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As per the newly set rules published by the TouDai Freshmen Council, all incoming freshmen must be paired up with a carefully selected student, at least a year senior to them, to help them adjust fairly and with ease to the university until the adjustment period is over. Naturally, this would mean both senior and freshman will temporarily share a dorm room.
"261.. 261.. where is room 261," incoming first year Akaashi mutters to himself.
It was moving day, and he was supposed to meet his senior buddy at the dorm entrance like any other freshmen waiting at the lobby; but to his despair, his senior pair thought it would be a great idea to make Akaashi walk flights of stairs while carrying a luggage full of clothes and books, and a duffel bag with his sports accessories.
Akaashi sighed in relief when his eyes finally lands on a golden door plate that states 'Room 261' and went for the doorknob when he noticed smoke coming from the dorm's common kitchen, two rooms away from his.
Suddenly, a loud shout of "WHAT THE FUCK, BO!" was heard, and kind Akaashi was worried enough to drop his bags by his dorm room to go see and assess the smokey situation, yes pun intended.
As he was approaching, he saw a blond student emerge from the kitchen, breeze-walking away with his head held low. The guy was covered in black soot-like substanceㅡ Akaashi noticed when he passed by himㅡ and was clearly embarrassed by it.
"Kenma, I'm sorry. Please wait!" A tall guy with a bad case of cowlick also appeared from the kitchen, looking around for the Kenma personㅡ most likely the blond person who just left the room , Akaashi presumedㅡ and immediately ran after him when his eyes landed on who he was calling out to.
The bed hair guy didn't seem to mind that his face and perfectly white shirt are now stained black, and that he was gaining the attention of the people near him. He was clearly more concerned about following the Kenma person.
Akaashi, now more confused than ever, carefully peaked inside the room, then fully exposed his whole body on the doorway after he made sure that there were no dangers of running into another person in doing so.
If there is anything to look at. The whole room was basically covered in smoke, although it was disparting, so Akaashi can see the outline of a guy with spiked hair that is standing by an oven where the smoke is clearly coming from.
"Ah shit," the guy kept muttering vulgar words to himself.
"Excuse me, you should probably leave for now and clean up when the smoke dissipates. Inhaling all that smoke is bad for you," Akaashi called the man still by the oven after he determined that, thankfully, no fire had started from the oven mishap.
The guy, who was carelessly waving his arms above his head in panic, startledly looked at the doorway where Akaashi stood.
The man was looking more disheveled than the other two who passed by Akaashi. No doubt because it seems like he was the one operating the oven .
"Yeah! Will be, in a minute!" Spiky-haired guy answered back.
He slowly walked towards Akaashi, but not without stumbling on a few more table corners and edges, until he was just outside the common kitchen.
He stood and gave a big laugh to whoever was looking at him. He almost looked proud of what he did, as if he won't be in trouble for causing such a commotion on the dorm's busiest day.
"Gah, sorry about that. I was going to try something but failed miserably. Thank you…"
Akaashi sputtered, realizing he was talking to him. "I am sorry for my manners. It's Akaashi."
"It's fine, Akaashi-kun! You seem like a new face, so you must be a 1st year. I'm Bokuto, but you can just call me hot!" Bokuto continued to blabber with a huge grin.
"Bokuto? As in Bokuto Koutarou?"
Bokuto immediately looked at Akaasi in interest. "Hey, hey, hey! I know I am famous but I didn't know my fame reached that many high schools. I play volleyball, and I'm like a super ace!" He gave a heartfelt chuckle, as if remembering his high school days of playing endless volleyball.
He continued to mutter. "One time, I was walking home and a swarm of Fukurodani students surrounded me, asking for autographs and throwing questions at me. But I understand Fukurodani since I graduated there, but how about you? Why do you know me?"
"Um," Akaashi held his phone, showing a recent text conversation.
From: Unknown
hey, hey this is ur senior bud bokuto koutarou! im busy with sumthin (its a surprise!!) so can u just meet me in our room? see ya!
"You are, apparently, my senior buddy, Bokuto-san."
"Woah, really? You're Keiji? Nice to meet you! So, what can you say about TouDai so far?"
He's so spontaneous. Did he already forget that he was nearly successful in setting up a huge incident in the dorm kitchens?
"You have no reason to be scared because I will guide you until you're able to handle yourselfㅡ by yourself!"
Were they really serious about the ' carefully selected' part?
"So far, it's been… okay, Bokuto-san. I'll be in your care." He bowed his head in gratitude.
"Hey, hey that's great! Come, I'll show you our room," Bokuto went past Akaashi to their room, and pulled an owl keychain carrying two sets of keys. Akaashi walked behind him.
The second year noticed Akaashi's bags, all scattered by the door. He wordlessly picked them up despite the first year's hurried protest of 'I'll do it, Bokuto-san' 'Nah, it's fine. I'm strong!'
The taller man glanced at Akaashi, asking if he was ready, before opening the door and revealing what would be their room for the first few months of Akaashi's college life.
"Welcome!" Bokuto made a show of hands, as if he used magic to make the room appear out of thin air.
The room was small but not enough to make him feel constricted. There were two beds located at the opposite walls, with a study table at the foot of each. A closet with a built-in shoe compartment was beside each study table.
Akaashi looked from his rather bland side of the roomㅡ which was understandable because he was yet to unpack his thingsㅡ to Bokuto's side.
It was not hard not to tell what kind of person Bokuto is upon looking at his side of the room.
He had owl posters on his wall, and he has a volleyball resting at the top of his closet. His bed was still unmade, and his desk was full of hair products of the same brand.
