"Thank you, Kagami-kun," Kuroko showed a slight flush and a smile on his face as he took the chocolates wrapped neatly in a plastic bag that Kagami had begun handing out to the entire team.
"These must've taken forever to make! Thanks, Kagami!" Teppei said with a smile.
"You really didn't have to… but thanks," Hyuuga mumbled and still readily accepted the bag.
"I just figured since you guys have taken such good care of me this year you can think of this as a small 'thank you'," Kagami said as he handed a bag to the coach.
"Yeah, but why did you decide to do this? You didn't have to put effort into making all this chocolate for a bunch of guys like us," Hyuuga huffed and immediately got a glare from Riko as if to say 'Are you calling me a guy?'
"Huh? Isn't it normal for friends to give each other Valentine's chocolates?" Kagami handed the last bag to Furihata.
"It's normal, but Valentine's Day is for girls to give chocolate," Kuroko spoke up.
"Oh, that's right, I forgot that's how it works here... Maybe I should've waited until White Day then…" Kagami blushed slightly at the minor slip-up.
"It's alright, Kagami! You can make us some for White Day too!" Koganei spoke up with a mouth full of chocolates.
"Don't sweat it, we really appreciate it," Teppei smiled and gave Kagami a strong clap on the shoulder.
The crowd started to disperse as they prepared to leave the gym as it was the end of practice. Kagami let out a soft sigh and returned to his locker.
"You still have one more left," a voice behind him commented and he nearly jumped a mile into the air.
"K-Kuroko!" He yelled in frustration, mostly with himself for not noticing his light blue-haired friend right behind him.
"Sorry, but I couldn't help but notice that you have an extra bag. It looks fancier than ours too," Kuroko eyed the bag that was slightly bigger than the rest with a big, red bow tied around it.
"That was just an extra..." Kagami mumbled and shoved it into his gym bag.
"Kagami-kun, you have someone you like and that's who those chocolates are for, isn't it?" Kuroko said flatly.
"No way! It's not that!" Kagami's face reddened and he slammed his locker shut, making his way out of the gym.
"I wonder what kind of person Kagami-kun likes…" Kuroko pondered out loud and followed after Kagami.
"I told you it's not like that!" Kagami tried leaving Kuroko in the dust but he persisted to trot alongside him.
"Probably someone very kind and mature," Kuroko continued.
"Yeah right…" Kagami grumbled as they set foot on the concrete of the sidewalk.
"Ah, so it is for someone."
Kagami reeled as he realized that Kuroko had just tricked him. A little too easily.
"I-It's no one special… It's just a 'thank you', like yours and the rest of the team's," Kagami scratched the back of his head and looked off to the side.
"I see," Kuroko simply responded and put a finger to his lips in thought. "Someone you want to thank that is not kind or mature…"
"Stop trying to guess who it is!" Kagami growled, totally not fazing his friend.
Kagami internally groaned, trying to think of a way to not only get Kuroko to stop guessing who he made those chocolates for, but to find a way for him to get lost. He was now regretting that he had previously asked said person to meet up with him after practice and he did not want Kuroko tagging along.
"Hey… Kuroko…" Kagami figured this would be the only way to get the shorter boy to lay off his guessing game and get him out of the picture. "How about I buy you a vanilla shake and you let me go and give these chocolates… by myself."
Kuroko looked up at Kagami; it was almost as if Kagami could see Kuroko weighing his options.
"Fine, I'll stop trying to guess who it is too."
Kagami sighed and thanked Kuroko. Although he had to make an unexpected detour and buy his friend a bribe, it was better than making this situation more embarrassing than it was. Kagami had pretty much made those extra chocolates on a whim. The night before, he knew he wanted to make some for his team, but he couldn't get another person out of his head the entire time. Ever since the conclusion of the Winter Cup, Kagami had grown surprisingly close to this person, and he knew that without them he probably wouldn't have had the drive to continue playing his best until the very end.
He felt his face heat up slightly as he felt another wave of embarrassment wash over him as he finally made his way to his apartment. He couldn't believe he was going to do this, they'd probably laugh in his face, but he had already sent them a text the previous night asking them to meet up today. And it's not like Kagami could bail now. It would probably be easier if they decided they had better things to do on Valentine's Day than to wait for Kagami, he thought.
But there he was, leaning against the wall of Kagami's apartment building. Kagami couldn't believe Aomine had actually taken the time to come see him, he would have thought he'd get ditched for some girl. And at this point, with his palms slightly sweaty and his heart beating a little faster, he was sort of wishing that was the case.
As much as he would have liked to just turn around and walk away, he knew he had to face this situation head on if he didn't want Aomine furious with him over the fact he made him wait outside his apartment building for who knows how long.
Kagami took a quick breath and continued walking, hoping he was looking casual enough and not incredibly nervous like he actually was. It was just some chocolate between friends – no big deal, right?
"Yo," Aomine noticed him and nodded his head.
"Hey," Kagami gave a half wave as he stopped in front of Aomine.
"Alright, lets head inside," Aomine said as he walked towards the stairs.
"Huh, why?" Kagami asked.
"You said you wanted to meet up today, right? Or what, you just made me come all the way out here just so you could say a couple things to me and send me on my way?" Aomine scoffed, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Err, no, I just figured you might have something else going on today…" Kagami said quietly.
"Nope," Aomine said shortly and continued walking up the stairs of the building.
Kagami said nothing and followed Aomine up to his apartment.
Once they were both inside, Kagami tried to think of what to do to make himself calm down a little.
"I'm gonna make something to eat. Hungry?"
"Hell yeah," Aomine said, flopping down on the couch and grabbing the remote as if he lived there.
