It has been a month since Akaashi moved to Osaka. The dance crew has now started to put choreography together for an audition video to get a chance at the preliminaries. Tonight Akaashi has decided to study some dance videos that Sakusa recommended to him while enjoying a bowl of instant ramen. Luck isn't on his side tonight.
As soon as he settles down for the night, there is a power outage. Akaashi hasn't had time to get an inverter yet which means he has to wait until the power comes back on. Groaning, he decides to eat his food in the dark before it gets cold. He will have to watch those videos later.
He is almost done eating when there is a knock on his door. He knows that there can be only one person at the door and that's Bokuto. He hurries to open the door, forgetting that he still has noodles hanging off his mouth.
He opens the door to see Bokuto staring at him weirdly with the help of a flashlight. It's only then he realises about the noodles and swallows them awkwardly.
"Hey Akaashi, I didn't disturb you, did I? Somebody blew the fuse of the building so the electricity won't be back until morning. Do you want to go to the terrace, stargazing with me?" Bokuto asks nervously. He has a backpack with him.
"I would love that," Akaashi smiles at him. This is perfect; he won't have to stay alone in the dark for the rest of the night.
They live in a building that's almost on top of a hill. Adding to the fact that it rained earlier that day, it allows them to see faint stars in the sky that they would otherwise be unable to see. They make themselves comfortable with the help of a bedsheet and small cushions that Bokuto brought with him. They are settled on top of the water tank unit for a better view.
"It's not much but it's something," Bokuto says as he stares at the sky above them.
"Why did you want to come stargazing?" Akaashi is curious to know what prompted this decision.
"It feels like it's the right thing to do," Bokuto shrugs his shoulders like it is a perfectly acceptable reason to watch stars.
"You are weird, Bokuto-san," Akaashi comments. He finds Bokuto's brand of weirdness adorable.
"Is that so, Akaashi?" Bokuto looks amused. Akaashi can see that he is holding back on his laugh.
Akaashi nods his head. "It's okay because I am weird too, otherwise I wouldn't be here with you," he says completely deadpanned.
This time Bokuto doesn't stop his laugh, and neither does Akaashi. Soon their laughter is the only sound that surrounds them in their comfortable bubble.
"I almost forgot I got something for us to eat," Bokuto claims and digs through his bag. He pulls two bottles of chilled ice tea, bags of wasabi chips and four onigiris out of the bag. "Here," he offers half of the stuff to Akaashi before digging into his share.
Akaashi is touched by his thoughtfulness. Bokuto has put more thought into this hang out than Akaashi thought. He doesn't know what he did to have a guy like Bokuto in his life but he isn't going to complain. Instead, he wants to know more about the guy who has brightened up his life with his friendship.
"Bokuto-san, tell me about your college life," Akaashi wants to fill this comfortable silence between them with knowledge of their pasts. He wants them to take this unexpected opportunity to know more about each other.
"What do you want to know?" Bokuto asks him. He is munching on the chips.
"Everything," he replies, taking a swig of the ice tea. He truly wants to know everything he can learn about Bokuto.
"You already know that I moved to Osaka for culinary school, right? I met Suga during the orientation program. We were roommates during our whole college life before Suga moved out to live with Daichi. Suga and I had a blast experimenting with ingredients and creating new recipes," Bokuto tells him.
"Suga-san is your best friend, isn't he?" Akaashi comments. He has been observing them for the past month. Sometimes the easy friendship between the two makes him envious that he never had a friend like that before. That has now changed. He has many people he can count on in the future.
"Suga is like a brother from another mother to me. He has pulled me through some tough years of my life. I couldn't have finished culinary school without him," Bokuto admits but offers no further explanation.
Akaashi gets the impression that it's a tough topic that the older boy isn't ready to disclose yet. Surprisingly, it doesn't worry Akaashi. They would have time later to talk about it. "You must have messed up a lot in your classes," he instead changes the subject.
