#dusty daichi

[follychromatic]

HAPPY PRIDE, EVERYONE!

ID in alt!

[penname-artist]

"Catching Up"

Belated collab w/ @daichi-airbus2006

[kitasuno]

we fly together | kageyama tobio x reader

in which kageyama tobio is born for several things: the court, his team, and you. and he really, really wants to marry you.

wc: 766 | gn reader | little glimpses of your relationship with tobio over the years

There are several givens in Kageyama Tobio’s life. 

There’s volleyball. It’s in his blood. Volleyball is shoes squeaking on floors, the shrill of a whistle, Nikuman after practice, and that sweet, sweet feeling of connection– fingers brushing yellow and blue leather and palms aching after a serve. Kageyama Tobio was born for the court and born to fly. 

His team is one of them. There’s Sugawara, who still treats him to yakitori and an Asahi Dry (or three) whenever he’s back in Miyagi. Daichi sends him assorted nuts from Sendai every once in a while and Nishinoya mass e-mails him slightly blurry pictures of his life abroad on New Years. Ushijima buys electrolytes for him and Kourai. Shouyou is, well, Shouyou, and Kageyama counts him as two givens. 

There’s the small things too: he takes a little too long to read Kanji, he buys a new face wash every month, he will always avoid rush hour. 

And then, he thinks, there’s you. 

It hits him in full force in the middle of the street on a Tuesday evening as he holds a plastic bag of groceries. It also, consequently, renders him immobile for ten minutes, because Tobio had never been one to dwell on the givens. But as he stands on the pavement and his bag carries the burden of hashi for two, yogurt for two, two packs of sandwiches and four bags of gummies,

 ( because you really like those gummies: and Tobio had thought, if you like the grape flavor, then you should also try the strawberry. And if you wanted to try something new, you might crave the fizzy Cola ones. And if you liked the Cola ones, then he had to buy the Ramune flavored ones, too ) 

Tobio gets the urge to buy a ring. And an urge, no, a craving to marry you. 

Tobio remembers study sessions in high school and desperate makeouts in Karasuno’s dusty storage closet. He remembers the firsts: first conversation, first fight, first kiss, first date. Sprinting on beaches before the sun kissed the horizon and laying underneath the stars. He remembers graduation under cherry blossoms and pressing his second button into your palm with red cheeks and shaking hands. 

There were tears, too. Anger as he realized he couldn’t, for once, be selfish and have both you and professional volleyball. Anger as you had cried and cried and cried in his arms because you were getting your degree in Miyagi and he was moving to Tokyo. Anger as you had suggested breaking things off because you knew that Kageyama was born for the court. To fly. 

And you had said, between tears, that Tokyo was his potential. Because you knew him, and you knew that he didn’t like texting and that he wasn’t good at communicating, but you somehow underestimated how much you meant to him. Then: you had stopped crying because Kageyama was crying. And you had never seen Kageyama cry. 

You were there when Kageyama started on the National Team, standing in the bleachers with the biggest smile he had ever seen, jumping as you turned to show him the Kageyama embroidered on the back of your jersey. You were there when he accepted his position on the Adlers, and watched their broadcasted games behind textbooks and journals and pencils from your dorm in Sendai. 

Kageyama was there when you called him sobbing because the pipes in your dorm leaked. He was there when you got fired from your part time job for slapping a customer. Begrudgingly, he was there when you asked him to have Oikawa Tooru sign twelve jerseys for your friends at university. And then, he was there when you graduated college, diploma in hand and a blush on your cheeks as you pressed your button into his palm even though you really weren’t supposed to do that. 

Now you’re in Tokyo, having accepted his slightly bashful request for you to move in with him– in a nice apartment on the fourteenth floor overlooking the city; because even though he didn’t really like heights, he knew you loved city lights and people-watching. And if he had to cover his face when he saw the nameplate next to your shared apartment that read Kageyama, well. You didn’t have to know that. 

He’s still on the street, and he’s still holding his grocery bag, but his eyes are firm because he really wants to make your last name Kageyama. 

So he makes a phone call. 

“Tanaka-san,” He says before his former upperclassman can react. “Where did you buy Shimizu’s ring?” 

[kings-highway]

"Okay, fuck, marry, kill," Kuroo says, sunk so low into the beanbag chair that he may as well have been merged into it. "Suga, Asahi, and that hot manager of yours."

"Shimizu?"

"Yeah that's the one."

Daichi doesn't really have to think about it, pulling the eraser of his pencil out from it's bad habit between his teeth and saying: "Fuck Shimizu, marry Suga, kill Asahi. I love Asahi but he's a weak link."

"Fair," Kuroo says, distracted somewhat by his phone. "But you were quick on that."

"There's a right answer."

"I'll take your word for it. Alright, your turn."

"I can't remember any of your teammates names. Uh... Okay, Kenma, Yaku, and... the anti-Tanaka, with the mohawk."

"Tora. Anti-Tanaka?"

"Yeah like Tanaka's evil twin."

"Mhm. Okay, uh... I'll marry Kenma, because we already know we get along, and... Yeah, you know what, I'll fuck Tora and kill Yaku."

"Really? Suga said Yaku was super nice."

"So-so. But it's more to do with the fact that I think he would apparate in the room right now if I said I was willing to have sex with him out loud. Killing him is for my personal safety."

"Aah," Daichi says, nodding along as he slowly pushed himself up and scooted towards the edge of the bed, leaning his head over to look down at Kuroo still slouched in the beanbag chair.

"Mhm."

"By the way," Daichi goes on. "I've been meaning to ask - why did you invited me over to your house tonight? Not that I mind, but it was a lit bit out of the blue. What are we doing, studying, gossiping - dating?"

Kuroo glances up at him, eyes raising. "Oh, didn't you hear? That fanfiction author just needed a way to kill some time."

"Oh, so none of this is real?"

"Not this time. Couldn't even be bothered to visualize the room entirely - look over there, see how everything's all blurry? Not even a real place."

"Goddamnit," Daichi says, huffing and dropping down onto his stomach, hanging his arms off the bed. "You'd think the least they could do is think of a punchline to the mini-fic. This is a abyssmal."

"I dunno, don't think you should be complaining," Kuroo says. "They tend to rock your shit whenever they think too hard. Maybe just enjoy the break."

Daichi thinks about this for a moment, before letting his breath out and slowly rolling himself over to stare up at the ceiling, arms stretched out. There's the whirl of a fan somewhere, the soft noise Kuroo's phone makes as he taps away at the textpad on the screen, the slightly dappling of sunlight through a dusty window splashed across the ceiling.

"Yeah," he agrees, breathing deep. "Just enjoy the break."

[aztecbrujeria]

Thinking about the way your dishes are mismatched, thrifted from the local donation centers, and they sit drying on the rack as you look out the kitchen window. Smiling as you watch him chase your little one with her bright bows in her hair. The squealing and the sounds of the mythological monster “Fe-Fi-Foing” carried with the early morning breeze.

The smells of breakfast and coffee still linger beside you on the stove while the smells of morning dew and earth come in. Here in your perfectly chaotic small home, where the old washer shakes, the fridge hums on covered in macaroni art, and the little slice of heaven seems to shine just right through the dusty windows you desperately need to clean.

Here you never thought you’d stand as a woman…a wife…a mother. All the sacrifices you had given of yourself and dreams seem worth it. Smiling and feeling your heart swell you let the soapy dishwater keep you in the moment when your big lug of a husband catches your little gremlin and they fall down in the grass laughing hysterically.

“This is heaven.”

Toji, Sukuna, Capitano, Sylus, Nuevillette, Zhongli, Kafka, Cyno, Guts, Captain Obi, Konro, Benimaru, Chosito, Yuji, Megumi, Bakugo, Izuku, Kirishima, Shoto, Dabi, Daichi, Kita, Osamu Miya, Ushijima, ichigo, sanemi, Genya, Gyomei, Tanjiro, Inosuke, Sephiroth, Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric, Adrian tepes, Trevor Belmont…

[cashmakozume]

loved

sawamura daichi x reader

558 words

sawamura daichi has always been a sentimental person. it's a side of him that he doesn't show anyone. his heartfelt memories were kept in boxes under his bed, never to see the light of day.

each box contained a certain part of his life. 

the gray plastic box covered in dust was for volleyball, a sport he left behind the moment he graduated high school. daichi loved the sport but he couldn't go on without the team mates he curated a bond with throughout the years. inside the box was one of his jerseys, the number fading and peeling with age. he promised to never open the box until he was sure he would play another game with the team that brought him to nationals.

the cardboard box was for you. every single movie stub, photobooth strip, and paper receipts were kept safe in this box. unlike the gray box, this box was not dusty. daichi often pulled this out from under the bed. well, only after making sure his door was locked. he will go through every single one, having already memorized the contents due to the sheer frequency. he would read every single letter you wrote him, holding the papers gently as if it was going to disintegrate at any sign of pressure.

the words you wrote were ingrained in him and it followed him wherever he went. the memories you made together at every movie theater, cafe, grocery store and restaurant play in his mind as he examines every single item in that box. he remembers your laugh, your smiles, your sighs. 

he remembers you.

and he knows every single memory that he had of you contained love. the day the both of you ran in the rain just to get the piece of bread you were craving for? love. the night where you knocked on his door asking if he wanted to do a midnight snack adventure? love. the day where you became his girlfriend? love.

he has never once regretted loving you. even though you weren't there to make new memories with him, he still felt the love from the old ones. the love you shared gave him purpose, it changed him. your favourite bread became his favourite. your silly habit of tapping the top of any drink can before opening it became his habit. your favourite song became his most played song. you influenced him in every single way and he loved how it felt.

daichi grabbed the last thing in the box, with less care than he did the others. anger and sadness apparent behind the grasp. tears stained the piece of paper, some old and some new. you looked so carefree and happy, that's why your mom chose that photo for your obituary. your happiness and life, frozen in time.

there's a reason why daichi stuffed it all the way at the back of the box. he ends every session with a reminder that loneliness surrounds him now.

he knows that he is sad, but he knows that he was loved by you. maybe the love you had for him would encourage him to love himself. because there must be a reason why an angel loves him.

even if it takes one hundred more walks down memory lane, he will learn how to love himself as much as you did.

[kareofbears]

never been a natural

"Usually," Oikawa starts, shoving the wires in his pockets, and Hinata flinches for no good reason. It dawns on him that he's never had a one-on-one conversation with Oikawa before. "Reconnaissance is supposed to be a secret, chibi."

---

Or, Hinata gets lost and runs into an Oikawa he isn't quite familiar with.

read on ao3 or below the cut

Mondays are days of misery for Hinata.

It didn’t used to be. Mondays used to be filled with volleyball. Receives, spikes, sets, strategy. Bike up the hill, shower, pretend to study, then crash for the night. Rinse and repeat. It was his life, and he's fiercely protective of it.

Hinata’s pumped every minute he possibly can into cramming more volleyball. Every bubble of open air in his schedule is inflated with volleyball, body slick with sweat and eyes trained on the ball in front of him. More, more, more, until—

“From now on, Mondays are off.”

Silence rang across the gym, the incessant squeaking of shoes coming to a halt at once.

"...Of what?" Nishinoya tried, question bitten off short with a sharp laugh. A nervous tick, a dead giveaway of what everyone had hoped they misheard.

Coach Ukai looked each of them in the eye. Seeing him serious outside of a tense match has them all kept quiet. There isn't even a hint of a smile on his features. "I've decided that practice will only be on Tuesdays to Fridays." Hinata takes a sharp intake of breath, and Ukai's gaze flickers at him, eyes sharpening further. "Is that clear?"

It was probably the most unclear thing Hinata's ever heard in his entire life.

Obviously, they didn't take the news lying down. Immediately after that practice, Hinata and Kageyama locked eyes before nodding, no words needed. Monday rolls around and they walk up to the gym doors, bleary-eyed and geared-up, to find the door locked.

They expected this. Kageyama silently leans down and Hinata clambers onto his shoulders, movements steady and practiced. This isn't the first time they've broken into the gym to get extra practice time, and—Hinata sticks his tongue out in concentration, aggressively patting Kageyama's head when he needs more height, reaching up to shove his hand in the third broken light bulb where he knows Takeda-sensei keeps the spare key—he refuses to let it be the last.

When he pulls his hand out, what's in his fist isn't a dusty silver key, but a folded piece of paper:

Try it again and you're off the team.

He doesn't know what's more impressive—the foresight to do this or the fact that it was signed by Coach Ukai, Faculty Advisor Takeda, Captain Daichi, and Vice-Captain Sugawara.

Hinata lets out a frustrated yell and forces himself to run faster, early morning jog turning into a dead sprint. That was two weeks ago. Two entire Mondays of feeling like he's skipping practice, of having to endure that gnawing feeling that he's being left behind with every passing week. An entire day where other teams are combing through strategies to figure out how to improve and beat them out of the Nationals lineup.

His feet hit the pavement hard, throat tight and breath coming hard and fast. Running. At least they can't stop him from doing this. Even when he didn't have a team, he had this. He had himself. And they can't stop him from improving. There's a tight feeling in his chest, a bitterness that he hasn't felt since he lost that match in middle school. A tidal wave of emotion that comes from being face to face with the fact that the world isn't fair. That there's always going to be something in his way, something that prevents him from being where he wants to be. His only remedy against that was practice, and somehow, he lost that too.

Finally, he has to hunch over, skin covered in sweat as his lungs try to catch up with him. Idly, he looks up, relieved that the sun is barely up, soft rays of sunlight peeking out through the mountains in the distance. The last thing he wants is to go to school today, but he doesn't know how far he can push his luck before Daichi really brings the hammer down on him.

Turning around to head home, Hinata pauses. Turns around again. Swivels left. Then right. Then, out of desperation, up and down.

He smacks his hand over his face, scrubbing roughly.

He doesn't know where he is. Again.

A sigh comes from the deepest part of his gut as he resigns himself to his new fate. Slowly walking around, he counts himself lucky that he's somewhere that's pretty populated. Actually, he looks around, mildly curious, this entire neighborhood is...nice. Stores and their shopkeepers starting to open businesses with a yawn, a few keeners making their way to classes early. He glances around, starting to get excited at his new surroundings. There's a playground, empty but of a much higher quality than anything his neighborhood has, and a dirt patch that looks just big enough for a volleyball scrimmage if he was desperate.

He ups his pace to an easy jog, feeling good from the run despite the initial inconvenience. Maybe he can ask someone here how to get back home. His stomach grumbles, and he fights the urge to sigh again. A snack, too, would be pretty good right now.

Turning the corner, neck craning to see what awaits him. There's a cafe at the end of the street, mostly empty except for a few businessmen darting in and out for a quick coffee. Through the big glass windows of the cafe, there's a few booths visible to Hinata, predictably vacant, except for one right in the middle.

Then Hinata stops in his tracks. He takes a step backwards so that he’s hidden again. Rubs his eyes. Peeks around once more, just to make sure.

Oikawa Tooru glances—earphones visible even from here—in his direction and Hinata scrambles back, clambering behind the wall, jaw slacked.

His luck.

The only player that gives Kageyama Tobio—his best friend and nastiest guy alive—the heebie jeebies, is sitting in a cafe in some unknown neighborhood. Only unknown to you, his mind supplies unhelpfully. This is Seijoh's turf and you just strolled right into the Great King's throne room.

Slowly, Hinata backs away, carefully walking backwards into the opposite direction. It's fine. There's no way Oikawa saw him. All he needs to do is leave as quietly as possible and get back to Karasuno.

—

He's walked past the cafe six times before he admits defeat.

Hinata—properly sweaty again, not from the run but from the nerves—can't figure out which direction he even came from before. This bookstore looks familiar. That lamp post is one he's seen before, right? He swears that child is the same one he keeps running into. The only thing that’s changing is the sun’s position above him, mocking him for the time he’s wasted wandering around, directionless.

The whole time, Oikawa's still there, mug to his right, papers scattered across the table and pencil tapping on the wood to whatever undisclosed song is playing in his earphones. With each pass, Hinata expects someone to join him—he's never seen Oikawa without his team, or at least without the stern-looking Iwaizumi by his side. But nobody ever does.

Taking a deep breath, puffing his chest up as big as he can, and mustering all the bravery he can hold in his frame, Hinata meekly knocks on the window of the cafe.

Oikawa looks up at him, expression unsurprised and almost offensively disinterested, pencil still loosely gripped between his fingers.

They stare at each other for a long moment, before Hinata raises a hand. "Hi," he mouths.

It's enough to pull a quirk of a brow from Oikawa. Setting down the pencil, Oikawa points to the seat across from him. An invitation.

WIth a gulp, Hinata enters the cafe, bell ringing above, the scent of coffee beans almost overwhelming. After a quick greeting to the barista, he warily makes his way to Oikawa, who'd taken out his earphones. Their eyes meet and for a split-second, he's back in the inter-high gym, his freak quick getting blocked, getting read. He blinks and suddenly he's back in the cafe, in direct line of Oikawa's gaze.

