Chapter Text
“Ladies, time for bed!” Shoyo calls from the twin's room.
Atsumu got up from the living room sofa to collect her two beautiful balls of sunshine from the bean bags near the TV. “Come on now girls, ya heard papa just now,” he reaches for Asa, Shoyo’s mini-me who’s seemingly avoiding Atsumu’s grip as she scuttles away from the bean bag. However, Atsumu is quick to catch her leg and drag her near him eliciting shrieks and giggles from the little mischief. “Where all is this energy coming ya little monster?” Atsumu laughs lovingly at Asa as he dotingly tickles her with kisses.
“Daddy, I give up! I’m sorry! Hahahaha,” Asa concedes to Atsumu’s barrage of tickle kisses.
Atsumu pats Asa’s head and helps her upright. Next, he turns to collect the brunette kid with expectant eyes from the other bean bag. Hisa, who’s blessed with Atsumu’s likeness and thankfully doesn’t share her sister’s mission for mischief. “Let’s go?” Atsumu offers his right hand to Hisa who politely takes her daddy’s hand as she was lifted from her bean bag. Hisa giggles at the sudden effort of being lifted and Atsumu lovingly pats her on the head as well.
He holds the twins' hands as they walk their way to their bedroom. Once they entered the room, the twins released their hold on Atsumu and rushed to Shoyo to be tucked in bed. Shoyo smiles as both twins race to embrace him which is their usual bedtime routine. “Now, now…” Shoyo says and picks up the twins, balancing them on both his sides. Then gave them their routinary nightly kisses.
Shoyo carefully lowers them to the queen-sized bed the twins share. The girls crawl under the covers and excitedly glances up at their parents, eyes expecting.
“So, what story would you want for tonight? Another Disney princess story perhaps?” Shoyo offers as he and Atsumu took each side of the bed to tuck the kids and to comfortably position themselves in time for the bedtime story.
“Um, can we do another which is not a Disney princess this time?” Hisa requested. Shoyo kisses Hisa’s forehead and replies, “of course my dear, anything you want.”
“Ooh, ooh… how about a love story! But this time a love story of animals!” Asa excitedly suggested. Atsumu laughs at her daughter’s excited shifting and he ruffles her hair. “Perhaps, Lion King?” Atsumu suggested.
At the mention of Lion King, both girls shook their heads. “Nah daddy, we just watched Lion King the other day.” Asa whines. “Yeah, and it's kinda sad too… I don’t like it when Mufasa died.” Hisa agrees and both twins' faces fell as they recall the sad scene from the Lion King.
Both Shoyo and Atsumu shared a soft smile. Their kids are just too adorable. “How about the tale of the Lady and the Tramp?” Shoyo recommends which piqued his kids' and Atsumu's interest. “Now, that’s a good one Sho. That’s one of the classics.” He tells his husband approvingly.
“Lady and the Turruhm?” Asa muttered, her confused look spurred soft chuckles from both her fathers. “It's Lady and the Tramp,” Shoyo corrects her. “It's a love story between two dogs. The girl is a sweet sheltered cocker spaniel and the boy is a mutt living in the streets.” He shares. “Now, would you like to have it as of tonight’s bedtime story?” He asks the twins with a smile.
The twins shared a glance and reverts back to Shoyo with enthusiastic nods. “Then your wish is my command,” he replies, indulging them. And Atsumu winks at him from his side of the bed.
Shoyo adjusted his body on the bed to find a comfortable position. He rests his back on the bed’s headboard and reaches his left arm to connect with Atsumu’s hand. A position they share every bedtime story. He looks down at his daughters with a smile as he starts to tell the story.
“Once upon a time there’s this man named Jim Dear who gifted his wife, Darling a cocker spaniel puppy one Christmas evening. The couple named the cute little puppy Lady . Lady grew up enjoying her life under the love of her owners. She also developed friendships with the local neighbor dogs, Jock a Scottish terrier, and Trusty a bloodhound. As you can see, Lady’s been sheltered her whole life with loving owners and a roof under her head. But you know, not all dogs share the same comfortable life as Lady.
