Heroes Without Capes

Gossip

In retrospect, walking home without his jacket hadn't exactly been the brightest idea Ooshiba ever had. It had helped Kimishita, sure, but it had also been much colder than expected, and his running nose had been attesting to it ever since he woke up this morning. Sneezing for what had to be the umpteenth time that day, he buried his hands in his pockets and groaned. He just hoped he wouldn't run out of tissues.

Oh well, they did say that no good deed goes unpunished. He may have caught a bit of a cold, but at least he'd prevented Kimishita from catching one, and in his weakened state, his captain would definitely have gotten sicker than he was. Runny nose or no, Ooshiba knew he had done the right thing.

He just hoped he'd see his jacket again sometime soon. It was kind of cold without it.

Lapsing into a jog to warm himself up, he crossed the remaining distance to school, hurried towards the changing room and opened the door, only to be immediately welcomed by a familiar voice. A very angry familiar voice.

"Kiichi, you bastard!"

Before he could truly process what was going on or why the hell Kimishita was mad at him, Ooshiba watched the captain storm over to him and found something roughly shoved into his arms. His jacket?

"Wait," he ventured, "what's–"

"Are you an idiot?" Kimishita snapped, drawing himself up in front of him. "Who said you could go out without your jacket in the evening, huh? Nights are getting cold, moron! You'll get sick!"

Ooshiba returned his glare, anger rising in his blood, awakened by Kimishita's pointless fury. "Well, I'm sorry for helping! What should I have done, let you sleep by yourself without a blanket or anything?"

"Better than leaving your jacket behind, my place isn't that cold! What if you catch a cold and can't play, did you think about that? What pathetic ace can't play in a match 'cause he has a cold?"

"What pathetic ace would let his captain catch a cold?" Ooshiba retorted, angry and upset at Kimishita's ungrateful attitude. He'd done so much for him and this was his response? "What's with you acting so pissed all of a sudden, anyway? You thanked me last night!"

"I can still be pissed about you not taking care of yourself!"

"Oh yeah? Look who's talking–"

"You guys are such good friends," Kazama remarked from the back of the room.

They froze, suddenly aware of their surroundings. They were still in the locker room, and the entire team had witnessed their argument.

"We're not friends!" they burst out in unison, blushing profusely. Turning to glare at the other, they both added, "Don't imitate me!"

Kazama laughed. "Sure, you're totally not friends!" he continued, ignoring the icy glares the captain and vice-captain sent his way. "You're more of an old married couple."

"Wha-?!" For a moment Ooshiba and Kimishita were so baffled they forgot to glare.

"What? I mean, what's with Kiichiman leaving his jacket at Kimishita-kun's yesterday evening and Kimishita-kun returning it to him like a scolding mom?"

Kimishita cracked his knuckles. "Kazama," he growled, oozing fury from every pore. "Shut. Up. Now."

Kazama still looked perfectly unapologetic. "Don't like being called the mom?" He laughed again. "It's true though, you've become a total team mo– ow! What the hell, Tsukushi?!"

Tsukamoto had caught hold of his boyfriend's arm, hurriedly dragging him towards the door to the field. "Kazama-kun, y-you should really apologize... Kimishita-senpai looks really mad... and Ooshiba-senpai too..."