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It all started with a fan meeting, as all troublesome things do.
Being a pro volleyball player for MSBY was Atsumu’s dream job. He was doing what he loved with his life and making money off it. Plus he loved his fans. He adores anyone who tunes in to watch him play whether he’s met with cheers or jeers, but it is nice to meet those who cheer him on. He’s not Sakusa – he doesn’t hate fan meets or the hustle and bustle of it all, but they can be tiring and devolve into messes very easily. Like now, for example:
All 4 of the “monster generation” are huddled close to each other at the same table as they greet fans, sign merch, and accept small tokens and requests for selfies. They almost always do their signature Jackals pose for them as PR requests. Sometimes the fans want pictures of all of them or just a few, but Atsumu always has his claws ready in the Jackal pose and his tongue lolled out while showing off his pointy canines. It’s truly a classic, in his humble opinion anyway. There’s a group of young women at their table trying to corral them all into one photo, smooshing their faces together to try and fit everybody in frame.
Atsumu has his signature tongue-out smile pressed up against Bokuto’s bright-eyed beam. The pictures are taken and he tries not to laugh at Sakusa’s grumbles of distress as he hears Hinate console him in a way that would sound mocking coming from anyone but the friendly opposite hitter.
“You know Miya-san, you and Bokuto-san look more ferocious together up close! All your pictures online don’t do you justice.” One of the young women chuckles as she examines the photos while her friends titter around her trying to get jerseys signed.
He hears Hinata and Sakusa snickering and immediately sees the collision coming at his expense. “I think all of Atsumu-san’s photos are really…detailed! It’s hard for them to look bad with how much time he spends taking them”
This wouldn’t have been a problem on its own before Omi went and put the nail in the coffin.
“Of course they don’t do them justice, all those two post are thirst traps. The only thing they’re giving justice to is their abs.”
He turns to Sakusa with an offended gasp while he hears Bokuto’s hearty laugh beside him.
“Not true! And Bokkun stop laughin’, they’re insulting ya too!”
“Welll Tsum-Tsum, you have to admit it’s kinda true. It’s okay though, I like your thirst traps! They’re very tasteful.” Bokuto has the audacity to smile at him.
He hears Sakusa scoff at the word “tasteful” being used to describe his thirst traps and he feels the tips of his ears burning. It’s definitely from the embarrassment of being called out of course, not Bokuto’s compliment.
He hears all the ladies giggling in front of them now.
“You two should make a thirst trap together! It’d be like a collab!” says the same woman who was looking at all the selfies. Seemingly finding them satisfactory, she pockets her phone to smile up at them.
“Wow, that’s so smart!” Hinata affirms much to his mortification “Atsumu-san you and Bokuto-san should do that and post it for the fans! The only thing better than one good-looking player in a picture is two!”
He feels his fingers twitch with the need to wring Hinata’s neck at the silly suggestion; it seems he and Sakusa are tag-teaming today. He can feel the shit-eating grin beside him even with his mask on.
“Yes Miya, what a great idea considering how you and Bokuto are fan favourites. You two could even make videos out of it. I’ll even make a playlist of popular audios for you to use.” Sakusa pitches his voice to sound innocent and helpful but he knows better.
The group infront of them and a few others behind them in the line begin making excited squeals and hums of approval, murmuring how they would pay to see that. He needs to do damage control before it reaches someone who could force this silly idea to come to fruition.
“Actually I don’t think-” he gets cut off by Inuaki from the other table with Meian and the others.
“Sakusa taking initiative with fanservice? This idea must be good.” Inunaki has a mischievous smirk as he pats his captain on the shoulder trying to draw his attention to the spectacle.
He hears Meian give a thoughtful hum before he sees him scribble something down in the notepad he keeps around for team improvements or new ideas for bonding.
“That doesn’t sound bad, not much different from a photoshoot. I’ll run it by our PR manager later to see if it’s smart.”
Of course, Meian had to agree to the one horrible idea Omi decided to instigate.
“Guys wait-” he’s cut off again by Bokuto grabbing his arm in a firm grip, which can generally indicate a wide range of emotions from excitement to sulking. The look on his face tells him it isn’t sulking though.
