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Sakusa Kiyoomi and Miya Atsumu have been living together for about a year, much to the formers distaste. When Sakusa decided to join the MSBY Black Jackals, he knew he would have to get an apartment in Osaka. He had owned his own apartment while in university, however he hadn’t been able to find a place that allowed him to have his own personal facilities and be close to campus at the same time, so he had to deal with shared bathrooms and kitchens. He hated every minute of it, but he accepted it for the few years he had to live there. So, when he was finally able to escape university and pursue the career he wanted to, he was excited, probably more than he should have been, to finally have his own space that he could trust to be clean and not overcrowded. Well, that was until he actually looked at apartments and realised there was no way he’d be able to afford a nice apartment on his own, so, with much hesitance, he began to look for someone to live with.
Atsumu had been living in Osaka for a few years before Sakusa had joined the team, having gone pro straight after high school. He owned a small and frankly quite gross apartment relatively close to the MSBY gym, the rent was cheap enough for Atsumu to be able to pay rent and still be able to afford the essentials, but he couldn’t help feeling dissatisfied with his living conditions. So, when it was announced that Sakusa would be joining the team, he plotted to try and convince Sakusa to rent a place with him. He and Sakusa knew each other fairly well, having faced each other numerous times in tournaments, but their bond truly began to form at the All-Japan Youth Training Camp.
Osamu wasn’t invited to the training camp, which left Atsumu on his own to try and make friends with other players from across Japan, he was never very good at making friends so this proved to be quite a stressful time for him.
Atsumu’s stress levels were not helped by the fact that the roommate assignments were pre-chosen, he spent most of the week leading up the training camp pitifully whining to Osamu. Samu proved to be no help, his only response to Atsumu’s complaints being noncommittal grunts and half-hearted comfort. The room arrangements were soon announced and Atsumu was horrified to see that he would be rooming with the infamous, Sakusa Kiyoomi. Atsumu had only admired Sakusa from afar, watching in awe as he would slam the ball over the net with his freaky wrists, his curly black hair lifting from his forehead as he jumped, revealing the twin moles on the skin there, Atsumu knew from the first time he saw Sakusa play that he wanted to set for him one day. However, it was widely known that Sakusa was… difficult. From his aversion to all things that he deemed ‘unclean’, to his rude and prickly personality, Sakusa proved to be someone that people tended to avoid, the ebony haired male only ever being seen with his cousin Motoya Komori. So, when Atsumu arrived at his designated room he was decidedly nervous, he opened the door and was immediately greeted with the smell of strong disinfectant that overwhelmed his senses, he glanced into the room and came face to face with Sakusa for the first time without a net between them. The spiker was dressed in his Itachiyama jacket and trousers, nitrile gloves covering his hands and a white mask covering the lower half of his face.
Upon hearing the door open Sakusa tensed his shoulders and turned to face the intruding figure, he scowled upon seeing the piss-blond haired setter. Sakusa had been extremely annoyed to find out that he couldn’t room with Komori, his cousin was the only person he could stand being around for long periods of time in an enclosed space. He knew of Miya and his very skilful sets, but he was immediately put off by his loud mouth and obnoxious hair that clearly needed toning. He couldn’t begin to imagine how much of a nuisance Miya would be to room with, but the camp had refused to allow Sakusa to transfer so he had to put up with it.
Surprisingly rooming with Miya wasn’t as painful as he thought it was going to be, they actually turned out to be a good match for rooming together, Atsumu was considerate of Sakusa’s clean habits, keeping a respectful distance between them both and Sakusa was more than happy to indulge in Atsumu’s demand for hours of extra training. Of course, they had moments where they got on each other’s nerves, from Atsumu’s irritating need to refer to Sakusa as ‘Omi-kun’ and both of their stubborn personalities had caused multiple clashes, but they quickly formed a close relationship, often consisting of silly competitions and healthy rivalry. By the end of the training camp both boys were left with a new friend, something Komori and Osamu teased Sakusa and Atsumu for incessantly. Atsumu and Sakusa proceeded to meet multiple times after that, and they often texted too, well it was mostly Atsumu texting and Sakusa responding with as few words as possible, but neither boy minded, and after months of denying, Atsumu came to the horrifying discovery that he had begun to develop feelings for the prickly spiker, these feelings proceeded to grow, even when the two didn’t see each other for years. Sakusa on the other hand was so deep in denial that he managed to convince himself he hated the setter, much to Komori’s exasperation.
