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It was the second time Kaijo lost to Touou in the Inter-High.
It seemed unfair. Kise had made uncanny improvement over the last year and yet when it came to the centre stage, he still hadn’t been able to beat Aomine.
85-83
If only I’d scored a last three pointer, thought the blonde boy, nearly in tears. His injured ankle was burning, sending stabs of pain up his entire leg and right side. It was probably the excess use of his Perfect Copy which made him feel all woozy now. Hayakawa had one of Kise’s arms draped over his shoulders as he half supported, half dragged his taller teammate towards the changing rooms. Kise knew all of the team, including himself were in tears.
“Kise-senpai, are you alright?” one of the first-years asked. Kise quickly managed to wipe his stray tears but he doubted anything could be done about the raw redness of his eyes. “Just tired,” he said, “Perfect Copy does that.” The first-year didn’t look completely satisfied with his answer but that was the best Kise could manage. He winced as a particularly bad jab of pain went through his leg. Hayakawa tightened his grip on Kise.
As they entered the changing room, Kise slumped onto the bench, unable to hold himself upright. He’d successfully breached his Perfect Copy time limit, lasting out the entire last quarter. But still it hadn’t been enough to beat Aomine in zone. It was beyond frustrating. Coach Takeuchi walked over to the second year, “You need to have that checked out,” he said, pointing at Kise’s foot. Kise nodded, immediately regretting it as the world spun.
Kise sighed, closing his eyes. He was exhausted. He didn’t want to move. Or couldn’t move without pain shooting through him.
“Someone needs to take him home…..”
He heard someone say. He couldn’t pinpoint the voice. It was like he was underwater.
“Move away!”
This voice was considerably deeper.
"Aomine-cchi…."
Of course, Kise'd recognise that voice even if he were unconscious. He'd heard it numerous times but right now it conveyed a strange tone of worry. The looming presence of the basketball prodigy kneeled down before him. "Kise, baka!" He said, "You know how extending Perfect Copy affects you!" Kise couldn't disagree. Of course, he knew the risks. It placed such an enormous strain on him that the risks of collapse were evident.
“I’ll take him.”
He heard his coach say, “That leg needs to be seen by a doctor.” Aomine nodded, “Our manager has already set up an appointment with a renowned sports specialist. You needn’t worry,” he explained in his usual “I don’t care” voice.
Kise internally thanked Momoi for her immense resourcefulness. He felt one of Aomine’s strong arms wrap around his waist while the other draped Kise’s arm around his own shoulder. Kise bit back a whimper as pain shot through his leg at the slightest movement. He let Aomine half drag Kise out of the Kaijo changing room. Once they were out, Kise let a sob tear out his throat. Whether he was crying from the physical pain or the pain of having lost he didn’t know. Both were reason enough to cry.
“Fuck this!”
Aomine swore. He easily bent down before putting one arm under Kise’s knees and lifted him up bridal style.
“A-Aomine-cchi, p-put me down!” Kise squealed even through the tears. Aomine shook his head, “Nah, we’ll get this over faster this way,” he said. Kise was far too tired to argue with the blue-haired boy. He let the taller boy carry him, despite the stance being utterly and completely embarrassing. He let the light movement lull him to a sleep like trance.
He woke up in the middle of the night in a very compromising position in bed. The first thing he realized was that this wasn’t his room. While it was a shade of blue like his own, he most certainly did not have posters of nude girls on his wall. The next thing he realized was that his clothes were far too loose. The third and worst thing he realized (no actually the best), Aomine was fast asleep beside him with a strong muscled arm wrapped around his middle. Kise felt himself blush.
Aomine hadn’t bothered to take Kise back to his apartment and instead brought him here.
From what Kise knew about Aomine’s sleeping habits from occasionally sharing a room with him during training camps back in their Teiko days, Aomine always slept shirtless. That did nothing to help Kise’s situation. He felt all the blood in his body rush to his face, “A-Aomine-cchi!” he squealed. Kise was in no way quiet. So it wasn’t surprising that his high pitched shriek woke up the tanned player. Aomine sat up startled, “Kise!” he cried, clearly surprised himself. And Kise was surprised to see the thick faced Aomine look just as flustered as he felt.