"Usually," Oikawa starts, shoving the wires in his pockets, and Hinata flinches for no good reason. It dawns on him that he's never had a one-on-one conversation with Oikawa before. "Reconnaissance is supposed to be a secret, chibi."

He hesitates, mind whirling at the implication. "What?"

“I’ve been seeing your little feet skittering around my block for the past twenty minutes.” Oikawa gives him a look. "I guess secret isn't really your style, though."

"What?" he repeats, before realization dawns on him. "Oh! No. I'm not here to spy, I just got lost on my run, and—" he cuts himself off as he takes in Oikawa's appearance. White blazer, sweater vest, red tie pressed immaculately against both. "Wait, what are you doing here?"

Tilting his head to the side, his expression morphs into one of intrigue. "You got lost to the point that you accidentally made it to Seijoh?"

Hinata isn't listening. He glances around until his eyes land on the calendar against the far wall, just in case he's mistaken. "It's Monday," he states.

"So I've been told,” he waves off. “You accidentally ran 12 kilometers?”

"It's Monday," he insists, confusion coated thick in his words. And then, uneasily, he asks, "Are you skipping practice?"

Oikawa levels him with something that isn't quite disappointment, but close to it. "Think about it very hard before you accuse me of something, chibi." He starts collecting his scattered papers, and Hinata catches a glimpse of numbers across the pages. "We don't practice on Mondays."

Surprise runs through his body. "Your coach made you guys do that, too?"

"Coach?" It was Oikawa's turn to look surprised. "Coach doesn't make us do anything. I instated it."

This time, he can't keep his jaw from dropping. "What?" Any nerves about being in front of the Great King leaves his body. He flops into the booth, sitting across from Oikawa with his palms pressed against the table. Is he crazy? "Are you crazy?"

A snort gets pulled out of Oikawa. "Tobio-chan really did find his equal, didn't he?"

Hinata opens his mouth, dozens of questions on the tip of his tongue, when Oikawa continues. "As much as I'd love for you to disappear off the face of the planet and get rid of that nasty quick of yours—" he points out the window, almost bored. "Go past that yellow house there. Three blocks down, there'll be a bus stop. It should take you back to your flock."

What? he almost says again, before realizing that it's directions to go back to Karasuno. Directions he isn't quite interested in anymore. "Oh, thank you," Hinata says distractedly, still unable to process that a top four school in the prefecture doesn't practice for an entire day every week. "Um—"

Oikawa’s eyes flicker to Hinata, taking in his sweat-slick forehead and running outfit still sticking to parts of his torso, and grimaces infinitesimally. Hinata stays quiet. There's something familiar about this, and it dawns on him that he feels this way before every Nekoma match. The intense feeling of being watched, of being studied, dissected.

After a moment, Oikawa shrugs, almost to himself. "Try not to get lost again," he tells Hinata instead of whatever he wanted to say. "Don't want your team to think I've kidnapped you or anything. Despite what Tobio thinks, I do fight fair."

He feels his eye twitch. There's something that deeply irked him about being left in the dark about himself. It reminds him of Tsukkishima. Or Kageyama, earlier on in their partnership. Or maybe, that run wasn't enough to wipe Hinata's frustrations clean from the world.

When he doesn't move, Oikawa claps his hands together twice. "Go on, now. Time for the crow to fly back home."

"Tell me," he says, voice coming out harder than he meant it to.

Oikawa pauses, hand still raised, a flicker of surprise in his features. "Tell you what?"

"You..." Hinata deflates, whatever bravery struck suddenly seeping out all at once. "It looks like you wanted to say something. Sorry."

Oikawa studies him for a long moment, enough that Hinata has to fight not to shift in his seat. Then, he sets the stack of papers down on the table, leaning back into the cushion of the booth. "I don't talk shop unless someone asks me to," he says finally. "Unsolicited advice is the worst."

Hinata doesn't know how to answer that. Most of the advice he gets is unsolicited—or maybe because everyone knows that Hinata soaks up volleyball like a sponge and would never see advice as unsolicited. "I'm asking."

"You're running on your team's rest day." It wasn't an accusation, but it wasn't a praise, either. "Running isn't resting."

Hinata clenches his fists under the table. "It's better than sitting around and doing nothing."

"Resting isn't nothing," he scoffs. "Especially you. Sprints in every match, decoying a real spike, jumping high enough to make it all look convincing. You think it’s magic that keeps you flying?" Oikawa leans forward, elbow on the table and chin resting on his palm. "It's muscles. Tendons. Flesh and bone. Physical stuff that breaks down if you let it. Don't make that mistake again."

Hinata bristles, the urge to argue equal to his urge to curl in on himself. "But—"

Oikawa crosses his arms and waits, and Hinata feels his words die in his throat. The usual exaggerated levity in his eyes was absent. He wonders for a moment if this is what Kunimi and Kindaichi feel when they're being scolded. The moment is long and tense, Oikawa's gaze surprisingly heavy and Hinata unwilling to relent.

Then Oikawa sighs, leaning back into his seat. Taking out a folder, he files his scattered papers away, stows them in his bag before throwing something at Hinata.

He catches it without thinking, bewilderedly taking in the banana in his hands.

"Potassium after runs, always," Oikawa slings his bag over his shoulders, scooting out the booth. "You look like you're going to fall over. Can't have you forfeiting the game because you're malnourished, of all things."

Hinata watches as Oikawa makes his way out, thank you stuck in his throat. He’s not sure what to make of this strange version of Oikawa.

The bell rings as he leaves, and Hinata eventually exits, banana peel in hand and deep in thought. At least the bus stop was easy to find this time.

—

Next Monday, Hinata slides into the booth with no hesitation. "I took the bus here," he says in lieu of a greeting. "So I'm still resting. Don’t yell at me."

Oikawa sighs, overexaggerated. He's wearing glasses today. Thick, black rims that he pushes up his nose as he continues writing. "This isn't exactly open practice," he says. "I'm not taking questions. Or giving free advice, for that matter."

Hinata lets his gaze settle on the paper's scattered once more around the booth, attempting to read upside down kanji. Half the papers, predictably, are volleyball tactics, success statistics, or general notes (Mad-dog —> low sets + flexible shoulders. Note: Iwa's presence non-negotiable). The other half is filled with—

"Is that math?" Hinata asks, nose scrunching.

"Calculus," Oikawa corrects, before finally looking up from his page. While Hinata isn't surprised that Oikawa is an early riser, it's one thing to get up early for volleyball; to get up early for homework is a different torture entirely. "Why are you here, chibi?"

It's a question he's prepared for, thinking about how to answer it on the entire bus ride here. "I hate rest days," he proclaims, unashamed in the slightest. "They suck and I hate them and I'd rather keep playing volleyball until all my bones break and I want to know why you—" he gestures wildly at Oikawa, "of all people are okay with it."

Hinata braces himself for the inevitable argument he's going to get into, but he has to know. The diagram in his head is simple—Oikawa taught Kageyama a lot about volleyball. Kageyama is crazy about volleyball. That means Oikawa taught Kageyama to be crazy, so Oikawa should also—

Oikawa bursts out laughing, eyes crinkling at the corners. "Chibi," he smiles, mirth audible. "I bet I hate rest days more than you do."

Hinata brightens up at that. "Really?"

"Of course," he puts his pencil down, giving Hinata his full attention. "Why on earth would I rather be doing anything else if I could be on the court?"

"Right? I want to play!"

"I want to get better.”

"I want to spike."

"I want to set," Oikawa agrees, and there's a sparkle in his eye that Hinata's never seen on him before, or Hinata's just never seen it up close. A devout love for the sport. He knows exactly what it looks like, because he sees it in the mirror every single day. It dawns on him that he’s never had a practice match with Oikawa. Every interaction they had is a do-or-die, no room to breathe around each other. "I want to serve. I want to get better. I want to play tough teams and win hard games and touch the ball and play more volleyball until my fingertips are bleeding from setting."

Hinata’s grinning properly now, an idea forming in his head. "I saw a park nearby," he says excitedly, mind already whirling with possibilities. "I brought a ball in my bag, I think we can—"

"And, like I said before," Oikawa cuts in, tone still light. "I don't practice on rest days."

The grin on Hinata's face falters, his heart sinking. "But you just said—"

"Do you want to play volleyball forever?"

He can have his memory wiped and he's sure that his DNA strands can answer the question for him. "Of course."

"Past high school?"

Hinata bristles at the idea of doing anything else. “Yes.”

"And what are you willing to do to make that happen?" Oikawa asks, and he feels as if he's being tested in some way, but he's too excited to care. This is the closest thing to volleyball that he’s gotten on a Monday.

"Anything!" he exclaims. And then, quietly: "I'll do anything."

"Then, unfortunately for you," Oikawa's smile turns smug and haughty and Hinata realizes, belatedly, he's stuck in a web that's been spun specifically for him. Kageyama's voice echoes in the back of his mind: He's got a nasty personality. "That takes a lot of hard work."

Hinata tilts his chin upwards. "I’m not afraid of hard work.”

“Yes,” Oikawa taps his pencil against the paper in front of them, calculus staring back mercilessly. “You are.”

An incredulous wave washes over him. “What does this—“ Hinata carefully pushes the paper away from him, afraid it’ll attack him somehow. "Have to do with anything?"

"Ever heard of university-level volleyball?" Oikawa asks, smile faux-pleasant as he takes in the blanched color of Hinata's face. "You think they'll let you in just because your vertical is impressive?"

Hinata blinks at him. "You think my vertical is impressive?"

Oikawa throws the pencil at his head. "Best in the prefecture, without a doubt," he sniffs as Hinata rubs his forehead with a pout. "But it's not enough. Good grades lead to good universities, and good universities have good volleyball teams."

His vision swims as he stares at the paper between them. Symbols he doesn't even recognize seem to mock him, numbers seemingly floating off the page as he gets dizzy just looking at these unknown equations. What even is calculus?

"Easy for you to say," Hinata mutters, toying with the pencil in his hand. It's short, almost sharpened down to the nub. He doesn't think he's ever had the same one long enough to get it to this length. "You're good at school."

A bark of laughter sounds like it came from Oikawa's soul and Hinata jumps at the sudden sound. "Oh, that's funny," he huffs, humor still sticky in his tone. "Say, chibi, tell that to Iwa-chan next time you run into him, will you?"

Hinata tilts his head to the side, brow furrowed. He peers down at the table once more, this time with a different perspective. The people in Karasuno who are natural academics (Tsukkishima, of all people, come to mind) are almost never surrounded by flashcards. Backpack never more than half-way full, never staying behind for extra studying lessons from the upperclassmen. Eyes drifting back to Oikawa, who's cheat sheets and notes are surrounded by eraser shavings, brightly colored sticky notes, and pale hands gray from where his skin slid across still-dusty pencil led.

"You're stupid?" Hinata blurts out. Something light flutters in his chest, and it pulls the corner of his lips upwards.

"I am no such thing!" Oikawa flares out, snatching his pencil back from Hinata. "And you're rude. I may not be your senpai, but I'm still older than you."

"No, it's okay!" he points at himself, proud and eager. "I'm stupid, too."

That only seems to rile him up more. "I'm fine in most subjects," he insists. "It's just calculus, and these damn—" he shoots a glare at nothing, face twisting. "Derivatives. I've been at it for weeks, and there's only so much Mattsu's willing to explain to me before he makes me buy him ramen for his time. I mean," he continues babbling, words pouring out of him like an unstoppable current, a build-up of pressure that's rushing to be let out. "I'm their captain, and they can't even spare me time to break down the rate of change. I'm sure Mr. Refreshing doesn't give your captain a second thought with homework, because that's what a team is for, isn't it? Argh!"

Oikawa looks the most frazzled he's ever seen him, matches included. To be honest, Hinata has no idea what he's even talking about anymore (is this still math? Maybe they moved onto chemistry without him realizing), but the more he talks, the more the thing in Hinata's chest is taking flight.

"Is…" he hesitates, not sure if now's a good time to bring the conversation back on track. Or if Oikawa would listen to him, still lost in the sea of his own rant. "That why you don't practice on Mondays? For… homework?"

Stopping suddenly, Oikawa visibly refocuses back on Hinata. "It's part of it. The other parts are physical—" he kicks Hinata's knee from under the table. "Mental—" he points the pencil at Hinata's head again, who rushes to block this time. "And emotional,” Oikawa taps two fingers over his own heart. “Take care of all three and you can play forever.”

Nursing over his freshly-bruised knee, Hinata grimaces. “Then when’s practice?” he grumbles. “There’s no way you have enough time for all that.”

The look in Oikawa’s eyes is unflinching. “You make time.”

It’s a slap in the face. Oikawa, third-year captain of a powerhouse team, telling him to make time.

What have you been doing for three years?

The fluttering feeling his chest wilts, and what gets resurrected is this ugly, now-familiar twist in his gut. Being locked out of his own gym just when he felt like he was making progress with himself. Height always, always, always a wall for him to overcome. Losing the preliminaries to the boy in front of him.

"I don't think it's fair of you to say that, Oikawa-san," he mutters, struggling to keep his tone level. But it’s as if his tongue was loosened from his building frustration, years of isolation and drowning in inadequacy crashing down on him all at once. "You have the talent. You have the confidence. People know who you are. You're the captain of Aoba Johsai. Everybody in this prefecture knows about your serves. You have no—" Hinata lets his eyes slip close, taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry if I'm rude. It isn't fair to compare you to me. Not when our experiences are—are—basically opposites of each other. Not when it took everything I had to get this far."

It was probably too far. He's never been this upfront with someone from another team, even Ushijima. But Hinata doesn't regret saying it.

Opening his eyes, he meets Oikawa's stare dead-on. He doesn't seem angry, at least, but there’s something there that Hinata doesn’t can’t read. Somewhere behind them, the barista sneezes. A clock ticks. Morning rays pour into the cafe, and idly, he remembers when Mondays used to be simpler.

Then Oikawa huffs. Shoving a hand into his bag, he ruffles through its contents for a few moments, papers audibly crinkling, before sliding a notebook across the table. It's an old thing, the binding fraying in several places and the cover bent this way and that. Gingerly, Hinata picks it up, carefully spreading the pages—

Only to be met with a page of Xs. Dozens of tiny Xs, dutifully crossed across the Campus lines, written in with various pencils and pens, different colors and sizes.

He glances up at Oikawa, who crosses his arms, and Hinata takes that as an invitation to keep going. He flips to the next page, and it's the same thing. And the next. And the next. And the next, until he starts to get impatient and flips to the middle, where, finally, there's a highlighted yellow circle, followed by countless exclamation points.

Oikawa yawns, reaching for his mug. "Landed my first jump serve," he says lightly.

Hinata's eyes widen. He opens his mouth, before closing it shut, teeth clacking together.

Nonetheless, Oikawa smiles, a touch sardonic. Caught. "No, you can say it."

Even with permission, he hesitates. "That's a lot of Xs," he says carefully.

"Took a while." He takes a sip of coffee, placing the mug back down onto its saucer. "Do you want to guess how many times it took for our dear Tobio-chan to do the same thing?"

Hinata stays silent.

"Four," Oikawa's smile turns twisted. "Four times. I saw it happen, actually. I was in the gym with him when the ball flew over the net. Good for him, I suppose."

“Kageyama trains hard, too,” he points out quietly.

Oikawa's mouth twitches. “As hard as you?”

"Why are you telling me this?" he asks, desperately, anything to get Oikawa to stop talking. Anything to keep him from shattering the illusion of the Great King. Because if he's not the Great King, if he's not the third-year who serves bullets at Hinata's team, if he's not the figure that convinced Hinata that unstoppable monsters exist—

"Because, chibi, no matter how hard you train, someone out there will be able to do what took you months to master in the span of an afternoon."

—Then he has to come to terms with the fact that Oikawa Tooru is just as human as the rest of them.

Oikawa points a finger. "But that doesn't give you the right to give up. That doesn't give you an excuse to let up, or to drown in despair. You'll get there. Even if it takes," he falters infinitesimally, before rallying himself with a bright smile. "Even if it takes a little while."

Stamina monsters, Ukai calls them sometimes. Hinata had reveled in it, shone with pride. But sitting in a cafe in front of Oikawa dutifully doing homework while the world is still deep in its slumber, Hinata pales in comparison. Because his approach to volleyball is a sprint, Oikawa's is a marathon, and he’s ready to play the long-game in a way that Hinata can't possibly imagine.

“Well!” Oikawa declares, arms stretched high into the air, breaking the atmosphere between them. “You've ruined my Monday routine more than anyone else has in the past few months." He points an accusatory finger at Hinata. "If this was Karasuno's plan to take me down, I'm not letting you have this victory. You know where the bus is. Shoo, shoo."

"I understand," Hinata says quickly, syllables bumping into each other clumsily in his haste to get the words out. "I understand rest days now."

Oikawa raises a brow, doubtful. "Do you?"

"I..." He knows what it is now, that thing in his chest, ballooning in him until he feels like he can float from it. Hope. Because it’s possible. Someone as incredible as Oikawa, a seemingly unsurpassable mountain on court, is somehow sitting at the same table as Hinata. The curtain fell away to reveal that there were never any super powers, no magic wand that made those serves. It’s grit. It’s diligence. It’s enduring Monday after Monday with nothing but an unwavering focus on what’s in front of him. The only thing that can bring them to the level of a genius is hard work, and hard work doesn't always take place on the court. “I think I’m starting to.”

