Stop Lights
SI Foote
Summary: Street corners and stop lights.
The first time Sawamura Daichi, Sugawara Kōshi, and Azumane Asahi walked home together in high school, they realized they lived in three different directions. The trio of first years ended up calling the stoplight where they parted ways "Owari." Often, they would wind through long neighborhoods after practice to prolong the time they had to spend together. Other days they were too exhausted and they quickly headed home without so much of a goodbye at the stoplight.
They would always walk on the west side of the street. At the corner of Owari, Daichi would turn to the west, Asahi to the east, and Suga would continue north. One night, the three forgot they reached Owari and continued north with Suga. They chatted for a space of ten minutes before Daichi realized he didn't recognize this part of Sendai. Kōshi laughed for their entire walk back. He had to accompany them to Owari or they'd never find their way home.
After their first Interhigh in June, their team suffered a devastating loss at the preliminaries in the first round. None of them played on the court during the final game, but the pain of what happened hit them like a ton of bricks. After arriving back at school, their advising teacher sent everyone home for a good meal, rest, and three days off from volleyball practice. The first years didn't talk as they walked home. They took the longest route they could find through the neighborhoods before Owari and doubled back on several streets multiple times over. When they finally reached the street corner, they didn't want to part ways. They stood on the corner and watched the crosswalk lights blink back and forth between green and red. The stop lights for the cars bathed them in a rotating spectrum of red, yellow, and green.
Suga was the first one to step away from the group when the light for going north changed to green on its fifth rotation since they arrived. His companions looked up at him in surprise and Daichi took a moment to note how colorful Sugawara's hair looked in the stop lights glow.
"I'll text you guys tomorrow, we can get together and play volleyball."
"Yeah, there's a park just there." Daichi pointed to the northeast of their corner.
"I'll be free all day." Asahi agreed.
"See you tomorrow!" Suga ran across the street and hoped they didn't see the tears that fell down his cheeks. They glittered green before they fell and hit the pavement.
Over the next few months the corner, and park to the northeast, became their spot to hang out longer than necessary. They stayed late into the night, often with meat buns and Gari Gari Kun Ice Cream, and sat around talking about anything that came to mind. The third-years retired shortly after the Interhigh results and the club shrank to only a handful of members. They barely had enough people to fill a court and Karasuno didn't have a libero. There were only three second years above them.
The year drew to a close and their conversations at Owari turned toward incoming first years in April. Asahi didn't want to be a senpai again. Suga and Daichi teased him for two weeks after the reveal by calling him "senpai" whenever they bumped into him.
"These lights are really pretty." Suga said one day in February.
It was still cold out, they'd passed by Valentine's without getting any chocolate, but they laid in the grass eating sale chocolate and staring up at the night sky. Car headlights flashed by them and illuminated the park every so often. Kōshi focused his eyes on the street lights.
Daichi gathered some of the old snow that persisted on the edge of the grass and threw it across his companions.
"Daichi!" Asahi complained as a large chunk landed in his mouth.
"Sorry Asahi." His laugh didn't make him sound sorry. Suga returned the favor to their friend by pushing some of the snow down the back of Sawamura's shirt.
In April the first years that joined Karasuno's team included two of the most rambunctious fifteen-year-olds that the three ever met. They were childhood friends and they bounced off the walls when they met the second year manager, Shimizu Kiyoko. The other three first years were quieter and more responsible. This time when somebody called Asahi "senpai" and made him jump, it was Nishinoya Yū from Chidoriyama. Daichi could tell right away that Azumane liked their energetic libero.
Sawamura was jealous. Asahi wasn't supposed to like someone before he did. When he mentioned it to the taller male, Azumane casually mentioned that he thought Daichi was interested in Sugawara. He started watching Suga more.
A few weeks into the New Year, the second years discovered that Nishinoya lived in the same direction. He walked alone one night and Suga invited him to walk together. When they came to Owari, he turned in the same direction as Asahi. Daichi knew that Owari was going to change after that.
It did.
Asahi and Nishinoya followed on the sidewalk behind them going home from practice. The taller wing spiker often treated his kouhai to treats from the grocer where they bought meat buns. Daichi had more chances to talk to Suga alone with the change.
The ground between them felt like it became muddier as they progressed through their second year. They talked more than before and Daichi started to think that maybe Suga was more than his best friend. Especially when they stopped on the corner of Owari and stood in the street lights. Kōshi was absolutely stunning in the looks department. With the red lights from the stop lights, Sawamura prayed that the setter hadn't noticed how many times he'd blushed.
"See you later!" Asahi called to the pair in late November of their second year. Nishinoya bounded after the new Ace for Karasuno. It was several moments before Daichi realized that they were left alone at Owari.
"You're definitely going to be captain next year." Suga told him softly.
"I'm not sure I'm really suited for it." The wing spiker rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from Sugawara's pretty hair.
"You're going to be great. Besides, you'll have me by your side." He gently bumped Daichi's hip with his and then darted across the street as the walk sign turned green. "See you tomorrow!"
Daichi was fucked.
In February, the four of them ended up detained in the waiting room of the Sendai police station. A woman on Owari corner dropped her handkerchief and Asahi politely picked it up to give it to her. His mature appearance scared her and their group of four, which looked like delinquents between Sugawara's hair and Nishinoya's confrontational personality, caused several bystanders to call the cops on them.
The police refused to believe their story. They also didn't believe that Suga's hair was natural and not dyed. When Daichi's parents turned up to collect him, they were less than thrilled. He spent twenty minutes in the car listening to his parents go on about how he shouldn't be caught up with people like that. He wasn't given a moment to explain that they were his friends from volleyball, but he had the sneaking suspicion that if he did tell them, he'd be forced to quit the team.
Asahi's and Nishinoya's parents looked resigned to the result and quietly led their boys home. Sugawara's mother didn't say anything to him. She looked apologetic. They shared the same unfortunate hair color. When he arrived home, he pulled out his phone and dialed a familiar number.
"Hello?" Daichi's voice was scratchy.
"Sounds like you got the rough end of it." Kōshi laughed quietly.
"I'm not allowed to hang out with delinquents anymore."
"Glad I'm not one then." They ended up drifting to sleep while talking to each other. The call ran all night long.
In March they lost to Date Kyogo. Nishinoya was suspended. Asahi no longer attended practice. Suga and Daichi walked to Owari alone.
When the pair returned, long after the start of the new school year in May, their walks home weren't the same. Each time they came to Owari they parted without any hesitation. Daichi missed their long talks on the corner as they watched the lights change over and over again.
In December, just before they were set to leave for their first Spring Tournament in January, they walked to Owari. Asahi and Noya parted from them and Daichi started to walk away when a hand around his wrist stopped him.
"Suga?"
"Can we talk? Like we used to?" He nodded his head back to the corner where the yellow lights illuminated the space. Sawamura agreed and they stood in silence at the corner. Kōshi breathed in slowly before looking up at the stop lights. "You know I like you as more than a friend, right?"
Their brown eyes met and Daichi made note of how beautiful Sugawara looked in the green glow of the stoplight.
End Note: Owari means "The End" in Japanese. Or at least according to Google that's what it means. Google lies.