1 Chapter 1: The Beginning

AKAASHI POV

Bokuto and I have been best friends ever since we met in elementary school when the teacher paired up kids from different age groups as partners for the science fair. Our project wasn't anything complicated, just your average salt-and-vinegar volcano explosion. When it was time to demonstrate our project to the judges, Bokuto emptied the can of vinegar into the base of the volcano and it sprayed all over us, and while I was grossed out by the fact that this weird chemical combination had sprayed all over me, Bokuto seemed ecstatic that he had made this explosion happen. That was almost six years ago now, but I still remember it clearly. As I thought back on that day, a loud ringing noise snapped me back to reality. I looked over at my alarm clock, which had just started going off. I reached over and turned it off, wondering why it was going off so early in the morning. As I pulled the warm covers of my bed back over my body I realized that it was the first day of my second year at Fukurodani, and with it, volleyball tryouts. I got out of bed and rummaged through my dresser, looking for a somewhat-decent outfit in the hopes that I could make a good impression on my first day back. After looking through my drawers and finding nothing, I settled on a pair of grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt that looked like it hadn't been worn in several months. I looked over at the alarm clock and realized that all the time I had spent looking in my drawers was going to make me late. I ran out of my bedroom, shoveled down some eggs and pork-buns that were lying on the counter, grabbed my backpack, and shoved all my new textbooks and pencils down in it. I hurried out the door and started on my way to school. As I half-walked-half-jogged my way to school I breathed in the crisp Spring air. It felt chilly and there was a large draft down my back but I wasn't thinking of anything besides the fact that I would inevitably be late and get detention on my very first day of school. As I turned the corner I saw the walls of Fukurodani Academy loom in front of me, and a sense of nervousness overtook me. I wasn't a shy person necessarily, but making new friends was never my strong suit. As if on cue, I spotted Bokuto's shining gray hair bobbing up and down in the crowd of students walking up the front steps.

"Hey dumbass" I yelled as several students turned to look at me, one of them Bokuto. He was wearing his usual outfit of sweatpants and a hoodie two sizes too large for him.

"Who're you calling dumbass, dumbass" he shot back playfully, a smile spreading over his face to match the one on mine.

"You ready for the first day of school?" I asked as I walked up to him, glancing around at all of the kids wandering up into the halls of Fukurodani.

"The real question is if this school is ready for Bokuto."

"Please, do the world a favor and never refer to yourself in the first person, like ever"

"Well now that I'm an upperclassman, I can do whatever I want," Bokuto said, practically shouting it. He looked so proud of the fact that he was finally a third year that I couldn't help but smile again, he was just so cute.

"Hey, what're you smiling at," Bokuto said as he saw the look on my face.

"N-Nothing" I stammered, as I felt heat spreading all over my nose and cheeks. I looked away quickly, hoping he wouldn't notice it. When I finally felt my face cool down again, I looked back over at Bokuto. He was texting someone on his phone, some girl probably, Bokuto had always been popular and a source of attention among some of the girls from my grade and he knew it. I felt a twinge of jealousy in my stomach, wishing Bokuto would put down his phone.

"Hey come on," I said, "If we don't hurry we're gonna be late for the first period."

Bokuto and I walked up into the halls of our school, said goodbye, and headed to our new classes. Since Bokuto was a third-year and I was only a second-year, we didn't share the same schedule and didn't see each other very much throughout the day. The only period we did share was lunch, so that was what I was looking forward to. As I headed towards my first period I noticed some new first years pointing at me and laughing. I was confused at first but decided to pay them no attention, and headed off to my class, and made it barely in time. It was history, my least favorite class, but the prospect of sharing lunch with Bokuto seemed to make the clock hands turn faster than they normally would've. When my class finally ended, I stood up to put my notebooks back into my backpack. Some new girl I didn't know the name of from my class came up to me and told me that my t-shirt had a hole in the back of it. Mortified, I ran from the room to the nearest bathroom and inspected the back of it. There was indeed a hole bigger than my fist in the very center of the back of my t-shirt. I didn't bring a change of clothes and my house was too far away to be able to get a new shirt. I heard the first bell ring, and picked my backpack up, and pulled it over the hole as I headed to my next class. That class passed slower than the first one, and every time I heard someone giggle I turned around presuming that they were laughing at me. Finally, the class ended and it was time for lunch. As I walked into the cafeteria, I grabbed my food tray from the lunch lady and headed over to where Bokuto was sitting, surrounded by the usual group of girls who followed him around. I shrugged my backpack off and sat down across from Bokuto.

"How was your morning so far?" he asked me as he shoved his food into his mouth.

"Kinda horrible," I told him as I started to poke the slightly moldy food the lunch lady gave me.

