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You knew who your soulmate was long before he knew you; hell, you knew long before the two of you had even spoken a word to each other.
And how exactly was that?
Well, that’s simple the words that were forever etched into your wrist in delicate black letters were…
Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing with my setter?!’
There was only one person you knew of (and probably only one person in the world) who looped the word ‘hey’ three times and was a Volleyball player.
As a child, you had often dreamed of your soulmate being some sort of knightly character that would ride in and sweep you off your feet. In your imagination the knight would always be accompanied by his white steed and his armor would always shine beneath the burning sun.
As a teenager, you exchanged your fantasies of knights and horses to good looking men who drove exotic white cars. The shining armor was replaced with expensive clothes that would probably cost your folks an arm and a leg just for you to wear for a day. They were the ones in the magazines that your friends constantly brought along to school spewing pleasantries such as ‘one day I’ll find my soulmate’ and you as well as the rest of the girls your age ate it up.
It was also at this time that you looked up what a setter was and after one google search you quickly determined that a Setter was a type of dog. A gun dog to be exact used for hunting game such as quails. So, your soul mate had a dog and one day you’d run into that dog. Or at least that’s what you had thought.
It wasn’t until you were high school that you started to focus on the men around you. The one’s that were more likely to be your soulmate because there was no way the pretty boys in the magazines would ever be your soulmate. It wasn’t that you were boy crazy or desperate for love, but you wouldn’t mind finding someone that you could lean on or vice versa.
You had found your soulmate in your second year of high school.
“Hey, did you here Nyoko-san found her soulmate?” an acquaintance of yours spoke up. You used the word acquaintance since you had only ever spoken to her a handful of times in your first year. The only reason she was even conversing with you now was simply because you were the only one she recognized in this class.
Who the heck was Nyoko again? Was that someone important? Some celebrity? Maybe a classmate? You decided not to voice your questions and merely shook your head at her question.
“Oh, really? I thought you were friends with her? Eri, Nyoko?” the girl continued speaking and upon hearing the full name a small spark of recognition flashed across your eyes.
Ah, that girl. You had been partnered with her on a project last year that was worth a majority of your grade. You supposed that was where the ridiculous notion of you two being friends came from.
“We weren’t really friends. We just got partnered up in an end of the year project,” you muttered under your breath as you took a small sip of your vanilla milk. You noted it was starting to get warm thanks to your negligence.
Damn…I should have finished it sooner,’ you thought to yourself before looking toward the girl beside you once more.
“So, what do you think?” she asked and you slowly blinked after having realized that you hadn’t been paying attention to a word she had just said.
“Huh?” you stated rather unintelligibly and watched as the girl gave you something of a pout. This girl was annoying. She seemed the type to obsess over soulmates and you imagined she already had some cute boy in mind. One that she hadn’t spoken with before, but constantly dreamed that when they bumped into each other he’d speak those fated words that were decorated across her wrist.
“I was saying that her soulmate is rather…well, he’s not attractive in the slightest and he seems like a total loser,” she stated rather harshly and you found yourself frowning somewhat at her words. You wanted to ask if she’d met the man before, but you supposed that was a given judging by the words that came from her mouth.
“Was she happy with him?” you asked as you slumped further into your seat as you waited for her answer.
“Yeah, she was so excited she immediately kissed him,” the girl answered. You raised a delicate brow as you recalled the girl you had partnered up with the previous year. She had the sweet and demure nature down pact. She had never struck you as the type to be so bold.
“Well then, what’s the problem? It’s not like he was your soulmate,” you muttered under your breath as you once more grabbed your milk carton and held it to your lips. This time you forced yourself to finish it all in one go ignoring the way the girl huffed in annoyance at your attitude.
“Hey, hey, hey! Your great ace is here Akaashi!” a masculine voice shouted above the rest of the students as soon as he had slid the doors open.
You quickly brought your hands to your mouth to stop yourself from spewing the milk all over your desk. A few others giggled at the boy’s boisterous attitude, but you were too busy with other problems to really care.
- You were pretty sure you just felt a bit of milk come out of your nose.
- The words on your wrist suddenly felt heavy.
You knew that your second issue was all part of your imagination, but you couldn’t help glancing at your wrist. Maybe his continuous use of the word ‘hey’ was just your imagination.
