Chapter Text
Sakusa POV
“Look, Kiyoomi, it’s not that simple.”
Sakusa sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. A clank of dishes behind him caused his shoulders to tense slightly, but he forced himself to relax, adjusting the black mask on the bridge of his nose. He leveled his stare at the two people sitting across from him in the crowded cafe. One was a girl in her early twenties with long auburn hair. She was foreign, having only moved to Japan three years ago for school. He had met her at a dancing competition that they both had participated in. Mary was her name, and she was Sakusa’s girlfriend.
Seated on the other side of Sakusa is a man. Again, he was in his early twenties. High cheekbones and strong jaw with a head of dyed platinum blond hair that shone an odd color under the fluorescent lights. Sakusa had never seen this man in his life.
And, yet, this man was his girlfriend’s boyfriend.
Yes, that was right. His girlfriend, who asked him out two months prior, had apparently decided that Sakusa was no longer good enough. And this man in front of him, Atsumu, had apparently offered what she needed.
“Look, for what it’s worth,” the man began, a Kansai accent lilting his smooth voice, “I didn’t know that she had a boyfriend. We just started seeing each other like a week ago and—”
Sakusa held his hand up. He was surprised the man hadn’t bit his tongue off with how loud his teeth clacked together as he snapped his mouth shut.
He heaved another sigh, leaning forward to rest his forearms on the table. Mary audibly swallowed while Atsumu backed away as far as he could. Sakusa bowed his head forward, letting his black curls fall in front of his eyes as he looked up at his girlfriend.
“Mary,” he began, his voice rumbling from deep within his chest. At the edge of his vision, he noticed Atsumu’s eyes widen. “I thought that this would be common sense, but it appears to me that you don’t have any.” Her face turned a blotchy, ruddy color as her mouth flailed around silent words. “You asked me out,” he continued. “So before you ask somebody else out, you should break up with your current boyfriend.”
“But Kiyoomi,” she began, her voice high and airy, “it's not like you even liked me. You barely talked to me and you never even let me touch you! How could you expect me not to cheat let alone try to talk to you about how I was feeling when you’re always so cold!”
Sakusa took a deep breath, closing his eyes. He wasn’t going to get mad. Maybe she was right in some sense. Nevertheless, nobody deserved to get cheated on.
“It’s human decency not to cheat.” He opened his eyes and stared into her muddy green ones. “I’m sorry that you aren’t a decent human being. But I am one. So, Mary, I’m breaking up with you. I hope you enjoy your life with this country hick.”
“Nah, fuck that,” the other man piped up eloquently.
Sakusa slid his gaze over to him, finding golden eyes already watching him intently. He inhaled sharply, quickly covering it with a clearing of his throat. Sakusa pulled back, sliding his arms off of the table to return Atsumu’s look.
“What are you doing.”
“Y’know, I think I’m also a decent human being,” Atsumu drawled. “I’m not about the whole cheatin’ thing.”
Sakusa blinked. “And?”
The cold response seemed to surprise the man, as if he expected Sakusa to congratulate him on meeting the lowest bar. Inflating his chest, Atsumu continued with a lopsided smirk and turned to the girl. “Mary, darlin’, I’d like to say this was a great week with you but I’m an honest man and that’d be a blatant lie. So, thanks for a less than mediocre week of foolin’ around and I hope to never see ya again.” Then, he turned to look at Sakusa. “You on the other hand, I wouldn’t mind seein’ more of ya,” he said with a smile somehow even more sultry than before.
An inhuman squeak left Mary as she whirled to stare at Atsumu. “Are you serious? You’re both breaking up with me?”
“Looks like it, hun,” Atsumu responded with a saccharine smile.
The girl scoffed, a sneer finding its way on her face. “Whatever! Fuck this! Fuck you, Atsumu, and your stupid, slimy fucking band! I don’t need you!” She picked up her things, nearly knocking over the chair with how fast she stood. “God, you’re both assholes,” she muttered, turning away from the table and heading toward the door. Sakusa just watched her, not feeling the energy to remind her that she did this to herself.