"Humph," Oikawa shoves his earphone back in his ear, turning his attention back to his worksheets. "As if I care."

Disappointment rises in him, slow and heavy. There's still so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to ask. When did you start learning jump serves? Why did you start learning jump serves? Did people look down at you, too? What’s Ushijima’s spikes like? Why is Kageyama so scared of you?

Sliding off of the faux-leather of the booth, he fights not to let the dismay too obviously on his already-readable face when Oikawa speaks again. "Did you find the bus stop last time?"

He pauses. “Yeah?”

"Good." Fingers finding his phone, Oikawa turns up his music, enough that even Hinata can hear the muffled sound from here. "Then see you next week.”

It takes a moment for him to understand what he’s saying, convincing himself he misheard. When it hits him, Hinata can't repress the garbled noise that spills from his mouth, words slurring together to make one long, string of excited noise. He all but runs out of the cafe, bell ringing shrill behind him, before Oikawa can change his mind. Hinata can't wipe the grin off his face, inspiration thrumming through his veins as he skips to the bus stop.

Mondays. He can’t wait for Mondays.

[spacenutspod]

In May, a star in the Pinwheel galaxy exploded in just the right place at nearly the right time for astronomers to unravel details of its death. It was the closest supernova to go off in the last five years. Astronomers have long been fascinated with these stellar explosions, which signal the end of life for the universe’s biggest stars. Not only are they dramatic — a supernova can shine 5 billion times as bright as our sun — but the explosions seed the universe with gold, silver, zinc and other elements forged only in a dying star’s last moments. And this supernova — designated SN 2023ixf — was perfectly placed for astronomers to capture it relatively soon after it went off. Because researchers can’t predict when a star will die, they typically wouldn’t have lots of images of a supernova from shortly after it happened, says Edo Berger, an astronomer at Harvard University. But thanks to the supernova’s position in a nearby galaxy that’s popular with stargazers, scientists were able to use images from amateur astronomers to pin down when the star exploded to within just a few hours, says astronomer Daichi Hiramatsu, also at Harvard. Having data on the explosion not long after it happened is crucial to answering many open questions about how stars’ dying moments play out. Here are three things to know about this stunning supernova. SN 2023ixf used to be a dust-shrouded red supergiant SN 2023ixf was first discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki a few days after the star exploded. Almost immediately after learning about the supernova, researchers started scouring archival data for the star it used to be, says astronomer Charlie Kilpatrick of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. “We looked at the imaging within hours of the report,” he says. Right away, he and his colleagues found something in Hubble Space Telescope images of the Pinwheel galaxy taken between 5 and 24 years earlier that looked like it could be the star, the supernova progenitor, that exploded as SN 2023ixf. It was a lucky find, as astronomers had no idea that the star would explode when the Hubble images were taken. Since then, other research teams have used other telescope images to independently confirm the identity of SN 2023ixf’s progenitor — a red supergiant cloaked in a dusty veil. Stars like this one are the most common progenitors for explosions like SN 2023ixf, Kilpatrick says. And “in a lot of ways,” he notes, SN 2023ixf “is kind of a normal supernova.” That’s a good thing, Berger says. It’s easy to get excited about supernovas that are particularly unusual. “But here we have a supernova that’s actually representative of the way that most stars die,” he says, which helps with astronomers’ overall understanding of stellar evolution. Japanese citizen scientist Koichi Itagaki was the first to spot SN 2023ixf, a supernova shown here (adjacent to the two lines at lower left) in one of Itagaki’s telescope images.Koichi Itagaki SN 2023ixf’s final years involved extreme weight loss Studying stellar deaths requires a bit of forensic analysis, Berger says. The star dies, but you don’t see it happen. “Then you kind of have to backtrack what the star was doing all the way up to that point,” he says. “And tracking how the star was losing mass is a critical part of that.” Berger and Hiramatsu recently published results suggesting that the star that exploded as SN 2023ixf lost an incredible amount of mass in its final years — an entire sun’s worth, which was far more than expected. To reconstruct these dramatic stellar death throes, the researchers scrutinized the light cast as SN 2023ixf exploded. As the star collapsed, it emitted a shock wave that set off a bright flash of light as the wave collided with material surrounding the star — including mass lost before the explosion. Using the explosion’s light to map out this material allowed the team to reconstruct SN 2023ixf’s mass loss rates leading up to the explosion. Red supergiants are known to lose mass leading up to a supernova, but far less than in the final years before this latest explosion, Hiramatsu says. Something changed for SN 2023ixf’s progenitor star — something that might happen to other stars, too, and that researchers still don’t understand. “Stellar evolution theory is just not up to the task” to tell us, Berger says. To figure out what happens in the last moments of a star’s long life, “we have to do it from data.” And this supernova is a rare chance to gather some of that data. “It’s an incredible opportunity,” Kilpatrick says. SN 2023ixf is the nearest supernova of the multi-messenger era Historically, light cast by a supernova would be the only cosmic “messenger” astronomers could use to learn about the event. But “one type of messenger is not enough for us to recover all the mysterious things about this kind of collapsing star,” says astrophysicist Zidu Lin of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who studies ghostly subatomic particles called neutrinos, which interact only very weakly with matter. Fortunately, it’s now possible to detect neutrinos or gravitational waves streaming away from certain celestial objects — possibly including stellar explosions like SN 2023ixf. At just more than 21 million light-years away, the supernova is the closest of its kind to light up the sky within the era of modern “multi-messenger” astronomy. Today’s technology isn’t quite sensitive enough to catch gravitational waves or low energy neutrinos from supernovas outside the Milky Way, including SN 2023ixf, Lin says. However, it is possible to detect a few high energy neutrinos from supernovas in nearby galaxies, like the Pinwheel. It was a bit surprising, then, none were detected from SN 2023ixf, researchers reported in September. “The nondetection of the high energy neutrinos, combined with some optical signals, might be able to form a multi-messenger analysis,” Lin says. In particular, it could help astronomers constrain ideas about exactly how high energy neutrinos are generated within dying stars.

[omitea]

𝐇𝐐! 𝐁𝐎𝐘𝐒 + 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒? - 𝐌𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒

char. haikyuu! male characters.

tags. nothing but fluff. here’s part 2 and part 3.

☆— 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐊𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐒

he was sending glances towards your food as it enters your mouth, slightly wishing he brought his own to school. “you could’ve just asked for a bite, you know,” you sighed, grabbing another spoonful and placing it in front of his mouth. he hesitated before taking a bite— looking at you suspiciously. you smiled at him and continued to eat your food. unbeknownst to you, he felt warmth pooling in the depth of his stomach and his cheeks grew warm at the thought of him sharing an indirect kiss with you.

it’s not like that was the first time you two shared one.

| hinata, SUNA, osamu, kenma, BOKUTO, OIKAWA, kageyama |

☆— 𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐏

you sat on his lap as he rubbed his warm hand over your hip, his lips slightly curving upwards to form into a small smile. “you okay there, pretty?,” he chuckled— seeing your eyes scanning all over your homework again for the nth time. damn him and him only, always taking away your focus whenever his warm body was close to yours. “yeah, just- can you stop for a moment,” you breathed out. he cocked an eyebrow, the boyish grin clearly visible on his pretty face. “stop what? i don’t know what you’re talking about,” he mumbled into your cheek, bringing your body closer to his.

and after that, you make a mental note to never do homework in his presence ever again.

| ATSUMU, MATSUKAWA, aran, tendou, hanamaki, suna, KUROO, iwaizumi, daichi |

☆— 𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

you and him entered the library, finally having some peace after leaving the dusty- smelling class. you took a seat and placed the project you both were working on— on the table. too busy preparing everything, you didn’t take notice of how close he was. you swear you could feel his warm breath on your neck, and the faint smell of his parfum was entering your nose at each breath you took. the urge to inhale his scent is concerning, you thought. “this is so much better, don’t you think?,” he asked, voice low. “just us, even if it’s for a moment,” he added. you turned towards him, eyes widening only a little bit at the fact that he was way closer than you thought he was.

“yeah…yeah it is,” you smiled, and you swear you saw the tip of his ears turn into a deep red color.

| AKAASHI, sakusa, kita, SUGAWARA, ushijima, osamu |

©𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐀. please refrain from stealing my works !

[penname-artist]

@ask-dusty-boy @fight4me @ask-shu-todoroki @jackalsprey @boeingboingboing @bobblychicken @jigsaw173 @physicalyx-613 @yaboymacaroni @artist-fan146 @c-119 @dustyismahomeboy @daichi-airbus2006 @fa18 @karakaksa @mittch22 @spottedlightning @seabladesniper @tsundere-selfship @xxa-helping-handxx @aurora-ze-aquarius (tried to get as many people as I could think of but I'm sorry if I forget anybody)

There's one other person I thought of tagging first, and can't. But you're still in my heart. 🫡🚢

-Send this to someone you love a lot but don't always know how to show that ^^ <3

[terubakudan]

NOCTURNAL BLOODLUST - Strike in fact (PV FULL)

[iwadori]

Haikyu boys when they take a joke/prank too far (Iwaizumi,Daichi)

Word count: 1.9K

Genre:angst,fluff

AN: In the spirit of April Fools I tried to make my first work based on that I hope you enjoy!! (LOL I can’t actually believe this was the first thing I’ve ever written)

Iwaizumi:

“Okay so it’s April Fools Day who are we going to prank?” asked Makki “One of the first years?”

“Do we have to prank someone this year..” replied Iwaizumi “so childish”

“Iwa-Chan!” Oikawa said “Don’t be such a spoil sport.”

“Anyways, it can’t be a first year they’re boring to prank a first year coach will be mad at us, we need someone else.”

Just then, you enter the gym, catching their eye as you approach the group sitting on Iwaizumi’s lap “Hey babe, I can still come over to yours to study right?” you ask.

“Yeah of course, practice finishes early so I'll be there before you.” He said

“Alright, see you then bye babe, bye guys” you said, giving Iwaizumi a kiss on the cheek sauntering off and waving at Makki, Mattsun and Oikawa.

“bye Y/N!” They teasingly responded in unison making you laugh.

As they watched you leave, it seemed as if a lightbulb pinged off in all of their heads (besides Iwaizumi) realizing who would be a great person to prank.  

After a lot of convincing, they finally got Iwaizumi in on the ‘harmless’ plan, all they needed to do now is wait on your arrival.

You’re finally done with school after a long and tiring day of exams upon exams and wanting nothing more than to cuddle with your boyfriend (after he teaches you Pythagoras theorem of course.) You did think he was acting weird when you met him this morning in the gym and throughout break and lunch but you just concluded that it was because he was having an ‘off’ day.

You reached his house and used a copy of his key that he gave you to enter we just enter houses up in this bitch  calling out his name “Zumi-babe, I'm here...”  

“Lets get this shit over with” you said tiredly

Upon entering, you notice none of the lights being on or curtains drawn ‘odd’ you think. You go upstairs going straight to his room hopefully to find your boyfriend in his bed or on his Xbox or something. To your surprise his bedroom door was somehow locked shut (even though not having a lock on his door anyways.) Suddenly, you hear creaks slowly trailing up the stairs and an eerie feeling surrounds you... now you start to feel pretty panicked jiggling the door handle to Iwaizumi’s door as it’s practically the only place you can go.

AN: I hate what I’m writing rn but onwards we right

The footsteps on the stairs start to quicken, and you almost certain that you felt something brush pass your shoulder only adding onto the panic and anxiety that you already feel. Ok, the footsteps on the stairs are basically right near you, so doing the only logical thing you can do you body slam the ‘person’ on the stairs as you motherfuckin should  as tears fill your eyes and you pick up bag bolting through the front door, slamming it shut now in full tears and shakingly scared.

You look behind you and see Iwaizumi’s front door re-open and out comes the ‘iNFaMouS sEiJOh fOuR’ in tears... of laughter. It seems that the boys were in laughing fits that their prank ‘payed off’ getting a reaction out of you. You couldn’t see Iwaizumi’s reaction, but you didn’t care you were hurt, annoyed and wanting to get into your bed.

Once you get home, you decide to block your so called ‘friends’ who decided to make you scared shitless and ignored Iwaizumi’s messages asking “where were you today”.... the AUDACITY.  

The next day, the boy’s seemed to realize the consequences of their actions after spending the whole day trying to get your attention only to be straight up ignored. Iwaizumi is immensely regretful after all his efforts to try talking to you were denied, he decided after his practice he was going to get you to talk to him or at least get you to listen to his apologies on what happened yesterday evening.

You left your clubroom and made your way to the school gate to go home.

“Y/N!” shouted Iwaizumi touching your shoulder making you flinch ‘wow did we really scare her that bad?”  

“What do you want iwa?” You asked very agitated

“Y/N I just want to apologize for yesterday, since it was April fools day and all the boys really wanted to prank someone and I-it just happened to be-”

“It just happened to be me. Right?” you interrupted “Gosh Iwaizumi, I was really scared.. I already had a tiring day and all I wanted was my boyfriend to teach me the stupid Pythagoras Theorem and cuddle me afterwards, but no you and your friends just had to be dicks for a day” you turn around planning to walk away before he grabs you again  

“Wait! Just wait y/n, im sorry and I wont ever prank you like that again” he pleaded

“.. and i’ll help you study?” he added pulling the sweetest face of all time to try and convince you  

“ugh, fine stop pulling that face... and you better teach me Pythagoras Theorem” you said rolling your eyes

“yeah yeah whatever you say y/n” he said pulling you under his arm and walking in the direction of his house.

A/N: WOW I DID NOT like the way this turned out but its my first official thing that I wrote hopefully HOPEFULLY MY WORK IMPROVES (I THINK IT WILL) SO please join me on this ‘ride’ in improving my work  

Daichi:

You decided this morning that you were NOT going to participate in your annual April Day Fool’s prank with Tanaka and Noya... only because of your not-so new boyfriend Daichi saying he didn’t need his teammates corrupting you any longer so you decided to not get involved. With that being said you wouldn’t even think of your boyfriend pulling a prank on you so you didn’t think you’re getting pranked today.

In the gym, the boys were doing the usual: Hinata and Kageyama running after eachother, Tanaka and Noya oogling Kiyoko, Tsukishima listening to music, Yama and Yachi going over club schedules whilst Daichi sat with Sugawara and Asahi.

“So are you pranking anyone today?” sugawara asked

“Pranking someone, isn’t that a bit too juvenile suga?” Asahi replied

“Not you silly, Daichi” said sugawara “With Y/N on his arm they always have to stay on eachothers toes right..she’s a ‘jokester’ right?”

“...right?” Daichi hadn’t thought of it that way, he did know of all your joking escapades before you even got together and how you still liked to joke around now as you date.. He didn’t want you to think that you thought he was too boring for you ?

“Ok. What type of prank should I pull on her..”

Daichi, Sugawara and Asahi (who didn’t really contribute to Suga’s scheming) made a plan for you to meet him at the gym locker with the claims that he had a ‘surprise’ for you .. oh how he was wrong.

Daichi: meet me at the gym locker I have something to show you  

Y/N: Ok!! I’ll be there in 5 minutes

Daichi was nervous, and that was an understatement he didn’t want things to go left and have you thinking he couldn’t even do a simple prank. Once you got there, he saw heard you talking to Sugawara and Asahi outside the door about him wondering where he was in which Suga told you inside the locker room.

“Hey babe” you greeted “what's the occasion in why we’re in here?”

“I...uh..um I need to get something one second” Daichi spoke quickly and rushed out the room closing the door leaving you confused. Minutes passed, and you were now impatient and kinda scared since the room was dusty, dark and cold definitely not your place to be in. You tried texting Daichi but just your luck you have no service ://  

As time went on you tried opening the door but it was jammed shut no hope opening at all you forgot you left your bag outside which of course had your inhaler which did not help the sudden shortness of breath you started to get because of your asthma and claustrophobia. All you wanted was to get out of this room and talk to … Daichi.

Daichi. How convenient that he manage to slip away before the door got closed hmm but he wouldn’t intentionally prank you after ALL the lectures he gave you about not doing pranks this year right?

You didn’t notice how you started to cry and whimper wanting to leave.

On the outside, Daichi heard your cries and ordered Sugawara and Asahi to find the key to immediately get you out which it seems to take a while because Daichi has now stopped hearing your tears making him gulp in fear thinking something bad has happened to you in there.

Sugawara comes to you handing Daichi the keys, his handing shaking as he tries to unlock the door when he eventually does he finds you passed out on the ground of the dusty storage room. Very cliché I know ://

You wake up in the Nurses Office a bit confused on how you got there until your eyes land upon Daichi, remembering how you locked you in the Storage room where you had an asthma attack and passed out. You turned your body away from Daichi not wanting to talk to him right now after the hypocrisy he did.

