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Sawamura Daichi was never like the other children his age. From elementary school onwards, he had an unusual grasp of cause and effect, action and consequence. He was put into positions of leadership by his teachers and peers because of his quiet and supportive nature, as well as his impeccable decision making skills and instincts. His mother worked full time as a nurse and his father had died when Daichi was only three- Sawamura Tatsuya had always been sickly, he was born with a disease that had no cure.
And so Daichi was, more or less, left to raise himself. But he was not always alone. Halfways into his first year of elementary school, another boy transferred into his class. The boy had been recently adopted by an older couple that lived only a few blocks away from Daichi and his mother. The couple was nice enough, but they were not exactly the “young and fun” parents that most other kids their age had. The boy, Sugawara Kōshi, and Daichi found some common ground in their broken home lives and began to spend all their free time together. Daichi nicknamed him ‘Suga’ and it stuck.
It was in their second year of school that they were approached by an upperclassman and convinced to join the volleyball team. Daichi took to it like a fish to water and although Suga was slower to catch on, he grew to genuinely love the sport, too. They grew up a little, became more social and made more friends, but the two of them were always closer with each other than with anyone else. When Daichi’s mother worked the night shifts at the hospital, Suga would invite himself over and they would curl into bed together. It wasn’t weird or unnatural, it was just how they were. It continued even as they grew older still, and if Daichi’s mother ever walked in on them cuddling while they slept, she never said a word.
Daichi was made Captain of the Volleyball team and Suga was so proud. They easily took charge, Suga becoming sensitive to the feelings of his teammates and making sure to support them with kind words, while Daichi looked out for weaknesses and helped them all improve. It could only go so far, though. Their team was not made up of carefully recruited athletes as some others were, but they made it into the semi-finals in their last year of elementary school, and that was good enough for them.
When they were sent off to separate middle schools, Daichi was sure things would change between them. And things did, but not necessarily in a bad way. They saw each other much less during the day, but some evening, Suga would come over, helping Daichi with his homework or talking through his day. And even though they were in middle school, they continued to share the bed on the nights when Daichi’s mother worked.
Suga was put on the bench in their second year of middle school and Daichi began inviting him to the park to train together. They both improved and Suga was promoted from the bench to first string once more. He was developing into a great setter, and Daichi was proud. Then Daichi was made Captain of his team once more and Suga had his turn to be proud. They continued on as they had for the past year; volleyball on the weekends, and sleepovers during the weeknights.
Neither of them said it out loud, but they both knew how the other felt. It was only natural. That’s why, when Suga leaned in one night and kissed Daichi on the lips, Daichi just smiled and kissed him back. They both pulled back after a moment and gazed at each other. The dove-haired setter slowly smiled and Daichi returned it, leaning in to peck Suga’s beauty mark before pressing another kiss to his forehead and tucking the shorter boy’s head under his chin. Suga fell asleep in Daichi’s arms for the thousandth time, but it was different this time. This time, they knew there was no going back. And that was okay.
They graduated from middle school and were once again in the same school- Karasuno High School was the nearest to their homes and was in pretty good academic standing. Their first year was a little rough- the upperclassmen were learning to function without their coach, and the “Little Giant” had just graduated so they had to form an entirely new offensive strategy. The players who had gone to nationals the year before were frustrated at how ‘weak’ their team was and they were, ultimately, eliminated in the third round of Inter-High.
Through all of that, Daichi stayed strong, a rock to his fellow first years. And although many of them quit after that year, one stayed and began to come into his own under Daichi and Suga’s support- Azumane Asahi. The boy was big- taller than most of their senpais and still growing- but he was awkward and uncoordinated at first. Daichi and Suga began inviting Asahi to their games in the park on weekends and they soon discovered that despite his stature, the boy was rather tender-hearted. He seemed lost and afraid, he even jumped at the sound of the basketball smacking on the pavement nearby.
Suga was no idiot- he recognized the signs of someone who was being abused. Having grown up in an orphanage for the first seven years of his life, he had seen many kids with the signs come in and out. He discussed it with Daichi that night as they lay in bed.
“I think,” Suga started softly, “that Azumane is being abused at home.”
“Mm,” Daichi sounded slightly surprised but not shocked at this revelation. Suga may have been good at reading emotions but Daichi was an expert at reading Suga, and he could tell that something was bothering the dove-haired boy. “What can we do about it?”
Suga blew out a lungful of air. “Unfortunately, not much. But I did find out that he doesn’t live far from here. If nothing else, we can offer him and escape- a place to come and be safe if he ever needs it.”
“If you think it’s best, I can bring it up with him after practice tomorrow,” Daichi agreed. His mother had begun taking even more shifts at the hospital now that Daichi was ‘old enough to take care of himself’. Daichi didn’t mind, really. In a way, his mother died at the same time his father did. It was sad, but he gradually came to understand. If he ever lost Suga, he doubted he would be any different. Just thinking of it made him unconsciously tighten his grip on Suga’s slender shoulders.
