Aomine Daiki dropped a couple cans of soda on the low table and threw himself down on the scruffy couch in the apartment he shared with his dad, sprawling comfortably. He was still grinning. He hadn’t stopped grinning since Tetsu, acting as their referee, had declared that his last shot counted and he’d won.

Kagami was getting good enough to push him, one-on-one, and Daiki loved it.

“That,” he declared, stretching luxuriously, “was fantastic.”

Kagami snorted into his drink. “You would think so, yeah.”

“Don’t give me that.” Daiki prodded Kagami’s knee with a foot and laughed when Kagami swatted at him and scooted further around the table. “You wouldn’t keep coming up here if you didn’t think so too.” And, yeah, so Daiki had started it, coming down to Seirin to catch Kagami and Tetsu after practice and goad Kagami into matches. But it hadn’t taken more than a month or two before Kagami had gotten Tetsu to lead him to Daiki’s door and demanded (yet another) rematch. “Isn’t it the best thing ever?” Daiki asked, letting his head fall back against the couch and baring his teeth at the ceiling. “Going all the way to the edge, and then pushing against it? Getting pushed back?”

He could almost hear Kagami rolling his eyes. “You and your—”

“Taiga.”

Daiki blinked and lifted his head. Tetsu had been quiet all the way back here from the court down by the overpass, a thinking kind of quiet. He hadn’t joined them yet, either, just leaned against the sliding door out to the tiny balcony and watched them. Now that he’d finally spoken (and since when did he call Kagami by name like that?), there was something serious in his voice. Kagami obviously thought so too; he was looking up at Tetsu, where he stood over them, with a silent question in his raised brows.

Tetsu didn’t answer him, though. Just rested his hand on the wild mess of Kagami’s hair for a moment as he stepped past him toward Daiki. “What is it?” Daiki asked those steady eyes resting on him.

“That’s what’s most important to you.” It was a statement, not a question. “Having something to push against that can stop you.”

Daiki’s mouth crooked up at one corner. “Not like that’s a secret. It’s what you went looking for, wasn’t it? When you left.”

“One of the things,” Tetsu agreed. “To make you see me again. To bring you back. But Kagami-kun has his own reasons for playing you; we’re partners, but it isn’t right to use his game for my own purposes. I think it’s time I was more direct.”

Daiki blinked, puzzled. Tetsu couldn’t be thinking of playing him one-on-one; Tetsu’s game had expanded, yes, he wasn’t a pure supporting player any more. But still…

Abruptly, Tetsu was more present, locking Daiki’s attention like a magnet. “Tetsu, what…?” he asked, startled. It was always a bit of a shock when Tetsu did that. And then Tetsu leaned over him, sliding a knee onto the couch and resting a hand on the back of it. His other hand caught Daiki’s chin firmly, and Daiki couldn’t do anything but stare. He knew Tetsu was far more forceful than his polite words and self-effacing habits led people to expect, but this… this was…

This was different.

The part of his mind that wasn’t blank with startlement was expecting a kiss, but Tetsu just stayed where he was, leaning over Daiki, holding him, not letting his attention move anywhere else. And, Daiki thought slowly, letting him realize that. “Tetsu,” he said again, husky with the sudden curl of heat low in his stomach. “What are you doing?” He slid his hands up to close on Tetsu’s hips, not to steady Tetsu but to steady himself.

“Giving you what you want,” Tetsu told him quietly, and now he leaned down and kissed Daiki. It was slow and wet and demanding, and Daiki wondered hazily where Tetsu had learned to kiss, because he sure as hell knew what he was doing. When he started to lean up into it, though, Tetsu’s hand on his jaw tightened, holding him still. The heat in his groin tightened too, answering that grip. Tetsu finished kissing him, taking his time about it while Daiki sat, stunned.

Tetsu was…

“Be still, Aomine-kun,” Tetsu said as he drew back, and his voice was quiet and even and so utterly sure things would be the way he said that Daiki nearly shuddered just to hear it. He let Tetsu lift his chin, fingers tightening on Tetsu’s hips as his head was tipped all the way back against the couch cushions and held there.

