Chapter Text
“--okay, but if you shift over here, then--”
“I don’t fit in there--”
“Let me try to just--”
“That’s not gonna move, it’s a shelf.”
“Okay, then what if--”
“And that’s my knee.”
“Oh. Then how do I--”
“Stop,” Murasakibara finally interrupted. “You’re making me tired. You stand still, and let me figure out how we can both fit in here.”
Kiyoshi took as large a step backwards as he could. Even with that tiny step, he’d only managed to put maybe half an inch of space between himself and Murasakibara. The supply closet they’d gotten locked in wasn’t built to hold any amount of people, much less two basketball players with a combined height over 13 feet.
The nearly total darkness didn’t help the situation.
“Do you have a phone?” Kiyoshi asked, trying to be helpful. A little light would go a long way here.
“If I had a phone, I’d be calling Murochin to let us out. Hush or I’ll crush you,” Murasakibara said impatiently.
Kiyoshi bit back the flippant remark he was about to make and stood patiently.
Satisfied, Murasakibara went back to exploring the closet by touch. The shelf on his right held cleaning supplies and extra towels. Right next to him was the mop bucket, which thankfully didn’t have any water in it… He checked the mop, which was dry.
“Kiyoshi. Is there anything on the bottom shelf on your left?”
“No.”
“Good. We’re gonna put the mop bucket there.” Murasakibara put actions to words, shifting the mop to his left side and nudging the mop bucket forward with his foot. Kiyoshi leaned down, taking up the entire fucking closet, and maneuvered the bucket into the cubby.
Finally. Murasakibara shifted his weight, glad to have another precious few inches of space. Sure, the mop was still in the corner, but moving the cumbersome bucket almost gave him room to maneuver. Besides, it was hot in here--Kiyoshi seemed to radiate heat.
“Move,” he commanded. He pressed Kiyoshi back into the corner against the shelf. “Stay there.”
The other center did as he was told. He’d been remarkably obedient the whole time, thought Murasakibara idly. Finally, the giant had enough room to ease himself onto the floor, allowing his aching legs some rest. He curled up in the corner opposite Kiyoshi, sitting cross-legged. By his estimation, that was only a little more than half the floorspace. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.
A minute ticked by.
Then another.
Finally, Kiyoshi broke the silence. “Are you done? Can I move now?”
Murasakibara grunted in irritation, not bothering to open his eyes. “I don’t care what you do.”
He heard an amused huff of air, then the sounds of the other player moving and rustling around. Lazily, Murasakibara tried to track what Kiyoshi was doing--it seemed like he was looking for a way to sit down as well, as he turned and dipped first at one angle, then another. Eventually, he came to a rest kneeling on one knee in front of him.
“C’mon, uncross your legs.” The entreaty was accompanied by a pat on one knee.
“Why should I,” Murasakibara complained. Even so, he decided the path of least resistance would be to do as he was told--heaven knew that Kiyoshi had never been the type to quit easily.
As soon as his legs moved, Kiyoshi slipped onto the floor between them, scooting back and resting his back against Murasakibara’s chest. “There,” he said cheerfully. “Now we’re both comfy.”
“You’re crushing me,” complained Murasakibara. He wasn’t, really, but he still didn’t know how to react to the other boy just laying all over him. He was used to towering over others--sitting like this, on the floor, Kiyoshi’s broader frame almost made Atsushi feel small.
Kiyoshi leaned forward slightly, taking his heavy weight off Murasakibara a bit. “Well you can’t expect me to stay standing forever,” he pointed out. “Not with my knee.”
“Fine.” It came out as a long sigh. Murasakibara’s stomach growled noisily a moment later.
Kiyoshi laughed. “We just had lunch.” He reached behind himself to actually pat Murasakibara’s stomach, which fluttered oddly at the attention. “You can’t be hungry yet.”
The younger player considered and discarded several answers, finally settling on, “I’m still growing.” Not open to questions, discouraged further conversation.
“I remember those days,” Kiyoshi said cheerfully. The guy really didn’t know how to read a conversation, did he? “I shot up like a weed, grew five inches in a year. Do you have growing pains sometimes?”
Almost always, thought Murasakibara. Instead he said, “You talk too much.”
Finally, finally, Kiyoshi fell silent at that, only to start squirming around, finally startling Murasakibara into opening his eyes. That much movement right between his legs was alarming, to say the least. “What are you doing?”
“I had a package of Starbursts in my back pocket.”
Just the thought of anything to eat made Murasakibara’s stomach roar again. “Give me some.”
“Say please~” Kiyoshi’s tone was light and teasing, but the way he settled back against Murasakibara was anything but. He could hear the faint crinkle as he opened up the first candy.
“Please,” he grit out.
“There, was that so hard?” The self-satisfaction in Kiyoshi’s voice grated on Murasakibara’s nerves, even as the other player passed him an already unwrapped candy in the darkness.
“I’m going to crush you this afternoon in the game,” he informed Kiyoshi through a mouthful of sweets.
Kiyoshi just laughed and leaned his head back against Murasakibara’s chest. “I know you will. But first, we have to get out of this closet, remember?”