Chapter Text
dachi sawamura has had the same morning routine for the past year and 4 months.
he wakes up promptly at 5 am. brushes his teeth. eats a protein bar. walks 2 blocks to his neighborhood gym. does strength training on mondays, wednesdays, and fridays. tuesdays and thursdays are for endurance. after his hour workout, he walks back to his apartment. takes a 15 minute shower. makes a smoothie with a 1/2 cup berries, 1 handful of spinach, 1 cup almond milk, and a squirt of honey (he does have a sweet tooth, after all). he leaves his apartment at 6:45. dachi drinks his smoothie as he drives to his ballet studio. he unlocks the door at 7 am on the dot. his first class begins at 7:15 am.
this morning is the exact same. daichi pulls his car into his parking space at 6:58 am. he grabs his bag and chugs the rest of his smoothie. daichi walks to the door and unlocked it. he sucks in the scent of his studio as he turns on the lights.
this is the smell of hard work and determination, daichi thinks to himself.
sure, maybe his studio is a little run down. but daichi has worked tirelessly to make it into a second home for his students. he watches his students trickle into the studio, saying good morning to each. daichi is well loved by his students. he has worked up a good reputation in the neighborhood. daichi is happy. everything is perfect. just how daichi wants it.
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koushi sugawara has never had routine in his life. well, maybe once, a long time ago, but that doesn’t matter. suga prefers it this way. he likes doing things differently. and today isn’t any different.
suga wakes up at 10 in the morning. he yawns. today is the day. finally, he’s moving. the moving truck comes at 11. suga loads up his hodgepodge collection of belongings. he’s off to his new home, his new studio.
suga knew he was sharing the building with a ballet studio, but the look of the place shocks him. it makes his half of the building look like a total dump.
how annoying, suga thinks. “fly high ballet studio.” how weird.
the mover yells at suga to get his stuff out of the back of the truck. he pushes his couch piled high with boxes of clothes and machines and sketchbooks into his new home. it definitely needs some work. suga flips off the mover as he drives away. he sighs and shoves the boxes off his couch before plopping down.
where’s yamaguchi and asahi? suga thinks. he picks at the couch absentmindedly. might as well introduce myself to the neighbors.
suga walks over to the ballet studio and tries the door. it’s locked. he bangs on the glass. no response.
“must not be home,” suga says to himself as he walks back. “must be nice to be able to afford to keep the lights on.” suga laughs.
whatever. suga doesn’t care. he’s finally getting his own tattoo studio. years of work and pain have gone into this. some prissy ballerina can’t take that away from him. suga is happy. things are finally looking up for sugawara.
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daichi pulls into his parking spot at 2:45 pm. right on time. daichi gets out of his car and walks to the front door of his studio. the lights are on next door.
maybe the landlord is finally cleaning that place up, daichi thinks. he’ll have to ask later.
tsukishima kei and nishinoya yū are right behind daichi.
“glad you guys are here,” daichi says to them. “tsukishima, i think one of the mom’s dropped off a check on the desk.”
“got it,” tsukishima replies.
“the students should be here soon, noya,” daichi calls as his employee bounds into his room.
“i know, i know,” noya responds. “i’ll stretch and get ready!”
daichi smiles. he goes into his studio room and begins to stretch.
“sensei?” a hesitant voice asks.
daichi looks up from his stretch and smiles.
“hello naga, what can i help you with?” daichi asks sweetly.
“i’ve been trying to work on my turns like you showed us, but i keep falling,” naga says softly.
daichi crouches down to her eye level. “why don’t you show me one and then i can help you, okay?”
naga nods and does a turn.
“watch me,” daichi says as he shows her how to stand on her toes and move her arms. “use your arms to help you balance. try again.” naga turns beautifully.
“amazing work, naga!” daichi cheers. “keep up the hard work and i might have to pick you to be the next lead!”
“really?” naga asks with big eyes.
