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“Hey dumbass, come meet me at the court.”
“Hello to you too, and I can’t. I have a date tonight.”
“Cancel and play me instead.”
“Dude you know I can’t do that.”
“But I miiiiiiiss you-“
“Oh my god don’t grovel jesus. I’ll raincheck for next week okay?”
“Yeah yeah whatever I’ll talk to you later.”
Aomine hangs up the phone with a click and visibly deflates. Reaching up to rub at his cheek where he had been unconsciously biting into to keep his tone lighthearted, he sighs. It wasn’t news to him that Kagami had a date tonight, or one for the past three weekends in a row. The girl he was seeing wasn’t just a casual fling as he had anticipated the first time he had been introduced.
She was gorgeous.
And not only that, but she was charming, funny, kind, and could dish out retorts as fast as she received them. She was perfect for Kagami. And he deserved every bit of her. Drawing his knee’s up Aomine let his head fall onto them, hand moving from his cheek to rub at his hair. She was everything he wasn’t.
It wasn’t a new thought to cross his mind. Aomine was painfully aware of the huge awful crush he had on his friend. He was also aware of it when Kagami had come to him for advice on how to ask his dream girl out. Being the dumbass he was, he had helped, and now he was miserable. The hand on his head turned to a fist as he squeezed his eyes shut, hating himself for regretting Kagami’s happiness, and ignoring the cellphone next to him adding to the silence.
--
It feels like years had passed when Kagami finally starts meeting him at the court on a regular basis. It’s different from before though, because he brings her along with him. Any foul thought he had directed at her in Kagami’s absence was immediately thrown out the window and Aomine is reminded why most of his regrets revolve around her.
She tells him one day that she joins them because she loves the sport. Love’s to watch them play and push each other.
“You’d have to be mental to not want to watch two fine looking dudes get all hot and sweaty.” She had said with a wink.
And that was part of her charm. Normally Aomine would have scoffed and maybe even gagged, but even though jealousy burned to his very core he couldn’t help the bubble of genuine affection it spurred. That day he asked her if she wanted to play a round, which he very quickly discovered that she sucked. She was worse at basketball than Kuroko, and had none of the passing prowess to make up for it. It was so bizarre that it shocked him into laughter that reached his eyes for the first time in what felt like forever, Kagami joining him.
He hated himself. God he hated himself for the small voice in the back of his head wishing terribly that there was something wrong with her that he could latch onto and hate.
--
It takes time, but he’s come to accept being the third wheel. He even feels a sort of friendship between himself and Kagami’s girlfriend. It’s weird, because anyone actually making an effort to befriend him is practically a foreign concept. If anything, he lies to himself, it’s the only way he gets to spend time with the Kagami anymore.
This is why it takes him by surprise when the redhead calls him up, asking to meet him at the court on the usual ‘date night’.
When he arrives Kagami is already there and, he notices with an eyebrow raised, alone. Something feels off, but he ignores it and calls out.
“Yo.”
Kagami stops dribbling and turns to him, a smile that looks completely out of place on his lips.
“Hey.”
“Where’s ‘girlfriend-chan’?” He asks, calling her by the nickname he had given her back when even the thought of her burned like acid in his throat.
“Not ‘girlfriend-chan’ anymore. We broke up.”
Aomine freezes a few steps away from him, eyebrows drawing together in confusion. As his words sink in he almost physically punches himself to stop the swell of joy in his gut.
“You’re kidding. She finally got fed up with your horrible snoring?”
Kagami snorts and looks at the ground, kicking his foot almost nervously.
“I broke it off.” He says, glancing up again. “Because there’s someone else.”
Aomines eyebrows shoot to his hairline. “ I didn’t take you for the cheating type, what the hell man.” This was weird. Really really really weird.
Kagami’s expression finally returns to something he would normally wear, rolling his eyes with great exaggeration. “No dumbass, god. No, there’s someone that I ah-….have stronger feelings for. She understood and we’re still friends but…” A blush was starting to form on his cheeks and Aomine wanted to kick himself for thinking it was so cute.
“Well shit, she’s got to be an 11 on the scale if you broke up because of that.” He jokes, throat feeling tight. The only reason he hadn’t fallen into a pit of longing and stupidity was because he had actually maybe enjoyed her presence. If there’s a new girl now….
“He is.”
It takes exactly 5 seconds for Kagami’s words to process and his brain to completely short circuit. Choking out a cough to mask his surprise he takes a step back.
“What?!”
Kagami’s expression is completely unreadable as he says a soft ‘you heard me’, not breaking eye contact. Aomine’s heart feels like its kicking into overdrive. The look Kagami gives him seems to tear away every wall he had worked so hard to keep up like paper.
“Don’t fuck with me. Don’t you dare.” His voice sounds hoarse in his own ears, everything he had been holding back for months suddenly on the surface.
Kagami takes a step towards him and snags his hand, grinning from ear to ear in the most openly earnest smile Aomine is sure he doesn’t deserve to be witness too.
“I’m not.”
Breaking eye contact and staring at the court Aomine fights to breathe, positive that the look on his face wasn’t flattering. He had played this scene out in his head and in his dreams countless times. Kagami’s hand feels warm around his, squeezing lightly, anchoring him down. ‘This is real’ his brain supplies and he lifts his head and slowly returns the grip.
This is real.
He smiles.