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Wakatoshi does not normally participate in activities that appear to have no direct purpose, and he is still uncertain why he chose to speak in the first place. This whole matter began when he mentioned, without much thought, that Satori had been spending his free time reading theories on Twitter, and that one of those theories suggested Kiyoomi and Atsumu might be involved in something that was not purely volleyball.
He had not predicted that his teammates would treat this information as if it were an official scouting report, but soon they were gathered around a screen looking at a Wikipedia How article titled 12 Signs Your Friends Are Secretly Dating, which was, in his opinion, an unusually specific guide. They were methodically comparing each sign to the actions of Kiyoomi and Atsumu, which meant the process was being conducted with surprising order, if not with particular necessity.
Wakatoshi finds himself acknowledging that the effort is impressively structured, even if he does not understand why the subject is worthy of such structure, because in high school he would have thought such a thing was wasteful. He had always preferred efficiency and measurable outcomes, but as time has gone on, he has realized that quantitative outcomes are not the only kind, and that sometimes a task that produces nothing can still be considered something, which is an unusual conclusion but one he now accepts.
Therefore he concludes that this is one of those rare activities, that serves no real purpose yet remains worthwhile, which is why he neither interrupts nor leaves, instead silently nodding as his teammates debate over the actions of Atsumu, because levity, even when impractical, can still have its own kind of usefulness. He even joined in with his narration when they were discussing what Motoya had informed him was called ‘The Fidget Test’.
All this is to say, this is the reason why he finds himself in the locker room after their victory against Canada, listening to his teammates begin deliberations on point number seven. For reasons unknown, Hinata has been chosen as the note taker, which Wakatoshi considers a potential hazard. He hopes the man is typing on his phone and not writing by hand, because the last time Wakatoshi saw Hinata’s handwriting he briefly thought it was an abstract sketch and wondered why someone had taped modern art to the gym wall.
Hinata lifts his phone high above his head with both hands, in a manner that strongly resembles Simba being presented to the animal kingdom, a reference Wakatoshi is able to recognize only because Satori had insisted he watch The Lion King during their third year of high school, a film he has come to value for its unexpectedly moving themes and also its music, which he finds memorable. Hinata, still holding the phone as if it is a sacred object, asks in a stage whisper if their experimental subjects have truly vacated the locker room, and Wakatoshi, who has kept track without difficulty, reassures him that Atsumu accompanied Kiyoomi to see Iwaizumi-san for his sore wrists.
With this assurance in place, Hinata lowers the phone, clears his throat with theatrical importance, and in a voice that is halfway between a serious announcer and a children’s television host, reads out the next point from the article: They lean in close to each other.
- They lean in close to each other.
"Do they?" Wakatoshi looks up and asks the jackals.
"Well, I can't say I've noticed," Bokuto says, frowning.
"Twitter says they do," Suna says, eyes glued to the phone in his hand.
"Huh?"
They all crowd around the man to take a look at the screen, even Aran and Yaku although they both try not to look too invested.
Suna has his phone open to the Twitter app. Hinata reads out the tweet–
MSBY hoe @atsumumiyasthighs
1 minute of Sakusa Kiyoomi leaning down to listen to Short King Atsumu Miya
(1:00 video)
💬 9.4K replies 🔁 4.8K retweets ❤️ 208K likes
The video is exactly what the tweet says it is. It's a minute long montage of Sakusa bending slightly to listen to Atsumu. There's even a grainy picture of high school third year Sakusa hunching a bit next to a third year Atsumu who looks like he's in the middle of a rant.
"Huh."
"What're ya guys lookin' at? Oh, hey, that's me!"
Bokuto screeches. Wakatoshi doesn't jump but it's a near thing. He can't believe none of them noticed their experimental specimens walking right up to them.
Atsumu has already snatched Suna's phone and everyone watches in real time as Sakusa leans down a little to look at what Atsumu is showing him.
Hinata's eyes are wide as saucers.
"How did we never notice?" Yaku whispers to Suna.
"Short King? SHORT? me? 'm over six fucking feet." Atsumu shouts, waving the phone around. Wakatoshi is about 90% sure Sakusa is smiling under his mask. The Omi-smile that Bokuto had helpfully explained to them.
"Still shorter than Sakusa," Suna says with a shrug before reaching over to take the phone from the agitated blonde.
