A/N: I do not own the characters. Unbetaed. Hello everybody! It's me again. Good luck to all with their finals. Fortunately, I'm done, but there are last minute Christmas preparations I have to do. Thank you for the support and enjoy!
Aomine wakes up to the aroma of bananas, baked goods, and cooked meat. He rubs his eyes, scratching out the leftover sand from his slumber, and lazily lolls his head around to get the crook out of his neck. Incoherent nonsense spills from his lips as he opens his eyes.
He's confused. He's not in his room.
"Good morning, Taiga's soul mate!"
Though he has no qualms against waking up to a beautiful blonde in the morning, this is not what he expected. The woman he encountered last night is standing near the kitchen counter, wearing more than what she wore last night in the form of a pair of gray sweatpants and a striped tank top. She skips over to Aomine and pierces him with an overbearing gaze. She rubs her chin, making him more and more uncomfortable with each second.
After the evaluation, she claps her hands and squeals, "He's so cute!"
Aomine gives the strange woman a quizzical look, having difficulty translating her foreign words.
"Set up the table, Alex!" he hears from the kitchen.
Alex reverts back to Japanese. "But your soul mate's awake!" She makes her point by dragging him to the direction of Kagami's voice. He hears the crack of an egg and begins to salivate like a starving dog when he hears it sizzling.
Aomine lifts his head up to peer at what the chef is making but is unprepared to take in the heavenly sight of his boyfriend wearing a dark blue apron before him. It accentuates his curves, covering most of his clothes at the frontal view and leaving much room for the imagination. Unconsciously, Aomine makes a lewd smile and devises multiple ways to undress his soul mate, which subsequently gives him the chance to defile him.
He stops leering at that hot piece of ass, though, when Alex whistles and calls out to Kagami. "Hurry up, Taiga. Your soul mate is so hungry that he looks like he wants to eat you up."
Aomine blushes when Kagami stops concentrating on the food and turns his attention on him. "N-no I'm not," he immediately denies. He turns his head away. "Seeing him wearing that apron in such an unsexy way made me lose my appetite."
"Oh really?" Kagami stormily asks.
With a stoic expression, he plates the last omelet and hands it to Alex.
Laced with acrimony, he says, "Since you lost your appetite, I guess Alex and I have to finish-," he opens the oven door, "-this scrumptious batch of banana nut muffins all by ourselves." His tongue darts out and traces his lips, tempting Aomine even more.
Aomine widens his eyes to the size of dinner plates, amazed to see the golden, freshly baked muffins. He involuntarily waters over them and inwardly groans.
"Excuse me," Alex apologizes as she wedges in between the two boys. She opens a drawer and grabs a bunch of utensils and hands the silverware to Aomine.
"Put these on the table over there," she instructs him.
Then she turns to Kagami with mirth dancing in her eyes. She's happy to see Kagami acting like this and can't help but think that he is in good hands. It has been a while since she has seen him loosened up like this. If he's happy, she's happy.
"Forgive the poor guy. He was just being shy." She cajoles, "Besides, we both know you're adorable." Aomine snickers in the background.
The basketball player who retired years ago gives Kagami a wink and shamelessly smacks his butt. "Go on," she says. "Wash your hands. The food is getting cold."
"But the banana nut muffins-"
"-Can cool down while we eat," Alex finishes. "By the time I'm done cleaning this mess up, I better see your ass on that seat with your name on it. Do I make myself clear?"
If Kagami was a puppy, he would have folded his ears and bowed his head in resignation. "Fine," he answers.
"I like her," Aomine adds, "She's very cheeky."
Then Alex slaps Aomine's hand, which made him drop a half-eaten muffin.
"Wait for us and say thanks, ungrateful brat," she scolds.
"Never mind, I take that back."
"Oh my God," Aomine moans.
With the intention to tease Kagami, he puts on an erotic show by languidly licking the remaining traces of his omelet on his fork. He smirks when he sees the sheer horror written across his soul mate's face. A vein pops out as Aomine's moans increase with each bite. Unable to gape any longer, Kagami switches his attention to Alex, dreading her reaction.
Things are getting out of hand.
