Work Text:
Atsumu couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Never, not in a million years, did he think he would see his Omi-kun, his one and only, the love of his life, in this position. Not that he was unhappy; no, in fact it was quite the opposite. Atsumu was overjoyed at what he was seeing. So happy he whipped out his phone and began snapping photos, totally forgetting that his sound was on. Which ruined the moment entirely, gaining Kiyoomi’s attention and causing the object of Atsumu’s fascination to scurry away.
See, they had gotten a cat two weeks ago, and Kiyoomi had absolutely refused to interact with her in any sort of way. It had taken Atsumu months to break his boyfriend down and get him to agree to get any sort of pet with him, so while he was a little sad Kiyoomi refused to play with her, he didn’t push him too hard.
But now! Now, Atsumu caught him in 4K! Sakusa Kiyoomi, stubborn grouch and apparent cat hater, was petting their Ume-chan!
“Atsumu.”
“Yes, Omi?”
“Did you just take a photo of me?”
“Yes Omi,” he grinned at his boyfriend.
“I’m giving you two seconds.”
Atsumu bolted towards the bedroom with Kiyoomi right behind. “That wasn’t two seconds!”
“You just don’t know how to count,” Kiyoomi grunted. Which was immediately followed by a groan when Atsumu made it into the bedroom first and locked the door behind him. “Open the door, Atsumu!”
“No! Yer just gonna make me delete them!”
“Exactly!”
“Omi,” he whined. “These are my pics!”
Atsumu could hear the other man huff in frustration and settle against the door. “I will wait as long as I have to until you come out here.”
And the scary thing was that Kiyoomi absolutely would. But this was a standoff Atsumu wouldn’t lose. He grew up with ‘Samu, for crying out loud! He would make it out of this battle with his pictures of Omi and their Ume-chan.
“Omi, ya can’t be serious.”
“I can be and I am. I mean it, Atsumu.”
“Omi!”
“No.”
Kiyoomi had just sat him down on their couch after a long day of practice and agreed to get a cat with him, but immediately followed up with, “I will not be touching that thing when it arrives”, much to Atsumu’s displeasure.
“First of all, cats aren’t things. They’re living beings that deserve respect, Omi. And second, ya have to,” he frowned.
“But why?” Kiyoomi sulked.
His boyfriend was such a baby. It was cute, but he needed to stand his ground. If they were gonna really get a cat like he wanted, Omi needed to be on board with at least taking care of the pet.
“I can’t be the only one doing the work! You agreed to get a pet with me, not give me permission to have a pet in our home.”
Sighing, Kiyoomi crossed his arms over his chest and looked away. “Fine. I’ll help take care of it. I wouldn’t trust you to keep it alive, anyway.”
“Omi!” he squawked.
“But I won’t play with it. I’ll feed it and...water it, I guess. And that’s it.”
Atsumu sighed. “Ya don’t water cats, Omi. They aren’t plants.”
“Whatever,” he replied as he flopped his head on Atsumu’s lap. “Can we decide on dinner now?”
When Atsumu first decided he wanted a cat, he was seven. It actually wasn’t his idea. Him and Osamu had gone to get popsicles during the summer one day, and they had seen this white and black cat resting in the front. Atsumu was planning on ignoring it but his brother had gotten distracted by the cat’s fur and began petting it. Not wanting to be left out, he shuffled over to pet the animal as well.
“Hey, ‘Tsumu, wouldn't it be cool if we had a cat?”
“What do ya even know about cats?”
Osamu paused. “Hm, nothin’, but I bet if we asked Ma or Gran they might know!”
Atsumu couldn’t argue with that. So they got their popsicles and asked their mom when she got home if they could have a cat, and, unsurprisingly, she said no. She had guessed it was just one of their whims that would pass, and Atsumu kind of thought the same. It’s not like he really wanted a cat that bad. But Osamu had seemed really bummed by her telling them no.
Each day that summer, his twin had approached their mom with a fact about cats, and made frequent trips to the store to play with the cat that sat out front. Atsumu was beginning to be both annoyed by the cat facts and super interested. If cats were only meowing for people, did that mean they would understand him if he meowed back?
“Ya won’t know unless we get one, ‘Tsumu. Then ya can practice meowing at ‘em until ya have a whole conversation.”
Looking back, it was really stupid of Atsumu to believe his lying brat of a brother, but he did anyway, and was convinced to try and help get their mom to get them a cat. By the next summer, the Miya family had a new addition to the family in the form of Mikan, a striking orange and white cat. The cat took an instant liking to both of the twins, which was a relief to their mother because she wasn’t sure how to reconcile that fight if it weren’t the case. Atsumu spent most of his time trying to communicate solely by meowing to Mikan, which had Osamu laughing at him every single time. And Osamu slept with Mikan on his bunk most nights, although the cat would occasionally climb up to Atsumu’s bunk and keep him company too.
So, it wasn’t Atsumu who originally wanted a cat, but the desire to have a pet never left him once he had it. Mikan still lives at home with their mother, but he wanted his own pet to live at home with him. Him and his prickly boyfriend.
Thus was the start of Atsumu’s “ Omi Let’s Please Get a Cat I Need One and You Need Me to Leave You Alone About Getting One Which I Will Do ONLY If We Get a Cat” campaign. (Yes, he had both a powerpoint presentation and had given several speeches to convince Kiyoomi. They didn’t work as well as he wanted them to, but he had fun making them so. Who cares).
About an hour into their standoff, Atsumu heard Kiyoomi heave himself off the door to stretch and plod away, assumingly towards the living room. Perfect. Atsumu really had to pee and didn’t want to have to fight his partner with a full bladder. That would be a disaster he didn’t think either of them wanted to deal with.
