A continuation of the IzuKise fic, featuring the Japanese High School basketball circuit.
Most people in the high school basketball circuit would deny to their dying breaths that there was some kind of connection between them just because they've faced each other on the court. They all had their own circle of friends that rarely overlap, they never contacted each other for anything other than basketball, and they knew absolutely nothing about each other's' private lives. And then the Generation of Miracles happened.
For Takao, it had been a normal day of soul crushing basketball practice; even Midorima looked at peace for all that he had been cradling a Hello Kitty mini fan - which was hilariously more out of place than usual considering how cold it was getting. Absolutely no one had any idea of the chaos they would end up getting dragged into.
The first inkling of something amiss was during one of their rare breaks, when Midorima finally gave in to the incessant vibration of his phone.
"Takao, who is Izuki and why am I supposed to know him?"
"Izuki...? He's Seirin's Point Guard, how did you manage to not remember him considering how many videos we analysed?" Takao asked, half of his attention still on the ball he was playing with.
"Ah yes, that's right. I was just not expecting to hear of him in connection to Kise. I had thought the name was of someone on Kaijou's team; we've never gone up against Kaijou so I don't know the names of their team after all."
"And you expected me to know?" Takao's concentration suddenly zeroed in on Midorima once his brain processed the rest of his words. "Wait, why's Kise talking about Seirin's Izuki? To you?"
"I don't want to know," Midorima said huffily, closing the lid of his phone with a snap.
"No, no, let me see. Come on!" Takao said, grabbing Midorima's phone out of his fingers. "Holy shit, look at all these texts...what the hell am I reading."
Midorima simply sniffed, turning his attention to the ball Takao had dropped instead.
"I don't know where to begin. The fact that Kise of the Generation of Miracles is dating 'Eagle Eye' Izuki, the fact that he's texting you for love advice, or the fact that you don't seem surprised at all."
"I don't care what Kise gets up to. It has nothing to do with me."
"And yet he's asking you for love advice. Because he's dating a guy. From Seirin. Izuki Shun from Seirin. Who even does that?"
Miyaji snapping at them to get back to practice ended the conversation, and Midorima refused to discuss it anymore for the rest of the day. But it did result in the whole thing reaching the ears of the rest of the Shuutoku basketball team, who had a poll and decided that the most surprising thing was that Kise goes to Midorima for love advice, with dating someone from Seirin being second, and the fact that it was the Point Guard Izuki Shun coming a distant third.
"Wonder what Kise sees in a guy like him."
"He's kind of good looking, I guess."
"Does anyone know anything about him besides the fact that he's a Point Guard with an inferior version of Takao's trick?"
"Does it matter?"
"Wait! I think I remember something about him being a joker?"
"Seirin's Izuki Shun has a weird obsession with puns; I'm surprised you guys didn't know that."
"Seriously, what does Kise see in that guy?"
"No wonder he needs love advice."
"Do you think Midorima is secretly some kind of love guru that someone like Kise thinks he'd give good advice?"
"Maybe I should consult him about my girl troubles."
"Hah, you wish you had girl troubles."
In hindsight, Takao had to admit it had all been great fun. Who would have guessed that Kise Ryouta and Izuki Shun dating would result in the great myth of Midorima Shintarou: Relationship Advisor?
"Dai-chan! Dai-chan, it's awful!" Momoi said as she pushed open the doors to the gym dramatically so that it crashed into the walls on either side.
The Touou basketball club, who had been doing drills and trying not to stare too hard at Aomine actually coming to practice, stopped what they were doing as one so they could gawk at Momoi instead.
"What, can't you see we're practicing?" Aomine replied, as if totally unaware of the irony of those words coming out of his mouth.
"I know, that's great, but you don't understand! Ki-chan needs our help!"
"If that guy needs my help, he can just come to me himself. What would Kise need help with anyway?"
"How can he when you forgot your phone again?" Momoi said, waving the aforementioned phone around wildly in her hand. "I had to keep it with me in case you lose it again."
"So? Did he ask for help?"
"Well, not exactly…but he obviously needs it if he's going to Midorin for love advice!"
"Seriously?!" Even someone like Aomine was shocked out of his apathy, the ball he had been twirling falling to the floor with a thump.
The rest of the basketball club gave up all pretence of practice so they could rubberneck instead, soft whispers breaking out in clusters as they discussed what this meant in regards to Midorima's status as 'most likely to be a virgin out of all of the Generation of Miracles'.
"Exactly! We need to do something, Dai-chan!"
