Unrequited Love?

[yellowcopycat]

Kaijou and Seirin had just had their first practice match, which was shaping up to be a tradition of sorts. This time, Kaijou had gone to Seirin. The gym was nice, newer then Kaijou's but maybe not as big. 

 

He was breathing heavily, but smiling broadly. It always felt good to play, even if it was just a practice match and they weren't going all out. After all, he wanted to keep some of his new tricks up his sleeves, just like he was sure Kagami and Kuroko were hiding some of their new tricks too. This year's match had ended in a draw. Better than last year's practice match, which had ended in Kaijou's loss by two points.  

 

Just thinking about Kuroko made Kise look over to the Seirin team, focusing in on the smaller boy. 

 

For awhile now Kise had realized that he had feelings for Kuroko. Kise had looked up to Kuroko for awhile, but it wasn't really until after the Winter Cup that Kise realized he was probably in love with Kuroko. 

 

He took a towel that one of the first years offered him. "Thanks," he said absently. He scrubbed at his face, his thoughts racing. He had been thinking about Kuroko a lot lately, and seeing him only brought those thoughts back to the surface, only pushed aside when the game had begun. Now with the game over he couldn't focus. The warm glow in his chest that came whenever he thought about Kuroko was back with a vengeance.

 

The Kaijou team was gathering their things and getting ready to board the bus. He told the first year that he'd be along in a bit and began to head over to the Seirin team. 

 

"Kurokocchi~" he called out. No time like the present, he thought. He didn't know if Kuroko would return his feelings, but he was hopeful. The time Kuroko had cheered him on while he went up against Haizaki stood out in his mind. 

 

"Kurokocchi! You got a minute?"

Comments

[misdirects]

He lets out an amused puff at his new wish. "Aomine-kun has been getting better about that, at the very least."

His mood sombers a little at Kise's recollection. "That's really a shame... Akashi-kun deserves much better than that."

[yellowcopycat]

"Better, but it's still half in there," Kise said with a laugh.

Letting out a sigh, Kise recalled the time he met Akashi's father. "But meeting him made a lot of things make sense about him in middle school. I wish Sei was coming to the US. To get away from him."

And to get help. There was a lot of stigma against mental illness in Japan. Well, there was a stigma for it everywhere. And someone as 'important' as Akashi-san would never let his child get the help Akashi needed.

[misdirects]

"I suppose Akashi-kun is duty-bound... It would be ideal for him to leave and grow on his own terms, but I can't say I know what the pressure is like for him to uphold such a prestigious legacy."

They lived much simpler lives than Akashi did. "If it eases your worries, Midorima-kun and I will try our best to support him here."

[yellowcopycat]

"You know what they say; the grass is always greener on the other side."

Well, being rich really did have its perks, as Akashi can pretty much do whatever he wants in Kyoto while his father's in Tokyo, and because he's not a party animal who doesn't step out of line unless one of his Uncrowned Kings managed to go convince him to go to a party.

"That does," he said with a sigh. "And he'll have Mibuchi, Hayama, and Nebuya too. They're his forever people now. Like we are."

[misdirects]

"Forever people... that's a good way to put it. I like that."

It is a beautiful way to think of their bonds.

"He'll be in good hands. Even if his family does not appreciate him, we do."

[yellowcopycat]

"From what I've seen, it's just him and his father. So..." He blew out sigh.

Well, there wasn't much they could do until Akashi was an adult and he could legally live wherever he wanted.

And even then, Akashi Masaomi's reach was long. But one can hope.

"So I'll be leaving him in your care when I'm not here."

Shit, this got serious.

[misdirects]

Kuroko is always going to help out his friends, but... "Since it's a direct request from you, I'll spare no effort."

Maybe it's a little weird to promise your crush to look after his soon-to-be(?)-ex, but a tight-knit group like theirs was always bound to be a little bit incestuous. "I suspect he may get worse about his perfectionism as we get older, but I'll remind him it's okay to simply be."

[yellowcopycat]

[ooc: It's okay! I'm in the middle of moving, so things are slow on my end.]

"Thank you," Kise said, pulling Kuroko into a hug. "He will. But between you and the rest of us and his Uncrowned Kings, except maybe Midorimacchi because he's just as bad as Seijurou is, we'll get him to relax."

[misdirects]

( hope your move goes well! )

He wraps his arms around Kise and relaxes into the hug with a small sound of amusement. "I'll make sure to school them both into the art of loosening up. And in that same line of thinking, perhaps we should go play some festival games now?"

[yellowcopycat]

After the hug, Kise pokes Kuroko's forehead. "You're not very good at that school, either. You are better than they are, though."

Looking over at the games, Kise nods. "Let's go have some fun."

[misdirects]

He rubs at his forehead with a pout. "I'm very good at loosening up. Any time not spent on basketball is spent reading." A very relaxing hobby, he'll have you know.

Kuroko walks leisurely through the crowd, weaving through people as he looks back to Kise to make sure he's keeping pace. "Shall we go hook a yoyo or shoot for a prize?"

[yellowcopycat]

"Please, I know how fandoms get. I have one. And dad has one." Though he wonders how involved Kuroko would get. The other boy doesn't seem like the type to write fanfic.

