Chapter 6: Pieces
"I know we've only known each other for a few days. But I think I love you."
Akaashi smiled slightly and said softly. "I think I love you too."
"Yeah?" asked Bokuto, feeling joy rise in his chest.
"Yeah," said Akaashi, feeling a calmness come over him he had never felt before.
They leaned in for a sweet, soft kiss and then Bokuto pulled Akaashi in to snuggle up against him. "I have team training early tomorrow morning, but will you stay with me tonight?"
"Yes," breathed Akaashi. "I will." I'll stay with you forever, Kotaro, he thought to himself, though he didn't dare say the words out loud, for fear of being pegged as some needy, crazy stalker freak. Bokuto, resting his cheek on Akaashi's soft, black hair, smiled widely and hugged him tighter. They fell asleep not long after.
"Keiji?" whispered Bokuto softly as he sat on his bed next to a peacefully sleeping Akaashi. "Keiji? Hey, I've gotta go." Akaashi moaned slightly as he stirred and tried to wake up enough to process the words he was hearing. He opened his eyes to see Bokuto sitting next to him, gently ruffling his hair.
"Bokuto-san, what time is it?"
"It's before eight o'clock. I've got to go to training but it will only be a couple of hours. Will you stay until I get back? Please?"
Akaashi, still half asleep, smiled weakly. "Of course."
Bokuto's grin widened. "Okay, great. So, um, since your shirt from last night is kind of ruined, I left you a shirt on the dresser by your phone. You can keep it... If you want to." Bokuto was blushing slightly and looking at him sheepishly, though Akaashi didn't quite understand why.
"Thank you, Bokuto-san."
"I'll be back in a couple of hours, okay? You're not going to leave, right?"
"I'm not going to leave. I promise."
"Bye, Kaashi," said Bokuto with another bright smile. Then he placed a chaste kiss on Akaashi's forehead and left. Akaashi went back to sleep.
He woke a while later and felt much more alert. It took him a minute to adjust to his surroundings, but then he remembered last night and grinned from ear to ear at the ceiling. He lay in the big bed for a while just remembering everything (sigh) and also taking inventory. He was a little sore and a little tired, but not too bad. And he definitely was in a good enough mood to override any of those minor complaints.
He got up to use the bathroom and decided to shower while he was in there. He came out with a fluffy white towel around his waist and figured he should check his phone and email in case any important work issues had come up. He walked to the dresser where he left his phone, and found it sitting on top of a black shirt. He didn't pay much attention to the garment at first, but picked up his phone to check for anything he needed to deal with. He sent a couple of quick email replies while still standing and decided that everything else could wait.
He replaced the phone back on the dresser, this time next to the shirt, and looked around for his boxers and pants. Oh, there they were. He smiled again, recalling with pleasure and a bit of heat, how they had been removed for him last night. He shucked his boxers back on and found what was left of his poor shirt. That too, made him smile like a goofy, smitten school girl. He tossed it in a trash can and went back to retrieve the shirt Bokuto had left for him.
At first he thought it was just a black t-shirt but picking it up, he noticed it was one of Bokuto's old practice jerseys. On the front was MSBY and number 12; on the back was "BOKUTO" and number 12. Akaashi again grinned like a lunatic. These little things that Bokuto did, just small things really, made him catch his breath. He really had it bad, he admitted to himself. Head over heels, madly, desperately in love like he had never been before. The feeling made him happy and excited, but he also felt … content. Fulfilled. Like something that had been missing in him had finally just snapped into place, filling a hole.
It was odd, he thought, pulling the too large shirt over his head, but nice. He inspected himself in the mirror and thought to himself that he looked good in Bokuto's shirt. It was really loose on him and practically hid his boxers underneath. He had originally planned to put pants on, but after a very short and somewhat naughty deliberation, decided that Bokuto would like it if he skipped the pants. So he made his way to the kitchen in his half-dressed state to find something to eat while he waited for his lover to return.