So, when Sakusa finally joined the MSBY Black Jackals, he was staying in a cheap hotel until he found an appropriate roommate, Atsumu immediately fell back into his routine of endlessly harassing the spiker, causing Sakusa’s chest to tighten and cheeks to flush every time the setter called him by that annoying nickname or came close to Sakusa, always considerate enough to not actually touch him. Sakusa stubbornly attributed these symptoms to his anger towards the setter. Atsumu abandoned his plan to try and get an apartment with Sakusa when the spiker actually joined the team, he claimed it was down to the fact that Sakusa seemed to have found a stable living situation and definitely not due to the fact that he was not so subtly in love with Kiyoomi and he wasn’t sure he could deal with living in close proximity to the spiker for long periods of time. But his plan soon came back into the front of his mind when he accidently overheard a conversation between Sakusa and Meian. The two were in the corner of the gym, Meian was not so subtly scolding the spiker,
“Sakusa-san. How are you finding your time on the team so far?” Meian asked, clearly just making small talk so he can trick Sakusa into having an in-depth conversation with him, Sakusa hesitated, his brows furrowing slightly,
“It’s been fine, thank you. The team are very, uh, loud?” He answered awkwardly, Meian grinned before firing off his next question,
“Good, good, I’m glad. How are you finding living in Osaka?” At this Sakusa freezes, his eyes widening slightly before he quickly corrected his expression back into its usual neutral scowl,
“It’s… its nice, the scenery is nice,” he responded, Meian hummed,
“Sure, and where are you staying?” He asked, folding his arms over his chest, Sakusa spluttered before sighing,
“The hotel down the street,” he muttered in defeat, Meian smiled triumphantly, before turning serious,
“You need to get a proper place to live before the end of the week, otherwise I’m benching you until you find a place.” He said, leaving no room for argument, Sakusa nodded solemnly before excusing himself to the locker room. Atsumu decided then was the perfect chance to chase Sakusa and ask him to live with him, he found the taller man slumped over the bench, he was grumbling unintelligibly under his breath, he didn’t notice that Atsumu had walked in, Atsumu then made his presence known,
“Omi-kun!” Atsumu drawled in his usual mocking tone, Sakusa groaned audibly,
“Go away Miya, I’m not in the mood.” He grumbled, Atsumu chose to ignore him and instead flopped down next to Sakusa, careful to keep distance between them both, so as not to make the germ hating man uncomfortable. Atsumu sat for a moment, fiddling with his thumbs as he tried to figure out a way to suggest renting an apartment together without sounding desperate and getting immediately shut down,
“Hey, Omi, I couldn’t help but overhear yer conversation with Meian,” at this Sakusa’s head shoots up to look at him, his glare burning through Atsumu’s skull, but instead of cracking he put on his usual confident façade and continued, “don’t give me that look, it wasn’t a quiet conversation. Besides I think I might be able to help ya!” He smiles brightly at the scowling figure next to him, he watches as Sakusa processes what he said, he sees the exact moment it all clicks,
“No.” He growls, Atsumu opens his mouth to reply but Sakusa immediately cuts him off, “absolutely fucking not. I am not living with you Miya. No way, I don’t know if you’ve been paying any attention, but I hate you. We don’t get along, why the hell would you think that it would be a good idea for us to live together, did you really think I’d want to do that?” He spits out, his glare somehow getting sharper, Atsumu feels Sakusa’s words like a knife to the chest, he tries to keep his expression at his usual cocky smirk, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. Sakusa immediately notices Atsumu’s change in demeanour and his glare softens into something resembling guilt,
“Ya hate me?” Atsumu’s voice is small, it barely sounds like him, Sakusa’s heart clenches at the sound and he decides to allow a small amount of his true feelings for Atsumu to shine through,
“No. I don’t know why I said that, I’m sorry Miya. I’m just stressed, living in a hotel for the past few weeks has really ruined my mood, if you are really serious about renting an apartment together, I wouldn’t be completely horrified with the idea. You know my rules and were surprisingly good at following them at the training camp. But I swear if you are playing a joke on me, or you are intending to be a nightmare to live with on purpose, I will not hesitate to suffocate you while you sleep.” Sakusa says, leaving Atsumu staring at him with his mouth slightly ajar, he snaps it shut when Sakusa’s gaze falls to his mouth and a slightly disgusted expression breaks out on his face, he makes eye contact with Sakusa and positively beams, he brings his arms out towards Sakusa on impulse but quickly pulls then away when he remembers who he is talking to, he doesn’t even notice the small frown that pulls at Sakusa’s face when he notices Atsumu pull away,
“No jokes here Omi, I swear! I’ve been living in a shitty apartment for too long, plus I’m lonely without Samu, I need company. I’ll be the best housemate ya’ve ever had! I’ll even cook for ya, don’t scowl at me! Samu taught me some things, I’ll be the best housewife, a few months in and ya will be begging to marry me!” He declared, quickly regaining his confidence, Sakusa sighs and they begin to discuss apartments. They moved in to their new place before the week ended, Atsumu laughing at Sakusa’s desperation to not be benched.
