#sfw 1

[starlity]

had the pleasure of working with @cute-n-tired on this suganoya piece for the @hqrarepairbang!! please check out the fic at the links below!!

Mr. and Mr. Refreshing (tumblr/ao3) - Suga/Noya, G

[alli-showtime]

“Mr. and Mr. Refreshing”

Part of the HQ rarepair bang put on by @hqrarepairbang​ !

I had the pleasure of working with @starlity​! their art is super duper cute and fits the story so well here it is!

If you want to read it on ao3, you can find it here !

Fandom: Haikyuu

Paring: Nishinoya x Sugawara

Rating: general audiences 

Warnings: There a teensy bit of swearing I think? And a couple kisses :]

Length: 5.8k

Notes: Suga is in college and Noya is a senior is highschool, but they were dating in highschool dw

Summary: Finally given a day off from college and volleyball, Sugawara takes the much-needed chance to tidy up his dorm. The problem is, it was also the perfect chance to talk to Nishinoya, his boyfriend. Their schedules rarely matched up, but Suga really wanted to clean up his living space. Unfortunately, cleaning takes a while when you're reminded of your high school days with everything you pick up.

“Okay babe, I’ll be sure to call you once I’m done,” The silver-haired man said, phone pressed to his ear with his shoulder as he pushed his bedroom door open. He set down the bin he brought in on his bed, sighing with relief as the weight of the cleaning supplies he brought was out of his arms. The guy on the other end of the phone made a joke, instantly making Sugawara laugh. “Ah, no. It’ll only take an hour, I swear.” He looked over his mess of a dorm again and frowned. “Maybe two.” 

Sugawara sat on his bed next to the cleaning supplies. “Alright babe, I will. It won’t be that long I promise! I love you too, okay? I’ll call you later. Bye, Noya.” He smiled softly, wishing that he didn’t have to spend the afternoon away from his boyfriend. It always was a struggle trying to hang up with him, and usually he didn’t mind staying on the phone for extra time. He really did need to clean his dorm, though- it was beyond a mess. College had begun to blind him from the state of the room, since whenever he was in there he was too focused on his studies or sleeping. It didn’t help that he didn’t have many reasons to clean it anyways, since he didn’t throw parties there or have friends over much. So over time things piled up and he never got around to tidying, which is why he was devoting this Sunday to it.

In Koushi’s opinion, cleaning wasn’t hard- or at least, picking things up was easy enough. No, it wasn’t the picking things up part that was hard, it was putting them away. Whenever you pick up one thing, it brings an onslaught of memories and emotions that make it impossible to part with the thing. So you set it aside and tell yourself that you’ll find a home for it later. This process continues until you have nothing left to pick up and have an infinite amount of piles. At that point you realize you’re exactly where you started. Sugawara was no stranger to this process. 

He figured it would be easiest to start with the obvious waste: cans of soda, various wrappers, papers from his classes he finished with long ago (the papers, not the classes), unfinished food that his roommate probably left; the typical garbage. It was thrown away in no time, which only ended up making his dorm look a little better. 

Suga looked at his phone which was resting on his bed, almost buried in his blankets. Noya’s probably missing him right now, hoping for him to finish early and call him. It was rare for both of them to not have classes, but for neither of them to have volleyball either? The opportunity was golden, and Suga felt bad that he had to deny his boyfriend his time. A flash of inspiration went off in his head and gave him an idea: the faster he cleaned, the quicker he could call Nishinoya. 

With newfound motivation, Sugawara brushed his bangs out of his eyes and got to work. 

The next step for him was sorting through the clothes he had on the floor. Not all of it was necessarily too dirty to wear, and some of it might even be his roommate's, so it seemed like an obvious choice. Besides, who could get sentimental about a shirt? Most of his were plain white anyways.

His theory proved to be true as he threw the clothing into piles- piles made everything easier in the end, and what he needs most is efficiency- most of the items he picked up belonged to his roommate, and what was his appeared to be fine. Some of the shirts he used for practice could use a wash, but some of them were still folded, perfectly fine save for a bit of dust. There was just one last t-shirt, stashed under the dorm bed. He grabbed it, and-

As soon as he saw the kanji, he remembered where it was from. 

