Author's Note: HOLY SHIT guys you have no idea how happy it made me to see your reviews! I was deadass crying at 3am in the morning you had no idea. Keep them coming! They gave me a lot of encouragement to write this chapter! Also I would like to say I was inspired by Divine Will to write this story. It's a MidorimaxOC and it's so cute it's diabetic. Go read it!
Also, this timeline is set before Shuutoku first got defeated by Seirin. Sorry for not clearing that up in the beginning!
How To Text A Tsundere
by Newt Is My SHank
Flashback
"Why am I popular," Takao pouted internally as he skipped through spam message after spam message from several group chats he didn't even recall joining, a reminder from the Shuutoku basketball team captain Ootsubo that there was going to be an early emergency meeting later today, and an all caps threat from Miyaji telling the "second string punks not to complain" and that he'll "hit Midorima with a pineapple if he didn't reply!" Takao contemplated slipping the blonde some alcohol in his water bottle so he could chill the fuck out one day.
Hm. Miyaji might actually act out those threats if he did that. Never mind. Maybe he should do it to Shin-chan?
The last few messages were mostly private messages. Three from relatively cute girls who probably were gonna ask about Midorima ("What do girls see in you anyway, Shin-chan? Tell me your secrets!" Takao protested in mild disbelief one day during lunch break when a girl he was secretly crushing on came up to him and asked him if Midorima was single. Midorima had simply fixed his glasses and pinned an annoyed glare at Takao, "I do not appreciate you hinting that I lack charisma, Takao. And I simply follow Oha-Asa. And proper eating habits. You should do the same." "Aw Shin-chan I wasn't hinting that - WAIT WHAT ARE YOU CALLING ME -" "Ah, class is in three minutes, we should get going." "HEY GET BACK HERE SHIN-CHAN WHAT THE FU -"). Did every girl who met Midorima just deadass ignored the ridiculous lucky item the tsundere brought everywhere with him? Perks of being tall and handsome he guessed. Ugh.
Either that or those girls were just megane fetishists. Yikes.
Diiiiiiing!
A notification appeared at the top of Takao's screen and he raised an eyebrow when he saw the user ID. Shin-chan? Since when did the megane ever text Takao for anything? Panic frantically seized Takao's heart. Shit, was Midorima about to die or something? Did he get kidnapped? Robbed? Ran over by a car? What was he supposed to tell the senpais -
To: Takao Kazunari
From: Midorima Shintarou
Subject: I will be absent toda
Takao,
Cancer is last today. Lucky item unattainable. Currently in a bed with the cold.
- Midorima
Takao deadpanned at the short but sweet email. Of course he'd have to be the unfortunate messenger to relay this message to the senpais. Still, his "SHIN-CHAN-PANIC-ALERT" levels dropped significantly and he decided to send Midorima a gushy reply, sniggering at the tsundere response he knew was going to come.
To: Midorima Shintarou
From: Takao Kazunari
Subject: ( ˘ ³˘)
GET WELL SOON SHIN-CHAN! LOVE YOU XOXO FROM YOUR FAVORITE PARTNER! SMOOO━━(´з(ε`)━━OOCH
- Kazu ゚°˖* ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
Diiiiiing~! Diiiing~!
To: Takao Kazunari
From: Midorima Shintarou
Subject: Die,
Takao.
- Midorima
To: Takao Kazunari
From: Midorima Shintarou
Subject: Re: Die
I suppose I will have to make do with you, even if it is not necessary for me to have one. Do not disappoint me.
- Midorima
Takao smiled exasperatedly at the tsundere-like response. While touched that Midorima was slowly coming into terms (albeit really slowly) that Takao was shaping up to be a reliable partner, he was just too emotionally stunted that the term "being honest with his feelings" was practically nonexistent in his dictionary.
"HEY SETTLE DOWN YOU BRATS! Takao-kun, I see you with your phone! Turn it off before I confiscate it!" Suzuki-sensei hollored from the front row and threw a piece of chalk at the Hawk Eye boy's forehead. Takao felt it bounce off his head and hit the overhead projector, which alternately changed its trajectory and landed back into the aggressive teacher's hand. Wow, Suzuki-sensei should really try playing ping pong.
