The moment I locked eyes with Daiki I knew I was going to hate his guts. It was just our first time meeting yet his face contorted into that smug smile that he sports to express his self-proclaimed superiority. I scowled at him. His face annoyed me the fuck off. But I wasn't actually trying to be confrontational on the first day of tryouts. I needed to get into the varsity team. And if he had beef with me then he'd just have to beat me in basketball. Not that I thought he could, anyhow.

"I am going to wipe that look off your face," I said under my breath when I was near him.

He let out a low chuckle, "Let's see you try."

And man was I freaking wrong. He was a tiny bit better than me. Not that I would ever admit that to his face. It was ridiculous how alike we were in playing style: aggressive and unrelenting. But he was much more fluid and seemed to have picked up more tricks from street ball. His style was unpredictable and strangely thrilling; it would be an understatement to say I enjoyed playing against him. But he was still a huge jerk.

"You just do not like him because he reminds you of yourself" Tetsuya quietly stated matter-of-factly.

I glared at him and sucked my teeth, "Now way. He's much more arrogant. Don't even compare me to him."

"That is what you think."

I ruffled his hair, ignoring his complaints. "Oh, shuddup already. I got it."

Tetsuya patted his hair back in place, "He is nice if you give him a chance."

I rolled my eyes and finished my drink; "You only say that because you've known him since middle school."

"That is correct but it is exactly because I have know him for so long that I have seen how nice he can be. It takes some time."

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Whatever. He's probably only nice to you", I grumbled.

He wiped his lips with a napkin, "And Satsuki."

I scoffed, "Oh yeah, and his pink haired girlfriend. So he likes people who are weaker and smaller than him? Do I have to shrink for him to stop acting like such an ass?"

"That would probably help. Roaring tigers aren't cute."

I turned around, recognizing the low voice, "Oh, stuff it. That fact that I'm your same size probably intimidates you."

He put his tray down on the table, "Not my size. You are one inch shorter. Right, Tetsu?"

Tetsuya looked at his watch, "I need to go do my shift at the reference desk. Do not kill each other." And before we even blinked, he was gone. I couldn't even tell him not to leave me with this idiot.

I started to stand up but Daiki grabbed my wrist, "Hey, don't be mean. We are heading to practice after this anyhow. Keep me company."

I sighed, "Fine."

"Good little tiger."

I glared at him, "Dude, I can change my mind."

He smirked, "I'll stop. I'll stop."

I absent-mindedly watched him down three teriyaki burgers. He sure liked those. Not that I could talk; my lunch consisted of eight cheeseburgers. But cheeseburgers were definitely better than teriyaki burgers. Damn, I feel hungry again. My appetite was definitely no joke.

"You'll make me blush if you keep staring at me like that."

"Like you can blush with that tan skin; we wouldn't be able to see it", I sneered.

He waved a burger in my face, "Here, have it. You are basically drooling."

"Am not! Keep your stupid burger, I don't need it."

He laughed, a colorful timbre that seemed too gentle coming from him, "Man, just take it. I'm full. Knowing your ridiculous appetite, you probably ate twenty burgers and are still hungry."

I hesitantly took it, "I never say no to free food."

"Uh-huh."

After finishing the surprisingly delicious burger in two seconds flat and ignoring Daiki's rude comments on my eating habits, we walked to practice together. Compared to our usual selves, we were relatively quiet. It's not like I liked arguing with the guy! He just liked to tease me and I couldn't help reacting. I have tried to be patient but since I was born innately short-tempered, that has proved to be difficult. So whenever he didn't tease me, we were on pretty good terms. After all, we were on the same sports team and had some things in common so I liked Daiki more than I disliked him. The only issue was that he had mastered the art of getting me irritated and persisted on using his skill. But at the moment he was being quieter than usual and I was starting to get a bit worried.

I scratched the back of my head, "Hey, are you feeling sick or something?"

He shook his head, "Nah. I'm just thinking."

"About?"

He arched an eyebrow, "Are your interested? How strange."

I shrugged, "I am feeling nice. I don't know. If you don't want to tell me then whatever."

"Well, at least you seem sincere…it's just that my grades are pretty shitty right now."

"Yeah, so are mine. Why are you stressing?"

He shook his head, "No, I mean really shitty. Like I am almost failing a class or two shitty."

My voice almost cracked, "Huh?! You are our ace Daiki; you can't fail a class! They wont let you play in the games!"

He ran his hand through his hair, letting out an exasperated sigh, "Yeah, I know. That's why I am stressing."

"Dude, you need to get your shit together."

