Red Line (AsahixReaderxDaichi)

Public transit was a dreaded part of your day. Every single day, you’d have to wake up early to catch the train and still make it to work on time. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the train was always full of business people jostling for position by the doors. Your stop was early enough on the line that you could usually get a seat, but today you had to relinquish your uncomfortable plastic seat so that a mother with her child could sit down and hold the screaming thing to her lap.

So, all in all, today was not starting off especially great. Not that you minded giving your seat up, it was just that you didn’t enjoy standing up. There were always so many people, and they all decided to jam together like sardines instead of wait for the next car. You really couldn’t blame them, they were on a schedule just like you, but when what looked like a small army filed in at the fifth stop of the day.

You groaned as sweaty bodies pressed against one another. “What is this fresh hell?” you thought miserably when one of the boys squished up against you, his bright orange hair tickling your nose. You attempted to back away a bit, only to find that another of the teens was behind you. He was taller, and his presence intimidated you for a moment until he smiled down at you, his dark eyes kind and apologetic. “Sorry,” he muttered bashfully.

Embarrassed yourself, you turned as much as you could to face him, only an inch or so separating your bodies. “No, no, I’m sorry, I backed into you.”

A hand came up to rub the back of his neck and he grinned at you through his blush. “I’m Asahi Azumane, -” but he was cut off as the man next to him butt in.

“Offical apologist of the Karasuno High School Volleyball team,” another tall boy (though he was significantly shorter than Asahi), told you with a grin and a pat on his teammate’s back.

Asahi blushed even darker, face twisting up in embarrassment as he turned to the shorter boy. He began to squawk at his companion with an opening shout of “Daichi!”, who apologized through a smirk that said he really wasn’t all that sorry. You suppressed a smile, hiding a giggle behind you hand. “You two are very close, aren’t you?”

The two stopped squabbling for moment and turned their heads back to you, looking like children caught with their hands in a cookie jar. You chucked again at the baffled looks on their faces. The tram pulled into it’s next stop, causing you to sway unexpectedly before you jolted to a stop and you stumbled backwards, grip having loosened from the bar over you while you were talking.

Two hands reached out to grab you, keeping you from bumping into the redhead from earlier. Your eyes were wide as you blinked up at the two teens who had just caught you. Their eyes were equally shocked, as if they didn’t expect themselves to do that. When the tram began moving again and pushed you forward you renewed your grip on the bar to prevent further embarrassment, but the kid at your back did not and you were knocked a bit forward regardless. And, in a crowded train car, a bit was more than enough to bump you into the two strangers.

“S-sorry!” you croaked, restraightening yourself as their hands fell away from you. “Oh God!” your thoughts screamed at you, “This is so awkward!” You had to stand on this train for five more stops before the business office you worked in as a secretary would even be within walking distance. Clearing your throat, you tried to make conversation. “Where are you guys headed?” “Please be a close stop, please be a close stop!”

The shorter man, Daichi was the name Asahi called him, was the first to regain his composure. He smiled kind-heartedly at you as he answered and it was as if the last couple of anxious moments had never happened. “The next stop, actually, we have a practice match at the high school.”

“Good luck!” you wished him with a grin and Asahi finally came back to his senses.

“Where are you off to?”

You shrugged the question off, but gave him an answer nonetheless. “Work.”

Asahi’s thick brow furrowed and he looked down at you, expression a mixture of concern and puzzlement. “I’m sorry, but,” he started, making you nervous, “you don’t look old enough to be working.” In the silence that followed he came to the conclusion that his statement was absolutely rude and began apologizing profusely before you held a hand up to stop him.

Though you smiled, your eyebrows had turned up in regret. “No, it’s fine. I mean, you’re not wrong,” you said with a shake of your head, “I had to get a job right after junior high to help out at home.” You grew flustered when you saw the sympathy on their expressions. “B-but it’s fine!” you stuttered, frantic, “I don’t know what I would have done with a higher education anyways!” You laughed, quietly, awkwardly, and the train pulled into the next stop.

You licked your lips and shifted a bit away from the teens. “W-well,” you managed to say, “good luck at your match.” They shuffled away from you just then, gathering up the rest of the team like dogs to a flock of sheep. Just as the door was closing, you saw Asahi and Daichi turn back to face you.

Their hands raised in farewell and you returned the gesture with a smile, hoping that maybe they would have another match three stops from your home.