DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN KNB

Title: That One Season

Pairing: MidoXTaka

He wasn't sure since when, but by the time he realized, he had been staring at Midorima much more than he had ever intended. He began to notice a lot of things about Midorima he had never known before; like the way his mouth tugs into a smirk whenever he felt lucky for the day, or the way he would fidget and sigh every time he can't seem to find his lucky item.

He hadn't noticed before, but he found out that Midorima had pretty long eye lashes. He often watched how those long, beautiful eyelashes would brush the lenses of his glasses a little every time he blinked. He had to admit that he was totally captivated by it, it felt like he was looking at a stretch of stars across the sky—actually no, it was more than that. But that wasn't all. His unmoving gaze—those green orbs—had never once failed to capture Takao. Once Takao looks into his eyes, there was no escaping it. Another thing he had his eyes on was Midorima's muscular and lean build; the way every muscle stretched and relaxed every time he get up from his seat, walk, run or even when he raised his hand to adjust his glasses. He often wondered what those muscles would feel like against the palm of his hand…

He himself wasn't sure what was it that made him act that way. But the one thing he was sure of was that he was falling into a bottomless pit; the more he looked at Midorima, the more awed he became.

However, what he thought was just admiration didn't last very long. The fact that he wasn't only always staring at him from afar bothered him. Every time he felt Midorima's presence near him, his face starts to heat up. Every time he heard Midorima call his name, his heart would skip a beat. Every time they made eye contact, he would be the first to avoid his gaze. Every time he accidentally bumped into Midorima during basketball practice, he would quickly run away to hide his blushing face. And every time they walked home together, his heart would start to race, slamming loudly against his ribcage and echoing in his ears; it felt as if his rhythm was thrown off.

"Just what is wrong with you?" Midorima asked one day while they were eating their lunch together on the rooftop, enjoying the light breeze during the season of the falling leaves.

Takao immediately choked on his bread. This was one of the very rare days that Midorima would ask about his wellbeing, which usually surprises Takao because showing concern for someone else is just so not Midorima. Takao would usually tease Midorima to no end, telling him to just go back to his tsundere self, not because Takao didn't like it, but because Takao wouldn't be able to answer him properly, knowing his feelings towards the green haired, tall and extremely good looking shooting guard, or what he prefer to refer to him as—his light.

However, that day was different. Even if he was going to regret it, he was going to say it, and his guts told him that it was his day that day. After all the thought he had put to it, he felt the resolution; the confidence. He knew full well that Midorima would be the last person on earth to ever reciprocate his feelings, and to think that they're both guys, society would never be able to accept it either.

Takao might be a cheerful and outgoing person on the surface, but deep inside he felt like glass who would break and shatter into a thousand pieces of broken feelings just from a light touch; from a simple rejection he knew was coming. This was a huge step in his life. This was going to end up changing his life, and it was going to end up messy. Nevertheless, he wasn't going to step backward, even though there is a huge chance that his relationship with Midorima as a classmate and as a teammate was going to go back to square one, simply because he wanted to get rejected properly, get over it and move on.

On that day, he raised to his feet and stood before Midorima, the light breeze blew past him and gave him chills. His heart started to beat faster. He then clenched his fist and lowered his head.

"I… I li-like you, Shin chan."

He then raised his head to look into Midorima's captivating, but not-so-reassuring green eyes before saying it one more time with much more confidence and seriousness in his voice.

"I like you, Shintarou."

Then, the expected moment of silence came. Takao stood there unmoving, his feet planted firmly on the ground. He could hear the rustle of the leaves from the trees nearby. He could his light whisper of the breeze as it ruffled his hair. He could hear his own heart beating loudly, resonating in his ears. Shin chan, can you hear the loud beating of my heart? He asked silently. His gaze never left Midorima, even when the evident shock was written all over Midorima's face. However, the silence was too unnerving for Takao to handle and all of a sudden, all the confidence inside Takao melted away and evaporated into thin air. All of a sudden, he wasn't prepared for the rejection. All of a sudden, he felt like it was better for him to just keep loving Midorima and ignore the fact that Midorima was never going to feel the same way.