"Half the league is shorter than him, why not make a video about that?"
Hinata blinks, "Because Omi-san doesn't lean down to listen to us?"
This whole process of figuring out whether one of his closest friends has feelings for Atsumu-kun already feels a little surreal to Wakatoshi but this scene right here takes the cake as Satori would say. (chocolate cake, Toshi. Always, chocolate cake) He watches as Kiyoomi’s ears grow pink. The blush stands out starkly against his pale skin.
“I don’t even get why you have to lean down,” Suna drawls. “Atsumu is loud enough that you can hear him from a mile away.”
“Oye Sunarin, who’re ya callin’ loud?”
“You’re literally shouting right now.”
The debate about height begins without warning.
Kourai declares that if anyone deserves the title of Short King, it should be him. His reasoning is, as always, delivered with complete conviction.
“I’m the shortest one here,” he insists, jabbing a thumb toward his chest, “and I jump the highest. I embody the struggle and the triumph.”
Hinata immediately protests. “That’s literally me! I’m shorter than you, and I have the same vertical.”
“You only stayed short because you played beach,” Kourai says, crossing his arms. “The sun and the sand impeded your growth. I didn’t have that problem. So technically, I’m the shortest one in spirit.”
Hinata stares at him. “That makes absolutely no sense.”
“It does!” Kourai insists. “Think about it. All that vitamin D and open air messed with your height potential. You’re short by environment. I’m short by genetics.”
Hinata blinks. “That’s not how bodies work.”
Bokuto, who has been listening intently, raises a hand. “Wait, is that actually scientifically possible?”
“No,” Hinata says flatly.
“I’m going to Google it,” Bokuto announces anyway, pulling out his phone.
Wakatoshi finds the logic difficult to follow, but he appreciates their enthusiasm.
A few feet away, Kiyoomi sits quietly on the bench, elbows on his knees, the light from his phone reflected in his eyes. He has the montage video open on his own screen now, watching it in silence. His head is bowed, dark curls falling forward, obscuring most of his face and the faint pink at the tips of his ears.
Atsumu, meanwhile, has found a new point to argue.
“I am taller than ‘Samu,” he announces, chin tilted upward like he’s daring the universe to contradict him.
Suna doesn’t even look up from his phone. “Bullshit. I was there when we measured everyone in third year. You threw a fit when Osamu came out a quarter of a centimeter taller.”
“That was in high school!” Atsumu snaps. “I’ve grown since then. Hell, I even got taller last year.”
“You’re twenty-six,” Suna says. “That’s not how that works.”
“It could be!”
Wakatoshi considers pointing out that human males rarely continue to grow after adolescence, but decides against it. The conversation is already loud enough.
His phone pings once.
The noise cuts cleanly through the chaos. He glances down. The screen lights up with Satori’s name.
Satori
CONGRATULATIONS ON THE WIN AGAINST CANADA! THAT LAST SHOT WAS INSANE TOSHI!>>Satori
Thank you, Satori.
It was a very enjoyable game.Satori
wat r u guys upto now?>>Satori
We are looking at fan camera videos of Kiyoomi and AtsumuSatori
wut>>Satori
Remember that Twitter thread you sent me? I told the team about it.
Now we are on a mission to find out if Kiyoomi and Atsumu are indeed in a relationship.Satori
wtf they managed to rope U into that?>>Satori
They make very compelling points.
They're using a Wikipedia how article to solve the mysterySatori
der are so many layers to this wtf>>Satori
I can send you the videos that Suna-kun took.Satori
YES PLEASE
When the discussion turns briefly into an argument about whether taller people have a responsibility to lean down, Wakatoshi takes the opportunity to forward several of Suna’s recordings from their “SakuAtsu Mystery” group chat to Satori. He selects the ones that seem most representative of their investigative methods—Hinata’s enthusiastic note taking, his own narration, Bokuto’s periodic gasps of betrayal, and the moment Kiyoomi’s ears turn red.
>>Satori
These may provide useful context.
The response arrives thirty seconds later.
Satori
YES CONTEXT THANK U
alsoo i wanted 2 ask. why does kou-chan look like he’s been hit in the face by one of ur serves in rin-chan’s post the other day?>>Satori
That was during discussions about different relationships that surprised him.