“S-Sorry I didn’t mean to. I must have taken you to be a pillow or something in my sleep!”
“Why am I in your bed in the first place?!”
Aomine blushed, scratching the back of his head. He smiled sheepishly, “You fell asleep yesterday and I thought you’d do better to just stay over,” he said, “I would’ve slept on the couch but the other day when Tetsu and Bakagami came over, Bakagami and I got into a fight and now the couch is kinda broken.” Kise gaped, “Well, can’t you buy a new couch?” he asked, quite surprised at how the two certified idiots managed to break a couch.
Aomine scoffed, “Not everyone is as rich as you, Model-kun,” he mocked, getting out of bed. Kise found himself staring at the Touou ace’s abs. He even found himself wishing Aomine slept without his pants as well. Aomine caught him staring. He looked down once at himself before snorting, “Envious of this body,” he laughed, “Relax, you’ve got a good one yourself.”
“A-Aomine-cchi!” Kise shrieked as his ears turned pink. Aomine simply smirked.
Just as Kise was about to move to get out of bed, Aomine cried, “Don’t move your leg, I bandaged it up for now,” he said. Kise frowned, “How am I supposed to get home if I can’t move my leg?!” he cried.
Aomine shrugged, “Stay over for a while. My clothes fit you anyways,” he said. That’s when Kise realized he was wearing Aomine’s spare Touou uniform. It was extremely loose as he had felt before. But the fact that he was wearing his crush’s clothes and the realization that his crush undressed him….
Kise shrieked louder than he ever had.
***
A few weeks later….
Kise stood at the station waiting for the next train to Kanagawa. He was presently in a foul mood. He was returning from a photoshoot which hadn’t gone as planned. Of course, the shoot itself had gone well but it was this certain comment and offer which had him caught off guard.
The cameraman had said, “You’re so very feminine I’m surprised they let you model for male clothes.”
His manager had said, “Kise-kun, if you don’t mind I received an offer for you about this job….but it’s like a girl’s fashion brand. They said that they wanted to dress you up because you’re so pretty.”
But Kise was a guy. He was supposed to be handsome and masculine. Not feminine or pretty. And then he realized that maybe they weren’t wrong. Kise was a carbon copy of his mother. As a kid, he was often confused as a girl. It probably didn’t help matters that he always liked the colour pink. Or that his two elder sisters loved to dress him up as a girl. I mean, he thought, ‘most of my childhood pictures depict me in a dress.’ He didn’t know why but somehow his feminine attitude had been brought more to his attention after he’d found himself in Aomine’s oversized clothes a few weeks back. And he found himself wondering how a relationship with Aomine would feel like.
Of course, Aomine had always made it clear that he liked girls. He was literally the biggest pervert out there. Maybe, just maybe,’ Kise thought, ‘my feminine attributes will give me a better chance.’
Just then something caught his eye….or should he say someone. It was Kuroko. Kise was just about to call out to him when he realized the smaller boy wasn’t alone. Kagami Taiga was with him. They stood quite far away from him and thus it took him some time to see. The two were holding hands. Kise watched them from afar. He saw Kagami bend down to kiss the shorter male on the cheek. Kuroko’s face was as impassive as ever. But Kagami’s face reflected a very different look. He was smiling. But the smile wasn’t the same as every time he won a basketball match. It was more free, more innocent. While the smiles he usually cast portrayed triumph, this one seemed to portray nothing but pure euphoria. As if touching his lips to Kuroko’s cheek gave him a huge amount of satisfaction.
Needless to say, Kise felt jealous. Despite the common belief, Kise never kissed anyone. And at this moment he really, really wanted someone to look at him with the same expression Kagami had on his face while he kissed Kuroko. And then he was harshly pulled out of his thoughts.
“Oi, Kise!”
Kise turned around to see Aomine jogging towards him, his hand raised in a form of wave. “Hey-” he began only for Kise to shush him hurriedly. He then wordlessly pointed at the two lovebirds a little distance off. The two were now kissing. On the lips. Not making out. Kise could tell their relationship was much gentler, much sweeter. He and Aomine watched the two mystified. Kise didn’t realize when his hand had moved to hold Aomine’s. He didn’t realize that Aomine didn’t push his hand away. Instead he held the blonde’s hand, squeezing it surprisingly gently for such a rough man. And above all he didn’t see the look the Touou ace had on his face. The look of pure fondness.
