Chapter Text
“Next!”
Kiyoko, Yachi and other Healing Talents help move fairies from Fall to Winter, telling them when to cross so the nearest Frost talent can cover their wings. It’s been a few months since King Keishin agreed to allow Warm fairies to visit the Winter Woods. In that time, rules and boundaries have been renegotiated, and Oikawa has been involved in some of these discussions.
Suga looks around doubtfully, but Oikawa waves to him. Taking a deep breath, he steps over the border, shivering despite the warm clothing he’s wearing. Watari moves behind him, hands moving over his wings as frost sprawls over them. Suga’s back goes straight, and Oikawa laughs at the expression on his face.
“Welcome to the Winter Woods, Suga. Glad you finally made it over here,” Oikawa says as Suga tests out how well he can fly. Before Suga can comment on how flying feels with a thin film of ice over his wings, there’s a commotion from the bridge.
“Dumbass Hinata, I’m not going first!”
“What, are you scared?”
“No!”
“Then you go first!”
“If you’re not scared, then you go first!”
There’s two fairies at the border, seeming to simultaneously push each other towards and away from the border. Yachi has begun to shake and stutter again, looking to Kiyoko helplessly. All Kiyoko does is pull Yachi behind her protectively.
Oikawa flies up to them, careful to keep his wings in Winter, yelling, “Hey, what’s wrong?”
The fairies, most likely Fast Flying talents by the shapes of their wings, stop suddenly, hands pushing at each others faces.
The one with the black hair looks familiar… Wait.
“You’re the fairy who stole my hair clip!” Oikawa squawks indignantly.
“Are Kageyama and Hinata bothering you, Oikawa? Apologize, both of you!”
Semi, one of the Fast Flying leaders, has stepped up behind the two fairies, who apologize quietly.
“I’m sorry about these two, they’re almost half a year old, and they’re still acting like they just arrived yesterday.”
He turns back to Kageyama, the smile directed at Oikawa quickly turning into a scowl as he berates him, “What’s this about you taking something of Oikawa’s?”
“I wanted to try out some new wind direction things I’d heard about from the older fairies, about directing the wind to bring things to you. When I tried it out, the wind brought me back the hair clip. I didn’t know it was his, and then he started chasing me and it was really scary.”
“Kageyama! You know we’ve told you not to try new techniques without one of helping you.”
Even though he scolds Kageyama, Semi looks both impressed and jealous. The tiny orange fairy, Hinata most likely, mirrors his expression.
“Why are you good at everything Kageyama? You watch your back, I'll catch up to you!”
Kageyama blinks. “But you fly faster than anyone in Pixie Hollow. Except me of course.”
The younger fairies devolve into bickering and Oikawa decides that he's had enough of this. Although, he feels like he has something to say before he leaves.
“Kageyama.” He has the distinct feeling that he’s too engrossed in his fight with Hinata, which has resorted back to light shoves. “You may have caused me a lot of trouble, but this wouldn’t have happened if you never took my hair clip. Thank you.”
With that, he flies back into Winter. Kageyama has stopped fighting with Hinata and is staring at Oikawa, puzzled. Semi sighs, “It’ll be a miracle if you manage to ever understand emotion in the moment.”
Warm fairies are exploring the new landscape and Winter fairies are all around, excited to show off the wonders of their home. However, there’s one fairy missing from all the festivities, and Oikawa knows exactly where he is. He flies to a quiet grove of trees, where a fairy sits under his home, a weasel resting her head on his lap.
Oikawa sits next to Iwaizumi, lacing their fingers together and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. They pet Spruce’s head, hands occasionally brushing as she purrs in approval.
“What are you doing out here all alone?”
“I’m not alone. I have Spruce with me.”
Iwaizumi lets out a laugh as he gets a shove from Oikawa.
“I just wanted some time to think before we got swarmed by everyone for the rest of the day. I was also hoping you would come find me so we could have some alone time.”
“Mmm, and what did you want to do with this alone time?”
