A/N: Hello and welcome to my one-shot HAHA I did this as writing practice to prepare my brain for writing for my other fanfics (non-one-shots). I had this idea planned years ago but I only really bothered shaping it into an actual story now, and it's far from what I initially imagined it to be, but nevertheless, I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basuke. I only own my OC, Rai. Also, in the event that this story idea has already been used, I sincerely apologize as I was unaware of it.
Warning(s): foul language, possible OOC, family problems
Cover photo from: kurokonobasuke. fandom wiki/ Daiki_Aomine? file= LG_Aomine. png
Horikita Rai sighed in relief when she realized her new seatmate was going to be Aomine Daiki. Her female classmates would have either been surprised or envious that she was so chill about sitting next to Touou's rumored ace, but from her experience in being his classmate for a few weeks, she knew she had lucked out.
She spared the bluenette a glance. He was dozing off on his seat, unsurprising as she recalled he had had a basketball match yesterday.
She turned her eyes back to the blackboard as the teacher droned on about Boyle's law, filling the board with equations and exercises to answer.
After Rai quickly went through the exercises in her notebook, she looked at Aomine once more. Touou was quite biased towards its athletes, especially those in the basketball team, which was probably why Aomine wasn't getting reprimanded for sleeping in class. (That and she had heard a rumor back in the first few weeks of school that Aomine had apparently been excused from attending practice as long as he showed up for official matches and won. It was already an indicator of the privilege Aomine had, if it was legit.)
Still, she sighed and prodded his arm gently with a finger. She could at least attempt to be a somewhat responsible and concerned seatmate, right?
His eyes opened after a while, fixating a sleepy glare towards her. Rai rolled her eyes and gestured to the board and her notebook before returning to her own bubble, double-checking her solutions to the problems before boxing her final answers.
Beside her, Aomine promptly fell asleep again.
.
The next time they interacted was a week later, during their PE class. Every term, the class would have a new sport to learn. For the girls in their class, it was basketball.
Rai groaned as she fell in line behind three other girls. They were doing shooting drills today, something Rai hated. Well, to be fair, she hated physical exercise in general (aside from casual swimming), and shooting made her arms feel so sore afterwards.
The girls ahead of her did somewhat okay and then next thing she knew, the ball was in her hands. She frowned, testing the weight of the ball before bending her knees slightly and releasing. The ball soared through the air, making a nice arc before falling to the ground, two meters away from the hoop.
"Two more tries, Horikita!" their teacher called out as he made notes on his clipboard.
Rai sighed as she caught the ball that was tossed to her by one of the boys. The other boys were doing volleyball on the other side of the court right now, but this boy was on ball-toss duty.
She threw the ball again, this time with a little more force in an attempt to make it reach the hoop. The ball flew towards the ring but bounced off.
Her final shot was pretty much the same.
"Next!"
Rai made her way to the back of the line, sighing. PE was going to drag her average down. She was doing well in the rest of her subjects - well, most. She and Physics just didn't click no matter what she did - so she knew they could pull her average up even if she was only barely passing by in PE. Still, a part of her felt uncomfortable with not doing well with everything, so she knew she'd have to find a way to get a good grade.
Once the line shifted to the point that she was somewhere in the middle, their teacher blew the whistle, signalling the end of the class and for them to change into new shirts. Rai thanked kami before eagerly changing her shirt and freshening up.
As she left the girl's area, she walked towards the water fountains outside the gym for a drink. Once she stepped out the door, however, she found herself quickly taking a step back. In front of her, and blocking the doorway, was her seatmate.
"Uh, sorry," Rai rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly before stepping to the side to move past him.
He shrugged before making way for her.
As she drank, she overheard two other girls giggling by the fountain next to her.
"Did you see him play? Did you see those arms?"
"I know right! Aomine-kun's already good at basketball but he's good at volleyball, too!"
Rai scrunched her nose as she listened to them fantasize about dating him. She understood the appeal; she wasn't blind. He was fit and had that bad boy aura of sorts, and he was the ace of Touou. But if those were the only reasons for them to like him, then it was quite shallow and Rai wasn't impressed by them.
She huffed as she walked away.
.
"How have your grades been, Mirai?"
Rai swallowed her food before responding, "Satisfactory."
"Hm, good. If you get anything lower than a ninety average, we will be having words," her mother gave her a stern gaze. Her facial expression shifted into a more pleasant one as she smiled at Rai's sister. "And how has work been, Mai?"
