"You did my move just slightly different," Aisaka says to Haizaki, "so when I tried again, I subconsciously tried to replicate yours, which made me not jump high enough. Effectively, you stole it from me at least for the rest of that match."

No one blames Haizaki when the boy shrinks away from Aisaka.

"Huh-- oh, you're talking about yesterday's one-on-one?" he asks rhetorically, "yeah, that's... one of my skills."

Aisaka sits down beside Haizaki. Said gray-haired boy becomes too nervous to drink his water. Aisaka pays it no mind.

He continues his observation, "but it's not that you did it deliberately, right? I mean the difference in our jumps."

Haizaki blinks. Then he seems to have his own epiphany.

"That's right, your jumping style is weird!" he's speaking impulsively before he thinks twice, "it's like your body's got no weight or something, what are you, a ghost?"

It's Aisaka's turn to be confused.

"We're the same height, but I jump higher," Aisaka says, remembering the information he'd read out from Momoi's list, "is it normal for you to be able to imitate other moves perfectly?"

"Yeah, that's normal," he doesn't even hesitate. Absolutely not humble at all.

Aisaka doesn't bat an eyelash at that. He continues the discussion, "is there any other specific moves you can't imitate, like other than my jumps?"

They spend a moment of silence.

"Midorima's three pointers?" Aisaka offers, and Haizaki nods frantically like he's just realized it himself. "They've got that crazy arc, after all."

"Murasakibara's jump reflexes are crazy too," Haizaki continues, "some things you're either born with or train like hell, after all..."

"Oh, so you can't copy talent!"

"Hah?!"

Aomine looks at the two, and something like jealousy fills him.

"What's that asshole doing, stealing my one-on-one partner?" he mutters spitefully (to who? To Midorima beside him?) as he grips the basketball in his hand, "heyy, someone! One on One with me!"

"Don't wanna!"

"You're scary."

The answers come more as a joke than a serious answer, because a senior walks up to him, muttering something about hyperactive freshmen who don't know how to catch a break. He still offers to play the Power Forward anyways.

Midorima fixes his glasses. "They are indeed making a surprisingly good combination," he says, mostly to Akashi, "we thought Haizaki would be a handful, but look at that."

"He tamed him," Murasakibara chides, "Saka-chin is good at that."

Akashi blinks up at the male, silently conveying his disbelief, because to this day he still can't believe that Aisaka won over Murasakibara (who he got along the least with,) with a bag of sugar cookies from Home Ec.

(Is Murasakibara admitting to being tamed?)

"He's a natural beast tamer," Akashi concludes.

-

藍坂 大翔 ・ (Aisaka Hiroto)

"Tetsuyaaa!! Teach me Japanese, please!"

"For the twentieth time, your name is written as Daisho, read as Hiroto."

"It's the Aisaka part this time!"

"Learn how to write your name properly already, you're thirteen."

-

There are many things Aisaka is known around school for-- his curly indigo hair, and the black basketball glove he wore on his right hand. The hair not so much, but the wrist brace was something that stood out in a uniform-wearing society.

So when Midorima sees the brace lying by the locker room bench after morning practice, he immediately knows who it belongs to. Aisaka is almost never seen without it, after all-- he wears it everywhere except during class.

(Because apparently, it was an obstruction when he tried to write, so he always took it off to take notes or do his homework.)

"That's Aisaka's, right?" Aomine points out, "come to think of it, Satsuki said there was something wrong with his wrist."

"That's evidently why he has to wear a brace to begin with," Midorima replies, not intending to sound sarcastic but doing it either way.

"Apparently if he tries to shoot without it, he can't," Aomine says, "and even though he's more flexible than a snake, if you bend his wrist too much it'll probably just break instead. Like a twig."

"So Atsushi can literally crush him?" Haizaki asks.

"No, I'm pretty sure Murasakibara can crush anyone," Aomine returns in a matter-of-fact tone, "but Aisaka's got a physical handicap. Last time I tossed him a bag he just crumpled, though that was kinda funny."

Silence settles. They've probably never considered this before-- physical injuries, and how serious they could actually be. Aisaka seems volatile and sturdy, but in truth, his wrist wears down with each match.

This may cause a rift in their winning streaks, and if the injury worsens, they would lose an important peg in their starting lineup.

