Kagami grabbed the ball he kept near the door and almost bolted out of his apartment. Coach had forbidden any extra basketball until the end of the week, due to test season approaching. Their team couldn't afford to suffer because of the bad marks that seemed to be fond of appearing on Kagami's papers.
Kagami grudgingly accepted that her work in making him a barely acceptable student was paying off, though he still hated her methods. It was Friday after practice and he had way too much energy left over from the week.
He had fired off a quick text earlier today telling to Aomine to get his butt over to the usual court whenever he finished practice, but he had no way of knowing whether the other would actually make it. When Kagami reached the court, he almost dropped the ball in surprise.
There was someone else there.
Actually, make that four someones.
As he slowed down his pace and walked over as they turned to face him like they were expecting his arrival at that very moment.
What the hell was going on?
Kise smiled that annoyingly fluffy looking smile of his, Kuroko waved stoically, Takao's face formed one of his usual smirks and Midorima simply stared at him, looking just as constipated and antisocial as usual.
"Yo."
Kagami gave a short wave as he greeted them. Weird or not, they were here now and obviously had some kind of purpose. He only hoped it was to play basketball. He really wanted to exhaust himself today.
"Hey Kagamicchi!"
Kise, unsurprisingly, was the first to respond.
The others nodded their greeting.
"Umm, well there's no easy way to put this but we were called in to be distractions."
Takao's voice sounded sheepish.
Distractions?
Kuroko evidently saw the questions forming in Kagami's slightly bewildered mind and chose to explain before voicing them was necessary.
"Aomine-kun called me today regarding the recent turn that events have taken. He wanted me to tell you he wouldn't be coming today, even though there's no reason behind that, but I managed to bully him into coming. I told him is that I would bring more people so he doesn't have to feel nervous about meeting up with Kagami-kun."
Kagami heroically stopped the roar of laughter from exiting his mouth.
Aomine was so freaked out by this whole thing that he couldn't even hang out with Kagami alone?
He didn't know why but Kagami found this to be hilarious.
"I still don't understand why I have to be here and play with you monkeys nanodayo."
Ah.
There we go.
The king of constipation has spoken.
All hail.
"Aww, come on Shin-chan! It'll be fun to play for a bit! It'll only be for an hour or two! Right Kagami?"
"Erm, when Aomine and I usually play we end up going until it gets dark."
Kagami blinked at the three shocked stares he received, Midorima being an exception. Seriously, does he have a gastric problem or something?
"You guys play one-on-one for hours here? Every week? Uwah, no wonder you two seem stronger lately –ssu."
Kise nodded his head and scratched his nose, seeming to see a few blank spots in a puzzle get filled in with the new information.
Midorima just grunted and marched over to the side of the court to the contraption he and Takao travelled by. He sat down in the cart section, folded his arms and stuck his nose into the air with an expression of distaste.
As Takao bounced over to coax the king out of his carriage, Aomine slouched into the court.
At first glance, Kagami noticed about a million things that were off about him.
His hair had been combed, messed up and then tidied again so it wasn't too obvious.
He wasn't wearing his sweaty old tank top that had probably been used at least ten times without being washed, this one looked clean.
One of his hands was in the pocket of his sweats, visibly clenched in a fist, while the other clung onto the strap of his bag. He was gripping it tightly enough that his knuckles were turning a few shades lighter that the rest of him.
He looked bored and slouched, but the tightness of his shoulders betrayed him.
Aomine Daiki looked very nervous to Kagami's eyes.
If the others noticed, probably only Takao and Kuroko would, they wisely said nothing. There was no point in hurting the pride of someone who based almost all of his actions off of it.
Aomine blinked with feigned exhaustion and nodded at the five of them in greeting. Takao had somehow persuaded his majesty the carrot man to get off his royal behind and join in on the game so they went three-on-three.
Kuroko chose the teams, putting himself, Kagami and Kise on one with Aomine, Takao and Midorima on the other. It seemed like a good match up.
In reality, it was even better than a simple good match up. They were so evenly matched that neither team could get any decent headway over the other. They lost track of time as they immersed themselves in the game they all loved, blood boiling with their desire for victory. They played for hours, until Kagami noticed that the orange glow in the sky was in fact the sun setting and called a halt to their fun.
The others looked at him questioningly when he snatched the ball and stood up from his stance nonchalantly.
"Sun's going down so we should probably call it quits."
Four pairs of eyes looked up at the darkening sky in surprise. Heck, even Midorima seemed startled. Aomine was used to it.
