"Well," I said, as he stopped his dribble to spin the ball on his finger, and then tossed it casually from his knuckle towards the net. It sank in. "Burgers? Should be about dinner time."

He didn't reply, face still set, thoughts obviously pulled deeply inward.

"You wanna come Imayoshi? I told him I'd buy him food if he proved he could go Super Sayan. You acted as witness, so I can treat you too."

"Mah," Imayoshi-sempai said, picking up his bag. "The vice captain and I have a test to study for. Don't mind me."

It looked more like he was planning to go back to wherever it was he spent his time when not tormenting the team to make his evil plans. I suppose he did have a lot to think about, given what he had just seen. I wasn't sure how he was going to work it into his plans to take over all of the Tokyo underground, but if it was Imayoshi-sempai, I was certain that he would find a way.

"Just you and me then," I glanced at Aomine. He was staring at the net, his face very still and stolid. It was starting to freak me out.

I considered for a long moment, and then decided there was nothing for it. "You got one thing wrong though."

"Hm?" He asked, still seeming very distant.

"My old team. It was decent. Actually, the guy who got me into basketball probably would have been standing here instead of me if it weren't for-" I paused and then shrugged. "An accident."

"Heh, so you're the loser?" Aomine said, sounding a little more like himself with the way ridicule dripped from his words.

I went over to collect my bag and my sweater, satisfied he wasn't acting like such a weirdo. He still was, of course, but at least he was communicating. "Maybe. Maybe not. Got a preference for where you want to get food from?"

He yawned again and told me the name of a fast food place I was pretty familiar with. It was a bit farther than I usually went, but at least he hadn't opted to be a total asshole and pick somewhere expensive. I'd have had to spend so much time and effort talking him into choosing something in my budget otherwise.

"Onwards then," I directed, locking the gym up behind us. "For excessive caloric intake. Can't have our ace go fainting and fading away because we aren't feeding him."

He cuffed the back of my head in admonishment, not hard enough for me suffer any damage, but enough to remind me he was as prickly as a cactus with a vendetta against the world and a lot of barbed wire and broken glass. As one might imagine, such people take offence when hilarious rays of sunshine, like as myself, poke fun at them. You'd think someone with as much confidence would be more laid back, honestly, especially how often he loafed around like a lazy cat. But no, he was also a curmudgeonly old man who took joy in swatting at people's ankles with his cane.

I snickered but chose not to disclose that particular image lest I receive another, potentially more serious wallop.

Aomine was glowering at me as if he knew I was thinking something unflattering about him. It was probably my face giving me away again.

I shrugged at him innocently and ambled towards the streets of the surrounding city. I was surprised that he wasn't demanding I just fork over the money so he didn't have to deal with my company any longer than he had to, but ended up deciding that I wasn't going to draw attention to this. The last thing I needed was for him to go all drama-queen loner mode on me again. So long as his real intentions didn't involve shoving me into oncoming traffic, I didn't really mind his company that much. Sure, he was aggravatingly dramatic, and a little cringe, but it was pretty funny. And that wasn't all he was, either.

Probably.

…Hopefully.

I didn't have much evidence to support that claim other than a few rounds of Tekken. For a guy who avoided the gym and practice as much as he did, everything seemed to come back to basketball with him.

All the more reason for him to get out and get a life. He needed some more experiences to develop a well-rounded character. Like going on the class trip.

Was it my business to help him with this? Certainly not.

I reached over and patted him on the arm, and he grunted in disgust as he pulled away like I might have been diseased.

"Listen," I declared with affected solemnity, carrying on regardless, "someday you'll thank me." Or he'd try and stuff me in a trash can, but either way he was going on that class trip, regardless of the promise I'd made to him. Who wouldn't want to see the fearsome basketball monster sulking about outside of his natural habitat? No way that wouldn't be entertaining.

He clicked his tongue in irritation. "Whatever you're thinking, think again, benchwarmer."

I raised my eyebrows, and pointed at my own chest in theatrical insult. "I'll have you know that I have it on good authority that I am an idiot, and I don't think before acting. So obviously there are no devious plots happening here, none at all. Truly."

The way he stared at me said enough, but he felt the need to compound his point by shoving me forward so that I stumbled awkwardly into a group of office workers and had to apologize for my 'clumsiness'.

