He's not in the Zone, though he's somewhere on the edges of it. If he had to describe it, it's a little like being on the brink of an out of body experience – like his consciousness is slowly separating from his physical body. He knows he's moving but he's not sure how. Instinct's taking over, overpowering everything else. If he's sweating more than usual he doesn't know. Probably a bad thing, he could get scolded later, but he's not thinking about that right now. There's only the ball, and him, and the net. Everything else is starting to become a blur.
There's isn't any reason for him to try to enter it, they're winning by thirty points and there's only ten minutes left in the third quarter. But a part of Kagami yearns for the sensation of being at a hundred percent. He's not quite there yet, it's as if the door's been barricaded and even though he's throwing his whole body at it, he just rattles the hinges and no more than that. He wonders what he could be doing wrong.
"Stop thinking about it." Aomine's voice cuts into his concentration before he feels the other player bump into him from behind.
"Why aren't you marking number four?" Kagami growls.
"Cause he's given up." Aomine yawns "Anyway this game is in the bag, why the hell are you trying to get into the Zone?"
"How would you know that's what I'm trying to do? And it's an asshole move not to take your opponent seriously."
"The one who's given up is the one not taking this game seriously." Aomine clicks his tongue "And I know that you're trying to get in the Zone because you've got that constipated look on your face."
"Whatever." Kagami pushes him away "Don't talk to me right now, some of us are playing seriously."
"Boring." Aomine huffs, posture slack.
Kagami wants to scream at him to go guard number four again but he'd rather just focus on his own mark. He intends to give it his all. Aomine's right though, as much as he hates admitting it, the other team has given up. They're just giving this game bare minimum effort, some of them even less than that. It's frustrating.
Wakamatsu shouts his name, and Kagami reacts immediately, holding his hands out to receive the pass. Ever since the start of the game he's been passing almost exclusively to Kagami. He suspects that this is mostly because Wakamatsu's overjoyed that he doesn't need to pass to Aomine all the time anymore. Whatever the case, Kagami was definitely not complaining.
Just as his hands get a hold of the ball, he feels it getting pushed out of his grasp. He doesn't even have time to look at the hand that invaded his space to do it, Kagami immediately steps forward to take it again. But then a familiar figure dressed in what is definitely Touou's uniform scoops the ball up before he reaches it, and in the same movement, accelerates forward towards their goal.
"Aomine, what the F – " the sound of coach frantically shouting "time out!" and the referee's subsequent whistle blowing interrupts his outburst. It doesn't seem to have stopped Wakamatsu's enraged screaming though.
"Aomine-kun why did you do that!" Momoi screams as they approach the bench. Beside her Coach is rubbing his forehead like he has a headache, Kagami can relate.
"I can't fucking believe this." he growls, kicking the back of Aomine's legs "The hell d'you think you're doing asshole!?"
Aomine stumbles, it's incredibly gratifying.
"I have no idea what you're saying Taiga." he replies, glaring.
"What!?"
"Kagami-kun," Sakurai taps his arm "you're shouting in English."
"I–" Kagami takes a deep breath "Shit." he points at Aomine "You're an asshole. Do you understand me now?"
"How can you think in English, and still be failing in English."
"My grades have nothing to do with this! Stop trying to change the subject!" Kagami growls "And I know for a fact that you're failing Japanese you bastard."
"Now now," Imayoshi comes between them raising his hands in a placating gesture "I'm sure Aomine has an explanation."
"Captain!" Wakamatsu shouts indignantly. "What could he possibly –"
"I said an explanation Wakamatsu, not a good explanation." he turns to Aomine "Well?"
"Taiga was spacing out cause he's being an idiot, it seemed like the thing to do." Aomine shrugs "It's not like it's against the rules."
"I'm the idiot!?" Kagami shouts, just as Wakamatsu and Momoi shriek "It seemed like the thing to do!?"
"Stop." Coach holds up a hand, the other is still massaging his forehead. "Aomine-kun, I know that you want to compete with Kagami-kun but this is just–" he sighs "Don't do it again."
"If you say so." Aomine says, in a tone that is distressingly neutral.
"This bastard," Kagami thinks "he knows we can't keep him out of every game so he'll probably do it again."
From the looks on everyone's faces, they definitely aren't buying Aomine's words either.
"You know we won't win against the rest of your old teammates if we don't work together right?" says Kagami.
"I will win, I don't know about you though."
"Why you –"
"Let's just file back onto court shall we?" Imayoshi pushes them both forward.
"Pass the ball to me alright?" says Aomine, addressing them all.
"You don't deserve to be selfish after that you bastard!" Kagami shouts "Pass it to me!"
"Don't worry Kagami," says Wakamatsu "We're definitely not passing to that, right Sakurai?"