"You have no idea, Akaashi," Bokuto brightens up on the topic. "Once during our first year, I had this chef who was very strict about the recipes. He won't allow even a single minor change to it. I hated his class because I love adding my twist to the recipes. Once he asked us to make Dorayaki. I decided that I was going to add almond extract to the bean paste. He hated the dish I presented to him. He threw the whole thing out of the window. I barely passed his class." Bokuto is laughing as he tells him the story.
"My dance captain in my first year of college used to be like that too. He would set choreographies for the whole club and would expect us to follow them exactly. It didn't matter to him that we might not be comfortable doing a step or were weak. He never explained why we had to do it, just that we needed to do it to stay in the club. The club advisor had no idea how dance worked so he let the captain have free reign over us. Waiting for him to retire from the club was the most patience I ever had," Akaashi shares his own story.
"It must have been easy for you to have mastered those choreographies," Bokuto says.
"Bokuto-san, how can you say that? You have never even seen me dance," Akaashi blushes a little at the confidence shown in him.
"I just know, Akaashi, because I believe in your dance abilities," Bokuto replies. "I won't mind watching you dance someday," Bokuto has a frown on his face as if he has only just realised that he has indeed never seen Akaashi dance.
"You can visit the studio someday if you want. I am always dancing there," Akaashi offers, blushing.
"I will take you up on it someday," Bokuto promises. "What about you, Akaashi? What were your college days like?" Bokuto asks.
"Busy. I was always busy in college. If I wasn't reading novels for my program then I was dancing or in the library researching," Akaashi decides he will answer any question Bokuto has for him but he isn't going to mention anything about Kuroo. He isn't ready for that conversation yet.
"Novels?" Bokuto prompts. He has a confused look on his face.
"I studied literature in college," he explains.
"Why didn't you study dance?" Bokuto asks. He seems genuinely confused about this new information.
"I have been training in dance since I was six. It didn't feel right to go to college to learn things that I have already learned from different teachers. Besides, dance literature is my second passion. I love reading. It was the right major for me," he explains to Bokuto who is listening to him attentively.
"That's admirable of you, Akaashi. I can barely read a novel," Bokuto compliments him sincerely.
"Hardly," Akaashi scoffs playfully. "Did you only attend pastry classes in the culinary school or savoury ones, too? I don't know how these schools work," Akaashi asks.
"Both. I preferred the desserts because that's where my passion lies, but I enjoyed the savoury classes. I would need Suga-san's help and he would need my help in pastry classes. It was fun," Bokuto replies.
"I have never eaten a savoury dish made by you. You will have to cook for me someday," Akaashi says. He wants to try what Bokuto's savoury dishes would be like.
"I promise I will cook you dinner on our first taste test meet," Bokuto promises.
"I will be looking forward to that," Akaashi says. They had decided that they would meet on weekends for taste testing. The first taste testing is in two days.
"Why did you go to Waseda?" Bokuto asks him.
"Because that's where my boyfriend was studying," Akaashi thinks. "It was the best option out of all the colleges I considered," he lies to Bokuto. He feels guilty about lying, but he isn't yet ready to discuss the skeletons in his closet with Bokuto. "Why Osaka?" he returns the question.
"It's the best culinary school in the country." Bokuto replies. "And I needed to get away from Tokyo," Bokuto adds after a moment.
"Am I allowed to ask why?" Akaashi asks. He won't probe into the matter if Bokuto doesn't want to talk about it.
"My parents aren't supportive of my career choice. They think it's a waste of time. It was suffocating living with them. My sisters are the only ones who encouraged my passion. My Oba-san, my father's mother, told me to chase my dreams. She lives with Shinsuke in Hyogo. That's why I applied here," Bokuto admits.
"I am sorry that your parents didn't support your passion," he says. Akaashi doesn't even want to think about what he would have done if his parents weren't supportive of his career choice.
"It's not your fault, Akaashi. At least your parents are supportive, right?" Bokuto smiles at him. The smile didn't quite reach his eyes and it makes Akaashi's heart hurt for him.
"Yes, they are supportive of my career choice," he replies. Akaashi is beating himself mentally for even asking about it.
"Let me tell you another story from my college days," Bokuto says and just like the mood between them is light-hearted again.
