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They're a merry band, the five of them. Satsuki, Kise, and Daiki had been hanging out together when they bumped into Tetsu and Kagami on their way to Maji's. One thing led to another and trash talk is now being flung across the table between Kise and Kagami about an arm wrestling competition Kagami just won. Big talk about I wasn't ready yet! and you didn't even follow the guidelines! results in Satsuki looking up the rules for something as stupid as arm wrestling, and a rematch being threatened.
"It's all about positioning," Kise says confidently, placing his elbow firmly on the table. "Right, Momoicchi?"
"Uh," she's reading, so she's only half listening, but Daiki takes the opportunity to bully an old friend:
"Fuck are you talking about? His arms are twice the size of yours. This is embarrassing," but so was accidentally calling Kagami beefy. Whoops! Collateral… compliment? It had been totally unintentional, anyway.
"So mean! My heart is seriously broken right now."
"Size isn't everything, Aomine-kun," Tetsu piques in, "I believe in both of them."
"Is that so?" He asks with full sarcasm.
"I believe that Kise-kun will try his best, and that Kagami-kun will surely beat him."
Kagami grins. "Fuck yeah. Sorry, Kise. Looks like you gotta lotta people to prove wrong."
"How come you have fighting spirit even when the odds are stacked with you?"
"According to this federation," Satsuki stands from her seat and comes around to their side of the table. "Always keep one foot on the floor, the other hand must stay in contact with a peg, but we don't have those, so put it on the table," her competitors follow orders so far, and she lists off several more position-based rules for them to comply with. Elbows on the table, squared shoulders, something complicated about the angle of the competing arm, their thumbs, how flat their palms must be against each other's hands. She sets her phone down to perfectly line up their palms against each other. Blah, blah, fingers, blah, blah, wrists.
Satsuki had been chosen as the referee, and had been about to start the stupid competition, when a couple of guys outside Maji's crowd around the window. Daiki sighs. She can wear whatever she wants to, but can't she remember there's a flashing risk if she's going to wear a short skirt and bend over? Is it that hard not to bend down?
"I'm in," he says as he stands, "I care about the rules and deeeeefinitely heard everything you just said."
It shouldn't be overstated that Daiki doesn't care about this that much, but his gaze meets Kise's, and he glances outside. Kise assesses the situation, comes to the same conclusion Daiki did, and pats the seat beside him. "Kagamicchi has a cheerleader in Kurokocchi, so maybe you can cheer for me, Momoicchi? Can I count on you?"
"Sure," Satsuki doesn't notice the guys outside and sits beside him as suggested. She's pretty stupid, as far as geniuses go.
So, here they are. Kagami is rematching Kise, Tetsu is on one side of the table, Satsuki on the other, and Daiki is making sure that the measurements are equal or whatever the fuck. In fact, he's just standing over them, waiting for Kagami to beat him again.
"Are you ready, Kagamicchi?" Kise grins, arm braced according to the rules on the table. Probably according to the rules, since Satsuki was involved until a second ago. Daiki isn't invested in this at all.
"Oh, I'll take you on any day of the week, pretty boy."
Ugh! The fuck? "Three-two-one-go," Daiki sped through to end that moment as soon as he could. Yuck! For one, Kise's literally the ugliest bastard in the entire world. He has a face not even a mother could love. Disinterestedly, he watches Kise straining against Kagami's strength. He does have a better angle this time, and puts up a decent fight. Maybe there's something to be said about positioning and grip, but, still. There's a definite size advantage here, even if not literally doubled. He privately reckons that Kise and himself would be evenly matched, considering that both of them are athletic but possess a leaner muscle than the 24-burger-fuelled titan that Kagami is.
"Oh, shit," Kagami grins, starting to struggle, "you're doing great, man!"
Daiki is now moderately invested in this.
"Time," Daiki looks over to Tetsu, "ain't there a time on this thing? Or does it go on forever?"
"You heard the rules, Aomine-kun," he replies unhelpfully.
Satsuki, he realises now, has a timer she's watching on her phone. So there is a time limit. Wonderful. At least the flirtatious shit talking can't go on much longer.
Kise laughs, Kagami joins him. Um! No? No fun allowed!
"I'm bored," Daiki returns to his seat beside Satsuki and opposite Tetsu, where he sinks in his seat and looks away.
"Come on, Kise," Kagami says, but Daiki does not look over, "you got this."
