Boys & Basketball (BL)

1

Fun fact: Kazuya's skin is littered with pretty moles, and Keith gets freckles around his nose during summers.

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Brooklyn had always been unapproachable. Or, well, labeled as one since middle school days.

Perhaps it had been the punch he gave to a classmate in school for accidentally shoving him during a basketball match, or maybe it had been the way he had thrown the custard bun in the garbage can after he had been confessed to by a senior girl.

It had only taken a few weeks for the whispers to start circulating the hallways. Yet he didn't really care.

Implicitly but observable with a keen eye, Brooklyn knew his personality had somehow been molded from this title.

From the way his eyes stayed narrowed half the time to the heavy scowl that framed his angular face, pronouncing his cheekbones. He had a pretty face: green jeweled eyes and sun-kissed skin from years of playing in the sun. But most people were reluctant to approach him. And it was justified too.

Brooklyn didn't have a social life outside of the basketball court.

Even on the court, the most he interacted with the players was with "Here!", "I'm open!" or just aggressively yelling their names across the court accompanied by a curse, but the latter was mostly due to a losing match. He barely acknowledged anyone outside the court. He knew people talked behind his back; it was a usual he expected.

After all, when you give people nothing to form an opinion about you, they are likely to come up with one from the pieces they can scrounge. And Brooklyn gave them bare minimum. So they made up with what they could.

But he was alright with it. That's the way it had always been. Or he had remembered being. And he was fine with it.

Until the consistent idiots.

First, there was his shit Japanese senior. With his regular nagging and riling him up on purpose, that Japanese weasel somehow managed to make his way into his daily routine. And Brooklyn barely survived that. It had taken him two years to finally accept his situation, the fact that this giraffe of a man was going to stick around.

But now he could feel it happening all over again. The same feeling of being watched, observed and calculated. And fuck, Brooklyn did not like being a lab rat at all.

He sat at the countertop, his eyes unwavering from his target.

What the fuck?

He was so focused that he didn't notice Kazuya enter the kitchen.

"What are you staring at?" Kazuya just could not mind his business, now could he?

Brooklyn didn't reply.

Kazuya sneaked behind him, his arms on either side of the younger man, resting on the counter top. Brooklyn felt the heat from Kazuya's chest sneak its way into his tank.

The blonde's shoulders relaxed slightly.

"Mhm, what do we have here?" Brooklyn's fist clenched slightly.

Kazuya rested his chin on Brooklyn's shoulder, his fingers grabbing one of the buns which had a sticky note with his name scribbled on it in neat cursive. "Ah, a custard bun?"

Kazuya ripped open the packaging, his moments unrushed. He took a quick bite. "Hm, nice."

He glanced at the remaining bun on the counter. "That one's got your name on it." Brooklyn held back rolling his eyes. He could see that. He could see his name on it. The same cursive.

But it was the bun that made him unable to move.

Kazuya finished his treat with one more bite. Brooklyn knew Keith had always been an animal after all.

Kazuya's face nuzzled in Brooklyn's nape, the straight nose tracing a quick line until his lips caressed his earlobe.

"He got you a different one. Did you tell him?" Brooklyn's fingernails dug into his palm.

"No." The first word he had uttered since the morning. This damned morning ever since he had walked into this damned kitchen to these damned buns. Two separate buns. One custard and one strawberry with cream.

Kazuya let out a hum. "Well, that's quite sweet of him."

Brooklyn didn't respond again.

"You gonna eat that or can I?" Brooklyn's hand snatched the remaining bun and he got up from his seat, stomping to his room, the sounds of his footsteps aligned with Kazuya's laughter.

"Enjoy that bun, Brooks~"

Brooklyn shut the door, leaning his back against their shared bedroom.

His eyes scanned the plastic package before he cursed under his breath.

"Oh fuck me." He ripped apart the package, shoving the bun in his mouth, the taste of strawberries and vanilla on his tongue.

He leaned his head back against the door, eyes closed as he chewed slowly.

The sweetness of the strawberry filled mixed with cream, a stark contrast to the usual custard that always made his throat itch and his stomach churn.

How did he know?

The thought lingered, making Brooklyn's chest tighten.

His fingers gripped onto the sticky note, Brooklyn's it read.

What a creep.

He slid the note in his dresser, throwing the wrapper in the garbage and falling face front in his bed at the lower bunk.

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Author's Note:

I've been blackmailed into continuing this story.

-navii <33