December 31.
A day most people associate with New Year's Eve. A celebration of a new year, of a new chapter in people's lives, a new start.
Sure Sugawara Koushi liked to think of the day like that, but it was something more than just that to him. December 31 was the birthday of his beloved Sawamura Daichi, the best boyfriend Koushi could ever ask for.
Every year since they had gotten together back in their second year of high school, Koushi had wanted to do something special for Daichi, but every year Daichi had told him he didn't want to do anything special. So every year they ended up hanging out at a New Year's party that their old friends from high school threw each year.
When Koushi had asked Daichi about it this year, once again, he said hanging out with friends was just fine. That he didn't need to celebrate, and that is was just a birthday. Koushi cared to disagree. A birthday only came once a year, so it should be celebrated, even if it did fall on an internationally celebrated holiday.
After 7 years of not doing anything special, Koushi decided that he'd had enough, this year he would have to do something for his boyfriend this year. And if he had to plan in secret, or go so far as to lie to his boyfriend behind his back, Koushi would do it. He'd do anything for Daichi. It was the least that he could do after spending the past 7 years together.
One day, while Daichi was at work, Koushi was home alone, which gave him the perfect opportunity to start planning something for Daichi. So he decided to call up their old volleyball teammates from high school to help him plan.
Usually it was Hinata and Kageyama that held the annual New Year's party, so he'd start with them. Just to make sure that they would be okay not having it this year, and doing something else instead.
Picking up his phone off of the coffee table, Koushi looked through his contacts until he found Hinata's number. Selecting the call button, Koushi placed the phone next to his right ear and reclined back on the sofa,waiting for Hinata to pick up. And after 4 dial tones, he did.
"Suga-san, hiya!" Hinata practically yelled, Koushi chuckled, the redhead was just as enthusiastic as ever.
"Hello Hinata. How are you?"
"I'm alright, but Tobio was making fun of me just now, so I'm glad you called when you did!"
"What were you doing this time?" Koushi asked, knowing those two, they could be fighting about a number of different things, ranging from miniscule to enormous. That or Hinata had done something stupid, or something to piss his raven haired boyfriend off, both happened quite frequently…
Hinata huffed, "What makes you assume it was something I did?"
"Call it a hunch," Koushi said with a smile, so it was something Hinata did.
"Hmph, well he kept calling me shrimpy and short because I couldn't reach something from the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard. So I may or may not have thrown a plate at him…"
"Hinata Shouyou! You know better than that! That's no way to treat your boyfriend." Koushi scolded. Those two had been like this since high school, of course that was the outcome, he really shouldn't be surprised.
"You think I don't know that? Gosh Mom ," there he goes with the 'Mom' thing again. So what if he was just a naturally motherly person? There was absolutely nothing wrong with that. "It missed his head by a few inches anyway, so it's like he actually got hurt… Change of topic! How are you Suga-san?"
"I'm doing fine, thank you for asking. Before I forget, there was something I wanted to ask you."
"Sure! Ask away, I'm all ears. Well… actually I'm not, I only have two ears… but that's besides the point! Please ask your question before I make a fool of myself."
"Okay, but it was actually more of a question for both you and Kageyama, is he still there?"
"Uh, he should be. One second please." Koushi hummed in response, through the receiver he could faintly hear Hinata yelling something, and another voice, which Koushi guessed belonged to Kageyama, yelling in response. "Hold on for one more moment, I'll put you on speaker."
"Suga-san, you still there?" Hinata asked.
"Mhm, I'm still here."
"Hello Suga-san," this was Kageyama.
"Hello Kageyama."
"Shouyou tells me there was something you wanted to ask us?"
"Yes there was actually. So you guys know how Daichi never wants to do stuff for his birthday?"
"Yeah!" Hinata piped up, "He always said that hanging at our place for New Year's was fine… What about it?"
"Well, since he's never done anything to celebrate it with us, I want to do something for him."
"That's nice of you," Kageyama replied. "What did you have in mind?"
"Well, I was thinking of something along the lines of a surprise party…"
"A surprise party?!" Hinata excitedly asked. "I love surprise parties!"
"We know you do dumbass, now shut up and let him finish." Kageyama yelled to the shorter boy.
"Heh, well I was thinking, if it's okay with you guys of course…" Koushi went on to tell them his big plan. As soon as he was finished, the two immediately agreed. They thought it was an amazing idea. When they finished talking, Hinata and Kageyama called the rest of their old teammates to fill them in on their plan, while Koushi waited for Daichi to get home for the evening.
If this was to work, they would have to make sure Daichi knew nothing about this. If got word of even one little peep, the whole thing would be ruined. Koushi just hoped that this would all work out in the end, Daichi really did deserve this, so it justhad to work. It just had to…
"Koushi are you sure we didn't have to bring anything?" Daichi asked, a worried look on his face. He'd already asked this question a few times before, but he just wanted to make sure that they weren't causing any trouble.