Kise isn't laughing anymore. A few seconds later, their hands hit the table. OK, finally. Who even cares about any of this anyway?
"Good win, Kagamicchi," Kise sighs, slumping over the table.
"That second time was awesome," Kagami replies. He's grinning, and— when did Daiki look over? Damn. He can't keep his eyes away, huh? Kagami rubs his bicep and his t-shirt slips up to reveal the muscle. Gorgeous, beefy muscle. "Who else wants to go?"
"I'll fight in your name, Kise-kun." Tetsu says solemnly.
"Thanks, Kurokocchi,"
"You can do it, Tetsu-kun!!"
Kagami laughs, "come on, man. No offence."
"None taken. I'll destroy you with my trusty competitor," and he draws Nigou half out of his bag. Kise and Tetsu swap seats.
Kagami doesn't look pleased, but he takes Nigou's paw in his hand anyway. Both Daiki and Satsuki make a strained sound of cuteness overload.
"Awww," Daiki smirks, "Nigou, you look so tiny. Knock 'em dead, buddy,"
"Tetsu-kun holding a dog who looks like him in an arm wrestling competition? This is so cute! I could die right now!"
"Don't exert yourself, Momoicchi, remember what happened when we met the little guy,"
"Nigou," Kagami nods solemnly, "Fight."
Their hands/paws stay in one place. Kagami blinks at the dog, the dog blinks back. This is as cute as it is stupid. Unfortunately, someone walks by their table and Nigou has to be hidden away, meaning that—
"Kagamicchi wins again," Kise sighs. He goes ahead and simply drapes his arm on Kagami's shoulder, too, leaning in like it's absolutely nothing?! "We should pit you against Murasakibaracchi, eh?"
"This is stupid," Daiki kicks Kise under the table.
"Ow! Hey, no need to feel left out, Aominecchi. Why don't you take on the reigning champion?"
"You don't have to, Aomine. If you're too scared."
Kagami, Kagami, Kagami. Leaning on the table like that, staring at him with that competitive confidence that he oozes on the court, Daiki couldn't refuse if his life depended on it. It's even better than on the courts, if Daiki had to rate his stares. On the court, the cheeseball fights for the success of his whole team. His big heart bursts with love and pride for his team (yuck). Right now, he's got a sense of playfulness shining in his eyes that shows he's seriously competitive, but also just joking around. This look is in Daiki's top ten favourite Kagami expressions, for sure.
"Great, let's see if we can hold hands longest, idiot. I'll take this real seriously," all the sarcasm in the world doesn't shield the fact that he's glad to have had it suggested that he has a go. He wants to beat Kagami, of course. (Realistically, he doubts he'll be able to do what Kise failed to do. Daiki is never going to admit it to anyone, including himself, but they probably have similar strength levels.)
"Let's see if I can stomach it," he replies. This little shit! Handled it just fine with Kise, huh? Didn't you, pal? Daiki is about to make fun of him for it but he changes his mind at the last minute. Better not out your crush, yeah?
"Wise guy," he says instead, which is weak on all fronts. Daiki switches seat with Tetsu and Nigou. "This one's for you, Nigou."
"What about me?" Kise whines.
"You lost twice, you're done for."
"Kill him for me, Kagamicchi,"
"Enoughhh," Kagami sets his elbow on the table, "fight for yourself, Aomine, or I'm not interested."
"Ooh," Daiki grins as he lowers in his seat. "Only interested in little old me, Kagami? I'm flattered."
"I wanna destroy you."
Kagami!!! Say it slower, baby. No need for that at the dinner table. The moment their hands connect, electricity sparks between them and Kagami jolts away. Daiki scowls.
"What happened?" Satsuki exclaims.
"You felt that too?" Kagami asks with his brows raised.
"Yes, idiot, I shocked you." Wait a second… why had he said it like that? What did he mean? Huh? That was weird, right? Strangely sincere?
"Fighters," Kise gestures with his palms facing each other, arms bent at the elbow, "take your place."
They lean into the table and take grip. They really are just holding hands here, huh? Kagami is smirking, moving his fingers in tiny motions as he braces for the starting gun. Though smiling, he looks as intense as he ever does. For a horrible second, Daiki feels as though Kagami had seen right into his soul, and found whatever he saw amusing. He softens suddenly, which just doesn't happen in this context on the court. Kagami's brow gently releases its frown, and his pretty eyes squint in the corners from his smile. This is an actual smile, not that toothy, lopsided expression before. He's looked into Daiki's soul, and he doesn't mind it there. It's not that comfortable, and maybe it's a little dark sometimes, but his smile is brighter than any candle.
