Sports anime is bad for you. Like seriously, you will want to play so many sports and you'll think you know all about them, but then you realize just how terribly non-athletic you are and how you actually don't know as much as you think you do, and then you're disappointed.
...But at least you get introduced to lots more shipping material. And I'm a sucker for childhood friend fluff, so I decided, AoMomo, why not?
Kuroko no Basket is not mine.
"I hate you!"
Seven-year-old Aomine Daiki could only laugh as his pink-haired friend's face turned bright red in anger. Momoi's hands balled up into fists at her sides.
"Stop laughing at me! You're such a meanie, Dai-chan!"
"It was just a frog, Satsuki. You didn't have to run away screaming," he told her, trying—and failing—to keep his voice steady.
"And you didn't have to put a frog in my room! You know I don't like them! And now I don't know where it is, and my mommy won't be back from the store for a while, and I'm too scared to go in my room now all because of you!" Momoi wailed, angry tears starting to flow down her face.
Aomine's eyes widened. At seven years old, he was well aware that crying girls equaled trouble. He would get in trouble for making Momoi cry, and his young mind was already thinking of the various punishments that could befall him. No TV after dinner? Earlier bedtime? No dessert? Or...god forbid, no basketball? Aomine quickly grabbed Momoi's shoulders.
"No! Don't cry, Satsuki! I...I'll get the frog out of your room! I promise! J-just stop crying!" Aomine said in a panic.
He rushed into her room to find his prank and Momoi sniffled, drying her tears and steeling her nerves as she prepared to help her friend find the frog. She knew better than anyone that there was no way Aomine was going to be able to get rid of that frog without her help.
"Wait for me, you idiot! You need to have a plan first!"
"Slow down, you dumb frog! Get back here! Gah! Satsuki, it's too fast!"
"Dummy Dai-chan! I told you to wait for me!"
...
...
Twenty minutes later, Momoi's mother returned home from the grocery store to find a frog on her doorstep and two exhausted kids sleeping on the couch, with Momoi's head on Aomine's shoulder and Aomine's face buried in her hair.
"I hate you, Aomine-kun! You never listen to me!"
"Jeez, why do you have to call me that now, Satsuki? It's weird," Aomine scoffed, linking his hands behind his head as they walked down the hallway, greeted by many stares from their fellow Teikou students.
"Because you won't listen to me if I don't!" Momoi replied exasperatedly. "Akashi-kun wanted all of us to meet up in the gym before practice today. He said he wants to have Ki-chan work more with Tetsu-kun so that he gets more used to him, and it might be easier if the rest of us were there to help."
"I'll be there," Aomine said offhandedly. "But I'm not worried about Kise. He'll get used to Tetsu in no time."
His mouth suddenly dropped into a scowl. "But what I can't get used to is you calling me by my last name! Just go back to what you called me before! It's not like I listen any more or less when you call me that! Actually, maybe I'll just ignore you when you call me Aomine-kun!"
"Eh? You jerk!"
...
...
On the way home after practice, Aomine couldn't help but feel just a little satisfied when Momoi stopped calling him Aomine-kun once they were alone. The truth was, he had been bluffing a little when he had threatened to ignore her. They had been friends for far too long, and he knew he probably wouldn't have been able to stubbornly ignore her for longer than a couple of days. Besides, who would really be able to ignore that loud-mouthed Momoi Satsuki anyway?
...
...
Aomine had no idea that Momoi was also secretly relieved that she could go back to calling him Dai-chan. Calling him Aomine-kun was weird. It just didn't feel quite right. But she could handle it in public if it meant there would be no misunderstandings about their relationship. Both of them had gotten plenty of attention from members of the opposite sex, and she was quite sure that all her chances with cute boys would be ruined if they knew she was close enough with him to call Aomine by his first name. In private however...well, maybe she could let herself get away with calling him Dai-chan. She smiled to herself. It was her special nickname for him, after all.
"You're so lazy, Dai-chan! I hate it!"
Aomine opened one eye and saw his childhood friend standing over him with her hands on her hips. "Eh? Go away, Satsuki."
"Come to practice! It's so annoying having to come get you every day! Getting up on the roof is hard in a school uniform, you know."
"Then don't bother," Aomine sighed.
Momoi rolled her eyes. "I'm the only one who has any shot of convincing you, so it has to be me. If I left the task of coming to get you to anyone else, you'd never come to practice."
"That's what I'm aiming for."
"Come on, just get up off your lazy butt and let's go."
"You nag too much, Satsuki. You're not my mother," Aomine sneered.
"I might as well be," she snapped back. "If I'm not here to look after you, who will?"
