Chapter Text
Over the next few weeks, Asahi withdraws from Daichi and Suga.
He still responds to Daichi and Suga’s light-hearted banter and teasing in their chat. He still sends them pictures and updates about his day. But when they invite him over on random evenings or weekends, he usually finds a way to decline. He even starts to skip movie nights, citing late nights at work, project deadlines, networking, and company dinners.
Instead, Asahi goes on dates.
He meets up with people at cafes, the museum, at sports matches. He accepts invites to mixers and allows his coworkers to set him up on more blind dates. He does everything possible to meet people and find someone .
But most of them don’t get past the first date. The rare ones that progress to a second or even third date still leave Asahi feeling dissatisfied and vaguely guilty, and he’s usually the one to end things. He goes home aching and lonely, trying very hard not to think about his best friends and what he really wants, and he gets into bed, and he does it all over again week after week.
Asahi tells Noya all of this one weekend morning. He’s just gotten home from the end of another unsuccessful string of dates with a man he met at a mixer, though Asahi did agree to spend the night one last time.
Noya listens patiently. “Well,” he says when Asahi has finished. “At least you’re having more sex.”
Asahi glares at him through the screen, and Noya glares back. “You already know what I’m going to say,” Noya says. “ Talk to them, Asahi-san! You’re making both yourself and them miserable.”
“What? Did they say something?” Asahi straightens.
Noya huffs, running a hand through his hair. He’s sitting in a cafe, a stylish red scarf wrapped around his neck. “They texted me asking if I’d heard from you and if you were doing okay because you’ve been acting weird. I said I didn’t know anything.” Noya shakes his head. “You said you were taking a step back, but you didn’t say you were avoiding them completely.”
“I’m not!” Asahi exclaims. “I mean, yeah, I’ve been reducing how much time I spend with them, but that’s so I can deal with this mess that is my feelings without—without making things worse between us.”
Noya looks unimpressed. His eyes are sharp on Asahi’s even through the slightly blurry video. “Well, they don’t think so. You know, not pursuing them romantically is one thing and as much as I disagree with it, your love life is your business. But they’re also my friends, so I think I have every right to tell you that you’re being a shitty friend.”
Asahi opens his mouth, then closes it. His guilt returns at full force, and he fights against the nausea.
Try as he might, he can’t deny that.
Noya sighs. “Talk to them,” he says again. “This won’t end well otherwise, and you might lose them in ways that are much worse than what you’re imagining.”
“Fine.” Asahi swallows. “What if…Noya, what if it goes horribly?”
Noya smiles at him. “Then you fly out to Italy with me next month, we go bother Kageyama for a little while, and we figure it out. Okay?”
Asahi is surprised into a laugh. “Okay,” he agrees. “Thanks, Noya. I appreciate it.”
“Anytime.” Noya pauses. “I would recommend covering up that hickey on your neck before you see them, though. Later!”
Asahi squawks, and he catches the beginning of Noya’s boisterous laughter before the Skype call ends.
Chuckling embarrassedly, Asahi changes into a high-necked shirt. He’s about to make himself lunch, when he notices two unread messages from his group chat with Daichi and Suga. He frowns and opens them.
They’re from Suga, and they read:
be here at 12 asahi
we need to talk
Asahi’s stomach churns. He didn’t think he needed to talk to them now . He hasn’t prepared what he’s going to say!
But he can’t avoid this. Asahi knows he’s hurt them, something he’s spent countless nights worrying about and trying to ignore by turns. He owes them so many apologies and explanations.
Asahi sends back, okay.
He tugs on his coat and sets out for the train.
Daichi and Suga open the door a split second after he knocks, as though they were waiting right by the door. Their faces are grim as they step back, shoulder to shoulder, and Asahi feels the air between them turn cloying, suffocating.
He sets his jaw. They deserve to be angry at him. He can take it.
Asahi takes off his coat and hangs it on the hook in silence. When he turns back to them, their eyes widen. Asahi looks at them, confused.
“Were you on a date?” Daichi asks abruptly.
“Huh?” That was the last thing Asah had expected Daichi to start with. “Um…yeah. Last night.”
“How was it?”
Asahi squirms. “It was fine.”
Daichi crosses his arms.
“It looks like it was more than just fine,” Suga points out. His eyes are strangely dark as they fix onto the hollow at Asahi’s throat.
Asahi reaches up a hand to the spot and realizes his shirt has ridden down to proudly show off the purple hickey. “Ah…” he says weakly, feeling off-balance under Suga’s penetrating gaze. “Well, I guess we had a…fun night together, at least.”
“I thought you didn’t do hookups on a first date,” Daichi says. His head is tilted as he also watches Asahi closely. Asahi tries very hard not to feel like he’s being interrogated.
“It wasn’t a first date.”
Daichi and Suga stiffen. Daichi opens his mouth, but Suga holds up a hand to stop him without turning.
“Right,” Suga says, still staring at Asahi’s neck. There’s a faint, ominous frown creasing his forehead. He steps closer, closer, closer until he’s right in Asahi’s space, so close Asahi could lean down and kiss him on the crown of his head if he wanted to.
Asahi watches him in bewildered confusion, then looks to Daichi for help figuring out what the hell is going on.
Daichi doesn’t move to intervene. He stands a few feet away, his arms crossed over his chest.
His eyes are as dark as Suga’s.
“Are you going to see them again?” Daichi asks, low.
