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“Phoenix, are you and Owl in place?” A voice crackles in Akaashi’s ear as his eyes roam over the small hill they’ve made their way onto. Even though the sun has already started to set they still have a clear enough view over the cityscape in front of them. The rocky terrain crunches under his feet as he slides his body behind a large rock and presses a button on the small device in his ear to reply.
“Yes, Owl’s setting up now.” Whilst answering, another figure makes his way to the edge of the hill and takes something off his shoulder as he lies on his stomach. “You can start getting ready. I’ll keep you updated when needed.”
He cuts communications with the person on the other end for the time being and faces towards the man who’s concentrating on the object in front of him; tongue sticking out as he quickly positions it with precision, so it’s locked on a specific spot. Tugging the black mask he’s wearing over his face down, Akaashi lets out a sigh.
“The others are preparing to move in so get ready.” He takes out the small knife he always keeps in his pocket and plays with it between his fingers. He wishes he were down there with the rest of the team so he could get involved with the action, but he knows that someone needs to stay up here in case their vantage point gets spotted. His partner might be one of the best long-distance shooters Akaashi’s ever had the pleasure of meeting, but he is one of the worst at fighting one on one with a handgun.
The man next to him shuffles around a bit more, getting into position. Akaashi stops fiddling with the knife and listens to what he has to say. “Six guards, each carrying a handgun from what I can see. I can snipe them all easily.”
Akaashi relays the information back to their mission leader who gives them the go-ahead. Pocketing the knife, he locks eyes with the sniper who’s already grinning at him, his mask also pulled down and hanging under his chin. Akaashi has always loved that smile.
“Can I, ‘Kaashi?”
Akaashi rolls his eyes. “Code names, Owl.” He replies, emphasising the golden-eyed boy’s code name. “And you don’t need to ask my permission, it’s not like I’m going to be the one to do it.”
“I don’t know why we bother; our names aren’t exactly a secret to the other syndicates. Plus, everyone gets more scared when they hear the name Bokuto Koutarou. No one would bat an eyelash at the mention of Owl.” He mutters, turning his attention back to the rifle in front of him to lock targets on the first guard.
“You want to go against the Kumicho?” Even though he isn’t looking in his direction, Akaashi still raises his brow. He goes to say something else but notices the small shift in his partner’s facial expression which tells Akaashi that he’s getting ready to shoot. The sniper halts his shuffling and goes completely silent, his body still, eyes narrowing a little. Akaashi hears the sound of Bokuto shooting twice before instantly readjusting his aim and shooting four more times. He watches the area a bit longer and nods to Akaashi.
He raises his hand back to his ear. “Clear. Go get Night Hawk back. We’ll be waiting at the meeting point for the four of you. Tell us if something goes wrong.” He cuts the line.
“You know he only did it because of Fox and Crow. They have lives outside of the syndicate so can’t use their real names. Plus, he doesn’t fully trust them yet, so all important members are using code names in case they turn out to be cops and reveal our identities.” Akaashi mentions as Bokuto packs up his rifle and slings it over his shoulder.
“But I hate going by a name that means people won’t recognise me!” Bokuto exclaims and Akaashi bites his lip to stop him from telling the man in front of him to keep his voice down. They can’t guarantee for sure that no one else is nearby and spying on them.
“I guarantee that us using code names will be dropped in a couple of weeks once Fox and Crow have been thoroughly checked out. Plus, you know that he’s always wanted a reason to refer to Kyotani as Mad Dog.” Akaashi smirks, watching as Bokuto mulls over what he said.
Nodding, Bokuto gets back onto his feet – away from the edge – and puts his hand out to help Akaashi up. Hands clasped together, Akaashi is dragged onto his feet. He goes to let go but instead, Bokuto pulls him to his chest and holds him tightly. Sighing, Akaashi lets himself be held, resting his head against the black fabric that covers Bokuto’s body.
“How long do we have until we need to be at the meeting point?”
“I’d say an hour, why?” Akaashi moves his head to glance up and see Bokuto wiggling his eyebrows with a grin on his face. With a huff, Akaashi buries his head back into the black shirt. “We are in the middle of a mission to rescue one of our closest friends from Shiratorizawa, at least wait until we’re all back in one piece at our base.” He states, unimpressed.
“Come on ‘Kaashi—”
“—Phoenix.” Akaashi corrects.
