Monday rolls around pretty quickly, despite Akaashi's wishes for it to postpone itself for as long as possible.
There was something about the slow trickle of time that slipped through Akaashi's fingers like warm honey that made him want to preserve it. Maybe it was in the way Bokuto grinned, or the normalcy he brought just by waking up beside him in the morning.
Akaashi wanted that normalcy.
Even if he could get it, he can't keep forgetting that Bokuto was an illegal street racer, and not some regular, sweet guy he met in a tattoo parlor.
He couldn't forget that.
The domesticity sits heavily in his chest, pining for a boy that was so close to him, yet, he felt like he was way too far.
His own personal frustration bares its teeth at him as he pulls Bokuto out of bed this morning, bites him over his throat and it pulls at his hair as he peers into a darkened gold, exhausted and happy and worn, wanting to look at him without the looming threat of getting arrested, or having Bokuto get hurt again.
It was so fucking suffocating.
Akaashi is sitting on his bathroom counter, kicking his legs on either side of Bokuto as he tries his best to wake him up and put his worries on hold for the time being. He woke up with Akaashi's alarm, and 7am was not friendly to him at all.
"Come on, Bokuto. You've gotta wake up."
Bokuto has his eyes closed and Akaashi is scared he's going to choke on the toothpaste as he holds his mouth open, standing up between his knees. Barely.
Akaashi could practically see the cartoon bubbles popping around his head as his brain tried to find the energy to stand up.
Kuroo had already gone to work, so even if Akaashi let him sleep in, there'd be no one to help him get ready for the day. He felt bad for making him wake up, but at the same token, found Sleepy Bokuto very sweet.
"Wake up~," Akaashi says, and Bokuto opens his eyes again with a dazed look on his face, only to slowly let them close.
Akaashi smiles and Bokuto wobbles in front of him. He lightly knees Bokuto's thigh, making the other groan at the pain, his eyebrows coming together.
"You want coffee? I'll make you some coffee." Akaashi offers, and Bokuto shakes his head with a muffled noise of disapproval, trudging to the sink to rinse his toothbrush and mouth out when Akaashi finishes.
"Tea?" Akaashi asks, reaching over to grab his own toothbrush and preparing it over the sink.
Bokuto shakes his hanging head, leaning on his elbows while the water runs from the faucet in front of him, his toothbrush fallen in the sink.
"Do you wanna go for lunch together after class?" Akaashi asks, brushing his teeth while hoping that it would give Bokuto some incentive to wake up, kicking his feet against the counter as he tries to think. "I'll be home by noon."
"Yes," Bokuto says, scooting over so that Akaashi could use the sink. "...I wanna."
"But you have to wake up," Akaashi says, towel drying his mouth with the small, fluffy one on the rack once he rinses, reaching over to lightly squeeze Bokuto's arm.
"My soul," Bokuto says, eyes half-lidded as he rests his head on Akaashi's shoulder, Sleep stinging his eyes in a revenge plot for them not spending enough time together. "It's giving into the void."
"You're so dramatic." Akaashi scoffs with a smile, reaching for the drawer beneath the sink to grab one of the rubber bands he kept in here for Bokuto. "Let me put your hair up."
Bokuto trudges to the toilet seat and slumps over, the black static around his vision overtaking the color of Akaashi's shirt once he gets in front of him.
It did not help, in any way, for Akaashi to be running his fingers through his hair to gather it.
Bokuto thinks Akaashi has gentle hands that were always very careful with him. He liked to hold them, or kiss them sometimes when Akaashi looked at them a certain way with a twitch of his eyebrow, or watch them create when they were arranging flowers in the shop.
And now they were running through his hair.
There is no way this is fair.
Akaashi sighs as Bokuto leans against his stomach, his eyes shut. His heart tries to burst out of his chest and he feels the heat in his cheeks again.
He wonders if Bokuto could feel the butterflies beneath his cheek.
"Bokuto..." Akaashi gently tugs on the handful of hair he had, before tying it back with the rubber band.
