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With the high of a hard-won victory, comes the inevitable.
“Tsum-saaaan!”
Atsumu winces, placing down his beer — the only one he’s been nursing all night, and resists the urge to rub his ear. “‘M right here, Shou,” he snorts, glancing to his right, where Hinata has just tumbled into the booth beside him, dragging a frankly staggering Kageyama by the hand. The last time Atsumu had a glimpse of them, they’d been trying to match shots with the Tanakas.
By the way Tanaka Ryuunosuke and Kiyoko are still standing upright three tables away, talking merrily with Kuroo and Meian, Atsumu’s pretty sure neither Kageyama or Hinata had won that battle.
The long-awaited Adlers and MSBY match had pretty much evolved into a giant reunion of old high school friends and rivals, and a few of the former Karasuno team members had booked an entire restaurant to celebrate, bringing practically everyone along. Also, someone had somehow convinced the owner to have a free flow of drinks, which means Atsumu’s already had the pleasure of shoving water at Inunaki, Adriah and Sakusa in the first forty-five minutes since arriving here.
And it looks like it might be Hinata’s turn next.
Hinata grins at him, cheeks flushed as he slumps back against Kageyama, who doesn’t react beyond letting out a loud “oomph”. “Yeah, that’s the problem,” Hinata says, voice pitching into a whine. “You don’t even look tipsy!”
Atsumu laughs. “That’s ‘cause I’m not,” he points out, and then, “You, on the other hand, might need some water in ya. And Tobio-kun, too. Budge over, ‘m gonna get us a couple of glasses.”
At that, Hinata pitches forward, nearly braining himself on the edge of the table if it wasn’t for Atsumu’s reflexes. “Booooring,” Hinata says, voice muffled by the fabric of Atsumu’s shirt.
“Oi!” Atsumu yelps in panic, hands gripping Hinata’s shoulders, as Hinata wraps his arms around Atsumu’s waist tightly, not unlike a limpet. “Shou-kun, I ain’t gonna be responsible if our newest player decides to concuss himself right after winning against the Adlers!”
Before Hinata could answer, Sakusa’s voice pipes up from Atsumu’s left. “If you come back without a tray of shots for us we’re kicking you out.”
“Omi-kun,” Atsumu sighs, trying to turn around to glare at him. “Yer worse, ya had like four cocktails before I found ya startin’ up a fight with Hoshiumi-kun.” To Kageyama, he says, “Can ya get your boyfriend off me?”
Kageyama shakes his head solemnly. “Hinata’s like a barnacle. There’s no way to remove him once he decides to cling to you.” He pauses, and then adds, “Unless you agree to bring back more drinks.”
He’s saved from trying to figure out an answer that doesn’t involve bodily removing Hinata Hinata and hogtying his drunk teammates as well as the Adlers’ starting setter when Bokuto appears around the corner, propped up by whom Atsumu thinks is the Karasuno’s former captain. The man is holding a tray of empty glasses and a pitcher of what he desperately hopes is water, and Bokuto is smiling dopily at all of them, clutching a glass of clear liquid.
Hinata and Kageyama confirm his suspicions when Hinata shoots back up with a loud, “Daichi-san!” while Kageyama sits up straight, throwing out an, “Ossu!” in greeting.
Daichi — Daichi-san? — grins at them, carefully depositing Bokuto beside Sakusa, who looks like he can’t decide between scooching closer towards Atsumu or letting Bokuto touch him in any way. In the end, Sakusa moves maybe half an inch closer towards Atsumu, and resorts to glaring silently at Bokuto. “Glad to see you two are still on your feet,” Daichi tells his kouhai, placing the tray down. “Well, kind of. Maybe you should get some water in you, hmm?”
It is water in the pitcher, Atsumu finds out, and Daichi manages to pour two glasses and resolutely push them in Kageyama’s and Hinata’s hands, the latter having finally released his hold on Atsumu. He notes that neither of them make any fuss about being made to drink water, and tries not to feel envious about it.
And then Daichi turns to him, expression warm as he regards Atsumu, glancing at Sakusa knowingly. “Water for you two as well?”
“Uh, just him,” Atsumu answers awkwardly, gesturing at his own half-empty pint. “‘M still workin’ on my first one.”
“‘Cause you’re being boring, Tsumu-san,” Hinata suddenly pipes up, and an odd noise escapes Atsumu, caught between embarrassment and indignation.
