Archive of Our Own

Atsumu used to go over this scenario a thousand times in his head. He used to dream about reencountering Kiyoomi in the most random places, he imagined them having a mature and long conversation about what happened between them and parting ways with a smile on their faces.

He never dreamed about getting back together though, he knew that was nearly impossible, but he always regretted how they ended and the way he couldn’t have a normal conversation, he was the first one to raise his voice, at the end, he was the one who pushed Kiyoomi away.

So it was no surprise that after days, weeks, months and even years, he regretted how the last interaction he had with Sakusa was in a childish fit of anger and a non-coherent ramble of words.

Not his brightest moment.

But since then, Atsumu has worked on himself, he has learned to lean on others, he focused only in being a better setter and climb himself up to be on the starting line up. 

He made tons of friends, or as his brother told him ‘they were already yer friends u dumbass’ but now Atsumu was aware that he was liked enough for people to call him his friend.

His life was turning to be better and better, he still had some nights were he would think about Kiyoomi but he’ll say ‘screw it’ and kept going.  

So imagine his surprise of seeing said Kiyoomi two years later, walking to the tryouts for the same team Atsumu is playing at the moment, as if nothing happened, as if he didn’t know that Atsumu played for MSBY, everyone knew that, his face was in a huge poster outside the Gym.

So, why was he here?

While the tryouts were taking place on one side of the gym, the team was practicing some new plays on the other. Atsumu was distracted, the rest of the team could sense it. 

He wasn’t missing his sets or anything but he was quiet. Atsumu was a really loud person, his teammates were used to his antics and his teasing and yelling every day at practice.

But today he was quiet.

Suddenly Atsumu got called by their coach. He wanted him to set for the potential future MSBY spikers. His luck couldn’t be worse.

“As you all know, this is our star setter, Miya Atsumu, he’ll be setting for you and don’t be afraid of running freely, he can get use to any type of spikers…” coach Foster was introducing him, but he was just lost in his thoughts spiraling.

On the outside, everyone could see Atsumu smiling, on the inside, Atsumu wanted to go home.

After the introductions were over, Atsumu took his place and started setting for every spiker, he didn’t like most of them, everyone had their flaws, Atsumu didn’t want to work with someone that didn’t trust his tosses.

And then it was Kiyoomi’s turn and Atsumu chuckled with a knowing look, because before he threw the ball, Kiyoomi was already jumping on the other side of the net, without taking a look at the setter, he just jumped.

The rest of the applicants were shocked about the speed and efficiency of that spike. 

“Damn” coach Foster mumbled under his breath.

He blew the whistle and Atsumu went back to his team.

“Guess we have a winner” Inunaki laughed and everyone agreed.

“No wonder, Sakusa-kun is part of what we were called, the monster generation” Bokuto exclaimed “We’ll be unstoppable this season”.

Atsumu agreed with Bokuto with a nod. On the field, he knew that having Sakusa as a teammate was a golden opportunity, but on every other aspect, he was uncomfortable of having to coexist under the same roof as his ex that broke his heart.

“Did you know Sakusa Kiyoomi before?” Meian asked him but Atsumu didn’t answer, he walked away with a ball in hand to practice his serves.

“He knows him alright!” Bokuto answered for him. Atsumu hissed where he was standing, he knew Bokuto was going to say something out of hand but he preferred to let him talk than to shut him up and have the attention of the rest of the team.

If Bokuto wanted to talk, then he’ll just pretend he didn’t care one bit.

“What do you mean Bo-kun?” Inunaki asked.

“I don’t have all the information, but every time we played at the interhigh, Tsumu and Sakusa-kun looked to be very good friends, they would be always laughing together between games and sitting at the bleachers watching and criticizing other teams. They were really buddy buddy”.

“Great! One more reason to have Sakusa- san on the team”

Meian, who was listening to the whole conversation turned to see Atsumu, who was in a foul mood, and realized that something wasn’t matching up.

He would ask him later.

After practice, Atsumu took the longest at the showers, and when asked if he was ready to go, he just said that he was going to Osamu’s restaurant for today, so the rest of the team walked without him to their dorms.

After making sure he was by himself, he sighed and took his phone out to call his brother.

“Hey-o is this Christmas or why are ye blessin’ me with yer ugly voice this early afternoon?” Osamu answered and Atsumu could hear that he was multitasking, he knew his brother was busy at the restaurant, and felt a little bit guilty for bothering his twin.

But he didn’t want to be alone today.

“Hey Tsumu, did yer brain finally shut down?”

“Sorry, I’m having kind of a bad day today, and was wonderin’ if I could go and hang out for a bit”

Atsumu heard how his brother left what he was doing and heard a door opening and closing. Atsumu flinched when he realized that his twin was walking away from his cooking to talk to him. This shouldn’t be a big issue.

“Sure thing, but since when do ya ask to come? Is everything alright?” Osamu asked concerned.

Atsumu took a little bit of air so his voice wouldn’t sound shaky.

“No” 

“Gonna leave the back door open, so just come directly to ma office alright?”

Atsumu nodded but then said a little ‘yeah’ when he realized that his brother couldn’t see him.

“Ima hang up now Tsumu, see ya in a bit”.

Atsumu took his things and walked out of the locker room, but he should’ve known his life wanted to mess him up as he saw Sakusa walking directly to him, face mask down and a fond smile on his face.

Fuck.

“Fancy seein ya ‘here Sakusa” Atsumu said with the fakest smile he was able to pull.

Sakusa flinched but his smile didn’t move.

“Coach Foster just told me starting next week I’ll be officially a jackal” Sakusa said and he sounded excited.

Atsumu couldn’t share his excitement.

“Cool, guess I’ll see ya ‘round” Atsumu started to walk away but he felt a hand grabbing his arm.

How dare he…

How ironic life is. Kiyoomi was the one beware of his personal space, the one who didn’t like people touching him, the one who would put antibacterial gel after shaking someone’s hand, the one who would scratch his skin if he didn’t feel clean enough… and now, he was grabbing Atsumu as if it’s the most normal thing to do.

