Archive of Our Own

To: National Japan Volleyball Team

From: Kuroo Tetsurou

Unfortunately, due to the weather, there has been a leak in the roof of the gym. That means that this Friday training is cancelled, as we do not have another facility to hold training yet. We will keep you updated.

For the time being, you will have the day off! So please enjoy it with your families.

Though, there is ONE rule from Iwaizumi:

NO VOLLEYBALL!

Read.

6:00am

Osaka, Japan

It was not even 6am when Akaashi felt a dip in the bed, despite the fact that he could still feel his husband draped across his back. Kou tended to shift in his sleep, his constant restlessness remaining as a staple of his personality even in sleep. But this dip in the bed was surprisingly quiet as it slowly moved up the sheets, indenting them as the little person continued. Akaashi was simply trying to guess which of their three children was currently trying to scare the living daylights out of them early on the morning of Kou’s day off.

It was a given that the kids were excited that their father had a day off during their winter school break when it had initially seemed like they’d only have weekends. And even those were full of all their extracurriculars, with volleyball games on Saturday and book club on Sunday morning for Akaashi and their youngest. When they’d been given the news, Akaashi decided to also take a day off – even though he already worked from home – just to be able to enjoy the full joy of having their whole family home due its rarity.

“Wake up!” their eldest, Sekai, screamed as she suddenly jumped from where she had been creeping and landed on both of them. All 3 of their faces were suddenly very squished together, starling Kou but not Akaashi so much thanks to his being a light sleeper since Kou had his first incident at volleyball training that led to a hospital visit.

“Kai!” Akaashi yelled, accidentally full of laughter with the way that Kou had shook awake and almost fallen off their bed. It didn’t matter that their bed was a double King, they would both always end up snuggled onto Kou’s side of it, narrowly missing falling off the edge every time one of their children decided to scare them.

“It’s time to wake up!” she cried, standing up and jumping in the minuscule space between where Akaashi was lying and Kou was holding on to him for dear life.

“Sweetheart, it’s not time to wake up. It’s 6am,” Akaashi said, attempting to calm her down. She was only 7, yet she had to be one of the most energetic children Akaashi had ever met, and that was considering their other two children (and all the other children of volleyball obsessed parents they knew).

“But it is!” Sekai cried again, even louder now. He could hear the slow stirring of Masuyo in the other room, if the shuffling and sound of soft crying was anything to go by. Typically, Hiroto didn’t cry when he was woken by either of his sisters yelling, but with Masuyo being the youngest, she was known for crying whenever she was awoken by anything. At the sound, Akaashi slowly started easing his way out of Kou’s tight embrace, knowing that if he pushed him off entirely, Kou was going to land hard on the floor.

“I thought today was my day off,” Kou whined playfully as he finally manoeuvred himself onto the bed completely at the same time Akaashi freed himself. Kou grabbed Sekai and hugger her tightly, watching as she tried to wrestle herself free. It was always better when their house was filled with the sounds of laughing children than crying and yelling.

He walked slowly over to Masuyo’s room, turning on her night-light as he leant down to pick her up out of her crib. She was only 2 and was definitely the child that was most like Akaashi, with her more quiet and reserved nature, hence why her best friend so happened to be the equally reserved Kuroo Mio. She settled near-instantly as she tucked her head into Akaashi’s neck, her sobs slowly subsiding into small, deep breaths, though her big blue eyes were still open when he turned to look at her. 

“Dad?” he heard Hiroto’s voice call out as he stepped into the bedroom.

“Yes?” Akaashi smiled softly, watching as the fluffy brown-haired child came up to him in a wordless display of wanting a morning hug. Akaashi knelt down, holding Masuyo with one arm as he hugged Hiroto with the other.

“Was Papa making breakfast?” Hiroto asked, separating from the hug.

“I think so,” Akaashi said, as the lights turned on in the rest of the house. He could hear Kou and Sekai yelling as they clearly were running down the stairs, with Akaashi deciding to let it go even as Hiroto went to run after them. There had been too many incidents of falling down the stairs from running (hence the sign on the railing), but it was too good of a morning to chastise them for doing so. Even still, Akaashi walked down as carefully as he could with Masuyo tucked up into him.

“I’m thinking pancakes!” Kou yelled, being met with the cheering screams of their two eldest. Kou flicked his golden eyes to Akaashi, before smiling even wider. “How does that sound, Yoyo?” he whisper-yelled, leaning into place a kiss on her head.

Masuyo simply hummed in appreciation, smiling slightly against Akaashi’s chest.

“And pancakes for you, Akaashi?” Kou smiled, placing a quick kiss on his lips, only to be met with gagging sounds from their eldest children. It must’ve been a disgusting thing to have parents that loved each other as openly as Kou and Akaashi did, but Akaashi preferred that to whatever he had growing up. He wanted his children to have the same childhood that Kou did, with a loud house and parents that were disgustingly in love.

He watched as Kou went through the motions of making said pancakes, with both Sekai and Hiroto attempting to help by measuring out the chocolate and blueberries that would be going in them, though it would probably make the pancakes even sweeter than they already were. His husband’s antics, especially in the mornings, had always been funny to him, and it was clearly enough to properly wake up the kids, with even Masuyo now up and smiling in her highchair.

Soon enough, Kou was trying to perfectly flip pancakes in the pan by throwing them up and catching them, with varying levels of success as many pancakes were coming out folded and scrunched up.

“Don’t drop them, Kou,” Akaashi laughed as their children watched in delight. 

“Dad! Are we going to play at the park, today?!” Sekai squealed in excitement.

“I don’t know,” Akaashi sighed. “Your Papa has been banned from volleyball today. Besides, it’s raining.”

Hiroto and Sekai had the same fallen hair and pouts as their father when he was upset, and it still managed to make Akaashi smile at just how similar they all were. 

“I’m sure we can play a little,” Kou smiled, sympathising with them. Akaashi knew that, without a doubt, Kou wanted to play volleyball today more than anyone. “Besides, it’s Kuroo! I can do whatever I like so long as I have all those photos of him.”

Ah, those photos. It had been at Kuroo’s bachelor party, at which Kuroo had gotten so drunk that he’d started crying about how much he loved Kenma and how much he hated working at the JVA with the way that Sakusa and Atsumu had been (granted, at the time they’d been caught making out and hooking up in public). But he’d threatened to quit the JVA to be a house husband, and Kou had taken the liberty of photographing it to hold over Kuroo’s head for the rest of his life.

Akaashi smiled. “Those photos will only work for so long, Kou.”

“What photos?!” Sekai asked, still squealing.

“Yeah! What happened to Uncle T?” Hiroto asked, only slightly less excited than his older sister.

“None of your business,” Akaashi joked. “I’m sure we could find other activities to do with the rain outside.”

Kou finally served up the pancakes, leaving the two eldest to decorate them however they wanted while Akaashi drizzled a small amount of maple syrup over the ones cut up for Masuyo, to which she screamed for more. Akaashi relented, if only because he wanted it to be a good day with Kou being off from the National Team.

“Why don’t we go out for lunch or something?” Kou joked but was very obviously not completely joking.

“Maybe dinner at Onigiri Miya?” Akaashi smiled. Kou smiled back, knowing full well that Akaashi was Onigiri Miya’s top customer, outside of the owner’s twin brother (and maybe Sakusa if he’d been dragged along).

“Miya!” Sekai and Hiroto yelled excitedly in unison, causing Masuyo to babble excitedly alongside them, even if she had no idea what they were screaming about.

“Guess that settles that,” Akaashi smiled.

