Chapter Text
“Please tell me….” Inunaki stood over Meian, the rookie captain sat on the gym’s bench to give himself a rest after their practice, clipboard in hand.
“Yes, Inunaki?” He didn’t even glance up over his clipboard, nose dug into documents as he analyzed Atsumu’s background, ignoring the look of disgust on the libero’s face as his arms wildly gestured to the completely oblivious setter.“If there’s a concern about our potential new teammate, that’s to be taken up with Coach Samson. He’s in his office, last I checked.”
“It’s just… It’s…” The libero sighed, shaking his head, shoulders slouched knowing he wouldn’t win this conversation. “ His hair .”
“Oh my god.” Clipboard slammed down on his lap, Meian found himself pinching the bridge of his eyes, golden eyes screwed shut over his teammate’s complaint. Of course , it had to be something ridiculous like this. Of course , it had to be Inunaki complaining about something as ridiculous as the potential recruit’s hair color. And of course it had to be the libero bringing up a complaint, whether it was serious or not.
To be honest, the rookie captain had spent quite a bit of his paycheck to hide the silvers and grays the libero had given him over the last few months.
Groaning loudly, he switched his finger pinching to rubbing his temples, sighing heavily. “His hair …”
“As a natural blonde, I’m insulted.”
“Oh my god, of course you are.”
“It looks like piss!”
“That is so insulting, Inunaki.” Though he couldn’t lie, that was the captain’s first thought when the setter walked in. It was incredibly evident that Atsumu had just graduated from high school, based purely on his hairstyle. “Once he climbs up in the ranks of professional volleyball, he’ll get a publicist and his own stylist, like we all have . That’s completely out of our control, and it isn’t anything we can control.”
“I’m kidnapping him and dying his hair when he’s accepted into the team.”
“What!” Meian’s eyes grew in horror as he realized everyone in the gym was staring at the two at the exclamation. Waving people off, he turned to glare at the libero. “That’s hazing , Inunaki. And we don’t know if he’s even been accepted.”
Sighing heavily, Inunaki shook his head, folding his arms over his chest. “His twin brother just opened a restaurant here in Osaka, he’s from the Kansai region, he just graduated, his entire family is here…”
“How do you know all of this?”
“Instagram. I also overheard you and the coach talking that he’s been pretty much accepted to the team. He just needs to sign a contract. And it’d be really fucking stupid to not accept the guy. Embarrassing, to be honest.” Placing his hands on his hips, the libero looked over at the setter, a sudden look of softness crossing his face. “Plus he’s probably not ready to leave his home. Hell, I wouldn’t blame him, given how bad my homesickness was when I first started school here in Kansai.”
The rookie captain hated how well the libero could read people, how well he knew people before even sitting down for a conversation with them. Inunaki was the first line of defense for the team when it came to social events, intuition always on point for people, managing to save everyone from a disastrous social situation at least once. So when he said something about someone, regardless of whether or not he had information to back him up, Meian always made sure to listen to him and take his advice. And he respected him for that, with the amount of times that he’s calmed the rookie captain down from stressing too much.
Not that he would verbally tell Inunaki that. The libero probably already knew that already.
Letting out a deep breath through his nose, Meian ran his hand down his face, finally looking up at the libero. “Fine. You can take care of his hair.”
“Yes!”
“ But -”
“I’m not gonna haze him.” Inunaki tilted his head, eyebrows raised. “I can read people, I know their limits, I know how to handle people. This isn’t the first time I’ve done something ridiculous with our rookies.”
Again, Meian realized, the libero was correct . And deep down in his stomach, he couldn’t help but feel a bit reassured about that.
-------
“So… my hair.” Atsumu crooked his eyebrow at Inunaki as the libero unlocked his penthouse apartment, eyeing his senior suspiciously. “Is the problem?”
“Yep!”
“And you want to… change my hair? Why?”