However, Daichi clicks his tongue, pouring out another glass of water and placing it in front of Sakusa. “He’s being responsible,” Daichi says firmly, and Atsumu has a brief moment to thank the gods that the lighting in this restaurant is dim enough to not showcase how red his face must be when Daichi adds, “And I’m guessing he’s the one making sure none of you have face planted on the floor yet. Thank you for that, by the way. Sorry, I just came over without introducing myself — I’m Sawamura Daichi, but most people just call me Daichi.”
And then Daichi smiles brightly, only looking away for a second to make sure Sakusa takes a sip of his water, before focusing on Atsumu again.
An old memory comes unbidden; Kita had mentioned Sawamura Daichi once, on the ride back to Inarizaki, after that fateful loss in the Nationals.
“He’s a good captain,” Kita had said, apropos of nothing when Atsumu had asked him what he’d thought about Karasuno, and Atsumu had wondered what Kita had seen in the crows’ captain to say that, but he’d been too preoccupied with nursing his own wounded pride at losing.
Now, though. He’s starting to understand what Kita might have seen, back then.
“Uh, no, that’s — that’s fine. Atsumu. I’m Atsumu.”
Oh hell.
Daichi’s eyes crinkle in mirth, and Atsumu dies a little inside. “Nice to formally meet you, Atsumu-kun. I mean — I don’t know if you remember, we played against each other only once—”
“I do,” Atsumu blurts out, trying to ignore the way Sakusa’s boring holes at the side of his head. Next to Sakusa, Bokuto’s singing along to the music playing in the restaurant, and Atsumu thinks Kageyama and Hinata are huddled together, wondering if they can make a competition out of who can drink their water the fastest. He should probably put a stop to that. “I mean. Yer team beat us real good that year, so.”
Daichi’s expression shifts into something resembling bashfulness, but before he can say anything, Hinata and Kageyama slam their glasses on the table at the same time.
“I win!” Kageyama declares.
Hinata makes an affronted noise, and scrambles over Atsumu’s lap to move towards Kageyama, ignoring Sakusa’s loud, indignant squawk and Bokuto’s laughter. “That was a draw, no wins!”
“Inside voice, Shou-kun,” Atsumu sighs, instinctively moving back to avoid Hinata’s knees in certain delicate places, just as Daichi says dryly, “I’d rather not have to haul both of you out of here myself.”
When Atsumu stares at him, he explains sheepishly, “I, uh, I work with the police.”
It takes longer than it should to get rid of the frankly scandalous thoughts that had immediately plagued Atsumu’s mind at the mention of Daichi’s profession, considering how little alcohol Atsumu has actually imbibed this evening.
“D’ya have to do that a lot? Drag people ya know into custody?” Atsumu blurts out after a few seconds of silence pass between them.
Daichi laughs, head thrown back like it’s the funniest thing Atsumu’s ever said. It’s a nice laugh, warm and deep, the sound settling in Atsumu’s stomach better than the room temp beer he’s been nursing all evening. Atsumu’s lips curl up at the corners despite every effort he makes to look impassive.
God, Sakusa’s going to be unbearable about this in the morning if he remembers. Hopefully he’s too distracted by the wonder duo and Bokuto.
“Not that often, thankfully,” Daichi answers, when he calms down at last. “There’s the occasional fight to break up outside a rowdy bar during a night shift, but most of my days are pretty peaceful.”
For some reason, Kageyama chooses that moment to reveal that he’s been listening in on their conversation, rather than participating in what looks like an overly complicated version of jankenpon with Hinata, Bokuto, and surprisingly Sakusa on the other side of the table. “The other day, Daichi-san was herding a bunch of ducks across a street and helped them get to a pond in the nearby park.”
Atsumu’s brain screeches to a halt at the adorable image Kageyama’s words are conjuring in his head.
“... I need to get Suga to stop posting those videos,” Daichi mumbles, rubbing the back of his neck as he frowns at Kageyama. Now, Atsumu’s mentally cursing how little light there is in this restaurant, because he wants to know if Daichi’s blushing. “And get my coworkers to stop enabling him.” He shakes his head, and smiles again at Atsumu. “Sorry, I didn’t actually mean to take up so much of your time rambling. I’ll leave you to it.”
He starts to back away from the table, and Atsumu realises it’s the last thing he actually wants.
