Chapter Text
Kei stretched far and wide and groaned. The chilly February air creeped through the open window, and he pulled the blanket over his head. It was way to early to get up. Someday, morning practise would be the death of him. He really had thought that after high school was over, he wouldn’t have to deal with that shit anymore. But here he was, reading through any new messages on his phone, scrolling through his social media, anything to avoid having to get up and moving.
A notification popped up. A text from one of his teammates. He slid it away with his thumb. He knew he couldn’t be late again. They were already annoyed with him for showing up so little. Why had he chosen this anyway? His life was way too stressful, way too filled with people he would have rather forgotten. But no, someday some of the annoying folk had stuck with him. Another text appeared, angrier this time. Written in all caps with too many exclamation marks. The name was saved as a simple ‘Kyoutani’. Of course he would text him after he didn’t reply to Koganegawa within two goddamn seconds. Those two were probably at the gym already, working their asses off. He sighed and pushed the cover off.
Cold air hit him, and he shivered. Quickly changing into sweatpants and a hoodie, brushing his teeth, grabbing his gym bag and fetching a bread roll from the kitchen took him no more than ten minutes, but by the time he was grabbing his keys and left, his phone was actually blowing up. Both of his teammates were spamming him with angry emojis and calls. Half way to his car he snapped and picked one up.
“What?”, he grunted into the speaker as he fished for his keys in his pocket. They had just been there, where were they now?
“Ahh, look who finally answered!”, Koganegawa’s dumb voice was way too loud in his ear. Like a tinnitus.
“I’m already on my way, what do you want?”
“Well, hurry up! Coach is getting mad, and we have a lot of practising to do till our game next month. They organised a practise match for us today and showing up late will give us a bad image.” Kei rolled his eyes. He knew all that. If they wouldn’t have a game next month, he would have taken some more time to make himself a proper breakfast. But between practise, interviews and premiers, he hardly had any time for sleep or personal things. How did those energy bombs fit all that into one day? It had already amazed him back then, with people like Hinata and Kageyama. On the other hand, those idiots only thought from twelve to noon, and their grades had shown it.
Still talking to Koganegawa on the phone, trying his very best to stay calm, he pulled out of his driveway and onto the road. That was one of the few positive sides of having gone pro—his team was successful, and so he never had to worry about money or anything. When he had made the decision, some two am ‘fuck it’ moment, he had already regretted it the morning after. What if he didn’t make enough money, what if he lost interest after a while? After a while though, he had realised that he didn’t have to have fun while doing it. Sure, he enjoyed volleyball still, but he didn’t like it any more than how anyone else would like their job. It was tolerable, and it brought good money.
When he arrived at the gym, his stomach was rumbling. That one bread roll hadn’t filled him up and the thought of a nice breakfast was crossing his mind. No, no time for that. Instead, he carried himself inside, already awaited by his manager, who started talking the second Kei walked in. He was informing him about his schedule, dropped subtle hints that Kei should really check his phone more often and stop ignoring his messages, but he didn’t really listen.
His schedule was pretty easy for the day. He would have practise until eleven, some free time until one, then a second practise and the practise match that Koganegawa had talked about. Once again, the guy had exaggerated massively. And then, in the evening a dinner with some people who wanted to sponsor him. At about ten in the evening, he would be through for the day. Great.
He exchanged another few words with his manager, then disappeared into the changing room. His phone was still blowing up, but he ignored it this time. He really needed a break, for god’s sake.
The day passed slowly. Practise was as draining as it always was, and the practise game was boring. It was clear their opponents were not nearly on their level. They were way too nervous, made way too many mistakes. In the end, the Sendai Frogs won two to zero, and the full playtime was hardly more than half an hour. While their coach clearly looked disappointed, he still thanked the whole team profusely for the opportunity.
Afterwards, they went to the showers, all still chatting about the won game. Koganegawa suggested giving a high school the opportunity to play against them, but the idea was quickly shut down from all sides, especially from Kei. He had better things to do than to school high schoolers who, worst-case scenario, were just like the weirdos he had encountered during his time there. Freakishly good players, geniuses and just borderline obsessed people who couldn’t sit still for more than five goddamn minutes. Kei did not like to look back at his high school time.
“Where even is this dinner?”, Koganegawa asked as he scrubbed his face. Kei shrugged. “I don’t know, haven’t been told yet. Somewhere in the city, I assume.”
Kyoutani nodded. “It’s called Ichimuan. Something fancy, looked it up last night.”
Tsukishima groaned. “Great, couldn’t I have been told a little sooner? I came here in sweatpants and a hoodie, I can’t go into a restaurant like that.”
“You can try to hurry home and change?”, Koganegawa suggested with a grin. He was done with showering and reached for a towel. “You still have some time, after all. They planned a lot more time in for the practise game. Dinner doesn’t start until nine.”
