Summary: Bokuto's weakness number four and its cure.
A/N: Why create an OC when you already have a character you know nothing about (At least, that's what I thought while writing this)
Disclaimer: I don't own Haikyu, just the idea.
Number Four
Bokuto Koutarou was a Captain, an elite player and one of the top five renowned Aces of the nation. He was loud and carefree and energetic to boot. He liked attention and thrived on it. Always one to joke around and head completely emersed in Volleyball, he was simpleton of a person. But above all, he was that guy whose enthusiasm was contagious; on court, he influenced not only his team mates' spirits but even the opponents fired up just by looking at him.
But not today.
Today, he was completely off his game.
Fukurodani was not new to their ace's Emo Mode, they had a perfect backup strategy ready to be implemented when that moment came. It wasn't a team solely led by the Ace; it was a team that made way for the Ace to shine. But today even that doesn't seem to be the case.
Akaashi silently observed the motions Bokuto was going through, surely this one was an updated version of Bokuto's emo mode. He though back to what could have brought this up – he wasn't able get any spike in today, but that was because he seemed distracted. Nothing happened in the match that could be labelled as distracting and if Akaashi was right, the source was somewhere off the court. After another missed hit, Akaashi waited for the over-the-top reaction over the miss, but it never came. In turn, Bokuto only sighed and sulked in the corner while the other team prepared to serve.
The rest third years looked at each other and then at Akaashi, all of whom were equally confused.
"What's going on? I can't think of anything that could get him this down" Akaashi said, his voice carrying unusual panic, a million possibilities running through his head trying to pinpoint the cause of the disaster, but he couldn't find one!
"Akaashi, calm down. Let us handle this." Komi patted his back and the third years looked at one other and nodded. Konoha turned to the sulking Captain,
"Yo Ace! We really need to you get in a few spikes" He smiled
"Show us one of those awesome uber cut shots, the one that goes woosh and then bam!" Sarukui added
"C'mon Captain, the whole audience is waiting for you." Washio said.
But, unlike many instances before; this time they got no response from their Captain. In turn, it gave a complete opposite effect; Bokuto's shoulders hunched even more and Akaashi could see the slightest sheen of moisture in his eyes.
The instance Akaashi caught that, his eyes turned to their coach, who wasted no time in calling a time-out.
"Bokuto-San, what's the matter? Are you okay?" Akaashi asked him as soon as they were off the court, others looking expectedly.
"I'm sorry." Was all Bokuto said and sat on the bench, pulling his knees up he buried his head in it. He was closing on himself; not good.
Yes, Bokuto had closed up on them before, but never during a match. Not even in a practice match like this; add to that – no one being able to understand what brought this upon, not even Akaashi.
Akaashi was one of the few people who could get Bokuto out of his slum anytime, he could predict every move of Bokuto – a skill he developed over the two years of being on the same team as Bokuto & being his right-hand man. While everyone on the team adored and cherished the Ace, they often got irritated and were done with his antics and mood shift. Only Akaashi entertained them and was able to keep up with the over energetic Captain. So, a situation where even he couldn't understand Bokuto was a rare sight & downright scary. Plus, the only other person who would usually help Akaashi manage the owl-head was not there.
Their time was running out, so the coach decided to let Bokuto rest this game and the others to continue without him. As it happened, Bokuto never came out of his slum the whole match. Though Fukurodani did win the match, it would have been thousand times easier with Bokuto on court. They need to do something and that too quick; the Nationals were not even two weeks away.
The ride back to college was a silent one, heavy tension looming over everyone. They were aware the situation was dire, after the match they tried to joke around and cheer up Bokuto, but as that attempt resulted in failure, things turned quiet.
When they returned back, Coach gave a small brief and they got to do their stretching's. Akaashi looked around searching for Bokuto when he was done, but he wasn't anywhere around. Confused, he searched the whole gym without any luck.
"Suzumeda-san, do you know where Bokuto-San is?" He asked the manager, she gave him a sad smile and motioned to the store-room
"Under the table" was all she said and left with the towels to be washed.
Akaashi reached the store-room and surely there was Bokuto, balled-up under a table with his face turned the other side, to the wall. It pained Akaashi to see him, someone he considered his best-friend like that.