“Hey, wait!” the blonde man in front of him squawked. “What d’ya mean by slimy band! We ain’t slimy!” The only response he received was the loud ding of the bell on the cafe’s door as it slammed closed behind Mary. Sakusa watched her retreating form as she stormed down the sidewalk.
Well, he thought with an internal sigh, that was a waste of two months. He took a long and slow breath through his nose, holding it for eight seconds before releasing it out of his mouth.
“Hey, you okay dude?”
Sakusa stilled. He had almost forgotten about the buffoon in front of him. He flicked his eyes over at Atsumu. They stayed like that, staring at each other silently for longer than Sakusa was comfortable with. It seemed to make Atsumu uncomfortable as well with how fidgety he got. With long fingers, the man began drumming a soft beat on the table, his left leg bouncing too close to Sakusa’s own.
Atsumu cleared his throat, clasping his hands in front of himself to keep them from moving. “So,” he began, the flirty smile making its way back to his face, “would ya be interested in a cup of coffee? My treat.”
Sakusa continued to just look at him. Surprisingly, he was seriously considering the offer. The man was interesting, he had to admit. And, he could use a coffee after that fiasco. However, he had reached his limit of being in this cafe and his skin was beginning to crawl. So, instead, he stood from his chair and walked away from the man without a glance back.
Once out of the shop, he mentally scolded himself for feeling a slight tinge of disappointment when the man hadn’t begged him to stay. But, this was for the better as Sakusa obviously wasn’t meant for relationships.
“Motoya, please. I beg of you.”
“My dear cousin, I pray that no one will ever have to know just how dramatic you are.”
Sakusa huffed, sinking deeper into his cousin’s couch. “I got it from you. I told my mother from the start that you would be a terrible influence on me.”
“Dramatic.” Komori made his way from the kitchen, two steaming cups in hand as he sat beside Sakusa. He handed one to Sakusa before blowing on his own mug. Sakusa cradled his mug with two hands, letting the heat sting his palms. He stared at his distorted reflection in the black tea, watching it warp as he blew on it. “It’s just one concert,” Komori continued, “I’ve been telling you about it for weeks and the two bands that I wanted to see are going to be competing against each other. You have to come with me.”
“You know I don’t like crowds.” He took a small sip of his tea, but it was still too hot. His tongue turned fuzzy, and he sighed knowing that he won’t be able to enjoy his tea now that he burned himself.
“Yes, I know, but are you really going to make me go to a concert by myself? Do you really hate me more than crowds?”
Sakusa slid a glare over to his cousin. It was a low blow that Komori used more than Sakusa would like, but it worked every time.
“Plus, you just broke up with your girlfriend. I can’t let you sulk around your apartment all alone.”
“I won’t sulk.”
“You most certainly will. Maybe not about your ex, but you’d find something to sulk about.”
Sakusa sighed, taking a disappointing sip of his tea. “Now who’s the one being dramatic.”
Komori placed his cup of tea down on the coffee table before turning in his seat to face Sakusa. Even as Sakusa groaned he mirrored his cousin. The 22-year-old man seated beside him proceeded to jut his lip out and angle his eyebrows downward in an attempt at puppy-dog eyes. It was one of the ugliest expressions Sakusa had ever seen.
“Sakusa Kiyoomi, my one and only cousin—”
“That is an outright lie.”
“My one and only cousin that I like, will you please just come out with me tonight. I promise that you’ll like the music that these bands play. And if you really, really end up hating it, we can leave early.”
Sakusa considered it. Then considered it even longer just to make his cousin squirm. Sakusa wasn’t a heathen. He enjoyed music. Hell, he danced for a living. But concerts just were not his thing. The people there never cared about anything but themselves and the venues were always disgusting. He relayed this to Komori, who responded with a firm belief that he just needed to get over himself.
And this was how Sakusa found himself sandwiched between bodies owned by strangers that had no sense of personal space. His body was sticky with sweat (that wasn’t entirely his own) making his clothes and hair stick uncomfortably to himself. The music was too loud and his legs were growing stiff from just standing in one spot. He could not understand how anyone would enjoy concerts like this. He’d much rather enjoy music on his own, in a large room where he had space to move around and swing himself up into leaps and spins.
