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Kiyoomi doesn’t lie and only understands things when they are stated literally, which leads him to a lot of misunderstandings. His parents used to find it annoying, especially during family gatherings where their son would always tell the truth - no matter what that truth may be.
“Do you like your gift Kiyoomi?” His aunt asked on the day of his tenth birthday, referring to the horrid sweater she gave him a few minutes ago.
“No.” He replied flatly, not understanding why his aunt seemed displeased or why his mom scolded him afterwards.
He did not get it. He doesn’t see the point in lying, why do people lie?
“Sometimes the truth can hurt,” his mom told him but Kiyoomi did not believe it. Lies hurt, not the truth.
After some time, his parents found the trick. Since Kiyoomi was a rather shy kid, he didn’t talk much. Therefore, he only replies truthfully if he is being asked something, but he won’t engage in any ‘useless’ conversation otherwise.
He doesn’t see the point in saying something if he isn’t asked. Because if people wanted him to talk they would ask, right?
So he just thanks the people when he receives a gift and that’s it.
This behavior of his hasn’t changed over the years, even in high school. Most people see him as a jerk for his bluntness and he still doesn’t understand why but whatever, he isn’t here to please them anyway.
Only Motoya seems to stick with him no matter what.
It feels as if Motoya is the only person who understands how Kiyoomi acts, and the only person who sees that Kiyoomi isn’t mean - at least not on purpose.
The same thing happened when a piss hair obnoxious boy from another high school asked him if he liked him - to which he frowned and replied a curt “no” before leaving.
“How can he think that I like him? I don’t even know his name.” Kiyoomi asked Motoya later that day.
“It’s a joke, Kiyo. You were staring at him when he entered the gym so he tried to joke a bit with you.”
There was a short silence. Kiyoomi’s facial expression showed his confusion, Motoya let him gather his thoughts.
“I don't get it.” he said. “Aren’t jokes supposed to be funny?”
Motoya laughed at that. “I think he was somehow trying to flirt with you, if his tone of voice and the wink he gave you were any indication.”
Kiyoomi got even more confused at that. He couldn’t describe the way he felt at Motoya’s words, he never felt this way. His face was hot.
“I don’t get it.” He said once again before leaving the room and his cousin, who wears a knowing smirk on his face.
After that, Kiyoomi couldn’t help but notice this same blonde guy - who he learned his name was Miya Atsumu - staring at him. Trying to steal glances at Kiyoomi but would immediately turn his head if Kiyoomi looked back at him. That made him feel uneasy, what was that dude’s deal?
In any case, he decided to ignore it and focus only on volleyball as he always does. That’s what they’re here for anyways. The end of the training camp came quickly and they left to go back to their high school.
A year has passed, Kiyoomi is now in his last year of high school and he and Motoya are now back at the training camp.
Kiyoomi would lie if he says that he hasn’t thought - or talked - about Miya Atsumu during that year. After all, the blonde is undeniably an amazing setter so it’s completely normal for Kiyoomi to be interested in him.
There is no other reason behind Kiyoomi’s interest in the setter. No matter the weird implications that Motoya always does that Kiyoomi never understands. And it doesn’t help that Motoya never explains himself. “You’ll figure it out eventually,” he always says, and Kiyoomi has no idea what that means.
The training camp starts well, except for the fact that Atsumu does it again. He keeps looking at Kiyoomi whenever he thinks the latter doesn’t see him and it’s starting to get annoying.
So, at the end of the third day of the training camp, Kiyoomi can’t stand it anymore. He goes to Atsumu in the locker room after their post-practice shower once he’s dressed up to ask him. “Miya, why do you keep looking at me?”
Atsumu looks taken aback, as if he wasn’t expecting Kiyoomi to come talk to him. The blonde chuckles, scratching his neck and Kiyoomi can see his face turning a pretty shade of pink. He is himself taken aback by the realization that the man in front of him is, in fact, pretty. He can see all the freckles on the other’s face with how close they’re standing, and he feels his own face heating up.
“Totally professional reason.” The blonde replies, clearing his throat awkwardly, and it breaks the little bubble Kiyoomi somehow found himself in. “I was just observing ya. Ya know, I’m a setter and yer a spiker an’ everything.”
Oh. Okay. Yes. That makes sense, Kiyoomi thinks. But for some reason he doesn’t feel good about it, he feels a little sting to his heart that he can’t explain. “Okay,” he replies simply before turning around and leaving the locker room.