Asahi subtly reaches back and clutches the fabric of his coat, seeking something to hold onto. Something in his chest and stomach shivers. He feels like prey under the stares of his two best friends—like if he moves, disrupts the air even a little, he’ll be eaten alive.
“No. We ended things yesterday. I just didn’t really see it going anywhere else,” Asahi manages to reply.
His attention snaps downwards as Suga’s hand slides up his arm and over the curve of his shoulder. His fingers curl around the back of Asahi’s neck, his thumb dipping lower and lower until—
Asahi’s knees weaken. He clutches more firmy at his coat for strength as Suga slowly fits his thumb over the hickey and presses gently.
A full-body shudder runs through Asahi. Suga’s eyes sharpen.
“Why were you avoiding us?” Suga asks.
The question hits Asahi with the shock of whiplash. He struggles for breath.
“I—I…”
Daichi moves forward, boxing Asahi against the door.
“Why?” Daichi repeats.
Talk to them! Noya shouts in Asahi’s brain.
Asahi squeezes his eyes shut and prays to whatever god is listening for strength. He swallows and feels Suga’s hand move with the motion.
“Because I’m in love with you both,” Asahi gasps. He doesn’t open his eyes. He doesn’t want to look at their expressions. “I have been for so long now. And you two have such a good thing together, and I didn’t want to ruin everything because of my own stupid feelings. I was trying so hard to move on, so I stepped back and focused on dating other people. I know I’ve been avoiding you and I’ve been an awful friend, and I’m so sorry for hurting you.”
There’s a long, long silence.
Finally, Daichi speaks. “Did dating work?”
In the haze of his terror, Asahi doesn’t understand. “What?”
“Have you moved on from us?”
Asahi bites his lip. “No,” he whispers. “I’m sorry.”
Another deep pause.
“Asahi.” Suga’s voice is quiet. “Open your eyes.”
He doesn’t want to, but the command in Suga’s voice is impossible to ignore. Slowly, Asahi does—only to close them again when Suga leans up and kisses him.
Suga’s hands move from his throat to the back of his neck, pulling Asahi’s head down. His lips are dry and cool, long eyelashes fluttering against Asahi’s cheeks. Asahi stands frozen for a long moment.
Then, he makes a desperate sound and kisses Suga back, letting go of his coat and bring his hands up to frame Suga’s face. Their lips collide softly, seeking the best angle before sinking together. The kiss is soft, yearning, and just a little sweetly mischievous in the way that Suga nips at him.
When they separate, Suga brushes Asahi’s cheek and then steps aside to make space for Daichi. Daichi makes a quiet sound as he steps into Asahi. He catches Asahi’s face in his hands and searches Asahi’s gaze with his.
Then Daichi leans in and kisses him, too.
This kiss is soft, too, but more steady, grounding. It’s no less full of love than Suga’s. Asahi falls into the strength of Daichi’s arms and winds his arms around Daichi’s neck for support, barely able to stand from the force of his desire. Daichi is so, so warm, and his heat chases away the last of the chill Asahi was feeling.
When they part, Daichi and Suga don’t let Asahi get far. They crowd around him and draw him into a hug, just like they had all those weeks ago. Asahi wraps his arms around them, mind wheeling, trying to process how his world has changed in the last couple of minutes.
“I don’t understand,” Asahi says finally.
Suga and Daichi let out twin snorts of laughter, and Asahi lets out an embarrassed laugh himself.
“Come on, Asahi,” Suga chides. “Even you can’t be that dense.”
“I know, I know. I just—I need to hear it,” Asahi says. He’s glad his face is hidden in the crook of Daichi’s neck; his eyes are pricking with overwhelmed, happy tears.
Daichi’s voice rumbles against his ear. “We love you, too.”
“We only realized it a few months ago,” Suga adds. “We were going to talk to you about it, but…”
“We were scared,” Daichi admits. “Especially when you started dating more. We didn’t know if you wanted to find another partner or if our feelings would be received well, and we didn’t want to ruin our friendship. Just like you. But then you had that terrible day and you told us you felt like no one would love you, and we decided we needed to tell you soon after that.”
“And then you disappeared on us!” Suga exclaims, smacking Asahi lightly on the head.
Asahi cringes. “Sorry,” he mumbles. “I’m sorry, guys.”
Somehow, Daichi and Suga’s arms wrap even more tightly around him. “We figured it out,” Daichi says. “But if we’re going to make this work, we all need to talk, okay? No avoiding each other or letting things fester.”
“Okay,” Asahi agrees. He pulls back reluctantly, unable to control the beam that overtakes his face. Daichi and Suga, wonder of wonders, look at him with equal happiness, the love so often directed towards each other now turned towards Asahi .
He’s the luckiest person in the whole world.
“I can’t wait to tell Noya about this,” Asahi says, grinning. “He’s going to be insufferable about this.’
Daichi and Suga exchange a glance. “You can do that later,” Daichi says, his hand closing around one of Asahi’s arms.
Asahi blinks. “What? Why?”
Suga takes the other arm. In unison, they start guiding him towards—their bedroom. Asahi’s face erupts into flames.
“We need to make up for lost time,” Suga says blithely. “And it is lunchtime.”
“Noya will understand,” Daichi says, patting his shoulder.
“Oh my god,” Asahi breathes giddily.
Laughing, Asahi follows Daichi and Suga through the bedroom door and into the rest of their lives.