Work Text:
From Shoyo: Hey, I just wanted to check in. Atsumu hasn’t texted anyone yet, but Bokuto swears that he saw the three dots come up
From Shoyo: So he’s at least thinking about us
*seen two days ago*
From Shoyo: Kiyoomi, are you ok? What’s going on?
From Shoyo: Do I need to come over?
From Shoyo: Did Atsumu call?
*seen yesterday*
From Shoyo: I’m coming over today
From Shoyo: I don’t care what you say,, or don’t say
*seen this morning*
He felt miserable.
There was nothing else to say about it.
He was glad that Hinata was coming, of course, but he didn’t feel like he had the energy to move, not even to type out a text message.
His phone had been going off all day, as par for the course when basically your entire world knows you just got dumped, or at least that something happened to you. Out of everyone, Bokuto was the most persistent. He didn’t know what was going on, Hinata didn’t tell him, so he was constantly offering any sort of support he could think of. Kiyoomi knew it was supposed to be sweet, but he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of resentment. It was his relationship that put him in this position after all.
No, that wasn’t fair.
It wasn’t Bokuto’s fault, it wasn’t Akaashi’s fault, it was probably his own, but he didn’t want to think of that right then and there. Instead he focused on the music that had been playing through his apartment since sometime yesterday. He turned it on to fend off the silence, and didn’t realize just how well it worked. He didn’t ever want to turn it off.
He had practically been sitting on the couch for two days. Kiyoomi had practically dug himself into a hole. He hadn’t eaten at all in the past few days, he couldn’t make himself. Water? It was used sparingly. He had left his couch maybe twice, and he had dug himself into a hole. Because he didn’t eat for so long, he didn’t have the energy to get off the couch. Without the energy to get off the couch, how could he possibly make himself some food?
As far as Kiyoomi was concerned, it was a paradox. One he was all too tired for. Which brought him too his second paradox, something that didn’t make the slightest bit of sense. He had practically been sleeping every minute of the day, but he felt tired no matter how long he slept. His cat stayed with him most of the two days. That was part of all of it. His damn cat seemed to be the only one there for him, and over those two days, he came to love her. He didn’t want to move her, but at the same time he needed to take care of her, so on the second day he got up to feed her. He himself ate a banana, and drank a cup of water.
It wasn’t a very big step, but it was a step in the right direction. With his cat happy again, Kiyoomi himself felt the slightest bit better. He still felt like he was going to faint if he stayed standing for too long, and he felt miserable, and gross. He felt like his apartment was in a state of disarray. Things were out of place, and since it was Kiyoomi’s fault, he felt the need to get up and fix them. Because of his stint on the couch, he didn’t have the energy to do so. Unable to relieve some of the pressure in his mind, it built. He wanted so badly to just clean his entire house, purge Atsumu from it, and do something to fix it, but he couldn’t. Silently he wondered if he could somehow get Hinata to clean his house, or at least put things back in their normal spots. He immediately shut down the thought, because it was just never going to happen like that. Hinata would probably bend over backwards trying to help him, without cleaning his apartment, so there was no way he could ask him to do that. Absolutely not.
When his door opened, not one, but two people walked in. Kiyoomi lifted his head off his couch, to see Hinata and Yachi! What was she doing here!
“I ran into a friend in the lobby,” Hinata hoisted a duffel bag on his shoulder, “She was getting scared of the elevator, and I had to go rescue her.”
“Excuse me Hinata! I was not ! If you must know, there was a man in the elevator. A very tall, and very big man. Sorry for not wanting to die this morning when my poor friend Sakusa was up here all alone in his ridiculously giant apartment. Seriously, what do you need all this space for, bud?” Yachi asked as she sat on the other end of the couch.
Kiyoomi shrugged. The approach that Yachi and Hinata were taking was very unique. They seemed to be trying to bring a sense of normalcy back to Kiyoomi. It was working, he almost cracked a small smile at their antics. He didn’t, however, so Yachi didn’t give up.
“I didn’t know you got a cat,” She mentioned, eyeing the small thing sitting on Kiyoomi’s lap, “When did you get her?”
