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Osamu noticed it first before Atsumu even figured it out himself.
The Miya twins have always been observant of how people act around them, but it is Osamu who watches Atsumu just a little more closely, and it was he who noticed the slight changes in his twin’s usual boorish behaviour around the second-year VBC member with ink-dipped hair.
Atsumu, who usually tries to get away with doing the bare minimum of after-practice cleanup, lingers a little when he finds the upperclassman Kita Shinsuke cleaning each volleyball in the ball cart, Osamu noticed. It seemed like curiosity, at first. Kita-san eventually noticed, and beckoned to Atsumu to join him in wiping all the practice balls down. His stupid twin, of course, scurried away after that, only to be back at the same place the following day. That day, when Kita-san beckoned, Atsumu sat down obediently, took up a rag and cleaned along with him.
Osamu waited outside the gym, only for Atsumu to emerge about half an hour later. The twins fell into step together on the way home.
"You sure took your sweet time knowing that I was waiting."
"It would've been quicker if you helped too, fatass," Atsumu retorted. "I just wanted to help Kita-san a little bit. He's kinda weird that way, you know? Always wants every little corner clean, even if we all mess it up everyday."
"Whatever. Give me 700 yen. I want to buy takoyaki."
"Why am I spending on you?!"
"My stomach grew cold waiting for you to come out. It's your responsibility to warm it up."
Atsumu glared at him as he forked over the cash to the takoyaki stand owner.
When Kita was handed the captain's jersey in their second year, Osamu noticed Atsumu working harder than he had ever been for volleyball. He put in more hours into practice and worked somewhat diligently on warm ups and workouts (in his own, brash, Atsumu way.) Gin and Suna noticed as well, and while they thought Atsumu a bit of an asshole, they also recognised that he was getting better and stronger.
Only Kita ever seemed to reel Atsumu in, something that the setter didn't understand. Osamu saw his brother's jaw tense when Kita told him not to overdo the practice drills and serves, and when he'd forcibly turn off the gym lights when it got too late and too cold to play. Atsumu thought he was being held back. Osamu... well, Osamu saw something else. Samu knew that Tsumu only talked big about not caring what people say about him, but perhaps Kita’s care in everything, properly done, fascinated Tsumu. He was fascinated himself. And now it was certain that Kita, despite his deadpan personality, cared for everyone on his team, and maybe cared for Atsumu a tiny bit more.
It was the care package that did Atsumu in. Osamu knew this especially when his twin came into their room and flopped on the bottom bunk without a word, the small square note with Kita’s neat handwriting in one hand, the plastic bag of cold cures in the other. That was the moment—the point of no return, Osamu reckoned. Atsumu, who didn’t think himself worthy of it as much as he hungered for it, was shown their captain’s tough love.
Even when the third-years graduated, Osamu saw Atsumu hunger. Well, Atsumu was always hungry: for victory, for more volleyball, but his brother saw an underlying longing. He saw it when Atsumu's gaze lingered a little too long at the nicely framed photo of the team in front of the school motto banner (taken at Kita's behest), or at the small handmade fox keychain on the keys to the Inarizaki clubroom (Kita's small addition to the legacy of the clubroom keys. Atsumu still refused to tell the story of when their former captain turned it over to him.)
That care package, and moreso the sticky note, planted a small seed that Osamu saw grow—and bloom—from the first defeat against Karasuno at Harukou, to when they took the win back the year after, and to when their paths in life diverged-- his to establishing his own onigiri store, Atsumu’s to joining MSBY Black Jackal.
“Samu,” Tsumu said one day as they were packing their luggage for the move to Osaka, “I think I like Kita-san.”
Well, finally.
“I like making onigiri.”
“WHAT THE HECK KINDA REACTION IS THAT, AHO?!”
“OH I THOUGHT WE WERE PLAYING ‘STATE THE OBVIOUS’, IDIOT!”
“WELL WE’RE NOT AND I’M GONNA SHOVE ALL MY SOCKS INTO YOUR MOUTH IF—“
“Tsumu, you know how I said that light burned a little brighter in you than in me?”
Fingers stopped rolling socks. “... yeah?”
“Well, that light burns even brighter when he’s around ya, y’know?”
Osamu folded another shirt neatly and tucked it into his suitcase. “And I think that’s how you should be, all the time. You’re definitely more tolerable that way,” he jabbed, testing Atsumu's reaction.
Atsumu’s retort died on his lips and Osamu knew the message had been sent.
“Samu.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re goin’ there to ask for help with the onigiri, right?”
Osamu nodded quietly.
“I... I want to go with you.”
A sock connected with Atsumu’s head before his eyes got a chance to cloud.
“Don’t be stupid. You have tryouts, then practice, then your first big game.”
Atsumu tried to protest, but Osamu continued.
“I’ll make sure he watches your first game as starting setter for the Black Jackals, or die tryin’. So you better do your best to make it, and make good on your word to be the man he can be proud of. Don’t let me beat you at this.”
“... Yeah,” Tsumu replies. Osamu could hear the faint, choking break in his voice as he finished rolling the last of the socks, and closed the suitcase.
Atsumu was a master of keeping his word, like any good Kansai boy, and the day of his first game arrived.
Osaka-jo Hall was ablaze with lights, and Atsumu was pumped. Bokuto patted him on the shoulder, a ball of excitement himself and went on out to the court, as the players were introduced one by one.
“MSBY Black Jackal’s new starting setter, and one to watch out for, Miya Atsumu!” He runs out, and the crowd cheers.
The lights blinded him momentarily as he tried to scour the bleachers for a familiar face, when he heard a loud “OI, AHO!” from a much nearer place, closer to ringside.
He saw Osamu, grinning at him from the new Onigiri Miya booth, and beside him, in MSBY gear and a huge grin..
Kita.
His hair was cut a little closer to his face, which beamed at him with pride as he flashed him a peace sign from behind the Onigiri Miya counter. Atsumu tried to get the heat pooling in his cheeks under control as he took his place next to Inunaki and Meian in line. There was much to discuss, many questions to ask, but first he had to make Kita proud.