
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/4696691.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Kuroko_no_Basuke_|_Kuroko's_Basketball
  Relationship:
      Aomine_Daiki/Kise_Ryouta, Kagami_Taiga/Kuroko_Tetsuya, One-sided
      Ao&gt;Kuro
  Character:
      Aomine_Daiki, Kise_Ryouta, Kuroko_Tetsuya, Kagami_Taiga, Momoi_Satsuki,
      Takao_Kazunari
  Additional Tags:
      One-Sided_Relationship, Pining, Friends_With_Benefits, Friends_to_Lovers,
      One-sided_turns_Mutual, Angst_with_a_Happy_Ending, Explicit_Sexual
      Content, Reversible_Couple, Porn_with_Feelings, Awkward_Sexual
      Situations, sprinkles_of_midotaka_here_and_there_because_i_can't_help
      myself, Canon_Compliant, Post-Canon, there's_way_less_porn_in_this_than
      the_tags_seem_to_indicate
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-08-31 Updated: 2017-03-22 Chapters: 14/? Words: 91911
****** Misery loves Company ******
by LiaoftheDawn
Summary
     Kise didn't know how to feel about Aomine's proposition. Him? The
     consolation prize? The "I'm just gonna' pretend it's okay when you
     call that other guy's name when we fuck?" No way, never, ever.
     "Yeah. Yeah, let's do that."
Notes
     If you enjoy my writing and want to know more about it/send me some
     love, you can hmu @ my_tumblr. Comments are always the most
     encouraging kind of support! if you're wondering why you're seeing
     this copy-pasted everywhere it's because I had to edit shit out due
     to a good samaritan report hahahaha
***** Losers love Comfort *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Losing was a very unfamiliar feeling. He didn't remember the last time he'd
lost. "The only one who can beat me, is me." He used to say. But he had been
defeated. The feeling was crushing and painful, and at the same time, immensely
relieving. It had been so long since he enjoyed himself so much during a match,
so long since the last time he felt motivated to improve himself, knowing there
was someone out there that was stronger than him. He was so excited about it!
He couldn't wait to get back in the court and face him again. No,
face them again, without knowing for certain if he'd win or lose. And he'd win
next time. He'd be stronger. He wouldn't be caught by surprise. He'd show Tetsu
how good he truly was and then…
Tetsu. He didn't know why, but the more he thought about it the more he felt
he had to impress Tetsu, prove to him that his light would always shine
brighter than anyone else's, especially brighter than Kagami's, and then maybe
he'd want to go back to being his shadow again, like it always should've been.
He shook his head violently when he realized how deeply those thoughts were
latched into his mind. It was ridiculous. He had changed a lot, and so had
Kuroko. Whoever they used to be back in Middle School was long lost, as was the
connection that made them work as light and shadow. There was no going back to
that time.
And more importantly, Kuroko had a new light. One that, much as he hated to
admit, had shone brighter than his. And whatever connection the two of them had
right now was leagues stronger than anything Aomine had ever had. He clenched
his fist as the unavoidable memory of the two boys kissing flashed through his
mind.
He wished he'd never seen that. It was only a fraction of a second. If his eyes
had been elsewhere on the court, he would've missed it and everything would've
been fine. But he hadn't, and now the image was permanently imprinted in his
memory, and it hurt like bitch. It just figures that he'd come to realize his
own feelings for Kuroko only after seeing him kiss Kagami and knowing he would
never have him back.
Shit.
His eyes stung a little. This was pathetic.
"That was an amazing game, Aominecchi. You were really cool."
Daiki snapped his head to look at his blond ex-teammate.
"Aaah. And here I was hoping I would be the one to beat you. Since Aominecchi
is always saying 'the only one who can beat me, is me', I thought I could be
the one to become 'you' and beat you. Guess we were both wrong."
Aomine scowled. "If you only came to mock me…"
"That's mean, Aominecchi. You really think I'm the kind of guy to do something
like that?"
"Then what else do you want, Kise?" he really wasn't in the mood to deal with
Kise's stupidity right now.
The blond copy-cat sighed. "Is it that bad of me to come check on an old
friend? I know Aominecchi the best, I just wanted to make sure you were okay,
with everything that happened."
Aomine wasn't sure if he'd heard it right or if he'd only imagined it, but
something in the way Kise said that last part made him believe he wasn't
talking about the game. Could Kise possibly…? No, that was impossible, he
hadn't been aware of his own feelings until just a little while ago. And
besides, Kise had been seating way up there among the crowd, there was no way
he'd seen Kagami and Kuroko kissing.
The thought made his eyes sting again.
"Seriously, Aominecchi, when you make that face you make things really
difficult for me. You probably don't know it, but I hate seeing Aominecchi cry.
I can't stand it."
Before Aomine could ask what the hell he was talking about, Kise was standing
in front of him and pulling his face downwards by the chin to press their lips
together in a lightning-flash kiss. The blond boy pulled back almost
immediately, his eyes glued to the ground and his face turning a bright red
color.
"Ah… I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have done that. Sorry."
And he dashed away from the scene before Aomine could process what had just
happened.
The dark-skinned ace covered his mouth with his hand and his face grew hot.
What the hell?
===============================================================================
A few days later, Aomine found himself watching the Kaijou vs. Fukuda Sogo
quarter-final match and smiling to himself when Kise turned the game around
with his Perfect Copy. He remembered when he'd first seen that technique and
experienced it on the court. Back then, merely a couple of months ago, it had
been incomplete and Kise had pushed himself too hard and injured himself, but
it had still been a little scary. He didn't want to imagine facing Kise again,
now that he had a better hang of it. Akashi had been completely right when he'd
said Kise had the most potential out of the lot of them. If he kept improving
that Perfect Copy he would become unstoppable.
His hand moved distractedly to graze his lips and he blushed remembering the
foreign pair that had touched them just a few days ago. His eyes scanned the
bleachers to find the shock of baby-blue hair that stuck out, right next to a
firey red one and his heart clenched. He clicked his tongue in frustration and
exited the stadium, wanting to clear his head of every confusing thought.
===============================================================================
In the end it had all been useless, Kise mused. They'd lost. He choked on his
tears as Kasamatsu-senpai dragged him out of the court, for his foot hurt so
much he could hardly walk anymore. If he'd gone back to the game five seconds
earlier, just five more seconds… Even Kurokocchi's praise didn't make him feel
any better. Didn't Kasamatsu-senpai say his job as an ace was to keep moving
forward and guide the team to victory? What was the point of being unstoppable
if he had failed to meet his ultimate goal?
He limped out of the locker room. He needed air, desperately and he felt too
ashamed to face his teammates and hear Kasamatsu-senpai and the other third
years bid their farewells. It hurt too much.
Suddenly, he bumped into another person, and the pain on his injured foot made
him lose his balance. He stretched his arms trying to avoid crashing on the
ground face-first, but something held him by the elbow firmly, keeping him from
falling. The same force pulled him back on his feet and tch'ed in annoyance.
"Damnit Kise, pay attention to where you're going."
He rose his face to find a pair of dark blue eyes, not too different from the
sky in the dead of night and his cheeks heated up.
"A-a-aominecchi…"
He'd been avoiding his friend, rival and crush ever since that day when control
and reason had slipped through his fingers long enough to make him think that
kissing him was a good idea. In his defense, Aominecchi had looked beautiful
with his sad defeated face and Kise had wanted to comfort him and conveniently
decided to forget that one of the reasons Aominecchi was hurting was because
he'd just discovered he had one-sided feelings for his former shadow. It wasn't
a very strong defense, he realized in hindsight.
He opened his mouth, trying to apologize for what he'd done. It had been rude
and insensitive and selfish. But before he could utter any word, Aomine smiled
at him and said "I know you don't really want to hear this, but that was a
great game." And something inside him cracked, he felt the tears overflow his
eyes once again and before he could reign himself back he had thrown his arms
around Aominecchi's neck and, with a strangled cry of his name, the name of the
man he loved, found his way back to those dark lips he'd dreamed about for so
long. He felt those strong arms embrace him back and his partner's lips started
moving against him, hesitantly, clumsily, but soothing and hungry at the same
time.
Kise felt warm inside. For a brief, wonderful moment, he wondered if his
feelings had finally reached Aominecchi, if he'd finally understood how much he
meant to him. But right when he was about to deepen the kiss, he was pushed
back and took a wrong step that made him wince in pain. He looked up at Aomine,
who was blushing and panting.
"S-s-sorry, Kise…" he started, averting his gaze to avoid his friend's golden
eyes. "I… this is very confusing…" he wiped his lips mechanically. "I just… I
can't… return your feelings…"
"Ah" Yes, of course, what had he even been thinking? Aominecchi had been
crushing so hard on Kurokocchi since forever, there was no way it would
disappear overnight. And in spite of being aware of that, Kise thought he might
want to call an ambulance right now, because his heart was positively,
literally broken and had stopped beating and shit. He bit his lip to hold back
some tears and clenched his hand over the left side of his chest, on that spot
that felt like it was being torn apart.
"That's mean, Aominecchi… if that's your answer, don't hold me like it's the
other way around." He mumbled sadly, briefly remembering the warmth of that
embrace and regretting not having imprinted it on his mind when he had the
chance.
Of course this was going to happen. He wanted to slap himself. What had he even
hoped for? He'd always known Aominecchi liked Kurokocchi. This love polygon was
never going to have a happy ending for him. Honestly, he deserved to get hurt
like this, he'd basically begged for it when he'd kissed Aominecchi, who was
probably as heartbroken as he was, just to satisfy his selfish desires. Aomine
would've never forced himself like that on the person he loved. This sucked so
bad and he wished the ground could swallow him whole.
"No what… what I mean is that… you know there's someone I… l-l-l-like…" Aomine
blushed and scratched his nose, still not wanting to meet Kise's eyes. "But
it's… it's never gonna work out…" Kise could see the pain in his face. "I-I've
been thinking about this, okay? Since the other day…" the memory made him blush
even harder. "I can't l-l-like you in that way but… we could still hang out
and… do some other stuff."
At first, Kise didn't know how to feel about that proposition. Him? The
consolation prize? The "I'm just gonna' pretend it's okay when you call that
other guy's name when we fuck?" No way, never, ever. It was almost insulting
that Aomine would suggest it. No. He deserved better than that. His self-
respect was a lot higher than this. He would not stoop to this, no matter how
much it hurt and how much he wanted it and how good that kiss had felt, because
he had self-worth and he'd—"Yeah… yeah, let's do that."
Shit.
Chapter End Notes
     This is a story I've been writing on and off for almost a year, and
     finally decided to start publidhing it for Aomine's birthday, our
     precious, stupid, angsty teenager virgin. I just love the trope of
     one-sided Aokuro becomes mutual Aokise and I'd been really excited
     about writing it. I hope you enjoy it, please let me know your
     thoughts. It has been really hard to write it (I have a couple of
     chapters drafted out already), but I think I like where it's going.
     Please leave comments or thoughts, I'd really like to know what you
     think of this since it's my first time writing Aokise
***** Friends love Benefits *****
Chapter Summary
     Kise and Aomine did something stupid and now they must face the
     consequences and decide what's going to happen with their friendship
Chapter Notes
     Warnings for this chapter: Sort of explicit mentions of sex. Also, I
     apologize for my chapter titles, I know they are terrible.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Some seven hours later, Aomine lay naked on his empty bed, staring at the
ceiling and wondering if he should feel sated or utterly disgusted with
himself. He started going over everything that had happened today and how it
had somehow led to letting Kise pound his ass like a dog in heat.
"Hey Aominecchi?" Kise had whispered as he pulled down his pants. "If we're
really gonna' do this I have one rule and if you break it the deal's over,
alright?" his tone had been serious, as was the glint in his golden eyes.
He wasn't sure if it was the heartbreak, his pent-up energy from not playing
basketball in a while, or just his teenage hormones raging, but he was way more
eager about banging another guy than he ever though he'd be, and he'd honestly
sign a blood contract if it got Kise to stop stalling and get shit done
already.
"Look, I'm okay if you wanna' close your eyes and think of someone else if
that's what gets you going, but you absolutely can't say their name, no matter
what. I'll never forgive you if you do that."
He understood instantly and nodded –he had never seen Kise look so deadly
serious-, but the comment made all his excitement deflate momentarily. He'd
never really thought about lusting for Tetsu. He wasn't even completely caught
up with the fact that he had feelings for his former shadow, he sure as hell
hadn't imagined being in this kind of situation with him. Was it really okay to
do this? Wasn't he just hurting himself and Kise and defiling Tetsu in the
process? The question lingered in his mind for a minute before Kise pushed him
down on the mattress and kissed him rough and filthy, hot and open-mouthed; he
could hardly keep up with it (and this was just his third kiss, and the thought
that all three had gone to Kise made something strange twist in his chest)
which effectively erased every rational thought from his brain.
He didn't remember much after that. It had been fast, and hot and it felt good.
Damn Kise knew exactly what he was doing and Aomine had felt like a messy,
stupid pile of goo incapable of keeping up or doing anything other than lay
there and let Kise do whatever he pleased.
Kise had said he was free of thinking whatever he wanted, but the truth was it
would've been difficult –if not impossible- to imagine Tetsu in Kise's
position. Their body types were too different. Tetsu wouldn't be so bold and
aggressive, he imagined, and he would get tired easily, he had no stamina at
all. Kise exuded lust and anger, but Tetsu would probably take it easier, go
step by step, maybe even tease him by doing it too slow on purpose. His cock
twitched lightly and he cursed under his breath. So much for not lusting for
Tetsu.
A gale of wind came through the window and it made him shiver slightly. He
briefly regretted not having someone to keep him warm tonight. His heater was
not working properly and the winter was growing chillier by the day. He'd tried
to convince Kise to stay over, but he had waved his hand dismissively as he
rushed to put his clothes back on and said "they're waiting for me at the
hotel. It would be weird if I went missing and then we showed up together to
the finals tomorrow".
It wouldn't be weird, Aomine had thought, because we're friends, dumbass, but
he hadn't had the voice to say it. Were they really still friends after this?
They used to be really close back in the day, but ever since entering high
school they had never been truly buddy-buddy. Still, they got along just fine
and they played great one-on-ones. Had his raging hormones and his broken heart
actually ruined his slowly rebuilding friendship with Kise? He didn't want to
keep thinking so hard about this, but he found he couldn't sleep either.
He looked over at the clock to see it was barely two in the morning and he
groaned. This was going to be a horribly long night.
===============================================================================
 
"Oi, Kise! Where the fuck have you been?!" Kasamatsu-senpai yelled the moment
he stepped into their shared bedroom. He really wished he were back at home
where he could lock himself and cry his eyes dry and never get out of bed. He
ignored Kasamatsu's inquiries and just buried himself under the bedsheets,
hiding his face from his senpai's view and letting his tears flow freely.
I'm such an idiot. I can't believe I'm such an idiot. He kept repeating to
himself, trying to hold back the sobs. Then again, if Kasamatsu asked, he could
just say he was still bitter from losing. And he was, in fact, extremely bitter
from losing. To Kurokocchi. Twice in one day.
Of course he'd think of Kurokocchi, what else was I expecting? That he'd fall
in love with me if I fucked him? That having Aominecchi once would make it all
better? That kissing him even if it was fake would be good enough? Yes, that
was exactly what he'd thought and the only reason for that was that he was a
hopeless imbecile.
Everything about this was wrong, oh so fucking wrong and he hated Aominecchi
for bringing it up and making it impossible for him to say no. Because how
could he, really? He'd loved that oblivious dickhead for such a long time,
longed for him so much, dreamt of his touch, fantasized about his kisses and
his embrace, he'd touched himself so many times imagining how it would feel
like when he held him in his arms and made love to him… how could he have
refused when the man himself had been the one to suggest it? If you weren't so
stupid you could've just said no, he told himself. But he was stupid and the
only thing this whole mess had accomplished was hurt him deeper and realize
that Aominecchi would never love him and very possibly ruined their friendship
forever. And now he couldn't even see Kurokocchi in the eye because he was
ashamed of himself, and because seeing him reminded him of Aominecchi and how
unfair it was that Kurokocchi was happy with his love while all he could do was
cling to Aominecchi's loveless consolation sex and hurt himself in the process.
Kise knew it wasn't fair of him to be mad at Kuroko. He probably didn't even
know about Aomine's feelings for him. Even if he was a great observer, his own
conflicted emotions and the tragic way in which their friendship had broken in
middle school had probably kept him from noticing. And honestly, even if Kuroko
often dissed him and turned him down, Kise loved him like a long lost brother
and he admired him for his passion and efforts. So it was really cruel that he
couldn't look at Kuroko without being angry because of Aomine. This was all
Aomine's fault. He should've never fallen for such an inconsiderate asshole.
The worst part of it all was that Aominecchi himself was probably not being
inconsiderate and mean on purpose. Knowing him, it was more likely that he
didn't want to hurt Kise's feelings and, being unable to work around his own
heartbreak, had thought this would be the best solution for them both. Maybe
he'd even thought Kise would be happy about it, and that if at least one of
them could be happy then it should be okay. That this had most likely been his
actual thought process made it even more painful. Why did Aominecchi's attempt
at kindness end up being so cruel? Why hadn't he realized that Kise wouldn't be
happy with a fake relationship?
Which left all the blame back on him alone. He was the only one of the parties
involved (could Kurokocchi even count as involved?) that really knew what
everything was about and he could've stopped this before anything happened, but
he'd been too weak. He should've never kissed Aominecchi. He shouldn't have
said yes. Now everything was fucked up and all he could do was curl in a ball
and cry until the sun came out.
===============================================================================
 
Because Kise's life wasn't miserable enough, he also had to sit through the
third-place match and watch Midorimacchi and his boyfriend (Midorimacchi
probably wanted to hide it, but they were so horribly obvious it wasn't even
funny) destroy his team because he was too injured to play. Nothing was going
his way these days. He caught a glimpse of Aominecchi watching, probably
waiting for the finals to begin and all he could do was pray that they wouldn't
stumble upon each other because he wouldn't know what to do.
Usually he would've liked to tease Midorima about his very-obvious boyfriend
and then Midorima would get all red, all the way to his ears, and tell him that
he should die but that would've been fine, just like the good old days. But
right now he was too bitter that even fucking Midorima Shintarou was together
and happy with the person he liked and this was ridiculous. People called him
lucky for his good looks and charming personality and gifted for his abilities
at sports, but in the end he had been unable to get what he wanted from either
of them. He was losing to everyone, in basketball and in love and it sucked. He
wanted to get back home and get away from his miracle friends so maybe he could
forget how shitty everything had turned out for him and how jealous he was the
everything was working perfectly for everyone else.
===============================================================================
 
The Winter Cup ended and Kise managed to avoid meeting Aomine again, so it was
with relief that he made it back to the hotel. Tomorrow they would have a
farewell party for the retiring seniors before returning to Kanagawa and then
he would have time to clear out his mind and get his shit together.
But then his phone buzzed and Aominecchi's name popped up on the screen. He
sighed.
"Hey, Kise? Uh… are you free tomorrow? I kind of… want to talk about stuff…
like face to face…? If that's okay with you…"
Ryouta smiled sadly. Aominecchi had probably felt as bad as him about what
happened and wanted to fix it somehow and now there was no way Kise could stay
mad at him.
"Yeah, sure. I'm free all morning. Wanna meet somewhere?" He was always amazed
by his own ability to play it cool even if he felt nothing but turmoil and
unhappiness inside.
The other's tone became lighter, Kise noticed, as if he'd regained a sort of
confidence "There's a street ball court—no, uh, sorry… I mean… Is Hachiko okay
for you?"
He realized Aominecchi had probably hoped to make things better with a one-on-
one but had remembered about his injury and figured it would actually make it
worse. Kise felt like an idiot for finding that casual thoughtfulness so
endearing. This was the reason he always wound up getting hurt.
"Sure, no problem. Been wanting to get some air."
They agreed on a meeting time and Kise shut the phone with a sigh. Once again
he probably should've said no and gone back home avoiding all contact with
Aominecchi until the issue was behind them, but a part of him wanted to hope
that not all was lost and that they could still be friends somehow. He didn't
want to keep carrying this awkward burden, or feel so hollow and miserable when
thinking of the man he loved. All he could do was hope and trust that somehow
everything would work out.
===============================================================================
 
Kise was running ten minutes late, but he wasn't that concerned. Aominecchi had
a talent to always be late, even when he promised he wouldn't, and Kise was
okay with that. So he leisurely strolled out of the train and allowed himself
to be dragged by the Shibuya crowd outside of the station. And standing there
next to the loyal dog's statue, with a nervous look on his face, was the
always-late Aomine Daiki. Kise bit his lip. He wasn't wearing anything special:
a white cotton t-shirt and a black denim jacket with red highlights on top,
black jeans and so on. And yet Kise couldn't stop the pounding of his heart. He
himself was wearing a loose brown tee with a wine red blazer on top, a grey
scarf and washed down orange jeans. Maybe he should've dressed better. He shook
the thought out of his head. This wasn't a date. They weren't a thing. He ought
to get rid of these useless ideas.
"Aominecchi! Sorry to keep you waiting!" he called, a little bit embarrassed.
Aomine's face rose to meet his gaze. He looked insecure, almost doubtful and
when he spoke, he stuttered "N-no, don't worry… I j-just got here…Ah! Is your
leg good enough to be walking? Sorry."
Kise chuckled. "Yeah, it's bandaged. Should be fine." He reassured, feeling his
heart throb just a little.
They stood in front of each other in silence, trying to think of what to
say. This is awkward, Kise thought to himself, it was a bad idea after all.
Given Aomine's track record of ideas recently, he shouldn't be surprised. Maybe
this was beyond saving in the end. He was about to say so, but Aomine spoke
first.
"Mai-chan's new album just came out and I was thinking of getting it, if that's
okay with you. I'll buy you a Starbucks later."
Kise smiled because that was the only thing he could do against Aomine's
attempts at making things normal again.
"Cool! There's a winter special I've been dying to try." he replied, feeling a
lot better about this whole thing already as he turned heels and started
heading towards the records store.
Aomine sighed in relief when he saw his friend's sunny smile. Yes, this had
been a good idea after all.
===============================================================================
 
Kise sipped his hot beverage tentatively. Still too hot he thought, pouting.
His tongue was very sensitive and he didn't want to get it scalded. He was in
an amazingly good mood now, even after watching Aominecchi awkwardly ogle Mai-
chan's boobs in the album cover, because that was just so naturally Aominecchi
it really seemed like nothing had happened between them.
"Hey, Kise? I… I really want to talk about… the other day. I-I know maybe we
should… try to f-forget and act like n-n-nothing happened but that… it feels
wrong to me."
The blond model sipped the coffee again to have an excuse to stay silent and
nodded in an I'm listening fashion before looking away.
Aomine hesitated for a moment. He swallowed hard and gripped his cup tightly.
"I was… very mean to you. It wasn't intentional but I thought about it… and I
realized I ended hurting you and I'm sorry for that. I put you in an awful
position and I feel terrible about it… I'm… I'm really sorry."
Kise allowed himself a small smile. Truly, it was impossible to stay angry at
Aomine. "Don't beat yourself up about it. I should've refused."
Aomine's gaze was locked to the table and his cheeks were slightly flushed. His
fingers trembled and he chewed on his lip briefly, trying to find the words to
get the message across. "No but… I mean… you… you have… f-f-feelings for me…
and you were… hurt. I just… I feel like I took advantage of your feelings… I
mean… if I had been in your position I… wouldn't have been able to refuse
either."
Kise chuckled mirthlessly. You got that one absolutely right, he thought to
himself. "It's okay, really. That Aominecchi would even take my feelings into
consideration like this is already enough for me." His hand drifted
absentmindedly and stopped millimeters away from Aomine's. He almost twitched,
wanting to reach out and hold that chocolate-colored hand and lace their
fingers together, but he held himself back. He wasn't lying. It was ridiculous,
but just the fact that Aominecchi acknowledged his feelings, accepted them and
didn't reject him for them was enough to make him feel butterflies in his
stomach. It was almost annoying, how easily Aomine could stir his emotions
without even noticing he was doing it.
Aomine didn't seem too pleased with his answer, but sighed anyway. "So we're
good, right?" he asked, finally turning to look at Kise in the eye.
"Yeah, we're good." Kise smiled, feeling a little more light-hearted. His drink
had finally cooled down enough to drink, so he took a large gulp, letting it
warm him up inside.
They sat in silence for a while longer, but it was a nice silence. Neither of
them felt on edge anymore, the whole mood had lost its awkwardness and turned
quite pleasant. Kise briefly considered that he wouldn't mind staying like this
for a very long time.
"This is okay, isn't it? Just hanging like this… it's kinda nice…" Aomine said
suddenly, almost too quietly to be heard.
"Yeah, this is pretty neat."
"Because… what I said the other day… about us…" he took a sip from his own
drink and breathed deeply, apparently trying to find the confidence to say his
thoughts out loud. "I mean, I know it was wrong but… doing that kind of stuff…
it wasn't so bad." Kise forgot about his own drink momentarily, kind of
confused by what Aomine was saying. "What I mean is we could do that kind of
stuff and this kind of stuff too and it could somehow work out… It doesn't have
to be horrible and awkward, right?" his hand moved ever so slightly to close
the distance and graze the side of Kise's hand so lightly any normal person
would've missed the touch. Kise wasn't just any normal person, though, and more
importantly, he wasn't stupid enough to not understand the extremely obvious
implication.
Kise stayed silent for a minute. Unlike the last time, his mind wasn't in
complete disarray and he could actually think about Aomine's proposal properly.
For starters he didn't know if he should feel flattered because Aominecchi had
sort of implied he'd enjoyed being fucked by him or if maybe he should melt
into a pile of pathetic lovesick goo because Aominecchi was sort of touching
his hand. He really needed to get his shit together, he couldn't go around in
life getting so worked up over something like that.
"So you're proposing we become like… friends with benefits?"
"Uh… yeah, I guess that's a good term."
Kise frowned. "What's in it for you?" it was a strange offer. They didn't even
live in the same prefecture, for starters, so meeting up would be a pain in the
ass, especially for a lazybum as Aomine was. Kise himself had a lot to win
(sort of). He'd never confessed his feelings because he knew he'd be rejected
and he didn't want to lose Aomine's friendship, but if he could keep that and
still hang out and have fun like this with the plus of (loveless) sex and
kisses and hugs and all that stuff that made him warm and fuzzy… But if
Aominecchi only wanted to do it because he felt obliged towards Kise's
feelings, he was definitely going to decline, no matter how tempting it was.
Surprisingly, Aomine blushed a deep shade of red in response and looked away,
although his hand inched closer and two fingers rested lightly on the back of
Kise's hand. "I already told you… going out like this is nice… and the other
stuff wasn't too bad either."
All of Kise's doubts were suddenly swept away and instead he started pondering
if he should get himself a t-shirt with the words "I fucked Aomine Daiki and he
loved it" written in big bold letters. But no, he needed to get his mind in the
right place. Last time he'd felt like utter trash because they had both jumped
into it like complete heartbroken idiots without really thinking things
through. "You're sure about this? You'd be okay if I… wanted to kiss you or
other stuff? I mean… isn't it weird to be with someone who thinks of you that
way?"
Aomine eyed him nonchalantly. "We've already crossed that line, haven't we?"
Yeah, that's true. They'd already fucked, and it's not like they could
magically undo it. So now that the line was crossed, it shouldn't be a big deal
to just continue down the same road. And anyway, they lived far apart, it's not
like they would meet very often, so there wouldn't be weird emotional
attachments (well, Kise was already attached, but the distance would keep him
from getting weird ideas like maybe he actually likes me, maybe he wants me for
real). Little by little, the objections started dying in his head.
"Alright then, I'm in!" he replied finally, a smile on his lips. A tiny voice
in the back of his head was screaming "You're still a consolation prize" and "I
wanted him to be mine, but not like this", but then Aomine smiled back at him
and the voices died as he leaned in to peck his new friend-with-benefits on the
mouth.
 
