Chapter Text
He had swung through his dorm window at least a thousand times by now, but he always seemed to hit his knee on that specific ledge corner. Sakusa cursed quietly when he felt the bruise being jabbed harshly, and pulled himself through the window without much ceremony. He knew Atsumu wouldn’t be getting back to their shared dorm till at least after eight, even later if his volleyball coach was in a bad mood.
After closing the window, Sakusa pulled off his mask, shaking his hair loose with a heavy sigh. He could feel new bruises forming on the undersides of his thighs as he walked, momentos from an earlier fire rescue. Luckily, living with a star university athlete meant there were plenty of stray ice packs and opened bandage boxes lying around.
Sakusa was in the middle of peeling off the rest of his suit when his phone rang. After a bit of scrambling for the device in his pocket, he picked it up with a gruff, “Hello?”
“Omi-kun!”
He winced, holding the phone far away. He should’ve known from checking the caller id that this would happen.
“I already answered, you don’t have to yell at me.”
Sakusa could practically imagine Atsumu’s gleeful face on the other side, with his stupidly bright smile and piercing eyes.
“Yeah yeah, ‘m coming home now, ok? I have dinner too so don’t make anything and you’ll owe me later.”
“It was your turn to cook dinner anyways.”
“You still owe me!” In this distance, Sakusa could hear someone calling Atsumu away. “I got to run! See you in a ‘mo, omi-omi!”
“Don’t call me-” But Atsumu already hung up, and Sakusa was left staring at his phone screen with mild exasperation. Damn. Three hours worth of volleyball practice but Atsumu still sounded like he had the energy for another four. Even with his superhero reflexes and abilities, Sakusa doubted he would have the same level of stamina.
One hot shower and several band-aids later, and Sakusa was tidying up the kitchen table as Atsumu burst through the door.
“I brought burgers!” Atsumu announced, kicking his shoes off carelessly, much to Sakusa’s annoyance, and promptly stumbling over his own feet.
“Star volleyball setter but can’t even walk properly?” Sakusa teased as Atsumu opened up the containers of food. He was still dressed in his white volleyball practice shirt that nicely accented his upper torso. And the way that Atsumu was still sweaty from his practice, Sakusa’s eyes unconsciously drifted down his friend’s body before he snapped himself out of it.
“Take a shower, you’re rubbing germs all over the table.” Sakusa grumbled, bumping Atsumu away from the table.
“No need to be so stingy, omi-kun, you’ll clean everything regardless,” Atsumu responded, rubbing his rib. “Besides, I just know you love having a piece of me everywhere.”
Atsumu’s words hit a nerve in Sakusa’s sensitive system, and he promptly kneed the volleyball player, who didn’t even flinch. “Shower, or I’ll call your brother.” Luckily, Atsumu sensed Sakusa’s growing impatience as he chuckled all the way to the showers, leaving Sakusa to finish setting up the table.
Sakusa grimaced as he wiped where Atsumu was leaning on the table. He hated that Atsumu’s words about loving him hit a little too close. He was still very much in denial about whatever he felt for his roommate, if they could even be called something.
Atsumu was like a hurricane, coming in and destroying everything in his path with perfect composure. A force of nature in everything he did, from volleyball to his studies to his very manner of speech. And Sakusa was another helpless victim to his storm, only he fell straight through the winds and down into the eye, where he was exposed to the raw grace of Atsumu Miya.
Sakusa blinked; he always got a little too poetic when thinking about Atsumu. Even on the off chance if Sakusa had feelings for his friend, he doubt they would ever be reciprocated.
There were dozens of reasons why Sakusa should dislike Atsumu, not feel all hot and nervous around him. He was messy in the exact opposite way that Sakusa was neat. He had a general sense of chaotic energy around him when Sakusa liked neat, perfect things like his engineering. He attracted friends and admirers alike as easy as a moth to flame and Sakusa hated making conversation with even his professors. He was like a bright star in the sky, shining freely for everyone to admire while Sakusa was a mere shadow.
And all that wasn’t even taking into account how Sakusa happens to be the very superhero that Atsumu adored to hell and back.
“Hey! Didja see what Spider-man did tonight?”
Speak of the devil-
“You finished showering that quickly?” Sakusa said, not looking up as Atsumu took a seat across from him.
Atsumu hummed in confirmation, his hair still dripping wet on his towel, and grinned. “Answer the question, I couldn’t take photos ‘cuz coach was being an ass but Kita got some! He looked so cool tonight.”
Sakusa offered a noncommittal hum in response and took an unusual large bite of his burger to avoid any more conversation.
“The way he rescued that poor family from the fire, god, what a hero. Didja know that this was his fifth fire rescue in two years? That’s crazy!”
