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"I know you're there," Akashi calls without bothering to turn around or look away from the river. Whoever's come to bother him can return another time; he's not in the mood to act colder or more detached than he feels at the moment.
"I guess I should've figured that mister Emperor Eye himself would notice me sneaking up on him," says Kise. Akashi can practically hear the smile in his voice. Some of the tension eases out of Akashi's shoulders. If it's Kise, then he doesn't have to worry as much about putting on a facade. He sighs.
"And I would have imagined that mister Perfect Copy could have found someone sneakier to copy." Glancing over his shoulder, Akashi finds Kise leaning down towards him, his blond hair framed by the afternoon sunlight like a halo. He tries not to think about the way that the sight makes his heart beat faster. "Would you care to join me?"
"Oh, thank you," says Kise, "I would love to."
He settles down on the grass beside Akashi, taking care the entire time to keep his hands behind his back. It's clear that he's hiding some sort of gift. Akashi wonders whether it's for him. Then he scolds himself mentally for getting his hopes up; Kise is a beautiful man with no shortage of admirers. Surely an old friend he was never especially close with is nowhere near the top of that list. Surely someone like Aomine would claim the number one spot - Akashi's observant by nature, and he hasn't missed the way Aomine's eyes linger on Kise just a second too long. Pulling himself back to the present moment, Akashi musters a pleasant smile.
"What can I do for you?"
"For me? Nothing in particular," Kise says.
"Oh?" Akashi prompts.
"Honestly, I just wanted to come and see you. I remember Nijimura mentioning once that you liked quiet spots where you could think, and this riverbank came to mind, so I thought I'd see if you were here."
"Here I am."
Silence settles for a second. Then Kise clears his throat, focuses hard on a particular point in the water below, and hands Akashi the item he'd been hiding behind his back this entire time.
"Flowers?" Akashi asks as he accepts them. His voice betrays his quiet delight; Kise's chosen a small and very elegant bouquet, made up of subtle colors and accentuated with a few purple gardenias. Akashi's favorites.
"Congratulations," Kise says, his cheeks dusted with just a little bit of pink.
It's difficult even for someone as experienced with masking emotions as Akashi to disguise his surprise. "You sought me out just to congratulate me?" he asks, even though he can already see that it's true.
"Are you mad?" Kise asks. Akashi raises an eyebrow.
"No, not in the slightest. Should I be?"
"No! I mean, maybe? I mean... it's not weird to wish your friends well, is it?"
I would be the last person to know, Akashi nearly says. He feels a familiar stab of guilt as he recalls how poorly he'd treated his Miracles friends in the past. "I don't think it's strange, no. Ah, and where are my manners - thank you, Kise. The flowers are lovely."
Kise laughs, and it's almost a giggle. "I'm glad you like them."
"They certainly sweeten this... otherwise odd day." Akashi's gaze drifts back towards the water. "The idea of leaving high school behind is more bittersweet than I'd anticipated."
"I get what you mean," says Kise. "It feels like we spent so long working our way up to this moment, and now that it's here..."
"It almost seems surreal?"
"Yeah, exactly."
"Hmm, how curious. I would've imagined that for someone like you, the idea of graduating and moving on to the next phase of life would bring a sense of excitement rather than whatever we're calling this strange feeling."
Kise shrugs. "I guess I'm excited, but - wait, what do you mean, someone like me?"
"A popular person with many connections and plenty of opportunities to choose between," Akashi explains, and he watches Kise soak up the kind words.
"Oh, if I knew you were going to flirt with me, I would've been here hours ago, Akashi. You should've told me," Kise says. It takes a great deal of effort not to outwardly show any indications that Kise's easy flirting is bouncing around inside Akashi's head and blocking out most other forms of thought. Akashi looks at his friend and manages a wink.
"What would be the fun in that?"
Much to his surprise, the pink from before reappears on Kise's face. Ah, so that was bravado, and Kise actually gets flustered easily. Akashi files that little fact away for future reference. He watches Kise tuck a stray lock of sunshine-colored hair behind his ear, then allows himself a little smile as he catches Kise's eyes darting to the bouquet for all of a tiny fraction of a second.
"Tell me something, Kise," he says. "Are you at all versed in the art of flower language?"
