A concerned Akaashi finds you crying in the university cafe while he's trying to close up shop.

Requested by Chaoticveins

Warning: this one shot mentions a toxic relationship, which may be upsetting to some readers.

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Bristles of a broom scraped loudly as they dragged across the floor, sweeping up dust, litter, and god knows what else from every nook and cranny of the room. Annoyingly enough, it was the only sound audible above the gentle, indie music playing at a whisper from the speakers in the ceiling. A raven-haired man with stunning, slate blue eyes paused in his clean up duties to scan the seating area of the cafe. A young woman sitting alone in a corner with a white mug on the table in front of her caught his attention.

Stepping out from behind the counter, he walked over to you. "Excuse me," he called softly, "I need to close up the cafe, so..." His voice trailed off when he noticed a single tear plop onto the delicate hands wrapped around the warm cup resting on the lacquered wood. "Are you alright?"

The (h/l), (h/c) strands of hair hanging in front of your face shrouded your emotions from him, so he couldn't see that your (e/c) eyes were swimming with tears. "I'm sorry," you uttered, bottom lip quivering with distress. One of your hands raised to push a section of your hair behind your ear, revealing one watery eye, one bright red cheek, and half of a cherry-colored nose to him.

Your features were instantly recognizable to him, but he couldn't place you. Images of possible situations flashed through his mind with dizzying speed. Had he bumped into you around campus? At the library? The cafe? The bookstore? No. Finally, he saw you again beside a window, bathed in sunlight as you sat peacefully at your desk. That was it.

"(L/n)-san? We're in the same statistics class, right?" he guessed, hoping his memory wasn't deceiving him.

Slowly turning your head, you regarded him silently with shaking eyes. The slight upturn of your eyebrows, the nearly indiscernible flaring of your nostrils, and the way your teeth held onto your bottom lip tightly were all signs of restraint that showed your losing battle with your emotions. "Yeah," you answered. Examining his concerned gaze brought you back to reality and made you very suddenly aware of your situation. "Akaashi-san!" Your hands rushed to wipe the tears off your face so aggressively that it almost seemed as if you were attempting to scrub away the sadness that had caused them. "I'm so sorry; I'll let you close up," you apologized.

His hand on your shoulder made you stop rushing to shove all your belongings into your backpack. "What were you drinking?" he asked as he picked up the half-empty mug in front of you. After giving him the name of the drink you'd ordered, he offered, "I'll get you some more." Fishing a set of keys out of his pocket, he stuck one in the front door of the cafe to prevent any college students of the night from swooping in, then disappeared behind the counter to prepare you another drink.

After listening to the whirring of machinery for a minute or two, Akaashi reappeared, setting a freshly made drink in a take-out cup on the table before you. "I can understand if you don't," he mentioned, running a hand through his messy, black hair, "but do you want to talk about what's upsetting you?" Slate-blue eyes regarded your own, teary (e/c) ones tenderly in the silence that followed his request. He could clearly see the distress you struggled to hide behind your gaze, so he pulled out the chair across from you and took a seat. "I'm the only one closing up tonight, and I'll get done in time, so there's no rush."

"I'd hate to just dump everything on you when we hardly know each other," you said, cheeks turning red with embarrassment.

A small smile crossed his lips. "That's too bad; I thought we'd really bonded after that partner project we worked on together."

That comment in its beautiful simplicity carried enough weight to knock down a few of the walls you'd put up around yourself. Before you understood what was happening, your lips were moving and the entire story of how you'd ended up sobbing in your university's cafe poured from your mouth. With great patience that he must've built up during his years of life, Akaashi listened carefully, only stopping you for a moment to make himself a cup of tea.

Long story short, your life had taken a turn for the worse after getting into a relationship with a man who turned out not to be the same person you thought he was. Out of adoration, you'd ignored far too many red flags that should've had your running for the hills. You thought the way he got jealous of other men or acted extra protective around them from time to time was endearing and meant he cared about you.

Instead, that green monster of his had translated into many fights caused by him questioning your loyalty after hanging out with a student of the opposite gender and threatening to sort them out using physical means. His sweet words became ammunition that he used against you. The gently spoken promise that nobody would ever love you as much as he did turned into a chain that restrained you, and kept you from leaving.

In the end, when you told him you wanted to break up with him, he had retaliated against you. At first, he'd pulled out all the stops to win you back, showering you with love and affection; but when that hadn't worked, he'd quickly turned cruel and hateful. His sweet words turned sour and venomous, and he'd belittled you before ripping a watch he'd gotten for you off your wrist and smashing it under his shoe. You'd promptly kicked him out of your apartment after that, but the mark left on your skin remained.

