A/N: Hello! This is another submission for the team battle I'm in. The title is inspired by a Coldplay song, The Scientist. Though this fic is not a break up fic like the song implied, I believe it still fits. Hopefully I can finish this before the end of this month. Enjoy!
Although there is a fine line between stupidity and obliviousness, Kagami somehow managed to accomplish both. From now on, he will no longer argue over his nickname because he truly feels like a Bakagami.
"So…" Kuroko paused and took a sip from his vanilla milkshake. "You are trying to tell me that you have been reliving the same day for the past six days."
That sentence by itself sounded like a conundrum. Nevertheless, Kagami nodded.
Kuroko gave him an uncomfortable stare and then said, "And you haven't noticed because…?"
He trailed off and waited for his friend to provide him the answer. The redhead shifted his eyes and twiddled his fingers.
"Well, uh…" He coughed awkwardly and continued, "My mind was too preoccupied with Aomine. I wasn't very observant per se, but for some odd reason, he acts differently in every loop."
Kuroko, who was sucking the last dregs of his drink, smiled. He leaned over and gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"Kagami-kun," he started. "Although I am impressed by your creativity this time, you didn't have to fabricate this long, complicated story to tell me you're having mixed feelings for Aomine-kun."
"What?" Kagami hissed. "Why the hell would I lie about something like this?!"
He immediately stood up and clenched his fists. "I have proof! Once the bell rings and we enter our next class, the teacher is going to surprise us with a pop quiz about yesterday's lecture and then-"
"Kagami-kun," Kuroko interrupted and slowly stood up with him. He warily approached him with concerned eyes. Next, he pressed his palm again his forehead to check his temperature. His eyebrows furrowed deeper. "You don't have a fever," he stated.
"Of course not!" Kagami shouted and swatted away Kuroko's hand from his bangs. He groaned as his own hand slid down from his face. "You know what? This is not going to work."
He glared at his most trusted friend.
"You already think I'm crazy."
He gathered his trash and belongings with a defeated slouch. "Hurry up and pick up your bags," he growled. "Class is gonna start."
Just like he predicted, the bell rang.
Kagami descended the stairs and disappeared among the hordes of students rushing to their classes. Once he sat in his assigned seat, he stared out of the window, wondering when this maddening loop will end.
The teacher entered the class and greeted, "Good afternoon everyone."
The rest of the students returned her greeting, but the peaceful mood soured as the teacher proceeded to hand out quizzes to each row. As expected, the students complained and stressed over the contents of the surprise test. Uncharacteristic of the class idiot, Kagami finished the quiz in a flash and in a record time of less than five minutes. Furthermore, he passed it with flying colors, but of course he would. After all, he finished the same one in sex consecutive loops.
Even though Kagami has been reliving the same day, there was one loophole, and somehow, Aomine managed to slip through the seams. Although he was reliving the same day, his relationship with Aomine was definitely different in every repeat.
Right on schedule, Aomine was at their usual meeting spot with a basketball perched on his hip. He leaned on the chain-linked fence but straightened out once he saw Kagami's recognizable blood red hair, and Kagami in turn observed the blue-haired man carefully, gauging all the small intricacies that clue him about today's Aomine.
There was a determined gleam in his eye. After all, yesterday was the last straw.
The initial days of this confounding loop was nothing to sneeze at. Sure, there were subtle touches, but Kagami innocently assumed Aomine was going through a rough week and felt touch-starved. This seemed reasonable at the moment since Kagami would often catch the ace bump fists with Kuroko. He was definitely comfortable with wrapping his arm around his shoulders despite the fact that they were strangers at the time.
Weirdly enough, Kagami secretly enjoyed these touches. A bump to his fist. A hug around his shoulders. A pat on his head. He thought of them as a progression to their relationship and deepened their connection as good friends. Certainly, these forms of physical contact were harmless and safe for two bros who mutually agreed that ball is life, now and forever. Everything was fine, Kagami thought. Everything was swell.