“What?” Atsumu turned and he didn’t have his smile on his face anymore, his formal greeting was over. No matter how many times he imagined having a polite conversation with Kiyoomi, he was an emotional person, and as the emotional person he was, he’ll sooner or later show his true emotions.

And right now, he was feeling angry, confused, sad, resentful, and many other emotions he couldn’t list at the moment.

Kiyoomi released Atsumu’s arm realizing that maybe that wasn’t a good a idea.

“I- I just wanted to talk to you and maybe apologize…?” Kiyoomi said unsure.

Atsumu has never heard Kiyoomi talking with such a little voice. Kiyoomi was a proud and blunt person, he didn’t care how others would react after speaking his truth.

But the Kiyoomi in front of Atsumu was someone he hadn’t seen before. 

Still Atsumu laughed sarcastically.

“Sure, better be on good terms if we’re gonna be on da same team, I forgive ya Sakusa, there ya have it, now leave me alone”.

Atsumu walked away without looking back, he didn’t dare to face Kiyoomi,  he needed to sort his feelings first before saying something he might regret.

Guess he didn’t have it in him to talk like a normal mature adult to Kiyoomi. Guess life isn’t like his dreams. 

Maybe it’s just Kiyoomi that always brings out the worst of him.

The walk from the Gym to his brother’s restaurant is usually 15 minutes long, but today it felt like it took him hours to get there.

He went to the backdoor and passed through the kitchen, nodding to some of Osamu’s staff members and went straight to the office were he saw his brother in law sitting behind the desk with his feet up playing in his Nintendo Switch.

“Though ye were arriving tomorrow” Atsumu said throwing his gym bag on the floor.

Rin acknowledged his presence but didn’t stop playing.

“Yeah, I came earlier as a surprise, didn’t think it through tho because your brother is still working”

“And why aren’t ya at yer home?” Atsumu said sitting on the coach and grabbing a bottle of water from the mini fridge.

“Well, I didn’t want to be by myself” Rin said and put his Nintendo Switch down. “It’s better to have Samu coming once in a while to hang out here than waiting for him to come home”.

“Guess ye ’re right”

“So…” Rin started and Atsumu sighed, if he was here the whole time, he probably heard part of the phone call. “Wanna share your affliction and take a good old advice from your nice and wise brother in law?”

“I…” Atsumu started but he didn’t know what to say exactly.

He knew he could trust Suna (well he wasn’t Suna anymore since he took their last name) he was family after all, but because of this, he knew that if he just tell him that Kiyoomi is back in his life, he’ll get mad. 

Osamu would also get mad, but Atsumu wasn’t scared of having his twin brother thrown in jail for a violent crime against Sakusa Kiyoomi, Samu wasn’t a violent person. 

Rin, however…

“I’m just having a bad day” he said after a moment of silence. Rin knew both twins. He knew what they’ve gone through and all their perks. While Osamu was more emotionally stable, Atsumu had an explosive personality with a lot of highs and lows.

“Just pull out the bed and take a little nap” Rin said and Atsumu nodded. The couch Osamu had in his office could transform into a bed. It was one of the most practical things his brother have bought for his office.

And that’s how in less than 5 minutes after pulling out the bed, Atsumu fell soundly asleep.

Rin took this as his cue to leave the office. He didn’t want to make any sound that could disturb Atsumu, so he went and sat on the barstools from the restaurant.

Osamu approached him when he noticed his presence and gave him a questioning look.

Rin just mouthed the word ‘Sleeping’ and Osamu understood.

He grabbed a glass to fill it with wine and gave it to Rin, who just smiled lovingly at his husband.

They were going to have a big conversation later.

They were going to help Atsumu with whatever he’s dealing right now.

Or not…

The bell from the front door rang and Atsumu’s teammates sat besides Rin on the barstools. They were talking happily among them and even though Osamu always made a special treatment for them, today he just wanted his shift to end so he could figure out what was wrong with his twin.

“Hey o Miya-Sam!” Bokuto said with a really loud voice.

“Damn don’t you know how to tone it down a little?” Rin asked jokingly taking a sip from his wine.

“Believe me when I said we all wish he knew how” Meian joked taking out his credit card and nodding to Osamu who understood that finally the MSBY were going to pay their pending bills.

They owed him a lot.

But he couldn’t complain when they are the ones that take care of Atsumu when he isn’t with him.

“Hey Miya-Rin did your team also had tryouts this week?” Bokuto asked excitedly starting conversation.

“Oh yeah, your team’s tryouts were today” Osamu said thoughtful remembering a conversation he had with Atsumu early this week. “Any interesting rookie?”

“There were a few but coach would only pick one of them, what was his name again?” Thomas said trying to remember but he wasn’t that good with Japanese names yet, he barely knew his teammates’.

“Oh yeah, Bokuto said everyone who played volleyball the same year as you guys knows him”  Inunaki said but was interrupted by Bokuto.

“I just said that he was one of the monster generation” he laughed.

Osamu started to think about which player could’ve possibly be. Everyone from the monster generation was either doing something else (like himself) or playing already for a team (like Rin)… well everyone except…

Osamu stopped what he was doing. He looked up expecting to hear anything but the name he feared the most.

It would make sense, the guy went to college, played college volleyball and was named mvp, he should’ve graduate last month and is probably the only active player from the so called ‘monster generation’ that doesn’t have a team yet.

Wait. It could also be Hinata Shoyo from Karasuno.

Was Hinata back from Brazil?

He knew deep down that that wasn’t the case.

He sighed.

That could explain Atsumu’s mood.

“… so yeah, apparently we’re going to have Sakusa-kun in the team starting next week” Bokuto finished and before someone else could say anything, everyone heard how a glass was broken suddenly and all eyes turned to see Rin who had just grabbed his glass of wine so tight it broke in his hand.

“Jesus” Osamu mumbled taking out a rag to clean.

“What?” Rin asked angrily as if daring anyone to keep talking.

Osamu didn’t want to make a scene, he was as angry as Rin but Atsumu’s teammates weren’t at fault for this one. It wasn’t fair that they were at the other end of Rin’s angry stares.

