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Sugawara Koushi woke up four minutes before his alarm.
For a few seconds, he didn’t move.
The room was still dark, morning light only beginning to creep around the edges of the curtains. Somewhere outside, a car passed over wet pavement. The hotel’s air conditioner hummed quietly beneath the window.
His heart was pounding.
Koushi stared at the ceiling.
Then he smiled.
He was getting married today.
The thought had been running through his head for months. He’d said it to himself while addressing invitations, while arguing with Daichi about table arrangements, while tasting cakes, while standing in a fitting room as Yachi fussed with his suit jacket.
I’m getting married.
But today there was no going to.
Today, he was marrying Sawamura Daichi.
His phone alarm began to chirp beside him.
Koushi slapped his hand over it.
“I know,” he whispered.
His phone immediately buzzed again.
A message.
Daichi: Good morning.
Koushi laughed.
Of course.
They had agreed—not without considerable protest from both of them—to spend the night separately.
Something about tradition.
Asahi had taken Daichi. Yachi had stayed with Koushi.
Technically, she was still staying with him.
Koushi turned his head toward the other bed.
A mound of blankets shifted.
Messy blonde hair appeared.
Then one terrified brown eye.
“Suga-san?”
“Morning.”
Yachi blinked.
Her eyes widened.
“Oh my God.”
Koushi grinned.
“Oh my God.”
“YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED.”
“I’M GETTING MARRIED.”
Yachi shot upright.
The blanket tangled around her legs.
She immediately fell out of bed.
“Yachi!”
“I’m okay!”
Koushi was laughing before he could stop himself.
Yachi emerged from the other side of the mattress, hair everywhere and dignity abandoned sometime around impact.
“We have a schedule.”
“It’s six thirty in the morning.”
“We have a schedule, Suga-san.”
“You made the schedule.”
“And it is very important that we follow it.”
She scrambled for her phone.
Koushi looked down at his own again.
Daichi: You awake?
He typed back.
Koushi: Unfortunately. My wedding planner just fell out of bed.
Three dots appeared almost immediately.
Daichi: Is Yachi okay?
Koushi: Physically? Yes. Emotionally? Never.
From across the room—
“Suga-san!”
Koushi laughed.
Another message appeared.
Daichi: I miss you.
That one made everything else disappear for a second.
Koushi looked at the words.
They had seen each other yesterday.
They had lived together for almost two years.
Daichi’s shoes were beside his at the front door. Daichi’s stupid protein powder took up half a kitchen cupboard. Daichi always stole the blanket and denied doing it in the morning.
There wasn’t anything mysterious waiting for them after today.
Tomorrow morning, Koushi would wake up beside the exact same man he had woken up beside hundreds of times before.
And somehow—
everything was different.
Koushi: I miss you too.
He hesitated.
Then:
Koushi: See you at the altar?
The reply came seconds later.
Daichi: I’ll be the one waiting for you.
Koushi’s throat tightened.
“Oh, fuck you.”
Yachi froze.
“What?”
“Not you.”
“Oh.”
“Daichi.”
Yachi stared at him.
Koushi wiped quickly beneath one eye.
“He made me cry.”
Her expression immediately crumpled.
“Oh no.”
“No. No, you don’t get to start too.”
“I’m not!”
“You absolutely are.”
“I’m happy!”
“So am I!”
They stared at each other.
Yachi sniffed.
Koushi sniffed.
Then both of them started laughing.
---
By eight, the hotel room had stopped resembling a hotel room.
Garment bags hung from every available surface. Someone had brought coffee. Someone else had brought breakfast. Yachi’s carefully printed schedule had acquired a coffee stain within eleven minutes.
Koushi sat in front of the mirror while Kiyoko fixed a stubborn section of his hair.
“You’re moving,” she said.
“I’m nervous.”
“I know.”
“You could say something comforting.”
“Stop moving.”
“Thank you, Shimizu. Beautiful.”
Her mouth twitched.
Behind them, Tanaka was pacing.
