Practice was just as grueling as it’d always been.
Regardless that Midorima had just been in an important match
against Jabberwock, Coach Nakatani didn’t take it easy on him. Even as he used
his selfish requests (now cut down to merely two a day), the coach would find
ways around it. Even compared to Teikou and their training last year, it felt
particularly brutal.
It was strange, Midorima thought, how much had changed when
their third-years graduated. The whole team had to be changed, plays rethought
and strengths reestablished and trust reformed. He expected it the moment he
attended Shuutoku, but being the complete cornerstone for the team and having
everyone depend on him until they sorted things was difficult.
And yet, he mused as he shot from the half-court line,
nothing had changed. From how Coach Nakatani ran them until it felt like they’d
break. From how Takao still joined him for every after hours practice. From how
Miyaji Yuuya threatened him with all kinds of bodily harm for bringing another
gigantic tanuki and keeping it on the bench.
Of course, their thirst for victory—clawing for wins like it
was life and death because it was—hadn’t changed at all.
Midorima tends to
associate Takao with laughter, because Takao is someone who always laughs.
Laughter is one of those very human things that Midorima didn’t know
much about until they’d escaped Teiko.
There wasn’t a lot of
laughter in Teiko.
After a few months
living on the JSDF base, Midorima corrects his initial understanding—laughter
isn’t inherently human. After all, the scientists in Teiko never laughed
either. It’s not something everyone does. In fact, he thinks the world could be
separated into two different types of people: those who laugh and those who
don’t.
(Not laughter in
general, that is. Most everyone laughs, at some point. But, Midorima thinks,
laughter can be a state of being. Either you’re the kind of person who laughs a
lot or you’re not. Midorima is not. In all fairness, he is fairly certain he
wouldn’t be, even if he hadn’t been raised in a lab.)
*
But it isn’t just
laughter—Takao is almost always making noise. Even when they’re studying
together—an activity that pretty much everyone agrees should be silent—Takao
sometimes hums to himself or taps his pencil against the desk. It bothered
Midorima at first, but not anymore. It’s another one of those things that makes
the outside world so different than Teiko—there was never any sounds in Teiko,
not like this.
And it’s another thing
that makes Takao so different from everyone else.
*
And still it takes him
entirely surprise, the first time he hears Takao sing. The basketball club goes
to a Karaoke bar (“For team building,” says Miyaji)—Midorima opts out of
singing (no amount of cajoling will convince him to give it a try) but Takao
nearly stops him from breathing.
He has to sit there
the entire time Takao sings and pretend that he doesn’t care at all—that the
sound means nothing to him. Because he thinks that if he doesn’t control
himself this way, he’ll get up and kiss Takao right in front of everyone, or do
something equally embarrassing. He wants to listen to the sound forever and
feels like so much loss when Takao’s turn stops and someone else gets up to
sing.
*
Then it’s just a
matter of catching Takao at it—it happens sometimes, in the same idle way that
Takao sometimes hums. It’s always too short, and Midorima always wishes there
was a way he could capture it forever (it would be too embarrassing to ask
Takao for a recording. He still can’t even admit that he likes the sound).
*
Someday, he thinks.
Someday he’ll tell Takao. Someday he’ll have the song forever.
But for now he keeps
it secret, because it seems like one of those things that no one else should
know.
A/N: Thanks for the
prompt, anon-friend! It was very similar to this prompt here and I almost
thought about combining them, but then thought they would both make interesting
follow-ups to this prompt here. Also, I freely admit this short has some
similarities to this short. Apparently I just like working a theme with these
two.
It is important to
Midorima that Takao knows he is not ashamed of him. He doesn’t know the full
specifics, but he understands that this was (in varying degrees) a factor into
why Takao’s previous two relationships ended.
“Yamamoto is a good
guy,” Takao explained once, “And it was probably unfair of me to break up with
him. I just didn’t want to be someone else’s dirty little secret again, you
know?”
Midorima still
remembered the night Takao explained about how his middle school romance ended,
and how furious he’d felt about that. He didn’t know how Takao could talk about
it so easily now, how he didn’t seem to wish any of them harm, despite the fact
that Midorima was all too happy to hurt them. It bothered Midorima a whole lot
that anyone could do that to Takao, to the point where he still wishes
he could hurt everyone who had hurt his boyfriend.
But that’s not what
Takao wanted. What Takao wanted was to make sure it didn’t happen again,
and Midorima will make sure it never happens again.
He’s just not sure if
he’s doing it right.
*
They don’t tell their
parents. First because Takao had said, “Oh God, Mom is going to gloat forever
if she finds out,” and Midorima had pictured having this conversation with Dr.
Kishitani and it had all seemed far too embarrassing.
(Then it became clear
that Dr. Kishitani was dating Takao’s mother, and all things considered, maybe
it was best if they continued to not tell their respective parental
figures about their relationship).
And this is something
they mutually agreed upon but it still makes Midorima wonder if Takao feels
like Midorima is hiding his relationship from his guardian. He worries a lot
about whether or not this is something that bothers Takao.
*
To compensate, they
don’t hide it at school. Not that they do anything different at school than
they ever did before they started dating (although, since everyone seemed to
think they were dating before they started dating, maybe they didn’t need to do
anything different), but if anyone asked, Midorima made sure to always respond
truthfully that they were dating.
“You’re usually such a
tsundere, Shin-chan,” Takao teases after the first time he hears Midorima
declare, “Yes, Takao and I are involved romantically,” to someone’s question. “I
can’t believe you just came out and said that.”
“I don’t know what
you’re talking about,” Midorima says, “I am always very open about my
feelings.”
He’s not quite sure
why Takao laughed at him.
*
They go everywhere
together, with Takao often driving Midorima in his rickshaw, and that doesn’t
feel like they’re hiding anything although Midorima is not entirely sure how
much of a couple they look.
But it is important to
him that Takao knows that Midorima would never hide him, would never make him
his secret, so one day they’re out in the mall and Midorima decides, To hell
with it, and he kisses Takao right there where everyone can see.
He does not expect
Takao to pull back, beet red, sputtering, “Shin-chan! Wh-what—?” and then eyes
him suspiciously and says, “What’s your sign?”
“Pineapples!” Midorima
says, indignantly, remembering their long ago code, “Exactly when would I have
been switched out for Kise or a clone?”
“I don’t know but I’m
not ruling anything out,” Takao says, still blushing. “What is with you?”
Midorima scowls
because this is all incredibly unfair. “I just wanted you to know. That I’m not
hiding you. Or anything.”
Takao buries his face
in his hands and Midorima wonders if maybe he did something wrong but then
Takao looks up and says, “OK, my boyfriend is adorable. Also, not hiding does
not mean making out in public, we are Japanese, not Americans, come on,
Shin-chan. Further also, we need to go home right now where I can make out with
you properly and maybe take off your clothes.”
“Don’t be so
shameless, Takao,” Midorima says, his turn to blush.
“Oh, you never get to
accuse me of shamelessness ever again, stud,” Takao says, dragging him by his
collar.
But I’m only human and I bleed when I fall down; I’m only human and I crash and I break down. Your words in my head, knives in my heart; you build me up and then I fall apart ‘cause I’m only human.
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!
just moving along like everyone else 