Chapter Text
Once he arrived in the locker room, he immediately sat on the bench, holding the ice pack to his bruised head. It had melted a bit, but it was still cold enough to soothe the injured area. He sighed—he was going to have to endure a couple of days with a bump on his head.
“You look like an idiot.” Kiyoomi remarked a few meters away from him. His deadpan tone grated on his nerves. And was that a smirk he saw?
Atsumu scowled. “Now where the hell did that come from?” He raised an eyebrow, annoyed at the offhanded statement. It wasn’t even his fault he got hit on the head by a volleyball!
“Nothing. You look hilarious with that bump on your head.” Kiyoomi remarked, that infuriating smirk still plastered on his lips. Why was that man hell bent on annoying the hell out of him? After years of being thick-skinned, never in his life had he imagined that someone would have the ability to get under his skin and irritate him as much as Kiyoomi did.
“Would it kill ya to be nice for one second? Yer just making my head hurt even more.” The blonde rolled his eyes in exasperation. Instead of asking him if he was okay, the other proceeded to make fun of him, which only served to worsen his mood.
Kiyoomi stared at the bruise on his head, opened his mouth like he would say something, and then closed it. For a moment, he looked as if he would make another snarky remark but then decided against it. “Keep icing the injury. Meian asked me to let you know that if the pain gets worse, you should tell him.” He turned away and started heading out the locker room, but before exiting, he commented,
“Wouldn’t want you to get an even bigger head than you already have.”
Atsumu had half a mind to hurl the ice pack at his head, but the other already left before he could seriously consider doing so. “Asshole!” He called out after him. And to think I initially thought he felt at least a little bit concerned for me, He thought grumpily. Too bad those good looks were wasted on such a rotten personality.
The blonde huffed, standing up and heading to his locker to grab his towel. Placing the ice pack on the bench, he glanced at the wall clock and saw that it was almost 5 pm. Just in time for practice to be over.
He headed to the showers then proceeded to wash up and cool off. He could feel his muscles relax under the hot stream of water and he sighed in contentment, letting himself stay there for a few minutes. After he was done showering, he wrapped the towel around his waist and walked towards the locker area. Some of his teammates were already there, including Adriah and Inunaki who just got off from practice.
“Hey, Atsumu. How’s the bump?” Adriah asked as the setter approached his own locker. He opened it and took out his spare clothes, getting ready to change.
“Still kinda hurts. I swear, if Bokuto put any more force into that spike I would’ve suffered from a severe concussion.” He said casually while putting on his clothes.
“Well, I’m glad to see you’re still okay. God knows what would’ve happened if you passed out. Bokuto would’ve been sobbing for days.” Adriah joked and Atsumu chuckled. Knowing the gray-haired spiker, he would have been very distraught had anything worse happened to Atsumu. Fortunately, other than a mild headache, a bump was the only thing he experienced. If he actually passed out from a spike, his teammates never would have let him live it down.
Once he finished changing, he took his duffel bag and stuffed his used jersey inside it. Grabbing the melted ice pack from the bench, he bid goodbye to the others. “I’m headin’ home. See ya guys tomorrow!”
“Bye, Atsumu!” Both Adriah and Inunaki waved. He exited the locker room and in the gym, he could still see Bokuto and Hinata practicing their spikes, while Meian and Barnes were conversing with each other. Meanwhile, Kiyoomi was doing cool down stretches on the side of the court. He was doing tricep stretches—Kiyoomi had his left arm overhead with the elbow bent so that his hand reached his upper back, with his opposite hand gently pushing on the bent elbow—and Atsumu was unaware that he had stopped in his tracks to stare at his arms and the way the cuffs of his jersey molded almost perfectly around the outline of his biceps. As the spiker was stretching, the bottom of his jersey lifted up slightly to reveal a sliver of pale, unblemished skin. A drop of sweat trickled down the side of his face to the length of his neck and Atsumu followed its trail with his gaze, a bit dazed. Even the very image of Kiyoomi being tired from practice was attractive.
“Thought you were heading out?” Inunaki teased from behind him. Atsumu jumped in shock at the sudden question, cheeks gradually reddening as he realized that he had stood in place and watched Kiyoomi stretch.
“Y-yeah I was just about to head out!” Atsumu quickly responded, turning away so that the other couldn’t see his flushed cheeks.
Inunaki raised an eyebrow in amusement, “So why are you still outside the locker room? The exit is at the other end of the gym.” The setter looked around and lo and behold, he had only been a few meters away from the locker room, meaning that he was so distracted he wasn’t able to immediately leave.
“I was just…lost in thought, ya know?” Atsumu hoped his laugh was convincing enough to dispel any assumptions forming inside his teammate’s head.
Inunaki patted his shoulder a few times, a knowing grin on his face, “Riiight…if by lost in thought you mean staring at Sakusa, then, sure buddy. Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Atsumu felt the heat in his cheeks intensify, embarrassed by what was just said. Now they’re gonna think I like him, He thought despairingly. With how playful some of his teammates were, there was no doubt they’d try to relentlessly tease Atsumu for daring to appreciate Kiyoomi’s looks, mistaking it for a crush. As if! His physical features were the only redeeming quality about him considering that his personality was shit, so there was no way in hell he was ever going to like Kiyoomi.
“I was not staring at him!” He forcefully denied. Seeing the unconvinced look on Inunaki’s face, he decided to leave before he could say any more outrageous things—or worse, if others would hear them. “Anyways, I gotta go! Bye!” He speed walked to the exit, clutching his duffel bag tightly.
First, an injury, and next, others were starting to notice’s Atsumu’s inclination to staring at Kiyoomi.
Things just couldn’t get any better for Atsumu.