Iwaizumi’s cheeks go red, and he fidgets a bit. Oikawa stares curiously at him, which makes him fidget more. A mischievous smile crosses his face as he pokes Iwaizumi’s arm. “Iwa-chan, are you hiding something from me? Spruce, is he hiding something from me?”
Spruce smiles up at him and nudges at Iwaizumi’s arm. Oikawa’s grin grows and he grabs at where Spruce is while Iwaizumi bats him away.
“OK, I have something for you, just- sit still alright?”
“Alright, Iwa-chan! I will gladly accept your offering!”
Iwaizumi grumbles a bit before he pulls his arm out from his side. Oikawa’s joking, pompous air immediately falls as he sees what’s in Iwaizumi’s hands. It’s a beautiful hair clip made of red flower petals that he’s only ever seen in books. It’s lined in frost, which makes it sparkle in the light.
“When we went to the mainland last month, I brought it back with me. Well, I brought a couple petals back, the entire flower was too big to carry around. Watari frosted it and Hanamaki helped keep it alive after-”
“It’s beautiful I love it so much it’s so pretty I’ve never gotten to see a poinsettia in real life, Hajime I love you so much.”
Oikawa stops his rambles when Iwaizumi pins the clip to his hair. He takes a moment to gently touch it while Iwaizumi continues to run his fingers through his hair. Though he could stay like this forever, he gently takes Iwaizumi’s hand in his as he turns to his bag.
“I have something for you too. You remember how I noticed your room was getting cluttered with frosted flowers and took them and you were convinced that meant I was breaking up with you?”
Iwaizumi groans, “Please can we forget that even happened?”
“It’s OK, Iwa-chan! Even if your head is completely empty, I can think for the both of us!”
“Dumbass Oikawa, you’re the air head!”
Oikawa is laughing too hard to speak and hides his face in Iwaizumi’s shoulder to try and calm himself. “OK, OK, I actually need to give you something.”
He rummages through his messenger bag, stops, looks back at Iwaizumi, and says, “You need to close your eyes.”
Iwaizumi gives him a questioning look, but then follows his directions. After a few seconds, Oikawa glances down at Spruce, who nods back at him and sits up to cover Iwaizumi’s eyes with her paws.
“Hey! I wasn’t peeking!”
“Spruce sees all, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa laughs as he pulls out what he’s looking for. He takes his boyfriend’s hand in his and lays it on the object before he says, “OK, you can look now.”
Iwaizumi looks down to see a book, unlike one he’s ever seen before. It’s beautifully bound, with some sturdy brown covers and gold accents. On the front is a simple drawing of a flower intertwined with an owl feather. The flower’s tips are covered in frost, while the edges of the white feather are lined with gold, as if sunshine was pouring onto it. Iwaizumi struggles to keep his hands from shaking as he runs his fingers over the book. He looks to Oikawa, who has a soft smile on his face.
“I had my friend Ennoshita help me with this. He was the Book Keeping talent that helped me find out about the Winter Woods before I asked Kenma to make that jacket.”
When Iwaizumi continues to look at the cover, Oikawa giggles, “Well go on, open it! What’s inside is much better.”
When Iwaizumi does, he finds that he agrees. Inside is a pressed flower, blue and purple, the first one that he ever received from Oikawa. In flowing script above it, he finally puts a name to the flower.
Hydrangea, for gratitude.
“I figured I’d have the flowers pressed into the book so they would stay there without having to be frosted.”
When he looks to the next page, pink flowers are pressed.
Pink carnations mean I will never forget you.
He flips through the pages, the words blurring through the tears.
Pink larkspur. Beautiful soul. Lavender roses. Enchantment. Camellias. Longing for you. Red and white roses. Unity.
“Tooru. This is beautiful.”
His voice cracks and he swipes at the tears on his cheeks. Seeing this seems to make Oikawa’s eyes fill too and they start laughing. Their foreheads are pressed together, and soon, their lips are too. They taste of salt and honey and joy, and if they notice the rose gold glow on both their wings, they choose to pay attention to each other instead.