"I'm sorry!" says Sakurai, which Kagami can tell is really just code for "Please don't drag me into this."
Aomine's eyes narrow "What are you implying?"
Wakamatsu crosses his arms "I meant what I said."
"Children," says Imayoshi "it's time for basketball, not bickering."
Kagami has the feeling that their captain is secretly enjoying this.
Aomine behaves himself for the rest of the game, relatively speaking. He doesn't do anything completely insane at least, which is enough. Kagami is embarrassed to admit that they both spent all of the fourth quarter shouting "Pass it to me!", but he'll be damned if he'd let Aomine get what he wants after a stunt like that.
"You'll all be hated if you keep doing this. It just looks like you aren't taking the other team seriously." Momoi tells in him once they're at their locker room "I thought you would be mature enough to aim for teamwork Kagami-kun."
"What, and just let Aomine do what he wants? There's a limit to what we should let him get away with."
"I'm not disagreeing with you but there was a lot of 'me, me, me!' out there and honestly it's disrupting the team's tempo, if we were against a stronger team..."
"You're right," Kagami sighs "Sorry. I was going on about Aomine being an asshole but I guess I was kind of an ass to our opponents too for going on like that in the last quarter. Honestly didn't realize what I was doing at the time."
"Well you get easily carried away with Aomine-kun around."
"I do not."
"Denying it doesn't make it any less true Kagami-kun." Kagami squawks "But please, try to do something about it. We've got two more games to win before the semi-finals, you think you can improve your teamwork by then?"
"Well, it's all up to Aomine." he grunts "Why are you talking to me anyway? Shouldn't you talk to Imayoshi-senpai? If this is a teamwork issue I mean."
"We both know that you two are becoming the central pillars of this team, if you worked together everything would fall into place, the team would be... well, invincible."
Kagami grunts "No such thing as an invincible team."
"You know what I mean, just try to be the bigger person next time and leave the sermons to the rest of us alright?"
"I don't need to try."
Momoi giggles "Well that's true. You're getting better at insulting him by the way."
"I don't need to try at that either." Kagami snorts. "He's probably gonna crash at my house again so I'll talk to him, don't worry."
"Thank you." Momoi nods "Wait," her eyes widen "again? Is there something you're not telling me Kagami-kun?"
"Uh," he turns away from her "no?"
Momoi narrows her eyes, but before she can say something Aomine butts in to say "How long are you two going to talk?"
"Right," says Kagami, lifting his bag by it's strap "let's get to the bus."
He moves to get up, but is stopped by Momoi's firm grip. She squeezes his arm and gives him a stern look. "Text me about it later." she says.
Kagami sighs, but gives her a little nod.
Satisfied, Momoi let's him go.
The ride back to Touou is torture because he's not only forced to sit next to Aomine, but he's also forced to sit across Wakamatsu. Neither of them would shut up at all, and Captain Imayoshi – that bastard – just laughed about it all the way to their school.
Sometimes Kagami hates this team.
"Hey," Aomine says as they step down the bus "I'm staying over at your house today, told my mom about it already."
"Are you just never going to ask me in advance? What if it wasn't a good time for me?"
"Please," Aomine snorts "there's nothing going on in your life aside from basketball."
"Shut up!" Kagami snarls "That's not true!"
"Sure, that's why you've got nothing but basketball magazines at your house. And that one fashion magazine but I'm not sure you're the one who bought that."
"Who the hell else would buy it? And I don't want to hear this crap form a guy who practically breathes basketball."
Aomine waves a hand "I've got other hobbies."
"Like what?"
"Boobs."
"I–" Kagami splutters "I can't believe you can say that with a straight face."
"You're the only guy I know who couldn't say it with a straight face."
"I'm pretty sure I'm not. Not everyone is a perverted idiot like you."
"I'm not the one who's failing English." Aomine smirks.
Kagami glares "Why the hell do you keep bringing that up!? Maybe I shouldn't let you come over anymore."
Someone clears their throat, Kagami turns to find Imayoshi grinning at them "This is really starting to sound like a lovers' spat so maybe you two could stop blocking the way and take this somewhere private?"
"Kagami don't date this guy." Wakamatsu adds "Do you seriously want to be stuck with him for the rest of your life?"
"I think that's marriage Wakamatsu-kun." says Momoi, who's visibly suppressing the urge to giggle.
"Maybe that would improve their teamwork." Imayoshi remarks idly.
Kagami doesn't want to think about how red he must be right now "As if I – Shut up!" he adjusts the strap of his bag on his shoulder, an unnecessary action, which he was sure showed how uncomfortable he was. He had to get out of here before his body language revealed any more than he wanted it to "I'm going home!"
