𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 | bokuaka!

𝟔.

Day 3.

Bokuto is mindlessly scrolling through his phone when I answer the door for Aoi, inviting her inside with a small smile.

"Fujimura! A pleasure to see you," I step to the side of the door as she beams, walking in.

"Finally losing the honorifics?" The brunette giggles. "Well, thank you for having me, Keiji." My eyes widen at my given name as my eyes do every time those syllables escape her lips. It always raises the question for me, are we really that close yet? I furrow my eyebrows slightly in deep thought. I didn't necessarily dislike her using my first name, but I almost felt off about it despite feeling satisfied with hearing it from her mouth. I must've been spacing out, because when I turn to reply, she's locked eyes with Bokuto, who's sitting in plain sight on the couch straight ahead.

"Who's this?" She turns to me, raising an eyebrow. Bokuto looks just as perplexed as I glance at him for a moment before replying.

"Oh, um, sorry. Fujimura, this is Bokuto, Bokuto, Fujimura. He's..." I trail off, glancing to the side before locking eyes with the man I used to know. "...He's an old acquaintance of mine. He needed a place to stay for a bit before he goes back home this holiday." I lie. Koutaro's eyes seem a little caught off guard by my words, and he only glances down for a second before piping up.

"I'm so sorry to be interrupting anything, ma'am," He smiles rather charmingly back at us, appearing the happiest I've seen him since his ass showed up to my door three days ago.

"Oh! No worries!" Fujimura exclaims, turning to me. "That's nice of you, Akaashi!" Damn right, that's nice of me. It was too nice of me to take back the man who broke my heart back into my life.

But instead I hum. "I guess so, would you like a drink?"

"Of course! Why else would I be here!" She jokingly teases, light-hearted. Her smile is so cheerful as her eyes are happy too, and it's contagious and I can't help but smile a bit too.

"Alrighty, then..." I chuckle, heading to the kitchen. Aoi trails behind me.

"Akaashi, I'm going to head out really quick. I'll be back by 10 p.m," Bokuto calls shortly a while into the pouring of the drinks.
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"Okay, Kou," The nickname slips out of my mouth a little too easy, almost automatically. I slightly freeze when pouring the drink, glancing at Bokuto to see if he heard the old nickname resurface, and it's almost clear that he did. He himself is standing, door mid open with a light dust on his cheeks (that could be blamed on the cold seeping into the room) as he stares a bit bewildered at me. I wipe my own shocked expression off my face to finish the interaction.

"Go on," I nod now emotionless as he mirrors the action.

"Yeah." He affirms. It's all he says as he leaves, shutting the door loudly behind me. He left. He left, he left, he left. I gulp slightly trying to keep my emotions in check, unsure of why every time he leaves my sight the pit in my stomach enlarges, uneasiness washing over my figure.

"Kou?" Aoi questions beside me when I've gone silent a few seconds later. I blink twice, face flushing in embarrassment. How am I seriously going to ruin quality time with a girl over the random, silly unnerving feeling that surrounds Bokuto.

"Haha, yeah, sorry." I resume pouring the drinks. "Kou is a shortened version of his first name. I used to call him that when we were a little more like friends." Aoi hums beside me, watching me finish pouring the wine to hand her a glass. She takes it gleefully before leading the way to my now empty couch.

We sit down on the black leather as she takes it upon herself to sink back into the cushion. I take this time to look over her figure as she relaxes under the comfort of my home.

Black, fitted tights rise up her legs, from her strongly built calves to her thighs that are halfway covered with a formal, dark red pencil skirt, a shade matching her lipstick. Her legs are elegantly crossed, and a smile is graced on her lips as her eyes shine, turning to look at me. Aoi's charcoal blouse is ridden a bit low, her fair-skinned collarbones on display accentuating her smaller build, and narrow shoulders.

"Cheers, 'Kaashi!" She lifts her glass for me to dink.

"Cheers," My smile gleams back at her.

How could she be so happy around me? So glad to sit in my presence even for a drink once a week? How could she make time for me like that? I listen to her ramble for a few hours as I can tell she's gotten a bit tipsy, nothing over the top, though. Just enough to nudge her into ranting about her new client's works, and how her senior coworkers are all too old to understand that not all romantic novels they read need to be written so classically like Shakesphere.

I'm only half listening though, and as much as I'd like to tune in, my mind is wandering instead. Is her liking to me superficial? The grin on her face and her posture seems to be telling me that nothing about her attraction is frivolous. No matter how hard I read into her, I'm only seeing exhibition of pure joy.

Wow... she's pretty good at faking, huh?  I think to myself. Because there's no way a mature, level-headed queen of a woman would even think to take a look at a person like me. I'm plain, and quiet, and my work even reflects that. Analytical. So why is a rather extroverted, bubbly, and confident individual so drawn to me?

"And she said childhood best friends was the best trope! Like, seriously, what the hell? We all know it's rivals to lovers, and she had the audaci..." She trails off, noticing my behavior, "Are you okay?" She leans forward to see my face, as I shake my head only slightly as a quick wakeup call.

"Oh, yeah, I'm so sorry Aoi," I genuinely apologize, not even hearing her first name spill out of my mouth, "I'm just a bit tired today, honestly, not really focused."

"Yeah. You've been off," She almost bluntly points out as I almost choke on my own words.

"Hmm, I know how you get. You're a sad drunk, Akaashi. I'll leave you to your wallowing," She light-heartedly says, almost teasing. But before she stands to leave, she presses a soft kiss to my temple, as I widen my eyes at her behavior, looking up at her built figure. It was a step she was taking, a step I was never willing to take.

She smiles, leaving to open the door. As she's all the way across the apartment to the exit, I stand to stop her with my words.

"Hey, won't you let me walk you to your car?" I say rather quickly after getting over my awe when I realize she was too quick for me to walk her to the out

She chuckles, turning around. Her cheeks are dusted a rosy pink. A blush. She's her own worst enemy, huh? Losing her composure over something like that.

"Oh, there's no need, Keiji... Thank you for tonight, though," She waves and exits before I can utter a single word. I'm left standing in the middle of my open-floor plan apartment, mind spinning, unable to rest.

word count: 1299