Then yesterday happened, or whatever one would call the previous repeated day, and after that, everything was not fine. Instead, everything rocked his world.
Color him surprised, but Kagami's troubles began with a kiss. Kagami's memories are fuzzy since he tried to hide the memory into the dark recesses of his mind, but the kiss was unexpected and uncalled for. One moment, he was arguing with Aomine over the last match between the Warriors and the Cavaliers. Next thing he knew, Aomine grabbed the front of his tank top and pushed his tongue into his mouth.
Like any sane man who suddenly got kissed out of the goddamn blue without incentive, he shoved Aomine as hard as he could.
"What the fuck?!" Kagami screamed and furiously rubbed his lips with the back of his hand. "What was that for?"
As if Aomine had the right to accuse him, he dirtily pointed a finger at his face. "Fuck you!" he shouted right back. "You don't have the right to give me a hissy fit over this when you gave me crap over the lack of PDA ever since we started dating!"
The situation worsened when the pink on Aomine's cheeks turned into a darker shade and shyly glanced at him as if they were lovers. He gripped the hairs of his head and let out an infuriated groan.
"I'm trying, okay?"
If he kept on messing with his hair, he would end up looking like a fluffy Pomeranian, Kagami noted amusingly.
"I like you, and you like me. Fuck," Aomine turned away as if spouting his feelings physically pained him. "I know you want me to kiss you more often, but it's so damn hard and people are so judgmental."
Even though he was intently listening to Aomine's rant, none of the words processed during translation.
"What?" he asked dumbfoundedly.
Aomine scowled at the dull response and stepped into Kagami's personal space once more. His stance looked like a challenge.
He leaned closer until Kagami could feel puffs of air fan his face. His eyes were electric blue and barely contained the raw emotion seeping through his steadfast gaze.
He then lifted his chin and told him in a quieter, tantalizing voice, "Just wait for me to get over my embarrassment. I'll make sure to kiss you so well that you'll be seeing stars."
Kagami could practically feel Aomine's smirk as he gave him a small peck at the base of his neck. Even though a fresh pink hue stained his cheeks, Aomine somehow managed to look confident and powerful as he stepped back and relished Kagami's reaction. The redhead immediately tensed and slapped both hands to his neck. Gooseflesh popped up all over his arms.
"Shit," Kagami breathed out.
Shit indeed.
Eventually, after the tenth loop, Kagami gave up in figuring out the logistics behind this phenomenon.
Over time, Kagami began to lost track of time and the never-ending stream of loops. Rather than dwelling upon the mundane and boring snippets, he looked forward to his ever-changing encounters with Aomine instead. He anticipated each rendezvous with a quiver in his chest. After all, each day possessed a different side of Aomine, and as a result, he savored their meetings with a newfound appreciation.
On some days, they were boyfriends. On other days, they were enemies. However, on his favorite days, they were good friends, and on those days, Kagami forwent school and invited Aomine to play hooky with him. To outsiders, two boys were wasting their day by playing basketball all day long, but to them, they were living life to its fullest. Best of all, there were no repercussions since Kagami would simply relive the same day all over again.
"What do you like about me?"
Kagami surmised that today they were in an established, serious relationship. He had this speculation ever since he woke up to sickeningly sweet, sappy text messages from the blue-haired man. Begrudgingly, Kagami added, the man's kissing skills improved immensely to the point he took Kagami's breath away. One can only hope to achieve that accomplishment unless he practiced kissing his lips religiously.
Even though Kagami never would have imagined himself to be by Aomine's side this intimately, he played along with this ruse until he could return back to his Aomine as eternal rivals.
Yet, this Aomine was a stranger, an unknown variable he couldn't solve. This man managed to creep into his bones, made him flushed until he was feverish and bothered. He would unabashedly look at Kagami with moony eyes and a drunken smile, as if he was the most precious person in his entire life.
