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One.
Sakusa pulled the sleeve of his volleyball jacket down as he opened the door to the Black Jackals’ locker room. He was early for practice, like he always was, since he disliked sharing the space with his teammates. Except this time, he wasn’t the only one there.
Atsumu was already at his locker, dressed in his practice clothes and talking on his phone whilst changing his shoes. From what Sakusa could hear, he was talking to his boyfriend, Kita Shinsuke. Sakusa made his way to his own locker which was further down the row, clearing his throat to make his presence known in case Atsumu was talking about something private.
He quietly observed Atsumu as he changed. Still focused on his phone, the setter absentmindedly took his volleyball shoes out of his locker, placing them on the floor before sitting down and changing shoes. Afterwards, he neatly placed the sneakers he had been wearing previously under the bench, carefully lining them up.
Well. That was surprising. Sakusa wasn’t aware that Atsumu and he shared a common trait. Most of the team would put their outdoor shoes back into their locker, something Sakusa always frowned upon because those outside shoes were dirty, and placing them in the locker would make the locker dirty. So Sakusa always left his outside shoes under the bench, much like Atsumu had just done. The spiker realised belatedly that the reason he didn’t know about this was because he would usually have left the locker room by the time other teammates arrived, and after practice he would head to the lock room once everyone else had left.
But anyway. Atsumu was not a neat person. From the way he stuffed his clothes into his gym bag to the state of his locker, there wasn’t anything neat. But the way he lined up his shoes sure was neat. He must’ve been looking at Atsumu for too long though, because suddenly the setter’s voice was directed at him, “I know I’m hot but I’m taken, Omi-kun.”
“Ew.” Sakusa frowned at the blonde’s tease, but was still curious about that little action, “I didn’t expect you to put your shoes there.”
The setter followed his gaze to the bench, before nodding in realisation, “Oh. Shin hates puttin’ outside shoes into the locker, so I stopped doing that back in high school when I was tryin’ ter get him ter like me.” He smiled sweetly at the mention of his lover’s name, which made Sakusa want to gag.
But that sure explained that action. “Of course the only time you’re mildly hygienic is because of Kita-san.”
Atsumu gasped exaggeratedly, “Omi-omi! How rude! I can be hygienic too!”
Rolling his eyes, Sakusa muttered “disgusting” before leaving, ignoring the setter’s calls for him to wait.
✯ ✯ ✯
Two.
To celebrate their most recent win, the team had decided to have dinner together, and everyone’s mouths watered at the thought of some nice food. They were professional athletes after all, and it was very rare that they had the opportunity to deviate from their diet like this.
When the food finally came, everyone put their hands together and collectively said “Itadakimasu!” before picking up their chopsticks, ready to dig in. Meian, who had sat next to Atsumu, was also about to start eating when he realised that the setter still had his eyes closed, hands clasped together as he mumbled something.
The captain spoke up once the blonde was done, “I didn’t know you had a habit of saying prayers before eating, Atsumu.” It wasn’t that the action was uncommon or weird, but Meian didn’t take Atsumu for someone who would spend time saying prayers when he could be stuffing his mouth.
Even right now, Meian could tell Atsumu was a lot more focused on eating than answering him. He didn’t take it to heart though; he needed his team’s setter to be well fed and happy, after all. “Huh? Oh, well I don’t really. But Shinsuke is really committed ter saying prayers before meals ‘n’ I kinda picked it up from watchin’ him do it whenever we ate together. I just say somethin’ like ‘thanks for the food’ or ‘thanks for the nice day’ though so nothin’ special.”
Meian thought it was kind of counterproductive to say a prayer so uncaringly, but he still supposed it was a good habit to have. And of course it’s all due to his boyfriend’s influence.
✯ ✯ ✯
Three.
“Hey hey hey!” Bokuto pumped his fist after landing from the spike, the ball cutting through the air and landing right on the outside line.
