The school bell started ringing shrilly, signaling the end of a regular day and the start of after-school activities. Aomine opened his eyes a notch, to see the blue sky with a flock of birds flying across a giant floating cloud. On most days, he reveled in being able to see the natural sky in all its beauty just like this, but today felt like it was bordering on the verge of boring.
His cellphone buzzed in his pocket, and he fished around to check the caller ID before picking up.
"Aominechii!" Kise's happy singsong voice reverberated in his ear.
"Yo, Kise." Rather than annoyance, Aomine felt a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Rare of you to contact me."
Kise laughed before launching into one of his usual happy monologues. "Yeah! I took the day off school today! There's an exam going on, and I already took it yesterday because I asked my teacher if I could take it earlier. They'll probably grade mine with the rest of my class next week. Hope I did well! My schedule is so packed! But luckily, I just finished a shoot in the city center! It ended quicker than I expected, cause my manager had to go for a sudden meeting with our modeling agency. She took the photographer with her, too! I hope the next thing they have planned for me isn't gonna take up a lot of my time. Oh yeah! I'm on the bus right now, about to get off at the bus stop near the ramen place behind your school. Wanna hang out?"
Twisting a spiky lock of his own hair thoughtfully, Aomine contemplated the things he could be doing if he didn't hang out with Kise. Actually attending basketball club practice definitely wasn't on his to-do list, and he'd already finished checking out Horikita Mai's latest photobook. It was far too early to go home and wank in the shower, and there wasn't much else he could do at home either - his parents had cut the Wi-Fi because he'd gotten low grades in a high majority of his subjects. Momoi was probably heading to the basketball club right now, and he didn't want her to start pestering him to join.
"What did you have in mind?"
Kise's happy voice was contagious. "I thought maybe we could play one on one! And maybe dinner later?"
"Fine, but you're treating." Aomine was already slinging his school blazer over one shoulder, photobook under his arm as he made his way toward the exit of the rooftop.
"Great! I'll wait for you at the bus stop then!"
Ten minutes later, Aomine was ogling openly as a bunch of girls from his school crowded around Kise's familiar frame. Guessing that they must be seniors due to their micro versions of Touou's school regulation skirts and enticingly unbuttoned white shirts - down to the top three buttons - Aomine slowed his pace and stuck his hands into the pockets of his slacks so he could watch the action.
"Kise-kun! What are you doing here?"
"Kise-kun, are you seeing anyone right now? Is there a girl that you're going out with?"
Kise turned red. "Um, no, I'm not dating any girl right now, but..."
"Oh!"
A general squeal went up from the crowd of girls, and Aomine was surprised to note that Kise wasn't even startled. In any case, despite his apologetic smile that appeared to be genuine to most people who didn't know him, Kise looked like he was wearing a mask of sorts. As the girls started a new round of pestering, Aomine decided to step in.
"Hey, Kise!" He called loudly, feeling a spike of satisfaction as the girls quickly turned around and shot him glares of annoyance. "How long d'you think you're gonna make me wait?"
"Sorry!" Kise let out a surprised laugh, and Aomine was even happier to note the sense of relief in his tone. "I totally didn't see you coming."
"What, even from your height?" Aomine smirked, holding out a hand. "Let's go already."
"Kise-kun!" A girl with bouncy brown curls launched herself into Kise's side, latching onto his arm. "You said that you'd come out with us! We can go for drinks and karaoke, wouldn't that be great?"
Honey colored eyes darkened as Kise tried to gently but firmly remove her glittery manicured nails from digging holes into his arm through the school jacket he had on.
"I'm really sorry -"
She cut him off before he could finish. "Why, because you're just a little bit famous, you won't go out with normal girls like us, but you'd lead us along and pretend to be nice just so you can keep a good image?"
Another girl with a badly rainbow hued dye job disguised in an extravagantly bejeweled high ponytail piped up in a voice that sounded very much like she was trying to sound pure and cute, but grated on Kise's and Aomine's ears like nails on a chalkboard.
"Yeah! Quit being so selfish and ditch that scary ass ganguro; he doesn't even look like he knows how to have fun."
Aomine narrowed his eyes. "What was that, unicorn girl? You're way too much of an airplane landing strip to be able to have any kind of fun."
His remark caused a huge squabble of angry retorts from butthurt senior girls. If Aomine had considered any of them attractive at all before, now he found them all even more annoying than not being able to have internet until he managed to get his school grades up.
"Shut your trap, ganguro! What's with you, anyway? You don't even look like you're a high schooler!"
"Sure you're not some gangster dropout who's leeching off Kise-kun's popularity?"
"Kise-kun would never hang out with the likes of you!"
Aomine growled.