He is frowning and feels weird but can’t even explain why. So as always, he goes to Motoya. Over the years, Motoya became some sort of an interpreter for Kiyoomi, a social situation interpreter to be exact. Kiyoomi has always had difficulties with social situations and understanding people’s emotions if they aren’t stating them directly.
“I feel weird, Motoya.”
“Are you sick?” His cousin asks.
“Maybe, I don't know.”
“Well, what happened?”
“I was talking with Miya and then I felt hot. I think I may have a fever.”
Before any verbal response, he hears Motoya snorting. “Oh really now?” The smirk on his cousin’s face makes Kiyoomi feel even more uneasy.
“Well tell me what’s wrong with me instead of making fun of me.”
Before motoya could reply to him, they hear a knock on their shared room door. He goes to open it and stands still when he sees none other than Miya Atsumu standing in front of their door. “Miya,” he says.
“Hum,” the blonde chuckles and scratches his neck, just like he did earlier in the day, Kiyoomi notices. “Hi, Omi.”
Omi? That’s a first. He surprises himself when he realizes that he doesn’t dislike it. They stare at each other for a moment without saying anything.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Motoya interrupts them. He grabs his phone and his jacket and starts making his way to the door. “I’ll be in the hall if you need me, Kiyo,” he announces before passing them and heading to the elevator.
There is another silence between them and Kiyoomi finds himself quite uncomfortable. He doesn’t know what to say since he wasn’t expecting the other man to come to his room. “Why are you here, Miya?” He asks.
“I, hum- I lied earlier,” the blonde says and Kiyoomi feels another sting to his heart. A liar. Of course Miya would also be a liar. Kiyoomi truly doesn’t get why people feel the need to lie.
His lack of response must have alarmed Atsumu because the blonde starts talking again. “I don’t look at ya only ’cause yer a good spiker.” That makes Kiyoomi raise his head and furrow his brows in confusion. And the blonde’s next sentence makes Kiyoomi completely stop functioning. “I think yer real pretty too.”
Oh. The hot sensation in his body is back, even more intense than before. He looks at Atsumu with wide eyes, not knowing what to reply because he never experienced that before. The only people who ever told him that were his mom and his grandma. No one his age and even less a pretty boy have ever told him that.
“Hum-” it’s now his turn to scratch his neck awkwardly.
Seeing Kiyoomi struggling, Atsumu talks again. “I wanted ta ask ya if ya want ta go out with me?” He asks, a small and somehow shy smile on his face.
What? Why would Miya ask that now? It makes no sense. He frowns in confusion before replying, “Hum, no?”
Kiyoomi watches how the smile on Miya’s face disappears instantly. He sees how the blonde - who is still standing at their door - takes two steps back and looks down before replying. “Oh, okay. That’s okay,” he chuckles again but Kiyoomi can hear that it’s a different chuckle than the ones from before, even though he can’t really pinpoint the difference. “I’ll leave now then. Bye Omi.” And Kiyoomi watches the blonde leaving, he didn’t even raise his head to look at Kiyoomi before leaving. Why? Kiyoomi can feel that something went wrong but he doesn’t understand what went wrong. Why did Miya almost look sad?
Kiyoomi feels bad and he doesn’t even know why. Miya was sad when he left him, but he wasn’t when he arrived, so it must be his fault. Kiyoomi feels guilty for something he has apparently done, even though he doesn’t know what he has done. He hates that feeling.
< come back to the room > he texts Motoya, and the man enters the room not even two minutes later with a huge smile on his face. A smile that disappears as soon as he sees Kiyoomi’s facial expression. “What’s wrong, Kiyo?”
“I- I don’t know.” He replies in all honesty. And then starts retelling the whole story - which isn’t very long considering the fact that Miya stayed at his doorstep for less than ten minutes - and waits for Motoya’s feedback on the situation.
Except the feedback doesn’t come, because Motoya is just staring at him as if Kiyoomi had grown a second head. He finally talks after what feels like forever.
“Kiyo, how do you feel about Atsumu?”
“What?” He frowns.
“Just answer me.”
“How is that relevant to the reason why he seemed sad?”
“Kiyo,” Motoya sighs. “Just answer me honestly, please.”
Kiyoomi takes a moment to think, he doesn’t really see the point in this but Motoya rarely asks him irrelevant questions – at least not when they’re in the middle of an important conversation.