“Y/N.. Are you alright?” He asked

“Do I look alright?” You responded in a bored tone

“I am really sorry Y/N... I know what I said to you about not doing pranks this year but Sugawara roped me into this and I didn’t want you to think I was too boring for you so I thought doing this prank would make you see me in a different light” he said

“yeah i saw you in a different light alright” you sassed, you then realised what he said ‘too boring’ kind of feeling less mad and more sad that he feels this way “Dai, you’d never be to boring for me … you’re one of the most funness is that a word? guys I've ever met.”

“really?” he asked  

“Of course! I’m kind of still mad at you for letting this happen but I do sort of understand why” you said giving him a hug.

You were eventually cleared to go home and as you left the clinic you saw Asahi and Sugawara standing at the door.  

“Y/N WE’RE SORRY” they bowed to you waiting on your responses

You chuckled slightly at their cuteness and ruffled both of their hair “all is forgiven, just make sure there’s ‘pranks’ this year “

Which they agreed upon.  

A/N: WOW I DID NOT like the way these turned out but its my first official thing that I wrote hopefully HOPEFULLY MY WORK IMPROVES (I THINK IT WILL) SO please join me on this ‘ride’ in improving my work. Feedback is VERY MUCH APPRECIATED and request too since I will literally write whatever...

I may do a part 2 … any particular characters people want?

[myreygn]

That game of yours sounds like soooo much fuuun~ ♥️ if it's okay could I request 95 and one of my current obsessions UshiDai? If your not cool with that pairing than maybe MatsuIwa? And if you're not cool with that one either maybeeeee IwaOi? Hehe I hope this is not too troublesome, thank you~

an: okay so TECHNICALLY ushijima is on my list of characters i don't write for and i was just about to go with matsuiwa, but then i got an idea and i think it worked out just fine haha maybe it's time i try some new things - this was honestly so much fun!

warnings: gang/outlaw au, mentioned character death

¸¸♬·¯·♩¸¸♪·¯·♫¸¸¸¸♫·¯·♪¸¸♩·¯·♬¸¸

95 - ZITTI E BUONI by Måneskin

(translation to english)

If you told him two years ago that Wakatoshi would be running from the cops with the boss of a rival gang, he would've laughed. (And that means a lot, because he rarely ever smiles, let alone laughs.)

But here he is, on the top of a shed, pulling up Sawamura so they can escape through the garden of the family living in this house. At least Wakatoshi assumes that it's a family, judging by the bikes and footballs lying around on the grass. Then there's a gunshot and he realizes that he doesn't have the time to think about bikes and balls and families. (Although he feels a little bad for this one when they trample through their vegetable garden.)

"Stop dreaming!" Sawamura shouts and grabs him by the wrist, pulling him over to the fence. Wakatoshi does as he's told, despite not being the type to take orders, and jumps, lands, tumbles, runs. Soon the wailing of the sirens dies down behind them and they stop to catch a breath.

"Man, that was close." Sawamura laughs and Wakatoshi thinks that it's beautiful how he can have so much fun with something so dangerous. "Are you okay?"

"I'm good." The last person to ask him if he was okay was Tendou, half an eternity ago, before he got a bullet in the chest. It feels strangely good to have someone care for him again. (No one cares for gang bosses, and especially not the ones from high class elite gangs, the once who usually blackmail the cops instead of running away from them.)

"That must've been totally new for you, hm?" Sawamura smirks, opening the door of his hideout and letting Wakatoshi in. "I bet you never had to run from anyone before."

"I won't go against that." The sofa is old and dusty, but unlike the sofas in their own HQ, it does look like home rather than the waiting room of a dentist's office.

"Were you scared?"

"A little, maybe."

"First time is always scary. By now, we know where to go and where to hide. There are certain places cops can't follow."

There are very, very few people who Wakatoshi takes advice from, but he's able to acknowledge when it's necessary. Sawamura is definitely more skilled when it comes to running away than he is.

"Thank you for showing me how to do it."

"Don't mention it." Sawamura winks at him and it makes warmth spreads in Wakatoshi's chest. "It was a real controversy, but I don't think these things should be reserved for Karasuno only."

"But… these are your ways, right? I kind of understand why your friends wouldn't want me to know about them."

"Yeah, but sometimes it's good to let someone new walk your ways. They might find a shortcut you were unable to see, because you were too focused on what was already there."

Sawamura Daichi is a wise man, which is something Wakatoshi has been aware of before, but learns to appreciate anew every single day." You're probably right."

"Of course I am!" and then Sawamura steals a quick kiss from him, as if it's the most normal thing to do.

Maybe for him, it is. There's freedom in the Karasuno ways, freedom to do and take whatever you want whenever you want, freedom to fall out of line and be wild, be rebellious, be out of the box. A freedom Wakatoshi isn't used to yet, but if it means that Sawamura will be there along this new way they choose together, he thinks that maybe, someday, he could be.

¸¸♬·¯·♩¸¸♪·¯·♫¸¸¸¸♫·¯·♪¸¸♩·¯·♬¸¸

send numbers!

[honey-sweeeet]

call me koushi; kuroo tetsurou

(cross posted from my ao3)

'tis better to have loved and lost than to have never to have loved at all. - alfred lord tennyson

or; the angsty, feels heavy love triangle fic that nobody asked for, but i couldnt stop thinking about. (soulmate au)

word count; 15.6k 

"Now we've officially started summer break, you're free to practice from morning 'til night. Tomorrow, we're going to training camp in Tokyo. This time we're going for a whole week - it's the first and last long term training camp before preliminaries. The Spring Nationals are just around the corner... use this opportunity to learn everything you can!" Takeda explained, lecturing the group of tired teenagers gathered around him.

You and Kiyoko were too busy putting away the practice jerseys into the storeroom, trying to make cleanup faster for when the boys were brought away from their brief lecture from Takeda and Coach Ukai.

"Be here bright and early tomorrow so we can leave on time!" Takeda added, waving as he bounded out of the gym door, leaving the team in the hands of Coach Ukai and Captain Sawamura.

You brushed Kiyoko away, "I've got this. Maybe you should go see how Yachi is doing. She's not the best on her own."

Kiyoko smiled back, understanding the implied 'Yachi is probably freaking out right now, go help.'  That your words held. Yachi was still very new on her feet as a manager, and while you were no seasoned veteran, you'd at least been at it for a few months before Yachi had arrived. You knew Kiyoko had hopes that when you and the rest of the third year students left, Yachi would take over as the new manager of the club.

She was still too nervous and jumpy on her own though, she didn't really have the authority to be the manager when you and Kiyoko graduated - but she was slowly beginning to fit in day by day, the team were growing used to her and she was slowly morphing into the bold young woman Kiyoko hoped she would become.

A stray ball came flying through the doors of the storeroom and ricocheted off the back wall towards you. Unthinking, you flung your hand out to knock it away from your face, only to end up sending it right back where it came from. Poor Hinata caught the ball he had been chasing square in the chest and went flying backwards with the impact.

"Holy shit! Hinata are you okay?" You cried, dropping the last of the jerseys into the basket and whirling around to face your unsuspecting victim. "Hinata?" You ask, waving your hand in front of his face where he was laid out on the floor like a starfish. The subtle laughter of Tsukishima in the background was drowned out by Kageyama loudly scolding Hinata for being so careless, you idiot! Dachi stood fuming with his hands on his hips, ashamed that his team couldn't act like adults for one moment while Suga quietly approached to help Hinata up.

Before either yourself or Sugawara could begin to hoist Hinata from the floor, the tiny red-head bounced up on his own, grinning and wiping his dusty face from the gym floor. Suga watched you practically deflate with relief realising that the first year was fine and you hadn't actually killed him. Good, or the liability for murder would heavily fallen your shoulders there, and you didn't like the idea of being arrested any time soon.

As the small ginger ran away and was collared by an irritated Kageyama, Suga laughed as he watched you go between frowning to relieved and back to frowning.

"One day he's going to get taken out by a ball and actually die." You sighed, cursing as you stood up from the floor yourself.

Suga shrugged in response: "I'm sure that if anything is going to kill Hinata it won't be volleyball. More likely food poisoning." He shuffled awkardly on the spot for a moment, unsure if he should stay or leave.

"You should go get changed with the rest of the boys while Kiyoko and I finish up here." You said, encouraging him to follow his teammates.

"Go before Daichi comes back for you," You added with a smile, already turning to help Kiyoko lower one of the nets.

//

There was a chill in the air as you twisted the key into the lock of the gym door and headed to wait by the club room for the guys to walk home with.

“See you both in the morning,” You waved at Kiyoko as she strolled away in the opposite direction with Yachi.

Lingering in the air was a sense of anticipation, the thrill of what tomorrow would bring. The chances to learn new tricks and get ahead of the game for prelims - there were so many things your team could pick up from the Tokyo teams, and you were going to make sure they maximised their chances.

Spinning the key idly on your finger, you waited by the stairs for Daichi to come down and collect the key from you.

“We’ll be down in a minute!” Suga called, leaning over the railing above you and staring down with a lopsided grin.

“Hurry up before I freeze!” You replied, flashing a grin back at him.

“You won’t freeze, it’s the middle of summer.” He threw back, disappearing into the clubroom once more.

You shook your head, pacing back and forth in front of the metal stairs, growing impatient.

Hinata came bounding down the stairs first, bag swinging wildly behind him as he went. Your heartbeat raised as you watched him jump off three steps before the bottom and barely land on his feet.

“He’s going to give me a heart attack one day.” You frowned at Suga, pointing at the oblivious red head.

Suga laughed and joined you at the bottom of the stairs, gently taking the key from your hand and tossing it up to Daichi on the top of the steps.You tried not to let your mind linger on the fleeting touch of his skin.

Once you had all congregated and Daichi had closed the clubroom, a large huddle of you all headed off down the hill in the same direction.  Usually after practice you and the boys who lived nearby would visit Ukai’s store for snacks and then walk home together. It was like a mini routine you all had. Tsukki would pretend he didn’t want to be there but would tag along anyway with his headphones on, only ever speaking to Tadashi. Noya and Tanaka would take turns giving each other piggy back rides down the hill and that left the third year boys and yourself to walk at your own (more civilised) pace.

"You never got to go to the last training camp, did you?" Daichi asked, turning to look at you.

"I would have come along if I wasn't sick," You sighed, adjusting the weight of your gym back over your shoulders. "This one is the real deal though, a whole week to practice."

"This will be our last training camp," Asahi mumbled quietly, staring ahead as Sakanoshita store came into view.

Suga whirled around and slapped him in the ribs, hard. "Enough of the sentimental rubbish! We haven't even been to the camp yet. And we still have Nationals to play before you can get all sad about it."

"I'm sorry!" Asahi cried, guarding his stomach from Suga's angry slapping. "I was just pointing it out!"

"He is right," You said, reaching over to pull Suga away from Asahi. "It will be the last training camp, but that doesn't mean we should be sad about it. It's a chance for us to learn as much as we can before pre-lims. That should be cause to be happy, not moping around."

Daichi just nodded solemnly beside you, pushing his hands into his pockets as you all continued to the front of Ukai's store. Nobody else seemed to need to add anything onto what you had said, Asahi was just glad Suga had stopped slapping him out of his negative mindset and Daichi was welcoming some peace and quiet finally. Tsukki and Tadashi vanished inside the store after Noya and Tanaka, and Daichi followed. You stayed outside with Suga and Asahi, waiting for the meat buns Daichi promised to pick up from Coach.

"We're going to give Coach that Nekoma showdown at Nationals, I just know it." You grinned, leaning your head back to look into the dusky evening sky.

"Now who's getting sentimental?" Asahi mumbled, warily glancing at Suga for fear of another punch.

"I just have a good feeling about nationals, that's all." You add, not falling for Asahi's negative mindset. He was such a gentle giant, but he really did have a habit of assuming the worst before it even happened.

Suga was about to open his mouth to reply when Noya came sprinting out of the shop with an entire popsicle in his mouth, incoherently goading Tanaka as he went. Daichi followed, frowning but used to their behaviour. Taking one of the meat buns from Daichi, you thanked him and sat down on the concrete infront of the shop doorway. Suga dropped his bag and sat beside you, stretching his long legs out in front of himself.

"How good actually is Nekoma? I've never seen them play before." You asked, looking up at where Daichi stood infront of you both.

"They have a very solid defence, last time it seemed like they were playing the long game to wear us out." He replied, biting into his own meat bun.

"Their setter is observant too, I don't think we'll get much past him." Suga piped up. "The biggest challenge will be figuring him out before we're too exhausted to keep up."

"So they have their very own Kageyama, huh?" You asked.

"They have been to nationals before, so that puts them at an advantage too. They're seasoned veterans."

"Never overlook the underdog." You laughed, finishing your mouthful and leaning back onto the shop forecourt.

"What are you doing?" Came a loud voice from behind you. Surprised, you jolted upright and wheeled around to look at the source of the noise. Standing there, Ukai angrily had a hand on his hip with a broom clenched in the other fist.

"I told you to go home and go to bed! You need to be back here before 6am tomorrow." Keishin cried, swatting at you and Suga with his brush to make you stand.

"Sorry coach!" You yelled over your shoulder as Suga and Daichi began to usher the first and second years away from Sakanoshita.

A short while down the path, you met with the crossroads. Tsukki walked away without saying anything, Yamaguchi quietly following after waving a meek goodbye. Noya and Tanaka part ways with a fist bump as Daichi and Asahi also peel away towards their respective homes.

"See you guys in the morning. Don't stay up late." Daichi called as he walked away. You and Suga were left to stand together while the others headed home.

"Let's get going then." Suga breathed, setting off down the road towards your houses.

The silence was refreshing in the dusky evening while the streetlights turned on one by one in the distance. Suga kept his hands in his pockets, not quite knowing what to do. It was always fine being around you when the other guys were there, but being alone still put him in an awkward spot even after walking you home for almost the last year. He tried, but he couldn't help the fact that around you he was nervous. That confident, authoritative third year that he was on the court was nowhere to be found when you fell in step beside him and tipped your head back to watch the clouds cover the moon.

Maybe all the teasing from the other boys behind the closed doors of the clubroom was right, he was hopless. He smiled as he looked down at his feet, knowing that Daichi was right. Suga was gone - fallen hook, line and sinker.

You both begin to slow as your house comes into view, knowing that Suga would carry on until the end of the street once you had left.

"Thanks for walking me home, Suga. I'll see you in the morning!" You called, walking backwards up your driveway. "Sleep well."

"...Call me Koushi," Suga mumbled under his breath as he watched you reach your own front door.

You waved, he waved back.

//

You yawned, staggering off the bus on shaky, tired legs. The last few hours you'd been cramped into a tiny seat and you'd been constantly rattled awake whenever the bus hit a particularly deep pothole in the road. It was certainly not a comfortable sleep, and despite actually going to bed early like you promised Suga, you were still exhausted. Your body was not your biggest fan, all your muscles aching as you rose from your cramped seat with your bag in hand.

You stood between Suga and Asahi, all three of you sullenly stretching your stiff muscles and helping Coach take all of the bags out of the back of the van. Daichi had vanished to go find the other captains who were meeting them to show you all to your classroom, leaving the rest of the third years to keep an eye on the younger boys while also making sure nobody forgot their bags. You weren't fully sure if you were mad because you'd been woken up several times from your nap or if you were mad because Daichi had left the rest of you in the lurch last minute.

Eventually, when everyone had their things and the bus had been thoroughly vacated, Daichi returned with a lanky male with wild black hair. Presumably he was one of the Tokyo captains, although for which team you had no idea whatsoever.

"So, is that the Tokyo Tower over there?" You heard Hinata cry in the distance, excitedly nudging a slender boy with bleached hair.

"No, that's just a normal radio tower." The other boy replied quietly. "Sorry."

"What's the deal? You guys don't have steel towers in Miyagi? Is this, like, a real thing I don't know about?" Teased the Tokyo captain, grinning lazily at you all standing by the bus.

"Oh, well excuse us simple country folk if we don't know what the Tokyo tower looks like." Daichi shot back, tilting his head back to stare down the stranger with the dark hair. You assumed they must know each other because of the last training camp, but you don't push. You simply join the crowd following the stranger towards Shinzen high school.

"Ah- this is Saitama. We're not even in Tokyo." You pointed out. Suga laughed quietly beside you as you all trudged along.

//

"I want recieve and serve practice now, make sure you're roatating. The sets won't begin for another half an hour. I want at least one spike rotation for the front line. We'll be swapping players constantly, so be prepared for that." Keishin intructs, pointing out the far corner of the gym where Kiyoko and Yachi were already setting up. Every other team captain was already running their team through their warm ups, and Daichi followed suit by leading the team away.

"Can you go find Nekomata and ask for the schedule?" Ukai turns to look at you, hands on his hips as the rest of the team follow Daichi in their stretching.

"Sure thing." You say, picking up your water bottle from the bench and heading for the door.

//

You clutched at the game schedule in your hand, covered in the last minute changes scrawled in Nekomata's red pen. Taking a swig from your water bottle, you glance over at the Karasuno listings. There were no changes to your sets, just a slightly longer break between the Nekoma and Shinzen matches. That was good news, it would give the boys more time in the afternoon to regroup and go over strategies with Coach.