If his teammates say anything more after that, Kagami doesn't hear it. The sound of his heartbeat was loud in his own ears and the heat spreading throughout his body made it hard to concentrate. The pace of his steps are brisk, fraught with the obvious intent to get the hell away from everyone and quick.
He didn't immediately notice Aomine trailing behind him, but he was a presence that was hard to miss and even harder to ignore. He's obnoxious, loud, and all all around asshat, honestly, Kagami has no idea what he even sees in –
He shakes his head. That was... getting dangerous. He didn't want to go there, or maybe it was more accurate to say he wasn't ready to go there. Not yet.
Kagami can hear Aomine jog up to him. He tries not to watch as he matches his pace. Neither of them are saying anything. He's pretty sure Aomine's thinking about something. He's not sure he wants to know.
"Hey," Aomine bumps shoulders with him "what's for dinner?"
"Whatever's in my fridge I guess." he replies with a shrug.
Aomine's doesn't say anything for a moment, "Wanna just go grab some burgers?" he asks, voice unsure, cautious.
It's the first time Kagami's ever heard him sound like that. Slowly, he turns to look at him "Are you paying?"
"For my own burger yeah."
He's not meeting Kagami's eyes, but it doesn't seem like he's joking.
"Alright," Kagami says slowly "but I'm really not paying for your ok?"
Aomine rolls his eyes "I already said I'd pay for my own food. Now come on," he hauls Kagami by the arm "if we're getting burgers then we're going the wrong way."
Kagami allows himself to be dragged forward. Aomine's grip isn't painful anyway, and it's pleasant to see him take initiative in something that isn't annoying for once. Of course, it would be good if he could channel this into basketball, but he'll take what he can for now.
Aomine's quiet, it would be alarming if weren't also being pushy, but as it was, it just felt nice. Different, but nice.
"But just what is he thinking about?" Kagami wonders.
When they get to Maji Burger Aomine pushes him down onto a seat in the first empty table they see. Kagami makes a noise of protest, but Aomine just pats his shoulder and walks towards the counter. Weird.
Taking only his wallet and his phone (leaving his bag to save their seat), Kagami lines up behind Aomine to order his own food. He overhears Aomine ordering three Teriyaki burgers, two colas, and ten cheeseburgers. He's never known him to eat this much.
"This is just getting weirder and weirder." he thinks.
The cashier gives Aomine a look before taking his money and giving him a number. Aomine grabs the number without taking the tray and then grabs Kagami's arm for the second time that night.
"Hey!" Kagami shouts "What the hell I was going to order something!"
"I did it for you." says Aomine. He pushes Kagami into his seat then plops down across him.
"You said you'd only be paying for your own food."
Aomine shrugs "I said I'd be paying for my own burger, never said anything about not paying for yours."
That didn't even make any sense. "Did you do something?"
"Why would you think that?" Aomine raises an eyebrow "My mom found out about you so she gave me some money."
"What do you mean she found out about me?" Kagami screeches, several heads turn to look at them, annoyed. He lowers his voice "What's there to find out about? What did you tell her?"
"Geez, don't get agitated," Aomine huffs "I just said that you've been cooking lunch for me, and she said I should treat you to something."
"Oh," Kagami leans back "well... tell her I said thank you."
"You're welcome."
"I'm saying thank you to her not you."
"Was she the one who bought you those burgers?"
"It was her money!"
"So I guess I should be calling your parents then cause I'm pretty sure you used their money too."
"Well why don't you!" Kagami slams his hand on the table "Let's call them on skype at my house, you better thank them on your knees you bastard."
Aomine glares "As long as you thank my mom on your knees."
"Sure," Kagami huffs "And while I'm at it I'll tell her she's an angel for putting up with a son like you."
"Uhm, excuse me sirs," they both turn towards the waiter who flinches at their glares "uh, your... your burgers?"
"Thanks." Kagami says, a bit guiltily. The waiter sets down their trays carefully so as not to spill their drinks then scurries away as fast as he can.
Kagami sighs "Let's stop this, we're scaring people."
Aomine shrugs "Fine by me." he says, before biting into one of his burgers "What were you talking to Satsuki about by the way?"
"Ugh," Kagami turns away and scratches his neck "didn't I say we should stop this?"
"You did, and we are." Aomine's glares at him "Why? Did you say anything that we should be fighting about?"
"No, but..." he growls, frustrated "Momoi wants us to improve our teamwork."
"Is that all? Doesn't Satsuki always want that?"
"Yeah, but for real this time."
"It's always for real." Aomine raises an eyebrow "You telling me we should start listening to her now?"
"I'm always telling you to listen to her."
A pause "That's true."
