Notes: Apologies for another belated update. I don't even have a good excuse, really. I've just been spending every free minute playing Final Fantasy XV and Digimon: Cyber Sleuth (the latter of which I recently completed!)

That being said, please feel free to badger/guilt me into writing! As long as you're not super negative (not like I think any of you would be!), I don't mind at all. Might be just what's needed to get my butt in gear.

ANYway, we've got bigger news than my awful time management skills! We've hit 200 reviews! Can you believe it? I'm so, so pleased and happy and excited and a thousand other positive ~feelings~ and most of all, I'm grateful, so thank you! This milestone was a big motivator for finishing this chapter, along with the lovely, lovely reviews lost in details has been gifting me. I'm just. So grateful. ;D

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basket.

LVII. July 23, 2012 - Monday

Noise. Loud and aggravating. It bursts into Shougo's slumber with little care, and it rouses not only his consciousness but a fuck ton of ire.

"Fuck off," he grumbles, stubbornly keeping his eyes closed and desperately reaching for the receding tendrils of sleep.

Someone makes an irritated sound next to him, and then they crawl over him to get out of bed, accidentally kneeing him in the gut as they do so.

Shougo grunts, and a monotone voice mutters, "Sorry."

Ugh. Tetsuya. Considering who it was, that was definitely on purpose.

Shougo flips him off, turning over and shuffling further under the cover. Whatever business of Tetsuya's is none of his concern, and it's certainly not more important than going back to sleep.

He manages a light doze for a while, and it's only broken by another loud, aggravating noise.

"Good morning, Haizakicchi~!" Ryouta sings, leaning over him like he has any right to be in Shougo's personal space or to bother him when it's ass-o-clock in the morning.

"Go 'way," Shougo demands, hoping rather futily that the clingiest person he's ever met will somehow listen to reason for once and leave him be.

He's right to worry.

"Fucking-!" Shougo curses, flailing about madly at the sudden lump of teenage boy snuggling up to him like a damn overgrown puppy.

His arms are trapped in the blanket, and Ryouta only laughs at Shougo's attempts to buck him off. "We have plans today, Haizakicchi~! Can't let you sleep the day away~!"

"You're not gonna have any plans fucking ever if you don't get the fuck off me right now," Shougo growls, meaning it a whole lot more than usual.

Literally no one is safe from his rage when he's just woken up. Even his mom and brother know to only bother him from the doorway. This fucker is about to learn that lesson the hard way.

"You sure are saying the word 'fuck' a lot when we're in such a comprimising position, Haizakicchi~!"

The threat doesn't register with Ryouta, and it takes Tetsuya stepping in and ticking Ryouta into submission for the flashy bastard to release him.

"S-stop, Kuro- kocchi! I- I give, I give!" He manages to say between gasping breaths and giggles.

He keeps wiggling around and batting Tetsuya's hands away, and he scream-laughs when Shougo joins in, intent on getting revenge.

Ryouta is - impossibly - ticklish everywhere, and his two hands do little stop the combined force of Shougo and Tetsuya.

By the time they do stop, Ryouta is curled up on the bed, hair mussed and face wet with tear tracks, trying to catch his breath.

"You - guys - are the - worst!" He groans, pouting.

Tetsuya shrugs, unconcerned. "I couldn't allow Haizaki-kun to murder you."

Ryouta grins, perking up. "Really?"

"Yes. It would be difficult to remove your blood from the sheets," Tetsuya explains, smiling as Ryouta deflates with another groan.

Shougo snorts. "Saw that coming." He's also sort of pleased Tetsuya kind of admitted Shougo could kick Ryouta's ass with no trouble. Obviously he knows it, but it's nice to have validation.

He shakes his head and gets back on track, eying Ryouta questioningly. "Why are you here anyway?"

Apparently recovered, Ryouta sits up and beams at him, revealing, "Oh? Didn't I say? We have plans today!"

"What plans?" Shougo asks, frowning. He never likes it when Ryouta gets that look on his face, and he doesn't remember making any plans today - other than chilling with Tetsuya - either.

"The beach," Tetsuya chimes in, and Shougo turns to look at him. "Each of our parents spoke on the phone and planned a day trip to the beach."

"What? Why?"