"Yes Daichi," Koushi replied, squeezing their conjoined hands. "Kageyama said that he, Hinata and everyone else would take care of everything. So yes, I'm absolutely sure we did not have to bring anything."
Daichi sighed, he felt guilty. He felt obligated to bring something, even if everyone else had it covered, that's just the type of person he was. "Alright. If you say so…"
"I do say so, now hush up. We're almost there." Koushi kissed the brunettes cheek, before pulling him along up to Hinata and Kageyama's house. They walked up the steps onto the porch, and Daichi knocked on the door gently.
But no one came.
With a confused look on his face, Daichi tried knocking again. But once again, no one came. He looked at Koushi, as if to ask what to do. Koushi shrugged his shoulders, and Daichi let out a huff. He walked over to look in the window through the open curtains. "The lights are off, do you think they're home?"
"Hinata told me they would be, it is 7:00, that's when they told us to come… Oh yeah, now that I think about it, yesterday Hinata texted me and told me that if no one answered the door, that we could just come inside…"
"Wait, seriously?" Koushi nodded slowly, and Daichi looked to the door, before reaching for the handle. He was surprised when he found it unlocked. Looking back at Koushi, he sighed and pulled the door open.
Koushi stepped and first, Daichi followed and stepped out of the doorway, it was eerily quiet inside. They took off their shoes, and slipped on a pair of guest slippers that were waiting by the door, and hung their coats up inside the closet. Koushi walked a few steps before holding his hand up to silently tell Daichi to stop. "Wait here, I'll go see if anyone's home…" Koushi told him, turning his head back to look at his boyfriend who nodded. Turning back around Koushi padded lightly farther into their friends house.
Daichi stood by the door for a few minutes, but soon he started to get worried. Daichi couldn't see much other than the front hall due to the lay out of Kageyama and Hinata's house, so he couldn't see where Koushi had gone. Plus all of the curtains and blinds were drawn, casting the house in shadows, expect for the few rays of light coming from outside that spilled through the cracks in the curtains.
After what Daichi guessed to be around five or so minutes, he started to get really worried. What if Koushi was ambushed by a gang of mobsters and is being held for ransom? What if he was kidnapped by a crazy psycho killer and is being held hostage as a part of some evil scene to overthrow the government?
Now he was just riling himself up for no reason, none of that could actually happen… Right?
Just to make sure, Daichi tried calling out for his gray-haired boyfriend. "K-Koushi…? Where are you, is everything alright?" At first no one answered, now he was really getting worried. But a moment later, Koushi answered his call, much to his relief.
"Yeah, everything's okay. I'm in the kitchen, come here. We'll wait for everyone in here." Hesitantly Daichi walked down the hall.
"Can't you turn on some lights in here? It's too dark to see anything… Where are you? " Stepping into the kitchen, Daichi looked around, no Koushi to be found… Where is he? He just said he was here… Daichi stood in the middle of the room, looking for where Koushi could be.
What happened next, Daichi never could have guessed.
Suddenly, the lights turned on and all of his old teammates popped out from everywhere they could possibly hide, and yelled, "Surprise!"
And Daichi jumped, taking a few startled steps back. He stared dumfounded at his old teammates and friends; Koushi, Asahi, Kiyoko, Tanaka, Nishinoya, Ennoshita, Narita, Kinoshita, Kageyama, Hinata, Tsukishima, and Yamaguchi, and Yachi were all smiling widely. In the center of it all was Koushi, holding a brightly decorated cake in his hands. He stepped towards them, still in shock. "What…"
"Happy birthday Daichi," Suga said smiling brightly. Soon everyone else started to join in, wishing him a happy birthday.
"What… What is all of this?"
Hinata stepped out from behind the island, as Koushi set the cake onto the counter, "Every year you say you don't want to do anything special for your birthday, but instead just hang with us for New Year's. So we-"
"It was mostly Suga-san…" Kageyama butted in.
"Oh yeah. Anyway, Suga-san asked us all for help with throwing you a surprise party!"
"Yeah!" Nishinoya piped up, "He called those two up, then in turn they called the rest of us, and we each helped put it all together! Asahi and I got the food."
"Narita, Kinoshita, and I got drinks," Ennoshita replied.
"Yuu and I were in charge of music!"-Tanaka
"Tsukki and I helped with decorations,"-Yamaguchi.
"Tobio and I supplied the house!"-Hinata.
"Yes, and we all pitched in with the decorations."-Kageyama.
Sugawara stepped forward, smiling, "And I was in charge of distracting you, and keeping this all a secret." Daichi was at a loss for words. His friends spent their time and money to throw him are party. Koushi stepped closer to him, "Are you okay Daichi? Do… Do you not like it?"