"Alright!" Kise clapped his hands, clearly irritated. "Let's stop all this, shall we?"
As the girls with the glittery nails drew breath to start talking, Kise interrupted her by yanking his arm away abruptly.
"First things first, I don't know who you seniors are, but no one in their right mind would want to even go out with girls they don't even know, much less girls who can't even take a hint. That should explain why I've been trying to politely refuse your pushy invites for the past ten minutes. And secondly, I wouldn't want to date anyone who's rude to my friends. If you can insult someone who's been contributing victoriously for your own school's basketball team, that kinda shows how much respect you have for others in general." Kise turned away from the stunned girls to walk towards Aomine, sliding his hand around the tanned teen's wrist.
"Lastly, I'm going out with Aominechii here." Kise raised his chin defiantly at the girls. "And before you accuse me of lying, you asked if I was dating any girl. As you can see, Aominechii is quite the opposite."
Rendered speechless, the girls could only stare and gape after the teen boys as Kise quickly dragged Aomine away in the direction he had originally come from.
Three minutes of hurried walking, with Kise keeping his grip tightly on his wrist, Aomine dug in his heels and shifted his weight to drag Kise into a prompt stop. The blond was trembling a little, and although Aomine couldn't see his eyes, he was sure Kise was glaring at the ground before him.
"You're burning a hole, y'know." Using his free hand to scratch an itchy spot on the back of his neck, Aomine smirked as Kise quickly straightened up. "Ground's not gonna hold up anymore and we'll fall right through, six feet under."
"Sorry, Aominechii, just give me a minute."
Duly noting Kise still hadn't relaxed his hold on his wrist, Aomine inhaled a deep breath quietly. Something bigger must have happened before this, and it was obviously weighing on Kise's mind. Deciding to be kind, Aomine pulled his wrist out of Kise's hand to lay a hand on his shoulder, giving him a comforting squeeze.
"This isn't me going soft or anything, but you clearly look like you need a drink."
"A-Aominechii." Kise stumbled as he followed after the tanned ace. "When did you start drinking? Do your parents know?"
Chuckling, Aomine shook his head and turned to meet the blond's eyes. "You're really taking me seriously, something's up for sure."
They stopped before a public vending machine, and Aomine dug into his pocket for some loose change.
"How mean, Aominechii, you know I always take you seriously." Kise recovered from his initial shock and punched in the drink of his choice.
Aomine growled and shot him a mock glare. "Hey now, who said you could choose that one?"
Laughing, Kise lowered one knee, keeping his hand in an even position in Aomine's own. Aomine noted the fair expanse of skin on the nape of Kise's neck as the other teen reached for the Pocari that rolled into the dispensary.
"Sorry, sorry. I thought you'd treat me after my majestic save with those girls just now."
Kise's smile was brilliant and dazzled the confusion of wondering why he'd just caught himself staring at his former teammate's neck out of Aomine's mind. He covered up his embarrassment by shoving Kise's head down so the blond wouldn't see him blush.
"Are you kidding me? That hero talk you just gave them made me wanna fall asleep." Aomine let go of Kise's hand quickly to flick him on the forehead just as he was straightening up.
"Ouch!" Smacking Aomine's hand away, Kise glared and pouted. "What's with the mean behavior, Aominechii!"
"Shut it, I'm always mean aren't I?" Aomine grinned. "I'll treat you to this drink if you treat me to dinner after we play."
"What? That's so unfair!" Kise groused, shoving Aomine as he tried to punch in his own choice of drink. "Then no way! You're definitely treating me to two drinks!"
"Ahh! Look what you made me buy!" Aomine shoved back, causing Kise to yelp as he sloshed half of his isotonic drink onto his jersey shirt. "What is this girly melon flavored milk drink?"
"That's one of my favorites!" Kise snatched it out of the dispensary. "Don't knock it till you try it!"
Aomine glared. "No wonder you're such a girl, you little pretty boy!"
"How dare you!" Kise clutched the chilled can to his soaked chest. "Wh- did you just call me a pretty boy, Aominechii?"
"No way in hell." Spitting out his words, Aomine turned back to the machine and clicked the button below a Mountain Dew. "Just like your face, your hearing's definitely warped."
Irked, Kise shoved him on the shoulder. "What? Just admit that you kinda think I'm handsome already!"
They squabbled as usual while making their way to the familiar public basketball court that Aomine always haunted on weekends when he wanted to get out of the house. Kise asked Aomine to wait a little while he changed out of his 'work' socks to his athletic ones, to which Aomine remarked that Kise was even more of a girl than he'd expected.
"You said you were coming from a photoshoot when you called me." Relieved to notice he was already wearing a singlet underneath, Aomine unbuttoned his white uniform shirt and tossed it in Kise's direction.
