Chapter Text
It was that time of the day again when Hanamiya made his way home. He used to hate this journey because it was always the same; the same view with the same people sitting in the same seats. But after years of making it, he had grown to live with it and somewhat enjoy it. He had his iPod on shuffle as he stared out the dirty train window, watching the sunset in the horizon. If he looked past the greasy fingerprints and bits of dried food, the sun actually looked quite nice. He could honestly say that after a long day of bullying people, this was the best part. There were no screaming school girls or drunkards, no crying babies and no music spilling from some teenagers headphones. Just business men as they read their paper in silence with only the gentle sound of the train tracks creaking under him.
It would take him at least another 45 minutes to get home and the sun was setting fast. As much as he was a fan of the night, the walk from the train station to his house was dangerous. All the troublemakers and drug dealers from every inch of the city came to do business in his area, but it had always been like this. Once when he was fifteen a gang of yakuza asked him if he wanted to join their group and when he declined, they set to beating him up. Luckily basketball practice had taught him to dodge better than he thought and he was able to escape unharmed… well... his body was unharmed but he mentally wasn’t; he didn’t leave his room for weeks.
The automated voice on the train announced a stop that wasn’t his and a flood of suits crowned the train much to his annoyance. People started moving down the train carriage and pushing against his legs despite the fact that he was sitting down. He wasn’t a fan of people touching him, especially strangers. Diffirent limbs touched him no matter how much he moved his position. and so in the end he just accepted his fate. He could always take an extra-long shower when he got home.
He heard people saying “excuse me” and “oh sorry” as they accidentally rubbed against each other trying to find a comfortable standing space. It almost offended him that no one wanted to sit in the one available seat next to him, but at the same time he was grateful, he didn’t feel like being squashed next to someone. Just as he was mentally celebrating, he saw a figure push through the crowd repeating the same apologise over and over. It wouldn’t have caught his eye if he didn’t recognise that voice; a voice that he had heard many times before, a voice he had come to recognise as he remembered it screaming in pain on the court, a voice that practically haunted him. Kiyoshi Teppei.
Every part of him loathed this guy. He hated the way he was always so optimistic about life, the way that even though Hanamiya had basically disabled him, he still saw him as a friendly rival. He wanted to see him beg for his life under his foot. Hanamiya had lost count of how many times he had soiled in his boxers remembering the sound of the crunch Kiyoshi’s knee made when he broke it in their match. It made his mouth water just thinking about it.
He watched as the boy pushed his way through with an apologetic smile and locked eyes with Hanamiya’s piercing ones. A grin worked it's way onto Kiyoshi’s face as he noticed him sitting down and then grinned wider when he noticed the free seat next to him. Hanamiya was tempted to put his bag on the seat but didn't feel like hearing why it was rude to do so by some elderly passenger, so he turned his body away from the boy. He felt Kiyoshi plonk himself down next to him with a long sigh. The leather from his school bag squeaked as he slid it off his shoulders and dropped it on the floor, restarting the song playing and listening to the heavy bass of the guitar solo from the previous song he was listening to. He didn’t want to talk to Kiyoshi. If they were alone on this carriage, he’d probably be tempted to break his other knee and watch him try and crawl off the train
“Hi Hanamiya!” Kiyoshi greeted him, only to be ignored. Hanamiya’s music wasn’t so loud he couldn’t hear the greeting, but he still didn’t answer.
“Hello?” Kiyoshi tried again as he watched Hanamiya nod in time with his music.
Kiyoshi leaned over the boy and waved his hand in his face, laughing when his large palm got batted away.
“Get your fucking hand out my face.” Hanamiya snarled as he paused his music. “Can’t you take the hint?”
Kiyoshi slumped in his seat and breathed out a hearty laugh. He was happy that he finally got the his attention even if his reply was cold. He watched Hanamiya pull out his headphones and tie them around his ipod before placing the device in his school bag.
“I’m trying to ignore you.”
Kiyoshi raised one eyebrow as he stared at the raven haired boy before he laughed again. “You can’t ignore me. Considering the history we have together, you can’t just pretend I don’t exist.”
Hanamiya scoffed and threw his leg over his knee; lowly apologising when his foot hit the person next to him.
“You think I can’t? Fucking watch me.”
Kiyoshi cocked a brow. He took in Hanamiya’s slender figure as the boy sat with a frown on his face. He was really petite for a basketball player. Compared to his team mates, he was slender with a hint of muscle, so much that even Kiyoshi could see that. His hair was so dark it looked indigo in the setting sun, just falling shoulder length, it was something Kiyoshi had never noticed before. The more he looked at Hanamiya the more he noticed the little things about him that he didn’t get a chance to see when they were battling on the court, like how deathly grey Hanamiya’s skin tone was. It almost made him look ill.
“Are you going to stare at me for the entire ride? It’s creeping me out.” The sound of Hanamiya’s voice made Kiyoshi jump out of his thoughts. He was so lost in observing his figure he forgot that staring was actually considered rude.
“Uh… sorry about that… it’s just… your hair’s so shiny, what’s your secret?”
Hanamiya threw Kiyoshi a snarl as the automated voice on the train announced his stop. He couldn’t be more glad if he tried. Picking up his bag Hanamiya stood up and turned to face Kiyoshi as he spat out a grim “bite me” and pushed his way through the crowd to make his way off the train.
Kiyoshi chucked as he watched Hanamiya exit the station before sighing and leaning back to relax. There was always a part of him that felt like he should hate Hanamiya with everything he had, but at the same time he couldn’t. He could see that under that bad boy exterior he was probably a lost and lonely soul, he just needed someone to be friends with, someone he could talk to about things and someone he could hang out with on weekends. He didn’t really know him, but something told him Hanamiya wasn’t exactly a popular figure in school and he’d be surprised if he had any friends at all.
He felt the train resume it's journey and Kiyoshi made a promise to himself to befriend Hanamiya Makoto. He was going to break down that wall that the boy had up and be friends with him, because he knew it could happen. It would take some time, but he knew it wasn't impossible.