“No, I didn’t know that,” Sakusa murmured. He really didn’t, it wasn’t as if he kept track of every criminal he punched, every bystander saved when he’s busy doing his job.
Not that Atsumu would know that.
Atsumu sighed, a far-away look in his eye as he leaned back in his chair. “I wish I could see him, shame I wasn’t there to take photos today. I’ll have to ask Kita to send them to me.”
“Do you have practice tomorrow?” Sakusa asked once there was a pause in Atsumu’s speech.
Atsumu nodded slowly, still daydreaming, and said, “For a bit, and I want to work more on my sets with Bokuto-oh!” Atsumu suddenly slapped his palm on the table and Sakusa glared at him for interrupting the silence. “We have a game on Saturday! With our university rivals, yer going to come, right?”
“Do you even have to ask?” Sakusa neatly wiped the crumbs off his mouth and pointed at Atsuna’s neglected meal. “Eat your food so I can wash the dish. We have class early tomorrow and I’m not waking your lazy ass up again.”
“Oikawa is coming with coffee so if his loud voice doesn’t wake me up, I doubt you’ll be able to, Sakusa.” But Atsumu finally quieted down to finish off his meal and Sakusa breathed a sigh of relief. He always felt a little weird when Atsumu preached about Spider-man’s heroic deeds. Hearing Atsumu praise him so heavily put a heavy weight in his stomach, like he needed to work harder to make Atsumu happier. It was as if there was an imposter saving the city, not a sleep deprived, emotionally stunted university student like Sakusa.
There was no use in asking Atsumu to clean up the table; he would also do something weird like sticking the spoons in the same dishwasher rack as the plates so Sakusa took it upon himself to do it. In exchange, Atsumu reviewed the reports Sakusa left on his desk. Despite his carefree personality, Atsumu has an uncanny knack for writing, partly the reason why he excelled in his law class.
Another reason for Sakusa to dislike him. But one look at the figure reading through his reports about building foundations earnestly as if it was one of his own papers set Sakusa on edge.
“Move over.” Sakusa sat next to Atsumu once he finished cleaning up. On the very first day they moved in, Atsumu insisted on working side by side so they could help each other. Sakusa had never objected.
“It’s good, though I think you should elaborate more on your explanations here,” Atsumu said, handing over his paper and gesturing a paragraph. “Professor Tanaka wants us to go over civil law again, that stubborn mule, he’s just doing this to torture us.”
“Knowing you, it’s probably all new material anyways.”
“Hey!” Atsumu jabbed a finger at Sakusa’s side, who dodged it easily. He hid a smile at the resulting pout, and turned back to his homework.
There were a dozen reasons for Sakusa to hate Atsumu, but another dozen more for why he fell for him.
——
If Atsumu was a hurricane, then Oikawa was a tsunami, coming in without any grace or tact.
“Good morning!”
Sakusa blinked at the way Oikawa’s smile seemed to sparkle from the reflecting light, and murmured a greeting back. Oikawa was carrying a tray of drinks, one of which he handed to Sakusa.
“Black coffee, right? You really should stop drinking that, one day your heart might explode from all the caffeine,” Oikawa chastised him.
“And one day your jaw is going to break from talking too much, but I don’t say anything, do I?”
Oikawa let out a lighthearted chuckle and gave Sakusa a gentle slap on the back. “Aren’t you in a good mood today?” Oikawa sipped from his own drink and looked around the dorm. “‘Tsumu still dozing away?”
“He was in the bathroom last time I checked, so give it another twenty minutes.” Sukusa bustled around their dorm, sweeping stray papers back onto desks and packing his bag. His face mask was already ready, neatly folded in a protective case after being cleaned thoroughly.
“You coming to the game on Saturday?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.” Sakusa pulled on his backpack straps and stretched the mask across his face. He had a long seminar today that he was not looking forward to-too many people and not enough ventilation. “Are you, Kageyama, and Atsumu still stuck on your little competition thing?”
“Of course, we all know who’s the superior setter on this team.”
“Not you, Shittykawa.”
Sakusa sensed Atsumu barreling across the room and neatly stepped to the side as Atsumu jumped on a disgruntled Oikawa, nearly knocking over the drinks in the process.
“Can you not call me that disgusting name?” Oikawa protested, swatting Atsumu off of him, “I have to tell Iwa to stop making those up. And besides, I hit more service aces than both you and Kageyama in the past week.”
“You weren’t talking big when I wiped the floor with you during our last practice game,” Atsumu teased, swiping his drink from Oikawa’s hands.
“I was distracted!”
“The best setters never get distracted.” Sakusa tossed Atsumu’s bag at him, who deftly swung it over his shoulders.
