Chapter Text
After a while, it was time for Midorima to leave. The tall teen picked up his bag containing the Kenshin manga he was borrowing and thanked Takao for them again. Takao couldn't escape the feeling that Midorima was a little too polite when it came to things like this, but then again it might just be a part of who he was. Although he was usually a little too stiff...
Takao smirked. "No problem, Shin-chan. Thanks for the book." They went down the stairs, and Takao let his friend out.
"See you at school, Takao."
"Yeah, see ya tomorrow!" He waved a few times, watching how Midorima walked away. Quite fast, taking large steps on those long legs of him. Takao sighed.
Midorima's stiffness could be sort of cute, he thought.
As he realised what just went through his head, he stopped in his tracks. Wait a moment? Cute?
Well, yes. Midorima was weird and unsociable and stiff... but as he already knew, there was much more to him than just that, although he thought he probably had only just scratched the surface. And still he thought that another guy was cute? He started laughing out loud, a little confused.
"Takao Kazunari", he said to himself, "what the heck are you getting yourself into?"
He shook his head and went upstairs. As he wanted to start on his homework, he noticed the hentai manga lying around. He picked one up, and squinted. Well, it wasn't actually that good, or interesting, or erotic. He shrugged, took them all from his bookshelf and put them in a sturdy plastic bag.
"I'll just bring them to a second-hand bookstore tomorrow," he mused to himself as he put the bag near his schoolbag. Then he started on his homework, but he found it hard to concentrate. He always did, but now he just had that idea of making a list of 'youthful things to do' in his head, so he wanted to get it out.
In the end, he finished his homework without time to spare, but he also completed an extensive list of things he wanted to do in his three years in high school. He looked at his own handiwork, and grinned. He was pretty happy about it. Now he only had to make it come true.
-
The next day, their coach announced they would have a practice match the next weekend, so they would be training for it. Because of that, the entire team started off by watching two entire games of the school they would play against.
Takao sighed loudly, clearly not in the mood to sit still for so long after a full day of class. Midorima glared at him, which earned him a hurt look and a shrug, but the black-haired teen kept silent.
The school they would play against was Seikai high, a team that had never made it very far in large competitions, but nonetheless they had new team now, consisting of very agile members who adapted their style easily to counter their opponents.
In between the two matches, the team took a small break to allow people to go to the toilet or get a drink. Again Takao sighed.
"I love basketball, but watching a game like this is like studying. Ugh!"
"Shut up, Takao. It's important, so just do as the coach says." Midorima was looking at Takao's face while he spoke, and then Takao suddenly looked at him with an unusual frown.
Midorima drank from his bottle, wondering if he should say something to Takao or not. He felt like maybe he should ask if something else bothered him, with all the talk about friendship and all... But he didn't know very well what exactly was expected of him.
"Is something wrong?" He finally asked, realising after a moment that maybe it was too blunt.
"Oh, er..." Takao looked away, thinking.
"Not really. I was just, er, maybe planning to go on a date on the day of that practice match. Guess I can say goodbye to that!"
Midorima froze involuntarily.
"Oh." He really had no idea what to say in reply to that. Just like he had no idea why his mind was overflowing with thoughts that he wasn't used to having. He was somehow glad that they had a practice match, and he felt a bit angry at the thought that Takao would skip training again because of a date.
"That's, er... unfortunate." Midorima said after a silence that was about to become awkward.
He didn't look at Takao when he spoke, but he heard his friend inhale and chuckle.
"Shin-chan," he said then, "you're so weird, you know."
"How so?" Midorima frowned, but despite that, he didn't dislike seeing his friend's habitual grin.
"Well, you say things like 'That's unfortunate' and all, while a normal guy our age would say 'Aw man, that sucks!', or something alike." Then the other teen shrugged again, and looked up at him with a carefree smile.
"But that's what makes you, you!" Takao added, punching him on the shoulder.
It wasn't a hard punch, but Midorima could definitely feel it, and he automatically rubbed the spot with his left hand.
"I guess you're right," he admitted, and he displayed the tiniest smile. He didn't notice Takao was staring at him after that, he was just concentrating on other things he could've said instead of 'unfortunate' that Takao would consider a normal way of speaking.
And he definitely didn't catch Takao whispering "Shin-chan...", because the coach called out to the team to return to their seats and continue the study session.
-
During the rest of their match-study, Takao started thinking something was genuinely wrong with him. After seeing Midorima's minimal smile, he had felt as if he couldn't get enough air. A slight dizziness overcame him, and subsided gradually. Until later, when Midorima stepped aside in the hallway while Takao wasn't paying attention, and the tall teen had stabilized him by holding his shoulder with one hand.
It was just a hand on his shoulder, but the touch sent a jolt through his body. He had never felt anything alike, anything so strong. Even though he had felt quite shocked, apparently he had been able to hide whatever it was at that moment, because Midorima didn't notice a thing, and characteristically didn't even ask if he was okay or anything remotely resembling common sense.
