Chapter Text
The odds are one in eleven million people get in a deadly plane crash. Kiyoomi wondered if going on multiple planes throughout his life made him more likely to get into a crash, or if that was some bullshit statistic that had no credibility. Maybe his odds were closer to one in five million after travelling so much for the team. Was it more likely on a longer plane flight? He needed to focus on something else.
The smell of plain black coffee wafted into Kiyoomi’s nose from next to him, and he looked over to see Atsumu cautiously taking a sip of it. He immediately reeled back as is struck by something, and put the coffee in his cup holder, shaking his head. Atsumu didn’t seem to notice that Kiyoomi was watching him, because he looked over and jumped slightly when he saw that Kiyoomi was already looking at him.
“Too hot?” Kiyoomi asked.
“Way too hot.” Atsumu crossed his arms and leaned back. Their flight was set to board in twenty minutes, meaning they’d probably line up pretty soon. The volleyball team was travelling alone, so they had a flight with a few random people. Although, it was pretty obvious that they were the Japan National Volleyball Team judging by their matching red tracksuits.
Kiyoomi wasn’t particularly a fan of airplanes, and was trying to fathom a fourteen hour plane flight. They were going on a normal(not luxurious) plane, one that only had two seats per section and three in the middle. Kiyoomi could already foresee the backache and cramped flight, where he’d have nowhere to go if the proximity became too much. If only the entire Olympics budget didn’t all go to the merchandise and actually went to the comfort of their athletes.
He knew that Atsumu knew this about him, and that he was probably holding back some sort of cryptic question that really meant: “Will you be okay on the flight?” To which Kiyoomi would cryptically answer, “We’ll see.”
But Atsumu didn’t seem to have that in mind as he sat there, very focused on the temperature of his coffee and the ticking of the clock. Kiyoomi was just preparing himself. He had enough allergy meds in his carry-on to suffice for a small army to sedate himself, and he also had motion sickness meds as well. He was as prepared as he was going to get, and he’d done everything he could.
Atsumu suddenly spoke up. “Do you want the window seat or the aisle seat? Or do you want to sit alone? We can pretend like I’m super sick so nobody sits next to you if that’s what you want.” there it was. Atsumu’s cryptic but obvious way of asking if Kiyoomi would be fine.
Kiyoomi sighed. “I’d like the window seat, and of course you can sit with me.” He nodded, making reassuring eye contact with his teammate and looking over at the clock. They were about to call out group A, which was them. The announcer came over the intercom and announced that group A for flight 2853 to Paris was boarding now, and the whole team simultaneously stood up, taking up almost the whole boarding group. Kiyoomi got his pass out from his pocket.
The line started moving and Atsumu went in front of Kiyoomi in scanning his boarding pass and getting onto the plane, Kiyoomi hot on his heels the whole way. Once they had actually stepped into the plane Kiyoomi’s reality crashed on him. Fourteen hours. On a plane. That’s the longest plane ride he’d ever been on.
He pretended like that didn’t bother him as he started walking down the same aisle as Atsumu. His teammate suddenly stopped and turned around, motioning for Kiyoomi to go into the window seat that Atsumu chose. He lifted his suitcase into the upper cabinet space and took only a small backpack to the seat with him, sitting down and letting out a deep breath.
Atsumu sat right next to him, and seemed to be stealing tentative glances Kiyoomi’s way. After a couple of minutes, he asked, “Is this okay?”
“Yeah, this is fine. I just don’t like planes, you know this.” He put his hood up to try and keep himself in his own bubble but probably just looked even more angsty as he said, “I just need to take some meds that will make me sleepy and hopefully pass out.” He reached into the front pouch of his backpack and pulled out a small pill organizer, opening one of the compartments and grabbing two small pink pills. Atsumu seemed to be scrutinizing him like he was doing illegal drugs, so he said, “It’s just benadryl.”
His teammate nodded. “Whatever helps you.” and Kiyoomi didn’t really know what to say to that.
Their relationship was complicated, and Kiyoomi definitely knew that he had feelings for Atsumu, but was unsure if Atsumu felt about him the same way. Atsumu was the most caring person he knew, and he always seemed to accommodate everything Kiyoomi needed to a tee, but Kiyoomi didn’t know if Atsumu was just like that with him or if he was like that with everybody.
He snuck a glance his teammate’s way before taking a sip of water and looking out the small window. The final boarding group was finally getting on the plane, meaning they were going to leave soon. He at least had to get through take-off before some of his worry subsided, and started drumming his fingers on his thigh.
He wanted the medicine to kick in now, but he knew he’d have to wait at least half an hour for that. For now, he could only sit and wait for the last twenty people to board and pray to god this flight wasn't the unlucky one. He did this almost every time he flew, but it was amplified now that he knew they were going to be in the air for fourteen hours.
Atsumu seemed to take note of his unease, because his teammate leaned over and asked, “Is everything okay? I know you don’t like flyin’ very much, but is there anythin’ I can do?” He asked, a touch of his accent coming through more than usual.
Kiyoomi sighed, deciding not to lie and say how he was really feeling. “I’m just worried since we’ll be up in the air for so long.” He kneaded his fingers together and looked into his teammate’s warm eyes. “I’ll feel better after takeoff.”
“Okay, tell me if ya need anything.” Atsumu smiled slightly, and Kiyoomi’s chest warmed slightly, some of his stress alleviated for the moment. The plane started to move, and Kiyoomi leaned back in his plane seat and closed his eyes. He wasn’t religious, but in cases like these he’d pray anyway.
As the plane moved on the tarmac, a few flight attendants walked around with those oxygen masks, demonstrating how to put them on and help others in case of an emergency. Kiyoomi looked away, because even the thought that there could be a possibility of them needing to use those made him worry even more.