When I had straightened out of my hasty partial bow and the office workers had gone ahead all whilst grumbling about rude youngsters, I glanced back in annoyance, ready to complain. What I was met with was Aomine's teeth bared in that usual horrible grin of his, dark eyes lit with disdain.

"You're an idiot alright," he agreed, "and someone should teach you some sense. But there's always something going on in that shitty head of yours. It's pretty obvious."

Sense? Sense? That was rich coming from someone like him. I shrugged. "I dunno, maybe you're projecting." I paused and tilted my head to the side considering. "Then again, I'd wager all you do is think about cheesy lines and basketball. And how much better than everyone else you think you are."

His grin dropped away. "Always got something to say, tch. Maybe if you spent less energy on snarky responses and more energy on basketball you wouldn't be stuck watching from the sidelines forever."

"Hey! It's not going to be forever. Man, you won't let that go will you? Benchwarmer this, benchwarmer that, next thing I know you're going to start calling me a pathetic little worm or something, and then I'll have to tell Imayoshi-sempai that you bullied me off the team, and if the school doesn't pay me a generous bribe I'll have to go to all the sports papers and badmouth you and Tōō."

He scoffed and started to walk ahead of me across the cross-walk, hands stuffed in his pockets and as comfortable with the flow of the city as one could get. I was still getting used to the crowds and the traffic lights, still learning when to walk, and when not to, and how long I had, so I had to lurch after him to keep up and not loose him in the sudden forward moving swarm.

It'd never been like this in my old town. Traffic had been so minimal that me and my friends had lorded down the middle of the streets on bikes and skate boards, or tossing a ball back and forth between us. We'd crow and call, holler and shout and all in all paid not a care for the occasional vehicle that would chug up alongside us. All the drivers knew us and would honk their horns or call at us to get off the damn road, but they never actually pushed the issue. Usually they'd just slow down to inch around us, while shaking their heads and grumbling at us for doing the very same thing they'd done when they'd been young. That or they'd just roll down their windows and creep into a crawl as they asked after our parents and our grades and if we'd be willing to mow their lawns or help paint fences.

But no one knew me as I jogged to catch up to Aomine, other than the absentee ace himself. And I wouldn't even go so far as to say he knew me all that well. Rather, I thought he'd find the idea horrifying, in its implication of our being considered even remotely close. He'd be satisfied to believe he knew all about me, while never actually sincerely getting to know me. And as far as I could tell he was that way with literally everyone except Momoi-san.

What a way to live a life.

"So, I gotta ask again: are all of your old team like that. You know, you miracles. Do you all go sicko mode like that?"

Aomine clicked his tongue. "To someone like you, there's no point trying to explain."

I guess that was his way of saying that they were so far beyond my level that it wouldn't make a difference anyway. "Damn. That's scary." I acknowledged. I couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like if my old middle-school team had made it far enough to play a game against them. I wasn't even sure if we would have realized how outclassed we were. That felt like a betrayal though. I'd come this far, but it often felt like sheer chance, and without Honda or the others I'd still be back in our small town taking it easy.

"And that's why you're a benchwarmer," Aomine derided, his tone flat and matter-of-fact.

I scratched my cheek and hummed. "Well if they're all as high-maintenance as you, anyone would be scared. I feel bad for whoever has to deal with them. You know which school's they ended up at?"

"I feel bad for whoever you used to play with," came the testy response as Aomine shoved further in front of me to pull open the door of the burger place.

Fair enough. It wouldn't be hard to find that information out from literally anyone else; it didn't have to be from our ever reticent ace. "You say that, but you've clearly never had to play on a team that barely has enough people to get entered into tournaments. When you're that short on people, you're grateful for everyone."

"Sounds so damn backwater."

"Right, well. Thanks for your insight. Order what you're getting will you? You're not the only one who wants to eat."

Aomine glanced at the menu bored, and then back at me with an eyebrow pulled up. "Sure a country boy like you can handle this kinda food?"

"Oh damn, you're so right. Hold on, let me get my homegrown daikon out of my bag." I struggled not to roll my eyes at the weak barb as I stepped up to the counter and my part of the order and then gestured him forward. "I should ask if our godly ace can even handle such crude foods. You don't have, like, a special genius menu you have to stick to?"