“Says the one who needs absolute silence before missing his serves.” Oikawa’s retort earned him a punch on the arm as Sakusa chuckled. There was no point in stopping their banter, and Sakusa was more than content to let Atsumu and Oikawa control the conversation. Oikawa was a law student in the year above Atsumu and Sakusa, but he still acted as if he was a university freshman sometimes. The trio met when Atsumu asked for law tutoring-only to be the one tutoring Oikawa in the end. His passion for volleyball and boisterous personality let him bond quickly with them, even if Sakusa sometimes wanted to stuff a rag in his mouth to shut him up.
When they neared towards Sakusa’s classes, he waved a still bickering Atsumu and Oikawa goodbye before squaring his shoulders in an obviously intimidating manner. It did well to ward any too friendly students, especially that small pack of goggling girls that liked to hover by the engineering building.
Unfortunately, Sakusa’s solitary respite quickly came to an end when he heard someone calling out his name.
“Sakusa! Ready for the seminar today?”
Sakusa breathed a quiet sigh of relief when he saw it was only his friend, and fellow engineering major, Komori. He was dressed in his usual eccentric green, with a backpack sling haphazardly over his shoulder.
Komori slapped him gently on the back and leaned in close to whisper, “Nice job saving those people last night, thought the media was going to implode from praising you so much.”
His friend, fellow engineering major, and the only other person who knew Sakusa’s superhero persona.
“I saw,” Sakusa grumbled, pulling his bag closer to himself when a small crowd of students walked past. Can’t take any chances, he never knew what, or who, these students did in their free time. “Atsumu wouldn’t shut up about it last night.”
“Ah, your favorite lover fanboy?”
“Wh-what?” Sakusa sputtered. He shoved at Komori, who didn’t even flinch. “He’s not my favorite!”
“Right, right,” Komori agreed sagely, “That’s why you always wait to make sure he’s there before doing anything and wait for him to get the best shots of you.”
“I do not!”
Sakusa’s exclamation attracted the attention of nearby students and he scowled at them until they turned away.
“You can’t fool me, Sakusa, besides, even if he isn’t Spidey’s favorite, I know he’s yours.” Komori wagged his finger at Sakusa’s face with a disarming smile. “You’re coming to the game on Saturday?”
“Don’t change the topic,” Sakusa grumbled but Komori was already setting off to their class. Sakusa hurried his pace to catch up to his friend, and leaned over, narrowing his eyebrows. “I don’t have feelings for that overgrown piss bucket.”
“Strong words for strong emotions.”
Sakusa muttered another curse under his breath at Komori’s relentless teasing. The two had been friends ever since high school, so of course Komori would be the one to detect the turmoil brewing in his mind.
When they were settled in their seats and waiting for the professor to arrive, Komori poked Sakusa’s shoulder and said, “For what it’s worth, you’re literally his favorite superhero so there’s no way he wouldn’t feel the same.”
“Shut up.”
He had bigger problems to focus on than Miya Atsumu’s stupidly bright face and his cluttered mess of emotions. Much bigger problems.
——
Bokuto’s pre-game voice was enough to drag Satan himself out of the depths of hell to shut him up.
“GAME TIME!”
Sakusa didn’t even hesitate before slamming the door in Bokuto’s face after the excited player knocked incessantly on their door.
“This dorm is not a damn train station. Doesn’t he have places to be?” Sakusa muttered, ignoring Bokuto’s muffled shouts of protests. Atsumu stuffed the rest of his breakfast into his mouth, much to Sakusa’s disgust, and opened the door. Immediately, Bokuto jumped into the room, followed by a much calmer male carrying heavy looking bags.
“Sorry for the interruption,” Akaashi said, setting their things down by the door, “Bokuto forgot how to speak normally again.”
Akaashi, possibly one of the few people Sakusa was actually relieved to see.
“How can you stay so calm when we have a game?! With our rivals?! Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to spike a ball at Usjihama’s face? You should be hyped, Akaashi!” Bokuto yelled, hitting Akaashi’s back with a solid thump. He turned to Atsumu with a wide grin and announced, “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
“Bokuto’s right,” Atsumu laughed, pulling on his tennis shoes. He glanced around the room for his own volleyball bag till Sakusa threw it at him. “Get yer stuff, omi, I want to get there before Tobio ‘n Oikawa do.”
“Hey, hey, hey, Sakusa, when are you gonna pick up your ass from the bleachers and join us? Atsumu told me you were quite the spiker back in high school!” Bokuto swung an arm over Sakusa’s shoulders. He was about to shake him off before Akaashi pried Bokuto away. Sakusa instead glared at Atsumu who shrugged innocently.
“I may have let something slip,” Atsumu said with a playful smile.
