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[formlesscopycat]

More than the Roses

A Kuroko no Basuke fanfiction

Summary: Aomine is not into romantic words and gifts. Kise tells himself that it’s okay.

Tags: Established relationship, domestic boyfriends, future fic

Read on Ao3

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I’m  not one for surprises…

Because Valentine’s Day isn’t really our thing.

...

All I need is him.

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Kise knows there aren’t any surprises waiting for him today.

No flowers.

No chocolates.

No cheesy love notes tucked on gifts carefully wrapped in fancy paper.

It just wasn’t their sort of thing, making a big fuss over the so-called day of hearts.

Daiki thinks it’s only a huge-ass gimmickry, the perfect ploy of flower shops and bakeries to wring out  bucks from people’s pockets, as if love can be stowed into something too ordinary and tangible, not to mention, something that’s store-bought.

“Besides,” Daiki tells him, midnight-blue eyes serious, unwavering, “...you always knew how I felt for you, these gifts are too overrated, anyway.”

So Kise learns to dismiss all sorts of expectations, when a dash of crimson sneaks into his periphery, a delivery guy bearing a bouquet of roses approaches his desk (guy’s been the fifth one to do so today, because Kise’s desk is closest to the office entrance).

No, it doesn’t affect Kise at all, that the person the delivery guy had asked for is his co-worker, Takao Kazunari, whose head had immediately perked up at the sound of his name. Seated from the far end of the room, Takao is quick on his heels, bouncing beside Kise to meet the delivery guy and claim his gift.

And Kise ignores the slight twinge of jealousy ripping in his chest when Takao sniffs the roses, pulls the note card out from the tiny envelope and claps a hand over his mouth to suppress a laugh at what he just read.

“What did it say?” Kise dares to ask, he’s only curious, and that’s just about it.

Takao turns to him, cheeks aflame, slate-blue eyes practically sparkling. “Oh, it’s just my prudish Shin-chan! I just find it too funny when he’s being sweet like this.”

With lifted chin, Takao shows Kise the message.

Happy Valentine’s Day, gorgeous. Tonight is all ours.

Kise lets out a chuckle, it doesn’t sound like Midorima at all, he probably chose from the message templates that the flower shop had offered, but still, Kise would give him props for being the thoughtful and sweet boyfriend for this occasion.

“Tee-hee, that’s the love of my life! Gotta thank St. Valentine, we get to experience the cheesy side of our emotionally-challenged boyfriends even for once,” Takao remarks.

Kise chews on the corner of his bottom lip and goes quiet with a nod. For years, Daiki and himself hardly do anything special during Valentine’s Day, it just kind of... got obscured by their daily routines and busy schedule, more so because Daiki has been duty-bound and is always on-call as a police officer. It gets to a point where Kise no longer cares about Valentine’s Day too, doesn’t give much thought to it, that it completely slips out of his mind, until he walks to his office today and notice the considerable number of flowers, balloons and other gifts adorning his co-worker’s tables.

It’s even worse when Valentine’s Day falls on his and Daiki’s workday, like today, for instance.  It gets ditched from their schedule altogether, in favor of other ludicrous activities such as getting groceries and stuff. Kise recalls not having to greet Daiki Happy Valentine’s earlier this morning before each of them left for work, he recalls that today will be spent just as ordinarily as the day before, there is nothing special, it’s just their laundry day.

So while other couples will be holding each other’s hands inside movie theaters later or having dinner at high-end restaurants or both, Kise can just look forward to... doing chores with Daiki.

How stupidly romantic and domesticated is that, Kise reflects.

Not wanting to be weighed down by such miserable thoughts, Kise schools his emotions just enough, lets up a forced smile to his lips as he turns his attention back to his friend.

“You know us, we just low-key celebrate because we’re both busy,” Kise tells Takao as he leans back against his chair, not quite sure if he just imagined the bitter aftertaste of the words in his mouth. “Just dinner at home and that’s it.”

