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There’s an old saying my late grandma taught me. When you’re ten, they call you a prodigy. When you’re fifteen, they call you a genius. Once you hit twenty, you’re just an ordinary person.
-Haruka Nanase
Age 10:
“Omi-Omiiii, take the gloves off,” Atsumu whines.
“No Miya,” Sakusa hisses, “I don’t know where your germy hands have been, and I’m not touching them without gloves.”
A look of hurt that Sakusa couldn’t quite understand flashes across Atsumu’s face before he turns and skates over to his brother with a pout. Sakusa has been skating with the boy for 5 years as a pair, and at this point him pouting has become such a common occurrence that he just sighs and practices tricks. This time, however, the pouting spree lasted longer than usual and he was getting tired of it.
“Miya, get over here,” he yelled, sighing as both of the twins turned around.
“The better twin,” he tries again, watching as a pouting Atsumu pushes a confused Osamu over to him.
They just blink at each other for a bit until Sakusa finally realizes that everyone calls Osamu the better twin. Murmuring to himself he skates over and drags Atsumu back to the practice area.
“Omi, ya think I’m the better twin,” Atsumu asks, eyes sparkling.
“Of course, ‘Samu isn’t my ice dance partner,” he says, voice low as a blush creeps up his neck.
“Let’s just go practice,” he sighs, pulling a surprisingly compliant Atsumu along with him, although he does hear him mumble under his breath about Sakusa calling Osamu ‘Samu and him Miya.
"Have fun with yer husband 'Tsumu!" Osamu yelled over.
"Shutup 'Samu!" Atsumu yelled back.
Turns out all their practicing paid off as they won gold. Their performance to Hallelujah may have been their best performance yet. All around he hears people calling them ice skating prodigies. Prodigies, what a silly word to mask all the effort we put in, he thinks to himself.
Age 15:
“Ya ready partner?” Atsumu asks, winking.
When did that wink start doing things to Sakusa’s heart? More importantly, who taught Atsumu how to wink and why? Wordlessly, he held out his hand for Atsumu to take, gloves long gone, as they glided onto the ice. You’re a sad student, chasing after his love. It’s unrequited, but you don’t give up, chasing and chasing until you graduate. The storyline doesn’t seem too different from his reality, and he repeats it over and over in his mind as he gracefully drifts on the ice. Each facial expression, each practiced move, they all tell the story of unrequited love, emotions flowing through him.
Each emotion Sakusa showed while skating was genuine, and he wasn’t surprised when they won gold for the fourth year in a row. Cheers and cries came out from the audience, everyone calling them different names. However, the name that stood out to him the most was genius. People have called them various words over the years, but there are still new ones that manage to slip through. Every word, no matter what it is, star, prodigy, genius, their all just words to make people who worked hard to get where they’re at, seem like natural-born talents. He supposes he shouldn’t be complaining since he and Atsumu just won gold.
Age 16:
“Hey Atsu,” Sakusa whispered, staring into the dark work on the bunk bed.
“Yeah, Omi?” Atsumu replied, somewhere on the top bunk.
“Do you ever think about how it would be if you were partnered with someone you like?”
“I am partnered with someone I like,”
“I mean someone you like,”
All there was for a while was silence. It tainted the air and spread everything until it was broken by a sharp laugh. Not one of Atsumu’s normal ones though, it sounded more pained, more forced.
“Hey, Omi-kun,”
“Yeah Atsu?”
“Let’s split up,”
With those three words, Kiyoomi’s life shattered. It’s not like he wasn’t expecting it, he always knew Atsumu would wanna be with someone he really liked, it was just hard to accept. His first memories were skating with Atsumu, this boy had been with him since he was 5, when Sakusa wasn’t yet aware of what germs were. How can someone you’ve been with almost all your life just suddenly disappear from it?
When they told their parents and coaches everyone was shocked. They kept asking if they were sure and thought it out, and it took a week for them to accept it. The fans were worse. The top trending search was “Did Sakusa Kiyoomi and Miya Atsumu really split up?” for a week. The comments on all of his old posts with Atsumu got so bad he had to turn off notifications. Sakusa would be lying if he said he didn’t cry in his room every night for a month.
