"Why are you, in fact, standing there?! If you screened there, I would've been completely open!"
"Huh?" Murasakibara snarled and gave Midorima an irked look. "Why would I need to do something so tiresome when all you need to do is pass to me, Mido-chin?"
The two got up close to each other and stood there in a standoff. Mamoru sighed at the disagreement the two were having. He plopped himself on the floor in a cross-legged fashion and settled his head in his hands.
Midorima and Murasakibara both made a move to fist a hand in each other's shirt. "It's better for me to make the shot!" They both shouted.
One of the members ran over screaming "stop fighting" as Mamoru huffed. Silly, utterly silly.
"What in the world are they doing?" Sanada asked, sounding tired.
"Hey, what'll you do, Captain Akashi?" Nijimura sighed, aggravated. He nudged Mamoru, who was still on the floor, to get up with his leg.
"Let's observe a bit more."
"I've had it!"
"Me too!"
Mamoru watched as Kuroko trotted over with a disgruntled look. "Please stop fighting! Even I could win against both of you as you are now."
At the discreet challenge, Midorima and Murasakibara shut up and settled their furious gaze upon Kuroko. With their attention, he added, "I'll prove it to you if we play a match after practice."
Kuroko explained the rules. "First to ten with these teams win."
"So we're supposed to show our teamwork and win, right?" Aomine grinned, excited for a game.
Mamoru watched as Aomine, Kuroko, and Kise donned a blue bib as one team. Akashi and the two bickering boys were on the other team.
"Aka-chin, are you slacking off on purpose?" Murasakibara huffed, shoulders heaving from the heavy breathing.
"Of course not," Akashi replied calmly. "I'm playing as I usually do."
"Jeez."
Nijimura looked at Mamoru, who was still on the floor. He raised a thin eyebrow. "You didn't want to play?"
Mamoru looked up at him. "I do," he admitted. "But I think Kuroko's trying to settle a point. I don't mind watching though."
The former captain knelt down beside him, squatting. "We have no use for players who are not proactive," he warned quietly.
"I'm well aware, Nijimura-senpai," Mamoru murmured, sparing the older boy a glance. "But I think my past performance speaks for itself."
The two watched as the ball flew towards Aomine (courtesy of Kuroko's famous pass), who was already in the air, ready for a slam dunk.
But Kise was there too.
Both of them were shocked at the sight of each other reaching for the ball. So shocked, that the ball went unnoticed by either of them and it bounced out of bounds.
Aomine and Kise landed hard on the floor, the air knocked out of their chest.
"Ow," Aomine wheezed, propping himself up with a hand. "What was that, Kise?! That was my return pass from Tetsu!"
"What was that?" Kise squawked angrily, scrambling upright. "Anyway you see it, that was mine!"
Aomine stood up and got in Kise's face when he did the same.
"That was mine!"
"For me!"
The two clashed together, pushing and shoving each other in a childish fit of pique. Kise stretched Aomine's cheeks, pulling his mouth into a horrific shout, while Aomine yanked Kise's air in retaliation and kicked his face.
Midorima watched them alongside Murasakibara. "Why are you fighting as well?" he asked irritably, pushing up his spectacles.
Mamoru stifled a small chuckled that threatened to spill. A little hypocritical, he thought, amused.
"Man, this has gotten way too dumb," Murasakibara agreed.
Midorima sighed. "For now, I do understand we were acting disgracefully to Kuroko."
Mamoru darted over to Kuroko who was on the floor, vomiting from the insane game. He rubbed his back, and left to find a mop and bucket of water.
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"Aomine scored 50 points!
"What a guy! Unstoppable!"
"Look at the boy with white hair! He's a beast!"
Mamoru scoffed at the analogy. A beast? Was that supposed to be a compliment? He wiped the sweat away with a wrist and watched as Aomine made another basket.
He did enjoy the look of shock at Kise's face. He'd hadn't really watched Aomine or him in a game where it was much more serious. The second stringers were difficult opponents, but Mamoru liked the challenge.
Mamoru received a pass from Aomine and shot quickly, making his 38th point. Midorima watched concealed amazement at the shot he made from midcourt.
It was hard to tell, but he started to notice that Mamoru would take centimeters back after he made a successful shot, like he was testing how far he could shoot.
Midorima started to wonder if he could start backing up as well, just to test his limits.
Aomine slipped past several people and did a slam dunk just as the buzzer sounded out. He landed on the floor heavily and stood up straight, an exhilarated look on his face.
But his face changed. Mamoru watched as he surveyed the panting opponents who faced the floor. Was he feeling guilty?