"Doing good," Mai responded with a polite smile, ignoring the glare Rai shot her way.
"How good is good exactly?" their mother asked with a light hum.
"Well, I was thinking of going to the beach next weekend. As a break."
"Which beach?"
"The one where my friend's family's resort is at. He said he'd give me a discount."
Rai's grip on her chopsticks tightened as she saw her sister with a sweet smile on her face.
(She was so dumb sometimes.)
Once dinner was over, Rai grabbed her mother's plate along with her own and dumped them in the sink, grabbing a sponge and some dishwashing liquid as she prepared to clean them.
Behind her, she could hear Mai approach.
"Rai-"
"Save it."
"I didn't mean-"
Rai turned around and glared at her sister. "Oh, no, no, ENJOY the beach trip, nee-san."
"I didn't want to lie about it," Mai sighed as she stepped closer to Rai and placed a hand on her shoulder. "We just have to be understanding."
"There's a difference between being understanding and being a pushover," Rai gritted her teeth as she lowered her voice.
"Look, she won't know, okay?" Mai said in an equally lower tone.
"You can't guarantee that. She's literally always here, day and night, being nothing but useless-"
"Rai!" Mai said in a scolding tone, but the glare didn't leave Rai's face.
"If you want to tell me otherwise, then this conversation is finished, nee-san."
Rai removed her sister's hand from her shoulder and began washing the plates.
.
"Horikita-chan, a word before you go?"
Rai turned towards their Math teacher, exchanging a questioning glance with the classmate she was supposed to have lunch with before making her way to the older woman. "Yes, sensei?"
"I was wondering if I could ask a favor from you," the woman frowned. "Your Math grades are excellent, but the same can't be said for your seatmate. Aomine-kun has been passing so far but only barely. I was hoping you could help him get better grades."
"We're not exactly close, though," Rai said neutrally. She had been planning to look for a part-time job this week, and if she landed one, she wasn't going to have time to help Aomine even if she wanted to. (She didn't.)
"That's a shame," the woman sighed. "Well, it can't be helped. If he fails, though, he might get suspended from the team."
'And that's my problem?', Rai wanted to say but she swallowed down the thought before she could let it spill through her lips. "If that's all, sensei...?"
"Oh, yes, yes, go have your lunch, Horikita-chan. Thank you for your time."
.
"Aomine-kun!"
No response came from the male who was pretending to be dozing off on the roof. Satsuki knew he was awake, though. She knew him long enough to see through him.
She huffed, crossing her arms as she walked closer, stopping once she was standing right next to him. "Your Math grades are just barely passing but English? You're failing!"
"So noisy," he groaned, moving the arm that was covering his eyes to give her an annoyed stare.
"I won't always have the time to help you study, Aomine-kun!" Satsuki frowned. "Don't you have a friend in class who can help you?"
"Tch, stop nagging about Math. I'm still passing anyways," he said. "And don't even start on English. What's the point of learning a language I won't even use in my life?"
"You don't know that yet! And isn't your goal to play for the NBA? You'll obviously need English to communicate with your teammates!"
"..."
"Why are you such an idiot, Aomine-kun?!" Satsuki groaned. "Look, if you fail a subject, you know you can get suspended from the team, right? They're already letting you skip practice, so you might as well use that time to study!"
"Tch."
.
"...come again?"
"Can you please help Aomine-kun study for English and maybe Math, as well?" the pinkette in front of her asked, hands clasped together in front of her in a pleading motion. "I heard you're seatmates so..."
Rai fought the grimace that attempted to make its way to her face. First their teacher and now Aomine Daiki's big-boobed, model-like girlfriend who was quite popular in their year for her looks. (Could somebody explain to her why the girl had such large blessings? Her flat chest was screaming with jealousy.) "I'm afraid I won't have the time to assist your boyfriend. And I'm not exactly friends with him."
The girl let out a loud "huh?" before waving her hands in front of her. "No, no, no! Da- Aomine-kun's not my boyfriend. We're just childhood friends!"
Rai blinked. "Cool. Still won't be able to help him though."
"Please! Would you want anything in exchange? We could work something out."
"I find myself wanting to say 'no' even more considering you're begging in his place."
"Aomine-kun's not the type to... well..."
Rai sighed. What a headache.
.