This was Sakusa’s living hell.
Komori explained to him that they were witnessing the semifinals of some weird band competition that Sakusa had never heard of with bands he’d never listened to. Well, that wasn’t completely true. One of the bands, The Currents, he was quite fond of. He’d even danced to their song “Body” for one of his recent competitions and received first prize. But they weren’t here to see The Currents, much to Sakusa’s chagrin. They were here to see a new and upcoming band that wasn’t actually very new at all, but they had a new member and dynamic that had everyone buzzing. And the other was a band that turned every band’s dream into their reality, coming up from somewhere in Hyogo and winning themselves a spot as rising stars in Tokyo.
Suddenly, the cheers from the crowd around him grew, drawing his attention to the stage before him. His height allowed him to see over the sea of people between him and the stage, giving him a clear shot of the people walking out. On one side, a band of five made their way to the instruments set up on one half of the stage. Sakusa’s eyes immediately locked onto a man with orange hair, his expression almost too bright as he flashed smiles at the crowd. He walked up to the front of the stage with another man, this one less smiley yet still captivating.
Then, the bright one’s smile fell slightly, his eyes locked onto the other band making their way to the stage. Sakusa followed his gaze, curious to see what sort of band could cause that expression to befall someone.
Sakusa paused, his face slackening. He, too, suddenly felt how the orange-haired man looked because standing up on that stage was the man he had sat across from earlier that day.
Atsumu POV
Atsumu stood breathless, his fingertips sore from the press of his guitar strings. Whoever said he’d get used to the feeling of wire strings digging into the fleshy parts of his fingers was lying. But, with the rush that came with playing on a stage, he didn’t think he’d trade the feeling for anything in the world.
He watched silently as the other band’s singer clamped a heavy hand down on Hinata’s head.
Shouyou.
He still couldn’t believe it. It was odd to see the man standing there, a mere few feet away from him on the same stage, the colorful lights reflecting off of his skin. It had always been so fun making music with Hinata, and Atsumu honestly hadn’t thought he’d get the chance to play with him again. Or, at least in this case, alongside him.
He continued to watch as Hinata spoke animatedly to the taller singer, gestures wide as ever. He had heard of Take Flight!’s original lead singer, Kageyama Tobio, but had never properly met the guy. From what he’d seen on stage within the past year, the raven-haired singer wasn’t all that much—while his voice was decent enough, his performances were pretty lackluster. He always looked perpetually bored or pissed off when he sang. But it seemed that Hinata still had his talent for bringing out the best in people. Atsumu couldn’t help the way his mouth ticked up into a small smile at the thought.
He felt a hand fall on his shoulder. He tore his gaze away from Hinata, turning to face Osamu as he tuned back into his surroundings. Osamu’s eyes were forward, eagerly staring at the large screens facing them as they all awaited the verdict.
“Without further ado,” the announcer spoke, their voice booming over the concert venue. The crowd was energized with anticipation, a buzz flowing through the space like an electric current. “The winner of the semifinals is...”
There was a bright flash on the screens. He heard Osamu’s sharp inhale beside him.
“...Take Flight!”
His breath escaped him raggedly, forced out by an invisible punch to his gut. He felt his brother’s hand slip away as they both stared off in disbelief. Virtual confetti floated down on the screen, highlighting the bold characters that read the other band’s name instead of their own.
They had come into this competition thinking they stood a chance at winning the whole thing, or at the very least facing off in the finals. But here they were, cut off from that expectation by a man that had come back from his past.
He could faintly hear cheers over the beating of his own heart. Beside him, Osamu wore that indifferent mask, but there was a furrow between his brows as he pursed his lips. He shifted his gaze over to the rest of his bandmates; Kita held his head high, standing beside Suna who at least had the decency to look disappointed. Osamu then took a few steps over to Aran, the two of them whispering lowly to each other.
The thing was, they had walked into the venue today expecting victory.
Atsumu took a deep breath, shaking the fog from his brain. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. They’ve dealt with losses before, and next time they’d just have to come back better.