Chapter End Notes
     Did I ever mention we would get a lot of Bottom!mine? No? I'm telling
     you now. Though in all fairness, it's gonna be more like reversible,
     because reversible AoKise is the hottest thing ever and I totally see
     them both as the type who enjoys giving and receiving.
     The locations in Shibuya are based on real life, there's a Tower
     Records (iirc) shop right across the street from Hachiko's statue,
     and on the second floor there's a Starbucks that has a perfect view
     of Shibuya's famous five-way crossing.
     I hope you guys like this chapter, I didn't expect to get so many
     nice comments about the previous one, thanks everyone! I promise
     we're in for a ride of teenage angst and lovesick pain and also some
     cute friendship and dorkiness. So please hang on with me and let me
     know what you think! All comments are appreciated!
***** Tight shorts and tight jeans *****
Chapter Summary
     Things didn't have to be awkward just because they'd fucked once or
     twice (one and a half, to be precise, if getting a little bit too
     adventurous with your hands on someone else and their hands on you
     counted).
Chapter Notes
     I've given up with the chapter titles, which doesn't make them any
     less terrible
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Kise's phone buzzed.
Aominecchi <3: Plans for the weekend?
His lips curled upwards ever so slightly. How long had it been since he'd put
that little heart icon on Aomine's name?
You: Nothing special, why?
Aominecchi <3: Mind if I drop by?
He quirked a fine eyebrow upward, curious. 'Drop by' wasn't really what he'd
call taking a one-hour train ride. Aomine clearly had more than just a casual
visit in mind. He sighed.
You: Sure, just bring condoms.
The screen showed Aomine was typing for around three minutes. Kise waited
patiently, imagining a faint blush in Aominecchi's dark cheeks, and he smiled
in spite of himself. The 'typing' sign disappeared, but no new message showed
up. Instead, the screen lit up with the sign "Incoming call from Aominecchi
<3".
His curiosity now legitimately peaked; Kise pressed the smartphone to his ear
after sliding his thumb over the green button.
"What's up Aominecchi?" he replied in a sing-song voice that masked his inner
anxiety. Maybe Aominecchi wanted to call quits on the whole 'friends with
benefits' business. He chewed on his lower lip, realizing he wasn't even sure
of whether he wanted that or not.
"Are you an idiot? I told you we didn't have to d-d-do that every time." Kise
could almost hear the blush on Aomine's cheeks going deeper and he chuckled. "I
just thought we could… hang or something… You told me you bought the new Mortal
Kombat, right?" his voice trailed off at the end, as if he had run out of last
minute excuses. Because that's what this was, a complete bullshit excuse, Kise
knew.
"It seems a bit much to take a one-hour train just to play Mortal Kombat,
though? Doesn't someone from your team have it? I'm sure Kagam-…." He cut
himself off. That was it. Something must've happened with Kuroko and Kagami.
Maybe Aomine saw them kissing again (Kise had never thought Kurokocchi would be
one for PDA, but life was apparently full of surprises). He sighed again. "At
what time are you coming? I'll pick you up at the station." That little voice
at the back of his mind started to scream CONSOLATION PRIZE again, but he shut
it up. At least Aominecchi wanted to spend time with him over almost everyone
else, he told himself.
"Nah, I think I still remember how to get to your place. Your leg's still bad,
you shouldn't move around pointlessly like that." Aomine replied, sounding more
relaxed.
Kise chewed on his lip again, and only let go when he felt he was about to
break the skin. Every time he thought Aominecchi would finally go too far, do
something too cruel so he could finally hate him, he came up with a random,
mindless moment of gentle thoughtfulness that would squeeze his heart until it
burst. This was so unfair.
"Sure, just call me if you get lost." He forced out, hoping Aomine wouldn't
notice his voice breaking at the end.
"Cool, see ya then."
"I love you." Kise muttered to the speaker after he heard the click that
signaled the end of the call.
===============================================================================
Aomine fidgeted nervously, glaring holes at the door with Kise's name written
on it. Why was he getting so antsy about this? They were just going to play
videogames and maybe catch some shitty movie on late-night TV. Kise's family
would be home so they wouldn't be able to do any funny business and he didn't
want to. Because they could be just friends, and leave the 'benefits' part of
their agreement out from time to time. They'd been texting for the past week or
so and everything seemed fine. Kise was annoying as fuck, but he was fun to
hang out with. Things didn't have to be awkward just because they'd fucked once
or twice (one and a half, to be precise, if getting a little bit too
adventurous with your hands on someone else and their hands on you counted).
He looked at his cellphone trying to gather his courage and saw the date on the
screen. January 31st. He bit his lip.
"Hey, Tetsu, any plans for your birthday?"
"Nothing special. Kagami-kun is coming over to my place for dinner, my mother
even convinced him to help her bake a cake. I feel a little bit sorry for him,
to be honest, she is quite a disaster in the kitchen."
He wouldn't have been able to tell by his tone, but his eyes were sparkling. He
was clearly looking forward to it. Why was it just now that he noticed how cute
Tetsu looked when he was excited? His life was a complete joke.
===============================================================================
Kise nearly jumped out of his skin when the doorbell rang.
"Mom, can you get the door?" he called from his room, rushing to the mirror in
a panic to do something about his hair because it just wasn't working today.
And damnit, if he was going to be a consolation prize, he wanted to be the most
gorgeous one Aomine had ever seen. His hair, though, had a different idea, as
it seemed to be stubbornly set on the "I just woke up" look. He didn't have
Kuroko's level of insane bed hair, but it wasn't quite the "you know I'm hotter
than him" vibe he was aiming for.
He nearly slammed his head on the mirror when he realized the level of idiocy
that was running through his mind. What did he think he was doing, trying to
compete with Kuroko? Even if he was more attractive than his phantom friend,
looks were not the thing that made Aomine fall for him. Kuroko had a natural
gentleness, he was soft and cute and when he smiled he looked like an angel,
even Kise had to admit that much.
"Ryouta! It's Aomine-kun!" his mother called.
A sigh of defeat left his lips when he took one last look at his reflection.
Maybe it'd be best to settle for an "I'm not trying hard to look good for you".
This was so stupid.
===============================================================================
He smiled politely at Kise's mom as he walked in. He hadn't been to Kise's home
many times, maybe three or four when they were in second year, but he
definitely remembered the blond beauty that looked more like a hot older sister
than a mother of three. Now, though, it felt wrong to think of her like that,
and he wasn't sure if it was because he was older now or because he'd lost his
virginity to her son. He blushed at the thought.
"Aominecchi!"
Kise finally appeared jogging down the stairs. Aomine couldn't help but notice
he was looking very pretty. He was wearing tight black jeans (since when were
Kise's legs so attractive?) and a long-sleeved red shirt with a v-cut on the
neck that exposed just a little bit of collarbone (he'd taken a bite of those
once and it had been great). His hair looked slightly messy, like how it had
been the last time they'd met, when Kise had put an end to their long make-out
session saying he had a party with the rest of his team and Aomine had barely
had time to register just how ravished his blond friend looked before he
disappeared. He really needed to stop having flashbacks about doing that kind
of stuff with his friend with whom he was going to play videogames period, but
it was a really tough feat to achieve when Kise was looking so handsome.
Ever since realizing his feelings for Kuroko, he'd slowly started to take
notice of other men around him. Mai-chan's boobs still got him going, but he
had to admit Kagami's strong manly jaw was much more attractive than it had any
right to be, or that Sakurai had just really nice skin, or how Wakamatsu had
some damn fine legs. And then there was Kise, who was just really, really hot
all around. He'd hoped that his feelings for Kuroko were just a unique and
special thing, but as more time passed, he realized he couldn't just keep
pretending he didn't get aroused by muscular thighs and toned pecs as much as
he was by big breasts and plump lips (like Tetsu's). Everything was so fucking
stupid.
===============================================================================
"You've got to be kidding me."
"Oh, come on!"
"No! Nonononono! Fuck, NO!"
"DON'T DO THAT IDI-DAMNIT!" Aomine screamed at the TV with frustration. "Double
or nothing!" he called with determination.
Kise gave him an "are you an idiot" look and put down the controller. "For
starters, we're not even betting anything, and if we were, we'd be going at
twenty-three times or nothing." He cracked a smile. "Let's take a break, we
should go down and grab something to eat. I need to replenish my energy after
kicking your sorry ass so many times." He chirped playfully.
Aomine scowled and stuck his tongue out with spite. When had Kise gotten so
good at games anyway? That's one thing where Perfect Copy should be completely
ineffective. He set the controller down and sighed. He really needed Kise's
injury to get better soon so he could kick his ass in basketball and compensate
for this humiliation.
===============================================================================
"Ryouta! It's getting late, you should get the futon out for Aomine-kun!"
They'd both been mostly dozing off to a stupid superhero movie on TV, and
Kise's mother's voice made them jolt startled, which ended in a painful
disaster since Kise's head had been leaning on Aomine's shoulder and the
surprise had caused his head to bump rather suddenly to the taller boy's jaw,
making them both grunt and curse.
Once the initial stupor was cleared, Kise processed his mother's words and
looked over at his friend in curiosity. "Are you staying over, Aominecchi?"
Aomine rubbed his jaw, still complaining from the pain, and took a moment
before replying. "Huh? No, that wasn't really the plan, why?"
"Uh… it's just it's way past one, you won't be catching any trains now." Kise
commented, glancing at the time on his cellphone, finally understanding what
his mother had meant.
Daiki looked at his own cellphone, still drowsy enough to have a hard time
processing long sentences. He cursed again when he realized that he was indeed
not getting home tonight. "Well, damn. I guess that answers your question,
unless you wanna' kick me out."
Kise pursed his lips and groaned. "I'll get the futon out."
===============================================================================
"Hey, Aominecchi, do you want to borrow my pajamas? We should be roughly the
same size." Kise commented casually, pulling out a t-shirt and a pair of
trousers from a drawer and handing them to his friend. Truthfully, Aomine was a
lot more built than him, but it was that or letting him sleep in the nude and
he was not about to do that to himself.
Aomine took the clothes and proceeded to take off his shirt on the spot without
much consideration. Kise actually whined involuntarily when he caught a glimpse
of dark skin, toned abs, and the trail of dark hair growing under Aomine's
navel and going down until it was lost beneath his pants. He chewed on his lip
and had to rush out of the room with a spluttered "I need water" that sounded a
lot needier than it should have.
He went down to the kitchen trying to erase the image from his head. This was
absurd, he'd seen Aomine naked half a million times in Teikou's showers and
fucked him twice (okay, one and a half times, but once you wrap your hand
around another guy's dick, whatever follows is all kinda, sorta the same), just
getting a glimpse of his naked torso shouldn't get to him like this.
And yet it did.
After downing two glasses of water and clearing his mind, he went back
upstairs. It was half-past one in the morning so he was feeling awfully drowsy,
and Aomine was just managing to rile him up more than usual, which didn't help.
"Oi, Kise, don't you have something bigger? This shit's tight as fuck."Aomine
said the moment he walked into the bedroom. His back was turned to the door and
lord almighty Kise's pajamas on him were tight alright. They clung to his
muscular thighs almost like a second skin and hugged his butt lovingly. Kise
felt the heat rush to his face again and he briefly contemplated going back to
the kitchen, or maybe even taking a cold shower because the blood was flowing
south at an alarming rate and Aominecchi had come as a friend and Kise
shouldn't be getting these crazy ideas and hot damn people shouldn't look so
delicious in pajamas.
This was going to be a long night.
===============================================================================
Kise woke up with the first rays of sunlight and groaned. He rolled on to his
stomach hoping to protect his eyes from the offending light, but he'd already
been close to the edge of the bed so he had to catch himself before he fell
off. The abruptness of it all shook away the grogginess and he sighed. He sat
on the bed, letting his feet meet the floor… only to find not the wooden boards
of his bedroom, but something plump and fleshy and weird. He looked down in
curiosity and yelped when he found another human being splayed on the futon.
This particular human being had dark skin, dark blue hair and was too handsome
to be legal, especially in those criminally tight pajama shorts.
He had momentarily forgotten that Aomine had stayed over. He was hogging the
covers, his body curled into himself. Kise briefly wondered if he had felt cold
during the night. His breathing was slightly uneven and he was snoring loudly.
A thin line of drool leaked from his mouth and onto the pillow, where a small
wet spot had appeared. Gross. Aomine looked so ugly in his sleep. And still
Kise couldn't take his eyes off his unsightly figure. Before he knew it he was
crouched on the floor next to the sleeping ace, entranced by his slightly
wrinkled brow and the way his chest rose and fell with his breathing.
One of his hands moved unconsciously to graze the exposed cheek, the touch
leaving tingles on his fingertips. He felt oddly tempted to kiss his
disgustingly drooling mouth, but he didn't feel right about doing it when
Aomine had come to visit as a friend after probably getting heartbroken.
Suddenly, Aomine started to stir and his eyes fluttered open. He looked up and
met Kise's golden orbs, sighed and fell back asleep right away, but this time
the frown had disappeared from his face and he scooted closer to where Kise was
crouching, as if he were searching for his warmth.
Ryouta blushed and grunted.
"Aominecchi, this is totally not fair." He muttered and he leaned down to press
a soft kiss to his cheek before exiting the room, not caring about Aomine's
sleepy whining from the loss of warmth.
===============================================================================
"So, uh… this was pretty fun, huh?" Aomine said cursing his own awkwardness and
he scratched the back of his head.
"Yeah!" Kise beamed at him as they walked towards the door. "We should do it
again sometime." Kise flashed his toothpaste-commercial grin at him, which he
found awfully infectious.
"Yeah, we should. Sorry for imposing."
"Nah, no worries, we had fun, right? Maybe next time I'll crash at your place."
He winked playfully and for some reason, Aomine thought of the last time Kise
had been at his place (naked and hot and panting his name) and he blushed.
"Uh so... uh, yeah… let's do that one day."
This was fine, he told himself as he crossed the threshold and waved at Kise
before turning his back to leave, they had made it through the night as friends
who played videogames, teased each other, ate trash food and watched stupid
movies on TV. This was fine and he could keep doing this, meeting up with Kise
to do stupid and fun stuff without being awkward. And then maybe, just maybe,
if they met up and felt like it, they could release some sexual frustrations
and it wouldn't ruin anything, things would go on like normal, because fucking
your friend didn't have to be a big deal at all.
Yes, this was definitely fine.
Chapter End Notes
     This is supposed to be a light-hearted chapter and yet it has so much
     fucking pining, I'm the worst. Aomine's path to coming to terms with
     his bisexuality is so harsh. I kinda like him feeling guilty for
     thinking Kise's mom is hot and not knowing if he's just being mature
     or if it just feels wrong after taking Kise's dick in the ass (hint
     hint: it's the second one. You are not mature Aho, you're not fooling
     anyone)
     I diverged a little from canon, I know in the manga, the MiraGen get
     together for Kuroko's birthday and take a group photo and stuff, but
     why follow canon if I can make Aomine suffer?
     Not much to say about this one, just hope you friends enjoyed it.
     Thanks a lot for all your comments, please keep letting me know what
     you think!
***** Cashing in on Benefits *****
Chapter Summary
     "I hope you don't mind if I cash in some of my benefits, to make up
     for making me change course." Kise whispered in a thick voice before
     crashing their lips together.
Chapter Notes
     Warnings: Explicit sexual content
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Aomine was lazying around in bed with no intention of getting up at all when
his phone buzzed and Kise's name started blinking on the screen.
"What's up?" he said as soon as he picked up.
"Aominecchi! I'm in Tokyo for a photoshoot, let's go get something to eat after
I'm done!" Kise's voice chirped on the other end of the line. Aomine found
himself infected with his friend's cheerfulness, which seemed to happen a lot
lately.
"I haven't got much money, is Maji Burger okay for Mr. Model?"
Kise huffed and Aomine chuckled imagining his pouty face. "Yeah, that's fine,
I'm taking a break from modeling anyway, I can do a little trash food."
Aomine was a little surprised to hear about Kise quitting modeling, but he made
no comment about it. "Cool. Ah, I borrowed the new Godzilla film, we could
watch it at my place afterwards."
"Cool, I've been wanting to watch it! I'll call you when the shoot is over!
Bye!"
The line clicked dead and Aomine allowed his lips to pull upward into a small
smile. He got up and went straight to rummage through his closet, feeling
strangely excited.
===============================================================================
For a Saturday afternoon, the streets were relatively quiet and empty. Maybe
the February chill was still keeping people at their homes. Aomine dug his
hands into his pockets and let out a soft huff, watching his own breath cloud
as it left his mouth. He hated the cold. He was itching to get over to Maji
Burger and sink into whichever table was closest to the heater. Kise had called
fifteen minutes ago to say he'd get there in twenty, so Aomine thought he would
get a little ahead to get a table just in case the place was packed.
Turns out Maji Burger was as deserted as the rest of Tokyo. Nevertheless,
Aomine decided to get inside and claim a table, mostly driven by his desire to
flee from the cold. As he rushed inside, sighing happily when the warmth hit
his face, he stumbled into someone.
"Oh, Aomine-kun."
Aomine looked down to find a pair of icy blue eyes staring up at him, unfazed.
"Sheesh, Tetsu, stop just showing up out of nowhere." He complained. It was
kind of amazing that Kuroko could still sneak up on him after all these years.
"I've been here the whole time, it was Aomine-kun who ran into me."
If Aomine had a coin for every time he'd heard Tetsu say that, he'd have about
a million coins by now.
"Oi, Kuroko! Our orders are re- Oh, Aomine, what's up?"
Aomine cringed. He looked around the restaurant to see if the rest of Seirin
was there, but found nothing. It was just his luck to run into Kuroko and
Kagami alone (and very much likely in a date of sorts). His eyes went back to
the light and shadow duo and the way they seemed to naturally lean into each
other (they probably didn't even realize they were doing it), which made his
chest tighten painfully.
"Hey, are you meeting someone? You can sit with us if you want." Kagami
offered, pointing to a table close to the window, where a gigantic pile of
hamburgers could be seen.
Aomine cringed again. Did Kagami seriously invite him to be the third wheel in
their date? The worst part of it all was that he was so stupid he probably
didn't even realize how terrible the idea was. Aomine wanted to punch him.
"Nah, I was about to leave anyway…" he immediately wished he was smarter so he
wouldn't say such obvious and stupid lies. He looked down to meet Tetsu's eyes
and of course he was being judged by them 'you just walked in two minutes ago'
they seemed to be saying, but his short friend didn't say a word.
"Oh, alright, no problem. Hey, let's meet some other day to play one-on-one, I
haven't played in a while and I might get rusty." Kagami grinned, unconsciously
stretching his limbs as if he were preparing to play right now.
"Huuh? Don't you dare waste my time, if you're getting rusty you won't even be
a challenge."
"Say that again? I could stop training for a year and still beat your
ass, Ahomine."
"Wanna' test your theory, Bakagami?"
Aomine suddenly felt the air being knocked out of his stomach and he looked up
to see Kagami was wincing in pain too. His eyes shot down again to find Tetsu's
tiny hand jabbing at his abdomen.
"What the fuck, Tetsu?"
Kuroko looked up at both of them, his face inexpressive, but his eyes showed a
malicious, irritated sparkle. "You two were being unsurprisingly stupid." He
said simply. "Come on, Kagami-kun the food will get cold. Aomine-kun must be
busy too." He added, tugging at Kagami's wrist in the direction of their table.
"Have a safe trip, Aomine-kun."
"Yeah, see ya." Daiki replied with a light wave before exiting the restaurant
as fast as he could. He flipped open his cellphone and dialed Kise's number as
he walked away in the direction of the station.
"I'm sorry, Aominecchi, I'll be there in a minute I had to run away from some
fangirls." Kise squealed breathlessly from the other side of the line.
"Uhm, actually…" he needed to come up with a decent lie this time, because he
sure as fuck didn't want to go back to that restaurant. "M-my folks are out for
the weekend and they left me money for food. I'm kind of sick of Maji Burger,
maybe we could order pizza or something? It's freezing outside and I don't
really wanna' go out to be honest."
He pleaded to all gods above that Kise would fall for it and that the noise
from the subway arriving on the platform wouldn't reach the other end of the
line. He'd heard the trick for a good lie was lacing it with a little bit of
truth, and it was true that his parents had left some money for food (he just
wanted to spend it on something else, but that plan was officially scrapped
now).
"Sure, okay. So… meet you at your place?"
He sighed in relief. "Yeah, sorry for the last minute change."
"It's alright. I think I can be there in fifteen."
Kise shut his phone away and stared at it for a moment, still confused. If
Aominecchi was at home, why had he heard the voice of the subway lady
announcing the arrival of a train? He shrugged the thought away, why would
Aomine lie about something so silly? Besides, it was true that his friend was
very (cutely) sensitive about cold weather and that today was particularly
chilly. He sighed, a little annoyed. He was literally three steps away from
Maji Burger and now he'd have to walk back to the station. Why hadn't
Aominecchi decided to stay home before Kise arrived at their meeting place?
His eyes caught a strikingly familiar icy blue color in the peripheral and he
glanced to his right, only to find himself standing right outside Maji Burger,
where Kuroko and Kagami were having lunch together right beside the window.
They didn't seem to notice Kise, and Kagami was presently blushing beet red and
flailing his arms, while the tiniest of smirks was pulling at Kuroko's lips.
A mirthless chuckle escaped his lips. Well, that certainly explained the last
minute change of plans. Of course this all had to be about Kuroko again. He'd
hoped that, if he was the one to choose their meeting date, maybe they could
have fun together without having to agonize about being the second fiddler for
Aomine's unrequited feelings. But alas, even when everything was going
according to plan, Aomine had to find a way to get his heart broken by Kuroko
all over again. This wasn't even funny.
Inside the restaurant, Kuroko was laughing lightly, and he looked very
beautiful like that. Kise hadn't seen his friend laugh very often, but he was
very cute when he did, so much that Kise wondered why he didn't fall for Kuroko
too. Probably because Kuroko hadn't thrown a basketball at his head.
It felt awful to be mad at Kuroko for having found someone to love, and yet
here he was, doing it again, and it was all Aomine's fault. He shook his head
and turned away from the silly couple inside the restaurant. Since accepting to
become Aomine's 'friend with benefits' he'd known all along that it involved
having to deal with Aominecchi constantly pining for Kurokocchi, that nothing
genuinely good would ever come out of it. He'd gotten complacent last time and
this was just the world reminding him where things stood. This didn't change
anything, he'd still have a good time with his friend and maybe this time he'd
get to exploit a little bit of benefits, he told himself as he walked down the
stairs and inside the station.
The voice in the back of his head that screamed CONSOLATION PRIZE decided it
was a good time to break its silence.
===============================================================================
Aomine had been home for exactly seven minutes when the doorbell rang. A chill
went up his spine when he imagined what would've happened if he'd been any
little bit later to come back; Kise would've found an empty house and his lie
would be out.
He didn't rush to open the door, he didn't want to appear desperate or needy
even if he kind of was.
"What's up?" he greeted casually as his eyes found the strike of vibrant golden
hair. Kise was wearing a heavy black jacket, completely unzipped. Beneath it he
carried a black-and-white squared shirt with a high turn-up collar and a white
t-shirt. His pants were dark gray and hugged his slim legs like a second skin.
All of Kise's pants seemed to have that mysterious property. Kise had always
had that sort of gift to dress himself that made Aomine feel self-conscious
about his barely-not-pajamas outfit.
"Sorry for the intrusion." His blond friend called customarily. He kicked off
his shoes and took two confident steps forward, effectively breaking into
Aomine's personal space. "I hope you don't mind if I cash in some of my
benefits, to make up for making me change course." He whispered in a thick
voice before crashing their lips together.
It took Aomine aback, but after a few moments he was able to collect himself
and kiss back. A part of him was sure there was something wrong about this, but
the kiss was so good and making him so warm he couldn't really bring himself to
care. His hands fell to hold Kise's hips and pulled him closer, deepening the
kiss. Kise's tongue swept over his lips teasingly and Aomine found his own
tongue sneaking out to meet it and suck it in, allowing the blond to explore
his mouth. Heat was rushing up his head and down to his loins, he'd never
imagined Kise could make him weak in the knees like this just with his mouth
and tongue and it was a bit scary, but mostly just amazing. He felt breathless
and light-headed, and all these clothes were starting to feel very cumbersome
when Kise pulled away.
"Well, have you ordered that pizza yet? I'm starving." He said, a light flush
on his cheeks, his lips wet and swollen, drawn upwards in a playful smile. And
Aomine hated himself because a guy shouldn't be so damn attractive.
"Uh… no, not yet. I-I thought I'd ask you what you wanted."
Kise smiled to himself, pleased that Aominecchi hadn't noticed how hard his
heart was beating.
===============================================================================
"Wo-woah WOAH!" Aomine squirmed excitedly, pointing at the screen like a little
kid. "That was so fucking cool, man!"
Kise jumped a little in his seat and nodded, mirroring his friend's excitement.
That had been insanely cool indeed. That Aomine looked so dashingly adorable
when he was so thrilled was just the cherry on top.
The pizza box lay empty and cold on the coffee table. They were sitting side by
side on the couch, their thighs just barely touching, a blanket draped over
both of their shoulders –Kise had somehow talked Aominecchi into believing
human body warmth would help protect him from the cold.
"Oi, what'cha staring at?"
Kise blushed upon realizing he'd been caught, but then smiled. "Aominecchi's
just really cute." He teased, pecking his friend's cheek and enjoying the dark
flush that took over those tan cheeks.
"Th-that was a pretty great movie…" Aomine said, clearly avoiding the issue.
Kise took the hint. He was already pushing his luck with the whole 'benefits'
thing. "It was. Got something else we can watch?"
Aomine shuffled away from the coach, and Kise missed his warmth immediately
(and judging from the way he shivered, Aomine missed it too). He approached the
shelves next to the TV and started rummaging through the DVDs.
"Not much we haven't seen. I've got a lot of chick flicks, my folks like to
watch'em together when they get in a corny mood."
Kise shrugged. "Whichever's fine."
Aomine picked a case at random, frowned a little, but eventually put the disk
on the DVD player. As the credits started rolling on the screen, a hint of
recognition crossed over Kise's features.
"Oh, I think I remember this one! Kyo-nee watched it with her husband before
they started dating, she said it made her cry." He explained cheerily.
"You're not gonna' start crying and get all gross on me, are you?"
Kise laughed. "Of course not! I said Kyo-nee cried with it. Aren't you gonna'
cry, Aominecchi? You've always been a softy after all." He teased, not paying
much attention to the screen.
"Shut up, dumbass."
===============================================================================
"Aomidesshiiiii I need a deeshoo." Kise sniffled pathetically, tears and snot
streaming down his face. Aomine never thought he'd see Kise looking less than
gorgeous, and yet, here they were, with the blond model looking sad, puffy-
eyed, his pretty face smeared in tears and snot, and overall pretty gross.
"I thought you weren't gonna' cry?" he asked, a light chuckle at the end. It
was nice being the one doing the teasing for a change. He passed a box of
tissues to his crying friend, who snatched it instantly.
"B-b-buuuuut...!" he blew his nose hard but didn't make any genuine effort to
stop crying. "D-d-de man she w-w-woves is deeeeed…" a high-pitched wail
followed the statement at the same time that the woman on screen started
crying. "How can you dot cryyyyy, Aomidesshi is heardless…"
Daiki rolled his eyes and glanced at Kise's ugly crying face, feeling awfully
grated by it. He pulled a tissue out of the box and roughly wiped the tears
away from the golden eyes. Kise winced and blushed.
"Stop crying, idiot, you look gross."
Kise scowled and blew his nose once again. "Aominecchi is so mean." He
protested, cleaning his cheeks with his sleeves.
Small droplets had latched to Kise's long eyelashes, making them sparkle under
the faint glow of the television. Aomine wiped the last stranded tear from the
blond's face with his bare hand, and allowed his thumb to linger there. The
skin felt a little sticky, but it was soft and smooth. Without much thinking,
he leaned in a pressed his lips against his friend's, but drew away too fast to
really get anything done. Kise blinked at him, confusion evident in his golden
eyes.
"I, uh… I can cash in on my benefits too, right?" he scratched the back of his
head, feeling his face heat up.
Kise cocked his head. "Sure, anytime you like. That was the deal."
He gulped. Goosebumps rose on his skin. He remembered the way Kuroko and
Kagami's bodies seemed to gravitate into each other. A chill ran up his spine.
"And… just how many benefits… could I get tonight?"
Kise was briefly startled by the question, but he quickly morphed his
expression to show a sly smile, his eyes slanting like a cat's, suddenly
switching his position and crawling towards Aomine, his hips slightly swaying
with each move. Before Aomine could grasp control of the situation, he was
already being pinned down to the floor, the blond's knee nudging his thighs to
spread them apart.
"I don't knoooow, Aominecchi…" he cooed, his hot breath hitting tan skin.
"Which kind of benefits do you want from me tonight?"
Aomine's body temperature started to spike really fast. His heart was pumping
really loudly and he couldn't take his eyes away from the predatory golden
pair. He chewed on his bottom lip, he wasn't going to let Kise do whatever he
wanted this time. He grabbed Kise's collar and pulled him down for a forceful
kiss that was more of a painful clash of teeth.
"All of them." He husked out and felt satisfied with the blush that spread over
Kise's pale cheeks, followed by a sly smile.
"All of them it is."
Kise sank for another hungry kiss, his tongue making its way inside Aomine's
mouth immediately, enjoying its warmth and wetness. He found Aomine's tongue
and licked it, tangled with it, sucked it playfully. The taller boy moaned into
the kiss, making his tongue vibrate and Kise relished in the shock it sent down
his body.
One of his pale hands started sneaking underneath Aomine's t-shirt, kneading
the toned muscles (and he wanted to lick them, and bite them and leave his mark
all over them, but there was no need to rush right now). His other hand joined
in briefly after, and both started tracing the lines, pinching the dark flesh,
scraping their nails lightly over the skin, drawing out soft gasps from
Aominecchi's mouth.
He broke the kiss and looked down to admire his work. Only a little kissing and
a little touching and Aomine was already flushed, sweating and panting beneath
him, and there was a small tent on his crotch. Kise licked his lips. One of his
hands continued exploring upwards, finding a brown nipple and rubbing it
between two fingers until it perked, then repeating the action with its twin.
His other hand went downwards and teased the edge of Aomine's jeans, a finger
sneaking in to find thick black pubic hair and twirling it teasingly. Aomine
tried to muffle a moan with one hand, but it didn't go unnoticed by Kise, who
smirked before leaning forward to suck on the other boy's neck. He rememberd
Kuroko and Kagami in Maji Burger and Aomine's strained voice on the phone, and
he sank his teeth on the flesh angrily, not caring if he left a mark. If Aomine
would never love him, at least he'd never let him forget his touch.
His hand stopped playing with the pubic hair and moved to unbuckle Aomine's
belt, his knee successfully managing to spread his thighs apart. He made quick
work of the belt and button and zipper, and once that was done, he cupped the
bulge that formed on the dark boxers.
"Look at you, you're already like this and I have barely even touched you." He
teased, and squeezed the clothed tent to emphasize. Aomine groaned and
unconsciously arched into the touch.
"Y-you're one to talk…" he drawled, a little smirk on his face, as his hand
found Kise's bulge and returned the squeeze. Ryouta winced and moaned, bucking
his hips forward. He hadn't even noticed he was so hard already, but he
shouldn't really be surprised. Aomine did have a powerful effect on him.
"Shall we cut to the chase, then?" he breathed, tugging Aomine's pants and
boxers down in one smooth swoop and letting them pool at his ankles. With his
hands, he spread the dark legs further apart and licked his lips, glancing at
his prize.
Aomine shivered and that sent a little wave of rationality up to his brain.
"Hey, uhm…" he started, suddenly self-conscious. "Last time I didn't really ask
but… a-are you okay…? With this position, I mean?" he'd always sort of imagined
Aomine to be a giver rather than a receiver, but last time he hadn't been able
to contain himself. And at this point he wasn't really sure whether he wanted
to pound into Aomine or be pounded into. He kind of wanted both.
"Oh, uhm… I-I don't mind… you seem to know what you're doing so…A-and we're
already in th-this kind of mood anyway…"
"Oh! O-okay…! We-we can try other positions next time…"
Next time. The words rang on his heart.
"Yeah… yeah, sounds, uh… good. Yeah."
Time in the room seemed to freeze as they stared into each other's eyes, their
previous desperate hunger slowly dissipating into awkwardness. And then time
unfroze and melted and suddenly everything was hot and burning when a pair of
hands started fumbling with Kise's pants and pulling them down, the warm air of
the room reaching his half-hard erection and making the sensitive skin tingle.
"A-aominecchi?"
Aomine quirked an eyebrow. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before encircling
the length in his hand and pumping one, two, three times. He scrunched his
eyebrows in concentration and watched as the sex in his hand grew and hardened,
and Kise whimpered at the roughness and inexperience of the touch. Last time,
Aominecchi hadn't really done anything other than lay there and let Kise do
whatever he pleased, and his expression had been a mixture of shame and
mortification all the way through. This time he looked determined, a little
embarrassed, a little nervous, but clearly unwilling to take a step back. There
was something about that expression that made Kise moan breathlessly. Aomine's
hand was now slick with pre-cum, Kise's pale hips buckling for more friction.
"Aominecchi…" Kise moaned again, his knees growing weak. It felt good, so good,
to be touched by the man he loved, to stare into those wild dark eyes as
pleasure shot up his body and clouded his mind. He'd dreamed of this so many
times he'd long lost count. "Aominecchi… s-s-stop, I'm gonna—"
"Then get on to it already, you've been staring for ages." Aomine sneered,
craning his neck upwards to lick Kise's lips at the same time that he squeezed
his cock a little too harshly.
A shiver went up his spine and he nodded. There was something about
Aomine ordering him to fuck him already that made his insides turn to goo. He
chewed on his lip lightly, reigning in the temptation of just going in dry
because he could barely hold back anymore, but he knew neither of them would
enjoy it if he did.
"D'you have… lube or something?"
Aomine looked up at him, confusion clear in his oh-so-handsome face.
"Don't think so. Can't you just use spit?"
Kise's eyes widened. "Huh? Nononono, that's not gonna cut it at all, nope, do
you want it to hurt or what? That's just for real pros and shit! Have you been
reading BL manga or something?"
Aomine didn't reply and looked away, a faint blush taking over his cheeks.
Kise's eyes widened further. He wanted to kiss this dumb boy senseless, because
how could he be so adorably dumb?
"W-well, what d-did you use last time?"
"I don't remember."
Aomine sighed, frustrated. "Getting laid shouldn't be this complicated." He
whined.
Kise hummed pensively and scratched his chin. "I… I've got some hand lotion but
I don't know if it would break the condom…"
"I don't have any condoms."
Kise's eyes widened again. "What do you mean 'you don't have any condoms'? We
were in the same class, I saw you passing Sex Ed!"
The taller boy shrugged. "Well do you have any condoms?"
Kise's face heated up and he looked away, embarrassed by the terribly on-point
accusation. "I didn't think I'd need them", he muttered. Hooking up with
Aominecchi had been an afterthought, he had only thought about it when he was
already mid-shoot, and by the time he was heading towards Aominecchi's place he
was partly too downtrodden after seeing Kurokocchi, and partly too eager to
think that having the house for themselves could lead to other stuff.
"Whatever, you've got nothing going on your dick, do you?"
Kise blushed at the straightforward question and recoiled into himself, his
self-consciousness growing. "N-n-no, I've checked myself." It was true that he
was not a virgin –like Aominecchi said, he knew what he was doing- and he'd
always been very strict about safe sex, and he'd had himself tested not that
long ago. But still, he was very strict about safe sex so maybe they should
just call this off and settle for jerking each other off or something.
He was about to suggest they do exactly that when Aominecchi bucked his hips
upwards, roughly rubbing their lengths against each other. "Alright, so get on
with it. I was a virgin before you, so I've got nothing weird going on either."
Kise's dick deflated so quickly it wasn't even funny. His jaw dropped to the
floor, his heart skipped a beat and he knew he shouldn't be feeling this damn
happy over something like this, but he couldn't help it. And Aominecchi
shouldn't be able to say something like that with such a straight face. His
heart skipped another beat and he wanted to giggle and roll on the floor in a
giddy fit of laughter because I was Aominecchi's first.
But instead he collected himself and smiled his million-watt smile at the boy
beneath him. "Aominecchi, I'm gonna' suck you off."
"Su…HUH? You're gonna do WHAT?!"
His grin grew almost painfully wide and he pressed a quick peck to the corner
of Aomine's lips.
"Suck you off." He chirped. "Unless you don't want me to." He backtracked,
suddenly remembering Aominecchi was almost a virgin (A virgin. Kise
had taken Aominecchi's virginity) and this may be too much for him.
Aomine flushed a dark shade of red and looked away. "N-n-no it's f-f-fine if
you w-w-want to…"
Kise couldn't possibly grin any wider or he'd break his money-making face.
Somehow, that didn't seem all that important right now.
"Promise I'll make you feel reeeaaal good."
Aomine's breath got caught in his throat as he watched Kise mouthing his way
down his body, leaving a trail of kisses and bites over his chest and stopping
to nuzzle the tuft of dark hair beneath his belly button. He looked away,
embarrassed beyond himself and tingling with anticipation. He felt Kise's
fingers circling around the base of his cock and felt his hot breath on the
tip. This was really happening.
"Aominecchi, look at me." His blond friend mewled teasingly, and Aomine's eyes
shifted just in time to lock with a golden pair before Kise's moist lips (how
many times had they kissed tonight? He'd lost count such a long time ago)
wrapped around the head of his cock and took him in to the hilt in one smooth
motion.
There were not enough curses in his vocabulary to appropriately react to that
sight and that feeling. He covered his mouth to muffle whatever was coming out
of his mouth –he didn't know what it was, but it was certain to be unmanly and
embarrassing- and tried to look away, but Kise's eyes had him completely
hypnotized. It felt so hot, so tight and so wet and he wanted to tell Kise to
stop because he was losing his mind too much, too fast, but the words wouldn't
come out. He felt Kise's tongue twirling around his manhood and he bobbed his
head one, two times over his length. He went a bit too far on the last one and
he gagged a little, his throat clenching around the head of Aomine's cock.
"FU—"
Kise's eyes went wide and he pulled back a little when a stream of thick cum
flooded his mouth. After the initial shock passed, though, he regained his
position and sucked Aomine through his orgasm, humming around the head and
lapping at the slit. Once he'd swallowed the last drop of cum, the allowed the
flaccid length to slip out of his mouth with a soft pop.
Not that Aomine was aware of any of that, because all he could see or think or
feel, or be was this floaty white sensation that he was pretty sure was not
much different from death. He was brought back to consciousness by a distant,
musical sound that for some reason made him indescribably annoyed.
He wasn't sure of how long he'd been out of it, but when the world started to
make sense again and the fog from his eyes cleared a little, the first thing he
saw was this golden thing with this annoying giant grin.
"Thanks for the meal." A snickering voice said teasingly.
Now that brought him back to his senses.
Kise's face was inhumanly close. He was grinning and his eyes were sparkling.
There was the tiniest white stain on the corner of his lips.
"That's what I call 'fast food'."
If there was one time in his life in which Aomine thought he might die from
embarrassment, this was definitely it. He could feel his lips opening and
closing trying to form words that did not exist in his brain. His face heated
up so much he thought his skin might melt.
"So? Did it feel good?" his annoying friend chirped.
He couldn't even look Kise in the eye. 'Good' was a fucking understatement if
there had ever been one, but he couldn't bring himself to admit it when he'd
come so embarrassingly fast. His reputation as a man was as good as dead now.
"Awww, don't be embarrassed, these things happen. Especially when you're
a virgin." And his lips, that Aomine had just seen going down on his cock
moments ago, curled around that word with an awfully satisfied smirk.
"S-shut up!" he grunted, smacking those annoyingly perfect blond locks out of
place. Kise grabbed his wrist and leaned forward, stealing a deep kiss. Aomine
could taste the lingering bitterness in Kise's tongue and when he actually
processed what that meant, his stomach churned. He pushed the blond away. "You
just swallowed that, don't put your mouth so close to mine. It's gross!"
Kise giggled. "I just gave you a super special service and this is how you
repay me? That's mean, Aominecchi." He whined, a fake look of hurt on his face.
Even if he was faking it, Aomine knew he had a point. It was just then that he
noticed the slight brush of Kise's half-hard cock against his inner thigh. He
felt his face heating up again, and he looked away, willing the words out of
his throat. "I can repay you… in other ways."
"Eh?"
He shoved the shorter male away and pushed him to a sitting position, with his
back resting against the armrest. Still unable to make actual eye-contact, he
wasted no time making his way down the lean body beneath him. He gulped when he
found himself facing the long member.
I've got this. He told himself, hoping to ease his nervousness. If it fit in my
ass, I can sure as hell fit it in my mouth.
"A-Aominecchi…?" Kise sounded genuinely flustered for a change and that was
great. It gave him the confidence he needed, and he tentatively flicked his
tongue over the head, enjoying the shudder it gave him. "N-n-noooo waaaaait"
the blond wailed, flailing. "Y-y-you don't have to do that, Aominecch—" he cut
him off running his tongue from the base to the tip. "Holy s—"
This was undoubtedly nice. Well, the taste of dick wasn't particularly
pleasant, but he was willing to get over that for the sake of having Kise being
the one flushed, embarrassed and unable to speak or think properly. Felt like a
well-deserved payback.
After a few more licks, Kise's cock was finally hard. Aomine took a moment to
look at it, and he swallowed hard. It was… bigger than expected. Not that he'd
never seen Kise's dong in the showers or anything, but it was his first close-
up with its full-length. He was now kind of glad that they'd forgone the idea
of fucking tonight. It may have fit in his ass last time, but now that he knew
how long it was, the idea of having it all inside him made him a little queasy.
He glanced up and noticed Kise wasn't even looking at him. He frowned. "Oi, I'm
giving you a… what did you call it?... A special service. Least you can do is
enjoy the show." Saying those kind of things made him awfully self-conscious,
mostly because he wasn't sure he wanted Kise to watch him, but at the same time
he wanted to look at him and see how his expression morphed in pleasure and
embarrassment –especially embarrassment-.
Kise shivered and eventually looked down. Aomine's cock twitched. His eyes were
glazed and half-lidded, his face completely flushed pink. His lips, still wet
and swollen, were slightly parted, and he seemed to be having difficulty
breathing. "A-a-aominecchiii…" he whined, his voice quivering at the end.
Aomine grinned deviously, extremely pleased with his absolute success in
switching their positions. With his confidence boosted, he parted his lips and
wrapped them around the head of Kise's cock. Before he could get used to the
size or even try anything else, Kise screamed and convulsed under him and hot
shots of a thick liquid filled his mouth. His eyes widened and he pulled back,
coughing. The taste was foul, he spat what he could. How had Kise even managed
to swallow that? It was gross.
He glanced at the blond and caught him still leaking cum from the tip, his body
arching upward and a long moan coming out from his mouth. In a moment of
boldness (if anything could be considered bolder than taking someone's dick in
your mouth), he wrapped his fingers around Kise's erection and pumped a few
times, aiding him through his orgasm and getting his fingers sticky with cum.
When he felt it deflate in his hand and Kise's eyes started regaining their
focus, he smirked in satisfaction.
"You were saying something about 'fast food'?"
===============================================================================
Aominecchi didn't understand. He couldn't possibly understand how it felt to
watch the one you love staring at you like a panther hunting its prey. He could
in no way understand what it was to see the person you love taking your cock
into their mouth, cheeks painted a soft pink, fingers shaking with nervousness
and yet , with all that determination and defiance in those dark eyes, and just
that tiny bit of tease in the edges. How could he know what it was, after
dreaming about it for so long, to feel that warmth and that indescribable
pleasure, and for it to be so much more amazing than you ever dreamed?
"Aominecchi, you dummy." He whined, tears prickling the corners of his eyes.
The weight on the couch shifted and Aomine rose so their faces were at the same
level, a smile growing on his lips.
"Stop crying, you loved that. Now we're even."
And Aominecchi would never understand because he didn't love Kise. He didn't
lose his breath when they touched. His heart didn't skip a beat when they
kissed. And he never would.
===============================================================================
Suddenly, Kise's pouty face changed as if a switch had been clicked inside him.
His expression went blank and he pushed a very confused Aomine off him.
"Oi, what the fuck?" Daiki complained, and his eyes widened when he saw Kise
fixing his pants and searching around for his things. A chilly wind blew past
the window he'd forgotten to close and made him shudder. He'd been so close to
Kise's warm body for so long now that he'd completely forgotten about the cold.
"It's getting late, I should go back or I'll miss the last train."
He frowned. As if he would let him pull this crap on him again.
He got up and grabbed Kise's wrist firmly.
"Stay."
Kise looked up at him with wide eyes and a little bit of confusion. He himself
wasn't really sure of why he didn't want the blond to leave. He convinced
himself that Kise was warm and warm was always good. Kise averted his gaze and
chewed on his lip. Aomine tugged on his wrist and pulled him in for a quick,
chaste kiss.
"Stay." He repeated, his voice a slightly strained breathe.
"Okay."
Aominecchi was so unfair, Kise thought as he was led to the bedroom in a sudden
flurry of soft kisses, then pushed down to the bed, then pinned down to the
mattress by Aominecchi's strong arms, and that mouth that was stealing the
breath away from him.
And even though they barely even touched each other this time, little more than
hands roaming over hot flesh and bodies arching into each other for friction,
they still managed to find a second climax that somehow felt different than the
last one, and Kise couldn't tell if it was a nice kind of different or a
painful kind, and because not thinking about it was so much easier, he allowed
himself to sink into sweet slumber, with the boy he loved but didn't love him
tightly wrapped in his arms.
Chapter End Notes
     Sorry for the delay, if you follow me you'll notice I posted a
     crapton of one-shots for TakaMido Day, Kagakuro day and HinaKage day,
     so all of my other updates were pushed back one week. Also, this
     chapter's longer than the norm, so it took a litle longer to get it
     done.
     I'm pretty certain you should be using condoms to give head too, but
     Kise decided today was as good a day as ever to throw that out of the
     window. Do not imitate this kind of reckless behavior, no matter if
     your partner is a virgin or whatever. This has been a PSA. (I really
     hate the fact that ITS exist because writing about safe sex is so
     annoying). I honestly love writing Aomine as a blushing virgin, that
     was the positive side about this whole experience, even though the
     sex scenes ended being kind of awkward, but that was kinda the point.
     Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Kise has some radical
     mood swings, but that's just to show how troubled he is by their
     situation. So let me know what you think about it. And thanks a lot
     for reading
***** Not the right time for Ballads *****
Chapter Summary
     "Aominecchi! They're doing another Pikachu invasion in Minato Mirai
     WE HAVE TO GOOOOO!"
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
"Is something going on with Kii-chan?"
Aomine looked up from his cellphone, in the middle of replying to one of Kise's
annoying, emoji-loaded texts and met Satsuki's pink eyes.
"Where's that coming from?" he asked, a little bit on edge.
"You've been texting a lot lately." She observed.
He blinked, then glanced briefly at his phone, that had just buzzed with
another message. He hadn't really thought about it until now, but she was
right. He probably had more texts from Kise in the past two weeks than from his
entire list of contacts on the last year.
"It's nothing. He just sends a lot of annoying shit."
She chewed on her lip. She seemed troubled, but Aomine couldn't quite place his
finger on why.
"Just… just be nice to Kii-chan, okay?" she said, a clearly forced smile
appearing on her lips before she turned to leave.
He nodded absentmindedly, a sort of dread prickling at the back of his mind
before he looked back at the screen, now with three more messages.
Kise: Aominecchi, why aren't you replying?! ( ≧Д≦)
Kise: I know you've seen it! щ(ºДºщ)
Kise: Aominecchi, don't ignore me! ヽ(ｏ`皿′ｏ)ﾉ
He chuckled.
===============================================================================
"Aominecchi! They're doing another Pikachu invasion in Minato Mirai WE HAVE TO
GOOOOO!"
Aomine had to take the phone away from his ear or his eardrums would've been
seriously compromised by Kise's excited squealing.
"Didn't know you were that into Pikachu, honestly." He replied once the
squealing had died down, although he could practically hear Kise hopping
excitedly wherever he was standing.
"How can anyone not be into Pikachu, it's so freaking cute! Let's go see it
Aominecchi, pleeeeassssseeee!"
Aomine could've objected that Kise didn't really need him to go see the
Pikachus, but there was something about his pleading, excited tone that he
found oddly endearing. Besides, he'd been the one to choose where to go in all
their previous dates –if whatever they were doing could ever be classified as
"dates", but he kind of felt like it did- so it wouldn't hurt to go with one of
Kise's whims for a change.
"Fine, when is it?"
Kise squealed loudly again, and Aomine cringed when the high-pitched noise
reached his ear.
"This Sunday!" he exclaimed, excitedly.
Aomine smiled. A part of him wished he could see Kise's face now.
"Alright, I'll meet you at the station at 10."
"Yay! I'll see you there!"
===============================================================================
Aomine had barely taken three steps out of the train station when a dash of
gold took over his vision and before he knew it, he was being glomped by an
overly excited Kise.
"Jesus, you need to control your sugar intake." He chided his blond friend,
playfully pushing him away.
"But it's exciting! Look at all the Pikachus, they're so cute!" Kise squealed,
pointing at a group of giant Pikachu costumes dancing while the crowd cheered.
Kise himself was a literally bright yellow ball of energy with his loose
unzipped yellow hoodie that fell to his upper thigh, a clean V-neck white shirt
that exposed just the smallest bit of collarbones and the dark red skinny jeans
that hung from his hips and hugged his legs like a second skin. Aomine
swallowed hard as he took in the sight.
"So, what do you want to do today?"
Kise beamed. "Lots of things!" and he grabbed Aomine's hand and pulled him as
he skipped towards the dancing Pikachus. Aomine smiled, even as he struggled to
keep up with Kise's pace, and thought that this wasn't so bad after all.
===============================================================================
Aomine plopped down on the nearest bench he could find, exhausted.
"I think I'll be having nightmares of Pikachus for the rest of my life." He
whined. If he closed his eyes, he could still see the dancing yellow mascots
inside his eyelids.
"Awww, come on, Aominecchi, it was fun!"
Aomine chuckled. It had been sort of fun, he had to admit, not really because
of all the Pikachus and overly-stimulated children, but because Kise's
excitement had turned out to be surprisingly infectious (or maybe spending time
with Kise in and on itself was fun, even if that entailed watching dudes in
giant Pokémon costumes dancing to terrible pop songs).
"Look, since I'm so nice I'm gonna' treat you to something. There are a ton of
food stalls around. What d'you wanna'eat?" Kise added, a large grin plastered
on his face.
"Okonomiyaki." he replied automatically, hearing his stomach rumble.
"With lots of mayo, right? I'll be right back." The blond hopped off the bench
and walked towards some crowded food stalls, all of them sporting some sort of
Pikachu-themed decoration.
Aomine followed him with his gaze, dark eyes unawaredly falling to the perfect
roundness of Kise's buttocks, accentuated by his sinfully tight pants. He felt
a sudden, horrible desire to grope them, or bite them, or plunge in between
them and he had to physically stop that train of thought with a sharp shake of
his head and slap the image out of his mind before his pants started getting
tight.
It wasn't even worth fighting the fact that he felt so unabashedly attracted by
Kise. The guy was already much more gorgeous than he had the right to be; add
to that his amazing body –a perfect balance of a model's slim figure and an
athlete's strong build- and his uncanny ability of wearing clothes that
enhanced the best parts of his physique, and the end product became borderline
irresistible. Ever since their last meeting and the tacit agreement of changing
positions the next time they fucked, he'd been having countless wet dreams that
involved pale skin writhing underneath him, a strained voice calling his name,
golden eyes glazed over with lust, the feeling of sinking into the heat of that
perfect body –and he'd masturbated to the thought much more often than he'd
ever want to admit-. One could even say he had fallen in lust with his blond
friend, and it felt wrong to desire someone so damned much when his heart ached
for someone else.
He shook those thoughts out of his head too. He'd promised himself not to think
about Tetsu, at least not when he was with Kise. He knew it didn't really
change the situation, but it was the least he could do as a form of
consideration towards Kise's feelings. A part of his brain had started to nag
at him, telling him this whole 'friends with benefits' thing had been a
terrible idea and a cruel thing to do when he was so aware of how Kise felt,
demanding that he ended this before he hurt his friend further, but another
part of him couldn't help but enjoy how this had turned out. Because going out
and doing stuff as 'friends' was nice and fun, but sneaking the occasional kiss
here and there, and touching each other, having sex, and waking up to feel the
heat of another body embracing his, he liked all that. And he knew it was
selfish, but he wasn't ready to give up that warmth and comfort yet.
His thoughts were interrupted when the familiar ball of yellow energy jogged
back into his field of vision carrying two plastic containers and plopped down
on the bench next to him, handing him one of the containers. Aomine looked down
to find the expected okonomiyaki topped with a strangely-shaped blob of
mayonnaise. He quirked an eyebrow.
"What's up with the mayo?"
Kise was already chewing on his own food –he'd bought an order of spicy
yakisoba- and he rushed to swallow the bite in his mouth to reply.
"It's a Pikachu of course. I drew it for you, you should be grateful." The
blond grinned playfully before slurping on more noodles.
Aomine looked down at the mayonnaise blob. If he squinted and really put his
imagination to it, he could almost make out the shape.
It was the ugliest Pikachu he had ever seen, and that made Kise's satisfied
grin too unfairly cute.
===============================================================================
If a few hours ago, Aomine had been certain to have a lifetime's worth of
Pikachu nightmares, now that the festival was over he had no doubts that the
yellow rat was permanently imprinted on his eyeballs.
"Thanks for coming with me, Aominecchi, I had a lot of fun." Kise was saying;
his face had been stuck on a shit-eating grin for the last three hours.
The sun was starting to set in the horizon, but Aomine felt a sense of dread
when he thought of parting. There was something strange… special about today,
and he feared he would lose it once they went their separate ways. He looked
down at their intertwined hands, not really sure of when they'd laced their
fingers together, but it felt as if they had been like this forever.
"Hey, uhm… y'know it's still kinda early so… I mean if there's anything else
you wanna' do…" he trailed off, his dark eyes finding something very
interesting on the pavement so he wouldn't have to look at Kise's face.
The blond model stopped in his tracks and turned back to look at him, and
Aomine was grateful for being able to stare at the pavement so intently because
he was sure he was blushing beyond what his pride would deem acceptable.
Kise seemed to think about it for a moment and finally clasped both hands
around Aomine's and tugged at him energetically.
"Let's go to Karaoke then!"
Aomine instantly regretted he ever asked.
===============================================================================
After much struggling, reluctance and negotiation, Aomine had somehow allowed
himself to be dragged to Kise's favorite Karaoke place. He wanted to slap
himself for not foreseeing this would happen, karaoke was Kise's favorite thing
to do, second only to basketball and talking about himself. During their second
year at Teikou, he would invite everyone to karaoke with relative frequency.
Satsuki would usually be the only one to go with him, although Murasakibara
would humor him occasionally on the promise of snacks, and he'd heard that
Akashi, Midorima and Kuroko had all somehow gotten dragged to it once and had
apparently come out traumatized from the experience. He had somehow managed to
avoid it back then, and now he'd fallen straight into the predator's lair.
Since it was only the two of them (what kind of karaoke party could work with
just two people, Aomine didn't know), Kise paid for a small room, and
practically skipped down the hallway that led to it, tugging on Aomine's sleeve
to make sure he didn't run away.
"I've always wanted to come to Karaoke with Aominecchi!" he chirped gleefully
as they entered the room, and Aomine had to sigh in defeat.
They sat relatively close to each other, and Kise jumped for the controller
right away, browsing through the songs with an excited glint in his eyes.
"What do you want to sing?"
Aomine frowned. "Nothing."
Kise frowned back at him. "What's the point of coming to Karaoke if you don't
sing? If I wanted to hear myself sing for two hours I'd do it in the shower."
"First, that's a ton of bull, you love listening to yourself, and second, I
already told you I'm not really into this kind of thing."
Kise pursed his lips in an angry pout. "Gee, and here I was getting worried
that Aominecchi was being too nice today and that this may not be the real
Aominecchi, but I see my worries were unfounded."
"Oi, what's that even supposed to mean?"
Kise stuck out his tongue, the frown never leaving his face. "Aominecchi is so
mean." He mumbled as he went back to browse through the song list.
Aomine sighed in defeat once again. He'd decided to humor Kise today, and it
was only his own desire to spend a little more time with his friend that had
landed him in this situation anyway, the least he could do was try not to spoil
the good mood they'd been building all day.
"Alright, I'll sing something, but you have to go first and set the mood or
whatever."
Kise beamed at him and exclaimed a high-pitched "Yay!" before grabbing the
microphone and passing the controller and a tambourine over to Aomine, who took
them begrudgingly. An upbeat tune started coming from the speakers and the
screen changed to show a group of girls in school uniforms dancing to the beat.
The melody was fairly familiar to Aomine, but he didn't listen to enough pop
crap to accurately point out what it was. He glanced sideways at Kise, who was
bobbing his head to the music and had closed his eyes in concentration.
"C'mon Aominecchi, have you never been to karaoke? What do you think that
tambourine is for?" he asked, cracking one eye open to look at Aomine.
He groaned, but finally caved in and started twisting his wrist and hitting the
tambourine with his other hand, just enough to make it ring, half-heartedly
following the rhythm. After a never-ending introduction, lyrics finally popped
up on the screen. Kise opened his eyes, that were sparkling with excitement,
and started singing.
Aomine realized he had never heard Kise singing. Sure the guy used to hum
shitty pop music in the locker room, but Aomine had never paid much attention
to it. He'd imagined he was a terrible singer, since everyone who had ever come
with him to karaoke had never wanted to talk about the experience. But that was
absolutely not the case. Aomine may not be a qualified judge when it came to
singing, but there was no doubt that Kise's voice was beautiful. Although the
song would've been better fit for a high-pitched female voice, Kise made it
work somehow. His voice was smooth, neither too high, nor too low, and it felt
completely different to his regular speaking voice. He caught all the notes
without wavering or going off-tune. Aomine briefly thought that, even if Kise
wasn't as devastatingly handsome as he was, he could've still made it as an
idol with that voice.
It also occurred to him that Kise looked particularly beautiful when singing.
His eyes were sparkling and the smile on his lips was joyful and genuine. His
body was relaxed and his face was literally glowing. He seemed to be completely
in his element. In this precise moment, it was as if Kise belonged as perfectly
in the karaoke booth as he did in the basketball court. His love and passion
for this was evident, probably even someone who didn't know him as well as
Aomine did could've noticed. Aomine found himself upping the tempo of the
tambourine slightly, to better match the volume and beat of Kise's voice.
Aomine remained in a sort of daze for almost half a minute after the song was
over. He hadn't been able to tear his eyes off Kise's singing face for the
entire three minutes that the song lasted, and he had to really fight the urge
to ask him to sing again.
"How was that, Aominecchi? Impressed by my karaoke skills already?" Kise asked
with a cheeky grin.
"Y-yeah, actually. I didn't know you were this good."
Kise was apparently taken aback by Aomine's unfiltered sincerity. He clearly
hadn't expected to receive a compliment. His golden eyes flickered slightly and
he looked away to hide the deep red blush that had blossomed on his pale
cheeks.
"J-j-jeez Aominecchi. You can't just say something like t-t-that upfront, it's
not like you."
Aomine grinned. Although he was a bit embarrassed for allowing his true opinion
to slip past his mouth, he figured it was worth it if it made Kise this
flustered. It wasn't often that he got to see Kise lose his overconfident
façade, and he wasn't going to lie and say it wasn't kind of cute.
"A-anyway, I've done my part and set the mood, now it's Aominecchi's turn."
Kise said, passing him the microphone and snatching the tambourine away. "I'm
gonna' teach you how to properly play the background too, you're terrible."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Aomine groaned, fumbling a little with the microphone
and trying to quiet down the thrumming of his heart. He'd half-heartedly picked
a rock song that he knew the lyrics to, but in truth he'd never actually tried
singing out loud. He could sort of rasp some lines from his favorite songs, but
the kind of music he liked was more about screaming than smooth singing. He had
no sense of tune or voice control, he was no doubt going to fly way off-key at
some point. Kise was so definitely going to laugh at him, and that thought
mortified him more than he'd ever want to admit.
Loud drums and the sound of the bass were a stark contrast to the upbeat tune
of Kise's song. The screen also changed to show footage of what seemed a high
school romance movie, with a boy glancing longingly at a girl. Aomine frowned,
that had nothing to do with the song he had chosen. Who picked the backgrounds
for these things anyway? He tapped the floor with one foot, trying to distract
his mind from Kise's bright grin and his overly-enthusiastic use of the
tambourine.
He started singing when the lyrics appeared on screen. His voice came out
rough, raspy even, closer to a long growl than any sort of melody. He cleared
his throat and tried again, feeling his cheeks heating up in embarrassment. His
second attempt was a little better, although he went terribly off-key from time
to time and his voice quivered out of control, he managed to do something
similar to singing. He couldn't really say he was enjoying the experience,
though, too caught up on feeling self-conscious about Kise's inevitably
upcoming mockery to really let go.
A sudden surge of panic coursed through him and he quickly glanced sideways.
What if Kise decided to make a video of his terrible performance and share it
with everyone? They would never let him live it down. The terrible decision of
wanting to spend more time with Kise would be the end of his reputation. Even
Sakurai would make fun of him. His life was officially over.
To his surprise, though, Kise wasn't making a video. Instead, his golden eyes
were fixed on Aomine, sparkling happily as he shook the tambourine with
enthusiasm. He was laughing too, but not a mocking kind of laughter, rather a
genuinely joyous one. He seemed to be as exhilarated watching Aomine sing as he
had been when he was singing. And maybe it was the background music, or the
fact that he now knew how beautiful Kise's singing voice was, but his clear
laughter sounded oddly melodious, almost as if it were made of pure music. It
made Aomine's heart hum and his ears tingle pleasantly. Had Kise's laughter
always been so nice to listen to? He kind of wanted to shut down the music and
his own terrible singing to get an unfiltered version of the sound.
When his own song ended, he realized the kind of train of thought he'd been
caught in, and felt horribly ashamed, although he wasn't sure why. His face
felt like it was on fire, and he was grateful for the dim light in their booth,
because it would make the red on his cheeks harder to notice. He shook his head
as he gave the microphone back. This was likely just another facet of his
bizarre lust for Kise. If he was so attracted by his body, by everything that
comprised the physicality of Kise Ryouta, it stood to reason that he'd find his
voice hot too. Especially when he'd heard Kise moan his name in the throes of
passion with the same voice that could produce the most annoying squeals, but
also the smoothest songs and the most melodious laughter.
Kise grinned at him brightly. "Aominecchi's a lot better than I expected! Still
can't measure up to me, but it's a good start." He giggled, his pale cheeks
lighting up in a faint pink.
Aomine rolled his eyes and groaned. "You won't hurt my feelings if you say it
sucked, you know?"
Kise beamed, his smile even brighter than before, if that was possible. "I
wasn't lying! It was fun!"
Aomine groaned again and raised his hands in defeat. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you
say, your turn pretty boy."
Kise blushed sheepishly and scratched his cheek before choosing a new song.
This time he picked a rock song from one of Aomine's favorite bands, and he
even nailed the difficult rap portion without batting an eyelid. Aomine decided
Kise looked hot holding a microphone. Today was a no-go for sex –they both had
school tomorrow-, but maybe they could settle a date for their next encounter.
Aomine really hoped so, because his eyes were being drawn more and more often
to Kise's perfect buttocks, the smoothness of his skin, the sparkle on his
eyes, the delicate curve of his lips, and he really wished he could be more
ashamed of himself than he actually was.
The next song was also Kise's, it was another pop upbeat crap that Aomine had
never heard before, but Kise seemed very hyped about it, and he even danced and
did a little choreography during the chorus. It was equal parts cute and
stupid. By the time his turn came again, he was quite in the mood to make a
sorry spectacle of himself, especially if that meant he was going to hear Kise
laughing again. Once again, his performance was terrible in every possible way,
even worse than the previous one since he'd gone really off-key at some point
and his voice had gone weird and ridiculous. Kise had laughed so hard Aomine
had wanted to slap him or make a recording, he wasn't really sure, so he just
shoved the microphone back to Kise's hands.
This time, the song was a ballad. It was somewhat familiar, he remembered
listening to it a lot during Teikou. It was apparently part of some popular TV
show and it was playing in every radio station back then. He put the tambourine
aside, figuring he wouldn't be needing it for this song. It was originally sung
by a female, and the screen with the lyrics showed a girl crying under the
rain, but somehow, Kise's voice seemed to fit it perfectly too. Because the
music was slow, Aomine could actually focus on the lyrics. The singer was
speaking to the person they loved, but who didn't love them back; a person who
was kind and thoughtful, someone the singer could rely on. Yet, their kindness
only made the singer sadder about their unrequited feelings, and they had to
constantly put up a mask so their loved one wouldn't know how much they were
hurting. It was a very sad song, in which the singer resigned themselves to
never have their feelings reciprocated. It made Aomine's chest clench
painfully.
Aomine's gaze was fixed on Kise, who seemed to be pouring his heart into the
song. His voice wavered slightly and his eyes seemed watery. Kise's rendition
of this song made him lose his breath and he started to notice his eyes growing
blurry. When the song reached its climax, Kise closed his eyes and clutched his
chest, as if he could feel physical pain, as if the feelings expressed in the
song where his own. Aomine paused at that thought. Could he possibly…? But why
would he…?
Before he could gather his thoughts, the song was over. Kise put the microphone
down and bit on his lower lip, his eyes unmistakably sparkling with tears that
he seemed to be fighting back with all his might.
"I… I'm going to the bathroom, choose your next song in the meantime." He said
in a rush before bolting out the door.
Aomine had to debate himself over whether to follow him or not, but decided
against it. It really wasn't his place, and he thought it would be hypocritical
to try to comfort him when it was his inability to reciprocate Kise's feelings
that had caused this. For a moment, he wished he could've fallen in love with
Kise back in Teikou. Kise loved him, had loved him for all this time. They were
also such a great match. Kise was one of the few who could force him to play
with his full strength, who would put up a challenge and make him sweat on the
court. He was also extremely pretty, had a very hot body and knew exactly how
to use it. And they got along so well, they always had fun when they were
together. Why had he fallen in love with Tetsu whose heart was already someone
else's? Why couldn't he love Kise so both of them could be happy?
===============================================================================
Kise slammed his head on one of the bathroom stool's doors, hating himself as
tears poured freely down his cheeks. How stupid. Why had he thought of that
song? It was the song that reminded him of Aomine and his hopeless one-sided
love. Ever since he'd first heard it –when his sisters were watching the drama
where it was featured- he'd thought how much it reminded him of his tight
friendship with Aomine, and how it would never become anything more than that.
He hated himself for choosing that song. They'd had such a nice, relaxed mood
going throughout the day and he just had to ruin it with his heartbreak. He'd
thought he'd be okay. He really loved that song and it had never made him cry
before (maybe a couple of times, long before he had resigned himself to the
hopelessness of his feelings, when he still wanted to believe Aominecchi would
eventually love him back). Maybe having the man himself watching him, listening
to the song had given it an extra effect and made the reality of the situation
even more painful than it was. It also didn't help that the lyrics were even
more fitting for their current relationship than before.
He chewed on his lip and took a deep breath to steel himself up. This wasn't
going to ruin the perfect day he'd had with Aominecchi. He'd brush it off as if
nothing had happened and they would finish their little karaoke adventure and
take good memories of it with them. He rubbed his face and dried away his tears
before he touched up his make-up. Aomine would never know he'd been crying and
everything would go back to normal.
===============================================================================
Kise came back to the booth a few minutes later. Aomine had already chosen a
song, his favorite one, hoping it would lighten up the mood.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked when Kise came through the door, his casual,
sort of fake smile plastered on his face. Aomine didn't like that expression on
Kise.
"Yeah, I just got really emotional! I used to watch the drama where that song
appeared and they always used it for the saddest moments." Kise assured him
waving his hands dismissively and sitting down to pick up the tambourine.
Aomine didn't miss the light redness in the corners of Kise's eyes. It was
barely there, Kise had clearly done a meticulous job hiding any traces of
crying, but it was there nonetheless. Aomine wasn't sure anyone but him
would've ever noticed them.
"It's nothing, really." Kise reiterated when he caught Aomine's concerned gaze.
Aomine looked away, focusing his attention on the screen. The thought that
their recent interaction perfectly echoed a portion of the song crossed his
mind briefly, and his chest tightened with guilt. He brushed the thought aside,
knowing nothing good would come from it and instead began singing, as terrible
as ever. He glanced sideways and found that Kise was back to laughing heartily,
the smile reaching his golden eyes. The fact that he could put such a radiant
smile on Kise's face was a sort of consolation for Aomine, not that he'd ever
say it.
===============================================================================
After three hours of karaoke and both of their throats becoming soar, they made
the walk back to the station where Aomine would take the train back to Tokyo.
At some point of their walk they had laced their hands, and Aomine couldn't
bring himself to be bothered by it. The night was chilly and Kise's fingers
were warm, and that was enough for him.
Kise kept yapping all the way, recalling all the funny moments –mostly of
Aomine going off-key-, or the times when he'd shown off his best singing
qualities, and especially how much fun he'd had when he'd convinced Aomine to
sing in duet.
"I'm sure Aominecchi's now thoroughly impressed by my karaoke skills."
Aomine chuckled. "Yeah, I actually am." He admitted, his heart feeling light in
his chest.
Kise beamed, squeezing Aomine's fingers. "Well, it was my long awaited karaoke
date with Aominecchi, I gave it my all." They bumped their shoulders together
and continued walking, with Kise never actually shutting up, but that was fine.
Aomine had to concede that he'd actually had a lot of fun. He no longer
regretted he'd asked to spend a little more time with Kise today. Sure, things
had gotten a little bit awkward at some point, but they'd somehow managed to
rescue de evening and enjoy themselves. It had been a good idea after all.
Kise was the first to let go of Aomine's hand once they reached the station.
Aomine didn't miss the reluctance in the motion, and his own hand almost chased
after the other's warmth instinctively. Kise tucked his hands away in his
pockets and smiled giddily.
"Well, thanks for coming with me today Aominecchi! It was a lot of fun!"
Aomine smiled. "Yeah I… it wasn't too bad anyway."
Kise snickered as if he could see right through Aomine's disinterested façade,
and he probably could. Kise did know him better than anyone after all. Kise
knew of all his flaws, had seen him at his worst, had actually suffered from
it. Aomine regretfully remembered how poorly he'd treated Kise during their
game in the Inter-High, how he'd openly mocked him for being weak. In spite of
all that, Kise still loved him. The thought made Aomine's chest clench
painfully once again.
"Uhm, by the way…" he began, feeling suddenly ashamed of what he wanted to ask.
"Is your foot better now?"
Kise flashed his million-watt smile at him and nodded. "Yeah, the physician has
even allowed me to take regular practice for the past two weeks."
"Oh, that's great." Aomine replied, ruffling his own hair nervously. It was a
relief to know Kise would actually be able to play again, because Aomine was
dying to face him on the court once more. "I was just thinking we could like…
play a one-on-one or something. My folks won't be home next weekend, you could
crash at my place afterwards…" the implicit message in the suggestion was
glaringly obvious, and Aomine had to look away, hoping Kise wouldn't notice how
much he was blushing.
Kise looked a little surprised by the proposal, but he smiled nonetheless and
nodded again. "Sure! I didn't know Aominecchi was so eager to get his ass
kicked." he giggled "Just know I won't be holding back at all, I have to get my
revenge for the Inter-High."
Aomine chuckled and he quirked an eyebrow, the simple motion almost a dare in
itself. "Say who's gonna' kick whose ass?"
"Me, yours, of course. The only one who can beat Aominecchi's Aominecchi after
all. Oh, and Kagamicchi. And I can become both." He grinned confidently,
winking.
Aomine had to admit that Kise's Perfect Copy was one fearsome ability and that
he wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to stop him when the time came, but that
was what made the challenge so exciting.
"We'll see about that." He quipped, a cocky smile playing on his lips.
"Aominecchi should hurry and grab his train already, you've obviously exhausted
your brain's ability to deliver snarky replies."
Aomine was about to snap back, but when he looked at his phone he realized his
train would be in the platform shortly. Although he wasn't happy with letting
Kise have the last word, he didn't want to miss the train either. Just as he
was about to surrender, an idea lit up in his mind, and he smirked devilishly.
"Fine, whatever you say, I'll see you on Saturday." He drawled, but before he
turned around to enter the station, he grabbed Kise's shoulder and leaned in to
kiss him short and quick, and a little bit rough on the mouth. When he stepped
back, Kise's pale face was flushed beet red up to the tips of his ears. He
smiled, satisfied.
"See? I don't even need any smart words to win." He said, and he waved good-bye
as he walked through the gates and into the platform, stealing one last quick
glance at Kise and his dumbfounded expression.
The moment he hopped on the train his phone buzzed with a new message from
Kise.
Kise: Aominecchi you meanie! (╬⓪益⓪)
Kise: How dare you! (╬ﾟ◥益◤ﾟ) ╬ﾟ
Kise: I'm gonna' kick your sorry ass! ‾͟͟͞(((ꎤ ✧曲✧)̂—̳͟͞͞o
Kise: Kick. your. ass ヽ(#ﾟДﾟ)ﾉ┌┛Σ(ノ´Д`)ノ
Aomine laughed.
Chapter End Notes
     I can't believe I found a "kick your ass" emoji, but it's the most
     amazing thing ever, imho.
     The Pikachu Invasion is a real event that takes place in Minato Mirai
     in Yokohama, they've been doing it for the last two years. The event
     actually takes place in August, while this chapter happens in late
     March, but I just wanted an excuse to drag Aomine's sorry ass to
     Kanagawa so Kise could take him to his favorite karaoke place.
     I didn't really think of which songs they're singing in the karaoke,
     choose whatever you think is fitting. For the ballad I was thinking
     of Flavor of Life by Utada Hikaru, which was featured in the second
     season of the Hana Yori Dango drama some ten years ago (although
     Planetarium worked better for the dramatic scenes, but the lyrics
     didn't match this situation.)
     I hope you guys are enjoying this. Thanks everyone that's commented,
     I appreciate them a lot and I'm happy to know people like this. I
     also wanted to let you know that this is as far as I had written, so
     further updates may take a little longer, but I do have the rest of
     the story outlined and half of next chapter written, so hopefully it
     won't take that long.
     See you next time! Please let me know what you think of it!
***** How you look at me *****
Chapter Summary
     "Aominecchi looks very hungry for dessert" Kise chirped, trying to
     sound teasing, but his voice had no edge to it
     "And what if I am."
Chapter Notes
     Every time Pure!mine blushes, a puppy is born.
     Many puppies are born this chapter
See the end of the chapter for more notes
When Aomine arrived in the basketball court where they'd agreed to meet, Kise
was already waiting. He was wearing regular sports clothing: a loose red t-
shirt and faded black shorts. For once, Aomine didn't feel underdressed. Kise
wasn't facing him when he stepped on the court, instead he was looking in the
opposite direction, doing some warm-up stretches. The one he was currently
engaged in involved being completely bent over, giving Aomine a front-row sight
of his perky buttocks and his strained, taut calves, which Aomine had never
stopped to observe before, something he now deeply regretted.
Aomine was about to call out to Kise when the other boy rose back to his feet
and started stretching his arms above his head and rolling his shoulders to
loosen them up. Aomine saw the perfect opportunity to give in to his primal
idiot instincts and, without thinking it too hard, he threw the basketball he'd
brought from home straight to the back of Kise's head. The ball connected with
a satisfying thump and Kise yelped, turning around enraged. His expression
softened as soon as his golden eyes met Aomine's blues.
"MEAN AOMINECCHI!"
Aomine laughed and picked up the ball to spin it on his index fingers.
"What?" he shrugged dismissively. "I was just reminiscing the time we first
met." He said with a teasing voice.
To his surprise, Kise's cheeks grew a little bit red and he looked away,
pouting. "Aominecchi's the meanest." He mumbled.
Aomine was about to slap himself for his lack of sensitivity, and apologize,
but before he could do that, Kise swatted the basketball away from him,
dribbled towards the net and took a shooting stance.
"If Aominecchi's not gonna' be taking this seriously tell me already so I don't
waste my time." He said, almost spitefully.
Aomine frowned. There'd be time to apologize later.
"As if I could take the luxury of not being serious with you." He said, already
standing in front of Kise.
Kise shot the ball and Aomine was able to graze it with the tips of his
fingers, but it wasn't enough to deviate its course and it fell down the net
cleanly. He groaned. "See?" he remarked, jogging to fetch the ball.
Kise seemed slightly satisfied by this, but he still pouted. "You've never used
the Zone on me, and I have used Perfect Copy against you".
Aomine started dribbling past the inner court, where Kise was waiting to block
him. "Haah? That time hardly counts, the only one you could copy was me, and
not even for a long time."
"So? The only one who can beat Aominecchi is Aominecchi, right? That should've
been enough."
Kise snatched the ball before Aomine could pass the half court. Before he could
take three steps, though, Aomine caught up to him and stole it back, a
satisfied grin growing on his lips. Taking advantage of Kise's confusion, he
dribbled to the opposite side of the court and dunked the ball down the net.
"Liste to me, Kise." He began, his smirk growing smug. "I always play you
seriously. But I'm not gonna' use the Zone for this, so give it a rest." Not
today at least. Perhaps some other time.
Kise blushed a little and his golden eyes seemed to brighten, apparently
pleased with Aomine's little admission. Aomine decided it had been a good idea
to at least let Kise know that –because it was true- in compensation for
messing the mood earlier.
"Fine, but if Aominecchi won't use the Zone, I won't use Perfect Copy either."
Aomine felt a little relieved to hear that. Partly because he didn't want Kise
to injure himself when he was just healed –that was the whole reason he wasn't
using the Zone-,and partly because he wasn't sure he could actually face Kise's
Perfect Copy and come out unscathed. Not that he'd ever admit to that.
===============================================================================
Four games later, Kise was ready to collapse. He was exhausted, even if they'd
been playing for less than an hour. He had trouble breathing and his heart was
thundering in his chest so hard he thought his ribs might burst. All his
muscles screamed in pain and he felt sweat tricking down his forehead, his
chest, his legs. His clothes were drenched and sticky and gross. And yet he had
never felt so alive. That's how it ought to be when playing Aomine:
challenging, exhilarating. He couldn't even afford to blink if he wanted a
chance to win. And he'd won, two out of their four "whoever makes five baskets
first wins" matches. And both times, when sinking the final point, he'd felt
his heart soar and a loud, incontrollable roar surging from his lungs.
And yet, that lingering admiration kept nagging at the back of his head. The
Aomine that had made him love basketball, the man whose beautiful form he'd
been trying to imitate for three years, how could someone like that lose? When
it first happened, back in the Winter Cup, Kise couldn't believe what he was
seeing. He wasn't even sure if he was glad that Aomine had finally found the
worthy challenge he had been seeking for so long, or saddened to see him lose.
And after all these months, after all that training, a small part of Kise still
didn't want to see Aomine defeated, still wanted to see him in his full,
unconquered glory.
"Getting tired, pretty boy?"
Kise sneered, dribbling the ball calmly. The score was 3-2 in Aomine's favor.
He breathed heavily.
"You're not looking so fresh either, handsome."
The last comment was a freudian slip. He tried to act naturally, but it wasn't
easy when Aomine was looking so painfully desirable right now. Panting heavily,
sweating, his muscles flexed and hardened and the veins in his strong arms
popping out, his brow furrowed, the angles of his face looked sharper. A
fleeting moment of distraction had him following a single drop of sweat sliding
down Aomine's bicep, the droplet glistening against the dark skin. Kise wanted
to lick it.
"I did say you're always a pain in the ass." Aomine replied, apparently unfazed
by Kise's slip.
"That's quite an interesting choice of words, isn't it, Aominecchi?" Kise
teased, licking his lips suggestively.
Aomine blushed and his stance became stiff for a split second, enough for Kise
to break away from the defense and dunk the ball down the net, evening out the
score.
When Aomine caught up with him and mumbled "that was dirty", Kise winked at him
and returned a playful "If you can't handle this level of dirty, what are you
gonna do when we get to your place?" before turning away to hide his own blush.
Teasing Aomine was amazing, especially because he got to see the cutest blushes
on those dark cheeks, but saying such things with a straight face was
incredibly hard for him too, and he wouldn't hear the end of it if Aominecchi
found out. It was a double-edged game, yet Kise couldn't resist the temptation.
"I'm gonna teach you real 'dirty' later." Aomine promised, the corner of his
lips twitching upwards. "You better not chicken out then, pretty boy."
Kise felt his knees tremble.
===============================================================================
Aomine shot the ball and didn't even wait to make sure it fell down the net –he
knew it would- before letting himself fall on his back against the court's
concrete, his breathing labored and his heart thrumming loudly in his chest.
His muscles were sore and throbbing, and he was sure he would not be able to
lift a single finger to save his life. A few beats later he felt the satisfying
'swoosh' of the ball going down the net and he grinned, pleased with himself.
He felt so alive right now, more than he'd felt in a really long time.
"Oi, what's up Aominecchi? Tired already?" Kise appeared in his field of
vision, still standing upright and towering over him, his hands on his hips.
"You bet I am! We played seventeen games!"
Kise grinned "It's my win then!" he announced, clapping.
Aomine cocked his brow. "Huh? Are you dumb? That last game was 3-2, it
means I won!"
Kise frowned and bent over so his face was parallel to Aomine's. "That's right,
3-2! The winner's the one that scored FIVE baskets first, not three. If you
bail out midgame, it's your loss by forfeit!"
"Like hell it is! I would've won if we'd kept playing, of course it's my win!"
"How can you be so sure of that? I won eight times! I would've turned it
around!"
"I won eight times too! I wouldn't have let you turn it around!"
Kise huffed and rolled his eyes. His golden bangs were cascading down and
dripping with sweat. From this position, Aomine could catch all the smooth
angles of Kise's pretty face. His hair caught the light of the sun and
accentuated all of his best features beautifully: the sharp corners of his
eyes, his strong cheekbones, the elegant curve of his nose, his full rosy lips…
It was no wonder that such a beautiful guy would be a popular model, Aomine
thought, of course everyone would want to have that gorgeous face selling their
products.
"You can't even move, I could score three baskets now and you wouldn't be able
to stop me."
"I so would. But you can't because the game's over and I won."
He reckoned at this point he was just trying to get under Kise's skin, but it
was too funny to watch his lower lip poking out in an unhappy pout. Annoying
Kise was too tempting.
"Aominecchi's the worst! You're a terrible, terrible loser! I'm never playing
one-on-one with you again! And I'm leaving you there and going back home, I
don't care if you can't move!"
Aomine laughed, which only served to further annoy Kise, who straightened his
back and stuck out his tongue at him.
"Awww, c'mon Kise, don't be like that! C'mere, I'll tell you a secret."
Kise raised an eyebrow, obviously not buying Aomine's bullshit, but he
insisted.
"C'mon, I'll even let you say you beat me, just hear me out."
Kise huffed and kneeled beside him, resignation drawn on his face, although his
expression also seemed to be saying he was absolutely expecting to hear
something really, really stupid.
"Come closer, it's a secret, no one else can hear it."
Kise looked so hilariously unamused, it was all Aomine could do not to laugh.
In spite of his suspicions, Kise still leaned closer, his face now inches away
from Aomine's. The color gold flooded his vision. Locks of hair as bright as
sunlight tickled his cheeks, his chin and his forehead. A drop of sweat leaked
from the tip of Kise's chin and on Daiki's cheek, but he didn't really mind.
Aomine lifted his right hand and cupped Kise's cheek, his long fingers tangling
with the blond hair on the back of his head. Every muscle in his arm screamed
in pain, but Aomine ignored it.
"Closer." He whispered one last time before pulling Kise down so he could
snatch a quick, hungry kiss from those sweet lips. After breaking the kiss, his
lips moved closer to Kise's ear and he whispered "I like playing you the most."
He couldn't stand holding his arm in an upright position any longer, so he let
it fall at his side and watched with a wide grin how a bright red color crept
up Kise's neck and on to his face, his cheeks and even the tips of his ears.
Kise turned his face away with a huff and muttered. "Aominecchi 's the
meanest." He grabbed Aomine's wrist and pulled him along as he got back on his
feet.
Since their last encounter, Aomine had noticed how much he enjoyed watching the
wide range of emotions Kise displayed on a regular basis: from the way he
pouted when he was unhappy, to how he rolled his eyes when he was annoyed, or
how he blushed and frowned when he was embarrassed, and how he smiled and his
whole face seemed to glow when he was happy, and how his eyes sparkled when he
laughed. And now he took it upon himself to stir such reactions as much as he
could. And making Kise annoyed or frustrated just happened to be incredibly
easy.
"Let's go back to your place, I'm starving. Since Aominecchi lost, he has to
buy me dinner."
"Gee, alright, alright, just don't blame me if those tight pants of yours stop
fitting."
"AOMINECCHI I'M GONNA DROP YOU IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD AND WAIT FOR A CAR TO
RUN YOU OVER!"
Aomine laughed.
===============================================================================
As soon as they stepped into Aomine's house, they both collapsed on the floor.
"I'm never again carrying your heavy ass anywhere!" Kise declared with an
exhausted sigh as he kicked off his shoes and plopped backwards on the wooden
floor.
Aomine snickered. "Well it's the least you could do after I graciously conceded
you a victory." He teased and laughed when Kise smacked his chest.
"You are so buying me something nice for dinner, Ahominecchi!" he squeaked
angrily and pushed himself back to his feet. "Get up, there's an Indian place
not far away and they do home delivery."
Aomine groaned. "Oi, cut me some slack, you're the one that has a job." He
protested, as he forced his screaming muscles to move.
"I told you before, I'm taking a break from modeling, I haven't had a shoot
since the last time I came here." Kise replied, browsing through his phone,
probably looking for the contact info on that Indian place he wanted to eat
from.
"Huuh? And why's that?" Aomine asked, internally displeased by the news. Of
course Kise would stop modeling now that he'd grown to appreciate looking at
his body. Maybe he could go to a recycling shop and see if they had any old
magazine where he appeared.
"I wanna focus on basketball. From the beginning I wasn't that into the model
thing, it was just easy cash. But I prefer kicking Aominecchi's ass over
getting extra money." He replied with a cheeky grin as he helped himself to
Aomine's phone and dialed a number. "And I don't have money now because the
payment from that last shoot will come in May." He added.
"May? Why? Isn't it supposed to be bad to take jobs without getting paid
first?"
"I told my agency I was taking a break, but the magazine absolutely wanted me
for their Spring cover so they pushed forward the photoshoot and even gave me a
two-page spread and an interview; they wanted to get the "exclusive" about my
retirement. They gave me half of the payment, but if the magazine sells over
10,000 copies in its first week they'll give me an extra bonus, isn't that
nice?"
Aomine hummed. So if he waited until May he could get a magazine with Kise's
photos. May was still more than a month away though. It'd been little over two
months since they started with this bizarre relationship, but one more month
felt like a long time. Would they still be doing this by then? He knew Kise had
had girlfriends in the past, and some of those relationships had lasted less
than two weeks. It wouldn't be strange if they ended whatever this was before
May. He didn't want to think about that, though. He liked this. He had fun with
this. And Kise seemed happy too. There was no reason to end it, right?
"In that case you should've kept the money, cos you're a hundred years early to
beat me." He said, leaning over Kise's shoulder to look at the restaurant's
menu.
Kise jabbed his ribs with his elbow and shot him a dirty look. "Yes, I would
like to order one Menu 3, please?" he said in his typical model voice to the
phone, then mouthed "Sore loser" at Aomine. "Yes, all the extras in. And we'll
also have one Menu 5? Minus the Karela Sabzi, that's the one with goya melon,
right?" a pause. "Yeah, without that one."
Aomine quirked an eyebrow. Although he wasn't too pleased with Kise ordering
for him, he was surprised to hear that he actually knew about Aomine's dislike
for goya. If he knew that much, he could trust him to pick something he liked,
right? How'd Kise know so much about him anyway? Was it because he loved him?
He scratched his head. What was Kise's favorite food? And Tetsu's? Tetsu liked
those disgustingly sweet vanilla milkshakes from MajiBa but was that his
favorite food? And what about the things he disliked? Aomine couldn't think of
one in particular and he hated himself for thinking that maybe Kagami would
know. Yet Kise knew about the things he hated. Kise had once claimed he knew
Aomine better than anyone, but he hadn't taken him seriously back then. Now,
though, he couldn't help but wonder if that had been true, and what it meant.
It meant that Kise observed him, listened to him, paid attention to him and
retained all the information for later use. It meant that Kise cared. It was
just beginning to dawn on him that he may have been taking Kise's love lightly.
His heart twisted painfully in his chest.
"Oi, I'm all sweaty and gross, mind if I borrow your shower while the food gets
here?" Kise asked, pulling him from his thoughts.
He nodded absentmindedly.
Kise started towards the bathroom, untangling himself from Aomine who was still
leaning his chin on his shoulder, which made him lose balance a little. Halfway
down the hallway, Kise turned, a devilish smirk on his lips.
"Care to join me?" he winked.
Aomine almost choked on his own spit. Kise giggled.
"Just kidding, just kidding." Kise swatted his hand playfully, still laughing.
"We're saving the main dish for later, right?" he added with one more
mischievous wink.
===============================================================================
Kise pushed his soaking golden locks away from his eyes to check Aomine's bath
supplies. He frowned at the limited choice of shampoo –just one bottle of
regular stuff that smelled like deodorant and had probably cost 150 yen or
less- and no conditioner. He'd kind of expected Aomine to be a caveman in terms
of personal care, but this was almost ridiculous. He'd have to bring his own
stuff over next time.
Next time. The thought seemed to be a very recurrent one when it came to these
weird not-quite-dates with Aominecchi.
He decided to forego the shampoo for today. Water should suffice to wash out
the sweat, and he didn't want his hair smelling like that. Besides, who knew
what kind of horrible chemicals that thing had? Just because he wasn't modeling
anymore didn't mean he didn't care about his hair, it was his pride and joy!
Once he had rinsed his hair thoroughly, he looked out to find body soap. He
kind of expected Aomine to have the cheapest brand, or worse, one of those
disgusting "masculine odor" soaps. He scrunched his brow when he didn't find
it. Did Aominecchi not use soap at all? Eew.
Before he could yell at Aominecchi for being unsanitary, his eyes found what
they were looking for. Kind of. There was a bar of white soap inside a plastic
cup that also held Aomine's razor. He'd never seen Aomine shaving, never even
noticed if he had some sort of facial hair. Did he? Somehow the thought of
Aominecchi shaving sent a shock of electricity straight to his groin. He cursed
under his breath and focused on the soap. He scrunched his nose. Really?
Neutral soap? In a bar? He might as well wash his clothes with it while he was
at it. This would be terrible for his skin. He couldn't see a sponge either, so
he assumed Aomine rubbed the soap directly on his body, which was gross and
unsanitary and also gave him a hard on.
If he didn't know that he was getting some later, he would've jerked off and
jizzed on the wall out of pure spite towards Aomine. For being a caveman with
insufficient body care products and for making him think of how handsome he'd
look while shaving or how hot it was to hold the bar of soap he rubbed all over
his body. Instead, he decided to forego the soap too (whatever his cock thought
about it, washing his body and face with the same bar of soap that Aomine
probably rubbed on his armpits, his feet and his privates was not sexy) and
turned off the hot water to cool off. A quick, cold shower would be good for
his blood circulation too, and he couldn't really take too long since he didn't
have any real products to go through his usual bath routine. Stupid Aominecchi.
Aomine heard his bathroom door creak open and Kise walked outside, wearing
nothing but the towel wrapped around his waist. His body was emitting vapor and
his golden hair was still sticky with water. A few droplets were gliding down
the expanse of Kise's milky white chest. Aomine swallowed hard.
"Hey, Aominecchi, pass me my bag, I brought some extra clothes just in case."
He chirped, pointing at the equipment bag that he'd thrown on the couch. Aomine
pulled himself out of his daze and passed it to him, his fingers grazing Kises'
as the bag passed from one hand to the other, sending tingles down his spine.
Kise ruffled through the contents of the bag and pulled out a pair of loose
black boxers. He slipped them on in the middle of the hallway, undraped the
towel from around his waist and flung it over his shoulders to catch any
drizzling water from his hair.
"That was fast." Aomine finally said, when his throat decided not to be dry
anymore. "I'd always thought you'd take hours on the shower."
Kise frowned. "I would've, if you had any sort of decent cleaning products.
You're a total savage, Aominecchi, how can you even function in civilization?"
he complained, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "Is the food here yet?"
Aomine nodded. "Wanna' eat on the table or should we watch something in my
room?" he asked, pointing with his thumb at the counter, where the takeout
plastic bag was placed.
Kise giggled, a naughty glint catching his eyes. "Hehe, it seems Aominecchi's
getting hungry in more than one sense."
Aomine's cheeks burned. "I-I-I didn't mean it like that!" he barked, trying to
hide his embarrassment.
With a cheeky wink, Kise turned and started towards the bedroom, his hips
swaying. "I know, I know. Aominecchi's just too pure and easy to tease." Before
Aomine could protest to that too, Kise cocked his head backwards to look him in
the eye. "Let's go to your room, I'd like to get warm and cozy." He added, the
towel still draped across his naked shoulders.
"Oi, are you just gonna walk half-naked all over my house?" Aomine asked. He
was used to seeing Kise shirtless, but maybe it was the knowledge of what they
were going to do later that made it hard to breathe every time his eyes were
caught in the curve of slim milky hips or the sharp edges of chiseled abs.
Kise didn't even stop to reply and waved his hand casually. "Or get my clothes
all sweaty and dirty when you're just gonna take them off later?"
Aomine felt awfully compelled to hide his face in the ground, because no matter
how dark his skin, there was no hiding the burning blush that must be spreading
all over his face and neck. He really needed to grow a thicker skin so Kise
could no longer get to him so easily. He bit his lip and hurried to pick up the
bag with the food in one hand. He trotted to catch up with Kise and slapped his
butt casually.
"I'm gonna be taking these off too and you still put them on." He said, forcing
a smug smirk.
The smirk was returned full force, the twinkle in Kise's eyes growing more
mischievous than before. "If you're this distracted with just my shirt off,
what would've happened if I'd let you see all the merchandise, hm?"
God damn it.
===============================================================================
Kise sighed contentedly. "Ahhh, that place's really the best."
"I'll give you that, it was pretty great."
"There's nothing like a nice bath and delicious food after kicking Aominecchi's
ass. Today might just be the perfect day."
Aomine wanted to retort, but when he turned to look at Kise, he found him
leisurely licking sauce off his fingers, his pink tongue gliding from the base
to the tip of his index, then sucking his thumb into his mouth to clean it off.
Aomine swallowed heavily. He had to be doing it on purpose. No one looked so
hot while licking their fingers if they weren't trying to. After he popped the
thumb out, he swirled his tongue around the tip of his index and sucked it too.
Before he could move on to the middle finger, Aomine grabbed him by the wrist
and pulled the pale hand toward his face. He pulled the middle finger into his
mouth and cleaned it with his tongue, the taste of the spices burning his taste
buds. After letting go of the middle finger he dragged his tongue over Kise's
palm, following the trail of the sauce down to his wrist and his forearm. His
dark eyes were locked with Kise's and ablaze with lust as he sucked on his
pulse, where the last droplets of sauce had fallen.
Kise's cheeks were a warm crimson, his golden eyes wide, following all of
Aomine's moves as if he were entranced.
"A-aominecchi looks very hungry for dessert." He chirped, trying to sound
teasing, but there was no edge to it.
Aomine let go of Kise's wrist, a small red mark on the spot he'd latched to,
pale fingers glistening with saliva. He brought his face as close as he could
to Kise's, close enough to smell the spices in his breathe, his eyes never
breaking from Kise's.
"And what if I am?"
He didn't miss the hitch in Kise's breathing, or how his cheeks grew a brighter
scarlet. His own face was growing warmer with the proximity, but he was
confident that his darker skin would keep his inevitable blush hidden. He
wanted to smirk. Maybe he was finally getting better at reading Kise and
beating him at his teasing game, and it was great. But before he could dwell
too much in that, his eyes found Kise's lips, the bottom sticking out in a
small pout, a small drop of sauce smeared on the corner, and if this wasn't
literal hunger, Aomine didn't know what was, nor did he care as he closed in to
press his lips to Kise's. His hands cupped Kise's blushing cheeks to deepen the
kiss. The moment Kise's lips parted, Aomine's tongue thrust into his mouth and
even if it was rationally gross to be able to taste Kise's last meal inside his
mouth, all he could actually care about was the heat, the wetness, the growing
desire and a sort of thirst he didn't know how to quench. Kise moaned into the
kiss, his hands gripping Aomine's shirt tightly, pulling him closer still if
that was even possible. Aomine groaned and bucked his hips, finding friction in
Kise's crotch, and they groaned in unison. It was just then that he realized
he'd somehow moved from Kise's side to end between Kise's legs, and the thought
made him so self-conscious he had to break the kiss.
Kise panted softly but still managed to pull his lips up in a smirk. "Getting
cold feet, Aominecchi?"
Aomine frowned. His hand found the nape of Kise's neck and pulled him in for an
angry kiss, fishing out a surprised moan out of Kise's mouth.
"Am not." He growled, as they parted for air.
He was about to close in for yet another kiss when a pale hand pushed him by
the chest. "What were you saying about cold feet?" Aomine snarled, his pants
growing frustratingly tight.
"I just wanna make sure before we get all pointlessly heated up, did you
actually buy condoms this time?"
Aomine blushed. "'Course I did! And didn't you bring your own anyway?"
"Well yeah, but they're my size, hell if I know yours!"
Aomine's face was burning at this point. It had never really crossed his mind
how much things like size mattered when it came to sex, at least not until he
sheepishly walked into the pharmacy and had to spend half an hour in the condom
aisle scrutinizing every box to make sure he got one that would fit him. The
fact that the pharmacist gave him a judgmental look that clearly said "You're
too young to be fooling around", hadn't helped at all.
"W-w-well whatever, I did buy them, so it doesn't matter. And just so you know
I also did some… research about… this. I-I… got some l-l-l-lube too." He hated
himself. He hated Kise. He hated this whole stupid thing. Kise was totally
going to make fun of him for being such an embarrassing quasi-virgin.
As expected, Kise laughed. But he was also blushing, so maybe it wasn't so bad.
"Aominecchi's really cute, being concerned about doing it right and everything.
It's not fair." he giggled, and Aomine wanted to punch him. It was already
embarrassing enough that he'd had to actually Google all that shit (and thank
god for the incognito window on their home PC's browser ), but Kise making fun
of him was too much. He almost regretted going through all that trouble just to
make sure he wouldn't hurt Kise and fuck it all up. "Ah, but I actually brought
my own lube." Kise added, reaching towards the night stand and picking up a
small, transparent bottle. "It's easier to clean up afterwards and it doesn't
smell." Aomine inspected the bottle for a moment. He frowned slightly. It kind
of bothered him that Kise had a lot more experience in this area than him, but
he decided it wasn't the time to overthink it. If Kise preferred this one, he
had no reason to object.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by the feeling of long fingers wrapping
around his dick and stroking it leisurely. An unmanly yelp escaped his lips.
"O-oi, w-w-wha—"
Kise looked up at him, blinking with feigned innocence. "Little Aominecchi
didn't seem too into it, so I thought I'd help." He replied, without even
halting the motions of his hand. Aomine realized he had indeed gone soft after
getting too distracted with thoughts of condoms, lube and embarrassing google
searches about anal sex, but he wasn't gonna stay that for long if Kise kept
dragging his fingers slowly up and down his shaft. He groaned.
"Aominecchi, take off your shirt." Kise instructed as he pulled down his pants
and boxers to let out his hardening cock.
He groaned again when Kise pressed his thumb on the head. "W-why?"
"Aominecchi has a nice body and I like to look at it." He answered simply, and
Aomine wasn't even done pulling his shirt over his head when Kise's lips went
down on his cock.
Daiki yelped and the sound was so embarrassing he covered his mouth with his
hand. Kise chuckled, and the vibrations went straight to Aomine's dick, which
caused him to yelp once more.
"O-o-oi! Stop that! That's not what—f-fuuuck."
Kise pulled back with a smirk. "This is just the first quarter, Aominecchi. We
can't move on to the main event if little Aominecchi isn't at the top of his
game." He pressed his lips to the head and trailed open mouthed kisses all the
way to the base, then dragged his tongue back up and sucked the tip into his
mouth. Aomine made the terrible mistake of looking down to find Kise's golden
eyes fixed on him, clouded with lust and oozing desire, his pale cheeks
blooming crimson, his lips wet and slightly swollen, wrapped around the head of
his cock. He felt a rush of heat and he had to actually shove Kise's head away,
fearing an encore of their previous encounter.
Kise just smirked. "See? Now we're talking." He teased, pressing the tip of his
index finger against the hardened length and grazing the flesh from the base to
the tip.
Aomine looked away, awfully embarrassed. "S-s-so… should I uhm… pre-prepare you
now?" He hated himself for being incapable of saying something so basic without
stuttering. He wanted to appear confident and sure of himself, he didn't want
Kise laughing at him for being an inexperienced virgin again, but he just
couldn't.
Kise sat up and raised an eyebrow. "You don't have to worry about that, I can
do it myself."
He considered the offer for a minute. It was tempting and could save him some
embarrassment but… "Uhm… you know your body best so… if you want to… I just… I,
eh… I wanted to try it." He regretted the words the moment they left his lips.
He'd been reading about this whole thing to be ready, and maybe some of those
texts had been a little suggestive about ways to pleasure your partner during
the process and making it enjoyable for them, and maybe he'd let his
imagination run a little wild and dirty with visions of Kise panting, flushed
red, begging "Pleaaase, Aominecchi… pleaaaaase don't tease..." and maybe he had
messed his boxers a little. No one needed to know about that.
To his surprise, Kise's face grew dark red in an instant, and he hid it behind
his pale hands. "Aominecchi, you're horrible." He whined.
Daiki smirked with satisfaction. He pried Kise's hands away to be able to look
at his flushed face and foggy eyes. "Y'know if you want me to do it, you just
have to say so." Kissing him short and hard, just enough to hear him gasp. He
pushed him down on the bed and tapped his hips to indicate that he should raise
them. When Kise complied, he grabbed a pillow to place it behind the small of
Kise's back for support, then pulled the black boxers down to release Kise's
hard cock, and it twitched slightly when the cool air reached it.
"If it hurts I'm never letting you top again!" Kise protested, still blushing
crimson, but Aomine knew there was no actual threat in those words. He had a
feeling Kise liked switching it up when it came to topping or bottoming. He
reached for Kise's bottle of lube, squirted a generous amount on his palm and
coated his fingers with the slick substance. The feeling was mildly unpleasant,
but he forgot about that when he looked at Kise who had spread his legs and
raised his hips, showing his round buttocks and the pink hole in between.
Too erotic.
He found himself between Kise's legs once again and grabbed his thigh to spread
them further and get a better view of the prize. Hesitantly, he pressed the tip
of his finger to the entrance and started to push inside, entranced by the
sight of his finger disappearing into that hole that felt tight and hot around
him. Kise's breath hitched.
"If-if it hurts you can tell me." He rushed to say, his finger halfway in.
Kise giggled. "It's just one finger, Aominecchi, don't be silly. Unlike some
people I know, I wouldn't let anyone stick something in my ass if I didn't know
I'd enjoy it."
Aomine blushed furiously and looked away. "W-w-well, sorry for trusting you,
asshole."
Kise gasped, and when Aomine turned to look at him, he found he was blushing
and pouting too. "S-s-shut up, just carry on with it." He mumbled, avoiding his
gaze. Apparently, they were both equally embarrassed, which made him feel a lot
more confident about this.
Finally, he pushed his index inside all the way to the base. He started moving
it tentatively, pulling out and back in slowly, not exactly sure of what to do,
just trying to spread the lubricant inside. Kise sighed softly, his breath
picking up its pace just slightly.
"Curl the tip a little" Kise breathed and it took Aomine a moment to understand
what that meant, but once he did, he complied and awed at the satisfied sigh
that left Kise's lips when he did. "Ahh, yes, just like that… I'm ready for
another one." Kise continued, bucking his hips slightly for emphasis.
Seeing how Kise was enjoying it, he felt a little more confident adding the
second finger. Kise's breath hitched once again. He tried curling the tips once
more, and this time, he got a soft moan as a reply. "Feels good…" Kise sighed,
one of his hands stroking his own dick leisurely. Aomine started scissoring his
fingers slowly, testing the stretch while staring attentively at Kise's
reactions to make sure he wasn't hurting.
Kise looked up at him and smiled. "It's really cute how Aominecchi's so
concerned about my well-being." He said, and although it made Aomine
embarrassed, the tone didn't seem to be trying to tease him. "You can add
another one now."
He complied, the sight of Kise's asshole stretching around three of his fingers
oddly fascinating. He wondered if his own ass had looked like this when Kise
had fucked him. The thought weirded him out, so he pushed it away and increased
the pace of his movements, pulling the three fingers out and slamming them in a
little too forcefully. Kise groaned and arched his back. He continued trying to
stretch the hole, spreading his fingers apart, his ears buzzing with the sounds
of Kise's pants and groans. He pulled his fingers out once again and thrust
them back in as far as they could go, curling the tips to graze the flesh
around them, coating the inside with lube. Kise moaned loudly and shut his
eyes.
"That's… that's enough Aominecchi." He panted, looking up to meet his eyes. "We
can move on to the next part now."
Daiki felt the heat rushing to his head. He'd been so focused on what he was
doing, he'd completely forgotten why he was fucking Kise's ass with his
fingers. He swallowed hard and pulled his hand away, then watched as Kise
crawled over to him, his golden eyes burning with lust.
"Condom" he said simply, extending his palm at Aomine.
"I-I can do that myself!" he protested, reaching out for the box and pulling
one out, but before he could do anything else, Kise snatched it from his hands.
"I wanna do it though. 'Sides, Aominecchi's the kind that would try to open it
with his teeth to look cool, but if you'd paid any attention at sex ed classes
you'd know you're not supposed to do that." Kise replied nonchalantly,
carefully tearing the package open and pulling the condom out. Aomine wanted to
retort to that accusation, but he couldn't really find the words "So let me?"
he added, looking up at him again, his eyes wide and shimmering, and all Aomine
could do was nod and watch as Kise wrapped the condom over his hardened flesh
slowly, his lips curling into a satisfied smirk when Aomine's breath hiccupped.
He gasped louder when he felt the cool lube being smeared on top of the condom.
The sensation was odd, the latex felt strange and kind of constricting on his
skin, but he could still feel the cold of the lubricant, so apparently all
those stories about "not feeling anything" with a condom were actually not
true.
He shook his head. In the past, when he fantasized about how having sex would
be like, he had never imagined that he would be overthinking everything so
damned much. But actual sex seemed to be stranger and more complicated than
porn magazines made it look like.
"Alright, we're all set." Kise announced cheerfully, and when Aomine looked up
he found him already in his previous position, cheeks flushed, eyes dark with
lust, his milky legs spread wide, his asshole slick with the residual drops of
lube on the edge and he felt all semblance of rational thought abandon him at
once. He gripped Kise's thigh tightly with one hand, the other one spreading
his pink buttocks wider so he could get a better look of his goal. He pressed
the head of his manhood against the entrance and was able to regain enough
rationality to look up and find Kise's eyes.
"O-okay?" he croaked, his mind hazy with lust and his cock feeling painfully
hard at this point.
Kise nodded. "Okay." He said simply, his voice strained.
Aomine didn't need any more signs, he started pushing forward, watching as the
ring of muscles stretched around the head of his cock, but not enough to
actually put it in. He tried again, but to no avail. He feared that, if he
pushed too hard, it would hurt Kise, but it didn't seem like he was getting
anywhere like this.
"Fuck" he groaned, not sure about what to do.
"That's what I thought we were doing, but it doesn't seem to be the case." Kise
teased, and if he had it in him to start teasing, it meant Aomine was failing
spectacularly. He felt embarrassment and frustration begin to well up in the
pit of his stomach, and suddenly, not being laughed at by Kise started to seem
more important than having sex with him.
"Shit, shut up." He growled.
Kise seemed to catch on to his discomfort and sat up, cupping his face in his
pale hands.
"Sorry Aominecchi, I didn't mean to pressure you." He smiled, soft, gentle,
loving and kissed him on the mouth. "Don't scowl like that, you're too young to
be getting wrinkles. Sex is about enjoying ourselves!" he continued, one of his
hands wrapping around Aomine's cock and guiding it to his entrance again and
circling his long legs around his waist to pull him forward. "It's okay, I
won't break. If it hurts I'll tell you." He reassured him one more time before
leaning back on the bed and undulating his hips to rub his behind against the
tip of his cock, making him groan.
His grip on Kise's hips tightened and he breathed deep once before pressing
harder against the entrance and finally managing to push the head of his cock
inside. It was almost surreal, watching his cock disappear between Kise's
buttocks, and feeling the burning heat enveloping him. Once he'd made it past
the initial resistance, pushing deeper seemed incredibly easy, and it was so
hot and tight he wanted to bury himself inside, everything else be damned. Kise
groaned, his breathing labored, his fingernails digging into Aomine's biceps.
Once he was fully sheathed, he looked up again to find Kise's unfocused eyes,
his lower lip caught in his porcelain teeth, his nostrils flaring for breath.
"Y-y-you alright?" he asked, panting, his grip on Kise's thigh tightening. It
briefly crossed his mind that he might leave a bruise there, but the thought
didn't quite bother him. Kise looked like he was in pain. He tried to think of
the time Kise had fucked him; he couldn't remember much of it, just that it'd
felt good. He got suddenly worried that he was making this whole thing shitty
for Kise because he wasn't experienced at all.
Kise nodded slowly. "Yeah, 's fine. Just… just give me a moment. Aominecchi's
kinda big…"
He felt blood and heat rushing to his crotch, and his face burned when he heard
Kise's off-handed admission.
"Oi! Don't get bigger, stupid Aominecchi!" Kise squeaked suddenly.
"S-s-sorry!"
They stared at each other for a silent minute. Aomine tried to school his
breathing to a normal pace and loosened his hold on Kise's milky thigh –too
late, the skin was already red and beginning to bruise-. Kise was trying to
steady his breathing too. After a minute or two of just quietly watching each
other trying to catch their breathes, Kise smiled and then laughed. Aomine
wasn't sure of why he was laughing, but he felt he wasn't laughing at him for a
change, and he found himself smiling back.
"I'm okay now, you can move."
Daiki took a deep breath and pulled back slightly, then thrust back in and
groaned. It felt good, and hot and tight and he was probably not going to last
very long. But he wanted to make this enjoyable for Kise too, so he tried to
focus in trying to hold back for as long as possible. He repeated the motion
slowly and looked up to try and decipher Kise's expression. He was biting his
lip taking long, deep breathes.
"Does it hurt?" Aomine asked, halting his motions.
"Nah, I'm fine."
"But it doesn't feel good either." He inferred, frustrated.
Kise just smiled apologetically. "Try to go a little faster. I'll tell you when
it feels good. I can't believe I'm saying this to Aominecchi, but don't
overthink it." He reassured with a playful wink, rolling his hips. His pale
hands cupped Aomine's cheeks and pulled him in for a kiss before he could
retort. He parted his lips, allowing Kise's tongue inside his mouth and
increased the pace of his movements. He started thrusting deeper, wondering if
there was any spot in particular that he should be aiming for. Kise's hands
moved from his face to tangle around his neck, burying into his scalp and he
felt him moan into the kiss.
"Ahhh, yes, that's more like it…" Kise sighed against his mouth, rocking his
hips to match Aomine's thrusts.
Aomine felt encouraged by this and increased the pace a bit more growling when
he felt the walls clenching around his cock. He broke the kiss trying to catch
his breath and caught the sounds of Kise's moans growing louder. His vision was
starting to grow blurry. After a particularly hard thrust, he felt Kise scream
and arch his back off the bed. "Yes! Right there!" and his fingernails dug into
Aomine's shoulders and even though it hurt, it felt good too. He growled and
looked up to watch Kise's face. His lips were parted, moaning loudly, his pale
skin was flushed scarlet and pearled with sweat, some blond strands of hair
sticking to his forehead. His golden eyes were hazy with pleasure, but when
they met Aomine's they sparkled and it was different, it wasn't pure lust but
something else, bigger, gentler, and warmer.
"A-aaaah… Aomine-cchi…"
Love, he realized. When their gazes met, all he could see in Kise's eyes was
raw, passionate love. And he loved him sincerely, selflessly, never even
expecting to get his feelings reciprocated. Selflessness was not a word one
would associate with Kise Ryouta (or with anyone in the Generation of Miracles,
for that matter), and yet, when it came to their relationship –whatever it was-
Kise was always giving him so much and never asking for anything in return.
Aomine's heart ached. It wasn't fair, really. Kise deserved so much better than
him. Someone that wouldn't hurt him. Someone that could love him back as much
as he loved Aomine. Someone that wouldn't take advantage of his feelings to
mend his own broken heart. Someone that would look at him the way Kise looked
at Aomine, with love pouring out of his beautiful eyes. Someone that could give
himself to Kise heart, body and soul, like Kise did to Aomine, no bounds, no
doubts, no restrains. Kise smiled at him and pulled him down for another kiss,
hungry and sloppy, as if he'd somehow felt Aomine's regret and wanted to erase
it. His head was spinning with the heat, the pleasure, the desire and that
painful sense of guilt.
"K-kise I…" He wanted to drown in Kise's mouth and forget about everything
else. And he knew he wouldn't be able to hold back for much longer. "I-I'm
gonna…" he groaned when Kise clenched around him again and it was game over.
His vision turned white and every thought was erased from his mind. He vaguely
caught the sound of Kise moaning his name and a hot sticky feeling on his
stomach, but he could barely register his own consciousness. He panted heavily.
All strength was drained from his body, so he slumped on top of Kise, waiting
for his head to stop feeling like he was floating in a cloud.
When his eyes finally regained focus, the first thing he saw was a pair of
golden pools watching him lovingly, and he felt like shit.
"I'm sorry." He mumbled without thinking.
Kise frowned.
"You know, Aominecchi, that's got to be somewhere in the top three of things
you should never say after having sex."
That truly brought him back to consciousness.
"Ah, no, I-I didn't mean…" his face was burning.
"Anyway, Aominecchi's heavy and you should throw the condom away, so get off me
already." Kise continued, as if nothing had happened.
Still a little dumbfounded, Aomine nodded and finally pulled out, suddenly
becoming very aware of the feeling of his own cum on his dick and how gross it
was. He pulled the condom off and tied a knot at the end, then got off the bed.
"I-I'll bring something to clean up." He offered weakly before rushing for the
bathroom.
===============================================================================
Kise sighed, watching Aomine leave the room without even bothering to cover his
naked ass. Having such a nice body had to be a sin.
"I'm sorry."
He wiped away the small tears that had formed at the corners of his golden eyes
with his forearm. He was fine. He had no reason to be crying. They'd fucked and
it had been kind of weird at the start, but everything turned out nicely in the
end. It's not like this was their first time or anything. And it had felt good,
even if Aominecchi had been a little clueless about it. Aominecchi had been
kind and caring and tried his best to make him feel good and had been concerned
about not hurting him. But it was that kindness that wasn't quite love –that
would never be quite love- that hurt most of all, because it made it impossible
to stop loving him. He shouldn't have let things come so far, he'd known from
the start that he would get inevitably hurt by all this. He rubbed the stubborn
tears away. He wasn't going to fuck this up like he had with the karaoke last
week. The sex had been good, more than he'd ever hoped to get from Aominecchi,
he needed to heed his own advice and stop overthinking everything.
Aomine came back a few minutes later carrying Kise's training bag and a box of
tissues. Kise noticed the splatters of his own cum above Aomine's navel –of
which the guy in question seemed unaware- and blushed a little.
"You said you had a change of clothes here and it's still kinda chilly, so I
brought this."
Kise sat up and chuckled. He couldn't even be sad when Aominecchi was being so
cute and kind right in front of him. The sadness would probably swing back and
smack him face first once they parted, but he wanted to enjoy this happy
afterglow while he could.
"Aominecchi should clean himself up first, you look rather shameless like
that." He teased, pointing at the white sticky spot that contrasted with
Aomine's dark skin. Aomine looked down and the tips of his ears turned crimson
red when he saw the evidence. Kise laughed again and reached out for a tissue
to clean himself.
After a few minutes of comfortable silence, cleaning themselves up and getting
dressed, Aomine finally climbed back on the bed and looked up at him.
"You better not be thinking of trying to leave now." He said, his eyebrows knit
in a frown.
"Why, you wanna cuddle that bad?" Kise asked with a smirk, even though cuddling
was exactly what he wanted. He decided not to tease Aominecchi so hard about
it. "Besides, my ass is sore, and look at this," he pointed at his inner right
thigh and the reddish mark from Aomine's hand that was starting to turn purple,
only half of it covered by his boxers. "Aominecchi's a total brute, the last
thing I wanna do now is walk around."
The frown on Aomine's face morphed into an apologetic , sullen look. "Sorry. I…
I'll be more careful next time."
Next time.
Kise smiled and cupped Aomine's cheeks in his hands. He liked that, the
contrast of his pale skin against Aomine's tanned one. "I'm just kidding,
Aominecchi, don't take it so seriously." He pecked his lips playfully twice. "I
mean it does hurt, but it's the usual stuff, the usual. 'Sides, if you look at
your back on the mirror, you'll see I marked you pretty badly myself." He
grinned shamelessly, thinking of the angry red scratch marks he'd left on
Aomine's shoulders, and watching with glee as the color rose to Aomine's cheeks
again. "Anyway, I'm really tired, so I hope you're either in for the cuddling
option or sleeping on the couch because I'm not moving from here." He
sentenced, pulling the covers over himself and laying down on the pillow. He
was half expecting to get kicked out and forced into a futon, but he hoped
Aomine would let him stay like this if he pretended to be asleep.
The weight on the bed shifted and he soon felt Aomine sneaking under the
covers. The bed wasn't too wide, so they actually barely fit together side by
side, but Kise was more than okay with that. What he didn't expect was to be
pulled into Aominecchi's arms, as naturally as if they'd done it a million
times before. He looked up, hoping to read what was going through Aomine's
mind, and what he found was an embarrassed frown.
"You said it was either couch or cuddle and it's freezing outside, so shut the
fuck up."
Kise smiled and buried his face in the crook of Aomine's neck, sliding one arm
over Aomine's torso, his fingers settling an inch or two above his hipbone. He
could hear Aomine's breathing very close to his ear, and feel it in the rise
and fall of his chest and he knew for certain that every second he could spend
like this, in the arms of the man he loved, was worth every hour, every day he
would cry and hate himself for allowing this to happen. It would always be
worth it.
Chapter End Notes
     Thirsty teenagers having awkward vanilla sex is a very important
     thing. Hello, this is me sharing my sin with y'all so we all go to
     hell together. You may also have noted I added a Porn with Feelings
     tag. Haha. I suck.
     I really hope the slow and subtle changes in Aomine's feelings are
     noticeable and that they're making sense. That's the hardest aspect
     of this story tbh
     It's 6:30 am and I haven't gone to sleep, be merciful with these
     boring author notes and leave me comments please
***** As if it were real *****
Chapter Summary
     "Aominecchi! Takaocchi's bragging about his disgustingly cute dates
     with Midorimacchi, let's go to the movies!"
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
"Oh, hello Aomine-kun, long time no see."
After Kise left that morning, he'd gone out to the convenience store to get
something to eat and somehow ended taking a walk around the neighbourhood. And
because such was his luck, he bumped into Tetsu who was walking his dog, and
Kagami who was apparently trying to keep a healthy distance of five meters from
the mutt.
"'Sup Tetsu! Bakagami still afraid of puppies?" he asked mockingly.
"OI!" Kagami yelled, without even trying to get closer to them.
"I'm afraid he is, but he's also kind enough to come with me to walk Nigou, so
I appreciate it."
Aomine's chest clenched. He shouldn't have asked.
"Did something good happen recently, Aomine-kun?"
He blinked a couple of times in confusion.
"Not particularly, why?"
Tetsu cocked his head, his blue eyes big and inquisitive. "You just… you seem
to be glowing. At the very least, you look very happy."
"O-o-oh, is that so?" well, he had just kind of mostly succeeded in having sex
(albeit with some flubs here and there) a few hours ago, and it had felt pretty
good too. He'd heard that sex was good for people's skin and that people often
looked more dashing than usual after a good lay (in hindsight, he'd probably
heard it from Kise). He wondered if that was true.
Tetsu shrugged. "Regardless, it is good to see you in a good mood. We should be
going back soon, I have to help Kagami-kun with studying."
Daiki suddenly wondered if Kagami and Kuroko had done it already. Kise had made
fun of him for being a virgin, but wasn't Tetsu one too? He had no actual way
of asking but surely it was impossible… Tetsu wasn't really the kind… He
remembered Kise's flushed face, the lust in his eyes "Yes… Aominecchi… aaahhh…"
and he felt the heat rushing south very fast. Before he could control his train
of thought, he started wondering how Tetsu would look like during sex. The idea
was mildly unsettling for some reason. He shook his head. He was overthinking
everything too much these days.
"Don't waste your time, I doubt there's anything he can actually learn from
anyone." He managed to say with a snicker.
"You're one to talk, asshole!" Kagami retorted, but Kuroko glared at both of
them, effectively shutting them up.
"Have a nice day, Aomine-kun." He said simply as a goodbye before turning on
his heels, pulling both the puppy and Kagami along.
===============================================================================
 