-one year earlier, mid-june-

“What do you mean you don’t like it? I think they're- oh, Suga-san!” As soon as Sugawara walked into the club room, Nishinoya’s attention turned away from the scowling Tsukkishima and onto him. Almost all of the team was in the room aside from the third years, who had just gotten out of a meeting about their final year at school. Nishinoya was rummaging through a large cardboard box, sifting through what looked like white cloths until he found the right one. 

“What’s in there?” Just after Suga asked, Nishinoya jumped over the usual clutter of the club room, landing in front of Suga. He unraveled the cloth to show that it was actually a t-shirt, white save for the phrase ‘live like a beast’ written on it in a wild font. 

“My favorite t-shirt store was having a sale, so I got them for the whole team!” He threw the shirt into Suga’s arms, grinning with excitement. “Aren’t I the best?”

Suga looked at the rest of the team, who also held similar shirts. They all seemed to have different phrases though, judging by the few who were actually wearing them. The shirt itself was kind of weird, but it was a nice enough gesture, so Suga put on a smile. “Thank you, Noya.”

The boy didn’t move, resting his hands on his hips, his face painted with his typical smirk. Eventually, he said, “Aren’t you gonna put it on? I’d love to see one of my seniors wearing my gift for them!”

Oh, right. How could Suga have been so rude? He slipped the shirt over his arms and head, surprised at how comfortable it was. 

“Perfect!” Nishinoya yelled. “Y’know, you look kind of ruggedly handsome in that, Suga-senpai. All the guys’ll look up to you as a cool, wild, handsome guy.” He put his hand on Suga’s shoulder in assurance. Suga couldn’t help but blush at the compliment, feeling his ears redden. He didn’t usually get called handsome, especially not by his teammates, so it was different than usual to hear it from Noya like that.

“Ah, well thank you Noya.” He bashfully replied. Noya said something back and smiled, but Sugawara couldn’t hear it. He was too busy fixated on his rapidly beating heart and reddened ears to notice anything else.

That was when he realized he might have feelings for his underclassman.

-one week later, late-june-

It was a hot summer practice, and everyone was protesting while Daichi explained that while all the running may be painful now, it would pay off later when they stood on the court as a winner. Suga chuckled, watching the underclassmen groan at Daichi’s argument. These kinds of grueling summer practices were normal for the team, and although he didn’t want to run again either, he knew better than to defy the team captain. 

“Let’s just get it over with.” Tsukkishima commented sharply, wiping sweat off his forehead. 

Daichi beamed. “Exactly! So, Tsukkishima, would you like to be the first to start up the hill?”

“Thanks, but that won’t be happening.” The blond scoffed. He looked around at the team and crossed his arms. “Hey, aren’t we missing a shortie?” 

That question annoyed Hinata, who jumped and yelled, “I’m right here! Jeez, can’t you see me?”  His jumping made it almost impossible not to see him, even Tsukkishima grumbling something along the lines of ‘I wasn’t talking about you’ in response. 

“No, he’s right.” Asahi trembled, sounding almost zombie-like with his dead tone. Everyone looked at him, shocked to see his face was just as morbid as he sounded. He returned to normal after seeing everyone’s terrified faces. “Ah, sorry! I meant to say.. Nishanoya’s missing.”

Suga looked around. Nishinoya always went to practice, so he was sure he would be there- but there was no sight of him within the team. It seemed like everyone had the same thought as him and looked around at the same time, trying to spot the energetic libero. 

Coincidentally, it was at that moment that the gym door slammed open, revealing Nishinoya who sprinted to catch up with the group. He was sweaty from running yet his smile shone as bright as ever. When he reached the team, Suga realized why he was late.

“Haha, sorry for showing up late, everyone! The t-shirt printing place was really backed up by some tennis team, but I got out of there as fast as I could!” He gestured to the shirt he was wearing, one identical to the one Suga received no less than a week before. “I wanted to look handsome like Koushi-kun so I got a t-shirt that matches his! Aren’t I handsome now?” The way he said the words so casually as if he didn’t set Suga’s heart on fire- Suga couldn’t help but blush.

