Thread by @elayndia

#sakuatsu | sfw, fluff, basically just omi being very melodramatic
day 8: free day! #SakuAtsuWeek2023 @sktsweek

"I like Atsumu." This realization comes to Kiyoomi with unusal clarity at—he moves his phone away from his ear to look at the time—2:37 in the morning.

A strange feeling swoops in his stomach at his next words. "It might be romantic."

"What?" The question is more a drawn out, confused croak than a comprehensible word. "Hold on."

Kiyoomi settles against his headboard as he listens to his cousin shuffle out of bed. Clearly, even with just these few words, Komori understood the severity of this call and decided to move into the living room as to not disturb his sleeping boyfriend.

Suna Rintarou, Kiyoomi considers, the sleeping boyfriend in question. Kiyoomi had no strong feelings about the slouching middle blocker. A professional admiration for his skills on court and a gradually growing, positive disposition towards his personality with time.

Suna never tried to force a friendship between the two of them, which immediately made him more like-able to Kiyoomi.
He remembers the obligatory dinner after EJP had crushed MSBY in a friendly practice match a few months ago.

Komori and Suna had just made their relationship official and paired with their admittedly impressive play, Kiyoomi had been forced to attend the celebration and stay longer than just the usual meal.

Suna and him exchanged a few words—quick praises about the play, a few inquiries about their current well-being, and just as silence settled around them and Kiyoomi worried Suna was going to start asking him personal questions, Miya Atsumu plopped himself down next to Suna.

The two of them immediately fell into biteless bickering and Kiyoomi quickly tuned them out, thankful to be left alone.

He vaguely remembers a rather tipsy Atsumu lunging across the table to try and steal Suna's phone in an attempt to prevent him from sharing embarrassing pictures of their high school days. A part of Kiyoomi now wishes he had paid more attention to them.

"Scoot over, little man." Komori chuckles. The sound is followed by a little grumbling sound and what Kiyoomi assumes is Komori plopping down on the couch and settling in next to his dog. "So you like Atsumu?"

The back of Kiyoomi's head meets the harsh wood of his headboard. "I do."

"And that's a problem because...?" Komori's voice trails off, waiting for Kiyoomi to finish the sentence.

Kiyoomi scowls into the darkness of his room. "It's not a problem. It's just...a situation." His eyes fall on a sliver of light casted by the moon onto his bed through a small gap between the curtains and his wall. His scowl deepens.

An almost unbearable thought itches him to go and close it fully. Yet, Kiyoomi finds himself unable to. Weighed down by the severity of his current predicament.

"Okay." Komori draws out each letter. His next words, still laced with sleepiness, take on a teasing tone. "So you just called to ramble about how much you like him? Wanna tell me about his pretty eyes or something?"

"I will hang up now."

Komori laughs. "Okay, seriously, if there's no problem and you don't want to pour your heart out, why did you call?"

"I'm not sure what to do now. With this new information."
Kiyoomi stretches out his leg, angling his foot away from the strip of light.

"Well." Komori hums. "Do you want to date him?"

The feeling in Kiyoomi's stomach tightens. "I don't know."

"Ok, let's start with this." The line muffles briefly before Komori's voice reappears, full of enthusiasm and excitement.

Kiyoomi doesn't need to see his cousin's face to know he was wearing the all too familiar look of anticipation Kiyoomi had first seen while standing next to him on court and years later faced off against from across the net. "Why do you think that you like him?"

Kiyoomi inhales deeply. The sigh that leaves his body is long and existential. "Promise to never tell this to anyone. Ever. Not even Suna."

"But I tell him everything!" Komori complains. "It's not good to have secrets in a relationship, Ki."

"Motoya." Kiyoomi says. Komori inhales sharply. There have only been a handful of times Kiyoomi had to use his cousin's first name. "This is something you need to take to the grave or I can not tell you."

"Can I"—Komori's voice is strained with distress—"At least tell him that we were talking?"

"That and nothing more."

"Okay," Komori says, contemplative. "Okay, I promise."

"Good." Kiyoomi's face heats with embarrassment and he forces the next words out before he can change his mind. "Atsumu asked in the group chat if we would still like him if he was a worm."

The line goes silent. Kiyoomi hears five cars rush past his window before Komori speaks up.

"And you would?" Komori asks, confused and disbelieving. He sounds even more distressed than when he agreed to keep this conversation secret.

"No!" Kiyoomi is quick to clear up. "Of course not. I wouldn't like /anyone/ as a worm."

"So what's the issue then?"

"I don't want him to be a worm!" Kiyoomi is suprised by his own outburst. His heart picks up a pace and he reminds himself to take a few calming breaths.