A few strands of hair fall into his face as usual.
"Bokuto?" Akaashi asks again, tapping his back to try to get him to wake up.
To his horror, he hears the first soft sound of a breathy snore, like when you're already half asleep and couldn't really open your eyes. Akaashi takes a breath and looks at the wall in front of him for any ideas hidden in the white paint, trying to come up with something else to get him up.
Akaashi shakes his shoulders, careful not to move the brace around the left one.
"Bokuto!"
Bokuto sits up and ducks his head to rub at his eyes, before looking up at Akaashi.
"I'm up. I'll...wake up...lunch." He says, shutting his eyes again once Akaashi pulls him up by the hand, only for the other to lean on him.
"Don't forget, okay?"
Bokuto takes a deep breath and yawns into the air, Akaashi pushing his chest away from him so he could go be productive for the day instead of lying in bed with Bokuto.
Though, the luxury was enough to make him pause for a moment.
Bokuto is dragging himself back into bed and he covers his face with the sheets, his back turned to Akaashi as the other boy quickly changes into his outside clothes in the bathroom.
Akaashi tousles his hair in front of the mirror, pursing his lips with a frown and tousling it again, before giving up and leaving the bathroom quickly, pushing his glasses up his nose and tugging at the collar of his turtleneck with a hooked finger.
"Okay, Bokuto. I'm leaving. If you have any questions, text me." Akaashi says, grabbing his backpack from off of the floor and checking over his desk to see if he left anything.
Bokuto sits up and makes grabby hands towards Akaashi, his eyes half-lidded before his wrists go limp in front of him
"What is it?" Akaashi asks, confused.
"Goodbye hugs...for the first day!"
Akaashi sighs through his nose, feeling his heart jump in his chest as he let himself walk to the side of the bed, patting the top of Bokuto's head while the other held onto his waist, his cheek against his stomach.
He has gone too soft, he thinks.
And Bokuto does not let go, and Akaashi feels his weight as he slumps against him, his eyes shut.
"Bokuto!"
Bokuto pulls back and rubs at his eyes, before grinning sleepily at Akaashi and waving.
"Bye! Bye, Akaashi~!"
Akaashi turns and carries his backpack out of the bedroom to make his way towards the genkan, hoping the day would end quickly so that he could get back home.
~❀~
The rain.
Usually, Akaashi found comfort in the rain.
He liked to listen to the world weep, as flowers bloomed beneath her tears. The sea would stir as the sun hides away for a moment, behind a soft blanket of cigarette smoke and daydreams, just for the world to lament about the days lost and the uncertainty to come.
Akaashi finds comfort in the fact that the world works just like people. He never felt alone with her.
He would read a book, or maybe study or try out one of the many hobbies that he never seemed to master.
But today, as Akaashi was sitting in his organic chemistry class and thinking about everything that had nothing to do with stoichiometry and cycloalkanes, the rain scared the shit out of him.
He is so far away from home, from Bokuto, and he's scared because of that.
The thunder snarls low, as if a monster was hiding between the clouds, the rain showering over the windows of his classroom, sharp like hits to a snare drum.
It started raining in the middle of this class, and the rest of the hour in between now and the end of it was wearing him thin. He taps the tip of his pen on his notebook, impatient and thinking of what he could do from here, while Bokuto was home alone.
He comes up short again, and again.
Akaashi finds himself shutting his notebook and throwing it into his bag as soon as his professor dismissed them, a few minutes early thankfully, slinging his bag over his shoulder and rushing out without making it seem like he was in that kind of rush (though that's exactly what kind of rush he was in).
The halls are nearly empty, save for stray groups of friends of strangers he'd never seen around before. He just barely recognizes Yamaguchi from Japanese Literature last semester, as well as Yachi from his orgo class in the summer on his way out of the science wing.
He doesn't make eye contact, but they were too busy talking to really notice him, anyway.
