The Courtship Ritual of the Hercules Beetle

by kittebasu

Fandom: Haikyuu!!
Relationship: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
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Tooru is pretty sure he could manage the mating habits of a mosquito. It’s the mating habits of people he can’t seem to get right.

Genres: Romance, Fan Fiction, LGBT, Slow Burn

266 pages, ebook

First published April 1, 2016

Reviews

[alexandria]

iwaoi bible

[Laura (laurascozyreads)]

*puts phone down*
*screams muffledly into a pillow*
*picks phone up again*

okay, i'm fine.

The way Hajime is laughing, tiny huffs of breath that tickle Tooru's lashes like butterflies, reminds Tooru of being three, of being thirteen, and of being twenty-three, and thinking how could he ever like someone else more than this?

i definitely understand why this is one of the *big* fics in the hq fandom.
i loved the writing and the way it was told!! i've saved so many quotes from this fic, i wish i had a physical copy of it to annotate it. there was so much pining and nostalgia and softness but also guilt and fear and denial and - i need to go scream into my pillow again i think.
(plus i didn't know i needed tooru as an entomology professor but i really did.)

the characterisation made me fall in love with them all over again, and i think this fic really captured what i love so much about these two.

oikawa is a flawed character. he is obsessive, he is self-centred, he's insecure and he overworks himself to no end, he's dramatic and whiny and refuses to let anyone see his weaknesses and still expects that people somehow will be able to understand him.

enter iwaizumi. focused, kind, grumbly iwaizumi who always tells oikawa he's got a shitty personality, who scolds him and curses at him for not taking better care of himself. but in the end, he's the one person who will always be there to pick up the pieces, the person who can handle oikawa's moods, the only one that oikawa actually listens to.

it doesn't matter how much of a mess tooru is, because he is still so, so loved, always has been throughout his entire life.
"Like Tooru is the biggest pain in the ass Hajime’s ever met, but Hajime adores him anyway."
and honestly, i find a lot of comfort in this.

this isn't really a review it just turned into me writing a love letter to iwaoi. but that's okay.

the best thing about this fic being on goodreads is that i have a place to cry about it tbh

[Grace]

I’m aware of how cringe fanfiction can be—but this one is incredibly special and this is my fourth time coming back to it. I will probably reread it a million times and still feel everything at once every time.

[airany]

“It’s not really that I can’t say no to you," Hajime mutters, when the car rolls to a stop at a traffic light. "It’s more that I don’t want to say no to you.”

*****

“Iwa-chan and I always have done everything together," Tooru manages to say, around a lump in his throat. "Why should this have been any different?”

*****

“it's scary because he knows Hajime has the strength of a Hercules beetle, capable of carrying a heart that is a hundred times his own weight.”

[kp_readss]

maybe it’s a fanfic to you but it’s a masterpiece to me

[Gillian]

Had me applying to grad school tbh. Banger but I’m 30k in debt now

[ari]

lol my grad quote is pulled from this fic.........

anyways this had me sobbing into my pillow at 1am and it destroyed me and ripped me apart but it's a banger and literally my favourite fic!!!! it also had me seriously considering going into zoology or entomology before realizing that i could never.

[Marte]

*sobbing* banger

[s.sherie]

life-changing fic. i procrastinated reading it for 5 months because my sister told me it was so life-changing and i wasn't sure if i wanted to have my brain flipped upside down and all around, and it did. very much did deliver. i would get a tattoo of a hercules beetle for this. it's incredibly well-written, and if you're in this fandom, read it asap. i've never seen such fantastic characterization in a fanmade work.

[Iris]

La Bibbia

[katabaza]

my fav book ever

[Zoë-Nyx Escalante]

A literal masterpiece. I couldn’t stop crying.

[exoplasmic]

This had such a monumental effect on the person I am. Reading this was like sitting through therapy and reconfiguring your life through someone else's story.

[Lumityland]

life changing

[Dea Aprilia]

OH MY GOSH I LOVE THIS FIC SO MUCH 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[glo]

THE striptease fanfic, refuse to reread it ever don't wanna ruin the impact it had on me.

[Maryam]

'it's just a fic'
TO YOU! TO YOU!

[Ángel]

3.5

[Abby Gwynn]

I don’t gaf I’m counting my fanfiction toward my reading goals

[Max]

It's 2026 and I still think about this fic

[Jenny]

Literal perfection.

[Nellie ⋆‧°𓏲ּ𝄢]

5 stars ⭐️

I’ve decided to count fanfiction towards my reading goals because I’m in a bit of a slump right now and it’s genuinely getting me back into reading lmao

That being said, this is such a great portrayal of internalized homophobia, childhood love and unreliable narration. The way the author uses Oikawa’s new profession to showcase his obsessive personality is just pure genius, and the subtle portrayal of Iwaizumi’s conflicted feelings constantly toyed with my heartstrings. I think this fic might have the best interpretation of their characters in general. They’re both raw, flawed and tragic in the most human way and every reread always brings me to tears. I’m glad we’re considering this the Iwaoi Bible!

[Nuria]

always coming back to this perfect piece of Literature

[natalie]

i love this so much :(