Aomine prowls around Kagami's apartment like a cat, perching on counters, draping herself over the couch, poking into the bedroom, sticking her head under his bed and demanding to know where his porn stash is. It's horrible and awful, and all Kagami can think is that Aomine's school skirt is incredibly short, and she doesn't wear those long socks that all the other girls that he knows do with their uniforms. She just has on ankle socks, snug around her feet, her sneakers kicked off in his doorway, and her skirt sits on top of all that exposed skin, riding up her thighs. She sits on his bed and says his mattress is nice, almost grudgingly, then goes for the sparse stacks of books and the more substantial stacks of sports magazines.
Kagami doesn't want to say that in one of those books are the pages of the magazine where Teikou's Generation of Miracles was featured, and the picture is of them in the Teikou basketball uniform, Aomine proud and defiant, staring straight at the camera secure in victory. He'd found it after she'd challenged him at the sports gym, putting history to the face she'd put to the name. Kuroko isn't even in that article. He doesn't have any excuse, except to claim that he has it for one of the other members of the team, and when he thinks about that he can almost feel Midorima's eyes boring holes into him and see the smile spreading across Kise's face. The other two are unthinkable. Even Aomine won't believe him, and if she does believe him about the first two, it's just as bad.
"I've got- biscuits," he says, and points over his shoulder to the kitchen, where it's safe. Where there's nothing for Aomine to find out about him, except that he cooks and cleans. That can only be a plus.
"Biscuits?" says Aomine, turning her head up to him, unimpressed.
"Look, get the fuck out of my room," snaps Kagami. "What are you doing in a guy's room, anyway? Stop poking around."
Aomine sniffs and stands up, muttering to herself about how Momoi lets her do anything she wants, and Ryou, and Imayoshi-san.
"Is that let you," says Kagami, unable to banish the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach, coiling under his lungs, "Or unable to stop you?"
"What's the difference," says Aomine, pausing on her way out, right up against him in the door, face close enough that her breath is warm on his face. He hasn't had a girl look him in the face like this for a long time, and Aomine's face is creased up with annoying him, and she's so close, and they're all alone.
"Lots," he manages to say.
Aomine makes a face, and, just to prove he can't stop her, dives into the other room and bounces on that bed too. Alex yelps, Aomine curses, and they tumble off the bed in a tangle of skin and sheets and too much skin for any sixteen year old boy to rightly have to bear. It's like fucking girls gone wild in his apartment, except Alex, and except Aomine.
Kagami thinks about shouting at Alex, I thought you were going sightseeing with Tatsuya, but he really doesn't want the attendant conversation about bringing a girl to his empty apartment right now, at all, ever. Already Aomine is making stifled, disbelieving noises as they untangle themselves from the sheets. Alex is beginning to coo and Alex still doesn't have a shirt on, and why can't Alex lock the door when she's sleeping and why didn't he check that she was out?
Kagami retreats to the kitchen and digs out the biscuits. It's going to be a long evening.
.0.
(Continued later as a separate ficlet, but chronologically these follow each other)
Kagami opened the door onto Tatsuya's smiling face and fought the urge to promptly close it again. Instead he pointed silently to Aomine and Alex curled up on his couch sniggering to each other.
"She wanted to meet another one," said Tatsuya apologetically.
"Oh god another one," said Kagami, as Murasakibara stared at Tatsuya until he bent over and yanked at the laces of her shoes so she could toe them off, carrying what appeared to be a metric ton of snacks. Some of these she put to the side, glaring at Kagami like he was going to touch it, but some Tatsuya unearthed and made a great show of presenting to Kagami. "She has the best taste," he confided. "We got a bunch of great deals."
"Stop enjoying this," said Kagami, making a face at him.
"You've got a nice place," said Tatsuya, and smiled, a little sly and a little sweet, and Kagami was pretty damn glad they were friends again, if they'd ever stopped.