“They’re even bigger fans of Onigiri Miya than you!” Kou joked, a large belly-laugh echoing from his lips. Akaashi laughed back, joined by all three of their children, the sound of joy filling their house. This was Akaashi’s favourite part about having his whole family home – with the way that their laughter filled up the entire house and they didn’t necessarily need to turn on the lights with how bright all their smiles were.

All the laughter was suddenly broken by a call, coming from Akaashi’s phone tucked in his pocket. He checked the caller ID, seeing that it was his boss and sending a quick prayer that it was nothing to break the happiness of the morning. He already knew he’d taken a slight risk taking a day off in the middle of a rush for quite a few of the projects he assisted on, but also knew he was unlikely to be fired – at most, maybe he was going to be told to do some work even though he’d booked the day off due to the late notice.

“Hello, Bokuto Keiji speaking,” he answered. Kou looked at him suspiciously, but continued to entertain their children, if only so Akaashi could focus on the phone call. He rarely ever used his married name, mostly because Kou never used it – he was apparently too attached to Akaashi since their high school days of yelling it for tosses. Akaashi smiled at the memory.

“Keiji, I was happy to reach you,” his boss answered. “How has your day off been so far? It’s quite early to be up for one of those.” He could hear his boss slightly laughing – maybe this phone call wouldn’t be as bad as he was expecting.

“My eldest woke us up at an ungodly hour, so I am awake unfortunately,” Akaashi joked back, though less easily than his boss seemed to be.

“Well, you better thank them for waking you this early. I have great news!”

Akaashi tried to not let his nerves and high hopes get the best of him – this was still a field where anything could happen, and he could be getting excited over an opportunity that probably didn’t even exist. But then he remembered Kou’s words when he had sent in the proposal:

“We’re the protagonists of this world. We can make joy out of whatever we want.”

“Yes?” Akaashi asked, ready to hear it.

“Your book proposal got approved! You have a book deal!”

Akaashi couldn’t control himself as he broke into a large smile, rivalling even the likes of Kou and Shouyou. He didn’t even think he was giving intelligible words to whatever his boss was saying to him, speaking in fumbles and stutters over smiles and laughter. But he must have been saying something worthwhile for his boss to inevitably get off the phone with him, leaving him still smiling but nothing to say.

Suddenly, Kou was in front of him, holding his face as he felt something wet drip down over his cheeks.

“What happened, Akaashi?” Kou asked, checking all over his face for any sign of harm to him as he continued to smile and cry simultaneously.

“I-” he tried, but his breath got caught.

“Dad, are you sad?” Sekai asked, looking away from her pancakes. Soon enough, their two eldest had jumped down from their chairs and were hugged around each of his legs in their attempt at comfort.

“I got it,” Akaashi said in a tiny voice. But he could tell Kou caught it, with the way his face lit up entirely and proved Akaashi wrong – he could never rival the light that filled the room when his husband smiled.

“You got it!?!” Kou yelled at the top of his lungs, wrapping himself tightly around Akaashi, almost knocking both Akaashi and the two children on his legs onto the floor. All three of them looked completely confused, as Kou continued to hold Akaashi and was practically vibrating.

“Dad got what?” Hiroto asked curiously, looking up at Akaashi.

Kou let go of Akaashi, rushing over to bring Masuyo over to the hugging mess, before scooping up the other two – all three fitting perfectly in his arms.

“Your dad is gonna write a book!” Kou yelled, as Akaashi was welcomed into the hugging mess in Kou’s arms. The kids still seemed as confused as ever, as they watched all the hugging, smiles and crying continue on, but they joined in anyway. Just like their father, they were willing to join in the joy no matter what was happening.

Because they were the protagonists of their world, and they could make joy out of whatever they wanted.

And Akaashi wanted this – his husband, his kids, his family – forever.

🌕🌕🌕

9:00am

Akasaka, Japan

It had been a slower morning than Shouyou was used to, with him and Tobio usually up early for a morning run and yoga. But this time, they had had reason to lay in bed and relax, with the snow and the message from the day before giving them the day off – not that either of them had been necessarily excited about having a break from volleyball. But they were happy that they were able to spend the day with their toddler and newborn twins.

Not to mention the unsigned contracts sitting on the dining room table.

Both of their contracts with their respective teams were up now, with both of them having been given numerous offers from other teams on top of their current teams offering to resign. Shouyou had been hoping he’d receive an offer from Ali Roma, but apparently not, though another Italian team had reached out to him (but they weren’t the team). Tobio had basically kept him in the dark on his offers, which was surprising – he was typically so open about it all.

They had been making it work for three years now since Sachi’s first year, where their living arrangements had been an ongoing issue. But they had found a way to make it work, with them living in Brazil as Tobio came and went, and with the amount Ali Roma was paying to keep Tobio around…it made sense. What could Shouyou say? His man was loaded as one of the most decorated setters in the world.

Even if Shouyou and Tobio hadn’t slept in – curtesy of three rounds of much-needed sex – their kids had. But they were awake now – with the snow having stopped two hours ago – as Shouyou threw the ball up, digging his feet into the snow. It was just like the sand, with the way it shifted under him. He spiked it across the net to Tobio, who ducked down and received it with ease. It was only slightly annoying how that man could still play volleyball perfectly after bottoming this morning.

Tobio received it easily again, which sent it back over the low net.

“Come on, dumbass!” He called. “You can spike better than that!”

Shouyou lifted his hands to set it up for himself, as Sachiko watched on happily having taken to now calling herself ‘Ninja Sachi’.

“Shut up!” he called back, as he spiked it down harder. Shouyou could tell Tobio was putting on a bit of a show for their kids, making Sachi laugh in the way he “easily” received it. Shouyou smiled at it – Tobio was so soft for their kids, it was adorable.

They had been doing this same routine of alternating setter/spiker, all while their newborns were happily rugged up in their playpen inside. They were in perfect view, so much so that the twins had been happily watching the game and giggling at their antics as the two adults bickered as they always did.

“I’m cold!” Sachiko finally declared, the four-year-old running inside frantically. Tobio simply watched her confused, as if shocked that someone would give up playing volleyball because of the weather. Shouyou agreed, but simply laughed, heading inside after her. He heard Tobio come in not far behind them, before Shouyou felt Tobio’s hands creep under his jumper and touch his bare skin.

“Ah!” Shouyou screamed from the cold feeling, diving expertly to the floor in a dramatic display. “You just put your cold hands on me!”

Tobio was laughing, along with Sachi, at Shouyou’s pain, as Tobio continued to remove his vest and jumper.

“You’re so silly, Daddy,” Sachi giggled, running over to poke Shouyou’s face with her equally as cold hands. Shouyou squirmed and squealed, much to Sachi’s delight, before he grabbed her and tackled her as she laughed. “Dad!” she screamed through laughter. Soon enough, the twins were babbling happily alongside them, making Shouyou and Sachi laugh even louder.

Snap.

Shouyou heard a camera shutter sound, stopping the screams and laughter as Shouyou tilted his head. Tobio looked upside down, but he could see him holding his phone pointed towards the four of them, a small smile on his face. Sachi tried to wiggle her way out Shouyou’s grip while he was distracted, but failed, as Shouyou wrapped her even tighter into his arms.

“Don’t leave me!” Shouyou yelled dramatically.

“Papa!” Sachi yelled even louder, laughter interrupting her breaths. “Save me!”

He could hear Tobio’s soft laughter as he kneeled nearly over Shouyou’s head – huh, this was familiar – as he tried to pull Sachi away from him. They continued the tug of war before Shouyou was inevitably defeated by Ninja Sachi and King Tobio, the villain having been slain and lying passed out on the floor.