You strolled into the gym, flipping over the sheet to take a glance at the listings for tomorrow. The sounds of volleyballs ricocheting off the walls and floor, deflected by recieves and shot down by spikes were all that you could hear while the teams all warmed up before the start of the first sets.

"Hey, excuse me? Are you busy?" Came a voice. You didn't particularly pay attention to it, not thinking you were being spoken to. "You there, in the Karasuno jacket!" It came again.

You looked up at that, not sure who was talking to you. Turning around, you notice the Nekoma captain leaning against the pole for the net, beckoning you over.

"Are you busy?" He repeats, catching your gaze.

"No - sorry, did you need something?" You reply, turning on your heel to head over to him.

"Can you just help me raise the net up?" He asks, gesturing at the other pole on the opposite side of the court. "It's just a bit too low."

"Sure." You replied, placing your schedule on the floor and pinning it in place with the bottle. "Who hung it this low? You might as well not have a net." You laugh, loosening the net locks to allow the slack to drop out.

"It was your manager, the blonde one? I think she was setting them up earlier." He replies, letting the now completely slack net drop to the floor.

You both removed the pins from your poles and lifted them to the groove slightly higher than before.

"Oh, Yachi? Yeah that makes sense. She's new."

"I figured," He nods thoughtfully, reaching up to pull the top rope over the pole to hook it. "I didn't see her at the Golden Week match. But then again, I didn't see you at the last training camp either." He pointed out, glancing over the rim of the loose net to meet your gaze.

You shrug, taking up your own end of the slack net. "I was sick last time, so I had to pass."

He nods, without adding anything else while you both secured the net.

"Are you sure you're going to reach that? Do you need a stool or something to stand on?" He pipes up, leaning against the pole with his arms folded and the most shit-eating grin you'd ever seen.

"You're just hilarious." You sigh, but a smile crept out from your teeth nonetheless.

"Just making sure." He cackles, raising his hands in mock surrender.

"Thank you for your help," He added on sincerely. Well, you didn't expect that one.

"You're welcome," You smile, tying the slipknot around the crank hook.

"Kuroo Tetsurou, nice to meet you." He says, handing you back your water bottle and paper schedule. "I can take it from here."

You introduce yourself, shaking the hand he offered in greeting. "See you around, Kuroo."

Finally, you managed to head over to your team, sipping from your water bottle as you went.

"I got the schedule, we have no game changes, just a longer break this afternoon." You say, passing the sheet over to Coach Ukai when you approach his seat on the bench. He takes it from you, brow furrowed as he reads the listings. He nods to himself a few times before standing up and calling the team over.

He pushes his tracksuit sleeves up to the elbow, sternly looking around at the gathered team members in their practice jerseys. Suga looks over at you, smiling. He subtly gestures at you to come over to him, reaching his hand out towards you.

"Can I have some of your water? I'm dying in this heat." He whispers when you get close enough.

"I'll go fill the bottles up. Stop trying to steal mine." You laugh quietly, pushing the drink behind your back where he can't reach it.

"Life saver." He grins, sticking you a thumbs up as you process that he just played you for his water refilling. You shake your head in mock anger at him, wagging a finger in his face as you try reprimand him for his sly games.

"Hey!" Hinata calls as you begin to turn away from Suga. "Are you not warm in that jacket? I'm boiling over here!"

"Well, I'm not really moving around like you guys are." You blush, trying to divert the question. "Anyway, I'll be back with the water soon."

"Sugawara! Are you listening?" Ukai grumbles, fixing his stare at the setter. He flushes, pretending to zip his lips as you walk away with the water bottle carrier.

//

Heading back from the sink, you heave the carrier up a little higher to adjust your grip on it. Damn you for offering to fill them up. It wasn't your fault that Suga could pretty much convince you of anything when he smiled like that. Damn that boy.

As you rounded the corner towards the gym, a large mass slammed into you at the last minute. The giant, bounding frame of the Nekoma first year stumbled backwards while you overbalanced with the weight of the water bottles in your hand.

When you landed on the floor, the previously secured bottles rocked out of their holder and rolled out in all directions. The water you'd just spent the last ten minutes filling up was now all over yourself and the floor, seeping through your thick Karasuno track jacket.

"Lev! Watch where you're going!" Kuroo reprimanded, pulling Lev back by his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Kuroo. I didn't see her there-" Lev mumbled, twiddling his fingers together anxiously. The absolute giant, Lev Haiba, was currently blushing and cowering at the angry glare Kuroo was sending his way.

"That's exactly why I told you to slow down!" Kuroo whirled around, making an exasperated hand gesture. "Are you okay?" He asked in a more gentle tone, turning to look at you.

You nodded, wiping away some of the water pooling on your tracksuit trousers before they got too soaked as well. Wordlessly, he offered you his hand and pulled you from the accumulating puddle of drinking water that the bottles were still pouring out onto the floor.

"Lev, I believe you have something to say to the lady." Kuroo says, turning around and folding his arms expectantly.

"I'm sorry, I'll clean this up." He mumbles, messing with his hands.

"It's okay. I can always refill these." You point out, starting to pick the spilled bottles up one by one and replace them in the carrier.

"Lev, go fill these back up and take them to the Karasuno team. We can clean this up." Kuroo sighed, bending down to collect the last two stray bottles.

"Okay." Lev whispered, reaching down to take the carrier from you. "Um-" Lev added.

"What?" Kuroo sighed, rubbing at his eyes in annoyance.

"Are you not warm in that jacket?" Lev asks you, only meeting your gaze for a second or two.

"Oh-" You stutter. "No, no I'm kind of cold... I guess," You lie, not wanting to have to take your jacket off.

"If you're cold, you can take mine and go get changed into something dry." Kuroo replies quickly, sliding his own Nekoma track jacket from his shoulders.

"No- no it's okay. I'm sure I can find a spare Karasuno one." You protest.

"...You just said you're cold. Take it while you get yours dried." He insists, holding out the jacket to you.

"...Thank you." You smile, looking at the floor.

"Go get changed, you'll only be more cold if you're wearing soaked clothes." He points out.

"I'll make a start on this," he laughs, gesturing at the sizeable puddle in the middle of the corridor. Lev was already heading back where he came from to try replace the water before Kuroo yelled at him any more.

"I'll be back as quick as I can," You say, quickly turning and dashing for the stairs leading up to the second floor classroom where everyone had just dropped their bags before heading straight for the gym.

Sighing, Kuroo heads for the closest storage cupboard to try and find a mop to clean up after his idiot of a teammate. He had managed to get most of it cleaned up to the point it was no longer a hazard for people to slip on by the time Lev returned with the refilled bottles.

"Kuroo, I got the bottles refilled." Lev calls at him down the corridor. You haven't made it back yet, presumably you were still changing. Kuroo sighed once more.

"Come on then, Lev. Let's get these to where they need to be." Kuroo leads the way towards the gymnasium, Lev trailing behind with the large carrier of water.

Karasuno were still warming up, as were the rest of the teams. From the doorway, Kuroo spotted Daichi and that tiny carrot-top first year talking at the far side of the gym. Lev was still trailing behind Kuroo, not even attempting to head over to Hinata out of fear that Kuroo would give him extra receiving drills as punishment.

"Excuse me." Kuroo called, the two Nekoma students towering over Daichi and Hinata.

"Can we help you?" Daichi asked, turning away from his conversation with Hinata. Suga turned his head in the direction of the newcomers out of mild curiosity.

"My underclassman has something to say to you all." Kuroo said, stepping aside so Lev could no longer hide behind him.

"Hey Lev!" Cried Hinata, uncaring of the other conversation going on. "What are you doing over here?"

Lev cleared his throat, awkwardly shifting the water carrier in his hands. "I- I'm here to deliver your water bottles." He shuffled on his feet, thrusting the carrier towards Daichi.

Confused, Daichi took the water from the tall boy. "Well, thank you. But why are you delivering them?"

Daichi and Suga glanced between the Tokyo players in confusion. Lev shot Kuroo a pleading look, as if to try escape the situation. Kuroo just folded his arms and raised his eyebrows as a prompt. Lev sighed, looking at his feet as he bowed.

"I kind of... knocked your manager over on her way back here..." He admitted.

"Is she okay?" Suga pipes up, slightly distressed.

Kuroo waves his hand, features softening. "She's okay. I told her to go change into some dry clothes while Lev refilled your water."

Suga just nods absently, still planning to check on you when he had the afternoon break.

"Thanks for letting us know, I guess we'll see you later." Daichi nods, setting the water on the ground by his feet. Kuroo nods back at his fellow captain, leading Lev back towards where the rest of the Nekoma team were warming up.

"I'm telling Yaku about this." Kuroo quietly whispers to Lev when they're out of earshot.

//

The heat was really taking it's toll on everyone in the gym, and it didn't help that there were five teams moving around at the same time. Every door and window had been cranked open, but the dry, hot wind was offering no relief in the slightest. Suga found himself hunched over on one of the benches outside, taking long, desperate swigs from his water bottle. Daichi was leaning on the wall beside him, futilely trying to wipe away the sweat gathered on his forehead.

Some of the other boys were sprawled out like starfish on the grassy slope, chests heaving from the penalty run they just completed.

"Take a break for a while, catch your breath. But be back here in twenty minutes so we can go over the game plan before we go against Shinzen." Ukai called, leaning against the doorway to the gymnasium.

Some of the boys just groaned at the prospect of versing Shinzen, but some of the smarter second and first years made a slow crusade towards the shade of the trees in the distance. Sighing, Suga threw his head back against the wall behind him.

"I'm going to the bathroom," He groaned, stretching his back out as he stood from the bench. Placing his water in the shade of the doorway, he turns on his heel and heads back inside.

It was so uncomfortably hot, and there was no respite from it. The water was lukewarm all the time and there was no breeze to take their sweltering discomfort away. Really, the bathroom excuse was to just try and find wherever you had vanished to - he'd not seen you since you left the gym earlier with the water bottles, surely you couldn't still be changing? If you were then you'd missed two sets since you vanished.

Taking the stairs two at a time, he makes his way up to the second floor of the main school building, trying to remember the way towards the classroom Karasuno had been assigned to stay in. That was the first place he thought to check, realising that if you weren't in the gym, that would be the only other place you would realistically have gone to. As he rounds the corner, Suga hears some heavy shuffling and the occasional thud coming from somewhere down the corridor, echoing through the empty classrooms lining the entire hallway. Curiously, he pokes his head into class 1-9, hoping to see you in the Karasuno team room.

And he does find you.

You're pacing around the room, headphones in, sweating heavily as you drag futons from the doorway into the middle of the room to make a sleeping space. Your laboured breaths from the heat could be heard from outside the room as you dragged the bedding around all by yourself. Before he knocks on the door to alert you of his arrival, he freezes on the spot for a second or two.

Just why on earth are you wearing a Nekoma jacket instead of your Karasuno track one? And why on earth are you even wearing one in this heat anyway? Confused, Suga knocks on the door to anounce himself.

"Need some help?" He asks, snapping your attention to him. You freeze in the middle of throwing a duvet onto one of the futons, removing one of your headphones.

"No- I'm doing fine." You grin back, bending over to straighten the duvet out.

"What's with the jacket? Are you not warm?" He asks, wordlessly pacing over and taking up one of the rolled up duvets himself.

You wave him away with a blush. "No, no. I like having my jacket on."

He clears his throat, uncertain of if he should ask what he wants to ask. He takes a moment in the silence of you both dragging the futons into lines along the walls to think to himself.

"So, the Nekoma captain came over with that first year to apologise about knocking you over earlier. You doing okay?" He asks, putting his hands on his hips after tossing a pair of pillows onto the sleeping mats in the far corner.

"I'm fine. My clothes got soaked though, so they're drying off while I do this." You reply, gesturing over at your dripping wet Karasuno jacket sprawled over the top of the windowsil, slowly undulating in the breeze.

"...You could have come and got my jacket." He adds, suddenly very unsure of why he was saying that.

"You were busy playing, and I didn't want to disrupt that. I'm fine anyway, my jacket will be dry by this evening. No harm done." You grin, moving one of the boy's backpacks aside to clear a space for the last few futons for the team.

"I wouldn't have minded." He replies, turning away to hide his embarrassed grimace under the pretence of fixing up one of the pillows (which was already perfectly fine, but he didn't want to look at you right now.)

"Suga, it's fine. Really," You turn around, nudging him with a smile.

"Come on - I'll bring the futons over if you can do the duvets." He replies, brushing the conversation away.

"Are you just trying to avoid practicing?" You laugh, gently swatting him with the pillow in your hand.

He laughs a little in response, shrugging back at you as he drags the final two futons into place by the windows. "Maybe."

"I'll snitch to Coach." You joke, and he knows you don't mean a word of it.

You work in silence, and he stews in his thoughts for a while about the sour feeling behind his bellybutton that arises whenever he catches a glimpse of you wearing the Nekoma Captain's track jacket. He tells himself he's hurt because the team just lost a set to Nekoma, but he isn't sure he fully believes himself.

//

You sigh, leaning back in your chair and attempting to stretch your spine over the backrest. The tension leaves your back in a series of satisfying crunches as you slowly turn your torso side to side, returning to rest your elbows on the table infront of Kiyoko and Yachi. You were settled down in the room next to the Karasuno boys, thankfully allowing you all some peace and quite but also some privacy too. Although, the peace and quiet was being ruined by some of the second years in the room next door to you all having a rowdy conversation and the occasional dull thuds sounded suspiciously like a pillow fight was going on since Daichi wasn't around.

Some of the more determined third and first years on your team were still out practicing as long as they could before food was served later on, leaving the likes of Noya and Tanaka alone with Narita to control. You were brought out of your tired reverie by a timid knock at the door.

"Hey... the rest of the managers are going to the baths now. Do you guys want to join us?" Came the bubbly yet uncertain voice of Eri Miyanoshita from the doorway. The young Ubugawa manager winced at a particularly loud thud of a pillow hitting the wall in the adjactent room.

"Sure, why not?" You sigh tiredly as you heave yourself up from the chair and rifle around for your wash bag in the mess of your mattress.

Kiyoko and Yachi timidly follow behind you, not the biggest talkers when it came to strangers. Thankfully, the managers at the camp had all been easy enough to get to know.

Eri leads you expertly through the winding corridors of Shinzen high, presumably from attending the training camps there in the past. The baths in the girl's side of the gyms were already steamed up from the Shinzen and Fukurodani managers warming the water up while Eri had gone to track you guys down. It was humid in the room, and you froze in the threshhold of the room as the door closed behind you and Mako and Yukie began making small talk as they started undressing. You had made a major oversight.

Noticing your slightly apprehensive expression, Kiyoko turned to you: "This is common practice in Japan. There's no reason to be uncomfortable," She tried to reassure you, realising that the non-native Karasuno student was probably a bit shocked at what was happening.

You shook your head slightly, knowing this was normal in Japan. That wasn't what was concerning you.

"No... I'm not uncomfortable," You mumble in response, the embarrassment bringing a flush to your face that was disguised by the steam gathering in the room.

"It's fine, come relax." Yukie says, stepping into the large waist-high bath in the centre of the room. You dither on the spot for a moment, not sure what to do. You couldn't exactly leave now, but you also didn't want to stay and freak them all out when you got changed.

Kiyoko offered a reassuing smile to you as she headed to place her clothes in one of the lockers lining the far wall.  Uncertain, you followed behind Kiyoko at a distance, shower bag in hand.

Trying your best to hide yourself from view behind one of the locker doors, you undressed. Which you realised was a useless endeavour because they'd have to see eventually and there really was no hiding it now. You'd fucked up. You really should have thought things through better before agreeing to come to the baths. You took a deep breath to gather yourself, but realised it was useless as the room went silent and all small talk had ceased.

There were a few shocked murmurs going around the room behind your back and you flushed once more, tying your hair out of the way and trying to compose yourself before facing your friends. You knew why they would be shocked, the cultural difference from where you'd lived before was a very wide gap when compared to Japan.

You knew tattoos other than soulmate marks tended to be a bit taboo, especially in small, rural towns.

"Are they real?" Came the clipped, somewhat worried voice of Yukie. She had sank up to her chin in the water and was pinning you with a rather apprehensive stare.

"...They're real." You say slowly, extending your ink-covered arms towards them all. Your legs were also coiled with linework, some creeping up into your hips and lower back. "I got them before I moved to Japan. I didn't want to freak you guys out." You admit, embarrassed tears pooling at your waterline. You tried to pass it off as steam gathering on your face.

"Is that why you've been wearing a jacket all day?" Mako asks, fiddling with her hands in the warm water.

You nod, lacing your fingers behind your back and staring at the tiled floor.

"Just- can we keep this a secret?" You ask, meeting Kiyoko's gaze.

"Of course. You got them before you moved, they're a common thing to have." Yachi pipes up, trying to awkardly cover the silence of the atmosphere. The rest of the girls offer up silent affirmations and you take the opportunity to shuffle timidly towards the water and sink underneath.