Hinata was the one to respond first. “Ah, you look so cool, Noya-senpai!”

“Thanks!” Noya beamed, doing different poses to further show off the shirt. Suga could only smile, his head too full of thoughts to let him do anything else. He had so many questions. Did he make his attraction too obvious? Was Nishinoya just making fun of him? … Or could he feel the same?

Before long, Daichi interrupted. “I’m glad to see you here, Noya. But since you’re late, you’ll have to do three extra laps up the hill. Everyone, let’s go!” 

The team proceeded to groan in anguish. 

-present-

As the memories came back, Suga found himself wanting to answer his past self’s questions. He knew how long he spent wondering if he was crazy for thinking that Nishinoya had similar feelings, and he wished he could’ve known sooner. Still, he looked back on those summer days with a smile. There was something though about the flutters he got in his heart every time he thought about Nishinoya that he wouldn’t give up. Thinking about his boyfriend reminded him of his goal- to actually clean his room.

There was a pile of miscellaneous items stacked on a chair by Koushi’s bed, which began to feel out of place the more he cleaned, making it the perfect target. As he moved the many things off the chair, he found things he forgot he even had. Letters from his parents, vouchers that expired months ago, even a book he borrowed from the library when he first started at his school. 

Before he could finish removing everything from the pile, Suga heard a chime from his phone. Normally he wasn’t the type to instantly check notifications, especially when he was in the middle of an important task, but something in him made him get up off the floor and search through his sheets for his phone. When he found it and entered in his passcode, he saw that the text was from none other than his boyfriend himself. He didn’t hesitate to open the message.

From: 💕Noya💕

Hey r u almost done?? I miss you already 😝

Oops wrong emoji 😩

^ thats me missin u btw

Suga smiled. Of course he would text already. He couldn’t completely blame Noya though; he wanted to talk to him just as much, if not more. The least he could do was respond.

Ah, so sorry! I’ll be done soon. 

Please don’t get too lonely without me 😊

Sent

With the text sent, Suga returned to the chair. It was definitely improved upon, but there was still much work to be done. He started sorting through the objects again, not even noticing the progress he was making until there was only one thing left- a water bottle.

And that water bottle brought him back in time again once he recognized the logo printed on it.

-About one year earlier, late July-

After so much hard work and fine-tuning of skills, the training camp was finally over. Although Suga himself didn’t play much in matches, he still worked hard to train, and just standing on the bench during games made him adrenaline spike. The practices were more grueling than ever, and somehow Suga always worked up a sweat even when he wasn’t training. With all the emotional issues too, the week of the training camp felt like an eternity. He was glad for it to be over. 

“Hey Suga-san, wanna come practice with us?” The invitation came from Tanaka, who was standing behind where Suga stood. Suga turned to face him and saw Asahi and Noya standing just behind Tanaka, both looking more energized than usual despite all the matches they played in. Tanaka grinned, probably expecting him to accept the offer.  

Even though he was exhausted, something inside Koushi told him to go with them, telling himself that he could work hard to perfect one of his skills- any of them- then he could have a chance to play in the inter-high matches. So he mustered up all his strength and put on a smile. “Of course!”

Tanaka pumped his fist in the air and yelled, “Alright alright!” He quickly put his hands in the edge of his waistband to keep up his delinquent rep, and as stupid as he looked Suga was glad to see him acting normal after everything the week had brought upon them.

“We might want to find a court before they all get taken, just saying.” Suga suggested, looking at the crowd of players leaving the gym as a result of all the team’s finishing their matches. After he said that, he felt a hand on his shoulder- which upon a quick glance he figured out belonged to Nishinoya. 

“He’s right you know.” he said. “You all should listen to Suga-san more often!” 

If the sensation of Noya’s touch and cute words weren’t already enough to send Koushi’s heart into a crescendo, what Tanaka said next surely was: “Ah, Noya, you listen to him all the time, dontcha?” And just as quickly as he put his hand on Suga’s shoulder, it was gone again, now being used to slap Tanaka’s face. Him and Noya went at each other like restless puppies, grabbing at each other’s collars and pulling each other’s ears. The fight didn’t go on for long though, as Asahi was quick to pull them apart. 

