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Kiyoomi is about to commit a murder.
Who will he murder?
Well, none other than Miya Atsumu, the bane of Kiyoomi’s existence.
He feels his eye twitch as he continues to hear Atsumu ramble his ears off before class starts. His grip on his pen tightens even further, grip so tight he feels like he’s going to snap it in half (it might as well be possible at this point).
The blonde beside him keeps talking and it’s driving him insane. Kiyoomi begs in his head that the teacher would arrive already to save him from this torture.
See, Miya Atsumu is an enigma. He is a puzzle that Kiyoomi will never know how to finish. He is a problem that he’ll never know how to fix and it frustrates him.
Because maybe, if he figured out how the man beside him works, he’ll finally be able to find a way to find peace. Maybe it’ll help him find a way to escape this man that keeps pulling him back to him, as if he’s being locked up with chains.
He’s known Atsumu since high school, back when they were still playing volleyball. And ever since he met him, he’s always been kept on edge.
Kiyoomi has tried getting Atsumu off his tail, but he just keeps coming back. He’s tried everything, yet it doesn’t work and it always ends with Atsumu clawing back into his space.
When he learned that they’d be going to the same university, he wanted to pull out his hair. Going to the same university meant having the possibility of running into each other. It could also mean them having similar classes. Or, even worse, it could mean them being classmates.
Sadly, it seemed luck was not on his side. He remembers the feeling of dread when he first saw the blonde’s face sitting at the back of the lecture hall of his modern infrastructure design class. To add even more salt to the wound, they didn’t just share one class but three classes together.
God, what did he do in his past life to deserve this?
He thought that if he kept to himself, he wouldn’t be disturbed and would be left alone like he’s used to. But apparently, Atsumu had other plans. As soon as their eyes met, he was instantly bombarded by questions from the other and pulled to sit beside Atsumu.
Atsumu really is something different, though, he thinks.
Normally, people would already stay a 5ft radius away from him, already feeling intimidated by his aura and glares. Yet, here Atsumu is, casually talking to him and touching him like his mysophobia is nothing.
And to his surprise, he didn’t even mind it. He doesn’t know why, but as much as he finds Atsumu annoying and obnoxious, he is the only other person he lets touch him so freely besides Komori and his family.
Kiyoomi snaps out of his thoughts when he feels a hand on his shoulder. He whips his head to the side, only to see the apologetic face of Atsumu.
“Hey, uh,” he watches Atsumu swallow, “did I go too far with my rambling? I’ll— I’ll shut up now.” He feels the hand on his shoulder fall off and continues to stare as Atsumu brings out his notebook and pens instead, opting to prepare for class instead of bothering Kiyoomi any further.
He raises his eyebrow in confusion because this is new. Not once so far in the past few months has he seen Atsumu look so defeated.
However, he pays it no mind for now, happy he finally got his quiet. Yet, there’s a dull ache in his chest when the teacher enters and starts class, but Atsumu still doesn’t speak another word to him.
--
As class is about to end, the teacher announces that she’ll be returning their test papers from their midterms exam that was held last week. To add more, she’ll also be announcing the partners for the project she had just discussed.
Kiyoomi waits for his name to be called, confident that he did well. He studied his ass off to ace this test. He takes a glance at Atsumu, who was looking towards the front before turning his head towards him.
“Nervous, Omi?” He asks, tilting his head and a sly grin appearing on his face. Kiyoomi scowls, “As if, I studied too much to lose to you.” He huffs and Atsumu just laughs, opting not to say another word as they wait.
Another thing about Kiyoomi’s relationship with Atsumu is that they’re constantly fighting over academics. They always try to one up each other, and it’s gotten so intense that even the teachers have noticed it.
In the first test that they both had to take, Kiyoomi had expected Atsumu to be one of those students who genuinely don’t give a fuck about their education and just aim for the passing grade. (Kiyoomi could never do that)
But, he was proven wrong. Very wrong.
Instead of just getting the passing grade, Atsumu actually got the highest score out of everyone in class. Kiyoomi remembers staring at his paper in shock, him getting a 98 while Atsumu got 99.
Cue his reaction, “What the fuck.” He had turned his head to the man beside him who had already adjusted to his usual lounging position during discussions. “Did you cheat or something?” He asked, still in disbelief. At that, Atsumu had turned to him, dramatically clutching his chest and shrieking, “How could you even think of me doing that, Omi?!”