She found him on the rooftop, lying down on the cool floor as the clouds drifted by above them. She scowled.
"Hey."
"..."
"Oi, Aomine-san."
"Tch."
He sent her a glare as he opened his eyes. He raised an eyebrow. "Horikita?"
"If you didn't know who I was after months of being classmates, I swear..." Rai crossed her arms. "Look, I get that we're not that close, but can you please just do your part and study for English and Math because I don't appreciate people asking me to help you when you clearly don't even want to help yourself. Momoi-san was even begging me to help you, but I won't. Most I can do is tell you right now to get your shit together because no one else is going to do it for you."
"...ha?"
.
So maybe she had overreacted when she bluntly nagged at him. She felt a twinge of guilt now and again as the casual feeling she once had as his seatmate turned into an uncomfortable one. She could feel the tension. (Sometimes, she'd catch him looking at her with an unreadable gaze, but she would look away quickly.)
In her defense, a lot of things had piled up. Irritation at her mother, her sister, their Math teacher, Momoi... so technically he was the indirect cause for half her irritation, but - ugh.
She wasn't normally that rude, so she found herself on the rooftop, sandwich in her hand as she brought it towards him.
"If you're here to nag again-"
"No. I'm not. I'm sorry about how I acted the other day. I shouldn't have let my irritation out on you."
"And you think a sandwich is gonna solve it?"
She shrugged, arm straining slightly as she continued holding the sandwich at an angle. He rolled his eyes before taking the sandwich. "...what?"
"Your arms are weak as hell," he said as he tore open the plastic covering of the sandwich and took a big bite.
"Uh-"
"That's why your shooting's terrible at PE."
"You noticed?" Rai was surprised she had even sparked his attention in class.
"Hard not to when it's so bad."
She glared at him for his remark. "Well, not all of us lesser beings were given fancy basketball skills in this life."
"It is what it is. The only one who can beat me is me, after all."
His words dripped with such arrogance that it irked her but at the same time, there was confidence in his tone, and she knew with certainty that he wasn't lying.
"Isn't it... lonely, though?"
"Ha?"
"Being at the top with no one to challenge you. You're the ace of Touou. You're easily the best here, but," Rai's lips tilted downwards. "doesn't it get lonely?"
Briefly, she wondered if she overstepped her boundaries. As she told her teacher and Momoi, she and Aomine weren't friends, so why was she suddenly starting such a deep conversation with him when-
"...it does."
Oh.
.
Things went back to the way they were after that encounter on the rooftop. The awkward air had disappeared and it was as if nothing had changed. He was still half-asleep in class and she was still being her usual responsible self.
What did change, though, was-
"Oi."
Rai's eyebrow twitched, grip tightening slightly on her pencil as she continued writing her answer.
"Oi."
She took a deep breath, eyes never leaving the page until he poked her arm hard enough to make her lose control of her writing.
She hissed at him softly, mindful of the teacher explaining how to answer the previous question. "I'm not letting you copy off of me, dumbass."
"How else am I going to learn? Aren't you happy I'm taking initiative?"
"It wasn't an invitation to get answers from ME, though!" she whispered loudly. (She wasn't really irritated, though. Not really.)
"Just one number."
"That's what you said yesterday," Rai rolled her eyes before glancing at his notebook. To be fair, he really did try to answer it. "Fix the third line of the equation. Your thought process until that point was right then it got messed up when you forgot something when you transposed 'x'."
Aomine looked back at his notebook, eyebrows furrowing in thought before a light bulb went off on his head. "Huh."
As she observed him, Rai could tell Aomine was smart. Well, he had to be if he came from Teiko, but honestly? He was probably just lazy. Too lazy to study, too lazy to practice.
Rai snorted softly as she went back to her own notebook.
"Weirdo."
"Excuse me?"
"Only weirdos laugh by themselves."
"I was laughing at you actually."
"The fuck, why?"
"Well-"
"Aomine, Horikita, pipe down back there!"
.
They didn't talk outside of class, aside from their previous rooftop conversations, but it changed when Aomine saw her by the side of the school building with a boy.
When he first saw the pair, he didn't think much about it and was content to just walk past them until he saw the boy block her path when she tried to move past him. The sight made him narrow his eyes in suspicion as he paused in his tracks. When the boy grabbed her wrist, and an uncomfortable expression crossed her face, he moved.
It only took seconds for him to remove the boy's hand from her wrist as he tightened his grip on the boy's forearm.
