"i can't believe him!" emika slammed the front door with a laughing daiki behind him. she dropped her bag down on the floor before falling down on the couch with her face buried in a pillow.

"hi uncle sakusa." daiki grinned when he saw his dad's best friend standing in the kicthen.

"hello." sakusa nodded over at emika. "what's up with her?"

"kenji." daiki shrugged before looking through the cabinets for a snack. "where did mom put the snacks?"

"she hid them from us." atsumu said and eyed the cabinets like he was expecting the snacks to appear. "you don't see me hiding that stupid teddy bear she hugs all the time from her."

"didn't you give her that bear?" bokuto asked in confusion.

"yes." atsumu paused. "don't tell her i called it stupid. she'll make me sleep on the couch."

"does he actually sleep on the couch?" bokuto leaned down and whispered the question to daiki.

"no." daiki scoffed while getting himself a glass of juice. "he sleeps on the floor next to her and dad clings onto her hand while they sleep. mom tells me about it at our daily friday night talks."

"gossips, the both of them." atsumu looked over at his daugther. "ems, what did kenji do? do you want me to send your uncles to his house?" he leaned down and moved his daughter's hair out of the way so she could look at him.

"we were having a joint practice and he thought that she wouldn't be able beat him in our jog up the hill." daiki answered for her, seeing that his twin clearly wasn't going to answer. "then she did and he started talking to these girls that came out to see him after telling her he would help her with her sets. she ended up getting a bloody nose because on the first year's accidentally set the ball to her face and the girls he was talking to started laughing and he laughed with them. guess she felt kind of betrayed. you know how ems is."

"oh." atsumu knew that emika needed validation, she needed to feel ensured. one wrong move and that would dampen her whole mood. he was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice when you opened the door and walked inside the house.

"hey!" hinata was the first to notice you.

"hi hinata." you smiled at him and atsumu's head snapped over to you when he heard your voice. you both stared at each other for a second before he opened his mouth, disrupting the peaceful moment.

"where'd you put our snacks?"

you rolled your eyes and ruffled daiki's hair. "nice to see you too."

"how was your day mom?" daiki asked and wrapped one arm around you.

"it was good." you answered and daiki beamed up at you, quickly throwing a smug look at his dad. you moved to go into the kitchen and atsumu quickly followed after you.

daiki moved to the couch and sat on top of his twin's legs. "you can't bury your head in the pillow forever."

"i can try."

"why does emika have her head in a pillow?" you asked, hoping one of the five guys had an answer, but they were too immersed in their card game.

"she's reliving our high school life." atsumu wrapped his arms around you from behind and stuck his head into the crook of your neck.

"her and kenji?" you accepted the glass of water bokuto got for you while looking over emika.

"who else?" atsumu pouted and buried his face in your neck, his lips brushing against your skin. "i don't like it."

"kenji's a good boy." you pushed atsumu's hands off your waist but he just put them back. "he really likes her, but loves making her angry at him more."

"he's weird."

"do you ever think back and realize kenji was literally like you back in high school?" you asked and looked over your shoulder at him.

"which part? the liking the girl, but loving to piss her off or?" atsumu placed a kiss against your lips while you glared at him. "i love you."

"i hate you."

"no you don't." atsumu sang and rocked you back and forth in his arms.

"i'm questioning your age right now." you said and atsumu continued placing kisses all over your face since his teammates left the kitchen. you slowly started kissing him back before the doorbell rang.

emika let out a shout of frustration and tried to run up to her room but daiki had already opened the door.

you shoved atsumu away from you and walked into the living room. he walked in behind you, not bothering to wipe the lipstick lingering on his mouth.

"clumsy- ems." ginjima kenji's eyes immediately searched out emika from the crowd of people. instead of the usual grin that would appear on his face when he saw her there was no trace of amusement on his face.

emika was standing behind hinata and bokuto while sakusa was looking at kenji with an unimpressed look.

