CHAPTER 3

Rukawa asked Fukuda to help him get some stuff out of storage at the court the next morning. Fukuda, understandably, looked uneasy about it.

"I haven't told anyone," Fukuda blurted out as soon as they were alone in the equipment room.

"I know. I'm not worried about that," Rukawa assured him.

"Oh." Fukuda's massive shoulders dropped away from his ears. "So what equipment do we need?"

"The mini-hoops and some of those, um, things for, like, practice. Y'know. The little...things?"

"Things," Fukuda repeated slowly, glancing around like maybe the things would reveal themselves.

"Listen, um," Rukawa said.

Fukuda's attention snapped back to Rukawa.

"Your boyfriend's in town with you, right? Fugiki?"

"Yes," Fukuda said suspiciously.

"Cool. We were thinking- I mean, Akira and I were thinking- that you guys might like to go out tonight. Get some dinner, maybe? With us?"

Fukuda's brow furrowed. "Like a double date?"

"Yeah, I guess. Sort of. Or, y'know. Yes." Rukawa exhaled and tried to pull himself together. "We've never been out with another couple. Like, a gay couple. As a couple."

"Um."

Rukawa felt like a dam had burst inside him, and he unleashed a tidal wave of excited babbling on poor Fukuda. "No one knows about us, I mean, almost no one, so it would be cool to, like, not have to hide. Well, we'd still have to hide if we're at a restaurant or whatever. We wouldn't, like, be obvious about being...anyway, it would be nice to spend an evening with people who won't judge us. Unless you are judging us. Maybe you think what we're doing is fucked up, because I guess it is kind of fucked up, but-"

"Other people know?" Fukuda interrupt.

"What?"

"I'm not the only one who knows. Other people know?"

"Yeah. Sure. A few people. My parents. Sakuragi and his wife. My teammates know I'm gay, but they don't know about Akira. Except Sakuragi. But I just said that, so-"

Fukuda closed his eyes and exhaled loudly. "Thank fuck. I thought I was the only one who knew or something."

"It's not just you. Sorry if we let you think that."

"It's okay. I should have figured." He sighed. "Fugiki was talking about a pizza place he wanted to go to tonight. You guys could come too, I guess."

Rukawa's current diet meant he could eat basically nothing at a pizza restaurant, but he nodded enthusiastically. "Sounds great. Let's do it."

"Okay." Fukuda turned to look at one of the piles of equipment along a wall. "So...can we get whatever we need and get out of here now?"

Rukawa realized that he'd basically trapped Fukuda in a small space and unloaded a bunch of weirdness on him, which probably wasn't an ideal situation for someone with clinical anxiety. "Yes. Sorry. Shit, Fukuda. I'm being super fucking weird. I'm just..."

"Nervous?" Fukuda guessed.

"Yeah. But excited too." Rukawa laughed shakily. "I'm sort of glad you walked in on us last year."

Fukuda's face told him that he was not glad that he'd walked in on them.

"And I'm really looking forward to meeting your boyfriend," Rukawa said. "I didn't get the chance to last year."

Fukuda finally smiled at that. "He's nothing like me. No one can believe we're together."

"I know the feeling."

The pizza place turned out to be more of a bar that served pizza. A gay bar that served pizza.

Rukawa hesitated as they approached the entrance. Sendoh noticed.

"Problem?" Sendoh asked.

Rukawa attempted to school his features into the face of someone who was chill and up for whatever.

"No." He walked confidently through the door.

He was on a date. With his boyfriend. In Shohoku. No big deal.

His boyfriend who, incidentally, looked super fucking hot. Sendoh was wearing a teal tank top with a faded floral print that showed off his muscular arms, as well as the loon tattoo near his left shoulder that Rukawa still couldn't believe Sendoh had gotten. He'd surprised Rukawa with it a couple of months ago and had blamed being bored while Rukawa was in the playoffs, but Rukawa knew it wasn't something Sendoh had gotten out of boredom. The tattoo meant something, to both of them. It represented their time together in the summers, at their home on the lake.

