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𝓬𝓵𝓸𝓾𝓭 𝟗 // 𝓫𝓮𝓪𝓬𝓱 𝓫𝓾𝓷𝓷𝔂
"Who was that?" You asked as you stood beside Kuroo.
"The one who called your name? Bokuto." He said flatly.
You let out a small hum and shrugged it off. You turned to start collecting the scattered volleyballs across the gym.
"You're not going to ask who the other one was?" Kenma piped up.
"Should I have?" You asked with a laugh.
When both Kenma and Kuroo didn't respond, your eyes started to grow wide.
"No." You clasped your hand in front of your mouth. You barely even got a good look at the dark haired boy, when the owl with frosted tips was rather distracting.
Kenma shook his head before picking up his duffle bag.
"Did you already forget he went to Fukurodani? Or did you pretend to forget?"
You couldn't make direct eye contact with Kenma. He was partially right in the sense that you weren't actively trying to figure out which volleyball player was Akaashi.
"Well the entire team is invited the next weekend, so maybe he'll show up," Kuroo was inches away from your face, teasing you, "Just don't embarrass yourself this time."
You shoved Kuroo away from you.
He was right though. The last time Kuroo had a party, you took just one too many shots, danced on top of the tables, only to slip and fall off in front of everyone.
"I wasn't that bad," You lied to yourself quietly.
An obnoxious laugh escape Kuroo.
"Seriously, Y/n, not that bad? Kenma and me practically carried you home!"
You took one of the volleyballs and hurled it in his direction.
"Drop it." You said sternly, before letting out a heavy sigh, "I barely got a good look at Akaashi, so I'm just as blind going into your party as I was before today."
Kuroo slapped Kenma in the back, jolting him out of his daze.
"Kenma here will introduce you, no matter how much it pains him." Kuroo laughed, dodging another ball, thrown by Kenma this time.
- ♡ -
Your palms were pressed against the sides of your desk. You stared down at the unopened envelope. You completely forgot to check the mail all week, and you had received a response back from Akaashi.
The only problem, you couldn't bring yourself to open it.
Kenma took the seat in front of her. He stared down at the envelope too, well aware of who it's from.
"Are you going to open it?"
"Yeah, eventually."
"Y/n, just open it," Kenma sounded a little frustrated that you were dragging this easy task along.
A small giggle escaped you, and you quickly covered your mouth. You felt guilty being this excited over a letter from Akaashi in front of Kenma, but you couldn't contain yourself.
You slid the letter towards Kenma.
"Will you hold onto it?"
Kenma's facial expression quickly turned to disgust.
"Please," You begged, "I'm just not ready to open it yet, and it's a distraction if I hold onto it. Just until after Kuroo's party."
"Why won't you just open it?"
"I know you don't understand, but please do this for me."
You felt if you explained yourself to Kenma he would be even more reluctant in holding onto the letter. It might've seen a little over dramatic, but part of you didn't want to get your hopes up with Akaashi. Reading the letter would do just that.
You have had an ideal image on him in your head, and reading the letter would only build him up even more in your mind. There was a gnawing feeling in the pit of your stomach, that if he didn't live up to your expectations, this letter would ruin everything for you.
The other reason being, what if this letter told you to leave him alone. You did essentially ignore him for a couple of years, and now he was just supposed to drop everything in his life because you decided now was a good time to come back?
He didn't owe you anything. When you thought you were moving to the States, you let him know because you were unsure if the letters would keep going. Then he wrote you saying he wanted to meet you before you left.
You were comfortable just writing back and forth, but the idea of meeting him at the time, sent you in full blown panic mode. You'd be lying if you said you didn't develop feelings for him over time, which only added to the problem. You couldn't bring yourself to write back. As far as he knew, you were gone, and you didn't have to deal with responding.
Looking back, you thought how stupid you were. Akaashi probably would have understood that you weren't ready to meet then.
"You're ridiculous," Kenma said shoving the letter in his schoolbag.
