Title: Green-Eyed Monster
Summary: It's the summer holidays and the boys are spending a day at the beach. It's supposed to be filled with fun, laughter, and friendly rivalry, but jealousy flares when a Hawk Eye-wielder and certain red-haired power forward gets a little too chummy.
Notes: KagaTaka brotp, because they'd totally get along. Takes place in their second year.
"Takao, don't text while you're riding the bike," Midorima chides, eyebrows knitting in concern when Takao's pedalling makes a little zig-zag.
"Relax Shin-chan, I can ride a bike with one hand perfectly," he assures his partner, fingers moving swiftly over the keypad and glancing at the road intermittently. "I need to text Kagami anyway."
"And why is that necessary?"
"I have to tell him we're arriving soon since we're already late because someone took his time finding his lucky item today," Takao says in a snarky remark.
"I didn't know it was hanging out to dry," Midorima answers defensively, glancing down at the woollen blanket he had quite the trouble stuffing into his bag.
"Mm hm," Takao responds and clicks the 'send' button. It's a good thing the road ahead of them is straight otherwise, texting while chauffeuring his partner would be a more challenging task. They're making their way to the beach to hang out with the rest, at Kuroko's wonderful suggestion to spend summer holidays together. Midorima can't say he has any strong feelings towards beach day, but Takao loves it (as he does with many things which Midorima feels is too generous), so here they are, cycling their way to the sandy shores. Well at least Takao was.
"Why do you have Kagami's number?" Midorima asks after a bout of silence, the thought striking him like a bolt of lightning on a stormy night.
"Because we're friends?" Takao answers, as if Midorima just asked a question that had a very obvious answer.
"I mean since when did you have it?" he rephrases, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at Takao's back.
"Uh...oh! When I met him at the grocery store. We exchanged numbers because I wanted him to send me a recipe, can't remember which," Takao replies, turning his eyes upwards to the sky in attempting to remember. "It happened quite some time ago though."
Midorima only grunts in reply, barely registering the fact that it means Takao's had Kagami's number for a while now, until the blue ocean waves come into view.
"Hey Kagami!" Takao shouts across the beach and jogs over to the power forward, who waved them over.
"Yo Takao, Midorima," Kagami greets with a grin. "What took you guys so long? We're trying to see who can rip off Kise's shorts underwater."
"Haha seriously?" Takao laughs and finds out that Kagami was telling the truth when he sees Kise flailing in the water, screaming 'Why me?!' as Aomine, Mibuchi, Hayama, and a stealthy Kuroko chase after the blonde.
"Anyway," he continues, grinning in anticipation to join the fun. "We're late because Shin-chan couldn't find his lucky item."
"Takao was pedalling too slowly," Midorima rebuts.
"Where's the rear car then?"
"We left it along the road since it's pretty hard to get it down here," Takao answers.
"Is that safe?" Kagami asks.
"We locked it to a tree," Midorima says.
"Okay, so just leave your stuff at the kyukeisho*," Kagami tells them, pointing to the shaded area behind. "Then come join us!"
He waves to them and then runs over to the sea, joining Kuroko and the rest in their quest to rid Kise of his clothes.
The Shuutoku pair strolls over to the kyukeisho and leaves their bags on the benches, pulling their shirts over their heads and applying sunscreen (Midorima's orders) before joining the rest of them.
Takao rushes into the water, leaving Midorima standing where the ocean meets the shore because unlike most of them, he was civilized and definitely did not want to be involved in their inane activity.
About half of them were in the water and the other half, on land. Most of Seirin was on the latter. Practically the whole team was there, except Kiyoshi, who was still in the States for his knee. The only ones from Shuutoku were Midorima and Takao themselves. Kise was a little sad, because he was Kaijou's only representative, not that if Kasamatsu was here, he would do much to help Kise in this situation anyway.
The attendees from Touou were Aomine, Momoi and Sakurai. Even Yousen and Rakuzan were here too, since it was the summer holidays and there was more than enough time to spend a few days in Tokyo. Like Shuutoku, the ones from Yousen were the partners, Murasakibara and Himuro. Akashi was there as well, looking regal even without a shirt, along with a couple of his teammates, Hayama and Mibuchi.