Even though Alex does not typically judge a book by its cover, Kagami really wants her to have a good impression of Aomine, but with the nonexistent effort Aomine is putting, it is most likely going down the drain.
Alex is at the brink of spitting her food all over the table. There are tears in her eyes. This is the most hilarious scenario she has ever seen. She covers her mouth, resisting the urge to laugh as Aomine takes another bite. He convulses in ecstasy as he savors the variety of flavors violating his taste buds.
A glass of water is passed to her, and it is a godsend.
"Here," Kagami says.
She downs it in one drink. "Thank you," she sighs with relief.
"I'm sorry about his… table manners," Kagami euphemizes.
"Nah, it's cool." Alex grins and is beaming with pride. "He's a keeper," she remarks.
Kagami chomps on an omelet. He uses the courtesy to not speak with his mouth open as an excuse to not speak. However, he owes her answers, especially since she was merciful enough to spare him these questions last night.
Alex puts her elbow on the table and rests her cheek on her hand. She asks, "So how did you two meet?"
Aomine instantly stops making obscene noises. Both boys choke on a piece of cooked kale from their omelet, with Kagami pounding on his chest and Aomine desperately grabbing the nearest glass of water. There is hacking and coughing and other gross sounds from the two idiots, so Alex gives them a minute. Once they stopped gasping for air, there is only complete silence.
Then Kagami and Aomine silently communicate each other with their eyebrows.
You tell her, Bakagami. She's your teacher.
No, she's clearly more interested in hearing from you, Ahomine.
This is your house. You go first.
No, you're the guest. You go.
No, you.
Aomine then kicks Kagami's shin, which marks the end of their telepathic argument and commences a whole new battle. Since he has the audacity to challenge him to footsies, Kagami retaliates and twists his foot in a certain angle until his heel bumps into where his Achilles tendon is, which hurts a fucking lot.
Aomine almost bites his tongue and hisses, "Motherf-"
"So Aomine, how did you meet Kagami?" Alex interrupts while emitting an angelic aura.
Aomine swallows down what he was going to say and pales when he senses Alex's bristling impatience beneath her pleasant face. He sweats, helplessly looking at Kagami for help.
The other rolls his eyes. "He challenged me to a one-on-one," he says.
"I did not ask for your input, Taiga," Alex snaps.
He shuts up.
"I'm sorry for his rudeness," she says to Aomine. "What were you saying?"
He wasn't saying anything.
It's ridiculous.
Why should he, the great and almighty prodigy Aomine Daiki, be nervous?
He is as cool as a cucumber with an ego as big as an elephant. He was the ace of Teikou. He is the ace of Touou. He is almost unstoppable, unbeatable. Yet, here he is, sweating like crazy over the perusing eyes of a mere woman.
He knows why. He doesn't want to admit it, but he knows. It's because of Kagami. It's always about Kagami. He's experiencing these feelings because of the dawning realization that this woman means a lot to him, and it's weird, feeling these feelings, because he never expected that they would come with the package of falling in love with his soul mate.
Then he jolts as he feels calloused hands overlapping his disgusting and sweaty hands. He looks down to see Kagami slowly melding their fingers together beneath the table and quietly appreciates the seating arrangement since Alex cannot see it. He feels fortunate that she's sitting across from them because he wants this privacy and this space for the two of them.
This unknown warmth blossoms in his chest and spreads throughout his core, and he can't stop it despite his attempt to quell it down. It worsens when he sees Kagami giving him this sickening, small smile as support.
He mouths something to him, but he can't lip read. However, he instinctively knows it's supposed to be a word of encouragement.
Some people may define love as sacrificing everything to the point that their entire life revolves around their loved one. For some, they may also view it as rescuing each other from a lonely life of solitude.
Indeed, some forms of love are twisted and just plain wrong. Love can be overrated. Some relationships have been too romanticized because of this.
On the other hand, love can be fulfilling to the soul. It can be subtle or obvious, straightforward or confusing.
To Aomine, he has seen many forms of love, but what he is sharing with Kagami speaks a thousand words. He doesn't know if this moment is born out of love, but it must have been because he is feeling as if the sun is shining on him, providing him something artificial light can't.