***
Kise loved these get-togethers of the Generation of Miracles that Momoi arranged quite often these days. But today as they met up in the bar Kise couldn’t help the unexpected claustrophobic feeling that seemed to crawl up his throat.
Kise didn’t generally have a problem with small spaces. He literally spent considerable time in the Changing Rooms of photoshoots which were really small and cramped.
So he had no idea what to do when this constricted feeling started blooming in his chest. The music was far too loud. There were way too many people. The air was too hot. The walls seemed to be caving in. His clothes felt uncomfortable on his skin. He was sweating pellets. They hadn’t drunk much. Only Kagami(who too had been invited) and Kuroko had bothered to get up from their seats to dance. Aomine sat next to Kise, laughter booming at Kagami’s terrible dance skills. None of the others noticed that something was wrong with the usually overenthusiastic blonde.
Kise was just about to get up and go outside to get some fresh air. That’s when Aomine’s hand came to rest on Kise’s. And immediately Kise’s airway seemed to clear up a little. Aomine wasn’t looking at him. He was currently heatedly arguing with Midorima about how Kagami’s bad luck couldn’t affect his dancing. Yet Aomine’s hand stayed on Kise’s. The familiar touch somehow felt so very comforting.
If Kise hadn’t been in public, he probably would have leaned further into Aomine’s lovely warmth.
***
Kise faked to the right, before jumping up to take a shot like Midorima. Aomine groaned as the ball went in smoothly, “You’re getting better,” he said. Kise blushed. His Aomine-cchi complimenting him wasn’t a very regular occurrence.
“T-Thanks….”
Aomine smiled, or grinned. And Kise felt light-headed. Aomine Daiki was probably the most handsome person in the universe. His genuine smile was the brightest thing Kise had ever seen. He made Kise feel all fluttery and warm inside.
Aomine jogged over to the side of the street court where the two had hastily dropped their bags before beginning their one-on-one. He swiftly took Kise’s bottle from his bag before opening it. “Aomine-cchi! That’s my water!” Kise whined. Aomine tutted, “Just a sip, Baka-Kise!” he protested, “I finished mine earlier.” Kise still whined, “But when you drink you drink the entire bottle! Not even a drop is left!”
“Nah, just a sip.”
Kise was right. Aomine’s one sip was downing the entire bottle at once. Of course, as atonement for finishing Kise’s water, he had to listen to Kise whine for hours.
“Mean, Aomine-cchi!”
Aomine laughed as Kise continued with his little fit. Kise pouted, huffing like a child.
“You’re so cute!”
And Kise was thankful he had no water left to drink because he would surely have spit it out.
***
“Kagami-cchi!”
Kagami shook his head, “Come on, Ahomine clearly likes you back,” he said, “Just ask him out already.”
“But I don’t want to be rejected!”
Kagami sighed as he continued preparing his gourmet meal. Kise wasn’t here for a GoM get together. Instead he and Kagami had made a pact. Kise would tutor Kagami in Maths and Japanese while Kagami gave him lessons on spoken English in the United States and cooked him dinner. This arrangement was three days a week. So it was natural that the two became really close.
“But have you seen Aomine-cchi? He literally loves those regular porn magazines!” Kise cried. The conversation arose when Kagami questioned Kise about why he just couldn’t pay attention (i.e. for “Nice to meet you” he ended up saying “Nice of eat you”). And Kagami heard out Kise’s rant before giving his opinion on the matter.
“It’s not just those perverted magazines,” Kagami said, “I’m sure I saw him buying a few of your magazines when I walked into him at the grocer.” Kise’s mouth hung open, “Aomine-cchi bought my magazine?!” he shrieked. Kagami winced at the volume. “You know the neighbours will complain if you get much louder,” he said. Kise let out a nervous laugh, “Sorry,” he said, scratching the back of his head. Kagami nodded.
Then Kise’s face lit up again, “Yeah, about my magazine….”
