hatsukoi combat

[malurus coronatus]

Y_A_C_H_I__ H_I_T_O_K_A

The fact that Akaashi had not spoken since they had left the car was discomforting. Had she said something wrong? Yachi pressed her lips together and stared at Akaashi’s back as she trailed after him up the stairs, feeling guilty and breath caught in her throat. She hadn’t meant to. Maybe she should have asked Kiyoko for advice after all.

It was not until he was unlocking his door that he spoke and it was a relief. She hadn’t offended him and she wasn’t forcing him. That was good. Better than.

“I’m glad,” she breathed, full of sincerity. “I, um, I’d like to get to know you better as well. Kiyoko-san only has good things to say about you. Bokuto-san, too.” For a moment, Yachi bit her lip, before smiling again and following Akaashi into his place. Carefully, she slipped her shoes off, balancing against the wall.

After setting her sandals carefully in the corner, Yachi turned to look at the space properly. It was much tidier than Shouyou’s place, which was often like a hurricane had rolled through it. The place was also not quite as sleek Tsukishima’s, full of dark utilitarian furniture, all metal and glass and black. Humble would have been a better way to describe it, but she liked it. It looked lived in, with the neat stacks of magazines and books.

She barely noticed Akaashi speaking until the questions came, and she turned to him with a flush. “Oh, no. No. I’m good, thank you.”

Moving further into the apartment, Yachi realized that the lighting of the space was also good. Was it south-facing? Had picked it for that on purpose? Lighting was supposed to be important in photography, right?

“I like your place,” she said after a moment, pulling her hair over her shoulder and smiling genuinely. “There’s a lot of natural light. I-it’s nice. Have you lived here long?”

At the table in front of the sofa, she looked down over one of the book piles she had noticed earlier. At the top was a photobook with a cover displaying a cityscape in the evening, the sky washed in oranges and pinks and blues and buildings as dark silhouettes. She looked to Akaashi for permission first and then, with some hesitation, she reached down and picked it up to admire, careful not to crack or break the spine when she opened it to reveal similar photographs. “These are very beautiful,” she murmured before looking back up to Akaashi. “Do you collect them? Ah, photobooks, that is.”

[second day sea]

A_K_A_A_S_H_I _ K_E_I_J_I

Shrugging out of his jacket and hurriedly turning on the air conditioning, following her inside and hanging his keys on the wall. "Since university. It's a bit out of the way but it's cheap and quiet." He came to stand next to her, tugging back the curtain, "And, of course, the view."

The view was why he couldn't bear to leave, even though the place was falling apart at the seams, the railings rusted and the metal roofing noisy when it rained. But the view was his favorite, especially in spring when the cherry blossom trees in the backyard were in full bloom, like a pink little viewfinder through which to view the city.

He leaned on the sofa, fanning his shirt as he watched her flip through his book. Gesturing to the bookshelf and the other stacks occupying every spot of free space, he nodded with a faint smile. "Unintentionally. It's a guilty pleasure."

Pushing himself up as she continued looking, he went to the bedroom door, pausing at the door. "The studio is in here. You can come when you're ready." He slipped inside without waiting, going around the room first to make sure nothing was out of place. It only took a second to straighten things out since he kept it impeccable, but he cleared a stool for Yachi, taking the photos that were left there and adding them to another stack on his desk in the corner; things he would never finish or practice shots that would never see the light of day. His computer flickered on at the movement, showing his last project. Akari's image smiled up at him and he was almost immediately distracted, adjusting the lighting in the image and flicking through a couple texture backgrounds, starting to brush out flaws.

[malurus coronatus]

Y_A_C_H_I__ H_I_T_O_K_A

Her eyes followed his motion to the bookshelf she was only just noticing, finding the shelves crammed full. That reminded her a little more of Shouyou and the plethora of magazines he would buy, and she smiled faintly at it. Were all his books similar to this? Or were there also landscapes and people and plants and animals in his collection? Which were his favourites?

Briefly, her eyes flickered over to him as he lifted himself from his seat and she gave a small nod. It felt a bit intimate to be left alone in his space like this, and she did not linger long, only spending a few more seconds looking over the collection of books. Carefully, she set the book back down where she had found it, fingers giving a lingering trace over the cover.

A moment later, she turned to the room Akaashi had disappeared into, softly padding into it. Just like the living space, it was neatly organized, but with obvious signs of habitation. Her eyes trailed over the space until they finally landed on Akaashi, sitting at a desk in the corner. Quietly, she moved to his side, her gaze settling on the image on the screen.

The woman was beautiful—prettier than Kiyoko, even—and there was something about the photograph.

