on our way to twenty-seven // kuroo x daichi

17 - SUGA, PROM? ♥ DAICHI

Daichi and Suga come out at school a week after the volleyball team's victory at states. Daichi must look too intimidating to bully, so Suga gets the worst of it. Tetsurou thinks it's because people perceive him as weaker because he's got a softer look about him. The girls say they shouldn't have been surprised—"I mean, just look at him"—and the boys call him all sorts of derogatory names, sometimes directly to his face. But Suga keeps his head held high through it all, somehow.

Timothy, the prick, thinks it's a good idea to go after Suga after volleyball practice one day as they're leaving the gym. Tetsurou sees red when he sees Timothy lunge at his friend and throws his bag to the ground, ready to jump in, but Daichi puts a hand on his shoulder to keep him back. And they watch as Suga calmly punches Timothy in the gut, whispers something into his ear, and then picks up his bag, leaving Timothy in a crumpled heap on the concrete. "Ready to head home?" he asks with a bright smile, like he didn't just incapacitate a guy six inches taller than him.

Tetsurou wishes he could be brave enough to come out with Suga and Daichi. He envies Suga's easy grace and snappy comebacks, and admires Daichi's stoic confidence, and wishes he could be more like them. But they're different. They're not like Tetsurou, who's grown up in this tiny shitty tourist town and has to live with the expectations and reactions of—well, everyone who's ever known him. Every time he thinks he can work up the courage, he overhears another less-than-savory comment about Daichi or Suga, sees some invasive graffiti on the bathroom wall, and he pulls back.

He's afraid.

Suga and Daichi assure him that it's okay, that there's no pressure to come out soon or even ever, that he can wait until he's in college and far away from this town, that he should do it when he feels like it's safe to. But is there ever really a safe time or place? Tetsurou would rather do it sooner rather than later, because he thinks keeping it to himself for the rest of his high school career might hurt more than whatever abuse might stem from coming out.

Several months later, Tetsurou comes out in a Facebook post that he drafts and re-drafts at least six times and finally posts over spring break. Daichi sits with him in his living room, whispers kind encouragements into his ear and holds him after he presses post and slams his laptop shut and starts to shake.

The reactions aren't all positive, but they're not all horrible, either. The women who volunteer in the town library keep asking him when he'll get a girlfriend and try to set him up with their granddaughters. He's picked last in gym class despite being a state champion athlete, and the other boys make a show of putting distance between them in the locker room afterward. A freshman on the volleyball team, their backup libero, goes to Coach Smith and tells him he's not comfortable having Tetsurou on the team. Tetsurou only finds out about this when Coach Smith sends the team an email informing them that said libero has been removed from the team and that any sort of discrimination will not be tolerated.

Only Daichi knows that he calls crying after reading the email once, twice, just to make himself believe it.

And his mother—his mother hugs him just the same as she always has, and tells him she loves him and wants him to be happy.

At the start of their senior year, Suga tells Tetsurou and Daichi that he wants to start a GSA club at school. Daichi agrees, but Tetsurou isn't so sure. They're the only gay kids in school. Who would join?

But Suga starts the club, gets the volleyball coach to be their advisor, and finds an empty room to meet in at lunchtime, and the first meeting draws thirty-one people, all of whom stay on as permanent club members. Suga's over-the-moon delighted and Tetsurou could cry at knowing that this many people support them.

Now that senior prom season is in the air, Tetsurou has made up his mind to finally make his move. He thinks he has a shot. He's been hanging out with Daichi one-on-one a lot lately, and there's no better time to confess than prom season, right? He's armed with a backpack full of cans of spray paint and he's ready to declare his intentions to the world. He climbs up on the breakwater, practically sprinting to the end—and stops short.

The six rocks at the end already have writing on them, bright red letters declaring someone else's intentions.

He turns on his heel and runs home, and for a split second he's back to being eight years old, running away from James's birthday party because of graffiti he read on the breakwater, trying his hardest not to cry.

He stumbles through the side door and trips over a pair of shoes left in the doorway to fall flat on his face, and he just lies there, heels of his hands pressed to his eyes like he can hold the tears back that way. That's how his mother finds him, curled up in a ball on the living room floor, and she takes him in her arms and strokes his hair and promises that he'll be okay.

The next day, when he walks into homeroom and spots Daichi and Suga talking, he almost sticks his earbuds back in so he doesn't have to hear whatever happy couple bullshit they're probably saying to each other.

But Suga spots him and grins, waving him over. "Tetsurou! We have good news!"

Tetsurou already knows what the news is, and it's only good for two out of three of them. But he shoves the feelings down, pastes on his usual lazy grin, and walks over. "What's up?" He's proud that his voice doesn't waver.

Suga beams. "Daichi asked me to prom!"

Daichi's smile is a bit more shy. "And he said yes."

Tetsurou forces out a laugh. "Well damn, you don't have to make it sound like you're getting married." Neither of them laugh. Tetsurou sighs. "I'm kidding. You guys are gonna be really cute at prom."

And objectively, they will. They're both attractive people, Daichi with his broad-shouldered manliness and Suga with his pretty features. And they've known each other for ages, way longer than Tetsurou's known them, and Daichi always talks about Suga even when he's hanging out with Tetsurou, so really, Tetsurou should have seen this coming.

God, he wishes he could be mad. He should be mad. He should be mad at Suga for capturing Daichi's heart first, mad at himself for waiting so long and letting the chance pass him by. But...all he feels is emptiness.

They're made for each other, he thinks as he slides into his desk and lets his head flop on the desk as the speaker crackles to life with the morning announcements. They're so totally made for each other.

Tetsurou spends his senior prom night in his bedroom looking through the brochures that had arrived in the mail with his college acceptance letters and wondering if he should go out-of-state.