Speaking of Aomine, Kagami was glad that the others had come. Aomine had relaxed right after Kagami's team scored the first basket and had immersed himself in the game along with the rest of them. It would have been harder to get him to calm down alone.
As the others chatted a little and packed up their bags, Kagami did something he was almost certain he'd regret in about ten minutes.
"Hey, you guys wanna have dinner at my place?"
Though he was speaking to all of them, his attention was focused mainly on Aomine's reaction.
It was exactly like he thought.
Aomine stiffened up, frantically started glancing around and hunched his shoulders a bit.
He was waiting for someone else to take up the offer first.
Kuroko realized the situation immediately and agreed, Kise's agreement hot on his heels and only then did a muttered "Sure" leave Aomine's mouth. The royal weirdo declined, thankfully, and Takao, being the official vehicle of said royal weirdo, also took his leave.
As Takao pedaled Midorima off into the sunset, groaning, panting and sweating with the exertion, the four remaining walked in the direction of the grocery store to get enough food for half a stomach, two hungry teenage stomachs and one physics defying internal black hole.
Kagami thought that Kuroko's description of his appetite was appropriate so he'd become accustomed to using it.
"By the way, what do you guys want to eat?"
Kuroko was the first to respond.
"A vanilla shake."
"Food. Not a cup of Kuroko-style IV fluid."
"A small slice of vanilla cake with a vanilla shake."
Kagami rubbed his temples and groaned.
"Okay what do the rest of you want?"
"Kagami-kun do I get my vanilla shake?"
"Yes I'll make your damn shake!"
Kuroko's eyed crinkled with satisfaction.
"Ooh how about we have sushi –ssu!"
"Kise. I am not making sushi. It's not even fresh fish day."
"Aww… Well then how about we eat turkey! Like we're celebrating Thanksbringing -ssu!"
"It's Thanksgiving and it'll take hours to cook a turkey. Too long."
"Aominecchi? What do you want?"
Aomine flinched a little when Kise turned his attention on him. He had been walking silently ever since they left, which was rather strange.
"Teriyaki burgers."
He muttered the two words and looked down.
Ah, so he was embarrassed.
"That sounds good to me. You guys okay with that?"
Kagami quickly responded, trying to dispel the slight tension that had appeared.
He received two eager nods and they continued on to the store.
Mayhem.
It was utter mayhem.
Kagami reminded himself that he would never ever go to a grocery store with anyone ever again. It had begun pretty well, he had told the others that he'd grab the ingredients so they could just do as they pleased for a bit.
Aomine had immediately situated himself in the cart, at least he knew he wouldn't fit in the child seat this time, and looked almost like Midorima had earlier when he sat down in the back of that bike cart. Kagami didn't even try to waste his time getting the asshole out.
Kise had happily dashed off after Kuroko, who went to stare at the baking section and the ice cream.
Things went pretty well until Kise's fast movements made his false glasses and hat fall off.
Kise was easily recognized by the mass of elderly ladies while others realized from their exclamations.
Then the mayhem began.
Almost every customer in the store swarmed Kise in an attempt to get an autograph or a photo or whatever else was wanted. Thankfully, mister popular knew not to alert the crowd that he was here with others, lest they be dragged in too.
Kagami snatched Kuroko from the edges of the fray, paid for his cartful of groceries and Aomine, then slipped out the door. After dividing up the bags, they walked a little ways to a park and sat down to wait.
Kise didn't take long, running down the street with his hat and glasses back in place.
"Sorry! I didn't think the would happen –ssu!"
He frantically apologized. The other three just laughed at him and passed over his share of the bags before continuing.
At his apartment, Kagami experienced a remarkable feeling of deja vu as the other three bolted away from the door to explore. Kuroko and Kise headed to the kitchen while Aomine went straight to Kagami's room.
Ah.
He was going to do it again.
An evil feeling crept into Kagami's limbs and he grinned. Kagami walked very carefully down the hall towards his bedroom. Aomine had probably figured he would have time since there were groceries to put away and two others to deal with.
Wrong.
Kagami carefully looked through the slightly open door to his bedroom and saw exactly what he predicted.
Aomine had flopped down onto Kagami's bed and was lying there with his face buried in the pillow.
As Kagami watched him, Aomine turned his face slightly and nuzzled into the object.
Kagami noticed that the tension had left him, he no longer looked nervous and he looked rather blissed out.
Kagami's grin widened as a strange urge to tease the other flowed through him.
He quietly slipped through the door so that the unsuspecting Aomine would be able to see him, then he cleared his throat.
The effect was instantaneous.