“Heh, nice one Bokkun.” They were the only two left in the gym, since Bokuto wanted to get some extra spiking practice in after the team’s usual training. Coach Foster and Meian had been reluctant to leave the two of them lest they got too into it and lost track of time, but one look at Bokuto’s puppy-dog eyes was all it took for them to give in.
But right now, the same puppy-dog eyes were not working on Atsumu, who insisted that they should finish up and leave, “Gimme a break Bokkun, ya monster!” So Bokuto followed the setter to the bench for a quick water break before they set about undoing the nets.
Bokuto picked up his bottle, only to find it empty. He contemplated going for a refill, but decided that walking to the taps was too much effort. I’ll just buy a new bottle from the vending machine on the way out!
He squeaked when a coldness hit his cheek, turning to see Atsumu holding another bottle of chilled water. “Here ya go.”
“Wow thanks Tsum-Tsum!” He took the bottle excitedly and gulped down water. “I’m all refreshed now! When did you get that anyways?”
“I always bring an extra bottle.” The setter shrugged and got up, “C’mon, let’s clean up and go.”
Once they were done they headed out, and Bokuto’s shoulders dropped when they got to the entrance of the gym and realised it was pouring outside, “Aw damn it! The weather was so sunny this morning! I didn’t bring an umbrella!”
To his surprise, Atsumu was pulling an umbrella out of his bag. “Yer heading back ter the dorms right? We can just share.”
“Eh, Tsum-Tsum you’re really well prepared!” The spiker was genuinely surprised, since Atsumu didn’t look like someone who would carry spare water bottles and umbrellas.
The setter chuckled sheepishly. “Heh, guess it’s a side effect of datin’ Shinsuke. He has really bad luck; like outta 100 days, he’ll have an umbrella fer 99 days, ‘n’ the one day he doesn’t have an umbrella is the day it rains. So I made sure ter always have one on hand, ya know, just in case I catch him like a damsel in distress on that one day.” He gave an exaggerated wink.
“Ehhh, Kita-san is a lot like my Keiji! He usually brings his laptop charger with him everywhere, but when he forgets it, his laptop dies!”
“Pfft, well if there’s no charger ter charge it then of course the laptop dies!” Atsumu laughed loudly at the spiker’s attempt to draw a similarity, “So ya bring a laptop charger with ya everywhere or somethin’?”
“...Nope. I forget it too.”
“HAHAHAHAH!!”
✯ ✯ ✯
Four.
Hinata groaned when his phone went black, smacking his forehead as he realised he must’ve forgotten to charge it when he went to sleep last night. He needed to check the bus times, too.
His saviour came in the form of one Miya Atsumu who coincidentally walked out of the gym. “Oh, Shoyou-kun! Whatcha doin’?”
“Atsumu-san! Please help me! My phone died but Kageyama is in Tokyo recently and we planned to have dinner together and I need to check the bus times because the place he chose is somewhere new and I’ve never been but it sounds good and he says there’s really good noodles there! And apparently they have a open kitchen so you can look at the chef cooking and like that’s so cool because maybe I can learn how to cook just from watching if I watch for long enough and-”
“Woah, ok, haha sounds like a nice place.” Hinata cut himself off when Atsumu interrupted, “So which bus? We can check quickly.”
“Uh.. bus 835!” Just then Bokuto came out of the gym, waving at them cheerfully and distracting Hinata from Atsumu. He gushed away with the wing spiker about his date plan with Kageyama and only realised he’d been distracted when he got to the part where he had to check the bus times, so he bounded back to Atsumu to see whether the setter had found the bus timetable yet.
He peered at the phone screen, and squeaked in surprise. “Atsumu-san! You’re going back to Hyogo?”
Atsumu glanced at the shorter boy, confused. “What are ya talkin’ about- oh.” He was, indeed, in midst of buying a train ticket back to Hyogo on his phone. “Hahaha whoops. Sorry Shoyou-kun, the only reason I ever look at this website is ter buy train tickets back ter Hyogo when I wanna visit Shin, so… force of habit, I guess?”