By way of answering he proceeded to make his order and a serious dent in my wallet. While I struggled to keep my face straight, he glanced back with a smug twist of his lips and a blasé roll of his shoulders that conveyed his intention to get as much out of our wager as he could.

I beamed at him if only because so far, a significant number of people I met at Tōō seemed to find it unsettling the happier I looked. I was perfectly willing to leverage that in my favour if it meant I didn't have to loose any unspoken points to this navy-headed idiot.

He clicked his tongue in irritation but shuffled over to wait for our food without further incident.

My phone dinged in my pocket as I tagged along, but I made the executive decision not to bother with it. Honda could wait for a bit. I had a prodigy to pester.

"So, who are you most excited to play against out of all of them?"

My question was met with another glower, followed by an irritated roll of the eyes.

Really he didn't make conversation easy, though he hadn't resorted to violence yet, and that weird storm of negativity seemed deep below the surface still so I probably wasn't treading on dangerous territory.

"Hmm…as for me?" I tried to dredge of memories of the magazines with articles about the big, favoured teams that my small club had poured over, and the general gossip we had shared with other teams as we'd met up for matches. "What about that purple guy? He seemed crazy. Almost as lazy as you, heh."

"You don't need to look forward to playing against any of them. If the couch puts you on the court to play he's an idiot."

I wasn't sure if he meant in general, or only against his old teammates, but I wasn't going to ask. I knew what answer I'd get, and just picturing his expression was aggravating.
My phone dinged again, but I blithely pretended not to hear and continued to run through my mental roster of basketball geniuses. "I guess there's a lot of high school seniors who should be good too. Maybe your fated rival will be amongst them?"

He scoffed, clearly not in agreement.

"C'mon, it's not like you've played against every basketball player in the country. What if he missed a middle school match because, like, his grandma was in the hospital or something but now he's back to fulfill his dream and take down the famed court tyrants. That's you and your old team, by the way."

"You really some kind of nerd, aren't you? Did you read that in a comic? Just get my food and stop yapping."

"Our food," I corrected, and stepped forward to collect the tray with our order. I grinned maliciously because I suddenly realized that he couldn't just take his food and go if I was holding it hostage. On second thought he probably could swipe it pretty easily. Quickly, before he realized what I was doing, I dodged through the crowd towards table forcing him to at least follow me if he wanted his share.

I heard him grumbling behind me, and when I finally dropped into a seat he was glowering down at me like I'd just let my dog crap on his lawn. I figured now wasn't the time to be irritating though, so I tried not to act like I'd noticed, casually acquiring my share of food from the tray and munching on fries like I hadn't noticed. Totally innocent of any deviousness or manipulative intentions.

He flopped down onto a chair like a snooty cat pretending it wasn't being cooperative on some devil ordained whim.

I considered that a success. I doubted it was because he actively wanted to spend time with me, but was rather both too lazy to kick up a fuss and leave when there was a perfectly good seat right in front of him, and also largely indifferent to my presence. Indifference, which was a step up from the vague antipathy he had felt towards me up until now.

It was enough to make my poor, goblin heart soar. Truly.

I tried not to show any self-satisfaction in case he got spooked and beat a hasty retreat. I allowed a casual silence to settle between us as we began to eat, the general din of the restaurant making for a fine background noise.

My phone dinged again.

He glared at me.

I pretended not to notice.

The phone dinged several times in quick succession, and for every one his glower became ever more cantankerous. "Shut the damn thing off if you're ignoring it, idiot," he said.

I wondered if that was what he did to Momoi-san when she got on his case. I hoped someday she got therapy for the levels of stress he put her through.

Too bad I didn't have his level of impudence. At least, not in this case. Wakamatsu would have definitely said I had all of the impertinence.

Begrudgingly, I opened my phone. It was littered with messages from my old captain, to no surprise, and even one from another team member casually checking in. Given that I hadn't heard from really any of my old school friends except Honda since I'd left, I had a sneaking suspicion that this was some sort of conspiracy to pester me into reply to all the messages I'd ignored in the last…five minutes.

The final message was of a picture of Honda and I, sent from him.

I grimaced and typed out a reply before snapping my phone shut and shoving a fistful of fries into my mouth.

Blessedly, now that he wasn't being pestered by my phone, Aomine didn't pry any further.

And then my phone rang. Someone was calling, not just texting.

