heleanor | ♠ ＧＯＬＤ ♥ ＧＵＮＳ ♦ ＧＩＲＬＳ ♣

No, no, it's good! I'm just kinda late, that's all...!

[Yamaguchi's too frantic about being late himself to notice Oikawa's own state of panic. The trader Yamaguchi was on the phone with before might call him back at any minute, or someone might report in with news of Uchizawa, and Yamaguchi can't talk business here. Daichi would kill him, or at least he'd do it if Sugawara didn't take care of Yamaguchi first.]

I'm gonna text you tonight, okay? See ya, Sakeguchi-san!

I'm holding you to that, Yamaguchi-kun!

[He waves him off, waiting until he's scampered out of sight before pulling out his own phone and seeing three missed calls and a string of texts that, when he compares to his mental list of codes, are very terse.

Yamaguchi better text him fast or Oikawa will be a body cooling in a dumpster before he gets a chance to reply.

Reluctantly, he places the call and holds his phone between his ear and shoulder so he can use his hands to change the notification on his other phone to another one so he'll react faster when Yamaguchi texts.]

[Yamaguchi dutifully hurries back to Karasuno and finishes up a long round of calls, papers, explanations for his lateness, and other assorted tasks for the gang before he even thinks about texting Sakeguchi. By then, it's past 1 o'clock, and Yamaguchi hesitates, not wanting to disturb him if he's sleeping.

But...he did promise. Yamaguchi sips on his third cup of coffee for the evening and stews nervously for a moment before he pulls out his personal phone and transfers the number over. Then he opens a text message and takes a deep breath.]

Hi! This is Yamaguchi Tadashi from this afternoon at the university. Sorry for the late text, just wanted to send my contact info along. Good luck with classes tomorrow! [That's innocuous enough, right? Yamaguchi steels himself and hits the SEND button before he can change his mind.]

[Iwaizumi let him off considerably easier than he thought he would, all things considered. He's got a bruise on his hip from a kick but apart from that he's right as rain. Of course, he left off the part about how the guy he was talking to is a member of Karasuno but he's the boss not Iwaizumi and what he doesn't know will only hurt Oikawa and everyone in their family if he fucks up. So it's all good!

He spends the rest of his time before he sleeps, managing his affairs and making a couple of calls to Seijoh members who prefer to act like the sun doesn't exist and lost track of time before his phone buzzes with Yamaguchi's text. He finishes sending off a spreadsheet with incriminating numbers to a contact behind on his payments and then checks his phone with a tiny smile on his lips. Maybe he's grown a heart.]

Yamaguchi-kun! Thank you for texting me, it's so late I was sure I would have to wait until tomorrow to hear from you. Did you manage to finish your things on time?

[Yamaguchi's just sitting down on the couch with a textbook when his phone unexpectedly goes off—he's surprised, not having expected Sakeguchi to be awake at this hour.]

Good evening!
Yes, I finished everything on time. Hopefully you weren't late for anything either, were you?

[Man he misses typing like a teenager. But if Yamaguchi wants to succeed as a professional he has to get in the habit of using PROPER PUNCTUATION NOW]

Nothing I couldn't handle. I should get to bed soon though - Time waits for no one after all. And I'm glad I didn't keep you too long, I would have hated to get you in trouble because I kept bothering you.

[Yamaguchi probably misses his old texting style as much as Oikawa misses his emoticons. He still uses them occasionally with Iwaizumi but it's hard to be a tough mob boss when you add hearts and stars after all your messages.]

You wouldn't have gotten me in trouble. [HE DID THIS TO HIMSELF, AND HE KNOWS IT.]

But have a good night, Sakeguchi-san!

[Yamaguchi...still has some hours' worth of studying to do, both of the legal and illegal variety.]

You too, Yamaguchi-kun! I'll talk to you tomorrow.

[He waits a few seconds then sends another message.]

Well, today I suppose.

[He has to take his sleep where he can get it, he'll be up again at six for a horrifically early breakfast meeting that he couldn't argue into a reasonable hour and he should have at least four hours sleep so his temper isn't an inch away from the surface for it.]

