BokuAka – Visitation Rights – Oneshot Wednesday
A/N I feel like writing from Bokuto's point of view requires a lot of italics and exclamation marks, so there's a lot more of those than normal in here. You have no idea how long it took to go through this fic and put in the html code for every italicized phrase and word. It was FOREVER.
I hope you guys enjoy reading this, because I loved writing it.
College was hard. There was lots of reading books and taking tests and sitting still for way longer than Bokuto could actually handle. He hardly ever got his assignments done on time and he was constantly restless. Paying attention during his lectures was probably the hardest part of going to college, and Bokuto barely survived the ones that ran longer than an hour and a half.
College Volleyball, on the other hand, was awesome.
There were so many amazing players, and he was getting so good at his straights, and his coach always had lots of advice for him, and the size of the team at his university meant that there was always plenty of tall guys willing to block for him (they needed as much help as they good get to deal with his spikes). The fans were hugely into it, too, and the team had a great libero, and he didn't get to be captain as a first year, of course, but he still had a lot of fun playing his favorite sport with his new friends. And, hey, there was always a setter willing to practice with him too, so he got loads of spikes in at every practice.
But there was a tiny, little, horrible problem.
None of his setters at college were Akaashi.
Akaashi Keiji was the best setter of all time, in Bokuto's opinion. Yeah, that Kageyama guy from Karasuno was supposed to be a genius or something, and Kuroo's friend Kenma was really smart and actually kind of reminded Bokuto of Akaashi, but nobody could really beat Akaashi. Nobody could set to him as well as Akaashi could, and nobody could help him get out of his slumps as well as Akaashi could, and nobody had as nice hands as Akaashi, and nobody made Akaashi's facial expressions like Akaashi did. Well, Akaashi's facial expressions weren't really expressions as much as minute adjustments to his eyebrows or the tilt of his lips or the tightness of his jaw, but Bokuto pretty much always knew what they meant anyway so he counted them.
As much as Bokuto loved college and playing university level volleyball, he really, really missed Akaashi.
So you could only imagine, then, how excited and happy he was when he got a break from college and got to go home for a visit!
He spent the first night at home with his parents because he was a good son, but as soon as school was out for the high school the next day, Bokuto was at Fukurodani High School's volleyball gym. Pretty much everybody else had gotten there before him, much to his disappointment (how else was a senpai to impress his kouhai than by showing up early to something he didn't even need to be on time for?), but he perked back up when he saw Captain Akaashi Keiji (Bokuto was so proud of his setter – becoming Captain after him was no easy feat after all) setting to one of the wing spikers.
"Akaaaaaaashiiiii!" Bokuto grinned when Akaashi's head whipped around to look at him, his eyes wide. "Hey, hey, hey!"
"Bokuto-san," was Akaashi's flat reply. Bokuto's grin only grew. That was exactly how Akaashi always talked to him. It brought back so many memories of high school, of volleyball, of hanging out with his kouhai on and off the court. Bokuto could barely contain enthusiasm (re: couldn't actually contain it at all but thought he was) as he practically skipped onto the court to stand across from Akaashi.
"Did ya miss me, Akaashi? Hmm, did ya? Of course you did, hey, hey, hey!" He felt warmth spread through him as Akaashi raised an eyebrow. "I missed you too, Akaashi. I'm so glad I get to visit today."
Bokuto went to give him a hug, but Akaashi easily side-stepped it. "Bokuto-san," he said, his tone slightly different from the flat voice he'd used before. It sounded… disapproving. Bokuto felt himself deflate a little, both at the tone and the dodged hug. "Welcome back."
And now he was perking up again because Akaashi said that and because he saw the tiny little upwards tilt of one side of Akaashi's lips so Bokuto knew that Akaashi was happy to see him, even if he wouldn't hug him. "Hey! Akaashi, set me some tosses! The setters at university aren't as good as you, their tosses don't even compare. I've missed your perfect tosses so much!"
Akaashi's lips didn't turn down, but he didn't nod in agreement either. "Bokuto-san, you're disrupting practice."
