Akaashi's 18th (and the events that followed...)

5. Hide

Asahi stared blankly into the mirror of his apartment, distressed at the size of the bags under his eyes. Living alone in the city wasn't the worst part of being at university - it was getting dressed. Not having a uniform meant deciding what to wear, and being confident enough to wear it.

Ever since high school, when others had openly viewed him as intimidating, he hadn't been able to make many friends besides Suga, Daichi and Kiyoko. Well, with the exception of Noya.

'Who cares about how they view you?' was what his kouhai had always reminded him. Being oddly sentimental about a lot of things, Asahi had always remembered the words which struck an emotional chord with him. Especially Noya's, always trying to boost his self esteem - even if he ended up accidentally insulting Asahi instead.

Asahi was an overthinker, but knew there was nothing he could do about it. So, he brushed off his doubts by looping a long, brown scarf over his nude turtleneck sweater, and throwing his hair into a loose bun - pausing a few times to redo it, as the first time was too loose, the second too tight - and finishing it off with a pale blue homburg hat, stifling a yawn. Thankfully, his softer fashion choices had made him a few new friends at Bunka, the college he was studying fashion design at.

He jumped as his phone pinged obnoxiously from his bed. On picking it up, he was surprised to find Noya's name on the sender's line. He hadn't texted Asahi since the day he had sent a series of photos he had taken of them in the van, on the night the old team had gone to Kuroo's cramped apartment for Akaashi's birthday. Asahi had been asleep during the journey home, and his friend had snapped away at the drool on his chin, making peace signs and grinning wildly into the camera.

He cautiously opened his phone, and read:

I've got a surprise for you!

Asahi's heart sped up, panicking over what this 'surprise' might mean. He quickly typed a reply:

What kind of surprise?!

He stared at the screen, wiping the sweat from his brow.

Wow Asahi-san, you even sound nervous over text XD - it's a surprise, so I can't tell you, obviously!

Can you at least give me a hint?

He waited for Noya to type again, but the message stayed on read.

On the way to school, Asahi waited for a reply, checking his phone periodically throughout his lesson on fashion history, during his break, and all through his practical lesson. This led to many strange glances from his peers, as he tried to hide his phone from the teacher.

He realised why Noya hadn't replied as he sat down to eat his lunch.

"Asahi-san?" He whipped around to see a tiny spike of yellow poking out from above the sea of pink and blond heads, behind the door to the canteen. It was on the opposite end of the table he sat at, and the entire hall glanced over.

"Asahi-kun?" He turned back to his classmate Riku, who was halfway through his bread. "Is that short guy yelling for you?"

"Uhh, I need to go," Asahi grabbed his bag, knocking over his sushi in his haste to leave. He ran up the staircase, spiralling up the white, curved walls and ducking behind a set of lockers.

"'Sahi-san?" Oh no. He heard footsteps racing up the stairs. "Where are you?"
Of course Noya would have followed him easily, his hawk-eyes picking out every little detail. Not to mention that Asahi wasn't exactly discreet in his departure. He slowed his breathing, making himself smaller behind the lockers to give himself thinking time. Why was Noya at his school? Did he even know what Asahi was studying?