Living together proved to be easier than either of them expected, their schedules being exactly the same made for easy transport and their bond seemed to strengthen as every month past, they still fought a lot but they learned quickly to resolve it and go back to their normal routine. Their free time is often spent watching movies together in their living room, piles of blankets cocooning them as they narrate whatever they see on screen, their bodies, however stay glued to opposite sides of the sofa. Then when they need time alone, they retreat to their respective rooms to do whatever they need to. Atsumu’s feelings for Sakusa have doubled since moving in together, something Atsumu didn’t believe was possible, it’s been slowly becoming more of a problem, Atsumu can no longer be in the same room as the spiker without a furious flush breaking out across his face. It’s getting harder for Atsumu to respect Sakusa’s boundaries, as all he wants to do is touch the ebony haired man, he wants to kiss his moles and cradle his face in his hands, to finally be able to feel the sharp edges of Sakusa’s skin. But he can’t do that, he can’t disrespect Sakusa like that. Little does he know that Sakusa is in a similar spiral.
Sakusa can’t take it anymore, he accepted his feelings for Atsumu after about a month of living together. Well, it was more that Komori forced him to acknowledge his feelings, upon the threat of leaking the photos he has of Sakusa crying over a cheesy romance film to the V-League libero group chat. Sakusa had heard the stories about that chat and he did not want to deal with becoming the next target of the demonic army of liberos. After accepting his feelings, Sakusa finally acknowledges how much he feels for Atsumu, how he wants to touch him and kiss him, the idea of being intimate with Atsumu doesn’t make him feel like his skin is crawling and it terrifies him. He rants most of these feelings to Komori, either over call or during Komori’s monthly visits to Osaka and Komori is getting sick of it.
Komori knew that Sakusa’s feelings towards Atsumu were reciprocated, having heard Suna Rintaro rant about how Atsumu pines about Sakusa all the time in their weekly calls, so Komori makes a plan for when he next visits Sakusa.
Atsumu is just returning from a visit to Osamu at Onigiri Miya, he decided to pay a visit to his brother while Komori was over at their apartment with Sakusa, he was out for a few hours before returning to a worryingly quiet apartment,
“Omi! I’m home, has Motoya-kun already left? I was going to ask him to get something from Sunarin fer me.” Atsumu shouts, he’s assuming that Sakusa is playing some form of a game on his laptop so he’s unsure if he was even heard by the spiker,
“Miya? Thank fuck you are back! Come here now!” Sakusa shouts from somewhere in his room, Atsumu pauses while taking his shoes off, Sakusa never shouts? Did something happen with Komori? He quickly walks to Sakusa’s room to find out what happened. Upon opening Sakusa’s door he’s greeted with an empty room, no sign of the lanky black-haired man, he is confused for a second before he notices the desk chair that is currently pushed against the doors of Sakusa’s closest, the chair is pushed under the handles of the doors, creating an inescapable trap. Atsumu laughs before he can help himself and calls out to the figure he assumes is currently stuck in the closet,
“Omi? Are ya? Are ya stuck in yer closet?” He asks, barely stifling his giggles, a shuffle is heard from within the closet followed by a loud bang, of what Atsumu is assuming is Sakusa’s fist hitting the door in frustration,
“Stuck? No. Forcefully shoved in here by a stupid libero with shitty eyebrows? Yes.” He growls from behind the door, Atsumu then begins to cackle at just how ridiculous the situation he’s come home to is,
“Why’d he trap ya in the closet? What the hell happened?” He asks between shaky breaths as he tries to calm down,
