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For seven days, thirty-four minutes, and six seconds, Akaashi Keiji has had ‘ask Bokuto-san out’ on his planner. Normally a task would be crossed out day by day, allowing him to see all of his worries fade away. Asking someone out however, didn’t get knocked off as easily as Akaashi liked. Finally, Akaashi decided that today was the day. On the eighth day of having ‘ask Bokuto-san out’ in his planner, Akaashi was going to do it.
5:00am- wake up for morning practice
Akaashi sighed as he heard the annoying crow of his alarm clock and reach his hand out clumsily to hopefully hit the power switch. Once his bedroom was silent again, he relaxed into the pillow. A couple more minutes rest would be nice, but Akaashi had to stick to his schedule so up he stumbled to the bathroom with a groan.
5:30am- begin morning practice
The gym was unusually loud for morning practice and Akaashi couldn’t placed his finger on what had changed. Komi and Sarukui were still going around the gym and tripping any team member that wasn’t awake enough to notice them, Konoha was still trying to hold his stretches just so he wouldn't have to start moving, Washio was still trying to show Onaga how to block more efficiently, and Yukie was still downing the coffee in her thermos while waiting for Kaori to show up. It was a normal scene, accompanied by the ridiculously loud hoots that Bokuto could still manage to produce early in the morning. Finally the realization struck that Akaashi was merely hearing his own heartbeat thump wildly in his chest.
“Hey Akaashi come toss to me!” Bokuto said with a bright grin. Akaashi squared his shoulders and inhaled deeply before walking over to his captain. He needed to tell him today so these feelings would stop.
7:00am- head to class early for studying time
Classroom six was silent when Akaashi entered and took his spot in the middle. Not too close to the front to garner unwanted attention, but not too far from the sensei that his focus would be disrupted. A perfect seat that just happened to overlook the courtyard below. Carefully, Akaashi unpacked all of his supplies and got to work studying for the upcoming test that week. It was going smoothly until Akaashi realized every third or fourth thought would be of Bokuto. Would he accept the offer to date? What was Akaashi to do if he said no? Would it jeopardize the team dynamic? Soon any attempts to study where in vain, for Akaashi could only speculate the possible outcomes of asking Bokuto out.
Weakness seventeen is Bokuto’s inability to handle surprises well, and Akaashi asking Bokuto out sure did seem like something surprising. He could be put into a permanent bad mood. There would be no way to go to nationals if Bokuto was moping constantly. The entire team would blame Akaashi. Even Akaashi would blame Akaashi.
“This is useless,” Akaashi huffed and slammed his textbook shut. For the next ten minutes he merely looked out the window, trying to avoid any thoughts that popped into his head.
8:15am- class begins
Students poured into the room and Akaashi schooled his face back into one of utter neutrality. The sensei took her spot at the front of the room and Akaashi reached into his bag to grab a notebook for notes. Instead of his notebook however, he touched a pale blue planner that flipped open to the schedule for the day. Right there in neat loopy print were the words “ask Bokuto-san out.”
Akaashi quickly shoved it back into his bag like it had burned him and grasped the first notebook he saw. It wasn’t the correct one for the morning lectures but rather than possibly see the planner again, Akaashi would just use this one. It was much more preferable to just transfer the notes later than go back into his bag. With a slight huff, Akaashi shook his head and straightened his posture. It was ridiculous how unfocused this was making him. No way would he be able to survive afternoon class and normal practice like this.
For the first time in seven years, Akaashi considered changing a date in his planner.
And it terrified him.
12:00pm- lunch with Bokuto-san
“Hey hey hey! How’s it going Akaashi?” Bokuto asked as he entered Akaashi’s classroom. Every day during lunch Bokuto would seek him out and then they would head down to the cafeteria to eat together. Some days they would go outside to the courtyard and other days they would head up to the rooftop.
“Fine Bokuto-san,” Akaashi replied smoothly as they started towards the cafeteria. Halfway there, Akaashi suddenly stopped in his tracks. Bokuto must have noticed that his ramblings were being heard by no one since Akaashi had stopped further down the hallway so he turned around in confusion. There stood a very uncomfortable looking setter, wringing his hands and trying to gain the courage to look Bokuto in the eyes.
“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” Bokuto inquired again. He may not be as observant as Akaashi but he at least knew when his best friend and teammate was nervous about something.
“It’s nothing just… would you like to eat in the courtyard today?” Akaashi asked.
“Sure Akaashi! You don’t have to be so nervous asking me that. I thought something bad had happened,” Bokuto said with a laugh and the two turned around to head outside. The gentle breeze was comfortably warm and the sky was littered with soft puffy white clouds. It was a beautiful setting for what may be Akaashi’s first heartbreak. The thought turned so quickly that Akaashi had to smother the giggle that he released.
“Bokuto there was actually something else I wanted to talk about,” Akaashi finally spoke up again once they had both finished eating. Bokuto had just finished a story about one of his new spikes and Akaashi needed to interject before he lost his nerve.
“Of course! You can tell me anything. I am a great senpai after al!” Bokuto exclaimed proudly.
“Good. Well this is a personal thing,” Akaashi said before standing up and looking down at Bokuto. It didn’t stop him from wringing his hands or over-analyzing all of his options but it felt nice to have the tiniest bit of power over Bokuto. If he needed to run after saying something embarrassing then Bokuto would have to stand before he could follow, giving Akaashi a few seconds of a head start.
“Let’s hear it!” Bokuto said but he was worried with how Akaashi was acting. Normally he was the picture of grace and tranquility but right now Akaashi was a mess.
“Bokuto-san I was wondering if you would date me,” Akaashi said bluntly. After all of his worrying, it took less than three seconds for Akaashi to finally say the words.
“What?” Bokuto replied numbly.
“You don’t need to. If it’s more preferable you can forget I asked,” Akaashi could feel the bile rising up in his throat and was lucky there was a trash can nearby incase it decided to make an appearance.
“Wait no! That’s not what I meant! I just can’t believe you want to go out with me! I want to date you too,” Bokuto admitted, rising up from where he sat.
“You do?” Akaashi asked.
“Yes! I’d love to be your boyfriend,” Bokuto said and they both looked away shyly before hugging closely. Akaashi leaned up and gave Bokuto a kiss on the cheek.
“Then this works perfectly. Lunch is over Bokuto-san. I’ll see you at practice,” Akaashi said in his normal dismissive tone but Bokuto could see the small shy smile on his face.
“See you there boyfriend!” Bokuto called out by the time Akaashi had gotten back to the doors. Akaashi could feel his face heat up at the words but still smiled the whole way back to his classroom.
Maybe it wasn’t so bad to go off schedule every once and awhile.