“Doesn’t this sound fun, Tsumu! We could make so many videos to post the best ones! We may even break Twitter again.” He notices the gleam in Bokuto’s eyes when he looks at him, and he can tell there’s something other than his normal glee in them. Something sharp that he sees sometimes when he decides to tease Atsumu. Not quite the same mischief from Inunaki’s face though.
“Fun? This sounds like I’m embarrassing myself for attention!” he huffs, but it does nothing to break Bokuto’s smile.
“Great, so nothing you’re not used to then.”
“Omi, I’m going to take something blunt and shove it up you-” his captain clearing his throat is enough to cut him off from giving Sakusa a piece of his mind.
He doesn’t know why he even joined this team. They’re a bunch of traitors hellbent on making his life miserable. With teammates like these, what are enemies even for? He turns to glance at Bokuto, who still looks at him expectantly. Bokuto’s gaze is always pretty intense, but the weight of it now makes his chest warm a little as he fights the upward twitch of his lips just from looking at the man. In reality, it would be great fanservice; he and Bokuto, two of the most showboat-y players, doing some joint promo together. They’ve been in shoots before, but usually never without the other two from their little group. He considers it, taking more flashy or sensual pictures with Bokuto pressed near him doing the same. The thought is enough to make his insides turn a bit and he feels almost unsteady.
“C’mon Tsum-Tsum, don’t ya wanna spend some more time with me? Pleeeeease? I promise it’ll be a good thing for our fans.” He looks up at Bokuto’s pleading eyes and thinks the only thing this could be good for is putting him into early cardiac arrest.
“Tsum-Tsum, you can’t deny thirst traps with Bokuto during pride month, it would be homophobic!” he hears Hinata chime in and feels what could only be a migraine incoming.
“Shoyo-kun, ya know I can’t be homophobic, I’m bi,” he sighs, praying for the fan meet to end or to explode. Alternatively, maybe a natural disaster could swing through and end his misery.
He hears Bokuto give a contemplative hum. “Hmm, I’m not sure about that Tsum, Sakusa might be the most homophobic homosexual I know.”
“He’s right! Living proof that you can be very gay and also hate gay people.” Hinata backs up his claims.
He can tell there’s about to be another petty squabble before the women at the fan meet interrupt them. He almost forgot they were there and inadvertently started his whole conundrum.
“Thank you guys for your time! We’ll be going now. Miya-san and Bokuto-san, we will look forward to any new social media posts you decide to make. I’m sure the rest of your fans will also go crazy over them.” They all turn around and leave and the next row of fans come up to the table, but he can hear their murmurings spreading to others in the line consisting of words such as “hot”, “thirst traps”, “buff”, “bokuto’s abs” and other things he would like to tune out. But he’s aware this means the idea has already spread like a disease and he won’t get out of this one without disappointing a few fans and maybe Bokuto.
He sighs, knowing there could be worse things than showing off how hot he is online (which he already does) with Bokuto being in the frame as well. He accepts his fate but it doesn’t mean he’s happy about it, and he’s totally ignoring how he feels his cheeks heat thinking about it.
“Whatever,” he grumbles, "we’ll see what PR has to say about this ridiculous idea.”
He returns to putting on his signature smile to greet the rest of his fans and get this cursed day over with. He pretends he doesn’t notice his teammates snickering and Bokuto’s hand on his shoulder while his face screams pure delight.
…………....
There are a few things that are always bad omens in his life: Osamu being silent, Bokuto coming into morning practice quiet and getting a notification from Suna Rintaro.
He contemplates ignoring the Twitter link to avoid whatever is waiting for him. Suna’s accompanied “lol rip” doesn’t do much to expose the contents so he decides to bite the bullet.
It’s a sports fan account, but one of the bigger ones. They often cover all MSBY updates from their games to any individual’s brand sponsorships.
“Miya Atsumu and Bokuto Koutaro set to release new spicy promotional images! Click below to see past MSBY shoots…”
He shuts his phone in disbelief and stares at the black screen for a moment before closing Twitter to open Sunarin’s chat.
Me: Why are they making it sound like we’re releasing an onlyfans account?!?! Who even told them that
Rin: well…are you guys?
Me: NO?! We haven’t even decided on doing anythin’ yet it was just some stupid suggestion Omi-kun made at a fan meet for Bokkun and I to make thirst traps
Rin: Is that so… I have some tiktoks I can send you for reference
Me: WHY IS EVERYONE TRYNA SEND ME REFERENCES WHAT IS WITH YOU PEOPLE AND THIRST TRAPS???