“I haven’t had a moment alone with you for days! They told us we didn’t have to stick around after the initial sniping, so we have time!” Bokuto squeezes Akaashi tighter in his arms and starts making his way down the hill. Akaashi’s feet barely graze the ground as Bokuto carries him in the weird position.
“I can walk you know. I’ve done nothing to render my legs immobile.”
“I know, but do I need a reason to want you close to me?”
“Wow, you’re so professional.” Akaashi replies in a bored tone which makes Bokuto laugh out loud. After another five minutes of walking Bokuto finally lets Akaashi walk the rest of the way by himself. Remembering something, Akaashi grips Bokuto’s arm and drops an earpiece into his hand. “You should put it back on now since you’ve finished sniping.”
“Good idea!” He positions it in the right place and beams at Akaashi as they carry on making their way back to where they hid the car. “The constant voices that pop up are so annoying when you’re trying to concentrate. It’s a lot easier for you to do all the talking.”
“Keep your voice down.” Akaashi says quietly, a bad feeling suddenly washing over him. He’s learned over the years to trust his instincts as they’re rarely wrong. Bokuto does as he says, eyes scanning the area for anyone who could be lurking around.
“I can’t see anyone.” Bokuto murmurs, gripping onto his rifle tighter. As it that could help them in a situation like this, although he could always hit someone with it if he got desperate. He subconsciously moves closer to Akaashi and when Akaashi stops walking he stands a little behind him to protect his back.
Akaashi’s eyes follow the low curves of the terrain. There aren’t too many areas to hide. His ears pick up a soft crunching sound from their far-right, it doesn’t sound like human footsteps but he’s hesitant to rule it out as being an animal. His hand inches closer to the pocket where his gun is snugly lying. The cool black metal wraps around his fingers but he doesn’t take it out. He can hear Bokuto’s breathing from behind him, can almost sense the weariness being emitted from him.
The minute he spots them, he pushes Bokuto out of the way and shoots in their direction. He’s not fast enough to pull the trigger and pain erupts in his left leg. Cursing under his breath, he fires at them in quick succession. It’s only one bullet wound and it’s not near any vital organs, he’s fought with much worse.
He risks a glance at Bokuto to see him looking around wide-eyed. “Where’s your gun?” Akaashi yells as he grabs Bokuto’s hand and pulls them behind a nearby thick tree trunk to give them some cover. He peers around it and fires a couple more rounds.
“I didn’t bring it!” He yells back.
Out of bullets, he grabs another magazine from the belt around his waist – he didn’t think this would happen, so he brought one spare with him, a stupid decision in hindsight – and inserts it in as the old one is ejected. He pushes it in with a click and fires a couple of bullets before glaring at his partner.
“Why not?” He grits out, keeping a mental note of how many bullets he has left. He spotted at least five people and he’s sure there’s more nearby, it’s unlikely he’ll be able to kill them all from where he is.
“Because I can’t use it as accurately as the rest of you can!” A bullet whizzes past his ear but he doesn’t even blink.
Akaashi stares at Bokuto. “I’m well aware. But you can still aim, pull the trigger and hit them somewhere.”
“I wasn’t thinking!”
“I’d be concerned if you had been.” He leans over and shoots twice. With his free hand, he takes the knife out of his pocket. “Here, try and be useful.” Akaashi mutters as he presses the silver weapon into Bokuto’s palm. “You can use a knife better than a gun and I know you have decent fighting skills otherwise you’d be six feet underground by now.”
“Hey!”
“It’s true.” Akaashi fires three times and manages to hit two more people in fatal places. “I can see four people left. If I distract them do you think you can get close enough to deal with them?”
“Can I?” Bokuto asks sarcastically.
“Can you?” Akaashi asks seriously.
“I’m not useless.” He grumbles, getting annoyed as he goes to leave the protection of the tree trunk. Akaashi grabs his arm before he can head into the array of bullets. His blue eyes lock onto Bokuto’s golden ones as he brushes his thumb lightly over his cheek. Bokuto’s eyes briefly close and he lets out a deep breath as he calms down.
“I know you’re not useless Bokuto.” Akaashi’s eyes soften as he speaks, not even caring that he’s not using his code name. “But you’re used to doing things from a long distance and I don’t want you stepping out of your comfort zone.”
Bokuto leans closer to Akaashi and pecks his lip softly. Their foreheads press against each other and Akaashi feels Bokuto’s hot breath against his face. “I’ll be okay. I know you have my back.”
“Always.”