"Kagami-kun?" Tetsu's voice brings Daiki back to the present. Kagami's eyes leave him, and Daiki pushes their hands to the table.
"Fuck! I wasn't ready! What the Hell was that, Kuroko?"
"Uh, you were sitting there for ages, Kagamicchi. It looked totally romantic, like you were lost in each other's eyes."
Huh… guess he was… Daiki lets go and tries to stand, but Kagami grabs his hand again. Hey! Who said you could touch him like that? If you're trying to make a point about something, why are you holding his hand gently of all things? Do you want him to die?
"Rematch!"
"Nah," Daiki pulls himself free.
Is Kagami sulking now? Seriously? Stop pouting like that! What's the issue here, they can't hold hands again? But Daiki just won so easily, why would he ever sit back down? Why is Kagami blushing now? Stop being such a baby! What the fuck!
"I apologise for distracting you, Kagami-kun," Tetsu says.
"Huh? Oh, I don't care, I wasn't thinking about that, or anything."
"I'm dreamy," Daiki sighs. Unfortunately, he's close to reconsidering the rematch. "It's okay, I get it."
"You're ugly as fuck, dude," Kagami retorts so fast he looks surprised he said it. Fuck you!
"You're ugly as fuck!"
"I was sitting here thinking how ugly you are, actually!"
Daiki leans on the table with one hand, looming near his stupid rival. "Oh yeah?" Wait, sitting there thinking about him? Why is there such a delay between Kagami saying some stupid, odd shit and Daiki realising that it sounds suspiciously romantic? Is it false hope?
The stupid rivals sits straighter in his seat, pressing forward and into Daiki's space. "Yeah."
Okay, but kiss him? If you're going to stare like that at someone, at least have the decency to follow through?
"Excuse me?" a timid girl's voice stopped them from saying anything else (for the fucking best! They're in the middle of a fast food restaurant!). The five of them look over to the end of the table where a Maji's worker stands with one hand firmly grasping the other one, held to her small chest. "If you're going to fight, can you please take it outside?"
"Fight?" Kagami blinks, "who's fighting?"
"Uhh, I'm sorry," Kise bats his hand, "this is actually them on good form. But we'll try to keep it down from now on! Sorry to cause you any trouble!"
"Dai-chan!" Satsuki scolds, "Kagamin! Don't look so surprised, jeez!"
"Sorry," Kagami rubs the back of his head.
"Oh! Are you Kise Ryouta?"
Daiki straightens and pushes off the table. He sighs. "Who?"
"You, you're the model, right?"
"There's a model by that name?" Daiki tilts his head.
"Heh," Kagami leans his face on the table, looking at Kise. "You never told us you're a model."
"This isn't funny, you guys," he raises his hands, "yes, I am a model. But would you mind keeping your voice down, please?"
"You famous or something?" Kagami asks.
"Can I get your autograph, Kise-kun?" Tetsu adds.
Kise manages to quell the situation by giving the Maji's girl an autograph on the downlow. In the meantime, Daiki has sat back in the seat opposite Kagami because Tetsu won't move, and he's waiting for the girl to leave so he can play with Nigou again. Kise is writing some meaningless nonsense on the napkin for her when Daiki glances over at his beautiful idiot of a favourite rival. Their eyes meet.
"Rematch," Kagami says, sitting forward. This guy is so annoying! "C'mon."
"Admit you were lost in my eyes and I'll—"
"Go fuck yourself,"
"Kagami," Daiki leans forward, sets his elbow on the table, and just before he reaches Kagami's hand to take it up for the stupid competition, he brings it back in to drop his cheek against it. "You—"
"No," he says much more seriously, with a side-eye to the others. What's the matter? Oh, shit, is he taking this seriously? Dude, it's a joke. He'd ask Kise if he was lost in his eyes, too. He'd joke to Midorima— well, you know. Everyone knows that old four-eyes can't stand him, so that's less fun. Plus, when would Daiki ever willingly touch that guy for any extended period of time? But in any case! It's just mindless taunting as usual. No need to be so sensitive. Nobody here cares, either. Daiki can say that with his chest. Well, maybe the girl, she's a stranger so he can't tell, but who caaaaares?
"Will you quit pouting at me if I rematch?"
