Chapter Text
“Why am I here?”
Aomine breathes in deep and then lets the air out through his nose in a slow exhale. All the while, Akashi patiently waits for his friend to answer his question even after his cup of black coffee arrives at their table and even after Midorima also finally makes an appearance. The doctor is surprised to see him but the confusion shines more evidently in the way he shoots Aomine a look before his eyes land back at Akashi who merely shrugs in response.
A staff passes by him and Midorima asks for his own cup of coffee before he walks over to an equally clueless Akashi and a fidgeting Aomine. Taking the empty seat to the redhead’s left, he asks, “Why am I here?”
Hopefully, Aomine finally decides to answer in actual words rather than puffs of breath. Akashi sips from his cup while Midorima drums his fingers on the table and his signature frown painted on his face.
“I need your help.” Is what Aomine finally says while looking like some undercover spy agent in movies. He is leaning forward, arms on the table and hands clasped together. His voice is low and gruff. Actually, Aomine looks more like a drug dealer than a spy and maybe Midorima would have found it amusing if the man is not actually wasting his precious time.
“Yes, that’s what you said on the phone.” The doctor deadpans. “What exactly do you need?”
“Well,” Aomine leans back and Akashi is a little amazed at the change in his body language. It is not everyday that you will see Aomine embarrassed or flustered with how shameless he is. “The truth is I need help in choosing a ring. Pretty sure you’ve heard I wanna marry Ryo, right?”
Midorima still looks unimpressed while Akashi begins to wonder why in the world did Aomine think that he and the moody doctor would be any helpful.
“And you didn’t think that Satsuki would be a better choice to ask for help?” Akashi points out. Midorima nods his head and Aomine shakes his.
“Nope! The last thing I want is to come with her in a jewelry store. Her own taste’s gonna cloud her judgment and I want the ring to be, you know,” Aomine does weird gestures and facial expressions but somehow, against all odds, Akashi understands what the other alpha is trying to say. Special. Of course he wants the ring to be special.
Akashi feels Midorima side-eyeing him and oh, oh he already knows what the man’s going to say next.
“I’m afraid I won’t be much of help. You know I was never the romantic type and rings are not our thing,” Midorima says and leisurely takes a few sips of his coffee the moment it arrives. “Akashi on the other hand—”
“How much do you need?” Akashi cuts him off and Aomine looks like he is considering taking cash for a brief moment before shaking his head. The policeman laughs.
“No, no thank you. Tempting offer but I have my pride—”
“Akashi is an expert in buying rings.” Midorima spits out and hides a smirk behind his cup, pretending to drink. Aomine completely misses that something, a kind of inside joke caught in between the line of Akashi’s fake smile and Midorima’s fake obliviousness to whatever the redhead is suddenly displeased about.
“Oh really?”
"Shintaro.” Akashi warns but Midorima isn’t fazed. He even encourages the idea.
“Yes. I can vouch for that.” He confirms and Aomine’s face brightens.
“Ah, I knew I could trust rich bastards like you!” Aomine exclaims. “Then again it makes so much sense that you’re an expert in this shit right? Coz you’re rich. But don’t pick something too expensive, Akashi. I’m going all out but my wallet still has its limits.”
He’s not usually petty and almost never resorts to childish antics, but Akashi steps on Midorima’s foot under table anyway just when the bespectacled man is in the middle of finishing his cup halfway. It almost causes Midorima to spit out the coffee from the sudden burst of pain on his toes and Akashi feels satisfied with the way those green eyes narrow at him.
“Of course, Daiki.” Akashi smiles but his eyes are on Midorima, mismatched eyes hard and speaking of silent promise that the doctor is definitely going to suffer more than painful toes if he insists on teasing him about buying rings. Conceding defeat, Midorima rolls his eyes and huffs.
“I should go.” Midorima fishes out a bill from his wallet and places it beside his now empty cup. Before Aomine could protest, he says, “some of us are not CEOs with flexible shifts. I am currently on duty, Aomine. My patients are waiting for me.” He stands up and smirks at the redhead. “Besides, like I said, Akashi is an expert in buying rings, especially engagement rings.”
Unfortunately for Akashi, Midorima’s already at a safe distance away that another painful step on his toes is no longer possible. He glares at the triumphant smirk the other alpha shoots him before turning around and disappearing from their sight.
One year ago, Akashi just came out of a business party, a little tipsy, and then he bought a ring.
