I Love You Babe

Note: This fic was done as a cheer up fic for bobarose on AO3! Yuzuru Shirakami aka "Shiracha" and Hana Shirakami are her original characters. It contains references to our roleplay interactions as to how they met and our headcanons for what Taiga and Hana would do for each other on Valentine's Day. Her shirt came from Rose's headcanon on what she would wear while I imagined the rest. The song "I Love You Baby" by Frank Sinatra inspired the title but I imagine Taiga would call Hana "Babe" depending on his mood.

Taiga met Kaijō's beautiful, white-haired manager at Maji Burger's eating competition. Her eyes were blue as the ocean, hair as white as snow, she had pale skin, pink lips. He got first place by eating 555 burgers, and she was a close second by one burger. Afterwards, Taiga came up to show some sportsmanship. She was a strong competitor after all, and it showed when she was riling him up by calling him athlete and asking him if he was ready to lose. Naturally, he wasn't going to back down from a challenge! Then before he knew it, after they shook hands, he took her to a restaurant just to get a dessert since the burger eating competition was practically their lunch. That was how they met.

Then after the start of the Winter Cup, Coach Aida Riko made Team Seirin stand on the school rooftop to confess to the girl that they liked as punishment for failing to defeat Team Touou the first time. Their only mercy was that they had towels to wrap around their private regions while they confessed to the girl he liked.

Aida Riko, the team's coach, smiled. "Aren't you glad I changed my mind so quickly? It's only the start of winter so it's not that cold just yet."

The boys chattered their teeth.

Taiga muttered. "I hate the cold... L.A.'s winter was warmer than this!" But then again, he was practically naked except for the towel around his waist!

Riko asked "So, who wants to be the brave soul and confess their feelings first? The moment you get your confession over with, the sooner you can get changed."

"I, I will."

Taiga made the mistake of assuming that the girl he liked wouldn't be able to hear his confession plus he needed to get out of the damn cold!

Since Taiga had no shoes on, he couldn't stand on the railing like the first time he declared his goals to join the basketball team so instead, he stood behind the railing, took a deep breath, and yelled "I, Kagami Taiga, really like Shirakami Hana…san, the pretty manager from Kaijō's boys' basketball team!"

The entire team was horrified at his choice of lover because she was unfortunately from a rival school, but they didn't completely disapprove because Shirakami Hana was a beauty indeed! At least their idiotic ace had good tastes in women, it seemed.

Ironically, word somehow got out about the rooftop confession especially since Seirin's boys' basketball team mentioned it during their training camp then this juicy information was dug out by Momoi Satsuki who was a bit of a gossip, and she made sure to send a text to Kise Ryōta who dragged Shirakami Hana to sneak out of Kaijō High with him. The blond wasn't oblivious to Kagami Taiga's feelings for his manager. As amusing as the situation would be for Shira-san to hear his direct confession while Seirin High's power forward was in the nude or hopefully not completely nude, he wanted her to hear the confession personally and witness his rival's embarrassing moment! The punishment that Seirin's boys' basketball team was undergoing made him relieved that he didn't attend Seirin High!

Earlier, as he managed to drag his senpai out and in the direction of Seirin High in Tokyo, his white-haired manager furrowed her brows then asked "What's this about Kise? If Kasamatsu finds out you dragged us both out of school, he's going to hit you, you know that."

Ryōta laughed nervously. "I think I'll take my chances."

Hana's expression didn't change as they approached the high school.

"Why are we going to Seirin?"

Another nervous laugh from the blond boy.

"Trust me, you won't want to miss this."

Hana couldn't relax her expression given how mischievous the prodigal blond could be.

~Later~

Hana's blue eyes widened as she heard the bold confession from Seirin's ace while he was technically in the nude with only a towel around his waist.

Ryōta laughed with his eyes closed. "Man! I knew this was something we couldn't miss! Kagamicchi is a real man! Confessing while he's practically naked! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

Hana tugged on his arm. "Come on Kise, we got what you came for. Kasamatsu will be furious when he finds about this."

Ryōta closed his eyes, still smiling as he replied, "Oh come on, we got what we came for and who's going to tell on us?"

Hana's stern expression became more intimidating even as her pressed lips curved upwards in a smile as she also closed her eyes and replied. "I wouldn't mind telling Kasamatsu that you took us out of school just to witness Team Seirin's naked confession."

Ryōta sweated as he looked visibly freaked out. "Alright, alright. We'll head back."

He slumped his head down. He hoped to hear more confessions from the rest of the team. Maybe even Kurokocchi? But unlike Kagamicchi who had led the event with a bang, he wouldn't be surprised if Team Seirin forgot about him and let him slide in regards to the whole situation. The model took his white-haired manager back to Kaijō High as quickly as he could, but Hana would be sure that Taiga wasn't off the hook in regards to his bold confession just yet as she texted him "We need to talk later."

Naturally, when Taiga opened his red cellphone to check the text, his eyes widened. Had she seen his naked confession? Probably not, right? Shira-san was too proper to do something like skip school to see his naked confession if she somehow found out if she had an information network that was just as effective as Momoi's… But then again, Shira-san also went to Teikō along with Kuroko, Momoi, and the rest of the Generation of Miracles. What if Momoi tipped her off? Actually, what if Momoi had all the Generation of Miracles witness his embarrassing moment?! He'd never live it down…

After Taiga left school grounds, Shira-san recommended they meet at Maji Burger, and he couldn't help but feel worried at the idea of her being out on her own this late at night even though he knew she could take care of herself and rushed towards the restaurant. They had a long discussion about how they felt about each other over Maji Burgers, fries, and a Cola for himself then Taiga finally felt compelled to ask the beautiful, white-haired girl to go out with him.

