Lost in Darkness

“Oh, this is very convenient!”

Something about the teacher’s voice told Suga that whatever she was about to say was either going to genuinely be convenient, or it was going to result in just another problem for him. He’d had enough trouble just getting to this classroom, even with Asahi literally leading him by his wrist, so Suga couldn’t imagine what about today could possibly be convenient. Ever since the doctor had told him the blindness would last for up to 3 months, his mind had been set on nothing being easy for him.

“One of our best students,” the teacher continued. “Has all of the same classes as you. And since the school is making it mandatory for you to have an escort, I’m sure that he would be more than happy.”

Suga took a deep breath, watching the large dark blob in front of him move aside, presumably to go find this “best student”. He was, at the least, thankful that he could see vague shapes and colors; he couldn’t imagine how much worse he would feel if he couldn’t see anything.  Though, it wasn't as though this was seeing much at all. By vague shapes, he meant vague. Basically, if something that was mostly black stood against something mostly white, he could track it's progress. But, the doctor had told him it would get better towards the end of the three months. 

“I heard he got in a fight, and totally got punched in the eyes.”

“No, Kioro told me that a crazy ex did it to him because he cheated on her.”

“Him? But he looks sweet.”

The gossiping girls behind him made Suga’s back tense up, and he dropped his head down like he usually would to look at his shoes. Now, he could barely make out the color of his pants. The girls seemed to notice, because they all went silent and he thought he even heard a small squeak. Immediately, guilt flushed his face. It wasn’t their fault that they were curious; he was new student, he was blind, and the only person he knew at the school was the towering ace of the Karasuno volleyball club. Speaking of which…

“Sugawara!”

Still used to turning to see people, Suga turned around towards the direction of the teacher’s overly-cheery voice. He could barely make out a taller blob next to the teacher’s but they faded in and out since he couldn’t discern them from the blackboard on the wall. Regardless, he knew that someone else was there.

“This is Sawamura Daichi. He’s a third year like you, and he’s agreed to escort you to and from your classes,” the teacher introduced. Suga couldn’t see a thing, but he somehow could feel the kind of presence that belonged to the man the teacher spoke of.

“Hello,” Suga said, trying to point his body towards the other man, but having no way to know if it was correct. “I’m Sugawara Koushi. But most people call me Suga. Thank you, for helping me. It’s only for a few months or so, probably less, and then you’ll be unburdened.” He finished his words with the lightest laugh he could muster, trying to alleviate some of the tension that was inevitable, and held out a hand, hoping that the other man would find it.

He let out a tiny breath when a firm hand shook his, and he felt the body move closer to his own while talking. “Call me Daichi. And don’t worry, you’re not a burden. It’s understandable for you to need an escort, and it’s not like I’m not already going to those classes.” The voice was strong, and kind of commanding but in an attractive way. Suga almost felt himself blush just hearing it.

“O-oh, I suppose,” Suga answered, the stutter much more apparent than he would have liked. “But still, you’re doing me a huge favor. I wouldn’t want to be a bumbling idiot in the hallways.”

Their hands still hadn’t separated, and the heat was beginning to get to Suga. But the man, Daichi, just kept the conversation going. “I’m sure you could find someone to help you, even if I wasn’t around.”

“And why is that?” Suga’s question sounded suggestive, even to him, but he tried to play it off as just being curious.

“Oh, uh-well. You just seem nice-and I’m sure if people knew you were blind-they wouldn’t leave you to bumble,” Daichi said, and Suga could almost hear the blush in his voice.

“You’re probably right,” Suga allowed, smiling.

The silence that followed only lasted a few moments, and the two men separated their hands.

“You two better get going,” the teacher chirped in, her voice laced with smug enjoyment. “Your next class has already started, and I’ll need to give you a pass as it is.”

Suga had been so focused on their conversation that he hadn’t even acknowledged that the bell had rung that signalled that he needed to be in his next class.

“Oh. Thank you, sensei,” Daichi responded, and Suga heard him move toward the desk to retrieve the pass from the teacher, whose class was empty due to an empty second block.

Suga heard the tear of paper, and then felt the large form come back beside him. He was waiting for something, but he didn’t know exactly what. Then he realized, Daichi didn’t know exactly how to escort him.

“It doesn’t matter how we do it,” Suga said, blushing at the suggestiveness of his own words. “I just need to be able to hold on so I don’t bump into anything.”

“What’s most comfortable for you?” The question made Suga startle, because usually whoever his makeshift escort was would just grab his hand or his shoulder and steer him wherever he needed to go. The only exception was Asahi, who knew that Suga didn’t necessarily like being steered, and preferred to walk beside someone while they held his wrist or interlocked their fingers.

“Oh, I, well,” Suga stuttered, mentally chastising himself. “We don’t have to hold hands or anything, but I’d rather be beside you than being steered in front. It just feels more natural.”

“That makes sense,” Daichi responded, and Suga heard a faint “hmmmm”.

“Hold up your pinky.” Suga quickly did what Daichi said, and held up his right pinky in front of him, with the back of his hand facing the man in front of him. He didn’t know what to expect, until he felt a warm finger slip beside his and curl around his digit. Suga felt his heart jump at the touch, but settled it by rationalizing with himself. He’s just linking pinkies so he can escort you. He’s just being nice.

“Does this work?” Daichi asked, a hint of apprehension in his voice.

“Yeah, actually,” Suga responded, his voice a little more excited than he would have liked. “It’s a lot better than what most people try.”

Suga heard a relieved sigh from beside him, and a smile slipped onto his face again as they walked out of the door to the classroom and the teacher called out a quick goodbye.

Once they had exited the room, Suga was kind of relieved that they were late to class so he wouldn’t have to deal with people, at least for this first walk through the hallway.

And so nobody would see the permanent blush that seemed stuck on his face.

-

Daichi didn’t know why his gut had pulled so tight when he had laid eyes on the silver-haired man for the first time in that classroom, so he had chosen to ignore the feeling. But now, as he was walking through the hallway with his pinky laced in Suga’s, he was almost glad that the shorter man couldn’t see his raging blush.

At first, it had felt a little unnerving to see Suga’s big, hazel eyes pointed towards him, but never quite focusing enough. It was odd to think that he couldn’t see behind those eyes.

“It’s probably good that the halls are empty on the way to this class,” Daichi broke the silence. “It’s pretty far away. But then, the next ones are very close by.”

“That’s good,” Suga offered, and the airy voice immediately had an effect on Daichi, his blush intensifying. Then, a thought occurred to him.

“How will you get from our last class to home? I’d be honored to assist, but I have to go to the club room to change for practice, and those first-years would have a field day if their captain was late,” Daichi asked, drawing a small laugh out of Suga with his last comment.

“I actually have to find a teacher today. Tak...Takeda? I’m trying to join the volleyball club here, even if I’m coming in two weeks late. Asahi said if I wait in my last class, he’ll come find me and help,” Suga responded. “So, what club are you the captain of?”

Daichi took a second to respond, probably causing Suga to rethink what he’d said to figure out what he did wrong. Then, Daichi spoke.
“Maybe this is your lucky day. I’m the captain of the volleyball club. I can bring you to the gym after the last class. Takeda will be there. You know Asahi?”

The amount of information he had just expounded caused Suga to pause, and then flush.

“Oh-ah- thank you! That would be amazing. I mean I know that I can’t exactly play at the moment, but I used to play at a league, and I really love volleyball. I met Asahi at a camp when we were really little, and we’ve kept in touch ever since. He drives me here, and home.”

“That’s really convenient. Asahi is a nice guy, it would make sense that you two would be friends,” Daichi said, turning a corner and giving a slight tug on Suga’s pinky to make sure he didn’t go to far and run into a wall.

“Ah, yes he is. Kind of nervous, but he’s got a killer spike. Perfect to practice with.”

Daichi nodded, another question raising in his head. “So, what’s your position then?”

“I’m a setter,” Suga said, and then paused with a strange look going over his face. “But, I know about your setter here, so I’m not exactly thinking much about playing time. I just like practicing, and cheering on the team.”

“Ah, Kageyama. You must have gone to school around here to hear about him,” Daichi smiled, but seeing the look on Suga’s face made him flush and think of something else to say. “I wouldn't worry too much about it. It would actually be nice to have a setter to go in when Kageyama gets in one of his moods. Or to play with some of our more...traditional players.”

The slight twitch at the corner of the apparent setter’s mouth made Daichi’s stomach flood with warmth as he realized he'd done something right.

“If you don't mind me asking,” he said, knowing he was pushing his luck. “What happened?”

As if on cue, Suga stumbled into a wall because their pinkies had been drifting away, but Daichi caught him just before his face hit.

“You okay?”

“Fine,” Suga responded, his pinky quick to find the captains. “I was in the hospital, and the doctor had to perform a surgery just behind my ear. It wasn't his fault, but the numbing agent they used messed up something with my nerves, I think. I'm not completely sure on the details, only that it had to go away on its own which would be significantly longer than if they just removed it. But removing it would mean a more extensive surgery, and we couldn't afford it. So I have to wait it out. It's only been a month, and the doctor thinks it’ll only be 3 more at most. Then I'll be back to normal.”

Daichi nodded, forgetting that the silver-haired man next to him couldn't see.

“That's nice,” he said. “And it's good that you have someone here you know to support you.”

“And you,” Suga giggled, making Daichi look at him with a happily confused look. “You're escorting me to and from my classes and to the gym. You're my pinky in shining armor.”

They turned the corner, and Daichi could see their classroom just two doors down on the right. His face was certainly still flushed from Suga’s comment, so he took the moment to pause outside the door. Suga wasn't ready for the abrupt stop, and lost his balance, falling towards Daichi. Reaching out, his hands  miraculously landed on two firm, muscled shoulders. “You okay? I'm sorry.” Daichi’s voice was embarrassed, and he knew it.

“Yeah, I'm fine. Are we here?”

“Yeah. Quick warning though, Nakawara-sensai hates late students and will probably try to send you to detention. Just let me show him the pass quickly, and then I'll show you to a seat.”

Suga's lips grew into a smirk that had Daichi wanting to take another pause to stop his blush. The airy voice said, “And I thought chivalry was dead.”

“I try,” the captain said, opening the door with a click and taking a step into the classroom.

Immediately, the teacher stopped his lesson and turned to the two boys awkwardly stumbling into his class.

“Well, well, Sawamura-san has finally graced us with his presence. And he’s brought a friend…”

The way the teacher led off told Suga that he was waiting for an introduction. Stumbling on his step, the setter took a step into the room and bowed to the teacher.

“I’m Sugawara Koushi. Today is my first day here,” his words were swallowed by a heavy sigh from the clearly apathetic teacher.

“Daichi, bring me the pass. Sugawara-san, please take a seat. There’s an empty seat back there, in the corner.”

Neither of the two students moved, and Daichi slowly moved forward to hand his sensai the pass, silently hoping that Suga wouldn’t attempt to get to his seat on his own. As the teacher took the pass, he looked around Daichi at the silver-haired man still standing near the door.

“I asked you to please take a seat, Sugawara.”

Daichi turned to hear Suga’s response, but it appeared as though the setter was frozen in his spot, not used to being put in a position like this. He’d probably assumed that teachers would be warned about his condition, but it appeared as though not all of them were.

“I-I, uh,” Suga’s voice was small.

“He’s blind, Nakawara-sensai,” Daichi filled in suddenly, trying to save the new student from any further embarrassment. “Temporarily. We were late because Hiroka-sensai had to find him an escort here.”

“Oh,” the teacher rethought his statement. “In that case, you have my apologies, Sugawara. Daichi, if you wouldn’t mind showing him to a seat.”

Only when he turned back around to face the new student did Daichi notice that all of the eyes in the class were watching him. Trying to suppress his growing embarrassment, he walked back to the door and grabbed onto Suga’s fingertips, feeling as though the pinky-linking would appear weird to his fellow classmates.

Thankfully, the open seat was diagonal to his own so he would be able to help him leave easier. He watched Suga dig through his bag for a moment, before pulling out a recording device. That must be how he takes notes. He records the class. That class passed slower than ever before, as Daichi waited to lead Suga to their next class. 

Suga had been having trouble keeping his eyes open in his classes, since it wasn’t like they were of use to him and keeping them open just put a strain on his lids. But, all of his teachers found it troubling to see him sitting there with his eyes closed, so he kept them open. Bring the sunglasses tomorrow, he reminded himself. But, after a long day of sitting still, recording classes, and weaving through busy hallways, the final bell finally rung.

Not sure where Daichi was sitting in the room, Suga sat still and waited for the captain to come to him. How convenient is that, really? He’s the captain of the club I want to join. And he’s going to bring me to see Takeda-sensai, he thought. Then, he reminded himself, he’s just being nice. He was asked to do this.

“Ready?”

The voice caused an immediate smile to spread on Suga’s lips, mentally kicking himself for having such a strong reaction just to Daichi’s soothing voice. “To the gym?” Suga questioned, but it was really more of a reinforcement of what he already knew.

“I have to change first, so we’ll need to stop by the club room. Thankfully, it’s just down this hall, so it’s not really much extra walking,” Daichi responded, much to Suga’s surprise. It’s only a little bit of extra walking. Plus, most students have probably already left. No one is going to see us together.

“Okay,” he said, and waited for the pinky to slip into his before standing up and sliding across his desk to be in the same aisle as his escort.

As they left the room, Suga’s fears about being in the hallway were confirmed when he felt something brush by him, then watched a dark blur shoot down the hallway in front of him. He pressed closer to Daichi, but it didn’t help when he felt another body do the same thing, but this time over on Daichi’s side.

“Kageyama, Hinata! If you don’t slow down, I’ll put you on cleaning duty! Your speed will be greatly appreciated!” Daichi’s voice booming next to him put Suga slightly on edge, knowing that these people weren’t just random students. He heard muffled shouts from in front of them, one vaguely sounding like a cry for help, but his thumping heart was put to ease by the gently shaking of Daichi’s shoulders as he laughed. “That’s our genius setter , Kageyama. And Hinata, who I’m sure you’ll have the pleasure of meeting. He loves people. Those two are always having some kind of race. Even before they started dating, they never left each other’s side.”

Suga’s steps suddenly stopped, causing a tugging on his pinky as Daichi continued his steps. They’re gay?

“Those guys...they’re dating?” Suga asked, his legs still not responding as his heart thumped louder in his chest. “Like, in a relationship?”

“Yeah,” Daichi responded, but there was a tone of caution in his voice. “Is that weird to you?”

Clearly, the question was meant to see what Suga thought about the openly gay relationship, but his real thoughts had to be hidden. He had come to a new school, and there was no way he was making the same mistakes twice. But, he had to let a little bit of his excitement out.

“No, not at all,” Suga said, and he heard a sigh of relief from Daichi. “At my old school, people weren’t so open about it. It’s actually nice to see a little more tolerance here.”

“Good,” his escort breathed. “I was worried there for a second that you were going to be one of those crazy homophobes or something. That wouldn’t work well on this team.”

“Why is that?” Suga asked, curious about why Daichi would phrase it that way.

“Almost everyone on the team is either gay or bi. It seems a bit weird, I know, but it just happened to turn out that way. You’ll meet everyone, but Asahi is totally smitten for Nishinoya. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi won’t admit anything, but they’re totally transparent. And then there’s obviously Kageyama and Hinata.”

Suga didn’t know who any of those people were, but he nodded along. But, a question still burned at his mind as they stopped in front of what he could only assume was the club room door.

“What about you?” The question popped out so quickly, the silver-haired setter didn’t have a second to regret asking it.

“Oh-uh, I’m-”

The answer was abruptly cut off by the loud sound of the door being whipped open and hitting the outside wall, probably only nearly missing Daichi.

“I’m telling you, it’s not true.” The voice was kind of high, but in a weirdly masculine way.

“Ah, why not Noya? Can’t you let me have this?” This voice was definitely meant for taunting, having a kind of edgy drawl that made it sound like it would come out of a living shark.

Apparently the two voices had seen the escort and his blind escortee, because they both shut up immediately.

“Hey, Daichi,” said the first voice.

“Who’s this old man?” The second one teased. Suga’s back stiffened, hearing the jest. He’d always been poked at for having gray-silver hair, but it wasn’t something he could explain. It was the same color as his mother’s and grandfather’s.

“Nishinoya, Tanaka,” Daichi acknowledged. “This is Sugawara Koushi, and he wants to join the volleyball club. He’s new.”

Suga noticed how Daichi had explicitly skipped over the part where he was blind, and was instantly thankful for it. It really was something that he should tell people.

“Ah, this is the fresh meat that Asahi was babbling about,” the first voice said, with a little bit of edge to his voice.

“Oh, lighten up Noya, you know you love his babbling,” Daichi teased, and then Suga heard a quiet smack.

“Go to the gym and get the equipment ready. Once everyone’s in there, I’ll introduce Suga properly,” Daichi commanded, and Suga heard the two walking away.

Daichi let out a sigh, and his pinky slipped out of Suga’s quickly.

“Would you like to come in? Or else you can wait out here,” Daichi offered, waiting to hear the response.

“Um, oh, I’ll just, uh, stand out here. Until you’re done, uh, changing,” Suga’s voice was strained. Why are you even nervous? It’s not like you could see anything even if he was naked in front of you! Don't think about him naked!

The thought had Suga’s cheeks blushing, and he showed a tight smile before leaning back against the wall of the hallway.

“Be right back,” was all Daichi said before Suga heard the quiet closure of the door.

Everything went silent then, and Suga finally let out the breath that he felt like he had been holding in all day. He wasn’t sure if it was from holding pinkies with Daichi, or just from being at a new school, but something had him incredibly on edge. And, he’d never gotten the answer to his question. He would give anything just to hear that answer.

“You must be Sugawara-san.”

The voice caused Suga to nearly jump out of his pants, and his head knocked back against the wall with a painful jolt. His hand immediately went up to rub his head, but then he remembered that his shirt slid up when he lifted his arms, and slowly lowered them.

“Yes, and who, may I ask, are you?” Suga’s voice was on-edge again, and he knew it.

“It doesn’t really matter. Are you really blind?” The answer bothered Suga, for obvious reasons.

Tense, he crossed his arms. “Yes, temporarily. I really would prefer to know who I’m talking to.”

The dark shape in front of him moved closer, and Suga felt heavy breath moving closer to him.

“You don’t need to know, really. I’m just curious,” the voice had gained a new quality that made Suga uneasy. It sounded almost nervous, like they thought Suga was going to punch him. Yet, it still had a quality of teasing sexuality that set Suga on edge.

“Well, then, please leave me-” Suga’s protest was cut off by the feeling of a hand on his hip, too low to be considered friendly. Instantly, he froze. Who is this? What do I do? How do I stop him?

“Hm, you are a jumpy guy aren’t you?” The hand on his hip had moved lower, and another one had taken residence on his cheek. “For someone who’s blind, you sure don’t protect yourself well.”

Suga’s mind raced with what to do. He knew he should be fighting this guy back, even if it was just a shove. But, something was stopping him.

Suddenly, he heard the door start to open, and the hands were immediately off of him and the sounds of fast footsteps echoed down the hallway. As they faded, he heard the voice, now scared, yelling, "I'm sorry! It was a dare!" What kind of twisted dare is that? Even knowing that, the encounter still had Suga on edge when he heard Daichi. 

“Ready to go?” Daichi’s voice was cheerful, excited even, as he asked the silver-haired man.

“Is there someone down the hall?” Suga asked quickly, turning to point to where the footsteps had disappeared to. There was a frantic quality to his voice that took Daichi by alarm, who quickly stepped forward to put a hand on Suga’s shoulder.

“There’s no one there. Did somebody come up to you?”

The hesitation on Suga’s face answered the question, but Daichi waited for a verbal one anyway.

“He just-he asked where to find something. I think I told him wrong. It’s no big deal,” Suga said, his stomach bubbling with the acid that wound up every time he lied. But, he wasn’t ready to ruin his first day of school and his chances with the volleyball club just because some idiot had decided to rile up the blind kid. No way.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” was Daichi’s response, and then a pinky slipped into Suga’s. “Let’s go.”

-

As soon as they reached the gym, Daichi could hear the commotion inside, and instantly regretted brining Suga here instead of just trying to find Takeda. The yelling was loud, and each shout was followed by howls of laughter that sounded so iconically like Nishinoya that he couldn’t help but groan. The only person that Noya laughed that hard at was Hinata.

“Is this a bad idea?” Suga’s question sounded cautious, which was understandable.

“I’m sure it’s fine. They just get riled up on Mondays. New week and all.”

Suga nodded, and Daichi momentarily let go of his pinky as they reached the top step so that he could open the door and go inside. As soon as he opened the door, he was desperately wishing that he hadn’t, because the scene he was faced with was so much worse than he could have imagined. The first thing he saw was Hinata and Yamaguchi sitting in empty ball carts, with Kageyama and Tsukishima respectively standing behind them, gearing up to push. Balls were strewn about the court, easy tripping hazards, making this the worst idea he had ever seen. Noya and Tanaka were laughing on the stage, appearing to be “officiating” whatever kind of race this was, as Noya counted down from 5. The less insane second years stood behind them, cautiously watching the scene in front of them. Asahi looked just as worried as Daichi felt, but he knew that the gentle giant would never speak up.

“NO!” Daichi’s booming voice spread through the gym quickly, getting the attention of all of the players. He quickly jogged in front of the two ball carts, putting a hand on each so they couldn’t be pushed forward. “What exactly, do you think you are doing?”

Hinata’s face was the first to turn red, but it looked more like he was holding in a laugh than getting embarrassed. Yamaguchi followed in suit, but he definitely was embarrassed too. Daichi raised his eyebrows, then turned to Tsukishima, who didn’t seem like someone who would indulge in this kind of activity.

“Hm?” Daichi asked of the middle blocker, waiting for an explanation. The bored blonde sighed.

“Noya said you were bringing your new boyfriend to practice. Hinata said that he and Kageyama were the best couple, and could win any competition together. I wasn’t going to let that idiocy stand, so I challenged them to a race. The ball carts were Tanaka’s idea.” The tone the blonde used was matter-of-fact, almost deterring Daichi from the fact that Tsukishima had just called Suga his boyfriend. Suga!

Scowling at his first-years, Daichi ran back to the doorway where Suga was feeling out the doorway cautiously in order to make his steps. The lack of embarrassment on his face showed that he hadn’t heard what the competition was about.

“Sorry, Suga!” Daichi sputtered, taking the elbow of the setter and allowing the on-edge man to sink some of his support onto it. “I had to discipline my idiotic kouhai.”

“Oh, ah!” Suga’s voice fluttered alive, obviously relieved by having his escort back at his side. “It’s okay. I was...managing. I need to bring my cane tomorrow, I think.”

“Why didn’t you bring it today?” Daichi’s question was simply curious, but it clearly made Suga stiffen.

“I don’t like using it. Or wearing the sunglasses. It makes me feel...a little bit useless. I prefer to just feel things out for myself.”

The two of them stayed in silence for a second, neither one knowing what to say.

“Are you going to introduce us?!” The yell came from Hinata, but judging by the pack of club members surrounding him, it was clear that he had been pressured into it.

“Oh, of course,” Daichi said, knocking his free hand against his forehead. “Everybody come gather on the floor.”

The footsteps were quick, the club clearly eager to meet the new arrival.

Once everyone was sitting, Daichi noticed Ukai and Takeda come in the side door, and nod to him. It was likely that they had been informed by the school of Suga’s intent to join the club.

He turned his attention back to his teammates, and used a hand to gesture to Suga, who was now standing by his side with his hands wrapped around one of Daichi’s biceps.

“This is Sugawara Koushi. He’s just transferred here, so he’s going to be joining the club a little late. He’s a setter, which works out for us since we can finally play proper games against each other with two setters. He’s a third year, like Asahi and I, so he’ll be getting the 2 jersey,” Daichi stopped himself when he felt Suga squeezing his bicep. Assuming it meant he wanted to talk, Daichi stayed silent and bowed his head.

“You can call me Suga,” the setter started, his voice a little bit shaky. “And you should probably know that I’m temporarily blind, probably for the next three months. That’s why I’m hanging onto your captain like a greedy monkey.”

The joke resulted in a chorus of chuckles from the club. Daichi nodded, then looked back at Suga.

“You can see a little bit of color right?”

Suga nodded. “Color, and then very vague outlines. More like blobs, really.”

Daichi turned to face his team. “Alright, everyone line up and introduce yourself to Suga. Come close enough for him to be able to see your hair color, but don’t be creeps.”

Suga started to protest the idea, but Daichi noticed him stop, probably realizing it wasn’t that bad of an idea. After all, even if he was blind, he needed to be able to communicate properly with his new teammates.

The first person in line was inevitably Asahi, who just gave Suga a pat on the back before leaving to go and work on his serves while the rest of the club introduced themselves.

Second were the second years, Narita, Kinoshita, and Ennoshita. All of them were properly respectable, engaging in conversation for a moment before going to join Asahi.

When Daichi saw Nishinoya swaggering up next, he immediately felt his insides groan. If anyone could accidentally let slip something that Suga didn’t need to know, it was Noya.

“Well, hello, Suga-san,” Noya offered, going up on his tiptoes to display the prominent blonde streak at the front of his forehead. “Can you see my hair?”

Daichi cringed at the question, thinking it was kind of insensitive to ask a blind person if they could see anything, but Suga just laughed. Immediately, Daichi’s attitude did a quick turn. The laugh was airy, and real, like something he would hear from an angel in a film.

“Barely. You’ve got a very...contrasting look,” Suga answered, his fingers reaching out to brush against the tuft at the front of the libero’s head.

“I’m the libero of Karasuno,” Nishinoya said, his voice tinged with pride. “Once you get your eyes back, you’ll have me guarding your back. And, up until then too!”

Daichi had to admit, Noya had a charming up-front personality. It was no wonder that a low blush was gracing Suga’s cheeks.

The next person in line was Tanaka. He was surprisingly brief with his introduction, probably because he was eager to join Nishinoya in talking about the new arrival.

Yamaguchi was next, and the freckled pinch server was obviously nervous as he introduced himself.

“I’m Ya-Yamaguchi, Tadashi Yamaguchi. I’m not a regular, or, or anything like that. I’m a pinch server for Karasuno,” the boy said. His dark, almost greenish hair, would most likely make him recognizable to Suga, who bowed his head to the young server.

“I played on my first team as a pinch server,” the blind man said, his voice comforting. “I wasn’t very good, though. It was a youth league and they had to let everyone play.”

“Oh, that’s nice. I only started not too long ago,” Yamaguchi responded.

“But, I remember seeing Karasuno’s pinch server at a tournament not too long ago. You’re really good at your job, Yamaguchi.” Suga’s praise seemed too much for the freckled first-year to bear, as he bowed his head extremely low and gave a muffled “thank you” before shuffling away quickly to hide his blush.

Tsukishima was next, and Daichi gave the blonde a stiff glare when he saw the smug look on the blocker’s face as he approached Suga. Instantly, Tsukishima sighed and dropped the look from his face.

“I’m Kei Tsukishima. I’m a middle blocker. If I were you, I’d be careful around the orange one. He knocks things over a lot.” The introduction was short, and to the point, just like the first year. Briskly, Tsukishima left to join Yamaguchi.

Suga turned his blank gaze to Daichi. “The orange one?”

As if to answer his question, Hinata bounced up in line and stood on his tiptoes to put his bright hair on full display. “You can probably see my hair easy, right? Everybody makes fun of it, but now I think I win because Suga-san can see me!”

Suga’s eyes widened with understanding of Tsukishima’s warning, but his face was sympathetic nonetheless.

“I’m Hinata, by the way. Hinata Shouyou. I’m a middle! I’m really short, but you’ll see that in...how many? Three months? You’ll be really surprised. But for now, you can just hear my and Bakeyama’s quick. It’s like bam and then BOOM ! It’s really cool.” Hinata’s fast-paced talking clearly took Suga by surprise, but Daichi smiled when he saw the sympathy and compassion in the setter’s eyes. Even if they couldn’t see, they still told tales. It was obvious that Suga was well-versed in meeting different types of people. 

“Move, dumbass.” Kageyama pushed Hinata out of the way, much to the chagrin of the hitter, who promptly circled around to stick a finger in Kagayama’s side.

“Tobio Kageyama,” the official setter introduced. “I’m the official setter of Karasuno. I’m glad we have another one now, so we don’t have to continue asking inept crows to take such a position of power.”

Suga was clearly taken aback by the formal tone and proud language that Kageyama used, but he also appeared to have an understanding of the younger setter.

“I’ve seen you play too,” Suga said, and Kageyama’s back instantly straightened a bit, as if he was bracing himself for the usual “King” comment that came next. “You’ve got amazing control, right? I wish I could do the kinds of quicks you guys do. It’s really impressive, especially for someone so young.”

Both Hinata, who was still poking the official setter, and Daichi, who was staring at the new one, paused when he said that. Suga had just taken the things that other people ridiculed Kageyama for, and had turned them into compliments. Somehow. This man is a miracle. 

“Thank you, Suga-san,” the tall first-year said, his voice stuttering a bit as he flushed and walked out of the way of the blind man. Suga just smiled after him.

“Is there anyone else?”

“Just the coach, and of course Takeda-sensai. Oh, and our managers.”

After brining Suga over to sit with the adults of the club, Daichi rounded up his rowdy team and started their practice, making sure to yell extra loud so that everyone knew what was happening.

“How was your first day, Koushi?” Suga’s mother’s voice drifted through the house like music, causing a soft smile to appear on the blind man’s face. He pretended to be annoyed, but he loved his mother for making sure that he was always doing okay. She used to be less than vigilant about it, but ever since the hospital, and especially since he’d lost his vision, she was on top of her game.

“I barely made a fool of myself!” Suga announced, holding onto the string that his mother had laced through the house so that her son could guide himself through with ease. At this point, he knew his way through his childhood home without difficulty, but the string made him feel more connected to what was around him.

“Oh, hush! Did they find you an escort? I made it very clear at the meeting that I wouldn’t have you stumbling through the hallways-”

“Mama! They found me one before the end of my first class, which Asahi brought me to. The escort is in all of my classes, and he’s the captain of the volleyball club, so it all works out well,” Suga’s tone must have given away more than he meant it to, because he heard the contemplative “hmmm” of his mother.

“Does he have a name?” She asked, her voice sounding suggestive at best.

“His name is Daichi, and he’s a very nice and generous person for doing it. Nothing else.” Suga’s voice had changed to a more final tone.

“You know, Suga,” his mother said. “You’re at a new school. It isn’t like that old place. If you want to take chances, you can.”

The words shook down Suga’s spine, culminating in his gut. He knew that his mother was trying to be comforting, but even thinking about his old school caused his brain to seize up.

“But, you do whatever you’re comfortable with,” she continued, trying to ease her tense son. “So, how are the boys in the club?”

Suga’s mind shifted as he eased back in to comfortable territory. “They’re...very nice. A little bit eccentric, some of them, but they’re really talented. Whenever I used to see them play, I always thought they looked kind of insane.”

“You might have played against them if you’d played for your school,” his mother said, absentmindedly. “You could have gotten an inside scoop.”

“I saw enough from the stands,” Suga quickly put in, trying to keep himself composed. She was trying, but his mother sometimes crossed lines that he forget he’d never drawn for her. “I have to listen to the classes again. Can I go?”

He was sure that his mother noticed the tone, but she didn’t want to push him. “Sure, Koushi.”

Following the thickest string with his fingers, Suga cautiously went up the steps and fell onto his bed and closed his eyes. It was almost a relief to see the total blackness, rather than the frustrating blobs and splotches of color that had patterned his vision for the past month. He let out a relieved sigh, letting go all of the pent-up caution he had built up in preparation for his first day.
Then, a loud alert from his right startled him, before he realized that it was just his phone, alerting him of a text message. Groping for the phone on his nightstand, he held down the button until the voice activation came up. “Open text message.”

The phone took a second to compute what he said, but a pleasant voice eventually played through the speakers. “From, Asahi. Morning practice at 6, should I pick you up?”

Suga took a second to think about the proposal. Sure, he knew that he wanted to be a part of the club, but he wouldn’t be of any use at the practices for a few months, and by then it would be right before the qualifiers. He would only actually have enough time to practice and play if the team managed to win through several rounds of play, and even then it would be at the coach’s discretion if the secondary setter was even good enough.

“Text Asahi. Sure, what do you think I’ll do? I might bring my cane and glasses to school too…”

He heard the text send, hoping his words had been clear enough to translate properly through the phone software. The silence that followed was tense, as Suga waited for a response.

“From, Asahi. Professional cheerleader and best blind setter. Maybe glasses, but Daichi-san doesn’t mind being your cane, I don’t think.”

The words flooded Suga’s system like sugar. Asahi’s rare sense of humor and honest attitude were part of what made him such a good friend.

“Text Asahi. Glasses it is. Are you sure Daichi-san isn’t annoyed by having to deal with my constant blindness? It’s annoying for me…”

“From, Asahi. Trust me. He doesn’t mind it. Wear cool glasses. See you at 5:30.”

“Text Asahi. See you then.”

Finishing the text, Suga threw his phone aside, letting it fall onto his plush carpet with a satisfying thud sound. He blinked his eyes, trying to focus them. When he’d first noticed the changes in his vision, he’d freaked out in the hospital room, knocking over several things when he woke up without his normal eyesight. When the doctor had realized the effects, he had apologized profusely but said that due to this side effect, the initial surgery was much more successful than it might have been. Still, Suga hadn’t wanted to accept blindness for that long. A few months? To Suga, that meant no volleyball, no reading, and no ability to manage himself. Being alone wasn’t an option anymore, because his inexperience with the blindness left him bumping into furniture at every turn. His mother had accommodated, with the string, and by buying him a cane, and a few pairs of glasses. But Suga hated all of that. It made him feel like he was playing the role of “blind man”, even if that was technically what he was.

Suga’s mind travelled to what happened in the hallway outside of the club room. He’d blown it off, as simply another idiot trying to play some prank on the new kid. Especially with someone who was blind, Suga’s doctor had told him it wouldn’t be uncommon for people to try to take advantage of him in all sorts of ways. Don’t trust anyone else to handle your money. Don’t let anyone else text on your phone. Don’t let people tell you how much of anything you have that you can’t feel. Be careful. But still, there was something about the feeling of that boy’s hands on him that made him feel uneasy. Nobody knows, Suga , he reminded himself. How could they?

-

“Asahi, why are you calling me this early? Shouldn’t you be getting ready for morning practice?” Daichi’s morning voice was quiet, being careful not to wake up his sleeping parent.

“That’s why I’m calling you,” the voice on the other end of Daichi’s phone said. “I told Suga I’d pick him up and bring him to morning practice, because I thought it’d be nice to involve him. But, now I’m being forced to go to the store beforehand, to pick up milk for my mother. I don’t want to have to tell Suga I can’t bring him. He’d do something stupid and try to walk there or something.”

“Well, that sucks, but what am I supposed to do?” Even as he said it, Daichi was clearing out the passenger-side seat of his car, throwing away the assorted wrappers that always decorated the floor.

“If I send you his address, can you pick him up for me? I’ll warn him beforehand, but you’re the only other person I think he would get into a car with.” Asahi’s voice was straining, telling Daichi he was reaching the area near the giant’s house that had no service.

Daichi sighed, but there was secretly a smile on his lips. “Send me the address, and you better thank me later.”

“You’re a savior, Daichi-san,” Asahi said, and then hung up the phone.

A moment later, a text from Asahi popped up with an address. Surprised, Daichi double-checked the address to be sure he read it right. This was the neighborhood just two away from his, that he regularly passed on his way to Karasuno.

Sliding behind the wheel of his car, Daichi checked the time. 5:35. Just enough time to pick up the silver-haired setter and make it to practice early.

The drive over to the new address was unnerving, as Daichi was trying to figure out what he was going to say when he got to the house. Obviously, he needed to go up to the door, but he didn’t know what he would do if anyone other than Suga answered, and it was extremely unlikely that Suga would answer. His thoughts were cut short when he pulled up in front of the house, and took a second to look at the exterior. It wasn’t a huge house, but it wasn’t exactly small either. It looked...comfortable.

Taking a deep breath, Daichi opened the door to his car and walked up to the front of the house before he could convince himself it was a bad idea.

He had only just knocked when the door was thrown open with much more force than seemed necessary, and Daichi stumbled backwards as a disoriented Suga held on to the edge of the door for balance.

“Sorry, Asahi. Mom left for work a little while ago, and I didn’t wake up on time. I barely had time to grab glasses,” the setter said, struggling to fit his schoolbag through the slim frame of the door. “I didn’t even have time to find the cool ones.” The hint of humor in Suga’s voice made Daichi smile, and he forgot that he was supposed to be explaining that he wasn’t Asahi.

“Oh, Suga,” Daichi said, and instantly Suga’s head snapped up as if he was trying to make eye contact, probably out of habit. The sunglasses the setter was donning were a little bit big on his face, and Daichi found it more unnerving that he couldn’t see those hazel eyes. “Did Asahi not text you? He had to get milk, so he asked me to bring you to practice instead…”

It only took a second for Suga to smile to himself, obviously embarrassed. “I knew I should have opened that.”

“You don’t have to take the ride,” Daichi supplied. “If you’re uncomfortable.”

Suga waved a hand in front of his face, finally managing to shut the door behind him. “I need to get there somehow right?” As if to ease the tension, the spritely setter held up his pinky, clearly needing assistance to get to the car.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t bring the cane too,” Daichi joked. “I would be totally useless right now.”

“No way,” Suga said breezily, his pinky squeezing tighter as Daichi lead him down the curb to get into his car. “You beat that stupid cane anyday. It’s ugly, and bulky.”

“You haven't seen me yet,” Daichi reasoned. “I could be ugly and bulky.”

“Actually, Sawamura-san, captain of Karsuno, jersey #1, I've seen all of your team before,” Suga proudly smirked, hearing nothing from his escort.

“When?” was all Daichi could muster.

“I went to some of the practice games at my old school. My friend was the setter, so I had to go support him. And trust me, a team like yours is hard not to take notice of.”

Daichi’s face blushed then, and he again felt almost grateful that the man next to him couldn't see him. He didn't know why, but something about Suga made him comfortable, like he didn't have to try so hard. It was probably because he didn't have to worry about embarrassing blushes, or accidentally staring at the blind setter.

“Probably because of our insane first years, right? I swear, there was something in the water with them,” Daichi said sheepishly, pausing at the sign just outside to school to allow for Hinata to speed by on his bicycle, eager as ever to get to practice.

“No,” Suga said, his voice sounding contemplative. “Well, obviously, I noticed them. But I was more impressed by the senpais of the team.”

Daichi’s back stiffened, a sense of pride filling him up quickly and causing the familiar flush to grow on his cheeks. He was sure Suga was just being nice, but it still made him happy to hear someone call him impressive. And the other second and third years, of course.

“Oh, ah, yeah,” Daichi stumbled on his words. “Noya and Tanaka are a sight to behold, and you know Asahi is just a monster.”

“Are you trying to deflect my compliment, or did you just not catch on?” Suga’s airy laugh split through the captain's  car easily, feeling as if it alone could replace his entire heating system with how intense a blush spread across Daichi's face. 

“You watched me play?”

Daichi glanced at the setter as he pulled into his usual parking space, and was glad he did when he saw the adorable scrunched nose adorning Suga’s features. Even hidden behind sunglasses, Daichi could imagine how the nose pushed up the creases of the silver-headed man’s eyes.

“Not for very long,” Suga admitted. “Just a few serves. And I didn't know any names then, just that you were the captain. Once you introduced yourself, I put two and two together.”

Pulling the key out of ignition, a timid silence fell between them at the absence of the hum of the engine.

“Should we go, captain?”

“Probably, right?” The catch in Daichi’s tone didn't allude Suga, who leaned forward and put a hand on Daichi’s leg comfortingly. Except, his blinded aim had miscalculated and his hand ended up just high enough for Daichi’s eyes to widen.

“You don't want to practice?” Suga asked, clearly not fully aware of where exactly his hand was.

“No, it isn't that,” Daichi assured him. “They just get a little...excited in the morning. Which is fine, really. It's just…”

“Just what?”

Daichi sighed. “I'm worried about a few of them being a little too excited and accidentally managing to hurt this blind friend I'm bringing.”

Suga’s lips opened in an O, and he withdrew his hand from Daichi’s thigh, allowing the captain to let out the tense breath he'd been holding.

“You don't have to worry about me,” Suga said. “And if this doesn't work, I can always just not come to practices until I can see again.”

Daichi immediately shook his head. The last thing he wanted was Suga to feel excluded from the club because of his eyes; after all, Suga had officially joined the club and was part of the team, eyes or not. Even if it meant some adjusting, Daichi wanted Suga to be there.

Realizing the setter couldn't see his shaking head, Daichi vocalized, “That's not necessary.”

Suga shrugged. “It wouldn't be a big deal, and I'd understand.”

“It'll be fine,” Daichi said. “Forget I said anything. We should probably go.”

Nodding, Suga shakily climbed out of the car and used it to get himself as far as he could before he was left with no support or guideline. Daichi watched him for a second, not wanting to assume that Suga would want help without asking.

“I’m sorry,” Suga said. “But would you mind if…?”

Daichi adjusted his school and volleyball bag quickly onto one shoulder, jumping forward to link his pinky into Suga’s. The blind man sighed, his head turning down to the ground and his cheeks flushing.

“I need to bring my cane. This is so embarrassing, I can’t even walk for myself.” The setter quickly said, and Daichi felt the pinky laced with his tighten. “I’ll bring it tomorrow so you don’t have to deal with me. The doctor said I should probably have it with me anyway, so I don’t have to bother-”

“Suga!” Daichi stopped the the silver-haired man from babbling just as they reached the doors to the gym. Suga stopped talking, biting his lip and still looking down at the floor.

“You are not a burden to me. It is my pleasure to escort you between classes, and everyone agrees that it’s nice to have a fresh face in the club. I understand that Karasuno is new to you, and you probably won’t be able to maneuver it right away, so stop thinking you’re a problem for me and just let me help you, okay?”

Daichi’s words obviously resonated with Suga, because the silver-haired setter immediately looked up as if to meet Daichi’s eyes. But, the immobilized eyes were hidden behind the large sunglasses, and wouldn’t have been able to find his anyway. “Thank you, Daichi. You’ve been so kind.”

“It’s only been a day, Suga-san. Wait for me to be tired, and then you’ll see the demon that is Daichi Sawamura in the mornings,” Daichi laughed, and was relieved to see Suga was smiling at him too. It was true that he’d only known Suga for literally a day, but it seemed like they’d known each other for ages. He felt so comfortable with the blind man, and judging by the tightness of the pinky around his, Suga wasn’t shying away from the captain. He can’t see, idiot. He’s just holding on so he can walk.

As soon as he opened the door to the gym, Daichi was surprised by the relative silence of the room. It wasn’t complete silence, since the club was grouped in pairs of two and each pair was respectively shouting at their partner. When they heard the door open, all of the groups looked over at their captain, smiles spreading across their faces.

“Aah! Sugawara-san!” Hinata yelled, waving despite the lack of purpose in the gesture. “Did you come to play with us?”

Before Suga could respond, Kageyama had already spiked a ball down into Hinata’s stomach, knocking him down off his feet but not looking too painful. It was clear that that spike wasn’t nearly as powerful as Kageyama could have hit it if he wanted.

“Hinata, dumbass! He said he could play with us in a few months!” The official setter’s barking tone clearly unnerved Suga, who slipped his pinky out of Daichi’s and clasped his hands together in front of him. Hinata stood back up, yelling back to his partner. “You’re dating this dumbass, Bakeyama!”

Taking off like a bullet, Hinata ran away just before Kageyama took off in pursuit of the pint-sized spiker. While they chased each other around the gym, Daichi stepped forward to address his team.

“We’re starting with serving practice, then we’ll move on to practicing our quicks. If we have time at the end, we’ll play a little 2 on 2 tournament, winners don’t have to clean,” Daichi announced, relaying the plan that he had laid out with Ukai the night before. They had agreed that it would probably be nice for Daichi to tell the club the plans, and then for Ukai to step in during the drills to correct form and coach.  

An hour later, the club was dripping in sweat and Nishinoya and Asahi had expectantly won the 2 on 2 tournament, but not without help from the fact that Hinata and Kageyama were too busy making faces at each other to actually set anything up properly. Daichi wiped the sweat from his brow as he brought the club together on the floor to end practice before school started. They still had more than half an hour to freshen up and change, but the more time the better.

“Good practice, everyone. When we come back after school, expect receiving drills,” Daichi announced, and then clapped his hands to let everyone know that they were free to leave. Sweaty bodies tumbled out the gym, but Daichi stayed behind in order to wait for a certain setter so he could tell him to wait while he changed. But, to his surprise, when he turned towards the bench where Suga had been sitting throughout practice, the silver-haired man was nowhere to be found. Mildly concerned, Daichi looked over to Takeda, who had been sitting beside Suga throughout the practice.

“He had a call come through a few minutes ago, and went out back,” Takeda answered to the unspoken question. “He said it was important, and for you to just meet him outside after you changed if you still wanted to escort him.”

Daichi gave his teacher a little bow. “Thank you, Takeda-sensai.”

He started to walk to the room to change, when Daichi realized that he had left his jacket in the car, strewn across the backseat in his haste to get the car ready to pick up Suga. Cursing under his breath, Daichi turned to go out the doors closest to his car in order to run out quickly and grab the jacket. Before he even made it out the door, he was stopped when he heard a familiar voice off to his left.

“I know, Mama. I needed a ride, and Asahi asked him.”

Daichi stopped himself from interrupting, instead watching the blind man talk into his phone. He’s talking about me.

“He’s a good person, Mama. I knew I was safe, or I wouldn’t have gone with him.”

Good person.