You need toner. “Our publicist will probably want to work with your hair. Happens with everyone on the team, so I usually work with the team’s hair to give the stylists an idea of what to expect.”
A skeptical look crossed Atsumu’s face as he squinted at Inunaki, the libero gesturing him into the apartment. The setter’s hair was a big part of his identity, one of the things that set him apart from his twin, and it was part of his routine. He wasn’t necessarily a fan of his routines being interrupted, mornings occasionally thrown off when he couldn’t do his hand care routine. Something he was having to properly adjust to, with his new team, something making him a bit grumpy. Along with something else he wasn’t quite able to put a finger on.
But, if it was his senior, he probably knew more about professional volleyball than he did. So why not give him some trust?
“Lemme take care of my dogs first, m’kay? I don’t need them scratching at the bathroom door and trying to interrupt for treats.”
So this is what Atsumu should expect after years of being in the professional leagues. A two story penthouse apartment, with floor to ceiling windows looking over Higashiosaka, Osaka, a balcony attached to the side. Minimalist white furniture surrounding a light wooden panel fireplace, accents of light wood and blue. To his left, a massive kitchen with a built-in bar. How many bedrooms are there? He found himself asking, staring up at the second floor from the living room.
The setter completely missed the dogs all splayed out in the sunlight until he overheard Inunaki’s cooing.
“Lazy.” Inunaki smacked the greyhound’s stomach, the dog just simply rolling on its back for more belly scratches. “Lazy, lazy girl, Big Girl. How were you an award winning race dog?”
“Big Girl?” Big Girl seemed to suddenly notice the setter’s presence, the white and tan greyhound turning her snout to observe him with big brown eyes.
“Oh, that’s her old racing name. I rescued her when I studied abroad in California during undergrad for a year and brought her back to Japan with me. Absolute sweetie, loves everyone. Come here,” the libero gestured Atsumu over. “She’ll follow you around until you pet her, and I don’t like my dogs in the room while I’m dying hair.”
As Atsumu knelt down to oblige the greyhound in belly scritches, Inunaki started by introducing the four other dogs. There was Masaki, a three legged white doodle mix that lost his leg to cancer and was abandoned by his previous owners when his bills were too expensive. There was Kousuke, a large white mutt with black and brown spots that he found scavenging for trash at a nearby temple as a puppy. Mimi, a graying elder pomeranian he adopted when her owners passed away. And lastly, Bubba, his first rescue gray pittie mix his family had adopted when he was ten.
“... you probably won’t be able to pet Bubba. He’s got arthritis from old age and he’s a bit grumpy unless you pet him right, but everyone else loves pets. If you ever need to unwind or anything, my apartment is open to you, and I can always bring one of them by your place if you’re sick or anything.”
Atsumu could feel himself wince at the offer, uneasy at the casual kindness that he had yet to get used to. In fact, all of the kindness he had been given over the last few days just felt… Wrong? Was that the right word? It didn’t sit right with him, for whatever reason, left a bad taste in his mouth. Made him suspicious with all these strangers giving him so much casual kindness. He was used to barbs and jabs from his brother and teammates, now this kindness.
But he knew he was in the wrong to complain about all this kindness, so he figured he’d keep his mouth shut. He could handle it.
“Alright, I don’t wanna keep ya too long, so let’s get started.” Inunaki clapped the back of Atsumu’s back as he stood up from the spot next to Big Girl, heading off to the downstairs bathroom. “You’re probably exhausted from your first week. I know I was when I joined.”
The rookie just shrugged. He wasn’t necessarily wrong, but he also wasn’t necessarily right . Not that he'd want to admit it, he realized as he stepped into the bathroom, which was just as luxurious as the rest of the apartment. Another ceiling to floor window, only one floor this time, with a large white bathtub overlooking the city. In front of the mirror and sink, a black salon chair with plastic at the bottom, to keep the marble flooring from being stained.