But what caught Akaashi's attention the most was the table at the center of the room, placed between the beds.
The table is full of convenience store food, but it made Akaashi become aware of his hunger nevertheless. There was sushi, instant ramen, chips, and Akaashi's favorite onigiri.
"Come on in! I prepared these for you!" Bokuto exclaimed excitedly. He entered the room and quickly set the table as soon as he sat on a mat.
Akaashi continued to observe the meager feast on the table. Most of them were instant food, but all looked very delicious.
After a while, Bokuto directed Akaashi, who was still eyeing the meal in front of him, to sit opposite of him.
"Um, thank you, Bokuto-san. You really didn't have to," Akaashi said politely, but still obliged and sat on the mat padding.
"It's totally fine! I don't really know how to cook so I just prepared what I can."
"All the more reason why you shouldn't have troubled yourself, Bokuto-san."
"Nonsense! I love surprising people, especially when I first meet them. First impressions are very important for long-lasting friendships. Google said so."
Akaashi stared, bewildered. "I have never met a person who wants to immediately please someone they have yet to meet," he aimlessly commented. Just you.
"Yeah but google said so," Bokuto repeated as-a-matter-of-factly. "That being said, google was also wrong on the best apple pie recipeㅡ I wanted to make one for our small feast, but the instructions almost made me set the kitchen on fire! Which reminds me, I still need to clean that up."
Akaashi felt a tiny bit of guilt for indirectly causing that. "I could help you out. It's the least I can do for all the trouble you went through just to give me a good first day."
Bokuto immediately shook his head. "It's fine!" He said, elongating the 'i'.
"You can just unpack while I'm out cleaning. It can get pretty crowded even if there were only the two of us," Bokuto continued. "Come on, come on, eat! I prepared these just for the two of us!"
The two roommates chanted Itadakimasu before digging in, continuing their previous conversation.
"So you needed help from Kuroo-san who knows how to bake apple pies because it's his boyfriend's favorite food?" Akaashi asked before taking a bite of sushi.
"Yeah. Kuroo may always look like a bed with a face, but he is a sucker for Kenma."
Oh, so bed-hair guy was Kuroo-san, and he is boyfriends with Kenma-san.
"Hey you haven't touched my onigiri yet!"
How did he make that sound so inappropriate and innocent at the same time?
"Don't worry. I plan to, Bokuto-san. It's one of my favorite comfort food," Akaashi replied, reaching for one when Bokuto replied.
"Really? I think so too! Onigiri is like, food for the soul. But really, I still think it's meat that revitalizes faith in humanity and brings balance to the world."
Pretty obvious he isn't studying ecology in college.
"Then, what course are you taking up, Bokuto-san?" Akaashi untactfully asked as he took a bite from his onigiri.
Bokuto, who was eating two onigiris at once, looked at Akaashi, face stretched and cheeks bloated due to him stuffing too much onigiri his mouth can handle.
The second year replied with "Arkwitechur at my secomb yearb," but Akaashi understood it anyway.
"Impressive. I'm taking up Computer Science," Akaashi continued to observe Bokuto as he tried to react to what Akaashi just said, despite his mouth full of rice.
Akaashi found it endearing, and ended up handling Bokuto a glass of water when he was finished eating.
Bokuto slammed the now empty glass on the table, releasing a sigh of relief before speaking. "Woah that's like tons of math! You must be like a genius or something!"
"...or something. It's not something very difficult. Architecture is pretty challenging too, if you ask me."
They continue to talk about anything and nothing, clearly enjoying each other’s company. At this point, Akaashi knows much of what he needed to know about Bokuto.
He is an only child yet that didn’t stop him from being a huge extrovert. Apart from his family and some close friends, he loves volleyball and meat. Despite his bright personality, he sometimes feels really down, a problem that has been troubling him ever since. He also mentioned some of his favorite pastimes are working out and the likes.
But most importantly , Akaashi thought. Bokuto-san is an earnest and honest-to-god person. He is very loyal to his friends, and will do anything for their happiness.
“I don’t know, ‘Kaashi… Sometimes it gets out of control, and I start to act like a big baby,” Bokuto pouted, taking a small bite of onigiri. “I don’t know how to control it or if it’s even something under my control.”
“It’s fine if you cannot control it fully, Bokuto-san. Your feelings shouldn’t be invalidated. I don’t know the details of your circumstance, but you can start by learning what triggers that feeling. Then you can aim to prevent those triggers from happening. That will surely lessen your… episodes, as you call it. But it doesn’t mean that what you were feeling is wrong,” Akaashi said reassuringly.
“Hey, hey since when did you get all smart and wisdom-y?” Bokuto jokingly commented, nudging Akaashi.
“But thank you for saying that, and for listening to all my yammering. Not even Kuroo can have a full conversation with me. You know what? Since I am the perfect buddy and your favorite senpai, you can always come to me if you need help! What do you say, Akaashi?”
“Thank you in advance, Bokuto-san.” Maybe he is the perfect buddy for me.
They continued their mindless chatter, with the onigiri providing comfort and easement to their slowly building friendship.
They talked until the sun was almost setting, and it was then that Akaashi realized he wasn’t able to unpack at all. But he didn’t mind. He can always do that later when he has extra time. His time with Bokuto though is very limited, considering both of them are from a different year and course, so he took his time getting to know more about him.
“Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. Do you play volleyball?” Bokuto asked, popping the big question.
“Actually, Iㅡ” but he was cut off by their door suddenly opening.
“BOKUTO KOUTAROU CLEAN UP THIS MESS THIS INSTANT!”