Each time someone revealed new information, Bokuto reacted with the same level of shock.Satori
omg so he’s just like that now? permanently startled?>>Satori
Yes. It seems to be his natural state.
There is a brief pause before Satori’s next message appears.
Satori
does he know abt us?
Wakatoshi considers the question. He stares at the phone for a moment, thumbs hovering over the keyboard, as around him the others continue their loud debate about whether muscle mass can add height if distributed vertically.
>>Satori
I am not sure.
I have not hidden it, but I have also not spoken about it directly.Satori
so like an open secret but without the secret part?>>Satori
That is accurate.
Would you like me to tell them officially?
The reply is instantaneous.
Satori
YES ABSOLUTELY
also make sure SOMEONE IS FILMING when u do it
i want to see kou-chan’s face in 4K>>Satori
Understood.
I will ensure Suna is available with his phone.
When he looks up again, the conversation has splintered into several smaller arguments– Hinata and Kourai are now measuring their foreheads against each other to prove height dominance, Yaku is trying to mediate, and Bokuto is demanding to know whether love affects vertical growth.
In the middle of it all, Kiyoomi is no longer paying attention to the group. He stands by his locker, methodically packing his things with the same quiet precision he brings to everything else. Suna and Atsumu are still locked in argument, volleying back and forth about which Miya twin is taller, with Aran occasionally stepping in like a referee and Komori slyly offering encouragement to both sides.
Atsumu, apparently deciding that words alone are insufficient, abandons the conversation mid-sentence and strides toward Kiyoomi, waving his phone as though brandishing evidence in a courtroom. “See? Look at this! ’Samu and me, third year Inarizaki—he’s only taller ’cause I slouched!”
Kiyoomi does not answer. He closes his locker, wipes his hands with a small towel, and finally turns as Atsumu holds the phone inches from his face. There is a single photo visible on the screen—two gangly high schoolers back-to-back, a measuring tape in Osamu’s hand, and a clearly disgruntled Atsumu caught mid-glare.
Kiyoomi exhales, a sound that might be a sigh, or perhaps resignation. He leans down slightly to see the screen more clearly, eyes narrowing behind his fringe. The top of Atsumu’s head brushes faintly against his cheek. Neither of them seems to notice.
The noise in the room dips for a moment. It isn’t silence, not exactly—Hinata is still half-arguing with Kourai about whether beach volleyball stunts growth (a theory Bokuto is now loudly trying to verify through science)—but something in the air changes. Kiyoomi murmurs something that Wakatoshi can’t quite catch, and Atsumu laughs, bright and unrestrained.
The sound is easy and familiar.
He remembers Satori once telling him that closeness isn’t measured by distance, but by ease. At the time, he had thought it was one of those poetic statements that had no practical use. Now, watching Kiyoomi tilt his head slightly toward Atsumu as if drawn by habit, he begins to think Satori might have been right.
They do lean in close to each other.
And if that means what the others think it means, Wakatoshi decides he would be glad. Atsumu is loud, but he is kind, and Kiyoomi deserves someone who can match his precision with warmth.
When Hinata shouts something about emotional height again, Wakatoshi simply nods to himself.
It is, he concludes, a good thing for people to lean in.
[Twitter]
Suna Rintarou ☑ @sunarin
FYI @therealmiya_o ur twin says he’s taller now.
💬 2.4K replies 🔁 4.6K retweets ❤️ 108K likes
Osamu Miya ☑ @therealmiya_o
Replying to @sunarin
tell him to stfu. i have been taller since birth.
Atsumu Miya ☑ @therealmiya_a
Replying to @sunarin @therealmiya_o
blasphemy. u wer taller than me for like one day in third year. wen we did measurements.
Osamu Miya ☑ @therealmiya_o
Replying to @sunarin @therealmiya_a
…..do u realise hw stupid u sound?
Suna Rintarou ☑ @sunarin ↻ Retweeted
MSBY Hoe @atsumumiyasthighs
1 minute of Sakusa Kiyoomi leaning down to listen to Short King Atsumu Miya
(1:00 video)
thank you op for your contribution to science
💬 58.4K replies 🔁 97.6K retweets ❤️ 408K likes
MSBY Hoe @atsumumiyasthighs
?????? SCIENCE??????
????????????????????????????
SIR WHAT IS HAPPENING SUNA RINTARO JUST RETWEETED ME?