"Ki, I have great news." Komori's voice takes on a gentle concern. "I am almost 100% sure that Atsumu will /not/ turn into a worm, so there really isn't anything for you to be, uh, worried about."

Kiyoomi drops his upper body to the side, ignoring the stretch in his torso, and groans into his blanket. "Of course he won't turn into a worm, that's not the problem."

"Okay, listen." He takes another deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes shut. "I don't want /anyone/ on the team to turn into a worm 'cause worms are fucking gross.

But with Atsumu..." His voice trails off. The hand gripping his phone tightens as he musters the strength to say the next words. "I don't want him to turn into a worm cause I wouldn't like him if he was one and I don't want to not like him."

The other end of the line muffles but Kiyoomi can still make out some sounds. "If you are laughing at me I will tell everyone about the time you ate a whole jar of olives and threw up on our math teacher."

"Okay, first of all, I tell people that story all the time." Komori giggles. "And second, I'm not making fun of you, it's just weirdly... cute?"

Kiyoomi scoffs. "It's not cute, it's confusing."

"I mean, does he like you back?"

A deep scowl makes his way onto Kiyoomi's face. "I don't know. How am I supposed to know that?"

"Well, find out!"

"How?" Kiyoomi repeats.

"You should get to know him. Ask him to stay behind and help you after practice and then you can ask him questions and find out more about him!"

Kiyoomi contemplates this. "What questions would I ask?" He finally rolls off the bed, stuffing his feet into his slippers, and makes his way over to his window.

"Ask about his hobbies or his family, stuff like that."

"His hobby is playing volleyball and he has a twin brother. What else is there to know?" Kiyoomi frowns just as Komori laughs.

"That's for you to find out!" Komori hums. "Oh, how about you ask him the worm question. You know, if he would still like you if you were one."

The thick fabric of his curtain wrinkles in Kiyoomi's tight grip. He was suddenly overcome with sadness at the idea of Atsumu not liking him as a worm. He was well aware of the absurdity of that. Yet, he couldn't help the overwhelming want for Atsumu's answer to be yes.

"Atsumu seems like someone who likes worms. There's no way he would say no." Kiyoomi yanks the curtain shut. He releases his grip on the fabric and he watches as the wrinkles slowly even out. "What if he says no."

"Then at least you'd know." Komori says. Kiyoomi doesn't respond so he adds, "And you can move on."

This also deeply troubles Kiyoomi. Did he want to move on? He barely even arrived.

"Right." Kiyoomi tries his best to keep his voice even as he makes his way back to the bed. His body meets the cool of the blanket and weasels his way underneath it. "Thanks, Komori. Sorry for waking you up."

Kiyoomi hangs up the phone before his cousin is able to respond. He is suddenly feeling very tired. The confusion of his own feelings only heightened, an uncomfortable sense of embarrassment over this whole conversation starts to settle in right along them.

Kiyoomi knows his cousin would keep his promise and not tell anyone about this, though this doesn't mean he will be able to escape Komori's prodding eyes and eager curiosity. Kiyoomi groans softly, pulling the blanket over his head.

His phone buzzes with a notification and Kiyoomi reaches to silence it when he sees that the message wasn't from Komori like he had thought. Kiyoomi stares at his screen until it turns dark from inactivity again. He quickly unlocks it and clicks on the chat.

Underneath a link to a video, the thumbnail of which depicted a weasel mid-motion, Atsumu wrote 'Hah, this is so you'.

An unfamiliar sense of giddiness spreads across Kiyoomi's body. This wasn't the first time Atsumu sent him a video; most of their chat history was filled with short text about practice and a spam of videos and pictures Atsumu would send at all hours of the day.

Yet, it was the first time Kiyoomi's face filled with warmth at the idea of Atsumu thinking of /him/.

His thumbs hover above the keyboard, unsure on what to respond, unsure if he should respond at all. The most he ever reacted to these things was with a neutral thumbs up emote. Before Kiyoomi is able to type out even one word, another message appears.

'I can see that you're online. Shouldn't you be asleep?'

Kiyoomi's thumbs still, before quickly typing out and sending his response. 'Shouldn't you?'

'I won't tell coach if you won't.'

Kiyoomi can almost hear the teasing lilt of Atsumu's words. He imagines that easy grin, the competitive glint in Atsumu's eyes that seemed to be ever present. 'Under one condition.'

'Am all ears.'

Kiyoomi's pulse roars in his ears as he types his next message. 'Stay back after practice tomorrow and set for me a bit longer.'

'Deal.'