Nothing like this had happened before. Hell, he's not sure his mom ever contacted any other parents - unless it was to apologize on Shougo's behalf or to ask after damages and what they might cost. She was always cleaning up after him, and he never knew until Shion exploded at him one day (when their mom was so stressed she wasn't eating, and Shougo was staying out late every night picking fights), and the information just spilled out.

Reason number three thousand and seventy-two that Shougo is a dick.

But anyway, he's never done anything like this, and the only thing can come close is perhaps their school camping trips. It's weirdly nerve-wracking, straying so far from his original life-timeline-whatever, but it's... good, too. He should be doing new shit and trying new things. Clearly, the way he went about it the first time didn't go well.

This might just be a sign of progress, so despite the nerves, he's kind of excited.

He tunes back into the conversation and only just catches the tail end of Ryouta's explanation.

"-for our families to meet each other! Since we're so close, you know?" Ryouta says, winking at him. Shougo responds with a grimace.

"Whatever. When do we need to leave?" Shougo asks, standing up and stretching out the kinks in his back.

Ryouta stands up too, answering cheerily, "Five minutes ago. Nijimuracchi is waiting for us at the station, and we're going to meet up with Kagamicchi on the way there."

"Fuck," Shougo mutters. Nijimura's going? Ugh, just what he needed. A legit reason to be half-naked and wet around the guy who admitted to trying to... 'woo' him.

Ryouta grins, misinterpreting his troubled expression. "Yeah, so you might want to get dressed! Wouldn't want to keep them waiting, ne~?"

"I'm ready to go," Tetsuya says, appearing out of nowhere and scaring the shit out of them. He merely smiles a little smugly at their twin flinches.

Shougo rolls his eyes and starts searching for his clothes.

LVIII. July 23, 2012 - Monday

As promised, Nijimura is already there when they arrive at the crowded train station, leaning against the wall as they walk up to him, arms loaded with various beach-related items.

His eyes immediately stray to the new face in the group, and Kagami returns the assessing stare, not intimidated in the least. They'd spoken briefly about Nijimura to him, and Ryouta had supposedly mentioned Kagami to Nijimura on the phone, but this is the first time they're meeting in person.

Nijimura speaks up first. "Kagami, right? Heard you've been keeping these morons out of trouble. Thanks."

"The fuck-" / "Mean!"

Kagami smirks, adjusting the chair on his shoulder. "I heard you're the captain of two of these morons. That sucks, man."

"Hey!" / "Ouch."

"Heh." Nijimura huffs a laugh, lips curling up in amusement. "You have no idea." He then addresses the rest of them, pointing toward Kagami. "I like this one."

Shougo exhales heavily through his nose, and Ryouta snorts into his hand.

...Somehow, he's not even surprised.

LIX. July 23, 2012 - Monday

"This spot looks good," Ryouta tells them, glancing speculatively around a particular area like it's somehow better than the rest of this sandy hell or any of the other spots Shougo had argued were 'fucking good enough.'

The only difference is that it's a little closer to the water and further away from that one guy fishing over there. Which, he grudgingly has to admit, is an improvement. Like hell Shougo's swimming where a dude is gonna attract a fucking shark or something.

Still. Fucking finally.

Shougo promptly drops the umbrella and kicks his sandals off, and he slips free of his shirt in one smooth movement, heedless of the others around him setting up chairs and laying down towels and shit.

"You can put the- aaAAHHHH!" Ryouta fucking shouts once he turns toward Shougo, startling both him and Kagami, who whips his head around mid-step and stubs his toe on the cooler by accident.

Ignoring Kagami's muttered curses, Tetsuya's subsequent monotone concern, and Nijimura's amused snort, Shougo frowns at Ryouta, bewildered. "The hell, flashy bastard?"

He smiles nervously and rubs the back of his neck. "Hahaha, I uh- stepped on a crab, haha! Really surprised me," is Ryouta's lame ass explanation.

Shougo wonders if he should call him out on it, but he settles for simply eyeing him like the weirdo he is and then dismissing the strange moment with a shake of his head. "Whatever. Where's the sunscreen?"

"Here," Tetsuya pipes up, digging the bottle out of a bag and tossing it to him.

Shougo catches it with one hand, giving Tetsuya a nod in thanks, and then he starts methodically spraying it all over his exposed skin and rubbing it in.

