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Miya Atsumu does not care about what other people think.
He doesn’t need approval for him to know who he is and what he wants. That’s why he’s so honest and blunt with his words and actions, having no filter. He knows that some people don’t like him because of this; and honestly, it doesn’t bother him. Never has.
Miya Atsumu truly doesn’t care about what other people think about him. So why is he suddenly so self-conscious around his teammate and friend, Hinata Shouyou?
Why is it that just being around Hinata makes him so… happy? When did he start to look forward to seeing him, so much so that sometimes it was the highlight of his day? What was happening to Atsumu that whenever he made a good play he was hoping that Hinata had seen?
This is Atsumu’s current worry.
Atsumu can’t deny that at the moment, Hinata is on his mind a lot more than he cares to admit.
He hasn’t even said a word of this to Osamu, probably the only person in the world that he would dare open up to willingly–so the situation was dire, since it was just him alone with his thoughts.
He just wasn’t used to feeling so vulnerable, exposed. He has never had these feelings for anyone before, too caught up in his career to ever be in a relationship.
Hinata was making Atsumu feel things that he wasn’t sure that he was capable of feeling.
Atsumu’s current plan was to do absolutely nothing about all of this. If he didn’t acknowledge these emotions, then Atsumu didn’t have to go through the whole ordeal of facing this new aspect of himself. He could try and continue his normal, peaceful life as a professional volleyball player.
However, it would be that there people in Atsumu’s life that would not let things stay peaceful forever; such was his life.
~
Bokuto corners Atsumu one day after practice, after everyone else had gone home or were busy in the lockers. Perfect timing.
“Hey, Tsumu Tsumu! You got a minute?” Bokuto asks, his usual cheery self on display. He was displaying no malice or anything of that sort, but there was still an energy about him that made Atsumu decidedly curious.
“Oh. Uh sure, what’s up?” Atsumu says, not sure about what exactly Bokuto wants to tell him.
Bokuto smiles and puts his hand on Atsumu’s shoulder, in what is supposed to be a comforting gesture, but it just makes Atsumu wrinkle his eyebrows a little.
“Look, as Hinata’s senior and mentor—and as someone that cares about him a lot—I just want to let you know that I give you my full blessing.”
Bokuto’s voice is one hundred percent totally serious.
Atsumu’s brain stops working.
Huh?
“Your what?” Atsumu blinks, and Bokuto just grins even wider than he was before.
“My blessing!” Bokuto says, like it answers Atsumu’s question.
Now Atsumu just feels a headache coming on.
“Okay, your blessing. I get that, but your blessing for what?”
“For you and Hinata being a thing! Duh!” Bokuto says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “I think it’s nice that you two are dating, I just want to show you my support!” He declares, a triumphant hand in the air.
“We, we aren’t dating??” Atsumu says, face instantly lighting up a nice shade of pink.
“Oh.” Bokuto says, hand coming back down. “Are you sure?”
“What do you mean am I sure? Of course I am! Ya don’t see us kissing or nothing!” Atsumu protests, and just the thought of kissing Hinata does not make him blush even harder, nope.
“I guess that's true? I just thought you two weren’t super into that kind of public stuff. But hey, you guys hold hands! I’ve seen it at the bar sometimes! That’s a couple thing to do you know.”
“As friends! We hold hands as friends! And that’s only recently!” Atsumu complains, palms suddenly very sweaty.
“I’m hurt Tsumu, you don’t even hold my hand as a friend!” Bokuto says back, and if Atsumu is reading it right, he was totally teasing him. Why did people like to do that so much? Hinata doesn’t do that.
“I didn’t know that you wanted to!” Atsumu says, and he hates how now he can’t get the image of kissing Hinata out of his mind now. Hinata was very cute and his whole entire face did look super soft—and nope, he can’t deal with this right now. “Anyway, no, we ain’t dating! Sorry to burst your bubble.”
“Well, I was just saying. But yeah, well if you guys really aren’t a thing now then... don’t worry! You’ll figure it out eventually then I guess.” Bokuto reassures him.