***
It was Christmas Eve. And the Generation of Miracles along with Seirin and few of their teammates found themselves cramped in Kagami’s small apartment. Courtesy Momoi, even Akashi and Murasakibara, accompanied by Himuro Tatsuya were able to join in on the festivities.
Right now, most of them were drunk (Kagami’s mentor, Alex had been very generous). Kise himself was pleasantly tipsy. Kuroko’s face was red after just one drink. Given his physique it wasn’t surprising that his alcohol tolerance wasn’t good. They all sat around the table in the drawing room, playing a very embarrassing form of dare or dare.
“Kagami, I dare you to take off your shirt!”
This one was Takao. Kagami blushed, “Are you sure I can’t drink or something instead?” he asked. Aomine snorted, “What? Too scared to show us how weak you are, Bakagami?” he mocked. Kagami’s shirt went flying. Midorima huffed, “Such indecency,” he mumbled, the seriousness in his tone marred by the presence of a large owl plushie in his hands which was apparently his lucky item of the day. Sometimes Kise wondered if Oha-Asa had something against Midorima to assign him the most embarrassing lucky items.
Kagami growled, “Is that so Midorima? I dare you to kiss your crush! And don’t bother denying, everyone knows who it is,” he said. Midorima went red, “What an outrage!” he exclaimed, “I definitely do not have such a childish thing as a crush!” But the shade the green haired shooting guard had turned was a clear giveaway. Kagami raised his eyebrows. Midorima nervously pushed his glasses. Everyone in the group agreed with Kagami, except maybe the huge friendly giant who sat beside the green haired prodigy.
And Midorima finally gave in. His face still redder than a tomato, he leaned towards Murasakibara before placing a slight peck on his lips. Murasakibara looked as impassive as ever. Everyone, including Kise cheered. Midorima was just about to move away when Murasakibara put one huge arm around Midorima pulling him into a second kiss.
Oooh’s and aahh's filled the room.
Murasakibara kissed the shorter passionately and Midorima seemed to reflect that. Midorima slowly wrapped his arms around the purple haired giant’s neck, deepening the kiss. By now they were full on making out, suddenly blind to their surroundings. Kise felt happy knowing that Midorima had been pining for the purple haired miracle wordlessly for a while. After all, subtlety had never been one of Midorima Shintarou’s strong points.
They finally pulled apart when Aomine threw a pillow at them, “Get a room!” he cried. The two sat back again breathless and dazed, Midorima still blushing like crazy.
“Mido-chin tastes good….”
Kise burst into laughter. Of course, Murasakibara would be thinking about taste while kissing. He smiled as he realized that the two were holding hands just below the table.
The game continued till Kuroko dared Aomine, “Aomine-kun, describe your crush,” he said expressionlessly. Aomine’s tanned cheeks went a pale pink. Momoi clapped excitedly, “Go on, Dai-chan!” she encouraged. Kise felt the natural smile drop from his face. He had been drinking quite a lot and his emotions were all messed up. By now all the alcohol was making him feel slightly nauseous. Harsh reality, he thought.
Aomine shrugged. He scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, “Well,” he began, “The person’s really pretty and I’ve known the person for a pretty long time now. And I believe that this person deeply cares about me. I’ve been trying to initiate things for a while now, but this person seems quite oblivious.” Kise didn’t miss the subtle and longing glance that Aomine cast towards his childhood friend Momoi.
Kise bit his lip. Of course, Aomine hadn’t made any moves on him. So he definitely wasn’t this “crush”. Kise stood up, “Could you excuse me?” he said curtly, “I’m not feeling so good.” Midorima briefly cast a concerned look at him. Kuroko and Murasakibara both simply stared at him. As he walked out of the room, without casting a glance at Aomine, he found footsteps following him.
“Oi, Kise, that person might be anyone. You’ve known him for a “pretty long time”, haven’t you?”
Kise turned to Kagami, “Don’t be overly positive Kagami-cchi,” he said, fighting back tears, “Also keep your voice down.” Kagami nodded. He grabbed Kise by his upper arm before pulling him towards his bedroom. He forced Kise to sit down on his bed, “Let it out if you have to,” Kagami said, “I practice the guitar in here sometimes so the room is soundproof.” Kise gasped sharply as a tear streaked down his face, “Kagami-cchi, I was so stupid!” he wailed, “I actually thought he liked me back!” Kagami bit his lip as Kise broke down in front of him. He sat down beside the blonde pulling him into a one-armed hug, “You still don’t know it isn’t you,” Kagami said gently. Kise looked up at him, tears still streaming down his face, “What are you talking about Kagami-cchi? Didn’t you see how he looked at Momochhi?”