“Bokuto-san, you said you would stop bragging about becoming ace at lunch,” a male voice spoke up and you assumed that it belonged to this ‘Akaashi’ person. You slowly turned a glance toward him.
Ah, he was a first year that had managed to place into classes above his level. You had him in your math class this morning too.
“But Akaashi!” the golden eyed boy whined and you found yourself making a mental note that the way he said ‘Akaashi’ when whining was kind of cute. The man was now sulking at his desk, drawing shapes with his index finger, and the dejected look on his face had you giggling quietly to yourself. Akaashi sighed as if having come to some annoying conclusion after having a mental battle with himself. You knew that sigh pretty well.
“As a setter, I must admit your spikes are amazing,” the dark haired boy said and you almost laughed at the way his stoic face didn’t match the compliment he was giving to the older boy. The owl like boy hardly cared though and was soon beaming at his underclassmen.
Wait…setter?
That was a year ago.
At first you had just wanted to study him. Get to know him from afar because it was a rare opportunity to get to know your soulmate before you met them. As time flew by though….you found yourself unsure if you should confess.
He was so determined to make himself a name in the volleyball world and you felt as if a relationship might drag him down…soulmate or not. It wasn’t only that though. It was everything about him. He could easily bring a smile to your classmates face, yours included, even if they were only laughing at him. He was confident in whatever he did be it Volleyball or a math test, which you found was actually his worse subject; of course, with the face he had made during the testing period you would have thought it was his best.
You were also afraid.
By the time you could no longer learn anything about him from watching at a distance you came to the conclusion that you had fallen in love with him.
If you confessed…who was to say you would have a happy ending?
You were afraid of the answer he might give you.
You fiddled with the necklace around your neck as you waited outside a certain man’s class; despite all your fear, you were ready to take the next step. The bell soon rang dismissing class and the students soon began to pile out of the classroom. You found him straggling behind the rest of his class and when your gaze met his he turned away unaware that you were actually looking for him.
“A-Akaashi-kun?” you said looking toward the dark haired male just as he was about to pass you by. He paused and gave you what you assumed was a questioning stare. He was probably wondering how you knew who he was; after all, you had never talked to him before and you doubted he remembered having you in class last year.
“Can I help you?” his monotone voice matched his stoic appearance and for some reason that calmed your nerves even if only by a bit.
“Could you…give me Bokuto-san’s number?” you asked, your voice a quiet whisper and you watched as the males face scrunched up a bit in contemplation.
“My apologies, but could you speak up? I wasn’t able to catch that,” he answered and watched as your face lit up a bright red color. Ah, this was so nerve wrecking.
“I was wondering….could you please give me Bokuto-san’s number?” you asked once more this time with a bit more volume in your voice.
“You want…Bokuto-san’s number?” he repeated your question mainly because he hadn’t been sure he had heard you properly. You rapidly nodded your head in response.
“I’m sorry, but-,” Akaashi began to speak, but was quickly cut off by the sound of your pleading voice.
“Please, I’ll beg if I have to!” you spoke up and Akaashi could tell by the intensity of your eyes that you were not joking. The image of you preforming Dogeza* right here, in front of him, in the middle of a crowded school hallway, flashed through his mind. He gave a small sigh and you had to hold back the smile that threatened to pull at your lips. That was the same sigh he had used the first day you had seen him last year when he had relented to Bokuto.
“Alright, I understand,” Akaashi finally said as he shuffled through one of his pants pockets to retrieve his phone.
“Thank you so much!” you said excitedly as you mimicked his actions and began searching through the pockets of your skirt for your phone.
It wasn’t until later that night as you laid in bed; your television rerunning some old drama in the background, did your phone suddenly feel heavier than ever. You had yet to text Bokuto, but you were about to change that.
Sure, you were nervous and your heart was thumping violently against your chest, but if you didn’t find the courage now than when would you?
To, Owlicious
From, You
Bokuto-san?
From, Owlicious
To, You
WHO IS THIS?!
You almost laughed at the caps lock he used mainly because you could picture him yelling those words excited at the prospect of making a new friend. You hurried with a reply before he grew too impatient with you.
To, Owlicious
From, You
No one important.
I’m just a fan and wanted to tell you that you look amazing on the court!
From, Owlicious
To, You
DON’T SAY UR NOT IMPORTANT!