“Dai-chan?” Suga questioned, cranign his neck up to press his lips to Daichi’s jaw.
“Kōshi… you know that I love you, right?”
“...” Suga was stunned to silence for a long moment. Daichi pulled back to meet his gaze seriously.
“I love you, Kōshi.”
“...I… love you too, Dai-chan.”
It was the first time they’d said it out loud to each other. Daichi swooped in for a kiss, but it was made awkward by how large both of their smiles were. Neither one cared. They fell asleep in each other’s arms awhile later for the umpteenth time, both of them still smiling as they drifted off.
The next day, Suga softly approached Asahi after practice and Daichi assured him that he was always welcome if things at home got too bad. Azumane cried un Suga’s arms until he couldn’t cry anymore. The three of them stopped at the corner store and Daichi bought them all meat buns on their way home.
After that, Azumane began coming over at all hours of the day. It wasn’t long until he figured out the exact nature of Suga and Daichi’s relationship, but to their relief, he didn’t care.
“I sort of suspected,” he admitted quietly, still blushing from having caught them making out on the couch. “But I never knew for sure. It makes sense, though. You two are… you just fit .”
After that, Asahi stuck closer than ever, coming over after practice every single day and spending the night most weekends. He gained confidence and was able to branch out and make more friends. They finished their first year together, and spent the whole summer together as well. Asahi’s father continued drinking but mostly left him alone. There were a few times when the big oaf jumped in front of his mother and got beaten pretty bad, but he insisted it was worth it to protect her. Suga and Daichi always bandaged his wounds and continually searched for some way to get Azumane Sr. arrested for good.
School started up again and they were second years now. The new first years on the team were interesting, one called Ennoshita reminded Suga of Daichi with his quiet support and maturity. However, when Coach Ukai came back from retirement, many of the first years stopped coming to practices. Two remained- a libero from a powerhouse school named Nishinoya Yū and a loud wing spiker named Tanaka Ryūnosuke. The two first years got on like a house on fire, bonding over their mutual girl-craziness and unrequited love for the manager of their team, Shimizu Kiyoko.
Surprisingly enough, it was the small and bouncy libero that first commented on Suga and Daichi’s closeness. For someone so loud, he was unnervingly quiet and observant when he wanted to be.
“You two are like the father and mother of the team,” Noya teased as they walked to the corner store for their customary meat buns. “And it’s even better that you two are dating.”
As a unit, Asahi, Daichi, and Suga stopped in their tracks just as Tanaka spun around.
“Huuuuh?” Tanaka exclaimed. “You two are together?”
“You didn’t know?” Noya blinked. “I thought everyone did.”
“Ah, no,” Suga laughed a little. “Although, I hadn’t realized we were that obvious,” he admitted sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. Daichi looked fondly at him.
Meanwhile, Tanaka glanced back and forth between his two senpais with a funny look on his face. “I don’t know why I never noticed, damn you.” he muttered.
“Ah, and you are okay with it?” Suga thought it was laughable how Asahi was trying to look intimidating on their behalf but it warmed his heart to see it.
“Yeah,” Noya shrugged. “My dad’s gay, you know. My mother was ‘a drunken mistake’ and left me on his doorstep after I was born,” he shrugged again.
The casual tone hid so much unspoken pain, but no one noticed except for Suga. The dove-haired boy felt his heart tug and made a note to talk with Daichi about inviting Nishinoya to their weekend games at the park.
“Yeah, I’m cool with it too. My sister is like that, too, and it’s just been me and her for as long as I can remember. It’s pretty normal to me, so screw what everyone else says,” Tanaka pitched in.
“It’s just you and your sister? What about your parents?” Suga couldn’t help but ask.
“Dunno,” Tanaka shrugged. “As soon as Saeko graduated High School they went on a ‘Business Trip’ and never came back.”
Kōshi mentally added Tanaka to the list of people to invite as well. Meanwhile Daichi was watching his boyfriend, knowing exactly what the tender-hearted male was thinking and fondly shaking his head. At this rate, they would adopt everyone on the team! He truly did feel like the team dad, and Kōshi fit the part of ‘mother’ perfectly.
After that day, invitations to join up at Daichi’s house were given to both Tanaka and Nishinoya as well as Saeko. All eagerly accepted, and Saeko was even given a spare key which she used to let herself in after her shift at work was over and make dinner for them. Saeko was the first of the newcomers to find out about Asahi’s situation and, as an adult, had a lot more to say on the subject. She went to the Azumane house by herself during the school day and packed all of Asahi’s stuff into her car, taking it to her and Ryu’s house and putting it a spare room. Asahi had cried for hours. Not long after that, his mother filed a report of abuse with the police under the elder Tanaka’s urging, and signed over guardianship of Asahi to Saeko to officially keep the wing spiker from his father once and for all. Azumane Sr. was put away and his wife was sentenced to a long term care facility to recuperate from years of mental and physical abuse. Asahi visited her once every week.