“Thank you, Papa!” Sachi cheered, both of them clearly laughing at Shouyou’s antics.

“Come on, dumbass,” Tobio laughed. When Shouyou didn’t open his eyes or close his mouth from where he was pretending to be dead, he felt Tobio grip his tongue and pull.

“Ow!” Shouyou screeched, sitting upright instantly. “Meany-yama!”

“You’re so silly, Daddy,” Sachi repeated. That was the most common phrase from her at the moment – everything was silly to her, from Shouyou, to Tobio, to their cat, to food and even to volleyball. Though, it was much better than her endlessly repeated ‘boke’ at Shouyou every time he did anything, even if he wasn’t dumb. He could simply walk into a room, and she would repeat the word endlessly as Tobio watched on, laughing happily.

Though, the favour was being returned with the way Daitō and Hikari loved to repeat ‘yama’ at him. It brought Shouyou a sick sense of joy.

“More volleyball?” Sachi asked quietly as she rested on Tobio’s shoulder, filling the silence that had grown around them, with nothing but baby babbles being heard.

“No, not today,” Tobio murmured, kissing her on the head as he ran his fingers through her soft hair. Shouyou was surprised – he would’ve assumed by the fact that they’d been playing earlier that they were going to be playing volleyball all day. Though, he wasn’t opposed to distracting his children with a show while they-

“Oi, dumbass,” Tobio hissed, flicking his forehead with a pout on his face. “We’re not doing that.”

Curse Tobio and his damn ability to read Shouyou’s mind.

“Do what?!” Sachi yelped, excitedly lifting her head from Tobio’s shoulder and clipping him on the chin as she went. Shouyou burst out laughing instantly, as Tobio rubbed at his face with Sachi still balanced in his lap.

“Nothing, my favourite ninja,” Shouyou laughed, picking her out of Tobio’s lap and sitting her up on the couch behind them – her new favourite throne. At this point, it may as well have been with the way it was filled with her toys alongside their normal throw pillows. Shouyou crawled the small distance to Tobio, swatting Tobio’s hand away and kissing under his chin in a poor attempt to make it better.

Tobio’s breath hitched at the contact. “Still not doing your idea,” Tobio breathed.

“Just mending you, ‘Yama,” Shouyou giggled before shuffling away and standing up. He reached into the play pen to pick up both Hikari and Daitō, carrying one in each arm as he wandered over to their highchairs. It was probably about time he made them all a snack, or something, especially with how small of a breakfast they’d all had – too excited to go outside and start playing volleyball.

Shouyou had missed this, even more so since the twins were born late last year (almost sharing a birthday with Tsukishima, much to his dismay). He missed having his husband at home, and he hated that they only had this kind of life when they were playing for the national team. When Oikawa had asked at the previous Olympics how they made it work, he had just instinctively said that they were happy and making it work – even if that wasn’t the slightest bit true. Shouyou had just been too busy lying to himself about how much he missed Tobio, and he thought Tobio missed him just as much, which made it even more suspicious that he wasn’t sharing his winning.

“Shou?” Tobio called, from where Sachi was playing with his hair as he sat on the floor, Sachi still on her throne.

Shouyou looked up from where he was cutting vegetables, smiling softly. “Yes?”

“Do you wanna go over contracts today?”

“Uh, sure,” Shouyou replied, surprised Tobio was finally willing to break his silence on the topic.

“Great,” Tobio said, giving him a small smile. “I love you.”

“Oh! I love you!” Sachi squealed, tugging slightly too harshly on Tobio’s hair, making him grimace.

“I love you too,” Shouyou smiled.

The twins simply babbled, but they all accepted it as an ‘I love you’ as well.

It was when the twins were finally asleep and Sachi fully distracted by a previous ASAS São Paulo vs. Ali Roma game – the grand final where Shouyou had won, finally putting him ahead of Tobio in their running tally. It had finally been the win that also convinced them to get a whiteboard on the fridge that tracked them, along with a new set counting Sachi’s wins.

“So, what offers do you have, Shou?” Tobio asked, not even looking at his own pile of offers. It was slightly unnerving to Shouyou, that Tobio had been so secretive about his – they had always promised to not keep secrets between them before they had even started dating. Tobio had been the first person to know about Brazil both times, and Shouyou had been the first to know of any achievement Tobio made, just so Shouyou knew how far he needed to continue to go. But now…now he was willing to talk about it, looking confident and smug in a way that he hadn’t when they had last had this conversation about Shouyou leaving MSBY to play internationally with Tobio, or when they decided to live between Brazil and Japan when Sachi was 1.

“Ok, um…” Shouyou dragged off, trying to look through the papers. “I have a resigning offer from ASAS, Argentina, Italy, Australia, MSBY, and another Brazilian team.”

“And what are you thinking?” Tobio asked, still watching Shouyou confidently.

Shouyou flicked his eyes to behind Tobio, where Sachi was sat on the couch. He didn’t want to disrupt her routine and introduce her to a new country, especially when the team offered to him wasn’t even in Rome – they were on a completely different side of Italy. But that left him coming back to Japan, which was even further from Tobio, or going back to the arrangement they’d had for two years now.

But, if he was being entirely honest, he was sick of it.

“I don’t know,” Shouyou admitted, looking up at Tobio, hoping that Tobio would read his mind again and not make him say any of it out loud.

Tobio reached across the table, touching Shouyou’s hand softly without his confidence wavering. “What’s wrong?”

“I hate this,” Shouyou admitted, pushing the words out before he could stop himself. Tobio just eased into another confident smile, which served to only slightly annoy Shouyou now. He was trying to yell or snap at his husband but do it quietly enough that Sachi didn’t hear them. “I hate being away from you like this, Tobio. I can’t do it forever and sometimes – sometimes – I feel like a single parent, which is really shitty when they ask where their mother is. And then having to explain that I have a husband and it’s this famous, decorated setter, and they look at me like I’m insane. But I’m not insane. And you know what? I miss you too, you annoying dumbass.”

“Shou-” Tobio started, before Shouyou cut him off.

“I’m not done! I hate that I only get this life with you during national team season. I miss waking up to you, kissing you, fucking you, being fucked by you, playing volleyball with you, joking around with our kids. I want that every day.”

Shouyou heaved in large breaths, as he came down from his rant, before Tobio simply burst out laughing. He just glared at his husband, willing himself to not get any angrier or start crying. Why was Tobio just laughing at him?

“Shou,” Tobio started, coming down from his laughter as he interlocked their fingers. Shouyou willed himself to calm down and listen – Tobio wasn’t that cruel. He would never hurt Shouyou like that as to laugh at him for missing him, not when he knew Tobio missed their family and the way they were in national team season as well.

“Yes?” Shouyou stuttered on uneasy breath.

“I didn’t want to say anything before it was completely finalised. But we’re going back to Brazil.”

“What?”

“I accepted an offer with another Brazilian team in Rio. It’s only 5 hours from our house in São Paulo, but I will be able to come home to you and the kids every night. I miss all of you too, and I miss having this life with you. I didn’t want to tell you anything and get your hopes up, but I’m coming home with you,” Tobio smiled.

Shouyou felt the previously sad tears run down his face as he smiled, being met with a smile from Tobio as well. He jumped up from his chair, jumping into Tobio’s arms and knocking him onto the ground, out of his chair.

“Dumbass! You could’ve injured us both!” he heard Tobio complain, but Shouyou didn’t care.

They’d been long-distance their whole relationship, but Tobio was finally coming home. Was coming home to him and their family. He heard Sachi’s little feet rushing across the hallway to where Tobio and Shouyou were laid out onto the ground, nuzzling her way into their hug.