“I know what happened, Mama. This isn’t the same. He’ll be coming to escort me any moment now, can we please talk later?”

Pause.

“Thank you.”

Daichi was just about to finally go to his car and stop eavesdropping when he heard how shaky the breath that Suga let out was. It wasn’t just a sigh; it sounded like he was having trouble breathing.

Not wanting for the setter to know he was spying, Daichi stayed silent and walked towards his car in order to try and stop feeling guilty. When he silently made his way back into the building, he glanced back at Suga, and Daichi wasn’t completely sure because his eyes were hidden by glasses, but Suga looked much more bothered than his normal glowy self. 

It had been 2 weeks since Suga’s first day of school, but the experience still felt uncomfortably surreal every day. He hadn’t gone back to his old school once he lost his sight, and the fact that Karasuno was a new layout just added to his confusion and nerves. Plus, he was almost sure that somebody had heard him talking on the phone after his first morning practice. Is is the same guy as outside of the club room?

Suga shuddered just thinking about it. Nothing of the same type had happened since that first day, so he had pretty much confirmed that it was just some first-year who got dared by his friends to mess with the blind setter. Still, the feeling of that hand on his hip and pressing into his cheek caused a thin frown to plaster itself on his face.

“Sugawara-san?” The high-pitched voice snapped Suga out of his thoughts, and he instinctively turned his head toward the sound. An orange-colored blob filled his vision, and Suga forced himself to put on a nicer smile.

“Hello, Hinata.” Suga shouldn’t have been surprised, since he was in the gym waiting for the club to finish changing and come practice.

“You looked so sad just then? Did something happen? I mean other than...well no I don’t mean. I don’t want to say...Daichi told me not to...I didn’t mean it. Did something happen today? Recently? For you to be sad over. Because you looked sad.” The words tumbled into Suga’s ears at a mile a minute, causing him to take a step back as if it would slow down the pace. “I’m sorry, Suga-san. Kageyama would call me a dumbass right now. But it’s his problem, he’s dating me.”

Suga’s troubled mood instantly dissipated upon hearing the jumbled-ness of the little spiker’s words, and how clearly flustered he was when he spoke about his boyfriend. The blind man wanted reach out a ruffle Hinata’s hair, like he used to whenever his shorter friends did something silly, but he was afraid that his aim would be wrong and he’d accidentally poke an eye out. Then, his mind picked out something from Hinata’s words that he was curious about.

“Daichi told you not to what?” Suga asked, squinting his eyes despite knowing they were hidden behind the frames of his glasses. Even without being able to see the flame-headed boy’s face, Suga knew that Hinata didn’t realize what he had said.

“Oh-ah. He just, um,” the words were obviously full of regret. Suga smiled a soft smile, trying to ease the spiker’s nerves.

“It’s okay. I promise I won’t yell at him,” the blind man joked, holding up his right hand as if being sworn into office. “And if I do, I’ll tell him that Kageyama told me.”

That seemed to work, because Suga heard a stream of giggles break out from the blob in front of him, and then, “Daichi-san, he only told us...since you’re new to the school and to the club...and he doesn’t want you to be uncomfortable...not to ask any questions specifically...about what happened.”

Suga’s heart warmed at the thought of Daichi trying to protect him against the usual onslaught of questions that he received whenever he was in a new setting. But, at the same time, he felt sympathy for the first-year in front of him, who was clearly a naturally curious person.

“Do you want to know?” Suga asked in response, raising an eyebrow. Judging by the little squeak that erupted from the form in front of him, Suga knew his answer.

“It’s only some nerve damage caused by a little mistake during a surgery I had to have, and we couldn’t afford to have it corrected at the time. So, I have to wait it out,” Suga explained, and then jumped in surprise when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his middle. His breath shot out of him as he panicked. Is it that same guy? Why isn’t Hinata helping!?

“Aah! Suga-san, you miracle!” Nishinoya’s unique voice was easily distinguished in Suga’s mind, and it only took him a second to realize that the pair of arms was definitely coming from a source shorter than himself. Trying to pump some ease back into his mind, Suga smiled at the comment.

“Wh-why is that?” He asked, trying to turn and find the bright blonde streak in the sea of darkness in his vision. Once he spotted it, he oriented himself facing that direction, losing sight of Hinata’s orange blob.

“You’ve just won me food for a week!” Nishinoya continued. “Tanaka and I had a bet on what happened. I said it was related to nerves, and Tanaka said it was from a punch.”

Before Suga could comment, a booming voice cut into the conversation. “I told you guys so many times to be respectful, and you made a bet on it? I swear, sometimes I have no clue why I even put up with any of you.”

Daichi’s voice brought ease to Suga’s thumping heart, even if just slightly.

“No, Daichi, it’s fine,” the setter said. “It doesn’t bother me at all. I should have explained myself on the first day.”

“Or these nosy kouhai could keep their thoughts to themselves,” Daichi suggested.  

Suddenly, a loud crash to his right caused Suga to jump backwards, tripping on the edge of his pants and almost falling over if it hadn’t been for two strong arms quickly sliding underneath his back, and straightening him. “You okay?”

“Yes, thank you,” Suga said, but still held on warily to Daichi’s arm, at least until he knew what had caused the crash.  

“Takeda-sensai! Are you alright?” Asahi’s voice was easily recognized by Suga, and it also answered what had happened. The crash was the teacher swinging open the door to the gym, and subsequently slamming it against the wall.

“Yes! Fine! Better than fine, actually!” The teacher’s excited voice seemed odd to Suga, who couldn’t see what could possibly be making the Takeda so excited.

“What happened?” Daichi asked, pulling Suga along with him as he walked towards the doorway.

“Remember at the beginning of the year, when we were worried that the team wouldn’t mesh well? And we contacted that retreat to see if we could all go to the mountains for a weekend for team bonding?” The teacher’s words were almost slurred they were so fast and slurred. “Well, we don’t need to anymore, but the retreat has an opening if we want to go for a nice weekend before the start of the prelims! And, it would be a chance for everyone to get to know Sugawara!”

Initially, the reaction was pure silence from everybody in the room, which as far as Suga knew was only Hinata, Nishinoya, and Daichi, but then a massive uproar of cheers broke out and it was obvious that more people had entered.

“A mountain vacation!” The voice sounded distinctly like Hinata, and it was followed by a much quieter “calm down dumbass” from Kageyama.

“Is it mandatory?” The blonde blob had to be Tsukishima, and the tone matched Suga’s guess.

“Ah! Tsukki! It would be fun,” the whining voice that Yamaguchi put on sounded convincing, even to Suga. If he wasn’t too busy freaking out, he might have laughed.

But, inside, Suga’s stomach was doing somersaults. A vacation in the mountains? With people I’ve only known for 2 weeks? Is that really a good idea, Suga? Even if he could convince his mother that it would be a good idea, he wasn’t so sure himself. It was one thing to sit on the side during practices and cheer on whoever Ukai said had made a good move, but it was another thing to go with those people to the mountains, even if just for a weekend.

“It would have to be this weekend, meaning in two days,” Takeda continued, his voice now starting to show a little bit of concern about the tight deadline. “We’ll have to leave Friday night. And I’ll have to find an available bus in order to get everyone up there. So I need to make sure we’re doing it.”

The younger members of the club started to talk all at once, but clearly something stopped them because the room went silent as quickly as it had erupted into chaos. “Everyone circle up!”

Daichi led Suga forward a bit, and then pulled his bicep out to it was around Suga’s shoulders. Another arm wrapped around Suga from the other side, and it took the blind man a second to realize they were doing a legit circle up.

“One at a time,” Daichi said. “How do you guys feel about this idea?”

“It s-sounds like a lot of fun!” The timid voice could only belong to Yamaguchi, and it made sense that Tsukishima would be the next to speak.

“It sounds like I’ll be stuck in a room with idiots.”

“Well, we can’t all be sticks in the mud!” Hinata’s protest was weak, but Tsukishima’s lack of retort showed that something had worked.

“It...could be enjoyable,” the official setter put out. It sounded odd to hear a positive statement come from the lips of such an apparently sullen individual, and it made Suga’s stomach flip. If even Kageyama is onboard with this, how am I supposed to say no?

“You know I’m all in, whenever, whatever!” Tanaka’s uniquely teasing voice was followed by Nishinoya’s encouragement of “Same here!” and a slapping sound that Suga assumed was a high-five.

“Everyone else?” Daichi asked, referring to the quieter members of the club who weren’t aching to voice their opinion in such a direct way.

“I have to stay here,” a dejected voice said slowly. “My sister is getting married, and I’m part of the wedding. But, I think you all should go! It’ll be a good experience.”

“I’m stuck too,” another voice that Suga couldn’t place said. “I’m babysitting my siblings all weekend.”

Suga felt Daichi sigh next to him. “Kinnoshita, Narita, I’m sad you can’t come. You sure you’re okay if we went along without you?”

Judging by the silence, Suga assumed nods were exchanged.

“Asahi, Ennoshita? You onboard?”

Suga guessed there were more nods, because he didn’t hear anything. It didn’t really surprise him; Asahi wasn’t someone who would put his opinion out like this unless he had a strong reason to. A wave of relief washed over Suga as it seemed like the conversation was coming to an end, and he wouldn’t be forced to talk. Then…

“Suga? How does it sound for you?” Daichi’s question sounded...irresistible. It might have been something about the tone, or the gentleness that was laced in it, but the question made Suga want to melt into the floor right then. But, that could also be attributed to the nerves coursing through his veins at the idea of answering the question. They sound so excited about it! Don’t wimp out now! What’s the worst that could happen? Besides, you’ve spent more time with them in two weeks than you have with your own family! You’re comfortable here. You’re okay.

“It-uh-it sounds,” Suga struggled to find words. He thought he wanted to say yes, but the idea of going up to those mountains had him cracking under the pressure. Pushing aside bad memories, the silver-haired setter put on a braver face than he was feeling, and finished his sentence. “It sounds amazing. I can’t guarantee I’ll be much fun though. The whole falling-off-a-mountain-thing has me a bit worried.”

A short wave of laughter spread through the group. “We won’t let you fall off a mountain, Suga-san!” Hinata yelled, clearly bursting with laughter. Suga smiled, and it only grew wider when he felt Daichi’s bicep tighten around him.

-

Daichi was so happy that Suga had said yes, he could barely handle himself as he drove home that day. The past two weeks had been the best type of distraction for him. Between escorting Suga to and from classes, he had managed to add a bit more power to his serve, and had done remarkably well on all of his tests. At Suga’s encouragement, he had tried listening to recordings of teachers rather than just reading back over notes, and found that it worked incredibly well. He could mess around with a volleyball while simultaneously studying for his test the next day, and his brain retained the information better than it ever had before. In addition, he was thrilled that his idea to revitalize their old mountain retreat idea had gone through with Takeda better than he could have ever dreamed. He would finally have some time to get the team more comfortable with Suga, especially since half of them tiptoed around the blind man while the other half seemed to forget that he was even blind.

As if on cue, Daichi’s phone bleeped with a new message from “Suga”. He had gotten the setter’s number the same time Suga suggested listening to lectures, once the captain asked for some of the audio files to start out listening to.

Suga: I definitely feel like I forgetting something

Daichi smiled. He knew that Suga had to speak his messages into the phone, and little typos nearly always occurred, but he’d learned to read around them.

Daichi: I always forget something when I travel. My mom used to call it the Daichi Forgetfulness Complex

Suga: Is it contagious? If so I think I caught it.

Daichi: As long as you bring clothes, you’re probably fine. Do you have someone to help you?

Suga: I’m a big boy Daichi. I can pack clothes by myself.

Daichi: And your mom, picking them all out for you?

Suga: It not fair that you can read my mind.

Daichi smiled again, hugging his phone close to his chest while deciding what to say.

Daichi: Are we still meeting to walk to the bus?

Suga: Unless you found another blind man to replace me

Daichi: Wouldn’t dream of it

Suga: :)

Daichi groaned at how happy he was to be texting with Suga. And he was happy that he was going to get to escort Suga all the way from his house to Karasuno on foot. It wasn’t a long walk, maybe 25 minutes, but he usually drove his car to school to hurry it along. But, he didn’t like the idea of leaving his car in the school lot over the weekend, so he instead opted to walk. As soon as Suga heard that, he’d asked if he could come along as company, claiming that “the escortee gets to be the escorter”, even though both of them knew that Suga would most likely still need to be the one being escorted. Now, it was late in the afternoon and Daichi was only minutes away from going to meet Suga at his house and walking to Karasuno to meet the bus. All he had to do was zip up his bag and pull his shoes on.

The club had decided to claim the weekend as “volleyball free”, so that they could focus more on developing as friends and teammates, rather than competing on their skills. But, Daichi knew that at least one of the first-years would sneak in a volleyball, and it would most likely be Hinata. He didn’t mind, since they could probably find a way to turn the ball into a game other than volleyball.

As he walked out of his door, and out into the brisk air, Daichi was grateful that he had put on the extra jacket over his team one before he had left the house. I hope Suga wears one.

Pulling out his phone, Daichi typed out the text before he could think it over too much.

Daichi: It’s colder than Nakawara-sensai’s sense of humor. Jacket highly suggested.

Immediately after he sent it, Daichi cringed at his wording. But, his fear was alleviated when he received a response.

Suga: Thank you, weatherman Sawamura :)

How Suga managed to send smiley faces with the voice input was beyond Daichi, but he did know that every time he read one, a warm feeling grew in his gut and he started walking a little faster toward the setter’s house.

Once he reached the door, he took a deep breath before knocking. It took a moment for anyone to answer, and relief washed over the captain when it was Suga who opened the door. It wasn’t that Daichi didn’t want to meet Suga’s mother, he just didn’t feel ready so late in the day to meet anybody he needed to impress. But, the relief barely had time to go into effect before Daichi’s mind was occupied with something else.

Obviously having taken Daichi’s advice, Suga was also wearing jacket over the club one that he had received just this week, but in contrast to Daichi’s beat-up windbreaker, Suga was wearing a navy blue coat, with a so-light-blue-it-was-almost-white scarf wrapped around his neck. The look was so...cozy. The usual sunglasses were absent from Suga’s eyes, much to the suppressed joy of the captain who thought the hazel eyes were much more comforting than the stark blackness of the glasses. It makes sense. You know he doesn’t like wearing the glasses, and only does it so teachers don’t get annoyed. Of course he wouldn’t wear them for this trip.

“Daichi?” Suga asked, cautiously putting out a hand. Daichi was confused for a moment before remembering that he hadn’t said a thing the whole time, so Suga had no way to know it was him.

“Sorry, Suga,” Daichi said, immediately tapping on the outstretched hand before moving to grab the packed bag that Suga was strugging to hold on his shoulder while stepping out the door.

“You don’t need to do that,” Suga said, taking the first step down from the doorway, his hand reaching for the rail that looked like it was newer than the rest of the house. “I can carry a bag.”

Daichi ignored him, reaching up to slip the bag off of Suga’s shoulder, who protested by groping blindly in the air to try and reclaim his bag. His efforts were in vain, as Daichi slid it on to his own shoulder, surprised by how light it was.

“Daichi,” Suga whined, drawing out the “i” in the name. “I can carry my own bag. I’m not weak.”

“Of course not. I’m just being nice,” Daichi said.

Suga was silent for a second, then reached a hand around his back. Daichi raised an eyebrow, even though he knew the setter couldn’t see. Then, Suga pulled out what appeared to be a folded white stick, but a quick untying of a band released the folded cane.

“Suga, but-”

“If you’re holding my bag, I’m not making you guide me too,” Suga insisted, still using the rail to get down the stairs, and then cautiously tapping the ground ahead of him as he started his way down the sidewalk.

“It’s really not a trouble,” Daichi said, walking quickly to catch up with the silver-haired setter who was making surprisingly good time. Daichi had never seen him walk with his cane before, and was shocked. It was obvious that Suga could get around much faster with the cane, and he seemed pretty comfortable using it. So why…?

“Why don’t you use the cane more?” Daichi asked, now falling into stride beside Suga, who was slowing down in order to be more cautious now that the sidewalk had storefronts on one side, and a few people. “It seems a lot more efficient than my guidance.”

Daichi looked over to see Suga’s nose scrunching, an action which always made the captain’s heart flutter in his chest.

“It’s bulky,” Suga’s usual excuse sounded less forceful than usual. “But, really I don’t like that it makes me feel like I’m...so blind. If I don’t use the cane, I can at least pretend like there’s nothing wrong and people don’t ask questions unless it comes up. Using the cane is like announcing up front that there’s something wrong with me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” Daichi said quickly, then mentally chastising himself for the bluntless of the statement. “I mean...nothing you can control.”

Suga was silent, but Daichi looked over to see the prominent pink flush on the setter’s cheeks. It’s just because it’s cold outside. Everyone gets pink cheeks in the cold.

“Thank you, Daichi.”

The silence that passed between them didn’t feel awkward or uncomfortable, instead settling between the two men like a warm blanket. As they continued down the street, more people started walking down the sidewalk, and Daichi noticed more and more people giving the blind setter a wide berth, but also giving him weird looks. After all, without glasses, Suga didn’t “look the part”.  

The two high schoolers stopped at a crosswalk, and as if to enforce Daichi’s last thoughts, a gritty voice called out from a bench a few feet away.

“If you want more room when you walk, I can think of better ways than using a poor blind person’s cane as a decoy.”

Daichi turned to face the man sitting on the bench, who was looking at Suga with such disgust that the captain’s body gave a wash of anger that he managed to keep suppressed with a heavy breath.

“My apologies sir,” Suga said, and Daichi wanted to scream that he didn’t need to apologize for anything that was happening, but stayed silent. “But, I actually am blind.”

The man on the bench let out a “hmph” that showed that he clearly didn’t believe the silver-haired high schooler. Daichi glanced at the signals, hoping that they could get across the crosswalk and out of the situation.

“You don’t look blind,” the man said, and Daichi was confused when he saw a small smile grow in Suga’s lips. How is he happy with this? This man is rude.

“You don’t look like anything, sir.”

The comment was quick, and it took Daichi a moment to recognize the sarcasm and finality of it. The man on the bench let out another “hmph” before standing up and walking away down the sidewalk, straight into the bar down the street.

Daichi was silent, wanting to give Suga a chance to react how he wanted. To his surprise, when he looked back at the setter, Suga was folding up his cane and wrapping it back up in the strap that kept it contained. The action itself was confusing enough, but what made Daichi’s insides flip was just how shaky Suga’s hands were. Even as he went to tuck the cane into his back pocket, it took him a few tries to get his aim right. And the look on Suga’s face made Daichi want to leap forward and wrap the shaking setter into his arms, but he knew he should wait. The end of that altercation had made Daichi think that Suga wasn’t bothered by the man’s statements, but his body language clearly contradicted that.

The blind man didn’t say anything for a moment, his head hung as if he were looking down.

“Suga?” Daichi tried to use the softest tone he could, knowing that his voice could sound intimidating unintentionally. He watched as Suga swallowed, his shoulders rising up as he pulled his head up to assume his full stature.

“I’ll take my bag,” Suga said, quietly. “And if you don’t mind...I’d rather just have you...escort me. If it isn’t too much trouble.” The voice was so quiet and unsure that it made Daichi’s heart literally sink in his chest. Without hesitation, Daichi shifted the bag to the shoulder of Suga that was farthest away from him, and reached for the blind man’s hand. Without thinking, he took a breath and took Suga’s entire hand into his own, his fingers quickly working to interlock their hands. Suga’s breath shot out of him, causing Daichi to rethink what he had done. Is it too much?

“Is this okay?” The captain asked, keeping his voice soft.

As if to respond, Daichi felt the hand within his own squeeze back firmly. “It’s amazing.”

Daichi’s cheeks flushed as the two continued walking forward towards the school.

When they reached the bus lot, they weren’t surprised to see that they were the first ones there. It made sense, since Daichi had left early in order to get there first since he was the captain, and felt like he should be there to greet everyone. After putting both of their bags on the overhead shelves of the bus, Daichi settled into the second seat, leaving the front one for Ukai.

He noticed Suga standing at the front of the bus, his hand curled over the top of the seat, with an unsure look on his face. “What’s wrong?” Daichi asked.

“I’ve never been on a bus with the club before.” Suga’s words sounded like a statement, but it was obvious what he was trying to say.

“I usually sit alone,” Daichi said, trying to suggest as to the open seat beside him.

Unfortunately, Suga didn’t seem to understand, as a disappointed look fell across the blind man’s face.
“Oh, sorry. Can you just...bring me wherever there is an open seat?”

Daichi slapped himself in the forehead, cursing himself for not just saying that he wanted Suga to sit next to him.

“I meant that there was an open seat next to me, Suga,” Daichi laughed, trying to cover up his embarrassment.

“Ah,” Suga said, his cheeks flushing. “Where are you?”
Daichi leaned forward, grabbing onto Suga’s hand that was latched to the first seat top, and pulled him until he was sitting next to the blushing captain. Unfortunately, he had pulled a little bit too far because “sitting next to” actually meant that Suga had fallen forward, putting his hands out in front of him to stop him from falling. One hand landed on the slim piece of seat in between Daichi’s knees, since his legs were slightly parted, but the other hand landed straight on Daichi’s muscled thigh. It took the blind man a second to realize where his hands were, but as soon as he did he immediately yanked them back, a small squeak coming out of his lips.

“Ah! Daichi! I’m sorry!” Suga said, recoiling in his seat and pulling his hands close to his chest. “I lost my balance!”

Daichi’s good-natured laugh broke the tension of the moment, causing Suga to release from his recoiled stance and settle back down into the seat. “You’re fine, Suga. I pulled too hard.”

The airy laugh that left the setter’s lips caused the smile on Daichi’s to spread wider.

“Well, well, well,” a voice said, breaking into the conversation with a high-pitched tone. Daichi’s neck snapped up to see Noya, Tanaka, and Asahi all standing at the front of the bus. When did they even get here? “Lucky guy, Suga! Daichi-san never lets people sit with him.”

Daichi narrowed his eyes at the libero, but smiled nonetheless. “That’s special treatment against my rowdy kouhai, Nishinoya. I don’t think I could survive a bus ride with your drool on my shoulder.”

“Oy!” Nishinoya protested, flicking his captain’s forehead before smiling and shrugging. “At least now you won’t be so lonely.”

Daichi settled back into his seat as his team slowly filed onto the bus, putting their belongings away and sitting down in the usual pairs.

Tanaka and Nishinoya sat in the back row, with Asahi alone across from them. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi shared a pair of seats, with the former looking as if he’d rather be anywhere else than on the bus, but softening when Yamaguchi prodded his side with a teasing “Tsukki”. Kageyama and Hinata had a competition to see who would sit by the window, apparently deciding that the better kisser would get it based on the locked lips that the whole club pretended they couldn’t see. Ennoshita also opted for a seat alone, pulling out a book to read.

As soon as Ukai and Tanaka showed up, the club slowly fell asleep as the bus ambled towards the mountain retreat.

“Sugawara-san,” the voice said. “Are you sure that you’ll be okay going alone?”

Suga looked at the person in front of him, who was much taller but whose muscular frame seemed to suit him rather than make him intimidating.

“Nothing’s going to happen, you worry-wart,” Suga said, punching his companions shoulder. “It’s only a walk to the next gym! Besides, you said it yourself. Those guys are all talk.”

“Still, I don’t like it. Text me as soon as you’re there,” the other man responded. “All of this because you want to get a glimpse of Karasuno’s game before we play them?”

“I’m getting reconnaissance,” Suga responded. “I’m not playing on the team, but that doesn’t mean my school pride is any less.”

“I think you’re getting eye candy, Suga-san,” the teasing voice prodded. Suga felt a blush form on his face as he watched his friend smirk. “Go on. Remember to text.”

The dream wasn’t a dream at all, but a memory. Ever since he’d gone blind, Suga’s only escape into a visioned world was through his dreams, where he still had his eyes. The only downside was that he only seemed able to see things that he’d already lived through; it was as if his brain was stuck on replay and was going to stay stuck that way.

As he woke up from his nap, Suga was vaguely aware of a shoulder pressed into his cheek. He opened his eyes, a hazy brown filling his vision. A jolt went through his body as a bright flash filled his eyes, and he yanked his head up from wherever it’s previous home had been. Quickly putting together the puzzle, Suga turned to his right where the shoulder was.

“Ah! Sorry, Daichi!” He immediately said, pressing his palms together as if to bow. “I must have fallen asleep.”

The embarrassed setter felt a hand rest on his shoulder, and a sweet laugh danced into his ears.

“It’s fine, Suga. I think everyone fell asleep at some point. Maybe if Noya-san wasn’t so nosy, we all might have stayed asleep.” Daichi’s tone turned mildly accusatory toward the end, and Suga assumed that the bright flash had been the mischievous libero taking a picture of the two third-years.

“I got pictures of all of the sleepy couples! I wasn’t going to let you slide, no matter how new Suga-san is!” The declaration was followed by the sound of small footsteps running to the back of the bus, probably trying to escape from the wrath of the disgruntled captain.

“Daichi-san, you don’t have to worry,” a disinterested voice, probably Tsukishima called from further behind Suga. “Yamaguchi got several pictures of our guardian deity and resident provocateur having a nap of their own. Upon further inspection, I find it impressive that just the two of them could produce that much drool.”

Shouts erupted from the back of the bus, but Suga just felt the body next to him shake with laughter.

“Are we at the mountain?” Suga asked.

“Takeda is inside right now getting checked in. We just got a cabin with one large room, since we all agreed sleeping bags would be inherently more fun than separate rooms with beds,” Daichi answered.

“Should I get my glasses?” Suga asked, but it was clear his voice was strained. In truth, he didn’t want to put the glasses on at all. But, if they were going to be around other people, it made more sense for him to put them on so that nobody would give him weird looks. He didn’t want people asking questions like that man this morning.

“Why? There’s no one around who doesn’t already know,” Daichi answered, much to Suga’s confusion.

“Isn’t it a retreat? Aren’t there other people?”

“Oh, no, Suga,” Daichi explained. “The retreat is made up of a dozen or so cabins, and then a few communal kitchens and bathrooms. We’re actually the farthest cabin from the others, so once we check in we probably won’t see other people for the rest of the weekend unless it’s in the bathrooms. Except for Ukai and Takeda-sensai, who chose to get a second smaller cabin for them to share. Something about the club being too rowdy for them to sleep near.”

Suga’s eyes widened in excitement. There’s no one else here! We’re totally alone! Ah! I need to text Mama and tell her that it’s even better than I thought! It had taken him nearly a whole day to convince his mother that the retreat was a good idea, and even then she’d only allowed it as long as Suga texted her with updates each morning and night.

“That’s amazing.” Suga’s voice was more breathless than he meant it to be, but the lack of tension from the body beside him told the setter that it wasn’t too much.

It only took a few minutes for the teacher to return to the bus with a key to both cabins and the bus was rumbling up the mountain to get to the cabin. The mood on the bus was getting more and more excited as the club got closer.

“Ah! Kageyama! Look at all the trees! They’re so pretty!” Hinata’s shrill tone was adorable, making Suga wish more than ever that he could turn his head and look out at whatever trees the small spiker was talking about. “They’re just trees, dumbass,” was his boyfriend’s response, but it was filled with endearment.

“Alright,” Takeda’s voice spread through the bus as it came to a stop. “You guys can go inside and get settled down for the night, since it’s too late to really do anything yet tonight. Ukai and I will check in later to make sure nobody is dead. Daichi, you can take the key.”

As the club grabbed their bags from overhead and trekked the short walk to the cabin from the road, Suga let Daichi out ahead of him to grab the key and waited behind. He was obviously the slowest member of the club, so he didn’t want to inconvenience anyone. When he finally heard the last of the members get off the bus, he finally stood and felt out for his bag above his head. Once he had it, he thanked Takeda before stepping off the bus and reaching behind to pull his cane from his pocket.

“I thought no glasses would mean no cane either?” The voice started Suga, who let out a little shriek and stumbled backwards for a moment before regaining his footing. The laugh that followed ignited the flush of Suga’s cheeks.

“You have the key! Don’t you need to be letting them in?” Suga said, but was slowly putting the cane back into his pocket and taking tentative steps toward the voice.

“I gave it to Ennoshita. He’s the only one I trusted,” Daichi responded, and Suga felt a hand slip into his own. “Plus, I wanted to make sure I fulfilled my escorting duties to their fullest extent.”

“You make me feel so helpless, Daichi,” Suga complained, but his hand gripped onto Daichi’s with a sense of fear. He knew that Daichi wouldn’t let him fall off of the mountain, but it was extremely more unnerving to be blind on the top of a mountain than just roaming through the hallways of Karasuno.

They must have made it to the cabin, because he felt Daichi’s grip rise as he pulled the setter up a few steps. As soon as the door opened, Suga expected to hear yelling and shouting. Instead, all he heard was a quiet kind of silence.

“What’s this?” He heard Daichi ask, whose voice was filled with shock.

“What’s going on?” Suga asked, tightening his grip on Daichi’s hand. If he couldn’t hear what was going on, he didn’t have any idea. He hated situations where he was completely clueless; it just made him uncomfortable to be so literally in the dark.

“They’re all just...sitting there. On their own sleeping bags. In even rows. With two spaces left for us. And they’re looking at us,” Daichi’s voice was uneasy. “I think they’re going to kill us now.”

“Ah, Daichi-san, don’t be silly,” Nishinoya’s voice was distinct in the silent room. “We just...had an idea. And we figured the best way to make you do what we wanted was to be good.”

His straight-forward answer took Suga by surprise, but then the blind man erupted into laughter. Soon, he heard some of the silent club members join in, especially Tanaka and Hinata.

“You guys are just…” Daichi’s voice faded away into a laugh, as he lead Suga to what he assumed was the two slots left open for them. Once they’d set out their own sleeping bags and everyone was settled in their own section, Daichi sighed.

“What’s your idea that you had?” He asked, clearly not excited for whatever the answer was. The pause after the question made Suga put his guard up, just in case the idea was something that he couldn’t do. He needed to be ready to excuse himself. “Well?”

“Obviously, we don’t have to, Daichi-san,” Kageyama’s stoic voice started.

Then, Hinata’s bubbly voice broke in. “We want to play Truth or Dare! It was Noya-senpai’s idea!”

A moment of silence followed, and then Daichi burst out laughing beside Suga.

“You guys did all of this just so that I would say ‘yes’ to Truth or Dare?”

“We thought you’d say no-”
“Or you’d think it was weird-”
“And we didn’t know about Suga-san-”

“We just wanted to have fun-”

Daichi’s laughter put all of their excuses to rest, as he gave them their answer. “It sounds fine to me, guys. You’re way too worked up. Besides, we’ve been teammates for a while but that doesn't mean we know everything about each other. This is supposed to be a team bonding trip, after all.”

Suga heard a chorus of sighs throughout the room.

It only took them a few minutes to get the whole club sitting in a circle, and judging by the amount of rustling Suga heard, he assumed that most of the team was either wrapped in blankets or holding pillows. As for Suga, he had wrapped a thin pale pink knit blanket around his shoulders, suddenly thankful that his mother had forced him to bring it along. While they’d been getting ready, Daichi had whispered to the blind setter to ask if he was okay with the game, and Suga had just shrugged indifferently. He didn’t mind playing the game, as long as the club knew there were a few boundaries.

“Okay, team,” Daichi said. “Keep in mind that we do still have to play volleyball together for months after this, so try not to get too much on anyones nerves. Respect boundaries. Got it?”
A chorus of “yes Daichi”s with one “yes dad” thrown in got a laugh from the group, and Suga just heard Daichi chuckle under his breath.

“Okay, who wants to start?” The question was answered by an excited “oo!” and what Suga could only assume was a raised hand. “Okay, Noya.”

“Hmm...which of my kouhai do I torment?” The statement resulted in squeaks from Yamaguchi and Hinata, and sighs from Tsukishima and Kageyama. “Hmm. Tsukishima! Truth or dare?”
Suga couldn’t technically confirm that it happened, but he was almost completely sure that he heard Tsukishima roll his eyes. The stiff silence that followed showed that the blonde was clearly rethinking his choice to indulge in the game. But it was quickly broken by Yamaguchi who said, “Come on, Tsukki. This is team bonding .”

Another sigh from Tsukishima, who then answered, “Truth.” It made sense to Suga. Tsukishima seemed like someone who thought through what he said and was intelligent. No matter what question Nishinoya could ask him, if the blonde didn’t want to give the real answer, he could probably easily think of an equally satisfying one to give the group.

“When are you going to tell everyone that you’re dating Yamaguchi?” The question was followed by a shocked silence that made Suga wish that he could see the looks on everyone’s faces.

“Noya!” Daichi hissed, but the sound of Tsukishima’s voice stopped any response.

“When I’m actually dating Yamaguchi.” The answer was precise, and it seemed to shut down some of the giggles, but the more perceptive members of the group, such as Suga, heard the language choice. He said when, implying that it was indeed going to happen. But, other thoughts intruded into Suga’s mind too. If that’s the first question that’s asked, what kind of things will they ask me? What if they ask about why I was in the hospital? No one’s going to ask that, Suga. Well there’s other bad things they could ask about too!

The room burst into a chorus of “oo”s as more people understood the undertones that Suga had already picked up on, and the blind man thought he heard Yamaguchi hiss “Tsukki!” to the blonde.

“My turn,” Tsukishima announced, ignoring his embarrassed friend. “Tanaka. Go.”

“Ah, Tsukishima. My own kouhai, turned against me. Dare.” Before Tsukishima even said the dare, Suga could tell that he wanted something. There was no other reason why he would have chosen Tanaka, who was almost guaranteed to pick dare.

As if to affirm Suga’s thoughts, Tsukishima somehow vocally smirked and said, “I dare you to walk to to the kitchens and find us some food.”

The room erupted with laughter, but Suga heard a body stand up and plant it’s feet.

“I, Ryunosuke Tanaka, will grace my fellow club members by acquiring the gift of sustenance. Does anyone wish to accompany me in order to increase my magnificent bounty?”

“Go with him, Asahi,” Daichi said quickly. “I don’t trust anyone else not to get lost on this mountain.”

Quickly, before he left, Tanaka yelled back into the cabin, “Oh, I have to ask someone right? Ah, Hinata! You would have said truth, right? Question, why do you only wear Kageyama’s shirts to sleep?”

Before he could even hear his own answer, Tanaka was gone with Asahi and all that was left behind was the echoes of his cackling laughter.

Suga heard a loud gulp, and then the stuttering words of the first year. “I-I-don’t. Not all-not all the time. They’re just big-big and cozy! And I like them!”

“You like to get them dirty, dumbass,” was Kageyama’s response, but it didn’t sound hostile. In fact, if Suga had to guess, he would have assumed that Kageyama enjoyed the fact that his boyfriend wore his shirts to sleep in.

There was a lull in the game for a second while the group had a small debate on exactly how many shirts were acceptable to steal from a partner. Hinata’s viewpoint was basically limitless, while Yamaguchi was a firm advocate for three shirts at a time. They were all laughing about Tsukishima’s “exactly 0” when a slam from the front of the cabin told Suga that Tanaka and Asahi were back.

“Snacks!”

Suga heard cellophane packaging hit the floor in the middle of the circle, as well as had something hit him in the back of the head and fall to the ground near his hand. He heard the crunching as people leaned forward and grabbed whatever they wanted. Suddenly, Suga squeaked as a package hit him flat in the face lightly, and then fell into his lap.

“Asahi!” Daichi hissed as Suga started groping the ground in front of him to find the package.

“It’s his favorite,” Asahi’s tone sounded indifferent. “I’m being a good friend.”

Suga smiled, feeling the familiar texture of the package in his palms.

“Fun Dip?” The laughter was evident in Daichi’s voice as he asked, but Suga was too excited about the candy to be embarrassed.

“The most superior candy,” Suga announced, skilled fingers quickly opening the package and feeling out the candy stick, immediately licking it and dipping it into the sugary coma side of the package. “Fight me about it.”

The comment was followed by laughs from all around the room, and then Suga heard Tsukishima’s blunt voice cut in.

“Was it not the shrimp’s turn?” Suga was instantly suspicious of the blonde’s question. Of all of the people in the room, he would have guessed that Tsukishima was the least interested in the game. So why is he trying to get it back on track? Unless he was something planned…

“Oh, ah! Yeah!” Hinata’s voice was jumpier than usual. It didn’t have the usual excitement that usually made all of his statements stand out. He almost sounded...nervous?

“Daichi-san! Truth or dare!” That almost solidified Suga’s guess that these first years were up to no good. It didn’t make sense for Hinata to pick on his captain, especially not since everyone knew Hinata was trying to convince Daichi to let him and Kageyama use a new quick they had worked out. Whatever Hinata’s reasoning was, there was no way it was innocent. The only question was if he wanted Daichi to pick truth or dare; either one had the potential to be a disaster. Judging by the length of time it took Daichi to answer, Suga was sure that the captain had picked up on whatever was going on.

“Dare,” was the final choice, and Suga silently agreed that it was probably the safest bet. Having to go grab snacks was better than being asked about his dating life.

“Ah!” Hinata’s squeak made it very clear that a dare was not, in fact, the choice that Daichi should have gone with. Suga could hear the small spiker making nervous noises, until finally Kageyama’s bitter voice broke in and hissed, “Just say it, dumbass!”

“I dare you to kiss Suga-san!”

Everybody went silent, which confirmed for Suga the fact that the club was in on it. If they hadn’t known, they would have been laughing at Hinata and making suggestive noises about the dare. Suga was surprised he could even think though, because his spine had gone completely numb and his heart was pounding out of his chest. His face felt like it was on fire from blushing, and he felt an enormous wave of anxiety while he waited for Daichi to respond. He’s not going to say yes, is he? He’s probably not even gay! Well, he never got the chance to answer my question outside of the club room...is he gay? There’s no way, Suga! What if he says yes? He won’t! But what if-

“Not in front of you, pervs.” Daichi’s response was completely not what Suga had been expecting, and a small gasp of shock shot out of his mouth before he could stop it. He wanted to be embarrassed, but his emotions completely shut down when he felt Daichi’s hand slip into his own and pull him to standing. Suga felt like he was in a daze as he felt himself walking towards the door to the cabin, towed by Daichi. The last thing he heard before the door shut them outside was a gentle “what the f-” from an unknown source.

The brisk night air hit Suga all at once, causing him to let out a deep breath that he seemed to have been holding in throughout the walk to the door. He felt himself moving down the stairs, and walking a little bit away from the cabin, until Daichi finally stopped walking and let Suga step forward so they were facing each other, even if the low light made the entirety of Suga’s eyesight black.

“We don’t have to do anything,” Daichi quickly said. “They can’t see us from here.”

I want to. The thought crossed so quickly across Suga’s mind that he couldn’t help but feel himself stiffen.

“Ooh. Skimping out on the dare, Sawamura-san?” His teasing tone surprised himself. Suga didn’t know how he managed to stay even the slightest bit calm in this situation. Then, he waved a hand in front of his face. “I’m joking. Why would they even dare something like that? Are you even interested in-”

“I’m gay. If that’s what you’re going to say.”

Suga could have sworn that his heart didn’t just skip a beat; it stopped . Daichi is gay? Daichi is gay!

“Me too,” Suga said softly, the words slipping out before he had a chance to think about what he was saying. He shouldn’t have said it, he knew. Especially after what happened last time. You idiot his brain screamed at him. He’s just going to hurt you!

But, the warmth of Daichi’s hand in his own was enough for Suga to ignore the alarm bells going off in his head. The silence between them was contemplative, as both of them tried and find something to say.

“I can’t see you at all,” Suga whispered finally, the crack in his voice obvious.

“Really?” Daichi’s voice was curious, but also something else. Before Suga could discern it, he felt hot breath on his cheek just before something, someone , soft landed on his skin, just beside his lips. He felt the lips stay there for a moment, warm and soft on his cheek with the edges brushing against his own, now touch starved, lips. Once the lips left his cheek, Suga finds himself leaning forward as if trying to follow them. He couldn’t see where he was going, but he knew that Daichi was forward and he wanted to go to Daichi. Suga tripped, cursing to himself before catching himself on the shoulders of the man in front of him. Even once he’d regained his balance, Suga didn’t back away from the captain.

“They only said I had to kiss you,” Daichi explained with a whisper. “They didn’t say you had to kiss back.”

It took a second for Suga to realize that Daichi meant that he had technically fulfilled the dare. But Suga…

“What if I wanted to?” Suga asked quickly, his voice coming out as more of a breath than an actual vocalization. The setter felt the hand in his tense, and a sharp intake of breath resonated in his ears.

“Do you?”

Suga pleaded with his nerves to suddenly start working again, because everything inside of him was screaming to see Daichi’s face. Sure, he had a vague idea from seeing him from a hundred or more feet away at a tournament, but he couldn’t get a clear image in his mind beyond dark hair and dark eyes. If he could only see the man in front of him, he might be able to read the face, but he was stuck behind darkness.

“I think so.” Suga immediately felt his answer being responded to when he felt a strong hand press into his lower back, pulling the blind man in closer to Daichi’s body.

“Good,” was the captain’s breathy reply.

“I can’t see you.” Suga’s voice repeated, dejected. All he wanted was to be able to see Daichi in that moment.

“I can see you,” said Daichi. As if to prove it, Daichi moved in closer to the setter, his hand simultaneously slipping lower, almost onto Suga’s hip.

Alarm shot through Suga’s body. Hand on your hip. Too low to be considered friendly. That stupid first-year. He tried not to stiffen up, but Suga felt himself tense under Daichi’s touch. Immediately, the hand shot off of his hip.

“Sorry, Suga,” Daichi said, and Suga’s heart felt weak when he could feel the warm breath on his cheek. “Maybe we should just go back to the cabin.”

Before he knew what was going on, Suga felt himself being pulled back towards the cabin.

No.

“Daichi-”

“You pulled back. I’m not doing anything you don’t want to do.”

NO.

Before he could think about what he was doing, Suga yanked back on the hand leading him and jumped towards Daichi, knocking the poor captain over, the two of them landing on the ground, with the blind setter on top and breathing heavily.

-

Even though falling had stolen all of the air out of Daichi’s lungs, that wasn’t the reason that he was having trouble breathing. Suga was on top of him. Daichi looked at the setter’s face, trying to read what he was thinking, or why he had lunged. After all, he had definitely tensed up when Daichi had moved his hand.

“Suga-”

Before he could keep talking, two soft hands rose up from the ground and cradled the captain’s face, thumbs slowly brushing over his features. When they went over Daichi’s lips, the setter on top of him smiled and let out a relieved sigh. Then, before either of them knew what they were doing, their lips came together as they both tried to reach the other.

Instantly, Daichi could taste the sweetness of the man on top of him, and the electricity that circulated between the two only caused the captain to reach up and encircle Suga in his arms so he could pull him closer. He wanted to savor the moment, and the feeling of the lean body resting on him. Their mouths slotted together perfectly, with the captain’s tongue grazing lazily over Suga’s lips before retreating back. A satisfied shiver went through the setter’s body, only fueling Daichi more. Their mouths stayed connected until the air was gone and his blind companion was forced to pull away, gasping for breath. Daichi looked up at the beautiful person on top of him, taking in the way his hazel eyes never quite focused on anything, and how the beauty mark by his eye was distractingly gorgeous. Before he could think any more, a thought popped into his head.

“Cherry,” he said, smiling. He watched in pleasure as the beautiful face above his changed to confusion.

“What?”

“The candy. It was cherry,” Daichi said. I could taste it.

He didn’t have to say the second part; he knew Suga would understand. His assumption was confirmed by the raging blush that spread over the setter’s cheeks, and the way that he flopped down onto the chest under him as if he couldn’t even hold his own body weight anymore.

“You know you didn’t have to,” Daichi said, trying to rid his conscience.

“I told you,” came the response. Daichi felt the head on his chest shift as it turned to press lips into his firm pectoral muscle. “I wanted to.”

Daichi felt heat run to more than just his cheeks, but quickly kept himself under check by biting down hard on his lip and looking away from Suga. They laid in silence for a minute or so, just listening to each other’s breathing, and Daichi looking up at the easily-visible stars. Then, the captain felt the lean body on top of him shiver when a breeze of wind went through. “Should we go back inside?”

Suga sighed on top of him. “We should, right?”

Humming, the setter raised himself up and slid off of Daichi’s body by moving backwards and kneeling on the ground between Daichi’s legs. The movement caused for Daichi to flush again, and he reminded himself again that Suga didn’t know where he was.

Going first to his knees and then standing, Daichi leaned down to grab on to Suga’s hand and pull him up, interlocking their fingers together.

When they opened the door to the cabin, eight pairs of eyes immediately snapped to the door and widened with curiosity. Daichi felt himself blush under the sudden attention, all of it being focused on him since by now the team was used to Suga’s blindness.

“Did you do the dare?” Hinata’s voice was tentative.

Daichi looked over at Suga, not sure how the setter would want to handle the situation. A smile spread on his face when the setter have one firm nod, and shared the same proud little smile.

Daichi looked back to his team, all of whom looked so incredibly proud that it made him concerned. The smiles on Asahi, Nishinoya, and Tanaka’s faces were especially prominent.

“Good,” said Hinata shakily. “Your turn.”

Mornings had never been Suga’s strong suit, especially when his sleeping bag carried enough warmth to keep him in hibernation through winter, and going outside of the cabin meant putting on multiple jackets, a scarf, and being forced to use his cane whenever there was nobody around to assist him. If there was one thing that Suga hated the most about being blind, it was being so dependent upon everybody around him. Just another two months or so, he reminded himself, subconsciously itching the scar behind his right ear where the surgery that had started the whole problem had occurred. He pulled his hand down at the thought, suppressing the memories that he wasn’t keen on revisiting.

