Chapter Text
This wasn’t exactly how Sakusa had pictured spending the rest of his Christmas. While generally speaking Sakusa attaches just as much meaning to Christmas as he does to a stray pebble along the sidewalk, he can no longer deny the winds of change that have since begun sweeping over his life when he started dating for the first time.
Because suddenly, things that initially were totally devoid of meaning were just brimming with them--fatty tuna, the kansai dialect, the number thirteen, shades of brown ambers and the gazes that linger a second too long, touches on the back of his head, on his shoulders, and around his waist. And now there’s Christmas because it just so happens that the object of his affection has grown up with magical idealisms about the holidays even though said person’s knowledge of Jesus, as he had confessed, is limited to those stained glass images plastered on the church near his neighborhood back in Amagasaki.
“We always had fried chicken and Christmas cake,” Atsumu had told him, the unmistakable longing evident in his voice. “And mom and dad would give us these presents too. Though when we got older, they just got us socks that they obviously bought on sale. I’m not complaining, by the way. Socks are cool.”
And so a plan was set to temporarily forego their regulated athlete’s diets by purchasing too greasy fast food fried chicken and too sweet and too overpriced cake from the bakery two blocks away.
Oh and socks. Sakusa was going to get him socks.
But the early dinner never happened and the subsequent marathon of cheesy Christmas movies had to be put on hold because apparently, Atsumu had promised to accompany Barnes to buy groceries beforehand and unfortunately, the setter admitted to feeling a little under the weather.
"It's just a headache," Atsumu had said. "I'll be fine."
"You rest up," Barnes had insisted."I'll just take Kiyoomi-kun with me instead."
And that's how Sakusa ended up walking down aisle after aisle, assisting Barnes with a grocery list of things needed at their dormitory including the ingredients for the New Year's Eve dinner that certainly wasn't as pressing and urgent as the Christmas dinner he had planned so definitely it doesn't escape Sakusa to feel just the slightest bit of frustration over experiencing this sudden curveball.
"You found everything else?" Barnes asks as he rounds the corner with the shopping cart.
Sakusa nods then walks over to the cart, arms full of broccoli, garlic, carrots, and an assortment of seasonings. He dumps them all into the cart before glancing again at the list which had originally been a lengthier one before Barnes had ripped the bottom half to give to Sakusa.
"Looks like we're done," Barnes declares. "Good work, Kiyoomi-kun."
Another quick nod then they make their way to the cash register where they fall in line.
"So how did the bike ride go today?"
"Hmm?"
"Didn't you and Atsumu go cycling this morning?" Barnes says.
"Yes," Sakusa answers. "I mean, we sort of did. He was teaching me how to ride a bike."
"How did it go then?" Barnes asks.
A flashback to the events of that morning plays in Sakusa's head--how he had miserably failed to stay on the bicycle for more than fifteen seconds at a time, how Atsumu had audaciously started flirting with him and so Sakusa could only flirt back and then there was no more bike riding because the two had retreated to some obscure location in the park to make out like teenagers in heat.
"Ummm...it was pleasant," Sakusa finally says. "It went very pleasantly."
"So did you learn how to ride?" Barnes prods.
Sakusa blinks back. "Excuse me?"
"The bike, I mean."
Way to have your mind in the gutter.
"Oh, uhh, unfortunately no," Sakusa tells him. "My teacher wasn't being very helpful."
"Is that so?" Barnes raises an eyebrow. "Was Atsumu being too hard on you?"
Sakusa swallows before clearing his throat. "Perhaps…I'm not sure."
"Just bully him back!" Barnes kids. "But don't overdo it. He can act mean, but you and I both know how sensitive he can get."
They finally reach the very front of the line and after paying for the groceries, they exit the supermarket and out into the cold December evening.
"Wait," Sakusa says. "Can I go to the drugstore for a moment? I just need to buy something for Atsumu's headache."
"Of course, Kiyoomi-kun."
"It'll only take a minute," Sakusa promises before he eventually enters the drugstore.
