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The thing about love, as far as Kotaro is concerned, is that it’s very confusing.
There are so many types of love, and honestly, how are you supposed to know which love is which?
There’s friendship love, family love, romantic love, but there’s also the love you have for that one classmate who hands you a pencil five minutes before an exam when you realise you’ve forgotten yours, and the love for that one girl in primary school who gave you all her chocolates and said you had pretty eyelashes.
So, it’s hardly Kotaro’s fault he can’t really differentiate between the different types of love in his life. He has a lot of loves.
He loves his sisters more than anyone else ever.
He loves his parents just a tiny bit less than his sisters. Only a tiny, teeny, weeny bit.
He loves his dog, Hoot Senpai.
He loves Kuroo for being the bro-est among bros.
He loves that tangerine-haired Karasuno player, Hinata, for being his favourite kouhai.
He loves the whole Fukurodani team.
And of course, he loves Akaashi. His bestest friend in the whole wide world. More than Kuroo.
But the idea of love begins to shift the day Kotaro receives the offer.
“AKAASHI, AKAASHI!” he shouts at the top of his lungs as he runs into the gym, waving a letter in the air. “LOOK!”
Akaashi is in the middle of stretching when he looks up, hooded eyes impassive, but Kotaro’s known him long enough to know that tiny shift of his brow means he’s interested.
Kotaro slides on the wooden floor and comes to a stop in front of Akaashi. He thrusts the letter in front of Akaashi’s face. “Open it!”
There’s wariness in his eyes now. This particular emotion is very expressive on Akaashi’s face. He tends to look wary a lot whenever Kotaro (or Kuroo.. or Komi.. or Konoha) asks him to do anything non-volleyball related. It’s understandable.
“What is it, Bokuto-san?”
“Just open it, Akaashi!” Kotaro tells him excitedly, bouncing even as he’s seated on the floor. He can’t wait to see the look on his best friend’s face when he reads what it says.
Slowly, Akaashi unfolds the letter and begins to scan its contents. To the untrained eye, it would look like nothing has changed in his expression, but Kotaro’s very well-trained. He’s studied Akaashi for hours, days, weeks – pretty much whenever he has the chance to just stare at Akaashi without him noticing. What happens now is the most subtle shift in emotions and it even has Kotaro questioning whether he’s imagining it. The slight tilt of his brow, the tick of his jaw – he’s tense about something. Is he worried about Kotaro?
“This is wonderful news,” Akaashi says, folding the letter and handing it back. There’s now a smile on his face, his dark eyes bright and clear of any other emotion. “I knew this would happen for you, Bokuto-san. Congratulations.”
Kotaro leans in close. “Are you sure?”
Akaashi leans away. “What do you mean? I’m happy for you.”
Well, that’s true. Akaashi is always happy for him. He’s always been the first person in his life to congratulate him on a job well done; the first person to tell him he’s proud of Kotaro when he does something clever and mature. He’s also the first person to scold Kotaro when he does the opposite. Kotaro likes that though. He often forgets himself when he gets caught up in his own emotions.
Kotaro nods, accepting this, and throws his arms around Akaashi’s neck, hugging his vice-captain tightly to his chest. “I’m gonna be a professional volleyball player, Akaashi!”
Later that evening when Kotaro is lying in his bed, staring at the letter, he finally acknowledges that something feels wrong. He was so caught up in the excitement of being acknowledged by a professional Division 1 team that he ignored what he was feeling – is still feeling. He doesn’t know what it is but his stomach is rumbling and tumbling around like a washing machine, and he knows it’s not because he’s hungry since he ate a hamburg steak only thirty minutes ago.
He just feels weird.
Maybe there’s something wrong with him.
Panicked, Kotaro rings the one person he goes to when he feels odd.
“Akaashi, I think there’s something wrong with me!”
“What’s going on, Bokuto-san? Why do you think there’s something wrong with you?” Akaashi’s calm voice on the other line eases some of the panic in Kotaro’s chest.
He exhales slowly. “I don’t know. I just feel… weird. Like my stomach feels off.”
“Did you eat expired yoghurt again?”
“No! I swear! I totally learned my lesson last time!”
Akaashi hums in thought. “We ate lunch together today and I feel fine. What did you have for breakfast and dinner?”
“Well, I kind of woke up late so I skipped breakfast –”
“Bokuto-san…”
“I know, I know! I’m sorry, Akaashi. But I was up all night trying to finish that stupid math homework and I didn’t even hear my alarm!”