They were quite scary.

Osamu gave Meian back his credit card and walked out of the staff’s area to go and clean his husband’s mess in complete silence.

No one dared to say anything, Osamu gave Rin a look as if saying ‘don’t make a scene’ and he just sighed walking away to get a mop to clean the floor.

“Sorry about that” Osamu said suddenly with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes “Rin is just not really fond of Om.., I mean Sakusa-san”

“Oh don’t worry” Bokuto was the one to speak.

Again the team’s captain noticed something off but the only clue that he had was that it had something to do with Sakusa Kiyoomi… was he that problematic? Should he talk to the coach about it?

But how would talk to the coach if he didn’t even know what was going on?

After the couple finished cleaning the mess, the conversation went back to normal. No one dared to bring the elephant of the room and after an hour the volleyball players went back to their share house.

Osamu still had some hours left until closing time, but he couldn’t concentrate in his work, so he sat on a barstool next to Rin, leaving one of his staff members in charge of the kitchen. He poured both of them a glass of wine and as they sat in silence, they were thinking deeply on what to do about the current situation.

“I mean is not as if he has signed the contract yet, right?” Rin asked suddenly. “They could still hire another outside hitter; it doesn’t have to be him…”

“Do you think a coach would waste that opportunity? As much as you hate him, he is a really good spiker” Osamu reasoned.

“It sounds as if I’m the only one who hates him” Rin accused.

“I don’t like the guy” Osamu clarified “he made Tsumu miserable but we don’t know the full story”

Rin scoffed.

“We don’t need the full story, but family should stand for each other”

Osamu always loved how his husband, ever since they were in middles school, consider the Miya’s his own family. Rin has always been there for Osamu, he has been his support ever since his dad took all their money leaving Ma and the twins fending for themselves.

He had been there to help the Miyas move to a more economic house. He had hold his hand when he was scared that they were going to be separated in high school because his Ma couldn’t afford to pay for Inarizaki.

He was the first to hear about the twin’s volleyball scholarship. He had been there for him when later on, he confessed that he didn’t want to keep playing volleyball and for the twin’s fight that lasted a month.

He had been there for him every time he was worried that his brother wouldn’t have any friends, he was the first friend Atsumu had that really cared for him making Osamu cry a little when his twin declared that Suna (later Miya) was his best friend.

He has adapted to his new lifestyle. They lived in different cities but their relationship grew stronger and they saw each other every weekend and during off season. He married him, knowing full well that there wasn’t going to be anyone for him but Osamu.

Miya Rintaro was everything he had ever dreamed.

But he also had his flaws.

And one of them was that if someone messed with his family, he would forever hold his grudge.

So imagine two years ago, when Atsumu knocked on their door in the middle of the night, tears in his eyes, a backpack on his arm and hugging Osamu like his life depending on it while asking why was he so unlovable and only figuring out later on that Sakusa fucking Kiyoomi (as Rin likes to call him) broke up with him while Atsumu was supposed to stay the night at his dorm at his university.

When they asked what happened, Atsumu just shrugged his shoulders saying that he wasn’t worth it, that no one would dare to date someone like him and that Sakusa just took two years to notice. Yeah, that’s right, they were already dating for two years, plus the years they were going on and off in high school without making it official.

Clear to say.

Sakusa broke Atsumu’s heart in every possible way.

So yeah, Osamu had his reservations regarding Sakusa, he didn’t like the guy, he wouldn’t go as far as to hate him because that would only show that he still thinks about him in some way, but Rin took it personally.

For Rin, Sakusa just didn’t broke up with his brother in law (not officially at that time), he broke his best friend’s heart and that was unforgivable.

“So what do we do now?” Osamu asked Rin.

“I need to make a phone call” Rin said standing up, kissing Osamu on his forehead and walking out of the restaurant.

The people at the restaurant didn’t say anything, the regulars knew his relationship with Rin, but that still didn’t make him used to this sort of this public acts of affection, so he felt how his face slowly turned red.

He didn’t know who Rin was talking to, but he figured he was going to take a while.

He walked to his office and saw that Atsumu laying down and scrolling through his phone, awake.

“Hey” Osamu said fondly.

“Hey” Atsumu said lifting his sight.

“Wanna talk ‘bout it?”

“I don’t know” he said honestly “I feel weird”

“Better talk ta me ‘fore Rin comes” Osamu smiled “he’s already pissed”

“How…” Atsumu didn’t finish his sentence.

“Yer team just left” Osamu said “they talked a bit ‘bout the tryouts”

“Oh”

“Wanna share yer thoughts?” Osamu asked patiently.

“I just don’t know how to face him, I know it happened two years ago, but he really hurt me and now he walked back into my life as if nothing happened, he tried to talk to me…”

“And obviously ye gave ‘im the cold shoulder ‘cause yer not gonna crawl back ta ‘im right?”

“Yea, I was kinda rude to him” Atsumu agreed “Maybe he wanted to talk things through”

Osamu made a guttural noise that could only mean that he was holding back from hitting his brother at the back of his head.

He was trying to be nice.

“No” Osamu finally said “What he did wasn’t something that you can just talk it through”

“Did I tell ya the full story?”

“Not really”

Atsumu nodded and didn’t think twice about finally sharing the full story with Osamu.

(Flashback)

When Atsumu first got signed up by MSBY, he wasn’t a starting player, he was merely a bench warmer, but he didn’t give up, he wanted to make his presence know, he wanted to show everyone that he was made to be the best setter Japan has ever seen.

Like the rest of the team, his diet and his living accommodations were handled by the team, so the little salary that he got as a bench warmer was sent directly to his Ma, his brother’s college bills and for his transportation to go and see his Omi every weekend.

His life was set. He had everything he had ever wished for.

Of course he preferred to have his brother close to him and his boyfriend even closer but that could wait, they were making their lives as he was doing his.

He would text Kiyoomi every hour, even though he knew that his boyfriend answered every once in a while, everything was alright because they would facetime during the night.

