A/N
just some drabbles, hope you'll enjoy ^^
Oh and for the 'reminiscing rain', I haven't forgot about it yet, fortunately. My ideas are struck, so, hopefully, I'll update soon.
Beware of grammatical errors, wrong spelling and such.
Comments and reviews are very accepted as well as the ideas suggested, like I told you, I'm struck here.
Enjoy.
I.
As much as Otsubo could recall, Midorima and him never—ever—had a real talk.
It was kind of bringing Otsubo down—just a little.
Excluding all the yells and shouts he barked out during practices and those curses slipped from his mouth whenever he tripped over those lucky items, he was still thinking it would have been nice to interact with Midorima more. While the first-year shooter was wired and sometimes, overly cocky Otsubo felt the urge to throw pineapples at his head like Miyaji always suggested him to, he thought Midorima was a good of a man, and worth to spend times with.
Unlike Takao who always seemed to fit right in any of their conversations, Midorima was aloof and, most of the time, would isolate himself to practice his shooting alone, even when Takao had somehow dragged him into a group, Midorima would just simply and quietly detached himself and went on his own way.
Even after the Winter Cup had ended and the third-years had officially retired from the basketball club, Midorima was still standing at the farthest line and only offered a curt 'Good luck on your entrance exams.' to them before walking briskly out of the gym.
Otsubo was not amused and feeling oddly disheartened. He wondered if he had completed his task as a captain at all.
He wondered if Midorima ever looked at them as his reliable teammates at all.
"You're over thinking Otsubo-san! Shin-chan was just being tsundere, that's all." was Takao's comfort remark as the hawk-eyed caught the captain sulking alone in the empty gym.
Otsubo looked up and spun around when he heard his name being called. Then his face unconsciously lit up as the green haired teen approached him.
"Midorima, haven't you gone home already? There's no practice today."
Instead of answering his question, Midorima shoved something to his chest and as soon as Otsubo's confused eyes returned to the other's face, Midorima was already pushing on his glasses and turning his face away.
Unable to process anything, Otsubo lifted the object to his eyed level. "What's this?" he shook it lightly. "Stuffed toy?"
"It's a polar bear." Midorima said in his low tone, looked at anything but the former captain. "Your lucky item for passing the entrance exam."
Otsubo's face changed from perplexity to astonishment and to almost crying.
He manly gulped down his tears. "…Midorima"
"Thank you for your hard work, senpai." Midorima said, his eyes gleamed with determination. "Shuutoku will rise again, so leave everything to us."
Otsubo was at a loss. He didn't know what he should say to that when his eyes accidentally caught something. Surprised, he lifted his finger and pointed at the red scarf around the tall teen's neck.
As if sensing the unspoken question, Midorima simply pulled it up his chin. "It's the scarf you gave me from the last time and apparently, is my lucky item for today." Midorima's eyes then widened as he looked at the former captain's face. "Otsubo-senpai, what—"
Otsubo's eyes were glassy but he managed to hold back his tears from falling. "Midorima…I'm sorry I ever doubt you!" he uncharacteristically yelled.
The bespectacled man could only blink. "…huh?"
And if Otsubo sensing all the stares directed toward him as he merrily crushed on the polar bear plushy all the way home, he didn't care. Even when Miyaji barged into his class next morning and complained about Midorima being an ignorant bastard, Otsubo could only care less.
No matter what anyone said, Midorima was still his cute kouhai.
II.
Okamura had a battle going inside his mind.
In whatever aspects he tried to look at it, Murasakibara was obviously far from being cute. He didn't know why Himuro had mentioned that in the first place. It was true Murasakibara was just a kid inside that giant body and sometimes, acted all spoiled and whatsoever—just like a little kid.
But being a childish, cheeky, and sneaky brat and a cute little kid was a completely separated story. Murasakibara was, no doubt, put in the former category.
He was not cute.
"Oh, sorry." Okamura instinctively said as he bumped with someone. Looking up, the object of his thought was staring at him, idly munching on snacks and leaving crumbs everywhere.
Okamura felt his vein pop.
"Ara? It's just butt-chin Gorilla-chin." The purple haired man drowned lazily and stepped past the seething former captain as if he was just a stuffed gorilla showing in a local museum.
See!? How can I find him cute? How!?
Okamura stood grudgingly for the rest of the lunch break.
III.