Half a week before the new school year began, Aomine received a call from Kise.
"Aominecchi! Takaocchi's bragging about his disgustingly cute dates with
Midorimacchi, let's go to the movies!"
He really should know by now that putting the phone so close to his ear was a
terrible idea when he spoke with Kise. He groaned, going over the statement in
his head three or four times trying to figure out whatever it meant, to no
avail.
"Slow the fuck down, I've no idea of what you're talking about."
Kise whined. "Don't make it so difficult, spring vacations are almost over and
I got tickets for the cinema, just say you'll come!"
Aomine could feel the beginning of a headache. "Alright, sure, whatever, but
what's that got to do with Midorima?"
"I just added Takaocchi on Facebook and all he does is post cute selfies of his
cute dates with Midorimacchi and I got jealous."
Aomine still had no clue of what on Earth Kise was talking about. "Why would
anyone go on a date with Midorima? Who's this 'Takaocchi' anyway?" the name
seemed to ring some bells, but he couldn't quite place his finger on why.
Shuutoku's manager? Did Shuutoku have a female manager at all?
"You're unbelievable, just how little brain capacity do you have?! You've seen
Takaocchi about a dozen times already. I'm sure you even spoke to him when we
were doing the rehabilitation of that streetball court."
Ah, that finally got some gears turning, so he decided to ignore Kise's
offhanded insult to his intelligence. But then this Takao person was… "Hold on,
Midorima's dating that midget Point Guar—Midorima's dating?! A guy?!" It was
already unbelievable enough that someone would put up with Midorima enough to
actually date him, but Midorima being gay? That's one thing he hadn't seen
coming.
Kise sighed. Aomine could almost hear him rolling his eyes. "This is exactly
why you'd still be a virgin if it weren't for me, you have absolutely no skills
at understanding people. Midorimacchi's like the gayest person I know, I can't
believe you're surprised. And he's been dating Takaocchi since before the
Winter Cup, literallyeveryoneknows this. And they're disgustingly cute together
too."
Aomine decided this was too much information to take in, and he was also
annoyed for getting insulted so many times in a row, so the best thing to do
was stop trying to figure out Midorima's unexpectedly successful love life.
"Right, whatever, so how's that related to going to the movies?"
"Like I said, Takaocchi was posting lots of pictures of their cute dates and I
wanted to go on a date too."
So they were now officially calling these 'dates'? Aomine didn't know how to
feel about that. It was ridiculous to be worried about labels when everything
about this relationship was so strange and "unofficial", but he couldn't stop
thinking about it.
"Okay…"
"I mean, of course I won't be putting pictures up on my Facebook, you don't
have to worry about that." He sounded bitter, and Aomine felt his gut twisting
painfully. "Unofficial" was a perfectly appropriate word for whatever they were
doing. "Secret". Everyone could know about Midorima and his Point Guard, or
Tetsu and Kagami. But not about them because it wasn't real. They weren't
actually boyfriends and they weren't really dating, even if they called it like
that. The thought was awfully unpleasant.
"But anyway, I got free tickets for Saturday at Ikebukuro, so we should take
the chance to enjoy the last of our vacations. Say yes?"
Aomine sighed. "What movie is it?"
"Dunno', some rom-com I think."
"How'd you even get tickets for a movie without knowing what it is?"
"A fan sent them to me. My agent brought me my fanmail yesterday and I found
these."
"I thought you were taking a break." He lied down on his bed and stared at the
ceiling of his bedroom, trying to make that unpleasant feeling disappear.
"Well yeah, but the official announcement won't be made until the magazine
comes out in May."
"Why'd your fans send you two movie tickets? That's so dumb."
He could imagine Kise shrugging disinterested. Kise was a good friend, fun to
hang out with, even if he was annoying as fuck, but only with the people he
deemed worthy of his time. He'd known the guy to act indifferently and
borderline cruel with people he thought were beneath him.
"The letter said 'please invite someone you like', so I guess I'm fulfilling
their wishes, right?"
For all that he loved getting praise and attention, Kise actually seemed to
feel mostly contempt for the majority of his fans. He got happy getting letters
from them, and would gladly go to handshake events and sign magazines with his
photos when asked, but Aomine knew his business smile was almost completely
fake, and he'd occasionally complain about his fans' ridiculous expectations or
how obsessive they could get. In hindsight, it shouldn't have really come as a
surprise to hear Kise didn't really like his modeling gigs as much as he
pretended to.
"Idiot, aren't you expected to invite the person that sent them to you?"
"Eeeeh? Why'd I do that, I don't even know who they are! What if they're a
creep, I've had those before!"
That was also true. Aomine remembered an incident at some point during their
third year at Teikou in which Kise had been very irritable and jumpy, claiming
he had a stalker that sent him tons and tons of letters and had even followed
him home and left really creepy edited pictures from Kise's photoshoots in
which she added herself and it was all just really weird and gross. He didn't
remember how that incident had ended, they hadn't been speaking much to each
other back then after all.
 
 
"So should I send these to Aominecchi and ask to use them to go with whoever
you like? Ah, but then you'd just invite Kurok- shit."
 
 
 
Before Aomine could react, Kise hung up. Aomine stared at his phone for a
moment, trying to catch up with what had just happened. His heart ached. He
hated that this had to be so complicated. When he and Kise were together,
everything seemed to fall into place effortlessly. At least most of the time.
But then there were moments like this in which he felt he was walking on pins
and needles trying not to hurt his friend's feelings. Maybe this little slip
was a sign that he should put an end to this before Kise got even more hurt.
 
 
He glided his thumb over Kise's name on the screen and pressed the call button.
 
 
"A-aominecchi, I-I'm sorry, forget about it—th-the movie's probably gonna suck
anyway…"
 
 
 
Maybe he should find a moment to end this, but he was definitely not going to
break it off if Kise was the one that would end feeling guilty about it.
 
 
 
"Shut the fuck up, I'm going. My vacations've been really boring and going to
the movies is really fucking expensive, I'm not gonna reject a free ticket, so
you better show up on Saturday. I'll meet you outside of Sunshine City. I'll
kick your ass if you don't come."
 
 
"O-okay. Aominecchi's such a brute."
 
 
He hated the way Kise's voice wavered.
===============================================================================
 
Standing outside Sunshine City on Saturday, Kise wondered why he'd even come.
Because I don't want Aominecchi to kick my ass,is what he told himself, but the
truth was he had felt a little bit happy when Aomine had called and demanded
that he show up. Aominecchi may be a brute, but he was also painfully
considerate with his feelings. What a joke.
He'd even dressed up a little. He was wearing a long-sleeved black crop top
with a wide neckline and an unbuttoned red plaid shirt on top, with faded jean
shorts that reached his upper thigh and skinny platform black boots up to his
knee so he left a little of his lower thigh exposed. He had a white pork pie
hat with a red lace to top it off.
It had only been a few minutes since he arrived when Aominecchi appeared around
the corner.
"Stuuuupid Aominecchi, you get all savage about me showing up and then you're
late." He complained, scrunching his nose in displeasure.
Aomine scowled. "Hah? I'm not late, idiot, you're early."
Kise knew that was true, but he still kind of wanted to throw a tantrum, but
when he looked up he found Aominecchi's midnight eyes were too busy checking
him out.
"Like what you see?" he teased, tilting his hips a little to the side for
emphasis.
Aominecchi blushed and looked away. Kise could see him swallowing hard.
"I-i-isn't it a little cold to be wearing that?"
"Not at all! It's already spring Aominecchi, the sakuras will be blossoming
very soon. It's the perfect time to be wearing winter colors with a fresher
look." He beamed, twirling around to show off how good the clothes looked on
him. "It said so in Nicola, so it must be true."
Aomine cleared his throat "A-a-anyway, let's get going, there's a heater
inside." He stuttered, grabbing Kise's hand and turning around to pull him
towards the movie theatre. Kise smiled a little, squeezing Aomine's fingers
between his. If he couldn't be loved by Aominecchi, at least it was nice to
feel desired. "Have you even figured out what we're watching?"
He rummaged in his pocket for the tickets. "I checked the title yesterday, but
I forgot. But it's a chick flick, that's for sure."
Aomine groaned. "So you gonna' cry at the end too?"
Kise pouted. "Am not."
"That's what you said last time and I remember your ugly snotty face begging
for tissues."
"That's different! That one had a sad ending! Hillary Swank's love was dead,
only a heartless asshole like you wouldn't cry seeing that! This is a rom-com,
it's not gonna' have a sad ending"
"Sure, whatever you say."
They showed their tickets at the entrance and made a short stop to buy popcorn
because Aominecchi was starving, then went straight to their seats, near the
top of the room, close to the corner. As soon as they were seated, Kise reached
for Aomine's bag of popcorn and grabbed a fistful, then picked one with his
free hand and popped it into his mouth.
"Oi! I asked you if you wanted and you said you didn't!" Aomine barked, pulling
his popcorn away from Kise's reach.
"Eeeehh, but I just didn't want a full bag of those all for myself, it's too
much! Is Aominecchi really gonna' eat all that?"
"Wanna' bet?"
"Awww, don't be so mean."
Kise pouted and put on his best pleading face, then stared straight into
Aomine's eyes, whose brows were furrowed, clearly unamused by his scheme. After
a two-minute long staring competition, Aomine finally looked away and put the
popcorn on the armrest between their seats.
"I fucking hate you."
Kise laughed.
===============================================================================
 
Forty-five minutes into the movie, Kise knew without a shadow of doubt that it
was terrible. The story was passable, if unbelievably generic, and the acting
wasn't bad but the script was absolutely embarrassing and the pacing was
slooooow. He'd caught Aominecchi yawning a couple of times. Kise himself was
enjoying it to some degree, he had a soft spot for terrible romantic movies,
but he felt bad for Aomine who was obviously trying his best to pay attention
to the movie and resist the temptation to take out his phone to entertain
himself. He appreciated that effort. Maybe he should reward it.
"O-oi! The hell you doing?!" Aomine yelped when he felt the pressure of Kise's
hand on his thigh.
Kise shushed him in between giggles. "Hm? Me? Nothing at all" He replied in a
sing-song voice. "Lower your voice, Aominecchi, we're in a movie." He added as
his fingers walked upwards on his leg, stopping a few millimeters shy of his
crotch.
"S-s-stop that, someone could see!"
Someone sitting a few rows in the back sshhh'd.
"Isn't that part of the excitement?" Kise batted his eyelashes cutely, hoping
Aomine would be able to see the gesture even in the darkness of the room.
Aomine blushed a little and looked away, but instead of allowing Kise to
continue his new venture, he grabbed Kise's wrist with one hand and casually
wrapped his other arm over Kise's shoulders. Kise looked up at him in
confusion.
"You're enjoying the movie, aren't you? So watch it. You shouldn't waste movie
tickets for something like that." He said, squeezing Kise's shoulder lightly
for emphasis.
Kise felt as if his cheeks were on fire. A part of him felt embarrassed about
being rejected –even though he'd never failed to give Aominecchi a good time-
but the other part of him was just trying to catch up to the fact that
Aominecchi was hugging him and he loved how that felt. Sheepishly, he withdrew
his naughty hand and let it rest on Aomine's lap. Then he scooted a little bit
closer, even if that meant he wasn't so comfortable in his seat, just so he
could lean his head on Aominecchi's shoulder. Aominecchi tensed up a little,
but after a few exhales, the hand that was on Kise's shoulder crept up to his
head and tangled in his golden locks. It was strange to feel so affected by
something so small considering all the things they'd done already, but Aomine's
arm around his back and the occasional movement of his fingers on his hair made
his heart beat really, really fast for reasons he couldn't explain.
He decided not to think about it and instead focus on the movie, that was
apparently entering its mandatory dramatic climax in which the man did
something stupid that caused a misunderstanding and made the woman not want to
be with him anymore.
"Ugh, are they really gonna' fight over that?" Aominecchi groaned quietly.
Kise giggled and snuggled closer to Aominecchi. Truly, more than half romantic
movies wouldn't exist if the protagonists actually communicated properly
instead of letting the confusion and misunderstanding blow out of proportion,
but where would the fun be? Kise liked this kind of contrived stories, and even
when they were awfully predictable, the romantic moments made his heart skip a
beat with longing.
Since this movie was a comedy, even the sad part where the main pair was
separated was full of dumb funny moments, so he didn't even have time to feel
sad about their bitter parting. In one scene, the guy's friends tried to cheer
him up in the most comically horrible ways. Even Aominecchi chuckled a little
when they tried to make a barbecue and ended setting fire to the garage. It was
the most basic form of trashy comedy and yet Kise couldn't help laughing a
little too.
However, after twenty minutes of the guy trying to prove his true love for the
girl and failing spectacularly, Kise hoped the movie could move on to the third
act already.
"C'mon, even I wouldn't think that's funny." Aominecchi groaned again as the
guy fell face-first on a pile of horse poop, and Kise had to laugh, even if the
joke wasn't funny, because Aominecchi had just accidentally taken a jab at his
own intelligence. "Oi, don't tell me you think that's funny."
Kise chuckled lightly and shook his head. "Of course not, I just… nevermind."
Finally, the resolution of the conflict came when the guy's friends conspired
so that the girl would overhear him explain his feelings for her, without him
noticing.
"And when she smiles… damn, it's like the whole world comes to a halt." He was
saying, and the actor really sold the line because his eyes were shining with
adoration. "If I could see her smile just one more time…"
At that point, the girl gasped and showed herself and the two hugged and kissed
while their friends cheered in the background. It was a heartwarming scene.
Kise smiled. This was the reason he liked these movies, he could always count
on a happy ending, beautiful declarations of love, intense kisses, and the
promise of a happily ever after. When watching this kind of movie, he always
imagined how his own love story would play out, what his favorite romantic
scenarios would be, what kind of romantic words his future partner would say,
what they'd do to conquer his heart. He always got excited thinking about that.
But at this point, in his current situation, he couldn't possibly imagine a
happy ending to his love story. Not when the man he loved had already declared
he didn't return his feelings, and the best he could offer was physical comfort
and a little bit of pity. Suddenly, this warm embrace itched, and he wanted to
pull away, but at the same time, he didn't want to lose it. He'd known from the
start that this was going to be one of the biggest dangers of agreeing to this
fake relationship: that it'd break his heart over and over again, but he
wouldn't want it to end it because then he'd never feel Aomine's touch again.
On the screen, the guy was asking the girl to marry him and she jumped into his
arms joyfully. Hot tears burned the corners of his eyes. There would be no
happy ending for him. Once the thought popped in his mind, he couldn't push it
away, and a hollow fear crept inside his chest and made his heart clench in
pain. What if he could never stop loving Aomine? What if he never found someone
he could love and that would love him back? What if no one ever fell in love
with him? What would happen when Aomine got tired of him, of this phony
relationship, when he fell in love with someone else and left him behind? He
was going to end up all alone while all of his friends moved forward and found
their happy endings and he would never have any part in them. He was suddenly
so afraid it was hard to breathe, but he needed to calm down and stop crying
because otherwise Aomine would notice and he'd finally get fed up with him –he
was way too high maintenance, even for a fake relationship- and toss him away.
He chewed on his lip trying to hold back a sob, but it was to no avail.
"Oi didn't you promise you wouldn't cr—"
It wasn't too late yet. He could pretend that this was all him being
oversensitive and crying about the main pairing's beautiful wedding scene and
all would be fine. But before he could make up the excuse or even look up into
Aomine's eyes, he felt chapped lips pressing against his wet cheek.
===============================================================================
 
He was halfway through berating Kise for being a crybaby, but when he tilted
his face to look at him, he couldn't finish the sentence. Kise wasn't looking
at the screen, his eyes were downcast and hidden by his golden bangs. His
canine was digging into his lower lip and his mouth quivered slightly. With the
light of the screen, he could see the tear tracks going down his pale cheeks.
His heart clenched. He wasn't sure of how he could tell, but he just knew that
Kise wasn't crying about the movie. By extension, it was most likely his fault
that he was crying, one way or another. His fingers, still tangled in Kise's
soft hair, trembled. This was the second time Kise cried because of him in one
of their dates.
It was clear to him now that Kise had gotten the short end of the stick in this
deal of theirs. When he'd offered to do this, it had been partly to try and
cover up his own heartbreak, and partly because he thought that at least Kise
would be happy with it. But in the end, Kise was the one putting his feelings
on the line in this fake unofficial relationship that seemed to have worked
better to heal Aomine than to make Kise happy. Aomine was already more or less
resigned to his unrequited feelings. Much as he hated to admit it, Tetsu was
obviously happy with Kagami, and the last few times they'd met, he'd mostly
been able to suppress his heartache and carry on with their friendship as
usual. It still hurt seeing them together, but he was confident he could get
over it with time. Meanwhile, Kise ended up crying or getting somehow upset
every time they met. He couldn't keep doing this to Kise, he didn't deserve it.
But at the same time, he was worried. If he ended this, wouldn't that also
break Kise's heart? And moreover, would their friendship be able to recover
after this? The thought of losing Kise scared him a lot more than he'd ever
imagined it would. To think that he wouldn't be able to hear his laughter, or
play basketball with him, or see him blush and pout, or admire his dazzling
smile and hear that whiny "Aominecchi!" made his gut twist painfully.
He hated seeing Kise crying. He hated the way that quiet sob –quiet as if Kise
didn't want him to notice that he was crying- pierced his heart. Before he
realized what he was doing, he was kissing the tears away. They were warm
against his lips, and the skin of Kise's cheek was soft and smooth. He had to
crane his neck into an awkward position, but he didn't mind. He wasn't sure if
this would do more harm than good in the long run, but he didn't want Kise
feeling sad and lonely. If there was any amount of comfort he could provide,
he'd do it.
"A-aominecchi?" Kise stuttered, his voice barely above a whisper.
Aomine kissed the corner of Kise's left eye and the tears pooling there. With
his thumb, he wiped off the tears streaming down Kise's right cheek. Even if
things were weird and painful between them, he wanted Kise to know he'd be
right by his side, that he would take care of him and that he wanted to help
him feel better, no matter what their relationship was.
He pulled back and cupped Kise's cheeks in his hands so he could stare straight
into his golden eyes, that were shimmering with tears. He leaned forward to
gently press his lips against Kise's. He felt Kise gasp against his mouth.
Through half-lidded eyes he watched as Kise's expression softened and his
eyelids shut close. His lips parted, allowing Aomine's tongue into his mouth,
and he sighed into the kiss, their tongues gliding against each other slowly.
Aomine felt his cheeks growing hot and his heart beating faster than usual.
There was something about this kiss that felt different to all the ones they'd
shared before. It felt... intimate. Like something they should be doing at
home, not in a movie theatre, because it was too special. Perhaps this was what
kissing a lover would feel like. If only all of their kisses could feel like
this, so right and warm and loving, maybe he wouldn't end up making Kise cry so
much.
 
 
If only he could fall in love with Kise.
===============================================================================
 
Kise was feeling fireworks exploding where his heart was supposed to be; loud
and hot and bright. He'd never been kissed like this. Any thoughts about where
they were or what they were doing vanished from his mind and all he could think
about was how magical this moment was. He never wanted it to end.
Reluctantly, they had to pull apart when the lights turned on. Not like the
people in the back hadn't seen them kiss the air out of each other's lungs, but
keeping appearances was important. After parting, they stared into each other's
eyes, trying to catch their breath for a few seconds before Aomine stood up and
looked away, blushing a little.
"L-let's go, before the exit gets too crowded." He mumbled, and just then Kise
noticed Aomine's fingers around his wrist, lightly tugging to get him off his
seat. He complied without a word, still a little befuddled by the kiss and
everything that had happened in the last five minutes. He followed Aominecchi
quietly until they were back on the street, surrounded by the noise of
Ikebukuro. They stood there silently, trying to find words to go back and make
everything not-awkward again, but they both seemed to be failing.
"Kyaa! Isn't that Kise-kun?!" a loud squeal came from a few meters away. Kise's
eyes found a group of girls, one of which was pointing at him and bouncing on
her tiptoes with excitement. The other girls looked at him and squealed too. He
rolled his eyes. He was usually fine with humoring his fans from time to time,
but he was definitely not going to let them ruin his date with Aominecchi.
"Aominecchi, run!" he whispered, and took off with Aomine still holding on to
his wrist.
They managed to surf through the crowd with little difficulty, although they
got yelled at by a police officer, but they ignored him and continued running.
He could hear the girls calling his name in the distance, but it didn't seem
like they were following them, so he made a sharp turn into a smaller street
and slowed down to a jog until they found themselves in a deserted road.
"Seems like we lost'em." He panted softly, leaning against the wall. Aomine's
fingers were still loosely wrapped around his wrist.
"Well, look at you, you're totally a prime celebrity now, crazy fans included."
Aomine teased with a slight smirk on his lips.
Kise looked up at him, intending to send him an unamused glare, but when he met
Aominecchi's dark eyes and saw that stupid playful twinkle in them, he couldn't
stop himself from smiling. Aomine mirrored his smile, and before they knew it,
they were laughing like idiots for no reason whatsoever. Aomine's hand slid
from his wrist to entwine with his fingers, squeezing lightly. Kise could feel
a small, joyful tear in the corner of his eye and he was glad he hadn't worn
any eyeliner today because he'd cried so much it would've been ruined by now.
He shut his eyes and wiped the tear away, still laughing.
As their laughter started to die out, he opened his eyes and found Aomine's
face barely a breath away from his and he felt warmth blooming on his cheeks.
Aomine was smiling softly –an unusual smile for him- and his free hand reached
out to graze Kise's cheek. One heartbeat later they were kissing, and it wasn't
really clear if it had been Aomine who had pulled him in or if Kise had leaned
forward, nor did it seem to matter. Kise tilted his head a little to make for a
better angle. It was the first time he truly felt that those three centimeters
Aomine had on him were so wonderful and so annoying at the same time, and he
bit Aomine's lower lip as a form of vengeance before deepening the kiss. He
raised his free hand until he found the nape of Aomine's neck so he could pull
him down closer and closer. His fingers were trembling, but so were Aomine's
–he could feel them shaking lightly and making his skin tingle. As he grew
light-headed he pulled back a little for air, but Aomine's mouth chased after
him and didn't even give him the chance to breathe. And god, he loved this. The
dizziness, the heat, the fire in his blood, the clichéd butterflies fluttering
in his stomach and how every breathe Aomine stole from his mouth made his knees
go weak.
Then his phone rang, loud, piercing, and he had to pull back because he knew
this particular ring meant "pick up immediately", although for the life of him
he couldn't remember why he knew that.
"Y-e-ehs?" he stuttered breathily.
"Ryouta, are you staying over at Tokyo or are you coming home for dinner?"
"Wh—eeh?" it was taking his brain a lot longer than usual to start reconnecting
its circuits, and basically nothing made sense for a couple of weird and
awkward seconds. Then it finally did. "O-oh! M-mom!" he exclaimed, obviously
not half as excited as his high-pitched voice would've made it seem.
His mother sighed. "I just want to know if I should make dinner for you or
not." She explained, sounding just a little exasperated.
"A-ah! Uhm… N-I mean y- ah!" he yelped when he felt Aomine press a light kiss
to his jaw, and Kise could feel him smirk wickedly against his skin. "St—I, yes
Mom I'm coming for d-dinner." He squeaked as fast as he could as more kisses
and some small bites where rained down his neck and even onto the part of his
shoulder that was available through the wide collar of his top. "See you later,
bye!" he whimpered in a rush and ended the call.
He turned to look at Aomine, his fine eyebrows creased in a frown (I swear,
Aominecchi, if I get wrinkles for this…!) "Aominecchi! You c—" but before he
could utter any complaint, he was silenced with another kiss, short, quick and
playful.
"C'mon, I'll walk you to the station." Aomine said with a grin, his cheeks
dusted with a light reddish color.
Kise blinked slowly, taking in Aomine's sincerely joyful expression, his big,
happy smile that was almost as bright as the streetlights. Aominecchi didn't
smile like this very often. Kise's heart hiccupped.
 
 
 
 
 
God, I love him.
 
 
 
 
 
He squeezed Aomine's fingers lightly. "Okay, let's go." He chirped happily,
letting the bubbly feeling growing in his chest take over his thought process.
"You sure you wanna' go back to that crowded street? What if we get chased down
by a legion of your adoring fans?"
Kise frowned and jabbed him in the ribs. "You're just jealous you don't have
any fans."
"Hah? I have plenty of them, thank you. I'll let you know I was featured in
High School Basketball Monthly in December!"
"Oh, wow, Basketball Monthly, amazing, it's not like I've been there three
times already." Kise teased, wiggling his eyebrows with satisfaction.
"Well yeah, of course they'd want your pretty face selling their magazine for
them."
Kise blushed.
Aomine blushed.
Kise parted his lips to say something, but he was interrupted by Aomine. "A-
anyway, that movie was awful."
Kise took the hint. "I guess, but they pulled off the ending pretty well."
"Not sure if it was worth sitting through the first hour only to get ten
minutes of kind of decent shit."
"Aominecchi needs to appreciate life's simple pleasures. Like generic rom-coms
with cute wedding scenes at the end. Also, Aominecchi likes the Transformers
movies, so you don't get to say which movies are worth sitting through or not."
"Oi! Those movies are cool! My old man bought me a lot of those toys when I was
a kid, so it was exciting to see them move!"
Kise laughed. "Well, if you're gonna complain, I won't invite you to the movies
anymore." He commented with a mischievous glint in his golden eyes.
Aominecchi sighed in defeat. "Alright, alright, today was pretty fun, there, I
said it."
Kise smiled with satisfaction "Isn't it always?" he asked innocently, batting
his eyelashes.
"What is?"
"Doing stuff together like this. Or playing one-on-one or going to karaoke. I
always have a lot of fun with Aominecchi."
Aomine blushed and looked away, scratching his cheek sheepishly. "Y-yeah, it's
been… f-fun…" he admitted. "But that movie was awful." He added, a small smile
tugging at the corners of his lips.
Kise laughed again. Something about today felt so right and so perfect he was
almost afraid of ruining it. But at the same time, he felt so happy he couldn't
really wallow in any worries. He loved Aominecchi's laughter, the way he looked
away when he felt embarrassed, and the feeling of their fingers laced together.
In hindsight, it felt as if they spent a considerable amount of time holding
hands during their dates, something he would never complain about. He never
wanted to reach the station.
Sadly, that was just not meant to be. Before long, they were standing near the
ticket gates.
"Thanks for coming with me today, Aominecchi. And for letting me steal from
your popcorn." Kise beamed with a wide cheeky grin.
"Jeez, next time buy your own, idiot." Aomine chastised him but he was
grinning. "Thanks for inviting me, I guess. Even if the movie sucked."
Kise giggled. "I'll make it my personal project to educate you in the greatness
of chick-flicks. You better get ready, next time you come to my place we're
going through Kyo-nee's collection!" He threatened merrily. "Gotta go now, the
buses to my place don't run after 10:45." He added, a little regretfully, his
eyes immediately going down to their intertwined hands. He didn't want to let
go.
 
