The second update I promised! It's longer! Yay! And less anger! Yay! How are Aomine and Kagami going to handle this whole 'pretend to be together' kind of thing?
"Satsuki…remind me why you dragged me out here to watch Seirin's practice match?" Aomine grumbled as they stood against the wall, watching Seirin take on some local high school in a practice game.
"Kagamin is playing!" Momoi reminded him huffily, pointing out to the court, "…And Tetsu-kun of course…" He rolled his eyes, practically able to see those lovey-dovey hearts in her eyes. Ugh, gross.
"I'm bored," he snorted with a yawn, "These guys are weak."
"Aomine-kun, your boyfriend is playing!" she sniffed, "Remember? And just not denying that you're together isn't enough. Boyfriends support each other!"
"Because you know all about that," he snorted dryly and she blushed.
"Well, I would always support Tetsu-kun," she informed him brightly, "If he was playing in a game not against me, of course." Hands on hips, she glared at Aomine as he slouched disinterestedly. "And besides, according to rumours, you two have been dating since before Christmas –which means that, being in a relationship of just over three months means you could at least turn up to one of his games!"
"Tch…" he scoffed, rolling his eyes and folding his arms as Kagami had his pass stolen from him for not the first time of the game. The school they were facing had a team that specialised in steals and they were proving to be more of a problem than they had first anticipated. "Do we have to stay the whole game?"
"Yes," Momoi replied firmly, "And we've been invited to join them for dinner afterwards, and you'll be coming –or I'm telling your mother about that girl with the tattoo –"
"Fine, fine," Aomine interrupted in a bored voice, waving away her threats. He'd no doubt that she'd do it, he just didn't want her to keep talking.
"Kagami-kun, looks like you've got an audience," Kuroko remarked, jogging up beside Kagami, who was already incensed with the fact that the other team had an ace that was ridiculously good at steals. He looked back over his shoulder at the same time that Izuki sent him a pass, and unfortunately was hit directly in the side of the face whilst catching Aomine's eye. He stumbled, clutching his face in stinging pain and embarrassment.
"OW!" he growled in annoyance as Furihata and the others on the bench starting giggling and Riko yelled, "Bakagami! Watch it!" Fortunately, Kuroko had been there to recover the ball and send it off to Hyuga to cover for Kagami's rather embarrassing slip up.
"Kuroko! You did that on purpose!" Kagami muttered as their captain quickly sank a three-pointer as the buzzer signalled the end of the first half.
"I just thought you'd be interested to know that Aomine-kun was here," Kuroko admitted as they headed over to the bench for water and a quick break.
"…I don't care," he sniffed flatly, "…And besides, you could've told me when there wasn't a ball flying at my face!" Riko slammed a punch down on the back of his head as punishment for making them look like idiots.
"Kagami-kun!" she snorted, hands on hips in the scolding position, "They're already giving us trouble! Keep your head in the game, will you?"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it, coach," he muttered with a sigh. Despite it being a fairly casual game, there was a good turnout, spectator-wise. Apparently the other team's centre was quite popular.
" –Sorry about that pass," Izuki apologised, and then his eyes widened and he bit his lip and looked physically in pain for a long moment. Kagami looked at him strangely.
"Are you okay –" he began to ask before Izuki blurted out, "But I would've thought you'd be more used to balls in your face –Kagami, I'm so sorry, I couldn't resist, please forgive me! It's a reflex!"
"Shut up Izuki," Hyuga snorted, but then coughed to cover up the fact that he'd just gotten Izuki's joke and was struggling to hold down his laughter. Kagami turned red and held his face in his hands in embarrassment.
"Just laugh…" he grumbled, and the entire team broke out into sniggers and then laughter –even Riko, who had a hand clamped over her mouth in shock at the crudeness of Izuki's joke. Kagami moodily gulped down some water and glanced over to the doorway where Aomine was lounging. Blue eyes glinted over at him; gaze distinctly mocking –something which he did not appreciate in the slightest.
When the break was over, they headed back onto the court, Kagami passing by Aomine.
"…You're losing your touch," Touou's ace goaded and Kagami's eyes flashed competitively.
"Tch," he growled, sticking his nose in the air in Aomine's personal space and puffing out his chest, "Just you wait! The next dunk's for you, you hear?" Immediately, Momoi clapped both hands to her cheeks and let out a delighted "KYAAH! Kagamin, that's too cute!" Aomine just smirked as he straightened up and took full advantage of the two centimetres height that he had over the redhead.
"I hear you being all talk," Aomine drawled in that same dull tone. "Entertain me, Kagami. I'm bored."
