Kagami sat on the couch, lazily flipping through the channels.
"Hey Taiga, when will you go home? Don't you think you've stayed here long enough?" Himuro asked, grabbing a drink for him and Kagami.
"I don't think I'm mentally prepared to go back yet" he said as he took the drink Himuro handed to him.
Himuro sighed, "I won't force you to leave, but you eventually have to go back."
Kagami stayed silent, thinking about what Himuro said. It was true though; he knew he had to go back eventually. However, he was afraid to face reality. Everything that happened kept coming to haunt him in his dreams and quite frankly he was getting sick of them. He wanted to get it out of his mind, never to remember such things, but he wasn't sure how to.
"Tatsuya, do you mind me asking you something?" The red head asked.
"Yeah, what is it?" Himuro said, intently listening to Kagami.
"What do you normally do to get your mind off things?"
"Hm…well I spend my time with others" he explained.
"Ok, but what exactly do you do when you're out with other people?" Kagami asked, leaning forward in his seat, desperate for an answer.
"Nothing in particular, just stay home" Before Kagami was able to ask another question, the black haired man asked, "Do you want anything to eat?"
Kagami laid back once again, relaxing his back on the soft sofa, "Well I was planning on going out to eat today, so I don't really need anything. Oh, and I'll probably get back late, since I haven't been out in a while."
"Okay, but make sure you don't get lost" Himuro chuckled, "You haven't been here in a long time, so I doubt you remember your way around".
"I think I'll be fine" Kagami said brimming with confidence.
Kagami walked along the main road, but eventually ended up wandering into the smaller streets. He walked through the narrow street, which was filled with many small independent businesses. As he continued down the street, he noticed a small path hiding between two shops. Kagami entered the path and walked further down into it. At first it seems as though there's nothing there, but at the very end, where the path ends, to the left is a door with a sign that reads Stargaze café. Kagami opened the door and was immediately greeted by a flight of stairs. He walked up the steps until he is greeted by a hostess.
"Welcome, will you dining in or ordering to-go?" She asked.
"Um…I'll dine in" Kagami said.
She guided him to a table near the back of the room and handed him a menu. "The waiter will be with you shortly" she said as she walked back to the front.
Not long after the hostess left, the waiter came up to him. He was tall and slim with a generous amount of muscle that was seen through his uniform. His face was lightly chiseled, his golden brown hair was long and put up into a stylish ponytail; he also had very serious silver eyes that almost seemed as though he could see though anyone. With a smile, the waiter spoke "Hello, I'm Shou and I'll be your waiter for today. What can I get for you?"
"Ah" Kagami was still observing the man's appearance. 'Visually, he's on par with Tatsuya' Kagami thought to himself.
"Um, excuse me, sir?"
"Oh!" Kagami snapped out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry did you say something?"
The man chuckled, "I was asking you, what you wanted to order"
"Oh, I'm sorry I spaced out a little". Kagami took a glance at the menu, "I guess I'll have a coffee and 2 sandwiches please".
The waiter wrote his order down on the memo pad and collected the menu, "Ok, we'll have that for you shortly".
Kagami nodded as the waiter walked into the kitchen. After the waiter was out of sight, Kagami pulled out his phone. He's always had his phone on him, but it had remained off ever since he left Tokyo. "Maybe I should turn it on" Kagami said as he held onto the power button. His phone lit up and started itself up. The moment it turned on, a bombard of messages flooded his phone. He scrolled through them seeing that the whole team sent him messages, asking where was he and saying that they were all worried. He scrolled further down, surprised to see that even Aomine sent him a message; Where the hell did you run off to?! Get back here so that I can kick your ass! Kagami chuckled at the message, "Everyone is so worried". His smile started to fade away, "But I don't deserve such things".
He put away his phone, leaning back in his seat and closed his eyes. The waiter approached him, "Here's your coffee and 2 sandwiches, please enjoy".
Kagami opened his eyes, "Oh, thank you".
The waiter smiled and walked back.
Kagami ate his food, but stayed there for a couple hours ordering more cups of coffee.
After about 3 hours the waiter approached him, "Um excuse me, but we'll be closing soon".
"Hm?" Kagami checked the time, "It's almost 10pm?!" He got up and looked out the window, seeing the rain pouring from the sky. "Ah dang, I didn't bring an umbrella with me" he said to himself, but the waiter seemed to have heard him.