He lifted his chin up high like Kita always told him, turning back around to face the other side of the stage.
“Shouyou!” he shouted out before he could second-guess himself. The orange-haired man jumped in surprise, whirling around to face him. His eyes were wide, lips slightly parted as their gazes met. Atsumu jogged over to him, about to say something when, suddenly, Take Flight’s other singer appeared in front of him. Atsumu came to a halt a few steps away, bringing his hands up in front of himself. “Woah,” he said teasingly, “no need to get all protective, big guy.” The smile on his lips went lopsided as Kageyama glared at him. He leaned over to the side, ignoring the dark-haired man in favor of talking to Hinata. He reveled in the way Kageyama looked about ready to blow a fuse. “I just wanted to say congrats,” he directed to Hinata. “That was an amazing performance, Shouyou, and you guys deserved the win.” He straightened slightly, feeling that competitive fire bloom in his chest like when he was in high school. “Next year I’ll be sure to win against you,” he promised.
He stared into Hinata’s golden brown eyes, the same one’s he thought he maybe could have loved in a past life. But before Hinata could respond, an arm corralled Atsumu.
“Alright, ‘Tsumu,” his brother said, beginning to pull him away from the rival band. “Hinata,” Osamu greeted briefly as he started to pull Atsumu back toward their side of the stage, “it's great to see you. Let’s all catch up some time, yeah?”
Hinata nodded, his hair flopping gently over his forehead. He sent them his signature, brighter-than-the-sun smile that Atsumu had completely forgotten about. “I’ll see you two around.”
Osamu turned them around, but Atsumu looked over his shoulder, winking cheekily at Kageyama. The dark-haired singer’s jaw set rigidly, and Atsumu felt a seed of satisfaction that helped ease the coil of disappointment in his chest. Even if he didn’t have anything personally against Kageyama as a person, they were still technically rivals. He let his eyes fall on Hinata one last time before he turned his head back around, letting Osamu lead him away.
As they disappeared backstage, his brother pinched his shoulder. Atsumu yelped, yanking himself free and moving out of reach, rubbing the sore spot as he pouted at his brother.
“Just let Hinata be already.”
“I know, I know,” he said, pushing down the urge to roll his eyes. He had heard this from Osamu more times than he’d care to remember. “I got it.”
“Really?” Suna piped in, suddenly behind them with Kita and Aran in tow. He didn’t even bother to look up from texting as he continued. “Because the last time you saw him you, like, basically hunted him down and forced him to talk to you.”
“It was that one time, okay?” Atsumu stressed. “What else did’ya expect me to do? It’s been years since I’ve seen the guy, I had to at least say hi.”
“Yeah by interruptin’ him while he was dancin’ with his bandmate.”
Atsumu paused, pressing his lips together. “Alright, I’ll admit it wasn’t the brightest of ideas,” he admitted. He thought back to that night and the way Take Flight!’s lead singer had glared daggers at him for interrupting whatever was going on between the two. “Kageyama looked like he’d set me on fire and freeze my innards at the same time.”
“Within reason. You’re a stupid, inconsiderate asshole.”
“I love you, too, ‘Samu.”
They continued deeper into the backstage area of the venue, walking toward their dressing room. “I was really hoping we’d get to play in the finals,” his brother said, giving up on the topic of Hinata. “I want to go up against Kuroo.”
Atsumu sighed, accepting the change of conversation. “Yeah, I was hoping we’d have a longer break from school. But, honestly, I’m kind of glad,” he responded. “The Currents’ singer kind of creeps me out.” Images of Kozume Kenma flashed in his mind, his blank stare boring deep into his soul. He shuddered.
He watched Osamu think it over as well, and a small grimace came to his face. “I totally see it,” he agreed. “Especially when he gets that look in his eye when they perform. It’s like when you get too into things.”
“Hey!” Atsumu yelped, offended. “I am not creepy.”
“Right,” he heard Suna say behind them.
Atsumu whirled around, jabbing a finger over his shoulder at the drummer.
“You have no right to talk, Slenderman.”
Suna looked up from his phone, a smirk painting his lips. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Slenderman is hot.”
