paper rings ∙ K. Bokuto

𝙋𝙍𝙊𝙇𝙊𝙂𝙐𝙀

𝐒𝐇𝐄 sits in front of Yukie and Kaori, avoiding their gazes like the plague; anyone foreign to the situation would be under the impression that she'd just made the most groundbreaking confession known to mankind. [name] herself believed the words she'd uttered were a big deal. She takes a deep breath, expecting Yukie and Kaori to freak out the minute their eyes meet. Gathering all her courage, she slowly looks up, only to find them - eating? Unbothered?

"I mean, yeah," Yukie's chewing slows down. "Uh, I'm sorry, I'm not sure what to tell you."

Kaori swallows. "What Yukie means is," She glances at the latter before continuing. "Everyone knows."

[name] feels her world crash. "Everyone?"

"Everyone with eyes," Yukie snorts. "I'm pretty sure half the school thinks you guys are dating. That big oaf is just to-" Kaori covers Yukie's mouth, quickly glancing at [name] to see if she noticed. [name], however, is absolutely losing her shit. 

"I thought I was hiding it well! I mean, yeah, I've liked him a while, and sure, we're close, bu-"

Yukie and Kaori just give each other a knowing look as she rants on.

—

The team is quiet for a second before they continue on as though their captain hadn't just revealed his biggest secret to them just a moment ago, which Bokuto is quite confused about.

"Did you guys not hear me?" He asks, a flabbergasted smile on his face.

"We heard you, Bokun," Konoha answers casually, receiving a ball as he speaks.

Bokuto grows flustered, unable to understand what to make of his team's reaction to his words. "S-So?"

"So what?" Haruki repeats mid stretch. "I don't know how to break this to you, captain."

"Break what to me?!" Bokuto half-yells.

"Everyone knows." The team answers their captain in unison, not even paying the situation any attention. Even the coaches don't look up from their notes.

Bokuto is shocked. His face is as though he's been hit by a freight train.

"Everyone...knows....." He mutters, seemingly unable to move or comprehend.

"Bokuto-san, please, not again-" Akaashi sighs minutes later, fishing his sulking captain from under a desk in the gymnasium.

—

𝐁𝐎𝐊𝐔𝐓𝐎 lays on her floor, throwing the ball up and down as he stares at her ceiling. He lets out a long and loud sigh, glancing at the girl to see whether she was giving him any attention. Exasperated at the indifference displayed by her, Bokuto sighs again, louder and even more obnoxiously this time – the girl has to stifle a laugh and pretend she still hadn't noticed.

Bokuto scowls, sitting up and staring at the girl. "[name]."

[name] doesn't look up from her phone, continuing to scroll. "Hmmm?"

"If you don't look up from that phone, god help me, I will stand up and leave."

[name] laughs, turning over and facing away from him. "Okayyy, leave!"

Bokuto plops down on the bed next to her, pouting. "[name],"

"Yes?"

He was silent before grabbing her phone from her hand and putting it away, to which [name] started giggling and tackling him for it.

They're just friends.

—

[name] sits at the stands, closely observing everyone's moves and registering them for future matches. Being a manager had it's perks, yes, but god, was it hard work.

Yukie sits down beside her, sweating from helping the boys with their endless drills.

"I forget why we agreed to do this sometimes," She whines, dabbing a towel at her face. "Why the hell would we want to be around stinking oafs for maximum of the day?"

[name] laughs, still focused on the court. Her mind wanders; why did they start managing the team?

As she thinks, Kaori also joins them; she had been late, and takes out a notebook identical to [name]'s, waiting for coach to get free so that she could compare some notes she'd been working on. Yukie poses the same question, and Kaori giggles.

"You guys forgot?" She asks, discreetly looking at [name] from the side of her eyes as the later was too engrossed in her work to notice.

"Forgot what?" Yukie asks, just as the court goes quiet; Bokuto rises above the net, a perfect jump, spiking the ball right onto the border of the court.

[name] was transfixed, a huge smile on face as she watches Bokuto do what he does best.

[name]'s world disappears around her as she watches him, her eyes shining in adoration. He did his usual celebration, his teammates patting his back and congratulating him. Then it happened; his eyes met hers, widened and smiling, looking for her approval. [name]'s grin's widens, giving him two thumbs up over her head.

"Ah," Yukie whispers to Kaori, both of them smiling at the oblivious girl. "That's why."

They are, obviously, just friends.

—

Bokuto is goofing around with his friends when he notices her sitting alone at her desk. That's not usually the case; Kaori and Yukie are almost always with her, as are her other friends, but today, she sat alone, staring into a textbook as she frantically scribbled something into her notebook before rubbing it out again.

Bokuto's eyes soften; he stares as she chews on the pencil, he notices the slight frown on her face as the sunlight filtered through the classroom windows, bathing her full. Bokuto can't help it. She looks so pretty.

He walks up to her, leaving his friends passing the ball around in the classroom as they cracked jokes. He sat down on the seat opposite to her, tilting his head at an angle and resting his chin on his folded arms.

"Whatcha up to?" He asks, grabbing at her pencil.

[name] rolls her eyes, her frown leaving her face. "Physics. Its not working."

"Why're you doing physics right now?"

"Its pending work, Bo. I have to finish it before the end of the day," She sighs, continuing to write, getting frustrated and grunting when she still couldn't do it.

"Hey," Bokuto calls out softly, gently taking her pencil and putting it down. "Leave it. It's not going anywhere."

"I can't just leave it, Bo, its due today-" He cuts her off, sticking his palm on her mouth and shutting her up.

"You, my friend, will play chopsticks with me as I tell you about my day," He closed her textbook, leaving her giggling at the childish proposition.

"Chopsticks? Really?" She asked, raising her eyebrows as he looked at his pointed fingers with determination.

"Yes, chopsticks! Now hurry up!"

The rest of break was them giggling and Bokuto pretending to sulk everytime he lost.

They really were just friends. I swear.

🖇

thank you for 
reading paper rings!