“Are you still struggling? Do you need my –”
“No, I totally get it now! Between you and Kuroo, I’ll never forget that formula ever again!”
Kotaro winces at the memory of Kuroo flicking his forehead for every wrong answer. Thankfully, Akaashi arrived in time to rescue him from that rooster-haired bastard’s clutches. Seeing his best friend scold his best bro for ‘unhelpful and juvenile tutoring tactics’ and then kick him out of Kotaro’s house shouldn’t have been as satisfying as it was.
“Okay,” Akaashi says hesitantly as if he’s not quite ready to let this topic go. “Then what did you have for dinner?”
“Oh! My okaa-san made me hamburg steak! You would have loved it. It was so good! Actually, she asked if you wanted to come over this weekend? To celebrate my offer! Tsu-chan and Asu-chan are both coming as well!”
“Ah…” Akaashi is silent for far longer than Kotaro expected.
“Akaashi? You don’t have to if you’re busy.”
“No, it’s… nothing. I’ll be there, Bokuto-san.”
“Really? I promise I won’t be mad if you can’t make it, Akaashi! We can always hang out later! Do you want to go to that onigiri place?”
There’s a soft exhale of breath – a telltale sign of an Akaashi chuckle. It’s Kotaro’s favourite sound in the whole world. He lives for it.
“I want to hear about Asuka-san’s new job,” Akaashi says. Kotaro can hear the smile in his voice and that makes his heart flutter in response. He’s happy whenever Akaashi’s happy. It’s like a chemical reaction.
“Okay! I’ll tell my okaa-san!”
Akaashi makes that sound again. “Bokuto-san, do you still feel weird?”
“Oh!” Kotaro thinks. His stomach doesn’t feel as funny anymore. The feeling is still there but it’s calmed down to almost a faint twitch rather than the somersaulting roiling it was doing before. “I think I’m okay now, Akaashi.”
“Okay, I’m glad.”
“Akaashi?”
Kotaro pauses, lips parted. He feels like there is something just on the tip of tongue but he can’t quite remember what he wanted to say.
“Nothing… See you tomorrow.”
“Good night, Bokuto-san. Don’t sleep too late. You have a quiz in English.”
“OH SHIT!”
Three days later, the feeling returns tenfold. Kotaro just hung up the phone with the coach of Sakai Blazers. On the surface, it’s a dream come true. It is everything Kotaro has been working towards since he discovered a volleyball in his older sister’s room. He should simply accept it and not look back. Instead, he found himself saying, “can I possibly have the weekend to think this over?”
It may be the dumbest thing he’s ever done.
Kotaro has never been so unsure about volleyball in all of his life but his gut is churning at the idea of going to Osaka and his gut has never let him down before – except that one time his gut told him that the yoghurt was totally fine to eat. He should’ve listened to Akaashi then.
Akaashi!
That’s who he needs to talk to. Akaashi always knows what to do and how to properly interpret Kotaro’s gut feelings.
It’s a Saturday morning so Akaashi is probably at the park. If Kotaro hurries, he can catch him before he goes home to change for the library. He hates following Akaashi to the library. That craggy old librarian always yells at him.
Slipping on a jacket and changing into a new pair of sweats, Kotaro races out of the house, making a beeline straight for the park. It’s in between both Kotaro and Akaashi’s house. About ten minutes from Kotaro’s and twenty minute from Akaashi’s. They often meet there on the weekends. Sometimes they’ll run laps around the lake or sometimes they’ll just lie under the shade of the trees. Akaashi would read while Kotaro would take a nap. It’s one of his favourite places in the world.
How could he give that up for Osaka?
Kotaro frowns at the sudden intrusive thought. That’s silly. There are totally parks in Osaka too. He could just find an apartment near one.
As he nears the entrance, Kotaro can already picture in his mind’s eye where Akaashi is. He follows the familiar path, winds around the playground swings, behind the big large tree that looks kind of like an old man with a cane, then…
“AKAASHI!” he shouts, waving ecstatically.
The boy in question is sitting against the trunk of a large sakura tree. Its petals aren’t in season yet but it’s only a couple months till sakura season. That’s when all the couples take over the park. Kotaro hates it. It ruins his peace and quiet with Akaashi.
He earmarks his book and places it beside him. “Bokuto-san? What are you doing here?”