The blur figure swiftly broke past the defensive zone before pulling his feet to a stop. Jumping backward as if to defy the gravity, Aomine lifted the ball and threw it through the hoop before Wakamatsu could even move from his position.
As the ball continued bouncing on the polished floor, Aomine could hear someone whistling and crabbing his hands in mock amusement. The tanned teen, with a vein visibly poked on his forehead, turned around to see Imayoshi sending a smirk toward him.
"Ah—nice shoot." Imayoshi lifted his thumb up.
"What the hell are you doing here!?" spat Aomine in frustration.
"Watch you fucking mouth, Ahomine! The game was still on!" Wakamatsu yelled back.
"I'm sorry!" Sakurai bowed lowly his head almost knocked on the ground.
Beside the bespectacled man stood the pink haired manager with confusion dancing on her eyes.
"Uh—Imayoshi-san, aren't you supposed to study for your entrance exams?" Momoi asked before looking to another figure. She tiled her head. "Susa-san, too?"
Imayoshi just waved. "There's still time before the exams, plus being locked up in library all day is kinda boring so we decided to switch gear for a bit."
"You mean that you're bored so you forcefully dragged me out just to make fun of our underclassmen." Susa blandly amended.
Imayoshi feigned surprise. "Oops, is it that obvious?"
Susa kept silent and looked away, exhausted from just standing near the former captain.
"Oh, well. I didn't lie though. That's it's boring." Imayoshi rested his head on his folded arms, looking as the ball bounce off the rim. "When we lost, our time has also stopped. As much as we don't want to, we have to move on and face with reality." He shrugged, smug look returned to his face. "Just saying though. Don't take it to your heart, but well—" his eyes cracked open, revealing an unreadable glimpse pass on those dark orbs. "Looking at them playing all serious, I couldn't help but feel kinda jealous."
"Captain…"
"Not anymore." Imayoshi grinned at the manager. He straightened up before shifting his gaze to his friend. "Well, this should be enough, let's go."
But before both of them could even take a single step out, the ball flew toward their direction. Imayoshi just caught it without looking back. Pulling it to his chest, Imayoshi turned so he could give the tanned teen a smirk.
"And that was dangerous." Though he said that, his voice was void of reprimand or rebuke.
Aomine just thrust his finger into his ear, looking as annoyed as ever. "Don't you have too much free time to just wander around? Do you give up on your coming exam or something?"
"Dai-chan!" Momoi scolded him with concerned look sending toward the retired third years. Imayoshi, however, widened his smirk.
"Aren't you being considerate toward us?" He tossed the ball back. "Don't worry, we're leaving."
"Since you have so much free-time, why don't play one or two games?" Aomine blurt out. Frowning as he was being a target of everyone's attention. "WHAT!? I'm just saying! The game won't go anywhere anyway, he sucks!" he accusingly pointed at the blond.
Wakamatsu's rage increased tremendously as he grabbed on the other's collar. "Try saying that again!? Who sucks, huh? You moron!?"
"You!" Aomine shot back.
"This is bad."
Susa lifted a brow at his friend. "What?"
"Oh, man." Imayoshi sighed. He smiled. "Do we look that miserable to even have the air-headed like Aomine be concerned about us?"
"Oi, I'm not an air-headed!" Aomine protested from his struggling with the blond.
"You're not done with me!"
"They're just being themselves." Susa simply stated his own opinion. Imayoshi regarded the scene before him and gave out a laugh.
"Oh well," He jovially said and started heading to the court, followed closely by Susa. "I sure have a lot of cute kouhais."
In another prefecture of Tokyo, Hanamiya sneezed.
IV.
"No."
Akashi said in his final tone while flipping to another page on the clipboard. Hayama's shoulders slummed.
Mibushi who just entered the changing room looked between Akashi and Hayama. Puzzled, he nudged the deadpan Mayuzumi and inched closer so he could whisper in the other's ear.
"What happened between those two?" He covered his mouth, his voice was barely audible.
Mayuzumi just frowned. "You don't have to be this secretive. It's nothing big." He shut the locker door. "Just that, Hayama wants Kappamaki* to be added in today's dinner so he begged Akashi."
The raven raised his brow. "And? From the look of it, I guess he said no then?"
"Obviously." Mayuzumi adjusted his tie. "He said something about malnutrition and having lots of carbohydrate. Basically, He refused."
Mibushi gave the blond a look. "Poor Hayama."
Nebuya just rubbed on his stomach. "I don't see it's worth sulking over. I, for one, won't be picky about food."