 
 
 
There was a heartbeat of silence.
 
 
 
 
"Stay."
 
 
 
 
 
For a moment, he forgot how to breathe. His eyes darted upwards, not sure if
he'd imagined what he'd just heard, and he found Aomine's face burning scarlet.
His golden eyes widened, hoping he could repeat that just so he could be
certain.
 
 
 
 
 
"W-what did…?"
 
 
 
Aominecchi flinched a little, then he blushed darker red and his dark blue eyes
trailed off to the side. "Ah… just… D-don't stay up late, school's back on
Monday."
 
 
 
 
A breathe of disappointment.
 
 
 
 
"Oh."
 
 
 
 
They finally let go of each other's hand.
 
 
 
 
"Haha, being so considerate of others' health is not really like you,
Aominecchi."
"Oi what are you—"
"You too, don't stay up late looking at Mai-chan's photos or some other dirty
thing."
"OI!"
"See you! I'll text you to see when we can hang out again!" he chanted, already
taking a step back and waving his hand.
"Ah, yeah, sure."
Finally, Kise turned around and walked through the gates. He looked back one
last time to wave goodbye and saw Aominecchi raising one hand and waving it
just enough for it to be noticeable. With the grin still firmly placed on his
lips, he skipped down the stairs to wait for the train. So what if the movie
had sucked? Everything about today had been perfect. His face hurt a little
from smiling and laughing so much, and he felt like nothing could actually
erase the smile off his face, at least not for today. He remembered crying a
few hours ago, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember the reason.
"Stay…"
He was sure by now that he hadn't imagined that. Aominecchi had asked him to
stay, but he'd backtracked a moment later. His heart fluttered. Even if he
didn't understand why he'd said it, that Aominecchi wanted him to stay a little
longer made him very happy. In fact, he was almost sure he would've accepted
and stayed if Aominecchi had asked again. Kise had kind of hoped he would.
Absentmindedly, he brought two fingers to touch his lips, reminiscing the
feeling of the two kisses they'd shared today. The tender and comforting kiss
in the cinema. The sweet and playful kiss in the deserted street. They had felt
so different to all the ones they'd exchanged until now. Intimate. Significant.
His heart raced just thinking about them. They'd made him feel cherished.
Kissing someone you love and who loves you back shouldn't feel too different to
this, Kise thought. And all those little teasing kisses Aomine had rained on
his jaw and his neck and even a little bit of his shoulder, how they'd made him
shudder. And their laced fingers, and the lovely smile on Aomine's face and
just how happy he'd felt walking side by side talking about mundane things.
It'd almost been like…
 
 
 
It was almost as if we were real boyfriends.
 
 
 
 
And just like that, the smile was gone. He shut his eyes, trying to cool down
the liquid burn that was starting to pool at the corners.
 
 
Don't do this to yourself. Don't do this to yourself.
 
 
He needed to focus on the happy things, the things that had made him feel
fulfilled and excited, the moments that reminded him of why he loved Aomine so
much, the memories of those kisses that were now ingrained in his heart, and
above all, the knowledge that Aomine would smile his truest, sincerest smile
for him. It was worth it, and he'd already decided it, to go through these
moments of pain and guilt if he could also get these precious, happy memories.
He touched his lips again. A knot formed in his throat
 
 
 
 
Would Aominecchi kiss Kurokocchi like that?
===============================================================================
 
Once Kise was out of view, Aomine turned around and headed outside of the
station. He took a deep breath to calm the tingling of his nerves. It had been
a slip, asking Kise to stay, but once he'd uttered the word, he'd realized he
meant it. He hadn't wanted Kise to leave. He almost regretted getting cold feet
at the last moment. But why? It was true that he enjoyed Kise's company. They
did always seem to have fun when they went out together. But even with that in
mind, it felt rather childish to ask your friend to stay and play a little
longer. Especially because Kise wasn't just his friend… maybe. Even though the
idea of 'friends with benefits' had been mentioned in passing when they first
began this agreement, Aomine didn't feel like what they were doing really
qualified as just that either. And when he remembered falling asleep with
Kise's warm body in his arms, his heart raced a little. Maybe he just wanted
Kise to spend the night because he wanted to relish in his warmth. He hated
feeling cold at night after all.
A part of him was very much not convinced with that explanation, but that was
all he had, and thinking too much about this was not going to help him anyway.
He needed to stop agonizing over every moment they spent together and trying to
decipher what their relationship was at this point. It didn't matter anyway.
What mattered was that he could enjoy his time with Kise, even if it was
watching a shitty movie, that he could hold him and hear him laugh, that Kise's
eyes would sparkle when he called him 'pretty', that he looked so cute and
funny when he got mad and said "Aominecchi, you brute!", that his skin vibrated
pleasantly on every spot that had touched Kise: his hands that had laced their
fingers together; the back of his neck, where Kise held him when they kissed;
his shoulder where Kise had lean his head on during the movie; and his lips
that had touched Kise's cheeks, his tears, his neck and jaw, that had found
Kise's mouth and drowned it with kisses.
He couldn't stop thinking about those kisses. They had been so different to all
their previous ones, and he couldn't place his finger on why. There was that
sense of intimacy, yes, but there was also something else, something impossible
to describe. He wanted more kisses like those. He wondered if Kise felt the
same, if he had enjoyed them too. Before dating Kise, he hadn't actually kissed
a lot of people in his life. There was that weird attempt at a girlfriend in
his first year at Teikou, but that had been, well, weird. And he'd kissed
Satsuki once when they were in fourth grade, but for the life of him he
couldn't remember why they'd done it and they'd long agreed to never mention it
again. Kise obviously had a lot more experience than him in that department
–like with everything pertaining relationships-. Aomine couldn't say that any
of their kisses so far hadn't made him feel good. But he couldn't help
wondering if maybe he was actually a terrible kisser and that Kise hadn't
enjoyed them at all. It was bad enough that he was making Kise cry without even
meaning it, but if he couldn't at least make him feel good when they kissed,
what was he even doing? If he wanted to continue with this, the least he could
do was do a better job at making their time together as enjoyable for Kise as
it was for him. He didn't want to kiss tears off Kise's cheeks again,
especially if he was the cause of those tears.
===============================================================================
 
Kise rubbed his eyes for the millionth time, hoping they wouldn't look too red
and that his Mom wouldn't notice he'd been crying through half of the train
ride. She'd never buy it if he said he'd been crying about the movie, she was
too perceptive.
"I'm home." He called quietly, hoping to go unnoticed.
"Welcome back. I left your dinner in the microwave!" his mom called from the
living room. He could hear the distinctive voices of the characters in the TV
show his mom and older sister liked. Perfect chance to slip away without
drawing too much attention towards himself.
"Thanks, Mom, I'll eat it in my room!" he announced, but he didn't stop to get
a reply. He dashed by the kitchen and didn't bother microwaving his food,
instead just grabbed the plate and chopsticks and rushed upstairs to lock
himself inside his bedroom.
He couldn't carry on like this, it wouldn't be good for his state of mind. Even
if he told himself to focus on the good things, he couldn't shake off the pain
of his unrequited feelings and the fear that this would end with him losing
Aomine's friendship for good. But he couldn't let go either. And there was no
one he could ask for advice. He didn't want to admit to his Mom or his sisters
that he was caught up in this. Normally, the people he'd ask for advice would
be Kuroko or Momocchi, but he couldn't tell them the truth when both of them
were so close to Aominecchi.
An idea rose to his mind suddenly. He picked up his phone and went through his
extensive contact list. He hesitated a little before clicking on one of the
latest additions to the list. He typed quickly and clicked the "send" button
before he could have second thoughts about it.
 
"I need help"
Chapter End Notes
     Lots of fluff and kissing this chapter. I don't know why, but I like
     writing about these two kissing. I also really enjoy the scenes where
     they're just teasing each other, I love showing that side of their
     relationship. At this point it's pretty obvious that Aomine's
     feelings have already changed quite a bit, I wonder if you guys have
     felt the transition too or if you don't think it's too drastic. I
     wanted to add little scenes here and there of them texting, but I
     couldn't think of something they would text about orz. I also kind of
     realize that Kise panicking about never finding someone to love may
     seem overly dramatic, but it's a legit fear I can relate to,
     regardless of your age.
     I don't know if the movie they went to watch actually exists, I just
     made up the plot as I went, but who knows. Just imagine Adam Sandler
     level of trashy comedy. But I wonder if someone will guess the Hilary
     Swank movie I mentioned. Nicola is the highest-selling fashion
     Japanese magazine for teenagers. Kise is all about being up to date
     with fashion trends after all. Also, as expected, I had to shove some
     gratuitous Midotaka in your faces, I couldn't help myself. I'm just
     convinced Takao is Kise's brother from another mother and that they'd
     be super bffs once they got to know each other. Also, I hope we can
     all agree that Midorima is super fucking gay, because it's the truth.
     I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and I apologize for the delay.
     Thanks everyone who's reading, there's like three or four more
     chapters left, I'll appreciate your patience if you're willing to
     follow along for a while longer. Please let me know your thoughts on
     this chapter, it means a lot to me to hear your opinions.
***** Not all rom-coms are bad (Part I: some are okayish) *****
Chapter Summary
     “Seems we’ll be playing against you on Saturday.”
     “I hope Aominecchi’s ready to get his ass kicked again.”
Chapter Notes
     Sooorrry for the gross delay. It all just turned out longer than
     expected so I decided to cut this chapter in two. I promise the next
     won't take long since the second half is pretty much written, just
     needs a lot of editing if it's any consolation it's almost 6K worth
     of porn orz
See the end of the chapter for more notes
“Remind me again, what was this whole –cchi thing about?”
Kise frowned, his eyes glued to the ceiling of his bedroom. “It’s about
respect, Takaocchi, respect! I don’t use it for just anyone, you should feel
flattered.” He whined, frustrated. Why did no one understand this? “You’re good
enough to give Kurokocchi trouble and you can also stand Midorimacchi, that’s
worthy of some respect in my opinion”
“Oi, what are you trying to say about Shin-chan?”
Kise smiled a little. Midorima and Takao had a really adorable relationship,
and he felt a little jealous of their happiness.
“Are you gonna’ help me or not?”
Takao giggled. “Sorry, sorry, of course I’ll help, although if you don’t mind
me asking, why me?”
Kise sighed and pressed the phone a bit closer to his ear. “I just… I didn’t
know who else to ask. I can’t ask Kurokocchi or Momocchi for… well, you’ll
understand once I tell you, and I doubt Midorimacchi can give any sort of love
advice that he didn’t get from Oha-Asa.”
He could hear Tako humming on the other end of the line. “I guess that’s true…”
“I’m sorry, I know it’s weird since we just met recently—“
“Nah, it’s okay! A friend of Shin-chan’s a friend of mine after all! I’m sure
Shin-chan would want to help out too, but he’d say something like ‘I’m not
really doing it for you, I just can’t stand this situation anymore-nodayo’. And
you did give me that respect –cchi thingy after all!”
Kise laughed a little. Midorimacchi had fallen in love with a really nice
person.
“Alright then, I’m listening.”
 
===============================================================================
 
 
Aomine shut down his browser window with a sigh. All of these sites gave
similar advice and none seemed to really fit his current conundrum. Apparently,
“my friend’s in love with me, and I like him, but not in that way, and we’re
kind of fake dating but I don’t want to hurt him or lose his friendship” wasn’t
a very common problem, even on dumb internet forums. Maybe he should give this
up and ask Satsuki. She had a sharp mind and was really good at reading people.
If there was anyone that could help him in this situation, it was her.
Except that he couldn’t ask her. If he did, she’d know and a part of him was
ashamed of what he was doing. He remembered a conversation they’d had a few
months ago, when she’d looked at him with worry in her eyes and said:
“Just be nice to Kii-chan, okay?”
In hindsight, she probably knew already. But he still couldn’t face her about
this. He was trying to be nice and make Kise happy, but he wasn’t sure if he’d
be able to explain himself if Satsuki pressed him for a clear decision.
 
===============================================================================
 
 
“You’re late, Aomine! Ten penalty laps around the gym!” Wakamatsu hollered at
him the moment he stepped inside the court.
He groaned, but didn’t even bother replying and decided to get started quickly.
It wasn’t his fault that everyone else was a freak that could wake up early
during Golden Week. Running laps around school was definitely not how he’d
envisioned he’d spend his vacation.
“If you’re late to morning practice again, you’re not coming with us to the
exhibition match.” The captain threatened once he was done with his penalty.
Aomine cocked an eyebrow. “Exhibition match? The hell’s that about?”
Wakamatsu glared at him. “Well, if you’d come early, you would know already.”
He admnonished. “We’re going to Kaijou for a practice match on Saturday. Their
coach got in touch with us, apparently they have a tradition of making a sports
clubs exhibition at the end of Golden Week and they invited us to participate.”
Aomine smiled. He’d never heard of this tradition, but any excuse to play
against Kise was a good one in his book. When they were on the court, he didn’t
have to think about the complicated stuff, all he had to do was play his best
and enjoy himself, and he knew for certain that it was the same for Kise. He
was already vibrating with anticipation.
“Of course, if you’re scared of losing against Kise, you’re welcome to come
late tomorrow, then we won’t take you to the game and you can say your captain
was a tyrant to save face.” Wakamatsu continued with a taunting smirk.
“No need for the provocation, senpai, I’m going to that game and that’s final.”
He countered with a wide, confident smirk. His fingers were tingling. He wanted
to grab a ball and start playing now. He wanted Saturday to come sooner.
 
===============================================================================
 
 
“Seems we’ll be playing against you on Saturday.” He typed quickly.
The reply came as fast as he’d gotten used to receiving from Kise.
“I hope Aominecchi’s ready to get his ass kicked again.”
“That was a one-time thing, not gonna happen again.”
“Bring your wallet, cos the loser’s buying me food after the game!”
He couldn’t resist the pull of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He
glanced at the date impatiently. Only three more days to go.
 
===============================================================================
 
 
Wakamatsu had gotten so used to the lazy drawl of Aomine’s footsteps, he
thought it was Sakurai who was jogging in his general direction until he turned
around to find their usually delayed ace, his expression hard with
determination. He glanced at his watch: 9:45. Unbelievable.
“So even Aomine can be early when he tries…” he mused to himself, a little
upset. When he’d thrown that threat around, he hadn’t expected Aomine to
actually act on it. And yet, it was Saturday and Aomine had been on time for
practice throughout the whole week. Aomine. On time. What a time to be alive.
“Told you I was coming for that match.” Aomine said with a satisfied smirk.
“Shut up and get on the bus.”
 
===============================================================================
 
 
“Dai-chan?”
Aomine turned to look at Satsuki, who was quietly reviewing some of her data.
“’Sup? Figured out how to break Kise’s Perfect Copy yet?”
She shook her head. “Of course not, it’s a very tricky technique. I need to see
more of it to find a good method. Kii-chan is already difficult to predict
because his copying skills are very versatile, but this is on a whole new
league.”
“I know right? This game’s gonna be fun! I’m definitely not letting him win,
can’t have him get too cocky after last time.”
“Last time?” she echoed, blinking up at him. Something in her eyes made him
feel uneasy.
Aomine bit his tongue. He’d messed up. “Uh, just ah… we ran into each other
some time ago and we played a little one-on-one, that’s it.” A half-truth
should suffice, he decided.
“You mean that time back in March when Kii-chan stayed over at your place.” She
responded quietly, her eyes a little cold. It wasn’t a question. She knew.
His blood froze in his veins. “Wh—“
“Dai-chan, I’ve known you for more than ten years, and I live right next door.
Do you really think…” she interrupted herself when the bus came to a halt and
coach Harasawa announced they had reached their destination. She sighed and got
up from her seat. “I just… I want you to really think about what you’re doing.”
“I’m n—“
“Please don’t make Kii-chan cry.”
“But—“
He couldn’t even finish that sentence before she turned her back on him and got
off the bus.
It took Aomine a moment to recover and gather his stuff. He chewed on the
inside of his cheek. He was thinking about it. About his relationship with Kise
and what he should do about it. He’d been thinking about it for months now. In
fact he couldn’t remember the last time he thought so much about anything else.
About how he didn’t want to make Kise cry anymore. About how he wanted to make
Kise happy. And about a whole lot of other things he couldn’t understand. If he
had any idea of how to solve this, he would’ve done that a long time ago.
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud squeal.
“Momocchi!! Aominecchi!!”
He looked up to find Kise running at them with a wide, bright smile on his face
–the kind of smile that looked just right on him-, waving enthusiastically.
“Kii-chan!!” Satsuki squealed in delight, running to meet him, no traces of
anger left on her face. “I’m so glad to see you! It’s been a while! How’ve you
been?!”
“Great! We’ve been training super hard so we won’t be holding back even if it’s
not an official match!” Kise replied with a playful wink.
“That’s my line.” Aomine interjected with a smug smirk. “You better be ready,
I’ll show you what a real ass-kick feels like.”
Satsuki threw a sideways glance at him. “Sorry Kii-chan, I have to get
everything ready, let’s catch up after the game.”
“Sure.”
She smiled at Kise and then jogged past him to join coach Harasawa and captain
Wakamatsu, who were already greeting Kaijou’s coach.
Kise walked closer to him, a questioning look on his golden eyes. “Did
something happen with Momocchi?”
Aomine wanted to bang his head on a table. He was getting tired of people who
were too perceptive.
“Kinda.” He said flatly, hoping Kise would catch on and stop asking.
Kise frowned. “You better not be mean to Momocchi or I’ll beat the crap out of
you.”
He’d really appreciate it if people would stop telling him not to be mean with
the people he cared about.
 
===============================================================================
 
 
“I’m just warning you, Aominecchi, I won’t let you say you weren’t playing me
seriously when you lose.” Kise teased with a smirk. They were facing each other
now on the court, stretching in preparation for the game.
“Alright, but you better not go home crying after I kick your ass to the moon
and back.” Aomine replied with a cocky grin. “I hope you won’t conveniently
forget our bet after I beat you.”
“I won’t, ‘cos I’ll have you buy me dinner at the nicest place around when
we’re done.”
“Everyone get in their positions, we’re getting started!” Kaijou’s coach
announced.
Aomine moved towards the center of the court, where Harasawa was holding the
ball for the tip-off. He was surprised when he didn’t find Kise across him. He
eyed Kaijou’s captain, a guy he remembered mostly for being really loud and
speaking in an incomprehensible way. He was also a lot shorter than him. Was
Kaijou giving up on the tip-off in favor of a different strategy? He glanced
briefly at Kise, who sent him a playful wink. Aomine felt his cheeks warm up a
little, so he looked away and focused on the ball. Well, whatever it was, it
was good for him. He didn’t know if Kise planned on using his Perfect Copy
today, but in case he did, Aomine planned on getting as big a lead as possible.
The buzz for the start of the game rang and Harasawa threw the ball into the
air. Before Aomine could get his feet off the ground, he heard a loud
“LEBOUND!!!!” screech, and the next moment, Kaijou’s captain was already in the
air and slapping the ball away from him… and straight into Kise’s hands.
Someone in the distance was yelling “That wasn’t a rebound, you idiot!”.
Aomine’s eyes widened as he watched Kise bend his knees in a stance that was
awfully familiar and shoot the ball across the court and straight down the net.
His golden eyes were gleaming and his lips were curled in a devious smirk.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
“Bad Aominecchi, you totally underestimated me when I said I’d be serious. Next
time, try focusing on the ball instead of getting distracted with my beauty.”
Kise chuckled in a low voice as he jogged past him to the other side of the
court, where the game was about to resume after that long three-point shot.
Aomine clicked his tongue in annoyance. He turned around and caught Wakamatsu
dribbling in his direction, with one of Kaijou’s third years in his tail. He
jogged to get closer to the net and called for a pass. The moment the ball
reached his hands, Kise was already blocking him. He frowned. He wasn’t using
Perfect Copy now, which meant that first shot had been just a show-off, the
bastard. He breathed, trying to predict Kise’s moves to find an opening. He
dribbled one, two, three times, then spun on his heels, to which Kise easily
caught up. Aomine then feinted to make a regular shot, but then quickly sliced
to the left, throwing the ball towards the net with just one hand before Kise
could react. The sound it made as it went down was very satisfying.
“If I can do this while being “distracted by your beauty”, imagine what I’ll be
able to do once I concentrate for real.” He taunted, and enjoyed the soft pink
glow that rose to Kise’s pale cheeks.
“You are so buying me dinner, stupid Aominecchi!”
 
===============================================================================
 
 
“C’mon, Captain, we can do overtime! Just five more minutes to settle it!”
“Senpai, we can’t let it end like this, what about our pride?! I’ll get him in
five minutes, please!!”
Wakamatsu glared at Aomine. Hayakawa glared at Kise.
“No.” was the simple answer, uttered by both of them simultaneously.
“Aw, come on!”
“Senpai!!”
“We have to return the bus to the school by 6 and that’s final. Go get changed,
Aomine.”
“Our time for the exhibition is over, the girls’ team will be using the court
now, Kise.”
“But how are we gonna’ decide who pays for dinner like this!!” The two
underclassmen protested, pointing at the score: 75-75. A tie.
“The hell if I care! Hurry up, it’s getting late!” Wakamatsu hollered, pointing
at the changing lockers.
 
===============================================================================
 
 
“On second thought, Aominecchi can’t stay for dinner anyway, right? You’ve to
go back to school.” Kise commented nonchalantly as he pulled his shirt over his
head. He felt a little disappointed, both by the tie, and because he’d been
looking forward to going out with Aominecchi after their game.
“Uhm… I guess technically I should go back since I came with the school, but
it’s also Golden Week, so technically this is supposed to be school-free time?”
Kise’s ears perked. “So you think you could stay?” He stepped into a pair of
skinny jeans that he’d bought recently because they made his butt look amazing.
“Why, you gonna’ buy me dinner?”
Kise frowned. Aominecchi couldn’t possibly be so dense. “Why would I? I didn’t
lose!”
“You would’ve if we’d gone to overtime.”
“You wish!”
“Just accept it, the flow of the game was on our side and you’d run out of
Perfect Copy time.”
“Aominecchi’s Zone ran out too, you were a lot more tired than me. And
Apologetic-mushroom-kun’s threes were getting sloppy too.”
“Were you even playing the same match? Your rebound-crazy captain was about to
collapse!”
Kise huffed. “Fine, then! No dinner, if you’re gonna’ be like that.” He turned
away to tie his shoelaces. Why’d he even like to hang out with Aominecchi
anyway? He wished he knew. When he looked up, he found Aomine grinning down at
him.
“Shut up, we’ll split.”
Kise’s heart skipped a beat. “Eh?” He felt his cheeks heating up a little. “But
the school—“
“I’ll get an earful from coach, but I’m sure he’ll just make me call my folks
to let them know. I’ll go ahead and tell him, but hurry up, I’m starving.”
He smiled a little, remembering what Takao had told him when he’d asked for
advice.
“I mean, it’s a complicated situation, and to be honest my first advice would
be something you won’t like…”
“A-aominecchi, wait!”
“Huh?”
“But if you want to see if it can work, there’s something you can try, although
it could end up hurting you more.”
“Uhm… do you have any plans for tonight? After dinner, I mean.” His fingers
trembled slightly.
“I’ve got no place to be, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“And what… what would that be?”
“I was just thinking… well every year for Golden Week, Mom and my sisters go
out on their “girls-only vacation” thing…”
 
 
“You should try to seduce him.”
 
 
“And Dad’s up in Hokkaido visiting some relatives, so it’s just me at home…” he
turned to look upwards, blinking slowly and staring at Aomine’s eyes. “I was
wondering… maybe you could come and… stay over?” he batted his eyelashes
subtly.
A few silent seconds ticked away. Aomine’s cheeks became crimson as
understanding dawned on him. He gasped and chewed on the inside of his cheek.
“Alright.” He replied simply. “I-I’m gonna go tell coach about it.” He paused.
“I-I mean, about not going back with the rest of the team, o-o-obviously.”
Kise nodded and watched him leave the lockers. He looked down at his trembling
fingers.
“Seduce him? What’d be the point of seducing him after we’ve already done this
and that?” He’d thought Takaocchi wasn’t making any sense.
“No, no, you misunderstand. The only way that you’re not gonna get hurt doing
this is if Aomine falls in love with you, right? Then your unrequited crush
would become mutual and all would be well.”
Kise’s heartbeat had accelerated. Aominecchi, falling in love with him? Was
that even possible? He’d given up on that a really long time ago. In what realm
was it plausible that a person who fell in love with Kuroko could fall in love
with Kise? They were too different. Kise had none of the qualities that Aomine
liked in a partner: selflessness, devoted kindness, straightforward sincerity,
-all of Kurokocchi’s best assets- and he certainly didn’t have big boobs
either.
“That’s impossible.” He’d said simply, feeling crestfallen. The thought had
arisen a sweet sliver of hope in his heart, but he’d shot it down within
seconds, and it hurt.
“Well, it’s definitely gonna be impossible if you don’t try. If I knew Shin-
chan liked someone else, I’d do everything I could to steal him. Unless he was
really happy with that other person, obviously, but I’m pretty confident in my
ability to make Shin-chan the happiest.”
Kise could almost picture Takao’s sheepish smile. He couldn’t help feeling a
little happy every time he realized how cute Takaocchi and Midorimacchi were
together. But that was because they’d been lucky enough to fall in love with
each other, to have their feelings reciprocated.
“But if he hasn’t fallen in love with me after all these years, why would he
now? I… I don’t want him to just… settle with me because Kurokocchi’s not
available.” Even though that’s exactly what we’re doing right now, he’d thought
 to add, but didn’t. He didn’t need a lecture on hypocrisy.
“That’s precisely why you need to make an effort. Show him your best side, all
of your good qualities! You guys have a good time together, right? You said
your dates were always fun, and the sex is good too, isn’t it? I don’t know you
guys as much, but Aomine strikes me as a guy that’s dense like a brickwall.”
Kise had almost chuckled. Nailed it.
“If you don’t make him see it, he’ll never realize how good your chemistry is.
Prove to him that you could make each other happy, that you’re great together.
Make him want to be by your side. I think that’s your best shot.”
His heart had started beating really fast. Best shot. There was a tiny, tiny
chance that he could make it work. That Aominecchi could genuinely fall in love
with him. Takao was right. They had a good time together, they would definitely
be able to make each other happy. If Aominecchi could see that…
“Of course, there’s no guarantee it’ll work, but I think it’s worth trying, at
least for a little bit. You can make some advances and see how he takes it, and
if it looks like there’s a chance, you can go for it. He doesn’t have to be
head over heels for you overnight, but you know him well, I’m sure you’ll
notice if he starts catching up with your feelings. And if he doesn’t, you can
go for the other option and spare yourself more unnecessary pain.”
Kise had thought about it. He’d thought about Aominecchi whispering his name
and staring at him with love in his eyes, looking at him the way he looked at
Kurokocchi. It was too good to be possible. How does one even make someone else
fall in love with you?
“How should I do that?”
Takao had huffed lightly. “Are you telling me the supermodel Kise Ryouta needs
lil’ ole’ me to give him lessons on seduction?”
Kise laughed. “Touché.”
 
===============================================================================
 
 
“Dai-chan!” Satsuki called him with a concerned look on her face. “What’s this
about not coming back with us?”
Aomine cocked his head. Was she not angry at him anymore? It was hard to tell.
“I made a bet with this guy that the loser had to buy the winner’s dinner.” He
explained, pointing at Kise.
“But it was a tie.” She protested, scowling at him. She was obviously not over
her anger from earlier.
“Wanna’ come,Momocchi? Aominecchi’s buying!” Kise offered with a playful
giggle.
“Oi! We agreed to split! Split!”
There was a hint of sadness in Satsuki’s eyes, her full lips curled downwards.
“No, thank you Kii-chan, I promised my mom I’d help her choose a good birthday
present for my dad. Maybe next time?”
“Awww, that’s a shame. Aominecchi’ll have to buy us dinner some other time.”
Aomine wanted to protest, but he didn’t, and instead just watched her nod with
a small smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Dai-chan. Don’t be mean to Kii-chan.”
She said quietly.
“You heard her, you can’t be mean to me or I’ll tell on you.” Kise said with a
grin. “Take care, Momocchi!” he added, waving goodbye.
Wakamatsu called for her to hurry up and she turned around, waving at them as
she hopped back on the bus. Aomine sighed with relief.
“Why’d you ask her to come with us?” he spat through gritted teeth.
“Because we’re friends, obviously! Just because I do ecchi stuff with you
doesn’t mean I don’t want to spend more time with my other friends too.” Kise
replied with a huff. “I know Aominecchi thinks the whole world spins around
him, but it’s about time you realize that’s not the case.” He added as they
walked outside the gym after Kise was done saying goodbye to his teammates.
Aomine blushed crimson. “I-I don’t think the world spins around me!” he
quipped. What he didn’t say is that he realized Kise was right. He was so
caught up in their messy relationship that he had almost forgotten Kise was his
friend, and Satsuki’s and Tetsu’s. He’d have to do good on Kise’s promise and
set up some sort of meeting for all of them to enjoy themselves and have a good
time.
“Anyway, got any idea of where we’re gonna eat?”
Kise smiled confidently. “There’s a Nakau a few blocks from my place, we can
buy some on the way and eat at home while I enlighten you in the wonders of
rom-coms.”
Aomine groaned. In the month that had passed since their last date, he’d also
forgotten about Kise’s new determination to get him to like chick flicks. He
briefly wondered if he wasn’t going to regret staying over, but as he thought
about it, he remembered how he always ended having fun with Kise, even when
they were doing something stupid like karaoke or watching a horrible romantic
movie. Maybe he should have a little faith on Kise’s film education programme.
“Sounds like a plan.”
He smiled to himself when he noticed Kise’s eyes widen and his face brighten
with excitement. He’d obviously expected Aomine to argue or protest about his
movie night initiative. It made Aomine feel very pleased with himself to know
he could still take Kise by surprise. That it also happened to make Kise smile
was a nice bonus.
 
===============================================================================
 
 
Aomine’s stomach grumbled. He’d eaten a generous breakfast –he hadn’t wanted to
be short of energy when he faced Kise-, but that had been hours ago. The smell
of meat that filled his nostrils as soon as they stepped into the restaurant
didn’t help at all.
“So how’re we gonna do this?” he asked impatiently, his eyes already fixed on
the ticket machine and the option he wanted.
Kise looked up from the machine and blinked quickly. “I know you’re
uncivilized, Aominecchi, but you must know how to use one of these.” He said
amusedly, pointing at the machine.
Aomine smacked him across the head lightly, and smiled with satisfaction at the
little yelp he received. “I meant the payment. How ‘bout I pay for yours and
you pay for mine?”
“Eeeeh? But Aominecchi eats like a beast, I’ll end up spending thrice as
much!!” Kise protested, rubbing the back of his head.
Aomine’s frown deepened. Was Kise hell-bent on making fun of him as much as he
could today?
“I’m kidding, kidding! Gee, don’t make that scary face Aominecchi; how many
times must I tell you. You’re too young to ruin your handsome face with
wrinkles.” Kise added quickly, an easy smile on his lips as his index finger
pressed his brow, allegedly to ease the infamous wrinkles.  “Let’s do that,
then I can say Aominecchi bought me dinner.” He added playfully. “Ok, what do
you want?” he asked, pulling out his wallet
“Katsudon, big serving.”  Was his automatic reply. He’d been daydreaming about
it all the way here. His stomach growled loudly when he heard the noise of
ticket being printed.
“I’ll have oyakodon, regular size.” Kise said, moving away from the machine so
Aomine could place the order. “Can you go ahead and get the food? I really need
to go to the bathroom.” He mentioned, handing him the katsudon ticket and
bolting away before he could reply.
 Aomine shrugged and picked up Kise’s meal ticket before heading for the
counter. He handed the tickets to the attendant and licked his lips in
anticipation. He almost wanted to tell Kise they should eat already and go home
afterwards. Besides, their food would get cold on the way to Kise’s house.
His thoughts were interrupted by the familiar sound of Kise’s melodic laughter.
He glanced towards the bathroom doors and saw Kise walking out, following a
shorter guy with strong arms, spiky hair and thick eyebrows. Aomine couldn’t
remember the guy’s name, but he recognized him as Kaijou’s former captain, the
guy that Kise had passed the ball to in that final play of last year’s Inter
High. A guy Kise trusted.
“Aominecchi!” Kise called, waving at him and lightly pushing his senpai towards
the counter. “Look, I ran into Kasamatsu-senpai in the bathroom, isn’t it a
small world?” he explained excitedly, standing behind Kasamatsu.
“Uh… yeah, hi.” Aomine replied awkwardly, his eyes fixed on the way Kise’s
fingers squeezed Kasamatsu’s shoulder. His stomach stopped grumbling and
started getting tied in a tight, tight knot.
“Hi… I’m Kasamatsu.” the guy replied, obviously as unexcited about this
encounter as Aomine was. “Uh…” he looked around awkwardly, as if looking for
someone. “Are you two having dinner here?”
Kise raised an eyebrow and leaned slightly forward, his chest grazing the back
of Kasamatsu’s arm. Aomine bit his lip. “No, we’re taking it to my place to
watch movies.” He replied with a bright smile. The knot in Aomine’s stomach
loosened a little. “Why, are you having a date?” he inquired, his chin now
resting on top of his fingers, on Kasamatsu’s shoulder. “We could totally stay
and I could tell the lucky lady about senpai’s best qualities.” Kise offered
mischievously. Obviously he had no intention of bringing up anyone’s best
qualities –except, perhaps his own-.
Aomine honestly didn’t care about that, he just wanted Kise to stop. touching.
that guy so much. Kise had always been a really touchy-feely guy, he was
practically a hugging monster and never had any reservations in throwing
himself at people –from Tetsu and Satsuki to Akashi and Midorima. Only the
people he trusted and liked,though. And Kise liked his Kaijou teammates quite a
lot, a significant amount of his texts were funny stories about the team. Kise
obviously trusted Kasamatsu too, since he’d seemed to pass to him the most
among his other teammates during the Winter Cup. It was expected that he’d be
clingy with him as well. And yet, Aomine couldn’t shake off the feeling of
discomfort growing in his gut.
It’s not like he likes that guy, the one he likes is me. He told himself,
trying to put his mind at ease. As he finished the thought, though, he almost
choked on his own spit. Why would that make him feel better? His head was
starting to hurt and he wished the food would come soon so they could leave
quickly. Whether the food got cold or not didn’t seem that important anymore.
“You’re too close, idiot!” Kasamatsu protested, pushing Kise away towards the
counter. “And no, I don’t need you to vouch for me, thank you very much.” He
added.
Kise pouted unhappily. “Aww, how mean, senpai, you should be more grateful that
a supermodel wants to be your wingman.” He said with a smirk. “And you’d need
that a lot if Nakau is the best you can do for a date.” He added, winking
maliciously.
Kasamatsu smacked Kise. “Shut the fuck up.” He spat, looking away as a light
red tint grew on his cheeks.
Without thinking, Aomine stepped forward to stand behind Kise. “Food’s here, we
should get going.” He announced, holding the plastic bag where Kise could see
it.
“But Aominecchi! Don’t you want to crash senpai’s date?” he screeched, batting
his long eyelashes at him, and Aomine had to bite his lip. No wonder Kise
always seemed to get away with stuff no one else would.
“No, and acting cute won’t change my mind about it.”
Kasamatsu nodded in his direction and mouthed a ‘thanks’. Aomine hadn’t really
done it for that guy’s sake, but he wasn’t gonna’ complain about getting a win-
win outcome.
“Move it, I’m starving.” He emphasized, and when he looked down to nudge Kise
towards the exit, he found his hand casually splayed on Kise’s hip. When had he
put it there? He suddenly felt like his skin was on fire, and he retracted his
hand as fast as he could. “S-s-see ya.” He muttered, waving at Kasamatsu with
the hand that wasn’t literally burning, before starting towards the door, with
Kise following close behind. As soon as they exited, he thought he saw a
familiar sly smirk walking past them, into the restaurant and towards
Kasamatsu, and he could’ve sworn he’d heard that annoying accent before, but he
really just wanted to leave this whole incident behind, so he didn’t pay it any
mind.
“Aominecchi’s so rude, it would’ve been so fun.” Kise complained. “I’m gonna
put you through the worst movies in Kyo-nee’s collection, you’ll see.”
Aomine sighed. “I honestly prefer that.” He uttered, mostly to himself. If Kise
wanted to be obnoxiously physical with his senpai he was free to do it, Aomine
just didn’t want to be there to see it because it made him irrationally,
absurdly angry, and it made him think strange things. But Kise didn’t need to
know that.
 
===============================================================================
 
 
Kise was humming pleasantly as he climbed up the stairs with a pile of DVD
cases. Aominecchi had already made himself comfortable in his bedroom and had
probably started ploughing through his food, he truly seemed to be starving.
They’d set up a couple of big pillows and blankets in front of the TV because
Kise would not have a mess of food on his bed under any circumstance.
Aomine frowned when he saw the DVDs in Kise’s hands. “You weren’t joking when
you said your sis had a collection.” He observed, unamused.
“What, this? I just picked a handful of things, there’s dozens downstairs.”
Aomine groaned. “Just how many of these do you want to force me to watch?”
Kise placed his hands on his hips. “A lot of them, obviously. I told you this
would be an intensive education programme.” In reality, he didn’t expect them
to make it through more than two, maybe three movies, before they decided to
make actual good use of a their no-parents-home situation. “Since I’m a
graceful teacher, I’ll let you choose the first thing we’ll watch.” He added
with a grin, displaying the different covers in front of Aomine’s eyes.
“Star Wars.” Aomine replied automatically, not even looking at them.
Kise squeaked indignantly. “You haven’t even watched the previous movies!!”
“Yeah, but it’s really popular right now and the chick’s really hot.”
Kise wanted to punch his frustratingly handsome face. “Firstly, you’re an
idiot, and secondly, Star Wars isn’t a rom-com. You agreed to come, so you have
to follow the rules!”
Aomine shrugged. “It was worth the shot.” He looked down at the DVD cases, but
he was obviously not seeing anything remotely appealing. “Eh… this one.” He
said finally, pointing at one of them, probably at random.
“Oh!! Great choice! This one’s really cute!” Kise informed him with a smile,
quickly placing the disk in the DVD before plopping next to him on the
cushions. “Pass me my dinner, I’m getting really hungry too.”
Aomine passed him his plastic bowl and a pair of wooden chopsticks. It wasn’t
right-out-of-the-pot warm anymore, but there was a light vapor coming from the
food and it smelled delicious. He licked his lips, not paying attention to the
opening credits on the screen.
“Ittadakimasu!” he chanted before digging in and picking up a piece of chicken
and rice. Before he could put it in his mouth, he heard Aomine’s low voice
drawling “Ittadakimasu” too, and his attention was driven away from his food to
look at Aomine, who was just starting to eat. His eyebrows rose with surprise.
“I thought Aominecchi would’ve swallowed all his katsudon without even chewing
it while I was downstairs picking the movies.” He observed.
“I was waiting for you, duh.” He replied nonchalantly, as if it wasn’t a big
deal, even though it made Kise’s breath hitch. “If I saw you eat after
finishing my food I’d get hungry again.” He added, already chewing on a piece
of chicken.
“Ew, don’t speak with your mouth full, Aominecchi!” Kise squealed, forgetting
the momentaneous flutter in his belly. “Your brutish manners are making your
parents look bad.”
“Oi!” Aomine began, but seemed unable to come up with a good response. “They
tried their best, okay?” he said finally, blushing a little. Aominecchi
defending his parents was awfully cute. Kise wanted to kiss him. “Gimme’ some,
that looks good.” Aomine continued, trying to divert his attention and
snatching a big piece of chicken and egg from Kise’s bowl without even waiting
to get a confirmation.
“AOMINECCHI!!!” Kise squealed, louder this time, trying to recover his food
from Aomine’s chopsticks, but by the time he reacted, Aomine was already
chewing on it. “You can’t just go around stealing people’s food, damnit, it’s
like you’re still thirteen!” he huffed, his eyebrows knit in a scowl.
“C’mon, don’t be dramatic. What’s it you always say? ‘You’re too young to get
wrinkles on your handsome face.” Aomine quipped back, doing an extremely poor
imitation of Kise’s voice while pressing Kise’s brow with his finger. Kise
really wanted to be offended, but all he could do was blush and let his mouth
hang wide open, even if he knew Aominecchi hadn’t really called him handsome
because it almost sounded like he had. “Here, you can have some of mine.”
Aomine said, and before Kise could react, Aominecchi was holding a piece of his
own pork a breath away from Kise’s lips. Kise hesitated a little, wondering if
Aominecchi was even aware of what he was doing, but finally decided a bite for
a bite was fair and chomped down on the meat. The crust made a nice crunch when
his teeth sunk into it. It was really good, if a little too greasy for his
taste.
“Now we’re even.” Aomine concluded, going back to pick at his own food with the
exact same chopsticks that he’d used to feed Kise. Obviously, it’s not like any
sensible human being would change them over something as stupid as an indirect
kiss. And really, Kise had had his mouth on a lot of Aomine’s things to start
getting self-conscious about chopsticks, but he still couldn’t get his heart to
stop pounding against his ribcage.
“You gonna’ complain about everything or you gonna’ let me watch this movie
now? The dude’s pretty fun.”
Kise looked down at his bowl of food, hoping Aominecchi wouldn’t notice how red
his face was right now. He was so glad he’d turned off the lights, because for
someone who hated rom-coms so much, Aominecchi was awfully natural at doing
cliché rom-com stuff without even noticing.
 
===============================================================================
 
 
“I gotta admit that was pretty fun.” Aomine mused as the end credits rolled.
“Told you so.” Kise replied simply, squatting in front of the TV to take the
disk out.
“I never said all rom-coms were bad, I just don’t really like them. And the one
we watched last time was super shitty.”
Kise huffed. “Whatever, it’s my choice now.” He mumbled, putting another disk
on. This would be good to set a quieter mood, which he needed if his
“seduction” plan had any hopes of working. While the opening music started,
Kise picked up their empty takeout bowls and shoved them in the small trash can
he kept in the room. Then he went to the closet to get a couple of blankets
–the night was getting a little chilly, even though it was May already, and
Aominecchi had always been weak to the cold.
“Oh, fuck no, I hate this movie!” Aomine hollered pointing at the screen.
Kise whined, feigning offense. “You haven’t even watched it!”
“Well, no, but Mum loves it and I know it’s awful.”
“But it’s a classic! How could I educate you in romantic movies if you don’t
watch this one?”
“You said rom-coms! This one’s all dramatic and shit!”
“But-but… it’s my favorite!!” Kise protested as a last resource. It wasn’t
really a lie, but Aominecchi was right in that it didn’t quite count as a
romantic comedy, but he really wanted to watch it.
Aomine stared at him with a deep frown on his face –and Kise almost pointed out
how he would get early wrinkles, but he didn’t because he wasn’t fully
recovered from when Aominecchi sorta called him handsome-. After a short
staring contest –in which Kise put out his secret, super powerful, fail-proof
lethal weapon: his cute pouty face with fake-teary eyes- Aomine threw his hands
in the air as a sign of defeat.
“Just so you know, you won’t always get your way just because you have that
stupid cute puppy face, I’m just doing you a special favour.” Aomine clarified
unconvincingly, not looking at Kise’s face.
“Yay!” Kise beamed “I love you, Aominecchi. You’re the best!” he chirped
without thinking it too much.
 
 
 
He cursed to himself and bit his tongue when he realized the words he’d used.
He hadn’t actually told Aomine upfront that he loved him. He panicked, now the
evening was going to be weird and awkward. Why couldn’t he control his big
stupid mouth?
 
 
 
“O-of course I’m the best.” Aominecchi replied quietly, his cheeks glowing a
light red. “Are you ever gonna bring those blankets or am I gonna have to go
take them from you? I’m freezing.”
Kise jolted a little. He hadn’t expected Aomine to take his sudden declaration
of love so… well. Maybe he just didn’t care? No, that wasn’t it. Kise knew
Aomine well, he knew that he did care, and from his face he could tell that he
was a little flustered and embarrassed, but that he also didn’t feel bothered
or annoyed. Maybe he even looked a little happy, or maybe Kise’s wishful
thinking was making him imagine that. But either way, the mood didn’t feel
ruined. They were both quiet, with just the movie playing in the background,
but the air felt light and cozy.
Maybe there was a chance that this could actually work.
He sat on the cushion next to Aominecchi and scooted a little closer
tentatively before throwing the blankets over both of their knees.
“Thanks.” Aomine muttered quietly, pulling the fabric closer.
“If Aominecchi’s really cold, I can go downstairs and make some hot chocolate
or something.” He offered with a smile.
Aomine blushed again. “I’m not that cold, and I’m also not a little kid, I
don’t need you to make chocolate for me.” He replied, scratching his cheek.
“Oh, come on! I told you this movie was crap, look at that chick, that’s just
stupid!” he switched gears angrily, pointing at the screen. “’Sides, it’s
colder downstairs, you’ll get sick.” He added, his voice very quiet again.
Kise’s heart thrummed loudly in his chest.  “I’m just saying Aominecchi’s super
weak to the cold, and you’re not fooling me with your fake coffee cups, you’ve
always liked hot chocolate better.” He said teasingly, inching just a little
bit closer. “Also, that’s not crap, that’s romantic and sad! Just because
you’re a heartless brute and you don’t understand the beauty of a forbidden
love that defies all barriers!” he protested, but he couldn’t even act like he
was mad. His belly felt fluttery. This felt nice, so nice. What was it that
Takao had said the other day?
“Prove to him that you could make each other happy, that you’re great
together.”
Takao was right. They were good together. They always had fun, even when they
were arguing. This could definitely work if he tried. He scooted a little bit
closer and could almost feel Aomine’s hand next to his, their shoulders nearly
touching. If he moved his hand just a little more to the right, he could lace
their fingers together.
He’d do it. He could definitely do it, take a real step and try to make this
relationship work. There were so many movies where fake relationships became
real, what was keeping him from having that chance too? He’d do it quick the
next time Aominecchi complained, and he’d measure his response then.
The next scene was definitely going to make Aomine complain.
 
 
 
 
 
Kise’s skin itched.
 
 
 
 
 
In a few moments…
 
 
 
 
 
In a few more moments…
 
 
 
 
 
Cold, rough skin made contact with his. Electricity ran through his fingers.
 
 
 
 
 
Kise snapped his neck to look away from the screen and down to the spot where
his hand was, his heart thundering against his ribs.
 
 
 
 
 
Aomine’s hand was on top of his.
 
 
 
 
 
Kise looked up at Aomine, his cheeks burning and his mind dizzy with confusion.
He opened his mouth to say something, but his voice died when he felt Aomine
entwine their fingers together. Kise couldn’t breathe. This was really
happening. Aomine had… Kise hadn’t done anything. He hadn’t had time to. And
yet they were holding hands, as if it were natural. Kise squeezed Aomine’s hand
lightly, tentatively. Aomine was frowning at the screen, but he squeezed back.
Kise’s heart swelled. This could work.
“You gonna tell me the mother’s stupid story was ‘romantic’ too? It’s so
fucking dumb!”
“It makes sense because it’s a period piece! Things were different back then!”
 
 
 
Aomine could fall in love with him.
 
 
 
Chapter End Notes
     Yeah, okay, this was actually not supposed to stop there, but like I
     said above, this chapter was 15K words, so I decided it was better to
     cut it in half. The plus side is that you’ll get an update real soon!
     Also, like I promised, no crying Kise this chapter!
     I really wanted to start inserting Momoi into the story because she’s
     so important for Aomine and she loves all those idiot miracle boys so
     much and cares so much about them, I can’t think she wouldn’t be
     worried about what’s going on between Aomine and Kise. As for Takao,
     I just needed an excuse to have other characters gushing about how
     perfect Midotaka is, but also his broship with Kise is so terribly
     important to me. I love them.
     But don’t ask me why I always end up writing terrible basketball
     scenes when it’s so hard to do them. The story just somehow ends up
     there time and time again ;----; It’s just such a good opportunity to
     showcase their friendly rivalry and I can’t help it. I love writing
     them bantering and arguing about stupid shit. Also a perfect chance
     for them to flirt-but-not-really-flirt
     For commitment’s sake, I actually did the same google search as
     Aomine and didn’t get any useful results. Sometimes Google-sensei
     doesn’t have all the answers ): He’s gonna have to find the answer
     somewhere else in his heart
     I don’t think we’ve been told explicitly who became Kaijou’s captain
     after Kasamatsu graduated, but Hayakawa has Kasamatsu’s mad eyebrow
     game, so I thought that gave him captain qualities(oh, nvm, went to
     wiki to confirm and Hayakawa actually is confirmed the new captain.
     Eyebrows don’t lie)
     Nakau is a Japanese fast food chain that, like a lot of (the best)
     Japanese fast food chains, specializes in donburimono, basically a
     bowl of rice with some kind of meat on top: Kise’s has egg and
     chicken (hence the name oyakodon: “father and child bowl”) and
     Aomine’s has breaded chicken. I’m personally partial for beef or
     curry bowls, not that anyone cares about that (ugghhh I miss
     donburimono). Also, the movies they watched were the Ore Monogatari
     live action (which I haven’t seen, but the anime was pretty okayish
     as far as bland funny romances go) and The Notebook, which I sorta
     liked when I was a teenager and now I'm just like... yaaaaaawn
     I wonder if anyone has any guesses about Kasamatsu’s date. Don’t
     bother. It’s Imayoshi. I ship them. I’m trash. Leave me and my trashy
     rarepair alone.
     Hope you enjoyed it, and sorry for the delay, next chapter will be up
     in two weeks, pinky promise my friends. Please let me know your
     thoughts, all your comments are really encouraging!
***** Not all rom-coms are bad (Part II: some are worse) *****
Chapter Summary
     Kise wasn't sure of how he'd ended on his own bed, half naked, the
     blood in his veins boiling, with Aomine's body pressed flush against
     his, kissing aggressively, lips getting caught by teeth, tongues
     exploring each other's mouth, air getting sucked straight out of his
     lungs
Chapter Notes
     Warnings for this chapter: Inappropriate use of bodily fluids, in
     more ways than you may imagine :D
     Also, if it crosses your mind that you want to make a stink about who
     gets the D in the A, please read this >> http://
     liamatsuoka.tumblr.com/post/140467862217/a-heads-up-folks-if-youre-
     reading-misery-loves
     (i don't know how to code in this space, sorry folks)
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Aomine really hated this movie. He knew it was all the rage among girls their
age –even though it was like a decade old-. He simply couldn't understand why
girls would enjoy a film in which the female lead was an idiot, often getting
manipulated or looked down on by the man that claimed to "love her". He'd never
been a relationship expert, but he sure as hell wouldn't want to date any of
those characters. Even the sex scene was lame. The only good thing about it was
that Kise was snuggling closer to him now, which was really nice and warm. He
didn't know why Kise hadn't turned on the air conditioner to keep the room a
little warmer now that the temperature had dropped a little, but he didn't feel
like asking. Human warmth was nicer than appliance warmth.
The movie ended with the pair dying of old age together. Aomine rolled his
eyes.
"You seriously made me sit through the whole stupid th—"
He was interrupted by a loud sob. He turned to look at Kise's face and found
him weeping, fat tears rolling down his cheeks and smearing his mascara over
his pale skin. His heart felt a painful squeeze for a moment, but as he
examined Kise's expression further, he couldn't help a small, relieved smile.
"I can't believe you're crying over that stupid movie."
It wasn't that he liked to see Kise crying, but damn if it wasn't nice to know
he was actually crying about that idiotic movie and not for… something else.
"I can't believe you're not crying!" Kise squeaked with indignation. "Are you
even human?!" he sniffled.
Aomine was just so glad that it wasn't his fault Kise was crying.
"Anyone with two working eyes would see through those cheap drama tricks,
jesus." He flicked Kise's forehead. "You should look at yourself, you're a
mess. When did you even put make-up on anyway? You weren't wearing it during
the game."
"Of course I wasn't, duh. I put it on after the game, I'm not an
anim—AOMINECCHI WHAT ARE YOUMMFF—"
Aomine grabbed the hem of Kise's t-shirt and pulled it up to wipe the tears and
snot from his face.
"That's so gross, Aominecchi, HOW DARE YOU?! I actually like this shirt, YOU
BEAST!" Kise screeched, his face red with fury, some black splotches of mascara
still clinging to his cheeks, his golden eyes staring horrified at the stain on
the shirt.
Aomine didn't respond, for the simple reason that he wasn't gonna admit he'd
suddenly wanted to kiss him, but couldn't because his face was covered with
snot and tears and make-up. And any possible retort he could've thought of died
in his throat when he caught Kise pulling his ruined shirt over his head.
"Do you even know how fucking hard it is to get make-up off of clothes?! Do
you?! Of course you don't because you're a FUCKING NEANDERTHAL!" Kise continued
screaming, but Aomine wasn't really listening, his eyes too busy following the
angles of Kise's collarbones, his lean figure, the soft curve of his waist, the
barely-there abs and the sharp corners of his hipbones and the tuft of dark
brown hair peeking out from his low-cut jeans and getting lost in—
Aomine's vision went black for a second and he felt something wet and sticky
getting smeared on his face. It took him a couple of blinks to process what was
happening.
"WHAT THE FUCK KISE!" he roared, snatching the stupid shirt from Kise's hand
and throwing it away carelessly. The skin of his face prickled with the gross
feeling of tears and snot that were not his. He wiped himself clean using his
own shirt before launching himself towards Kise, tackling him to the ground.
"You were totally begging for it! That shirt was new! NEW! You've five seconds
to start scrubbing it clean and if there's a single spot left I'm never gonna
forgive you!"
Aomine leaned down closer, holding both of Kise's arms above his head so he
couldn't push him away. "Oh, no, you'll never forgive me? How terrible, I feel
so full of regret now." He sneered. Kise struggled beneath him, trying to kick
him off, and in that moment Aomine was very grateful for whatever many kilos he
had to his advantage because he was growing increasingly certain that the
moment he let go of Kise's hands, he'd get his own face ripped off his skull
(which he probably deserved). And yet, he couldn't contain his own laughter.
There was something just inherently fun about this. It felt almost like when
they were trying to outdo each other on court, arguing back and forth to see
who'd have the last laugh.
"C'mon, don't glare at me like that. It's the second time tonight I've to tell
you about those premature wrinkles you're so obsessed about."
Kise huffed furiously, his hot breath tickling Aomine's face. He found himself
mildly entranced by the fire in Kise's eyes, like molten liquid gold. His eyes
found Kise's mouth, lips slightly parted, panting heavily, the perfectly white
tips of his canines barely visible. He briefly wondered if he should be
concerned by how much he wanted to kiss him considering the circumstances, but
he discarded the thought immediately and instead gave in to his basic urge to
get a taste from Kise's mouth. Kise yelped when they kissed, his fiery eyes
widening with bewilderment before pulling back.
"Aominecchi, you're not kissing your way out of this!" he protested. "You
better get on to cleaning that shirt soon, if the stains get dry they'll never
come off!"
Aomine laughed. He wasn't really sure of why this whole thing felt so funny,
and he was sure Kise was finding exactly zero amusement in how not-seriously he
was taking this whole thing, but it just felt so right. His chest felt light,
none of the guilt or dread he'd been experiencing recently when he started
worrying about hurting Kise's feelings. No, right now it felt as if this was
exactly how things were meant to be between them. Not like, exactly "this"
–because "this" meant a shirtless Kise furiously writhing beneath him and maybe
he shouldn't let his dick do the thinking anymore- but more like, the feel of
it all, how easy and natural it felt.
Without realizing it, he let go of Kise's wrists and instead, both of his hands
found Kise's to lace their fingers together. He'd come to like this, how their
fingers fit when entwined. He noticed the rage dissolving from Kise's
expression and turning to confusion, his pale cheeks taking on a soft pink
glow. From up close, he could see the natural length of Kise's eyelashes and
the cat-like curve of his eyelid, only the smallest amount of eyeliner left
after their scuffle. He could feel his own heart beating hard against his
ribcage. He'd long come to terms with the fact that Kise was almost
irresistibly beautiful, but it still bothered him how effortlessly he seemed to
make him fall for his charms. It was almost unfair.
"Why'd you even bother with make-up when you look so good without it?" he
breathed before leaning forward to kiss him again, hot and needy for reasons he
couldn't understand.
Kise shivered beneath him, his naked chest arching towards his. His eyes
fluttered close and he parted his lips further to invite Aomine's tongue into
his mouth.
He pulled away shortly for breath and managed to whisper "Because I look
fabulous with it, you uncultur—" before Aomine captured his lips again, hungry,
demanding, almost as if he wanted to steal the life out of Kise's body.
 
 
And Kise let him.
 