Still groggy from waking up, Suga could tell that he was one of the first ones to rise. The only sounds in the cabin were snoring and breathing, with bird chirps floating in through the windows. After a second of feeling for his phone, Suga turned the volume to the lowest setting and quietly asked what time it was.

“5:46,” the phone responded helpfully. Suga raised his eyebrows in surprise; he usually didn’t wake up this early. No wonder he was still so tired. Daichi had told the team last night that they didn’t need to be awake until 7, mostly because they had all stayed up much later than necessary playing Truth or Dare. During that time, though, Suga had found out some very interesting things about his new friends.

Kageyama would give up a lifetime supply of milk if it meant saving Hinata from kidnappers (something that sounded like an oddly specific question to Suga, but made the rest of the team die with laughter).

Yamaguchi was dared to run all the way to the closest cabin and ask them if they had seen his pet velociraptor, which he did in a shockingly quick amount of time, but with video evidence.

Ennoshita admitted that Kinoshita and Narita had actually been forced to stay away from the retreat because they had both failed a test due to bursting out laughing at Narita’s joke.

Asahi seemed oddly willing to put on one of Nishinoya’s shirts, which, to quote Daichi, was “like a crop top, only it’s just tight...everywhere.” Suga would have given anything to be able to see it, but Daichi’s second hand descriptions were almost as good.

Nishinoya was dared to climb to the roof of the cabin using the internal support beams, which Daichi protested on claims that if Noya got hurt “it would mess up all of our games”, but the libero apparently did not listen.

When they had finally reached the wee hours of the morning, none of the club members had enough energy to cause trouble as they all fell asleep.

Suga put his phone down, then reached around the find his cane. He’d left it by his bed in case something like this happened, and he quickly found the folded tool. Grabbing his toiletry bag, Suga quietly flipped open his cane and crept out the door of the cabin. He’d gotten directions to the bathrooms when he woke up during the night, and he felt confident in his ability to find the building again as it was extremely close to the team’s cabin. Using the cane still made him uncomfortable, especially on the mountain, but knowing that there were no other people around was comforting. People like the man the day before made him so uncomfortable that he always felt compelled to throw his cane as far as he could in the opposite direction. He was debating how far he could actually throw it when he felt his cane hit the building. Making sure he was in the right building, he felt the sign by the door for braille.

Even once he’d known that he’d be blind for a while, Suga hadn’t seen a point in learning braille completely. Instead, he just knew some of the basic patterns for things like “bathroom” and “classroom” and “kitchen”. Once he confirmed where he was, Suga folded his cane and just used the walls of the bathroom to maneuver himself; it was just easier for him.

“Are you okay, dude?” The voice startled Suga, but he managed to keep his cool and just feel along the longest wall to where he assumed sinks would be.

“I’m fine, yes,” Suga said, then realized what this person was probably asking. After all, he wasn’t wearing the sunglasses and it probably just looked like he was feeling up the walls or something. “I’m blind.”

“Oh,” the voice responded. “Do you need any help?”
Feeling the outline of a sink in front of him, Suga shook his head. “I’ll be okay.”

“You sure? It’s a big mountain. Who are you here with?”

Suga felt a hand on his shoulder.

Hands on his waist. His mind tipped back further. Hands everywhere. Too many people, too many punches.

“I said I was fine, thank you,” Suga barked out, making clear his distaste at the person’s questioning.

“Calm down, dude. I’m just trying to do you a favor.”

“I appreciate it, but I’m fine. ” Suga raised his hand and gently removed the stranger’s hand from his shoulder, then turned back towards the sink and waited to hear the stranger walk away. But, the footsteps never come.

“I’m being nice,” the voice continued. “And you’re being very rude. You’re not even blind are you?”

That snapped some kind of chord in Suga, who immediately turned to face the voice. He knew that it didn’t matter, but it was so ingrained in his instincts that he always turned to look, only to remember there was nothing to see.

“Would you like to see my medical documents? I told you I was fine, and I’d really appreciate if you would leave me alone!” Suga snapped, his voice raising more than he meant it to. He’s just being nice. Don’t overreact.

The silence that followed made Suga’s nerves set on fire. What is he doing?

“Oh, you really are blind,” the voice said. “You would have reacted.”

Suga was unfortunately used to tests like he assumed the man had done. It usually involved someone shooting a hand forward, expecting the blind man to flinch, only to realize that he was, in fact, blind.

“Yes. Please, leave me alone.” His voice was starting to have hints of fear in it, though he wasn’t sure why. He was in an uncomfortable situation, but this man didn’t appear to seem dangerous-

A hand made it’s home on Suga’s hip, putting just enough pressure to show intent. Hand on his hip. Hand.

“Hey, I don’t want-” Suga started, but he heard how feeble he sounded even as he brought his hands up to shove the body he could feel in front of him. Whoever it was must have been strong, since they barely moved even as Suga had both hands planted on their chest pushing away.

“I’m staying with some friends in Cabin D,” the voice said, hot breath hitting Suga’s neck and sending a shiver up his spine. “Maybe you could come pay us a visit tonight. I promise we’ll make it worth your while.”

Suga froze, his body paralyzed in fear and shock. Why does this always happen to me? Why won’t people leave me alone?

“I don’t think he’s interested, perv.” The new man’s voice sent Suga even further off the edge, causing him to bring his knee up to send it crashing into the groin of the man in front of him. The first man made a subdued groaning sound, and Suga heard him slump against the wall next to him.

“You...blind...bitch,” Suga heard, the words strained for air.

The setter heard a laugh, probably from the second man who had come in. “Get out of here, creep. Picking on high schoolers because your girlfriend left you, probably.”

Suga heard a groan, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps exiting the bathroom.

“He didn’t do anything, right?” The newer voice asked. “Beyond what I saw?”

“N-no,” Suga stuttered.

“Good,” the voice said. “My name’s Kuroo. You’re with Karasuno?”

“Huh?” How did he know that?

“The jacket, stranger-san. I went to a training camp with your club, but I don’t remember you.”

“S-Suga. My name is Suga. I’m new to the club.”

Suga heard only silence in return, then, “I’ve got to get back to my cabin. I only came because I heard the deafening sound of the perverts in Cabin D. Stay safe, Suga-san.”

“Thank you,” Suga said, but he heard footsteps walking away indicate that he might not have been heard.

Once he was alone again, Suga took a shaky breath and felt his way back to the sink. It’s okay. You’re fine, Suga. It was just one creep. The doctor told you to expect people would try to take advantage of you. That’s why you’re supposed to stay with someone, idiot. You should have waited for Daichi-san. Suga’s hands shook the entire time he washed his face.

-

Of all people, Daichi was not expecting to see Tetsurou Kuroo walking out of the bathroom with a concerned look on his face and his hair looking oddly presentable. Nekoma’s captain caught his eye, and Daichi could tell he was surprised to see him.

“Daichi? Is all of Karasuno here?” Kuroo asked, stepping off the bathroom steps and walking over to Karasuno’s captain.

Daichi nodded. “Team retreat. Why are you here?”

Kuroo’s golden eyes rolled back. “Family time. I would kill any of them just to get to hit one of Kenma’s tosses.”

“You should probably get back to them, then, and choose which one won’t survive,” Daichi bantered in good nature, being as civil as possible with his rival. We’re going to beat you next time we play, he wanted to say.

“Probably,” Kuroo said, looking down as if thinking. “Your new member, he seems nice. Blind, though?”

Suga. “Temporarily. You met Suga?” Daichi said, looking behind Nekoma’s captain at the bathroom. He’d been concerned when he woke up with Suga gone, but he assumed the setter had either gone to get food or to the bathroom.

“Mmmm,” was Kuroo’s response, which made Daichi uneasy. “You might want to watch over him up on the mountain. Cabin D is full of horny assholes and, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, your little Suga-san is extremely attractive.”

Of course Daichi had noticed, but he didn’t have to tell Kuroo that. “Did something happen?”

Kuroo tilted his head a little, obviously not wanting to make eye contact with Daichi. “He’s fine. Just don’t let him near Cabin D alone, right?”

Without another word, Nekoma’s captain was breezily heading down the mountain in the opposite direction of Karasuno’s captain. Daichi watched him for a second before continuing into the bathroom, where he immediately saw Suga standing at the first sink. Before he could say a greeting, Daichi noticed the look on the setter’s face. It wasn’t exactly pain, or fear, but something just before either of those. It looked like he was just waiting for something bad to happen. Something about it struck a nerve in Daichi, who immediately moved forward.

“Good morning, Suga,” he said, pretending to ignore the startled jump that Suga gave. The blind man had already told him to expect it; it just came with not being able to see people before they talk. The captain was thankful to see a smile spread on Suga’s face when he connected the voice to the person.

“‘Morning Daichi!” the setter smiled, using his thumb to brush some toothpaste off of the corner of his lips. His lips. Daichi could remember how soft they were, and the cherry taste that came when he brushed his tongue against them. How would they taste now? Minty? The thought sent heat through Daichi’s body, and he quickly shoved it down in his memory.

“Hey,” Daichi said, itching the spot that was bugging him. “Did something happen with Kuroo before I got here?”
Judging by how Suga’s back stiffened, Daichi had his answer. Then, the silver-haired setter shook his head.

“No, not Kuroo,” he said. “Kuroo seems nice.”

The words simultaneously comforted and infuriated Daichi. Not Kuroo, but Suga was still talking like something had happened before he got here.

“Did something happen with someone else?”

The pause before Suga’s answer was telling, but Daichi waited for a verbal answer. “I don’t know who he is. Just some other person staying in Cabin D. Just...asked about the blindness. Like the man yesterday.”

Cabin D. “Full of horny assholes”. Something inside of Daichi flared at his own thoughts.

“Is that really all that happened?” He asked, quieter. Suga’s face contorted for a moment, into some kind of emotion that Daichi didn’t know how to read. Then, it settled into something that looked almost...angry.

“If I said that’s all that happened, that’s all that happened, alright?” Something about Suga’s sharp tone cause Daichi to take a step back, surprised by the out-of-character snap. The captain didn’t know what to say, his mind completely blanking at the quick change of Suga’s attitude.

“S-sorry, Suga,” he finally stuttered out. “I believe you, I’m sorry.”

The setter didn’t respond for a moment, just keeping his head pointed down towards the sink with his fingers curling around the edges. Then, his shoulders dropped and he turned toward Daichi.

“No,” he said, giving a small smile. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped like that over something so dumb.”

The setter took an uneasy step forward, and Daichi reached out for his hand so he had something to guide himself by. Once Suga was in front of him, the tension of the situation seemed to fall away when he looked at unfocusing eyes and smooth skin. Suga’s other hand traveled up Daichi’s side, coming to a rest on his cheek. Just like the night before, Suga’s thumb became the explorer to try and find Daichi’s lips, brushing over smooth flesh until it found its destination. Before he could say anything, Daichi’s lips were covered by Suga.

The kiss wasn’t like the one the night before, where both of them were cautious and warm. Suga’s lips were cold and minty, just like Daichi had guessed they were. The captain couldn’t stop himself from exploring into Suga’s parted mouth, trying to indulge more in the man in front of him. Suga had initiated the kiss, but it was clear that Daichi was more dominant, and neither of them seemed to complain about it. The kiss didn’t last as long as the one the previous night, but they both came out of it gasping anyway. Daichi opened his eyes, trying to read the expression on Suga’s face as quickly as he could. The setter in front of him just smiled, face pointed slightly upward at the captain.

“Mint,” the captain said, humor lacing his voice.

Suga smiled, his tongue lazily grazing over his own lips before letting a fierce blush appear on his face. The two stayed like that for a moment, before voices startled both of them.

“In the bathroom, Sawamura? Have you no shame?” Tanaka burst through the door, followed quickly by Nishinoya and all of the first-years. Daichi’s eyes glanced to the window on the door, where his club must have been watching through, and felt a blush grow on his cheeks.

“If you don’t like it, don’t watch,” Suga’s suggestive tone caused more heat to flood into Daichi’s system, which only increased when the setter reached back up and planted a kiss just to the side of his lips, similar to the first kiss that Daichi had given the night before.

The players’ eyes all widened, before bursting into laughter at Daichi’s expense.

“Ah, Daichi! How did we get so lucky to find him?” Nishinoya asked between bouts of laughter. “I wish he could see how red your face is right now!”

The comment did nothing to subdue Daichi’s color, and when the captain looked back to the man in front of him, he was surprised to see Suga squinting at him as if trying to see something.

“Your blob does look...pink,” the setter said, a small smile creeping onto his face, which didn’t help to stop said pinkness. The captain stood completely frozen for a second before turning to glare at his kouhai.

“Aren’t you supposed to be getting ready?” He asked, aiming pointed glances at the second-years. The first years had at least started their routines, but Nishinoya and Tanaka couldn’t seem to get enough of the sight.

“You guys are the punishment for all of my wrongdoings,” Daichi muttered, but turned back to the sink to get ready after guiding Suga back to his.

After the whole club had dragged themselves out of bed and gotten ready, it was just past 7 when Takeda and Ukai came down to see what everyone’s ideas were for the day. The retreat was pretty extensive, with hiking trails, a lake with a beach, all sorts of rental odds and ends for watersports, and a dock floating in the middle of the lake that was almost exclusively used by children. Ultimately, the club decided to take the hiking trail that took them to another beach on the far side of the lake, closer to the floating dock and with a waterfall along the way. Ukai had asked Suga if he thought he could do it, to which the setter promptly replied that he could handle whatever anyone wanted to do and not to worry about him. “I brought my cane with me,” he had said, only to be prodded in the side by Daichi’s elbow. Smiling and rolling his eyes, he added, “and my escort.”

Even at Daichi’s adamant protesting, Suga had refused to completely leave his cane and glasses behind when they set out to the head of the trail, resulting in them being tucked away in the small bag that the setter wore over his shoulders. Because of the potential for steep hills and roots, Daichi insisted on interlocking his fingers with Suga’s, and walking at the back of the club so they could go slightly slower. Initially, Suga had been against it, saying that he didn’t want to be “that sad baby of the group”, but as they walked through the terrain, he seemed grateful for the pace.

“Do you think it’s possible for me to stumble over another root?” The silver-haired man’s voice was joking, but it also displayed a little bit of frustration that Daichi was sure Suga was feeling. After all, in no circumstance was it fun to be forced to stay behind the main group and struggle. “I’m so sorry you have to stay with me.”

“ Suga ,” Daichi’s voice warned at hearing the setter apologize for the hundredth time since they’d started falling farther behind.

“You say it like that, ‘ Suga’ ,” the blind man mimicked. “But I know there’s no way you prefer being back here rather than up with the rest of your team.”

Daichi couldn’t deny that he was feeling separated from the rest of the club, but the part of him that missed them was more than filled by Suga’s presence. He just didn’t know how to vocalize that feeling. Instead, he felt a smirk grow on his face as an idea popped into his mind.

“You know what would make it faster?”

“Daichi-”

“If you just let me carry you.”

Daichi turned back to see the conflicting expressions on Suga’s face, which was so adorable that the captain had to stop himself from leaping forward to hug the setter.

“Just on my back, and just to the lake. Then you can be stubborn and walk the way back,” Daichi said, attempting to throw some humor in with his compromise.

Suga tilted his head sideways, thinking. “I really don’t want you to have to...and I told the club that I could handle whatever they wanted to do. If they you carrying me in, they’ll feel bad and only do the easy stuff. I don’t want to ruin this trip for everyone.”

“Easy. We’ll say I forced you. Everybody knows that if I want to help someone, I do it,” Daichi said breezily, pushing aside Suga’s apprehension.

“I don’t know-”

“Tell you what. You let me carry you now, and then in two months when you get your eyes back, you can carry me down some mountain,” Daichi compromised, smiling.

It took Suga a second, but a smile spread across his face as he stepped cautiously closer to Daichi.

“As soon as you get tired, you’re putting me down,” he said, poking a finger into Daichi’s chest. Well, it seemed like it was meant to be his chest, but it turned out going lower, in between his ribcage.

“Psh, I never get tired,” Daichi said, turning around to allow Suga to climb on his back. Daichi knew that Suga was light, but the weight was still surprisingly less than he would have assumed. It took him a second to get adjusted, slipping his hands under the setter’s thighs and pretending not to feel the shiver that went through the setter’s body when he did. The chest pressed against his back felt warm and firm, moving up and down with Suga’s breath. Smiling, Daichi started his journey along the trail.

“I feel like a baby.” Suga’s words were straight-forward, but sounded like they were said through a smile.

“No offense,” Daichi said, stepping aside to avoid a root. “But you are the heaviest baby I’ve ever carried.”

The shaking on his back told him that Suga was laughing, which sent a quick throb of heat to Daichi’s heart.

“Are you calling me fat?”

Daichi laughed. “For a one-year-old, yes.”

They were both laughing as they made their way down the trail, knowing they were too far behind to catch up to the club before they reached the beach. After a while, Daichi felt Suga rest his head in the crook of his neck, which sent another wave of happiness through him. By the time they made it to the beach, both of them felt very content with the choice for Daichi to carry Suga. The rest of the club was already there, and it was about half and half who was already in the water and who was pulling off clothes in order to get in.

“DAICHI! SUGA!” Hinata’s enthusiastic voice rang out from far across the lake, where he was standing on the floating dock in a power stance, feet planted and hands on his hips. “I’m the king of the dock!”

Daichi smiled at the excited spiker, then watched as an equally energetic Tanaka snuck up behind Hinata and easily sent him flying over the edge of the dock. Laughing, Daichi carefully set Suga down and grabbed his hand to pull him to the spot where everyone had left their bags.

The rest of the club that wasn’t already in the water had since made it there, leaving only Ukai, Takeda, and the two third-years still standing up on dry land.

“You two going in?” Ukai asked, making eye contact with Daichi and making a pointed glance at Suga. To be honest, Daichi didn’t know if Suga intended on swimming. He did know that had Suga was wearing swimming trunks on under his clothes, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was going into the water.

“I’ll just watch,” Suga’s answer came quickly, as the setter felt the ground for a moment before pulling off his shoes and settling down into the sand.

“Are you sure?” Daichi asked, putting his bag down and pulling off his shirt. I want to see Suga without a shirt.

“I’m good here. The sun feels nice,” Suga’s smile seemed genuine, so Daichi decided not to push the subject any further. Besides, the yells and shouts of his team members were basically begging for him to swim out to the dock.

The cool water felt amazing on his skin, which had accumulated a layer of sweat from carrying Suga for so long. Not that he regretted the choice in the slightest; in contrast, carrying Suga had been the highlight of his day so far. Holding somebody that close felt good.

“Ah! Daichi! Where’s Sugawara-san?” Nishinoya’s voice broke into Daichi’s thoughts.

“He decided to just stay on the shore,” Daichi responded, and the group broke out into a chorus of “boos”.

“Guys, if he doesn’t want to swim, we can’t force him,” the captain asserted, putting a little bit of his “listen to me” voice in to it.

“But we wanted to play round 2 of Truth or Dare!” Yamaguchi whined, before being splashed in the face by Tsukishima, who smirked.

“Out here? You guys are nuts,” Daichi said quickly.

“Well, all of the rental fun-things are on the other beach, and we can only push Hinata off the dock so many times,” Kageyama added in, using one hand to send the spiker tumbling off the dock to demonstrate.

“Guys, I really don’t want to make him-”

Daichi’s protest was cut off as Nishinoya dove off the side of the dock, beelining for the shoreline where Suga was sitting. “Noya!” Daichi yelled, but the tiny libero just kept swimming.

The club watched as Noya climbed out of the water and approached the setter. Daichi cursed under his breath as he watched them exchange words. Just let him stay if he wants to stay. Then, Daichi watched as a look of surprise crossed over Suga’s face, followed by a mischievous smile. Looking to the side, Suga said something to the adults before standing up and beginning to undress. Daichi’s eyes watched, as if in slow motion, as Suga pulled his shirt off over his head and exposed his lean build. Even from far away, Daichi could see the smooth outline of muscles. Then, Suga suddenly stiffened as if he remembered something, and Daichi noticed one of the setter’s hand gravitate toward his back. After a few breaths, Suga nodded to Noya, who grabbed onto his wrist and pulled him eagerly towards the water. He doesn’t like the wrist-pulling, Daichi’s mind yelled to Noya.

After some swimming, which seemed surprisingly easy for Suga, the two reached the dock and climbed up using the ladder. Since Daichi had already been sitting close to the ladder, he used his hand to pull Suga beside him. As he did, Suga’s back turned and Daichi noticed two large scars on his back, one near his abdomen and the other on his shoulder blade. Curiosity ran through his veins, but he pushed it down as Suga settled down beside him, their wet arms brushing against each other.

“You didn’t have to come, you know,” Daichi whispered to Suga, who just shrugged in response.

“Nishinoya made a very...compelling argument,” the setter said, and Daichi didn’t miss the faint blush that appeared on Suga’s pale cheeks. Before the captain could ask about any specifics, the game had started.

“Nishinoya-senpai! Truth or dare!” Hinata’s use of the word “senpai” meant that he was trying to appeal to Noya’s proud side, which was never a good sign.

As the game continued, Daichi felt himself growing more and more uneasy. There had to be reason why Noya had been so adamant to get Suga involved in the game, and so far neither the setter nor Daichi had been involved in the game.

“Tsukki!” Yamaguchi’s squeal as Tsukishima used a hand to shove the pinch server into the water broke Daichi from his thoughts, mostly because he knew nobody thought that Tsukishima would actually do something bad to Yamaguchi. Upon the stares, Tsukishima just shrugged and said, “I know he can swim,” but as soon as Yamaguchi pulled himself back up onto the dock, it was hard not to notice the blonde wrap a long arm around the pinch server’s waist. The display of affection was extremely unusual, since Tsukishima was usually the person on the team who showed the least amount of emotion. Unlike Hinata, who had been sitting in Kageyama’s lap with his head against the official setter’s chest while the prodigy ran his hands through the spiker’s hair, Tsukishima never seemed to how much affection unless it was a brief handshake with his parents.

Daichi was still thinking, not realizing the rounds continuing when he suddenly heard Nishinoya. “Suga-san. Truth or dare.”

Daichi knew that Suga’s options were limited. He could choose a dare, but there weren’t necessarily as many options and it would probably be the harder choice. In contrast, choosing truth could result in any number of embarrassments.

“Truth,” Suga said, obviously opting for the choice that would endear him more to the club.

“Where did you get those scars?” Noya’s question was followed by a few different reactions. Most of the club gulped into silence, but Asahi leaned forward to flick the side of Noya’s head. “Noya!” he hissed. Daichi immediately turned to Suga and said, “You don’t have to answer that.”

The look on Suga’s face was conflicted, but ultimately settled into a reassuring smile. “No, it’s fine, Daichi.”

He turned back to the group, moving his hands to run over the scars as he talked about them. “They’re just surgical scars, I have one behind my ear too. I got them the same time I lost my sight.”

Why were you in surgery? The question rang through Daichi’s skull, and he was sure that more than a few club members had the same one, but everyone just nodded at the answer. It was obvious that Suga had avoided the topic of why he had the scars, and nobody wanted to push it.

The game continued, but Daichi’s mind stayed stuck on Suga. Why did he even answer the question?

Once the sun started to set, the club decided they should get back to the cabin before they were forced to hike in complete darkness. They swam back to the shore and dressed themselves, all of them groggy from a day of truth or dare and swimming. As the group started the long walk back, Daichi turned to Suga, who was having trouble putting on his shirt since it’d gotten stuck on his head.

“Do you need help?” Daichi asked, chucking at the sight of the setters’s arms stuck over his head with his shirt entwining them. His eyes traveled down subconsciously, taking in the sight of Suga’s torso as he squirmed to try and release his shirt. The captain’s breath caught in his stomach when Suga folded over in exhaustion with a groan, leaning down as if to touch his toes, but still with the shirt stuck above his head.

“I think I’m doing well,” Suga said, his head still folded somewhere near his knees.

Daichi stepped forward, smiling. “Stand up.”

Groaning again, Suga stood back up and started squirming again. Daichi reached up and grabbed the edges of the shirt, pulling down past where it was stuck, and then down the setter’s torso. As he did so, his fingertips brushed against the flesh of Suga’s stomach, causing a shiver to go through the setter. Daichi automatically looked up at Suga’s face when he felt the shiver.

“I just want to see you,” Suga’s voice suddenly said. “Especially now.” It sounded so quiet and dainty that Daichi felt like he was required to answer immediately.

“Why now?”

Suga’s face flushed. “You get to see my food baby, and I can’t see you. That’s unfair to the rules of food babies.”
“You do not have a food baby,” Daichi said quickly, immediately recognizing that his voice had too much protectiveness in it.

“I can feel it,” Suga said, placing his hand on his own stomach and giggling. “Oh! I think she’s kicking.”

Obviously, Suga was joking, but Daichi felt the sudden urge to want to hold his hand on Suga’s stomach as well. Restraining himself, Daichi said, “You can feel mine.”

Suga’s eyebrows raised immediately, his hand falling away from his own stomach and resting in the short span of space between the two third years. “Oh?”

Daichi slowly grabbed Suga’s hand, guiding it back to his own stomach. At the feeling of the setter’s palm pressed flush against his t-shirt, Daichi felt every nerve in his body go on warning. Then, when he felt the palm move around, and saw Suga’s mouth drop into a small “o”, his nerves set on fire.

“Holy hell, Daichi,” the setter breathed, his hand still exploring the outside of Daichi’s shirt.

Suddenly feeling self-conscious of his own stomach, Daichi stuttered, “What?”

As if to response, Suga’s other hand shot out and tugged on Daichi’s shirt, pulling it upwards so that his abs were exposed, and the first hand pressed against the exposed flesh. Daichi instinctively tensed, his muscles flexing under Suga’s touch.

“Oh my gosh ,” Suga breathed again, causing a hint of annoyance to flare up in the back of Daichi’s mind.

“ What, Suga?”

Suga’s hand stopped moving, his face turning up to aim at Daichi’s. It was late enough that Daichi knew that Suga couldn’t even see the flush of his face, but the unfocusing hazel eyes still cut a path straight through him.

“Daichi, your abs. ” The words were said through a smile, which eased Daichi’s tension.

Trying to disperse the heat he was feeling, Daichi laughed. “How else am I supposed to carry you back up the mountain? I have to bulk up.”

Suga’s hand shot off of Daich’s stomach, and pointed a finger at his chest. “I didn’t ask you to carry me back!”

“Come on, angry-san. We won’t make it back before dark if I don’t,” Daichi said, letting Suga finish getting ready and then turning around. “Hop on.”

With a heavy sigh, Suga climbed onto the firm back and immediately slumped his head against Daichi’s shoulder.

As they started walking, Daichi tried to start a conversation. “So, what ‘compelling argument’ did Noya use to get you to come in the water?”

The captain felt Suga laugh, the vibrations shooting through Daichi’s spine. “If you must know, he told me I’d get to, and I quote, ‘feel up the muscles of some certain captain’. It didn’t happen during the game, but it worked out in the end.” As if for emphasis, Suga’s hands squeezed at Daichi’s biceps.

“I’m sorry he asked about the scars. That was totally not okay.”

“It’s okay, it didn’t really bother me.”

Daichi sighed. “Still, it wasn’t cool.”

Silence fell between them for a second. Then, Suga spoke. “I would kill to go back and warn them about the surgery,” he whispered, his voice taking on a new quality.

“Didn’t they have to do it? Or was it elective?” Daichi asked. He didn’t want to probe, but tired-Suga seemed more open to answering questions.

“I suppose,” Suga muttered. “Maybe I would kill to go back and warn myself before I got hurt.”

“It’s not your fault you got hurt, whatever happened,” Daichi said, instantly regretting it. What if is was his fault? What if it was self-harm and I just opened up old wounds?

“Everybody tells me it’s not my fault, and I know it isn’t my fault that I’m gay,” Suga whispered. “But I still made mistakes.”

The new piece of information didn’t elude Daichi. Because he’s gay? Somehow he got hurt because of it?

“Suga, what happened?” The captain asked in the most straightforward way that he knew how, but in the back of his mind he prepared for Suga to say no. Instead, he didn’t hear anything except gentle breathing, and felt warm breath on his neck. He fell asleep.

Daichi caught up with the rest of the club about ¾ of the way back to the cabin, and laughed when he saw Kageyama carrying a sleeping Hinata on his back, Tsukishima with Yamaguchi draped around him, and Nishinoya sitting on Asahi’s shoulders, fully awake but not willing to be left out. Ennoshita was occupied by trying to stop Tanaka from prodding the sleeping members, and the two adults were having a discussion about funding. When they reached the cabin, the winded carriers dropped their respective loads into their beds, and then passed out in their own. It didn’t take long for Daichi to fall asleep, his mind swimming with thoughts of silver-haired setters and food babies.

Climbing onto the bus to return back home felt like an utter disappointment to Suga, who had been having an amazing time with his new friends throughout the weekend. They’d spent almost the entirety of the second day messing around with the rentals at the retreat; jet skis, kayaks, and paddleboats. Nishinoya and Tanaka had apparently had a race around the lake in kayaks, coming back screaming about a “scary monster” that had the rest of the club screaming with laughter. After that, they’d played truth or dare into the night again, resulting in even more shenanigans that Suga was thankfully left out of, until finally the clock hit 10 and they were forced to climb on the bus in order to make it home in time for school. Morning practice had been cancelled, which didn’t effect Suga as much as it did the other club members, who cheered loudly even though it was late in the night. Once we’d taken the first step on the bus, Suga realized he’d left his phone in the bathroom when they all went before the ride. After telling Ukai where he was going, he pulled out his cane and started towards the bathroom. Daichi yelled out that he was coming hunting if Suga didn’t return in 10 minutes, but Suga knew that it wouldn’t take that long to get his device.

It was late at night, so Suga assumed the bathroom was empty when he walked in and felt out his phone on the counter. He didn’t hear anything that would make him think otherwise, until he heard the telltale sound of a stall door being opened behind him. Since he had his phone, Suga beelined to the door as quickly as he could, which was not very. A hand on his arm stopped him, and sent a shiver up his spine.

“You came back,” drawled the voice, and Suga recognized it as the man he’d met from Cabin D and intentionally kneed in the balls, but this time the voice was very obviously intoxicated.

“Please, leave me alone. I need to leave,” Suga said, trying to be forceful and pull his arm away from the man. Tapping his cane in front to make sure the way was clear, the setter prepared to jump away as fast as he could when a sharp force hit the side of his cane and knocked it out of his hand. Suga cursed to himself. He had been in too much of a rush to slip the wrist strap on, and now he was completely defenseless.

Regardless, he yanked his hand as hard as he could and stumbled towards where he thought the door was. Apparently, he’d miscalculated because his head smacked into a solid surface and he fell to the ground with a groan, hand already moving up to console his throbbing skull.

“I asked nicely the first time if you wanted to drop by the cabin,” the man said above him, and Suga felt a hand curl around the back of his shirt, shoving him forward. Suga yelped as he was dragged out of the door still on the ground, his legs smacking against the steps painfully. His head still hurt from hitting the wall, or else he would have immediately screamed right then.

“Please,” Suga whimpered, hand reaching back to try and claw at the fist attached to his shirt. He felt himself turning, meaning that they had reached the point where the road to the bathroom diverged and the cabins began. And just down to the left was the road, which meant…

“DAICHI!” The scream was as loud as Suga could muster, and was instantly responded to with a blunt pain on the back of his head, which made Suga cry out in pain and go limp. If he’d had vision, he was sure it would be completely black. “Ah,” he groaned, feeling dirt and rocks scraping into his legs. As soon as he made the sound, he felt a firm foot kick at his back, which hurt less than his head but still had him speechless for at least a moment.

“Shut it, kid,” the man grunted. “We’re going to have fun together.”

“Please,” Suga croaked again. “No.”

“You came back for me, remember? You wanted-”

The statement was cut off my the sound of a grunt and then a dull thud near Suga’s throbbing head. Thankful for the release of pressure from his shirt, Suga let himself fall to the ground and lie in the cool soil. He didn’t dare move, without knowing where he was, but he didn’t think he would have been able to if he wanted. His head still hurt and his back wasn’t exactly pristine.

“Suga!” Daichi’s voice was clear in the setter’s ears, who rolled over so his face was upwards and allowed a smile to cross over his face.  

“Daichi,” Suga smiled, putting a hand up, trying to find Daichi’s face. Thankfully, it appeared the captain got his message because a jawline quickly moved into Suga’s palm. “It hasn’t been 10 minutes.”

“The scream kind of got my attention. Where’s your cane?”

“I think it’s in the bathroom.”

“Stay here while I get it. Don’t worry, that guy is knocked out cold.”

In the less than a minute that it took Daichi to find Suga’s cane, the setter had managed to pull himself up to a standing position, if only a little bit wavery. He still didn’t dare to move in any direction other than up or down.

Suga immediately felt strong arms support him, and leaned back into Daichi. They stood in silence for a moment, and then Daichi broke the silence. “In the bathroom yesterday morning, this is the guy?”

Suga nodded, struggling to keep tears contained in his eyes.

“And he asked about more than just blindness?”

Suga nodded again, then used his force to turn around and face Daichi.

“Please don’t tell anyone. Don’t tell the club or Ukai or anybody,” Suga begged, feeling tears forming in the corners of his eyes as he clutched onto the sides of Daichi’s arms, probably squeezing too hard but unable to let go of the captain.

“Suga, we have to,” Daichi said, putting a hand up to cradle the setter’s face, trying to calm to shaking form in front of hm. “We have to tell someone. This guy-”

“Please, Daichi,” Suga said, his voice raising and shaking. “If my mom found out, she would make me quit the club, I would have to do homeschool, please!” I don’t want to leave Karasuno. I don’t want to leave Daichi.
“Okay,” Daich said, pulling the shaking setter into his chest and bracing his head. “Okay. I’ll do what you think is best, okay? I won’t tell anyone.”

Suga took a shaky breath, drawing in the scent of the man surrounding him. He’s not going to tell. You’ll be fine.

“Let’s go to the bus,” Suga said. “We need to go home.”

“Suga, are you sure-”

“Let’s just go, Daichi. I’m fine. He didn’t do anything.” The words sounded fake, even to Suga. Though, they were technically true in his mind. He’d just gotten dragged through the dirt, but Daichi had stepped in before the man got the chance to really hurt him. Sure, his head hurt like hell, and he seriously needed to ice his back, but that was nothing compared to what he’d been through before.

As they walked back to the bus, Suga felt himself calming down. You’re fine.  When they got on the bus and Ukai asked why Suga was so dirty, he said he’d dropped his cane and been on his hands and knees trying to find it when he yelled for Daichi to help. The explanation seemed to satisfy the coach, because the two third-years were allowed to go and sit down, settling in for a long ride.

Suga feel asleep quickly, his head leaning on Daichi’s shoulder.

“He’s all talk,” his friend said, rustling Suga’s hair. “He says all of that, but I don’t think he’ll act on it.”

Suga contemplated the thought, his face twisting as he looked at his friend pacing. “He sure made it sound like he was serious,” he said.

His friend pursed his lips, thinking. “If he is serious, it’s not like he’ll get a chance. You’ll be watching all of my games right? And there’ll be people all around you.”

“I want to go see other games too…” Suga said, glancing up to see his friend’s expression.

“Ah. Karasuno? If you’re going to go, make sure me or my dashing ace are with you.”

“I thought you said it was all talk,” Suga teased, pulling at a piece of silver hair that was hanging in his eyes.  “Why do I need a bodyguard?”

“Shut up, Suga-chan! You know I worry!”

Suga smiled and leaned back, knowing that he’d struck a nerve with his friend, who was such a handful that Suga knew he deserved it, just a little.

“I’ll be fine,” Suga said, finally.

“You better be. You’re the best member of my cheering section.”

When Suga woke up, the first thing he noticed was the hand running through his hair every so often. Just when he thought it was over, he felt the digits roll over his scalp again. After a few times, he hummed with pleasure and the fingers jerked away quickly. Opening his eyes, Suga leaned closer in to the shoulder that he was resting on.

“You’re awake?” Daichi’s voice was quiet, which made Suga think that it wasn’t the end of the bus ride and other people were still asleep. “Sorry, about the hair thing. I was just checking for gray hairs.”

Suga laughed quietly, turning his head slightly so that he didn’t have to talk into Daichi’s shoulder. “I just woke up a second ago. Don’t feel bad about the hair thing...it felt nice.”

They fell into silence for a second, and Suga felt the hand return to his hair, running through it slowly.

“You still don’t want to tell anyone?” Daichi said finally, lowering his voice until it was almost nothing. Suga felt himself tense, but then instantly relax once a hand ran through his hair again.

“Yes. It’ll only mess everything up if I do,” Suga whispered back.

“How?” Daichi asked, his tone obviously confused. “How can it be a bad thing?”

Suga pressed himself deeper into the body beside him, trying to find comfort as he tried to avoid his least favorite topic. “Just trust me, please. I might be able to explain someday, but not today. Not right now.”

Daichi sighed beside him, and Suga just tried to stay calm. “Okay, Suga. Don’t worry.”

Suga breathed a sigh of relief at the words, moving a cautious hand towards the body beside him, trying to find something to hold on to. He felt a hand guide his to Daichi’s chest, where it started tracing lazy patterns on the captain’s pecs. He knew that Daichi didn’t like the idea of not telling anyone about what happened, but the last thing that Suga wanted was another problem that he had to handle. His mother was still overprotective since last time, and if he reported this, she’d probably overreact. He loved his mother, but she tended to get too upset about things that he saw as inconsequential.

“How far are we?” Suga whispered, allowing his useless eyes to try and search for light to guess by, but the lack of it meant that it was before sunrise.

“Another hour,” Daichi answered. “We should be getting back with just enough time to sleep for a few hours before school.”

Suga smiled. Another hour with Daichi. Then, he felt the familiar buzz of his phone against his leg. Three long vibrations, followed by two short. His sleepy brain only had to think for a second before realizing it was his mom. Lazily, he grabbed his phone and turned the volume to the lowest it could go, and asked his phone to read the text.

“From, Mama. I’m sorry, Koushi, I had to go in very early for work this morning for an emergency. Do you have a key to the house? The heating is out again, extra blankets downstairs! I hate leaving you alone but I’ll see you after school! Love!” The text sounded so much like his mom’s rambles, that Suga smiled to himself before lowering the phone to his lips to answer her.

“Do you want me to?” Daichi’s question was polite, but Suga’s instincts flared. The doctor said never to trust other people to text for me. Never to give me phone to anyone I didn’t trust. Always make sure I was getting good information from people I trust.

His mind was screaming at him as he handed the phone to Daichi, and whispered, “Tell her I have a key, I’ll be fine alone, and that I think she’s purposefully breaking the heater so the hot maintenance man can come over.”

Suga heard tapping, followed by the familiar whoosh of a sent text, and then felt his phone being pressed back into his palm.

“Hot maintenance man, huh?” Daichi’s tease made Suga smile.

“Unbelievably attractive,” Suga confirmed. “One of the reasons why blindness is such a burden.”

Suga felt the form underneath his shake with a chuckle as he drifted back to sleep.

-

When they finally reached Suga’s front door after such a long walk, Daich was more than happy to sit down on his front steps while the setter searched for his key. Daichi still had a moderately long walk home yet, so he figured that resting would recharge whatever battery he had left. When he finally heard the click of a key going into the door, he let out a puff of air and hoisted himself off the steps.

“Well, I should get going,” the captain said, stretching his arms up over his head. “I’ve still got a mile left in me. Goodnight, Suga.” Daichi started walking away before he heard the return “goodbye”, assuming it would come.

“Daichi!” The little yell caught the captain’s attention, so he turned around towards Suga, who was standing in the doorway with a nervous look on his face. “Yeah?” Daichi responded.

Suga’s lips pursed and twisted to one side of his face, as if he was thinking really hard about something. Daichi had noticed that same face whenever a teacher was trying to explain a diagram to the blind student.

“Do you want to stay here tonight?”

The innocent question had Daichi’s spine weak, his mouth gaping for an answer. His sore legs were begging for him to take Suga up on the offer, but his more rational side was pointing out all of the issues with the situation.

“You only had to get so far away from your house so you could walk me home. I don’t want you to have to walk through the dark another mile because of me,” Suga explained, and Daichi saw the setter nervously toying with the strap of his bag.

“Suga, it’s not that far. You don’t have to-”

His words were broken by a burst of laughter from the setter, which confused Daichi until the blind man spoke again.

“I know I don’t have to. I want to,” Suga said, then after a hint of hesitation, “Please.”

After Daichi texted his dad where he was, he followed Suga inside. As soon as Daichi stepped inside of the house, he was completely captivated. Dozens of multi-colored strings were strung between different points in the house, creating a kind of twisted spiderweb that had his eyes traveling all around the interior. He watched as Suga traced his fingers along the strings to get where he needed to go, even though his body seemed to know where to turn within the house. The only fault that Daichi could find was that the entirety of the house was freezing cold. Cold enough for him to wrap his jacket around himself tighter. As they walked down the hall to Suga’s room, Daichi could feel himself growing hotter while thinking about the implications of what he was doing. Calm down, Daichi. You’re just sleeping for a few hours, and then going to school. There is literally nothing less romantic.

“You can sleep on the bed,” Suga said, stepping aside to let Daichi into the room ahead of him. “I’ll take the floor.”

Daichi instantly looked around the room with wonder, at all of the posters completely covering the walls. Bright colors, on every single piece of wall. Posters for one night shows in ditzy bars, ones for musicals at the elementary schools, several for something called a “Fish-a-thon”, and some just completely blank neon pieces of paper.Then, he realized he needed to respond. “No way. It’s your bed. I like your posters.”

“I had my mom put them up. They’re the only thing bright enough to at least kind of show up in my vision, and I hated having my own room be blank. Also, there’s no way I’m letting my guest sleep on my floor.”

Daichi looked at the king-sized bed, and knew where the conversation was going to go, but he still had to keep up the argument.

“I’m stubborn on this. I’m not letting you sleep on the floor,” Daichi said, crossing his arms even though he knew the movement was lost on Suga.

The setter sighed, moving farther into his room and setting his bag on the small desk. Then, “I get the left side, and you better keep your drool to yourself.”

“Suga, you don’t have to share your bed with me. I can sleep on-”

The setter responded by flopping down onto the left side of the bed, and then turning his body toward Daichi, slapping his palm down on the empty side of his bed. “Just lay down please. There’s no way you aren’t tired.”

Daichi couldn’t argue with the logic, since his legs were about to give out under him and his eyes were half-lidded with exhaustion. Sighing, he dropped his bag onto the floor beside him and walked over to the large bed, dropping down flat in a matter of seconds. The captain hummed with pleasure as relief spread through his body once the burden of holding his body up was taken off of his legs and delegated to the bed.

Then, the reality of where he was and who he was next to hit him all at once, and a smile draped itself easily across his face. The cold he felt from the broken heater was replaced by a warmth in his gut.

“Now, I can’t sleep,” Suga’s voice attracted Daichi’s attention, the captain turning to look at the silver-haired man laying next to him. The first thing he noticed was how Suga’s eyes were open, unfocused and aimed at Daichi with emotion spilling through them. Then, he saw how the setter’s hands were wrapped around himself, and his knees were tucked up to his chest to conserve warmth.

“Are you cold?” Daichi asked, reaching a hand out to touch one of Suga’s hands only to be shocked by how icy it felt. “Jesus, Suga!”

“I’m fine. The heat breaks pretty much once a month,” the setter said, but the tightening of his arms around himself betrayed his words. “Are you cold?”

Daichi wanted to lie to make Suga feel better, but in reality he was freezing. “A little bit.”

Before the captain could stop him, Suga lifted himself off the bed and beelined for the far corner of the room, yelling over his shoulder, “Get under the blankets, snowman-san.”

“What are you-?”

“Under the blankets!” Suga interrupted by yelling over his shoulder as he dug through something in the corner. Daichi smiled cautiously, but sighed as he shifted so he could pull the blankets on top of him. Instantly, a small portion of the cold was alleviated, but it still felt well below even what the outside temperature had been.

“I’m under, bossy-san,” Daichi said, teasing the silver-haired setter as he returned to the bed with a bundle in his arms. “What are you doing, Suga?”

“My grandma always worried about me, and made me the thickest blankets every year for my birthday,” Suga explained, dropping the large bundle on the bed and putting his hands on his hips. “If these can’t keep you warm, then you’re officially a snowman and there’s nothing I can do.”

Daichi watched as the setter pulled at the bundle, pulling out blanket after blanket and spreading them over top of the bed. Every time the captain expected it to be the last blanket, there was another one, and another one, and another one. By the time Suga finished, there had to be at least 18 blankets stacked up on the bed, and Daichi could feel the bed warming from the effect. The setter stood by the bedside, hands back on hips and head cocked to the side. “Warm enough?”

Daichi couldn’t help but laugh, but was secretly impressed at how Suga moved through his own room. It made sense, since he had probably been living here all his life and knew where things were, but it was still odd for the captain to see the blind man moving so easily through a space, not reaching out for support once.

“I’m going to be a melted snowman by morning,” Daichi chuckled as Suga slid back into the bed beside him, close enough for the captain to sense the heat source, but too far away for him to exploit it. Yet, even as Daichi settled back into the bed and tried to relax his on-edge nerves, he noticed the tight way that Suga was balled up with his arms back around him again.

“You’re still cold,” Daichi observed, which resulted in the setter just releasing from his position a little and waving a lazy hand in front of his face.

“I’m always cold,” Suga said. “My mother says it’s my thin skin.”

Daichi listened, his mind exploding with telling him what to do, but his mouth not going through with the plan. He didn’t want to make Suga uncomfortable, but he looked so cold .