He only means it half-seriously, but Kise looks at him and nods earnestly. "Yes," he says, and suddenly the atmosphere shifts completely. If the gardenias were a deliberate choice, then that means... Even though he's memorized the makeup of the bouquet already, Akashi still raises it to his face and breathes in the sweet scent of the fresh flowers. He runs his fingers along a purple flower blossom.
"Did you know gardenias are my favorites?" he ventures.
"I had kind of hoped so," Kise says. "I mean, I wasn't sure, but..."
"But?"
"Nothing gets past you, Akashi. If someone was going to know flower language, it's gotta be either you or Midorima, and he's way awkward at romance. That's what Takao tells me, anyway." Kise smiles sheepishly. "So I guess I just hoped you'd pick your favorite flowers based on what they mean, because you kind of strike me as a romantic."
That's certainly the first time anyone's said anything like that about him, Akashi notes with no small degree of amusement. "I do?" he asks.
"In a subtle way, you know?"
"You're entirely correct, to tell the truth." No point in lying about it now; if Kise's willing to gamble this hard on the off chance that Akashi knows about flower language, then the least Akashi can do is meet him halfway. "I have always enjoyed classical ideas of romance. Old plays, red roses, all of it."
This time, Kise full-on giggles. "No one would believe me if I told them."
"I'm trusting you not to."
"Relax," Kise says, his eyes twinkling. "Your secret's safe with me. And speaking of secrets..."
"The gardenias."
"'Secret love', apparently."
"That's right."
Kise makes a hand gesture for Akashi to continue, and Akashi shakes his head. Kise pouts. "You can't tell me you have a secret love, and then not tell me who it-"
"It's you," Akashi says, the words rushing out of his mouth before he can stop himself. Oh, no. Should he play this off as a joke? It's not too late for that yet - Kise's eyes are wide as saucers, all it would take is a wink, or a chuckle, something to indicate that Akashi was kidding. He wasn't, though, and if he's honest, he's tired of hiding and running. Neither of those things are in his nature. If Kise is going to know, it may as well be now, even if there's no small chance he'll reject Akashi.
"Me...?" Kise says, putting a hand on his chest, giving Akashi the space to confirm or deny it. Wait, is he expecting this to be some kind of joke? His eyes betray a mixture of hope and... apprehension?
"Yes," says Akashi. "I have always admired you."
"Oh, I see!" For a tiny moment, disappointment flickers across Kise's expression. Then it's gone, replaced with what Akashi can best describe as a practiced smile. "In that case, thanks, Akashi-"
"I apologize," he cuts in. "It seems I haven't made myself clear. I am romantically interested in you, Kise Ryouta, and I have been for some time now. If that makes you at all uncomfortable, please let me know and I will never bring it up again."
For the first time since Akashi's known him, Kise is rendered entirely speechless. He blinks at Akashi, his expression frozen on his face, and waits for a punchline that doesn't come. The false smile starts to give way to a hopeful expression that's more vulnerable than anything Kise lets cameras capture. Akashi's heart catches in his throat at the sight.
"You're not kidding, or making fun of me?" he asks quietly.
"Of course not," Akashi responds immediately. Kise takes a shaky breath, and exhales slowly.
"Okay. Wow, okay. Um." He runs a hand through his hair, and when he looks back at Akashi, his eyes are a little watery. "I've, uh. I've had lots of girls confess to me before, but never like this. And you'd be the first guy."
Now Akashi sees where this is going. "Perhaps I shouldn't have sprung it on you like this," he says gently. Kise shakes his head.
"No, no, that's fine. I'm really happy, actually. It's just that at work, they're always telling me I have to be careful about who knows. And at school, um..."
"People at Kaijo bully you?" Akashi asks, anger flaring up.
"Not Kaijo," Kise corrects. "Teiko."
"At Teiko? You never said anything. I would have been happy to put them in their place for you."
"It was before I knew all of you, before the basketball team. And it wasn't public or anything, but... there was a boy I liked, and when I told him, his reaction wasn't great." Kise fiddles with the hem of his shirt. "It kind of made me decide not to be so open anymore, not unless I was completely sure the other person would be okay with it. And I haven't been completely sure many times since. Aside from you and Kuroko, only Kasamatsu knows, and even then it's mostly cause he figured it out on his own and then asked me."
