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Aomine checked the room number on the flyer he held for the third time. His eyes matched the number with the one on the door in front of him, a resigned sigh leaving him as he pushed the door open. He hadn’t wanted to take a cooking class. He hated cooking. Rather, he didn’t know how therefore he didn’t find it interesting. Basketball was interesting. He could do anything with a basketball, his body moving on instinct. Put a basketball in his hand and he could easily make a professional player sweat with nerves of losing. Put a spatula in his hands and he was more likely to melt it to the stove than use it properly. No, he did not cook. Unfortunately, now that he lived alone his mom’s cooking wasn’t available and take out was starting to all taste like the same bland goop every night. To top off his culinary issues his best friend decided that he was even worse than she was, which if anyone tried Momoi Satsuki’s cooking would know that was the ultimate insult.
Now here he was, walking to an empty cooking station in a crowd of women and what looked like two men who were trying to melt slowly into the background. The aprons were the next thing he noticed; the array of colors and styles causing him to worrying that he may have stepped into a fashion class instead of cooking. That was until he spotted all the stainless steel appliances on the stations, the metal seeming to wink at him in mockery. Glaring at a particularly shiny spatula, he set his bag down to the side and plopped down on an obscenely uncomfortable stool. Another resigned sigh spilled out of him as he propped his chin on his hand, his body slouched over the table in front of him. The gossip got louder and louder around him, more and more women coming in. He heard a few whispers that were definitely about him, surely accompanied by a few flirty glances, but he closed his eyes and tried his best to block out the buzz. If he was lucky he wouldn’t burn anything tonight. If he wasn’t he hoped it was the spatula that went first.
He couldn’t say how long his eyes were closed, but the sudden silence and spike in energy of the room grabbed his attention enough to lift his lids. Not bothering to move his head, he scanned the faces of the women, and surprisingly, the handful of men. All of them were smiling, smirking, or preening themselves. Aomine knew that only happened when someone attractive was near. He only knew that as it happened constantly when he entered a room. The fact that it hadn’t happened in excess when he did enter the class meant whomever the crowd was waiting for was even better looking than him. As soon as the thought entered his mind, his body slowly coming alive to the possible opportunity, a deep, smooth tone came from the front of the room. The sound snagged Aomine’s attention instantly.
“Hello and welcome to basic cooking. My name is Kagami Taiga and I will be your teacher and resident helper so you don’t burn anything that you shouldn’t.”
Aomine had to bite the inside of his cheek from joining the group in a collective dreamy sigh. Kagami Taiga was more than attractive; he was blinding, the pure perfect light radiating from him causing a warmth to spread through the room. He was tall, nearly as tall as Aomine from what he could tell, and he was built from what could be seen under his long black shirt and deep blue apron. Broad shoulders, defined arms, a narrow waist; built was an understatement to describe Kagami Taiga. Aomine swallowed hard as his eyes flitted to the flawless gold skin, the sharp jaw, the deep auburn hair and matching eyes. As soon as his gaze landed on the smile he knew he was a goner. He also now understood why everyone had been trying to make themselves look as attractive as possible. He felt the need to rub his hand through his hair or check his teeth or something. The thought however was short lived as Kagami spoke again.
“Now, to start we are going to learn how to boil an egg. I find it is best to simply start a project and explain as we go along. Hands on is one of the easiest ways to learn to cook. Of course with more difficult things we will run through them before hand, but this should be fairly easy. Please pull out the small pot under your counter and grab an egg from the basket here in the front. Fill the pot about 3/4 full and bring it to a boil. Once it has boiled place the egg inside as gently as possible so as not to crack it, then set the timer for 12 minutes. Leave the water boiling. It may spill over a bit but it’s alright. You will want to find your claw utensil so as to make it easy on yourselves when removing the egg when it’s done. I will be coming around to help in case anyone has questions, please feel free to ask me anything. That is what I’m here for and no question is invalid. Please go ahead and start.”
Another blinding smile to the group and then Kagami was stepping aside, his hands gesturing towards the basket of eggs next to him. The flurry of colors and apron fabric flying to the front towards him was akin to a flock of birds descending on their prey. Aomine however was eyeing his station with trepidation. Kagami had said a small pot and claw utensil. What the hell was a claw utensil and which pot was considered small? How did you bring something to a boil? His eyes stared at the stove as if it was an alien, the dials on the top obviously meaning something unhuman.
“How the hell do I not know how to boil water?”
Reaching up to rub his hand through his hair he let out a defeated sigh. He was going to have to ask. He was actually going to have to ask the drop dead gorgeous teacher how to boil water. Surely for someone who could teach a cooking class the prospect of a romantic interest that couldn’t boil water was laughable. Looking at the front of the class he tried to spot the teacher, but found him surrounded by at least four cheery women and one man who was openly eyeing Kagami’s most likely perfect ass.
“Ugh fuck that. This is why there’s Google.”
