Takao has been in a
bad mood all day, and Midorima doesn’t know what to do with that. He knows that
Takao is in a bad mood, because he’s not laughing, or joking or teasing or
doing any of the usual Takao things. Unlike other people in a bad mood, Takao
doesn’t snap at others or show any open hostility, he’s just quiet, like he’s
concentrating very intently on any task at hand. Midorima does not like the
fact that he is quiet.
“Is something wrong?”
he asks, early in the day.
“No,” Takao says.
“What makes you think that?”
Midorima doesn’t
respond, because he especially doesn’t like the fact that Takao is lying, but
he doesn’t press the issue.
*
“What’s up with your
boyfriend?” Miyaji asks during practice.
“He wouldn’t say,”
Midorima says.
“Did you do
something?” Miyaji asks suspiciously.
“I never do anything wrong,” Midorima says, with a haughtiness that he doesn’t
quite feel. What if he did do something? Would he know? He’s never had a
boyfriend before (he’s never even had a friend before) so he’s not sure
how he would know if he did something wrong.
“If that’s your
attitude, I’m not sure you’re going to have a boyfriend for very long,” Miyaji
says.
*
After school, he shows
up at Takao’s house unannounced, holding a cheeseburger.
“Here,” he says,
placing the cheeseburger in Takao’s hands. “It is your lucky item for the day.”
“I know,” Takao says,
confused, “I listen to the show in the morning. What are you doing here,
Shin-chan?”
Midorima purses his
lips, feeling stiff and awkward in the presence of someone he’s never felt
awkward around before. “I wanted to see if you were feeling better.”
Takao tilts his head
to the side. “I wasn’t feeling bad.”
“Then, I’m here to
help you study.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say
no to that,” Takao says, smiling slightly, “Let me copy your English homework.”
“No.”
*
“My dad called,” Takao
says, halfway through their English homework. He doesn’t even look up from his
worksheet.
There is a very long
silence as Midorima wages a war within himself. He wants to say something, but
he wants to say the right thing, and he’s not sure what that is. He
knows Takao doesn’t like talking about his father, so he’s pretty sure he’s not
supposed to press for details. And he’s not sure if he could provide comfort,
because it’s not something he could even understand.
“I wish he wouldn’t,”
Takao says, sounding angry. It’s so unsettling, Midorima’s not sure he’s ever
heard Takao be angry before. “If he’s going to be an asshole he should
just remain an absentee one. I wish I never had to hear from him again.”
There’s a small part
of Midorima that wants to say, I could make that happen for you. I could
make it so he never bothers you or makes you angry or makes you sad ever again.
I know how to do it, I’m very good at it. There’s a small part of him that
even wants to do this for Takao, because it’s something he knows he can
do.
But he’s also aware
that it’s probably not what Takao needs to hear.
*
He’s not entirely sure
what he should be doing, so he’s not looking at Takao at all when he reaches
out and grabs his hand. He’s not looking at Takao when he says, “He’s not
important. He doesn’t deserve you.” He’s looking very firmly at his homework
even as he holds Takao’s hand. There’s more he wants to say, but Takao abruptly
flings himself on Midorima, pushing him down as he wraps his arms around him.
“Oh, Shin-chan, you’re
such an adorable tsundere! My boyfriend is the cutest boyfriend in the
world!”
“Stop that!” Midorima
says, although he doesn’t push Takao away. He has his arms around Takao like
he’s afraid Takao might disappear forever if he lets go. “I’m not cute.”
“You are, though,”
Takao says, laying down on Midorima. He sighs. “I’m very lucky.”
Which isn’t true at
all, Midorima thinks. Of the two of them, Midorima has been far more fortunate.
*
“So am I supposed to
eat this or just hold it for the rest of the day?” Takao says, still resting
his head on Midorima and holding out the cheeseburger.
“I’ve never been
certain,” Midorima confesses. “When it’s a food item, I usually hold onto it,
as long as it’s not perishable.”
“Eh, I’m eating it,
the luck will stay with me then,” Takao says, biting it and then grinning, “At
least for a little while, anyway,
before I—”
“Don’t be vulgar,
Takao,” Midorima snaps. When Takao laughs and continues eating his burger,
something in Midorima finally relaxes.
A/N: I am so, so sorry
it has taken so long to get to this prompt! I am very sorry, anon-friend, it
was a truly lovely prompt, but it was one of those ones that would have been
too long, if I tried to do all of the Miracles. (Even got longish just from
properly doing the one pairing). I promised a MidoTaka short for @fujoshi1827, so I
felt like this would be a good fit. I hope you both enjoyed!
Sometimes,
when Izuki Shun hangs out with Hayama Kotarou, he gets the distinct feeling
that he is being seduced. Which is a very strange feeling, for one thing,
because he is not really the type of person who gets seduced, much less
by an athlete of Hayama’s caliber, and also because he’s not entirely sure what
is involved in the finer arts of seduction, but it’s not certainly not always
what he would expect.
“That
is… certainly a very… thorough powerpoint presentation on the superiority
of bisexuality,” Izuki says slowly.
“Right?
It’s good though, yeah?”