Atsumu stopped walking, not able to handle what he just heard. “Literally what? See, that’s what I’m talking about! You’re somehow worse than that Kozume guy!”
“‘Tsumu, you literally had a crush on Nick Wilde after we watched Zootopia,” Osamu deadpanned beside him.
“Shut up! That has nothing to do with this!” Atsumu yelled, punching his twin in the arm as Suna let out a howl of laughter.
“I question why I joined this band every day,” Kita mumbled to himself as he passed them, walking into the dressing room without them.
Atsumu glared at Suna as he finally stopped laughing, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. The black-haired drummer pushed past him, checking him in the shoulder as he followed Kita. Atsumu sneered at the back of his head.
“C’mon,” Osamu said, swatting his shoulder half-heartedly, “let’s go. I’m starving.”
“I’m never talking to Sunarin again,” he grumbled.
Osamu scoffed. “Good luck with that.”
They left the conversation at that, following the others into the dressing room. They got changed out of their stage clothes quickly, all of them far too hungry to focus on anything else. As the adrenaline from playing finally came down, Atsumu felt the fatigue settle deep in his bones. He stuffed his clothes into his duffel bag once he was done getting changed and shouldered the bag’s strap. He walked out from behind the curtain of one of the sectioned off changing rooms and found that everyone else was ready to go as well. As a group, they left the room and walked through the back halls of the venue. He could faintly hear the music that was being played, could feel the bass through the floor. Cheers from the crowd echoed in the hall, and Atsumu felt that familiar feeling of disappointment tugging at his heart. They really hadn’t been expecting their journey to be cut short like this. But he guessed there was nothing for them to do about it at this point.
Once they exited the venue’s backdoors, they decided to meet up at their usual spot for dinner. He and Osamu broke off from the group and headed in the opposite direction toward their truck. As they walked, he grabbed his water out from his bag and handed it to Osamu. His brother unscrewed the top and brought it to his mouth.
“Well,” he started, breaking the silence as he watched his brother gulp down his water, “now that this is all unfortunately over sooner than we thought, are you finally gonna make a move on Suna?”
Osamu choked, water squirting out of his nose followed by violent coughs.
“EW! What the fuck!” Atsumu screamed, jumping away from Osamu as he fought for his life.
Osamu coughed, banging on his chest. “I fucking hate you,” he grit out. “I’m gonna kill you. Why the fuck would you ask that.” He sniffed hard and spit out a big chunk of mucus onto the asphalt.
“Don’t act stupid. We all know you’ve got the hots for Sunarin.”
“Shut yer goddamn mouth. I never want to hear that from you ever again. Disgusting,” he said with a shudder.
Atsumu sighed, rounding the truck to the passenger seat. “Sure, whatever.”
Osamu muttered moodily to himself as he unlocked the door and they both climbed inside. It only took them a few minutes before they arrived at the small restaurant. Their band frequented this place since it was within walking distance of their university, so the booths were etched with memories of study-breaks and celebrations.
When Atsumu walked into the restaurant, he was hit by the familiar smell of fried batter that warmed his insides. A small smile came to his face as they moved further into the room, heading toward the furthest corner booth that his band usually occupied.
Suna, Aran, and Kita were already there, the former engrossed by something on his phone while the other spoke quietly amongst themselves. He and Osamu slid into opposite ends of the half-circle booth.
Atsumu settled into the squeaky booth seat, looking up and briefly catching the eye of the person seated at the table next to them.
“Oh you’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” the man said in a familiar, monotonous tone. Atsumu perked up in recognition. It was the guy! He looked the same as before, black mask revealing only piercing eyes and shoulders as wide as the sea. The handsome and mysterious guy that Atsumu ended up being an accomplice in cheating. That thought made Atsumu cringe as the man’s eyes left Atsumu for a moment before settling back on him. “There’s two of you,” the man said in disbelief, more emotion coursing through his voice than Atsumu has had the pleasure of hearing.
“Hey! You’re… uh…” Atsumu wracked his brain, trying to remember what Mary had called this man. “Uh, Omi? Yeah! Omi-kun!”