“Because he is an asshole! Now stop asking me stupid questions and let me out!” Sakusa demands, shaking the door to try and prove his point. Atsumu continues to laugh but slowly moves over to the closet to let the poor spiker out, but he stops in his tracks when he sees a small slip of paper taped to the chair, he picks up the paper and inspects it, noticing the writing covering the front,
“Dear Atsumu, if you are reading this it means that my dear cousin is still in the closet, I ask you not to let him out. You must not let him out unless he admits to what he knows he needs to, do not let him out under any other circumstances. Have fun sorting your shit out, love from Motoya.” Atsumu reads the note in a poor imitation of Komori’s voice, he almost doesn’t hear the small comment grumbled by Sakusa,
“I’m going to fucking kill him when I get a hold of him.” Atsumu smirks at the comment,
“So, Omi-Omi, what is this big secret Motoya-kun is talking about?” He asks, his mocking tone floating around the tense room,
“None of your fucking business Miya, now let me out of here!” Sakusa deflects sharply, Atsumu hums before deciding what to do,
“No can-do Omi-kun, Motoya has asked me not to so I will indulge him, but I am going to call him quickly and ask about this,” he teases easily, Sakusa’s pained groan and futile shaking of the closet doors creating a symphony of noise as Atsumu retrieves his phone from his pocket and rings Komori, the libero picks up after one ring, as if he was expecting the call, “Motoya-kun! I’m gonna skip the small talk, ya know why I’m calling, why have I come home to a very angry Omi trapped in a closet?” He asks with a smile; however, his confusion is clear in his voice, Komori’s gleeful laugh can be heard through the phone speaker,
“Hello Atsumu, I’m afraid the reason my cousin is in the closet is not for me to disclose. He knows why he’s in there and you will not let him out until he admits to it, bye!” Komori answers in his usual cheery tone, giving Atsumu no time to respond before swiftly ending the call. Atsumu huffs in defeat before putting his phone away and dropping onto the floor in front of Sakusa’s closet,
“Miya, I swear, if you don’t let me out of here in the next two minutes, I am going to spike a ball into your face at the next practice,” Sakusa yells from behind the wooden doors, Atsumu considers this for a moment before deciding that his curiosity overweighs his fear of a volleyball to the face,
“Just say whatever Motoya wants ya to say and then I can let ya out, it’s not that hard Omi,” he taunts, he hears a muffled yell followed by a hollow thud, “Omi?” He asks, concern seeping into his tone,
“Atsumu. Please let me out of here, please.” Sakusa all but begs, Atsumu takes a sharp breath, Sakusa has never called him by his given name before, Sakusa never begs for anything. Atsumu almost breaks and lets him out, but curiosity eats at him,
“Damn, it must be some deep shit if yer willing to go that far to get out, but still no can do, spill yer guts or rot in the closet.” Atsumu responds,
“Miya.”
“No.”
“Miya!”
“Just say it Omi! I’m not gonna judge ya, just get it over with!” Atsumu shouts finally, more shuffling comes from the closet,
“I hate you and Komori so much, I am going to transfer teams, I’m going to change my name and go play volleyball with Oikawa in Argentina.” Sakusa grumbles, Atsumu cracks a smile at his childish threats,
“Nah, ya won’t, ya’d miss me too much, but come on Omi, do ya not trust me?” He asks, mostly joking, but a small part of him worries that maybe he’s misread his interactions with Sakusa and that the spiker really did hate him. A painful minute of silence sends Atsumu’s worries spiralling, all of his doubts bombard him at once, he moves to let Sakusa out of the closet so that Atsumu can go lock himself in his room and cry on the phone to Osamu for an hour, but a small sound from the spiker makes him pause,
“Komori wants me to admit my feelings for this girl I’ve liked for a while, he said he was sick of me talking about her to him.” Sakusa says quietly, as if whispering a secret to Atsumu in a room full of people, despite the two of them being alone. Atsumu feels his heart drop to his stomach at the confession.
