.

The Tip of the Iceberg

Pairings : Midotaka , side pairings to be decided

Warnings: Language use / Violence/ Suggestive themes

Tip of the iceberg - it's to refer to a situation in which you or someone else is seeing only a small part of what is really a bigger problem. So, the iceberg is used to refer to the fact that there is a very big problem, and the "tip" is a small part of that iceberg, or a small part of the bigger problem.

It was all normal at first or at least I thought, but now I see that everything was wrong from the start.

From that very day I met him.

Takao Kazunari appeared cheerful, but in all honestly he himself knew that someone that is happy-go-lucky would probably never exist in this world. He tried convincing himself that it did exist. But it certainly didn't.

It was the third day of his first year in Shuutoku High, and he was already facing a dire situation. This situation didn't have anything to do with him getting in any trouble or anything of that sort. The problem was that he had no one to talk to except for a certain Midorima Shintarou. This normally wouldn't be a problem, and it wasn't as if he hated the guy that much, but he honestly had held a grudge against him after admitting a humiliating defeat to him and his team of ' Generation Of Miracles' team.

The title that Midorima's team wasn't what bothered him, but the fact that they absolutely didn't put in effort to win against other teams which were all trying their hardest was the most cruel fact to accept of it all . It was like they were looking down on everyone else.. No, looking down on others were exactly what they were doing.

Now, Takao normally wouldn't have noticed some random classmate in his class, but Midorima was just an exception. Not only did Midorima have green hair and a tall build, but behind Midorima, was a wheel chair. One with navy blue cushion to be exact. And if bringing that to school wasn't weird enough, Midorima also seemed to not be visibly perturbed by the stares that he was getting.

Takao knew otherwise though, since he could practically see that Midorima was slightly fidgeting with his fingers whilst holding an aura of indifference, while shifting his glasses up every few seconds for no apparent reason. His glasses weren't even dropping down.

This wasn't Takao's problem, and he didn't mind the odd guy doing weird things in class, but what he didn't like was the fact that he was sitting right in front of Midorima . Surely Midorima didn't recognize him, and just saw him as another classmate, but he couldn't keep the feeling of needing to do something inside of him any longer. He felt annoyed that Midorima kept shifting and felt a little spite for him due to what happened in the past. But Takao was also not a quiet person at all. He needed to talk to someone, just anyone. However all his friends were either in another school, or in another class and all his classmates had already formed their found it rude for him to just barge into someone's conversations.

So it was his turn to attempt to start a conversation. Really, what a drag.

Not having anywhere else to turn to, Takao begrudgingly turned behind him to face the person that had been in his nightmares for days on end when he was in middle school. The person that scored the most against his team with flawless three pointers. If he had known this situation would happen before he selected a high school, he wouldn't have picked this one even if his friends were in this school.

None of them had understood his passion for basketball, after all. They didn't know the thrill of facing a tought opponent on the court, or the sheer happiness of putting in efforts and earning a victory, or the despair of losing even as they gave it their all. They really had no idea .

So without a second to spare, Takao put on a grin on his face and started the conversation going .

'' Hey , I'm Takao Kazunari, nice to meet you. Midorima-san right ? I actually love basketball a whole lot and know of you! Your three-pointers are really amazing dude! "

It wasn't a lie that Takao knew a lot about Midorima, and even idolized his three-pointers, but that didn't mean that he was a fan, and in actual fact he couldn't let go of the grudge that he felt towards Midorima's ex-team.

" ... Nice to meet you , Takao-san. "

"Don't call me Takao-san! It makes me sound old and like my dad , heh. Just call me Takao and that's fine. Anyway, you're joining the basketball club too right? Looking forward to working with you, even if I may not make it onto the team and may just get benched . "

Ouch, accidentally leaked some spite into that last sentence.

" Pardon my rudeness, Midorima, but what's with that wheel chair you brought along..? "

Midorima then shifted his glasses once more, lowering his head a little.

" It's .. my lucky item. "

" Wait... lucky item , as in the ones from Oha Asa ? "

" That's right. "

At this point, Takao couldn't help it anymore. All of the things about Midorima were just comedic, as if it was straight out from some sort of anime or manga. He kept shifting due to embarrassment, brought along some weird lucky item, and even had green coloured hair! Now, this wasn't a sight that Takao was used to, and he couldn't stop himself. He burst out laughing.

"What the heck! hahahaha I- Hahah . pfffftttttt "

" ... "

" Okay, Heh. I'm done laughing already.. "

At this point, Takao realized that Midorima had been looking at him with a certain look, even though Takao had certainly tried to ignore it at first as he thought that he wouldn't hold it for long, but now Takao looked up, and Silvery blue eyes met green eyes for the first time. Midorima had his lips pulled into a straight line, and his eyebrows were slightly furrowed. He probably was disturbed that Takao had laughed at his perks, and didn't find that it was anything to laugh at. Takao then deduced that Midorima was just too serious of a person.

Takao stared back at him, his piercing gaze landing on Midorima's for a moment before all traces of humor was wiped from his face and he shifted his gaze back onto the floor to his side.

" .. sorry. "

Takao then knew that he was already not welcome in Midorima's presence anymore, or at least not for today, and quickly turned back to his seat. and this time, he started minding his own business.

There was no point in it anymore if he wasn't welcome, after all. It took out all of the meaning of being ' friends ' and Takao was sick of being treated as if he was just supposed to be there and that it was his duty to be around. Friendships go two ways, and not only from Takao's side only. If it was a one-way road, then there was absolutely no point. That much he had deduced from Middle School.

After all, even if he looked the part at times, he certainly wasn't an idiot.

Original A/N: So .. usually my fanfics don't go so well and after a chapter or two I run out of motivation to continue them..

-What I'm saying is, don't expect chapters and chapters very soon, and it may discontinue -

I actually wrote this cause it was MidoTaka Day yesterday and wanted a oneshot but the oneshot vers was rushed. So..

Multi-chaptered fic, Here I come!

Takao's not going to be too happy-go-lucky here though. Tell me if I'm making them too OOC thanks uvu

Edit: Decided to rewrite chapter one cause It was hard to continue from the original first chapter xD Expect a second chapter soon since I've written about half of it.. I think..