Akaashi gives him another kiss – this one being a little longer – and then darts out from behind the tree. The four people that were shooting at the pair focus their attention on the moving target as Akaashi runs between the trees that are in the direction he’s running in. Turning his body, he uses the remainder of his bullets and manages to get two more people down. Smirking, he sees that the two guys left have moved from their spot to approach him, hopefully Bokuto doesn’t do anything stupid. A sharp pain erupts in his shoulder as he’s forced to hide behind another tree. He can feel the bullet lodged into him and whenever he moves his arm he hisses from the stinging sensation. Cursing under his breath, he glances back at the gun wound in his leg. It might not be that bad, but it still needs treating.
One minute gunshots are echoing in his ears, and the next they’ve been silenced. The sounds of screams are loud but become cut short and the sound of heavy breathing replaces them. Breathing a sigh of relief when he spots Bokuto standing over the two men, he gets up and makes his way over to him.
“Looks like I had nothing to worry about.” Akaashi says as Bokuto darts his head up at his voice.
“You should have seen the way I snuck up on them! They were too busy with you that they forgot about me until it was too late!” At Bokuto’s enthusiasm, Akaashi chuckles, holding his shoulder in an attempt to stop his blood from spilling down his arm. “And then— You’re hurt!” He spins Akaashi around to get a better look at his wound.
“It’s fine. We should be getting to the meeting point.” He winces when Bokuto uses his fingers to check out the wound to see the damage. He continues by roughly ripping off the sleeves of his t-shirt and wrapping them around both wounds as tightly as possible as makeshift bandages. They can be treated properly later as it's likely that he won't be the only one with injuries. Akaashi pulls away but doesn’t get far when Bokuto grabs his waist and throws him over his shoulder.
“I’ll carry you there!”
The black mask that was under his chin hits his face and he tugs at it harshly until it isn’t bothersome. Akaashi’s cheeks are flushed when his eyes become aligned with Bokuto’s backside. “Bokuto I’m fine.”
“I thought you were the one that said we should be using code names and yet here you are using my real name you… hypocrite! Yeah, you hypocrite!” Akaashi raises an eyebrow as Bokuto waves his arms around in front of him. “Wait you’re trying to distract me into going off-topic. And don’t think I can’t see your leg wound either.”
“I told you I’m—”
“Nope!” Bokuto starts walking and Akaashi sighs as he tucks the gun in his hand into the back pocket of Bokuto’s trousers since he has no access to his own. He also smacks his partner’s rear in the process for good measure, to which Bokuto squeezes his lower thigh.
“When we get back I’m forcing you to practise your short-range shooting, so you never think about leaving your gun at the base ever again you idiot.” Akaashi narrows his eyes at the ground as it passes by in a blur.
Bokuto ignores Akaashi’s words and instead jumps, causing Akaashi’s head to jolt uncomfortably. “Wait until Kuroo hears about this! Obviously, once we make sure he’s okay after being trapped with Ushiwaka.”
“So I guess we’re not using code names anymore.”
“I don’t know why Kuroo was given Night Hawk, Rooster would have been much more fitting.” Bokuto says absentmindedly. “I like ours though! Owl and Phoenix.”
“I thought you said you hated yours because no one recognises you with it?” Akaashi teases to which Bokuto groans.
“You know what I meant!”
“Because I suddenly have a device that allows me to read your mind.” Akaashi twists his front to look at Bokuto but grimaces when he moves his shoulder too much. Bokuto must have felt the movement because he moves his free hand to stroke Akaashi’s back. “Your bony shoulder is digging into me you know.”
“What bone? I’m all muscle!”
Akaashi tries his best to get himself out of Bokuto’s hold as they were almost in the area where they left the car. “Can you put me down now?”
“No way.”
“But we’re almost back at the car.”
“Exactly, I’ll let you down once we’re there.”
Akaashi lifts his legs and uses his arm with the non-injured shoulder to raise himself as much as possible. “Bokuto Koutarou I swear if you don’t put me down I’ll hit you over the head with the gun and wrestle you to the ground.”
“Who would have thought you had a dominant side in you ‘Kaashi.” Bokuto grins and wraps his arms around Akaashi’s legs to stop him from wriggling and kicking him in the face.
Akaashi throws his head down and lets himself go limp in Bokuto’s arms, knowing that he’s not getting out of his partner's hold until they’re in the car. When they get to the meeting point Akaashi already knows that Bokuto will carry him like this too to get a reaction out of him. It’s a good thing he loves the owl in front of him so much. “Oh my God…”