Summary: Aomine's first day on the job. He meets his very first client. And experiences his first real romance.

Rating: R

Warnings: AoKa, Language, Mature Themes, Smut Later On

Underneath all that Hotness

Part 1

Light the Match

Evidence that it was almost Christmas in Japan was everywhere. But especially in this neighborhood. A snowman in front of every house. Christmas lights and window decorations on every property. Roofs decked out with Santa, reindeer, and bells of holly.

Aomine wasn't one of those guys who hated Christmas. He was the type to judge people for overdoing it. And every single person in this goddamn neighborhood was a showoff.

When he pulled up in front of his client's – Kagami Taiga's - house, it was no different from the rest.

He should just call and quit his job. He wasn't looking forward to meeting this guy. He was probably as annoying and over the top as all the rest.

And pray to God – who he didn't believe in – that the kids weren't home. He only liked kids that didn't ask questions.

Aomine was kind of in a bad mood right now, anyways. It wasn't necessary to summarize all the events leading up to this point. It was 11:00 in the morning. He woke up only 30 minutes ago, realizing he had to be on time for his first day at work. He laid back down for 15 minutes. And in the last 15, he magically showered, dressed, and drove like a mad man through the streets to make it here on time.

By on time, he meant late. At least he didn't have to tell his dad he quit his job. He'd probably get fired, instead. He hoped so. He wasn't going to college just to become a repairman. He'd have a better job in a few years.

Until then, he was standing on the doorstep of this person named Kagami. Tool box in one hand and a frown on his face.

He rang the doorbell…

Five minutes later, he rang the doorbell. Again. He was the only impatient man on earth who waited this long for someone to open the door. Even when it was below 0 outside and a wind chill that made it 20 degrees colder.

Now he was waiting just to get into a fight with his client. This Kagami. This asshole son of a..

He heard the sound of locks clicking, the knob turning. And finally…

There was a soft white glow – Aomine was sure he imagined it – that became brighter as the door opened, and then…

"Sorry about that…"

A quiet gasp escaped from his lips.

"I forgot you were coming."

Holy… who the hell..? God. The door opened all the way, and the first thing he saw was glistening muscles. In winter, the sun was shining brightly enough, complimenting this man with a pretty peach tan. Like the season returned to summer. Aomine's temperature rose as his eyes trailed down the tight body of a swimmer, covered in drops of water rolling down his chest, twin rows of abs, and the dip of that taut v-line. A creation of a God. Body perfect enough to make him temporarily forget his troubles in the world.

"Uh... are you okay?"

He hadn't heard a thing. His sense of hearing faded out as soon as he laid eyes on this gorgeous man. His brain flat lining, and all he really knew how to do was stare at this flat chested- woah.

He flinched, all of a sudden startled by the lack of tits.

"You called about a leak." He said, annoyance written in his expression and tone. His dark gaze swept up from the low riding towel on the redhead's waist to the suspicious look on his face.

"Wait… YOU'RE the repair man?"

Aomine was speechless once again. Also slightly insulted by the question. Though he shouldn't have been. It wasn't like he fit the "repair man" stereotype. No big belly. Not bald. Young. Very good looking. Not very friendly. If it wasn't for the tool belt at his waist and the tool box in his hand, it wouldn't be so obvious that he was here to fix a broken sink.

"Tch…" Not really in the mood to prove anything, and feeling like he'd waited out in the cold long enough, Aomine stepped forward, his shoulder brushing his client's on the way inside.

"O-oi…"

Aomine briefly ignored the gorgeous redhead, looking around the place. It was tidy. And simple. Warm... a place he could get used to.

"You're Kagami, right?"

He already knew that, but expectations he had about who Kagami was or looked like were blown to pieces. So Aomine felt some introductions were necessary.

"Yeah I... hey!"

