At the School Festival Chapter 2
It was finally time for the school festival, and Akashi was making his rounds around the school, checking that every club had finished with the preparations and was ready to open shop.
It was a tedious task, but as the head of the Student Council, it was also his duty to do so.
Most of the clubs had finished with the preparations, with only a few exceptions. Unfortunately for him, most of the clubs that hadn't finished were the classrooms of his Kiseki comrades.
Midorima was whining about Aomine who was apparently no where to be found even after he'd diligently informed him last night of the importance of Astrology when they'd walked home back from school. Aomine had apparently grunted and so Midorima had taken that as a sign that the boy was willing to cooperate with the rest of the club, but he was running too late, and Akashi didn't actually have the patient to hear Midorima whine about things he'd whined before, so he left, promising to go find Aomine.
Akashi honestly couldn't sympathize with Midorima, since this was the second year in a row when the green-haired was having difficulties with managing Aomine's behavior, and as the President of the class, and a representative of the Student Council, Akashi felt like it was the green-hair's responsibility to have already dealt with these kind of problems.
Kise was whining about them not having an outfit that would fit Murasakibara, and the giant couldn't be bothered to help in the search for clothes. Luckily some of the girls in the classroom found a frilly dress with laces and ribbons long enough to fit the giant, and Murasakibara didn't look in the very least bothered by the fact that he was asked to wear a woman's outfit for the day. They even gave him a curly-blonde haired wig to go with the look. Akashi found it rather cute, while Kise decided to have him impersonate some character from some show the red-haired was not familiar with.
Momoi's little cooking club had ended up in quite a disaster, because the other girls were apparently not aware of Momoi's atrocious culinary skills, and had actually made the misfortune of letting her cook the first badge. After the incident, the club members banned Momoi from the kitchen and proceedings went on as planned.
Akashi was so very glad Kuroko Tetsuya proved to be a responsible individual and had his class well organized and ready for today's activities. Unfortunately Kuroko had no idea where Aomine was, and neither did Momoi or Kise, so Akashi was left wondering the school premises for him.
Aomine Daiki was too much trouble for his own good. He was a great Basketball player, but way too stubborn and disobedient to be considered much of a team player and on more than one occasion Aomine's impulsiveness had ruined Akashi's well designed plays. Despite the success of his improvisations, Akashi through them disrespectful, and not so much towards his team mates, but more toward himself. He had after all worked so hard to develop those plays and Aomine would just shrug all his efforts up like they were nothing.
"I don't understand why you're being so worked up about if the ball went it?"
Of course he didn't understand. Aomine wasn't particularly knows for being the most sensitive of people, which is why Akashi would give up on trying to argue with him and just resign himself to relying on the other as long as he kept pulling through, because as soon as he stopped being useful... He actually didn't know what he'd do, if he were to be completely honest with himself.
Aomine Daiki was a complication, not just when it came to Akashi's basketball career, but also for the plan he had, no, his father had designed for his life.
You see, his father, was a smart man, whom Akashi admired very much and thought of as a form of inspiration, so when his father had told him about the plans he had for shaping his son into what he deemed a "worthy" successor, Akashi had listened diligently. He would be homeschooled up until Middle School, when his father would hire a number of tutors and masters to help him develop the proper etiquettes and adequate mindset to become a leader of his pears. Than he'd be set out into the word since Middle School to apply all that he had learned at home to actual life and gain experience with communicating with people (of course it was already pre-established that he'd join the prestigious Teiko Middle School because of it's excellent reputation when it came to sports and academics alike). His father had even established a sort of damage control period if Akashi were to prove inadequate at dealing with people during his Middle School year, he would be homeschooled for High School and reintegrated back into society during College. And then he'd marry a woman of his father's choosing that would help benefit the family, and then he'd have a son heir who would inherit the title as he had.
Akashi hadn't actually realized at the time, when his father had first told him of the plan just how high the expectations ran, and how little faith his father actually had in him. That had slowly dawned onto him with every impressed look his father had given him when his tutors had shown him the progress of his son. Granted it had taken him some time to distinguish the shocked expression from the many delighted looks that his tutors usually bestowed upon him when he'd excel at a subject that they were teaching; but he had noticed it, and couldn't help but think that his decision for integrating him so soon in society had more to do with his certainty that Akashi would fail to adapt to the outside world and would need to be reeducated than with the enthusiasm of seeing his son strive.
The first disagreement they ever had was about Akashi's "inappropriate" interest in playing a peasants sport such as Basketball, rather than taking up something more appropriate like riding, or archery.
Akashi had taken it upon himself to prove his father wrong, and show the old man that he was a fool to think he'd ever fail, so by the time it came to him entering Middle School, he'd already made up his mind to become a part of the Basketball club.
"You are not permitted to neglect your studies just do dedicate yourself to some run of the mill sports!"
Of course he hadn't. He'd gotten perfect grades for all of his assignments, and had even enrolled in the Student Council Committee.
"I expected nothing less of you."
And he was doing just fine with both, he'd even been named President of the Student Council at the start of his second year, and he'd even gotten to be Captain of the Basketball Club.
"Of course you were named Captain! I don't expect any of the other brutes had the necessary brain capacity to fulfill the role."
That one had actually rather irked him, since people like Nijimura, Midorima and quite a few of his seniors were no where near the level of stupidity that his father was implying, but he'd held his tongue since angering his father meant the revokal of certain privileges he rather enjoyed, like being in the Basketball club, and having his driver park a few blocks from the school, as to not attract too much attention to his status as a rich kid.
"Akashi!" Nijimura called out to him, snapping the red-haired out of his dark through.
"Nijimura-Sempai?"
"Heard you were looking for Aomine, I spotted him near the Basketball club a few minutes ago."
"Thank you."