“Suga, come here,” Daichi said quietly, trying not to make his words sound suggestive in the slightest. It’s just about keeping him warm. Don’t freak out. He half expected for Suga to refuse, and was surprised when he felt the shift in the bed as the warm form moved closer to him. When the body moved against him, Daichi stiffened with pressure. Don’t make him uncomfortable. Yet, at the the same time, his mind was rationalizing. He kissed you, Daichi. He tackled you in the woods, and kissed you and laid on top of you. This isn’t awkward.

Once Suga was close enough, Daichi put his arms out and wrapped them around the setter, pulling him closer into his chest. The captain could feel how icy Suga’s skin was wherever they touched, which only prompted him to pull the man in tighter. Suga let out a satisfied little hum, his body deflating as he let out a long breath and moved backwards.

“Better?” Daichi asked, speaking straight into the setter’s hair. Suga giggled a little, his body shaking in Daichi’s arms, who smiled at the movement.

“So much better,” the setter’s voice drawled, and it was obvious that he was falling asleep. Daichi sighed, laying back onto the pillow comfortably. Seeing Suga sleep made Daichi think about how beautiful the setter was. Why would anybody want to hurt him? It didn’t escape Daichi that there were things that Suga wasn’t telling him, about the scars, and what happened before the hospital, and why his mother would be upset if they told anyone about the creepy man from the retreat. Suga had never told him about his old friends, his old school, or really anything about his life before Karasuno. He only mentioned it in passing, fleeting remarks. It troubled Daichi, not knowing so much about the person curled into his side, the same one who’d tackled him in the woods and kissed him. Something was clearly wrong, but Daichi couldn’t ask. His troubled thoughts followed him as he drifted into sleep.

“And you’re just telling me this now ?” His mother’s voice was shocked, amused, and accusatory all at once, a frightening combo that had Suga flinching in his seat. “It’s been almost two weeks, Koushi! He’s been over so many times, and you still didn’t tell me that you kissed him on that trip!”

It wasn’t the worst reaction that Suga could think of after he’d told his mother about what transpired during their first night of truth or dare. He hadn’t meant to let it slip, but he couldn’t help himself.

“Well, I didn’t think it was very important..” Suga said, shrugging.

“Koushi…” Her voice had changed drastically, to the more mother-ly tone that she only used in situations that made Suga want to retreat to his room. “You know I support you, right? Boys, girls, anything…”

“But?” He knew it was coming.

“But I want you to be careful. After what happened last time, I don’t want to see you get hurt. I’ve met him, and I trust him, but at least for the next month and a half, you need to be cautious. Once you can see, I’ll worry less,” she said, and Suga felt a soft hand stroke his shoulder gently.

“I know, Mama,” he said, raising a hand to put it on top of hers. “I’ll be careful.”

Yet, all thoughts of caution were thrown out the door when Suga entered the gym and heard everyone yelling excitedly. Expectantly, Hinata was the first voice to permeate through the air.

“It’s the fair, babe! We have to go! It’s only here tonight and tomorrow!” Suga smiled a little hearing the name that Hinata called Kageyama whenever the spiker really wanted something.

“The fair comes around every year dumbass, why can’t we just wait for next year?” The tired voice of the clearly beaten-down setter was interrupted by a chorus of “boos” from more than just Hinata.

“It’s the fair , King,” Tsukishima’s distinct voice threw out sarcastically. “Maybe you should try mingling with the peasants for once.”

“Wha-!? So I suppose you’re going?” Kageyama sputtered.

“I am actually. My parents left town, and I’m staying with Yamaguchi. It’s...inevitable that I end up at the fair,” the middle blocker conceded, his voice sounded not in the least bit genuine disappointed.

While the first-years continued their conversation, Suga called out for Asahi, who promptly came over and put a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“What is this fair?” Suga asked, feeling his nose scrunch in confusion.

“It’s the annual fair here,” Asahi explained, the nervous man’s voice soothing in contrast to the shouts of the younger club members. “It’s huge. There’s rides, and games and this huge stage where they have local artists perform. You should go-” the man hesitated “-even if you can’t see. I’m sure you’ll still enjoy it.”

“Thanks, Asahi, but I don’t like bringing my cane into places like that,” Suga said, waving a hand in front of his face.

“Well...maybe you wouldn’t be going alone. If you had an escort, you wouldn’t need your cane, right?” Asahi said, his voice teeming with caution. Suga shrugged, “Yes, but I don’t want to make you do that-”

“Oh, I didn’t mean me. A certain captain may or may not have asked if you were free tonight.”

Excitement traveled up Suga’s spine quickly, and he reached for where he thought Asahi was, putting his hands on the ace’s shoulders. “Really? He asked about me? Is he planning something?”

Asahi’s laugh showed Suga how silly he sounded when he’d gotten excited, leading to a chuckle from the setter as well. “I’m not giving anything away, Suga.”

Suga smiled as the ace walked away to join with practice, the blind man’s heart warming in his chest as he thought about Karasuno’s captain. Ever since they’d gotten back from the retreat, their days had consisted of driving to and from school together, and usually staying over until dark to do homework and talk. On the few occasions where one of them had stayed over, they weren’t shy to sleep in the same bed, but they never initiated the kind of physical touch that they had the first night back from the trip. That didn’t mean there wasn’t the occasional brush of the hand, or tense moments, but for the most part the two stayed strictly friendly. Yet, the thought of Daichi asking him to go to the fair had Suga’s spine tingling as he sat on the sidelines, listening to the familiar sounds of gameplay.

One of the reasons Suga couldn’t wait for his eyes to return was to finally see all of the volleyball that he heard on a daily basis. Kageyama and Hinata had a new quick that sounded so incredibly fast that Suga couldn’t even begin to imagine how it physically worked. He wanted to see how Nishinoya was able to scream phrases like “rolling thunder” and still manage to actually get the ball up. And Daichi...Suga wanted to see Daichi do anything on the court. He’d seen a quick glimpse what seemed like years ago even though it was only a few months, but he hadn’t been able to see much. As soon as he was able to see again, Suga was going to beg the team to have a practice just so he could watch all of the movements. His daydreaming had gone on so long that he hadn’t noticed practice was over until he heard club members tossing out quick “goodbyes” as they exited the gym. Jolted back to reality, Suga smiled and chirped out quick goodbyes as the club members left, waiting for Daichi to come so they could make their way back to a house to study. After what seemed like an unusually long amount of time, Suga heard familiar footsteps finally coming toward him.

“Getting lazy, captain?” The setter teased, feeling his lips curl into a smirk.

“In your dreams,” the comforting voice retorted. “I was trying to find something.”
Interest piqued, Suga raised an eyebrow. “Trying to find something? Maybe it was a clock, because you could sure use one.”

“No,” the captain laughed. “I was finding this.”

Suga cocked his head before feeling something slip over his shoulders, immediately recognizing it to be a jacket.

“A coat?” He asked, running his hands over the smooth, almost plastic-like, fabric, trying to find anything significant that he could feel out. “Are we walking home?”

“No,” Daichi said quickly, and Suga was quick to pick up on how nervous the captain’s voice sounded. “Are you busy tonight?”

Suga smiled, trying his best to hide the smirk that came with knowing what was coming. “Besides listening to bad television with my mother? Not really.”

“So,” Daichi continued. Suga felt him move closer, which silently drew the breath out of the setter. “How would you feel about accompanying me to the annual fair on this lovely night?”

Suga knew that it was coming, but he still felt a hot blush grow on his cheeks. “Are you asking me on a date?”

Even though they had been around each other daily for more than a month now, they had never technically been on a date, and the thought sent chills up Suga’s spine.

The light laugh from the captain calmed down the excitement in the setter’s nerves, bringing him back into a comfortable state. “Yes, Sugawara. I am asking you on a date.”

“And I’m honored to accept,” Suga replied. “What’s with the jacket?”

“It’s cold, and I know you’re a temperature lightweight,” Daichi said. “I knew I had it somewhere in my locker.”

Suga smiled, gently pulling the jacket that was resting on his shoulders in front of him, trying to get a small inkling of an idea of the color. As he waved it in front of him, he could tell that it was black. But, as he squinted his eyes, he could see small specks of areas that weren’t black. The effort of trying to even see the colors was giving Suga a headache, so he stopped looking at the jacket for a second to rest his eyes.

“What exactly am I wearing?” Suga asked, bringing the jacket around to his back again and sliding his arms through the sleeves, instantly being enveloped in warmth.

“Oh, ah,” Daichi sounded sheepish all of the sudden, causing Suga to cock his head. “It’s my old jacket from my first year, from volleyball club. It’s just got my number, and then, ah, my last name. But, very small. Nobody will notice. And you don’t have to wear it-”

“Daichi!” Suga broke in, laughing. “It’s fine! I’m not embarrassed by your name!”

Internally, Suga was filled with exhilaration at the thought of “Sawamura” stamped across his back, for anyone to see. It wasn’t as if the majority of the school hadn’t already noticed them walking together in the halls and between classes; Suga had nothing he needed to hide about Daichi. What he had to hide from Daichi was more the problem.

“It’s fun,” Suga giggled. “I can pretend that I’m you.” Still giggling, Suga straightened the jacket on himself and assumed a power stance, crossing his arms over his chest and flexing. “I’m #1, Daichi Sawamura. I’m the captain of Karasuno. Oh, what’s that? A strange blind idiot wants to touch my washboard abs? The same idiot tackled me to the ground and kissed me? Oh, that’s fine. I’m going to ask him on a date.”

The setter’s teasing faded off as he laughed, unable to continue his charade without giving in to the urge. The silence that came after Suga’s mimicking instantly sent fear through him. Did I go too far? Was it not funny?

“Can I please kiss you?” The voice broke through the silence swiftly, almost startling the blind man. Daichi’s voice had a sense of urgency that surprised Suga.

“Wha-Why?”

“Suga, you’re wearing my jacket, and flexing your arms, and complimenting me. Please. Let. Me. Kiss. You.”

Gulping, Suga felt his mind racing at what to say. Part of him wanted to throw himself at Daichi, but the cautious side of him was screaming, Everything has been going well! Don’t mess it up with random romance!

Against his better judgement, Suga took a step towards Daichi’s voice and let himself be enveloped in the arms of the captain. He felt lips on his own, soft and demanding, but for only a second before the warmth was pulled away. Suga had barely had time to even kiss back.

“We should go to the fair,” Daichi said suddenly. “And do that again somewhere more romantic.”

Stop! Suga’s brain was screaming at him. Kissing him in the middle of the woods where no one can see is one thing! Cuddling with him for warmth is one thing! Going to a public fair, in public, with people, in public, and kissing a man is another thing! You learned the lesson once, don’t make the same mistakes again!

It took everything inside of Suga not to give in to his thoughts, and step back so he could take Daichi’s hand into his own to show he was ready to walk out of the gym. He heard a relieved sigh from the captain, who squeezed his hand before starting their journey to the fair.

It wasn’t hard for Suga to know that they had arrived; the sounds had been evident for a few blocks and as they grew closer, the intoxicating smell of fair food had assaulted his nostrils unrelentingly. He must have been drooling to some extent because a nudge at his side and a chuckle from Daichi was followed by “I think somebody’s a little hungry.”

“Psh,” Suga said nonchalantly, using his free hand to swipe the barely-there drool off the corner of his mouth.

“We should probably eat anyway,” Daichi said, with a bit of purposeful confusion in his voice. “Isn’t that what people do on dates?”

“Hmmm,” Suga hummed, stroking his chin in an exaggerated thinking motion. “It’s possible. Though, I haven’t been on many dates.”

“Really?” Daichi asked as he guided Suga up the curb and towards the sounds of the fair, which were growing ever-louder in the setter’s ears. “How? I would have thought guys would snatch you up as soon as possible.”

Suga’s lips pursed and twisted, his mind flooding with answers to the question, but suppressed them back down in favor of one that was less revealing. He tilted his head lazily, shrugging. “I told you before that my school wasn’t very...accepting. Even if anyone had wanted to go on a date, there was always a risk that someone would see you and make your life hell.”

Suga waited for a second, surprised at the sudden squeeze that he felt from Daichi’s hand interlocked with his own, followed by the captain moving slightly closer to him as they walked. “You went to school with some assholes, then, it sounds.”

Suga felt his face flush with heat. “I suppose. It’s not their fault-”

Suga felt his companion stop, subsequently pulling the setter backwards into a stumble. It would have annoyed him, if it weren’t for the strong arms that reached around to catch him and draw him in closer to Daichi. Suga’s heart dropped quickly. We must be close to the fair. I can hear it, we’re so close! Everybody can see us! Everybody can see me!

His thoughts were interrupted by a whispered “watch this” in his ear, and then Daichi’s loud shout. “Hey, Itsuki!”

Suga recognized the name as one of the boys in their class, who the setter had never talked to because he seemed a little standoffish. The blind man shrunk into Daichi’s side, not sure where the captain was going with this.

“Hey, Daichi! Going to the fair?” The voice sounded mildly annoyed, but friendly nonetheless.

“Yeah, yeah, hey, I’m gay and I’m here on a date with Sugawara!” Suga’s eyes widened and he made an audible coughing sound as he elbowed the captain in the side.

“I know you’re gay, Sawamura! Good luck with blindy!”

Daichi yelled a quick goodbye, then shifted so he was back closer to Suga.

“See? People here are pretty open. We’re fine here,” he whispered, bumping his shoulder into Suga. The setter was in shock, still unable to comprehend why Daichi, the usually reserved and composed captain, had just screamed out his sexuality in the middle of a probably crowded area. It was so out of character, and it was such a pointed display, that Suga was left with his mouth open, unsure what to say.

“Food, right?” Daichi filled in the stunned silence, his voice teeming with amusement. “Oh, we’re going here. They’re here every year, and they have the best yakitori. You’ll be drooling over me.”

That snapped Suga back into consciousness, who instantly smirked. “I’ve been drooling ever since I smelled the food. It’s not like it’s hard.”

“Trust me. It tastes so much better than it smells.”

Half an hour and way too much food later, both third years sat,  full of grilled chicken and contentment. Suga had to admit that the food was completely amazing, and felt like he could eat five more rounds, but didn’t want to feel sluggish for the rest of the night. Not when it wasn’t even fully dark yet and the fair went all the way past midnight.

“So,” Daichi’s voice was smug, but not in a bad way. “Didn’t I tell you it was amazing?”

Suga moaned in response, holding his stomach with a smile. “I can honestly say that that was the most orgasmic meal that I have ever eaten.”

It took both of them a second to take in what Suga had just said, and it resulted in a loud burst of laughter from the captain and the setter learning forward with his head in his hands and an embarrassed flush spreading all the way down his neck. “Oh my gosh, did I really just say that? Did I seriously just say those words?”

“Yes,” Daichi said, his voice broken between bouts of laughter. “Yes, you did.”

“I can’t believe I just said that.”

Daichi’s laughter just grew louder in Suga’s ears, who shrunk backwards into the chair he was sitting in. Why did I just say that? Why did I think that was okay? He’s going to think I’m so weird for saying that. He’s laughing at me.

“So, you really like chicken?” Daichi laughed, and Suga heard the voice raise, probably as Daichi stood up. Embarrassed into silence, Suga leaned away from where he knew the captain was standing, covering his face in his hands and trying to breathe normally. He felt a hand press on the far side of his face, gently prodding his head so that his face turned towards Daichi.  The hand was slightly shaking, but only because it’s owner was still laughing.

“It’s funny, Suga. Don’t be embarrassed,” the captain’s voice was soft, trying to console the silver haired man, but still had an element of amusement to it. “Besides, that chicken was absolutely orgasmic.”

Those words coming out of Daichi’s mouth sent Suga into a fit of giggles, forgetting his embarrassment as he leaned into the hand on his cheek. With a smile, he stood up and assumed his position next to Daichi, holding his hand out and waiting for the captain’s to grab it, which he did quickly.

“Okay, date-san. What next?” Suga asked, the feeling of a hand in his own erasing the embarrassment he had felt just moments before.

“Have you ever had your fortune told, Suga?” Daichi asked, and Suga felt an excited tingle run up his spine.

“No,” the setter conceded. “But aren’t those people all just con artists?”

Suga felt himself being pulled in a different direction, further away from the loudest areas in the fair. He couldn’t tell for sure, but it sounded like they were moving more towards the fringes of the fair.

“Of course you have to take it with a grain of salt, but this woman is the best. She doesn’t even make you pay. I used to go every year with my mom, when I wasn’t old enough to come alone.” Daichi’s voice was becoming easier to hear once they were farther from the loudness of the heart of the fair.

“So is she good? Have your fortunes come true?” Suga asked, feeling them slow down, probably as they reached their destination.

“Some of them,” the captain said, his voice taking on an almost musing quality. “Some, I’m still waiting to see. But, she’s never gotten one wrong yet. It might all be a rouse, but it’s fun nonetheless.”

“What kinds of-”

“Hello, Sawamura-san,” a crooning and old voice penetrated Suga’s ears almost painfully, having a nasally yet soothing quality that confused him. “It’s been some time since I’ve seen you. You’ve grown.”

“It’s been a year, Yamamoto-san, and you are as beautiful as ever.” Daichi’s warm familiarity yet respect for the woman was obvious in his voice. “This is my friend, Suga. He’s never had his fortune told before.”

“Oh,” the woman said curiously. “So you come for me to see into his future, while he cannot see his present.”

How did she know that? Don’t overreact Suga, it’s probably obvious to anybody willing to look.

“Thank you, Yamamoto-san. I’ll let you do his and then mine.”

“We can’t go in together?” Suga quickly cut in, subconsciously tightening his grip on the hand in his grasp.

“Fortunes are individual,” the woman answered slowly. “Having each other there would blur the lines between the two lives. So, you must be alone.”

“Daichi, I’m not sure-” Suga began, but felt the captain’s hand slip out of his own, and lead him forward a step to the woman. The setter felt a new, wrinkled and dry hand gently place itself on top of his, and start to move forward. Instinctively, Suga walked with the hand to keep it on top of his own.

“I’m just out here,” he heard Daichi say, and then he felt himself enter a new room. First was the smell, which was strong and sudden. It was a blend of spice and something almost like flowers, but was very clearly the result of excessive amounts of incense. Suga was lead into the room, and then a hand on his back had him sitting on a cushion on the floor, and he heard the woman sit across from him.

“There are cards on the table in front of you, Suga-san,” he heard the voice say. “You’ll choose three. Now, you cannot see so I must tell you that these are not tarot cards like so many use. I have my own personal system.”

“Ah, okay,” Suga said tentatively. He moved his hands forward, feeling first the table and then the small rectangles of thick paper that sat on it. Trying to avoid prolonging the moment, Suga quickly took three cards from various areas on the table and held them out towards the woman, who hummed.

“Interesting,” she said, and Suga heard the faint sound of paper shuffling as she presumably looked through the cards. “Very interesting.”

“What is it?” Suga asked quietly, his curiosity outweighing his skepticism.

“While I tell you, you must promise not to interrupt. Not if you think I am wrong. Not if you think I am right.”

Suga leaned his head back slightly, taken aback by the request, but muttered, “Of course.”

“You’ve chosen three very telling cards, which isn’t uncommon but these three in particular are a rather strange combination. The first thing that is very clear is that you are hiding something from those closest to you, and it’s taking a toll on you even if you won’t admit it. In fact, if I were to take a very loose interpretation of these cards, I would suggest that you’ve been hurt before, and you haven’t told anyone how badly. The future I can see from this is one of sadness and fear, unless you open up to others about what has happened. If you do, I can see your future unclouding and becoming full of joy and surprises.

“The second thing that is clear to me is that you have love all around you, and your future in this area is brighter than any other section of your life. I feel a strong male presence in your life, and the cards suggest that you’ll meet this man when you are very young. The cards don’t give me identities, and my own personal ideas are off limits, but it’s fair to suggest that you’ll find him before college.

“The final thing that is obvious to me is that you are extremely conflicted about how to feel about yourself. There is a part of you that feels defined by something in your past, but there is a part of you that tries to rationalize with your new surroundings and make the best of them. You worry about what will happen once your situation changes, and how it will affect your relationships with the people around you. But, remember, that the person you are does not change when your body does. I see happiness ahead for you, and I see you will receive what you deserve.”

When she was done, Suga sat silent, mind spinning with the information he had just been told. Even as he was lead outside and Daichi gave him a tight squeeze before leaving to go into the room, the setter was completely silent, stuck in his own mind. How did she know? How was she so close on everything? Why did she suggest that Daichi was my soulmate to heavily?

But, the part that concerned Suga was the last thing that the woman had said. To be honest, he had thought about what would happen once he could see again. He didn’t know if Daichi would want to spend so much time around him, considering he couldn’t need an escort anymore and would be able to study his own notes at his own pace. He wouldn’t need all the colored string that his mother had laid out in the house for him, and he would be able to see all of the weird looks that he was almost sure that he and Daichi were given. Daichi likes to help people. I can’t see, and he’s helping me, and that’s why he’s so affectionate. What about when I don’t need any help anymore? Will Daichi get bored of me? The thoughts that spun through his mind were almost corrosive, forming a spiraling knot at the front of his forehead that grew uncomfortable the longer he was left alone in his thoughts. Suga stood close to the tent, holding a pole to make sure that he didn’t stray too far into the crowd and get lost. The first time he heard the voice, he convinced himself that it was just him being paranoid, and didn’t turn towards it. But, the second time he heard a voice ask, “Is that Sugawara?”, Suga tensed up and waited for something to happen. It took a moment, but he finally felt the obnoxiously heavy weight of hand on his shoulder, and then somebody slightly spinning him around. It was getting darker, so Suga couldn’t even make out what color the person was wearing, but he knew from the voice that the person was almost definitely wearing the usual aqua tee-shirt and track pants.

“Ah, it is you!” the voice said, lighting up a bit with excitement that Suga felt was misplaced. The setter knew that his friend would be happy to see him, but he almost wished that it wasn’t then and there. “You never return my calls, it’s like you’re avoiding me, Suga-chan.”

Suga felt his jaw shift with guilt, turning his head down. “I’ve had to work twice as hard in school now. I don’t have much free time anymore.”

“No! Suga-chan! Don’t be upset about it! I’m not upset, I just wanted to make sure you’re okay,” his friend said, the hand on Suga’s shoulder squeezing comfortingly. “But I also know that you’re in the volleyball club for Karasuno, and I can’t imagine that you’re doing optimal participation. So, it wouldn’t kill you to call me for once, like ever.”

The words washed another wave of guilt over Suga. His friend was right, and he knew it.

“Look-”

“Oikawa!” Daichi’s distinct voice broke into Suga’s sentence, and the sound of his own friend’s name sent a slight shiver down his spine. “What are you doing here?”

“Daichi-chan, you’re here too? Is this a Karasuno club fair?” Suga’s friend, Oikawa, teased.

“Coincidence. I see you’ve met Sugawara,” the captain said, and Suga stiffened like a board. He hadn’t told Daichi that he knew Oikawa, or about exactly how close they were. If Oikawa didn’t pick up on it, then their date would be ruined.

“Met-oh. Yes, I have met Suga-chan,” Oikawa was talented enough to turn a fluster into a seductive sounding comment, obviously trying to maintain the view of him that Daichi would hold.

“Well, that’s as far as you’re meeting, Oikawa. Suga-chan is my date for the night.” The pride in Daichi’s voice made Suga want to melt, but the sharp cough that emitted from Oikawa immediately brought him back to reality.

“Oh, really? Well, I wish you happiness on your date.” The coldness in Oikawa’s voice was extremely evident to Suga, but the blind man didn’t think that Daichi would notice. “I can’t wait to see you in a week for our practice match. Maybe you guys might see some old friends.” I totally forgot about the practice game.

As Daichi turned to thank the fortune-teller, Suga felt Oikawa lean in to his ear and hiss, “You’re calling me tonight. No excuses, Sugawara.” Then, the famous setter was gone, leaving behind only the strong scent of alluring cologne.

Suga stood in place for a moment, unable to move from the shock he was feeling. He only warmed up when he felt Daichi’s hand slip into his own, and pull him away, saying something about a Ferris wheel.

-

Daichi could tell that something was off about Suga since they had run into Oikawa, and he was itching to ask about it, but as they came closer to the Ferris wheel, the setter had softened up and seemed closer to normal than usual. Dark clouds had begun to accumulate overhead, but there hadn’t been rain yet and the night time sky made the clouds nearly unnoticeable.

“How tall is the Ferris wheel?” Suga asked as they stood near the front of the line, only a few minutes away from boarding the towering structure.

“Maybe a hundred feet, or a little less. Why?” Daichi answered, but a quick glance at the man next to him answered the question. “Are you afraid of heights?”

Suga’s face was twisted, like when he was in deep thought. “I’m not afraid of them. I’m just not...fond.”

“Suga, we were on a mountain two weeks ago. You were fine then,” Daichi said, confused.

“It’s different on a mountain. The slope is so gradual that I couldn’t tell, but now I’m going to feel it going up. I forget how high a hundred feet is. Is it really high? What happens if we fall? Oh my gosh, Daichi, what if it breaks?” As the setter next to him started getting more frantic and shaky, Daichi pulled on his hand to pull him in closer and use his other arm to sling it around Suga’s shoulders and draw him in close. The shaking stopped almost immediately, and Daichi felt the setter relax and lean into his side.

“It’s not going to fall,” Daichi said turning to press his lips into Suga’s hair quickly, trying to soothe him.

“I know,” the setter resigned, but Daichi still noticed him nervously biting at his lip. “It’s just so high.”

As the line moved, and they went to sit in the small car, Daichi could feel Suga’s nerves flaring up again when the shaking started.

“Have fun,” the bored worker muttered after he’d locked them in, and then moved back to shift the ride slightly to load the next car.

As soon as they started moving, Suga let out a little yelp and Daichi chuckled while pulling the blind man in closer to him. He hated seeing the setter scared, but Daichi had to admit that there was something nice about having Suga tucked in tight under his arm. To try and distract the setter, Daichi decided to try and start a conversation.

“So how was your first experience with Oikawa? He’s a character,” the captain said, looking down slightly so he could see Suga’s eyes. That was how he noticed the slight alarm in them, followed by panic, followed by calm. This isn’t the first time he’s met him.

“Actually, I’ve met him before,” Suga said, his voice quiet. Daichi had expected the answer but it still confused him. “When did you meet Oikawa?” The captain asked. There was a long hesitation from the setter, before a resigned sigh.

“I went to Aoba Johsai before I came here,” he said finally. “I...talked to him a few times.”

“You went to Seijou?” Daichi asked, his voice raising. Suga just nodded his face shying away from Daichi.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me that before?” The captain was a little hurt, especially considering that it seemed like something that should have come up by that point. How did I not already know that? Why didn’t he mention it? Before Suga could answer, they rounded the top of the Ferris wheel and came to a stop at the very top as the last car was loaded below. After a few moments, both third-years felt a few drops of rain fall onto their faces. Then, a heavy drizzle fell steadily, not exceedingly uncomfortable but still an annoyance.

“Because I didn’t enjoy much of my time there,” Suga finally answered, causing Daichi to have to think back to what his question had even been. Once he did, he looked over at the setter, who seemed oddly unbothered by the rain. Carefully, Daichi moved his hand and took the hood on the jacket he had lent Suga, sliding it up to cover the setter’s silver hair. As he pulled his hand back, it brushed behind Suga’s ear against his skin, which resulted in a loud gasp from the setter and a jump that didn’t go anywhere due to the seat belts around their waists.

“Suga!” Daichi said, pulling his hands away as the setter calmed down, obviously embarrassed by his reaction.

“I’m fine!” Suga said quickly, wiping some rain off of his face and moving back towards the captain, flopping his head down on Daichi’s shoulder heavily. “I’m fine, it just scared me.”

“It’s okay,” the captain said. “So, why didn’t you enjoy your time at Seijou?”

Immediately, he felt Suga stiffen beside him and he knew that he’d asked the wrong question. Why did you ask him that, idiot? You’re on a date! You don’t need to be psychoanalyzing him!

“I just...didn’t fit in there. My grades were fine, but I didn’t join any clubs...I only watched volleyball from far away. And then, when I came out, there were some people who were mad about it. And then, I ended up in the hospital, and now this. I just didn’t want to stay there,” Suga said, clearly trying to avoid talking about some topics, but also saying much more than he intended to as shown by his hand instantly clapping over his mouth.

“I mean...it was just not right for me. So I left.”

It was obvious to Daichi that Suga was skipping around what got him into the hospital. I just want to know. I really want to know. It was hard for the captain to sit there, not knowing what had hurt this beautiful person in front of him. All I want to do is help.

“Suga,” Daichi whispered, waiting until the setter turned slightly towards him. “What happened?”

“I can’t.” The words sounded so small that it drove a sharp pain through Daichi’s heart. What made it worse was when he looked down at Suga, and there were tears welling in the corners of his hazel eyes. His unfocusing eyes that just made him look even sadder when they were wet, and brimmed with tears. “Daichi, I can’t.”

Don’t push him. Don’t make it worse. “You can, Suga,” said the captain, against his better judgement. “I can’t keep doing all of this with you if you won’t even tell me this one thing, Suga. It hurts so much not knowing.”

Suga suddenly pulled away from Daichi, smacking against the opposite side of the Ferris wheel car heavily, wincing in pain for a second before turning his head back to the captain.

“It hurts so much more when you know!” Suga yelled quickly, surprising Daichi. Suga barely ever raised his voice, and definitely never yelled at Daichi. “I don’t want you to just look at me like I’m more broken than I already am! I don’t need another replicate of my mom or Oikawa!”

“Oikawa? What does he have to do with it? Did he hurt you?” Daichi snapped quickly, his voice growing with anger near the end of the sentence.

“No!” Suga yelled back, and Daichi noticed the first of the tears leave the setter’s eyes. They were instantly mingled with rain, but it still hurt Daichi to even see them fall. “Oikawa was my friend! He was basically my only friend!”

“You said you just talked to him a few times,” Daichi pointed out. “Why are you lying, Suga?”

The hurt was evident in the captain’s voice, but it carried an equal amount of accusation toward Suga, who looked like he was halfway between crying and having a heart attack. The setter’s mouth was gaping, his hands scrambling to find something to hold onto, settling for the slick metal bar that was holding the cart shut. After a moment, Suga definitely looked closer to a panic attack than either of Daichi’s previous two guesses. The captain wanted to comfort the crying setter, but he knew that he needed to be firm if he was ever going to get the truth out of Suga.

“Suga, please.” Because of the rain, the Ferris wheel had cycled down early and Daichi basically had to pull the setter to get him to move off of the ride and down into the grassy terrain of the festival. He found a dry spot under an overhang of a tent, and pulled Suga under it behind him. The setter was still shaking, and hadn’t said a word. Daichi was losing his patience, and grabbed on to the sides of Suga’s arms, shaking him slightly.

“Suga, answer me!” He yelled, loud enough to attract a few stares but no one suspected much of it. But apparently, Suga was not a fan of the shaking because he took a step backwards, pulling himself out of Daichi’s grasp.

“I can’t! I know that it doesn’t make sense, but I can’t tell you!” Suga yelled, with a noticeably louder voice than the captain had been using. “You want to pry into my past, but I don’t want to! It’s over, and I want it to stay that way!”

“I’m not trying to pry!” Daichi cried, squeezing a hand tight over his chest in aggravation. He was, technically, trying to pry into Suga’s past, but not in the way that the setter was thinking. All Daichi wanted was to understand, but he couldn't vocalize that sentiment correctly.“I want to know who hurt you and why you’re so scared all the time! And why a second later you’re perfectly fine! I want to understand what’s going on, Suga!”

“It’s not like you’re an open book either! You always act so protective over me, like I’m some toy that you don’t want to break! But what happens in a month and a half when I can see again? You won’t want me because I won’t need you!” Suga yelled back. “I won’t need you! You don’t need to know every little thing about me! Is this not enough? Am I not enough?

The words struck Daichi hard, even though they were buried in the rant. You won’t want me. I won't need you. I won't need you. I won't need you.

“Is that why you think I help you? Because I see it as a charity project?” Daichi was starting to get angry, and it was obvious in his voice. More people were giving the couple looks, a few stopping and standing nearby in case anything went wrong.

“You would never have talked to me if you weren’t forced to escort me! Because I’m so fragile, and I can’t walk on my own because I’m blind ! I’m blind Daichi! What happens when I’m not blind anymore?”

Daichi breathed out exasperatedly. “Then you can see! And you can see how stupid you’re being! I’m not here because I have to be! I didn’t give you my jacket because I had to! I want to be here with you, Suga! But I need to know what happened, because I can’t handle watching you flinch every time I brush against you in the wrong way!”

Suga’s face twisted, his tears flowing down his face steadily and his lip wedged between his teeth, biting hard enough to cause blood. His hands were both clenched by his sides, and Daichi wanted so badly to just hold the setter and calm him down, but they were beyond the usual bicker that came expectantly with friends. They were in a full-fledged yelling match, with the people around them looking five seconds away from intervening.

“It’s not my fault! I didn’t ask for it to happen, Daichi! I didn’t ask to be what I am! I didn’t ask to be blind! It isn’t my fault-” Suga cut himself off with a sob, his hands flying to his face as his body shook with cries.

“I don’t know that Suga! Because you won’t tell me what happened!” Daichi said. “You’re just lying to me about Oikawa and avoiding my questions! What am I supposed to think?”

“You’re supposed to trust me!” Suga screamed, causing a man standing nearby to step forward and put a hand on the setter’s arm, which sent Suga into a frenzy of trying to get the hand off of him. Daichi would have thought it was an overreaction if he hadn’t seen the look of intense fear that crossed Suga’s face before he slapped the man’s hand away. He looks so scared. I want to help him. Daichi had never seen Suga like this before. The setter was always composed and collected, always aware of himself. But there was Suga in front of him, crying and trying to pull the hands off of him as more people tried to help.

Before Daichi could do anything, a large figure in teal swooped forward and collected the setter into his arms, pressing him into his chest and immediately using his fingers to brush through Suga’s hair. The blind man struggled in the arms for a second, before realizing who it was and sinking down into the arms. Oikawa took a second before looking over at Daichi, a look of disappointment on his face. Something about it struck Daichi’s soul, making him feel both angrier and guiltier than he had a few moments ago.

“What happened?” Oikawa asked, his fingers still stroking the shaking setter in his arms. That should be me. I should be there.

Anger won over Daichi as he took a step forward to look Oikawa in the eye. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” he hissed.

Oikawa’s eyes narrowed with a sudden burst of protectiveness, then said, “I’m taking him home. You’ve done enough.”

Daichi relaxed his shoulders for a moment. He was mad, but he didn’t want to leave Suga. This was supposed to be a date. This was supposed to be a date. He didn’t know where Oikawa would take him, but Suga had called Oikawa his friend. He’ll be fine. Just leave.

“Fine,” he hissed at Oikawa. “But if I find out that you do anything other than taking him home, I’m coming for your ass.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about, Daichi-chan. Go home.”

“You can't tell me what to do, Oikawa,” Daichi fired back, his anger and confusion overriding his usually composed and calm demeanor. He didn't know how he was supposed to feel but all he could think was how much he wanted to step forward and take Suga and hold him, but the captain couldn't because Oikawa was there and Suga had just basically yelled that he wouldn’t need Daichi.

“Really? I think I did anyway.” The taller setter said, his glare leveling heavy on Daichi’s. “I'm taking him home. Leave.”

Daichi looked at the crowd around them, all looking in curiously at the shouting match. Don't make this more of a scene than it already is, Daichi. Sighing a heavy, angry sigh, Daichi stepped back and lowered his voice.

“Take care of him,” he said, shaking. “Please.”

Oikawa’s eyes narrowed for a moment before his face softened and he gave a firm nod of understanding. Daichi guessed that this wasn't Oikawa’s first experience with a fighting couple, and he'd probably been part of that couple more than a few times. Blinking emerging tears from his eyes, Daichi turned around and walked away from Oikawa and his date. He felt his hand flexing open and closed, because it felt so empty without Suga’s. As he walked across the fairground, there was so much noise around him that he could barely focus on just getting out of there.

“Daichi-san!”

Hinata. The voice was distinct, and the bright orange hair even more so. Daichi couldn’t help but wince at the sound of the voice calling him. He needed to go home. He needed to not be here.

“Daichi-san! Where’s Sugawara?” That broke something inside of Daichi, who turned towards the first year quickly and barked out, “Not now, Hinata!”

The look on the first-year’s face went dead cold, his puppy dog eyes creasing in hurt and tears already starting to form. Immediately, guilt washed through Daichi. First Suga, and now Hinata? Calm down before you yell at the whole club, idiot.

“I’m sorry, Hinata,” Daichi corrected himself, taking a step towards the young spiker only to be cut off by an angry Kageyama sliding in between the two. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”

Hinata started to say something but backed down, letting Kageyama’s fatal glare do all of the talking. Daichi winced, apologizing again before turning and running as fast as he could towards his house. It wasn’t far, since the fair just so happened to be situated in the park closest to it, but every step felt like a thousand as the emotionally drained captain sprinted down empty streets with his breath echoing loudly in his ears. This wasn’t how the night was supposed to go. He turned, feeling fresh tears emerging in his eyes as the cold wind and mental stress took it’s toll on him. It was supposed to be a date, and it was supposed to go well. He turned down the street, hearing a dog barking at him as he ran by. He didn’t know it was rain or tears or both rolling down his cheeks, but it was almost impossible to see what was ahead of him. It was going so well. He ran only based on the street lights, which were basically all he could see through the bleariness in his eyes. If we only could have made it to the top without fighting. Even based off streetlights, he knew exactly where he was; this was his street where he’d played as a kid, and driven down a million times, and walked down with Suga. If we could have just made it there happy. Yet, his eyes were still clouded, and he felt so...blind. Then I just could have asked him to be my boyfriend.

Even days later, the thought of that night at the fair had Suga tucked away in his room, knees pulled up to his chest under a pile of blankets that painfully reminded him of his first night back from the retreat with Daichi. He hadn’t changed positions since Oikawa had brought him home on Friday night. His mother had been up to check on him every hour, bringing him tea and snacks, all of which stayed stacked on his nightstand, untouched. He had only taken a few spoonfuls of soup when his stomach contorted and yelled at him from the inside. It was Sunday night, which meant that he would have to go to school tomorrow, and the thought had him shaking in another fit of panic. How do I get to my classes? Do I still go to club practices?

Suga whimpered, pulling the blankets in tighter around himself. He knew that he had said some pretty harsh stuff to Daichi, but the worst part was knowing that he was completely in the wrong. Daichi did deserve to know about happened, and it was pure selfishness that Suga withheld the information from him. Just as he turned to squeeze himself into a tighter ball, he heard the familiar tone of a text from Asahi. His blood ran cold for a second, mind filling with dread.

“From, Asahi. Dai asked me to pick you up for morning practice tomorrow. I’ll see you then.”

Suga’s face contorted in a new wave of sadness. Obviously Daichi wouldn’t want to drive him to practice anymore, not after everything that the setter had said to him. He deserved this.

“Text Asahi. I’m not sure that I’m up to it tomorrow. Or for a while.”

It felt good to give the excuse, and sneakily give himself a way out of the situation. If he didn’t go to the practices, he wouldn’t have to trouble Daichi.  

“From, Asahi. I’m picking you up. No fake excuses. You don’t have to talk to him if you don’t want to, but don’t lie to me. I know you.”

Stop lying to me, Suga. Suga flinched as his phone read out the words in a monotone voice.

“Text Asahi. Can you help me get to my classes for a while?” Suga bit his lip after asking the question, then said, “Erase text. Text Asahi. Okay, see you then.”

Suga knew he should just suck it up and ask Asahi for help. It wasn’t like the gentle giant would say no, and it would certainly make the setter’s life easier to have an escort, but something about that person being anyone other than Daichi made Suga feel like he was just rubbing salt into the wound that he had ripped open when he yelled at Daichi. The thought of it made the setter curl up into a ball again, tears welling in his eyes. He still had a headache from crying all through Friday, but at least then he had Oikawa there to help.

“What happened there?” His friend had asked him as the taller setter helped himself to tea, running a large hand through Suga’s hair. Oikawa had been laying on top of the blankets, next to the blind man, trying his best to help. Suga had found it odd how they hadn’t talked in more than a month, but Oikawa still hopped right back into his role as best friend and hadn’t even made a single snarky comment since they’d left the fair.

“He asked about what happened at Seijou,” Suga had whispered, clenching his eyes tight. Then, exasperated, he added, “It isn’t fair that I can still cry when I can’t see. I should just cut my eyes out.”

“Let’s not, Suga-chan. What do you have left? Only a month and a half, right?” Oikawa’s knowledge showed that he had to some extent been keeping track, which had struck Suga as caring for him to do, especially since the blind man hadn’t made any attempts to contact his friend. “But, come on. Get back to the fair. What did the mean Daichi-chan do?”

“Nothing!” Suga had said, exasperated. “That’s why I’m so mad. I blew up because he wanted to know about what happened. But I can’t tell him.”

“Suga-chan,” the thick voice of Oikawa had drawled. “You know that my bi ass is the first to support you and your men, so you know that I’m going to suggest trying to make things up with captain-san. And, that might mean you have to tell him what happened.”

“No!” Suga had quickly protested, yanking his head away from Oikawa’s soothing fingers. “Tooru, you know better than anyone why that’s not an option. I don’t want people here thinking that I’m any more messed up than being blind.”

“No one would think you’re messed up,” Oikawa had dismissed quickly. “It wasn’t your fault that they-”

“And they’re still on your team! What am I supposed to do if I tell Daichi about what happened, and then he sees them playing on your team?” Suga had interrupted. “How is that going to go at the practice game?”

“Hey, it isn’t my fault that you don’t tell the police their names and are letting them try and figure it out for themselves,” Oikawa had protested. “If you just told the cops the names, then they would be off the team fast.”

“I don’t want to make more trouble,” the silver-haired setter had said, his voice muffled by a pillow. It was the best excuse he could think of, especially since it was a glaring lie. Suga definitely had better reasons to stay silent, but his tear-filled brain couldn’t help but withhold that from Oikawa.  

“Koushi, you seriously need to get your priorities straight.” The words had hit Suga hard, even though he knew they were true. He hated it when Oikawa slipped into mom-mode, since that was usually Suga’s job.

“So you think I should tell him?” Suga had asked, rolling over so he could feel the cool air hitting his face.

“I think if you want something more with him, you have to,” was the response, and it sent a wave of anxiety down Suga’s spine. Oikawa was never wrong about those kinds of things, and Suga knew it. Ever since he had known him, the frustrating star setter had been known to have a sixth sense when it came to relationships, even though he himself had only ever dated twice; a girl in middle school, and then he'd been dating Iwaizumi for a few years. They were in a secret relationship, with only a few close friends knowing, but still. Oikawa had always been the most supportive of Suga at Seijou. When he’d first realized he was gay, Oikawa was the first one he’d told, and the star setter had given him all kinds of advice, some of which Suga mistakenly ignored. The point was, Oikawa was always right. And the blind man didn’t know how to handle it.

“Oikawa, he’s going to look at me like I’m broken,” Suga had whispered, so quiet that Seijou’s setter had to lean over, as evidenced by the shift in blankets on top of the blind man. “And I can’t even see it, but I can hear it. It’s how my mother looks at me. It’s how you must look at me.”

“Hey!” Suga had felt a firm hand hit the side of neck and smack him upside the head. Cringing in mild pain, he turned his head. “Ow!

“You deserve that for thinking you know how I look at you, Suga-chan! I haven’t look at you like you’re broken, not even once! Neither has your mother!” Oikawa’s voice had been mildly annoyed, but more than anything it sounded defensive. “It’s only because we know what happened, so yes, Suga-chan, we do tend to have a slightly different attitude around you. But not because we think you’re broken. It’s because we both love you and don’t want anything like that to happen again, okay?

“And how am I supposed to feel? I’m the only one except for your stupid self that knows who it was, and your refusal to out them forces me to play on a team with them every day! I hate them, Suga! I hate them for what they did, but I can’t do anything about it. I have to pretend like I didn’t see any faces, because you’re so worried about making trouble and going to court that you won’t even tell the police their names. And then you come here, and you haven’t even tried to talk to me in a month! I’m supposed to be your best friend, and you avoid me like the plague! It’s wrong, Suga. It hurts!”

Suga had heard Oikawa’s voice shaking, and something inside of him wilted heavily. Oikawa never cried. And when he did, it was either because he had lost an important match or thought that Iwaizumi was mad at him. Suga had quickly turned around, and used what minimal aim he had to throw his hands around his friend and pull him into a hug.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered into where he guessed Oikawa’s ear was. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I can’t do it, Oikawa. I just can’t. It hurts so much. I’m so scared.”

Oikawa had drawn the other setter in closer to his chest, releasing a stuttering sigh and then starting again to run his hands through Suga’s hair. “No, Suga-chan. Don’t be sorry. I shouldn’t have raised my voice. I understand why you don’t say anything. It’s not okay.”

“No, it’s not okay,” Suga had said quickly. “You’re right. I shouldn’t make you play with them. It’s wrong. I should have called you forever ago. I was just so nervous because you’re the only other person who really knows what happened, and I was just trying to distance myself from everything at Seijou, and I just-”

“Suga, calm down. I’m just wound up from not seeing you in so long. You’re right, I hate playing with them, but I care more about you being comfortable than me having to toss for some assholes, okay? And I’m not mad about you not talking to me. I understand, and I get it. Just maybe start talking to me again after this, okay?”

Suga had taken a shaky breath, relaxing and releasing his arms from around his friend, using the heel of his palms to rub his eyes. “I missed you, Shittykawa.”

“Hey! Did Iwa-chan tell you to say that?”

“It’s possible he might have mentioned to call you that if I ever saw you.”

“Ooo, I’m going to kill my boyfriend.”

Suga had paused, his mind turning. “How is that? Having a boyfriend?”

