tadashi winces as hajime walks him over to the nurse's office. each step shoots pain through his ankle, leaving him seeing crimson stars. even with hajime's sturdy frame to lean on, he feels lethargic. his fingernails feel caked with the dirt he was forced to choke on when he fell. 

it's quite pathetic. originally, it was soccer game, with the sun baking their backside. the wind was whistling throughout the field, cooling off tadashi whenever the sunlight became too heated. his legs were energized, like an unknown steroid was injected into his calves. and for a bit, the insecurity bathing him in a constant ocean had drained. he was proud, for he helped with an important play. 

he also had hajime in his team. he would constantly force tadashi to play with him. many times, passing it to tadashi with gentleness. each time tadashi messed up, hajime would squeeze his right shoulder, infusing courage back to his veins. then the half grin that hajime gifted tadashi multiple times. it was to the point where tadashi would intentionally mess up just so that hajime would go to him; just for hajime's touch. 

of course that's when tadashi became too distracted for hajime. he unintentionally stepped on the ball, causing him to slip and fall onto his back. his arms flailed in the air for what seemed eternity, then the ground caught up. 

the coach said he landed weird on his ankle, which of course caused something to rupture. he would've cried if it wasn't for the prying eyes and the haughty looks. he didn't want to look like baby, crying over something as minuscule as a sprained ankle. 

"hey," hajime turns and faces him, "you doing alright?" 

tadashi bites his lip, and drops his chin to the right. hajime's face is a few inches away from tadashi's and that scares him. he wraps his fingers together and twiddles them to ignore the tense knot forming in his stomach. "i-i'm fine." 

"y'know it's fine to not be fine." he frowns. "if that makes any sense." 

he nudges him over to the bench outside the nurse's office. hajime slowly drops him down onto the bench, his fingers along tadashi's waist the entire time. tadashi leans against the painted brick wall, feeling the coolness seep onto his neck. he closes his eyes for a bit. 

he moves his right hand towards the side, to rest up his aching back. as he places it down he ends up touching something that is not the bench. he gulps and flits his eyes open. his fingers are pressed on top of hajime's thigh. he jerks his fingers back to his own lap, bowing several times. "i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorr-" 

"no, no it's fine." hajime waves his hand in the air, his cheeks ablazen with various shades of low red. he lets out a lowly chuckle and turns his head away from tadashi. 

as hajime thinks, tadashi notices the splotch of dirt pressed upon hajime's cheek. and as he stares at it, he notices how intricate his eyes are. brown with a dozen speckles of light yellow, all wrapped around the pupil like petals on a flower. he sees his eye bags, which does not turn him away, as it proves that hajime iwaizumi is still a human. 

tadashi is now in his thoughts. he could very well use his delicate fingers and brush the dirt away. it would be easy for any other person. but he doesn't want hajime to think of it wrongly. he flushes and looks directly into his shorts, which are now caked with ugly splotches of dirt. 

he freezes as hajime's fingers got to tadashi's cheeks, brushing away the dirt forming on his cheeks. his fingers are unbelievably soft for such a rough exterior. he shudders slightly when hajime takes his hands back. 

"y-you can go back, the coach will be waiting for you." tadashi murmurs as he ruffles up his hair. 

"no its all good," hajime pauses, 

"this is nice."