Ribs - bokuaka

Chapter 7

    "I got us a room!" Bokuto says, opening my door so that I can step out of the car. He seems to have gotten over whatever just happened, and is back to his normal self.

    "Good. I was worried we were going to have to sleep in the car." I say as I get up, brushing myself off and closing my door. "Are we good to go in now?"

    "Yeah! We're all checked in. We've just gotta be out by tomorrow at 2:00." He runs around to the back of the car and grabs everything out of the trunk. Looking to me to make sure I follow, he starts bringing the stuff in.

    I shoot him a puzzled glance but follow along behind him. "I would have helped carry all that."

    "Nope. I am being a gentleman and carrying your stuff for you." He seems to be very proud of himself, so I just let him carry on and make sure to open any doors we come across so he doesn't drop our things.

    Once we're in our room, I have Bokuto set our things on the floor. "Are you going to shower first or should I?"

    "No thank you? I carried everything," he says with a pout.

    "Thank you. Are you going to shower first or should I?" I'm tired, and really all I want is to lay down. But after being in the car for so long, both of us need a hot shower.

    He sighs, grabbing a towel from the closet. "I'll shower first," he replies, and walks into the bathroom. Once I hear the shower running, I sink into the bed with a relieved sigh.

    This trip has been strange, to say the least. Especially today. Why was he acting so weird when I answered his question? I just told the truth. I usually am thinking about him when I space. He's been confusing me a lot lately, so I can't really help it. Why is that so weird?

    I hear the shower go off, and drag myself out of bed to start getting ready for my turn. I grab some clothes to change into and a towel, and wait for Bokuto to come out.

    Once he does, I take a second to appreciate his hair. It's always sticking straight up, which is fine, but I have always preferred it down. Before he catches me staring, I make my way into the bathroom for my shower.

    The water feels nice. I won't be able to enjoy it for long (I don't want to leave Bokuto alone) but even for just a moment, it's nice. It's almost as nice as getting to sleep in an actual bed is going to be. Car seats are not the most comfortable for sleeping, I have found.

I quickly wash up and put on my clean clothes, leaving the dirty ones and the used towel in a neat pile for me to clean up later. When I walk out, Bokuto is trying to figure out how to work the TV. He looks incredibly confused, so I grab the TV guide and walk over to him.

   "This will help," I say, handing him the guide. He perks up when he notices me there, and quietly thanks me for the guide before going back to fiddling with the remote. He must be very concentrated, usually he'd have some sort of remark for me.

Instead of pestering him, I once again let myself fall onto my bed. It is not as comfortable as the bed I would be in if I were at home, but it is better than nothing. After a moment of just laying there, I grab the blankets and pull them back so that I can lay under them.

"Hey, Akaashi?" Bokuto says, not bothering to look up from the remote.

"Yes, Bokuto," I respond, expecting him to have a question about the TV.

"Should we charge our phones?" I almost forgot about that. Now would be a good time to charge up before we get back on the road.

"Probably, yeah." I get up out of the bed and prepare to go get our phones from the car.

"Leave mine."

"What?

"Leave mine in the car, please." He says, completely calm, like that isn't a strange thing for him to say. Does he not want to look at his messages or anything?

"Why? Shouldn't you at least let your parents know you haven't died?" He almost cringes when I say that, and just shakes his head in response.

"No, it's fine."

"Didn't you want to take pictures? I found a building that we could get to the top of." At this point, I am starting to worry for him, though I try my best to keep my cool.

"I've changed my mind." I decide not to pry, for now, and just go out to the car to get my phone.

I thought Bokuto and his parents had a good relationship, why wouldn't he want them to know that he was alive and well? I wonder if that had anything to do with why he ran away in the first place? Later, before we sleep, I will ask him. That seems like the best course of action to me. I'd like to think that we're close, so he should be able to talk to me, right?