“‘S that a regular thing, ducks in the streets of Miyagi?” Atsumu asks suddenly, leaning forward and frantically grasping at straws to keep Daichi talking. To him. Because somehow Atsumu hasn’t embarrassed either of them enough. “Or are there other cute critters you usually escort around in this town?”
Daichi’s eyes narrow; for a moment, Atsumu thinks he’s definitely screwed things up, internally wincing at himself.
But then Daichi snorts, moving closer, until he’s sitting down shy of the spot that Hinata had vacated earlier, something mysterious lingering in his smile. He places his cheek in his palm as he leans on the table, staring intently at Atsumu.
“Nah, I don’t regularly make a habit of it,” Daichi says lightly, before proceeding to fry every single synapse in Atsumu’s brain when he innocently adds, “I wouldn’t mind showing you around, though. Miyagi’s nothing like Osaka of course, but there’s something to be said about the countryside’s charms, right?”
“Right,” Atsumu echoes weakly. “Wait. Did ya just call me cute?”
Is Daichi flirting?
To his credit, Daichi doesn’t even look that flustered, but Atsumu thinks there’s a hint of pink on his cheeks, now that Atsumu’s close enough to look at him. “I’m glad you noticed that part, at least.”
Flirting, then.
That’s… That’s good. And Atsumu has to say something before Daichi inevitably figures out that Atsumu is a hot mess when he gets a crush on someone.
Especially someone as charming and attractive and caring as Sawamura Daichi.
“I—”
He’s interrupted when Bokuto starts hacking his lungs out in a terrible sounding cough that causes Sakusa to yell and collide with Atsumu’s side in his attempt to get away, Kageyama to lean dangerously sideways, nearly falling off the booth, and Hinata to try and alleviate Bokuto’s coughing fit by roughly pounding on the other man’s back. Daichi doesn’t even blink before springing into action, moving to grab a box of tissues from another table, while Atsumu steps aside to let Sakusa crawl to the other side of the booth and standing up, away from the commotion but not far enough to create his own trouble in his inebriated state.
The whole thing lasts a good fifteen minutes, with Bokuto finally rasping, “I’m good — sorry — choked on water—” but he looks a little peaky, and Sakusa also seems about ready to either collapse into bed or give into the murderous thoughts flitting on his features, which isn’t great considering they have a literal law enforcement officer sitting at the same booth with them.
“I should get them back to the hotel,” Atsumu regretfully says to Daichi, thinking he’ll just have to mourn the lost moment between the two of them when he gets back to his hotel room later that night. “It’s safe to leave the wonder duo here, right?”
“It is, I can get someone to look after them. Do you need help?”
“It’s fine — ‘m used to—”
“Not what I asked, Atsumu-kun,” Daichi interrupts him gently, but his expression is open and not judgemental, and Atsumu doesn’t feel too chastised. “Besides, you were going to say something before all of that happened, and I’d like to know. Unless you were about to turn me down—”
No, no—
“Not that," Atsumu cuts Daichi off this time, sounding stupidly breathless. “Definitely… Definitely not that. Help sounds good, and then. We can talk a little more? Just talking.”
Out of all the expressions Daichi had made this evening, the small smile carefully blooming on his face somehow transforms him the most; Atsumu will readily admit before all of this transpired between them that Sawamura Daichi is a good-looking man, but the way Daichi is looking at him right now is enough to make Atsumu grin back helplessly.
Daichi nods, moving to help Bokuto get on his feet. “Yeah, talking… Talking sounds good. I’d like that a lot, Atsumu-kun.” The small smile starts to widen, and Daichi ducks his head for a moment, before he’s flagging down a couple of their former teammates, presumably to help keep an eye on Hinata and Kageyama, unbothered by Bokuto’s extra weight against him.
Atsumu doesn’t manage to conceal the excitement on his face when he turns to look for Sakusa, who’s staring at him with a sleepy smirk, and mouthing, “Whipped,” as he wiggles his eyebrows in Daichi’s direction, swaying slightly on the spot.
“Shut up,” Atsumu mouths back, rolling his eyes. Sober, hungover Sakusa would probably be mortified by how silly he’s acting right now, but there’s enough material for Sakusa to make fun of Atsumu for two entire V.League seasons.
It’s fine, anyway. He’s still got that incident from March to holdover Sakusa’s head, and he gets to enjoy Daichi’s company for a little longer tonight.
Atsumu can’t shake off the feeling that he’s won twice today, and it’s a great feeling.