“I take that as a ‘yes’?” Tobio smirked, as Shouyou leaned down to kiss him hard as way of agreeing. He had intended for it to be a lot sweeter than it came out, with the way Tobio curled his hand into his hair and pulled him closer (though, still age-appropriate).

“Ew!” Sachi screamed loudly, forcing them apart as they were promptly deafened. Soon enough, there were two pairs of crying joining in alongside what had been pure happiness between the two men, making them let out matching annoyed groans. Sachi quickly ran away at the sound, taking her position back on her throne.

Shouyou smirked at Tobio, still below him. “First to put their twin to bed wins?”

“You’re on.”

🌖🌖🌖

12:00pm

Tokyo, Japan

Tooru was miserable, to say the least. And he knew how much of an asshole he seemed to be miserable on a day where his husband was off from the National Team, so they were supposed to spend it together, as a family. But he had been staring at the same string of emails for hours now, where he had been offered to come back to Argentina. When him and Iwa agreed to both live in Japan and have their twins, he didn’t think it would hurt this much to leave the team that he had given up his Japanese citizenship for.

“Tooru, what are you doing?” Iwa groaned from their bedroom door, looking as amazing as always in his tank top and sweatpants. He sounded annoyed, but he had just spent almost an hour putting their toddlers down to sleep. “Tooru?”

“Hm?” he replied, snapping his eyes up.

“I thought you were making lunch?” Iwa sounded annoyed, which only served to make Tooru even more miserable. Iwa had been snappy with him for a few days now, but it was unusual for him to keep it to himself, having become used to losing his shit at Tooru instead. Tooru would have preferred that; it would’ve put an end to whatever eggshells they were stepping on anyway.

“Oh, yeah,” Tooru said softly, tucking his phone into his pocket and walking out of their room into the kitchen. He had simply moved into Iwa’s apartment when he came back to Japan and even though he knew everything there was to know about the place, none of it felt like home. Not that Iwa would probably understand what that felt like – he’d been in Japan this whole time.

Iwa was simply watching him make lunch from where he was now sitting on the kitchen bench – just watching, like he had nothing better to do with his day. Or like he was waiting for Tooru to say or do something, with a permanent dip in his brow from trying to contain his anger. When he saw Tooru watching him, his face softened for a second as he let out a slow breath.

“So,” he started, before seemingly second-guessing it and just acting like he hadn’t intended on saying something.

Tooru was done with his shit.

He turned off the small grill he was using and threw his tongues into the sink, hearing them fall with a resounding bang that felt good, in a sick sort-of way.

“So what,” Tooru snapped, with it not coming out as a question, and with even more bite than he had intended it to. But who really cared?

Iwa took a breath, acting calmer that Tooru wanted him to be. He just wanted Iwa to yell at him like he always did, if anything to just tell him what he had done wrong.

“So, Argentina?” Iwa asked, with the look of someone who already knew what he was asking about. Not that Tooru was going to give it to him that easily.

“What about Argentina?” Tooru asked, playing dumb. When he saw the way Iwa’s brow furrowed and he stood up with a start, chair scraping on the floor in a way that Tooru knew would leave marks, he knew he had gotten the reaction he wanted.

“I saw those emails, Tooru. Don’t play dumb with me,” Iwa snapped, not yet yelling.

“So, what if they emailed me?” He snapped back. “I haven’t replied!” Yet.

“Yet,” Iwa snapped, as if he was reading Oikawa’s mind. “You haven’t replied to them yet. And you didn’t think to tell me they wanted you back?”

“It didn’t matter! You would tell me to say no!” Tooru yelled, though not loud enough to wake up his children.

“Would you not?!” Iwa yelled back. When he was met with silence, he drew in a sharp breath and asked, in a voice softer than before, “Tooru…would you not?”

“I don’t know!” Tooru snapped back. “I gave up everything to play there, and maybe that’s what I want!”

“So, what about your everything else?!” Iwa yelled back; the semblance of softness he’d shown disappearing. Good, Tooru thought, if he yells and hates me, this would be a lot easier decision.

“I gave up my Japanese citizenship for that team!”

“Okay, so-!”

“I risked everything, including you, to play there, and I gave it up with no fight!”

“For us, Oikawa! You gave it up for us!”

He almost never called Tooru by his last name, mostly because they had always agreed for him to have Iwaizumi as his last name even if they were never officially married. Most of their friends and family accepted them as a married couple that shared the one last name anyway, so why would either of them use Oikawa? But then there were times that Iwa was angry that he forgot to change it over, almost like he went back to his automatic setting – as if Tooru Iwaizumi was never as instinctual as it was for everyone else.

“We could make it work, you know,” Tooru replied stubbornly, turning around to resume making lunch. Though, he had to throw the tongs in the bin when he realised they were bent from how hard he’d thrown them.

“Make what work?” Iwa snapped. “Two different countries?!”

“Shou does!” Oikawa snapped, forgoing making lunch entirely now as he whirled back on Iwa. “As much as I dislike Tobio, they both actually support each other to be in different countries!”

“Oh yeah?” Iwa snapped, rolling his eyes, as though he knew something about the situation that Tooru didn’t. “And did Shouyou tell you that?”

“Yes!”

“Are you really that dumb, Oikawa?! If you had ever actually spoken to Tobio, or if Shouyou was actually being honest, you would know how miserable they have been. Do you even know what two different countries with kids means?!”

“It means-”

“I’ll tell you!” Iwa interrupted. “It means one parent does everything and that, even if you’re home once a month, your child takes at least a day to even recognise you! It means being too tired from flights to spend time with your family, and not actually being able to enjoy it! Not to mention our love life! Did you know that, outside of National Team, Tobio and Shouyou don’t have date nights and maybe have sex once over the course of the volleyball season?!”

“So let me guess, Tobio told you all that?!” Tooru yelled, even angrier at the idea that Iwa would take the word of Tobio over his own, or even over Shouyou’s. He knew they could make it work, they had before – how much harder could it with their kids?

“Yes! Of course he did! Do you really want our kids not really knowing who you are?!”

“They’ll be fine! Their kids are fine as well!”

“Don’t bring their kids into it,” Iwa snapped, that characteristic defensiveness for Tobio that he always had since middle school showing.

“So, what does Tobio suggest to fix it all?!”

“He’s accepting an offer for another Brazilian team so he can be with them. He actually wants his kids to know his name and wants to be with his husband! That is supporting each other, you dumbass!”

Tooru hadn’t known that. In fact, in all his bi-weekly phone calls with Shouyou, he had never mentioned Tobio moving to Brazil. Tooru had never really asked how Shouyou was doing with the distance since their conversation at the last Olympics, but thinking about it now, maybe Shouyou had looked sadder whenever his kids asked about ‘Papa’ or Tooru mentioned or asked about Tobio off-handedly. How had he not noticed that Shouyou had been lying to him, or maybe Shouyou had been too busy lying to himself to acknowledge it?

“I-”

“If you want to go to Argentina on false pretences, fine! But I’m not doing all the work for you!” Iwa snapped.

“What?” Tooru asked, all the anger leaving his body at the meaning of Iwa’s words.

“I won’t be a single father for you,” Iwa said.

“You’re leaving me now? In the middle of the kitchen?”

“What?!” Iwa yelled, loud enough to wake up the kids now. “No, dumbass!”

“Then what-!”

“I’m going to Argentina with you this time, Tooru!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. The Japan National Team needs you.”

“Not as much as I need you,” Iwa replied.

“You can’t uproot your life,” Tooru said.