The moment he met Sakusa Kiyoomi, he knew he was the most beautiful human being to ever lived on this Earth. He could be exaggerating but he didn’t care. 15-year-old Atsumu had his suspicions that maybe he was gay, but after meeting Sakusa, he knew that, for the very least, he was gay for the curly haired boy.

They would only see each other at tournaments or at the All Japan Youth Training Camp, were they both got called for two consecutive years.

Sakusa wasn’t one to talk much, he didn’t mind Atsumu’s presence, and well, during the night of their second year, Youth training camp, the blonde sneak out of his room and went to see Kiyoomi, only for them to confess to each other.

That night, Kiyoomi stole Atsumu’s first kiss, and after that one thing led to another and well, they both woke up with Kiyoomi’s alarm, an arm holding Atsumu’s waist, they were both very naked and they didn’t care one bit.

So, before saying their goodbyes and parting ways back to their hometowns, Kiyoomi told Atsumu that he honestly didn’t know what to do because it was really hard to hang out frequently but at the same time, he didn’t want this to be a one in a lifetime kind of thing, and Atsumu laughed fondly saying that they will somehow find a way and that maybe in the future, they could figure out.

That’s how, every tournament, and every time they were under the same roof, they would sneak out to see each other, or sit on the bleachers, just hanging out. That’s how everyone remembers them.

They started officially dating after they graduated high school. It hurt Atsumu a little bit to see his boyfriend going away to college instead of going pro right away, but he understood that he needed to please his parents’ wishes and study a formal career.

Everything was alright for the first two years, as mentioned before, they had a system and everything worked alright.

Until it didn’t.

Atsumu didn’t even realize that there was something wrong. Kiyoomi always pretended to be fine, and because they were kilometers away from each other, Atsumu didn’t see the signs.

So, during a Friday night that Atsumu travelled all the way to Tokyo, he walked through campus as he always did, he had his backpack with his laptop to have a movie night, his change of clothes, and well, everything else was already over Kiyoomi’s dorm.

His phone died but the last message his boyfriend sent was something like ‘can’t wait to see you, I miss you’. So everything should be alright, like usual.

Until it wasn’t.

As he was approaching Kiyoomi’s room he noticed that his door was open, which was odd because his boyfriend was a really private person.

He heard some yelling from the inside, which was also odd because he could hear a woman’s voice and as he took a quick peek through Kiyoomi’s door he saw a scene he’ll never forget. He walked back before letting his presence known leaning on the hallway’s wall besides his boyfriend’s door.

Two women were in his boyfriend room, but there was no mistake of who they were as they looked a lot like Kiyoomi, one of them was yelling while the other was crying standing behind their mother.

“I need an explanation Kiyoomi!” Atsumu heard. “I’m not going to have your father’s name be tarnished by some sick and disgusting act of defiance”

“I said, I’m not doing anything to dishonor our oh so great lastname” Kiyoomi said with a calm voice.

“Your sister said that you had a boyfriend, is that a lie?”

Kiyoomi turned to see his sister and she showed fear in her eyes. He could just lie to her mother and said that it was all a lie, that he didn’t have a boyfriend that he wasn’t gay, that what his sister said out loud without realizing that their mother was in a hearing range was all a lie.

But that just meant that his sister was going to get beaten by their mother.

“She’s not lying” Kiyoomi said “But I’m not tarnishing my father’s name, I’m studying economics as he instructed, I’m top of my class, my grades are…”

A slap was heard all the way from where Atsumu was standing, hiding his presence and he placed a hand to cover his mouth afraid to make any type of sound that would make his presence known.

He wanted to confront this woman, but as impulsive as he was, he knew he was just going to make things worse.

“We’re not talking about your obligations at school, getting good grades is your responsibility, it’s not something you should show off, the thing that’s going to have a great repercussion in your father’s reputation and name, is your disgusting way of living, we should do something about that”

“You can’t just take the gay out of a person” Kiyoomi inappropriately joked gaining himself another slap across the face.

“We’ll see about that” His mother said through greeted teeth “Now, you will make your appearance at your father’s fundraiser gala, you will look presentable as you are in age to find a nice young lady to continue your father’s legacy”.

Kiyoomi didn’t answer. Atsumu couldn’t see what was going on inside that room but he could only guess.

“We will pretend that nothing of this happened and once you graduate you will be in an adequate age to marry so it’s better to get to know your future fiancé”.

Kiyoomi didn’t answer.

“Did I make myself clear?”

Silence.

Another slap was heard and that made Atsumu clench his fists.

“I said, did I make myself clear?”

“Yes”

The lady sighed.

“You know I only do this because I care about your future right?” she said softening her voice “This wouldn’t have happened if you had just acted as you should”

“Yes”

“You know what you have to do Kiyoomi, I don’t want to hear anything else about this”

Atsumu heard footsteps approaching the door and he slowly walked away, pretending that he just arrived at the dorms. He saw the woman walking with her head high, then followed by a young girl who as soon as she matched Atsumu’s glance, she opened her eyes in surprise.

Guess she knew who he was.

She tried to say something but as soon as she turned to see her mother, she shut her mouth and walked away.

As soon as Atsumu entered Kiyoomi’s room, he found his boyfriend frenetically scratching his cheek, there were tears about to fall and he was sitting on the floor, something that Atsumu wasn’t used to see. His boyfriend hated sitting on the floor.

He closed the door behind him making his presence known gaining Kiyoomi’s attention.

“Babe…” Atsumu was about to say something but Kiyoomi interrupted him.

“Get out.” Kiyoomi snapped.

“What?”

“GET OUT!” He yelled “I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE”

“Omi, babe talk to me, I can help ya…”

“No you can’t! you ruined my life, I was meant to be normal, I shouldn’t be dealing with this shit! Are you happy? You made a fool out of a Sakusa…”

“Omi, you don’t mean that!” Atsumu tried to reasoned.

“But I do! If I hadn’t met you I’ll be normal, I’ll be complying my parent’s wishes, the heir of the Sakusa, being fucking gay, what a joke! Do you realize how much I could lose just for being like this?”

Atsumu didn’t answer. It was true that he didn’t understand anything about rich families, famous last names and being one of the most important families from the country.