"How about I give you a ride back" The waiter smiled at him.
Kagami was a bit hesitant at first, but he seemed like an okay guy and he didn't want to walk back in the rain, "Yeah sure. Thank you."
The two were silent for a majority of the time, but the waiter would ask a few questions every now and then.
"What were you doing at the café anyway? The address you gave me is a half hour drive." The waiter asked a bit surprised.
"Is it really? I didn't realize…I was just sort of wandering around" Kagami explained.
"Oh~ Well you do seem to have a lot on your mind"
Kagami looked at the waiter surprised, "You can tell?"
"Well, it's almost as if you're not really here. Like your mind is elsewhere."
Kagami sighed, "I didn't think I was being that obvious"
"Did you wanna talk about it? There's still some time before we get there".
"No…I'd rather not think about it right now"
The man chuckled, "But you seem to be thinking about it right now"
"…well…it's also hard to not think about it"
The waiter didn't ask any questions after that and the two remained silent for the rest of the car ride.
When they pulled up to the apartment, Kagami thanked the man for the ride and exited the car. Right after Kagami closed the door the waiter asked him something.
"Oh yeah, what's your name again?"
"…Kagami Taiga"
"Oh~ Well Taiga~ I'm Furukawa Shougo, but you can call me Shou"
He calling him by his first name surprised Kagami, but it didn't bother him too much since everyone used to call him by his first name back in America.
"Oh and also" Shou added "How about we exchange phone numbers? Since you seem to be in a not so good mood. I know a couple places that'll probably get your mind off things"
That peaked Kagami's interest, 'it would be nice to finally be able to just have fun and not worry about anything' he thought. Kagami pulled out his phone, bringing it up to Shou's. The two exchange contact information.
"Well, I'll probably text you tomorrow" Shou said as he put his car into drive, preparing to depart.
"Okay, I'll most likely be free tomorrow, so there shouldn't be problem" The red head says as he waved goodbye.
He watched as Shou drove away and began walking up the steps towards Himuro's apartment. 'It wouldn't be to bad hanging out with him. He seems like a very easy-going type of person.' Kagami thought as he approached the door, unlocking it.
"I'm back" He says.
He got no reply, which is understandable since it was almost 11pm.
He took off his shoes and walked towards his room, but he stopped half way, hearing light sounds coming from Himuro's room.
"Did he leave the tv on?" Kagami asked himself.
He walked up to the room and carefully opened the door, peeking inside. Kagami almost fell back from what he saw.
Himuro was most certaintly not asleep, and the tv wasn't even on. Those sounds weren't the sounds of a friendly tv show, but were sounds of light moans, grunts, and body contact.
Himuro was underneath a man the red head has never seen before. Not only that, but it seemed like Himuro was also enjoying it, like it was completely normal to him.
Kagami quickly closed the door, quietly so that he wouldn't be noticed, and headed straight to his room, throwing himself onto the bed.
He covered his face with his arms, trying to forget about what he just saw, but thoughts and questions kept flying into his mind. Who was that? Why is Tatsuya having sex with him? Wait, but that was a man? Is that his boyfriend? Are they sex friends? He couldn't think straight, and he most certainly could not sleep.
"I shouldn't have drank all that coffee" Kagami said to himself, closing his eyes, trying to fall asleep.
Kagami woke up the next morning, lazily trudging into the kitchen. As he moved through the living room, he caught a glimpse of Himuro sitting on the couch, looking spaced out. At first, Kagami wasn't planning on confronting him, but now, he had the sudden urge to.
He approached Himuro from behind. "Hey, Tatsuya" the red head said as he looked down towards the black haired man.
Himuro turned his head and looked up at him, "What is it? …why do you have that look on your face?"
Without hesitation, Kagami asked, "Who was that last night?"
"Hmm…"Himuro thought for a second, "Oh, you saw that last night".
Kagami didn't say anything, but he nodded his head.
Himuro sighed, "Why don't you sit down".
The red head walked around the couch and sat next to him.
"Remember how I said that I like to hang out with people to get my mind off things?" Himuro began. "Well I don't hang out with them so to say. It's more like we just meet up to have sex. Sex friends to be exact. And by doing that I'm able to forget the things that I'd rather not think about".
"But-"
"Taiga, I'd rather you not meddle in my affairs. This is just how I cope with things. Besides you have problems of your own, you shouldn't think about me too much".
