Work Text:
The dial tone from Kuroo’s phone rings out into the empty hotel room, Bokuto having sought over to Akaashi’s room.
“Hey” Daichi’s voice sounds rough, like he just woke up.
“Shit, sorry” Kuroo rubs the back of his neck, “did I wake you? I forgot about the time difference”
“Well, it is..” Daichi makes a small pause “5 AM” he laughs.
Kuroo wasn’t lying when he said the time difference had completely escaped his mind, it had only been consumed with the thought of finally speaking to Daichi again.
“I was the one who said you could call” Daichi says, to ease Kuroo’s worries.
“Yeah, okay” Kuroo grumbles.
“So, are you nervous for tomorrow?” Daichi asks.
“It’s weird doing this without you” Kuroo admits “Bokuto is a great vice-captain, don’t get me wrong, but he’s not you”
“You’re going to do fine” Daichi replies, Kuroo hears some voices in the background. Daichi turns his face away from the microphone.
“Suga, would you please shut up” comes muffled through the speaker.
Kuroo chuckles, “Are you sure it’s not a bad time?”
“No, Suga insisted on a Barbie Movie marathon so we’re halfway through the twelve dancing princesses” Daichi sighs “I’m so glad you called”
Kuroo chuckles as he vaguely hears Suga yell something in the background.
“Anyways, back to you” Daichi changes the subject swiftly, “how’s France? How's the team?”
“It is pretty, I mean we haven’t been out and about much but the hotel is nice and the arena is pretty nice” Kuroo explains.
“That’s good, wish I could see you guys play there” Daichi whispers through the phone.
“Yeah, me too but everyone back in Japan missed you so it’s good you get to spend some time with them” Kuroo says, but his heart is screaming ‘ I wish you were here’
“So sensible, who are you and what have you done with Tetsurou?” Daichi laughs.
“Hey” Kuroo exclaims, “I’m the sensible captain now” a strange sense of pride fills his voice.
“Oh I know, I feel so bad for Akaashi” Daichi retorts cheekily.
“If you’re gonna tease me like that, I’m just gonna hang up” Kuroo fires back. A moment of silence passes between them, both knowing there is no way Kuroo will be the one hanging up.
“The team is doing good” Kuroo begins, “everyone would be able to feel that you’re missing though, the new guy is very different”
“Yeah? Daishou, right?” Daichi asks, he hadn’t looked at the official press release regarding the selected fourteen, figuring that not seeing his name on there would hurt too much, even though it was by his own choice.
“Yeah, he’s good, but his energy is very different” Kuroo says “he plays like all those pivots you hate playing against” Kuroo laughs.
“So he uses dirty tricks” Daichi nods, though Kuroo can’t see him.
“They’re not dirty when the tricks are on our side” Kuroo says back, jokingly.
“And if the ref doesn’t see,” Daichi pokes back.
“True, I’ll have to shield him then” Kuroo says.
“Other than that, are you ready?” Daichi asks, a certain tone of captaincy still present in his voice.
Kuroo can’t help himself as he replies.
“Yes, captain” The lilt of a joke present in his voice, though the joking nature is a reminder for both of them that Kuroo now carries this responsibility alone and Daichi can’t take even the slightest weight off of his shoulders.
Before Kuroo is able to answer the question, the door bursts open.
“KUROO!” Bokuto yells as he enters the room.
“I’m on the phone with Daichi,” Kuroo replies.
Bokuto responds by jumping onto the bed, with Kuroo in it, and yelling “HIII” into the phone. On the other end Daichi laughs, deep and loud.
“Mario Kart tournament in the game room now” Bokuto is up from the bed with the same speed as he landed in it, pulling Kuroo’s arm as he tries to get him to leave the room.
“I’m talking to Daichi though” Kuroo almost whines.
“You can talk to him tomorrow again, right now I’m gonna beat you in Mario Kart” Bokuto tugs extra hard at Kuroo’s arm and Kuroo falls onto the floor.
“It’s fine, we can talk tomorrow after the game” Daichi says, Kuroo can hear the laughter in his voice, so he decides to get up from the floor.
“Okay, love you” Kuroo says while being dragged down the hallway.
Bokuto hangs up the phone before Daichi can respond, but then again he doesn’t have to, Kuroo already knows.
