Chapter Text
“I never thought I would be here… please… don't leave…”
“I… I'm not ready to go… please don't let me go…”
Bright eyes, always sparkling with mischief, eager hands clutching at the IV tower, a smile that rivaled the sun and turned his insides to a mess of anxiety riddled mush…
The morning started out the same as any other day.
“Akaashi!”
A familiar voice shouts, right before a strong hand claps him across the back.
Akaashi grunts, fixing his glasses and sighing. “Hi, Bokuto.”
Bokuto throws his arm around Akaashi's shoulders and grins. “Last first day for me, another first day for you,” he says, jabbing his old best friend in the arm.
Akaashi nods. Bokuto is entering his senior year studying sports science and physical therapy in Tokyo, and Akaashi is entering the next stage of his medical education: internships. Of all the people in the world, no one was more surprised that Bokuto was so close to getting his degree, and with honors no less, than Akaashi. At the same time though, nobody is less surprised than the former setter either. Bokuro learns in an odd, roundabout way, but once he understands something, he never forgets it.
“I'll be graduating soon too, I only have 4 semesters left-”
“But then don't you have like… 8 internships and you have to live somewhere?” Bokuto asks, cutting Akaashi off.
Akaashi sighs again, something he finds himself doing a lot. “You mean residency. Yes, that's true. It takes a long time to reach full doctor status in the medical field.”
Bokuto huffs sympathetically, then immediately brightens as a new thought crosses his mind (the fact that actual thoughts cross Bokuto's mind at all is still something Akaashi revels at).
“You've already started one internship though, right? Today? So you'll only have like, 7 left after this!”
Akaashi just nods, deciding not to point out the flaws in that logic. “I guess you're right, one will be checked off starting today.”
Bokuto nods, proud of himself as he spots the sports center off the path to the left. “Well, I've got class, don't wanna be late again or my professor will get really mad… BYE AKAASHI!”
Bokuto waves with both arms as he skips backwards down the sidewalk towards his building, only avoiding backing into someone thanks to the lack of students starting classes this early in the morning.
Akaashi spent the morning going through the motions. He had only 2 classes on campus this semester, since most of his credits would be covered by his internship. A lecture on Monday mornings, and another one on Wednesday mornings. Both started at 7 am and went for 2 hours, giving him just enough time to jog to his car, and reach the hospital by 9:30.
He checks in, eager in his own way to start his first day of interning.
He spends most of the day recording patient histories, and doing paperwork. Some small part of him is impatient to start working with real patients in a more meaningful way, but… at the same time, the paperwork is soothing. The details, the meticulously scribbled information listed in specific, proper places on various forms… There's a stereotype about doctors’ handwriting being difficult to read, but Akaashi has spent years deciphering Bokuto's handwriting.
This is a piece of cake.
Occasionally, certain patient files catch his attention for one reason or another, prompting his curiosity to grow. He'll see a note of a patient that has a mental aversion to certain types of fabric, so they need special blankets, or a patient that's particularly young. Or one that’s particularly old, and a particularly picky eater, but has been underweight for too long, so dietary accommodations have to be made for his stay to make sure that he's actually eating.
Even the boring, mundane pieces of information are somehow fascinating to Akaashi.
Another interesting patient file that comes his way, is for a patient staying for a few weeks in the oncology ward. On the top of the file, is a warning in red letters: “Extra supervision required during chemotherapy sessions.”
Upon further examination, however, Akaashi realizes that the exact reason for that warning isn't listed in this version of the file.
With a shrug, he finishes his work with that file, and moves on.
It's late in the afternoon when Akaashi makes his rounds to make sure files are all returned to their respective wards, units, and departments. He's passed along everything he needed to on the first and second floors, and is now on his last two stacks, both to be delivered to sections of the third floor.
Akaashi has discovered, that in his efforts to be as efficient as possible, he's developed a bad habit of reading while he's walking. Rather than watching where he's going, he scans pages and papers and documents and charts. Double, then triple, then quadruple checking that everything is correctly sorted and about to be delivered to the right place.
