in the other life. (Bokuaka: in another life series)

chapter 9

Volleyball practice had been like a gentle and cooling spring breeze amid a hot and humid summer. That is, if the spring breeze had slapped summer in the face and said “Hi. Here is a realization.”

Because Akaashi was summer, and he had just been- well, slapped in the face.

Slapped in the face with a big realization that this world…was like a kindergartener’s arts and crafts project. Not well thought out, and messily put together. Nothing made sense, but then again it shouldn’t need to, as it was a mere dream.

EXCEPT…this wasn’t a dream, and so Akaashi didn’t magically revive his 3 years of volleyball knowledge hidden behind his 20 other years of pining, loving and mourning. No he didn’t. Not at all.

His volleyball skills were now as big as Oikawa’s humility. Which to say, was not much. His setter skills were lost and fumbled, and so he had been promptly benched and left to his own thoughts.

His first thought: Woah.

Woah to literally everything. It didn’t occur to him at lunch, but it did now. There were four setters on the team, and with two of them having a long history of being rivals, he was sure that sparks would fly. Except they didn’t. Kageyama was a starting setter, and Oikawa seemed to have no problem with that, because Oikawa was apparently also a wing spiker?

Woah, okay.

“And Bokuto is healthy…” Akaashi sniffed, relaxing. He was so happy for Bokuto. He was healthy in this world…well, for now. But he was going to remain healthy as long as Akaashi was alive, Akaashi would make sure of it.

But he was so, so happy. Deliriously happy. Bokuto was healthy and could stand and walk and jump and spike and do everything his Bokuto hadn’t been able to. He wondered what his Bokuto would feel like if he saw himself now. Would he cry in happiness with Akaashi, or feel sad that he couldn’t fe-

“-He is healthy. Maybe a bit too healthy...” A foriegn voice rang out, mere inches away from Akaashi’s neck. Akaashi startled, and turned around hazardly, chest pumping with anxiety.

Oh my god, it was Kenma.

Right. Did he forget to mention Kenma was on the team too? Akaashi huffed, calming his jumpy heart. He forgot Kenma had a bad- or was it creepy? talent of sneaking up on people without them noticing. He had experienced this personally when Kenma and Kuroo had come to visit Bokuto.

“Hello Kenma. Good afternoon.” Akaashi greeted, trying to mask his emotions. Kenma stared at him, not replying. For a while, neither of them said anything.

Kenma blinked. Akaashi blinked.

Kenma blinked again, this time almost lazily. “Hmmmm. So, Bokuto huh?”

“What?” Akaashi asked, genuinely confused. What did he even mean by tha-

“The person you like. Is it Bokuto?” Kenma drawled.

“BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM” Akaashi’s heart provided helpfully. “What- No. No, how did you- how did you get that?” Akaashi stuttered, blinking rapidly. Wait, he wasn’t that obvious right?

No way. Akaashi prided himself on being a guy who could hide his thoughts easily. Surely Kenma wasn’t about to unveil his 30 years of hard work. Right?

“You keep looking at the front court. The path on where Kageyama and Bokuto are.”

“Yes, but that’s becaus-“

“Wait, it’s not Kageyama you’re looking at right? Because Kageyama already has-“ Kenma squinted.

“-Nononono. No, it’s not- trust me. It’s not Kageyama. I was just thinking of the canteen’s ice cream. It looked good, but I didn't get the chance to buy any just now. It was a pure coincidence.” Phew, nice save, Akaashi!

“Ooookay then.” Kenma’s face seemed to contort into a .. pleased cat? Kenma nodded, slinking away. Akaashi didn’t know why, but he also nodded. Okay, now that Kenma was out of his hair, he could brainstorm about how t-

“You never denied that it was Bokuto, so I’m assuming it’s him. Older guys, huh? Well, jiayou.” Kenma smirked, slithering away.

WHYTHATLITTLESNAKE!!!!- Akaashi shook almost ferociously as he felt himself turning a worrying shade of red. Oh my god, he had been so fixated on clearing his thoughts about Kageyama up that he had completely missed Bokuto. Now he couldn’t even argue back because it would truly make him seem like he liked Bokuto. I mean, he did like-love Bokuto, but he didn’t need a couple of teenagers knowing that.

“Argh..!” Akaashi slumped down on the wooden bench, earning strange looks from his coach and manager. God, he was so screwed if the information leaked. Bokuto would think he was weird, and then he wouldn’t be able to save Bokuto, and then he would- he would die-and then-

Akaashi you idiot, you absolute idiot. Why are you so dumb all the time, why, why, why can’t you just do one damn th-

“Bokuto!” Akaashi heard Kageyama yell, and he frantically turned his head back to the court, scanning the horizon and oh-

and- oh. Bokuto looked stunning- he looked beautiful. His muscles flexing, his jumping into the air. His posture as he curved his back to slam the ball onto the hardwood floor. It was everything Akaashi had ever longed to see.

For so long he had waited to see Bokuto healthy. Healthy.

…Yeah. Whatever, Akaashi was a grown man and didn’t need teenagers’ validation! He was going to ignore whatever rumours that spread, and they could take it up with his fucking ass.