It was a good thing they were the only ones on the beach, because with all the ruckus they were making, there'd bound to be some complaints. Perhaps it was because the beach was further out than the others. Despite that, it was a good choice on Kagami's part, who chose this beach because there were surfing equipment rental services and apparently, you could catch some great waves here.
Eventually, Kise's shorts had been successfully ripped off. It turned out to be Kuroko who sneaked up behind him underwater and pulled it off in one swift motion, passing it to Aomine thereafter. And the rest of the time was Aomine flinging the garment around, flicking everyone in the vicinity with water.
"Dai-chan!" Momoi calls from the mat she was standing on. "Stop swinging that around and return it to Ki-chan!"
When they've finally stopped bullying poor Kise, Aida Riko calls for their attention, standing next to Momoi.
"Coach, don't tell me…you just thought of some special training regimen?" Hyuuga asks apprehensively.
"No!" she huffs. "There'll be nothing like that today. Momoi-san and I just thought of a game you could all play."
"And that is?" Izuki prompts.
Aida and Momoi shoot each other a devious look and turns to them, proclaiming, "Shoulder wars!"
There were a few people who excitedly agreed to play without a moment's hesitation and some who didn't, like Murasakibara who claimed it was too troublesome, and Mibuchi, who didn't want anyone sitting on his shoulders while they waged a war with everyone else.
Takao belonged to the former category, as Midorima guessed, so he wasn't surprised when his partner comes sidling up to him with a stupid grin on his face, fired up and ready to take on every pair on this beach. Midorima doesn't protest or refuse to play, because there was no way he could persuade Takao not to and if Takao was going to sit on someone's shoulders, it's going to be his.
Which doesn't come to pass because Momoi announces the catch.
"But!" she starts, holding up a slender finger. "You're not allowed to pair with someone from the same school!"
"Whaaat!" she hears a few of them protest.
She doesn't even need to look for the voices' owners to know that it was Kagami, Takao, and Murasakibara who griped.
"It'll be more fun if you mix up the pairs," she explains cheerily.
Midorima highly doubts so. Not only did he not want Takao to sit on someone else's shoulders, he didn't want anyone but Takao to sit on his shoulders.
"How are we going to choose our partners then?" Aomine asks.
"I don't know," Aida shrugs. "It's up to you. Just choose someone who shares the same jersey number as you or something."
That turned out to be the de facto criterion because everyone started looking for a player who shared the same jersey number. Midorima notices Takao shift his gaze to Kagami, as if he already knew that the Seirin player wore the number 10. He did, in fact.
"Sorry Shin-chan," he says apologetically although he had a smile on his face. "Looks like we're going to be rivals for this."
With that, he bounds over to Kagami, who realized that Hayama did not wear a number 10.
"Kagami! Don't tell me you didn't know we have the same jersey number?" he teases the red-head.
"Ah, no?" he replies innocently as Kuroko saunters off to pair with Fukuda, which was allowed by the referees (Aida and Momoi) because even though they were both from Seirin, there was no one else who shared their jersey number.
"And I guess I'll be the one on your shoulders," Takao states obviously and laughs.
"Uh, Midorima," Koganei calls and Midorima looks at him blankly. "Turns out we both wear number 6. Wanna pair up?"
Midorima's about to decline his offer but his eyes flicker to Takao and Kagami and all of a sudden, he wants to make sure they lose. So he fixes his glasses on his nose and says, "Okay."
It takes very little to make a group of teenage boys excited and soon enough, they're laughing childishly in the water, fighting like gladiators to pull one another from the shoulders of their partners.
Within five minutes of everyone getting onto their partners' shoulders, half the pairs have already been eliminated, much to the non-participants' amusement and the referees' disappointment (because they honestly thought some of them would last longer). Kuroko and Fukuda were one of such pairs, having been overpowered by the Kise-Hayama pair, but not before sneaking up to Furihata and Himuro and dragging their teammate down into the waters.
