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Two weeks had passed since their loss against Touou and Kasamatsu was close to lose all of his patience towards their ace. Kise stayed behind to practice at least two more hours every day with his foot being injured. The cherry on top event happened on a late Monday night when Kise landed onto his bad foot after a successful dunk and ended up on the ground.
”What the hell are you doing, dumbass?!” Kasamatsu asked, stomping into the gym – he had been watching the younger practice through the crack of the door.
”Ah, senpai!” Kise greeted his upperclassman with a fake smile – it was too wide to be genuine. He tried to stand up, but it did not work.
Kasamatsu leaned down and pulled him up by his arm. Kise stepped a step back to examine the other’s expression. He concluded that Kasamatsu-senpai was not happy because of him practicing all alone this late in the night.
”How many times do I have to tell you that you should not practice hard until the doctor says you can do so?” The older asked with his eyes narrowed in anger.
Kise averted his gaze and clenched his fists. Despite knowing that the thing he was about to say would have a painful outcome for him, but when his senpai looked at him like that, he knew he could not lie to him.
”What happened back then was my fault,” he started, tightening his clench. ”I need to train more than anyone. I need to become a better ace, because if I was a better ace, we would not-”
The head bump was not a surprise – but its strength was. Kise fell backwards to the ground and the impact squeezed the air out of his lungs. His nose hurt and he saw the small drops of blood, but did not have time to register all of it, because Kasamatsu grabbed the front of his T-shirt and yanked him upwards.
”What happened was not your fault, idiot!” Kasamatsu yelled and Kise saw that his forehead was bruised too. ”No one blames you! We are a team! Basketball is a team sport and the stronger five is the better!” Kasamatsu’s look was so stern that Kise could not look away. ”We will practice together and evolve together,” Kasamatsu said, his voice gentler.
Kise felt his eyes widening and as some stray tears ran down on his face. Kasamatsu raised one of his hands up and caressed them away. Kise’s lips slowly curled into a smirk and Kasamatsu frowned.
”You know, senpai, I am feeling better now!” He announced, his smirk turning into a genuine smile.
”It is good to hear,” Kasamatsu said, then helped him stand up once more. ”Now, come to the club room. We need to stop the bleeding.”
Kise was sitting on the bench, while Kasamatsu wiped the last drops with a tissue. As he watched his senpai taking care of him, a thought popped up into Kise’s head.
”Senpai… I know it may sound strange, but I feel as if we have already had an argument like that before.” Kise’s voice was uncertain. He had no idea where that thought came from himself.
”Nah, I do not think so,” Kasamatsu said and Kise cocked his head. ”If I had head bumped you before, I would remember that, because it hurts like hell.”
Hearing that, Kise put his hand on Kasamatsu’s which the older rested on the younger’s knee. Kasamatsu looked up in surprise. Kise leaned forward and placed a light kiss on Kasamatsu’s bruised forehead.
”Thank you for cheering me up, senpai!” Kise said with shining eyes, full of adoration. He did not have time to prepare when Kasamatsu hit him on the top of his head, blushing in embarrassment. Kise whined, rubbing the throbbing place. ”You are mean, senpai~”
”Shut up, Shitty Kise!”