As he walks along the shelves, he sees a rack of socks on display and without hesitation, he walks over and scans the length of the rack. He settles for a pair of black socks and takes them with him to the counter where he asks for some paracetamol.
After the paracetamol has been procured, he pays for all the items and while the person at the register bags his goods, he eyes the flyer on the counter.
"Would you like to take one, sir?" the person at the register gestures to the flyer. "It's the complete schedule of all the illuminations that will be taking place in Osaka until February next year."
"You've never been to a single illumination, Omi-kun?"
"Yes."
"But that's one of the best things to happen during the winter season!"
Sakusa shrugs. "They're often just way too crowded for my liking."
"Oh," Atsumu says. "Well there are always other fun stuff to enjoy during winter."
Try as he might, but Atsumu could not mask from Sakusa the hint of disappointment in his voice.
Sakusa takes a flyer and thinks about adding it to his present. Maybe Atsumu could go with Bokuto and Hinata, he muses as he slips the flyer inside the plastic bag along with the pair of socks and the paracetamol.
He thanks the person at the register then he meets Barnes outside.
"Got everything you need?"
Sakusa nods then they walk back home.
As they approach their dorm complex, Barnes stops in his tracks and appears to be furiously typing on his phone.
"Barnes-san?" Sakusa says. "Is something wrong?"
"My friend got into a bit of trouble just now actually," Barnes tells him. "Would you be okay with bringing all of these back inside?"
"Of course," Sakusa assures him. "It's just two grocery bags."
Barnes hands him his bag. "Thanks, Kiyoomi-kun. You're a real lifesaver."
With that Barnes speed walks in the other direction, leaving Sakusa to bring back the groceries all by himself. And as he toes off his shoes by the genkan, he announces his return to which no one responds.
Maybe Atsumu's asleep.
Sakusa places the groceries on the counter and transfers the meat and vegetables to the refrigerator before he thoroughly washes his hands in the sink.
As he pulls off his coat, he walks to his room which greets him in all its pitch black darkness once he opens it.
But in a split second, the dense blackness of the space is replaced by a myriad of lights. Purples and yellows and blues and reds. A frenzied mish-mash of colorful luminescence that distracts him from noticing that right in the middle of it all stands Atsumu.
"Surprise, Omi-kun!" he says with the warmest smile that swiftly replaces the traces of evening chill that still clings to Sakusa.
"Atsumu," Sakusa takes a step closer, still gawking at the unexpected interior redecoration. "What's all this?"
"Figured I bring the illumination here to you!" Atsumu tells him. "Since you don't like it when it's too crowded and all that."
"This," Sakusa looks from corner to corner of his room and all he sees are lights so endearingly uncoordinated yet still so spectacular. "This is amazing, Atsumu."
"So you like it?"
And Sakusa looks at him and he takes in the way his amber brown eyes glow the brightest of all. "I love it."
"Well I'm glad the plan worked out in the end," Atsumu drops casually.
Just as Sakusa was about to question him about his statement, realization hits and he feels his eyes widen as he lets all the pieces fall into place.
"You arranged this with Barnes!" Sakusa says. "Didn't you?"
"I always knew you were smart, Omi-kun."
But Sakusa couldn't find it in himself to be upset over having been tricked and randomly dragged outside to go grocery shopping on Christmas evening because here was Atsumu who had just pulled all of this with Sakusa in mind. And so there was only one thing he could do instead. One way to return the surprise.
He yanks off his face mask then pushes Atsumu to his bed, caging him in with his limbs.
"Did I make you mad?" Atsumu asks him.
Sakusa tilts his head. "Would you like to find out?"
Atsumu then throws an arm around his neck and pulls him close. "Show me how angry you are, Omi-kun."
And Sakusa kisses him as if the world were to end the next day, and Atsumu kisses him back just as persistently. They pull apart eventually, all their breaths stolen from them as they pant along each other's jaws.
"Merry Christmas, Omi-kun," Atsumu whispers.
Sakusa, wholly enlightened to what Christmas miracles mean, kisses Atsumu once on the forehead.
"Merry Christmas, Atsumu."