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Suna Rintarou knew he wanted to marry Miya Atsumu on a Thursday night.
It all starts when they’re watching a movie on the couch. Atsumu picked it since it was his choice and Rin, being the great boyfriend that he is, decided not to complain when he inevitably picked the zombie movie that they’ve watched hundreds of times. Which is fine, really, he knows that he’ll be able to get away with scrolling through Twitter while Atsumu laughs at the special effects while in his lap.
It’s a typical Thursday night for the two of them until Rin looks up to see one of the main characters telling his wife how much he loves her before sacrificing himself by closing himself into the train car with the zombies.
I’d risk my life to save Tsumu , he thinks, he’d do the same for me too.
It’s nothing new to Rin, a fleeting thought that he’s had multiple times. They’ve talked about spending their futures together, have figured out what works best for them and their respective teams, and they own an apartment together. It’s obvious that they’re stuck with each other for better or worse.
He knows better than to assume how Atsumu feels, but he likes to think that they have the same opinion when it comes to this. Yeah, they fucked around in the past and definitely took too long to actually tell each other how they felt. But Rin likes to think that they’ve matured and have moved past that.
A dog on screen barks and brings Rin back to the present.
“Hey,” Rin says, pulling on Atsumus ear. The responding whine makes him laugh. “I think it’s time.”
Atsumu doesn’t bother taking his eyes off of the screen. “For what?”
His answer makes Rin want to pull his hair out. Obviously, he was being vague but what else could he possibly be asking? There are only so many things they have left on the couple's to-do list. He pulls on Atsumus ear again.
“Time for the next step, obviously.”
For a moment, the only sound in the room is the movie playing on the screen. That same dog comes back onto the screen and starts barking again, an obvious omen of what’s to come for the rest of the cast. Then Atsumu turns in his lap with a lazy smile on his face.
“Ya know, I’ve been thinking about that for a while and I agree. I wasn’t sure how to bring it up though.”
Rin can feel his cheeks flushing from Atsumu’s answer. It’s silly to have such a reaction to something so little, but it’s concrete to him and that’s what matters. They’re on the same page about this, about where they want their lives to head. Together. He feels like he’s on top of the world.
___________________________
“I need your advice,” Rin mumbles into the phone, hand covering his eyes in an attempt to hide from the shame of asking someone else for help. “And I need you to keep this between the two of us.”
He trusts Akagi, has since the day they met and started playing volleyball together. But that doesn’t mean he trusts him enough not to text their group chat and spill his plans to their friends. The bastard has done it enough times for Rin to stop asking for his help when pranking Osamu.
“Oh, how the mighty have fallen,” Akagi croons, smug grin evident in his voice. “Crawling to me for help.”
Rin regrets this already. The urge to hang up and figure this shit out by himself if Akagi is going to act like this takes over for a moment and he sighs. No, he needs Akagi's help because he’s done this before. He’s the only one that is actually engaged to someone else - which, if Rin is being honest, is a surprise.
“I’m going to propose to Atsumu,” he replies. “How did you figure out the best way to ask Gin?”
There’s an audible gasp from the other side of the phone and Rin is once again tempted to hang up. This is a bad idea, this is a bad idea, this is a bad—
“Finally gonna tie the knot after acting like an old married couple for years?” Akagi asks and behind the joke, Rin can hear fondness. “Took ya long enough to do it, ya brat.”
For a moment, Rin isn’t sure how to react. His heart is hammering against his chest from saying the words aloud to someone else for the first time. He can feel his grip on the phone tighten at Akagi's sentiment.
“Yeah well, I didn’t want to steal the spotlight from you and Gin,” he retorts though there’s no heat behind it. “I just- I don’t know. I have an idea of how to do it but I need advice on how to do it.”
“I’m sure you could ask first thing in the morning with that ugly mug and he’d say yes.”
The flush on Rin's face only deepens at that. Akagi is right and it’s embarrassing that their friends know both of them so well. He wonders how big the betting pool for which of them will propose is. A small part of him wants to ask about it but Akagi is speaking again before he even has a chance to open his mouth.
“So, what’s the plan?” Akagi asks.
“I’m changing the name on my national team jersey to Miya and I’m going to surprise him with it.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “I know you’re trying not to laugh so just do it.”
Rin barely pulls his phone away from his ear before laughter streams through it.
“Both of you are volleyball-obsessed idiots,” Akagi manages. “Ya might as well spike a ball in his face with the proposal written on it.”
This call is turning out to be the worst mistake Rin has ever come up with. Why did he even bother calling Akagi when he knew this was bound to happen? His finger hovers over the end button again.
