Don't own Kuroko no Basuke.

Don't own the Cover Art.

Done for the Perfect Copy: Remix Challenge.

Whether You Like It or Not

Shuuzou could see that things were changing for the Teikou Basketball Team. Kise was now getting into the swing of things, Kuroko and his "magic passes" were getting the better of any team they played against, and Aomine had proven himself to be an ace that would match or even surpass Shuuzou soon. The noirette knew that there was little that he could do to improve them anymore, but he had yet to approach the coach about stepping down.

He was still Captain.

And he really didn't want to be right now.

"Aominecchi stole the pass that Kurokocchi sent me!" Kise's instinctive reaction to use his crocodile tears clashed with the glare he sent the blue-haired power forward, making it rather hard for Shuuzou to believe that they were only a year younger than him, let alone that they were being serious about this argument.

"The hell?! Did not! That was totally a pass for me!" Aomine is far too easily riled, the Captain noted, watching as the younger boy marched up to Kise to yell in his face. Not even bothering to hide how done he was with them, Shuuzou cradled his face in his free hand (the other gripping his clipboard so tightly it may very well snap soon) in a weak attempt to ward off the headache he could feel building.

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yeah-huh!"

"How old are you two? Five?" Midorima cut in, but backed away when the two rounded on him and snarled, "Stay out of this, Midorima/Midorimacchi!" before facing each other once again.

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yeah-huh!"

"I thought I was captaining middle school students, but clearly I was wrong," Shuuzou muttered sourly to Akashi, who just laughed at him, the bastard.

"Just find a way to discourage them from arguing with one another," he suggested, and Shuuzou lowered his hand, tapping against the clipboard at the thought.

"Hmm…" What could he do that would stop two basketball idiots from arguing with one another? Well, there was always the tried and true route of embarrassing them…or he could quadruple their menu every time they argued – no, he realized wistfully, they would never play in another game again if he used that tactic, but he would definitely use it if they tried to argue with him. So how to embarrass them…ah…

"Aomine, Kise," he called, grabbing their attention. "Hold hands."

"What?!" Ah, the wonders of synchronized anger, he thought sardonically as the others around him flinched at the ringing in their ears, Shuuzou already prepared for the onslaught to his senses and staring straight back at their furious expressions with an unimpressed look.

"You heard me. In fact, every time a Miracle argues with another, you now have to hold hands if I or Akashi catch you. So Kise, Aomine," he gestured, "hold hands."

"Why should we?" Kise argued, his lips quivering in a pout that Shuuzou is certain he practiced in the mirror every day.

"This may not be a buddy-buddy team, but damn it you need to be able to play on the same court without coming to blows. Until you can do that without our prompting, you will hold hands as punishment." Beside him, Akashi coughed and politely covered his mouth with his hand. The Captain was fairly certain he saw him smiling a moment ago.

"Well, what happens if we argue with you? Like we are now," Aomine asked, and the smile Shuuzou shot him was one step away from bloodthirsty.

"If you argue with me again, I'll kick your ass and triple your training menu," he told them cheerfully, and both unruly Miracles stiffened and backed away from him, nervous. "The only ones who can argue with me are Akashi and Kuroko, because Akashi is my vice-captain and so is allowed to argue with me, and Kuroko won't argue with me unless he deems it necessary." The two mentioned nodded in understanding, and Shuuzou faced the rowdy brats once more. "Aomine, Kise. Hold. Hands."

They grumbled, but the two were clearly more frightened of him than they were defiant, and reluctantly did as he said.

As they continued their practice, the two now tied to one another as a burden, Shuuzou laughed and made a note on his clipboard about the arrangement. "Get comfy boys," he snickered. "'cause I'm gonna make you get along whether you like it or not."

Ryouta didn't hate Aomine.

In fact, if he were to be honest, he probably liked him a little too much.

But that was understandable. Aomine had been the one to put passion back into this monotonous grey world for him. He'd introduced him to basketball, making it fun and inviting and everything that he could have hoped for. Aomine was almost his hero.

With this in mind, Ryouta wasn't sure if he should thank Nijimura or not for this holding hands clause.

On one hand, it basically meant that he and Aomine would hold hands about once a week, either due to how happily Ryouta responds to life in general now that he has basketball or due to Aomine's habit of not looking where he's going and constantly bumping into Ryouta, leading to small scuffles that ended with their amused vice-captain or darkly gleeful captain calling out, "Aomine, Kise, hold hands."

On the other hand, Kise once fought with Midorima about…something. And had to hold his hand. For the entire day.

There wasn't enough bleach in the world to remove that memory from his mind.

