Work Text:
Hey, Taiga, are you up for a skype call?
Kagami had to take a break from his run when he felt his phone buzz. He was relieved to have the break— it was a cold and windy February day, after all, and these were hardly good conditions to go running in. Coach had required all of them to do extra training— even though the nearest tournament was a long way off. He couldn't blame her, though— just because Seirin had won the Winter Cup, didn't mean that they were now immune or something like that. There was always a risk that someone would come and threaten their number one place, so they always had to be on the offensive.
But it was Tatsuya on the line, so he stopped running to text Tatsuya back.
Hey, I can skype, just give me 10 minutes to get back to my apartment.
What were you doing outside? Wasn't it freezing cold out there?
I was out for a run. Don't worry, I didn't feel cold at all.
And with that, he was off and running, but this time, with something to really look forward to at the end. He figured he could run again after— it wasn't like there was some time limit on that.
When he got home, Kagami immediately turned on the computer and booted up Skype. He didn't even wait for Tatsuya to give him a ring— he just gave him the call first. He figured it wasn't like Tatsuya was constantly watching to see if he'd come online, so it was a little more convenient this way.
Tatsuya picked up a moment later.
"Hey, Taiga!" He smiled a little at the camera. "It's good to see you. Is it really okay to be running in this weather?"
Kagami flushed a little— he hadn't called Tatsuya to get scolded. "Uh, yeah, of course it's fine."
"If you say so. I just wanted to call to check in on you, make sure you're still eating enough, all that." He looked like he was close to laughing.
"Oi, you're not my mom, Tatsuya. I'm eating fine." He missed Tatsuya a lot, but he didn't want to have this conversation with him.
"So how's practice going?" A slightly better question, which inspired Kagami to go into quite a bit of detail about what kind of exercises Coach was making them go through, and the drills they were running, and all of that. Tatsuya seemed to be at least a little entertained, which is all that really mattered to Kagami.
When they were done talking about that, Tatsuya had another question for him. "Are you going to go back out and run when you're done?"
Kagami was almost sheepish in his reply. "Yeah. I haven't hit the mileage requirement Coach set for me."
"Well, don't work so hard. I know your coach is tough, but she doesn't want you to completely collapse or something like that either. Talk to you later!"
He hung up, rather suddenly. Kagami had no idea why he'd do something like that, but he really had to get back to running, so he didn't bother to call him back.
His run ended up taking him another hour, counting the stop for a Pocari along the way.
The next time, Tatsuya texted him while he was getting ready in the morning.
Hey, Taiga, you around this evening for a phone call?
I've got a lot of homework to do tonight, sorry. Can I call you on the weekend or something?
Kagami just wanted to eat his rice and crack an egg in it so he could leave for school, but he didn't want to offend Tatsuya, so he stuck around.
He waited for the buzz of Tatsuya's response for ten minutes, but it didn't come.
So he left.
The next time, Kagami texts first.
Hey, do you wanna talk on the phone this weekend or something? I miss you.
The response came a few minutes later.
Sure, Saturday okay with you?
Yeah, how about Sunday at 11am?
Works for me, I'll talk to you then
He felt accomplished at taking the initiative this time. He just hoped that their talk would go well.
Sunday at 11 o'clock came, and Kagami was still in his pajamas, having just finished breakfast. The phone rang— and after Kagami's initial start, he remembered that Tatsuya was supposed to be calling. He picked up the phone.
"Hello? Tatsuya?"
"Hey, Taiga. What're you up to?"
"Uh, I just finished breakfast."
"You still eating a lot?" Kagami could almost hear the smile in his voice, all the way from Akita.
"Yeah, of course I'm still eating a lot. Otherwise I don't feel full at all."
There was a bit of a silence, as if Tatsuya was considering saying something.
"Hey, Tatsuya, you still there?"
"Yeah. Taiga, I was wondering— would you mind hosting me for a couple of days in March? At the start of school vacation? I think I'm starting to miss the city a little bit."
"Sure! What dates did you want to come?"
Tatsuya gave them to him, and then he was off the phone again, except this time he was utterly elated.
On the day that Tatsuya was scheduled to arrive, Kagami was waiting nervously at the train station. Even though he knew that Tatsuya had been here before, and didn't really need anyone to pick him up at the train station, he figured that it was at least polite to do so.
It was pretty chill for a spring day, though, so Kagami was rubbing his hands together and blowing on them when Tatsuya emerged from the station.
"Taiga!" he said, smiling broadly. "You didn't have to wait for me."
Kagami flushed a little, embarrassed. "I wanted to wait for you."
"Well, now you'll have to lead me to your apartment, alright?"
"Yeah."
They didn't really talk about all that much on the way to his apartment. Kagami was more focused on getting them out of the cold air.
Once they got to the apartment, however, he showed Tatsuya to his room so that he could collapse in the living room in front of the TV.
After a few minutes, and Tatsuya got his things as unpacked in the spare room as he was going to, he came out.
"What're you watching?"
That caused Kagami to actually look up at the TV, only to realize that he was watching some kid's anime that he didn't immediately recognize.
"Uh, anime I guess. It was just whatever was on this channel."
"Don't you want to do something else?"
Kagami looked up, a little surprised. "Uh, sure. Did you have anything in mind?"
"I kind of wanted to get out and sightsee a little bit. You have to know of something fun and touristy to do, right?"
Kagami paused for a second. "We could go to Tokyo Tower if you want? I haven't actually gotten a chance to see it."
Tatsuya smiles at that. "Sounds perfect to me. We can get ramen or something after, all right?"
Kagami snorted— it wasn't like he needed food as a motivator, but it did help a little that he'd thought of him in that way. "Sure, I know a good place to get ramen."
