green-緑
Aida jogs every morning as early as possible. She's training for a marathon, but she might have to let up soon; her leg's annoying her.
Her phone buzzes in her pocket as she pounds down the street. She stops and pulls her earphones out of her ears, and flips her phone open.
Come over. Need your help. Big operation today, can't find lucky item. –Midorima
She laughs to herself, and remembers that Midorima doesn't live far from here.
Ten minutes later, she's knocking on his door impatiently. He opens it and she holds back a surprise gasp.
He looks terrible. His eyes are bloodshot, glasses askew and his bedhead rivals Kuroko's. His left hand is bare and he wipes his eyes blearily.
She also registers that he isn't wearing a shirt, and shoves that to the back of her mind."What happened?"
"Takao. Booze cruise. Far too many shots. Think we stole a car. Woke up with the mother of all hangovers."
"Oh. Makes sense. Go drink more water." He's clutching a bottle loosely in his hand.
He grumbles in assent and wanders into the kitchen, as she waits on his couch.
She pulls her iPod out, taps the 'Oha Asa' app and listens to the ridiculously cheery woman chatter on. She doesn't even know why she has it, but she has a feeling that the person currently failing at using the sink had had something to do with it.
Cancers, keep in mind your limitations and your desires! Accept any offers from Aquarius and Leo, no matter how much you wish not to! You lucky item today is a hairpin. The older the better! Have a good day!
Her fingers brush along the black grips lodged in her hair, and Midorima walks back into his sitting room.
"I didn't want to risk going shopping." He sits down beside her and takes the iPod, scrolling through the predictions listlessly.
Aida watches him and his slumped shoulders and wrinkled eyebrows, and she blurts out, without thinking:
"I'll let you borrow them."
His head jerks up and his green eyes are wide with surprise as they fix on the black pins in her hair.
"On one condition."
"Name it." His eyes have frozen again.
"Can I..." God, she can't believe she's saying this. "Can I borrow your glasses? Just for now?"
He blinks at her owlishly. "...Sure."
She reaches out her hand and delicately, oh so delicately, slides the glasses off his nose. The effect is instantaneous; he looks softer, younger, and less formidable. His eyes glitter at her and she senses his heart speeding up. He must feel vulnerable without them.
She dons the frames herself and the difference surprises her. Of course, she's tried on Hyuuga's glasses before, but his prescription is weak compared to Midorima's. It's like looking through magnifying glasses! If she keeps them on any longer she'll get a headache, so she slides them into her hair.
His cheeks colour a little. "Aida...?" he asks, worriedly. He mustn't be able to see a thing.
"I'm right here," she tells him, and touches his hand to reassure him. He grabs her hand tight, like a lifeline.
"Don't you dare leave!" he growls. "I'm useless without those."
"Stop worrying! Now..." She reaches her other hand up to her fringe a pulls out one of the battered black clips, her last present from her mother. She gently pulls her hand out of his grasp, smoothes his hair away from his face, and slides the clip in. "There!"
He looks so funny, she thinks, without his glasses, his bandages or his shirt (she can't help but glance at his chest every so often) and a hairclip pinning back his hair. As if he knows what she's thinking, he huffs petulantly.
She looks at his bare hand, clutching hers and has another idiotic idea. "Where do you keep the bandages for your hand?"
If he finds this weird, he doesn't question it. "In the red and white box in the top drawer of my bedside locker."
She stands up. "I'll go get them." With that she makes for his room, pushing the door open carefully, noting the oiled hinges.
Midorima's room is far neater than any man's room has a right to be. His bed is made with grey sheets, the pillow bearing a divot in the shape of his head. Huge bookcases line the walls. A book on the human anatomy is open on the desk, which is piled high with papers. A picture of the Teiko middle school team hangs beside his diploma and another picture, one of the Shuutoku team. A higgledy-piggledy mess of old lucky items is shoved carelessly in the corner, a basketball balancing precariously atop the pile like a candle on a cake.
Aida picks her way over to the locker, complete with old receipts, worn books and a picture of a sage-haired woman and a dark man, a pouting green-haired boy sandwiched in between their smiling faces. She pulls the drawer open and pushes aside broken pens to get the box. As she walks out she unravels the bandages, testing their elasticity. They're good quality.
She settle beside him and takes his left hand in hers, giving his glasses back with the other. While he's preoccupied with getting the glasses back to the right angle, she starts to tape his little finger, wrapping the material carefully, making the edges overlap. He stays silent the entire time, eyes switching between her fingers and her face.
When his thumb is finished, Aida leans back. She doesn't let go of his hand, and he makes no move either. Shintarou, she thinks, distractedly. They stay like this for a while, hands loosely clasped, heads inclined towards each other.
"Do you have somewhere to go, Riko-san?" he asks.
"I...yeah." She has to be in the gym in half an hour.
He unfolds himself awkwardly, hand slipping from hers. "I should be going, too. I have to kill Takao."
She laughs at him. "Good luck with that. Sneaky bastard sees everything."
He pushes his glasses up his nose, and they catch the light and flash. "That will be his downfall."
She grins again and pulls herself up, stretching her arms, watching the way his eyes dart to the hem of her top as it is pulled upwards. "Take care. Drink more water. Ace that operation."
"Of course." As she makes for the door, he catches her arm and leans down to her ear.
"Thank you, Riko." And he brushes his lips against her cheek, prods her towards the door and disappears into the bathroom.
She rubs her hand against her cheek and smiles, despite herself. "Shintarou, you tsundere idiot."
And that is how Aida Riko and Midorima Shintarou begin to use each other's first name.