The man’s expression became somehow gloomier than it already was. Atsumu swore he could hear thunder clouds rolling in.
“‘Tsumu, who’s your friend?” Suna asked, leaning into Atsumu’s space to inspect the newcomer.
At the same time, the other man sitting with ‘Omi’ whispered with a mischievous smile and a twinkle in his eye, “Omi-kun?”
“Sunarin, y’know that girl I was seein’? Mary?”
The dark-haired man made a sour expression. “Yeah, Mary.”
“Well,” he said, gesturing to the man seated at the table across from them, “This is her other boyfriend. Well, ex-boyfriend now.”
Suna blinked. In a flash, his phone was out, the camera recording. “Oh, this is gold.” He lifted his phone up, pointing the camera at the other table. “So, Omi—”
“Sakusa,” the man interrupted. “My name is Sakusa.”
“Right, Sakusa-san. How did you find out that she was cheating on you with this idiot? Honestly, I feel sorry for you. I wouldn’t be caught dead having interest in the same person as Atsumu. That would just be embarrassing.”
“Suna,” Kita warned. “Yer being rude. He just found out his girlfriend was cheatin’ on him.”
“Ah, my apologies,” he said, clearly not sorry at all. “Now, how’d it go down.”
Sakusa sighed, giving a shrug. He seemed far too nonchalant for the situation, albeit he hadn’t seemed all that upset about the break up at the cafe. “I noticed she was texting someone else while we were hanging out. Yesterday, I saw a text from someone named ‘The Hot and Amazing Miya’ with far too many heart-eye and water emojis to be appropriate asking to meet up at a cafe. So, I went to the cafe this morning when they had decided to go and confronted her.”
Suna blew a whistle. “I’m impressed.”
“Ya shoulda seen it, Sunarin. It was like somethin’ outta a movie.” Suna swiveled the camera toward him, and Atsumu put on a showy smile. “Just imagine, yer on a date with a gorgeous girl and then an even prettier man comes outta nowhere and takes a seat at yer table. Now, I was beyond confused until he started speakin’, talkin’ ‘bout how he never expected someone like her to be a cheater. And then it all clicked.”
Suna hummed, a small smirk on his face. “I agree, Sakusa-san is prettier than Mary.”
“That’s the part you chose to focus on?” Atsumu heard Aran mutter on the other side of the table.
“Oh my god,” someone spoke suddenly. Everyone turned to look at the brunette seated with Sakusa. “I thought you guys looked familiar! You’re Twin Tails!”
The band blinked in surprise, Osamu leaning forward to inquire the man. “You know us?”
“Uh, duh! We just watched you guys play in the competition!” Then, his smile faltered, a nervous chuckle escaping his lips. “Ah, that might be a touchy subject, huh. Sorry. You guys played great though.” For extra points, the man gave a watery smile and weak thumbs up.
Atsumu turned to look at Sakusa. “You watched me tonight?” He purposely said me and not us to try and get a reaction out of the man. But, instead, Sakusa just stared blankly at him.
He was sure he wasn’t going to get an answer, similar to what happened at the cafe, but then Sakusa said, “I watched you lose.”
“Kiyo,” the brunette scolded with a swat to Sakusa’s shoulder, “behave.”
“Kiyo?” Atsumu asked, amused. Sakusa glared daggers at him, and Atsumu couldn’t help wondering what the expression looked like under the mask.
“Motoya, let’s get takeout.”
“What? But it’s Twin Tails! We gotta stay and talk to them,” the brunette pleaded.
Sakusa turned his icy glare to the other man, and the brunette returned it full force.
“You promised that if I didn’t like it we would leave.”
They continued to have some weird staring contest like they were silently arguing with their eyes. Was that how crazy he and Osamu looked when they did that? Then, finally, the brunette gave in.
With slumped shoulders, he sighed a “Fine” before getting up from the table. “It was nice meeting you all, but I have to take my puppy home.”
That earned him a hard punch to the shoulder from Sakusa. Before the dark-haired man could leave, Atsumu caught his eye.
“See ya around?”
“I hope not.”