A/N: Hello! While I was daydreaming one time, I somehow pictured this scene very vividly, so I couldn't help but want to write it out. This is how I envisioned it would be like if the author showed more of Midorima and Takao after Takao called for Midorima while the latter was speaking with Kagami. I hope you all will enjoy reading this fic~ :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke. :(
Warning: Spoilers from chapter 203 of the series and beyond.
There's Always Next Time
People usually felt depressed, humiliated, determined (to do better next time), or regretful after suffering a major loss like how Shuutoku did against Rakuzan not too many moments ago. But for some reason, Midorima Shintarou and Takao Kazunari didn't feel any of the mentioned emotions.
A heavy sigh escaped from Takao's mouth as he and Midorima walked out of the huge stadium. "So, I overheard you talking to Kagami about Akashi earlier. 'You think he'd be able to bring down Akashi with what you told him?" Takao asked, kicking at a pebble on the ground.
"Honestly," Midorima started, squinted his eyes slightly to look ahead, and adjusted his glasses. "I have no idea."
A light smirk formed on Takao's lips. "Wow, I can't believe that even a guy as presumptuous as you are can have doubts. You don't think Seirin has what it takes to beat Rakuzan?"
Midorima couldn't help but scoff. "Don't be foolish, Takao. I'm not being presumptuous when I'm merely giving myself up to fate. I believe that everything I predict end up being correct, so that's why people can't help but assume I'm presumptuous - when I'm actually not. And to answer your question, that all depends on how Kagami will use my advice. I don't know him well enough to be able to determine what he would do with it."
"Heh, and I'm guessing you're cheering on for your previous captain since you dislike Kuroko, right?"
"Akashi is the type of guy who doesn't need or want something like that. And I refuse to waste my energy doing something ridiculous as cheering someone on. Whoever wins is simply the winner."
"Sure," Takao drawled and grinned. "You could've just said that you want Seirin to win instead of spouting out things you don't really mean."
"I never lie," Midorima muttered, closing his eyes.
"Right, of course you don't," Takao responded, sarcasm heavily laced within his tone. "Well, I don't know about you, but I hope Seirin would win. Although I think that may be highly unlikely, I don't think it would hurt to hope."
"Hmm," Midorima hummed and stopped in his steps, deeply breathing in the cold, winter wind.
Takao stopped as soon as he saw the green haired teen do so. He faced the setting sun while he raised his arms to place his hands behind his head. He felt strangely relaxed just by watching the orange, red, yellow, and pink hues blend with each other. He let himself be embraced by the chilly air and inhaled slowly as a small breeze nudged at him.
"Fourth place... isn't so bad now that I think about it," Takao was the one to break the silence. "And we still have that title "King of the East" in Tokyo, so it's not like we lost anything big, right?"
Midorima opened his eyes at last and looked at Takao through the corners of his eyes. "You can cry again if you want. I'm not stopping you."
Almost as if on cue, tears began to well up within Takao's eyes, halting right along the crevices. "To be honest, I was surprised to see you cry earlier. I always believed that you were a man of no emotions. I guess I was wrong," he said through a small grin, voice wavering a bit.
"No one is going to know," Midorima declared a silent threat, scowling.
"You're only human, Shin-chan. Humans cry."
"I have my pride."
Takao let out a string of laughter and rubbed at his eye. "Only you, Shin-chan. Only you."
Midorima sighed. "By the way, we're third place, not fourth."
"What?" Takao blinked at the unexpected statement, directing his gaze to Midorima.
"I said that we're going to be in third place. Kaijou is going to be hopeless tomorrow."
"How? Haven't you heard that monster, Kise improved tons over the summer?"
"You must be blind to not have seen his limp."
"What?"
Midorima moved to face forward - toward the sunset. "I can tell he's been trying really hard to hide it, but I noticed it. He has a bad leg."
"No way, he seemed to be in completely good condition-"
"Like I said," Midorima said abruptly, cutting Takao off. "He's been trying to hide it. I'm assuming he overworked himself during his practices to get his leg in that condition. I've known him for a while, so I'm pretty sure my guess is accurate."
"So... Third place, huh?"
"Third place," Midorima repeated.
Takao sighed and faced the setting sun another time, sliding his hands into the pockets of his pants. "We were so close, you know?"
"I know."
"Even though we were so close, losing to Rakuzan like that made me realize how our team was lacking in so many ways," Takao said, bottom lip quivering. "Made me realize how pathetic I am to even think I'd be worthy enough to be your partner."
"Knowing that you tend to be consistently nosy whenever it comes to me, I'm sure you heard what I told Rakuzan during the match about what I thought of my teammates."
"I did. I was so pumped up because of that and was ready to kick some major ass, but look where that got me. I failed, Shin-chan. As a point guard, teammate, and your partner."
"You're truly an idiot," Midorima uttered, turning to face Takao completely this time.
"I know I am. We lost our chance of becoming number one, damn it," Takao bellowed and turned to face Midorima as well, furiously running his fingers through his hair. "I thought that since we had you, we'd actually make it for sure this year. But, I must be carrying around bad luck or something. In whichever team I'm in, I somehow drag the team down before we make it to the top."
"I'm shocked. I always believed that you were an idiot full of nothing but smiles."
"Now, you're just using what I told you earlier about you being a man of no emotions against me," Takao said through a bitter smile, running the hand in his hair down his face to rub at an eye. "I'm only human, Shin-chan. Humans get sad and angry."
"Well, you need to show those emotions more often. It's... nice to see a side of you that's not an idiot or a fool."
"And you need to show yourself smiling more often. It's... nice to see a side of you that's not just an emotionless smartass," Takao mocked, chuckling.
It took a moment for Midorima to realize that he's had a small grin on his face for a while. He immediately replaced it with a frown. "Shut up," he muttered, causing Takao to laugh even more.
"Man, Shin-chan, you're the best. You manage to make me crack up all the time."
"Hmph." Midorima turned to walk away, annoyed.
"Wait up!" Takao hurried in order to catch up to Midorima.
"And before you pathetically demote yourself like you did earlier, I will say this once and only once, so listen carefully," Midorima said, pausing abruptly to capture Takao's line of sight.
Takao stopped and stared. "What is it?"
Midorima took in a deep breath before resuming, "You're not pathetic and you did not fail. I wouldn't have made those points today if it weren't for your passes. We need to practice more and that's all. It's not a matter of you failing in your role, we lost simply because we didn't practice and perfect our combination enough. And I also believe it was because of fate that we lost today. It most likely meant that we weren't supposed to win this year - our time to be number one is supposed to be next year. So, stop moping and continue being the fool that you are."
"You - I never knew you can be such a sap, Shin-chan," Takao said, widening his eyes in astonishment.
"Shut up, Takao. We're going to go practice," Midorima exclaimed, trying to move away quickly in order to hide the blush that was beginning to form on his cheeks.
But Midorima wasn't fast enough to let Takao miss it. "There's always next time, right?" Takao asked, smirking as he tried to match Midorima's stride.
"Of course," Midorima huffed.
"Oh hey, want to come over and hang? You can also have dinner at my house if you'd like."
"We need to dedicate our time until next year into practicing."
"I have some basketball video games that we can play."
"...Fine."
A/N: Reviews are very much appreciated. :)