Chapter Text
+1. Alone at Shutoku's stairwell, the day of graduation
'Where did Takao go?'
That was what Midorima had asked himself for the past fifteen minutes. Had Takao just gone home and not bothered to tell him? Unlikely...
Honestly, Midorima was starting to get a bit pissed. If it hadn't been for Takao, he would have never attended this thing. Some of the club had thought it would be nice to hold an American-styled prom for the graduating third years this year and since they couldn't do it at school they had rented a huge hall, so all the third years and their companions could fit in.
The atmosphere was probably very nice if you liked crowds of loud, excited people and the scent of too much deodorant mixed with the scent of too much perfume. Midorima wasn't a fan of any of those things. So his fun level wasn't looking all too hot.
Oh, there was one thing he had forgotten to mention. Since this wasn't a school intern event there was alcohol. And from his experience of a few nights of the seniors smuggling bottles of beer into training camp, Midorima could tell that excited teenagers and alcohol weren't a good combination.
He was happy, he'd gotten all he wanted. He had 98% on his final exams, which to be fair wasn't exactly what he had wanted, but it would get him into medical school well enough. The only thing that was keeping him from his way to become a surgeon now was the entry test for med school, but he should be able to make it if his luck wasn't too horrible that day. And if he would be able to find a flawless lucky item.
Sighing, he tried to worm his way out of the huge hall. Was there a special technique to get through dancing people? If yes, then he had no clue about it.
Halfway on his way to the doors, a hand took hold of his suit's sleeve. When he turned around he saw a familiar face. “Hello.” he said, unsure of what the other wanted from him. They had seen each other a the finals of the Winter Cup the last time.
“Hi, what's up. Didn't think I'd see you here. Congrats on the Winter Cup again, I didn't even catch you afterwards.” Miyaji smiled at gave him a, a little too firm, pat on the shoulder.
“Thank you. I was bribed to come here. Have you, by any chance, seen Takao?” After all it couldn't be that nobody had seen Takao, the guy was literally all over the place.
“Not after he took a good ten minutes of laughing at my smoking. A captain shouldn't be that much of a fool anymore.” his former senpai muttered. And yeah, that did sound a lot like Takao.
“Technically, he isn't captain anymore, nanodayo.” Midorima commented. And while Takao hadn't been a captain as serious as Otsubo had been for them, he had been competent and at least he didn't fool around during training much.
“And you're still a smartass, huh? I'd watch out if I were you. Just cause I go to university now doesn't mean I'll hesitate to throw with pineapples.” Midorima remembered these days way too good. Being thrown at with a pineapple was quite the unique feeling.
“By the way, what are you gonna do now? Gonna go to the states? NBA?”
The question didn't surprise him. In fact, he was actually scared that Miyaji would start to throw some kind of food at him when he told him the answer. He wasn't going to get away without doing so, though.
“No. Actually I applied for medical school. I'm training to become a surgeon.” he stated, not letting his eyes leave Miyaji's hands. “The Winter Cup was the end of my basketball career.”
Admittedly, it hurt a little to say so. After all, he had truly cared about the sport. Even if he didn't let that on a lot. In another world where it hadn't been his big dream to become a doctor, maybe he would have gone that way.
The sound that came out of Miyaji's mouth was difficult to hear due to the booming music, but Midorima was quite sure it was an annoyed huff. Miyaji's following words confirmed his assumption. “You know, I kinda feel like I should hit you. But I also know you've got the brains to do it. Anyway, I'm not your senpai anymore, so I can't give you any orders concerning basketball. Good luck kid.”
Honestly, he was surprised in a very pleasant way. It was nice to hear something else than that he was throwing away all the natural talent he had been blessed with. Besides his family and Takao, Miyaji was the first not to say so.
“Thank you very much. I'll now continue looking for Takao. Good luck in university. Scorpio is ranked first today, so I suppose you will have a good time.”
“Thanks, I guess. Still into that zodiac stuff, eh? But I'd try looking for Takao on the dance floor. I'm sure some girl dragged him off to dance.” Miyaji gestured over to a massive pile of people dancing. Oh, Midorima had thought they already were standing on the dance floor at that moment.
