Chapter Text
“You know, when you invite people out to eat, you usually suggest food you actually like.” Kuroo slurped his noodles, eying the excitable werewolf in front of him whose eyes shone when he spotted a server carrying a familiar red and mustard bowl to a different table. Bokuto licked his lips in anticipation, and Kenma, who sat right to Kuroo’s side, rolled his eyes. Kuroo followed Bokuto’s gaze and scowled, “Are you kidding me? Is that the reason you dragged us here?”
Bokuto’s ears perked up and turned back toward his friend, a pout on his lips. “Well, yeah.”
“At ease, Kuroo,” Kenma grumbled, pushing his rice around with his chopsticks, “at least he’s found a better way to get life advice.”
“Your readings will always be the best!” Bokuto protested, hitting his fist on the table. Their bowls rattled and he grinned apologetically. It was true though, even without a display. Though Kenma insisted that magic readings weren’t real and that he only did illusion magic, Bokuto knew better. He knew his little friend just didn’t want to be outed as the best fortune teller of all time. So, he would rely on cookies for now.
The server walked over with a dazzling smile, but Bokuto only had his eyes on the cookie she set in front of him with a wink. He waited until she turned her back before ripping into the cookie, tail flicking back and forth behind him. He crushed the golden cookie in his palm, then gently pulled out the little white slip with red letters.
A small donation is called for. It’s the right thing to do.
Bokuto broke out into a wide smile before rummaging through his wallet. When he found it, he opened the tattered binding and pulled out a ten dollar bill, setting it down in the center of the table. Kuroo leaned over to get a look at the fortune before scowling once more. “Dude, this is stupid. You are making the fortunes come true on your own.”
Kuroo gathered his coat in his hands. “Thanks for paying the tip, but seriously, what kind of fortune is that?”
“One that’ll come in handy one day!” Bokuto insisted, stealing their two cookies. Kenma glared at him, then slipped out of their booth. Tucking the cookies into his jacket, Bokuto scampered to the restaurant door and held it open for his friends trailing behind. He knew better than to fall for their innocent act and wouldn’t let their negativity infect him. Everyone knew fortune cookies had mysterious ways. Today, he loses his lunch money, but tomorrow? The day after? Things would work out in the end.
And that’s just the way Bokuto lived.
“Are you going to hold onto those two cookies or something? C’mon, open them up!” Kuroo huffed as he left the small restaurant. Bokuto felt his friend’s long tail attempt to trip him as he followed them from behind.
“I don’t think it works that way.” Bokuto pulled another cookie from his coat, inspecting it before leaning down to look at Kenma. “Ken-ken, am I allowed more than one fortune a day?”
Kenma glared up at him, slit eyes narrowing even further. “Will you leave me alone if I say you can open another?”
“No need.” Suddenly, the fortune cookie was snatched from his hand. Bokuto floundered for a moment, then turned to see Kuroo cracking the cookie in one hand, then pulling out a small slip of paper. He read it through before cackling. “This is way better than your last one. ‘Any decision you have to make tomorrow is a good decision.’ Vague, but maybe it’ll make you start studying for your paper next week.”
“Ugh, don’t even bring that up,” Bokuto groaned, running a hand through his hair. Kuroo handed him the slip, which Bokuto stuffed into his pocket for a rainy day, more precisely tomorrow, when it was useful. The same day his next fortune would come in handy.
If Bokuto had to choose his favorite day of the week, he’d struggle immensely. He adored Tuesdays since it was the day the lunch room sold McCain Smiles. Each boat of them contained eight smile-y faced fries that stared up at him with as much excitement as they could muster. Konoha once said that they looked traumatized despite being inanimate objects, their soulless holes for eyes conveying that they knew they were created to be eaten. Bokuto preferred not to think about that, instead preening under the lunch ladies attention as they sometimes gave him extra fries, cooing over how his tail wagged like an excited puppy.
