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|| one || Eight years old
The two of you were childhood friends. You weren’t neighbors, however since your mothers were friends you saw each other often; Currently, the two of you are playing in his backyard. Bokuto was bouncing a volleyball around while your attention had been caught by a bird on the neighbor’s tree. Well, it was until Bo’s ball hit the tree and scared the bird away.
“Noooo! ” The silvered-haired boy tugged at his hair in despair. Not sure how to respond, you moved to his side and patted his back in a soothing manner.
“It’s okay Bo. It’s just a ball.”
He whines your name, looking at you with a pout. “You don’t understand! That’s the seventh one I’ve lost! Mom said she won’t buy me anymore if I lose that one.” Both of you looked back up at the tree. Honestly, it didn’t seem all that tall, if you climbed on top of the fence you’d probably be able to reach the lowest branch. Nodding your head in determination, you made your way over to the fence.
Bokuto watched you in confusion. Once you were on top of the fence he finally called out to you, his tiny hands cupping his mouth to make his voice louder. “What are you doing?”
“Getting your ball back.”
“W-wait I don’t think that’s a good idea!”
“It’ll be fine! It’s not that high.” You easily pulled yourself onto the branch, quickly scaling the tree and reaching the stuck ball. Grabbing your prize, you tossed it back down to your friend. Only then did you realize there was a problem. “Oh…” This was much higher than you thought it was. “Uh… Bo…”
“Are you coming down?”
“It-it’s really high.” What you weren’t expecting was for Bokuto to throw his ball aside and open his arms towards you.
“It’s okay! I’ll catch you!”
“You promise?” He nods his head confidently, a bright smile on his face. Feeling a little braver, you move as far down the tree as you can. “O-okay I’m gonna jump…” Bo’s only response is opening his arms wider. Not wanting to psych yourself out, you gather all your courage and leap.
For a second you're just flying through the air and then suddenly you're colliding full force with Bokuto. However, you both overestimated the drop. His face collides with your stomach, and the next thing you know, you have a face full of dirt; the force knocking you both over. With a groan, you roll off of him and sit up. You do your best to brush the grass and dirt off of you but you flinch when you brush against your lip. The golden-eyed boy shoots up beside you.
“Are you okay?” but before you can even respond he suddenly gasps and shoves the sleeve of his sweater against your mouth. You finch away at the sudden pain and realize Bo’s sleeve is red. “You’re bleeding! You’re dying! I’m sorry!”
Your muffled words came out matter-of-factly “Bo I’m not dying, I think I hurt my mouth.” As you gently push his arm away, he asks you a question.
“Did you lose a tooth?”
Feeling around your mouth, you don’t feel anything missing so you shake your head. “No, my lip just really hurts.”
The silver-haired boy shifts around for a moment looking unsure before his face suddenly lights up. He quickly leans into you and pushes his lips against you before pulling back. His lips have blood on them now. “Does it feel better now?”
You can only stare at him in utter confusion. “What?”
He pouts. “Does it feel better? Whenever I get an owie and my mom kisses it, it feels better!”
Blinking a couple of times, your head tilts. Your lip definitely still hurts but seeing how hopeful your friend is there was only one option. "Yeah, it feels all better." Part of you felt bad for lying. However, nothing could compare to the bright, proud smile on his face.
Needless to say though, both your mom's freaked out when you went back inside.
|| two || twelve years old
Now the last thing you were expecting to do today was rush to the nurse’s office after school. Sliding the door open, there you found him, sitting on a chair in the back. Pack of ice held against the pout on his lips. “What happened this time?”
He avoids your eyes, still pouting. “I received the ball.”
“Uh-huh.”
He seems to sink further down in his chair. “With my face.”
“Oh my god.” You can’t help but laugh. However, that just seems to bring him down more. You move closer to him, still giggling, as he turns in his chair to avoid you.
“It’s not that funny.” He mutters against the ice.
“Bo, you gotta admit it’s pretty funny.” He grunts in displeasure which only makes you giggle more. He opens his mouth to complain except it seems to cause his pain as his lip pulled. Your laughter trails off and you start to feel bad. Shifting in place as you try to think of a way to make him feel better. It hits you suddenly, you know exactly what to do. Your face heats up slightly at the thought of what you were about to do.