His family could barely manage between his salary and his Ma’s tips from the restaurant she worked, he was used on not having nice things and using secondhand clothes from their cousins. Not that he ever said anything about it.

He was happy like this.

He didn’t understand why Kiyoomi didn’t leave everything behind. He could get a volleyball scholarship that would take care of his college bills. Atsumu could think about a couple of ways to help his boyfriend with his salary, he would be reducing some other expenses and maybe wouldn’t be able to see him as frequently but they could make it work.

He only needed Omi to say yes.

“Omi I…”

“Sakusa” Kiyoomi snapped again.

“What?”

“It’s Sakusa, that’s my name, now get out of my sight, this is over, I don’t want to see you anymore…”

“But we could work this through…”

“We are not going to work anything through, we are done, there is not a WE anymore…”

That made Atsumu snap.

“So ye’re just gonna throw everythin’ away?” Atsumu asked angrily “Everythin’ we worked for? The hours we wasted together? Was I a joke to ye?”

Atsumu’s accent was starting to appear. He always made an effort to talk normally when he went to see his boyfriend, scared of rich ass people making fun of him, but he didn’t care anymore.

“Theres no future for us” Kiyoomi said “Did you expect me to keep playing these depraved games with you for the rest of our lives? I have a duty to fulfill”

“Duty this, duty that” Atsumu started “What do ye want, not Sakusa, but Kiyoomi, what does Kiyoomi want to do?, do ye want to leave me and pretend that this never ‘appened?”

“Yes”

“YE’RE FULL OF BULLCRAP” Atsumu raised his voice “SO I DON’T MATTER ANYMORE, YE USE ME, YE HAD YER FUN AND NOW YE FUCKING DISCHARGE ME AS IF I’M GARBAGE?!”

“Miya, not everything is about yourself!”

“Take yer own fucking advice! There’s two in this relationship and ye don’t even care what I think!”

“What you think doesn’t matter, this is over, we’re done, you cannot give me what my family wants, you will only get me cut out off my inheritance and fend to live without money or name or anything that really matters”

“So that’s what ya care about, money and your rich ass life style” Atsumu felt his tears but he didn’t care “Guess I’m too poor and too depraved for ye, I didn’t know ye thought that a lowlife like me could never meet yer fucking standards, and well, after ye used me all these years, guess it is time to throw yer garbage. Fine by me!”

And so they stared at each other in silence. Both with tears in their eyes.

After Kiyoomi calmed down a little, he realized everything that he said in the heat of the moment but it was too late, Atsumu was already going through his things, collecting everything that belonged to him.

“Atsumu…”

“Don’t Atsumu me, ye fucking liar! Can’t believe I even thought about helpin’ ya if ye ever decided to cut your family off, guess my little salary isn’t up to your standards, fine by me, one thing less to worry about, I wouldn’t have thought that having no money was such a bad thing for you seeing that ya dated me for two fucking years”

“Atsumu”

“Oh so you yell at me, ye tell me to screw myself and now ye want to sound like the victim? Ye want to tell me that my feelings don’t matter and I should just forgive you so you can just yell at me later on, nah, go on and marry a rich fucking woman and I hope ye drown in yer own misery after ye realize that ye can’t date women because ye are gay as fuck, ye are as disgusting as me and no women will fill that void because that’s not who you are”.

Kiyoomi sobbed and for some wicked reason, Atsumu enjoyed it. He wanted to destroy Kiyoomi with his words.

“Go on, live in yer lie filled with riches knowing full well that nothing can ever make ye happy because that’s not you and don’t even try to contact me to beg for forgiveness because animals like me don’t know how to forgive”.

“Atsumu please”

“Fuck off” Atsumu finally turned to see Kiyoomi who was still sitting on the floor sobbing while looking up.

Atsumu made eye contact, he approached him and with a cruel voice he said:

“No woman could ever fuck you like I do, keep that in mind, now the moment I walk out of that door, would be the last ye see of me”.

Kiyoomi didn’t say anything else and he watched as Atsumu walked away and slammed the door behind him.

(End of flashback)

Osamu didn’t know what to say about what he just heard. He knew that there had to be two sides of the story but this was really fucked up.

“So, what are ye gonna do when ye see ‘im at practice?”

“Nothing, just act normal, toss the ball to ‘im, win games… nothing changes”

“Yea but he’s gonna live at the shared house isn’t he?”

“Nah, he’s a rich kid, he’ll probably ‘ave his own apartment”.

Osamu agreed, that made sense.

The office door opened and Rin let himself in, glaring at the twins.

“I just had a fucking conversation with Komori” Rin said throwing himself at the mattress where Atsumu was sitting.

Oh right, Kiyoomi’s cousin was Rin’s teammate.

“And what did he say? Did he know Sakusa came to ruin our peaceful life?” Osamu said.

“No, he didn’t, he just said that no one in his family was able to contact Sakusa for a month and that he had no idea he was coming all the way to Osaka”.

“That doesn’t mean anything” Atsumu mumbled unsure.

Rin and Osamu shared a knowing look before Osamu declared that they were all going to make a field trip to visit their Ma this weekend and no one could disagree.

Atsumu laughed at his twin’s antics and walked all the way back to his dorm at the shared house. Everyone was laughing watching a movie and Atsumu just sneakily walked towards his room but before he reached it a voice behind him was heard.

“Are you ok Atsumu?” Meian asked and Atsumu turned with a smile on his face.

“Hey, didn’t see ye there cap, everythin’s fine, I just went to see Samu a little bit, took a nap on his office and everythin’”

Atsumu did sounded better than earlier today, so he just nodded an let him be, not before a warning.

“If you want to share anything, you know you can trust the team” Meian said confidently.

For now. Atsumu added in his mind.

That night Atsumu packed everything he needed to go and visit his mother; everything was going to be alright, nothing like his mother’s cookies to make everything better.

That same night while the other twin was closing his restaurant, laughing at some dumb jokes his husband was saying, he heard footsteps and as they turned around to face the man approaching, both Miyas stopped in their tracks.

It was Sakusa fucking Kiyoomi.

“You have some balls, to show your face here” Rin said.

