Network/Log: Backdated Feb 24th + Catch All For March

[toughlovin]

Network Post: UN: iwaizumi

Question.

[Iwaizumi had been thinking about this for a while now. And after having won his first gym battle, after a few weeks of training his Pokémon with Oikawa, the question had played on his mind even more.]

What's the end game here?
You battle these gym leaders of staggered levels. There's bigger and better gyms after that. But what's the goal? What do you get at the end of it?

[Prestige didn't seem worth it if everyone was aiming for the same thing. It wasn't unique. As far as he could tell it was just something to do. Was it fun? Sure. The same way beating a tough level in a video game was fun. He'd go for the next as well for that same reason. He wanted to beat the final boss.

But being the 'real world', just what happened once the game was over. When the final boss was defeated?

Iwaizumi was curious. The video showed him, sat in a pokecenter while his Pokémon were being looked after, just genuinely curiously asking the masses what they thought the end would look like.]


Log 1: Union Cave (Closed to Oikawa)
[They'd already been there a day and already Iwaizumi was getting a little tired of the dark and the dank. And the cold.

He had Taiyō on his shoulder almost constantly, half hanging on his backpack since she was a pretty hefty girl. But she kept him warm. And because she was warm he found himself keeping close to Oikawa's side so it would radiate out toward him.

It was hard to tell day and night cycles but once they were tired that was when they would stop and set up camp.

Iwaizumi had fed his Pokémon and had half a sandwich hanging out of his mouth as he unfurled and straightened out his sleeping bag, doing his best to remove any rocks from under it that would keep him awake. He spoke to Oikawa around his sandwich.]

I'll be glad to get outta here. I've forgotten what sunlight looks like.


Log 2: Azalea Town
[A buff young man with an adorably fluffy fire bug in his arms will be found wandering around Azalea Town off and on for around a week. Just seeing the sights and enjoying the sleepy town.

Iwaizumi will actually find he enjoys an evening at the jazz club. Or at one of the diners.

But its Ilex Forest Treetop Adventure Park that really gets him enthusiastic! It's a work out and it's fun, best of both worlds!]


Log 3: Ilex Forest
[Toward the end of the month they'll find themselves at Ilex Forest.

Iwaizumi is fascinated here. For the first few days he doesn't catch any Pokémon at all, he can be found sitting on a rock or a log and just watching them and what they do. How they interact. Their behaviour... and whether he can get them to come up to him without aggression.

It doesn't always work. But when it does he's utterly delighted!

It's at that point you'll see a rare, dorky smile on the Ace's face.]

Comments

Closed prompt time

[grandtrashking]

[Tooru was really, really, glad that he'd kept Iwa-chan on his team for the journey. As well as deciding to take along Aoi and others who could help keep the duo warm at nights. Taiyō was also a blessing with that cold. Going through caves any time of the year was bad enough, but the temperatures outside were still cold with winter, even if that was ending soon.

While Iwaizumi got their sleeping stuff ready, Tooru'd been making sure their Pokémon weren't uncomfortable, and fortunately he'd found they weren't.]

No kidding, I'm gonna just lay down and soak it all in like a plant. Maybe I'll become a plant, who knows.

[Tooru searches through his own bag for a moment before pulling out a blanket and tossing it towards Iwaizumi, having thought ahead to buy an extra one for the road.]

Open your sleeping bag completely so we can both lay on it, we can cover up with this and my sleeping bag while Iwa-chan, Taiyō, and Aoi huddle around us.

[toughlovin]

[Iwaizumi stopped what he was doing. He'd almost finished setting out his sleeping bag when Oikawa threw a blanket at him and made his 'suggestion'. So he threw it back. At Oikawa's head before grumbling.]

Could have said that before I'd finished...

[But it was a good idea. The more warmth the better for the both of them. So he went and unzipped the sides and opened the bag out to spread across the ground. Once again making sure there were no rocks or jagged edges that could tear the fabric or their skin.]

[grandtrashking]

You coulda asked too y'know, but you can't tell me it's not the smart choice. Or is Iwa-chan already growing out of sleeping next to me like we've done since we were kids?

[And then he smirks, while scratching Aoi on the top of his head and giving Taiyō a gentle head pat while he puts the blanket over his arm and brushes any rocks and pebbles away from the edges of the bags before spreading the blanket out on top of the sleeping bag. Fortunately it was large enough they both could wrap up into it like a burrito.]

Y'think it'll be warm enough in here, even with those three watching out for us? Along with me keeping you warm?

[toughlovin]

[Alright, sure, he could have asked. But so far they'd stuck to their sleeping bags so was it any wonder he just assumed the same thing.

