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"At this rate we only have enough food to last us for the rest of the day," Ukai mutters mostly to himself, "I mean, shit, I knew these kids could eat, but they can really put it away."
Ukai leans his hip against the balcony railing, arms crossed and hair blowing in the warm, salty breeze. There's an unwelcome feeling in his chest as he looks down at the scene before him.
He promised himself he would keep his emotions in check.
Scattered across the beach, with sun-soaked smiles and booming voices, are all of Ukai's boys from his first year of coaching at Karasuno along with all the boys from Nekoma that same year. They all made the trip out to Okinawa just for this.
This reunion that Ukai has been planning for months. Old man and Nekomata graciously rented out a couple of beach-front villas for the boys, and not so graciously left all of the responsibilities and coordination to Ukai and Naoi.
"And last but not least!" Ukai's eyes flick towards the volleyball net, tracking the familiar voice. His eyes land on an amusing sight: Olympic libero Yaku Morisuke sitting on Haiba Lev's shoulders, his entire chest above the net with his arms raised high in the air in a perfect umbrella block to stop whatever comes his way.
"Standing at a whopping 290 cm tall," Lev continues, shouting as he holds onto Yaku's calves, "Haiba Morisuke!"
"You're not even married yet," Teshiro shouts plainly.
"Ref, do something!" Tanaka pleas dramatically at the same time, hands clasped towards Fukunaga in the referee stand who just shrugs happily.
"Aw, what!" Nishinoya says from the other side of the net, his shirt off with haphazard streaks of sunscreen thrown across his shoulders. "No fair! Someone let me up on their shoulders. TSUKISHIMA!"
"Absolutely not."
Ukai smiles fondly as Nishinoya runs across the sand to tackle Tsukishima in a hug, the blond trying his best to peel him off but smiling nonetheless.
Ukai hears the soft padding of foot steps behind him, and suddenly two hands snake around his middle.
"The Naois are going to the store after dinner," Takeda says, placing his chin on Ukai's shoulder as he gives him a gentle squeeze. "We won't let them starve, don't worry."
Ukai turns to Takeda to take him in. The ocean air does wonderful things to his hair, the tendrils by his ears curling beautifully. Ukai thinks he can already spot a few freckles along the bridge of his nose, and hopes desperately that his boyfriend gets more of them by the end of the trip.
"We planned meticulously," Takeda continues, placing a firm kiss on Ukai's skin, his brown eyes practically shining, "We got this."
Ukai warms and nods once, moving a hand to cup Takeda's face to kiss him deeply on the lips as a silent thank you.
But then.
"Sensei and coach are kissing again!" Sugawara yells out, a chorus of gasps, hoots, and whistles quickly following. They both smile into the kiss, it lasting only a second longer before Takeda breaks off and moves to the balcony railing.
"Dai-kun," Takeda yells out to Daichi below, gesturing towards Sugawara, "how many drinks has he had?"
"Too many," Daichi yells back.
"Sugawara-san, have some water!" Hinata says as he comes bounding in after getting a bottle from the coolers.
"No!" Sugawara screams while running in the opposite direction. However, it doesn't take long for Hinata to chase after him and close the distance, causing more happy squeals.
"Coach Ukai," Yamamoto calls to him, waving a hand, "You need to come down here and play for our team cause I think Kenma is dead."
Ukai scans the beach and sure enough he finds Kenma laying face down on a towel under an umbrella with no signs of getting up any time soon.
"Yeah, okay," Ukai responds, "I'll be down there in a second!"
Ukai and Takeda walk together out of their room and down the three-story villa. Ukai's not quite sure how his old man and Nekomata were able to pool enough money together to afford something like this, but when he tried to question it when they told him about it originally, he was immediately shot down by Nekomata's signature, closed-eyed laugh.
When Ukai contacted each of the boys about the trip, everyone offered to pitch in too, and it took a lot of convincing that they didn't want any of their money. His boys were raised well, that's a fact.
They make it downstairs to the main living area and kitchen to head to the back doors, walking past the indoor patio on the way. Out of the corner of his eye, Ukai sees a bit of movement in the love seat facing out to the beach and stops in his tracks.
"Holy shit," he curses breathlessly.
The strange feeling in his chest is back in full force. It's a mixture of relief, and maybe a bit of regret.
"Wha-" Takeda starts behind him, and is cut off when he too sees what Ukai sees.
There in the love seat is Ukai Sr. with one arm around Nekomata who is tucked under his shoulder. Nekomata holds the hand of the arm around him close to his chest, his head tilted slightly to rest in the crook of Ukai Sr.'s neck. They laugh together as they look out to the beach, probably watching the boys as well. They look comfortable. Casual. Like this is just a regular thing.
Ukai knew. Of course, he knew. He saw it in the way his grandfather's posture would change at the mention of his old rival. Hard edges would become soft, the lines at the edges of his eyes would crinkle, and his voice would deepen, laced with a heavy history that Ukai knew had more depth than his grandfather would let on.
"Keishin," Ukai Sr. calls to him without looking. Fuck, that old man has eyes in the back of his head.
"Yup?" Ukai responds, trying to be as casual as possible and doing terribly. He stands there frozen until his grandfather turns his head to look at him, beckoning him over with a wave of his hand.
"Tell Kageyama to loosen up a bit. He's treating this like a championship game, not a drunken scrimmage."
"And tell Kuroo to convince Nishinoya to come back home and go pro," Nekomata cuts in. "It's ridiculous how talented that boy is after so many years of not playing consistently."
"Sure, I'll-"
"And tell Asahi I want a pair of those shorts he's wearing, they look fancy," Ukai Sr. adds, pairing the word "fancy" with a flutter of his fingers before resting his hand back on Nekomata's chest and kissing his temple.
"I, um, errr," Ukai fumbles, his brain well and truly short-circuiting now.
"We'll let them know!" Takeda says cheerily, grabbing Ukai by the arms and turning him away. "Do you need anything else? A replenish of your drinks maybe?"
"No," Nekomata answers after a hearty chuckle, "we're perfect, thank you."
Once they've made it outside, Takeda safely steering Ukai all the way there, all Ukai can do is laugh.
"You've got to be kidding me," he gasps out, fully keeling over, his whole body shaking. Takeda begins to rub his back in soothing circles, chuckling as well.
"They were so… cozy," Takeda muses.
"Mm-hm."
Ukai takes a moment to collect himself. He thinks back to his first year of coaching, the fated match between Karasuno and Nekoma, how fired up he was fighting on behalf of his grandfather who couldn't be there even though Ukai knew how much he wanted to be. He remembers visiting him in the hospital afterwards, his old man requesting a full debrief of the match even though the nurses told him he watched the entire thing.
He thinks about his boys. His boys who have all grown into fine men, getting to enjoy each other's company again.
He thinks about Takeda. His home.
Maybe it's time to say the quiet part out loud.
"I'm so happy," Ukai confesses, standing up straight again and mushing away stray tears with the back of his hand. Takeda's hands pause for a moment, then wrap around Ukai in a tight hug.
"Well now I'm going to cry," Takeda chokes out.
They stay like this for awhile, Takeda whispering happy words in between his shoulder blades, talking directly to his heart. Soon the boys are calling for them again, and they make their way down to the beach hand in hand, their bodies as light as the breeze.
Ukai subs in for Kenma, sets a beautiful arch right to Nobuyuki, who sends it rocketing towards Hinata, who receives it with a confidence that sends a chill down Ukai's spine.
And when Ukai is in the back row, and is bested by one of Yamaguchi's float serves, mouth full of sand after face-planting into the ground, he hears the howling laughter of two old men, and thinks he never wants this moment to end.