Fate Misnamed part 2 [Romantik/Intimität: Umarmung - für mich]

[rolly-chan.livejournal.com]

Titel: Fate Misnamed part 2
Team: Schneewittchen
Challenge: Romantik/Intimität: Umarmung [für mich]
Fandom: Haikyuu!!
Charaktere/Pairings: Bokuto Koutarou/Akaashi Keiji (+ surprise Gastauftritt von Trashykawa Oikawa)
Wörter: 2045
Warnungen: keine
Sprache: Englisch
Summary/Inhalt: Keiji learns so many things about Bokuto he'll probably never forget. He just wishes they could last.
A/N: Fortsetzung von Teil 1, auch zu finden auf AO3 =3

The first time they meet up after their fateful encounter Keiji doesn’t even think about his soulmate counter once.
Bokuto is bright like the summer day they meet up on, and his presence is so strong that Keiji is swept up in it and in Bokuto’s forceful personality.

He learns so many things about him. Bokuto’s hair is actually dyed white-grey with natural black streaks strewn between, starting from the base. He has a loud, deep voice, even when he’s speaking quietly. He has a big family, two younger sisters and two older siblings. He loves volleyball, math, animals (especially owls) and grilled meat. He is genuinely proud of and loves his family and friends. And he likes to talk, even though at the same time, it seems to be a nervous habit.

Keiji’s heartbeat accelerates when Bokuto looks at him suddenly, his almost golden eyes focusing on Keiji with an intensity he has never seen before in anyone else.

“Do you like owls?” he asks, looking so serious, and Keiji’s heart grows tight for a moment, before all the tension is released and he lets out a breathy laugh.

“I guess.”

He’s never thought about owls in terms of liking or disliking them, only ever as a fact of life - owls are a species of birds, and there was nothing else to it. When he’s with Bokuto, he finds that liking owls comes easy.

Bokuto’s whole face lights up in delight and he chatters on all about owls as they pass underneath some cherry trees, their shadows never able to dim the glint in Bokuto’s eyes.

“Did you know a group of owls is called a parliament?”
“Some owls even hunt fish!”
“Owls can turn their heads up to two hundred and seventy degrees!”

Keiji didn’t think he’d ever learn so many new things in such a short time again. And yet, he still can’t figure Bokuto out.

Bokuto has such an unpredictable, almost capricious nature that Keiji feels overwhelmed at first, then challenged. Because Bokuto doesn’t seem to operate like anybody else Keiji’s met. And he yearns to get to know Bokuto, the way he thinks, what drives him, what dissuades him, what makes him laugh and what makes him cry.

Bokuto ends up walking Keiji home under the starlit night sky. It’s quiet, save for the occasional hum of cars passing by and the distant sounds of muffled party music. Though it is dark, Keiji can still make out the brilliant hues of Bokuto’s eyes, once again focused on Keiji.

“Are you free next week?” Bokuto asks brightly and much too loudly for a quiet night like this, as if cutting right through the darkness with his words.

“Yes, I’m free from Tuesday through Friday.” Keiji’s voice is much quieter. It rather feels to him like it’s almost indistinguishable from the relative silence around them.

“Awesome!” Bokuto’s smile is wide and toothy. “Let’s meet again! How about on Tuesday?”

Keiji agrees easily. It’s not like he has plans, so he might as well see Bokuto again. At least that’s what he tells himself so he doesn’t get too attached.

Stupid. You already are.

Bokuto pulls him into another crushing hug, as suddenly as the last time, and Keiji just lets it happen, lets Bokuto bury him in his chest, like his favorite blanket. He smells like sweat, spice and something woody that he can’t identify.

“G’night, Akaashi.”

“Good night, Bokuto-san.”

Bokuto lets Keiji go, but not without playfully bumping his fist against Keiji’s shoulder. “You’re so formal.”

Keiji shrugs and Bokuto laughs before bidding him goodbye again, turning and walking down the street, the orange light of the street lamps flooding him. The picture has something soothing and calm about it that Keiji would love to capture with his camera, even though he knows the moment is fleeting and it’s already too late.

It’s only after Bokuto waves at him enthusiastically before turning around the corner and disappearing into the night, that Keiji remembers the crushing truth.

That he’s still broken, that his lie is still told.

He wonders how long it will take for Bokuto to find out, for Keiji to slip up, because that’s how it always goes, doesn’t it? And then, inevitably, it will be over. If not for the fact that Keiji’s counter is all wrong, then for the fact that Keiji lied.

Their relationship will be as fleeting as the picture of Bokuto walking through the night underneath the street lamps.

***

Keiji’s resolve to confess his lie to Bokuto crumbles when Bokuto picks him up with tears in his eyes.

“What happened?”

“Nothing! Just ignore me!” Bokuto almost yells, holding out his hand in a dramatic gesture and hiding his face in the crook of his other, bent arm.

Keiji frowns and interlaces his fingers, suddenly not knowing what to do with his hands.

“It’s a bit hard to ignore you when we have a date.”

“Just don’t mind me! We should cancel our plans!” Bokuto is still not looking at Keiji, and it’s beginning to unnerve him. He’s never seen Bokuto like this. He’s never been held at a distance by Bokuto like this, and it scares him more than he wants to admit.

Keiji takes a deep breath and tries to let go of his presuppositions and analyze the situation as he would always do. Stay calm. Bokuto has a sports bag hanging over his right shoulder and his sports jacket over a black shirt - which means he probably had volleyball training before.

“Did your training not go well?” Keiji asks, almost murmurs, it’s so quiet. But Bokuto seems to have heard it. He finally turns his eyes on Keiji, looking - really looking - at Keiji for the first time that day.