Aomine kept walking further into the house, searching around on his own. Kagami followed behind him, skimpy towel clinging to his hips and thighs. The slightly taller, dark haired bluenette stopped once he found the kitchen. Turning to face Kagami, he had half a mind to say something about how inappropriate it was to invite a stranger into your house wearing a towel practically hanging off your ass.

But Aomine wasn't one to complain about nudity. At least he had some eye candy to keep him from falling asleep under the sink.

"When did you notice the leak?"

"Um.. a few weeks ago..?"

"Your shower and all other plumbing works fine?"

"I think…"

Kagami scratched his head, and Aomine raised a fine brow. He looked Kagami up and down for the hundredth time, eyes narrowing as he wondered if Kagami was either an airhead or an idiot.

"Weren't you just in the shower?"

"Yeah." Taiga looked down at his own body, just remembering that he was 99.9 percent naked. "The water didn't get that hot I guess.."

Aomine tore his eyes away, dropping his toolbox onto the floor and crouching down. He opened the cabinet and inspected the pipes.

With his back turned, he couldn't see Kagami standing there a little bashfully. Maybe because he was only in a towel with a stranger in his house. Or maybe because he was dying to say something and break the suddenly awkward silence.

"So… are you from around here?"

Aomine's fingers were gently feeling on the pipe, but froze when Kagami spoke. With his eyes not glued to Kagami's goods, he'd come to his senses. He could concentrate on things he hadn't before. Like how Kagami's voice had a smooth, calming sound. It wasn't as deep, and satin-like as Aomine's own, but it was still nice to listen to.

Not like most of his girlfriends. Their high pitched, almost squeaky voices made Aomine wince on more than a few occasions.

"I go to school around here." He muttered. His school wasn't actually anywhere near here, but didn't think it mattered too much. He was just entertaining some small talk.

"What are you studying?"

"Engineering."

"Really? Then… you're pretty smart, aren't you?"

"Hn." Aomine hid his smirk as he slid his head and shoulders into the cabinet under the sink, still forcing his eyes to stay focused under the sink. So he could do his job right. "I'm good with my hands. So I figured I'd build cars or something for a living."

"You like cars?"

"It's what my dad does."

Aomine worked in silence for several long seconds. While loosening the nut on the pipe, he wondered if Kagami had walked out. A quick peek from under the sink and he discovered that Kagami was still there. As soon as he realized this, Aomine once again became preoccupied with memorizing every detail of that lean figure, and getting a nice view of Kagami's damp, shaved peach skin.

Kagami was leaning against the frame of the entrance, rubbing the back of his neck. His face a lighter shade of red than his hair. When Aomine noticed Kagami's discomfort, he tore his eyes away and tried to remember what he going to do to this leaking pipe that he was supposed to be fixing.

"Hey…"

Aomine pretended to be too focused to respond. Calmly loosening a nut with his wrench.

"What's your name?"

It was asked in a friendly, almost timid way. But for some reason it scared the hell out of Aomine. He yanked on the wrench by accident, while still turning it and broke the rusted pipe. The water sitting inside poured all over him, causing him to jump up from under the cabinet, hair dripping, shoulders soaked, and Aomine coughing as he choked on water.

"I would offer you CPR… but I'm guessing you only need a towel."

He could hear how funny Kagami thought this was.

"Yeah. Both actually. And if you can hand me the towel around your waist that would be great."

Is what Aomine started to say. But in reality…

"Sounds good. Just not the one around your waist."

Of course he wasn't going to argue if Kagami decided to take it off anyway.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Be right back."

Kagami left. Aomine figured he went up the stairs in the hall.

He caught his breath while Kagami was gone. And as he sat on the floor, he started feeling like an idiot for having that reaction. It was no big deal for someone to ask for your name. And Kagami was hot as hell. Aomine was usually more than happy to give his name to any sexy person that asked. And it's not like he'd only given his name to people that he wanted to bang.

Aomine no longer found it interesting or strange… he was attracted to a guy with red hair and nice pecs. Not tits. And that was the fact of the matter.