The event had only happened yesterday, and after spending all day holding back your feelings while sitting through classes, it wasn't all that surprising that you'd broken down in your university's cafe during your homework session. Especially since he'd been blowing up your phone all day with sweet apologies followed by horrible slander when you chose to ignore him. Once you'd given Akaashi a brief overview of your situation, you took a long drink and waited for his response, wondering how he'd react to a mere classmate dumping information about an intimate part of her life on him. Any normal person would've been freaked out, but the man sitting across from you didn't seem fazed at all.

Instead, he said, "I'm sorry that you've been dealing with this, (l/n)-san. Just know that no matter what he says, you don't deserve to be treated like that." Those stormy eyes of his drifted to light bruising on your wrist before returning to your own watery ones once again. "Please, stay in here while I get everything cleaned up. I've locked the door, so nobody else can come in. Do you live on campus?"

For the first time in what seemed to be forever, the cold hand of sadness gripping your heart started to ease. It suddenly felt like you could breathe. You gave him a nod to answer his question. "I live in one of the housing communities nearby. Do you?"

"Yes. I don't think you should walk by yourself at night, so, will you let me walk with you?" he offered.

A small smile spread across your lips. "I would appreciate that. Thank you, Akaashi-san."

"Of course. I'll be back soon."

With that said, he rose from his seat, taking his empty cup of tea with him, and continued closing up the cafe. As you watched him calmly go about his job, pausing every now and then when your eye caught his to give you a small smile, you felt relieved. After dealing with being caught in a downward spiral as a result of your ex-boyfriend's manipulative and suffocating behavior, you could finally see a sliver of hope. Your phone vibrated ceaselessly with texts from your spurned "lover," but you were able to find comfort in knowing that you now had someone who would take care of you, even if he only did so for one evening. That was enough. Just by showing that he cared, Akaashi had opened the shutters of your world that had kept you in total darkness, and had let in enough light for you to see that this wasn't the end.

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Fortunately, Akaashi's kindness wasn't a one-time deal. In the days and weeks following your breakdown in the cafe, he made it his priority to walk with you onto campus in the mornings when you had class together, and back home on the days when your courses ended later in the evening. The cafe became your favorite place to hang out and do homework whenever Akaashi was working, since he would always come and sit with you during his breaks or after his shift. He'd even sneak you a free pastry every now and then to help you power through your study sessions.

Being friends with Akaashi was easy, but it was hard for you not to fall for him. With his gently spoken words, his beautiful appearance, and his authenticity, he was hard to resist. But, you had to force yourself to see him as nothing other than your buddy because you didn't want to jump ahead into something else. Plus, there was always the chance that you were reading too much into his kindness, as you usually did. You'd had bad experiences with getting involved with people too soon, so you needed to slow yourself down. It wouldn't be a good idea to get into another relationship when your ex-boyfriend was still giving you such longing looks whenever the two of you came across one another on campus.

However, as the time you spent with Akaashi increased, your ex's attempts to confront you or reach out to you did as well. He knew so much about you, including your class schedule, that you were worried he would eventually try to corner you with his stupid pleas for forgiveness or hateful words. But, he had fooled you into becoming more relaxed by resisting the urge to ambush you until a few months after your breakup. As time flew by and your feelings towards him began to fade, he started appearing more and more frequently, trying to worm his way back into your life.

Since you'd shown Akaashi pictures of your ex, he knew what the scumbag looked like. Because of this, he was able to recognize the person who had started lurking around the hallway near your classroom, waiting to pounce. When he could, Akaashi would steer you in the opposite direction to avoid giving him any opportunity to talk to you. But, unfortunately, he was bound to get to you at some point, since your friend wasn't always by your side.

One evening, while you sat in your favorite cafe, waiting for Akaashi to finish serving his last customer before closing time, you opened a pocket of your backpack to retrieve one of your books. Upon doing so, you realized that the little charm you usually had tied around the zipper had disappeared. Confused, you investigated the floor underneath the table and wondered if you'd accidentally lost it outside the cafe on your way there, since it had still been attached during your afternoon classes. Akaashi noticed you step out the front door and hurried to finish filling his customer's order.

On the lamppost illuminated sidewalk, you scanned for any signs of your beloved charm. Instead, however, you found your attention drawn to a hauntingly familiar face when you heard your name called. "(Ex's name), what are you doing here?" you questioned, heart starting to beat faster against your ribcage.

"I'm a student here, silly," he replied jokingly with one of those bright smiles that had fooled you the first time you met him. Your expression didn't change, and when he realized his attempt at starting a light-hearted conversation had fallen flat, he explained, "I was on my way back from the library and found this on the ground over there. I see you hanging out at this cafe a lot so I was hoping I might catch you to return it, since I know it's yours."

