The first time Sakusa experiences cute aggression, he is…disconcerted, to put it mildly. He has no idea what the feeling is or where it came from. It happens when he’s brushing Atsumu’s hair off his forehead. He just finished getting him cleaned up after pounding him into the mattress, and both of them are exhausted and ready for sleep. Atsumu leans into his touch, nuzzling against his hand and giving him a blissed-out smile. His heart patters, and then the strangest thing happens.

Sakusa doesn’t know how to ask for touch. Up until this point in his life, it hasn’t been a problem. His parents stopped hugging him around adolescence, and his siblings never felt the need to express affection through physical gestures. It didn’t bother him, not really. Occasionally, his teammates would pat him on the back, and that was fine. Maybe even nice. Just a quick moment of connection, never skin to skin. Komori likes to throw an arm around his shoulder whenever they’re together, and Sakusa doesn’t mind.

It starts during warm-ups. A wing spiker from the opposing team starts trash talking across the net. It's pretty standard, as far as trash-talking goes, but the majority of it seems to be targeted at Atsumu. The setter ignores it, throwing out a few barbs of his own. The spiker is immediately on the Jackal's shit list, and they vow to shut down every ball he tries to get over the net.

Around the middle of the first set, they rotate, and it puts Atsumu and the spiker directly across each other. That's when things take a turn.

While staying at a hotel for an away game, Hinata gets a brilliant idea for social media fanservice. A famous skincare brand, courting him for an ad campaign, sent a box of products for him to try. The box includes creams, serums, and animal face sheet masks. Hinata convinces Bokuto, Atsumu, and Sakusa that they should do a live while wearing the masks, saying the face will love it.