"This is Ame-san!" Bokuto introduced.
"Her name is Ame?" The woman echoed.
While you were still scared shitless about the thunder, you smiled. The smell of a home-cooked meal coming from his house made your mouth water.
You shook your head. "No ma'am, my name is Y/n! It's nice to meet you."
"Well, come in, come in! Dinner is ready!" She welcomed you in and you got out of the jacket you and Bokuto shared, then stepped into the house.
You were drenched from the rain. Even though you shared a jacket with your friend, it didn't cover you completely from it. But the comfy fabric did keep you warm, which you were grateful for.
As you took off your shoes, you heard voices in the house. "Mama, who's that?"
A child's voice?
A little girl - no older than eight - hurried over to you.
You turned to Bokuto with a smile. "You never told me you had a little sister!"
He laughed and picked her up. "Sorry, I must've forgotten! This is Mio. I don't usually talk about my family a lot, my bad."
"Why not?" The Mio whined. "I'm an awesome little sister!"
His confidence must've rubbed off on her! That's so cute!
Bokuto patted her head. "Yeah, but what would my friends think if I brought up a seven-year-old girl?" He asked.
"They'd think that THIS seven-year-old is the best!" She exclaimed.
"That's right!" He set her down and looked up at you as she ran upstairs. "Sorry about her, she loves new people so she might annoy you."
"Annoy me-? Bo, that was the cutest thing I've ever seen! You're so good with kids!" You stopped and realized what you said. Crap I gave him too much credit-
His face lit up, but you 'corrected' yourself.
"I mean... You're not as good as I am with kids. I'm way better."
Bokuto's hair drooped and he frowned. "I thought I was good with them... I mean I wanna be a good brother and in the future, a good father and stuff and I wanna be good with kids-" He mumbled his rant about children and you sighed.
Sympathy flooded over you and you sighed. "Bokuto, you're great with kids."
"...Really?"
"Yeah! I bet your sister has the best big brother in the world!" You exclaimed.
"YEAAAAAAHHH!!! SHE DOES!" He shouted. His mother yelled back. "KOTARO! USE YOUR INSIDE VOICE, HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU?!"
"Sorry, Ma!" He took your hand and led you to the kitchen, where his mother was cooking. The scent of the food was mouth-watering. You didn't even know what she was making but it smelled amazing!
Bokuto hugged her. "What are you making? We can help! I'm sure Ame-san will be happy to!" He grinned at his mother and she chuckled.
"No, no. You guys don't need to help. Also, I'm making Yakiniku, your favorite!" She said.
"HEY HEY HEEEE-" She whacked him on the head with an oven mitt.
"Isn't Akaashi supposed to be here too?" She asked.
"Yeah, but he has to go home and get some stuff to a sleepover."
"Ah, okay. You two can go up to your room. Wait." She looked at you suspiciously.
"Are you his girlfriend???"
"Huh?! No! No, I'm his friend!" You exclaimed.
She laughed a bit. "Look at you! You got as red as a tomato when I asked that! Anyway, you guys can hang out in his room. I'll call you when dinners are ready."
You and Bokuto nodded and he grabbed your hand, leading you up to his room. He opened the door and-
Holy shit you can barely see the ground! It's worse than my room- wait, no his room is cleaner.
He marched in and sat on his bed, then you sat on the other side of the bed.
Bokuto looked around and then caught eyes with you. "Sorry about the mess! Akaashi usually helps me clean everything up because he's a clean freak. He's the coolest, right?"
"Yeah! He's awesome." You said. "Soooo... What do you wanna do?"
"Well, we could watch Netflix or play a game... What do you wanna do?" He asked.
"Let's play a game!"
"Okay, how do twenty questions sound?"
"Good but why that game? It's so random."
He smiled and leaned closer to you. "I feel like I barely even know you. So I wanna learn everything! I'll ask first! Who's your best friend?"
You just laughed - you didn't necessarily have a best friend. You were pretty sure you wanted Bokuto to take that place, yet the only word that came out of your mouth was "Hinata!"
