Chapter Text
It took him ten days, fourteen hours and thirty minutes to find a trace of mankind on the city he once called home. It was just a small fire in the distance, but it was the best chance he had of finding someone else. He was out of options, either he followed the fire and maybe found some survivors who would agree to help him or he could just wait for death to catch up with him, at this point it didn’t matter, he had lost all hope.
He was dragging his feet around more than he was walking and the pain on his left shoulder was becoming nothing more than a numb feeling, the only thing he could taste was cobber (he figured that wasn’t a good sign).
What hurt the most was knowing that if all this hadn’t happened, he would be spending his afternoon tossing to Bokuto and looking over him as usual. He couldn’t forget the countless nights spent in tight embraces and hushed whispers of ‘I love you’s’, nights when he saw a side of Fukurodani’s Ace no one else even had the chance of dreaming of, sometimes he reminded Akaashi of a lost puppy just looking for guidance and reassurance, fuck, he didn’t even know if Bokuto was alive anymore, it all happened so fast one day they had plans and dreams of a life together, and in the next all he could see were those horrible things that once were actual people with dreams just his, he wondered if one day he’d see one of them with Bokuto’s face, he’s had enough nightmares about that so he decided to drop the subject, and for now at least, he would believe Bokuto was somewhere safe and very much alive.
The fire he saw was getting closer, he could barely stand all he wanted was to sleep, close his eyes and wake up back home with the pleasant smell of breakfast and cinnamon, maybe if he just let himself go everything would be over and he’d go to a better place. It didn’t take long for his vision to become nothing but a black blur, and soon, complete darkness overtook him.
‘Toss for me Akaakshi! Just one more, I promise it’s the last one!’ How can he have so much energy after hours of practice? How can he still smile in that way that always makes Akaashi’s stomach turn and his heart tighten? He was more than thankful for whatever force brought Akaashi into Bokuto’s life, who else was going to help him when he went into his dejected mode? Those days feel as if they were over a lifetime ago, good memories he promised to hold on to forever.
The next time Akaashi opened his eyes he thought he was still stuck inside his dreams (that would end up being the best case scenario if if he had to be honest), the first thing he realized was that he wasn’t dead, he was happily reminded of that by the pain on his shoulder that seemed to have returned, and that either he really was dreaming or the person looking straight at him was none other than Bokuto Koutarou.
And then it was as if nothing had changed, a warm hand grasped his and Bokuto’s expression went from ‘oh my god AKAASHI WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN DOING’ to ‘Akaashi’s breathing, Akaashi’s here, he’s alive’, which ended up in a long ramble about how happy he was to even see the other again, he was interrupted – much to Akaashi’s disappointment – by Kuroo who said something along the lines of give him space Bokuto, which Akaashi didn’t feel he needed because all he had wanted since all of this had started was to have Bokuto this close again, so when Bokuto started moving away he reached out to graps his wrist, hot burning pain quickly told him that was the wrong move, and he was forced to let go.
“AKAASHI! Don’t do that, you should even be moving around at all..just stay and heal, I’ll be here I promise” Bokuto reassured as he place his hand on his lover’s chest “I’m not going anywhere, and before you even think of saying it: I’m not leaving you behind, got it?!” That caused the smaller boy to smile, having Bokuto by his side still felt like a dream he never wanted to wake up from, now all they needed to do was fix the rest of the world and everything would be back to normal, they would go to school, practice, stay over time because of Bokuto’s ‘just one more toss!’
He knew though, the world had gone to shit, maybe it was nature laying some karma on humanity, maybe it was just a form of chemical war inflicted upon them. But none of that mattered to him now, because Bokuto was with him, and he would never feel alone again.
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He found himself drifting in and out of sleep for, what he guessed, a few days, which meant he was risking Kuroo and Bokuto’s safety, if they stayed in the same place for so long they were bound to be found by the undead, all because of him.
He never managed to keep a conversation for long, but most of them consisted of Bokuto rambling on about his day, and about how he and Kuroo had a completion going of who could kill more undead – according to Bokuto at least – he was winning, and Akaashi was just glad he had the privilege of listening to that voice again.
Today Bokuto had tried to help Kuroo with lunch, which ended up in a total disaster and a waste of their limited supplies, he could tell Bokuto was feeling guilty “And it was your favorite too!” So Akaashi did all he could, he smiled and held the other’s hand mumbling “I’m not really hungry…” That brought a bright smile to the captain’s lips, gripping Akaashi’s hand even tighter “You can speak!! I really missed your voice, and your tosses, and your face, and your body, and the way you-“ He was interrupted by Keiji who said “Bokuto, I get it, I missed you too, a lot actually…I thought you were dead”
“I thought the same, I know I was being irracional but I kept hoping you’d show up and save our asses, I never thought we’d find you in this state, I can’t really express how happy I am that you’re still alive, I-I don't know what I would do if I lost you” Bokuto smiled, that smile was going to be the death of him someday, lost in thoughts he barely noticed the soft lips grazing past his, lips he was so familiar with, so used to loving them, it took him a while but he kissed back easily, like a second nature to him “And above everything, I really missed the way you love me” Bokuto whispered, resting their foreheads together.
And just like that all his problems seemed to just vanish. Everything was going to be okay, at least in that moment Akaashi truly believed that, he had hope for the first time since all this started, that was just Bokuto’s effect on people, a loud dork who would make everything better with a few words, or maybe it was just that way for Akaashi.
Of course that such a peaceful moment wouldn’t last long, he should have known...