Published: October 8, 2012 (first draft on Tumblr)
Disclaimer: I really don't like Kise (when he's third wheeling my AoKuro ship) so I'm really really hoping I didn't kill his character too much. Other than that, I've got no confidence on this fic at all but I can't think of anyway else to write this, and this is probably the best my brain can do at this point for this pairing so I'm just hoping it's passable. Further warnings include: un-proofread.
Happy (very belated - like, a month belated) birthday to Hilaire, the biggest MidoKise fan I know.
o1. He kind of expected it.
At twenty minutes to ten on the night before their annual school field trip, Momoi calls Midorima's phone just as he is about to head to bed. "I need a favor, Shintarou-kun," she says. "Will you bring two extra pairs of trainers tomorrow? Akashi-kun wants us to practice after the trip."
"Kise-kun never answers his phone at this hour and I don't think he'll think of bringing extra shoes on his own, not when Akashi only just called to announce it," she continues, cutting off Midorima's chance for protest. As an after thought, she adds, "Or, you could tell him to bring his when you go get him in the morning, that works too."
Midorima hears dogs barking in the background and the distinctive voice of Momoi's mother calling for her. "Ah! Anyway, thank you so much Shintarou-kun! I think I'll be stopping by Atsushi-kun's place tomorrow too, just in case he forgets. Hopefully, Dai-chan won't forget as well. Anyway, I've got to go, but thanks again! Bye!"
And she hungs up without Midorima getting his say. He sighs and writes 'bring two extra pairs of shoes' on his to-do list. He stares at the list for a minute and quickly adds 'bring onion gratin soup'. On a second thought, he realizes that even if Kise did forget to bring his lunch (which happened often - usually when he'd been out late for a photoshoot), his many fangirls would be more than happy to share their lunches with him, so Midorima crushes that off his list and goes to bed.
:+:
o2. Lenient.
Stepping off the station, Midorima wonders why he made the soup anyway. He likes to think it's because it'd be annoying if Kise tries to steal bits of his lunch, but he can hear his subconscious berating him for spoiling Kise too much.
The nagging voice inside his head disappears when the boy in question appears beside him, looking like he'd done something spectacular and he expected Midorima to congratulate him for it. Midorima only raises a brow and scoffs, "I'll only be impressed if you manage to consistently wake yourself up on time."
Kise laughs and walks further ahead, saying, "And stop waking up to your grouchiness, Midorimacchi? Now why on earth would I do that?" Turning around so that he's walking backwards, he sticks a tongue out at him, looking like a childish idiot who gets too much leeway for being attractive.
Midorima growls and does not dignify that with a reply. Instead, he says, "Did you get Momoi's message?"
"...Was it something important?" Kise asks, stopping on his tracks.
Midorima sighs because he really shouldn't have expected anything else. "Never mind. I brought an extra pair of shoes for you anyways."
Kise's face lights up as his signature smile graces his face, like he thinks that's all it takes for Midorima to forgive him for not checking his phone like he always reminds him to. "We're going to play after?" he asks innocently.
"Seems like it," Midorima says, contemplating why he lets Kise get away with it every time. Oh right, the annoying thump thump thump in his chest makes it difficult not to.
:+:
o3. Personal Bodyguard.
At a quarter to eight they arrive in Teikou, giving Midorima enough time to sign the attendance sheet. A group of girls surround Kise as he crosses the school's threshold and Midorima signs it for him when it didn't look like Kise would be getting free anytime soon.
He joins the rest of his team when he catches sight of a purple mop of hair towering over others. Everyone is there, with the exception of Kise.
"Morning, Shintarou-kun! Kise have anything to wear for this afternoon?" Momoi says as he approaches them.
Midorima opens his bag and hands Momoi two pairs of shoes wrapped carefully in plastic. Aomine sees them and guffaws, bits of food coming out from his mouth, as he'd been in the middle of eating breakfast (standing up) when Midorima came.
"Aomine-kun, please don't laugh while you eat," Kuroko scolds, having the misfortune of being on the receiving end of most of the food shower.
"Sorry, sorry," Aomine apologizes with an almost full mouth, reminding Midorima how lucky he was that, despite being as pampered as he is, Kise's at least got enough manners not to embarrass himself in public.
Like the mother that he was, Akashi intervenes before Momoi had the chance to give Aomine the smack that he deserved. "Eat properly, Daiki. And it's too early for you to be picking a fight with Shintarou."
Midorima pushes his glasses up his nose. "Unlike some people, I don't like the dirt on my shoes mixing with my things, especially my clothes," he huffs.