Bokuto's eyes went wide as saucers. He looked around at the rest of the team, who were now staring at the two of them like they were the entertainment for the afternoon. "Oh…," he nodded slowly, looking back at Akaashi. He wanted to play with them, not just Akaashi but the whole team, but he knew that they had to prepare for the upcoming tournament and Akaashi had to be a responsible Captain. He was already doing such a good job, and Bokuto didn't want to mess that up for him or anything. Akaashi was such a great volleyball player and a great setter and a great leader, and Bokuto was so proud of him. So he nodded more fiercely, smiling and forcing himself to act excited and happy. "Right, right, practice! Do your Captain thing; I'll just be over there, hey, hey, hey!"
He didn't let his face fall until he had turned away and was heading back over to lean against one of the walls so he could watch practice. He didn't get more than three steps before Akaashi called out to him. "Bokuto-san." Bokuto turned around, eyes still wide and round and just a bit hopeful. "I wasn't saying no." A grin split Bokuto's face and he immediately stood up straight from his slouch. "Just not right now. Later." Bokuto nodded rigorously, excited that he had more to look forward to than just watching their practice.
He headed over to the edge of the gym and watched as the team continued to practice. While most everybody was working on their own thing that day, Akaashi was practically everywhere. He was helping the younger setters practice their form and setting tosses for spikers, giving feedback to both the spikers and the blockers who were practicing with them.
As Bokuto watched, his opinion of Akaashi's leadership skills were reaffirmed. Akaashi'd really been more like a Captain even last year when Bokuto held the official position. Bokuto knew that he could be a handful, and he knew that his team had done a lot to humor him and had enabled some of his more selfish behavior and plays. Akaashi had picked up Bokuto's slack and filled in the holes in his captaincy, but as a third year, Akaashi was now doing all of it. And he did it flawlessly.
Yes, Bokuto was getting a very good reminder of just how amazing Akaashi really was. He loved watching Akaashi play setter – always had, even when Akaashi was only a first year – and he loved watching him give players tosses. Being the spiker on the receiving end of Akaashi's perfect tosses was his favorite place to be, but he was now noticing just how nice it was to be able to watch him from the sidelines. He was so graceful, cool and calculating with every toss he gave. He never got frazzled, frustrated, or impatient, and he never lost his form, either. Bokuto loved the way that the callouses on Akaashi's fingers gave him more grip – and more control – over the ball, he loved the obvious intelligence in his eyes when he made a call, and he definitely loved the proud smirk (practically invisible, but still there nevertheless) when he set a toss to a spiker that he knew would beat the blockers' defense.
That smirk brought back so many memories of them playing together. While the smirk still made some small appearances in that practice, Bokuto knew that it wasn't nearly as strong or as big as the one he wore when he was setting to Bokuto. He had always been able to truly trust Bokuto with the tosses he sent him, believing the Ace would carry his perfect toss over the net and past the opponents' blockers. As he watched that smirk play out again in a smaller fashion, Bokuto was reminded of just how proud he had been of being not just Fukurodani Ace, but Akaashi's Ace as well.
About halfway through the practice, Akaashi called for a break. "Take 15, everyone, and then we'll continue." Akaashi grabbed a drink from a water bottle, but he didn't take long. He looked over his shoulder at Bokuto, and the owlish former-ace immediately perked up at the attention. "Bokuto-san, would you like to hit some tosses now?"
Bokuto's eyes went wide as he nodded and sprang across the gym to stand right behind Akaashi. "You bet, Akaashi! Hey, hey, hey!"
He saw Akaashi roll his eyes slightly, but his lips had tilted up again – just a little – so Bokuto knew he wasn't annoyed. Or at least, he wasn't that annoyed. Akaashi walked over to stand next to the net and Bokuto stood at the back of the court next to the cart of balls. "Are you ready, Akaashi?"
"Yes, Bokuto-san."
"Okay!" He picked up a ball from the cart and tossed the ball towards Akaashi. When it was above his setter, he started running toward the net. Akaashi tossed the ball perfectly in the air and Bokuto jumped, his hand smacking down on the ball and spiking it onto the other side of the net. The sound of it slamming into the ground reverberated through the gym as most of the other players stopped talking and looked over. There was silence in the gym for only a minute before Bokuto cheered in victory. "Hey, hey, hey! Awe, that felt awesome," he turned towards Akaashi with a wide grin. "I wish you came to college with me, Akaashi. Nobody else can set like you can!"