I seriously considered not answering, but after a moment of quick debate I caved.

"Hey, Captain," I greeted.

Aomine glanced at me, and I wondered if he thought I was talking to Imayoshi-sempai.

Honda answered. "Bad time?"

Given I had just sent a text saying I was out with a team mate, I had to wonder what the point in asking that was. He knew the answer, but didn't seem to care, so why pretend? "No, no. Just hanging out. What's up?"

"The team and I were just talking about the good times. Wanted to know how it was going."

All things he had said in the litany of emoticon riddled messages already sent. I shrugged, even though he couldn't see it. "You know how it is. Practice, practice, and more practice."

He laughed on the other end of the line, a short barking thing. "Nah, they do it different in the big leagues. I'm sure I can't even imagine."

This was all stuff we had talked about more than once since I'd moved into the Tōō dorms. "Right," I agreed anyway, taking a gulp of my soda. "How about you guys? Practicing lots? Getting back into the swing of things?" I could hear the way the question bottled and withered in my own throat.

There was beat of silence on the other end of the line and I could picture him shrugging clearly. "Not really. The school festival is coming up. Everyone is busy." There was clicking and another beat of silence followed by a slow exhale.

I frowned. "Are you smoking?"

He snorted, somewhere between a scoff and laugh. "Hey, hey, you aren't going to nag at me are you?"

I mean, it wasn't like I could actually tell him what to do. Still. "Probably shouldn't," I advised, my voice neutral.

I could her him tsking on the other end of the line. "So who're you hanging out with? Ah~ I feel so jealous! My little Hide-kun hanging out with the prodigies! Ah~ I want to be there!"

I rolled my shoulder. "Ah, it's um," I paused and glanced at my dinner companion, "its that team mate I said was in my class. You know, our Shooting Guard."

Aomine's gaze cut up to me, one eyebrow raised. He didn't look too interested, but there was an edge of irritation in his gaze. "Ha?" He barked.

I cleared my throat.

"Oh, the one who actually made it to the first string?" Honda hummed, half intrigued, half impatient. "The one who acts like a baby?"

Of course that was the part he remembered. "Sakurai. We're trying to catch up on homework."

That made him laugh. "No kidding? What have you been slacking off? Your grades dropping? You can't do that, they might send you back."

I chuckled. "Yeah, can't have that."

"It sure would be such a waste," Honda agreed.

"Right. Um, was there anything else?" I was trying to ignore the way Aomine was glowering at me in disbelief. Of all the times for him to forego his usual apathy, I wished it hadn't been this one. What did it matter to him if I was lying about who I was spending time with?

"Nah, not really," Honda huffed. I could picture his face, and the smoke wafting around it. "You know how it is. Small town life gets to me. Got nothing but to live vicariously through you," he laughed again.

"Right," normally laughter came easy to me, but I couldn't help but wonder if it sounded a little flat.

"What, you aren't going to ask how I've been?"

"Hmm." I picked at my fries and tried to ignore the way my shoulder was cramping. I stretched it slightly, trying to keep the movement subtle. "Ducking festival duties I bet."

"That too. That too," he muttered, his voice distant like he had leaned away from the phone. "Well you sound like you're busy with your new team mate. I'll let you get back to it. Don't bomb out and embarrass us back home, you got it?"

"Yes Captain," I agreed, injecting some pep into my voice.

"AH~" he sang, suddenly louder again. "I miss my Hide-kun!"

That was definitely loud enough to carry even with the general noisiness of the restaurant and I saw Aomine's face contort on mocking humour.

"Yeah, yeah. Next time then."

"Buh-bye Hide~"

He hung up, and I snapped my phone closed.

Aomine sneered. "Do I wanna know why you're acting like I'm a side piece you're hiding from your boyfriend?"

That was the wrong play to make on Aomine's part. I wasn't in a sharing mood and most definitely did not want to have this conversation, with our cantankerous and mean ace with whom every conversation felt like a four-dimensional chess game. There was no way that would end well for either of us. I was ready to take immediate evasive maneuvers, and he'd just given me the best (or worst) way to do so.

"Don't worry Aomine-chan," I simpered, and immediately watched the wall slam down on his face. "Things are a bit complicated right now, but you know you're my number one right? Ace of my heart." I fluttered my eyes at him, and then took a sip of my drink, content that I'd thoroughly blocked him from pressing any further.

