“(Y/N)! GLAD YOU could make it!” atsumu notices you entering the restaurant, waving you over.
“hi, everyone.” you smile.
your friends from highschool are already here, after a month of planning to suit your busy schedules. courtesy of atsumu, of course.
“hey.” osamu raises an arm.
conveniently, the only open seat is next to him. he shares his menu with you, although you end up ordering the same thing.
the five of you catch up, atsumu casually throwing in unnecessary yet amusing comments with osamu there to regulate him. of course, aran is there to keep the conversation going, too.
somewhere along the way, volleyball gets brought up into the conversation, leading into a one-sided debate between aran and atsumu. osamu pays attention for the fun of it.
“you okay?” kita casually whispers in your ear.
“why wouldn’t i be?” you tilt your head to the side. “we’re all together, we’re having fun.”
he stares at you for a bit, looking sympathetic. “you know it’s not all of us.”
you don’t reply. he’s right.
as much as the topic is better to avoid, it’s almost impossible to miss the fact that one of their old teammates is absent.
you try not to mull over it. after all, you did come here to have fun.
“drinks for all of us!” atsumu declares, cutting your conversation short.
you chuckle, looking at kita once more. “let’s have some fun?”
he nods, directing his words to atsumu, “we need at least two of us to be sober.”
“me.” osamu casually offers.
“i’ll be the second. the rest of you, go all out.” he laughs.
kita’s laugh is nice. so are several aspects to him. in fact, it’s almost impossible for you to find flaws in kita.
as much as you do care for him (one will even go as far as saying you love him), you know you can’t get back in another relationship for at least a while.
kita knows that, too, and he’s very respective of your decision. that doesn’t mean the two of you don’t think it over every once in a while, though.
“(Y/N)! drink something!” atsumu says.
“unlike you, not all of us are free from work tomorrow.” you tease. “i have an important meeting.”
“you’re no fun.” he pouts, though you know he’s joking. “we’re here to celebrate!”
“and what are we celebrating, exactly?” you cock an eyebrow.
he pauses for a bit. “it’s been one year since our team participated in the olympics!”
“10 months.” osamu corrects.
“so what, i just forgot a few months!”
“you’ve been obsessing over the olympics for months prior to the event itself. you wouldn’t forget an important detail like that.”
“do i really need an excuse to hang out with my friends?”
“no, but if you’re going to come up with an excuse, don’t lie about it.”
osamu seems to have said something he shouldn’t have, because you can feel the slight vibration of the table as something hit it. atsumu instantly reaches for his foot, mumbling something incoherent.
although you never really understand what they fight about, the twins never cease to bring a smile to your face with their banter.
“it’s been a year since… (Y/N) became an independent woman!”
another kick is sent under the table, this time hitting atsumu. he goes for his other foot, softly massaging it through the shoe as he insults his brother.
“if you keep that up, i won’t be able to use my feet.”
“you hit yourself the first time.”
you chuckle a bit, and atsumu is relieved that the topic isn’t sensitive for you to speak about.
“to independant women.” you raise a glass.
“do independant women!” atsumu raises his, despite it being almost empty.
“to independant women.” osamu raises his glass of water, intentionally clanking into atsumu’s.
“to independant women.” aran grins, raising his drink.
“to independant women.” kita smiles, raising his glass of water.
the five of you simultaneously drink out of your glasses, despite the difference of liquid within them.
the men find themselves arguing over how to split the bill, and you find that as an opening to sneak outside.
as much as you do enjoy spending your time with them, there are times that you need for yourself.
you never think that you’ll find yourself staring at the same sky again, and you could have sworn that you promised yourself to leave behind this city.
it was hard, and you caved after a little over a year.
it’s also hard to believe that it has been that long. a whole three-hundred-sixty-five days, and you still haven’t gotten over everything.
“who thought i’d find you here?” the voice speaks again.
you turn to face the familiar tone, not surprised to find the one you left behind. he doesn’t look much too different.
“hi.” you say, not really wanting to indulge in conversation.
“so, what are you doing out here?”
“i could ask you the same.”
a pause takes place. the both of you know that the conversation is awkward from the start. there are far too many unspoken words, far too much meaning behind them.
“you look great.” he says again.
“you changed up your hair.”
“i always liked it better when it was long.”
“i think it looks better this way.”
another silence. this one is a bit shorter than the last, but it’s long enough for you to decide that you want closure.
“how did things go with the olympics?”
“ended a few weeks after.”
a few words are missing from the context, but the two of you have managed to understand each other with no misconceptions.
he knows you’re speaking about her, and you know what he means when he says after.
you’re holding yourself back from shouting at him, yelling that he can’t apologize after all this time from being away and what he’s done.
“was it a coincidence that we met here?” you say instead.
“no.” he sighs. “they told me they were busy tonight, and i made a lucky guess that you’d all be here.”