Bokuto returned not long after, still wearing a wide smile and looking as handsome as ever. He apparently had showered at the gym because his hair was still wet, the white and black strands brushing over his eyebrows. Just the way Akaashi liked it. He greeted his houseguest with a big hug and a swift kiss on the lips.
"I really like you wearing my shirt," he whispered into Akaashi's ear, still holding him close.
"Yeah?" teased Akaashi. "I guess I could wear it for you sometimes."
"Man, I would love to take it off you right now, and everything else. Are you wearing anything else?" He looked down but failed to make out the boxers under the oversized shirt. "Shit. But I can't. Game tonight. Gotta stay fresh." He looked almost apologetically at the dark-haired male, who blushed slightly. He wasn't used to talking about sex so early in the morning, but figured he could get used to it if he woke up to this every morning.
They spent the next few hours doing nothing special at all, just hanging out, talking, eating, whatever. It wasn't awkward at all, just easy and comfortable, almost as if they had done this a hundred times before.
They were sitting on the sofa just content to talk and touch each other casually when Akaashi felt the need to bring up something he knew would be an unpleasant interruption to their cozy afternoon. "I am going back to Tokyo tomorrow. In the afternoon." He said it sadly and a bit cautiously, not really knowing what was going to happen between them. Bokuto was quiet for a moment, processing the information. Of course he knew that Akaashi was just visiting Kageyama and Hinata and that he didn't live in Osaka, but somehow he had convinced himself to put aside that very real, very pertinent fact. Now it was unavoidable. He didn't know what Akaashi wanted, but he knew what he wanted. And he was going to put it out there, put himself out there, for better or for worse.
"I want to keep seeing you," he said, turning to the other male, almost hesitantly, afraid of what the response might be. But then Akaashi smiled and the breath Bokuto was holding slowly leaked from his chest.
"I'd like that too. But it will be hard," added Akaashi as a way of transitioning into the DTR talk. He wouldn't normally initiate the discussion so early in a relationship but him leaving the next day to go live in a city 500 kilometers away kind of made it necessary.
"Can you come on weekends?" asked Bokuto.
"I should be able to, most weeks. It's only a few hours on the bullet train," he reasoned. "And can you come to Tokyo sometimes?"
"Yes! If I'm not traveling with the team," replied Bokuto.
"And we can facetime and text and talk anytime, right?"
"Right," exclaimed Bokuto. But then his smile waned a bit. "It's not the same, though."
"I know," said Akaashi softly. "So… do you want to try it? See how it goes?"
Without hesitation, Bokuto answered, "Yes, definitely. I don't care if it's hard. I want to be with you."
"So, are we … exclusive then?" asked Akaashi tentatively. Fuck, you better say yes, or so help me God...
"I want to be. Do you?" Bokuto's golden eyes looked up, something akin to fear in his gaze.
"Yes, I want to," Akaashi returned reassuringly, himself vastly relieved at the other's response. Whew.
"So Akaashi Keiji is my boyfriend?"
"Yes he is. And Bokuto Kotaro is my boyfriend."
"I like the sound of that," grinned Bokuto, pulling him in closer as they nestled together on the sofa.
"Me too," responded Akaashi quietly and then they both grinned like fools and carried on with their afternoon.
Later when Bokuto had to leave for the volleyball match, Akaashi took the train back to Kageyama's and Hinata's house. Bokuto was initially a little concerned, "Are you sure you're okay taking the train by yourself?"
Akaashi was touched, but also a tiny bit offended, at his boyfriend's question. "I'm a grown man and perfectly capable of traveling by myself, Bokuto-san." He added a half-smile so Bokuto would not think he was angry. They kissed goodbye and promised to see each other after the game.
When Akaashi entered his business partner's house, said partner was sitting on the sofa tapping away at his laptop. Kageyama looked up to see Akaashi and smirked when he saw him wearing Bokuto's shirt. He leaned back, casually, because he just HAD to give his friend a hard time about this.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here? SOMEONE spent the night with a professional athlete and came home WEARING HIS CLOTHES."
