LET ME DOWN SLOWLY ⸻ sakusa kiyoomi.

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐭𝐰𝐨 | is this a confession??

THE COACHES HAD DISMISSED US one last time, and everyone had gathered into their own little friend groups, be that newly formed or old ones, exchanging numbers and discussing what to eat. After changing out of school attire and packing our bags, Miho and I headed out to the training centre's lobby, duffel bags on our shoulders, waiting for Motoya and Sakusa to come down.

As it turned out, the cousins were already there, waiting for us.

"What took you so long?" Sakusa asked, looking mildly annoyed on top of his already resting bitch face. How his duffel bag balanced on his hunched shoulders, hands shoved into his pockets, I didn't know.

"We went to exchange numbers with Abe and the others," Miho said with a shrug. "Do you guys wanna join us for lunch? There's a pizzeria nearby, and it's usually empty at this time."

I turned to look at her, brows raised, a little surprised. "How would you know that?"

Miho raised her phone. "Google Maps."

"Yeah, we wouldn't mind!" Motoya said with a smile, before Sakusa could say anything. We all had totally noticed just how annoyed Sakusa would be should we end up going to an overcrowded, unsanitary place, and if it weren't for the word 'uncrowded', I would also have wanted to skip the lunch crowd.

I glanced at my own phone screen. White against the zoomed-in photo of Kei I had screenshotted during the Shiratorizawa match, the time read 1.45PM. It was a decent time, towards the end of the busiest lunch rush, and I was getting hungry after the morning training.

Surprisingly, a lot of the other students had gathered at the pizzeria, laughing over drinks, some already having been served their food. Much to my displeasure, the Itachiyama girls were gathered there, some of them on their phones, others chatting animatedly with one another. The waiter escorted us to our seats, which was across the room from the Itachiyama girls.

It didn't seem like they had noticed us, which was a relief, and I hoped that it would stay this way for the rest of the meal.

"Ah– thank you," I said, as the waiter handed us four menus. I flipped through the menu, eyes landing on a few good-looking foods. They were all around a few thousand yen, which was an affordable price. We discussed appetisers and stuff to share.

"Y'know, sometimes I feel as if you're doing this to feel babied or something," I told Sakusa with a slight smirk, spinning my menu around to face him across the table. "Seeing as you refuse to touch this– let me guess– germ-infested, disease causing pile of shit?"

Sakusa narrowed his eyes at me, catching my teasing tone, but said nothing. "No," he said, "but seeing as you enjoy acting as my servant, hurry up and flip the page. I don't like alcohol."

Actually fuck you. My eye twitched, and irked, I flipped the page for him, making sure to do it as aggressively as possible to whack the ravenette with a gust of air from the menu. Sakusa made a noise of annoyance, and I smiled tightly at him.

"Sir, would you require that I, your poor servant suffering from illegal child labour, also pay for your meal?" I provoked, watching in satisfaction as Sakusa raised his eyes to glare at me, those obsidian eyes boring into mine with heavy intensity– a comedic move for such lighthearted banter.

"I should pay for your meal then, if you can't afford something as simple as lunch," Sakusa rebuked. So the guy had some sort of emotional reaction other than plain indifference after all– it was fun to just provoke him, as if we were friends and nothing less than that.

I grinned. "Hit me up. You're paying. Motoya, I'm ordering lobster pasta."

An irk mark appeared on his face, but Sakusa said nothing. "...I don't go back on my word," he muttered reproachfully. He made a move to pull his wallet, opening the black leather to count the notes he had.