The game comes way too quickly. Suddenly Kuroo is in the arena, the sound from the fans reaching into the locker room. He looks at the text message Daichi sent earlier that day one last time before joining his team in the players tunnel.
The sound of the fans only gets louder and louder, though Kuroo doubts many of them are here to see them, he can pretend for a little bit though.
Kuroo looks at his teammates around him, many of them no longer rookies, though some still look like they could be. The energy around them feels like electricity. Hinata is jumping up and down, Kageyama and Akaashi discussing tactics, Bokuto trying to help and Tsukishima already completely focused. The announcer in the arena speaks into the microphone.
“Please welcome JAPAN!” she says and the arena erupts into cheers. Though less so than when their opponents were introduced. Kuroo runs in line with his team to the centre of the court, he stands and breathes it all in. His first olympic game without Daichi by his side. The thought feels lonely, though there are thirteen other team members Kuroo feels all alone for one small second and then his name is called.
“Number 13, Sawamura Tetsurou” Kuroo still hasn’t gotten used to his new last name, so it takes him a second before he steps forward and waves to the crowd.
“TETSU” someone yells out as the cheering fades.
Kuroo whips his head around looking for the source of the voice. The first thing he spots is a sign of a large arrow, next to it a sign with a drawn speech bubble, the speech bubble simply says “surprise!”.
The real surprise is located at the start of the speech bubble.
Sawamura Daichi is standing there, in Paris.
“What?” Kuroo mouths as he has established eye contact, Daichi simply points to the sign. Daichi turns around so Kuroo can read the text on his back. It, unsurprisingly, reads “Sawamura” but as Kuroo reads the number, his heart swells. The number “13” has never looked so good. Daichi turns back around.
“Thank you” Kuroo mouths, sending a finger heart in Daichi's direction, and suddenly he doesn’t feel alone anymore.
The game is fast, both teams giving their all, Kuroo does his best in the defence but has to watch his teammates struggle with scoring. While Kuroo has always enjoyed defence much more than offence, the time spent on the bench watching is frustrating. Not that Kuroo thinks he could be of much use in the other end of the court, he knows his strengths after all, but doing nothing is not his favourite thing.
Kuroo sits, leg bouncing, eyes trained on his teammates, hands ready to push him off the chair. He watches as Bokuto jumps, shoots and as the goalkeeper saves.
The sounds from the crowd drown out the squeaks of the shoes, the sound of the ball hitting the floor, and most of all it drowns out Kuroo yelling from the bench.
TIme passes in slow motion, Kuroo sees the ball sail across the court, the opposing player running after it, but what causes him to yell is Tsukishima. Tsukishima leaves the goal area before seeing the player running towards him. A second before impact Tsukishima spots him, but a second is not enough. Tsukishima all but throws himself out of the. He isn’t fast enough and he just grazes the hip of the player. Tsukishima watches as he falls. His eyes whip to the referee even before the whistle has blown. Tsukishima knows, before he sees it he knows. The red card glares at him from the hand of the referee, and though he knew it was coming the sight of it is like a punch to the face. Tsukishima walks from the court with his head low. Kuroo pats him on the back as he passes the bench but no words seem appropriate.
Ennoshita warms up quickly behind the bench and takes the court for the first time this game. Kuroo looks at his players, his shaken players and all he can do is yell “C’mon guys we can do it”. The resulting penalty shot flies past Ennoshita, and it isn’t the last one. The shots keep flying past both the defense and Ennoshita and suddenly Japan is down by 5.
Nekomata calls for a timeout and as the whole team looks to Kuroo, for some encouraging words, a will to fight or anything to reassure them. What he has is nothing, his throat feels dry and too tight. His eyes flit over everyone in the circle and still, he gives them nothing. He looks over his shoulder, finding Daichi in the crowd and immediately his shoulders fall and his breathing becomes easier.
“It’s okay” Daichi mouths from the bleachers. Kuroo nods and turns his attention back to his teammates.
“It’s gonna be okay guys, we just gotta go out there and do what I know we can” Kuroo says “I know we can do better, I believe in us so we just got to do it.”
The rest of the game passes by both too fast and slowly. Both teams fight with everything they’ve got, but at last and suddenly the buzzer rings. The game is over. Team Japan loses by one.