Koushi watched him through the mirror.
“Why are you nervous?”
Tanaka stopped.
“I’m not nervous.”
“You’ve walked past that chair twelve times.”
“I’m excited.”
“For my wedding?”
“YES.”
Kiyoko glanced at him.
Tanaka immediately lowered his voice.
“Yes.”
Koushi grinned.
Some things apparently never changed.
Tanaka and Kiyoko had arrived together that morning, and Koushi had watched Tanaka hold the door open for her while carrying three bags, two coffees, and something Kiyoko had apparently forgotten in the car.
There was something softer between them now.
Not quieter—Tanaka was fundamentally incapable of being quiet—but settled.
Comfortable.
Koushi liked seeing it.
He liked seeing all of them like this.
Older.
Not old.
God, absolutely not.
But older.
Their lives had stretched beyond the gymnasium at Karasuno, beyond practices and tournaments and graduation.
And somehow, despite all the directions they had scattered in—
they kept finding their way back.
The door burst open.
“NISHINOYA, I SWEAR TO GOD—”
“I HAVE THE TIES!”
Nishinoya skidded into the room holding several ties triumphantly over his head.
Asahi appeared behind him.
“I told you they were in my bag.”
“And I found them.”
“You took my entire bag.”
“Which contained the ties.”
Asahi closed his eyes.
Koushi smiled at him through the mirror.
“Having second thoughts about that engagement?”
Asahi opened his eyes.
“No.”
Nishinoya spun around.
“You hear that?!”
“I was standing right here.”
“My fiancé loves me!”
“Unfortunately.”
“ASAHI!”
Asahi laughed.
Koushi’s smile softened.
There was a ring on Nishinoya’s hand.
He still wasn’t used to seeing it.
Nishinoya noticed him looking and immediately thrust his hand forward.
“Pretty, right?”
“You've shown me seventeen times.”
“Eighteen.”
“Noya.”
“Fine.”
He lowered his hand.
Then lifted it again.
“But look how it catches the—”
Asahi grabbed his wrist.
“No.”
Kiyoko sighed.
Tanaka looked like he was seconds away from joining Nishinoya.
Koushi looked around the room.
Yachi was trying to rescue her schedule.
Kiyoko was fixing his hair.
Tanaka was stealing strawberries from the breakfast tray.
Nishinoya was attempting to escape Asahi’s grip.
It was chaos.
It was loud.
It was familiar.
Koushi suddenly had to blink hard.
Kiyoko caught his eyes in the mirror.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
She studied him.
Then smiled.
“Good.”
---
The venue was beautiful.
Koushi had known it would be.
He had chosen half of it.
But seeing photographs of an empty room was different from standing at the entrance and seeing flowers lining the aisle, rows of chairs filled with people he loved, afternoon sunlight spilling through tall windows.
His hands were shaking.
Yachi squeezed one.
“You’re okay.”
“I'm going to throw up.”
“You're not going to throw up.”
“I might.”
“Please don't. Your suit was expensive.”
Koushi laughed weakly.
Music began.
Everyone stood.
And then Koushi saw him.
Daichi.
Everything else disappeared.
There were dozens of people between them.
Koushi saw none of them.
Daichi stood at the end of the aisle in a dark suit, shoulders squared in the way they always were when he was trying very hard to hold himself together.
Asahi stood beside him.
Hinata and Kageyama were nearby.
Tanaka had somehow gotten himself into position without causing an international incident.
But Koushi only saw Daichi.
And Daichi was already crying.
Koushi’s mouth fell open.
“Oh, you bastard.”
Yachi made a tiny noise beside him.
Daichi laughed from across the room, wiping quickly at his cheek.
That did it.
Koushi’s vision blurred.
“Great,” he muttered. “Fantastic.”
Yachi squeezed his arm.
“Go marry him.”
So Koushi walked.
He didn’t remember most of it afterward.
He remembered faces.
Ukai smiling.
Takeda openly crying.
Hinata grinning so widely it looked painful.
