Chapter Text
A little bell chimed above Kagami when he pushed the café door open, and the sight that opened in front of his eyes could only be described as his worst nightmare.
A roomful of dogs.
All kinds of dogs you could imagine. From small dogs with tails between their trembling legs to big ones you could ride to war. Long-haired dogs that looked like their fur will tangle if you even looked at their direction. Dogs with fancy looking trims and dogs whose fur shone in the light. Little chubby dogs with stubby legs. Giant dogs with long skinny legs. War dogs with paws of the size of a dinner plate.
They all roamed the big room freely. Here and there, were people sitting at tables drinking coffee or on the floor propped up by heaps of pillows petting and playing with the beasts.
Kagami stood frozen in the doorway, and his suddenly sweaty hand clutched on the leather shoulder-strap of his bag. Hazily his brain tried to remember that one late-night document he had watched about dangerous animals. The pretentious-sounding British narrator had said something about looking at the beasts in the eyes, but Kagami couldn’t remember if you should or should not do it.
Something solid bumped against his back, but he barely noticed.
“Oi, Bakagami!” Aomine’s annoyed voice came somewhere distant behind him. “Don’t just stand there.”
“What’s this place?”
“Dog café.”
“What’s going on? Why are we standing here?”
The top of Momoi’s head peeked behind Aomine’s broad shoulder as she tried to reach out to see what was holding up their line.
“Oi, Kagami!”
Aomine gave Kagami’s back a sharp nudge, but his feet were rooted just over the threshold. Not even Aomine managed to budge him. At this point, the Kagami-sized plug at the doorway had started to attract attention – both of the customers and the dogs.
A pair of chunky nails scraped against the floor as one of them, a big golden one, trotted over to them. Its heavy tail, as thick as Kagami’s wrist, swayed in the air like a flag, and its broad tongue hung over the giant teeth.
Kagami took an instinctive step back only to crash against Aomine who was taken by surprise and accidentally knocked into Momoi.
“The hell, Kagami?!”
All he registered was the golden beast getting closer and closer, its black eyes nailed on him.
Shit, what if he was accidentally challenging it for a fight by looking at it. Should he distract it somehow? Maybe he could push Aomine in front of him and make his escape while the beast chewed on his flesh?
Just as the dog was about to reach Kagami and according to Kagami’s plan, get kicked in the snout, someone grabbed its collar that was buried into the thick golden fur. A young petite waitress with short brown hair. She was wearing a bright green apron with a picture of a cup and paws printed on it. Under it read “B&P” in curvy letters.
“Taro, sit,” she said with a firm voice.
Immediately the dog’s butt was planted on the floor, and it looked up at her. She patted the top of the golden head.
“Welcome to Beans & Paws!” she greeted them cheerfully. “Table for three? Or would you like to sit on the floor?”
“Take that thing away from me,” Kagami muttered between tight lips and glared at the dog sitting obediently, its eyes still nailed on the waitress.
Her smile faltered a little.
“Excuse me?”
"Keep it away from me."
Momoi wiggled her way through the narrow gap that was left between two full-sized basketball players and the doorframe.
“Sorry about him,” she said with her trademarked smile, sweet as sugar glaze. “Table for three, please. And would it possible to get it somewhere without the dogs?”
The waitress’ eyebrow arched.
“You do know this a dog café, right?”
“Our friend here just needs a bit of time to get used to them.”
Momoi nodded at Kagami behind her. The waitress glanced at him, still having a one-sided staring contest with the golden dog sitting between her legs. For a while, she looked like she wanted to refuse them but finally shrugged.
“Fine. I’ll clear up some space for you. Taro, c’mon.”
She tapped her thigh lightly, and the dog’s floppy ears perked up. Quickly it bounced on his feet and followed the waitress glued to her thigh.
“I can’t believe you’re afraid of dogs,” Aomine sneered, still stuck behind Kagami.
“Shut up. I’m not.”
Momoi picked up a small dog that had come to greet them and hugged it close to her chest. A little pink tongue darted out to lap her cheek and sniff at her face. The long curly hair of the dog reminded Kagami of a mop they used to clean the gym’s floors after practice.