Akashi was seated on the shoulders of Hyuuga, who had let him climb on with trepidation. Their strategy was to be the last one standing by establishing themselves as an immovable force (Akashi's suggestion), much to Hyuuga's chagrin. Akashi wasn't heavy, but it was difficult to have people ganging up on the person on your shoulders. Which was exactly what happened when the Aomine-Izuki pair and Kagami-Takao pair came charging towards them and tipping Akashi over into blue.
After which Kagami and Takao double-crossed Aomine and Izuki, swivelling as fast as Kagami could manage, with Takao pushing against Izuki's chest and laughing out an unapologetic 'sorry!' to his fellow point guard.
Murasakibara (who played even though he originally claimed he didn't want to) and Sakurai seemed to be the pair most likely to win the game, when their combined height towered over the rest of them (it was very intimidating and gave Sakurai so much leverage), until Yousen's center decided he was lazy to continue and promptly tipped Sakurai off his shoulders, who fell into the water sputtering.
The Midorima-Koganei pair was grappling with Kise and Hayama who were putting up an extremely good fight. Midorima just wanted Koganei to push Hayama over already, because he set his sights on a certain pair. So he's a little annoyed that Koganei and Hayama just seemed to be playing around and not going all out on each other. Exasperated, Midorima suddenly bends his knees and straightens them, propelling Koganei forward at the precise moment he pushed his palms onto Hayama's shoulders, sending the small forward falling into the sea.
The last two pairs left in the water were Kagami and Takao, and Midorima and Koganei, finally. Midorima leaves Kise complaining loudly and waddles over to his partner. Meeting their match, Kagami and Takao grin, and Kagami flexes his shoulders, lurching Takao forward so that he had a better grip.
"Shin-chan!" the point guard exclaims. "You're so into this aren't you?"
"The only thing I'm into is eliminating you," he answers stoically and adjust his water-stained glasses.
"Let's see you try," Takao challenges. "We're invincible!"
"Time to get off your high horse Takao."
"Hey, you calling me a horse?!" Kagami protested. When Midorima smirks at him, he simpers back, "Oh it's on."
The two pairs (who coincidentally were from Seirin and Shuutoku), engaged in an all-out push and shove contest. The eliminated pairs and non-participants were cheering at the side, with Seirin's seniors cheering for Midorima and Koganei, and juniors rooting for Kagami and Takao.
Takao's laughing until his stomach hurts, because this is the most fun he's had this summer. He's palm-to-palm with Koganei, fingers gripping one another in an effort to overpower their opponent. In a moment of lightheaded excitement, Takao's met with a sudden surge from Koganei, almost plunging into the water if he had not redirected the force to the side and regained his balance by clutching Kagami's hair.
"Ow ow ow!" Kagami shouts from under him. "Takao, don't pull my hair!"
"Oops, sorry!" Takao says and laughs heartily.
Koganei takes the opportunity to shove Takao from his side and it seems that victory will belong to the Midorima-Koganei pair. But in an unexpected turn of events, Takao grabs hold of Koganei's forearm and redirects the motion so that the Seirin player is sent plummeting into the waters below, falling off Midorima's shoulders ungracefully with his feet sticking up in the air.
The splash sends water raining down Midorima's face and he has to lift his glasses to wipe at his face. By the time he got his vision back, Kagami and Takao are parading around the water with innocent wide smiles on their faces and cheering, the power forward's hands gripping Takao's thighs to keep his steady and Takao's palms resting in Kagami's red hair.
When Takao finally gets off Kagami's broad shoulders, the boys waddle their way onto shore, but Takao heads for Midorima. He floats in front of him, swimming backwards as Midorima continues to head to land.
"Shin-chan, that was fun right?" he asks with mirthful eyes.
"For you perhaps. I don't see how getting your shoulders sat on is fun."
"But you were so into it!"
"I don't play half-heartedly, even if it's just a stupid game."