The main factor in the hate bit of his love-hate relationship with the beach is the damn sunburn he somehow always gets - usually because he travels in and out of the water without ever remembering to add more lotion to replace the first layer.

Not this time, he promises himself, and then he immediately runs into a problem with the plan when he gets to his back. Shougo's pretty damn skilled, but even he can't spray his own back - not effectively anyway. He usually just has his mom or brother do it for him, but they're not here yet and won't be for another hour.

He glances back at the present company, considering.

Tetsuya is watching Kagami struggle to keep the umbrella from falling over, interjecting thinly veiled snide remarks here and there which Kagami returns with equal vigor.

Ryouta is off to the side, his back to Shougo as he fiddles uselessly with a chair, reclining it back and forth for whatever reason. Shougo can't be sure, but it looks like his ears are tinted red. ...Surely he can't be burning already?

And lastly, there's-

"Need help?" Nijimura asks, making Shougo jump out of his skin.

He yelps. "What the fuck, bastard?! You trying to emulate Tetsuya, you shitty captain?" Shougo shouts and rounds on the smirking teen with a scowl.

["I resent that," Tetsuya says and then pokes the umbrella Kagami has finally gotten to stand up by itself.

It promptly falls over, and Kagami and Tetsuya share a Look before Kagami lunges forward to tackle him in a fit of rage, only just missing when Tetsuya abuses his misdirection ability and steps to the side.

Kagami lands face-first on the ground, gracelessly, and Tetsuya squats down to poke him, telling him disapprovingly, "Even if you love the beach, you shouldn't eat sand, Kagami-kun."

"I hate you," Kagami groans, lying there and accepting his fate.

All of this goes unnoticed by a bickering Shougo and Nijimura and a despondent Ryouta muttering to himself about how he 'wasn't ready' over by his chair.]

"Says the shitty kouhai," Nijimura snarks, thumping Shougo on the forehead and probably leaving a red mark, the ass.

"Agh!" He rubs the sore spot, glaring, but as usual, it has absolutely no effect on this guy. "What do you want?"

Nijimura holds out a hand. "The sunscreen. I need to use it, but you're not done, right? Let me do it."

Shougo squints at him, suspicious. "Why?"

("Honestly, I still like you.")

The remembered words hit him like a punch to the gut, and he flushes, feeling suddenly exposed. "No thanks," he says tersely. Resisting the urge cover up, he looks over towards the others and calls out, "Hey, Tetsu-"

Suddenly, the bottle is snatched out of his hand, and he's being turned around before he can even think to react. The unbelievably cold spray on his back makes him jolt, but he obediently stays still, frowning resignedly.

...It's not like it's that big of a deal.

("I can try to convince you to change your mind.")

Shougo bites his lip and waits impatiently for Nijimura to finish, focusing on the unpleasant mix of cold and hot and the bits of sand already clinging to him like a fucking disease.

When a warm hand touches his shoulder blade, however, he ducks under it and whirls around with a sour expression.

"Didn't you need Kuroko for something?" is all that gets him. Nijimura hardly looks cowed. Smug, more than anything, making Shougo huff in irritation and look away.

"Whatever, bastard. Don't fucking touch me," Shougo orders, stretching around to rub his shoulders and what parts of his back he can reach without pulling something. He's deadly fucking serious about avoiding a fucking sunburn.

"Heh. You're awfully worked up, Haizaki. Might give someone the wrong impression," Nijimura muses idly, sharp, grey eyes focused on Shougo unerringly.

Might make someone think it's because of me, he doesn't say.

Shougo tenses, flustered and fucking agitated, torn between stifling the rising heat in his face and glaring bloody murder at Nijimura for the implication. In the end, he probably looks constipated, but he still hisses out through gritted teeth, "Shut the fuck up."

Nijimura chuckles, so at ease in this situation that it's insulting. It does nothing to cool his temper.

Two seconds before Shougo implodes from sheer emotion, Nijimura drops all indifference and condescension from his expression and instead smiles (what), nudging Shougo's suddenly slack face with the bottle of lotion.

"Make sure you put it on your face, too. Don't need my cute, little kouhai complaining about a sunburn during practice." His smile grows sharper, threatening, as he adds in a light tone, "And don't think you can use it as an excuse for skipping, either."

Shougo spends a long moment staring at his captain in consternation (fucking what) before he rolls his eyes and snorts, grabbing the damn sunscreen and grumbling, "Hard ass. Like I would."