The teacher's call stops Akashi from admonishing Midorima for bothering to make a retort. "Everybody line up and get on your respective busses! And no switching or changing or hijacking another bus either! I'm talking about you there - yeah you! Do you belong in that year level? ...I didn't think so."
Momoi rushes to bring the shoes to the gym locker rooms while the rest of them lined up. Kise still hasn't joined them and Midorima contemplates if it was a good move to leave him with his fangirls, remembering how rabid some of them can get.
:+:
One of the many perks being in a team with Akashi is that everyone knows not to cross your path. It means people give them a wide berth, with the exception of Kuroko who they never notice and Kise who revels in the attention.
This is why finding a seat in a supposedly crowded bus wasn't all that hard for their team. At the very back of the bus where the seats are most comfy, Kuroko and Aomine saved Momoi a spot, leaving Akashi and Murasakibara to take the next booth over and Midorima the booth beside them.
The intimidating atmosphere he brought along with him is enough to ward of anyone else from sitting beside him. Nonetheless, he places his bags there anyway and waits for Kise to come prancing into the bus.
It does not take Kise long to enter the bus with Momoi, and to Midorima's relief, he didn't bring his entourage with him.
"Midorimacchi! How could you? You left me alone to deal with them!" he cries, putting Midorima's bags beneath the seat. "Your scary look's supposed to keep them away from me."
Kise laughs when Midorima's scowl deepens. "Yes! Yes! That one!"
And Midorima would have decided to withhold his spare lunch (because he'd never admit it was for Kise) if the happy look didn't look so good on Kise's face.
:+:
After spending the morning going around town visiting different the different museums and attractions that everyone's been to at least twice already, they're let off by a park with an hour to spend during whatever they want before the trip resumes. Momoi finds them a table big enough for everyone to fit, and after clearing it from falling leaves, the set up their lunches.
Predictably, Kise forgot to pack his. Girls who conveniently had spare lunches and more audacious, girls who coincidentally made too much - enough for two kind of too much - offers him their lunches.
To which he kindly declines, saying, "As much as I'd love to, I really can't. There are probably dozens of other boys who'd hate me for taking them." The girls are far too flushed to insist on it and Kise takes that chance to slip out and join his friends, whose intimidating auras allow for a wide berth free from dangerous girls that threaten the possibility of him getting to eat the good food he knows Midorima brought.
:+:
o4. A little worth it.
Midorima knows Kise's heading his way even before the "Midorimacchi!" came calling. He's already settled down on the table when Kise comes bouncing over. Consciously or not, the rest of the team left the space beside him empty, their subconscious probably telling them to expect Kise to occupy that place.
Midorima finishes meticulously placing his meal and Kise just slinks in beside him, ardently watching Midorima like he knows what's waiting for him. When he finishing setting things to exactly his liking, Midorima rewards the patient Kise by slowly taking the spare bentou (because that's what it is: nothing more than a spare bentou he happened to make) from his bag and setting it in front of Kise.
Kise takes the disposable chopsticks he pocketed before he left home and ripped the plastic. Aomine looks at him from across the table with a curious look. "You brought chopsticks but not your lunch?" He turns to Kuroko and Momoi beside him and scoffs, "And you think I'm spoiled."
True to his character, Kise sticks a tongue out at Aomine, muttering, "You're just jealous you don't have good food, Aominecchi."
Kuroko coughs into his hand and Aomine raises a brow. "But Tetsu made this...?"
Kise flushes and splutters something like a "Eh?! I didn't know! I didn't mean that! I love your cooking, Kurokocchi!" at Kuroko, spilling some soup in his haste to bow an apology.
To the rest of the team's relief, Akashi laughs. Aomine guffaws when he saw that it was okay, and even Kuroko and Momoi could only muffle their snickers. Murasakibara is too focused on his meal and Midorima just shakes his head, wondering, why, again, he liked a careless fool.
Kise is relieved to see the small smile that made its way into Midorima's face. It was a rare sight, and it sort of made the wet stain on his shirt a little better. Sure, his manager's going to kill him and he probably won't be able to borrow any more shirts from the companies anymore, which would make dressing up for not-actually-dates with Midorima slightly bit more difficult, but if it made Midorima smile, then it's all good, he thinks.
:+:
tbc
A/N: I split it because the next part's angsty and I didn't want to ruin the atmosphere I've set here. It's half-way done.
I wrote like, three versions of this. Or, I wrote three paragraphs worth of fic that have their own plots (and do not relate to each other at all) but the first two lead me to a dead end, which explains why it took me a hella long time to publish this.