Some dogs like Tramp, a mutt don’t have an owner who feeds and provides them the comfort of a home. So Tramp learns to live on his own. He lives off of scraps and protects his fellow stray dogs from the dog catcher.
But one day, Tramp finds himself in a suburban neighborhood and overhears a rather distressed conversation between Lady and her friends, Jock and Trusty. Lady is worried because Jim Dear is acting coldly around her. Her friends Jock and Trusty were able to figure out that the change in Jim Dear's attitude is because Darling is expecting a baby.
Lady is confused about the concept of a ‘baby’ so her friends tried to explain what a baby is but they were interrupted by Tramp. He gave his own opinion on the topic to the dislike of her friends. They didn’t like Tramp’s cheeky attitude and ordered him out of their yard. However, before he leaves he reminds Lady that ‘when a baby moves in, a dog moves out.’ Which leaves Lady a bit confused and uneasy.”
“Papa,” Asa cuts his storytelling. “Before Hisa and I were born did you have a dog?” She asks innocently. She's clearly worried over the thought of a dog being displaced from the household because Asa and Hisa were born.
Shoyo and Atsumu shared a look and both laughed at the adorable question from Asa. “No, we didn’t have, unfortunately,” Shoyo answers her with a smile. Atsumu tucks away the baby hairs from Asa’s forehead as he whispers, “We didn’t have a dog then because daddy doesn’t want Papa Sho to cuddle anyone other than daddy,” Atsumu candidly says earning a grin from Shoyo. He squeezed Shoyo’s hands in return.
Asa and Hisa giggle from under the covers at their daddy’s antics. “Daddy, you’re just like Lady, you’re afraid to get the cold shoulder from papa!” Hisa teases. Ah, so the meek kid can throw shades too? Atsumu took a mental note of that
“Hey, why can’t I be Tramp? I’m very cheeky too?” Atsumu contests against her kids and they have a mini-debate on why daddy is more of a Lady than a Tramp.
Shoyo can’t help but chuckle at their adorable argument as he recalls the first time he met Atsumu during the 2013 Volleyball Spring High Tournament.
Shoyo’s POV
The first time I saw Tsumu was when he went to our side of the warm-up area to greet Kageyama and take a sneer, particularly at my skills. Well, he’s cheeky alright, but if it weren’t for Kageyama backing me up I would’ve taken his taunts to my head.
However, even though playing against Inarizaki and the Miya twins prove to be an uphill battle for Karasuno, I did enjoy that fight. It was a culmination of everything I learned and will learn from the game. Both teams painstakingly steal points and try to one-up the other. And when we blocked that last point for the win, I never felt that exhaustingly glorified in a game.
I can barely move but it was welcome fatigue. I almost forgot Atsumu-san’s gibe earlier until he called out to me and declares, “One day, I’m gonna set for ya. But before that happens, I’ll destroy ya at the next Interhigh. So ya better be prepared.”
And destroy us he did. The next Spring High, Inarizaki defeated us tooth and nail during the third round of the competition. At the end of the match, Atsumu-san finds me again and told me, “Ya better meet me in the VLeague as your setter Shoyo-kun. I can make you fly high than Tobio-kun.” Ah, was that a promise? I can’t help but blush at those words.
But it did help cement my decision to move to Brazil and improve my skills. “Please wait for me Atsumu-san, as your future spiker I will not let you down.” That is my promise to him. And to have such a skillful setter to help me fly, I must be at my best for him to continue to toss to me. Yes, I will improve and won't let him down.
And four years after our last meeting, we met again at the Black Jackal’s tryouts. “Atsumu-san, I am finally here,” I happily greeted him, at last, the time to fulfill the promises has come.