Bonded

46

"You're right. Grieving is a part of being human. But that doesn't mean that people should be sad."
"What you're saying makes no sense. Just admit that you agree with me."
"But I don't agree completely."

As you and Oikawa were nearing Hanamaki and Matsukawa, you both overheard their conversation. Before you could show your interest in their conversation by asking what they were talking about, Hanamaki clued you in by asking you a weird question.

"(Y/n), if you were to die, would you want others to completely forget your existence so that they wouldn't be sad, or would you want them to remember you?"

Oikawa answered before you could open your mouth.
"What kind of a sick question is that? Why would you even... no, how did you even come up with such a question!?"

You raised your hand slightly while making eye contact with Oikawa.
"I actually asked that question myself a lot and I think it is a pretty reasonable one."

Oikawa blinked a few times and sighed in defeat, knowing what your answer was going to be.
"Of course you did."
"Hey! What is that supposed to mean!"

You turned your gaze to Hanamaki to answer his question.
"I would want others to forget about my existence. I wouldn't want the people I love to be sad and I wouldn't want them to worry about me. I would want them to be happy as they have always been. I don't want to be the reason for anyone to be sad."

The sad looks on your friends faces made you regret saying that. You should have lied and said that it was a hard question to answer. Who knows what they are thinking about you now.

Hanamaki and Matsukawa didn't have time to say anything, as Iwaizumi was calling them to come over to help.

You were a little relieved that you didn't have to justify yourself further. Turning around, you glanced over to Oikawa. He lay his hand on top of your shoulder and squeezed it slightly. He was looking at you sympathically with a sad smile.
"Forgetting you would be the worst thing to ever happen to me, (Y/n)-chan. Even if you're gone and I'm completely devastated, I would want to remember you."

You could hear your heart pounding and at that moment, all you could do was listen to his soft voice. You didn't expect him to pull you into a hug. Your head was leaning against his chest, but because of your own pounding heart, it was hard for you to listen to Oikawa's heartbeat.
"You're allowed to make me sad and worried as many times as you want. So don't hold back. You can tell me everything."

You couldn't respond. You just wanted to stay there in his arms for a few seconds longer. However, as soon as you heard Iwaizumi's and Matsukawa's voices coming closer, you pushed Oikawa away from you quickly and tried to hide your blushing face. The sudden push caused Oikawa to loose his balance and he fell to the ground.

Iwaizumi looked at the both of you questioningly. Trying to escape from Iwaizumi's stare, you quickly turned around to Oikawa again and offered him a hand and apologized to him multiple times, hoping that he didn't see you blush.
"I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"

Iwaizumi cleared his throat to gain your attention.
"Matsukawa suggested to go ice skating. What do you guys think? Are you coming?"

"Of course we are! Right, (y/n)-chan?"
"But I don't know how to ice skate."
"It's just like inline skating. But just on ice. It's pretty simple."
"I don't know how to inline skate either. I always wanted to, but my mom didn't allow me because she was afraid that I might injure myself. I even once bought a pair of inline skaters but my mom threw them away."
"Well, then it is time for you to learn how to ice skate." Oikawa pointed at himself with a proud smile. "Fortunately, I am very good at ice skating and teaching. That's why you shouldn't worry, because I will teach you myself."

You thought about it and finally agreed to go.

When you had arrived, you carefully stepped onto the ice. Oikawa was in front of you, reaching out his hands for you to take. You accepted his offer and he started to slowly guide you. Even with his help you struggled to keep your balance.
"Make sure to slightly bend your feet to the inside."

You were following Oikawa's instructions and focused on your feet and how you moved them. Oikawa laughed out loud, breaking your concentration.
"I'm sorry, you just look so cute right now."
"If I knew that I wouldn't fall as well, I would push you."

You asked Oikawa to release your hands to see if you could manage to skate a little on your own. As soon as you let go of his hand, you felt unsafe and insecure. Oikawa noticed it too and made sure that his hands weren't too far away from you, so that he could catch you if anything went wrong.

You slowly started to skate forward and started to gain more speed. Just when you thought that you had figured it out, you tripped. Before you could fall, Oikawa caught you gracefully and you were back on your feet again.
"Woah, nice catch!"

Seeing him catch you so effortlessly annoyed you a little.
"How did you even react so fast? And why didn't you fall down with me?"
"You almost sound disappointed that I have caught you, (y/n)-chan. Why don't you take my hand? We can skate together."
"No. I will do it myself. I won't make any progress if I keep counting on you."

With that you took off and started to skate on your own again. In less than five minutes, you managed to fall down over 15 times. And each time, Oikawa begged you to take his hand, which you refused.
"(Y/n)-chan! Your knees have probably turned purple by now! Just take my hand and let me help you!"
"No! I'm going to learn it on my own!"

After another five minutes, you were able to skate at a more decent speed. It wasn't fast, but at least you didn't look like you were struggling as much as you were before. However, what you had forgotten to learn was how to stop. And right now, you were skating towards a wall, not knowing how to prevent to crash against it. You made yourself ready to collide against the wall and closed your eyes. The collision was much softer than you had expected and when you opened your eyes you saw Oikawa looking down at you with a slightly annoyed expression.

He had wrapped his arms around you to make sure that you wouldn't fall down. You were pressed against his firm cest. Again.
"For more than 10 minutes I had to watch you fall down and hurt yourself. So whether you like it or not, you're going to hold my hand while skating. I wanted you to have fun, not to injure yourself."
"Who says I'm hurt? I can handle that much. I almost figured it out. Just give me another 15 minutes and-"
"No."

Oikawa was holding your hand in a firm grip and his expression told you that he wasn't going to let go that easily.

"Oikawa, let go."
You were trying to shake his hand off but he didn't budge.

Sighing in defeat you started to skate hand in hand with Oikawa again. Oikawa admired the progress you had made in such a small time. In that moment of distraction, you tripped again. And this time, Oikawa didn't have enough time to react so you both fell to the ground. You had pulled him onto you when you had fallen down.
"Oikawa, you're heavy! Get off of me."
"Why are acting like it's my fault? You were the one that tripped!"
"You wouldn't be here if you wouldn't have insisted on holding my hand!"

Iwaizumi's comment made you two stop bickering.
"Stop acting like a married couple. You're getting weird stares from others."
"Thank you for that very kind advise, Iwa-chan! We were actually planning to stay like this for another 2 minutes!"

Oikawa pulled you up again. By the end of the day, you somehow learned how to ice skate.