Akaashi can hear someone talking through their tears.
"Will he be okay?" the voice asks, over and over. "Will he be okay?"
His eyes flutter open, but he still can't see, and so he presumes that the lights are out.
He feels numb with pain, as though something had hit him hard.
"Akaashi's awake!" The male who had been crying rushed to his bedside. "How're you feeling?"
"Bokuto-san," mumbles Akaashi. "Why are the lights out?"
"What?" Bokuto sounds surprised. "They're not. Did he hit his head or something?" Bokuto asks a nearby nurse, sounding more worried than before.
"Well. You see," the nurse says. "Well, ummmm..."
She sounds young and inexperienced but somehow, Akaashi finds himself anticipating her answer.
"The retinal area in Akaashi-san's eye got damaged and," the nurse sounds exceedingly uncomfortable. "Um, he won't be able to see."
"What?" says Bokuto loudly. "No!"
"I'm terribly sorry, Bokuto-san," says the nurse. "Akaashi's blind now."
Akaashi doesn't say anything; he's a quiet one, after all, but he's stunned as well. Blind? Him? What had even happened?"
"It's an infection caused by..." The nurse babbles on, but neither Akaashi nor Bokuto are interested at this point. They sit in silence, which is unusual for the talkative Bokuto.
And then -
"Now, now, ladies! I'm absolutely fine!" An annoyingly cheery voice drifts through the air, and Akaashi can hear a gaggle of giggling girls, saying things like, "Oikawa-san!" They're nurses, too, and flirting with their patient. Annoying.
Akaashi kinda wishes he'd become deaf instead. He wouldn't have had to hear the falsely cheery voice of a man, flirting with his nurses.
Bokuto groans. "It's the one from Aobajousai, that place Karasuno played against once. I wonder if he knows Tsukki."
"Oh, them," says Akaashi, sitting up and immediately bumping into Bokuto. "The team that thought you were our only good player."
"Yep! And they got their asses handed to them~"
"Be polite, Bokuto-san." Akaashi listens. "They're coming."
Sure enough, the sound of a stretcher being wheeled into the room is heard.
"Hi, there!" 'Oikawa-san' says. "Why're you two here?"
"Take a wild guess," grumbles Akaashi.
"Your best friend kicked you?" suggests Oikawa.
"No."
"Your best friend threw a volleyball at your head?"
"No," said Bokuto this time.
"Your best friend headbu-"
"Bokuto-san didn't do anything or anything," says Akaashi tiredly. "It was some sort of infection. I lost my eyesight."
"Oh." Oikawa is immediately silenced. "Sorry. I just - sorry."
Maybe Oikawa isn't so bad.
"Oh GOD," says Bokuto suddenly. "How will you play volleyball?"
Akaashi's eyes widen, and yet it doesn't change anything. He can't see, not at all. "Oh," he mutters.
"He'll learn," says Oikawa, the fake cheerfulness back.
The door is slammed and someone barges in. "Oikawa!"
"Iwa-chan!"
"They finally let me listen, after twenty minutes of 'I'm sorry sir sir you can't come in sir only family allowed. I AM your family."
"Aw, so sappy, Iwa-chan."
Oikawa's tone has been replaced. The fake happiness is gone, and Oikawa sounds peaceful.
"I'm sorry, Assikawa," mutters Iwa-chan, as though it basically causes him pain to apologise.
"No worries!" Akaashi can almost HEAR that wink in his voice. "You kissed it better, after all!"
Bokuto snickers, and Iwa-chan hits Oikawa over the head; Akaashi hears the slap connect, and listens to Oikawa's whines.
Maybe he can get used to this, after all.
It seems that Iwa-chan finally notices that other people are in the room, and he asks, "Who're you?"
"Akaashi," says Akaashi. "Iwa-san?"
Oikawa laughs, and Iwa-chan grumbles. "It's Iwaizumi."
Bokuto laughs slightly too, and then he looks at Akaashi, and Akaashi only knows because he can feel Bokuto, feel Bokuto radiating warmth. "I'll be your person bodyguard, Akaashi!"
"No need, Bokuto-san," says Akaashi, getting up. "But could you maybe ask the nurse if I can leave, because I don't see her."
"Mhm." Bokuto's voice cracks, and Akaashi can't bear to see him so down, when he's usually cheerful and sweet, energetic and funny. "Can we go, Nurse-san?"
After a pause, the nurse says. "Oh! Yes! I - "
/She must've nodded./
"Well, Bokuto-san, please take Akaashi-san around. Teach him how to do everything. He'll have to relearn...huh." The nurse sounds sad and less dense than before.
The room is silent and all that is heard is sad whispers coming from Iwaizumi and Oikawa, whispers of friendship and love exchanged and suddenly Akaashi feels unbelievably SAD.
"Help me walk, Bokuto," says Akaashi, and he listens to the laughter and cries of Iwaizumi and Oikawa-san.
"Love ya, Iwa-chan!"
"Dumbass! Don't talk like that!"
And then Akaashi can feel a hand on his arm, guiding him through the doors of the hospital to face his new life.
And then Bokuto talks. He talks because Akaashi can listen. He tells tales of Kenma and Kuroo (apparently Kuroo has a crush on Kenma, which Bokuto finds hilarious). He talks about the latest volleyball match that was on TV. He speaks about smiles, says some jokes, and he laughs.
Except his laugh isn't as genuine as usual. It is sad, and Akaashi knows the cause.
But Akaashi listens all the same. He listens to Bokuto ranting about Kuroo being too "lovey dovey". He can hear as Bokuto says, "Pow, gwah!" and he can feel Bokuto making excited hand gestures, and he can roll his unseeing eyes as Bokuto says, "why did the blue and yellow volleyball cross the road? TO KISS THE GREEN, RED AND WHITE VOLLEYBALL! They're married, geddit, geddit?"