Sendoh was also wearing loose-fitting gray shorts and black slip-on sneakers, and looked so relaxed and summery that Rukawa was tempted to drive them both directly to the cottage and make love to him on the grassy shore.

"Over there," Sendoh said, breaking Rukawa's fantasy. He was pointing to a table against a wall where Kicchou Fukuda was sitting beside a much smaller man.

When they reached the table, Sendoh immediately took charge. "I like that shirt, Fukuda. Purple is good on you."

"Oh. Uh. Thanks."

"And you are Fugiki, yes?"

"The one and only."

Rukawa hadn't really put any effort into imagining Fukuda's boyfriend, but he never would have pictured him looking like this. Shinji Fugiki was pretty. He had warm, golden skin and silky dark hair that was cut short on the sides, but long enough on top to fall into his dark eyes, which were decorated with makeup. He was wearing a black lace tank top that fit close to his slim torso, and had a heart-shaped diamond pendant hanging from his elegant neck.

He was, like, really blatantly not straight in a way that Rukawa wasn't used to. The kind of man who, when Rukawa had been younger and still figuring himself out, he would look at and think "I'm not gay because I'm not like him." It wasn't a good way to think about anything, but even as a gay man who was in love with another man who he had gay sex with, Rukawa couldn't help the knee-jerk reaction of uneasiness in Fugiki's presence.

Which just proved that Rukawa needed to spend more time around other queer people. Particularly, queer people who didn't play basketball.

"I am Sendoh. This is my... Kaede."

Rukawa tried to ignore how cute that was because otherwise Fugiki's first impression of him was going to involve a big, goofy grin. "Hi, Fugiki," Rukawa said, shaking his hand as he sat in the chair opposite him. Fugiki's fingernails were painted periwinkle blue. "Nice to meet you."

"Same." The single word did something funny to Rukawa's insides. Fugiki radiated an effortless sensuality that was distracting, to say the least.

"I like your hair," Rukawa tried, because it was true. Fugiki's hair was cool.

Fugiki's lips curved into a smile that was warm and teasing at the same time, not unlike the way Sendoh often smiled. "Thank you. I like your glasses."

"Oh. Thanks."

"He thinks they are a disguise," Sendoh quipped. "Like Superman."

"Well!" Rukawa protested. "They can't hurt. Also, I can't read a menu without them. So shut up."

Sendoh lightly tapped his sneaker against Rukawa's ankle under the table, which made Rukawa realize his leg had been bouncing nervously. He stilled, but Sendoh kept his foot pressed against Rukawa's.

"Kicchou has told me all about your camps and your charity," Fugiki said. "It's wonderful. I play fundraiser for youth shelters and mental health initiatives in Tokyo as often as I can."

"You're a musician, right?" Rukawa asked.

"He's amazing," Fukuda said earnestly. "You should see him perform. He's playing a show on Friday night here in town if you- um. I mean."

"I can put you on the guest list," Fugiki said easily. "Don't worry about it if you choose not to go."

"I already bought tickets," Sendoh said. "For us both."

The hell. "You did? You didn't tell me."

"Surprise."

Rukawa wasn't sure how to feel about this. He and Sendoh never went anywhere together, and this particular outing seemed pretty far outside Rukawa's comfort zone.

"What kind of venue is the show at?" Rukawa asked as casually as he could. "Like, a club, or..."

"He wants to know if it is a gay club," Sendoh said helpfully.

Rukawa stepped on Sendoh's foot. "No."

"It's just a bar. Club. Whatever," Fugiki said with a wave of his elegant hand. Then he leaned in and, with a mischievous grin, said, "But it will be gay by the time I'm done playing."

Sendoh laughed loudly at that while Fukuda huffed and shook his head, smiling at his boyfriend with a palpable amount of love in his eyes.