"I'm a big boy, Satsuki. I can take care of myself. Tch, if you were so annoyed with me, you could have just gone to Seirin with Tetsu. Wouldn't you have been happier there?"
Momoi's voice took on a much softer tone, which was interesting enough for Aomine to open both eyes. "I already told you, you idiot. If I'm not here to look after you, no one will. I couldn't just leave you."
Aomine's eyes closed for a second before he sighed and reluctantly got up. "I guess I can go to practice just for today."
Momoi immediately brightened. "Really? That's great, Dai-chan! Let's go!"
...
...
Stupid Satsuki. I can take care of myself. I don't need her looking after me, Aomine thought to himself.
He glanced at the bubbly pink-haired girl next to him, excitedly detailing the new offensive plans that she and Captain Imayoshi had thought of as they walked to the gym.
Yeah, I definitely don't need her. She could have gone to Seirin if she really wanted.
Momoi grinned at him, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she told him how she'd be able to brag that she had actually convinced him to come to practice for once.
But I guess I'm kinda glad she came with me. Just because I don't need her doesn't mean I don't want her around.
Momoi's face went red in anger as Aomine lied and said the only reason he was coming to practice was because he was planning on winning the Winter Cup and beating the other members of the Generation of Miracles, not because her words had any effect on him. She punched him in the arm and he laughed, remarking on how weak her punch was. Her eyes narrowed as she angrily said his name, punching him with even more force. Aomine just laughed harder.
It's not that bad having her around. Not that I'd say that to her face.
"I hate when you act so difficult, Dai-chan!"
Momoi puffed her cheeks out in anger. "It's a reunion! All of the other Generation of Miracles members are going to be there! Even Akashi-kun! Though I have absolutely no idea how anyone convinced him to show up. It was probably Tetsu-kun or Midorin."
"So what if Akashi is coming? It's not like we didn't all see each other at the last tournament. And not even counting Akashi, we see Tetsu, Kise, and even Midorima all the time anyway. I don't see why we need to go out to eat or do anything special just because we're graduating," Aomine sighed, stretching before linking his arms behind his head as he lay on Momoi's bed.
"That's exactly the point, Ahomine. This is our last year! We're all going to be heading our separate ways after graduation, and then who knows the next time we'll all be able to meet up?"
"You're just being too sentimental, Satsuki," Aomine scoffed.
"There's nothing wrong with being sentimental," she replied, her eyes unconsciously drifting to something on her wall.
Aomine followed her gaze to where a large corkboard hung over her desk. The board was practically overflowing with eighteen years' worth of pictures. Aomine could see pictures of Momoi as a baby, pictures of her with her parents, pictures of her at the mall with a few girlfriends. He noticed a picture of Momoi and Kuroko, with Momoi looking unnecessarily excited while Kuroko smiled. There were a few more of her and Kise—some from their junior high days and most from high school—both grinning widely for the camera in each shot. She had even managed to get a picture with Midorima, who looked none too pleased about getting his photo taken as Momoi slung an arm around him.
However, over half the pictures on the board included not only Momoi, but Aomine as well. Aomine's eyes ran over the section of the board dedicated to pictures of the first day of school each year, all of which had Momoi in her school uniform beaming for the camera while Aomine stood next to her, his facial expressions ranging from excitement to boredom to exasperation. There were plenty of pictures of the two of them playing basketball—some from when they were younger and used to play together, to more recent ones where Momoi held her manager clipboard while Aomine wore various school jerseys. Old pictures included one of the two of them sleeping together on the couch when they were five, one of six-year-old Momoi holding a teary Aomine's hand as his mother placed a Band-Aid on his skinned knee, another of them at age eight staring in awe at a giant banana sundae they were supposed to share, others from their trip to Tokyo Disneyland when they were ten, and another of Momoi's eleventh birthday when Aomine had blown out her candles before she could and she had retaliated by smearing frosting all over his face.
Aomine found himself grinning as the memories of the days the pictures had been taken flitted through his mind. A good chunk of the photos from their first two years in junior high involved Aomine and Momoi arguing, a trend that also appeared in pictures from their first two years of high school. Other photos were scattered around the board of the Touou basketball team and the Teikou basketball team, but directly in the middle was a slightly larger photo, which had to have been the one Momoi had unconsciously looked at. It was the photo taken after Teikou had won their second championship, so everyone was still smiling. Kuroko stood in the middle, looking happy even with Kise practically tackling him. Midorima was adjusting his glasses, but a small smile was on his face as well. Murasakibara stood in the back with Midorima, holding up a victory sign, a candy bar in his mouth, while Akashi was positioned on Kise's left, his arms crossed, but looking pleased. Aomine himself was on Kuroko's other side, grinning widely, one arm stretched up to show off their trophy while the other arm was slung across Momoi's shoulders. Momoi was laughing, her arm wrapped around Aomine's waist as she threw up a victory sign with her other hand.