“Tooru, my life is with you. I’m not as dumb as you to realise that you’d set down no roots when you came back to Japan, and to learn that you’d been hiding from me that offer from Argentina…it pissed me off. The first time you went, you didn’t consult me. And this time, I wanted to be part of it.”

“You-”

“You are also dumb as hell for thinking Shouyou was okay, because who wouldn’t miss their husband if they were in another country?”

“Well, if my husband was Tobio, I wouldn’t miss him that much.”

“See! That’s why you missed it!” Iwa snapped before calming down and walking around their kitchen island to draw Tooru into his arms, even if it took some tugging. Tooru didn’t want to give in that easily, but he couldn’t find it in him to fight so much anymore, not when Iwa was here showing more of himself than maybe he had in a long time.

“You would really move to Argentina?” Tooru asked.

“You’re still an asshole,” Iwa replied, making Tooru scoff. “But you’re my asshole, so yes. If that’s what you want.”

“Dad?” a small voice came from the doorway to the kitchen. When Tooru lifted his head off of Iwa’s head, he saw the small boy wrapped in his lucky blanket, his chocolate brown eyes wide and filled with tears. Iwa moved first, rushing over to comfort the eldest of the twins, Souma, as his tears started to fall down his cheeks, with Tooru not far behind.

“What’s wrong, Souma?” Iwa asked, pulling their son into a hug between them.

“You were mad,” Souma sobbed.

“Not at you,” Tooru replied, stroking his son’s hair. He had thought that they hadn’t yelled loud enough for them to be heard in the boys’ rooms, but they clearly had been for one of them to be sobbing in their arms now.

“I don’t want you to leave,” Souma sobbed harder, thrusting himself into Tooru’s arms even tighter. Tooru could feel Souma dampening his shirt with a mixture of tears and snot, a combination of fluids that he wasn’t yet used to having on himself.

He looked to Iwa, who simply nodded in his direction with a sympathetic smile. Maybe this was what Tobio had been talking about with Iwa – the feeling of emptiness that came along with leaving your children, no matter how much you loved what you were leaving them for. Even if he never understood what Shouyou saw in that man, he could appreciate Tobio’s decision to stay home and be with them. To get to hold the person he loved and their children every day and night, without worrying about when they’re next leaving.

Tooru decided it was no longer worth running all the time to volleyball, when he could find it elsewhere. He didn’t need to play on the Argentina National Team, or maybe he could, but he didn’t need to be there for the rest of his life. It was finally time to settle back into his life in Japan and come home, especially when he knew that the loves of his life would always be supporting him every step of the way.

Tooru kissed the top of Souma’s head, whispering into his hair that was just like Iwa’s.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

🌗🌗🌗

3:00pm

Tokyo, Japan

Kei threw the screwdriver across the room (softer as to not destroy whatever Tadashi was working on) as he stared at the piece of furniture in front of him. He hated IKEA furniture – he had hated it when they were first putting furniture in their house, and they put their bed together on their own. But despite feeling accomplished at the time, one night of ‘extracurricular activities’ and it had broken from under them, and they had had the awkward conversation with IKEA to bring someone to teach them how to do it. This time though, Tadashi and he had decided to pay the extra for it to be done for them…only for it to not be done for them.

“You know, maybe we should-” Tadashi started, wrapping his arms around Kei’s shoulders from where they were sitting on the floor.

“Don’t say it!” Kei begged. He knew what was coming because it was the tenth time Tadashi was providing it as an option, and it was logical why. Those two volleyball idiots had three children and had somehow made all of this work. But did that mean Kei wanted to see the smug look on both of their faces as he called them for help?

No. No, it didn’t.

“I’m calling them,” Tadashi declared as he unwound himself from around Kei and stood up to grab his phone. Kei decided that his husband was a traitor, as he heard the phone ring multiple times before inevitably going to Hinata’s annoying voicemail. Now suddenly Kei was frustrated at them – they knew that him and Tadashi were preparing for the arrival of their godchild, but he couldn’t pick up to give them advice on furniture for said godchild?

Kei knew he was being irrational, but he needed something to maintain whatever pride he had left from having to ‘call a friend’ to put furniture together.

He heard it ring out a second time, only to hear Hinata’s voicemail again, but Tadashi clicked off before he could leave one.

“You don’t want to leave him a voicemail?”

“He’s probably busy at training or with his kids,” Tadashi replied, sitting back down to continue working on his piece of furniture.

It was afternoon, so maybe he was setting up afternoon tea, but that sounded way too responsible for either of those idiots. But then again, he hadn’t expected either of them to keep a child alive (let alone three). Even if he thought Hinata’s pitch of having enough for a volleyball team absolutely ridiculous. But Hinata had always loved kids – it was Tobio’s willingness to go along with him and his desire to have children that had thrown Kei off. Though, the sentiment was returned when Kei and Tadashi had been approved to adopt their son, with both of them cocking their head curiously at the idea of Kei being a dad.

Suddenly, the sound of a ringtone came through.

“It’s Shouyou!” Tadashi yelped once he’d gotten to his phone.

Kei could tell he’d put it on speaker when Hinata’s out-of-breath voice came through over the phone. “Hey, Tadashi!”

A small “hi” came in behind that, which sounded like Kageyama equally out-of-breath.

“Why are you two so out-of-breath?” Tadashi laughed, as he sat back down next to Kei.

“Well, the kids went for their afternoon nap and-”

“Oh my God, I don’t want to know,” Kei gagged, rolling his eyes. Those two really could have sex anywhere, at any time, if all the times they’d been caught in compromising positions was anything to go by. Kei swore that their kids were one day just going to walk in and see them, but they had so far remained unscathed. Kei wasn’t as lucky.

“You asked!” Kageyama snapped.

“Besides, Tobio is moving to Brazil permanently!” Hinata cheered.

Tadashi laughed. He and Kei had already known about the plans, but Hinata was, of course, the last person to know. “We already knew! But I’m so happy for you both!”

“Wait, what?! Tobio?!” Hinata yelled. This phone call was doing so much more harm to Kei’s headache than it was helping, with both the furniture and the so-called ‘kagehina’ contributing simultaneously. He thought the latter was supposed to ease the former.

“Oi, you idiots!” Kei snapped, grabbing the phone from Tadashi, before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek as an apology. “We need…something from you.”

“Oh?” Hinata’s voice said, suddenly completely uninterested at yelling at his husband. The shift almost gave Kei whiplash. “Salty-shima needs our help? The two volleyball idiots?”

Kei sighed. He knew this would hurt. “Yes.”

Hinata dramatically gasped, while Tobio snickered.

“I need your help too!” Tadashi stepped in.

“Oh, we’ll happily help you, Tadashi! But we’ll only help salty-shima if he asks politely.”

“Shou, is that really necessary?”

“Tobio had to every time we wanted help with studying. It’s only fair!”

Tadashi looked to Kei with his ‘captain look’, which made him feel as though he was psychologically compelled to do his bidding. It was unfair that his bedroom looks and ‘captain look’ weren’t that different, because it always managed to play a trick on his brain and body in a way that was unique to Tadashi.

He groaned. “Will you please help us?” he deadpanned, met with cheers and laughter from the two volleyball idiots.

“What do you need help with?” Hinata replied, the laughter still in his voice.

“IKEA furniture,” Tadashi replied. “We got the bassinet and changing table you two recommended, but they’re impossible to put together. How did you two even do this?”

It’s silent on the other end of the phone, with the exception of the sound of whispering between the two. Tadashi gave him a curious look, confused by whatever the reason for the ongoing silence was. It was unlike those two to not have something to say, especially for Hinata.

“What is it, you two?” Kei asked, a slightly snappier tone than was probably necessary.

“Well…” Kageyama started.