Rin: Hey I’m not the one doing spicy pictures with my teammate crush
Me: What tha hell are ya talkin' about Rin, I don’t have a crush on Bokkun?
Rin: Are you asking me or yourself?
Me: ya know what I don’t have to deal with this rn
He closes Suna’s chat with a groan and opens Bokuto’s
Me: Bokkun did ya see this tweet everyone’s tagging us in? [link]
Bo: oh yeah! I saw it earlier, they made it sound like we’re doing a porno
Me: exactly! Why would they do that the thirst traps aren’t even confirmed
Bo: it’s okay Tsum-Tsum I think all of our friends just find it funny
Me: Bokkun there are people on twt asking to lick us off the bone for these so-called spicy photos
Bo: fans always want to do that anyways! Plus I don’t blame them
Me: Bokkun wdym by that.
Me: what
Bo: oh nothing
Me: don’t “oh nothing” me WDYM
Bo: I just can see where our fans are coming from in finding you attractive
Me: us
Me: You mean finding us attractive
Me: right
Bo: yep! But I’m sure you already know how attractive I am Tsum-Tsum
Me: I
Me: well.
Me: I do have your Instagram and eyes
Me: But like the whole V-Leage is attractive that doesn’t count!
Bo: hmmm okay Tsum-Tsum!
Me: wait what are we gonna do about the tweet
Bo: give the fans what they want :)
Me: what
Me: Bo help what do you mean
Me: Bokkun wdym
Me: Bokkun???
He gets nothing in response but a random emoji 15 minutes later and has no clue what to make of it. He decides he’ll ignore this mess until he hears back from Meian about PR’s thoughts on their joint thirst traps, which he’s sure they don’t need permission to make anyway considering Atsumu has posted himself with only a towel around his waist on Instagram twice. He decides to make lunch and his thoughts briefly run back to his conversation with Bokuto and what Suna said about a crush.
He definitely does not have a crush on his teammate. He would know if he did, right? Bokuto’s just a very attractive player, with enough power and precision in his spikes to make any setter swell with pride. Sure he likes leaning against him during team movie nights but that’s only because Bokuto is a cuddler! He’s helping! He also feels the blood thrumming in his veins whenever Bokuto gives him one of those radiant smiles but he’s sure all his teammates feel like that. It’s just the effect Bokuto has on people! He does not have a crush on Bokkun. He enjoys his company a regular amount and is totally fine doing this shoot with him. It’s really nothing to worry about and he’s sure it’ll be easy and uncomplicated.
…………………
It should be noted that almost nothing in Atsumu’s life is easy or uncomplicated.
He’s starting to think the universe has a secret vendetta against him. There is no other reason he’s standing in front of a shirtless Bokuto behind a background poorly strung together by Hinata while being directed into different poses by Sakusa. It almost feels like a photoshoot with the budget of a penny, considering his teammates are the ones holding the camera instead of the professionals he’s used to. PR reasoned that if all goes well in releasing pictures they took themselves, big brands like Calvin Klein or those weirdly sensual perfume ads will be scrambling to book duo shoots with them. It almost sounds like something straight out of Atsumu’s nightmares but he’s considering that maybe embarrassing himself infront of strangers would be better than his team. They are all taking this weirdly seriously and even set up a snack table as if it were a real company shoot.
“You know Tsum-Tsum I think you could afford to put your hands a little lower before Omi-kun pops a blood vessel” He can feel Bokuto’s chest against his shoulder as he leans closer.
“Bokkun, if my hands go any lower they’ll be cradling your ass.”
“Tsumu-san that’s definitely what we’re going for here,” Hinata says as he flits beside Sakusa who is scribbling something furiously in a notebook while grumbling about his creative vision.
“You guys hafta be tired of this by now. How many shots of me clutchin’ Bokkun’s waist do ya really need?” He huffs and crosses his arms.
“We haven’t even gotten to the videos yet, Tsum.” Bokuto reminds him as he poses for another shot of his head resting over Atsumu’s shoulder while his back is turned. He can feel the gentle shapes being drawn on his back even though he’s sure Sakusa gave instructions to have an air of possessiveness. Not that he minds.