“I came to find you! Duh!” Kotaro answers happily as he drops down next to Akaashi, thighs touching. “Akaashi, I figured out why my stomach was all weird the other night. It’s my gut! My gut is telling me not to go to Osaka.”
There’s a second pause before Akaashi speaks. It’s enough to draw Kotaro’s attention as he angles his face to look at his best friend. “Last time, your gut told you, you’d beat Kenma at Mario Kart.”
“Akaashi,” he whines. “Don’t kick me when I’m down. I’m serious!”
“So am I,” Akaashi says. “Are you really going to give up your dream because your gut told you so?”
Well, when he puts it like that, it does seem absurd.
“No, of course not!” Kotaro sighs and drops his head onto Akaashi’s shoulder. “I just… think maybe… Ah, I don’t know! It’s so confusing!”
Akaashi pats Kotaro’s thigh consolingly. “Change is always scary, Bokuto-san, but… change can also be a good thing.” He sighs softly. Kotaro wants to look up to check for those minute differences in his expression to gauge what Akaashi is feeling but he’s too comfortable in his best friend’s warmth right now to move. “I was scared to come to Fukurodani.”
“You were?!”
“I was,” Akaashi affirms. “I didn’t think I was good enough to play here. To play with you.”
“Akaashi, but you’re –”
“Bokuto-san, please just listen,” Akaashi says. “I was also worried about disappointing my father. He has never approved of volleyball.”
Kotaro knows and he hates the senior Akaashi.
“But I took the leap and came anyway. I have not regretted this decision once these past two years. I promise you, you won’t regret taking the leap either, Bokuto-san.”
What Akaashi is saying is true but the gut feeling doesn’t go away. It continues to pester him over and over again. Even on Sunday, when his sisters are home and Akaashi is there, he doesn’t quite feel like himself. He should be the life of the party – after all, it is for him – but he feels withdrawn and moody.
It’s enough to have one of his sisters corner him while the other is talking to Akaashi in the kitchen.
“Alright, frowny pants, what’s up?”
“What?”
“You! You’ve been in a mood all evening. What’s going on? Did you get into a fight with Akaashi-kun?”
“No! Never!” Kotaro can’t think of a more horrible scenario. However, Tsubasa’s stern glower makes the shock quickly dissipate and he wilts under her gaze. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing, Ko-chan. What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy?” Tsubasa asks, voice softening, as she reaches out to take a hold of his forearm.
“I am,” Kotaro says. “But I’m… stuck. I know I should accept the offer. It’s my dream, but it doesn’t feel right and my gut is telling me to turn it down.”
“Uhuh, I see,” his older sister says, considering. “Well, then turn it down.”
Kotaro’s eyes widen at that. “Huh?”
“Turn it down,” Tsubasa repeats. “It’s not going to be the only offer you receive, Kotaro. You’re an amazing volleyball player and I’m not just saying that because I’m your sister. Anyone can see that. You will get other offers.”
“Oh…” Kotaro hasn’t really thought of that.
“And you could always go to university, play there for a few years, make an even bigger name for yourself and join the club you really want.”
University?
He supposes that is true. His grades aren’t great but a few universities have contacted him about enrolling to join their volleyball club and a few of those universities are even here in Tokyo.
Kotaro’s smile widens, bright and beaming, as he hugs his sister. “Tsu-chan, you’re a genius!”
She laughs, hugging him back just as tightly. “I know, I know. I’m the smartest one out of all of us!”
“That’s definitely not true.”
Both of them disentangle themselves to catch their eldest sister’s sardonic grin, Akaashi right behind her, looking just as amused.
“Dinner’s ready,” he announces.
Kotaro immediately launches himself over towards Akaashi, feeling so much lighter than he’s felt all week. “Akaashi, sit next to me!”
On Monday, Kotaro calls the coach from Sakai Blazers and apologises for declining his offer, but the man is nice enough to understand that Kotaro wants to go to university first. He even seems to think that Kotaro is a smart young man for doing so. He refrains from admitting that he just doesn’t want to move to Osaka.
Kotaro makes a few more calls after searching for the business cards he was given during Spring High. By the time he’s done, he’s totally super late to practice – even though third years technically don’t have to come anymore as they’re done for the year. They do anyway though. It’s not about whether they have games to prepare; they’re a family.
“Sorry! I’m here!”
Akaashi is the first face he sees and it’s a very angry face.
“We thought something happened!” His tone is louder than normal and it’s sharp, almost painfully so. He only uses this tone when he’s really mad.