He meekly smiles and finally answers, "I challenged him to a one-on-one, and I won. We really didn't have a great start."
Alex nods to this, not surprised since she is aware of Kagami's reluctance to conform to society's expectations. She asks, "Then why would Kagami change his mind and date you?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I'm a pretty huge dick," he says with a straight face.
Alex snorts, not surprised with his answer. She looks to Kagami. "Why don't you tell us, Taiga?"
"What else can I say?" he shrugs. "I like dicks."
She gives a light laugh, not certain if he is referring to what she initially presumed or the other interpretation.
"Aside from that," he replies seriously this time, "he grows on you."
There is a tone of affection in his words, and though his answer is too ambiguous for her taste, Alex doesn't need a full-blown confession from him. After all, actions speak louder, and boy, there are more than she can count with her fingers and toes.
Therefore, she lets him off the hook and continues to fire off more questions to Aomine.
When did you kiss?
How was your first date?
Did you have sex?
What do you like most about him?
By the time they finished their meal, Aomine's head was spinning, but he managed to answer each charged question.
"I felt like I was investigated by the police," he complains.
Kagami lets go of his hand and praises, "You've done well. This means that she likes you."
"Tch."
"He's right," Alex says as she barges into their conversation, "You've passed the test."
"Yay…" he celebrates without enthusiasm. He rests his head on his folded arms.
"So," she switches to Kagami, "Are you ready to play against Tatsuya?"
In the midst of cleaning up, Kagami freezes while holding one plate. Aomine, unnerved by the eerie silence that follows, raises his head and sees his soul mate, frozen and petrified. He has never seen him this unresponsive before.
"Kagami?"
Kagami is saved thanks to the sound of his phone ringing. He quickly recollects himself, picks out his phone from his pocket, and identifies the caller ID.
"It's Coach," he explains hastily, "I have to pick this up."
He rushes to his room, which is the better environment, and avoids Alex's question by a hair.
"What was that about?"
Alex gathers the dirty dishes and places them inside the sink.
"You don't know about Tatsuya?" she asks.
"No."
Alex begins rinsing the dishes and fishes around the kitchen for a sponge and soap. "Tatsuya is another student of mine." She finds the hidden sponge and begins soaking it with water. "Technically, he's also Kagami's brother."
"He had a brother?"
She nods while scrubbing the forks and spoons. "They aren't blood brothers, but they are family nonetheless." She tosses a newly wrung towel to him. "He's going to play against Taiga in the next match."
He's in Murasakibara's team, he thinks.
"Then why did Kagami act like that earlier?"
"Taiga left America without resolving some issues," she says while he is roughly wiping the table squeaky clean.
He waits for a while longer until he hears the water stop running. Alex is drying her hands when she adds, "I don't know whose fault it is, but hopefully they can mend their relationship soon."
She opens a cabinet door and pulls out a packet of instant coffee. "Give them some time to sort things out. And please," she rips the packet open and dumps its content in her cup, "be by his side when he needs it."
Kagami returns from his phone call when Alex begins pouring hot water into her cup. He has a very sour face as if he just sucked on lemons, so Alex distracts him by mentioning his training for today, which instantly brightens his mood.
"Keep your eyes peeled for my new move, Aomine," he brags, "It'll knock your socks off."
Aomine is content with this domestic bliss. Nothing can go wrong, he thinks.
He hates it when he's wrong.
Aomine runs with the speed of a cheetah, running away from danger with fire hot on his heels. He runs and runs and runs until his lungs start burning for oxygen and his legs take him to an abandoned park. He bends over a bench, gasping for air, and his back shudders as a gust of wind tickles the nape of his neck.
He tries to push back this ugly, black feeling within him, but it's winning because deep inside the dark recesses of his mind, he knows he's not wrong. He knows he is right and Kagami is wrong.
However, all of those thoughts cease to exist when he hears a familiar voice.
"Hello there! Aren't you the young man who helped me a couple days ago?"
I would like to thank Shirouta, Sapphyre Lily, Absalon95, and Fantita. You are the fuel to my drive.