First Kiss [Kasamatsu Yukio]

imagine-knb:

Sprint forward, fake
to the left, then bolt to the right, finishing it all off with a mad
dash for the net before creating the perfect arch between the ball and
its destination. In theory, [Name] thought it would have been simple to
mimic the things she had seen many of her friends do on the basketball
court. In practice, however, it only proved to be much more difficult.

“A-ah,
sorry!” [Name] stuttered out an apology as she missed the net
completely, the ball landing just in front of it before bouncing away
and off the courts. Running after it, she rattled off a string of
excuses. After retrieving the basketball from its nesting spot in the
grass beside the outside court, she brought it back to the three point
line, dribbling clumsily. “I thought I could get it that time…”

Kasamatsu
mentally groaned as he watched [Name] bring the ball back to where he
was trying to teach her how to shoot. They had been going at it for
nearly an hour now and she had made little to no progress. Honestly, he
believed she showed no signs of ever getting better at his beloved
sport. He was starting to think she had no athletic talent whatsoever.

“Maybe
we should try getting closer to the net,” he suggested, grunting as he
caught the ball after she sloppily passed it to him.

The pair
walked closer to the basketball hoop, stopping once they were only a few
feet away from it. Kasamatsu hoped she would at least be able to make a
basket from where they stood now. Bouncing the ball a few times where
he stood, he went into a small rant as he tried to explain what she
should be doing and how she should do it. His arms brought that
basketball up as if he were about to shoot it, showing her the motions
she should try to follow. The entire time, his steel blue eyes were
focused on the net, not once wavering from it.

“You didn’t put enough force into that last attempt, so maybe being closer to the net will be better for you…”

As
he spoke, [Name] found herself staring at him in admiration. His
determination towards the sport had been what initially attracted her to
him, but hearing him talk about it in person was a totally different
experience for the young first year. She could practically feel his love
for the game rolling off of him in waves as he tried his best to
explain it to her. As he spoke about it, his face would often form a
grin and he would clench his fists in excitement, the muscles in his
arms tensing along with it. [Name] couldn’t help but admire what she
deemed to be the perfect physique of the older male, her mind traveling
to places not safe to mention in public.

“Hey, Kasamatsu-senpai,” [Name] murmured, interrupting his instruction.

Kasamatsu
paused midsentence when [Name] interrupted him, facing her with an
expression that said he was all seriousness. Why had she interrupted
him? The only plausible answer he could think of was that maybe she was
getting bored of learning to play. Kasamatsu hoped this wasn’t the
truth.

“You don’t stutter when you talk to me about basketball.”

Heat
found its way to his cheeks and Kasamatsu found himself choking on his
own saliva when he heard her words. “S-sh-shut up,” he huffed after he
took a moment to catch his breath. Throwing the basketball a bit harshly
in her direction, he watched as she caught it with a grunt, nearly
dropping it. “Have you even been paying attention to what I’ve been
saying?!”

“Not exactly,” [Name] admitted, bouncing the orange ball
in place a bit before taking aim towards the basket. “But all I really
need to do is aim and shoot, right? Shouldn’t be that hard.”

Kasamatsu
couldn’t bring it in himself to remind her that she had missed every
basket she aimed and shot for so far. Taking a calming breath in order
to sooth his still reddening cheeks, he watched as she missed yet
another basket. [Name] cursed under her breath as she was forced to
retrieve the ball yet again. As he watched her try over and over to make
a basket, Kasamatsu couldn’t help but think that what she had said was
sort of true. The day before, he had been a stuttering mess when
conversing with her, but as soon as [Name] asked him to teach her how to
shoot a basket, a newfound determination had sparked in his soul. He
found himself shaking less as they discussed a topic he was extremely
familiar and comfortable with. Suddenly, he could talk to her as if she
were one of his own first year teammates. Instead of being a pretty girl
that could make him into a fool, she had become a student he could
teach—albeit a pretty, female student, but a student nonetheless.

As
he thought, Kasamatsu’s eyes traveled along her body, watching her form
as she positioned herself to shoot. Muscles tensed slightly, eyebrows
furrowed above focused eyes, and a pink tongue poking out of the corner
of her lips. Every so often [Name] would replace her tongue with teeth
as she bit and chewed on her lips in concentration. Kasamatsu soon found
his mind wandering to less appropriate places as he continued to stare
at her and he found that pesky blush of his to be coming back with a
vengeance. He cursed himself, realizing that as soon as his mind left
the thought of basketball and wandered towards the thought of her, his
hands started to shake slightly again. In order to avoid another awkward
situation, Kasamatsu averted his eyes from her, nearly missing the
familiar swish of the basket as he did so.

“Oh. Oh!
Kasamatsu-senpai, I did it!” [Name] turned towards him with an excited
smile, pointing towards the basket as if she could show him an instant
replay. She hopped lightly in place, looking towards him for approval.

“Congratulations,” Kasamatsu grunted, nodding to her. He was actually pretty impressed. Maybe she could make progress after all.

“Congratulations? What, I don’t get a prize?” [Name] pouted.

“H-huh? W-What do you want?” Kasamatsu asked, baffled at what he could possibly give her as an award.

Thinking
for a moment, [Name] put a finger to her lips as she hummed in thought.
A few seconds passed before she made a sound that told him she had come
to a decision. Taking a few steps toward the taller male, she latched
her hands onto his bigger ones before looking at him. In turn, he tensed
up completely, his arms and legs ever so slowly starting to vibrate in
place as he became nervous. As their eyes met, Kasamatsu couldn’t help
but flush in embarrassment at the physical contact. It wasn’t until he
noticed her eyes flutter shut and her body shift to lean up towards him
that he truly realized what she had wanted. He found himself stuttering,
staring at her slightly puckered lips.

“Come on, Kasamatsu-senpai, no need to be shy,” [Name] mumbled, eyes still closed after he still hadn’t closed the distance.

Swallowing
the lump in his throat and ignoring his erratic heartbeat, Kasamatsu
leaned down towards her, refusing to close his eyes until he was sure he
wouldn’t miss completely. A few tense milliseconds later and his lips
finally landed upon hers. He allowed his own eyes to shut as he felt the
blush consume his entire face. Seconds later, they both retreated from
the simple first kiss, red adorning both their faces.

They hoped it would be the first of many.

{EXTRA}

“I-I-I
should w-walk you home n-now,” Kasamatsu stuttered as he escaped from
[Name]’s hold, reverting back to his awkward and nervous habit.

“Wait,
I want to try for one more basket!” [Name] ran to retrieve the
basketball before returning to her previous spot and shooting. Secretly,
she hoped another basket would earn her another kiss, but when neither
the sound of the net nor the sound of a ball bouncing reached their ears
after a moment, [Name] found herself looking towards the hoop. “O-oh… I
think it’s stuck up there.”

“Hey! That’s my favorite basketball!”

So cute!!