Takao chuckles and impulsively brings his hands up to push Midorima's wet hair back, slicking it down onto his head. Not caring if anyone was looking, he plants a quick kiss on his salty lips, a light-hearted laugh escaping his before swimming away.
"Now that the boys are back," Mibuchi starts when they come piling up to the shore. "Don't you think it's the girls' turn?"
There's a devious glint in his eyes, as if he's doing some people a favour (it's Aomine and Hyuuga). In all honesty, Midorima doesn't know if he was referring to himself.
"Yeah! Momoi-san versus Aida-san! Let's go!" Hayama exclaims.
"Well, you did suggest this game in the first place," Izuki adds.
Being great sports, the girls concede and choose their partners, who are none other than Dai-chan and Hyuuga-kun. Hyuuga doesn't get a good feeling from this because his shoulders are sore after Akashi sat so steadfastly on them.
In the end, it was the Touou pair who won because of their height advantage and a sturdier base. Everyone decided to take a break before starting any strenuous games again and Midorima and Takao head to the kyukeisho after purchasing a cup of kakigori* to keep themselves cool.
Takao's holding on to the cup as they dig their spoons into the shaved ice, gazing out into the beach and watching with interest the boys who were building giant sandcastles and those who were burying Aomine in sand.
Midorima is staring as well, and notices that Kuroko is actually a pretty good sandcastle-builder. The one he's building with Furihata and Sakurai seems to be taking a solid shape. His eyes travel to Aomine whose head was the only part of his body not covered in sand as Kagami, Kise, and Murasakibara pile sand on top of him.
Momoi was giggling and tempting an unmovable Aomine with kakigori, hovering the dessert towards him but not letting him have any of it.
"Oi Satsuki, give me some damn it."
She relents after a while and tells him to stick out his tongue, which he does.
"Try to catch it Dai-chan," she giggles and bursts out laughing when Aomine makes weird faces as he's trying to catch the drips of shaved ice falling onto his face.
"Here Shin-chan," Takao says out of the blue and scoops a spoonful of shaved ice, offering it to Midorima.
"I can feed myself," the shooting guard says with embarrassment.
"Just let me do it," Takao insists, his lips upturned in a playful smirk.
Midorima glances to the side to make sure no one was looking before parting his lips to take the dessert into his mouth. But Takao withdraws his hand and feeds himself instead, pressing his cold lips to Midorima's before he even had time to register what was going on.
He squeezes his eyes shut from the coldness of it when Takao opens their mouths and slides his tongue against his. The ice melts quickly under the heat of their mouths and soon, all that's left is the sweet aftertaste of the dessert lingering on the tips of their tongues.
When Takao pulls away with a lick of his lips, Midorima covers his blushing face with the back of his hand.
"Isn't that sweet?" he teases.
"You're impossible."
"Don't worry, no one's looking. They're all too busy," Takao assures.
After they're done with the kakigori, the Shuutoku duo join the sandcastle-builders and a contest on who builds the grandest sandcastle accidentally starts. They're almost halfway done when Kagami suddenly shouts, "Kuroko, look! The waves are coming, I'm gonna surf!"
He gets up and rushes over to the rental services, paying for a red surfboard and running into the waters. He caught the attention of a few when he paddles up into the open sea, balances himself on the board and proceeds to charmingly, impressively, ride the waves.
"Wow Kuroko," Takao starts. "I didn't know Kagami could surf."
"He used to surf a lot when he was in America," Kuroko informs him.
"He's pretty good isn't he?"
Midorima's eyes slide towards Takao, eyebrows furrowing without really meaning to. The previous twinge of sourness returns and it churns low in his belly. The years Kagami spent in the States did endow him with a unique skillset, but it was Kuroko's job to notice that and compliment him. Not Takao's. Hmph.
"Yes, he is," Kuroko answers, a hint of pride in his voice. Kagami did look very cool whenever he was surfing.
Takao's attention is captured by Kagami's surfing form for a while and he imagines what it would look like if Midorima was the one on the board. He needs to bite his tongue from laughing out loud because it'd totally look weird. Just thinking about Shin-chan standing like a block of wood on the surfboard, glasses stained with water droplets and frown set deep on his features was cracking him up. He thinks Midorima should stick to being beautiful when he's shooting.