“Guys can you stop fighting please? We’d better hurry up like Suga said.” 

The two rowdy boys bowed and grumbled their apologies before the four of them went in search of an empty gym. It seemed like they were already too late, but there was one gym at the furthest end of the building that was empty. 

“This gym belongs to Karasuno!” Nishinoya and Tanaka yelled in synchronization as they tossed their belongings on the floor. Both Asahi and Suga chuckled at their cheer while setting their own things down. 

Suga turned to Asahi. “Are you gonna work on your Ace spike?” 

“I want to,” Asahi replied before looking at the second years. “Can we please start now?” Although his request was asked softly, it still managed to hype the second years up even more as they ran over to the third years instantly. 

“Ooh ooh, can I do my cool jump-set thing?” Nishinoya beamed. Koushi wanted to see his set up close himself after seeing it used in the matches, which reminded himself that it was a good idea to join the mini-practice.

“You might be better than me soon, Noya.” Suga chuckled, only half-joking although the junior laughed anyways. 

“You’re such a jokester! There’s no way I could get better than you at setting even if I practiced for hours on end.” 

Cue Suga blushing. 

“Hey, let’s get to it already!! I wanna hit!” Tanaka yelled from the other side of the net, clearly itching to spike. Asahi looked at him then turned back to Suga. 

“Why don’t we do two groups? One setter and one spiker on each side, then we can switch-” Before the other senior could finish his proposition, Suga burst out in laughter. Both Asahi and Noya looked confused at the sudden outburst while Suga tried to calm himself in order to elaborate.

“Ah, Asahi-san, how bold of you to assume I’m setting. I wanna hit today, too.” 

Tanaka grinned at his change of position. “All right! Then let’s get into a line an’ get to it!”

“Alright!”

-one hour later-

As the night began to cool, the four boys ended their training sore and exhausted after so much spiking and setting. Asahi left first, yawning as he walked out of the gym half-asleep. Tanaka followed a few minutes later, saying that he was sick of hitting his spikes so perfectly, which left Suga and Noya on their own. Ulike normal, Noya was in a sour mood, sulking as he picked up the volleyballs that littered the court. Suga tried to start a conversation to cheer him up.

“Your sets were really cool today, Noya. I meant it when I said-”

“I’m sorry about what Tanaka said earlier.” Nishinoya bluntly stated.

Suga tried to think back to figure out what he meant. Nothing came to mind. “What did he say? Are you alright?” 

“Oh so you forgot already. Don’t worry, I’m totally fine.” He laughed in relief. Suga didn’t buy it though, since Noya never acted that way.

“If you need to talk to me, you can, y’know.” 

Nishinoya stood in thought for a minute, and Suga swore he had never seen the libero so still before. It was almost like he was too busy thinking to do anything else. Suga didn’t have time to truly take in his peaceful form before Noya snapped out of his trance and took ahold of Suga’s wrist. He brought the confused setter into the mini storage closet located in the back of the gym, clearing his throat once they were both in the closet. 

“Suga- no, Koushi- I’m sorry I’ve been acting weird these past couple weeks.. It’s just hard keeping a secret, y’know?” Nishinoya had a whole different tone to him than he did before, vulnerable as he spoke of his secret. Suga couldn’t do anything but listen. Noya continued. “I know it’s gonna come outta nowhere, but I really want to tell you.”

Koushi’s heart was racing, and he was glad the closet was dark enough to mask his blush. Something about the intimate situation set his heart on fire. “You can tell me.” He whispered.

“I..” He stepped closer to Koushi. “I really like you. More than I like volleyball, or our school’s uniform, or even more than soda-flavored popsicles. That’s how you know I’m serious.” His giggle at the end made Koushi realize that this was what he had wanted for weeks, and for the first time since Noya grabbed his arm he knew exactly how to respond.

“That’s how I feel too. All this time I thought I was crazy for thinking that you might feel the same, but… I’m glad.” He smiled and exhaled, feeling all his doubt melt off his shoulders. 

Noya took Koushi’s hand in his own. “Can I..?”

“What? Kiss me?”

“Yeah.”

“Of course.”

