Work Text:
The distant hammering of the rain against the roof and the windows, the purring of the thunder, resonating in the air, the soft ray of light filtering through the blinds, making its way in the darkness of the room. The warmth of sheets against your skin, the softness of a pillow supporting your head. The sound of a regular breath close to you.
How wonderful to be in autumn, Akaashi often thought.
The young man half-opened his eyes. The rumbling storm had woken him from his sleep.
He took a deep breath. The cool air of the mid-season coming and going in his lungs felt awfully good.
Akaashi pulled the comforter over his naked chest, shivering. The warm fabric was having a soporific effect on him, and his body, to prevent itself from falling back into its previous sleeping state, asked for more oxygen, drawing a yawn from its owner.
A thunderclap resounded in the bedroom. Akaashi listened to the howling storm as it was passing by the city. He absent-mindedly counted seconds between lightings and the following thunder, while his thoughts were going off to other things, like what he was going to eat for lunch.
His eyes, focused on the ceiling, couldn’t make out anything, blame it on the lack of light in the room. Well, it might have been autumn’s only default. Sun was kind of missing, these days. Even if Akaashi didn’t mind, its rays were always nice at that time of the year.
The comforter that was covering Akaashi was suddenly pulled on the side, and the young man winced as a cool flow of wind slid against his already cold skin. He rolled over onto his side, determined to get back the stolen sheet.
Akaashi’s gaze fell on a silhouette next to him.
Ah. There was it, the sun. It hadn’t completely vanished, after all.
It was even stretching out in the young man’s bed.
Akaashi grabbed one of the comforter’s angles and pulled it towards him with all his strength. Despite his greatest efforts, the hand which was holding on to the sheets refused to let it go.
Akaashi sighed. He sometimes wished he had as much strength as Bokuto.
The young man resolved to get closer to him. The elder was fast asleep, and didn’t flinch when the younger snuggled up to him.
Akaashi rested his head on his partner’s shoulder and closed his eyes. One of his eyes went to rest on Bokuto’s chest, enjoying the warmth that was emanating from him. He always wondered how he managed to keep day and night an almost burning skin.
Underneath his slender fingers, Bokuto’s chest was rising and falling with the rhythm of his breathing. His so singularly-coloured hair were having a fight on his head and falling back on his forehead, and from his parted lips dripped saliva, as usual when he was having a dream. Akaashi had always been intrigued by what Bokuto could dream of, and he had many times asked him if he could tell him what they were about, much to Bokuto’s delight who happily shared them with him. He would ask him, when he would wake up.
One of Bokuto’s hands was resting next to his head, on a pillow, while the other one had chose his stomach to rest on. Akaashi’s fingers brushed that last hand. He cherished Bokuto’s hands. They had allowed him to become a so talented volleyball player, back then in high school. Hands that had enabled him to make to strongest attacks, to obtain an almost perfect defense. That had allowed him to pull himself at the greatest players’ level. Off of the court, those same hands that would become softer than clouds, he loved them even more. Tender hands against his skin, capable of the tenderest touches and the most beautiful gestures.
Akaashi daydreamed of the time he had spent by his side as high-school students. He remembered meals they had devoured at lunch, their studying sessions at their places, their evening, sometimes even morning trainings in the gym, the days when they had met just to have fun and good times. He thought of all their matches, the victory’s euphoria, the weight of losing too. He recalled Bokuto’s smile on the court, at each ordeals, and his sparkling eyes as the sound of a whistle rang their victory.
Oh, his eyes, how he loved them. Gold trapped in a look, an inimitable radiance.
When he wasn’t talking, his eyes expressed how he felt instead. A look at them was enough to understand a thousand things. A nothing was already enough ; pupils that dilated for a second, a furrow of his brow, a teardrop at the corner of his eyelashes, were all that you needed to know, to share with him what he was feeling. Even the tiniest emotion was painted in his look. Perhaps that was the reason why a was such a terrible liar. He just couldn’t hide things from people.
Bokuto stirred in his sleep. His hand that previously rested on the pillow sought refuge under the comforter and he turned his head to the side, facing Akaashi. The young man gazed at his relaxed features.
He only kept such a peaceful expression when he was sleeping. His awake face was always split with a beautiful, bright smile. He never settled for a small one. Each time, every one of his features were solicited and he smiled right down to his eyes. That was like him, after all ; never do things by halves.
Living intensely, that was his motto. And he sticked to it, each day. He didn’t walk, he ran. He didn’t giggle, he laughed to the point where it hurt. He didn’t speak quietly, most of the time he shouted. He didn’t hug people, he crushed them in his embrace. He didn’t cry softly, he sobbed for hours. With such a life philosophy, no need to doubt that he lived fully.
Akaashi wondered what life looked like through Bokuto’s eyes. It must have been full of twists, of unexpected but wonderful times.
Akaashi lifted his hand and removed a few hair strands on Bokuto’s forehead. He wiped the saliva at the commissure of his lips.
Happy times… moments of pure delight, Akaashi had known some too.
When they had confessed to each other, on a sunny day, the young man had thought his heart was about to explode.