"So you finally noticed the hole," he asked whilst trying to stifle a laugh.

"You knew?" I yelled at him, trying not to laugh myself. I punched his arm and was surprised by how muscular his bicep was. "Ow! You've really been working out haven't you".

"Well now that I'm the captain of the volleyball team I have to make a good impression don't I?" he said, smirking at me. "Anyways, you can have my sweatshirt so you won't have to walk around with that t-shirt all day long."

He pulled off his sweatshirt, lifting the shirt underneath to reveal toned abs that I didn't know were there before. As I once again felt the heat spreading all over my face, I looked down into my lap. I took the hoodie from him and put it on, enjoying the smell of Bokuto as I pulled it on. Bokuto was quite a few inches taller than me and the sweatshirt was too large for him, so when I pulled it down it went all the way down to my thighs, and the sleeves covered my hands.

"You think you're ready for volleyball tryouts?" Bokuto asked me as he watched me struggle to pull the sweatshirt over my head.

"Yeah, I've been practicing every day. We're going to go to nationals this year, I just know it."

"I sure hope so" Bokuto responded. I'm sure he felt the pressure of leading us to nationals. It was his first and last year of being our captain, and even though he wouldn't admit it to anyone, I knew he wanted to go to nationals more than anyone else. We chatted for a while about our classes and the upcoming volleyball tryouts until the bell rang and we headed off to our next periods, promising to talk to each other after school was over.

The rest of the school went by faster and faster as my excitement for volleyball tryouts continued to grow. I knew I was going to make the team like I did last year but still, I was nervous about my performance. I'd been practicing, with Bokuto and on my own, in order to grow my skills. I had gotten much better since last year, and I was excited to see what kind of first years we would have. At last, my last class of the day was over, and I headed over to the gym where volleyball tryouts were being held. As I walked up to the door I could already hear the tryouts beginning. I stepped inside and walked around the side of the court to stand next to Bokuto.

"How're the first years doing," I asked him.

"Better than I was my first year" he responded, "we might actually have a shot of going to nationals."

"I really doubt that even in your first year you played better than most of our upperclassmen."

Bokuto looked over at me and a bright smile lit up across his face as he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me in for a hug. Our friendship was more intimate than most others, and even though I knew he didn't mean the hug romantically I still let myself be pulled into the warmth of his body. Barely a second later our libero, Haruki, walked up to us and started talking to Bokuto. Bokuto let go of me and I walked away to go observe the new tryouts. Since I had been selected for the team last year my spot had basically already been secured for this year, but I still wanted to come and watch the new teammates practice. I've always tried to keep myself reserved around big crowds making it hard for me to approach people, but when it comes to volleyball I never mind making that extra effort of meeting new people and talking about our passion for volleyball. Before I could wander over to the first years' tryouts, Bokuto finished his conversation with Haruki and walked back over towards me.

"Hey, guess what," he asked me, trying to conceal a smile.

"What's up," I asked cautiously, wondering what Bokuto was going to tell me next.

"I meant to ask you this earlier but since you were such a good player last year, would you like to be the vice-captain?"

"Seriously? I'd love that!" I realized that if I became vice-captain I'd have a lot of extra responsibilities along with my massive homework load but it also meant I got to spend more time planning and hanging out with Bokuto. I couldn't help but smile myself when Bokuto's face was beaming with light to my response.

For the rest of the volleyball tryouts, I played a little 2v2 with one of the first years against Bokuto and another first-year who had been doing a really good job of playing setter. I passed the ball to my teammate, and he set it for me so I could spike it. I jumped up and hit the ball as hard as I could towards the other side.

"Hey, I thought I was supposed to be the ace" Bokuto teased as the ball hit the ground and bounced away.

"I guess I'm just better at spiking than you" I teased, laughing at the expression he was making.

After the tryouts ended, Bokuto and I headed home. We lived near each other so we often walked home together. As we were walking Bokuto grabbed my arm and spun me so that I was facing him.

"Why don't you come over to my house," he asked, "my parents don't get home for a little while so we can just hang out for a bit."

"I don't know Bokuto, if I don't get home before dinner my mom might get mad at me."

"Come onnnn, you haven't been to my house in forever, it'd be nice to have some company for a change" he pleaded to me.

Sighing, I agreed to go over to his house, and we started walking again, now heading to his house. We arrived there in a few minutes and walked up from his driveway to his house. As I stepped into his house I realized that Bokuto's parents were very wealthy. Everything in his house looked brand new and very expensive. Unaware of my eyes scanning and inspecting the main floor up and down, Bokuto shot me a glance as we took off our shoes and left them next to the front door.