He would've been fine even if she rejected him, just as long as they could stay friends despite being from rival teams but to his surprise, she said "Yes".

Her beauty, intelligence, and capabilities captivated him, and she gave him butterflies in his belly. She had proven to be good company from the day they met aside from being capable of eating a lot like he was. She was mature and dressed elegantly and he liked elegant girls. Aside from basketball, Hana occupied his thoughts when he had nothing to do outside of his basketball obligations, chores, grocery shopping, catching up with his father over video calls, and watering his cactus. They would cook for one another, they could eat lots together as well, play basketball together one on one, and he would unintentionally make her laugh sometimes because he wasn't exactly smart.

After meeting her older brother, Yuzuru, otherwise known as the idol, Shiracha, he understood now why Hana did not play on a team despite having some fondness for the sport still. She had been bullied by girls who he later found out went to his school when she was a child. They didn't like that she was talented and thought that she was showing off when that couldn't be further from the truth. They refused to pass the ball to her, her teammates blamed her for their loss at a tournament, and she ended up quitting the team. The idol was disappointed that Taiga didn't exactly pay attention to social media and the radio let alone watch television which was why Taiga had no idea who he was.

Ironically, the day Taiga met Hana, Yuzuru's song, Hana, was playing at the restaurant he took her too. Hana seemed not to like the song very much, probably because the song kept playing everywhere. But he couldn't help but associate the song with her now. Yuzuru had been disappointed that he didn't recognize him as the celebrity he was on sight so Taiga tried to check Yuzuru's songs when he had free time and "Hana" was admittedly one of his favorite songs even if Hana didn't like it but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the catchy song in private. The song was pretty deep even if the overall meaning of the song was lost on him. Maybe he could ask Yuzuru to break down the meaning of the song for him, maybe he could even go into how he came up with the song. That sounded like something the idol would enjoy doing the next time they crossed paths. Maybe they could even play basketball again that time! Hopefully he wouldn't forget to do all those things the next time he and the white-haired idol crossed paths again!

Today was Valentine's Day. In Japan, girls normally made chocolates for guys on this day but why couldn't guys do something in return? Why did guys have to wait until White Day? In America, no one cared which gender did what for the other gender. It was just all about showing their love for one another after all. When Taiga got to his apartment, he set to making her some chocolates since that was the signature dessert for this holiday. Milk chocolate seemed appropriate for Hana.

Taiga gathered the ingredients: cocoa butter, dry milk butter, cocoa powder, milk powder, sugar. First, he melted the cocoa butter by chopping it into small, even pieces and whisking gently into the saucepan placed on top of a slightly larger heat-proof bowl over the stove before sifting in the cocoa powder and milk powder to thoroughly blend the ingredients. He then sifted the sugar before mixing it in until it was smooth. Taiga then turned off the heat before carefully pouring the mixture in a plastic pink chocolate mold then letting it cool in the refrigerator. What was he going to make for Hana's meal? Ah, big steaks and fries sounded like a good idea!

Taiga texted Hana asking, "Hey Babe, you free today?"

[TEXT: Yes, I am.

[TEXT: Can you come over tonight?

[TEXT: What time?

[TEXT: 7:00 PM

[TEXT: Alright, see you then.

[TEXT: Can't wait to see you then!

[TEXT: Thanks, can't wait to see you too.

Taiga then prepared to cook two big steaks on big pans over the stove after having slices of butter placed on them then after he plated them, he began to take out some potatoes, start slicing them, then putting them in oil to fry. Afterwards, once he was done, he plated them then placed the plates on the dining table in the living room. They would both be sitting on the floor when Hana came but thankfully, she didn't seem to mind when she did come over let alone judge how minimalist he was. After all, Taiga didn't have company over often. He didn't see there was a point in getting chairs and a bigger dining table. Not only would it cost money, but it would take up space. Besides, he sometimes ate out at Maji Burger given that his practices lasted until nighttime.

Taiga eagerly waited until he heard the doorbell to his apartment ring. Then finally, the bell rang.

"I'm coming!" Taiga ran out to unlock the door as he opened the door to see her.

"Hey." Taiga grinned as he saw her.

Hana was dressed elegantly as usual. She was wearing a true-blue shirt with a floral pattern, a white vest jacket and a long white skirt to match. Taiga could feel his heart flutter at the sight of her. As for him, he was wearing a black shirt and jeans.

"Hey." Hana replied.

Hana held a giant pink paper bag and Taiga could smell the scent of chocolates and a giant burger.

Taiga stepped aside so that Hana could enter his apartment.

Hana beamed at the steaks and fries as well as ketchup placed out in preparation. "This looks so good Taiga."

Taiga smiled as he put his hand behind his head and smiled with his eyes closed. "Thanks, there's also chocolate for dessert."

"Same for me. And I also made you a giant burger."

"Man, there's so much to eat, how are we going to get through them all?"

Hana smiled at him. "I think we can get through most of them."

Taiga grinned at her. "Yeah, you're right."

"I love you, Taiga."

He held her petite form in his muscular arms. "I love you, Babe."