Everyone on MSBY knows about Sakusa’s penchant for giving unnecessarily extravagant gifts on his teammates' birthdays. Because of his privileged upbringing and his small circle of friends growing up, Sakusa apparently has zero conception for what constitutes appropriate gifts.
Hinata’s birthday celebration is held at a little izakaya near the gym. The humble, quiet setting is completely at odds, however, with the giant claw machine Kiyoomi wheels in.
“Happy birthday, Hinata,” he grunts as he shoves the machine upright with his shoulder.
“W-what’s that, Omi-san?” Hinata asks.
Sakusa looks at him like he’s the one making no sense. “I asked you what you wanted for your birthday and you said you like arcade games? I asked Komori, and apparently this is the kind of game people play at those arcade places.”
Hinata looks faint. “I meant that we could all go to an arcade, or something! You didn’t need to get me a whole claw machine!”
Sakusa shrugs. “Too late, I already bought it. If you don’t want it, you can sell it, or something.”
Before Bokuto’s birthday, he’d been very careful not to drop any hints whatsoever about his gift of choice. Still, the entire team breathes a sigh of relief when Sakusa arrives at the party absent of any large boxes.
That is, until the time came for them to present their gifts.
After Inunaki gifted Bokuto with a voucher for his favourite sportswear brand, Sakusa clears his throat a little and places a long rectangular box on the table. Bokuto opens it and finds a row of five beautiful, incredibly expensive-looking watches, laid in crushed velvet.
“Uh,” Atsumu finds his voice first. “So are ya gonna make him choose one, or...”
“No? Those are all for him. Bokuto’s always late, so maybe if he has a watch he’ll finally learn to tell the time.” Sakusa’s jibe does little to hide the pleased smile playing at the corner of his lips.
Bokuto, on the other hand, is completely terrified. All the watches are clearly authentic models of some fancy European brand he can’t pronounce, and- oh god, are those diamonds embedded in the watch’s face? Bokuto cannot deal with this level of responsibility. He’s going to be mugged the moment he leaves this place.
Sakusa is still looking at him with an eager sparkle in his eyes though, and no one has the heart to tell him that once again, his gift is completely inappropriate. So Bokuto smiles weakly and thumps Sakusa on the back, and then surreptitiously shoots a panicked text to ask Akaashi to hire a few armed bodyguards to escort him home.
On Meian’s birthday, he decides that enough is enough. For all he appreciates the nanny Sakusa hired to babysit his kids, the sheer amount of money Sakusa is spending on his teammates’ birthdays simply does not sit right with him. More importantly, his teammates are increasingly pressured to match the extravagance of his gifts. Much to Bokuto’s despair, he can no longer give out his signature “free hugs” coupon book for birthdays. Adriah has had to switch from convenience store-bought wine to actual supermarket-bought wine.
“No more buying expensive gifts,” Meian says firmly. Sakusa pouts, and strikingly resembles Meian’s own children.
“We love them, but you know we’ll appreciate anything else you give us just as much, right?”
Sakusa reluctantly agrees, and Meian considers the matter settled.
By Atsumu’s birthday, he and Sakusa have started dating, and Sakusa announces that, as Atsumu’s boyfriend, he will be organising the celebration.
“Are you sure he won’t go overboard?” Barnes mutters worriedly to Meian.
“I talked to him about it,” Meian says dubiously. “It should be fine, right?”
They were proven wrong when the team arrives at Universal Studios Osaka at 10am on Saturday, to find the area completely deserted.
“Omi, are you sure the park isn’t closed today?” Atsumu asks tentatively.
“I should hope so,” Sakusa’s brows furrow. “Seeing as I requested for it.”
The team is suddenly aware that they are, indeed, the only people standing in the park. All the rides are operating and all the food stores are open, but apart from a couple of park attendants welcoming them in, the park is deserted.
“Sakusa-kun,” Meian says sternly. “I thought I said no more expensive gifts.”
Sakusa’s expression is immediately petulant. “You said no more buying expensive gifts. I simply rented the park. Atsumu hates waiting in line for amusement park rides.”