WHAT ABOUT ME LOOKED AMAZING?!
You blinked a bit at his response before laughing slightly and quickly typing up a reply. You imagined he was probably just looking for more people to compliment him in what he took pride in. You couldn’t say you disliked the idea of giving this boy all the attention and compliments he wanted.
You continued to speak with Bokuto through messages for another month and never once did you tell him your name or give away any clues to your real identity.
Though…
Recently you had told him that you were a female thanks to his consistent begging to at least get that much information out of you.
To, Owlicious
From, You
I’m a female, okay?
From, Owlicious
To, You
DO YOU LIKE ME?! ^(OvO)^
To, Owlicious
From, You<
Is that supposed to be an owl?
How cute!
From, Owlicious
To, You
Don’t ignore the question!
But…it really is a hoot!
To, Owlicious
From, You
Omg…you’re such a dork.
But, yeah…of course, I like you a lot <3
From, Owlicious
To, You
Then we should meet!
Maybe we’re even soulmates?!
Your heart had thumped violently against your chest at the thought of meeting Bokuto. Being close enough to him that you could touch him.
You always thought about telling him who you were.
You thought about it so much that it was beginning to haunt you in your sleep and yet despite wanting to be closer to him you couldn’t get over the overwhelming fear that you would never equal up to what he would want in a soulmate.
You set your phone on the dresser; biting down into your lower lip, maybe…maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to have ever asked Akaashi for his number.
Because now….now it hurt even more.
The next day began the beginning of your week long journey of ignoring any texts from Bokuto.
At first, his texts came in almost every hour. He had even dared to call you once or twice, but you ignored everything. You needed to put distance between the two of you; after all, an unmotivated girl like you would only serve to drag him down in life.
He was going to go places.
You could sometimes picture him making it onto Japan’s Olympic Volleyball team one year.
He was going to be amazing and you were sure he could bring a smile to anyone who watched him play.
Whereas you…you weren’t anything special; hell, you didn’t even know what you were going to do after high school and this was your last year to figure things out. You had no special talents. Your grades were only slightly above average, but compared to those in first place at your school or those who attended better schools in general you were mediocre at best.
You gave a quiet sigh as you looked over the form your teacher had given you. You were one of the last third years who hadn’t filled it out yet. It was one of those surveys that they always handed out to the third year students asking about what they wanted to do after high school was over. You slowly pressed your back against the wall leaning into it for support as you recalled what your teacher had just talked to you about. It was always the same stuff.
‘You’re eighteen. You should know what you want in life already’
The paper wrinkled as your hand tightened its grip on it. You could feel the prick of your unshed tears at the corners of your eyes. For once, you were glad that you had been forced to stay after class because if this had happened earlier in the day then the halls would have been crowded with students and everyone would have been you crying.
The sound of someone calling your name suddenly caught your attention and you quickly looked up to find Akaashi heading your direction. He had looked upset at first; from what you could tell anyways, but as he got closer and saw the unshed tears in your eyes his expression softened.
“Are you alright? Can I help with anything?” he asked with a genuine bit of worry in his tone as he watched you raise a hand to wipe the tears from your eyes.
In that moment though, he caught sight of the words on your wrist. He hadn’t been able to completely read it and he could have also been seeing things, but if what he saw was true then…you were hiding quite a bit from him and more importantly…Bokuto.
‘Hey, hey, hey’ those were the only words he had saw, but what more did he need to see to know that those three words were pretty much his best friends annoying catch phrase.
All of a sudden your tears didn’t matter to him. He had already stopped to talk with you about how much you’re ignoring Bokuto’s text upset the sensitive ace, but now there was a possibility that you were also hiding the fact that you were his soulmate?
Was this a joke or a game to you?
Because if it was then, soulmate or not he’d never let you make contact with Bokuto…he wasn’t going to let anyone play around with or hurt someone he considered as his best friend.
He quickly grabbed your arm before you could even think about getting away from him. His slate gray eyes read over the delicate, black lettering while a seriousness settled into his normally expressionless gaze.
“How long have you known?” he asked as you raised a hand and settled it onto his own arm trying to pull him away. You weren’t ready to face this situation yet. You knew at one point or another someone close to Bokuto or even Bokuto himself was going to find out, but you had always hoped; somewhere in the back of your mind, that that day would never come. You struggled harder against him and fixed an angered gaze against his own. His grip wasn’t too painful; in fact you were sure he was being as gentle as possible even with all your struggling, but that didn’t change the fact that his grip was powerful enough to keep you in place.
“Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing with my setter!?” a masculine voice rang out a short distance away and your angered gaze quickly changed into one of shock. Those were the words that were forever etched into your flesh.
You slowly turned your gaze away from Akaashi and looked toward the dual hair colored male. He was fast approaching the two of you and even from where you stood you could see that his gaze was fixed on you. You bit down into your lower lip before forcing yourself to pull your stare away from him and look back toward Akaashi. You were now pleading with your eyes; begging him to let you go, but instead his grip on you only increased.
Oh god no, please, this was not how you had wanted Bokuto to find out you were his soulmate.
Akaashi gave a quiet sigh before loosening his grip on your arm. You would have released a sigh of relief as soon as his grip loosened, but the moment you saw his eyes you couldn’t find the heart to do so.
His eyes told you that this was far from over.
“Sorry Akaashi-kun,” you spoke up softly before quickly taking off in the opposite direction of Bokuto. You heard him call after you, telling you to stop, but he thankfully didn’t pursue you. You mentally thanked Akaashi for stopping him and telling the male that everything was fine and there was no reason to chase you down.
You ran all the way home. It was the first time in your life you had ran such a distance and by the time you made it home you were a mess.
You heart was pounding hard in your chest. Your hair was a mess. You had scrapped you knee after having tripped over the uneven sidewalk just outside your school. Your eyes were still red and swollen from crying so much.
You slowly made your way to you bedroom; shutting and locking the door behind you, maybe…tomorrow when you woke up your parents would announce you all were moving and you could just pretend that you had never crossed paths with Bokuto or Akaashi.
The next day came faster than you wanted; in fact, if it had been up to you today would have never come. You spent the day sneaking around and avoiding anyone you knew was part of the boys Volleyball team.
Especially Akaashi.
If you ran into him you knew that you were going to have to spill everything and you weren’t exactly prepared for that.
Of course, fate didn’t care if you were prepared for that or not and cruelly threw you into a situation with the dark haired setter.
“Ah, (Y/N), thank you for staying after school to talk with me,” your teacher spoke up as he motioned for you to come closer to his desk. You nodded your head slightly in greeting wondering what he wanted to speak with you about; however, you didn’t have to worry for long.
“Anyways, right to the point, I’ve noticed that your grades have started taking a bit of a dive and though you’re not in danger of failing the class yet I thought it would be best if you could set aside some time for a tutor,” the man spoke up as he gestured to a few of your papers that he had scattered across his desk.
It was true. You knew your grades had taken a bit of nose dive recently especially with all the stress revolving around a certain volleyball player. You nodded you head in response and almost took a step back in shock when the teacher suddenly beamed up at you.
“That’s great! I actually already talked to one of my students in another about helping you out. He’s a year younger than you, but he’s received perfect grades in my class up to this point and-,” he suddenly paused in his speech when the doors to his class suddenly slid open and one Akaashi Keiji stepped into.
You felt your blood run cold and suddenly everything in this room just felt too close.
Your teacher continued speaking to you about finding a schedule that worked for the both of you, but you were far too busy trying not to hyperventilate to even care about what the old man was saying.
The intercom suddenly buzzed to life and your teachers was called to the front office. He smiled before stating that he could speak more to both of you tomorrow if you had any questions before he ran off leaving you alone with the dark haired setter.
You wanted to run away, but unfortunately Akaashi stood on the side of you closer to the door and you knew that if you even tried to make a run for it he would stop you.
“How long have you known that you were Bokuto-san’s soulmate?” he asked picking up right where he had left off yesterday. He really was a man that wasted no time.
You looked around trying to find some way out of this situation, but when nothing came, when no miracle or alien invasion suddenly happened, you knew you were going to have to answer all of his questions.
It was time to face the consequences of your actions.
“A year…” you answered simply as you absent mindedly ran your fingers over your skirt as if trying to smooth out some invisible wrinkles.
“Why didn’t you come forward?” Akaashi asked and this question you knew was the one he most wanted an answer to. You could feel his eyes burning a hole in your person. For someone who was normally so stoic he knew how to be intense and intimidating when he needed to be.