“Yes,
er,” Izuki says, noticing Hayama’s particularly eager expression and wondering
if maybe he wanted feedback on his work. “The purple font on the pink
background made it a little hard to read, but I liked the animations and the
embedded sound effects. The, er, charts were also illuminating.”
“Thanks! I made those myself.” Hayama is still looking at Izuki expectantly,
like he’s waiting for Izuki to say something in particular.
“You
should send me a copy,” Izuki offers, “I’ll show it around Seirin. We’re a fairly
bisexual bunch.”
Hayama
blinks. “Wait, what? Like, all of you?”
Izuki
shrugs, feeling like he shouldn’t get into particulars about what he suspects
about the other members on the basketball team, “Good majority. You know, we’re
all about team play in Seirin. Never leave anyone bi themselves, that’s our motto.”
Hayama
bursts out laughing, and it will never stop being a surprise when he laughs at
one of Izuki’s puns. When Hayama leans in to take his phone back from Izuki, he
stays a little bit closer to him, and Izuki doesn’t move away.
*
“Is
he hitting on you with powerpoint presentations?” Hyuuga asks after reviewing
the presentation on Izuki’s phone.
“I—really
have no idea,” Izuki says. “Maybe?”
His
friend looks at him suspiciously. “Is it working?”
Izuki
shrugs, feeling a little helpless, “Kinda? It had some pretty impressive
charts, and apparently I am easily seduced by statistical analysis and
appreciation of puns.”
“Ugh,”
Hyuuga says, “This is going to make games against Rakuzan even more
complicated.”
“Oh
yeah, whereas crushing on people in the same club as you never has
complications,” Izuki says dryly.
“I
have now idea what you’re talking about,” Hyuuga says, scowling.
“Uh
huh, sure. Give me my phone back.”
A/N: I am so sorry for how long this Hayama/Izuki prompt has taken me! And also for
how short this one is. I feel like those two are a work-in-progress, and I’m
not entirely sure where they’re going to end up in this story. I love HayaIzu
though, so thanks for the prompts, anon-friends!!
Thank you for your question,
anon-friend, I am glad you can enjoy the my stories even if it’s not your ship!
(I am a mono-shipper myself when it comes to KNB, so I know how that goes).
As a disclaimer, I would say that
since Izuki is a minor character, pretty much any ship that involves him is
going to be a rarepair. And I somewhat feel like anyone who intensely loves a
rarepair at least has to be up front about the fact that there’s not going to
be much of a canonical reason as to why you ship them, and there’s
not even so much of a “reason” beyond the fact that you really like the ship and it
brings you joy. So I primarily ship HayaIzu because I really like those two for
each other, and I’m willing to admit there’s not much reason beyond that, although
I am happy to provide a few aspects of the ship as to why it brings me joy for
you, anon-friend.
I am pretty sure the first thing
that planted the ship in my brain was reading this short series, and I
probably stumbled over it on AO3 one day and vaguely had the reaction of
“wait, someone ships those two?” but then immediately was followed
by, “actually, you know what? I totally see it.” (It is, by the by, also a very lovely series of fic and I totally recommend these stories). Up until then, I
didn’t have a ship for either Izuki or Hayama (or know that there were any
other ships involving those guys).
(Incidentally, that author is also
the reason I ship Nebuya/Reo, which is not something that has ever appeared in
any of my stories, but I always like to think it could be, there in the
background, lurking.)
Upon rewatching KNB, and the Rakuzan
game in particular, repeatedly and with great devotion, I fell even more in
love with the ship and here’s just a few of the reasons, in no particular
order:
I love the fact that in the entire
series, Hayama is the only one who laughs at one of Izuki’s puns. It is second
only to my absolute favorite reaction to Izuki’s puns, which was Kasamatsu not
even realizing that Izuki was making a joke.
I love that Izuki’s reaction to
Hayama laughing was complete and utter shock because this has never happened to
him before and he doesn’t know what to do with it.
I am super weak to ships where the
genius athlete completely underestimates a minor character’s (ie, not the
protagonist of the show) only to be completely blown away by how they play.
(This is a very specific weakness, and it’s only happened one other time as far
as I can recall, but I’m weak to it nonetheless.)
I really, really love the moment
when Izuki remarks that he’s glad he got Hayama to take him seriously. Because
I think it reflected a lot about Izuki’s character—he knows he’s not the best
player, he’s not a genius player, he really only had the one skill and everyone
agrees Takao does it better. But he still got one of the Uncrowned Kings to
notice him and that’s amazing.
“I’m just glad you weren’t
smarter than me.”
Hayama having to use his special
5-finger dribble on an “ordinary” player.
I mean honestly, I think the main
reason is the tension between Hayama as an extraordinarily gifted athlete and
Izuki as an athlete who works hard. (Which, let’s face it, is the reason behind
a lot of my ships in KNB)
So hmm, yeah, that’s about it. I
don’t have super intense feelings about the ship like I do for my other ships
in KNB, but it is by far my favorite rarepair ship and it is the rarepair ship
that gets “Most Likely To Get Longer Fic” if I ever write a longer
fic about one of my rarepairs.
Thanks again for your question,
anon-friend! I’m always happy to talk ships =D
just moving along like everyone else 