Kaori giggles all of a sudden, glancing at you. "How do you even remember which one is your soulmate tattoo? I know I'd never be able to keep track."

"Everyone remembers their soulmate tattoo." Yukie adds, rolling her eyes. She glances at you, and you can tell everybody in the room has a thousand questions to ask you.

"You can ask me, I know you all want to say something." You say, sinking to your chin in the water.

A clamour of questions erupts at once, voices overlapping as curious girls try to find out as much as they can about the life of the foreign student practically covered ankle to shoulder in tattoos.

You blink, a little shocked, and try to answer them as fast as possible.

//

"Dude, this is such a good idea." Tanaka whispers as he and Noya sneak through the boy's gym and into the girl's building.

"A perfect opportunity," Noya whispers back, slowly cracking open the door to the baths. They crouch in the doorway, peering through the steam of the tiled room. Suddenly, Noya freezes in position.

"I can't see anything, where is Kiyoko?" Tanaka whispers, nudging his friend.

"...Tanaka..." Noya warns, eyes wide in shock. "Did you see that?"

"See what?"

"The new girl... look at her." Noya points out.

"Oh my god. We need to tell Daichi," Tanaka gasps, seeing you tattooed shoulders rising out of the bathwater beside Kiyoko's. He could barely make it out for the steam coming from the other girls washing their hair under the showers, but he could see the ink patterns clearly enough to know it was a problem.

They glance at each other briefly, then take off down the corridor back from where they came. They bounced lightly on their feet for fear of alerting the girls to the sounds of their footsteps. When they hit the corner, they skidded around it at full speed and took off running properly towards the boy's gym, now confidently out of hearing range. Panting, chests heaving, the two burst through the doors for the second gym where they knew Daichi and Suga had said they'd gone to practice earlier.

"What is going on?" Daichi calls, straightening up from his position ready to recieve one of Bokuto's spikes. On the other side of the net Suga paused in place, catching the ball in his hands instead of setting to Fukurodani's ace. Apparently their practice had attracted two Tokyo players, as the captains from Nekoma and Fukurodani had also decided to join in.

"Daichi- you need to come see this, dude." Tanaka pants as he tries to get his breath back, doubling over with his hands on his knees.

"What did you two do?" Suga asks, an amused smirk playing across his face.

"We think the new girl is in a gang." Noya fills in, staring right at his captain.

"What are you talking about?" Suga asks, the playful look completely dropping from his face. He doesn't notice, but Kuroo and Daichi exchange knowing glances with each other.

"We were just outside the girl's bathroom and we saw-" Noya begins.

"You were what?" Daichi yells, cutting the second year off in the middle of his sentence. Suga puts one hand on his hip in angry disapproval while Bokuto's face lights up at the drama unfolding in front of his eyes. The tall spiker thoroughly enjoyed any type of excitement thrown his way, and even if it wasn't any of his business, he would of course be sticking his nose in.

"We... saw her in the shower..." Tanaka admits, meekly. Daichi looks furious, the sweat on his forehead gathering in his furrowed brow. He is beyond angry, and Tanaka is worried about what is going to happen to them.

"What the hell were you two thinking?" Daichi yells, striding over to the two of them. Even Kuroo flinches a little at Daichi's raised voice. "I thought you two knew better. This is serious, what the hell were you thinking?"

"Daichi, trust us. We really do think she's in a gang. Please, just come take a look. It's serious." Noya bargains.

"I swear to god-" Daichi growls, yanking the both of them by the collars. "You'd best be correct about this or you're dead."

Suga hurredly follows after his friend and captain, slightly concerned for what would happen to Noya and Tanaka if Daichi got even more mad at the two of them. Kuroo and Bokuto followed along, exchanging mischevious grins as they waited to find out what Daichi would do. Nothing this interesting ever happened at the other training camps, so there was no way they were missing out on this one. Wordlessly, they all made their way towards the girl's bathroom, Daichi leading with Noya and Tanaka's shirt collars in his tight grip.

In the time it had taken for Tanaka and Noya to find (and convince) Daichi, most of the girls had left. It was just yourself and Kiyoko in there, but Kiyoko had vanished around the corner to change while you stayed in the shower to wash your hair. You'd let Yachi go before you, opting to have a quiet heart-to-heart with Kiyoko and made her promise to try and keep your little secret on the down-low. Unbeknownst to you, it would be useless anyway, as there was a small crowd gathered outside the slightly ajar bathroom door. Your secret was about to be very public, and you had no idea what was happening.

Meanwhile, Suga was flustered with the sight before him, the planes of your bare back were sending his head in every direction imaginable.

His first coherent thought once his embarrassment had settled was to search your left shoulder for the same mark he had on his own shoulder. All he needed was for you to turn around slightly so he could spot that familiar patch of ink that would tell him you were meant to be by his side - but you didn’t turn away from the stream of water pouring down your face. He just needed a tiny glance.

“See? I told you Daichi!” Noya whisper-yelled, pulling on the captain’s sleeve. “She’s in a gang, I’m telling you.”

“She’s not in a gang! And that doesn’t excuse you from staring at the girls in the shower. It’s so unbelievably wrong - and you’re going to apologise in the morning.” Daichi grumbled back, swatting Noya away and fixing Tanaka with a withering stare.

Suga was too fixated on trying to catch a glimpse of your shoulder that he almost missed the conversation behind him.

“Dude!” Bokuto hissed, yanking at Kuroo’s shirt collar. “That’s the same tattoo you’ve got on your back!” He added in a stage whisper. Kuroo made a choking sound from the strength his friend put into tugging at his shirt. It bunched aroud the front of his neck while Bokuro kept tugging at the fabtic.

“Stop...” Kuroo whispered, trying to slap the excited boy’s hands away from the back of his neck. Bokuto was undeterred, excitedly trying to pull Kuroo’s collar down to expose the gap between his shoulder blades.

“Cut it out!” Kuroo repeated, trying to spin around and turn away from his friend.

“But she’s your soulmate!” Bokuto argued, landing his hands square on Kuroo’s shoulders.

Everyone went silent.

Kuroo tried to not look at Suga, for fear of the guilt inside him bubbling over and spilling out in a rather embarrassing way. He didn’t want to ruin the setter’s pride, nor did he want to hurt his feelings either. It was tense while everyone looked between each other and then finally, towards Suga.

“Well, food should be ready in a while. We should probably hit the showers too before the first years take over.” Suga laughed, clapping Daichi on the shoulder and heading off down the corridor.

Kuroo cursed under his breath, pleading eyes looking to Daichi for help.

“I’ll take care of him.” Daichi replied, watching Kuroo’s shoulders curl forward with guilt. Daichi ushered Tanaka and Noya away from the showers, continuing scolding them as he dragged them by their collars.

“I feel so bad...” Bokuto sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s okay.” Kuroo smiled, but it did not quite reach his guilt-heavy eyes.

//

Sighing, Daichi rolled over onto his side, trying to find a cold patch on the mattress. He'd already flipped his pillow over several times to try find some relief from the Tokyo summer heat, but his shirt was still sticking stubbornly to his chest with a thin layer of sweat. They had pushed all the windows open before sleeping but it had done nothing to fight against the sweltering atmosphere in the room.

Daichi laid there, mouth dry and hair slicked against his forehead with sweat. He grunted as he rolled around, kicking the blanket away from his legs in frustration. Everyone else in the room had also kicked their blankets away from themselves or at the very least stuck their legs out of the sides of the duvet.

Aside from one.

As Daichi rolled over onto his side, he furrowed his brows at the hunched form beside him in the dark. Disoriented from waking up, he couldn't immediately tell his left from right in the foggy frustration of his tired mind, so he didn't immediately register if it was Asahi or Suga facing away from him with the blankets pulled up to their ears. He sat up on his futon a little, kicking the knotted blanket off his ankles.

"Are you okay?" He whispers into the darkness, realising that he was stupid to not have recognised which one of his friends was hunched in the dark like this, not sleeping. Of course it would be Suga after the evening's revelation.

Startled, Suga's shoulders stiffened up beneath the blanket. Not turning over to even glance at Daichi, he quietly replies:

"Yeah I'm fine. Just too warm to sleep."

"You'd be a lot less warm if you didn't have the duvet up that high." Daichi pointed out.

Suga stays silent, and Daichi wonders if he has actually fallen asleep before his friend rolls over onto his back. He lets his legs splay out on the mattress and pushes the duvet away from his face as he stares up at the ceiling with furrowed brows.

"I'll be fine. I just need a while." He sighs quietly, and even though Daichi spots the tears gathered along Suga's waterline, he doesn't point them out.

"It's understandable if you're not okay right now."

"... I knew it might happen. I just didn't want to think that it would."  Suga replies, rubbing his eye sockets with the heels of his palms.

"It's probably not what you want to hear right now, but this just means that there's someone else that's even better fitted to you. Someone you're going to love even more." Daichi whispers, fanning himself with his damp shirt collar.

"You're right. I didn't want to hear that. But you're not wrong." Suga admits, turning his pillow over tiredly. "Doesn't make it hurt any less."

"It probably won't stop hurting for a while, and I'm not going to tell you to just get over it because that's not how things work." Daichi also flops down onto his back, lying beside his dear friend. "But I'm just saying it's not the end of the world, even if it feels like it right now."

"I know, I just wish it wasn't him," Suga whispers with a shaky breath, folding his arms behind his head and staring up at the dark ceiling. He lays there in the darkness, hoping for a breeze to pass through the window and offer him the tiny bit of comfort his body and heart needed at that moment.

There is no wind.

//

Karasuno was losing almost every set, and they were beginning to struggle in the unbearable summer sun that beat down on the hills outside Shinzen as they sprinted out their pentalty laps. Suga's chest was heaving in the heat, his plain practice shirt sticking to him with the layer of sweat that followed every player around in the blazing sunshine. Every time they lost a set, the penalty dashes became more draining; since they were all already tired out from the running they couldn't put enough effort into the next sets. It was a really destructive spiral to be caught in, and Suga was feeling the effects of it already and it wasn't even midday.

As he walked down the hill beside a silently stewing Noya and a wiped out Asahi, hollers of joy could be heard from below. The three boys exchanged a confused glance, and Noya took off running to find out just what was happening without him knowing about it.

"I don't know how he still has the energy to run after all this," Suga sighed, sliding his hands onto his hips and leaning back to bathe his sweaty forehead in the sun.

"Beats me..." Whined Asahi in response.

Eventually, the two exhausted men reached the bottom of the incline, right into the middle of the chaos of the yelling and hollering. Hinata was running towards a rather pertrified looking Kenma with a slice of watermelon in each hand. As he barrelled past Suga and Asahi, he laughed:

"The girls brought watermelon!" And carried on sprinting away towards his quiet friend.

Perked up by the revelation, Asahi and Suga head over towards the crowd gathered around the managers who were handing out watermelon to the players that were acting like they'd never eaten before in their lives. They slowly made their way between the jostle of volleyball players heading towards the shade of the buildings or trees with thick chunks of watermelon in their hands.

"Come on! Before it gets warm!" You grin, waving at Asahi and Suga. They notice your almost empty plate in your hand, and Suga frowns when he notices you're still wearing your jacket when everyone else has abandoned theirs. Gratefully, Asahi took two slices and passed one over to Suga.

"This looks glorious," Asahi commented, appraising the watery fruit in his palm. "And it's cold," He added with a satisfied sigh.

"Lifesaver," Suga mumbled, looking down at his own fruit rather than meeting your gaze.

Asahi glanced between the two, not sure what to do. Daichi had warned him, of course, so he knew what to avoid mentioning. But he wasn't a very sociable person, he struggled to figure out what to do in awkward situations like this. He just wanted the ground to swallow him whole, or turn around and sprint in the opposite direction to let you and Suga talk it out. You raise your eyebrows at Asahi, glancing over at Suga's deflated form. He just shrugs in response, not wanting to let anything slip when he wasn't supposed to. Suga really didn't need that right now.

"So... have you had any yet?" Asahi asks you, an awkward blush rising up his neck from how formal the conversation was becoming.

"Not yet- we've got enough left though, don't you worry." You grin, lifting your plate towards two passing Ubugawa players who quietly take slices with polite smiles and nods as they walk towards the respite of the shade.

"You both look like you need a sit down. Especially you," You say, pointing at Suga's deflated shoulders. You adjust the plate into one of your hands and reach up to press the back of your other against Suga's forehead. "You're burning up from running in the sun too long. Go sit in the shade and get something to drink. I don't want you getting sick."

Suga just mumbles back at you, finally looking up and meeting your gaze. He nods, the ghost of a smile dancing across his lips as he and Asahi turn together to find Daichi.

"He's tired." Asahi mouths at you as they both turn away, the tall brunette leaving you with a jovial wave.

Concerned, you furrow your brows but continue to pass the last few slices of watermelon around.

"Watermelon?" You ask a tall grey haired boy in the Nekoma gym shorts as he bounds towards you. He grins brightly, and you recognise him as the one who almost killed you the day before.

"Thank you," He says as he takes the last slice and you lower the plate to your side.

"...Are you busy?" Another boy in the Nekoma get-up asks as he approaches the both of you, and you have the fleeting realisation that he's their third year libero. The grey haired boy gallops off towards Hinata and the Nekoma setter that you hadn't actually had a chance to talk to yet.

"Not anymore," You reply, holding your empty plate up for him to see.

"Can you give me a hand for a minute? We've got someone with a busted nose." He explains, pointing a thumb over his shoulder towards the gym.

"Sure," You sigh, following him over towards the shadowed doorway of the gym, placing your empty plate on the first table you pass by.

You find Kuroo standing there, cupping at his profusely bleeding nose. He's simultaneously trying to stop it dripping onto his shirt too much while also trying to not ruin the court. His eyebrows furrow when he sees you, and if he could open his mouth without getting a small trail of his own blood running into it, he would have used that opportunity to spew profanaties at Yaku for choosing you of all people to come and help. Things were really not going his way today. Or this week for that matter.

"How did this even happen?" You ask, placing a hand between Kuroo's shoulder blades and prompting him to lean forward. He flinched, panicked that you would accidentally shift his collar a little too low and tried to pass off his worried grimace as pain. He already felt guilty enough about last night, nevermind that Suga was staring at you wistfully from the top of the grassy slope. Out of everyone Yaku had to ask for help, it had to be you. It wasn't even on purpose - because Yaku didn't know about those damned matching tattoos you both sported.

"He tried to dig up one of Bokuto's spikes but he didn't get low enough." The straw-haired libero from Nekoma stated, hands on his hips and sweat on his brow.

You nodded, sighing and pushing Kuroo to take a seat on the steps in the gym doorway.

"Can you go get him an ice pack from the first aid station? I'll keep an eye on him." You ask the libero and he leaves with a half-smile.

You crouch in front of Kuroo, trying to pry his hand away from where it cupped his nose.

"Must have been one hell of a spike." You comment. He simply grunts in response from behind his now-bloody hand.

He kept his brows furrowed and his expression relatively blank while blood dribbled from his nose down to his chin. A few stray drops caught on your hands as you tried to press a tissue to his bleeding nostrils. Kuroo sat there on the steps in silence as you crouched in front of him, some rogue drops of his own blood falling onto your hands and when one fell onto your sleeve, he finally moved.

He pushed your sleeves back to your mid forearms, letting the edges of some of your tattoos peek out from the cuffs below your elbows before any more of his blood ruined your track jacket. You flushed, not sure what to say.

"Everyone knows. Fukurodani's managers can't keep a secret to save their lives." He sighs, not looking at you.

"Oh." You state, unsure what to say. You watched as his nose gradually stopped bleeding, leaving his mouth and your forearms smeared with his blood. You make him stay sat on the stairs, leaning slightly forward and resting his elbows on his knees just in case his nose starts acting up again. Yaku returns eventually, fresh ice pack in hand as he heads towards you. You thank him, taking the ice pack and passing it to Kuroo.

"Yaku, can you go round the team up? I'll sit this next game out so swap Lev into the front row." Kuroo instructs, not fighting you as you began to try wipe away the blood from his nose with a damp tissue. The other boy walks off, nodding at his captain and not mentioning the downcast look on his features.

Gently, you clean the blood away from Kuroo, tenderly feeling the bone in his nose for damage.

"Hey dude," Came a voice from behind you, from the broad shadow cast over your frame you figured it could only be Fukurodani's ace. Kuroo just glanced up through his dark eyelashes at the stranger but you didn't even turn away from your work. "Sorry about busting your nose up. Is it bad?"

Kuroo shrugs in response, not really in a position to talk.

"I'm no doctor, but I don't think It's broken." You pipe up, moving Kuroo's hand to hold the ice in place. "It's probably going to hurt for a while and the swelling might be annoying, but he won't die. The ice pack and some painkillers will be enough."

"It's a good job you've got your lady friend to clean you up." Bokuto laughs from behind your shoulder.

"Knock it off." Kuroo warns as you turned his head to the side to clean the dried blood curled under the edge of his jaw.