Hearing his explanation, both Hinata and Bokuto burst into laughter. “Atsumu-san, that’s so cute! You must’ve bought a lot of tickets to get into a habit like this which means you must visit Kita-san a lot and that’s so cool! Kagayama and I won’t lose though! Oh wait, Kageyama! Atsumu-san I still need the bus timetable!”
✯ ✯ ✯
Five.
Atsumu groaned as he awoke, frowning at the light coming in from the partially opened curtains. He reached for his phone on the nightstand to check the time: 7am. Shin would be awake, he thought. So he quickly sent a text message to his lover.
To: My dear Shinsuke
7:01 am: Good morning, my dear Shinsuke~ I hope ya have a great day! I love ya!
He sat up and stretched lazily as he waited for a reply. Kita was usually fast at replying, especially in the mornings. As his senses became more awake, he thought he could smell the scent of Kita’s favourite green tea. His first thought was that someone had broken in, but then his brain caught up and reminded him that a burglar wouldn’t make tea, ya stupid.
He snapped out of his thoughts as a very, very familiar voice spoke up. “Good morning, my love.”
The blonde’s eyes widened as his vision landed on the figure in his doorway. “Shin!” It was indeed his boyfriend, wearing his T-shirt and some boxers, the collar of the too-large shirt showing off his collarbones. The older man was also holding up his phone, head tilted in question.
That was when Atsumu’s mind decided it had fully woken up, and he realised he wasn’t dreaming. Of course, his boyfriend had come to Tokyo yesterday to watch their match against the EJP Raijins, and of course he had slept over as well. Atsumu laughed at himself. He was so used to not having Kita by his side that he’d habitually sent him a good morning text even though his lover was right here, in his apartment.
Atsumu’s phone suddenly buzzed with a text message. He took a quick look at the notification.
From: My dear Shinsuke
7:05 am: Good morning to you too, my love. Now, how about a kiss?
The blonde looked back up to find Kita smiling with amusement, obviously caught up to the situation. Atsumu eagerly got off his bed and approached him, slipping one arm around the shorter man’s waist and bringing his free hand up to his cheek. He leaned in gently, letting his eyes fall shut. Kita met him halfway, pulling him closer as their lips met in a loving kiss. Their tongues battled playfully and Atsumu moved his hand to thread his fingers through Kita’s hair, tugging gently and causing the older male to let out a small groan.
Atsumu went to deepen the kiss, but Kita pulled back, pushing him away slightly at the same time, so he stopped, not wanting to force anything. He let himself be led to the kitchen, where there was indeed a pot of Kita’s favourite green tea. Ah, so my nose was correct.
They worked together to make breakfast, an easy synchronisation between them. Kita cracked eggs into the pan whilst Atsumu nudged the bin until it was positioned exactly where Kita’s hand dropped the empty eggshells. Once the eggs were sizzling away, Atsumu popped two slices of bread into the toaster, then bent down to grab a large plate, passing it onto Kita’s waiting palm. As Kita plated the last egg, the freshly toasted bread popped out of the toaster, and Atsumu happily took them before placing more bread in. When he joined the older at the table, they gave each other small smiles, a silent look passing between them as if saying good work making breakfast.
Atsumu had half a fried egg stuffed in his mouth when Kita spoke up, “So were all the morning texts you sent me habitual, or did you actually mean them?”
Atsumu almost choked. He looked at his boyfriend, but the older man’s expression gave nothing away as to whether he was joking or not. “What! Of course I meant to send them! I mean every word I say ter ya, whether it be through text, on the phone, or in person!”
The blonde gasped when Kita laughed happily, eyes forming crescents as his smile widened, “I’m just teasing, my love.”
“Tsk, babe, don’t scare me like that!” He huffed indignantly, “When did ya get so good at pranking me anyway?”
Kita hummed, a small twinkle in his eyes. “I guess I got it from you.”
And well, what could Atsumu say? He’d picked up so many habits since dating Kita, it only made sense that his own habits rubbed off on the older, too. That was how a relationship worked, after all.