The Reckless & The Brave Book 3: Casual Affair [SakuAtsu]

Chapter 4

Atsumu's days fall into a weird sort of pattern. Without Osamu by his side, he's not quite sure what to do with himself. Even when they'd first started living separately Atsumu had at least seen his brother regularly, had been able to talk to him freely. Now even their phone calls had to be limited and there was always someone listening. Atsumu hated it. He wanted his brother back. But listening to his twin gush about how happy he was with married life he knew that he wouldn't be able to take that away. So he pushed all his feelings down just like he had as a child.

He goes on his normal assignments and works on the covers he'd been curating for years. He trains with Iwaizumi and he bugs Oikawa. He goes out drinking with Kuroo and Bokuto and manages to get them both home to their boyfriends in one piece. But then Kuroo is gone. Captured on a mission across the world and no one can get to him. Atsumu makes sure to avoid his blonde-haired boyfriend when Iwaizumi brings him to the gym to train.

It takes some time but eventually Atsumu earns a promotion and the fox tattoo he had worn proudly since childhood is turned into a jackal. He tries not to think about it too much. Every five months Atsumu leaves his own missions behind in order to travel and check up on the undercover agents spread around the world. His last stop is always in Russia to spend three days with Kiyoomi. Things are smoother after their disastrous first meeting and by the third Atsumu would say that Kiyoomi might even tolerate him. Or at least he doesn't tell Atsumu to shut up as he rambles on about meaningless things.

"Look at it! It's not even healed properly yet!" Atsumu declares as he shows off his new tattoo. Kiyoomi barely glances up from the book in his hands. He's seated in the same armchair he always chooses with a book he'd requested Atsumu bring him from Japan. He only has three days to finish it and Atsumu sometimes feels a little guilty about interrupting him.

"You probably haven't been cleaning it properly," Kiyoomi says, turning the page.

"What? I definitely have!" He lifts his shirt more so he can see the tattoo himself, he's pretty sure it should have healed more by now but he doesn't really remember how the first one went. Kita had taken care of his and Osamu's tattoos as they first became a part of the fox team.

"Did it heal slowly the first time?" Kiyoomi puts a slip of paper into his book and sets it on the side table.

"I don't remember," he admits with a shrug.

"It wasn't that long ago. Come here so I can see," Atsumu shuffles a bit closer, being careful not to crowd too much into the other man's space. He'd learned early on not to touch Kiyoomi.

"Maybe for you but it's been like a million years since I got mine the first time," He nearly jumps when Kiyoomi's cold fingers brush against the skin around his tattoo.

"You were at training at the same time as me," Kiyoomi reminds him. Atsumu realized then that he probably doesn't know about the child agents. It's not like it's something that the agency or even the agents themselves try to advertise. Kiyoomi gets up from his chair and disappears into the bathroom for a moment then comes back with a small bag then takes a seat again and tugs Atsumu a bit closer by one of his belt loops.

"I probably wasn't even ten," Atsumu says quietly. Kiyoomi pauses for a moment then pulls out some sort of lotion or something and starts to apply it gently to the tattoo. "I don't know if you heard any of the rumors or anything but... There were eight of us that joined Fukurodani as kids. Me and Samu were the youngest. I don't remember much from back then really. I know Kita took care of us. He made sure we didn't mess up the tattoos when we first got them."

"I'm surprised it didn't stretch weirdly as you grew," Kiyoomi's cold fingers move across Atsumu's skin and he has to repress a shiver.

"You don't seem very surprised." Atsumu finds his eyes drawn to Kiyoomi's dark curls. He wants to touch them, he's wanted to touch them for a while if he's honest but their time together so far has been so limited and it's the only time that Kiyoomi is really able to be comfortable. It's not hard to tell that he's a solitary person. He's admitted to not liking to be touched and he definitely has strict cleanliness standards. Once he leaves their suite he won't be able to control any of that. He'll be crowded in a dorm and he'll have to interact with people that have no respect for his personal space.