And ever since that first test, Kiyoomi had been determined to beat Atsumu in academics. He did not want to let himself be beaten by this loud, narcissistic idiot.
Yet, never has he in the past 5 months of being classmates, scored higher than Atsumu. He’s even beaten Kiyoomi by a 0.5 difference in score. That was incredibly frustrating.
So, that brings him back to now. They’ve all received the papers, Kiyoomi not looking at his yet, waiting for Atsumu to come back to his seat. When the blonde returns to his seat beside him, only then does he flip his paper to check his score.
A 96. That should be good, right? Everyone talked about how difficult midterms were and he’s confident that he got the highest score this time. He turns to Atsumu to smirk and call his victory, but what he meets is Atsumu showing his 98 test score.
Again, what the fuck.
How is Atsumu always beating him? Last time he checked, Atsumu barely even studies for these tests! (He knows because Atsumu is always active on his social media, showing him watching netflix instead of studying.)
“Well, better luck next time, Omi-kun! Study harder, yeah?” Atsumu says with a smirk, his voice hinting a teasing tone. That cocky bastard.
“Like you fucking do! Weren’t you just watching your shows?!” He whisper-shouts, not wanting to disturb the rest of the class and embarrass himself somehow. He buries his head in his hands as he tries to think of how Atsumu always gets the higher score, it just doesn’t make sense.
Kiyoomi only snaps his attention back to class when he hears the teacher call his name.
And oh, how his face paled at the words that came out.
“Miya and Sakusa, you’ll be partnered up for this project.” Kiyoomi groans, about to protest, but is met with the stern glare of his teacher. He sighs in defeat, giving a short glance to his now project partner.
“Oh, how nice, Omi-kun! We’re partners now! So, where will we meet?” Atsumu seems too ecstatic about the news. Shouldn’t he be bothered too? Kiyoomi hasn’t exactly been the nicest to him. In fact, he’s been an absolute asshole.
“Why’re you so happy about this, Miya? We’re literally enemies.” He snaps, irritation evident in his voice. He wants to wallow in self-pity and dig himself a hole to just stay in. This project is going to be absolute torture. Even worse than listening to Atsumu ramble.
“Yer the only one who thinks that between the two of us, Omi.” The soft tone that Atsumu uses catches Kiyoomi off guard. He doesn’t even get to say anything because Atsumu quickly packs his things and walks out as class is dismissed.
He looks away from Atsumu’s now empty seat, and looks back down to his notebooks on the table. On there is a small piece of paper that has a phone number and says “message me for the project”
Ah, fuck.
--
They have an academic break for one week, but that doesn’t mean any deadlines are moved. So, that’s how he finds himself sitting in an almost empty cafe across from none other than Miya Atsumu.
But to his surprise, he wasn’t as difficult as he thought he’d be.
He looks up from his laptop to see Atsumu on his, probably also researching on different designs they could do for their scale model that they have to do. He observes the blonde’s concentrated face, eyes furrowed together and lips forming a small pout. It looks— cute.
Wait.
Hold up a second. He did not just call his mortal rival cute.
As if feeling eyes on him, Atsumu looks up, meeting eyes with Kiyoomi. The raven quickly looks away, pulling up his mask to hide the slight pink tint that’s formed on his cheeks. He could briefly see the redness in Atsumu’s cheeks, though. He wants to pinch them and squeeze—
Oh. My. Fuck.
What the hell is going on with him, right now?
He mentally slaps himself and focuses back to his laptop, going through different references they could use for their scaled model.
In the end, they chose to do a suburban family home design. Atsumu argued that since they’re using his choice, Atsumu should be allowed to be the one to choose their color scheme. Kiyoomi begrudgingly agrees just so they can start. Researching references took an hour of their allotted 3 hours they planned for the day.
Now, they’ve moved onto planning. And well— it does not go smoothly. At all.
They kept fighting over who does what and what each part should look like. The thing is, there’s two parts to their project. One, is the actual scale model showcasing the exterior of the house design. Two, is the interior design (floorplan) of the house that should be shown on paper and put into the slideshow presentation.
When they kept arguing, getting to the point an employee asked them to settle down since they were disturbing customers, Kiyoomi finally offered a compromise.
