Archive of Our Own ^beta

The door of the clubroom closed with a loud clunk, finally bringing with it even the last echoes of a tired happy chorus of good job today, see you tomorrow, thank you captain.

Sakamichi stayed still for a only a couple of seconds after that, his hand still raised to wave goodbye, his smile - his captain smile, the responsible and reliable one – still in place.

Then, he promptly let out a tired sigh, letting himself feel the tiredness of the day, his legs suddenly wobbly and trembling, and the smile on his lips turning into a fatigued, weak, yet satisfied one.

He fell on his knees, still smiling, weary mind finally able to come to a stop, his legs too tired after the race that had just ended to keep him up.

He felt drained, exhausted, and at the same time satisfied and happy and proud. Proud of the team, proud of the victory they had brought home, proud of Danchiku for showing everyone his strength, and the fruit of his hard work.

And now, now that he was alone in the clubroom he also let himself feel relieved. Relieved because his choices had been right, because his strategy had worked, because he hadn't messed up in his first race as captain of the Sohoku racing team. He had tried his best to bury the doubts and fear, and now that everything had worked out, he could let out a reassured sigh.

There were a lot of things Sakamichi didn't expect when he entered high school – actually, none of the things that happened and were now part of his everyday life had been something he had ever imagined happening; starting from making friends, joining a sport club, actually being good at it, to making even more friends, and becoming the two-times national champion of road racing.

No, none of these were things Sakamichi could ever have expected.

And now, now he was captain. Another thing he would have never expected suddenly becoming real before his still incredulous eyes.

It was like something out of a dream, a dream that Sakamichi didn't even know he could have.

What he did expect though, when he accepted Teshima decision and stepped up to inherit his position, was that it would be hard, energy draining and probably too much for him.

He let out another sigh, still somehow smiling even despite his mind getting more and more tired as the seconds passed by. It wasn't just the race – it had been hard, sure, but Sakamichi had experienced way worse, he was used to the heavy limbs and hurting muscles after two years of racing. But his limbs weren't just heavy with the exertion and his muscles weren't just hurting because he had pushed them so much; no, they were heavy and tired and hurting for the weight of responsibility, the weight of the team looking at him with respect and starry eyes and respect and too many expectation that he wasn't sure he could meet.

Hazily, he wondered how did Kinjou and Teshima do it without going mad.

Like an answer to his unspoken doubts, two hands came to rest on his shoulders, heavy and warm and grounding, and everything that Sakamichi needed.

“Come on, Sakamichi, let's go”, Imaizumi's low and soft voice said from his left, the most soothing sound to Sakamichi's ears in that moment.

“Have you fallen asleep, Onoda-kun?”, followed, almost at the same time Naruko's voice, so loud and energetic in the quiet of the room, and just the sound of it was enough to push through the veil of fatigue that was steadily swallowing Sakamichi.

Opening his eyes that he didn't even remember closing, he looked up at them. The feeling of butterflies swarming in his belly as soon as he met their warm eyes was familiar and welcome. Their smiles, their touches, their soft, tender, and encouraging words never failed to make Sakamichi feel all too many emotions at once – so many emotions he thought only existed in shoujo anime, turning his mind and his heart and his whole being in a puddle of fuzzy unknown feelings, that left him embarrassed out of his mind and yet, at the same time, happy and warm and weirdly whole and safe.

“Mh”, he said, his eyes falling close again for a second even against his will as he instinctively leaned into the touch. “I'm tired”, he sighed.

The fond smiles Naruko and Imaizumi showed him were enough to make blood raise to Sakamichi's cheeks and colour them pink.

“Of course you are”, Imaizumi said. “You did great today, captain”.

The words made Sakamichi blush harder than before. It wa weird to say the least when people called him that, to the point that Sakamichi's first instinct was always that of turning around to see who they were referring too, because it still felt so foreign to be on the receiving end of the title. Still, it was a hundred times worse (worse in the best possible way) when it was Imaizumi and Naruko doing it. The butterflies in his stomach flying harder and more violently than before, fighting a losing battle against the way they looked at him – all fond and proud, and just with so much affection that Sakamichi thought his heart could burst out of chest and right into space just by the force of it.

When they said it, it held a force that Sakamichi didn't know words could have; when they said it, it sounded true, truer than when Teshima had given him the title, truer and more real than when everyone else in the team called him that. Somehow, when the word came from Imaizumi and Naruko, Sakamichi forgot every single one of his doubts. Because, when they said it it sounded like a you're not alone, we're right beside you.

“Ah, I didn't do all that much, haha”, he said, sheepishly. “It was thanks to everyone, and especially Danchiku-kun if we could win today”.

“And they couldn't have done much without their captain there”, Naruko said, his hand squeezing his shoulder a little. “You're too modest, Onoda-kun! You did great!”

And who was Sakamichi to deny their words, when they were looking at him like that?