Their formation at the moment, with Aisaka as the Small Forward, was unstoppable.

Everyone played their part perfectly-- a strong offensive combination with Aomine and Aisaka inside, Midorima and Akashi outside; a sturdy defense with Murasakibara holding down the fort.

Aisaka had always been a cracked gear in the equation. No one paid any mind to his injury because he played well despite it. It was not a weakness he was dragged down by. But the fact remained that his injury, slowly, steadily, would begin to worsen.

If they were to abruptly lose Aisaka now-- the shear in their balance would be a fissure Haizaki could not suddenly hope to fill.

Something had to be done.

-

"Ai-kun!"

Everyone in the vicinity spits out their drinks.

Aisaka stares at Momoi with the most disgruntled expression he can manage, but if the girl gets the memo, she doesn't care.

So Aisaka says it.

"Momoi, I've told you many times-- please stop calling me that," he says, and it's only slightly above a plea.

Aisaka has nothing against nicknames, and he has even less against first names. Being formerly European, he was never one for the last-name-basis thing, anyways. He wouldn't really care what people called him unless it was derogatory.

"But Ai-kun is Ai-kun, right?" Momoi says teasingly, and Aisaka groans longsufferingly.

At this point, everyone's gotten a nickname from her, save for Akashi (because Akashi-kun is Akashi-kun, apparently) and even Midorima had to give up on his case.

"I know you're just taking the front of my name--" AIsaka tries, "but Ai sounds like, y'know, Ai," he somehow loses his grammar, so he blows up with a splendid: "people will misunderstand!"

Momoi blinks, "it's fine, it's not like I'm calling you by your first name."

Aisaka promptly buries his head into the desk. "Is that why you stopped calling Aomine, Dai-chan?" he weakly continues the conversation.

"Yep!" she beams, "anyways, Ai-kun, you're in charge of the club room's key's tomorrow, so Akashi-kun wanted..."

-

If there's someone Haizaki listens to, it's Aisaka.

There's no real reason. Haizaki's a roughneck. A problem child, and no one cares what he really does, most people try to avoid him on a daily basis. Maybe once he's caused enough trouble, the school can have a reason to evict him.

Haizaki throws a fist into this one guy's gut, and they double over, swearing at him. He scoffs and swears right back, because he's the moron that thought numbers could win shit against him.

Then Aisaka shows up. And as usual, he says nothing about it. He doesn't look like he wants to scold the delinquent, or tell him to apologize.

But Aisaka always bails the boy out before the teachers find him.

Haizaki will find himself in the gym, and Aisaka will play him. And Aisaka will crush him thoroughly. And he'll let Haizaki shove and throw out the near-foul moves, until they're both exhausted and panting and unable to even get up.

Midorima would be yelling at their bruises (mostly the ones he gave Aisaka) later, but there's nothing more worth it than that.

Was it respect, that Haizaki felt for Aisaka? He doesn't really understand. It's a sort of frustration, because he knows that no matter how hard he tries, he can never climb high enough conquer the mountain called Aisaka.

A part of him thinks that's perfectly fine, too.

There's always something in front of him, something to stay behind, and something to aim for. Haizaki would never admit it, but he enjoys it.

Aisaka will never reprimand him. Not because he doesn't think Haizaki was right-- but simply because he believes Haizaki understands his own mistakes.

Aisaka believed in him, and more so than anything else, Haizaki thinks that's important.

-

Among the rest of the first-string starters, Aomine has known Aisaka the longest. And he's also the one that can give Aomine the biggest run for his money, though the latter inherently denies so.

When they duel out on the court, everyone stops to admire. When they leap for a battle in the air, there are cheers. When they pass and cut through the court, there are cameras flashing against them, hoping to capture it forever.

There was no better duo. They were the divine combination.

Or so they tried to be.

"Am I never going to meet that Tetsuya friend of yours?" Aomine groans one day, yawning widely as he leans a shoulder on Aisaka's.

"Well, you'll probably meet him soon."

They walk each other home early for once, with the normal students at a normal school time. Apparently, they're grounded for breaking a basketball hoop.

And because Aomine's knees are strained and Aisaka's wrist is overworked, so they're walking each other home to make sure they don't do anything stupid.

(Which is counterproductive, because they're probably going to go do something stupid together instead.)

