Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in this story, living (or passed) human beings or fictional characters. These events never happened, according to history or as the original author intended them. This is a work of fiction and is not intended to offend. For entertainment purposes only. Thanks.

Epilogue:

It had been almost a week and Akashi hadn't seen Aomine skipping out of any of his classes. He knew he hadn't been to them, but he hadn't happened to walk into him either during afternoons, which was peculiar because Aomine typically would be walking around to get food at that time.

Akashi paused in the boys change room and washed his hands. He didn't feel like changing out of his gym stripe yet, having just concluded his weight training in the gym. A part of him wondered how his team was doing regarding training and he decided next practice would be as good a time as any for him to record their new fitness test marks.

He pushed on the change room door as he always did, with confidence and force, not expecting anyone to be on the other side of it.

"I challenge you."

Akashi jumped back into the change room, startled by the sudden appearance of Aomine.

"Daiki!" He cried out. "Don't do that."

Aomine took the opportunity of the door being open and walked into the change room, holding out a board with forty pieces set in order to play.

"I challenge you." He repeated.

Akashi's eyes narrowed.

"Do you think this is funny?" He retorted.

"I challenge you." Aomine repeated. " Forty shots, whoever gets the most goals wins."

Akashi stared at Aomine, watching for any signs of a trap. He was unsure of whether to trust Aomine Daiki anymore. The atmosphere felt tense and he tested it by taking a small, measured step forwards.

"You challenge me to basketball?" he clarified.

"Yes."

"Now?"

"Yes."

"And you aren't planning anything funny?"

"No."

Akashi stared at him. He moved so he circled Aomine, maintaining distance as the bluenette turned the lock to his locker and placed the board inside on the shelf, all the while humming tunelessly to himself. He then turned to face Akashi again.

"Let's go." He tossed Akashi a ball.

Akashi caught it and tested its bounce. It was pretty good.

"Forty shots?"

"Forty. One for as many pieces of that board." Aomine smirked. "I've designed a challenge for the both of us to be comfortable in."

Akashi fought a smirk from forming on his face. Another surprise from Aomine that kept Akashi on his toes.

The ball hit the gym floor and came back up with good sped. Akashi tested it against his hand, catching it and sending a direct pass to Aomine. Aomine raced towards a hoop with it and slammed it in, the backboard groaning as Aomine hung onto the rim. Akashi smiled, being on the court always filled the two of them with energy.

Aomine brought the ball back to center and handed it to Akashi.

"You're going to stand at the free-throw line on your side of the court. You then have one chance to make a shot, any way, on my hoop. I defend against you. But I won't cross the midline and you cannot re-cross it either."

"Just like the drills?"

"Exactly. The thing is, we both only get twenty shots."

Akashi let the ball drop to the ground, dribbling it slowly and naturally as he thought for a moment.

"And what if neither of us makes a basket."

"Then what do you do if neither of you win in Shogi?"

Akashi smirked. "You stalemate."

Aomine grinned. "Come at me, short-shit."

Akashi spent some time letting his dribble speed up, testing his footing to the left and then the right. He did a cross over and looked up and away from himself, towards Aomine, and took a deep breath. He crossed the line.

The court was suddenly alive around them. Aomine's blue fire clashed instantly against Akashi's red. The bouncing of the ball echoed deafeningly. The squeak of shoes on the floor, the grunts of men, the hit of the ball against the backboard or being struck down hard by someone's palm. The pair were drenched in sweat and neither were backing down. It was intense, more intense than when they had been on the court outside. Both released their inner demons onto the court and fought with all their strength against the other. Aomine struck him down easy but Akashi had made a steal and taken a second shot which resulted in a steal back. Aomine took a shot but Akashi had jumped high enough to change the direction of the ball and it rolled out of bounds.

"Was that forty?" Aomine panted.

"I lost count." Akashi admitted, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "But I believe we were only at thirty-eight."

His red bangs had slicked themselves together and hung in points over his eyes. Aomine stared at his captain, watching his chest rise and fall excitedly in his grey t-shirt. His eyes were alight with a new fire Aomine had never seen before and a playful smile had caressed his lips. Instead of heading over to retrieve the ball, Aomine stepped forwards and wrapped an arm around Akashi's waist, lifting him up and planting a kiss on his soft lips. Akashi made no protest: he didn't pull away or refuse. He simply breathed against Aomine and it was one of the best feelings Aomine had ever felt.

Aomine wrapped another arm around Akashi's shoulder's, holding him tightly to his chest. He didn't understand his reasoning, he doubted he even had any at all, but he forced himself to stop thinking. His lips moved in unison with Akashi's, parting slightly open and then pressing together. When he pulled away he set Akashi back down, still tasting the saltiness of his sweat against his lips.

