The Captain and The Coach

Birthday Gift

"Captain."

Riko watched as Junpei turned to Taiga, who was shifting awkwardly as he held out a paper bag.

"Here... Something from all of us... Happy birthday," he said, scratching his head as Junpei took the bag from him.

"Thank you - what??" Junpei's eyes widened in surprise as he took out the Japanese war hero collectible.

"How did you guys know?!" he looked at them, then back at the collectible that brought back memories of how he had shattered it into pieces when he missed a basket at practice.

"Coach told us the story of how you trained to never miss a shot and gave us a list of the collectibles you'd broken," Tetsuya said quietly.

Junpei looked up at locked eyes with her, and Riko blushed as she watched the corner of his mouth turn up. He didn't need to say a word, she could already tell from the look on his face that he was grateful. She smiled back at him, to let him know that she understood.

Taiga caught the exchange between them and groaned. "C'mon Captain, it's not like we don't know you and Coach are dating! Enough with these secret glances and smiles, just hug her already!"

"It is your birthday, after all. What's a one-minute hug?" Shin suggested cheekily, and Junpei flushed.

"Morons! Why would we--"

Riko grinned mischievously and set the timer to one minute before tossing the stopwatch to Tetsuya and launching herself into Junpei's arms.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes to drown out the team's good-natured teasing. She focused instead on the steady beat of his heart, and how she loved how his body was hard and muscular. She held him tighter as he wrapped his arms around her, and she instantly felt safe and loved. She felt him bow his head as he tightened his hold around her, and she knew that he was savoring this embrace.

All too soon, the alarm of her stopwatch went off, signalling the end of that one minute. Riko dropped her arms to her sides and took a step back as Junpei released her. She looked up at him with a smile, then stood on tiptoe.

"Happy birthday-- mmph!" She had moved to kiss his cheek, but at the last second, Junpei turned his head and captured her lips in a kiss. Riko felt her face grow hot as the team heckled them, and this was the first time she was thankful that Junpei kept the kiss short and sweet.

He pulled away and smirked at her, with a look that said he had just claimed his birthday gift from her. She narrowed her eyes at him, then spun around the face the team.

"Okay, show's over, time for you guys to drop and give me 100 push-ups," she snarled.

Tetsuya looked at her wide-eyed and said, "A hundred?! But we usually just start with fifty!"

"Maybe I should make it 150 then," she said with a devilish grin, and she felt Junpei's hand on her head.

"You heard the Coach! Drop and give her a hundred push-ups!" he barked, then tousled her hair before taking his place with the rest of the team and dropping to the floor.

Riko stood on the sidelines with her hands on her hips as she watched them, and her face was still flaming as Junpei held her gaze with a look that clearly said that kiss was just the beginning of his birthday gift.

She needed to brace herself for what was to come when practice was over.