He reached out and smacked the bottom of my cup so the soda sloshed up over my face and into my nose.

I hacked and wheezed, and reached desperately for the napkins, while he balled up his burger wrapper and stood.

"Loser. I'm out," he said.

"Oh no," I gasped as he slouched away. "Don't leave me!"

I couldn't hear him grumbling over the ambient sounds around us, but I knew that he was.

I huffed out a breath I hadn't realized was trapped in my chest and focussed on eating my supper, while trying to remember what I needed to do for the rest of the evening. I hadn't quite finished the worksheet I'd been catching up on when the class president had recruited me into hassling Aomine, but that wasn't going to take too long. I'd have plenty of time to get some extra practice in before going to bed.

I also had to come up with a game plan to get Aomine on that trip, but that could wait.

I reached for my phone and flipped it open again to peer at the picture Honda had sent me.

O O O

"Hey."

Aomine opened his eyes, and the groan he let out when he saw my face made even me with my resolute will feel a bit ashamed. Only a little though. Then he closed his eyes and rolled away from me.

I continued on. "Woah now, not even a good morning?"

"Scram, benchwarmer."

I listed my hand to cover my mouth, the picture of daintiness. "Aomine-kun," I gasped. Obviously if I was going to get a reply to this, it would have been some form of mild violence, or his immediate escape, or none at all. He chose option three, which I thought was actually pretty courageous of him. "I am, lamentably, the bearer of bad news." I conceded.

"Of course you are," he grunted.

It was actually gratifying I was getting this much of a response out of him first thing in the morning. Well, it was bit later than that, but given that Momoi-san had told me he rarely evening showed up until after ten, I figured this counted as pretty early for him.

I leaned back and looked down over the railing at the rest of the campus. From Aomine's hideout on the roof top, I could back out most of the school's buildings. The gymnasium wasn't too far away, close enough that if he had been paying attention, he'd have been able to see every time practice started and ended.

He grunted again, and I took that as a sign he was getting impatient with my stalling.

What a caveman.

I sighed and placed my cheek in my hand. "I don't know how to tell this to you Aomine," I started, and he exhaled with barely contained vexation. "But," I carried on, "I suppose it will be better to just rip the band-aid off."

Nothing. Presumably he was listening.

"You see, it's about the class trip. Turns out you're going to have to come after all."

"No." A beat. "We had a deal."

I ignored the caustic tone he took. "I know. But this really is out of my hands."

He peeked an eye open and looked me over, clearly suspicious. "You're lying."

"Not this time. Listen, I tried to say they should explain it themselves because you wouldn't believe me, but, well," I huffed and drew out a freshly printed form. "That's kind of hard to admit to when someone's clearly counting on you. Made me feel bad about messing around so much."

The way he rolled his eyes was just as lazy as the way he was sprawled across the concrete. "No."

That was it. No.

I'd have to step up my game.

"Look, if you'd rather I get Momoi to do this…" I waved the papers slightly. "I can. Probably should have done that from the start. She just seemed kind of busy. Apparently she's got a trip to scout out a school or something. I felt bad bringing it up."

"You're acting," the navy-headed lug insisted. "You're acting serious instead of crowing about like a moron."

Damn. Had I played myself? I'd been hoping the actual sincerity angle would take him off guard. I sank down onto the concrete next to him with a sigh, and rolled my shoulder. "Nah, not crowing today. Stayed up late to practice." I briefly considered mentioning that I had a lot on my mind after Honda's call the evening before, but that was actually true and not worth sacrificing for the sake of haranguing Aomine into doing something out of his comfort-zone.

He snorted. "What a waste of time that is."

Yeah yeah. No practice would put me on his level and there for there was no point in it. Honestly maybe I was bit more tired than I thought, because I almost took the paper I was still holding and smacked him with them. I breathed in deeply, slowly, counting to ten. To react was to lose. "Anyway," I bit out, "can't you just chill for one minute and sign these like a normal person? You can laze around and be antisocial on the trip as much as here. And I know my word counts for nothing to you right now, but I'll leave you alone and everything."

He grabbed the paper and for a moment I thought I'd achieved victory. Then he balled them up and tossed them over the railing, just like the evening before. "No. Moron." He dropped the insult like it contained a full essay on why my act wasn't believable and he would not be cooperating with me, ever.