"What the hell, man?" the boy exclaimed in surprise.
"I think you should just leave her alone. Now."
The boy stepped back as he registered the fact that Aomine was at least a head taller than him. He quickly ran away after that.
Aomine made sure the boy had turned the corner before looking at the girl in front of him. He didn't really think about his seatmate aside from the fact that he had started to register her as a person he could casually bother - someone like Sakurai but minus the more frequent interactions - but in all his encounters with her, he had never seen her this unsettled. "He do anything to you?"
She seemed to look confused by his question before she shook her head. "Just what... just what happened before you got here. Thank you for that, by the way."
"What did he want?"
"An autograph from my sister. She's a model," she replied with a sardonic smile. "I don't know how he knew but... well, he wouldn't take no for an answer."
"Crazy ass fanboys," he scoffed. He had seen his fair share of fangirls back in Teiko primarily because of Kise, and they were honestly so annoying. He remembered that one girl who was so obsessed with Kise that she got his class schedule and kept tabs on him. It was downright creepy so Aomine could imagine a bit of what she must have felt.
"Tell me about it," she sighed. "I guess I should get going now."
"Where do you live?"
She raised an eyebrow. "A few blocks away. Why?"
He rolled his eyes. "I don't want it on my conscience if that bastard tried anything on your way back."
"...oh. Okay, then."
.
If he ended up walking her home for the rest of the week, despite it being in the opposite direction of his own house, he told himself it was just because he'd want someone to do the same for Satsuki if she were in the same situation.
.
Rai scrunched her nose as she saw Aomine's choice of reading material shoved under his desk. Her sister occasionally appeared in regular magazines, but the one Aomine had...
To be honest, she had heard rumors of who his favorite gravure model was from the gossiping girls in the locker rooms before PE, but she didn't think they were true.
"What?" he raised an eyebrow at her.
"Nothing." She honestly didn't know why she felt so unnerved by the fact that her ... seatmate? acquaintance? ... read magazines with her sister on it.
He gave her a confused glare before his eyes widened. "You- your sister's Horikita Mai?"
"...Yeah."
"Well, that explains the guy from before," Aomine said before returning to his work.
Rai sent him a confused look. That's it? He wasn't going to ask for an autograph?
She turned back to her notes with a mild look of disbelief.
.
"Is he your boyfriend?"
Rai gave Mai a confused look. "Huh?"
"The tall guy with blue hair. The one who's been walking you home lately," Mai smirked as she plopped down next to Rai on the bed.
"Aomine-san? No, he's just my seatmate."
"A seatmate who walks you home?"
Rai rolled her eyes. "Yes, a seatmate who walked me home. It's called being nice."
"Chill, Ice Queen," Mai giggled before leaning closer to Rai. "Anyways, I have a room reserved for us at the resort. We'll just have to leave early in the morning."
Rai raised an eyebrow. "Really, now?"
"Yes, I promise!" Mai smiled excitedly. "We'll go swimming and then we'll go to the nearby water park to see the sea lions, and then we'll just enjoy the day and go back to sleep and go home the next day!"
"And you think we'll be able to do that unbothered?"
Mai smiled and patted Rai's head. "I'm sure of it."
.
Aomine raised an eyebrow at the girl sitting next to him as she furiously scribbled away on her notebook. It was the first time he had seen her so irritated. (A small part of his brain wondered if it was the guy who had been bothering her the week before. If it was -)
"What's up with you?" he asked once the period had ended and the teacher left. He wasn't concerned; he just wanted to know.
She glanced at him unsurely before answering, "My sister just did something dumb is all."
"Huh."
She blinked before shrugging and returning to her work.
Aomine stood up and shrugged, too, shoving his hands in his pockets as he left for the cafeteria.
Minutes later, he returned to the classroom, dumping a sandwich on her desk before he walked away to the roof.
.
Rai was unsuccessful in finding a part-time job close to her home and school. She sighed in disappointment but figured it was probably a sign or something, so she decided to spend the rest of her free time outside at a nearby Maji Burger to have a chicken sandwich.
Once she had her sandwich - along with some juice - her eyes swept across the area to find that almost all the tables were full. The only other table that had a seat had a tall, red-haired boy wolfing down two sandwiches while a plate of untouched sandwiches sat in front of him.
Deciding it wouldn't hurt, and that her feet needed a break, she made her way towards him. "Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here? Every other table's full."