Changing the name on his jersey might seem silly to Akagi — and it is silly, even Rin can admit that — but Atsumu has always been the one to push their relationship to the next step. He was the one to confess and the one to accept Rins own overdue confession. He was the person who looked at apartments for them to share when Rin mentioned that he made the national team. It was always Atsumu who figured out what he wanted and pushed them to rise to the next step.
For once, Rin wants to be the one to push them there with his own grand gesture.
“We’re playing on the same team and living in the same city again, it only makes sense to do it that way.”
There’s a noise behind him, something falling over and Atsumu cursing as he hobbles into the room. He’s holding his shin, gym bag forgotten somewhere behind him.
“Shit, is that him?” Akagi swears into the phone. “We’ll get lunch and talk about it in person soon, alright? Good luck, dude!”
Rin doesn’t even have a chance to say goodbye before he hears the phone click. He supposes it’s better this way. At least now Atsumu won’t try to take the phone from him to talk to their friend and Akagi will have to come up with something on the spot.
“You good?”
Atsumu shoots him a look then drops onto one of the barstools. “We’re getting a place with more room in the genkan once this lease is up. I hit my leg against the shoe rack again.”
“Oh, poor baby,” Rin teases, already reaching into the freezer for an ice pack. “We wouldn’t even need that shoe rack if you didn’t have so many pairs.”
His boyfriend accepts the ice pack but not without a pout — a damn brat through and through. It makes Rin want to kiss it off of him until he smiles.
___________________________
Something is off.
It only takes Rin to walk into the apartment to know that something is off, like everything was moved an inch to the left while he was out. Which, well it’s weird to feel like that in his own home because everything was fine and looks exactly as it did before he left, complete with Atsumu stretched out on the couch in his sweatpants.
A bag of kibble greets him when he walks into the kitchen. Not only that, there’s a leash resting on the island that he knows wasn’t there before. The weirdest part is that the leash is actually one of those high-quality leather ones that people have to special order. Is this some weird sort of play Atsumu wants to try out? They’ve never talked about this but Rin is game to try anything once, he supposes. Maybe not the kibble though.
He grabs the leash and walks into the living, stepping between long legs. It takes a beat for Atsumu to drag his eyes from the match that’s playing on the screen in front of him to the leash in Rin's hand then his face.
“Want to tell me what this is about?”
A smile plays at the corner of Atsumus lips but he tampers it down. “Gin left it here when he picked up Nami before. We watched her the other week, remember?”
It’s obvious that Atsumu is playing at something, but Rin can’t figure out what it is. Normally his boyfriend is an open book, emotions written all over his face and thoughts spewing from his mouth even without prompting. He can’t lie for shit either which makes this even more suspicious because Rin can tell that he’s telling the truth.
“He left her leash and a whole bag of dog food here?” Rin raises an eyebrow at him.
“Yep,” Atsumu pops the ‘p’ and grins up at him. “He did.”
It only takes a few seconds of staring at each other for Rin to drop the leash in Atsumus lap and turn on his heel, heading for their bedroom.
“If you want to try something new, I’m fine with the leash but I’m not eating kibble.”
“Wait, you’d be into that, Rin?” The sound of Atsumu scrambling comes next. “Rin, get back here. You’d let me use the leash? Babe!”
___________________________
“I’m telling you, he knows something is up,” Rin groans. His chin is resting on top of both his arms on top of the counter at Onigiri Miya. Thankfully, it’s after closing so he can sulk without fans asking him for photos. Not that he can sulk for long with Atsumu in the bathroom, but he’ll take advantage of it while he can.
Osamu places a plate in front of him.
“And I’m telling ya he’s got no clue,” Osamu responds. “Do ya really think Tsumu would keep his trap shut if he thought you were gonna propose? No, none of us would hear the end of it. Going on about how he’s gonna live a happier life and how everyone should be jealous ‘cause he’s the one who gets to marry ya.”
He’s right, Rin knows that. But that doesn’t stop the nagging feeling from rising up again. At this point, Atsumu has to know that something is going on - he’s not that dense.
Osamu sighs. “What makes ya think he knows?”
Rin thinks back on the last few months to find something, anything , to prove his point. But even as he sits there and thinks about it, nothing comes to mind. Not once has Atsumu said anything about his frequent outings or questioned his early morning runs when they both know he’s a lazy ass on off days.
And that’s the weirdest part about it. Why didn’t he ask about them?
“He hasn’t said anything about anything,” Rin mumbles around his food. Osamu scrunches his nose in disgust. “You don’t think that’s weird? This is Atsumu we’re talking about.”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to ruin the moment for ya.” Osamu shrugs. “But, I’m telling ya this: if he knew, he would’ve barged in here to brag about it. Then I would’ve called ya to complain about making that idiot way too happy. ”
Once again, he knows Osamu is right. Realistically, there is no way Atsumu would be able to keep quiet about this if he knew. One of the things he likes best about Atsumu is his inability to be humble about things and the idea of him bragging to Osamu for an entire day was something he inevitably planned for. With that not happening, he has no reason to believe Atsumu has any clue.
