To be known - Akaashi x reader - Soulmate AU - Alternate Version
As I mentioned, I struggled a bit with this one and this is the version that was the most advanced before I found what worked best.
@misfit-megumi I post the second version for you
No one really knows when it started and no one really how it works, but at a certain point your dreams become no longer your own.
They call it the edge of adolescence and for some, the night they first dream a stranger’s dream, is quite the shock. Other faces, other languages than you’re used to. And the only remedy is meeting the person whose dream you’re dreaming.
For others, there is no clear difference. It’s harder to find someone you’ve already been close to when you don’t even know that you have to start looking.
You’ve always been creative, your mind a whirlwind.
Last night you dreamt your mother clapped her hands and you turned into a frog, tiny, green, and oh so content, sitting on the giant leaf of salad you’d been supposed to eat.
But tonight your dream is anything but that.
You’re in front of a huge net and you’re so close to panicking, you can taste your own heartbeat.
There’s a ball up in the air, a twirling mass of blue and yellow. It’s far too slow to be realistic, the time stretching thinner than chewing gum before you blow a bubble.
But the bubble never pops. The ball doesn’t drop, you’re just staring up at it, your mind reeling.
Who do you set it to? Should you do a feint? Will you even be able to touch it?
And then, when you’re ready to faint from tension alone, the dream shifts so fast you get motion sickness, saliva pooling in your mouth as you stand in front of a class of unfamiliar faces, the teacher asking you something but his voice is so low you can’t make out what he’s saying.
It starts a circle, a loop of you asking him to repeat it and his voice staying that low, low rumble you can’t understand while the class watches you with more eyes than there are students.
Someone coughs as if to hide a laugh, more noises follow and the classroom erupts, a cacophony of sound until your hands are pushed against your ears and you want to scream.
You wake up at that moment, clamber out of your room and, for the first time in a long time, slip into your mother’s bed.
You miss your dreams. You miss the comfort of the craziness, giggling with your friends the next morning as you tell them what outlandish story your head has produced.
You miss the calmness of sleep.
You spend half a year afraid of falling asleep until your grades drop so low, your mother drags you to a doctor.
There’s not much you can do because it’s not your anxiety.
Sleeping pills make you hazy - and you still want to get to know your soulmate, no matter how horrible his dreams are - and plant-based medicine usually makes you throw up in the middle of the night.
When there are no other options than to break the bond or keep fighting, you take your fight to the world wide web.
By the time you graduate from Inarizaki high school, you’re an expert when it comes to all things anxiety.
You keep a journal with you, make sure to eat healthy, and do light exercise before bed.
But you also graduate with a job offer, a full-time assistant manager position for MSBY, and a deep longing for your soulmate.
You know so much about him now.
How he misses his best friend Bokuto, memories of him often the only source of comfort in his anxiety-ridden dreams, and how much he cares for his team.
You’ve gotten into Volleyball because of him, wondering if you dream as much of the sport as he does.
No longer do you dread the dreams he shares with you, rather you see them as a way to comfort him, to take away the stress at least for the night.
In your fourth year at MSBY you get the news of a player getting drafted, the name Bokuto ringing several bells. You meet him over Atsumu threatening the newcomer.
A quick slap across the back of his head shuts the blonde up promptly.
“Bokuto-kun!” You smile at him in earnest. “It’s so nice to have you here! Don’t listen to Tsumu, he’s a menace but he’s all bark and no bite. Do you need any help settling in?”
Bokuto takes your hand and shakes it vigorously. “I am so glad you’re our manager! We did have cute managers at our College but they were never as nice as you!”
To say you’ve dreamt of this moment would be a lie - if you did, you hope that his friend caught the hints - but you prepared for his arrival. Too bad he’s four days early.
“Don’t bother flirting with her!” Atsumu tells him with a pout. “She’s waiting for her soulmate.”
You bite your tongue at his comment.
“You’re a bit early so your jersey isn’t in yet, but you’re welcome to join training as soon as you feel settled in. If you have any questions, you can come to me.”
“I told you that you should have waited four more days, Bokuto-san.”