"Sounds fun," Rukawa said, mostly meaning it. He'd never been one for live music, but he was curious to see Fugiki do his thing. And he was a bit charmed by the fact that Sendoh had planned a surprise date, of sorts, for the two of them.

They made small talk about Shohoku until their server came to take their drink order. The young man introduced himself as Kyo, and then his eyes went wide as if he'd just recognized who was at his table. Rukawa braced himself for a selfie request, but Kyo surprised him.

"Are you Shinji Fugiki?" he asked in a hushed voice.

Fugiki only answered with a sly smile.

"Holy shit," Kyo said. "I am such a huge fan." He pressed a hand briefly over his mouth, then removed it just as quickly. "Sorry. I'm going to your show on Friday. I booked the night off weeks ago."

"That's lovely," Fugiki said. "Thank you. I'll try to make it worth it."

"Everything you do is incredible. I saw you play in Tokyo once and I am just so...wow. Sorry. Okay, I'm cool. What can I get you to drink?"

Rukawa heard Sendoh snicker beside him. Across the table, Fukuda was beaming with pride.

"I'd love one of your mojitos," Fugiki said. "I see other tables with them and I'm jealous."

"Of course," Kyo said, smiling dopily as if Fugiki had him in a trance.

"I will have this one," Sendoh said, pointing to a card on the table. "The pilsner."

"Right! Yes," Kyo said, snapping back to attention. "Good choice."

"I'll have the same," Fukuda said quietly.

"Do you have unsweetened iced tea?" Rukawa asked. He saw the panic creep into Kyo's face right away.

"Never mind. I'll just have a sparkling water with lime. Or lemon. Whichever."

Kyo gave Fugiki one last nervous, giddy smile, then darted off to get their drinks. Sendoh poked Fukuda's forearm, which was resting on the table. "Kyo is in love with your boyfriend."

Fukuda smiled. "I'm used to that sort of thing happening. Still nice, though."

"Kicchou gets plenty of attention too," Fugiki said. "But we rarely get recognized by the same people."

"Very different fan bases," Fukuda agreed.

"Except the queer basketball fans who think it's, like, the best that we're a couple."

"Oh yeah?" Rukawa asked, suddenly very interested in the conversation. "What do they say?"

"They're happy for me," Fukuda said quietly.

"And jealous of me, I'm sure," Fugiki said.

"As if," Fukuda huffed.

"Do you ever get the other side of it?" Rukawa asked. "From basketball fans?"

"Maybe," Fukuda said. "I stay offline and I don't play basketball anymore, so I guess I don't hear it if it's out there."

Well. Rukawa did play basketball still, and while he wasn't very active online, he'd been doing more with his Instagram account since he and Sendoh had started the charity. And also he was, y'know, in a committed relationship with his archrival. That was a bit different from Fukuda's situation.

Kyo returned with their drinks. He gave Fugiki his mojito first, which was packed with mint leaves and looked very refreshing.

"You're a lifesaver, darling," Fugiki told him. "This is exactly what I need."

Kyo smiled widely as he handed out the rest of the drinks. He placed a tall glass of sparkling water in front of Rukawa with both lime and lemon wedges decorating the rim. "Have you decided what you want to eat?"

Rukawa hadn't even looked at the menu. Fugiki ordered a fancy-sounding pizza for him and Fukuda to share, Sendoh ordered a less fancy pizza to eat by himself, and Rukawa frantically read the menu's salad selection.

"Um."

"Look," Sendoh said, pointing to something lower down the menu. Rukawa quickly read the description of the grilled salmon with sautéed vegetables and roasted potato and almost kiss him.

"I'll have the salmon with no sauce, and could I get the vegetables with no butter? If that's a problem, maybe a side garden salad instead of the vegetables?"

"Sure, uh. That shouldn't be a problem." Kyo sounded uncertain as he wrote everything down. "If it's a salad, which dressing would you like?"