“I’m not touching any ball that you touch, Bokuto,” Sakusa remarked. He strapped on his mask and checked his bag for his suit in case of any unexpected incidents. “Besides, you have plenty of good spikers on your team.”
“Bokuto, leave Sakusa alone. If we don’t leave now, we might be late,” Akaashi ushered Bokuto out of the door.
“Akaashi!” Bokuto protested in a long drawl, but they were already heading down the hallway before Bokuto could say anything more. Sakusa nodded in clear gratefulness; one of these days, he would have to treat Akaashi to a cup of coffee. Or maybe he was a secret Spider-man fan, an autograph would do nicely-
“What are you standing around for? Let’s go.” The soft touch to Sakusa’s arm had him blinking in surprise, as Atsumu smiled towards him. His eyes were crinkled up in little crescent moons, like the one Sakusa liked to take photos of when he got the chance. Sakusa’s breath suddenly hitched and his chest felt hot.
But a second later, the softness in Atsumu’s expression vanished and he pulled on Sakusa’s arm, laughing all the way down the dorm hallway.
Sakusa could only follow him in a daze, too caught up in confusion. He hadn’t imagined that expression. Komori’s earlier words came back to him as the quartet walked to the university gymnasium.
“ -there’s no way he wouldn’t feel the same. ”
But the feelings Atsumu had, whatever they could be, weren’t towards Sakusa but towards Spider-man. Atsumu didn’t know who was underneath the mask, all he saw was the heroic, strong superhero that appeared to have his life all together.
When in reality, it was quite the opposite.
Sakusa saw his powers, his abilities, as a sort of shield for him. When Sakusa was in a slump from a lack of confidence, as if god-sent, he was bitten by a spider and received miraculous powers. It was if the world was telling him to change, to become a better person.
Spider-man, to the public, was confident and brave in everything he did. Sakusa was quiet and surly, not one to reach out to others. But in his black and red suit, with the mask concealing his nervous expressions, Sakusa felt like a different person. No one could judge him for his mistakes, not when he saved dozens of lives and defeated countless criminals. It-his superhero mask-was a safe place.
Atsumu adored that confident side of him, the superhero side of him. He wouldn’t have feelings for Sakusa.
If Atsumu was a hurricane of emotions, then Sakusa was a storm cloud: unassuming but filled with dangerous secrets.
“Are you nervous for the game?” Akaashi’s calm voice snapped Sakusa out of his deep thoughts. Bokuto and Atsumu were walking ahead, talking in loud voices about the approaching game. “You seem quieter than usual, you haven’t even insulted Atsumu yet.”
“Bokuto and Oikawa can do that for me,” Sakusa said as he shook his head, “But I’m fine, there’s nothing to be nervous about.”
Akaashi sighed and nodded in agreement. “Bokuto has been yelling about this game the entire week. I guess the whole team is excited to play against Ushijima and Hoshiumi again.” Akaashi had a fond look in his eye as he gazed at Bokuto’s back. “He’s like a child sometimes, I swear.”
“But you still date him,” Sakusa reminded him. The other chuckled and shook his head as if in disbelief.
“Yeah, I still do.”
“Hey! Walk faster!” Atsumu called back at them. “Wanna a piggyback ride or something?”
“Shouldn’t you be saving your energy for the game,” Sakusa retorted as he marginally walked faster to catch up with them.
“Sakusa’s right, ‘Tsum ‘Tsum, sometimes look drained out before doing one of your serves,” Boktuo agreed, “Should we have Kageyama or Oikawa start today?”
“What are you talking about?” Atsumu scowled at Bokuto and bumped his shoulder. “I’ll show you a perfect service ace today.”
“I hope so! Don’t get shown up by your teammates, eh?”
“Yah, worry about yerself-”
“We’re here,” Akaashi interrupted their arguing calmly. Even though the game had yet to start for another hour, the gym was already packed with excited spectators. The four pushed their way through the crowd to head to the team locker rooms on the farside of the gym. The university’s volleyball coach was standing outside the room like a menacing bouncer that kept away even the adoring crowds of fans. With his blonde hair and serious expression, he kept even the most avid adorer away from the team.
“Miya, Kotaro, hurry up and get changed,” He said gruffly, “Hurry up before someone tries to take photos with you.”
“Aw, Coach Ukai, don’t be so mean to the fans,” Atsumu refuted with a cheery wave to the nearby watchers, much to their delight.
“Speaking of fans, was Oikawa with you?” Ukai asked.
“Have you tried calling Iwaizumi yet?” Akaashi suggested politely.
“Ah, not yet, I’ll do that.” Ukai nodded gratefully to Akaashi before scowling at Bokuto and Atsumu, who were still waving at a growing crowd of admirers. “Hey, get inside already. Kageyama and Hinata are already here.”