Even now as he sits there, something doesn’t feel right. Rin knows that he’s being ridiculous, that the nerves of proposing are finally getting to him. The thought that Osamu is covering for his twin pops into his mind and his eyes flit up to his face.
“Don’t even think about it.” Osamu cuts off the thought before it can take root.
Instead, he takes another bite of his onigiri. Everything points to Osamu being right, to Atsumu not knowing that Rin has been pulling strings for their future. He knows that anyone that does know about what he’s doing hasn’t told Atsumu. But he still can’t shake that feeling that Atsumu knows something is going on.
That’s when the idea strikes him: what if Atsumu was planning the same thing as him? Rin chokes on a grain of rice at the realization. He never even considered Atsumu would be the one to do it because he can’t keep a secret, but now the thought won’t leave his mind. Maybe Atsumu never thought anything of his behavior because he was doing the same thing.
Holy shit, he’s an idiot.
And he refuses to let Atsumu be the one who ruins this proposal. Which only leaves one option left. Rin can’t wait any longer to propose, he needs to do it at the next possible moment he deems good enough.
___________________________
Rin is worried that he was too skittish that morning. It was rare for him to head for the training facility without Atsumu and even rarer that he was going there earlier than usual. Thankfully, all Atsumu did was wave a hand at him then roll back over to bury his face in the pillow. But that doesn’t stop the nerves from rooting in his chest as he walks into their coach's office.
The letters R. MIYA are bright against red fabric. Tall and bold and prominent enough that the people even in the last row can see them. Seeing it now, laid out in front of Rin makes it all the more real for him. He’s going to do this. He’s going to propose to Atsumu.
Coach Hibarida claps him on the back. “Go get him, kid.”
The walk to the locker room from Hibarida’s office is no more than a few feet down the same hall. Which is good and bad for Rin. Good, because it means he doesn’t have enough time to rethink and back out of what he’s about to do. Bad, because his nerves skyrocket tenfold with each step he takes.
“I just know that today’s the day,” Atsumu’s voice booms through the doors to the locker room. “Rin thought he was sneaky, but he wasn’t.”
Rin freezes, feet rooting to the ground with the knowledge that Atsumu knows . He’s been planning all of this for weeks, for months and it was all for nothing because Atsumu already knows what he’s going to ask. The thought that Osamu sold him out during a fight with the other flits through his mind before he shakes it away; he’s not that big of an asshole.
Akagi probably let something slip by accident, that slippery bastard.
His nerves come back, washing over him in waves and drowning him.
Rin pushes open the door and steps in.
Everything in the locker room seems to still at his entrance. Aran is staring at him like he’s a ghost, hands frozen in the air. Komori has his eyes glued to his phone which Rin knows all too well that it’s recording for whatever reason. Bokuto is hiding what he assumes is a smile behind his hands. Yaku has two piles of yen in front of him and a bill in his frozen hand above them.
And of course, there’s Atsumu.
He’s grinning so wide that Rin is actually a bit worried and the look in his eyes says he’s about to get exactly what he’s been waiting for. Did he see the jersey already? That would’ve been impossible, though, they haven’t crossed paths since either of them showed up. How could he
“Did you bring it?” Atsumu asks.
Rin stares at him for a beat. Then another. And another. He has no clue how to answer the question other than, of course he brought the engagement ring. But this means he hasn’t seen the name on his jersey, so Rin chalks that up as a win.
“Yeah, of course I did. Why wouldn’t I?” Rin replies.
Atsumu looks like a kid in the candy shop, ready to shove every sugary concoction into his mouth and then some. It makes Rin nervous. What if his proposal doesn’t live up to the hype Atsumu built it up to be in his mind? What if the jersey was a bad idea after all? Why is Yaku laughing behind his hand as if no one can hear him?
“So, where is he? Or she?”
Rin blinks. Who’s he? Who’s she? What the hell is Atsumu talking about and why is he trying to look behind Rin like he’s hiding something when his hands are at his sides? Is he missing something?
“What?” He finally asks because if he stands there staring any longer he knows Komori will never let him live this down.
“The dog,” Atsumu replies. “Where’s the dog?”
The dog. Rin wracks his brain for any mention of a dog in the last week, trying to pinpoint anything he said that could have made his boyfriend think he was bringing a dog to practice on this particular day. He thinks back even further. Maybe he mentioned wanting to bring a dog to practice as a stress reliever thing. Sure, they watched Nami a handful of times recently and spent more than a few hours at the dog park. But nothing particularly sticks out in his mind.