 
===============================================================================
Kise wasn't sure of how he'd ended on his own bed, half naked, the blood in his
veins boiling, with Aomine's body pressed flush against his, kissing
aggressively, lips getting caught by teeth, tongues exploring each other's
mouth, air getting sucked straight out of his lungs. There was a little voice
nagging at the back of his head, that shirt's gonna be ruined now, and it was a
nice one, but Kise couldn't bring himself to care anymore. His head was
spinning, spinning and he feared he would pass out from overstimulation. He
needed to get oxygen in his system right now, but god he didn't want this kiss
to end. He gasped for breathe in between kisses, letting his hands roam free
under Aomine's shirt, touching, feeling, holding on to anything to keep his
mind grounded. His skin burned with every touch, their bodies undulating
against each other, and he wanted, wanted, but he needed to breathe.
He shoved Aomine back lightly and inhaled sharply, filling his lungs with
precious oxygen. When the haze dissipated from his sight, he sat up and noticed
Aomine straddling his thighs and staring at him, half confused, half
embarrassed, panting heavily, the corner of his eye twitching a little, as if
he didn't know what to do now.
Well, this is awkward.
Kise sighed. They'd had a perfectly good moment and he'd killed it. Past
experience had taught him that getting in the right mood with Aominecchi was
very difficult; if Aominecchi wasn't blushing and being overly self-conscious
about everything he did, it was Kise himself overthinking everything and
torturing himself. And now he'd completely ruined that wonderfully mindless
spark that had lit between them. He wanted to slap himself.
"Uhm… you okay?"
His eyes shot up once again to find Aominecchi glancing at him sheepishly, as
if he felt too ashamed to look him in the eye, and all Kise could do was smile.
His heart felt warmth remembering how genuinely Aominecchi cared for him, and
how pure his concern was. It made him feel even more hopeful about the
possibilities of success for his half-baked seduction attempt.
"I'm okay, I'm okay, I just needed to breath." He replied dismissively, letting
his lips pull into a toothy grin. "Jeez, Aominecchi's so eager I thought I
might get devoured for real, like in those horror movies." He added teasingly.
As expected, Aomine flushed a deeper shade of red. "O-oi! You were the one
biting!"
Kise's grin only widened and he pointed at his sharp canines. "Oh no, I've been
discovered by Aominecchi! He'll now realize I'm actually a vampire with only
the most wicked of intentions!" he exclaimed melodramatically.
Aomine shoved a pillow to his face, his brow wrinkled in a deep scowl. "Shut
up, I'm feeling second-hand embarrassment from hearing you say something so
stupid."
"Aominecchi's so pure I thought you may actually believe it." Kise replied,
unable to hold back his growing smile, even with Aomine shoving the pillow
harder against his face, to the point of making him lie down on the mattress
again. Kise managed to snatch the pillow away and throw it far from
Aominecchi's reach, so they were now just looking at each other, Kise smiling,
entertained, and Aomine frowning and embarrassed.
"So…" Aomine began after a couple seconds of pleasant silence. "I guess we're
not watching any more movies?"
Of all the things he could've asked, that was the one Kise would've never
expected. He almost wanted to laugh.
"If you want we can watch something else, but I think it'd be a waste if we
don't take advantage of the fact that we have the house for ourselves tonight."
He replied wiggling his eyebrows, his eyes glinting mischievously.
Aominecchi, as expected, blushed and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.
"W-well if it's between that and letting you pick another god awful movie I-
I guess I d-don't really have a choice."
Kise couldn't even try not to laugh at that. He sat up again and cupped
Aomine's cheeks to press a loud smooch on his lips, letting his giggles drown
in the kiss. Aomine pulled back briefly and took his shirt off, revealing his
perfect dark-skinned torso. Kise wet his lips with his tongue unconsciously.
He'd be lying if he said he hadn't dreamt of licking honey or chocolate syrup
off of every inch of Aomine's gorgeous body, but he had a feeling that
Aominecchi would not be very appreciative of the thought. He pushed that idea
out of his mind and instead focused on once again running his hands over
Aomine's chest, his chiseled abs and broad chest that made goosebumps bloom on
his skin.
Aomine was mirroring his actions, his calloused fingers dragging over his body,
as if trying to memorize every shape, angle and curve, fingers gliding over his
flesh, tickling his sides, pinching his nipples…
Pinching his nipples.
That gave Kise pause. He broke the kiss and cocked his head when he glanced
down to where Aomine's thumb and index were rubbing his nipple, the pink tip
hard and sensitive.
"That's new." He commented absentmindedly. Aominecchi was getting more
initiative each time and Kise didn't really know how to feel about that. There
was the part of him that quite enjoyed having to guide Aominecchi, holding the
reins and teaching his inexperienced love all the secrets of physical
pleasures. But there was that other part of him that got really hot and excited
just from thinking of being manhandled by a confident Aomine who knew exactly
what to do to make him melt under his touch.
"I, uh…" Aominecchi seemed to grow self-conscious again and withdrew his hand.
"R-read somewhere that it… f-feels nice for some guys…"
Unfortunately, Kise wasn't one of those guys, but he wasn't about to say it. He
felt a rush of heat course through his body and he had to hide his face in his
hands to cover for his embarrassment.
Too cute.
"Oi." Aomine's fingers wrapped around his wrists, pulling his hands away from
his face. "You get to watch and make fun of me every time I'm embarrassed;
you're not allowed to hide when you are."
Kise's heart hiccupped and he briefly worried that his beautiful face would
melt away from how hot he felt. Aomine didn't give him time to ponder about it
much, sealing his lips with a hungry kiss, while his hands fumbled with the
button and zipper of his pants. Kise tried to copy the motions, but he was a
bit too dizzy and a bit too drunk in happiness to even attempt it, so he
contented himself with holding on to Aomine's broad back.
Aomine broke the kiss, and before Kise could fully open his eyes or try to
chase after his mouth, he felt the tip of his cock engulfed in wet heat, and he
threw his head back to moan loudly. He looked down through clouded eyes and
almost came when he found Aomine's lips wrapped around his dick.
"A-a-aomine-cchi." He breathed.
Dark eyes turned up to meet his, a teasing glint on his growing smirk. "If
you're gonna cum you better tell me beforehand. I'm not swallowing that gross
shit."
Kise wasn't sure of how he was supposed to achieve that, but instead he said
"You don't… have to do that" with a thin voice.
Aomine's smirk grew a little wider. "What? Think I can't give a decent
'service'?." He teased before taking Kise's cock in his mouth again.
Kise moaned again as he felt Aomine's tongue tentatively dragging over his
sensitive flesh. Aomine's hooded eyes met his, his cheeks flushed as he sucked
on the head, his cheeks hollowing, and Kise really wanted to scream. He felt a
warm liquid trickling down his nose, which he found to be blood after trying to
wipe it away with his fingers. He thought he should feel a little more ashamed
of himself, being perverted enough to actually bleed from arousal, but instead
he decided he should be proud of himself for not coming on the spot. Still,
maybe he should take his eyes off Aominecchi, before the sight of his dick
disappearing inside wet lips pushed him over the edge much too soon.
Fortunately (or not so much) Aomine pulled away to look at him with concern in
his eyes. "You're bleeding." He said, and Kise could tell how hard he was
trying not to panic.
"I-I'm okay," Kise replied, hurriedly wiping off more blood from under his
nose. "I… Aominecchi's really hot."
In seconds, Aomine's worried frown morphed into a cocky grin. "Tell me
something I don't know".
Kise laughed, lacing his arms around Aomine's neck to pull him in for yet
another kiss. He could taste the bitterness in Aomine's tongue, but it didn't
bother him in the slightest. He dug his fingers into Aomine's short hair. It
was coarse and dry. Kise sighed into the kiss. He'd have to educate Aomine
about using proper hair products, it was a total waste, with such a handsome
face, to let his hair get ruined out of negligence.
Their hips were moving of their own accord, grinding against each other,
desperate for some friction. Kise fumbled with Aomine's pants, finally managing
to unzip and unbutton them to pull them down along with the underwear. Aomine
gasped when he felt his erection finally free of its constraints and rocked his
hips faster, wrapping one hand around both of their manhoods to stroke them
together. Shots of electricity bolted up Kise's spine. He moaned into the kiss,
his fingernails digging small crescent marks into Aomine's nape. He could feel
the heat pooling at the bottom of his stomach and he knew he was close.
Aomine's hand was slick with precum. It was a genuine miracle that he'd managed
to hold back so much, considering how things had ended the last time Aomine
sucked his dick. He wasn't sure if Aominecchi would want to go all the way
tonight, but he wouldn't mind ending like this and trying for a second round
later on. He was about to say something to that end, when Aomine broke the kiss
and took his hand back.
Kise untangled his fingers from Aomine's hair and let his hands rest on his
broad shoulders. He pushed the fog out of his mind and looked at Aomine, whose
gaze was adrift, as if trying to avoid him, a dark blush creeping up his neck.
Kise opened his mouth to ask if something was wrong, but once again, Aomine
beat him to it.
"So, uh… how're we gonna' do this…?"
Kise cocked his head, not sure that he understood what Aomine was saying.
"I mean… last time you let me… d-d-do what I wanted so…"
Kise's eyes widened.
"I-it's okay Aominecchi, I'm always doing whatever I want." He stuttered,
afraid of what he might respond if he actually took on that offer. "I already
told you I wouldn't've let you do me if I didn't want it." Even though he tried
to sound confident, his mind was already going places it shouldn't, and his
ears were burning with shame.
"I-I know…" Aomine was fidgeting slightly. "But I… I didn't really do it great
last time so i-it's only fair."
"Wha-? Aominecchi did fine! I-it wasn't like, p-perfect but no one is! You do
know men can't fake orgasms, right? I… it was fine… I-I liked it."
He hated it when Aominecchi started doubting himself. It didn't suit him.
Aominecchi was a cocky idiot and Kise couldn't stand seeing him any other way.
It hurt him to see Aominecchi's confidence crack, even if it was for the most
stupid things, and he would reassure Aominecchi however many times were
necessary to get that stupid cocky smirk back on his face where it belonged.
The tension in Aomine's shoulders seemed to ease down a little bit, to Kise's
relief.
"I still think that y-you should choose… "
Kise's breathe hitched.
"W-what if…" he swallowed. "what if I said I want to fuck Aominecchi…"
Aomine jolted a little.
"I didn't even bring condoms of my size, so it's not like… w-we can do it the
other w-way around."
"But you don't have to force yourself to it. I mean there are lots of ways that
we can do it without going all the way." Aominecchi had always been very proud,
so Kise had assumed he wouldn't really be the type to take it up the ass
without protesting. Kise quite liked switching around, but he'd always been
willing to compromise for Aominecchi's sake.
"It's not like… it'd be the first time." Aomine's voice was thin. "It wasn't…
it wasn't that bad."
Kise felt a spark of memory lighting up in his head. He'd almost forgotten
about that. Their actual first time had been so weird and painful and awkward
he'd almost pushed it out of his head, even if it had only been a few months
ago. He'd forgotten how proud he'd been when Aominecchi called him to say he'd
kind of enjoyed it. His blood started burning. It was unfair that Aominecchi
could still surprise him after all these years, after Kise had committed
himself to know him better than anyone else.
"S-so… I can really ask for… anything I want?"
There was a heartbeat of silence. Aomine turned to look at him, his skin dark
with embarrassment, but his eyes gleaming with determination.
He nodded once.
Kise's mind raced. There were so many things he could ask for, so many years of
fantasies piled in his brain he wouldn't have known where to start. He recalled
how he'd thought of licking honey and chocolate and all things sweet from
Aomine's skin, but he didn't want to do anything too complicated or messy.
Since Aominecchi was giving him this courtesy, he wanted to return the kindness
by not asking something too outrageous and that would feel good for both of
them. His eyes trailed Aomine's half-naked body, his beautiful brown skin
glistening with sweat, his thighs spread to straddle Kise's hips, the harsh dip
of his hipbones, his strong arms and broad shoulders, his dark eyes burning
with equal parts shame and excitement. His palms were splayed on Kise's
abdomen, absentmindedly playing with the trail of dark brown hair leading to
his crotch. Kise yelped when he saw Aomine bucking his hips, probably without
even meaning it, and felt the friction of their bodies grinding against each
other. His golden eyes lit up.
 
 
"I want Aominecchi to ride me."
 
 
His cock twitched the moment he said the words. Aomine stiffened. Shit, maybe
he hadn't liked that idea. Maybe he'd just said he'd be okay bottoming to be
kind and had been hoping for something else.
"Ah, it doesn't have to be that, if you're uncomfortable with it I can think of
something else." He rushed to say, waving his hands dismissively.
 
 
Aomine shook his head. "No I… Sorry, hearing you say th-that got me… h-horny."
 
 
Kise hadn't seen that one coming.
"O-oh! I… that's good, great! Ah…" he didn't really know what to do now. The
momentum they'd had was kind of gone and now all they had left was the usual
shame and awkwardness.
Aominecchi clearly didn't feel that way.
"You got lube?"
Kise blinked, perplexed and then allowed himself a small chuckle. Last time
he'd been telling Aominecchi over and over that he didn't have to overthink it
when it came to sex, but now he was doing the exact same thing. He reached for
his nightstand and blindly searched in the drawer to get out a bottle of lube
and a string of condoms. He put the condoms where he could reach them more
easily later on and tossed the lubricant in Aominecchi's hands.
Aomine inspected the bottle. It was almost brand new and yet, half-empty. "You…
use this a lot." He said, a strange edge to his voice that Kise didn't know how
to interpret.
"There's nothing wrong with getting to know one's body! Given the amount of
porn Aominecchi has, I thought you were aware of that!" he chirped, delighted
Aomine looked like he wanted to say something, but changed his mind before
opening his mouth. Which was good, since he'd probably been about to say
'jerking off isn't the same as fingering your ass' and realized how ridiculous
that sounded given their current state of affairs. Kise grinned wider. It was
strange how giddy he felt right now, when just moments ago he'd been
overwhelmed with doubts and insecurities. That Aominecchi could unawaredly have
such an effect on him was amazing. He felt his belly fluttering with warmth.
"Want me to help you out?" he offered, as he noticed Aomine was still examining
the bottle, as if not sure of what he wanted to do with it.
Aominecchi's eyes widened for a moment, and he looked back down at the lube,
contemplating his options.
"If you wanna'…" he began, running his thumb over the cap. "You'd probably do
it better than me anyway and I've no clue of how to do it myself…" then,
unexpectedly, his lips curled upwards in a wicked smirk and his eyes, flooding
with mischief, met Kise's. "But I'm guessing that if you wanted to do it in
this position it's because you like to watch and you're probably hoping that I
put on a show for you."
Kise felt his heart jump to the base of his throat. Now he was certain his
money-making face would definitely start boiling and melt off his skull, and
this sexy date would become the subject of a horror movie. One shouldn't
possibly be able to feel so much embarrassment.
 
Totally busted.
 
"It's probably not gonna' be a good show since I'm not really sure of what to
do, but since you're a pervert you probably won't mind."
 
Nailed it again.
 
"A-a-aominecchi has no place calling me a pervert when he's about to sit on my
dick!" he squealed, hopelessly trying to hide his shame while covering his face
with his hands. Where had this super confident, sexy Aominecchi come from?
Where'd his beautiful, pure and virginal Aominecchi go? And why was he so
aroused by this? He'd never live down the shame of this sudden turn of events.
He felt Aomine shivering on top of him and heard him grunt a little.
"Oi, if I'm putting on a show for you, y'better watch it." He groaned, wrapping
one hand around both of Kise's wrists to pull his hands away from his face.
Kise looked up, his gaze drawn by the subtle movements of Aomine's body. He'd
risen to his knees , his right arm stretched around his body. Kise could see
the hints of movement between Aomine's spread thighs, occasionally catching a
glimpse of his hand as he pulled his finger out of his ass. Kise's eyes were
glued to Aomine's hand, the bucking of his hips, the thin trail of lube leaking
down his left thigh. His free hand was splayed over Kise's stomach for
leverage. Small pants and groans escaped his lips, and every one of them sent a
shock of pleasure straight to Kise's cock.
After a few minutes, Kise noticed Aomine trying to add a second finger in. He
dug his teeth into his lower lip to muffle a painful grunt.
"Fuck, this is weird." He muttered.
It occurred to Kise that maybe Aominecchi would need a little help making
himself comfortable with this process, like he had when he did it for Kise
before. He forced himself to swallow the knot in his throat so he could speak.
"Aominecchi…" he said, his voice hoarse and barely recognizable. "Try to go
deeper. It's gonna feel better for you that way."
He could see Aomine's hand disappearing from sight as he followed the
instruction and pushed his fingers deeper. He took a sharp inhale and bucked
his hips, his cock painfully hard and smeared in precum.
"Now try to add another one." Kise instructed, wrapping his hand around
Aomine's neglected erection and stroking it leisurely. "Try to stretch as much
as you can." He added, his lips ghosting next to Aomine's ear, "or I won't
fit." He felt Aomine shiver. He rested his chin on Aomine's shoulder to look at
his naked back, his round and smooth buttocks, watching intently as he inserted
a third finger into his hole. Kise licked his lips. The sight of Aomine pumping
his own fingers in and out of his ass was absolutely delicious. He pulled back
briefly so he could look at the beautiful arch of Aomine's body, the way his
lips parted to let out a long moan, how he rocked his hips faster into Kise's
hand. Aominecchi probably didn't even know how wonderful he looked like this,
how badly Kise wanted him, just what a magnificent show this was. Kise started
worrying he might actually come untouched at this rate.
"Ah." Aomine gasped again. "I think I'm… I mean… I guess… I don't actually
know, but if I'm not ready now I'm gonna cum before we get to do anything."
Kise forgot how to breathe for a second, but the next one he felt laughter
bubbling in his chest. He pulled back a little and reached for a condom,
noticing that Aominecchi hadn't removed his fingers, probably trying to stretch
himself a little more. Kise's vision was already blurred by arousal, but he
managed to tear the package open and slide the condom over his painfully hard
cock. He then scanned the bed quickly and found the bottle of lubricant lying
next to Aominecchi's perfect thighs. He grabbed the bottle and poured a
generous amount on his palm to spread it over his cock, wincing a little with
the cold substance on his sensitive flesh.
"I'm ready if you are." He announced seductively, the corners of his eyes
pulling up in amusement.
Aominecchi seemed to go back to his embarrassed, doubtful self when he pulled
his own fingers out and tried to align himself with Kise's manhood. He
hesitated, unsure that he was doing this correctly, and he glanced back trying
to make sure he was lowering himself in the right place. Kise was equal parts
entertained and impatient, but after two failed attempts and feeling his
erection slide tantalizingly against the flesh of Aomine's buttocks, he decided
to take matters into his own hands, quite literally. He grabbed Aomine's hip
with one hand to help guide him, while his free hand looped around his waist
and spread his butt cheeks. He thrusted upwards slightly to get a better idea
of where he was and finally found the head of his cock pressed against Aomine's
entrance. Aomine yelped a little, his brows furrowed in concentration while he
lowered himself. He inhaled sharply as the head passed the first resistance,
spreading him wider than his three fingers had. Kise lost his breathe for a
second when he felt himself squeezed by that hot passage. He saw a small tear
pooling at the corner of Aomine's eyes, his teeth clenched, trying to hold back
a pained growl, and forced himself to cool his head. He cupped Aomine's cheek
with one hand and stroked it soothingly.
"It's okay, Aominecchi, if it hurts we can do it a different way." He reassured
him, peppering butterfly kisses on the corner of his mouth, his cheeks and
jawline.
"D-on't look down on… me." He groaned, going down further to take more of
Kise's length inside him. "I already… mmmff… said I'd do it." His fingernails
were digging into Kise's belly, and it stung a little, but it was rather
meaningless when compared to the tight heat engulfing his cock. "'sides, we've
done it be—hnnnn…fore, ah… I already know that it's gonna feel g-g-ood
eventually."
Kise felt his cock throb. Aominecchi glared at him. "Don't get bigger, idiot."
He growled lowly, with no real bite to it.
A light chuckle erupted from Kise's lips and he continued raining sweet,
soothing kisses on Aomine's face and down his neck. It was all he could do not
to start sheathing himself deeper before Aominecchi was ready for it, the heat
so delicious it was almost sucking him in. He distracted himself by wrapping
one hand around Aomine's cock and once again pumping leisurely, hoping to get
Aomine's mind off the pain.
Aomine was panting heavily, slowly but surely taking more of Kise inside him.
Kise was completely entranced by the vision, not sure if he wanted to focus on
Aomine's face, hard with concentration, or his naked chest rising and falling
with his erratic breathing, or between his glorious thighs to see his length
disappearing inch by inch into Aomine's body.
At last, with a low roar of triumph, Aomine managed to sheathe all of Kise's
length up to the base. Kise threw his head back and moaned when he felt himself
completely wrapped in that heat.
"A-aominecchi's amazing." He sighed, his eyes soft with affection, his body
trembling with eagerness.
"Yeah, we all know that, now shut up and give me a minute." Aominecchi groaned,
trying to even his breathing.
He pressed the pad of his thumb to the slit of Aomine's cock and watched him
jolt with pleasure. Without warning, Aomine pushed him with both hands until
his back hit the mattress.
"Stay there." He ordered, with a shaky voice. "I already said I'm putting on a
show, so you just watch.
Kise swallowed hard and nodded, his cock twitching again. Getting bossed around
by Aominecchi shouldn't be this arousing.
"And stop getting bigger, fuck!" Aomine growled at him.
Kise lifted himself on his forearms to get a better view of Aomine's body on
top of his. His large calloused hands were splayed on his chest for leverage.
Kise loved this vision, loved the contrast of their skins, loved Aomine's look
of confidence and determination with just that tiny hint of embarrassment in
his eyes. When Aomine lifted himself slightly and sank back on his cock with a
hesitant thrust, Kise could literally see stars. He trained his eyes on
Aomine's moving figure, trying to imprint the image in his brain, because god
it was so much better than any and all of his fantasies combined.
He couldn't dwell on that for long though. Aomine's pace was slowly increasing,
his thrusts turning deeper. Kise heard him groan, and the fevered look on his
face and the painfully delicious tightening around his dick showed he was
starting to enjoy it.
"Feel good yet?" he asked, teasingly, surprised that he was even able to speak
at this point. He briefly thought of jerking Aomine off to ease the process,
but the wicked idea of watching Aominecchi cum just from fucking himself on
Kise was too good to pass.
"F…fuck… fuck, I hate you." Aomine groaned, his face burning with
embarrassment. Kise took that as an affirmation.
He thrust his hips upward, trying to match the pace of Aomine's movements, and
the moment he did it, his vision turned white. He heard Aomine groan loudly and
saw him throwing his head back through the haze of his own pleasure. Kise
gasped for breath, his heart hammering against his ribcage, warmth pooling in
the pit of his stomach alarmingly quick. He sat up on the bed and cupped
Aomine's beautiful face in his hands, felt the drops of sweat running down his
cheeks, and leaned in for a hot, desperate kiss. Aomine's hands ran up his
torso to hold on to his shoulders, trying to keep balance, his hips rocking
harder and faster. Kise's breath hitched every time he felt that sinful hotness
clenching around him, and when he parted his lips, Aomine thrust his tongue
into his mouth aggressively.
Kise had to pull away to breathe, and when he did, he allowed one of his hands
to fall to Aomine's hips to help, now that their rocking into each other was
starting to become erratic. Although his vision was blurred by the overload of
sensations, he could still make out Aomine's face, his eyes dark with desire,
his lips glistening with saliva, his mouth parted to let out a string of long,
low moans.
"Fuck, it's good." Aomine growled, needy. Kise rolled his hips, looking for a
different angle, and he apparently succeeded, since Aomine moaned louder than
ever, his eyes widening for a second. He looped his arms around Kise's neck,
barely able to keep himself in balance. "Fuck, fuck, yes!" his teeth found
Kise's ear and nibbled on its curve. "Fuck, Kise, do that again." He commanded,
his voice thick with want.
Kise didn't have half the self-awareness he'd need to be exactly sure of what
he had to do, but for the life of him if Aominecchi wanted something, he'd give
it. He tried to roll his hips again, but he missed the mark. He nuzzled
Aomine's neck and started sucking right below his jawline, giving one more
thrust, hoping to find Aomine's good spot soon, to memorize its location, to
know how to find it in the future, learn how to make Aomine dizzy with pleasure
like no one else could. The third attempt was the charm, and Kise sank his
teeth to the tender flesh of Aomine's neck when he felt the hot walls
tightening around his cock so badly he thought he'd come.
 
"Fuck… fuck, don't stop…God, yes!"
 
Kise was pretty sure Aomine wasn't a religious man, so he promised himself he
had to remember the moment he'd fucked him so good he'd made him call on the
higher powers, no matter how much his head was spinning. He thrust again,
knowing what angle to search for. He grabbed Aomine's hips with both hands and
slammed him down on his cock, both of them moaning at the forceful friction. He
pulled away from Aomine's neck and kissed him hard, his canine catching
Aomine's lower lip and piercing the skin. All he could hear was Aomine's long
moans, the slapping of their skin, hips grinding into each other. The heat in
his lower abdomen was growing hotter and hotter, and Kise knew he wasn't gonna
last long.
 
"A-ah… I'm-I'm coming, ah, I'm… Daiki, I'm coming." He breathed against
Aomine's mouth.
 
Their naked chests were pressed flush against each other, and Kise felt
Aomine's heart hiccup. He lifted himself off Kise's cock until only the head
was still inside him. Kise gasped. Aomine dug his fingernails on Kise's milky
back and inhaled sharply, stealing the oxygen straight from Kise's mouth, and
god, he really needed to stop doing that or Kise was going to die from
asphyxia. After a heartbeat, he sank back down in one single, rough thrust that
knocked all of Kise's brain functions straight to space. He felt, rather than
heard, the strangled moan that came out of his chest, the sudden rush of heat
that engulfed him pushing him over the edge. With the last bit of consciousness
in him, he collapsed back into the mattress and wrapped his fingers around
Aomine's leaking cock, pumping hectically, cum already flowing onto his hand
while they rode out their orgasm.
 
He thought he heard someone calling his given name, but he was too dizzy to be
sure about it.
 
===============================================================================
Aomine wasn't sure of how long he'd been out of it, but it was still dark
outside when his vision became somewhat clear again. Having sex with Kise had
always been great, but he felt this time was on a completely different level.
His entire body was tingling and light, and he felt so exhausted and yet so
satisfied he didn't even know what to do with himself. He'd never drunk or
smoked before, but he imagined this was what being high must feel like, his
heart fluttering inside his chest, his surroundings sparkling. He drummed his
fingers on whatever it was that he was lying on and heard a soft whine. He
lifted his gaze and found Kise underneath him, his skin beautifully pink, his
breathing still erratic, a wide smile on his lips that showed his pearly teeth.
When their eyes met, Kise's lit up, shining like actual gold, and for some
reason, it reminded him of his mother's wedding ring. Aomine's stomach suddenly
felt incredibly warm, and he couldn't really resist the pull of a smile. The
next thing he knew they were laughing and he was peppering light kisses all
over Kise's face, stealing some soft giggles straight from his mouth.
"Aominecchi was amazing." Kise wheezed, squirming.
"I always am." He retorted with a cocky grin.
Kise slapped his shoulder and pushed him away. Aomine grew slightly self-
conscious when he felt Kise's dick sliding out of him, and his cheeks heated
up.
"Jeez, when did Aominecchi become so full of himself? To think that just a
short time ago you were an adorable blushing virgin!" Kise sighed dramatically,
sliding the condom off and tying it in a knot before throwing it to the trash
can across the room. Of course he didn't miss.
"I'll have you know I haven't been a virgin for months. You're personally
responsible for that." He snapped back, grabbing a box of tissues from the
nightstand to begin wiping off his own cum from his stomach. Seriously why'd he
come this much?
Kise's eye widened for a second, obviously not expecting that comeback, but
after the shock passed, he laughed, he too busy wiping off Aomine's cum from
his torso.
They fell into a short but comfortable silence. Aomine's skin started
blossoming with goosebumps; now that their bodies were slightly apart, the
slight chill of the room became more noticeable. He wanted to get done with
this gross cleaning business soon so he could go back to Kise's warmth. He
noticed Kise was totally showing off, throwing all his used tissues to the
trash can and nailing all of the shots, so he decided he couldn't be left
behind, trying to outdo Kise with improbable and needlessly difficult shots.
Kise frowned and his eyes flared with fire.
"Are you really gonna' use Perfect Copy to shoot cum into the trash?" Aomine
asked mockingly.
Kise's scowl deepened and he threw the last tissue backwards. "Don't need it."
He said simply as the paper fell straight into the basket.
Aomine might have given it a second of thought to the fact that they were
getting stupid and competitive about tissues full of his semen, but he was
clearly not smart enough for that, so instead he grabbed his last tissue and
lied down on the mattress to shoot. He smiled with satisfaction as he was about
to let go of the tissue, but before it left his fingertips, he was pounced on
by Kise, messing up his shot and making it deviate from its course to land
close to the TV.
"Oi! That's cheating!"
Kise grinned shamelessly, pinning him down to the bed. "I win though." He
chirped happily and leaning down to peck his lips. Aomine huffed into the kiss
but didn't resist. Instead he twisted his wrists and found Kise's fingers to
entwine them together, his body already growing comfortable being encased by
Kise's body heat.
When they parted, Kise's eyes were twinkling with mirth and his smile was as
wide as Aomine had ever seen it. He liked that sight, knowing that Kise felt so
happy and fulfilled. This was how Kise should always be.
"Y'know… you were pretty good too." He found himself admitting, his heart
stuttering.
Kise cocked his head, deeply amused. "Oh, no need for the flattery, we were
just shooting Aominecchi's cum across the room, it's not really an
accomplishment."
Aomine didn't stop to say anything about how wrong that statement had sounded
and instead headbutted Kise to hide his embarrassment. "Not that, idiot!" he
swallowed hard. "I meant… before." He wasn't gonna say 'when you made me
realize how much I enjoy taking it up the ass', simply because he'd rather die
than say that out loud, but he knew Kise would figure it out by himself and
make fun of him either way.
As expected, Kise's happy, teasing grin grew into a devilish smirk. Aomine
decided to interrupt him before he could say something that'd make him want to
be swallowed by the ground.
"Also, I'm sorry for that shirt. I'll buy you a new one."
The malice vanished from Kise's expression, and was replaced by genuine
curiosity and excitement.
"What, what whaaaat? Aominecchi's buying me clothes?! Is this the real life?"
he squealed delighted. "Oh my god, let's go tomorrow, there's a Golden Week
sale in Landmark Plaza, please!"
"O-oi, I'm just buying you one shirt to replace the one that's never getting
the make-up off." Aomine clarified, suddenly scared of the monster he'd
unleashed.
"Sure, sure, I know Aominecchi's poor, but you can still come shopping with me!
I'd been meaning to go anyway! Pleeease, it's gonna be fun! We can try some
stuff on and maybe I can do something about your nonexistent sense of style!"
"Hey, are you saying you don't like how I dress?" he felt mildly offended by
that.
A bright red flush crept up Kise's neck and all the way to the tips of his
ears.
"I n-never said that, but I'm pretty sure it's just a lucky coincidence plus
the fact that Aominecchi's so unfairly handsome."
"You're one to talk about being unfairly handsome."
Kise froze again and he crashed on the mattress next to Aomine, his right hand
still laced to Aomine's left. Aomine turned to lie on his side to look at his
face and marvel at the blissful glow of his expression. He'd never seen Kise
looking so happy.
"Fine, I'll go shopping with you tomorrow, but I won't carry your bags for
you."
Kise was apparently not bothered by that condition at all, his smile
unfaltering. He stroked Aomine's cheek with one hand, but it was Aomine who
leaned in for the kiss this time, chaste and short, yet tender and warm. When
they parted, Aomine thought he probably felt as happy as Kise looked.
 
Kise pressed their foreheads together, his brilliant golden eyes trained on
Aomine's blues.
 
 
 
 
 
 
"I love you"
 
 
 
 
 
Aomine's heart stuttered.
 
 
 
 
 
 
"I…"
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
He wanted to say it. He felt like it was right to say it.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Kise's eyes widened for a moment, and Aomine saw hope in them. His stomach grew
heavy with dread.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
He couldn't say it.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"I'm really tired, and we're getting up early tomorrow, so g'night."
 
He saw the hurt and disappointment flash through Kise's golden eyes, his
beautiful smile quivering at its corners, and it pierced through his heart. He
reached out to touch Kise's cheek and pecks his lips short and quick, trying to
make that painful expression go away. It only kind of worked.
 
"Good night, Aominecchi." Kise whispered, his voice shaking a little before
burying his face in the crook of his neck. Aomine wrapped his arms around him
without even thinking, his fingers threading into soft golden locks of hair. He
could feel Kise's uneven breathing against his neck and he felt his heart
thundering inside his chest. He's not even sleepy anymore, but he shut his eyes
tight.
 
 
He'd already promised not to hurt Kise again. And because of that promise, he
couldn't say those words, not if he wasn't sure.
 
 
He wished he could become sure about them soon.
 
 
Chapter End Notes
     Well I did say there'd be lots of inappropriate use of body fluids.
     Also, men can in fact fake an orgasm, Kise you're supposed to be the
     one with the information damnit.
     So how'd you guys like this smutty and fluffy chapter? I've just
     discovered my love for having Kise call Aomine all sorts of insults
     from "stupid" to "Neanderthal". I also love writing about Kise
     looking radiantly happy and how much Aomine loves seeing him like
     that.
     I hope everyone who is not idiotically hung up over who gets the D in
     the A enjoyed this chapter, I'm very passionate about reversible
     Aokise after all *-* Please share your opinions with me folks! I'll
     try to get next chapter out… in early April? Won't make any promises
     though, sorry, I'm so grateful for your patience.
***** Life isn't perfect, but your outfit can be *****
Chapter Summary
     "You look like a kid going on a school trip." Aomine noted, amused.
     Kise wasn't remotely fazed by that. Nothing could ruin his good mood
     today.
     "Going shopping with Aominecchi is in my top 5 dream dates after
     all."
     Aomine cocked his head. "You actually have a list for that?"
     "Of course I do! There are so many things I want to do with
     Aominecchi."
Chapter Notes
     I AM BACK FROM THE DEATH
     Y'ALL I'm so sorry about the long wait.
     Have flawless skirt!Kise to compensate? Yes?
See the end of the chapter for more notes
The glare of the morning sun hit Aomine square on the face, awakening him.
"Shit." He groaned. "Why's that fucking curtain open?"
He received no response, but the slim body in his arms squirmed a little. He
glanced down to find a fluffy blond mane tucked under his chin. Kise stirred
slowly and pulled away slightly to look up at him, golden eyes hazy with sleep
but sparkling with the sunlight that had broken into the room.
"Mornin', Aominecchi." He drawled drowsily, a smile pulling at the corners of
his lips. For a moment, it was almost as if he were framed by the light, as if
that warm radiance were actually coming from his smile, and Aomine found
himself mesmerized by the sight.
"Morning, Sunshine." Aomine breathed without thinking, his heart thumping
loudly in his chest. Kise's eyes widened and his face took on a bright red
flush. Aomine inhaled sharply and hurried to untangle himself from the embrace,
immediately missing the warmth. "W-we should take a shower at least, y'know,
since we had the game yesterday 'n everything." He said quickly searching
around the room for his boxers. Hopefully, Kise wouldn't be curious about his
sudden interest in personal hygiene. "I-I'm gonna go first since you probably
take forever." He added, not daring to look at Kise's eyes. He got no response,
so he just paced down the hallway into the main bathroom. Aomine was used to
having his own bath, so he felt slightly self-conscious about using the family
bathroom. What if Kise's folks arrived and found him there? That'd be awkward.
He brushed those thoughts away (it was impossible after all) and ran the
shower. He caught a glimpse of himself on the mirror and his eyes darted to the
round purple hickey under his jawline. He felt his cheeks heat up. His lower
back and buttocks were stinging and when he slipped his boxers off and turned
around, he saw red scratch marks on his skin. He ran away from the mirror in
embarrassment and rushed under the shower, even if it wasn't warm enough yet.
He looked upwards to let the water fall on his face, hoping to wash the shame
away. He couldn't let Kise see him feeling self-conscious about last night or
he'd tease him about being a blushing virgin again.
It was weird, thinking about last night. Everything had felt so good and so
right. Every kiss and touch, every time Kise laughed, every time he lost his
breathe, every time a moan broke from Kise's mouth, every time their eyes met
and his heart skipped a beat. Thinking of that made his chest flutter and warm.
And when Kise had called him by his given name "Daiki", his voice trembling
with desire, Aomine had felt himself melt, and his head had felt so light he'd
actually called him "Ryouta" too and even that had felt right. His stomach felt
heavy and overwhelmed with emotions he didn't quite understand yet.
Was he actually falling in love with Kise?
The thought gave him pause. He'd almost told Kise he loved him last night. He
didn't feel like it would've been a lie if he'd said it. But at the same time,
he couldn't help worry. How could he know these feelings were real? What if he
was just so keen on reciprocating Kise's feelings that he'd actually managed to
fool himself into believing he did? And what about Tetsu? He still loved him,
and whatever he felt for Kise was certainly different from his feelings for
Tetsu. He flexed his fingers slowly, trying to no avail to understand his own
heart.
He shook his head. The water was growing too hot, so he took a step back and
turned on the cold water. He wasn't gonna figure this out in the shower, and
Kise would eat him alive if he spent too much time here after having mocked him
for his neverending baths.
He ran his hand through his hair. When had he washed it last? Since this was
the family bathroom, he figured he could find Kise's dad's shampoo and borrow
some. He'd seen Kise's dad once, the man traveled a lot and wasn't home often,
but he'd seemed like the kind of guy that didn't use fruity-flowery hair
products. He grabbed a bottle that didn't have flower petals on it and tried to
find any signs of this being closer to his preferred men's shampoo, but
couldn't find any.
"Kyo-nee's shampoo would suit you better, you both have dry hair after all."
Aomine's soul exited his body for five seconds straight, and when he glanced at
his back, he found Kise naked, his chin resting over his shoulder and his eyes
fixed on the shampoo bottle. Aomine shivered when he became aware of the
feeling of Kise's wet body so close to his own, his palms spread over his
waist, and he caught sight of how the damp golden locks stuck to his face and
framed his lively eyes. God, if his little friend decided to wake up now, Kise
would never let him live it down.
"What the fuck?!" he managed to snarl.
Kise hummed pleasantly and reached for the shelf to search through the
different bottles. "You were taking a while, so I thought this could be more
time-efficient, since I wanna go shopping asap." He grabbed a green bottle and
dangled it in front of Aomine's face. "This one. Just hear me out, this'll be
great for your hair, I promise."
Aomine examined the bottle skeptically. "I don't really like this fruity stuff,
can't I use your dad's?"
Kise seemed to ignore him and instead poured some of the shampoo on his palm.
"Dad uses one for curly hair, it would be pointless for you. It's also orange
berry, so it's still "fruity". You know, because many fruits have properties
that are actually good for your hair."
He could sense Kise was mildly offended by his dissing of his hair products,
and he couldn't really blame him. It was true that it was rather silly to get
hung up on whether the shampoo had a fruity smell. He felt a little stupid for
actually thinking a dumb shampoo was "girly" because of its scent.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to…" he cut himself off when he caught Kise pulling a
stool into the shower.
"Don't mind, now sit and I'll give you a service." He said simply, rubbing the
shampoo in his palms.
"Oi, I can wash my own hair."
Kise giggled. "C'mon, humor me for once. You're only reluctant 'cos no one's
washed your hair for you before; I promise it feels real good."
Aomine wasn't very convinced, but Kise seemed to be rather eager about this, so
he decided to comply without protesting any further. He sat down on the stool
with his back to Kise, the water falling warm on his chest.
"Close your eyes, Aominecchi, you don't want to get shampoo in them." Kise
instructed, his hands already spread over Aomine's head, fingers massaging his
scalp. Aomine obeyed and immediately focused on the movement of Kise's fingers,
how they rubbed small circles over his head rapidly, the shampoo turning to
foam. This felt rather nice indeed. Warm. It reminded him of the kisses they'd
shared in the movie theatre and in that back alley after fleeing from Kise's
legion of fans. Intimate and special. A moment he couldn't have shared with
anyone but Kise.
"This is green apple and avocado, it's gonna' leave your hair all soft and
shiny." Kise was saying, his tone light and cheerful. To be honest, Aomine
wouldn't have been able to tell if the shampoo truly smelled of that, it only
felt like generic fruity stuff to him. "You know, it'd do you real good to use
decent shampoo more often, you'll see when it's dry." He was scrubbing harshly,
but it didn't really hurt. "If you want, I can help you find something that
isn't so fruity if you don't like that smell so much. I actually like the
flowery stuff better." His fingers were now rubbing above Aomine's ears. "You
don't have to grab the crappiest shampoo in the pharmacy just because it says
it's for manly men, your dick's not gonna fall off if you start taking more
care of yourself."
Aomine snorted. "Got it, mom."
Kise dug his fingernails on his nape, close to the hairline. "You don't have to
do it if you don't want to, it was just a suggestion." He clarified bitterly.
Aomine sighed. "Alright, if this actually does work I'll let you choose me a
decent shampoo, happy now?"
He could almost see Kise bounce excitedly. "Yay!" he said happily, gently
pushing Aomine's head under the showerspray to rinse off the foam. His fingers
now softer, stretching and flexing all over his scalp. Aomine hummed contented
as he felt the soapy water streaming down his forehead. He rubbed his eyes a
couple of times to make sure he didn't get any shampoo in. Kise then pulled him
back away from the shower, and the back of his head leaned against Kise's lower
torso.
"All done." Kise declared, although he was still massaging his scalp slowly.
Aomine opened his eyes and looked up to meet Kise's big satisfied grin. Why did
it make him so happy to do something so simple? Aomine couldn't really
understand it.
"You're good at this." He observed casually.
Kise's grin didn't falter one bit. "Mom and Miyo-nee ask me to do it for them
all the time. They say I have magic fingers."
"They're not wrong."
Kise blushed and finally withdrew his fingers, much to Aomine's displeasure. He
recovered quickly and stood up to be eye-to-eye with Kise.
"I'll do it for you too." He said with determination. He was starting to get
frustrated by the fact that Kise always seemed to be the one making him feel
good, while he barely managed to do anything for Kise to that effect.
Kise cocked his head. "Do what?"
Aomine hated him. "Wash your hair."
Kise grinned brightly again. "I appreciate the sentiment, but it's not
necessary, I already washed my hair yesterday morning."
"Huh? Don't you wash it every day? I thought you were civilized or something."
He teased with a mocking smirk.
Kise wasn't fazed by it. "Of course I'm civilized, which is why I know that
using shampoo every day is bad for your hair. If you put too many chemical
products on it it's gonna fall off, sheesh. How do you even mingled with homo
sapiens is completely beyond me, Aominecchi."
Aomine scowled. "I fucking hate you." He snarled, suddenly grabbing the back of
Kise's head and pulling him forward to mesh their mouths together angrily. Kise
jolted, but eventually smiled into the kiss, his hands resting leisurely on
Aomine's chest. Aomine's free hand circled around Kise's waist and dipped down
to fondle his smooth butt. Kise stood on his tiptoes and pulled back for a
moment to laugh, Aomine took the opportunity to thrust his tongue inside Kise's
mouth. He could feel his dick beginning to stir, and he knew he should put a
stop to this before they were past the point of no return, but he couldn't
bring himself to pull away.
It was Kise who broke it off with a chuckle.
"Stop tempting me, Aominecchi, I know you're just doing this so you don't have
to go shopping with me."
Aomine blushed. That hadn't been his intention at all, but he didn't know how
to say that he was actually sort of excited about this sort-of-date that
wouldn't make him want to be swallowed by the Earth.
"Am not." He said instead and rubbed his face with water one last time. "I'm
stepping out, don't stay here forever if you're not even washing your hair."
"Yessir!" Kise beamed taking his place under the waterspray and ruffling his
soaking locks. Aomine shut the sliding door close and grabbed a towel to wrap
it around his midsection and another one to ruffle his hair and drape it across
his shoulders. He climbed up the stairs and searched around for his jeans and
t-shirt. The former were okay to wear them again, but even a "Neanderthal" like
him wouldn't wear that sweaty t-shirt two days in a row. He'd have to borrow
something from Kise.
He sat on the edge of the disheveled bed and pulled out his wallet. He had
promised he'd buy Kise a new shirt, but he couldn't help worry about Kise's
fashionable tastes and how compatible they might be with his budget. He sighed,
already prepared to bid his allowance goodbye. He'd heard other guys
complaining about how they spent all their money on their girlfriends, and
realized the last three months of his allowance had all gone to his dates with
Kise. The thought didn't quite bother him. Maybe if things continued like this,
they'd naturally transition into actual boyfriends. His heart felt at ease with
that idea. For months now he'd been constantly worrying about when this whole
thing would collapse and how much damage it would leave in its wake. But after
last night, he felt optimistic. Maybe he could fall in love with Kise, and then
everything would fall into place by itself.
"Geez Aominecchi, how many hours is it gonna' take you to get dressed?"
Kise's merry voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
"My shirt from yesterday's all sweaty, I'm just saving you the embarrassment of
being seen with a guy wearing the same clothes two days in a row." He drawled,
very aware that it would be a terrible idea to take a look at Kise's wet and
hot just-out-of-the-shower figure.
Kise seemed surprised by the consideration. "Oh!" he gasped and immediately
went to rummage through his closet. "I can lend you something I guess. Though
Aominecchi's shoulders are broader than mine, so it'll be hard to actually find
something that fits you."
He could hear shuffling fabric noises for a minute, then a soft "Ah!" which
finally made him turn to see what on earth was happening. Kise's head poked out
from the closet holding a sleeveless black shirt that definitely looked too
small for Aomine. Without even blinking, he grabbed it by the collar, close to
the armhole and pulled until the fabric was torn a little, then repeated the
procedure next to the other armhole. Aomine's eyes widened so much he felt
they'd fall out of their sockets. Kise, destroying his own clothes?
"Oi, oi, hold on, you're not gonna have me buy you a replacement for that one
too."
Kise looked up at him as if he'd forgotten he was there and cocked his head as
if he thought Aomine was an idiot. "Of course not! I haven't worn this in a
while and this way we don't have to worry about Aominecchi's arms not fitting.
With these small tears it should fit you just fine." He explained, stretching
it to prove his point. "Purposefully torn clothes are a little too 2014 for my
liking, but no one expects Aominecchi to be caught up with fashion anyway."
Aomine wanted to punch his beautiful face for even daring to speak that phrase,
but he swallowed that urge. He rewarded himself for his self-control by taking
a peek at Kise (who was still wearing nothing but the fluffy towel around his
waist) and following the path of a stray drop of water down his smooth milky
back and disappearing in the slope of his butt. He smiled a little for himself.
What a very nice thing to look at indeed.
Kise threw the torn black shirt at his face. "Stop staring or your eyes are
gonna fall off, pervert." He mumbled, surprisingly bashful before disappearing
into his closet again. Aomine shook his head and put the shirt on. It was a
little tight, but the tears on the shoulder line actually did help in making it
stretch over his broad back without feeling too constricting. Apparently Kise
possessed a wide range of random but occasionally useful knowledge about
extremely trivial things.
A few minutes passed with no sound other than the ruffling of clothes and
occasional unintelligible mumbles. Aomine didn't want to admit how curious he
was to see what outfit Kise would choose for today. He did have a great sense
when it came to dressing himself, which Aomine had much appreciated in all
their previous dates. He blushed remembering the short shorts and skinny black
boots he'd worn the night they went to the movies, or how pretty much all of
his jeans seemed to be made to perfectly fit the roundness of his butt, or how
his face seemed brighter when he'd worn that yellow hoodie.
Once again he was pulled out of his thoughts when Kise pranced out of the
closet, his steps light, almost as if he were dancing. Aomine looked up, and
his jaw nearly dropped to the ground. Kise didn't miss it, and there was a
mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Y-you're, th-that's a…" Aomine pointed, feeling like a complete idiot.
"Yes, I know it's a skirt, Aominecchi." Kise stated teasingly. "Like it?" he
asked, twirling flirtatiously.
Aomine had never seen Kise wearing a skirt, and he now regretted it dearly. The
black pleated skirt went from Kise's belly button and ended right above his
knee, giving his body an alluring shape. Aomine was starting to wonder if he'd
ever reach the end of those legs when he found Kise's naked feet touching the
ground. He was also wearing a white sleeveless top, with a white ribbon to the
left side of the neck, tucked loosely into the skirt. When he twirled, the hem
of the skirt flew just a little bit, making him look light, almost as if he
were floating in the air. His radiant smile was just the perfect accessory to
make Aomine wonder if he wasn't dreaming. One person shouldn't be allowed to
look so gorgeous.
"C'mon Aominecchi, I made myself so cute, the least you can do i—"
"I do. Like it, I mean." Aomine's face was burning. "You look… good." More like
breathtakingly beautiful, but Aomine was never going to say that. Kise seemed
satisfied with that because his smile brightened even further –if that was even
possible- and he skipped towards him to grab his hand and pull him up.
"I'll just put on my make-up and we can go, okay?" he said as he tugged Aomine
towards the bathroom. Aomine followed without protesting, leaning against the
doorframe when Kise stepped in front of the mirror and started pulling random
items out of a black pouch.
"Before you even ask, even beautiful people such as myself enjoy looking
fabulous and enhancing our beauty." Kise sentenced as he smeared cream over his
face.
He was probably talking about Aomine's question last night, which he hadn't
really gotten to answer before things got steamy. Aomine shrugged. He thought
Kise was already very handsome without any make-up, but he had to admit that
the sharper curve of his eyes and the flirtatious flutter of his eyelashes, or
the way his cheekbones caught the light when he'd dolled himself up was very
nice to look at too.
"I guess I get that…" he mused, watching intently as Kise drew a narrow black
line over his eyelid with liquid eyeliner. "But if you're such a crybaby, why
don't you use water-proof make-up?"
Kise's hand almost faltered, and Aomine reckoned his indignant huff was as much
anger at the question as it was about how close he'd been to mess up.
"Aominecchi , remember when our teachers told us "there are no stupid
questions"?" Kise asked, finishing the line of his eye with a light flick of
the wrist, the elongation making his eyes look bigger. Aomine nodded. "Well, it
was a lie. That's the stupidest question ever." He continued, now producing a
tube from which he extracted a small black brush, which he brought close to his
eyes too. "Water-proof make-up's durable, but it's terrible! It's got lots of
awful chemicals, that's what keeps it from falling off. I have sensitive skin,
it'd totally get ruined if I used that crap. I wear it for photoshoots just so
the make-up doesn't get smudged with sweat, but any sensible person would avoid
it like the plague it is." He capped the brush again and put it back in the
pouch before turning to look at Aomine. "This is a lot nicer and it has a
fresh, more natural look." He batted his eyelashes at him playfully, and Aomine
could tell they looked longer than before, making a stark frame for Kise's
bright golden eyes. Kise turned away to check himself out at the mirror,
standing on his tiptoes so he could look at his own eyes from upclose. "I can
never compete with Midorimacchi in this department, but no one could say I'm
not trying." He said absentmindedly. "It's seriously unfair that his are so
perfect, if I didn't know him I'd even think he's wearing fakes." He sighed and
stepped away from the mirror, taking two strides to reach Aomine's side.
"Let's go, there are many shops I wanna visit!" he chirped, blinking quickly as
if to show off the results of his careful work. He clasped Aomine's hand
tightly in his as he pulled him towards the door.
Aomine was never going to say that he didn't think Midorima was any competition
for Kise in terms of appearance, but he allowed himself to dwell on that
thought for a second. Kise always put so much effort in beautifying himself
–even if he didn't really need it-, it was no surprise he was so good at it.
Kise grinned at him brightly, his big eyes sparkling with the sunlight. Aomine
felt his lips curl up to a smile and allowed himself to be dragged. Everything
felt so right.
===============================================================================
 
The fastest way to Landmark Plaza was to take a bus just two blocks away from
Kise's house. It'd take twenty-five minutes, which usually felt very short, but
this time it felt like it lasted an eternity. Maybe it was because of how
impatient he was to start actually shopping, or maybe it was because he was
sitting next to Aominecchi, their hands casually laced together and his life
couldn't possibly be more perfect. He was so excited he couldn't stop swinging
his legs. Aominecchi glanced at him with a quirked eyebrow.
"You look like a kid going on a school trip." He noted, amused.
Kise wasn't remotely fazed by that. Nothing could ruin his good mood today.
"Going shopping with Aominecchi is in my top 5 dream dates after all."
Aomine cocked his head. "You actually have a list for that?"
"Of course I do! There are so many things I want to do with Aominecchi."
Aomine had not been expecting that answer, and he blushed and looked away in
response. Kise thought that was cute, but he knew it'd just make Aominecchi
more flustered, so he kept the thought to himself. Aomine ran his hand through
his hair before leaning back against his seat.
"I almost forgot to ask." Kise began, leaning in a little closer to bump their
shoulders together. "How's your hair?" He was honestly doing the best he could
to keep from reaching out and feeling it for himself. Of course wearing a good
shampoo once wasn't going to solve all of Aominecchi's hair problems magically,
but he was certain there would be enough improvement to dissipate any doubts
about the benefits of actually taking some care of himself.
Aomine seemed to consider it for a moment, then he ran his hand though his head
one more time, frowning. Kise watched him expectantly, even as he did two,
three more times before sighing in defeat.
"Fine, you win, it does feel kind of better." He conceded with a huff, averting
his gaze one more time.
Kise beamed and pressed against Aomine further still. "See? Totally told you.
I'll find you the right shampoo and it's gonna change your life, I guarantee!
There's a big pharmacy not too far from Landmark, we can go there."
"Hold on, hold on." Aomine shoved him away lightly, his cheeks flushed. "My
budget can only suffer your shirt or the shampoo, pick one or the other."
Kise sat back on his seat, a little dejected. "Okay…" he sighed, disappointed.
"I actually intended to buy you the shampoo with my hard-earned money" he
paused, waiting for that to sink in "but it's true we wouldn't have enough time
to do a proper search and find my shirt. Oh well…" he smiled a little. At least
this gave him an excuse to… "We'll just have to set up another date to buy
Aominecchi's shampoo!"
Aomine seemed taken aback by the quick turnaround, but he finally met Kise's
eyes and shrugged, the smallest of smiles tugging at the corners of his lips.
===============================================================================
 
The first shop was H&M. Kise wasn't much a fan of the brand, but they had good
discounts and a handful of cool stuff here and there. Besides, he thought it
might be good to start with a place that wasn't too expensieve and was
relatively well-known so that it wouldn't intimidate Aominecchi too much. Kise
skimmed through the racks, looking for something nice and that would look good
on him. He picked a handful of t-shirts and some jeans from the men's section,
then earned himself some curious looks when he moved on to the women's aisle
and started eyeing the tank tops and blouses. From the corner of his eye he
noticed two store attendants arguing over who should come and tell him he was
in the wrong section. Luckily they seemed to desist on the idea, either because
they didn't dare or because they saw he was wearing a skirt and realized he was
exactly in the aisle he wanted to be. Kise rolled his eyes. It was completely
beyond his comprehension why having a dick should forbid him from wearing that
super damned cute strapless green and white striped top.
"Oi, didn't I tell you that I just have money for the one shirt?" Aominecchi
screeched alarmed when he saw the sizable pile of clothes hanging over Kise's
arm.
Kise didn't mind him and skipped towards the changing booth. "I know, I know,
geez, you look like you just saw a ghost." He chirped joyfully before closing
the curtain. He decided to try on a pair of faded jeans and a white t-shirt
with a smokey-looking skull. He checked himself out on the full-body mirror,
not too convinced with the look. He shrugged and stepped out of the changing
room, to find Aominecchi sitting on the bench outside. Kise's heart fluttered.
"How do I look?" he asked, a hand to his hip.
"Fine, I guess." Was the immediate reply.
Kise scowled. "That's literally the one thing you should never say when someone
asks for your opinion!" he squawked with indignation. "If I'm asking it means I
want to know what you think!"
Aomine seemed hesitant for a moment, but then looked him over, his brows
slightly scrunched as if he was giving the question some serious thought. Kise
smiled a little. Aominecchi was an idiot, but he was a quick-learner and overly
willing to make things more enjoyable for everyone. Kise thought that was
adorable and that not many people got to appreciate this side of Aominecchi. He
felt just a little bit lucky.
"I think…" he doubted for a moment. "it doesn't really suit you."
Kise looked down at the look and smiled. "Yeah, I thought so too. I don't
really like this shirt to be honest."
"Why'd you try on something you don't like?"
Kise huffed. "You never know! Even if it doesn't look that good on the rack, it
might look awesome when you try it on!" Aominecchi was so ignorant of so many
basic things of life.
"Okay, okay, but why are you trying jeans on when you're just buying a shirt?"
Kise would've pulled at his hair if not for the fact that it would've ruined
all the time he'd spent fixing his bedhead this morning. "Trying clothes on is
FUN. And trying different looks helps me get an idea of what kind of
combinations I can do with whatever shirt I end up choosing." He stepped into
the changing room again, without explaining everything else. They'd come this
far, might as well put on a nice show and model a few things for Aominecchi.
His friend may not have feelings for him (yet? He really wanted to end that
thought with a 'yet'), but he was certainly not immune to Kise's physical
allure. Of course, Kise wouldn't tell him that because Aominecchi would feel
uncomfortable if he did, no matter how much he actually enjoyed the show.
He stepped out wearing tight dark jeans, the cute strapless top, and a baggy
cream-colored cardigan that was a lot lighter and softer than it seemed.
"How 'bout this one?" he asked, twirling a little to show off how good these
jeans worked for his legs. He pulled down the cardigan a bit to show his bare
shoulders and collarbones, and noticed Aominecchi swallowing hard. He briefly
wondered if it would be too terrible to end this date making out in a public
bathroom.
"That looks pretty." Aominecchi mumbled, so fast and so low Kise almost missed
it.
Kise beamed. "I know right?! I love strapless tops." He took off the cardigan
completely and twirled a bit more. "Although I'm not a fan of the colors, red
or pink would be better." He could think of many different combinations he
could do with this top.
"They are kind of muted." Aomine chimed in. "It's almost summer, you probably
won't be able to wear it for a while because it has long sleeves." He added.
"Huh." Kise hummed. He'd never expected Aominecchi to take it so seriously and
try to give actual, helpful advice. "Hadn't thought of that." He admitted. "It
has a good price, so this can be a nice option to begin with, I'd just have to
wear it a lot in the next few weeks before the heat comes in." Many said
fashion required sacrifices and suffering, but Kise was completely against that
idea. If you can't show your best smile because your clothes are ruining your
day, was it really worth it? Not to him. "By the way, what's our budget?"
Aomine looked slightly mortified by the question. "H-how much was that other
shirt?" he asked, his fingers already fiddling with the hem of the pocket where
he carried his wallet.
"Dunno. It was a gift from my agency." That was a lie, but Aominecchi was never
going to be able to afford a 9000 yen shirt and Kise didn't want to make him
feel bad about it. A big price was not necessarily proportional to quality,
some of his favorite clothes he'd gotten for less than three thousand anyway.
"Then why isn't your agency buying you a new one?"
"Because they didn't ruin it. Also, I'm not working for them anymore,
remember?"
Aomine sighed, his expression betraying how worried he was about the money
issue.
"It's okay, today's a sale, I'm sure we'll find something for 2000 yen or
less." Kise said, already crossing out some shops he wanted to visit from his
mental list. Even if he hadn't thought of getting something expensive, he
didn't want Aomine to feel pressured if he suddenly found himself surrounded by
bigger price-tags. After all, this was basically a date, so the whole point was
that both of them could have fun.
"I can do four."
"Eh?"
"I can afford four thousand, but not a penny more or I'll have to walk back to
Tokyo. I did screw up that nice shirt of yours."
Kise's eyes widened.
"Aominecchi, you're the best!" he squealed, his face warm with happiness as he
threw his arms around Aomine's neck and planted a smooch on his cheek.
Aomine blushed and shoved him away. "You're gonna get those clothes dirty and
there's no way I can pay for them." He said, his cheeks clearly burning.
"Yessir!" Kise beamed, rushing back to the changing room.
===============================================================================
 