Kiyoomi looked down at Bread who was kneading his thigh with her paws. He sat up and blinked a few times to regain his vision. He didn’t notice that Yachi winced a little. She had been trying to keep a straight face, knowing that Kiyoomi wouldn’t want to be pitied, but it was hard while he was looking like this. She hadn’t had to do this many times before, gratefully, but she had done it a few times at least. Pity never worked for Kiyoomi. He would get mad at you for looking down on him, and push you away.
Kiyoomi didn’t want someone to cry with, that wasn’t him. Instead, she found that the thing that helped him the most was forcing him to stay functioning. That probably wasn’t a good way to describe it, but on the rare occasions that Kiyoomi would crumble like this, Yachi would make him go take a shower.
When he did have periods like this, Yachi didn’t want to say he self harmed, but it was kind of like that. He would stop showering, cleaning, basically he would make himself miserable. Starting him back on his routines helped him get over any sort of thing he was going through. She also found that cleaning up his apartment usually helped. He was the type of person that was easily influenced by his living space. If conditions were the way he liked, his moods would improve drastically.
“Sakusa,” Yachi drew his attention back to her. He blinked, knowing that she was going to go make him do something. He was tired, he didn’t want to do anything, but there was no use fighting Yachi. What she said goes during this sort of thing, “Go take a shower.”
Kiyoomi ran his hands through his hair, his scalp feeling sensitive. He hadn’t realized how simulated he had gotten, but figured that yes, a shower would help. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure he could stand up right then and there. If his head went weird from only sitting up, imagine what standing would do. He was afraid he would pass out.
He groaned, stretching his stiff limbs, “I don’t know if I can.”
Yachi narrowed her eyes, “Go take a shower, wash your face, wash your hair, shave. You will feel so much better, Sakusa, I promise. Hinata will make you a sandwich.”
Hinata nodded, this having been his first rodeo, he didn’t know what to do. Honestly it was probably a good thing he ran into Yachi in the lobby, because he wouldn’t know what to do. Yachi had years of experience so she was all set.
Kiyoomi pet Bread’s back, still not convinced to leave just yet.
“We will take care of your cat, Kiyoomi, I promise.” Hinata cracked a smile.
“You’ll feel a lot better.” Yachi insisted.
Kiyoomi scratched the sleeping cat’s chin to wake her up. She sleepily opened her eyes when Kiyoomi scooped her off his lap and onto Yachi. Bread didn’t really care that she got moved. She was on another lap and that’s all that mattered to her. When he stood up, he stumbled, not used to the blood rushing out of his head, but after a few steps he could see again. He fully intended on taking an hour-long shower, and Yachi knew that. That’s also another reason she made him go shower.
Yachi knew about Kiyoomi’s childhood. She had heard all about it from Komori, and even Kiyoomi himself, so she knew why he grew up the way he did. There was the basics, parents away a lot, his love bought through presents, rich kid trauma, but it did run deeper than that. He was desperate to please them. His parents disliked messes, scolded him when he would make them, so he would keep things clean. It became compulsive as he got older. The cleaning was only the first thing in a series of plans to win his parent’s love. Yachi didn’t know much about them, but she did know that it made him grow up a lot sooner than most kids. Because he grew up a lot sooner than most kids, babysitters, nannies, butlers, they all took a load off. The kid didn’t need supervision when he was so independent himself.
So Kiyoomi grew up independent, not relying on anyone, and it probably messed with him. Now he couldn’t rely on anyone to do things for him, especially when he needed it so badly. And that’s why Yachi was relying on the shower, she could get a lot done for him during that time. He couldn’t get mad at her for things she already did. That means that she and Hinata needed to get a move on. They probably only had about an hour.
“Hinata, you do the dishes, feed the cat, wipe the counters, make food, and probably coffee. We need to clean up around here while he’s still in the shower.” Yachi moved Kiyoomi’s new acquired cat.
Hinata smiled a little, “I don’t really understand why all this helps, but it does, right? This all isn’t a ploy to get Kiyoomi out of cleaning his house?”
Yachi rolled her eyes, “He’s not going to do it himself right now. His apartment isn’t very messy right?”
Hinata nodded, just noting a few things cluttered about, but it didn’t seem overly messy.
