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Daiki opens his eyes to find milky sunlight peeking in through the cracks in the blinds, and birds kicking up a racket right outside his window. The clock on the dresser blinks 07:38AM in neon letters. Was he dreaming? He might’ve been—he’s kind of horny, so it was probably a sex dream. Did she have big boobs? Was it even a girl?
Ah... he doesn’t remember anymore. He lies there for a while, thinking warm, hazy, early-morning thoughts—about basketball, about breasts, about food, about Tetsu. Eventually, he drifts off again.
*
At eight-thirty sharp, Satsuki calls, mainly because she knows he’ll be asleep and she enjoys his suffering. Daiki lets it ring until he realizes that it’s Satsuki and she’s not gonna stop calling until he picks up.
The eighth time it goes off, he throws an arm out of the pile of his blankets and flails it around blindly until he finds the offending device, then slaps at it ineffectually until it answers the call.
“You remembered Tetsu-kun and I are coming over today, right?” a tinny little voice demands, somewhere on the other end of the line.
He grunts and rolls over. At some point he manages to slap at his phone until it hangs up the call, and then everything is blissfully quiet again.
*
At a quarter to noon, Daiki’s room suddenly becomes very bright. Someone yanks the blanket off of him, chiding him like his mom does (which really isn’t necessary); someone else opens the blinds. Oh, but he smells teriyaki sauce—that’s good, better than good. Perfect, even.
“Food?” he says, intelligently, squinting into the light.
“Yes, Aomine-kun,” says a patient, familiar voice, “Food.”
Something wet and slobbery lands on his face. On further inspection, it appears to be Nigou’s tongue. He pushes the dog off with a laugh, and finally rolls out of bed.
*
They bring him a peace offering for lunch, something to soothe the savage beast—teriyaki beef rice burgers, the kind with the grilled sticky-rice patties and sauce drizzled liberally over the top. Daiki snarfles down three of these sitting in the living room while Satsuki fusses over Nigou and Tetsu drags open the sliding door to the veranda to let in some air.
“Wanna play,” Daiki demands, once he’s finished.
“Not today,” Tetsu reminds him, curling his feet neatly under himself as he peels open a magazine. “Alex-san took Kagami-kun shopping.”
“Still wanna play.”
Tetsu sighs. Satsuki, somewhat less tolerant of Daiki’s foibles, kicks him until he rolls over on the floor in a most undignified manner, grumbling loudly.
“Is that all that’s ever on your mind, Dai-chan? Basketball?” she snaps. “Oh, what am I saying, of course it is.”
“That’s not entirely fair,” Tetsu notes, turning a page. “Sometimes Aomine-kun thinks about Shinozaki Ai.”
Daiki’s eyes come open at the sound of her name. He makes a very expressive hand gesture that sums up what he thinks about Shinozaki Ai.
“You’re disgusting,” Satsuki snorts.
“Only a little,” Daiki tells her, with a grin.
*
They compromise by playing a couple games of NBA 2K13, which Tetsu is better at than he has a right to be. Satsuki sits on the couch behind them, sipping an iced lemon tea, and cheering, though mainly for Tetsu.
“The only one who can beat Aomine-kun is me,” Tetsu says, after his third win. Satsuki chokes a little on her drink.
“Fuck you,” Daiki mutters.
Tetsu flashes him a beatific smile.
A while after that, Daiki finds The Empire Strikes Back playing on Star Channel, so that’s what they end up watching. Satsuki leans her head on Tetsu’s shoulder for most of the movie; Daiki just gives them a tolerant look, sneaking Nigou treats out of the bag that Satsuki brought along.
“I can see you, you know,” Tetsu says, eyebrows raised.
“Uh-huh,” says Daiki cheerfully, slipping Nigou another one.
For dinner Daiki’s mom brings back a bag of yakitori skewers, which they eat with rice from the cooker. As usual, she thanks them for taking care of her son—‘sif he needs taking care of, he thinks—and then makes conversation with Satsuki while Tetsu and him look at each other awkwardly across the table, and Daiki stuffs his face some more.
It’s still muggy outside after the sun goes down, which makes it the perfect weather for ice cream. They sit on the veranda together while Nigou chases beetles around the yard; Tetsu dangles his legs off the edge, barefoot, and gazes contemplatively into the darkening sky, sliding his popsicle into his mouth.
“You’re making eyes at each other again,” Satsuki complains, bumping her knee against Daiki’s.
“Am not,” says Daiki, never taking his eyes off Tetsu for a moment. There’s something sticky and lukewarm on his thigh—Daiki belatedly realizes it’s probably part of his own popsicle. Oh well.
*
After that they walk Satsuki home, despite her protests that it really isn’t necessary, Dai-chan, but if you insist, could I have just Tetsu-kun instead? It’s dark outside, and who knows what might be lurking in the two streets between Daiki’s place and Satsuki’s.
They say their goodbyes at the gate, and wait dutifully until Satsuki’s gone inside before they turn and leave.
It’s quiet on the way back—the only sounds audible are Nigou’s panting and their footsteps, slightly out of time. But it’s a comfortable sort of silence—the sort that you get when you don’t have to speak to understand each other. Daiki isn’t too fond of silences, but if Tetsu’s with him, he doesn’t mind so much.
After a bit, he leans over to bump his shoulder against Tetsu’s.
“Staying over tonight?” he asks.
Tetsu shrugs, oh-so-casually. His lips are stained kind of red from the popsicle.
(Daiki very carefully doesn’t think about whether it’s normal to notice that kind of thing about your guy friends.)
“Sure,” says Tetsu, and bumps his shoulder back against Daiki’s arm.
*
Daiki’s mom doesn’t mention it when he returns with Tetsu in tow, although she does come upstairs with fresh sheets for the spare futon. They wash up, shut off the lights, and crawl into bed—Tetsu in a pair of borrowed pajamas, too big for him by half, but better than being naked. (Daiki said he was okay with it, but Tetsu just punched him in the stomach.)
They’re lying there in the dark—Daiki in bed and Tetsu tucked into the spare futon—and Daiki glances over at the clock on his dresser. 11:56PM, it says.
“I think,” he says, slowly, “that this might’ve been the best day of my life.”
“Aomine-kun said that last week, too,” says Tetsu, tolerantly.
“Well, I meant it then. Mean it now, too.”
Tetsu makes a thoughtful noise, but doesn’t answer. Silence falls.
“... I really like Tetsu,” Daiki says, after a bit.
“I know,” says Tetsu, channeling his inner Han Solo.
“Hey!” says Daiki, but he laughs all the same.
More silence. Daiki can hear Tetsu shifting around, getting comfortable on the futon.
“... It’s lonely down here,” Tetsu says, very quietly.
“So come up here.”
“I did last week,” Tetsu points out. “It’s Aomine-kun’s turn.”
Daiki mutters and grumbles to himself, but eventually he pulls off his blanket and slides out of bed, flopping down next to Tetsu on the futon.
“Better?” he says. Their shoulders are—just barely—touching.
“Much,” Tetsu answers, lightly.
The clock ticks over to midnight.