blue lights || bokuaka

alaska

"Go win, Bokkun!" Atsumu screams into the air once Bokuto leaves, his hands cupped around his mouth, and Sakusa cuts his eyes to him in a stifled humiliation at the stares they were getting, making Atsumu smile wider.

Akaashi feels the familiar furor flood through him once the racers line up at the starting point in their cars, right in front of them. He hoped the good luck charm would help him, hanging off of the rearview just as it had in Sokudo.

Bokuto's car was black, too, a stark change from the blue of his last one, with Kenma's company's logo on the hood, and the number 4 on the side of it.

Akaashi glances at the daisy on his hand, biting the inside of his bottom lip in anticipation, hoping for the race to go in Bokuto's favor.

He's nervous for him, and he takes a breath, watching Bokuto's car, and as the announcer asks them to start their engines, his heart picks up.

The racers speed off, and Akaashi finds himself fiddling with the pendant of his necklace, the voices of the announcers coming through the intercom blending together and not making any sense. Akaashi couldn't focus on what they were saying, but he appreciated how enthusiastic they were about the positions of the racers.

Akaashi keeps his eyes trained on the number 4, as it squeezes between two other cars and keeps a steady pace with them.

He was not last, so that was good. He still had three other cars in the lead, keeping up with them all the same, but he was not last.

The adrenaline surges through his bloodstream quickly, watching Bokuto struggle to keep up with the orange car in front of him, a few more decals scattered over the hood, the bright color a stark contrast with the hushed tones of the other cars' paint.

Akaashi lets out a breath as Bokuto slows down slightly to weave around the car on the outside of the group, speeding up to keep up with its back tires once they take the soft curve of the track. The push of the gas pedal echoes within the track, making a sharp sound as the cars pass in front of them, Bokuto pushing to keep up with the rest.

Come on, come on.

Akaashi plays with the pendant, his eyebrows worrying in the middle of his forehead as his eyes follow the cars, and once the curve is taken, Bokuto's car sways from side to side as he tries to control it, Akaashi almost feeling a sense of dread that he might have lost control. The curve straightens out, and Bokuto speeds up, taking third place from the orange car in front of him and driving straight towards the other curve.

Quickly, he keeps up with the back of the second-place racer, the orange car right behind him as they take it, drifting in the space it had behind Bokuto and between the last two cars.

Akaashi pays attention to the announcers, though he couldn't understand what they were saying save for them dropping Bokuto's name every so often, and the awed sounds they would make as he kept his place in third. They seemed excited for him, like they wanted him to succeed, too, and that's all Akaashi could really ask for.

This was a change in how the talk around Akaashi uplifted Bokuto rather than hoped for him to lose, like on the streets. There was no one saying he had no skill and wished for him to get a blowout on the road, amongst other things. Out of the few English words he could hear from the uproar, they were good.

This was better.

Akaashi finally lets himself breathe, a sense of relief flooding him as Bokuto takes third place and finishes the race with it, the voices around him blaring into screams for the winner, while others made noises of disapproval or annoyance. Akaashi lets his fingers relax from where they were clenched in a fist and instead uses them to clap alongside them. Atsumu stands up to clap loudly for his friend, Sakusa doing the same at a lower caliber while Hinata cheers for Bokuto only.