“Fine, since I’m the one majoring in civil engineering, I’ll work on the scale model alone with your preferred color scheme. You’ll be the one to work on the interior planning alone since you’re the architecture major. Does that sound fine to you, Atsumu?” He sighs, exasperated. He’s drained from all their arguing. Seriously? Who thought this would be a good idea?
Atsumu doesn’t answer him right away, so he looks up from sipping on his cup of coffee, only to be met with the slightly flustered expression of the blonde.
“What’s got you all red? I just gave us a good compromise for our bickering.” He’s genuinely confused. Was Atsumu texting someone out of Kiyoomi’s sight? He frowns at that.
“A-ah! Sorry, sorry. Erm— ya just called me by my first name. I liked the way it sounded coming from ya.” Atsumu mumbles the last part, Kiyoomi only barely hearing it. His cheeks heat up a bit at that.
“So?” He clears his throat quickly. “Is that fine with you?” He asks again, looking straight at the man in front of him.
“Y-yeah, whatever. Woulda wanted ta help work on tha scale model, but yer lucky I like ya.” He huffs, turning to his bag to bring out his materials to make a rough sketch on how he wants the interior to be.
Ah, good, they’ve finally decided on an ultimatum—
Wait.
Wait. Wait.
Did he hear that right?
“But, yer lucky I like ya.”
“Miya? Can you repeat what you said before you brought out your stuff?” He says with his eyes wide, trying to comprehend those 5 words coming out from the blonde. His ears are probably red. Actually, his whole face is probably red right now.
“Huh? I just said—” Atsumu’s eyes widened at realization of what he said, slapping a hand over his mouth. He can see the flash of panic in the other’s eyes.
“Oh fuck, oh fuck. I’m so sorry, I didn’t meant ta say that out loud. Holy shit, this is so embarrassing. I’ll leave now, O- Sakusa. ” He watches Atsumu scramble to fix his things as he hurriedly runs out of the cafe.
Oh fuck, indeed.
--
It’s safe to say that Atsumu is avoiding him. He isn’t really doing a good job at hiding it, if that’s what he wanted.
It doesn’t help that their presentation is in two days.
Well, he hasn’t been completely avoided. He still receives message updates on Atsumu’s part of workload, so he knows that they’re project is finished. But, he needs to talk to Atsumu about the presentation flow and about what the blonde said to him in the cafe.
It hasn’t been easy, though. Every time he thinks he’s finally got Atsumu cornered, the man slips out of his grasp somehow and it’s absolutely infuriating. He just wants to talk.
Kiyoomi has even gone to his cousin for help, explaining the situation and what happened, hoping to get some help. Instead, he’s hit with a full burst of laughter from his cousin.
“Oh god, Kiyo!” Komori laughs, trying to gasp for breath. “Have you even thought of why he keeps avoiding you? If you were in his place, you’d probably do the same thing— or worse!” Komori finally composes himself, facing himself towards Kiyoomi.
“He probably can’t face you out of embarrassment. He pretty much just confessed to you when he knows all you think of him is an annoying, little germ.” Kiyoomi wants to protest, but his cousin is right. However, he does frown at that last part because that’s not all he thinks of Atsumu.
As much as he claims to absolutely despise the man, he has no explanation of why he lets Atsumu do what he wants. He’s sure if he actually asks politely or something, Atsumu would leave him be. But, he hasn’t.
“Kiyo?” Komori raises an eyebrow that slowly turns into a teasing smile, now realizing what the raven is thinking. “Have you finally realized that you don’t hate Atsumu as much as you say you do?”
“H-huh? What do you— wait, how did—” Komori leans forwards and pats him on a shoulder. “I don’t think you ever noticed how you would always talk about him to me, even if it was calling him annoying. You kept pointing out everything about him.” Kiyoomi looks at his cousin wide-eyed, shocked at the revelation.
“Okay, I’ll help you. I’m friends with him and I’ll ask him to meet-up, but you’ll be there instead. Sound good?” Kiyoomi dumbly nods his head, still processing all this.
“D-does this mean I like him, Motoya?” He asks, Komori looking up from his phone.
“You’re the only one with the answer to that, Kiyo. Just don’t— don’t hurt him. I know you’re my cousin, but Atsumu’s already been through a lot before, at least that’s what I’ve heard.”
