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“Who’s your V.League crush?” Kuroo holds his phone up, video on, ready to record Kiyoomi’s answer.
Kiyoomi is rummaging through his gym bag, looking for his favorite hair gel, and isn’t really paying attention. Kuroo clears his throat and asks the question again, just as Kiyoomi finds his bag with his styling products.
“Kageyama Tobio,” he says absent-mindedly as he zips up his bag and puts it in his locker. Kuroo nearly drops the phone in surprise.
“Really?”
“Why not? He’s an amazing player and a tough opponent, and he’s very good looking.”
He shrugs and heads to the sinks to finish styling his hair and thinks nothing more of it. Kuroo likes to ask the players questions about various topics and post their answers on social media to drum up interest the V.League. With Valentine’s Day approaching, this is his latest topic
Most players take it as a joke, some use it as an opportunity to say how much they appreciated a teammate, and there are a few secret couples who took it as a chance to express a level of affection that they choose not to share with the public, such as Miya Atsumu and Hinata Shouyou, who’ve been together for years and use their status as teammates to openly express their affection for one another without officially coming out and causing a furore.
As he leaves, Kuroo has finished talking to Hinata and has moved on to Bokuto Koutarou. “My crush? Well, it would have to be Akaashi Keiji - he was my setter and vice captain in high school and you might say he’s still the captain of my heart.”
Kiyoomi pulls up his mask to hide his smile as he leaves. Bokuto never misses an opportunity to talk about Akaashi. Their marriage is the worst-kept secret in all of volleyball,
The next morning, Kiyoomi is sound asleep when his phone starts vibrating madly. He smacks at it, hoping it’s just a random text, but that just makes it start beeping as well. He sighs and looks at it blearily, wondering what has caused such a commotion.
Motoya’s text is the first thing he sees.
You’re trending, and for once it’s not because of your RBF
With a groan, he sits up, pulling the blanket around his shoulders, and opens his social media. The first thing he sees is a link to an article on a sports gossip site.
“Sakusa Kiyoomi, MSBY’s ice prince, has a crush and you won’t believe who it is!”
He scrolls further and finds another headline:
“12 Times Sakusa Kiyoomi got caught staring at his crush!”
He clicks through out of curiosity, and is relieved to see that it’s just clips from MSBY-Adlers and JNT games.
His phone pings with a message from Kuroo as he scrolls through the rest of the headlines.
Congratulations on going viral!
He quickly responds Ugh, thanks for nothing.
Kuroo sends a laughing kaomoji, then another text. It’ll blow over, just give it a little time. More videos are dropping today.
Kiyoomi rolls his eyes, puts his phone on “do not disturb” and goes back to sleep. By the end of the day, much to his relief, the video has been forgotten as other V.League members reveal their crushes.
Atsumu and Aran reveal that they had crushes on their high school team captain, who is now a rice farmer, and by the end of the day, the farm’s rice is sold out in stores. A wing spiker on the Sendai Frogs named Kyoutani Kentarou misunderstands what Kuroo is asking and promises to crush the division 1 V.League teams next season; his teammates laughingly apologize on his behalf but also reiterate his warning.
He gets messages from almost everyone he knows, but nobody from the Schweiden Adlers contacts him, which isn’t that odd, because most of them aren’t interested in social media.
Very sensible of them, thinks Kiyoomi, though part of him also wishes that Kageyama had messaged him.
Meanwhile, in the Adlers locker room…
Tobio is making notes about today’s practice in his logbook when Hoshiumi starts screeching. After high school with Hinata and the rest of Karasuno, he was used to loud noises, and he continues his entry without flinching.
He makes a note to ask their athletic trainer about the timeline for their libero’s return after a muscle strain and closes his notebook just as Hoshiumi thrusts a phone under his nose. “Kageyama! You have to see this!”
“Is it another cat video?” he asks.
“No!”
Tobio thinks for a second. “A bird video, then?”
Hoshiumi huffs in frustration. “Just watch!”
He shrugs and touches the screen. His eyes widen when he sees Sakusa, then he blinks in surprise when Sakusa says his name and looks up at Hoshiumi in confusion. “Is this real?”
“As far as I can tell!”
“Huh. Well, okay.” He pulls the elastic band across the cover to keep it shut and tucks it into his bag.