Akashi breathed and took a step back. His lips were in a smile but his eyes had glazed over. Aomine wonder vaguely if he had somehow broken the conscious mind of his captain. Still, the Ace felt unsure of what to do next, figuring getting the ball and leaving Akashi standing there was probably not the smartest thing to do. And he didn't want Akashi to wonder away on him. But at the same time Aomine couldn't reach out and take his hand and lead him away to a castle made of clouds and be his prince charming. Both he and Akashi knew they didn't want that type of romance. It was too airy, too dependent.

Finding himself at odds, Aomine tossed an arm around Akashi's shoulders and led him to the ball, which he dribbled back to the locker room. He barely noticed the class of Phys Ed. students walking out as him and Akashi drifted in.

It was past school's end when Aomine had finished washing the sweat from his short, azure hair. He turned off the water of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist, pushing aside the curtain and walking to his locker.

The shower in the stall across from him was still running and the slender silhouette made out in the curtain assured him that Akashi was still washing his hair. He spun the dial on his locker, pausing when the lock dropped before opening the door. He vaguely heard the shower off.

Two slender hands wound around his head and covered his eyes, stealing the light from his vision. He gasped and spun around, trying to find his sight, only to find Akashi standing on his tip toes before him. The smaller boy dropped his hands to a more comfortable place on Aomine's body, pausing to hold his waist. Aomine stared at Akashi, taken aback at first by his captain's actions, and then his heart beat picked up to the same hammering rhythm he had when he was challenging him in the gym. He smirked and Akashi smirked back, biting his lower lip and glancing up at him. Aomine was dimly aware that Akashi was once more challenging him.

It was then that Aomine realized, letting his eyes roam down Akashi's body, that the boy before him was naked. Droplets of water chased themselves down his pale body, racing down his toned chest and firm thighs. Aomine felt his eyes trailing downwards, unsure if he should continue but finding it increasingly hard to stop.

A cold finger reached under his chin and lifted his face back upwards, before a pair of soft lips pressed against his. Aomine closed his eyes and moaned, enjoying the sensation. The lips retreated and he felt the entire presence step back. He fluttered his eyes and opened them, steadying himself by placing a hand on the bottom of his locker. But Akashi was nowhere to be seen.

"Just like him to do that." Aomine grumbled under his breath.

He slammed his fist lightly down on his locker and looked around, biting his bottom lip and finding a sick humour in the state of things. He felt his heart racing and chuckled in a deep baritone to himself. If this was how the captain wanted to play, so be it.

"Akashi," He called, sexually tension straining his voice. "I accept your latest challenge!"

Kise and Murasakibara had beaten the crowd of students to the change room and were just leaving as the tidal wave of their peers came floating in. It was minutes before the end of day bell would be rung and they hung around in front of the third gymnasium, staring at the small windows and longing to be on a court. It was one of the rare days that they didn't have practice after and both the boys knew that their physical fitness test would be approaching soon again.

"I want to skip practice so bad when he sets it!" Murasakibara moans.

"Why?" Kise asked innocently. He saw no reason as to why Murasakibara would complain, he exceeded many of the kids on their massive team. He watched his friend dip his hand into a bag of chips and proceed to snacking before answering him.

"Because Mido-chin and Kuro-chin are going to pick on my height again."

"Oh."

Kise turned his eyes back to the window. The gym was empty but the lights were on. Through the lightly-tinted windows he could see two silhouettes battling it out on the court.

"Hey. I think that's Akashiichi and Aominichi!"

Murasakibara bent his knees a bit and moved slightly to get a better view. "I think you're right, Kise-chin."

The pair watched the duo on the court battling it out. The ball was stolen from Aomine, stolen from Akashi and then hit off balance, before finally coming to a halt at the base of the window they were watching from.

"They looked tired." Kise commented, watching the pair bend over and breath for a moment.

"I guess they really went hard at it." Murasakibara muttered, crunching more chips.

"Mh." Kise agreed.

Kise's eyes widened as he watched Aomine lift up Akashi and press their lips together. Beside him, he heard Murasakibara choke on his chips.

"I...did not see that coming." Kise muttered, too shocked to properly form words.

"When I said-"

Murasakibara coughed. Kise patted him on the back lightly.

"When I said they were alike, I didn't mean like that."

Kise chuckled and watched the pair steadily making their way towards them. At the same moment, the change room doors opened and Aomine and Akashi walked right by Kise and Murasakibara.

"Do you think they saw us?" Kise asked, curious.

"No." Murasakibara answer, pulling out a chip and then letting it drop back into the bag. "I think they've just found another challenge between them."