Kagami returned in 3 short minutes and tossed Aomine a towel with surprising accuracy. He caught it. But before drying his face, he noted that Kagami had gotten dressed in a nice pair of black jeans. Actually, they were just regular jeans that looked nice because Kagami was the one wearing them.

Not only that, but fashion wise, maybe they had similar styles. Aomine could see himself wearing a pair that looked just like that, and hopefully looked just as good on him. He wondered what color shoes Kagami would pick to wear with them.

That aside, even before noticing that Kagami had put on jeans while upstairs, Aomine was thrilled to see those lovely pair of pecs he was strangely obsessed with. But Aomine briefly wondered why he hadn't put on a shirt.

Was Kagami shirtless for a living or what?

"Thanks."

"No problem. So what's your name?"

"Aomine."

The atmosphere seemed a little more relaxed. Aomine was collected now that he admitted his attraction to Kagami, despite identifying as heterosexual all his life. And some time alone with his thoughts upstairs helped Taiga regain his courage in having a normal conversation with Aomine. Without seeming desperate to be his friend.

"Do you really know CPR?" Aomine asked, catching Kagami a little off guard.

"On weekends I work as a lifeguard. But I learned CPR when I was living in America."

As soon as Kagami mentioned America, Aomine's dark blue eyes pinpointed the ring attached to the necklace around his neck. Aomine was normally observant. He'd already studied every physical mark and quality of Kagami's body. But hadn't noticed the necklace until now.

"My friend gave this to me when we were growing up in the states. He's the reason I came back to Japan a few years ago."

At this moment, Aomine and Kagami were for the first time sharing a thought. They wondered each other's age. But for some reason, they still felt too weird to ask that. For Kagami, it was even weirder than asking for Aomine's name.

"You're American?"

"Japanese-American. My mom and dad are Japanese, but they raised me in Los Angeles."

"No wonder you have an accent."

"Liar. I grew up bilingual."

Now that Aomine was less in shock about his attraction, and Taiga more comfortable asking questions about him, they were able to have a pretty normal conversation.

Kagami did most of the talking as Aomine resumed working under the sink. He told the dark haired man a little about his life in America. That he missed his friends and family only after being gone for 3 years. But life in Japan wasn't that bad. He knew some really great people. He had 3 different jobs. Life guard on the weekends. Bartender 3 nights a week. And though it wasn't a paying job, he enjoyed volunteering at the community center in his neighborhood, where he taught little grade school kids how to play basketball. Aomine tried to be discreet as he figured out ways to get Kagami to talk about himself, without making it seem like he was dying to get to know Kagami.

He hadn't anticipated telling Kagami more about himself either.

"Were you born in December?"

"No, August."

"Seriously? Me too. I was born on the 2nd."

"31st."

"Then you really are one year older than me."

Aomine had intentionally let it slip that he was 20 years old. Then Kagami told him that he was 19. They were both relieved to finally know this information. And Aomine didn't think much about it, but Kagami was kind of fascinated that both their birthdays were in August.

"Want something to drink?"

"I'm fine."

Aomine continued working with the sink. Even though he had to replace a part, talking with Kagami was the real reason that it took longer than necessary. Besides, there were times when Taiga was talking, not looking at Aomine as he did. Those were the times when Aomine was only half listening, and concentrating on his job even less. Rather he was back to staring at Kagami's hard chest. Even with how strong it appeared to be, Aomine imagined how supple the skin would feel. The nipples especially. How they'd pebble up when he discovered how sensitive they were to the texture of his fingers or tongue.

Truthfully, he'd been so sucked in by his attraction that he hadn't for one second considered why he was so interested. Anybody who knew him, knew that the one and only Aomine Daiki was a boobs man. He'd always been attracted to women for this single womanly feature. He specifically dated women with squishy, round, D cup sized tits.

The bigger the better.

Until today. Right now, Kagami's chest was the only exception to his titty bias. This man was sexy enough that every inch of him was worth Aomine's precious, undivided attention.