Akaashi didn't say anything in return. He just arched one of his perfect eyebrows at him, though Bokuto might have noticed a tiny, little, barely-there trace of a blush. Bokuto grinned wider and ran back to the ball cart.
The two of them spiked a few more balls together, then one of the players came onto the court, clapping his hands slowly. Bokuto assumed he was a first year, considering he didn't recognize him from last year, but he was tall – very tall. He kind of reminded Bokuto of Lev from Nekoma, though he could tell from the way this new guy carried himself that he wasn't a newbie to volleyball like Lev had been. "Well done, Bokuto. That was very impressive." He grinned, almost shark-like, and Bokuto frowned. Sharks and owls didn't do well together. "Mind if I practice my blocks?"
Bokuto looked over at Akaashi to see that his setter was frowning too. "Isayama-kun, you don't want to take advantage of your break?"
The first year, Isayama apparently, shook his head, still grinning. "Of course not. Bokuto won't be able to come often, I'm sure. I can take a break whenever I want to, but I can't block against Fukurodani's former-ace at any practice."
Bokuto's frown deepened. He didn't like the way Isayama had said 'former-ace', as if Bokuto wasn't a big deal at all. He looked over at Akaashi again, and his setter's expression made him realize what was going on. Isayama was issuing a silent challenge. Are you as good as they say you are, he was asking. Am I better?
Bokuto grinned. "Hey, hey, hey, sure you can join! Spiking's no fun when there's nobody to block anyway." Akaashi exchanged a glance with him and Bokuto's grin turned into a smirk. He nodded with meaning, and he could tell by the way Akaashi nodded back that he understood what that meaning had been.
Let's show our kouhai who's the boss.
Yes, Bokuto-san. Let's.
Bokuto threw the ball above Akaashi's head, and this time he waited for Akaashi to jump for the toss before he started running. The time difference was minimal, but it still tripped a lot of people up. Most of the setters at Bokuto's university weren't very good at changing the timing so minimally, but Bokuto knew that Akaashi would be able to do it without a hitch.
Akaashi set the ball.
Bokuto jumped.
Isayama jumped, too.
Bokuto swung his spiking arm up, preparing to swing it back down to strike the ball, but before he could he saw Isayama watching his eyes, watching his body, preparing to adjust his block according to Bokuto's spike. In that moment, Bokuto could tell that Isayama was more than just his height. This guy was no Lev. Bokuto had absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Isayama would be one of the best blockers at that year's tournament.
Bokuto still couldn't let him win this though. Akaashi gave him this toss, this perfect toss, and Bokuto had seen Akaashi's face out of the corner of his eye. He had been wearing The Smirk™. The smirk of utter confidence that Bokuto would do well with Akaashi's toss, that he could be trusted to get the ball through the block, to carry the team up one more point. It was the smirk of complete and utter trust in Bokuto, and coming from Akaashi, there was no greater honor or compliment. There was no way in hell that Bokuto was going to waste his setter's perfect toss. Not to lose to some first year shmuck who thought he could beat the Bokuto Koutarou in a one-on-one.
It was happening so fast, and none of Bokuto's thoughts were conscious as he minutely adjusted his swing to slam into the ball Ultra Hard™. Isayama was just a hair behind as the ball soared past him. But even if he had kept up with Bokuto's speed, he would have missed the block anyway. Bokuto's body had been angled toward a cross. His eyes had been looking in the direction of a cross. Isayama was blocking for a cross.
But Bokuto hit a straight.
He never said he hadn't learned anything at University. He just said that Akaashi was a better setter.
