Chapter Text
Midorima would have liked to say that it was all some sort of cosmic joke, that the stars were misaligned on the day that he first communicated with one Kagami Taiga, and that fate had decided he didn’t have enough hardships in his life. Certainly, writing his name and jersey number on Midorima’s hand had made a lasting impression (as was intended, though Midorima didn’t want to admit to its effectiveness,) but it mainly solidified his belief in the fact that, in his life, Kagami would cause nothing but trouble.
He was (mostly) right.
Kagami’s first offense had been helping Kuroko win against him at the inter-high. His second offense had been failing to beat Midorima in a one-on-one during the training camp (and it was a miracle that he had even learned anything from the incident.) And his third offense had been besting Akashi in the winter cup where Midorima and his teammates could not.
To top it all off, Midorima would have to deal with him (and, by extension, many others) at Kuroko’s birthday party.
He had initially planned to stick to Takao- it was a small blessing that his teammate had also been there, and he wasn’t aiming to be too terribly social after expending most of his energy on the set of basketball games. In the beginning, it worked.
But later, as the small crowd dispersed into smaller groups, Midorima found it harder to do so.
Mainly because Kuroko kept making goo-goo eyes at Takao, and that was a thought he really didn’t want to linger on.
“Shin-chan, are you okay? You look stiffer than usual.”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
Takao followed Midorima’s gaze, to where Kuroko was pulling Kagami away from a blabbering Kise.
“You’re not watching Kagami, are you? Geez, and here I thought Kuroko was wrong…”
“What are you talking about?”
“Oi, glasses,” Kagami spoke as he and Kuroko approached the duo, “We need to talk.”
Midorima tried his best to not look completely put off, but Kagami must have seen his hesitance, because he stood in place, patiently waiting.
This can’t be good.
Finally, after taking a few moments to weigh the pros and cons of leaving, Midorima decided it wasn’t worth it to put up a fight, and went along with Kagami to the balcony.
“You could have called me by my name, you know.”
“Ah, sorry. I had to keep up my gruff front, you know?”
Midorima furrowed his brows. “No, I don’t know.”
“Look,” Kagami said, gesturing to Kuroko and Takao, who were sitting awkwardly on the couch, “Don’t tell me you didn’t notice yet.”
“Are you referring to Kuroko’s feelings towards Takao?” Midorima scoffed. “As if I could miss them. His texting habits make him completely transparent.”
“So why don’t you give them the opportunity to talk it out?”
“Is that why you pulled me out here?”
Kagami grinned. “Pretty much, yeah.”
Midorima took a moment to observe Kagami. “You’re… a good friend to him.”
“Are you actually complimenting me for once?”
“Of course not!”
Kagami laughed loudly, and clapped a hand on Midorima’s shoulder before he could stop himself. “Man, you really are a tsundere.”
Midorima shifted his weight uneasily, and Kagami picked up on it pretty quickly.
“Come on, are you really not okay with the idea of Kuroko and Takao being together?”
“It’s not that I’m not okay with it, I just don’t understand what they see in each other.”
Kagami shrugged. “Eh, it’s a relationship thing. It can’t be explained until you experience it for yourself.”
Midorima looked at Kagami in disbelief. “Are you telling me you’ve been in a relationship with someone?”
“Well… no. But that’s just what my mentor always told me!” Kagami sputtered, tugging on his shirt collar in embarrassment.
A quick glance at the inside told Midorima that Kuroko and Takao were apparently done with whatever conversation they were having. He nearly sighed with relief when Kagami decided to step back inside, though he still felt incredibly uncomfortable.
The rest of the night passed without too much extra fanfare, and Midorima was more than happy to finally be carted back home by Takao.
“I assume you and Kuroko have worked things out?”
Takao hummed as he pedaled. “In a way, yes. I might ask him out on a date later.”
“Of course. Kagami must be awfully proud of himself.”
“What does Kagami have to do with this?”
Midorima groaned and readjusted his glasses. “He was responsible for dragging me out to the balcony. He was most likely the one who suggested that Kuroko should talk to you. I’m surprised he had it in him.”
“Did you just compliment Kagami?” Takao asked in mild disbelief.
“Of course not,” Midorima huffed.
Takao had to stifle a laugh, and Midorima knew he was being somewhat undignified- honestly, he just needed to get a good night of rest.
“You know,” Takao continued, in the apparent decision to keep Midorima awake, “Kuroko and I were actually talking about you two a long while ago. He seems to think you’d make a good match with Kagami.”
“Don’t be preposterous. We have no compatibility- he’s brash and hot-headed, even if he does show the occasional act of decency. And it’s not as though he’d like me, if I were to hypothetically like him. I’m sure he has plenty of prospects who are much more feminine, and much less on an enemy team.”
