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Akaashi Keiji is so fucked.
He’s missed his train, and is now running late for a very important surprise.
He had planned to be at the train station at 9:00, but was delayed because he’d forgotten to do a few chores for his mother the night before. Thus, it was now 9:14 and the next train wasn’t until 9:54, which meant that he had to find something to do in the wonderful forty minutes provided by his miscalculation.
In a moment of clarity, Akaashi decides to get breakfast, having not eaten much due to his rush out the door. He heads into a convenience store, and heads over to the freezer section.
“Should I get the strawberry drink or a matcha,” Akaashi mutters under his breath. “I’ll go with the strawberry yoghurt drink”
Grabbing the drink off of the shelf, he heads over to the onigiri, grabbing two tuna mayo rice balls to serve as his main course. After grabbing the onigiri, he heads to the bread shelf, and grabs a small melonpan, before heading over to check out.
As he approaches the cashier, he picks his head up and places the items on the counter.
“Mornin’ train? Tryna kill time?” the cashier inquires
“Yeah,” Akaashi responds, noting the unusual accent.
“Where ya goin’ to?”
“Going to visit… someone special,” Akaashi replies
“Alright then, well have fun with that”
The cashier bags his items, and Akaashi swipes his cards, and grabs his bag. He heads out of the store, looking forward to both eating his meal and his journey today. Well, not the journey exactly, but rather who was at the end of it.
The reason that Akaashi Keiji had arrived at the train station on a seemingly normal Saturday was to surprise his boyfriend, Bokuto, at college. He needed to time it perfectly, in order to meet Bokuto after his classes and before whatever he planned on doing that evening. He had already memorized Bokuto’s schedule, as a consequence of receiving live updates during Bokuto’s first few months at college.
•••
Akaashi heads over to a bench near the entrance to the train platform, and sits down at a table, ready to enjoy his breakfast. He unpacks the yoghurt drink and one of the onigiri, and lays out a napkin to place the food on. Picking up the drink, he looks around while sipping, taking in his surroundings. He sees commuters rushing to catch their trains, excited teens chatting with their friends, and couples strolling around looking for their platforms while holding hands.
Seeing the couples, Akaashi is reminded of just how much he misses Bokuto, and wishes that he had made it in time to catch the earlier train, so that he could see Bokuto sooner. Though, he really couldn’t see him sooner, as he would have to wait for Bokuto to be out of classes in order to go and see him.
He picks up his onigiri, and takes a big bite, nearly finishing half of it. He chews and swallows, and his eyes sweep around the hall again, this time focusing more on the building. He registers the gorgeous mural of two owls displayed on a massive wall to his left, the blindingly bright signboards displaying everyone’s trains in the center of the room, the crystal clear window to his left, displaying the beautiful skyline of the city behind the glass.
He gazes out the window, absentmindedly munching on his onigiri and sipping his drink. He unwraps the second onigiri, and begins to take small bites of it, deciding to savour the taste this time. Still gazing through the glass, he watches as the trains snake by on the tracks, as if they are some sort of magical transportation creature.
Akaashi shakes his head, not wanting to get lost in such strange thoughts. To distract himself, he takes his headphones out of his bag, and slips them on. He reaches for his phone, opens the music app, and searches through songs. He finds 発熱 by tacica, and decides to put the band on shuffle, sticking the song at the beginning of the queue.
He tilts his head up, enjoying the rhythm of the drums in the intro, and the contrasting voice of the singer. He thinks about how one night a year or so ago, he was with Bokuto when they had just started dating, and his boyfriend had asked if he could play some music. Akaashi had agreed, and thus Bokuto had introduced him to tacica, one of his favourite bands.
Akaashi had immediately fallen in love with the music, listening blissfully to the rhythm while being held in Bokuto’s arms. Damn, Akaashi thinks to himself, I really do miss Bokuto-san a lot. I guess it’s to be expected, I haven’t seen him since his winter break, which was a whole three months ago. He sighs, and takes the last bite of his onigiri.
He stands up, places the melonpan in his bag, and picks up his trash. He heads over to the nearby can, and disposes of his detritus. He decides to go and sit back at the table, and pulls out his phone once more. He opens Instagram, and clicks on reels, intending to pass the time by doom scrolling.
However, Akaashi’s peace is quickly ruined when a girl with long brown hair and dark grey eyes, taps him on the shoulder. Akaashi slips off his headphones, and presses pause on his music, turning his head to face the girl.
“Hi, what do you want?” Akaashi inquires, wondering why the hell someone was trying to talk to him at 9:42 on a Saturday morning.
“Hi— uh— my name is Nitta and… and-I-thought-you-were-really-pretty-and-was-wondering-if-you-were-single,” the girls bursts out, blushing heavily
Akaashi feels his eyes widen as he raises his eyebrows, surprised by the sudden confession. While he has been told he is pretty, hot, gorgeous many times, he never expected that his looks would end up leading to unexpected confessions from complete strangers. He decides to just straight up tell the girl that he’s taken, to prevent any misunderstandings.
