Haikyuu Soulmate AU

I think I found you - Bokuto

This story is written by whatsausernamereally on DeviantArt

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-> the one where the words on your body change depending on what's going on with your soulmate

The first time I payed attention to the words scribbled on my hand was when they changed. They had been a simple word for as long as I could remember: volleyball. Well, volleyball was the only consistent word. They would change now and then to reveal words like 'I'm kind of sad but it's okay, I guess' and one time it was literally 'my feet can't move because I've been jumping all day'. These words would only stay for a day or a couple of hours. I used to be aggravated that literally the only important thing my soulmate could think about was some stupid sport, but I forgot about the whole idea of a soulmate when I realized nothing was going to change for a while.

It was a Tuesday during spring when the drastic change happened. Certain letters disappeared, and some stayed to form the word 'I failed'. I looked at the words for days on end, awakening a worry that I didn't even know existed for a person I didn't even know. These words, unlike the others, stayed for a long time and were much more grave than they used to be. What was making them feel like this? What kind of thing must have happened in order to take over all of their feelings and leave them experiencing such an extreme emotion?

All of a sudden, I wanted to know my soulmate. When all of my days started to revolve around the worry I was feeling, I felt the desire to meet them. Knowing just how big the world was weakened my laid-back behavior and made me feel like finding them would be hopeless.

I was feeling depressed and worried when I went to meet Akaashi. He was apart of the volleyball team (and someone I suspected to be my soulmate for a solid 5 years, but it turned out he wasn't). He was looking annoyed, as usual, and was groaning like he does when he's tired.

"Bokuto we've been at this since the guys left, can't we just leave?" he asked, dropping the ball that was loosely in his hands. The guy I had heard so much about from Akaashi was on the other side of the net, crouching and swaying side to side, looking determined and sweaty.

"One more," he said between breaths. Akaashi picked up the ball and dragged his feet to Bokuto's side of the net. He reluctantly threw the ball up and set it for his friend and Bokuto jumped into the air like gravity wasn't an issue just to spike the ball over the net. It flew to the ground and what I thought impressive wasn't good enough for the spiker.

"God dammit!" he groaned, gripping at his sweaty hair and stomping his foot on the ground. Akaashi bit his bottom lip lightly and set a hand on Bokuto's back.

"Lets go home," he said in a voice that was barely audible. Before Bokuto could counter, Akaashi started to walk away slowly towards the door I was waiting at.

"Hey," he mumbled as he took a swig out of his water bottle.

"What was that about?" I asked, not breaking my gaze from the doubled over figure in front of the volleyball net.

"That's Bokuto, you know, they guy I told you about."

"The floaty-hair spiker?"

"That one."

Boktuo finally sat up straight and wiped the sweat from his brow. He kept his eyes fixed on the floor below him as if he couldn't lift them to look around.

"So what's wrong with him?"

"Well, when we lost at the Spring Tournament, he was pretty bummed out. He always gets into random moods when he's not doing well, but this was different. He wasn't talking as much and he was kind of depressed. He took the blame of our loss on himself and convinced himself that he's no good at volleyball. He's all positive and smiles around the team, but he's really out of it," Akaashi explained, keeping his voice down so Bokuto couldn't hear. I stayed silent as he came closer and glanced up at me, offering me a smile that was anything but genuine. I gave him a strained smile. We all didn't dare to break the silence that was suffocating us as we stood there. Akaashi only broke it to announce that he had to go.

"But I came here because we were going to get dinner," I complained, frowning at him.

"Bokuto lives near you so he can walk you home," he suggested as he shrugged. Oh great. Yes please, do sign me up for an awkward walk with Mr. Depressed.

"I don't mind," Bokuto reassured me, still wearing his fake smile. I nodded simply and bid Akaashi a passive aggressive good-bye. Bokuto started many formal conversations on the walk home. He asked questions like 'what year are you in?' and 'how many siblings do you have?' as he made punny jokes now and then. If Akaashi hadn't told me he was out of it, there was no way I would have noticed. He seemed to be a master at hiding his feelings.

"Look, Bokuto, I don't mean to be rude, but can we just talk about it?" I blurted out, interrupting his speech about how great of a setter Akaashi is. Bokuto fell silent all of a sudden and glanced at me.

"About what?" he asked slowly.

"Akaashi told me that you've been feeling bad. Not to mention the fact that you were pretty upset about a perfectly fine spike," I said, deciding to risk the option of hurting his feelings. He didn't say anything for a while and the smile that was on his face dropped. I started to regret my sudden outburst when not a single word came out of his mouth.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"I feel like I've let everyone down," he finally said, making me breath a sigh of relief. His hands were shoved in his volleyball jacket and his hair was starting to dry. I now understood why Akaashi described him as floaty-hair.

"Why?" I asked as I tried to match his tone of voice, hoping it would make him more comfortable.

"We lost the tournament and I'm the captain. Everyone was at the top of their game besides me. We lost it because I failed. I failed our team and I can't help but think I've failed my soulmate because all of sudden my hand is saying depressed and worried. Who wouldn't be depressed or worried if they had my feelings all over their hands?" he said as he grew more open with his thoughts. The silence that followed wasn't because I was overwhelmed, like Bokuto must have thought, but I was simply speechless. The words he had said were on his hands had matched my feelings for the past two weeks. As I thought about it, his feelings matched up with the words on mine as well.

"It's pretty tough but I think I can handle it," I said hesitantly when I decided to take another risk by assuming Bokuto's identity in my life. He stopped walking and it seemed like he had also stopped blinking, because his eyes didn't leave mine for a solid 10 seconds.

He glanced hastily at his hand and his eyes widened even more. He didn't ask when he grabbed mine and looked at it, just to make the change more obvious to me.

Written on my hand was a simple 'I'm pretty sure I found you' and written on Bokuto's face was an unbreakable smile.