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If someone had told Atsumu that he would have ended up in college, he simply would not have believed it. Not even five years ago, his whole life revolved around volleyball. He wanted to go pro right after high school. He had even started looking for teams, working out extra hard for tryouts. But fear struck him. What if no team wanted him? What if he had an accident and could never play again? What will he do after he retires? Yes, Atsumu’s dream was to go pro, but he needed a backup plan.
So there he was, studying biology in the library on a rainy Wednesday. With Sakusa Kiyoomi.
When he arrived at his first college lecture two years ago and spotted the black-haired man sitting there, he had wanted to walk out of the lecture hall and maybe even change his degree. There was no way that Sakusa, the number one outside hitter on the national high school volleyball scene, had decided to pursue a degree instead of going pro.
God, he hated him and his flexible wrists. It was because of his team, Itachiyama, that Inarizaki never won the Interhigh tournament cup.
As he was planning to sit as far away from the man as possible, Sakusa turned his head and met his eyes.
Shit.
And ever so slightly waved at him.
Huh?
That was an invitation to sit next to him, right?
So Atsumu did.
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in a gym playing volleyball or working out?" he asked, trying to sound as cold as possible. Ain't no way he was going to make friends with his lifelong opponent.
"My parents wouldn't let me do that without getting a degree first," Sakusa replied, looking defeated behind his mask. "It was either that or they’d cut me off. And you, why are you here?"
"I wanted to have a backup plan in case something went wrong," he said, with a shrug.
"Well, it's nice to see a familiar face," the other added.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, don't expect me to give you and your pretty gold medals my notes," Atsumu retorted, determined to never speak to him again.
Sakusa Kiyoomi became his best friend.
It didn’t happen overnight, Atsumu being resentful and prejudicial to the black-haired. He couldn’t help but think that Sakusa was a weirdo, with all his need for cleanliness, always, wherever he was. And the fact that he never laughed. What was wrong with him, did he have a stick up his ass?
But eventually, Atsumu had learned to tolerate, and even like his company. It turns out that Sakusa was actually a very funny person, and that his need for cleanliness was part of his OCD.
Now, Atsumu was always throwing the most sarcastic comments, Kiyoomi chuckling beside him, and couldn’t go out without a pack of cleaning wipes and a spare mask. At first, it was to help his friend, to relieve him of his mind load. Then it became a habit for him too to clean the places he went to.
They were always with one another, and Atsumu was glad that both of them decided to pursue a biology degree. Not because he loved what he was doing, he sure didn’t hate it, but it was nothing like playing volleyball. No, it was because thanks to their decision, he could spend all of his time with Kiyoomi. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt a connection with someone as strong as the one he had with him. Sure, there was his twin, Osamu, but that didn’t count because he was like a part of him.
“Atsumu, are you okay?” Kiyoomi suddenly asked. “You’ve been staring at me for minutes now. Do I have something on my face?”
“What?” he answered, coming out of his reverie. “Oh, no, sorry, I was just thinking.”
“Thinking about what?” the other man replied, curious.
“About how I’m really happy that you’re my best friend, Omi,” Atsumu answered, deciding to be honest. They seldom say things like that to each other.
“So am I,” Kiyoomi said, slightly blushing. “I’m pretty tired, I think we should go home.”
Atsumu giggled. He knew that his best friend wasn’t great with emotions, he always ended up changing the subject. “Ok, but we need to study for this class, we have an exam next week. So we can go back to my place, finish this and then we can take a nap if you want, yeah?”
“Sounds good, let’s go.”
Once in Astumu’s dorm, they both sat down at his desk. It was a bit too small for two grown athletes so they had to squeeze in. Since they couldn’t fit all their stuff (books, notepads, laptops…) on it, they decided to work with Kiyoomi’s flashcards. They were always neat, well written and colour-coded. Atsumu loved working with these. It was also fun since they always made their study time a competition to see who had the most correct answers. The loser often had to buy coffee for the other.
Almost an hour had passed, Atsumu was leading with 26 correct answers to 22.
“Atsumu, ‘m tired,” Kiyoomi whined, face against the desk.
“Okay, one last card and then we’ll take a nap, we've pretty much covered the whole chapter today anyway,” the blonde replied. “This one’s easy, I know you’ll get it. What is the structure of mitotic chromosomes?” he asked.
He waited for his friend’s answer, letting him think for a second.
A minute passed.
“Omi?”
No reply.
He slightly bumped his shoulders with his finger and Kiyoomi groaned.
“Omi are you sleeping?” Atsumu asked, half worried, half amused.
Another groan.
“Oh my god you are sleeping,” he then said, trying not to laugh too hard to not disturb his friend. “Hey, sleeping beauty, come and lie down on my bed instead, you'll hurt all over when you wake up if you stay there,” he added, gently pushing black curls behind Kiyoomi’s ears, revealing the two beauty marks above his eyebrows that Atsumu adored. Seeing the soft smile on his friend’s face, he knew he was listening. “Go ahead, I’ll get you some comfy clothes.”