On the other hand, Bokuto loved Thursdays. That day classes were shorter, only by forty five minutes, but due to that free time he had more time to play volleyball or go to the park with his friends. They’d always indulge him whenever he brought a frisbee or ball along, but they’d grow tired of the repetition in no time, leaving Bokuto to pout on the grass.
And don’t get him started on how great Monday was. Well, this Monday was great since he had a fortune cookie in his hands. He hated waking up so early to go to school, but he felt like he was walking on clouds that day. As he sat throughout his first class, he drummed his hands on the fortune, eager to open it but not knowing when the best time was. He didn’t want to spoil it.
However, when lunch approached and he found himself without lunch money and only a cookie in his pocket, he knew desperate times had come. He strolled into the cafeteria, heading toward where he usually sat with his volleyball friends. As he approached, Bokuto tugged the cookie out and cracked it in half.
He stuffed the cookie into his mouth before actually reading the fortune.
‘Behind this fortune is the love of your life.’
Bokuto stuttered in his steps, cookie crumbles falling past his lips. His tail, once swaying in a joyful beat, had come to a halt like his steps. The love of his life… wrote this fortune? For him? They were the one behind all his life changing cookie fortunes? He wheezed as he stared at the paper in awe, a grin working its way onto his lips. His soulmate was a fortune teller! That’s so cool! He had to go call Kuroo. He had to tell the team! He had to- He didn’t know what he had to do! He had to find the nearest factory! He needed to go run outside or else his bones would jump out of his skin.
He finally tore his eyes from the fortune to navigate the cafeteria, but then felt his heart stop.
Right in front of him- well, actually, not right in front of him. More so like… twenty feet away? But like, a clear shot of twenty feet away. Like the red sea of hormonal teenagers high off recent test grades, or whatever they snuck into the bathroom to smoke, had parted just to expose someone twenty feet away, showing only their side profile as they examined a cooler. The person right behind his fortune. Behind. Behind the paper. The love of Bokuto’s life.
Bokuto never actually wondered what the love of his life would look like, but upon seeing him standing right in front of him, he believed he was always meant to look exactly like that. He had black curly hair that framed his face, exposing pale, almost sickly looking skin. His lips were tinted with a hint of blue, like that of a corpse, but it complimented his eyes, which were deep set and had purplish marks below them from lack of sleep. His hands were bony and veiny, clutching his school bag strap as he scanned the cooler, debating something in his mind. Then, without warning, the boy looked in Bokuto’s direction. He had the bluest eyes Bokuto had ever seen, and they narrowed considerably until the dark of his pupil was barely visible. He thrusted his hand into his bag and produced a grey pouch, which he punched a straw into before greedily beginning to suck at the substance.
A vampire.
Bokuto’s tail began to wag as the vampire, the love of his life, stalked away from the coolers and deeper into the lunch room. His heart skipped a beat, then settled sadly in his chest when he could no longer see the messy head of curls amongst the crowd of students. He felt his ears flatten against his skull.
Then he felt a sudden, harsh jab to his side. “Bokuto! Stop whining so loud, you’ll freak out the cat shifters again! What, didn’t get to the line in time?”
Bokuto glanced up to see Konoha scooting around his hulking form, going straight for their table. He followed after the blond elf, taking a seat right to his side. In a vain attempt to spot the raven haired beauty, he searched the surrounding tables, but gave up with a sigh, slumping over in his seat.
“I met the love of my life,” Bokuto moaned as he rested his forehead against the table. The others who had already gathered there, just shook their heads.
“The inventor of those meat buns you like?” Komi asked as he unwrapped one of the store bought onigiri he bought before school. Bokuto watched him take a bite with a pout.