Kotaro’s face falls. “Akaashi… I’m sorry. I had something to do!”
“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” he asks, voice back to its normal volume, though no less angry.
Kotaro recalls someone trying to call while he was on the phone but he didn’t bother checking it. He figured he’d look after... except he forgot. Oh man.
Sarukui walks up and puts a hand on Akaashi’s shoulder. “In the three years I’ve known you, you’ve never been late to one practice. We were worried something bad happened, Boku-kun.”
“Akaashi was this close to calling your okaa-san!” Komi shouts from the court.
Kotaro winces. Akaashi would never abuse the privilege of having his okaa-san’s personal number by calling her for frivolous things. He’s much too proper for that. He must’ve really been concerned.
“I… I’m sorry,” Kotaro says pathetically. Sarukui gives him a nod as he walks back to the court where the rest of the team are warming up. Kotaro tentatively takes a hold of Akaashi’s hand. “I should’ve texted you I’d be late. It was… It was really irresponsible of me! I’m sorry, Akaashi! Please don’t be mad!”
Akaashi sighs, the anger lines on his face smoothing out. “I’m not mad, Bokuto-san. It’s okay. Please be more considerate next time.”
Kotaro steps closer into Akaashi’s personal space. He feels so guilty that just holding Akaashi’s hand isn’t enough. He wraps his arms around Akaashi’s shoulders and whispers softly. “I’m sorry.”
For a long moment, Akaashi doesn’t do anything, but then he sags against Kotaro and drops his head onto his shoulder. Kotaro feels the shuddering breath and he holds his vice-captain a little tighter.
How can he go to Osaka when he needs to be here for Akaashi? How can he ever leave Akaashi’s side?
They’re walking home later that evening when Kotaro admits to Akaashi why he was late.
“What?”
Akaashi abruptly stops walking. He stands there in the middle of the street, staring wide-eyed at Kotaro.
“What?!”
“You turned down Sakai Blazers?”
Kotaro laughs awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh… yeah. It’s not that crazy, Akaashi!”
“But this is your dream, Bokuto-san. What were you thinking?”
“It is,” Kotaro admits. “But it just didn’t feel right and you know my gut is –”
Akaashi levels him with a look.
“– almost never wrong,” he finishes, beaming at his best friend.
“You’re sure about this?” Akaashi asks, frowning, though his shoulders relax and he looks happier. He must have forgiven Kotaro for being late now that he knows the reason!
Kotaro nods. “Super sure!”
Akaashi nods. “Okay.” After a moment, he adds quietly. “I’m sorry as well about getting so angry earlier, Bokuto-san. I’m not your okaa-san. You don’t need to check in with me all the time.”
Kotaro knows but he also knows why Akaashi got mad.
“But you’re my best friend,” Kotaro counters. “And if checking in makes you feel better then I will, so don’t worry, Akaashi!”
It’s his carelessness today that hurt Akaashi, but Kotaro vows that he’ll never make Akaashi relive the day his mother passed ever again. He’ll never make him wonder if another loved one is late because they got into an accident and aren’t coming at all. Kotaro would protect Akaashi from that. He swears on everything he is that he will.
They walk for another fifteen minutes before they reach the point where they have to separate. Akaashi stops him. “Your parents are away this week?”
“Oh,” Bokuto says. He totally forgot. “Yeah. My obaa-chan is sick so they’re going to go visit her for a couple days.”
Akaashi nods. “C’mon. Let me buy you some onigiris for dinner.”
Before Kotaro can refuse, Akaashi is already crossing the road towards the Family Mart across the street. The little beep-beep sound is getting faster so Kotaro happily sprints across to catch up.
He loves his best friend so much!
By mid-February, Kotaro has made sure he hasn’t been late to one single practice. In fact, he’s earlier than everyone else and stays later than everyone else just like usual – well, everyone except for Akaashi who stays with him. There’s no need for extra spiking practices anymore. Everyone knows that. Spring High is over. Kotaro’s not going to be the one Akaashi will be setting to next year. Everyone knows that too. But no one says anything and they keep up their normal routine.
It’s 3:30 on a Friday afternoon when he receives the first call. Kotaro’s university entrance exam results have been out for quite awhile now. He didn’t fail anything and he considers that a total victory, but he’s not sure what these universities will think. Just because they think he’s a good volleyball player might not be enough for them.
But he gets the call and everything finally falls into place.
