"In my Shadow" - Miya Atsumu Angst (with happy end)

Chapter 7: In The Wee Hours

Chapter-specific Content warnings:
- kidnapping
- threats
- IMPLIED (and fake) suicide
- non-graphic descriptions of violence

For everyone who prefers hearing the story there is an audiobook version at the bottom of the chapter.

-------------------------

Sakusa couldn't move. He stared at the letter reading it for the 5th time and still not understanding its contents. This made no sense.
He had gotten better. Atsumu had gotten better, he promised he had. It had been years since the last relapse and now he expected him to believe it would just happen out of the blue!?

Except he had been acting strange but it was nothing like the times he had been struggling before. This was different. He was jumpy and scared. He promised he'd explain it to them!

His breathing accelerated. Every attempt to regain composure was in vain until suddenly Arab pulled him into his arms.

He didn't say anything. Where would he even have started?
He was torn between confusion and guilt and... the pain was overwhelming if all he could do at the moment was to make sure his boyfriends wouldn't fall apart in the process he'd see to that.

He petted soothingly over Sakusa's arm and rested his chin on the crown of his hair as the raven searched for comfort in the embrace. All this time they had been running, rushing to get to Atsumu as quickly as possible when suddenly their world had been forced to a screeching halt, and all they were left with was to pray someone would end their nightmare.

It was as though they stood at the edge of a cliff and all it would take was a last bit of certainty for them to fall. At the moment, they hung on by a thread. Something wasn't right it didn't make sense.

There must be a more logical solution. One that would bring Atsumu back to them.

Next to them, Osamu was trying to reach his partner's with Kita's phone since Atsumu had taken his. Suna for some reason wasn't available.

"Try Komori next," Kita suggested.

"I know!" Osamu snapped back. He was on edge and furiously wiped the tears from his eyes that were forming over and over again. His letter lay crumbled and tear-stained on the coffee table.
"Motoya can you—"

They stood just close enough for Sakusa to make out his cousin's voice from the other end of the line in the silence that had taken over the room ever since they discovered the letters. The background noise wasn't as overwhelming as he had expected. It sounded like he had stepped outside.

"Is Rin with you!?" he sounded like he was panicking and didn't even let Osamu finish his sentence.

"Rin? Wasn't he supposed to stay with you?"
Osamu faltered. The longer this went on the messier it seemed to get.

"Yes, but he ran off before I could tell him," he sounded almost close to tears. "Said he had an idea or something. I didn't expect him to go far but now I can't find him a-and... I don't know what to do next."
He sounded utterly distraught as though this was his fault. Sakusa wished his cousin could be here by his side. Motors always calmed him when everything got too much and too chaotic, and the spiker couldn't stand to see him cry.

"Don't worry we'll find him." Osamu gulped, his voice sounded strained. "Rin can look after himself, he wouldn't do anything stupid."
He gripped his phone so tightly that his knuckles turned white. The unspoken words lingered in the short silence that followed as his eyes glossed over and became unfocused again. New tears found their way down his cheeks.

Suna wasn't that stupid but apparently, Atsumu was... and for all they knew he had succeeded this time.
A sob tore from Sakusa's throat at the thought and instantly Aran's arms around him tightened.