Disclaimers: I own Slam Dunk not. Sue me not.
Author's Note: Happy Valentine's Day! Just some SenKosh. And thank you to all who reviewed all my previous fics – and for the grammar/spelling corrections. :P I'll get to them and repost the fics.
Intertwine
by Shinri Ayase
They would always spend Valentines together; that much he knew. Ever since they discovered the significance of the holiday, he had found himself following a distinct and perennial pattern with his best friend.
It was all scripted, you see. Well, almost. Koshino would complain about the pointlessness of giving chocolates or whatever for whatever stupid romantic (romance, in Koshino's opinion, is synonymous to stupid – making this statement redundant) cause they wished to embark on, while Sendoh prompts his tirades with questions.
They would purposely leave the entire day free for this tradition; they would meet at the park near the school at exactly seven in the morning (Sendoh would, for this annual occasion, make an effort to be prompt), and Koshino would make some snide remark at an early morning couple as a means of introduction, before plunging right in.
The rant would crescendo around noon, at which point Sendoh would insist they have some lunch, his treat.
Two years ago, they had French.
Last year, they had Italian.
This year, they had club sandwiches – neither of them was very hungry.
And after their meal, they would go to a festival to make fun of even more couples who are trying to spend their day as perfectly as they wished it to be. They would go fishing around dusk, then, walk each other home.
But this year, it's different. As they cast out their lines, they twisted and knotted around each other; they spent the rest of their Valentines Day trying to disentangle the lines without much success.
Jokingly, Sendoh cast out the intertwined lines, and as he reeled it in…
He found that he had caught a rather large fish that they both wanted to take home.
They had agreed to spend the evening at Sendoh's; Koshino had called his parents while the fish was being cleaned by his best friend's sister (a comrade in the protestations of silly practices).
For the first time, they had dinner on Valentines Day together. And Sendoh thought it (the tradition) was over and done with, broken by a fish lured by double bait. But as it turns out, there was more.
In an attempt to tire themselves out enough to sleep, they played a game of cat's cradle…and got their fingers knotted against each other in the string. Frustration gave way to resignation, and they went to sleep.
Waking up a minute before midnight, Sendoh caught Koshino smiling at the precise spot where they were connected by the bright red crochet thread and knew almost instantly.
They would always spend Valentines together.