He walks right into someone coming down the hallway opposite him, his stacks of folders thumping against his chest as he catches them before they can slide from his arms.
He'll need to break that habit as fast as possible.
Akaashi grunts upon impact, and looks up to see…
You.
You're still on your feet, luckily, holding onto an IV tower, as you rub your nose with a pout on your lips.
Your face has the misfortune of colliding directly with the folders in Akaashi's arms.
You mutter something unintelligible under your breath, before looking up at whoever you just ran into, bracing yourself to apologize, when the man suddenly apologizes to you.
“Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going.”
You adjust the large crewneck hanging off of your shoulders and shrugs. “Oh, uh… me neither… I'm sorry too.” You apologize anyway, deciding it's better to say you're sorry when it isn't necessary than to opt not to and be seen as rude.
Not that you're never rude, you just…
The man adjusts his glasses..“Oh, are you a patient?”
You blink, finally taking in who you're looking at. A student, definitely, most likely an intern, with curly black hair, and sharp, deeply set eyes.
You nod. “Yep… what gave it away?”
The intern looks a bit taken aback, then shrugs. “Well, firstly, your-”
You cut him off with a wave of your hand. “It was sarcasm.”
He coughs awkwardly. “Right, sorry. First day, I’m not trying to be rude.”
You sigh to yourself, feeling a little guilty. He probably hadn’t meant to run into you, and it isn’t as if you were paying perfect attention to your surroundings. Plus, it’s his first day… you can save your snark and mischief for the more long-term staff. This guy hasn’t actually done anything wrong.
“I’m sorry, just stressed. First day? How old are you?” You ask, trying to be friendly to ease both his mind, and your own guilt.
“I’m 25. Um… how old are you?”
You smile. “22. Where are you headed? If it’s your first day, maybe I can help you get there.”
“I’m delivering these files to the oncology unit, am I in the wrong place?” The intern asks, glancing around as if looking for a sign or plaque somewhere to tell him if he’s gone the wrong way.
You shake your head, pulling his attention back to you. “No, you’ve found it. Welcome to oncology!” You throw out one hand and turn in a dramatic circle with your IV tower, as if you’re his personal welcome party.
To your pleasant surprise, he chuckles. “Oh good. Are you… wait…” The intern furrows his brows at you, as if connecting some invisible dots right in front of you. Then he goes quiet, a realization dawning on him as he glances between you, your IV, and the stacks of records in his hands.
“Is this your unit?” He asks quietly.
You nod, smirking. “Don’t look so grim, what, you’ve never met a cancer patient before?”
The intern stares blankly at you, a crease still firm between his eyebrows and his mouth slightly agape as he tries to formulate a response.
You laugh, patting his shoulder like you’re old friends. “Relax, I’m kicking its butt. I have AML, acute, something or other Leukemia. I was given really good chances of surviving, and it’s super treatable. Word of advice, don’t turn into a fish out of water anytime you meet a patient.”
You hold out your hand, smiling fully now. “I’m (y/n).”
The intern stares at you for a moment, then shakes off his stupor, and nods, taking your hand and giving it a firm shake. “Akaashi, Keiji.”
Before you can say anything else, you hear footsteps coming from down the hall, followed by shouts of your name.
You gasp, clutching your IV tower, and hurriedly darting behind a nearby empty cart, usually full of medicines, files, and other things, tugging your tower with you and hoping that no one will notice it.
Akaashi watches you for a moment, confused, then watches two nurses jogging down the hallway, calling your name. He isn't sure why they're searching for you exactly, but he stops himself from giving away your hiding place when he feels a tug on the bottom of his pants.
He glances down to see you gripping his scrubs in one hand, your other pressed to your lips in a silent plea for him not to say anything.
Despite every instinct of his trying to persuade him otherwise, he stays silent. He watches as the nurses make their way down the hall, grumbling to themselves, and eventually around the corner and out of sight.