Yachi was no expert when it came to photography, or art in general, but there was something about the way it had been taken. She meant something to the photographer. To Akaashi.

For a moment, she stayed quiet, watching the cursor move over the screen, clearing away blemishes and changing filters on the image. He had an eye for this, and she could see why Kiyoko used him so frequently. “She’s very pretty,” Yachi finally remarked, quiet and almost afraid to break the man’s concentration. “Who is she? I-if you don’t mind me asking.”

[second day sea]

A_K_A_A_S_H_I _ K_E_I_J_I

Distracted by his work, he almost didn't hear her come in, and her shadow falling over his screen startled him. Starting to pull himself away, he started to apologize, but Yachi's eyes were fixed on the screen and she seemed not to notice. His gaze lingered for a moment, and something in his head started to compose a shot—the light from the window on her cheek, her eyes drawn to something off frame—but then he turned back, propping up his chin on a palm and doing the last of his edits. His brow rose critically, trying to see what Yachi saw. "She's already too aware of the affect she has on people. You can tell by the way she smiles at the camera."

He hummed by way of response to her second question, thinking distractedly about the proper answer. "Akari is an old friend," he finally settled on, tapping his finger against his bottom lip. "She models for me sometimes." It wasn't a lie; they were currently "just friends". But it wasn't like they hadn't been there before. Would this time prove any different?

Something in Akari's photograph made him bite his lip as he stared at his work. Pushing himself away, he turned to face his guest and offer her a smile. "She feeds on compliments from cute people like you. Don't let her hear you think she's pretty."

He rose in his seat, searching through the stacks surrounding his computer for the file set he was looking for. "Here," he pulled it from the stack, offering it for her to examine and gesturing for her to sit at the stool he cleared. "I went to Bokuto-san's class once and the kids asked me to take pictures for them. I just finished putting them together and was going to drop it off soon, but you get to take the first look."

[malurus coronatus]

Y_A_C_H_I__ H_I_T_O_K_A

Yachi nodded at Akaashi’s answer, but there was something to it. It didn’t necessarily make her sad or jealous, because she had only just met Akaashi, but she did wonder. He had spoken about her in a fond way, different from how he had referenced Bokuto’s penchant for yakiniku earlier—softer? But then, it wasn’t impossible for males and females to be friends. Was she reading too much into it?

Distracted, she hadn’t noticed her host smiling at her until he was speaking, and pink dusted over her cheeks. “O-oh, I’m not—that is, ah, oh,” she stumbled over her words at his compliment. She had been called cute before but it always made her feel self-conscious. Not like she was at the butt of some joke, but like she was under some sort of scrutiny.

Rubbing at her cheek, she took the seat he offered, thankful for the change in subject and taking the photos offered with both hands. A smiling face greeted her, chubby cheeks pulled wide and dimpled, and a gap tooth that was sweet. Yachi couldn’t help but smile down at the boy in the picture and his mound of red and blue plasticine. A plane? A bird? Whatever it was, the child in the image held it out proudly for inspection.

With care, she placed the photo back on the desk to look over the next picture. It was an image in three children playing dress-up, a sequenced cape on one of the children, another holding a star-shaped wand, and the third posed as if a monster to attack. The third image was of Bokuto, and it made her let out a small laugh. Yamaguchi stood in the background of that one, looking lost.

“A-are you sure you are in need of an assistant?” She asked, thinking back to something her companion had said at the café, as she looked through the images and the carefree faces. “The children seem very happy here. They must have enjoyed it.”

Passing over a second image of Bokuto, her lips curled upwards. “Bokuto-san, too, I think.”

[second day sea]

A_K_A_A_S_H_I _ K_E_I_J_I

"You are. It's true," he affirmed with a nod, watching her expression as she glanced away. He could have gone further to mention that she was even cuter embarrassed, but decided against it, turning back to the computer to save his work and close his program.

He couldn't help but feel a warmth in his chest at her laughter, her smile growing with each page she turned. He leaned against the table, strangely content to study her reaction, reminded again why he preferred people photography to scenery or anything else. It was nice to see someone looking at his work. Rarely did he get to see what people thought when they saw the pictures he took, what memories it conjured up for them, how they felt, what they were thinking.

"It's probably Bokuto-san that makes them laugh like that." The statement was a rare admission of affection from Akaashi for the other man. "He worried me when he said he was going to become a teacher, but I shouldn't have been surprised. He's good at it, isn't he?"

Bokuto had always been good with people. Akaashi was jealous of that sort of thing, that ability to make people instantaneously open up. But with a camera he could do it maybe. He could see what people thought, what made them smile, what they loved. It wasn't quite the same, but it was his own method, he supposed.