Akaashi can listen, Akaashi can feel and Akaashi can understand.
God, he really loves Bokuto.
As soon as the thought crosses his mind, he dismisses it. Bokuto is out of his league, and Bokuto can see him, while he can't see Bokuto. Bokuto might be an idiot, but he's such a /good/ idiot.
Every morning, Akaashi hears a 1-2-3 knock on the door, and he sighs, and swings out of bed, usually bumping into his My Little Pony lamp (Bokuto had given it to him for his birthday. It was supposed to be a present for Bokuto's cousin, but...)
And then Bokuto helps him, helps him play volleyball and helps him with his studies. It makes him feel basically worthless; he can't help Bokuto, not in any way.
It isn't true at all. He doesn't understand; Akaashi makes Bokuto smile. Akaashi let's Bokuto talk. Akaashi cares about Bokuto, more than Kuroo does, more than anyone does, and it's Akaashi's quietly sarcastic manner that Bokuto is in love with.
But Akaashi doesn't know.
They meet Oikawa and Iwaizumi again, soon.
Well, not technically MEET; actually. They were walking together around some random place in Japan ("hey Akaashi! Let's take a tour bus to some random place in Japan!"), Bokuto showing Akaashi the right turns, and they came across a volleyball court. It was lovely, Bokuto would say later, how they got to hear the thud of volleyballs against the floor, and how they got to smell the sweat, taste the happiness, feel the familiarity. Bokuto wouldn't mention sight.
Another volleyball hits the floor, and a voice says, "Shitkawa, why are we practicing now?"
"Not now, Iwa-chan," says another voice tiredly, and Bokuto and Akaashi suddenly realize why they'd both recognized the voices; Oikawa and Iwaizumi.
"Dumbaass, you need to calm down," says Iwaizumi, as Bokuto and Akaashi open the door to the gym. It's unlocked and it swings open.
"Iwa-chan, you know how much I hate to lose!" says Oikawa tensely. "Even for you, Iwa-chan."
"You know how much I hate it when you fake a smile," says Iwaizumi, "so, Oikawa, /please/..."
There's a pause and Akaashi can hear light groans. Akaashi's face burns and Bokuto snickers. Oikawa had probably grabbed Iwaizumi, kissed him.
"Dumbass," mutters Iwaizumi. "I'm pretty sure I told you a million times, we're just friends."
"Friends, Iwa-chan?" says Oikawa, a smirk in his voice. "I don't think so."
Akaashi can hear a palm connect with Oikawa's head, and he can hear Oikawa whine, "Iwaaaaa-channnn!"
It makes him smile, and he wishes he could see it.
It's the fourth of July.
Every year until now, Akaashi and Bokuto had gone out together to watch the fireworks, and to stargaze later. Akaashi would name constellations, shaking his head in wonder when Bokuto said he didn't used to know them.
It'll be different this year. Akaashi cannot see, only hear. He won't be able to try and explain to Bokuto the difference between Orion and Sirius (Bokuto's read Harry Potter, and he says that the constellation of Orion looks more like Sirius Black than Sirius does).
But Akaashi hears the quiet 1-2-3 knock at his door, and he swings out of bed.
He doesn't bump into the My Little Pony lamp post. Maybe that's even a good thing. Might be a good omen.
But it makes him feel strangely detached. He'd liked bumping into Bokuto's present every day, oddly enough.
Oh well. Bokuto himself makes up for it, shouting, "AKAASHI IT'S THE FOURTH OF JULY I BET KUROO IS GOING TO KISS KENMA UNDER THE MISTLETOE!" and Akaashi replies with a typical, "you have your holidays mixed up, Bokuto-san."
It's nice. The day passes by in a blur, Bokuto right by Akaashi's side, making him laugh even at the most boring times.
How long has it been, Akaashi wonders, since he's been this happy?
He can remember every detail of Bokuto's face when Bokuto kneels down and enthusiastically says, "Akaaaaaasshiiiiiiii! Let's go listen to the fireworks!"
And Akaashi remembers how Bokuto has never liked watching the fireworks. "Boring!" he'd say. "Let's go play volleyball!"
Akaashi remembers how Bokuto would grin and say, "I like hearing them! They're so cool to listen to! All wild and crazy."
"Like you," Akaashi would reply.
The fireworks sound beautiful. Akaashi would have never wanted to trade his ears for his eyes back, no matter how frustrating the last few months have been.
The best part is when Akaashi and Bokuto are lying under the stars, and Bokuto leans over and kisses him.
Colors erupt in front of his eyes, red and green, blue and yellow, as though they are his own display of fireworks, and he kisses Bokuto back. Bokuto's mouth is soft, and he tastes so beautiful. Of happiness, of energy, of sweet candy.
And then Bokuto pulls away and he says, "THAT one is Sirius, right?"
And Akaashi knows. He can't see Bokuto, but he can feel him bouncing in place, looking at the constellation Sirius. "You got it right," says Akaashi, surprised, because he's always relied on instinct and he /knows/. "Not bad, Bokuto-san."
And Bokuto laughs, and it's...
Beautiful.
"Like you," Bokuto would say later, and Akaashi would slap him across the head lightly, and who knows, maybe another male is slapping another across the head at that moment for "saying something embarrassing, Assikawa!", maybe Kenma is telling Kuroo to shut up right then.
Because love is so beautiful, and you don't need to see it to know that that's true.
Four senses are enough to /know/.
Akaashi would not trade Bokuto for his eyesight.
It would be nice to see beautiful things, but hearing beautiful things is more important, feeling beautiful things is more amazing, smelling and tasting things are far more trivial.
Loving beautiful things.