Chapter Text
Long after college was said and done, Atsumu stood in Onigiri Miya, watching the street lamps turn on as the sky darkened outside. He gave a huff, propping his elbow up on the counter by the register, resting his cheek on his open palm. Just a few more minutes and he could close up and head back to his apartment. Atsumu grumbled as he thought about how Osamu was happily off on his honeymoon with Rin. They were supposed to get back the day before but some ‘flight delays’ were causing them to stay for the weekend instead of being there Friday night like promised. It’s almost like Osamu didn’t believe that Atsumu had a life outside of helping him in the shop from time to time. Of course, after leaving volleyball he didn’t have much of a life, but he still had one even if it was tiny.
Atsumu glanced at the clock on the wall in front of him, groaning when he noticed he still had 15 minutes left. He had already cleaned for the day, in hope that the last hour would fly by, but it didn’t. He adjusted his head in his hand and let his eyes slip closed. A small nap couldn’t hurt, besides who in the world would-
The door chimed as someone walked into the store. Atsumu’s eyebrows furrowed, almost letting out a whine before remembering that it’s not the customer’s fault. He took a deep breath before putting on his customer service smile, straightening up from his position at the counter and turning his head towards the door, eyes still closed as he bowed in greeting.
“Welcome ta’ Onigiri Miya. Our special of the day is fatty tuna onigiri.” Of course, it was fatty tuna, it had been for the past week. It was Atsumu’s favorite and Osamu could shove it and consider it payment for him taking over the shop with only slight convincing. After the usual greeting, people usually told him their order, but when no voice came, Atsumu straightened up again, opening his eyes. His smile faltered with the sight in front of him. There were a few more beats of silence before the voice spoke.
“‘Tsum?” A deep yet gentle voice said. Atsumu tried his best not to look like a deer caught in headlights but knew he was being unsuccessful because he could feel his eyes be wider than they had ever been. With his heart pounding in his chest, he opened his mouth to relay the greeting once again, but nothing left his throat. There he was, after 2 years, there was Kiyoomi Sakusa. Someone he thought he was over.
A warm smile spread over Sakusa’s thin lips. Atsumu did a double-take when he finally noticed the lack of a mask on the man. The man glided over towards Atsumu who was frozen in place. Atsumu blinked owlishly as Sakusa stood in front of him and flinched hard when he was being hugged by those toned arms. Atsumu almost let out a whimper, reaching out to hold onto the other’s clothes but instead placed his hands firmly on the counter that was separating them and pushed himself backward in an attempt to pull away. The arms released him as soon as they felt the resistance.
“Sorry, sorry. It’s just been so long. I’ve missed you ‘Tsum. The whole team misses you.” The soft smile was still on his very exposed lips. Atsumu wanted to ignore the twist in his gut but he knew exactly what the feelings were, he used to have them all the time when they were together. But with the heartbreak the butterflies he used to feel turned painful. Almost like they had glass shards as wings. Not trusting himself to say anything, he just gave a nod. Sakusa seemed to pick up on the slight awkwardness and ran his hand through his dark curls before resting it on the back of his neck.
“Listen, I’ve heard this place is really good. And I know it is extremely short notice. But I was wondering if this place could cater at a party tomorrow? It’s something small, nothing too big. Sakusa brought his hand down, resting it at his side again. His dark eyes looked directly at Atsumu. Atsumu swallowed hard and cleared his throat, attempting to find his voice once more. His tongue darted out of his mouth to lick his dry lips.
“It’ll take me all day t’morrow and it’s short notice so there will be a fee, but I can make it work.” Working this party was the last thing he wanted, but he was a professional above all else. It didn’t hurt that he knew Osamu would kill him for turning down an event. Sakusa just hummed and nodded. “What kinda event is it?” Atsumu pulled open a drawer under the register, pulling out a small pad of paper and a pen.
“It’s an engagement party.” Suddenly the pen in Atsumu’s hand was the only thing he felt. The ground felt like it had fallen out from under him. He stared down at the pad of paper, seeing in his peripherals as his knuckles turned white from how hard he was gripping the poor pen. A million thoughts rushed past Atsumu’s mind. One of those being what kind of person Sakusa was marrying. Another being why HE wasn’t the one that was good enough to marry. But the scariest one was by far the one that made him want to tell Sakusa that he was still hung up on him.
