Chapter Text
It was Akaashi’s second semester at Fukurodani and he realized he hadn’t really gotten the chance to “explore” the school. Since this dismissal wasn’t mandatory with some students staying on the campus to work on assignments together or just to harass faculty until they were kicked out, Akaashi took it upon himself to take a look around. Plus, he didn’t have volleyball practice for once.
He started off at his homeroom and began walking down the hallway in a direction he never had the need to go in, passing different classrooms with students he had only seen in passing or not at all. Most of them stayed focused on their projects or just stared but a few of them waved to the reserved boy, but he just continued on his adventure.
The classroom at the end of the hallway had all the lights off but Akaashi still peaked into the room just out of pure curiosity. Kind of looked like an art room. He was going to go in a little bit further until he heard familiar voices coming from the stairwell just to the left of the room.
“I can’t get him out of it this time! I don’t know what set him off. He won’t listen to me. I even offered him his fa- Keiji!” Akaashi flinched at the sound of his own name being yelled right behind him. His first instinct was to bow his head in the direction of the voice, not looking up to see who it came from.
He heard a laugh and then felt a rough hand ruffling his hair. “I appreciate the respect Keiji, but we already talked about that at practice. You don’t have to bow your head when you talk to us.” At that, Akaashi looked up. Ah, it was Konoha and Onaga. “I’m sure it’s already hard enough that you were the only first year to join the team.”
Onaga cleared his throat. “Were you trying to get Bokuto to come out, too? It’s not worth the struggle,” he sighed.
Akaashi cocked his head. “‘Come out’? What do you mean?”
At this, Konoha looked confused. “Well...that’s why you were in the art room, right?”
Akaashi’s cheeks turned pink. It wasn’t like he wasn't allowed to look around the school, he was just embarrassed by the fact that he had no good reason to be in that room other than for his own exploration purposes. “Uh… no I was just looking for a room to… work on my project?" He was so bad at lying but his upperclassmen seemed to buy it.
“Well,” Onaga started, “if you want this room, you’ll have to get the bear to come out of his little cave.” he said, snickering. Konoha rolled his eyes and walked back into the room, Onaga and Akaashi following, leading them both over to a desk in the furthest corner of the room. Akaashi was squinting less and less in the dim room the closer they got to the motionless blob sitting under the desk.
It was only when they stood right next to it, could Akaashi see the back of Bokuto’s head, his overgrown roots giving away that white was not his natural hair color.
“Koutarou, you have to come out. Come on. We can get some yakiniku if you come out now~,” Konoha paused, “and Onaga will do your math homework for a we- Ow!”
“We did not discuss that as an offer.”
Akaashi watched as the two fought over how to get the older boy out from under the desk for a few more moments before watching them both get up and head towards the exit.
“He didn’t even move. I’m not waiting anymore.”
“Kou, text us when you get home if you’re out of your mood. See you next week, Keiji,” Onaga said with a wave and with that, his teammates had left him alone with their captain who he had barely interacted with.
He squatted silently next to the broad second year that had somehow managed to stuff himself underneath a desk. It was foreign to Akaashi. He was so used to seeing a hyperactive, optimistic, ...loud teammate. Seeing an almost motionless lump underneath a desk was so far from the Bokuto he came to know.
“Bokuto-san?” Bokuto’s body tensed briefly. “He must’ve thought everyone left,” Akaashi thought. He sat next to the older boy, concerned that he made him uncomfortable, until he heard a sniffle.
Bokuto’s head had been facing the wall this entire time, his facial expressions hidden meaning no one actually knew what he was feeling. Akaashi finally noticed how Bokuto’s body was trembling, how his fingertips and knuckles were white from how harshly he was gripping onto his pants, how uneven his breathing was. If Akaashi didn’t know any better, he wouldn’t have picked up on the fact that Bokuto was having a panic attack.
Akaashi had never had to deal with someone having one before, he wasn’t even sure what triggered it, but he couldn’t leave now. He had to comfort his upperclassman- no. His friend.
Before Akaashi could even realize what he was doing, his hand was rubbing circles on Bokuto’s hunched over upper back while quietly mumbling that “Everything will be okay”.
Bokuto tensed again at the first touch, but then slowly started to ease into it. He leaned out slightly from under the desk, a silent way of showing that he appreciated it and wanted Akaashi to continue.
After a few minutes, Bokuto’s shaking slowed, his grip loosened and the sniffles subsided.
“Do you wanna talk about it?” came out of Akaashi’s mouth before he could even stop himself. He barely knew anything about Bokuto outside of his academics or volleyball. Now here he was, trying to pry into his personal life.
Bokuto’s head lifted up and it was softly shaken back and forth before being rested back down against his knees.
“Are you sure?”
Bokuto slowly lifted his head up again, and this time turned to face Akaashi.
Bokuto’s eyes looked… empty? As if there wasn’t a single thought behind them, but they were still sparkling from old tears. His cheeks were flushed pink and he looked so innocent that Akaashi almost completely missed the thumb in his mouth.
Almost.