Reaching a hand out, you pull the ice pack away from his lip. Bokuto’s face twists in confusion and he’s about to ask what you’re doing before you suddenly place a chaste kiss against his lips. Pulling back just as quickly you ask, “Does it feel better now?”
You almost start to laugh again when he blinks at you with wide eyes; looking more owl-like than ever. It takes him a solid couple of minutes to figure out what you meant but when he did he nearly fell off his chair from laughter. It helps you shake off your embarrassment as you join him in laughter.
However, you both start panicking when his lip splits back open.
|| three || seventeen years old
You weren’t even a part of the match and yet adrenaline coursed through your body. This wasn’t the first match they’d won and you knew it wouldn’t be the last; Yet Bokuto’s excitement was contagious every time.
Racing out of the gym, you caught up to the team. Golden eyes spotted you immediately, and he began racing towards you. Gliding into one another caused both of you to laugh in child-like glee. “Did you see!” He called your name, yelling as if you weren’t inches apart.
“I did! You guys were amazing!” You bounced in place, squeezing his arms in excitement. However, you gasped when you were suddenly swept off the ground. The shock didn’t last long before you laughed as Bo swung you around in his arms.
When you were starting to feel dizzy, he stopped, pulling you back into him. “I’m so happy I could kiss you!” He exclaimed. You weren’t expecting in the next moment for him to do just that. And as quickly as it happened it was over. Bo yelled and bounced back towards his team, which had been watching on in amusement.
The pounding of your heart and the heat creeping over your face could only be the result of the adrenaline rush. Shaking your head, you raced after your silver-haired friend. It couldn’t have been anything other than adrenaline.
|| four || eighteen years old
“Come on! All I’m asking for is your email!”
“And I said no.” You glared at the guy blocking your exit.
“I just wanna get to know you, why won’t you give me your email?”
“Because I don’t want to give it to a stranger!”
“We won’t be strangers if we get to know each other.”
You groaned, why won’t this guy take no for an answer. The sudden call of your name makes you perk up. “What’s going on here?” You were gone for so long Bokuto must have been sent looking for you. With his sudden appearance, an idea hit you.
“Kotaro!” He flinches at the sudden use of his first name. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to be gone for so long.” With the strange guy distracted you are finally able to push past him and to your best friend’s side. “This is my boyfriend.” You tell the other guy as you quickly intertwine your fingers with Bo’s.
Bokuto looks at you in confusion. “What are you-” You subtly pinch his side, cutting off his sentence. “Uh, yeah-I already paid for the bill but you weren’t back yet.” He smiles down at you before eyeing the guys across from the two of you. The unknown guy looks frustrated.
“If you had a boyfriend why didn’t you say something, to begin with?”
Glaring back at him you say, “I don’t have to tell you anything. I don’t know you!”
“Why do I feel like you're lying? Is he really your boyfriend? You can just give me your email and I’ll leave.”
Can this guy literally be any more frustrating? “Hey, Bro if they don’t want to give you their email then they don’t have to.” It seemed to be a subconscious move, but one of Bo’s strong arms wrapped around your waist; pulling you closer to him protectively. Your breath caught slightly, being so close to him. Suddenly you were worried he’d notice how hard your heart was pounding.
“We’ve spent the last couple minutes flirting and never once did they mention a boyfriend! The least they could do is give me their info!”
Now your friend was starting to look really frustrated, he opened his mouth to respond another idea hit you. Cupping one side of his face, you pulled the stronger male towards you. He lets out a muffled squeak when your lips suddenly meet his. You figured a quick kiss would get the other guy off your back. As you go to pull back, one of Bo’s hands gently cups the side of your face; prolonging the kiss.
You hear the other guy curse and storm off. Yet you couldn’t drag yourself away from the kiss yet. When the kiss finally ended, you pulled back. Bokuto’s hand continued cupping your face, thumb gently caressing your skin.
Now you couldn’t tell if it was your heart pounding or his.
|| five || twenty years old
By the time you’d finished your classes for the day, the sun had already set. Making your way towards your promised meet-up spot with Kotaro you couldn’t help but shiver. Winter had just started but the temperatures had already dropped exponentially. You really should have dressed more appropriately. Curling into yourself, you rubbed your hands over yourself in hopes of warmth. Hearing a call of your name, you turned and saw your best friend running towards you.
However, he didn’t slow down the closer he got, instead, colliding full force into you. You let out an ‘Oof’ at the impact as he hugs you tightly. Hugging him back, you can’t help but laugh. “Ko, we saw each other a couple of hours ago, why the sudden bear hug?”