"You think I don't know that!" His eyebrows furrowed and his face was plagued with ire. As refreshing as it was to not see the usual smug look on Daiki's face, I would much rather that expression than this one. "It's just freaking hard. I've been trying to dig myself out of this pit for weeks now."

I bit my lip; I was a bit awkward when it came to dealing with this sort of stuff. "Why not ask Tetsuya for help? Or get a tutor or something. Oh, how about that girlfriend of yours?"

"Satsuki is not my girlfriend, she's just my childhood friend. Plus she's obsessed with Tetsu. But that's beside the point. We are in college; I don't want to bother other people with my issues when everyone has issues of their own. But yeah…maybe I'll get a tutor or something."

"Do you just not get the material, or what?"

"Nah it's not that. I used to get material enough to get an okay grade; it's just that I've skipped too many classes and procrastinate on everything."

I sighed, "So it's just you being your usual self."

"Basically. It's just hard to catch up so late in the game. Well, if all things fail, they have you. You'd probably be happy to get the power forward position again."

I gripped my book bag in anger, "No, I wouldn't. Much less if I get it by default like that."

Daiki looked at me, obvious hints of surprise in his face, "Taiga?"

"Listen, I don't hate you, okay? Sure you are fucking annoying sometimes but you are a pretty cool dude. And you beat me fair and square for the power forward position. So stop being lazy and get your act together."

Daiki's eyes widened in disbelief of what I just said. His mouth formed a half smile, letting out that charismatically deep laugh very few had the chance to hear. I just stood there as he laughed, my annoyance rising along with the redness on my face. I had just told him my honest feelings and he had the audacity to mock them. "You know something, I take that all back. You can go screw yourself."

Daiki waved his hand in surrender, "No. Sorry. I seriously appreciate what you just said. It just was so sudden and unexpected that I was surprised. And your face looked so stupid that it was funny."

I looked away, "Well, I apologize for being born with a stupid looking face."

He swung his arm around my neck, "Thanks Taiga, that really cheered me up." He poked my cheek, the usual smug expression returning to his face, "Why are you so red?"

I slapped his hand away and continued walking, "Let's just get to practice."

"Heh. Yessir. "

In the next few months, I realized many things about Daiki and my relation to him. One of the things that surprised me the most was the fact that I was actually building a friendship with him. Sure, it took time and a lot of one-on-one basketball games, but we started hanging out more often. We discovered we had more in common than we thought. Our birthdays were in the same month but mine was earlier, causing me to occasionally brag about being the older one. We both used the Nike Air Jordan I for basketball games and were adamant about not using any other type of shoe. Like most guys are age, we wasted most of our free time on video games. We would often pass out in one of our rooms after playing an ungodly amount of Halo, Call of Duty, or one of our dozens of NBA games. Strangely, we liked spending time with each other. Though our bantering continued, I stopped getting so angry with him and he did more than just tease me. He was sometimes extremely kind to me. Like when he lent me his extra pair of sneakers at an away game because I had stupidly forgotten mine. Or that time let me sleep over after a scary movie because he knew I hated ghosts, though the asshole didn't stop making fun of me for it. As much as I faked it, nothing was going to hide the fact that I was grateful for our friendship.

I gave my damp hair one more pat with the towel before I stuck it in my locker. Practice had been completely brutal, as usual, but a hot shower helped to relieve some of the soreness. I closed my locker door, leaning on it as I waited for Daiki to finish up. He was always so freaking slow. He only had his boxers and jeans on by the time I was completely ready to go. I stared at the bench as I waited. I wasn't really sure why but I was a bit uncomfortable watching him get ready. I couldn't even remember if I was always like this or I just started acting this way. His body looked just like mine, yet I was embarrassed to even glance at it. I told myself it was stupid and ridiculous to act this way. But I was also aware that in the back of my mind there lurked a dangerous explanation for these feelings that I wasn't ready to deal with.

"It's just a bench. It's not going anywhere."

I looked up at a now fully clothed Daiki, "Finally! You take for-freaking-ever."

He chuckles, "Yeah, sorry. Thanks for always waiting for me."

I walked out of the locker room, "You legit say that everyday."

He followed close behind me, checking his phone, "Shit. It's already so damn late."

I groaned, " I know right. I have a stupid response due for my English class tomorrow that is going to take me a really long time to write."

He hand combed his wet hair, failing to make it look any more decent, "Do you want to work on it in my room? I have a history test I'm studying for so I'll be up pretty late. We can grab coffee from late night."

I laughed and stopped in front of him, helping him shape it into something resembling his usual style, "Here you idiot. That looks better."

"Thanks", his voice was startlingly gentle.

I wiped my wet hands on my jeans and continued walking, "Sure. No problem."

"So?"

