#just last week his whole ass lip swelled up cuz he poked his nose into something that very much did not like him outside

[tenacityreturns]

This is not how them meetong again was suppose to go. It wasnt. It wasn't suppose to bring up memories of him and tatsuya, or memories of aomine and kagami laughing but it does and his fingers hover over the send button before taking a deep breath. Sends it to kagami. "Hey, look at this picture of all four of us i found while cleaning. figured you could send it to those two.",

context: my hc for future verse aokaga is them going off to america when they’ve finished high school, and being in a relationship at this point. then stuff happens and they decide to split up, but they meet every so often as friends w/ benefits, usually when their teams play against each other, and they THINK they’re airy and chill and have a fun sexy relationship but really they’re both sad and no one feels quite perfect for them as aomine to kagami or kagami to aomine. but they’re not just gonna TELL that to each other, even tho they both kinda KNOW they feel the same. it’s embarrassing. it’s been too long. so they just exist. and occasionally make out. also, aomine & kagami, and nijimura and tatsuya used to go out for double dates ALL THE DAMN TIME.word count: 2408genre: fluff? angst? it’s angst. but soft! soft angst.

While Nijimura couldn’t act on his impulses to get with Tatsuya (Kagami could tell there was still bad blood between them), the redhead could. So, he did. Kagami spent a few days after meeting with his old roommate in inner turmoil over the past. He missed his ex, felt frustrated. So he hopped on the next flight to fucking Ohio to visit Aomine fucking Daiki, who Kagami was absolutely sure he was still in love with. How many years had it been since they were an official couple? Six? And how many times this year had they met up as FWB? Four? How many years had that been going on for? Six? Yeah. Clearly, Kagami had no real intention of letting Aomine go that easily. They said it was just physical, and because even though they didn’t want to date, they still felt attracted to each other. Maybe it was that. But no one else got Kagami as well as Aomine did. No one else knew exactly what made him tick (among other things).

It had started out pretty terribly. He’d arrived, unannounced, on Aomine’s doorstep. There were no excuses prepared, you’d have thought Kagami would have thought about these while on the plane. But no, he had nothing to say. What was there? They both knew what the situation was. His skin had missed Aomine’s, the spaces between his fingers had missed how Aomine’s fingers fit perfectly between.

Lips. Hands. Bodies. Sofa. Wall. Laughter. Bed. Soft words, softer touch. He could tell Aomine missed him too, though they never said it. That made it worse. Even though it made his chest swell when he discovered that he’d interrupted Aomine’s plans to go to a party (because that invariably meant making out with someone else), the words between the lines were uncomfortable and raw. I choose you, Aomine said but didn’t say. 

But distance made it complicated, their lifestyles made it difficult, their stubbornness made it worse. They’d settled into a rut of refusing to admit that they still loved one another aloud, after all this time, and now it felt like they were slowly convincing themselves. Except when their bodies touched, and insufferable fireworks interrupted their self-inflicted loneliness.

It was terrifying loving someone and thinking you weren’t meant to be together. There was an emotional block between them, and it never ended well when they’d try to discuss it to get passed it (mostly because neither of them wanted to). The last time they’d tried, they ended up arguing for over six months.

This was not how his meeting with Nijimura was supposed to go. It wasn’t. It wasn’t supposed to bring up old memories of youthful happiness. Maybe he could blame the dry spell, maybe he was due a meeting with his FWB, and it wasn’t Nijimura’s fault for reminding him about it at all. Not that Kagami blamed him, and not that he was really complaining. It was just… these ‘meetings’ with Aomine were bittersweet, because they could forget about everything for a few hours, but afterward, it’d be weeks until Kagami stopped thinking about him. Aomine was an old wound he had no intention of letting heal.

Kagami was laying in Aomine’s arms when he got the text. Early morning, the buzz of a new text woke the both of them up. Kagami retrieved his phone, but when Aomine spotted that it was a picture from Nijimura, he said some hollow threat about how it better not be a dick pic, before snatching the phone. He opened the image before Kagami had a chance to do anything about it, and suddenly they were face to face with a blast from the past. Moments flew in silence, both fixated on the image Aomine held high above their heads as they lay in his king-sized bed.

It upset Kagami, really. Everyone was a million miles away from that moment now. Nijimura had only just come back into his life, the same but different. Aomine seemed determined to reside in the back of his mind, but not pleasantly. Tatsuya didn’t make any effort to talk to him at all. Maybe it showed on Kagami’s face, because when Aomine broke his stare to look at the man in his arms, he immediately put the phone away. Kagami untangled himself, curling up and out of bed.