He decided to not go back to ice skating and to cut off all ties with Atsumu. He couldn’t ice skate without Atsumu, and he couldn’t watch Atsumu ice skate without him. It doesn’t matter whether he was doing singles or not, he didn’t want to see his childhood best friend and first love stand on the ice without him by his side.
Age 17:
“Another three years until I become an ordinary person. I guess it couldn’t hurt to wait a little longer.”
-Haruka Nanase
“I miss you,” Atsumu whispered from his position in the crook of Sakusa’s neck.
“I miss you too,” he replied, leaning on Atsumu’s head, and the rest of the night was a drunken blur.
When he woke up the next morning, a video of him and Atsumu kissing was trending on YouTube, along with a video of them saying they’re pairing back up. What the fuck.
“What happened last night,” a panicked Atsumu asks, walking into Sakusa's room and flopping down on his bed.
“I don’t know, Miya,” he seethed, watching Atsumu flinch back at the name. “Apparently, we agreed to be partners again, then made out.”
“Ya know they say what you do when yer drunk is what ya want ta do when yer sober,” Atsumu said, smirking.
“So you think I wanna kiss you?” Sakusa questioned, his eyebrow raising in amusement. He wasn’t too far off, but he would never know that.
“Who wouldn’t want ta kiss this face,” Atsumu settled proudly, accent becoming thicker.
“Does that mean you also wanna kiss me?” he challenged. Two could play at this game.
“Maybe,” Atsumu said, leaning his face in so close Sakusa could feel the warmth of his breath.
It was all enough to make him flush, face going hot. Atsumu slowly inched closer and closer, giving Sakusa ample time to run away. He’s not sure what made him do it, but he pressed forward and met Atsumu’s lips. It was sweet, much gentler than he had expected, and for a moment, he even forgot about the germs.
When they pulled away his eyes widened, the reality of what he just did sinking in. All his life he’s been dreaming of this moment, now it felt bittersweet. Wasn’t he supposed to be mad at Atsumu right now? And how will they handle the news of them pairing back up? He fell back on the bed, wondering how he’d untangle himself from this web he spun.
“Why’d we split,” Sakusa asked from where his face was hidden behind his arm.
“I liked you. I still like you, an’ I didn’t know what ta do with those feelings.”
“Well, do you know what to do with them now?”
“Yeah,” then there was a quiet shuffling until his arm got tugged off his face, showing Atsumu leaning over him, a charm bracelet full of ice skating charms in his hand.
“Hey Omi-kun,” he beamed.
“Hey Atsu,” Sakusa beamed back.
“Be my boyfriend,”
He quickly nodded and pulled Atsumu down into a kiss.
Age 20:
Sakusa loved everything about skating. The cold feeling as he becomes one with the ice, the feeling of Atsumu’s hand in his, he even began to love the bruises that came afterward because they show he worked hard. But he was starting to get older, his body didn’t work as well as it used to, and there were so many things he wanted to do in life other than skating.
“What do you think about retiring,” he asked Atsumu early one morning.
Atsumu gave a hum and thought about it for a while before saying, “If it’s with you I’m okay with it,”
Sakusa kissed him, smiling against his lips. They were twenty, and it’s time to be considered normal. Just a normal couple, normal people, not prodigies or geniuses. Not only being known as the unstoppable ice dancing duo but as Sakusa Kiyoomi and Miya Atsumu.
Later, they agreed on telling the world about their relationship after their last competition. Not everyone is as accepting as their family and friends, so they decided to keep it away from the public, although most people guessed. If they wanted to go out with a bang, they definitely did, setting a new record, winning gold, and then coming out about their relationship to top it all off. They were trending for months. None of that mattered to Sakusa though, because now he could be considered as normal and have a normal life with his boyfriend. Ice dancing will always be a big part of his life and where he had his best memories, but it doesn’t define him, and he doesn’t want it to.