“Is that all you’re going to say?”
Tobio shrugs. “We have a JNT scrimmage next week, I’ll talk to him then.” He ignores Hoshiumi continuing to yell at him as he leaves the locker room, thinking instead about the series of books Sakusa had recommended to him the last time they saw each other at the summer JNT camp.
Tobio had noticed Sakusa reading during meals, ignoring all attempts to engage him in conversation. One morning he showed up late, yawning, with dark circles under his eyes, and Bokuto had ribbed him for staying up so late. “Usually you’re so punctual about bedtime, Omi-Omi! What happened?”
“I wanted to finish my book, and I did, but it ended on a cliffhanger and I had start the next one to see what happened. I just need some coffee and I’ll be fine.”
Sakusa had gone to the coffee machine instead of the tea dispenser and downed several espressos in a row before heading to the door leading to the kitchen to pick up his breakfast. (He had managed to convince the staff to have a plate of food ready for him instead of going through the buffet line.)
After practice, Tobio asked Sakusa what he had been reading.
“Why do you want to know?” Sakusa asked, not unkindly.
Tobio took a deep breath. “I’m trying to read more. I never enjoyed it in school, but I think it was because I didn’t like the assigned reading. And I’m curious what would be so engrossing that you would ignore your routine to stay up and read it.”
Sakusa nodded. “Do you have a piece of paper?” Tobio hands him his notebook, open to a blank page, and Sakusa writes it down. “If you don’t like the first book, you can stop reading. I won’t be offended.”
Tobio had downloaded the first book onto his phone. It was a very odd story about a necromancer and her bodyguard, translated from English into Japanese, definitely not something he’d normally read, but he found himself enjoying it. He was looking forward to talking to Sakusa about it the next time they met.
Kiyoomi and Tobio don’t get a chance to talk until the middle of a game, when the rotation brings them to face each other on opposite sides of the net. The noise around them seems to fall away and they stare at each other.
Tobio looks at him appraisingly.
“I saw the video. Did you mean it?”
“Yes, I did.” Kiyoomi is uncharacteristically nervous and blushes after he says it. Tobio nods.
“Good. I like you too.”
The whistle blows and Ushijima’s serve rockets over the net and they don’t have time to say more.
Hoshiumi and Ushijima corner him after the game, determined looks on their faces. Kiyoomi looks between them, bemused.
“We need to talk to you,” Hoshiumi says, drawing himself up to his full height, hands on hips. He’s nearly 20 centimeters shorter than Kiyoomi and Ushijima, but his presence looms large between them.
“Is this a shovel talk?”
Ushijima says “no” just as Hoshiumi says “yes,” and they turn to each other in confusion.
“Which is it, then?” Kiyoomi says with a glint of amusement.
Hoshiumi beckons to Ushijima, who leans so Hoshiumi can whisper in his ear. “We talked about this, remember?” Ushijima nods, then stands up.
“Yes, Kiyoomi, this is a shovel talk.” He crosses his arms over his chest and looks stern. “Kageyama is our teammate and we don’t want him to get hurt.”
Kiyoomi nods. “That makes three of us. I enjoy his company and would like to spend more time with him.”
Hoshiumi relaxes a fraction and his expression softens. “Well, that’s okay then. Just don’t try and steal our game plans.”
Kiyoomi nods solemnly. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” He bows to Hoshiumi and Ushijima. “Thank you for caring for him. He is fortunate to have you as teammates.”
Tobio is waiting outside his room. He’s changed into a midnight blue shirt that fits him like a glove and makes his eyes look even bluer. Kiyoomi thinks of all the photos of Tobio he’s saved in a secret folder on his phone and how none of them compare to the real thing standing in front of him now.
He takes his hand and leads him into his room, then pushes him against the door to kiss him. Tobio returns the kiss, a bit clumsily but eagerly, wrapping his arms around Kiyoomi to pull him closer as he deepens the kiss.
They finally break apart and their foreheads touch as they look at each other. Kiyoomi smiles as he looks into Tobio’s eyes. “Say what you will about Kuroo Tetsurou and his schemes, but they brought us together, so they can’t be all bad.”
Tobio grins and wraps a hand around Kiyoomi’s neck to kiss him again.