Well, well, I must say, I am astonished that this story has reached this length. This chapter here was actually one of the first that I thought of! I also give so many thanks to you all who have reviewed; the story has evolved and grown thanks to you *smiles*
The next day…
"Tch…maybe you're actually improving…" Aomine drawled as Wakamatsu dangled from the hoop after a particularly aggressive dunk. Wakamatsu peered back over his shoulder in shock and promptly fell to his ass on the floor with shock at his ace actually saying something that sounded like a compliment. He stared up at Imayoshi and Sakurai to make sure that he hadn't just been imagining things. From the way that Imayoshi's mouth was gaping and how Sakurai had physically dropped the ball he'd been holding, it appeared that he'd made no mistake.
"Clumsy," Aomine scoffed, stalking past and picking up the ball Sakurai had dropped. He reached out a tanned hand and the shooting guard pulled back with fear plastered across his face. Aomine just quirked an eyebrow in confusion, and just patted Sakurai's head with a remark of, "…You're usually less of a klutz…"
Imayoshi didn't know whether to laugh at how Sakurai looked like he was visibly about to cry, or be stunned by Aomine's suddenly very strange demeanour. He just stood there, speechless, as Aomine accepted a pass from Susa, and began jogging down the court with a strange vigour in his steps. Momoi also appeared to be absolutely bamboozled as to what was wrong.
"Is he broken?" Wakamatsu inquired flatly, "Where's the real Aomine?"
"What's going on?" Imayoshi whispered, suddenly hearing his phone start ringing. He headed over to get it and was a little surprised to find that it was Seirin's captain. Would wonders never cease? "Hyuga?" he answered in confusion, wondering why he was getting a call. Momoi's phone started ringing as well.
" –Something's wrong with Kagami," was Hyuga's opening line.
"Hah? What kind of wrong?" Imayoshi asked curiously.
"…Well not wrong so much as…he's…" Hyuga struggled for the word, "…Acting weird…" Imayoshi raised an eyebrow and looked out to the court to see where Aomine was almost –almost smiling.
"Funny that you should say that," he commented, "…We have an unusually happy ace ourselves." There was silence from the other end of the line, "Why are you calling me?" From the look on Momoi's face, it seemed as though it was Kuroko on the other end of the line. So when Kagami was acting weird, Seirin's reflex was to call Touou?
In their defence…it make sense.
"…We were wondering if you guys knew anything about it…" Hyuga remarked dryly, in a tone that Imayoshi knew indicated that his coach had demanded that he call. "Kagami's…" He held away the phone, and Imayoshi caught snatches of the overly enthusiastic cries of Kagami in the background. Even from down the line, he could hear the good mood radiating from his voice.
"…I suppose it's no coincidence that we have two aces in surprisingly good moods," he deadpanned. "We don't know anything about ours. It's scary, actually. Sakurai practically fainted when Aomine patted him on the head."
"An understandable reaction," Hyuga snorted as Imayoshi paused, having an interesting thought.
"…Kagami isn't walking unusually, is he? Having trouble jumping?" There was a long silence as apparently Hyuga surveyed Kagami's gait.
"Nope; normal…why?" he replied.
"…Ahh, well safe to say that's out of the question," Imayoshi commented lightly and Hyuga made a choking noise as he understood the reason behind his question.
"You don't honestly think they would?" he spluttered in a hiss, sounding a little flustered.
"…Honestly couldn't say," he replied conversationally, glancing across to where Aomine seemed perfectly at ease with tossing a ball with Sakurai. Sakurai looked considerably less comfortable with the situation. "…Though I believe that if it had happened, we would all be well aware…" Hyuga coughed awkwardly and he chuckled, "My, Hyuga, am I making you uncomfortable?"
"Shut up," Seirin's captain snapped back; obviously embarrassed by the turn of the conversation. "Okay…uhh…call me if you hear anything…"
"Can I call you even if I don't?" Imayoshi teased.
"No." Hyuga hung up and Imayoshi chuckled to himself as he chucked his phone back in his bag; wandering over to where Momoi was still on the phone.
"Takao-kun?" she commented, apparently having hung up with Kuroko once it was apparent that neither of them knew the cause of the mysterious good mood their pair of aces seemed to be in. "Hi! How is Midorin this afternoon?"
