Chapter Text
Their friends are there, of course, on graduation day and every aimless dazed day after. And even after that, when Asahi gathers up their pieces, rearranges them to some semblance of what’s meant to come next.
They’re there, just up the road or down the phone, their hands in reach if ever they’re needed.
Even if they’re not needed, not really--but perhaps it’s times like those when one needs one’s friends most.
It steadies them out, watching all Karasuno’s matches, stepping out shopping with Kiyoko. Their high-summer afternoon at the beach, Asahi in a slim new wetsuit, Daichi with his battle scars on proud display.
The night they spend under the festival lights, when Nishinoya clasps their hand and calls them pretty in a voice all hushed and heavy with wonder.
Suga holds their hand too, when they need it. And Daichi, and Kiyoko.
It’s a heady thing, how little this surprises them.
No, the real surprise is when they don’t need them at all.
When Asahi tells their mother who they are, it’s just the two of them in the kitchen. The courage comes anyway, and pays dividends--she holds them, even as dinner burns, tells them that they’re hers and that’s what matters. When they go out on their own, done up every day like some new permutation of themself, the well-being of it is strange, still uncharted water.
The real surprise is that every day, no matter where and who with--every day, Asahi comes just a little bit closer to fine.