Before he could answer anything though, he was interrupted by a huge body flinging itself between them.
“Come back, Kiyoshi! Your brother is trying to pick a fight with a lamp!”
Only after doing a double take Midorima recognized the person as their captain from their first year, Otsubo Kaisuke. Otsubo, who played with his little sister in his free time, was head of the library team and could knit better than anyone else Midorima knew, did know have his tie tied around his forehead and slung his arm around Miyaji's shoulders. He was visibly drunk and the only thing he said when he noticed Midorima was: “Oh, hi, megane.”
And he was talking about Miyaji's younger brother? Their captain from last year? Picking a fight with a lamp? All their former captains seemed to have gotten drunk and crazy. Maybe he should really start looking for Takao on the dance floor. After all this could be a captain-thing.
For all he knew though, Takao didn't have a date for tonight. They had come here together with his housekeeper and then also had stayed until Midorima had lost sight of Takao in the crowd. Concerning the popularity of his friend, though, it was well possible that some girls did snatch him and took him to dance.
It could almost be considered a miracle that Midorima made it over to the overfull dance floor without getting beer all over him and having only three people stepping on his feet. When he was finally in front of the dancing mass, he took advantage of his height to observe the dancing graduates. Most of the girls were wearing fancy dresses and really uncomfortable looking shoes. There was one near him that sat beside him in his modern literature class. And another girl was the one who beat him in English by two points in the final exams.
He also knew most of the boys from shared classes or events that Takao dragged him to now and then. Takao, however, was nowhere to be seen between all the dancers.
Not knowing where to go now, Midorima decided to leave for the toilets upstairs. Firstly, because he might find Takao there and secondly because he didn't have the nerves to be in this room for much longer.
Luckily, no one else stopped him to chat on his way. He was really glad that Cancer was ranked second in Oha Asa today, so the lucky item he was keeping with him didn't have to be too big. Not that it would have been easy to get a big laser pointer somewhere around. If today's lucky item hadn't been available for him, he would have absolutely refused to go here today. He got into life threatening situations often enough if he was staying at home without a lucky item, he absolutely refused to dance without one.
Still, he hoped he could avoid dancing today all together this evening. There weren't many people he was willing to dance with anyway here.
Midorima was making his way up the stairs, not even knowing what exactly he was planning to do once he was on the first floor.
This decision was taken away from him when he spotted a familiar person sitting at the top of the stairs, intently staring on their phone. He didn't seem to have noticed Midorima yet. The black jacket that belonged to the person's suit laid on this floor besides him and the sleeves of his white dress shirt were pushed up, the first two top bottoms open to reveal his collar bone.
“Takao, what are you doing here?” he asked, remaining a few steps lower than his friend. “Oh, Shin-chan! There you are, I was looking for you! I figured you'd come here sooner or later.”
“I am nearly two meters tall, all you had to do was look around and you would have seen me.” Midorima deadpanned in response. Takao wasn't one to fool him.
“Well, true. I just wanted to get away from it for a moment. I'd have asked you to come, but you were gone. Sorry.” he explained sheepishly.
If Takao didn't like the crowded hall himself, why had he dragged him here in the first place? This didn't make any sense. On the other hand, Takao wasn't making sense pretty often, so he should be used to it by now.
“You dragged me here only to sit in the stairwell?” Midorima's eyebrows were raised and his tone dared Takao to better explain this to him very quickly. “Don't you want to dance or something? This will be your only prom, nanodayo.”
Takao laughed a little. “I'm afraid the person I want to dance with, doesn't really want to dance at all. It's no big deal, I'm still having fun.” That wasn't really it.
“You never know until you ask them.” he said. Takao was a popular guy and Midorima didn't think there were much girls who would reject a dance with him.
“Trust me, I have a pretty good idea. You don't wanna dance either, do you?”
“No, not if I can prevent it.” For some reason Takao nodded. Midorima didn't exactly know why.
“It's not the only reason I'm waiting here for you though. I actually want to tell you something, Shin-chan.” Takao admitted and know he was scratching the back of his head, a not-so-confident looking smile on his face.
“Then do so, please.” What was it possibly that Takao had important to tell him now? Was it gonna be some sappy “I will miss playing ball with you” stuff?