He didn’t mean to buy one that night, just that when he saw the ring, everything seemed to fall into place and then he just had to buy it no matter what. It was a simple little thing with a tiny, unassuming diamond, but despite its size, it shone like the brightest firefly among a sea of a thousand lights, like a little unassuming star in a vast universe that is littered with bigger constellations, making it difficult to stand out and yet—yet. He could not look away from it and he had to have it, he just had to buy it and keep it with him at all times, in his pocket just in case the gods decided that ah, perhaps it was never too late after all, that they still could be the endgame, that maybe when the moon and the planets align with the sun he could still put this ring on Tetsuya’s finger, that one day, that one special day will arrive.
One year ago, Midorima just came back from a tiresome hospital shift, played his voicemail, and then heard Akashi’s voice.
“Shin—hic—Shintaro, you’ll nev-never guess that I bought Tetsuya an engagement ring. Guess what?”
The voicemail lasted for an hour.
“So what do you think about this one?”
“I don’t know, Daiki.”
“You think it’s too flashy?”
“I don’t know. Daiki.”
“Hmm, it is too flashy.”
Akashi sighs and follows Aomine out the store to enter the one beside it. They have been to seven jewelry stores now and have checked about five booths at the mall but Aomine is yet to find the ‘perfect ring for my perfect mate!’ While Akashi can understand the importance of it, he had to admit that the conquest was getting a little exhausting. His opinions would not even matter to Daiki, actually. At the end of the day, it will be up to the ganguro to decide which ring fits Kise best!
“Nothing here, either. God, who knew that finding a ring’s gonna be this hard! Any suggestions?”
“I do, but you are not going to like them.” Akashi says as they step out the store, again.
“Why not? Are they pricey?”
“Yes, but you know that’s not the real reason, Daiki.”
They stop walking and he looks Aomine in the eye, stares at those pools of dark blue until understanding dawns on the other alpha. With a sigh, Aomine continues walking towards the next shop with Akashi easily falling a step beside him.
“I just want everything to be perfect for Ryo.” The cop mutters. That, Akashi can understand. “So like, everything I see looks like they’re not perfect for him, ya’know? I don’t even have a top five or a top three right now. I have nothing. We’ve been through many stores but I still have nothing.”
“You’ll eventually find one, Daiki.” It’s a half-hearted attempt at comforting his friend but Akashi knows it to be true.
“I do hope so, but I don’t even know how to find the one.”
They continue to walk in silence, with Aomine trying to figure out what exactly he is looking for and Akashi getting lost in the memories of him buying a ring when he was drunk. For a second, he considers telling Aomine the tale but he immediately throws the idea out the window. Midorima’s clowned him enough and he really does not need another human to laugh at his drunken adventures. In fact, he thinks that Aomine thinks that the great Akashi Seijuro does not get drunk and if he does, he still acts like a respectably royalty who does not buy engagement rings impulsively while thinking that there is still a chance in the universe of marrying his first and only love, who he abandoned because he was a fool—
“Are you okay?” Aomine’s hand rests on his shoulder and instead of nodding his head, he lets his mouth run its course.
“When you find it,” He begins, still a little lost in thought, “you’ll just know. When you see it, everything just clicks into place. You cannot take your eyes off it. When you look at the ring you can see the future, and you can see him wearing that ring, when he’s eating or when he’s reading or when’s doing nothing, and then you’ll know that yes, this is the ring. This is… the perfect ring. This is the ring that I will put on his finger and he will wear it for as long as he loves me, which is hopefully, until we die and maybe even in the afterlife, if I’m lucky.”
It all comes back to him in flashes, the ideas he’s been holding on to since he was a teen—of putting a ring on Kuroko’s finger and exchanging “I dos” and vows and spending the rest of their lives together. All these fantasies cross his mind in a span of a few seconds and when he finally snaps out of his daydream, he sees Aomine wearing a dumb look on his face.
“Akashi, why do I get the feeling that—oh.”
“What?”
“Of course.”
“What is it?”
“I mean, we’ve all been there and I shouldn’t really be surprised.“ Aomine grins. “You’ve always looked like you wanted to marry him on the spot, every day when we were young. Not that we’re old, old now.”
“I—“ Akashi attempts to defend himself, mouth open and ready for a rebuttal. His index finger raised in a gesture or proving a point, but he realizes quickly that there is no point and everything Aomine said is true. He shakes his head and keeps his hand inside his pocket then sighs. “I am not going to deny that.”
