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Akaashi Keiji has a secret.
It’s not a top state secret per se, but Akaashi definitely thinks it is best to keep it confidential, especially away from Bokuto. He just knows if Bokuto finds out that his boyfriend actually has an entire fan blog dedicated to him, he is going to be so over the moon and proceeds to shout it out from the top of a mountain to make sure the whole world knows.
Yes, Akaashi has a fan blog dedicated to Bokuto Kotaro. Even though they have been in a serious relationship since after Bokuto’s graduation, he will forever be Akaashi’s superstar in his heart. Akaashi has created the blog under an inconspicuous ID when Bokuto has joined the MSBY Black Jackal and began showing the world what a great volleyball player he is. The blog mainly has two types of content: one, Bokuto’s photos from news articles covering the tournaments and other fan photos taken by the audiences; two, detailed analysis on Bokuto’s performance on every game he is in. As Bokuto’s partner who’s recognized unanimously by his teammates, Akaashi has the privilege to always have the best seat reserved for each game. However, his job as a manga editor is too demanding that he doesn’t get a lot of chances to go to the games. He tries his best to squeeze time in between his busy schedules to catch up on the games he has missed through YouTube videos and recorded replays. He also collects as many photos of Bokuto as he could find on the internet from various sources. On the rare occasions where he has the time to attend a game, Akaashi always brings his camera to capture Bokuto’s every movement on the court. The game analyses are mostly just Akaashi singing praises about how wonderful Bokuto’s skills are or how more attractive he is getting every day. Gradually, Akaashi has become one of the most influential fan leaders of the ever-growing Bokuto fan base. He was a little uncomfortable at first, but thankfully the majority of Bokuto’s fans are very polite and respectful, so Akaashi eventually accepts his new status and even becomes close online friends with a few of them.
It is a quiet weekend where Akaashi doesn’t need to work overtime, but his job has inevitably messed up his sleeping schedule. It is only around 5 AM in the morning and he is already wide awake. Akaashi decides it is better to just get up from his bed instead of forcing himself to go back to sleep. He turns on his computer and opens his blog, ready to update with a new game analysis on Bokuto’s latest match from last night.
It is very normal for Akaashi’s blog to receive a lot of likes every now and then, but the new season has just begun, and he hasn’t updated in a while. Akaashi is surprised to see his blog has gained dozens of new likes overnight, and a new follower has subscribed to the blog just a few minutes ago. It looks like the new likes are all from the new follower, who appears to be going through his blog one by one starting from the very first post he has made all those years ago. Akaashi watches in full amusement as the number of likes increases as the person finishes reading one post and continues to the next. He wonders what kind of person would read every single post on his blog at such an early hour in the morning on a weekend. Probably a new diehard fan who has just fallen in love with Bokuto and is actively trying to absorb all the information they could find on the internet. A sense of pride rises in Akaashi’s heart; he understands this feeling completely.
“Hey Bokuto, have you seen this blog yet?”
Weekends are nothing special for an active athlete. Bokuto wakes up early as usual and gets ready for his morning run, but he is stopped by his roommate Miya Atsumu, who is waving his phone at Bokuto with a sly grin.
“What blog?”
Bokuto is never one to care about social media. Instead of spending time on social media platforms to self-promote, he believes that a true ace needs to commit all his efforts towards training. He takes the phone from Atsumu to see what the big deal is. The screen is showing an online blog about him. When he scrolls down the page, he is immediately bombarded by pictures of him from different angles.
“What is this?”
“Can’t you tell? It’s a fan blog just for you. That person must be your number 1 fan. Looks like they have been following your career since your first day with the team.” Atsumu continues to look at Bokuto with an amused expression.
Akaashi has once told him that he has a rather large fan following, but it is the first time for him to see such a dedicated fan blog. The blog not only has many high-quality photos of him, but it also has many written posts that look to be game analyses. Those posts are only viewable for registered users; Bokuto makes a mental note of the website address and hands the phone back to Atsumu, who is still wearing that smug smile on his face.
Once out of their dorm, Bokuto jogs to the park he always goes to for his morning runs and sits down in a quiet corner. He goes back to the blog on his own phone and quickly registers an account with an email address he rarely uses. Atsumu was right; this person has been following him since his first debut as a professional player. Bokuto clicks on the last page of the blog with enthusiasm and begins to read each post thoroughly. The person is very observant and knowledgeable about Bokuto’s playing style; he can tell from some photos that they have attended some of his games in person as well. Bokuto can’t wait to show Akaashi about this the next time he goes home; he wants to share the joy that there is another person on this planet who loves his volleyball playing as much as Akaashi does.
The spectacle from that weekend morning is soon forgotten by Akaashi, who is once again thrown into a wind whirl of deadlines and editing. Luckily, Bokuto is coming home for a few days on his inter-game break. They haven’t seen each other for months; Akaashi feels his soul is finally able to relax for a bit.