Osamu didn’t say anything but if glares could kill, Kiyoomi would be dead 10 times over.

“Suna…” Kiyoomi started but that was a wrong thing to say.

“It’s Miya now” Suna showed his ring finger, where a golden band could be seen.

Kiyoomi looked surprised, a thousand thoughts were running through his head, starting with ‘since when was Suna gay?’.

“We don’t ‘ave time for yer bullshit” Osamu said in a low voice “Heard ye made it to the team, congrats, guess we’ll be seein’ each other often”

“Osamu, can I talk to you?” Kiyoomi asked and then added: “In private”

“I may be Tsumu’s brother, but Rin is a Miya now, we stand together in all of this, so if ye have something to say, ye can talk ta us both”

Again, Kiyoomi was taken back by that statement. He started to wonder what would’ve happen if he just walked out of his family sooner, if he stood his ground and stayed with Atsumu, would they also stand together for him?

It was no time to daydream.

“I want to apologize to Atsumu, I tried to talk to him early today but he….”

“I’m gonna stap ye there” Osamu said raising his hand. “Why ya wanna apologize after two years? Ye thought that Tsumu would just crawl back to yer arms? Ye hurt him enough, just do yer part, play like yer supposed, don’t mess up his tosses and everything’ll be fine”

“But…”

“No buts, you heard him, Atsumu is not the naïve guy you left broken, he has a life now, one that doesn’t involve you, now piss off”

“Just hear me out!” Sakusa lost his composure, he combed his curls back to place, took a deep breath and added with a calmer voice “I know I fucked up, we exchange some hurtful things, I didn’t mean anything, I wasn’t at my best, but I left that all behind, I want to start over, I’m not here to go back to how things were, I’m not looking for a relationship with Atsumu, I want to apologize, and tell him that I left all behind to live honest to my beliefs and that I don’t want to hide anymore”.

Rin maintained his glare.

Osamu’s glare softened a little bit, he knew that this apologize will do good to Atsumu’s mental and emotional state, but he didn’t trust Sakusa.

“I’m gonna ask again, why did ye wait two years to come?”

“I was in college…”

“Wrong answer, even during season, Atsumu used to make time to take the train to go and visit ya even if it was for only a night, why didn’t ye come sooner?”

“He told me to not look for him”

Osamu didn’t answer, he just judged him with his glare.

“I didn’t want to face him before setting my life straight, I didn’t want to be a disappointment in his eyes, I was ashamed of myself, I didn’t appreciate everything he did for me and when I did, he was gone” Kiyoomi looked up to prevent tears from falling “I missed him so much that when I saw him today I was the happiest man alive”.

“And you say you’re not looking to have a relationship with Atsumu…” Rin said sarcastically.

“Look, I know it’s not about what I want, it’s about what Atsumu wants, and I can only hope for the best”.

Osamu sighed.

“Tsumu told me the fucked up things ya said” Osamu said suddenly and Kiyoomi flinched. “Ya wouldn’t dare to lose yer money for someone like us, now that he’s famous and can have nice things, ya want ‘im back, how’s that fair?”

“I didn’t mean it”

“But ya said it” Osamu pointed out “I’m not gonna prevent Tsumu from talking to ya or listening to yer stupid apology, but bare this in mind, you mess with ma brother again, if ye so much as think to destroy what he has now, ye better fucking make sure ya know how to hide, because I’m not afraid to mess up that face of yers, I don’t care if ye send yer stupid rich ass lawyers to sue me, it’s better to lose my restaurant than to see Tsumu going to what he went through”.

Kiyoomi nodded and after a couple of seconds in silence he added:

“I’m not rich anymore tho, so there won’t be any suing”

Kiyoomi vowed at the couple and walked away.

Once they made sure he was far enough they left out the breath they were holding for some reason.

“Didn’t realize he was that tall” Osamu said suddenly.

Rin laughed.

“He’s not that tall”.

Osamu nodded unsure.

“So what do we do now?” Osamu asked Rin.

“You pretty much said everything” Rin answered “I would appreciate next time, don’t pinch my butt while fucking Sakusa talks I could get the memo the first time, I wasn’t going to interfere unless necessary”.

“Didn’t seem that way”

The weekend at their Ma was refreshing to say the least, Atsumu could clear his head, he had a heart to heart conversation with his mother and he could hang out with his family, that was all he needed to be able to face everything life throws at his way.

Any day now, Kiyoomi was going to be part of the team.

He remembered the conversation he had with his Ma during the weekend and if he could tattoo those words, he’ll wear it as a reminder.

“Remember ma boy, no matter how badly ye’re hurt, ye should forgive them, don’t wear hate in yer heart because then yer not gonna be able to love properly with all that burden, once ya get rid of yer hate, ye can move on”

“But what if it still hurts?”

“I said forgive not forget, ye silly boy, forgive to be able to love but don’t forget what you’ve gone through, so ye can learn from yer experiences”

So with that in mind, he would treat Kiyoomi like every other team member, just maintaining his personal life away from him, to avoid getting hurt again.

And that’s how on a Wednesday morning, the man he was waiting for, walked beside their coach to introduce himself, Atsumu didn’t show any signs of discomfort, what happened was in the past, he just needed to show indifferent at the situation to be able to go on with his days.

Practice was as uneventful, his tosses were prefect, no one noticed anything off. Everything was going according to plan.

He didn’t talk to Sakusa unless necessary, it was a little bit harder than he thought, considering that he moved to the dorms and that his dorm was in front of his. Meian asked him if he was ok with that, which he answered shrugging his shoulders like he didn’t care.

He did, but he pretended not to.

And so, after a couple of days of following the same routine, he was intercepted during his morning run. He should’ve guessed this was going to happen, his routine wasn’t really a secret and everyone with two pair of eyes, could see that Atsumu always went for a run at the same time everyday.

“Hey” Sakusa said matching his pace.

Atsumu nodded.

“I was hoping we could talk”

“Yer doin’ it right now” Atsumu joked a little which Sakusa took as a good sign.