“you wanted to speak with me?”
“yeah. you needed some closure after all this time.”
“so will you answer my questions truthfully?”
“to the best of my abilities.”
he sucks in a breath, “a few months.”
“for how long?” you repeat.
you nod, swallowing the lump in your throat. as much as you hate admitting it, crying was inevitable when you think of what happened.
“that day i brought you to the jelly-stick stand, when i had to leave early.”
“that’s kind of irrelevant now.”
you chuckle a little. then it turns into a full blown laugh, and you’re bent over your knees trying to catch your breath.
“i really, really wanted to believe that you had changed.” you say. “it’s not realistic for people to change, but part of me wanted you to. part of me hoped for you to.”
“the same part of me that can’t get you out of my head.”
he faces you with his eyes widened, but you pay him no mind as you continue to stare up at the moon.
“i’m… i know what i did was wrong, but-”
“there isn’t a ‘but’, and you and i know that well.” you sigh. “as much as i still think about you, i can’t put myself through something like that again. even before that incident with her — and i don’t know her name because you’re not telling me — i was beginning to feel out of place.”
“don’t say you’re sorry. you and i both know that won’t do anything.” you say. “but if you were right about something, it had to be that i’d become a shell of myself.”
he knows that what you’re saying has been on your mind for a while. “i understand what you mean-”
“you don’t understand, suna. i’ve never felt more free in my life than i do now.”
“oh.” he breathes out — he notes the use of his last name. “i didn’t realize i’d put that much pressure on you.”
“you’re smart.” you say. “you just didn’t want to realize.”
you are right, and he’s surprised to have seen you caught on. it’s hard to forget someone, someone you used to feel every emotion that you can possible feel towards. ten years of your life that the old you will claim to be the happiest, but the new you knows better.
“oh, yeah.” you shuffle for something inside your pocket. “i’ve been meaning to give you this, incase we met up randomly at a time like this.”
he’s handed the ring he gave you over a year ago, in almost pristine condition. you don’t wear it often, but that is a given considering the meaning behind it. it rests in his palm, and he makes no effort to put it away.
“(Y/N), you alright?” you faintly hear kita shout from the dark.
“yeah, i’m fine!” you shout back.
he’s too far away to see you, but the sound of your voice is enough reassurance for him to stay put.
“we’re finished with the bill, do you want us to come?”
“no, it’s fine. stay in the car, i’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“so, kita?” suna questions. “anything going on between you?”
“i don’t think it’s your place to ask.” you say words similar to his own when speaking of her.
“well, i should get going. it was nice to get some closure, i guess.”
“do you ever think about what could’ve been?”
you sigh, “we’re not having this conversation. you and i both know it’s futile.”
“you’re right.” he murmurs. “this must’ve been how you felt before.”
when he doesn’t answer, you look up at his face. suna rintaro isn’t a very emotional person, so it’s a surprise to see small, subtle tears falling down his face — almost invisible in the moonlight.
“i really put you through a lot, huh? and i made you cry again tonight.” he sighs.
“we both know the answer to that.”
you turn around, beginning to walk to the parking lot with heavy steps. before you can get very far, he calls out to you once more.
a small pause settles into the air, with an accompanying breeze.
“like you said before,” you say. “it’s irrelevant now.”
you turn on your heels for the final time, your footsteps much faster than before. you don’t want any distractions or last-minute stops.
suna watches you go, wiping the small tears of his own. the droplets of water were but a fraction of what you had to endure for a long time, all because of him.
he should’ve known that the wholesome, friendly interactions the two of you had in highschool could never develop into anything more.
even if you’d gotten to know him more than anyone else, he should’ve never accepted your confession without thinking it through. he should’ve never kept moving on with the next step of your relationship just for the thrill of it.
after all, the relationship was doomed from beginning.
it was good until it wasn’t.
@stfucanunot @sunaswife @sredamancy @kiyobbie @kairebear-4evr @youngestdelacour @kara-grayson04 @anngelllla @tycrackculture @kingkagss @heyatsumu @kathya420 @gladly-olus@hxneybee-uwu @1lluminat3 @heyitzwolf @pharvhs @asdfghjkl7things @tinygremliin @pelicanpizza @xfangirl-trashx @nintendoutoori @toaster-stick @nit-sir-hc @daphnxy @kageyamasgirl @kiyoomisproperty @velociraptorenthusiast @ohrintarou @mariand @phixoseusarmy @oranoyaora
hello, everyone! firstly, i would like to thank everyone that has commented and left asks about the story, all of you really kept me going! at some point, i lost all inspiration for this story and even considered discontinuing it, but i coudn’t. it’s been a nice journey between the innerworkings of a toxic relationship, and i feel like i can... truly understand what the mc feels like now (i don’t know if that makes sense?). again, thank you for sticking around, and i hope to see you all in the next series i have planned!