Miya Atsumu is a good player, a really good player if Kiyoomi is completely honest. He’s also nice. Even with his loud mouth and obvious arrogance, he’s still nice. Kiyoomi noticed how Atsumu always makes sure his teammates are okay, if they need anything from him, if there’s any way he could improve himself. Kiyoomi likes that in him, the way Atsumu always wants to improve himself, never satisfied with his current state. They’re similar in more ways than Kiyoomi originally thought. Plus, Kiyoomi has come to realize (he had actually realized that the second he saw him, admit would be more accurate) that the blonde is also very good-looking.
Upon all of those admissions, Kiyoomi comes upon a realization and he feels himself getting hotter and hotter. Motoya must have realized because he hears him snort next to him. He lets out a small “oh,” almost a whisper and looks at Motoya dumbfounded. So that’s why Motoya kept talking about Atsumu and smirking weirdly , he now realizes.
“Yeah ‘oh’,” Motoya chuckles.
“I have a crush on Miya Atsumu?” He says, more like a question than a statement. And Motoya snorts at that.
“Man, took you long enough.” He lets out a small laugh. “But I'm glad you realized.”
Kiyoomi is confused. He’s now wondering exactly for how long Motoya has known - or at least suspected it - with how sure the latter looks. But, for some reason, he doesn’t feel as if asking is a good idea, call it self-preservation.
He has one question that still needs an answer though. “But how is my feelings realization related to how Miya feels?” He asks, his brows are furrowed once again.
Upon his cousin’s facial expression, Motoya stops acting smugly and adopts a more serious face. “Let’s sit, Kiyo.” He says and Kiyoomi starts to panic. Motoya sees it and immediately reassures him, “It’s nothing to worry about Kiyo, I swear! It’s just to be more comfortable but I promise everything is okay.” He offers a warm smile. Motoya never lies to Kiyoomi, so the latter does what he’s told and sits on his bed, facing Motoya who is sitting on his.
“It’s one of those situations where you misunderstood the second meaning behind someone’s words,” starts explaining Motoya. “Atsumu probably seemed sad because of how you replied to his question.”
“So he’s sad because of me. I was right.” He lowers his head and looks at his hands on his knees, feeling guilty.
“Don’t feel bad, Kiyo. You can still make things right!” Motoya says, offering him a small smile. “You just need to tell him how you feel when things aren’t stated literally, and then he’ll understand that you didn’t mean to hurt him.”
Oh. Well, Kiyoomi isn’t sure he wants to do that. That never went well in the past. People would always tell him he was too dense for being that oblivious – as if it was his fault. He doesn’t even get why people feel the need to use imagery or metaphors when they speak when they could just state things how they are. He just realized he likes Atsumu, he doesn’t want him to think he’s dumb. “Hum,” he starts. “I’m not sure,” he says in a small voice, fidgeting.
Motoya offers him another one of his warm and comforting smiles in response. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, Kiyo. He’s not like them.”
And Motoya didn’t need to expand on that, Kiyoomi instantly knew who Motoya is referring to. He's always amazed by how connected he is with his cousin and how Motoya seems to always know what Kiyoomi thinks about.
He hums in acknowledgment, still not completely sure but he trusts Motoya more than anyone. “But how did I reply badly to his question?”
Motoya smiles again but it looks more like a smirk. “I can’t tell you. I think Atsumu should be the one to explain it to you.” He says and it only gets Kiyoomi more confused. “Let’s go to bed, it’s late.”
Kiyoomi knows he can never manage to make Motoya talk when he doesn’t want to, so he knows he should drop the subject. Plus, it’s true that it’s late and he’s tired, so he lets go. And if he doesn’t get answers from Atsumu tomorrow, then he’ll ask Motoya and find a way to force him to talk.
Nothing goes as planned the next day. Atsumu is clearly avoiding him, and he’s not even subtle about it. And this hurts way more than Kiyoomi anticipated. He didn’t think he would miss the other’s glances thrown at him, but turns out he does. He realizes quite sadly that Atsumu was the only one who looked at him - outside of the court, when he’s not in his spiker mode - and that hurts as well. Especially when he still doesn’t know why Atsumu acts like this.
Motoya watches the matches of the day painfully and internally cringes. “Kiyo you need to talk to him,” he tells Kiyoomi at the end of their day when they’re on their way to the locker room.
Kiyoomi is always the first one in the showers, so Atsumu decided to wait for the last minute before going to take his shower. Bad move because then Kiyoomi decided to just wait for the latter to finish. Plus, that way they’re alone in the locker room and Kiyoomi prefers that. He still isn’t sure whether or not he will be completely honest with Atsumu, but if he does, then he certainly prefers to do it when they’re alone.