Akashi rushed over to the Basketball club and indeed, found Aomine standing there lazing about slumped up against a tree. It very much irked him since so many people were preoccupied with making this event interesting and enjoyable for all the other students and there sat the blue-haired just not giving a damn about everyone else's efforts.
Akashi sometimes questioned his sanity for liking the guy. He'd confirmed the fact to himself long before, when in first year, that first time he'd seen the other's face, he'd not been able to stop thinking about him for days on end. It had taken him a little bit longer to define the feeling as "like", since he'd been raised in a family where marriage and dating were more a formality and had more to do with tradition and honor that any actually inclination of romantic interest from the two parties involved, so he had been left to blindly deal with undefined feelings of longing, the anxiety of having to change in the same locker room as the other and the depression that came with Aomine's lack of interest when it came to him as a person or a team mate. He really had had no definition for the word and the sudden emotional turmoil that had befallen him up until he'd had the brilliant idea to google the weird feeling. And he hadn't liked the definition very much. It felt too impractical, and too irrational for him to accept it. So, he supposed he had to be grateful for the fact that the other boy seemed to not be interested in him when it came to that regard (he was quite certain Aomine was more into big boobs given the many disgusting magazines he had stored up in his locker that would fall over every time the other tried to change).
He'd long rationalized his attraction to Aomine as a sort of curiosity for what seemed to be his polar opposite, and decided to ignore the other when it came to anything but Basketball, (through he did end up slipping every once in a while), what he couldn't ignore however, was Aomine sleeping like a pig when everyone else was busy with working their asses off.
"Is this what you plan to do for the entire festival?" Akashi asked, while folding his hands in front of his chest and glaring down at the other's sleepy form.
Aomine blinked once or twice, sleepily up at him and when he registered who exactly it was that was glaring at him, the other boy seemed to jump up in surprise (or was it fear?) and distance himself from the red-haired by a few feet.
Akashi certainly didn't understand his anxiety, nor the other's need to not look him in the eyes as he replied to him, because as far as he remembered, Aomine was still the mot disrespectful members of the Basketball club when it came to following his orders.
"Gez, Akashi, you startled me!"
"My apologies, but I was trying to catch your attention."
"Well, couldn't you have done it without scaring the living daylight out of me?"
"Would you have preferred if I'd shaken you gently and whispered softly in your ear till you decided it was convenient for you to wake up?" Akashi asked sarcastically, slightly irritated with the other boy.
Aomine seemed to glare at him as if he'd suddenly sprouted a second hear, before turning his head away from him, most like laughing his ass off at the silly thing Akashi had just said.
It suddenly dawned onto Akashi just how embarrassing his earlier sayings were and he suddenly flushed darkly feeling very uncomfortable and turned away from the other, expecting to be greeted by fits of laughter and a snarky comment from the blue-haired, but none came.
"So, what did you came here for?" Aomine asked instead, making Akashi turn to look at him curiously.
He still had his back to the red-haired, head fixated on the Basketball court, his body stiffly rigging, like his very life depended on him standing as still as possible.
"Midorima asked me to come and get you since you were late. In fact the clubs should have already started their activities."
"I don't care about that," Aomine said in a somewhat snappish voice still not turning to face him. "I'm not gonna participate."
"Is something wrong, Aomine?" Akashi asked now getting concerned over the other boy's weird behavior.
Akashi tried to reach out to the other boy but his hand was suddenly grabbed by Aomine's, who spun around on the spot to face him.
There was a weird look in his eyes that Akashi had never seen directed at him before. A look that made him very uncomfortable for reasons he couldn't quite explain to himself, but that at the same time, he found that he couldn't tare his eyes away from the sight before him.
"Aomine…" Akashi whispered meaninglessly, not really having any kind of follow up to that word, but Aomine seemed to have been triggered into action by his silent cry, since his head slowly began descending towards the other, eyes glued to the red-hair's lips.
Akashi felt his cheeks begin to hear up as his heart beat started accelerating and his brain went into overdrive.
What the hell is he doing? Does he want to…? No! This can not be happening? This is not happening!
Akashi shut his eyes tight as he felt Aomine's hot breath wash over his skin and called out the other's name in a choked cry waiting for the inevitable.
But it never came.
He felt a hand slowly pet his head and ruffle his hair, as the hand that had grabbed his wrist loosed enough for Akashi to pull free.
Akashi opened his eyes to see Aomine's lopsided grin directed at him.
"You really look exhausted. Maybe you should stop worrying about other people's business and go and have fun for today?" the blue-haired said good-naturally as he continued to ruffle Akashi's hair.
Akashi was stuck staring at him for a few second, not sure what to make of the sudden exchange. And then it clicked.
He was mocking me!
Akashi's slapped the other's arm away irritated.
"Fine! Do as you will!" He snapped at the blue-haired and turned on his heals to walk away.
He'd actually thought Aomine was going to kiss him for a second there. He couldn't believe how stupid he'd been! He'd already known Aomine wasn't interested in him, so he supposed he only had himself to blame really. But that was that, now that he'd finally found the blue-haired, his job of taking care of the preparations had ended, which meant that he could finally participate in some of the festival activities which he had been very much looking forward to, and he was not going to let Aomine Daiki's assholery get in the way of that.
-OOOOO—
AN: I don't particularly like the ending of this chapter, but I don't actually think Akashi as the kind of person that would run off into the bathroom to cry his eyes out because he thinks that the guy that he likes had been a dick and all that. I'd rather see him as some kind of expert escapist that would immediately turn his mind to other activities and forget about the incident till it was suddenly brought back up for some reason or another. Well, I'm not so certain I did Akashi's character any justice, what I wrote up there is basically my interpretation of the character, so I hope you guys liked it. Thanks for reading, and please Review.