Thread by @bkakbugz

#bokuaka // pre-relationship

"'Kaashi, what's your favorite flower?"

Akaashi doesn't look up from his textbook when he answers; he taps his pencil at the corner of the page he's reading, "Tulip," he says simply.

Bokuto watches him quietly from his bed. They're at the Bokuto family home, studying for finals that are quickly approaching. (Akaashi is studying Statistics; Bokuto is, apparently, studying Akaashi).

"Tulips?"

"Yes, Bokuto-san," Akaashi says absently. He flips a page in his textbook and scribbles out a new problem in his notebook.

"That can't be true."

Akaashi lifts his head to glance at Bokuto who has fixed him with an unreadable expression.

"What do you mean that can't be true?" He asks.

Bokuto lays back on his bed with a huff, tossing his volleyball up at the ceiling and catching it before it falls back to his chest.

"I just mean they can't be your /favorite/." His eyes dart over to Akaashi quickly and then back up at the ball he's now balancing on his fingertips.

"Why so?"

Bokuto shrugs and sits up, crossing his legs beneath him and resting his elbows on his knees.

He rolls the volleyball between his hands, "You don't look at tulips when we pass them." He says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. To Bokuto, it seems so.

"Like," he continues, "There are tulips outside of the gym. And all over campus, actually. You don't pay any attention to them."

"Do I have to pay attention to them for them to be my favorite?"

Bokuto smiles mischievously, "Well, no, but you /do/."

Akaashi is confused now, it's clear on his face. Bokuto proceeds, "You pay attention to the things you like."

"I'm paying attention to Statistics right now and I can confirm that I do not like it." Akaashi says plainly, the corner of his mouth tugging upward slightly.

Bokuto smiles at him. "Yeah but you /have/ to pay attention to that. I'm talking about things you /want/ to pay attention to. Like how you wait around a little bit longer at the convenience store when they're playing your favorite song so you can hear it all the way through."

"Or," Bokuto adds, "how you walk us two blocks out of the way when we go home so we can pass by that electronics shop that plays figure skating reruns on the TV in the window. 'Cause you like it. Little things like that. You pay attention to them."

Akaashi's face flushes. His eyes cast back down toward his textbook; he feels embarrassingly seen. Bokuto has a way of doing that to him.

"So tulips can't be your favorite, I know it, because you don't pay attention to them."

Akaashi had almost forgotten the original purpose of the conversation. He rubs the eraser of his pencil against a smudge on the page of his textbook just to give his hands something to do.

There's a tightness in his throat that wasn't there before. He wonders what else Bokuto has noticed about him, what other subconscious affinities he's let slip through the cracks.

"Cafe au Lait Dahlia." Akaashi murmurs.

He hears Bokuto's volleyball hit the bed cover and glances back over at him. Their eyes meet. Akaashi blushes.

"Cafe au Lait Dahlias. That's my favorite flower." He repeats. He pulls at his fingers gently. "What are yours?"

Bokuto grins boyishly.

"Tulips."

//end

i just really needed some observant bokuto, blushy akaashi, & flower talk in my life 🤍

📌 if you enjoyed this, you may enjoy my other writing!
twitter.com/i/events/15621…

this thread is getting some love again so this feels like the perfect time to say that Cafe au Lait Dahlia's are actually MY favorite flower and they look like this:

gorgeous 🥺🥰