“Oh, uh, I am dating someone,” he stutters out, the statement coming out a lot less confident than he had practiced in his head.
“Are you sure?” the girl asks, apparently regaining an immense amount of confidence. “I mean like, where’s your girlfriend anyway? I think I would be better for you, right?”
“Uh— first off, I’m gay, and second off, leave me the fuck alone,” Akaashi retorts, now annoyed at the girl, though not meaning to reply as harshly as he did.
“Oh you’re gay? So you’re just one of those weirdos again. Go fuck yourself, you f—,” the girl says as Akaashi snaps his headphones back on, cutting out the rest of her sentence. He grabs his bag, and leaves to go to his train platform, wanting to leave the girl far behind him.
He cranks up the volume of his music, wanting to remove any thoughts of the interaction that just occured. What was her problem anyways? Akaashi thinks, still seething from her rudeness as soon as she found out he wasn’t into her. Like I’ve met people who are homophobic before, I just wasn’t expecting to have to deal with one while I’m literally going to go surprise my boyfriend.
As he gets to his platform, he opens his phone and pulls up his text messages. Deciding that it would ruin at least a tiny bit of the surprise to vent to Bokuto about what just happened, he decides to text the interaction to the setters group chat, dubbed the “Pretty Setter Squad” by Oikawa Toruu himself.
Pretty Setter Squad
Some girl at a train station just approached me and asked me out, and upon finding that I was both gay and dating someone, she proceeded to yell at me and call me a slur. :Akaashi
Akaashi doesn’t even have to wait a full thirty seconds before replies start flooding in.
Suga-san: what the FUCK is wrong with people nowadays ?????? like can’t us gays just live in peace ??
Oikawa-san: I agree with Mr. Refreshing—
Oikawa-san: Akaashi-chan, what was this girl’s name btw? I wanna see if I know anyone who knows her~
She introduced herself as Nitta, and had long brown hair and dark grey eyes. :Akaashi
Oikawa-san: omg HER??? not again :(
What do you mean, not again? :Akaashi
Suga-san: well let’s just say… she tried to ask out kageyama a couple months ago… that went about as well as you think it did :p
Oikawa-san: that is the one and only time i was ever proud of him— he just stared at the girl like she was an alien until she left lmao
Kageyama-kun: Well, what was I supposed to do? I didn’t like her, and I am also gay. And dating Hinata. So what else should I have done.
Kenma-kun: Anyways Akaashi, don’t worry about it. I’m pretty sure it’s a canon event for most setters. She came up to me one time but Kuro appeared behind me and gave me a hug, and she looked disgusted. It was hilarious. I almost smiled at it.
Good to know :Akaashi
Goodbye, I am boarding my train now. :Akaashi
Suga-san: SAFE TRAVELS !!! STAY AWAY FROM THE EVIL HOMOPHOBIC PEOPLE!! i’ll have daichi come and arrest them if they’re too evil :D i’ll use the boyfriend privileges
Oikawa-san: yeah i’ll have my lovely bf iwa-chan come beat everyone up for you akaashi-kun,,,, wait no u can have bokuto do it !
Kenma-kun: I’m pretty sure that’s who he’s on his way to visit currently, so that might actually be an outcome~
Akaashi shuts off his phone, and steps onto the train. He hands his ticket to the conductor, and then goes to find his seat. His seat is next to a window, and he immediately sits down, settling comfortably. Dropping his bag by his feet, he leans back in his chair and closes his eyes. He feels tired from the interaction with Nitta, and didn’t sleep particularly well the night before either. Plus, he’s going to be in a new area that he has to navigate all on his own, so he wants to make sure that he’s plenty rested. He dozes off as the train rumbles to life, bringing him closer and closer to Bokuto.
•••
A few hours later, Akaashi blearily opens his eyes as the train starts slowing down. He checks the train map and compares it to his location on his phone, and determines that he will arrive at the station in about 15 minutes. Perfect amount of time to eat that melonpan I’ve been saving, he thinks.
He digs the bread out of his backpack, unlocks the tray table, and unwraps the bread. While eating it, he gazes out the window, watching the city fly by. He finishes his bread, throws the wrapper into a pocket of his bag, and folds up the tray table.
Conveniently, he hears the announcement that the train is arriving at his stops. He picks up his bag, stands up from his seat, and heads towards the door.
As the train slows to a stop, he picks out his phone from his pockets, wanting to pull up directions as soon as he exits the train. The train stops, and the doors slide open, leaving Akaashi to step outside into an unfamiliar world. He stands on the platform, the door slid shut behind him, and the train is pulling away.
He glances at his phone, following the directions to the pick up terminal, where he intends to find a taxi.
He wanders through the tall halls of the station, occasionally glancing at his phone or posted signs to find the terminal he seeks. Along the way, he looks at the small snatches of the city displayed outside the windows.
He finally reaches the pick up terminal, and summons a taxi. Gracefully sliding inside, he tells the driver the address, and prays that he doesn’t get scammed or kidnapped. As he glances down at his phone again, he notices a text from Bokuto.