Oikawa had sighed longingly. “It’s nice. Even though barely anyone knows, it’s nice to know that he’s there with me. And I’m there for him. The only hard part is the secret. But we can’t even come out to the team because, well, I don’t want those assholes that hurt you to have any reason to hurt Iwa-chan.”

“You care so much about him,” Suga had said, quietly.

“Of course, I love my Iwa-chan very much. And you can find your Iwa-chan too, if you just let yourself open up a bit,” Oikawa had said, prodding the blind man in the side. “I know that you want to pretend like it never happened, but it did and I think it would be better for you if you just tell him. Tell anyone.”

Suga had just rolled over in the bed, trying to work his mind through what he should do.

Now, as he fell asleep the night before school, Suga couldn’t help but cry himself into a loose sleep, only waking up when his mother came upstairs and physically shook him awake early in the morning. He’d only gotten two or three hours at most, and the setter was sure that if he could see himself, he looked a mess. He certainly felt like a mess. The grogginess of having minimal sleep combined with the constant headache that came from crying were pounding into his brain, eliciting groans with every step he was forced to take.

“Koushi,” his mother’s gentle voice said, permeating through his body as he absorbed the sound. “You know that you don’t have to go to volleyball, right?”

Suga sighed, feeling his desk until he grasped his cane and glasses, both of which felt cold and unnatural in his hand.

“I do,” he said quietly. “Nobody knows there's anything wrong. I'm not going to worry the rest of the club.”

“They would understand if you wanted to wait the month and a half, Koushi,” his mother said, her tone making it evident that she was choosing her words carefully. “It would be much easier for you, then.”

Suga tightened his grip on the cane in his hand as he flipped it open, using his other hand and adjusted the glasses on his nose.

“It’s going to make everything easier, right?” He said, groping for his school bag and slipping it over his shoulder once he felt the strap. “I'll be fine, Mama. It's only volleyball.”

As soon as he said it, he heard a loud knock at the door that sounded even louder because of the contrast to his mother’s gentle tone.

“That's Asahi,” Suga said, his fingers searching for the extra fuzzy string that lead to the front door. Once he found it, he lazily traced his fingers along it as he made his way to where his friend was waiting.

“Hey, Suga,” Asahi’s gentle voice greeted, then trailed off, probably as he noticed the cane. Suga knew Asahi was well aware of the blind man’s dislike for the cane.

“Hey, Asahi. You ready for practice?” He tried to keep his voice normal, like this was just any normal day and he didn't want to drop down screaming every time he thought about being in the same room as Daichi.

“Y-yeah, of course! Are you?” It was clear Asahi was trying to skirt the topic, which Suga both appreciated and despised.

“Ready to sit on my bench and cheer you guys on? I’m a pro by now,” Suga teased, trying to alleviate some of the tension of the situation. “It isn’t exactly difficult work.”
“Suga…” Asahi’s tone was so telling that it actually caused Suga to cringe, since he knew what was inevitably coming. “We don’t have to talk about it-”

“Good,” the setter quickly broke in. “Then let’s not.”

Suga heard a sigh from beside him as the car turned in to what the blind man assumed was the Karasuno parking lot. He felt bad for shutting down his gentle-mannered friend so quickly, but he truly did not want to talk about what happened with somebody as sweet as Asahi. The guilt was already so much that he couldn’t handle his oldest friend telling him how wrong Suga had been, because the blind man already knew that about himself.

“Do you want me to help you between classes?” Asahi asked, as Suga felt the car roll into a parking slot and come to a stop. Suga turned the idea around in his head. It would make everything easier. Asahi’s classes are nearly next door to yours. It’s not that much of inconvenience. But it still is one. You are an inconvenience.

“No,” Suga said, waving a hand. “I’ve got my cane and I know the way vaguely.”

“Don’t be stubborn,” Asahi said, his voice oddly assertive. “Don’t say no because you think it’s taking me out of the way. And don’t say no because you’re too proud to ask for help.”
Suga let out a huff, turning his head towards his friend, feeling unwelcome anger bubble up. “I’m not being proud. I just know I can handle myself. There doesn’t have to be a reason I say no.”

There is a reason, and you know it.

“I know, Suga, I just want to make this easier for you as much as I can.”

You know why you said no, and you just don’t want to admit it.

“Asahi, it’s just for another month and a half, about. Then this won’t even be a problem.”

Just say it. You don’t want help because that’s Asahi. You don’t want Asahi to help you.

“Suga, throw me a bone here! I’m just trying to help you survive that month and a half. Can you please just let me help you, even if I’m not some hot captain?”

You want Daichi.

Suga was struck into silence, shocked that Asahi would even go so far as to raise his voice a single decibel. He felt his eyes drop down, the blurs before his eyes shifting.

“It-it isn’t that, Asahi,” he whispered. He didn’t want to fight with his friend, not after everything that had happened. “I just don’t want to feel so useless, you know? If it doesn’t go well, I promise I’ll ask for help tomorrow, okay?”

A heavy sigh. “Okay, Suga. Just don’t forget that I’m here and I want to help.”

“Mhm, okay Mama.”

“Ah, shut it!”

Laughing, the two got out of the car and headed towards the noisy gym. Suga couldn’t remember one practice he’d listened to that hadn’t been interesting; between Hinata, Nishinoya, and Tanaka, there simply wasn’t room for boredom. Yet, as he tapped his cane in front of him while he walked, a sense of dread had settled itself over his shoulders and felt like it was dragging him down into the ground. When Asahi opened the door, Suga could have sworn he felt the air thicken with tension as he braced himself on the doorway so that he could make it inside without making a fool of himself. It wasn’t quiet by any means, with the obvious shouts of certain first and second years echoing around the gym, but something still felt wrong about it. It’s because you’re walking in with the wrong person. Ignoring his internal discomfort, Suga used a combination of his cane and the wall to make his way to his regular bench, and then sat down, his heart pounding.

-

Daichi watched the blind man trailing his thin fingers along the wall, using it to guide him to the bench. What made the scene worse was the cane gripped in Suga’s other hand; just seeing it made Daichi’s blood run cold. Seeing Suga at all was like a smack to the face, and the sting left over put Daichi on edge. There had been a small part of Daichi that had assumed that the blind setter wouldn’t come to the practices anymore, and it was that that had stopped him from being prepared to see Suga again. Blinking away in frustration, Daichi turned his attention back to the practice match that the team was playing.

Without two functional setters, there was no way to have a legitimate game against themselves, so they always ended up playing a 7-point drill where Kageyama was forced to duck under the net after every return in order to set for both sides. It was a brutal drill, and everyone knew it, but there was no other way to play a game with a competent setter on both sides of the net. To Kageyama’s credit, he never complained about all of the ducking and running, but it was obvious by the amount of water that he sucked down after that it took a toll on the setter. After all, it was well known by the third-years that this drill had been called “Kill the setter” for years before the name became kind of tabboo. It was match point for Daichi’s side, and Hinata was rearing up on the other side to attack to even the score. Not on my watch.

Daichi had played with the short first year for long enough to read him like a book, and it wasn’t exceptionally hard to figure out where the ball was getting hit towards. Watch the shoulders, then the direction of the palm. A second after Hinata hit the ball, Daichi shifted his body so he was directly under the spike, receiving it perfectly. Kageyama ducked under the net at the right moment, just in time to get himself under the ball and setting a perfect ball to Tanaka, who quickly used it to end the game with a satisfying thud on the other side of the court.

“Hey!” Tanaka said, proudly. The other side groaned, with Hinata over-dramatizing to the point of collapsing onto the ground with his feet sticking straight up in the air. Kageyama followed in suit by squatting down and waiting while Yaichi brought him a water bottle, but after a few rounds of the 7-point drill, Daichi was sure that Kageyama’s exhaustion was warranted.

“Good job, Kageyama,” the captain said, walking over to lean down and pat the first year on the back. He’d barely had time to remove his hand before an orange blur tackled the official setter onto his back, and hugged him tightly. “Good job, Bakeyama.” Kageyama struggled against his boyfriend for a second, then sighed with a small, genuine, smile and reached up to wrap his arms around the overexcited spiker. The team collectively groaned as the two of them lay on the floor.

Daichi was thankful that both of them had forgiven him after what happened at the fair, and once he explained vaguely what happened, they both seemed more than willing to pretend like it never happened. As he watched them on the floor, Daichi felt his heart weirdly ache with longing. They were so happy together, which was saying something when Kageyama was involved. I could have had this. If I had just asked. Daichi pushed the thoughts down, glancing briefly over towards Suga’s bench, only to look away fast when he made an illusion of eye contact. He knew Suga couldn’t see him, and that his eyes weren’t focused, but it had sure felt like eye contact.
For the rest of practice, his mind was completely split in half between thinking about volleyball and thinking about the beautiful setter sitting against the wall, calling out cheers that sounded to be about half as peppy as usual. Even when he received one of Yamaguchi’s patented float serves perfectly, he couldn’t bring himself to be excited beyond a casual smile as he was congratulated. By the time he was in the locker room changing into his school uniform, his mind was racing. Am I still supposed to escort him? He brought the cane. He clearly doesn’t want me. But the school asked me to, right? But if Suga doesn’t want me to, it’s not like I can force him.

Just as he was trying to figure out what to do, he felt a large hand grasp onto his shoulder. He turned to face Asahi, whose face was uneasy, which wasn't unusual for the ace, but it was more of a protective nervousness.

“He doesn't want me helping him,” Asahi said, as if reading Daichi’s mind. “He said he wants to be independent.”

The captain smiled, straining. “That's good for him, Asahi. He doesn't need me.”

“Shut up.” The quick snap caught Daichi’s attention, considering who it was coming from. The captain looked up, looking into Asahi’s eyes directly. When he did, he noticed the look in the usually gentle man’s eyes. It was the same as whenever the ace was going in for a big spike, or when some idiot from another team made a derogatory comment about Nishinoya. It was determination, and anger. “You and I both know there’s no way in hell he’s going to make it to all of the right classes on time. I doubt he’s been paying attention to routes when he’s been walking with you. I don’t know exactly what happened between you two, and I don’t really care because I know that no matter what it was, it wasn’t bad enough that you don’t care about him.”

Daichi didn’t know what to say for a moment, staring at Asahi in shock. Then, he quickly regained his composure and sent a telling glare back at the ace.

“He doesn’t want my help,” the captain said. “It doesn’t matter how much I care.”

“I didn’t say you had to offer to escort him. Just stay close and make sure he stays on track,” Asahi clarified, his face shrinking back to normal. “I know he thinks he’s got it down but he doesn’t like the cane and really isn’t that great with it.”

Just do it. You know you’re going to. “Fine.”

As Asahi turned to walk away, Daichi thought back to the argument with Suga. “What happens when I’m not blind anymore?”

“Asahi,” the captain said softly, catching the ace’s attention. “He only has a month and half left, right?”

Asahi nodded. “A little less I think. And there isn’t a definitive date, it’s whenever the doctor thinks the damage has thinned enough to do a very small and affordable operation to fix it completely.”

“And what happens then?”

Asahi’s face twitched with confusion for a second, then he regained composure. “Then he can see, Daichi. And it’ll be that much harder to ignore whatever’s going on between you two.”

The ace walked away then, leaving Daichi standing dumbfound and alone, his mind racing with millions of different thoughts all at once. He pulled on his clothes slowly, trying to lengthen the amount of time he had before he had to go to his classes. There was no way he was going to be able to focus, anyway.

It wasn’t that he was necessarily mad at Suga, in fact his emotions felt like they were skirting into every other label that surrounded “mad”. He was frustrated that Suga didn’t trust him enough to tell him what happened, but the captain was also upset with himself for trying to push the setter to talk about something that he clearly didn’t want to talk about. But that shouldn’t matter right? He has to know that nothing can work out if he doesn’t tell me. Maybe he doesn’t want it to work out. The thought stiffened Daichi’s spine as he left the empty gym, as if Suga was there saying it to him even though the blind man was nowhere in sight. Daichi bit his lip. You were going to ask him to be your boyfriend. He would have said no. He stopped biting as he felt the coppery taste of blood hit his tongue, and reached a hand up to swipe the blood off his lip. He felt a sting as his fingers grazed over the cut in his lip. Besides, you’ve only known him for what? A month and a half? It’s been weeks since he kissed you. You were just friends. Why would you even ask him?

Daichi let out an angry huff as he turned the corner to get to his first class, trying to stop himself from falling any further into his thoughts. Yet, walking into the class, he couldn’t help but immediately flick his eyes toward Suga’s seat to check if he was there. An uneasy feeling spread through Daichi when he saw the empty seat. He quickly checked the clock. Only three minutes left before class.

Oh no. Daichi sat down, mentally chastising himself for the feeling. It was completely possible for Suga to be running late, and to walk in within the next three minutes. Why do you even care, anyway? He doesn’t want your help, so he can accept the consequences. You shouldn’t care. Even as he thought it, Daichi knew that it wasn’t true. Trying to distract himself, he pulled out his notes to try and get ready for the class. It didn’t work, because then he just thought about how he wouldn’t be able to listen to the lectures with Suga anymore, so he would have to put more effort into his notes. It stung his stomach to think about it, so he just clenched his fist and stayed still as the bell rang for class.

He glanced over to the seat casually. No Suga.

Uneasiness spread through his body with more vigor now, and he found himself glancing towards the door every few minutes. He knew Suga was at school; he had just seen him. So where is he? Guilt flooded through the captain. Should I have followed him to make sure he got here? No, he left before me, I couldn’t have. Yet still, Daichi felt uneasy.

“Good morning,” the teacher said, standing at her desk to address the class. She pulled out a small clipboard, starting to take roll. She read the names of the list quietly, glancing up to see if each person was there. After hearing a small “Sugawara”, she looked up and her eyes slightly widened at the empty seat.

“Where is Sugawara-san?” She asked the class. Everyone responded with shrugs or silence, until finally the teacher’s eyes landed on Daichi. There was no way she hadn’t noticed the captain and Suga walking in and out of every class period together.

“Daichi-san? Is Sugawara here today?” She asked, and discomfort rushed Daichi’s spine as it felt like the whole class turned to look at him.

“I-I’m not sure. He was at practice,” the captain responded nervously, fully aware of the question that would inevitably be coming next.

“Are you not escorting him, Daichi?” Her tone was accusatory, causing Daichi to flinch in his seat and take a shaky breath, trying to keep himself composed.

“He...asked me not-”

His answer was broken off by the opening of the classroom door, followed by the appearance of a familiar silver-haired man with a bright flush on his face and his cane in the process of being folded in his hands. The attention was quickly turned off Daichi, and the captain was thankful for it.

“My apologies, sensai,” the blind man said, and the sound of the voice sent a pang of longing and guilt through Daichi’s body. “I think I took a wrong turn.”

“It’s no issue, Sugawara,” the teacher quickly responded, stepping back to allow for Suga to go to his desk. “Though, I must ask why you’re not with Sawamura-san.”

Daichi felt himself stiffen at the same time as he saw Suga do the same. If anything, Suga’s back noticeably straightened to the point where there was no way that the rest of the class didn’t notice. Then, he relaxed. “I’ve decided to use my cane from now on. But I do thank you on the school’s behalf for asking Daichi-san to help me up until this time.”

The teacher sighed, her face clearly displeased with his words. “Of course it is your choice, though I highly suggest you remember that being late to classes will not be forgivable past today.”

“Of course, sensai. I’ll remember from now on,” Suga said, turning on the kind charm that had Daichi breathing heavily in his chair. “Tommorow, I’ll turn left instead of right into a wall.”

The teacher’s face relaxed into a soft smile, and assorted giggles rolled through the class.  

As the lesson started, Daichi found himself almost incapable of focusing on anything the teacher was saying because his find could think of so many other things: the Seijou practice match coming up in less than a week, Suga, the first years needed to tighten up their block, and stop running into each other half the time, Suga, Daichi needed to do his laundry when he got home, Suga, his dad was probably worried about him and he’d have to explain that, Suga, he suddenly had a lot of free time on his hands, and Suga.  Too much on his mind to focus on whatever x y z linear programming drabble that the teacher was spouting. He felt the same way throughout the whole day, moving from class to class like a mindless zombie. The only break in thought was between the classes, when he trailed behind Suga by a few feet, as if just by walking near the blind man would stop him from going to wrong way. Oddly, it seemed that every time Suga almost went into the wrong door, he stopped at the last second and moved to the right one.

When it became time for afternoon practice, Daichi welcomed the distraction happily as he changed in the club room. Without having to bring Suga, he was able to get there faster than normal and was already halfway through changing before the first of the team stumbled through the doors.

“Daichi-san!” Noya’s bubbling voice permeated through the calm air, striking Daichi’s ears hard but not unwelcome.

“Hey, Noya,” Daichi responded, pausing his dressing for a moment to respond to the libero. As he pulled his shirt over his head, he looked up to see the tiny second-year looking at him oddly, his head tilted to the side like he was studying the captain. A chill went down Daichi’s spine, and his brows furrowed with confusion. He’d never seen Noya stand still for very long, much less in silence. “Ah, Noya?”

“Why do you look like your dog died?” The libero’s question caught Daichi by surprise, and the captain looked at him for a moment before gathering his words. “What?” he asked.

“Your face is all,” Noya paused, tapping his chin. Then, he twisted his face weirdly so it turned down at all possible points, in a kind of exaggerated “sad” expression. “All sad. I’m asking why.”

“I’m fine, Noya,” Daichi said quickly, trying to brush it off. Obviously the club had seen him and Suga walk in separately, and not talk to each other, and not walk out together, but he didn’t want to recount the night to them and didn't feel obligated to do so. The club was open with each other, sure, but this was another thing altogether. Daichi was the captain. He wasn’t supposed to be lusting for one of his players, and he definitely didn’t need everyone knowing how much he’d messed up.

“You’re not,” Noya responded quickly. “I’m not stupid.”

“I didn’t say you were.”

“Then don’t treat me like I am. What happened?” The aggression from Nishinoya was surprising, but not enough to crack Daichi.

“Hard weekend. Not enough sleep. The usual third-year problems,” Daichi said, and the answer seemed to pacify the libero for all of five seconds before he narrowed his eyes again at the captain.

“Liar. Something happened at the festival. Hinata can’t keep his mouth shut, and you know it.”

“Noya, I really don’t want to talk about it, okay?” Daichi said, sending his tiny kouhai an aggravated look. “So, can it just drop?”

Noya sighed, his eyes still narrow. “Fine, but if you perform at anything less than your Daichi peak, I’m going to climb onto your back and not leave until you spill it.”

“That doesn’t sound particularly threatening, if I’m being honest,” the captain laughed.

“Try asking Asahi. You’d be surprised how heavy I get after five hours.”

“Five hours ?”

“He said he didn’t want to tell me his birthday because he didn’t want a party. I simply told him that we could do it the easy way or the hard way and the next thing I knew I was on his back for five hours, thirty seven minutes and twelve seconds.” The libero seemed oddly proud of knowing the exact timing of his escapade, a considerable feat when compared to his math scores.

“You truly are a little monster,” Daichi laughed as he walked towards the door, his laugh deepening when he saw Noya sticking his tongue out at the captain.

As he walked outside, he could hear shouting and looked over to see some familiar idiots running down the hall at top speed. Stepping aside with a sigh to let them pass, Daichi watched carefully to see who tagged the door first. It was always a competition.

“Who was it?” Hinata asked, folding over and breathing heavily. Kageyama looked less tired, but the thin sheen on sweat on his forehead proved otherwise.

“Kageyama got it first,” Daichi admitted, shooting a sympathetic look to the spiker.

“Oh, come on! I thought I had it!” Hinata lamented, dropping his arms by his side exaggeratedly. “I wanted the prize…”

Daichi raised an eyebrow, then watched Kageyama turn towards Hinata expectantly. “My prize, dumbass.”

Hinata rolled his eyes, not looking particularly upset as he leaned up on his tiptoes to plant a kiss on Kageyama’s cheek, which immediately turned pink under the pressure.

“You guys are too much,” Daichi chuckled, but deep down his heart felt a pang watching the events unfold. Kageyama and Hinata hadn't been together for that long, maybe a few months, but it was so obvious that they cared for each other. They fought all the time, probably more than they got along, but somehow they always bounced back the next day with glowing faces.

“Can I ask you guys a question?” The words slipped out before Daichi had a chance to stop himself, and he very well couldn’t walk away from it once the two first years turned to their captain with questioning looks. Hinata even looked eager to help as he nodded his orange head vigorously. Stuck with his mistake, Daichi thought about how he wanted to phrase the question in his head.

Releasing a deep breath, he spoke. “You two yell at each other all the time and still like each other, and are in a functioning relationship. How?”

The blunt question obviously took the spiker and setter by surprise, because they both stood completely still for a moment without speaking, which for Hinata was the equivalent of dying. Then, Kageyama spoke. “Because we both know that we’re yelling because we like each other. If he’s being a dumbass, I’ll tell him he’s being a dumbass. If I’m...holding back or...being...egocentric, he tells me.” The words towards the end almost sounded like a struggle, which Daichi saw bring a tiny little smile to Hinata’s face. The spiker spoke next. “Plus I can’t be that mad at him because he makes my heart go all whoosh and it doesn’t do that for any of you guys, no offense. Even if he messes up bad, we just talk it out because it’s better than being all blah at each other. We both know it’s mostly joking, and it works for us. It’s the best.”

Hinata’s comments had brought a prominent flush to Kageyama’s cheeks, who had subconsciously draped an arm around the spiker’s shoulders and drawn him in closer to his side, muttering, “D-dumbass.”

“You’re asking because of Suga-san, aren’t you?” Hinata, ever-perceptive, asked carefully. He leaned in closer to Kageyama as he asked it, as if he was worried Daichi would yell at him again like at the festival. Obviously, Daichi had no intention of doing that.

“Not- I mean- not necessarily,” Daichi started, but the complacently suspicious look on Hinata’s face caused the captain to sigh with a smile. “Maybe. First Noya, now you guys. I swear, people can see straight through me today.”

“It’s not hard,” Kageyama said, his thumb slowly rubbing circles on Hinata’s shoulder. It was a sure sign that he wasn’t comfortable with what he was saying. “Your face is all…” The setter trailed off, trying to find the correct word.

“ Oomph ,” Hinata supplied, twisting his face into a hyperbolic expression. “Your face is all oomph. ”

Kageyama considered the word for a second, his face curled in contemplation, before nodding and muttering “ oomph” in agreement.

“What does oomph mean exactly?” Daichi asked, half trying to entertain the ideas of his kouhai, and half curious about what this mysterious expression he apparently had was.

“It’s like sad,” Hinata explained, his own face changing sporadically as he tried to come up with the right words. “But it’s more... oomph y, I think. You look like you got lost in a store without your parents, and don’t know what to do.”

The captain couldn’t help but smile. “That’s oddly specific.”

“It’s accurate,” Kageyama added. “Except you didn’t lose your parents. You lost your Sugawara-san.”

At that, Daichi’s spine went rigid. “He wasn’t my Sugawara-san. We were just friends, and we had a fight.”

Both first-years adopted narrowed eyes and smirks very quickly, and their matching faces were more startling than anything. Identical.

“Go change,” Daichi said, quickly walking past the couple and pretending to ignore the stifled laugh from Hinata followed by a quiet “boke” from Kageyama. The captain kept walking until he reached the gym, which was thankfully still quiet since the rowdiest members of the team were still changing in the club room. The only people in the gym were the tame second-years and Asahi. Without looking, Daichi knew that if Asahi was in the gym, a certain spectator was sure to be sitting on his regular bench. Yet, he couldn’t help but look. His heart let out a sharp throb when he saw the trademark silver hair poking out from the front a black hood, with the fair-skinned owner looking desperately tired, his chin touching his chest and his eyes closed. His arms were crossed over his chest as he slept, rising and falling with every breath. Daichi knew he should look away, but he couldn’t help but stare at the beautiful human being sitting on that bench.

“Don’t you dare wake him up.” The captain turned to see Asahi standing there, a wary look in his eye as he stared down the captain. “He barely slept over the weekend, and his mom is going to kill me if I return her son in a sleep deprived state.”

“Woah,” Daichi said, putting his hands up in surrender. “I wasn’t planning on going near him.”

Asahi looked at the captain for a second, then released a deep breath. “Sorry, I just don’t want his mom to get mad. She’s scary when she’s mad.”

“I haven’t seen her mad,” Daichi said without thinking. Every time he had met Sugawara-san, it had always been either in passing or over dinner, and was pleasant. But, even then, he could tell that she was fiercely protective of her son.

“Lucky,” Asahi said, and then a loud slamming sound as the gym door came open diverted both of the third-year’s attention. The rest of the club came running in excitedly, except for Tsukishima and Kageyama who calmly walked in while being dragged by Yamaguchi and Hinata respectively. The loud sound was followed by a small “hhuhmm” from the bench, and the two third-years looked over in horror to see Suga jolted awake, his big hazel eyes blinking heavily with confusion as the black hood fell off of his head when he moved. I’ve never even seen him wear a hoodie .

“Oh no,” Asahi muttered, before quickly jogging over to Suga and saying something that Daichi couldn’t hear. The setter seemed to settle down a bit, leaning back against the gym wall as Asahi pulled the hood back up. After firmly patting the blind man on the back, Asahi ran back over to the captain. “He’s fine. I told him to just sleep.”

Daichi nodded, his mind zoning out for a second, before he remembered that he was supposed to be giving instructions to and/or yelling at his kouhai. “Hey! Circle up for stretches!”

The rest of practice went by without much of an event, besides a crazy spike from Hinata going haywire and almost hitting the slumbering setter on the sidelines. That had resulted in several gasps and even a small squeaking scream from the spiker himself, who was obviously terrified of being the first to hit Suga. Somehow, throughout the entirety of the season since Suga had arrived, nobody had hit him. There had been several close calls, and even a few times that Daichi or Asahi had had to fend away a rogue ball, but none had hit him. It was honestly a miracle, considering how crazy and unique Karasuno’s players and hits were.

By the time practice was over, most of the club was beyond exhausted from the running that Ukai had decided would be good for them. Full court suicides were the absolute worst, and yet they had done seven before they finally stopped; it may or may not have had something to do with certain players deciding to sabotage the drill by screaming loudly every time they leaned down to touch the line. For such small people, Noya and Hinata were surprisingly capable of screaming loud, but Tanaka’s vocal chords were no surprise. In the end, even the ever-persistent Ukai couldn’t hold out against the shrieks and let them stop and go get changed.

Daichi took his time, going to a section of the locker room that nobody ever used and slowly changing into sweatpants and a new shirt. He wanted to elongate the process, so that hopefully Asahi would have taken Suga out by the time the captain left. A little piece of Daichi hoped that Suga was still asleep, and Asahi could just carry him out to the car and then inside his house, letting the setter get the sleep he deserved through all of it. Daichi knew why Suga hadn’t slept, because it was the same reason why Daichi hadn’t. The blind man deserved the sleep. As he finally pulled on his shirt, Daichi heard the door shut for the fifth time, which meant that everyone else was probably gone. Sighing, the captain pulled his bag onto his shoulder and started his walk outside. As soon as he left his small section, he heard a small sound and immediately stopped in his tracks. It sounded like fabric rubbing against fabric, and it was followed by the sound of a heavy gasp. Daichi’s eyes widened, because he wasn’t an idiot and he figured he knew what sounds like that meant. His only question was: who?

He had definitely heard Kageyama and Hinata leave, since it was hard to miss the excited spiker talking about how his boyfriend owed him food.  If it wasn’t them...who?

Unfortunately, the door was on the other side of the noises, so there was no way he could walk out of the locker room without getting a glimpse of whoever it was. He tried to walk as quietly as he could, internally betting with himself as to who he would see when he-

“Ah! Tsukki!”

Daichi froze mid-step, his question completely answered by that one voice. Yamaguchi and Tsukishima. Oh. My. Gosh. It wasn’t like it was unexpected, and Daichi wasn’t surprised, but at the same time he didn’t know how he was supposed to get out of the locker room when Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were almost certainly making out near the door. He could try to wait it out, but he didn’t know how long it would last and if the sun set before he got outside, Daichi would have to walk home in the dark. The captain needed to get out as soon as possible.

If he was quick, he could jump past the section where the first-years were and take cover behind a locker before he got out the door. It would only leave him with a few seconds of being within eyesight of the...couple? With his plan in mind, Daichi crept as close as he could to the sounds without being visible. All he had to do was jump about eight feet forward and he could take cover again behind a different set of lockers. Unfortunately, Daichi could not jump eight feet forward without a solid running start, which wasn’t possible. So, he would just have to abandon the jumping idea and silently run as quickly as he could. After silently counting down, he went for it, glancing to the side quickly to assess the situation because obviously he had to. And when he did he saw that he didn’t have to worry about being seen because the first years were on a bench, laying down, with Yamaguchi on the bottom, and both of their heads were facing away from where Daichi was again frozen. The captain confirmed that yes, they were definitely making out. Not only that, but it was obvious that Tsukishima’s knee was bent, pushed up between Yamaguchi’s slightly parted legs, and the blonde’s hands were gripping the sides of the pinch server’s face. When their lips parted, and Yamaguchi muttered “Tsukki” again, Daichi was snapped back to reality and quickly retreated from the locker room, closing the door as silently as possible.

Once he was standing in the gym, the captain released a heavy breath and then tried to keep himself quiet as his body shook with silent laughter. Oh my gosh. He couldn’t believe it. Well, he actually could believe it because most people thought the two first-years were practically dating anyway. But, he still couldn’t believe what he had seen. What am I supposed to do with this information? Who was he supposed to tell? Was he supposed to tell anyone? No, I can’t just tell anyone. I would have to talk to them about it first...how the hell do I talk to them about that? The captain shook his head, deciding he would deal with it tomorrow, and went out the gym doors without another sound.

The walk home seemed shorter than normal.

By the end of the week, Suga had pretty much gotten getting between his classes down to a science and he hadn’t gone to the wrong one except that first day. It also helped that he could totally hear somebody sucking in deep breaths a few feet behind him every time the setter went towards the wrong door. And, considering that it was between every single one of his classes, Suga was almost certain about the identity of the person. But, he wasn’t going to try and stop Daichi because in reality, those breaths were part of the reason why the setter hadn’t gone into the wrong class.

By the time he was eating lunch with Asahi on Friday, his mind was overwhelmed with anxiety about the practice game the next day. Talking to Oikawa was one thing, but going to Seijou blind was a completely different experience. He’d been talking to Oikawa nearly everyday since the weekend, and Suga had to admit that there was something incredibly comforting about having his best friend back in his life again. It wasn’t like he’d wanted to cut him out in the first place, but it had just been too hard for Suga. He hadn’t lied to Oikawa; wanting to get away from his past had been part of the reason. But the other part to it, the other reason why he had stayed away from Oikawa, was also the reason why he didn’t tell the police that he knew exactly who the attackers were. Suga knew if he told Oikawa that, the star setter would feel guilty and would make Suga tell the police. The blind man couldn’t tell Oikawa, even if it meant that Suga’s attackers stayed out of jail, as long as it meant keeping Oikawa and Iwaizumi safe. So, Suga kept his mouth shut about it.

Talking to his best friend was like coming home after a long trip: familiar and warm and comforting. It was always hilarious listening to his phone try and decipher Oikawa’s complicated emoticons, which always brightened Suga’s day, especially if he’d just come straight from school and practice. The only problem with Oikawa was that he seemed dead set on getting Suga to talk to Daichi, and that was something that the blind man couldn’t bring himself to do. He knew he was in the wrong, and Daichi was better off without him, honestly. So what if they’d kissed a few times and Suga had a warm feeling pool in his gut at the thought of Daichi’s fit body under his fingertips? It was always just going to be friendly, and Daichi deserved somebody who was stronger and better than Suga.

It was those kinds of thoughts that plagued Suga while he picked at his lunch, unable to choke down much more than the bread of his sandwich. He really just wasn’t hungry.

“You shouldn’t starve yourself,” Asahi’s voice cut in to the silent air between them, startling Suga for a moment before the setter just shrugged and put another small bite of bread in his mouth.

“I’m not very hungry,” he said, hoping that Asahi wouldn’t try and psychoanalyze the fact that he didn’t feel like eating. It wasn’t really a big deal. Suga heard the ace sigh, but he didn’t push the matter any further.

By the time afternoon practice was starting, Suga was starting to feel the effects of his abstinence from food. His stomach felt like an empty pit, weighing him down as he used his cane to maneuver into the gym and over to his regular bench. Even as he slumped down onto the wooden seat, his growling gut protested the movement loudly.

“You aren’t eating.” The voice of Ukai was one that Suga found particularly easy to discern from the others, probably because it was more mature and gruff. He sounded like an older brother, with a sense of familiarity, but also a kind of aggressive compassion that was very becoming for a coach.

Suga sighed, almost inaudible. “I haven't been hungry. It's probably just nerves about traveling tomorrow.”

“Traveling to Aoba Johsai?” Ukai asked, but it wasn't really a question. “It shouldn't be too long of a trip.”

“I guess not,” Suga said quietly, letting his voice trail off as he hears Ukai let out a heavy sigh.

“Daichi told me that you used to go to Seijou, Suga,” Ukai said, and Suga’s spine stiffened. Why would he do that? Oh, come on Suga, why would he not? There's no reason. You can't be mad at him. Ukai continued, “If you can't come with, nobody will think any less of you.”

Suga paused. In truth, he didn't want to go anywhere near Sejou. There was absolutely nothing good that could come from him going there except being with Oikawa and Iwaizumi again, and that would be so brief it didn’t balance out the other people from the Aoba Johsai team that he'd have to be near. No. You're not weak.

“N-no, it's fine,” Suga said, cursing himself for stuttering. “I might just- if it isn't trouble- ask Asahi to help me a bit if I need to leave the gym for any reason. Sejou is a big school, and I wouldn't want to trouble you if I got lost, and-”

“Suga, you're fine,” Ukai said calmly. “ Anyone on the team is more than willing to help you. Just remember that, okay?”

Suga nodded as he heard Ukai’s footsteps start to walk away, and then they stopped suddenly.

“Oh, hello,” Ukai’s voice said, sounding uneasy. There must be someone at the door, Suga assumed. “What can I help you with?”

“You must be the coach,” the voice said, and Suga recognized it so easily and quickly that his heard jumped straight out of his chest. “My name is Officer Miyamoto,” the gravelly cop said. “This is Officer Nakamura. I'm wondering if I could have a moment with one of your members. Sugawara Koushi?”

“Of course, he's right here,” Ukai said quickly, as if he were unnerved. “Suga?”

Knowing what was happening, Suga stood up slowly and walked towards the doors with his cane. More questions. There's always more.

“Hello, Sugawara. Do you mind if we pull you outside for a moment to answer a few questions? We've already talked with your mother,” the voice that Suga remembered as Officer Nakamura said, and Suga felt himself growing heavier with dread.

“Okay,” he said quietly and followed the officers out the doors using the walls to guide him. “This shouldn't take too long,” he said to Ukai before shutting the door.

The officers lead him over to what they said was a small table with some chairs, allowing him to sit in one of the chairs while they took up two of the seats across from him. Suga’s mind filled with dread, running his mind through his list. The list of things he needed to remember whenever he talked to officers.

No, officer, I never saw their faces.

No, nobody threatened me to lie.

No, they didn't seem like high school students.

No, when Oikawa came in, it scared them away and he didn't see either.

“We understand that you're going back to Aoba Johsai tomorrow with the volleyball club, Sugawara,” Nakamura said, his voice dripping with disapproval. Whatever. I don't care if he disapproves.

“I am,” Suga said, simply.

“Our investigation has hit a break-through, and it is now incredibly probable that the attackers were members of a team at the tournament,” Miyamoto said. “They could have been from Seijoi.”

“They couldn't have been,” Suga said, his voice calm despite the nerves that were coursing through his veins. “They were too strong to be high schoolers.”

“We can't stop you from going,” Miyamoto responded, basically ignoring was Suga had said, which annoyed the setter. “But we just want to warn you to stay with the team at all times.”

Suga fought the urge to roll his eyes. “These aren't questions. You said you had questions.”

After so many long days with these officers directly after the hospital, Suga felt comfortable with talking back a little bit. Still, he heard the two of them sigh, and then heard the telltale sound of them turning on their voice recorder.

“Can you explain to me again how you ended up in that broom closet?” Nakamura asked.

Suga sighed. I've been through this so many times. Thankfully, he'd been through it enough to have the lie memorized. “I was going to watch a different game, and I was walking alone since my friends were preparing to play their own game. I thought I heard a weird sound coming from the closet, so I stepped inside to check it out.”

“You said that Aobja Johsai was preparing for a game, correct?” Miyamoto asked, and Suga’s gut lurched at the question. The lack of food and the immense pressure of the interview was enough to have his stomach convulsing angrily.

“Yes,” Suga said, simply.

“So that would mean that they weren't playing at the time you went into the closet,” Nakamura asked. “They were still technically off the court.”

“Yes,” Suga answered, this time a little more tentatively. He could tell where this was going, and he already didn't like it.

“So it's possible that members from the team could have been the ones in the closet with you?” The officers question was obviously leading, and he clearly knew his answer already.

“It's possible. But I would have recognized their voices,” Suga answered. “I knew the team. If it had been any of them, I would have known.”

The officers didn't answer, and Suga heard them mumbling something between themselves for a second. His fingers had started absentmindedly tapping on the table, the sound growing unbearable loud while the officers conferred with each other.

“Is that all?” Suga asked, fully aware that that was not all, because they wouldn't have come all this way just to ask him two questions.

“Not quite,” Miyamoto said. “A few more things, and then you can go back to your practice.”

Suga braced himself for whatever was coming. So far, the questions hadn't been too invasive or startling, but the officers clearly hadn't come all the way to the school to ask easy questions. There had to be something else coming.

“We talked with Oikawa Tooru again,” Nakamura started, and Suga’s breath quickened. “He told us the same story that he's been telling us. The same one you've been telling us.”

Even though he felt like passing out, Suga took a deep breath. “Is that a problem?”

“If you're both telling the truth, it isn't,” Miyamoto said, his tone sounding accusatory.

“But based on what we've found, it makes the most sense that it was someone from Seijou who attacked you.”

It took Suga a second the figure out what the officer was trying to insinuate, and once he did, he immediately found energy and slapped a palm on the table. It wasn't just that he was angry; he was frustrated.

“It wasn't Oikawa!” The setter yells, his voice brimming with a kind of annoyed desperation. He felt so conflicted. I can't tell them who did it for Oikawa’s sake, but I can't tell them I have no idea because of Oikawa!

“Sugawara, if Oikawa-san has threatened you to lie, we can put him in custody for that as well.” Nakamura’s words legitimately scared Suga. The worst case scenario would be Oikawa in jail, but even just questioning Oikawa further could lead to bad consequences for everyone.

“No! Oikawa was the one who found me! He was the one who scared them away! If Oikawa hadn't come when he did, I'm not sure I would even be sitting here,” Suga said, his voice starting out loud and growing softer as he spoke. He heard a loud sigh, followed by the sound of chairs scraping across the ground.

“Thank you for your time,” Nakamura said. “Remember that if anything suspicious comes up at that practice game, you are to call us immediately.”

“I know,” Suga responded, sliding back his own chair. “Nothing will happen.”

Once the officers had brought Suga back to the door, they swiftly left to return to the station. They seemed in a rush, which Suga tried to brush aside.

Rather than opening the door, Suga stood outside, not really sure if he should enter. He could feel soft tears rolling down his cheeks, and he didn't necessarily want anyone to see him like that. However, being alone outside was starting to freak him out, and it was almost better to just deal with a few questions.

He pushed open the door, immediately to be greeted by the sounds of shouts and volleyballs. It was a sound that had become almost comforting to him after all this time; it was also the sound that he most desperately wanted to see the visuals for. Even if he hadn't played at Aoba Johsai, he had played in a league and had an avid appreciation for anybody who played the sport. He loved volleyball.

There was something nice about knowing that you had all of your friends on one side of the net, and the enemy all the way stuck on the other side. He didn't have to, like touch them or anything. Unless he was blocking, spiking, or dumping, he didn't have to interact with the other team at all. As he slipped along the wall to get to his bench, he heard a slight lull in sound, probably as the club took in his puffy eyes and tear streaked face. It wasn't as if the officers themselves had made Suga cry; he had done it to himself and he knew it.

If you didn't lie so many times….

If you had never gone to watch Karasuno…

If you weren't so scared all the time…

The thoughts were pushed away quickly by the feeling of a hand on his chin, pushing his head up while the setter tried in vain to keep it pointed down at the ground.

“Suga…” Asahi’s gentle voice broke through the newly found silence, sounding even more prominent to the blind setter. Immediately, Suga moved his head to the side so that his chin was free and pushed his head down so nobody would see his face.

“I'm fine,” he said quickly, his voice slightly muffled by how hard he was trying not to let any more tears fall. The last thing he needed was people thinking he was falling apart just a little over a month before he'd have to face them all. “It was just a few questions.”

“You're not fine,” the ace responded quickly. “I'm taking you home.”

“No,” Suga quickly protested. “They've asked questions before. I'm fine .”

It was obvious that Asahi didn't believe him, but then again what did Suga expect? Asahi had been his friend for years now and knew him better than anyone except Oikawa. If something was wrong with the blind man, Asahi could tell.

“Suga,” the ace said. “Practice is cut short for cleaning. I'd only be leaving forty-five minutes early. And they're perfecting Kageyama and Hinata’s quick anyway. I'd be fine to go.”

“ No,” Suga responded adamantly, turning his head away from the voice.

“ Koushi. ” Asahi said, and Suga felt a hand press on his shoulder. A shiver went through Suga’s spine, both from the touch and the use of his given name. He felt tears falling again, the shiver distracting him from holding them in. The setter was sure he looked like a mess, but it wasn't as if he could fix that. Instead, he resigned with a sigh and stood up shakily.

“You don't have to leave,” he said. “I'll just walk.”

“As if,” the ace snorted. Suga was vaguely aware that the sounds of volleyball had started up again, but he was more acutely aware of the silence of nobody calling the ball. They were playing, but as silently as possible. “Your mom would kill me.”

Suga wanted to protest, but he knew it was true. Besides, his mother would probably yell at him too if she found out he'd walked home alone so late at night. Still, he didn't want Asahi to leave practice early just because the blind man couldn't handle himself.

“Just wait until the end of practice, okay? Then I'll let you walk me home.”

Suga heard a snort. “Suga, I will absolutely just pick you up and carry you home if you make me.”

Resigned, the setter eventually agreed and waited on the bench for a few minutes while Asahi got changed and told Ukai where he was going. The coach had obviously seen Suga’s state, because he didn't protest and even noted that “some rest will do you both good”.

Once they were walking outside, with Suga's hand linked in the crook of Asahi’s elbow, the setter finally took the chance he had been waiting for since right after the police had warned him about going to Seijou.

“What's something that Daichi likes?” He asked quickly, as if that would make it less awkward. He wasn't sure exactly what about the encounter with the officers convinced him that he needed to fix whatever he had done with Daichi, but all he knew was that he needed to, immediately, as soon as possible.

“Why do you ask?” Asahi’s voice sounded curious, but underneath that there was a certain smugness that didn't suit the gentle giant. Nonetheless, Suga sighed.

“I want to...fix it,” he said carefully. “What I did...I just want to fix it.”

Asahi’s next sound was something between a sigh of relief and a groan. “ Finally, Suga! If I had to deal with your obvious angst for one more day…”

“Hey!” Suga protested, punching blindly at the thick arm he was holding. “Shut up and tell me something he likes that he wouldn't have told me.”

The chuckle from the ace was followed by a quiet “hmm” and then, “Classic American movies.”

“Huh?” Suga said quickly, shocked at the revelation. “So that means I can bring him-”

“Sugawara Koushi I swear, if you bring him that dumb movie.”

“It's my favorite, and Oikawa's. How could two people with such good taste be wrong?”

“I'm warning you, he's going to laugh.”

“That's better than silence.”

With his mind set on a mission, Suga returned home only to grab a DVD case and then immediately leave again, with a much more important destination in mind.

-

Daichi expected a lot of things in his life, especially once he'd resigned to the fact that Suga must hate him.

He expected that school would be terrible; everyday would just be a constant reminder that he wasn’t enjoying himself anymore and his tests weren’t going as well since he’d stopped listening to lectures. It was bad enough that he had lost his constant companion in between classes, but now he was starting to have classmates asking him questions and there was nothing he wanted to do less than answer them.

He expected that his father would be working late almost every night, and it wasn’t worth it anymore to bring home food for them. It would just go cold, and there wasn’t a point wasting money. Daichi knew that it wasn’t his father’s fault that work seemed to go later and later into the night; it was important for him to work that many hours in order to support both himself and his son. Yet, Daichi still missed having his father around.

He expected that the volleyball team would give him those awkward glances, and he would have to pretend like everything was okay because he was the captain and it was his job. The only person who really understood the situation was Asahi, and the ace had made it clear to him that he didn’t want to be involved in the conflict, and supported both sides.

There were so many things that Daichi expected in his life, and it had forced him into a kind of monotonous daily schedule.

But he had expected that.

But this was one thing that he had never expected.

He had left practice later than everyone else, to make sure that everything was set for the janitor to clean, and the drive home felt just as lonely and empty as it had for the past week. He hated it.

Then, he’d gotten out of his car, and he’d seen the figure on the steps of his house. At first, he was wary, but then he recognized the silver hair, and the white cane propped up next to him.

Daichi expected many things.

But he did not expect Sugawara Koushi to be sitting on his doorstep, clutching a DVD copy of Gattaca and seemingly waiting for something to happen. His head poked up when he heard footsteps.

“Daichi?” A nervous voice asked, and the underlying fear made Daichi want to wrap his arms around the setter, but he held himself back. This person had hurt him.

“What are you doing here?” Daichi asked, not unkindly, but definitely with an edge.