He rolled his eyes and finished getting everything ready for them to sleep.]

Should be enough. Stop making it weird, Crappykawa. But yeah. Should be enough. You can hug a pokemon if you get cold. Just watch it with Taiyō. [Looking over at his pokemon, he grinned and reached out to pet her under her chin.] She's sticking with me.

[grandtrashking]

I'm not making it weird! It's just a question!

[Tooru huffs and puffs his cheeks out like a child, feigning offence at being told he's making things weird.

No, making things weird would be getting nervous and acting like one of his fangirls whenever they'd given him a confession or talked to him for the first time. He wasn't nervous, in fact it's the opposite.]

Oh I see, you'd let your best friend freeze? How cruel! How MEAN! Well fine, I won't let you have Aoi to cuddle with either.

[toughlovin]

[Iwaizumi hid a smirk by reaching over to 'fluff up' the thin pillow. He probably wouldn't have said things like that if Oikawa didn't react so predicable. He sort of liked it when he got all huffy and bent outta shape. In an odd way he'd always found it cute. Iwaizumi didn't really talk to people the same way he did Oikawa for that reason.

Sometimes it was interesting to get a reaction.

Like now.]

That's fine. I'll just cuddle you.

[grandtrashking]

[There's times Tooru wants to smother his best friend, because of the things he says. Right now is one of them because maybe then it'll stop his hear from skipping a beat, because he wants nothing more than that. And to kiss him but that would ruin their friendship.

So he just gives a teasing smirk as he plops himself down and looks up with his face in a hand that's propped up by his elbow.]

Iwa-chan, are you flirting with me?

[Wishful thinking, but Tooru knows he's not, and that Iwaizumi is just being himself. They've done that ever since he could remember when it's cold. Even when it's not, because both of them are safe to each other, at least Tooru thinks so.]

[toughlovin]

[He wasn't looking, but he could imagine the look on Oikawa's face right then.

So he did the only thing he could do to wipe it away. He picked up the pillow he'd been fluffing and with smoothest of moves, he twisted and brought the pillow down onto the top of his friends head.]

With you? In your dreams.

[Iwaizumi was laughing though, he wasn't nearly as annoyed with the comment as he was with most anything else Oikawa said. Mainly because... it was in his dreams. Oikawa flirted with everyone. The only one he never flirted with was him. Iwaizumi wasn't always sure how he felt about that.

It was fine, really. They were how they were. Bestfriends through and through. They could tease and taunt, but at the end of the day there was no one else he would want at his side than Oikawa. Or keeping him warm in a cold cave in a mysterious world far from home.]

[grandtrashking]

HE--[And then there's a pillow on his face, and the sounds of Iwaizumi laughing. Tooru struggles to get that pillow off and then just huffs before scooting closer to the other boy to steal his warmth.]

Humph! Who'd flirt with your grumpy and grouchy face! Everyone flirts with me because they know I'm nice. You're just mean.

[Of course he means none of that playful insult, the only person Tooru's flirted with for real lately was Iwaizumi. Especially after his ex broke up with him and told him he spends too much time with volleyball, as well as being able to tell his mind was on someone else.

He felt bad for that, of course, but she'd been right after he let himself think more about it.]

[toughlovin]

That's because they don't know you.

[He shot back with a roll of his eyes. Call him grumpy and grouchy? Well fuck you, Oikawa! Maybe he didn't want anyone flirting with him? Maybe he was too damn busy to go screwing around with every girl who fluttered her eyes at him?

Iwaizumi wasn't jealous. Course he wasn't. Why would he ever be jealous of all the people Oikawa took out on dates? That'd be weird of him, right?

He reached over and grabbed his pillow to put it back on his 'bed' and tugged at the blanket to crawl in, only then realising that Oikawa had moved closer to him. He frowned.]

If you're cold just get under the blankets. What're you waiting for? A written invitation?

[grandtrashking]

If you're comparing that to you knowing me, that's not really fair. We grew up together, you know all my embarrassing secrets.

[It's not Tooru's fault he had a reputation and kept up nice appearances as a flirt, it helped keep his thoughts in one places and not distracted by other things. Or people. Especially when he'd seen Iwaizumi get confessions, which made his stomach turn.

He could admit he was jealous, but also kept quiet about it and made a reasonable excuse to why he practiced so hard. Not like it was a lie either, wanting to beat Ushijima and Kageyama.]

No~~ just for you to say so, so I wouldn't be kicked out of any blankets.

[Though that doesn't stop him from getting even closer before the comment. Iwaizumi was safe, comfortable, almost "home" or as close as one would get.]

[toughlovin]

You should remember that next time you piss me off.