“There’s no way in hell I’m allowin’ these fools to have video evidence of me tryin’ to look all suave and failing at it.” He’s still grumbling even though he feels calm with Bokuto’s arms wrapped around his torso.
He catches the devilish look in his eyes before Bokuto speaks again as he pulls back.
“All the better, I can have you to myself.”
He’s hoping he didn’t shiver at that because it’s already embarrassing how hot his cheeks feel at the moment.
“Yer tryna kill me Bokkun. You can’t just say shit like that,” he mumbles and pulls Bokuto back to bury his face in the firm shoulder to try and shield himself.
“Like what?” He doesn’t have to look up to know an innocent head tilt accompanied that. He truly resembles a curious owl when he feels like it.
Hinata starts packing things and people out of the room before he shouts over his shoulder “You’re so right guys. You can take the tripod in the corner and go shoot the videos yourself, have fun!”
He balks as he’s left in the common area with Bokuto as all their teammates shuffle out or back to their rooms. He almost feels like he’s being set up somehow, trapped even.
“Well, there’s no time like the present!” Bokuto exclaims as he drags Atsumu off, “I think my room has better lighting anyways.”
Atsumu feels his palms sweat from the contact, but it only makes sense because both he and Bokuto are walking furnaces. That’s definitely why he feels so warm now as he’s in Bokuto’s bedroom with just the two of them. But this is normal! They hang out together as bros all the time. Just best bros chilling in each other’s bedrooms about to make thirst traps, typical bro things.
Before he can crumble under the weight of Bokuto’s gaze, he decides to get this whole ordeal fucking over with.
“Well I guess ya can start looking through the list of audios Shoyo-kun sent us, it’s pretty extensive.”
“Yeah let’s do it together!” Bokuto jumps to sit on the bed while grabbing his phone and he takes a seat next to him to help.
They find a few audios and videos that look doable and also some with insane transitions he’s sure he wouldn’t be able to figure out even if given a week. Luckily most of them only require him to gaze seductively into the camera or lovingly into Bokuto’s eyes. One of these tasks is much harder than the other.
“What the fuck am I supposed to do with my hands from this angle?! Why is this one so complicated,” he huffs as he tries to mimic the couple in the video.
“Uh well I think the most important part is the face grabbing, like if I just tilt your head like thiiiis-” he feels his face get smushed in between Bokuto’s large palm. He can only imagine he looks like a fish out of water literally and metaphorically. He stays still for a bit as his face is manhandled by Bokuto trying to get the angle right.
“Okay but vis shtill doesn’t answer my question,” he pulls his face out of Bokuto’s hand to speak, “I just look like a statue with my hands at my side when you do that.”
“Hm alright then… well how about this?” He feels one arm being guided to wrap around Bokuto’s waist while the other rests on his shoulder. He feels the same warm palm slide against his cheek but it’s more gentle this time, almost tender. When he looks into Bokuto’s eyes he almost feels his throat close up. It’s all too much.
“Um. Don’t ya think this feels a little bit…intimate?” he clears his throat.
“Well, isn’t that kinda the whole point? I think that’s the vibe we’re going for on camera,” Bokuto looks at him like he’s a little bit stupid. He also feels a little bit stupid because for a moment he forgot there was a phone set up infront of them at all.
“Yeah…right. Just play the audio and let’s get this one out the way.” He hopes he can recover any shred of dignity he has left after this.
They do a few more videos, many of them lipsyncing some cheesy line from a romcom put over a beat, and some just flexing their muscles.
“Ooo Tsum-Tsum let’s do this one next!” He takes the phone Bokuto shoves his way and realises they’ve made it a good portion through the folder Omi and Shoyo made. But he’s sure this is one they should skip.
“Bo, you do realise that woman on his lap is probably only 100lbs, and we are both tall bulky athletes, right? There’s no way one of us could be comfortable on the other’s lap like that looking down.” He thinks thirst traps may have rotted Bokuto’s last brain cell.
“What? I could do this easily, plus I do weighted squats heavier than you in the gym! Sounds to me like you might just be chicken.” Bokuto smirks and he can tell he’s 3 seconds away from clucking and flapping his arms in mockery.
“I know what yer doin’ and it’s not gonna work” he challenges Bokuto with a glare.
“Oh really? So you wouldn’t mind me telling the team that you were too chicken to do this video then. I wonder what they’ll think about you skipping this one in particular…” he watches as Bokuto pretends to give a nonchalant shrug.
