Chapter 2
"Kise! You're too slow!"
"Ah, I'm sorry senpai!"
The blonde smiled carefree and tried to accelerate his speed in their practice game.
"Moriyama! Your shots are too predictable! The opposing teams will be able to stop you before you even make the jump! Give more passes!"
"What, for real?"
Moriyama commented quietly -thankfully his captain didn't hear him- as Kasamatsu's corrections were getting a bit out of hand. Was the Kaijo's team really so bad at this?
"Hayakawa! Don't be so forceful with the others on the rebounds! If the coach was here you'd have received two fouls by now!"
Hayakawa let out a scream of... acceptance and denial? Kasamatsu had a hard time figuring that out at that moment as he was standing out of the court and his eyes were carefully scanning each of his teammates' moves.
It had been three hours since their lessons and club activities had ended but Kaijo's captain had decided that his team needed much more practice than what they were already performing, so he took permission from their coach and the school's principal in order to stay for a couple more hours inside the school's gym. Unfortunately the team's coach had other business to attend to, so the boys would have to carry through on their own.
"We'll need a break senpai..."
Kobori calmly requested and Kasamatsu nodded while looking sideways, embarrassingly realizing how much time had passed and how much he had exhausted the others.
"What's up with you today?"
Moriyama asked in between pants as he sat on the bench next to him.
"What do you mean?"
The brunette felt his heart skipping a beat and instantly glanced at Kise, wondering whether Kaijo's ace had opened that big mouth of his...
"I mean what's up with you today... Do you want us to die? I understand how practice is crucial if we want to win, but don't you think we're overdoing it? If we go on like this, we won't have the strength to stand on our feet tomorrow."
"We won't have the strength to stand on our feet if we lose as well!"
Kasamatsu shouted and then held his forehead troubled.
"Damn..."
He said under his breath and Kise who had just sat next to him looked at him concerned.
"Kasamatsu senpai are you okay? Do you have another headach-"
"Don't touch me!"
Before Kise was even able to land his hand on the other's shoulder, the captain abruptly pushed him away.
"Since you've all been drained, you can go home for the rest of the day... Tomorrow, if permission is given, we'll stay after club activities just like today, so be prepared."
Kasamatsu said all in one breath, feeling quite uneasy for his extravagant reaction towards the blonde and then headed towards the locker room without waiting for the rest of his teammates.
"Kise...?"
Moriyama uttered uncertain while slowly following Kasamatsu's steps.
"Did you have a fight or something...?"
He continued bothered, thinking that this could be one of the worst things that could happen in their team.
"Ah, is it that obvious?"
Kise responded with a smile; the kind of smile he had forced on his lips the previous day as well.
"It's too obvious!"
Hayakawa shouted, overhearing their conversation.
"What is?"
The four boys, who had entered the locker rooms, were greeted by a perplexed and stressed out Kasamatsu.
"What is too obvious?"
The captain repeated and a short moment of silence emerged amongst them.
'Your reactions make you too suspicious senpai...'
"It's too obvious that we had a fight senpai."
Kise voiced smilingly but he wasn't able to ease Kasamatsu's anxiety in the least.
"This is none of your business."
The brunette said while looking at the other three people and then glared at Kise annoyed.
"We need to talk."
He continued with nothing but menace in his voice.
"A-ah..."
Kise nodded a bit apprehensive this time.
"I'll be waiting in the back."
The captain finished and greeted the rest of his teammates while exiting the locker room.
~..~
Kasamatsu was waiting in the back side of their school for a couple of minutes that felt like an eternity. He couldn't stop contemplating of what had been uttered amongst his teammates behind his back. The mere idea of him acting paranoid hadn't even crossed through his mind, and instead he was one hundred percent confident that his own pride was at stake.
'That idiot...'
Kasamatsu deemed worried, wondering if his entire life would be destroyed because of Kise's big mouth.
"I'm here senpai!"
The blonde finally arrived cheerfully as ever, making Kasamatsu to mistakenly perceive his behavior as a way of mocking him.
"Do you find this amusing?"
The brunette asked, a glaring expression accompanying his question.
"What are you talking about senpai?"
Kasamatsu's own fears and insecurities had rendered him mentally blind, with result not being able to understand that Kise's forcing smile and glee had anything but ill intentions.
"I will say this only once Kise, so listen to me carefully..."
The captain moved a bit closer to him so that he wouldn't have to say the following words loudly.