"Oi, Satsuki?"
Momoi looked startled as she turned to look at Aomine. "Hmm? Oh, sorry. I was just…thinking."
"This reunion better be at a good restaurant or I'll rethink coming," he told her.
Her whole face split into a dazzling smile. "Dai-chan!"
"Hey, don't get too excited. If Tetsu decides to let Kagami tag along, I'm leaving. And I'm not making any promises that I won't punch Midorima if he gets too annoying."
"That's fine!" she said brightly. "I'll call Ki-chan right away and tell him you'll be coming."
Aomine just shut his eyes as Momoi ran out of her room to find her cellphone. "Yeah, yeah."
…
…
When Momoi returned to her room fifteen minutes later (she really hadn't meant to spend an extra ten minutes discussing weekend plans with Kise), she found Aomine snoring on her bed, seemingly in the exact same position he had been in when she had left. Momoi smiled softly and placed a blanket over her sleeping childhood friend, completely oblivious to the fact that she was missing a picture from her corkboard. She wouldn't notice until much later that night, prompting an accusing call to a very annoyed Aomine, who was already asleep at home, wondering why the heck she would call him at two in the morning for a stupid picture that he knew nothing about.
…
…
After Momoi had hung up, apologizing rather half-heartedly for waking him up, Aomine sat up in bed and reached for his Touou basketball jacket. From one of the pockets he pulled out the photo in question—a more recent one of the two of them, their cheeks pressed together as Momoi roped an unsuspecting Aomine into taking a selfie with her. The picture had been snapped right in the middle of Aomine's eye-roll, and Momoi was smiling the same brilliant smile she had worn just hours before when he had agreed to attend the reunion.
Aomine would never admit to stealing the photo. And he would especially never admit that the reason he stole the photo was so that he'd be able to look at that smile whenever he wanted.
God, if she knew, she would hold that over his head forever.
"I hate you, Aomine Daiki."
Aomine rolled his eyes. He should have known this was coming.
"You're lazy. You can be really selfish and downright rude. You're obsessed with basketball and come on, what kind of loser says the kind of stuff you do? 'The only one who can beat me is me?' Like seriously, you are an idiot."
Aomine just sighed as she continued.
"You're always interrupting me and refusing to listen to what I say. You obviously think you're entitled to sleeping on my bed whenever it strikes your fancy. For the twenty years I've known you, you've never once told me thank you for all the support I've given you. In fact, you even say I nag and fuss too much!"
Aomine was seriously considering checking a clock to see how much time had passed, but he was sure that doing that would just earn him a slap in the arm.
"Oh yeah, and I'll never forgive you for putting that frog on my head when we were little."
Dang, that woman could really hold a grudge.
"But, you're also my best friend, and you probably know me better than anybody else in the whole world. Heck, you probably know me better than I know me. You've always been there, even when you probably didn't want to be. You were there to hold my hand when I was scared of thunderstorms, you were there to ensure I did my job because I knew you sure wouldn't, you were there through all the times I was in a depressed rut because some stupid boy broke up with me."
And he had the tear stains on his shirts to prove it.
"And you're also here now, which is probably what makes me the happiest. When we were little, I remember going on and on about marrying a handsome prince who would sweep me off my feet, and you just would laugh in my face. 'You're dumb, Satsuki, fairy tale princes don't exist.' That's what you said to me. But you were wrong. Sure, I'm not marrying Prince Charming, and no, this isn't a fairy tale, but in my opinion, it's so much better. For twenty years, you've been my Dai-chan, and I'm glad that'll never change. So I guess what I'm really trying to say is…"
Well, it's about time.
"Aomine Daiki, I love you."
"And I love you too, stupid."
"You may now kiss the bride."
…
…
"You know, you could've cut down that speech by a good five minutes, Satsuki."
"Shut up."
synergy: symbiosis, harmony; the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects (Thank you Haikyuu! for introducing me to the word.)
Wow. This is the first fanfic I've written in over a year. o_O Perhaps that's why my writing seems off and my mind was slightly fried after writing it. Or maybe that's because it happened to be two o'clock in the morning. Eh.
Anyways, I literally just finished reading/watching KnB a couple days ago, so characterization may have been thrown out the window a bit. Please forgive me. Also, a review would be nice :) Thanks for reading!