Why was Bokuto being so weird?
“Figure out what?” Atsumu says, voice cracking just a bit.
“You’ll see. It took me and Keiji a while to figure it out too.” Bokuto says with a fond smile, and Atsumu chooses to pretend like he has no idea what Bokuto is insinuating there.
They decide to leave it at that.
He falls asleep that day thinking about one certain bright tangerine in his life and how maybe he does want to kiss him. As more than just a friend too, even.
~
Hinata Shouyou in a way, does care about what people think about him.
Not in the way that it holds him back; but rather in the way that he makes him want to improve, never settling for just “good enough.”
Ever since high school, Hinata has wanted to prove himself not only to his teammates, but to the whole world. He knows and he remembers how people used to treat him back in those days. They always underestimated, didn’t take him seriously until he showed them upfront how wrong they were to ever see him as anything less than a threat.
Hinata has conquered, and as he looks back on it, he’s made it quite a long way.
So how was it that now there was something he couldn’t conquer and destroy? Something that he couldn’t practice until he perfected?
That something was Miya Atsumu.
Hinata wasn’t dumb, he was aware that he had caught feelings. He just didn’t know what the hell to do about it.
He and Atsumu had gotten so much closer ever since that fateful day that Atsumu had told him so bluntly: “One day I’ll set for you.” (Yes, he thought about that day quite a lot now, even if at the time he had no idea which twin was talking to him.) So Hinata was more sure about being able to read Atsumu. Still though, he wasn’t sure if Atsumu even thought of him in that way, or if there was even a possibility of it ever happening.
So for now, Hinata just savors the small things. The quick touches between matches and in post game hangouts. The jokes that they share that no one else laughs at, stuff like that.
Hinata Shouyou is amazing at a lot of things, but knowing how to properly confess is not one of them. He wants to just see where things will go, if they go anywhere; not wanting to lose what they already have.
Unbeknownst to Hinata, there are certain forces at hand that will help things along.
~
“You’re staring, again.” Sakusa says, in a monotone way that still somehow holds so much judgement.
“Oh! No I wasn’t.” Hinata flat out lies, caught red handed.
Nope, he was not staring at Atsumu with a wistful look on his face.
Sakusa raises an eyebrow. He was really good at showing his emotions with just his eyebrows.
“I have eyes you know. You were definitely looking at number 13 over there, like more than what’s socially acceptable probably.”
“Fine. Fine you got me.” Hinata sighs, Sakusa was too smart to even think he could lie to and get away with it.
“What’s the big deal anyway? Aren’t you two going out or something?” Sakusa says, matter-of-factly and Hinata makes a sound that sounds more like a tire squeak than anything resembling a human noise.
Hinata feels his face set on fire.
“No! No we aren’t. Atsumu definitely isn’t…” Hinata trails off. He nervously wrings his hands.
“Isn’t what?” Sakusa says, questioning.
“Isn’t… I dunno. I don’t think he likes me like that.” Hinata replies, and that thought makes him a little sad. Why did it make him sad?
Yearning was hard.
Sakusa snorts and laughs a little. Hinata looks at him quizzically, what was he laughing at?
“What?”
“You know what Hinata, don’t even worry about it.” Sakusa says, and Hinata wants to protest but in the end he decides to let it go.
Talking more would make the whole situation more real, so he goes back to stealing glances at Atsumu. Sakusa doesn’t call him out anymore.
See, the thing is that Sakusa knows a lot more than he lets on. He seems aloof sometimes; but he notices things about people that they aren’t even aware of themselves. Recently he has been noticing that whenever Hinata stares at Atsumu, Atsumu actually tends to stare back in a rather non-platonic way. (Of course, Hinata never seems to catch on to this.)
Honestly he’s not sure how the hell Hinata hasn’t noticed this yet. Hopeless, those two were.
Unbeknownst to Hinata (and Atsumu by extension), Sakusa has a plan in the works that Bokuto is also in on.
