Bokuto is an influence to most if not all young volleyball players, including the son of Y/N, a single mother who tries her hardest to make ends meet while providing the perfect life for her son. When Bokuto offers to help her at the request of her son, how else is it supposed to play out?
Warnings: Feelings of worthlessness, crying, yelling
Chapter 5: Left Out
Y/N sighed as she began to pack up her belongings from the information desk at the Sendai Museum. It was a little past five in the evening and thankfully Sugawara had offered to be a last minute babysitter after the regular babysitter cancelled allowing Y/N to stay at work. She owed him money or something for dealing with Kaoru past his allotted work hours.
Maybe she could invite him over for dinner. There was a fully stocked fridge this week and she hadn’t made ramen in a while. Surely he’d appreciate that.
With the dinner plan in her mind Y/N scooped her shoulder bag up and hoisted it over her shoulder before leaving with a quiet goodbye to the kindly old lady in the next cubicle over. When she boarded the train, it was just turning 5:10pm and she had sent Sugawara a message saying she would be back at the school by 5:45pm. He’d merely responded with a selfie of himself and Kaoru with a cat filter explaining that all was well and to take her time.
Y/N smiled and saved the photo of her son with his teacher. Sugawara was just a year older than her and after enrolling Kaoru into his class at the elementary school she’d finally felt as though she had the respect of an elder. Ironically they’d reconnected well after realizing they’d gone to school together at Karasuno Gakuen and caught up regularly after school had ended allowing Kaoru to play with toys that they didn’t have at home. Y/N always insisted that Sugawara didn’t have to do anything for her but he insisted that it was his duty as her former senpai.
“Really Y/N, if it was a big deal we wouldn’t be discussing it would we.” He’d laughed over a coffee she’d bought in the subway shop. Sugawara never failed to bring a smile to her face when she was down and he’d managed to help Kaoru open up to classmates and find more friends.
Stepping off of the train she made her usual stop at the subway coffee shop to order two coffees and a muffin for Kaoru as a way to say ‘thanks again for watching my son’. Coffee now in hand, Y/N walked with a pep in her step back to the elementary school and into her son’s classroom.
Upon reaching the classroom Y/N noticed Sugawara helping Kaoru with some writing. He was spelling out a long word and Kaoru was attempting to spell it. Y/N walked up to the two and took a seat in the tiny chairs greeting the two with a weary smile.
“Momma!” Kaoru jumped up and ran around the table to his mother wanting to be embraced in her arms after a long day of counting and learning about types of weather. Y/N giggled and plastered a kiss on his forehead allowing him to clamber up into her lap to grab his muffin from her bag. Sugawara watched the exchange with a happy grin, stretching his arm out to grab the coffee that Y/N had provided.
“Thank you so much for watching him, Sugawara-san. If Mina hadn’t cancelled on me I wouldn’t have asked but I had to stay for my first full day-” Y/N started before Sugawara cut her off with a fleeting hand wave.
“It’s no problem. Besides we got to work on a little project for you, didn't we Kaoru?” Sugawara asked his student who nodded behind the muffin crumbs on his face.
“We did! I made you a card! Gimme it Suga-san!” Kaoru demanded holding his fist out.
“Kaoru sweetheart, we don’t say gimme. Use your big boy words.” Y/N scolded gently. Kaoru mumbled an apology and substituted the word “gimme” for “please.” Sugawara handed the card over and Kaoru opened it for Y/N revealing the two of them holding hands on what looked like a plate of pancakes with a fly swatter in Kaoru’s hands.
“Oh sweetheart, it's lovely! And Sugawara-sensei helped you?”
“Uh huh! He helped me make the volleyball court and showed me how to draw a- a- a volleyball!”
So that's what the plate of pancakes and fly swatter was. Y/N ruffled his hair and let him hug her while mouthing the words “Thank you” to Sugawara who simply laughed at the little boy’s expression of love for his mother. At that moment Kaoru seemed to remember something else and pulled at his mothers sleeve to get her attention.
“Momma you know- you know Suga-san helped me- helped me mail my letter to Bokuto! And we got a letter bacK!” Kaoru said. Y/N looked over at Sugawara who pulled out a hastily scribbled envelope addressed to Kaoru and handed it to her. Y/N opened the letter with a smile, happy that the athlete had taken the time to write back to her son even if it was probably just a cut and paste letter addressed to all fans.
“Momma read it! Read it! Read it!” Kaoru said, adjusting himself to hear it better. Y/N sighed and pulled the letter out to read.
“Dear Kaoru,
Thank you so much for sending me you questions! I had to think about some of them for a while and I think yes you should definitely one hundred percent get long knee pads! I used them when I was in elementary school and yeah they make me look the coolest so they’ll make you look the coolest!”
“Momma! We gotta go buy some today! He said they’d make me the coolest!” Kaoru gasped and looked at Y/N who matched his enthusiasm.
“We can look for some this weekend. Let’s finish the letter!” Y/N said wrapping her arm around him and gently rocking him.
Oh and by the way I LOVE YOUR JERSEY! You mom is awesome and it looks just like mine! Maybe she can make me one! Or maybe we can switch at some point! You look just like me with your hair like that! We could be twins almost kinda!
Kaoru jumped off Y/N’s lap to run around screaming “HE WANTS TO BE MY TWIN!” over and over as Y/N continued to read something that had caught her eye.
As for help with the bills, I’d be happy to help you. My mom and dad sometimes couldn’t afford to send me to volleyball camp and if you wanna be a famous athlete like me you gotta go to camp! Tell you what, I sent two tickets for you and your mom to come see me in Tokyo at our next game! You’ll be my guests! They’ll be VIP tickets and I can’t wait to see you guys there!
