Acknowledge

Disclaimer: Don't own.

Imayoshi Shouichi has never been one to back down from a challenge, and Aomine Daiki has a reputation for being challenging in everything, what with his off-the-charts proficiency in basketball, utter lack of respect for authority, and dismal academic performance. All of this, factored in with the rest of his personality, makes it a challenge for someone like Imayoshi to play his mind games with Aomine. Either he'll ignore them and cheerfully kick down the traps without even noticing they're there, or he'll recognize them immediately and avoid them. Imayoshi finds Aomine absolutely fascinating.

Aomine doesn't find Imayoshi fascinating, of course. Aomine is never fascinated by anything other than his porno magazines, and Imayoshi highly doubts that Aomine would be fascinated by him even if he suddenly one day sprouted a pair of breasts (he might just go ahead and touch them, but they'd be nothing more than a passing fancy). But Imayoshi is not expecting Aomine to be fascinated with him.

However, he does set one final trap. He does not say anything, do anything, after their winter cup loss. He claps Wakamatsu on the shoulder and appoints him captain, formally retires and thanks the coach, and goes off to study for his entrance exams. He says nothing to Aomine, gives him nothing. He does not even act disappointed.

The worst thing that can happen to a self-centered, arrogant guy like Aomine is to not be acknowledged. Winning and losing, in the end those aren't as important as simply being there, being the name on everyone's lips. More than being the best, being the champion, he needs to be the center of attention. And he will get that attention, no matter how hard he has to try (although at this point he has mastered the art of making people react to his laziness and lack of action).

He holds out for a fairly long time, but the kid's got a good endurance level. Aomine yells at Imayoshi for a while, which is the only way fools like him know how to communicate-but if he's such a fool, such a simple guy, why can't he be completely pinned down?

Imayoshi's not an honest guy, even with himself. But sometimes he just has to admit things that he'd rather not say or think or feel, and to be perfectly fair this is the kind of feeling they all say love is. All those wide-eyed dreaming romantics say that love is when you feel this desire to possess this person, to take him or her for your own. But then they disguise it with pretty words and lies and piles of shit like "It pains me to see him with another woman, but I want him to be happy so I must let him go!" because that's what's socially acceptable. But they always leave out the ugly side, airbrush it away like pimples on a model's face. Love is ugly, love is desire and discomfort and anger and manipulation disguised with perfume and smoke and mirrors.

And Imayoshi's a guy who takes what he wants, plucking out the worst parts of opponents and shoving it in their faces. "Why do you want a reaction from me, Aomine?" he asks, that horrible smile (they've always called it horrible) getting broader on his face.

Aomine cocks his head. He looks really stupid when he does that, and Imayoshi wants to place his mouth on that stupid face, so he does it, grabbing a fistful of Aomine's shirt and pulling him across the table so that their mouths are pressed roughly together.

Imayoshi has always had absolute faith in Aomine, even when he does not show up until the last quarter of the match (Imayoshi knows he will every time) and even when he and Wakamatsu can't stand to be in the same room together for more than a few seconds without tearing each other's throats out. This confidence has never wavered, but the absence of that confidence comes with the absence of attention. Without that confidence, Aomine doesn't feel as important, as needed. And Imayoshi has absolute faith that this gesture will bring his point across quite well with Aomine.

Aomine narrows his eyes as Imayoshi pulls back. "So you were just playing hard to get?"

Imayoshi shrugs. "I wasn't sure how I'd get your attention otherwise. It worked, didn't it?"

"Hm." Aomine slumps on the table. Imayoshi turns back to his textbook.

A few seconds later, Aomine gets up and grabs his tie, pulling Imayoshi's head up so that he's looking up into Aomine's eyes. And then Aomine kisses him, wetter and sloppier than the first kiss. Imayoshi pulls him down into his lap. "How bothersome you are," he says cheerfully, looking back at the page Aomine had just pulled him away from.

This arrangement turns out to be rather impractical, given their size difference, so Imayoshi pushes Aomine off after a few pages worth of reading when Aomine gets too heavy for him to handle anymore.

Graduation is more somber than it ought to be. Everyone is acting so serious, when in reality it doesn't matter. Graduation is totally irrelevant to the situation, and Aomine should know that. He's acting normal, trying to be cool, but he's still a bit more tentative than usual.

"You know, you really are sensitive. How adorable," Imayoshi says, ruffling Aomine's hair.

Aomine smirks. Now that he's been reassured, his complete cool, don't care demeanor is restored. Imayoshi leaves his hand on top of Aomine's head for just a few seconds too long and Aomine grabs his wrist, squeezing so hard he might leave bruise marks (although Imayoshi has always bruised easily) and dragging the fingertips into his mouth.

He really is rotten to the core; both of them are. A dumb, self-centered brat and a sadistic manipulator. They really are quite the pair. Somehow, Imayoshi doubts he'll ever meet someone who is so fascinating in his idiocy, childishness, arrogance, and roughness the way Aomine is.

Whatever their conversation was about is forgotten as Aomine pushes Imayoshi to the floor and starts to bite all over his neck.