“Why’d he send that to you outta the blue?” Aomine asked, pushing up to his elbows. Kagami glanced over as he was shimmying into a pair of sweatpants from Aomine’s closet. Blue eyes were clouded by a gentle frown. “You talk about the old days a lot with him, or what?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” He replied grumpily. Aomine groaned, but couldn’t get a word in before Kagami continued. “It’s not outta the blue. He came to visit a couple weeks ago.”

“Huh?” Aomine rolled over to lie on one side. “Just to visit you?”

Kagami shrugged. “Didn’t he come see you?”

“Nah,” a pause, “would you have sent that to me? The pic, I mean.”

Instead of answering, the redhead left the room, scooping up items of clothes as he made his way into the living room. Aomine’s kitchen was primarily a gorgeous dark marble, and far too spacious for someone who only ate instant noodles and protein smoothies.

“Taiga,” Aomine called from the bedroom, following him out of the room. Kagami turned to discover the most gorgeous, fully naked man in the doorway and threw his bundle of jeans and socks at him.

“Put some fucking clothes on!”

“This is my apartment!”

“And you have company!”

“It’s just you?!”

“You’re way too casual with me.”

Aomine faltered. Kagami ignored the hurt he’d accidentally inflicted and made his way into the kitchen. There had to be something edible around here. Usually, Aomine bought supplies for whatever he wanted for breakfast, but since Kagami had just turned up, there was nothing in the fridge. Literally. Nothing in the fridge. Just fruit, and some yogurts. Kagami was not a fruit and yogurt kind of guy.

“Taiga,” Aomine’s voice had softened, and he was wearing jeans now. Kagami’s jeans, but they were better than nothing. “Would you have sent that to me?”

“No, probably not.” Kagami didn’t look at him for long. “What good would it have done?”

“What good has this done?” Aomine poked Kagami’s firm shoulder, but the point was lost on the redhead. Exasperated, he didn’t explain. “I’m not sentimental, but I would’a wanted to see that shit.”

“You’ve seen it. Besides, you were there! What good’s a photo if you remember the occasion perfectly well without it?”

“I don’t remember,” Aomine folded his arms, but tilted his head. He was closing himself off, while still (very much accidentally) showing interest. Kagami saw from his body language alone that Aomine reminisced about the past too.

“Shame,” everything had to hurt today, didn’t it? Kagami was taking it out on Aomine, but maybe it was his fault in the end. He tried to push past, with the idea of going out to get something to eat, but Aomine put a hand on his chest. Warmth. Red eyes lowered to full lips.

“No, Taiga,” the hand fell away, “no. Talk to me. I wanna hear about that picture.”

“I’m hungry,”

“Starve,” there was the contact again, but this time Aomine had extended his whole arm to prevent Kagami from leaving. Somewhere between annoyed and aroused, Kagami shoved the hand away.

“Summer. Do you remember how we used to go to the beach to surf? And how we’d always find Nijimura and Tatsuya either making out or arguing, and we’d try to—”

“Guess which one it’d be this time,” Aomine chuckled, “Tatsu said they used to do that about us, y’know.”

Kagami folded his arms and rested against the counter. There was a pause where Aomine must have been deciding whether or not Kagami would try to leave again, but he jumped up on the kitchen surface. Feet kicked below like he wasn’t a grown ass man.

“You said you loved me that day. For the first time. Properly, ‘cuz you were an idiot before you said it to my face.” He shoved his ex in the side, “Sayin’ it in your sleep, or when you thought I was asleep.”

“Hey, so I don’t throw it around! Why are you complaining? Bakagami. Surely that would mean more to you if I was so nervous to say it. Jeez. Think about things. Bonehead.”

When he looked over, Aomine was hunched over with his arms also folded, glaring at the floor. Blushes didn’t really show up on his skin, but it was obvious that he was embarrassed. Aomine’s nose was scrunching. He looked stupid and beautiful and, again, Kagami’s chest ached.

“I loved you too.”

“Yeah,” Aomine snorted, “but you said it all the time, it wasn’t as meaningful as when I said it.”

“That’s not how it works, you idiot!” Another shove: shoulder into shoulder the first time but a genuine push to knock him over this time. “You think it wasn’t just as hard to say at first? I thought it’d scare you off, then when it didn’t, I couldn’t help myself!”

“Cut it out, you’re turning me on!” Aomine laughed, grabbing wrists and using them to pull Kagami to stand in front of him. “I’m kidding, moron.”

“About what?” he snapped.

“The first thing. I’m still not good at telling people I love them, I used to— I still admire that you just can. I think it’s strong.”

“Oh,” the redhead pulled his hands free, but stayed near. His cheeks heated. “Wouldn’t be so sure about that, though. I suck at it.”

