lyric!

akaashi sits at his desk like a man about to defend a doctoral thesis, except instead of research on economic theory it’s a 7-page mla-styled confession to you. his laptop glows at 2 a.m., word count taunting him. bokuto had, unhelpfully, told him to “just tell her you like her!!” but no—akaashi is incapable of such casual lawlessness. if he’s going to confess, it will be formatted, cited, and double-spaced.

he adjusts his glasses, rereads the first paragraph for the 43rd time, and agonizes over whether “irrevocably tethered” sounds too intense. (spoiler: it does, but he leaves it anyway, because it’s true.)

when he prints it out, he holds the warm paper like a newborn. his hands shake. he rehearses—should he hand it to you with a bow? slide it across the desk like contraband? staple it to your notebook so you have to read it? in the end, he folds it neatly into thirds and tucks it into his pocket. his heart beats like a libero sprinting after a shanked ball.

all day, he hovers like a malfunctioning ghost. when you finally ask if something’s wrong, he thrusts the letter at you with the urgency of someone handing over state secrets. “just—read this. when you have time,” he mutters, then immediately flees, which is not suspicious at all.

the letter contains:

────୨ৎ────

love letter in mla format by akaashi keiji

keiji akaashi

the love of your life (self-proclaimed but factually accurate, see works cited)

english iii, but make it personal

16 september 2025

dear y/n,

in consideration of recent empirical evidence—that is, every recorded instance of my pulse accelerating upon the sight of you, supported by first-hand observations and internal peer-reviewed studies of my own psyche (see fig. 1, appendix)—it has come to my attention that my feelings for you are not only profound but also academically verifiable. this letter, then, attempts to both a) confess my adoration in accordance with mla guidelines, and b) ensure that you cannot possibly misconstrue my devotion as anything less than a peerless thesis of love.

i submit the following statement: you are, inarguably, the most radiant, delightful, and inexplicably perfect human being i have ever encountered. the scope of this claim is intentionally broad, for narrowing it would diminish its accuracy. to contextualize, when you walk into a room, the oxygen molecules themselves seem to rearrange, as if auditioning for the chance to be breathed in by you. i find myself taking notes in my head, as though i am preparing a literary analysis of your smile (compare to: sunlight, starlight, the flash of a libero’s perfect receive).

i recognize that the previous paragraph verges on hyperbole, but i assure you it is in fact a faithful account of my interior world. even bakugo (2014) notes in *the unspoken laws of attraction* that “extreme emotional expression is the natural consequence of proximity to someone you care for deeply” (p. 43). therefore, my exaggeration is merely a symptom of clinical sincerity.

consider, further, the sheer gravitational pull you exert on my attention. i do not mean this metaphorically—though if einstein were alive, i am confident he would posit a new theory of relativity solely around the event horizon of your existence. my eyes, much like poorly trained freshmen, cannot stay in their lane whenever you are nearby. and yet, unlike those freshmen, my attention does not waver. i cannot look away.

and to be transparent: this inability to look away may appear unsettling to others, but to me, it is simply truth. i am tethered. undeniably. irrevocably. i wake and think of you; i sleep and dream of you; i annotate the margins of my textbooks with your initials, as though the structural integrity of my education depends upon your presence.

some might call this level of fixation unsustainable, but i argue the opposite. in fact, i have conducted (admittedly biased) research, and the conclusion is clear: life without you is a poorly cited essay, full of gaps, missing a works cited page, doomed to fail. with you, however, my life achieves not just coherence but eloquence.

(parenthetical note: i am aware that i am currently begging in the subtext of this letter, but if begging is a sin, then please grade me an “f” so long as i may keep kneeling at the altar of your kindness.)

i must also address your laugh. it is not hyperbolic to suggest it should be classified as a renewable energy source. if the government were to bottle it, we could shut down every power plant tomorrow. when you laughed that one time at bokuto’s pun (the one even he wasn’t sure landed), i swear the axis of the earth tilted three degrees closer to joy. i have replayed that sound in my head more times than i care to admit (approx. 78,391, but who is counting).

my point is: you are vital. not “important” in the way we call breakfast the most important meal of the day, but *vital*, as in: you are air, you are gravity, you are the annotated bibliography without which my research collapses into incoherent rambling.

i acknowledge that the tone of this letter may lean towards desperation. and while i strive for academic neutrality, my bias cannot be suppressed. every fiber of my being wants you. in this moment. in every moment. i would cite the beating of my own heart as evidence, but that feels less like a citation and more like a confessional (which, admittedly, this entire letter is).

should you accept my humble, academically formatted declaration of love, i promise the following:

unconditional support for all your endeavors (including but not limited to: late-night snacking, impulse shopping, and venting about minor inconveniences).

a lifetime subscription to my undivided attention.

the type of devotion typically reserved for tragic victorian protagonists, except i plan on surviving long enough to actually make you breakfast.

in conclusion, and to restate my thesis: i love you, wholly and without qualification. this is not conjecture, nor is it tentative. it is the strongest claim i have ever made, the kind that requires no counterargument.

with all my footnotes,

akaashi keiji

────୨ৎ────

works cited

bakugo, katsuki. the unspoken laws of attraction. u.a. press, 2014.

einstein, albert. relativity, but make it romantic. princeton university press, unpublished manuscript, probably.

akaashi, keiji. every heartbeat since meeting y/n. unpublished primary source, ongoing since 2009.

y/n, you. existing flawlessly. self-published, timeless.

‎♡‧₊˚✧ ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა ✧˚₊‧♡

you read it. you laugh so hard at his fake citations you nearly choke on your drink. the “renewable energy source” section about your laugh has you snorting while laughing, which only confirms his thesis. the part about begging in parentheses? you highlight it in your mind forever.

when you finish, you find him pacing outside the classroom like a medieval knight awaiting judgment from the queen. the moment you approach, he looks at you like he’s seconds away from fainting.

“so,” you say, grinning, holding up the letter like evidence. “mla format, huh?”

akaashi’s ears turn pink. “i thought… it would be clear. academically.”

“it’s definitely clear,” you assure him, and then—because the dramatic irony is too perfect—you kiss his cheek.

he freezes, then exhales like someone just lifted a two-ton bibliography off his shoulders. “does this mean—”

“yes,” you cut in, laughing again. “you don’t need to write another works cited page. i get it.”

he looks equal parts relieved and terrified, like you’ve just accepted his marriage proposal instead of his love letter. and from then on, every time you so much as giggle, he mutters something about “fig. 2: confirmation of hypothesis” under his breath while scribbling imaginary notes in the air.

‎♡‧₊˚✧ ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა ✧˚₊‧♡

‎♡‧₊˚✧ ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა ✧˚₊‧♡

a: take my phone away from me so i could stop coming up with stupid ideas (˶˃⤙˂˶)

© showhay — don’t copy nor translate without my permission. i do not own any of the photos that i have used. credits to all the rightful owners. (˶ˆᗜˆ˵)

────── ⋆⋅ ✦ ⋅⋆ ──────

Profiles

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26 w/ Written Portion

Chapter 27

Chapter 28 w/ Written Portion

Chapter 29

Chapter 30 w/ Written Portion

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33 w/ Written Portion

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

END