Title: Falling

Genre: romance, dry humor

Disclaimer: Slam Dunk is Inoue Takehiko's property. The song Falling belongs to its singer, Keahiwai. Basically, I possess nothing but the story.

Warning: Swear words and sex-related terms are loosely mentioned in this fic.

The story is in Mitsui's POV.

I woke up with the incessant vibration of my mobile phone under the sheets, Keahiwai's Falling reverberating in my cranium. My mind tells me no but my heart only says that it's real…

Okay, maybe I do have the tendency to be a tad too slushy for my own sake. So what? Doesn't make me less of an epitome of sheer raw sex appeal, does it? I reckon not.


However, apparently, I forgot to level down my tone's volume so it was mercilessly busting my already overly agonized eardrums as of current. And just as if I couldn't get any more fortunate, I accidentally pushed down the corner table in an attempt to stretch out, knocking off a few, costly figurines in the process too.

Bullshit. Now this gives another dent to my allowance. My sister sure isn't going to be happy to see her pricey statuettes shatter into pieces.

I looked at the time in my cell phone's analogue clock before pressing the green receiver button.

Whoever has the nerve calling me at an ungodly time of four in the morning better have something substantial to tell me or I swear the little fellow of whatever-frickin-place-in-Japan is going to have a blast in a beating of a lifetime. I mean, hello, it's barely even sunrise.

Before I accepted the call, I saw the mere digits flashing over my Spongebob wallpaper only mildly insinuating that the caller's possibly unfamiliar to me.

Damn this nameless butthole.

I mustered the most distracted, pissed off bastard voice I could have.

"What the hell is wrong with your fucking clock?"

If this SOB thinks I'm going to let him off the hook that easy for disrupting my gravely needed snooze then he's making the most gargantuan assumption of his life.

"Easy, Sashi-sempai. That's not exactly the most pleasing way to greet your drop-dead gorgeous buddy."

Uh-oh. I'm going to bet on my Smiley boxers, the person on the other line is none other than that pervert Sendoh Akira. Judging by his abysmally distorted statement intrinsically instigated by the malfunctioning, grimy mass of matter enclosed in his airy skull, there is definitely no twice thinking that the intrusion is the eternally smiling baka.

Oddly enough or not, perhaps it's safe to say that my plan of beating the living daylights out of whoever the caller was has vanished into thin air in a single poof.

Nonetheless, trust the spiky-headed guy to pick a time too off beam. However, he's partly right in his opening speech. With the buddy statement, I mean. We've been quite together most of the time ever since we attended the same university in Tokyo. Sharing a dormitory absolutely counts in establishing camaraderie. Yes, despite his huge reputation of being the ultimate sex god in the open and mine of being the one-woman/man boyfriend material, I guess we do have similarities in various aspects. Besides that, we're the unbeatable duo of the university basketball varsity. And oh, if it's yet to be blatant, we have the same sexual preference too as both male and female species tend to uphold our fascination. These things must be reason enough for us to hit it off pretty well.

Oh, by the way, before your corrupted minds feed you polluted, unhealthy ideas of a loveslashlust status between myself and the prick, please allow me to proclaim the undying platonic relationship we possess.

"What's your problem, Akira? Didn't anybody tell you it's friggin' four o' clock?"

"Good morning to you, too. I wonder how you look in your early morning state."

This sicko scumball who digests shit for a living. If he's trying to sound cute then he could at least try to stop acting like a raging nympho for once.

I cringed at a vision of Sendoh getting it on with a carabao.

"Sempai?"

"Distraught and disturbed because of some tight-assed porcupine who doesn't even know when the real day begins. Fuck you, Akira."

"Oh, you mean you didn't get any last night? I'm willing to give you one now, if you like."

"Oh, please, just shut up for Hades' sake."

"You can make me."

See how absolutely mortifying the dude's pervert eminence has rose? To the lengths that even I cannot fathom.

"Goodness, Akira, if you badly want some at this early time of the day then I'll be more than ecstatic to refer you to a sex hotline because you're way out of your wits to expect that I'm in the mood for a dirty chitchat with you."

I heard him sigh on the other line.

"Okay, you sounded really pissed. I was just kidding. By the way, sorry for waking you up at such an hour. I really just want to talk. Is that okay…SEMPAI?"

The last word was accompanied by an all too annoying chuckle.

"I understand your idea of bestowing the highest respect to me by calling me sempai but you can now quit with that because I might just silently, silently press the red phone button on you anytime I'm losing it."

Sendoh had loosely dropped the term sempai the moment we've been dorm mates so as of now, the plain repetition of the word is simply his own tactic of letting my blood reach boiling point, enough to have the most intense urge to wipe that harebrained smile off his pretty face.

"Riiight, I'm sorry, okay? I was just trying to wake you up."

Wake me up? Ha! The dude's not going to play around without any agendum underneath.

"You had your victory from the time you gave me a ring. Happy? Now what is this all about?"

"I think somebody just came across as adorable to me."

I heaved a sigh.

So this is about another addition to his string of victories after all.

"I thought you and Rika are still an item."

"Whoever gave you the mindless rumor that we ever were?"

The column on the basketball varsity players in the school organ, actually. But that's filth, I forgot, so there's no point mentioning it.

"Whatever. Now who's the lucky trash bag ho?"

"Mitsui. Hisashi."

Yes, Sendoh Akira has the right to get goaded too.

"Kidding. Really, who is it?"

"I never thought he would actually be fun to be with in a zany kind of way. And he's cute too, I mean, he is because he's indubitably handsome and all but the way he sort of gives this thrift of a smile tops it all."