“Oh my god,” Meian thinks he’s about to have an aneurysm. “From now on, no one spends anything more than 3000 yen on birthdays. Understood?”
Sakusa looks mutinous, but nods anyway. Meian sighs, and lets the team loose in the park.
At the end of the day, Sakusa and Atsumu take the kiddy balloon ride to watch the sunset over the amusement park. In the peaceful silence that only comes with the absence of their rowdy team, Sakusa becomes Kiyoomi. Atsumu waits until the balloon is all the way up before venturing a cautious question.
“So,” Atsumu says, trying to focus on something other than how Kiyoomi’s eyes are gorgeous in the last golden rays streaking across the pink sky. “I love all of this, really. But without it- I’ll still like you just as much! I guess what I’m tryna say is- you don’t have to do all this.”
“I know,” Kiyoomi says. He gives one of his rare, precious smiles, and Atsumu tucks it away carefully in a corner of his heart. “But I want to, because I want to show you how much I like- no, love you.”
(Later, when the team asks why Atsumu’s eyes are red and swollen when they get off the ride, Atsumu will blame it on his allergies.)
With all this in mind, it’s understandable that Atsumu goes through something of a crisis when Kiyoomi’s birthday approaches. After all, what do you get the guy who has everything? After exhausting option number 42, Atsumu gives in and decides to call Komori.
He endures Komori’s shrill laughter for a whole minute after he explains his predicament to him. “Dude,” Komori says. “Don’t sweat it. Kiyoomi’s a simple guy, really. In fact, he’d probably hate any kind of extravagant party. In any case, you’re the unlucky bastard dating him. Shouldn’t you know him best?”
Unfortunately, Komori is right. Atsumu is forced to return to the drawing board to come up with something just as thoughtful as anything Kiyoomi gives his teammates on their birthdays.
On the day itself, Atsumu invents a few thinly veiled excuses for Kiyoomi to pick up some items at the supermarket, and enlists the help of Bokuto and Hinata to stall him there for an hour while he begins his preparations.
“... What’s all this?” Kiyoomi stops short in the doorway when he finally returns home at a quarter to seven.
Atsumu stands nervously in the middle of the sea of fairy lights that is their living room. “I was gonna have everyone over, but I knew it would make you stressed out about cleaning up and disinfecting after they left,” Atsumu says. “And I know you like eating at home more than anything. So I got ‘Samu to make some umeboshi onigiri and I rented the DVD for Spirited Away. I know it’s on Netflix, but you like supporting DVD rental shops so I-“
Atsumu is cut off, abruptly, by Kiyoomi crossing the apartment in a few strides and pressing their lips together. When they finally break apart, Kiyoomi rests his forehead against Atsumu’s and looks straight into his eyes. “Atsumu,” he says. “This is better than anything I could have asked for.”
It’s Kiyoomi’s birthday, so why on earth is Atsumu the one on the verge of tears? Kiyoomi laughs when he says as much, and Atsumu thinks, with a stunning degree of coherence, that he is going to marry this man one day.
“So you don’t hate it?” Atsumu asks again, for good measure.
“I love it,” Kiyoomi says emphatically. He presses a line of kisses from the tip of Atsumu’s ear to the base of his neck, and it takes a heroic amount of self control for Atsumu to pull away.
“Good,” Atsumu says, and steps aside to reveal their friends’ faces grinning at them from a laptop screen. “Because our friends are on video call right now, and we have to stop right here unless you want them to watch us, y’know...“
“Get some, Kiyoomi!” Komori’s tiny face hollers from the corner of the screen. Inunaki and Bokuto join in with shrill wolf whistles of their own. “Happy birthday, Omi-san!” Hinata shouts.
“You are all idiots,” Kiyoomi tells them, but his eyes are curved into little crescents so Atsumu knows that despite the quiet, nondescript celebration, he’s succeeded in giving Kiyoomi a birthday as memorable as any gift he’s given his teammates.
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