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“Akaashi!” called the booming voice of his boyfriend, somewhere behind the giant crowd, migrating to the cafeteria after class. “Akaashi, don’t ignore me like that!”
He stopped dead in his tracks, sighing. Bokuto wouldn’t shut up, he knew, until Akaashi finally allowed him to catch up, and hearing his name being yelled for everyone to hear was quite possibly the most embarrassing thing Akaashi had to live through on the daily. The tips of his ears were bright red and hot, so he made a point to cover them with a few pieces of short hair while he waited for the silver-haired boy.
Bokuto always noticed when Akaashi was embarrassed.
“Akaashi!” yelled Bokuto for the third time, but now he and Akaashi were walking side by side, every stride matching perfectly. Bokuto bounced with every step, swinging his arms childishly.
Akaashi had pinpointed exactly how he feels about Bokuto and his antics in high school: Embarrassed and Endeared. He’d never ask for another person to spend his time with.
“Akaashi! Any new assignments? I can be your subject! Or! Please let me be a part of the population! Or whatever you call the group of people you test stuff on!”
“Actually, yeah, Bokuto. The professor gave us the hypothesis, ‘Eating lollipops helps you solve anagrams quicker.’ So you’ll let me test it on you?”
Koutarou’s eyes shined brightly, excitement bubbling up, and… “Yes! Let’s go do it now in the café! Please, Akaashi?”
And even though he was completely joking about the ridiculous hypothesis, even though it was just a silly thing his teacher in high school had tried out on the class… How could Akaashi say no to Bokuto’s big, owlish eyes?
“Sure thing, Bokuto. We’ll have to stop by a store on the way, to get lollipops.”
“No we don’t! Haven’t you ever seen the lollipops they sell at the café? I swear, Akaashi, you seem like the quiet, observant type but you really don’t pay attention to much…”
This was the point in which Akaashi stopped listening, letting Bokuto ramble on and on without processing a word of it. He thought about the experiment he had fibbed about, how excited Bokuto was to try it. He knew, to make it believable, he should invite another person to act as the control group, but he couldn’t bring himself to give away the alone time with Bokuto. He’ll have to look up some anagrams on the internet and print them out… Or he could just handwrite some with common words.
~
“Akaashi, ‘is is impossibah!” Bokuto yelled, drawing the attention of nearby citizens. The lollipop hanging from his lips obviously wasn’t helping him solve anagrams… Or speak clearly. “I can’t figure this one out!”
He looked down at the paper in front of his deafening excuse for a boyfriend, and saw that he was stuck on the third anagram, “RLEUR”.
Akaashi had gone for the easy route, school supplies… With the same first and last letter as the scrambled word. He really hadn’t expected Bokuto to take five minutes on “COCLK” (CLOCK), “MRKEAR” (MARKER), and “RLEUR” (RULER).
“Is the ‘o’ipop’s fault, Akaashi! De flavor is distracting be!” Akaashi couldn’t hide a small smile… He was weak.
He had once researched the “Out of sight, out of mind” vs. “Distance makes the heart grow fonder” theory for class. Turns out, Psychologists seemed to side with “Out of sight, out of mind”.
This had confused Akaashi greatly, because he could’ve sworn being with Bokuto everyday was taxing and annoying… And he’ll never forget how Bokuto kissed him when he came home from his month-long trip to America; sweetly, tenderly…
But Akaashi understands now; every second spent with Bokuto is a blessing.
After a few more minutes of watching the silver-haired boy puzzling over the anagrams, he finally decided to put a stop to it. “Bokuto, I think I’ve got my conclusion.”
“Ohohoh? Then what is’t?”
“Lollipops definitely do not help people solve anagrams.”
“Akaashi! I was almost finished! I think it helped!”
“I’ll give the anagrams to Kenma this afternoon without a lollipop and we’ll see how long it takes him.”
Bokuto looked seriously dejected, so Akaashi thought it necessary to tie up whichever string he’d broken within his boyfriend.
“Although I think you were right, a bit ago. The flavor was definitely distracting you.”
A smile took over all of the features on Bokuto’s face; golden eyes wide, teeth visible… “I could’ve done it without the lollipop, Akaashi. I’m telling you.”
“I know, Bo. You could have.”
He’d have thought he melted into a puddle at the glimmer on Bokuto’s all-too-proud face, but Akaashi was still able to bend down and place a sweet kiss on his brow. Dazedly. Bokuto stared up at him with half-lidded eyes, before grasping onto the neck of Akaashi’s tee-shirt and pulling him down for a light kiss.
It was a bit strange for the both of them; PDA was something neither of them approved of, because affection was something to share with the person you love privately. In their opinions.
It wasn’t until Bokuto went to run his fingers through the other’s hair, but realized a bit too late that it still held his cherry red lollipop, that they finally broke apart.
“Akaashi! Let me help! I’m really sorry! Just let me go get some damp paper towels and I’ll get all the sticky out, I promise!” Bokuto stumbled to the bathroom door, before disappearing.
Akaashi could honestly care less about the strand of sticky hair the lolly had gotten to, but allowed Bokuto to care all he wanted.
Keiji really wanted to get inside of Bokuto’s mind sometime. That’s probably one of the only reasons he continually lets him participate in any and all experiments; just to learn more… And because it makes Bokuto happy.
Although Akaashi was completely comfortable with and capable of handling a dejected Bokuto, nothing could ever beat the beaming smile and glimmering eyes.