That’s when it hits him.
While Rin was busy planning and getting everything in place for proposing, Atsumu thought he was getting them a dog . The unopened bag of kibble in their kitchen, the dog bed in the living room, the leash on the coffee table. The signs were all there and Rin didn’t think anything of them.
“How long have you thought I was getting us a dog?”
Atsumu looks at the ceiling for a beat then back at him. “Since ya said ya wanted to take the next step. We were watching that movie and the dog was on the screen when you mentioned so I thought that’s what you meant.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Rin groans. “I can’t believe you thought that. Look at my fucking back.”
The resounding gasp when Rin turns around tells him everything he needs to know. He knows that it clicks in Atsumu’s brain when his eyes read over the letters on his back. It’s about as obvious as can be, no room for confusion on either end.
“Rin- you- are you serious?” Atsumu whispers, fingers gliding over the letters so lightly he almost misses it. He doesn’t even know when the setter walked over, his mind replaying that gasp on repeat. “My name. Are ya sure?”
There’s an uncertainty in his words that makes Rin smile. Of course Atsumu is concerned about the name change. In all of their talks about spending their lives together, changing their names never came up. It was the one thing that neither particularly cared about before now.
Rin loves that he can get this sort of reaction out of Atsumu, all these years later.
“Yeah, of course I’m sure. Sorry, you won’t be able to call me Sunarin anymore.”
“Rin—” Atsumu cuts himself off, voice all wobbly and emotional. Hee manhandles Rin until they’re facing each other, matching grins on their faces. “Ya already knew we were spending forever together.”
“Yeah,” Rin replies, fondness sneaking its way into such a simple word.
“Ya already knew you were stuck with me.” Atsumus cheeks are red and tears are threatening to spill. Rin cups his face and he leans into the touch. “And now ya want my name.”
“Surprise,” he whispers before leaning in and kissing Atsumu.
Kissing Atsumu now feels the same as it did that very first time they kissed in the gym all those years. Just like everything else, Atsumu puts his all into this. It’s all-consuming, filling all of Rin’s senses as if attempting to snuff out anything that isn’t Atsumu . Rin feels like he could spend the rest of his life drowning in this.
But then Atsumu is pulling away with a grin on his face and bringing their linked hands to his mouth. His lips brush against each knuckle, a promise pressed into rough skin. When he glances up at Rin, there’s a sparkle in his eye that tells him the answer he’s been waiting to hear all these months.
And to make it even better, Yaku is screeching in the background about how Aran is taking all of his money for guessing correctly.
___________________________
Something heavy is on Rin’s chest. Normally he would assume it’s Atsumu and fall back asleep, maybe make a comment about how he’s being crushed by the sheer weight of his thighs. But this something is different than that. The weight isn’t in one spot but distributed evenly along his torso. There’s a distinct sweet smell coming from the weight and unless Atsumu has suddenly started to drool while conscious, he’s a bit concerned about the wetness dripping on his chest. Finally, he opens his eyes.
Lo and behold the weight on his chest is Tofu, their pride and joy. The shibe looks like she’s on top of the world, fresh from his walk with Atsumu and with whipped cream on her snout from where her tongue couldn’t reach. It’s adorable, really, even when Atsumu runs into their bedroom and some of the cream flies onto Rin’s neck.
“Why is there whipped cream on her nose?” Rin asks without looking at Atsumu. He scritches underneath Tofu's chin, smiling at the pleased reaction he receives in return. “I thought you were taking her for a walk.”
“I did,” Atsumu replies. “Then I went to the cafe up block to get us coffee and ya know how popular she is! She jumped right on the counter when I asked if she wanted to say hi and the kids behind the counter gave her a free cup of whipped cream.”
His fiancé — and wow, does that have a nice sound to it especially when his ring catches on the light and shines bright, reminding them of their future together— walks over and sits on the bed, nudging both Rin and Tofu over. They both grunt in return.
“And you say I give her too many treats,” Rin remarks. It’s a low blow, one he knows will bait Atsumu.
“Ya do give her too many treats, Rin! The vet said we need to put her on a diet because you give her a treat every time she moves her bowl into the living room without spilling kibble. The bowl isn’t supposed to leave the kitchen.”
By the time Atsumu is finished, they’re both laughing at how ridiculous it sounds. Yes, Rin spoils Tofu with treats every time she so much as looks at him. And yes, the veterinarian did tell them to limit how many treats they give her. But they both know it’s impossible; they’re both too weak to say no to her.
This little family that they have created for themselves is theirs to spoil each and every day.