"Kagami!" Hyuga snapped, and Kagami cricked his neck as if to remind Momoi that he was not cute, before stalking off to return to the game.
No more than forty seconds into the third quarter, one of Kuroko's passes found its way to Kagami. A bold grin on his face, he sprinted down the length of the court; broke past the defence and took a flying leap towards the hoop.
"No way can he jump like that!" someone exclaimed and the crowd gasped in disbelief as he sailed through the air almost in slow motion and slammed the ball down through the hoop with monstrous force. The crowd all cheered at the display as he landed on the ground with a thud; looking over at Aomine with a hand casually on his hip as if to say 'how was that?'
"Aomine-kun!" Momoi nudged him in the ribs to make some kind of response. Aomine inclined his head cockily, then raised his hands as if to clap along, but then at the last moment, he raised one hand and patted it to his mouth to cover a dramatic, fake yawn. He saw the aggression light up in Kagami's eyes and smirked to himself as the redhead gritted his teeth and grumbled something to Kuroko –probably about him.
"Don't tease him," Momoi scolded with a giggle, "I know you were secretly impressed." She'd seen the way Aomine's eyes widened as Kagami flew –but knew he'd never admit it out loud.
Seirin really quit dragging their feet in the second half of the game. Fewer of their passes were stolen, and Kagami appeared more determined than ever –at least determined to not screw up. Riko had to chuckle to herself as they lined up at the end of the match, having won by a substantial margin. Maybe it was good to have Aomine around to give Kagami even more of an incentive to prove himself.
"Momoi-san, are you two joining us for a celebratory dinner?" she inquired brightly as she spied the cute, pink-haired girl wandering over with her friend slouching along behind her.
"Of course," Momoi replied in delight, "Where are we going?"
"Kagami-kun's cooking," Riko replied with a chuckle.
"HUH? What? Said who?" Kagami exclaimed as the team headed back to the bench.
" –Well, I could always whip up a –"
"No! No, Coach, don't trouble yourself!" Hyuga immediately interjected, "I'm sure Kagami would love to cook for us!"
"Yeah," Kagami replied with a wince as the rest of the team quickly urged him to agree to it before they were subjected to another round of their Coach's god-awful cooking. "Sure…I'm sure I can do something…I'll have to get some groceries on the way home though."
"No problem," Riko tittered with a smile.
"You cook?" Aomine remarked sceptically.
"He does," Kuroko answered before an offended Kagami could blurt anything out, "He's very good." Aomine raised an eyebrow and shrugged noncommittally. Kagami's eyebrow twitched in annoyance and he straightened up; regarding his rival coolly.
"…What did I tell you…" Momoi hissed and Aomine's shoulders slumped in resignation.
"You uhh…" he muttered, Satsuki having told him to compliment Kagami when they went over to say hi. Kagami raised an eyebrow; surprised by Aomine averting his eyes in –was that embarrassment? Was he about to say something nice?
"…You didn't suck as much as you usually do."
Kuroko saw the storm rising in his partner's red eyes and hurriedly yanked Kagami's feet out from under him so that he slammed down onto the ground dramatically –thus avoiding him throttling his supposed-boyfriend.
It had been one week since Aomine and Kagami had reluctantly agreed to this charade. Well, agreed was a strong word. They just hadn't protested against it. Considering that the most interaction they'd had in that time was them having burgers together and getting their picture taken, Riko and Momoi had met and decided that to hurry things along, it might be good for them to be seen together a bit more -hence the little trip to the practice game.
"Admit it, that last dunk I did was awesome," Kagami boasted as the Seirin team headed back to his apartment after what should have been a quick shopping trip to get some more groceries. They'd lost Kuroko and Nigou in the aisles, and Aomine had refused to help until Kagami had ever-so-impolitely informed him that unless he helped, he wouldn't be getting fed.
"Stupid…useless…" Kagami had grumbled to himself at the counter, with Aomine trailing behind him.
" –Oi, Kagami –can you buy me a drink?" he called out rudely. Kagami's eyebrow twitched.
"…If you actually help me carry the groceries," he replied with a sigh.
"We'll see," Aomine snickered, but grabbed a drink nonetheless.
" –Difficult boyfriend?" the cashier had inquired.
"You have no idea," he had muttered in response.
So there they were, walking down the street in the fading rays of sunlight, all of them –including Aomine –carrying groceries along with them.
"Tch, I'd still crush you," Aomine snorted with a sigh, "But it was a little less boring, I guess." Momoi and Riko exchanged glances and sighed heavily.