He glanced at her with eyes the same shade as his hair before shaking his head and gesturing to the seat in front of him.
"Thanks," she said as she sat down and began unwrapping her sandwich. "I'm Horikita Rai."
"Kagami Taiga," he said after swallowing what he was eating. "You go to Touou?"
She blinked, glancing down at her uniform. "Yeah. Why?"
He frowned before shrugging. "Just know some people from your school."
"Ah," Rai said before looking at his uniform. "And you're from... uh, the new school... Seirin?"
Kagami nodded before taking a large bite on another sandwich.
Rai hummed as she too returned to her eating. The conversation was awkward as hell, but something told her it had to do with her school.
.
"I'm just saying, we didn't need a beach trip," Rai said as shoved her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. There was nothing wrong with the resort. Rai just knew something was up by how smooth everything was going.
"C'mon, Rai, you need a nice little vacation from school and I need a short break from work!" Mai giggled as she stretched her arms.
"Yes, but-"
"Horikita Mai?!"
Rai blinked and suddenly Mai was surrounded by a small crowd of fans. Mai took it in stride and happily interacted with them before excusing herself by emphasizing she was here on a break with her younger sister.
Rai stiffened when the people's curious gazes shifted to her. She could already tell that they were wondering how she and Mai were even sisters. Beautiful Mai with her bouncy, brown hair, well-endowed chest, and a height of five feet and nine inches was a goddess compared to five-foot-five Rai with plain-looking mousy brown hair that reached her waist and a flat chest.
She supposed genetics just wasn't fair sometimes.
When the crowd dispersed, Mai and Rai grabbed their mats and laid them down on the sand, plopping down on them after.
Mai looked like she was at peace as she gazed at the clouds, but Rai was still worried.
"Nee-san."
"Hmm?"
"...it's nothing. Slipped my mind," Rai chuckled but she frowned as she looked away. She wasn't going to ruin Mai's rest day. She'd ask tomorrow.
.
"Can't we go to your house instead?" Aomine asked her.
Rai tilted her head to the side. "Why?"
"Satsuki will bother us if it's at my place," he said. Right. The not-girlfriend.
Rai snorted. "Such a wuss."
"Eh."
"Yeah, yeah, fine. Let's just finish the project asap." Truthfully, she didn't want him at her house because of both Mai and her mother. (What if he only wanted to go to see Mai?)
When they arrived at the house, though, Rai was surprised but thankful to find no one home. Taking it as a small victory, she directed him to her room, where she told him to wait while she got snacks.
She entered the room with a plate of brownies a few moments later and found Aomine staring at the photo collection on her wall. It was honestly just pictures of her and Mai. (Maybe he was looking at them because of Mai. She wouldn't be surprised.)
"Here you go," she said, placing the plate on the small table in the middle of the room before she sat down on the floor and placed her laptop next to the brownies. "Okay, the presentation is for next week so we'd need to decide on a topic today and get some research done, too. We'll need the next few days to practice how to say it in English, after all."
"English is a hassle," Aomine grumbled before he too sat down, got a laptop, and shoved a brownie in his mouth. "This is... pretty good. Where'd you buy this?"
"I made it."
"Huh. That's cool."
"Mhm," was her response before she let herself fall on her back. "Who even assigns a presentation due in such a short period of time?"
Aomine snorted. "Our English teacher."
"I'll be mentally exhausted by next week and I still need to practice my shooting for next week's PE exam."
"With your grades, you can fail PE though?"
"I want straight As," Rai sighed followed by a whispered, "Actually, I need those As, too."
Aomine shrugged at her response. "Can't we talk about basketball?"
Rai frowned. "You're asking if we can talk about my current mortal enemy?"
"Yeah."
Rai hummed. Then again, if the topic was basketball, she was pretty sure Aomine would have a lot to say about it, she knew they'd be able to come up with a lot of material. The only hurdle would be the speaking part of the presentation, as Aomine struggled with English, but it was a win-win situation either way. "Okay. We can talk about that. Just tell me what you want to say and we can divide what to research on. But..."
Aomine narrowed his eyes. "Tch, but what?"
Rai bit her lip. "Well... would you mind teaching me how to shoot? Figured I'd ask since you're on the team."
He stared at her for a few moments before sighing. "Fine. This week, every day after school, we'll go to a court, but you have to do everything I say."