“Inventor of volleyball,” Washio muttered with such certainty that it sounded like a stated fact. Bokuto would have believed him too, that his soulmate was who Washio claimed he was, but he knew that the vampire couldn’t have been that old. Well, actually he could be. When it came to vampires, there were a few different types, though Bokuto didn’t bother to learn them all before. There were ones like Oikawa from Aoba Johsai who looked like they should sparkle in the sunlight and be in romance movies. Oikawa-like vampires aged at normal rates and are almost just like normal humans aside from bloodlust. There are other kinds who were more dangerous due to having hypnotism that they used initially in their development to retrieve blood from victims. Those ones tended to live a long time.
There were also ones that resembled corpses, in Bokuto’s opinion. They were more like the factitious ‘zombies’ and needed blood and raw meat to survive and thrive. They always looked like shells of humans, though they always look like that, even from birth. Akaashi looked sickly, but Bokuto wouldn’t say he is that bad. Those vampires can never fully heal wounds, nor feel them. Their minds are usually scattered too, making the chances of one attending Fukurodani very slim.
Then there were vampires who had cool powers like suggestion or healing saliva, and were mostly seen as menaces until laws came up around fifty years ago that tasked citizens to donate blood once a month for a safer society. Every day, vampires would get one to two juice-like boxes of blood, their choice between human or animal blood. The animal blood was usually from slaughterhouses to obtain meat for all of society, but could have traces of dangerous bacteria that could sicken them. Many opted for human blood.
He wondered if it would hurt to give a vampire his blood without it being in a bottle. He wondered if that’s what the vampire, his soulmate, would insist upon. If they were soulmates though, then it didn’t matter, right? He’d do anything for a soulmate- his soulmate.
Maybe he could hunt for his soulmate. He could give him the blood of an animal, then chow down on the rest of it. Would he appreciate that? The last time Bokuto had a crush, he brought her a dead possum and she really, really didn’t like it.
“He’s a vampire.” Bokuto lifted his head. “And he’s really pretty.”
“A vampire?” Konoha crinkled his nose in disgust. He opened the milk carton on his tray. “What kind?”
Bokuto glanced over. “The best kind?”
“Someone’s biased,” Komi giggled, looking around the cafeteria as well in order to find who caught the ace’s eye, “but what a good time to fall in love since prom is coming up. It’d be nice if everyone has a date so Bokuto isn’t third wheeling.”
“Like last year?” Konoha huffed. “I couldn’t have a moment of peace with my date.”
“I’m a delightful third wheel,” Bokuto argued. He received a lot of mutters following that, but he didn’t pay them any mind.
Conversation began amongst the rest of them as Bokuto joined the search for his love, sitting up tall in his seat in order to try and find him. He snagged some food off Washio, who gave him a mean look before pushing his milk carton toward the werewolf as well. Bokuto took it without hesitation.
Slurping down the contents, Bokuto kept his eye out. When it was near the end of the period and his friends were about to pack up, he spotted a familiar mess of curly hair.
“That’s him!” Bokuto cried, tail wagging with reckless abandon as he pointed out the boy, who sat in the corner of the lunch room. He was reading a thick book, only peering up to glare at people who dared go near him. Much to everyone’s surprise, said boy hadn’t heard Bokuto’s shout from across the cafeteria like every other student. His friends eye the black haired boy, who sucked the rest of his blood box, squeezed it til it was in ruins and his knuckles were snow white, then threw it away with a scowl. “I have to ask him to be my date to the dance!”
“Uh, Bo?” Konoha frowned and grasped the back of Bokuto’s uniform shirt, holding him back from scampering over to the unsuspecting boy. “Isn’t he the one Komi’s always freaking out about? The one who always has one of those… things in his mouth?”
“Yeah,” Komi laughed, strained. They watched as the vampire thrusted his hand into his school bag and pulled out another blood box. He jammed the straw in, then kept drinking as though he hadn’t already had more than enough. “I… I thought they only had those once or twice a day, but he’s hardly seen without one in his mouth. Actually, a girl from his class told me he sucks on them all throughout class and sometimes goes through three of them in one period.”