"Maaaa~ sorry sensei! I was texting my cute girlfriend so don't hit on me," Takao responded cheekily while rubbing his forehead. The class erupted into chuckles, a few girls sent him smiles and even the corner of Suzuki-sensei's lips twitched momentarily before the pseudo Spartan rolled his eyes and turned away. Takao grinned, humor always diffused any heated situation. Especially when it came from Overall Nice Popular Guy, Takao Kazunari!
(Huh, maybe that's why he couldn't get a girlfriend. Was that why girls flocked to Midorima? Because he was "mysterious"? Eeek.)
"Okay so before I was so rudely interrupted -" Takao snorted "- I would like to announce that a new student will be joining our class today. She recently transferred from Kyoto and I hope that we can all make her feel welcome here." Takao perked up at the announcement and scanned the new transfer standing next to Suzuki-sensei. It was rare in itself to receive new students in the middle of the semester much less a new student in a college prep class. Murmurs were already circulating around the room. Damn, where did this chick come from to get admitted here? Shuutoku's academia was no joke - they were amongst the top schools in Tokyo after all. Even Takao had to pull a few all nighters to get into Shuutoku's top class.
Takao eyed the new transfer with curiosity. She was short, possibly around the 145-150cm range, with the Shuutoku sailor uniform making her look younger than she should. Light, borderline pale skin. Petite, but not skinny or toned. She looked like the type that didn't exercise much but ate small to balance it out. What set her apart from the rest of the students (but probably not the Kiseki no Sedai) was her pastel blue hair that was cut short into a fluffy chin-length bob. Cute, Takao thought privately to himself. Her eyes were a startling shade of grey that unsettled the Hawk Eye player for some reason. He could immediately sense something was off about her, but couldn't tell what. There was a strange, serious yet oddly playful aura surrounding her that confused the brunette.
Overall she was a moderately cute girl. Not conventionally cute, like girls who styled their hair and were peppy and energetic and wore thigh high stockings (aka girls who Takao usually tried to flirt with and failed to do so because he was such an affably nice guy that said girls would friendzone him on the spot real quick). More like "you would notice her immediately in a crowd" and "take a second glance but that's it" kind of cute. However her piercing grey eyes and poker face severely cancelled out whatever cuteness appeal she had.
"My name is Ayase Izumi," the girl said firmly, then paused and appeared to be lost in thought for a few seconds. A beat or two passed before she added in a dramatic whisper, "that's it."
Takao sweatdropped and nearly fell off his chair from the poor execution of anticipation. Then an excited grin slowly travelled up his face and his shoulders shook slightly in silent laughter. Oh, she was going to be a fucking riot.
"Ooookay that was...great. Ayase-kun you can take your seat next to - oh is Midorima-kun absent? - okay you can go take the seat next to that empty seat. Takao-kun raise your hand so she knows where it is," Takao waved his hand lazily to signal to the new girl to walk in his direction, and in that instant his eyes met hers and he took the chance to flash her his trademark Charming Cheshire Shin-chan Approved Smile.
Normally whoever he used this on would immediately feel more at ease and relaxed around him, which would lead Takao to strike up an easy conversation with them. A normal reaction from them would be to smile back or say hi, or if they were particularly shy they'd look away quickly and stutter and blush (oh stop it Kazunari you charmer).
Instead he got an extremely confused look from the girl who at the moment looked akin to a puppy that lost its owner. For a moment Takao's mind went blank and malfunctioned because this was not a reaction he was expecting. The girl then steadfastly ignored Takao by walking towards her designated seat next to Midorima.
"Okay now that's settled, let's get on with the administrative work today…" Takao tuned out the announcements for the sake of his sanity and his thoughts immediately went to something that could entertain him.
