The Art of Perceptibility

Chapter 5: Light

Kise tossed restlessly onto his right side and remained that way for about seven seconds before flopping onto his back. Staring up at the ceiling, the blonde willed himself to drift off to sleep but he was too hyped up to even close his eyes for longer than a few moments. His entire body tingled with excited energy and his heart was pounding with anticipation.

He had a date with Kuroko tomorrow.

Just thinking about it created a gurgle of happy laughter to bubble up from his throat.

Admitting defeat for now, Kise kicked off the restrictive covers and rolled towards his nightstand. He picked up the treasured framed photo and studied it for the umpteenth time. His lips unconsciously curved into a smile as he took in the tableau of him and Kuroko.

The photo had been taken on Kuroko's birthday a few months ago when the entire gang of Generation of Miracles had gotten together to play on a street court. Kise had carefully cropped the rest of his friends out, leaving just himself and the pale haired boy.

Kise's smile gentled as he brushed a finger lightly over Kuroko's features. The camera had captured the moment Kuroko had turned to look over at him, as the model had beamed at the camera, delighted with spending the entire day with his favourite person in the world.

If everything went well tomorrow, hopefully, such occurrences would become a regular thing.

Kise had woken up at the crack of dawn, scrubbed himself from head to toe – he had even exfoliated to make sure his skin was baby soft and had smoothed on his favourite lightly scented moisturiser – and then spent the next hour meticulously picking out his outfit. He had finally decided on a pair of black jeans that clung to all the right places, a crisp white long sleeve shirt paired with a snug black vest, and finished the look with his favourite light purple scarf. After spritzing himself lightly with a warm, woodsy scented cologne Kuroko had complimented once, he gave himself a final scrutinising look in the mirror.

'Hm, were the pants too tight? Sure, they make my ass look great but…'

Hesitating, Kise was about to change when he realised he would have to leave now if he wanted to be on time.

His outfit would have to do.

Kise watched the scenery fly by on the train and fiddled with the fringes of his scarf absentmindedly. It was soft and slightly worn around the edges, probably because he used it so frequently. The scarf had been a birthday gift from Kuroko in middle school, the smaller boy had handed the messily wrapped package to him silently and walked off before he could even thank him properly. The fond memory had him smiling giddily and he practically bounced off the train when it reached the station.

He felt his heart swell with fondness and skip several beats upon turning the corner and spotting the familiar head of messy bed hair that never seemed to be able to be tamed. Kise had just opened his mouth to send a loud cheerful greeting to Kuroko when he spotted two other familiar figures. His previously confident and eager steps faltered as he studied the situation with confusion.

'What were Aominecchi and Kagamicchi doing here?'

He felt like cold water had been dumped down the back of his shirt as realisation dawned. His heart seemed to gain about a thousand pounds as it sank to his feet and his mind went numb.

'Oh.'

This wasn't a date.

God, how could he have been so stupid? He was just about to spin around and head back home – most likely to sob his heart out in his bedroom and sulk for the rest of the school break – when a brash voice called out, "Oi, Kise! Over here!"

Kise squeezed his eyes shut in frustration before plastering on a smile and closing the distance between him and the three other males.

"Hi~!"

Kagami and Aomine muttered their hellos and then proceeded to descend into an argument of where to eat for lunch. Kuroko greeted him quietly and sent him a troubled probing look, so Kise forcefully increased the brightness of his smile.

"Kise-kun, about Aomine-kun and Kagami-kun-"

Kuroko had always been perceptive and the model really, really didn't want to hear his formal rejection and explanation of why he had invited their friends along, so he carefully cut him off with a peppy, "Kurokocchi! I haven't seen you in so long!" He even threw in a playful pout. "So, tell me, what have you and Seirin been up to?"

The thin veneer of pretence didn't seem to convince Kuroko but he let out a tiny huff and allowed Kise to continue without protest as they headed to the nearest café.

Kise picked listlessly at his salad as he watched the two fiery aces spit insults at each other from across the table. Kuroko seemed to be busy playing peacemaker, although from the minute twitching of his eye, he was quickly reaching the end of his patience.

The blonde sighed before crunching unhappily on a lettuce leaf. He was such an idiot. Kuroko had only agreed to go out to lunch with him; there had been no mention of a date whatsoever. Kise had just imagined the undertones in the texts they had exchanged and clearly, in his long, desperate quest for Kuroko's heart and attention, become delusional. He had somehow talked himself into actually believing that the smaller boy had finally relented and was giving him a chance. Kise scoffed at himself.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

As he looked around the table at his friends, the familiar feeling of loneliness welled up and became lodged in his throat. Aomine and Kagami's yelling was getting more heated, the intense debate seemed to be about whether cheeseburgers or teriyaki burgers were superior.

When Aomine slung a careless profanity at the redhead, Kagami leapt out of his seat which prompted Aomine to do the same. As the two clashed their heads together angrily, Kuroko – sitting between the two – reached out and forcefully pushed them back to their respective sides of the table with a strong hand on their forehead.

"Would Kagami-kun and Aomine-kun please calm down before we're kicked out?"

The question was phrased politely and the tone of his voice was dangerously calm, but they all knew better. There was the slightest tinge of dark irritation to the words. It seemed the two aces weren't entirely without a brain as they meekly returned to their seats.

The peace was short lived as two voices spoke simultaneously.

"So Kuroko-"

"Tetsu-"

They glared at each other before launching into a different contest. This time they were trying to get Kuroko's attention before the other, although they did it in a much more subdued manner and at a significantly lower volume.

A bitter smile lingered at the edges of Kise's lips. It had been this way in middle school and the tradition seemed hell-bent on continuing now. Aomine, and now Kagami too, would always be Kuroko's priority. With the two lights in the room, Kise might as well have not existed. He was almost certain that if he could use misdirection and disappeared right now, the other three wouldn't even notice, so absorbed as they were in each other.

And why wouldn't they be? Kise's light was paltry in comparison to Kagami and Aomine. They were like miniature suns, dominating the court and commanded attention and respect easily. In contrast, Kise was more like...the moon. He absorbed and copied other players' talents and duplicated it well enough, he supposed. So he gave off light but it was a pale imitation of the real deal. Kuroko couldn't thrive under such weak illumination.

He never really stood a chance did he?

That thought sent his stomach roiling.

"Kise-kun, are you feeling alright? You look a little…green."

It gave Kise the perfect chance to excuse himself, saying he wasn't feeling too well and that he would catch up with them at another time. He stood up hastily, almost knocking over his chair, so eager to get out of the suddenly stifling room.

As he pushed through the doors he thought he heard Kuroko protest, calling out his name in concern but he shrugged it off as his imagination.

They had probably forgotten about him already.