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“You should talk to him. He likes you.”
Aomine’s eyes widened before his lips straightened into a thin, discomfited line. He looked to the side at nothing in particular as he flexed his hand over the cafeteria table. “That just makes me want to talk to him even less,” his voice came out a low grunt.
“How come?” Kuroko sounded slightly more interested. “Are you embarrassed?”
“No,” Aomine responded almost immediately. He scowled. “I don’t like people fanning over me. Why do you think I hang out with you, Testu?”
Kuroko stared at him steadily, taking a long sip from his soda. “Because of my riveting sense of humor.”
Aomine stared back at him at that. A chuckle slipped past his lips, and he laughed as he reached over to ruffle Kuroko’s hair none too gently. “You’re stupid.”
Kuroko ducked his head away. “All I’m saying is you should talk to him.” He dismissed Aomine’s previous statement without so much as blinking. “I hear he plays basketball too. Might even be joining the team.”
“Pretty boy? Seriously?” Aomine questions incredulously. Won’t he risk damaging his face? Were models insured or something? Aomine quickly disregarded the thoughts. It was none of his concern anyway.
Kuroko nodded. “Yes,” he answered absently, clanging his spoon against the ceramic bowl in front of him. “Aomine-kun, could you get me another mango cake?”
“Huh?” Aomine asked upon the sudden turn in conversation. He didn’t peg Tetsu for much of a sweet tooth to begin with if it didn’t involve his beloved vanilla shakes. Let alone wanting seconds.
Kuroko held the bowl up, holding gaze with Aomine harmlessly. “Mine’s all out, and I would like some more.”
Aomine cursed. “What do I look like, your maid? Get it yourself! ..Ugh!” Aomine swiped the tableware from Kuroko’s hands after he continued to stare at him. It was the puppy dog eyes. Always with the puppy eyes.
Aomine was complaining and grumbling about how impossible the other boy was all the way up to the dessert stand, so he was surprised when he grabbed for the pastry another hand reached for it as well. Instantly, Aomine looked up to see the blond. Shit, Aomine cussed inwardly. Testu did this shit on purpose, he was convinced.
He was in the midst of opening his mouth - what he was going to say he didn’t know, he never really knew - but the practically beaming expression radiating off the blond’s face caused his words to die off his tongue and ended up just sounding like some weird, disgruntled noise. The blond seemed to think nothing of it, however.
“Hey!” he greeted cheerfully. Seriously, Aomine didn’t think eyes were supposed to actually sparkle. The school must have gotten new fluorescent lights in the cafeteria or something. “Oh, wow, I’ve never gotten the chance to talk to you really. Aominecchi, right?”
“No,” Aomine answered in a hard tone. “No. It’s just Aomine.”
Either the blond elected to ignore him or didn’t hear because he began speaking almost the same time Aomine was finishing, “It’s so nice to bump into you like this, but I’m in a bit of a hurry, sorry. I’ll see you later, Aominecchi!”
Aomine would have commented that he needed to lay off the ‘cchi’, but the tug against his fingertips halted his demands. “Yeah. Later.” He kept his grip tight on the bowl and stared at the boy.
He blinked once, glancing down then back up at Aomine. “Uh. Can you let go?”
“You let go! It’s mine!”
“What? I was here first, it’s mine!”
“The hell you were! I completely grabbed this before you did!”
“No, you didn’t!”
“Yeah, I did!”
They were both glowering at this point. Aomine straightened his back, still holding the bowl as a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Okay. I hear you play basketball?” He watched the blond’s ears perk at the mention. “How about a one-on-one to see who gets it?”
“Really?” The boy’s pout wasn’t supposed to dissolve that swiftly, and it certainly wasn’t supposed to leave in place of sheer happiness and a stupid smile.
“Yeah.” Aomine managed to keep his smug tone all the same. “It shouldn’t take long anyway.”
“Alright.” A bit of slyness slipped into that smile of his. “Let’s do it.”
That late evening, when Aomine was walking back with Kuroko, he could feel the shorter boy’s eyes boring up at him from his side. “You didn’t have to play all those re-matches. You already won the first time.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Aomine scratched the back of his head. He had to admit he hadn’t expected – Kise, he remembered - to fight him over the mango cake or take up his offer for a one-on-one or play against him until dark although he’d had business to attend to that was probably more important than playing ball with him in a schoolyard for hours, right?
“You had fun,” Kuroko stated after a moment of silence.
“Shutup. Next time, you’re getting your own seconds.” And although Aomine was firmly facing forward he could still make out the amused smile creeping onto the other boy’s face.
“Whatever you say, Aomine-kun. Whatever you say.”