Leaning over a bit, he could see the newest photograph she had uncovered: the children crawling all over Bokuto as Yamaguchi fretted in the background some more, catching a girl about to topple off. He could still remember Bokuto's outrage when he had ignored the calls for help and settled for taking a photo instead. "He's in half of the shots. I think he was getting jealous of the kids."

[malurus coronatus]

Y_A_C_H_I__ H_I_T_O_K_A

“He is.” Her agreement came softly, but also immediately. Bokuto really was good with the children, and if she had not seen it firsthand before, the evidence was in the photographs.

She flipped to the next image, this one of Yamaguchi as he smiled serenely at something off-screen. Probably the children. It was the sort of picture Tsukishima might have appreciated, and she put it at the back of the pile in her hand, rather than setting it aside like the others. Would Akaashi have minded if she asked for a copy of the file?

Another laugh slipped past her lips at the picture next revealed and she barely noticed Akaashi leaning closer into her space. “H-he does like attention, doesn’t he?” She didn’t know Bokuto too well, but he reminded her of Shouyou in some ways. The good ones. Both were good with people in a way she only wished she was, and were also easy to smile and easy to laugh.

“So you’ve known Bokuto-san since before university, then?” The question escaped her as she flickered through the next four photos, two of them containing the man in question. The fifth was of solely of the man, looking as if he were sulking about something. Jealous indeed, it seemed. Yachi smiled over it, wondering if the man to her side had surprised Bokuto when he had taken the candid.

He really was good at this. Far more so than the pictures he had taken for Kiyoko let on. Or perhaps it was the subject in question. “You’re very—these are amazing,” she said as she rounded back to the picture of Yamaguchi she had seen earlier.

Yachi looked up to seek Akaashi’s face. “I-if it isn’t too much trouble, could I,” she paused and bit her lower lip a moment. “Would it be alright if I asked for a copy of this one? My, ah, my boss and Yamaguchi-san are…H-he would like this, I think.”

[second day sea]

A_K_A_A_S_H_I _ K_E_I_J_I

"High school," he confirmed. "We somehow remained friends after graduation, though Bokuto-san went to a farther university." He hadn't even finished college himself, dropping out after two uninteresting years. It was Bokuto who had sent messages every few months. Bokuto who reached out when he graduated and moved back home. Bokuto who had them pick up their friendship like three years hadn't just passed.

As usual, Akaashi spent a second wondering exactly why they were such good friends, despite the year in age difference and the completely opposite personalities. But it worked out miraculously and Akaashi wasn't about to complain.

He straightened up at Yachi's compliment, his eyes widening slightly, trying to process the words. She had been quick to compliment him so far, but this was the only one that made happiness curl in his chest, his lips lifting into a soft smile. 'Thank you' wouldn't have sufficed, and silence wasn't really much better, but that was all he had, tapping his heel against the leg of his chair because his pleasure needed some form of release.

"Your boss?" His attention piqued. He would have thought a lover by the way Yachi said it, but he hadn't known Yamaguchi was gay. Amused, he reached out and took the stack from her fingers, before sliding the one of Yamaguchi out and returning it to her. "Yamaguchi-kun would probably have been embarrassed to see it anyway. Please make sure it gets to the right person."

He slid them back into their sleeve, setting them on the desk at his elbow as another thought struck. "Does Bokuto-san know about Yamaguchi-kun? He's rather protective; I think he'd want to vet your boss."

[malurus coronatus]

Y_A_C_H_I__ H_I_T_O_K_A

Yachi smiled widely in appreciation a moment at being given the photo before she managed to tame it to something smaller. “Thank you. I-I really appreciate it,” she said, holding the picture as if it were something precious. Which, to be fair, it was. She would need to find a safe way to transport it, to make sure it did not bend or crease between now and when she gave it to Tsukishima.

For a few more seconds, she admired the photo, until her attention was directed back towards Akaashi. “I, ah, think so? Tsukishima-san picks him up from work on Fridays. H-he takes off early. Even when he has a lot of work, he takes it with him. It is—his clients all know he is unavailable Friday afternoon unless it’s an emergency.” Yachi made sure of that last bit.

Pressing her lips together, she glanced back up towards Akaashi to admit, “I-I think Bokuto-san exasperates Tsukishima-san. He’s asked me to find him some aspirin before. To take with him.” She smiled a little, as if she had divulged some sort of secret not meant to be told.

“If Bokuto-san doesn’t know, then, ah,” Yach trailed off, a wrinkle forming in her brow. “It’s probably because Tsukishima-san is very, um, private. But they, um, they’ve been together a while. Longer than I’ve known Tsukishima-san.” Her smile turned into something sweeter and fonder as she thought about the two. Something about the way her boss got around Yamaguchi.