He generously allows Nijimura to get away with the 'cute' comment, mostly because it's already been shoved under the metaphorical rug along with all the other things he doesn't want to question or think about ever. (Like how he got here, but no, no, he's not going there.)

He hastily does his face, too, and then he throws the bottle at Nijimura and stalks off towards the water - literally the only good part about the beach - before one of these idiots can mess him up even more. He's not supposed to be this easy to fuck with, damn it!

The water is fucking freezing, but then again, it always is. At least one thing's fucking constant. He drops down until his whole body is under, and he curses vehemently when he comes back up, futilely rubbing his arms and trying to work up some heat.

Stupid fucking wind. Stupid fucking beach. Hurry and warm up already, the fuck.

He keeps all but his head in the water, floating there and glaring at nothing like some wannabe crocodile, and he only barely turns to glance at the others joining him.

"Shit, it's cold," Kagami complains, wading out to Shougo with a grimace, the water only coming up to his waist.

Tetsuya, on the other hand, is shaking like a leaf and almost being swallowed by each wave. He looks longingly back at the shore. "M-maybe I should wait on the-"

"N-no, Kurokocchi! Y-you have to- have to stay with us!" Ryouta demands, teeth chattering and looking just as cold as he latches on to Tetsuya's arm.

"Somebody keep an eye on 'im. He'll probably try to sneak out when we're not looking." Nijimura is at the back of the group, seemingly not affected - but his wince at a particularly strong gust of wind gives him away.

None of them have looked his way, too busy bantering. A smirk pulls at Shougo's lips as an idea comes to him.

"I would never," Tetsuya lies through his teeth, and all present give him the look that deserves - thus, creating an opening.

While they're distracted, Shougo sinks below the water and swims over to a specific person, eyes stinging a little when he peeks to make sure he's close, and then he strikes, hooking his arms around both legs and pulling them up out of the water with him.

Nijimura makes a startled noise as he unceremoniously plummets backwards, eyes wide and surprised as he goes down with a humongous splash.

The rest of them are no better.

Ryouta gapes, and Tetsuya's poker face slips, the both of them awed and horrified (most likely thinking of the repercussions) and understandably speechless.

Kagami chuckles once he gets over his shock, and Shougo joins in, laughing the laugh of a man with nothing to lose - and a man who is entirely satisfied with his crime.

Nijimura resurfaces murderous and instantly launches himself at Shougo, coming up out of the water like a fucking torpedo, and he knocks Shougo full-body into the water in retribution.

Shougo sputters, gulping down air when he comes back up, and Ryouta is already at his side, patting his back sympathetically even as he grins.

He shakes off Ryouta and glares at Nijimura when he gets his bearings straight, miffed but still also completely unrepentant. It was totally fucking worth it.

"Don't give me that look. Shouldn't have dunked me first, you little brat." Nijimura rolls his eyes, brushing his wet hair back with a hand. "You forget I'm the one who decides your punishments?"

Shougo scoffs and crosses his arms. "You're letting the power go to your head, asshole."

Nijimura leans over and tugs at his hair, smirking with the promise of pain in his eyes. "Oh yeah? Maybe I should give you a real reason to think so. How about laps? Huh? Suicides, maybe? Wanna clean the locker room?" He gives another little tug to punctuate each word.

Shougo grits his teeth, clutching Nijimura's larger hand with both of his and glaring up at him defiantly. "You don't own me, bitch."

Kagami breaks into another fit of laughter, Nijimura's expression grows dark, and Shougo maybe sort of regrets that last remark. However, before Nijimura can kick his ass, a savior comes to his rescue.

A giant wave of water hits Nijimura from the side, completely soaking him again, and they both whirl around and regard the perpetrator with disbelief.

Ryouta smiles at them - although it looks more like a grimace - skin pale and hands raised non-threateningly. He laughs weakly. "Uh, I can explain?"

"Try me." Nijimura arches a challenging brow in a non-verbal 'you ain't got shit,' his lips twitching at the corners the only tell betraying his amusement.

Gulping audibly, Ryouta says, "I... didn't mean to?"

"Try again."

"I... knew you were a kind, forgiving soul who wouldn't murder me for it?"

Nijimura smirks, inching toward his prey like a damn predator. "Nope."