You reached out to take it when he offered it to you, but paused after reevaluating his words. "How do you know I'm here a lot? You've been following me, haven't you?" You tried to keep your voice as steady as possible despite the fear that was clenching your throat.

"I just wanna talk, (f/n)."

You shook your head and said, "No. I don't want to talk to you." Turning your back on him, you began to walk back towards the door to the cafe. You didn't even care about getting your charm back, you just wanted to get away from him. A firm grip around your hand, stopped you, however, and made you jump.

"Please. You never gave me a chance to explain."

"I don't want to hear it. Please, let go."

Your body was screaming silently with fear, and his touch felt like it was melting your skin. Every instinct of yours was telling you to run, but you were worried about what he might do to you if you tried to escape. He was clearly in an unstable state of mind.

"Let go," you reiterated when his hand refused to release its grasp around yours. Your commands, in combination with the stern look you shot over your shoulder at him did nothing to alleviate the situation, much to your dismay. You wrestled your hand out of his, but this only made him grab onto your arm instead and pull you flush against his body.

With a scowl on his features, he scolded, "Don't try to walk away from me when I'm talking to you." Tears instantly sprung into your eyes at realizing you were caught in the same, vulnerable position that he'd held you in many times before. He had always switched his personality on you so quickly, making you feel uneasy--like you were constantly walking on eggshells around him. His breath tickled your forehead as he growled, "Who is that guy that I'm always seeing you with?"

The white-knuckle grip he had around your arm was making your hand go cold and tingly. "Please, leave me alone."

Akaashi pushed open the door to the cafe just in time to hear your ex hiss, "Who is he?" and you respond, "He's my boyfriend! Just leave us alone."

The words slipped out of your mouth before you knew it, and seeing Akaashi appear in the corner of your vision made your heart drop. You hoped more than anything that he would forgive you not only for making up such a lie but for dragging him into this entire situation.

Your ex relinquished his grasp on you and gave you a firm shove. "It hasn't even been a whole semester since we broke up and you're already with another guy? Fucking whore," he spat, eyes burning with rage.

"Watch your mouth," Akaashi warned, stepping in front of you and forcing more distance between you and your ex-boyfriend, "You should never speak to a woman like that."

"What the fuck are you gonna do about it?" he challenged, puffing up his chest and trying to intimidate your friend. His tactics were pointless, though, since Akaashi was unflappable. He simply ignored your ex, placed his hand on your back, and gently guided you towards the cafe once again. "Hey, I'm talking to you, you little dipshit!"

"Get lost," was Akaashi's only reply before he escorted you inside and closed the front door. He then locked it, effectively shutting out your ex's attempts at trying to follow both of you into the establishment. He still shouted profanities through the glass, despite the weird looks he was getting from others who passed by but were too scared or unbothered to intervene.

Sobs wracked your entire body as his words and behavior reopened wounds that hadn't had time to heal. You were traumatized and distressed. The sounds of your heaving breaths and loud sniffling were soon muffled by Akaashi's sweater when he wrapped his arms around you tightly once he'd led you behind the counter, out of your ex-boyfriend's eyeshot. He uttered gentle reassurances and rubbed your back with one of his hands while the other reached for the phone perched by the register so he could dial the campus police.

He calmly reported the incident and watched the police cart your scorned, former boyfriend away, doing everything he could to soothe you during the whole process. "It's okay, (f/n). He's gone now," he whispered, his fingers brushing the (h/c) strands of hair away from your face when you finally moved it away from his shoulder. His sweater and apron had been decorated in pools of darker shades by your tears, but he didn't mind. Grabbing a few tissues from underneath the counter, he gave you a chance to clean up and regain your composure.

"I'm really sorry, Keiji," you whimpered, wiping away the mess of emotions on your face.

Shaking his head, he assured you, "Please, don't worry about it. I just hope you never have to worry about him again."

A short silence hung in the air, and your bloodshot eyes moved to where one of his hands rested on your shoulder, thumbs tracing the gentle shape of it. You hesitated slightly before adding, "I'm also sorry that I called you my boyfriend. I just hoped that maybe it would knock some sense into him if I said it."

His eyebrows lifted slightly. "Is that the only reason why you said it?" You paused, not quite knowing how to answer. "Because I wouldn't mind hearing you call me that from now on." His response made your heart flutter and your eyes widen with hope. "In fact," he continued, a small smile appearing on his lips, "I'd prefer it if you called me that."

Joy filled you to the brim upon hearing his words and you nodded, wrapping your arms around his torso once more to pull his body flush against yours. His lips found your temple to press a gentle kiss against it as he returned your embrace. What he said next brought even more tears to your eyes, but ones of happiness rather than pain.

"I'll take care of you, (f/n). I promise."