Haikyuu x Reader

Bokuto Kotarou - Just Friends

*Mild sexual themes including: Friends With Benefits relationship.  Not Explicit*

Akaashi was used to it by now. The sulking, the lack of motivation. Playing alongside Bokuto for the past two years, pulling the captain out of his funk was just a daily task. A simple "I think the manager is checking you out" used to be the easiest way to pull him back to reality, eager to impress the cute Fukurodani girl. Sometimes, it was just encouraging words from the others that helped reinflate his ego. Lately, it had been you. Your presence alone was enough to keep him driven, performing to his full potential. So, of course, the setter was lost when your entrance into the gymnasium was the thing that snapped Bokuto into one of his moods rather than out of it.

"Make this a good one for Y/N," Akaashi said, setting the ball to the third year who did nothing but fumble, jumping too early and grazing the ball with his fingertips to be easily blocked by the first years on the opposite side of the net.

"Sorry," Bokuto murmured absently, ducking under the net to go receive his ball.

Akaashi was left stunned. The sheer mention of your name used to be enough to get the best hits from him. "Akaashi! You ready?" Yamato asks, snapping Akaashi back to the present.

"Yeah. I zoned out. My bad," he says, getting into position to set the next spiker up.

Set. Smack. Thud as feet return to the floor. Yamato's eyes trail to Bokuto who is sulking around the edge of the court. "What's going on with him?"

A shrug from the setter was the only answer to which the upperclassman just nodded, jogging off to get his ball. He could see other teammates in the line trying to give Bokuto some kind of boost to help, but nothing helped. Each compliment or slap on the back was just met with a blank stare, assuming Bokuto gave attention to them at all. But his eyes were focused on you, sitting on the opposite side of the gym, shifting your attention from homework to the practice and then back down to your homework every few minutes. The simple way that your hair kept slipping in front of your face was causing his heart to flutter. You looked so cute when you were distracted, completely unaware that you were causing every part of him to swoon, falling harder for you.

But that didn't matter. You had told him how you really felt. He needed to push all of those old feelings to the back of his brain. It didn't matter that he wanted to do everything he could to make you smile. It didn't matter that all he wanted was to finally be able to show you off as his girlfriend. It didn't matter that he was so stupidly in love with you.

Because you didn't care.

Bokuto shook his head, a desperate attempt to rid you of his thoughts, wiping his sweat from his face with the collar of his shirt, trying his best to return to a state of normalcy. He needed to focus on practice right now. This wasn't the time or place to worry about everything happening in his relationship with you, assuming you could even call it a relationship. He tossed the ball to Akaashi so he could set him up for another hit, but the setter just caught the ball in his hands and threw it back towards the captain.

"What? Was that a bad throw?" Bokuto asked, catching the ball just before it could hit him.

"I'm not tossing to you."

"Akaashi," he whined.

"I'm not wasting everyone's time. Get your shit together, then I'll let you hit."

"Just let me hit. I just messed up last time!" Bokuto tossed him the ball again.

Akaashi lightly tipped it over the net. "No."

The rest of the team had fallen silent, watching the encounter unfold before them. Akaashi was usually the one who put his foot down when it came to Bokuto's moods, but the setter seemed more frustrated than usual, dark eyes narrowed towards his friend.