"Mine-chin," said Murasakibara.
"Yo," said Aomine, tucking herself to the side of the couch. Alex beamed up at Murasakibara and bounced up with excitement, going to the boys.
"Boys," said Alex tenderly, hands on both their shoulders. "I'll admit, I didn't expect this, but good job."
"What do you mean, good job," said Kagami.
"They're fine women," she said, face completely straight. "You'll both have wonderful basketball babies with them."
"Alex," tutted Tatsuya, a mild smile on his face. "We're just teammates." He paused. "What's Taiga's excuse?"
"Fuck you," said Kagami.
Alex laughed delightedly and swanned back to the couch, a girl on either arm.
"Really, though," said Tatsuya, looking at Aomine, who was pretty enough, he supposed. Still, Murasakibara's Teikou stories had been eye-openers. "I guess I can pretty much pin your taste now. Tall, dark, good-looking, good at basketball, terrible person."
"You're not a terrible person," said Kagami automatically, before realizing that Tatsuya had trapped him again. "You don't get to lecture me about taste in women. When you were ten you were going to marry Alex."
"When you were ten," said Tatsuya, "You were going to marry me."
"Worst two and half seconds of my life," said Kagami, talking of a crush that had lasted a whole two and a half months, a lifetime. Tatsuya had been horrible to be in love with. He was also sort of horrible to be friends with, but Kagami was used to him now.
Aomine was watching him and Himuro talk with slightly narrowed eyes, she'd noticed him at the Yousen game and Murasakibara liked him, but that was no help at all; Murasakibara liked anyone who would scatter snacks into her lap. He tilted his head up to Kagami's, conspiratorial, intimate. They whispered to each other like best friends. His basketball was beautiful, even she would admit that. He'd made a shot and the breath had paused in the mouths of the entire stadium, following the lines of his limbs. Kagami had looked at him, that time, as though this person who loved basketball was breaking his heart.
That was sort of the problem with Kagami, really, same as Kise. They were kind of idiots about basketball. Kind of idiots anywhere.
She looked at the back of his neck as he moved. They were going to play basketball later. That would be nice.
.0.
"Kuroko and Momoi are on their way up," said Kagami. "Where's Aomine?"
"She went back into your room," said Alex.
"You couldn't have stopped her?" said Kagami.
"Six foot four and in peak physical condition?" said Alex. "I'd like to see you try."
"You're six feet tall and you once hit a drug dealer so hard there's still blood spatter on that court," said Kagami.
"That was different," said Alex, primly.
"Have you been having fun with Alex?" said Tatsuya to Murasakibara.
"I guess," she said. "You two talk a lot, though."
"We've been friends for a long time," Tatsuya said. "Like you and Aomine-san, right?"
"Maybe," said Murasakibara. "Mine-chin was having fun."
"I don't doubt it," said Tatsuya, as Aomine poked her head out Kagami's bedroom door and called, "Hey, the boxers in this drawer are clean, right?"
"Everything in a drawer is clea- GET OUT OF MY UNDERWEAR," roared Kagami.
Alex and Tatsuya dissolved into giggles. Murasakibara snickered into her potato sticks.
"We're here," said Kuroko, taking off her shoes as Momoi hung onto the wall, laughing so hard he was gasping for breath.
"….that wasn't what it sounded like," said Kagami.
"Aomine-san, we're here," called Kuroko.
"He's got boring underwear," said Aomine, mincing out of his room looking pleased with herself.
"Is that my shirt?" said Kagami.
"Yeah," said Aomine. "I'm not going to play in my uniform, obviously."
"Didn't you bring your own shirt?" said Momoi.
"It's a few days old," said Aomine without batting an eye. "This is marginally better." She sniffed the shirt. "It's clean."
"Of course it's CLEAN- are those my pants?" said Kagami.
Aomine looked down and said, "Of course not. That would be weird. You've got kind of wide hips for a guy."
"How is what NOT a weird comment?" he said.