“We had Yachi do it,” Hinata finished.

“What?!” Kei and Tadashi simultaneously yelled.

“We got this on your recommendation, and you said they were easy to put it up!” Tadashi yelps, his voice reaching an octave that it only reaches when he’s nervous. Kei reaches out and starts to rub small circles on Tadashi’s upper back as he always done when his husband starts to panic or get anxious.

“We were travelling for the National Team! They definitely looked easy,” Hinata justifies. But it doesn’t seem to soothe Tadashi, and it doesn’t bring down Kei’s anger.

“You dumbasses!” Kei snaps, still comforting his husband while he does so (a skill he picked up in third year). “I have no idea how you two keep three children alive!”

“Love and water?” Hinata said, somewhat sarcastically. It pissed Kei off to no end how Hinata managed to pick up sarcasm in the years he was in Brazil.

“And food!” Tobio added, though he didn’t understand the sarcasm at all, which was made obvious when he yelped from presumedly being hit by Shouyou.

Kei went to retort something again, but the stressed look on Tadashi’s face made him second-guess himself. He decided that quickly bidding the two idiots goodbye and throwing the phone away was the best choice, before Tadashi completely broke down and let himself be pulled into a hug. So there the two of them were, feeling like even more dumbasses than those two had been – it wasn’t like it was Hinata and Kageyama’s fault they were stressed. If anything, Tadashi had been on the precipice on crying every time he couldn’t do something right in preparation of their child.

The thing was – Kei wasn’t good at this. The saying his feelings clearly thing. Insults and his face telling a million stories, absolutely. He could do that with ease. But saying his feelings out loud to people, even Tadashi, was difficult, preferring to show it through actions or in less direct ways. But he knew what needed to be said when it counted, or at least he always hoped he did.

“Tadashi, it’ll be alright,” he tried to start with, softly whispering it against his husband’s soft hair.

“No!” Tadashi cried. “I can’t even make baby food, I can’t build anything he needs, and I don’t even know how I’m supposed to do this. I never had a male role model! You had Akiteru, so that should help, but I don’t know how to do this!”

Kei rubbed Tadashi’s back, kissing the top of his head. “We’ll be able to do this, because we have parented the two biggest idiots since we were 15. And I…I believe in us, Tadashi. Actually, I believe in you.”

“Y-you do?” Tadashi stuttered, lifting his head up from where it had been tucked into Kei’s chest. No matter how many years passed or how confident Tadashi had become over the years, it was when he looked at Kei like this that reminded him so much of when they had first met – only Tadashi was a much more capable version of that kid now. Tadashi just didn’t fully realise it as much as Kei had.

“Yes,” Kei whispered, moving his hands to cup his husband’s adorable face. “And this baby will be the luckiest kid in the world to have you as his father.”

“And you,” Tadashi said, leaning into Kei’s hands.

Kei simply hummed in response, leaning forward to kiss Tadashi’s forehead. “Let’s finish this furniture and then we’ll go out for dinner.”

“But the-”

“The dinner I prepped earlier will still be there,” Kei interrupted, planting another kiss on Tadashi’s forehead. He sincerely hoped their kid had the same dimples and bright eyes as Tadashi did, or maybe not since they got Tadashi anything and everything he wanted.

“Do you think we should call Yachi?” Tadashi asked, lifting his head away and looking back and forth between the two unfinished furniture pieces. It was probably a good idea to call Yachi if she had helped the other two, but the idea of asking another person for help seemed like a ridiculous concept. So, Kei resolved – to himself – that they could do this, especially if either of them wanted to prove that they would be capable as fathers. He knew they would be, but he needed Tadashi to prove it to himself.

“I think we can do it,” Kei smiled. And so, for the next 6 hours, they attached themselves to the two pieces of furniture that were laying disassembled on the nursery floor, managing to get both of them done, standing and jump proof ifTadashi sitting (and standing with Kei’s assistance) was any consolation that it was childproof. Kei and Tadashi were practically out-of-breath, but Tadashi was smiling from ear-to-ear with a look in his eyes that told Kei he had achieved exactly what he wanted – for Tadashi to see just how capable he was and accept it for the first time in his life.

Kei checked his phone and sent off a quick text, confirming a location for dinner before dragging his husband to get ready for dinner, even if he was potentially going to regret it in the next few hours. 

🌘🌘🌘

5:00pm

Paris, France

“So, what is this all for, Toshi?” Tendou teased, looking around the area they were in sceptically. It was nice, as in too expensive for a bakery owner kind of nice. He obviously knew how well-off his husband was – Toshi wasn’t the type to ever lie or hide things after all – but he didn’t need a showing of it for what he’d deemed was a regular date. Again, Toshi wasn’t known for hiding anything, so this was all way too suspicious.

Even more so when Toshi didn’t even give him a response.

But whatever – Tendou was willing to go along with it all. He was always willing to go with the flow, especially when it came to Toshi. He had been happy to watch as his husband moved around the world, chasing his dream, and it had been returned in kind. He had supported Tendou’s arguably perfect (though some would say over-the-top) coming out as pansexual, with rainbow streamers and a sign, and he had been just as supportive as Toshi came out quietly to the third years as gay and ace, cheering the loudest in the room. He had always been willing to go along with whatever was the vibe, and Toshi’s  vibe had always been easy to match (mostly because it never changed).

“Des entrées pour commencer?” the server asked, smiling at them.

Toshi looked at Tendou, a flicker of anxiety in his stoic expression, before turning back to the server. Tendou was about to answer for him, just going to order their usual starters of bread and French onion soup (a classic, a must-have every time), before Toshi stepped in to give the order in perfect French.

“Des escargots, s'il vous plaît. Et du pain. À partager.”

The server nodded, writing it down as Tendou simply stared in shock. Toshi had never once let on that he was learning French, even after all the years Tendou had lived here. He had said he was willing to go along with anything, but this had thrown him for a loop! He really would just need to play along with whatever was planned.

If he was being honest, he was seeing a whole new side of his husband. And he loved it as much as he loved everything else of his favourite weirdo.

“I would like to apologise for not ordering the soup,” Toshi said, bowing his head slightly.

Tendou smiled – this was more like his husband. “It’s fine! It’s a staple, but we always get it. I wanna try this fancy restaurant!”

“The reviews said it was quite nice. It also came highly recommended from the last Olympics.”

“Did the snails come with that recommendation?” Tendou laughed. He could only think of a few people on the Japan National Team that would actually be willing to try snails, and he didn’t think his husband would trust the judgement of any of them. Unless there was someone out there considered the Hinatas, Atsumu, Hoshiumi and Bokuto as depictions of good common sense. Tendou certainly didn’t, even though he liked the five of them.

“No. But I know of your love for them,” Toshi nodded.

Tendou nodded, accepting the statement. He knew the food would probably take a while, taking the chance now before the server came back to ask about the change or the secretiveness of this restaurant.

“So, what’s with the change-up from our typical restaurant?” Tendou laughed. He knew of his husband’s inability to understand social interactions, even if it was with Tendou, so he tried to make it obvious he wasn’t accusing or being rude – he actually found this all quite amusing and adorable.

“I wished to do something good for you,” Toshi said, the edges of his mouth twitching upwards into a smile. He was so cute – Tendou just wanted to kiss him all over his cute – hopelessly chiselled – face.

“That is so sweet and cute, Toshi!” Tendou declared, smiling widely. “But you know I never need any of this from you.”

“I am sorry, but I believe you deserve it,” Toshi said, polite but charming. How did Tendou end up so lucky with this perfect, polite, cute man?