The corners of Suga’s lips twitched as he was reassured that it was in fact Daichi, but then the look of nervousness recaptured his features. He let out a deep sigh.

“I need to tell you.”

He wasn’t even sure that Daichi would agree to it, which was why Suga was still getting over his surprise when the captain brought him inside and sat him on the couch, silently making tea and placing the hot mug in the setter’s hands. Then, he heard Daichi settle onto the other side of the couch. “So?” The captain said, clearly not in the mood to prolong this discussion. Suga understood completely; after all, he had shown up at his night and sat on his doorstep without calling ahead or elaborating beyond “I need to tell you.” His mind was screaming, but the setter pushed all of the negative thoughts down, trying to fight through it so he could get this done.

“I want to say it all at once,” the blind man said carefully. “If I stop, just make me keep going.”

“You make it sound like a lecture,” the captain responded, but then shut his mouth. “Okay. Whenever you’re comfortable.”

“If I don’t say it now,” the setter said. “I’ll never go through with it.” He was clearly talking to himself more than Daichi, but he still tried to aim his face in the captain’s general direction.

“I didn’t lie about going to Seijou. And I know I lied about Oikawa, but it’s just really complicated about him, and I promise that I’m going to try to explain it from the beginning. I’m just not...no...I can do it. This is stupid. I’m being stupid,” Suga began, and the blind man could already tell that this was going to be rough and terrible and would probably end poorly. Nonetheless, he took a sigh and began.

“A little over half a year ago, I figured out that I was gay, and the only person that I told at first was Oikawa, because he was my best friend. I was shocked to find out that he was bi, and was dating Iwaizumi. He told me it was my choice to be public about it, but advised me against it. Not everyone at Seijou was homophobic trash, but there were just a few key people who were, and that was enough for me, so I stayed quiet about it. That was around the time that I started hanging out with the volleyball club more. I didn’t join because it was too late at that point, but Oikawa still begged me to come to all of his games and I did so happily. I got closer with the team, and I felt pretty comfortable with enough of them that I kind of dropped my guard. And one day, I was talking with all of them and I mentioned that I was talking to this guy that I’d met online, and I didn’t really think about what I was saying.” Suga paused, clearly out of breath. He wasn’t talking fast, but it was clear that he was trying to get through that part quickly. He couldn’t see Daichi’s reaction, but the captain stayed silent, which prompted him to continue.

“Some of the guys on the team...they weren’t exactly open to the idea that I was gay. Especially since I wasn’t a ‘real member of the club’. They had started talking about all sorts of stuff. ‘Putting me in my place’ and ‘teaching me a lesson’ and whatnot. I didn’t take it too seriously, because I figured that they couldn’t really do anything anyway. But I still talked to Oikawa about it, and I was still worried.” Another pause.

“Do you remember that practice tournament earlier this year? The one at Seijou with way too many theatrics for a volleyball tournament?”

“Yeah,” Daichi responded quickly. “We barely scraped by. It was kind of embarassing.”

Suga let out a small, barely-there laugh. “Well, I went to support Oikawa. But, then I heard about Karasuno from another spectator, and I wanted to take a look. Even though we weren’t really worried, Oikawa still tried to come with me or send Iwaizumi, but I convinced him I would be fine. But he still asked me to text him when I got there. Spoiler alert, I never did.”

The twisted humor clearly bothered Daichi, if the small grunt was to be interpreted. Suga ignored it, especially since he was getting to the part of the story that he hadn’t even told the police, and some parts of it even Oikawa didn’t know.

“That’s not exactly true. I made it to Karasuno’s game, and watched for a few serves, but some kid spilled a little of his food on me, and I went to the bathroom to clean up. I guess I just forgot to text Oikawa. On my way to the bathroom, I ran into two members from the Seijou team, and at first I was friendly. I asked them if they were worried about missing the game, and they said they had taken a sick leave for ‘sore stomachs’. That was when I knew something was wrong, so I just tried to walk past them. Next thing I knew, they had just grabbed me and pulled me into some side closet, probably the janitors. I didn’t really know what was happening, so I didn’t try to fight back or anything at first.”

Suga’s voice was starting to crack, and he could feel the tears starting to boil behind his eyes. He had never said this out loud ever. If Daichi wanted to help, he didn’t. Suga didn’t hear any movement. So, he kept going.

“I didn’t know what was happening until they pushed be over and started hitting me. And it hurt so much, but I couldn’t do anything. I was even more frail and thin than I am now, and they were both pretty fit from playing volleyball. No matter what I did, there was just another fist there to hit me, and all I could do was try and yell for help. They told me to shut up, and started saying about how it was all for my own good. That being gay could be fixed if I just put enough effort into it. Then, one of them got a really hard hit to my face, and I started to almost lose consciousness. I don’t know how I stood up, but I was suddenly on my feet and I tried to back away from them. Then, one of them laughed and just pushed me further away. I didn’t understand why until I felt just...the worst pain imaginable Daichi. There had been outdoor nets sitting on the shelves, the kind with the pointed ends to drive into the ground, and they were metal. I was pushed straight into them, and one went through the back of my shoulder and the other went into the back of my stomach, kind of my abdomen? And then one went in near my ear, but not as far. It just skimmed. You saw the scars. After that, I couldn’t move. I managed to step forward so I wasn’t being...impaled anymore…” Suga’s words broke off, finally hindered by his choking sobs. He felt pressure on the other end of the couch, and knew that Daichi must have shifted. But he still wasn’t touching the setter.

“They just hit me more and more and more.” Another sob. “I felt so helpless. But I knew that I knew who they were, and they were going to get jail for it. Then, they pulled out their phone and they showed me these pictures of…” More sobbing. “It was Oikawa and Iwaizumi, and they were...together. Very much so. I couldn’t seem much from the pictures, but they definitely didn’t have clothes on. The people attacking me said that if I-if I told anyone, they would share those pictures. And I knew I couldn’t do that to Oikawa, so I just felt more helpless because I couldn’t do anything.”

Suga took a deep breath. This was the part that he hated the most.

“Then, they said ‘I don’t think you learned your lesson, fag’, and they hit me down so I was on my knees. They pulled off my shirt...somewhere in that time. All I remember is just seeing how much fucking blood was on my shirt. They said, ‘if you’re going to be a fag, might as well be useful’. I just remember...they started...I panicked and I screamed as loud as I could. Then, I just kept my mouth closed. I knew if I could just keep my mouth closed, they couldn’t...I just kept it shut. One of them...they held my nose, and I couldn’t breathe. And I had to open my mouth, and one of them just...I thought I was going to die. I thought I was going to gag and die and my back was still bleeding and I didn’t know what to do, Daichi. Then the the door opened and Oikawa was there. He’d come looking when I didn’t text him.”

Suga paused. The tears were making it hard to talk, even if he hid it well. For some reason, he felt calmer than he thought he ever would have been. But, he was still halfway to a panic attack.

“They pushed past him, whispered something, then left the room. Oikawa called the police, and I just remember begging him to keep shut about who it was. He didn’t understand, but he was my friend. So he stayed silent as long as I wanted,” Suga said. “The police still don’t know who. But today they...they tried to blame Oikawa. And now I don’t know what to do. And I just can’t handle you being mad at me and Oikawa going through that and I don’t want to lose all my friends and we have to go there tomorrow and I’m going to know I’m near them and-”

He was cut off my a desperate gasp, and then the feeling of strong, familiar biceps wrapped around him as he shook. As soon as those arms were around him, he realized that he was shaking more than he thought be had been. There were hands clawing at his back, as if trying to pull him in as close as possible, wrapping him so tight that the setter wasn’t even able to breathe for a moment.

“Daichi-”

“I’m so sorry,” the desperate voice whispered. “I’m so so so fucking sorry, Suga. I was so stupid. I shouldn’t have tried to get you to tell me. I’m so stupid. I’m so sorry.”

Suga didn't move for a second. After being apart from Daichi for a week now, it felt bizarre to suddenly be in his arms. Then, the bubble broke and he started sobbing, his head pressed deep into the crook of Daichi’s neck. The setter felt something wet hit his forehead when he raised his head, and his eyes grew wide as he heard the sound the captain was making.

“Are you crying?” The blind man asked quietly, still trying to be cautious.

“Yes, I'm fucking crying, Suga,” the captain's voice responded, sounding both utterly destroyed and a little annoyed. “Because I'm still so mad about what you said at the fair and it hurt so much but I also can't help but want to castrate the assholes who did that to you. So I'm very confused and I don't think I've ever cussed this much before. Fuck.”

The grip around the setter tightened, before releasing and allowing Suga to rock backwards so he was sitting up on his own accord again. He immediately missed the warmth that had been there in that embrace, but he didn't want to push anything right now.

“We need to talk it out,” Daichi’s voice finally came. “Because as much as that means to me that you told me, it doesn't fix all of our problems.”

Suga stayed silent, because he knew exactly what Daichi was talking about. I won't need you.

“I do need you,” Suga said quickly. “And I will need you. Even when I can see again.”

“Are you sure about that?” Daichi responded, insecurity lacing his tone. “You won't have to rely on anyone, so why wouldn't you make friends outside of the club and then forget me?”

Suga’s breathing made a strangling cry sound, and he leaned forward to press his finger into Daichi’s chest. “Because I wouldn't have made it this far without you! I would stay with you because I want you and I want the club! Did you see me kissing some other captain and cuddling on my bed? No, Daichi, because I wanted to do that with you!”

He couldn't see the captains face, but Suga was sure that the raise in his voice had done its job.

“What if you can see and you realize that I'm not good enough?” Daichi’s question is soft, hinging on inaudible, but it sends a shock up Suga’s spine.

“That would never happen. I don't care about what you look like or anyone else helping me. I want you.”

Daichi’s sharp intake of breath is telling, but it still leaves Suga wary. “So, do you want me to help you again? It's fine if you don't want it, but-”

“Yes, I want your help. I would have gone into the wrong class at least a million times if it wasn't for a certain someone walking behind me and gasping like a little girl whenever I went near the wrong door,” Suga said, his lips quirking up into a subtle smirk.

Daichi again waited to respond, and Suga could only imagine that there had to be a blush on the captain’s face. Not that the blind man was able to picture that exactly.

“I did not-”

“You absolutely did,” Suga responded quickly, his smile growing wider. “But it was cute-I mean it was fine- I mean I would have gone into the wrong room if you hadn’t! So I guess...thank you?” Suga’s voice had immediately increased in pitch after he'd said “cute”, which was not missed by Daichi.

“Cute, huh?” The captain said, clearly trying to sound smug but ending up just sounding nervously excited.

“Sawamura Daichi, I can confidently say without even seeing you that you are the cutest human being I have ever encountered,” the setter responded, his cheeks flushing despite the confidence in his words. He was met again by momentary silence. Then, “Suga, can I hug you again?”

Suga had barely nodded before he felt those biceps wrapped around him and oh my gosh it was enough to make him melt right there. He missed this so much; not that he would ever admit just how much. They stayed like that for an unidentifiable amount of time, neither of them saying anything because they didn't need to. This was enough, and they both knew it.

Finally, Suga heard the captain's soft voice, and still they did not separate. “Did you ever have an actual boyfriend at Seijou?”

Suga stiffened a little, but Daichi didn't let go.

“Huh? Why?” The setter finally said.

“Oh-I-uh,” Daichi responded, and Suga didn't need to see to know that the captain was blushing. “I was just-I just wondered because I-uhm” -Suga heard him gulp loudly- “Iwasgoingtoaskyouatthefairtobemine.”

“What?!” They finally separated as Suga jumped upwards, his mind overloaded with the implications of those words. He was going to ask me to be...his boyfriend? He was going to...oh no and then I messed it up. It's not like I want to...but I do. Who am I kidding? I want to. I want to so badly.

“It was stupid, I know,” Daichi said. “We've only known each other for a little while, but I was just...I just wanted to be more with you I guess. I know that's kind of dumb.”

Suga was silent for a second, his mind whirring. Then, “Why don’t you ask now?”

Silence. Why is there so much silence?

“Why don't I…” Daichi repeated as if in shock.

“You don't have to!” Suga immediately said. “I'm sorry, I know you're mad. I shouldn't have suggested-”

“Sugawara Koushi,” Daichi said, his voice just gruff enough to make Suga shut up. “Would you do me the honor of being my boyfriend?”

Suga paused, tapping his chin in an exaggerated thinking motion, resulting in an exasperated sigh from Daichi. Instead of answering, Suga just put his hands forward, found Daichi’s face, and found his lips with his thumbs. Then he launched forward until Daichi was beneath him, enveloping the captain’s quick gasp with his mouth. This kiss wasn't anything like the past ones. There was nothing tentative or nervous about it. It was just soft and warm and perfect. They separated sooner than they would have liked, but Suga wanted to make sure he got his point across.

“That's a yes, in case you were wondering.”

He felt Daichi laugh underneath him, and then they laid in silence for a little while longer.

“Why does it feel like nothing changed?” Daichi’s voice finally came through.

“Huh?” Suga asked, confused.

“It feels like it's a week ago. I feel like I did then. I'm not mad at you, and I don't think you're broken like you said I would. I just feel like I want to stay with you,” the captain responded. “Is that bad?”

“You shouldn't forgive me. Especially not since there's one part I have to make sure you get.”

“And that is?”

“I know who did it, obviously. And I can't tell the police, for Oikawa’s sake. So…” he trailed off for a second, hoping that Daichi would understand. When he heard nothing, Suga sighed and continued, “They're still on the team. At Aoba Johsai.”

“They're still…” Daichi’s voice fell out in disbelief. “Suga, you can't come tomorrow.”

Suga rolled his eyes out of habit, sitting up and crossing his arms over his chest. “You can't tell me what to do, dad. I know that it's not the best idea, but I haven't seen Iwaizumi in months. Or Makki and Mattsun. I miss my friends, Daichi.”

“But what if they-”

“They won’t. Not when I have the Karasuno club captain watching out for me,” Suga interrupted. “As long as I don’t provoke them, I’ll be fine.”

“Who?”

The question was the one that Suga had been trying to avoid this whole time. Even while he was telling Daichi what happened, he had purposefully avoided using names. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Daichi not to tell the police, but, well, no, a little bit, Suga was concerned that Daichi would go to the police. He was just too much of a good samaritan.

“Daichi-” Suga tried.

“No. We can’t get this far and then you don’t trust me,” Daichi broke in. “I heard you, okay? Until you want to, I’m not going to say anything to anyone.” As if to solidify his statement, Suga felt a hand on his shoulder, rubbing slow circles.

“They were both younger…” Suga said, but he felt the hand on his shoulder tighten and he shivered.

“Haruki and Kazue.”

Silence followed for a moment, probably while Daichi worked to remember who exactly the two players were.

“They’re dead.” Daichi’s voice broke through the silence, and Suga immediately faced toward him out of habit.

“You just said you wouldn’t say anything! Daichi, I’m not joking, you can’t-”

“I mean on the court, Suga,” Daichi softly assured. “You can trust me. I just mean that I might happen to ask the team to aim a little closer to them with the spikes.”

Suga smiled softly, then sighed. “So, are we okay?”

There was a silence, presumably as Daichi paused. “It’s like I said. I know I should be mad. But I'm not. How could I be mad at my boyfriend, anyway?”

Suga feels his face blush fiercely as he settles back down onto Daichi’s chest with a satisfied sigh.

-

After being forced by Suga to put Gattaca into the DVD player ( ancient technology he thought to himself), Daichi spent the next hour or so laying on his couch with his boyfriend and exchanging small quips over the movie. It was only after Suga started gossiping about a girl’s supposed nose job that Daichi remembered that for once, he definitely had the juiciest gossip. Once Suga stopped talking, Daichi took his chance.

“I found Tsukishima and Yamaguchi in the locker room the other day... together ,” Daichi said, and waited for a response.

“So? They're always together.” Suga responded, clearly not understanding what the captain was trying to say. So he tried again, bluntly.

“No. I found them, together , and unsurprisingly, Tsukishima was on top,” Daichi said, looking down to see Suga's- his boyfriend’s - reaction. The setter’s lips fell open, but Daichi was talking before Suga got the chance. “I always kind of guessed it, though. I mean Yams can be strong sure, but Tsukishima just has that dominance, you know?”

“Oh my gosh ,” Suga giggled, and the captain would have sworn on his life that that giggle was the absolute most wonderfully melodious sound he had ever heard. “Really? So Tsukishima is like you?”

“Huh?” The captain asked, taken aback.

“Oh come on, when you saw them you definitely thought about us in that position. And I would bet my broken eyeballs that you put yourself on top,” Suga said, smug.

Daichi couldn’t dispute because not only had he done exactly that, his mind had gone past what he'd seen the first years doing and thought about what came next. The results of that would be something that he would never ever under any circumstances let Suga know.

Suga laughed, the silence clearly giving him all the answer he needed. “I knew it.”

“Hey, you don't know that! What if I crushed you?” Daichi protested, laughing at himself as he said the words. Obviously, he knew that being on top didn’t literally mean flopping down on the top, but he didn’t have any better joke to make.

“You wouldn’t crush me,” Suga giggled again, sending the captain into another round of swooning. “Did it seem like Yamaguchi was being crushed?”

Daichi laughed. “I don’t want to think about my kouhai being crushed during... that , Suga. But, I can say that I might be shorter, but I am larger than Tsukishima. We could be in that same position, but I would probably crush you.”

“Prove it, captain.” As soon as the words left Suga’s mouth, Daichi felt himself flush from head to toe. He wasn’t sure if it was the context of the words “prove it”, or the tone of voice that Suga had used to say “captain”, but the words lit a fire inside of Daichi that he had to keep under control out of respect for Suga. So, he swallowed the excitement in his throat, and choked out, “Excuse me?”

“Same position, you on top, and I’ll prove you wouldn’t crush me,” Suga explained, like it was the easiest thing in the world. Meanwhile, Daichi’s brain had decided to stop working because here was his boyfriend of less than two hours asking him to put him in the same position as two individuals who had been enthusiastically making out. “Daichi? Are you deceased?”

“Huh? Oh, no. I’m just…” Daichi paused. “Are you sure?”

Especially after just hearing what Suga had been through at Seijou, Daichi felt especially hesitant to do anything even remotely sexual with the setter. Not that kissing was exactly the same thing, but the captain wanted to make sure he was respecting Suga as much as possible. He didn’t want to ruin this relationship before it really even began.

“Yes, Daichi,” Suga said, in a sing songy voice. Then, his face dropped a little and his voice became more serious. “I get why you’re hesitant but just...don’t worry about stuff like that. If I’m ever uncomfortable, I’ll tell you. But...I don’t think I will be. Not with you.”

The captain didn’t miss the flush that went over the setter’s face, and he definitely felt the flush on his own face intensify. “Really?”

“I just know that... I mean you would never hurt me. If I said no, you would stop,” Suga said, shyly. “Right?”

“Yes! Yes, Suga, of course! Of course,” the captain said, wrapping his boyfriend in a hug. “Obviously, I would. I would never hurt you. And if somebody else did...I mean I already want to kill the ones that did.”

Suga smiled; Daichi could feel it on his shoulder. Then the setter said, “So, are you going to prove that you’d crush me yet?”

Suddenly, Daichi felt a lot more comfortable with the idea. “Okay, just hold on. I need to…”

Instead of talking, Daichi slid his arm around Suga’s back and put his other hand under his legs, shifting him around so that he was laying along the entirety of the couch. Daichi could see that Suga was trying to keep his face neutral, but the captain knew that it had to be scary to not be able to see what’s coming next. Daichi moved over the setter carefully, until he was in roughly the same position minus the kissing and the bent knee. Once he was relaxed over the setter, with his hands pressed into the couch on either side of Suga’s head, he sighed. “I guess you’re right. I wouldn’t crush you.”

Suga laughed, but then his face twisted into something more confused. “That’s it. I would have hoped our kouhai would be a little more...saucy.”

“Saucy?”

“Saucy.”

“Well, they were...ugh... making out pretty enthusiastically. And there was…” Daichi trailed off, already regretting even mentioning it.

“They were…?” Suga’s teasing voice said, and Daichi was forced to stare down at that beautiful, albeit smug, face. “Don’t hold out me now, Sawamura.”

“Tsukishima, his knee, it was, uh,” the captain tried to say, sounding noticeably apprehensive. He was so happy that Suga couldn’t see his face right then.

“You’re so cute. Just show me,” Suga said, then twisted his face cutely. “Well, not show. Just...do it to me? Oh, that sounds so much worse.” Both of them let out small laughs, the strangeness of the situation not lost on either of them.

“I’m not sure about that,” Daichi said warily. “I don’t know if it’s really a good idea.”

“Come on, wuss,” Suga teased. “Just do it. I don’t care what it is. This is permission. If you want me to sign a written declaration first, you’ll just need to guide me to the signature line.”

Daichi sighed above the setter. “You have to tell me if you’re not comfortable, okay?”

“I already said I would.”

“Just promise me, okay?”

“I promise.”

“Are you sure?”

“Daichi!”

The captain sighed through a smile, even though his nerves were on fire with how nervous he was. Then, as slowly as was humanly possible, he leaned in close enough to Suga to feel the setter’s breath on his face and brought his knee up between Suga’s thighs. He slowly dropped his knee a little until it was resting where Tsukishima’s had been. The captain wasn’t inexperienced either; he knew how hard to press to make it feel good for Suga, and knew how to make sure that it didn’t hurt.

Suga’s breathing hitched slightly at the first contact, and Daichi immediately pulled away, thinking he had somehow been an idiot and pressed too hard. But he knew that couldn’t be it. He brought one of his hands to the setter’s face, cupping a cheek in his hand. “You okay?”

The setter quickly nodded, turning his head so that his nose nuzzled into Daichi’s palm. His eyes closed, not that it would change any of the sensations that Suga was feeling. “Felt...good,” the setter whispered, his voice hoarse. The comment went straight through Daichi and he felt all of his blood rushing south before jerking away from Suga quickly.

“We should stop,” the captain said, his voice hoarse.  

Suga, still underneath him, whined. Whined. Seriously, is he trying to kill me? “Daichiiiii, I'm fine. Why do we have to stop?”

Daichi smiled softly at how cute the setter looked when he pouted, and ran his thumb over the soft cheek under his palm. “My dad is coming home any second, and I'd rather introduce him to my boyfriend in a different way than him walking in on us.”

Suga’s bottom lip jutted out further than it already had been, but he sighed. “How much longer do we have?”

Daichi quickly glanced at the digital clock sitting on the kitchen counter nearby. “Probably twenty minutes or so.”

“What? That's plenty of time.”

“He could be back earlier.”

“Come on Sawamura, live a little.”

Sighing, Daichi leaned down and used his free hand to cup the other side of Suga’s face. “You're such a devil,” he said, his voice a little more husky than he meant it to be. Regardless, he leaned down further to kiss the setter. Suga hummed in appreciation, angling his head and raising it in an attempt to get closer to Daichi.

Their lips had only met for few seconds when they both heard the telltale sound of the doorknob turning. Immediately, Daichi flew off of Suga and pulled the setter up behind him, so they were both sitting on the couch side by side.

“I told you,” Daichi whispered as the door opened, and Suga swung a blind arm around to him the captain in the chest. Daichi just smiled, “Oof, so strong.”

Before Suga could retort, the door was open and Daichi’s dad was standing in the living room, eyeing down the two boys on his couch.

“Well, if it isn't Sugawara! I haven't seen you in ages,” Sawamura-san said jovially, making the setter flush.

“Ah, well, I've just been...school has been picking up and...ah...more doctors visits…it's just been-” the setter tried to explain, but he  as cut off by a laugh from Sawamura-san.

“Calm down, Sugawara, my darling son told me what happened. I explained to him that he was an idiot, and I'm hoping that this”- he gestured to the two of them, not that it helped Suga- “means that he apologized.”

Once Suga got over being surprised, Daichi watched as a warm smile spread over the blind man's face. As if it was contagious, Daichi felt his own insides thawing at the sight of such an angel.

“Actually, I apologized,” Suga laughed, clearly mildly embarrassed by the bluntness of the situation. “I came over with a peace offering.” The setter gestured to the screen, which was still playing Gattaca.

“That's curious,” Sawamura-san said, walking further inside and putting his work bag down. “Because I distinctly remember telling my son that he should apologize to you days ago.” He aimed a pointed glare at Daichi, who felt his face flare with color and looked away from his dad. He remembered the conversation, and how easily he had ignored it in favor of giving Suga space because that had probably been what he wanted, right?

“Well, I was in the wrong,” Suga said shyly. “He was right that I shouldn't hide something so important from him. Especially if…” Realizing the territory that he was poking in to, Suga trailed off and looked down.

“Especially if?” Sawamura-san asked, his voice obviously teasing the two third years. Daichi smiled and shook his head at his dad, because the captain knew very well that his dad was perceptive. He'd probably known what was going on as soon as he walked in the room.

Still smiling, Daichi reached out to hold on to Suga’s hand, who startled for a second at the contact, then wrapped his fingers between Daichi’s with a tight squeeze.

“We know its sudden, and we were going to talk with you and Suga’s mom about it, but...well we decided that um...Suga and I-”

“Are boyfriends,” Suga confirmed. “I would very much like your son to be my boyfriend.”

Daichi watched his dad's face for a reaction, and was relieved at the smile that split over the older man’s face. “Well, finally,” he said. “I've already talked with Sugawara-san about this several times. I must admit, she seemed a little nervous at first, but I think she's come around. Both of us just want both of you to be happy.”

Daichi watched the smile spread across Suga’s face, and it gave him such a nice feeling inside that he had to consciously try not to throw Suga down and...he had to control himself. Looking at Suga smile was something Daichi felt that he would never get sick of. It was like all of the best things in life, all rolled into one.

Plus, it was beautiful to look at. The way his eyes crinkled in the corners, and the beauty mark near his eye raised slightly as his cheeks did. Suga was one of those wonderful people who didn't just smile with his face. His whole body just emanated happiness, and it was absolutely contagious.

“Thank you, Sawamura-san,” Suga said, clearly overcome with some kinds of emotion.

“It's my honor to have you here, Sugawara. If your mother would allow it, would you like to stay for dinner?”

Daichi looked at his dad, because clearly the man was insane. It was already late, and he had planned on asking Suga to stay anyway, but dinner should have been at least three hours ago.

“I'm sure she'd be fine with it,” Suga said, using his free hand to pull out his phone. He hesitated for a moment, then held it out to Daichi. “Would you…?”

Daichi took the phone with a smile, easily sending a text to Suga’s mom and immediately receiving a positive response.

“You're good,” he told Suga, handing back the phone, then looked to his dad. “So, what are we eating for dinner this late?”

“Well, I've actually got some work to catch up on and ate a heavy lunch with my boss and some investors. But, I'm happy to leave you two to order a pizza and finish your movie,” Sawamura-san said. Daichi immediately wanted to hug his dad because clearly, he had known he had work when he offered dinner and here he was, presenting the perfect night for Suga and Daichi. Instead, he just mouthed “thank you” to his dad, who winked back and then walked back to his study.

“He's so nice…” Suga said, leaning his head over to rest on Daichi’s shoulder. Both of them settled back onto the couch, letting out content sighs. Daichi didn't know what to think at first when he had seen Suga on his doorstep, and definitely didn't know how the night would end up. But that didn’t matter, because this was better than anything he could have imagined. So much better.

“You're the nicest,” Daichi said, pressing a small kiss to the setter’s forehead.

They decided that neither of them was really hungry, and opted for falling asleep on the couch beside each other, setting an alarm for early in the morning in order to get to Aoba Johsai.

Daichi drifted off with only one thought dominating his mind.

I will not let them hurt him again.

In the time Suga was blind, he had gotten used to feeling things before he understood them. Even if he heard something, or smelled something, it was always the feeling that really solidified whatever it was that was near him. So, when he woke up with the feeling of strong arms wrapped around him and soft kisses being pressed into his forehead, it didn't take long for him to realize what was happening. After another few moments, the sound of a phone camera, and a whispered “so pretty”, he finally smiled and opened his eyes. Even if he couldn't see anything, he'd opened his eyes in the morning for 18 years and it wasn't like a few months would change that.

“You're awake,” Daichi said softly, running a hand through Suga's hair. The setter hummed and nuzzled close to the warm body next to him.

“I am,” Suga whispered. “You're still cute.” The setter felt another soft kiss on his forehead, and then a sigh. “We’re going to be late if we don't go soon.”

“Do we have to?” Suga asked, tucking in tighter into the embrace.

“You don't have to go,” Daichi said, his tone serious. “In fact, if it's going to make you uncomfortable, then I really don't want you going.”

Suga actually considered it. He wanted to go. He wanted to talk to Oikawa, and Iwaizumi and Matsukawa and Hanamaki. But, he didn't want to be anywhere near Haruki or Kazue. He didn't want to hear their voices or their spikes or their names. But it's going to be okay. Daichi will be there.

“No,” Suga said. “I still want to go. I'm not a good cheerleader if I'm not even there to cheer.”

“You're not a cheerleader, Suga,” Daichi protested, and Suga felt the captain stand up, probably to go get ready. “As soon as you can see, I bet you'll be a regular.”

Suga laughed. “No, I'm not that good. But, Oikawa did teach me for a while so I'm competent enough.”

Daichi didn't say anything, and Suga heard a zipping sound as he probably finished getting together his things for volleyball.

“You know I'm not going to let them near you, right?” Daichi said suddenly, continuing to move about the room. “I don't care if I'm in the middle of a game. If they go near you, I'm hopping off the court and punching them.”

“I know,” Suga said softly, his mind still drowning in confliction. “I know that. I mean maybe don’t punch them...”

Suddenly, he felt calloused hands on his cheeks, pulling his face up when Suga hadn't even realized he had been aiming it down.

“You're safe,” Daichi whispered. Suga smiled, and stood up, throwing his arms around where he could feel the captain was.

“We should probably go, yeah?” He asked, tucking his face into Daichi’s neck.

“One thing though,” the captain said. “How the hell do we tell them we're dating?”

Turns out, it was surprisingly easy.

“FINALLY!” Nishinoya yelled as soon as Daichi announced it. Suga couldn't see anyone's faces, but from what he could hear, people mostly sounded excited.

They were all sitting on the bus, ready to drive to Aoba Johsai, when Daichi had decided to just ask for everyone's attention and then tell them quickly to try and rip off the band-aid.

Suga had stayed silent, gripping tightly onto his boyfriend’s hand and hoping that everybody would accept them. Obviously, he knew that basically everyone on the team was gay or bi, so they wouldn't have an issue, but there was always that ingrained shred of doubt in his mind. Because, well, what if one of them told somebody who did have a problem with it? What if it’s just like Seijou? It only takes two people who don’t like it...

But, these doubts were all quickly swept aside with one squeeze of his hand by Daichi. It didn't matter what might happen later as long as Daichi was there right now.

“So you guys finally made up?” Hinata asked, sounding cautious.

“Yeah,” Suga said. “And then your dopey captain finally grew a pair and asked me out.”

“If I recall, that was not entirely the conversation,” Daichi responded, elbowing Suga in the side as he said it.

“Psh,” Suga said. “Semantics.”

Laughing, Daichi guided Suga to their seat while they were constantly peppered with questions.  

“So does this mean you guys can officially be mom and dad now?”

“When are you guys going to consummate the relationship?”

“Does that mean he told you ?” This question from Asahi was quieter than the other ones, and was clearly only meant for the other two third years to hear. Suga knew it was possible that other people had heard it, but he didn't care as much as he knew he should.

“Yes,” Daichi said simply. Suga was thankful. Daichi obviously knew that Suga hadn't told the entire truth of what happened to anyone except for him, and Suga appreciated the discretion.

“Good,” Asahi said, probably nodding. “I thought I was going to have to make him. And everyone knows that I can't handle the level of sass that comes out of his mouth.”

“Asahi, you can't handle any level of sass from anybody's mouth, you teddy bear,” Suga laughed.

“Point proven,” Asahi said, and Suga heard him slide back into his seat.

Suga heard Daichi laugh, and the blind man could have sworn that if it was possible to visibly swoon, he probably had done just that. That laugh was just... wow.

“Hey, rude,” Suga pouted, sticking out his bottom lip. “I am the exact proper amount of sassy.”

The captain laughed again, wrapping his arm around the blind man and pulling him in closer, whispering, “I know, baby. You're perfect. That's been established.”

It took Suga a moment to pick up on what the captain had just said, but once he did, he pounced. “Did you just call me baby?”

The arm around him stiffened, so obviously even Daichi didn't realize what he had just done. Got him.

“Oh-I-uh...I guess I did? I'm sorry-I didn't mean-it just kind of slipped,” the captain fumbled. “Sorry-I didn't mean-”

“You're cute, can you help me kiss you?” The setter cut in, making it sound like a question but very obviously demanding it.

“Right now?” Daichi asked carefully.

“Why not?” Suga smirked in response.

Suga heard the captain sigh, but it sounded like it came through a smile. Then the setter felt firm hands grasp on to his wrists and guide his hands to Daichi’s face, but it didn’t feel like enough contact for him. With a tiny grunt and a bit of adjusting, Suga swung his leg up and over Daichi’s lap until he was straddling the captain in his seat. The gasp from Daichi obviously showed that he was not expecting that to happen, which was understandable. None of the other team members noticed yet from what the setter could hear, which made sense since the two of them sat in front of the team but behind Ukai with no one across from them. Suga smiled, feeling the warmth of his boyfriend below him in addition to in front of him.

“You are the death of me,” Daichi whispered almost inaudibly, his hot breath pushing against Suga’s neck. “On the bus, Suga?”

The setter just giggled, using his trusty thumbs to feel out the captains lips and capture them in his own. Warm. Soft. Amazing.

“Ewwwww. Mom and Dad are making out.” Nishinoya’s voice broke through the chatter of the bus, and Suga pulled away from the captain out of obligation, not because he wanted to.

“Really, Daichi?” He heard Ukai ask, but sounding more amused than anything.

“Not his fault,” Suga answered, dejectedly sliding off of the captain's lap. “I'm nervous and cold, and boyfriends are basically are basically big warm comfort machines.”

“That's true!” Hinata called out from the back of the bus, followed by a quiet “boke” from Kageyama. “But don't be nervous, Suga-san! It's no different from any other game.”

Yes, it absolutely is.

“Thank you, Hinata,” Suga said cheerily, injecting as much false confidence as he could into his voice. His hand remained intertwined with Daichi’s, and he felt a firm squeeze from the captain. It immediately settled not all, but at least some, of the nerves crawling all over Suga’s body. They spent the rest of the bus ride just sitting there, occasionally joining in conversation with the younger players about silly things, but mostly just sitting in silence with their bodies pressed as close as physically possible.

By the time they reached Aoba Johsai, Suga’s nerves had settled down enough for him to have a relative sense of calm around him, even as they entered the doors and went towards the gym.

The fact that he was in Seijou didn’t escape him though; it would have been hard to ignore the familiar environment. It still smelled like Seijou: floor wax and Clorox. The familiar hum of the high-tech AC seemed louder than usual and the sounds of the gym carried down the hallway with much more vigor.

“Ah, Daichi-chan, Suga-chan!” Oikawa’s playful voice rang out somewhere in front of Suga as they reached the gym. “How’re my favorite lovebirds?”

Obviously, Suga had made time within the last few hours to text Oikawa and tell him about the new development in his and Daichi’s relationship.

“Thank you for having us, Oikawa,” Daichi responded, professional as always. “Asahi, take everyone inside and wait for Ukai to come. I’ll be in soon.”

If Asahi was curious about why Daichi wasn’t coming, he didn’t say anything. After all, the ace was pretty smart and probably figured it out himself.

“Come on, guys,” Asahi said, and Suga heard the distinct sound of footsteps moving away from him. A small bubble of anxiety rose up into his stomach, but he pushed it down in favor of tightening his grip on Daichi’s hand. Once all of the footsteps had faded away, Suga took a deep breath while he waited for his boyfriend to speak.

“I don’t want them to be allowed anywhere near him. It doesn’t matter how, I just want you to make sure it happens,” Daichi broke the silence. “Though, I’m sure you were already planning for this.”

“Obviously, Daichi-chan. We’re making sure both of them are playing as much as possible, so they’ll be on the court. And when they’re on the sidelines, Iwa-chan, Makki, and Mattsun all agreed to help me watch them,” Oikawa responded, clearly already having thought this through extensively. Suga expected nothing less from his perfectionist best friend.

“Uh, ok. I can figure out who ‘Iwa-chan’ is, but I have no idea who those other two are. Suga, you mentioned them too, and I still haven’t a clue,” Daichi said, clearly embarrassed by being outside of the loop with Oikawa’s nicknaming.

Suga heard Oikawa laugh, in his giggly sort of way. “Matsukawa and Hanamaki. #2 and #3 respectively. I wouldn't try to talk to them if I were you. They talk about memes so much it's kind of scary and they always finish each other's-”

“I heard memes!” A new voice pops in, that Suga instantly recognizes as Hanamaki.  The setter’s mood brightens immediately when he hears his friend’s voice. After all, it had been several months since he'd been with them.

“MAKKI!” The blind man shouted, his voice much more shrill than he would have liked but he chose to ignore it. Letting go of Daichi’s hand, Suga stumbled forward toward where the voice had come from. He felt someone grab his arm and steady him to the right area, pulling the setter in for a hug.

“Hey Sugar-chan,” Hanamaki’s teasing voice greeted the setter, using the old nickname that he'd gotten at Aoba Johsai.

Suga could barely remember how it had come about, but it had something to do with his name being read wrong as “sugar” and then Oikawa doing his usual “chan”, and somehow Sugar-chan became his permanent name as far as the meme duo were concerned.

“Meme-chan,” Suga teased back, and he heard the quiet sound of Hanamaki’s laugh, followed by a question from him. “And this is the boyfriend?”

Obviously Suga couldn't see who Hanamaki was referring to, but considering the only other person there was Oikawa, he had a good idea.

“Sawamura Daichi,” the Karasuno captain said, his voice bringing Suga some ease. “Nice to meet you.”

“Hmm, that won't do,” Hanamaki responded. “Oikawa, what have you come up with?”

“Come up with…?” Daichi asked, but Suga knew what they were talking about.

“First it was just Daichi-chan, but that's so boring. I was thinking either Thigh-chan or Daddy Crow, but that one was because I needed something to match up with Sugamama,” Oikawa responded, with Suga nearly passing out when he mentioned calling Daichi “daddy” in any capacity.

The blind setter heard his boyfriend stifle a laugh. “Sugamama?”

The sound of his very manly and gruff boyfriend saying the old nickname sent Suga into a fit of unattractive giggles that left him clutching onto Hanamaki’s arm while the spiked laughed too.

“I heard a hyena,” a new voice chimed in. “I knew it had to be Sugar-chan.”

Suga turned his head toward the voice, his eyes picking up on a new shapeless blob of real. “Meme-chan the second!” He giggled, and felt a new arm swing over his shoulders.

The giggles faded into a feeling of contentment for the blind man. They'd only been separated for a few months, but it felt so much longer. There was something nice about being back with them, at a place he had known for so many years. It almost made him forget about the two kouhai who were probably warming up as he spoke. Almost.

Suddenly, Matsukawa broke the giggles with a gasp. “Sugar-chan! You never told me your boyfriend was so hot!”

“Well…” Suga said, choosing words carefully. “I can’t technically tell you he looks hot, but he certainly feels hot.”

“Oh my... Suga …” Daichi said, obviously laughing. The rest of the Seijou players quickly followed, with Oikawa slapping Suga on the shoulder and saying, “Trust me, Suga. He's plenty hot. Way out of your league.”

“Firmly disagree,” Daichi responded quickly. “I don't know if you noticed, but Suga is an angel.”

“Oooh, he's nice too,” Matsukawa drawled. “Next you'll tell me he likes memes.”

They laughed some more, and it all felt so nice to Suga. His old friends meeting his new boyfriend, and all of them meshing so well together almost immediately. Maybe this day wouldn't be as bad as his mind had convinced him it would be.

“The game starts in 10 minutes.”

And suddenly, everything inside of Suga went ice cold. The arms around him suddenly felt heavy and way too warm on his shoulders, like they were weighing him down.

I know that voice.

“We’ll be there on time, Haruki-chan,” Oikawa’s voice responded, completely different from how it had sounded before. Now it was filled with a condescending bite. “Go back and play with Yahaba.”

“Coach said to get you.” The gruff voice responded, sounding unswayed by Oikawa.

“And you can tell him we’ll be there on time,” the Seijou captain bit back.

“He said now.”

“Haruki.” Iwaizumi’s cold voice replaces Oikawa’s. “Let’s go warm up, they'll be there on time.”

The length of the silence shows that having Iwaizumi speak worked; Haruki only ever listened to him anyway.

“Fine.”

The sound of footsteps faded away, and Suga was stuck paralyzed where he stood. The arms that had just felt so heavy felt like they weren't even there; there was nothing holding him up and he couldn't see where he was. Everything sounded so far away like he was stuck at the end of a tunnel.

Suga.

It was faint, but it was there in the back of his head. Why was he so scared? He'd told himself that he wouldn't be scared of them when he heard them. He'd promised himself. But still, here he was.

Suga!

He knew they couldn't hurt him, but it still felt so overwhelming just to know that they were there. So is Oikawa. So is Mattsun and Makki. So is-

“Suga,” Daichi’s soft voice finally broke through Suga’s thoughts, bringing the setter back into the present with a jolt that felt almost physical. He felt fingers in his hair, and strong biceps holding him up, not letting him fall. Daichi. The blind man’s voice was stuck somewhere in his stomach, so he settled for just tucking himself in tighter to the firm chest next to him.

“You're okay, Suga,” the Karasuno captain’s voice soothed. “I'm here.” The setter felt lips press to his forehead.

“I'm here too,” Oikawa’s voice said. “But I don't think your boyfriend will let me kiss you.”

“I'm fine,” Suga finally found his voice, and a strange sense of calm enveloped him. Why was I even panicking anyway? It's not like he's going to get the chance to hurt me again. Freaking out just looks pathetic. He found his feet under him and stood up of his own accord instead of laying all of his weight on his boyfriend.

“I'm fine,” he repeated. “You guys need to get in the gym, yeah?”

He could almost hear the looks they gave each other.

“Suga, no offense, but you're even paler than usual right now and I know that's not ‘fine’”, Daichi responded.

“I said ‘m fine,” Suga tried to say, a slight wave of nausea striking at the end of his sentence, causing him to lean on his boyfriend. “I just need something to drink.”

“Makki and Mattsun went to get water. I just told them that you hadn't eaten and felt faint.” Oikawa said quickly, and as if on cue, Suga heard footsteps coming around the corner. That doesn't mean it's them. It could be-

“One water for the damsel in distress,” Hanamaki’s teasing voice rang out as he got closer. “And a complementary cookie courtesy of the Staff Only room.”

“Isn’t the Staff Only room for staff only?” Daichi asked, and Suga internally laughed at what a Boy Scout he was. Externally, he reached his fingers out, groping for the sustenance because he felt like he was going to pass out. As soon as the items were passed over, he let all of his weight fall on Daichi while he drank.

“2 minutes, Dai,” Asahi’s voice came from the gym. Then, “Is he okay?”

Suga, now less faint and sort of annoyed with being talked about like he wasn't there, answered, “He is fine.”

“Hey, you guys go in, just give me a second with him,” Daichi said, and Suga couldn’t tell the reactions to that. It probably seemed like a bold thing to say; the Seijou players had known Suga for years, but now Daichi was the one asking to help fix the problem. Apparently, they got over it though because Suga heard their footsteps pad away, and Oikawa tossed a “don’t be late, Dad” over his shoulder.

Once they were alone, Suga tightened his grip on Daichi. Even if he was strong, there was something about being near Haruki for the first time again that had sent him spiraling.

“Hey, Suga,” the captain said. “Remember when they first asked me to guide you? And I held on to your pinky because I was too nervous to really hold your hand?”

Suga laughed slightly. “I didn’t know that was why, but yes.”

“If at any point during this game you need me, just link your pinkies together and I’ll come to you, okay? I know you don’t like making a scene, so this way no one will even notice,” Daichi said, and Suga’s jaw dropped a little. He had known his boyfriend was sweet, obviously, but he was going out of his way to make sure Suga would be comfortable. The setter’s lips turned up into a smile, and he nodded his head.

“I’ll be fine, I promise. I just...wasn’t ready. I didn’t think they’d be out here...and I totally freaked out and that’s so pathetic- ”

“Hey!” Daichi broke in quickly. “ Nothing about you is pathetic. You are beautiful and strong and amazing. They are the pathetic ones.”

Suga felt himself blush, and he firmly buried his head in the captain’s chest to hide it. Taking a deep breath, he slid his hand down to link his hand with Daichi’s. “Come on. You have a game to win.”

The gym itself was quite a bit louder than the hallway, but not overwhelming. This was only a practice game, scheduled at the last minute for fun, so the only spectators would be probably a few dozen Seijou students who had nothing better to do with their morning and Oikawa’s fan club that never ceased to amuse Suga. It wasn’t that Oikawa didn’t like the girls; after all, he was bi and was definitely open to female companionship. If he didn’t already have Iwaizumi. The fan club would be devastated to learn that they were doomed because Oikawa was hopelessly devoted to his boyfriend, and Iwaizumi was equally as devoted, even if he didn’t show it often. Bottom line: there was no fan girl that was going to catch a break with Oikawa.

After finding the bench, Suga sat down next to Kiyoko, calling out a small greeting as he did. In the time he’d been at Karasuno, he had formed a weird sort of friendship with the manager. Not exactly a friendship but definitely more than just acquainted. It mostly consisted of her being helpful during the games. Just little things: she would whisper the score to him after every point, tell him who hit the ball so he knew who to cheer for, and make little notes about what was going on during the game. At first, he had thought it was just her being courteous and had told her it wasn’t necessary, but she’d told him that it helped her be more attentive about the game. She’d also mentioned that it was nice to have a friend on the bench, which had made Suga feel warm inside. Kiyoko was good company, as far as he could tell.