"Sure-"
"Rai, do you have a friend with you?"
Rai glanced at the hallway, which was visible since they hadn't closed the door to her room. Mai popped into view a few seconds later.
"We're having some karaage for dinner," Mai smiled before glancing at her friend. "Ah, you're Rai's friend?"
"Aomine Daiki," Aomine said with a slightly dazed look on his face.
Mai's eyes widened in realization before she chuckled and made small conversation with him.
Rai snorted as she watched the interaction. Aomine looked like a dork as he tried to form coherent sentences in front of her sister and it was just so - adorable? (But secretly, she wondered.)
.
"Why - is - this - necessary?" she asked between pants as she bent forward and held on to her knees for support. When she asked him to help her shoot, she didn't think he'd make her run laps around the court as a warm-up. Or to do push-ups. Or to do arm exercises as she held two full water bottles in her hands.
"Conditioning," was his only response before he gave her an open bottle of water that she eagerly chugged down.
"Urgh," she groaned before he tossed her the ball. (He snuck it out from the school gym, but hey, apparently it was part of his privileges.)
She positioned the ball above her arms, preparing to shoot until Aomine said, "Stop."
She turned an annoyed glare at him that he rolled his eyes at as he walked towards her and held her arms and proceeded to fix her stance.
Ba-dump.
She was very much aware of his hands on her arms as she froze.
Ba-dump.
"Try shooting."
Ba-dump.
"Oi."
Ba-dump.
He moved his face close to hers. "Horikita, what's wrong with-"
"Eep!" she squeaked in shock as she registered his proximity, throwing the ball and watching as it landed through the hoop.
Aomine blinked. "Well, that works too."
Ba-dump.
.
Something was wrong with her. There had to be, otherwise she wouldn't be smiling as she listened to him wax poetic about Michael Jordan. Maybe it was because his face now contrasted his usual indifferent gaze towards basketball?
"-and then in the third quarter, he-"
"Knock, knock. I bring snacks!" Mai said as she entered the room with a plate of muffins.
Rai watched as Aomine smiled at her sister and greeted her. Lately, her sister and Aomine were having small talks here and there, and they seemed to be getting closer.
That was a good thing, right? Her sister was getting to know her... friend? But what if that had been his goal in the first place? Better yet, why was she so bothered?
.
She got her answer the next school day when she saw Momoi Satsuki talking to him with a wide smile and him standing close to her.
She was jealous.
And she kind of knew why.
.
She didn't want her epiphany to change anything. Really, she didn't. It would just complicate matters. Her mother would be furious with her, Mai would... well, Mai would be supportive but Aomine liked Mai. (Or at least, he liked seeing her on his stupid magazines.)
And that was it.
Aomine liked Mai.
Mai. Not Rai.
Her. Not me.
This was a mantra she repeated to herself every time he did something dumb like-
Aomine reached over to grab the eraser that was next to her hand, making his hand touch the back of hers briefly. Rai stopped writing and her brain froze, face turning slightly pink.
- well, something dumb like this.
"Do you have a fever?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"I don't," she hissed in reply. "And why are you even using my eraser? Don't you have your own?"
"Satsuki borrowed mine."
And that was the other problem. The gorgeous not-girlfriend. (How could she even compare?)
The flush on her face dissipated as pessimistic thoughts entered her mind.
(This was stupid.)
.
Preparations for their project continued to be held at her house, and she found herself glancing at him every now and then. When he spoke about his part, she found herself listening with such focus. (But that was just being polite.)
When their hands would brush past each other as they reached for the desserts Mai would bake or bring home for them, Rai would do her best to hide her blush. (But that was only because she wasn't used to physical interactions with boys.)
When Aomine would doze off at one point, citing the need for a nap, she would fight the urge to reach out and touch his hair. Was it really as soft as it looked? (But that was just plain curiosity.)
When Mai would come in during one of their breaks and chat with Aomine, Rai liked to see them getting along because it meant her sister approved of her ... acquaintance? And she also got to see more of Aomine's relaxed face. (But that was because she was just used to-)
(She knows she's in denial.)
.
Rai was turning into a hypocrite.
She once felt it was annoying for her classmates to fawn over Aomine while he was playing basketball, but now she could understand.
People beside her in the stadium said he was in "The Zone", and that explained why he was blurring across the court right now and absolutely dominating. Every formless shot of his took her breath away and she could see why he was the ace.
