SWIM LESSONS ⋆ akaashi keiji ✔︎

𝟨.𝖴𝖭𝖢𝖫𝖤 𝖪𝖮𝖴

📍𝗍𝗈𝗄𝗒𝗈 𝗎𝗇𝗂𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗂𝗍𝗒
𝗋𝖾𝖼𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇 𝖼𝖾𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗉𝗈𝗈𝗅 𝖺𝗋𝖾𝖺
𝗐𝖾𝖽𝗇𝖾𝗌𝖽𝖺𝗒, 𝗇𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗆𝖻𝖾𝗋 𝟨𝗍𝗁, 𝟨:𝟢𝟤𝗉𝗆

because of the water fitness class
being canceled, y/n's shift on a
wednesday night was especially
slow. there had been a total of
one person in the pool since she
got there at 4 o'clock and by 6
o'clock, it had been empty almost
an hour. she wasn't too upset about
that fact, though, as she had been
able to read her book for the entire
past hour.

she was anticipating for akaashi,
koji, and "uncle kou" to come in
to the pool area today, which she
found herself looking forward to.

as if on queue with her thoughts,
the pool door opened and in walked
a huge, tall, muscular man with
grayish spiked hair and a huge grin
on his face. he was holding akaashi
koji's hand, so y/n assumed that
he was the "uncle kou" that koji
always spoke so highly of.

behind them was a tired-looking
akaashi wearing what seemed to
be work clothing. it was what y/n
typically saw him in; a button up
dress shirt and slacks, with shiny,
clean black dress shoes.

bokuto koutarou
"HEY HEY HEY!"

the attractive man's voice
rang throughout the empty pool
area. y/n finished the sentence
she was reading and placed her
bookmark back in the book,
closing it and placing it on her
lap.

koji and the gray-haired man
quickly approached y/n, akaashi
slowly trailing behind them with
his hands stuffed in his pockets.

bokuto koutarou
"you must be y/n! i'm bokuto
koutarou, akaashi's best friend
since high school! i've heard so
much about you from this little
man."

bokuto reached down and ruffled
koji's hair, earning a smack from
the boy.

akaashi koji
"HI Y/N!"

akaashi koji
"me and uncle kou are going
swimming! i want to show him
what i learned at swim class!"

y/n grinned, tucking a stray hair
behind her ear. koji tugged at
bokuto's arm to make him hurry
up so they could get in the pool
quicker.

"that's great, buddy! have fun!"

akaashi stopped next to y/n, who
was still sitting in her chair.

"hi akaashi-san."

y/n smiled softly at the man to which
he returned a similar, albeit smaller
one.

akaashi keiji
"hi y/n-san."

akaashi's eyes trailed down to the
book in her lap.

akaashi keiji
"(favorite book)?"

akaashi keiji
"i love that one."

he adjusted his glasses and fidgeted
with his fingers, looking back up
to meet y/n's eyes. she nodded,
her eyes lighting up.

"yeah, me too! i think this
might be the fourth? or
maybe fifth time i've read it."

"i read a lot of books but this
one is the one i always seem
to want to come back to."

"it never gets old for me, i don't
know why."

the girl chuckled, scratching the back
of her neck and adjusting her hair that
she had let down from its ponytail
earlier during the shift. akaashi smiled.

akaashi keiji
"i have a couple of books
like that too. i can read them
over and over and always find
something new."

akaashi keiji
"maybe that's just the editor in
me, though."

akaashi keiji
"i'm, um, i'm a manga editor
for shonen jump, but i'm in
the process of transitioning
to the literature branch."

y/n cocked her head to the side,
a look of amazement spreading
across her features.

"woah, really? that's so cool!"

"how long have you been doing
that?"

"i used to read their mangas
ALL the time when i was younger."

akaashi keiji
"me too, that's why i applied,
i used to be a huge fan."

akaashi keiji
"i've only been there about seven
months, i just graduated from
tokyU in march, actually."

y/n's face lit up, her
eyes widening as she
gasped.

"no way! how had i never seen
you on campus before?"

"what did you major in?"

akaashi keiji
"i was a language, literature,
and linguistics major with
an emphasis in linguistics."

akaashi keiji
"but we probably never saw
each other because i was
always taking care of ko."

akaashi keiji
"i ended up taking a lot of
my courses online so i
only really had a few
classes on campus. it
worked out for me since i
had to take care of koji by
myself but it was still pretty
tough."

y/n frowned.

"gosh, yeah i can imagine."

"by yourself? that must be
a full time job in itself."

akaashi nodded, clasping his
hands together and playing
with his thumbs.

akaashi keiji
"yeah, it was. his mom... she
turned out to be very
immature and selfish, to put
it nicely. but i'd rather her
not be around at all than
for him to have a mother like
that in his life."

akaashi wasn't one to share
that type of information with
someone so easily, but for
whatever reason, he knew he'd
probably be seeing y/n a lot
more and he hoped that he
could become closer with her.

"that sounds like my dad—he
left when i was seven but
to be honest with you, my
life was so much better without
him in it."

"and koji seems to be surrounded
with so much love. your
relationship with him is admirable,
really."

y/n smiled. the guy in front
of her made her heart race in
the most exhilarating of ways,
and all she really wanted to do
was grow closer to him.

it was so easy for her to talk
to him, the conversation
swayed in about a million
different ways because they
both never ran out of things
to talk about.

y/n barely noticed when
her best friend walked in
to relieve her of her duties
at the end of her shift.

time seemed to fly by so
very quickly when y/n was
with keiji.

published: august 30, 2021