He still remembered that late afternoon. The coolness of the wind that blowed in the trees, the sun that declined in what looked rather like a sea of lava than the sky at the end of the day. The gym behind which they had sought refuge the time of an avowal. The hand that intertwined with his, and their faces that got closer and closer until there wasn’t anything between them anymore.
Akaashi’s cheeks reddened at the thought of that instant. Back then, he couldn’t have imagined the future that awaited them. The young man smiled and pressed his forehead against his lover’s shoulder.
No, he definitely couldn’t have figured that so much happiness would await them.
Akaashi huddled against Bokuto, if he could even get closer to him. He crossed their legs together as his hands slid on Bokuto’s chest and in his hair. The softness of his skin against his was the most exquisite sensation. He could feel himself shiver in front of their different body temperatures, but Akaashi gladly enjoyed the warmth that irradiated from his partner’s body.
Underneath his skin, he could feel the heart of the man he cherished beating relentlessly. A regular rhythm that seemed almost imperturbable. Akaashi thought of those rare moment where he had felt this pace quickening under his fingers, where he had made it frantic, and the thought drew new colours from the man’s cheeks, stealing a smile from him at the same time.
Akaashi often wondered how he could have fell so utterly in love with this heart, with this man resting beside him. But Bokuto gave him every day new reasons to love him even more, and he was no longer surprised by the feelings he experienced every morning, more intensely than the day before.
Akaashi closed his eyes a second, and for a moment nothing mattered anymore, except for Bokuto’s comforting heartbeat. Thunder had ceased, and the rain had become thinner.
Akaashi opened his eyes again. With one hand, he softly stroked Bokuto’s cheek. His index followed the curve of his jaw, of his eyes, his nose, even his lips. The elder’s face was slightly tensing at the touch of his finger. A chuckle escaped Akaashi as he traced the arch of his eyebrows. They frowned softly.
Akaashi lowered his gaze, and it fell on the eyes of a half-awake man.
Bokuto blinked, his eyelids half-opened. The elder didn’t instantly realised that he was being observed. He stared at Akaashi like he was staring into space, but eventually a smile spread across his lips.
Akaashi smiled back at him. His slid his hand under the man’s chin and drew it to him, reuniting their lips in the most delicate way. Bokuto had closed his eyes again when his lover pulled back.
“Hi,” Akaashi murmured against his ear.
His breath gently teased Bokuto’s throat who pulled back, laughing. Akaashi buried his face in his partner’s neck. His scent made him consider going back to sleep for a little longer.
Akaashi felt a pair of arms slip around his waist, and was pulled into an embrace. Bokuto let the young man lay on him and rest his head of his chest, just below his collarbones.
Akaashi hugged the elder back, holding his shoulders. He felt one of Bokuto’s hands start moving and he sighed as his partner drew arabesques onto his back
“You’re up early,” noticed Bokuto after a silence. His voice was all croaky. Akaashi loved that morning voice of Bokuto’s.
The young man smiled. He grabbed Bokuto’s available hand and started playing with it.
“The storm has waken me up” he confessed while gazing at the lines engraved in the elder’s palm.
“What storm ? I didn’t hear anything !”
“That’s better if it didn’t bothered you while you were sleeping. It’s gone, now.”
Bokuto made a sort of grimace. He leaned forward and placed a kiss on the top of his lover’s head.
“Did you manage to get some rest too ?” he asked while continuing his caresses on Akaashi’s spine.
The young man pretended he was thinking.
“I think so. You keep stealing the duvet. It isn’t very helping, considering I’m already not wearing a top.”
“Really ?! I’m sorry, I didn’t realise !” exclaimed Bokuto. “Why didn’t you wake me up ? I would have given it back to you !”
Akaashi’s only response was to laugh in front of such panic. He was adorable.
“It’s okay,” he said affectionately. “I can still get some sleep.”
Bokuto wasn’t convinced by his answer. He straightened up and grabbed Akaashi’s waist, pulling him even closer. He pressed his hands on his shoulder blades to try to keep him warm.
“You’re not cold anymore, right ?” the elder worried.
Akaashi, whose face had been pressed against his partner’s throat, only laughed more.
“No. You’re keeping me warm enough,” he reassured him.
Bokuto seemed to relax. His hands went down his back, gently holding Akaashi’s body against his.
“What would you like to do today ?” Bokuto asked.
Oh, yeah, it way Sunday. Sunday was their favourite day ; it was the only one where they got to stay together all the time. The prospect of a resting day by his lover’s side pleased Akaashi.
The young man slipped his arms around his love’s neck, his hands getting lost in his silvery hair.
“How about staying at home together ? We could watch of film or cook a nice meal… what do you think ?”
Bokuto smiled.
“I think that’s a great idea,” he answered softly.
Akaashi straightened his head and his eyes met the elder’s. A dazzling look, as always.
The young man leaned forward, and they exchanged a kiss, full of love.
Unlike Bokuto, Akaashi didn’t think that living intensely was necessary. To his eyes, life deserved to be lived for simples moments. Instants like this, in fact. Waking up next to the person you loved the most, rainy days at home, doing activities and resting.
After all, didn’t we live for those moments ?
Akaashi contemplated Bokuto’s bright face. His own face broke into a sincere smile.
He lived for this.