Inunaki was obviously experienced with hair dying, he realized as he stepped up into the chair.
“Okay, so.” The libero’s hair quickly found Atsumu’s hair, pursing his lips as he picked through it with various combs and brushes. “Your hair is actually pretty healthy, honestly. Roots need to be touched up, add some toner along with it, and you should be good to go… And I think you may have some texture in your hair.”
“Texture?”
“Yeah, like waves. Not full blown curls, though, just waves. You’ve probably damaged it from the bleach and relaxer, since that destroys hair texture. It shouldn’t take too long to get it back, honestly, I can help you out with that.”
Pleasant conversation and chatter was exchanged between the two as Inunaki went in on Atsumu’s hair. The rookie quickly learned his senior’s mother was a hairdresser, thus exposing him to hair dying, and he was always the go-to when one of his friends wanted a hair dye or needed a cover up for a poor dye job. He owned a cabin in the woods, loved dogs, loved hiking, wanted to go back to the states and hike every trail available. When he wanted to retire, he was going back to get his graduate degrees so he could teach classical literature, and he had a massive library in his apartment.
And in turn, Atsumu returned snarky jabs and barbs, testing his senior’s boundaries and learning that libero was not one to mess around with, almost as brutal as his brother’s. He found himself relaxing at the realization, not realizing just how much he needed to hear something besides praise. As much as he loved praise, he didn’t realize just how much of a hole Osamu had left in his heart. It made him… It made him feel lonely, he realized.
Not like he was going to admit that to his twin, of course.
“Okay, so that needs to stay on for like half an hour or so. You want me to fix you any food or anything? Maybe a drink? Oh wait,” Inunaki scratched his chin. “You can’t have alcohol yet.”
Atsumu couldn’t help but bark out laughter at the libero’s sudden hesitation. “What’s stopping you? I’ll take a beer if you have any.”
“Ehhh, that’s fair. I’ll be right back.”
Silence filled the bathroom, a far cry from the nonstop conversation the two had been having for an hour or so. It made Atsumu a bit anxious, admittedly, as he looked around the bathroom, taking in the details. No, it wasn’t the silence, it was this relaxed sensation that washed over him after a tense week. Tension he didn’t even realize he was holding, noting the way his shoulders were physically relaxed in the mirror. To be honest, he hadn’t fully expected the transition to a pro-team to be this difficult.
A voice from the living room interrupted his thoughts, curiously peeking over his shoulder before getting up and slowly opening the bathroom door.
“Oh, you’re such a good baby.” Atsumu poked his head out of the bathroom to see Inunaki squatted down, cooing at the little pomeranian Mimi. The dog let out a small arf , one the libero repeated, completely oblivious to the setter’s peeking. “Oh, you’re such a big, tough girl, aren’t you? Yes you are! Yes you are!”
God I wish I had my phone on me, Atsumu thought to himself, slapping a hand over his mouth as he tried to hold back a chuckle at the scene. Maybe, just maybe, he did find something to make a jab at his teammate with.
-------
“So, Wan-san?”
Stitching his eyebrows together, Inunaki turned to his rookie captain, who was settled next to him on the locker room bench, taking in the amused look on his face. “... Where did you hear that?”
“A certain rookie.”
“I-oh my god.” Inunaki let out a groan, immediately, putting his head in his hands. A certain rookie had gone around convincing the newer members to call the libero ‘Wan-san’ after catching him barking and cooing at his dog, like literally every dog owner on this planet did. Last time I did something nice for him.
“So, barking at your pom-pom Mimi, Wan-san?”
Inunaki wished he could slap the grin off of Meian’s face. “Shut up.”
“Okay, Wan-san.”
“I mean it.”
“Whatever you say, Wan-san.”
“I hate you so much.”
“Of course you do, Wan-san.”
All Inunaki could do was dig his head further into his hands, groaning loudly as he listened to the laughter of his teammates in the locker room.