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Sunday mornings had rarely been a tranquil occasion for Akaashi since he moved in with Bokuto. It's not that he disliked his company—on the contrary, he had always found his energy uplifting, almost endearing; he would wake up early every morning, go on a run, then mope around the living room waiting for Akaashi to wake up and make breakfast. Knowing that Bokuto was waiting for him could be bothersome at times, but it was good enough of an encouragement for him to leave the bed when all was said and all was done.
That morning, however, he had woken up to a text from his roommate announcing that he would not be returning from his jog right away, and that Akaashi should not wait for him for at least a few hours. For a moment, Akaashi felt some trepidation; what if he had forgotten to charge his phone and could not use google maps on his way back home? He was quick to force himself to ignore it, though. Bokuto was an adult—older than him by a year, in fact.
Still, Akaashi could not help but feel relief once Bokuto walked through the door, as bright and cheerful as ever, and seemingly unscathed.
“Hey Akaashi, look at this shirt! Isn’t it so me ?!” Bokuto shouted happily, lifting a black t-shirt with a wolf in the middle ripping his shirt off and big block letters saying: Yes, I read omegaverse. Yes, I’m an alpha .
To this, Akaashi couldn’t help but flinch, furrowing his brows in a bewildered expression that could be read as a capitalized: WHAT?
“Bokuto-san… Wha– Why– Where did you even get that?”
Akaashi did not think his tone reflected any excitement, but Bokuto reacted as if he had just walked back into their house with a World Cup.
“The thrift shop!” He announced, like a dog flawning a stick, “What do you think?! Isn’t it awesome?!”
Akaashi had to make a conscious effort not to facepalm. Who on their right mind designed such a shirt?
“Bokuto-san, do you even know what the omegaverse is?” he deadpanned.
And Bokuto blinked, eyes widened like an owl, as he tilted his head, staring at him in confusion.
“Uhm I probably didn’t pay attention to that class, no…” he admitted, shrinking as if his ignorance on the matter was something to be ashamed of, when in Akaashi’s opinion, it was quite the opposite—he struggled to hold back his laughter.
“I can assure you it’s not a subject we have touched in any lecture.”
“Huh?! I thought we were supposed to learn everything at school!” Bokuto exclaimed, as if offended by the prospect.
Akaashi sighed. God he liked his men stupid. “I’ll tell you about it after lunch.”
“Men getting pregnant?! So you could be pregnant?!” Bokuto asked in wonder.
They had just finished having lunch, Bokuto’s plate splattered with traces of barbeque sauce all over. Once again, he had given him that curiosity-driven owl face of his, making something in Akaashi’s chest tinge, it always filled him with a sense of pride whenever he got a chance to explain things to Bokuto, glad to know someone like him could rely on—
Wait, what had Bokuto just said?!
He cleared his throat, ignoring the burning sensation in his cheeks as he tried to compose himself before proceeding.
“Uhm. That is assuming I would be an omega, Bokuto-san… but yes, I guess I could be?”
And when he saw Bokuto’s eyes light up at such an answer, Akaashi knew he was about to find himself in deep, deep trouble.
“I want you to be my omega, Akaashi! I can be your alpha!” He said way too cheerfully for someone who was admitting to wanting to mark his roommate—And possibly also get him pregnant, with the enthusiastic reaction he had given to such a prospect earlier, Akaashi couldn’t be too sure.
“I’m sorry, but that’s not possible. Not with our current physiology, at least.”
“That’s not fair,” he whined, like a kid finding out Santa doesn’t exist.
Except this was a grown up man, finding out his life was not actually a fanfic.
“I don’t know why I never thought about the possibility of you becoming an omegaverse enjoyer. But it does make sense, I guess.” He mused aloud, not too sure as to why he decided to share these thoughts with Bokuto.
“Of course it does! I want to be strong and manly for Akaashi!” He bursted with joy, and goddammit , Bokuto’s gleeful energy was one of the things Akaashi admired of him the most, however god how he made him want to throw himself off the nearest window whenever he said things like that ever-so-casually.
And so, he blushed, again , making him wonder how on earth Bokuto hadn’t yet caught up to his painfully obvious crush on him...
Then again, Bokuto hardly ever noticed things that weren’t said directly to his face.
“You already are, Bokuto-san. There’s no need to worry.” He reassured, although deep down he was curling into a ball and screaming.
“Akaashi, why do you know about omegaverse?” He then asked, and Akaashi almost spat the sip of water he had just taken.
As if it was humanly possible, Akaashi felt his face heat up further. “Uhm. Let’s change the subject,” he said, hoping Bokuto would let him dodge that bullet.
But of course, things were never that simple.
"Why? Noooo~ I want to know! We could be omegaversers together"
"Bokuto-san, that's not—gah, whatev—Bokuto! What are you doing?!"