The ball slammed into the ground just a hair inside the line, and the momentum carried the following bounce all the way up to within a few feet of the ceiling of the gym. Bokuto landed with grace and smirked at Isayama. "Well done, kouhai-kun. Maybe one day you'll actually be able to block me with that." He only paused long enough to see the border-line enraged glare Isayama threw at him, then Bokuto turned to Akaashi and his smirk turned into the biggest grin he'd worn since he graduated from high school and had to leave Akaashi behind. "Hey, hey, hey, Akaaaaashi! That toss was so perfect! Did you see my spike? Wasn't it such a great straight? You were impressed right? Right, Akaashi?"
The proud, we're-going-to-kick-our-opponents'-asses smirk was replaced by a similar but differentiable fond, Bokuto-you-are-a-ridiculous-owl-but-for-some-reason-I-am-still-your-friend smirk. "Yes, Bokuto-san. That was very impressive. Amazing, even."
Bokuto blushed. "It was mostly luck, though! I've been practicing that for a while at university, but I was only able to do it today because of your perfect toss. Thank you, Akaashi!" Bokuto went to hug him, but he sidestepped him again. Sigh.
Akaashi didn't give him any time to recover from his second rejection. He just turned to the rest of the team. "Alright, break's over. Everyone get back to work."
Bokuto pouted a little. This meant he was done spiking Akaashi's tosses, because practice was starting back up again. Still, he was grateful that he got to spike even that many of his setter's tosses, so he put on a brave face and moved to leave the court. "Bokuto-san," he heard from behind him, and he turned around lightning-fast.
Akaashi gave him a small smile, probably too small for anyone else to notice it, but Bokuto saw the relaxing of his jaw and the softness in his eyes and the tilt of his lips. To him, it was obvious. Heck, Bokuto would probably notice if Akaashi plucked one of the hairs from his eyebrows. "I'll give you more tosses after practice if you want." Bokuto's eyes widened as he grinned in glee. "So don't leave yet."
Bokuto nodded and had to forcefully keep himself from jumping up in down. "Hey, hey, hey!" He fist pumped the air and allowed himself one little leap of joy. "Of course, I wouldn't leave yet, Akaashi. I want to keep watching you play!"
Bokuto noticed another of Akaashi's minute blushes as he made his way over to lean against the wall like before.
Bokuto loved Akaashi's expressions. He loved that nobody else could understand them but him. It made him feel so special, like he actually deserved his setter's trust and perfect tosses. Akaashi was so smart and talented and beautiful, and Bokuto barely noticed the time passing at all as he watched the Captain set toss after toss. Every time a ball left his hands and flew into the air, Bokuto had a nearly irrepressible desire to run on the court and spike it himself. He wanted Akaashi to send all his tosses to Bokuto – only to Bokuto. At one point he made himself sit down so he wouldn't interrupt the practice by running towards Akaashi's tosses.
Finally practice was over and everybody headed towards the locker room. Everybody but Bokuto and Akaashi. Bokuto helped the setter round up the balls strewn all over the gym so that they wouldn't have to fetch more every five seconds. Then Akaashi took his place by the net. "Are you ready, Bokuto-san?"
Bokuto grinned. He felt like he hadn't done anything but grin since he got to the school that afternoon. It was hard not to smile when he was with Akaashi. "Let's do this! Hey, hey, hey, Akaashi!" Then he threw the ball to him and lost himself in the motions of spiking perfect tosses from his favorite setter. They kept going for almost an hour, well after everyone else had left. Bokuto felt he could keep spiking tosses forever, but he noticed Akaashi was getting tired. After a full day of school, conditioning, a full practice, and skipping his break to toss for him, Bokuto was actually a little surprised that Akaashi was still standing. He hadn't noticed the time passing at all and the precision of Akaashi's tosses hadn't wavered in the slightest, so he wouldn't have noticed the time passing if it weren't for the settling darkness outside the windows of the gym.
"Hey, hey, hey, Akaashi! How about we make this the last one? I'm sure you're tired and it's getting dark outside. We still have to put away the equipment after, too."
Akaashi nodded and wiped some sweat off his forehead. "Okay, Bokuto-san. You're right, I am getting tired."
Bokuto preened, feeling proud of himself for noticing. Akaashi gave him one last toss and he spiked it with a beautiful straight. "Akaashi! You're tosses are always so perfect! My straights are never this good at university. If only my team had you, we'd win every game!" Akaashi hummed. "I mean it, Akaashi! You're the best setter ever."