They were in the middle of autumn and it was cold, so Atsumu made sure to choose warm clothes for Kiyoomi who was always as cold as a dead body. He put them on his bed and told the black-haired man to change in the room. “I’ll change in the bathroom, Omi. Get yourself comfortable under the blanket.”
Once he got changed into his pyjamas, he returned to his bedroom to see Kiyoomi, already under the sheets, on his phone, probably waiting for him.
“Put that down, do I need to remind you that you’re supposed to be tired? Or was it all a show to stop studying?” Atsumu said, walking toward the bed.
“No, I’m really tired!” Kiyoomi reply a bit too quickly.
Atsumu chuckled. “Come on, give me some space so I can lie down too.”
His friend pushed himself as close as possible to the wall. When he finally lied down, Atsumu realised how tired he was too. “I’m cold,” he heard. “Come here,” he replied, opening his arms for Kiyoomi.
“Thank you,” his friend almost whispered, looking at him in the eyes.
It wasn’t unusual for them to take a nap together, but they mostly did it in Kiyoomi’s flat, in his double-bed. Here, in this forced proximity, Atsumu could see that his best friend’s eyes weren’t black but dark green. He thought they were beautiful. As he did earlier, he tucked one of his dark locks behind his ear, brushing the two moles with his thumb as he did it. Kiyoomi closed his eyes and snuggled against the blonde’s chest.
There, with Kiyoomi’s face close to his heart, Atsumu felt… good. It was the first time they hugged each other and it felt natural, as if it was something they did daily. He was wondering what it could mean when he noticed that his best friend’s breathing wasn’t smoothing, which could only mean that he wasn’t falling asleep.
“Hey, weren’t you tired?” he teased, trying not to think about his friend's arms around his waist, and his around the other’s shoulders.
Kiyoomi waited a few seconds before answering. “Your heart’s beating too fast, it doesn’t lull me.”
“Then get your head off my chest,” Atsumu replied.
When his friend did as he was told, the blonde immediately regretted his suggestion. His soft curly hair was no longer tickling his chin and he had to face his best friend in the eye again.
“What’s up?” Kiyoomi quietly asked.
“Huh?” Atsumu said, not knowing what his friend wanted to know with his question.
“Your face… you look confused,” Kiyoomi answered, not looking away. Rather, his gaze examined every part of the blonde’s face, as if he could find the answer in his features. He paused at his lips before quickly looking back into his eyes.
But Atsumu saw that. And boy, yes, he was confused. Why did hugging his best friend feel so good, better than hugging his brother or his mother? Why did he feel safe, here, in each other’s arms? He was still in his dorm room, the one he’d been sleeping in for a few months now, so why did it feel so different? But more importantly, why did he feel the urge to kiss Kiyoomi?
“I- I don’t know Omi. I feel good. With you. Cuddling you feels good, I mean. What does it mean?” he finally replied. Perhaps his best friend would have the answer.
“Does it have to mean something?” the other asked.
Atsumu nodded. He was suddenly too afraid to express his thoughts out loud.
“Well, I might have the answer. Or I hope it's the one I'm thinking of.”
And before Atsumu could think about what his friend had just said, Kiyoomi closed his eyes and leaned in to kiss him. His lips were soft against his, the kiss delicate.
After a few seconds, Atsumu finally closed his own eyes and deepened the kiss. His hands found their way into the black hair to keep Kiyoomi close. Soon enough, their tongues were dancing together, the air coming out of their noses as their mouths learned to work together. Neither of them wanted the moment to come to an end.
But eventually, Kiyoomi moved back. “I’ve always loved you Atsumu,” he said, his hands gently stroking Atsumu’s cheeks.
“Always?” the blonde replied, head leaning in the touch.
“Yes, always. Since the first time I saw you, since our first match against each other, freshman year of high school. Why do you think I waved at you in our first lecture? I was so, so happy to see you. I couldn’t believe it. I thought you were going to go pro and that I wouldn’t have been able to talk to you for years but here you were, here you are, in college, with me,” Kiyoomi said, his eyes brimming with tears of joy.
“Omi-” Atsumu couldn’t believe what he had just heard. His best friend was in love with him. And him, what did he feel? “Omi, you’re the person I feel the most comfortable with, and you know how close I am to my family. I feel safe and completely myself when I’m with you, and I just discovered that being in your arms feels like home. You feel like home. I think I might like you too. No, wait,” he paused. He took a second to think about what he had just said. And suddenly, everything became clear. He laughed. How could he have not noticed? He cupped Kiyoomi’s face with his hands and said, “I love you too,” with the brightest smile. “You’re my home Omi, and I am so sorry it took me so long to find out, but now I know.”
They looked at each other, their eyes full of wonder, smiled and started kissing again. Words were no longer necessary. They were creating their own language, full of delicate touches and tender kisses.
And that night, maybe Kiyoomi didn't go home, maybe he stayed in his lover's arms. And maybe the next day, when they arrived at school, hand in hand, none of their classmates were surprised. Maybe some of them even said "finally". After all, it was Miya Atsumu and Sakusa Kiyoomi, it was bound to happen.