“Aww, how can you be scared of something this cute? Just look at this adorable face!”
She held out the little beast, and its tiny paws tangled in the air as it was trying to get close enough to sniff Kagami’s face. Automatically, he recoiled, earning a painful punch from Aomine on his back.
“I’m not scared. I just don’t like them.”
“Who doesn’t like dogs? They’re dogs,” Aomine said. “Man’s best friends.”
“It’d sure take an animal to be best friends with you,” Kagami muttered.
“I wonder how many of these dogs are better at basketball than you. Maybe we should ask that waitress to train you, too.”
Kagami’s elbow shot back, but Aomine dodged it nimbly.
“Woof, woof, Inuga!”
Ready to wipe off the smug grin on Aomine’s face, Kagami was about to swirl around but tensed up again when the waitress came back, the huge golden dog still at her heel.
“I fenced you a corner over there,” she said and pointed over her shoulder.
Kagami secretly utilized Aomine’s wide frame to plow through the panic-inducing abundance of dogs as they made their way across the busy café. There was a pen-like area in the corner prepared just for them. People cast curious glances at them, and Kagami hoped to shrink to someone normal-sized. It was awkward being in a pen. Like he was the dog.
The waitress whipped out a small pad, and in no time, Aomine was sipping a steaming cup of black coffee, Kagami slurping his iced coffee through a straw and Momoi licking off the whipped cream of the long, thin spoon of her Frappuccino.
The fence was low, and a couple of the dogs came sniffing through the holes and leaned on the shaky structure to get a better look at the newcomers. Momoi reached over the edge to scratch the top of their heads.
“Couldn’t we have met anywhere else?”
“I told you, Kuroko works here, so it’s easier.”
“Don’t tell me he’s a dog lover, too.”
“He actually owns one. Here, look,” Momoi said and shoved her phone in Kagami’s face. “He’s so cute!”
On the screen, Kagami made out a furry mountain of black and white with a pair of pointy ears and pale blue eyes.
He swallowed.
“How big is that thing?”
“Big enough,” Aomine said with a sly smirk. “If you mess with Tetsu, he’ll sick him on your balls.”
“Dai-chan!” Momoi swatted at Aomine. “Don’t worry, Kuma is a gentle giant.”
Full of doubts, Kagami glanced at the picture and sighed.
“Why does Matsumoto have to be such a hardass? I swear he’s not letting me pass on purpose.”
Momoi and Aomine switched glances over the pink elephant in the room while Kagami was slurping on his drink noisily and glaring outside the window. They both knew the literature professor wasn’t the reason why he was having such a hard time passing the mandatory liberal arts classes.
Both him and Aomine were riding a full basketball scholarship which required them to maintain a certain GPA. No one had expected Kagami to be a good student but how much he was struggling had surprised even Momoi and Aomine. From the beginning, his poor grades had started to threaten to lower his GPA but by some miracle – and Momoi’s intensive tutoring – he had muddled through his freshmen’s finals. Now, though, he was a sophomore and faced the last mandatory literature class taught by a professor who was known to be strict. According to the rules, Kagami needed to pass all his mandatory classed to participate in the official games.
When Kagami had asked Momoi to tutor him again, she had been more than hesitant to agree. While tutoring Kagami, she had discovered the possible reason for his poor grades: he had serious troubles with reading. He was frustratingly slow and struggled to understand what he had just read. He made a lot of mistakes but when Momoi interrupted to correct them he got increasingly impatient and testy. Soon, it had dawned on her just how much in over her head she was.
For days, she had wanted to come up with some excuse to get out of helping him and suffered from a guilty conscious at the same time. Of course, she wanted to help her friend but dreaded to be stuck with him in the library again, struggling to not make him feel stupid.
To her surprise, it had been Aomine who had suggested asking Kuroko to help, and she wondered why she hadn’t thought of it before.
“Don’t worry, Kuroko’s actually majoring in literature, so I’m sure he’ll be able to help you out. Just,” Momoi paused to think, “just give it some time. He has his own way of doing things.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“He’s not gonna let you off as easily as Satsuki,” Aomine said and grinned at the mop of a dog chasing his hand, trying to gnaw on his fingers. “He’s really stubborn and you can’t fool him with half-assing effort.”
