Under Blooming Trees

one

     It was snowing. The first time this winter, it had begun to snow in the middle of the day. Three boys walked the sidewalk near an empty park. Usually, there would be four boys walking to the empty park, however, there was an accident three months prior. The two oldest boys had decided to take a gap year before heading to university. They had both wanted to be home a little longer, that is when home didn't feel so dark and lonely. The other boy was completing his last year of high school, just as the fourth boy would have been. The trio had made it to their usual spot at the park. There was a small garden tucked away in a corner. In the spring, there would be beautiful cherry blossom trees in full bloom, but for now, they seemed to wilt away reminding them of a lost friend.

"You don't seem to be yourself today. Is something bothering you?"

     The youngest of the boys asked in a hushed tone. One of the other boys looked over at him.

"Yeah, I just miss him ya know? He would have loved to see this."

     The boy spoke in a similar hushed tone as his friend did. It isn't like him to do this, the two next to him looked at him with concern. The third and tallest of the three nodded to agree with his friend.

"He really would have-"

     His voice trailed off into a whisper. The three sat on a bench, where they normally would meet. Most days they would jog around the park for a while, sometimes they raced each other to see who was buying dinner if they chose to go out. Today was different though. The youngest of the three reached into his bag that was underneath the bench seat. He fished out his phone at started tapping at the screen.

"Are you playing a game? I thought I told you-" The boy in the middle spoke.

     Looking away from his phone the youngest laughed softly. He turned to face the boy next to him.

"This shouldn't be a surprise to you."

     The boy in the middle shook his head.

"Put it away, Kenma."

"But I-"

"But nothing."

     The boy in the middle reached over and took the phone out of Kenma's hands and gently set it in his pocket. Kenma looked over to his friend on the end of the bench. The boy was staring across the park intently.

"Bokuto what are you staring at, you look creepy"

     He jerked his head to face Kenma.

"I was watching the snowfall. Did I really look creepy? I'll stop. Just close my eyes then."

     Bokuto slammed his eyes shut and pulled the hood of his jacket over his face. For as large as he was, Bokuto did not present himself as some would expect. Some might look at him and assume he was larger than life, over the top personality. He was at one point. After Akaashi had died, he seemed to lose the spark that kept him going.

     A little while later, after sitting in silence, the boy in the middle, Kuroo, looked over to Kenma and noticed he was shivering.

"I think we should go, it's a little too cold for some of us." He joked.

     Bokuto laughed. Kenma shook his head in embarrassment. If his face hadn't been already red from the cold, Kuroo would have pointed out the fact that Kenma was blushing.

"Uh-huh, sure."

     Kuroo stood up in front of Kenma and grabbed his hands. Bokuto turned to see them and gave them a small smile. Seeing them together reminded him of Akaashi. The way Akaashi would look at him when he was upset, the way Akaashi smiled anytime he laughed, the way that any small gesture made him beam with joy so Akaashi did them often. Kuroo and Kenma refrained from PDA as much as possible. Kenma didn't exactly enjoy it in the first place, but he found it nice sometimes. They just wanted to make sure Bokuto was okay and that their being affectionate towards each other wasn't going to upset him since he'd lost Akaashi.

"Bokuto-san!" Akaashi called out brightly.

     Bokuto turned quickly to find his friend sitting under a blooming cherry blossom tree. Akaashi marked the page he was reading and set his book down. Bokuto smiled and walked over to him.

"Hey hey hey Kaashi~"

     He sat down next to Akaashi under the tree.

"Whatcha reading?"

"Oh, um, just a book about philosophy. Nothing interesting really."

     Bokuto looked at Akaashi with bright eyes.

"That's so cool! Philosophy is so crazy and interesting!"

     Akaashi laughed. Whatever you say to Bokuto, he would greet you with interest and excitement. Almost as if he were a young child. Akaashi liked that about him. He liked the way that Bokuto made everyone smile no matter what. His energy was contagious.

"Kaashi I wanted to ask you something. I was going to earlier but I was kind of embarrassed to say anything in front of the team."

"Everything okay Bokuto?"

"Oh yeah yeah everything is fine. I just wanted to know, um,-" He paused.

"Take your time." Akaashi smiled.

     In one breath Bokuto loudly asked, "Keiji Akaashi would you like to go out sometime, with me, like on a date?" His face quickly turned red. "You don't have to I was just-"

"Yes."

"Earth to Bokuto,"

     Kuroo waved his hand in front of Bokuto's face. Bokuto shook his head and looked up.

"Huh, did I miss something?"

"We were going to head home; you're welcome to come with us. If not, we can walk you back home."

"I can head back by myself. I'll be fine." He smiled.

     The boys walked to the entrance of the park and said their goodbyes. Of course, they were brief since they would most likely see each other again tomorrow. They went their separate ways home. Kuroo and Kenma walking hand in hand and Bokuto alone.