Thankfully the demonstration didn’t last long and when the flight attendants walked back to their seats at the rear of the plane, Kiyoomi breathed a sigh of relief. He could feel the medicine kicking in now, and was starting to feel drowsy, his limbs getting heavier. He closed his eyes.
The plane suddenly sped up on the tarmac, and he felt that familiar drop of his stomach that told him they were in the air. He clenched his fists as the plane flew higher and higher, and they gradually loosened as he became more and more tired, falling into a deep sleep.
~
Kiyoomi groggily opened his eyes to a dark plane with a small amount of light coming from the overhead compartments, and remembered that he was on the plane. He had no idea how long it had been since he fell asleep. He rubbed his eyes to try to get them to focus and sat up slightly, feeling a sharp pain go up his back in response.
He winced, and moved one of his hands to support his lower back before painfully straightening his whole body back to a healthy position. Next to him, Atsumu was out like a light, completely asleep as far as Kiyoomi could tell. Good. He was glad Atsumu didn’t see that moment of weakness or else he’d be asking about it and worrying about it for the rest of the plane flight. How much longer did they have? Kiyoomi checked the clock on the movie screen and saw that they were eight hours into their plane flight. Eight hours???
He had no idea how he’d slept for eight hours on a plane, but he was honestly impressed. Only six more. He could stay awake for that long.
~
Kiyoomi spent the rest of the flight watching random movies, finishing two and getting halfway through one. It wasn’t his preferred mode of passing time, but it was honestly the only available one since he didn’t have a book and didn’t want to mess up his back again by falling asleep. Atsumu woke up when there was around an hour left of the flight, which told Kiyoomi that he was probably awake for the first half and fell asleep right before Kiyoomi woke up.
Now, they had just landed and the plane was a crowded mess of people trying to get off. Kiyoomi and Atsumu had yet to even leave their seats. They had barely exchanged a word or two in the past fourteen hours, and Kiyoomi was convinced that after being silent for that long he’d forgotten how to speak.
Finally enough space cleared for Kiyoomi and Atsumu to walk through, and the two of them stood up. That sharp pain pierced through Kiyoomi’s exhausted haze, and he was much more awake now. He put a hand to his back and winced. Atsumu stopped what he was doing and looked at Kiyoomi with a mix of confusion and worry.
“Omi, what’s wrong?” He asked, and he was holding up the line.
“Nothing. Let’s move.” He answered with a clipped tone, putting on a mask of indifference as best as he could as they walked off of the plane with their carry-ons and met back up with the team at the gate. Hinata and Bokuto were both excited to be in Paris, and you could see it on their faces. Some other team members like Suna and Ushijima just looked like they’d woken up from the longest nap of their lives, which Kiyoomi felt like he could relate to a bit more.
Coach Hibarida started counting heads and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as he addressed the whole group, saying, “We have a coach bus waiting just outside, follow me.” Gesturing to the huge glass doors probably fifty feet away from them. Kiyoomi gripped his suitcase and walked, trying to ignore his back and just get to the bus.
Kiyoomi let the driver put his carry on in the bottom of the bus and walked up the stairs onto the bus, sitting down and trying to relax. It was very dark and time to go to sleep for all of the Parisians, but Kiyoomi was jet-lagged and his body thought it was morning.
Before Kiyoomi could even realize, Atsumu had sat himself next to him and was scrolling on his phone, despite there being enough seats where a few people could sit alone. Kiyoomi didn’t ever mind Atsumu sitting with him, but he also didn’t want Atsumu to notice that he was trying to cover up the pain he was in. He’d probably feel better once he was in an actual bed and not sitting upright in another uncomfortable seat. Atsumu seemed to see right through any façade Kiyoomi tried to make, which made him nervous.
Thankfully, the bus ride went by quickly and with no questions, and they finally made it to the Olympic Village. The coach sent out a text message to the group chat with everybody in it, detailing their room assignments and where each room was. He looked for his name and was unsurprised to see that he was sharing a room with Atsumu. Although, he thought that he might’ve gotten Komori as his roommate too, unless Komori requested someone else as his roommate.
The bus doors opened and the whole team started filing off, and Kiyoomi was getting deja vu from when they were getting off the plane. He grabbed his backpack and straightened himself before standing up unsteadily, feeling that pain again. Why was it so persistent? He bit his lip to keep himself from wincing again, and put his backpack on slowly. When he looked up, Atsumu was already looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Without a word, the two of them stepped off the bus, grabbing their belongings and walking to the elevator, which was right inside the building.
When they got into the elevator, there were already a couple of other athletes from other countries in there, going up as well. Kiyoomi stepped a little closer to Atsumu because he didn’t know how packed the elevator was going to get.
Thankfully there were only three other people in the elevator with them and they got to their level first, which was floor 3. They stepped off the elevator, their only interaction with the other athletes being Atsumu giving them a friendly smile as they left. Their room was in the middle of the hallway, with two other rooms feeding into the same communal bathroom. Kiyoomi sighed.
Atsumu closed the door, and also locked their entrance to the bathroom for extra safety, Kiyoomi presumed.
Then Atsumu turned to him. “Omi, what’s wrong?” He asked without any prompt, and Kiyoomi knew that he was caught.
“What do you mean?” He said as he removed his backpack at the speed of a turtle.
“You’re obviously in pain.” Atsumu crossed to him with his arms crossed, looking at Kiyoomi with unfiltered concern.
“It’s nothing.” He said, “Just stiff from the flight.” He made an excuse, and Atsumu looked at him like he didn’t believe it. Atsumu wordlessly turned and walked to his side of the room, sitting on his bed and not saying another word, instead just scrolling on his phone like no conversation ever took place.
And that’s when Kiyoomi knew he was fucked.