"Cranky," Takao replied with a chuckle as he sat on the bench with his phone, while watching the rest of his team practicing, "Didn't get enough sleep last night. I don't know what he's complaining about –it's his own fault…"
"Takao, how many times have I told you –" Midorima sniffed crossly.
" –Also, the coach isn't letting him have any more selfish actions today," he added sheepishly, "Apparently 'temporarily incapacitating me' counts as all three." Momoi's cheeks flushed scarlet in understanding as Takao squawked at having a basketball tossed at his face. Midorima's own face had turned a little pink and Otsubo had just facepalmed at the trouble with having the pair of them as a couple.
"On the topic of moods…" Momoi added, when she had managed to get her blush under control, "…We're all a little confused because Aomine-kun and Kagamin are in really good moods today."
"Really?" Takao inquired curiously, pondering this information, "Well, I did run into Kagami this morning…he said something about Aomine staying over…" Momoi let out a delighted squeal and then clamped a hand over her mouth to try and stifle subsequent squeals. It didn't work. "…Which I thought was strange –Kagami spent like three hours complaining about him last night."
"Tetsu-kun did say that Kagamin did turn up to his house in a bad mood last night…" Momoi mused, "I wonder what Aomine-kun did…"
"That's what we said. He had his Aomine face on."
"Ohh…" she remarked in understanding, before glancing over to where Aomine was giving her a suspicious look –drawn by her squealing.
"…They were meant to hang out, but Aomine ditched him," Takao explained, "…Kagami was pretty disappointed." Momoi's heart went out to the poor guy. That Ahomine! Taking Kagamin for granted like that! She glared over at him crossly –not that he knew what he was receiving such a glare for. " –But yeah, when I saw Kagami, he seemed in a better mood, I guess. You say Aomine is too?"
"Aomine-kun is playing catch with Sakurai-kun." Takao paused a moment to mull over this news.
"…Are you sure it's the real Aomine?"
"…Well, not entirely," she admitted with a giggle, "Ahh, thank you, Takao-kun! We were all so curious…Take care! And I hope Midorin doesn't make you pull the cart today!" Takao just made a disbelieving noise in farewell as she hung up. She looked over to Aomine again, where he was actually trading jibes with Wakamatsu. He might not realise it, but his voice sounded so happy, and that smile was back in his eyes. She wondered what had happened.
Currently, all of Seirin was wondering much the same thing.
Kagami had walked into practice with practically a skip in his step. He was grinning like a maniac and laughing as he played. His plays were fiercer, his temperament a lot less hot-headed and he'd even greeted Nigou without running away. Even when Riko had announced double drills, he'd just agreed that they needed the practice.
They'd held a team meeting while he was in the bathroom. Izuki had put money on it being about Aomine. Koganei had wondered if something had happened to Aomine. Riko wondered if something had happened with Aomine. Hyuga had been elected to call Touou to investigate. It was all good and well that their ace was in a good mood, but according to Kuroko, he'd been in a foul temper with his not-boyfriend the previous night, so this was a dramatic turnaround.
"What's up, guys?" he inquired cheerfully as Hyuga and Kuroko hung up their phones and exchanged shrugs.
"…Arranging a practice match with Touou," Hyuga lied.
"Yes," Kuroko agreed immediately. Kagami's grin widened.
"Sounds great," he replied, and his two teammates glanced at each other when they noticed the small blush that rose to Kagami's cheeks. Hyuga nudged Kuroko pointedly.
"Ahh, Kagami-kun," the phantom remarked, "…You seem in a good mood today."
"Do I?" Kagami commented in surprise, scratching his chin awkwardly. "…I just got a really good sleep, I suppose, is all…" Kuroko raised an eyebrow and felt his phone vibrate. He flipped it open and read the text from Momoi.
Mystery solved! Aomine-kun stayed over last night.
Wordlessly, and his face giving away nothing, he held out the text to Hyuga. Their captain, to his credit, tried very hard to keep his composure, but Kagami noticed him behaving unusually.
"What was that?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Practice game on Tuesday," Kuroko replied quickly, and Hyuga let out a short breath as Kagami seemed to accept this. Thank god for Kuroko sometimes…
Apparently his curiosity over the phone calls sated, Kagami just turned and headed back to practice. Hyuga couldn't help but cock his head, wondering if his way of running was any different from usual.
"Kuroko…does Kagami look like he's limping at all?"
