A/N: Updated 5/17/2014
I'm still not happy.
Akashi liked to call the days following his first text message the calm before the storm. Contrary to what one might believe, nothing happened between the six of the Generation of Miracles players for nearly three weeks. No one seemed especially eager to end the stalemate that had settled between them. It was clear to all them (except a certain blond, of course) that no one was particularly inclined to act first. Each had their own reason, but still the outcome was remaining the same. Nothing was happening.
As such, Akashi was bored.
The Rakuzan captain sits quietly at a table inside one of his favorite cafés. He glances at the clock hanging up on the wall, seeing that it's almost time for the others to arrive. He takes a sip of his tea, leaning back in his seat. He had a few things to say to his former teammates—things that will hopefully jumpstart this… competition, for lack of better terms.
Normally he would wait for everyone else to show up before making his appearance, but he needed to be sure everyone attended this little "meet up". He could sacrifice one dramatic entry. For Ryouta, he thinks with a smirk. Really, this whole situation is nothing but amusing.
Beside him sits Murasakibara, lazily slumped back in his chair and enjoying one of his beloved snacks. Akashi didn't get the appeal of the cheap, store-bought snacks over the café's delicacies, but he didn't say anything on the matter. It didn't concern him.
The chime on the door jingles, though Akashi doesn't need to look up to know who it is. A seat at his table is pulled out with a screech (drawing a grimace from the newcomer), his new company sitting down lightly. The point guard takes another drink before addressing the other, "Shintarou,"
"Akashi," The green haired male adjusts his frames. "Murasakibara," The giant nods his greeting. Beyond that, no one speaks.
Midorima isn't quite sure why he decided to show up. He realizes he has this same thought every time he's "invited" to meet with his middle school teammates.
But besides that, he especially didn't want to get caught up in whatever Akashi was planning. He didn't need any pointless drama right now—which is surely what the redhead had in mind. He wanted to set things in motion. The only reason he called them out in the first place was to set up this "game".
The chime rings again, and soon Aomine is carelessly pulling out a chair to slump into. "Yo," he greets unenthusiastically. Midorima doesn't bother saying anything, and just offers a nod in acknowledgment.
"Hello, Akashi-kun, Midorima-kun, Murasakibara-kun." Midorima startles at the voice from behind him. Dammit, how does he always do that!?
The redhead gives an odd smirk at his reaction. "Good to see you, Tetsuya," Kuroko sits down across from the point guard. "Daiki," Aomine makes a low noise in the back of his throat.
Akashi takes a drink of his tea before looking at his three companions seriously. "Alright," he says to get their attention, even prompting Murasakibara to sit up straighter (if only a little). "Since Ryouta isn't here yet, I would like to lay down a few… suggestions, if you will." His expression is clear, but the look in his eye sets off warning bells in Midorima's mind.
Touou's ace snorts. "Suggestions for what?"
"I'm sure you can guess," Their former captain responds. There's a ghost of a smirk playing on his features. "Our new little game."
The blue haired teen tenses. "Is that really how you think of this?" He demands, "Just some game? That Kise is just a game?"
Akashi raises an eyebrow at the other, but he doesn't look at all surprised. "You seem awfully defensive over a simple comment." He says calmly. "Of course I don't see Kise as a game. But isn't this situation sort of like a game?" He makes a dismissive gesture, "Calm down. You're overreacting." Reluctantly, the older of the two backs down, scowling all the while. The shooting guard manages an eye roll at his behavior.
"Anyway, I believe we need to establish some guidelines for how to go about this, yes?" Akashi prompts, looking them all in the eye. Kuroko is the only one who meets his gaze head on. "After all, this is a rather sensitive situation. We wouldn't want anyone walking out with an unfair advantage, right?" His tone seems borderline mocking, and Kuroko tenses ever-so-slightly.
"That doesn't make sense," Aomine protests halfheartedly, though he knows it's useless at this point. Their middle school captain already had everything planned out; there was no way he would budge now. Stubborn bastard.
Midorima sighs, "Can't we just leave this alone? I don't want to get caught up in this."
The pale haired teen looks up at him. "Does that mean you forfeit?" Even Murasakibara raises an eyebrow at the shooting guard.