"But Tatsuya, don't you-"
The ringing of his phone interrupted Kagami. He looked at it noticing it was Aomine and he didn't feel like answering.
"Answer it, you haven't talked to any of them in a while" Tatsuya said sipping his cup of coffee.
Kagami walked into his room, sighed and answered the phone.
"Hello" he said unenthusiastically.
"Well it's about time my call goes through! Do you know how many times I've called you and it hasn't even gone through?! A lot! It's quite tiresome calling you and all, but Tetsu asked me to try and get a hold of you since no one else can."
Kagami remained silent so Aomine continued to talk. "Where are you anyway?"
"Akita" The red head quickly replied.
"Huh?! Why the hell are you all the way up there?!"
"I decided to stay with Tatsuya for a while"
"Isn't that the guy who sticks around Murasakibara?"
"Well it's more like Murasakibara sticks to him, but yeah"
The blunette sighed, "…but you're definitely in Akita with him right now?"
"Yeah, I have no reason to lie" Kagami said confused by Aomine's words.
There was silence between the two. "I'll be there tomorrow…" Aomine quietly said.
"Huh?! Don't come here! Aho!"
"…I'll be there tomorrow" The blunette repeated then immediately hung up.
Kagami sighed, "He's over reacting".
As he was putting his phone back into his pant's pocket, it rang once again, but this time it wasn't from Aomine, but a text from Shou.
Are you free at around 5pm? Is what it read.
Yeah, where'd you wanna meet up? he replied.
The sitting area at the park by where you're staying is fine.
Okay. See you then.
As Kagami walked out to his room returning to Himuro, a thought popped into his head, 'hanging out with Shou will be a good opportunity to get my mind off things'.
"Done already?" Himuro said looking over at Kagami.
"Yeah"
"Who called anyway?"
"…Aomine"
Himuro looked surprised, "I didn't know you two were friends"
"Well yeah…we haven't been friends for that long, but we're friends" Kagami said scratching the back of his head while taking the seat across from Himuro.
"…Hey Tatsuya, can I ask you something?" Kagami asked.
"Yeah?"
"About what you were you talking about earlier…does that really get your mind off things? I feel like that would create more problems."
"Hm, not really. As long as your partner knows what he's doing then you'll be able to just drown into the pleasure"
"Oh"
Himuro took a closer look at Kagami, "Don't tell me you're thinking about doing it with someone"
"Well maybe just a little bit. I'm curious."
"Well if you wann try it out then go ahead"
"You're so bad with advice" Kagami chuckled.
"Well I seriously think you should just do what you want. I mean it's your life, you should do what you want with it" Himuro explained.
"Yeah yeah, I get what you mean." Kagami got up from his seat. "Oh and before I forget to tell you, I'm hanging out with a friend tonight".
"Oh, how do you know someone up here?"
"What you can't accept that I'm popular"
"Shut up" Himuro shot a glare at him.
Kagami laughed, "I'm kidding, calm down".
"Hey are you hungry? I have some leftovers from last night"
"Yeah, a little bit" Kagami said as he followed Himuro into the kitchen.
After the two ate, Kagami began to get ready to go hang out with Shou.
Before leaving, Kagami sent a text to Shou saying that he was on his way.
When Kagami arrived at the park he sat on the bench and waited for Shou to arrive since he arrived a couple minutes early.
"Taiga~!"
Kagami heard the very enthusiastic voice call out to him. He looked over to his side and saw Shou running towards him.
"I'm sorry, did you wait long?" he asked.
"No, I only got here a few moments ago". The red head replied. "But what are we doing anyway?"
"Nothing much, I just thought we could walk around for a bit"
"Oh ok"
The two walked around the park for a while, having little chats every now and then. That is until Shou noticed that Kagami seemed to be in deep thought.
"Do you have something on your mind?" Shou asked.
"Huh?" Kagami looked towards him.
"Do you have something on your mind?" The man repeated with a smile.
"Oh, well yeah sort of."
"You seemed to have something on your mind while you were at the café last night. Do you wanna talk about it?"
Kagami thought about it for a bit. He recalled Kuroko telling him that it wasn't good to keep things bottled up inside. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad telling Shou about his issues. "Yeah, I think it'd be good if I talk about it now, since the thought keeps circulating through my mind".
"Then let's find a good place to chat".