“Excited for the game?” He asked her, using his voice to fill the empty void that left too much time for his brain to freak out. He was stronger than what happened in the hallway; nothing had happened in the hallway. Haruki had said that the game was starting soon, and that was it. No threats, no remarks in Suga’s direction. Nothing . Suga knew for sure that he was stronger than nothing.

“It should be a good one,” Kiyoko said, her soft voice soothing to the blind setter. “They’re both very good. Karasuno has changed since the last time we faced them.”

“I’m torn between cheering for my best friends or my boyfriend,” Suga chuckled, and he heard a small semblance of a giggle from Kiyoko.

“Both. But only for Karasuno out loud,” she responded, humor lacing her voice. That was something else that he had noticed about her; most people thought she was just quiet and reserved without much humor. In reality, she would often make sarcastic remarks about the other teams and crack light hearted jokes about them.

“Will do,” Suga replied, and the two fell into silence as the game began.

To be completely honest, it didn’t take much effort or mental capacity to cheer on the team. It wasn’t as though anyone expected much more than the occasional comment from him, so it gave him a lot of time to think. Usually, it had been about school or how much we wanted to kiss Daichi or what he would eat for dinner. But today he had something very different on his mind.

What’s the worst that could happen?

If he tells Oikawa about the picture, about why he doesn’t want to tell the police, would Oikawa he mad? Would he hate Suga for getting him tangled up in this mess?

What’s the worst that could happen?

Or what if he tells Oikawa, and Oikawa doesn’t even care. What if he yells at Suga for keeping their identities a secret over something so trivial?

What’s the worst that could happen?

The worst thing would be Oikawa cutting ties off with Suga, because he doesn’t want to put himself in danger. Moreso, he doesn’t want to put Iwaizumi in danger. Suga could respect that decision, honestly he would probably support it, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt. He didn’t want to think that Oikawa would do that, but it made sense.

But I have to tell him. If I can tell Daichi, I can tell Oikawa.

But the problem was, he couldn’t. The blind setter harbored a strange need to keep it all bundled up inside himself, and had only told Daichi as a last ditch effort to save their relationship. This was different. This was Oikawa , who had his own boyfriend that he needed to keep from ending up in any kind of danger; not that Iwaizumi couldn’t handle himself.

I have to tell him. I can tell him, and then at least I’ll know I tried. If he wants me to keep it a secret still, I will. And if he doesn’t...then I don’t know what we’ll do.

All he had to do was wait until after the game, find Oikawa, and tell him.

Nothing to worry about.

-

The result of the game didn’t really matter to Daichi since it was just a practice match and didn’t hold any weight. Win or lose, Daichi swore to himself that he would be fine with the result and would take either one with grace like a good captain. However, he had thought all of that with the underlying assumption that Seijou would probably win.

So, when Hinata spiked the last toss, sending it slamming down right next to that Haruki kid, Daichi was overwhelmed with the pride he was feeling. Not only had they won but they’d won by scoring a point on the piece of human trash standing on the other side of the net. Though, it was almost expected.

It might have looked like a practice match to everyone watching but, to the players on he court that knew all of Suga’s story, it was a grudge match. It was hard to miss how both Haruki and Kazue aimed every hit at Daichi. Not that they got many chances. More so than usual, Oikawa was tossing to Iwaizumi, and when he didn’t have Iwaizumi, it was Hanamaki or Matsukawa. Probably because of that, intentionally or not, both Haruki and Kazue messed up nearly every receive they had. This pulled Oikawa out of system to go get the ball, resulting in it being just slightly harder for him to set his ace. But if anyone could do it, it would be Oikawa Tooru.

Regardless, after the game was over and they had all shook hands, they saw that they had finished early and still had about half an hour before their scheduled departure. Before they could even decide what to do, some of the more rambunctious members of both teams started rearing up to play quads. After all the stress of the practice game, they thought it would be nice to all play together but also maintain the friendly competition.

The third years, aside from Hanamaki and Matsukawa, opted to sit out on the sides and let their kouhai run themselves ragged. Oikawa probably wanted to give their younger setter a chance to practice, Iwaizumi seemed to be inclined to stay by Oikawa’s side, and Daichi really wanted to hug his boyfriend.

As soon as it was acceptable to leave his team playing on the court and go talk with Ukai and certain other occupants of the bench, he did so without hesitation. He briefly discussed how the game had gone with the coach, deciding they would do a more thorough nit-picking during Monday’s practice. Then, he got to go to the person he really wanted.

Suga was absolutely adorable, sitting on the bench in his jacket and matching pants. It was the same outfit that the entire volleyball club had, but it was somehow so much cuter on the blind setter. He’s subtly wringing his hands, no doubt patiently waiting for Daichi to come and get him. The captain allows his boyfriend to suffer for a moment longer so that he can admire the slight scrunch of his nose and twisting of his lips. It caused a soft smile to plaster itself to Daichi’s face.

“Suga,” he finally says and, upon hearing the voice, the setter’s face does a complete 180 and turns into a brilliant smile. Cute.

“There’s my champion!” Suga said teasingly, holding up a hand so Daichi could pull him up, which he did. As much as he wanted to hug his boyfriend, they’d decided to keep the PDA to a minimum as far as being out at games or in the real public. Any other event with the club though, was free game.

“It’s just a practice game,” Daichi says humbly. “We need to do that again at the Interhighs and then we’ll be good to go.”

“I might be able to actually see it then,” Suga responded, sounding almost wistful.

“You might be playing then,” Daichi corrected, squeezing Suga’s hand that was still latched onto his own.

“I might be…” he repeated. It was if Suga had never considered the idea that once he could see again, it was incredibly likely that he would get thrown into games as long as he had an adequate level of skill. No one at Karasuno had seen him actually toss, but based on a quick question that the captain had shot at Oikawa, Suga was better than adequate.

“He played for a league for years,” Oikawa had said. “Plus, I taught him everything I know. You’ll be surprised to see how dirty your little angel plays.”

Now, Daichi only said, “If you toss half as well as you kiss, you’ll be on the court in no time. And Oikawa tells me that I’ll be surprised.”

Suga’s face suddenly turned back into a worried expression, and Daichi went into near cardiac arrest trying to figure out what he said.

“Suga?” He asked, stepping closer to the setter and discreetly running his thumb over the outside of his boyfriends hand. “I’m sorry. Did I say something?”

Suga, whose chin had slowly been dropping, suddenly yanked his head back up as if trying to look at Daichi, and the captain saw- was it fear in Suga’s eyes?

“No,” the blind man quickly said. “No, no, it wasn’t you. I just…”

His words faded off into an uneasy expression, something that Daichi knew he would never not hate seeing. Suga took a deep breath, sighing.

“I think I should tell Oikawa. About...the picture and...you know...why I don’t tell the police.” The setter waited, as if leaving space for Daichi to respond. When the captain didn’t supply anything, Suga continued, trying to find the words.

“I was just thinking that, you know, what’s the worst that’s going to happen? I mean so what if he hates me forever, at least he’ll know about it, right? And even if he hates me-”

“Ok, stop. There is no version of this where Oikawa hates you,” Daichi cut in, squeezing Suga’s hand. “I think you’d be doing the right thing, but it’s always your choice.”

The blind man twisted his face, obviously thinking hard about what he wanted to do.

“I think...I should. Before I change my mind,” Suga said slowly, as if already in the process of changing his mind. Before that could happen, Daichi used the hand he was still holding to pull Suga towards where Oikawa sat on Seijou’s bench next to Iwaizumi. They were having some sort of heated debate, within which Daichi only caught the words “Godzilla” and “fake-ass t-Rex” before Oikawa noticed the two Karasuno third years approaching.

“Ah, Suga-chan! Come to gloat with your boyfriend?” Oikawa asked, laughing. “Guess I’ll just have to try extra hard at Interhighs to put the little crows back in their place.”

Before Suga could respond, Oikawa was swiftly punched in the arm my Iwaizumi. “You work hard enough Shittykawa. Don’t put stress on your knee.”

Rubbing his arm over-exaggeratedly, Oikawa stuck out his bottom lip and smiled. “Awww, Iwa-chan cares!”

Iwaizumi made a small “tsk” sound, and turned back to Daichi and Suga. “Good job, Sawamura. You guys have improved a lot since the last time we played.”

Daichi bowed his head, secretly overwhelmed with a sudden sense of pride for his team.

“It’s been hard,” he admitted. “Especially with how borderline mentally unstable the majority of our regular players are.”

He didn’t even have to name them, and he could see the smiles on the other third year’s faces. To be fair, if anyone just met Hinata, Kageyama, Tanaka or Nishinoya outside of volleyball, they wouldn’t be expected to be four regulars on a pretty decent team. A soft squeeze of his hand brought Daichi back to the present, reminding him out of why they had come over here in the first place.

“Actually, Iwaizumi, I’d love to talk to you about whatever the hell kind of workout you do to your arms,” Daichi said, and at the raise of Iwaizumi’s eyebrow, he elaborated, “And we can give Suga and Oikawa a moment alone.”

The Seijou spiker seemed to understand that it had nothing to do with workouts, and nodded his head while standing up. Oikawa looked at Daichi curiously, and the Karasuno captain made his best effort to not let his face read anything.

“Here,” Daichi said, bringing Suga forward until he could sit on the bench next to Oikawa. Still sensing the nervous energy coming off his boyfriend, Daichi leaned down and pressed a quick kiss into Suga’s hair, fast enough that nobody would notice. Then he pulled away, whispering, “You’ll be okay, I promise,” before joining Iwaizumi to walk towards the other end of the gym. He only looked back once, relieved to see that Oikawa was looking intently at Suga, like he was listening to him. That means he’s telling him, right? Makes sense to me.

“I’m guessing this isn’t about workouts,” Iwaizumi said as the two third years came to a stop a couple dozen feet away from where they had been, leaning against the wall.

“Not quite,” Daichi admitted, laughing a little. “Though I might be interested someday, because you are seriously ripped.”

Iwaizumi chuckled, but waited a second before saying anything in response.

“Whatever they’re talking about… please tell me it’s something about telling the police,” the spiker finally says, not making eye contact anymore.

Daichi turned to look at him anyway, taken aback. “How do you know?”

Suga had told him that only Oikawa and him knew who did it, and only Daichi knew about the picture. From what the captain understood, he thought that Asahi knew the majority of the situation and the other Seijou third years knew somewhat the basics, but not much. Apparently, he was mistaken.

“Oh please. Oikawa can’t keep anything from me,” Iwaizumi huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Especially when it’s clearly messing him up. It doesn’t matter what it is. If it’s hurting him, I’m making him tell me.”

As much as Daichi could appreciate the sentiment, he couldn’t help but be slightly annoyed that Oikawa had told somebody else about Suga’s situation, his Suga’s situation, without Suga’s permission.

Iwaizumi must have caught onto this, because he continued. “I get what you’re feeling but you have to understand how much it was tearing Oikawa apart. It’s nothing compared to what Suga went through, I know, not even close. But Oikawa thought it was his fault for a million reasons. He thought he should have come in earlier before it happened. He thought Suga was be mad because Oikawa showed up before the police had a chance to. He thought he should have kept Haruki in the gym. He thought he should just go to the police without Suga. He thought Suga would hate him if he did. Tooru is strong, but he couldn’t keep all of that inside without help and I saw that, so I made him tell me.”

The longer the monologue went on, the more Daichi felt sympathetic towards Oikawa and understood his choice. To be honest, he hadn’t really thought about the situation outside of Suga’s view of it which, although obviously the most important, wasn’t the only one.

“I’m sure Suga would understand,” Daichi said, calmly. “I do.”

“Good,” Iwaizumi said, closing his eyes and leaning against the wall. “So will this talk end with Suga going to the police, do you think?”
“I’m not sure, to be honest,” Daichi responded. “It’ll definitely put him a step closer, at the very least.”

“I hope he does,” the Seijou spiker said. “Suga deserves justice, more than anyone else I know.”

Daichi smiled, turning his head back towards his boyfriend only to be met with an empty bench. Immediately launching himself from the wall, he ran towards the empty bench as if Suga would suddenly materialize. Unsurprisingly, both setters where still missing. Iwaizumi ran up behind him, clearly noticing the same problem. “Where did they go?” The spiker asked, almost a whisper.

A terrible thought went through Daichi’s mind. “Are Haruki and Kazue still on the court?”

Both of the third years looked up, both of them subtly knowing that they wouldn’t be. Yet, there they were. Both of them still playing quads with the rest of the team. A sigh of relief flooded through Daichi’s body. “Ok, so where are they?”

“Hold on,” Iwaizumi said, picking something small and metallic up from the bench. Daichi hadn’t even noticed the object. Looking at it with raised brows, Iwaizumi held it up. “A club room key. Oikawa was two. They must be in there.”

The two of them wasted no time sprinting through the hallways to the club room, with Iwaizumi clearly leading the way through the twists and turns of the school. Once they reached the room, they heard giggling inside, followed by a loud crack that had both of them panicking. Fumbling with the key, Iwaizumi shoved it in and yanked open the door to reveal whatever was happening inside.

And once they made it inside...wow.

Suga and Oikawa were laying on the ground beside each other, behind a pile of what looked like…broken electronics? And both of them were giggling like idiots, clearly only on the floor from laughing so hard.  

“What the hell, Shittykawa!?” Iwaizumi yelled, getting the attention of Oikawa, who moved his head to look at Iwaizumi. Once he saw the two alarmed third years in the doorway, he just burst out into more laughter.

“Oh noooooo, Kou-chan. It’s the fun police . They’re going to reprimand us,” Oikawa said, sending both him and Suga into another fit of giggles. One it was obvious that neither of the setters was hurt, Daichi and Iwaizumi both walked over so they were standing over their respective boyfriends, looking down with raised eyebrows. Daichi nudged Suga with his foot to let the setter know he was there, and the blind man immediately turned his head in Daichi’s general direction. The captain immediately settled, looking at the flushed, angelic face of his boyfriend as he laughed so hard. It honestly looked as though they were having a hard time breathing, which wasn’t good, but it was for all the right reasons.

“Don’t reprimand me Daichiiii , I didn’t do anything. It’s Oikawa’s fault. I can’t even see to aim the stupid phone, so it had to be him,” Suga giggled. “Get him, Iwaizumi. He’s been a bad boy. ”

At the phrase “bad boy”, both of the setters set themselves into another round of laughing. It started to get contagious, with small smiles growing on Daichi and Iwaizumi’s faces at the sight of their pretty boyfriends so happy.

“Seriously though,” Iwaizumi said, pointing to the mess at their feet. “What is this?”

After taking long deep breaths to stop the laughter, and failing a few times, Oikawa finally was able to sit up on his elbows and laugh through an explanation. “Well, Kou-chan told me” -laughter- “that our little kouhai took some pictures of us, Iwa-chan” -laughter- “while we were doing” -the hardest laughter yet- “the frick frack .”

Iwaizumi’s face immediately flushed red. “What?”

“Mmmhhmm,” Oikawa said, finally calming down. “So, I decided to, obviously, just break both of their phones. Because I’ll just say it was an accident and pay for new ones. And we erased all of their backups first. So poof. No more pictures.”

“No more pictures,” Suga repeated, settling himself down and laying down peacefully against the floor of the club room.

As much as Daichi didn’t want to ruin the moment, knowing that those pictures didn’t exist anymore was a very important detail.

“Does that mean…?” He asked, reaching down to brush his fingers against Suga’s cheek. Iwaizumi and Oikawa both went silent, looking over at Suga in unison, clearly just as interested as Daichi.

Suga just sighed. “I don’t want to think about that right now. I want to think about it later. Can we just think about later?”

Daichi smiled down at Suga. He was just glad that Suga had told somebody else everything. Right now, that would be enough.

“Hey, Suga, remember our first date?” He asked. Suga’s face immediately soured.

“I don’t particularly want to,” he answered, pouting and crossing his arms over his chest.

“Good. Then let’s have a new first date,” Daichi said, pulling Suga up so he was sitting. “We have a free afternoon and nothing better to do. Forget about it for the afternoon. Then you can figure out whatever you need to about the police tonight. Sound good?”

Suga stayed still for a moment, then threw himself at his boyfriend and smiled. “It sounds perfect.”

After leaving to round up the rest of Karasuno, and saying their goodbyes to Seijou, which took a long time as Hanamaki and Matsukawa insisted on updating Suga on what all the most recent memes looked like, the Karasuno club finally got on the bus and headed back towards the school.

With Suga leaning against him, Daichi turned to look out the window. “Well, since we can’t go to a movie, what do you think we should do?” the blind man asked.

“Don’t worry,” Daichi assured his boyfriend, giving him a quick pat on his head. “I have an idea.”

It had taken a solid twenty minutes to get from the school to Suga’s house, because the setter really needed to change out his Karasuno Volleyball Club tracksuit before going to… whatever Daichi had planned for the two of them. Prior to that, it had taken half an hour to get their kouhai to stop hounding them with questions about where they had gone after the match and oh my gosh did you guys go and get busy?

After escaping from the never-ending void, and making it to the Sugawara household, Suga realized that his mother wouldn’t be home. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem. However, she always helped him find the clothes he wanted to wear since he could only pick out the few key pieces with unique textures on his own. Oh well, that’s what boyfriends are for.

“What do you need?” Suga heard Daichi ask, as if the captain had read his mind. Suga smiled to himself because Daichi was just that sweet, and it killed him.

“If I let you choose, is it going to turn out poorly?” Suga asked his boyfriend, injecting teasing into his voice. After all, it’s not like he really had a good grasp on Daichi’s style. He knew that currently he was wearing jeans with some kind of tee shirt and a bomber jacket, which sounded pretty badass to Suga but there was a fair chance that it didn’t work.

“I’ll have you know,” Daichi said, amidst the sound of hangers being pushed through. “That I am terrible at many things. But if there’s one thing I am fairly certain I can manage-” Suga felt some clothes land on his lap “-it’s dressing my boyfriend.”

Running his hands over the cloth in his lap, Suga was only able to pick out one item that he knew what it was: his favorite gray cardigan. There was nothing innately special about it; it was gray with specks of white and black thrown in, but it was insanely soft and just fuzzy enough to keep him warm. The fact that Daichi had picked it out surprised the blind setter, but mostly he was just happy to know his boyfriend didn’t have terrible taste. The other items he couldn’t pick out exactly, but he figured out one was a pair of jeans which he thought he recognized and the other was an indecipherable v-neck shirt. After feeling everything over and deciding to trust his boyfriend, Suga stood up and quickly got to work pulling his shirt off so he could put the new one on.

“Woah,” he heard, and the setter realized he had momentarily forgotten that Daichi was actually in the room. Immediately, Suga felt himself flush and stop what he was doing to use the clothes he was holding to cover his now bare chest. “Oh-ah-sorry, I forgot-I shouldn’t…”

“It’s fine,” Daichi quickly said. “It’s not because you’re changing, it’s just you look...nice.”

Suga’s lips pulled into a subtle smile, bordering on a smirk, and he turned his body to where Daichi’s voice was coming from, lowering the clothes from in front of him. “Nice?”

“Not fair,” Daichi says quickly. “You’re not allowed to try to seduce me when I have an amazing day planned. It’s cheating.”

“Try going blind,” Suga replied. “You don’t get so distracted by how things look.”

Daichi went quiet for a second, then Suga felt himself being pulled into the chest of the captain. The sudden heat sent a new blush through Suga’s body as he felt Daichi’s breath on his ear.

“Yeah, but I bet you’ve gotten used to feeling things, right?”

Suga felt his hands being moved to rest on Daichi’s chest, and he tried to suppress the tiny gasp that he had been avoiding so far. It was obvious that the captain was just teasing him, but that didn’t mean Suga couldn’t feel those pecs under his hands. Determined not to let Daichi win whatever kind of game they were playing, Suga let his hands slide up and over his shoulders until both of their bodies were pressed flush against each other.

“Feeling things is pretty nice,” Suga said, smiling a little. “And right now I feel like I could use some help getting dressed.”

With that, he pushed himself away from Daichi and back towards his bed where the clothes were still sitting, waiting. Obviously, he didn’t need help getting dressed, but there was something oddly comforting and domestic about having his boyfriend put his clothes on. Feeling for the shirt, he picked up the cloth and turned around, holding it out towards where he figured his boyfriend was.

“This,” he said, pushing it out a little further. “Needs to be on my body.”

He heard a light chuckle, and then felt the shirt being pulled from his hands. “Aren’t I supposed to want your clothes off? This seems counter-intuitive,” Daichi said, and Suga felt the captain’s body press next to his.

“Put your arms out,” Daichi said, and Suga complies quickly. The blind man felt the sleeves slip over his arms and let out a muffled whine as the neck of the shirt came over his head, rubbing over his face.

Once the shirt was on, Suga readjusted it as he assumed Daichi went to grab his cardigan. He was more surprised than he should have been when he felt what was obviously the jeans graze past his arm.

“You don’t have to… I mean I can put them on...if you don’t want to,” Suga said, even though he was secretly hoping that Daichi wouldn’t back down. The captain might have been stoic and a bit awkward sometimes, but he wasn’t a prude by any means.

“Aw, Suga,” Daichi said, in a tone that let Suga know that he was accepting the challenge. “You asked for help, so let me help you.”

Suga swallowed thickly as he felt fingers grazing over the waistband of his tracksuit.

“You’re sure?” Daichi asked, the softness in his voice contrasting his previous confidence, which caused a slight smile curl onto Suga’s lips. In response, the setter felt out for the captains lips with his thumbs as usual, and pulled him closer, the firm kiss leaving no room for misunderstanding.

It took them at least another half hour to actually get Suga changed, when it really should have taken a few minutes. By the time the two of them stumbled out of Suga’s house, it was almost two and they were both buzzing. Suga’s mind had almost completely forgotten about the choice looming over his head, and every time it came creeping back there was Daichi there to scare it away.

“So what’s your big plan, captain,” Suga asked, grabbing on to Daichi’s elbow as they walked down the sidewalk.

“I would say you’ll see, but…” Daichi said, and Suga squawked in protest.

“That’s rude, Sawamura. You can’t disrespect the disabled,” Suga said, but he wasn’t really upset. “Seriously, where are going?”

“What are your opinions on concerts?” Daichi asked, and Suga turned toward his boyfriend quizzically.

“It’s too early for a concert,” Suga said. “But I like them. I haven’t gone to one since the blindness though. I figure it’d be too easy for me to get trampled in the crowd.”

“That’s why you have me,” Daichi said. “And you’re right, it is too early. That’s why we’re going to dinner first.”

Suga scrunched his nose, still confused. “But isn’t it too early for that, too?”

“It won’t be by the time we get to Tokyo.”

“Huh?” Suga’s arm fell away from Daichi’s as he took a step back, unseeing eyes wide. Tokyo!?

“Don’t worry, I cleared it with both of our parents, have a reservation made, train tickets procured and cashed in a favor with Kuroo to get into the concert free.”

Suga stood, in shock. What happened to the slightly awkward, captain/Boy Scout that he was sure he had been dating?

“So, you…you…”

“I wanted to make sure that you had the best day possible,” Suga heard. “I mean...if you don’t want to...that’s fine, I mean we can just stay here. That’s fine, don’t feel like you have to-”

“No!” Suga cut in, secretly glad that he could hear that normal bit of dorkiness in Daichi’s voice. “It sounds amazing, Daichi! I just can’t believe you got that together so fast.”

“Well, I’ve been planning it for a while. I just needed the right time,” Daichi responded, and Suga felt soft lips press themselves to his temple. “And today is the perfect time.”

Suga smiled to himself, feeling perfectly content with the way his day was turning out. Thoughts of the police were all but gone, having been pushed so far back in his mind that there was no way they would bother him for the rest of the night. At least, not as long as he had Daichi by his side and all of Tokyo to enjoy.

By the time they reached the train station and boarded the correct one, Suga had yet to get Daichi to spill about what concert they were going to. If Kuroo Tetsurou was able to let them in for free, then it had to be someone who was playing at the club that Kuroo worked bar shifts for. Which, since Kuroo was still in high school, wasn’t technically legal, but he was a master at making drinks and the owners were like his second parents. All of this had been told to Suga by Daichi, but it still didn’t clue him in to who they were going to be listening to. The soothing sounds of the train moving allowed for Suga to brainstorm ceaselessly, but he still couldn’t figure it out. In the end, he decided that he would find out when they got there and there was no need to spoil the surprise.

“So whose idea was it to break those phones?” Daichi asked him as they sat on the train, with Suga’s head resting on the captain’s shoulders. Daichi looked down to see a smile grow on Suga’s face at the thought of the broken phones of his former kouhai and current assaulters.

“Oikawa’s, of course,” Suga said. “But I remembered to delete the backups.”

“You two are demons together, you know that?” Daichi asked. “I don’t see how Iwaizumi handled you two for so long.”

“Not very well,” Suga responded, laughing. “But he tried, so he gets an A for effort.”

Daichi chuckled, pulling his arm up and around Suga to lay it across his shoulders. Suga leaned further into the touch, effectively nuzzling his head into Daichi’s neck.

The closer it came to him getting his eyesight back, the more he found himself wanting to see Daichi. Suga used to have a list of all of the things he wanted to see the most, but within the past week all of them had been surpassed by a constant throbbing of Daichi Daichi Daichi.

“Are we almost there?” Suga asked, slowly growing impatient of the train ride. It was a lot less interesting than he remembered it being when he was little, probably since he couldn’t look out the window.

“Ten minutes or so,” Daichi responded, and Suga felt light fingers in his hair. He hummed with appreciation.

“I’ve always wanted to see Tokyo,” Suga said softly, knowing that even as he was on his way there, he wasn’t really seeing the city at all.

“For tonight, just enjoy it,” Daichi responded. “Then in a few months we’ll come back and go sightseeing. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

“Yeah,” Suga hummed.

They spent the rest of the 10 minutes of the train ride in silence, but it was the comfortable kind of silence that didn’t feel like there was something unsaid. For the first time in a while, it felt like everything was clear between them.

After they’d exited the train, Suga was tingling with nervous excitement. On one hand, he was excited for the night they had ahead of them, but on the other hand, he didn’t have his glasses or his cane. To any bystander, it wouldn’t be obvious that he was blind. Which only left him with the option of clinging to Daichi’s arm like a leech. He knew Daichi didn’t necessarily mind , but it still felt like he was dead weight. But in a busy city like Tokyo, there wasn’t really any other option except to hang on for dear life.

“Right here,” Daichi said after a few minutes of walking, and the two of them came to a stop. Suga assumes they must be at whatever restaurant Daichi had planned for them to eat at. His suspicions were confirmed when they entered, and were promptly seated in the heart of what sounded like a very busy building.

Deciding to have some fun, Suga felt in front of him until his hands came across a menu. He promptly opened it, hoping it wasn’t upside down, and held it in front of him like he was reading it.

“What are you doing there?” He heard Daichi ask, clearly laughing.

“I’m reading my options, duh,” Suga said, and then heard someone approach the table.

“Sawamura!” An excited voice said.

“Bokuto,” Daichi responded. “How’s the team?”

“So good! We’ve been practicing so much though, it’s exhausting,” the voice answered. “Do you guys want to get drinks first?”

After they’d both ordered waters, Suga wracked his brain to try and put a face to the voice. Bokuto.

“You know that guy?” Suga finally asked.

“Bokuto Koutarou. He goes to Fukurodani. Big guy, spiky white and black hair. Gold eyes. Looks like an owl, kinda.”

That’s right. Suga definitely remembered him.

Once Bokuto came back with drinks, he asked if they were ready to get food. Suga took his opportunity.

“Actually, I think there’s something wrong with your menu,” he said, squinting his eyes dramatically.

“Suga…” Daichi whispered.

“Huh? What’s wrong with it?” Bokuto asked, and Suga could practically hear the worry. It almost made him feel bad.

“Well, I can’t read it. I think mine’s defective,” Suga said, squinting again.

“Suga, stop,” Daichi interjected, but the words were said with a laugh that only prompted Suga to continue.

“It looks fine to me?” Bokuto said, sounding so confused that it actually made Suga feel a pang of sympathy for the guy. “Do you have glasses or something?”

“Well, I don’t think that’ll help,” Suga responded, bringing a hand up to tap his chin.

“Suga, please,” Daichi whispered, bordering on a wheeze.

“I think glasses usually help?” Bokuto said.

“Hmm. Well, I’m blind. Do you think they make glasses for that?”

Silence. Then, “Huh?”

“I’m blind,” Suga repeated. After a beat, he heard Daichi burst out into half laughter, half harsh whispers of “Suga, no.”

“Oh,” Bokuto said, no longer sounding confused. “Well that’s why you can’t read the menu.” It was obvious that he meant it as a joke.

“Ah,” Suga responded, trying his best not to laugh. “That must be it.” Unable to contain himself any longer, he let out a few giggles before composing himself again.

“So you must be the guy Kuroo told me about,” Bokuto said. “From the mountain? Suga-something?”

It took Suga a second to remember that he had met Kuroo up at the mountain retreat. His mood soured for a second as he recalled the circumstances under which he met Kuroo, but he quickly forced himself not to think about it. He wasn’t going to let any bad thoughts ruin his first chance at enjoying himself in a while.

“Yeah, Sugawara Koushi,” Suga responded finally, painfully aware of how long his pause had been. “That’s me.”

“Nice to meet you, Sugawara-san,” Bokuto said. “So, you guys want food?”

After Daichi had ordered for the both of them, they’d eaten their meal, and Daichi had payed, it was later at night. Suga could only tell by the fact that his blurry blobs of vision had dissolved into pure blackness. He held onto Daichi’s hand like a vice as they walked down the crowded streets in Tokyo.

“You okay?” He heard Daichi ask, and felt a hand brush against his cheek as they stood at what he assumed was a crosswalk.

“I’m fine,” Suga responded, but even he could hear that it was too breathy to be believable. So, he pressed in a little tighter to Daichi and squeezed the hands they had interlaced. “Okay, I’m kind of freaking out. It’s really crowded, and I’ve already bumped into like a million people.”

“Then come closer, ” Suga heard, and then felt an arm wrap around the back of him and pull him closer toward the warmth radiating from Daichi’s body. “Just tell me when you’re uncomfortable, Suga. I’ll fix it, if I can.”

“I know,” Suga said. “But I don’t want you to have to have to worry about me every second of every day.”

“That’s my job,” Daichi responded quickly, then tugged slightly to let Suga know they were walking. “I’m your boyfriend.”

“I’d forgotten,” Suga said. He was trying to be light hearted even though the tension that came with crossing the road. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Daichi; it was just unnerving.

“You’re okay,” Daichi responded. “We’re nearly there.”

“It’s okay. I’m okay.” Suga wasn’t exactly lying, but he still felt uncertain. Being blind in small areas of Miyagi was different than being blind at night in Tokyo city.

They walked for a bit more before turning down into an area where Suga couldn’t detect any light at all. A fresh wave of fear went down Suga’s spine, but he just tightened his grip on Daichi and went along with it. He heard a door open and his face snapped to face it on instinct.

“Hey, Captain Crow,” Suga heard, recognizing the voice as Kuroo’s. “Nice to see you again, Sugawara.”

“Hello, Kuroo,” Suga said loud enough for him to hear, but still shrunk into Daichi’s side.

“Thank you for this, Kuroo,” Daichi said. “It means a lot to us.”

“It’s not a big deal,” Suga heard. “You’re a good guy, Sawamura. Also, you guys need to stay together in there if you go on the floor. It’s crowded as hell, and I’m stuck behind the bar tonight. But you should be fine at the tables as long as you stay put, Sugawara.”

The words sent another slight spread of anxiety through his chest, but Suga kept his face neutral so that he wouldn’t cause any concern. This was a happy day. It was supposed to be their happy day, and he wouldn’t let himself ruin it. He felt a pull on his body as they stepped up into the club through what Suga assumed was a side door.

The air grew noticeably warmer inside the club, and the music that’d he’d vaguely been hearing grew louder. It felt like the entirety of the room was shaking around him, but he felt oddly comforted now that he could see muffled colors dancing across his vision. Daichi led him closer to the louder sounds, and Suga felt more and more bodies around him, moving against him.

They walked for a little while more, until Suga felt his hand being guided and placed on top of a flat surface.

“Where are we?” Suga asked, trying to gain his bearings even though he knew it wouldn’t help much.

“Table, not too far from the main area around the stage. There’s lots of people, especially around there. We can go, but I want to make sure we’re together.”

“Okay,” Suga said, taking deep breaths. “Alright. Can you get me something to drink please? Water or something.”

“Okay, come on,” Daichi said, and felt Daichi grab onto his hand.

“Wait, can I just stay here?” Suga asked. He suddenly felt anxious about leaving the table, even if it was with Daichi. “I’ll keep my hands on the table the whole time. Please?”

There was a slight pause. “Okay. But if I lose sight of you for a second, I’m starting a witch hunt. So, please don’t move.”

“I’ll be good, Dadchi,” Suga teased, sending a soft smile in the direction of Daichi’s voice. “Okay,” Daichi laughed, and then Suga heard him leave.

Once he knew he was alone at the table, Suga kept his hands palm down and flat on it, keeping himself grounded as people jostled around him. He kept his head up, not wanting to draw any attention by looking down at the ground. He couldn’t really tell what was going on around him, but he could hear the music still playing. It was generic and poppy, clearly not the music from a live band. Suga’s best bet was that the show hadn’t started yet.

“Are you just going to stare?” A voice asked from somewhere ahead of Suga. It brought him back to reality, and he realized that the voice was talking to him. It must have looked like he was staring at whoever it was.

“I’m not,” Suga said quickly, thing to defend himself. He didn’t want to cause any possible trouble.

“Really? I’m not sure what else it could be,” the voice said. It sounded feminine, which brought Suga entirely further out of his comfort zone. “And it’s really creepy, so. You’re cute but this is freaking me out, dude.”

“Oh no,” Suga said quickly. “I’m blind. I’m not staring. And I’m here with-”

“Suga!” Daichi’s voice saved Suga from the terror of facing a scary female in a club. “What’s up?”

“He’s staring at me,” the girl quickly cut in. “Is he your friend? Because he said he’s blind, when he clearly isn’t.”

“He is,” Suga heard Daichi say nonchalantly. “But that’s none of your business. My boyfriend doesn’t need to explain himself to you.”

“Oh, it’s like that,” Suga heard. “Whatever.”

The voice faded away, so Suga assumed the girl walked away.

“Here you go,” Daichi said. “I got you some fruity juice something. Non-alcoholic. It seemed like a Suga thing.”

Suga felt a glass being pushed into his hand, and smiled in the direction of Daichi’s voice. “Thanks.”

Suga suddenly felt his hair slipping into his face, and reached up to fix it, letting go of the glass for a moment. Then, he felt down on the table for a second, wrapping his hand around the cup again. He brought it up to his lips, feeling unbearably thirsty.

The drink was kind of sour, but Suga could taste the fruitiness that Daichi had mentioned. It tasted weird though, he was still thinking after drinking what seemed like most of it.

“Daichi?” He asked. “Are you sure this doesn’t have alcohol?”

“Huh?” Suga heard, and then, “Oh shit, Suga.”

Suga felt the cup being pulled out of his hands, and he furrowed his brow. “Does it?”

“No, it didn’t, but, fuck,” Daichi said. “I’m sorry, Suga. I let you drink from the wrong one. That girl must have left it behind. Shit. Here, drink some water.”

“What? Daichi!” Suga yelled, reaching for the water Daichi offered. “This isn’t okay!”

“I know! I know! I’m sorry. You’ll probably be okay, it wasn’t that much. Fuck.”

“It’s okay. It’s fine,” Suga said, calming down after his initial anger. “You’re the one who’s going to have to deal with it, mostly. I’ll be fine.”

“Still, fuck. I’m sorry,” Daichi responded. “I promise I didn’t come here to get you drunk.”

“I know, don’t worry,” Suga said. “It’s okay.”

-

It was definitely not okay. Daichi wasn’t sure if it was Suga’s lean build, or his genetics, or something else, but Suga was definitely a lightweight. Just that one drink on accident, and Suga was basically bouncing off the walls.

“ Daichiii ,” the setter whined. “I wanna go dance.”

The live concert had started about an hour ago, and Suga had spent the entirety of it so far vehemently complaining about wanting to dance. And, as much as Daichi wanted to dance with his boyfriend, he was terrified of the prospect of bringing his somehow drunk and not to mention blind boyfriend onto a dance door where at least a few hundred people with their bodies packed like sardines were.

“Suga, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Daichi said to the silver-haired beauty that had draped himself over the captain.

“But, Daichi, consider this...I wanna.”

Daichi stumbled backwards with Suga’s body weight on him, falling onto a convenient chair they stopped him from falling on his ass. Suga fell on top of him, falling down so he was straddling the captain. Perfect.

Once the setter felt out his position, he smiled wickedly at Daichi. “ Hey , Captain.”

“Suga. No,” Daichi said, grabbing the setter’s hands that had been moving over the captains body and pinning them by his sides.

“Kinky, captain,” Suga purred, leaning forward until his face hit against Daichi’s. “I can’t find your lips. Where the fuck did they go?”

“Suga, come on,” Daichi said, trying to lift Suga up so they could stand. “It’s getting bad we should go.”

“I don’t wanna. This is s’posed to be fun. I don’t wanna ruin it,” Suga responded, squirming in Daichi’s lap and fuck that was doing something. Daichi applied more pressure on Suga to try to get him to stop moving, because this club was not the place for any of this.

“You’re not ruining it, Suga. I just think it’s best if we go,” Daichi said, standing up and taking Suga with him.

“But I’m having fun!” Suga whined, throwing his head back and making puppy dog eyes at Daichi. The captain cursed under his breath because this situation was unwinnable.

“Okay,” Daichi said, conceding. “Okay. If you’re having fun, we can dance for ten minutes but then I need to get you home.”

Suga smiled brightly, his flushed cheeks shining brightly under the lights. Daichi felt himself smiling in response because his boyfriend was just too beautiful to be real. Daichi led Suga down to the floor near the stage, where a vast majority of the patrons were dancing with their bodies so tight together it seemed impossible to break through. Fortunately, Daichi was built well and Suga was distractingly pretty, so the pair was able to fight their way into the center of the throng of people.

As soon as they made it, Daichi grabbed Suga by the waist, making sure there was no possible way for Suga to get away and get lost. They were tightly packed, and the thought of some other girl or guy dancing on his boyfriend made Daichi unbelievably protective.

Especially when Suga started actually dancing, and Daichi realized he had never seen Suga do anything like this and it really shouldn’t be legal. His hips were swaying and dipping and moving, and Daichi could just tell that it made his ass look amazing. And with Daichi’s hands on the setter’s waist, he could feel every little movement. Daichi stared at Suga’s face, a small smile growing on his lips.

His eyes were closed, and his neck tilted back, a blissful smile gracing his lips. His cheeks were flushed pink with alcohol, or maybe just heat. Either way, it was gorgeous and made his beauty mark stuck out even more. Daichi couldn’t resist leaning down and pressing a soft kiss on that beauty mark, only leaving his lips there for a moment before pulling away and keeping his forehead on Suga’s. He felt guilty, as if he was taking advantage of his drunk boyfriend, but the feeling was brief because Suga looked so happy . For a moment, Suga didn’t look like he was worried or scared. That’s how he’d looked so often lately, and it made Daichi hurt to see him like that. And now, even if for just a moment, Suga looked blissful and happy and Daichi was not going to take that away.

The music was good, and Daichi was able to get into it fairly quickly, but not with as much gracefulness as Suga was capable of. It didn’t matter; he didn’t need to impress anyone.

He had Suga, and that was enough for him.

It was easy to lose track of time, and before Daichi knew it, the band was announcing that this was their last song, and it would be a slow song. Daichi looked down at Suga, and pulled him closer into a more appropriate position for slow dancing. The setter simply tucked his head into the crook of Daichi’s neck, and the captain felt him smile against his skin. The song started, and the dance floor noticeably thinned as only the people who had found or already had partners remained.

“Hey Daichi,” Suga murmured into the captain’s neck.

“Yeah?” Daichi responded.

“I really like you,” Suga whispered, then giggled like he had just shared the biggest secret.

“I like you too, Suga.”

Suga giggles again, this time going back to press sloppy kisses on Daichi’s neck where he was resting.

“I wanna look at you,” Suga said. “I really wanna look at you.”

“You will. Soon.” Daichi brought a hand up to thread through Suga’s hair.

“I bet you’re really hot. I’ve only seen you from far away.”

“I’m not nearly as pretty as you, Suga.”

“I think you’re lying to me.”

“I would never.”

“I know,” Suga responded, then settled tighter into Daichi, falling into a comfortable silence.

By the time they left after thanking Kuroo again, it was so late that Daichi wasn’t even sure that trains would be running. Sure enough, when he checked the schedule, there was only one train left and it was leaving at an almost impossible time for them to make it.

“Suga? Remember when you rode on my back that one time?” Daichi asked.

“Mhm,” Suga hummed in response.

“Can you do that again please?”

Clearly relieved to be carried, Suga jumped into Daichi’s back easily and layed his head down. Without a drunk Suga having to be pulled along, Daichi was able to walk quickly and efficiently to the train station and walk through the doors with only seconds left to spare.

After depositing Suga in a seat, Daichi collapsed beside him.

They were silent for a moment, then Suga put his head on Daichi’s shoulder.

“I have to tell the police,” he said, his voice sounding oddly sober. “Don’t I?”

“You don’t have to do anything,” Daichi quickly said. “No one will make you.”

“But I should. You think it even if you won’t say it.”

“I think it’s the best thing. I don’t want to see you or anyone else get hurt again over something like that.”

Suga sighed softly. “I’m scared.”

“It’s okay to be. I’m here for you, and so is your mom and the team and everyone else.”

“I know,” Suga said.

“I can go with you, if you’d like. To the police station.”

“Please,” Suga basically whimpered. Daichi felt a deep pang in his heart, and pulled Suga closer to his chest. He knew that it was probably just excess emotion from being slightly drunk, but after seeing Suga so happy, it felt wrong to see him so sad.

“It’s okay,” Daichi said, holding Suga’s hand and rubbing his thumb gently over the skin there. “It’s okay, baby. You’re going to be alright.”

“I like that,” Suga said, a sad smile on his face. “When you call me baby.”

“I can arrange to say it more,” Daichi responded.

“Thank you. For today. And for everything.”

“You’re welcome, Suga. Now go to sleep, I’ll carry you home.”

The setter hummed and curled up into Daichi’s chest, his breathing at first coming out shaky and weak. Using his palm, the captain ran his palm over his setter’s back. He listened as Suga’s breathing evened.

He could have sworn he heard an “I love you”, but it might have just been his imagination.

It had previously been decided that the best way to show up to the police station would not be hungover underage and emotional, so Suga chose to instead wait to go after school on Monday rather than on Sunday. The decision was one that Daichi said he agreed with, which gave Suga more comfort than he could describe, but the thing that was consistently bothering him was how to tell his mom. About going to the police again. About why he lied in the first place. About the exact extent of what happened. About all of it.

She would be disappointed, he knew that much. He wasn’t supposed to keep things from her, especially not something so important. They had a good level of trust, and he feared that this would break through all of that. It kept him awake, even as he tried to sleep on Sunday afternoon. He’d taken so many headache pills that he was almost convinced it would clear his blindness. Daichi had stayed over, making sure that Suga would be okay in the morning. He’d stayed over for most of the day, until about an hour ago when he had gotten a message from his dad saying that he needed Daichi immediately. Before the captain had left, he had made sure Suga would be completely okay.

Finally, Suga had gotten to sleep and woken up ready for school the next morning. He had insisted on coming to both morning and afternoon practice, and then going to the station afterwards. Daichi had been hesitant about having Suga stay for both practices before going, but the setter was extremely persistent. Deep down, Suga knew it was because he wanted to postpone this as long as he could, but he would never tell Daichi that.

And that was how they ended up at practice, with only ten minutes left, and Suga exactly zero minutes away from bursting at the seams with anxiety. His brain was on hyper-speed, and it felt like a hamster on crack cocaine was running around in there, telling him all of the things that could go wrong when he went to the police. He could feel himself sweating, and as much as he tried to control it, he also couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. It was the anticipation that was killing him. Listening to all of the volleyballs and team members as they practiced, pretending to be perfectly normal even though he knew that after today his life would change drastically. It was torture.

“Alright everyone, clean up! And no extra practice today, they’re deep cleaning the gym floors,” Suga heard Ukai shout, followed by protesting groans from Hinata and Kageyama. The rest of the team just grumbled back into

the locker room, as was obvious by the sound of the door opening and closing, followed by pure silence. Suga took the opportunity to take a deep, yet shaky, breath that made him feel better momentarily before a new wave of anxiety crashed into him again.

“Are you okay, Sugawara?” The voice scared Suga, and he let out a fairly loud gasp before he recognized Ukai and settled himself down.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” he said, hearing his stutter betray him. He let out another breath, aiming his head down and clasping his hands together.

“You know you don’t have to lie to me,” Ukai responded casually. “I won’t gossip to the other kids.”

Suga felt his lips twitch, and felt his own nails digging into his palm. “I’m just a little nervous.”

“A little?”

“Maybe more than a little,” Suga conceded quietly.

“Care to share?” Ukai asked, and for a second he sounded like a father. It made Suga stay still for a second, trying to remember the last time that somebody had acted like a father for him.

“I’m going to the police,” he said, shakily. “Because I’ve been lying. And I’m scared I’m going to get in more trouble.”

Suga heard a loud sigh from Ukai. “Sugawara, lying is wrong. But I’m sure you know that. Now, tell me, why did you lie?”