“Vos entrées, messieurs,” the waiter smiled politely, placing the snails and bread in front of them. Tendou rested his hands under his chin as he watched Toshi take one of the snails and try one, only gagging slightly as he managed to swallow it down. It was so impressive that all Tendou could do was gawk at him – he knew that he himself ate snails quite easily, but he had never seen one of his Japanese friends eat one with ease yet.

“That was so good, Toshi!” Tendou praised, clapping and smiling for him.

“You talk about them often,” Toshi acknowledged, before placing one of the small plates for Tendou to enjoy and taking another one for himself. Tendou still hadn’t gotten the answers he wanted out of Toshi yet about why the sudden change in plans – he didn’t feel the answer was justification enough, even though he knew that Toshi really felt that way. It was important that to Tendou that he got the full answer, even if he was willing to go with the flow. More than that, he liked knowing what was going on in his husband’s head.

Soon enough, they had ordered mains and drinks, only for them to arrive in the same quickness that the entrées had. Tendou had no idea what could have possibly been going on for the restaurant to be so quick with them, though the side nods and glances towards Toshi made Tendou figure that he had said or done something. It wasn’t unusual for his husband to go above and beyond for him, but in ways that mattered to Tendou like investing in him opening his own bakery – not grand displays of wealth at restaurants.

“Tendou,” Toshi started, drawing Tendou away from the raging questions in his head. But he wasn’t insecure – quite the opposite. He knew whatever Toshi had for him was good, but he wanted to know how good.

“Yes, my dear Toshi?” Tendou smiled around his bite of steak.

“I fear that I have been dishonest with you,” Toshi started, giving in a small bow in apology which Tendou quickly waved off. There was no reason for Toshi to apologise to him when he knew his husband always had nothing but good intentions.

“What’s this for?” Tendou prompted, laying his cutlery down and clasping his hands in his lap to hold back his excitement at what this could be. But he wanted to allow Toshi to tell him on his own terms, knowing that he would get to it eventually.

“I hate when people do not tell me anything outright, so I shall tell you the truth,” Toshi nodded to himself, as if he was encouraging himself to say it. For not the first time this evening, Tendou loved how cute his husband was. “I am moving to Paris.”

Tendou suddenly forgot to speak, as his entire body went slack. He was no longer buzzing with excitement, though that was definitely one of the emotions he was feeling. There were no words for all the emotions running through him as he stared in shock at his husband – his husband who had lived in so many places over the years but never with Tendou. They had never lived in the same place because Toshi was off chasing his dream and Tendou was chasing his, and they respected that. So, if Toshi was moving here, did that mean he was giving up volleyball? Tendou didn’t want that, he wanted his husband to go as far as he could go for as long as he could because that was what Toshi dreamed of. But he also knew that Toshi feared not feeling like a family as his father had – he never wanted to choose one or the other. He wanted it all, and it made Tendou beam with pride that now Toshi was ready to have it all with him.

“Tendou, is that okay?” Toshi asked, concern flitting across his eyes.

“I’m fine!” he yelled, probably too loud for a fancy restaurant before taming it down. “I’m fine.”

“I will play for Poland still, but I wish to come home each day. Until I can get a contract with a French team,” Toshi nodded, as if he had memorised a script. Tendou would not be surprised if he had.

“You’ll take a 2-hour flight every day you have training?!” Tendou exclaimed, blown away by the generosity.

“I have taken a 14-hour flight to be with you for two days, Tendou. The 2-hour flight is meaningless,” Toshi stated, as simple as when Tendou lists off ingredients in his pastries. Like it was nothing at all to be concerned about, which Tendou was always surprised by given that he was a scholarship kid. That said, he had already mentioned tonight that he knew Toshi was wealthy and appreciated it, though he didn’t know how he felt with it used on him so regularly.

“I don’t want your money used that recklessly,” Tendou said. “But not because I don’t want you to come home to me and because I don’t appreciate the gesture, but I want to know it’s what you really want.”

“I wish to be a family with you,” Toshi said.

Tendou smiled. “I would love that too!”

“And I am sorry for deceiving you.”

“Of course,” Tendou laughed. “Can we get a cat then?!”

“Why?” Toshi asked, his gaze remaining unsurprised by the question. Tendou knew that Toshi would probably end up saying yes anyway to his request, but he had to give his pitch first. He had wanted a cat forever and he had always wanted it to be theirs, not just his. He had already been to a cat shelter and put one on hold for one day that he could ask Toshi for her, but turns out, Toshi had done the hard work for him. Now all he needed was the purchase the cat, name her Molten like he wanted, and they would be a family of three.

“Because I found one! She’s beautiful and soft, and she’s a tuxedo cat so she looks very smart! And her name will be Molten.”

“Like the volleyball?”

“Yes! For us!”

Toshi smiled slightly. “I would like a cat named Molten.”

🌑🌑🌑

8:00pm

Osaka, Japan

Atsumu was dead. Or on his way to being dead.

He had accidentally – key word, accidentally – shrunk all of Omi’s jerseys in the dryer. In his defence, how was he supposed to know that cotton shrunk in the dryer? He wouldn’t consider that a common knowledge thing, unless your smart, genius, college-educated Sakusa Kiyoomi and know fucking everything.

“Omi!” Atsumu pleaded on his knees, where Omi was currently sat upright with his legs crossed like a princess. “I’ve been pleading with ‘ya for hours!”

“It’s been 10 minutes,” Omi groaned with an eyeroll. They were supposed to go out for dinner in an hour and he couldn’t even convince Omi to put on something nice, claiming that it would ‘also be nice to be able to wear my jerseys when we return’. Begging so far had not been working, with Omi simply turning on a show and ignoring him – he didn’t even know how Omi was watching whatever reality TV show shit was on right now.

“Omi, please!” Atsumu begged. “We have reservations.”

Omi rolled his eyes again. “Your twin brother owns it. I’m sure he’d prefer you don’t show up at all.”

“Rude!” Atsumu cried dramatically. “Komori would say the same for you.”

“Yeah, except I haven’t bothered him since the womb.”

“I’ll bother your womb,” Atsumu teased, causing Omi to make a disgusted face at him. All of the MSBY guys, with the special addition of Shouyou when he’d come to their game with his kids, had checked out Archive of Our Own, with Omi deciding he hated the whole site when he first read a fic of him getting impregnated. But Atsumu had taken that disgust and run with it, bringing it up whenever he possibly could.

“Don’t you have more shirts to shrink,” Omi rolled his eyes for a third time, focusing completely on the TV. It was as if Atsumu had been dismissed by his teacher, which served to now piss him off instead of trying to beg for forgiveness. He didn’t need forgiveness from this asshole, especially when he had gotten everything he had wanted from him for the rest of the day. It was the good thing about being a childless couple – getting to fuck anywhere and anytime they liked.

But now, Atsumu was stomping back into the room where they had been engaged in intimate activities only an hour before and laying on the bed to scream into a pillow. He knew that the jerseys were expensive, and he was going to pay for them, if Omi ever stopped being such a massive jerk. Who did that pretentious asshole think he was? Atsumu had loved on his ungrateful ass all day to enjoy their day off, but it turned into this an hour later because some jerseys had shrunk?

Atsumu wasn’t even supposed to be doing the washing! His chores were the vacuuming and dishes, with Omi declaring only he would be entrusted to wash any of the clothes because he knew what should or should not go in the dryer. But Atsumu had heard the washing machine go off and decided to be nice, so he put all of the stuff in the dryer! Apparently, it hadn’t just been the jerseys that had shrunk, but Omi had only been complaining about those given that they were the most expensive thing in there. If this is what he got for doing a favour for his boyfriend, he was never doing it again!