They are both overwhelmed by the urge to indulge in each other’s arms after being apart for so long. They lay in bed to take a break from the exhilarating rounds of love-making they have been doing; Bokuto sits up all of a sudden and runs out of their bedroom.
“What’s going on, Bokuto senpai?” Akaashi gently asks when Bokuto returns to their bedroom with his phone in his hand.
“I want to show you something!” Bokuto looks unfrazzled even though they had just engaged in some serious exercise. He clicks away on his phone and shows it to Akaashi.
“My teammate showed me this a while ago. I didn’t know there is someone out there who likes me this much!”
Akaashi props his arching body up and takes over the phone. Once he recognizes that it is his fan blog for Bokuto showing on the screen, his dazed mind clears instantly, and cold sweats start to form around his temples.
“What is this?” Akaashi asks tentatively.
“Atsumu said it is a fan blog for me. They have so many photos of me!” Bokuto climbs back into their bed and shuffles under the sheets until he is holding Akaashi in his arms. “They also wrote so many posts about my games! Their writings are almost as good as yours!”
Noticing that Bokuto has no idea the blog belongs to Akaashi himself, he secretly signs in relief. He listens as Bokuto talks excitedly about how good this person’s analyses are and how handsome he looks in their pictures, while his brain works nervously trying to figure out what he should do in this situation. Did Miya Atsumu show the blog to Bokuto because he knew it belongs to Akaashi? He can’t just shut down the blog without any warning; that would only look more suspicious. Akaashi can only pray that Bokuto will not find out the truth about this blog until he has found a better solution.
Lately, Bokuto seems to be distressed about something, which worries every member of the MSBY Black Jackal.
He is not in the extreme depressed state like the ones he would fall into in high school, and his performance hasn’t been impacted in any way. He is quieter than usual, however, and he would sometimes stare at his phone blankly for a while. The team is on the road playing a series of away games, which means the person who can handle Bokuto effortlessly is not within easy access. It is only normal for his teammates to be reasonably concerned.
As his roommate, Miya Atsumu naturally is the one to be sent out for answers. He has a hunch, to be honest, but he thinks it is not as fun if certain things are left in the dark.
“Something troubling you, Bokuto?” Atsumu asks when they are eating dinner together in the cafeteria. He tries his best to hold back the smirk and puts on a concerned look.
“Not exactly,” Bokuto pokes around in his rice bowl, “remember that blog you had shown me? I think something is going on with the blogger.”
“What makes you think that?”
“They have stopped writing about my games,” the hair on top of Bokuto’s head drops down as if it has lost liveliness as well, “they used to post so many photos and write about all of my games. Recently they only have a few photos from the press and no more written posts.”
“Maybe they are just too busy to write?” Atsumu forces down the urge to laugh.
“No way!” Bokuto’s golden eyes are full of confidence, “they have never missed a single game before! Even when it’s a few days late! They like me so much, no way they will just stop writing because they are busy!”
“Something must have happened to them!” Bokuto firmly concludes.
“So,” Atsumu hides his face behind a glass of water, “what are you going to do about it?”
“I don’t know.” Bokuto rarely looks this defeated, “it’s not like I know who they are.”
“What if you just ask them?”
Hinata, who is eating next to Bokuto, speaks up suddenly. He has heard Bokuto talking about this fan blog before. If only registered users are allowed to post on the website, there must be contact information available somewhere.
“You are so smart!” Bokuto perks up visibly, “I can just DM them! Hinata you are such a genius!” He grabs Hinata by the neck and ruffles his hair cheerfully.
Atsumu watches the two dumb heads laugh out loud in unison and shakes his head. Maybe it is better to let him find out himself.
Akaashi Keji feels like his head is about to explode.
It is not because of his job; he is used to chasing after the artists for deadlines on a daily basis. The cause of his suffering happens to be a certain volleyball player who is always away from home for tournaments.
After knowing Bokuto has looked at his fan blog, Akaashi has drastically restrained his fanboy behaviours on the internet. He can’t delete the blog because he doesn’t want to worry his followers, so he reduces the number of posts to just press photos and stops writing anything about Bokuto’s games. He feels this way the possibility of being busted would be lower.
What he has not anticipated, is that Bokuto has started sending private messages to his blog inbox. Akaashi realized early on that the new follower who has liked all his posts in one day is Bokuto, but he has originally thought Bokuto was just curious about something he has never seen before. He has thought Bokuto would forget about it and move on in no time, but he has been wrong. Not knowing his own identity has been exposed, Bokuto has been using that account to ask as a normal follower if the blogger is alright in real life, if there is anything he could do to support. Besides the anxiety of getting found out, Akaashi can’t help but feel proud of how Bokuto cares deeply for his fans. He might not be the most mature and rational person, but Bokuto has always been protective of the people he cares about.
Now the question is, should Akaashi just give up and tell Bokuto the truth, or should he ignore the messages and continue to hide?
The End... ?