"…Not at all," Kuroko replied with a raised eyebrow, "Why –oh…" Having understood, Kuroko now turned to peer after Kagami, intently staring at his lower half and debating about whether or not he was going to have to correct his statement. But no, Kagami was not limping.
"Maybe you should call Imayoshi-san and ask about Aomine-kun," Kuroko advised quietly.
"…I think he implied that Aomine was fine –uhh, Kuroko…your nose is bleeding again…"
Earlier that morning…
Kagami had been rather rudely awakened by his alarm clock going off. Still groggy with sleep, he'd leaned over and slammed a hand down on it to shut it up, only to feel something constrict around him with the movement.
He was so comfortable and warm that for a moment, he'd barely noticed, just snuggling deeper into the covers. It was as he did so that he became aware that there was something warm and solid pressed up against his back. He wriggled experimentally, wondering if his bed had shrunk in the night, but all that happened was that he felt a soft breath against his neck, and something strong tugging him back against the 'wall' behind him.
Blinking blearily, he glanced back over his shoulder, and came nose-to-nose with Aomine Daiki, whose face was the picture of sleeping content. His red eyes had batted fiercely, trying to process this information while his brain struggled to wake. He managed to push his blankets down a little, and discovered that there was a tanned arm slung almost possessively around him; Aomine's hand tucked neatly underneath his shirt, against the contours of his abdomen.
Kagami's mouth felt a little dry and somehow couldn't find his voice. If he'd managed to make any kind of noise, he was relatively sure he'd be yelling in shock. But instead, he just wriggled again to try and free himself. He felt Aomine frown into the skin of the back of his neck, and the bluenette made a disgruntled noise.
"…Five more minutes…" he mumbled sleepily, his hand sliding up Kagami's chest under his shirt to better tug him back against his chest. Kagami's breath hitched as Aomine's fingers accidentally brushed over one of his nipples. It was almost like the dozing Aomine had heard this sound because he let out an approving rumble and nuzzled up against Kagami's neck.
The redhead was a little torn between panicking and getting comfortable. He was certainly already very comfortable and nice and warm –he kind of liked this. If he hadn't been panicking quite so much, and if this wasn't one of those things they were never going to talk about, he might've mocked Aomine for being such a snuggler.
God, Aomine was spooning him and he really wasn't protesting. In fact, he had half a mind to go back to sleep. The warm, deep breaths on his neck were soothing and in the back of his mind he decided he could get used to this.
But his alarm had gone off…And he wasn't gonna let Aomine catch him condoning this whole snuggling kind of thing. Without a doubt, he'd be the one to get blamed, despite the fact that Aomine was the one with his hand up his shirt…Okay, his body was starting to react to Aomine's touch; time to get up.
Even a sleeping Aomine was a strong one, Kagami found out rather quickly, as he tried to pry away the arm that bound him to the other ace's chest. Eventually, he managed to work his fingers between Aomine's and get him to release his chest –only to wind up with a vice-like grip on his hand. By the time he'd managed to disentangle himself, he was sweating.
God, he was lucky that Aomine hadn't hooked a leg over him. He probably never would've escaped.
…He didn't like that that thought made him a little disappointed.
His warmth gone, Aomine let out a disgruntled growl, rolling over into the space that Kagami had left, and promptly buried his face into the pillow that the redhead had been using with a sleepy mewl. Kagami couldn't help but clamp a hand over his mouth as his eyes softened. If he hadn't already gotten over his anger at Aomine, that probably would've done it.
Resisting the ridiculous urge to get back in bed, Kagami stalked off to shower, taking some clothes with him as he went. He kept it brief –to discourage his thoughts (and hands) from wandering, and when he was done, peeked into his room to see if Aomine was still there.
He was still fast asleep. Should he wake him up? Meh, it wasn't a school day. He was only getting up because he had some things to do in town before practice this afternoon. So, leaving Aomine hugging a pillow with his face buried in the other, he went to the kitchen to make some breakfast.
While he was fixing breakfast, he mulled over last night.
He'd arrived home from Kuroko's past one am –not regretting staying out late in the slightest. It had been worth it to hear Takao's gaming mouth and seeing Midorima rage-quit when Kuroko kept stealing his kills –and then deny it. He was pretty glad he'd started hanging out with those guys. How had that even happened again?
Anyway, he'd been exhausted but assured Kuroko that he was fine to walk home. When he'd gotten back to his apartment, the light in the kitchen had been on, so he'd gone to investigate. What he'd found was a set of dirty dishes that he didn't recall leaving –and since the front door had still been locked, he could only conclude that Aomine had been there.