"And I kinda agree with her on this," Kagami bangs his fist on the table "I mean at least stop being an asshole. That's a good start. But you'll need to work with us eventually, it can't always turn out as conveniently as the match against Yosen did."
Aomine clicks his tongue "What are you trying to say?"
This time Kagami slams both his fists on the table, hard enough to rattle it "Don't play dumb with me!"
"Stop that," Aomine grabs his wrist "it's noisy. You'll spill something."
"Give me a straight answer then, I know you know we need to work together."
He looks straight into Aomine's eyes, trying to look as determined as he can so that he knows he's serious. So he'd be taken seriously. Aomine stares right back, searchingly, as if suspecting another meaning to his words.
Finally, Aomine sighs. "I'll think about it." he says.
There isn't any indication of how serious he is. For all Kagami knows he's just saying it to placate him. But it's also not a no, so he'll take it.
"Good." he leans back, eyes flitting towards their table. Aomine's still holding his wrist. "Uh..."
Aomine looks down, and his gaze lingers for a moment before he slowly lifts his hand and clears his throat.
"Your burgers are gonna get cold." he says.
"Oh," says Kagami "oh right. Sorry."
Aomine looks away then, to stare at who knows what, munching slowly on his burger. His free hand is on the table, right across Kagami's, mere inches away. Kagami can see it twitching every now and then, as if Aomine wanted to reach out for something but held himself back from doing so. The first twitch he'd written off as his imagination, but the next ones were decidedly real.
It shouldn't be making his heart beat faster, it shouldn't.
Kagami studies his face, the stiff angle of his jaw and the distant look in his eyes. It's worrying how hard he is to read like this. It feels like Kagami's back at the nurse's office, that first time Momoi had asked him to fetch Aomine, facing a wild animal with little to no clue on what makes him tick.
He balls his free hand into a fist and stares at his half bitten burger. He doesn't realize he's frowning until Aomine asks "Is there something wrong with it?"
"Huh? You mean the burger?"
"Course I mean the burger," Aomine spreads the fingers on the table, leans forward "you're looking at it like it's poison."
"I'm– It's not– I just–" he waves a hand, hopes it doesn't look self-conscious "I don't know, look let's just eat alright?" then he takes a big bite of his burger to make a point (just what 'point' that is, he doesn't know, honestly he's got no clue what he's doing).
"Alright?" Aomine replies, like a question.
"Don't worry about." Kagami mutters.
Aomine breaths out through his nose "Sure." he says, patting the hand Kagami has on the table once with his own.
It lingers there, but Kagami's probably just imagining things. Like the flush of his skin. Like the lump in his throat.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
A/N: It took so long to write this chapter (and I'm still not happy with it lol), it's hard to get a balance between building up what I'm planning to happen during the Winter Cup finals and the impending romantic relationship. Aaaah, how do you even write romance. It's hard to not get overly descriptive, I feel like I'm just describing everything that happens unfeelingly sometimes, well, all part of the constant struggle improve haha.
Thank you for all the reviews, I appreciate them and I always read them but I'm usually unsure how to reply. I'll be replying to all questions in author's notes from now on for the benefit of everyone. Again, thank you all so much for the reviews.
So then, I'll be answering some questions I got after the last chapter here:
Why is Aomine so giddy? It's partly the fact that he exerted himself more than he ever has in his life and partly because he and Kagami are finally talking again and though he may not admit it, he missed this.
On the line "You know that's not a deal breaker." – Alex doesn't mean that it's alright for Aomine to stare at girls' boobs (it's not alright, which is why Kagami hits him), Alex means that even if Aomine loves breasts and shows enthusiastic interest in women, that doesn't mean he isn't into guys too (i.e. he could easily be bisexual). Now that I'm thinking about it, although that's how Aomine would react (to Alex in a tank top) in canon, it was still my choice to put that in there. I'm sorry. I'll try to avoid having him ogle at ladies from now on.
Why is Kagami not calling Aomine by first name? – Kagami did it once in the heat of the moment (and with Aomine's urging) but at the end of the day he still doesn't feel comfortable doing it. Aomine hasn't brought it up since so he'd just rather stick to his last name. But don't worry guys I haven't forgotten about that exchange, it has slipped Aomine's mind though (for now). It'll come up later haha, along with a few other things.
Is Aomine seducing Kagami? No lol, he legitimately just wanted to know better hiding places for his gravure and was just really shocked to find out that Kagami didn't have any magazines that could be considered as that. Aomine openly talks about boobs and gravure idols he's into so it just seemed like he'd be the sort to ask invasive questions without realizing what it could imply. Of course now that the topic's been brought up who's to say what it'll lead to later haha.
Are they flirting? Not consciously, but yes.