Aomine laughs at him and attempts to put an around his shoulders but he swiftly ducks and starts walking away, pace fast enough for the other to have to jog just to catch up with him.
At the end of the day, they finally find the perfect-est perfect ring, as Aomine put it. Akashi sees the exact moment those blue eyes brighten, catches the excited glimmer in them as Aomine stalks over the counter and almost scares the lady behind it.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t come with you today.” Kuroko apologizes but Aomine waves him off.
“Don’t worry about it, Tetsu! I shouldn’t have asked on a workday.”
“And yet you came to bother me and Shintarou.” Akashi chimes in as he opens the passenger door for Kuroko to hop in.
“I am eternally grateful to you for making time, Akashi Seijurou-sama.” Aomine jokes and Akashi rolls his eyes before closing Kuroko’s door and walking round his car to settle at the driver’s seat.
Kuroko’s window rolls down and Aomine bends to peek in at the pair as he flashes a bright smile at them.
“But no, really. Thanks.” The alpha says, showing the small paper bag in his hand like it’s a prize he’s won in a birthday party.
“I accept your gratitude, as you should be thankful.” Akashi replies and Aomine immediately counters with, “You act as if you didn’t enjoy shopping.”
The cop nudges his head towards the backseat and Kuroko turns around to follow his gaze only to be met by almost a dozen shopping bags, all carrying a brand name he’s only seen in elite magazines. He levels Akashi with a stare, but said alpha was busy pretending to notice nothing as the car’s engine comes to life.
“Well then!” Aomine taps on the roof. “I’ll be busy with preparations so don’t expect too much from me this coming week.”
“Thank god.” Akashi says and Kuroko elbows his arm before bidding Aomine goodbye and wishing him luck. Kuroko’s window rolls up and as they speed away, he sees observes Aomine’s reflection from the side view mirror, getting tinier as the distance between them grows but the bright smile still so noticeable.
It’s not until they turn a corner and Aomine completely disappears from his sight that Kuroko turns his attention back at the bags at the backseat.
“I take it everything went well.”
“It was a little annoying to deal with Daiki’s indecisiveness at first.”
“But?”
Akashi shrugs. “But he’s relatable and I get him. Why settle for less, after all, when you can give your mate the best you could possibly offer.”
If the alpha expects Kuroko to get flustered over his words followed by a confident grin on his face, well, he’s wrong. Maybe Kuroko’s a little embarrassed over the cheesiness of it all but Akashi’s not going to get the reaction he’s expecting. The omega points at bags behind him with his thumb.
“So that explains all the unnecessary stuff, then?” He deadpans.
“They are not unnecessary.”
“I can see a fur coat peeking from one of the—”
“You get cold easily.”
“It’s summer.”
“You get cold easily.” Akashi counters firmly. He side-eyes the other and sees an adorable pout. If Kuroko’s trying to look disappointed at him in an attempt to make him feel bad, it’s not working, just as how his own cheesy lines failed to warrant a blushing omega. “Don’t try pulling that face on me, Tetsuya.”
“What face.”
“The angry face.”
“I am angry.”
“No. You look cute, not angry. You’re not even really mad at me anyway.” Akashi answers. “Also, you’ll only make me want to buy you more stuff if you continue looking at me like that, you know?”
At this, Kuroko turns away from Akashi and twists his body more towards the window with his arms crossed over his chest.
“You’re impossible.”
Akashi smiles, cheeky, knowing that he’s already won the argument even when Kuroko mutters a witty response that he thinks Akashi wouldn’t hear well enough to understand. Of course he makes sure to let Kuroko know that he’s heard him, crystal clear, and if it triggers the man enough to engage him in full-blown banter, Akashi’s not gonna complain. He’ll relish in every ounce of attention the omega’s willing to give him, savor every second Kuroko’s eyes focus on nothing else but him.
“Clothes are not meant for one-time use only. The washing machine’s there for a reason.”
Kuroko hits his arm with the back of his hand and it’s more of a tap that’s hard enough to cause a bit of an ache. He doesn’t feel the pain though, because his eyes follow said hand, particularly on those pale slender fingers.
He’s moving before he can even think about it. With his eyes focused on the road, one hand on the wheel, his other hand moves to intertwine his and Kuroko’s fingers.
If Kuroko’s a bit confused at how tight Akashi’s holding his hand, he doesn’t say anything. If Akashi’s thoughts started to drift towards drunken memories and impulsive purchases from two years ago, he’ll definitely not say anything.
At least not yet.