Akaashi felt his face turn red, but he didn't really care. It was just Kageyama, after all, and they had been the closest of friends for years. "Yeah, so? Don't you ever wear your husband's shirts? Wait, scratch that, they probably don't fit you."
Kageyama chuckled softly. "True. But I'd wear them if I could, I suppose. So, everything good?" he asked.
Akaashi couldn't help but smile again (man, it seemed like all he did was smile since he met his handsome boyfriend). "Yeah. Everything is good. Really good," he said, plopping himself in a chair next to Kageyama.
His friend smiled. "I'm glad. Hinata had a feeling you two would hit it off. But, what about, you know, when you go back?"
For a moment, Akaashi looked out of the window rather than his friend. "We're going to try the long distance thing. We talked about it today." Turning back to his business partner, he added, "We'll see how it goes."
"That's great, Akaashi. I'm happy for you two."
"Yeah. I'm happy for me too," Akaashi added softly, somewhat embarrassed.
"You're still going with me and Natsu to the match tonight, right?"
"Yes, definitely," replied Akaashi. "I'll probably … er… spend the night at Bokuto's again."
Kageyama only smirked, but didn't make any wise-ass reply. "Okay. We'll leave around six."
The game was exciting and loud as expected. Again, Akaashi could not help but feel his chest swell with love and pride at his BOYFRIEND on the court. The crowd loved Bokuto and he loved the crowd. He demanded their attention and they gave it to him willingly, cheering for him and chanting his name. He was so stunning, in so many ways. And, Akaashi thought with more than a tiny bit of satisfaction, he belongs to ME.
Despite his attempts to focus on the game itself, his mind kept going back again to Bokuto's hot body and how fucking incredible it felt to touch it. All those bulging hard-as-rocks muscles, all that hot skin, those thighs. Fuck, he was starting to get hard in an arena with thousands of people around. Focus on the game. Who is serving? What is the score? Oh, wow, look at Bokuto's arms when he hit that spike. Wait, focus on the game. They're behind. Shit, does his ass look amazing from up here or what? And on and on. By the third set, Akaashi was more than ready to go home and jump on his boyfriend again.
Their opponent gave MSBY a tough run and the third set went to deuce. Unfortunately, MSBY ended up losing, and the three spectators were understandably disappointed, as were the players they met after the match. Bokuto and Akaashi greeted each other with a big hug and kiss.
"You were amazing to watch, Bokuto-san. I'm sorry you lost."
"Yeah, that was a tough loss. But you thought I was amazing, huh?" he teased.
Akaashi planted a kiss on his cheek and replied, "Yes, you were." Then he leaned to whisper seductively in the ace's ear. "You made me all hot and bothered looking at your perfect body and all the things it can do." Bokuto was a bit shocked but also immensely pleased and yeah, okay, turned on. He chuckled and grinned like mad, then kissed Akaashi's lips. They continued soft back-and-forth banter unaware of anything but each other as the other three looked on with varying degrees of amusement. Finally, Natsu couldn't take it anymore.
"Damn, you two. I thought Shoyo and Tobio were bad!" Akaashi and Bokuto both blushed, but did not stop holding hands.
"I'm going to go home with Bokuto," Akaashi said, unnecessarily since everyone had figured out the two were not going to willingly separate from each other any time soon. The group soon parted ways, making their way to their respective homes.
Both men were sending unambiguous signals throughout their brief trip from the arena to the apartment. A light touch on a thigh, a gentle caress of a hand, an arm around a shoulder, bodies close, words quiet, excitement and anticipation building steadily. By the time they made it back to the apartment, both were at their limits of restraint.
Bokuto clumsily managed the key in the lock, opened the door with more force than necessary, dropped his bag, and drew his boyfriend through the door by his wrist, closing the door and pinning him to it. With a hand on either side of Akaashi's head, he inspected his lover's gorgeous eyes for a split second before attacking him with a wet sloppy kiss. Akaashi moaned at the feeling of that hard body trapping him and felt a little breathless with his chest unable to expand fully and the air being sucked from his mouth.