Although, now that he thought about it, the tall teen hadn't looked him in the eye anymore after that either. But that might as well be the results of his small, made up on the spot, scenario. After all he hadn't really planned to ask that girl out for a date, although maybe it would have fit in his plan pretty well, since not much had happened lately, and eating lunch without Midorima hadn't yielded any interesting results.
Takao closed his eyes and breathed in. The evening air was cool around him and it refreshed his mind. 'Come on, Kazunari,' he said to himself in silence. 'Stick to the plan a little. Don't let yourself be distracted.'
Still, even at night, he could not forget about Midorima's smile. It was such a rare thing to see, and that made it precious. It made Takao smile as well, truly happy that he was at last succeeding at getting closer to his tall team mate. They had met up to exchange manga and books, they had played video games together. Midorima had started listening to Takao's opinions.
Takao's scheme was working out exceptionally well. He grinned as he turned around in bed, pulling up the covers to his chin.
-
Saturday morning, Midorima got up earlier than usual. The team had their practice match today, so they had to be on time. They had agreed to meet up at the station near their opponent's school, which was about an hour away from their own, and everyone agreed to get there by themselves.
Except for Takao, who had insisted he wanted to travel together with Midorima, so he had suggested he'd come over to his place cause it was closer to the station. Midorima was used to going anywhere on his own, and he didn't mind at all, but he also found no reason to refuse Takao's suggestion.
He remembered how happy Takao had seemed when he had said yes, and found it weird. Well, Takao had seemed to be acting a little strange after all, he had been smiling more, and sometimes he sat in class, staring out of the window with a vacant look in his eyes... that is to say, a different vacant look than one of sheer boredom.
Midorima got up and dressed before he had some light breakfast and packed his sports bag. Then, he brushed his teeth and combed his hair. Blinking at himself in the mirror, he frowned, and reached out to today's lucky item, which for once fitted in the pockets of his trousers.
His fingers touched the cool, cylindrical shape of the batteries he carried with him. It didn't seem like much of a lucky item, but oha-asa said so. He sighed, and just as he wanted to leave, he heard someone knocking on the door. He was glad Takao had remembered not to ring the bell as to not wake up his parents and little sister.
As he went towards the door, he started feeling a little excited. Trying to make as little noise as possible, he unlocked and opened the door. Behind it, Takao greeted him with a quiet 'Yo!'. Midorima nodded and let his classmate in for a short while. The tall shooter glanced at his friend from the side, and felt somewhat happy to see him.
That was weird. He had seen him only yesterday, and every day. Then why would this be different? Maybe it was the clothes, he thought, since Takao had decided to wear a stylish outfit in layers and nicely combined colours. Or maybe it was just because he was actually looking forward to playing a decent game of basketball.
"What time's the train again?" Takao asked, taking care to whisper.
"In half an hour."
"Ok."
Midorima offered some water to his friend and drank some himself. After making sure he had everything, they headed out. Since they had time, they didn't hurry and walked in a leisurely pace towards the station.
On the way, Takao talked about the book he had borrowed, saying that he didn't quite get it, but Midorima answered that it was supposed to be that way.
"Oh... well, ok then. It's interesting though, I do want to know what exactly is going on."
"Yeah, the atmosphere is very unique. You can feel something is wrong, but you can never tell what it is."
"What about Kenshin?" Takao asked, looking up at Midorima.
"It's good, of course. It's a nice read." Takao nodded, and they talked about the characters some more.
"You know, there's gonna be a new movie too. D'you wanna see it?"
Midorima didn't reply immediately. It had literally been ages since he went to the movies. Basically, the last time he went, he was forced to go there with his sister. It's not because he didn't like it, but since he never went on his own, he didn't have many other opportunities. Somehow the thought made him feel a little bit fuzzy inside.
"I don't see why not." He wasn't looking at Takao, so he only heard him sigh deeply.
"Shin-chan! What kind of answer is that?" The shorter boy stopped walking and looked up a him, looking sort of angry and disappointed.
"What?"
"You know, you could just say yes. Or 'yeah, I'd like to', or anything a little bit less-"
He stopped talking, and tilted his head.
"You do really want to go, right?"
"Yes, that's what I meant."
"With me, right?" Takao added. Midorima paused, but he felt that this question was somehow important, so he should watch what he said.
"W-Well, yes."
Takao's cheeks coloured slightly, and he looked down for a moment.
"Then it's okay. Dummy."
"Sorry." Midorima apologised, realising that this was one of those things Takao had pointed out to him, one of those things anyone else would do right, while he did it wrong. Or simply said the wrong things. He really didn't want to be like this, to be honest. He made up is his mind and told himself to try to be more... casual towards Takao.