Oikawa Tooru is, for lack of a better word, a little disconcerting.

He's nice enough, with a bright smile that stretches from cheek to cheek and warm brown eyes and a pleasant voice that makes Hajime's heart stutter just a tiny bit the first time he invites himself across the threshold in Hajime's apartment and introduces himself.

But there's something - something Hajime can't quite put his finger on - that's a little off.

"Oikawa Tooru," he says politely, sticking out a hand for Hajime to shake. "Your new neighbour." He smiles again - and it's a very nice smile - as he drops his hand and peers inquisitively around Hajime's new apartment, taking in the boxes and suitcases and half built furniture taking up every inch of the floor.

"Uh— Nice to meet you?" Hajime says, though it comes out sounding more like a question than anything else because, before he can ask him what the hell he think's he's doing, Oikawa invites himself further into his home. Hajime watches warily as Oikawa traipses up and down his apartment, brows furrowed into a small frown as he pops his head behind doors and rummages lazily through Hajime's open boxes and suitcases, sighing and shaking his head every now and then.

"Are you— Are you looking for something?"

Oikawa shakes his head as he peers behind Hajime's couch, making a noise of annoyance when he reemerges five seconds later. "Not really. Just checking."

"Checking for what?" Hajime asks, annoyance seeping into his tone now because, really, this is just ridiculous.

Oikawa doesn't answer. Instead, he glances around Hajime's apartment one last night, nods to himself, and then makes his way back to the front door. "It was lovely to meet you, Iwaizumi-san," Oikawa says pleasantly, tipping his head at little at Hajime as if this hadn't just been the most bizarre first meeting of all time. "Welcome to the neighbourhood."

Hajime frowns at his door once Oikawa tugs it gently closed behind him. "What the hell?"

As Hajime soon finds out, Oikawa Tooru is more than just a little  disconcerting.

"What..." Hajime trails off and gestures helplessly to the tiny package in resting in Oikawa's open palms. It's seven am on a Sunday and far too early to be dealing with whatever his neighbour is blabbering on about now. "What is this?"

"It's a cactus, Iwa-chan," Oikawa says cheerfully, apparently oblivious to the murderous intent radiating off Hajime because where the hell did Iwa-chan come from? "For you."

Hajime sighs and runs a tired hand down his face because he knows it's a cactus, what he doesn't know is why his neighbour is standing outside his door at three minutes past seven on a Sunday morning giving it to him when they could both be sleeping.

"I saw it and it reminded me of you," Oikawa continues on, stupidly bright smile still plastered across his face. "Y'know, cause you have that hair?"

"What's wrong with my h—"

"Anyway," Oikawa says, easily sidestepping Hajime to - once again - invite himself into his apartment. "I thought I should get you a housewarming gift. And I know food is the tradition but, honestly, I'm not a great cook and Mattsun tells me the food poisoning he got from the last meal I tried to cook lasted for about two weeks and I really didn't want you to have to go through that. So—" He holds the cactus up in the air, blinking owlishly down at Hajime. "Ta-da!"

Hajime rubs his eyes. He has to be dreaming. He has to be because this right here? This just isn't normal. Oikawa Tooru is not normal.

"Iwa-chan?" Oikawa snaps a finger in his face. "Are you alright? You look tired. Are you getting enough sleep? Sleep is very important, Iwa-chan."

"I was sleeping," Hajime says through gritted teeth, the mantra 'don't kill your new neighbour, don't kill your new neighbour' running through his mind. "And I'd like to get back to it if you don't mind."

"Of course," Oikawa says, smile still irritatingly wide. "Here." He sets the cactus down on Hajime's coffee table before huffing quietly and moving it to the windowsill. He stares at it for a few seconds before he nods. "Perfect."

"Right. Great," Hajime yawns, pointedly gesturing towards the door. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Oikawa says brightly, glancing over at the cactus once more before he saunters over to the door. "Enjoy your sleep, Iwa-chan."

And then he's gone and the only thing to prove that what Hajime just suffered through wasn't a stress-induced dream, is the tiny cactus sat on his windowsill.

Hajime glares at it for a few seconds before another yawn slips from his lips and he remembers what's really important here. Sleep. Lots of it.

Grumbling something about crazy neighbours and never answering the door before midday, Hajime shuffles back to his bedroom and completely misses the way his new cactus ruffles in a non-existent breeze.

Honestly, Oikawa isn't that bad.