Normally he'd be aggressively texting Midorima, and Midorima would 30% either totally tell him to shut up and ignore his texts and 70% of the time he'd likely give in to Takao's persistence and they'd quietly discuss school-related or basketball-related stuff until homeroom was over and lessons started. After that Takao wouldn't even bother trying to touch Midorima since said megane would put all his focus on classes until break time. But since his resident tsundere husbando wasn't around….
Takao was bored.
Insufferably bored.
So. Fucking. Bored.
Now normally Takao was a pretty decent guy. He'd never use his special eye ability outside of the court. Never once used it to spy on someone or cheat on tests. One of the first year second string players asked him after practice whether he could use Hawk Eye at a sauna to spy on girls and Miyaji overheard and made the poor idiot run fifty laps around the school for asking such a stupid question.
(Technically it could. Technically. Not like he'd ever try. He'd happily like to preserve his life from Scary Upperclassman #1 Miyaji Kiyoshi, thank you very much.)
But it wouldn't harm to try now, would it? Takao hummed to himself, glancing to the side of the class. It was harder since he'd never actively tried it off court but he could roughly see what the entire class was doing while Suzuki-sensei was rambling. Some were busy reading their textbooks and writing down notes, most were actively listening to Suzuki-sensei, then there were those like him who were so bored out of their minds that resorted to staring off into space. Typical Japanese school life.
The brunette side-eyed to the new girl beside him, studiously taking down notes of whatever Suzuki-sensei was saying. She was tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, revealing an expanse of her pale, unblemished, soft neck. Woah...cool your hormones Kazunari Jesus Christ.
What was interesting though was the mobile phone perched on her lap. So in most Japanese high schools, you weren't allowed to use your phone during school hours. Like at all. So the girl was already breaching One Hell of A Rule already. While the blue-haired girl was mostly writing stuff down on her notebook, notes and such, she'd occasionally lose focus and start scrolling through something on her mobile phone. Takao was visibly confused by the amount of memes she was going through. Hmm, she didn't seem like the type. She gave off the air Midorima normally did: the studious, scholar student archetype. Aka a Total Nerd.
Takao faintly recognized the app that she was using - which was Tumblr. Now Takao tried Tumblr once and the first thing he saw was furry yaoi porn and he vowed to himself that he would never reinstall that damn app ever again.
Izumi...that was her name right? Izumi suddenly gasped as if inspiration hit her and she quickly exited the app and started frantically typing something Google.
Interest spurred, Takao tilted his chin slightly to get a closer look and nearly burst out into hysterics at what she was typing.
how to eat a chocolate cornet correctly?
PFFFFFFT. Holy crap that was some Lucky Star shit. And what on earth was she thinking to ask that question? Had she never had a cornet before? Did she get hungry? Takao clamped a hand over his mouth and laughed as quietly as he could without giving himself away. Her reaction beforehand just made it more interesting. What was she thinking before typing that? Did she suddenly saw something that made her go Holy Shit I need to know how to eat a chocolate cornet?
Izumi started typing again.
does the megalodon shark exist
Eh? Megalodon? What was that? The bluenette then clicked on images of this Megalodon and Takao looked on impressively at the sheer size of the shark. Largest shark in the world. Hmm, cool. He learnt something new everyday.
world trigger cancelled ashihara
What how - Takao wasn't even going to ask how those two searches immediately got linked to each other. He had heard of the manga World Trigger before though. He wanted to check it out but never got the time around to do so. But apparently according to Izumi's search it was on hiatus? Hmm, maybe he should stop by Akihabara during one of his free days...
why does everyone hate hufflepuffs
Hufflepuffs are great! Takao thought, offended. Well at least he knew now she was a Potter fan. Maybe he'd rope her into a Harry Potter-related conversation one day. Would be fun to hang out with another fellow fan. That is if she even wanted to...
Izumi started typing again. Takao flinched at the search result.
how to tell your seatmate that you know he's staring at you
Takao whipped his head up at the girl, eyes wide and looking like a deer in headlights. Izumi raised a judging eyebrow at him and he swore she saw a flash of insane mischief cross her eyes. Takao's jaw dropped slightly. He had never once been caught staring before and he couldn't help but mouth out the words, how did you know? at her. Izumi smiled - holy shit she had a nice smile - and mouthed back, I'm very observant.