"no seriously sunshine, where did you put the snacks?" atsumu whispered to you. "i need popcorn."

"in the cupboard above the sink." you answered and leaned against the wall while running your hand through daiki's messy hair. atsumu's hands left your body and went to search for the popcorn.

"i'm sorry." kenji also had a bag behind his back that he was hiding from her. "i shouldn't have laughed and then made fun of you."

"what's behind your back?" emilia asked curiously.

"sweets. your favorite ones." he held out the bag and tossed it to daiki who handed it to emika. she opened the bag and looked inside before slowly taking out a chocolate and putting it into her mouth.

"you didn't poison these did you?"

"you really have no faith in me." kenji's face was still clear from a grin. "is your nose okay?"

"it was just a set and i wasn't paying attention." emika waved her hand and continued eating the sweets, handing one to bokuto when he held out his hand.

"why were you so distracted?" kenji asked and stepped into the house so he could close the door. emika's cheeks flushed a deep red and everyone saw.

"nothing that concerns you, gramps." emika shoved another piece of chocolate into her mouth and avoided eye contact with kenji.

you and daiki took the bowl of popcorn from atsumu and began eating from it. "she totally likes him." daiki said while grabbing a handful of popcorn and handing it to atsumu.

"i think it does." kenji's face relaxed into the usual face with a soft smile and there was a hopeful look in his eyes.

"let me eat in peace." emika mumbled before going up the stairs with the bag in her hands. kenji, to no one's surprise, followed her upstairs. to everyone's surprise, atsumu didn't stop him.

"are you okay, pretty boy?" you asked and held the back of your hand to atsumu's forehead. "did hinata hit you on the head with the volleyball again?"

"i hit his shoulder this time." hinata said happily and high-fived bokuto.

"no. why would you say that?" atsumu asked and grabbed onto your hand.

"you didn't stop kenji." sakusa answered for you and unzipped the jacket he was wearing. "wasn't that your job to keep your daughter away from him since she was a kid?"

"yeah.." atsumu slowly began to push his son off the piano bench that he was sitting on with you.

"dad!" daiki complained when he almost fell to the floor. "mom he just pushed me off."

"oh hush. you have your friday night chats with her. let me enjoy my wife." atsumu wrapped an arm around you and pulled you into his chest.

"you get to spend time with her every night!"

"yeah, but she usually ends up pushing me off the bed in annoyance." atsumu said truthfully, earning a laugh from his teammates.

"that's your fault." you poked his shoulder. "you're really bloody annoying."

"but you love me."

"i wonder why i do. i reflect on my decisions every night when you're complaining on the floor." you gave the bowl of popcorn to daiki and took it while glaring at his father.

"mhm, i'll never regret my decisions when it comes to you." atsumu watched as a genuine smile appeared on the corner of your lips.

"what's going on upstairs?" bokuto asked and leaned over to look at the staircase. "do you think emika threw him out the window yet?"

"daiki, go check." hinata urged while he and bokuto looked up but never went further.

"don't let him eat my popcorn." daiki said when he placed the bowl down on the table and gave one glance to atsumu who was paying no attention. his eyes were on you with no intention of looking away.

"not like he'll be interested in anything besides your mom." sakusa grew used to how atsumu would forget everything in the room except you when he looked at you like that.

hinata and bokuto pushing daiki up the stairs and he went on a hunt for his twin and his friend.

"they're probably just talking." you leaned your head onto atsumu's shoulder as he played with your fingers. mostly your ring finger where your wedding ring sat.

"they better jus-" atsumu was interrupted by daiki screaming and his loud footsteps running back down the stairs, followed by another set of footsteps.

"they're-" emika tackled daiki before he got to the stairs and covered daiki's mouth with her hand.

"one word and i'll tell kiyo that you're the one who took his phone and sent that picture of him in the pool with his goggles and floaties to his crush." emika threatened.

"but you two were.. you know!"

"literally just kissing?" emika said casually and looked over her shoulder when kenji appeared from her room, smiling down at her. then he looked down at daiki from where she had tackled him and his smile grew even bigger with pride.