"That's because you're a food vacuum." Mibushi retorted with disgust. He then turned toward Hayama whose head hung low in the air. "And you over there, stop sulking and finish changing already. Tomorrow, we'll have practice early in the morning, remember?"
"But I want Kappamaki…" Hayama whined.
Mibushi shook his head. As though something suddenly struck him, the raven shooter put his hand in another, saying aloud, "Why don't we decide on rock-paper-scissors?"
Akashi barely lifted his face. Hayama's eyes immediately glinted with hope.
Nebuya snorted. "The result's already fixed though. Akashi's never lost."
"He did lose in the Winter Cup." Fearless, Mayuzumi shrugged his shoulders, reminded them wuth the matter-of-fact tone.
With raising eyebrow, Akashi placed the clipboard down the bench and folded his arms. "Very well. What's the rule?"
Mibushi beamed as he held out three fingers. "Three rounds, whoever wins all three first will have a chance to decide today's diner menu."
"Isn't that just a giveaway game for Akashi?" Mayuzumi shimmed in. Lifting one finger he bluntly said, "I'd say if Hayama wins just one round out of three, he's a winner. Akashi will have to win three rounds though."
Akashi narrowed his eyes at the current shadow of Rakuzan who just looked away without any care in the world.
The redhead sighed. "Fine. Let's get it over fast. We have practice early tomorrow morning after all."
Akashi with his arms still folded around his chest and overly excited Hayama stood facing each other with Mibushi standing between them. The tallest among the three seemed to be enjoyed the event as he threw his arm in the air, fervently announced as if it was some kind of Olympic game instead of just a normal rock-paper-scissors.
"Ready!?" Mibushi eyed between the two cautiously and threw his arm down, "Go!"
Hayama swung his hand from behind his back while Akashi, sighing, simply pushed his hand forward.
The result of the first round: Akashi; scissors, Hayama; paper
Akashi: 1 Hayama: 0
"Ah!" Hayama wailed out loud as he knelt on his one knee.
"Don't give up, Hayama!" Mibushi cheered.
Akashi suddenly felt the urge to rub on his forehead.
"Next round—" The raven drowned before dramatically shouting. "Go!"
They both shoved their hands up front.
The result of the second round: Akashi; scissors, Hayama; paper
Akashi: 2 Hayama: 0
"NOOOO!" The blond cried, now he was kneeling on the ground.
Nebuya, looking confused, turned to Hayama. "Why don't you just throw out a rock?"
"Because he's stupid." Mayuzumi sighed, feeling tired all of sudden.
"You still have one round left, Hayama, don't give up!" Mibushi once again, kindly cheered.
"But—but…" Hayama stuttered, his eyes fell down to the floor. "I really want to eat Kappamaki—"
Couldn't suppress the urge anymore, Akashi lifted his hand and rubbed the side of his forehead. Feeling torn between nostalgic and annoyed, Akashi didn't sure whether this kind of useless event had happened before.
Then, as if on cue, two familiar faces of one blond and tanned appeared on his mind. Akashi invisibly groaned.
"Let's get it over, quick." Demand the redhead.
"I really want to eat Kappamaki…" He said once more.
Mibushi seemed to have come up with something as he determinedly said, "Don't worry, if you lost, I'll buy you as many Kappamaki as you want!"
Hayama was about to burst in tears. "Reo-nee!"
"Alright, get ready." Mibushi settled between the two, as he threw his arm down. "Go!"
Hayama with his eyes tightly closed, shoved out his hand while Akashi silently lifted his hand in the air.
The captain was throwing out scissors. Hayama, on the other hand, pushed out his opened palm and let the light shine over.
The room then filled with suffocating silence. Mayuzumi didn't even know how to do with Hayama anymore.
Mibushi sweatdropped. "uh—the winner is—"
"Do I win!?" Hayama shouted, eyed still shut. "Do I have my Kappamaki!?"
A beat of sweat rolled down the taller man's face. "Uh—Haya—"
"Good grief." Mibushi spun his head to find Akashi sighing before the redhead would slowly ball his hand into a fist.
The rest of them blinked.
"Ah," Akashi said flatly. "Look like I threw out a rock. You won, Hayama-senpai."
Hayama's eyes abruptly snapped open. The small forward threw his hands in the air, shouting in glee.
"YES!" he cried. "KAPPAMAKI!"
Akashi returned to his calm composure and picked up the clipboard which was left forgotten on the bench and headed toward the door. Already stepping out, he said without looking back.