"Bokuto-San," He softly called "please come out of there"
He received no reply.
"We won't know what's wrong until you tell us, Bokuto-San." He tried again. He crouched down by the table calling his senior again. He thought through all the weaknesses, from one through forty-two, but he couldn't place this one anywhere, and that was frustrating Akaashi to no end.
"Oh, there you are, Akaashi!" Another voice called as their other Manager entered the store-room. "I was searching for you all over, ya know" Yukie said as she came towards the duo, then completely disregarding the sulking teen she settled in front of Akaashi with her back to the wall. The only indication she gave that she was aware of their Captain was the side glance she threw to her right as she settled.
"Sit comfortably will you" She laughed as she set her bag between them.
"Shirofuku-san, Bo–" He started, but Yukie cut him off. Clearly keeping him from bringing up Bokuto, making Akaashi frown.
"So, Kaori told me I will find you here. Congrats on the win, by the way" She then brought a box out of that bag and removed the bag from the middle, now replacing it with the big brown chocolate box.
"I missed the game man! Konoha was telling about how he was awesome today and score almost half of the points" She laughed, but the stare she gave him prompted him to go along with whatever she was doing, for it seemed she had a motive with all this.
"Yes" His eyes drifted to Bokuto, thinking to mention that was only because Bokuto was out of action, but decided against it. "Suzumeda-san mentioned you had some important matters to attend, is everything okay?"
"Ah! I'm completely fine. Just that my Mom returned from Singapore after almost a month, so I had to be there to welcome her." She relaxed against the wall, a distant smile on her face "I missed her so much."
"It must be lonely living by yourself all the while" Akaashi turned to her again.
"Eh, not much. I get so tired running after you boys all day and late evening that I barely am standing when I reach home, so I have energy just enough to eat my dinner and then get to bedroom" She then sat up straight and shook the box in front of her "But the best part! My mom got the best Chocolates from Singapore! And she got enough to last whole month"
"Wow" Akaashi was truly amazed "But is it healthy to have that much sugary sweets?"
"Don't you worry" She then opened the packing "Here take one, it's the melty type one, those that melt as soon as you eat them, creamy and all"
Hesitating for a minute, he took one of the many small wrappings from the box
"I brought two boxes, one for everyone to share and this one was exclusively for Bokuto." Yukie casually said, helping herself to one too.
Akaashi's eyes widened and his hand stopped from throwing the delicacy in his mouth; his gaze then snapped to Bokuto who was still in the same position, albite his shoulders seemed a bit tensed now. Yukie motioned him to go on from across him, as she set the box a bit towards her right; noticeably closer to the remainder of the trio.
"But he doesn't seem to want to talk with anyone and Komi said he was sulking again today." She continued, "Oh well, his loss and I get more. I would've felt bad if I ate all these alone so thank you for helping me clean these off" she smirked at the second-year, and Akaashi had a flashback of Kuro's smirk – one he had after a successful taunt.
"It's not like he would ever find out. I'm not telling him, so you also keep mum about it, kay?" Yukie was thoroughly enjoying this, challenging him to play along.
"You know, Bokuto-San would eventually find out, whether we tell him or not?" Akaashi replied with a raised eyebrow.
"He won't" Yukie ate another chocolate, maximizing the noise of opening the wrapper. Her eyes drifted again to checked on Bokuto, who was growing more & more tense by each passing minute.
"Anyway, completely off topic" She leaned a bit forward, as if to share a secret "Did you know Miss Nobi got engaged?"
This caught both the boys off-guard, and as much as shocked he on his own was, Akaashi noticed Bokuto turning his head towards the girl in front of them, she successfully caught his attention; & she knew it by how her smirk grew larger.
"For real?" Akaashi asked, his voice clearly indicating surprise.
"Ehh, I didn't expect this reaction from you too, Akaashi" Yukie giggled and again offered him the chocolates; after he took one, she then placed the box further to right.
"It's not like what you think Shirofuku-san" He shrugged "She is the one teacher who almost every teenager in this school is head-over-heels for. With due respect, she is the hot topic of the school."