Kise jumped and yanked the slightly sweat dampened shirt off his head, annoyed. "Yeah, so?"
"So why are you all dressed up in basketball clothes?"
Finishing with the tying of his laces, Kise ensured that his feet were snug in his basketball shoes before picking up Aomine's shirt and folding it into a neat rectangle before placing it next to Aomine's carelessly strewn school bag.
The tanned teen found it ridiculous and strange, but decided to keep his mouth shut. Kise was Kise, and anyway, his shirt wasn't going to be rumpled when he changed back into it.
"Well, the shoot was about basketball. I'll be on the next issue of Sports Weekly." Kise looked up to meet Aomine's dark eyes with a smile. "I brought my own shoes because I feel way more comfortable in them."
"Yeah, you've been wearing those for like three months now." Aomine picked up one of the many battered but still usable basketballs lying around on the worn-out court, twirling it in his hands. "Probably molded to your feet already. Just like mine."
Kise found it a little weird that Aomine knew just how long he'd had his basketball shoes, but he didn't want to break the rare conversation thread they were having.
"Mmhmm, yours look good. You've always liked Nikes, huh?"
Aomine shot a three pointer and jogged after the ball as it bounced. "Guess so. All black works for me."
"They suit you." Kise grinned as Aomine looked at him incredulously. "I mean, character wise, with your charisma and natural personality, they look like they were made for you."
He received a ball to the face as Aomine felt his face heat up a little. "Shut up and haul ass over here. Did we come to talk or play?"
"You're so mean!" Kise hurriedly got off the bench to chase after the ball.
"That was dangerous." Fighting down his blush, Aomine chastised himself as ran a hand through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck. "What is that idiot thinking?"
As Kise finally got his hands on the ball, he bit on his lower lip, hard. "Me and my stupid mouth."
He inhaled and exhaled quickly before turning around to jog back towards the tanned teen. "Let's play one on one, Aominechii!"
x
"Ahh, you're so mean!" Kise sat on the rough cement of the old court, completely drenched in sweat as he gasped for breath haggardly. "You really don't cut me any slack, Aominechii!"
Not bothering to retrieve the ball as it rolled around the hoop area, Aomine tugged the neck of his singlet up so he could wipe the sweat away from his mouth and cheeks.
"Would you rather me do that?"
Kise chuckled as he pushed back his long fringe and tucked his hair behind one ear. "Of course not, Aominechii. One more time?"
The tanned teen smirked as he realized he couldn't count the number of times he'd heard those words fall from Kise's lips.
"No way." Aomine turned to look at the blond's attractive side profile. "Sun's setting and I'm gonna be starving in five minutes."
"Pretty please?" Kise begged, lowering his gaze as he rubbed at a sore spot from where he'd falled during their game before. "Ow..."
His matted blond hair fell over the right side of his face, while his left side faced Aomine, fair skin glowing in the light of the setting sun. Aomine tried to convince himself that it was just sweat that made Kise look like a god fresh out of Zeus' kingdom.
Serves you right, Aomine swallowed those words as they balanced on the tip of his tongue. Instead, he said "Your leg is hurting. Come on, let's go get something to eat."
"Aominechii," Kise looked up at him, half-disbelieving, but mainly in awe. "You look amazing."
The light of the setting sun was shining on Aomine's naturally tanned skin, too. Accompanied by the sweat on his skin, Aomine positively glistened with his aura of concentration. His look of utter focus turned into widened eyes, then narrowed as he shifted uncomfortably to glare at Kise.
"What are you talking about, idiot?"
Thankful that the sun was at his back so Kise couldn't see him turn red for the third time that day, Aomine yanked off his top and smacked Kise's face with his completely soaked singlet.
"Hey! Ahh, gross! Aominechii, you dick!" Kise's scream of disgust was satisfying.
Quickly changing into his dry uniform shirt, Aomine turned back to see Kise flicking his soaked singlet before folding it between ginger fingertips. The familiar gesture, quite probably a habit unique to the blond, made a laugh escape Aomine involuntarily.
"Hm?" Kise walked over with the folded singlet on one hand. "Your tank top, my good sir."
"I can't believe you just did that." Aomine snatched it from the blond and dumped it unceremoniously into his school bag. "What's with that girly technique?"
Kise frowned. "What's wrong? I happen to like having neatly folded clothes, okay? And you're gonna ruin your schoolbooks if you stuff a damp shirt into your bag like that, Aominechii."
"So what? Are you my mom?" Aomine grumbled, but stuck his hand back into his bag to rearrange his stuff so that Horikita Mai's photobook sat between his singlet and notebooks. "Not much in my bag anyway. Unless you count my sexy idol collection."