“Do you know what I wanna do after school, Shin-chan? Like, for a job?” Midorima realized he didn't. He remembered talking with Takao about professional basketball in first and second year. And he remembered how Takao used to look at NBA games all dreamy, like he wanted to be on these courts so desperately. But he had never said it. And Midorima had never asked because, to be frank, at first he didn't care what Takao wanted to do and when he started to care about Takao some months in, he always just assumed that this was gonna be it.
“I don't. You never said explicitly, but I always assumed it would be professional basketball. You seemed surprised when I said I won't do that.”
The answer was a hum. Takao fiddled with the cuffs of his dress shirt.
“Until recently I thought I'd go for that too. But then something actually changed my mind.”
Midorima guessed he was supposed to know by know, but he didn't get it. “How am I supposed to know what changed your mind. I have nothing to say in what you do.”
For some reason that drew a laugh from Takao. Midorima's frown tightened. “Are you going to tell me or not?”
“It's just so funny because actually you do have a lot to say in it. It's something you changed that changed my mind.”
It took a lot of self-control for Midorima to keep his jaw from falling down. What could he have possibly said that made Takao not want to play basketball anymore? For all he knew he hadn't been especially rude or said something to discourage him. But what he knew about hurting other people's feelings had proven to be very little in the past.
He sighed heavily. “I probably didn't mean it like you took it. You would be of good use to a professional team.”
Another laugh. This was starting to get exhausting.
“No, no. Not like that. Remember that day when I had to go to the hospital because you pushed me to the ground?” Takao asked cheekily. It made Midorima splutter. “I didn't push you to the ground, idiot! You sneaked up on me and I played defense!” he defended himself which only made Takao laugh at him harder. His laugh felt easy. Midorima really, really like that feeling of ease that Takao's laugh gave off.
“Whatever. So you told me that you didn't want to become a pro after high school and I was shocked because I always assumed you would and I always assumed to go with you then.” He stopped for a short moment and drew in a breath. “But you said you wanted to become a doctor and it fit so well, you know. Cause all the stuff that makes you a great player... It makes you a great doctor too. You are precise, you've got the brains, you work hard and never lose focus on your goal. You're /brilliant/.”
“Takao, telling me compliments isn't going to explain what you wanna do, just tell me.” Midorima grumbled impatiently. He was turning away his face so Takao wouldn't see too much of the redness that was creeping up on his cheeks. He knew it didn't work on Takao. He did it anyway.
“Yes, it will, just listen to me, Shin-chan! Listen, I respect you. And after you said that, I was thinking about basketball and where I'm going to go if you won't play anymore. Then I was thinking about why I play basketball in the first place. You remember when we first met?”
“I do. You were disrespectful as always.”
“Meany, Shin-chan! That doesn't matter! But you remember how you asked if I had a grudge on you, right?” Takao asked and looked at him expectantly. His tongue darted out to lick his lips as if they were getting tired from talking so much. Midorima couldn't tear his eyes away from it.
In fact, he remembered that conversation quite well. Takao had come on him constantly, playing against him and seeking the challenge. How could he forget that?
“Yes. You said you did have a grudge because you wanted to beat me, but then we were on the same team. You also said that in that case you wouldn't want to beat me anymore, but win with me and the team.” he recited the conversation they had had the best he could do it. Takao nodded and smiled a small smile.
“Right. And then my reason to play was to win with you and then it became to beat Rakuzan with you. And then we did it!” Both of them had to smile at that memory. Happy screaming, Takao lunging himself into his arms, the exhaustion in their bones that seemed like it wasn't there at all. Midorima had declared it the perfect end for his career.
“So this was my goal until our very last game. And now it's gone. And I realized if I go to America now and start playing in earnest without having a goal... Would that even make me happy? Then I remembered that you can be a great doctor with the same abilities you have for basketball. I looked for something I can be with my abilities too.”
Slowly, Midorima had gotten the idea of what Takao was trying here to say. What he didn't get yet, though, was why he was drawing it out so much and made such a big deal about telling him. There had to be more to it. A silent annoyed huff passed his lips. Midorima couldn't stand it if he couldn't figure something out.