"Okay, but what kind of advice does someone like Kise need? He finally finds a girl who's not into him?"
"Actually, he is dating Izuki-san from Seirin," Momoi said, a furrow creasing her brows as she spoke. "I don't know why that would make him go to Midorin of all people for advice though."
The crowd around them erupted as this new piece of information was received, not that it changed Kise's standing as 'most likely to have interest in guys out of all of the Generation of Miracles' in any way. Momoi, as if just realising the magnitude of letting the rest of the club hear everything, raised her hand to her mouth, stricken.
"Who?" Aomine, as usual, didn't seem to care what the rest of the club was doing; all of his attention was on Momoi.
"We fought them twice! How did you forget him? There are only five members on the court from each team, and he was starting player both times!" Distracted from her worries, Momoi settled into her usual mood of exasperated annoyance at Aomine.
"So he can't have been the guy Iron Heart replaced, besides Kagami and Kuroko that leaves…is he the glasses guy that Ryou got so pissed at?"
"No. That's the Captain, Hyuuga Junpei." Momoi levelled her best unimpressed look at Aomine, not that it ever had any effect.
"Whatever, so why does Kise need love advice from Midorima because of him? Is he also an astrology freak or something?"
"Er, Izuki-san's hobby is making puns actually," Momoi said reluctantly.
"Are you sure he's gone to Midorima for advice? Kise isn't that stupid."
"Not anymore," Momoi said miserably, "but Midorin's texts to me seemed quite clear that Ki-chan's bugging him about his boyfriend for some reason, but if it's not for advice…"
Having gotten bored of the whole thing, Aomine turned back to his drills only to find that nobody else was concentrating basketball. Instead, the topic of discussion revolved around arguing about just who was Izuki Shun – beyond what they knew about him – that he would be dating someone like Kise Ryouta; the consensus being that there must be more to him than what's on the surface, that Kise would choose him over all the hot girls that swarmed him all the time.
This was the scene Coach Harazawa and Wakamatsu arrived back from their private meeting to find: Momoi arguing furiously on her phone with 'Midorin' while the rest of the club stood around debating over what possible advice someone like Midorima could give, and Aomine being the only person actually practicing.
There were many things Himuro found inexplicable about Japan; even when it came to his beloved basketball, the difference between Japan and America could be more than people might expect.
The fact that the third years retiring meant that the only starting players staying on was him – a recent returnee, Liu Wei the transfer student, and Murasakibara Atsushi – who was probably lacking more common sense than Liu and him combined – definitely didn't help.
Which was why Himuro found himself at a loss in how to deal with this. Frankly, the text Kagami had sent him was confusing enough on its own; something about one of the Generation of Miracles dating his sempai, and going to Midorima for advice was bad so they needed Murasakibara's help? To begin with, Himuro did not understand what they needed help with in the first place; or why they needed to go to Midorima or Murasakibara when, from what he had heard, Momoi would be more helpful if they absolutely needed someone who had been connected to the Generation of Miracles. Or even Kuroko, who was actually on the same team as Kagami and this sempai.
But trying to explain this to Kagami just got him some more incomprehensible texts about somebody needing to stop Kise for his own good, and both Momoi and Kuroko agreeing that Murasakibara was the best bet. Himuro would never have thought that Kagami would get involved in trying to break up his sempai's relationship – though to be fair, the whole thing was confusing enough that it was anyone's guess what they were actually trying to accomplish – even if this Kise was going too far, or that Murasakibara would be the person to go to for this; but he respected Kuroko, and from what he heard of Momoi from Murasakibara, she was worthy of respect too.
And so Himuro found himeself standing in front of Murasakibara and trying to explain how he had heard from Kagami that Kuroko and Momoi needed Murasakibara to stop Kise from doing something, possibly to Midorima or possibly to Kagami's Point Guard sempai, or both.
Himuro had pre-emptively handed Murasakibara a bag of chips the moment he had pulled him aside for the talk, but seeing the deepening scowl on his face, Himuro prudently gave him another.
"Don't wanna," Murasakibara said, chomping down on the second bag of chips the moment it reached his hands. "Why are they coming to me anyway? Kise-chin listens to Kuro-chin more than he listens to me."
"I don't really get it myself, but your ex-teammates want your help, Atsushi."
"Then why did they go to you?"
"Probably because they knew you would not listen to them?" Himuro returned exasperatedly, passing Murasakibara a third bag of chips.