Aomine stopped at the entrance of the next shop.
"Uhm, Kise…"
Kise was halfway through the door already, so he barely tilted his head back to
make eye-contact. "What's up?"
Aomine pointed at the sign with the name of the shop. "You know English is not
my best subject, but it clearly says 'ladies' fashion' up there" he noted.
Kise rolled his eyes. "Aominecchi, you do realize I'm wearing a skirt." He
pinched the hem with his fingers and lifted it just enough to show a bit more
thigh. A little for emphasis, but mostly because he enjoyed the way Aomine's
face burned when his eyes caught that extra inch of skin. "I'd thought that
should clue you in on how little I care about men's or women's clothes. If it's
cute and looks good on me I'll wear it. A silly 'ladies' sign is not gonna get
in the way of me and that cute striped top." He declared, pointing at a short-
sleeved white and blue striped blouse that looked wonderful on that manequin.
Maybe it was because of how often he'd gone shopping with his sisters in
childhood, but the mere notion of separating clothes by gender was so absurd to
him. He had to remind himself of being a little patient with Aomine "I only use
manly man shampoo" Daiki, he was already putting in quite an effort in coming
with him on this little adventure.
Aominecchi seemed slightly uncertain about it, but he finally shrugged and
followed Kise into the shop, although his expression showed he was still
feeling like a fish out of water.
"Don't you ever go shopping with Momocchi?" Kise asked, curious. He figured
Aomine had been dragged to Momoi's mall quests more than once, considering how
much she trusted him.
"What? Satsuki? The only way I'd go waste half my life in a clothing store with
her would be if she dragged my dead body there. 'Sides, she has friends who're
obviously more fun to go with for that kind of thing and she says I have
terrible taste."
He looked like the sole thought was bewildering. Kise felt the small pull of a
smile at the corners of his lips. He knew it was silly; stupid, even, but it
felt even more special that Aominecchi had actually volunteered to come with
him today. He wondered just how many more things Aominecchi did with him and
him only. He rushed to grab the cute top he'd liked and hide in the dressing
room, because the flutter in his belly was growing unbearable.
===============================================================================
 
Aomine had heard many of his classmates bemoaning whenever their girlfriends
dragged them on shopping trips. "She just has to try every damn thing on. Once
I suggested she just picked something and went straight to pay for it and she
reacted like I'd insulted her mother!" someone had said. At the time, Aomine
had thought that sounded crazy, and was secretly grateful that he didn't have
to deal with that bullshit, but now he couldn't quite understand what those
guys were complaining about. Sure it was tiresome to be hopping from store to
store (they'd been doing this for two hours already and Kise still had three
billion shops he wanted to check out, apparently) and a little scary to see the
price tags, but it seemed rather strange that other guys would be so reluctant
to see their girlfriends putting on nice clothes and showing them off. Perhaps
he was biased, considering that Kise looked so good with pretty much any
clothes (or without them, but he couldn't let his mind go there right now), but
those guys were supposed to like their girlfriends, weren't they? Why was it so
bothersome for them to see the girls they liked dressing up? It didn't make
quite a lot of sense.
"That blouse looked so good on the mannequin." Kise moaned, dragging his feet
out of Talbots. "Stupid broad shoulders." He mumbled spitefully. Apparently,
the long-sleeved red striped blouse he'd tried on was too tight on his
shoulders and made him look thicker than he actually was. Or something like
that. All Aomine had thought was that the style looked too mature for Kise.
He'd never thought he'd hear Kise complaining about his own body, but
apparently pre-established beauty standards could damage even the biggest of
egos.
"Your broad shoulders give you a wider range to make shots on the court, I
would kick your ass in a blink if you didn't have them." He heard himself
saying before he could give it any thought. It was true, but that didn't change
how embarrassed he was to make such an obvious attempt at cheering his friend
up.
Kise looked up at him and his face brightened. Aomine's chest felt lighter, but
he said nothing else.
After climbing up to the next floor, Kise grabbed one of his hands with both of
his and pulled him towards a new, much bigger store with the name Banana
Republic on the marquee. He skipped into the store happily. Aomine couldn't
help thinking that was a weird and kind of dumb name for a clothing store. Why
would you name it after a fruit? And what did the name even mean? A country
with a banana president? How was that somehow supposed to communicate that they
sold cool clothes? Kise would probably call him an uncultured swine if he
mentioned that, so he kept the thought to himself.
"They have really neat stuff here, but I honestly think the name of the shop is
very stupid."
Aomine looked up, surprised, to see Kise grinning mischievously as he pressed
his index fingers to his lips, like a kid that was caught breaking the rules
and was hoping to get away with it regardless. Aomine grinned too. It was a
silly thing, but for some reason he liked knowing they agreed on that. It made
him feel they had more in common outside of basketball, a thought he found very
pleasant, for inexplicable reasons.
He didn't say anything else as he followed Kise through the racks of clothes
and watched him pick some shirts and blouses.
"What do you think about this one?" Kise asked absentmindedly, showing him a
baggy orange top with short sleeves and a wide neck. The color was bright and
it looked like it would look good on Kise's skin, but Aomine didn't know how to
say that in a way that wouldn't embarrass himself, but would also be acceptable
for Kise.
"It's, uh, the color's cool."
"It is, right? But I like the blue one too, I don't know which one's best."
Kise mused, holding both tops in his hands and alternating to place them over
his torso without actually putting them on ("it's to get an idea on how it
looks! You can discard some things if you see right away that they don't match
you" Kise had argued two hours ago).
"You're gonna end up trying both of them on, so why are you wasting time doing
that?" Aomine sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. The truth was he
wouldn't be able to decide which one looked better since both seemed to
highlight different traits of Kise's body –the orange, his skin; the blue, his
eyes-, one more thing he didn't dare to say.
Kise frowned at him briefly, but conceded anyway. "I guess you're right." He
huffed, grabbing one of each and continuing along the store.
Aomine followed him wordlessly, but his eye was caught by a forest green,
short-sleeved t-shirt with a small breastpocket and a very fresh looking
fabric. It looked like it flowed lightly on the mannequin's body, effortlessly.
He kind of wanted to see Kise try it on, but he couldn't bring himself to admit
to that either. What if Kise didn't like it? He'd already said he thought
Aomine had shit taste for clothes, so probably the things Aomine thought were
cool wouldn't seem so for Kise. He sighed, a little disappointed.
"Oi, Aominecchi, if you find cute stuff you gotta tell me, what if I miss out
on something amazing because you're not reporting to me properly?" Kise chided
him, appearing by his side all of a sudden and picking one of those t-shirts
from the rack. "C'mon, I've got all this stuff to try on and I can't make a
decision if you don't help me." He added, tugging on Aomine's sleeve to bring
him to the changing rooms before he could respond to any of that. He gave up,
once again allowing himself to be dragged, and just smiled.
===============================================================================
 
"So the green one and the orange one are actually really good possibilities.
The price was pretty good too. I like both of them more than the green-and-
white one we saw at H&M too."
Aomine had no idea of exactly how many "options" Kise had at this point. With
few exceptions, every time they exited a shop he'd start musing about how this
or that were "a good option". Not that he was wrong, technically, since all of
those "options" looked amazing on him, but Aomine didn't quite understand why
he couldn't just choose one at once. He wasn't complaining though, he was kind
of enjoying the impromptu fashion shows. Kise had worn the green t-shirt with a
pair of white jeans that had ocre red swirls on the back pockets and fuck, he'd
looked perfect. He'd almost suggested that he buy that one and be done with it,
but he wanted Kise to be the one to make the decision. Aomine had ruined his
shirt –apparently a very nice one- after all, he didn't want Kise to settle for
something he didn't like that much just to please him.
"Do you actually remember all of those options?" he asked, curious.
Kise blinked at him and cocked his head. "Of course. I'd never forget a t-shirt
as pretty as that one. Right now I'm trying to establish a ranking, but it's
very difficult, see. The green one from Banana Republic is in my top five, but
so is the one with the big polka dots and stripes from Weekend and the black
one with the cut-out shoulders we saw in H&M. It'd be super hard to choose one
of those if I don't find something that completely blows me away."
Aomine decided he was wasting his life trying to make sense of such a
complicated method, and instead allowed himself to feel a little proud to know
the t-shirt he liked was in Kise's top five, whatever purpose that served.
The next stop was at another Ladies' Fashion shop, but this was the fifth they
visited today, so Aomine did no longer bother pointing it out. Kise did look
and feel beautiful in both men's and women's clothing after all, and that was
what really mattered.
Suddenly, Kise bolted from where he was standing right next to him, and
reappeared next to a mannequin wearing a white short-sleeved t-shirt with
feathers printed over the right side in black outline. He grabbed the edge of
the t-shirt with his thumb and index and rubbed it to feel it, his expression
brightening.
"Oh my god, Aominecchi, have you seen this?! It's so beautiful!"
The top was indeed very beautiful, even if it was incredibly simple. Maybe this
would be the chosen one? Kise looked really excited about it, and at first
glance it seemed like it had just the right shape to fit his body. Aomine
wondered if Kise had already discarded all the other options from his mind as
he nearly floated towards the changing rooms.
"Excuse me, sir."
Kise stopped in his tracks when one of the shop attendants stood in his way.
"Yes?"
The saleswoman looked rather troubled, as if this was the first time she had to
deal with whatever situation this was. Aomine frowned lightly. He had a bad
feeling about this.
"My sincerest apologies, but I'm afraid I can't let you through."
Kise quirked an eyebrow. Aomine could see the irritation in his posture, as if
he already knew what the saleswoman was about to tell him and he were ready to
tell her to fuck off for whatever it was, but instead, he took a deep breath
and looked at her impassively.
"And why is that?" he asked slowly, his tone leveled and calm, although it
would be impossible to miss the dangerous edge in his voice.
"This is a ladies' changing room." The woman explained, clearly growing more
conflicted by the minute.
"I understand. Would you be so kind as to show me to the men's changing room
then?" Kise asked, the cutting edge of his voice became even sharper.
The woman's fingers twitched nervously. It didn't take a genius to predict what
she was going to say now. Aomine felt himself growing irritated too, and he
took a step forward to stand closer to Kise.
"I must regretfully say we don't have changing rooms for men in this shop."
Aomine could almost feel it, the blood boiling in Kise's veins. It was as if
he'd known how this conversation would go from the start, and getting his
predictions confirmed only worsened his ire.
"In that case, the only option is that you let me through, isn't it?" the
mellow tone of his voice was slowly dissipating into pure venom. Aomine knew it
without having to ask, this was not the first time this happened.
"Like I said, sir, this is a ladies' changing room, so I can't possibly let you
in."
"And how am I supposed to decide if I want to buy any of your items if I can't
try them on first?"
That's when the saleswoman's patience started to crack too. "My apologies, sir,
but we only sell clothes for women. You are absolutely free to purchase any of
our items and I would be happy to help you find something for any of the
wonderful ladies in your life, but I'm afraid we can not allow you personally
to try on our clothes."
Aomine had had enough. "Are you stupid?" he spat, stepping in front of Kise.
"The fuck is with that completely idiotic policy, don't you want to sell your
stupid clothes?"
"Like I sai—"
"Are you even looking at this guy?" he pointed at Kise, not wanting to hear
anything more from the saleswoman. "He's a model and he's fucking gorgeous. I'd
bet he could make your shittiest t-shirt look amazing, and you'd have loads of
girls and guys wanting to buy it. But you won't let him try something on just
because he's a guy? It's fucking stupid! Why is it that this t-shirt is only
for girls, huh? Is it the feathers? Or the white? Is there any law that says
only women are allowed to wear white? Do you see how fucking idiotic that
sounds?!"
He gritted his teeth. Kise had been so happy all day long and this stupid shop
was ruining it. He'd liked that t-shirt so much and now he was getting so upset
about it. Aomine couldn't possibly forgive them for it.
"I'm really sorry, sir, but this is the company's policy, there's nothing I can
do about it."
Aomine snatched the t-shirt from Kise's hands and slammed it on the counter.
"That's your fucking loss then." He spat, angrily, and grabbed Kise's wrist to
pull him out of the store. Kise didn't say a word and just followed behind him.
Aomine noticed the tension seemed to have eased off of him for unknown reasons,
but he didn't give it any second thought.
"Aominecchi was too rude to that poor girl. It's not her fault that the store
has stupid policies."
He sighed and turned to look at Kise. In spite of his words, he was smiling. It
was an odd kind of smile, it still had that twinge of anger and disappointment,
but it was also bright with satisfaction.
"I know, I know. I just… you really liked that t-shirt, so I got pissed off.
Any brand with two-working brain-cells should be honored to have you wearing
their shit." Had the woman not seen what Kise was wearing? To think that the
world could have been deprived of the wonderful sight of Kise wearing that
black skirt if the designer had decided to be a prick about gendering their
clothes. And more importantly, he couldn't stand seeing Kise so upset. He was
almost certain that Kise would've bought that t-shirt if the store wasn't so
stupid about its gender restrictions.
Just as it begun to dawn on him all the embarrassing things he'd just said,
Kise tugged his wrist free of Aomine's grasp to lace their fingers together and
he skipped forward lightly to press a quick peck on his cheek. Aomine's face
burned.
"Hehe, right now I'm happier about Aominecchi defending my honor."
===============================================================================
 
Kise was trying to play it cool, he really was, but in fact he was melting
inside and he couldn't bring himself to look at Aomine straight in the face,
for he knew for sure his cheeks were as red as Akashicchi's hair. Aominecchi
had actually called him 'gorgeous', out loud and the look in his eyes and the
tone in his voice had been so raw and sincere, as if he was speaking and
undeniable truth.
Of course, he already knew Aominecchi thought he was attractive, he'd known it
for a while. Even if he'd had any doubts about it before today, there would be
none left, given how Aominecchi had been looking at him all day, how his eyes
scanned Kise's figure with every new outfit he tried on, how he looked away,
his cheeks dusted pink, to mumble the clothes looked good on him, the little
smiles when Kise twirled to show off the outfits he liked most. But knowing
through observation was very different from hearing it straight from
Aominecchi's mouth and with such absolute, unquestionable certainty. His heart
was fluttering inside his chest. He squeezed Aominecchi's hand and felt Aomine
squeeze back.
He remembered their last date, when they'd gone to the movies in Ikebukuro, how
perfect everything had felt that day, and how happy he'd been until he'd
realized none of it had been real. But what if it had? What if those magical,
intimate sparks he'd felt hadn't been in his imagination? He'd been feeling
them today too, and last night, when they were tangled in each other, their
bodies melting into one, and this morning, when Aominecchi had called him
'Sunshine', his voice soft and tender, and the wet, sloppy kisses they'd shared
in the shower. Had Aominecchi felt them too? Wasn't all this too good, too
perfect to be real?
"Oi, are you even listening to me?"
He finally turned around to meet Aominecchi's inquisitive gaze.
"You've had this ridiculous spaced out expression for like five minutes
straight."
Kise's heart hiccupped with embarrassment. "Rude, Aominecchi!" he quipped
weakly.
"I was just saying you should try to at least look more upset about that stupid
shop's bullshit."
A smile grew on Kise's lips. "I don't really care about it anymore."
Aomine sighed, "Geez, you're unbelievable. C'mon, you still have like, what,
ten million shops left on your list? I do wanna' get this done with before next
month."
"It's only three more shops!"
Aominecchi smiled, that pure unguarded smile that he didn't show very often and
Kise grinned back at him, his chest swelling with warmth.
Chapter End Notes
     This is another one that had to be split in half because it became
     too long hahaha orz. I'm really sorry for the gross delay everyone,
     I've been so busy.
     Kise is flawless in a skirt and I'll fight anyone who has anything to
     say about it. All the clothes described are based on real ones from
     the shops mentioned (all of which do exist in Landmark Plaza Yokohama
     because I am obsessive about meaningless details). Y'all have no idea
     of how much I struggled to choose something for Kise, but you'll see
     next chapter, I came up with something good. Also, I didn't
     purposefully try and force Kise to wear "women's" clothes, but all
     the online shops I checked had very boring stuff in the "men's"
     section and I'm very into the idea of Kise slaying with any clothes
     he puts on. I liked playing that off, especially with Aomine whom I
     imagine to be a very stereotypical Japanese teen boy with a fragile
     masculinity (he's learning, be patient with him). I also really
     enjoyed writing about Aomine lavishing Kise with affection and
     compliments, especially because he does it without thinking most of
     the time. He's so enchanted by Kise at this point, poor boy, he's
     just not completely wrapped his head around his feelings yet, and he
     wants to do right by Kise, not take a rash decision that could end up
     hurting them both.
     Sorry for the ramble. Even if I didn't write much this past month, I
     had a lot of feelings about this fic while I was away, and I've
     actually outlined a lot of scenes from future chapters in advance,
     I'm very excited to share that with you. I'm infinitely grateful for
     your patience and I really hope you're still enjoying this story,
     even with disgustingly fluffy chapters like this one. Please let me
     her your thoughts about it!
***** Life isn't perfect but your outfit can be (Part II: Not that it'll
matter) *****
Chapter Summary
     "Look at this place, it's huge and they have crazy discounts, you
     gotta help me out or we'll never be out of here. Since you've given
     me some good feedback I'll trust your criteria and let you choose a
     few things for me."
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
"Oh my god, Aominecchi, can we go in, can we? Pleeeease!"
They were on the way to the next shop on the list, when Kise had suddenly
stopped dead on his tracks and started squealing. Aomine turned to look at
whatever was the cause for such excitement. He almost rolled his eyes when he
spotted the sign on the marquee.
POKEMON CENTER YOKOHAMA
"Really?" he asked, more to himself than to Kise, who was already rushing
inside the shop. Aomine felt he'd somehow been ambushed into this situation.
There was no way Kise didn't know they'd be passing this shop. Kise's feigned
surprise was entirely unfunny.
"Look, look Aominecchi, isn't this super cute?!" Kise exclaimed, holding a
large Pikachu plushie that didn't look particularly different to any other
Pikachu Aomine had seen before. Kise obviously didn't share that sentiment,
since his cheeks had blossomed in light pink and his golden eyes were sparkling
with joy. Aomine shrugged, completely disarmed by the unbridled brightness of
his expression.
"Remind me to come up with an excuse to visit Akashicchi soon, they just opened
a Pokemon Center in Kyoto and some of the exclusive merch is adorable." Kise
was saying as he picked up a different plushie and squeezed it happily.
Aomine was most certainly going to forget about it, but he nodded anyway. He'd
never been to one of this shops before –he'd seen it from the outside only, on
the day of the Pikachu parade, and at that time, even Kise had conceded that it
was too crowded to try and force their way inside-, but he'd always imagined
they'd be as much of a game center as they were a hobby shop, so he was
surprised to see that wasn't the case.
The Pokemon fad had kind of flown over his head. It had been super popular when
he was in elementary, and his parents had bought him one of the games, but he'd
gotten bored pretty quickly. He just didn't like turn-based fight games, they
were annoying. Satsuki, on the other hand, was a huge fan, so he'd somehow
stayed marginally up to date with it and maybe he could name around a dozen
Pokemons including Pikachu, Orange Pikachu, Small Pikachu, and Other Small
Pikachu. He had a feeling that maybe he shouldn't try to flaunt such knowledge
in front of Kise, who was probably very passionate about what was a Pikachu and
what wasn't.
Kise was, by the way, showing him the millionth Pikachu plushie and squealing
about how cute it was (this one was disguised as a different Pokemon, Aomine
didn't understand what was the point of that) when a thought occurred to him.
"You seem to like those stuffed animals a lot but I haven't seen any in your
room." He pointed out. Until that day at Minato Mirai he hadn't known how much
Kise liked Pokemon, but now that he did it was rather puzzling to think there
was not a single Pikachu plushie in Kise's bedroom.
"Uhm…." Kise squeezed the plushie he was holding absentmindedly. "I think
they're really cute, but if I bought one I wouldn't know what to do with it or
where to put it." He put the plushie back on the shelf and fished in the pocket
of his skirt. "I do have these, though" he said, showing him a keyring that
looked like a Pikachu coming out of a crêpe. "This one's a standard one so I'm
not afraid of losing it, but I actually have a small collection from the
different Pokemon Centers I've visited. I got a Date Masamune one when I went
to Sendai for a shoot, you should see it, it has a little eyepatch and
everything. That's why I must go to Kyoto to get the maiko one, it's so cute
it's unfair!"
Aomine quirked an eyebrow. He could've sworn… "There's a Pikachu that looks
like a maiko right there." He said, pointing at a different shelf with Pikachu
wearing kimono.
Kise rolled his eyes. "It's not the same! For starters, they made different
versions for the other Pokemon Centers, there's one you can only get in Kyoto.
And besides, it defeats the purpose if I buy it anywhere else! It's like buying
a Kinkakuji postcard at the Kansai airport without ever going to Kyoto, it'd be
stupid."
Aomine scratched his head, not fully understanding what was so terrible about
either of those things, but he figured he should drop the subject. Kise had
already moved on to the next plushie, a wide smile drawn over his face as he
rubbed the Pikachu's round red cheeks, and Aomine couldn't help but be infected
by the cheeriness of his expression. It briefly crossed his mind that Satsuki
had mentioned she wanted to schedule a training match with Rakuzan before the
In-High prelims. Maybe he could get Kise the Pikachu he wanted if that worked
out. Kise's birthday was also very close, so the timing would be perfect. He
could already picture how happily Kise would smile when he received it, and he
was kind of looking forward to that.
He wandered a little and found a shelf with some dog-looking pokemons with
different colors. One of them had a black body and pointy ears with yellow
rings drawn on its skin. He didn't know its name, but he vaguely remembered
seeing it before and thinking it was cool. He picked up a small cellphone strap
with a plastic figure of that pokemon and inspected it briefly
"Eeh, Aominecchi likes the Eevelutions?"
Aomine jolted and put the strap back on the shelf. "The what?"
"Eeveelutions, that's how you call all of these" he pointed at the different
colored dogs "because they all evolve from Eevee, just with different items and
such."
He'd heard of this before. Satsuki really liked them, especially the new pink
one. But that weird term Kise had used was just so very stupid he felt almost
ashamed to be close to the shelf.
"Eh, that one's kinda cool." He allowed himself to say, pointing at the black
one, even while he walked away hoping to leave the incident behind.
Kise giggled. "Let's buy matching ones."
"Hah?"
"Let's buy a matching pair of these. To remember today. Pleease, you like
Umbreon, I like Espeon, it'll be perfect."
"Haaah?" Aomine repeated, completely confused.
"These two" he showed him the black one and a purple one that looked more like
a cat. "are usually considered a 'pair' because they were released at the same
time and they're kind of opposite."
"But I thought you liked Pikachu."
Kise frowned. "Aominecchi, there's 721 Pokemon, and there's even a new batch
coming in later this year, there's no way I'm just gonna like Pikachu, there
are so many that are cute! And baddass!" He explained emphatically. "And the
Eeveelutions are adorable! Espeon's my favorite because it's cute and Psychics
are awesome. I mean, of course Pikachu's my absolute favorite, but the
Eeveelutions…"
Aomine cocked his head. With his marginal knowledge of the subject matter, he
could kind of make sense of what Kise was saying, but that wasn't saying much,
especially as he continued to ramble and sprout names that sounded like someone
had just smashed their keyboard at random to see what came out.
Apparently he'd been quiet too long, because Kise sighed in defeat and he put
the straps back on the shelf.
"Sorry, I got carried away, I know Aominecchi doesn't really like Pokemon. We
should get going, it's getting kinda late." He looked disappointed, like all
the joy he'd been radiating since they walked into the store had been drained
out of him. Aomine felt there was something he should be inferring from this,
but he didn't know what that was. All he knew was that he wasn't about to allow
himself to ruin the day for Kise just because he was too slow to catch on to
stuff.
"Let's buy them."
"Eh?"
"What you said, let's buy them, they're cool."
Kise blushed a little, like he'd been completely caught off guard by that.
"It's okay Aominecchi, you don't have money anyway and I know you're not into
this stuff." His smile was forced and apologetical and Aomine hated it.
"Oi, don't just assume stuff about people. I have played the games a little you
know?" he grabbed the black one. "This one's cool anyway, looks strong and
shit. I mean if you wanted me to buy that stupid pink balloon I'd flip you o—"
"HOW DARE YOU SAY JIGGLYPUFF IS STUPID HAVE YOU NO SHAME."
Kise's face was now red with anger. It reminded him of how he'd been last
night, when he'd ruined his shirt. For some reason, he found that look on him
endearing in a hilarious way. He heard himself laugh before he could stop
himself, and now he knew he was getting beaten up, but he didn't really mind.
"C'mon, stop making a big deal out of everything, let's go to the register,
there's no one in the line now." He managed to say in between chuckles as he
failed to dodge an indignant slap to the shoulder. He grabbed the other strap,
the one with the purple whatever thing and with his free hand he stopped Kise
midway through another slap, holding on to his wrist and pulling him towards
the cashier. This seemed to throw Kise off enough to forget his current
outrage, which made it easier to pay for the straps (well, Kise paid for them,
because Aomine really didn't have money, but he promised he'd pay him back next
time) and exit the shop. Once they were outside, he pulled them out of the
shopping bag and passed the purple one over to Kise so he could take a closer
look at his own.
"I guess this is supposed to go on the cellphone?" he mused. Because it had
pointy ears it'd be a little more uncomfortable to carry his phone in his
backpocket, but he could deal with that.
"It's better if you put it on your gym bag." Kise said, a small smile on his
lips as he too took a closer look of his own strap. "Won't raise questions cos
no one will notice."
Aomine felt lost once more. "Questions?"
"Well yeah, because most guys don't really use cellphone straps unless they buy
a matching pair for their girlfriends. Especially if it's a cutesy one, you
know how guys feel their masculinity is threatened by anything that's not "for
manly men" and shit."
Ah. He now remembered some of his classmates making fun of a guy with a
cellphone strap in the shape of a cute smiling blue manjuu. The guy had then
bemoaned about how his girlfriend had insisted on it, saying she had a matching
pink one. It started to dawn on him that the guys in his classroom seemed
awfully annoyed by anything that would please their girlfriends. Why would you
date someone if the things that made them happy annoyed you? It didn't make any
sense for him. True, he hadn't been particularly stoked about Kise's proposal
of getting matching straps, but he was fine giving in on it knowing it would
make Kise happy. He didn't actively dislike whatever Pokemon he'd gotten
either. Why didn't other guys talk to their girlfriends so they could get
straps of something they both liked? The more he thought about it, the stranger
everyone else's relationships seemed.
And then it hit him, the reason Kise had gotten so excited and then so
disappointed by the idea so quickly. It was a thing for couples. He'd said
something like that earlier too.
"There are lots of things I want to do with Aominecchi"
Kise had loved him for a long time. What were the chances that he had a whole
lot of "couples" things he'd wished to share with him? How many times had he
wished for something as silly and simple as having matching cellphone straps?
How many things could he have on that list, and how often had he been hurt
thinking he'd never actually be able to do them? He'd thought about how he'd
been hurting Kise the past few months with this half-assed relationship, but
he'd never actually thought of how long Kise might have been hurting from
unrequited feelings. His heart clenched. He understood it was pointless to
blame himself for not returning Kise's feelings, and he knew Kise didn't blame
him either. And yet…
The hand that was holding Kise's wrist moved to lace their fingers together for
the millionth time today. It was an extremely pleasant feeling.
"Let's both put them on our gym bags. Basketball is something we have in common
after all." He proposed, grinning.
Kise stared at him with wide eyes for a moment, but then his face broke in a
dashing smile and he squeezed their laced fingers softly. His whole arm tingled
with warmth and he looked away, blinded by Kise's smile.
They walked in comfortable silence for a minute before another realization
struck him.
"Ah, fuck."
"Hm?"
He put the strap in his front pocket, making sure it was deep inside so it
wouldn't fall out. He watched Kise do the same, and he was briefly amazed by
the discovery that skirts could actually have pockets, before he remembered why
he'd cursed in the first place.
"I left my gym bag at your place."
"Oh, how terrible, now I have an excuse to have Aominecchi walk me back home
like the gentleman he's not."
Aomine would've smacked him, but he would've had to untangle their hands, and
he really didn't want to do that.
"Keep that up and I'll buy you the ugliest fucking shirt ever made. One that
makes you look fat or something." He grumbled and Kise just laughed.
 
===============================================================================
 
The next shop in Kise's seemingly endless itinerary was a huge one called
United something something (Aomine didn't really have time to read the name
because Kise had rushed inside excitedly).
"You go to the men's section." Kise instructed once he'd caught up, already
headed for the women's side of the store.
"Huh?"
"Look at this place, it's huge and they have crazy discounts, you gotta help me
out or we'll never be out of here. Since you've given me some good feedback
I'll trust your criteria and let you choose a few things for me."
"Eh? B-but-"
"My size is small, just avoid animal prints at all costs –and I mean at all
costs- and you'll be fine."
And before Aomine could object, he was shoved into a rack of clothing and Kise
had disappeared. It took him a few moments to recover from the shock, but once
he did he found himself browsing through the clothing without giving it much
thought, considering the different shirts and trying to imagine how they'd look
on Kise. There was a cool denim jacket that had a stretch at the waist and
would certainly look flattering on Kise's slim body and, no, forget about it,
it was actually the lamest 21 thousand yen jacket he'd ever seen and he never
wanted to lay his eyes on it again. He pulled out a blue and white striped
long-sleeved shirt. Did Kise like stripes? He'd tried a few shirts with that
pattern today, maybe they were trending? Aomine felt completely lost, but he
had a feeling it would look good on Kise. He grabbed that shirt and a couple
more striped ones (because the only other alternative were plain white shirts
and he had a feeling that wasn't quite the point), but he noticed there wasn't
much variety in the men's section in terms of colors or shapes, and definitely
not much that would match Kise's style. There were a couple of polo shirts that
looked okay, but when he tried to picture Kise wearing them, the image in his
head looked stiff and unnatural, so he passed on them.
After picking three different shirts, he went back to where they'd parted and
started looking around for the strike of golden hair that would give away
Kise's location. His eye was caught by a mannequin wearing a sleeveless white
blouse with thin black and silver vertical stripes with a soft V-neck. For some
reason, Aomine could perfectly picture Kise wearing it, maybe with a pair of
jean shorts (the really short ones, shorter than most boxers, that showed so
much of his long beautiful legs), or maybe with a skirt or with his black
skinny jeans. Kise would look gorgeous in it. Aomine smiled and licked his
lips. He'd gladly buy this for Kise and consider it money well-spent. He
wondered if Kise would like it. He really hoped he would. When he reached for
the rack to look for a small-sized one, his hand brushed against another one.
He jolted, turning to the right to find Kise's eyes wide with surprise.
"Oh! Aominecchi! How fancy meeting you here!" he exclaimed with a wide, silly
grin.
Aomine rolled his eyes and said nothing.
Kise giggled. "Were you going to pick this one? Maybe Aominecchi does
occasionally have good fashion sense." He said, pulling one from the rack.
"It's so cute, I wonder if it'll look good on me." He mused, putting it with
the huge pile of clothes already hanging from his arm.
"I think it'll suit you." Aomine said, without thinking, and his face burned
the moment the words left his mouth. He really needed to think before speaking.
Kise looked at him, taken aback by the compliment (he'd been doing it all day,
even though this was probably the millionth time Aomine failed to control his
own tongue), and then he smiled brightly and bounced all the way to the
changing rooms. Aomine couldn't help the little smile that pulled his lips
upward.
"What else did you pick for me?" Kise asked, snatching the handful of shirts
Aomine had chosen and inspecting them briefly. "Hm, this is nice." He
commented, looking at the one with the wide blue stripes. "Maybe I should bring
you shopping more often, you're being surprisingly helpful."
Aomine frowned. "Oi, what's that supposed to mean."
"It's a compliment."
"It's not a great one."
"Beggars can't be choosers."
"Oi! And what does that mean?"
Kise snickered and made his way into the changing room before Aomine could
smack him or something of the sort. He huffed, determined to tell Kise he
looked horrible in everything just to get back at him, but the thought died
before it could reach his mouth when Kise walked out wearing the long-sleeved
shirt with blue stripes Aomine had picked. There was nothing particularly
special about it, but that shade of blue really contrasted with the gold of his
hair and it also looked great on his skin. This time Kise had kept his skirt,
and the combined look was casual and relaxed.
"That one looks really good on you."
Kise's eyes widened again (seriously, why was he still getting surprised?) and
then he smiled his money-making smile at him.
"You really think so?" he asked delighted, pulling at the hem of the shirt and
bouncing on his toes.
"Yeah, I do."
"I really like it too! I love this color and stripes this wide aren't very
common, they look cool." He twirled a little. Aomine loved it when Kise
twirled. "Maybe I should go with this one? Price's good too." He pondered,
turning around to look at himself on the mirror before twirling once again.
Aomine felt himself swell a little with pride. It felt weirdly special to know
Kise liked something he'd picked for him. At the same time, he was still
curious about the sleeveless blouse, but he wasn't going to say anything if
Kise decided to get this one.
"Hm, but the long sleeves are gonna be a problem starting in a few weeks." Kise
continued, trying different angles and poses in front of the mirror. "Oh well,
I could wear it in September when the weather cools down a bit." He turned
again to face him, his smile not budging an inch. "I'm impressed, Aominecchi
picked something awesome for me." Aomine's heart fluttered a little. "There's a
few more things I wanna try, but I'm really thinking this one's gonna be the
winner."
Aomine was a little relieved to hear that. He was getting exhausted (and
hungry) after following Kise through over fifteen shops and probably a hundred
million different outfits, but since they were already in the shop, he wanted
to enjoy the fashion show a little longer. Watching Kise combine different
clothes and coming up with cool looking outfits, the flirty way he posed and
twirled and smiled, how the different colors matched his skin and his eyes, the
fabrics molding to his beautiful body, and most importantly the way his
expression brightened with joy when he tried on an outfit he really liked, were
all things that brought a smile to Aomine's face.
Next, Kise tried a couple of blouses he'd picked from the women's section. One
was baggy and had bright earthy red color, and he paired it with the tightest
white jeans Aomine had ever seen, and really, that shouldn't be legal. The
loose blouse balanced the tight pants, which accentuated Kise's slim figure
wonderfully. Then there was a grey sleeveless top with dark grey splotches that
looked like clouds, and a green sleeveless button-up with a formal-looking
neckline. All of them looked gorgeous on Kise. Aomine was starting to like this
shop, and to woefully regret that he wouldn't see Kise in any of these clothes
again.
After that he came out wearing another of the striped shirts Aomine had half-
assedly picked. It was white with black stripes, and it looked okay, but
nowhere near as great as much of the other stuff Kise had tried on today.
"What do you think?" Kise asked, already looking at himself in the mirror,
although his expression said he wasn't too convinced by this look.
"It's not terrible, but you've tried on lots of better stuff."
"Yeah, I think so too. Isn't it ridiculous that there is so little variety in
the men's section? It's like anything other than plain colors and horizontal
stripes isn't masculine enough."
Aomine had to agree. He was starting to see why Kise liked shopping in women's
stores. Firstly, the clothes suited him beautifully, and secondly, there was
just so much more variety in colors, shapes, patterns and combinations. He
himself was okay with just t-shirts with cool prints, but for someone who
enjoyed dressing up like Kise, the endless racks of plain t-shirts, striped
button-ups and polo shirts must be incredibly dull.
"Yeah, sorry that I couldn't find something nicer."
Kise looked at him and cocked his head. "You don't have to apologize,
Aominecchi, Jesus! It's not your fault designers get so uncreative when it
comes to dressing men. 'Sides, you've picked me a handful of awesome stuff
today too." He said reassuringly. His eyes suddenly lit up with excitement.
"Ah! I'm gonna try on that one next!" he chirped before rushing back into the
dressing room.
It took him a little bit longer to come out than with his previous items, which
meant he was also changing out of the jeans he'd worn for his last three
outfits. When the curtain opened, Kise skipped out of the booth wearing his
black skirt (that would probably be the subject of Aomine's wet dreams for
months to come), and the white blouse they'd picked together. Aomine's jaw
dropped to the ground.
 
"Fuck."
 
===============================================================================
 
This blouse felt wonderful –light, and soft and free-, and that was all Kise
was thinking when he stepped out of the booth, not sure if he wanted to look at
himself first or hear what Aominecchi thought of this get up. He decided on the
latter, but before he could open his mouth to ask for an opinion (and twirl a
little, because then Aominecchi would blush an adorable shade of crimson and
smile a little, super cute smile), Aominecchi had stood up from the bench he'd
been sitting on and taken the three long strides that separated them from each
other just so he could grab the back of Kise's head and smash their lips
together brusquely.
 
Kise felt his face burning and his heartbeat accelerating in a second. He
widened his eyes for a moment, but then allowed himself to melt into the clumsy
kiss, parting his lips to let Aominecchi's tongue inside his mouth. His blood
felt like liquid fire. He even forgot where he was and how to breathe, both of
which seemed like unimportant knowledge anyway.
 
When they parted for air, Aomine's eyes locked into his, glazed over with
passion and something else Kise couldn't completely decipher. Aominecchi's
fingers were still on his nape, digging the tiniest bit into his skin. Kise
wanted to ask what was going on, because as much as he'd appreciated that kiss
that had made his heart do a back-flip inside his chest, it was still unusual
for Aominecchi to be so bold, especially in public. Once again, before he could
open his mouth to ask, Aominecchi cut him off.
 
 
"Fuck, you look perfect."
 
 
This was it. Either his face burned so hard it evaporated, or he'd be so
goddamned red Aominecchi would be laughing at him for the rest of their lives.
Oh god, how could he… how could he possibly say something so embarrassing with
such a sincere expression? He wanted to pull away from that gaze, but he found
himself unable to, and in those midnight eyes he saw the same words Aominecchi
had just spoken. What was he even supposed to make of this? Why was Aominecchi
looking at him like that?
 
He felt fingers tracing his jaw and tilting his chin a little bit upwards and
then Aomine was kissing him again, slow and sweet. Kise's legs quivered, he
feared they wouldn't hold him much longer, so he grabbed on to the front of
Aomine's t-shirt, trying to keep his balance. Maybe Aomine felt how much he was
struggling to not melt in a puddle of goo and useless legs, because the hand
that was on his nape traveled slowly down his back (and with it, a shiver) and
stopped at his waist, circling around him and holding him steady and closer. He
could feel Aomine's heartbeat under his palm, and it was racing and thundering,
just like his own.
 
A saleswoman cleared her throat not-so-discreetly. Kise pushed Aomine away,
even if he almost lost his balance trying.
 
"A-a-aominecchi y-you c-a-an't do th-that in public!" he squeaked with a thin
voice.
 
Aomine himself seemed to suddenly grow awfully self-conscious about what he'd
done. He looked down, avoiding Kise's eyes, a faint pink dusting his cheeks.
"Sorry I..." he trailed off and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"A-and also, you d-don't have to go out of your way to f-flatter me. I-I mean,
we can k-k-kiss and stuff anytime, just like… not right here."
 
That made Aomine look up. He looked mildly offended, but Kise didn't understand
why. "The hell's that?! I wasn't flattering you to get a kiss. I really think
you look damn beautifulin that. What the fuck, why do I have to explain that to
someone with an ego like yours? Look at yourself in that goddamned mirror, for
crying out loud."
 
Kise might've felt slightly upset at Aominecchi's jab at his ego ("pot calling
the kettle black!" he would've said), but his brain was so numb with
Aominecchi's raw honesty all he could do was blush. He turned away quickly to
do as suggested and look at himself in the mirror and oh, god, his face and his
ears and his neck and even the little of his chest that was visible looked like
they were on fire and oh, ooohh…
"Holy mother I look amazing!"
"What did I just tell you?"
He grinned at his own reflection and began his usual routine of trying
different poses to see how the blouse would look from a different angle, and it
managed to look fabulous in all of them. It had been a while since he tried on
something that looked so good on him. He bent over to lay his palms over his
knees to see how the blouse looked when wrinkled, but when he looked at himself
on the mirror, he saw Aominecchi standing behind him, arms crossed over his
chest, a smile on his lips that said how pleased he was with himself. Did
Aominecchi want him that badly just for wearing this?
 
"Like what you see?" he blurted, trying to sound teasing and failing
spectacularly. He'd never been so self-conscious about having Aomine's eyes on
him, but now he just couldn't help it.
 
"Very" was the simple answer, and then Aomine extended his hand at him. He
grabbed it without much thought and then his arm was raised over his head with
a light tug. "C'mon, show me." Aomine drew a circle in the air with his free
hand, a teasing smirk on his lips.
 
 
Kise's cheeks were almost unbearably hot, so he didn't put up any fight and let
himself be propelled by the soft pull at his wrist, twirling around without
letting go of Aomine's hand, as if they were dancing. His skirt flapped a
little, and the blouse caught the breeze that the movement generated perfectly,
proving how light and fresh it was, perfect for the summer. Once he'd done a
360-degree turn, he couldn't avoid Aomine's eyes that were looking at him as if
he were a work of art, and his heart skipped a beat. He swallowed thickly.
There was something sweet and tender about that look, that made thousands of
butterflies flutter in his belly.
 
 
"So?" he managed to breathe out, holding Aomine's disarming gaze with all the
willpower in his body. "What… what do you think?" he stuttered a little, and
turned around to face the mirror and fake that he was inspecting himself again
to hide it.
 
 
Aomine snorted. "Now you're just trying to make me flatter you some more,
aren't you?" Kise felt his chin leaning over his shoulder and saw him on the
mirror staring hotly at him, his arms hugging his waist. "I already told you I
love how that looks on you."
 
Kise froze in Aominecchi's arms. Had he just said…? No, he told himself, trying
to steady his breathing, this is exactly what you're not supposed to do. He was
talking about the clothes, not him. It was just like saying he loved basketball
or teriyaki burger. He couldn't allow himself to start overanalyzing everything
and looking for signs that were probably not there, or he'd drive himself
insane. Besides, it was way more important to stop Aominecchi from kissing his
neck in such a terribly irresistible way or they'd get kicked out of the shop,
even if, no, rather because being able to see Aomine's lips on his skin on the
mirror was way more arousing than it had any right to be.
"But it doesn't matter what I think." Aominecchi said, once more before Kise
could say anything to him, his head resting leisurely on Kise's shoulder.
"You're the one who'll wear it, so what's important is that you love yourself
in it." His lips curled in a pure, unraveled smile that reminded Kise of their
days in Teikou. A smile he'd missed so dearly and that always made him melt
inside.
"I do." He said quietly, finally finding the courage to lock his eyes with
Aomine's and smiling back at him through the mirror. "I love it, it's my
favorite by far. It's so good on me and so perfect for summer! I don't even
want to look at anything else, I want this."
Aomine disentangled himself from Kise. "You'll get what you want then."
 
 
You. What I want is you.
 
The thought briefly crossed his mind. He pushed it away immediately, angry at
himself for even letting such a thought out.
 
"Go get changed before you get that thing sweaty and stinky."
Kise huffed, even if he was unable to suppress his smile. "If anything, it
already stinks because Aominecchi was all over me."
"Huh? I don't stink, I even used that stupid shampoo you gave me."
"As if just a little dose of shampoo could do anything against Aominecchi's
Neanderthal stench."
Aomine glared at him. "I changed my mind, I'm buying you that animal print t-
shirt."
"YOU WOULDN'T DARE."
"You sure about that?"
Kise wanted to screech indignantly, but instead he got infected by Aominecchi's
laughter, and that was fine too.
 
===============================================================================
 
Aomine was having trouble keeping up with Kise, who was literally skipping down
the hallways, happily swinging the single shopping bag. Aomine's soul had
almost exited his body when he'd seen the price tag on that blouse, but luckily
there was a huge red sticker with an unbelievable discount. It would've broken
his heart if he couldn't get that blouse Kise had obviously liked so much.
"Can you believe how lucky we were? It was soooo cheap!" he squealed delighted,
taking a peek into the shopping bag. His face brightened.
"I wouldn't say 4500 yen's exactly cheap, I could buy like eight big teriyaki
burgers with that."
So maybe he had gone a little over budget, but it had really been just a
little, and he could forfeit lunch just this once for Kise's sake and it'd be
completely worth it.
When they'd looked at the price tag, Kise's face had fallen in disappointment.
"Oh, I guess I'll choose something else." He'd said, already putting the blouse
back in its hanger.
"The hell?"
"It's over budget. I'm such an idiot, I should've checked first. That's a
beginner's mistake!" he tried to laugh it off.
Aomine had stopped him them, a sense of urgency boiling in his stomach. "It's
just 500 yen, I still have enough left for the train back. If this is what you
want then take it."
Kise had looked at him, his eyes betraying his disbelief. "B-but Aominecchi…"
he'd started, looking at the blouse with longing eyes and chewing on his lower
lip a little. "I-it's okay I…"
"I haven't seen you as happy today as when you looked at yourself wearing that.
What's the point of this whole thing if you're gonna end disappointed? I said
I'd buy you a new shirt, if that's the one you want, then so be it."
There was still some uncertainty and regret in Kise's eyes. Aomine sighed.
"Look, the animal print t-shirt is calling to me, so if you don't get your ass
moving to the register I won't be responsible for myself."
Kise had blushed then, soft and shy and a cute tiny smile appeared on his lips.
"Okay."
Once he'd received the shopping bag though, all of his worries and concerns
seemed to have vanished, too caught in the excitement of his new clothes to
bother with anything else for a few minutes.
"I'm sorry, Aominecchi, I'll pay back the overbudget money." He said with a
small pout.
"No you won't, let it go already. Unless you really want me to get you that
ugly as fuck animal print garbage."
"No, Aominecchi, never animal print! NEVER!"
"You sure? Cos you're being such a pain in the ass I almost think you want it."
"I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that!"
"We'll see about that."
"What's that even supposed to mean?!"
"Nothing, look up!"
"Wha—Aominecchi what the-?!"
"Just a lil' selfie to remember how easily you get worked up."
Aomine looked at the picture on his cellphone while trying to keep his device
away from Kise's furious hands and grinned.
 
===============================================================================
 
"Oooh! I'd totally forgotten it was coming out this week!" Kise squealed
delighted, picking up a magazine from the shelf at the convenience store. Now
that their "mission" had been accomplished, Kise had agreed to take a little
break and get something to drink, but the moment they'd stepped inside the
store, something had caught his eye that caused him to make a beeline for the
magazine section. It took Aomine just a moment to understand the excitement, as
he saw a large photograph of Kise himself on the cover of the magazine wearing
a white t-shirt with a big shark printed over a grey patch to the side and the
most complicated jeans Aomine had ever seen.
Aomine had seen Kise's magazines before, he'd just never really looked at them.
And he knew Kise was a model, but he hadn't actually seen him modeling. He
never imagined it would be much different to his usual self, after all, he was
already dashingly attractive and flirty by nature. But the Kise on the photo
looked almost like a completely different person. His body was leaning against
the invisible backdrop, the fabric of the clothes molding to his figure, the
position accentuating all the smallest details of the garment. One of his hands
was fingering the edge of the jean's pocket, while the other one seemed to be
halfway through pushing his bangs away from his eyes that looked dark and
intense and inviting, and there was just the smallest hint of a smile in the
corner of his lips. He could tell he was wearing much heavier make-up than
usual, and he found he couldn't tear his gaze away from those provocative
golden eyes.
"Geez, the agency's supposed to send me a copy a few weeks before it comes out,
why are they so late now?" Kise's carefree tone managed to bring him back to
the present. "I really enjoyed this shoot so I was excited to see how they'd
turned out, the clothes were super cool!" he added, flipping through the pages.
"Heeh, they actually did give me the big spread and everything, I'm so
flattered!" he squealed delighted.
Aomine wasn't listening anymore. He wanted that magazine. Fuck, he really
wanted it. He wanted to see a side of Kise he didn't usually see. Like the side
that was very passionate about karaoke, or the one that cried about the
stupidest things in romantic movies, or the one that shopped for clothes in
stores with stupid names. He felt not many could see there was so much more to
Kise than an overconfident, clingy asshole, heck, even he probably hadn't been
as aware of that as he should've, considering they'd been friends for so long.
But now he wanted to change that. He wanted to see more pictures of Kise like
that, provoking the camera with his body, luring the unsuspecting viewer into
the deathly trap of his eyes. Without thinking, he reached for the shelf to
grab a magazine of his own. He had to get it, even if that meant spending his
train money on it. Fuck it, he'd walk back to Tokyo, it'd probably take less
than half a day.
"Ah, I got an idea, wait here!" Kise chirped suddenly, once again pulling him
out of his daze.
He lifted his head to see Kise rushing to the counter with the magazine at
hand. He exchanged a few words with the salesman and then opened the magazine
on top of the counter, pulled an item from his pocket –a black marker, Aomine
noticed after staring a little- and scribbled something on the paper. He then
smiled at the salesman, handed him some money, and skipped back to Aomine's
side with a cheeky grin.
"Here." He said, handing him the magazine. "I even signed it and everything,
it's gonna be worth a fortune someday." He declared with conviction.
Aomine allowed himself to get lost in the cover for a few more moments, his
lips curling upwards in a smile. Kise looked simply amazing in that photo. He
was about to start flipping through the pages when Kise stopped him by the
wrist.
"You can't see it until you get back home." He said firmly. "You've the real me
right here, you wouldn't want to waste the precious time you can have in my
glorious presence, after all." He smirked, pointing at his own chest with a
grandiose flick of his wrist. Aomine thought he looked utterly ridiculous and
couldn't even feel annoyed by it.
"The one in here isn't half as noisy, I think that gives him an edge." He said
lightly, pointing at the photo.
Kise's face flushed beet red. "RUDE! Of course a brute like Aominecchi wouldn't
appreciate the privileges he gets! Gimme back my autograph, you don't deserve
it!" he squawked with indignation, reaching out to get the magazine back.
Aomine twisted his body away to keep the magazine away from Kise's grasp "No
way" He retorted, laughing. Like hell he was giving it back "you already said
it's gonna be worth a fortune someday and I'm probably gonna want to buy a new
videogame console when that time comes."
The furious screech that followed threatened to burst his eardrums, but that
only fueled his laughter further.
 
===============================================================================
 
"Teriyaki burgers are definitely the best." Aominecchi stated in a cheerful
tone after gobbling down the rest of his burger. "Even the ones from conbini
are great." He continued, and there was a light skip in his step. Kise thought
it was adorable.
Since Aominecchi had gone over budget, he now had no money to buy any lunch. At
first he'd said he was okay and wasn't really hungry, but his grumbling stomach
had given him away in the end. So Kise had stomped back to the convenience
store and bought a teriyaki burger that was probably made of plastic, but
knowing Aominecchi he wouldn't mind. Of course, this being Aominecchi, he had
to bring his pride into every little thing, and that included a 200 yen plastic
hamburger.
"What was even the point of me buying you that shirt if you're gonna end up
buying my food?"
Kise had rolled his eyes. "It's the sentiment, Aominecchi, jesus. Of course I
could've bought it myself, but then it would've been just one more shirt in my
closet. Now it's gonna be special because Aominecchi got it for me." And as
he'd said the words, his grip on the shopping back had tightened and he'd
smiled giddily remembering the way Aominecchi had looked at him when he'd tried
on that blouse.
That had been enough to make Aominecchi drop the subject, a small pink blush
rising on his cheeks, and he'd decided to dig in to his burger to avoid the
issue altogether. And because he obviously didn't have any standards about what
he put in his mouth, he'd glomped the burger down in three bites while
delighting in the apparently amazing taste of plastic. Kise didn't even want to
think of all the chemicals that shit had, but since it made Aominecchi happy,
he didn't comment about it.
They were now walking with no particular destination in mind, but Kise didn't
want to point that out. The mood was too perfect to ruin it with such a
pointless observation. Even though they weren't holding hands right now –being
occupied by the food- he felt they'd never been so close. Their shoulders would
brush together occasionally. There was a wide, bright grin on Aominecchi's face
and walking side by side like this, with no particular destination in mind was
just too pleasant. He briefly mused just how good they were together. Takaocchi
had been right about that. He wondered if Aominecchi had noticed too, if maybe
the thought that they could make each other happy had crossed his mind once or
twice today. He wanted to believe it had.
"Ugh, the other day I had the most stupid discussion with Bakagami about this.
That uncultured swine has no sense of taste at all."
On one hand, Kise couldn't quite imagine a discussion that Kagamicchi and
Aominecchi could have that wasn't the stupidest. On the other one, he was
surprised Aominecchi even knew of the expression "uncultured swine". He didn't
comment on any of those and just offered Aominecchi some potato chips he'd
technically bought for himself, but was actually letting Aominecchi eat most
of, hoping he'd at least get Aominecchi fed (though certainly not nourished)
without hurting his pride.
"Like he was at Majiba because that's apparently the only thing he eats and he
had like a billion BBQ burgers, that shit's gross! Who does that? Who chooses
that shit when you can have the double teriyaki burger for about the same
money?"
Kise snorted. He'd known Aominecchi's favorite food for a while, but he never
thought he'd be so passionate about it. And even if Aominecchi himself never
admitted to it, his friendly rivalry with Kagamicchi had done him a lot of
good. That was one more thing Kise wasn't going to comment on.
"But then I figured Bakagami's an idiot and I'd have to explain all those basic
things to him and then out of nowhere Tets—shit."
 
 
 
Eh?
 
 
 
"Shit, I'm sorry Kise."
 
 
 
Kise stopped dead on his track, confused.
 
"Why… why are you apologizing?"
 
 
 
His eyes were locked on Aomine's and he saw pain and regret darkening them.
 
 
 
"Well it was… part of our agreement, right? I'm not allowed to say it… his
name."
 
 
 
Ah.
 
 
 
Kise felt a loud crack inside his chest. A painful crack.
 
 
 
 
He turned the opposite direction of wherever they were going, catching a
glimpse of the hurt in Aomine's expression.
 
 
 
"I-I've to go home now."
 
===============================================================================
 
 
Aomine could feel his heart thundering in his chest with panic. His mind rushed
and he reached forward to grab Kise by the wrist.
 
 
"Eh? W-wait, Kise, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean it!" He didn't even have the
time to catch up with what was happening, all he knew was that he couldn't let
Kise leave. Not like this.
 
 
"Thanks for the shirt, it's really nice." Kise tugged his wrist free of his
hand, not even looking at him.
 
 
"Oi, Kise,wait! Kise! It won't happen again, I promise!"
 
 
 
 
He had to stop him.
 
 
 
 
"I forgot I had vacation homework, I really need to go now."
 
"Th-then at least let me walk you to the bus stop."
 
 
 
 
He had to stop him.
 
 
 
 
"No need, you should go catch your train back, the station's gonna be packed."
 
"Hold on, Kise, wait!"
 
 
 
 
If he didn't stop him now…
 
 
 
 
Kise finally halted and turned to look at him.
 
 
 
 
"Really, it's fine, it's too much of a detour for you." It wasn't fine at all.
Aomine had never heard his voice sound so cold, his smile so fake. This was
wrong, he had to stop him, he had to—"Bye, Aomine."
 
 
That froze him in his tracks. Kise had never called him by his last name alone.
His heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. He fucked up. He'd fucked up
really bad. He'd broken his promise of not hurting Kise. His mind raced trying
to think of a way to fix this, but by the time he looked up, Kise had already
disappeared into the crowd.
 
 
Aomine stood there, unable to move, or think or even breathe for what felt like
an eternity. He couldn't believe this had just happened. He glanced down to see
he was still holding the magazine with Kise's photo on the cover. His chest
ached. His eyes still skimmed over the crowd, looking, hoping to see a golden
head, just so he could chase him, apologize, make things right again.
But what could he even say to fix this?
He looked at the photo again, at Kise's small seductive smile, at the twinkle
in his eyes. He chewed on his lower lip and pressed the magazine to his chest,
unable to keep looking at that photo.
Somehow he managed to drag himself out of the shopping mall and into a train
that would take him home. His fingers were already hurting with how tight he
was holding the magazine. An empty, hollow feeling was eating away at his
heart. Had he really ruined everything and so stupidly too? His eyes felt hot.
 
 
 
His phone buzzed in his pocket. His heart raced when he read the screen.
 
 
 
 
 
[New Text Message]
 
[From: Kise]
 
 
 
 
His fingers trembled as he opened the message.
 
 
 
 
His heart dropped.
 
