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It’s not like Osamu Miya really cared about finding his soulmate.
It was one of the many things he had in common with his twin brother, Atsumu. Maybe it was because the two of them already had each other, two sides of the same coin. The idea of being tethered to another soul was just not as exciting to them as it was to other people.
"What's even the big deal?" Atsumu grumbled, drawing a monster into the dirt with a stick. They were the only two kids in their class who hadn't gotten their soul mark yet, and Atsumu was tired of other kids making such a fuss over it. "They're so dumb."
Osamu didn't have to nod or verbally agree with his brother for him to know he felt the same way.
"Your monster isn't as cool as mine," he said instead.
Across the playground, one of their classmates watched the twins as they started up another fight and whispered "I bet they don't even have soulmates.”
If Osamu had heard that, he'd shrug and say he didn't really care if he didn't have one.
The next morning, when he woke up he didn't feel any different. It was his brother who noticed the words on Osamu's right wrist.
Two salmon and one tuna with mayonnaise please, was etched into the skin where it hadn't been the day before.
Atsumu couldn't stop cackling. "How stuuuupid!" He said, waving his own wrist in the air. "It would be somethin’ dumb about food! Mine’s waaay better.”
I look forward to seeing you try.
Their mother sighed. "Why is everything a competition with you two?" she mumbled before turning to her (slightly) quieter son and asking "How do you feel, Osamu?"
He stared at the words on his arm.
It's not like Osamu Miya really cared about finding his soulmate, but at least whoever it was liked onigiri.
"Hungry."
♡
He was always a few steps ahead.
In fourth grade when he was chosen to be the setter, he was indifferent but not surprised. He did enjoy rubbing it in his brother's face; and when Atsumu declared he would be a better setter than him, it was even less surprising.
It was always that way, wasn't it? The both of them neck and neck, gaining on each other simply because the idea of being even just a millimeter behind pissed them off.
But volleyball was different for Atsumu. It was almost like he was competing with himself, with the very nature of the game. Osamu loved the sport, but he couldn't deny that when it came to passion, one day he might be left behind.
One day. But until then he figured he could enjoy being the one in the lead.
And sometimes when no one was looking, he would find himself staring at the words on his right wrist and wonder if his so-called soulmate was anything like him.
♡
Day two of nationals wasn’t supposed to end that way.
They’d lost. ‘Tsumu had pulled out all the stops, refusing to yield until the end, and now they were both silent as the bus took the team home; not because of the loss (Atsumu was a rather sore loser and made sure everyone knew it,) but because of what had happened after.
“Shouyo-kun,” his brother had belted out, pointing right at the boy who’d turned the entire third set upside down, “One day, I’m gonna set for you.”
There was a palpable burst of energy that crackled through the air. Osamu could feel the way it traveled along his skin. Everyone’s eyes were on the tiny crow and the fox that had him in his sights.
Everyone, well, except the foxes own twin brother and the pinch server standing on the sidelines, whose eyes were locked on each other as if the energy in the air belonged to them. Osamu knew immediately where to look to find Karasuno's number twelve, as if there was a voice in his head telling him what to do. Look at me , it said.
The entire match he’d been aware of the feeling, constantly turning his head to find the boy on the bench, on the court, in the back of his mind. Tadashi Yamaguchi, he’d whisper to himself later when he recalled the name that had boomed through the speakers when Karasuno scored a service ace.
With his attention solely focused on the freckled first year, he hadn’t caught what Hinata had said in response to Atsumu's crazy outburst. In fact, most of his teammates were already lining up, but Hinata stayed for just a second longer to smile at Atsumu with a bright grin and gleaming, challenging eyes.
“I look forward to seeing you try,” Osamu would have heard if he'd been paying attention.
Forcing himself to tear his gaze away from Yamaguchi, Osamu stared at his brother whose face was slack, expressionless.
“Loser’s last attempt to look cool, huh?” he said before Atsumu whacked him half heartedly, clearly shaken.
He’d tell Osamu later about what Shouyo had said, how it matched word for word the mark on his arm. Osamu would ask how he felt about it.
Without hesitation, Atsumu would answer with a terrifying look on his face. “Like I have some training to do.”
Atsumu never called soulmates stupid after that.
♡
It’s not like Osamu finally having a boyfriend was the reason he was so excited for nationals. That would be dumb, and far too embarrasing. (He wasn’t ‘Tsumu.)
But walking into the stadium with someone’s hand to squeeze sure was nice.
Even though the hand in question didn't belong to his soulmate.
“I’m gonna go say hi to the alums,” Suna said, nudging his shoulder softly. “Don’t tell your brother though. It’s a surprise they’re here.”
Osamu didn’t bother mentioning that Atsumu probably had too many other things on his mind to even process that his juniors had come to watch him play: things like Karasuno’s second year Hinata Shouyo and his intense eyes and freaky jumps and his bright smile. All Atsumu’s words.
Yeah, his brother had pretty much been waiting for this moment since last year.
Osamu pointedly did not look at his wrist. Just because his twin had found his soulmate, and actually seemed interested, didn’t mean Osamu was suddenly going to start caring. He had a boyfriend and he was happy and for all he cared his soulmate was off spending their weekend with someone of their own.