Kagami returns to shore after catching a few big waves, combing his fingers through his wet hair, the ring around his neck glistening in the sun.
"You screwed the last one up didn't you?" Kuroko asks in slight amusement as Kagami plants his surfboard into the sand.
Kagami looks at him in surprise, then rubs the back of his neck sheepishly.
"How could you tell?" it was Takao who asked.
"Kagami-kun taught me how to surf before, so I know the basics."
"Yeah, I got the timing for the last one wrong," Kagami admits.
"You taught Kuroko how to surf? That's so cool."
"You wanna learn?" Kagami offers without hesitating. "I could teach you."
"Really?!"
"Takao—" Midorima begins to protest. There was absolutely no need for Takao to learn how to surf. And he highly doubts Kagami would be a qualified teacher.
"Yes!"
"Wha—"
"Great! Let's go get you a surfboard."
Takao gives Midorima an excited look before running off with Kagami, renting an orange surfboard for himself. Midorima is left speechless, and looks over to Kuroko, expecting him to disapprove of this arrangement—aren't you going to say anything? But he only stares back at him blankly, as if there's nothing wrong with this at all—no. (There really is nothing wrong, Midorima's only letting his jealousy get the better of him.)
Midorima jerks his head to side in a non-verbal questioning of Kuroko's reaction, or lack thereof, and the blue-eyed boy simply shrugs, returning his attention to the sandcastle. Giving up, Midorima does the same, but not without glancing over at Kagami and Takao all the time.
He sees Kagami instructing Takao to lie flat on his stomach and use his arms to paddle into the ocean, giving him a visual demonstration of what should be done. They sit up on their surfboards, legs dangling off the sides as Kagami gives Takao a few more tips and instructions. He then gets up from his sitting position and shows Takao how to balance. Takao tries it himself and gets the hang of it within a few minutes, and Midorima catches the impressive look Kagami gives his partner.
They paddle further out into the sea until Midorima only sees two small figures floating on the waters. They sit on their boards, not really doing anything for a while and Midorima realizes they're studying the waves, watching the waves roll in, crest, and break. Kagami points a finger to where Midorima can't exactly pinpoint, but it's the spot where the waves typically break.
He paddles and expertly shows Takao how it's done. Midorima watches them silently from the shore, staring intently when Takao tries, and finding his concern rise and fall like the waves when Takao topples over into the water, only to resurface. He can't see Takao's face from here, but he knows he's laughing and having a whale of a time, judging by how eagerly he climbs back onto the board every single time.
He likes it when Takao is having fun and filling the air with his carefree laughter, but only when it's with him. As much as he hates to admit it, watching someone else, Kagami no less, be the source of his joy makes his skin prick and the jealousy swirl in the pit of his stomach like a tide.
He spares Kuroko a glance, shifting his green eyes to the pair out in the sea before meeting his unreadable gaze again—are you seeing this? Kuroko merely responds with an unimpressed expression, as if he's telling him to calm down and not read too much into it—relax Midorima-kun.
Apparently not, Midorima thinks. Just then, Takao was attempting to catch the next wave. He searches for a wave that starts to crest, points his board towards the shore and starts to paddle. There's a flash of surprise in his eyes before he feels like he's gliding on the wave. The moment the board begins to glide by itself, Takao places his hands in a push-up position and pushes himself off the board in one quick motion, planting his feet firmly on the board. He crouches and maintains his balance, mildly registering Kagami's encouragement.
Takao feels himself riding the wave and the realization that he just successfully caught his first wave kicks him, filling him with exuberance. The laugh bubbles in his throat and he cheers as the water comes crashing down behind him. In his giddy excitement, Takao loses his balance and falls off the surfboard, disappearing into the water as the wave breaks.
Midorima sits up in high alert, scanning the waters for when Takao surfaces. He witnesses Kagami diving into the ocean and for a few tense moments, there is no sign of either of them. His heart begins to beat fast and he's about to sprint to the waters. But before he could spring from his position, two heads suddenly pop up from the sea.
