akaashi saunters up to you after practice one day, and smiles when he sees your face buried in a book. you donāt notice his presence beside you, reaching a hand up to tuck the hair thatās fallen out of your ponytail behind your ears, huffing slightly when some stray hairs still remain.
an amused smile surfaces onto akaashiās face when he sees that, because youāve always been impatient at everything, and he finds it endearing that even with that, youāve always managed to sit down and finish books in one sitting.
āhey,ā he says, and you jump slightly, before tilting your head up to blink at him, and akaashi draws in a quick breath before leaning forward to help tuck the elusive strands of stray hair behind your ear for you, and when he sees the grateful smile that spreads across your face after he does that, he canāt help but smile back at you.
āoh, youāre done changing! are you ready to go?ā you say, closing the book to place it onto the bench, and akaashi startles, reaching forward to hold a finger in between the pages that you were at before the book shuts, and you raise a brow at him.
āyou didnāt put a bookmark yet,ā he reminds you, and you shake your head, smiling at him.
āiāve finished the book during our free period earlier, i was just re-reading it for fun,ā you say, and akaashi exhales out a sigh and you grin at him.
ādo you want to lend this book? itās really good,ā you tell him, turning back to stuff your items back into your school bag, and akaashi laughs when you turn to raise a brow at him.
āsure,ā he says, reaching for the book, but you hold it back to your chest and he blinks.
āare you sure you want to borrow it? you always read whatever i tell you to read, and you always tell me that itās good, but are you sure youāre not reading it just because iām telling you to?ā
youāve caught him. akaashi doesnāt usually read your genre of books, but he has to admit to himself that after a while, that particular genre really caught up to him. he tries to ignore the fact that the reason he started to fall for the genre was because he always saw your bright eyes and heard your excited lilt to your tone whenever you talked about the latest book that you were reading to him. he tries to ignore the fact that the reason he fell for the genre was because he fell for you.
āno, i really do like to read it,ā akaashi answers, and laughs when you narrow your eyebrows at him, āiām serious, (Y/N), i think itās really interesting.ā
you smile a relieved smile at him before passing the book to him, and akaashi smiles down at you and pats your shoulder lightly, ā come on, iām walking you home.ā
later that night, after akaashi has texted you a goodnight, he sits on a chair, flipping through the pages of the book.
when a small slip of paper falls out from one of the pages, akaashi tilts his head slightly, before reaching down to pick it up.
itās small enough to be a random scrap of paper, but when he looks a little closer, he realises that itās a slip of paper torn from a notebook. and when he squintās his eyes under the dim light of his study lamp to read it, a big smile surfaces onto his face.
youāre cute, he thinks.
because youāve written his name and yours with a small heart, and akaashi thinks he really needs to tell you about his feelings tomorrow.