“Fuck, Tetsu…” he gasped, feeling his spine pull taut with something he didn’t have a name for, anticipation or resistance or maybe both.

“Something that will stop you,” Tetsu said, soft and musing, not letting him go. “Someone that will stop you.” The heat of his mouth on Daiki’s bared throat, wet and slow, made Daiki jerk tauter, and oh god he was hard from this, from the things Tetsu was implying. Tetsu sucked sharply, just under the point of Daiki’s jaw, and he groaned with the hot almost-pain. There would be a mark there. The realization made him dizzy, or maybe that was just the way he was panting for breath now.

Tetsu lifted his head and relaxed his grip on Daiki’s chin, stroking the line of his jaw gently. Daiki just looked up at him, dazed. “When we’re together like this,” Tetsu said in that low, even, relentless voice, “you will only do what I allow you to do.” He touched Daiki’s cheek softly. “Yes or no?”

Daiki sat, still caged under the arch of Tetsu’s body, head spinning. This was crazy. He was crazy, he didn’t even know why this was making him so hot. Except… it was Tetsu, who he had never, ever been able to overwhelm or budge from his position on any subject, in any game. Tetsu always stood firm, always came back, never backed down, was the one thing Daiki could count on without doubts. Tetsu was the one immoveable thing he could lean against.

But… like this?

“I…” He had to clear his throat and try again. “Tetsu, this is… I’m not…”

Tetsu touched a finger to Daiki’s lips, eyes steady and calm. “Yes or no? That’s the only choice you have.”

Daiki swallowed hard at the spike of heat those words put up his spine, but…

Tetsu smiled, small and private, just between them, and closed his hands around Daiki’s face, resting their foreheads together. “I’ll take care of you, Daiki. You know that.”

The heat in him turned molten, spreading until Daiki wondered if he was going to come from that assurance alone. Because he did know it. Tetsu had always taken care of him, held him steady, brought him back.

And, fuck it, he wanted that, not just in the game but here too.

“Yes,” he whispered, closing his eyes.

“Good,” Tetsu murmured to him, sliding one hand down to his throat, thumb stroking the tender spot where he’d marked Daiki. It made Daiki shiver, hands flexing against Tetsu’s hips. Tetsu’s hands slid over his shoulders, down his arms, and closed on Daiki’s wrists. “Not there,” Tetsu murmured, pulling Daiki’s hands away and guiding them up and back until they were pressed against the back of the couch, behind Daiki’s head. Tetsu smiled down at him, and now there was a glint in his eyes. “Here.”

Daiki’s breath was coming short again with how it felt to be spread out under Tetsu like this, hands gripping the couch frame behind his head, legs spread. “Okay.”

“Don’t move until I tell you you may,” Tetsu ordered, cool and level, and Daiki nearly moaned. He did moan when Tetsu reached down to unfasten his jeans and tug down his underwear just far enough to free his cock.

Tetsu stayed right where he was, kneeling over Daiki, not touching him anywhere except for his hand wrapped around Daiki’s cock and fondling him slowly. Daiki’s whole body pulled tighter and tighter, under him, until he was clinging to the frame of the couch, trembling with the need to rock up into Tetsu’s hand. Nothing but Tetsu’s word held him back, nothing but Tetsu’s eyes on him, steady and unmoving, but that was enough. Daiki had said yes, given himself up to the one will that had always stood firmer than his. He did as Tetsu said.

It felt incredible.

Tetsu’s fingers were gentle on him, gentle and slow, until Daiki was arched taut under him, gasping helplessly for breath, spread out and begging with every inch of his body. “Tetsu…”

“Good,” Tetsu told him, warm and quiet. “That’s good, Daiki. Now come for me.” His hand wrapped tighter around Daiki’s cock, pumping slow and sure, and Daiki made a hoarse sound as pleasure ripped through him, wrung out his whole body wild and hard, blinded him to everything but raw sensation and the sound of Tetsu’s voice reassuring him.

As he came back down, slow and dazed, he felt Tetsu’s hands sliding over his arms, gently loosening the grip of his hands and guiding them back down, stroking over his neck and shoulders and cradling the back of his head as Tetsu kissed him. Daiki finally pried his eyes back open and looked up at Tetsu, dazed. “Wow.”