That anger that had been dulled by Takao's sense of humour and Kuroko beating Midorima in a shooting game suddenly flared back to life. Kagami had noted that the food eaten had been some of what he had intended for he and Aomine, and this made him annoyed. The bastard hadn't shown up, ditched him for girls, not come after him, let himself into his apartment, eaten his food and left a mess! Damn him!
Huffing in annoyance, he cleaned up the dishes as he was used to, and switched off the light. It was as he approached his bedroom door that he became aware that there was the sound of light snoring come from inside.
He pushed the door open slightly, and lo and behold, there was Aomine Daiki, propped up against the headboard with one of his basketball magazines; fast asleep.
Kagami wanted to punch him. After all that, and he had the nerve to crash on his bed?
But something stopped him from going over there and rather rudely pushing him to the floor. He noticed that Aomine was sitting on his bed, and not sprawled under the blankets. His shoes were still on –how many fucking times had he told him about shoes on the furniture –and the magazine was still open in his lap, as though he'd fallen asleep reading it. His phone was open beside him –like he'd been expecting a call.
His rage wilted.
Had Aomine waited up for him?
"Ahomine?" Kagami queried flatly. The ace on the bed just let out a small snore and fidgeted in his sleep. Kagami gritted his teeth and obligingly kicked his door back so that it hit the wall with a fierce thud. Aomine's eyes jolted open with a start and a sleepy, "I…just…resting my eyes…" After a few seconds, he seemed to realise who had woken him.
"…Ahh…Kagami?" he yawned.
"…Yeah," Kagami snorted, folding his arms, "I live here, bastard, remember? What are you doing here?" Ignoring him, Aomine tossed aside the magazine and stretched, inquiring, "What time is it?"
"Past one. Why are you in my apartment?" Kagami demanded as Aomine just shrugged noncommittally and stalked past to head back to the living room; flicking the lights on. "How long have you been here?"
"Dunno…since you ran away crying…"
"…Since I…I was not crying!" he snapped defensively.
"Might as well have been…"
"Like hell I was!"
"But you were pissed," Aomine pointed out in a bored tone, "Weren't you?" He was headed for the kitchen. Kagami followed; annoyed to have to be trailing around his house after Aomine. He caught him eyeing the fridge for leftovers, and obligingly slammed the appliance door shut.
"I told you," Kagami sniffed, leaning against the fridge so that Aomine would give him a straight answer and stop stealing his food. The bluenette just quirked a disbelieving eyebrow at him.
"Hah? Oh, that bullshit about staging a fight?" he snorted, "What a joke." Realising that Kagami was seriously not going to move from the fridge, he just tucked his hands in his pockets and sauntered towards the doorway back to the living room. "…If you'd planned something, you should've just told me." Kagami flushed with embarrassment.
"I –I don't know what you're talking about," he sniffed.
"…Teriyaki…" Aomine mused aloud, and Kagami gritted his teeth in embarrassment at being found out like this. "Sure, not in burger form but…" He glanced back over his shoulder and saw that Kagami was rather pointedly refusing to look him in the eye. Kagami refused to accept that he was blushing again. So he knew what Aomine's favourite food was, so what? So the meal he'd decided to cook for them happened to run along those lines, so what? Jeez, stop blushing, cheeks!
"…It was good…" He only just managed to catch that mumbled compliment because he'd just realised what Aomine had said before.
"You were here for over three hours?" he exclaimed incredulously. Aomine shot him a dark look and shrugged noncommittally again, "Why? I told you I was going to Kuroko's."
"I knew you'd be back." Kagami blinked in astonishment as the other ace slung himself down on the couch and closed his eyes, "…Turn the light off…" he demanded blearily; obviously having no intention of walking home at this time of night. Instead of obeying, he just stared for a moment, not sure what he was feeling. A few hours ago –hell, a few minutes ago –he'd been super pissed at the guy…but now he found him waiting up for him to come home, and complimenting his food?
Had he really been there since their weird fight? What about those girls?
"You're an idiot," he snorted crossly, walking past the uncomfortable-looking Aomine. "…We're meant to be together; why would you go being seen in public getting cosy with a bunch of girls?"
"Nothing happened."
"…Didn't look that way," he grumbled, but he saw Aomine's eyes snap open defiantly –almost angrily.