HE. So it's a guy this time. You know what? Honestly, I'm getting tired of listening to Sendoh's stories but I do anyway.

"You sound like a lovesick puppy."

"Maybe I am. Who knows, this guy might just be the one to cutoff my playboy image once and for all."

Okay, this is serious business. Who in the world of mortals will possess the power to get Mr. Sendoh "Sex God" Akira to speak like this? I refuse to believe the other is in his right mind to actually imply that he might just be ready for a commitment for the first time since…his birth. Who the effing hell is this guy?

"Spill it."

"You know him."

Is it me or is this porcupine playing guessing games with me? I may know who it is but I'm afraid I don't consider that as something to take note of.

"Just go shoot for fuck's sake, Akira. The hell I give a damn if I know your new interest."

"Fine. It's Rukawa. Rukawa Kaede."

My mouth closed and opened like that of a goldfish's but I don't remember saying anything at all because the last thing I knew, my 7610 had fallen to my room tiles in a resounding thud.

"What the hell happened to you awhile ago? You didn't put down the phone on me, did you? Or wait, did you get a heart attack or something?"

I laid back languidly in one of Mocha Blends' cozy couches, my iced chocolate remaining untouched on the table. Sendoh had insisted for coffee as according to him, he still has so much to tell me that he would no longer prefer relayed via phoning, considering the incident awhile ago.

"That's stupid. I saw my dog shitting on the backseat of my Altis so I had to run over and get the auto to the carwash asap. I forgot I was still with you on the phone. Sorry."

That was really smooth, Hisashi. Mitchen shitting on your leather backseat? Like you would actually allow that over your dead carcass.

"Well, anyway, so…" He moved closer, sounding excited. "Your thoughts on Kaede?" Sendoh looked at me expectantly, fervently awaiting my verdict.

Kaede? KAEDE? Holymotherfrigginshit, he's already calling him Kaede? Since when was Akira in first name basis with the guy? For shit's sake, KAEDE?

"Does he know you're calling him Kaede?"

"Well, not in front of him but…okay, no, he doesn't. Does it count?"

He asked as-a-matter-of-factly. I rolled my eyes upon such but I must say that I was also half-relieved to know that the foxy guy hasn't shared Sendoh's insanity.

"Whatever. So what's your plan?"

"My plan? I don't know, that's why you're here."

And this bloke actually thinks I'm his boyfriend planner. Why am I even fighting the urge to bash his face with the filled glass in front of me?

Because that will mean another dent to my pockets.

"I thought you're an expert when it comes to these things. You don't need my help, Akira."

"I do because he's different."

"Are you telling me that you can't handle a Rukawa Kaede?" I taunted.

"If that's what it takes, yes, I can't handle a Rukawa Kaede. Now please help me."

He looked at me pleadingly.

If he thinks those puppy eyes will make me relent to his whims then I'm sorry but it's not going to happen this time.

"What makes you think I can help you with this? I mean, take a reality check, Rukawa and I are the best of friends this world will ever have."

My statement dripped with sarcasm. I could barely control my tendency to smile like a sardonic asshole.

"Yeah, you're not exactly friends but at least you had something in high school. I don't want to be too fast on him yet I don't want to merely stand in line either. You're the only one I trust who could make my move appear subtle. Sashi, pretty please?"

"Why him?"

I don't know what took over me that moment but the question simply gushed out of my mouth.

Sendoh looked at me in intriguing awe.

"W-Why not him?"

"He's too difficult for you, Akira. Besides, he's a cold-hearted bastard, he's not going to return the favor, I'm almost wholly sure."

He laughed.

"Do I ever back out of a challenge? With the bastard part, it's actually pretty appealing. You know I'm a very optimistic person. Why close all possibilities that everything will soon be mutual too?"

"You're too positive-minded for your own sake. You're just going to get yourself hurt, you prickhead."

Why it was appearing that I was intentionally making him lose interest in the kitsune is a huge question mark to me.

Silence reigned for moments before Sendoh gave the most surprising statement.

"Sashi, you don't really like Rukawa for me, do you?"

He asked me in a whole new voice of fascination.

I like YOU, you bastard.

What did my brains just say?

I felt my cheeks burn. It's not very likely for me to be speechless but just the same, I was wordless so I merely stood up and hurriedly walked away from the café, mumbling an excuse on checking out my auto in the carwash.

Before I had walked a good distance from Sendoh's presence, I saw Sendoh put on his 500-megawatt smile, yelling something along the lines of, "Don't worry, I think I have a pretty clear idea."

The rainy morning was sending me off into another grand slumber. The gloomy aura provided too conducive an atmosphere for snuggling under the covers.

And scorching, passionate…

…conversations.

"Sashi, don't sleep on me now."

"Give it a rest for awhile, I'm tired, dumbass."

"But I'm not."

"You don't have to be a hentai 24/7 you—holyearthAKIRAshit!"

Then there was a kiss.

A bite.

Then a lick.

You get the whole picture.

If there's even the need to explain, Sendoh had long dismissed the idea of getting together with Rukawa because he and I have hit it off for good. However, the big question lies open:

Have I fallen for the perverted bloke?

Keahiwai's my witness.

END

Footnotes: I was making this fic with the winds fiercely blowing outside accompanied by heavy rains because of the super typhoon here in our country. With that, I am requesting everyone, especially my fellow countrymen, to kindly pray for all the calamity-stricken lives in the Philippines as of moment. Thank you all.

I hope you don't mind if I took up some space for that.

By the way, comments on the story will be highly appreciated. Thanks again. :D