Though Ryouta wouldn't admit it, he was pleased when Aomine immediately began the next day with an argument that had Akashi looking up. "Hold hands, you two," he said, looking down and making a note on his clipboard (Ryouta wondered if he and Nijimura were keeping a tally of how often who fought who in some sort of strange bet).

Aomine did so happily and something about Aomine's content smile, the clasp of his dark hand around Ryouta's paler one, made heat flare up in the blonde's cheeks.

The blonde didn't want to admit it, but he knew his feelings for Aomine were growing even stronger every day that they had to hold hands. He could feel it tugging at his stomach, the need to be next to the Ace, to hold his hand and keep holding it until it was just the two of them, and then to keep holding his hand long after that.

It was like a tension coiling in his gut, a demand to argue with Aomine, to start another fight, to do something so that he could feel the stronger teen's hand grasping onto his, anchoring him in place like a boat to its harbor.

The day after, Ryouta made sure to start the argument and if the flicker of satisfaction in Aomine's eyes was anything to go by, then the message Ryouta sent had been received. And so they took turns beginning the arguments every day, over the simplest of things. They once had an argument over a water bottle.

Ryouta didn't blame their Captain for becoming suspicious after that particular fight.

But that didn't stop their arguments. That didn't stop them from clasping hands the moment one of them began raising their voices. That didn't stop Ryouta from shivering when calloused hands caged his smaller ones, nor did it stop intense blue eyes from examining his every move when they were separated, Aomine just watching him move and talk with the other players.

They were the last two in the locker room after practice one day when Aomine came up to him and grabbed his hand. Kise dropped his bag instantly, his hand curling into Aomine's on instinct at this point. "Aominecchi?" he asked, his voice only having the slightest of quavers.

Aomine regarded him silently for a moment before mussing his hair with his free hand and sighing. "Fuck this UST to hell," he griped, and tugged Ryouta closer.

They were kissing a moment later, and the blonde felt his eyes widen in surprise before fluttering closed, kissing back just as intensely. Aomine took this as a signal to go on (which Ryouta appreciated. A lot) and pushed the blonde against lockers, kissing him even harder and grasping Ryouta's free hand with his own.

Ryouta moaned a little at the heat of the gesture and twined their fingers together, dragging a groan out of Aomine in response. They didn't go much farther than that, simply letting their lips lock together and slowly getting rid of the creeping tension they'd both felt to be closer, stand closer, hold hands for forever and a day.

It was still there, but now it was actually bearable.

Aomine finally put some distance between, the two dragging in ragged gasps of air as they regained their breath. The ganguro leaned in a moment later and kissed him again, but it was softer, promising, and Ryouta felt a part of him melt in place at the action.

They separated once more, and Ryouta said the first thing that came to mind. "…wow."

Aomine panted a little, keeping close and bumping his nose against the blonde's. "Yeah," he breathed, his eyes locked intently on Ryouta's glazed over golden eyes.

While the two of them tried to put their thoughts in order, Ryouta said the second thing that came to mind. "Do you want to keep arguing during practice?"

Aomine didn't even think twice about his answer. "Definitely." He then tugged the model into another kiss and, before Ryouta could actually respond, the Ace ended it and dragged the blonde out of the locker room, separating one of their hands to grab their bags but stubbornly refusing to let go of the other boy. "I'll walk you home."

Fall was nearing its end, but Ryouta didn't feel the oncoming chill as his heart warmed at the tanned boy's word. He leaned closer and pecked him on the cheek, smiling when Aomine jumped and blushed a little at the attention. "Okay," he whispered and, right then, wanted nothing more than for that moment to freeze, keeping them like this, their fingers twined together, forever.

*Omake*

At the start of the hand holding clause, Aomine and Kise cleverly tried to bait Kuroko into a fight with them, in an attempt to monopolize the shadow's time during practice.

Fortunately, Shuuzou had a feeling they would do that, and so had bribed Kuroko ahead of time: for every argument that he doesn't respond to, Shuuzou would buy him a vanilla milkshake from Maji Burger.

While this also included Midorima, Murasakibara, and even Akashi (oh, the horror at that thought) as potential instigators, the Captain felt that it was a good investment overall.

If people thought that Kuroko was difficult to anger before, the one promised a vanilla milkshake for not rising to anyone's bait was all but incapable of anger in comparison.

Yep, Shuuzou thought, assigning Murasakibara laps for trying to get under Kuroko's skin and ignoring the shadow that immediately began glowing at the thought of the milkshake to come (also ignoring his snickering vice-captain who he knew would end up tagging along and demanding a milkshake as well, the brat).

A good investment.

*End Omake*

This was my first Aokise, so I hope it went well! This is a remix of aomeanie's fic, Hold Your Hand Forever, which I totally recommend reading.

Please Review.

Ja ne!