"I'm glad your captain is a good friend, then," Akashi says, and he means it. Kise smiles a little.
"He's the best."
Akashi hesitates, unsure whether he should respond in kind and share a personal story. When he looks at Kise and notices a slight tremble in his hands, his mind is made up. "If it's any comfort to you, I also tend to keep this to myself. One of my former team members at Rakuzan knows, and that's it. Aside from you, of course."
"Really?" says Kise. "You always seem so... cool, like you don't care what anyone thinks of you."
"Thank you," says Akashi softly, "but that's little more than an act. I simply got very good at knowing what people think of me before they say it, so I never take uncalculated risks. As the heir to my father's company, I must appear perfect, or else risk damaging the company's reputation. So he tells me, anyway. That does make it rather difficult to be seen dating anyone he deems unsuitable."
"I can imagine. My modeling agency has tried to set me up with a few people for PR," Kise says.
"Ah, and they're always so disinterested, aren't they?" says Akashi, to which Kise nods. Both of them laugh. "It seems my father wasted his time with the company. He could have owned a modeling agency instead."
"Yeah, it sure sounds like it." Kise considers for a moment before continuing. "So, your team member..."
"Mibuchi Reo," Akashi fills in, "though she may have chosen a different name by now."
"She?" Kise prompts.
"Yes. I stayed late to run extra drills by myself one evening, and happened to come into the changing room while she was trying on women's shoes. She was... terrified I would tell everyone. I reacted uncharacteristically and immediately came out to her, so she could put her mind at ease. We talked for a while, and she told me she didn't feel like a boy, but that she was scared to be anything else." Akashi grins. "We made plans to go to a mall out of town. I bought her some new clothes, on my father's money."
Kise laughs. "I bet he was super pleased about that.”
"I made the mistake of saying it was for a secret girlfriend, and was promptly banned from dating until I graduated," Akashi says, "but it was well worth it. She's a dear friend now."
"I'm glad," says Kise. Then he suddenly gasps and his blush returns in full force. "Oh, no. I completely changed the subject earlier!"
"Did you?"
"Yes! You told me you... with the gardenias... and I never even responded!"
Now it's Akashi's turn to laugh. "I assumed that that was you gracefully turning me down while assuring me we could still be friends. Better friends than before, even."
"And you were okay with that?"
"More than okay. I was delighted you trusted me enough to tell me about yourself, and that you wanted to deepen our friendship."
"You're kind of weird, Akashi."
"I'm well aware."
Kise takes a deep breath. "Actually... Part of the reason why I got so choked up is that, um, I feel the same way about you."
The conversation grinds to a halt as Akashi stares at Kise, disbelief written plainly across his face. Kise? With him? It had always been a distant hope, but to think that it could be real... Akashi darts out a hand and grabs Kise's own.
"Please tell me you mean that."
"I mean it! And I'm as surprised as you are that it's mutual!"
"I hardly believe that. A famous model would cast aside his other options for me?"
"For the son of one of the wealthiest men in the country?" Kise asks half-seriously.
"You have a point."
Silence settles between them for another moment. Akashi looks down at the flowers one more time, then up at Kise, who's brighter than the now-orange rays of the sun. He gives Kise's hand a little squeeze. Kise returns the gesture.
"Then, in that case," Akashi begins. He looks up at Kise and meets his eyes with a genuine smile. "Kise Ryouta, would you like to go on a date with me?"
"I really would," says Kise.
"Excellent. How does right now sound?"
"It sounds perfect."
Akashi stands, and Kise looks up at him in wonder as Akashi offers him a hand. A beat passes. Then a small frown wrinkles Akashi's brow as he finds himself having to raise his head to maintain eye contact. The sight makes Kise giggle again.
"Where are you taking me?" Kise asks as Akashi begins to lead the way back towards the busier streets. Akashi doesn't answer; he looks over his shoulder and winks, delighting in the way Kise's eyes twinkle when he does. The two of them wander through the crowds, picking their way through wide streets and narrow alleyways until they arrive at a tiny little shop tucked away in a corner of the city, far from prying eyes. The sign has a picture of a smiling steamed bun, with the words "Gramma's Home Dumplings" scrawled underneath. Akashi ducks inside and Kise follows suit.