Yes, it had been 2 years since they had broken up, 2 years since Atsumu stopped playing volleyball, 2 years since he pretended to be okay and hoped it’d be enough to move on. He never dated but to him that was somewhat normal, working on himself he called it whenever Osamu or Rin tried to set him up with someone. He also called it that when he spent hours on his couch crying over the man in front of him. All to find out that he’s probably happy, about to get married to someone worth it more than Atsumu. The pit in Atsumu’s stomach just grew bigger and bigger the more he dwelled on it, but a voice brought him back to reality.
“I see you’re surprised too. I mean we all were when we found out that Bokuto had finally popped the question to Akaashi. It was a long time coming but none of us knew when it was going to be.” Sakusa gave a small chuckle. Atsumu blinked rapidly, eyes looking up towards Sakusa who was just looking at him down expectantly. Atsumu quickly began to write in his chicken-scratch handwriting. Osamu loved poking fun at him for it, saying only he could understand it, which was true, the number of times Osamu had to send him pictures of memos with the word ‘translate’ after them was almost comical. He looked up once again at those eyes that still had a hold of him even after not seeing them for 2 years.
“Any specific flavors you need?” Atsumu mumbled, looking back down at the writing pad. A hum was heard before Atsumu vaguely heard something about surprising him with a list. He got to work making a solid list, remembering a few of the team's favorites, assuming everyone was going. After a couple of minutes, he turned the pad towards Sakusa. Atsumu got ready to list off the different types but before he could, Sakusa picked up the pad, humming, a finger on his chin as he looked through it. He suddenly reached over, in an attempt to grab the pen Atsumu was holding. Atsumu dropped it like hot coal onto the counter. Sakusa raised a questioning eyebrow but picked it up regardless. He quickly scratched off one of the choices, writing something to the side of it.
“I made one small change. Instead of shrimp and leek, I’d like some umeboshi onigiri.” He set the pad back down onto the counter, sliding it towards Atsumu, setting the pen down near it. “Other than that, the list looks great. I always knew you had good taste.” Sakusa gave him another smile. If Atsumu had had any saliva in his mouth, he would’ve choked. Luckily his mouth had been dry since the sudden hug. His brain had yet to process that by the way, he was just in customer service mode at the moment. Atsumu nodded again. “Alright then. I wrote the address and time at the bottom of the note. Thanks so much ‘Tsum. I won’t tell anyone you’re coming. It’ll be a nice surprise, yeah?” Sakusa turned and began heading outside of the shop, but not before hesitating by the hand sanitizer by the front door. Atsumu’s eyes were trained on his back. He saw Sakusa give a small shake of his head, his curls bouncing ever so slightly before he shoved his hands in his front pockets and walked out the door into the dimly lit street.
Atsumu’s shoulders dropped, not noticing how tense he had become with the whole exchange. His hands came down to pat himself all over, thinking it all had to be some sort of dream. Seeing him, the event, the invitation, the smile, the… the hug. Atsumu felt a rush of blood all over his body. If his head could release steam, it would be fuming at the moment. Hands shaking, he reached for the pad where he saw the almost perfect handwriting of Sakusa. It hadn’t been a dream, and that was his physical evidence. He had to close up shop and call Osamu right away.
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“Why didn’t ya say no ya idiot?” Osamu screamed over the facetime call. Atsumu had gotten home, taken a cold shower, and called his brother immediately. After explaining everything, Osamu was so mad he was red in the face. Seeing your brother with a broken heart is a cruel thing to witness and Osamu would be damned if it happened again. Sakusa was on Osamu’s shit list for life.
“‘Cause, it was a customer ‘Samu! And it’s fer Bo-kun and Akaa-chan!” Atsumu argued. Sakusa was just an unwelcome side effect to the whole thing. “‘Sides, I’m there to work, not to mingle, ‘Samu. I can be professional too, ya know?” Atsumu pouted, his eyebrows furrowing. A small disembodied giggle coming from the speaker made Atsumu pout harder. “I CAN HEAR YA SUNARIN, DON’T THINK I WON’T GET YA WHEN YA GET BACK!” The giggle turned into a peal of loud laughter, causing Osamu to light up on the other side of the screen, a small smile toying on his lips as he looked behind the phone. “Ya guys are gross. I’m hangin’ up!” With that he hung up the phone, a minute later a text lit up his screen of Osamu saying ‘Goodnight scrub, and thanks’ which caused Atsumu to smile briefly, alleviating the knot in his stomach just enough so he could slip into a dreamless sleep.
The only issue is that Atsumu never had a dreamless sleep.