“Oh? Already inside? Wow, they’re fast,” Bokuto immediately broke off and began to hurry inside the locker room. Before he entered, he spun around and blew an extravagantly obnoxious kiss towards Akaashi, who rolled his eyes at the display. “My next spikes will be for you, Akaashi!” He disappeared into the locker rooms, his loud laughter bouncing off the walls.
Ukai watched him go in before leaning towards Akaashi and asking, “You’ll be sitting near the sidelines, right?” Akaashi nodded solemnly and Ukai blew out a sigh of relief.
Atsumu waved one last time before he picked up his own bags to go inside, but then he stopped in his tracks and turned back around. He pointed at Sakusa, who narrowed his eyes in confusion.
“Keep your eyes on me during the game, ok, Omi-Omi? I’ll hit a service ace just for you.”
Atsumu’s voice was filled with confidence, and his eyes were blazing with a competitive fire. He locked gazes with Sakusa, heavy and level, and Sakusa felt a jolt of electricity run down his spine. He could blink before Atsumu turned away and the moment was broken.
“That was dramatic,” Akaashi remarked simply after Atsumu and Coach Ukai went inside. Sakusa offered a nod in lieu of a response, not wanting to talk about what just happened.
Keep his eyes on him? As if Sakusa could ever look away.
In the gymnasium, the atmosphere was filled with tense excitement. Cheering squads from both teams had already set up on opposite sides of the court, practicing their chants and passing out clappers. Sakusa and Akaashi maneuvered through till they found their university manager waiting by the sidelines.
“Good morning, Kiyoko,” Akaashi greeted. Kiyoka, a young pretty girl dressed in their team uniform, smiled and pointed to a small group of open seats right behind the team’s bench.
“Coach Ukai wants you to sit here, in case Bokuto acts up,” Kiyoko informed them, “I have to go help set up so I’ll see you when the game starts.”
Sakusa left them to their conversation and made his way to the bench. There was already someone sitting on one of them, knees to his chest in a black hoodie with a gaming device on his lap. Sakusa looked down to see who it was and asked in confusion, “Kenma?”
There was a quiet hum of affirmation and Sakusa continued with, “Why are you on this side of the court? Shouldn’t you be supporting your boyfriend?”
“I am supporting Kuroo, but my school is being too loud and I can’t do anything,” Kenma explained, not looking up from his game, “He knows I’m over here, so it’s fine.” Sakusa didn’t press the matter further, only setting his things down before sitting in the chair next to Kenma.
“You know we’re going to win this game, right?” Sakusa offered. He pulled out a small bottle of hand sanitizer, cleaned his hands, and settled back into his chair. He knew from experience how long volleyball matches could be, might as well be comfortable.
Kenma glanced over at him and said, “I wouldn’t be so sure. Kuroo and Ushijima have been working really hard with Semi on their plays.”
“Maybe, but we also have a group of competitive volleyball maniacs.”
“Have you asked him out yet?”
Sakusa openly recoiled in surprise, as he hurriedly turned towards a nonplussed Kenma. “What did you say?”
“Oh, sorry.” Kenma didn’t seem any bit alarmed by Sakusa’s hostile tone. “Is it the other way around? Did he ask you out?”
“W-who’s asking out who?” Sakusa couldn’t hide the shock in his voice. What was going on? He thought urgently.
“Atsumu.”
Sakusa sputtered and shook his head aggressively. “We’re not dating, stop thinking that!”
“Oh? Weird, I always saw you two staring at each other so I just assumed. Sorry.” Kenma bowed his head slightly as Sakusa stared at him agitatedly. Another person telling him about his feelings, another person telling him about Atsumu. Kenma didn’t seem to notice Sakusa’s turmoil as he was focused on his game
Sakusa clenched his fists and turned back to the volleyball court. He and Atsumu weren’t dating, not now nor ever. Even if he did-not that he had any, Sakusa reassured himself-have some sort of romantic attraction to his best friend, he would be ridiculous to act on it.
Atsumu didn’t deserve someone like him, he deserves someone honest.
Sakusa wouldn’t dare imagine the shock Atsumu would go through if he knew about Spider-man’s true identity. The betrayal, the feeling of being lied to for so long. It was too much, too frightening for Sakusa.
“Here they come,” Kenma murmured under his breath as the cheering sections for each team began to raise their voices.
The teams came out of the opposite hallways dressed in their respective team colors. A tall, black haired figure dressed in a blood red uniform waved cheerfully to Kenma, who returned it shyly.
“There go those idiots,” Akaashi grumbled and Sakusa looked to where he was looking. Their university team was boisterous as usual: Oikawa, Atsumu and Bokuto fooling around while Kageyama and Hinata looked positively shaking with excitement.