"…sure you don't want to take another look at it?" The little sarcastic smirk on his face made Aomine narrow his eyes. He was now standing by the sink, after notifying Kagami that he'd fixed the problem.

"You don't think I'm qualified to fix a leak?"

Kagami shook his head, his smirk growing into a grin.

"No it's just… it didn't seem like you were really focusing on your job. You were staring at my chest almost the entire time."

Aomine paused. Then raised an eyebrow as if he had no clue what Kagami was talking about.

"You're crazy."

"And hot apparently… but come on. Admit it. I might not be some smart engineering student, but I can tell when someone is checking me out. Guys are more open about it than girls, I guess."

"Tch… and what makes you so sure? Maybe I'm just jealous of your looks." He closed his eyes and turned away slightly. He couldn't even sound convincing, much less look like it.

"You don't exactly wear your heart on your sleeve. But you're not the jealous type… what do you have to be jealous of anyways? You're not so bad yourself."

And he was right. Aomine was the type of guy who was confident enough in his sex appeal that he didn't worry about his clothes, his shoes, or his hair. None of that. He didn't go out of his way to dress nice. And he sure as hell didn't feel the need to compete with other guys.

Well, for one thing, Kagami wasn't as much of an idiot as he thought. And two… Kagami digged him. The interest was mutual. Though he never even wanted a guy's attention until now.

"Thanks… but it's not like I was staring that hard."

"You totally were."

Aomine didn't know what to say. Now that Kagami called him out. And was grinning like this was funny to him.

"Anyways, thanks for fixing my sink. I didn't want it to be broken when my friends came over for New Year's."

"Friends? I thought you said there wasn't anything here in Japan for you."

Kagami had told Aomine that he was considering moving back to America very soon.

"Yeah. But I meant career wise. I have friends. And… I just broke up with someone so… it's not like I have to worry about leaving my soulmate behind or anything. And my friends said they'd come visit."

Aomine immediately forgot about that first part, and didn't care about that last part.

"So your ex is the real reason you want to go back." He crossed his arms, leaning back against the counter.

"Even if it is, it's not really your business." Kagami glared slightly at Aomine, who was wearing a smirk like he knew the whole story already.

He wasn't fazed by Kagami suddenly getting defensive. He could see right through the act. At first he was honestly just attracted to Kagami because of his body. And because he'd never looked at guys before, things were already weird between them from the beginning. But interesting. Aomine hadn't thought much about what kind of person Kagami was. But since he'd began learning things about Kagami anyways, why not see what else was underneath all that hotness?

"Just relax. It's not like I care how you broke up with her."

Kagami almost rolled his eyes. Aomine was so full of it.

"Yeah you do."

"I don't. I've had at least 10 different girlfriends. I know how relationships tend to end."

Kagami shook his head. Getting even more irritated, especially with Aomine's rhyme ringing in his head.

"They weren't even a girl. Shows how much you know about relationships… aho."

Aomine and Kagami silently stared at each other… one smirking while the other slowly realized what he just said.

"So you're gay."

"Shut up, jerk." He was glad that Aomine couldn't see or hear how fast his heart was beating. "I've had crushes on girls before… the first person I dated just happened to be a guy."

Aomine stood there, all quiet and analyzing him with that sharp, intense gaze of his. And it made Kagami even more nervous. So he kept talking, as if explaining himself. Like he was in trouble or something.

"I met him at the gym. He was cool and nice… and open about his sexuality. So I kind of went with it and we started a relationship after a few dates."

It was a hell of a lot missing from the story. Like what his name was, how old he was, what he looked like. Those little details that Kagami had no idea Aomine wanted to know, but wasn't going to ask. And Kagami left out the part about how he easily fell in love with this person. But the relationship only turned out to be parasitic and destructive. So Kagami called it off. A little later than he should have.