“This is probably the messiest I’ve ever seen Kiyoomi’s apartment. He doesn’t function well in disarray, so if we clean his apartment, it will most likely help him relax just enough so he can get over all of this faster.”
“So it’s like kickstarting an engine?” He asked, already getting started on the dishes while Yachi fluffed some pillows.
“Yeah, exactly like that. If we do this one thing, he will continue it.”
Hinata shrugged, thinking it over, “Yeah I guess that makes sense, but why are we doing it while he’s in the shower? You seem rushed.”
Yachi smiled a little, “He really doesn’t like people taking care of him. He’d rather do it all himself, so if he walked out of there and we weren’t done? He’d get mad and probably make us stop. I’d rather just get it all done now, in case what we didn’t finish was still enough of a mess for him to not pick it back up.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. You’ve done this a lot before, haven’t you?”
Now it was Yachi’s turn to shrug, “Yeah, uh, a couple times when we were in college together. He, well, he expects a lot of himself, and when he feels like he doesn’t meet those expectations? He spirals. I’ve had to pull him out of a few, he’s had to pull me out of a few. It’s a never ending battle,” Yachi laughed a little, almost uncomfortably.
“Oh,” Hinata looked down at the plate he had been scrubbing, “That’s-,” he paused, “that’s almost like Tsum.”
Yachi sighed, and picked up various blankets that had been strewn around the room. On her way to Kiyoomi’s washing machine, she told Hinata what she thought, “Yeah, for how different those two are, they have a lot of similarities.”
Hinata’s eyes widened for a minute, panicked almost, “Oh God, Atsumu. Yachi, do you think he’s- um, you know, like,” Hinata pointed in the general direction of Kiyoomi’s bathroom.
Yachi, well she didn’t know. She had barely known Atsumu. The only things she knew were what Kiyoomi told her, which in hindsight wasn’t much. Instead she shrugged, but Hinata was still worried. Probably rightfully so. Yachi knew Kiyoomi hadn’t really done a relationship before, but he was still very shaken up about how it must have gone down. Atsumu, well, she assumed that he was shaken up over it as well. From what she had heard, it was a caring relationship, and she didn’t know where it went wrong, but figured that he must have felt something.
“I- I’m gonna text him.” Hinata put the last dish in the dishwasher and ran for his phone that was sitting on the couch.
Yachi didn’t know what happened. She and Kiyoomi hadn’t been texting as much as they usually did. Her semester got long and busy, and so she didn’t make as much time to catch up with him. She had received a few updates. Kiyoomi had texted her on Christmas day to tell her that Atsumu had spent the night at his house. The next update came the day they had their first kiss. Kiyoomi, he seemed so happy that day when he called her, and he spent a long time just talking. It wasn’t entirely about Atsumu, but still, he wasn’t known to do that sort of thing. All over the month of January she got updates, and began seeing a different side of him. She felt selfish because she didn’t know what happened between them, but she didn’t want to see this side of him go.
Yachi didn’t even know they had any sort of problems and it made her feel miserable. Kiyoomi hadn’t said anything about feeling hurt, but it must have been building for a while. She felt almost like she had neglected him. She should have checked up on him, but she didn’t. Instead she got called at midnight last night by a panicked Komori, asking, no, begging her to check on him. Apparently he had gotten a call from Hinata a few minutes prior asking for extra support to get Kiyoomi through his break up. Neither of them even knew that Kiyoomi was going through a breakup. She got in her car and drove as soon as she got off the phone with Komori. Her house was already empty because she was going to be moving down to Osaka later in the week, but she grabbed her bag and left. Komori wished he could be there, but his team was doing an intensive week of training, so he left it up to Yachi.
“Hinata!” Yachi called after checking her watch for the time, “Go make some coffee when you are done with your texting.”
From across the room, Hinata made a face at the prospect of making coffee, but didn’t complain. He just wouldn’t have any. He bit his lip in contemplation. Coffee always smelled really good, and it was really tempting to just make enough for three. He didn’t end up doing that, instead opting to make some for Yachi and Kiyoomi. He himself got a cup of water.