Yikes, gotta watch myself then, Takao thought. He then used his index fingers to make a curved "smile" gesture on his face, You have a pretty smile, Ayase-chan. It took the girl awhile to understand and when she did her entire face exploded in red. Takao clamped his mouth shut before he could start spluttering at the bluenette's unexpectedly cute reaction. He could feel her staring incredulously at him and the Shuutoku regular simply winked and waved back at her.
Izumi stared at him for a moment before frantically writing something on her notebook. When she was done she flashed the notebook at him: What is your name? If you don't mind.
Takao Kazunari! Nice to meetcha, Takao wrote back in return, grinning at the exchange. Not the conventional way of talking to someone, but this method worked too, Can I call you Izu-chan?
If possible, her face went even redder and she resorted to hiding her face behind her notebook and Takao was 132% sure steam was coming out of her ears. His lungs felt like dying from trying to hold back his laughter. In response, the bluenette slowly nodded at him from her seat, determination flashing in her eyes, like damn right you're calling me that cutesy nickname!
Before Takao could answer back, Suzuki-sensei grabbed everyone's attention by suddenly writing something on the chalkboard. Immediately their focus went back on the teacher who after finished writing "CLASS EMAIL EXCHANGE" turned back to his students with a maniacal smirk on his face. "Alright, since it's the middle of the semester, us teachers decided to give you all a graded project!"
"So as a special homeroom assignment, you all will be picking one of your classmates for a class email exchange!" he smacked his palm next to the big letters on the chalkboard. "Everyone has to pick a person from class - I would recommend you to pick someone you've never talked to before - and exchange emails with each other. Once you've picked partners please tell me and I will write your name and your partner's name down. The aim of this project is to improve class relationships and hopefully all of you will get to experience knowing someone out of your clique and friendship circle."
"The requirement to pass is to answer a list of questions that I will announce every Monday, and these questions have to be answered by your partners every week. After you and your partner answer those questions you can feel free to do whatever you'd like afterwards. At best I would like everyone to at least message each other once everyday, but the basic requirement is answering the weekly questions. At the end of the semester we will collate all the messages for a public showing and we'll pick out a few exchanges to do a psychological analysis on. Alright?"
Excited murmurs erupted all over the classroom, a few of them complaining about how bothersome and useless it sounded but the majority of the students seemed particularly excited to do something so unorthodox. And it was a free grade too, which was the biggest plus point. Nice. Several hands shot up in inquiry of the assignment.
"Sensei! Is it okay if we don't reveal our names for the public showing?"
"Maaa, don't worry. When you send in your chat log I'll do some editing and blur out all the names and the identity giveaway parts so you guys can go nuts on what you wanna chat about."
"Sensei! How is this assignment graded? Do we get higher grades the more we message each other?"
"Oi! That's a secret. Don't pout at me, Yamada, sit down!"
"Sensei~ can I partner with you? You're my best friend~."
"Don't act cheeky with me, Saito. I know I'm attractive but that's beside the point! The aim of this project is to get to know more about someone you're not normally acquainted with -"
Well kind of sucks considering I know everyone, Takao admitted proudly to himself, even the class tsundere. Takao cackled to himself. If he could be friends with the most standoffish person in the classroom, getting to know everyone else would be a piece of cake. Oh, but it'll be interesting if I ask her though, Takao side-eyed the new girl again, She seems like the Shin-chan type, all serious and aloof but - HOLY SHIT SHE LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE JUST KILLED HER DOG.
Indeed, once Izumi heard this announcement that she had to socialize, all color promptly drained from her face and she wore the most depressing display of despair Takao had ever seen on a human being. Immediately he scribbled something frantically on his notebook and showed it to her, R u ok Izu-chan?
She turned to look at him with sudden bags under eyes and whatever energy she had before the announcement had died and she shook her head very slowly, mouthing, I want to die.