"Just a bit of olive oil and red wine vinegar, if it's not too much trouble. Or a lemon wedge."

"He is very fun to go to restaurants with," Sendoh teased. Everyone laughed except Rukawa, who irritably bumped his knee against Sendoh's.

"I'm on a strict performance diet," Rukawa explained defensively after Kyo left. "It's normal for professional athletes and recommended." He aimed this last word at Sendoh, who ate like a thirteen-year-old most of the time.

"Kaede thinks he is getting old," Sendoh said. "He fears death."

"That's not it at all! I fear not living up to the expectations of the Shohoku organization and our fans."

"Would be easier to cheat death," Sendoh said, "than to meet Shohoku's basketball expectations."

He wasn't wrong.

"Do you both play for Shohoku?" Fugiki asked.

"No. Just me. Akira plays for Okinawa Tendouji team."

"It's still Japan areas, so it's not a super-long-distance relationship," Fugiki observed.

Rukawa squirmed because this was the first time anyone at the table had directly acknowledged the fact that Sendoh and Rukawa were a couple. "It's, um. It's not a huge distance, but-"

"Feels farther," Sendoh said. "We are so busy, during the season. Not much time together."

"That must be hard. And this-" Fugiki waved a hand between them "-is a secret, right?"

"A big one," Fukuda said.

"That makes it harder," Fugiki said sympathetically. He leaned in so he could lower his voice. "Why is it a secret? You wouldn't be the only gay basketball players. Or queer. Sorry, I shouldn't assume."

"I am bisexual," Sendoh said, nodding. "Kaede is super gay."

"I'm regular gay," Rukawa argued. "And, no, we aren't the only queer JBL players. But our situation is complicated."

"Because you're on different teams?"

"Mostly, yes. It's a little bigger than that, though."

"The league has built up this huge rivalry between them," Fukuda explained. "Been going on since their rookie seasons."

"Before that, even," Rukawa said.

"Oh wow. That's kind of fascinating." Fugiki said. "But everyone knows you're friends, obviously. You have this charity together. What difference does it make of you also kiss?"

Rukawa opened his mouth to explain the difference, but couldn't quite find the words. The way Fugiki said it made the distinction sound so unimportant. It really shouldn't make a difference. But it did.

"It would make things very...hard for us," Sendoh said. "Distracting."

"It would be a fucking shitshow," Rukawa agreed. "I think we'd both rather focus on basketball for now."

Fugiki hummed, then said, "For now. How long have you been together?"

Rukawa and Sendoh looked at each other, which made Rukawa blush for some reason.

"Not an easy question," Sendoh said.

"Over ten years, though," Rukawa clarified, "depending on your definition of 'together'."

"That's a long time to keep a secret," Fugiki said thoughtfully. "Isn't that a distraction too? Having to hide?"

Rukawa wasn't sure how to answer that, and, judging by Sendoh's expression, Sendoh wasn't sure either.

"Sorry," Fugiki said quickly. "I'm super nosy. It's none of my business."

"No, it's fine," Rukawa said. "It's just, you know, a lot to think about."

"Yes," Sendoh agreed quietly.

Their food arrived and the conversation turned to the best pizza in various cities. Rukawa was dying for a slice of Sendoh's greasy, sausage-covered dinner, but he dutifully ate his salmon and garden salad. He'd started this diet in February and he didn't care what Sendoh said- Rukawa felt better. And he'd just won the MVP. So there.

As he chewed his salmon, Rukawa thought about the questions Fugiki had asked. He'd always imagined that the basketball Japan's reaction if he and Sendoh were ever found out would be the biggest nightmare to deal with, but maybe the bigger challenge was hiding. Maybe keeping how he felt about Sendoh a secret was more draining than facing the backlash.

It was possible he was on a bit of a high from the past two weeks together at the cottage, followed by a successful start to their camp, and now being on their first ever double date. He may not be thinking clearly.

