Ribs - bokuaka

Chapter 1

    "Psst, Akaashi."

I wake up to that very persistent whispering from afar. With a groan, I pull myself out of bed. A quick look over to the clock tells me it's 2 o'clock in the morning.

  "Akaashi? Are you awake now?"

My eyes naturally go in the direction that the noise was coming from, and they are met with a very familiar face outside my window. "Bokuto. Care to explain why you are outside my window right now?"

    He lets out one of the most wide-awake, completely unbothered laughs I have ever heard in my life. Typical Bokuto. I've known him since elementary school, and have grown to accept his upbeat carefree attitude over the years. Still, showing up at my house this late is a little bit extreme. Even for him.

  "I'm obviously here to pick you up," he says this like I should have known already, "you should get dressed and get packed."

  "I'm sorry, repeat that?" Reaching a hand up to my face, I make a sad attempt to rub the sleep out of my eyes. "I don't remember agreeing to anything that would require you showing up at my house this early in the morning."

    "Akaashi," I can practically hear the frown on his face. "C'mon, trust me. It'll be fun."

  "Bokuto, its 2 AM-"

  "Pleeeaaaaasssseee? Just hear me out?" He is practically begging at this point. I sigh, standing up to go to the window. If I don't listen now he'll get all emo on me, and I don't think I can handle that right now.

"Fine. You have three minutes before I shut the window on your face," I won't actually, probably. It depends on why he decided to wake me up.

    "Okay, okay. What if we ran away?" The second those words leave his mouth his previously whiney expression turns smug, like this is the best thing he ever came up with. I'd say it was quite the opposite of that.

   "No."

     "Why not? It would be fun! We could go sightseeing," he pauses, trying to gauge my reaction.

    "It's summer anyways, so it's not like we'd be missing school," he sounds dead set on this plan of his. I can't help but wonder what exactly gave him this idea. I don't want to risk egging him on by asking about it though, so I keep it to myself.

    I shake my head, trying to cement it in my mind that no matter how much he pesters me I have got to put my foot down. "Bokuto. What about our parents? We can't just leave out of the blue, they'd worry."

     "So what?" For a second I thought he was joking, but he looked serious. Too serious. It was weird to see Bokuto so serious. Did he really not care?

    For a second, I actually consider what he is saying. Once everything falls quiet, I can practically feel his nervous energy. I always have had a hard time saying no to him. "Fine. You'd better let me sleep in the car." I say with a sigh as I turn away from him and start throwing things into my empty backpack.

    "Wait... Really? Akaashi you're actually coming?!" I have to stifle a laugh when I hear how surprised he sounds. Running away is not something I would usually agree to, for good reason. But something about this seems important, so just this once I think it will be alright.

    Once I have my things, I turn to Bokuto again. "Yeah, I will come."

    He runs away from the window to do a victory dance of sorts in the yard, and I climb out after him. Once we're both in the car, I throw my backpack into one of the back seats.

    "Just so we're clear, I am only coming to make sure you don't get stranded somewhere."

    "Thank you, Akaashi."

    I look over to him, he has a really strange expression. He's smiling, but the look in his eyes tells me that something about this is really crucial to him. I catch myself staring before he does, and look out my window with an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, you're welcome."