Akashi had enough foresight to reserve a booth that is fairly isolated. Thirty minutes in, he hands the waiter some cash in advance, if only to keep them from being escorted out due to the noise they were making. Given the people he’s with, one can never be too prepared.
“And then, and then,” Kise continued, waving his tongs around excitably. “We won! Eight points ahead! And my sempai and all my other teammates just started throwing me up in the air and they were calling me Kaijou’s Number 1 Ace! Isn’t it so cool?!”
Aomine was slumped against the table, clearly more interested in watching his second serving of meat cook than listen to Kise. Murasakibara, who had just barely avoided getting hit in the face with a pair of tongs, narrowed his eyes at the blond seated next to him.
“Kise-chin you’re so noisy…”
Tears sprang up in Kise’s eyes at the undesired reaction. “Murasakibaracchi, you’re so mean!” His cheeks puffed out in annoyance. “You’re just jealous because you have to share the ace title with someone else!”
“Mmm? Well I don’t really want it. Being an ace is so troublesome.” Murasakibara drawled.
“Then you’re just jealous that I can copy all your moves and that I can stop Kurokocchi’s shots when you couldn’t!”
Aomine, having been witness to many of Murasakibara’s explosive tantrums, could see a potential trigger from a mile away, and intervened just as Murasakibara’s eyes darkened threateningly.
“Oi, oi, stop acting all high and mighty, Kise.” He pointed at the blond with his chopsticks. “Just because you can copy and play mix-and-match with our moves doesn’t necessarily mean you’re better. Besides, you haven’t even entered the Zone yet.”
“HEY!” Kise yelled, indignant. “Kurokocchi and Midorimacchi haven’t entered the Zone either!”
“If you’re trying to make an enemy out of everyone on this table, Kise, you’re doing a very good job.” Midorima hissed, wondering why he even willingly agreed to go out with these idiots again.
“Actually Kise-kun,” Kuroko piped up from Midorima’s right, a subtle reminder to everyone that he was still present. “I’ve already entered the Zone.”
Kise’s head turned so fast that Kuroko was sure he’d incurred some form of whiplash.
Kise’s hysterics were silenced for a good ten seconds, then doubled in intensity as if to make up for that silence. He jumped over to Kuroko’s side of the table, nearly plowing over Aomine in his haste, to grab Kuroko by the shoulders and demand to know how, why, when, and Kurokocchiiiii how come you never told meeee. Midorima turned a rather alarming shade of green, Murasakibara moved to pick at Kise’s now-abandoned plate of yakiniku, Aomine and Akashi hung back, looking panicked and indifferent, respectively.
“The first time I entered the Zone,” Kuroko began, when Kise’s ramblings grew intolerable, “was when I was riding Kagami-kun's dick.”
Kise’s voice died out in an instant, much like a radio that had its plug unceremoniously pulled. The only sounds that remained in the background were that of glasses cracking, a palm impacting with a forehead, a long-suffering sigh, and chopsticks clinking against a bowl of rice.
Choking sounds began to emanate from Kise’s open mouth and Aomine took that as his cue to grab Kuroko by the forearm and drag him out of the booth.
“Okay, it’s been great catching up but I think Tetsu needs to go home to his boyfriend now. Eh, Tetsu?”
Kise managed to regain enough cognitive function to let loose a pitiful whining sound, and Aomine and Kuroko made it to the exit and lace up their shoes just as Kise finally pulled himself together.
Both ignored the mournful shout of “KUROKOCCHIIIIIII” that followed them out.
-
“I’m surprised Akashi even knew, don’t tell me you told him before me?” Aomine whined to his former shadow on their way home.
“Akashi-kun knows everything, Aomine-kun. He took one look at me in our last streetball meet-up and told me to take it easy next time.”
He mentally looked back at the aforementioned event. The last time they went out for streetball was the day after Kagami and Kuroko did the do, and it finally dawned on Aomine why Akashi kept making Kuroko and Murasakibara sit out after every five possessions (he had to sit out one other person to keep the numbers even, and Murasakibara was made the most obvious choice since he wouldn’t shut up about being too lazy to play any longer).
“Okay, but what about Midorima and Murasakibara?”
“If Akashi-kun knows, then most likely Midorima-kun will too,” Well, Aomine won’t argue with that. Those two weren’t exactly being subtle. “And I don’t think Murasakibara-kun knows. It’s just that he doesn’t care enough to react.”
