Chapter Text
- APRIL -
Your morning routine for high school had consisted of the same exact thing, day after day, for a year. You woke up, got dressed, made breakfast for yourself and your aunt who you lived with, and then were on your way. You trotted down the back steps from the second-floor apartment you lived in, breathing in the dusty flour-filled air of the bakery you lived above - the same one your aunt owned. You’d wave to the old man who dumped flour into the bins and then be on your way.
The train was the same line you’d always taken, down to the exact car you always got on - at this point it was muscle memory that even got you to school anymore. The music playing in your ears was so loud you couldn’t hear the PA announcements, but you knew the schedule by heart and managed to never get mixed up.
Today threw you for a loop, though. It was the first day of your second year in high school and as you boarded the train with the other commuters from your stop, you had the realization hit you like a brick wall that not everything in your morning routine was going to stay the same.
As you looked around the car for a place to sit, your eyes landed on a particular spot that was open next to a boy around your age. He wore a school uniform that was the male version of your own; black pants, grey jacket, white shirt, blue tie. You’d been so busy looking (staring) at the boy that as the train lurched to continue its journey, making your body jolt forward suddenly and catch you by surprise, you had to react quickly and grab onto the handrail above you before you fell over and onto your face.
You righted yourself abruptly, sweeping your hair out of your face and looking up to focus your gaze back on the boy you had previously been watching. You couldn’t help yourself, honestly. Over the past year you’d noticed him and his friends riding the train with you to your shared school everyday. They were a loud bunch, one in particular was wildly boisterous for the time of day, always joking and radiating such a positive energy that everyone on the train was never bothered by how much noise they were making.
Where your routine broke was when you saw the empty spaces next to the boy.
He was sitting alone, the seats where his friends had normally sat were vacant. Seeming unbothered by the fact that he had no one to sit with, his blue eyes were focused on a book that was open in front of him. You were familiar with the title, a few of your third year friends had mentioned that it was an assignment the English teacher was planning on giving at the start of the school year.
As the third year boy took in a deep breath, letting it out in a heavy sigh, you felt a little bit of a pull on your heart and a flush to your cheeks. The music you had been listening to was only background noise to you now as the whirling and pounding of your heart began to fill your ears instead.
You smiled to yourself, loving the feeling of nerves and butterflies fluttering around in your stomach as you made the decision without much thinking.
The train was slowing once more for the next step, a few more to go before the one by your school, and you cautiously let go of the railing you’d been tightly gripping to steady your balance. You strode over the short distance to the empty seat next to him and promptly took a seat. You sat down a little more aggressively than you intended, your goal had been to be graceful and come floating out of nowhere to surprise the cute boy.
Instead, the train stopped suddenly, and you only had a short moment to catch yourself from completely falling on top of him. Either way, as you adjusted the black uniform skirt you had on, you looked over and up to meet a pair of dazzling blue eyes and flashed a closed-eye smile.
Akaashi had seen you before but only a handful of times. He knew there was a girl from his school who rode the same train as him to school every day, he’d seen you on the opposite end of the train car listening to music, scribbling away in a notebook, or just staring out the window minding your own business. He’s never thought about approaching you in the past since he’d always been busy entertaining Bokuto and the other third years, plus he was pretty sure that you were a year below him and he didn’t think you’d have enough in common to warrant him striking up a conversation.
The first thing Akaashi noticed when you had sat next to him was the smell. It was warm, comforting, and held just the faintest trace of sugar. He himself didn’t have much of a sweet tooth, but something about the way the delicious smell wafted off you made Akaashi close his eyes briefly and take in a deep breath to fill his lungs.
He then looked down at you, you were significantly shorter than he originally thought you were, and was instantly blinded by the smile you flashed up at him. Akaashi politely smiled back, intending to turn back to his book when you spoke up. You still had your headphones in, and your music must’ve been loud because your voice was much louder than it needed to be in such close proximity.
“I saw you were alone,” You basically yelled, you noticed too late how loudly you were speaking when the boy next to you recoiled a little bit - that might have also been from the bad habit you had of being a close talker. “Hope you don’t mind!”
You couldn’t hear the chuckle he let out, but the shaking of his shoulders and the slight wrinkles at the corners of his eyes told you he was amused. He shook his head and returned to his book, leaving you to the soft smile on your face as you leaned a little more comfortably into your seat.
After that, you didn’t hesitate. Everyday, as you stepped onto the train car your eyes searched around for the open seat next to the boy who went to your school - and everyday he was sitting there, focused on his book more than anything but always willing to flash a soft smile at you when you took your seat.
By the third day, you had started to get excited and looked forward to the silent arrangement you had made. You knew what was happening in your mind, the twirling and twisting of your stomach everytime you walked up to the train station and waited patiently for it to arrive along with the newest target of your affections. It was just too bad you hadn’t said a word to him yet.
“(Y/n)? (Y/n)!” You blinked away the blurry edges of your vision as a set of fingers snapped just a fraction of an inch away from your face.
“Huh?” You turned to your friend’s expectant faces as you came out of your day dream, pulling your chin from where it rested in your palm against the table you were seated at.
“We were talking about your train friend? What do you guys talk about?”
“Uh…” You lifted your eyebrows, squinted your eyes, and pouted your lips as you tried to play off to your friends what was coming next. “We… don’t?”
“(Y/n), you must be joking.” You looked back at your lunch, which had suddenly become very interesting, after you had admitted your thoughts to your friends. “You sit next to Akaashi Keiji on the train, every day, and you haven’t talked to him?”