“I cut ties with my family, they don’t know that I’m here” He started and Atsumu nodded to indicate that he was listening “I’m deeply sorry for what I said that night, it wasn’t fair, I broke your heart and said horrible things”

“Ye did” Atsumu agreed.

“That night I needed to chose between my family and you, it was a really hard decision, my family have been manipulating me since I was a child, they have written every part of my life like they want me to live it and I you made me feel free, like I could do anything, but that nigh my mom remind me that I couldn’t be free”.

Atsumu was listening, he really was, he understood at some level but still…

“Ye still said some pretty fucked up things ‘bout me” Atsumu pointed out “ye insulted me and indirectly ye insulted yerself”

“I know, and ever since that night I wanted to apologize”

“So why didn’t ya?” Atsumu stopped in his tracks, making Kiyoomi follow through facing the blond one in the process.

“I tried, but then I remembered what you said that night, that you didn’t want me to ask for forgiveness so I started to plan my own life and I put it in motion when I graduated, that’s why I’m here, without a cent from my family money, with my dreams of being a professional volleyball player and throwing away, everything that my family have brought me, including my phone, that’s why I’m using this hand down that has a broken screen”.

That surprised Atsumu.

It took him a while, but the person he had in front of him wasn’t Sakusa, it was the Kiyoomi that only he used to know.

“And what do you expect to achieve?” Atsumu asked raising an eyebrow “to get back together and continue as if nothing happened?”

“No” Kiyoomi assured him “I wanted to apologize, and if time and love is in our favor, maybe try in the future”

Atsumu laughed.

“Look, right now I no longer need ya, I’m not suffering, ever since ye broke up with me, nothing hurts me anymore, compared to that, I can face everything by myself”

Kiyoomi gave him weird look.

“I’m not lying”.

“I know” Kiyoomi answered “but as I said, I can wait for you forever”

“And if I don’t want ta be with ye like never?”

“Then I’ll understand and keep my proposal open” he answered.

Atsumu scratched his hair in frustration.

“Ya know I used to lament every day, I used to regret how I talked to ya too, ye were cruel but I also said some fucked up things, so I guess I should apologize too”.

“It’s alright”

Atsumu nodded and started running again.

Kiyoomi followed him and as Atsumu passed an earbud to listen to the same music, Kiyoomi saw that as a signal that things will turn out to be alright.

They didn’t have to jump to be in a relationship right away. Kiyoomi was willing to wait as much time as Atsumu needed.

And that’s how days turned into months and months turned into a whole year. The sun went up, and it went down, Sakusa had the best year of his life. He was already a starting player for MSBY, he had new friends, Atsumu was willingly talking and joking with him.

Osamu didn’t want to kill him anymore.

He wasn’t sure about Rintarou though.

Eventually his family realized that he was part of the MSBY team, seeing that his face was on billboards, buses, and on their cute little poster outside their building.

His life was in Osaka and he didn’t want it any other way.

But he shouldn’t have taken this happy days for granted because one fateful Saturday during dawn the whole team was awaken by the loud knocks on their front door. All of them went out in their Pjs to se what was happening.

Mein walked towards the door and when he opened it, everyone saw Kiyoomi’s mother with a smile that Kiyoomi didn’t like one bit.

He froze in his place and his ears tuned out the noise coming out from that woman’s mouth.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, only to see Atsumu looking at him with a concerned look.

Kiyoomi nodded, he took a deep breath, he had to face her, he wasn’t going to repeat the scene from all those years ago, he wouldn’t let this woman hurt what he had right now.

“… and that’s why I asked politely to let me through” was what Kiyoomi heard after he came back to his senses.

“Ma’am with all due respect, we should be sleeping, we have an important game today”. Meian tried to reason with the woman.

“Look boy, I’m here for only one purpose, my son needs to come with me, we have a flight to catch at 6 am and I’m not going to leave without him so you better move aside, before I call the cops for kidnapping my son for a whole year, what would everyone think about the this team when they get your president arrested for kidnapping?”

“It’s not kidnapping if I’m of legal age mother” Kiyoomi said walking towards the door “We could sue you for trespassing”

“You’re funny darling, now move out, as I said before, we have a flight to catch…”

“I’m not going with you” Kiyoomi said “I live here, I work here and as my captain said, we have an important match today”.

“Listen you ungrateful brat” Kiyoomi’s mother said pointing him with her finger “you’re going to catch that flight, you’re going to move to your father’s New York office and work there, away from all of this madness, your father associate was kind enough to accept you working under his wing, now get a move, don’t worry about packing, all your normal clothes are already waiting for you”.

“I said no”

A slap was heard and Atsumu had memories of when he didn’t do anything to prevent this woman on hitting Kiyoomi, so his body moved on his own, and before the woman hit Kiyoomi a second time, Atsumu cached it with his hand.

Meian came back from his shock and moved Kiyoomi away from the door.

“Look ma’am , I don’t care who you are, Kiyoomi is not going back with you, he is happy here, he doesn’t give a flying fuck about any office work, he doesn’t care about your money either, so you better back off before we call the cops on you”.

No one from the team knew Atsumu could speak like that, not a single sound of his accent was heard.

“Look pretty boy” the woman took back her hand from Atsumu’s grasp “I could buy all of this team, so don’t tempt me, now this is only a hobby Kiyoomi has, he was meant for something better than this, he is in his rebellious faze but he’ll come back, so give me back my son or else I swear you all will regret this”.

“I don’t care about your threats” Atsumu answered “Kiyoomi stays and that’s final”.

“Tsumu” Kiyoomi said worriedly and ignoring Meian’s protests, he walked to the door placing a hand on his shoulder. “It’s not worth it Tsumu”.

“Nah, she has to learn that she should treat ya like that!” Atsumu said without taking his sight from the woman.

“Just leave it please” Kiyoomi said “I don’t want you to get hurt”

And as if something clicked in the woman’s head, she laughed as if they were telling the most hilarious joke ever.

“I see how it is you disgusting child!” she exclaimed and before someone could prevent it, she punched Atsumu right in the face.

