𝙱𝚊𝚍 𝙸𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚜 - 𝙺. 𝙱𝚘𝚔𝚞𝚝𝚘 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

Chapter Three

Seated in a small booth within the ramen restaurant suggested to them, Idoki, Bokuto, and Akaashi chatted while they ate. A delighted hum left the Idoki's lips as she spooned some additional broth into her mouth, letting the heavenly liquid rest on her tongue for a moment before swallowing it. "You were right, Bokuto-san. Extra broth is truly amazing."

"I told you," his reply mumbled by the noodles he was chewing.

Akaashi sighed. "Bokuto-san, you're a grown man. I shouldn't have to lecture you about talking with your mouth full." He glanced at their most recent friend. "Especially around a new acquaintance."

Bokuto finished chewing the food in his mouth before he smiled across the table at Idoki. "We're not acquaintances, Akaashi. We're friends."

"You still should mind your manners," he pointed out, looking down at the steam still rising from his bowl before dipping his chopsticks inside to fish out some noodles. Though Bokuto thought extra broth was the way to go, Akaashi knew that balance was key when it came to ramen.

"And since we're friends, Doki-chan, you gotta tell us all the embarrassing stories you know about Hinata and Yacchan!"

"I don't think that would make me a very good friend, Bokuto-san." Idoki's smile grew as she recalled one particular story about Yachi tripping and falling in front of her youngest brother, whom the blonde had had a crush on at the time. "But there are some good ones. Maybe next time we're all together they'll give me permission to tell you."

"Awwww," Bokuto jutted out his bottom lip and made his eyes wider. "But it's my birthday, Doki-chan."

Tapping her chopsticks on the side of the bowl, Idoki chewed on the inside of her cheek, how could she hold out when he utilized the perfect puppy dog expression as a weapon against her? "Then what about if I tell you one of mine instead?"

Akaashi sat up straighter in his seat, intrigued by the idea while Bokuto perked up and nodded. "That's a compromise I'm willing to accept."

Taking a deep breath to steel her nerves, Idoki felt her cheeks beginning to flush at the memory. "So, I guess you could say that I was a late bloomer...in the romantic sense," she scratched her cheek. "And I didn't have my first kiss until I was eighteen."

"That's it? That's not that embarrassing, Doki-chan," he shrugged.

"No, that's not all," the redhead sighed. "I had a crush on one of my brother's friends and he had come over to hang out with Masayuki but we ended up running into each other in the kitchen when he came to get a drink."

"Okay," Bokuto nodded, slurping up some more noodles as he listened with Akaashi doing the same.

"H-he was standing kinda close to me when I turned around after grabbing a glass for him out of the cupboard and out of the blue he asked if he could kiss me." Feeling herself growing flustered, she tried to laugh off her nervousness before she continued. "I obviously said yes, I was head over heels for the guy, but what neither of us knew was that Masayuki was wondering what was taking so long. So by the time we actually kissed, my brother was walking into the room and made a very loud gagging sound."

Idoki shook her head as she rolled her eyes. "I was nervous enough as it was and nearly jumped right out of my skin from the idiot's unexpected interruption and I lost my balance. My arms stuck out as I tried to keep myself upwards and somehow I managed to hit Shinsuke and split his lip." Her hand dragged down her reddened cheeks as she grumbled the last of her story. "My brother still calls me Slugger."

Akaashi softly laughed as Bokuto chuckled alongside him only at a higher decibel. "Awww, Doki-chaaaaaaan," he leaned over and patted the top of her head in an effort to console her. "That's such a good nickname though!"