“How… how do you know?”

“I just assumed because of your attire.”

Bokuto’s mood seems to be taking a turn for the better all of a sudden, and Keiji has no idea why. Bokuto’s eyes twinkle again, a sure sign that he’s at least beginning to feel happy.

“You remember that stuff?” Bokuto asks sheepishly, as if he can’t quite believe that someone would do that.

Keiji smiles. “Of course I do.”

The hug Bokuto pulls Keiji into feels different this time. Tender and warm and not quite as bone-crushing, and Keiji actually has the room to hide his face in the crook of Bokuto’s neck and hug back. It should feel nice, but there’s an ache in Keiji’s chest that he can’t quite quench. He schools his features not to show anything of that and hopes that Bokuto won’t pick up on it.

And Bokuto doesn’t. But the smile he gives Keiji is warm and it’s hard not to smile back, despite the ache.

***

To Keiji, Bokuto’s current emotional and mental state is incredibly easy to read. It’s like Bokuto is the proverbial open book, emoting whatever it is that he’s feeling at the very moment. But the thing about Bokuto is… anything can change his mental state in a heartbeat. He can go from happy exuberance to serious contemplation in-between two beats as if it’s nothing. And Keiji has a hard time predicting what will happen next.

He has even begun to fill a notebook with all the observations he has made about Bokuto - just to know how to react, he tells himself - though it probably reads more like a list of strengths and weaknesses.

#6: He loves to show off

Keiji can’t decide which category to assign to this one. He almost smiles to himself.

The thing is, whenever he feels almost happy, he remembers.

You’re a liar.

It’s twisting his heart and a heavy feeling settles in his stomach every time. And every time, he decides to tell Bokuto the truth, because it’d be the right thing to do, and it’d spare them both a lot of pain if they broke up earlier rather than later.

But every time they meet, Keiji is disarmed by Bokuto’s sunshine smile and golden eyes that twinkle with so much life, and his conviction is blown away with the summer breeze. They never part without Bokuto pulling Keiji into his patented bone-crushing hug that never fails to surprise Keiji, even though he knows to expect it.

Before he knows it, a month has passed and it’s September, bringing with it a cold wind and a burst of warm colors as the leaves begin to change.

“Keiji, when are you introducing your new boyfriend to me?” Oikawa suddenly whines at him as he puts the tablet, now void of drinks, on the pile of empty tablets beside Keiji with a flourish. With all the guests served, Oikawa has apparently deemed it safe to slump down on the counter and prop his chin on his crossed arms, looking up at Keiji innocently and yet at the same time devilishly. Keiji still hasn’t figured out how Oikawa does it. To Keiji, he’s still a walking paradox. Probably because he has given up on looking through Oikawa’s dozen layers of complications and subtleties.

“How do you know?” Keiji tries to find something else to do to escape Oikawa’s sharp eyes, but he has already cleaned the space behind the counter and is left with nothing to do but endure whatever has sparked Oikawa’s interest.

“Ts ts ts, Keiji, do you even know me?” Oikawa berates him, grinning. “I see everything.”

Keiji gives him a cold, unimpressed stare and Oikawa sighs loudly. “Fine, you’re no fun. I saw you with a hot, buff guy once. Weird hair, though.”

Keiji shrugs. “Yeah.”

At that, Oikawa perks up immediately. “Wow, Keiji, so soon after Chiharu?” Oikawa coos. “He’s fine with your counter?”

Keiji doesn’t even bristle anymore at Oikawa’s intrusive questions. He guesses he got used to it. Oikawa would see through it anyway. He always sees through whatever Keiji tries to hide.

“He thinks I’m his soulmate,” Keiji blurts out. The second it’s said, he wonders since when he is acting so spontaneously. It’s unlike him not to think things through before saying them.

Oikawa is quiet for a beat too long for Keiji’s liking. “You don’t think you are?”

“You know about my counter.”

Oikawa’s eyes move down to Keiji’s wrist, then further down to his hands. “You’re doing it again.”

Keiji stops fiddling with his fingers. He hasn’t even noticed he was doing it.

“Your counter may have been at zero all your life… but his counter apparently wasn’t.” Oikawa looks up and right into Keiji’s eyes. It’s like Oikawa sees right through him, scans him from top to bottom, from the surface to the deepest depth buried inside. It’s so unnerving that Keiji has to repress a shiver.

“You mean…”

Oikawa shrugs. “I remember how it felt. You don’t mistake the person it stops for. You just don’t.”

Keiji looks down at his hands, leaning on the counter in order to stop his fiddling. He’s never thought about that, never thought to ask people who actually had their soulmate counter stop about how it feels, how they know.

“You haven’t told him, have you?” Oikawa, once again, hits the mark so precisely it’s almost inhuman. The worst thing is the way he looks at Keiji, as if he understands. But Keiji doesn’t deserve his understanding. Oikawa should judge him, harshly. But Oikawa has never done what anyone wanted him to do if he didn’t want to do it himself.

“No.”

“You think he’ll reject you, huh.” Oikawa gets back up and stretches. “You know what your problem is?”

Keiji glares at him in response.

“You overthink things.”

“You, of all people, really shouldn’t be the one telling me that.”

Oikawa grins his devilish smile again. “I, of all people, should be the only one to tell you that! Because I know.”

With that, Oikawa winks at him and leaves for his tables, where one of the guests calls for him right at the moment he turns around. As if Oikawa has a sixth sense for things like that.

Keiji sighs. He guesses Oikawa is right. He should finally tell his secret.

He just wishes he could believe what Oikawa said as easily as getting lost in the whirlwind that is Bokuto.