"What?" 'Forfeit'?
"Giving up so soon?" Akashi says in a nearly admonishing tone. "That's no fun." Midorima throws him a flat look and Aomine rolls his eyes. Heterochromatic eyes glance over the three of them again before the Rakuzan student speaks up. "This game's only just started; are you sure you want to skip out?"
"This is not a game, dammit," Aomine mutters lowly.
The redhead raises his hands in a gesture displaying he meant no harm. "Regardless, I feel it necessary to clarify what is acceptable." He meets each of their gazes, making sure he has their full attention. "I don't really care what you do, or how you go about trying to 'win Ryouta over'. In fact, I'm willing to let anything slide—well, almost anything. I do have one rule: you can't outright confess to him."
Surprise immediately takes over Aomine's expression. "What? Then how—,"
"We want to leave this up to Ryouta to decide, yes?" The redhead interrupts smoothly. "If someone confessed, he might go out with them regardless if he liked them best or not." It's sound logic—sort of. It makes sense and sounds like Kise, at least, but damn… that makes things harder and easier at the same time.
Akashi glances at something behind them, and he gives a slight smile. "Looks like I've run out of time. We'll discuss this again later." He says, just before the chime above the door sounds, and a flash of yellow catches the tallest's attention.
"Sorry I'm late!" Kise announces, practically collapsing into the chair between Kuroko and Midorima. "You wouldn't believe how many fans I ran into just on the way here; it was a mess!" He says this with a smile, but there's a slightly exasperated light in his eyes. He grabs the menu laying on the table and looks it over. "So what'd I miss?" He glances at them over the top of the laminated paper, "Were you talking about me?"
Midorima stiffens, and averts his gaze. "Who'd waste their breath on you?" He mutters. The blond blinks, seemingly startled by the hostile response.
"So mean, Midorimacchi," he whines, surprise melting into an indignant pout. Midorima gives him a long look. He's an idiot. Why do I even care? He doesn't; he shouldn't. Kise is annoying, and he's more trouble than he's worth. Get out while you still can. He realizes belatedly that he's glaring at the other. Kise drops his childish expression for one of slight confusion, and he turns away. Aomine scoffs, tossing the shooting guard a weird look.
"This is pointless," Touou's ace drawls. Looking over at Akashi from the corner of his eye, he adds, "Is there a reason you called us all out here?" He still hadn't pieced together the reason for Kise being called as well. If anything, the blond just postponed everything Akashi had to "discuss" with them.
"Actually, there was something I'd like to ask Ryouta," he agrees, turning heterochromatic eyes on the blond in question. "My family's hosting a gala," Akashi explains. "I need a date. Would you accompany me?"
That bastard. Though Aomine can't say he's surprised. Leave it to Akashi to break his own rule moments after he made it 'official'. What a joke. His eyes dart over to Kise, tense as he waits for the other's response.
Kise blinks almost owlishly at their former captain. "Why would you want me to be your date?" he asks slowly. He looks honestly bewildered, like he's shocked someone would ask him out (actually, maybe his reaction isn't so surprising, considering it's Akashi).
But the redhead smiles disarmingly. "Why wouldn't I?"
Still, Kise looks hesitant and unsure. "Um, if it's alright, then sure," the blond offers a smile of his own, though something's off about it and Aomine can't figure out what it is. "Yeah, just give me the details and I'll make sure I'm not busy."
Smile widening (reminiscent of a classic villain), the redhead settles back in his seat. "Great. I look forward to it."
Kise's phone buzzes, alerting him of an incoming text. He turns, directing his attention to the device, and Aomine whirls on Akashi. "What the hell?" he mouths, practically seething. What a low blow. But the redhead isn't paying attention to him. Instead, he's caught in a silent exchange with Midorima. Of course. The only thing those two were trying to do was one-up the other (not that Midorima was presenting himself well anyway). Murasakibara seemed to be watching the two of them inquisitively, which seemed odd for him. Blue eyes drift over to Kuroko, and he finds the shadow staring at him.
Kise lets out a frustrated noise, drawing Aomine's attention again. "Well," the blond starts, "Anybody want to trade places next Monday?"