"He was impressed, Kagamin," Momoi called out lightly, and Riko nodded approvingly at the slight fuelling of the fire that the other woman had decided to participate in. Aomine glared at her playfully and looked away.
"Hah!" Kagami smirked, shoving his face into the bluenette's personal space, "So you're getting a bit worried now, are you?"
"As if," Aomine snorted, turning to leer back at him, "The only one who can beat me is me," he repeated, as he usually did in these situations. Momoi glanced back over her shoulder and giggled to herself at the twin arrogant looks the boys were wearing on their faces. Aomine sure wasn't afraid to get all up in Kagami's business, but…
"Now, now," she remarked cheerfully, dropping back and walking between them, "We're all friends here, right?" She slipped a hand into Aomine's and her other into Kagami's. Aomine made an annoyed noise and stared stoically straight ahead. Kagami, however, at the contact, looked helplessly from Hyuga to Riko to Kuroko, his face turning steadily pink at the fact that there was a small, cute girl holding his hand in public.
"…Kagami's blushing…" Koganei giggled, and their ace tried to desperately fight down the blush by firmly looking away from Momoi, who wasn't letting go despite him trying to politely shake him off.
"Satsuki, quit it," Aomine snorted dully, "This is embarrassing."
"Why, Aomine-kun?" Momoi inquired lightly, "We're old friends! And Kagamin doesn't mind, does he?" Kagami was about to open his mouth to say that actually, he didn't often hold hands with girls, but then had the feeling that Aomine would mock the shit out of him for it…and therefore decided to suffer in silence. Riko raised an eyebrow, wondering what the other girl was up to. But then she saw that Momoi was subtly slowing down, and she giggled to herself. Oh this was going to be just too cute to miss!
"Kuroko-kun," Riko whispered, nudging him slightly, "Kise-kun is going to be very jealous that he missed this…"
"You know, I think you two should hang out more," Momoi was chatting kindly; the boys on either side of her pointedly staring straight ahead. "I think that maybe you might actually start to get along!"
"Like that'll ever happen," they deadpanned in unison, and then glared across at each other before scoffing and looking away.
"Why don't you give it a shot?" she suggested, "Do something together?"
"What, like play some one-on-one?" Kagami inquired hopefully -his voice laced with a touch of a challenge, and Aomine actually made a noise of agreement. Momoi smiled. Those two really did have basketball on the brain, didn't they?
"I think Momoi-san means like a date," Kuroko corrected. Kagami and Aomine just stared at him as if he was wearing something particularly nasty on his face. "In public, maybe?"
"I knew you'd get the idea, Tetsu-kun!" Momoi giggled. " –You could go shopping, or to a café…"
"Satsuki those are terrible ideas," Aomine snorted.
"Like I want to be alone with this guy," Kagami agreed flatly, suddenly realising that Momoi's hand had suddenly become a lot warmer. He found he didn't mind overly much, and found himself lacing their fingers together. That was at least a little more comfortable. A thumb softly rubbed against the skin of his hand.
"Well…" Kiyoshi frowned, "How about a double date?"
"Ugh," both aces protested flatly, currently oblivious to the fact that Momoi was no longer standing between them.
" –Who are you calling?" Hyuga suddenly asked Kuroko, who had pulled out his phone as they walked. Kagami looked over in interest.
"Midorima-kun," he replied simply, pressing the phone to his ear. They could all hear a, "What?" as Shutoku's shooting guard answered his phone.
"Hello, Midorima-kun," Kuroko commented politely.
"What do you want, Kuroko?" Midorima inquired haughtily.
"I was wondering if you would be interested in going on a date sometime this week…" Kuroko barely got to the end of his sentence before discovering that Midorima had hung up on him. He frowned at his phone and turned around to shrug at Momoi, who was quite cheerfully trailing along behind Aomine and Kagami. Unbeknownst to them, as she held their hands, she had secretly pulled them closer together until she was able to exchange her hands for theirs.
So yes, Aomine Daiki and Kagami Taiga were walking down the street, holding hands, albeit reluctantly, and not knowing it was with each other.
Kuroko hit redial and dropped back a little to meet with Momoi.
"Kuroko, I am not –" Midorima snorted irritably.
"Midorin!" Momoi called out excitedly, "It's so nice to hear from you! I'm here with Tetsu-kun! How are you! How is Takao-kun!" Again there was a dramatic click as Midorima hung up on them.
"What are you trying to do?" Hyuga raised an eyebrow.