Kagami and Takao shake their heads and take big gulps of air. They run their fingers through their hair, then burst out laughing from the exhilaration, appearing as if they were the only ones in the world.
Midorima releases the breath he was holding. He tears his eyes away from them and raises his eyebrows at Kuroko—now do you see? With the strange telepathic communication they had going on, Kuroko stares back and Midorima catches the hint of admittance in his eyes (they were not pleased)—fine.
Neither of them say anything to their partners when they returned to shore. There was no point in confronting them about getting too chummy with each other or admitting that they were just jealous while the day was still filled with fun and laughter. They'd do it at their own time.
The sun will soon set and the Seirin seniors called everyone over for the traditional act of splitting watermelons. They were grouped into four teams (since there were four watermelons) and whoever split their watermelon first won. But it wasn't such an easy task when you had to spin ten times around a baseball bat and wobble your way to the innocent watermelon, all the while blindfolded.
Because of those handicaps and endless bouts of laughter (mostly at Aomine who looked absolutely ridiculous wobbling and stumbling to the watermelon only to miss it entirely), it took a while to get the watermelon cracked and it was Mitobe's group (consisting of Koganei, Kise, Akashi, and Murasakibara) who managed to split theirs first.
When the watermelons were cut and distributed, the sun was already setting and it painted the beach an orange hue. Midorima and Takao sit next to each other on the shore, shoulders bumping, enjoying their cool watermelon slices in contentment. The green-eyed ace thinks this is best part of beach day, when they're basking in quiet happiness and the promise of a cool, starry night subduing their previous excitement. It's just him and Takao in this private moment and there's something about the sea breeze and soft crashing of waves that Midorima finds enjoyable. Or maybe it's just because Takao is finally by his side again.
He reminds himself there's no need to be jealous, because Takao looks the happiest when he's together with him. It's the type of happiness that only he can induce, and he knows it from the special glint in Takao's eyes, the smile reserved only for him, and the lingering touches that hold the promise for more. He glimpses at a certain red-head and does not hold his gaze when he witnesses Kagami turning his head to Kuroko and pressing a chaste kiss into his hair, unaware that his little act affection was noticed.
There's completely no need to be jealous he repeats, because Kagami is crazily in love with Kuroko, and Takao is hopelessly in love with him.
It's dark out by the time everyone's done with their watermelon slices but there was one last activity left for the day. The fireworks were brought out (courtesy of Seirin, again) and the seniors helped to set the largest ones on the ground. They stuck them in the sand, ensuring that they created a firm foundation so that the structures wouldn't fall over when they started to light up and send sparks flying everywhere.
The senko hanabi* were handed out and soon enough, the boys created another ruckus chasing one another with their sparklers and forming ephemeral letters with the sparks. Midorima was staring at his senko hanabi in slight amazement, captivated by its bright light and evanescent beauty. He doesn't notice Takao running away when Kise starts chasing him, sliding behind the nearest person who turned out to be Kagami for cover.
When his sparkler dies out, Midorima looks up and spots Takao with his arm around Kagami's back, posing for the camera that Furihata was holding. They were tracing something in the air and he realizes it's the number 10. Kagami was moving his arm up and down to create the number 1 while Takao swung his arms in a large circle to trace 0.
Oh, how wonderful. Are they best friends now? So much for reminding himself not to be jealous. He doesn't appreciate the way Kagami has his arms slung around Takao's shoulders. Midorima bites his lip, he knows he's being childish, but jealousy has a knack of warping one's emotions and behaviour. And right now, he was allowing it to happen to him. He didn't want to think too much about it, he just wants to break it up.
Sighing, he takes the sparkler from the nearest person (poor Sakurai) and heads over to the laughing pair. Midorima deliberately stands right in front of the camera and starts waving his hands around, not forming any coherent shape with the sparks.
"Shin-chan! You just photobombed us!" Takao shouts, not angry, simply amused.
"Oops," Midorima turns to face him and feigns ignorance.