As Kotaro walks into the gym (not late), he realises he isn’t ready to announce it to his team yet. Normally, he would but there’s something he wants to do first, someone he wants to tell first.
He waits till the rest of the team have gone home, leaving only Akaashi and him in the gym just like any other evening, but tonight, he has a different plan in mind.
“Akaashi, do you want to grab dinner instead? My treat!”
Akaashi stops midway in picking up a stray volleyball one of the first years forgot to collect. “What?”
“It’s just… you bought me three onigiris that one day and I never got to pay you back!” Kotaro says, beaming innocently. “C’mon. Please? Let your captain buy you dinner for once!”
There’s a strange look on Akaashi’s face. His brows are pinched, his cheeks are slightly pink even though they totally did their cool down routine, and he looks somewhere between confused and embarrassed. It’s a strange emotion. Kotaro’s never seen this one before.
“Um… Okay, Bokuto-san. If you really insist,” Akaashi says slowly.
Kotaro whoops. “Hell yeah I do! Let’s go! Let’s go!”
“We have to clear the equipment and then lock up the gym first.”
“Oh yeah…”
It takes them about fifteen minutes to put everything away. Kotaro is practically bouncing around like a rabbit by the time they’ve locked up for the night.
“Where are we going?”
“Oh, well… umm, I can’t really afford anywhere else but that ramen shop down by –”
“I like that place,” Akaashi interjects.
“Oh good!” Kotaro exclaims, relieved.
The walk isn’t far. The ramen place is frequented by Fukurodani students quite a lot because of its close proximity to the school but also because it’s so freaking delicious and comes in huge bowls. The team likes to celebrate here after wins. He’s going to miss this place.
They quickly order at the machine up front and manage to get a small table towards the back of the already very small restaurant. It’s almost comical because of how tall both Kotaro and Akaashi are but it doesn’t really matter. Kotaro is just glad there’s space. He totally forgot it was a Friday evening and people might actually want to eat out tonight.
Kotaro’s original plan was to wait until their food arrives. He had envisioned telling Akaashi while he was chewing so that, to his surprise, he spit it out everywhere. It would’ve been so funny. But of course, being the impatient person that he is, as soon as they’re seated, he blurts it out right away.
“I got into Chuo University!”
Akaashi’s expression changes from shocked to confused in a matter of milliseconds – so fast you wouldn’t notice if you weren’t a trained Akaashi reader like Kotaro.
“What university?”
“I know! They’re offering me a volleyball scholarship and said as long as I pass all my classes, that’s enough.”
“Wait, Bokuto-san, when did you apply to Chuo?”
“They approached me at Spring High and asked if I was interested,” Kotaro explains. “And then I called them last month when I turned down Sakai Blazers. Oh hey! Did you know the great and mighty Ushijima is going to Waseda? They mentioned it to me.”
Akaashi nods, understanding changing his expression into a contemplative one. “I see. So since Kiryu-san, the other top three ace, is going straight into Division 1, they want to recruit a top five ace to help them beat Waseda at the All Japan Intercollegiate Championship next year.”
Kotaro crosses his arms over his chest, pouting. “Well, you don’t have to say it like that, Akaashi!”
He returns his focus onto Kotaro, looking straight into his eyes, before they crinkle and he starts laughing. It’s rare to hear Akaashi laugh, rarer to hear his vice-captain laugh so openly in public, but it’s Kotaro’s second favourite sound in the world and the sound instantly turns his pout into a wide, face-splitting smile.
It’s in this moment – this very moment of watching Akaashi’s dark eyes alight with joy and humour and his artfully messy hair become even more dishevelled with the shake of his shoulders – that Kotaro has his epiphany.
Ah, it’s romantic love.
He doesn’t love Akaashi. He’s in love with Akaashi.
That’s why he couldn’t move to Osaka. If he did, he wouldn’t get to see this all the time. Maybe once every few months – if they’re even friends after such a long time apart. Kotaro can’t have that. He needs to be here in Tokyo so he can make Akaashi laugh all the time. He needs to be here so he can watch Akaashi laugh all the time just like this, so carefree and happy.
The realisation isn’t that much of a surprise the more he thinks about it. Akaashi is the first person Kotaro goes to when he wants to talk about his day. He’s the first person Kotaro thinks about when he needs advice and comfort. He’s the only person Kotaro has ever confided in about how hurt and lonely he actually was in junior high.