"Come on I want to show you something Akaashi" Bokuto shouted as he opened a door and started walking down a flight of stairs. I followed him into his basement and looked around. There was a large couch in one corner of the room facing a massive TV. I set my backpack down and took a seat on the couch. I'd never been down here before so I kept scanning the room.

"It was the first day and I've already got homework," Bokuto complained to me as he also took his backpack off and lied down on the couch next to me.

"Well what did you expect for your third year," I said, rolling my eyes. Bokuto wasn't necessarily a slacker, but he wasn't an honor-roll student either. I looked over at Bokuto and couldn't help but smile at him.

"You know Bokuto, I could probably help you with some of your homework, I'm taking some advanced courses."

"Akaashi you're a total lifesaver," he said as he sat up and pulled his notebooks out of his bag. I helped him with his homework for a little while, they were pretty basic concepts, and finally, we finished all of it.

"So what do you wanna do now?"

"I don't know Bokuto... it's your house" I answered, standing up to stretch my legs. I walked over to the window and saw that the sun was already dipping behind the line of trees on the other side of Bokuto's street. It hadn't really dawned on me how short the days had become. I realized that we had been studying for much longer than I had realized.

Bokuto called over to me from the couch "Ok well, let's watch a movie then."

"It's getting kind of late Bokuto, don't you think I should head home?"

"Oh come on, you know you wanna stay," Bokuto said, his voice begging me to stay.

"Ok ok, let me tell my parents I'll be a little bit longer." After texting my parents that I was staying at Bokuto's for a little while, I walked back over to the couch and sat down next to Bokuto. I could feel his warmth even through the clothes I was wearing. He put on some horror movie I didn't know the name of and soon became entranced by it. It wasn't very good to me but watching Bokuto yell "run" and "leave it" at the characters as they fled from the zombie hoard was the highlight of my day. I let myself get lost in the idea that I could stay there, in Bokuto's basement, watching as his piercing hazel eyes absorb the gore on the TV. Soon, I felt myself slipping away as my eyes began to shut.

<i>Bokuto and I strolled along the beach, the sun just starting to set over the rippling water. The waves rolled up and lapped against the bottoms of our feet. The air smelled salty and fresh, and the wind was howling. Bokuto and I sat down on our woven blanket, our feet digging into the sand. Bokuto took me in his arms, my back against his stomach and we lied down on our blanket. We stayed there watching the stars appear as the night sky dimmed. I turned over so that I was lying directly on top of Bokuto, our eyes staring into each other. Slowly, I leaned down and kissed him, our lips warm against the cold night air, moving together in perfect harmony. For a minute the sounds of the world were drowned out as I focused on Bokuto. I pulled back so that we were looking at each other once again. I opened my mouth to tell him something.</i>

<i>"Bokuto, I- I lov-"</i>

I felt large hands gently shaking me awake. When I finally opened my eyes I saw the credits rolling on the TV. I started to move when I realized Bokuto's arm was wrapped around me and my head was nuzzled in his chest. I could feel his muscular skin through his t-shirt. I stood up immediately, mortified by the realization that I had fallen asleep on top of him.

"I'm so sorry Bokuto I- I'm so embarrassed" I stammered out, turning away from him.

"Hey, it's no biggie, ok? We all get tired" he said, stifling a small laugh.

I looked out at the window and saw that the sky had gotten even darker than when we started the movie. I checked my phone and saw that it was nearing time for dinner.

"Oh no, I have to get home before my mom makes dinner," I told Bokuto, cramming all my possessions back into my backpack.

"Oh... ok," Bokuto said, and I thought I heard disappointment in his voice but decided it was just my imagination.

He showed me how to get back up the steps and walked me to the front door.

"Oh here," I said, realizing I was still wearing his sweatshirt. I pulled it off and immediately felt the cold night air seep into my bones. I started shaking almost immediately after I took it off and handed it back to Bokuto.

"Keep it, you can give it back to me tomorrow" Bokuto offered, give the sweatshirt back to me.

"You're the actual best," I said, pulling the sweatshirt back on and once again becoming enveloped in the smell of Bokuto, green apples and cinnamon, and turned to leave.

"Hey Akaashi" Bokuto called after me, "you said my name in your sleep but I couldn't tell what else you were saying, what were you dreaming about?"

For the first time, I was thankful for the darkness as it hid the erupting redness of my face.

"Nothing, I can't really remember" I lied, looking down at my feet. I did remember it, but if Bokuto knew what the dream was actually about he might never look at me the same. "See you later," I said, turning around and starting to head home.

"Yeah, see you" he called out behind me, and this time I was sure he sounded disappointed.

As I walked home I kept thinking about the events of the day. I smiled as I headed home, finally arriving at my own house, looking forward to the next day.