“And wild sex,” Takao adds, casual and unabashedly audible, like they’re not anywhere near their other co-workers.

“Right, the sex,” Kise agrees, realizing that no one is paying attention to them. His friend is right, sex is his saving grace. That, at least, is something he can work on, bring Daiki into the mood and make him fuck Kise senseless tonight. With Daiki being a total beast in the sheets, maybe he’ll insist on using the handcuffs again…

“Now, now… I see your thoughts are seriously going astray!” Takao laughs, shoulders bobbing up and down.

Kise’s face grows warmer. “No, I was just thinking about what I’m supposed to cook for dinner.”

“You are the lousiest liar!”

“Am not!”

“Ahem!”

Kise and Takao both turn their heads towards their brunet co-worker, Oikawa Tooru. If looks could gut, both he and Takao will be bleeding immensely on the floor by now, Kise thinks.

“In case you two haven’t noticed, people are working here and we’re not interested in your sexcapades!” Oikawa hisses, a dour expression on his face.

“Talk to you later, Single’s Awareness Day hits some of us hard,” Takao whispers with a wink.

Kise watches as Takao sashays back to his desk grinning from ear to ear, admiring the rose bouquet he got.  From the corner of his eye, Kise steals a glance at Oikawa, the Salt of Valentine’s Day, already typing furiously on his computer. Smiling to himself, Kise thanks his lucky stars, he might have no gifts waiting for him today but at least, he’s got a boyfriend who can keep him warm tonight, unlike Oikawa who’s been on a prolonged sullen mood, having been single for almost half a year, all alone on the day of hearts.

Kise reverts his attention to his PC screen and gets himself to work. He skims through thick pages of printed documents, sends emails and makes several long phone calls to clients and other associates to distract himself.

However, time trickles away, unbelievably slow and harrowing, and the pensive mood grows, sinking deeper and deeper within him, it’s almost impossible to overlook.

Kise tries not to overthink these matters even as several more delivery guys came in with flowers or cakes for his other colleagues.

He tunes out the hushed words of affection from his co-workers, sweet nothings whispered over the phone to their significant others. Grabbing his own phone, Kise takes a selfie with the brightest smile he can possibly muster at the moment, sends it with a quick text to Daiki, I miss you so much.

Hours went by. Daiki doesn’t reply.

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Then comes the biggest discovery of Kise’s day.

Intending to replenish his stock of paper clips, Kise walks into the supplies room and hears suspicious noises, rattling the shelves somewhere. And he knows he can’t be wrong, because right there behind one of the steel cabinets, there’s Oikawa, oblivious to the world around him, too busy making out with the tall, broad-shouldered guy from the IT department, Ushijima-san. If Kise’s memory serves him right, Oikawa has been bad mouthing the poor guy non-stop since time immemorial, and now this.

Careful as not to burst Oikawa’s little bubble of fun, Kise retreats quietly from the supplies room, biting his lips to keep himself from laughing out loud at the irony of it all. He can’t wait to share the juicy news with Takao.

And when Oikawa bounces back to his office chair a few minutes later, he’s humming a soft tune under his breath and he’s noticeably less catty--the sly little bitch is flushed pink, the glow in his hazel eyes unmistakable. Further observing the brunet, Kise feels genuinely happy for Oikawa and then somehow, feels himself missing Daiki even more. For the gazillionth time, he checks his phone for any message though he knows, he knows…

...Daiki is just not that kind of guy.

And for all of Daiki’s shortcomings, Kise still loves him, all of him.

To cheer himself a little, he pulls up the gallery app from his phone, browsing and swiping through the countless saved pictures of Daiki. Shortly after, Kise finds himself smiling, and he tells himself not to sweat over the trivial stuff.

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When Kise’s shift ends, he’s surprised to see Daiki already waiting for him outside the office. Kise finds him leaning casually against his black vintage Mazda, arms crossed over his chest, the first three buttons of his police uniform undone, his sexy smirk well in place and it makes Kise swoon, heartbeat accelerating.

