Natsumi and Atsumu's friendship was something, alright. 

For one, both of them were surprisingly enjoying this fake dating thing. Fooling so many people was a lot of fun. And no matter how horrible that made them, both of them took full pride in the fact that people saw their relationship as being real, when it was nothing more than a joke. 

They were horrible people, really. Maybe that's why they had become best friends. 

As Atsumu practically threw himself onto her couch, Natsumi asked him what she had just been thinking. "Hey Tsumu?"

"Hmm?" Atsumu groaned in acknowledgement, as he kicked off his shoes and got comfortable on the couch. And then, just like he always would do, he propped himself onto Natsumi's lap.

She rolled her eyes, but nevertheless allowed him to get comfortable and started gently running her fingers through his hair. Atsumu let out a sigh of content as she started lightly massaging his scalp. This was something she hated doing, but it would get Atsumu to be less annoying, so here they were.

"What were ya saying?" Atsumu asked, staring at her with those golden brown eyes of his.

"I'm taking so much pride in fooling other people with this thing," Natsumi motioned between the two of them. "It lowkey makes me feel like a horrible person."

"Yer an idiot," Atsumu replied, giving her an affronted look. "You're not a horrible person. I don't know say this about many people, but yer kinda cool."

"Stop, did you really call me cool?" Natsumi asked, with mock surprise. Of course, she was cool. She wouldn't have agreed to this whole fake relationship thing otherwise. "I can't believe the Miya Atsumu finds me cool. Whatever will I do with this knowledge?"

"Haha," Atsumu made a face, clearly annoyed by her sarcasm. "Why don't ya share it with the world?"

"My fake boyfriend finds me cool. Now, wouldn't that be a good story?"

"It'd be the best."

After that, their conversation petered off into random topics. At a certain point, Natsumi's legs were starting to hurt from sitting in the same position with a giant of a man laying his head in her lap. But she was enjoying Atsumu's impression of his team captain at his volleyball practice, so she didn't point out the pain and instead, let herself laugh like a hyena at whatever he was saying. Her fingers were still running through Atsumu's hair, but the action was completely subconscious now. 

"Oh Tsumi, before I forget," Atsumu suddenly said, grabbing her attention. "Mind dropping by practice tomorrow? The team's been clamoring to meet ya."

"Meet your team? Actually meet your team?" Natsumi said. She had met MSBY Black Jackals before, as the photographer for a magazine shoot they had done. But, she hadn't met them as Atsumu's (fake) girlfriend, though she was sure they knew all about her, given that Atsumu had been posting about her a lot on his instagram. "Are you sure about that?"

"I'm pretty sure," Atsumu answered with a smirk. "Ya just have to praise me and be a little affectionate."

"And don't I do that already?" Natsumi asked, with raised eyebrows. 

"Just do it a little more, y'know, so that they think I've got ya charmed." 

Atsumu finally shifted off her lap, and she also pulled back her hands. But sitting up straight, he grabbed her hands, enclosing them in his own. Natsumi stared at him with annoyance clearly written in her eyes, but she made no move to pull her hands away. "Maybe a kiss on the cheek or two?"

"I'm fine with that," Natsumi answered. "But I have the slightest feeling you're about to ask for something more."

"Haha, maybe," Atsumu let out a nervous laugh, knowing that his best friend could potentially kill him over this proposal. "Would ya mind if I gave you a little peck on the lips? Just a little."

Natsumi threw her head back and laughed. Really laughed. "Tsumu, you idiot, you forgot the contract, didn't you?"

"The contract's dumb, okay?" Atsumu threw his hands in the air and started pouting. 

"It's here to make sure that we don't end up doing dumb stuff. And you signed on it too. But you know, you keep bragging about how you're such a great kisser. Let me see that for myself."

"I don't brag, I just state the truth."

"Yeah, you tell yourself that, sweetheart."

"Hey!"

Atsumu whined as he poked her cheeks. "Stop being so mean to me!"

With a smirk, Natsumi replied, "Never."

Natsumi was nervous and of course, she had every right to be. She was about to visit the gym where MSBY Black Jackals practiced everyday. She hadn't really been there before, but knew most of the players through a photoshoot she had done with them. And of course, she knew Himeko pretty well. Lucky for her though, Himeko had offered to come greet her when she arrived.

