was sincere, and a bit overbearing in ways, but Tooru adored her more than anyone else in the entire world.
Well, there was one other person.
“Here we go,” Tooru muttered under his breath, turning his head to glance at Hajime who sat beside him. “You ready?”
“Weird family at the holidays?” The driver asked amusedly while looking back at Tooru through the review mirror.
“Something like that.”
Exiting the car, the air was cold and crisp, the harsh breeze slapping Tooru’s face. He cringed, forgetting how cold it typically got back home in Japan. Argentina was never as cold.
But the cold was cured (mostly) with an embrace.
Tooru’s mother smelled of cinnamon, just as she always had. Warm, sweet, and familiar. Cinnamon was the most important ingredient in the Oikawa house – the day there isn’t any cinnamon in the kitchen cupboards is the day that pigs fly.
Although, contrast to Emma and her scent, the house never smelled any specific way in particular. It was clean and white, and scentless. Almost every wall in the house was graced with a painting made by Tooru’s great grandfather, and even though he was no Leonardo Da Vinci, the painting were held close to everyone’s hearts.
Tooru was scared to see it again. How much has it changed?
“So, how has Argienti been treating you, dear one?” Emma asked in a warm voice, breaking off the hug and glancing up to her son.
“It’s Argentina, Ma,” Tooru corrected, “and it’s been treating me very well. Actually, I brought someone over, is that okay?”
“Yes of course, the more the merrier! Who is it?”
Tooru gestured for Hajime to leave the car, and Hajime did so, slowly and quietly making his way over to Emma.
“Oh, Hajime! What a nice surprise. Tooru, what made you bring Hajime over for the holidays?”
“Well, why do you think-?”
Silence. One moment of it. A second of Emma watching and processing the situation in front of her. Another second, and another, until…
“Oh! Come on, let’s get you two inside.”
A breath of relief from Hajime. He didn’t have to explain anything. At this point, he was still having trouble trying to figure out what their story was. How did they realize their feelings for each other? When and how did they start dating? What are cute couple things that they do? He didn’t know, he didn’t know, and it was bothering him to an extent he didn’t wish for. It also didn’t seem like Tooru was going to be spouting ideas anytime soon, so Hajime had to come up with something on his own.
But he wasn’t creative in the slightest.
“Everyone, look what I brought home!” Emma called out warmly as the three of them walked through the front door of the house. A few of the family members made their way down front and smiles lit their faces as they caught sight of Tooru.
“Uncle Tooru!”
“Tooru, I’m so glad you could make it.”
“Wait, why is Hajime here?”
“Are you two-?”
“They probably are.”
“Oh Lord, I didn’t think this would happen.”
“IS HAJIME-SAN MY NEW UNCLE?”
A groan from Hajime.
“Alright, alright, calm down everyone, I missed you too. Hajime and I are going to put our bags away in our rooms and then we can all catch up,” Tooru said with a nervous smile, running a hand through his soft, cocoa brown hair.
“There aren’t any other available rooms I’m afraid, so Hajime, I feel terrible telling you this, but you will have to sleep on the couch. It is very comfortable, though!” Emma exclaimed, pursing her lips in self-disappointment. Hajime glared at Tooru, very subtly, but Tooru didn’t fail to notice.
“Fine. Tooru, go put your luggage away and meet everyone back downstairs after,” said the spiky-haired male.
“Will do Hajime, be right back you guys!” Tooru said as he bit his lip, running up the carpeted staircase.
As Tooru came back down the stairs and into the living room, everyone had a mug in their hands, a gentle whisp of steam curling up from each cup, creating a warm atmosphere around the room. Scent? Green tea. Every night during the Christmas season, she would give each family member a mug of green tea and they’d all relax around the fireplace. One of Tooru’s favorite traditions, and one of Hajime’s new favorites. Until just now. Hajime had gone to get a cloth napkin from the dining room, and he had run into Tooru in a very unfortunate place.
“Oh look, the two of you are under the mistletoe!” Tooru’s aunt, Sakura Oikawa, pointing out amusedly, causing everyone to look their way. Hajime’s rule rung through Tooru’s mind.
No kissing.
“We have to,” Tooru whispered to him, voice cracking ever so slightly.
“No, we don’t,” responded Hajime.
“I’m pretty sure we do.”
“Just on the cheek.”
Tooru pecked him on the cheek. Hajime flinched. The family groaned in disappointment.
“Come on, that was barely a kiss!” Sakura said.
Another kiss. On the lips, soft, brief. One more flinch from Hajime. Tooru blinked. The family sighed, but it seemed they knew that was all they were going to get.
“Come on, let’s catch up,” Tooru spoke up abruptly, making his way over to an empty spot on the couch. “How’s everyone been?”
“Tooru, that’s my seat.”
[ Another timeskip because I’m too tired to write all of it and I know I won’t have the motivation later so bear with me it’s not that good but I tried ]
Oh look, it’s the mistletoe again. But wait, no, that’s not mistletoe, it’s kale? Someone hung kale up on one of the doorways.
“I blame Aunt Sakura; she’s been turning everything into healthy greens these days. Even if we don’t eat them – everything is kale and spinach now. Even green beans sometimes, it’s a nightmare.” – Oikawa Tooru.
“Is it supposed to be mistletoe?” Asked Hajime, creasing his dark eyebrows.
“Yep, that’s mistletoe,” Sakura cut in, walking past the two of them and into her bedroom.
Silent. No one was there. Just them, and that caused Tooru to really think about his feelings for a moment. It had been two weeks since Hajime and him arrived at the Oikawa household, and during that time, he’s seen Hajime in such a different light. Or maybe he just needed to be in a different environment to realize what he’s been feeling the whole time. He looked back on the questions his niece had asked him a few days back.
“Is Hajime beautiful?”
Easy answer. Of course. He was one of the most attractive people Tooru had ever met – but of course, it took that one simple question for him to realize that.
“What do you think of him?”
Such a vague question. But he was amazing, near perfect. He could be cold or stubborn, but he was… too amazing for Tooru to hold a grudge against that. After all, they’ve been close friends for nearly twenty years of their lives.
“Do you love him?”
A pause. That was the one question that Tooru didn’t know how to answer. Did he love Hajime? He never thought about that. It was hard to tell. What did love feel like? How do you decipher what love is? Was Hajime the one he really loved?
A kiss. Abrupt. Soft. Loving. Emotional. Tooru kissed Hajime.
A kiss under the kale, how romantic.
Hajime smelled of peppermint and cypress, just like he and his apartment always had. Sweet, crisp.
Hajime didn’t move until a minute later. His function ceased. What was going on? Tooru kissed him. No, probably not. Just another fantasy. Soon enough he’d wake up on the couch and Tooru would be upstairs, away from him.
But another second passed. Tooru was still there, his lips pressed gently on Hajime’s.
Was he too scared to kiss him back? Yeah. If he moved, maybe the moment would end. The dream he was having would end. It would be over. So he stayed still and enjoyed the moment that he was in just now.
Because it was perfect, or at least somewhat perfect. Sakura was still using kale as mistletoe. Tooru wasn’t the best at kissing. Emma was blasting eighties music in just the other room.
But maybe there was a chance that they could tell Tooru’s family they were together without,
Without lying this time.