“B-because the...the people who hurt me, they threatened to hurt my friend. And I just didn’t...I didn’t know what else to do,” Suga responded quietly.

“And the police will understand that,” Ukai said quickly. “So don’t worry so much, alright kid?”

Suga presses his lips together, but he did feel an odd sense of comfort making its way alongside the anxiety. He heard Ukai start to walk away. Wait!

“Thank you!” He called out loudly, in a slightly stronger voice than it had previously been. Suga heard the footsteps stop for a moment, followed by “It’s no problem” before they faded out of what he could hear.

Suga leaned back against the wall, feeling genuinely slightly better than he had. He startled when he heard the locker room door open, followed by the sounds of conversation.

“Good practice, be ready to work again tomorrow morning!” Suga heard Daichi talking in his captain voice, which was completely adorable and at the same time incredibly hot. If Daichi used the captain voice, Suga would probably let him on him.

He heard Daichi approach, mostly because Daichi’s footsteps were abnormally loud. Though, Suga had wondered if Daichi walked loudly in order for Suga to hear him. Either way, Suga heard.

“You ready?” Daichi asked.

“No,” Suga admitted, putting a hand out to signal that he wanted contact with Daichi. He was quickly met with Daichi’s elbow, and then pulled himself to standing. “But I’m going to do it anyway,” he added.

Suga felt lips press into his hair, a gesture which he had the luck to be very familiar with. “I’m proud of you,” Daichi mumbled into Suga’s silver locks. The setter felt a blush creep onto his face, pleasantly suppressing his anxiety if just for a moment. What were you even thinking? Daichi is here. The law is on your side. You’ll be fine.

“Alright, we should go,” Daichi said. “The kids are starting to stare.”

Suga giggled, actually giggled like some kind of bad cartoon. And for a moment, he felt normal. He felt ready.

As they walked out of the gym and out into the crisp night air, Suga found himself laughing at Daichi’s bad jokes and smiling. The world around him was pinkish-yellow, blobs moving in and out of his damaged vision. His arm felt secure against Daichi’s, and they walked with a confidence that he hadn’t felt since before the blindness.

The police station wasn’t far from the school, but still far enough for it to be a pleasant walk for Daichi and Suga in the sunset. By the time they were standing there, in front of the doors, Suga’s body was tense again. Yet, only tense in anticipation of being scolded for lying. He didn’t feel the crushing anxiety that had been plaguing him before in the gym. This was much more tolerable.

“You ready?” Daichi asked him, drawing him out of his thoughts and back into the real world. The real world where he was about to tell the truth about how he was attacked. The real world where he was terrified but ready for it anyway.

“Yeah,” Suga responded. “I am.”

Daichi lead him inside of the doors, if the air conditioning blasting on his face was any indication. Suga was unfortunately rather familiar with the layout of the police station, and in his mind he could conjure up an image of the front desk, with the timid looking man Suga was fond of behind it. And then to the left, the hallway leading back to the offices and desks for officers.

“Sugawara-kun,” a voice said, that Suga recognized as the man at the front desk. “It’s nice to see you. How can I help?”

“I need to speak with Officer Nakamura, or Miyamoto,” Suga said, his voice sounding a little too monotonous. A little too sure of himself.

“They’re both about to leave to handle something, so you might need to wait for them to return,” the man said. Suga felt a lump form in his throat as he shook his head. “No. I need to speak with them now. If I could just catch them before they leave-”

“Sugawara-kun, it’s unfortunately not possible.”

“No,” Suga responded, his voice raising. He felt Daichi squeeze on his arm, probably warning him he was going to make a scene. Unfortunately, Suga was too ready for this and wasn’t about to leave without doing what he came to do. “This is about my case, and it’s important.”

“There’s nothing that I can-”

“Sugawara!” A voice interrupted, that Suga immediately recognized as Miyamoto’s. He sighed in relief. Perfect.

“Miyamoto-san! I needed to talk to you,” he started to explain, then felt a hand fall on his shoulder.

“No need. We’ve found the perpetrator and are going to detain him now,” Miyamoto said, and Suga felt his heart lift the slightest before realizing that he had only said one perpetrator. “I must say, I’m disappointed in you. Lying isn’t productive. We’re going to pick up Oikawa-kun now, so if you don’t mind-”

“NO!”

-

Daichi snapped his head to look at Suga, whose yell had been louder than anything else that Daichi had heard come out of the setter before. Suga looked completely and totally terrified, and every instinct inside of Daichi made him want to hold him and comfort him, but he knew that he couldn’t do that right now.

“Sugawara-kun, the game is over,” a new officer said as he walked into the room, who Daichi remembered was the one Suga had described as Nakamura on the way here, with the other being his partner, Miyamoto.

“Oikawa-kun was the only person who was there at the right time, and the right place,” the officer continued.

“It wasn’t him!” Suga said, stepping and reaching forward aimlessly, as if trying to physically stop the officers. “I know who it was! They blackmailed me so I wouldn’t say! It wasn’t Oikawa!”

Suga was frantic, and Daichi watched helplessly as he struggled to move towards the officers. The captain used his free hand to catch Suga across the chest, but the setter still struggled.

“Let go of me,” he said through gritted teeth, still trying to fight towards the officer’s voices.

“Suga, just hold on,” Daichi said, pulling the setter into his chest with difficulty, and smoothing a hand through his hair. “Just calm down, hold on, shhh.”

“No, I need do tell them, Daichi stop it,” Suga hissed harshly, then broke down into sobs. “P-please Daichi, I need to do it, please!”

Daichi kept shushing him, as the officers watched them carefully. Suga’s words were making less and less sense as his tears grew more and more. Daichi just kept a hand moving through that silver hair, slowly placating the setter. Once Suga was quiet enough to just be making small choked sobs, Daichi looked up at the two men with pleading eyes.

“Just listen to him, please. He’s prepared right now,” he said. “Just listen, and then if you still think it’s Oikawa, you can still go arrest him. He’s not going anywhere.”

“That’s now how the law works, son,” Miyamoto said, but Nakamura put a hand on his partner’s shoulder.

“Let’s listen,” he said slowly, like he was unsure of his words. “It won’t hurt.”

Miyamoto looked at his partner skeptically, then sighed and nodded his head. “Alright, bring him back.”

After a few more soothing words to Suga, Daichi left him in an office with the two men, and went out to wait as instructed by them. Sitting in the main lobby of the police station with only the man behind the desk as company felt wrong. He should be in there, comforting Suga. He knew that he couldn’t, but he still wish that he could do something.

He felt his phone buzzing in his pocket, and he was instantly grateful for the distraction until he saw the name calling.

Oikawa Tooru.

Taking a breath first, he answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Captain-chan, look, Suga-chan isn’t answering his phone and I needed to get to him, so I’m calling you,” the voice said on the other end.

“Okay,” Daichi responded. “Why?”

“Uh, that’s the problem. Haruki and Kazue, they uh, well they don’t believe the phones were broken on accident, and they’re blaming your team, specifically one Sugawara Koushi.”

“Shit, what are they doing?”

“They’re on their way to Karasuno, and I don’t know what they’re doing once they get there. So just...Sawamura just get Suga-chan away from there, okay? I don’t want him...just get him away. Make sure your whole team is away, and safe, okay?”

Daichi found himself shaking his head, before remembering that he needed to speak. “The gym is closed for cleaning, so everyone’s gone. And Suga and I...Suga and I are at the police station.”

“What!?” Oikawa’s voice screeched. “Wha-what happened? Is he okay?”

“He’s fine, he’s fine. He’s better than fine. He’s…he’s telling them the whole story.”

“Wait, everything?”

“Everything,” Daichi responded, and he heard a quiet sigh from Oikawa’s end of the call.

“Finally,” he whispered. “I have to go, but keep a look out for those two, alright? They’re coming right to you guys, make sure they end up behind bars.”

“He’s doing what he can,” Daichi said, and then the call ended.

As soon as it did, Daich felt himself overcome with a new wave of panic. Something about the idea of Haruki and Kazue coming to his small town made him pissed beyond belief. Especially when his boyfriend was currently in a very fragile state and definitely not ready to be anywhere near the people who had attacked him.

Daichi willed himself to calm down; there was nothing he could do until those officers came out of the room. The silence was almost unbearable.

It felt like hours before he heard the door open, even though it was probably only half an hour or so. He jerked his head to stare at the hallway, and felt his heart ache as Suga walked out.

The setter’s eyes were rimmed with a deep red, and his nose was equally as rosy colored. His hair was messed up thoroughly, like he’d been running his hands through it several times. He was vaguely holding onto Miyamoto’s arm, but the grip was loose. Suga was holding on as loose as he could but still be guided.

“Just walk straight,” Miyamoto said gently when they reached the entrance of the hallway. Daichi stood up, realizing that the officer was giving Suga directions to get to the captain. Once Suga was walking blind, Daichi stepped forward and grabbed onto his hands, causing the setter to gasp a bit, then launch forward and melt into Daichi’s arms. Holding his boyfriend in his arms, he looked up at the officers.

“It checks out,” Nakamura said. “Fills in the gaps that Oikawa-kun didn’t. You’re brave, Sugawara.”

Daichi agreed, petting over his boyfriend’s head smoothly. Then, he looked up at the officers.

“Those two,” he said. “They’re on their way here. Oikawa called, and said they’re headed to Karasuno.”

The officers exchanged a glance. Nakamura took a step forward. “Why?”

“Th-they’re mad about their phones. They blame our team and Suga, so they’re going to Karasuno. No one is there, but if you need to catch them…”

“We’re on it. They won’t be here for a while. Can we trust you to get Sugawara home safely?”

Daichi nodded. Suga’s house wasn’t too far away, maybe five minutes by foot. They would definitely make it home before Haruki and Kazue were able to arrive in their town.

“Then go now, and we’ll be in touch later,” Miyamoto said, and the officers walked them outside of the door. While the officers went to their vehicles to drive to Karasuno, Daichi took Suga in the opposite direction to get to their house. The setter still hadn’t spoke since coming out of the room, but his breathing was steady and Daichi felt hopeful.

“Can I carry you?” Daichi asked softly. Suga sagged slightly against him before grimacing and nodding, as if embarrassed about showing weakness. Daichi wanted to tell him not to feel bad, but he knew that no words could fix that kind of feeling right now. So, he just hoisted Suga up onto his back.

“I thought I’d feel different,” Suga whispered, his voice soft in Daichi’s ear.

“Different?” Daichi asked.

“I thought I’d feel a huge weight lifted off of me, like this was all I needed to do. But it feels the same,” Suga answered, and Daichi nodded as he turned the corner.

“It still happened. No matter if they’re in jail, it happened. I’m still blind. I can’t even see you Daichi, and it’s all their fault,” Suga continued. “And it doesn’t stop hurting just because they’re going to be gone. I just...I just want this to be over, but it’s never going to be. There’s going to be court, and I’m going to have to talk about it all over again. And then I’m going to have to go in for surgery again to get my eyes fixed and I’m just...I’m terrified that it’s not going to work. And I’ll never get to see you.”

Daichi leaned his head into Suga’s, doing his best to comfort him while he was on his back. “Don’t worry about that, Suga. Your eyes are going to be fine, the doctors have said so, right? And I know that this is never going to stop hurting, but I’m going to be here for you. I’m going to make sure you don’t get hurt ever again.”

“You can’t control that,” Suga whispered.

“I can try,” Daichi responded. They fell into easy silence, until they reached the front door of the Sugawara household. Daichi saw that there was no car in the driveway, which meant that no one else was home. His mother would probably be home shortly once she was notified by the police or Suga of the situation, but for now Daichi knew that he couldn’t leave the setter alone.

“Suga, I’m going to stay here tonight, okay?” He said, and he was met with an enthusiastic nod from Suga.

“Please don’t leave me right now,” Suga said. His voice sounded more normal than it had, and Daichi noticed that his face was completely dry of tears. A small smile worked its way onto the captain’s face, because it felt like just maybe they would be okay.

After texting their respective parents, and using Suga’s key to get into the house, Daichi brought the setter upstairs into his room. After he’d deposited him into the bed, Suga just stayed still, sitting with his legs dangling off the edge.

“Do you need clothes to sleep in?” Daichi asked, moving towards the closer.

“This is my house, shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Suga responded. Daichi was relieved to see that Suga was responding normally, with normal answers in a steady tone.

“I’m fine in my boxers with the shirt I have on,” Daichi said, then added on. “If that’s okay.”

He looked over at Suga, who put his head up enough for Daichi to see the slight blush on his cheeks.

“That’s fine,” Suga said. “I’ll just...I’ll do the same.”

Daichi turned away as he got changed, pulling off his pants and his jacket quickly. He felt a little bit exposed, before remembering that Suga literally would not be able to see to care. He turned back, only to see Suga’s slightly trembling fingers struggling with the buttons of his jacket.

“Do you need help?” Daichi asked tentatively, causing Suga to lift his head sheepishly and nod, pulling his hands away from his buttons.

Daichi moves forward, his hands finding Suga’s buttons easily and undoing them. Once they were open, he carefully lifted Suga’s arms and slid the cloth off of him. It left Suga in just a thin white undershirt, and his track pants.

“Do you need-?”

“I got it,” Suga said, smiling slightly and reaching down to tug on his waistband. He pulled off his pants quickly, and Daichi had to turn away slightly in order to keep himself under control because now was absolutely not the time to be letting himself get out of control.

“Do you want me to sleep in the bed?” Daichi asked, trying to be cautious in the wake of everything that had happened. But Suga just made the most confused face.

“I need you,” Suga said simply, moving to get under the covers and leaving a section open for Daichi, who slipped in easily. They lay beside each other for a moment, and then both of them launched toward the other, Daichi wrapping his arms around Suga’s frame and the setter allowing himself to be tucked into the captain’s chest.

They didn’t say a word, just settled together comfortably, letting the lull of sleep take them.

Suga fell asleep first, his soft snores comforting Daichi as he made slow, gentle strokes through the setter’s hair. The captain was awake for a while longer, looking around at the brightly colored posters and wondering if Suga would take them down once he had vision again.

Around midnight, the room door creaked open and Daichi turned his head to see Suga’s mom in the doorway. Daichi should have been embarrassed, but instead he just watched her face.

“They got them,” she said softly, a sad smile on her face. She ran a tired hand through her hair, then looked back up at Daichi. “Thank you.”

“For what?” He asked quietly, not wanting to disturb Suga.

“Taking care of my baby,” she said, and then waved a little before closing the door once more. Daichi felt warmth settle over him.

A few minutes later, he fell asleep with his hand intertwined with Suga’s.

The next few weeks felt like a blurry mess of sounds and touches to Suga. It began with him waking up entangled in Daichi’s arms, early in the morning long before practice even began. It was the soft kind of morning where Suga felt himself melting into the sheets and refusing to move until it became apparent they would be late to practice. After the busy events of the night prior, Suga’s head had cleared of most of the nagging anxiety and was replaced with the content hum that he had been yearning for the last few months.

The next day, the station had called with a court date, and a week later, Suga was wearing a deep navy suit and sitting in front of a room of people, telling them all something he had only told his mother fully a little more than a week earlier. Daichi sat in the room as well, which comforted Suga even though he couldn’t see him.

The moment he heard the conviction, Suga finally felt like the weight in his heart had lifted. He knew that the paranoia and the fear would never lift itself completely from his mind, but just knowing that there was some semblance of justice helped more than he thought it ever would.

Then, time flew by as things returned to normal. Suga went to school, came home, did what homework he could, and then went to sleep. It was a routine, and it felt normal, and Suga was thankful for that. And then suddenly, he was eating dinner with his mom on a Sunday night and he realized:

One week.

“It’s only one week left?” He asked, even though he knew he had heard her right. And he knew that that time frame sounded correct.

“The appointment is on Saturday, Koushi,” she said softly, as if trying to just jog his memory.

“So I can...I’ll be able to see in a week,” he said, slightly in shock.

“You’ve been counting down the days,” his mom said in a joking tone. “How could you forget?”

He laughed a little, blinking his eyes as if the appointment on Saturday would magically happen at that very moment. “I guess it escaped me.”

But apparently, it only escaped Suga since Daichi, most of the volleyball team, and even some teachers remembered when his appointment was and what it meant. The entire week, he was faced with people counting down the days, and he was almost thankful that all of these people were so understanding and excited for him. Suga was growing more excited too, especially about the prospect of seeing all of these people for the first time when he was able to come back to school. The recovery time wasn’t too long, since the doctor said they were really just adding a final flush to the system of the numbing agent that had caused all the damage, and the rest of the eye was fine. Recovery was really just one day of closed eyes, and another of sunglasses-only, and then sunglasses as necessary until light was no longer a problem. The process sounded simple, but Suga knew it was going to drive him insane to not be able to open his eyes the first day when he knew that his eyes were fixed. On that train of thought, a day before the surgery he had been sitting with Daichi before afternoon practice, waiting for the last of the members to trickle into the gym.

“Hey,” he said, leaning his head onto Daichi’s shoulder while the captain stretched. “Can I ask you a favor?”

“Of course, anything,” Daichi responded quickly, in that kind of boy-scout way that he did sometimes. Suga smiled to himself at the thought. Good lord he couldn’t wait to put a face to that voice.

“Don’t come visit me while I’m still in the hospital,” Suga responded, and he could feel Daichi tense under him.

“Why not? I mean of course I’ll respect whatever you say, but-”

“No, no, it’s not that,” Suga cut in. “Just, when I’m in the hospital, I’ll be recovering and I’ll either have closed eyes or special sunglasses on, and I don’t want...I want to see you without anything between us.”

Suga felt the captain’s body relax underneath him, and then felt a kiss being pressed to his scalp. Honestly, until he’d been dating Daichi, Suga had never realized how much he enjoyed hair kisses.

“So you’ll see me at morning practice?” The captain said, and Suga smiled.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’ll see you then.”

They both laughed, even though it was more the kind of laughter that came from anticipation and excitement than actual humor. Because this didn’t feel real, especially to Suga. He remembered very clearly what sight was like-he’d had it for eighteen years of his life-but something about it still felt new and foreign to him. And all of the new things that he’d suddenly be thrust back into.

With his vision, there would be nothing stopping him from practicing volleyball, or walking alone, or taking notes during class, but all of those things felt millions of miles away from Suga, when they were really about four days out. He sat on his regular bench at that afternoon practice feeling so completely content. His mood only brightened more when Daichi came over to spend the night with him. It was technically a school night, but both of their parents understood that this was their last night together before everything would be changed. It  was important for them to have this time.

They spent the majority of it huddled up on Suga’s bed, which had quickly become their favorite make-out spot considering the mountain was so far away.

“You’re a devil,” Daichi said as Suga pressed the captain down onto his back, quick to feel out the situation and swing a leg over so that he was straddling Daichi. “I can’t imagine what I’m going to do when you can see me too.”

“I’m going to eat you alive,” Suga said, smirking down in what he hoped was the direction of Daichi’s face.

“I don’t doubt you for a second,” the captain responded, and Suga felt hands cradle his face, silently telling him to stay there for a moment and not lean down like he’d been planning to. Suga responded easily, letting his face rest in Daichi’s palms as he waited for the captain to say something.

“In all seriousness,” Daichi finally said, and Suga immediately felt fear at the tone. “What if you don’t like what you see?”

The fear vanished, and was replaced with exasperation. He’d answered various forms of this question at least twenty times in the past week, with Daichi acting like he hadn’t told the truth the last nineteen tries.

“I will,” Suga said. “But that wouldn’t matter anyway. I like you for you, not because I fell in love with your looks.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Daichi said. “It was my abs.”

Suga smiled, pushing past Daichi’s palms in favor of using his own hands to find Daichi’s lips and quickly claim them with his own. Daichi tasted like mint, just like usual, and Suga was instantly drawn in closer to him, trying to get as much of the addicting taste as possible. Daichi responded equally enthusiastically, his tongue quickly brushing against Suga’s lips as if asking for permission, which the setter gave him easily by parting his lips just the slightest, but it was exactly enough and both of them knew it. Suga hummed in appreciation as Daichi took his opportunity to push his tongue slightly past Suga’s lips. Both of them smiled into the kiss, which was something they would never be sick of.

Once their actions became too R-rated to be doing while Suga’s mom was still in the house, they mutually agreed to keep any and all lower-body appendages away from each other in order to keep this night peaceful rather than an opportunity for a lecture. They still slept completely intertwined though, because that was something that neither of them was willing to give up even though they knew they would be embarrassed when Suga’s mom inevitably came up to check on them around midnight.

They woke up early, and changed to get ready for practice. Since Suga didn’t need to wear actual practice clothes, he always just wore his school uniform. He could get it on himself since he’d done it so many times, but this morning in particular he decided that that was no fun.

“Daichi,” he whined, sitting on the bed in what he had worn to sleep.

“Yeah?” Daichi asked, and Suga heard his voice move closer.

“I need help putting on my clothes,” Suga said, groping the bed for the uniform and then holding it out in front of him like an offering.

“Suga, I’ve seen you put on your uniform before,” Daichi responded, a hint of amusement lacing his tone.

“Are you denying assistance to the disabled? Because I’m pretty sure that makes you a bad person.”

“I would never,” Daichi scoffed, and Suga felt the uniform being taken out of his hands. “Do you need to change your…?”

Suga was confused for a moment, before remembering that he was in fact only wearing boxers and a dingy shirt, both of which needed to be changed before he could put on his uniform. He nodded to Daichi, standing up to make his way over to the closet, since he hardly needed his boyfriend picking out his boxers for him. Once he had his change of clothes in his hand, he felt his face flush.

“I’ll change in the-the bathroom,” he said, and started to make his way there before there was a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s okay, I need to brush my teeth anyway. I’ll go in while you get changed, and then I’ll come help you with your very difficult and hard-to-put-on uniform,” Daichi teased, earning him a light punch from Suga. The setter nodded, and waited until he heard the bathroom door shut and the faucet turn on before he quickly stripped down and changed his clothes.

There was a knock from the inside of the bathroom, and Daichi called out asking if he was decent. Suga yelled back an affirmative “yeah” and then heard the door creak open. He heard the soft footsteps as Daichi walked over to him, and then a moment of silence before the captain let out a soft chuckle.

“What?” Suga asked, suddenly very self-conscious of his limited state of dress. His hands automatically went down to cover over his chest, even though it was hidden behind a new shirt.

“You put your shirt on backwards,” Daichi laughed.

“No, I-” Suga said, putting his hand up to feel the tag in the front of his shirt, assuming that it wouldn’t be there because he wasn’t really that uncoordinated that he put his shirt on backwards right? Yet, he felt the small tag there in the front of his shirt. “I’m so stupid.”

“You’re not stupid,” Daichi said, and Suga felt hands around the hem of his shirt, pulling it up over his head. Suga held his breath while it happened, becoming suddenly very aware that he was standing in only his boxers in his room with Daichi. There was a moment of silence where Suga didn’t know what Daichi was looking at, or what he was doing, and Suga tried to ignore the raging anxiety that started burning up from his gut.

“Daichi…” he said, lifting his hands slowly to feel in front of him to try and get some kind of read on the situation. He gasped a little as larger, rougher hands took his own and brought them back down beside him. It was a little bit rough, and scared him a little, but all of the fear went away as he felt Daichi’s lips connect with his own. Suga exhaled harshly from his nose as he pushed back into the kiss, which only lasted for a moment before Daichi pulled away, panting slightly.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his forehead resting against Suga’s. “You’re just really pretty.”

Suga felt his cheeks flush, especially as Daichi’s grip let go of Suga’s hands and moved onto his hips, resting just on top of his hip bones. Suga leaned into his boyfriend, his mind racing.

“I want you,” he whispered softly, unsure that Daichi would even hear him. He hoped that Daichi would understand what he meant too, since Daichi was a little bit of an innocent person. But apparently he did, because Daichi pulled back slightly and Suga felt one of his hands move to the setter’s cheek.

“Are you sure?” Daichi asked. Suga nodded, suddenly very sure of his answer.

“Not right now, obviously,” Suga said. “I want to see you. And we have school.”  

“Yeah, of course, of course,” Daichi said, and Suga felt the hand on his cheek move slightly as his thumb traced lightly over his cheekbones. Suga smiled, then stepped back before he was tempted to let anything go any further. They got dressed quickly, since they were getting close to be late for practice. As they were walking out the front door, Suga turned to Daichi with their arms interlocked.

“I think it’s a hazard to get changed around you,” he concluded, letting Daichi guide him down the stairs even though by now he could probably do it on his own. I’m just a couple days, he’d definitely be able to.

“Oh? And why is that?” Daichi asked.

“Think about it. On the mountain, before Tokyo, and today, and I always end up hot and bothered,” Suga responded, waiting for the feeling of Daichi tensing up beside him. He was surprised to only feel a slight flinch, followed by a mixture of a sigh and a laugh from Daichi.

“I guess that means we’re always going to have to keep our clothes on around each other,” Daichi eventually said, prodding Suga in the side where he knew the setter was ticklish.

“Hey!” Suga said, blindly swatting at the hand. “I mean, we don’t always have to keep them on. That would totally ruin my plans for Monday.”

“Plans?” Daichi asked, though Suga thought that the captain definitely knew what he meant.

“I told you before,” Suga said, lifting his free hand to gently graze it over Daichi’s arm. “I want you.”

Suga felt Daichi tense only slightly, before pulling an arm back to sling it around the setter’s shoulders. There was a peaceful silence between the two of them, which was something that Suga adored about their relationship. He didn’t always want to talk, and Daichi seemed to be the same way.

“I’m so proud of you,” Suga heard, followed by a firm kiss pressed to the top of his head.

“Huh?” Suga asked, head turning on instinct towards Daichi. He’d heard Daichi say those words a lot in the past few weeks, but there was something so different in his voice in that moment. There wasn’t even a word for how he sounded, but it sent a shiver down Suga’s spine.

“I mean that you’re literally amazing,” Daichi elaborated, leaving Suga even more dumbfound than before. “Like I’m actually the luckiest person ever to have you in my life.”

“W-what’s this all about?” Suga asked, trying to hide his obvious flustered self. He knew his cheeks were probably bright red, but there was nothing he could do about that.

“What? I’m just expressing my affections,” Daichi said innocently, poking a finger into Suga’s side. The setter quickly retaliated with a swat that only hit air. “Plus, once you can see, you’ll be able to hit me easier.”

Suga made an offended squawking noise, aiming for Daichi again, a few of his swats landing playfully on Daichi’s arms.

They continued their play-fighting all the way to the school, where Suga sat on the same bench that he always had and felt perfectly content in the darkness that he knew so well.

-

Tomorrow.

Daichi was going to see Suga, no , Suga was going to see Daichi tomorrow. The thought sent another excited chill up Daichi’s spine as he smiled at his phone. Even though they had agreed not to see each other until they were at the gym for morning practice, that abstinence from each other did not include text. Even if Suga wanted to wait to see Daichi, Daichi absolutely could not wait that long to make sure everything went okay.

Daichi: everything went good, right?

Suga: it went perfect. I’m even texting you myself and everything

Daichi: how does the world look

Suga: bright and happy and new

Suga: I want to see you

Daichi: It was your idea to wait you goof

Suga: I know it was… :( it’ll be worth it

Daichi: I hope so. I’m going to be so sad if my terribly horrific face ruins this relationship

Suga: it doesn’t matter what you look like. I’ve told you that.

Daichi: that’s because you’ve never seen the eyepatch

Suga: shut up you do not have an eyepatch

Daichi: you’ll see

Suga: I would have felt it when we made out

Daichi: compelling argument

Suga: I need to sleep now

Suga: see you tomorrow?

Daichi: I can’t wait

Daichi turned his phone off, putting it on his bedside table as he leaned back on his bed. It definitely was getting late, but his mind was racing too fast for him to even think about settling down and going to sleep.

He made jokes about it, but he knew that deep down he was worried about what Suga would think about him. It wasn’t like he was a model like that one guy from Fukurodani. He was just Daichi, and he wasn’t exactly anything special.

He had clear skin but that was more thanks to good genetics than any abnormal dedication to hygiene on his part. His hair was short, but he probably needed to go get it touched up anyway because it grew fast.

He was Daichi, and Suga was Suga. Suga was beautiful, and overwhelmingly ethereal. Suga was like someone out of a fashion magazine mixed with a wet dream of a fairy. And Daichi was an ogre in comparison.

But he also knew that Suga wasn’t the type of person to really judge on appearance. He knew it was irrational for him to even be worried about it. The best thing he could do was just get some sleep and try and look presentable in the morning. Because after the next morning, everything would change.

The sun was coming up, affixing the sky with brilliant shades of oranges, yellows, and subtle pinks. Suga watched as he walked on his way to school, taking in the sights of everything around him. He’d seen it all before, and there was nothing particularly special about it, but Suga watched the world with childlike wonder as he approached Karasuno.

Living so close, he’d seen the school before, but since he hadn’t actually chosen to go there until after the accident, he had never seen the school quite in this light. As he walked, he closed his eyes for a few moments at a time, recalling this same walk without eyesight.

This is the path that he always took with Daichi to get to the gym. It wasn’t quite paved, more gravelly, and it looked exactly like Suga thought it felt under his feet. Then, the gym itself. It was bigger than Suga had thought, but the front area was familiar. He saw the bench where he’d sat with the police that one time. The stairs that he walked up everyday. The double doors that he’d walked through so many times.

Then, there were things he had never been given the chance to notice. Like the fact that there was an awning above the front door of the gym, or that there were actually three tables. He had never seen the reddish brown color of the outside of the gym, or the rust on the doors. He’d felt it all; it had been right under his fingertips. But this was different. This was beautiful, and it was in a way that was so unexpected.

These things weren’t new to Suga, not exactly. He knew what they all were, in theory, and he’d encountered them all before. But sight added a new dimension to everything that he’d already experienced.

Suga sighed, an easy smile coming across his face as he looked at the gym from a dozen feet away. He knew he could go inside, but he felt perfectly content to just stand outside and look at the colors of the walls, and the doors, and the tables. His smile only grew bigger.

“Suga?” The voice startled the setter, though only slightly. In truth, he’d been expecting Daichi for a while. But that in no way meant that he was prepared for anything that was about to happen.

He didn’t turn around, not immediately. Something about the moment felt like it was too heavy to get it done quickly. Suga had already been waiting for months to see Daichi; he felt like he could wait a few more seconds if it was just to build tension.

“I think I’ve suddenly forgotten how to turn around,” Suga replied, the slight wavering in his voice sprouting as he felt like he was about to cry. He heard chuckling behind him, and Suga smiled a bit in spite of the relieved tears burning in his eyes.

“It’s okay,” Daichi said, and Suga heard clearly that the voice had moved much closer. “Close your eyes and I’ll help you.”

Suga closed his eyes immediately upon request, and then a moment after he felt lips on his own and hands holding him upright. It was Suga’s instinct to keep his eyes closed during a kiss, but he really wanted to be able to see Daichi like right now, so he quickly pushed Daichi away, and opened his eyes as the two of them split apart.

The first thing that Suga noticed was how tan Daichi was, and how broad his shoulders were. The rest followed.

His body was built like it was sculpted by the gods. His biceps. His legs. His thighs.

His eyes were a beautifully soft hazel-brown mixture. They were watery, glazed, and impossibly beautiful.

His lips were red and slick with spit from the kiss, but it looked absolutely gorgeous.

His cheeks were flushed with a beautiful peachy color that Suga had been dying to see.

His nose almost looked like it was a little crooked from being hit one too many times, but it was fine, it was attractive, it was amazing.

And the best part was easily the contact that came between their eyes within a moment. Then, there was a new best part when Daichi smiled, and his smile was gorgeous and splitting and it made the sun look dull. Then, a new best part when Daichi ran forward and scooped Suga up into his strong arms and spun him in a circle, their eyes never breaking contact the entire time. Once Daichi put Suga down, the setters hands immediately came up and cradled Daichi’s face, as if touching it would keep it from ever disappearing.

“D-Daichi,” he said, his voice wavering with happiness. “You’re so beautiful.”

Suga thought that there was nothing bad in the world as soon as he saw Daichi’s cheeks flushed with a creeping redness that spread from his cheekbones to his nose. The red color looked gorgeous in contrast to the slightly darker tan of Daichi’s skin.

“Your eyes,” Daichi responded, his own hands coming up to wipe away the tears from Suga’s cheeks with his thumbs. “You’re- you can see me. You’re looking at me.”

Suga smiled, leaning forward and pressing a few quick kisses to Daichi’s lips and his face. “I can see you, I can see you. You’re so beautiful.”

His words were all rushed, blurred together by the moment as he tried to take in so much. Here was Daichi, right in front of him. After everything he’d been through, he was finally standing with his boyfriend, and he felt happy- actually happy- for the first time in a long time. This body in front of him looked like a stranger, but that was contrasted by the fact that Suga knew all about Daichi, and looking at him was just adding another layer to the person he already knew. It was a strange experience, but Suga knew he would relive it forever and ever if only it was possible.

“Oh! Suga-san!”

Suga and Daichi both turned at the voice and, for what felt like the millionth time, Suga laid eyes on the Karasuno volleyball club. Even though he’d never really seen them from a reasonable distance, he could instantly pick them all out. Some of them by hair color, and others just by deduction.

Hinata looked just as sunny as Suga had always known he was, and Kageyama next to him looked like he was uncomfortable. They were holding hands, which made Suga swell with affection. He’d always heard them being romantic and goofy and awkward, but seeing it was like a whole new experience. Nishinoya and Tanaka were moments away from losing their minds, and Ennoshita and Asahi were holding them back.  Tsukishima was considerably taller than Suga had expected, and the same with Yamaguchi. They were standing so close together, and with enough skinship for Suga to understand why everyone thought they were dating even though they weren’t officially dating. It was crazy. All of this was crazy.

Suga just smiled, because he was sick of hiding everything he was feeling. He laughed softly, and lifted a hand to wave at the team.

“Hey,” he said, his voice coming up shaky again, this time with laughter. “I can see you.”

The team broke out with more smiles, and then suddenly there was a group of teenage boys surrounding Suga and Daichi, enveloping them in a group hug that left Suga breathless. The colors. There were so many colors. The different colors of the shirts, and the hair, and the grass under their feet, and all of it. The colors melted and swelled and muddled together, and Suga just stared and smiled and let himself enjoy it.

-

Daichi was in awe.

Suga’s eyes- those pretty, pretty eyes-were finally focusing on him. Sharp and exact, and connecting with him. It felt like the most intimate thing that Daichi had ever experienced, and he relished every moment.

First, they made it through morning practice where Suga insisted on sitting and watching to get a feel for the team before promising he would join in on afternoon practice. They made it through school, with plenty of people cooing and fawning over Suga now that he was able to see for himself. Daichi stopped himself from feeling any jealousy over that, especially since he knew that Daichi was his , and he was Suga’s.

By the time they made it to afternoon practice, Suga was basically skipping as they walked into the club room. Daichi laughed, pulling Suga into a quick hug and a kiss, before unlocking the club door and walking inside.

Daichi automatically opened his bag, pulling out his practice shirt. He pulled off the one he was wearing, tossing it into his bag.

“Holy shit.”

Daichi turned around at Suga’s words, his mind in a bit of a panic. “Are you okay, Suga?”

But all he saw was Suga standing there, with his pretty hazel eyes staring straight at Daichi’s abdomen. It was almost comical, how Suga’s mouth was stuck open.

“Earth to Suga?” Daichi asked, waving his hand in front of Suga’s face. The setter blinked once, then blushed quickly.  

“Sorry,” Suga said. “You just...holy shit Daichi. I mean I know I felt your abs but...shit.”

Suga’s eyes stayed glued onto Daichi’s stomach, and Daichi couldn’t bring it upon himself to feel embarrassed because his mind was once again flooded with the face that Suga could see. Daichi took a step closer to the setter, causing Suga to startle a bit and take a half a step back before Daichi reached around to put his hand on the small of Suga’s back. The setter let out a tiny gasp, looking up to make eye contact with Daichi. Just making eye contact caused smiles to spread on both of their faces as they leaned in and slotted their lips together easily. When they pulled apart, they were still smiling and it didn’t feel like there was ever going to be a reason they should stop.

“You’re so amazing,” Suga said breathlessly, shining Daichi with that bright smile that the captain was already so familiar with. It was the same smile that he’d always seen except now, it spread all the way up to his eyes and once it reached there, it didn’t end. Now, the smile landed in Suga’s eyes where it pooled and swirled, glittering back at Daichi like hazel diamonds.

Suga with eyesights was, in a word, poetic. At least to Daichi. All of the pieces of Suga that the captain had already collected and categorized had to be pulled back out of his mental filing cabinet and resorted according to the new information that Daichi was presented with. And some things, Daichi had to move all the way back into the deep storage portion of his brain. He stored away the memories of him leading Suga around. He tried to shove the memory of what happened to Suga even further back than he’d already put it, but that one was one of the hardest to put away. Daichi knew that he couldn’t ignore it, and he definitely couldn’t pretend it didn’t happen, but he knew that Suga was trying to get over it and work past it. The best thing that Daichi thought he could do is just help Suga as much as he could, and not bring it up unless Suga did or unless it was absolutely necessary.

Daichi knew that eyesight didn’t necessarily change Suga in any sense of his personality, or how much Daichi cared about him. This was still the same Suga, and Daichi would be just as devoted to him if he lost his eyesight tomorrow. But, looking at Suga in the club room, with his smile crinking the corners of his eyes, it was the first time that Daichi accepted that it was very likely that he was going to fall in love with Sugawara Koushi. If he was being honest, he thought he might have already been in love with Suga. But rushing Suga wouldn’t be good, and he knew that, so he just let himself push it away and not mention it to his boyfriend.

“Daichi?”

The voice brought the captain back to the present, and he blinked as he looked down at Suga, who was looking at Daichi with a smirk and a questioning look on his face.

“What are you thinking about?” Suga asked, lifting a hand and running it across Daichi’s cheek.

The captain smiled down at his boyfriend. “You.”

Suga narrowed his eyes, looking up at Daichi with a curious glint in his eye. “What about me?”

“It’s a secret,” Daichi said, almost spilling out every single thing he’d ever known when he saw how cute Suga looked when he pouted at the answer. “Don’t worry, you’ll find out eventually.”

Suga looked skeptical, but didn’t push it, instead pulling away from Daichi to continue changing for practice. It turned out to be perfect timing because the club room door opened a second later and the team started to spill in group by group. All of them said hello to Daichi and Suga, and the more excitable members of the team bounced around excitedly, asking Suga questions even as the third year tried desperately to just change his clothes.

“Suga-san, does this mean you get to practice with us?” Hinata asked, practically bouncing as he struggled to change into his clothes while also watching Suga carefully.

Daichi just listened as Suga laughed, clearly amused at the first year’s excited demeanor. “I can try. I haven’t practiced in months, so I don’t know how well I’ll do.”

“I’m sure you’ll be perfect, Suga-san!” Nishinoya added in.

“We’ll see,” Suga simply said in response, then tapped Daichi’s shoulder and motioned for them to go out the door. They’d gotten there before everyone else, so they were ready early.

Once they had gotten out into the relative quiet of the hallway, Suga let out a sigh of relief. Daichi looked over, once again admiring his boyfriend.

“You know how much I care about them,” Suga said. “But they’re even more overwhelming once there’s a visual aspect added. I mean how is Hinata’s hair even naturally that color?”

Daichi laughed, nudging Suga as they walked into the gym. The net was already set up, with ball carts sitting out around the edges of the court, everything ready for practice, which explained why everyone had gotten into the club room so late.

Daichi looked over at Suga, watching the way those hazel eyes surveyed the court and the balls, taking everything in slowly and carefully.

“Can I try one toss with you?” Suga finally asked, looking up at Daichi. “I just want to try once before everyone gets here.”

“Yeah,” Daichi said. “Yeah, of course. Come on.”

Daichi took Suga’s hand and pulled him onto the court, grabbing a ball from a cart on the way. He finally deposited Suga in the setter’s position, with Daichi himself moving back to stand in the middle back of the court. He usually wasn’t one to hit the ball like an ace would, but if Suga wanted to toss to Daichi, then the captain was about to become the best ace in Japan.

Suga looked over at Daichi holding the ball. “You throw to me, I’ll toss for you?”

Daichi nodded. “You’re going to do great.”

“You can’t make fun of me if it’s bad,” Suga warned, crouching slightly to get in a ready position to toss the ball.

“Shh,” Daichi responded. “It won’t be.”

Suga just tilted his head, and flexed his fingers in anticipation for the ball.

Daichi took a deep breath, then bent down and threw the ball underhand to simulate a pass for Suga use to set. There was a brief moment where Daichi watched the ball in the air, waiting for it to hit Suga’s palms. It felt like the moment stretched out forever, even though in reality it lasted for all of a few seconds.

Then, the ball reached Suga’s palms and Daichi watched in wonder as the setter went through the motions. From the outside, and through Daichi’s eyes, it looked perfect. Suga did the proper footwork, the exact way that would be expected from any setter. Left foot, right foot, knees bent, arms ready and loaded, and then...the ball. In the blink of an eye, the ball landed in Suga’s palms, and then was quickly pushed back up and towards Daichi, in a perfect arc. No spin, almost floating through the air. It wasn’t Kageyama’s freakishly precise set, but it was equally as amazing. To Daichi, it was better.

Daichi was so busy watching the ball that he forgot that he was supposed to hit it, and he watched as it fell directly in front of him in the perfect spot.

“Was it bad?” Suga asked, with a little bit of fear lacing through his voice.

“What?” Daichi asked, shocked, looking up at Suga. “No, it was perfect! It was so beautiful I forgot to even hit it! Suga you have amazing hands!”

The look on Suga’s face was priceless, mixed somewhere between surprise and pride. It was a wonderful expression to see on his face. “Really?”

Daichi laughed, a real laugh that came from a place of pride and affection, and ran forward towards Suga. For the second time that day, Daichi wrapped his arms around Suga and spun him around, slowing down only to press their lips together. Once they were stationary again, Daichi stared Suga straight in the eyes, feeling a surge of something in his gut that he couldn’t explain but knew was a feeling he was addicted to.

“It was perfect,” he repeated to Suga, who instantly flushed and broke their eye contact.

“Daichi,” he said, still looking down. “Do you still-do you want to do...what I said. What we were talking about before the surgery?”

Daichi smiled softly, understanding why Suga felt shy about it. “If you still want me,” the captain replied. “I want you.”

The setter instantly brightened, looking up quickly and connecting their eyes again. A broad smile was stuck on his face, and he buried it into Daichi’s neck out of embarrassment.

“Are you guys done?”

The two of them turned to see Asahi poking through the gym door, shielding his eyes. “We’d like to practice now.”

“Just come in,” Daichi yelled back, laughing. The rest of the team filed in quickly, and practice started as usual. It passed in a blur to Daichi, because it was just too amazing. Suga meshed perfectly with the rest of the team, and it relieved Daichi immensely. He’d never seen Suga play, and a tiny part of him was concerned that Suga wouldn’t work well with the Karasuno dynamic, but he could never have been more wrong.

By the time practice was over and he was leaving to go home with Suga, it was like the volleyball club had been reborn. The best part of the entire situation was that Suga hadn’t stopped smiling all of the way through practice.

Even as they walked down the street, Suga was still smiling.

“I’m so happy,” Suga said, breaking the warm silence that had melted between them. “I never realized how much I took my eyes for granted.”

“You deserve to be happy,” Daichi responded, sliding his hand down to take Suga’s in his own.

“You’re just saying that,” Suga replied airily. “You’re my boyfriend. You have to say stuff like that.”

“That doesn’t matter, it’s true. You deserve to be happy more than anyone else I’ve ever met.”

The silence that followed caused Daichi to look over at Suga, who was flushed bright red and was staring at the sidewalk. Then, the setter stopped walking, their connected hands causing Daichi to stop too.

“Suga?” He asked.

“Is it weird if I say that I love you?” Suga said suddenly, and so quickly that Daichi wasn’t even sure he heard it right. But apparently, Daichi’s silence was taken for something else because Suga instantly pulled his hands away from Daichi and threaded them through his own hair.

“I knew it. I’m sorry, please just pretend I didn’t say that, I’m sorry. It’s too soon, I know that, I’m sorry, you don’t have to say anything, let’s just go home,” Suga said, his voice teeming with distress that caused Daichi to come to his senses.

“No! No,” Daichi said, moving forward to grab Suga’s hands and pull them down. The setter looked up, his eyes glassy and full of unshed tears. “Suga, no. No, I think I-I mean I’m pretty sure….” Daichi groaned at his own incompetence, unable to even say the words he wanted to say. With a heavy sigh, he moved his hands to cradle Suga’s face and reinstate eye contact.

“I love you too, Suga.”

It didn’t take long after that for them to end up in Daichi’s bed, their hands roaming over each other’s skin and their breathing growing heavier with each moment. It was a moment they’d been waiting for for longer than they realized, and it only made it better that Suga was overwhelmed by sight in the most amazing way possible. Once they had finished, they ended up laying next to each other wearing only boxers, their arms wrapped around each other and their moving up and down with their breathing.

“Thank you for everything you did for me,” Suga said, not for the first time that day. “I know you didn’t have to, and it meant alot to me.”

“I always wanted to,” Daichi responded, squeezing Suga. “And I’m so glad I did.”

“Not even just the walking,” Suga said, quieter. “Moving to a new school, and dealing with the trial and everything. All of it. It felt like I was just lost in darkness, and you were my guide in more ways than one. I don’t know how I would have made it without you.”

“Well, if you were ever lost, I’m glad that I found you.”

“Daichi.”

“Yeah?”
“I love you.”

“I love you more.”

They fell asleep with their arms wrapped around each other, both of them feeling more satisfied and in love than they had ever been in their entire lives because they knew, undoubtedly, that if either of them was ever lost again, they would never have to worry about who would find them.