“But all the time I had to think about how you'll be a doctor and the real issue isn't even that we won't get to play with each other anymore, but that we won't do stuff together anymore so I'm gonna make this really quick right now.”
'Thank god', Midorima thought. It felt like they had been here for ages. Or no time at all. It was one of 'those' moments again.
“Shin-chan, I want to go to med school with you and become a paramedic so we can work together.” he confessed. It looked like he couldn't decide whether to grin at his face or to turn his head away, waiting for his reaction first.
There was no reaction to await anytime soon, though.
Midorima was dumbfounded.
That wasn't a thing that usually happened, but right now it was happening pretty intensely.
“Shin-chan?” Takao asked after a few moments, “Are you alright? What do you say?” Now the younger boy looked almost anxious. A look Midorima had only seen a very few times over the curse of the past years.
“I... I don't- What...” he took a deep breath to push himself out of his pathetic stuttering. “I do not want to be responsible for you having a job that doesn't suit you and that you aren't content with only for the sake of tagging with me. If you think basketball would be a good choice for you, please go and play without me.”
Takao winced and whispered something along the lines “Harsh, Shin-chan.” Had he been inconsiderate? He was merely telling the truth...
“Basketball is pointless without you.”
If Midorima had been dumbfounded before, now he was a total loss of anything to say or to think.
“We could live in a shared flat when we go to med school and then later we could come back from work together and you wouldn't be so lonely at home. Just think about it! Also the hawk eye would be helpful in keeping an eye on everything in emergencies!” Takao tried to convince him. He sounded enthusiastic and he had probably put a great effort into planning this out.
The first thing that came out of Midorima's mouth was, unfortunately: “Didn't you consider that you might want to get family one day?” Probably not the best choice.
“We can deal with that when it's actually time for it. Just tell me if you would be okay with it, Shin-chan.”
It was possibly the first time since years. At least ever since he entered Teiko, that Midorima immediately answered, not thinking about his words for a split second. “I would.” he said.
When Takao grinned at him, he felt like laughing. Just like back on that roof in second year when all of a sudden all his walls had broken down. It hadn't felt precisely pleasant. It was more of an uplifting feeling. And right now he was feeling really uplifted.
Instead of laughing, he opted for a smile that was just big enough, he was sure that Takao would be able to detect it.
“This will be awesome, Shin-chan! We can have our own flat and we can still go to school together!” Takao started to laugh and jumped off of the stairs, quickly taking a few steps down, so he was standing right in front of Midorima, their faces close to each other.
“It makes sense why you've studied so much harder for tests now.” he noted.
“Yeah, if I hadn't I probably wouldn't have made it. Let's take the entrance test together in a month!” Midorima nodded and watched how Takao's face lit up. And he quietly thought to himself, in the far back of his head, 'I would have missed him a lot.'
Midorima had always thought these timeless places that Takao loved so much were cool too. He knew this was one as well, stairs were supposed to lead you somewhere. They didn't make sense if you didn't use them for that.
Still, none of their other “timeless” moments had gotten to him as much as this one did.
“You should be lucky to have someone who offers to be your roommate, everyone else would refuse.” Takao giggled and yeah, now the magic was kinda gone.
“I would get around on my own.” he simply said and ignored how Takao pulled up an eyebrow, a look of disbelief in his eyes. “Shin-chan, you can't cook for shit and on unlucky days you won't leave the house without your lucky item. You would literally starve!”
Midorima gritted his teeth. He hated that Takao had a point there. “I am able to produce something edible.” he claimed and gave his friend a glare.
“C'mon, we both know that isn't true.”
“Maybe. That's because I'm the smart one.”
“See, Shin-chan. This is why people think you're heartless!” Takao whined and playfully clutched his hand to his chest as if to underline his point. Midorima didn't need it to get the point, it came through quite well.
“I know that I might not be an easy person to get along with. And that you, while you are annoying, are a person that people easily get along with, so if I were you, I'd think about rooming with people that aren't me out of everyone.” Midorima admitted. He was aware it lacked his usual sharpness.
He didn't want Takao to regret anything, Takao deserved the best. It would take a while until he could say so though.
“But I don't want someone that is easy to get along with. I want Shin-chan.” Takao said, with another one of these earnest smiles that Midorima could barely bear to look at.