He turns to ask you what was wrong, but before he can, you pop up from behind the cart, glancing in both directions.
“Are they gone?” You ask, cautiously making your way out from behind the cart. Akaashi furrows his eyebrows, mouth still slightly agape as you heave a sigh of relief upon not seeing the nurses.
“Thanks for not ratting me out. I hate chemo, and that room is so stuffy-”
“Chemo?” Something in Akaashi's brain suddenly clicks, the IV tower, oncology, you said you're a leukemia patient-
The file from earlier.
“Extra supervision required during chemotherapy sessions.” That was YOUR file.
And this is why.
“Oh my god, you snuck out of chemo…” Akaashi pinched the bridge of his nose, adjusting the files he's supposed to have delivered several minutes ago into one arm.
You laugh. “Hey, I brought it with me.” You pat your IV tower, and Akaashi opens his eyes again. He's suddenly noticing all of the things he hadn't before. Your eyes have dark circles beneath them, you're a little pale, and you're trying to hide the fact that you're out of breath just from standing up from behind the cart.
Akaashi suddenly remembers his job and gestures you away. “Go find your nurses, you can't exhaust yourself while you're undergoing chemo, your body can't handle it.”
“Pfft,” you scoff, waving him off with one hand. “It's fine. I do this all the time. I'm just gonna get something from the vending machine, and then I'll go back and pretend I never left.”
Akaashi narrows his eyes, his jaw ticking in annoyance. “No. I'm taking you back.”
You let out an indignant huff and point to his stack of files. “Don't you have a job to do?” You ask, feeling oddly shocked and betrayed that this random intern you met 15 minutes ago would turn you back to your perceived prison.
“I can drop them off after. Do you want me to call your nurses back here?” Akaashi asks, raising one eyebrow to challenge you with his stare. You meet his expression with your face twisted into a scowl, and a staring contest ensues.
Both of you waiting to see if the other will break first.
“Fine. Hey, I found-” Akaashi doesn't even turn his head as he begins to call down the hallway, and you gasp and slap a hand over his mouth.
Akaashi grunts and pushes your hand away, and he's about to chew you out until he sees you've hung your head in defeat.
“Alright, I'll go back to my room. But can we please go to the vending machine first?” You ask, your face shifting from anger to pleading in only a second.
Akaashi blinks at you. “We?”
You suddenly grin. “Unless you trust me to go on my own-”
“No,” Akaashi cuts off the mischievous train of thought before you can fully entertain it.
You laugh, rolling your eyes. “I figured. But please? Walk me to the vending machine, and I'll go back willingly. If you escort me back to my room you'll be like a hero to the nurses around here. They all hate me, except for nurse Anne. You'll become the magical intern who conquered the beast, the escape artist, the torturer-ess or whatever. That's me by the way, in case you were confused.”
Akaashi was not confused. You share a lot of similarities with Bokuto, he's beginning to notice. Chatty, a bit ego-centric, but seemingly optimistic, even relentlessly so.
But no matter what mood Bokuto was in, if Akaashi suggested getting something sweet like a pastry or a bubble tea, Bokuto would do just about anything- even his homework.
You seem to function in a very similar way, driven by small pleasures in life and refusing to let the negatives get you down, even if what you believe to be negative is something like chemo, which while objectively exhausting and likely not fun, is in fact a life-saving treatment.
Akaashi sighs. “Deal. Let's go to the vending machine.”
You cheer quietly, relishing the small victory as you dust off your knees from hiding, and point down the hallway in the opposite direction the nurses had just been running.
“It’s that way, just at the end of the hall, and in a little nook on the right. Come on!” You skip for the first few steps, then begin happily marching as you lead the way to the vending machine.