Aomine was in the midst of wiping away the beads of sweat from his face. He was using the hem of his tank top because he forgot his wristband and was too lazy to fetch a towel to do the job. After he heard Kagami's question, he gave him a questioning look, but his expression changed to a smirk once he noticed Kagami unconsciously checking out his nicely toned abdomen.
"Like what you see, babe?"
Kagami jolted back and sputtered. He even wrinkled his nose to feign disgust.
"No," he interjected back.
Aomine laughed and sauntered over to his side.
"Today you seem different," he commented off-handedly. "You don't normally fish for compliments."
"I'm not," Kagami huffed.
Generally, he would have jumped into a fight with the blue-haired man until they decided to settle their argument through a one-on-one, but Kagami no longer has that luxury. Now he avoided confrontation like the plague and attempted to approach every Aomine with an open mind because he doesn't know about their current history. He has no clue about the fine details of their lives in each consecutive loop.
Aomine caught Kagami off-guard and held his head. He then stroked his brows with the pads of thumbs, leaving Kagami speechless and befuddled.
"Your passion," he said with a lilt in his voice.
Kagami pursed his lips. His response was too enigmatic to decipher.
"My passion?"
"You're the type of guy who puts in 100% of himself into everything you do."
When he said that, his expression turned soft and kind. Kagami widened his eyes. So this is what Aomine looks like when he's in love, he traitorously thought.
"Whether you played basketball, or cooked, or even hung out with me," he said as he slid one of his hands down Kagami's chest and grasped his hand, "I could never take my eyes of you because your passion was too strong and real for me to ignore."
For once in his predicament, Kagami's heart stuttered. His breath hitched. The feeling was like a log wedged into his throat. That can't be true, his mind supplied, because the passion Aomine exuded at this moment was too brilliant for him to see properly.
"Satisfied?" Aomine teased and intertwined their fingers.
"You said too much," Kagami grumbled, futilely willing his heart to calm down. "You're surprisingly a chatterbox."
"You know, this reminded me of the time I confessed to you, except," he chuckled at the memory, "There was less yelling, and you didn't punch me in the gut."
In retrospect, Aomine must have been a psychic of some sort or just plain intuitive because Kagami did not expect Aomine to brazenly confess his feelings for him on the day or whatever one would call the the subsequent loop.
He was stumped. After all, the routine had been set and determined. Like every morning, he would wake up to an unobtrusive text from Aomine with a fixed time and place. Afterwards, he would prepare a quick breakfast and pack lunch before jogging to school. He would sleep throughout his classes, attend practice, finish the quiz in record speed, and then hustle to the bus stop to meet Aomine at their usual spot for a good round of basketball. From there, life would either decide to give him a curveball or an easy pitch.
However, he did not predict the fastball thrown towards him right now.
"I like you!" Aomine shouted. "Go out with me!"
He then proceeded to throw the basketball at his face as if it was the embodiment of his feelings. In other words, he was his classic, overbearing self. A small part of himself missed the nicer version of Aomine, the one where he peppered him with kisses and spoiled him with lovey-dovey affections.
Kagami expertly caught the ball before it could smash against the cartilage of his nose and glared at the offender. Although he understood a smidgen of Aomine's feelings for him, he wondered why he himself would go through such lengths to hook up with such an insufferable bastard.
Honestly, he was content with retaining their friendship. Really, he could have hand-picked somebody else instead of this barefaced idiot. Besides, Aomine wasn't even his ideal type. Rather, he preferred an elegant person with a pleasant aura, not some boob-obsessed fanatic who happened to love basketball just like him.
Yet, despite these claims, despite these reasons, Aomine was right about one thing: he never half-assed anything.
Thus, he dropped the ball he was holding and briskly walked to Aomine's front with determination in his wake. He was a man who refused to dip his toe into shallow waters; he was a man who would riskily form a cannonball and dive into the deep ends.
His decision was settled. His heart was resolute.
He gripped Aomine's shoulders tightly and closed in onto his face.
"Sure," he replied with fire in his eyes, and then he took what he supposed was Aomine's first kiss.