Oikawa breaks the kiss to reach into his bag once more, and he pulls out a multicolored bunch of flowers. The heliotrope, primrose, and orange blossom bouquet already has frost clinging to the petals.
“I still want to give them to you fresh, though.”
Iwaizumi takes the flowers in his still trembling hands. “Are you going to tell me what they mean now, or do I have to wait for my room to be overtaken by them first?”
Oikawa bursts into laughter, and Iwaizumi soon follows. They drift towards each other again, flowers cradled carefully between them as their noses touch.
“Hey lovebirds! Heads up!”
They’re broken out of their reverie by twin snowballs to their faces.
Oikawa recovers first to see Hanamaki and Matsukawa flying above them, grins plastered to their faces, each with snowballs doused in pixie dust floating in front of them.
“Fairies that miss the snowball fight automatically lose,” Matsukawa says, tossing a snowball up and down in his hand.
“Also, it's a pairs snowball fight. You have to hold hands, but that shouldn't be too hard for you two.”
“Makki, are you sure that isn't just because you want to keep holding Mattsun’s hand?” Oikawa teases, looking pointedly to where the two fairies are joined.
After a few seconds of spluttering, Hanamaki, with redness spreading over his cheeks, decides to respond by launching another snowy attack. Oikawa ducks to the side and shouts a resounding “Ha!”
Upon hearing a low grumble from behind him, Oikawa turns to see Iwaizumi with a face full of snow. Cackles sound from Matsukawa and Hanamaki and they fly away, calling, “Don't be late!”
With that, the clearing becomes quiet again. Iwaizumi wipes snow from his face, shooting Oikawa an unimpressed look. “Just so you know, you're going to be my shield during this snowball fight.”
Iwaizumi flies up to the entrance of his home to put the book and flowers away. Oikawa follows behind him, saying, “Dont worry! I, Oikawa Tooru, will protect my delicate little Iwa-chan, the tiniest fairy to ever exist.”
He gets a punch in the arm for that, but laughs anyways. On the ground, Spruce has started making some snowballs for them, and Iwaizumi rewards her with a pat on the head and cranberries from his pouch.
After sprinkling some pixie dust on their ammunition, their fingers twine together. Iwaizumi gives Oikawa a peck on the lips and says, “Let's go get Makki and Mattsun.”
They fly off together, Spruce running along on the ground. When they reach the clearing, they see fairies flying everywhere. Watari is ice skating, with Suga and Akaashi shakily following behind him. He laughs when Akaashi slips, bringing Suga down with him. Apparently Daichi has gotten the hang of skating very quickly and glides over to help them as Suga gapes at him. Kindaichi is showing off the snowy owls to Kuroo and Bokuto. Their excitement bleeds over to the owls, who become rowdy. Mizoguchi has to come over and help the flustered Kindaichi. Kenma is sitting with Kunimi away from the activity and they quietly show each other their talents. King Keishin and Lord Ittetsu fly to each activity together, smiling and joining in. They look over at Oikawa and Iwaizumi and their smiles brighten. Oikawa knows what they're trying to say.
Look at what your love has created.
Oikawa’s heart feels like it's been covered in rose gold pixie dust.
...And then he's jerked to the side and pelted with snowballs.
Laughter rings out around him and he hears a smug “I did say you would be my shield” from behind him.
“Iwa-chan! You would let them attack me like this? This is the worst betrayal!”
“Less complaining, more throwing,” Iwaizumi says, launching a couple snowballs at Mattsun and Makki, who fly ahead of them to set up a fort behind a tree.
“Ah, but first, I need a good luck kiss!”
“Yeah, good luck with all the hits you'll be taking.”
“Iwa-chan, you're so mean to me!”
His complaints are silenced by a set of lips on his.
“Alright, there's your good luck kiss. I want a victory kiss once this is done,” Iwaizumi says with a fond smile.
“With how much we're going to win, I'll make sure to give you at least ten victory kisses!” Oikawa cheers, pulling Iwaizumi with him.
The Winter Woods are filled with joy that day, but out of all the festivities, the rose gold love between two fairies shines the brightest.