--
Kiyoomi sits in the same cafe they were in last time he properly talked to Atsumu. He waits, he checks the time and it’s 4:25. Komori told him that the agreed meetup time is 4:30. So, he waits, bouncing his leg, nervous.
He has his back facing the door of the cafe so Atsumu doesn’t know it’s him til he takes a seat in front of him. And just at that moment, he hears the bells jingle, signaling that a new person has entered the cafe.
“Hey Toya-kun, I made it just in time—” Atsumu promptly freezes when he realizes that the person he just sat in front of was not Komori.
Before Atsumu can book it though, Kiyoomi grabs his wrist, just tight enough for him to make him stay. “Wait! Atsumu… let’s talk. Please?” Kiyoomi looks up at Atsumu who’s staring at his face. It takes a minute before Atsumu breathes a sigh and moves to sit back down in front of him.
“Alright, if this is for ya to properly reject me then just do it quickly ‘cause our presentation is in two days and I need to mentally prepare myself ta not only present with ya but also to actually face ya—” Atsumu stops rambling when Kiyoomi reaches across and places a hand on his cheek, soft and gentle. A complete contrast to how he’s been treating the blonde for the longest time.
“Shh, let me talk first, okay?” Atsumu only nods, losing his voice to speak. Kiyoomi smiles at him before pulling back. He takes a deep breath, finally going to say what he wants after a few revelations here and there.
“I— I didn’t expect you to just say that, I’ll be honest. And not gonna lie, all this time I was always hooked on the thought that I couldn’t stand you.” He sees Atsumu deflate at that and he feels guilty saying that.
“But, I’ve been questioning myself lately… and my feelings. I talked to Motoya, too, and he told me I finally realized that I might not actually hate you. I mean, you’re the only other person beside my cousin who can touch me, you know? I didn’t know why, but after you abruptly confessed and my talk with Toya, I realized a few things.” Kiyoomi breathes, allowing himself a second to rest before continuing. Atsumu just sits and listens, not making any comments and Kiyoomi’s happy about that.
“I still am not clear.. about whether I like you or not. And I don’t want to hurt you, so I won’t get in a relationship with you, yet. But, how does going on dates sound? Make me fall for you, Atsumu. ” With that, he finally looks into Atsumu’s amber eyes after what seems like forever. They stare into each other’s eyes for a moment, then suddenly, Atsumu is breaking a smile.
“Sure! I’ll take that challenge! Yer gonna fall for me real hard, Omi-omi!” Kiyoomi lets himself smile. Atsumu’s smile looks so radiant and beautiful and damn, he missed it.
They fall into a cool conversation, planning their first date. They also talk about their presentation in a few days, wanting to prepare now that they’ve talked it out.
When presentation day comes, their teacher applauds them for their work. She loved their design so much that they ended up getting perfect scores.
To add onto that, they went on a date that weekend. Even if Atsumu is the one who’s meant to make him fall, Kiyoomi insisted on picking him up. It was the least he could do, he told the blonde.
He goes to the side of the building Atsumu’s dorm is in and knocks on the door. There he meets Miya Osamu, Atsumu’s twin.
“Oh, Sakusa-san. Yer here for Tsumu, right?” Kiyoomi nods his head, shocked at how similar their faces look. He knew Atsumu had a brother, but he wasn’t informed they were twins.
“Tsumu! Yer date is here, hurry up!” Osamu calls to behind him where the rest of their dorm room is. Then suddenly, Osamu snaps his head towards Kiyoomi, giving him a sharp glare.
“Don’t hurt him.” He says sternly, Kiyoomi gulping. “Yeah, of course.” He almost stutters, the hard glare making him feel scared.
And then Atsumu saves him from his twin as he appears at the door, pushing his brother away, muttering profanities at each other.
“Heya, Omi-kun!” Atsumu says, cladding an oversized pink sweater, ripped jeans paired with white sneakers, and glasses. Fuck.
“Omi?” Atsumu tilts his head, combing his fingers through his hair, an action Kiyoomi learned recently that means he’s self-conscious. He shakes his head and smiles at the blonde.
“Ready to make me fall, Atsumu?”
“Haven’t ya already started falling, Kiyoomi?”
And really— he’s right.