“of course!” daichi smiles. “i can tell that you’re working har-“ daichi is interrupted by a large bang. “as i was saying,” daichi continues, “i can tell that you’re working very hard at hom-“ daichi is interrupted by a large bang, again. he’s starting to get frustrated.
what is the landlord doing? daichi thinks to himself.
“anyways,” daichi says with a soft chuckle, “i’m very proud of you, naga.”
“thank you, sensei,” naga says softly.
daichi smiles at her. “why don’t you go ahead and stretch and we’ll start class once everyone gets here.” daichi walks to tsukishima’s desk quickly.
tsukishima barely glances at daichi as he comes barreling over.
“have you heard that noise?” daichi hisses through his teeth. “i’m trying to talk to my student but i can’t hear over that banging.”
tsukishima doesn’t respond.
daichi huffs off to his studio room. before he enters, he puts on a smile for his students coming into class. “okay everyone, we’ll be starting in 5 minutes!” daichi begins his stretches at the front of the room, prompting his students to follow him. he goes through the different positions of ballet, turning his feet. he watches his students in the mirrored wall. their recital is coming up, and he can tell they’ve been putting in the work. his final student walks into the room. daichi turns and claps his hands. “now that we’re all here, let’s get started!” daichi leads them in a few more stretches, using the bar in the back of the room. “do we all remember the choreo i taught on monday?” the students nod. “show me what you remember!” daichi exclaims as he turns on their song. a beautiful classical piece by debussy. his students dance as he watches, beaming at them. “lovely!” daichi praises, as they finish. “there’s a few things we can fix, though. first, show me your plie. beautiful. now, sissonne. point those toes! gorgeous! remember to fully do every single move in this routine. no short cuts. let’s begin again.”
daichi watches as the girls scrambled into their beginning positions. he claps his hands to the beat of the music.
“1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and” daichi is interrupted, yet again. this time however, loud music was blasting through the walls. daichi is pissed. “excuse me, class. i’ll be back in just a second. while i’m gone, please go back over the choreo.” daichi quickly rushes out of his studio.
“tsukishima, please look over my class while i take care of this,” daichi yells over the music.
tsukishima nods.
daichi hurries out of his studio and to the place next door. he bangs on the glass door. no one answers. he can see lights on. he tries the door. it’s unlocked.
“hello,” daichi shouts as he walks through the building. he’s not sure if he can be heard over the loud music. “hello!” daichi turns the corner, following the music. he can feel the bass under his feet. finally, he reaches the source of the music. the door to the room is cracked open. “hello,” daichi yells. there’s no response. daichi pushes the door open and walks in.
a man dressed in black stands with his back to daichi. the man leans over a table, examining a machine. the room smells like burnt weed. the man stands up and runs a hand through his thick grey hair.
“hello,” daichi yells again, his patience wearing thin.
the man turns around with a jump. daichi can see his face now. it’s pretty. “jesus christ,” the man sighs. “you scared me.” the man eyes daichi. “what can i do for you, leggings.”
“leggings?” daichi asks.
the man points at daichi’s legs.
“these are tights,” daichi crosses his arms. “can you turn you music down? i can hear it next door.”
“ah,” the man turns to the stereo system in the corner. “you must work at the ballet studio.”
“i own it,” daichi responds curtly. “i should be getting back to my class.”
“bye bye, leggings,” the man laughs as daichi stomps back to his studio.
daichi rushes back into his class and resumes.
the class finishes right on time. now, daichi gets to teach his favorite class. 5:30 advanced ballet. daichi won’t let the man next door bother him. he barely paid attention to him. daichi is as unbothered as one can be, at least that’s what he tells himself.
his 5:30 class goes smoothly. aside from the occasional loud noise from next door, everything goes perfectly.
7:30. the last class of the day. intermediate ballet. the class began with a loud shout from next door. daichi takes a deep breath and regains composure.