"Hinata... OH! The little shrimpy guy? Number 10 on Karasuno??" He asked.
"Yeah, we were super close when we were younger. So I kinda wanted to say hi to him after the ga-"
Lightning struck and thunder boomed. You closed your eyes and covered your ears. When you opened your eyes, everything was black. Bokuto's arms were around you and you were facing his chest.
"It's okay, Ame-san! I'll protect you, yeah?" His voice was gentle. It was different from his usual loud and happy tone.
"Yeah." You whispered and wrapped your arms around his back.
The door opened and you quickly pulled away from him. "Guys, Mom said that you both need to shower!" Mio shouted.
"Right! Uhh... I didn't bring any spare clothes." You said.
Bokuto shook his head. "You can use some of my old clothes!"
"...what about underwear-?"
"OH-"
You laughed and stood up. "It's okay, maybe I should just go home."
Mio frowned and held onto your hand. "But I don't want you to go! I haven't even met you yet. Plus, what if Akaashi and Bokuto shoot me with Nerf guns?"
You turned towards Bokuto. "You shoot her with nerf guns?!"
"THAT WAS ONE TIME WHEN WE WERE 16!" He shouted.
"Nope! I'm staying. Don't worry Mio, we'll pay them back, won't we?" You grinned and she did too.
Bokuto sighed and chuckled a little bit.
"Alright," You said, walking downstairs. "I'm gonna go home and grab some clothes."
"But there's still a thunderstorm!" Bokuto protested.
You frowned. He's right. I don't want to go alone.
No, I should. I need to take a shower. Plus, Akaashi is going to be here soon.
But still, thunder scares the shit out of me. And it's going to be stormy all night long.
AHHHH JUST CHOOSE!
"I'll be quick!" You said.
"I'm going with you. Akaashi and Mio can play Minecraft together while they wait for us to get back!" He argued.
"But I need to shower."
"You can shower here when you have all of your stuff. C'mon, I'll race you!"
"Alright, bet! This time, I'll beat you!" You challenged. He gave you a hoodie and put on his Volleyball jacket. The two of you ran outside and the race began.
It probably wasn't a very good idea for you to race in a storm, was it? The rain poured on you and it slowed you down, and as soon as you heard thunder, you fell.
"AH!" You scraped your knee. It looked pretty bad, but you could walk it off. Easy.
"AME-SAN! I'M COMING!" Bokuto shouted over the rain. You were slowly getting up, but he picked you up and threw you over his back.
But when he ran, your face kept hitting his back. It was awkward.
"Put me down!" You kicked your legs and he laughed, then set you down gently.
"That scrape looks pretty bad." He commented.
"It's fine! It doesn't hurt! I'm still gonna win. Come o-"
The thunder clapped. Now, you were angry. You'd gotten hurt, all because of your annoying fear!
"JUST SHUT UP!" You shouted. "SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP! LET ME DO WHAT I NEED TO FUCKING DO!"
And the thunder shouted back as if I were arguing with you. It scared you once again, but Bokuto just grabbed your hand. "Ame-san? It's time for my next question. Why are you so scared of thunder?"
You ran again, with your ears covered. You ran to your house. You grabbed random clothes from your dresser and stuffed them in a bag, then ran back downstairs. Bokuto was just stepping into your house as you finished packing.
"Are you okay? You don't have to answer the question, I was just wondering."
"Mhm. Let's go."
His hair drooped again. "You seem mad..."
That's right. But why were you mad? Why couldn't you just answer the question? You trusted Bokuto. He wouldn't judge. He was your friend! You could tell him anything!
But you didn't. And as the thunder boomed again, you looked into his golden eyes while fear-filled yours.
"I'm sorry. I'm not mad or anything, I just freaked out. That's all, I promise. Let's go." You began to walk out of the door.
"Ame-san."
You looked at him. He held his hand out, and you intertwined your fingers. One small act and finally, when the thunder crashed and boomed, you didn't even flinch.
For the first time in a while, you knew that you were safe.