“Now, come on!”, Naruko jumped up, reaching out with his hand and waiting with and excited smile for Sakamichi to take it. And that Sakamichi did, taking it and letting Naruko pulling him to his feet.

It didn't came as a surprise when Naruko didn't let go, opting instead to adjust the hold and lacing their fingers together. But it still made Sakamichi's heart miss a beat or two, just like every other time that happened.

“How about a sleepover at Hotshot's house?”

“Oi, don't just invite yourself at my house”, Imaizumi replied right away, but the annoyed words didn't match the tone of his voice. Sometimes Sakamichi wondered if anyone else could hear the affection laced in their words every time the two bickered, if it was as clear to everyone else as it was for him.

“Are you sayin' no to a sleepover with us?”

“You could at least ask, you know, like a proper polite person would”.

“Why would I need to ask when I know you'd say yes”.

The winning smile on Naruko's lips mirrored the rolling of Imaizumi's eyes, because they all knew Naruko was right.

“Or would you prefer going to Onoda-kun's house? Or mine, maybe?”, Naruko added, with the smile of someone who knows he has won the battle.

Sakamichi's mind went back to the time they all slept at his house, all three of them trying to fit on his way too small bed, and to how he had ended up on the floor in the middle of night. He felt a wave of embarrassment when he also remembered the one time they had tried Naruko's house, two of his little brothers barging unannounced in the room while the three of them were cuddling on the bed. That time, too, Sakamichi had ended up on the floor, jumping to hard and trying to put a respectable distance between him and the other two.

The groan Imaizumi left out and the slight flustered blush on his cheeks told Sakamichi that their train of thoughts had been exactly the same.

“My house it is”, he said, reaching out and taking Sakamichi's other hands in his, fingers interlacing naturally. “Let's go”.

There were a lot of things that had happened in the past two years that Sakamichi could have never have imagined happening to him. Among all of them, finding himself with two amazing loving boyfriends was definitely the one that felt the most unreal, an image that Sakamichi could have never mastered even in his wildest dreams fueled by marathons of shoujo anime with the most sappy and romantic plots.

Even now, laying in Imaizumi's large bed, cuddled between them, with Naruko spooning him and Imaizumi's warm chest pressed against him, their arms around him, it was difficult to believe, difficult to grasp the fact that it was real.

But the way his heart was beating so fast, tripping over itself, the warm feelings swarming in his chest, and the solid press of the two bodies against his, the sound of their breaths in the quiet room – all of that felt all too real on Sakamichi skin.

Naruko and Imaizumi's presence next to him was a constant reminder of how real it was.

Despite the tiredness from the long day, and the comfortable position he was in, Sakamichi was finding it difficult to fall asleep. Partly because he always did, the embarrassment of the situation never completely leaving him and always keeping him up for a while, and partly because he just wanted to stay awake for a little while, drowning in the warm feeling of having his boyfriends so close.

“You still awake, Onoda-kun?”

Sakamichi jumped in surprise in their arms as Naruko spoke, his breath ghosting over the skin of his neck and making him shiver. His heart tumbled and fell, getting up again only to start running like crazy, like it also had a race he absolutely had to win.

“Mh”, he nodded.

“Whatcha thinking about?”

His words were slurred from sleepiness, and Sakamichi smiled at it. He wasn't sure how to answer the question – the mere idea of sharing exactly what was going on in his mind until that moment bringing fire to his face. It was always an incredibly embarrassing ordeal, putting his feelings for them into words (but worth it, so worth it when he saw the happy affectionate smiles that grew on Imaizumi's and Naruko's face in answer).

“Nothing”, he decided on, linking one of his hands with Naruko's and snuggling closer to Imaizumi's chest. His face was hot and he vaguely thought that he was glad the dark of the room masked it. “I'm- I'm just happy”, he mumbled, flushing even harder at the way Naruko cooed right after, hugging him closer.

The strangled noise coming from Imaizumi told him that he was still awake too. Sakamichi raised his head to look at him. Maybe he was just imagining it, but even in the dark it looked like he was blushing, too.

“You're too cute, Sakamichi”.

Whatever embarrassed babbling was about to come out of his mouth was stopped by Naruko saying, “yeah, you really are”.

So, Sakamichi just hid his face against Imaizumi's shoulder with a weak whine escaping his lips, prompting fond laughs from both sides.

“Now go to sleep”, Imaizumi said after a moment, and Sakamichi nodded, suddenly feeling weariness pulling him under, feeling heavy and safe in the arms holding him.

“Thank you”, he just said, barely registering the words coming out of his mind.

He wasn't even sure for what exactly he was thanking them – perhaps just for everything, but it didn't matter, because Sakamichi had no doubt they would understand anyway, even when he himself wasn't sure what he meant.

He fell asleep thinking once again that his life felt like something out of a dream, and yet with the certainty that it was real and it would all still be there when he would wake up.