A short drabble written for a fic request meme I posted on Facebook.
And still, the rain.
Taiga wakes up to an empty bed and the sound of rain droplets hitting the window pane. The beginning of a massive headache pulses in his skull. He massages his temple and sits up.
The tail end of his dream is still vivid behind his eyelids. He never did find what he was looking for in his dream.
He shifts his attention and remembers what has woken him up in the first place.
"Can't sleep?" he says.
Daiki is sitting on the stained arm-chair by the window, staring out to the darkened street. He's smoking, something he rarely does. Nearly a sin, for athletes like them.
There's no answer from Daiki, and for a moment, Taiga watches the red ember burns slowly at the tip of Daiki's cigarette. Thin line of smoke rises to the air and creates a cluster of fog around Daiki's profile.
Taiga can almost hear the gear in Daiki's mind grinding. Something is not right. It hasn't been, since two days ago and the impromptu road trip Daiki has taken him to.
Taiga has been patient. He waits out Daiki's sullen mood. Daiki is not the easiest person to be with. It takes a lot of waiting, and waiting is something Taiga's learned to be good at. It has worked, before. And it will work again. If it has to take four hours of driving and one nondescript motel down Route 101, combined with eight empty beer bottles littering the foot of their bed... well...
"What are you thinking about? Want to share?" Taiga moves to sit at the edge of the bed.
Daiki takes the cigarette off his lips. Forefinger and thumb hold the stick and wave it in the air. "Nah. It's nothing important," he says.
Taiga sighs. He presses his forehead against his palm. He's tired, and kind of hungover. "It's never nothing with you."
Daiki's silent again for a beat. The rain is a constant white noise outside.
"Well, it's just this-" Daiki turns his head to finally look at Taiga and waves his hand again, "-stupid thing."
Taiga raises his eyebrows. He looks at Daiki, and waits.
Daiki doesn't disappoint. "I was," he says, and then stops, flickers his eyes away from Taiga, "I was frustrated. You know the other day, with the Hornets. I could've helped us win, made that last shot O'Brien fumbled."
"Being injured and frustrated because you couldn't play is not stupid," Taiga says.
"Yeah, I know."
"And I was there. I couldn't make it past the Hornets's defense, too. I should've been the one frustrated that we lost."
That earns a half-smile from Daiki. He shifts his eyes to Taiga again. "Right, and I don't see you bawling your eyes out because of it."
"We'll get them next time. I know we can win if we're in there together," Taiga says, shrugging.
"Or the three millions contract that the LA Clippers gave us will go to waste."
"It won't."
Taiga gets up and walks over to Daiki.
"What?" Daiki says as Taiga stops to stand before him. He looks down at Daiki's face, at the dark circles underneath his eyes that come from God knows how many sleepless nights.
"Give me that." Taiga motions to the now half burnt cigarette in Daiki's fingers. Daiki surrenders it to him without any fuss, and Taiga holds the thing away from them as he leans in to give Daiki a brief kiss that Daiki rises to meet.
"Stop smoking, and we'll win next time, after you heal," Taiga says, lips moving against Daiki's.
Daiki, on his part, cups Taiga's jaw with his hand. "Yes, mom," he says, and leans up to steal another kiss.