Takao starts chasing him down and Midorima finds himself playing along, running faster than Takao and always keeping a safe distance from the energetic boy, the world falling away for a few carefree moments.
Takao soon gives up because Shin-chan's legs are so long and he's already out of breath. He splays himself on the shore, not caring that it'll get his clothes and hair all sandy. Midorima stoops next to him, breathing heavily himself and makes a wordless sound when his sparkler dies out.
"It's finished," he states.
"Let's go get new ones!" Takao suggests and with renewed energy, drags Midorima to where the big fireworks burned brightly.
He removes two sparkler sticks from the half-empty packet and hands one to Midorima while hovering the other one near the branching sparks. It catches on quickly and he holds his sizzling sparkler to Midorima's empty one. The tips of their sparklers touch and as they stay connected by that tiny point of contact, Takao's sparkler ignites Midorima's and they are both burning more brightly than ever.
Takao smiles up at him, and Midorima thinks his smile is more captivating than the dancing lights and he'll make sure it stays.
When the day was almost over, the Shuutoku pair were the first ones to leave, because pedalling the rear car home was going to take some time and they (Midorima) didn't want to arrive home too late. They say their goodbyes, thanking everyone for an awesome day and promising to do something like this again (Takao's words), before gathering their belongings and making their way to the tree where the rear car was parked.
Not surprisingly, Takao loses at janken and starts to pedal without so much of a complaint, even though Midorima knows he must be exhausted. Still, he climbs into the back and allows Takao to take them down the straight stretch of road ahead.
The trees on the side of the road pass him by in a blur and the wind brushes past his cheeks in soothing breezes. It's quiet and peaceful but Midorima is far from relaxed. The simmering jealousy in the pit of his stomach is still there, tamed but definitely still there. When there's nothing to distract him, it's easy to replay the scenes in his head and remember, albeit distortedly, how Kagami made Takao smile, and laugh, and happy.
He wants to ask Takao about it but he doesn't know how to string the right words together. Luckily, Takao makes it easy for him although he didn't intend to.
"Today was really fun huh?" he asks, raising his voice a little so that it travels to where Midorima is.
"I suppose," he half-lies. It was fun, but he would have preferred it if Takao wasn't so chummy with the Seirin power forward. "I'd rather if you were by my side though."
Midorima cringed. That sounded way too needy than he intended.
"What do you mean? I'm always by your side!"
"Feels like you were with Kagami most of the time."
"Kagami?" Takao repeats, voice laden with genuine confusion. He twists his neck to glimpse at Midorima over his shoulder and something clicks in his mind when he meets his partners' sulking face.
"Shin-chan," he begins with a trace of disbelief. "Are you jealous?"
Midorima doesn't answer straightforwardly, because it was so obvious and he didn't want to have to admit it out loud. So he responds with a simple statement that conveyed the culmination of his jealousy.
"He taught you how to surf."
Takao could almost hear the pout in his voice. He laughs, grasping the bicycle handles for support. He didn't mean it as a dismissive reaction, but if Midorima thought that all that time spent with Kagami was enough to make him give Kagami goo-goo eyes, then he didn't know Takao at all. He only had eyes for a green-haired shooting guard.
"What's so funny?" Midorima questions haughtily.
"Kagami and I are friends! There's no need to be jealous at all."
"I know that. It's just…seeing you with him, it—" Midorima bites his sentence off and tries again. "It's like me teaching someone to shoot three-pointers."
At that, Takao stays silent, because he imagines Midorima showing someone else his perfect form, impressing them, placing his long, elegant fingers on them to correct their form, and that was certainly not something he'd like to see.
"Okay, I get your drift."
But Midorima wasn't about to let Takao off yet.
"And you have his number which I don't know how often you use, and you sat on his shoulders while his hands were all over your legs, and you took weird, coupley pictures with him."
"First of all I text him rarely. Secondly, his hands were not all over my legs. And thirdly, it was a coupley picture?"
"It is to me."
Takao looks at Midorima over his shoulder again to study his expression and he sighs, understanding where his partner was coming from. If their situations were reversed, Takao would probably feel jealous about it too.