Bokuto didn’t listen. He just grinned and slumped in his seat to admire his future date from afar. Konoha’s hair stood on end as the vampire noticed their staring and returned it, eyes narrowing further. If looks could kill, they’d be six feet under. “Isn’t he perfect?”
“.... Charming.”
“Should I ask him now?” Bokuto asked, turning to his friends. He puffed his chest out and flexed his arms, though it was hidden behind his uniform blazer. “How do I look?”
“Before you go, what makes you think he’s the love of your life?” Washio asked, dragging himself back into the conversation.
“I had my fortune told, and he fit the bill!” Bokuto slammed his hands down and stood. Sending one radiant grin to his friends, he hopped over his chair and began to make his way to the table, where the love of his life sat by his lonesome. He looked absolutely adorable. He was sitting with his legs crossed, the box pouch dangling from where he had both the straw and a piece of the box in his mouth. Upon closer inspection, he had thick eyebrows that framed his eyes and intensified the mean look he had. They suited him well, but Bokuto wanted to see how they looked relaxed. He wanted to see how he looked with crows feet by his eyes.
The vampire noticed him walking over before Bokuto got close, and his beautiful blue eyes bore into his figure critically. Bokuto sweat under the strength of his glare. Was he judging him? Admiring? Was he looking at Bokuto’s tail, which swayed back and forth low to the floor, placatedly, nervously?
He stopped at the head of the otherwise empty lunch table and took a quick breath in. “Hey!”
The boy blinked, expression unchanging though his scowl eased the closer Bokuto got. His elegant, long fingers danced up to the pouch dangling at his chin, but he didn’t remove it to speak. Instead, while his eyes remained on Bokuto, he took a louder, longer sip. Bokuto shivered.
“I just…” Bokuto began, but words were quickly failing him the longer he looked into those hypnotizing blue eyes. If he could stop time, he would. He would choose to spend time sitting across from the frozen vampire without consequences. He wanted to just stop and stare and memorialize the love of his life into his mind. “I just wanted to say you are really, really pretty.”
The vampire jumped minutely at his confession, his eyes widened into a softer expression. Bokuto’s heart raced.
“Thanks!” Bokuto squeaked, then darted back to his friend’s table with his tail tucked between his legs. Komi scooted over to give him enough room to cower.
“How’d it go, hot shot? Did you give him your number?”
Bokuto’s ears batted down.
Konoha sighed and patted his back. “Man, what are we going to do with you?”
Bokuto whimpered as he sat in the hallway waiting for class to end. He claimed he needed to use the bathroom, but in reality he just wanted to race down to the class that had the vampire boy, or at least, the one Komi claimed he was in. Bokuto was too scared to look through the window and instead stayed sitting by the door like a loyal dog whose master studied literature obliviously inside. Well, that metaphor was a little too on the nose.
The door of the classroom slid open and the shapeshifter stepped out and almost stumbled right over Bokuto. They caught themselves though, sending him a look before marching their way past him and down the hall to go get their shoes from the cubbies on the first floor. Ordinarily, Bokuto would be at volleyball practice, or be in detention from doing something wrong… but not today! Komi and Washio practically dragged him here, leaving him like a lost puppy to wait and quiver in anticipation and worry.
Bokuto watched as students filed out of the classroom, some on their phones and others talking with friends about the latest video games on the market. He prayed the vampire wouldn’t be busy, but the more students came out… the more Bokuto doubted he had the right room. A few minutes of just waiting around, Bokuto decided to peek up into the classroom window to check for himself.
The vampire was there. He was sitting alone near the back of class, still in his seat. He was reading. There was a pouch in his hands, a straw in his mouth. Bokuto’s heart fluttered in his chest and he stood up. The professor left the classroom as Bokuto entered, not exchanging a word with them as he made his way over to the last occupied desk. The vampire’s eyes dragged up to him, tense and angered, but they widened almost comically upon noticing who was approaching. The vampire’s shoulders curled in on himself, as though he was attempted to drown into the pale, boring walls behind him.
