Work Text:
The night air hit Sugawara as a bubble of relief while he stood leaning on the windowsill with his elbows. Karasuno finished their practice twenty minutes ago, and while everyone else had already gone home, Sugawara found himself unable to move away from the club room. He wanted to stay here a little longer. He was the one who always left the last anyway.
The team was getting back together, slowly returning to its roots. Nishinoya came back after being gone for a month, and Asahi seemed to get back his motivation as Karasuno’s ace. Not to mention they now had those amazing first years with their amazing skills and killer quicks. And it didn’t matter that Suga wasn’t relevant to the team anymore, because Kageyama was way more skilled, despite having much less experience than Koushi. And it definitely didn’t matter that the third year half-lied when he said it’s okay if he gets sidelined. As long as it clears team’s way to the victories, he didn’t mind. He wanted Daichi and Asahi to play as much as they could, until the they graduated.
Or was that what he told himself?
Sugawara sighed and rubbed his temples tiredly, looking out of the window again. He was known as the calm and composed young man, who always managed to bring back the spirit to his teammates. Some people even started calling him “the mom of Karasuno”. He didn’t mind tho, he was happy to help his teammates as much as he could. Which involved his latest decision — to ask couch Ukai to give Kageyama the role of an official setter of Karasuno.
He really liked the guy. Kageyama was naturally gifted and passionate about volleyball. Sugawara was also aware of his tragic past in the middle school, which leaded to his awful attitude he had now. But there wasn’ t even a second when he saw the younger one as a threat. On the contrary, he was impressed. He thought that Kageyama was exactly what Karasuno needed to have a fresh start.
“I knew I’ll find you here,” the soft voice of his boyfriend ringed in Suga’s ears like a melody while a small smile formed on his lips. That was the effect Daichi had on him — he couldn’t stop smiling whenever the other guy was around.
Suga watched Daichi approaching and standing next to him. “I thought you left with Asahi and second years.”
Sawamura only grinned in response. “You know perfectly that I’m always the one to close the gym after practice. That’s my duty as a captain,” he said proudly, earning a small chuckle from the shorter guy. “But I noticed that you’ve been… a little in thought today.”
Koushi raised his eyebrow. “In thought, huh?”
“You know what I mean,” Daichi smiled. “Not all of us can be as poetic as you are.”
Sugawara only smiled, and with that they fell into comfortable silence.
Being around Daichi was always easy. Talking to him was even easier. It’s like words left your mouth on their own because of the aura the guy had. The’ve been friends since their first year in high school, and after two years of friendship and months of mutual pining, they decided to give it a shot, which turned to be the best decision the two of them ever made.
The two of them always understood each other on a deeper level, like no one else did. It was easy and comforting for both of them. They were still best friends, just with more privileges. Daichi was an ambitious captain while Koushi was his composed right hand. They made a perfect match, like they were made for each other. Like it was destiny. No one could ever lecture Daichi except for Sugawara. No one could see through Koushi except for Sawamura.
“It’s about the whole setter thing, isn’t it?”
There it goes.
Sugawara let out a quiet sigh as he closed his eyes for a second before looking out of the window again. “I think Kageyama fits it better, you know? He was born for it and I—”
“And you aren’t any worse, Suga,” Daichi quickly interrupted while concern flashed through his eyes.
“I didn’t say it.”
“But you thought it.”
That earned Daichi another sigh. Sugawara almost hated how Daichi could read him so easily, especially in moments like this. He wasn’t usually like that, he didn’t even understand what got into him. It was just a position on the team, it’s not like he was kicked out and couldn’t play at all anymore.
But still there was a weird feeling in his chest whenever he thought about. He has been playing for this team for two years, side by side with both Asahi and Daichi. Whenever the three of them were on the court, it felt like the whole world stopped and they were against it. It felt nice. But not anymore.
“I still don’t understand why you did that,” Sawamura raised his voice. “It’s your position, Suga. It will always be yours and you will always be our setter.”
“Daichi, as a captain, you should always think of victory, no matter how you get it,” Suga commented. “Kageyama is incredibly talented, way more than me, and we both know it. He and Hinata will help us archive big things.”
A wave of silence passed between them as they both were drown in their own thoughts. Only when Daichi let out a sigh, Suga was ready to hear whatever the other boy was going to say.
“I think you are incredible, you know? Not only me, the whole team does. Thanks to you we won a lot of games in the past, and don’t even try to deny it.”
A small smile crossed Suga’s lips.
“You are smart, and composed, and your strategies always lead us to the victory. Official setter or not, you are our bridge, Koushi. You always will be.”
His heart jumped when Dachi called him by his first name. His cheeks also flushed a bit at the praising he received. He wasn’t usually the one to get embarrassed so easily, it was always the other way around. He almost felt bad at how flustered he was, however, Daichi didn’t seem to mind it.
“You really think so?”
“You think I would lie to you?”
Sugawara shook his head.
Sawamura chuckled and leaned closer, wrapping his arms around Suga’s body. The shorter boy immediately relaxed and leaned into his touch; a small smile was on his face when he felt Daichi’s lips kissing his forehead.
“What do you say if we watch this favourite reality show of yours tonight?” Sawamura suggested, knowing that his boyfriend would never say “no” to something like that.
“I love the sound of it. I also found new receipt this morning and tried baking biscuits, so I want you to try them,” Daichi couldn’t help but smile and nod.
“You know I can never say no to your baking.”
Koushi let out a small chuckle, and with that, hands intertwined, they walked out of the team’s club together.