Chapter Text
In a world where soulmates’ bonds were unique to each pair, Akaashi had always thought he had gotten the most boring one. He wasn’t to blame, his bound was nothing uncomfortable like Bokuto’s who saw the world without colors, or nothing too annoying like his parents’ who constantly had a song in their head. His was simple, uninteresting. He still didn’t know if he was relieved or disappointed though.
On his thirteen birthday, he woke up looking at the mirror, noticing a long dark mark on his neck. He didn’t remember how it got there, but too sleepy to care he gave up on cleaning it and just went to school with it. That was until his friends started gasping at him, pointing their fingers at his neck. He hadn’t understood until he came back home and his mother marveled at the fact that he probably had words from his soulmates marked permanently on his skin.
‘That’s some rude words for a pretty mouth like yours.’
Akaashi could then affirm three things.
First, these words would either be his soulmate’s first or last words. Akaashi couldn’t see any point in having a random sentence his soulmate would say tattooed on his skin, so he came to that conclusion. And if these happened to be his soulmate’s first words, then Akaashi would make sure it would also be their last.
The second affirmation was as simple as finding out that one plus one is equal to two: his soulmate was a pain in the ass. Normal strangers would never start a conversation like this, even less by insulting the person first thing. And Akaashi wouldn’t imagine it being their last words really - unless Akaashi himself would end up murdering them for putting such a long and rude sentence on his skin since the age of thirteen.
And third, Akaashi really, really, really, didn’t want to meet his soulmate at all. This simple mark made him lose faith in soulmates and humanity all together.
“Akaashi! You could be a bit more excited!” Bokuto whined, looking up at him from where he was laying on Akaashi’s laps, his legs vertically leaning on the bus’ window.
“I am excited,” Akaashi answered, voice empty of any enthusiasm.
Bokuto groaned, “Come on, it’ll be fun. We’ll have a whole week of volleyball, and free food!”
Akaashi hummed noncommittally, keeping his eyes closed, desperately trying to catch the two hours of sleep he got deprived of this morning. He actually was pretty excited for training camp. It was a nice way to break the routine, to play even more volleyball with cool teams, and spend nice moments with friends. He just wasn't as excited as Bokuto, and he was pretty sure no one on earth could be.
“Plus, you’ll get to meet Kuroo! And we’ll also finally see his best friend, Kuroo’s been talking about him since the moment we met.” Akaashi knew Bokuto’s smile was radiant at that moment, as it always was when they talked about his friend.
Akaashi had to refrain himself from scrunching up his nose; that was something he wasn’t looking forward to. The poor man had done nothing wrong - Akaashi hadn't even met Kuroo yet - but Bokuto’s daily rambling about him was enough to have a clear idea. And judging by Bokuto’s words, he was as catastrophic and stupid as Bokuto was. And Akaashi was exhausted enough taking care of his best friend, he didn’t need a second Bokuto to add to the mess.
Still, Bokuto was eager and thrilled for them to meet, repeating since they started talking about training camp that ‘he couldn’t wait for his two best friends in the world to meet’. So Akaashi didn’t say anything, content enough to make his friend happy.
“Oh! What if when they’d say the right colors, the colors would appear for me?” Bokuto asked suddenly, changing the subject.
If Akaashi hadn’t been used to it by now, he would have been lost. But unperturbed, he hummed, prompting Bokuto to develop his theory. It was something they never stopped talking about. At any hour of the day, sometimes even in the middle of another conversation, Bokuto would talk about his soulmate’s bond. They have been going back and forth for a year since they started hanging out now, about what kind of bond Bokuto had.
“What if, when my soulmate will say ‘blue’ I’ll be able to see blue, and when they say ‘pink’ I’ll be able to see pink?”
“That could work.” Akaashi said, cracking an eye open to see Bokuto’s hopeful smile. “But you’d just have to wait for them to say one color, and then you could both just say the primary colors for you two to finally be able to see them.”
Bokuto pouted, visibly not pleased. “Akaashi, that’s not romantic.”
He shrugs, closing back his eyes even if he stopped searching for sleep a few moments ago. “Life isn’t a romance, Bokuto-san.”
Despite it being his own words, Akaashi had no idea how much truth they held.
Akaashi was struggling with his sports bag, trying to get it out of the bus slightly annoyed by Bokuto nudging his arms every two seconds, pleading him to ‘hurry up before he misses his opportunity to see his best bro’ when a shout echoed in the entire street.
Bokuto immediately turned on his heel and his attention on Akaashi dissolved in a matter of seconds as he screamed back, running towards the building with his bag sliding between his legs, making him stumble more often than once. Bokuto didn’t seem to mind one bit as he collapsed against a tall frame, both screaming loud ‘bro’ and ‘missed you’.
Akaashi sighed, unable to keep his frown off his face. He had to wake up two hours early, go through hours of road with an excited Bokuto and his headache; he really couldn’t bear with the two of them right now. He quickly noticed a small man next to Bokuto’s friend, scrunching up his nose at them. Akaashi hoped he would find an ally in the little blonde.
Bokuto turned to him, waving widely, asking him to come. In a long breath, Akaashi adjusted his back on his shoulder and joined the small group. And the more he was getting closer, the more he was growing annoyed. Kuroo was looking at him with an expression that Akaashi didn’t like at all, eyes squinting and grin so wide and teasing that Akaashi was sure it made children cry more often than once. It surely didn’t help when Kuroo wiggled his eyebrows at him, posing an elbow on Bokuto’s shoulders, trying and failing to look cool.
The poor boy didn’t have time to say anything that Akaashi snapped, unable to restrain himself, “You look even stupider than I thought. No wonder why you and Bokuto-san get along so well.”
Kuroo’s eyes widened, and Bokuto indignantly whined at his side. Akaashi heard a snort and looked to the side at the blonde who was determined to keep his gaze on the ground, but who couldn’t seem to refrain his laugh. Akaashi couldn’t even find in himself the will to smile, he just really needed sleep and peace. A look at Kuroo made him wince though, as the boy was still looking at him, eyes wide, blinking stupidly.
Okay, maybe that had been uncalled for, and pretty rude for a first meeting. He shouldn’t have gone off like that. Sighing deeply, Akaashi resigned himself in apologizing but got cut off by the large grin spreading again on the taller’s mouth. Akaashi frowned, almost recoiling at how even more playful his smirk grew, with a tilt in his eyes that wasn’t here a few minutes before.
“That’s some rude words for a pretty mouth like yours.” Kuroo countered, crossing his arms confidently.
Akaashi’s heart missed a beat for half a second, as he stood there, speechless. He vaguely registered Bokuto gasping, kicking Kuroo in the ribs, but the captain didn’t budge, keeping his eyes locked into blue ones. Akaashi squinted further, mind momentarily flicking to the mark on his neck. It occurred to him that Kuroo was waiting for an answer, analyzing his reaction. So Akaashi simply said, before turning his heels and walking in the opposite direction without a single care in the world:
“Hell no.”