His voice is smooth but it cuts through you like lightning.
From somewhere behind Meian, a tall figure steps forward, a slender hand grasping Bokuto’s shoulder.
He sends you an apologizing smile and Atsumu elbows you in the side when you don’t speak, too stunned to process the reality of it.
He’s here. He’s here and you can see it now, the furrow of his brow, the little shiver of his lip.
Just as you think you’ve gathered your words, another person steps forward, hand grasping Bokuto’s other shoulder.
“Ah, the earlier the better, wouldn’t you agree?”
To your utter demise, Bokuto has two best friends and brought both of them with him.
Your heart stutters in your chest, realizing that you know so much about your soulmate but not enough. What’s his name? Did he ever dream about someone calling him by name? Did he ever dream about his own looks?
You can’t remember and anxiety is reaching for your heart.
Now that you need it, all the knowledge comes in handy.
You take in a deep breath and focus on five things you can see. Bokuto’s blinding smile, his huge hands still holding yours. The way the light catches in the glasses of his pretty friend -
“You want to train?” Atsumu interrupts your exercise rudely, “We’ve got spare training jerseys.”
“Oh, can I?” Bokuto looks at you and you stutter out a nervous “Yes, of course.”
“Well, in that case, I’ll go over some stuff with Meian. Call me when you need me.” His taller friend, hair a wild mess and grin even wilder, waves at you as he turns around, reducing your group to two.
He’s pretty and calm, but you’ve met enough calm people to know that quiet waters run deep.
“How nice of you to accompany your friend.” You offer a compliment and he eyes you carefully for a second before taking a deep breath. You wonder if he’s anxious too, wonder if he knows you.
“Would you mind showing me around?” He asks, his eyes traveling over the people around you.
Predictably, the weight on your chest eases when you step outside, a strong wind pushing the hair out of your face. You laugh softly until you turn to see him, Akaashi, as he had introduced himself, standing there, stiff as a board.
“Are you okay?” You ask and his eyes snap back to yours.
“What-” He clears his throat. “What did I dream tonight?”
You laugh again, louder this time, so much easier too, as if the tension can only leave you through laughter.
“How did you know?” You ask when you catch a breath, your hands already reaching for his.
A small smile forms on his lips and he takes your hands, slender fingers fitting just right around yours.
“You dream of yourself in third person.” He tells you what you’ve forgotten long ago. “I’ve seen you every night.”
“So you knew how I looked like but not who I was as a person?”
His smile grows bigger. “I have to disagree with that. Your dreams tell a lot about you as a person.”
“Why? What did I dream last night?”
He laughs now, his face changing with it. He looks so much younger when he laughs, at ease with himself and the world.
“You rode a cow over the ocean.”
“Oh.” You can’t help giggling. “That does sound like me.”
Three years later Keiji has moved in with you.
You’ve since learned that your dreams are your own when he sleeps by your side but if you fall asleep without him there, you’ll dream his dreams instead.
That wouldn’t be a problem if he had stopped dreaming about his worries.
Your phone alarm wakes you around midnight and you groggily move towards the kitchen, fully expecting him to either have a quick snack or go over his notes one last time before bed.
Tonight he’s crouched over his phone, mumbling as he reads through something.
The sight is so familiar, his whole demeanor so well-known it’s soothing on it’s own.
You know what time of the month he comes home late and what food he likes to eat right before bed.
Most importantly, you know he’ll wake up in pain if he keeps up that posture.
You step up behind him, slinging your hands around his shoulders as you press into his back.
“Hey,” you mumble into his hair, “Straighten your back.”
He chuckles but it sounds terse and you rub his stomach comfortingly.
“Don’t worry,” You tell him softly. “I am going to say yes.”
There’s a soft thud and you guess that he just dropped his phone.
“You’ve dreamt about it.” You remind him softly and kiss his ear. “And I know you.”
There’s a soft sigh and his body relaxes.
“Will you let me propose properly?”
“Sure?” There’s a smile in your voice. “I’ll let you have all the moments you need. But don’t worry about it. I am going to say yes.”