Takao cringed at the statement, he quickly wrote back, You don't wanna partner with anyone?
Izumi nodded, then spoke very softly and seriously that it surprised the Hawk Eye player, "I'm not exactly a popular target. I tend to give off a bad vibe. No one necessarily wants to pair with me. Look around you, you'll notice."
Look around me? What does she - Takao stopped to observe the entire classroom. Already people were getting up and talking about who they wanted to pair with. A few already paired up, most of them deciding to go with friends who weren't very close or people they spoke with occasionally. It was the middle of the semester after all, most of the students would've already spoken to each other at least once - oh.
When you're a new student, you have a certain amount of novelty to the other students. During that period of time, a lot of students would approach you and ask you about different things and you'd generally be very popular for the first few days of school. So why wasn't anyone coming over to talk to Izumi? Considering the nature of the assignment, Izumi would be a prime target to "get to know", she would be the first person people would naturally want to go to. But why wasn't she - ?
Izumi sent him a sort of regretful 'You see it now?' smile. "People tend to get put off by me for some reason. So they'll avoid me. Though you could blame it on me not wanting to socialize too," Izumi shrugged as she leaned back in her chair, before angling her face towards the befuddled Takao, "You're the first to talk to me. I'm really happy. So thanks."
Takao wanted to protest that she shouldn't be thanking him for talking to her. That just felt so...surreal. Was this how Midorima felt before he met Takao? The green-haired shooter didn't talk to anyone on his first day of school and was practically a loner - given it was the first day and everyone was probably very nervous on their first day - but he likely might have stayed a loner if Takao didn't approach him and tell him that he'd make Midorima acknowledge him during their first training.
Takao stared at the nonchalant girl who decided to return to writing in her notebook. Immediately his heart filled with confusion and at the same time annoyance. Not towards her, but towards their classmates. Wasn't it proper of Japanese culture to make a transfer feel welcome in a new environment? He wondered how many times she had to go through this cold treatment. Sure she gave off a silent, serious, unapproachable aura but were people so unobservant and lazy that they refused to even try to look past that exterior?
Screw it. I'm going to ask her.
"Hey, Izu-chan, do you want to -"
Before Takao could get his words out, an arm slung around his shoulder and violently pulled him up and a very loud, obnoxious voice calling his name excitedly, "YO TAKAO! YOU DON'T HAVE A PARTNER YET RIGHT? LET'S BE PARTNERS!"
"O-Oi Yamada hold on wait -" but the aggressive hazel-haired boy didn't listen and took Takao's lack of answer as an affirmative and before Takao could even stop him he'd been spun around and dragged to the group of laughing guys at the back of the class who seemed to be enjoying seeing Takao getting manhandled into their social circle. "Hey! Guess who's my partner guys!" "Yoo Takao, your friend not here today? "Oooh sup Kazunari, guess you're not gonna be pairing with Midorima huh?" Well, even if I was you assholes didn't let me get a word in -
Takao laughed half-heartedly at their banter, managing to pull off a joking demeanor without coming off as too fake. He quickly glanced back at Izumi, who was still writing in her notebook, expression clear of any emotion. He eventually did catch her eye and he quickly mouthed back an apologetic, Sorry!
Instead of a sad smile or maybe a wave of dismissal, she simply gave him the same confused 'puppy-lost-owner' look she gave him earlier, and started replying with a Why when the tall looming back of their homeroom teacher blocked his view. Immediately he was being pulled back into the conversation by his apparent new partner, Yamada, who started talking about the new Avengers movie that Takao might have been very interested to talk about an hour ago but he could barely focus on now due to his guilt on leaving Izumi alone with whoever got left out.
He watched on quietly in the corner of his eye as Suzuki-sensei started discussing something with the blue-haired girl, the teacher's face expressing mild amusement and at the same time exasperation, and even gave the bluenette a bop to the head with a paper fan. Where did he even get that - ?