Oh.
Hearing Sakusa say that surprisingly hurt more than the idea of him not trusting Atsumu enough to tell him in the first place. Atsumu knew that Sakusa didn’t like him back, he didn’t expect the spiker to ever see him as more than just someone he tolerated, but hearing him saying it out loud still hurt. He must have been silent for a while because an awkward cough comes from the closet, he quickly reigns his thoughts in and tries to not show any of the hurt and jealous emotions swimming through his brain,
“Damn Omi-kun, didn’t know ya had it in ya. I gotta tell ya, I was convinced that ya didn’t have emotions, thought ya were like allergic to feelings, especially romantic ones. Ya’ve gotta tell me who the lucky lady is, ya can’t leave me hanging!” He tries to taunt with his usual level of cockiness but his voice is too flat, its clear he’s not feeling what he says, Sakusa stays silent for a while, “is she really that unmemorable that ya can’t even remember who she is?” Atsumu tries to tease, it still sounds forced and does nothing to ease the tension in the air. Another hollow thud comes from inside the closet, this time Atsumu doesn’t let it slide, “Kiyoomi what the hell is that noise, because I know for a fact it ain’t ya punching the doors.” His voice is sharp and stern, Sakusa’s sigh catches in his throat at the sound of his first name,
“I hit my head against the wood behind me. I won’t do it again, sorry.” The response is quiet and defeated, Atsumu sinks until he is laying splayed out on Sakusa’s bedroom floor,
“Tell me about this girl, please Omi. Any information, hell, I’ll even settle for just finding out her shoe size at this point.” Atsumu says, laughing low in his throat, the sound dripping with self-pity,
“Why do you care so much Miya? Its not like it affects you.” Sakusa grumbles, clearly just trying to change the subject, Atsumu scowls,
“I care because yer my friend, my best friend, and friends show interest in each other and things that are important to each other. Plus, why wouldn’t I want to know about the person who has managed to capture the infamous Sakusa Kiyomi’s attention? Just humour me, okay?” Atsumu’s starts sharp, but his voice slowly fades to a pathetic mumble,
“She’s… difficult,” Sakusa starts, trying to find the words to describe his crush without revealing that he’s been lying about who it is, Atsumu smiles and sits up when he realises Sakusa is actually going to share with him, “she’s my complete opposite really, she’s obnoxious and loud and so annoying, but she’s also considerate. She’s so considerate that it sometimes makes me want to cry, because all I want to do is touch him but there’s so much distance between us, and I know that its my fault because he’s just trying to make sure I’m comfortable, but I just want him to for once be selfish with me! I want him to want me too, I want him to finally close that gap that has haunted me for years. It’s so fucking stupid because he could never care for me like I do him, no one could.” He pauses and takes a shaky breath before continuing, “I mean look at me, my only friend until a few years ago was my cousin, I’m the ‘infamous Sakusa Kiyoomi’ the unlovable germaphobe who people are freaked out by. But him… he’s like the sun, not like Hinata, he doesn’t blind you, he just draws you in like a moth to a flame, and you aren’t aware of what’s happening until you’re already burning, and then you can’t stop it, you just burn. But do you know what scares me most? I want to burn, I want to touch the sun, he makes me want to be intimate without any fear of the germs he might carry, because I still want him, germs and all. I- fuck. I love him.” With that last confession the shaky breaths turn into harsh sobs, Sakusa hasn’t realised the fatal mistake he has made, Atsumu is frozen. He’s been running everything Sakusa said in his head over and over, and one thing is sticking in his brain like tar,
“Him?” Atsumu’s voice is barely there, a small whimper, Sakusa stops crying when he realises what Atsumu is talking about, “ya… ya said him?” He raises his tone slightly just to make sure Sakusa heard him,
“Fuck. Ignore everything I just said! I’m going to kill Komori…” Sakusa rants, his voice is scratchy from all the crying, he continues to mumble about his plans for revenge against Komori, he’s so caught up in his own head that he doesn’t hear Atsumu moving around, he doesn’t even know that Atsumu has left his place sat on the floor in front of the closet until suddenly artificial light burns his eyes, he hisses as he gets used to the sudden brightness after nearly two hours in pure darkness. The light is dimmed when a figure comes into focus in front of him, Atsumu’s eyes are slightly glazed over, no where near as red as Sakusa’s, but they are on their way. Atsumu reaches a hand out to Sakusa and, after a moment of malfunctioning, he realises Atsumu’s offering to hold Sakusa’s hand and help him out of the trap, tears well in his eyes once again as he takes Atsumu’s hand. Atsumu’s hands are so much softer than he expected, of course his fingers are heavily calloused from the years of setting and serving volleyballs for hours without rest, but the rest of his hand is so warm and soft that Sakusa finds himself unable to let go, even when he’s moved from the closet to the middle of his room.