[He smirked. Though lets face it, Iwaizumi wasn't the kind to spread rumours. Even if they were true.

He rolled his eyes then, Oikawa getting close like that... If he didn't know better he'd suspect he was getting desperate. With no one else to act flirtatious with he was venting in his direction. It didn't work.

Correction, it had already worked. Iwaizumi had fallen hook, line and sinker. The problem was Oikawa was only messing around with him, he was a tease and a shameless one. Iwaizumi knew his type, and that type wasn't him. He'd made his peace with that a long time ago. It was how he could be so close and not react, how he could be happy to lay in the same 'bed' as the one he cared about without having a meltdown. Because their friendship came first. Oikawa, for all his faults and annoyances, was his bestfriend. And very important to him.

Which is why Iwaizumi brought a hand up behind him, grabbed the back of his head in the palm of his hand, and pushed him down to the blankets with a huff of a laugh.]

Shut up and get in. You need to warm it up for me.

[Is what he said, but he was already pulling the corner of 'his side' of the covers so he could crawl under and start warming up.]

[grandtrashking]

[Tooru would have protested, but that smirk shut him up. It always worked with making his heart skip a beat and make him swallow his words. He hated how effective Iwaizumi's smirk was on him, and wanted nothing more than to kiss it off his best friend's face. But he doesn't. He can't.

Not to mention that Tooru never actually admitted that he's bi, only asked a hypothetical about getting judged and be told that it didn't make him any less of an idiot if so. Iwaizumi was and is his type, he always has been. Always will be. Nothing could really pin down what it was about guys like Iwaizumi that he liked. Maybe it was how caring, dedicated, or sweet guys like him were underneath the rough exterior. Yeah. That had to be it, it's the only answer besides the obvious muscles one.

Being pushed into the blankets snaps him back into reality, though, immediately going for a pout and whine.]

Be nice or I won't!!

[While doing the exact opposite and pressing himself against Iwaizumi as he scooted in close. He could make do with just being close like that, if it meant they'd stick together. Even throwing his head onto Iwaizumi's chest and curling up close before a sigh and quieter voice.]

You think they miss us? Or even notice?

[toughlovin]

[Iwaizumi blinked when Oikawa just went and curled on him like a cat, his head pillowed upon his chest. He had an arm under his bestfriend, just thrown out beside him... and it took that soft, quiet voice asking him that question for Iwaizumi to sigh and bring his arm around to wrap around Oikawa.]

I don't know.

I think... I'd like to think of this place as a dream. We're still asleep back home and when this dreams over we'll go back and we'll still be in our beds and no one'll know anything happened. No time to notice. No time to miss us.

[Maybe if they returned they'd never even remember anything that happened here either...?]

[grandtrashking]

[This place being a dream was an idea that Tooru only half wanted it to be, not after getting to do amazing things and finding fun in things. Not to mention, getting Iwaizumi to himself.

If it was a dream, he feared he's the only one that would remember it and get told to focus on school or teased that it's a surprise that he could think of more things than volleyball.

Iwaizumi's arm wrapping around him did what it always did, relaxing him enough to close his eyes. Not quite asleep, but relaxed enough that he could at any moment.]

I don't think I want this to be a dream with you here...

[Tooru's voice, barely audible, whispers that before he actually falls asleep, breaths evening out in sleep. Whatever Iwaizumi said next, he misses.]

[toughlovin]

[He hoped if it was a dream and one day they could go back, that they would be remember it as a dream. Forgetting everything that happened just wasn't good enough for him. But if that's what happened, if they forgot everything, then it made him wonder why he wasn't taking more risks. If this had been an actual dream, wouldn't he have confessed to Oikawa by now? And Oikawa would have smiled at me with that way he had and admitted the same and there would be a happily ever after that Iwaizumi didn't always believe in. But hoped for, deep down in his heart.

But it was a silly notion. No matter the risk, how could he do anything that could risk his friendship with Oikawa? He would do nothing to put that in jeopardy. Iwaizumi could be satisfied with this. With holding Oikawa. With teasing him. With just being friends.

And yet...]

Neither do I... [He spoke softly, once he was sure Oikawa was asleep. And only those pokemon awake would hear him, or see the way his hand lifted to softly and tenderly brush hair away from his friends eyes.] ... But I wish I could tell you why. I fell for you so long ago... but I'm always the one left holdin you. I don't mind. Maybe one day you'll realise you can hold back, huh...?

[Iwaizumi gave a soft huff of a laugh at himself for being so damn sappy and closed his eyes. It took a while for him to finally fall asleep, with Oikawa still glued to his side, and their pokemon around them keeping them warm.]