"Oh god no! It's not like that, I love it. I just can't believe you guys threw me a party. I don't deserve this..."
"Why wouldn't we throw you a party, Daichi-san?" Yachi asked, and the others asked other variations of the same question, as if to make a point to him.
Koushi placed both of his hands on either side of Daichi's head, pulling him closer. "If anyone deserves this, it's you." He kissed the top of Daichi's nose before speaking again. "Every year, you give up having a party to make sure your friends enjoy the end of the year the most. You're always giving back to others, you have been since high school. You deserve to have others give something back to you, so that's what we all did."
Daichi looked around the room to see all of his friends smiling at him, theirs faces seemed to agree with what Koushi was saying. Before he knew it, his eyes were filling up with tears, but he wiped them away before any could actually fall. "Thank you guys, thank you all so much."
And everyone said, " You're welcome," at the same time, as if they had practiced it beforehand…
Daichi placed his hands on Koushi's face as well, and pulled him closer until their foreheads were touching. "Thank you Koushi…"
"You're very welcome Daichi. I love you."
"I love you too," Daichi replied with a smile on his face.
While in their embrace, Nishinoya and Tanaka had started to chant 'Kiss' over and over again, while Asahi tried, and failed, to get the two to stop. Out of the corner of his eye, Koushi glared at them, "You're kinda ruining the mood here…" But Daichi would have none it, he pulled Koushi's face to his and kissed him passionately. Nishinoya and Tanaka whooped in victory, while Asahi sighed.
Pulling back, Daichi looked Koushi in the eyes, "Thank you again…"
"Mmm, you're welcome," Koushi placed his forehead back on Daichi's and rubbed their noses together lightly. "Happy birthday Daichi…"
Daichi quickly kissed the ashen blond again, before turning to face Asahi. "Hey Asahi. What about your birthday? It's tomorrow, so why is this just for me, and not you too?"
"W-well, we always go out to brunch on my birthday, and even though we all say it's because of the new year, Yuu told me it was also secretly to celebrate my birthday," Asahi stammered.
"Yeah," Nishinoya chimed with a sly grin on his face, "Plus I've got his present waiting for him once we get back home…" Asahi stared widely at the shorter brunet, dumbfounded that he could say such a thing out loud, and in front of their friends no less. Nishinoya just laughed and clung onto Asahi's arm, dragging him into the living room, where everyone else had moved during their little conversation.
Koushi quietly laughed looking back to Daichi and smiling. Daichi in turn smirked, snaked his arm around Koushi's waist, and pulled the ash blond flush against him. With his other hand, Daichi grabbed the back of Koushi head and brought their lips together. Koushi hummed and quickly returned the kiss.
When they broke apart moments later, they were both out of breath. Daichi looked his boyfriend in the eyes, "Thanks again Koushi… I love you so much."
"Mmm, I love you more."
"Not possible, I love you to the end of the universe and back." Koushi flushed and buried his face in Daichi's neck.
"Shut the hell up, I hate you!"
"No you don't," Daichi retorted. Koushi just nodded and hummed in approval, which made Daichi smirk again, pulling his love closer to him.
They stood in the kitchen like that for a few minutes, until Hinata yelled for them to come join everyone else in the living room for games. They broke apart, but walked into the living room hand in hand with the happiest lovesick looks on their faces.
Hours later, Daichi and Koushi found themselves sitting on one of the couches in Kageyama and Hinata's living room. They had been cuddling for the past few hours, while most everyone was on their way to getting drunk, if not tipsy.
Loud music was blaring from the sound system in the kitchen, but Daichi and Koushi couldn't hear it. They were in their own little world, only filled up with the other, their love, and nothing else.
They were so caught up in each other, they almost didn't notice how most everyone around them was starting to count down. It wasn't until Kiyoko tapped them on their shoulders to give them a glass of champagne, did they come back to reality. They graciously took the offered champagne and glanced at the television to see how much time was left until the new year; just under 20 seconds now.
Koushi turned his gaze back to Daichi, and pulled him close with his open hand. He lightly kissed the other before resting his forehead on Daichi's. "Happy Birthday Daichi," Koushi said, receiving a happy, but confused glance from said person. "I just wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday while I still can."
Daichi pulled him closer, smiling like an idiot, "Thanks Koushi, what did I do to deserve you?" Koushi knew that it was a rhetorical question, so he didn't bother to answer it; instead he closed the distance between the two of them, kissing him passionately as the countdown hit zero, and the new year begun.
Both Koushi and Daichi had a good feeling about this year. Koushi could tell this year would bring good things to him and his friends; Daichi knew this year would bring great things, as he had promised himself that this would finally be the year he and Koushi settle down together, for good.
Neither of them really knew it yet, but this year to come would be a whole lot better than either of them could have imagined.