Work Text:
A poppy has six petals.
Each of them falls day by day.
Every morning, Akaashi feels lonely.
"Don’t worry, we got your back!"
A loud voice booms inside his head, keeping him awake.
Startled and confused, he steps out of bed. “Who was that?” He asks himself.
He must be going crazy; the apartment was dead silent.
Sighing in solitude, he makes coffee for himself.
A simple breakfast for a simple man like him.
He stretches as the first ray of sunlight hits his face.
It’s a start for another simple day.
A poppy has six petals.
Two of them have already fallen.
On most days, Akaashi feels insecure.
As if it’s like he’ll never be capable enough to meet everyone’s expectations.
What if everyone leaves him for it?
"Man, your tosses sure are the best!"
Again, the voice said.
Akaashi tilts his head in disarray.
Since when he was recognized for tossing something he doesn’t have any idea of?
But for some reason, it feels reassuring.
He puts his glasses on, listening to the soundtrack of traffic. He feels his legs walking faster.
“Good morning, Akaashi-kun.” Tenma-san greets him at the entrance.
He replies with the same enthusiasm, as the both of them started off with their work.
“I see your boyfriend has made you breakfast already.” Tenma points to the bento box and a bag of rice balls Akaashi was carrying.
“Oh, please. Miya is not my boyfriend. He just sends me food every now and then.”
“I wonder about that though."
They both laughed it off as they both entered the building.
It’s a simple routine he managed to get the hang of.
A poppy has six petals.
Three have been blown away.
Sometimes, Akaashi feels overwhelmed.
He reaches a point where sleep isn’t even satisfying anymore.
Eating or taking a break doesn’t seem like a necessity.
Work evolves into something impossible to get over with.
He doubles over the bed, clutching his hair into a handful.
"It’s not ‘‘impossible’’, it’s just ‘‘hard”!!"
There goes the voice once again.
His eyes shot open, breathing heavily from a nightmare he was having.
“Thank you...” Akaashi mumbles, unsure to whom was the gratitude for.
But it sure helped him sleep through that one night.
Once in a while, Akaashi takes a breather.
He finds himself staring outside a window, coffee in hand.
There could be other ways to get through this, why not with the easy ones? His mind wanders.
Akaashi shakes his head no, he can’t be thinking like that now. Besides, being an editor is kind of fun.
Working with Tenma-san is kind of relieving too. Listening to him rant about the deadlines is fun.
"Think about what’s fun, not what’s easy."
The voice says, dragging him away from his thoughts.
It doesn’t surprise him anymore; more like he’s thankful for its presence.
Like someone was watching over him from afar to keep him in his tracks.
A guardian angel perhaps?
“Right, right...” Akaashi persuades, taking a sip.
A poppy has six petals.
Four have already vanished from sight.
Seldom, Akaashi feels incomplete.
There’s something off, way back in his mind.
Like he’s forgetting something he shouldn’t have.
His eyes feel heavy, with a tint of red evident in them.
Akaashi finds himself wearing his scarf down, his reflection shining through the flower shop’s mirror.
“A couple of these, please.” He puts a bill on a counter, and ventures out.
His feet are dragging him somewhere, without the voice to guide him.
With poppies in hand, his mind continues to drift afloat.
Once in a blue moon, Akaashi is not Akaashi.
He’s not the Akaashi working with Tenma-san in the office, being an amazing editor.
He’s not the Akaashi buying off rice balls from Onigiri Miya for lunch.
He’s not the Akaashi who needs glasses, eyes regaining the clear vision it had years ago.
He’s not the Akaashi who is 22 years of age, instead five years younger.
“Akaashi, help me with my spiking practice, will ‘ya?"
“Akaashi~ I don’t know how to solve this problem!!”
“You’re probably thinking all this stuff like ‘this is a match we definitely can’t afford to lose’ or something, yeah?”
“What is this? Who are you!?” Akaashi screams, earning no response.
“Well then, here is the thing, up until now, have you ever thought that I’d be okay if we lost a match?”
“In a few days we’re all going to say goodbye and go our separate ways, so it’s about time I became just an ‘ace’.”
“World!! Are you watching?!”
“Please stop this! This isn’t funny anymore!” Akaashi yells once again.
He must’ve been walking around with no sense of direction all this time, Akaashi finds himself in front of a stone.
“What... is this?”
“Did you know that poppies are my favorite flowers, Keiji?”
A poppy has six petals.
Only one is left.
The year was 2013.
He is Akaashi, a student in Fukurodani Academy.
The official setter of the Fukurodani Boys’ Volleyball Team.
Became a vice captain in his second year of high school.
And is someone’s favorite underclassman.
“Akaashi, the way you picked yourself back up today was so good!! Even though you were flailing a bit at the start!!”
Memories are flashing before his eyes. An unusual feeling of nostalgia fills the void inside his confused mind.
“We are the protagonists of the world.”
A series of events unfolding in front of him. Engraving every frame into his brain.
“You’re technically my kouhai, it’s natural to be worried about you, you know?”
“You have no idea how much I care about you, Keiji.”
“Keiji?”
“Keiji!”
“Keiji...”
“I’m so proud of you, Keiji. I love you.”
Akaashi chokes on his breath, fresh tears forming on the sides of his eyes.
“B-bokuto…san?”
“Mommy, why do good people die?”
Akaashi turns to a mother and her daughter having a talk near him, paying attention to their conversation.
He kept telling himself that it is bad to eavesdrop on people, but he can’t help but listen.
The mother deeply sighs, adoring her child’s innocence and curiosity for the world.
“Well, if you’re in a garden full of flowers, which one will you take home?”
The child seems to fall silent for a while, taking her time to answer her question.
“I’ll take the prettiest flower!!” The little girl jumps in excitement.
The mother smiles, rewarding her daughter with a pat in the head.
“Exactly, my dear.”
“Let’s just say it’s the same for people as well, yeah?”
For once in his life, Akaashi feels ugly.
Not that he even cared about his looks in the first place.
But for once, he feels ugly.
Of his appearance.
Of his personality.
Of his capabilities.
Of himself as a whole.
"But Akaashi, you're so beautiful! Look at those eyes, they're in their prettiest shade of blue!!"
“Then why?!” Akaashi loses it, throwing the poppies to the gravestone in front of him.
“Why are you up there before me then, Bokuto-san?!”
That is true; a pretty flower might be taken...
But for every pretty flower that’s taken, another one is left behind.
A poppy has six petals.
And Akaashi, the last one, is barely hanging on.