Akaashi had taken his eyes off of Bokuto for what literally had been just a second, too flustered to look him in the eye. However, a quick change in his posture had beckoned him to shift his attention back to him, only to find out that he was now holding a film tape.
"Where did you get that from?" He asked, taken aback.
"The thrift shop!" He announced, proudly. "A funny little guy was selling it, now we can use it to begin to record our omegaverse life!"
Akaashi flinched.
"Wait, what do you mean by—"
"Hey there everybody!" Bokuto greeted, holding the camera as if talking to an audience.
Akaashi did not have the heart to tell him that the lens of the camera was not facing towards them.
"This is me! Omegaverse expert Bokuto Koutarou, the alpha supreme! And this is my omega, Akaashi Keiji! In this movie we'll be following the story of our life in the omegaverse!"
And Akaashi grew stiff, unable to speak or move in the slightest. He was truly humanity's strongest soldier that day.
When Akaashi woke up the day after, he walked into the kitchen hoping that Bokuto’s sudden abo-fever would have vanished. However, he was taken aback when he found him sitting by the breakfast table, chin on his hand, looking pensive, for what might be the first time in his life. He found himself growing concerned.
"Bokuto-san... Is everything alright?"
Bokuto turned towards him, mouth slightly agape, and his usual enthusiastic energy nowhere to be seen.
Something was terribly wrong.
"Oh, Akaashi, hi..."
It was almost unnatural for Bokuto to sound so disheartened without having lost any volleyball matches. Not even failing most of his math exams could get this reaction out of him.
"Did something happen?" Akaashi asked worriedly.
"I... Akaashi... I read... Omegaverse fanfics... Last night."
Akaashi stiffened.
“Now why would you do that?!”
“I wanted to learn more about my culture! You know, alphas! Or at least, I used to think they were my culture…” he said pensively, taking a long, distressed pause. “Akaashi, you never told me they were so violent! The way they treat their omegas! It’s so vile! My mom always taught me to never treat anyone that way.”
Akaashi shouldn’t feel such a rush of warmth and admiration at Bokuto for being a decent human being, but he did. “I guess they can be. Since they have… animal instincts and all of that.”
“But they’re so mean! I’m not mean like that! Sasuke would never be so mean to Naruto!”
Not Naruto omegaverse fanfiction? Akaashi thought.
“I’m sure you would be a much better alpha, Bokuto-san.” What the fuck am I even saying?
“I know! But this just makes me feel so… icky! I’m not sure I want to be an alpha after all,” he looked very sad as he said that. “Let’s just forget about it. I want to move past from old me’s thoughts. No more omegaverse for us!”
Akaashi sighed. Part of him was relieved this brief chapter of their lives was coming to an end. However, as glad as he was to let go of the whole omegaverse affair, he couldn’t help but find his own heart dropping at Bokuto’s disheartened face.
“I see. That’s also ok, Bokuto-san,” he said, attempting to sound at least slightly comforting.
“Can we still be boyfriends tho?”
Akaashi froze, his eyes widening like saucers. “What?”
“Can we still be boyfriends?” Bokuto repeated, giving him wet-puppy eyes as he leaned closer, as if the question was a matter of life and death.
And Akaashi blinked once, twice, struggling to make sense of the situation.
“We’re… boyfriends?” He asked back, at a loss of when his heart-stopping crush had been reciprocated.
“I mean I was supposed to be your alpha… but I guess we can be regular boyfriends too. Even if I can’t get you pregnant,” he said as he scratched his chin.
Even if he can’t—Oh god, Bokuto, please stop it with that! He did not bring himself to reply, not outside the buzz of his mind, at least. Because even though he felt like he was mere seconds from losing it, he still made an effort to sound as calm and collected as possible.
“Uhm. Ok. We can be regular boyfriends,” he said as if he wasn’t fulfilling every single one of his teenage dreams, hopes and desires. As if Bokuto Koutaro hadn’t turned them all into reality on a random Monday.
A few hours later, though, Akaashi found himself descending down an overwhelming spiral of anxiety; Bokuto had recovered that sad and pensive expression from earlier in the morning, as if the development in their relationship had not contempt him at all.
Is he already regretting it? What am I gonna do if he breaks up with me? Literally the day he asked me out?! , Akaashi thought.
“Is everything ok, Bokuto-san?” he decided to ask before panicking more.
“I was just thinking… Can I return the t-shirt I bought? Since I don’t agree with the message anymore,” he answered honestly.
“Oh,” was all Akaashi could reply, although the relief in his chest was immeasurable, “But you like the wolf,” he then pointed out. He knew that was the main reason that drove Bokuto to buy such an ugly piece of clothing.
“I do…” he murmured, still downcasted.
“Wait, I think I have an idea…” Akaashi beamed, happy with his own occurrence.
That very same afternoon, they purchased clothing paint and brushes, laying the shirt on the table as they scratched the shirt’s old legend and wrote over it a new one in big block letters: I am pro-omegas liberation .