“Ah, man, I don’t wanna hear about your other relationships right now.”

For some reason, that really riled him up. Did Aomine really think he’d bring up other people? He couldn’t hold down a serious relationship with anybody, let alone someone he’d talk to Aomine about.

“What other fucking relationships, you big, stupid fuck? It’s great for you, you can just go to parties and do supermodels, but this THING fucks me over.”

“You aren’t seeing other people?”

“Well,” he faltered, “Yeah, but it never works out ‘cuz you’re always THERE.” Oh, shit. That just slipped out. “I didn’t mean that.”

“You never say shit you don’t mean, not about that,” Aomine muttered, eyes low. “You did it again.”

“I wouldn’t have come over if I knew you were gonna talk about old feelings, asshole.”

“Oh YEAH? Like I give a shit about your feelings, but just so we’re clear, you’re in my way too. And it’s idols, not supermodels.”

“Go figure you’d get stuck up on whether it’s idols or supermodels, UGH, YOU’RE SO—-”

“How stupid can you BE? You said you still love me, I said I still love you. Why are you yelling at me?”

“I———–” Kagami had started his raging defence, but couldn’t get the words out. His mouth was dry, and he wasn’t sure if this was a good nervous or a really terrible one.

“Say something,”

“Uh. I didn’t say that. You can’t just do this. I was fine and now I’m gonna be thinkin’ about this for—”

“I want you to.”

“What?”

“To think about it, about me. Damn, you’re really slow sometimes. OK, let’s try from another angle,” Aomine sighed as if he was a preschool teacher. Kagami let it slide this once, because he was so hooked on his words. “Do you believe in soul-mates, Taiga?”

The colour drained from Kagami’s tanned face, and he was vaguely aware that he was clutching the front of his own shirt in his fist. “You think I’m your soul-mate?”

“Ahhh, should’ve known you’d go all weird about it.” He rested back on his hands, doing his damnedest to look casual. “I know you are. We’re cut from the same… whatever the saying is. The same thing. We’re two halves of a whole. And you feel the same.”

“Don’t assume what I feel!”

“But you do! You said you’re stuck on me, and I could just about believe it ‘cuz every time I try to tell you I want you to stay longer, you go weird and distant, and I lose you again! Why else would you fly all the way out here knowing I’d drop everything to spend the night with you?”

“I wasn’t thinking.”

“You didn’t have to.”

There, sat in Kagami’s jeans, Aomine made everything crystal clear. They’d split up because distance made life difficult, it was too expensive to visit each other and their schedules meant that they couldn’t get online to talk every day. But Kagami had, on the spur of the moment, spent $200+ to come visit the guy because he was sad. And Aomine had, indeed, dropped his plans to spent the night with him.

They’d split up because all they did was train, and while Kagami liked downtime to include cooking and sleeping, Aomine partied. But Aomine had sort of calmed down by now, even if there was more alcohol than substantial food in the apartment. Maybe they hadn’t spent this long being bad for each other, maybe they’d spent it trying to convince themselves that they were.

“Taiga,” Aomine started again, softly nudging the baffled redhead. “Please don’t leave me hanging. It’s okay if you don’t feel the same, but I never wanna see you again if that’s the case.”

“Maybe I don’t feel the same,” Kagami’s voice cracked, “because I still wanted to see you, even when I thought you didn’t love me.”

“So you—?”

“Yeah, I do.”

It was Aomine’s turn to be rendered speechless, but he was more proactive about it. He pulled Kagami into a tight hug, which was quickly returned. There it was again, the irreplaceable scent of Aomine Daiki, completely encasing Kagami’s body. This hug felt different than the closeness they were more used to experiencing. It felt timeless, not tinted with the pain of having to leave and get over him again. 

Sure, Kagami would have to catch the next flight back to Chicago for practise, but when he did later leave, Aomine kissed him and smiled. It felt nostalgic, like they weren’t mid-twenties but mid-teens. Butterflies swarmed in his stomach, he felt as though he was walking on air as he made his way back home. It had felt RIGHT. Being with Aomine felt right. 

#shuuniji #aokaga #aokaga fic #drabbles. #THIS WAS IN MY DRAFTS???? NEARLY COMPLETE SO I DID this for an hour instead of studying DAMN #anyway this is kinda in ref to the trope where poor aomine is reduced to only wanting to make out and never Talk but actually aomine is ?? #100% the kind of person who would want a convo where the feelings are laid out bare and then he can get over that aspect of it #and focus on being a good bf #reply 2 this w/ how Done you are with these guys on a scale of 1 - 10 #aonon.