"I don't care of what you thought you discovered yesterday, but you've got it all wrong... So stop pushing your fucking disgusting assumptions about me on our teammates."
Kasamatsu said almost whisperingly and the ace couldn't help but widen his eyes surprised.
"What are you talking about senpai? I didn't say anything about that to them."
Kise's honest surprise took the other off guard.
"Huh? Then what we-"
"I already told you... Moriyama thought that you acted kind of strange and asked me if we had a fight. Of course I didn't deny it. Do you really think I'd tell them about your secre- ... Err, about what happened yesterday in detail? This is none of their business senpai. I thought you knew me better than that."
Kise was finally looking at him seriously.
"It's not my secret, what the fuck is wrong with you, still believing something like this?"
The captain uttered, still in undertones, and slowly started moving towards the direction of his house.
"Hm, well, what difference does it make what I believe? If Kasamatsu senpai doesn't want to believe it then my own opinion on the matter is of no importance."
Kise responded and followed Kasamatsu's steps, since the latter's house was on his way.
"Hah, look at you talking like an adult... But facts are facts Kise. It doesn't have anything to do with opinions. It's the way things are."
As they moved away from their school, the brunette had finally started talking in his usual normal voice instead of whispering.
"Hm, you're right senpai..."
Kise agreed for the sake of calming the other's mind but Kasamatsu wasn't going to be fooled that easily.
It was rather ironic really, how Kasamatsu was desperately trying to trick his friend into believing a lie and how, when the second finally acted like he believed in it (because Kise was now entirely away of the truth), the first was never satisfied with it and was trying even harder to persuade the blonde that his lies were the truth.
"Hey, did you notice senpai? You can't see that my eye is swollen with all the makeup I put on it!"
Kise tried to instantly change the subject before Kasamatsu persisted even more.
"Huh? You put makeup on it?"
The captain asked rather disgusted.
"Of course I did! Did you think that there was no bruise from yesterday?"
The blonde asked with a smile and Kasamatsu looked sideways, feeling regretful for his mindless actions.
"Ah, don't worry about it! Although the makeup wore off with all the sweat from the practice, I replaced it in the locker rooms. Moriyama was looking at me surprised!"
Kise chuckled carefree.
"He asked me what happened so I told him that someone stole my wallet while I was returning to my house after watching the movie with you; and of course that I didn't want to make everyone worried, so I decided to cover it up instead."
"Hah... You're really good at making up lies Kise."
"Hm, yeah. Maybe I should teach you someday senpai because you're not very good at it."
Kasamatsu frowned utterly annoyed at that comment.
"What's that supposed to mean? I have no need of making up lies."
The brunette was glaring at him but the ace didn't seem to connect himself to the superior's talking.
"Well, this is your stop senpai."
Kise said while pointing at Kasamatsu's house.
"I'll move on ahea-"
"Wait!"
Kaijo's captain grabbed Kise's wrist and forced him to turn his body around in order to face him.
"I already told you th-"
"I have no time to spare for your words Kasamatsu senpai."
The blonde pulled his hand abruptly and stared at the other gravely.
"Since you know me all too well, you should also know that I understand when you lie and try to hide behind your finger. I'm not like any of our other teammates senpai. I do not consider you merely my classmate or simply a friend. I..."
He paused for a minute, his eyes scanning around him uncomfortable. Thankfully Kasamatsu's neighborhood was always quiet, therefore there were hardly any people walking at those streets.
"I know all of your faces senpai. Well, there are definitely a few that I haven't seen, like the one you'd offer to your lover after a good night's sleep or the one you'd give to someone who's on the verge of doing something really bad... But I know you senpai... I know you."
Kise paused in order to sigh deeply as he felt that he was getting a bit overly emotional.
"When you shout while looking in my eyes or even when you stare at everywhere but me, I can tell... I can feel how you feel, so... Your pain..."
The blonde momently touched his eyes with his fingers, rapidly wiping the tears that were going to fall off.
"I don't care of whether you like girls or boys senpai..."
Kise had lowered his voice enough so that only his captain would hear him.