They found a sitting area that wandered a bit off from the main path and was surrounded by many thick trees.
The two sat across from each other.
Shou patiently waited until Kagami was ready to talk.
The red head to a deep breath and began to explain everything to him. He first explained all the verbal abuse he received from his father and how it made him feel. After that he went on to explaining the events that happened at his basketball game a couple days ago.
The whole time, Shou would nod his head taking in every word Kagami said to him.
"So that's basically what's happened and is also the reason why I'm afraid to go back to Tokyo. I just don't feel like facing reality at the moment".
Shou sat there without saying anything for a bit. "Taiga, I'll be frank with you. I understand the emotions you went through but have you ever stopped and seriously think things through? From what you've explained to me, it seems although your father was just playing a game with you, I don't think he was expecting anything at all."
Kagami was shocked by what he just heard, "Is that how you see it?". His voice shook in fear of that reality.
A faint smirk crept on Shou's face as he reached towards Kagami, softly caressing his face, "But you wanna erase all memories of your father right?"
Kagami nodded his head slightly.
"Well I know a good way to forget all of that. Not only would you forget about him, a whole new exciting feeling will take hold of you".
Kagami looked up at the man, curious by what he was saying. "You know how to get rid of these feelings?"
Shou smiled at him, "Of course. I'll take you now and show you how".
Kagami didn't say anything, but he still followed the man to wherever he was going.
After a half hour, the two walked into a small building.
Kagami tugged onto Shou's shirt. "Isn't this a hotel?" Kagami asked confused on why the where there.
Shou turned and faced Kagami. He leaned in until he was close enough to whisper into the red head's ear, "Have you ever thought of a man having their way with your body and the pleasure it may bring you?"
"But-"
The man's breath brushed against Kagami's neck, "I promise you'll be able to forget about everything"
'Tatsuya said stuff like this gets his mind off thing, so I guess it should be fine' the red head thought. "Okay, it's fine" he said while taking hold of Shou's hand.
"Well then, shall we go up to our room?" The man smiled.
Now arriving Akita, please watch your step while exiting the train.
"Looks like I couldn't help but arrive a day early" Aomine said as he stretched his body and exited the train.
He checked the time; it was currently 9pm. He tried giving Kagami a call, but the red head wouldn't pick up.
"At least answer your phone" Aomine sighed, "I need a place to stay".
As he navigated his way through the station, he found an informational booth. He looked through it and found a hotel relatively near the center of the city.
"This should be fine" he said to himself while dialing the number.
"Good evening, thank you for calling xx Hotel, how may I help you?" the concierge said over the phone.
"Um, I'd like to reserve a room for the night" Aomine said as he exited the station and began to walk to the hotel.
"Okay, for how many people?"
"Just one"
"Okay, we will have the room ready for you by the time you arrive"
"Thank you" he hung up and placed the phone in his back pocket.
As he walked through the city, he remembers his conversation with Kuroko and all the things he said about Kagami. He knew Kagami was going through some things, but it seems it was a little more complicated than he thought. Maybe he should have asked Kagami if he was okay more often; try to get him to open up. He was worried about him. It may sound weird, but if Kagami were to suddenly disappear from his life, he'd probably end up the way he was before.
The hotel was now in sight and Aomine quickened his pace since he wanted to sit down and relax as soon as possible.
When he entered the hotel, he approached the concierge. She then handed Aomine the key to his room.
He walked towards the guest rooms looking for his room number.
"183" he said to himself, "Ah".
He saw his room number at the very end of the hallway.
As he walked further down the hallway, two men caught his eye; well to be specific, one man caught his eye. That oh so familiar flaming red hair.
He noticed the two holding hands as they were about to enter the hotel room. Without even questioning whether it was Kagami or not, Aomine rushed towards them and snatched the red head's wrist, causing him to release his hand from the other man's.
"A-Aomine?!" The red head shouted. "What are you-"
Before Kagami was even able to ask any questions, Aomine was already dragging him towards his room.
"Wait, Aomine! Hold on!"
Ignoring Kagami, Aomine unlocked the door to his room and threw Kagami inside.
"Aomine seriously! What are-"
"What the hell?!" Aomine yelled, causing the red head to go silent.
"What the hell?!" Aomine kept repeating those words as continuous thoughts flooded his mind.
'Why am I so mad? What is this feeling?'