He unlocked the door and slowly turned the doorknob, carefully opening the door and peeking his head out. So far so good. Atsumu inched his body out into the hallway, completely relaxing completely when he saw he was in the clear. Feeling proud of himself, he walked to the bathroom and pushed open the door just as the toilet flushed.
Huh. Toilets don’t normally do that on their own.
The sound of running water from the sink reached his ears a little too late, because he had already opened the door and was face to face with his boyfriend.
“Close your mouth, you look stupid,” he said as he killed the faucet.
“Hey!”
“Why do you look so shocked to see me?” Kiyoomi asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I thought ya went to the couch or somethin’. Can I pee?”
Wordlessly, Kiyoomi stepped to the side to let Atsumu slide into the bathroom, touching his elbow as he passed him. “You don’t have to delete the pictures if you don’t want to.”
So he said, but he had that pinched look he got when he was unsatisfied with how something was turning out. Atsumu usually noticed the look on his face when they had to do surprise interviews after a game, which Kiyoomi hated sitting through. Was Kiyoomi actually upset about the pictures? If there was a genuine problem here, Atsumu wouldn’t want him to be uncomfortable. But he did just say that Atsumu could keep them. Unless…
Quickly, Atsumu washed his hands and made his way to the living room. Like he thought, Kiyoomi was sitting with his arms folded next to Ume-chan. But not touching her. He was gonna have to fix that.
“Omi? Are ya sure I can keep the pictures?”
The man’s eyebrows furrowed. Atsumu couldn’t help but follow the movement with his eyes, attention straying from his eyebrows to the two moles on his forehead. Kiyoomi was so pretty. Whether it was his curly hair, his almost flawless skin (thank you, night routine), or just his face , there was nothing about Kiyoomi that wasn’t pretty. How did Atsumu get so lucky?
Kiyoomi flicked him in the forehead. Nevermind. His boyfriend was a brat.
“Don’t ask me something if you aren’t gonna listen to me,” he pouted.
“I got distracted by yer face!” Atsumu whined as he rubbed his forehead.
Kiyoomi blushed and shoved Atsumu’s face away. “You’re so embarrassing.”
“Hehe, I’m just appreciating the love of my life.”
“Atsumu!” He groaned. “I was saying...I don’t really care if you keep the pictures. Just don’t make fun of me, alright? It took a lot of effort to even touch her.”
That’s what he was worried about? Well, it’s not that out of character for Atsumu to tease him, but honestly, Atsumu was just happy that Kiyoomi was giving Ume-chan a chance. He was really excited to have a pet with his boyfriend. It felt like a big step towards something he couldn’t quite name, but it was a feeling he couldn’t get enough of.
“I’ll always tease you, Omi. That’s just me. But I won't genuinely try to make you feel bad. Ya put a lot of effort into being close to her, I can respect that. It makes me happy more than anything. I’ve wanted you and Ume-chan to get along since before we got her,” Atsumu smiled softly. “Plus, ya look really cute playing with her. What made you change yer mind?”
“Well. She’s not as messy as I thought she’d be...and you always look like you’re having so much fun with her. And I got a little lonely when you went out with Bokuto and Hinata last week.” Kiyoomi, having now spilled his secret, reached over and brought Ume-chan into the small space between him and Atsumu, switching between gently petting the top of her head and scratching underneath her chin.
Ume-chan purred happily and climbed onto Atsumu’s lap, who then shifted into the now empty space between him and his boyfriend and leaned his entire upper body on Kiyoomi.
“I’m trying to pet our cat.”
“And yer doing a great job with it.”
“You’re in my way.”
“Omi,” he whined, “let me recharge my Omi battery! You like it when I lean on you!”
Kiyoomi wrapped his arm around Atsumu’s waist and rested his head atop the blonde’s, still petting Ume-chan on the other man’s lap. “Yeah, that’s because I like you. So stop whining and stay still if you’re going to recharge.”
Smiling softly, Atsumu leaned up and pecked Kiyoomi’s chin. “I like you too, Omi.”
“Atsumu?”
“Hmm?”
“Please don’t show anyone those pictures. I have an image to maintain.”
“And it’s my job to crumble it bit by bit, Omi. At least lemme show Shoyou and Bokkun.”
“Those are the last two people I want to see,” Kiyoomi sighed.
“No, the last person you want to see is yer cousin. And he’ll only see these if Sunarin sees them!”
“I know you’re going to show Osamu. There’s no way Suna won’t see. And then he’ll show Motoya and I’ll never hear the end of it. Life as I know it will be over.”
Atsumu shrugged. “I can’t control what that devil does, Omi. Once ‘Samu has them it’s out of my hands.”
Kiyoomi stood up and picked up Ume-chan from Atsumu’s lap.
“Omi? Where are ya going?”
“To the bedroom. With someone who won’t betray me the way you are.”
Laughing, Atsumu followed his boyfriend down the hallway to their room. “I haven’t even done anything yet!”
“You will! You’re planning my demise as we speak,” he huffed, although a small smile was working its way into his face.
As they flopped onto the bed with Ume-chan, Atsumu whipped out his phone, sending his brother one of the photos he took earlier and closing the messaging app before he received a response. He couldn’t help but stare at Kiyoomi fondly. His boyfriend was dramatic as hell, yes, but he made the effort to make Atsumu happy, which of course Atsumu appreciated. It meant the world to him that he could raise a pet with his boyfriend and that they could learn to handle a responsibility together. They were raising another living thing! It was kind of like starting a family, although Atsumu didn’t dwell on that train of thought for too long because it made him misty eyed.
“Omi?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m really happy you like Ume-chan.”
“And I’m happy you got her.”
“Okay. Omi?”
“ Yes , Atsumu?” He said amusedly.
“Love ya.”
Atsumu watched his boyfriend smile and link their hands.
“I love you too.”