Yukie laughed at that, one that sounded almost villainous to Akaashi
"One of the first-year class caught her ring when she was explaining some boring para this morning and the news spread like wildfire. I had around four people coming to me bawling their eyes out about her being taken, since I came to school today & that's not even an hour. Oh, the sweet sound of cries of agony from all those boys and girls, She really broke all those hearts" Yukie giggled as she ate yet another chocolate.
A very small moment caught Akaashi's eyes
"I don't understand why is she so famous?" Akaashi asked, ignoring the slowly moving hand towards the chocolate box. "I mean yes, she is good looking and all, but she has a nasty temper and she doesn't even teach that well"
"Pff, she apparently has a very colourful social media handle." Yukie shrugged, tossing him one wrapped chocolate; the progressing arm retreated "And are you really surprised people going for mindless beauty?"
"You don't like her very much, do you Shirofuku-san?" Akaashi asked as he ate the sweet. As far as he knows Yukie, she never spoke about anyone with spite; yes, she was a devil in her own ways but she was a very kind devil.
"Not one bit & I have a very justifiable reason for it" She huffed
"And that is?" Akaashi asked amazed for two reasons, one there was sure some interesting story behind his senior's dislike towards their English teacher & second how did the said senior was able to get their airhead captain out of his sulking spot; because Bokuto was now out from below the table and a few feet away from the two, eyes completely focused on the box.
"She only is pretty face" Yukie started frowning, either she was completely obvious to the moments beside her or she was very good at ignoring them; and considering who it was, Akaashi decided it was latter.
"It was in our first year, the first term exams we gave she had failed us. The whole passage-based questions and grammar was given zero." She was fuming "I would have accepted failing if I was wrong, but I wasn't. I have been learning and speaking English as long as I have Japanese, there was no way I had them wrong. When I pointed it out and asked for revaluation, she flipped and got mad. The small thing got turned into such a mess, it went till vice-principle"
"That bad?"
"The worst, she just won't accept she had the wrong understanding of the whole passage itself."
"Then what happened?"
"What was there to happen, My mom came in, being an ambassador who knows English fluently, she checked the whole paper on her own. got one of her teacher friends to review it too and we proved her assessment was wrong." She shrugged
"How is she still in school?" Akaashi was clearly confused, "Shouldn't the school have gotten rid of such faculty?"
"What did I say about mindless beauty? She was given a warning, that's all" Yukie sighed "The rest of the year she kept glaring at me and Bokuto" She then turned to the said boy "It was irritating, right Bokuto?"
He looked like an owl caught in headlights, wide eyes and about to eat to a chocolate from the box, which was now almost empty. Registering the question asked, he gave a small nod to the two and grabbed another chocolate.
If Akaashi was surprised to see him, he didn't show.
"Bokuto-San too? Why?" He asked, eyes still on the boy who seemed to be already done with half the chocolate box.
"Because we studied together before exam and had almost similar answers. She had to revise both of our results" She giggled & then poked Bokuto "Though Bokuto thought her glares were sexy and made a fool of himself in front of her many times"
"Yukippe!" Bokuto whined with wide eyes "You promised you won't tell anyone!"
"It's just Akaashi here" She laughed. Bokuto then turned to Akaashi,
"Promise me you won't tell this to anyone" He looked at the setter. All Akaashi could do was smile and nod, things were looking brighter now. A moment of silence passes and Akaashi heaved a sigh of relief.
"So, what was it this time?" Yukie shuffled a bid to accommodate Bokuto next to her and jumped straight to the main problem.
No! He was just getting out of it Akaashi thought as a look of horror came upon his face. Bokuto on other hand looked down ashamed, not uttering a single word.
"You know staying silent won't help anything here." Yukie pressed "You worried everyone, Akaashi here the most"
"I'm sorry Akaashi" Bokuto's voice was small "I'm sorry for worrying everyone like this and ruining the match for everyone"
"That's now important Bokuto-San, we only wanted to know what was wrong. We only wanted you to share your problem with us." Akaashi explained
Silence fell over them all, it seemed Bokuto wasn't going to tell what's wrong
"I'm cashing it now" Yukie suddenly said. Akaashi looked at her confused but Bokuto understood exactly what she was saying.
"No, you are not!" He exclaimed in disbelief, his first over-reaction of the day.
