Play for You
It wasn't like Murasakibara didn't like basketball, he just didn't care about it. He only loved sweets and junk food, so why should he play a sport that made him move when he could lazy around all day?
Furihata Kouki, his shy neighbour, didn't seem to think like that. He always trained alone with the orange ball in the park until exhaustion, bringing Murasakibara along and actually made him play with him. The power that Furihata had over the purple giant was terrifying.
Murasakibara didn't know how they became friends, it just sort of happened.
One day this shivering chihuahua approached Murasakibara during the lunch break of their elementary school (because not only they were neighbours, they even went in the same school) with flushed cheeks and trembling voice, asking if he could sit beside him. Murasakibara, that couldn't care less of the people around him until they bothered him, just nodded and returned to his chips, completely ignoring the other kid. At the end of lunch, passed in a comfortable silence, Furihata tipped Murasakibara's shoulder and gave him a strawberry flavoured candy to thank him to let him sitting beside him. From then on, the two became inseparable.
They never fought or bullied the other, they were content with each other company.
Furihata was a fan of basketball and, even if he wasn't very good at it, always managed to bring Murasakibara along at the matches of the high school students. Obviously the purple giant was bored to dead, but at least he had his snacks and he actually liked the look of awe that Furihata made.
They passed their years together like this, with Murasakibara begin more and more protective of Furihata, and the brunet grew more and more attached to the giant.
Something more than friendship was starting to grow into their hearts, but neither of them seemed to understand the meaning of that strange feeling, so they didn't say anything, preferring to continue their relationship like they always did.
However, something happened at their last year of elementary school. Something terrible to Furihata that changed their worlds forever.
It wasn't like Furihata was trying to save a person, nor was someone's fault, but an accident still happened.
Furihata had a light fever so he hadn't exactly a good balance, however since he could walk normally so he thought that it was fine, but while he was going at the usual spot where he passed lunch with Murasakibara, he took a step wrong on the stairs and fell.
It wasn't until Murasakibara got suspicious by the delay of his friend that Furihata was found unconscious at the end of the stairs.
It was the first time that Murasakibara cried and screamed for help.
The teachers ran to them and, after seeing what happened, called an ambulance. And all the time, Murasakibara was staying beside his friend with tears running freely down his cheeks. He felt impotent and weak, for the first time in his life he experienced the feeling of loss.
Fortunately, after hundreds of check ups, Furihata didn't have any internal haemorrhage, so his life wasn't in danger. But Murasakibara could see the devastated look on his face when he entered in his room.
"Furi-chin, why are you sad? Here a candy, it'll cheer you up." Murasakibara said with his usual childish tone, giving his friend a mango flavoured candy that Furihata accepted half-hearted.
After an awkward silence, finally the brunet began to talk. "They say that I'm not going to die... but my shoulder suffered some damage... I won't... be able to play basketball any more..." The brunet's voice broke at the last part, tears of frustration started to fall from his swollen eyes.
Murasakibara didn't know what to say, but seeing his most important friend crying made him mad... like he wanted to crush anything that he could touch. He hated that sad face...
"Don't... make that face, Furi-chin..." Murasakibara whispered, touching one of the brunet's hand like he was a porcelain doll. A precious one.
After thinking for a moment and catching the sight of the surprised face of his friend, he began to speak again. "If Furi-chin can't play... I'll play for him..."
Furihata gaped like a fish, his mind suddenly blank. With trembling hands he reached Murasakibara's cheeks and lifted his head to look into his eyes.
"Really?" Furihata asked with an hopeful expression. "Will you really do that for me?"
Murasakibara was amazed at how Furihata looked: his eyes were widen, cheeks red, bed-hair, mouth open. But he was glad that the brunet stopped crying.
Murasakibara nodded and Furihata couldn't help himself any more: he just hugged the giant with all his strength.
Murasakibara hated physical contact, but that warm felt... nice, so he didn't push Furihata away.
Yes, for him, he could play basketball, even if it was a pain.
/Play for You/
They began to drift apart during middle school, when Murasakibara was admitted to Teiko and Furihata moved to Kyoto because of his father's work.
They were both sad at the news, but promised to remain in touch, after hugging each other like the world was going to end.
Murasakibara maintained his promise to Furihata and joined the basketball club, and was admitted in the first string for his amazing talent from the first day. Furihata was amazed and congratulated at him with a cheerful tone, making Murasakibara wanted to be praised again by that lovely voice.
However, with the pass of the months, the calls and the texts began to be less and less frequent, and at the end of the second year of middle school they stopped completely.
It was nobody fault, but with tests and basketball, they drifted apart without realizing it and when they noticed, it was already too late, since they both changed their numbers.
It wasn't until high school that they saw each other again, at a street basketball tournament.
Murasakibara was only there to find Himuro, but when his eyes landed to the brunet next to Kuroko, he knew right away at who that eyes belonged.
"Furi-chin..." He whispered, leaving the orange ball and his snacks fall from his hands and walking to his childhood friend with widen eyes and disbelief written on his face.
"It can't be... Atsushi...?" Furihata was amazed as well. He was only there to cheer his friends, since he was the one who proposed to participate at the tournament, but he didn't think that he would meet someone that was so important for him in the past. And that still was, the brunet never forgot his purple giant and it seemed that Murasakibara didn't too.
Furihata felt tears of joy building up in his eyes and brought his hands to his mouth, fearing to say something stupid and ruin the moment.
"Furi-chin... Furi-chin!" Murasakibara, without warning, threw himself at the brunet, circling Furihata's body with his strong arms. The other people that were there only gaped at sing of a giant hugging a chihuahua.
"What the-" Kagami began to shout, only to be stopped by Kuroko who jabbed his side and was taking photos of the cute sight in front of his eyes. The other members of the Generation of Miracles were so going to see this.
"Atsushi... wait, we are in public!" Furihata tried weakly to say, but he didn't want to end the hug either and was also returning it.
"Don't care..." Murasakibara whined, glaring at the people around them who wisely didn't say anything. "I finally found Furi-chin again..."
Furihata could feel his eyes water and tried to hold back his tears, caressing Murasakibara's huge back. "I'm glad you are continuing to keep our promise... thanks to it we were able to meet again."
Murasakibara mumbled something that sounded like "I said that I would" and Furihata could only chuckle at the cuteness that his childhood friend was showing.
"But my team isn't going to lose against you, I may not be able to play, but I'm an amazing manager!" Furihata joked, even if his tone was serious.
Murasakibara stepped back a little, but his arms were still circling the smaller teen. "I won't lose, I'll crush everyone who stays in my way... except Furi-chin."
The last part was only a whisper that only Furihata caught and he was so happy that he hugged the purple giant again.
"I have so many things to tell you... we will talk after the end of the tournament." The brunet proposed, smiling and ruffing Murasakibara hair (who leaned down just for it).
"Will there be snacks?" The giant asked, a bit disappointed that they couldn't talk right away. Basketball was really... troublesome.
"Of course." Furihata gave a little peck on Murasakibara's cheek and went back to his team mates who still didn't understand what was happening and continued to stare at the two of them like they were aliens.
Murasakibara looked happy beyond imagination and went to Himuro who had a surprised look on his face too, even if he tried to cover it with his poker face.
"Muro-chin..." Himuro snapped out his trance when the purple teen called him and looked questioningly at Murasakibara, which smiled at the dark haired teen (another amazing sight!).
"I want the Winter-Cup to start soon..."
Author's note: While trying to find the inspiration to write Sweet Blood, here another MuraFuri story... I have a thing for childhood friends 3