Koganegawa was right. Kei grabbed his towel as well, rubbed his hair dry and quickly threw his clothes on. “Tell the coach that I will drive there on my own, no need to wait for me anywhere.”
Kyoutani yelled something after him, but he was already hurrying out of the changing room and couldn’t hear him over the loudness of the running water.
Five minutes later he sat in his car and was about to pull out of the parking lot, when his manager suddenly appeared in front of him. With a loud sigh, he rolled his window down. “What do you want, Suzuki?”
“Can you take me with you, Tsukki?”, he asked with a hopeful smile, “My uber just texted me that he has technical difficulties with his car, and I really need to get some groceries on my way home.”
Kei took a second to breathe deep. He really shouldn’t have taken this guy as his manager. He had seemed nice enough at first, but over time he really had started to annoy him. Especially with that stupid nickname he had given him. “I told you not to call me that.”, he grunted but signalled over to the passenger seat. Suzuki’s face lit up and he jumped into the car. “Thank you so much, Tsu—uh, Kei.”
With no other words except for an eyeroll, he started driving. The inside of the car was deafeningly quiet. The only sounds were the quiet, rapid Japanese of the radio speaker, and the humming of the engine. “I can’t drive you to a grocery store directly, though. I have to go home first and get ready for the dinner tonight. Aren’t you coming?”
Suzuki shook his head with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, it’s my wife’s and my anniversary tonight, so I have plans of my own.”
“Alright then”, Kei mumbled and shifted gears. Those goddamn red lights were going to be the death of him.
When they arrived at his house, Kei went straight for the door without paying Suzuki much attention. “You can come in with me or stay in the car, I won’t take long.”
So, while Suzuki waited downstairs in the kitchen, Kei went straight for his closet and picked out a suit. Not that his collection was especially large or fancy, Kei didn’t really care about that anyway, but he still took his time picking out a nice suit and tie, something that complimented his eyes. Tadashi had always said that green made them pop. Kei shook his head. Why in god’s name was he thinking about Tadashi now? He hadn’t thought about that guy in ages, maybe even years. But he had been thinking about high school all day today, so maybe it had only been a matter of time until that guy crossed his mind.
Still, they had both moved on, Tadashi had probably forgotten about Kei entirely. They were at that age now. He probably already had a wife and maybe even kids.
Eventually, he settled on a red tie.
When he got back down, Suzuki was inspecting his furniture. He had to clear his throat three times until he spun around, clearly looking embarrassed. “You uh—your house is really clean.”, he said. Kei raised an eyebrow.
“I mean, it doesn’t look like someone is living here with you.” He sighed and put his shoes back on. “That’s because no one is living here with me. And I use my free-time cleaning. It helps me relax.”
“Really? I somehow always assumed you had a girlfriend.”
Kei scoffed at that, but didn’t say anything else. Suzuki had always been like that—quick to assume things. Honestly, it was a surprise to him that Suzuki had never assumed that Kei was gay because he didn’t have a girlfriend. He would be right for once, though. Maybe that was because he never said anything like that. Or he thought Kei would be mad at him if he assumed anything like it. Which he would be, of course. His dating life shouldn’t matter to his manager.
Back in the car, Kei turned the volume of the radio up this time. He couldn’t take another ride in silence. It was way too awkward. “So, where do you wanna go?”, he asked. Suzuki thought for a moment, then, “There is that one store I always like to go to. It’s uh, it’s pretty small but I know the owner rather well, so I always go there.”
Kei nodded and gave him his phone so he could type in the address. It was a mere five minutes away. Good, he wanted that guy off his back as quickly as possible.
When they got to the shop, Kei turned the car off and leaned back. “You go in, I’ll wait.” Suzuki gave him another one of his nervous smiles. They honestly pissed Kei off.
“If I am being honest, I might need your help carrying a few things… I already texted my wife, she will pick me up when I’m through, but…” Kei was so close to yelling, he honestly had to control himself. He didn’t want to yell at his manager, but he was just such a dumbass, sometimes his old, snappy self still came through.
“I thought you only needed a few things.”
“Yes, but uhm, we might be out of rice, so…” Kei rolled his eyes and got out. For that, Suzuki wouldn’t get the raise he had been thinking about.
They walked into the small grocery store. There wasn’t much going on, just a few people browsing and an elderly woman behind the counter, talking with a young girl with a swollen stomach. She was recommending the young one some special tea that would help her greatly with morning sickness.
Suzuki had already disappeared somewhere between the shelves, picking up random items. Fish sauce, different kind of vegetables, rice paper. Kei was watching, zoned out, until there was a tap on his shoulder. He snapped out, turned around, and dropped the item he had been holding for his manager.
He was there. In front of him. With that awful green hair. With that slightly awkward smile. With those freckles. “Hey, Tsukki, been a while, right?”