“I-I’m sorry I took off at lunch,” Bokuto began, nerves choking him up, “I, uh, saw a squirrel.”
Another hard suck to the pouch. He felt a drip of sweat run down his forehead.
“Can I walk you home?”
The vampire boy bowed his head to look at his book. He slowly unclamped his lips from around his straw, lips quivering as he pulled it away. His lips weren’t stained red like Bokuto would have expected, but they were a glorious pigment of pink that stood out against his pale skin, which could be flushed if he had blood of his own or enough in his system. It was hard to imagine he didn’t have enough blood given he was continuously sucking on those bags…
The vampire shuffled in his seat. “It’s… alright, uh?”
“I’m Bokuto!” His tail started flicking back and forth, but he forced it to stay still. “Uh, Bokuto. Koutaro. I’m the ace of the volleyball team!”
“... I’m Akaashi Keiji.” He didn’t speak much, did he? Well, Bokuto could be the talkative one between them! Soulmates were meant to complete each other, right? Bokuto could be the extroverted fun one and Akaashi could be the studious smart one with a slightly more interesting appetite. Could he call him Keiji? Would it be too soon to tell him they were soulmates and Bokuto wanted to start planning their wedding? Sure, they wouldn’t actually get married before highschool, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t figure out the kinds of flowers or themes they wanted. After all, werewolves were the most loyal of all creatures! He was going to love Keiji forever-... Once they actually get to know each other.
“I get, uh,” Akaashi began quietly, not meeting Bokuto’s gaze. He fiddled with his blood box, “I get picked up, so you can’t… walk me home.”
“Can I wait with you until you get picked up then?”
Akaashi’s fingers twitched and he nodded stiffly. Quietly, as though something was afoot, Akaashi got out of his chair and began to pack away his supplies. Bokuto waited patiently, not urging him at all as he put the straw back into his mouth and zipped up his bag. Together, they silently left the classroom and headed down the hallway to the stairwell. “... Bokuto-san, why are you… here?”
Bokuto perked up. “I asked my friend where you were! That’s not too weird, is it?”
“It’s… not too weird, I guess,” Akaashi mumbled. He tossed his empty pouch into a trash bin before reaching for another in a flap in his bag. Bokuto watched as he silently punctured the top with a straw, then put it in his mouth. “It’s just sudden. I don’t know why you’d… want to talk to me so suddenly… Did you want something?”
“Oh, I wanted to ask you to prom.” Akaashi tripped down the last two steps of the staircase, but Bokuto grabbed his arm, preventing him from falling flat on his face. The box slipped off his straw and clattered to the ground. Not a single drop of liquid dropped out. Bokuto adjusted his grip, straightening out the smaller vampire with ease, who stared up at him with wide eyes. Still, his cheeks weren’t red, but he knew if there was enough blood, there would be. Was he feeling the same mushy-gushy-ness inside? Bokuto grinned. “But we can start by having lunch together! Prom is still a bit away, right?”
They had lunch together the next day. Bokuto, being the best date ever, brought extra lunch money so he could get himself a lot of food and pick up two blood boxes for Akaashi. After all, werewolves were providers. It was attached to their pride!
Akaashi was at the table alone again, reading while sipping away at blood. He almost shuddered when Bokuto set his tray down across from him, but he still managed to look up and give him a little nod. “Hello, Bokuto-san. I hope your classes went well today.”
“They have! I’ve been waiting for our lunch date all day though!” Bokuto sorted his tray before reaching over and setting the two blood boxes by Akaashi, who stared at them with a blank expression. “I thought you’d want those and I was near the vampire section soooo your welcome!”
“... Thank you, Bokuto-san.”
