Chapter Text
Kita still does not know what prompted it, but sometime in the middle of his 3rd year of high school, Atsumu started spending more time with him.
Instead of heading to school with his twin, Atsumu would somehow wake up extra early to meet up with Kita at the junction where their streets meet. Atsumu would go to his classroom under the pretext of asking for help with his studies during lunch breaks. And rather than head straight home with his twin after practice, Atsumu would volunteer to clean the gym with Kita.
“Is he bothering you too much, Kita-san?” Aran asks, after seeing Atsumu leave their classroom after the bell had rang. “If it’s too much, you can say no to him. He’ll sulk but he’ll get over it quickly.”
“It’s fine, it’s no bother at all,” Kita promptly replies. “I appreciate the company and the chance to get closer to my kouhai .”
“If you say so.” Aran remains uneasy with the thought of Atsumu constantly bothering Kita, and it shows on his face.
“I would tell him myself if he were bothering me, it’s completely fine, Aran-san,” Kita repeats.
He means it. Kita doesn’t mind the silence that comes with being on his own, but maybe, just maybe, his days have been livelier with Atsumu around.
—
Atsumu asks for his second button on his graduation day.
This request is followed by a pause, as Atsumu fidgets. After a while, he looks Kita in the eyes and says, “Kita-san, will you go out with me?”
Atsumu’s voice is unusually soft.
Kita blinks once, twice, wonders if he’s mishearing things. But he looks into Atsumu’s eyes and sees nothing but sincerity.
He would like to say yes. Atsumu may be too blunt at times, but he is earnest in everything he does. He is loud and bright and unafraid to venture into the unknown.
And perhaps in between their shared walks and lunch breaks he had grown fond of Atsumu.
But.
There was always a but, after all. Atsumu has talent and passion in heaps, he would and should see the world from the very top. And Kita had decided to remain in Hyogo, to stay grounded to his home.
Logic and feelings clash, as Atsumu continues to look at him expectantly.
“Not now,” Kita replies.
“Not now ?” Atsumu questions.
“Follow your dreams first, Atsumu,” Kita continues, “And when you’ve decided to come back home, I’ll be here.”
Before Atsumu could protest, Kita places the button in Atsumu’s hand—an unspoken promise between them.
Atsumu closes his hand around the button, and pulls Kita close with his other arm. “I’ll make it big, make it to the world stage, then you’ll hafta go out with me! No, you’ll have to marry me by then!”
Kita’s reply is a rare smile.
—
It has been five years since that promise.
True to his word, Atsumu became a professional volleyball player in a Division 1 team—the first step in his promise of making it to the world stage. Kita watches all his matches on TV, collects every newspaper and magazine clipping that featured Atsumu in an album.
While Atsumu makes his name known in the athletic world with his flashy serves and tosses, Kita’s life is much more simple. His days are spent under the rays of the sun—tilling the soil, checking his irrigation system, and caring for his crops. It’s a demanding yet fulfilling life.
He takes a short break on Sunday afternoons to have tea with his grandmother, telling him about his days at their farm, assuring her that he was glad to take up the job of caring for their ancestral land.
That Sunday, his grandmother is more chipper than usual, which doesn’t escape Kita’s notice.
“You seem excited about something, granny,” he remarks, as he pours tea for the two of them.
His grandmother nods and smiles. “My friend Ushijima-san said she’s been worrying about her grandson, he still has no plans of getting married anytime soon. And I couldn’t help but think about you as well, Shin-chan.”
Kita gives a noncommittal hum in reply; this is something his grandma brings up every once in a while, after all.
“Ushijima-san actually asked me if we could arrange an omiai for you and Wakatoshi-kun. We think you would get along, he’s a nice young man and he plays volleyball too, Shin-chan.”
Kita nearly choked on his tea. “I would like to decline, granny.”
“Why? Is there anyone you’re seeing, Shin-chan?”
Atsumu flits through his mind. Still, Kita replies with, “Not right now, granny. But someday, I will be.”
His grandmother lets out a small huff. “Don’t you have any plans of settling down anytime soon?”
“Granny, it’s not something I wish to rush,” Kita says with a laugh.
Kita’s hand curls around his chest, ghosts around where his second button was.
“But you don’t have to worry about me growing old alone.”