And Akaashi is the only person Kotaro has ever wanted to kiss so badly he feels like he might be sick if he doesn’t.
“You don’t have to walk me home, Bokuto-san.”
“Huh?” Kotaro looks up from staring down at his feet. He’s so nervous he can barely think straight around Akaashi right now, but he has to say something. “It’s okay! I like the night! I mean… the night air. It’s nice. I like… walking. At night.”
Akaashi frowns, staring curiously at him. “Are you okay?”
“FINE!” he squeaks and chuckles. “Sorry, probably all that sugar from the… umm… green tea.”
To his relief, Akaashi just chuckles and carries on walking. Sometimes they do walk in silence. It used to bother Kotaro. He had never been someone who could just let silences be. He always felt like he had to fill it with chatter. Akaashi told him once it’s probably because of his fear of being left alone again. Kotaro remembered saying Akaashi was a genius and should be a psychopath. Akaashi had corrected him: “It's psychologist, and no, thank you, Bokuto-san. One of you is enough.”
Kotaro enjoys their silences now just as much as he enjoys their conversations – especially today when his nerves are frazzled and his heart is beating a thousand kilometres a minute.
They reach Akaashi’s house far quicker than Kotaro anticipated. He doesn’t know what to do. He knows he needs to say something because he can’t keep this epiphany bottled inside of him any longer. It feels bigger than his heart can handle. Do hearts have a capacity limit like lungs do? Kotaro doesn’t know but he thinks they might. He feels like his heart might explode from all of this emotion.
“Bokuto-san? I’m going to go inside now.”
Akaashi is looking at him with that expression that says ‘you’re acting weird but I won’t question you since you’ll just tell me anyways.’ It’s true because Kotaro will. He’s just trying to figure out how – but all his thought processes come crashing to a halt when Akaashi tilts his head and the glow of the streetlamp above them hits his face just so, highlighting the sharp angles of his face, lines that Kotaro knows so well he could map them out in his sleep.
“I promise you, you won’t regret taking the leap either, Bokuto-san.”
Kotaro is taking a leap.
He cups Akaashi’s face gently in his hands and leans forward, pressing a soft, tentative kiss to his vice-captain’s lips. It lasts barely longer than a second but it’s enough to send his heart rate into overdrive. It’s not Kotaro’s first kiss. But it’s his first kiss with someone that really matters and that makes all the difference.
When Kotaro pulls away, the look on Akaashi’s face is one he doesn’t recognise and that freaks him out so much that he starts hopping up and down. “AHHH, S-SORRY, AKAASHI!!”
Before he can ramble out another apology, Akaashi grabs him by the collar of his shirt and pulls him the short distance down. Kotaro’s lips crash against Akaashi none-too-gently but neither seem to care as they both instantly react. Akaashi’s hands move from his collar to around his neck, while Kotaro’s hands wrap around Akaashi’s waist and pull him closer. The kiss isn’t delicate or romantic; it’s demanding and desperate like they’ve both waited too long to do this and they’re making up for lost time.
Kotaro lets himself fall into the feel and taste of Akaashi. The little sigh Akaashi makes when Kotaro’s teeth scrape against his bottom lip. The way Akaashi’s fingers curl into Kotaro’s hair. The faint spearmint smell of the soap Akaashi uses at home. All of it drives Kotaro wild, makes his heart swell against its capacity limit and makes every atom in his body ricochet inside of him with jittery nervous excitement.
When they finally, finally pull away, their lips are red and swollen and their cheeks are flushed a bright hue of pink.
“Um…” Kotaro says dumbly, taking in deep breaths – seems he had reached his lung capacity as well. Akaashi smiles. It’s the special one that he only reserves for Kotaro. The fond one that says ‘you’re being silly right now, Bokuto-san.’ He supposes he is.
“I love you, Akaashi Keiji!” he nearly shouts in his haste to get the words out.
Akaashi’s cheeks turn even pinker and Kotaro panics again. They haven’t even started dating yet. He shouldn’t be saying the L word, right?
“I love you too, Bokuto Kotaro,” Akaashi says at a much normal decibel, cutting through his internal distress. “Now, go home. It’s late.”
“But –” Kotaro starts to protest, a whine on the tip of his tongue.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning. For our date,” Akaashi grins before turning towards his house and unlocking the front gate. “Good night, Bokuto-san,” he calls over his shoulder.
“Wait, Akaashi! Where?!”
“Under our tree.”