"After you finish shouting, don't forget to change." He voiced out. "I'm going first."
And he left, leaving three of them to exchange look between one another while another one was busily yelling in the background.
Oh well, they shrugged and one by one, left the changing room.
They weren't surprised at all when they reached the cafeteria and found Hayama dash to where a mountain of Kappamaki was.
As Mibushi tore his chopsticks apart, he stole a glance toward the certain redhead who peacefully shoved a piece of meat into his mouth and couldn't help but grin.
"What?" Akashi said, mildly agitated.
Mibushi simply shook his head and offered a smile. "You're cute you know, Sei-chan?"
Akashi paused and pondered. The rest on the table gawked at Mibushi as if he had just tested the demon's wrath.
Instead of a 'your training will be tripled tomorrow. ', Akashi just shrugged and picked tofu in his bowl.
"Whatever, don't forget to eat vegetable too, Mibushi-senpai." He pointed out.
Mibushi merely hummed in joy. "Yes~~"
V.
Regardless of being in the same year, Kuroko, being his instructor and all, looked at Kise as his kouhai. And he was certain the others were thinking the same too if it's not worse.
If asked why, Kuroko would just mildly shrug and said, "Because he got in basketball club a year later." Which the rest just nodded their heads in mutual agreement.
So, simply speaking, Kise was their 'servant'.
Aomine frowned as he looked at the empty bottle. Sparing no time, he turned to the blond and shouted. "Kise! Go get me water!"
"Why me!?" Kise sitting with sweats all over his body shouted back.
"Because it's your job!" The tanned replied without skipping a beat. "Who tell you to get in the club this late!"
"Bring me towel too." Midorima said while wiping on the lens.
Murasakibara lifted his face up. "Eh~ then get me a pack of chips too. It's in my locker."
"No food while practicing." Akashi warned from the purple giant's left. "Can you bring me a file from coach Shirogane, Kise?"
Kise just gulped before swiveling his head to where Momoi was, his eyes signaling S.O.S. "Momocchi!"
Momoi turned from helping the other managers set up the scoreboard and apologetically said, "Sorry, Ki-chan. I'm busy here!"
"Just go get my water, Kise. I'm thirsty here!"
"I—" Kise abruptly stood up, his eyes gleamed. "I hated all of you!" and spun out of the gym.
"Don't forget the towel!" Midorima yelled after the blond.
"And the file." The redhead said without looking up.
Just when the blond flew out of the gym, Kuroko who has just returned from the bathroom skeptically blinked as his eyes followed Kise's back.
Ignoring Aomine's yelp from his sudden presence, Kuroko tilted his head. "What's wrong with Kise-kun?"
"Welcome back, Kuroko." acknowledged the redhead. "And no. We just have him do some small errands."
"Oh." Kuroko nodded and returned to his practice.
Thirty minutes have passed since then, and there's still no sign of Kise's return.
Aomine pounded his hand on the floor, irritation flushed over his face. "Where the hell is Kise!?"
"Language" Akashi reprimanded, his brows, however, contorted.
"Is he lost?"
Midorima spattered. "He's not you, Murasakibara."
"I'll go check on him then!" Momoi suggested and was about to walk out of the gym when a hand landed on her shoulder.
"I'll come with you, Momoi-san." Kuroko calmly said. "He's my student, after all."
Five minutes later and they found Kise sleeping soundly as his chest was raising and falling with an even rhythm under the shade of tree. His eyes were closed and his hair swayed slightly as the breeze softly blew past his figure.
Kuroko's eyes moved from the calm features of Kise to lightly giggling Momoi.
"What's funny, Momoi-san?"
"Ah, no. Tetsu-kun. it's just that—" Momoi smiled when spotted the water bottle, the towel, a pack of ships and a thick file place silently beside the sleeping blond. "I just think Ki-chan is cute when he sleeping like that, that's all."
Kuroko raised a brow and stared at Kise.
"Cute, huh?" He mumbled. And before Momoi could even react, the petite boy crouched down on one knee. Reaching to the blond's face, he pinched Kise's cheeks as hard as he could.
"Awww!" Kise snapped his eyes wide and immediately holding on his cheeks. Tears were already brimming at the corner of his eyes as he cried out. "What was that for, Kurokocchi!? That hurt!"
"There," deadpanned Kuroko, "Better."
Any ideas for next chapters? Let me know!