Kageyama trying very hard not to look emotional.
Nishinoya failing spectacularly at the same task.
Ennoshita had an arm around Yachi once she reached her seat.
Kiyoko stood beside Tanaka.
Kenma sat beside Kuroo, their hands linked loosely between their chairs.
Bokuto looked like he might explode from excitement.
Akaashi beside him looked composed until Bokuto whispered something that made the corner of his mouth lift.
Yamaguchi smiled at Koushi as he passed.
Tsukishima sat beside him.
Koushi almost missed the way Tsukishima looked at Yamaguchi.
Almost.
But then Daichi was there.
Koushi reached him.
Daichi took his hands.
“You’re crying,” Koushi whispered.
“So are you.”
“You started it.”
“I did not.”
“You were crying before I even walked.”
Daichi laughed shakily.
“You looked beautiful.”
Koushi swallowed.
“Careful.”
“What?”
“I spent twenty minutes getting my face presentable.”
Daichi squeezed his hands.
“I love you.”
And suddenly Koushi couldn’t joke anymore.
“I love you too.”
The ceremony began.
---
Koushi had spent weeks writing his vows.
He had rewritten them eleven times.
He had hated every version.
Nothing sounded right.
How did you reduce years into paragraphs?
How did he explain Daichi?
Daichi at seventeen, yelling at Tanaka and Nishinoya.
Daichi at eighteen, standing outside graduation with tears he refused to acknowledge.
Daichi at nineteen, calling Koushi because he’d failed an exam and somehow Koushi was the first person he wanted to tell.
Daichi at twenty, kissing him for the first time.
Daichi asleep on their couch.
Daichi making breakfast.
Daichi furious.
Daichi laughing.
Daichi sick.
Daichi tired.
Daichi happy.
Daichi.
His person.
So when it was finally time, Koushi looked down at the paper in his hand.
Then folded it.
Daichi’s eyebrows lifted.
“I had something written,” Koushi said.
Laughter moved gently through the room.
“I had a lot written, actually. Eleven versions.”
Daichi smiled.
“But none of them sounded like us.”
Koushi took a breath.
“When we were younger, I thought there would be this point where everything would suddenly make sense. We’d graduate, become adults, figure out what we were doing, and that would be it.”
Daichi’s thumb moved across his knuckles.
“Turns out that was bullshit.”
Someone laughed.
Probably Noya.
“We still don't know what we're doing half the time. We argue about groceries. You leave your socks everywhere.”
“I do not.”
“You absolutely do.”
More laughter.
Koushi smiled.
“But I think I understand something now that I didn't then.”
His voice wavered.
Daichi’s eyes were shining again.
“I don't need to know what the rest of my life looks like.”
Koushi tightened his fingers around Daichi’s.
“I just want you in it.”
Daichi inhaled sharply.
“Whatever happens. Wherever we live. Whatever jobs we have. Whatever stupid arguments we get into. I want to keep coming home to you.”
Koushi smiled through his tears.
“So that's my promise. I can't promise I'll always know what I'm doing.”
A quiet laugh.
“But I promise I'll keep choosing you while I figure it out.”
Daichi bowed his head.
For one horrible second Koushi thought he had broken him.
Then Daichi laughed, wiping his face.
“You're an asshole.”
The room erupted.
Koushi grinned.
“We're at our wedding.”
“I know.”
“Your vows are supposed to come next.”
“I have to recover first.”
“You'll survive.”
Daichi looked at him.
The laughter faded.
And that expression—
Koushi knew that expression.
He had known it for years.
You.
Always you.
---
The reception was louder.
Much louder.
Koushi blamed Bokuto.
And Nishinoya.
And Hinata.
Actually, there were too many suspects.
At some point, someone convinced the DJ to play a song from their high school years, and suddenly half the room was yelling.
Koushi had lost his jacket.
Daichi had lost his tie.
Neither knew where.
“SAWAMURA!”
Daichi turned just in time for Kuroo to throw an arm around his shoulders.