As she continued watching him in awe, she sent a silent 'thank you' to Mai for making her go here to watch. (She had been a little jealous that she found out about the match from Mai instead of Aomine himself. How were those two closer?)
Yet, even with all that power, he still lost. Touou had been defeated by Seirin.
"The only one who can beat me is me, after all."
But as she watched him smile - an actual, genuine smile on his face - and bump fists with a player from Seirin, she knew it was a win.
.
"You like someone."
"Huh?!" Rai squeaked, dropping the small book she had been reading on her face, causing her to groan and rub her nose, which had collided with the book. She sat up and glared at Mai.
Mai plopped down on the bed and grinned. "You've been happier these days. I thought maybe something good happened at school, but I didn't think good meant good."
"Good doesn't mean liking someone automatically," was her weak defense.
"It's the look in your eyes, Rai," Mai smiled. "It's Aomine-kun, isn't it?"
"No!" Rai screeched in denial but her tomato-colored face gave her away.
Beside her, Mai laughed. "Good thing I made you watch the match, right? Shame he lost, though."
The memory of Aomine's smile entered her mind and caused Rai to smile as well. "No, I wouldn't say it was a loss."
"You like him."
"Shut up."
.
This was just as a thank you for him helping her with her shooting. She had made it through one of her shooting assessments with flying colors so she just wanted to express how grateful she was.
Really, that's it.
Ignore the fact that she stayed up all night making sure the brownies were perfect before she ended up sleeping on the sofa with how tired she was. She also made sure to hide the brownies so her mother wouldn't be suspicious of it.
So when she saw him in his seat, leaning back on his chair, she steeled herself and placed the box of brownies on the table.
"What's this?"
"Ah, thank-you brownies. I passed my test the other day thanks to you helping me."
"You didn't have to," he waved a hand, "but thanks."
"No problem."
Ignore the fact that she really waited for him to open the box and take a bite as he hummed pleasantly.
"Tastes good as always, Horikita."
Ignore the fact that the compliment made her happy.
.
"You what?"
"Well, she kind of caught me sneaking out with our stuff," Mai said sheepishly.
"And you didn't tell her 'no'?"
"C'mon, Rai, she's our mother. We... we should be supporting her ever since Dad died."
"Nee-san, supporting her isn't the same as funding her whims! She uses the money for betting or drinking! She doesn't even want to find a job!"
"She was always a housewife..."
"But that doesn't excuse her for dumping her responsibilities on you! I get that your pay is good, so you can help with the bills but she doesn't even do the chores! We split that! And she doesn't even care about us! All she wants is your money-"
"Rai, can we just drop this, please?" Mai sighed with a frown. "Would it help if I promise not to do it again?"
"No. We both know you're not going to keep that promise. Just... don't give her money if you know she's just going to drink or something, okay?"
.
As Rai finalized their powerpoint presentation for English, she glanced at the kitchen and saw Aomine and Mai in conversation, with Aomine looking embarrassed and Mai looking amused. (She wondered what they were talking about.)
Feeling the familiar entry of jealousy, she averted her gaze back to her laptop as she continued tapping away on the keyboard from her spot on the living room sofa.
A few moments later, Aomine came by and plopped down next to her.
"Almost done?" he asked as he peeked at the laptop's screen, where Rai was inserting a picture of Michael Jordan.
"Yes," she huffed, as her typing became more aggressive, "so you can go back to talking with my sister."
"...ha?"
She turned an annoyed gaze at him, sighing once she registered the confusion on his face. "I'm sorry. I'm just annoyed because I kind of have a crush on you and that's why I'm bothered and holy shit, this isn't the way you were supposed to find out, and actually, I didn't want you to ever find out. But you know what? I'm going to shut up now and end with: yes, the presentation is almost done, and you can chillax."
She didn't bother looking at him again as she felt her face grow warm. She hated being such a blabbermouth when she was embarrassed, but she couldn't exactly take back what she just said.
Goodbye, friendship or whatever it was they currently had.
Her and her stupid mouth.
"..."
.
As expected, they had grown awkward again: Rai because she was reliving that moment and cursing herself while Aomine was presumably still processing what had happened. (Or, he already processed it and decided that nope, he didn't like her like that for sure, so he was just keeping quiet to be nice to her and to not tell her directly that he was rejecting-)
"Do you wanna... uh... shoot some balls this weekend?"