Kagami pulled himself off the couch, and got his coat back on. He was looking forward to this, and not just because of the food.
The line to get into the Tokyo Tower was fairly long, even though they were going during daytime and the best views were at night. This gave Kagami and Tatsuya plenty of time to chat and catch up on their lives.
"So, how's school been going?"
"It's pretty good. Coach is going even harder on us this year than she did last year though. It's like she's gone totally crazy!"
"Well, she wants to see you win again before she graduates. Have you even thought about who you're going to have as a coach next year?"
Kagami balked. "Uh— no..." What he didn't say is that he secretly assumed that she would still coach them while in university, even though that didn't make much sense.
"I'm sure your adviser is thinking about it." He smiled at Kagami a little. "Ah— look, we're next in line to go up."
They crowded onto the elevator with the rest of the group. Kagami held his breath a little— he felt like he had to take up less space in the elevator somehow.
When they got up, Kagami gasped.
It made Tatsuya chuckle a little. "Haven't you seen this before?"
"Nah, I told you. I've never gotten the chance to go up here at all. It's really beautiful." Looking out onto the city, Kagami felt really small, but also like he wanted to announce to the entire world his mission to get the Winter Cup again.
Or maybe even a love confession, but he still wasn't sure how he felt about Tatsuya— or whether he even felt like that about him.
But he didn't want to get kicked off, or force Tatsuya to get kicked off too, because he honestly liked being up here, in the fresh air, and being able to feel the wind on his face, and all of that.
He leaned against the railing, and Tatsuya copied him.
"This is really nice, Taiga."
"Yeah, it is."
They stayed there like that for a minute, admiring the view.
Tatsuya cleared his throat. "Hey, Taiga, there's something I'd like to tell you—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the attendant called out that it was time for their group to go back down. As they were heading back down the elevator, Kagami leaned in to whisper, "Don't worry, you can tell me later. The place we're going to eat is probably gonna be too loud to have any real conversation in"
The ramen place was completely packed when they got there, but there were still seats for two. The two of them crowded in and made their order, and then they just had to wait.
"So, Taiga, are you really glad to see me?"
"Huh? Of course I'm glad to see you." He was always glad to see Tatsuya.
"Mmm..." Tatsuya looked at him suspiciously. "You seem shy."
"Shy? What's that supposed to mean, huh?"
Tatsuya grinned. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. You do seem different though, since I saw you at the winter cup. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something different about you."
Kagami flushed a little— although it was hardly visible in this dark restaurant. "Nothing's different about me, you're seeing shit." And maybe that was true, or more likely— Kagami was just embarrassed, and didn't want to talk about this kind of thing. Especially not with Tatsuya.
Luckily, their ramen came at that moment, and it was time for both of them to wolf it down. Of course, Kagami got a second bowl in the space of time it took Tatsuya to finish his first. That was all he was going to eat though— this place was loud, and Tatsuya still had something he wanted to tell him.
Tatsuya smiled again. "See you're just as hungry as always, Taiga. That's nice to see."
Taiga scratched the back of his head. "Okay, are you ready to go home?"
"Yeah."
They ducked out of the restaurant, and Tatsuya almost brushed his hand against Kagami's as they walked out. Kagami briefly wondered if he actually wanted to hold his hand, then put the thought out of his mind.
They sat in front of the TV, somewhat awkwardly, like they didn't know quite how to interact with each other when they had to be close to each other physically. They were sitting on opposite sides of the sofa— more forced awkwardness, and it was Tatsuya who broke it, with a gentle cough.
"Do we really have to sit so far apart?"
"Huh?" Kagami looks over at Tatsuya, vaguely noting the space between them but not really seeing the problem with it.
"Uh, no, I guess we don't." He scoots closer to Tatsuya, so that their shoulders are touching, and focuses back on the TV show they were watching.
"Ah," Tatsuya said, with a slightly strange tone. "I think I've figured out what's changed about you. You're more willing to avoid me now."
Kagami rolled his eyes. "I'm not avoiding you, I just don't know what you want from me."
"Why do you think I bothered to come out to Tokyo, Taiga?"
"Because you missed being in a bigger city?" Kagami suggested. He didn't think that was the answer Tatsuya was really looking for, but it was his best guess.
"No, Taiga. I wanted to see you."
"Huh?"
"I wanted to see you."
"You just said that!" Kagami moved to get up from the couch, but Tatsuya grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.
"Don't you get it? Taiga." Tatsuya looked like he was in pain, somehow, and while Kagami wanted to fix it he also had no idea how.
"Get what?"
Tatsuya closed his hand over Kagami's, and scooted toward him, so that their legs were flush again.
"I like you."
Kagami's mind went blank. It wasn't even that he didn't like Tatsuya— that was actually part of the problem. He'd always liked Tatsuya, but their brotherly relationship had always made things a little bit on the awkward side. And he'd never been sure if his feelings had been requited or not, and he'd been so focused on basketball—
"Taiga," Tatsuya says, and it's enough to interrupt Kagami's train of thought. "What are you thinking?"
"Uh... I like you too?" Said with an air of uncertainty, like he can't quite believe that he's saying something like this, right now. It's almost too embarrassing, to be honest, to be giving Tatsuya a love confession while the TV plays in the background. Or was it a "like" confession? Either way, it was basically the same thing, and Kagami felt on the spot and really embarrassed by that fact.
Tatsuya just smiled, in the mysterious way he always tended to. "That's good." And then a few minutes later. "That's good."
Tatsuya leaned in, then, and Kagami leaned in too. A moment later, their mouths met, just for a moment, before Kagami flushed again and had to pull away.
But Tatsuya was right. This was good.