"What's next Monday?" Kuroko inquires.
"I've got a photoshoot I really don't want to do," the blond complains. "It's for some snack company. They're releasing a new product, and really want me to advertise it. Plus we have to shoot a commercial for the brand on Wednesday." Murasakibara perks up a bit at the mention of new snacks.
"So what's the problem?" Sounds alright to Aomine. He'd just get his picture taken holding the new snack, right? No big deal. Unless Kise liked playing hard to get with his jobs…? Though… that didn't really make sense…
But the blond just gives him a flat look. "You don't even know what the concept is." He points out. Oh. I hadn't thought about that… Kaijou's ace moans, "It's that stupid culture festival all over again,"
Now that catches Aomine's interest. "That stupid culture festival" could only refer to one thing: the cross-dressing café. The power forward remembers that culture festival very well (and for more than one reason). Kise had not been blessed with merciful classmates. The girls badly wanted the blond as their own living doll and the boys had wanted to make a fool of him (even at the cost of their own dignity). All-in-all, Kise wore the costume well—too well. Surprisingly, he hadn't complained much about the whole ordeal—but that may have been because he was a lot busier trying to find a way out of the cross-dressing contest his teammates had entered him in (which he won, so there shouldn't have been much pride lost there—maybe).
It seemed like a strange concept for a snack commercial, but then again there were a lot of commercials with those "reveals" at the end. Maybe that's what this one was…? If so, Aomine understood why the blond was so against it.
"Anyway," Kise interjects, "thinking of culture festivals reminds me of the maid café Midorimacchi's class put on, and how the girls in his class forced him into that maid dress." He smirks over his shoulder at the green haired teen, whose cheeks quickly redden. Oh, hadn't that been a fun thing to see…
"I told you to never bring that up," Midorima snaps. He's wearing an expression very similar to the one he'd worn for the majority of that culture festival—flustered and angry.
"Ah, but Mido-chin made a cute maid," Yosen's center teases, and the green haired teen's face flushes further.
Quickly looking to switch subjects, he adds, "What about the 'Sharing Bears' play Aomine's class performed?"
"That's a low blow," Aomine protests as Kise bursts into laughter.
"I completely forgot about that!"
"Aomine-kun made a very good Grumpy Bear," Kuroko nods.
"Wait, Tetsu was in that play too! He was—wait, what were you again?" The blue haired teen distinctly remembers Kuroko being dragged into the mess that was the "Sharing Bears Teach Grumpy Bear to Smile" production (how the ace had wound up as one of the main characters was a mystery to this very day).
"Ah, I was Sweetie Bear." The pale shadow says. "Though no one could hear my lines, so the others talked over my parts."
And then Kise is fawning over the Seirin student, "That's right! Kurokocchi was so cute in that bear costume!" His grin widens, a sort of devious look settling on his face, "I bet I've got pictures at home! We took a group shot, right? So Midorimacchi's maid costume and Grumpycchi should be in it too,"
"Hell no—don't go digging up stuff no one wants to see ever again!" Aomine argues.
But Kise just waves off any concerns, "Re-lax, it's not as if I can look for them now," He glances at the wall and suddenly shoving himself to his feet. "Shoot, I gotta go," he flashes a dazzling smile, "It was fun hanging out—we should meet up again soon."
In a last-ditch effort, Touou's ace stands as well. "Hey," he starts, scrambling for some excuse to hang out with the blond. "Uh, we should play some one-on-one sometime. 'S been a while,"
The blond blinks at him, looking oddly surprised (That was normal enough, right?), before nodding. "Okay. I'm not busy tomorrow,"
"Cool. I can text you later."
"Sounds good," With that (and an exaggerated wave for good measure), the model leaves the café, and Aomine kinda feels a bit like he's won something. Though when he meets his former shadow's eyes, a chill passes down his spine.
"You can't expect it to be that simple, Aomine-kun." The Seirin student warns. "Don't forget who you're dealing with."
Aomine gives him a challenging look, "The same goes to you." Though he's not sure he's as confident as he sounds.
A/N: I tried. Honestly.
... JK I gave up.