[ Happy birthday, Captain~ ]

[ AS PROMISED (too many) munday pictures that also double as a tribute to Oikw on his birthday.  had fun getting out of the house to nerd out like this, even if i’m totally exhausted wwww ]

lacxrtus:

        "Why, Iwa-chan! Fancy running into you like this. Your back was as plain as ever, so I didn't recognise you at all!"

        Despite the constant stream of rain over the last few days and the threat it cast on his plans, Oikawa Tooru was in an excellent mood. Summer break had just begun, his birthday fell on a holiday once again this year, and so far everything had been going exceedingly well. The setter hummed to himself, not caring how many people heard his slightly off-key rendition of a popular song as he idly flipped a page in a magazine and waited for his cup of coffee to cool just a little more.

        He'd arrived to this downtown café earlier than the person he was planning on meeting, all the while busying himself with the good atmosphere and some people-watching as he sat outside. Oikawa was just about to check the time when something fell out of a pocket of someone walking by, and he called out as he picked it up. He felt the weight of the little trinket in his hand as he stood, and the quickest of glimpses told him that it was well-loved, what with little dents and the colour just a bit faded. "Excuse me! Excuse me~ Yoo-hoo~, you dropped something!"

       "I like the keychain on your bag,” came the amused observation, tone cheerful and light.  Oikawa was reminded of his own, and silently pondered whether he should move Vabo-chan off of the bag it currently adorned, or if he should keep things as they are and use it as normal, even after he started university next month.  He didn’t see the harm in it, at any rate, and he had always taken excellent care of his bag.  He turned his thoughts back to the stranger he currently sat next to, adding,  “Did you get it somewhere special?”

        A week-and-a-half later, and the graduated former captain was still expecting classes to resume at Aobajousai.  Well, they would next month, of course, but not for Oikawa Tooru.  No, the pages of his next chapter were already being rustled gently by the winds of change -- change that would begin at the gymnasium doors of Tokai University’s Shonan campus five prefectures away.

        For now, though, he was still at home in the familiarity of Sendai.  Hands in his pockets, shoes tp-tping lightly on the concrete below as the wavy-haired brunet took a day to himself in another ward of the city.  A coffee and a small snack from one of his favoured cafés sounded perfectly appealing when he set out, and it was now that the storefront was in sight.  Keen eyes scanned the decorations in the windows as he approached, though his line of sight of a particularly cute one was cut off by someone’s figure as they stopped to look at their phone.  This didn’t particularly bother Oikawa, and he was content to simply continue on his way through the door, but something stopped him as a quick glance to the face of the person in question instantly summoned recognition.  His posture straightening only long enough to lean back casually, a slight quirk of one eyebrow and a light smirk gracing his features, the setter stopped outside of the line of potential traffic in or out of the establishment and spoke up,

        ”It’s dangerous to stop so suddenly, you know.  Someone could have been walking close behind you, and poof!” One hand rose in front of him, fingers transitioning suddenly from being curled together to splayed outward.  “There goes your phone!”

[ So! I think that some of you may have noticed that I like placing a lot of my starters in a somewhat realtime timeline. I get to exercise this on LINE just about every day, but I'm finally back on the computer, eeeeyyyy~. In his timeline, Oikawa graduated back on the 10th of this month, so I'm going to make two little starters based in that point on his timeline. Just thought I'd give a little heads-up in case there was any confusion. ]

The Final Battle Begins || (open)

        It was probably going to be another two hours before Seijou’s first game of the tournament weekend, and Oikawa had time to kill.  He had already squeezed in a small nap, so between that and his budding excitement, the third-year captain was feeling more than awake.  Bright brown eyes darted keenly around the area, intent on finding something to occupy his time with for a short while…to little avail.  The charismatic setter had slipped away to a portion of the stadium building that seemed to lack fans eager for pictures, an element of his current surroundings that he was thankful for.  He had already been asked for more pictures than usual — a side-effect of his final inter-high, he figured — and he knew that this number would only increase as the day went on, as well as over the next two days.

        Looking over his shoulder, hands in his pockets, Oikawa gazed out of the large window behind him.  Although the city of Sendai was where he had grown up, and he had been to this gymnasium many times, he was briefly overcome with the realisation that this back-lobby view wouldn’t be something he would be coming back to twice a year.  Of course, Tooru had the past year to get used to this idea, and while it was a little bittersweet, he had thought himself successful in this mindset.  Taking in the familiar architecture and landscape, however, he felt a sentimental tug in his chest.  The feeling bothered him, but he let it run its course.

              It’s just because I’m not done here, yet.                                                              We aren’t done here.        After this tournament, I’ll be completely ready to take the next step and move on.

        Turning his sights back to the lobby, the brunet pulled out his phone and set his attentions on unlocking the device and pulling up an app.  He righted his somewhat slouched posture, lifted one arm, turned the back-side camera toward him (Oikawa preferred the HD pictures to those caught by the front-facing lens), tilted his head and flashed the sign for victory with a bright smile and a wink, and clicked the snapshot button his index finger hovered over on the other side.  He pulled back the phone and went to look at his gallery, and found himself quite satisfied with the results with just this one shot.  Not only did he look great, but the courtyard was captured beautifully behind him, just as he’d hoped.

        He didn’t notice the person approaching him as he pocketed the phone and turned to give one last look outside of the window.