“Enemy team?” Takao laughed lightly, “That makes it sound like it’s some sort of battle. But whatever, I’ll drop the conversation, if it makes you uncomfortable.”
“It doesn’t make me uncomfortable,” Midorima tried to say in an excruciatingly polite manner.
“If you say so.”
---
Curse Takao for planting the idiotic idea into his head.
Midorima was relatively secure in his sexuality (or lack thereof, as others would like to joke) and knew that attraction would come to him with whomever fate decided.
But not even fate was fair for giving him unwanted thoughts about Kagami, of all people.
It started off slowly enough; Midorima’s mind wandered back to the incident at Kuroko’s birthday party, and that was easy to brush off at first. But as time passed and practice for the first and second years had slowed, he found himself remembering Kagami’s tenacity, his dedication, and suddenly the urge to compete had turned into something like reluctant admiration.
That was a problem in itself.
Soon enough, their second year of high school approached, and while knowing that the upperclassmen of Shuutoku wouldn’t be around was a bittersweet thought, Midorima was interested in seeing the newcomers to the basketball team.
“Shin-chan, look at this text Kuroko sent me,” Takao had said in the locker room after the first day of recruitment.
Midorima glanced at Takao’s phone, and saw the picture attached to it.
Kagami was seated on the gym floor, looking half-scared out of his wits as he patted the team mascot (Nigou, if he was remembering correctly,) with the caption: He’s trying to conquer his fear of dogs. It’s not working very well.
The extremely unwarranted first thought to pop into his head was that it was strangely endearing.
The entirely warranted second thought was that there was no logical explanation for how a 190-centimeter tall almost-man could be considered endearing.
“Shin-chan? You okay? You’re spacing out.”
Midorima blinked, and shook his head lightly to clear his mind. “Yes, I’m fine.”
Takao smiled smugly. “You know, Kuroko gave me Kagami’s number a while back, in case there was an emergency. I can hand it over to you.”
“And why would I want you to do that?”
“Because you’re a tsundere and won’t admit that you think he’s kinda cute.” Takao’s smile turned softer, then. “Shin-chan, we’re friends. At least let me do this for you.”
Midorima paused for several moments, until finally sighing and retrieving his phone out of his bag to hand over to Takao.
“He’ll never have time to talk. They’re starting practice soon. And he’ll be suspicious of my motives if I text him out of the blue.”
“Don’t worry Shin-chan, I’ve got you covered.”
Midorima didn’t know what he expected when he saw the mischievous glint in Takao’s eyes.
---
-are you google? because you have everything im searching for.
(5:02)
-Who is this???
(5:09)
-This is Midorima. Takao hijacked my phone and sent that text to you.
(5:10)
-Oh, that’s weird
(5:10)
-I regret letting him give me your number already.
(5:11)
-Why did you want my number in the first place???
(5:12)
-?????
(5:54)
---
Needless to say, the Shuutoku vs Seirin practice match was an experience.
Warming up didn’t take too much time, at least until Seirin actually arrived at the gym, at which point Takao sauntered off to talk to Kuroko, wearing an excited expression. Midorima couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Kuroko seemed pleased to be talking to Takao, so he supposed it wasn’t too much of a hindrance.
“It’s a little sappy, don’t you think?”
Midorima startled, too caught up in watching the exchange to have noticed that Kagami had approached him. He adjusted his glasses.
“Yes, I suppose it is. Though I must admit, it’s refreshing to see Takao being social outside of the team.”
“Aw, you really are a good friend to him, even if you are prickly around the edges!” Kagami said cheerfully, swatting Midorima on the back.
Midorima wasn’t sure if he should be offended or not.
“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask-”
“If this is about your phone number, I’d prefer not to talk about it.”
Kagami stared at him blankly. “You know, I get that Takao was joking. You don’t need to worry about it, I figured you wouldn’t want to seriously flirt with me anyway.”
Midorima was about to let his shoulders slump now that the metaphorical weight was lifted off of them, but one look at Kagami had them tensing back up again.
Kagami was blushing.
Before Midorima could stop himself, he blurted, “Did you want me to?”
Kagami stared at him, wide-eyed, and was about to speak when-
“Shin-chan, we’re ready to start! Hurry up!”
Midorima cleared his throat and did exactly that.
---
-Is there a mirror in your pants? Cause I can see myself in them
(6:17)
-That was one of the most tactless pickup lines I’ve ever heard of.
(6:18)
-But did it work?
(6:18)
-...Perhaps.
(6:21)