Yachi walked into Kiyoomi’s room. His bed was unmade, but hadn’t looked slept in for a while. Was it possible that he hadn’t slept in his bed for more than two days? How long has this slump been? She supposed it made sense. His house had gotten pretty messy, and she didn’t think that it would have happened after only two days, especially if he barely left the couch for two days. Maybe he had been expecting this for a while. Yachi bit her lip, she was filled with questions that she knew Kiyoomi couldn’t answer at the moment. Instead of all that she decided to focus on the other things around her. She made Kiyoomi’s bed.
He probably wasn’t going to stay in his room for a while, but when he does eventually return there, he would probably rather it be made nicely instead of in the state it was in. She dug around through his dresser and pulled out a t-shirt and sweatpants he often wore. She figured these were the safest bets if he was still feeling overstimulated. She left them in a folded pile outside his bathroom door just as the water turned off. It seemed they finished in the nick of time. Hinata was sitting at Kiyoomi’s dining table with three sandwiches on plates at different seats at the table. Yachi smiled and sat down at one of them. She had always associated sandwiches with Kiyoomi, she figured they were some kind of comfort food for him, so that’s what she always went with when trying to cheer him up.
She was just happy that Hinata hadn’t found some way to mess them up. Hinata was a capable adult, yes, but he still was the same person who had gotten convinced the earth was flat after listening to Kageyama for like five minutes. He was a dumbass to say the least, but at least he was a dumbass who could make a sandwich.
Kiyoomi walked out of the bathroom and was surprised to find his house clean. He probably shouldn’t have, because Yachi always did this when he showered, but it had been a few years. He looked around the place. All of his things were put back in roughly the same place they had always been, and he relaxed a little. Yachi did a good job. She always did. His shoulders felt lighter, and for the first time since, well, he couldn’t remember exactly, he smiled a little.
“Come on, Sakusa!” Yachi waved him over to the table, “Hinata made sandwiches.”
Kiyoomi walked over to them, and yeah, Yachi was right. He did feel a lot better after a shower. He sat down and inspected the sandwich sitting on the plate in front of him. It looked normal enough.
“Shoyo, thank you,” He glanced over in that direction but then turned to Yachi, “Are we sure we can trust them?”
Hinata scowled, “After all I did for you, Kiyoomi. I’m offended at the very best.”
Kiyoomi frowned, not really meaning anything behind it but remarking, “And what exactly did you do?”
A scoff came, and Hinata grabbed his chest, “I did so very much for you, Kiyoomi-kun. I did your dishes, and sweeped your floors. And, and I made you coffee and a sandwich, so you should feel appreciated.” Hinata smiled triumphantly.
-Shoyo made the coffee?
He eyed it hesitantly. Due to past trauma with Hinata making coffee, he really didn’t trust it.
“Oh my God! That was so long ago, I’ve learned how to make coffee since then! Seriously! Does it look normal to you?”
Kiyoomi brought the cup to his nose and sniffed. It didn’t smell off so at least there was that.
After dinner, Kiyoomi sat down on the couch once again, and Yachi stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. Kiyoomi sat there confused, not really understanding what she was trying to do, or make a statement on by just standing there. She frowned down at him, obviously not liking whatever he was doing wrong. Kiyoomi took one last bite of his sandwich, and Yachi huffed. Whatever effect she was trying to go for was doubled when Hinata joined her, same position and all. Kiyoomi took a sip of his coffee and waited for someone to explain what exactly was happening here, and why it felt like he was getting scorned by the two of them.
“Move your ass, Sakusa.” Yachi furrowed her eyebrows.
“Wha-” He looked at both of them, suddenly realizing they were kicking him off of his couch, “It’s a big couch! Just sit on the other end of it.”
“I mean, we would but we want to sit on this end of the couch.”
Kiyoomi couldn’t believe this, truly. He was getting bullied out of his own couch, by these two. If you sat Yachi on Hinata’s shoulders they still might not be taller than Kiyoomi. He couldn’t believe the nerve of them.
Kiyoomi narrowed his eyes, “Then I’ll move to the other end of the couch.”
Hinata shook his head, sadly. And Yachi explained why it was impossible for him to sit on the other end of the couch, “You see, Sakusa, due to your unfortunate height, we cannot possibly fit on the couch. It’s simply too small for your long beautiful legs.”