 
 
 
 
"Let's end this."
Chapter End Notes
     Happy birthday Kise! I hope you enjoyed this chapter that ends in a
     sad sad sad note haha. I’m the worst for birthdays. Like did anyone
     actually think I was going to let them transition smoothly, haha, if
     you did you obviously don’t know me.
     I’m very aware that not all men’s clothing is dull and boring, but
     believe me, I went on to the websites of all the stores I mentioned
     in these two chapters and all of them had dull and boring shit in the
     men’s section. If you wanna see the blouse Kise bought or the clothes
     he’s wearing for his magazine spread, hit me up on tumblr at
     liamatsuoka
     Most of the information regarding Pokemon Center and Pikachu
     merchandise is real. Although tbh I didn’t know there was a Date
     Masamune Pikachu and I didn’t visit the Pokemon Center in Sendai, but
     having been in Sendai, I would be surprised if there weren’t. And I
     googled it and of course there is one (Sendai sure loves Date after
     allsays the one who went to Sendai ex profeso to see Date Masamune's
     riding statue orz). Not sure if it’s exclusive to Sendai though.
     Other exclusive things from the Kyoto Pokemon Center include a
     Pikachu plushie dressed as Lugia and Ho-Oh. Look it up, it’s
     adorable. Also, I share Aomine’s disappointment at finding the
     Pokemon Center (I went to the one in Osaka, the one in Kyoto didn't
     exist when I lived there) is just a merchandise shop, I’d imagined
     something a bit more interactive. Also, I didn’t know the Pokemon
     Center Yokohama was in Landmark Plaza when I chose that location, it
     was a happy coincidence. Sorry for the pointless information.
     According to Google maps, it takes 5 hours and 33 minutes to walk
     from Landmark Plaza to Tokyo Tower. How long it takes from there to
     Aomine’s home is anyone’s guess.
     Sorry for more super long author notes about my obsessive attention
     to detail. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, we're getting to the
     climax of the story!
***** The pity party advanced kit *****
Chapter Summary
     "Let's end this".
Chapter Notes
     It took me forever to edit because I've reread the first half of the
     chapter so many times whilst writing it's become hard to reread it
     yet again in such a short span of time. I wonder if other writers
     have this problem
See the end of the chapter for more notes
It was the worst fifteen-minute bus ride of Kise's life, every second a
struggle to hold his tears in. He kept his eyes shut tight, his teeth clenched
and his fingers digging into the single shopping bag all the way to the stop a
block away from his home. He somehow managed to make his way inside and climb
up to his room, even with his vision completely blurred by tears. His chest was
so painfully tight he could hardly breathe. He slammed the door closed and
collapsed against it, hiding his eyes behind his palm and finally letting the
tears flow freely down his face, a long, strangled sob bursting from his lungs.
 
 
What an idiot.
 
 
He'd been incredibly stupid if he'd actually believed there was any hope of
Aomine falling in love with him. This weekend had been so perfect he'd gotten
his hopes up. He felt foolish remembering how his heart had been fluttering
with joy in his chest all day long. How his skin had tingled every time their
fingers graced, how he'd smiled into all of those kisses. How he'd looked into
Aomine's eyes and thought 'this must be it. This must be how it feels when
someone's loving you with their eyes'.
 
 
What a fucking idiot.
 
 
He crawled lifelessly towards his nightstand to grab tissues. He didn't want
this shirt to get ruined too. There weren't many left in the box. They'd used a
lot last night.
He screamed, choking on his tears. He was glad no one was home to hear him. He
didn't have the energy to climb up his bed, so he lay on the hard wooden floor
crying, every sob feeling like he was being stabbed in the heart; every wail
hurting as if the knife was being twisted. The look of regret and mortification
in Aomine's face flashed in his mind, and every time it did, all he could do
was snarl furiously and slam his fist on the floor.
 
 
You knew this was going to end like this, you stupid idiot.
 
 
He'd known. He'd always known. But he'd made the terrible mistake of dreaming,
of hoping, thinking of what ifs that were never going to be realized. He bit
his lip. He hated crying. It messed up his make-up, made his eyes sting and
swell red, which was a pain if he was going to have a shoot later, and gave him
a runny nose, which was all around gross. But crying for Aomine was way worse.
It hurt his heart so deeply he worried he'd never be able to put it back in one
piece. He wished he could tear that useless organ out from his chest so it
couldn't cause him any more pain.
When the flow of tears finally started to decrease, he grabbed his phone and
flipped it open. He remembered his conversation with Takao a few weeks ago. He
should've heeded his original suggestion.
 
 
"To be honest my first advice would be something you probably won't like…"
 
 
He should've taken it when he could. He should've known, like Takao had, that
doing anything else would just cause him more pain in the long run.
 
 
"What would that be?"
 
 
Kise had known exactly what he'd meant by that, but he tried acting like he
didn't, like he wasn't aware that it was the best option.
 
 
"Well, based on what you've told me so far, I really think the best solution is
obvious."
 
 
He scrolled through his contact list and found Aomine's name, still with that
silly little heart he'd put next to it years ago. He grazed the name with his
thumb and he felt more fat tears rolling down his cheek.
 
 
 
 
[New Text Message]
[To: Aominecchi ❤]
 
 
 
 
 
"Let's end this."
 
 
 
 
 
 
A second ticked by.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"OK."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
He dug his teeth into his lower lip. Hot tears continued to spill from the
corners of his eyes.
 
 
It was done. No going back now.
 
 
This was for the best, he tried to tell himself as he tried and failed to get a
hold of his own breath.
 
He tried to hide his face against the wooden floor, hoping to drown the sound
of a loud strangled sob rising from his chest, but he was unsuccessful, and the
pitiful sound filled the empty space of his bedroom.
 
 
And all he could think was how fast Aomine had accepted. Almost as if this
whole thig hadn't meant anything to him.
 
 
===============================================================================
 
 
 
 
 
"Let's end this."
 
 
 
 
 
Aomine froze. His fingers quivered, and he had to hold the phone with both
hands to prevent dropping it. He could almost hear the sound his heart made
when it sank to the ground. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind; a
thousand words he should say (please, wait, I'm sorry, let's talk about it
first), but in the end he wrote one word only and pressed the send button, his
fingers still trembling.
 
 
 
 
 
"OK"
 
 
 
 
 
He had no right to ask for anything, he realized. Kise had been the one putting
his heart on the line all along, and he had the right to call quits whenever he
wanted. Aomine had broken their promise too. And really, what could he say? "I
think I might be falling in love with you"? Kise didn't deserve something so
half-hearted. He didn't deserve to get hurt again.
 
 
His phone buzzed again.
 
 
 
 
 
 
"Also, let's not talk for a while."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"OK."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Aomine's grip on his phone was tight. His eyes were burning. And his blood. And
every breath he took. And his heart.
 
 
 
Fuck.
 
 
 
On an impulse, he smashed his phone to the floor. It made an ugly crack sound
when the screen hit the hard material of the train car. The other passengers
stared at him, some looking slightly scared of his suddenly violent behavior.
Mom would get mad at him. She probably wouldn't buy him a new phone.
He picked the device from the floor and flipped it over to check on the damage.
The screen was practically shattered all over, but instead of blacking out, it
was stuck on the last image it had before getting broken. His last conversation
with Kise.
 
 
Fuck.
 
 
===============================================================================
 
Through teary eyes, he'd been staring at the last message he'd sent Aomine for
hours. He knew because the sun was already starting to set. His mom and sisters
would be home shortly, but he couldn't even think of moving. He really hoped
they wouldn't want to see him or talk about their trip, because all he wanted
was to merge into the wooden floor and let this painful existence slip out of
consciousness.
He shook his head. He couldn't be thinking something so scary. He browsed
through his contacts again. He didn't want to speak directly because he knew
his voice was going to falter and he would start crying right away, but he also
didn't want to type it and put his pathetic melodrama into words that he could
reread and torment himself with. So a call it was.
The phone rang twice, but the voice that picked up wasn't the one he'd
expected.
"Kise?"
"Midorimacchi, can you put Takaocchi on the phone?" he pleaded, trying to keep
his voice in control, and not really succeeding.
He could hear faint whispers and shuffling in the background before Takao got
the phone.
"Kise? Shin-chan looks worried, did something happen?"
He smiled fondly. He should feel lucky for having caring friends like them.
"I…" he croaked, some more tears running down his cheeks. "I ended it." He
managed to say, his voice cracking completely, a sob tying his throat in a
tight knot.
Takao didn't ask what he meant, he obviously understood. "I'm sorry to hear
that." He said quietly. He probably knew Kise wanted to say much more, so he
waited patiently on the line. Perhaps he was a bit too perceptive.
"He just…" it was stupid. "I thought it was working. I thought… I really
thought he could… love me." His voice faltered on that painful word and he
gasped for air. That had been his greatest mistake. To allow himself to hope.
Now he knew how perfect things would be if Aominecchi could ever love him back.
He now knew how it felt, which made it even more painful to know it would never
come true. "But then he… he said Kurokocchi's name and he apologized!" he
grabbed the last tissue and wiped his face clean of tears and snot and his
smeared make-up, to no avail, since more tears continued to burn down his
cheeks. "Why?! Why would he apologize for saying his best friend's name if not
because he still loves him…?" It was so, so terribly stupid, he was aware of
that but he was also so tired of all this.
Takao was silent for a moment. Kise heard hushed whispers, like he was
consulting something with Midorimacchi and then sighed. "If you think this is
the best decision for you now, you have my support. And Shin-chan's. Do you
want us to come over? We can eat ice cream straight from the bucket and watch
awful movies until Shin-chan's eyes roll to the back of his skull."
Kise let out a heavy breath and found himself chuckling slightly. That honestly
sounded like the best idea anyone had offered him in months.
"Thanks Takaocchi, but it's a one-hour train ride over here and there's school
tomorrow." He managed to say, finally regaining control of his voice. "But…
can… can you and Midorimacchi stay on the line a little while?"
"Sure, no problem!"
He sighed with relief. "I'm sorry for causing so much trouble."
Takao laughed softly. "It's okay, it's okay! We're all friends, right? Shin-
chan may not be saying anything, but he has this 'worried sick' look on his
face too."
"Takao!"
The thought of Midorimacchi fuming somehow gave him the strength to climb on
the bed, lying on his stomach on top of the rustled blankets. He'd been so
excited to go shopping with Aomine he hadn't bothered making his bed, even if
he usually never failed to do it. A stray tear leaked down his cheek, dripping
into the pillow. It still smelled of Aominecchi's horrible manly man deodorant.
In the end, he hadn't been to Aominecchi's place again to bring civilization
into his self-hygiene products. Another tear fell into the pillow. Kise shut
his eyes and let the sound of Midorimacchi and Takaocchi arguing play in the
background. He inhaled the scent on the pillow (cheap and gross), and it made
him feel pathetic, so he decided to let himself fall asleep instead of dwelling
on it any longer.
 
===============================================================================
 
Satsuki had a bad feeling about today. Dai-chan hadn't come back on Saturday
after their game with Kise, and she didn't really need to push her imagination
too far to know what that meant. But then when he'd arrived last night –Sunday-
he'd gone to sleep right away. She knew this because she could see his bedroom
from her window, and noticed that the light was only on for a few minutes
before it was turned off again.
It was strange. For as long as they'd known each other, every Sunday before
Golden Week ended, Dai-chan would call her at around eight at night to ask for
help with his holiday homework, which he always left for the last minute. Not
last night though. She'd sent him a couple of texts, but he hadn't answered
any. And now, standing in front of Dai-chan's door like she did every morning
to make sure he actually attended school, she couldn't help the feeling of
dread growing in her chest.
"Good morning Satsuki-chan!"
She lifted her eyes to greet Dai-chan's mom. "Good morning, Oba-san." She
replied, bowing politely.
"I'm so glad you're here, I've been trying to call Daiki for breakfast but he's
not even answering."
Satsuki chewed her lower lip briefly.
"Don't worry Oba-san, I'll drag him to school by the ear if I have to!" she
responded, managing a bright smile as she walked inside the house and went
straight for the stairs towards Dai-chan's room. She rushed upwards and slammed
the door open loudly. "Dai-chan! It's really late, the Captain will get very
mad if you're late for morning practice again!" she screeched in a commanding
tone.
"Don't care."
She was fully expecting Dai-chan to yell back at her for being so loud and for
breaking in without even knocking, so she almost didn't register the quiet
drawl she actually got. Her eyes searched the room and found a lump under the
bedsheets.
She took a step forward tentatively. "Dai-chan." She repeated a little more
quietly. "Come on, Oba-san is getting worried about you."
"Tell her I'm fine. I just don't wanna get up today." His voice was a little
raspy, as if he'd been screaming a lot yesterday.
She bit her lip again. There was no doubt about it, something had gone wrong
with Kii-chan. She felt the impending need to confront Dai-chan about it, she'd
literally tried to warn him about the consequences two days ago and he hadn't
listened. She'd known this was going to end badly for both of her friends from
the start, and Dai-chan had no one but himself to blame if things had turned
south. She briefly thought of telling him that, but when she pulled the covers
away to find Dai-chan curled into himself, and noticed the reddened corners of
his eyes, she couldn't even bring herself to say "I told you so".
"Sorry, I promised I'd drag you to school no matter what." She said
apologetically before grabbing her friend's ear with her thumb and index to
pull.
Dai-chan yelped. "What the fuck, Satsuki?!" he sat up and snarled at her.
"Leave me the fuck alone!"
She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. "No." she may feel bad for
him, but she wasn't going to let him drown in self-pity. "I'm not moving until
you come to school with me." Getting distracted might help him feel a little
better, and maybe he'd want to talk about whatever had happened. The sooner she
figured it out, the quicker she could think of something that could somehow
mend the situation.
"Ha." Dai-chan snorted. "As if you'd ruin your perfect attendance score."
She pulled on his ear again, ignoring his cries of pain. "If Dai-chan were a
good friend, he wouldn't let me ruin my perfect attendance and would come to
school without fighting."
Dai-chan glared at her. Sha glared back. It didn't last long though, she knew
him too well.
"Agh, fine." He groaned, cracking his neck. With the movement, she managed to
see a small purple bruise right underneath his jawline. Her eyes widened.
"Whatever, get out so I can get changed."
She shook her head and allowed herself a little triumphant smile. "I'll tell
Oba-san to put your breakfast in a bento box so you can eat after practice."
She said, skipping out of the room.
"Yeah, thanks." He replied.
Before closing the door, she caught a glimpse of her best friend taking off his
shirt and the angry red scratches that bloomed on his lower back, getting lost
underneath his sweatpants. Her face grew hot. She'd had little doubts about
what her two friends were doing when they spent the night together, but having
visual confirmation sent images into her mind that she really didn't want.
He didn't take long. She'd barely finished walking down the stairs when she
heard his door creak open (she'd told him to put some oil in those rusty hinges
a million times already), and he jogged to catch up with her.
"Hurry up, Daiki! If Satsuki-chan is late because of you I'm grounding you."
Dai-chan's mom scolded him, her arm stretched to hand him his bento box. "I
don't know what this boy would do without you, really." She added, turning to
look at Satsuki with a warm smile. Dai-chan shrugged, grabbing the bento box
and going straight for the door.
"I don't know either." She replied with a smile as they reached the door.
"We're off now, Oba-san."
"Have a nice day at school, both of you! And don't skip any classes, Daiki!"
He waved nonchalantly and closed the door behind his back. Satsuki looked up to
find his eyes and tell him something silly, try and establish some sense of
normalcy, but the first thing she found was that very noticeable bruise under
his jawline, and the words died in her mouth.
"You should cover that up." She mumbled scornfully.
He looked down at her and followed her gaze, then immediately clasped his palm
over the mark. He cursed under his breath and hopelessly tried to lift the
collar of his shirt to hide it.
She sighed. It was hard to be relentlessly mad at Dai-chan when he was so
unawaredly ridiculous. "Use this." She dictated, handing him a couple of band-
aids.
Dai-chan glanced at them and frowned momentarily but then suddenly the corners
of his mouth pulled down, his eyebrows tilting, his expression turning into one
of sadness. She'd been about to ask if he had a problem with her Pikachu and
Sylveon patterned band-aids, but before she could do that, he placed the two of
them over the hickey, clumsily, barely covering the spot, and muttered a low
"thanks".
The rest of the walk to school was quiet.
 
===============================================================================
 
Satsuki knocked on the door hesitantly. She felt it wasn't her place to meddle.
But she couldn't shake off the feeling of impotence, of wanting to do
something, after how things had gone with Dai-chan today. Not only had she
failed to figure out what had happened, Dai-chan had barely spoken to her –or
to anyone else, really. He'd left his lunch mostly untouched, and even though
he attended practice, and his performance hadn't been sloppy, something had
been off about it. So instead of suffering another awkwardly quiet walk back
home, she invented a last minute excuse and hopped on the first train to
Kanagawa. But now that she was standing in front of Kii-chan's house, she
couldn't help doubting if this was really the right thing to do.
She remembered how wonderful it had been to see her two friends playing against
each other and having fun on that last practice match, barely two days ago, and
steeled her determination.
It was one of Kise's sisters that answered. "Yes? Oh! You're Momoi-chan! From
Teikou! It's been a while!" she said with a smile. "How're you doing?"
"I-I'm fine, thank you, I'm sorry to come in unannounced." She replied
politely, bowing her head slightly. She'd always liked Kii-chan's sisters (even
though she could never tell them apart), they were both very smart, beautiful
and hard-working. She admired them a lot.
"Don't worry, we were just wondering about calling some of Ryou-chan's friends
to cheer him up, he's very dispirited today. He even skipped school, he never
does that, and he's not talking to us. He just doesn't seem his usual self."
Satsuki chewed on her lip again. "Well I… I guess I'll do my best to cheer him
up!"
Kii-chan's sister nodded and let her in, pointing at the staircase. Satsuki
murmured a quick 'sorry for the intrusion' and followed the direction. This was
her first time visiting Kii-chan's home after his family had moved to Kanagawa,
but it still didn't take her long to identify the correct bedroom. Kii-chan was
very spoiled after all, so it wasn't surprising to see a big wooden plaque with
the shape of a golden star that read "Ryouta" nailed to one of the doors. She
knocked softly, noticing a plate with food laying right by the doorstep,
obviously untouched for hours.
She waited a few moments, but no response came, so she sighed and pushed the
door open.
"I'm fine, Mom, I just need rest." Came the weak reply. Satsuki followed the
shaky voice to the bed, where Kii-chan was lying on top of the bedsheets,
curled into a ball with his back turned to the door, his body trembling just
slightly, clothes wrinkled as if he'd slept on them. She strolled over to him,
and as she did so, she heard the quiet sniffles and noticed the empty box of
tissues on the floor.
"That skirt's really cute, Kii-chan." She whispered softly, not knowing what
else to say.
He turned to look at her. His eyes were bloodshot, the skin around them red and
swollen, his usually smooth cheeks darkened with smeared make-up and tear
tracks. Her chest ached. She'd never seen him like this.
"M-m-momocchi…" he whimpered, his voice barely recognizable.
She walked closer and sat on the edge of the bed, giving him a sad but knowing
look. That seemed to be the last drop for him, because he broke into a loud sob
and tried to hide his face in the mattress.
"I-i-I'm ssorry Momocchi I-I c-c-can't… not n-n-now." He whimpered in between
choked cries.
Her eyes started to water. She couldn't stand seeing him like this. This was
exactly what she'd wanted to prevent on the many times that she'd warned Dai-
chan about this. Of course Kii-chan would be the one most hurt in the end. Why
hadn't Dai-chan listened?
She placed her hand on Kise's disheveled golden locks, they were tangled and
dry. He probably hadn't showered today.
"Kii-chan I…" she paused, wondering if there was anything she could actually
say to make things better. "I'm sorry… I should've intervened before." That
wasn't the right thing to say and she knew it.
Kise shook his head. "Don't apologize, Momocchi." He seemed to be just a little
bit more in control of his voice now, but every word seemed to hurt him, every
breathe sounded strained. "I… I did this to myself… I knew from the… from the
start that it was gonna e-e-end like this. I shouldn't have… I n-n-never
should've…" whatever he was going to say was cut off by a broken sob that shook
through his whole body, and he buried his face in the sheets once again. "C-can
we not… I don't want to… t-t-t-talk about it."
She stroked his hair gently, wiping away a stray tear from the corner of her
eye.
"Okay."
"Thanks."
They stayed in silence for a while, her fingers carding through his hair
gently, his body occasionally wracked by cries and whimpers and shaky breathes.
Satsuki could feel a tight, tight knot at the base of her throat, her heart
heavy. This wasn't how things were supposed to be. Not after everyone had
finally reconciled. Everything had been back to normal just a few months ago,
and now it was all ruined again. Was there just no hope for them? Kise and
Aomine used to be so close, get along so well, and they were so compatible on
the court, but now it felt like they would never go back to be friends again.
Her heart dropped to the ground.
There was a soft knock on the door.
"Yes?" she asked, thinking Kii-chan would hardly be able to speak.
"Ryou-chan, you have another visitor."
The door creaked open and a boy came in. Satsuki recognized him immediately.
"Takao-kun?"
She'd only spoken to him a couple of times, and they'd exchanged email
addresses for something pertaining Midorin, but she knew he was a very nice
guy. She just didn't know what he was doing here.
"Oh, what's up! Sorry for interrupting." He greeted cheerfully. She noticed he
was carrying a conbini bag that looked heavy, but she couldn't make out the
contents. "Oi, you said yesterday you'd be fine but look at you, you're a
wreck!"
Satsuki glared at him. "Leave Kii-chan alone." She spat defensively. What was
he thinking? She'd never thought Takao could be so insensitive.
"Sorry Momoi-san, I just think what we need right now is a different kind of
pity party." He set his conbini bag on the floor and kneeled by the bed. "Get
up man, that skirt's too pretty to be sleeping on it." He said, ruffling Kise's
hair softly.
Kii-chan turned to look at him. "T-t-takaocchi." He sniffled.
"Damn, look at you! You spend too much time putting make-up on to let it ruin
your face. Come on, get off your ass, you're not gonna let yourself rot over a
dude" he pulled out a box of tissues from his bag and forcefully wiped Kise's
face, cleaning the tears and mascara trails and leaving just his reddened puffy
eyes. "I brought the advanced pity party kit, see? I got this huge bucket of
ice cream, the three worst movies of all times, all the tissues money can buy
and my mani-pedi kit. I do Shin-chan's fingers all the time, so I know what I'm
doing okay? Once your hands and feet are all pretty there'll be no reason to
feel miserable."
Momoi observed in astonishment, not knowing how to react, and her surprise only
grew when he heard Kii-chan laughing softly.
"Okay." He said simply, wiping the last few tears from his eyes.
She cocked her head. This wasn't quite the development she'd expected, but it
certainly looked like this could be the right way to lift Kii-chan's spirits.
Perhaps the best thing to do now was to let things breathe and try to help both
of her friends feel better by themselves, and then she could try and figure out
how to fix their relationship. She smiled a little, determined.
"Alright." She proclaimed "If we're doing a pity party then Kii-chan needs to
change his clothes first. Put your pajamas on right away, it'd be a true
tragedy if you got wrinkles on your skirt."
Kii-chan smiled the tiniest smile at her and finally climbed off the bed.
"You're right. This is one of my favorites too, how careless." He walked over
to his closet slowly, as if moving was still hard for him. "I'll be back in a
bit." He announced, and shut the closet door behind himself.
Satsuki turned to look at Takao. "I didn't know you and Kii-chan were close."
He chuckled a little, scratching the back of his head. "It's kind of a recent
thing. We were just worried."
"We?"
His cheeks turned a little pink. "Ah." He looked away. "Me and Shin-chan."
She quirked an eyebrow. "Why didn't Midorin come?"
"Well, Shin-chan's terrible for relationship advice." He said with a grin, and
she nodded in agreement. Then the look in his eyes turned a little sad and he
lowered his voice. "We also thought it wouldn't be appropriate and kinda mean
if the two of us came together, you know… given the situation."
Her eyes widened in realization. "Oh." Was all she could say. She knew Takao-
kun and Midorin were dating, it just hadn't really crossed her mind. "That was…
kind of you." She looked down at her own hands. "I'm actually glad you showed
up. I… I wanted to comfort Kii-chan but I really had no idea of what to say. I
want to help my friends but I can't even think of anything to make them feel
better."
"Don't say that, Momoi-san. Both of them are dear friends for you, of course
it'd be hard to figure out what to do. I, myself, don't have any attachments to
Aomine, so I hope you don't mind if we badmouth him a little."
She shook her head. "No I… he's kind of got it coming, I think."
Takao-kun nodded with a smile
"OK, I'm ready!" Kii-chan chirped, his face already a little brighter. Satsuki
smiled.
 
===============================================================================
 
Almost an hour into one of the worst movies Kise had ever seen, sitting between
Momoi and Takao, his fingernails and toenails filed and smooth, and the bucket
of triple chocolate ice cream half gone, he was finally starting to feel a
little better. His eyes were still stinging from all that crying, and there was
still that dull, heavy ache in his heart, but the room was warm with the
company, and he felt loved, without worrying about whether he was imagining it
or not.
"Takao-kun wasn't joking about bringing the three worst movies ever made. Is
there really anything that can top this?" Momoi commented amused, her
strawberry pink eyes fixed on the screen.
"You'd be surprised." Takaocchi replied with a giggle, then he turned to Kise.
"When this one finishes, let's paint your nails." He said with a wide grin.
Kise glanced at his fingers. He'd had his nails painted a couple of times for
photoshoots, but he'd never actually done it out of his own volition. He
remembered trying to copy how Mom did it when he was little, but it always
ended in a mess, so he'd given up and never really given it any serious thought
again.
"You do that for Midorimacchi too?" he asked, curious.
"I convinced him to let me do it a couple of times during winter break. Shin-
chan's hands are very beautiful; it'd be a waste not to take advantage of
that." Takao explained, showing him his phone, where there was a photo of a
pair of hands with cute frog designs on the fingernails. Kise had never thought
of Midorimacchi's hands as "beautiful", but love is blind after all.
"Oh! Can you do the more elaborate nail art stuff?" Momoi squealed in surprise.
"Please do mine too, I've always wanted to have cute nails like that!"
"Sure! As long as I have pretty hands to work on, I'll do my magic."
She clapped her hands delighted "I'm so excited now!" she chirped, scooping a
spoonful of ice cream and Kise could only smile wider.
When the movie ended (and Kise wasn't quite sure if he wanted to watch the
other two, if Takao's claim about them being worse proved true), Takao got up
to get his mani-pedi kit and bring it closer to where they were all sitting. He
pulled out a couple of tools that Kise had never seen before and a bottle with
a clear liquid. "Any design you want? I brought a few of my own polishes, but
if you have any request I can do that."
Kise shook his head. "I'll leave it to the artist. Surprise me."
Takao beamed and scooted closer to him. "Cool, I was thinking of doing
something bright and spring-like." He pulled out a bottle of pastel yellow
polish, a white one and an orange one before extending his hands towards Kise.
"Alright, just let me work my magic."
Kise watched with interest as Takao smeared a first layer of the transparent
liquid over each of the fingernails on his right hand. He blew on them a little
and repeated the process on the left one, then waited for it to dry.
"You know… you don't have to talk if you don't want to, but if you do, we'll
listen."
His breath caught in his throat. He wanted to talk about it. But he didn't want
to reminisce it all, didn't want to remember the tender kisses, the warmth of
Aomine's hand laced with his, the sincerity in Aomine's eyes when he told him
he was pretty, how his body vibrated with excitement when they played
basketball together, how his blood burned when they had sex. Just the thought
of it made his heart clench and god was he sick of hurting. He chewed on his
lip, trying to fight back the tears that were already starting to pool at the
corners of his eyes, willing himself to focus on Takao's hands and the brush
that was smearing polish over his nails.
 
 
"It was," he could feel Momocchi sitting right next to him, one of her small
hands squeezing his shoulder lightly. "It was all my fault."
 
 
===============================================================================
 
"Daiki, we've told you a million times to empty your pockets before putting
your clothes in the laundry." His father scolded him the moment he entered the
house. "You're lucky that I'm in a good mood today, next time I'll keep the
money and throw everything else in the trash."
Aomine didn't even reply and just waited for his father to give back his stuff.
He didn't really remember what he kept in his pockets, hopefully some forgotten
loose change. His father handed him two one-hundred-yen coins, which was rather
disappointing, and then showed him a small cellphone strap. Aomine's heart sank
to the bottom of his stomach.
"I didn't know you were into these." His father said, taking a closer look at
the Umbreon figure. "You never really played with the game we got you some time
ago. Oh, we actually ended giving it to Satsuki-chan, didn't we? Did you buy
this for her? I'm sure she'll be very happy." He grinned teasingly. Aomine
frowned. His father had been under the absurd notion that he'd end up marrying
Satsuki sooner or later for quite some time. He shuddered at the thought alone.
"It's not… for Satsuki." He remembered Kise's bright smile when they'd bought
the matching straps. It felt so very stupid now. Kise had been so excited to go
back to his house so they could put them on their gym bags too. Which reminded
him that he'd left his gym bag at Kise's house and now it would be horrible to
try and get it back, since Kise had suggested they didn't talk for a while.
He'd have to deal with his spares for the time being.
His father looked disappointed. "Oh well. Just don't leave it in your pockets
again or I'll throw it away." He tossed the strap at him and turned for the
kitchen.
Aomine closed his fingers around the little item, the plastic digging into his
skin, and headed straight for his bedroom. He vaguely heard his Dad saying what
he was cooking for dinner, but considering how little appetite he had, it was
hardly important. He collapsed on the bed and rolled to his back, letting the
strap dangle from his fingers. He kind of wished his Dad had thrown it away so
he wouldn't have to look at it and have yet another reminder of all he'd
ruined. But now the mere thought of getting rid of it made his heart clench.
 
===============================================================================
 
By the time Kise was done telling the story, Kazunari had finished painting the
base of the fingernails with pastel yellow polish, and they were almost done
drying. He sighed. He'd already heard most of it a few weeks ago when Kise had
first called him about it, but the situation had changed so drastically it was
almost like dealing with two completely different things. He blew on Kise's
right hand, thinking of what would be the best thing to say. He felt partially
responsible for this situation; he'd been the one to advice Kise about trying
to seduce Aomine or breaking up with him. He just hadn't imagined Kise would do
both things in such a short span of time. And now his friend was hurting and it
was his fault for giving him shitty advice.
"Don't beat yourself up about it." He said finally. "Taking his initial offer
may not have been the wisest choice but, to be honest, I can't even blame you.
I would've done the same."
"Eh? But you and Midorin…"
Kazunari chuckled. "Yeah, we're going steady now, but for a long time I was
really convinced that my feelings would forever remain one-sided. I was even
considering doing crazy stuff, like asking him to pretend to be my boyfriend
and holding hands in public so my fangirls would leave me alone; or telling him
that this girl I thought he liked was into him and that I should teach him how
to kiss before he tried dating her. Really crazy stuff. If Shin-chan had
offered something like Aomine did, I wouldn't have even thought about it, I
would've accepted right away."
Kise smiled sadly. "Midorimacchi would never do something like that."
"That's exactly my next point." Kazunari replied. "This isn't your fault. Not
entirely at least. It takes two to dance tango after all. You're already having
a hard time to be adding extra guilt on top of that."
"That's right! I told Dai-chan to think twice about what he was doing and he
didn't listen. You should be angry at him, not yourself."
Kise shook his head and sniffled. He'd started crying again sometime halfway
through the tale. "No, I… it wasn't Aominecchi's fault. H-he meant the best, I
know it. He was… trying to be considerate with my feelings. I'm the one who
knew how it was gonna end and went through with it anyway."
Kazunari chewed on his bottom lip. He wanted to say that saying "it's intention
that counts" was absolute bullshit, but there was something he'd been noticing
in Kise's story that gave him pause. He hesitated, bringing it up could hurt
Kise even deeper, but if his suspicion was right…
"Have you considered that maybe… maybe he's falling in love with you already?"
Kise visibly flinched.
"Just think about it for a second, will you? Based on what you're telling us,
it would make sense. I mean, it sounds like he makes a lot of extra effort to
make you happy, right? And he's even admitted he enjoys spending time with you
too. He's obviously not indifferent to you, that much is pretty clear. Maybe he
hasn't completely realized his own feelings yet?"
Kise's hand trembled slightly and Kazunari had to hold it down to make sure the
polish wouldn't get ruined. "I-I don't know… I don't… Yesterday I felt so…
special, when he looked at me and…" a sob shook his body "But that's the point
you're just… you're judging from what I told you, but what if I imagined it
all? What if I just convinced myself that I was seeing and hearing things that
weren't there? The other night I even… for a moment I thought he was going to
say he loved me… How-how absurd right? If I could imagine that much, what's to
say I didn't make all the rest up?" he sniffled loudly, trying to rein in his
tears. "I can't even trust myself at this point!"
Kazunari chewed on his bottom lip again as he painted peach-colored dots on
Kise's pinky and pointer fingers.
"You're not imagining it." Momoi said suddenly, her voice firm, even though she
had cried a little at some point. "I can't say if Dai-chan does feel for you
like you do for him but I do know him better than anyone. And I can tell that
he cares for you a lot more than he'd ever want to admit, so you weren't wrong
about that. He's always refused when I asked him to go shopping with me, I
don't even bother asking him anymore, but he actually volunteered to go with
you Kii-chan. It wasn't hard to notice, how happy he was when he'd been with
you too. He was so excited for the practice match that he was on time for
morning practice the whole week!" she grabbed a tissue and helped wipe Kise's
tears off his cheeks. "I can also tell how much this has affected him. He
wasn't himself today, he's not talking to me at all. He was weird at practice
too. And I know that…" she seemed to hesitate for a moment "I know he's cried
too."
Holding Kise's left hand while he repeated the peach dots pattern on the other
hand, he could faintly feel how his friend's pulse picked up as Momoi continued
talking. It was a good thing she had come, Kazunari thought, she knew them much
better than him, and she obviously loved both of her friends dearly. She was a
good ally to have.
"Besides" he continued, pausing to let the polish dry " It's not impossible to
have special feelings for more than one person at the same time. Maybe he's
confused because he feels something special for you that's different from what
he feels for Kuroko and he hasn't figured it out yet." He reasoned softly.
"I know." More tears started to prick the corners of his eyes, and his hand
twitched in reflex to wipe them off, but Kazunari held it down once more. "I
know it could be like that. But I… I don't even trust myself to know what he's
thinking! What if… What if I'm just letting myself get carried away by my
wishful thinking? Then when reality kicks in I… Just… just the pain I'm feeling
now is bad enough I can hardly breathe and I… I can't do this to myself
anymore." He paused, his pulse quickening, his breathing growing labored. "And
even if he does… love me and we get together I'll… I'll always have doubts.
I'll always wonder if he's just settling down with me because he can't have
Kurokocchi. And then I think he'll get sick of me and my insecurities and leave
me. And I get so scared.. I… I fear that I'll be so terrified of losing him
that I'll lose myself in the process and I..." His face had grown pale, tears
once again streaming down his cheeks, his whole body was shaking and he looked
like he was having problems breathing. Kazunari dropped the nail polish brush
immediately and held him by the shoulders.
"Hey, hey, look at me. It's okay, it's gonna be alright. Take a deep breath for
me, can you do that?" he instructed, while Momoi stroked his back soothingly.
Kise looked up to meet his eyes, and after a moment, inhaled deeply, then
exhaled slowly.
"I'm s-sorry, I just—"
Momoi shushed him sharply, "Don't apologize, it's okay. Don't hurt yourself
over this anymore. If you felt this was what you needed to do now, then it was
and we'll support you no matter what, right?"
Kazunari nodded. "Of course, I already told you when we spoke yesterday." If
this relationship, or lack thereof, was hurting Kise to the point of making him
lose his breath and panic, it was certainly for the best that he'd decided to
take a break. But he didn't say that because he remembered how terrified he'd
been after blurting out his feelings for Shin-chan, how he'd felt dizzy and
sick just thinking he would be rejected and lose Shin-chan's friendship
forever. He understood perfectly how it felt to love someone to the point of
tearing yourself apart for fear of losing them.
"Besides," he continued, letting go of Kise's shoulders to resume his work on
his fingernails. He was almost done. "this is actually a really good thing for
both of you. Putting some distance between the two of you might be exactly what
you needed to figure it all out one way or another. I think this time that
you'll be apart and won't have any excuse to see him or call him will give you
the chance to get a new perspective on yourself and your feelings. Think about
what you want for the future and from a possible relationship and whether that
is something you could reach with Aomine. Whether being with him brings you
more pain than being without him and if you'd want to give it a second chance
in the eventuality that he may in fact be developing feelings for you. If it's
worth it to put your heart on the line like that again. Those kinds of things."
He set Kise's right hand to the side, finally done with it, and picked the left
one up.
"Midorimacchi must be really rubbing off on you if you're using so many big
words in one breathe." Kise said, a faint chuckle at the end. At least that was
a good sign.
"Oi, I'm actually smarter than most people think."
"It'll be good for Dai-chan too." Momoi interrupted, scooting over to face
Kise. "Based on what you've told us and how I've seen him act in regards to
this whole thing, I think right now he's very confused. And maybe this break
will help him figure his own feelings out and decide what he wants to do about
them. No, I'm certain it will. He'll have to face things sooner rather than
later. And once each of you comes up with a resolution, it'll be easier to make
things right again, whichever kind of relationship you both choose to have."
"Yes! That's exactly what I was getting to!" Kazunari had been doubtful about
mentioning Aomine. A part of him thought that giving Kise hopes about what
Aomine may or may not feel about him would be very cruel at this point. But if
Momoi who knew them both better than he did agreed, then maybe there was way
more hope than it would initially appear.
Kise sniffled one more time and his lips curled in a small, beautiful smile.
"Thanks, both of you." He mumbled one last stray tear running down his cheek.
"Even if… even if things don't work out in my favor I… I don't want to lose
Aominecchi's friendship. And I know he wouldn't want us to stop being friends
if he doesn't..." he gasped softly, a tinge of hurt flashing through his eyes,
but disappearing quickly. "I'd happily bury my feelings a thousand feet
underground if that would patch up our relationship, but I also know he'd never
ask me to do that." His smile grew now melancholic, but genuine. "Which I guess
is the reason I'd be willing to do it."
Kazunari smiled back at him, gently, thinking just how much they had in common.
It almost seemed fate that they would meet and become friends. He put the cap
on the bottle of transparent polish, hoping he could at least be the kind of
friend Kise needed in this moment of hardship. Then he blew on both of Kise's
hands and grinned in satisfaction.
"I'm done here." He announced, lifting the fingers up to Kise's eye level,
feeling rather pleased with his work.
He could see Kise's face light up immediately. "Oh my god, Takaocchi this is so
cute! Thanks so much, you're a genius, it's perfect!" he squealed excited, as
if he hadn't had a mild nervous breakdown just a few moments ago. He'd painted
a pastel yellow base to all of Kise's fingernails, adding peach-colored dots on
the pointer and pinky fingers, a cute fox tail on the ring finger whilst the
head of the animal was painted on the middle finger.
"Oh my god, it's super cute!" Momoi squealed too, adding to the excitement.
"Your fingers look so beautiful, Kii-chan!"
Kise giggled, delighted. "They totally do! I almost feel like quitting
basketball just to be able to have cute nails all the time!"
Kazunari laid back a little, relieved and happy to see that he'd at least been
able to make Kise feel better.
 
===============================================================================
 
"It's getting late, we should get going." Momoi announced, looking at the time
on her cellphone screen after the third movie was over.
Kise felt a little crestfallen. He kind of didn't want his friends to leave.
But he couldn't ask them for more, they'd already done so much for him today,
way more than he could've ever hoped for.
"Ah, I think I'm actually staying over." Takao announced.
"Eh?"
"I'm too lazy to go back right now, my place is very far from the train station
and I won't get there before the last bus runs."
Momoi stared at Takao for a second, and it almost seemed like they were having
a silent conversation.
"If Takao-kun's staying over, then so am I."
"Eh? But Momocchi, your perfect attendance score!"
She chewed on her lower lip, clearly conflicted. "K-keeping you company's way
more important than that. If Takao-kun can miss school one day, so can I." She
said finally, crossing her arms over her chest.
Kise smiled to himself. He truly was fortunate to have such good friends. "It's
okay, Momocchi. I'd feel really guilty if you got in trouble for me. I'm
already really happy that you came all the way here to comfort me." He
chuckled. "Since there are so many guys who would give everything to be
comforted by Momocchi, I feel very lucky and special." He showed her a toothy
grin. "Besides, it would be scandalous if you spent the night with these two
handsome bachelors." He added playfully, wrapping an arm around Takao's
shoulders, who was mumbling 'I'm not a bachelor, though.'
Momoi laughed. "Okay, if you say so."
They walked her to the door. Before turning away, she looked at Kise straight
in the eye, her face serious. "Kii-chan" she said, holding both of Kise's hands
in hers and squeezing them tight. "Everything's going to be alright. You and
Dai-chan are my friends and I love you and want you to be happy."
Kise smiled, squeezing her hands back. "Thanks Momocchi. Thanks so much for
today I… I really needed it. I don't really know what I would've done if you
guys hadn't come."
Momoi released his hands and hugged him tight. "Anytime you need me I'll come
running, okay? That's what friends are for."
He nodded. "Text me when you're home, so I know you got back safe."
"I will. And let's do something again soon, okay? Don't stay up too late, Kii-
chan has to go back to school tomorrow."
"'s okay Momoi-san, I'll make sure he gets his beauty sleep."
She waved at them and laughed.
 
===============================================================================
 
"Hey Takaocchi, is it really okay to stay the night? What about your morning
practice tomorrow?"
"Isn't it a bit too late to be worrying about that? Last train leaves in like
five minutes."
"Okay, but isn't Midorimacchi gonna get mad if he finds out of this
arrangement?"
Both of them were lying under the covers in Kise's bed, side by side, but with
almost no space between their bodies due to the size of the mattress. The idea
of pulling out the spare futon was briefly considered, but they were too lazy
to do it, and Kise kind of didn't want to sleep on an empty bed. He hadn't said
it, but he was pretty sure Takaocchi had inferred it on his own.
"Nah, Shin-chan understands. You're a dear friend for him, even if he'll never
actually admit it, you know? Don't tell him I told you, now that would make him
mad." Takao had his arms folded behind his head, and was staring at the empty
ceiling.
"I guess Midorimacchi also trusts that you wouldn't betray him."
"Yeah, he does."
The dreamy sparkle in Takao's eyes when he said that made Kise's heart hurt. He
wanted what they had so badly. For moments, it felt so unfair that Midorimacchi
had found love so easily and painlessly, while he was dealt with three years of
unrequited feelings and a fake relationship that had crashed and burned, taking
his heart along for the ride. He hated himself for feeling that way. Midorima
and Takao were his friends, and they were both kind and wonderful and totally
deserved to be happy. And he was glad for them, for finding love and happiness
in each other. But he couldn't help those ugly, disgusting sparks of jealousy
for that one thing he'd yearned for so long and seemingly couldn't get.
 
"Is that the reason Midorimacchi didn't come?" he mused out loud.
 
"Hm?"
 
"Like… you guys decided it would be painful for me to see you two all happy and
lovey-dovey while I'm like… well like this." His chest felt tight, but he
successfully managed to fight back the tears. He was over that, done with
crying.
"Well Shin-chan and I aren't really lovey-dovey, he's very committed to his
tsundere archetype, especially the tsun tsun part of it."
"Oh, come on, I've seen your photos on Facebook."
"It takes a lot of bargaining to get him to pose for a photo though. And he
totally hates PDA, so he won't take part if there's any chance of people seeing
us. That's why I don't really have that many." Takao huffed, puffing his cheeks
in a pout.
Kise chuckled a little.
"And anyway, the point is that Oha-Asa said Scorpio had a very high
compatibility with Gemini today. And that Cancer and Gemini are a poor match
because their understanding of emotions is very different. So there was no
argument to be had on the matter."
This time, Kise broke in laughter. "That definitely sounds like Midorimacchi."
They chuckled lightly for a moment, and then there was a breath of silence.
Kise's hands were laying flat on his stomach, his eyes following the cracks and
crevices of the ceiling, which he already knew by heart. Takao had helped him
change the bedsheets and pillowcases, so nothing remained of Aomine's awful
stench. And yet, just thinking about it made his eyes sting. He didn't want to
cry anymore, so he tried to control his breathing and hold back any sniffles,
but he wasn't being really successful.
 
"Hey Kise?" Takao whispered softly, and he felt slender fingers wrap around one
of his hands. "You can let it out."
 
The words made a tear slip down his cheek. He bit his lip, trying to muffle the
sob he could feel climbing up his chest.
 
"It's okay… it's better actually. I know you don't want us to worry, that you
want to be strong and get over this fast but you also have to let yourself go.
Grieve what you lost. You need to let your wounds bleed before they can start
healing."
 
 
More tears pooled at the corners of his eyes. "But I…" he didn't really trust
himself to speak "I already did it… s-so much." That restrained sob finally
broke him. "I'm tired. Tired. Of crying, I-I don't want to! It's not… crying
won't solve anything!"
 
 
He felt Takao turn to face him, although he couldn't make out his features in
the darkness of the room. "So what." He enunciated clearly. "What if it won't
solve anything? Not crying won't solve anything either. You should be free to
feel sad and heartbroken, and to let all that sadness out. And once you're
done, truly done, then you can take the next step forward and start healing for
real. And all of us will be here for you every step of the way. You have many
friends that love and cherish you, and that won't change, no matter how much
you cry."
 
 
Kise could feel his heart nested at the base of his throat, even as his chest
felt warmer than before. He felt safe reminiscing all the love and comfort his
friends had given him today, and that made the tears prickle hotter in the
corners of his eyes. When Takao squeezed his hand one more time, he couldn't
hold it back anymore. All those tears that burned his eyes finally streamed
down his cheeks again. He covered his eyes with his arm, a breathy sob pouring
out of his lips.
 
 
"I really… r-really love him…"
 
 
 
 
It was hard to believe he still had so many tears left to cry.
 
 
 
 
"I love him so…"
 
 
 
 
Another sob, heavier, sharper,
 
 
 
 
 
"so much."
 
 
Takao's arms pulled him into a gentle embrace. "I know." He said quietly,
tucking Kise's head under his chin and stroking his hair gently. "I know you
do."
He never knew how long it took him to fall asleep.
Chapter End Notes
     I'm soooo sorry it took so long to get this out! Lots of stuff going
     on (including a creative slump) has been getting on the way.
     I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter, since I've been very
     excited about showing more of Kise's friendship with Takao, and
     Takao's complicity with Momoi
     Thanks so much for your continued support and patience. There's only
     three more chapters left (or maybe four, it'll depend), so I hope
     everyone's read for the climax of this ride. I'm basically about to
     fall asleep on my computer at this point, so I'll leave it at that.
     I'll be looking forward to your thoughts and opinions!
***** It does not do to dwell on dreams *****
Chapter Summary
     One would think that two weeks would be enough time to start getting
     over it. But Aomine was realizing it wasn't.
Chapter Notes
     With a special dedication to everyone who wanted to see Aomine suffer
     because I'm a terrible person
     Warning: If any elements of non-con trigger you, stop reading after
     "There's no one that would love me this much". If you think you can
     stomach it I'd encourage you to read it because I promise it makes
     sense in context and it's not quite what is sounds like, but don't
     force yourselves either, the last thing I want is to hurt y'all.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Aomine fidgeted nervous, hesitant, his eyes fixed on the white door he
pretended to knock. His fist was already in the air, hovering an inch away from
the target, but he didn't dare to take that extra step. He looked down to his
other hand, holding the small gift box, and remembered how much effort he'd put
into getting this perfect present. He breathed in and out once, steeling his
determination, and finally knocked three times.
The door opened immediately, almost as if the other person had been waiting for
someone to arrive. Bright gold inundated his vision. "Aominecchi!" Kise
greeted, as cheerfully as ever. He looked gorgeous today, with a black v-neck
t-shirt that had a flare at the bottom and dark red skinny jeans that made his
legs look like they were ten kilometers long. He drank in the vision with less
shame than he should before stepping into the house.
"Why didn't you tell me you were coming? I would've dressed up a little!" Kise
continued, his back turned to him, as he skipped down the hallway (Aomine
didn't remember any hallways like this one in Kise's house, but then again his
eyes were always too busy on Kise to notice the surrounding architecture).
Aomine eyed him again, from head to toe, and quirked an eyebrow. "Can you even
dress up further than this? You already look amazing." He heard himself say
before he could stop the words from flowing out of his mouth. He wasn't sure if
he should be ashamed or flat out amazed that he'd been able to speak what he
felt so straightforwardly.
Kise's eyes widened , and his pale cheeks turned pink. "A-aominecchi you idiot,
flattery will get you n-nowhere." He sputtered bashfully.
Aomine felt his lips curl into a smile. It was just way too satisfying to watch
the usually confident and arrogant Kise tripping over his own words and
blushing in embarrassment.
"What even brings you here anyway?"
That reminded him of the present in his hand, and he lifted it to Kise's eye
level.
"It's your birthday, right? I just thought I'd bring you something. I think
you'll like it."
Kise's demeanor changed to one of excitement as he grabbed the box, opened it
unceremoniously and pulled out a keychain. Recognition flashed through his
golden eyes, and his whole expression brightened as he squealed.
"Oh my god, Aominecchi, I can't believe it!" he shook the item energetically.
"You went all the way to Kyoto just to get me the special edition maiko
Pikachu!" he inspected the trinket, marveling at the details. "See? I totally
told you the one they had there was different to the regular one!"
Aomine looked at the item, and he realized it looked exactly like the one
they'd seen in the Yokohama shop. But he was sure it had looked different when
he'd bought it, although he couldn't remember how different. He felt confused,
but since Kise liked it, he didn't say anything.
"It's so cute, oh my god, thank you! Thank you so much Aominecchi, this is
perfect!" And for the first time, Kise looked up and their eyes met, a
dazzlingly bright smile enlightening his beautiful face. Heat rose to Aomine's
cheeks, and he felt his heart thumping loudly in his chest, so loud he could
hear it thundering in his ears, and getting louder, louder, almost like a
hollering voice calling for him…
 
 
 
"Aomine, wake the fuck up!"
 
 
 
He jumped off his seat to find the captain staring down at him angrily. "The
train's about to leave the station, numbskull, you wanna' go all the way to
Osaka?"
It took him a moment to remember they'd taken the shinkansen to Kyoto for their
practice match against Rakuzan. It was his first time taking this train and had
been mildly been looking forward to it, but once inside it didn't really feel
all that fast, so he'd ended falling asleep.
And having a dream about Kise. His chest tightened painfully. One would think
that two weeks would be enough time to start getting over it. It hadn't even
been a proper break-up because they were never in a proper relationship. Yet,
he couldn't stop these feelings of emptiness, as if something big and important
was missing in his life now that he didn't get a flood of emoji-loaded texts on
his phone every day.
Even though Kise had been the one to suggest they didn't talk for a while, he
was apparently intent on invading his dreams and disrupting his sleep as often
as possible. Most of the dreams were short and incoherent and hard to remember,
just blurry visions of sunshine-like smiles, the muffled sound of a voice
calling his name, butterfly-like lingering feelings of touches and kisses that
he really shouldn't even be thinking about. But this dream had been so vivid
and real it was almost hard to believe it hadn't been so. He knew that it
wasn't, but thinking about it just worsened his heart ache.
"Dai-chan, Akashi-kun will be very upset if we're late."
He snapped himself back to reality and hurried to grab his bag and follow
Satsuki outside of the train. The rest of the team was sending him unamused
glares, someone even muttering "should've just left him there". He didn't
bother paying attention to that.
This was his first time in Kyoto, but given the city's fame and reputation, he
hadn't expected the train station to look so… modern. As they climbed down a
set of escalators, he could've been fooled to believe they were in Osaka or
Nagoya (not that he'd ever visited any of those cities either). He'd expected
it to be more different to Tokyo, more… traditional.
"Hey, hold on, aren't we taking the Metro?" he asked when he realized they were
exiting the station and heading towards a parking lot.
Satsuki looked back at him "There are no subway or train lines that run close
to Rakuzan. They sent a bus to take us there because it's a little into the
mountains."
He was about to ask why such a prestigious school was hidden in the mountains
and so poorly located that it didn't have any subway lines nearby, but he
swallowed the thought when he saw the bus the school had sent. The design
already screamed VIP, and the driver was wearing a very expensive-looking suit.
Coach Harasawa exchanged a few words with the driver and then signed for the
team to get on the bus. The inside was so ridiculously luxurious, Aomine didn't
even want to think about how much the school must cost. The seats were wide and
comfortable, and each had a small screen. The driver explained they could use
the screens to read from a vast selection of academic books and magazines, but
that they would be taking a scenic route, so he recommended they enjoyed the
sight of the city.
Aomine chose a window seat, hoping the ride wouldn't be long. He didn't want to
fall asleep again and have another one of those dreams.
The "scenic route" meant driving alongside the river, and Aomine quickly
noticed the differences with Tokyo. While the train station had looked very
modern, the residential areas they passed were very old-fashioned. He also
noticed that there were no skyscrapers, not even relatively tall buildings. The
only things that stood out from the city's skyline were the hideous Kyoto Tower
right outside the station, and the temples' pagodas, of which there were quite
a few.
Soon, the scenery changed from old houses, to a more modern-looking commercial
area. He caught sight of something bright and yellow and he whipped his neck
quickly to see a tall building –at least taller than the average he'd seen so
far-, apparently a shopping mall, which among many other signs with names of
popular stores had a large sign that read "Pokemon Center Kyoto", with a big
picture of a Pikachu riding an orange bird (Aomine had a feeling he should know
the name since it was supposed to be legendary or something. It kind of looked
like a Suzaku?) Memories lit up inside his mind, visions of Kise squeezing a
plushie and squealing in delight, mixed with flashes of his dream, of Kise's
dazzling smile and the joy in his expression when holding the figure he wanted,
the delighted flush on his cheeks, and Aomine couldn't help wondering…
"Hey, Satsuki…? D'you think we could…?" Maybe if they had some free time after
the game he could come back and…
"Ugh, I can't believe we won't have the chance to go sight-seeing, I was dying
to try that famous matcha shop in Gion." Satsuki whined unhappily. "Sorry, did
you say something, Dai-chan?"
His heart dropped in disappointment. "Nah, 's nothing." He replied
dismissively, taking his eyes away from the building. What had he expected,
really. Even if he could come back and get that maiko Pikachu Kise wanted, what
would he accomplish with that? Or rather, what did he want to accomplish? Fix
their friendship? Surely he didn't want to go back to the uncertainty and
confusion of their half-assed relationship. Kise wouldn't want it either.
He chewed on his lip. The last time he'd seen Kise, he'd looked horribly hurt,
as if he were about to cry, and the memory alone made Aomine's heart ache. He
couldn't help wondering if, like in his dream, that keyring would be enough to
put a smile back on Kise's face.
 
===============================================================================
 
Breathing was not supposed to be so hard -not even after an intense
championship game and definitely not after a regular practice match- but that
felt rather meaningless compared to the feeling of utter humiliation and anger
that boiled in his chest.
"Please do sort out whatever it is that is troubling you, Aomine. I do not
tolerate to have my time wasted." Akashi sentenced coldly, the disappointment
evident in his eyes.
Aomine couldn't even blame him for his harsh tone. His performance had been
pathetic at best. He didn't remember feeling so powerless on the court, not
ever in his entire life. Basketball was supposed to be easy, fun, the one place
where he was entirely free. But this time his legs had felt heavy and his
fingers didn't recognize the feel of the ball. Every time he thought of trying
something, he remembered that practice game with Kise in Golden Week and the
thrill of being so evenly matched, the image of Kise dribbling the ball with
that toothy, cocky grin on his face ingrained in his mind, and then he'd find
himself tripping on his own feet, or taking a wrong step and having the ball
stolen from him, and worst of all, missing at least half of his shots.
He finally managed to get back on his feet, but he didn't dare meet Akashi's
eyes. "Sorry, won't happen again." He said simply, quietly, biting his lip in
frustration.
Satsuki approached them with a look of concern, but he really didn't feel like
being here any longer. He just wanted to go to sleep and forget about this game
and these ugly feelings in his chest, and that stupid Pokemon Center and the
smile he might never get to see outside of his dreams again.
 
===============================================================================
 
Aomine glared at his wristwatch. He kind of hated himself for arriving twenty
minutes earlier than agreed. Maybe he should go take a walk around the block
and arrive "fashionably late" (he also hated that he knew that expression),
otherwise that fucking idiot would tease him to hell and back about being
"eager" and shit.
Before he could put his plan into action, he heard a delighted squeal and his
name being called in an annoyingly high-pitched voice.
"Aominecchi!" the squeal threatened to burst his eardrums, "How surprising that
you're actually early! Were you that eager to see me?"
Aomine rolled his eyes almost hard enough to send them into the back of his own
skull. Was it more irritating that his prediction had come true or that he knew
Kise well enough to predict exactly what he'd say? The prideful side of his
brain wanted to say the latter, but the burning blush on his cheeks obviously
thought that what was truly irritating was that Kise was in fact right in his
assumptions.
Once he'd forced the blush off his face, he turned to look at Kise, and felt
himself grow hot all over again. He was wearing baggy black pants with the
crotch hanging almost as low as the knees, and they might've looked like
pajamas if not for all the striking white and silver zippers and pockets and
belts that decorated the hips and thighs. His sneakers were flat with red and
black checkers and he was wearing the blouse they'd bought on the mall last
time, half-assedly tucked into the pants, probably on purpose to add to the
slouchy look. And Aomine hated that even such a lazy get up was still
breathtaking when it was Kise wearing it.
"You're… wearing that." He heard himself say, his voice almost a low grunt that
he barely recognized as his own.
Kise looked up at him with sparkling eyes and smiled wide and blinding. "What,
this?" he asked coyly, pointing at the blouse. "Of course I am! It's my
favorite! It's the one Aominecchi chose for me after all!" he twirled to
punctuate the phrase, the loose fabric of the clothes flowing light and free
with the movement.
"I-I didn't really ch-choose it!" he protested, unable to look away at the same
time that he wished he could, just so Kise couldn't see the blush spreading
hotter over his face. "You were gonna' pick it up on your own anyway."
The twinkle in Kise's golden eyes grew mischievous, and he skipped the short
steps that separated them until their noses were almost bumping against each
other.
 
"That's even better, isn't it?" his pale hands cupped Aomine's cheeks, and they
felt soft and smooth and tender. Aomine leaned into the touch before he could
think about it. "It means Aominecchi and I have a special connection."
 
Aomine's heart skipped a beat. He swallowed thickly, entranced by Kise's eyes,
how they reflected the light to look like swirling pools of gold. A connection?
Did he really have such a thing with Kise? His pulse accelerated and he was all
too conscious of how close Kise was, how warm his hands felt. He closed his
eyes to relish on those sensations. He tilted his head to the side just
slightly to brush his lips against Kise's palm, and he was so close he felt him
shiver.
 
"A-aominecchi…" he breathed, inching even closer.
 
 
"Kise, I…" he opened his eyes again to lock them on Kise's. He placed his hands
on top of Kise's and rubbed his knuckles with his thumbs. His blood was burning
and his heart was booming inside his chest.
 
 
"Yes?" Kise's voice was barely a whisper, but he was so, so close, Aomine could
almost taste him.
 