Aomine hummed, satisfied that his position as Kuroko’s best friend remains unchallenged. A moment of companionable silence passed between them, filled only by the idle chatter of people around them.
“So…uh…you never did tell me what it was like.”
Kuroko looked up at Aomine with a blank stare.
“Entering the Zone.” He clarified.
“Aomine-kun, you already know what it’s like to be in the Zone.”
Aomine shrugged. “Figured it might be different than it is when you’re playing basketball.”
“So you’re saying there’s a Zone specific for basketball and a Zone specific for dick-riding?”
“Dammit Tetsu when’d you learn to be so crass?” Aomine hissed, quickly covering Kuroko’s mouth with a hand and glancing around to see if anyone had heard. He’s starting to think that Kagami, or, god forbid, Seirin, was being an even worse influence on Kuroko than he previously thought.
“Aomine-kun, back in middle school, you and Haizaki-kun were much worse. Don’t go being a hypocrite now.” Kuroko mumbled from behind Aomine’s palm. He shook it off with a hand and placed a finger on his chin.
“It was quite…” Kuroko paused, grasping for a good enough word to use, “exhilarating.”
Aomine looked at him, unimpressed. Kuroko’s eyebrows scrunched up, genuinely struggling this time.
“It was like there was nothing but Kagami-kun, like my world completely zeroed in on him. It was really overwhelming. I couldn’t even remember half the things I was saying, and Kagami-kun refuses to tell me,” Kuroko's eyes unfocused slightly. “But it was really the most intense thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. More than playing on that court with you guys, or with Seirin, more than being able to score my first basket, more than our first kiss…”
Aomine tactfully did not ask if Kuroko means their first kiss or Kuroko’s first kiss with Kagami. He waited for a few seconds but when Kuroko didn’t elaborate further he sighed, admittedly disappointed. “Sounds like a regular sexual experience to me.”
“Does a regular sexual experience involve sparks shooting out of one’s eyes?”
Aomine paused, feeling the phantom heat behind his eyeballs at the mention of it.
“Hn, good point. You know I never really did understand what those were for.”
Kuroko’s lips twitched into an amused smile. “Though I have to admit, Aomine-kun. I’ve always thought it looked cool, regardless of whether or not it had any practical significance.”
Aomine's eyes trailed over to look at Kuroko. Despite his small frame and that seemingly-innocent face, It was almost too easy to imagine him crouched over his partner, naked, sweat-slicked, eyes blown wide with pleasure and light blue sparks trailing from his pupils as he bounced up and down, moaning with shameless abandon as if he didn’t give a shit about who heard.
Because that’s what the Zone did, Aomine knew. Regardless of how many million people were sitting in the stands, when you’re in the Zone it’s just you, the ball, the goal, and the nine other players on that court; nothing and nobody else. Your senses go into overdrive, every dribble like a heartbeat, every breath echoing louder than the crowd’s cheers.
Sometimes though, when the battle gets really intense, even those eight others fade out and all that’s left is that one other player, his equal, his rival, fighting against him in a plane of existence only the two of them were allowed to cross; an arena of their own; a showdown fit for the Generation of Miracles.
Applied to sex, Aomine had to wonder how that would feel like, for both parties, especially considering that Kagami also knows how it feels like to be in the Zone, what it does to a person’s psyche. Aomine wonders how it would feel like to be holding someone so deep in the throes of pleasure that they spiral into the Zone, that they look at you like you’re the only thing they see.
Aomine felt just a little bit humbled at the thought.
He pressed closer to Kuroko and buried his nose in his hair. Kuroko remained silent, already used to Aomine’s sudden and oddly-timed bursts of affection.
“Kagami sure is one lucky bastard. He’d better treat you good, Tetsu, or I'll kick his ass.”
“Thank you, Aomine-kun. I’ll inform him that he has acquired your blessing.”
He scoffed and stepped back. “I think he’d still bang you regardless of whether or not I approve, Tetsu.”
After a few moments of silence, Aomine’s smile turned from fond to lecherous and he slung an arm around Kuroko’s shoulders.
“So…was it really just you riding his dick or was there something specific that triggered it? Dirty talk, barebacking, you wearing a maid outfit, c’mon Tetsu these are little details you should be telling your best friend, right?”
Kuroko gave Aomine an elbow to the ribs to shut him up.