"So what?"

He lightly elbowed me in the side, "Are you coming over or not? Were you not listening to me?"

"Yeah, I was. Sure, that sounds fine. Do you-fuck...fuck its coming closer."

"Huh? What is?"

"Shit...fuck. Just stay there." I walked to his left side, holding his arm in fear. I was prepared to use him as a shield against the approaching monster. "It's not even on a fucking leash! Who even does that?"

I swear the whole campus probably heard Daiki laughing when he noticed what was making me cower in fear. "Seriously?! A dog? You are afraid of dogs?"

I nodded pathetically, "Can you just walk faster? I think I'm going to piss myself in fear."

"Sure but he's just a service dog. He won't hurt you." He grabbed my arm and pulled me along until we were safely inside our dinning hall. His hand had felt warm and even when he let me go, I could feel how roughly he had held me. I subconsciously rubbed my tingling arm, hoping the odd sensation would stop playing footsie with what I kept at the back of my mind.

"Oh, my bad. "

"Nah its fine. It didn't hurt."

"You okay?"

I forced a laugh, "Yeah, I'm good. I just really hate dogs. You were a great shield, though."

"Sure, anytime. Though I expect a story when we get back to my room."

He sat in his usual spot, setting the coffee next to him and leaning on his bed. We had a habit of eating snacks whenever he hung out so we often sat on his floor. He was surprisingly neat and didn't want his bed to get dirty. I dropped my bag on the floor and did the same, taking out my laptop after I had placed my coffee a safe distance away from it. He shuffled around in his book bag for his history notes and textbook but I could feel him looking at me from time to time.

"What?"

He glazed over his study guide, "What's the story?"

"It really isn't even a story. I don't ever know why I'm so traumatized," I huffed.

"So?"

"When I was a kid I was chased around by a dog and got bitten pretty badly. I've been terrified of them since then."

"Man, that sucks" he says, his baritone voice full of sympathy.

"It's okay. I manage. "

He smirked, "Well, I can shield you from those beast whenever I'm around, my princess."

I shoved him, "Don't be a dickwad."

His features turned soft and gentle, "I'm being serious."

It caught me by surprise, causing me to stutter like an idiot, "Y-Yeah. Thanks."

The room turned awkwardly silent and we continued working on what was due for class. But were so painfully aware of each other's presence. And even while knowing the reason for our piqued awareness, we were not willing to cross that faint line yet; at least not directly. We functioned in encrypted codes and abstract expressions of our feelings. We were both cowards and we had a silent agreement to continue that way.

I yawned loudly, "Ugh. Almost done."

Daiki pinched the bride his nose, "Yeah, same. I'm going to call it quits soon."

We had run out of coffee a while back and had no perception of what time it was. I shook my head as a last attempt to wake myself up and looked over at Daiki. "Hey, pass me a tissue." I needed to blow my nose.

"Too lazy. Get it yourself."

"But you're right there dude."

"Nah."

"Fiiinee", I groaned. I walked over towards his nightstand to grab a tissue, noticing one of his gravure magazines lying next to the box. I picked it up, examining the woman on the cover, "You really like these, don't you. And it next to the tissue box…could you be more obvious?"

He looked up from his textbook, "Nah, that's just coincidence. I haven't really been reading those magazines these days.

I knew if I pried, I was going to get myself in hot water. So I tried my best to smoothly change the topic, "Is this your type?"

"Yup. Big boobs."

"Hm. Not surprising at all." I put down the magazine and grabbed a tissue, sitting back down on my spot on the floor.

"Eh, I don't know. I'm conflicted. I like the cute ones as well."

"You'll live," I commented sarcastically.

"Just think about it. She'd hold on to you whenever she was scared and ask you to shield her".

I looked up and by the smug expression on his face I knew exactly what he was getting at. "Fuck off Daiki. Cute, my ass."

He smiled knowingly, "Yeah, that too."

We were getting dangerously close to that line and I didn't know how decelerate. I thought we were just circling around the problem but it turns out this was a continuous spiral that pulled us closer. The lack of communication made me even more attentive to the feelings we avoided talking about. And maybe I was anticipating something. It was a cycle of hope and instantaneous denial. But I was too scared to move forward and too attached to pull away.

I closed my laptop and stuffed it in my bag, "That's that. At this point I don't give two fucks about the grade I get."

He let out a deep sigh, "Yeah, I give up."

I swung my bag on my shoulder and stood up, "Well best of luck on your test. I'll text you for lunch tomorrow."

But he also stood up, following me to door, "Yeah. You too."