"I don't care of whether falling in love for you means that you've found that special someone with whom you'd like to spend the rest of your life, or if it means that you found another person to have fun for just a while. I don't care of whether you'd like to receive more than you can handle or if you just want to give it all to the other without getting any reward... I just... I just want you to be happy senpai. I want you to be a happy person. I want to see you smiling once in a while and laugh with the stupidities we sometimes perform. I want you to be satisfied with your life and the world that constantly surrounds you and I want you to accept and love who you are... Because this is the way things are senpai. There were never any masks in between us and there will never be as we can see each other clearly. I will always be proud of you because you have helped me come so far when I had entirely given up on everything... You stood by my side many times and although there were times that you had fallen on the floor hopeless, you never allowed me to do the same. You have helped all of us in ways your mind can't even conceive..."
A sob uncontrollably escaped Kise's mouth and the ace had to turn his back on his captain in order to bring back his composure.
"You're such a fucking idiot..."
Kasamatsu whispered with a trembling voice and without thinking of the consequences, he grabbed Kise's wrist and rushed into his home.
The moment the brunette tried to unlock his door, he noticed that the door was locked many times and realized that his parents were absent. He sighed relieved for this kind of fortune and entered along with his friend. The captain closed the door behind them while Kise was still trying to hush his overflowing emotions. Even though he was able to keep his face straight for the time being, he knew that if he opened his mouth again, there would be nothing but an explosion within his heart that, who knows to what kind of actions it would lead him...
"Come with me."
Kasamatsu took a hold of the other's hand again and entered in his room, closing the door behind him, in case his parents came home any time soon.
"Listen, you idiot..."
The brunette uttered while looking at the ace's hardly restrained expression.
"I... Y-you..."
He clicked his tongue annoyed, realizing how difficult it was to actually express it.
"T-that was like a fucking love confession you idiot, you shouldn't say such deep things in that way because they will be perceived differently!"
What was he doing? Kasamatsu couldn't help but wonder why he'd ever say out loud this kind of desire; even if he didn't clearly say that it was his desire...
"Huh? Ah... I'm s-sorry senpai..."
Kise's red face made the other's heart beat even faster.
"Tsk, idiot..."
The captain repeated frustrated and then an uncomfortable silence overwhelmed them... What had Kasamatsu thought was going to happen? Did he really believe that Kise would return his feelings? Did he think that the ace would smilingly say...
"What if it was?"
"Huh?"
The brunette asked confused at Kise's unexpected question.
"What if it was senpai...? A love confession?"
"Wha... Are you mock- !"
"I am not!"
It must have been the first time that Kasamatsu's anger was rapidly eliminated with just a single sentence.
"I'm being serious senpai..."
The blonde continued and his, for once, hesitant eyes seemed rather overpowering to his superior.
"Why Kise? Are you gay?"
Kaijo's captain asked annoyed by Kise's embarrassing statements.
"What if I was senpai? Would you hate me? Would you consider me disgusting and sick? Would you consider me a fucked up person... or would you not even view me as a human being?"
The older boy was completely speechless at his friend's unexpected and rather cruel questions.
"You... You are not gay Kise."
He finally uttered with certainty.
"How can you be so sure senpai...?"
And this time it was Kise's turn to be persistent.
"What do you mean how... You... You're not a fag!"
Kasamatsu's words were accompanied by a shove he hastily gave to the other, signing for the latter to stop his theatrical drama at once.
"And how can you tell senpai?"
"I just do! Why are you still keeping this up? Do you want me to beat you?"
The brunette shouted, being furious for his teammate's audacity and the blonde just chuckled at that statement. Wasn't he used to his beatings by now? Why did Kasamatsu think that Kise would ever get wiser with his kicks and punches?
"I'm afraid you don't know senpai..."
Kaijo's ace smiled (although Kasamatsu could only see grief in his eyes) and then slowly backed away from his friend.
"I'm sorry Kasamatsu senpai, but I'll have to leave now! I'll see you tomorrow at school!"
The blonde smilingly greeted his captain as he exited the second's room and even though the hot tempered boy really wanted to respond to that farewell, his body had been entirely frozen, legs and hands completely numb, as he was slowly trying to apprehend what Kise was just trying to tell him...
Only the moment he heard the door of his house banging shut, was he able to respond to his surroundings but it was already too late. Kaijo's ace had moved with a rapid sprint away from Kasamatsu's location, as if he was afraid that the words he spouted would run after him and mercilessly eat his already broken heart.
A/N: Wha- me and my angst... I don't know where I'm going with this. I don't know when I'll update it. Give me your opinion for what you read so far...? I'm having a hard time with the specific characters.