Y/N looked towards Sugawara with a shocked expression on her face. It was an expression of hurt and distrust. Sugawara opened his mouth to speak but Y/N beat him to it.
“You said you helped him write this letter? Why would you let him write about our financial troubles?! Sugawara!”
“Kaoru said you’d let him mail the letter-”
“He’s 6 for god's sake! He’s supposed to tell Bokuto how much he loves his techniques and how he wants to be just like him! Not that we need money! Kaoru lets go!”
Y/N scooped up her son and with a hurt look plastered on both of the adults, she left with Kaoru in her arms embarrassed by the fact that Sugawara had helped Kaoru write to this complete stranger asking for money. This was ridiculous! She’d trusted Sugawara with the information about their financial burden hoping he’d understand but clearly he didn’t.
“Wait Momma why did we leave? Can’t we finish the letter?” Kaoru asked, trying to reach for the letter that was stuffed into her messenger bag. Y/N adjusted him on her hip away from the bag and shook her head.
“No, we aren't finishing the letter! We’re going home!” Y/N snapped barging out of the school. Sugawara was close behind her trying to get her attention.
“Y/N wait! I wasn’t trying to hurt your feelings! You’re a wonderful mother and you deserve to have some help! Kaoru deserves to live like the other kids!” Sugawara pleaded. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. He had just wanted to help. Y/N stopped and turned to face the man with Kaoru still attempting to get the letter out of her bag causing Y/N to try and wrestle him away from it.
“Are you saying the life I’ve given him isn’t good enough?! I try ok! I work so damn hard to keep him happy and warm and fed! So what if I can’t afford to buy him toys?! Or send him to volleyball camp?! Or- KAORU STOP TRYING TO GET THE LETTER I SAID NO!”
Y/N pulled the letter out of her bag and ripped it up in front of his eyes. Kaoru watched as his idol’s letter was destroyed causing his eyes to water and eventually tears to fall. Y/N tore her eyes away from Sugawara to usher her child home and prevent him from making a scene.
Sugawara watched in dismay as the pretty woman walked off in front of his eyes and he was unable to stop her from walking away from him. He’d only wanted to help her and be someone that Y/N could turn to in more ways than one. Sugawara wouldn’t lie if anyone asked him if he had feelings for Y/N. He did. He thought this would finally allow him to be seen by her caring eyes.
But the way that Y/N had glared at him. The hurt in her eyes. The sting of venom in her voice after she’d read the return letter from Bokuto. It slashed his heart like no other pain had before. Sniffling to himself he bent down and picked up the pieces of the letter. If anything, he could at least tape the letter back together for Kaoru.
Upon arriving home, Y/N had sent Kaoru to his room where he could be heard bawling his eyes out. In the living room, Y/N was crying herself. She hadn’t meant to take her frustration and embarrassment out on him. Kaoru had cried the entire way home and refused to listen to her until she put him in his room.
Worst of all he hadn’t done anything. It was Y/N’s fault for not being more careful with the bills. If Kaoru hadn’t found them they wouldn’t have been in this position. It was all her fault.
It was all her fault.
She was such a terrible mother.
It was back again with a deafening roar. That little voice that always seemed to increase in volume by the thousands whenever she felt worthless.
A good mother wouldn't have ripped up her son's idol's letter.
A good mother wouldn't have yelled at her son in front of his teacher.
Y/N buried her face in her arms trying to muffle the sound of her own tears from Kaoru’s ears.
She sat there for what felt like ages until the soft patter of little feet pulled her eyes from their hiding point and saw Kaoru holding his arms out, his signal for a hug. She started to cry again as she embraced him, holding him close to her chest.
“Oh Kaoru… Momma is so sorry! Momma shouldn’t have yelled at you or ripped up your letter… How can momma make it up to you?” Y/N asked brushing his hair back and kissing his forehead. Her baby
Just as Kaoru opened his mouth to respond, there was a loud knock at the door. The two of them looked at each other and over at the door. Y/N hefted him onto her hip and went to investigate the source of the knocking.
Bokuto was about to cut his losses but when a beautiful woman holding the boy in the picture that he’d received in the mail he blanked. All the words in his brain had disappeared and he found his mouth drying up.
When he'd realized he'd left the tickets at his place all the way in Osaka, he'd decided the only way to make it up to this kid would be to hand deliver the tickets personally. But he hadn't expected to meet this gorgeous woman in front fo jim snd were
Even though it looked as though she had been crying he couldn’t help but be entranced by the way that she had pulled herself together. Bokuto could feel his heart racing and was unsure if it was anxiety or if it was something else…
“Oh um… I’m Bokuto Koutarou. Is this the residence of Y/N and Kaoru? I realized I left out the tickets to my volleyball match in the return letter.”
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Authors Note: Hey everyone! Wow we see Suga's feelings and we meet Bokuto! Crazy! Well now that we've gotten to chapter five i will be taking a break but please I love your feedback! Please send me questions you have or thoughts about the series! I love answering questions!
Quick Question! Would you guys prefer shorter more frewuent chapters or longer less frequent chapters. I've got some exams coming up and I don't want to leave you guys hanging for a week so let me know what the verdict is!
Taglist: Open! @sageshit @daddyissuesmademe @sabrinakishi @itsmiyamore @myhaikyuudump @romanoffs-heart @its-the-aerieljeane @heroesfan101 @anejuuuuoy