I opened it, "Ni-"

"Taiga" he said quietly. I could feel my stomach drop. The asshole really had the worst timing. Or maybe it was the best; the lack of sleep had weakened our mental states. He turned off the lights and slowly closed the door. I knew he was cautiously taking steps closer to that line. He was trying to understand if I was willing to do doing the same.

And I was.

I turned around and leaned against the door, my eyes trying to get accustomed to the dark room. Granted, it was pointless since his tan skin meshed with the darkness around us, so I closed my eyes. I could feel and hear his breathing as he inched closer to me. All this cautiousness was so fucking stupid but we felt it was necessary. We needed to give ourselves time to get accustomed or to runaway. And we were both full of desire but very scared. So we didn't say a single word. We didn't want to and even if we did, I don't think we could have. He just let his lips ghost over mine for a while before he made the big leap to kiss me. It was delicate and slow, things I didn't know Daiki could be. Fuck it. I let my body move on it's own, placing a hand on his neck as I pulled him closer. He needed to understand that this was mutual. His tongue probed my lips until I parted them and he met my tongue anxiously. His tongue was warm and bold; it would between exploring all areas of my mouth and relentlessly assaulting my tongue. Low key though, he was a good kisser. We made out until our breaths were heavy and then continued until we had no air at all. But we didn't want to stop here.

Daiki's touch was searing hot as he guided me to his bed. We knew we weren't going to go too far, but we wanted more than this. We were already knee deep in our desire. I lay down and he got on all fours over me, crouching down to kiss me again. The tight fit didn't bother us at all. Both of our hands clumsily touched around, grazing over flat chests and caressing muscular backs. His lips moved to my neck and they stayed there for a while, nibbling, sucking and kissing curiously. These actions sent tiny bolts through me; I had no idea I could feel it this much just from my neck. But I didn't want to be the only one feeling it; even in this state I couldn't let go of my competitiveness. My hand unzipped his pants and dipped into his boxers, gripping his hardened length. He flinched and let out a small sigh, taking the cue to do the same. It was a game of call and response. When I gripped harder, so did he, and when he sped up the pace, I did the same. Our hearts were an erratic mess, pounding almost audibly with the chorus of our pants. We continued to make out, our kisses turning sloppy and needy. When we were near our limit, he moved his lips close to my ear so I could hear the low, muffled moan he let out when climaxing. I wondered if he was bothered by how loud mine was.

But we never spoke about it.

Day after day we continued acting like what we did when in the darkness had nothing to do with our friendship in the daylight. It was like the moment Daiki turned on the lights, we were hit with a spell of amnesia. I could no longer count how many nights Daiki and I aggressively made out and jerked each other off. Yet, we never acknowledged it in conversation. Maybe we believed that by never vocalizing it, what took place wasn't real. Or maybe we feared that if we talked about it, we had to take responsibility and act upon this acknowledgement. Basically, we were being big fucking pussies; I just couldn't take it anymore. I was ready to own up to everything. And I suavely decided to do it during a game of Halo. Yeah. It was oh so very romantic.

I put down my controller, "Daiki, seriously, we need to fucking talk."

"About?" He turned off the game, obviously knowing where this was leading.

I was nervous but I knew the moment it was out in the air, we'd have a load off our shoulders. "…About us jerking each other off, Sherlock."

The cheeky comment made him chuckle, "Ballsy. Yeah. I guess we finally should. I didn't think you'd be the first to bring it up, though."

"I think I like you. You know, as more than a bro." I knew I was blushing but I couldn't help it. This was more than just embarrassing.

He looked into my eyes and gave me a small smile, "Me too."

I played with the controller cable, "So, what now?"

"Well, this is a first for me so I don't really know. But I guess the next thing to do would be to ask you out."

"You don't have to. We don't need to do this systematically."

He reached for my hand, his rough fingers intertwining with mine, "But I want to."

I looked away from his piercing stare, "But I don't have double D's."

He laughed in the usual brassy timbre I loved to hear, "You don't need them. Your butt makes up for it."

"So you were always a butt guy. You could have fooled me."

"Eh…my tastes have changed quite a bit recently. I don't really know what I am anymore."

"Word, I feel you."

"So?" His thumb rubbed the back of my hand.

"Sure. Let's try this."

"How dry. Couldn't you give me a cuter response?"

"That's all you are getting, dipshit."

He pulls me into his arms, no longer caring whether the lights were on or off. "That's fine then. I'll take it."

Authors note:

Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed my first AoKaga fanficiton. I'm sorry if it's a bit OOC, I haven't gotten used to writing for characters outside my Prince of Tennis OT3. But they were an extremely fun pair to write about, especially when put in (my) modern day context. Expect some more KnB fanfic to come in the future. Please leave comments and spread the love!