“A couple of hours is still too long!” The flush creeping over your face was from the cold and not his words. Surly. However, when he started to pull back you clung to him. Thankfully Kotaro had dressed much warmer than you so you could steal his warmth. He laughed when he realized what you were doing.
“Hold on.” He pulled back from you a bit, unraveling his scarf before tugging the fabric around you. Then he grabbed your hands and stuffed them into the pockets of his sweater with his. “Better?” The smile he gave you made your breath catch.
Blinking for a moment, you couldn’t help but pout. “A bit, but my face is still cold.”
Kotaro tilted his head in thought before his face lit up. “I can fix that!” He then proceeds to swoop in and kiss you. You gasp in shock, however, within a second you melt into it. You’re unsure of how long you stayed like that, but when he finally pulled back you were no longer cold. “Better now?” Burying your head into his chest you could only nod.
Oh no. You’re so fucked.
|| interlude ||
“Hey Akaashi, we’re pretty good friends right?” You mused out loud, kicking your feet behind you as you lounged on his bed. The younger male made a sound of agreement, not looking up from his desk. “Then, can you kiss me?”
There’s a long pause after your question. Finally, he looks up at you from his textbook. “Excuse me?”
“Can you kiss me?” You asked again.
He stares at you as if you’ve suddenly grown two heads. “No?”
“Wha-why not!?”
“You have a boyfriend.”
“What!” You squawked, sitting up and staring at him in utter confusion. “What do you mean ‘I have a boyfriend.’ ”
“What do you mean, ‘what do you mean’? ”
“Who the heck is my boyfriend??”
The look he shoots you is indescribable. “My old captain, our friend, Bokuto Kotaro?”
“Wha-We were never dating! We’re just friends!”
“But… you guys kissed. Multiple times. In front of the old team.”
“But we’re just friends. It's what they do!”
He stares at you blankly before groaning into his hands, glasses pushed further up his face. “Oh my god, you're both idiots.”
|| six ||
'We need to talk.'
Your knee bounced as you anxiously wanted for his arrival. It has been about a week since your talk with Akaashi. There had been a lot to think about. Well… not exactly. It was more like, coming to terms with the fact that you did in fact have feelings for Kotaro. You have for as long as you had remembered.
There was a knock at the door. Swiftly unlocking the door, you let the golden-eyed man into your dorm. “Hey, hey, hey!” He embraces you before you can say anything. No one could blame you for the way you melted into his hug. Without a doubt, he gives some of the best hugs. “You wanted to talk about something?” He asks once he finally pulls away.
“Yeah…” Your tongue feels heavy in your mouth. You return to perching on the edge of your bed, and after a confused moment, Kotaro takes a seat at your desk.
“Is this a serious talk?”
Your knee is back to bouncing anxiously. “Kinda, yeah…” Now he’s starting to look nervous. “Ko… why do you kiss me?”
He was silent for a good couple of minutes, blinking owlishly at you. At any other moment, it would have made you laugh. Suddenly he laughs and flashes you a bright smile. “Because you're my best friend and I love you!”
Your heart pounds in your chest; both in love and in pain. “Ko, best friends don’t do that. Not normally.”
His face scrunches in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Ko, it’s not normal to kiss your best friend on a near regular basis. Not unless there are other feelings going on.” He opened his mouth to respond, except nothing came out. “We’re not dating, and we’re definitely not friends with benefits.” His face flushes and suddenly he can’t look you in the eyes anymore. “I talked to Akaashi about a lot of this. Apparently, everyone in the old team thought we were dating.”
“I didn’t realize…” He’s rubbing nervously at the back of his neck. “I just… care about you so much I never really thought about it. Kissing you, holding your hand, wanting to hold you… that all just felt right and I wanted to do it.”
The anxiety was melting away and you couldn’t help but watch him affectionately. “I like doing all that with you too Kotaro. I love you.” Your eyes lock, and you stand when he does. He takes a few steps closer to you. He hesitates for a second before cupping the side of your face, thumb caressing it affectionately. A new determination in his eyes.
A soft call of your name, “Can I kiss you?”
“Please.” The kiss was like every past one you shared. Sweet, affectionate, and soft. But now it meant something more. When you finally pulled away, you both smiled brightly, laughing. “We really are both dummies.”