“Isn’t that essentially our entire team? A group of volleyball idiots?” Sakusa offered. Their team began gradually warming up and he watched Atsumu set a perfect ball for Bokuto, who hit it over the net with vigor. “Their form looks good today.”
“Atsumu will be serving on the first rotation today, so whatever he was going on about outside might come true.”
Akaashi’s words made Sakusa flinch, who remembered how Atsumu’s eyes burned into him.
“Or he’ll miss and Bokuto and Oikawa will tease him forever.”
“That too, not that Bokuto can be saying much about missing things.” With a nod of his chin, Akaashi gestured to the other side of the court. “Ushijima looks to be in good shape as well.”
“He’s always in good shape,” Kenma piped up. “He and Kuroo are brilliant.”
“Maybe.” There was a slight pause and Sakusa rolled his eyes, already anticipating Akaashi’s next sentence. “But Bokuto is better.”
“Kuroo can block Bokuto’s spikes any day.”
“Not when you have setters like ours.”
“Hey, pipe down, your arguing is going to give me a headache,” Sakusa complained, bumping Akaashi’s shoulder. In front of them, Coach Ukai and Kiyoko were putting down their things as the teams continued to practice.
“Who do you think is better, Sakusa?” Kenma asked in a matter-of-fact tone, “Kuroo or Bokuto?”
“Why would you ask him tha-“
“Atsumu, naturally,” Sakusa neatly interrupted Akaashi to both of his friends’ exasperation.
“You’re right, shouldn’t have asked him-“
Their banter lasted right up to when the referee blew the whistle to signal the start of the match. True to Akaashi’s word, Atsumu was serving first. Immediately, the cheering squad quieted down to the point where one half of the court was silent and the other half was as noisy as ever. Atsumu spun the ball a few times in his hands, before looking up, straight to where Sakusa was sitting, with the slightest smirk on his face.
Sakusa stiffened in his seat as Atsumu’s eyes seemed to silently dare him. He could sense it again, the weird spark he felt back in front of the locker room.
What was it?
“Are you watching me?” Atsumu’s eyes seemed to say, “Don’t take your eyes off. Watch me blow this entire gymnasium away.”
Sakusa didn’t move a muscle, didn’t even blink as with a dramatic flourish, Atsumu scored a perfect service ace.
How could he look away, when Atsumu was shining as bright as the sun, standing there at the end of the court?
“Guess he’s not just full of talk today,” Akaashi commented as they clapped and cheered. Atsumu looked particularly smug as he high-fived a begrudging Oikawa and Bokuto.
Sakusa gave a non committed hum as he watched Atsumu step back behind the court line for another serve. And hidden underneath his dust mask, he smiled. Here on the court, Atsumu showed off his skills and intuition that made him one of the National top players. He could prove to anyone that he belonged in his spot.
He was mesmerizing, and Sakusa couldn’t stop watching him.
“You’re smiling,” Kenma said simply.
“Am not,” Sakusa immediately refuted but Kenma looked unimpressed and Sakusa went back to sulking in his seat.
Atsumu’s next serve was received by the other team and the rally began. With both teams skilled and well known for their technical prowess, the rallies were intense and exciting to watch. Normally, Sakusa would focus on the ball, but when watching his university, his eyes wouldn’t stop straying to Atsumu. A set here for Hinata, a neat receive for Oikawa to pass, a block against a powerful spike.
It was near the end of the first set that Sakusa felt something was wrong.
It started as a buzz at first, barely noticeable, at the base of his neck. He passed it off as just the presence of people sitting behind him. But then the buzz started to grow, becoming more and more irritating till it was tingling his senses.
Something was wrong.
With a quick glance at Akaashi and Kenma, who were too focused on the game to pay attention, Sakusa checked his phone and his eyes grew wide.
There was a shootout happening at a downtown shopping district, with several injuries and casualties among the officers and civilians.
Sakusa’s grip on his phone tightened as he stared at the news article. It was still going on with live updates, which means there was still a chance to help.
He looked up at the volleyball game with despair. As much as Sakusa wanted to stay and support Atsumu and his team, there was no way he-no, Spider-man-could ignore this.
“I’m sorry, Atsumu,” He whispered. He turned towards Akaashi and said, “I have to go to the bathroom.”
Akaashi, who was in the middle of yelling at Bokuto to focus, merely gave a nod and scooted aside to make room for Sakusa to sneak by.
Thankfully, the rally was starting up again, so Sakusa could hurry so that Atsumu didn’t notice his absence. He walked calmly out of the gymnasium and once he was clear of the crowd, promptly sprinted to the nearest empty room. He stripped and changed into his superhero suit at lightning speed, pulling on his mask before swinging out towards the city.
