figure skaters!iwaoi au where oikawa is heralded as a king in the seniors division despite being so young because of his near-perfect technique and artistic interpretations. his place in the sport is essentially secured—until one iwaizumi hajime starts making a name for himself.

oikawa knows he is good; the abundance of gold medals on his wall is proof of that. but iwaizumi—with his strong legs and his clean jumps and his complex routines—threatened him. and oikawa doesnt like being threatened.

so he trains harder. he asks his coach to modify his programs. he polishes his jumps. and when he meets iwaizumi during competitions, he never fails to flash him a snarky grin (especially when he stands on the podium with a perfect view of the silver around iwaizumi's neck).

when iwaizumi realizes that oikawa must hate his guts, he returns the heated glares with as much fervor, and soon enough, the tension between them becomes unbearably suffocating especially for those who have to witness them throw scathing words at each other before they skate.

but the tension between them is not only in the context of competition; one must be blind not to notice how they look like they either want to punch each other or kiss. and it all culminates into one drunken hookup between the two of them.

the hookup happens again. and again.

their relationship is complicated, that much they know. no strings are attached, yes, but they cant call themselves friends with benefits considering they arent even friends. but the sex keeps happening regardless of the lack of a name for whatever it is they were doing.

but things take a turn when iwaizumi wins gold for the first time, and this time it is oikawa who looks up to see the smirk on iwaizumi's face while the silver weighs heavy on himself.

so oikawa cuts all contact with iwaizumi and disregards his existence while he devotes all his time to training. he hated himself for being distracted. he hated himself for being distracted over a boy—over his competitor.

worst, he hated himself for catching feelings.

he ignores all of iwaizumi's messages and calls and he only sees him in person when they skate in the same venue again months later. oikawa wins gold this time around, but with the way iwaizumi's cold stare pierces through him, he couldnt bring himself to be happy about winning.

avoiding iwaizumi hurt oikawa more than he thought it would, but he knew there was no other way around it. their arrangement was only convenient, and at the end of the day, they were nothing but two athletes chasing victory.

but victories stopped tasting sweet—even if it was the gold in the japan figure skating championships that he bagged. simply because iwaizumi wouldnt look at him anymore.

the moment the awarding ceremony ended, oikawa immediately ran to the bathrooms just to hide for a little while, but he ended up running into iwaizumi himself. the skaters stare at each other wordlessly, but it was iwaizumi who breaks the spell first.

"congratulations, oikawa." he had muttered softly before he walked to the door while oikawa was still frozen in shock, but oikawa gathered his bearings soon enough and reached out to iwaizumi to stop him from walking away.

"i-iwa-chan."