And for the first time in a long time, Natsumi had even been nervous about what she was wearing and had spent nearly ten minutes deciding on what to wear before going for her trusty outfit combination; a grey t-shirt with a red flannel shirt on top, along with a pair of faded denim jeans. With that, she carried her small bag pack which had her film camera inside. She never went anywhere without it.

As she stood outside the gate of the gym, preparing herself to enter, her phone rang. Quickly, Natsumi picked it up. 

"Hey Yoshikawa-san!" It was Himeko, greeting her with a warm tone. "I just saw your text. Are you outside the gate?"

"Yup, waiting right outside," Natsumi answered, with a stiff, awkward laugh. "Far away from the sun."

Himeko let out a laugh. "Good for you." 

Then, the large doors opened with a slow rumble and Himeko appeared from behind them, with her phone against her ear. Spotting Natsumi, she lowered her phone and hung up the call. A bright smile covered Himeko's face as she bounded up to her. 

"Hey, Himeko-san," Natsumi greeted, hoping the smile on the face wasn't too awkward. "Nice to see you again."

"You too, Yoshikawa-san," Himeko replied, before motioning for her to come in. "Now, the boys are still practicing but they should be taking a break in about ten minutes. Till then, if you don't mind, I'd like to show around the place."

"Sounds perfect," Natsumi replied. She followed Himeko inside, suddenly feeling the cool, air-conditioner air in the corridor. Shutting the gym doors behind her, she continued to walk, taking in how massive the walls were and how everything seemed so top class. 

Himeko stopped right at the t-shaped corridor. Pointing to her left, she said, "That's where most of the administrative offices are located, including my own. Not a place I wanna show you. It's pretty boring, I'd say." 

Then pointing to her right, she added, "That's one of the ways to get to the gym, and we also have a small media room there, so in case of press conferences or photoshoots and stuff, all the arrangements happen there. And oh! There's also a vending machine, if you wanna have anything!"

"No, that's okay," Natsumi politely declined. As she looked at both the corridors, she noticed they were covered with pictures. Most of them were photos of the MSBY teams, along with framed clippings of newspaper articles about their victories. There were also a few benches and chairs scattered in both directions.

'Atsumu would love this,' She thought with a snicker. 'That vain boy.'

"We'll go this way," Himeko pointed to the path straight ahead. "It's where all the locker rooms along with a lounge that's reserved for player's families. And at the end of it, is the main entrance to the gym. We can sit and talk there." 

Natsumi gave an awkward thumbs up as she followed Himeko down the corridor. Now, this one had plain walls and right at the end were two grey doors, leading to the gym as Himeko had mentioned. But that was not where they were going. About half-way through, they stopped at the door. 

Himeko pulled it open, stepping aside to let Natsumi enter. "Now we can sit and talk properly," She said as she shut the door behind her. 

Natsumi quickly glanced around the room. It wasn't too big, but looked pretty cozy. One side of the room had a mini-vending machine and right next to it, a small refrigerator full of water bottles. 'No juices though,' She noted. On the exact opposite wall was a small, flat screen TV. Below it, was a table with the remote along with a succulent and a few other random decorations. 

Himeko pointed in the direction of the large couch, that was directly in front of the TV. Next to it, were a few smaller ones. "Sit, please sit."

Natsumi smiled as she sat down on the large couch, gently setting her bag next to her. Himeko sat next to her, grinning a little.

"So, how are you doing?" She asked. "How's work going for you?"

"It's been nice, but busy," Natsumi answered. "I have like three photoshoots lined up this week and then I'm doing a portfolio shoot with a model friend. I also have this project lined up with a famous actress that I legally can't say anything about."

"Oh damn, that sounds like a lot of work," Himeko said. "Suddenly I am glad I have fixed hours here. I couldn't live on your schedule."

"You definitely don't want to," Natsumi answered with a chuckle and a slight shake of her head. "I'm blessed that I get at least five hours of sleep. Though I'm thankful for all the work." And just for the sake of it, she added. "Talking to Tsumu certainly helps, though he can be a little too silly at times."

"Tsu-? Oh, you mean, Miya-san," Himeko said. "He's a handful to deal with, isn't he? He's the one I have to give the most instructions too and scold the most for doing dumb stuff online."

"Eh, he's a handful, but manageable," Natsumi replied, shrugging her shoulders. "He's an idiot, and at the risk of sounding cheesy, he's my idiot."

It was so easy to lie that when Himeko let out a squeal, Natsumi felt it like a punch to her gut.

