Chapter Text
“Ryo-chin, how the hell do you play with hands like these?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Miyagi wears a frown as Sakuragi’s hands prods at the pads of his fingers and the palm of his hands. It was a good assumption to make that Sakuragi was talking about their size. So what if his hands were small, it wasn’t like he was any worse than him on the court, so what was it to him anyway?
“Look, they barely compare!” Sakuragi lays his hands wide against Miyagi’s and there was about a centimeter of space between the tip of his fingers and Sakuragi’s. “You should get bigger hands if you wanna end up as good at basketball as me!”
“You ass!” Miyagi turns to his side to get the positioning just right to nail Sakuragi in the stomach with a well placed kick before Akagi’s voice booms through the gymnasium.
“It’s time for practice, everyone! Start with warm-ups.”
In unison, nearly everyone responds. “Yes, captain.”
The point guard starts with lines, barely getting the jog going before his mind wanders to his most recent heartbreak, Ayako. Well, it’s an ongoing heartbreak so it’s always the most pressing matter on his mind but for one reason or another it gets pushed back for basketball. Nevertheless, it’s something that Miyagi likes to sulk about frequently since it does turn into motivation to get better at basketball so maybe she’ll fall for him through his sheer skills alone.
“Oi, Ryo-chin.” Sakuragi talks to him in a low tone of voice, physically leaning over to get close to his head.
“We’re supposed to be warming up, Hanamichi.” Miyagi responds in an equally quiet tone of voice, but the lack of emotion in his expression tells Sakuragi to go on.
Sakuragi puffs his chest before speaking, as if whatever he was going to say was a big deal. “You know, Haruko rejected me earlier.” Despite the severity of his statement, all that was laid on his face was a thoughtful expression.
“Mm? Really, you don’t look as sad as I thought you would.” Miyagi looks at Sakuragi with curious eyes before clearing his throat. A quip, teasing smile can be seen on his lips. “Are you gonna go to your squad of idiots to sulk after practice then?”
“Hehe,” Sakuragi’s grin is forced, a comically awkward expression on his face. “Ryo-chin, I really don’t feel like… feeling worse. How about you sulk with me instead?”
Miyagi stays silent for a moment, his mind blanking at the question. Sakuragi was his teammate and his friend. He should be there for him. “Sure, Hanamichi. I haven’t been having much luck with Aya-chan either.”
Finally, Sakuragi beams at Miyagi, laying an arm around his shoulder with a booming laugh. “Alright then, Ryo-chin! How about after practice!”
“Oi, Hanamichi, shut it!” Despite his rebukes, Miyagi couldn’t help smiling to himself as well. “Save it for after.”
All of a sudden, a large, authoritative figure crept from behind them. Arms crossed, Akagi frowned. “You two seem to be in a great mood. You better put me in one with your performance in this practice.”
“... Yes, captain.” They both replied simultaneously, looking at each other with the ‘definitely later’ look.
-
Practice lasted until late evening. It was mostly because Sakuragi’s spirit had the scrimmage last for several games, and even inspiring the others to keep going for however long.
At least it was over now, the cold night air feeling euphoric on Miyagi’s skin. Even he got winded after such a long practice, the rim of a now empty water bottle held casually between his teeth. He waits for Sakuragi, who’s presumably picking a fight with Rukawa or even Akagi. He doesn’t meddle much in that sort of business, so he figured cooling off isn’t such a bad move.
“Ey, Miyagi, you got anything left in that bottle?” Mitsui’s pace is excessively slow as he walks towards Miyagi. He was probably the one that was most affected by the lengthy practice. “I’m dehydrated, man.”
“Tough luck, Mitsui. I finished it a while ago.” Miyagi smiles before shrugging apologetically. “Maybe you’ll have better luck just drinking the water from the showers.”
Mitsui rolls his eyes, standing next to Miyagi. “As if. Who’re you waiting for?”
“Hanamichi.” Miyagi sighs. “He asked me to hang out with him since he was sad about Haruko.”
“Still?” Mitsui’s eyebrows raise in surprise.
“Still.” Miyagi nods, scoffing as he replies. “Not like I can be one to judge, Aya-chan isn’t...”
Now, Mitsui has a teasing grin on his face. “Still?”
Miyagi is about half-way into his flying-kick stance before Sakuragi suddenly appears behind him and wraps an arm around his shoulder. The point-guard’s movements grind to a halt as he turns to Sakuragi. “What?”
Sakuragi’s face is shrouded in irritation, as if he was mad about something else. “Ryo-chin, it’s getting late. The gorilla keeps getting mad at me so we should just go.”
“You idiot, you’re the one who’s been stalling us for this long!”
Mitsui smiles at his two teammates before piping in. “Sakuragi, you got any water?”
“Sorry Mit-chi, I drank all of it earlier.”
The point-guard’s teeth are clenched as he shoves Sakuragi off of him and walks on ahead. He was seething, but forced his head to cool and simmer into a bout of simple annoyance towards the red-head.
“Oi, Ryo-chin, wait for me.” Sakuragi catches up to Miyagi easily, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he slows down to the pace Miyagi was going. “You seem mad.”
It takes extreme discipline for Miyagi to respond in a dismissive manner rather than beat Sakuragi up right now. “Eh. What did you wanna do?”
“We could go drink at my house. I got beers, we could watch TV.”
“You… wanted to hang out with someone doing something as boring as that?” Miyagi couldn’t help but chuckle, while Sakuragi flushes red from embarrassment.
“Ryo-chin! Don’t say it like that-” Sakuragi frowns, kicking at the ground as he walks. “Look, I just can’t be by myself doing that stuff! You know how sad that is!?”
Miyagi’s laugh only becomes louder as his small hand lightly punches Sakuragi’s arm. “Ah, fine. I’ll give you some company.”
The red-head’s lips press into a fine line, unable to say anything else of importance as Miyagi pats his back softly. “Hey, it’s okay, I really don’t mind.”
There it is again, Sakuragi noticing Miyagi's small hands that are currently patting his back. Miyagi’s hands are small, like a girl's hands. It’s like all of the girl’s hands that Sakuragi wished to hold, it’s similar to the hands of all the girls that rejected him. He’s glad that Miyagi doesn’t push him away. Just this once, with him, with the basketball team, he feels like he belongs at least a little bit.