Thread by @cinnamonnoodle

#sakustsu | angst, divorced skts; atsumu's on vacation with their daughter | inspired by Aftersun

"Papa, Daddy wants to talk to you too!"

Walking through the hotel lobby, Mei hands the phone back to Atsumu, the ongoing call on the display visible.

𝘒𝘪𝘺𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘪.

"Thanks sweetie, we'll make it quick."

His daughter hums approvingly before she wanders over to a stack of magazines, immediately flipping through the first few colorful pages.

Atsumu allows himself to take one more deep breath before picking up the phone to his ear.

"Hey."

"Hey."

For a moment, the subtle static of an otherwise silent phonecall is the only thing standing between them.

It must be almost late at night for Kiyoomi, Atsumu realizes with a look to his watch.

Not that his slightly rougher sounding voice should have been a clear indication even before that; but this knowledge is something Atsumu decidedly chose to ignore some time ago.

"Is everything okay?" Kiyoomi asks, breaking their silence.

Atsumu huffs. "How bad did Mei describe spending time with me to ya?"

His huff gets mirrored from the other side of the call. "She didn't say anything bad, if that is what you mean. Actually, she said you're quite the opposite of boring."

"Did she pick those exact same words or are ya sparing me from any obscenities?"

"Well, almost exactly her words."

Atsumu smiles, his gaze flickering over to the side where Mei sat down in a velvet wing chair, reading some high life magazine with a lightly clad woman on the cover page.

"God, they grow up so quickly," he murmurs, more to himself than Kiyoomi, but the words are conveyed nonetheless.

"She's only 11, Atsumu. I hope we've got a few calm years left."

"11 means she's almost a teenager, Omi."

"Thanks for pointing that out," Atsumu hears Kiyoomi sigh, "you'll be the first to know if I ever hear anything from a boy in her life."

"If ya ask me, she could wait for forever with that."

𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘈𝘵𝘴𝘶, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸?

"Oh, definitely. Forever sounds good in that matter."

𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘖𝘮𝘪, 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵.

"Yeah. Let's see how that goes."

The past years gave Atsumu some sense for the saying "time flies", mostly in the form of Mei growing up.

The way she likes her hair braided ("Two braids make me look like I'm a six year old, one looks so much cooler"), the hobbies she engages in ("Oh, I don't like tennis that much anymore, but I really wanna try archery!"),

the food she eats all of a sudden ("Papa, you don't understand, I really think peaches are the best fruit in the world!").

"You know, I actually meant you when I asked if everything's okay," Kiyoomi says.

"I'm fine," Atsumu says, aware that Kiyoomi probably sees right through him with his answer coming so fast.

"Really, I'm fine," he repeats, careful to slow down his words a little bit, "I'm with my daughter, I'm on vacation, how could I not be fine?"

Atsumu swears he can hear Kiyoomi swallow, but the background noises in the hotel lobby make it mostly indistinguishable.

"Okay, then. I wanted to tell you about something before we see each other again. Wakatoshi and I... we thought about moving together."

Atsumu's hand stops where he's picking at a loose thread on the seam of his shorts.

"I haven't told Mei yet," Kiyoomi continues, "but before that, I wanted to at least tell you about it."

And that's the thing with it.

The fact that despite their silly arguments and too quiet fights, the breakup and the distance that feels suffocating to Atsumu on some days - despite all that, Kiyoomi still means so much to him.

It feels like yesterday that they made each other promises under the stars, lifetimes together with a cosmic eternity above them to witness.

It also feels like yesterday day that they promised to at least keep trying.

If not for each other, then for Mei.

Atsumu never really stopped trying. Never for Mei, but also for Kiyoomi.

"Uhm, wow, that's great Omi," Atsumu says, "I'm happy for ya two. Really am."

There's a relieved sigh coming from Kiyoomi, followed by a small laugh.

"Thank you. That means a lot."

"I hope you warned him that Mei's the first to be awake on Sundays and she's gonna bug him to do a rewatch of all her favorite shows at least once."

"Believe me or not, I already thought of that possibility a lot."

"I believe you, no doubt."

At the mental image of Ushijima sitting through all three seasons of "Cloudy's Magical Adventures", Atsumu can't help but smile a little bit at himself.

"I wanted to get it off my chest," Kiyoomi says, "and thanks for allowing me to do that, but now I won't hold you back from enjoying time with Mei any longer."

"Don't worry, we're still waiting for the bus to take us to this national park anyways."

Atsumu dearly hopes Mei isn't already in that phase where it's embarrassing to take pictures with your parents in public; their last selfie is almost a year old.

"Right. Take care of Mei," Kiyoomi says quietly.

"Always will," Atsumu answers as usual. He's ready to say his goodbye when Kiyoomi speaks up again.

"And Atsumu?"

"Yeah?"

"Please take care of yourself."

Closing his eyes, Atsumu's grip around his phone tightens.

"I'll give it my best."

"That's all I can ask for."

~

// loosely inspired by the movie Aftersun; the possibilities to explore there are huge, i opted for the phone booth scene, but with smartphones. if you can, please give it a watch:)