The next week passed at a marvellously slow rate.
Akaashi continuously moved from place to place, hoping to find some way to both pass the time and distract himself from the boy he had grown so close to.
So far, it hadn't worked very well.
He went to a museum with his sister and saw Bokuto walking across the street. He tried swimming at the beach, but was reminded of the night he had spent with Bokuto. Even his room wasn't safe, considering Bokuto was the one who had helped him to get comfortable in the unfamiliar house.
Akaashi hadn't realized how much time he spent with Bokuto until the most exciting thing he did one day was watch an entire season of Akina's favorite show with her. He had stopped helping out at the store Bokuto worked at, and now his days were empty.
It was lonely without Bokuto around so much.
He had grown so used to having him around all the time that he couldn't remember what it was like before they had met.
He hated to admit it, but he really missed Bokuto. It physically hurt him—as in, he could literally feel his heart clench when he thought about never seeing him again.
He missed him to badly that, on his last full day at the beach, he found himself crying.
Akaashi was standing in his room, staring down at his open drawer and the folded clothes inside it. His empty bag was unzipped and sitting on top of the dresser, ready for him to put his belongings back into it. Only, Akaashi didn't want to.
He had always hated packing. It didn't matter when, or where, or how long he was staying somewhere. He just hated packing his bags.
Right now, though, Akaashi had never, ever despised it more.
He didn't want to leave. He didn't want to leave this small town, he didn't want to leave the beach, and most of all, he didn't want to leave Bokuto.
The entire past week, he had been lying to himself, trying to convince himself that he had done the right thing by pushing Bokuto away. Leaving would hurt less if they didn't see each other again, right?
Again and again, he repeated that to himself like a mantra. But still, he found himself dabbing at his eyes rapidly, trying to wipe away his tears as they rolled down his face.
He had always hated this part of his trips.
Eventually, he sat down on the floor, clutching his knees to his chest as he cried quietly. He felt oddly strange crying, as if he were imposing on his own personality by showing his emotions.
He just didn't want to leave.
"Hey, Keiji, do you want to take a walk on the beach? Whoa, wait, what's wrong? Keiji?"
Akina walked into Akaashi's room without knocking and saw him on the floor. She kneeled next to him, placing a small hand on her brother's knee.
He picked up his head and wiped away his tears, nodding slowly. "A walk sounds great."
~~~
Akina danced around, kicking sand up in the air and twirling without a care in the world. A few feet behind her, Akaashi was walking calmly, fidgeting with his fingers just like he always did. Since they left the rental house, neither Akaashi nor his sister had brought up that he had been crying, though he knew Akina was curious about it (despite not acting like it).
The sun was dropping in the sky, bringing on the last sunset Akaashi would see there at the beach. A few grey clouds hung in the blue sky, floating aimlessly with the wind. By the horizon, the sky was turning shades of pink and purple as the sun slowly made its descent, and in front of it, the blue ocean was moving just as rhythmically as always, with shallow waves riding up and down the shoreline without doing anything more than just dragging bits of sand back into the water. The sound of the waves was calming to Akaashi, and he took a deep breath, trying to enjoy it all before his inevitable leave tomorrow.
YOU ARE READING
𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨 (𝖻𝗈𝗄𝗎𝖺𝗄𝖺)
FanfictionA forgotten swimsuit had never been so life-changing. Akaashi Keiji never thought he would miss a small town so much. He had seen so many towns, so many beaches, so many people. So why did this place stick out to him? The answer was simple: The oth...