"Yeah," he brightens up already. Kagami! You're adorable! And Daiki is now 99% sure you actually were ogling him last time. Hehehe.
"I was waiting for someone to tell us to go last time," Daiki grumbles, taking Kagami's stupid hand again. He jolts but there had been no shock. What's the matter, you big lug?
"Ready," Tetsu says, "set," they brace, "go."
Oho! Well, he guessed right earlier. Kagami's arms are strong. Of course they are. Look at him. Daiki isn't looking at him, by the way, because he wants to win this round too.
"Hey," Kagami says smugly, "you're pretty strong."
"Flattery gets you nowhere, ugly," completely untrue.
"Gotta fight you square on, huh?"
"You're so noisy."
It sure is a fight. Daiki doesn't think he's winning this one fair and square. Before he can let his arm fail him, he steels himself to make eye contact. It will be completely neutral and cool. Nothing will happen. His own expression is one of determination, he knows this, and he isn't surprised to see the same in Kagami when he does look up. But, you know, there's just something about seeing him straining like this that could get him going! You get it, right? The inherent romance of an arm wrestle between you and the guy you've had a crush on for months now? Daiki is holding on, but Kagami is the stronger one. He's got reserves left, but Daiki's starting to fizzle out. His arm hurts. He grits his teeth.
Time to fight dirty, then.
"Kagami?" He says, "I gotta say, maybe I'm getting lost in your eyes,"
"Nice try." Kagami! You're so cold! Aren't they supposed to be months deep into a will they/won't they, in which Daiki asks both questions because he can never read when Kagami is seriously pissed off at him and when he's inadvertently saying that he accepts Daiki as a friend and not just a rival?
Kise snorts, "don't let him get to you, Kagamicchi."
"Play hard to get, Kagami-kun."
"Huh? Nobody believes in me?" Daiki pretends to fake being offended by this, because come on! Why is he always the bad guy? Kagami's the undefeated champion here! Even Satsuki's gone quiet! Traitor!
"I do," Kagami says way too wholeheartedly, and they made eye contact again at exactly the wrong time. Daiki shakes, and then fizzles. No, he can't fight that. It's too much. As his hand drops to the table, so does his head, and he accepts defeat. This big, stupid idiot starts flexing his arms. "Hell yeah!"
"You're such a dork," Daiki turns his face away. Ughhhh. He'd really wanted to win that one. He never should have rematched.
Kagami groans and joins Daiki on the head-table side of life. "I'm kind of exhausted now."
"You'll have to sleep at Maji's," Tetsu replies, "since everyone here is too weak to arm-wrestle you, we're no match for carrying you home."
Kagami lifts his head with a shit-eating grin. He's looking right at Daiki, so of course, Daiki knows what he's about to say. He's about to mention that time that Daiki carried him all the way home from about this far away, isn't he? Well, don't! It's embarrassing! Not even Satsuki knows that he did that! Kagami gets a swift kick under the table for his sins. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Shut up,"
"Hey, Momoi," Kagami straightens up, "you're my final competitor."
"Huh? You want to arm wrestle me? Kagamin," why does she make everything into this big deal? He's goofing around, no need to let this mean anything!
"Everyone else has, right?" Kagami has the nerve to kick Aomine under the table, "move your ass."
"That's nice, Kagamin, but—"
"Chicken?"
Kise starts laughing, "he'll trash talk anyone, huh?"
Daiki is made to move, while Satsuki takes his seat. Kise stands behind her and massages her shoulders like she's in an actual wrestling ring.
"It's all about leverage, Momoicchi,"
"Think gentle thoughts, Kagami-kun,"
"You're goin' down, Momoi," ha! This guy. He tries to stare her down, but Satsuki is completely unfazed. Of course she is, she's been best friends with Daiki since they were toddlers. Do you really think she can get scared off that easily? Satsuki's also really good at trash talk, and she goes into the mean stuff quicker than anyone would believe for such a sweet looking girl. With Daiki, anyway. Anyone else and she's sweet and cheerful, but Kagami is witnessing the cold reality of her death stare now, and he seems to be wavering from it. Hell hath no fury, et cetera.
"Prepare to lose, Kagamin,"
Kise drops to sit on his heels beside the table to ref. The fighters take their places.
"You can do this, Momoi-chan," Tetsu's reassuring words light a fire in their target, but Daiki's pretty sure they're also going to make her arms go limp like noodles too.