Akaashi gave him a small smile. "Thank you, Bokuto-san, but really you don't have to be so dramatic."
Bokuto shook his head. "But I'm not being dramatic, Akaashi. I love your tosses!"
Akaashi didn't comment on Bokuto's insistence. "Let's put everything away, Bokuto-san. I still have to shower after this before I go home."
Bokuto did everything he could to do most of the cleaning up. It wasn't fair on Akaashi to have to do so much when he wouldn't have had to do much at all if he hadn't stayed longer. Normally the first years did most of the cleaning, since they weren't usually so tired from practice, and the Captain hardly does any cleaning at all, so Akaashi did more than just wear himself out to practice with Bokuto. He also put himself in a position where he'd have to clean a lot even after he was exhausted. Cleaning sucked.
As he cleaned, Bokuto talked Akaashi's ear off, as usual. He told him story after story of university, of college-level volleyball, and of different adventures he'd had since they last saw each other. He'd probably never run out of stories, but he suddenly wanted to hear how Akaashi had been. When he asked him, though, he didn't have much to say. "They volleyball team has been doing well, Bokuto-san. I'm sure we'll get really far in the upcoming tournament."
Bokuto blinked at him. "Well, yeah, that's great, Akaashi, but how are you doing? What have you been up to?"
Akaashi shrugged. "Nothing much, Bokuto-san. Just volleyball and school, like usual."
Bokuto cocked his head to the side, an action that many people had said made him look even more like an owl. He thought back to the last two years when Bokuto had done things with Akaashi all the time. 'Like usual' wasn't just school and volleyball. Like usual was Akaashi doing other things too. Had he just not done anything because Bokuto wasn't around? Did he not like doing things anymore? Maybe he didn't like doing things by himself and he didn't want to do them with anybody else at school.
Maybe he had never liked doing things with Bokuto either and he only hung out with him out of duty. Or pity.
Bokuto thought back to earlier that day when he had asked Akaashi if he missed him while he was gone. Akaashi had never answered. Bokuto had just assumed he had and moved on. He hadn't really looked all that excited to see him. He had looked surprised, yes, but Bokuto didn't think he had looked happy. And Bokuto had gotten really good at reading Akaashi's expressions, so shouldn't he have noticed if Akaashi was happy?
What if Akaashi hadn't missed him at all?
Bokuto stopped walking, dropping his side of the net that he and Akaashi had been dragging toward the supply closet. This forced Akaashi to stop walking too, though he didn't drop his side. "Bokuto-san?" Bokuto could hear the concern in his voice, though nobody else would have probably noticed a difference between his concerned tone and his usual flat tone.
"Akaashi, did you miss me?"
Bokuto hadn't meant to ask the question, had meant just to keep it to himself and pretend the thought never occurred to him. But now it was out, and when he glanced up and saw Akaashi's expression he knew there was virtually no hope at all of him being able to take it back. He still tried anyway though. "Um, sorry, Akaashi, never mind, let's just get this net to the closet! Hey, you still have to shower after this and it's late, so we should probably hoot, huh? I mean, hurry. We should hurry, hey, hey, hey!" Bokuto laughed nervously. He had a habit of messing up his words when he was nervous or lying, and he could tell from the disapproving glare Akaashi gave him that he wasn't buying the cover up.
"Bokuto-san, what's wrong?" Akaashi finally dropped his side of the net and marched over towards him.
Bokuto swallowed. "Nothing, Akaashi! I'm great. Practicing with you was lots of fun today!"
Akaashi crossed his arms. Bokuto was so dead.
"Bokuto-san," he said, and Bokuto waited for the axe to fall, for the disapproving remark that would shame him to an early grave. But it didn't come. Instead, Akaashi just sighed quietly. "Of course I missed you. Why would you think otherwise?"
Bokuto looked down at his feet and shrugged. "I don't know…"
"Yes, you do, Bokuto-san. Stop lying. And look at people in the eye when you're talking to them."