"But she is ... isn't she?" Bokuto asks, and then his eyes immediately widened at the realisation of what he had said. Kuroo's eyes narrowed darkly at the bumbling idiot he called a dear friend and was thankful that you couldn't see Bokuto from your crouched position. Panicked, Bokuto made some wild hand gestures to you, then to Kuroo, then pointed at his back with a confused face - his hands were moving a mile a minute trying to convey his inner panic. This was the second time in less than twenty-four hours that his loud mouth had accidentally let something slip he shouldn't have.

"What are you talking about?" You ask, finally standing up and wiping your bloodied hands on the nearest clean strip of tissue.

"Some stupid rumour started because I let you borrow my coat yesterday." Kuroo lies, grimacing as he adjusted the ice over the bridge of his nose. His lips were starting to go numb from the cold.

"I told you I could find my own spare," You chide, grinning at his disgruntled expression.

Kuroo just shrugs in response, stretching his legs out into the space you previously occupied. "People were going to make a rumour about something - we know what happened and that's all that really matters."

"It's fine. Everyone will find something more entertaining to talk about before long." You wave them both away, ordering Kuroo to keep the ice on his nose until the next set was over. You left him in the care of Bokuto, although considering how Kuroo's nose had almost been shattered in the first place, maybe leaving them together wasn't the smartest of ideas.

"So, she doesn't know?" Bokuto asks quietly once you're out of earshot.

"She doesn't know." Kuroo confirms. As he watches you walk away, he wondered if he actually felt as guilty as he thought he did. Because talking to you in passing was nice, and afterwards he would somtimes be hit with a fleeting thought of how glad he was that it just so happened you and him shared those tattoos. But then he remembered the crushed look on Suga's face, the boy that followed you around the camp like a love-struck puppy and asked about you whenever you weren't in the room.

And he realised that yes, he did feel very guilty indeed.

//

The bus was finally loaded up, with no thanks to the first or second years. You and Asahi had spent the afternoon packing away the classrooms you had stayed in while Kiyoko and Suga had carried all the bags back down to the parked bus. Daichi had vanished with Coach under the pretence of having a last meeting with the Tokyo captains to thank them for the hospitality, but you wondered if they'd just wanted to avoid the work of tidying up.

Probably both.

Everyone was saying goodbye: Hinata and Kenma were exchanging phone numbers, Daichi was in conversation with Kuroo and Yaku while you found yourself receiving goodbye hugs from the Fukurodani managers and Bokuto (who just didn't want to be left out). You moved over to where Daichi and Kuroo were talking, hoping to say goodbye to Kuroo without him avoiding you like he had been for the last few days.

You slide up behind Daichi, stepping close to his side as he shuffled back to let you into their small circle.

"Just came to say goodbye," You say, trying to smile at Kuroo while he avoided your gaze.

"We should really be going," Daichi admits, patting you on the shoulder. "We'll see you at nationals." He grins, cheekily goading Kuroo into a response.

"When we beat you," Yaku laughs, shaking Daichi's hand and giving you a brief one-armed hug.

"I'd love to see you try!" You laugh back, giving Yaku a light squeeze and turning towards Kuroo expectantly. He just puts his hands in his pockets and grins awkwardly at you and bids you goodbye with a quiet wave. You clear your throat, looking to Daichi to save you from the awkward situation. With a few more smiles and awkward farewells, you finally had to leave.

As you all piled onto the bus, filling up the tiny rows of seats one by one as the rest of the Tokyo teams gathered along the front of Shinzen to wave you all off. You found yourself sitting towards the front of the bus with Daichi - while Suga and Asahi paired up in the seats on the opposite side of the row. Everyone was gathered in quiet conversation, some of the boys drifting off to sleep as the bus trundled along the Tokyo highway back towards home.

Nervously, you turned away from looking out of the window to glance at Daichi.

"Can I ask you something?" You say quietly, fiddling with your hands in your lap as Daichi turned to you with a warm smile.

"What's on your mind?"

"Do you think Suga is mad at me?" You whisper, gaze flickering between Daichi and your lap.

"Why do you think that?" He asks warmly, turning in his seat to face you. His broad shoulders block the rest of the asile from view and you're thankful that Suga is on the other side of the row.

"Because he was avoiding me at the training camp. After the first day he... I don't know. He just kind of acted like we weren't friends?" You look up at Daichi, uncertain as to if you made the right decision bringing this up. "And Kuroo was the same. I mean we only really talked as acquaintences for the first couple of days, and then suddenly he avoids me at all costs. Did I do something to annoy them? I mean I know I've never been to one of the camps before so maybe I did something that ruined it for-"

"I can confidently say you did nothing wrong." Daichi cuts you off, taking one of your hands gently in his. "I promise, you did nothing wrong. I don't know Kuroo too well either, we only really speak at matches and training camps. But I know Suga. And I know he isn't mad at you. If I had to guess I would say they're both equally stressed about the Pre-lims. I know Nekoma all want this Nationals show-down as much as we do. Suga has been throwing himself into practice a lot more as of late." He reassures you, keeping a firm grip on your hand, grounding you from your negative thoughts. You nod, trying to mull over his words.

"I guess Asahi did say Suga was tired the other day," You admit, squeezing Daichi's hand for support.

"Everyone is worn out right now and everyone is tired and stressed. It's nothing you've done, I promise." He reiterates, offering you a fond smile and a firm pat to the shoulder before you both returned to facing the backs of the chairs in front of you.

"Thank you, Daichi." You say, still somewhat uncertain about if you believe his words or not.

Sure, you supposed everyone has seemed a bit at the end of their tethers recently, but you'd never seen Suga like this in the last year, even when you guys were sitting the end of year exams and he'd pulled all nighters studying with you. Part of you could believe that maybe Kuroo was just stressed too - you did barely know him after all. Maybe you were being a bit presumptuous to think you were closer than acquaintences at best, you'd only ever talked to him in passing and it was never anything beyond small talk.

Despite the reassurance from Daichi, there was still that dull feeling of worry settling into the pit of your stomach the further you got from Tokyo.

//

"Nekoma made it past the preliminaries!" Hinata cried, barreling towards the gym at full speed. He held his phone aloft, waving it at everyone he passed by. Kageyama yelled loudly after him, most likely some form of scolding for leaving him behind. You turned around, sliding your hands into your pockets as the ginger sprinted towards you.

"Nekoma just made it past the preliminaries." Hinata stated again, this time looking directly at you. He was clearly looking for someone to share his enthusiasm that they were all one step closer to their trashcan showdown.

"How'd you find that out?" You asked, pausing in place as you waited for Hinata to catch up to you. Daichi was just unlocking the clubrooms for you to all go change before practice started.

"Kenma texted me." He replied, hands proudly on his hips. "I got his number at the training camp - we talk all the time."

You smiled, nodding at him resolutely. "Well, that's great news. We just need to pass the prelims too, now."

The team slowly converged around the stairs of the clubroom, slowly making their way up the metal structure. Hinata was excitedly babbling on about how he simply couldn't wait to see Kenma again at Nationals, and how he was going to show Lev how high he could jump. Asahi and Suga fell in step with you both, rounding up the back of the pack.

"What's got you so excited?" Suga asked over your shoulder.

"Nekoma got through the preliminaries. Kenma told me so." Hinata replied, pocketing his phone swiftly. He had a smug grin on his face, almost as if he was part of the Nekoma team - it was sweet, though, to see Hinata so proud of his friend.

"Good to hear," Suga grinned in response, looking down at his feet as you all filed up the stairs.

"Hey, Hinata?" You asked quietly.

"Yup?" He replied cheerily, swinging around to face you, still grinning.

"Has Kenma mentioned- has he said anything about Kuroo?" You add, concerned how you were wording things - people were sure to get the wrong idea from your question.

"Only that he made it through the preliminaries."

"Has he mentioned Kuroo seeming ... mad recently?"

Hinata shook his head, swinging his arms as he hopped onto the top step and looked down at you. "Would you like me to ask?"

"...Could you ask if Kuroo is mad at me? He seemed really strange towards the end of the training camp." You request, twiddling your hands in your pockets and avoiding eye contact with everyone around you.

"Sure thing!" Hinata cried, taking off towards the clubroom with a spring in his step. Suga smiles at you slightly as he passes, but it does not slip your notice that he refuses to hold your gaze for longer than a second or two before he is gone.

You turn away, wondering where you went wrong.

//

You stood in the middle of the aisle, completely alone in the stands. Kiyoko was right on the pitchside and Yachi was as close to the court as she could get. Only one manager was allowed on the team bleachers, and rightfully Kiyoko took that spot. Yachi had decided to stay as close to the scoreboard as she could, as if she could will herself onto the court simply by hoping hard enough. You'd decided to get a more bird's eye view of the game, as was befitting of your team's mascot. The only real downside was that you were completely alone - you'd found yourself in a completely isolated part of the stands compared to the Karasuno supporters - a result of a wrong turn in one of the winding corridors of the stadium.

But you were there now, and you wouldn't move for fear of missing a single second of your team playing their hearts out against Inarizaki in the Tokyo stadium.

They were fighting with all they had, just to earn that spot in the finals against Nekoma. For their coach, and for themselves. For the school, for the team, for everyone that had had a hand in getting them to where they were in that moment. They were fighting, giving every single piece of themselves for the right to challenge Nekoma in the showdown they'd all been dreaming of since the start of the year.

So you dashed forwards to the railing that overhung the court, trying to get as good of a view as you could. The crowds had started picking up the longer the Inarizaki vs. Karasuno game progressed, seats filling and more people leaning against the railing beside you. You didn't care. You were staying to watch your team, proudly wearing the Karasuno jacket for all to see.

Suddenly, you felt a hand on your shoulder, and you turned around slightly to glance at the stranger.

"Don't you have a seat?" Yaku asked, folding his arms across his chest. You shook your head in response, immediately turning around to watch Asahi serve.

"Do you want to come sit with us? We have some seats saved a bit higher up. It's a good view, and you don't have to stand down here by yourself." He adds, talking to the back of your head as you stared, enraptured at the action only a few feet below you.

"Okay," You reply, turning around to look at him as the first time-out is called. He leads you up towards the Nekoma seating a few rows higher than where you'd been watching from. In your new position, you could see the entire court, you could watch the whole game at once rather than the narrower field of view you'd had before.

"How did you know I was down there?" You ask as you follow him in slipping between the rows of bleachers.

"Lev spotted you, Kuroo asked if I would come get you on my way back from the bathrooms." Yaku replies, stepping over a stray sports bag in the middle of the seating.

"That was kind of him," You comment, turning back to briefly glance at the court to make sure the teams hadn't started playing again. Yaku just glances at your distracted face, and quietly hums to himself. He isn't sure if he should say anything, but realises that if anybody is going to say something it should be Kuroo. Yaku had finally found out what had happened at the training camp to set their captain on edge so badly, and realised that he should just stay out of it as best as he could and let things work themselves out in their own time.

"We're back," Yaku announces, stepping past Kuroo and Kenma to take a seat beside Kai on the far end of the line.

"Thanks for inviting me up here," You say, bowing your head slightly out of awkward respect. You still didn't really know where you stood with Kuroo, especially not after his rather quick attitude change towards you back at the camp.

"Seemed safer for you to be up here than alone down there," Kuroo replies. He makes a brief hand gesture towards the empty chairs surrounding you. He clears his throat awkwardly. "Take a seat, the view is good."

You nod, taking a seat beside Kuroo, effectively sandwiching him between yourself and Kenma who was quietly trying to sink into his jacket. Kuroo found himself watching you more closely than he was watching the game, frequently turning his attention over to where you leaned forward in your seat and gripped your knees in anticipation of Noya's recieve or Hinata's spike. He watched your forehead crease with worry when Inarizaki was serving, or when one of Karasuno's spikes got quickly shut down. He watched you break out into delirious grinning when Asahi pushed past the block to claw another point back.

He felt guilty all the while, but still struggled with himself internally if he should feel guilty, considering you were literally meant to be together - the marks on your backs proved it. He constantly wondered to himself if he should come clean, or let things happen on their own. But would he get another chance to speak to you? It was almost the end of the school year, and after Nationals there would be no reason for the two teams to come together to train again until the start of the next school year - by which time the third year students would have all left. Was this his only chance? Or would he have to trust that you were meant to run into each other again sometime further down the line? Could he bring himself to trust in fate, when an opportunity was right in front of him?

These thoughts only served to send him further into his own confusion - because eventually he began to mull over if he was only thinking this way because it was fated to happen. The internal turmoil of if he was thinking this way of his own violition or because he was destined to was sending him into a mild existential crisis. He could only hope that his confusion wasn't playing across his face, or if it was then he hoped you would mistake it for concentration as you both watched the game.

Kuroo was hurting, and he was sure that down on the pitch below you, Suga was also hurting. The selfless part of him argued he should step aside, but the selfish part of him wanted his own pain to stop, he wanted to do what the universe had decided he should do. He wanted to trust that fate had good reasons, and that things would all work out for the better if he put himself first.

"You look worried," You comment, quickly dragging him out of his thoughts. "Scared that you'll lose against us?" You goad.

He snorts, folding his arms across his chest. "I'm just worried you guys won't be enough of a challenge."

"You might want to tell that to your face, you seem terrified that you're going to lose. Is seeing us in action more than you bargained for?" You grin, raising an eyebrow as you turn in your seat to face him.

"Do you want to make a bet on it? Nekoma doesn't get taken down by the likes of you country folk." He grins devillishly, leaning towards you. He steels himself, trying to hide his embarrassment just to try and put you out of your comfort zone. He succeeds, seeing a flush creep across your cheeks at his proximity.

"I bet you'll lose, no contest." You throw back, trying to not let him get to you.

"I bet we win, no contest." He replies without missing a beat. "What does the winner get?" He asks.

You shrug, not breaking eye contact. "You proposed the bet, surely you have an idea of what you want to hand over when you lose."

"I'll think of something."

"How do I know that you won't run away when you lose?" You laugh, folding your arms as you watch him recline in his seat.

"On my honour as captain, I would never," He grins, glancing back at the court for a second. "But if you're so worried about it, why don't you give me your number so I can't run away?"

Part of you thinks he's joking, that he's only doing this to get a rise out of you like you know he is wont to do, but another part of you wants it to be real. And you don't even fully understand why, but you don't want it to just be part of the back-and-forth you have going. You pause, watching as his eyes flick between you and the court in what you can only guess to be nervousness.

"Sure, you'd best be thinking of your forfeit quickly." You finally reply, handing him your phone and turning back towards the court as Inarizaki prepares to serve.

From a few metres below you both, right on the side of the court, Suga stands completely still. His fresh, unused jersey feels stiff against his skin. Eventually, he turns back towards his team on the court, tearing his eyes away from the black and red jackets high in the stands. He tears his eyes away from your face as you laugh, frown and grin at the man talking to you. He wants you to watch the game again, like he knew you were before. He wants you to notice, but he realises that you won't see him.

After all, he is only standing on the sidelines.

//

Daichi had promised that this would be a fun event. A little gathering of all the third year players they knew from high school, meaning other teams would be there too. Suga was frankly, exhausted, but Daichi had incessantly twisted his ear about this get together for the entire week and when Friday finally hit Suga was more drained than ever.

He’d been teaching all day and all he really wanted to do was go home and relax, to sleep early and wake up late on Saturday morning, to collapse into bed and let sleep wash away the aches in his tired muscles.

But no. Daichi was insisting that they all come back together for some high school reunion that simply couldn’t wait.

So that’s how Suga found himself at a restaurant on the outskirts of Tokyo, still wearing his button up and slacks from teaching, swirling his drink around in his hand.

Daichi had also somehow convinced Asahi to take time away from work to join them, so Suga found himself in idle conversation with Asahi and Kai - one of the Nekoma alumni. They were both quiet souls so Suga didn’t find himself in any forced small talk, it was the nice respite he needed from his long day.

Yawning, he stretched his arm over the back of his chair and leaned into the conversation a little more, only to be pulled out of it by some movement behind Kai’s shoulder.

The door swung open and the refreshing summer breeze passed through the stifling atmosphere of the room.

“Sorry we’re late.” Someone announced, and Suga vaguely realised that he knew that voice from somewhere. It only took him a moment to recognise who the person was, or rather, the woman who had entered. She was dressed similar to everyone in the room, some form of smart-casual that could have easily passed for office clothes. She walked right in, smiling at her old friends and greeting the people she hadn’t seen in years.

Normally, Suga would have been happy to see you. If not for a few details about what he was seeing.

The ring on your finger that was barely visible in the dim lighting, the man behind you with a gentle hand on your shoulder as he turned to talk to the ex-Fukurodani captain, but most of all, the dark haired child cradled at your hip.

It was unmistakably you after all these years. Still smiling, talking to Daichi as if you had never left high school. Suga was frozen in his seat, unsure if he should try and greet you or stay quiet.

Tetsurou headed over to where Suga was seated, patting Kai on the back good-naturedly and slipping into a chair beside Kai that nobody had touched all evening.

“Long time no see, Kai.” He greeted, turning to his old teammate. “And I haven’t seen you since nationals.” He grinned, gesturing between Asahi and Suga.

“It has been a while,” Asahi replied, ever the wallflower.