Despite Saeko being older than them, Suga and Daichi remained very much the heads of their little ‘family’. From an outsider’s perspective, it was strange, but to all involved, it was the most natural thing in the world.
Coach Ukai collapsed before the volleyball team was able to make it into the final rounds of Inter-High, and the third years retired before the spring. Daichi was made Captain of his team for the third time and some of the first years who had left when Ukai came back, including Ennoshita, returned to practices. Daichi let them back on the team with stern words and open arms. Suga made it known that he was there for them to talk to.
They suffered a loss against Dateko in the spring tournament that rattled Asahi so bad that he quit showing up to practices. He came over to Daichi’s less and less, Saeko wrapping a portion of leftovers from their weekly ‘family meal’ to bring home and give to him. Noya was suspended from school when he got too heated while confronting the Ace about it. Suga was worried his family was falling apart.
But Daichi had faith. He had begun to love them all as his ‘children’ despite them all being so close to him in age. They finished their second year of high school on a strained note. Summer was long and hot. Daichi began to worry, but he still held faith. His instincts were usually never wrong. Suga worried, but he trusted his boyfriend. That didn’t stop him from going over to the Tanaka residence to talk with Asahi at least twice a week, though.
School began again. Suddenly, there were new people on the team to worry about. It was rough at first- all of them at odds with each other, none of them truly a team. But the new first year, Hinata, gave Suga hope.
The boy was so small, but had such incredible talent. Not just on the court, either. The ginger seemed to ooze charisma and innocence. You just couldn’t not like him, even if you tried. Hinata became the glue that pulled them all back together. He illuminated the other first year, Kageyama, and even pushed Tsukishima and Yamaguchi to work harder. Before Suga knew it, Asahi was back and more confident than ever, Nishinoya was focused and more determined than ever, and even Daichi held his head a little higher as they walked into the Inter-High tournament. This had been a team, then a family, then a group of misfits, and now it was a real family again.
Ennoshita overcame his fear of failure and developed into a psuedo big brother to everyone on the team. Narita became an essential part of the support structure in their family and was considering becoming a therapist after high school. Suga encouraged it- the middle blocker was incredibly good at listening and giving advice. When Suga himself wasn’t around, the other ‘children’ would turn to Narita. Kinoshita found his niche in childcare- he and Natsu got along like a house on fire. He wanted to become an elementary school teacher.
Hinata’s mother was a recluse so he brought his sister Natsu to their family dinner on Friday nights. Kageyama’s parents put an enormous amount of pressure on him to succeed and he was learning to work with others to do so instead of relying on just himself. Tsukishima stepped out from the shadow of his elder brother and was recognized as his own person among them. Yamaguchi was encouraged to achieve despite his parents and siblings total apathy towards him as the middle child.
They not learned to accept each other as a family, but they worked together better than ever. They beat Dateko. They beat Nekoma. And finally, in the spring tournament, they beat Shiratorizawa Academy and became the best in Japan.
But then, the time came for Daichi, Suga, and Asahi to graduate. Daichi was looking into Physical Therapy, his natural leadership and tough-love encouragements along with his sports background making it an obvious choice. Asahi wanted to become a social worker, hoping to help kids like himself that were being abused and mistreated. And Suga? Suga was going to become a Medical Doctor.
They had it all planned out, and they were all attending the same University. Asahi had received an inheritance from his grandmother and was paying for the three of them to share an apartment.
Their graduation ceremony was filled with tears and hugs. Even Tsukishima cried a little, though he denies it if anyone brings it up. Ennoshita was appointed captain and everyone promised Suga that they would obey him and Narita after the upperclassmen left for Tokyo.
But the goodbyes said were not permanent. They all kept in contact, and every Friday, Asahi, Kōshi, and Daichi took the bullet train home for their Family dinner which was now held at the Tanaka residence. The new first years were not interested in joining their family of misfits, sticking to being teammates and friends despite Kōshi’s efforts to adopt them all.
And ten years later, Daichi and Kōshi really did adopt a child, a little girl that Asahi had saved from a broken home. Hinata and Kageyama were dating and lived across the hall, Saeko and her girlfriend lived next door, Asahi and Nishinoya shared an apartment a couple blocks away, and the rest of their family lived within ten minutes of their home. And every Friday, like clockwork, they would arrive on Daichi and Kōshi’s doorstep, bringing side dishes and movies to watch for family night.
They may have come from broken homes, but they made their own family together, and that was more powerful than any birthright.