"Yes. I am." She nodded in affirmation "I'm cashing in that favour now, tell me what's going on in your head & I want truth, all of it."
"Yukippe"
"Didn't you say I could use this one favour any time, and even if I asked you for your life, you would give it if I cash this in?" She raised her eyebrow at him, reminding him of the exact words he told her more than two years ago, the words he spoke when she had taken care of him while he was down with a serious fever and had no one around to look after him. It was not an obligation, but a kind act from a friend; an incidence after which a volleyball player and their team manager became best-friends.
"But -" Bokuto stopped seeing her glare. He turned to Akaashi for help, who just raised his hands; he did not want to get on the wrong side of Shirofuku-san, she was scary. Plus, it will get the Bokuto to spill the beans; so, Akaashi did not see any reason to intervene.
Giving Akaashi a betrayed look, Bokuto faced Yukie again and mumbled something.
"Louder Bokuto, I can't hear a thing" Yukie told him, leaning towards him
"I…" He started again, paused for a moment and then looked at her again "I had a nightmare" His voice barely audible.
Akaashi blinked a few times, let few seconds pass to register what Bokuto just said.
"What was it about?" He asked, scooting in close to the two.
"It's nothing much" Bokuto gave them both a big smile, but his eyes betrayed him.
"Of course, it's something. It's been bothering you" Yukie took his tightly clenched fists in her hand and loosened them. "You can trust us for this one. We promise we won't tell anyone"
"I… it… I'm not completely sure what it was all about" He started, now tightly holding Yukie's hand as he remembered his nightmare "We were all playing the match one minute and the next the whole court was empty, and I –" Bokuto took a deep breadth
Without him completing the sentence, other two knew what it was that had disturbed Bokuto.
Bokuto-San's weakness number four; he was afraid to lose his friends. Akaashi thought. It all made sense to him now, why Bokuto was so distracted even before the match, him staying quite so as not to irritate them and make them leave, him almost tearing down when the third years said they needed him.
"It was all dark there, I was calling you all but no one answered. I tried practicing on my own too, but the ground was breaking and it's all a mess in my head but I clearly remember the dreaded feeling of being all alone." A tear slipped out of his eyes, "When I woke up it was 5 A.M., Gramps always says the dreams of early morning come true. I don't want this one to come true, not now, not ever!"
"Bokuto-San, no one is going anywhere. It was just a dream." Akaashi gave him a small smile, holding his own tears at the sight of Bokuto.
"But that's going to happen!" Bokuto replied stubbornly, the precious drops of water were now free flowing from his eyes "We only have two months together and this Nationals will be our last tournament. You all will go your own way and I –" and I will be forgotten He mentally added, a sob leaving his mouth. All of them had decided what they wanted to do; he was the only one who was going to go pro. He knew exactly how these scenarios played out, they will try and meet initial few years, then all with get busy with their own lives and the meets will be few and far in between until they become none.
His thoughts took a halt when he felt two smaller arms wrapped around him, pulling him in a bear hug.
"Idiot. You simply are Idiot." Yukie chastised him sniffing, "You are stuck with us Horned Owl Head, nothing can get you rid of us. You will either have to get us all killed or irritate us enough to kill you; other than that, go anywhere around the globe you want, we will find you."
Speechless, Bokuto looked at Akaashi only to find him wiping the corner of his eyes. You guys… Bokuto then welcomed the hug; Silly me, what was I even thinking!
"You know how?" Yukie asked, not able to utter a syllable he only shook his head no, Yukie chuckled through tears "Because you are so damn loud. Even your indoor voice is enough to let whole Japan know where you are."
"You are exaggerating!" Bokuto wiped his tears off with one hand, head resting on Yukie's shoulder. He looked at Akaashi "Did I use this word right?"
Akaashi chucked and gave a small node, his eyes again watering up. "Yes. And Shirofuku-san is right, you are way too loud"
"You are supposed to take my side, Akaashi!" Bokuto pouted
"You will be that Ace, who everyone loves." Akaashi continued, looking in a distance – already imagining the big stage their Ace will shine on. "The world will know how great our Ace is, and then we will brag about how much pain in ass you were and how we put up with all your antics. So, what if you never managed to reach top three in high school, you will be number one soon enough" He smirked at Bokuto after the last sentence.