"Alright I'm sorry!" Takao says and he would put his hands together in a prayerful gesture if he wasn't riding the bike. "I'll make it up to you okay?"
"How?"
"Umm, I haven't thought of anything yet."
"Well think of something now," Midorima orders.
"Now? But it's not like we can do anything now," Takao explains. "I'll think of something when we get home."
"Who says we can't do anything now?" he says suggestively.
He doesn't know what planted the idea in his head but he was long over being surprised at what his mind is capable of when it involved Takao.
"Huh?"
"Stop the rear car," he instructs.
Gradually, Takao slows his pace and stops the rear car at the side of the empty road.
"Shin-chan?" he wonders and turns his back, but Midorima had swiftly climbed out of the back and straddled the metal seat that connected the carriage and bicycle. He bends forward so that his chest is against Takao's back and the point guard is prevented from fully facing him.
Midorima leans in, his mouth hovering dangerously close to the shell of Takao's ear. When he speaks, he mixes the sound of his deep voice with the sensation of stroking his fingers on Takao's arms, causing him to shudder.
"Who says we can't do anything?" he asks again, his voice challenging and his hands roaming up into Takao's shirt.
Takao gulps. He knows where this is going if he lets him. "Right now?"
"You said you'll make it up to me," he reminds.
There's no one around…and this is a good way to make it up to him. He doesn't need to think; he just needs to let his body do the work. And the openness of such a situation was seductive. It was the perfect opportunity to try what he always wanted to try. Takao was a little bit of an exhibitionist after all. If he passed it up, he'd never get another chance like this, especially not with Midorima being the one who initiated it. God, he was already half-hard.
"Okay," he finally yields and Midorima doesn't miss the anticipation in his voice. "Let me just park the rear car to the side."
He scans the area quickly and spots a large tree that could give them as much cover as possible. Hurriedly, Takao parks the rear car behind the tree, satisfied that the shade enshrouded them in relative darkness.
"Get in the back," Midorima tells him and Takao can tell he was looking forward to it as much as he was.
Takao complies and prepares to swing his legs over the carriage.
"Wait," his partner interrupts. Takao watches curiously as Midorima digs through his bag and pulls out his lucky item, the woollen blanket. He arranges it neatly in the carriage, making sure it's large enough for Takao to rest his back on. "Now you can get in."
Takao smirks at his lover's gentlemanly act and climbs aboard, fitting himself in the carriage. It's a little cramp but as long as they bend their knees, it shouldn't be a problem. Midorima joins Takao soon after and straddles him so that there was enough space for the both of them. The point guard feels himself growing when he's splayed out all vulnerable like that, staring up at Midorima whose face was half-covered in shadows.
His eyes travel downwards and he notices that Midorima was getting all excited, if the tent in his loose-fitting pants was any indication.
"What are you waiting for Shin-chan?" Takao whispers, and when Midorima's lips come crashing down on his, he nearly misses the hungry glint in his green eyes.
They make love in the rear car for the very first time, and it's an experience they'd never forget, an experience that included using the condom Takao always carried in his bag for emergencies, substituting saliva for lube, and the squeaking of the rear car as they grinded against each other.
When they lay in their afterglow next to each other on Midorima's woollen blanket (that definitely needed to be washed again), they quickly put on their clothes but felt no motivation to leave the confines of the carriage. In the end, they decided to take a nap, agreeing to resume their way home after feeling more refreshed.
But as they dozed off with their bodies pressed close and legs tangling with each other's, the nap turning into a full night's sleep.
Midorima and Takao wake up to the sound of birds and rays of sunlight peeking through the holes in the leaves.
End
*Kyukeisho: Rental space, a place where beach-goers and leave their belongings
Kaikigori: Shaved ice, a cool Japanese dessert
Senko hanabi: Sparklers
Notes: Midorima pedals them home. Make of that what you will.
Regarding the watermelon-splitting scene, can you all just watch this video for a visual demonstration and imagine, just imagine, the boys doing that.