Rolling his eyes pointedly, Kise shook his head and lifted one arm to pull his equally soaked jersey over his head. Aomine's eyes widened as he took in the view. Fair, unmarred skin, save for a cute little mole on the left side of Kise's ribs. His body was a well balanced mixture of perfectly honed athleticism, lean muscle mass and good genes, and damn if Aomine wasn't feeling a niggling sense of weird in the back of his mind for openly ogling at his former teammate, who also happened to share the same gender as he did.
"Aominechii." Kise blinked at him, tousled blond hair covering most of his vision as he squinted at his friend. "Could you pass me my t-shirt in my bag, please?"
Swallowing a nervous ball of energy in his throat, Aomine quickly tore his eyes away from Kise's body and reached for the blond's duffel bag. As he unzipped it, the oddly familiar smell of Kise - raspberry and other fruity scents - filled his nostrils and brought a sense of comfort to the ace of Touou Academy. He wondered when he had grown accustomed to that. Shaking his head to clear his mind of unnecessary thoughts like contemplating the feel of Kise's skin, Aomine rummaged around in Kise's bag and pulled out a folded white shirt.
He tossed it to Kise quickly, and grabbed both their bags. His mind was hassled, which meant his body was also on edge.
"Hurry it up, you take time to dress like a girl." Aomine drawled and made his way toward the court's exit.
"Aominechii! Wait for me!" Forced to tug the dry shirt over his face, Kise rushed to catch up with him.
x
His digital clock read two fifteen AM, and Aomine sighed. He'd been tossing and turning for the whole night. He wished he didn't have to wake up early for school the next day, which just so happened to be a Monday.
"Sleep, dammit!" He cursed, shifting in his bed and rumpling his white sheets. "Urgh!"
This was so rare. He could sleep an entire day away without remorse, and now, just because of his mind being in a state of unrest, he couldn't be himself.
Kise invaded his thoughts, his mind, and his entire brain, filling his entire sense with an unnerving power of dread, indecisiveness and utter lack of control over himself. Aomine never had had to deal with something like this before, and the feeling of losing his grip on the rest of the world was making him jittery.
The entire week had been all about spending time with Kise. The blond had wanted to go watch a movie or play ball, or have a drink and then go shopping for basketball attire after each of his photoshoots that were held nearby Touou Academy, and he always knew when Aomine got off school. He seemed to be able to sort of read the tanned teen's feelings more often than ever, and Aomine hadn't the slightest clue how to respond to that aside from bullying Kise back for being smart.
His cellphone buzzed, and he was annoyed and relieved at the same time to read Kise's text message.
I can't sleep at all, Aominechii ~ ! What should I do? I bet you're already asleep. Sweet dreams~
Aomine sighed, wondering what to reply. He scratched the skin and hair above the waistband of his loose boxers and smirked.
Sleep is for idiots. I'm jerking off right now.
Kise's quick text back was satisfying, to say the least.
Gross, Aominechii! You should keep that a secret! One on one tomorrow when you finish school?
You know I'll win again. Treat me to ramen this time.
It wasn't until 4 AM did Aomine decide to flick his gaze from his warm, battery slightly overheated phone, to glare at his clock in disbelief. He had to be up for school in two and a half hours, and he was damned sure Kise had to wake up even earlier to take the train from Kanagawa to his own school. A sudden thought flashed through his mind and he realized that he barely knew the blond the way Kise knew him. What was Kise's day at school really like? Did he eat in class, or up on the roof, or in the cafeteria? Did his school have a Block D where most students would go behind to make out or grope or have sex between classes? Was Kise's locker the standard light grey hue, or a brilliant blue and white? What was Kise's favorite subject in school? Aomine was fairly certain it would be first period P.E., which was basically what Aomine himself came to school a little earlier on Tuesdays and Thursdays for.
But most of all, what he wanted to know was...
Are you eating well? Aomine stared hard at his screen before pressing delete.
He ran a hand through his hair and retyped his message.
I'm gonna sleep now, you dork. Don't you have school tomorrow?
Ahh! I'm so sorry Aominechii! I've been keeping you up all this time! Go sleep, go sleep! I'll be going to school tomorrow, too!
As he watched the cutely waving emoticon bouncing at the end of Kise's message, Aomine shook his head and smiled.
As the emoticon bounced and helped his mind drift back into the throes of sleep, Aomine wondered if Kise's hair was as soft as it looked.
x
Excuse the badly timed gay moments. I just think that Kise would be the type to blurt out his thoughts honestly, and Aomine would be the kind of guy to sort of physically and verbally bully the people he likes.