apocalypse

Secret

Songs: As It Was - Hozier, Change - Deftones, and Apocalypse Please - Muse

Iwaizumi always knew when he was dreaming. It was just so easy to tell. The world seemed brighter in his dreams.

"That looks amazing!" Oikawa said from the entrance to the art room, slinging his bag down as he walked inside.

"Ya think so? I'm a little conflicted," Iwaizumi said, taking a step back from his canvas. He remembered doing a painting of the cherry blossoms for the student exhibit. They did one every year around spring time, and Hajime always tried to put out his best work for the event.

Tooru got closer, inspecting every brush stroke. "It looks great. You doubt yourself too much, Iwa."

"It has to be perfect. University professors come to this kind of thing, and I want to get noticed," Iwaizumi said, furrowing his brows in frustration.

He should have used a different color for the sky. It looked too dark. "I think I'm gonna redo it. I have all night to get it done," he said mostly to himself.

"What?! Like hell you're redoing it. It's beautiful the way it is. Trust me on this," Oikawa said, standing shoulder to shoulder with Iwa in front of the piece.

Iwaizumi looked over, surprised to see a prideful expression on Tooru's face. "It would be better if I just-" Hajime started.

"I'll stop you right there," Tooru said, holding up a finger. "I'm here to support you and help you see the beauty in your own work because obviously you're blind," he said with a laugh.

Iwaizumi giggled, picking up his painting palette. "Let me just add a few more details and then we can go home. Since you love it so much, I'll keep the original idea."

Tooru huffed in victory. "I knew you couldn't resist me."

Iwa rolled his eyes, picked up his paint brush, and wiped it down Tooru's nose, smearing it with pink paint. "You overestimate yourself," Hajime said, laughing.

"You're not getting away with that!" Tooru yelled, a smile on his face. He reached over, dipping his finger in the green and swiping across Iwa's cheek.

"Hey!" Iwaizumi said through his laughter. The two of them flicking paint at the other, splatters of it getting all over their clothes.

"Stop! I have blue all over me!" Tooru complained, bringing his hands up in surrender.

"Thought you'd give up sooner or later," Hajime said, unable to keep the smile off his face.

Tooru was about to say something else, but unlike Iwaizumi's other dreams, it ended abruptly with a pair of arms shaking him awake.

"Iwa! Time to wake up!" Kuroo said from above him.

Hajime rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he sat up. "Is it time already?"

"Yeah. Wake Tooru up and meet us in the car. We're already running a little late," he explained before slipping back out into the hallway.

Iwaizumi looked at the time. 1:34am. They weren't supposed to meet Nakashi until 3am sharp. Why were they leaving so early?

"Tooru? It's time to go now," Iwa said, turning on the lamp.

Oikawa's eyes opened slowly. "Already?" he said, sitting up.

"Why do you think Nakashi wants to see us?"

Tooru paused, really considering his answer. "I'm guessing it has to do with the bombing from three days ago."