the idea of atsumu losing the spiker that matched up to him naturally (osamu) and having to pair up with his high school nemesis and finding that it WORKS is my favorite flavor. it tastes sexy

because you HAVE studied your high school nemesis for endless hours. you wonder about the trajectory of his spikes, as captain you have to strategize who receives the weird spin of his balls. he targets you in tournaments. he knocks you out at the semifinal stage, that asshole.

it's a shit feeling, but he's not a scrub, so you can't hate him. you keep tabs on him because you're volleyball-obsessed. you wonder what team hes going to go to after college, but of course he makes it to the damn kurowashiki.

you take him and his team down five notches during kurowashiki, a victory you hadn't ever tasted in high school. you smirk at him cruelly from the other side of the net as you shake his hand. "finally got to beat 'ya, omi-kun!"

"savor it cause you won't get to do it again."

atsumu considers it as a challenge--the man is graduating this year, after all, free to select any team of his choice. maybe he'll pick the adlers, the team msby just can't ever seem to take down.

he shows up in msby tryouts. the challenge takes on a new meaning.

you've studied his game tape for countless hours, have played against him in several, you've played by his side in a few.

you've criticized all his past setters and thought you could do better with this spiker's skill set. you know what to do.

you set, high enough for his doubts, because he's a picky brat. he executes a perfect kill and the ball lands cleanly on the other side of the court.

he makes the team, of course he does.

you wonder what you can do together if--when--he learns to trust you.

he makes the team, and then the national team pool, and then the world team, and then the olympic team.

all his game tape now has you setting the ball on the same side of the court.

his promise rings true: you never get to take him down again.

im serious this is the nsfw sequel if you guys want to read
https://archiveofourown.org/works/26062990