"I said, nothing happened," he repeated, his voice dropping dangerously, "Tch, not like anything would. Those girls were annoying as all hell."
"Then why were you with them?" Kagami remarked dryly, "…You seemed to be enjoying yourself. Why ditch them and come here?"
"…They were boring," Aomine drawled with a yawn.
"…So you came here to sit by yourself for nearly four hours?" Kagami deadpanned and then raised an eyebrow in understanding, with his voice adopting a quizzical tone, "…Is this you apologising?"
"Tch…what would I be apologising for?" the bluenette scoffed flatly. "You weren't mad." Kagami almost laughed. He was so right. Aomine sitting up, waiting for him; that was his unsaid apology for not showing up. He'd known he was angry, so he'd ditched the girls and come to his apartment to wait for him to get home. Kagami felt a soft flutter in his chest at that knowledge. True, it was getting on towards two in the morning and they were obviously tired –so hanging out now was pointless…but he supposed that it was the thought that counted.
Especially when such thoughts were pretty rare when it came to Aomine.
"Yeah, exactly," he clarified with a sniff, "I wasn't mad, and you're not sorry."
"Glad we understand each other," Aomine snorted flatly. Again, Kagami resisted the urge to laugh, and just shook his head in exasperation. The pair of them were just ridiculous sometimes. But his anger had died, so he headed back to his room to get changed.
But his bed just looked too inviting to resist flopping down on it for a moment. He was tired because of the hour and from the walk home, so he took relief in being off his feet for a moment; burying his face in the pillows.
His bed smelled like Aomine. Without even really realising, he took in a deep breath and closed his eyes contentedly as drank in that familiar scent. The blankets were still warm from where he had been lounging.
It was then that he noticed that Aomine's phone was still sitting on his bed. Kagami grabbed it to give it back to the bastard, and saw that there were dozens of unread messages sitting there –he recognised girls' names. Knowing he shouldn't be prying, but unable to help himself, he scrolled down through them. They were asking him where he went; what was wrong; why wasn't he answering his phone…
The earliest one was from quarter to ten. God, he was telling the truth too…
He snapped the phone shut, butterflies beating in his stomach and for some reason unable to stop grinning like some kind of idiot. At least he had the restraint to not bury his face in the pillows again, because god was that chick-flick cliché, and he knew what it meant when girls reacted like that. Instead, he leapt off the bed, grabbing his pyjamas as he did so.
"Ahomine, you left your phone…" he hollered out into the living room, flicking on the lights and nearly bursting out laughing at how ridiculous Aomine looked trying to sleep on his couch. He was too long for it, and didn't look comfortable in the slightest. Annoyed eyes glared up at him for apparently ruining his attempt to sleep. Kagami paused a moment and swallowed, glancing back into his room for a moment and gauging the size of his bed.
"…Tch, you don't have to sleep on the couch," he remarked in what he hoped was a casual tone, "I don't wanna hear you whinging about being sore tomorrow…My bed's big enough for both of us." He thought he heard Aomine scoff, but just tossed his phone to land on him and headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Once he'd finished getting ready for bed, he blearily stumbled to his room to find Aomine already lounging in his bed –thankfully fully clothed.
"Coming?" Aomine remarked, rolling onto his stomach and tucking his arms up under his pillow. Kagami almost stumbled at the combination of question and the fact that his brain couldn't stop thinking: Aomine is waiting for you in bed; Aomine is waiting for you in bed. "Problem?"
"No," Kagami snorted, flicking the lights off and becoming immediately relieved that he couldn't see Aomine's face. He clambered into bed almost tentatively –hyperaware of the body on the other side of the bed. He curled up facing away from Aomine and closed his eyes, desperately willing himself to sleep. He'd thought that he'd have trouble with that –a person he was attracted to lying in the same bed as him, and everything…
But somehow, he quickly found himself drifting off to sleep, finding the presence, and the comforting, deep breathing of Aomine strangely soothing.
So as Kagami had made breakfast, he'd found himself blushing at how comfortably he'd accepted Aomine into his bed, and how kind of loath he'd been to leave it. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the shower going.