“Because….I’m not good enough for him,” you responded quietly as your small hands slowly tightened around your skirt bunching it up slightly. If there weren’t wrinkles before there definitely was now.
“I don’t think that’s for you to decide though. Isn’t he supposed to decide if you’re good enough for him? Are you just going to deny him his soulmate for the rest of his life because you can’t get over your inferiority complex?” Akaashi asked and you could only blink at him in a bit of surprise.
You supposed it was his decision in the end if you were good enough for him or not and maybe it was a bit wrong of you to deny the man his soulmate because of your own problems, but…
“What if I’m right though? What if he doesn’t like me?” you asked and watched in amazement as Akaashi’s lips pulled ever so slightly upward in a faint and fleeting smile.
“You’re the girl who has been sending him all those messages, right?” he asked watching for a moment as you nodded your head toward the male.
“I’m pretty sure he likes you more than enough. You should come to practice with me,” Akaashi stated almost smiling against when your eyes suddenly shot wide open. You began nervously playing with your skirt again and slowly your face was changing from its normal color to something bright red. You gave a shy nod of you head before letting the younger male guide your toward the gym.
It wasn’t a long walk to the gym and before you knew it your senses were being invaded by the sounds of squeaky shoes and Volleyballs slamming into the floor.
Your personal space was also being invaded by one, slightly sweaty, Bokuto Koutaro.
“Hey, hey, hey, you were the girl with Akaashi the other day! Ah! You must be his soulmate!” the hyperactive male spoke up as he smiled brightly down at you.
For once, you noticed exactly how tall the man was.
Oh gosh, you felt so small next to him, but his height was hardly intimidating especially since he was still wearing that wide goofy grin of his. You slowly shook your head to answer his question trying to ignore the way your cheeks were burning.
“She wants to talk with you Bokuto-san. Senpai, please, don’t keep him too long,” Akaashi said quickly before giving you a slight bow. He ignored the way Bokuto whined about the way Akaashi had just called you ‘senpai’, but had never called <em>him</em> that.
You giggled quietly at the golden eyed boy whined for a solid second before turning his attention to you.
“So, what’s up?” he asked as he rolled a Volleyball between his hands. You hadn’t even realized he had been carrying one until just now.
“B-Bokuto-san…” you said, pausing for a moment to swallow your heart back down since you were positive it was trying to jump out of your throat.
He watched you with mild curiosity as he continued to roll the volleyball between his hands wondering what you were going to say.
He was pretty sure he hadn’t ever spoken to you before so he imagined you wanted to know something about Akaashi, or maybe you had a message from a teacher for him, or maybe…
“….I love you…”
Or yeah, maybe you loved him.
Wait…what?!
The ball in his hands slipped before thudding against the floor and rolling away from the two of you. He was staring at you with wide eyes his confusion growing by the second as you tried to explain to him that you had fallen for him last year. That you were the girl he was secretly texting (the one whom always refused to show herself). That you were his soulmate.
Wait soulmate? He looked down at his arm, the tattoo he had hardly paid any attention to, now suddenly seemed alive.
‘Bokuto-san….I love you…’
“THAT’S RIGHT! YOU’RE MY SOULMATE!” Bokuto suddenly shouted rather excitedly causing you to give a quiet squeal in surprise.
Of course, you weren’t the only one surprised by the sudden yell from Bokuto since the whole Volleyball team was now looking in the direction of you two. If it was possible for the blush on your cheeks to become even brighter they would have.
You wanted to run and escape this embarrassing situation, but for some reason your feet were planted to the ground.
“Oh! I have to introduce you to the guys! They’re going to be so jealous that I got such a cute soulmate!” you spoke up excitedly as he grabbed your hand and wasted no time in intertwining your fingers with his own.
“Kou-kun…I really do love you!”
Extra:
“Babe…babe…hey, hey, hey! Babe!” Bokuto continued trying to get your attention as you glared at the table between the two of you. You weren’t pissed, per say, but you weren’t exactly happy about the situation either.
Bokuto had apparently thought to go through your phone while you had scurried off to go get your food when your number was called. He hadn’t meant any harm. He had only wanted to see what you had his contact name set up as, but that in itself was an embarrassment since you had his number saved as…
“Babe, do you really think I’m Owlicious?” he asked eyes wide with excitement as you finally turned your glare over toward him.
“Go die”