[Yamaguchi smiles at the text, but decides not to send anything back. He's got to study now or he'll be in real trouble tomorrow for his 7 AM lecture quiz. Yamaguchi's original intention was to grab a couple of hours of sleep on the couch in the upstairs lounge of Karasuno's HQ. However, once 5 AM comes and goes, he realizes that going to bed now is an exercise in futility since he'll only end up sleeping through his alarm. Instead, he resigns himself to an all-nighter and puts the time to good use, filing a chunk of papers for Sugawara and getting a few pages' head start on his upcoming night's endless reading. After downing a fourth cup of coffee and (grimacing, because he hates taking any type of medication) a single blue pill from the bottle of amphetamines tucked away in his backpack, Yamaguchi yawns tiredly and heads out to the university for another day of lectures, gang errands, phone calls, and more lectures. Being on the early-graduation curriculum is seriously tough, and that's not going into extracurriculars.

By the time Yamaguchi's last class of the day finally ends mid-afternoon, he's in good spirits despite having a harder time of hiding how exhausted he is than this morning. He supposes it doesn't matter as much in front of his fellow students as it would his professors, or his dealers. Yamaguchi hasn't heard anything yet from 'Sakeguchi,' but admittedly he's been so busy today that the handsome boy from last night hasn't crossed his mind more than a couple of times.]

[Oikawa's day has been full of juggling personnel, encouraging people into terrible things and offering reminders that he's in charge for a reason. Some of the new kids don't seem to quite realise that he might smile more than the average criminal but that doesn't mean he's less dangerous. He hasn't needed to kill anyone yet but one of the new kids is brilliant with weaponry but can't follow instructions to save his life. Which is a problem in this business where his life is legitimately in danger.

When he does get a spare moment from threatening people over coffee and putting his foot down over one particularly nasty business where one of his collectors was found passing on inflated numbers of what payments Seijoh required and pocketing the difference, it's after nine and his few hours sleep are seeming a long time ago. But he relax once he pulls out his phone and sends off a message to Yamaguchi. It's nice having someone who doesn't know about his job to bother.]

Yamaguchi-kun! How was your day?

Sakeguchi-san! [His smile brightens, as he pulls out his phone and sits wearily on a nearby bench.]
Good afternoon.
I'm great, there's a lot I got done today. What about you?

Getting stuff done is such a nice feeling.

Ah, I had a lot of busy work to do today but I got things wrapped up in the end. I'll be tidying loose ends for days, though.

Loose ends?

[On one hand it's probably good if he doesn't come off as cagey about his business, on the other, if he let's Yamaguchi know too much the cute boy he talked to last night becomes a dead man walking. It's a tricky line to balance!]

Paperwork and things! You know how it is.

Oh, right! You have that kind of job?

[Yamaguchi's less comfortable telling about his own work, even discreetly, though he hopes Sakeguchi doesn't pick up on him dodging it should he ask.]

I do. It's a terrible bore so forgive me if I don't talk about it much, I'm sure what you're up to is much more interesting.

Though, hopefully not so interesting as to keep you from making dinner plans?

[The response is sent almost too quickly, Yamaguchi actually coughing in surprise when he sees the second half of Sakeguchi's message.]

Dinner plans??

[That didn't take long. And topic successfully shifted away from work!]

I was thinking sometime this week?

Oh! Sure, okay!
If you want to, I mean!

[Those two messages come right after the other, followed by a pause, though Yamaguchi's still typing according to the screen. This time, his response takes a bit longer, but only because he's double-and triple-checking his appointment book with fingers that don't seem to want to cooperate all of a sudden.]

I'm free every night but Thursday, Sakeguchi-san!

[...Well, he can be, with some creative scheduling.

Yamaguchi doesn't even realize how desperate he probably sounds with that.]

Do people often ask you out without wanting to go out? Of course I do, Yamaguchi-kun!

[Oikawa checks his own schedule, swears and yells out to Iwaizumi to check that, no, he can't move a meeting that's already been rescheduled three times, which only leaves one option.]

Saturday then? I know a cute Italian place we can go to.

['Date?' Is this a date? Is he allowed to date? Yamaguchi obviously can't commit to anything serious, but if Sakeguchi's actually (but why?) interested, Yamaguchi feels bad for leading him on–

And yet, his traitorous fingers are already making the decision for him.]

Saturday's good!

[Or at least, not bad. Saturday nights are busy for Karasuno's front-end business with the bar, and gang operations both, so nobody will probably notice if Yamaguchi takes a few hours off. But, he still feels guiltier about it the longer he thinks. He'll have to tell someone where he's going beforehand; maybe Shimada will give him some advice?]