And in that moment, when their lips met, Koushi felt truly happy. All his insecurities about his attraction, or the fact that he was graduating soon left his mind completely, now his only thoughts were of how electrifying it felt to finally be able to kiss Nishinoya Yuu. However, as Shakespeare said, ‘parting is such sweet sorrow’ and the same was true as Noya pulled away silently.

“Does this mean we’re..” Suga started to ask.

“I don’t- I dunno. But I really gotta go, Ryu’ll be worried if I stay too long.” 

And just like that, with Nishinoya dashing out of the closet, the best moments of Suga’s life ended. He stood in the dark for a moment, lingering in the shock-like feeling that resided in his core. He so badly wanted to chase after his junior, to kiss him again, to hear him say that he loved him while the feeling was still fresh in his mind, but he didn’t move until he couldn’t hear Noya’s footsteps anymore. 

He decided to leave soon after. He picked up the last of his things and prepared to turn off the gym lights when he saw a neon orange water bottle sitting by the wall. He didn’t want to leave it there, since that would be littering, so he went over to pick it up. The bottle was mostly-empty, but the water inside was still cool so he quickly figured out it was Noya’s. He put the bottle in his bag and left for the room where the team was sleeping.

-present-

As he held the bottle in his hand and he remembered that night, he too remembered the next day when he tried to return the bottle, but Nishinoya refused and let him keep it. He never used it, but still took it with him to college thinking he might get use out of it there. Guess it never saw anything but this chair, huh? He thought, putting the bottle down to continue with his task.

Putting away all the things from the chair pile was a breeze. Most of it was either garbage or recyclable anyways, and the rest was relocated immediately. He looked at his side of the dorm with pride since everything one would see upon entering was organized. The last thing he wanted to do was organize his bedside table drawers. He never really looked in them, just threw stuff in or went through it if he was looking for something. But since he already had the time to go through it, he thought he might as well take the opportunity to clean that as well.

When he opened the drawer he was instantly reminded of all the junk he stashed in there. Pencils, old batteries, sticky notes he wrote to himself but forgot to throw away, he couldn’t even see all of it. This drawer was the last thing keeping him from his lover though, so he was determined to finish the task. The pencils went in the stationary cup he kept on his desk, the batteries and sticky notes thrown out, there were only a few things left that he could see. He tried to pull the drawer out more but there was something stopping him- something was stuck.

One tug of the stuck item was enough to knock it out of place and into Koushi’s hand. Before he even saw it he had a feeling he recognized the silicone, and when he pulled his hand out of the drawer his guess was confirmed. It was the bracelet from his first date.

-months earlier, mid-August- 

“Next please.” The woman working the ticket booth said as the previous park-goers

entered through the gates. Nishinoya nudged Suga then they stepped up to the booth.

“Ah, sorry. Two one-day passes please.” Suga said, bowing for not realizing it was their turn. 

The lady looked at the two of them briefly. “One adult pass and one child pass then?” And before Nishinoya could unleash his rage, Suga quickly stepped in.

“No, ma’am. Two adult passes.” 

“Alright sir, sorry for the mistake. Two adult passes.. that’ll be 16 thousand yen.” The woman put the numbers into her computer as she waited for the money. Suga passed the appropriate amount to her, then she printed the receipt and in return gave the two boys a silicone bracelet that validated their passes. Once they had their bracelets on, they went through the gates and into the park.

“I’m so excited, I’ve never been here before!” Nishinoya raved once they were past the gates. “This is one hell of a first date, huh?”

“Haha, it sure is.” Suag replied, wiping the sweat from his brow. The late summer heat beamed onto everything, already making Sugawara fatigued- although he couldn’t tell if his hands turning clammy was because of the heat or because his nerves felt like they were exploding. He took the map out of his shorts pocket and looked at it. “What should we do first?” 

“This place is known for that ride called ‘Poseidon's Revenge’ right? Let’s go on that!” Noya stood beside Suga as he looked over the map. Suga saw ‘Poseidon's Revenge’ and just from the little picture on the map he could tell it was right up Noya’s alley. However, he wasn’t sure if that was the first thing he wanted to experience at the park.

“Are you sure? Shouldn’t we work our way up to the more scary ones?” 