Maybe… maybe it was because he liked Aomine. As a friend at least. He'd like to get to know him some more. It wouldn't be so bad having a friend who was as… well… he kind of didn't have any words for what Aomine was. He just liked him.

"I still get angry when I think about all the things that happened…"

Why was he still talking about this?

"I thought it was none of my business."

"It isn't. But… I just.."

Aomine had stopped smirking a long time ago, beginning to frown when he realized how uncomfortable Kagami looked. He didn't know if Kagami was embarrassed about his sexuality or what, but Aomine didn't get a kick off of making people feel like crap.

Not the people he liked.

"Just forget it." He picked up his toolbox, grabbed the parts he removed and replaced underneath Kagami's sink, and began to walk away.

Though Kagami was standing in his way, so Aomine soon had to stop. Standing close enough to realize that he was slightly taller than Kagami. Probably. He couldn't tell for sure because Kagami was looking down at the floor. He didn't know if Kagami was sad. Aomine wasn't a man of many kind words. So he stood there, waiting for Kagami to move out of his way.

"Hey…"

Kagami flinched, Aomine's voice freeing him from his private thoughts.

"I was wrong. I don't know you. Or your.. boyfriend. Whoever he is."

Kagami knew – based on his impression of Aomine – that it took balls for the dark haired man to even admit that he was wrong. Aomine was proud. And probably had major issues admitting things like that.

"But you should move on."

"I'm over him."

"Ha.." Aomine didn't really believe that. Just like Kagami could see through his bull, Aomine could practically smell a lie. He was also a pretty good liar. "If you are, then prove it."

"Prove that I'm over my ex?"

Aomine could almost feel Kagami's reaction to his challenge. And Kagami sensed Aomine's. Excitement was practically pouring off them in waves.

"Can you?"

For the first time, they were wearing the same little smirk. And equally attracted to the way it looked on the other's lips. Aomine thought he was clever enough to once again trick Kagami into giving him what he wanted. And Kagami was simply amused as he read Aomine's thoughts as plain as day.

"You're not getting me to kiss you that easily."

"You're loss"

Kagami turned away, tears in his eyes as he held back his laughter. He wondered if Aomine's feelings were hurt. Probably not. His ego for sure.

"Nice try." Kagami closed his eyes, wiping away the tears.

With Kagami stepping to the side, Aomine had enough room to walk out of the kitchen, on his way to the door. He ignored Kagami telling him to wait. It may be small, but he felt a sense of satisfaction. His first day on the job hadn't been so bad. His client could have been many things, but none of them turned out to be as bad as he thought.

"Oi!"

It was interesting meeting someone like Kagami. At first he'd been drooling over the redhead like he was a piece of meat. But at least now Aomine knew that it didn't take a large pair of breasts to make him go gaga.

"You're really acting like a jerk, you know?"

Aomine paused, a little surprised when Kagami ran past him to beat him to the door. He blocked the entrance, stopping Aomine from going anywhere.

"You pushed me just so you could come in. Now you're in a hurry to leave?"

"This equipment is heavy."

"You can hold it for a little while longer. I can tell you're strong under your uniform."

"…I'm taller than you too."

"Yeah I... wait what?"

He looked up. Both of them realizing at the same time that they didn't exactly see eye to eye.

"See?"

"Who cares?" Kagami crossed his arms, a little bummed that he was shorter by like a half an inch or whatever. "I'm probably stronger than you."

"You wouldn't know for sure until you've seen me naked."

They shared a look that clearly expressed both of their interest in that happening.

And Kagami wanted to be completely straight forward from this point on.

"I just got out of a bad relationship. But I'm trying to move on."

"Good. You should."

"… you're not a bad guy. Maybe we can hang out. And see where it goes?"

He wasn't expecting Kagami to be shy about it. But at the same time, he was making Aomine feel like the girl.

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Nothing really. Just working." Kagami said, trying to play it cool. He didn't want Aomine to know how excited he was.

"Let's get lunch."