Kuroo looks at his teammates first, Hinata with his head hanging low, Bokuto slinging an arm around his shoulders in a comforting gesture, Kageyama and Akaashi already discussing the things needing to be done better for the next game, and then his eyes catch Tsukishima’s. Tsukishima’s head hangs the lowest, he averts his eyes from Kuroo's.
The locker room feels somber, even as Nekomata applauds their will to fight and the way they picked themselves up, none of it seems to register. The team showers in silence, Kuroo knows that they all have their own ways of dealing with losing a game, he also knows that they’ll be fine tomorrow. Kuroo stays as most of the others leave. In the end it’s just him and Tsukishima. Both are pretending to still be packing their bags, Tsukishima has put his shoe in the bag five times now and taken it out just as many.
“Do you want to talk to me about it?” Kuroo asks, as the repeated shoe packing gets too painful to watch.
“I think I’m just gonna go back to the hotel and call Tadashi and Hitoka,” Tsuskishima says. Kuroo nods but Tsukishima can guess the thought running through his mind.
Daichi would have been better at this. Not because it’s true, but the thought had flashed into Tsukishima’s own head at some point after the game.
Kuroo leaves the locker room without saying more. Tsukishima leaves last, the image of his disappointed teammates clear in his mind. When he returns to his hotel room he finds it empty, Ennoshita having joined the post-game card game in the common room. Tsukishima breathes a sigh of relief. He throws himself on the bed, already reaching for his phone. It’s close to midnight in Japan, but he hopes that his call will be answered.
The tone barely sounds twice, before it is and familiar faces appear on the screen. Both Tadashi and Yachi are still wearing their jerseys that Tsukishima knows read his last name on the back. Yachi’s eyes are slightly red, and Tadashi’s hair is all tousled.
For a small minute none of them say anything, they just look at each other. Tsukishima finds great comfort in just seeing their faces.
“So did you watch the game?” Tsukishima cracks a joke.
“Kei!” Yachi exclaims, clearly offended he would even ask.
“I know you did” Tsukki says, “I just didn’t know what to say” he shrugs but he doubts the other two notice as only his head is in frame.
“How are you doing though?” Tadashi asks.
Their conversation continues, till it’s well past midnight in Japan and as Ennoshita enters the room he hears the gentle snores of three people.
Time in the olympic village has always passed weird to Kuroo and the next game arrives even faster than the first one.
The energy before the game is even more tense than the previous one, the pressure is on. Japan gets a nervous start to the game, a few failed passes and penalty shots. By the half time, they’re down by one. The second half starts much better, the nervousness gone, the pressure off, only the chance to surprise left. And surprise they do, they catch up and with just a few minutes left the score is all tied up. The fire in his teammates eyes burns bright and as Kuroo blocks the opponents shot with fifteen seconds left he can only watch as Bokuto runs with it. Bokuto lifts off from the ground and sends the ball flying, the goal shakes after the ball goes clean in.
The buzzer blares through the arena. For a second all sound dies, Kuroo’s eyes flit to the scoreboard. The last goal, ticks in and the arena explodes. Kuroo is almost knocked back by the sheer volume of the sound. His eyes find Daichi in the crowd. Daichi has pushed past the other spectators, he leans over the rails and Kuroo runs. The rest of the team has already surrounded Bokuto, but Kuroo runs only to Daichi.
Daichi’s arms surround him. Kuroo grabs onto him, holding him tight. Kuroo vaguely feels the other spectators pat him on the back, some say congratulations.
“I knew you could do it,” Daichi whispers in his ear.
“I didn’t,” Kuroo laughs, he loosens his death grip on Daichi’s shirt. He pulls away, grabbing onto the railing instead.
“Well, it’s not over yet” Daichi winks at Kuroo.
“Don’t remind me,” Kuroo groans. This time it’s Daichi who laughs.
Kuroo can’t help it, he leans in but just before he can kiss Daichi something, well someone,
pulls him back.
“Come on bro” Bokuto says, “you can make out with your boyfriend later” He starts dragging Kuroo back on the court to celebrate.
“Excuse you” Kuroo holds a hand to his heart, feigning indignation “that is my husband.”
Kuroo blows Daichi a kiss with a wink. Daichi catches it.