Nishinoya laughed, making Suga’s heart flutter. “It’ll be fine! Ryu told me all about it, and he said we should go on it together.”

“Well, if Tanaka says we should, then what are we waiting for?” 

“Exactly! C’mon!” 

And just like that, Nishinoya started running in the direction of the ride, leaving Suga to chase after him. 

-roughly an hour later-

After endless minutes of waiting in line, Suga and Noya were finally strapped into the ride and were preparing to take off. Even more than when he first saw the ride, Suga’s nerves were skyrocketing. He was never a fan of fast rides, especially not ones of such high speed and height as the one he was currently on. His boyfriend could sense that he was nervous, and held his hand to try and soothe him. 

“Hey,” he shouted although the ride was so loud he wasn’t sure if Suga could hear him,” this’ll be fun okay? And after it’s over we can kiss with our adrenaline surging. I won’t let go, just letting you know!”

Just half a moment after he finished his speech the ride jetted into action, sending the pair (as well as everyone else on the ride) zooming through the course at a speed barely imaginable. As the ride dipped swiftly near the ground, both boys could hear screaming, though neither could tell which one of them it came from. Several loops left both of them feeling weightless, and it was over just as soon as it started. The ride came to a stop, and just as Nishinoya predicted, Suga felt his adrenaline reaching a peak. 

When the restraints lifted and freed the couple, Nishinoya instantly jumped out of the ride, the stars in his eyes shining with excitement. Suga followed, but when he stepped onto the platform his knees buckled and he collapsed. Noya let out a hand when he noticed, but before Suga could fully get back to his feet he snuck a brief kiss onto his lips.

“That was awesome, right?” Noya asked once Suga regained his senses.

“What, that kiss or the ride?” Suga joked in response, styling his hair with his fingers. “Because both were good.”

They went back to the ground, still buzzing from the ride. Nishinoya took the map and looked it over a second time. “So now what’re we going on?”

-a few hours later-

As the day turned into evening and the sun started to set, Suga was exhausted. The day was packed with dozens of rides, games and treats from every food stand within the park and so much walking that he didn’t think he would ever need to run laps before practice again. He wasn’t the only one who was tired, as Nishinoya also had less energy than normal. There was an announcement a few minutes before saying the park would be closing soon, but the couple wanted to spend every last minute of their first date together. They were sitting on a bench by the park entrance, with their arms wrapped around the other’s shoulder.

“What was your favorite part of today?” Suga asked, taking a bit of the ice cream he had in his free hand.

“I can’t choose.” Nishinoya replied somewhat sleepily. He was resting his head on Suga’s shoulder, his eyes fluttering closed every so often. 

Suga chuckled. “Me either. Honestly, I just liked spending time with you.”

“Aww, quit being sentimental!”

“How could I? I love you too much.”

“Koushi!”

“Yes?”

“I love you too.”

-present-

While the memory might have been cloudy before, he recalled that day in perfect vividness as he held the bracelet in his hand. He thought it was funny, how just a small ring of silicone could contain such wonderful memories. He pulled the bracelet over his hand and smiled. Just thinking about the wonderful moments he got to spend with Nishinoya made his heart beat faster. He couldn’t wait to talk to him again. 

Wait, he realized, I can talk to him now. The dorm’s all clean!

He leapt onto his best and scrambled for his phone with the speed of a lovestruck idiot, almost shouting for joy when he found it. No sooner did he turn it on to find that Noya had messaged him more after he last texted back. 

From: 💕Noya💕

Yo!! Ik ur still busy but I got lonely again :,(

But i got inspired and did a lil bit of cleaning myself

didnt get very far tho, i got so many flashbacks i couldnt get anything done

But look what i found!!!

>attached: goodbyeselfie.png

When Suga opened the file, the last thing he expected to see was the selfie he hardly remembered taking. Seeing himself and the other third years in their graduation outfits almost brought tears to his eyes, and he looked like he was about to cry in the photo as well. Despite the abundance of misty-eyed seniors in the picture, Noya still smiled pridefully at the bottom, part of his chin cut off since he wanted to fit the third years in fully. Everything about the photo made his heart ache, remembering his last day at Karasuno.