Your eyes widened as you slowed down your chewing to take up a little more time before you were absolutely forced to respond to your friend’s question. As you slowly swallowed, you took a glance at your other friends in hopes they would come to your defense in the matter - but you were out of luck. The other girls you sat with were also waiting patiently for you to answer the question, having bothered you relentlessly since the first day of school when you told them about your brave act of sitting next to the captain of the school volleyball team.
“I mean I did when I first sat down. But no, I haven’t actually… talked to him… beyond that.” You mumbled meekly, letting your head fall and your forehead hit the table you were seated at with a loud thud. As your friends laughed at your obvious distress you groaned and lifted your head again, face towards the sky, and continued to speak. “You guys he’s so cute, I am so totally screwed.”
“Yes, you are.” One of your friends sitting next to you laughed, patting you on the back comfortingly as you continued to share your dilemma with your friends.
“Just another crush for (y/n) to fall for,” Another friend teased, shooting you something between a sneer and a smile as you continued to wail over your lunch. “It’ll pass, they always do.”
You held your hands up in anguish, playing along with their teasing as it was fun for you too. “Guys this isn’t just a crush!” You cried out dramatically, catching some attention from other students sitting at tables near you. You weren’t known for having the most quiet of personalities, so most people just brushed off your explosive comments. “This is it for me! I’m finished!”
“Oh (y/n), dramatic as ever. Why don’t you go confess your feelings then, huh?” That made you shut up. Sitting upright, you whipped your head in the direction of your friend with her smug expression on display. “The volleyball boys always have lunch in class six, I think, in the third year wing.”
“Or!” You suddenly say, holding up a finger like you suddenly had a great idea then pointing at your friend. “Better idea? I could never do that!”
Your small lunch group laughed at that and you had to as well. You loved teasing and joking around with your friends and it really wasn’t anything new for you to come to them with the idea that someone new had caught your attention. You loved boys and you loved having crushes. Sometimes they would turn into something a little more serious but never for long, your attention was always so scattered and the boys usually realized that you were quite a handful to keep up with. However, through it all, you were never heartbroken for long - if at all.
“You’ll never know if he likes you back though,” One of your friends pointed out after the laughter had died down. You turned your attention back to her and tilted your head a little in confusion. “Don’t you want to, like, date him?”
“Date him?” You choked a little, holding up your hands in front of you and waving them around to brush off your friend’s comment. You answered her question while continuing to laugh, “No! I just like the guy and want to bug him a little, he’s so cute I could never hope to date him!”
Your friend shook their heads at you, never quite understanding your thoughts.
Tomorrow was Friday, so after cleaning yourself of flour and dough from the bakery and getting your school materials organized, you came to a decision. Tucking yourself into bed, you let out a small squeal in delight at the feeling of butterflies and excitement brewing in your stomach and chest and you scrolled through a social media feed on your phone. It was familiar enough for you, you usually felt this way any time your eyes landed on a new boy you thought was cute, and you looked forward to what the morning was going to bring.
There was a little more of a pep in your step as you trotted down the back stairs of your apartment, waving to the old man as always, and rounding the corner towards the train station. The spring air was crisp and smelled of fresh, damp grass as you walked along and clicked through your music app to find something to listen to on your morning commute.
You waited along with the other travelers on the train platform, bouncing on the balls of your feet as the music played in your ears and your heart pounded in your chest. You’re going to talk to him today , you smiled to yourself.
When the train eventually slowed at your stop, you confidently stepped onto the same car you always did. You sucked in a deep breath and moved straight towards the seat you’d been sitting in the past four mornings. He was sitting there as you expected him to be, book in his hand but looking like there were only a few more pages left until he was done. You found this interesting since your third year friends hadn’t even mentioned the book being assigned yet.
You sat down next to him, smiling when he looked down at you with his calming gaze and letting the feeling of a pack of butterflies whirling around in your stomach overwhelm you. He looked back at his book, turning the page as the train started to move forward. You plucked an earbud out of your left ear, the music still playing and pretty loudly too since you could faintly hear it from the small speaker.
You reached a hand out, the one holding the removed earbud, and held it in front of the boy next to you. Slightly startled, he jolted from surprise and turned to look over at you. He glanced at the earbud, then at you, then back at the earbud - as if he didn’t understand what was going on. You motioned with the earbud for him to grab it, “Wanna listen?” You did your best to smile sweetly at him, hoping you weren’t being too weird. This was your brilliant plan to talk to him, after all.
He did that little half smile you’d noticed was a habit of his as he folded down the corner of a page in his book and tucked it away in the bag resting beside him. His eyes softened as he grabbed the earbud out of your grasp - fingers brushing yours for the smallest of touches that sent your heart into quite the tizzy.
“I’m (Y/n),” You said, holding out your hand for him to shake. “By the way.”
“Akaashi Keiji,” He said back in that smooth tone his voice had, grabbing your hand and shaking it - holding on for what you would describe was a beat just a little longer than is considered to be polite. Akaashi snuggled the earbud into his ear and looked over at your phone screen, “What are we listening to?”
“Ah,” You rubbed the back of your neck with your hand as you tilted the screen of your phone so he could get a better look at the album cover displayed. “Indigo by Luv.Ly? It’s Lo-fi and a lot of people don’t really like it-”
“It’s good,” He interrupted, looking up from your phone screen and right into your eyes.
You returned his look with a bright, nearly blinding, smile of your own and settled into your seat and let the imperfect beats of your music fill your ears while the boy next to you filled your mind.