His felt his heart drop. Midorima didn't say anything for a long time, neither did he move a muscle. Takao quickly bowed down.

"I'm… sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Please pretend this never happened." Takao then quickly turned on his heels and took his leave. At this very moment, a lot was going through his head. He felt like all his thoughts were bombarding against each other inside his head and it was on the verge of exploding.

The next morning, Takao arrives earlier than Midorima as usual, because his house is considerably closer to the school compared to Midorima's. This early in the morning, Takao would usually just have some casual conversation with his other classmates until Midorima arrives, before he starts to pester Midorima and ask about today's lucky item. However, today was different. The moment he notices Midorima appear from the doorway of the classroom, he dashed towards his seat, took his bag, slammed it down the table and quickly buried his face in it. He could feel beads of cold sweat running down from his forehead. A part of him wanted Midorima to say something in response to yesterday, but another part him of him wishes Midorima would never say a word about it anymore and that they could return back to being like how they were before.

Takao tried to avoid Midorima for the rest of the school hours. When Midorima called him during break time, he stood up from his seat and headed towards the door without saying a word. When the math teacher asked the two of them to help her carry books up to the teacher's lounge, Takao quickened his steps the moment Midorima tried to strike a conversation with him in the hallway. No matter how much Takao wanted to talk to Midorima, the last thing he ever wanted to hear from Midorima was that he no longer considered him a friend, that he was disgusted by Takao, and that he hated him now.

However, it seems like Takao won't always get it his way. By the time the school bell rang, indicating lunch time, Midorima called out to Takao. Like what Takao had been doing the whole time since morning, he quickly grabbed his lunch and tried to get away from Midorima before he felt a strong grip around his wrist. Takao halted into a quick and sudden stop.

"Takao, I said wait!" Midorima voice boomed in Takao's ears and his grip started to get tighter every second. The desperation in Midorima's voice made Takao turn around to face Midorima, though he was still too scared to look right into his eyes. Midorima could feel Takao trembling violently against his hand, and when he tried to look at Takao, Takao was looking everywhere except at him. Midorima quickly released his grip when he heard Takao flinch in pain. He quickly took his bento and made Takao follow him to where they'd usually eat together; the rooftop. After climbing a few fleet of stairs, they finally reached the rooftop and Midorima closed the door behind him and faced Takao, who was still avoiding his gaze.

Midorima started. "Takao, about yesterday—,"

"Anything but that!" Takao unconsciously said it louder than he had intended. He then continued in a softer voice. "Please… anything but that."

"Takao—," Midorima tried to take over the conversation but Takao was way too overwhelmed to keep himself in control. Takao never wanted to hear the words come out of Midorima.

"You… hate me now right? So… you brought me here to tell me to avoid you?" Takao asked, his whole body fidgeting.

Midorima was left wide eyed with what Takao said. Nevertheless, he quickly regained his composure and said, "I watched Oha Asa this morning and well…" Midorima paused for a while, took a deep breath and continued, "Today's lucky item is a handshake from someone special to you."

Takao's fidgeting stopped, but his face showed confusion instead; he was baffled. "Your point being?" he asked without getting any closer to Midorima.

It was Midorima who closed the distance between the two of them. Takao wanted to back away, afraid of what Midorima could do to him but his legs refused to move at his will. Midorima took Takao's right hand and he almost flinched away. However, Midorima tightened his grip in hopes to reassure Takao and his hand started to relax right away in Midorima's grip. Takao could feel the rough surface and the callouses on Midorima's hand, he could feel the warmth that was actually oddly comforting radiating off it, he realized how much bigger Midorima's hand was compared to his, nevertheless it felt like a perfect fit, and Takao suddenly had butterflies in his stomach. He felt torn between wanting to feel more of Midorima's hand because he liked it or letting it go because he thought it would make Midorima mad. Heaving a sigh, he started to loosen his grip from the other's hand, only to find that Midorima was taking his hand back. He then looked over to Midorima, surprise all over his face. But the look Midorima gave him was more than enough, he needed nothing else.