"Look at Momoi," she said, pulling his shirt tight. "Skinny as a twig. Skinnier than Kise."
"Leave me and my hips out of this," said Momoi, batting her off.
They walked down to the outside court, bickering. Kagami could already imagine the dirty looks he was going to get the next time it was time to take out the recycling.
"How're we going to do this?" said Aomine, who hadn't let go of the ball all the way down the elevator, spinning it in Kagami's face. "Boys against girls? Me, Kuroko and Murasakibara?"
"Oh, no," said Kagami.
"Don't you want to be on a team with me?" said Tatsuya, in mock-indignation.
"It's being on the team against them that's the problem," said Kagami, making faces at him. "They'd beat us so bad it wouldn't even be embarrassing. It would just be sad."
"Whiner," said Aomine, and sparkled at them.
"Probably true," said Tatsuya, smiling up at Murasakibara. She crunched her crackers a touch sullenly.
"I have the solution," announced Alex. "Tatsuya, you're with me and Aomine-chan, and Taiga, you've got invisible girl and the one-girl basket wall."
"That's not a solution, that's just you deciding for us," said Kagami.
"I won't accept any objections," said Alex.
"I don't have a problem with it," said Tatsuya.
"You're not going to beat me anyway," said Aomine.
"Do I have to move?" said Murasakibara.
"Not unless you feel it's necessary," said Kuroko, patiently.
"It would very much please me if you did," said Tatsuya, beaming into her face.
"Do I have to stop eating?" said Murasakibara, after a few seconds of glaring into that face failed to produce any measurable effect.
"It's Aomine," said Momoi. Murasakibara sighed expressively and tipped the rest of the packet into her mouth, crumpling the wrapper and handing it to Kuroko, who took the three steps to the trash can and dropped it in.
"How the hell did she get away with just standing there all match, anyway?" said Kagami. "You guys put up with that?"
"She was on the same team with Aomine, Kichan and Midorin," said Momoi, as through that explained everything, and maybe it did.
"Momoi-kun will referee and score," Kuroko said.
Kagami considered Momoi stalking between their massive heights, whistle and basketball in hand, gleaming with satisfaction and good looks. "Touou's going to have amazing data on us and Yousen next year, aren't they," he said.
"Yes," said Kuroko. "But we need a referee."
"Kuroko-san's logic is unassailable," said Tatsuya. "Let's play some basketball."
.0.
Aomine had been right that Himuro's basketball was beautiful. But where she was wrong- or maybe, just not immediately aware- was that hers was beautiful too, or more beautiful, now that she laughed at the apex of a shot, now that she barged up to each of them, to all of them, bright and bold and grinning, because how fun was next year going to be? How great were they going to have it? Even Murasakibara moved and gasped and kept up on the court, Kuroko flaring and fading under their styles, Momoi glowing under the light like he hadn't been in almost a year, a kid all over again all of a sudden, watching her tear up the court with her amazingness.
And in the midst of it all, Kagami matching her move for move, deliriously, deliciously good, getting better, as though he could keep from getting better against her, with Kuroko. As though he'd ever be anything other than this, slamming past her with everything he had, everything he could muster, and always ready to give more.
.0.
"Taiga," said Aomine, sated and smug after the game, bubbling over with basketball. She tucked herself up on the counter, kicking her feet against it, leaning on the cabinet watching him try to figure out plates for seven people.
He looked at her. Tatsuya had taken on the work of keeping Murasakibara from eating the food while Kuroko was engaged keeping Momoi from making the food, and Alex had gone to shower, which meant she would be walking out naked any minute now, but Aomine had jumped at the chance first, and her hair stuck up now at weird angles because Kuroko had gone at her head with a towel before Momoi could get there with a comb.
"Yeah?" he said, absently, before he realized what she'd said.
"Hurry up," she said, and looked at him under her eyelashes, limp against the wall. "I'm hungry."