- a few months earlier, late-march-

The third years left the ceremony with more emotions than they could ever name, a mixture of relief, sadness, stress and joy filling their thoughts. Of course, they were all proud of their achievements in high school but they never could’ve prepared for the bittersweet day that graduation was. Even Kiyoko matched the mood in the air between them. They all wanted to cry, but held it in as they joined their teammates for one last group goodbye. 

Many of their teammates were failing to hold back their emotions, especially the second years who had known them the longest. Suga wanted to laugh as Tanaka contorted his face to pretend he wasn’t crying. The first years, too, were emotional- Hinata for example was sobbing and wiping the snot from his nose with his sleeve.

“I’m gonna miss you guys so much!” Hinata bawled when the third years reached the group. 

Suga chuckled at his level of emotion. “You’ll see us again. We’ll come to practices to make sure you guys are all behaving and stuff, right Daichi?” 

“Of course!” Daichi yelled in response. He was the closest of all of them to breaking down, and seeing his underclassmen so choked up didn’t make it any easier. 

“Who knows, I might accidentally show up ready to run laps next week.” Asahi admitted. 

“We’ll make sure to make you proud, senpais.” Kageyama promised, a light in his eyes that was rare to see outside of matches. Suga smiled, knowing even Kageyama was going to miss them. 

“Hey, can I take a picture with you four?” Nishinoya asked cheerfully, holding up a polaroid-style camera. Somehow, despite his tendency to be over-emotional at any given time, he was perfectly held together now. None of the third years could deny him, and got together as they had for photos for parents before. 

“Please don’t make me look too tall.” Asahi pleaded as Nishinoya set his camera up. 

“Don’t worry Asahi-san, it’ll turn out great! Now come on, everyone smile!”

Maybe it was Nishinoya’s enthusiasm, maybe it was their feelings catching up with them, maybe it was smiling in front of the team for the last time as highschoolers, but the second the camera flashed the four third years finally released their tears. Something just felt so right about spending their last moments at Karasuno with the team they loved that they couldn’t help but tear up. Seeing the third years start to cry made the rest of the team follow. 

- a couple hours later-

“I’ll text you every single day, I promise.” 

“Yuu-chan, that’s a little unnecessary..”

“Oh, is Yuu-chan my new nickname? I love it!”

“Sorry, just a slip of the tongue. I can call you that if you want though.”

“I don’t care what you call me, as long as you don’t forget me once you get to college.”

“I won’t forget you, Noya.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

After the graduation ceremony, Noya took the chance to walk Suga home, wanting to say goodbye on his own. It was mostly quiet between them, with only occasional conversations. They both had so much they wanted to say, but didn’t know what else to say but make promises. 

Soon enough they were standing outside of Suga’s house. 

“It looks like we’re here.” Suga stated, staring at the house that he couldn’t bear to enter. He knew that once he walked into his home, his high school life would be officially over. At least he had his boyfriend by his side to ease the sentimentality he felt. 

“Yeah.” Nishinoya replied. “Kiss before you go?”

“Of course” Suga laughed. Then, as requested, he bent down to pull Noya into a kiss. This kiss was different than any they had before, as if they were telling each other all their feelings without any words. Not much later, Suga pulled away to go home, he felt like his life was complete. It was a perfect goodbye. 

-present-

It was hard not to tear up after seeing the photo again. Even though in reality it was only a couple months ago for him, it still felt like an eternity since that night when Nishinoya walked him home. He wished that he could go back to those moments and spend one more day as a highschooler, one who didn’t have to schedule when he could talk to his boyfriend. Then he realized that he had the perfect opportunity to call him now, and he had better call him soon while there was still light in the day. 

When he pressed the call button, he hoped he wouldn’t have to wait long for Noya to pick up, since he didn’t want to spend any more time waiting if he didn’t have to. Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long.

“Finally! You have no idea how awful it’s been waiting allll day to talk to you.”

“You too, Yuu-chan. I saw that picture you sent me by the way. It was nice going back to that moment- although I’ve a lot of that today..”

“Really? Tell me all about it, and everything else that’s happened to you since we last called. Oh, and you wouldn’t believe what’s been going on at Karasuno these days!”

“I’m so glad we finally get to do this.”