“You're married!”
“I noticed.”
Kenma stood behind him.
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you, Kenma.”
Kuroo pointed accusingly at Koushi.
“You corrupted him.”
“I've known him longer than you.”
“Exactly. Long-term corruption.”
Kenma tugged Kuroo backward.
“Leave them alone.”
“But—”
“Come on.”
Kuroo allowed himself to be dragged away.
Koushi watched them go.
“They're going to get married,” he said.
Daichi glanced at him.
“You think?”
“Absolutely.”
Across the room, Kuroo bent down to hear something Kenma said.
His expression immediately softened.
Koushi smiled.
“Definitely.”
A cheer erupted near the bar.
Bokuto.
Obviously.
“HEY! HEY! HEY!”
Akaashi covered his face.
Tsukishima stood nearby looking as though death would be preferable to whatever was happening.
Yamaguchi was laughing.
Koushi watched Tsukishima glance at him.
There it was again.
Interesting.
Then Akaashi said something to Bokuto.
Bokuto beamed.
And Akaashi—
Oh.
Koushi's eyebrows rose.
Daichi followed his gaze.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Koushi.”
“Nothing.”
“You're doing the face.”
“What face?”
“The one where you've discovered gossip.”
“I have no idea what you're talking about.”
Daichi stared at him.
Koushi took a sip of champagne.
Interesting indeed.
He filed that information away for later.
Not tonight.
Tonight belonged to them.
---
Their first dance happened sometime after nine.
Koushi rested his head against Daichi’s shoulder.
Daichi’s hand settled at his waist.
Around them, their friends were talking quietly.
For once, nobody interrupted.
“You tired?” Daichi murmured.
“Exhausted.”
“Regretting it?”
“Ask me tomorrow.”
Daichi pinched his side.
Koushi laughed.
“No. Never.”
He lifted his head.
Daichi looked different somehow.
Which was ridiculous.
He was the same person he'd been this morning.
Same eyes.
Same hands.
Same annoying habit of rubbing his thumb against Koushi whenever they held hands.
But there was a ring on his finger now.
Koushi looked at it.
Daichi followed his gaze.
“Husband,” Koushi said quietly.
Daichi smiled.
“Husband.”
“That’s weird.”
“Very.”
“I like it.”
“So do I.”
Koushi rested his forehead against his.
Beyond Daichi’s shoulder, he could see their friends.
Tanaka was dancing terribly while Kiyoko laughed.
Nishinoya had somehow convinced Asahi to dance with him.
Ennoshita had Yachi tucked against his chest.
Hinata was trying to drag Kageyama onto the dance floor.
Kageyama was resisting.
Badly.
Kenma was sitting down again while Kuroo hovered nearby.
Bokuto had one arm thrown around Akaashi.
Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were arguing about something.
Everyone was here.
Everyone was growing.
Everyone was finding their way.
Koushi looked back at Daichi.
For years, volleyball had made their worlds collide.
Karasuno.
Nekoma.
Fukurodani.
Aoba Johsai.
People they might never have known otherwise had somehow become permanent pieces of their lives.
Maybe that was the strangest thing about growing up.
You spent so much time thinking about the things you were leaving behind that you didn't notice what you were taking with you.
Daichi touched his cheek.
“Where'd you go?”
“Nowhere.”
“You got quiet.”
“Just thinking.”
“Dangerous.”
“Shut up.”
Daichi smiled.
Koushi looked around once more.
At their friends.
At their family.
At all these people whose stories were still unfolding around them.
Then he looked at his husband.
His husband.
God, he was going to abuse that word.
“What?” Daichi asked.
Koushi smiled.
“Nothing.”
He kissed him.
There was an immediate explosion of cheering.
Koushi laughed against Daichi’s mouth.
Of course there was.
These people were never going to give them a peaceful moment for the rest of their lives.
And strangely—
Koushi couldn't imagine anything better.
Because this wasn't an ending.
It wasn't even close.
It was just another beginning.