" –I'm borrowing your clothes," a voice had declared from the doorway not long after, and he'd looked up and practically dropped his spatula when he'd seen Aomine standing there buckling up his pants –Kagami's pants it appeared –shirtless and still slightly damp from his shower. Finishing with his pants, he ran a hand back through his hair and scratched the back of his head with a yawn as he stalked into the kitchen. Kagami scoffed to hide the fact that he was trying to keep his eyes off the other ace's chest, and stared intently at the frying pan in front of him.
"Scrambled," Aomine commented disinterestedly as he headed to get a drink from the fridge.
"What?" Kagami inquired flatly.
"…I want my eggs scrambled," he explained, taking a swig of milk straight from the carton despite the number of times Kagami had told him to quit it.
"Who said you're getting any?" the redhead scoffed, looking over and catching him in the act of sculling milk like a savage, "Jeez, get a glass; not fucking hard…"
"Quit your nagging…" he droned lazily, putting the milk back in the fridge as Kagami rolled his eyes and continued cooking.
He felt a presence behind him, and knew that Aomine had approached him. A hand planted itself firmly on the bench on one side of him, and he felt warm breath on the back of his neck as Aomine leaned over his shoulder. Kagami's breath quickened slightly, feeling the accidental brush of a nose against his skin. And suddenly, he found himself hoping that in a few seconds, he was going to feel the soft warmth of lips against his cheek.
In that moment there, he didn't fantasize about Aomine grabbing him and pinning him to the bench by his hips. Instead, he found himself all-too easily imagining a just-showered Aomine appearing in the doorway –probably complaining. He'd wander into the kitchen and make some kind of rude remark; sculling milk from the carton just to piss him off. But then as Kagami would mutter mutinously, Aomine would come up behind him and wrap his arms around his waist; kissing him on the cheek as a morning greeting. He'd reach over as he did so to steal a piece of bacon; before retreating to their room –their room –to finish getting his clothes…munching on his stolen food…
Almost expectantly, Kagami found himself turning his cheek invitingly.
But the kiss never came.
Instead, Aomine just chuckled lowly, hand snaking out past Kagami to snatch a piece of bacon from the frying pan and sticking it between his front teeth with a wicked look as if to say, 'what are you going to do about it?' He pulled back, chewing approvingly.
"…Oi, bastard –I'm not making you breakfast," Kagami snapped; suddenly jolted back to reality by Aomine rather smugly reaching for another piece as he chewed on the first. The redhead's cheeks flamed in embarrassment, letting him just take the damn morsel as long as he was allowed to turn back to the oven in shame to curse his imagination.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Jeez, it was one thing to have fantasies about Aomine…but that kind of sappy fantasy? Ugh, he probably would've been happier with one of the other kind…
"…Scrambled…" Aomine reminded him in his ear and he damn near swatted him with the spatula. He would've fucking deserved it.
Kagami ended up making scrambled eggs to go with bacon and sausages, and grudgingly heading over the couch to hand a plate to Aomine. Without even realising, when he'd gotten everything from the fridge, he'd automatically picked out ingredients for two people, despite being unused to such a thing.
Aomine grunted some kind of phrase that he chose to interpret as a 'thank you' rather than the 'about time' that it probably was. Then, as Kagami leaned down over the couch to hand him his meal, he had that same kind of slip from reality, and found himself imagining that as he leaned over, Aomine leaned up and pressed a kiss against his cheek.
Cheeks heating up at the thought, he dumped himself on the couch and Aomine obligingly swung his feet up into his lap. Kagami glared at him, but simply shifted until he was comfortable. No, no, he didn't want any kind of sweet gestures like that from Aomine! But obviously, he kind of did. And that made him very uncomfortable. Well, that, and the fact that those butterflies were back.
Ugh.
"What's the face for?" Aomine droned as he flicked on the TV like he owned the place.
"Nothing," Kagami assured him with a shrug as he started eating his breakfast as well as he could with his plate balanced on Aomine's ankles. "I'm going out soon," he added, wondering at how easy this was; waking up together.
"…I should probably go home…" Aomine muttered with a shrug, "Mom's probably wondering why I didn't come home."
"Idiot! Why didn't you tell her where you were," he groaned.
"…I was hardly going to tell her 'staying at my boyfriend's house'," he snorted. Kagami spluttered but had to admit that that was a fair enough point. "…She's been fucking good about this so far but…" He shrugged noncommittally. Kagami chewed on his food thoughtfully. He didn't really know what Aomine's parents had thought about this whole thing. Personally, he'd gotten a call from his mom, who was rather tearful that she'd had to find out from social media that her baby was in a relationship, but happy for him nonetheless. There had been a bit of a scolding about the television incident, but apart from that, his parents had been cool. He was glad. He knew a lot of parents would've struggled.