Kiyoomi glared at them.
“Yes,” Hinata nodded, “It’s truly unfortunate. You will be missed, Kiyoomi.”
“No? I’m not moving?”
“You’re 6’4, you are too damn big. Now pick your ass up, and beat it.”
“I can’t believe this,” Kiyoomi grumbled as he walked over to the loveseat that was significantly smaller than the couch.
Yachi wrapped a blanket around his shoulders as he sat down in defeat on the loveseat. It was fine for a seat, but it wasn’t as comfortable as his couch.
“We love you, Sakusa!” Yachi exclaimed as she pressed a kiss to his forehead.
He rolled his eyes in response, “Yeah, yeah, you and Hinata enjoy your couch. I still don’t understand why we can’t just all sit on the couch. It’s not like we all need to be spread out.”
Yachi and Hinata didn’t respond, but instead turned on the tv and began flipping through channels. They debated movies, Harry Potter and Twilight, like the true millennials they were, but didn’t respond to Kiyoomi. Kiyoomi rolled his eyes, but just continued sipping his coffee. They ended up settling on Twilight, because he quotes “Bella is fun to laugh at.” Yachi frowned and responded with “Hinata Shoyo, I swear to God you are a disgrace to our generation.”
Yachi watched Kiyoomi as he watched the movie. He didn’t really have an opinion on what they watched, but he did seem to get into it when the movie got started. Yachi played the whole couch scenario as a joke, but it wasn’t. She didn’t want Kiyoomi to sit on the couch, because he had been on the couch for the better part of two weeks from as far as she could tell. That was a lot of time to be there with one emotion. It seemed like a small thing to change his positioning in the room, but it actually did wonders for him.
“By the way, bud, we are staying over, just so you know. You have no say in this.”
Kiyoomi sighed from across the room, “Yeah, I figured.”
After the movie they all end up falling asleep in his living room. For perhaps the first time in two weeks he slept well. Despite sleeping on the loveseat, Kiyoomi felt well rested when he opened his eyes that next morning. Or, at least, he thought it was morning. By the way there was no lingering headache, he assumed he had slept the entire night. He really did, but when he opened his eyes the living room was dark. There was no light streaming through the window, and he was surprised. He supposed it was normal to have off sleeping patterns, especially after something like that, but he expected to sleep late, not early.
In his pocket, his phone was buzzing, it must have been what woke him up. He blinked, eyes not adjusted to being awake and he answered the call. He figured it was spam, but sometimes Komori called him late to see if he had insomnia as well. He assumed the call was Komori, because Komori’s calls would make sense.
Kiyoomi had just been dumped so Komori probably thought his insomnia was back. Yes, that explanation made sense. It was clear and straightforward. Komori made sense.
He expected Komori’s cheerful, almost bubbly voice on the other line, but it wasn’t. This voice was deep, barely present, and most definitely not Komori.
“Kiyoomi.”
His breath shallowed because of a voice that was so recognizable, yet foreign because it shouldn’t be there. A dialect that was thick with, -something. Could it have been the night? DId his accent twinge get thicker the later it was? Or was it something else? Kiyoomi couldn’t even remember because he was frozen, completely frozen in place.
Atsumu?
“Kiyoomi, I-”
No. No, this wasn’t right. Atsumu, Atsumu shouldn’t be calling me. He-, no what is going on? This shouldn’t be happening. He can’t just call me like this. He can’t do this to me. W-what is happening? I don’t understand.
His shallow breaths must have been heard from the other line, because they were so loud.
What does he want? Is he- is he okay? Maybe something is wrong, or he needs me for something. What is it?
“Kiyoomi,” His breaths were shallow, maybe he was hearing Atsumu’s breaths on the line, and not his own, “Kiyoomi, I’m sorry.”
No, no, no wait! He can’t just apologize. DId he expect to be forgiven? What did he want-
“I love you. I love you, and I’m sorry.”
Three things hit him at once as he sat frozen in the darkness. First, that Atsumu was slurring his words- he was drunk. Second, that he loved him. And third, something was wrong.
(Timecheck: February 10th, 2:45am)