saviour ✰ bokuaka

[ TWO ]

"That's all, everyone. I'll see you next week. Remember to submit your research project outline!" Akaashi called, waving goodbye to his class as they filed out of the lecture hall. All fifty of them trudged out the door, some calling "thank you, professor!" and others giving him a quick smile before heading out the door. Although Akaashi spent hours formulating his lesson plans, he always found it rewarding when his students interacted with him or told him his class was their favorite, so all that work was worth it.

He was about to pack up and drive home early, when he turned around and met the eyes of Lev Haiba.

"Sir?" Lev said, staring down at his feet as he approached.

"Yes?" Akaashi managed a smile. Despite the fact that Lev was currently the only thing preventing him from napping on his couch at home, he didn't want to give him the impression that he was burdening him. Akaashi had had teachers in college that often made him feel unwanted, and he swore not to repeat that mistake when he was a professor himself.

"I'm having trouble deciding who I want to write about for the project. I keep going back and forth between Mary Shelley and Oscar Wilde, because, you know, I can make a really strong point about how Shelley incorporated her own life story into her writing, but Wilde just seems way more interesting!" His green eyes gleamed as he spoke, his hands waving around expressively. As exhausting as Lev could be sometimes, there were few students Akaashi ever encountered with as much ardent devotion to literature.

"Well, what have you read by Shelley other than Frankenstein?"

"Uh, nothing. I've only read that one."

"Then there you go. If you chose Shelley, the project would really just be on Frankenstein. You've read The Picture of Dorian Gray, right?"

"Yep. And The Importance of Being Earnest, plus Wilde's poetry collection."

"Great! I hope that answered your question, Lev. Is that all?"

"Ah, well," Lev started, then inhaled sharply as if he was about to get a shot. "I'm writing a novel but I don't know if it's good and I didn't have anyone proofread it yet—not even my sister!—and I trust your judgement so, um, can you read it and tell me what you think so far?"

Akaashi laughed subtly, amused at how difficult it seemed for Lev to make the request. "Of course. I'm happy to help."

"Thank you, sir!" Lev beamed and started ruffling through his backpack to pull out his manuscript and hand it to Akaashi. The two of them sat down, Akaashi on his own chair and Lev on Tsukishima's, who had called in sick even though Akaashi was sure he was just sitting in bed watching Godzilla.

Akaashi shifted in his seat as he flipped through the pages, trying to find a position in which his shoulders didn't feel like they were going to tear his shirt at the seams. After lending Kuroo one of his two work suits, he had to pull out his old uniform from high school since his second one was still soaked from yesterday's rain after his umbrella had broken. At least his coat had covered how unbelievably short the sleeves of the blazer were.

After reading the first chapter, Akaashi gave the manuscript back to Lev and smiled.

"This is really great, Lev," he said. "Your work with imagery is outstanding. Can I ask what the inspiration for this was?"

"Oh, well, I always really liked superhero comics. At first I thought it was too childish to write something about superheroes, but I really liked the idea and I put kind of an apocalyptic twist on it. I'm really happy you liked it! I want to win the Pulitzer Prize one day."

"I have no doubt you can achieve that. The dialogue is also very authentic. I would suggest fleshing out the characters a bit more, especially since your protagonist seems a little single-faceted. And establishing the general time period would make the setting more clear. Otherwise, keep it up." Akaashi gave Lev an awkward pat on the shoulder, but Lev grinned from ear to ear at the gesture.

"Thanks for the tips! It means a lot to me, sir, I'm so glad—"

"Akaashi," a voice interrupted from the door. Akaashi turned around to see none other than Sugawara Koushi, the literature department head, standing beside a tall, vaguely familiar man with black and white hair that spiked up like blades of grass in a meadow. He had a boyish expression on his face, embarrassment mixed with levity.

"Hello, Sugawara-san," he answered. Although he knew he hadn't done anything wrong, he was unable to quell his nerves anytime his boss paid him a visit.

"Don't look so worried," Suga said, laughing. "I have something to ask of you."

"All right."

"This is Bokuto Koutarou. Have you met him?" he said, nudging the man next to him jokingly.

Akaashi considered him for a moment, then remembered where he knew him from. "Aren't you the one who comes in late to all the staff meetings?"

"Yes! That's me!" he affirmed. He looked unusually proud that Akaashi recognised him, even though the reason for it wasn't positive at all.

"See, Bokuto had a little issue with his lab recently. He teaches inorganic chemistry," Suga said.

"What sort of issue, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I flooded it. One of my students accidentally set fire to the table. It wasn't his fault, but a lot of the equipment got damaged," Bokuto explained, smiling sheepishly.

"That's... unfortunate."

"It is," Suga said. "So unfortunately he needs a new classroom at the moment. Yours is the only one available."

'What? Am I getting kicked out of my own lecture hall?' Akaashi thought.

"I'm sorry, Sugawara-san. I don't really know what you mean."

"Would you mind letting Bokuto use your space? His classes never meet at the same time as yours, so no need to worry about scheduling. Unfortunately you can't say no." Behind Suga's genial countenance, Akaashi saw a hint of warning in his eyes.

Akaashi had no choice but to agree. "Uh, I suppose that's fine."

"Great! I'll let you two get acquainted. Ciao!" Suga called, then promptly left the room.

Bokuto and Akaashi stared at each other, not saying a word until Bokuto broke the silence. Lev had slipped out the door while Suga was talking, which Akaashi hadn't noticed until it was just the two of them.

"Hi," he said. "Nice to meet you?"

"Hello. Can we skip the pleasantries? I have a shelf over there where you can hold your beakers and chemicals or whatever, but don't touch my books or papers."

"Okay."

"And stay away from my coloured chalk. You can have the white ones, but the coloured ones were expensive."

"Okay."

"Don't use my pencils."

"Okay."

"Don't use my pens, either. Or anything of mine for that matter."

"Come on, Akashi," Bokuto teased, taking a seat on the edge of his desk and leaning towards him until their faces were barely fifty centimetres apart. Akaashi felt his cheeks flush, and hoped desperately that Bokuto wouldn't notice. "We don't need to be so formal. How about we get to know each other over coffee this weekend?"

"It's Akaashi," he said.

"Huh?"

"You said Akashi."

"Oh, sorry, Akaashi, then," he said, drawing out the 'a.' "So what do you say? Are you up for it?"

"Sure. I'll give you my number," Akaashi answered. What was the harm? Kuroo had told him to get outside more, and it wasn't as if there was anything explicitly romantic in the invite. Besides, if he had to share a classroom with someone, he wanted to at least have talked to them aside from the initial introduction. Bokuto excitedly handed him his phone and Akaashi created a contact for himself.

"Thanks, Akaashi!" Bokuto cheered. He jumped up from his spot on the desk and stood up straight. "I might drop by a few times this week to move in my stuff, so don't mind me."

"All right. Nice meeting you, Bokuto-san."

"No, no, none of that. If we're going to be buddies, call me Koutatou."