After breakfast and watching some cartoons, Kagami cleaned up (because Aomine never cleaned up), while the other ace actually found a shirt. They'd left the apartment together –the brief fight the night before practically forgotten. Kagami couldn't explain it, but he just couldn't find it in him to stay angry. He was a little touched that Aomine had thought past himself to come see him last night –though in all fairness, he'd gotten a bed to sleep in, and breakfast made for him, and…
"Ahh, I'm headed this way," Aomine remarked with a shrug as they reached an intersection. Despite himself, Kagami had found himself having a rather pleasant morning. It had been cool to just hang out for a bit –aside from his weird brushes with insanity where he saw an alternate world in which Aomine was affectionate and he was okay with it.
"Yeah…see you later for some one-on-one?" he confirmed with a grin.
"Yeah, I'll call you," Aomine drawled with a shrug, and smirked. "The scrambled eggs were a little dry…"
"Well I'll be sure to remember that for next time," Kagami scoffed back mockingly with a roll of his eyes (not really realising what he was saying). Then, without thinking, he quickly leaned over and pressed his lips against Aomine's cheek; at the corner of his lips, before pulling back and turning to begin walking to town with a wave, "You sure can be a brat sometimes, Ahomine."
And with every step away he took, the more it dawned on him what he had just done. Refusing to look back, he clutched his mouth in astonishment. No, no this wasn't happening. He had not just given Aomine a goodbye kiss on the corner of a street as they parted ways. It didn't count; it didn't count!
It wasn't even on the lips! He hadn't even thought about it!
Oh god that made it so much worse! It had felt like such a natural movement that he'd barely noticed it was happening –hell, had he paused in conversation? Barely! Oh god…those daydreams –did they count as daydreams –this morning had totally made him space out. They had tricked him –that was the only explanation! He'd been imagining Aomine giving him sweet kisses and now he'd just…
No…they didn't do sweet. They couldn't do sweet. 'Sweet' went beyond just physical attraction…It was… it was sweet! It was cute, and real, and Kagami wanted absolutely no part in it! He clutched at his hair in melodramatic agony. His stomach was aflutter and his chest felt tight…maybe he was sick…
Mortified beyond belief, the redhead snuck a quick glance back over his shoulder.
Aomine was still standing there on the street corner; hand fingers lightly brushing the spot that Kagami's lips had touched. His eyes were wide in what seemed like shock, but when he saw the redhead glance back, he just blinked away the look and turned his back with an indifferent shrug.
Feeling like some little schoolgirl, Kagami quickly turned to face the front again, unable to keep a smile from crossing his face despite how embarrassed he was by his actions. This was the weirdest morning ever. And yet he was smiling. It was also not the weirdest morning ever. It should've been weird –should've felt weird…but it hadn't; which, in itself, should have made him thoroughly uncomfortable and put him in a bad mood.
And yet he was smiling.
And he didn't want to admit that part of that, might have been because as he had turned away just then, he'd seen that Aomine was too.
"What's going on, Satsuki?" Aomine inquired curiously as he wandered over, casually dribbling a basketball during a break. He almost thanked Sakurai for bringing him his water bottle. "Was that Tetsu on the phone?"
"Um…yeah," she replied brightly, "We…we're having a practice game with Seirin on Tuesday." She saw that Aomine was secretly pleased but trying to hide it –not that he succeeded all that well with the grin already in his eyes. Currently he seemed to be having enough trouble struggling to keep it off his lips. "Ah, Aomine-kun; you seem in a good mood today."
"Hah?" he remarked with a quirked eyebrow, and then just shrugged, where he usually would've scoffed at her for saying such a thing, "…Just been…a good morning…is all…"
God sometimes they are too cute for their own good. Or my sanity. At this rate, their friends may need to stage an intervention. Though, it appears that Kagami is slowly figuring things out. Oh so slowly.
And next chapter? "The thoughts of Aomine Daiki" -yup, it's finally time to see what's been going through his mind since "The Bath Incident".
On another note... really want to put a lemon in... really don't want to have the whole story removed. See the dilemma? If I played it safe and posted the lemon itself on a different site, would that be acceptable? Just wondering...
See you next chapter, hope you enjoyed
xx K