Tetsu laughed quietly. “You can move, now.”

“Oh sure,” Daiki murmured, completely wrung out. “Now that I don’t think I can any more…”

Tetsu smiled and leaned down to kiss his forehead. “So, was it good?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Daiki took a long breath, trying to fit what had just happened into his head in some kind of sensible way. It didn’t work very well, but one thing was clear; Tetsu was unreasonably good at finding what Daiki needed. “I… thanks.”

There was a definite glint of satisfaction in Tetsu’s eyes. “My pleasure.” One hand slipped down to knead the nape of Daiki’s neck, slow and easy, and he raised his voice a little. “What did you think, Taiga?”

“Jesus.”

Daiki froze at the question and the husky reply. He’d forgotten Kagami was there. Tetsu had locked his attention so tight, he’d forgotten. Tetsu’s hand tightened on his nape, now, and he murmured, “Only what I allow, remember.”

How did that make sense of Kagami still being here?!

Kagami’s voice was a little shaky. “You know, you say you’re not a sadist, but every now and then I really wonder. I also think you really like making me come without touching me. God.” A huff of breath, and then he spoke again, voice softer. “Aomine. It’s okay, really. We’re… Tetsuya and I… we’re like this, too.”

“Taiga won’t touch you unless I say,” Tetsu told him quietly. “But he’s part of this too, don’t you think?”

Daiki could nearly hear the fizzle as his brain’s ability to make sense of things gave out, like a fuse blowing. What was left was something hot, knowing that Tetsu had taken him like that in front of someone else. In front of Tetsu’s other lover. In front of the other person he held this way. Something hot and wanting curled through him, thinking about that. Daiki wrapped his arms around Tetsu and buried his head against Tetsu’s shoulder with a breathless sound.

“Good,” Tetsu whispered to him, fingers stroking his hair gently. And a little louder, “Taiga, come here.”

It was the same quiet, utterly inflexible command that Tetsu had pinned Daiki down with, and it put a little twist of heat through him to hear it addressed to someone else. Daiki took a good breath in and out, as the couch compressed beside him, and raised his head to look at Kagami. Who was very flushed and definitely looked like he’d done his clothes back up in a hurry. And who bent his head under Tetsu’s hand when Tetsu reached over to run his fingers gently through Kagami’s hair. Daiki had to swallow, watching that, and suddenly it made a lot more sense how just watching him and Tetsu could have gotten Kagami off.

“Daiki. Taiga. Do the two of you want to be together, in this?” Tetsu asked. “I can keep it separate, if not, but it does seem like a sensible extension of how you two are about the game.”

Kagami snorted, mouth curled in obvious amusement as he looked up. “What, you mean both of us completely in your hands, both on the court and off?”

“Taiga,” Tetsu chided, tugging gently on his hair. “I’m not Akashi-kun, and no one is in my control, on the court.”

“I know.” Kagami smiled as he caught Tetsu’s hand and twined their fingers together. “But you hold us, don’t you?”

There was something unspoken there, in the way they looked at each other, some reference to another conversation, and Daiki didn’t even realize his arms had tightened around Tetsu until Tetsu looked down at him, eyes soft and clear, stroking his hair again. “I do hold you,” he said, as if it were an answer to Daiki and not Kagami. “No matter which side we’re on.”

Maybe it was an answer for him after all, because hearing that settled the flare of jealousy. “I guess we can try it.” Daiki shrugged. “Together.” He slid a glance at Kagami, who nodded agreement and promptly held out his other hand to Daiki.

Daiki curled his lip and glanced aside. “What are you, a girl?” He let one hand drop to meet Kagami’s though.

“At least I’m not an asshole,” Kagami retorted, but his fingers were almost as gentle as Tetsu’s, wrapping around Daiki’s.

“The two of you,” Tetsu sighed, but there was a tiny smile on his lips when Daiki looked up, and his touch was proprietary when he reached out to rest his hands on their shoulders. It made something in Daiki relax, just to feel that, and he gave up attempting to get his sensibleness back on line.

Tetsu’s hand on him was its own kind of sense, and Daiki thought he liked that better.

End