He jumped up from the bed, intent on giving his boyfriend a piece of his mind now that he successfully worked himself up to. He swung open the door, only to be confronted with Omi exactly on the other side, staring surprised at him.

“Were you coming to apologise?” Atsumu snapped first.

Omi sighed, rolling his eyes and walking back to the couch. “I came to ask if you were done having a tantrum.”

“Me?!” Atsumu shrieked. He sounded insane, probably. To him, he seemed perfectly rational when his boyfriend was a massive asshole. “You were freaking out over shrunk jerseys!”

“They’re expensive,” Omi said, arms folded and leaning against the side of the couch casually, as he watched Atsumu intently.

“I’m sorry,” Atsumu emphasised. “I shouldn’t have to beg for forgiveness!”

“You don’t have to beg,” Omi sighed, as if Atsumu was the one being a stubborn idiot. “I just wanted you to leave me alone for at least a minute.”

“For what?!”

“To get over it.”

“But-but we have to talk!”

Omi shook his head, sighing again. “I don’t need to. If you give me a few minutes, I’ll be fine. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, I do!” Atsumu cried. He couldn’t understand wanting to be left alone to deal with an issue and not wanting to talk it out. His father had always been that way – quietly seething with rage until he burst with his anger, but he still never wanted to talk about it. That was why him and Osamu had the promise of always talking about their feelings with others, so as to not eventually burst with emotion, even if their feelings or thoughts hurt others. Though, Osamu was better at not hurting people, not that Atsumu would say that aloud.

“Hey,” Omi whispered, suddenly closer than Atsumu remembered him being with his warm hands resting on Atsumu’s arms. “I’m happy to talk, but I need 5 minutes before it.”

“But-”

“What is it you and Osamu call it? Bursting? I won’t do that.”

Atsumu let himself fall forward onto Omi’s shoulder, wrapping his arms around him. He knew that Omi hated hugs, but he could still feel him relax into the hug as if it was second nature. He knew that he’d messed up, but all in all, he just wanted his boyfriend to forgive him so they can enjoy the dinner reservations, even if they were only at his brother’s restaurant.

“Do you still want to go to ‘Samu’s?” Atsumu asked.

Omi scoffed. “When do we go literally anywhere else?”

Atsumu jumped back from the embrace. “Hey! We go to that izakaya across from the stadium!”

“Yeah, with the team,” Omi drawled, humour seeping into his voice as he crossed his arms again and watched Atsumu stumble over his next words. His boyfriend really was an asshole. Instead of continuing to potentially embarrass himself, he stepped forward and drew Omi into a long kiss, to which Omi gave into almost instantly despite his surprise. They had done this dance so many times, especially today, that it should actually be second nature.

He felt as Omi continued to push him backwards onto the wall next to their bedroom door, instead of through it. Maybe he just wanted to take Atsumu now instead of walking the rest of the way – a sentiment that Atsumu was very eager to share. That was until he heard a buzz come from inside his pocket.

“What is that?” Omi snapped, separating their lips to start pressing kisses along Atsumu’s neck angrily. Atsumu liked making his boyfriend frustrated – not angry, there’s a spectrum for Omi – when it came to sex. Somehow, he was just better then.

He pulled out his phone and checked the caller ID

Uglier Version

He double-checked the time – they weren’t late for their reservation at all. But if that wasn’t the reason…was something wrong?

Atsumu signalled for Omi, regrettably, to stop, as he answered and stepped away from the wall. Though, soon enough, he needed to separate his phone from his ear as he heard his brother scream at the top of his lungs, “what the fuck are you all doing booking out my restaurant?!”

🍙🍙🍙

9:00pm

Tokyo, Japan

Osamu was about to lose it as he watched the majority of the Japan National Team walk into his restaurant, at different stages of life and from different distances.

He watched as Bokuto and Akaashi had walked in first, their three children following in not far behind. Akaashi had always been his longest customer – even rivalling Atsumu – and had definitely become his favourite customer. Not to mention, their eldest two children had become two of his favourite helpers whenever they were in. Seeing their reservation had neither bothered nor surprised him. In fact, he had almost been excited to get to see Akaashi and catch up on what had been happening with him, being even more excited to learn that he had gotten the book deal that he’d spoken about the last time that he had been in.

But soon enough, reservation two had walked in the door.

Osamu had nothing against Hinata and Kageyama. Actually, that was a lie. Maybe he had something against Hinata with the way Atsumu had yearned after him for a few years, only to inevitably be let down when he found out that Hinata was head-over-heels in love with his first and only setter. It had made Atsumu cry for days to learn that one of his biggest high school crushes would never look his way, and there was yet another way he was second to Kageyama Tobio. That only made Osamu slightly have something against Hinata, even though they were objectively nice people.

Though, walking in behind them was Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, two people that Osamu barely remembered outside of Tsukishima being an annoying-as-hell blocker back in high school. Along with them were Hinata and Kageyama’s four-year-old daughter and twin babies, who were objectively the cutest kids in the whole National Team. Or that was as far as Komori had told him when they’d all been sharing pictures. He could hear all four of them arguing something about furniture and inappropriate use of downtime, which Osamu assumed had something to do with Hinata and Kageyama’s tendency to have sex just about anywhere (something that all the National Team and by default, Osamu knew way too much about).

Again, this was not the worst people to have in his restaurant, not when their kids were as cute and sweet as they were. The only issue was the volume at which they spoke and argued, which sounded like it belonged on a volleyball court more than in a restaurant.

Soon enough, even more people were wondering in, including Aran and Kita, taking their place at the front to avoid everyone else behind them and giving sympathetic smiles to him. Eventually Suna and Komori joined them there when they were done sleeping in from their day-off. That was what they had been doing all day since they’d gotten the text last night and decided to watch a whole tv show for the whole night with leftovers and ice cream. Osamu had gone to bed instead, regrettably for his job.

None of these were the worst customers.

That was reserved for Atsumu, who came striding easily through the door with Omi walking slowly in behind him.

“’Tsumu!” Bokuto and Hinata exclaimed simultaneously, rushing over to greet their friend with the same excitement they had greeted each other with. Both Kageyama and Akaashi were clearly watching with some combination of ‘used to it’ and ‘help me’, especially as Sachiko started clearly getting nervous at Hinata being so far away from her (another trait he had learned about the eldest Hinata child – she hated being more than a few metres away from her father).

As Osamu watched them all interact, he got more sympathetic smiles from all four of the people sitting in front of him. He gave one in return, finally truly understanding what Kita had gone through, and what he could only imagine his partners dealt with when it came to the Japan National Team.

He had only had all of their chaos and pushing of tables together to have a communal dinner, and he was already putting his head into his hands.

“’s ok!” he heard a small voice pipe up. He looked down to see Sekai tugging on his pants, smiling happily up at him. “We gon’ have fun!”

He knelt down, placing his cap on her head playfully. “We sure will,” he said, smiling back, before standing up to prep their go-to orders.

Even if everyone here tended to be a worst customer – with the exception of a few – he still loved all these idiots. And it helped that they tended to keep him in business.

🌒🌒🌒

1:00am

Tokyo, Japan

“Kenma!” Kuroo yelled, though trying to remain slightly quieter with their child asleep. When he got no response, he called again. “Kenma!”

“What?” a whisper-hiss came from the gaming room.

“Come to bed.”

“I need to-”

“I have work in the morning, and I am not going to bed without you.”

“But-” Kenma started, before looking up and seeing the look on Kuroo’s face. He rolled his eyes, turning off his monitor and standing off his gaming chair. “I hate you.”

“Whatever you say,” Kuroo laughed. “Come on.”