Akaashi was as quiet as before, though Bokuto wasn’t sure if it was because of nerves or his normal self playing a factor in it. Bokuto knew he was nervous. He spent the last thirty minutes making sure his hair was fine, his deodorant was doing its job, and that he smelled like Axe, the most manly of scents. Bokuto’s sensitive nose could pick up Akaashi’s coconut cologne from across the table. It was subtle, barely there, but something Bokuto wanted to keep breathing in and admiring. He wondered if Akaashi put on so little since he knew Bokuto’s nose would itch and ache otherwise. His tail thumped.
“Uh, what about you?” Bokuto asked, digging into his lunch. “How was your classes?”
“They went well. We are reading and analyzing Snow Country, and I enjoy the author’s prose, so it’s hardly a chore to read.”
“I read that one last year! Well, I had an audio book so I listened to it- but it was pretty neat! I like more action heavy books though.”
“I can see that,” Akaashi replied without obvious judgment, nodding his head as he stared down at his hands. “A story about futile love doesn’t seem like your beat.”
“Shimamura drove me crazy in that story! If you love someone, you make an effort to see them even without any ‘benefits’ involved. Being in love with someone is a reward enough.”
Akaashi looked bashful once more. “... So, the nature imagery was-”
Bokuto would hate to toot his own horn, but opening that fortune cookie was one of the best things that has happened to him! Akaashi WAS his soulmate! Their lunch dates became more frequent, each telling stories about their day or interests. Akaashi liked videogames, but only nonviolent ones, as he wasn’t allowed to play them. Bokuto offered for him to come over and try them out at his house (a more private date), but Akaashi said it wasn’t a good idea. Too much blood in those games. Bokuto tried his best to understand and instead just brought his Gameboy to play Pokemon with his soulmate at lunch. Another thing about Akaashi, he was really good with building strong Pokemon teams, but his love of bug types won out beyond the reason. He lost most battles due to his teams being composed mostly of weedles and butterfrees, but if Bokuto ever got too cocky, he wiped the floor with him.
At the end of the school day, Bokuto would always find Akaashi alone in his classroom and they’d wait together until it was time for Akaashi to be picked up and for Bokuto to head to practice. There was once where Bokuto walked him to the shoe lockers, holding his hand the whole way there as Akaashi hid himself behind his blood box.
There was one issue though: Akaashi wasn’t too keen on being friendly. Bokuto tried to introduce him to his friends on more than one occasion, but Akaashi wasn’t interested. They exchanged numbers after a few days, and one day Bokuto texted Akaashi to join him at his friend’s table today…. And Akaashi was suddenly busy finishing extra work for class. When Bokuto tried once more, Akaashi agreed, but then texted him moments before lunch that he wasn’t feeling well and would be in the nurse’s station. Lastly, Bokuto decided to just bring Konoha with him after school to introduce Akaashi to him. If he saw Bokuto’s friends were nice and calm, maybe his nervousness would disappear.
However, Konoha didn’t see anything good in Akaashi’s flightiness. “What if he doesn’t want to be around us because he can’t control his hunger? I mean, it’s gross how much he eats in general when he’s alone. If he was around us, he might snap.”
“Akaashi wouldn’t! He’s got a firm resolve!” Bokuto argued as they headed down the stairs. Konoha rolled his eyes.
“You are just biased ‘cause you like him,” Konoha replied sharply. He walked ahead, then turned to face Bokuto, walking backgrounds as they went, “listen to me, big guy. If he so much as bites you once, you come tell Uncle Konoha and I’ll kick that parasite’s teeth in-”
Bokuto growled under his breath at the implications, stepping forward twice. Konoha stumbled from the sudden movement, his lips curling downward. Before Bokuto could intervene, he spotted someone in the stairwell, walking up to the third floor with a wrapped meat bun in hand. It was Akaashi, blank faced and staring at the ground. He was frozen in his steps.
“Akaashe!” Bokuto exclaimed, annoyance forgotten. He scampered over to his date and Konoha moved out of the way. “What’s up? I was just coming to get you!”
“... I stopped by the cafeteria and got you some…” Akaashi handed over the food, eyes still on the ground. Bokuto grinned, then gestured down the stairs.