"So Suga and I were practising how to make ramen for our finals. I was getting frustrated because I couldn't get the consistency of the noodles right. They were either cut too thin or kneaded too long. While Suga was making the most perfect noodles at each try. He was teasing me about it so I childishly dumped the whole container of the flour over his head. He in return dropped egg yolk on my head. It was so gross, Akaashi. We had a food fight that destroyed our whole house," Bokuto tells him excitedly.
"Gross," Akaashi mutters but he is smiling. He is happy that Bokuto is back to his normal self again.
"Did you have an experience that is crazy like that?" Bokuto asks curiously.
Akaashi takes a moment to consider there is a story that he can tell without giving away his relationship with Kuroo. "Once I had gone to a party hosted by a bunch of science nerds. For some reason, they thought that conducting a scientific experiment involved alcohol. I tried stopping them but neither of them listened to me. It was a disaster. Everyone present was covered in alcohol and the one who was experimenting almost blew his eyes out," he tells Bokuto.
Akaashi tries not to think about what had happened the next day after that party. He doesn't even know why he chose that party to tell Bokuto about from a whole lot of choices he had.
"That sounds dangerous. We never did anything that would have been dangerous except for that one time we almost set our house on fire," Bokuto muses.
"You almost set your house on fire?" Akaashi asks in disbelief.
"Yeah, we did. It was purely accidental. It was during our final year at the school. Both Suga and I were tired from all the cooking assignments we had to do. I don't remember who was supposed to look after the sugar syrup but both of us forgot about it. We left it on the stove and the syrup just evaporated and the vessel caught fire. Luckily Daichi was visiting Suga and he walked into the kitchen at the right moment and put off the fire," Bokuto sheepishly told him.
"Right, never let you or Suga-san into the kitchen when you are tired. Got it," Akaashi pretends to be serious.
"Like you are any better. Don't think I haven't noticed how you eat at the bakery most of the time instead of cooking at home," Bokuto playfully mocks him.
"At least I haven't tried to burn down my kitchen," he mocks back, earning a laugh out of Bokuto, which in turn makes him smile.
They continue talking about their various college adventures late into the night.
"I saw your flat was dark when I came to call you. You don't have an inverter yet, right? Will you be alright for the night? It's hot and humid tonight," Bokuto asks him as they make their way to their flats.
"I'll be fine, Bokuto-san. It's only one night," Akaashi assures him.
"You could sleep over at my place tonight. I might not have AC on for tonight but there is still a working fan," Bokuto offers.
Akaashi finds it weird that Bokuto has electricity at home yet he planned and spent the whole night out with Akaashi in the hot and humid weather. He can't think of any reason why Bokuto would give up the comfort of a fan for him. Maybe that's what best friends do right?
"I don't want to be a bother," he protests even though sleeping under a fan sounds like heaven right now considering how sweaty he would get inside his home. At least spending the night out was a better experience.
"I wouldn't have offered if I felt that you are going to be a burden. You can take the spare bedroom," Bokuto reassures him.
Akaashi bites his lower lip. He can feel his resolve melting before he finally gives in following Bokuto to his home. "If you insist."
Bokuto's flat is exactly like Akaashi imagined. Full of owl decorations scattered around the light-blue painted living room. Shelves full of cookbooks. A herb box sitting on the kitchen window. An odd plant here and there. The flat is filled with energy exactly like Bokuto's.
"This is your first time at my place, right?" Bokuto asks as he gets them glasses of water.
"Yes, it's exactly like you, Bokuto-san." He follows Bokuto around taking in the surroundings.
"Everyone says the same thing." Bokuto smiles at him and pushes the door open. "Right, this is the guest bedroom. You can use anything you want. Don't hesitate. Call me if you need something."
This time, Akaashi takes the initiative and hugs Bokuto tightly. The hug is reciprocated with the same intensity. "Thank you for tonight. Goodnight, Bokuto-san," he murmurs into Bokuto's ears.
"Anything for you. Goodnight," Akaashi can feel Bokuto smile into his hair.