"nice one, clumsy."

"after sixteen years of you hating him!" daiki looked up at kenji who was leaning against the wall and watching emika with a fond smile on his face.

"it wasn't really hate... just didn't like the feeling of having feelings." emika shrugged and got up.

"why now?" daiki got onto his feet, but knew better than to leave. emika would probably let him fall down the stairs than have him go screaming to their parents.

"because he gave me chocolates and asked me nicely." she answered.

"you're weird." daiki shook his head. he was about to ask another question but saw the soft smile that was on his twin's face when she looked at kenji.

"you're weirder. you screamed like you just saw a person with its skin inside out." both boys' face scrunched up in disgust at her comment. "i'm just saying."

"you and mom scare me with the weird things you say to compare stuff." daiki shuddered at the image of that.

"so can we agree that you let me tell dad?" emika asked. "he'll overreact and you know it."

"pleasure's all yours." daiki looked over at his twin. "you're happy aren't you?"

"of course i am." emika tried to straighten out her hair with the help from kenji. "this is gramps we're talking about here."

"then i'm happy for you. just um, lock the door next time or something. and don't do couple things in front of me. oh god! i'm the only single one in the family now!" daiki cried and emika rolled her eyes.

"let's go." both guys followed her downstairs, kenji lingering behind a little more.

he regretted his decision to not stay upstairs when he saw what was waiting for him downstairs. almost like it was an instinct his hand reached for emika's and she pulled him down the rest of the stairs while holding onto his hand.

atsumu, sakusa, bokuto, and hinata were all standing in one line with a stern look on their faces while staring at kenji. you were sitting on the armrest of the chair with apple juice in a wine glass.

"so." atsumu cleared his throat and stepped forward. "how was your day, ginjima?"

"it was great."

"how was talking to ems?"

"it was wonderful."

"how was the kiss?"

"amazing." you and daiki dropped her head into your hand when you heard that.

"good luck, my friend." daiki patted kenji on the shoulder before walking over to you and grabbing himself a wine glass of apple juice.

"so you kissed her?" sakusa wrinkled his nose up. he wasn't sure what to think about the girl he considered a niece to be kissing a boy when it felt like just yesterday she was a four year old girl running away from him.

"yes sir."

you had to pressed your fingers to your lips to keep a laugh from coming out. but there was also a flash of nostalgia that hit you at the sight of kenji being so much like atsumu back then.

"don't call me that." atsumu let out his own laugh before his face turned serious again. "if the smallest tear comes out of her eye because of you i'm going straight to your mother and revoking your emika privileges."

"of course." kenji nodded at the same time emika let out a groan and leaned her head on kenji's arm.

"but she does look happy with you and you look at her like she's your whole world so i suppose it's alright." atsumu glanced back at you when he said that and you gave him a nod of approval.

"so you're okay with it?" kenji blurted out while atsumu turned to walk back to you.

"i have to or else i'm sleeping on the floor." he answered without turning around. "how was it?" he asked you and took a drink from the other side of the glass from where you drank.

"you're so much more alike than you realize." you grabbed onto his hand and looked up at him. he was already looking at you over the rim of the glass and you thought about a memory from years ago.

"i've made three rules."

"and they are.."

"no feelings." he stuck one finger up.

"don't have to worry about that one."

oh how far you've gone since then, but how grateful you were for those rules. who knows where you two would've been without them?

"what are you thinking about in that head of yours?" atsumu's lips were pressed against your forehead as he spoke.

"your stupid three rules." you could feel his lips turn up into a smile when you answered him.

"sunshine and pretty boy, the rule breakers. i wouldn't have changed that for the world."

and in the end something that started off fake had came together and formed something more beautiful and real than anyone would have thought.

from a total distraction to not knowing what they would do without each other. from killing each other's minds to falling in love with each other.

"you're worth committing for."

and they truly were.

~~~

🥸🥸