Akaashi makes it out the front door, seeing people cover themselves with umbrellas and ponchos, trying to escape the rain. Puddles jump up and cling onto the ends of jeans and shoelaces, the rain falling in slick sheets around plastic hoods and silk sheaths.
Oh.
He did not prepare to get caught up in the shower like this.
But Akaashi liked the rain. This would be fine.
Before he has a chance to regret it, Akaashi ducks his head and walks straight out into the cold rain, his body erupting in goosebumps immediately from the chill. He walks quickly, feeling the rain splash up from the puddles and soak into his jeans, numbing his fingertips and sending cold needles into the back of his neck.
The thunder booms above him and his heart aches.
He squints his eyes to keep the rain out as it streaks down his glasses, making it that much harder to see in front of him. He's soaked already, his hair flattened against his forehead and his body shivering beneath the fall of the rain, but he gets to the crosswalk before the train station, tapping his finger eagerly on the strap of his bag.
Oh. The train.
Akaashi did not think of this.
He gets embarrassed when he imagines himself standing in the middle of a car, probably soaking people standing beside him and making a mess on the floor.
He sighs and crosses the street, clutching his wet bag and hoping the ride would somehow be quicker than it usually was.
He was disheartened still, to arrive home at the same time he expected, still very wet while the thunder was still just as noisy and invasive as it was before he rode the train. Still, he practically runs to his apartment, the only thing on his mind being that damned street racer, as he fumbles with the front of his bag for his key, the notes and money he had in there soaked just as bad as he was.
His wet fingers slip over it, and it falls from his hands once he pulls it out of his bag in his haste.
Akaashi grumbles and bends down to pick it up, the rain slapping the back of his neck and running down his chest and back. He was so uncomfortable, but knew he needed to get back to him as quickly as possible.
There is a white flash of lightning behind him, and the thunder screams again, making Akaashi feel like his life was going to end for a moment.
A weird pit of grief sits heavy in his chest as he thinks of how long it's been since the storm had gotten worse.
Akaashi opens his front door and kicks off his wet shoes, not even bothering to set them out to dry or anything. He leaves his slippers on the genkan and runs into his room, almost slipping in his wet socks as he opens the door, seeing nobody in his room.
The bed is empty from what he can see, save for the sheets being ruffled from where Bokuto moved around today. The lights are off and the room is stale with silence.
Akaashi flips his light switch by the door, but the lights stubbornly don't come on, and he realizes the storm took the power, too.
His heart beats quickly in confrontation.
Akaashi steps inside, his socks sloshing against the tile of his room.
And there, beneath his work desk, was Bokuto, holding onto his knees and trying to hide from the storm as best as he could.
Akaashi sighs and sits on his knees in front of him, making Bokuto look up at him, eyes holding panic and a dim beacon of hope that seemed like it would go out any minute.
"Hi." Akaashi smiles, his hands in front of him and he tries to ignore the water sliding down his skin beneath his shirt, the air conditioner making him feel like he would die of hypothermia soon.
The thunder lets out a low growl in warning.
Bokuto's eyebrows come together, and his breaths are shallow as he looks at Akaashi, in pain from how he was sitting and hugging himself. He still had broken bones that needed to heal, and this wasn't really helping anything, especially with the pressure on his ribs.
"It hurts..." He says, eyes flicking to the window for a moment before he looks back at Akaashi.
"Come out."
Bokuto shakes his head and squeezes his eyes shut, ducking into his knees again.
Akaashi hears the thunder pick up, and they're glowing in another white flash as lightning shocks the sky once more.
"How long have you been under there?" He asks, and Bokuto takes in a bigger, shakier breath, losing it almost immediately after opening his mouth.
"Since...it started raining..."
Akaashi feels horrible in the fact that Bokuto would rather feel safe and be in pain if there was a storm outside. He feels like he should have gotten here sooner, that maybe if he did, he could have helped him somehow.
But when he thinks about it — what could he have possibly done?
He sighs and looks at his hands on the floor, still wet and there are tiny puddles around him and his fingers are trembling from the cold.
