Ship: Alex/Masako Fandom: Kuroko no Basuke Major Tags: TAGS OMITTED Other Tags: TAGS OMITTED Original Work:link by kiyala Word Count: 438
***
It’s the day before her birthday; Alex is too old for foolish wishes made because she’s too stubborn to take care of something herself but she makes one anyway. It’s already the eighth in Akita, the land Alex always pictures in perpetual snowfall even though Masako’s always complaining about the humidity when it hits August. Alex had missed that this year; there’s a lot she’s missed. (Not enough to call her and apologize, the more vindictive part of her mind says, but.)
She’s tired, but calling Masako on her own birthday would put Masako in an unfair position, even if she'd ignore whatever bait Alex tried to float in front of her. They both know that, and so Alex lets the phone fall into her lap. Even months after their fight, she misses it; the loneliness is like a hole that she refuses to fill, even with empty air. She’s holding a place for Masako, in the hopes of what?
The phone vibrates; it’s probably an email alert, another drugstore coupon. It vibrates again; her dad must have gotten the date of her birthday wrong and she looks at the face. It’s Masako, because of course it is. It rings; this is her fucking chance, and when she picks it up, finally, she’s afraid she’s missed it. But the face of her phone is green.
“Masako?”
“Alex. It’s still the seventh for you; I should have realized.”
“It’s the eighth where you are. Is this a birthday call?”
She hears Masako breathe on the other line, comfortable and familiar but with the space between them so clear and apparent, space for their fight to settle around them like a poisonous snake around both of their necks, ready to squeeze and bite. She hears the sound of the faucet in the background, probably Masako getting the kettle ready for the sea; her routine’s the same and Alex resists the temptation to assume it means that everything is the same, that she can still slide back in.
But Masako had called her on her birthday, and even if that means she's not about to tackle anything serious it also means she hadn’t called to break up with Alex for good, to suggest they should make the chill of this fight permanent. A peace offering, if they’re both feeling enerous, and Alex is. So she listens to the water, from pipes half a world away, the sound of Masako breathing, clicking her tongue and snapping down the cap on the spout, and thinks of what exactly she should say to extend her own hand back and show Masako she means it.
FILL: TEAM HIMURO TATSUYA/NIJIMURA SHUUZOU, T
Fandom: Kuroko no Basuke
Major Tags: TAGS OMITTED
Other Tags: TAGS OMITTED
Original Work: link by
Word Count: 438
***
It’s the day before her birthday; Alex is too old for foolish wishes made because she’s too stubborn to take care of something herself but she makes one anyway. It’s already the eighth in Akita, the land Alex always pictures in perpetual snowfall even though Masako’s always complaining about the humidity when it hits August. Alex had missed that this year; there’s a lot she’s missed. (Not enough to call her and apologize, the more vindictive part of her mind says, but.)
She’s tired, but calling Masako on her own birthday would put Masako in an unfair position, even if she'd ignore whatever bait Alex tried to float in front of her. They both know that, and so Alex lets the phone fall into her lap. Even months after their fight, she misses it; the loneliness is like a hole that she refuses to fill, even with empty air. She’s holding a place for Masako, in the hopes of what?
The phone vibrates; it’s probably an email alert, another drugstore coupon. It vibrates again; her dad must have gotten the date of her birthday wrong and she looks at the face. It’s Masako, because of course it is. It rings; this is her fucking chance, and when she picks it up, finally, she’s afraid she’s missed it. But the face of her phone is green.
“Masako?”
“Alex. It’s still the seventh for you; I should have realized.”
“It’s the eighth where you are. Is this a birthday call?”
She hears Masako breathe on the other line, comfortable and familiar but with the space between them so clear and apparent, space for their fight to settle around them like a poisonous snake around both of their necks, ready to squeeze and bite. She hears the sound of the faucet in the background, probably Masako getting the kettle ready for the sea; her routine’s the same and Alex resists the temptation to assume it means that everything is the same, that she can still slide back in.
But Masako had called her on her birthday, and even if that means she's not about to tackle anything serious it also means she hadn’t called to break up with Alex for good, to suggest they should make the chill of this fight permanent. A peace offering, if they’re both feeling enerous, and Alex is. So she listens to the water, from pipes half a world away, the sound of Masako breathing, clicking her tongue and snapping down the cap on the spout, and thinks of what exactly she should say to extend her own hand back and show Masako she means it.