Chapter Text
“look, there has to be some kinda mis-”
“there hasn’t. all rooms are full and we cannot switch you out with someone else. work it out, he’s been noted to be of very calm demeanour with excellent grades.”
atsumu wanted to punch the dorm director, preferably in his face so his glasses would break and there would be more than physical pain, but atsumu just got out of his last anger management therapy session so he grumbled a harmless insult under his breath before leaving with his luggage in tow. he did enjoy the scared look the guy gave him after he pushed out a wave of angry alpha pheromones, just because he could. usually betas weren’t that sensitive to pheromones but anger was an emotion strong enough for everyone to pick up on, especially if it was from someone like atsumu, who basically worked on anger and frustration.
the short track back to his assigned dorm was done faster than it was the first time, thanks to his aggressive scent making everyone step back the second he was in sight, but he wasn’t quite thankful for that. he’d rather get into a fight with that spiky haired idiot with the pine pheromones — that guy looked strong and just as angry as atsumu felt, can you blame him — to push back his time of arrival at a place he didn’t even want to be at.
he tried his best gathering all his calm and reeling back his pheromones in front of the door before inserting the single key and pushing it open. the air was cold and smelled faintly of fresh clean laundry, a scent atsumu certainly wasn’t familiar with because he did his laundry once a month (maybe).
“told you so.” atsumu was very close to throwing his gym bag at his new roommate. the guy was putting his clothes into his wardrobe, sorting them by colour apparently, and looking way too calm about this whole situation — at least atsumu thought so but to his roommate’s defence, everyone was calmer than atsumu.
“i literally have a psychiatrist’s note! trust me, it’ll be best for both of us if we weren’t roommates”, he tried to explain, again, while closing the door and letting his suitcase and bag fall onto the ground on his side of the room. atsumu didn’t understand why no one would actually read his very important medical papers, the last time that happened was in middle school and three people ended up with some type of broken bone, a teacher included.
“sucks to be us then”, roommate said bluntly while neatly putting a dress shirt onto one of the hangers. atsumu didn’t even know where he got those hangers from, there were none in his wardrobe.
“well, then let’s just try to not be in the dorm together constantly”, atsumu suggested, “and i’ll buy scented candles or something ‘cuz i’m not wearing scent patches in my own four walls.”
“works for me”, he was now putting his socks into a drawer, still incredibly unbothered by the rising worry inside atsumu. maybe he should just tape his psychiatrist’s note on the dorm door so that everyone leaving would keep atsumu’s temper in mind.
he was admittedly worse in middle and high school but now he was thousands of kilometres apart from the one person who kept him in check. atsumu wasn’t ready to get thrown out of campus just yet because he send someone to the next best hospital, no one would blame him for trying to get out of a dorm room with another alpha that wasn’t his twin brother. alphas were known to be territorial, assertive — especially atsumu — and nothing about this room assignment was smart.
“’m atsumu by the way, miya atsumu”, the introduction was long overdue and he also couldn’t keep calling his roommate “roommate”, it was starting to sound stupid inside his head. he caught the eyes of the other, a colour as dark as black, and his inner alpha instincts immediately started to scream. atsumu didn’t know if it was out of fear and that typically wasn’t a good sign.
“sakusa kiyoomi.”
life sucked and atsumu usually enjoyed a good blow job but this was nothing he’d ever like. he was certain his brother was sending him prayers every night before bed, prayers of misfortune and to evil gods, maybe some curses or yokai, because he left him all alone in hyogo. to atsumu’s defence, his twin was pushing him out of the door and into their parent’s car the day he left.
“can you maybe not leave all your shit on the floor.” what a greeting.
“can ya maybe not complain the second ya come back home”, atsumu responded, not bothering to turn his head away from the papers he was looking at. a wave of freshly washed laundry pushed its way into his nose and he swiftly lit one of the many candles he’d bought since moving in. kiyoomi didn’t say nothing, simply switched his shoes to slippers and disappeared into the restroom — to wash his hands probably.
atsumu hated how familiar he was with kyoomi’s routines already, how a quick look on the clock was enough to know what the ravenette was currently doing, even if they were on opposite ends of the campus. it was barely a month into the first semester, eight practice sessions with the university’s volleyball team and over one hundred sets and spikes with kiyoomi. he’d never had such a perfectly mismatched person in his life.
“are you going to that welcome party tomorrow?”, kiyoomi asked when he stepped out of their bathroom, mask taken off and thrown into the trash can next to his desk. atsumu stretched out his arms over his head, racking his mind for a party: “the one in the big gym? nah, too many people and scents.” the raven gave him an approving nod, not that atsumu needed it, and started to peel off his ‘outside clothes’.
there was a certain set of rules the two had agreed upon in the first two days of living together — which was absolute hell for the both of them — and either of them had yet to break one of those said rules. atsumu was sure kiyoomi was just waiting for him to misstep and atsumu was sure kiyoomi would one day forget to light one of the scented candles when getting out of bed.
in order for no fights to break out, they both needed to be calm at all times; kiyoomi was easy, he just needed a clean environment and his alpha was as happy as it could get, which meant no angry pheromones that could trigger atsumu’s fight or fight instincts. in short, atsumu did almost everything to appease kiyoomi so he could keep his scholarship. ‘almost everything’ included staying on his side of the room, cleaning up after himself as best as he could, wearing slippers after coming back from outside (usually he’d just be barefoot) and washing his hands so much, he’s almost out of hand moisturiser that he bought three weeks ago.
the scent of laundry got stronger and stronger until atsumu finally decided to get up from his chair to gather his clothes off the floor, something he should’ve done earlier, but his newest econ assignment was robbing him of all his patience and attention. he was in desperate need of a break and some distraction before his head would split in two.
“’m going for a run”, he sighed, throwing his things in his laundry basked, “d’ya need anything? i’ll pass by the store after.” atsumu quickly switched into his gym clothes which smelled way too much like kiyoomi while waiting for the other to respond.
“some protein stuff, cereal bars and powder. you’re also almost out of yours, the almond ones”, kiyoomi sat down in his own chair while grabbing atsumu’s papers. the blonde rolled his eyes: “don’t mess up my homework please. and yes, protein bars. the ones with plums, right? i’ll grab some cup noodles too. shoot me a text if there’s anything else.”
“yeah, stay safe.” atsumu hummed before putting in his ear buds and got a glimpse of kiyoomi scribbling down something on his papers before he closed the door.
maybe his psychiatrist was right, maybe he should give them a chance. they’d be scrammed together in this room for at least another three years, it would be a good semi-permanent practice to get his temper more under control now that osamu wasn’t constantly at his side no more. kiyoomi’s routines helped; the open communication helped; the scent of fresh laundry helped him; volleyball helped.
everything atsumu wasn’t, kiyoomi was. he never believed in the “opposites attract each other” saying but now atsumu could make out the shimmers of truth behind those words.
“i don’t think ya two are like oil and water”, the distorted voice of his brother sounded wrong through his phone speaker, sounded wrong without the scents of spices accompanying it.
“but they don’t mix! and ya haven’t even met him, he’s so… calm and quiet. so tidy, neat”, atsumu rolled over on his stomach in fear of his phone falling onto his face, “he reminds me a bit of kita in that way, ya know?” osamu rolled his eyes for the nth time this call and atsumu almost wanted to make a drinking game out of it.
“see it like this: ya two haven’t gotten into a fight yet. if ya two survived the first month, ya survive the next- uh, math-“
“35”
“35 months as well. thanks.”
“this is why i have the scholarship.”
“i need ya to run into oncoming traffic, tsumu.”