"Well, I'm not gonna listen even if Muro-chin tells me to," Murasakibara exclaimed, moving back towards the rest of the club without a care for how loud his voice was. "I don't care who Kise-chin is dating or why he needs to be stopped. Who's Izuki anyway, and what does it have to do with me?"
Himuro winced as the Yousen basketball club broke out into loud chatter over Murasakibara's words. He wasn't sure how well people took the idea of homosexuality in Japan, but it was kind of a relief to hear that most of the discussion was around why Kise was dating Izuki specifically and not why either of them was dating a man – apparently, it wasn't a surprise that Kise wasn't completely straight. Himuro wanted to know himself, from what he knew of Izuki Shun he couldn't quite see why he was dating Kise either.
"Izuki is Seirin's Point Guard, we did go up against them recently, you know."
"Don't remember him, don't care."
"Yes, I know you don't. But apparently Kise was asking Midorima for love advice because of all this? From what you told me of the Generation of Miracles, it sounds quite serious that he would go that far."
Around him, more conversation broke out at this new revelation, one particularly loud proclamation mentioning how Midorima was apparently some kind of special authority on romance, lots of people mentioned it, it's true!
Seeing Murasakibara shocked out of his usual apathy so much that he actually dropped his snacks on the ground did kind of made the whole ordeal worth it. Even if they all got in a lot of trouble with Coach Araki for practice getting disrupted.
There was no such thing as a united high school basketball circuit; no matter how well they knew each other on the court, gossip off the court hardly ever made full rounds. Which was why Mibuchi had only just heard of the absolutely fascinating news between Kise Ryouta of the Generation of Miracles and Izuki Shun of Seirin's basketball club that was just starting to make its way through the Rakuzan basketball club.
The one recurring theme from what he had heard was why on earth someone like Kise Ryouta would be dating someone like Izuki Shun. Putting aside the fact that both of them were men, Kise was a model who was surrounded by hot people on all sides and knew just how good-looking he was; meanwhile, Izuki had a pretty face but cared more about puns than anything else except basketball.
Thus Mibuchi had decided to go to Akashi, who must have known Kise well from being his Captain, and see what kind of gossip he might be able to get straight from the source. Akashi's response wasn't what he had been expecting though.
"So it has spread this far, has it? No wonder Atsushi called me." Akashi's tone was the same as it always was, but his eyes sparkled with a rare kind of amusement and…was that mischief?
"Murasakibara-kun called you? Because Kise-kun is dating Izuki-kun? I'm not sure I understand."
"It was rather unclear; Atsushi himself can be imprecise at the best of times, and the whole matter went through a lot of twists and turns, I gather. It all comes down to the fact that ultimately Ryouta's still quite immature."
"I…see," Mibuchi said, more because he felt that Akashi required a response than because he actually understood what he was talking about.
"Nevertheless, Ryouta is a part of Kaijou now, and it's Kaijou who should be dealing with him. I have made it quite clear to Satsuki and Tetsuya that if they really wanted to do something about it – though it is way too late by now if it has even reached Kyoto – then they should make Kaijou deal with him as is right and proper." Akashi's words might have seemed more menacing if his eyes were not still sparkling with amusement at the whole thing.
Mibuchi wasn't sure why the Generation of Miracles ex-manager and ex-sixth man were suddenly entering the conversation, but by this point he had resigned himself to the fact that maybe the truth was even weirder than the rumours he had heard. Which bears asking, "So Kise-kun and Izuki-kun really are dating?"
"Oh yes. It is not that surprising. Seirin's Izuki Shun is the kind of person Ryouta will go for, someone kind and willing to put up with his pushiness; and Ryouta is the kind of person who will not care about what kind of interests a person may have as long as he respects them and they are willing to mind him."
"I'll take your word for it, I suppose. All I know about Izuki-kun, besides his basketball, is his puns after all. But still, that is enough for them to be dating?"
"Neither of them are romantics and overly concerned with what love should be like. Nor is this matter as big a deal for them as it seems to be for everyone else," Akashi said dismissively, his tone dry. It was obvious he had tired of the preoccupation over this.
"So does this mean that the rumour about Midorima-kun being some kind of expert on love is true as well?" Mibuchi couldn't help but add; today had been full of surprises after all. Though watching Akashi's too-blank face, he suddenly wasn't so sure he should have said that.
"Please excuse me a moment, Reo," Akashi said tonelessly, gliding inside the storeroom of the clubhouse and shutting the door behind him with a click.
