Kise adored Akashi.

Not because he was amazing at basketball, not because he was a genius, hell not even because he was his captain.

Kise adored Akashi, because the latter was kind to him, and something about the cold genius going out of his way to speak so softly and gently to him made Kise want to stand by his side forever.

The copycat athlete remembers when he first met his captain. Really met him. He was the vice-captain back then, and almost everyone had been terrified of him. Kise had wanted to know why, so after practice he sought him out. Determination gleaming in his eyes.

"Why is everyone so afraid of you?" he had asked bluntly. Standing in front of the shorter boy with arms crossed and the barest hint of a frown adorning his face.

Akashi's bright red eyes had turned away from the water bottle in his hand to fixate on his face.

The vice-captain blinked owlishly at him. "Huh?" he asked. Face still drenched in sweat and chest still heaving slightly from the after effect of the strenuous practice.

"Why is everyone so afraid of you Akashi-kun," he repeated, sauntering closer and leaning down to examine the shorter boy's face as if the secrets of the world were hidden in the depth of his eyes.

Suddenly a hand shot out, grabbing the model's face and squawking his cheeks together. "Personal space Kise," the vice-captain muttered, shaking the blonde's face from side to side.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch," Kise mumbled between Akashi's oppressing hand. "Sorry Akashi-kun!"

The other boy let out a soft huff, before releasing him and taking an elegant step back.

Kise frowned at him, lips jutting out petulantly as he rubbed some feelings back into his cheeks.

"Akashi-kun so mean!" he exclaimed; eyes bright with dramatic, unshed tears.

The genius just lifted a single eye brow at that. "What do you want Kise-kun?" he asked.

Stopping the gentle massage he was administering against his face, Kise pouted at his vice-captain. "I just wanted to know why everyone's so scared of you is all," he mumbled.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, people keep telling me to stay away from you and not to disturb you from your work and stuff, but I don't understand. If you're our vice-captain, shouldn't we come to you freely with any worries and troubles we might have concerning basketball?"

Akashi blinked. And then the corner of his lip twitched the tiniest bit, before he huffed in what Kise almost thought was laughter, before he clapped a firm hand across his mouth and turned away slightly.

"Akashi-kun?" Kise asked softly.

The redhead just waved his other hand at him dismissively, before finally turning back around, meeting Kise's confused face with a tiny smile.

'Oh,'Kise thought, dumbstruck. 'That's the first time I've seen Akashicchi smile, and it's directed at me?'

Something warm bloomed in his chest, and he found himself returning the soft smile with a large one of his own.

Suddenly, Akashi's hand shut out again, and Kise instinctively flinched back. Afraid to find his face between that iron grip again, but instead those pale fingers came to rest gently atop of his head.

Kise's eyes widened, as the supposed to be scary captain lightly patted his head. A rather content look on his face. "You're not scared of me are you Kise-kun?" he asked, hand unmoving now, but fingers still resting comfortably atop of the taller boy's hair.

Kise pursed his lip in thought. "No?" he finally answered.

Akashi grinned at him then. Not a full-blown toothy smile, but just wide enough to show off his canine's. "Then you can come to me with anything, Kise-chan," he said. "I wouldn't mind listening to your troubles at all."

Freezing for the split second it took for him to absorb his vice-captain's words, Kise remained unmoving. Limbs locked in place as his teammate's words sank into his mind.

The second it dawned on him on him what that meant however, he was up and moving. Arms reaching out to glob the living daylight out of the shorter man.

Maybe he caught his vice-captain by surprise, maybe the other man didn't think he would actually do it, or maybe he didn't mind, but when Kise's arms came around to gently embrace the genius, Akashi didn't move away or push him aside. He just stood there and let the blonde hug him senseless. An unmistakable chuckle of amusement escaping his lips.

"They are all wrong about you Akashicchi!" Kise proclaimed loudly into Akashi's neck where his face was currently resting. "You're not scary at all! Not at all!"

Hugging his vice-captain close, Kise tried with all his might to convey this message across. Akashicchi wasn't scary, he shouldn't think he frightened all people if he didn't. Kise wanted him to know that he was kind and respectable and cool and awesome and everything in-between because he was!

A hand came to settle on his hair again. The unmistakable gentleness of Akashicchi surrounding Kise like a safety blanked. "You can count on me Kise-chan," the genius muttered next to his ear.

Kise nodded against his shoulder. "And you can count on me too Akashicchi!"

"I know."

Kise smiled. Akashicchi wasn't scary at all. He was actually really really kind, and Kise would gladly stay by his side forever.