"Sounds good… but no kissing. No holding hands. And definitely no sex for the first few months."

Once again, Aomine didn't even know what to say. Of course he thought Kagami was hot and could prepare a list of all the explicit and gay things he looked forward to doing. But since finding out that the interest was mutual, not a single perverted thought entered his mind. Aomine shrugged, missing the little smile on Taiga's face.

Aomine looked bored. But really, butterflies were going wild in his stomach. He didn't want Kagami to know how much he was affected right now.

"You can ask for my number though."

"I don't have a pen."

"Are you serious? People don't write their numbers down anymore. It thought you dated at least 10 girls."

Or more like slept with. He didn't want to reveal that to Kagami and mess up his chances. Because there was not a single relationship that he had committed to where sex hadn't been an immediate reward. Aomine wouldn't have agreed to it.

"Give me your phone, aho."

But Kagami was the first person to make him interested in that kind of relationship.

Before he could put down his tool box, Taiga reached into his back pocket to get it. He noticed Aomine didn't have a phone lock, which was weird, and then he typed and saved his number.

"It's up to you to actually call me and tell me where to meet you."

"What about text?"

"It's fine… but call me if you don't want to be stood up tomorrow."

He didn't want Aomine to know this right away, but he had a pretty sexy voice. Kagami wanted to hear it as often as possible. It was something he'd love to get used to.

"Are we splitting the bill?" Aomine asked.

Though he had every intention of treating Kagami. He just wanted to see what Kagami would say…

"Well… I have a big appetite. I'm probably going to eat more than you so –"

"I'll pay... bakagami." Of course. Kagami also had a humble side. He'd never have guessed.

"See you tomorrow."

"Only if you call me." Kagami resisted the urge to give in and let Aomine have a kiss. He didn't exactly know what it was, Aomine wasn't endearing or kind or flattering at all. Kagami was still charmed by him.

That didn't mean he was going back on his no sex rule. He needed that restriction so that he could be sure he was ready for another long term relationship. However… he'd consider letting Aomine get a kiss sooner than expected.

Kagami opened the door for Aomine, the cold air from outside barely bothering him. Though it

was warm and toasty inside of his house.

"I hate to kick you out."

"You're not." Daiki muttered before stepping outside, immediately remembering the torture of waiting only five minutes for Kagami to come open the door. That had been about… an hour ago?

"If I realized you were checking me out sooner, maybe I would have made tea and invited you to stay."

"And maybe you forgot that the only reason I came was to fix your sink. I wasn't expecting a half-naked redhead without a single full sized tit to answer the door and make me gay."

"You forgot the love at first sight part, Ahomine."

He grunted, his back turned as he continued walking.

The redhead almost said something. But he began to feel like he was coming off as desperate again. This time to convince Aomine to stay. Talk. Hang out. Make out. Whatever they would end up doing (as long as it was PG… -13 for any dirty language they used). But Aomine kept walking. Kagami knew that they had really just met. Kagami didn't want things moving too fast.

Maybe that's what Aomine was thinking too.

And Taiga really needed time to figure out if… if there really was a reason to stay in Japan.

He stepped back, and slowly closed the door. It was up to Aomine to make the next move in their relationship. If Aomine called, and their date went well tomorrow… he'd invite Aomine over for New Year's. Let Aomine meet his friends. Taste his food. Have some drinks.

And start the New Year off right.

As he walked down the stairs and away from Kagami's house, Aomine couldn't help but feel like their meeting began like some cliché porno. But when he opened the door to his white truck, he looked over his shoulder, eyes lingering on Kagami's house. He wondered what Kagami was going to do with him gone. Who he was going to go hang out with. Or whatever he did on Fridays.

And that single thought was enough to make him anticipate the next time they got together. He secretly hoped that his first day on the job turned out to be the start of something new and incredible.

Please Check out:

Part 2 – Let's Talk

Part 3 – New Year's ( Not Posted)

Part 4 - Taking Off (Not Posted)