By this point, Hinata (who has just joined the team a couple of weeks back) was talking to someone on the phone, Inunaki was calling the cops, Barnes and Thomas went out to fetch Foster,

“Tsumu are you alright? I’m sorry I distracted you” Kiyoomi was apologizing while Atsumu was looking up and blinking to make sure the woman didn’t hit him near his eye, he was worried that he was going to be benched if he could see correctly, but after making sure that he could see alright he turned to Kiyoomi.

And then he turned to see Kiyoomi’s mother, who was being apprehended by Meian, and in record time, the cops showed up.

He saw how Meian talked calmly to the cops while the woman yelled at the top of their lungs.

And that’s when Atsumu started to laugh. The situation wasn’t even funny but all the nervousness that he felt, and his adrenaline of facing that woman was shutting down.

“THEY KIDNAPPED MY BOY!” The woman yelled while a cop tried to reason with her.

“We have footage of the whole incident; we can give you access to the cameras…” Meian was explaining.

“And what about the kidnapping she’s mentioning?”

“She’s referring to her 23-year-old son, that is currently living here, we can send you copy of his contract”:

The cop nodded.

“You will hear from my lawyers” Mrs Sakusa said.

The cops took her away and when Foster arrived, he just saw Kiyoomi’s red cheek, Atsumu’s swollen face, the cops driving away and all of his team awake at 4 in the morning.

“One of you want to explain what the hell happen and why are you awake at this time when we have an important game this afternoon?”

“Well Kiyoomi’s mom just left” Inunaki said “Wanted to take good ol’ Kiyoomi away”

Foster massaged his temples. He knew about Sakusa’s situation, he had received every email and phone call regarding their precious son. Not that he was going to tell them, but he never thought that they were going to make a direct approach.

“Get back to sleep, now!”

All of them nodded and everyone went back to their respective dorms.

Before Kiyoomi went inside his room he called Atsumu.

“Thank you for stepping up for me”

“Ya bet” Atsumu said and he wanted to add ‘that’s what friends are for’ but it sounded so wrong so he just added a “That’s why I’m here for”.

What Atsumu didn’t think through was that the team they were facing today was the EJP Raijins, so that meant Rin was going to see his purple bruise that was forming on his cheek and if his brother was coming to the game, he’ll see it too.

So, it was no surprise that after the game (that they loss because everyone was very tired, except for Bokuto that slept through the whole thing) Rin walked towards him and grabbed him from his chin to check his cheek.

“Explain, now!” He said and Atsumu found Kiyoomi with his eyes pleading for help.

Rin followed his eyes and thought the worse.

“Fucking prick” Rin released Atsumu to walked over Kiyoomi with a menacing glare “I’ll kill you”

“No, no wait” Atsumu said placing his body in between “It’s a long story”

“Make it short” Rin demanded as Osamu arrived running all the way from the bleachers, the moment the game was over. He also saw the bruise.

“It was my fault…” Kiyoomi started but was interrupted by Atsumu when he saw red in his brother’s eyes too.

“He doesn’t mean it like that” Atsumu started to explain.

“Now ye’re defending him?” Osamu asked with a demanding voice.

“His mom went ta visit the shared house and took ‘er anger on both of us” Atsumu explained as fast as he could.

“So ye really were defending ‘im?” Osamu asked again.

“Yea, but everythin is alright now” He tried to smile.

Osamu and Rin didn’t look convinced but didn’t press on the matter, then they heard Motoya approaching their group.

“Hey Kiyo what’s that I heard that your mother was in prison this morning?” he asked.

This last year, the only family member that Kiyoomi talked to was his cousin Motoya. He also tried to contact his sister but she doesn’t want to talk to him anymore and Kiyoomi agreed to give her time to reach him back.

It’s been a year though.

“She’s already out?” Atsumu asked surprised.

“Of course” Kiyoomi answered “They didn’t hesitate to bail her out, having a Sakusa in prison tarnishes the last name that the family was worked so hard to keep clean”.

Motoya laughed.

After that incident, there wasn’t any other one, the friendship that Atsumu and Kiyoomi were building up, was as strong as ever and after six more months of going in circles, Atsumu asked a question Kiyoomi never thought he was going to hear.

They were sitting at the table of their shared house, it was a Friday night, everyone went out to celebrate a crushing victory, but Atsumu felt too tired to go out and party and Kiyoomi never went to those things.

So, they ordered some take out and as they were eating their dinner peacefully, Atsumu asked something that made Kiyoomi choke on his food.

“If we started dating how long do ya think it’ll take the rest of the team to figure it out?”

“I’m sorry what?” Kiyoomi asked after taking a sip from his glass of water.

Atsumu knew full well Kiyoomi heard him just fine, so he didn’t repeat himself.

“Think ‘bout it, who do ya think would figure out first?”

“I would say Hinata, he’s quite observant” Kiyoomi said thoughtful, following Atsumu’s game.

“Mmm, wanna bet?” Atsumu said raising an eyebrow.

Kiyoomi thought that Atsumu looked really hot making that face.

Kiyoomi always thought that Atsumu looked hot really.

“Of course” Kiyoomi said.

“Then starting today we’re dating” Atsumu said.

“Oh yeah?” Kiyoomi smiled “If we’re start dating, I’m not letting you go even if the bet is over”

Atsumu laughed.

“Oh I know” Atsumu smiled “The next bet would be, who is going to like ye first, my brother or Rin”

Oh, that was something Kiyoomi didn’t place in his equation.

He knew that Osamu and Rin were wary of his friendship with Atsumu but it’s been a while since they show any type of disapproval towards him.

But dating Atsumu was a different thing.

Well there’s only one way to find out.

And if after Sakusa appeared on Osamu’s doorstep unannounced with a box of cupcakes as a peace offering for him and for Rin, the couple would never say.

And if after five years of dating, Kiyoomi’s jersey changed from Sakusa to Miya, Atsumu will just say that it just happened.

And if it took two more yeard for Rin and Osamu to fully accept Kiyoomi as one of their own. Osamu would just say, ‘he deserves to be a Miya now’.

But Rin would always say that in their Ma’s eyes, he is the better son in law, and no one was going to take his title away.