“It’s just one class. I don’t need any of this stuff to play basketball, anyway.”
Aomine straightened himself up and took a heavy look at Kagami biting on his straw like a petulant child.
“I guess I can tell the coach to move someone up to the first string since you can’t get over yourself to pass one damn class.”
Kagami glared at Aomine.
“I’m trying, ain’t I?”
“You’re whining. There’s a difference.”
“This coming from a guy who bitched and whined for years for the stupidest reasons.”
“At least I can read without moving my lips.”
Kagami’s shoulders tensed, and Momoi kicked Aomine’s shin under the table. The chair scraped against the floor when Kagami stood up.
“Kagamin…”
“I’m gonna go take a piss.”
He buried his balled fists deep into his pockets and stepped over the low fence with one giant leap. But in his embarrassed and angry haste, he didn’t notice the small white dog lying next to the pen. The room was pierced by a heartbreaking yelp of pain when a fluffy tail was accidentally smushed under Kagami’s heavy basketball shoe.
Startled, he quickly took a step aside only to bump into someone. All he could see out of the corner of his eye was a top of hair before the poor soul was sent stumbling down with a clatter. Sprawled on the floor was a young guy with light hair, and next to him stood a giant dog, wearing a weird harness-looking thing and anxiously sniffing and licking the guy’s face.
“Tetsu-kun!” Momoi shrieked and rushed over. She pushed the dog aside and helped the guy sit up. “Are you alright?”
“Momoi-san?”
The guy had a soft voice. It sounded like a string of milk slowly swirling and blending into black coffee in the morning. The small, barely noticeable smile that went with the voice was as gentle as the whipped cream of Momoi’s Frappuccino topped with sprinkles of cocoa powder.
Oh, Kagami found himself thinking. Cute.
“Sorry. You okay?”
He offered the guy his hand to help him on his feet while hesitantly keeping an eye on the giant dog. The guy turned to look at him, and passingly Kagami took notice of the strikingly pale blue eyes that seemed to be of the same softness as his voice and smile – only they were weirdly, eerily soft.
Really cute.
He kept smiling but ignored Kagami’s outreached hand and looked somewhere over his shoulder.
“I’m fine, don’t worry. Sorry about bumping into you like that.”
Kagami frowned. “No, I – “
Aomine brushed past him standing there, holding out his hand and feeling like an idiot.
“C’mon, don’t just sit there.”
He grabbed the guy’s arm and with one swift pull, hoisted him on his feet. He even went as far as brushing the guy’s clothes off and picking up the dog’s leash for him. He was surprisingly short, especially standing next to Aomine.
“There ya go.”
“Thank you, Aomine-kun.”
The waitress from before came over carrying a tray full of empty cups and frowned at the scene.
“Kuroko? What happened?”
“It’s fine, Riko. I just stumbled a little.”
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” he said and tightened his hold on the dog’s leash. “You should check on Shiro. I think I heard her cry just now.”
Heat crawled up to warm Kagami’s face. “I think I stepped on someone’s tail.”
The waitress glared at him and walked off muttering something about animal abuse.
Aomine draped his arm over the guy’s shoulder familiarly and ruffled his light hair like he had petted the dogs. The guy frowned a little and buckled under Aomine’s weight.
“Bakagami, meet your new tutor,” he said with a smirk, “Kuroko Tetsuya.”
~~oOo~~
The late spring cherry blossoms had colored everything with pale pink. Heaps of soft petals covering the sidewalk muffled the steps of two pairs of shoes and four furry paws. Kagami’s long legs felt awkward and clumsy as he was trying to adjust to Kuroko’s slower pace. To his surprise, Kuroko moved around quite easily despite…everything.
“Thank you again for walking me home, Kagami-kun.”
“Taiga’s fine.”
“Oh? Are you sure?”
“I never got used to people calling me by my last name.”
“Got used to?”
“My father’s American, and I lived over there with him for years.”
“That’s amazing. Your Japanese is so fluent, though.”