When they'd all finished eating, Fukuda left to go to the bathroom. As soon as he was out of earshot, Fugiki said, "I want to thank you both for inviting Kicchou to be a part of these camps. It's meant so much to him. He absolutely loves working with kids and I think it's been healing for him."

"Healing?" Rukawa asked.

Fugiki nodded. "He had a bad breakup with basketball, you know? I don't think he's ever regretted retiring, but he misses how basketball used to make him feel. Before it made him feel bad all the time."

"Oh." Rukawa couldn't imagine basketball ever making him feel bad, but Fukuda had a very different career from his own. "Well, I'm glad if we helped him gain back some of that love for the game."

"You did." Fugiki smiled. "And he's so proud, being a part of this initiative of yours. I think he's still a bit intimidated by the other coaches. He told me they're all superstars, and he feels out of place."

"Not all superstars," Sendoh said. "Sakuragi is there."

Rukawa flicked Sendoh's thigh. "We're happy to have Fukuda as part of the team. We're glad he can do both weeks this year."

"He is a great coach," Sendoh agreed. "The kids love him."

Fugiki beamed, which made him look younger and less intimidatingly sexy. When Fukuda returned to the table, Fugiki smiled up at him with unguarded adoration in his eyes.

"What?" Fukuda asked suspiciously.

"Nothing, darling. We were just talking about basketball."

Fukuda scoffed. "If you say so."

Fugiki stretched his neck and kissed him, quickly, on the mouth. Fukuda grinned, then tried to hide his grin as he glanced sideways at Sendoh and Rukawa. He didn't quite manage.

"Fugiki really loves him, huh?" Rukawa asked, later, as Sendoh was driving them back home. They were in one of Sendoh's "summer cars," a bright orange Porsche something-or-other.

"Yes. Too bad for you."

Rukawa turned in his seat to face him. "The hell is that supposed to mean?"

Sendoh's lips quirked up, but he kept his gaze fixed on the road. "You were checking him out."

"I wasn't!"

"Okay."

"If I was it was only because, like, I'd never seen anyone who was so..."

"Beautiful?" Sendoh suggested.

"No! Shut up."

"He is beautiful," Sendoh said plainly. "And, like, sexy. You know what I mean."

"I guess," Rukawa said, as if he didn't know exactly what Sendoh was talking about. "But if I was staring at him it was only because I couldn't figure out how he and Fukuda are together."

"Fukuda is not ugly."

"No," Rukawa agreed. "But I spent so many years being terrified of the guy, it's still hard to see him as handsome, y'know?"

"He is a sweetheart. I am glad Fugiki loves him."

"How did they even meet?"

"Fukuda lived with Fugiki's family when he played junior basketball."

"What? Fugiki's parents billeted basketball players?"

"Yes. Big basketball family, I guess. Fukuda told me he and Fugiki, um...met again?"

"Reunited?"

"Yes. In Tokyo when Fukuda played there. Cute, right?"

It was really fucking cute. "Wow. So it was, like, destiny?"

"Maybe."

Rukawa still couldn't get over how different Fukuda and Fugiki were. Fukuda was so huge and shy, often hunched to make himself appear smaller. Fugiki was possibly a full foot shorter than him, but made himself impossible to ignore with his beauty and the unapologetic way he decorated himself with makeup, feminine clothing, and sparkly jewelry. "I'll bet their sex life is wild."

Sendoh grinned. "Pervert."

"As if you've never thought about it." Rukawa waited for Sendoh to merge from the off-ramp before he asked, "Do you think we looked like that to them?"

"What, sexy? I probably did."

"No, like...in love?"

Sendoh seemed to consider the question before answering. "We are very good at pretending to not be in love. Maybe we are bad at showing it when we are allowed."

Sendoh's words felt like a lead vest. Rukawa slid down in his seat and stared out the window, frowning. Neither man said a word for the rest of the drive.

TBC

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