A few minutes later and Aomine was somehow neck deep into an article that explained how to make the perfect teriyaki sauce for hamburgers. His stomach growled as he read line after line, his food deprived mind conjuring up the most beautiful ingredients, or he hoped that’s what he was picturing, he had ever seen. He was just about to click on a video link to drool over his favorite sauce when a presence slightly behind his left shoulder made him snap his head up and practically slam his phone down onto the table. He knew he was looking at cooking stuff, and he was in a cooking class, but who knew the policy on cheating on boiling eggs with teriyaki sauce.
“You like Teriyaki?”
The smile up close was even more potent, the effect making his brain short circuit for a few seconds before coming back online. Kagami, the dangerously perfect cooking teacher was standing far too close to Aomine. He could smell something spicy yet fresh at the same time, deciding that if it was coming from the man next to him it was now his favorite scent, Teriyaki be damned. The smile grew a bit more amused as the silence reigned on between them, Aomine’s mind repeating the question asked of him, snapping him to attention so he didn’t look like a complete fool.
“Um yeah.”
He swore his mind, and every other imaginary entity in his body, fell over with exasperation at his stellar reply. He didn’t know how to handle this situation well, Kagami obviously aware of his inner struggle, his smile dialing up in amusement by at least 8 notches. Aomine wasn’t awkward. He was irresistible. He had been that way since middle school. He had been cute before that but as he had hit puberty, and had grown in basketball, his irresistible charm and “bad boy” image had never failed. He had never not jumped on an opportunity to seduce someone good looking. Yet here he was, failing to even smile back at the shining angel next to him. He chalked everything up to this cooking class. He sucked at cooking. It was now becoming an infection that was affecting his entire brain.
The being next to him, whom Aomine was now convinced was too perfect to be human, threw his head back and laughed, the sound floating around the class, heads turning to stare in amazement, others zoning in on Aomine and glaring with the threat of an early death. Aomine simply watched, mouth slightly open as he waited for the sound to stop echoing in his ears, half hoping it never would.
“I don’t think being bad at cooking is an infection. Certainly not one that can spread throughout your body.”
“Ah. I said that out loud.”
Kagami nodded, his face immensely amused with Aomine, his smile apparently the only sickness that Aomine was going to catch, his own lips pulling to the side in his trademark smirk, his muscles moving in habit. The action seemed to affect Kagami, his eyes flaring slightly in surprise, a small movement Aomine didn’t miss, his smirk getting bigger. This. This was territory he knew. His teacher was affected, even slightly, by his face. To some it may have been a long shot, but that was one of Aomine’s specialties. His body surged with confidence, his usual charm charging through his veins as he turned in his stool to face his teacher fully, his voice dipping a bit, the huskiness just enough to make everyone around him start to sweat.
“I didn’t know how to properly start and my hunger got the better of me. I apologize if it interrupted your class.”
Kagami’s eyes flicked down to watch Aomine’s tongue wet his lower lip before remaking eye contact. Aomine watched him visibly swallow, his voice taking on its own husky tone.
“Um no. No you didn’t, you’re fine.”
“Oh? I am?”
The pink blush spreading over the tip of Kagami’s ears was enough to force Aomine to smile fully, the image more devilishly seductive than purely innocent as his teacher’s was. He knew what he was doing now, his former awkwardness a forgotten nightmare.
“No…I mean yes...I mean, I meant yes at looking up food videos….or rather…ah fuck,” Kagami looked away with obvious embarrassment.
Aomine waited for his teacher to take a deep breath and peek at him again before commenting, “I’m glad you think so. Do you mind?”
“Do I mind what?”
Gesturing towards his still empty table with a slight tilt of his head, Aomine spread his legs on the stool more, his body tempting Kagami to come closer.
“Do you mind helping me then? Considering I have no idea what you said before.”
Latching onto something familiar, Kagami nodded with regained confidence and stepped forward, his leg brushing Aomine’s knee, a jolt of heat shooting through both of them. Kagami bit his lip hard before looking around at the table’s contents, his eyes not finding what he wanted. Looking over at Aomine, he gestured.
“Do you have your small pot?”
“I believe it’s still underneath on the shelf. At least that’s where all the other pots are.”
Nodding and kneeling to grab the object he wanted, Kagami didn’t notice his position until he heard a sharp hiss of breath. Aomine had tried to keep his calm demeanor present but as he looked down at his teacher squatting between his spread legs, he couldn’t help the intake of breath through his teeth. He watched as the sudden realization of his position hit Kagami, the teacher shooting up too fast, banging the stainless steel pot on the table in his flurry. The class turned to stare at them again, Kagami clearing his throat and rubbing his forehead to shield his slightly red cheeks.
Aomine picked that precise moment to lean in and whisper, “Don’t worry about it. You’re definitely fine.”
The flash of red eyes directed at him had Aomine smiling the first genuine smile he had all night. He didn’t know what it was but he knew there was more to his teacher than a perfect smile and handsome face. He intended to find out exactly was behind that fire of emotion in Kagami’s eyes. If it meant burning a hundred spatula’s to figure it out then that was a price he was more than willing to pay.