I huffed and drew out the next copy of the papers I brought. "Look, if I leave these with you and go, will you just sign them? Please?" I laid them next to him and stood up as if to leave, ears perked for an answer.

He said nothing and did not move and I hesitated. I figured that if I didn't walk away he'd know I was too invested for it to be normal. If there was legitimately a reason why he suddenly had to go on the trip, I could always just fall back on the teacher's or even our coach to make sure he went, so too much effort on my part wouldn't actually help my case. Unfortunately, if I did walk away and he held his ground about not signing them, then I really had no fall back plan, outside of forging his signature and kidnapping him

For what it would cost me, it wouldn't be worth it.

Quite frankly I was tempted to give up. Yes I thought it would be funny to force our precious, pampered, catered-to ace to do something he didn't want to. It'd be even more hilarious to see him interacting with the rest of our class in the same way it would be funny to plunk a cat down amongst a litter of puppies. But it wasn't that important. I had other things to do besides harass him and I was already expending significant amounts of energy on him

I had a horrible suspicion it was for the same reason he kept expending energy to deny me when it would be easier to just cave in: we were both too stubborn to give up now.

There was one last thing I could offer up, but it'd definitely be tipping my hand. He'd know I was over-invested right away. But, then again, I was never one to avoid a gamble. "I'd owe you one," I added. "Probably more than just a burger."

There was a beat, the victorious snort, and then he sat up. "So you were lying."

Damn had he been doubting that? I should have held out for a bit longer. Oh well. I grinned. "Just saying. You go on that class trip, I figure I can hear out a request or two."

Yeah okay, a stupid thing to say. I might as well have been all "anything you want Aomine, teehee,". It was asking for trouble. There was no way he wouldn't insist on something impossible, or over-the-top mortifying so that I'd back out and be forced to let him be. He could tell me to never speak to him again, to run around naked on campus, or to quit the team.

But again, I wasn't one to give up on a gamble. I might as well give him a chance to pose the request and if it was too pricey, I'd just cave and give up on the class trip. Easy-peasy.

"Anything?" He asked sinisterly.

I rolled my eyes because he really hadn't caught the memo on the whole cliche bit. The least he could have done was dress it up a little so we could pretend that wasn't what this conversation was. "No. Obviously not. I might seem like a moron to you, but I do have boundaries. And you wouldn't trust me if I agreed to anything to begin with. Neither of us are that stupid. You tell me now, up front, and if it's something messed up like throwing myself off the roof I'm leaving and switching to plan B."

He considered it. "What if—"

"We're on the same team, so before you tell me not to come within 100 feet of you, rethink. And I'm not leaving basketball or the school."

He scowled. "Don't interrupt, moron."

I shrugged. "I'm just saying. At least try for reasonable."

"Do my homework."

Hm. "Time period?"

He made an expression that told me he expected it indefinitely.

"That'll just come back to bite us both in the ass. The school might be pretty chill, but they will get pissy if we're caught cheating. I could help you with your homework though."

The face he made told me what he thought of that. Fair enough. Doing homework together was time spent in each other's vicinity that he wouldn't want.

"You can be my shuttle," he decided.

Possible, but it opened the doors for him to make a lot more demands of me. "Too vague."

He scowled and flopped back on the ground, clearly fed up with our negotiations.

"C'mon, that's it? You've got no imagination. You coulda asked me to call you sempai, or tell Wakamatsu he reminds me of a cow, or even," and this was risky "to call Imayoshi-sempai demon lord to his face." I shivered, a cold gust of wind brushing against my neck like a knife.

Aomine peeked his eye open again, clearly tempted.

"You could have told me to walk on my hands all the way back to the gym. You could have told me to tell all your old team mates you were the coolest of the cool and my superhero and I would have been disappointed to have anyone but you on my team. Or that I thought you carried them, and they're not all that great without you." That last one was a risk because basketball related topics and his team were touchy subjects. I hurried on with more ideas just in case.

"You could have told me to shave my head, or die my hair. To wear my uniform inside out. To ask that gravure model you seem to like so much for an autograph for you. Literally, you had so many options my dude. Do you really want nothing in life? Seriously?"

He sat up. "Benchwarmer, you're not going to like this," he said, with a grin that told me he very much would.