The Shuutoku regular could make out a couple of words from their conversation. Things like: "Come on Izumi-chan, give it a shot", some low mumbles from the blue-haired girl, a vexed sigh from the homeroom teacher, a very pathetic-sounding "I'm sorry" from Izumi, then right after that apology she said something that made Suzuki-sensei laugh, and Takao swore he saw the normally eccentric homeroom teacher fondly ruffle the girl's affably fluffy hair.
"Fine, I'll see what I can do for you," Suzuki-sensei sighed, then spotted Takao eavesdropping them and the brunette felt a fucking SHIVER run up his spine at the positively shark-like grin the dark-haired teacher sent his way. "Takao~ come here!" Suzuki-sensei ordered cheerfully. Now while the teacher was fucking scary, Yamada's obnoxious voice near Takao's ear was grating on his goddamn nerves so he reluctantly took that chance to escape Yamada's embrace and make his way over to the duo.
"Welcome back, Takao-kun," Izumi greeted him with a smile. Suzuki-sensei appeared surprised for a moment, glancing at the bluenette and then at the mildly confused brunette. "I see you're acquainted with Takao-kun then, that's great!" the scary demeanor around the homeroom teacher dissassipated and he looked at Izumi with a very pleased expression, like a proud father who just saw his baby daughter walk for the first time. He returned his attention to Takao, "So Takao, do you have a partner yet?"
Takao gave a half-grimace smile and scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Yeah. Sorry. I wanted to ask but -" the brunette did a thumbs up and gestured at the raucous boys at the back, "- I kind of got stolen away before I could ask you. Sorry Izu-chan."
"Oh, so that's why," Izumi's eyes went wide, then instantly playful, "It's alright. I was surprised you'd even consider someone like me, Mr. Popular Takao-kun."
"You were my first choice," Takao answered back confidently, a familiar mischievous smirk gracing his features, "Why not a cute girl than a noisy guy?"
"OOOOOOKAY no flirting in front of me, thank you very much!" Suzuki-sensei blocked their conversation with his paper fan, wielding it in between the two teens, "Now Takao-kun, do you know anyone else who likely doesn't have a partner?"
Takao contemplated it while briefly scanning the classroom. It seemed that mostly everyone had found a suitable partner already, many of them pairs even Takao himself didn't really expect. He was about to suggest the class pervert, Hidataka, but a part of him felt repulsed to leave his new female friend with the class pervert of all people. Like. Common sense much?
A light bulb flickered in Takao's head. Holy shit.
"No way. Shin-chan?" Takao couldn't help but grin. Oh, this was epic. "Oh my god, Izumi-chan's totally going to pair up with Shin-chan, isn't she?"
Suzuki-sensei eventually caught on and he had to cover his mouth and look away so the blue-haired teen couldn't see him losing his fucking shit. "Oh my god what were the odds," Takao wheezed before turning to the bewildered girl who looked half curious and half done with their conversation. "Izumi-chan, I'd love to break the news to you. But you're very likely gonna be pairing up with the most eccentric person you will ever meet," Takao accentuated confidently, "Like. Really eccentric. Be prepared. Also what's your blood type?"
"AB," Izumi blinked.
Takao shut his eyes in attempt to recall whether Blood AB types were compatible with Blood B types (being Midorima's friend meant that you had to be extremely flexible. And when I mean flexibile I mean researching on who Midorima is compatible with, listening to the Oha-Asa broadcast every morning, learning the importance of blood type compatibility etc.). They likely were. Takao grabbed her by the shoulders, surprising her, and told her very firmly with a frantic light in his eyes, "Izumi-chan, this is very important. When you message Shin-chan for the first time, you have to mention your blood type. Ok? Even if your horoscope isn't compatible you have to tell him your blood type, or he won't even bother replying to you."
Izumi pursed her lips in mild scepticism, "Takao-kun…are you setting me up with some religious astrology fanatic or something?"
You are closer to the truth than you think, heheheh.
"Absolutely," Takao replied, then smiled, and this time it was genuine, "By the way. Izumi-chan is cute so I'll let you call me Kazu, okay?"