"Aww, that's so adorable!" Himeko stating with such a bright grin. "Miya-san and you must be very happy with each other!"

"We are," Natsumi answered, lightly scratching the back of her head, pretending to be embarrassed. Oh, she was a horrible person, alright. "Though this whole relationship thing is new for us, being best friends makes it so easy."

"That's literally the cutest thing I've heard," Himeko squealed once more,  still smiling. "You sound like you're so in love with him."

"Haha, I guess so," Natsumi laughed weakly. Oh, someone hit her. "But then you're the same when you talk about Sakusa."

Himeko's cheeks suddenly turned bright red and she poked her fingers together. "Yeah, I am. Kiyoomi is nice. Very lovely." Her eyes visibly softened as she said so. She looked and sounded like she was actually in love with her boyfriend, not pretending like Natsumi was.

'Oh, Natsumi, why do you let Atsumu pull you into his stupid schemes?' Natsumi thought, mentally yelling at herself. 'Pretending is gonna backfire on us. I know it.'

*
Any internal conflict Natsumi was having was pushed to the back of her mind as she and Himeko finally stood in front of the actual gym doors. She could hear faint voices coming through along with the sounds of volleyballs being tossed and squeaky gym shoes.

"We can go in now," Himeko said, offering a kind smile to Natsumi. She just nodded, giving her a stiff smile in return.

Firmly, Himeko pushed open the doors. Surprisingly, they opened up quite easily.

The gym was massive, was the first thought that came to Natsumi's mind. It was much bigger than the gyms you'd see in high schools and also more clean too. The lights were quite bright and she had to blink for a second to get used to them.

Practice didn't stop when the two girls entered, though their sudden appearance caught the attention of a few players. Including one boy with dark, curly hair who momentarily stared at the girls before going back to practice again.

"I'm just gonna go talk to the coaches," Himeko said. Pointing towards the massive benches on the sides of the court, she added, "Please sit. Practice should be over in about five minutes."

"Oh, yeah, okay," Natsumi just nodded, as she wandered over to the nearest bench. All the awkwardness returned to her. She felt extremely out of place here, surrounded by athletes and trainers when she was the least athletic person she knew. She rarely even exercised, only going on morning runs because Atsumu forced her to. 

Even seeing the team train was almost making her sweat. 

Then the whistle rang out and the practice was officially over. She scanned the gym, looking for her lovely fake boyfriend. The players were slowly moving to the benches, probably looking to drown themselves in water and wipe their sweat away.

"Natsumi!" She suddenly heard Atsumu call out. She stood up, only to see him practically running towards her. Before she knew it, she was swept up into a sweaty hug, with strong arms around her. 

"I missed you," Atsumu mumbled into her hair. In a much lower whisper, he added, "Just go with it, yeah?"

Natsumi nearly punched him, the keyword being nearly.  "I'm going to kill you," she whispered, hugging him in return. "And you stink."

"Yer funny," Atsumu said with a smirk as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. Natsumi just stuck her tongue out at him. 

All of a sudden, she was surrounded. Atsumu wasn't the only person with her. Bokuto, Hinata, the libero of the team (what was his name again? Inumaki? Inunaki?), the captain and their two foreign players. Basically, their entire starting team. Natsumi had already met them, but being surrounded by them like this was doing nothing to help her nerves. (Where had Himeko gone off to?)

"Woah, Tsum-Tsum's girlfriend is so pretty," The remark came from Bokuto, who stared at her, with slightly wide eyes. 

"Uh thanks?" 

"Come on, Atsumu, introduce us," The silver-haired libero teased with a smirk. 

"Haven't ya already met her before?" Atsumu said, as he put an arm around Natsumi, his sweaty hands lightly brushing against her shoulders. 

As he introduced her to the team again, that odd feeling returned and Natsumi couldn't help but think; what if they found out that this relationship was fake? Tricking so many people just felt like a horrible thing to do.

'Why the hell did you have to drag me into this, Atsumu? And why did I even listen to you? I'm dumb. I'm so dumb.'

So, I should be studying for my exams, but I had most of this chapter prewritten and I just needed to finish the ending, so I just procrastinated and finished this chapter instead of studying. But, I have to say this was such a fun chapter to write and Natsumi and Atsumu are literally the cutest couple. Writing them is the perfect way for me to improve my mood. 

But anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know your thoughts in the comments!