“I heard Karasuno’s pinch server from last year is a starter now. They say he has some wicked receives,” said a passing player from another team. Karasuno must have arrived. Osamu looked around to see if Atsumu had heard but his brother was nowhere to be found.
Oh well.
Karasuno’s pinch server, huh? It wasn’t hard to conjure up a mental picture of the boy. Forest green hair and a face full of freckles, a killer serve and eyes that Osamu still thought about after a particularly good game for some reason. He was glad to know he might have the chance to face off against him across the net if Inarizaki went up against them face to face.
He imagined it. Yamaguchi Tadashi —he’d never forgotten his name— watching him, waiting to see what he’d do next. He could practically feel him eyeing him down. Look at me. Look at me.
“'Samu!”
He turned around, his boyfriend’s voice snapping him out of his trance. “Hey babe, how’d it go?”
As he listened to Suna catch him up on what all his old upperclassmen were up to nowadays, he couldn’t shake the feeling he was missing... something.
He looked back, searching for the something he couldn’t name. He reached out but there was nothing for him to grab on to.
Walking away, he rubbed his wrist without thinking.
♡
Life went by in a blur of fist fighting his twin brother and learning how to make rice balls from youtube videos at two in the morning when his household was finally quiet.
(“Aren’t you going to bed? We have an extra long practice tomorrow and I need you at your best.”
“Shut up and go to bed already, ‘Tsumu.)
Deciding not to continue playing volleyball anymore hadn’t been as hard as he thought it would. It just felt...simple. It felt right. He still got a lot a shit from his damn brother, but he knew that all the jabs and insults had stopped holding any weight to them long ago.
They both knew he’d made the right choice, even if Atsumu would never admit it.
Breaking up with volleyball had been only a little harder than breaking up with Suna. Long distance wasn’t easy on anyone, and with his restaurant taking up all his time, the relationship just sort of fizzled out.
He did kind of miss it though. The feeling of having someone, at least.
Osamu looked into the stadium —he had a pretty good view of the broadcasting screen from where he was standing— and watched as his brother set the ball to the love of his life. His soulmate.
He sighed. No point in being jealous. He had customers to serve.
Ah yes, his onigiri stand. His silent, pathetic attempt to find his soulmate through their apparent connection with food. Only, in a business like his, he found that a lot of people ordered—
“Two salmon and one tuna with mayonnaise please.”
Wide green eyes looked back at him and Osamu could hardly believe who was standing at the front of the line. Karasuno’s former pinch server, Yamaguchi Tadashi. He looked like he was shaking a little bit. Honesty, Osamu was struggling not to do the same.
It’s just a coincidence , he told himself as he prepared the order that just so happened to match the words written across his very own wrist.
It had to be a coincidence...
Surely if Yamaguchi was his soulmate, he would have known by now. They must have spoken at some point during their matches, right? He went through every memory from every nationals tournament and came up blank.
Seriously?
How the fuck had he never spoken to the guy yet he could picture his face with such clarity even after so many years?
Oh. Oh.
Damn, ‘Tsumu was going to get a kick out of this.
“Thanks, come again,” Osamu said, rather overly enthusiastic. His fingers twitched when they brushed Tadashi’s over the counter. He almost didn’t let go of the bag. He didn't want to.
“Thanks,” Tadashi muttered, pausing to stare at where their hands were touching before pulling back abruptly, mouth open and eyes darting from Osamu’s mouth to his covered wrist back to his hands.
There was a line forming but Osamu didn’t care. Customer service was the last thing he was thinking about in that particular moment. “ Oh, hey! It's you." Shit. "Uh…From Karasuno!" Fuck. "You were the one with that real nasty jump floater!"
Smooth.
“Aah,” he replied, looking both hopeful and disappointed. “It’s Yamaguchi."
Oh yeah. Flirting 101: Pretend Not To Know Their Name. Osamu wanted to scream.
“Oh yeaaahh, this is Sendei. Duh, it’s your home turf.” God, he even knew where he was from and he’d never even spoken a word to him. How had he been so oblivious?
“Yeah, but even if it wasn’t being held here in Sendei, there’s still no way I would miss this game."
His hair was shorter, but his face hadn’t changed. That same bashful smile, those eyes that Osamu just couldn’t look away from. “Heh,” his eyes lingered. “I bet you wouldn’t.”
They stood like that, neither of them looking away.
“Osamu, can I ask you a question?”
Please. “Yea?”
“What does your right wrist say?”
♡
“Hey babe,” Osamu grumbled, reaching across the hotel room’s bed only to find the other side of the mattress vacant. “Babe?”
Yamaguchi popped his head out of the bathroom door, drying his hair with a towel. “Hm?”
“What time is it?”
“Probably time for you to get dressed. You are the best man.”
Osamu peeked at his boyfriend from under the covers and sighed. Fuck if he wasn’t the happiest man on earth. “Damn that ‘Tsumu. For once he’s one step ahead of me.”
It’s not like Miya Osamu had been looking for his soulmate but he sure as hell wasn’t going to ever let him go now that he found him.