Bokuto snapped his head up, forcing himself to make eye contact. He swallowed quickly before speaking. "Well, it's just that, um, you didn't really look excited to see me, and I thought that was just because your face doesn't really show much and stuff, but then I was thinking about it, and I couldn't tell if you really did miss me or if you were just humoring me today andsoiwasreallyworriedthatyoudidn'tmissmeatalland-"
Akaashi slapped a hand over his mouth. "You're an idiot,Bokuto-san," he said. "Of course I missed you." Then he removed his hand from Bokuto's mouth and hugged him.
Bokuto's eyes went wide. Akaashi was hugging him. Bokuto had tried to hug him twice that day, and both times he wouldn't let him. Why was Akaashi hugging him now?
"Ugh," Akaashi said, burying his head deeper into Bokuto's chest. "I can practically hear you thinking stupid thoughts. Stop."
Bokuto swallowed again and tentatively hugged Akaashi back, pulling him closer when Akaashi didn't make any complaint. "I missed you every day, Bokuto-san." Akaashi squeezed him around his middle, not looking up at him. His words were partially muffled in the fabric of Bokuto's sweaty shirt. "Practice is too quiet without you, and you weren't here to drag me out to do crazy things, and nobody ever yelled my name like you do or called my tosses perfect."
Bokuto hugged him tighter, resting his chin on Akaashi's head. "How rude! People should be more appreciative of you, Akaashi! Your tosses are perfect."
Akaashi chuckled into his chest. "Thank you, Bokuto-san, but I don't really care about getting compliments. I just like it when you're the one saying it." Bokuto blushed. "Last month," Akaashi said, pulling away from Bokuto so he could see his face, "I sent up a toss and called out 'Bokuto-san', but then you didn't spike the toss, and I remembered you were gone." Akaashi was definitely blushing when he looked up at Bokuto's face. "Don't you dare think I didn't miss you." Akaashi laughed a little self-deprecatingly. "I even missed your stupid emo-mode."
Bokuto smiled down at his setter, big and bright. "I missed you too, Akaashi! And not just because none of the setters at university are as good as you." Then he cupped the side of Akaashi's face, leaned down, and kissed him softly. It took him a moment, but Akaashi eventually kissed back. It was short and sweet and as perfect as Akaashi's tosses. No, more perfect.
Akaashi pulled away from the kiss first, and he looked at Bokuto with the first real, truly unguarded smile Bokuto had ever seen from him. "Come on, Bokuto-san. Let's finish putting everything away."
Bokuto nodded and they worked together to get it done. Akaashi showered real quick (it felt like forever, but it was only a few minutes), and then they were leaving the school, Bokuto walking Akaashi home before going to his parents' place. When they got to Akaashi's door, the setter turned to face him. "How much longer are you going to be here?"
"Only a week," Bokuto said with a pout. Then he perked back up. "But I'm going to come back to visit again after that too! Now that I know how much you miss me, I'll come back as often as I can."
Akaashi gave him a smile, though it was one of his guarded ones again. "That's good, Bokuto-san." He looked to see if anybody was around before standing up on his toes to press a quick peck to Bokuto's lips. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
Bokuto nodded, a dreamy grin on his lips. "Of course, Akashi! As if I could miss practice. Even if I can't play, I still like watching you."
Akaashi grinned. "Hmm. Then I'll see you then." Then Akaashi was entering his home, closing the door behind him.
Bokuto practically skipped all the way to his house. He really couldn't wait until tomorrow. Maybe Akaashi would set him some more tosses.
Maybe he'd even let him kiss him again.
Legit, as I was writing this I kept going, "Awe, Akaashi, I'm so proud of you!" or "Bokuto, you're such a dork, how are you so adorable?" Then I was like, "Dude, you're literally giving yourself feels, pull it together," and then Akaashi would do something else or Bokuto would be cute and the whole thing would start over again.
I got this idea from this pic: .
I don't know where it's from or who made it but I love it so much so I had to write a fic okay?
So what did you think? Comments make my world go round, in case you were wondering.
Hit me up on my Tumblr consciousdreamer102 so we can fangirl together about all things – BokuAka - and so much more!
Love ya, Frands!