Kagami clicked his tongue but said nothing as he headed into the kitchen. He didn't have much time to do some grocery shopping so he decided on just making something with whatever leftovers he had. It looked like tonight would be fried rice and chicken karaage.
Aomine said nothing as Kagami cooked, just surfed through TV stations and occasionally stopping on one. Kagami wasn't sure why Aomine hadn't asked why he was requested on Valentine's Day of all days to come over. He seemed to be treating it just like any other time they hung out at his apartment.
"The food is done," Kagami announced as he brought two plates out to the couch Aomine was sitting on.
"Good, I'm starving," Aomine grabbed his plate and immediately started to dig in. "It's kind of annoying how good you are at this," he commented a few bites in.
"Annoying? How? If it's that annoying don't come over and eat my food anymore," Kagami grumbled, shoveling some rice into his mouth.
"Annoying because you're better than me at something," Aomine replied, "And no way am I going to stop coming over if you keep making me food."
"We'll see about that…" Kagami huffed. "Also I bet the food you cook is awful so it's not much of an accomplishment to be better than you at it."
"Yeah, I can barely make toast. So I'm glad that I have you to make me good food."
Kagami was a bit taken aback that Aomine had made a pretty nice comment. Usually any comment coming out of him had some sort of snarky remark attached to it.
"Thanks… I guess… But don't expect me to cook for you all the time…" Kagami took another bite.
It didn't take much longer for the two to clean their plates. Aomine rubbed his stomach in contentment after he finished.
Kagami took the dishes into the kitchen and began washing them. He wouldn't say he was a neat freak, but he really hated leaving dirty dishes lying about.
From the kitchen he heard Aomine rummaging around with his bag and standing up.
"Hey, I'm gonna go, alright?" He said.
Kagami turned around quickly. "Go? But… I still have to…" Kagami stumbled over his words. He told Aomine to meet up today, but he never told him the reason because it was embarrassing.
"What? Did you have something to tell me?" Aomine scratched the back of his head.
"Umm," Kagami was torn between just letting Aomine go and forgetting about giving him the chocolates or not. This was the best opportunity now more than ever to pretend he just wanted some dinner company.
"Can you… wait for a sec?" Kagami said, a little nervously, but still holding his composure.
He guessed he was just so nervous about it because he didn't know how Aomine would react. Kagami gave chocolates to his whole team so it's not that weird to give them to Aomine, who's helped him so much lately, right?
He went into his room and grabbed the chocolates from out of his bag. He gave a long sigh before walking back out to face Aomine.
"Here," Kagami said quickly, thrusting the bag out towards Aomine without looking at him. "I made chocolates for the team and I had a little extra, so…"
"Oh…?"
Kagami didn't know what kind of reaction that was, especially when he wasn't looking at him.
"They're different from Tetsu's."
At that, Kagami jerked his head up. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"And they're dark chocolate, my favorite," Aomine smirked.
Kagami could feel his face heat up from his ears to his cheeks. He remembered asking Kuroko what kind of chocolate he should make for the team and Kuroko had said, 'Maybe milk chocolate is the safest choice. The only person I know who likes dark is Aomine-kun.' So that rang through Kagami's mind when he decided to make chocolates for Aomine.
… Did Kuroko leak that information on purpose? Damn him! But how could Aomine possibly know these chocolates were different from Kuroko's?
"Oh yeah, I was texting with Tetsu while you were cooking, so that's how I know you gave him chocolates. He sent me a picture, see?" Aomine held up his phone to show Kagami a picture of the chocolates he gave Kuroko.
Was Kuroko behind all of this!? Kagami felt stupid for getting tricked so easily into making chocolates specially for Aomine…
"S-So what…? I heard you like them so of course I made the kind you like," Kagami grumbled, trying to save his pride.
Aomine chuckled a bit and that wasn't helping Kagami feel better at all.
"Well, at least I won't feel as silly giving you chocolates then."
Kagami heard Aomine reaching into his bag and looked up. Aomine was holding out a simple box towards him.
"I didn't make them by myself though…" Aomine was suddenly acting shyly, which was a bit surprising to see. "I told you I can't cook for crap so I had Satsuki help me… Damn, it was hard trying to get her off my case as to why I was making them though."
Kagami grabbed the box in slight shock.
"Don't get mad at me if they taste bad though. I tried my best, alright?" Aomine huffed. "Anyway, I do have to get going, though. As repayment for helping me make the chocolates Satsuki is making me go to this stupid café that is having half-off of everything for couples, so she's making me pose as her boyfriend so she can stuff her face with cake. Can you believe it? Why couldn't she have asked Tetsu?"
Kagami chuckled, feeling a lot better after knowing Aomine had the same idea. In fact, he was… really touched to know that Aomine went out of the way to do something like this for him.
Aomine slid on his shoes as Kagami stood beside him.
"Thanks for the chocolates," Kagami said with a slight smile. "I'm sure they won't taste that bad."
Aomine looked over, a bit of a devious smirk on his face. And before Kagami could even react, Aomine leaned in and gave him a simple kiss on the lips.
"Thanks for the chocolates as well. I'm sure they're tasty," Aomine kept that same devious smirk as he reached for the door handle.
Kagami stood there, dumbfounded, and maybe looking a little stupid with his mouth hanging open from what just happened. Aomine said 'see you next time' but Kagami was still trying to comprehend what just happened for him to even acknowledge him as the door shut in front of him.
Playing the scene over and over in his head, he lifted his fingers to his lips and could feel his face heating up again. But this time it wasn't necessarily out of embarrassment, but maybe something a little more.
The End.
This is a really simple story, but I still hope you liked it. ^^ I think something like this would be a cute start to an Aomine & Kagami relationship~
Thank you very much for reading! Even if I don't have a Valentine, AoKaga can be my replacement hehe.