Bokuto-san <3: I miss u akaaaaashiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Akaashi laughs to himself, finding it humorous how oblivious his boyfriend is to the fact that he will be seeing the other in approximately fifteen minutes.
I miss you too, Bokuto-san :Akaashi
With the reply, he closes his phone, and waits for the drive to be over already.
•••
Stepping out of the taxi, Akaashi pays and thanks the driver, who in turn grins and speeds away.
Weird…
Akaashi turns around, and sees a massive school in front of him, and realizes on the spot that while he may know when Bokuto has his classes, he has zero clue where to find them. He resigns himself to the fate of searching, as he doesn’t want to risk any more interactions with weird homophobic people.
He walks over to the entrance of the school, and enters behind a couple of girls who hold the door open for him. He feels their stares on the back of his head, and rolls his eyes. Goodness gracious, why is it this bad? he thinks to himself.
He decides to slip his headphones off as he walks through the hallway, as to try to listen for Bokuto’s presence, because he’s not exactly hard to hear.
To his left, he hears a group of girls whispering about some hot guy on the volleyball team, and how he’s got great arms, and how it’s so sad that he keeps rejecting girls confessions. Damn, must be rough for that guy, Akaashi thinks, before putting the dots together. Wait a damn minute… volleyball, great arms, and won’t date girls? Oh brother…
Akaashi rolls his eyes, unsurprised that his boyfriend was a topic of attraction. Well of course he is, he’s literally the hottest man I know. Plus he’s super nice and sweet, like who wouldn’t want to date him? Akaashi thinks.
As he’s spacing out thinking about Bokuto, he hears a crash not too far away from him. However, the hallway is slightly jammed, and he cannot see over the crowd of people. The crashing noise gets louder, now followed by annoyed yelling.
Before Akaashi has time to figure out what the hell is going on, he sees Bokuto sprinting towards him at maximum speed, shoving people out of the way. In the split second before Bokuto reaches him, he braces himself, not wanting to be bowled over in the impact.
Just as he predicted, Bokuto nearly runs him over, scooping him up in a tight hug and kissing him in the middle of the hallway.
Akaashi turns bright red, but sinks into the other’s touch. He breaks from the kiss, instead opting to bury his head in the other’s shoulder. Akaashi feels Bokuto squeeze him tight, as if he’s scared that Akaashi might dissolve if he lets go.
“Bokuto-san,” Akaashi mumbles into the other’s neck, “We are in the middle of a very crowded hallway. May we please go somewhere else?”
He feels Bokuto squeeze him a little tighter, and then suddenly he is flipped as Bokuto picks him up bridal style and dashes towards an exit to the right.
The couple exits the building, Akaashi still reeling from the sudden upset of being picked up without warning.
Bokuto slows to a jog, and eventually stops at a more-or-less secluded bench under a beautiful pink blossoming tree.
Bokuto sits down, and effectively puts Akaashi into his lap, which he doesn’t protest.
“What the— what are you doing here?” Bokuto stammers out, apparently regaining enough brain cells to fully process Akaashi’s presence.
“I came to surprise you. Do you like it?”
“I love it,” Bokuto says while burying his head into Akaashi’s shoulder, holding him tight once again.
“Good, I was hoping I didn’t come here for nothing.”
Bokuto hums in reply, soaking in the warmth of the other’s long missed body pressed against his. In turn, Akaashi wraps his arm around Bokuto, and runs his fingers through the other’s wild hair. With this motion, Bokuto nestles even further into the other’s form, to the point where the couple appears to have fused together.
“Bokuto-san,” Akaashi says in a caring tone. “As much as I love staying here cuddled with you, can we please do something? I’ve been cooped up on a train all day and had the most awful experience at the station, and want to completely remove it from my mind.”
“Aw, okay,” Bokuto whines. “I have an idea!”
“Hm?”
“Can you set for me, Akaashi?”
“Uh— yeah, sure,” Akaashi replies, smiling to himself. Not exactly what he had in mind, but this would work perfectly. He gets to see Bokuto in one of his happiest environments, and gets to be responsible for making Bokuto happy.
“Oh and we can do all the romantic stuff later, alright?” Bokuto adds. “You’re staying the night, right?”
“I guess I am,” Akaashi responds. “Though I didn’t bring an extra set of clothes…”
“Don’t worry about it, you can borrow some of mine!”
With that reassurance, Akaashi pushes Bokuto’s head up, in an attempt to free himself. However, this motion leaves him staring straight into Bokuto’s gorgeous face, where Akaashi cannot resist the temptation to kiss him.
They come together in a kiss, Akaashi’s hand entangled in the other’s hair and one of Bokuto’s hands holding the small of Akaashi’s back, with the other running up and down his spine, making him shiver in delight.
All too quickly, the kiss is over and the couple stands up to go to the volleyball court.
Akaashi takes Bokuto’s hand, and intertwines their fingers.
“Hey hey hey! Are you ready for an amazing weekend with your amazing boyfriend?”
“Yes, I am, Bokuto-san”
Now, it seems, Akaashi Keiji is no longer fucked.