“Like I give a rat’s ass about what those scrubs think” he scoffs.
“Hmm you’re right, I’m sure someone like Suna-san would find this much more interesting.” Bokuto’s smirk resembles the grinch now.
“Ya wouldn’t dare!”
“Try me.” Atsumu lunged for Bokuto as he took out his phone conspiratorily. Bokuto laughs and pulls him by his waist as they both tumble to the floor.
“This was yer plan all along, ya lil’ devil.” He tries to hold his glare but can’t help but laugh as well when faced with looking down at Bokuto’s brilliant laugh this close. He can spot the dimple on only one side of his face and the way he almost bites his tongue every time he tries to stop laughing and starts again. He looks really beautiful like this.
“Maybe, but see now all your weight is on me and we didn’t even get to hit record yet.”
Atsumu feels his cheeks tint at the realisation and scoots so that he braces his knees on either side of Bokuto’s hips to hover and take some of the weight off.
“Aww, yer no fun.” Bokuto pushes up on his elbows and he tries not to feel endeared at the fake pout.
In retaliation, he pinches his cheek and leans forward. “Don’t mock my accent ya big baby.”
Bokuto just smiles at him like he always does, in a way that’s always so natural to him.
“What ya gonna do about it, Atsumu?”
Atsumu knows a challenge when he sees it and he’s not gonna back down from this one. This is the opposite of what he would do in any situation where he has someone pinned to the ground, but nothing with Bokkun is ever conventional.
He lowers his face and hugs Bokuto’s shoulders and tightens his knees around the waist, then uses all of his strength to tumble to the side while still clutching him.
Now his back is the one on the ground and he has a surprised-looking Bokuto in his lap. He seems so flustered that his entire weight is resting on Atsumu’s thighs instead of bracing his knees around him.
“My my Bokkun,” he grins up at him “Guess ya don’t have to do weighted squats in the gym every day to hold a pretty man on your lap.”
“You- Tsum-Tsum! This isn’t fair! Who even willingly flips themself under somebody?” Bokuto splutters.
Both their faces are flushed, Atsumu’s more from exertion, but having one of the most gorgeous men he’s ever known in his lap isn’t helping.
“Well, I just thought you’d like it better for when I do this.”
“Do what?”
Atsumu doesn’t waste another second sitting up to meet Bokuto’s confused frown. He slings an arm to feel his broad back while carrying the other one up to cradle his face. Bokuto is warm like he always is, all sharp angles and hard lines but still soft. Their lips meet tentatively but Atsumu steels his resolve and puts all his admiration into the kiss. It tastes like pining, it tastes like friendship. It tastes like all the possibilities ahead of them when he feels Koutarou kiss with the same fervour.
It feels so easy to put his trust in him. Just like he knows Bokkun is always there to land a cross-shot when he does a set, he knows he’s not the only one feeling this. He knows Bokuto will always give it as good as he’s got with 200% of his energy.
He can't help but smile up at him as they pull apart with Bokuto’s cheeky grin looking back.
“And all it took was the frustration of thirst traps to get you to take the hint and kiss me!” Bokuto laughs and wraps his arms around his shoulders.
“Whatever ya say, Kou,” he scoffs. “Say, do ya think we caught all that on camera?”
“From Bokkun to Kou huh? I like it. And I sure fucking hope we did, that’s premium content right there. I could get Shoyo to pay me for that he’d be so happy his ploy worked.”
“I knew you guys were setting me up,” he huffs.
“Yeah Tsum-Tsum, who would’ve thought the people rooting for us to make provocative videos in an enclosed space would’ve been plotting?”
“Hey, don’t say it like I'm stupid! Plus we got some great photos today; the fans will eat this up.” He pushes Koutarou off his lap before he loses all circulation in his legs, but mostly to be petty.
“I could eat you up.”
“Wait, what?”
“What? Anyways Tsum, let’s go through our photos so we can keep the ones we don’t want the team to snoop on to ourselves!” Koutarou jumps up and grabs his arm to bring him along.
“Yeah yeah, whatever you say Kou.” He can’t help smiling as he rolls his eyes. The internet definitely isn’t ready for their duo thirst trap shenanigans. But he’s going to get a laugh out of it. Their PR team don’t know what they bargained for.