“Hey,” Daiki says, hooking an arm around Kise’s waist. His other hand climbs up and trails the side of Kise’s face, a thumb softly grazing Kise’s cheek and for a moment, Daiki pauses, an affectionate gaze pulling Kise into the depths of his midnight-blue eyes, before leaning down to catch Kise’s lips on his.

Daiki doesn’t bring him flowers but then, Daiki doesn't really need to...

Closing his eyes, Kise lets himself melt into Daiki, everything becoming clear as crystal as he savors Daiki's presence. In that moment, Kise feels thoroughly ashamed for dwelling over thoughts of self-pity, yearning for words, for gifts that mean so little compared to all the years they spent growing together, the moments in between their shared lives, Daiki always rooting for him, challenging him, seeing the best in him, always fanning the flames of passion in his heart.

All Kise has ever needed is right there in front of him.

Celebrating Valentine’s Day isn’t really their thing. They have their own version of romantic, only it’s not anywhere under the spotlight of typical couple venues, of fine-dine restaurants, movie houses or concert halls.

And Kise concludes, they’re never the typical couple, anyway.

Today is laundry day, he and Daiki are doing it together just as they did on the weeks before, on all the years since the two of them decided to move in under one roof.

At the laundromat just a short walk from their apartment, Kise slips a few coins into the money slot of one of the washing machines before pouring detergent and fabric conditioner into the drawer while Daiki sorts the soiled clothes on a nearby table.

“Whites first,” Kise says. Obediently, Daiki hands him socks and shirts, few pieces at a time, while Kise tosses them inside the washing machine. Kise bends his knees a bit, peering into the opening, one of his hands pushing several pieces of clothing further inside the machine. He gestures for Daiki to hand him more clothing, his free arm stretched out towards Daiki behind him.

“Towels now...”

And instead of soft fabric, Daiki has put something else on the palm of Kise’s hand. Turning his head, he sees that Daiki has given him—

A small white box.

Next, Kise’s eyes are blown wide.

A glimmer of something small and precious, a golden ring inside.

“What—” Kise’s heart stutters, as also his tongue; all  the words, the question, the awe remains trapped behind his throat.

“Roses are expensive, so I got you this instead.”

Taking one of Kise’s hands, Daiki gets down on one knee. Then Kise hears the words, the only words he never thought he’s  been longing to hear all his life until now.

“I want to spend every Valentine’s Day with you, the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me, Kise Ryouta?”

Kise revels at the rich, honeyed baritone of Daiki’s voice, and for the briefest of moments, a flood of emotions well up in his heart, bringing with it fond memories that he and Daiki had weaved together over the years, starting from the instant that the ball had hit the back of Kise's head during middle school. They sweep across Kise’s mind, and he lets himself be buoyed through the bliss, through the turbulence of being endlessly in love with Daiki.

“Aho. You could’ve picked out a finer place to propose to me instead of here,” Kise whines. Not that he's complaining, he just can't believe this is all happening right now. With his heart drumming so hard in his chest, he worries that he’s gonna fall, he's so sure his knees have already turned into jelly.

“I want to surprise you,” Daiki says, gently squeezing Kise's hand. There's a very visible shade of red on Daiki's cheeks which Kise finds too adorable, and Kise feels proud he's the reason Daiki is blushing like that.

“You did a great job.”

“So it’s a yes?”

Kise grips Daiki’s hand and pulls him up from the floor. “Yes, of course, I’ll marry you, aho! In this life and in the next and the next!”

“You’re a cheesy shit.”

“And you want to marry this cheesy shit!”

As soon as Daiki slips the ring around his finger, Kise wraps his arms around Daiki’s neck, pulling his soon-to-be-husband by the nape, colliding their lips together in a kiss.

The ring grows infinitely warmer against Kise’s skin as he feels Daiki smiling in his mouth.