Sakusa feels himself heating up from head to toe, the warmth growing with every second that he holds Atsumu’s hand, Atsumu then does something that almost makes Sakusa’s knees buckle, he lightly runs his thumb along Sakusa’s knuckles. Sakusa lets out a hysterical burst of laughter, Atsumu freezes and moves to take his hand away, but Sakusa is quicker, he grips Atsumu’s hand tight so that he can’t let go, tears begin to flow freely down Sakusa’s face again, he can’t remember the last time he cried this much. Sakusa pulls Atsumu’s hand to his chest and hangs his head low, his breath ghosting over their joined knuckles, Atsumu shivers at the feeling,
“It feels so good.” Sakusa finally breaks the silence, the statement holds so much power that Atsumu practically melts when he hears it, it’s almost as if the final brick fell from the wall with that one sentence. Atsumu then deicides to act on impulse, grabbing Sakusa’s other hand and pulling their bodies flush together, he knocks their foreheads together gently and whispers, his breath and words ghosting over Sakusa’s lips,
“Please tell me I’m not misreading this situation, because I might actually cry if it turns out that ya were talking about some other loudmouthed sun guy,” they both let out a relieved laugh at Atsumu’s words, Sakusa bumps their noses together,
“Shut up,” he grumbles, before Atsumu can give him a retort, Sakusa finally connects their lips. The kiss is soft and slow, there’s a little too much teeth and they take a minute to find the right angle with their heads, but to Sakusa it’s perfect. Atsumu’s hands sneak up to cradle Sakusa’s face as he deepens the kiss slightly, Sakusa finds the courage to move his hands, one goes up to curl into Atsumu’s dyed blond hair, the other grips Atsumu’s shirt tightly. When Sakusa tightens the hand in Atsumu’s hair slightly, the blond sighs into the kiss, his mouth opening slightly, Sakusa decides to take the leap. He licks timidly at Atsumu’s bottom lip before slowly slipping his tongue into Atsumu’s mouth, their tongues dance around each other for a while, taking time to explore the cavern of each other’s mouths. After a few minutes Sakusa separates them fully, Atsumu immediately reconnects their foreheads and gazes at Sakusa through hooded eye lids, their faces are flushed and they still haven’t fully got their breath back. Atsumu then moves up to place two kisses to the twin moles on Sakusa’s forehead, he smiles softly, a warm fuzzy feeling settles in his chest as he finally gets to kiss the moles that he’s been dreaming of touching for years,
“If it wasn’t obvious, I love ya too, Kiyoomi.” Atsumu whispers lovingly, Sakusa rolls his eyes fondly, “also you are now contractually obligated to call me Atsumu, boyfriends aren’t allowed to call each other by their last names,” he adds with a teasing grumble, Sakusa leans back to lightly flick his nose,
“Shut up, Atsumu.” Atsumu grins brightly and reconnects their lips for a quick kiss, he pulls back a second later and laughs as Sakusa chases his lips,
“I guess we need to thank Motoya,” Atsumu suggests with a smirk, Sakusa immediately disconnects from Atsumu and turns away with his arms folded and lips turned into a slight pout, Atsumu stifles a laugh at the sight,
“Never mind I take back what I said, I hate you again.” Sakusa declares with fake annoyance, Atsumu knows he’s joking but still plays along, he attaches himself to Sakusa’s side, wrapping his arms around the taller mans waist and kissing his pale neck softly,
“I’m sorry I was joking, please forgive me,” he begs with his best impression of Hinata’s ‘puppy dog’ eyes, Sakusa turns to look at him and immediately softens, he kisses Atsumu’s nose softly before turning to hug him properly, enjoying the first of many days spent attached to Atsumu in one way or another.