Kagami didn’t say anything. Because honestly, he hadn’t. But he had seen Aomine look at Kise differently quite a couple of times. He'd seen Aomine cast sideways glances at the Copycat of the GoM. Quick looks which were accompanied by these satisfied looks of relief. As if looking at Kise gave him some kind of physical relief.
But Kise was stupid. He was probably blinder than a bat when it came to things like this.
***
Secret Santa was stupid.
Kise sighed. He'd cried himself to sleep yesterday and woke up with a killer hangover. Of course he wasn't the only one. Midorima had refused to move from the couch, down with a migraine. Izuki Shun from Seirin and Himuro Tatsuya had been hogging the bathroom all morning.
It was surprising that Kuroko didn't end up with a hangover, given how easily he'd gotten drunk. However it wasn't a surprise that Aomine, Kagami and Murasakibara could hold their alcohol well.
Well, after the hellish Christmas morning, Momoi had forced them to finish with the Secret Santa thing at around twelve noon.
Honestly speaking, Kise wasn't exactly in the mood to see how sappy everyone was going to be. After all his fantasies had been dashed the night before. However when Momoi Satsuki used her puppy dog eyes it was impossible for anyone to say no.
Also it was entertaining to hear that Midorima and Murasakibara had stayed up late together, sorting out their newly revealed feelings (apparently anyone who'd camped on the floor outside on the floor of the guest bedroom had to tolerate Midorima's moans). Akashi had taken the couch and no one had protested. Kise himself had fallen asleep on Kagami's bed, leaving Kagami and Kuroko to share a futon on the floor while Aomine made himself comfy in Kagami's armchair. Most of Seirin's players had camped in the drawing room itself. Aida Riko and Momoi had the room reserved for Alex during her visits.
It was lucky that Kagami had moved into a larger apartment recently.
Right now they sat around the tiny Christmas Tree which had replaced the coffee table in the drawing room. Kagami being the host was assigned the job of handing out the presents.
He picked up a messily wrapped big box first. It had something written on it in almost imperceptible handwriting, "For Mido-chin," Kagami read with difficulty. He handed it over to Midorima. Of course everyone knew who it was from. Not very surprising that the gift turned out to be a variety of snacks.
Kagami continued handing out the presents. Takao got a cool pair of sunglasses from Izuki. Murasakibara got a gourmet cookbook from Himuro, who got a basketball shaped locket from Kagami. Kuroko got a hand knitted sweater from Momoi. She in turn got a personalized shirt with a picture of their Teiko group on it from Kise. Kise swore Momoi's hug almost crushed his ribs. Akashi got his lucky item for the day from Midorima (an extremely colourful and cute caterpillar). Akashi in turn had bought Aomine a pair of extremely expensive basketball shoes.
Finally it was Kise's turn. Kagami handed him a package. It was wrapped in dark blue paper, tied with a golden yellow ribbon. It wasn't very big. More like a medium sized cube. Kise carefully undid the ribbon, careful not to damage to wrapping paper.
It was a…. rubix cube? No it was a cube lamp. With pictures on five faces. The top face had something scrawled on it. Kise looked closely at the pictures. They were candids of him…. with Aomine? He scrambled to read the scrawled text.
I like you. Go out with me.
Kise's mouth hung open. Kagami burst into fits of laughter. Aomine looked as if he were waiting for a death sentence.
And true, Aomine Daiki almost died when threw himself at the tanned male, kissing him passionately.
***
Aomine kissed Kise. Again and again and again. He kissed all over Kise's torso before lying beside him on the bed. Kise hummed, "Love you, Daiki-cchi…." He mumbled. Aomine blushed, "Love you too, Ryouta…."
***
THIS IS THE CATERPILLAR MIDORIMA GIFTED AKASHI
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bNXXk-LyPUzjx0-bI9s2B7uT9jCsScB1/view?usp=drivesdk