Akaashi is dumbfounded for a second, frozen in place just watching you. The faint buzzing from the overhead lights built into the ceiling seem to permeate his skull as he tries to wrap his head around the interaction he just had. The last time a person left him so thoroughly confused and frustrated, was when he met Bokuto. Although, another similarity you share with his owl-haired friend, something about you makes him curious too.
Every person in the world acts differently from every other person, but Akaashi has discovered that there is always a why. Usually, he's content to let those people approach him with their why if they feel like it. But you?
He actually wants to know.
So he shakes his head, and follows you to the vending machine.
—
You were right about one thing, Akaashi was regarded as a hero for walking you back.
Whispers and stares followed the two of you as he marched you back to your room, and a few people even applauded quietly. Akaashi walked behind you with his arms folded, while you walked along happily with your IV tower, eagerly munching on a chocolate bar that you had made him pick out for you at the vending machine.
“No, I want you to pick one.”
“I don't want any.”
“No you dummy, pick one for me. What do you think I would like? I wanna see. You learn a lot about another person through chocolate.”
Oh for the love of- “Fine, whatever.”
He picked one with hazelnuts in it. You had asked why, and he said “because you're nuts,” which he actually meant, but you had still laughed.
“Hey, I have a question for you,” you say suddenly, tapping your chin as you stop in the middle of the hallway.
“Keep walking-”
“I'm serious,” you cut him off, turning to face him with a shockingly neutral expression. It's only been maybe half an hour and Akaashi has already grown used to the idea that you always have some sort of smug or troublesome smile. Or a pout, like a spoiled kid, but he doesn't entertain the childish antics enough to pay them much attention.
Akaashi sighs, but gestures for you to continue.
You stare at him, looking him dead in the eyes, as you ask, “Will you come visit me tomorrow?”
Akaashi actually takes a step back in surprise. “Me- why?”
“Because I think you're interesting, and it's easy to get bored here. Besides, you deserve to know why I'm known as such a heinous brat after I sidetracked you on your first day,” you explain, with a tone that's oddly sincere.
Akaashi begins to wonder if perhaps he judged you a bit too quickly, and a bit too harshly.
So… despite himself, he nods. “Alright. Though, I already know why you're considered a heinous brat. So far, it's because you are one.”
You laugh, a real, genuine laugh, then you jerk your thumb over your shoulder at the door behind you. “This is my room. I'll see you tomorrow.”
Before he can reply, you turn, and slip through the door, leaving the confused intern alone in the hallway.
—
“Oh come on, you have to have more you can tell me about your first day,” Bokuto whines, spreading himself out over the small couch in the living room of Akaashi's dorm.
Akaashi chews his lip for a moment, then turns to set two mugs of coffee on the table.
“Well… I met this one patient while delivering files. And I was reminded of you, you share a lot of personality traits I guess. Loud, overly confident, pain-in-the-ass-”
“Damn Akaashi, that's so mean,” Bokuto pouts, taking his mug begrudgingly.
Akaashi chuckles before sitting down on the other side of the couch and continuing the list. “Stubborn, a little bit flighty-”
“You got to know this patient really well, huh?” Bokuto grumbles, taking a sip of his coffee. “Don't act like you're so above all that Akaashi.”
Akaashi blinks, taken aback by that. “Above… what?”
“You like to pretend that you're so smart and calm and collected, but I've seen you at your worst ‘Kaashi, you can't hide anything from me,” Bokuto points out, staring Akaashi down with those owl-like eyes.
“If everything actually went as smoothly as you wanted, if nobody ever threw wrenches into your plans, you'd get bored. The excitement is what makes life worth living, and somewhere deep down, you know that.” Bokuto continues drinking his coffee as if he hadn't just dropped the most world-shifting bomb of wisdom that he possibly could have on his best friend.
Akaashi grips his mug in both hands, staring down into the rippling brown liquid at his warped reflection.
"If nobody ever threw a wrench into your plans, you'd get bored."
If Bokuto is right, then you're a pretty big wrench that's just been thrust into his perfectly organized gears.
And you're about to turn everything upside down.