He's a little (a lot) odd and has a strange tendency of inviting himself into Hajime's home to stare critically at the cactus, often talking to it in hushed tones, like he's scolding it, before he sighs and moves it to some other corner of the room because 'it just looks nicer here, Iwa-chan' but, other than that, Hajime has to admit he is pretty nice.

And thoughtful.

"—The best ramen for miles," Oikawa is saying, gesturing excitedly towards the two bowls that have just been placed in front of them. "You're gonna love it, Iwa-chan."

"Remind me how I let you drag me out for ramen at close to midnight on a Wednesday when I have a meeting first thing in the morning?" Hajime mumbles, though the venom he wants isn't there because, like he said, Oikawa is pretty nice. And thoughtful.

Thanks to a lack of staff and deadline season approaching, Hajime has been working late and long hours almost religiously over the last few weeks, spending only inconsequential bursts of time in his apartment before he has to rush back out to the office again and— Honestly? It's taking its toll on him.

He catches his reflection in a window and winces. He looks awful.

"Because you look awful," Oikawa says through a mouthful of ramen, wagging his chopsticks sternly in Hajime's face. "You look like you haven't slept in weeks."

Hajime scowls at him and kicks him gently under the table. "I've been sleeping."

"Not properly," Oikawa presses, happy-go-lucky smile dropping slightly from his face as he peers a little closer at Hajime. "And eating? Have you been doing that?

Hajime rolls his eyes and shoves a mouthful of ramen into his mouth to avoid answering Oikawa question because, if anyone out of the two should be worrying about the other's wellbeing it's Hajime. As far as he can tell, Oikawa literally doesn't sleep. 

No matter what time of day or night it is, Hajime hears Oikawa pottering around his apartment, humming to himself or (on more than one occasion) talking to himself. Hajime can't count the number of times he's heard a soft 'now, you're not doing what I've asked, are you?' or 'you'll never grow if you keep doing that' from Oikawa's walls at stupid hours of the night. And that's not even counting the strange people he's sees wandering into Oikawa's apartment at ridiculous hours.

There's the guy with pinkish hair who always winks at Hajime when they pass in the corridor and the guy with bushy eyebrows with a lazy smile who always looks at Hajime like he knows something about him who come over pretty regularly. But then there are a whole host of other people who wander in and out at odd hours, mumbling things like 'and you're sure it'll work?' and 'the last one you gave me made it worse!' and 'and you're sure it won't kill him?' - to this one, he hears a distinctly Oikawa-sounding laugh followed by 'like ninety percent Kunimi-chan.'

So yeah, if anyone should be worried about their neighbour not getting any sleep, it's Hajime. And yet, it's Oikawa staring at him with a concerned frown on his face, looking like he's about five seconds away from demanding Hajime march home and tuck himself into bed.

"I'm fine," Hajime says firmly. "Let's just eat and hurry back."

Oikawa looks like he wants to say something else, but he apparently decides against it before shrugging and turning his attention back to his ramen. "Whatever you say, Iwa-chan."

Very disconcerting.

Two days later, Oikawa turns up on his doorstep with a bamboo plant and a wide smile.

"For you, Iwa-chan," he says, stepping (uninvited again) into Hajime's apartment with the plant in his arms. "I thought you needed something to, ah— Brighten up the place?" 

Hajime runs a stressed hand down his face because he does not have time to be dealing with this. He has a deadline tomorrow and about fifty pages to check and double check before he'll even be halfway finished and he really doesn't need his well-meaning, but ultimately weird, neighbour knocking down his door to deliver a bloody bamboo plant of all things. 

"Oikawa, liste—"

"I'll just put it here," Oikawa says quickly, walking towards Hajime's kitchen island where a mountain of paperwork covers every inch of the black marble. He shoves some of the paperwork aside and drops the plant on top of it, twitching it slightly before he pulls back and nods. "All done, Iwa-chan."

"Great," Hajime grunts. "Now, I really have work to finish, so..."

"Of course," Oikawa smiles politely and inches towards the front door. "I'll get out of your hair."

Hajime sighs as he waves Oikawa away and shuts the door behind him. He'll make it up to him later. 

Exactly two hours after Oikawa's impromptu visit, Hajime starts to feel different.

The stress he's been feeling for the last few weeks starts to roll off him in waves, replaced by something calmer. Something more pleasant. 

He frowns as he glances up at the plant sitting just a few inches away from him, swaying gently in a non-existent breeze.