Panicking, Ryouta dodges behind the solid wall of muscle that is Kagami, yelling, "I was just trying to help Haizakicchi! Don't hurt me! I'm too good-looking to die! Take Kagamicchi instead!"

"Oi!" Kagami protests, scowling and trying to prevent Ryouta from using his body as a shield. "Bastard, he'd be doing the world a favor if he got rid of you!"

"I knew there was a reason I liked you," Nijimura says to Kagami as they both try to catch Ryouta, eliciting a smirk from their resident red head.

"Mean!" The idiot pouts, finally maneuvering around Kagami and Nijimura, but he bumps into an invisible wall (thus knocking said wall into the water) and is immediately apprehended by their esteemed captain.

He cries out as his head is mercilessly noogie'd. Kagami takes his revenge by jabbing Ryouta in the side while he's defenseless.

"Ow," the wall says, staring dispassionately at the sky as he floats on his back. His hair is sticking up wildly, despite him not even touching it.

Shougo takes it all in, unexpected rescue to deadly alliance to Tetsuya's monotone, very belated complaint, and then he laughs so hard he cries.

Every time he calms down, he remembers Ryouta's frightened face or Kagami's offense or Tetsuya's everything or Nijimura's utter shock when he fell, and it sets him off again.

What the fuck, he thinks through his tears, body shaking with each chuckle. What the fuck just happened.

When did his angsty redemption novel become a gag manga?

After an eternity - or a minute, probably - he regains his composure and straightens his back, gaze returning to his friends for the first time since he lost it.

They're still in the positions he last saw them, frozen in place.

Nijimura has his hand buried in Ryouta's hair and an arm around his neck, and subsequently, Ryouta is clearly still trapped.

Kagami's expression is surprisingly unreadable, and Tetsuya is merely sparing him a small smile.

All of them are fucking quiet and staring, though, which makes embarrassment coil in his gut.

"...What?" He asks, brows furrowing. S'not like he's never laughed before - in front of these guys, especially. He crosses his arms.

Ryouta blinks like a spell has just been broken, and he lights up like the fucking sun as he leaps out of Nijimura's arms and into Shougo's.

"You laugh with your whole body, Haizakicchi! That's so adorable~!" Ryouta tells him, using the buoyancy the water gives him to wrap his legs around Shougo's waist in a whole new level of strange clinginess.

Shougo scowls, futily trying to pry Ryouta from his person before giving up with a long, exasperated sigh. "Why do you have to make everything weird," he groans.

"It's entirely your fault," Ryouta says seriously. "If you weren't so cute and huggable-"

That's as far as he gets before Shougo tries to commit murder for the umpteenth time that day. He pushes the fucker down beneath the water and only stops when he's pulled off of Ryouta against his will.

What the fuck. What the fuck.

"Haha... Haizakicchi is adorable even when he's trying to drown me..." Ryouta declares way too happily, safe over by Tetsuya.

Nijimura and Kagami keep a strong hold on each arm, and Shougo snarls furiously, cheeks burning for reasons entirely unconnected to the hot sun.

"You asshole!"

Fuck it. Worst trip ever. Zero out of ten. Would not do again.

"Please stop antagonizing him, Kise-kun."

"Stay out of this, Tetsuya!"

"Haizaki, calm down."

Reluctantly, Shougo does calm down, but it has nothing to do with Nijimura using his Captain Voice and everything to do with the fact that he simply felt like it.

Ugh. Sure. And maybe Shougo actually is the twelve year old he's supposed to be, and all this time travel shit's in his head.

End Notes: this chapter was supposed to be super important and plotty, but instead here's stupid boys on the beach part 1.

NEW THING. here. have some trivia: [this and more can be found on my side-blog: trash-son-needs-love]

- Shion is the Japanese name for a type of flower [Aster tarticus], and the flower means "I won't forget you" or "remembrance"

- Yoshie means "good grace"

- Junko means "pure child"

Review Replies:

Xoxo - THANK YOU SO MUCH! ;D

kari - Thank you! I'm so happy to have converted another Haizaki fan - and another to the OTP!

Fire Bunny - Thank you~!

Guest 2 - Oh god, me too! I'm awful at comforting people. I just throw hugs and compliments and their favorite food or drinks at them until I get a smile. Not always effective!