By the time he arrived at the scene downtown, the situation seemed to have escalated even further. Civilians were crowding behind police barriers, whispering urgently to themselves and filming. Medics stood by, waiting patiently with their ambulance doors open for any wounded. Further down, in front of a large shopping department, several policemen positioned themselves behind various cars and barriers, holding their guns up.
When Sakusa swung past, someone pointed up at him and yelled, “It’s Spider-man!”
Immediately, the crowd started cheering his name, yelling encouragement as Sakusa waved once, before flipping towards where the policemen were. He always felt a surge of confidence whenever the people cheered him on, like they truly felt relieved by his presence.
The police captain, a large man with a classic handlebar mustache, looked relieved when Sakusa stopped in front of him.
“Spider-man, you came right on time,” The captain said gratefully.
“What’s the situation, captain?” Sakusa asked politely, looking towards the department building. He could see shapes moving inside, obscured by frosty windows and mannequins.
“A group of shooters barricaded themselves inside. Two have been apprehended but there’s still four more,” The captain responded. He rubbed a hand across his forehead tiredly. “We managed to get most of the workers and customers out, but they have a group of five hostages, including a child.”
“Demands?”
“Safe passage and one million dollars from the city.”
“Well that’s rather unreasonable,” Sakusa remarked dryly as the captain gave a low chuckle. “Ok, stay on standby for the hostages, I’m going on.” The captain nodded, and saluted him as he walked towards his men. Sakusa watched him leave, feeling slightly reassured by how much confidence the captain had in him, before looking at the store once more.
He tapped the side of his temple, focusing the eyes of his mask onto the moving shapes. When Sakusa first became Spider-man, he was forced to develop his own technology. Luckily, with the help of a few rich and computer science genius friends, Sakusa was well and properly equipped with the latest in technology.
“Two on the upper floor, two on the lower floor guarding the hostages,” Sakusa muttered to himself. It shouldn’t be too hard-Sakusa has dealt with plenty more before-but it never hurt to have caution.
As he swung up to the side of the store, hanging off by the tips of his webbed fingers and toes, Sakusa heard the distinct sound of camera shutters flashing. Briefly, he wondered if Kita, one of the moderators for a popular Spider-man fan blog, was watching and his mind drifted to Atsumu.
He’ll have to hurry to get back to the gymnasium before the game ended.
Sakusa hated doing anything messily, especially when it came to being Spider-man. As he climbed up one of the glass panels, Sakusa pressed a small metal button onto the surface, emitting stronger and stronger sound waves until the glass shattered into fine grit. He dropped into the store, the lights glaring overhead, and creeped his way over to where two of the attackers were guarding.
“Any news from the police?” One of them said gruffly to the other.
“Nah, we might have to start threatening if they don’t pay us soon.”
“I heard the crowd outside, what if Spider-man is here?”
The other shooter laughed, holding up his gun. It was a rather heavy duty weapon, nothing to be cocky about. “Then we’ll catch a little bug, nothing to worry about.”
“Are you sure about that?”
The moment Sakusa spoke, both men spun around in shock before raising their guns. But Sakusa shot a few well placed webs at the barrels, jamming the guns, before punching the men unconscious.
He tied the men up with one of his webs before slinging them out of the broken window, down to the waiting policemen below. Sakusa gingerly tossed down their guns as well-he never enjoyed those violent weapons.
Sakusa briefly debated if he wanted to save energy and take the elevator, but decided that the element of surprise would be much more efficient. So he opened the emergency stairwell and webbed down to the floor where the rest of the shooters were.
He crept alongside the wall, closer to where the hostages were tied up. One of the shooters had his gun trained on them, while the other was on the phone.
“No response,” The one on the phone grumbled. He threw the phone on the ground and picked up his gun, gesturing at one of the hostages, an older woman with tears falling down her face. “If they don’t respond, we’re gonna start sending them bodies.”
He stuck the gun’s barrel closer to the woman’s face and Sakusa sprung into action. He shot a web at the man, pulling him hard towards him so that Sakusa could knock him out with a kick. The other man aimed his gun at him hurriedly, shooting in anger but Sakusa was unfazed as he dodged the bullet and kicked the man sharply, sending him crashing into a rack of clothes.
The hostages cheered underneath their gags as Sakusa neatly cut them free. “Thank you, Spider-man,” The woman said, sobbing. Sakusa patted her on the shoulder a bit awkwardly before turning to the child, a young boy who looked no more than twelve years old.
“Are you alright?” Sakusa asked kindly. He was never amazing with children, but they were always too fascinated with his powers to care much.
“Are you really Spider-man?” The boy asked with amazement and admiration laced in every word. His eyes were red from crying but he hurriedly wiped the tears away as he stared at Sakusa.