"It's okay, Bokuto. We don't mind whether you are number one or number four" Yukie patted his back and unentangled herself from him. "We will always be proud of our simpleton owl head" She teased
"Evil! You guys are Evil reincarnated." He huffed and then grabbed the forgotten chocolate box, quickly popping one of the last few delicacies in his mouth
"Remember Kou" Yukie cupped his face and stared into his eyes, for a few seconds Bokuto felt she was able to look into his soul with that gaze "No matter what, you will never be alone. Even if there are thousands of miles between us, We will always be with you. And I'm not only talking about me or Akaashi; this is on behalf of every single person from FVC. All you have to do, is believe that we've got your back" She smiled at him. Akaashi nodded in agreement from beside her.
Tearing up again, Bokuto looked completely awestruck "That was such a cool thing to say, Yukippe"
"So, all good now?" She asked him earnest.
Bokuto knew it was his fight to get rid of all the unnecessary thoughts that had plagued him since he woke up till now, these people believed in him and always were there for him, they came this far for him; now it was his turn to completely defeat his own thought process (one that was clearly wrong). If his friends have got his back, he should become worth it.
"Yeah" He nodded at them both, a genuine smile gracing his lips that made the other two reciprocate with their own smiles.
"C'mon, I think we should get going now, its late & everyone will be waiting for the verdict." Yukie dusted her hands and got up, then forwarded one hand to help Bokuto up, who took the chocolate box and then the offered hand.
"They are still waiting?" Akaashi asked as he got up
"At least they told me they will be waiting; we will have to go and check" Yukie shrugged.
"Then what are we waiting for!" Bokuto exclaimed, energy surging through him to the surrounding and ran to the door, he stopped just before exiting and turned to the "And I still remember you ate my share of chocolates Akaashi, Yukippe! I want two of these boxes tomorrow as a compensation for eating them in front of me"
"How is it my fault that you were sulking to boot?" Yukie asked amazed
"No take backs, you said these were for me – now I want two" Bokuto then proceeded to pull his tongue out and ran from there.
Yukie and Akaashi stood there for a few minutes looking at the departing Ace's back.
"He still isn't completely convinced" Yukie said after a beat
"Yeah" Akaashi nodded "But now we at least know what to look for in future"
"He is a mystery, eh?" Yukie chucked "I feel bad that we leave it to you to deal with him most of the time, but you do a fabulous job; so, it can't be helped."
"I can never completely understand him, all I can do is make the most of information we have" Akaashi then turned to her "Thank you for getting him back to normal. I had no idea how to deal with Bokuto-San when he is silent; a loud and obnoxious one is manageable but a silent one is scary" Yukie only laughed at that.
"C'mon, let's go" And so they left to join the others.
Outside the gym, everyone was waiting for the trio to come. Or at least one of Yukie or Akaashi, so they can ask what exactly the matter was.
"They are taking way too long. This is the longest he is been in his Emo Mode" Konoha voiced out everyone's thoughts
"They better cheer him up, the nationals are just round the corner" Komi huffed as he checked the watch again
"Can't be helped, if anyone can do anything in this situation; then it definitely is a box of chocolate" Washio said "Add the words 'specially for Bokuto' & he is done for"
"It must be nice being such a simpleton" Kaori chuckled.
"Hey Hey Hey!" A loud voice startled them all, that was soon followed by none other than their captain; behind him were the other two. "You guys are not tired just yet are you! C'mon cheer up" He patted Konoha on the back
"And he is back" They all smiled, relieved to have the normal Bokuto back.
.
.
.
"We are going to nationals, we should celebrate"
"Didn't we celebrate that long ago?"
"Why not? Let's celebrate it again, after all Bokuto-San is paying"
"Hey! When was that decided?"
"Just now, Let's go! let's go! let's go! There is this new place that opened just last week I wanted to try"
"I don't mind it"
"I'm also in"
"So, everyone is in. C'mon Bokuto, the practice had me low on crab"
"I never agreed to it!"
"Too bad, we didn't ask."
"Bahahaha"
"Evil! You guys are Evil!"
Fin!