“How have you guys been then? I hear you’re a first rate designer now, Asahi.” Tetsurou attempted to strike up a conversation, reaching for the glass pitcher of water in the middle of the table.

Asahi scratched his beard idly, bouncing small talk back and forth between Tetsurou and Kai while Suga began to zone out.

Suga was too busy watching the way your daughter laughed at Bokuto making animated hand gestures and tweaking her nose. She looked just like you, and if not for the striking black hair of her father he would almost be able to have his guilty fantasy about it being his daughter. He watched as you shifted your weight while you held her, and he watched as Bokuto messed with her hair and you smiled at something Daichi was talking to you about.

It hurt him, he would admit. He believed he had moved on years ago, but an old wound had been opened simply by the sight before him. Daichi shot Suga an almost imperceptable glance across the room that unmistakably said 'I'm sorry. I didn't think this through,' but Suga found he had no animosity towards his captain and old friend, because he'd even convinced himself that the had actually moved on long ago too.

He excused himself to the bathroom.

"So you're putting all those years of keeping Tanaka in line to good use then?" You laughed, teasing Daichi about his new policing job.

He just shrugged. "It's quite boring actually, I feel like I'm over qualified thanks to those guys." He replied with a grin.

"Uncle Bokuto you're messing my hair up!" Your daughter pouted as she wiggled away from the large man-child trying to play with her. In retalliation she shot a hand out to tweak his spikey grey strands which only made the man retalliate with a barrage of tickles. She cackled, wiggling wildly in your arms as Bokuto continued to annoy the child. Suddenly, you feel the weight in your arms being lifted and you turn to see Kuroo smiling down at you.

"I'm going to take her to the park around the back. C'mon Bokuto, let my wife talk to her friends in peace." He says, pressing a fleeting kiss to the crown of your head as he takes your daughter and his highschool friend outside to play an impromptu game of tag.

The evening sky is dark, but through the back door of the restaurant there is a beer garden and a small park. He thinks they're alone in the dusky evening when his daughter and Bokuto take off running towards the swings together, but movement out of the corner of his eye startles him.

"Thought you were going to the bathroom," Kuroo states more than asks as he heads over to Suga's form leaning against the outside wall, staring at the sky.

"I just needed some fresh air." The other man replies.

"So- how's teaching?" Kuroo asks, trying to strike up a friendly conversation as he watches his friend and daughter have a competition to see who can get the highest on the swing-set.

"Tiring," Suga laughs as he exhales. "But worth it. Wouldn't swap my job for the world."

Kuroo nods in the silence, trying to find something to fill the space with.

"So, full-time scientist now, huh?" Suga asks, equally as awkwardly. Neither man looks at the other.

"For a while I wanted to stick with volleyball, but I'm glad I didn't." Kuroo admits, anxiously turning his wedding ring on his finger. "I'm sorry, Suga." He finally breaks, looking over at the other man.

"Don't apologise. It's not your fault."

"No- it hurt you. I am genuinely sorry. I wish I could make it up to you, but I don't know how. I'm sorry." Kuroo mumbles, almost as if he's trying to forgive himself more than ask forgiveness from someone else.

"Don't apologise. You won, fair and square." Suga's voice waivers slightly.

"Suga-"

"Congratulations, I genuinely am happy for you two," Suga interrupts, holding his hand out for Kuroo to shake. Suga turns and heads back inside, leaving Kuroo to stand and watch his daughter laugh as Bokuto pushes her higher on the swings.

And Kuroo realises that no matter what, in that moment, he doesn't really feel like a winner.

Suga slowly pushes the doors open, making his way back inside the stifling heat of the restaurant. Despite the weight that had been taken from his mind after speaking to your husband, there was still a lot of healing that he needed. It would take time and he would have to stop lying to himself; stop throwing himself into work as a distraction; he would have to pick himself up and build everything back from the ground up.

It would take a while, but Suga had all the time in the world at that moment - there was no deadline to be chasing after, it was just a Friday evening with his high school friends. It was just another day in the year, but he wasn't alone in his apartment for a change.

"Any plans to go travelling with Noya again?" You asked, leaning your elbows onto the table.

Suga took a deep breath, heading towards his seat at the table. He knew it wasn't your fault, and it wasn't his fault either. It was just how things were, and nobody was to blame for that.

At the end of the day, you were his friend, and if he allowed that to change because of unforseen circumstances then what type of man would that make him? Not the man he wished to become, that was certain.

"I do really want to travel again, but it depends on when work picks up. If I can take time away then I'll go find Noya wherever he's gone this time." Asahi replied, taking a sip from his beer. "It's good to get out there, though, gives me inspiration for my work." He added.

"I'd love to travel, but I don't really have time. Maybe in the future." You say, breaking one of the complimentary breadsticks and breaking it in half. "But you've changed so much since high school! You've really come out of your shell, Asahi." You smile, nibbling away at your food.

He grins in response, rubbing at his beard, equally proud and flustered at your compliment. "I guess I have."

"Hey Suga! How have you been?" You ask, noticing your friend approaching.

"Good, could be better," He laughed, dropping into his seat opposite you. "I had to come straight from work for this, so I could really go to bed right now." He sighs.

"Where do you work?" You rested your head in your palm and he tried to keep his staring to a friendly level of eye contact.

"Elementary school teacher."

"No way! Although, that makes sense. You always looked after the first years." You grinned at him with awe. "Now you've told me, I can't actually imagine a job that fits you better."

"Don't get me wrong," He began, leaning back in his chair and taking a drink from the wine glass he abandoned earlier. "I'm exhausted. But I wouldn't want to do anything else. It's great to watch them grow up, you know?"

Your reply was cut short when you felt the place between yourself and Asahi shift as someone dropped into the chair. Kuroo had returned, your daughter perched on one of his knees as he leaned his free arm along the back of your chair. You smiled at him briefly as you noticed his arrival, soon turning back to your conversation.

"And what about you?" Suga asked as he finished his glass of wine. He tried not to stare at your daughter with a sense of melancholy as Kuroo bounced her on his knee absent-mindedly while listening to something Kai was talking about.

"Me? Fully trained doctor right now."

"You know, that's not what I expected," Suga laughed. "But I can't imagine it's easy."

"It's not - some days it drives me up the wall. Worth it though."

Anything you said beyond that point fell on deaf ears, because Suga found himself swallowing a lump in his throat as he watched your daughter tentatively reach over to Asahi's long hair, carding her fingers through it bashfully. Surprised, the brunette jumped in his seat as he felt a gentle tug on his hair, not contained by a messy bun for once.

"Don't do that, darling. Not without asking." Kuroo warned gently.

"No - it's okay." Asahi mumbled, trying to not laugh every so often as her gentle pulling tickled his scalp. She was trying her best to braid something presentable into it, but his hair was too smooth and constantly slipped out between her tiny fingers.

And for the next couple of hours, Suga kept as much friendly conversation going as he could, for once enjoying the company of others rather than just his own at his apartment. He found himself watching you, watching your daughter, watching Kuroo, watching you interact. He watched your daughter mess with Asahi's hair, and he watched her eventually tire and slump against Kuroo's chest. Everyone finished their food gradually, some migrating to the bar, some wandering outside and some excusing themselves early. Truthfully, Suga was exhausted and wanted to leave, he wanted to go home so badly, but seeing you again kept him where he sat.

He knew he couldn't have you, and he accepted that. But he was your friend, and you were his. Maybe his heart was hurting all over again, but he refused to run away from the conversation either. He'd done enough running in his life.

"I think we should go, get her to bed." Kuroo eventually sighed to you, gesturing to your daughter who was fully asleep, curled up against his chest, his tie balled into her tiny fist as she snored.

"Yeah, I could sleep right now too," You laughed, stretching your back. You stood, gently taking your daughter from Kuroo so he could stand up.

"It was nice seeing you all again," Kuroo yawned, reaching over to hug Kai and firmly slap him on the back.

"Goodnight, enjoy your travelling, Asahi. Tell Noya I hope he's well. And you-" You turned towards Suga. "Don't be a stranger, Suga." You added with a smile as you headed towards the door, Kuroo leading the way.

"Call me Koushi," Suga whispered, watching your retreating form with a stray tear gathered in the corner of his eye. "...Please."

[penname-artist]

Final Tally - 9th Anniversary Dusty Collaboration

NOTE: Because I haven’t officially begun yet, the deadline to enter in has been pushed to July 27th, 2022. IF YOU ARE NOT ON THIS LIST AND WOULD LIKE TO BE ADDED, shoot me a DM or a comment and - if possible - leave a reference of your Dusty. I’m going to do my best to keep all of you guys informed on progress of the collab as it’s being made.

This is the current list I have of people confirmed to be in this collab, in no particular order:

@ask-dusty-boy / confirmed / reference [human]

@yaboymacaroni / confirmed / reference [human]

RotorPlane / confirmed / reference [animal]

@blazen-halo27 / confirmed / reference [human]

@kenzie-the-drawer / confirmed / reference [human]

@flans-stuff / confirmed / reference [human]

@physicalyx / confirmed / reference [human]

@daichi-airbus2006 / confirmed / reference [human]

@magic-and-memories / confirmed / reference [plane]

[SLOTS OPEN UNTIL JULY 27TH]

If you are on this list already, let me know of any additional socials that you would like me to add to the description if you have others you want added, and other than that, I’ll let you know how the progress is going!

[yoshkeii]

"𝙵𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝙿𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚜"

࿐ character(s): Daichi Sawamura, Asahi Azumane

࿐ genre: sfw, soft/fluff

࿐ type: (au) headcanons

࿐ requested by: anon

⌦ boyfriend male!reader (he/him)

⌦ genshin impact x haikyuu!!, modern settings

⌦ ‘can i request an au headcanon (basically genshin impact x haikyuu!!, modern settings, but the vision bearers are rarer than post traveler time and there's still spiral abyss where vision bearers help discovering new information and artifacts, and getting paid from their country for that) So, daichi and asahi's boyfriend(a vision bearer, which element is up to you to decide.)(also separetly) reacts that their boyfriend just give them an old flower artifact that he found that reminds male!reader of his boyfriend‘

A/N: an interesting concept !! thank you for requesting, im not good with reactions but- ihopethisisokay,, i dont think i did well on this,, khai writes hcs weirdly pt. who fucking knows.

asahi azumane’s give flower: wanderer’s troupe or viridescent venerer

𝙳𝚊𝚒𝚌𝚑𝚒:

》 staring at the rosy-red petaled flower that was supposedly made into a brooch, a piece missing that would make the item stay on the wearer. your eyes glossed over the item, identifying cracks and scratches on the metallic bronze pieces that accompanied the ordinary looking flower, that somehow was in one piece. just... slightly off-colored. before jumping as your name was called by another vision-bearer with two others by the way towards the exit of the Abyss floor, you began to hurry over to them as you gently slid the “Gladiator’s Nostalgia” into your pouch. the name you had read before within a dusty journal, remembering it so clearly with a much vibrant image than the real one you had now. but it oh, so reminded you of your beloved boyfriend, the one waiting for you at your shared home. 《

→ Daichi didn’t know he would be dating a vision-bearer, no one would’ve thought of a thing really. they were such a rare sight to see out in public- especially in the modern days. but that only just added to the many surprises you came home with after your days of working in the “Spiral Abyss” is what they call it.

→ giving him the faded-out red flower as soon as you walked through the front door, a bright smile across your face, was a sight he would never get tired of. except the slight worriedness would built up seeing scratches n bruises along your skin the more he stared...

→ eventually leading him to treating your injuries properly, maybe a slight scold or lecture here and there-

→ “Love, you know you have to be careful. Especially with fire! I know you have a Pyro vision, but that doesn’t mean mess around- and play with fire itself- You aren’t immune to it.” “..even worse that you tried using your abilities to cook..”

→ “He-hey it was a one time thing-!! and I was really curious ‘Muraaa..” you whined, wincing and pulling your face away with a pout as Daichi pressed a cotton swab onto the cut along your cheek.

→ “Yeah yeah, lil’ember.” He muttered the nickname, swiping a thumb over the bandaid to cover the cut. “..there you are done, now go get a change of clothes dirty boy- I have to put the first aid stuff away.”

→ seeing you disappear pass the door frame of your shared room, he went back to pack and close the first aid kit. before his eyes wandered towards the flower you had given him earlier, which was just idly sitting there on the counter. Daichi picked up the flower holding it gently in his palms, feeling the petals with his free hand.

→ he stared at the flower for a long moment, observing the petals before noticing the scratches on the metal pieces attached to the brooch. he smile gently, beginning to realize this was a gift to him, a gift that you gave and probably risked your life to nag. 

→ sighing deeply at the thought of you getting hurt, knowing how clumsy you can be, he went off to the shared room where you would be. just to make sure you dont... do something stupid.

→ “Y/N?” Daichi had softly called out, seeing your head peek out from the closet as you slid a shirt on. he motioned his hands upwards a little, still holding the faded-brooch in his palms. 

→ “Oh! The Gladiator’s Nostalgia? The flower, do you like it??” the way you had ecstatically replied, he could imagine a puppy’s tail wagging so fast. your eyes shimmering as you awaited his answer.

→ “I love it, ember, it was really nice of you to give it to me.” “..although I hope you didn’t get hurt too much... to achieve it. I bet this was hard to get-” He spoke softly, genuine about the words slipping through his lips.

→ “Well actually... not really-” seeing Daichi look at you in confusion, “..I’ve seen that artifact set a lot on my runs with my team, but are often- broken’n’damaged. So I- I could never give you one-” “There’s also different ones apart of the same set for yours!! I might try to collect the others for you... or more.. flowers..”

→ “Wa-wait-,, there’s more-?” he longed on his question, before he could let out another word he noticed how you started to ramble. talking about interesting details of the items you could get him on your adventures and battles, and all he did was listen. settling down on the edge of the bed while you went on.

→ you were so passionate with your job, what you were doing as a vision-bearer. it’s what he liked about you, or well... loved about you. although he wonder if every Vision-bearer were the same, he’d still take you, . date you, just as who you are. with, or without a vision. and ofc he will keep an eye on what gifts you decide to give him in the mere future.

𝙰𝚜𝚊𝚑𝚒:

》 being an Anemo Vision bearer, your able to adapt and flow with whatever could come your way. making elements spread across the battlefield with one set of moves or to crowd-control them into one spot for the others to strike the unfortunate foes. time to time you would stumble upon the “Viridescent Venerer” set in the fallen loot of opponents or the scuffed chests that were stashed at the end of battles. they looked so different than most artifacts, especially the flowers. common artifacts were genuine real flowers, making them have the same aspect as any other flower, withering and fading into nothing but dull-bland colors. but the Viridescent Venerer’s flower did not, it was just a white wild flower that used to cover the earth. and it has not withered one bit, and still gives off an exquisite fragrance you noticed as the times you ran by it... and well of course noticed it as the scent was what you usually smelled since you had one as part of your outfit. 《

→ Asahi had always pointed out the flower on your outfit, the “In Remembrance of Viridescent Fields“ is what the books would title it, but in short you just called it the Viridescent Venerer flower or just... Viridescent for Asahi’s sake.

→ he had always complimented on how it looked beautiful and pretty, especially when his beloved boyfriend is wearing it. 

→ as days of works and floors of the Spiral Abyss, you managed to find a new piece of the Viridescent to use. unlike discarding the one you currently you had, you had an idea that came into mind, finding you sliding the newer artifact into your bag before leaving off to home. a smile brought onto your face.

→ now cuddling in each others presence, you both chatted about your days. already cleaned yourself up from your days works. hand in hand with soft laughter erupting from both of you, before it died off into comfortable silence.

→ “Azumane, love?” you simply called out, knowing you caught his attention instantly as you felt movement from him. “You certainly like the flower on my fit.”

→ “Well it really is- pretty. Like knowing how regular and most flowers wilt and wither- That one hasn’t! An-And I believe its the same one you wore the day we met too-” he noted.

→ to only be surprised at his memory of these types of things, you laughed- making him startled and a bit embarrassed.

→ “You sure have quite the memory, to even remember that image? I’m impressed, so I assume... it has caught your eye since the start? Just like I was to your own vision~” you cooed, getting up from his grasps before disappearing pass a corner of a wall.

→ confusion expressed on Asahi’s face, sitting up from his position on the couch before his eyes caught the glimpse of the Viridescent in your hand.

→ sitting on the edge of the couch, you motioned the flower towards him, a gentle smile across your face.

→ “I would simply like you to have mine then, it is quite old- and worn from the times I’ve had it through my lifetime. But I think it’ll be a nice gift from me to you.”

→ hearing the words being slipped passed your mouth, he felt tears daring to fall from his eyes- Asahi did not know why. but imagining keeping the Viridescent you had for who knew how long-

→ it would be something he would cherish, something he wouldnt let go.

→ exchanging gentle kisses across your face in exchange, trying his best not to cry the joy. because it was so touching- so simple yet so poetic to give. he didn’t think he deserved one.

→ and from that afternoon, Asahi had kept it. he had kept it safe and sound, bringing it with him whenever you were never there. so he had something to calm him down in anxious moments. he had a memory of you in a flower that would never wither.