Whether you can blame the love interest for accidentally crumbling her resolve, or the fact that Kagami's arms really are twice as thick as Satsuki's, as soon as Kise starts the match, Kagami pushes her hand onto the table. First second. It's so fast! And judging by Satsuki's expression, she had pushed against him! It wasn't just surprise that made her lose, but that he's dramatically stronger. Go figure.
In the silence, where they all process what just happened, Daiki realises something. He had expected Kagami to at least pretend to let her win for a second. He had asked her to come over, after all. What starts as a smirk quickly descends to a bubbling, contagious laughter.
"Dude," Daiki laughs, "you annihilated her. I thought— I thought you were gonna be chivalrous."
Satsuki's next to laugh, quickly followed by Kise. Tetsu even looks amused. Not Kagami, he's stressed out.
"Uh! Sorry, but I don't go easy on people," he tries to defend, but his friends are lost. "Guys."
"Oh boy," Kise wipes under his eyes, "you're one in a million, Kagamicchi."
"That's a good thing, Kagamin," Satsuki adds, hiding her face with her hands. "I admit I was a little surprised too."
He let a dog win, but not a girl? Man. That's so funny. What a guy!
"Alright," Kise stands from his seat once the laughter has subsided. "I better head home. I'll see you guys again soon, right? This was pretty fun!"
"Count on it," Kagami raises his fist with a smile, and gets fist bumped. He's so chilled out with Kise. If Daiki went in for a fist bump, Kagami would assume it's a punch. (Not true, but this is how the voice in Daiki's head works. He's always in competition with other people for attention and affection, and unfortunately, Kise's easy-going personality usually gets in his way.)
"We had better be going too, right, Dai-chan?"
Aw man! No, come on, don't make him say that he wants to stay to hang out with these guys some more. Now Daiki has no choice but to tag along, or it'll look like he's been enjoying himself too. He rises reluctantly from the table. Tetsu offers him a fist bump unexpectedly. Daiki rolls his eyes, says pshhhh, but bumps anyway. (This is why people don't want to fist bump you, Daiki, you make it look like a chore.)
"See you around," Kagami smiles at him, leaning back in his seat. He has his arm over the back of Tetsu's chair, and he raises that hand in a really half-assed wave. He's so hot. Daiki stares at him for a moment too long.
"Unfortunately," he replies.
"Bastard," Kagami rolls his eyes and looks away, but he's still got a little smile on his face anyway.
"Bitch,"
"Good night, Kagamin!" Satsuki flexes her arms, "I'll practise hard so that I can beat you next time."
He laughs, "yeah, okay. Bye, Momoi."
"Good night, Tetsu-kun. I had a really good time tonight."
Girl, no. DO NOT give Tetsu that date talk. This wasn't a date, he's not your boyfriend. Pleeeaaase. Daiki puts his arm around her shoulders and leads her away. "Let's go, loony."
"Get off me, stupid," she mutters, elbowing him hard in the ribs, "you two will wait outside for me won't you? I'm just going to the little girl's room."
"Of course we'll wait," Kise replies with a smile. He leads them outside and a second later, Kagami and Tetsu leave to start their walk home, too. Nigou hops out of the gym bag. He does the cutest stretch anyone has ever seen, then pauses to look at Kise and Daiki. In his heart, he's chosen to believe that this is Nigou saying good night too, so he gives the dog a little wave and a smile. Kise looks like he came to the same conclusion because he's waving too. Nigou turns to catch up with his teammates who have continued on without him.
"Hey, Aominecchi," Kise says after a moment, "you're single, right?"
Daiki's expression drops. "What."
"Has anyone ever annoyed you into dating them before?"
"Say what?"
"I'm just wondering what your tactic is with Kaga—"
Daiki drags Kise into a headlock and glances down the street to make sure they weren't overhead. "If you finish that sentence I will pop your Barbie fucking head off,"
"Careful! Alright! Let go!" Kise jabs him in the side and they call a truce. Daiki, by the way, is feeling totally violated by this conversation. Kise doesn't care at all! "He's a simple guy, you should just tell him. With words. Normal words."
"Shut up, I didn't ask for your advice, did I? Don't mention it again. Like I give a fuck about that idiot."
"Oookay, I swear on my life not to say another word! Including what Kagamicchi was saying about you the other day."
"Good! I don't care!" And then, after a moment, "what did he say?"
"My lips are sealed. Ow— ow, Aominecchi, I— ow!"