“Sh-shut up. Don't just say stuff like that.” he insisted and looked away. And just when he thought this couldn't get any (better) worse, he felt Takao coming down another step, nearly brushing his body with his own.
Midorima shuddered.
He knew Takao felt it, but he was way too busy looking to the ground to do anything about it.
“Hey, Shin-chan. I think I am going to ask the person I want to dance with now. I have a feeling they might want to dance with me after all.” Takao said all of a sudden and Midorima face fell. He quickly looked up and searched for any kind of joke in Takao's expression. He couldn't find any.
He felt weirdly let down.
“What? Now? Don't change your mind so suddenly.” he mumbled and was ready to take a step back. As he was about to do so, Takao took a hold of his forearm.
“I'm sorry. Do you wanna dance, Shin-chan?” the younger one asked. Midorima didn't get it.
“Me? No, I'd prefer to go home then-” Realization flooded through him as he saw Takao holding out his hand to him, clearly watching him to determine how long Midorima would need to get his ask. “Oh... 'Oh'.”
That probably was the least intelligent thing he had said all year. He didn't care at the moment.
“Do you?” Takao pressed and extended his hand a little further, his eyes looking almost pleading. How in the world was Midorima supposed to say no?
“I, uh... Yes. Right here?” They were still standing on the flight of stairs. With both of them not exactly being the best dancers, it was easy enough to wind up in an accident even if they weren't dancing on steps of all things.
“Come on.” Takao said and pulled him up the rest of the steps onto the first-floor landing.
After a few seconds of awkward standing around, Midorima took a step forward, taking hold of one Takao's hands, putting the other one on his waist. The heat of Takao's skin could be felt through the thin fabric of his crisp, white shirt and suddenly everything felt real. Midorima had to smile again.
Slowly, Takao put his free hand against the back of Midorima's shoulder and began moving his left foot forward.
It didn't take them long to find a rhythm. That it didn't fit the pace of the song didn't matter to them. It wasn't a real dance anyway, as far as Midorima could tell, but neither of them cared. For the first time in minutes he dared looking Takao in the face.
They were really close, he realized that now. Takao smiled at him hazily, giving the hand he was holding a small squeeze. Only now Midorima started to listen to the faint lyrics to the song playing far under them.
//All of the things I want to say
Just aren't coming out right
I'm tripping inwards
You got my head spinning
I don't know where to go from here//
This song fit him weirdly well, he noticed. In fact, this was exactly how Takao made him feel. And the things he said to Takao never came out as they should. But Takao always got them despite that. Honestly, it was one of his favorite things about Takao.
He always 'got' him.
Hesitantly, Midorima pulled Takao in a little closer.
//There's something about you
I can't quite figure out
Everything she does is beautiful//
Later, when they talked about that moment again, none of them knew who moved first anymore. And in that exact moment none of them knew anything, but the feeling of breath brushing over their lips.
And then Takao's lips were on Midorima's.
It was softer than he had expected. There wasn't much pressure at all. At first, it was merely two mouths laying on each other, but then Takao started moving his lips against his, he felt pure bliss.
“This is a liminal space, Shin-chan. Isn't it kinda ironic?” Takao asked in a hushed tone, his lips still hovering over Midorima's.
“It's fitting.” was his answer before lightly brushing his lips against Takao's again.
//What day is it?
And in what month?
This clock never seemed so alive//
“You know, Shin-chan... I really, really, like you.”
'I like you too.' He thought, locking eyes with Takao once more. 'More than anything else because you get me and you adjusted your entire future because of me because you believe in this so much. You believe in me so much. You are annoying, but that's who you are and I love it. Your laugh is obnoxious, but it's also the best thing I've ever heard. You wanted to beat me, but you chose to fight with me and help me achieve my goal. When everyone laughs at my items you do too, but I know you aren't making fun of me like that. You are the only one who kind of understands. There's nothing I'd rather do than take you with me to med school this summer. Please stay with me.'
“Shut up, Takao! Me too..” he said.
Takao grinned up at him and leaned even closer, their chests touching now, lips almost brushing again.
“You are the best, Shin-chan.”
Takao was 'unreal'.