She glanced at him, making sure that he had asked her the question, and received his unreadable gaze as her response. "...yeah, sure."
.
When Rai arrived at the basketball court he told her to meet him at, she instantly registered Aomine next to a boy she recognized was from Seirin.
"Ah, it's you," she said as she looked at Kagami.
Kagami looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Oh, I remember you."
"Mhm." Rai wondered why the two of them were gathered here, but decided that it wasn't really her concern so she turned to the one who she was supposed to spend the day with.
Aomine glared at Kagami before asking Rai, "How do you know him?"
"Ah, he shared his table with me in Maji Burger once when there weren't any free seats left."
"Tch," Aomine scowled before grabbing her hand and gently tugging her away. "Alright, then. You have your shoes. I don't want a crappy match, you hear me? We'll be going now."
"Huh? I thought we were going to play here?"
"Hell no. We're going somewhere else."
Kagami stared after them with a confused look on his face.
.
Aomine started ignoring her after that. Well, maybe not directly since he still walked her home, waiting for her in their classroom and accompanying her on her way back in silence. Her attempts at conversation were responded to with one-word replies and he hadn't even looked at her the entire time.
His behavior started confusing her, but what if he was only being nice because he still saw her as a - whatever he saw her as - and was only being polite about her having a crush on him. Inwardly, she smacked herself, wondering once more why she had been dumb enough to say it out loud.
The silence started taking its toll on her, and on one Friday afternoon, she opted to walk home by herself, dodging him by pretending to go to the washroom. She just couldn't handle the awkwardness she was feeling, and how tense everything seemed to be. Just for today.
She sighed with relief as she made it past the gates of Touou without spotting blue hair, so she walked home in her own bubble of silence.
That was when he arrived.
"Horikita, there you are," he smiled nastily and her eyes widened as she took a step back.
"You-"
"Guess your boyfriend's not here," he said.
"He's not my boyfriend," she denied weakly.
"Either way, you're alone, Horikita," he grinned and leaned towards her, making her back off even more. "Headed home? I can walk you back."
"There's no need. I was going somewhere else," she said as she took another step back but he easily caught her when he lunged forward and grabbed her wrist tightly.
"I can go with you there, Horikita. I'm a pretty nice person."
"I'd prefer being alone…" she said as her free hand attempted to reach for the phone in her pocket. He caught that hand, too, though, and gripped it.
"Tsk, tsk. I'm just being chivalrous, Horikita," he said. "We don't want you bumping into danger."
"I think you're the dangerous one here, if anything," she sneered at him despite her fear.
Her response just caused him to smile even more. "Well-"
"Leave, asshole."
An arm ripped him away from her and she turned her eyes towards Aomine, who was glaring daggers at the boy who scampered away. "Fucking coward."
He turned to her and scowled. "You left on your own."
"Didn't see the point of waiting for you when we wouldn't even be talking," Rai said honestly as she stared at her feet. "You've been… off."
Aomine rubbed the back of his head, looking away from her and mumbling.
She looked up at him with a confused look on her face. "Sorry, what?"
"-said I like you, too, idiot," he said. "This makes two terrible confessions."
Her jaw dropped and all she could do was stare at him. "...Can I just make sure that this isn't out of pity? You genuinely-"
"Tch. I don't do pity. I wouldn't do that to you."
"But- you- my sister- I thought-"
"Pretty sure she was doing the whole overprotective sister act 'cos she said she saw this coming from the start. She thought she was being a good wingman."
"But-"
"For fuck's sake."
Aomine rolled his eyes before swooping in and placing a chaste kiss on her lips.
Rai's mind went blank.
(How were lips that soft?)
He pulled away and stared at her.
Her face heated up as she finally processed what happened. "I- you-"
Aomine smirked in amusement before walking away slowly towards the direction of her house.
"Oi! You can't just kiss me then walk away, you-"
Fin
P.S.: She got an A in PE.
P.P.S.: They slayed their presentation and got an A for that, too.
A/N: Do give me your thoughts on this c: Looking back, I acknowledge that Aomine kinda was OOC for me? -ish. And I honestly haven't seen the anime in a while now, but I hope the story was still entertaining for you!
Also tbh, I didn't think Rai's mother was a necessary character or necessary period for the story, but I felt like it just gave more insight to her as a character? Idk lol anyways
Hope you guys are safe during this pandemic!
See you in another fanfic, maybe? HAHA :3