Flashback End
"Kazunariiiiiiiiiii," Takao blinked when a tiny hand passed over his face, and looked down to see Izumi's inquisitive stare on him, "are you daydreaming?"
"Yup," Takao replied, then beamed down at her, "I was daydreaming about when we first met, Izu-chan!"
Izumi spluttered and started frantically beating him with her fists. Except she was small and weak so really it was just her unharmed hand harmlessly whacking Takao on the chest. So cute~~~
"Would it kill you to stop remembering that," she asked pleadingly, "oh my god, how was I supposed to react to someone telling me I had a nice smile? How? I've never heard a compliment like that directed to me in my life!" Takao smirked sultrily and brought his hand up to lightly cup her chin, adjusting her vision so she was staring up directly into his own blue eyes. "I'll give you as many compliments as you like if it gets you to smile, okay Izu-chan?" Takao promised, meeting her curious grey gaze with his own, "But I think I really like seeing you blush more." With that he blew air directly onto her face and he relished in her high-pitched squeak as she violently pushed him away to bat aggressively at her reddened face, "KAZUNARI ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?"
"About complimenting you so you smile more often? Yep! So is the blushing thing," the brunette teased and he couldn't help but chuckle at the indignant finger Izumi was pointing at him, embarrassment showing bright and clear on her face, "Kazunari, you teasing son of a bitch -"
"Woaahhh, language!" Takao chastised, leading her to growl loudly and flip him off.
"You are absolute dead meat once I find a way to tease - Kazunari, your phone is ringing."
The ID Shin-chan flashed onto the screen and Takao picked it up faster than he ever picked up anything in his life. Even girls. "Yosh~ Shin-chan what's up?"
Immediately after he saw Izumi slap a hand over her mouth, clearly not wanting to give away what her voice sounded like. Seriously, these two, Takao thought. "Haaah? You want me to pick you up from Kaijou - maa maa fine. How was the match anyway? Who wo - whoa okay yeah I'm coming. Yeah, I'll bring the damn rickshaw you ass, yeah after you LEFT ME IN A TRAFFIC JAM. Yeah, yeah, you wanna say hi to Izu-chan? Okay wai - WOW YOU PIECE OF SHIT DON'T JUST HANG UP ON ME." Izumi watched in bewilderment as Takao pouted and tossed the phone very gracefully back into his bag and started getting up.
"Sorry Izu-chan, duty calls," Takao said, clearly depressed to have to go back under the hot sun in a stupid rickshaw, "I'm gonna go pick up Shin-chan from Kaijou."
"Ah, explains why he told me not to bother him for an hour," Izumi nodded, then grinned happily, "Hey! That means I can go bother him now!"
Takao chuckled, "You go do that, Izu-chan." Without a moment's hesitation, he leaned down and wrapped his arms very carefully around the injured girl, and gave her body a warm, comforting squeeze, much to her surprise. Clearly she wasn't expecting a hug, but in an attempt to appreciate the gesture she lay her uninjured arm over the player's back and smiled. He smelt very faintly of shampoo and allspice. "See you tomorrow then?"
Takao moved away with a wink and a snap of his fingers, "You gotcha. Any dessert requests, Izu-chan?"
Izumi waved him off with a grin, "Something dairy-free, or else Shintarou will bitch to me about it in five whole paragraphs."
Takao continued laughing even on his way out. Guess he'd have to ask Midorima for suggestions again.
Aaaaand that's it. Had a lot of fun writing this chapter because you all sent me really great reviews and I was so happy I completed this at 6am in the morning! Hope you all like it! Please drop more reviews to encourage me~
Also I hope you all enjoyed some Japanese high school commentary. I researched about the culture of Japanese high schools and had a lot of fun with it! Also for reference, this is right after the Seirin vs Kaijou practice match, where Midorima went to spy on his old teammates and left Takao in a traffic jam XD Classic!
Also, if you have any suggestions on what topics Midorima and Ayase should talk about, leave them in a comment! I won't necessarily take them but if they seem interesting enough I'll put them in the fic!