"I thought that Midorima-kun and Takao-kun would make a good double date for Aomine-kun and Kagami-kun," Kuroko admitted with a shrug.
"Midorima and Takao?" Kagami snorted, "Are you kidding me?"
"Give me the photo, Tetsu," Aomine muttered distantly, "Satsuki, hold this." Momoi giggled to herself as she took the bag of groceries he was holding and he redialled Midorima –completely oblivious.
" –If you're going to –"
"Midorima, it's me." There was a long pause, but Midorima didn't hang up.
"Aomine?"
"You and the hawk-eye, huh?" Aomine drawled conversationally, "Can't say I'm surprised…"
"You and Kagami?" Midorima shot back flatly, "Can't say I'm surprised." Aomine rolled his eyes. "And I'm not with that idiot –what are you all calling me about?"
"Tetsu wanted to set up a double date," he replied distantly, "You free this week?"
"I am not dating that –" Midorima protested, and in the background, there was a, "Shin-chan! Who's on the phone?" There was what sounded like a scuffle, followed by a, "Takao! Give that back!"
"Kuroko! Hi there!" Takao called out from the other end of the line.
"It's Aomine," Touou's ace corrected and Takao let out a low whistle.
"Ooh, I'm honoured," he giggled, "What's Shin-chan not wanting to do?"
"Double date with me and Kagami," he informed him unenthusiastically, "Are you two free sometime this week?" A muted, "Shin-chan, we've been invited on a double date with Aomine and Kagami! Doesn't that sound like fun?" was heard, followed by a flat, "No," as a response from Midorima.
"Are we free this week?" Takao continued.
"No. Go if you like, but I am going on no date."
"He says 'sure thing'," the mischievous point guard informed Aomine brightly, "Friday? Great!" He laughed, "He's just sulking because his horoscope was bad today. And you and Kagami, really? Can't say I'm surprised. This'll be fun!"
"No it will not, because I will not be going," Midorima could be heard complaining in the background.
"What do you mean, you can't say you're surprised?" Aomine demanded crossly, but Takao was signing off with a teasing, "Shin-chan will call you!" and hung up to the sounds of a struggle for Midorima to reclaim his phone.
"Friday," Aomine muttered, handing the phone back to Kuroko and then looking over to Momoi walking beside him happily carrying the groceries. He blinked and looked down at her hands (both occupied), before gripping a bit tighter on the hand that was currently linked with his.
"Oh yeah," Momoi remarked sweetly, as the tightened grip on his hand attracted Kagami's attention, "…You guys have been holding hands for about four blocks now." Aomine and Kagami looked at each other in horror, and then down at their laced fingers; instantly recoiling and forcefully tucking them into their pockets as the rest of the Seirin team laughed and cooed over how cute it was. Kagami refused to look at the bluenette, because he knew that once again, he was blushing. And now his hand was cold –missing the warm of Aomine's skin. How the hell hadn't he noticed Momoi swapping them?
"…You sure get embarrassed a lot," Aomine drawled mockingly, looking over at him.
"I do not!" Kagami defended crossly, looking away.
"Really?" he mused with a smirk, sidling closer and sticking his face almost up against Kagami's neck, "What about now?"
"Get away," Kagami sniffed, pushing him away with his shoulder.
" –And I always thought Midorima was the resident tsundere," Kiyoshi remarked conversationally.
"He's not part of our team, so it doesn't count!" Hyuga snapped at him, at the same time as Kagami growled, "I'm not being tsundere, I just don't like him!" and stomped on ahead.
Kagami was rather happily working in the kitchen of his apartment with Mitobe –since he was able to cook quite well and knew what he was doing. The rest of the team was sprawled out on the couch or playing a board game –and Hyuga and Izuki were ensuring that Riko made no attempt to enter the kitchen.
"Eh, Kagami, I'm hungry," Aomine complained, stalking into the kitchen like he owned the place and picking out a piece of meat from the stir-fry that Kagami was currently finishing off.
"Oi, quit it," he snapped irritably as Aomine stuck it in his mouth and chewed it approvingly.
"Mmm, it's good," he remarked in surprise, reaching forwards and picking out a piece of broccoli, "Give me some more…" To his annoyance, Aomine leaned over, using Kagami's shoulder as a support, and started picking out bits of the stir-fry with his hands.
"Ahomine!" Kagami snapped crossly, and turned to face the other ace, whose mouth was full and his eyes strangely glinting with mischief. He swallowed dramatically and licked his lips before helping himself again. The redhead suddenly became conscious of Aomine's weight resting against half of his back.