[Oikawa grins and resists calling out to Iwaizumi to gloat about his date. He's already considering buying Yamaguchi flowers. Though he might object to that they'd probably add some cheer to his no doubt sparse apartment.

But first he needs to pull some strings and get them a table. The restaurant he's thinking of is a discreet and romantic place that needed some help pulling themselves up from a rough season at a time when the banks wouldn't give a loan to a popular business much less one with two tables filled on a Friday night. A loan and a lot of pasta eaten by Seijoh later, there's now a waitlist a month long for bookings and money laundering keeping Oikawa's connection with them strong. Oikawa doesn't go there often himself - he'll pick Japanese or French food over Itallian any day - so it's unlikely the newer staff will recognise or care about his name and the regulars shouldn't know him either.

He makes the call and books their table before getting back to Yamaguchi, just in case he has to do some reminding of why he has a permanent offer of a table there but it all goes smoothly and he has a table for them by the end of the call.]

Table for two booked. I'll see you at eight, if that's okay, Yamaguchi-kun? I can send you directions.

Yeah, that's good! [Ah, that's a relief...Yamaguchi doesn't have a car of his own, and was worried too late that Oikawa might ask him for a ride. Or worse, offer to come pick him up. Yamaguchi may not be well enough known to be a target to other gangs, but he's certainly not foolish enough to hand out his address casually, either.] I'll see you Saturday then, Sakeguchi-san.

[The rest of the week passes quickly enough, and sure enough, on Saturday Yamaguchi finds himself stepping nervously out of a taxi at the restaurant entrance at fifteen minutes to eight. He wonders if he should wait outside for Sakeguchi or if he's already inside. Glancing around Yamaguchi picks up on how the place looks fancy and surprisngly exclusive, which makes him feel a bit better about the dress shirt and formal slacks he's still got on from a lunch-business meeting earlier with Kiyoko and a few of their financial correspondents.

A moment's indecision passes, during which Yamaguchi remembers how nervous he is about this whole thing. To avoid the sick feeling in his stomach he pulls out his phone and starts texting to keep his hands busy.]

Hello, Sakeguchi-san. I'm here a bit early. Should I go on inside to ask the waitstaff for our table? [He hopes he isn't breaking some kind of etiquette rule here; Yamaguchi really is still not used to anything involving a heavy degree of formality.]

Sorry, Yama-chan. I'm going to be a couple of minutes late. If you want to go in, they have a waiting area you can use. I'm sorry, this is a terrible impression to make for a first date.

[He should have known something would make him late - there always is. That's the problem when your business doesn't pay heed to the law. Complications happen. And the complication he currently has no longer breathing but that leaves Oikawa getting ready twenty minutes late.

He's slightly flustered when he arrives and part of it - a small part - is nerves. He hasn't had a legitimate date in... He can't remember having a legitimate date since high school.

He opens the door, looking sheepish because "Sakeguchi" would over turning up ten minutes late for a date he organised and checks around for Yamaguchi]

[Yamaguchi hadn't been sitting down for long when one of the greeters approaches him, kindly asking if he has a reservation. He gives her "Sakeguchi's" name, but after checking the list she tells him there's no one scheduled tonight under that name. Or under his, when he asks. Yamaguchi frowns, wondering if there's been a mistake, and the woman starts reading off the reservation list for him: Sumimoto, Konishi, Miyake, Oikawa...

Shit. Oh, shit. The waitress keeps talking, but Yamaguchi breaks out in cold sweat, no longer listening. What was that last one? Oikawa? As in, Oikawa Tooru? Come to think of it, this restaurant is right at the border of Seijou's territory—it's not an uncommon last name, to be sure, but what if the infamous Grand King is actually here tonight?

Would Yamaguchi even recognize him? Oikawa or any member of Seijou would recognize Yamaguchi, by the tiny Karasuno pin he wears on his jacket that nobody in public would ever recognize. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe he should text Sakeguchi an apology and try to leave while he still can–]

place your bets which karasuno member catches them hanging out first

fingers crossed for asahi, tanaka or noya, they're the only ones a love story would persuade

first they gotta get through that awk moment of 'holy shyamalan twist he was oikawa THE WHOLE TIME!'

and also prevent oikawa from running the hell away as they try and explain who the hell he is

I LIVE FOR THE DRAMA

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