𝔸𝕜𝕒𝕥𝕤𝕦𝕜𝕚 ℕ𝕠 ℍ𝕚𝕞𝕚𝕥𝕤𝕦

45• the words he'd been dying to hear •45

(Hey guys! It's been a while, so here's a pic of Kanata before we get started! Hope you enjoy the chapter~ it's a bit of a doozy lol)

On his trip home, Kanata felt at peace. For the first time in a while, his thoughts weren't plagued with self-loathing, weren't running wild, weren't sufficating him. Now, his mind was quiet, allowing him to feel the heat of the morning sun, feel the slight breeze caress his skin, and feel that the world was right where it needed to be.

But then that feeling ended.

It was right before he got to the train station, where he saw what his world was missing. It was a streetball court, with a lone ball sitting in the center of it. The brunette felt his heart clench; it would only take him maybe twenty steps, less than ten seconds, to make his way over. Ten more steps to be able to grasp the ball. Two more steps to position himself and shoot the ball.

And then he was doing it. Kanata didn't count the steps. Kanata didn't count the seconds. All Kanata did was run onto the court, grab the ball, twisted, and shot it.

It didn't surprise him that the ball bounced off the rim instead of going in. Sighing, the brunette allowed himself to flop down on the hard ground. His ass did hurt a bit from doing that, but he ignored it in favor of laying down on his back and looking up at the sky. He could hear the ball roll to a stop, and then there was a flopping sound from beside him. It wasn't hard to see who it was from his peripherals, but Kanata wasn't going to engage in speaking. Not yet.

Instead, he moved his hand until it bumped into the other person, causing the person to flinch. Flipping his hand over, Kanata waited. Sure enough, the other person's hand enveloped his, and their fingers squeezed together. "I'm sorry," Were the first words spoken from Aomine to Kanata since the incident. The ace realized that he might not be forgiven, that he might not be the person Kanata was expecting by his side, but he needed to say it--needed Kanata to know that he regretted his actions, that he wanted a second chance, that he still wanted to be friends, no matter what.

His heart pounded in his chest as Kanata's hand squeezed his a bit more, and the words he'd been dying to hear came out of his mouth. "I forgive you," The brunette said, and a beat later, continued. "But we do need to talk." With that said, the boy sat up, and hesitantly, so did Aomine.

"..I agree," The ace complied, feeling happy that he was no longer being given the silent treatment from his favorite person, but also nervous about the nature of their conversation. The only thing that was grounding him was the warmth of Kanata's hand, which had yet to leave his grasp.

"I'll go first, then," The brunette murmured, taking a deep breath before finally making eye contact with Aomine. "Do you still want to be friends with me?"

"Yes," He replied instantly, drawing a bit of a smile from the boy.

"Is that all you really want?" Kanata asked, and this time, the ace didn't say anything for a while. He looked nervous, like he didn't want to answer truthfully, but he also didn't want to lie.

It seemed that the latter won. "No, it's not," Aomine eventually said, breaking eye contact to stare at their interlocked fingers.

"I thought not," Kanata's smile was warm and understanding as the ace's eyes took him in, trying to figure out how this was going to play out. If this was basketball, he would have been able to predict the outcome from his experiences, but in this conversation, Aomine had nothing to lean back on for support to predict the outcome. But he had known that from the start, and accepted that going in blind was better than doing nothing at all. "I.." The brunette trailed off, as if it was going to pain him to say what he was trying to say. "...Gender matters in my relationships," He eventually revealed. "I'm not saying that I'm opposed to dating men, but I've had a bit of...bad history with men," They both grimaced. "And.. Momoi and I just started dating, so I.. I can't--"

"I know," Aomine cut him off. "Satsuki couldn't stop bragging last night, which really pissed me off, but.." He squeezed Kanata's hand. "I understand. All I wish to ask of you is to please.." The ace lifted their hands, staring for a moment before closing his eyes and pressing his lips to the brunette's knuckles. "Don't push me away anymore. Not having you around has been so painful, and even if it's not romantically, I want you in my life."

"I want you in my life too," Kanata expressed softly. Aomine opened his eyes to see that there was a slight blush on the brunette's face. "But we're going to need some rules going forward," The boy refused to make eye contact again as he looked away, making the ace raise an eyebrow at this act of defiance.

"I'm listening," He mused, scooting a bit closer. He could see Kanata swallow, causing he himself to gulp a bit. He really wanted to shove him down, bite his neck, kiss his throat, mark his territory--

"You can't kiss me," Kanata said, making the ace flinch. Did I say that stuff out loud? "On the lips. But I don't mind if you kiss me on the cheek," He muttered, pursing his lips awkwardly. Aomine blinked once, then twice. Seriously?

"...What about forehead kisses?" He decided to test his luck, leaning closer to see the brunette's reaction. The blush reddened.

"T-that's fine too," Kanata attempted to retreat, but was held where he was by his hand attached to Aomine's. "Hey--"

"Anything else?" The ace cocked his head, a slight smirk on his face as he watched his reaction.

"N-not that I can think of," The brunette denied quietly, not sure where he should look because the moment he looked at the ace's smirk, he felt like his face would explode. But then his eyes widened as Aomine reached up and cupped the back of his head and kissed his forehead tenderly. Oh wow, Kanata thought as he felt his blush intensify with every beat of his frantic heart, this is bad..

"Thank you," Aomine whispered against his forehead. And then he pulled away and stood up. "Now," He grinned, thrusting his thumb back at where the ball was laying. "Wanna play a round with me, Kanata?"

It took the boy a second to process what was being said, but once he had, he was also grinning as he stood up. "Bring it on, Aomine."