"Piss off," he snorted, shrugging him off, "It's almost ready. Grab some plates."
"Ugh, but it's so much work…" Aomine complained childishly, and went instead to sling himself down on the couch beside Kuroko. Kagami glowered at him crossly, and Mitobe patted his shoulder reassuringly to calm him down.
Finally, everyone was seated with their food, and they dug in ravenously. The apartment was quickly filled with delighted praise of Kagami's cooking, and no one protested when Kagami flicked a basketball game on the TV.
"So we really have to go on a date?" Kagami complained to Riko and Hyuga, who were sitting on the opposite side of the table. He didn't know how he'd managed to end up with Aomine beside him.
"It's a double date. You'll be fine," Riko waved away his complaints, "After all, I'm sure you've had dates before –just treat them like that –" She suddenly stopped as Kagami choked on his mouthful slightly and had to cough dramatically several times and right himself. She and Momoi exchanged glances and let out twin squeaks, indicating that they thought that was adorable. Kagami slouched sulkily as he continued with his meal.
"I never found occasion, okay?" he snapped, when it became obvious that they were all suddenly very interested in his love-life –or lack thereof. He glanced sideways at Aomine and saw that he was smirking into his glass of water. "Hey, just coz I'm not a man-whore!"
"Who said I'm a man whore?" Aomine snorted with a quirked eyebrow, "I enjoy a nice set of boobs –what can I say? You, however, never expressed a preference." Oh he really enjoyed that thoroughly embarrassed look that Kagami was wearing once more.
"Of course I'm into girls!" he snapped crossly; roughly elbowing Aomine in the side. The bluenette glared and then smirked; slinging an arm around his shoulder condescendingly.
"Great. Then when this is all over, I'll help you find a nice girl, so you can lose your V's," he drawled and was rewarded with Kagami wearing a look that indicated that he wished he'd died when he'd started choking earlier on. Everyone was politely not looking at him. He pushed Aomine's arm away from him and glared up into his eyes. The entire room chuckled to themselves as they recognised the death-glare and acknowledged the sparks flying between them.
"Kagamin, that was delicious!" Momoi complimented as Kiyoshi, Koganei and Izuki cleared away the plates and headed in to do the washing up, since Kagami had put in the effort to cook for all of them. "Aomine-kun!"
"…Yeah, it was good…" Aomine muttered sleepily, slumping down onto the couch and putting his feet up in Kagami's lap. The redhead grimaced and pushed him off.
" –Do you have any concept of personal space?" he growled crossly; swinging his legs up onto the couch to remind him that this was his house. Apparently this didn't bother Aomine, who just pushed him away –which started what could've turned into a brawl if Momoi hadn't tugged on Aomine's shirt and Kuroko hadn't jabbed Kagami in the stomach.
"Share," the pair of them advised, Kuroko calmly, and Momoi in a heavy sigh.
So it was that Riko returned from the bathroom to discover that Aomine and Kagami were both sprawled on the couch looking rather disgruntled and comedic –each having been allocated an exact half of the couch by Kuroko and Momoi, who had served as the mediators. She giggled to herself, trying not to look too amused at how they were both too big for their halves of the couch and had to ball up –Kagami tucking his knees up to his chin.
"Crisis averted," Kuroko informed her calmly and she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good," she admitted, "I thought I heard yelling."
"I texted Kise-kun and told him that they were holding hands, too," Kuroko commented with a small smile, and held up his phone to show her the response.
I CAN'T BELIEVE I MISSED IT! KUROKOCCHI SEND ME PICTURES! I BET IT WAS SUPER CUTE!
"Oi, keep your toes on your side," Kagami growled flatly.
"Tch," Aomine scoffed.
"I made you dinner, Ahomine!"
" –So? I ate it for you?"
"Am I meant to be thankful?" Kagami snapped.
"Something like that," he snorted obnoxiously. Momoi and the rest of the Seirin team all looked at each other helplessly at the childishness of the pair of them. Maybe sending them out in public together –practically unsupervised –was a bad idea…
"…These two plus Midorima," Hyuga remarked with a sigh, "…I already feel sorry for Takao." There were half a dozen nods of agreement.
"That's the last time I cook for you," Kagami scoffed aggressively; folding his arms like a child.
"Fine. I didn't want you to."
Aomine and Kagami can really be children, can't they? Aomine likes riling up our dearest Kagami. How will Takao and Midorima survive -and what happened with the two of them after what happened at the Christmas party? Can the aces of Touou and Seirin manage to keep up appearances unmonitored by their babysitters?
Hope you enjoyed!
xx K