"Why are you letting go?" Midorima asked.

Takao didn't respond; or rather, he wasn't sure how to respond. He thought that everything felt too unreal. If he had to describe the situation right now, it was like a scene out of a romantic movie. It was that one moment when what you thought was unrequited love was opening up to a new beginning. It was that one moment when all sorts of flower begin to bloom in that one special place in your heart. It was that one moment when cherry blossom petals start to get blown everywhere and you can feel the wind billowing low near your feet.

When Midorima finally let his hand go, Takao asked, almost not able to get the words out properly. "Shin chan… what—how—I mean why?"

Midorima raised his left hand to adjust glasses, shifted his gaze away from Takao and answered, "It's not like you're special to me or anything—I mean you're just a little bit more special than everyone else because… because…"

Takao let out a breathy laughter, and in that moment, he felt his muscles relax and all the tension fade away, like everything else was forgotten. "Shin chan! I really don't understand you!"

Hearing his laughter, Midorima shifted his gaze back to Takao and a smile tugged at the end of his lips. For moment there, he thought Takao looked sort of dazzling. The wind was blowing his raven black hair and the sunlight was miraculously falling on the right spots. But most of all, his laughter was what he loved most about Takao, it was music to his ears, and not having to hear it from this morning made him felt like he missed it. "And about yesterday…"

The moment Takao heard the word 'yesterday', his laughter quickly subsided and his whole body froze, looking forward and at the same time not looking forward to the long awaited answer.

"I'll think about it. And also you can't just tell me to pretend nothing happened."

Takao's body turned to face Midorima instinctively. "Shin chan… really? You know I… I actually came to confess to you in hopes that you will reject me properly so that I can move on but now that you tell me this I… I think I…" Takao's words trailed off. He himself wasn't sure what he was talking about anymore. His head felt messed up, but it definitely felt different from before.

"Don't get me wrong, Takao. I was just… Well, I…" Actually, I like you too. I have, for a really long time, he wanted to say, but he looked down instead. Even though he knew that Takao felt the same way, something, somewhere deep inside him was making him resist. But the moment he looked right into Takao's eyes, he suddenly felt the courage bursting out from him, flooding everything that was on the way. The gleam and sparkle in his eyes, that smile of his that he could never take his eyes off, that moment on the rooftop when he had confessed to him, that confidence he had with him, that courageous stance he had…

"Takao! I like you too! I have! For a really long time!"

Takao's daydream ended with both of them locked in an embrace and the maroon curtains closing. If this really was a scene out of a movie, this was how Takao thought it would end up. The school bell rang for the last time, and the day ended without him and Midorima exchanging conversation since morning. He was expecting Midorima to at least call him out for practice, but he didn't. Instead of quickly packing his bag up and go for practice, he could only lay his head on top of the table, watched the sun slowly setting into the horizon through the window of his classroom and felt himself sinking deeper and deeper into the depths of reality.

Takao thought he'd lie there for a little while more when he suddenly felt someone shift on the seat behind his. Takao turned around, only to find Midorima with his head on the table, eyes closed. He was sleeping with such a peaceful face, his cheeks against his arm, his fair skin bathed by the rays from the sunset through the windows. He stared longingly at Midorima's soft features; his long, beautiful eyelashes, his fair skin that made Takao want to run his fingers along it, just to feel the softness of it, his plump lips…

Out of the blue, he heard Midorima whisper something. Something that felt familiar to his ears, something that he could say he is most attached with…

"Kazunari…"

I finally got myself back to writing x"D It's been so long x''D