“Hey, c’mon, let’s go wait for your moms!”
Bokuto had hoped Akaashi hadn’t heard anything, but seeing as any other attempts from Bokuto to get Akaashi acquainted with the others was met with a, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m not that good with people.” from there on out… Bokuto just hoped Akaashi didn’t take it too much to heart.
It was five days before prom that Akaashi told Bokuto a secret.
They were walking together after school, hand in hand as Akaashi drank his pouch dry, threw it in a trash can, then grabbed another one out with ease. Bokuto stared a the new blood box. Akaashi, oblivious or uncaring about his date’s attention, continued to walk along, staring up at the school building as they waited for Akaashi’s parents to pick him up. Bokuto got to say hi a few times. His moms seemed like nice folks, either one or the other always there right after their shift. Akaashi said they don’t want him taking public transit just in case. Bokuto always suspected it was because of their son's voracious appetite.
He was right.
“Hey, Akashi,” Bokuto began, tilting his head to try and meet his date’s eye, “when are you going to drink from me?”
Akaashi dropped his hand like it was lava, but he didn’t jerk around to face him. He slowly reached up to the box in his mouth and removed it, something he didn’t do often. He often spoke through a straw or gave hums instead of real answers, not that Bokuto minded. But when he did take it out beyond to exchange it with a new one, it was a sight.
“Is that what your friends said would happen?” He asked tonelessly.
“Well, not really.” Bokuto walked around to face his date, rocking on his heels. “You’re… you know, a vampire. I just expected that at some point you would.”
Akaashi nodded faintly, fingers playing with the straw of his blood box. He pinched the straw and Bokuto saw a frown appear on Akaashi’s pinkish blue lips. “Let’s make something clear: I will never drink from you, and if you ask me too or imply I will again… I would prefer you to stay away from me.”
Bokuto’s heart sank. He reached up and grasped Akaashi’s upper arms, giving him a little shake, “I didn’t mean to make you upset! I just- I assumed-”
Akaashi batted his hands away. It was aggressive without direct intent to injure, but Bokuto still backed away as though he had been stung by bees. Raising his pouch, Akaashi held it out toward Bokuto, a strange look in his eyes that Bokuto couldn’t place. “Bokuto-san, please taste this.”
Bokuto stared at the pouch nervously. “Akaashi, I don’t think I can digest that very well-”
“Bokuto-san, do you not trust me?” His tone shifted. Bokuto could almost sense it in the air, but he confirmed it when looking into those blue eyes. There was pain in his words, an arrow being pierced like a straw in his boxes, and it reflected in his eyes, which softened from their usual glare. “... Because of what I am?”
Bokuto grabbed the box without another word. He took the straw into his mouth and closed his eyes tightly, taking in a deep suck from the mostly filled pouch. The taste of iron didn’t hit his tongue. Instead, it was a strange taste Bokuto couldn’t place. It wasn’t horrible, but not something Bokuto would drink all day every day. The thing that stuck out to him most though… was the fact that it didn’t taste like blood. Bokuto has had blood in his mouth before- animal blood-, but if this was human blood, it was completely different. It was less thick too.
He pulled the box away with a frown. Akaashi took the box, then held out his free hand. He squeezed some of the juice out and onto his palm. It looked like dirty water. He let the water drip through his fingers, then threw the half filled pouch into a trash can a few yards away. When he returned to Bokuto’s side, he pointed right to his chest, eyes steeled.
“I don’t drink blood, and I refuse to. Coconut water can substitute plasma, but it isn’t as effective as the real deal,” Akaashi explained, “hence why I must drink so much of it to suppress any urges. If that bothers you, you could have said something. I don’t need it constantly.”
With that, Akaashi spun on his head and started walking back toward the front of the school building. He didn’t reach into his bag to pull out another water pouch, even as he stiffly said goodbye to Bokuto and climbed into his mother’s car.