Mibuchi rushed to press his ear to the door as soon as it had closed, just in time to hear Akashi's muffled shrieks of laughter. Faintly, he could hear the words 'love expert' and 'Shintarou' mixed in with the laughter. Was the idea really that unbelievable?
It was an unusually sober Riko that arrived at practice long after it started; one look at her face told everyone clearly that something was up, and the most surprising thing about her calling Izuki aside to talk to was the fact that Izuki wasn't usually someone who caused trouble.
"Izuki-kun, I heard something from my dad today. He's been hearing talk of a lot of disrupted practices from his friends that coach high school basketball teams. And the source is apparently a rumour about you dating Kise Ryouta from Kaijou?" Riko paused to take in the colour draining from Izuki's face before continuing, "From your expression, I'm guessing that's true. It is not a big deal at the moment, no one has come to us officially to complain or anything like that; Takeda-sensei hasn't heard anything either. But maybe you will want to talk to Kise-kun about this? Since it seems to be common knowledge among a lot of people by now."
"About that, actually Akashi-kun has already talked to Kise-kun about this."
"KUROKO! When did you get here?"
"And how do you know about this? Why is Akashi involved?"
"It was Momoi-san who brought it to my attention in the beginning; Kise-kun had been bugging Midorima-kun about his relationship with Izuki-sempai, and that somehow caused the relationship to be exposed to the whole club. Which then reached the ears of Momoi-san, as these things do. She wanted me to stop Kise-kun and his indiscretions before the whole thing became an even bigger deal, but I was unable to dissuade Kise-kun from his actions. We decided to turn to Akashi-kun, who we felt was the only one capable of stopping Kise-kun; but in doing so we seemed to have caused to rumours to spread further-"
"This was all because you said we needed Murasakibara to tell Akashi! Why couldn't you have just gone to him yourself?" Kagami interjected suddenly, making Riko aware that the entire basketball club was now clustered around them, listening.
"As I was saying, Murasakibara-kun was the only one besides Midorima-kun who had a chance of getting Akashi-kun to deal with something he would find trivial. Akashi-kun has talked with Kise-kun and I believe he has stopped. Though it seems it is already too late," Kuroko said, looking slightly chagrined.
"Oh, is this about Izuki dating Kise Ryouta? I heard about it from Mibuchi. Since it's out now, congratulations, Izuki! He's a really good basketball player," Kiyoshi said casually, his usual smile on his face.
"I can't even tell which part I should comment on first! I can't believe you've stayed in touch with Mibuchi Reo! I can't believe I'm apparently the only one who didn't know Izuki was dating!" Hyuuga said, mystified.
"I'm sorry everyone, that you had to find out like this. We had no plans of keeping it a secret, and Ryouta has already met my parents, but…I just couldn't find the right words to tell everyone. I'm so sorry you guys didn't end up hearing it from me." Izuki bowed low as he spoke, contriteness in his every word.
"Shut up, idiot," Hyuuga said, scowling embarrassedly, "you've got no obligation to tell us anything. And it's Kise who should be apologising; you might not want it to be a secret, but I'm sure you didn't want it to be made into such a big deal. What the hell is that guy thinking anyway?"
"Don't worry, Izuki, we're all okay with it," Tsuchida said soothingly.
"Yeah, Mitobe says that too," Koganei cut in, "but what a waste! Two people so popular with women, dating each other, how does that make the rest of us feel?"
"Wait a minute, Koganei-sempai, doesn't this mean there's less competition now? Since both Izuki-sempai and Kise are now taken," Furihata pointed out.
"And you can always go to Midorima for help!" Kawahara chimed in.
"I heard that he's like the authority on relationships!" Fukuda added helpfully.
Kuroko's reaction to that was unfortunately lost in the furore of the Seirin basketball club clapping Izuki on the back for landing such a good catch, that's more than any of us can ever manage, good on you man. Watching them, Riko felt a smile grow on her face. They were good people, all of them, even if Kuroko and Kagami seemed to have been the ones who made the whole mess a lot more complicated than it needed to be.
Kise had just wanted to brag to Midorima about his hot Point Guard boyfriend (hint hint, nudge nudge). He totally didn't mean for the whole thing to blow up the way it did. How was he supposed to know this would happen anyway?
Also, it was Kasamatsu-sempai's own choice to come out of retirement just to punish him; it wasn't like Kise wanted him to. It wasn't fair to blame it all on him! He was the victim here!
It was a good thing Izuki liked him so much.
It was a good thing Izuki still liked him so much.