He hears the shower stop and footsteps coming his way. Atsumu freezes when he sees him, they both stare at each other silently. None of them say anything, Atsumu opts for ignoring him once again and just makes his way to his locker as if Kiyoomi wasn’t here.
The atmosphere in the room is heavy and awkward. Kiyoomi is fidgeting on the bench and doesn’t know where to look - from what he sees, Atsumu isn't doing much better. He clears his throat awkwardly and that makes the other stop all movements. “Why did you avoid me all day?” He finally asks, except it’s so soft that he’s not even sure the other heard him.
Atsumu snorts, and shakes his head unbelievably. Kiyoomi then knows the other heard him, even though he doesn’t get the reaction he’s having. “Are ya serious?”
“Yes?” Kiyoomi replies, confused. Why wouldn’t he be serious?
Atsumu then turns around to finally face Kiyoomi and Kiyoomi feels another sting at his heart upon the expression the other wears. He doesn’t look at Kiyoomi the way he did yesterday anymore, Kiyoomi doesn’t like it.
“Don’tcha think it’s a bit mean ta ask me that today?”
Kiyoomi cranes his head to the side. “Why would it be mean?” He asks, genuinely confused.
Atsumu is staring at him, he looks as if he’s trying to see if Kiyoomi is making fun of him and Kiyoomi doesn’t understand why. “I told ya I like ya yesterday and then ya rejected me, yesterday too. And then yer wonderin’ why I’m avoiding ya today ?!” The blonde says in a mad but hurt tone, emphasizing on some words.
Kiyoomi is even more confused now because, what the hell?
“Miya, what are you talking about?”
“What?”
“You never told me you like me, and I never rejected you,” he states.
Silence. Atsumu is once again staring at him intensely with the same expression as before. Kiyoomi’s serious expression tells Atsumu that he isn’t playing with him, so the blonde continues.
“Omi I asked ya if ya wanted ta go out with me and ya said no.”
“Of course I said no.”
He hears Atsumu scoff and he looks even more hurt than before. “Did ya come here just to rub salt in the wound?”
“Huh? What does that even mean?” He asks, utterly confused.
“Huh?” Atsumu looks at him equally confused. “Sakusa what the hell is happening? Tell me what you’re doing here. If it’s just to hurt me, please leave.”
“But- I don't want to hurt you?” Kiyoomi has no idea what that conversation is about anymore so he decides to just be honest and see where it leads. “I like you.”
“You what now?”
“I like you,” he repeats. “I realized it yesterday, but I think it’s been a while.”
“...Then why did ya refuse ta go out with me when I asked ya?”
Kiyoomi doesn’t understand how Atsumu can ask this question, isn’t it obvious? “Miya you asked me that at 10pm and it was raining. Of course I don’t want to go out at 10pm when it rains.” He states matter-of-factly.
He thought this was obvious but from the expression that Atsumu wears on his face, he guesses that maybe it’s not. “Hum,” he hears the blonde chuckling and he sees him scratching his neck awkwardly. “Okay. I see. Hum- I didn't mean yesterday.”
“What?”
“When I asked ya that, I didn’t mean going outside yesterday night.”
“Then what did you mean?”
“I was asking ya on a date. With me. Not yesterday night. A romantic date with me. On a day in the future. Whenever ya want. If ya want.” Atsumu announces little parts of sentences. “Because I like ya,” he adds at the end, and Kiyoomi observes how the blonde’s face is getting redder and redder.
“Oh,” is the only reply he can think of, as he feels his face and ears getting hotter. “I’m sorry,” he says.
Atsumu still seems to be sad, but he’s somehow less mad. “It’s okay. Ya don’t have ta apologize if ya don’t want ta.”
“No. I’m sorry that I didn’t understand what you meant yesterday. I’m sorry that I hurt you.”
Atsumu offers him a warm smile and oh , he’s gorgeous. “Nah it’s okay, Omi. It’s my fault, I should have been more clear!” He grins. “I’ll be more careful from now on.”
Oh. Is it that simple? Kiyoomi could cry. Never in his eighteen years of age has someone said that to him. Motoya was right, he’s not like the others. He smiles to himself before sheepishly replying a small “Yes.”
“Yes?” Atsumu repeats in a hopeful tone.
“Yes, I’d like to go on a date with you, Miya.” Kiyoomi could feel his face burning, but the smile on Atsumu’s face in response was totally worth it.
“Okay omi. How about ya start with calling me by my first name then?”
Kiyoomi chuckles in response. “Okay, Atsumu.”