Contrary to what people might think about him, Sakusa does care for his teammates. He also figures that Atsumu and Hinata getting over their emotional constipation would be for the benefit of everybody; they would stop getting distracted during practice as much, at least.
The plan might be nothing innovative, but he is sure that it will work like a charm when it is their away game next week.
~
Bastards.
Absolute bastards, is what Atsumu thinks Sakusa and Bokuto are. Sakusa more than Bokuto (just in general in life), but still.
“What do you mean, there’s only one bed?” Atsumu asks, going a little bit insane, but holding it in for both his and Hinata’s sake.
See, Atsumu has absolutely no evidence that those two are the ones behind this; but Atsumu is smarter than people give him credit for.
He might have a one track mind and the emotional intelligence of a brick, but he could tell on the whole bus ride there that Sakusa and Bokuto were definitely looking at him and Hinata and snickering occasionally.
There was no other explanation for who was behind this hotel room mixup.
“I’m sorry sir. That’s what you two have booked. A room under the names of Miya Atsumu and Hinata Shouyou correct?” The nice receptionist lady says, who is only doing her job.
“Y-Yeah. That’s us.” Atsumu confirms, accepting defeat. There was obviously no use in making a fuss about how many beds were in the room.
“I’m really sorry, but everything else is booked right now so we can’t switch you to another room. My apologies.” She says to him.
Atsumu takes the keys. He has no other choice.
“Nah it’s fine. Just doing your job.” He says, going to break the news to Hinata who’s currently at a vending machine down the hall.
“Hey Shouyou?” He says, once he spots Hinata.
“What’s up? Did you get the keys?”
“Yeah, but uh, you should know. That there’s kind of. Only one bed?” Atsumu says, bracing for whatever Hinata’s reaction is going to be.
“Oh.” Hinata says, an unreadable expression on his face.
Oh indeed.
“I mean I can sleep on the floor, or on the chair. It ain’t a big deal? I’ve done it before and it’s not that bad I think—” Atsumu rambles and Hinata cuts him off.
“No! No, you don’t have to do that. I’m fine with it. With sharing? Really.” Hinata promises, and unbeknownst to Atsumu it really took a lot of courage for Hinata to admit as much.
Atsumu almost can’t believe it. It’s like one of those stupid romance movies that Osamu secretly watches and he does not want to think about the implications of that.
They were really going to sleep on one bed that night?
Sharing? Together?
This is fine. Everything is fine.
Of course.
“Ah. Okay.”
~
So that’s how they got to where they are now.
In a rather nice hotel room in Tokyo, with only one bed.
One bed.
Just for them two.
They put it off for a while. Sitting decidedly everywhere but the bed. They sit on the floor, on the couch, even hanging out in the absurdly large bathroom for a bit.
Even though the game was tomorrow and they should have both checked out for the night already; the both of them just couldn’t get their minds to settle down enough for sleep.
Hinata feels like he is going to explode. Both because he is admittedly a little sleepy; and also because he can’t deal with whatever is happening to his brain because he can’t stop staring at Atsumu.
He has really nice eyebrows. His undercut was also freshly done. Hinata kind of wishes he was running his fingers through it.
Damn it.
It’s a little past midnight, and the tension is starting to become a little much.
“I’m going to bed now.” Hinata says, calm. As calm as he can manage right now.
“Guess I will too.” Atsumu agrees, and Hinata can’t tell how he’s feeling.
Now they’re both on the bed.
It’s a pretty standard hotel room bed, it’s a king size though, so there’s lots of room to spread around. It’s big and white and fluffy, comfortable.
If it weren’t for the emotions that were swirling around in Hinata’s brain, he would have knocked out as soon as he head hit the pillow.
Atsumu is just, kind of sitting there, not knowing what to do either. He’s just pointedly looking at his knees.
Hinata decides he has had enough of this tension. He isn’t totally sure why now, and why here: but he decides he’s going to do something about all these unnecessary feelings.