Shaking his head, he jogged over to Aomine and punched his arm. "Ow!"
"Well done, Aomine-kun."
On the way home, Aomine was completely lost in his thoughts. He almost ran into a trash-can, but Mamoru tugged on coat to pull him out of the way.
"Aomine-kun." he didn't respond to Kuroko's prompting. "Aomine-kun." When he didn't respond, Kuroko said it louder.
"Eh?"
"What's wrong? You seem aloof," Kuroko pointed out.
"It's nothing," Aomine said, waving it off and looking to the side. They stopped walking at the spot where they waited for Maiko to finish.
"You seem to be doing well lately," Kuroko murmured, trying to start something.
"Yeah, I guess..." Aomine looked at Kuroko, like he was going to ask something, but shut his mouth.
They were silent for a while, watching a pair of boys walk past them.
"By the way," Aomine started, looking at Mamoru and Kuroko. "You guys stare at people a lot. Especially you, Tetsu, since changing your playing style."
"Yes, I'm observing people. Mamoru said it would help me with my misdirec-"
"Tetsu-kun!!!"
Mamoru and Aomine watched with a wince as Satsuki barreled straight into Kuroko.
"You sure come on to Tetsu hard lately," Aomine sighed, a little amused.
"Well, I can't hold it back," she chirped, hugging Kuroko tightly.
Mamoru gently pulled the pink-haired girl off Kuroko. "Kuroko-kun might suffocate if you keep holding him," he reasoned, dusting off the girl's back.
He pulled Kuroko off the ground and dusted his back too like an overbearing parent, missing the blushing girl's gaze.
"Don't interrupt us," Aomine sighed, exasperated.
"Oh, that's right," Kuroko realized. He straightened up and continued where he left off by looking at Satsuki. "Then, Momoi-san."
He stared at her with his usual blank face. Satsuki stared back, utterly confused.
Mamoru watched them, a little amused at the two. "You're the type that stares back when stared at," Kuroko concluded, breaking eye contact.
"Huh?"
"What's that about?" Aomine asked, just as confused.
"People have all sorts of reactions and quirks," Kuroko explained. "I observe them and categorize them. I need that to guide lines of sight."
Aomine grinned slyly at this new information. "Then you know my quirks and stuff?"
"You always avert your eyes when you lie," Kuroko said immediately, referring to when Aomine said nothing was wrong earlier.
The navy-haired boy grunted in surprise. "Ah man, I'm done for..."
"That doesn't mean you have to tell us right now," Mamoru chipped in, face softening slightly. "Please keep in mind that we are here for you."
Kuroko nodded, smiling whole-heartedly. "Someday, when you feel like telling us, please do."
Aomine stared at them both. Finally, he smiled and closed his eyes. "Yeah, got it."
"Oh, there you are!"
Mamoru groaned and slapped his face with his hands just as he felt hands grip the back of his coat. He knew it was Maiko reminding him to stay calm.
"Let's all go get ice-cream," Kise suggested eagerly with Murasakibara and Midorima following after him.
"Oh, that sounds good," Aomine agreed, brightening up.
Ice-cream was good, Mamoru agreed reluctantly. He discovered he had a major sweet tooth and was a sucker for anything cold and sweet.
"And you, Momo-cchi?" Kise asked good-naturedly.
"I have to take this game data to Akashi-kun, so I can't," she explained, holding the thick stack of papers to her chest.
"Lately, Aka-chin's been relying on Sat-chin a lot of stuff like getting data," Murasakibara noticed.
"Thank you for your hard work," Midorima piped up, adding "nanodayo" at the end. Mamoru faintly wondered if he ever said a sentence with that. If he did, Mamoru didn't catch it.
Momoi giggled. "It seems like I was more suited for this work than I thought."
"Then we'll see you later," Aomine nodded.
"Yeah, see ya!" She waved goodbye and skipped off towards Akashi, humming under her breath.
They started walking again, Maiko being the center of the group. Irritably, Mamoru watched as Kise reached a finger to poke Maiko's shoulders. He pushed Kise hard, but he underestimated the force and ended up pushing Kise against Midorima.
He silently apologized to Midorima, who pushed Kise off him.
"Hey, Tetsu, what's Mamoru's quirk?" Aomine asked curiously, leaning forward to hear Kuroko's soft voice.
Mamoru and Kuroko exchanged a glance before Mamoru turned his head to look at Aomine.
"I'm an enigma, Aomine-kun. Don't hurt your head trying to figure me out."
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Just found these nice borderlines :D
Have a nice day/night~
Thanks for reading
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