"You need to go rest, Bokuto. I'll come with you after I change." Akaashi says, and Bokuto brings both of his lips in and squeezes his leg from where his hands are holding onto them.
"The thunder's..." Bokuto swallows and looks at the window. "...really loud."
"You'll be safe with me," Akaashi says, and Bokuto stares at the floor, as if to search the ground for any chance of a lie, uncertain. "I'll protect you from the rain."
Bokuto doesn't say anything, and a flash of lightning hits almost immediately. Akaashi found solace in the storm, so he didn't mind it at all.
It just felt bad that he couldn't have Bokuto find that same peace that kept his mind from staying too stagnant.
"Hey." Akaashi reaches out, trying not to shake so much as he lightly holds Bokuto's cheek with a soft smile, stroking the pad of his thumb beneath his eye as he looks up at him, trying to distract him.
He leaves a wet mark on his skin.
His face is hot from the stress, but Bokuto finds comfort in the way Akaashi's hands felt, in how they tethered him back to his safety net.
Careful, gentle hands.
"Let's go to bed, okay?"
Bokuto's eyebrows come together as he lets Akaashi pull him from beneath the desk, his body numb and on fire from the pain, hissing as he stretches out his ribs. The pain is acute and it lingers once Bokuto stands.
It was safer to come out since it was just raining for now, but Akaashi knew he needed to get to his bed quickly before the thunder joined it once more.
"I'm going to leave you to get dry. I'll be fast." Akaashi says, and Bokuto hides beneath the sheets as Akaashi quickly pulls out dry clothes from his dresser drawer, not bothering to go into the bathroom for privacy.
Bokuto cowers as the storm picks up again, Akaashi drying his hair in a hand towel as he lays his wet clothes over the counter in the bathroom.
His legs carry him back to his bed, his plans to study and be productive for school out of the window and floating into the gutter down the street.
He didn't mind the break, though.
Akaashi pulls Bokuto closer to him as he ducks beneath the sheets as well, letting Bokuto hide his face in the crook of his neck, their legs tangled.
Bokuto seemed to like doing that, Akaashi has learned.
"Sorry...I'm sorry." He says, clinging onto the fabric of Akaashi's shirt while the rain drums harder over them.
Akaashi's heart had already opened itself up to Bokuto, already making promises to this boy that Akaashi didn't even agree to, but he still felt he couldn't break them. He'd do anything for him, as long as it helps him feel better.
So he decided it was okay.
"We're friends, remember?" Akaashi asks, and Bokuto is quiet as Akaashi rests his chin on Bokuto's hair. "I'll be here for you, always. Don't be sorry."
Bokuto only hugs him a little tighter, the thunder exploding above them suddenly like dynamite and it makes him curl in on himself even more.
Akaashi presses his mouth to the top of Bokuto's head and stares at the wall, deciding to wait this one out.
"You're safe." He says, Bokuto's hair is soft against his lips. "I have you."
Akaashi is relieved as Bokuto slowly eases up, feeling his shoulders slack in his arms as the thunder lightened, lessening to the same low drawls as before, his breath evening out.
This was good.
Akaashi holds him and breathes with him and thinks with him, the room quiet save for the occasional you're okays Akaashi would let out once the thunder picked up again.
Once the sun was back out and the sky was ribboning in cerulean once more, the room was still quiet, except for the faint breaths coming from Bokuto as he slept soundly beside him.
Akaashi leans back to look at him, bringing a hand up to lightly stroke his thumb over Bokuto's warm skin, taking in the color of his cheeks and the way his hair lays over the fabric of his arm. He allows himself to get lost in him today, while there wasn't a hopeful gaze looking back at him to keep him tethered, to make him think of any repercussions in the future.
Even when Bokuto was quiet and sleeping, or loud and awake, Akaashi loved to look at him.
How beautiful he was.
He blinks, and quickly retracts his hand as if Bokuto had burned it, wishing he could be the one to hide himself away instead.