“on pointe!” daichi says. “ready, begin.” daichi watches as his ballerinas execute the routine he’s been imagining for the past 4 months. he gives them advice, shows them how to hold their hands while moving their feet. “beautiful! amazing work! i’m proud of each and every one of you! next lesson is on thursday! same time!”
daichi’s students bow on their way out the door.
was i too mean to the man? i didn’t even ask his name, daichi thinks. i should go apologize.
daichi walks to the door and knocks. no answer. he lets himself in. daichi walks to where the man was earlier. he hears voices. daichi doesn’t mean to overhear, but he does.
“and he then stomps off in his leggings, literally stomps,” a voice says with a laugh. daichi thinks it’s the man with the silver hair.
“i can’t believe we work next to a ballet studio. ballet?” a voice daichi doesn’t recognize says.
the man with the silver hair laughs. it sounds like nails on a chalkboard.
“this guys sounds like an ass,” the voice daichi doesn’t know says.
“he was. acted like a privileged little priss,” the man with the silver hair spits. “i hate people like that. thinking the world revolves around them. god.”
daichi is angry. maybe he was a little rude, but he’s not the villain. daichi has worked for everything he has. daichi coughs loudly.
“looks like we got company,” another man says.
daichi steps into the room. three faces look at him.
“what can i do for you, …” the man with the silver hair asks.
“sawamura daichi,” daichi narrows his eyes, waiting for an apology.
“daichi,” the man bites his lip. “i’m suga. this is yamaguchi and asahi.” suga points to his friends.
daichi nods to each of them.
“what can i do for you?” suga asks, eyeing daichi once again.
daichi doesn’t feel like apologizing. he deserves the apology now. “what can you do for me?”
suga laughs. “how about a tattoo on that pretty little face of yours? maybe a ballerina? a little tutu?”
daichi feels his face get red. “very funny. i’ve heard it all.”
“oh, i’m sure you have,” suga rolls his eyes.
“i have. i worked for my studio. i worked for my students. i worked to prove that a man could be a ballet teacher. i’ve worked for everything that i have,” daichi huffs.
suga laughs. “calm down, leggings. i was just messing with you.”
daichi is angry. this man is obviously making fun of him. the other two men just watch in silence.
“so,” suga begins, “do you need something from me?”
“i was just trying to apologize for earlier, but i don’t feel the need to now,” daichi replies. two can play at this game.
suga laughs. “that’s fine. thanks for stopping by. i won’t bother you with my music,” suga jeers.
“who are you?” daichi fumes. why does this man keep laughing at him.
“did you really already forget my name?”
suga pouts.
“why are you here?”
“this is my tattoo studio, leggings,” suga says as he picks up a machine that daichi doesn’t recognize. suga flips a switch on the small machine and it makes a loud noise. daichi jumps in surprise. suga, yamaguchi, and asahi laugh. “didn’t mean to scare you, leggings.”
“they’re tights.”
“what’s the difference?” suga laughs.
“there’s actually a really big difference.”
“i’m sure there isn’t,” suga sighs. “anyway, we’ll be fixing up the studio so sorry if you have any noise complaints.”
“if you could try to not be loud during my class times, i’d appreciate it.”
“don’t act like you’re an angel, sawamura daichi,” suga smiles, “i can hear your classical ballads, too.”
“i’m sure you can’t.” get a taste of your own medicine, suga.
“you’re right on the other side of this wall,” suga knocks on the side wall.
“it’s my class time,” daichi sputters.
“it’s my tattoo time,” suga smiles.
“you need music to dance, not to tattoo.”
“i need music to cover the sound of your annoying voice.”
daichi gasps. daichi turns on his heel and huffs out of the room. he can hear suga and the men laughing. daichi rushes out into the parking lot. daichi is angry. daichi never cusses but he’s pretty close now.
daichi screams at the sky. “what a piece of shit! i hate you!”
suga can hear every word.