And he doesn't remember if Kuroko's a good artist or not... He leans towards not. But Kise can't draw either.

"Yoyo," he said. "Those are easier. Though maybe now I can duplicate Midorimacchi's aiming skill."

[misdirects]

"I rarely engage with the online communities. I find little fulfillment in it." Because any time not spend reading is spent on basketball.

He makes his way over to the yo-yo stand and pays the stand runner to give them each a batch of five hooks dangling off strings of paper. "I think Midorima-kun would be offended to know you're using his most prized skill to win a festival prize." Kuroko crouches carefully down by the pool filled with colorful balloons and tries to look for an easy mark.

[yellowcopycat]

"There are offline things to do, like cons and book clubs. Dad's gone to a few cons."

Snorting rather indignantly, Kise shook his head. "As if he doesn't use it himself."

[misdirects]

"A convention might be nice..." There is something soothing about getting lost in a large crowd, wandering at your own pace. "I've started sharing some books with Furihata-kun, but a formal book club could be fun, too."

He dips a hook in to try to fish out a yo-yo, but it disintegrates as soon as it lifts out of the water. "There is a bit of a difference to see someone else perform your own move, no?"

[yellowcopycat]

"How is he?" he asked. "I know he and Sei are exchanging e-mails about practice, captain things. I asked him about it once, but it got technical, and my eyes glazed over, and then I..." he cut himself off when he noticed a little girl staring up at him.

"Well, I'm sure you can guess."

He took his hook, eyeing the yo-yos. "I don't really have my own moves; that's my talent, remember?" He blinks and, using Midorima's aiming skills, gets a yoyo and pulls it out of the water. "I can mix the moves now, combine some, but they're really not mine."

[misdirects]

"Furihata-kun is still a little intimidated by Akashi-kun, but he does seem very excited every time he gets a response." Kuroko is usually the one dealing with the enthusiastic barrage of strategy discussion after. "He's settled rather nicely into his role as captain."

He pouts a little seeing Kise get it so easily and carefully drops another hook in as he thinks about Kise's words. "That's not necessarily true - you make the moves into your own."

[yellowcopycat]

"Sei is intimidating when he wants to be," Kise said happily. "He's gotten better about not scaring people right off since first year. But when he wants to be scary..." He grinned. "So long as it's someone else anyway. But he likes Furihata, respects him a lot ever he got a point on him."

He lets out a breath. "Maybe," he said. "But it's neither here nor there; I can do them, I'm good at it, and I have fun copying people when it annoys them."

[misdirects]

"There really is something about the way Akashi-kun holds himself that makes him scary to other people, doesn't it... I suppose it doesn't work as well on us, since we've known him for a while now." He smiles at the mention of respect. "I've tried to impress on Furihata-kun that Akashi-kun is mostly normal like us and shouldn't be too scared of trying to get to know him better."

Kuroko manages to lift a balloon up a bit before the paper melts and it plops back in with a small splash. He concentrates a little harder, aiming for a yellow balloon now. "Kise-kun's basketball is uniquely his, even with the copied moves. It's why I like it."

[yellowcopycat]

"It's mostly because he's rich," Kise said. "Rich people just walk like that when they become teenagers. Though Sei's not as bad as some of the jerks I've met. Of course, he's also richer than most of them. For him, he's following his father's example. Boys tend to do that, according to mom." He rolled his eyes. "Not completely true. I just look like Dad. I take more after Mom."

Kise looked at Kuroko for a moment, then put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll miss playing against Kuroko's basketball. It's the reason why mine's as good as it is." He gave Kuroko's shoulder a squeeze, then dipped a hook into the water again.

[misdirects]

"I suppose I follow the formula and take after my father too." Opposite to Kise, he mostly resembled his mother physically.

His smile grows a little wider. "Your basketball is good because you're a hard worker and you love the sport." But he appreciated it, using the good energy to propel him into bringing the yo-yo up high enough to pinch the string between his fingers just as his hook disintegrates.

[yellowcopycat]

"I learned it from you," Kise said. "Before basketball, everything was just too easy."

He pulls out his second prize and offers it to Kuroko with a smile. "Here you go."

[misdirects]

"Too easy?" He thinks back to before Kise started playing with them. "I do remember a lot of the other sports clubs were clamoring to recruit you..."

He will happily take it, finding it amusing that Kise managed to hook a light blue one. "Thank you." He slips it onto his wrist with his own yellow prize and offers the leftover hooks to the little girl who had been watching Kise.

[yellowcopycat]

"Phys Ed was always one of my best classes," Kise said. "And I gain muscle pretty easily. If I had joined at high school level, I probably wouldn't have felt that way. High school got hard-core for all sports. Teikou was... a little crazy, I think about basketball."

He waves at the little girl and looks around. "Anything else you wanna do?"

[misdirects]

"The skill differential is rather stark, isn't it." Kuroko hums, wondering if the other sports clubs at their middle school had been as intense as theirs were. "Teikou was definitely... special in its circumstances." That was a, er, delicate way of putting it.

His eyes glance at the other stalls, skipping over the savory food items and lingering on desserts. "We could have something sweet. Or we could abuse Midorima's aiming more." He gestures over to the toy rifle shooting setups.