The First Time you Laughed [AoAka]

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"Wait a minute," Daiki started incredulously, staring down the redhead in front of him. "what do you mean you can't laugh?" Sure, he'd never actually heard Seijuurou laugh, but he'd always thought he could. This was a surprise; he'd never heard of that before. "You're joking."

Seijuurou frowned. "No, Daiki, I'm not joking." He didn't think he was very good at lying about these things. Surely it wasn't that hard to believe... was it?

"Oh my god." Daiki breathed. He knew Seijuurou was sad, but to be unable to laugh? What had happened to the poor guy? A frown settled its way onto his face and he crossed his arms. "Well I'll make you laugh." He declared, sounding much more confident than he felt.

"Daiki..." Seijuurou groaned, clearly displeased with the announcement. "You're not going to get anywhere." He sounded so sure of himself--he always did, this was Seijuurou--but instead of discouraging the ace, it just made him want to try harder.

"Bullshit." Daiki stated. "I'm going to make you laugh if it's the last thing I do, Sei." The determination was there, as was the intense (albeit rare) drive to achieve his goal. It was far-fetched and he knew it, but if he could make it happen even once, he'd be happy for the rest of his life.

Seijuurou frowned slightly, then sighed and shook his head. "Fine, be my guest. It's not going to work, though." He crossed his arms and glanced away. Nothing, he figured, could illicit a laugh. He'd tried--and failed--more than enough times to know this.

"Don't be so negative," Daiki sighed and put his arm around his boyfriend's shoulders. "I'll find something that'll make you laugh so hard you cry. This is a promise." If he couldn't do it, he'd have to do something to make up for it.

Seijuurou sighed and looked up at Daiki, slightly frustrated with him for pressing so hard on the matter. "And are you going to pout and get upset when I don't laugh?" He questioned. Honestly speaking, he couldn't see anything working, no matter how optimistic Daiki was.

"No, because I'm going to do it." Daiki reaffirmed, his confidence unwavering. "Just you wait, sooner or later you're going to laugh." He offered a cheeky grin and gently squeezed Seijuurou's shoulders, then started walking away. "It'll come when you're least expecting it."

Seijuurou sighed yet again as he watched Daiki walk away. "...Oh Daiki..."

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Weeks passed, and no matter how many times Daiki had tried to get Seijuurou to laugh, all he had gotten was a smile and a shake of the head. Not that he was discouraged, though; no, it just fueled him to try harder.

That's why he was asking Satsuki for help. "...Hey, Satsuki, I need your help with something."

"What is it, Dai-chan?" Satsuki asked curiously and quirked her eyebrow. She tapped her pencil to her chin and glanced up at her friend, as if prompting him to go on. "You rarely come to me for help."

Daiki sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I'm actually sorta stuck on something." He admitted with a shrug. "I've been trying to get Sei to laugh, but nothing's working, so I'm looking for advice."

Satsuki blinked. "You're trying to get Sei-kun to laugh?"

"Yeah. It's not working very well right now, but I'm not ready to give up." Daiki replied with a small nod. "Got any ideas?"

Satsuki paused and tapped her pencil again in thought, making a face. "...Well, have you tried just letting yourself do the dumb things you usually do?" She asked with another glance up to Daiki curiously. "Because if you haven't, I'd say you should try that."

Daiki rolled his eyes. "No, I haven't tried that." He replied, then stopped and thought about it for a moment. "...Actually, I think that might work! Thanks, Satsuki." He grinned and turned to go find Seijuurou, ready to try once more.

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"Found you, finally." Daiki's voice snapped Seijuurou out of this thoughts and he looked up curiously.

"What do you need, Daiki?" He asked and raised an eyebrow, the book he had been reading laying open in his lap. "I've been up here most of the afternoon." Internally, he had a sneaking suspicion that the reason Daiki had been looking for him was to try and get him to laugh again, but he let it slide.

The blue haired teen frowned and took a seat next to the redhead. "I didn't know that," he pouted slightly and leaned against Seijuurou. "I figured you might be in the dorm or something, since you're in there a lot."

"No," Seijuurou smiled and shook his head slightly. "I've found the rooftop is a much more relaxing place for reading." He picked his bookmark out from between the cover and the first page and placed it where he had stopped in order to pay attention to Daiki. "Now, what do you need?"

Daiki shrugged. "Can't I just want to sit with my boyfriend?" He asked, half teasing. He leaned against the fence and closed his eyes for a moment. He thought for a moment, then shot straight up and looked over to Seijuurou. "Don't we have a practice match coming up?"

"...I think so, why?" Seijuurou raised his eyebrow. "Did you want to do something to prepare for it?"

"Yeah, let's go down to the court and practice." Daiki grinned. "We haven't done anything like that together in a long time, it'll be fun." He stood up and took Seijuurou by the wrist, pulling him up after him. He began walking toward the gym excitedly, still pulling Seijuurou behind him. "Let's go!"

"Slow down, Daiki!" The redhead protested, stumbling to keep up. "You have much longer strides than I do, I can't keep up with you."

Daiki turned his head and offered an apologetic smile. "Sorry." He offered quickly, a little too excited about going to the gym to practice with Seijuurou. "I'll slow down."

He said that, but their pace only seemed to increase. Seijuurou sighed and tried his best to keep up without stumbling. "Daiki..." A forced groan escaped his lips and he rolled his eyes.

Suddenly, everything came to a halt and Seijuurou found himself smacking face-first into Daiki's back. "Ouch... Why'd you stop?"

Daiki didn't reply for a while, then he shook his head as if clearing it and looked down. "...Who are we playing, again?" He asked, genuinely curious. "I forgot."

"You..." Seijuurou blinked, "You forgot? I... Pff--" a grin broke out on the redhead's face as an airy, childish laugh erupted from his throat. He couldn't help it, the look on Daiki's face was priceless.

Daiki, who had previously looked like a lost child, suddenly stopped and stared at his boyfriend in awe. He let Seijuurou's hand go as the biggest smile spread across his face. "Sei you're... you're laughing!"

Seijuurou nodded just a bit and flashed the most genuinely happy smile Daiki had ever seen, then wrapped his arms around the ace and pulled him down so they could rest their foreheads together. Once his breathing had evened, he sighed happily. "You just have that quality about you."

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