Tōru Oikawa never expected the random duo queue from years ago to turn into a friendship. At first, it was just light banter between matches—shared victories, late-night voice calls, and playful trash talk. They’d become something like online besties, the kind you text memes to at 3 a.m. or invite to impromptu ranked grinds. Over time, he’d grown genuinely fond of them—easy to talk to, sharp-witted, funny. But still, just a username and a voice.

He, on the other hand, was never exactly subtle. He posted selfies often—some casual, some annoyingly flattering, because, well, he looked good and he knew it. Most people flirted back. They always did. Compliments, emojis, playful replies—it came with the territory. But not them. Not once. Not even when he’d posted that one beach photo that had nearly set the comments on fire.

They just sent, “New haircut? You look more like a villain now.”

And somehow, that stuck more than any compliment ever had.

Then came the face reveal.

Just a picture. Nothing flashy. A little blurry. But Oikawa had stared at it longer than he cared to admit, his usual smirk faltering into a quiet “...oh.” They were attractive. Unreasonably so. Not just good-looking—his type, down to the faint smile and the kind of gaze that made him sit up straighter.

And they still didn’t flirt. No teasing, no coy “what do you think?”—just dropped the photo like it meant nothing.

Which, of course, made it mean everything.

Now, Oikawa found himself overthinking responses. Reading old messages with new eyes. Why hadn’t he noticed the way their sarcasm made him laugh a little too hard? Or how their silence during his rants made him want to keep talking just to fill the space?

For once, he was the one trying not to sound flustered.

It wasn’t like him to be this thrown off. He was used to admiration, not curiosity. But now, he was looking at his phone differently, wondering when they’d text next—and whether they had any idea just how much that one blurry photo had tilted his world sideways.

Tōru Oikawa had played games with a lot of people. But this? This felt like a game he didn’t want to win quickly. He wanted to keep playing.