“So, I think we need to talk.”
“Ah. Yeah, Talk.” Atsumu says nervously.
Hinata feels like Atsumu is on the same wavelength, but he’s just so nervous that he finds himself unable to say anything coherent.
“Um. Atsumu? Do you? I’m not sure how to say it. Uh well, it’s just that…” Hinata trails off, again fidgeting with his hands as he sits back up on the bed.
Atsumu is the one that makes the first move.
His lips suddenly press against Hinata’s. It’s a sweet, chaste kiss. Just a quick press that catches him off guard and is over as soon as he realizes what’s happening.
Still though, it’s a kiss.
Hinata is at a loss for words, but he just thinks: Finally.
Atsumu's face is lighting up something fierce, and Hinata thinks he looks really, really cute.
He also kind of can’t believe that this just happened.
Atsumu coughs nervously, bashful. Nothing like how he usually is, and it just endears Hinata to him even more.
“Do you like me Shoyou?” Atsumu finally asks. Finally putting it into words after all this time, the thing that he wanted to ask.
He’s not sure why he’s never noticed it before, but Hinata sees now that Atsumu blushes pink. It really isn’t fair how cute he was. But who said life was fair?
Hinata at that moment, decides that it’s his turn to be brave as well. So he answers by kissing Atsumu back.
This time the kiss is just a little longer, still chaste. They’re both shy and Hinata doesn’t want to pressure Atsumu. Still, it’s perfect. Atsumu’s lips are surprisingly soft and he can’t properly explain it but it just feels.
Right.
Hinata pulls away, not before leaving a quick peck on Atsumu’s check, and even that leaves his own heart fluttering, mirroring how Atsumu is only feeling.
Hinata hopes that he can keep learning more and more about Miya Atsumu.
“I’ll take that as yes?” Atsumu finally says after a few moments, and this time Hinata feels his own face grow progressively warmer.
Hinata responds by laughing, inviting and shy, and it makes Atsumu feel warm in turn.
“Yeah, how did you know?” Hinata says, reaching for his hand, shy but brave.
“Just a hunch.” Atsumu replies, reaching for Hinata in turn, clasping their hands together. Atsumu’s hands are a little sweaty, but Hinata just holds on even tighter.
They sit there side by side on the bed, just enjoying each other. It’s a comfortable silence, and the weight of their hands together feels like something akin to being at home.
“Hey uh, can I ask something?” Atsumu says, a dopey smile on his face.
“What is it?” Hinata is well aware that he is also smiling like a dork right now, but he really doesn’t care.
“Well, since we finally kissed and held hands and all that… would it be okay to hug you?” Atsumu asks, and Hinata has to stop himself from kissing him again.
Then Hinata decides, why should he stop himself? He kisses Atsumu again, and he can’t help but smile when he feels Atsumu smile against him first.
Hinata nods out a yes, saying that they can hug.
It’s a little awkward, but mostly sweet. Perfect.
They still have a lot to talk about, but they both decide that they can do more of that later. They did the hardest part already; admitting that they did in fact have feelings for each other, so the rest could wait another time.
Hinata fits perfectly into Atsumu’s arms as he burrows into his chest. (Atsumu really wanted to be the big spoon this time, and Hinata was happy to oblige.)
It tickles a little bit, but it doesn’t bother Atsumu one bit. Atsumu rests his head on top of Hinata’s and he indulges in nuzzling the top of his fluffy head, something that he’s been wanting to do for such a long time and was definitely worth the long, long wait. They both can’t help but sigh happily, feeling a little lightheaded from happiness.
Hinata likes the feelings of being held by Atsumu, and Atsumu likes knowing that Hinata wants to be there in his arms.
It’s nice. Really nice.
It feels like this was always meant to happen.
Why did I wait this long to confess?
That is what they both think as they slowly drift off to blissful sleep.
They’re definitely both glad now, that there was only one bed.
~
That next day, Bokuto and Sakusa find a fruit basket delivered to their room.