Kagami hunched his shoulders and let his shoes scrape against the asphalt.
“My mother was Japanese. She never spoke English to me.”
“Well, you can call me Tetsu if you want. And this here is Kuma.”
Kagami let out a strangled voice when the giant dog perked up at the mention of his name. Thankfully Kuroko was walking him on the other side of the narrow sidewalk. Despite the enormous size, the dog seemed obedient and not really interested in Kagami.
“Don’t you like dogs, Kaga – Taiga?”
“Did Aomine tell you that?”
Kuroko smiled a little.
“He’s told many things about you, but no, I figured that on my own. You can learn quite a lot even if you can’t see.”
An awkward silence fell between them. Kagami let his eyes wander the abundance of pale pink everywhere. After causing such a scene in the café, the waitress with a sour face had suggested maybe they were better off somewhere else. Before Kagami had realized words were coming out of his mouth, he had asked to walk Kuroko home. He had crashed into the guy. The least he could do was to make sure he hadn’t sustained some internal injuries or anything.
“Momoi-san told me you need help with a literature class?”
“I don’t need help. The professor just hates me because I’m on a sports scholarship.”
“I doubt that’s the case. Matsumoto-sensei can be strict, but you need to apply yourself.”
Kagami scoffed.
“He’s a hardass and looks like a monkey.”
“That’s not very nice, Taiga.”
“Well, he does.”
“Tell me about the assignment.”
“I need to read a book and write a paper about it.”
“Can you pick any book you want?”
“I guess so, yeah.”
“Have you picked anything yet?”
The professor had provided a list of novels with the assignment in case students couldn’t come up with a book of their own. Kagami had searched all of them and picked the shortest one.
When Kuroko heard the title of his book, he shook his head.
“I’m afraid you won’t enjoy that book.”
Kagami frowned and glanced at him.
“Why not?”
“It’s not written for you.”
“You mean I’m too stupid to get it?”
“No, but I guarantee you won’t like it.”
“And you magically just know that?”
“Of course, not. There’s a very simple way of telling. In the past week, how many pages have you made progress?”
Kagami pursed his lips.
“Nil.”
“Reading is a matter of finding the right book for the job, and what you’ve chosen isn’t right at all.”
“But it was on the list!”
“I’m sure it could be a perfect fit for someone else.”
Kagami pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to wish the beginning headache away. The guy was cute, but he was starting to see what Momoi had meant with needing to be patient with him.
“What then? I need something. And let me tell you right now, I’m not gonna read anything brick-sized.”
Kuroko turned to give Kagami his barely-there, whipped cream smile, and Kagami’s heart gave a little involuntary skip.
“Don’t worry, I think I have a perfect book for you. Meet me at the city library tomorrow at nine.”
~~oOo~~
Momoi shivered in the cool late evening and tucked Aomine’s jacket tighter around herself.
“Next time you want to take the scenic route home, how about making sure you’ve got enough clothes,” Aomine grumbled, his shoulders hunched and hands buried deep into the pockets of his jeans.
“But it’s so pretty in the park.”
“You’ve seen the flowers countless of times. What’s so special about them anymore?”
Momoi smiled to herself and sneaked her arm in Aomine’s, effectively slowing down his stride to fit her shorter steps.
“Some things are always special.”
Aomine grunted but didn’t resist when Momoi cuddled up to his side. He could feel her softness pressing against his arm through the jacket. At least some parts of him were starting to warm up.
“You think they’ll be fine?”
“Who? Tetsu and Kagami?”
“Yeah.”
“Why wouldn’t they? I’m sure Tetsu can make that idiot pass one measly assignment.”
“I worry about him sometimes. Kagamin.”
“Idiots always make it somehow.”
Momoi sighed.
“Maybe you’re right. Just look at you. Despite everything, you turned out pretty okay.”
“Oi!”
Aomine glared at her.
“Don’t worry, I like you anyways,” she sing-songed and reached up on her tippy-toes to sneak a quick kiss on his cheek. “You wanna come over tonight?”
“Yeah,” he muttered, trying to hide the tint of his cheeks by being suddenly interested in the cherry blossoms.