Out of Control

Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke and its characters don't belong to me; no profit is being made from this story.

Summary: How did this happen?

A/N: I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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She's got her sketchbook out as her gaze studies the tree in front of her and he can see the furrow in her brows as her pencil glides over the paper.

She's wearing low heeled boots, black jeans and a blue cardigan over what he's sure is a long sleeved t-shirt.

It's a beautiful spring day and it's been two weeks since Hanamiya's managed to come see her in person.

They'd both been busy; her settling in to her new courses and him whipping the newbies into shape.

A part of him loves the challenge, even if Hara's really the one with the people skills. The new kids are more than a little afraid of him, which he supposes is inevitable with his reputation. He hasn't done anything to scare them, though…his scathing comments are generally reserved for his fellow third years.

She usually has Saturday mornings off and the only reason he's able to meet with her this morning is because they're doing some sort of maintenance in the gym-although why they waited until now to do something this significant a month into the school year instead of during the past school break is anyone's guess.

As annoying as it was, he'd messaged her with no hesitation to see if they could meet up for breakfast or something. No sense in having the morning be a complete waste.

He hadn't been able to concentrate during the 20 minutes it took for her to reply and he's starting to think that he might have a problem.

Despite his reputation as the 'Bad Boy' of the Uncrowned Kings, Hanimiya's spent a lot less time engaging with the fairer sex than most people assume. He's actually never pursued anyone.

He could lie to himself and say that it wasn't as a result of his molestation and generally abusive early childhood but he's never been one for that much self delusion.

The few flings he's had didn't last too long, and fortunately they hadn't been looking for anything other than a good time with one of the most popular guys in school. They'd been the ones to chase him, and Hanamiya may not be the nicest of people but his sadistic tendencies don't generally extend to girls.

They'd wanted a good time and he'd delivered. That was it.

He'll still wink at them when they pass him in the corridor just to make them blush-he does have a reputation to maintain, after all.

But, he muses as he watches Snowflake stick her tongue out as she starts shading, actually being the one doing the chasing is a completely foreign concept to him.

Also there's the small issue of him not knowing whether she's in the least bit attracted to him.

Sure, they had that moment a few weeks ago, but he's convinced he just blew it way out of proportion.

They're just really comfortable with each other, that's all.

Not many people just accept him for him.

"Hey. We're actually going to get breakfast or you're just going to stay over there and silently criticise my drawing all morning?" she deadpans. Her face is blank but her eyes are laughing at him.

He gives her a sheepish grin.

"Sorry. Didn't want to disturb."

And oh, she clearly wasn't expecting that since he startles a laugh out of her.

"We're speaking English today?" she looks surprised, and…cautiously optimistic?

"You don't have to," she continues, putting away her art things.

He waves away her concern as they walk back the way he just came.

"Nah, it's okay. I need the practice anyway. Besides, you're speaking Japanese all during the week. It's the weekend; everyone deserves a break."

It's the absolute happiness radiating off her that makes him smile to himself.

She's always mentioned how difficult it is restraining her naturally bubbly personality so much when she comes here.

Hanamiya understands why she does it...she'll stick out no matter where she goes in Japan, but not speaking the local language fluently would only make it worse.

He gets it. He does.

He thinks it's a shame, though. Her natural vibrancy is one of the things he likes most about her and it shines through when she's speaking her native language.

Even as they find the café and wait for their orders, her eyes light up and she laughs and gestures happily, teasing him when he gets some words wrong but always correcting him afterwards.

To be honest, he's not this bad at English but he keeps getting distracted by her laugh. It's easily one of his favourite sounds and every time she does it, his heart does something funny.

She's happily devouring her onigiri and Hanamiya keeps sneaking glances at her.

He's realising that he's becoming addicted to watching the way she eats. Her face is just so expressive that when she's enjoying something it's plain as day.

And she is definitely enjoying that onigiri, even sticking out a pink tongue to lick some of the filling on her finger, just like…

Hanamiya pumps the brakes on where his thoughts are heading so fast he's surprised he doesn't give himself whiplash.

Focus, Makoto!

"Makoto? Are you okay? You look a little pale."

Crap.

He forces a laugh and winks at her through his bangs.

"I'm always pale."

The look she gives him tells him that she isn't impressed and he averts his gaze to the few other patrons of the café.

He needs to get a grip.

"…practice. It sounds like fun."

Belatedly, he realises she's been speaking to him for the last several seconds and he flushes.

"Sorry babe, could you repeat that?"

It takes him a good few seconds before he registers what he just said.

Snowflake freezes with her drink halfway to her mouth and Hanamiya wants to just die from embarrassment right there.

They both stay frozen for so long that he's started praying for the ground to open up and swallow him. He's so busy berating himself internally that he almost misses it –AGAIN- when she speaks.

In his defence, he's still in panic mode and it takes him a few seconds before he realises that she's switched back to Japanese and a few more seconds before he actually understands what she said.

"I said: I wish I could come and watch you practice. It sounds like fun."

She's not looking at him, but there's a small smile on her lips that makes him feel both relieved and self-conscious at the same time.

He tries to shake off the awkwardness of the moment by giving her his usual smirk.

"Watching a bunch of sweaty guys pass a ball around on a court while I yell at them before at least two of them pass out can't actually be your idea of fun."

She huffs out a laugh around the last mouthful of her food.

"You'd be surprised." Her eyes are laughing and Hanamiya's nerves start to settle a bit.

It's okay. They're okay. She's not upset with him.

"So, may I? Or does your fancy, super exclusive school not let strangers in to spectate?" He can hear the teasing in her voice but there's also a note of earnestness in there that he doesn't expect.

She's serious about this, he realises with a jolt.

The idea of her watching practice has him torn.

It's a bad idea, probably. For one, she's beautiful and his team is full of idiots. He especially doesn't want Furuhashi anywhere near her.

Hara is irritatingly fluent in English and gets distracted easily. Seto might be the only one to ignore her and actually focus on practice.

As for himself, he's always had a very singular focus when it comes to his coaching.

People can say what they want, but his team works well together and they get results. That doesn't happen because he allows them to slack off.

That said, he's clearly not himself around Snowflake recently so allowing her anywhere near him when he really needs to concentrate is most likely a stupid idea.

He should tell her no. She's even given him the perfect excuse; he'll just nod and complain about how paranoid his school's security is.

"Yeah, security is a little paranoid, but don't worry about it. I can just hold a weekend practice on a court nearby, that way you can still watch."

He did not give himself permission to say that. What the heck is wrong with him?

"Really?" Okay, how is he supposed to resist it when her whole face lights up like that?

"Sure. The guys won't mind a change of scenery and playing somewhere else is good practice for the new kids. How about next weekend?"

Stop talking, he pleads with himself. Please stop talking.

"Okay, great! I'm going to have something to look forward to all week." Her eyes are crinkling with how wide she's smiling now and Makoto feels his knees go weak.

Seriously, what the hell?

She excuses herself to go to the bathroom.

As soon as she's out of sight, he buries his face in his hands.

What is he doing?

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That's it for this chapter! As always, constructive criticism is welcome. I'm thinking of doing Melody's point of view in a future chapter. What do you guys think?