"I've never walked home with you before, have I?" Aomine realizes, opening the wrapper of his popsicle and tossing it in the trash, "only when coach lets us out early."

"I usually stay until dinnertime with Tetsuya," Aisaka says, tugging out his own popsicle and clumsily dropping it into the bin, "he's a hard worker."

"Until dinnertime? My mom would have my head."

"Tetsuya's house eats dinner late and I cook for myself, so we're both okay."

"You can cook?!"

Aisaka holds his ice cream with his left hand instead of his right. It's summer and the weather's warmed up now, but it isn't enough to stop them from playing basketball under the scorching heat.

Aisaka makes sure Aomine doesn't pass through the court on his way back, because as much as they're itching to play, Aisaka understands the consequences of injuries that don't heal well.

Aomine and Aisaka were something short of best friends.

Aomine isn't sure what that something is, but he's eager, almost desperate, to close the gap between them.

-

Murasakibara likes Tuesdays.

P.E. was on that day, but that's definitely not the reason. He hates P.E. anyways-- it's because this was the day Aisaka's class had Home Ec.

Aisaka walks out of the class for lunch, and walks right into a wall of purple.

"Saka-chin, snacks," says the giant.

"Oh, Atsushi," Aisaka steps back to address the boy, "you didn't have to come all the way here, you'd have found me in the cafeteria."

"I can't wait that long."

"You're so spoiled," Aisaka says with a sigh, "we made muffins today. Hey, can I have some from you tomorrow, too?"

"Huh? Uh... well, sure."

To the outside witness, this was a strange sight. A moody, ever-unapproachable tree of a human being, and a sociable and friendly, much-too-kind-for-his-own-good class rep. They weren't even in the same class, but they were together often.

(Midorima also gets entirely livid when the purple-haired one comes around. Maybe that contributed to how fearful the class is of their interactions.)

All of the girls are unanimously terrified of Murasakibara. The boys are fully convinced that Aisaka is being bullied into it, or at least being taken advantage of.

(Little did they know, the one in control of the situation was not Murasakibara, but Aisaka.)

"Aisaka, you should stop pampering him," Midorima marches up beside them, "Murasakibara can make his own snacks. Actually, he should not be eating in the hallways, so you should stop encouraging him--"

"Mido-chin is stingy, so you don't get any," Murasakibara says with a rather festy pout. He's holding a tupperware of Aisaka's muffins, and expertly holding it away from the green-haired boy.

Midorima blushes, "I didn't ask for any!"

"It's okay, Midorima," Aisaka beams at them both, "I saved some more for everyone else, so you can have one once we're in the cafeteria!"

"I said I didn't want any!"

"Saka-chin, don't give him any."

When Aisaka laughs at that, it's like they're children. At the very least, the boy in the seat nearest to them thinks that Midorima and Murasakibara are actually fighting for Aisaka's attention.

"I'm thinking of giving some to Haizaki too," he says, and everyone swears there are flowers around him.

Synchronously, Midorima and Murasakibara snap, "NO!"

It's a little ironic, how they never agree about anything except Aisaka.

-

"Aisaka, help me! My finger's bending in a weird direction!"

"Just bend it back the right way, then," Aisaka says offhandedly before standing up, "Momoi, could you fetch the first aid kit?"

Aomine is beside the boy in seconds, holding onto his finger. Thankfully, it hadn't been broken, but it still gave everyone quite a fright and Aomine was staying off that hand for a good week.

"What in the world happened?" Aisaka demands the second the fuss is over. There's a splint on Aomine's hand to set the dislocation and Aomine's eyes are still teary.

Murasakibara and Midorima gives Akashi a skeptical side glance. Akashi turns away, arms folded-- and Aisaka almost thinks there a pout pursing his lips. Aomine looks too scared shitless to say anything for the rest of the day.

When there's no answer after five seconds, Aisaka barks, "Haizaki."

And Haizaki raises his hands in surrender, speeding through his lines, "Murasakibara passed too high over Akashi's head and then Aomine pointed at Akashi and called him short so--"

A hand slaps over his mouth. Akashi glares at Haizaki, daring him to continue-- but too late, the story was relayed.

Aisaka facepalms, looks up to the ceiling and counts to ten.

"Akashi," he says after a while, "say sorry to Aomine."

And Akashi whirls around, looking absolutely scandalised.