“That’s me,” Sakusa affirmed, patting the boy on the head, “You’re safe now, so don’t be scared.” The boy smiled, wide and bright, and Sakusa gave him one last pat before standing up. He escorted the hostages carefully downstairs to where the policemen were waiting to bring down the rest of the shooters. Upon his appearance, the crowd let out a thunderous applause, taking dozens of photos.
Sakusa gave them one last wave before he shot a web up at the building and began to swing his way back to the gym. He doesn’t know how much time has passed since he left, so he could only pray that the match hadn’t ended yet.
The match was on the third set by the time Sakusa had finished changing. He scooted past people, inching his way to a confused Akaashi and Kenma.
“Where were you?” Akaashi demanded in a loud whisper.
“Busy,” Sakusa said curtly, “What’s the score?”
As soon as he said that, he heard Bokuto let out a loud cry, the sound of a ball hitting the court floor, and the tell tale blow of the referee’s whistle.
“We won,” Akaashi informed him dryly with a steely eye, “You literally disappeared for the entire game. Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing,” Sakusa answered before turning away from his friend. Kenma was already gone from his side, most likely heading to his own university, so Sakusa made his way down to where the team was celebrating their win.
“Congratulations,” Sakusa said when he found Atsumu in the middle of cheering with Hinata.
“Thanks!” Atsumu said cheerfully, but the look in his eye when he gazed at Sakusa seemed quite dull. There was no usual sparkle, or passionate fire, just a blank look as if Atsumu was analyzing him.
Sakusa was unnerved.
But before he could say anything, Coach Ukai called for the tram to return to the lockers. So Atsumu smirked, telling him he’d see him once he finished changing, and he followed the team.
Sakusa stood there, in the middle of the court, confused. If he wasn’t mistaken, Atsumu was acting rather indifferent to him. The last time the team had won an important game like this, Akaashi had to pry Atsumu off from hugging Sakusa too long before Sakusa could throw him into the nearest trash bin.
Maybe he was tired, Sakusa decided as he made his way outside the gymnasium. He stood there awkwardly for a few minutes waiting for Atsumu to come out of the locker room.
When Atsumu emerged, Sakusa was struck by how tense he was. It was like he was thinking hard about something as he looked at Sakusa.
“Is the team not celebrating?” Sakusa asked, trying to break the suddenly icy atmosphere.
“Later in the day, we have a few hours before because Coach has to go do something,” Atsumu answered in a quiet voice. Silence once again.
“You played well today,” Sakusa offered. What was wrong? He wondered, glancing over at Atsumu.
“Thanks.” He paused for a few seconds. “Did you see my two service aces in a row?”
No, Sakusa didn’t. “Ah, yes I did, good job. You finally made a few, huh?”
“Liar.”
Sakusa halted as Atsumu turned to stare at him angrily.
“You left, didn’t you?” Atsumu accused, “You were there for part of the first set and then you just left like you didn’t care.”
Sakusa gritted his teeth at Atsumu’s harsh tone. He couldn’t even deny anything, for he was sitting right behind the team bench so of course Atsumu would see his empty seat.
“No, I do care about your game-” He started to say but Atsumu interrupted his sentence.
“Then why did you leave?”
There was no answer, and Atsumu huffed angrily, crossing his arms and staring at Sakusa. “Hey, omi, I’m not a mind reader. You’re going to have to tell me what’s going on.”
“Sorry, something important just came up. That’s all.” Sakusa didn’t look at Atsumu when he explained his absence, but he could feel the disbelief radiating off his friend.
“Is something wrong? You know you can tell me anything, we’re friends.”
“Nothing is wrong. It’s just-” Sakusa hesitated, clenching his fists in his pockets. What was he to say? That he was secretly Spider-man? That he had weird feelings for Atsumu that he felt were misplaced? “You wouldn’t understand.”
It was the wrong thing to say. Sakusa knew that the moment the words left his mouth. Atsumu prided himself on being a good friend and being able to listen to his friends’ problems. And Sakusa had blatantly disregarded that by shutting himself off.
“Well, ok, if that’s how you feel.” Sakusa looked up as Atsumu shifted on the balls of his feet. “Then I guess you don’t think of me as a good friend to listen to you, huh?”
Sakusa’s eyes grew wide, and he made a motion as if he was to grab out on Atsumu’s arm, but Atsumu already took a step back and picked up his gym bag.
“I’ll see you at the celebration tonight,” Atsumu said simply, heading in the opposite direction. His eyes were cold, as if he didn’t believe who was standing in front of him. “Later, Sakusa.”
After countless times of asking Atsumu to stop nicknaming him, Sakusa never knew the sound of his own voice could hurt his heart so much.
He messed up.
To be continued..