Before she could get too caught up in her thoughts, she settled the picture over her lap and looked to the other stacks of photos on the table. There were many, and even though she could not see all the pictures clearly, she had no doubt they were good. “You really enjoy photography, don’t you?”

[second day sea]

A_K_A_A_S_H_I _ K_E_I_J_I

He watched her handle it carefully for a second, then rose to his feet, stepping over cords and equipment to pull out a box sitting in a low shelf. "They have a standing date? Bokuto-san must know then." He mused aloud as he thumbed through the box, sifting through contents he hadn't even remembered were there. The mention of aspirin had him glancing back over his shoulder to see if she was joking.

Apparently not.

He grinned back at her, turning back around and wondering amusedly to himself whether or not he might get along with this 'Tsukishima' caricature she was painting in his head. Headaches from Bokuto, apparently dotes on Yamaguchi, but runs a successful enough law business to warrant a personal secretary? His musings were interrupted and he murmured a small "got you" under his breath as he found what he was looking for. "Here, use this so it doesn't bend." He straightened up and walked back over, handing her a simple cardstock frame to slip the image into. "It will hold it's shape a little better."

Following her gaze around his room, he just tilted his head, crossing his arms and studying the room through her eyes. She had asked as much earlier in the cafe, but this one sounded more like affirmation, as if just realizing he wasn't making it up. "It's more like a hobby right now, but it's enough to pay the bills," he responded modestly, taking in the white sheet draping from the ceiling and the few lights he had been able to afford thus far. To be honest, he would rather have a studio of his own and take customers. Portrait photography had always been his favorite. There was something oddly intimate about capturing someone's thoughts and expressions into a single moment, one that wouldn't ever be repeated.

He even liked the social aspect, meeting all sorts of new people and finding the right way to get them to open up about themselves.

"Could I take pictures of you?" He turned to her, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully. "I would like to, if you don't mind?"

[malurus coronatus]

Y_A_C_H_I__ H_I_T_O_K_A

It seemed more like a passion than a hobby, but hadn’t Shouyou called his little corner of plants a hobby back when they had been in high school? She smiled a little at the memory, tucking the photo away in the frame Akaashi had offered earlier, grateful for his consideration.

A silence fell over the room, but it was a comfortable one, and her eyes slowly moved around the room until they landed back on Akaashi with some amount of shock. “O-of me?” She squeaked out. “B-but I—I’m not—I’m sure you—“

Several times, Yachi started and stopped, stammering out the beginnings of thoughts she couldn’t complete. He wanted to take pictures of her? But why? She wasn’t as pretty as Kiyoko, and she wouldn’t even dare compare herself to his friend, Akari.

But maybe he saw something that she did not?

And he had given her the photo for Tsukishima.

Staring up at him for a few more seconds, Yachi averted her gaze to her knees and bit her lip. Then, slowly, she gave the tiniest of nods. “O-okay. But, ah, I’ve never—what am I supposed to do?”

[second day sea]

A_K_A_A_S_H_I _ K_E_I_J_I

He waited for her without speaking, watching her evenly as she tried unsuccessfully to form coherent sentences. It wasn't a wholly unusual reaction; most people were uncomfortable with the idea of being the subject of a non-casual photograph, weren't they? But he was patient (or maybe just selfish), waiting for a proper response.

When she agreed, he was actually rather surprised. But he stood up smoothly, already going through what needed to be prepared. Walking to the window and pushing the curtains open to let as much natural light in as he could, he gave her short instructions. "You don't need to worry about poses. Here, sit on this chair." He moved a bag of lenses off the chair in the middle of the room, indicating it with a dip of his head. "I'll be right back."

He disappeared into the living room only to reappear again a camera, this one different from his small one that he carried around with him in his pocket. Cradling it against his side, he quickly kicked open a tripod with his foot, screwing the camera into place and going back to turn on some lights for the shadows on the dark side of the room.

Returning to the camera, he bent down to look through the viewfinder, only to stand up a second later and study her for a second. He pulled up his chair from his desk, sliding it up so he could take a seat from beside his camera. For a moment it felt again like they had just met, sitting beside each other at a table in a small cafe. "Usually I ask people to talk about themselves a bit, but I think I've already done that." He rested a hand on the tripod, drumming his fingers on the frame as he tried to think of an appropriate starting point. "How did you and Kiyoko meet?"