Bokuto finally came up for air, grabbed Akaashi's hair in his fist and pulled to gain better access to his neck. At the same time he began biting, he roughly pushed his body to grind against the shorter male, who was now panting and gasping for breath.
Bokuto stopped abruptly, suddenly realizing he might be hurting his partner. "Okay?" he asked, looking up into his boyfriend's dark blue eyes. Akaashi said nothing, but he didn't need to. Bokuto could read the look just fine by now.
He chuckled a bit. "I think my boyfriend likes it a little rough. Is that right, Keiji?" Akaashi just stared into those honey eyes and raised an eyebrow.
"Fuck," said Bokuto harshly, as he grabbed Akaashi's arm and dragged him to the bedroom. This was becoming a habit, dragging his boyfriend to his bed in a state of unchecked desire.
He pushed Akaashi onto the bed and came down over him, not being one bit gentle or careful. All Bokuto could think was he wanted this, no NEEDED this, more than he had ever needed anything before. Akaashi was running both hands through the ace's still wet hair and kissing him back with abandon with only two words on repeat through his head: Now. More. NOW!
[A/N: MA content removed. To read the whole story, including MA content, head over to AO3 under the same user name drd12114]
For a moment, they stayed in the same position, neither having the will or the energy to move. Bokuto came to his senses first, realizing that his hands had dug so harshly into Akaashi's hips that bruises were already forming. He immediately felt regret.
"Shit, Keiji, are you okay? Was I too rough?" he asked, slowly pulling out and realizing belatedly that he had forgotten a condom. "Shit," he swore silently at the mess, but then laid next to his boyfriend and pulled him close. "Keiji?" he asked again.
Akaashi was still trying to catch his breath, but finally, with effort, he opened his eyes to look at his partner's concerned face. "I'm fine, Ko. Better than fine." Relieved, Bokuto smiled softly and kissed Akaashi's forehead, holding him close, neither caring about the mess at that moment. They stayed that way for several minutes, just listening to the beating of the other's heart and the sound of air escaping their lungs. It was blissful.
Eventually they rose and showered together, but it was all soft kisses and sighs and gentle touches. Bokuto cleaned up the bed and they laid down again, both exhausted and spent, with Bokuto on his back and Akaashi cuddled up to his side, one leg thrown over the ace's knees. They remained in this comfortable position, each lost in thought and feeling overwhelmed with love in that moment.
Finally, Bokuto broke the silence. "Akaashi, why are you still single? I mean, I would think a guy like you, smart and rich and good looking, would have been snatched up by now."
Akaashi laughed softly at the question, then pondered for a moment before answering. He spoke softly into his boyfriend's chest. "I suppose it's because I never let anyone get too close," he admitted, a bit embarrassed by the truth. Bokuto didn't respond, just sort of nodded slightly and continued to think.
Akaashi turned the tables, "And what about you Bokuto-san? I could say the same for you? Why has no one snatched up this super hot, rich pro-athlete yet?" Bokuto also paused for a minute, choosing his words with care.
"I've had a couple of serious relationships. But then, things … seem to happen. And then it ends." He sounded so sad that Akaashi didn't want to pry any further. He just nodded in understanding and placed a soft kiss on the ace's chest.
"Well, I'm glad no one got you before me," he said with a slight smile, trying to lighten the mood. Bokuto chuckled. "Same, my love." Akaashi felt a little heat rise to his face when he heard the endearment come from his lover's lips. He thought to himself he could really, really, get used to … this. All this. Everything. As long as it was with HIM.
"I don't want you to leave tomorrow," Bokuto said with regret, and he couldn't help that his voice hitched a little at the end.
"I don't want to leave. But I'll be back soon. Or you can come see me." Bokuto nodded but felt like a piece of him was leaving on a train to Tokyo.