[malurus coronatus]

Y_A_C_H_I__ H_I_T_O_K_A

With some hesitation, Yachi left her bag and the cardstock with the photo on the stool before she took the new seat he had cleared for her. It was higher than the stool, and her legs dangled off of the edge, toes barely brushing against the ground. Absently, she noticed the room was brighter now that the curtains were open, and she looked out the window for a glimpse of the view.

Akaashi had said not to worry about poses, but she worried nonetheless. Poses, what he might see through the camera, and, vainly enough, those awkward photos where your eyes were half closed and you were mid-speech.

When he came back, it was with a camera larger than the one he had brought to the café, and he set it upon a tripod. He seemed so natural and assured in his motions, practiced, and she quietly admired him. There was something about the air that settled over him, now that he was in his element well and truly. More a passion than a hobby, she remembered thinking.

“K-Kiyoko-san?” She questioned a moment, fingers fiddling in the skirt of her dress not for the first time that day. “We ah,” her brow dipped down and then smoothed seconds later. “We met in university. I-I lived in the dorms my first year and Kiyoko-san was the resident mentor for my, um, my floor.”

The memory of it came to her slowly, moving into the city and into residence her first year. The tiny and cramped room she had called her own, so far away from home. Her mother had been afraid that living off campus, she might run into trouble, though the following years, she had found herself a tiny apartment near the school. “She lived two doors down from me and—and when I—“

When she had missed home, Kiyoko had been kind enough to sit and talk with her.

Unconsciously, her fingers stopped playing with the cotton of her dress and they twined together, settling. “Kiyoko-san lent me her ear even though she was busy with her own schoolwork,” Yachi finally said, a soft smile forming in remembrance and then flushing slightly at her next remark. “E-even after I moved out of residence, we still met up. She’s ah—I’m really happy to be her friend.”

Biting at her lower lip, she looked up at Akaashi from beneath the hood of her lashes. “W-was that okay? Should I—is there anything else I should say?”

[second day sea]

A_K_A_A_S_H_I _ K_E_I_J_I

He listened patiently, straightening the camera through the display instead of looking through the viewfinder, careful not to make large movements to distract her. When her fingers stopped playing with the hem of her dress, he experimentally snapped a picture, still not going so far as to bend to see the lenses, but just to see her reaction.

She didn't seem to notice and he rose from his seat, thumbing through the history to see how it came out. Her shy smile was captured, her eyes downcast as her eyelashes cast shadows on her cheeks. He only spared a second to look, crossing his arms as she glanced back at him, seeking his approval. For what, he couldn't be sure, but that was the smoothest she had spoken since they met and he didn't want to blow it.

"That was good," he responded easily, giving her a faint smile. "Kiyoko has mentioned a friend from university who she still kept in touch with. That must be you." She was watching him too carefully for him to change another shot, so he kept talking. "She speaks highly of you though, says she learned how to do layouts watching you. Assuming you're the same person as the one she's mentioned before."

He leaned behind his camera, resting his finger on the shutter. A little more talking from her and that would likely be enough. "You came here for university then? Did you grow up somewhere else?"

[malurus coronatus]

Y_A_C_H_I__ H_I_T_O_K_A

“She, ah, she gives me too much credit,” Yachi exclaimed, the flush on her cheeks intensifying. “I only—I showed Kiyoko-san the basics for designing layouts. A-and she already had an eye for it.”

Her gaze went back down, and she pushed her index fingers together, glad for the next question. “Yes. I’m, um, from Hachoji. B-but I wanted to study here in Tokyo.”

Yachi stayed quiet for a little longer, not quite sure what else to say immediately. “I’m—I missed home a lot, at first. It wasn’t that far away, b-but I didn’t want to worry my parents and go home too often, even though they were only a train ride away.” Her eyes slowly lifted back towards the window and she rubbed over her knuckles with her thumb. “But I—I wouldn’t change it. I’m happy here. And—and I’ve gotten to meet a lot of people, e-even though—“

Well, she didn’t really need to state how terrible she was at meeting new people again.

“I-I did think about moving, after I, ah, graduated. But I couldn’t—I liked it too much here. I would have missed my friends.” Which was not to say she hadn’t missed her high school friends, but most had left Hachoji as well, and it felt like she was closer to the ones here.

As for the reason she had almost left—

She wondered Yukitaka was doing now. It had been some time since she had heard from him. Shouyou might know. He had always been much better about keeping in contact. Again, she began to brush her thumb over her knuckles distractedly, and she shifted her legs, crossing her ankles. Maybe she would send him an email later? Ask how he was doing at his job, about the girl he had mentioned last time they had talked? He had seemed happy, which had made her happy as well.

Her thoughts wandered away from her and she remained silent, lost in them.