 
"About you, I…" he could feel the words at the base of his throat, ready to be
spoken because they were true, and real, as real as the warmth of Kise's hands
on his cheeks "I'm—"
 
 
 
"Daiki, dinner's ready! If you think you're gonna be skipping any more meals
you're sorely mistaken."
 
 
 
Aomine's eyes shot open to find not the golden pools that had mesmerized him in
his dream, but his mother's dark blues, a mirror of his own, wallowed in worry.
He exhaled heavily, trying to bring his breathing back to a normal rhythm and
clear the fogs of sleep from his mind.
"O-ok Mom. I… I'm coming down i-in a minute." He managed to stutter, forcing
himself to sit up.
She sat on the edge of his bed and placed her hand on top of his head.
"Daiki, talk to me. This isn't you at all, and I have no idea of how to help
you. Please, tell me what's going on, I can't stand seeing you like this."
A knot tightened at the base of his throat. Was it really so evident? Did he
truly look so miserable that even Mom could tell? He swallowed and took a deep
breath.
"It's okay Mom. 's just stress from school and shit."
She sighed. She looked disappointed. "I'll be here when you're ready, ok?" she
said quietly, stroking his cheek with the palm of her hand before getting up.
"Dinner's getting cold, don't take long." She said finally before stepping out.
He bit his lip. His chest felt tight. The lingering warmth of her hand on his
face made the edges of dream and reality feel fuzzy, and his mind was stuck in
the feeling of that tender touch that had seemed so real. He rubbed his eyes
with the heel of his hand, still stinging from sleep (that's what he told
himself anyway), and ignored the faint dampness left on his skin.
===============================================================================
The lunchtime bell chimed loudly, and with it, students' chattering rose,
turning the quiet classroom into a maelstrom of noise in a matter of seconds.
Aomine groaned. All he wanted for lunchtime was to take a short nap: long
enough to get him some rest, but not so long as to get plagued with one of
those dreams. He hadn't been getting much sleep as of late thanks to that.
He heard the sound of a chair being turned around and pulled back and someone
plopping down on it. He looked up to find Satsuki sitting across his desk, her
expression stern. She hadn't asked any more questions since the first day, but
from her looks of concern and pity, it was obvious she knew everything. Maybe
she'd talked to Kise.
His heart raced. The thought hadn't occurred to him before, but maybe Satsuki
was in touch with Kise. Maybe she could tell him how Kise was doing, if he was
still hurt over what he'd said before, if maybe he'd be willing to talk again,
or play basketball together, or…
He forced the thoughts out of his mind. It did him no good to dwell on this
whole thing any more than he already did. He'd already promised to give Kise
space and time. It was his fault that Kise had gotten so hurt after all. He
owed him this much.
"Dai-chan, you have to listen when people talk to you!"
He shook his head and looked up at her again. She had placed a large bento box
on the desk and pushed it across so it was right under Aomine's nose.
"Aren't you eating lunch with your friends?" Aomine found himself asking,
eyeing the food with little interest.
She huffed. "Oba-san told me to make sure you ate your lunch. She says you're
skipping meals. The In-High starts in a couple of weeks, but if I don't see you
eating properly, I'm telling the Coach to bench you. You're doing no good to
yourself or the team like this."
Aomine scowled, but knew she was right. He'd been doing pretty poorly at
practice for the last few weeks. Not Teikou-First-Year-Tetsu horrible, but
definitely way below what he knew he was capable of. Bakagami would probably be
able to kick his ass in three seconds in his current condition. He picked an
octopus-shaped sausage with his chopsticks and chewed on it with little
enthusiasm. He didn't have much appetite these days, but he couldn't let
Satsuki take basketball away from him.
Satsuki sighed, and her expression softened from reproachful to concerned.
"Dai-chan…" she seemed to hesitate, but then looked at him square in the eye,
determination laced in with the worry of her gaze. "You don't have to tell me
what happened if you don't want to. I'll listen when you're ready. But please
take more care of yourself. Everyone's worried about you."
He swallowed a piece of eggroll, not meeting her eyes, and just grunted to
signal that he'd heard. Satsuki didn't seem too pleased with his attitude, but
didn't say anything else.
 
"Have you read Kise-kun's article yet?"
 
That grabbed his attention. His fingers twitched.
 
"I couldn't! I saw the magazine, but I won't get my allowance until the
weekend!"
"He looks so handsome on the cover, I wouldn't be surprised if they sold out
before that."
"No! Don't say that!"
It was all Aomine could do not to turn and glare at the girls that had brought
up that topic with such terrible timing. From the corner of his eye, he saw the
excitement in their faces as one of them pulled a magazine out of her backpack,
and both of them squealed loudly when they opened it, presumably in the page
with Kise's article.
 
 
Kise's article.


He practically jumped off his seat, dropping his chopsticks to the ground.
"Sorry Satsuki, I forgot Mom asked my help to move some shit, I've to head home
early." He spat, barely remembering to grab his bag before dashing out the
door. He had a feeling Satsuki wouldn't buy his bullshit excuse –and he vaguely
heard her voice calling out to him-, but he didn't care about that right now.
He also heard a couple of teachers yelling at him as he ran past them, but his
mind was tunnel-focused on one thing only and he wasn't really all that aware
of his surroundings.
When he arrived at home, he kicked his shoes off at the entrance and stormed
into his room. He heard his father's voice, but paid it no mind. He closed the
door once he was inside, and only then did he allow himself to take a moment
and breathe. His eyes roamed over the room, juggling the memories inside his
head and trying to figure it out.
Where the fuck did I put it?
The day Kise had called it quits, Aomine had been carrying a magazine with
photos and an article about Kise's temporary break from modeling. And Kise had
written something inside it, a message for him, but hadn't let him read it at
the time. But what had he done with it after Kise left? The memories of the
trip back home were fuzzy and distant, all he could remember was the sound of
his own heart dropping to the ground when he'd received Kise's message. Did he
have it in his hands at the time? He did remember that he wasn't carrying any
sort of bag or backpack, so logically, he would've had to be carrying it in his
hands, but he had no recollection of what he'd done with it when he arrived
home.
In fact, he didn't remember if he'd arrived with it at home.
 
 
Fright constricted his heart.
 
 
What if I dropped it?


His breathing was labored, dread and agitation creeping up his spine.
 
 
No, no way, it has to be here. It fucking has to be here.


He looked underneath his bed and pulled out everything that was in there to
make sure
 
 
I can't lose it.


He searched under his bedsheets and emptied the drawer of his nightstand, the
box of condoms he'd gotten two months ago, falling to the floor.
 
 
Shit shit shit.


He became frantic. He pulled out all of his clothes from his wardrobe, all of
the books and magazines on his shelves, emptied his spare gym bag and school
bag, even pulled out boxes he knew he hadn't touched in years. It had to be
there, somewhere. Anywhere. It just had to.
The room was a legitimate disaster. Aomine looked at the mess and felt his gut
clench painfully. Without even thinking, he plunged into the catastrophe and
looked under any piece of clothing, any book, any training gear that existed in
his entire bedroom; moved his bed to look at the corner, turned the mattress
over, searched inside the pillow case, even opening books and magazines to make
sure the one he wanted wasn't inside another one.
By the time the sky turned dark, he'd searched every nook and cranny of the
room.
 
It was no use.
 
His hands were shaking, and he sat with his back against the wall, trying to
recover his breath. He curled his fingers into fists and dug his teeth on his
lower lip. The magazine wasn't here. He'd lost it. Maybe dropped it when Kise
had walked away, maybe on the train, maybe even in Tokyo Station. He felt a
hollow disappointment growing in his gut as he tried to remember how Kise
looked in that photo, and how he'd grinned proudly when signing the inside
pages.
 
 
 
I'll never know what it said.

===============================================================================
 
Aomine trembled with anticipation. The room was warm, maybe even a little too
hot, but his muscles were so tense with impatience, he couldn't even move. His
eyes were fixed on the wardrobe door. He tapped his fingers on his naked thigh,
a wave of shame and self-consciousness washing over him. He felt ridiculous,
sitting here in his underwear only, already half hard, his blood running like
fire through his body and his heart thundering loudly in his chest. Maybe this
would all end with him getting laughed at. That seemed to be a recurring theme
whenever he found himself naked in the same room as him.
"Sorry for making you wait!" a sing-song voice reached his ears, and the door
creaked open as Kise skipped into the room, his expression radiant. "I wanted
to make sure everything was perfect for Aominecchi's special request." He
intoned, a naughty glint catching in his eyes. "So? Is this what you wanted?"
Aomine had no idea of what Kise was talking about, even though he felt like he
should. He swallowed the lump in his throat and allowed his eyes to scan over
Kise's figure. He was wearing black eyeliner that gave his eyes that devilishly
alluring cat-like shape, but this time it looked thicker and darker than usual,
and even more enticing. His chest was bare, all perfect porcelain skin and taut
muscles. His eyes stopped at Kise's waistline, and he felt all the blood in his
body rushing south, burning everything in its path.
 
 
Shit.


Kise grinned mischievously. "Oho? I thought you were just kidding before, I
never imagined Aominecchi would get so turned on by this. You really are a
pervert after all, aren't you?"
Aomine wanted to retort, maybe bite Kise's mouth to make him shut up, but he
was too lost in the slope of the black skirt falling to Kise's upper thighs,
the soft rustle of the fabric against skin, his long, long, beautiful legs
smooth and naked, and then that cheeky motherfucker actually twirled around,
making the skirt flap with the movement, showing little glimpses of the fact
that he wasn't wearing anything underneath.
Kise hummed, pleased. "Someone's happy to see me." he sang, suddenly right in
front of him, his hand softly pressing the bulge on Aomine's boxers, making him
whimper.
He couldn't let Kise have the upper hand from the get go, so he had to force
his brain to stop-staring-at-those-legs and instead directed his eyes up at
Kise's. "You're one to talk." He accussed, quickly pointing at the noticeable
tent on the front of the skirt. He wrapped his hand around the hardening
length, letting the fabric around it add to the movement and friction, and it
was with much pleasure that his ears caught a soft cry.
"N-no, st-op. I'm—r-really sensitive right now I…" he felt Kise squirm, so he
grabbed him by the waist with both hands to keep him from stepping away.
He smirked and licked his lips, looked up to see Kise's pale cheeks were
already flushed crimson. "Alright, alright, I stopped just like you asked. But
since I did what you wanted, now I get to do something I want, right?"
Kise's eyes widened in understanding. "W-wai—" but Aomine didn't let him finish
before leaning forward to press his lips against the head of Kise's cock,
laying hot, wet open-mouthed kisses on it through the fabric. Kise threw his
head back and moaned loud and unraveled, his hips bucking forward. Aomine
pulled back a little, letting Kise chase after the heat of his mouth for a
second. When Kise whined for more, Aomine leaned forward again, pressing the
flat of his tongue against the underside of Kise's cock. He licked his way up
to the head, feeling it throb through the skirt that already showed a wet spot
of precum. It wasn't entirely pleasant, the texture of the fabric wasn't the
best thing to feel in his mouth, but Kise's wanton moans made it all worth it.
His own cock was pulsating in his boxers, begging for attention, but it was not
yet the time for that. Still, there was no need to torture himself, so he
pulled his boxers down to at least relieve himself from the constricted space,
then turned his attention back to Kise's clothed erection, licking the damp
spot over the head.
"Aomine—cchi no…" Kise groaned, his legs quivering. "I won't—la-ast"
Aomine smirked at that. One of his hands grazed Kise's ankle and started
sneaking its way up his beautiful leg, feeling the smooth skin, the perfectly
shaped muscles , slowly, torturously so, crawling up his knee and lifting the
skirt just slightly before moving to his inner thigh, his fingers tantalizingly
close to the prize. Kise whined, needy and incomprehensible, one of his hands
digging into Aomine's hair, and bucked his hips again, his cock rubbing against
Aomine's cheek.
Aomine moved his hand away from Kise's crotch, gliding slowly around his thigh
to find Kise's firm buttcheeks and squeeze teasingly, earning himself a gasp.
He groaned in satisfaction and allowed his hand to pull apart from Kise's
flesh. Kise mewled in protest.
"P-pleaaaase…" he whined, and Aomine made the mistake of looking up to meet his
eyes, glazed over with lust "T-touch me… more…".
He could've come right there and then, untouched, and was surprised at himself
for not doing so. How could he possibly deny such a shameless request? He
licked his lips, and the next time Kise's hips bucked forward, he squeezed his
butt with his free hand again and sucked the head of his cock into his mouth.
He didn't even have time to feel uncomfortable by the size of it because Kise
screamed out loud and the next he knew, he was tasting Kise's cum through the
soaked fabric.
"Fuck, that really tastes like shit." He groaned, spitting what little fluid
had made it into his mouth.
"Serves you damn right." Kise panted, collapsing to his knees. "I'm gonna have
to wash that off my skirt, goddamn it, and it's my favorite one! I fucking hate
you!"
Aomine chuckled. "You were the one who agreed to this in the first place." He
was still painfully hard, but at this point he wasn't sure of how willing Kise
would be to continue
"W-well I did, b-but y-you never said you were gonna d-do that. The deal was
completely different!"
"Since you're bringing that up," he interrupted, eyeing Kise, how his chest
rose and fell with his heavy breathing, how small droplets of sweat trailed
down his abdomen, how… "Hey, what the fuck, isn't that supposed to go down
after you cum? What's up with that?"
Kise followed Aomine's gaze towards his crotch and yelped in surprise when he
found the tent on his skirt as high and proud as it ever had been.
"H-how the hell should I know?"
"You're supposed to be the one with experience!"
"Well yeah but…"
Kise's eyes now scanned Aomine's naked body. A spark of realization lit in his
eyes and a smirk that spelled no good for anyone spread on his lips when his
gaze found Aomine's thick and hard cock. He licked his lips and crawled towards
him, his eyes oozing desire and lust.
"Maybe Lil' Me won't be done until Aominecchi's wish is satisfied." He
proposed, barely grazing Aomine's length with his fingertips. "I presume you
haven't changed your mind about that, have you?"
Aomine groaned and swallowed. He felt just a little humiliated to realize that
Kise had turned the tables on him so easily, but he couldn't stop to think
about that when every inch of his body was burning, and God, Kise looked so
beautiful in that skirt, it was a wonder he was even able to contain his
hunger.
 
"Of course I haven't."
 
"Perfect."
 
Next thing he knew, he'd been pushed to lie on his back, Kise's hands caging
him against the wooden floor, the heat of his body seeping into Aomine's, his
golden eyes hovering a few inches above him. His lips looked too pale for
Aomine's liking, he wanted to kiss them red right now. But before he could do
that, he felt teeth gnawing at his pulse, lightly pulling the skin into the
warmth of Kise's mouth, and Aomine heard himself gasp. Kise's hands were
roaming over his chest, lightly scratching his pectorals before trailing
downwards to his abdomen, splaying his fingers over his hipbones and tracing
the strong edges with his thumbs.
Aomine gasped again, vibrating with desire, his body shaking every time Kise
bit the skin on his neck. He'd have a hard time covering all that shit up
tomorrow, and he didn't care.
"Stop teasing, asshole." He managed to grunt, kicking his boxers off and
spreading his legs, a twinge of shame and hesitation keeping him from going too
wide.
Kise giggled and pulled back, his lips wet and slightly swollen just from
kissing his neck full of bruises. "Patience is a virtue." He chirped teasingly,
sitting back nonetheless to get comfortable in between Aomine's legs. One of
his hands moved from his hipbone to trail down his thigh and grab a hold of his
ankle, lifting his leg to nuzzle his calf. "I've always thought Aominecchi has
the finest legs." He mused. "So strong…" he sank his teeth on the flesh and
immediately licked the wound as if to apologize, which made Aomine growl low.
Kise was apparently hellbent on leaving him marked from head to toe, and he
blushed when he realized he didn't mind that thought all that much.
Out of the blue, he felt a slick digit nudging at his entrance, and when he
found Kise's eyes, they sparkled naughtily.
"You know, I'd figured Aominecchi was a pervert, I just never thought your
perversion would be so… specific." He teased, rising to his knees, just in case
Aomine had forgotten about that skirt he was wearing (he hadn't). Aomine winced
when Kise's fingers started probing inside him, but the sight of Kise's
beautiful silhouette took the discomfort out of his mind.
"If you're gonna make a stink about it every two minutes, you can take that
shit off and get this shit over with."
Kise laughed that little laugh of his that was like music and made Aomine's
ears tingle. "Oh, I wouldn't do that. I said I wanted to satisfy Aominecchi
fully after all." He added a second finger and Aomine bit back a groan. "I'll
admit it makes me a little happy that Aominecchi wants me like this." He
confessed, his voice quieter than before, and Aomine noticed how he turned away
to press his lips to Aomine's calf again to hide the blush on his pale cheeks.
"I want you no matter what you're wearing." He heard himself say. "I just…"
really love how that looks on you,he wanted to say, but a very late wave of
shame made him cut the thought short, his face burning when the attempted
confession sank on him.
Kise didn't seem to note that, apparently busy enough fretting and drowning in
his own embarrassment. "S-stupid, perverted Aominecchi." He squeaked, but there
was no actual anger or any bite to it at all. He pulled his fingers out and
spread his legs wider with his hands, nudging him to raise his hips a bit to
grant better access. He didn't hesitate to comply, even as he started growing
even more self-conscious about the position, Kise's eyes staring hotly at his
most private areas. A moment later he was feeling the head of Kise' hot, hard
cock pressing against his entrance, and he was all too aware of the feeling of
the skirt's fabric falling on his inner thighs.
"O-oi, aren't you wearing a c-c-condom, Mr. Safe s-s-s-sex?" he asked, his
voice embarrassingly high.
That gave Kise some pause, and he pulled back a little, which made Aomine
regret he'd said anything. "Uhm, I thought, since I've tested myself and I'm
clean, and I haven't been with anyone but Aominecchi for a while and… and
Aominecchi's only ever been with me…" he seemed a little giddy about that last
part and Aomine hated him for it, but also wanted to kiss him. With hate. "I
thought it was okay to do it like this just…" he looked up, and Aomine met his
molten gold eyes that were blazing with determination. "Just this once I want
Aominecchi to feel me for real."
Aomine swallowed, his heart heavy on his chest and his body burning with shame
and want and something else he couldn't identify that was warm and pleasant but
also felt like it was consuming his very soul. He schooled his breathing, never
breaking eye contact, and allowed a deep exhale to leave his lips.
Then he nodded.
Kise beamed, a toothy grin growing on his lips. "You ready?"
"Get on with it." He grunted, hoping Kise couldn't hear the erratic beating of
his heart, the anticipation thrumming in his blood.
Then he felt it, scorching hot and strained, and his breath got caught in his
throat. He shut his eyes tight, trying to hold back an indecent moan. Kise was
moving slowly, carefully, taking deep breathes to keep himself in check, and
Aomine was silently grateful for that because he remembered how uncomfortable
this part of the process was. Until he realized it didn't feel uncomfortable at
all this time around. He winced when he felt Kise sinking his teeth on his
shoulder, a grunt muffled against his skin.
"Hey?" he tried, tentatively, rocking his hips a little. Kise bit him harder,
and Aomine could feel him vibrate with extremely restrained want. "You don't
have to hold back so hard. I'm… fine. It doesn't hurt at all."
It was very strange to realize that he was actually feeling pretty good. Last
time it had taken a little while to find the right position, the right tempo,
the right angle to make things work for him. Now though, just feeling Kise
throbbing inside him would send a shock of electricity up his spine, and it was
all he could do to swallow an unmanly mewl of pleasure.
Kise looked at him with disbelief, his face red. "It's okay Aominecchi, you
don't have to force yourself for me. It'll be pointless if I end up hurting
you."
"That's what I'm… saying, damnit, I…" he arched his back, his body trembling
when he felt the fabric of Kise's skirt graze his length, "Fuck, I feel…" he
rocked his hips a little bit more insistently, taking more of Kise inside him,
feeling himself tighten, the sensation so hot he thought he might melt. "Fuck
it feels good…" another rock of his hips seemed to push Kise's cock in to hit
on his best spot and he couldn't help the drawn out moan that left his lips.
"It feels fucking good, you stupid, so get moving already." He managed to
blabber, his vision already hazy with lust.
Instead of heeding the request immediately, Kise paused altogether and Aomine
wanted to smack him, but his body was so sensitive right now he feared any
movement that caused him to graze Kise's body in any capacity would make him
scream. Instead he opened his mouth to say something, but rather than words, he
heard himself moan when Kise finished burying himself inside him with a
satisfying growl.
"I'm feeling so good too…" Kise drawled, peppering light kisses over his chest
before he started moving in shallow thrusts. "Aominecchi's so amazing…"
They started moving together slowly, finding the perfect rhythm so easily it
was unreal. The empty space in the room was quickly filled with the pleasure in
their voices, the sound of skin against skin, the rustling of fabric.
Aomine tried to keep his eyes open and focused on Kise's figure, how beautiful
his body looked with that simple piece of clothing on and nothing else. Every
time the skirt grazed his body, his nerves lit up like fire. He arched his back
and squeezed Kise's hand so tight he made him wince.
"For the love of… fuck!" he gasped. "Fuck, that's good… fuck. Go faster."
"Your wish is my command." The whisper in his ear made his body bend over with
the shiver that shook him from head to toe. And then Kise picked up the pace of
his thrusts, nailing that wonderful, sweet spot, and he screamed.
 
 
 
"It must be really nice," Kise panted, rocking his hips harder, the sound of
skin slapping on skin growing louder. "To have someone that loves you so much
and would go so far just to please you."
 
 
 
Aomine's blood ran cold. "W-what did you say?"
 
 
"I can only imagine it, of course, since I wouldn't know from experience."
Kise's eyes became unfocused and empty. "There's no one that would love me this
much."
 
 
 
Kise was still moving, but it didn't feel good anymore. This was wrong.
Aomine's stomach started curling with dread and nausea.
 
"O-oi, wait, what're you talking about?"
 
 
"Well it's gotta feel really great, doesn't it? Otherwise you wouldn't put me
through this knowing how much it hurts me." Crystal tears started to pool at
the corners of his golden eyes. "That someone would surrender their entire
being to you like this, their body and soul, and ask for nothing in return.
That they'd lay their heart out for you to break in a million pieces without
complaint. It's gotta be really satisfying at the very least. Especially for
your ego."
 
 
"T-that's not…" his heart was so heavy in his chest, its weight was making him
sink into the ground.
 
Kise thrust harder and moaned, his voice cracking. "Maybe you told yourself
that these little gratifications would be enough for me."
 
 
He felt sick, sick.
 
"I didn't…"
 
 
"Maybe you were so busy feeling good, so good that you decided to pretend you
didn't know I was hurting. But you knew. You always knew. It was just easier to
act like you didn't and carry on feeling good."
 
 
Tears were streaming down Kise's face, but his lips were crooked in a twisted,
soulless smile.
 
"Kise, n-no, wait I…"
 
He leaned down so their faces were mere inches apart, that broken smile alone
enough to make Aomine freeze.
 
 
"So tell me, Aominecchi, does it? Does it feel that good? Has it been worth
it?"
 
 
He couldn't breathe, and he was sinking deeper, deeper. The closer Kise got,
the harder it was to get any oxygen into his system. He opened his mouth but he
couldn't speak anymore, his throat dry. Kise's tears were dripping on his face
burning his skin, and yet feeling cold as ice.
 
 
"Tell me how it feels. Make the pain stop."
 
 
There was something curling tight, tight in the pit of his belly, something
ugly and disgusting, something that was on the verge of overflowing, but Aomine
didn't want it to. Kise was pulsing above him, inside him, everywhere,
trembling and crying and laughing, his eyes completely vacant, his voice barely
a whisper that sucked the life out of Aomine's mouth.
 
 
"Why have you done this to me?"


Kise moaned again, his voice hoarse and unrecognizable. Aomine felt him
convulse, and his body started melting from the inside out, the disgusting
feeling finally overcoming his own restraints and washing over him burning and
freezing and painful, and he arched his back, feeling a scream tearing out of
his chest.
His vision went dark.
Chapter End Notes
     See that's the reason it took me so long to finish this, because that
     fucking scene just got so weird and disturbing and dark that it was
     hard to push it out of my system orz why do I write myself into these
     fucking corners (at least I skillfully managed to avoid having to
     write another fucking basketball scene, yay!). Also because once
     again I had to split the chapter in two because it got so long (but
     that means the next one won't take long to get updated yay!)
     Eternal thanks to @dontcallmekoko, ilu and thanks for helping me sort
     through this mess and for making me think of Kise yelling "it's a
     miracle!" while staring at his perpetually stiff dick. Also thanks a
     ton to my patrons for your support, it seriously means the world to
     me.
     The funny part is that even when he's having a sexual fantasy, Aomine
     is a ridiculous awkward virgin through and through. Like, he can't
     even imagine himself being the bold and confident sexlord the fandom
     makes him out to be lmao.
     And apparently it's not a fic by me if it doesn't have gratuitous
     Kyoto porn just so I can explain Kyoto stuffs in my oversized author
     notes –which no one ever asked for.
     Because Kyoto is a Traditional City™ it has a special legislation
     that says buildings can't be taller than a certain height (I can't
     remember what that height is) to preserve the city's skyline with the
     pagodas and mountains and stuff. The legislation was briefly
     abolished to build the monstrosity known as Kyoto Tower (I might be
     projecting onto Aomine here, but anyone with a pair of eyes can tell
     that shit's ugly as sin), but residents were so upset about losing
     the city's special feature it was quickly put back in place, they
     just increased the limit by like 10 meters or smth.
     The 'zan' in Rakuzan is the kanji for mountain, and Kyoto is
     literally surrounded by fucking mountains, so I just assumed, I don't
     think we have canon confirmation of its specific location (but if it
     were on me, I'd put in the mountains of the Kinkakuji area. Hella
     terribly connected for a main touristic spot). Also Kyoto
     transportation is hella inefficient, especially if you live in the
     mountains (my dorms were in Kitayama area, the bus that got us
     downtown passed every half an hour if we were lucky) because the
     subway coverage is insufficient and buses are slow as fuck. Suzaku,
     the Crimson Phoenix of the South is one of the Four Mythical Beasts
     in Chinese mythology that protect the four cardinal directions, and
     the tradition around them was imported to Japan as early as the Yayoi
     and Kofun period (before Japan even learned how to write). Ho-Oh is
     based on the phoenix legend, not specifically Suzaku, but it seems
     Suzaku (and the other three beasts) are more prevalent in popular
     conscience, so I figured it'd make sense for Aomine to make that
     connection. Also, one of the most prestigious universities in Kyoto
     is Ritsumeikan University in the Suzaku neighborhood. I passed it
     every time I wanted to go downtown and the grandiose name stuck with
     me. I'm sorry for being a Kyoto nerd.
     When I lived in Kyoto the Pokemon Center didn't exist there and I
     couldn't find any photos or references of how it looks from the
     outside other than it's in a shopping mall, so I made the rest up.
     And I could continue gushing Kyoto trivia forever (the matcha shop in
     Gion is called Tsujiri, 1000% recommend) but I'm gonna guess y'all
     are tired of that.
     Thanks so much for your patience, and I hope this chapter doesn't
     weird you guys out too much. I'm a little scared but looking forward
     to reading your comments.
***** In dreams the truth is learned *****
Chapter Summary
     Then the realization hit him; that he'd just stolen magazines from
     his childhood friend just because he wanted to look at pictures of
     his… best friend? Best rival? Ex-friend? Ex-friend-with-benefits? Ex-
     never-quite-boyfriend?
      
     Ex-could-have-been?
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Aomine woke up breathless, his throat sore, cold sweat dripping down his face.
He panted, eyes wide staring dead into the darkness of his room. He felt
disgusting, and his stomach was so twisted he could almost taste the vomit at
the back of his throat.
It was a nightmare. Just a fucking nightmare.
He shook his head, trying to get the images, the sounds, the feelings out of
his head. It had been a nightmare and nothing else.
"You were so busy feeling good, so good that you decided to pretend you didn't
know I was hurting. But you knew."
Except that it hadn't, not really. Because the Kise in his nightmare was right,
he'd known all along that he was hurting him and pretended that he didn't
because he hadn't known how to deal with it. He'd convinced himself that he
could make Kise happy, even with his half-assed feelings, and became indulgent,
too comfortable with laughing and touching and holding hands and kissing
without having to think of the complicated stuff and stupidly hoping things
would somehow work out on their own. But of course they hadn't, and all that
was left was the bitter memory of Kise's tears and his hopeless, haunted
expression.
"Fuck!"
He slammed his fist on the nightstand, wanting nothing but to throw up in hopes
that these feelings of anger and frustration and disgust would leave him alone
once he did. He regretted it for a moment, the last thing he needed was to
awaken his parents and increase their worries, so he sat very still, letting
the silence take over the room again. And when he did it, he heard the
clattering sound of something small and plastic falling and bouncing off the
floor. He was about to brush it off when he remembered what he'd actually put
on his nightstand a few weeks ago.
He bolted out of bed to turn on the light, dread already crawling in his
stomach.
It's not there.
His eyes scanned the floor in panic, finding nothing. He dropped to his hands
and knees and searched under the desk, gritting his teeth, his heart thundering
in his chest.
It's not here, fuck.
Fuck, fuck, no.
He reached with one hand under the nightstand and felt around, but there was
nothing there.
I can't lose this too.
I can't.
It has to be here.
He reached out for his phone and attempted to unlock the screen to throw some
light under his bed. Then he remembered the phone was still broken after he'd
slammed it on the floor when he was on the train. Of course Mom hadn't gotten
him a new one, so he had to stick with this one that was still good to receive
phone calls and little more.
His limbs already stiff from that growing feeling of dread, he got back on his
feet and forced himself to breathe while looking for a lamp. He was sure he had
one somewhere.
It has to be here. It's in this room, it's not like there's a black hole on the
floor. It's here, somewhere.
The short pep-talk was barely comforting, and he resumed his search as
frantically as before. He dropped to the floor again and felt around under his
bed, to no avail. It was too dark to see if there was anything there, but he
tried, squinting his eyes and reaching as far as he could with his arm, but he
couldn't feel anything. He dug his teeth on his lower lip, his mind reeling,
trying to find an answer, think of somewhere he hadn't looked.
It's the only thing I have left.
Out of pure, illogical desperation, he went to his closet and started fumbling
with the clothes, absurdly hoping the item would magically drop from some
pocket in which it had never been. He ran his hands through his hair, forcing
his brain to work and think of something, and when that didn't produce results,
he went to shuffle through his drawers. His hand bumped against a flashlight
that for some reason was hidden among his underwear, and he'd never felt so
grateful for his own negligence in organizing his room.
He rushed back to the bed and dropped to the ground, pointing the flashlight at
the darkness. He reached out with his arm once again, feeling around the wooden
boards and letting the light guide him until he saw the shadow of a small,
misshapen object. His heart pulsing at the base of his throat, he grabbed it
with his free hand. The moment his fingers closed around it, he recognized the
shape and let go of a deep breathe. He pulled his arm back and pressed his
closed fist to his chest as he sat up, letting the relief wash over him. He
opened his palm to look at the Umbreon strap digging into his skin, and even
felt a small smile pull at the corner of his lips. Absentmindedly he stroked
the plastic Pokemon's ears with his thumb, but the moment he caught himself
doing it, he felt awfully self-conscious and ridiculous, so he closed his
fingers around it and stood up, trying to ignore the blush on his cheeks. After
a moment of thought, he decided to place the strap on his bookshelf, choosing a
visible spot with books he never really used, and far away from the edge so it
wouldn't fall again. Once it was stable and safe, he turned off the lights and
went back to the bed, completely exhausted from the frenzy.
Before lying down he took one more glance to the shelf, made sure he could make
out the shadow of his Umbreon strap on the bookshelf, and finally allowed
himself to fall back asleep, the voices of the nightmare slowly creeping up to
haunt his dreams.
===============================================================================
 
Aomine panted heavily. He was exhausted and they still had a full quarter and a
half to go until the game was over. And they were losing. If this strategy
didn't work, they would never be able to pick themselves back up. He glanced
quickly at his side.
"I can't believe the day I have to double team someone with you is here." He
drawled, hands on his hips, getting a grasp of the court and their current
situation.
"No shit… life's real funny that way, I guess."
He sighed. "You better not drag me down."
Kise chuckled. "Wouldn't dream of it."
Aomine felt himself smirk. Even after what he'd just said, there was no one
else he'd want by his side in this. His blood was pumping fast and hot with
excitement through his body, he was high on adrenaline. He could hardly make
out what was going on in the game, but their opponent was strong. Even with
Kise's aid, it was hard to hold him back, but they were perfectly in synch,
almost as if they could read each other's minds and it felt amazing. They
didn't even need to talk or sign, Aomine knew where Kise needed him, and Kise
knew what he had to do. It was as if they were the only ones on the court
"Hey, Aominecchi do you mind leaving him to me?" Kise asked suddenly.
Aomine looked at him, confused for a second, but when he saw the fire in his
eyes, he knew. He hesitated. A part of him felt so alive playing with Kise, and
he wanted to continue like that. A part of him hated the idea of what Kise
wanted to do now, for a number of reasons. But a bigger part of him wanted to
respect Kise's decision and what would be best for the game and the team.
"Fine, but we'll switch when it's time."
Kise grinned at him. "Woah, that's a first!" he sounded genuinely surprised
Aomine glared at him, but said nothing else and walked away. In the back of his
mind he knew he was supposed to be doing something else, but in the real world,
his eyes were locked on Kise, now struggling to handle alone the guy they could
hardly stop together. Suddenly the rest of the game ceased to exist and it was
only Kise fighting, moving, blocking, getting back the ball and stomping his
way across the court, passing by faceless opponents that were no match for his
might. Aomine felt entranced watching how Kise turned faster, stronger, more
and more intense, his eyes sparking like lightning, as if he were laying his
life itself on the court. He looked absolutely resplendent. The beat of
Aomine's heart was deafening. Had Kise's basketball always been so magnificent?
Had we always shone so bright and beautiful and majestic?
Suddenly, the ball fell from Kise's hands and he collapsed on the ground. The
entire world disappeared. Aomine rushed to his side and helped him up to take
him outside of the court and sit him on the bench.
"Oi, you alright?"
Kise smiled at him weakly. His face was red with exhaustion, his body drenched
in sweat, and his skin was burning. His eyes looked unfocused, as if he was
about to lose consciousness.
"'m okay Aominecchi… 'm sorry I couldn'… last longer."
Aomine shook his head and wiped the sweat off Kise's face with a clean cloth,
although he wasn't entirely sure of where he'd gotten it. "Shut up, you moron.
You were fucking amazing."
Kise's eyes widened, and his already flushed face turned a deeper crimson. "I…
was?"
"The most amazing I've ever seen." Aomine replied, cupping Kise's face in his
hands "Now leave the rest to me, okay?" and he leaned in to snatch a kiss that
was short and quick and still made his heart burn, thrilled.
"A-aominecchi!" Kise whined, his face now a vibrant scarlet "Y-you're actually
trying to make me faint, aren't you?"
Aomine smiled. "Well, you do need some rest after all." He teased, and kissed
him one more time, softer, but longer, just enough to feel Kise leaning into
it, and it was sweet and perfect. He didn't want to part, but the buzzer that
marked the start of the last quarter was growing louder and louder. And for a
second, when he pulled back, he could see Kise's bright and beautiful smile
that made him feel invincible.
At least until he woke up to the loud ringing of his cellphone.
He picked up without checking who the caller was –his screen was still broken
after all-, but he wasn't surprised in the slightest when he recognized
Satsuki's voice on the other end of the line.
"Dai-chan, you promised you'd come over to study, you know they won't let you
play in the In-High if your grades drop."
He groaned in displeasure and forced himself to get up, stretching his arms
until his shoulders made a satisfying pop.
"Fine, I'll be there in five." He grunted and shut the phone off. What was even
the point of having a sports scholarship if they were still giving him grief
over fucking exams? It's not like he was planning on going to college anyway.
When he reached the door, he realized he wasn't carrying his textbooks, so he
turned around to grab his school bag. His eyes caught on that stupid Umbreon
strap which he'd put in his bookshelf, far from the edge, to make sure the
bloody thing wouldn't get knocked over again. He quickly told his dad that he'd
probably have dinner at Satsuki's place and left.
Satsuki's doorstep was approximately ten steps away from his. He faintly
remembered how the distance had felt so much longer when he was younger. The
day Satsuki had moved in, his parents had told him the new neighbors had a kid,
so he'd been very excited about making a new friend and getting them to play
basketball with him. He'd grabbed his basketball and sprinted all the way to
the neighbor's house, that still had the front door open and people coming in
and out, carrying boxes. He'd taken a peek inside, but instead of a boy his
age, there had been Satsuki with her blue dress and girly shoes and he'd been
disappointed.
"Hello! Are you from this neighborhood? My name's Satsuki!" she'd greeted him
with a big bold smile.
"Daiki." He'd replied, frowning. "Don't you have like a brother or something?"
She shook her head. "Nope. Why?"
Aomine had frowned and turned away, intent on getting back home and watching TV
instead, but she stopped him in his tracks.
"What's that? Oh! It's a basketball! I saw a court closeby, wanna play?"
"I dun' wanna play with girls." He'd replied, annoyed.
The moment he spoke the words, he'd felt a dangerous aura coming from his back,
and when he turned around, he found Satsuki grinning, a fearsome sparkle in her
eyes. "Really? Are you afraid you'll lose to a girl?"
An idiot as he was, he fell right into it. "Hah?! Fine, if you want to lose so
badly we can play, but don't go crying to your Mommy afterwards."
Satsuki had giggled and skipped out of the house. "I won't have to, because
I'll win! Let's go, Dai-chan!"
"Oi! Don't call me that!"
She hadn't stopped calling him that.
The front door was unlocked, so he came in without knocking –he had spare keys
anyway (and Satsuki had his, but she was "not an uncivilized baboon", as she'd
put it)- and kicked his shoes off, grabbing a pair of slippers Satsuki's mom
had gotten him last year so he could wear them when he came to visit.
"Oh, hi Dai-kun! You hadn't come in a while!" Satsuki's mom greeted him. "Ah, I
suppose it's time to study for exams, right? Satsuki is in her room, I'll bring
you two tea and some snacks later."
He forced himself to smile. "Thanks Oba-san, I'm going up then." Satsuki's
parents had always been very kind to him after all, they were like a second
family to him.
The door to Satsuki's room was open, but he did knock this time because he
didn't want to get an earful about his "brutish manners".
"Jesus, Dai-chan, why do I have to be the one that's worrying about your exams?
I'm not your babysitter."
He grunted something unintelligible (he himself wasn't very sure of what it'd
been) and plopped down on the work desk. His mind was still on that dream, how
thrilled he'd felt playing with Kise by his side, and what an absolutely
magnificent sight Kise had been. When was the last time he'd played with Kise,
on the same team, and felt his blood pump with exhilaration like that? Two,
maybe three years ago? He recalled the day Kise joined his team, and how others
had dissed Kise because his skills were so similar to Haizaki's, but Aomine had
noticed back then just how different they both were. Kise felt true passion for
basketball and always gave it his best to impress everyone. Back then he'd
thought Kise was annoying and noisy, but he'd also known right away that Kise
would be fun to play with, and looked forward to sharing the court with him.
The exhilaration he'd felt in the dream, the sensation of the ball on his
fingers, the urge to move faster, harder, the noise of the adrenaline pumping
through his veins, even the sound of Kise's agitated breathing, all rushed to
the front of his mind, and he felt his body temperature increasing, an immense
urge to do something, anything, to bring that dream to reality, to feel such
intense euphoria again.
"Dai-chan are you even listening to me? I'm helping you study, not doing your
homework for you!"
He snapped back to the present, where Satsuki was glaring at him, her arms
crossed over her chest. She opened her mouth, probably to continue berating
him, but he cut her off before she could do that.
"Sorry, got my head elsewhere."
She seemed taken aback by his apology, which was understandable given how
rarely he served one of those, but he felt he owed her at least that much.
She'd tried to warn him before things had turned sour, and even now she was
worrying about him, trying her best to support him and giving him space to sort
shit out on his own instead of yelling at him for doing stupid things and
hurting Kise. He really needed to stop taking the people he loved for granted.
After a moment of silence, Satsuki sighed and got up. "I'm gonna go help Mom
with the tea, you should take the time to check over the textbook to get your
head back into Maths." She paused on her way to the door, then looked back at
him, pensive, tapping her chin with her index. "I have the newest Basketball
Monthly on my shelf over there, you should take it home and check it, it has
good intel on the teams we can expect to face at the Inter High." She said,
pointing at said bookshelf and exiting through the door.
Aomine cocked his head to the side, slightly confused. Why'd he be interested
in checking other teams? That was Satsuki's work, not his. Besides, he already
knew which teams they'd be facing in the prelims: there was Seirin with Tetsu
and Bakagami and the perfect chance to get back for their loss in the Winter
Cup. And there was also Midorima, whom he hadn't played against at all, and he
was very excited to actually experience that freaky combo play he and his Point
Guard had used on Akashi.
"Midorimacchi and Takaocchi are so disgustingly cute together, only a blind man
wouldn't notice!"
Of course he couldn't even spare a thought to any of his friends because Kise
had to come and haunt him. He decided he'd take Satsuki's suggestion and
scooted over to the bookshelf to start browsing through the Basketball Monthly
magazines. When he found the newest issue, he pulled it out, but everything was
so tightly fit into the shelf that a bunch of magazines fell to the floor.
Aomine hurried to pick them up –the last thing he wanted was to get on
Satsuki's bad side after all. As he scrambled to reorganize them, one of the
covers caught his eye, and he immediately regretted trying to check the
magazine in the first place when he found an issue with Kise winking at the
camera and holding a basketball up on his index finger, the words "All about
Kaijou's model ace" printed on top of his jersey. He grunted. It had been naïve
to think he'd get his mind off Kise by looking at fucking magazines of all
things.
He fully intended to put that back on its place, but before he knew it he was
staring at it, flipping through the pages to find the interview with Kise. It
was just a one-page article, so Aomine seriously doubted it could actually
contain "everything" about him (especially because there was just so much to
Kise that people tended to miss so easily), but he skimmed over the questions
before he could stop himself.
Basketball Monthly: The Winter Cup is coming up, do you think your team is
ready for the challenge?"
Kise: "Absolutely! We've never been stronger!"
BM: "Which team are you most looking forward to facing?"
K: "Touou of course! We've to pay them back for the Inter-High, after all."
BM: "I definitely understand that feeling. So, Touou's ace Aomine-kun was your
teammate back in junior high, right?"
K: "Yup."
BM: "How is it playing on opposite sides of the court now?"
K: "It's super exciting! Aominecchi's super strong, he's the best rival I could
ever ask for. I always have fun playing with him, be it on the same team or on
different ones."
BM: "Oh, so you two are still friends now?"
K: "To tell the truth, we don't meet much outside of basketball, but all of my
teammates from back then are still precious friends for me, even if we've all
gone our separate ways."
Aomine sighed, and he glanced at the photos on the article. The main one was a
close-up of Kise taking a shot, his body long and lean, and his eyes fixed on
the net. There was also another photo, smaller, that looked like it had been
taken during their match at the Inter-High, with the caption "Aomine's the best
rival I could ever ask for." He swallowed thickly, his pulse quickening, and he
felt the skin of his face turning warm.
He shut the magazine closed and resumed his task of putting everything back in
place. But once again, when he was trying to do that, his eyes were caught by
another magazine with a flash of gold on the cover. Except this one wasn't
Basketball Monthly, it was a fashion magazine. He grabbed it and found another,
and another magazine with Kise on the cover. There were dozens of them! He'd
never known Satsuki collected these. He opened one and flipped through the
pages until he found an ad for perfume which featured a close-up of Kise
apparently lying on his stomach on a red velvet surface, the collar of his
black shirt rustled, and his deep golden eyes bright like molten ambers. He
felt a pang of pain in his chest and a jolt of something else under his belt.
He forced himself to look away when he started to feel his cheeks burning, and
when he was about to grab the next magazine, he heard Satsuki's light footsteps
coming down the hallway. Hurriedly, he grabbed a random bunch of Basketball
Monthly and hid the fashion magazines in between, then did his best to act like
he was casually flipping through an article about Seirin's victory in the
Winter Cup, hoping the heat on his cheeks wouldn't give him away.
"Mom sent tea and cookies, but try not to get crumbs all over the textbooks,
okay?" Satsuki instructed, laying down a tray with the items on the center of
their study table.
"Sure, sure." He managed to reply, and he was confident he'd sounded natural.
"Hey," he began, his voice quivering, "can I take some of these home? You know,
to study their strategies and shit." He showed her a page with a picture of
Kagami and Tetsu high-fiving, hoping she wouldn't notice the uneven edges of
the non-basketball magazines.
Satsuki was silent for a moment, and when Aomine turned to look at her, she had
a strange, knowing glint in her cherry eyes. "Sure, Dai-chan! I'm glad to see
you take some initiative here!" she said with a smile that meant way more than
what she was saying, but he didn't know why. "You better take care of them, if
you wrinkle Tetsu-kun's photos I'll gut you!"
Aomine still felt uneasy about her tone, but decided not to question his luck
and hurried to put the magazines in his backpack, just so nothing embarrassing
would happen later. With a strange sense of anticipation and accomplishment, he
turned to the textbook, pencil in hand.
"Okay,okay, but can we stop getting distracted and get to study already?"
Satsuki rolled her eyes and smiled.
===============================================================================
 
Hours later, after Satsuki had been absolutely certain that those algebra
formulas had been carved into his brain, Aomine finally made it back to his own
bedroom, and his first impulse was to empty his backpack on his bed, the
magazines spreading out over the bedsheets. He put the Basketball Monthlies
away, lucid enough to not want to risk getting on Satsuki's bad side, and then,
with trembling fingers, he grabbed a magazine that had Kise on the cover,
wearing sunglasses on top of his messy golden hair, a loose dark blue tank top
with a bronze anchor printed on it, and white jean shorts. His right hand was
making a peace sign over his head, while he held a surfing board under his left
arm. The big blue letters read "Don't get cold this summer! Hottest trends for
the holidays!"
Aomine plopped down to lie on his back on the mattress, the magazines piled
next to him, and he held the summer cover high over his head, staring straight
into Kise's eyes that sparkled with excitement, as if he were genuinely looking
forward to his summer vacations. The photo really was so like Kise it was
uncanny. All bright and sunny and joyful with the smallest hint of mischief in
the corners of his golden eyes. It was almost infectious, and Aomine felt the
pull of a smile on the edges of his mouth.
Then the realization hit him; that he'd just stolen magazines from his
childhood friend just because he wanted to look at picture of his… best friend?
Best rival? Ex-friend? Ex-friend-with-benefits? Ex-never-quite-boyfriend?
Something heavy dropped on his chest, crushing the air out of him in a shaky
exhale.
Ex-could-have-been?
===============================================================================
 
Aomine was awakened by the blinding light of the sun shining through the
windows. Why did he always forget to shut the curtains?
It took him a few moments of rubbing his eyes to be able to focus his vision,
but before he could completely make out the world around him, he heard a soft
humming, something shifting next to him on the bed, inching closer and warmer.
Finally, he managed to clear the fog off his eyes and turned to his side to
find Kise lying on his stomach, sleeping soundly, his golden hair falling over
his eyes and a peaceful smile on his lips. Every time he inhaled and exhaled,
the bedsheets that covered his naked torso would rustle softly, almost as if
caressing his beautiful skin.
He inched a little bit closer, close enough to feel Kise's breath on his face,
his warmth seeping into his body all the way to his bones. He lifted one hand
to tuck away a soft strand of golden hair, just so he could get a clear view of
Kise's delicate features, his long eyelashes, the sharp edges of his eyes, the
subtle slope of his nose; and he allowed his fingers to linger, just barely
grazing Kise's cheek. His expression was relaxed and pleasant, as if there were
nothing to be worried about in the entire world. When Aomine saw that look on
his face, he felt that it might actually be the case after all.
The sun that illuminated the room kissed Kise's body gently, and it almost
seemed that he was glowing. It wasn't the first time he'd seen Kise surrounded
by a halo of sunlight, but he was still entirely mesmerized by the ethereal
vision.
"Hey," he whispered, absentmindedly grazing Kise's cheek with his thumb.
"Mornin', Sunshine."
A sigh escaped Kise's lips and his eyes fluttered open, revealing his golden
orbs, hazy with sleep. When his vision focused on Aomine, he smiled sweet and
beautiful, leaning into the hand on his cheek. His skin was flushed a soft,
joyful pink, and when Aomine's eyes met his, he found them overflowing with
tenderness and affection.
"Morning, Daiki."
His heart skipped a beat when Kise spoke his name, the sound of it echoing in
his ears, his chest, his stomach and his very soul. He pulled Kise a little
closer still, overtaken by the need to hold him, to kiss every breath out of
him, to whisper in his ear how beautiful he was, how much he treasured him.
Kise didn't say anything else, but his loving smile grew wider, brighter,
merrier, the corners of his eyes crinkling with unbridled mirth. The sight
became so radiant it was blinding, and Aomine had to close his eyes for a
second, lest he became literally blind from staring for too long.
And when he opened them again, the bed was cold and empty, and he was alone and
awake with just the glaring sunlight hitting him square on the face.
"Oh, Daiki, I was just about to call you for breakfast." His father greeted him
with a handwave. "Your mom's in the living room, could you tell her to come too
while I finish setting the table?"
He shrugged absentmindedly as an answer and went straight for the living to
find his mother sitting in the coach, reading a magazine and humming
pleasantly.
"Dad says breakfast is done." he drawled, forcing his voice to sound as normal
as possible.
His mom looked up from the magazine, and for a second Aomine felt there was
something familiar about it, but shoved the thought away because he and his mom
didn't have anything in common in terms of the magazines they read.
"Daiki! What a surprise that you actually woke up on your own, and so early! On
a Sunday!"
It was obvious that she was forcing herself to act more cheerful than
necessary, so he too forced a smile on his face, hoping it would put her at
ease, even as his heart clenched remembering the dream that had awakened him.
"Oh, I actually found this under the shoeboxes when I was sweeping the genkan,
do you think Satsuki-chan dropped it here maybe?" she asked suddenly, showing
him the cover of the magazine she'd been reading. Aomine's heart leapt in his
chest when he made out the figure on the cover. "It had some dust on it, like
it'd been there for a few weeks or so. It seems to be autographed so it must be
valu—"
Before he could stop himself, he'd snatched the magazine from his mother's
hand. "I-I'm gonna call Satsuki and ask her!" he excused weakly as he ran up
the stairs. "I'll eat later, I'm not really hungry!" he added as a response to
his mother's alarmed voice reminding him of breakfast.
He locked the door behind his back and sat down on the bed, his eyes fixated on
the magazine cover, remembering how much he'd wanted it since the moment he
first saw it in the rack of that conbini in Landmark Plaza. Still, he hesitated
to open it, Kise's seductive eyes on the cover felt almost accusatory, a
reminder of how he'd ruined not only their date and whatever their relationship
had been at that point, but probably even the core of their friendship.
He shook his head, trying to clear it off the negative thoughts and skipped to
a random page in the magazine. There was an article about a popular singer and
her fashion choices for some important event that Aomine couldn't care less
about. He breathed deeply and steeled his determination. He'd been beating
himself up about losing this magazine for weeks, regretting how he'd never get
to read Kise's message. Now he could do it and more than ever, he needed to
feel a connection with Kise, anything to believe there was still hope to fix
things.
It wasn't hard to find the page with Kise's article, even just randomly
flipping through the magazine. His golden hair popped up right away. The first
photo had him wearing the same outfit that he had on the cover, but he was
sitting with one leg bent at the knee and the other stretched long. He had a
mysterious, yet playful smile and he was lightly touching his lips with his
index finger. He looked stunning. Aomine's heart lurched in his chest.
He skimmed through the interview, but it was mostly the same answers he had
read in the magazines he'd borrowed from Satsuki, with additional noncommittal
responses about his time off modeling.
On the second page, there was a photo of Kise wearing a pair of faded green
denim cargo pants with a matching jacker that was fully buttoned down, and a
black button-up shirt underneath. He was leaning against a wall, hands in his
pockets, head cocked back a little with a daring attitude and Aomine wouldn't
have thought much about it aside from how Kise looked stunning as always, but
there was a caption in big white letters that read "Exclusive scoop! Kise-kun
discusses his love life." His eyes widened and he quickly found the questions,
heart pounding hard against his ribcage.
N: So far you've done a good job in doing both modeling and practicing with the
basketball team, is there any other reason for this break you're taking? Like a
girlfriend, perhaps?
K: (laughs) Oh no, not at all! It really is about basketball, I mean business
this year, I want Kaijou to take all the championship!
N: Is that so? Still, is there not a person that has a special place in Kise
Ryouta's heart?
Kise-kun looked a little reluctant to answer this question for us, but we just
had to know, right?
K: There is someone that's very important to me. I've admired them for a long
time and I owe them a lot in many different ways. I'm always happy when I'm
with that person.
N: Oh? So is Kise-kun enjoying the lovey-dovey life now?
K: Ah, no, that's not it at all. It's completely unrequited, but it's fine.
Even if they won't return my feelings, as long as I get to spend time with that
person, I'm fully satisfied."
N: Awww, that's really sweet. Wouldn't you tell us who this lucky special
person is?
K: I'm sorry, that's a secret.
Kise-kun winked at us and wouldn't budge about revealing the identity of his
secret—
Aomine chewed on his lip and almost threw the magazine away. He could even
picture it, Kise saying he was happy just being with him, wearing a sunny smile
with that little hint of resigned sadness in his eyes. It was so typical of
him, to give up on his own feelings and settle for a second serving and Aomine
hated that about him. Hated that he wouldn't pursue his own happiness, never
even confronted Aomine about how shittily he'd handled their situation. If only
Kise had been a little more selfish, maybe this whole thing wouldn't have gone
so wrong.
Heart heavy in his chest, he flipped to the last page, where he saw Kise's
distinctively flourished handwriting next to a two-page spread of him wearing
an asymmetrical denim jacket on top of a simple white shirt, his eyes
smouldering and defiant, yet inviting. The text was easy to read in its bold
black strokes:
To my #1 fan Aominecchi! Remember I'm gonna beat you next time, so better bring
your A-game, make it worth all this glamour I'm giving up (lol)! Love, Ryouta.
"Ryouta" he mouthed the name, feeling his heart ache. He felt like laughing and
crying because it was the dumbest of notes but he couldn't help picturing
Kise's radiant, cheeky grin and his chipper voice and how he would've wanted to
kiss him just to shut him up and make him laugh.
===============================================================================
 
Aomine took a bite from his teriyaki burger, chewing it slowly. It was small
and he wouldn't have anything else to eat before dinner, so he wanted to savor
it. It was cheap and conbini-bought, so it wasn't half as good as the Mos
Burger one, but it was still pretty great. Teriyaki burger was certainly the
superior burger, no questions asked.
"Ugh, the other day I had the most stupid discussion with Bakagami about this."
He groaned, more to himself than to his companion, but loud enough to be heard
and attract his curious glance. He sighed and caved. "Like, he was at Majiba
because that's apparently the only thing he eats, and he had like a billion BBQ
burgers." He couldn't begin to fathom what kind of idiot with no sense of taste
whatsoever would prefer anything over the teriyaki burger. "Who does that?!
That shit's gross! Who chooses that when you could have the double teri for
about the same price?!"
As he swallowed the last bite of his burger, he had a sense of déjá vú about
this whole conversation, something dreadfully familiar, but he couldn't quite
understand why. He shook that feeling off and carried on.
"But then I figured Bakagami's an idiot so I'd have to explain all those basic
shit to him, and then out of nowhere Tets—"
Then it hit him.
He turned to his right to find Kise staring at him frozen on his spot, his face
devoid of color, his eyes wide and glazy, his expression twisted with pain and
betrayal. Aomine panicked.
"Wait, shit, Kise, I'm sorry."
Kise's expression didn't change. "I-I've to go home now." He breathed, and
turned his back to him. "Bye, Aomine." And he started walking away and into the
crowd.
Aomine's heart sank to the ground, and he ran, pushing the droves of people off
his way, Kise's bright golden hair still sticking out from the distance. He had
to stop him.
He reached out, trying to grab Kise's arm, to keep him from going away.
He couldn't let him leave. Not this time.
"Kise, wait!"
He could feel a tight knot constricting his throat, making it hard to breathe
and speak. But he had to stop this, right now. Yet, no matter how hard he ran,
Kise kept pulling farther and farther away.
His chest was burning, his heart throbbed painfully.
"Kise, I…!"
He could feel the words dripping out of his heart, trying to climb their way up
his throat and out of his mouth, but they burned like fire and cut like glass
shards and he couldn't find his voice.
But he also felt he'd regret it the rest of his life if he didn't say it now.
"I love you."
The whole world fell silent. The crowds that surrounded them disappeared. Kise
stopped dead on his tracks and slowly turned to look at him. Aomine covered his
mouth with one hand, not believing what he'd just said. His blood was pumping
furiously through his body, and his skin was on fire. Had he really just…?
Suddenly, Kise was standing just a breath away, even though a moment ago it had
seemed as if the distance between them was unsurmountable. Aomine met his
golden eyes, scared of what he'd find there, and what he found was bewilderment
and confusion.
Then Kise's eyebrows tilted downwards, and his whole expression turned into one
of pity.
"Oh dear, I'm so sorry Aominecchi." He began, playing with his hair nervously.
"Did I… did anything I say make you think that…? Damn, I'm really sorry, I
never intended to lead you on like that…"
"What… what are you talking about?"
Kise's expression turned even sadder and remorseful. "Oh god, please don't make
me actually say it… Aominecchi…" he sighed, burying his face in his palms. "I
really don't wanna hurt you…"
Aomine could feel his heart growing heavy and sinking in his chest, already
guessing what was happening, but still entirely confused about why it was
happening.
"But you… we've…"
"The entire point of being friends with benefits is that there are no feelings
involved, I thought we'd agreed on that from the start." Kise's shame seemed to
be morphing into irritation, and he looked up, a slight frown growing on his
face, his eyes turning cold. "Fine, I'll say it if you won't get it. I don't
feel that way about you. Never have."
Aomine heard a loud, deafening crack echoing inside his chest. The pain was
sharp, piercing, and so deep he couldn't even scream. When he tried to breathe,
it was agonizing, like his lungs were filled with ice. He could hardly focus
his vision on anything, but Kise's silhouette, once again walking away from him
and never looking back. And this time Aomine didn't –couldn't-chase after him.
He woke up feeling his chest completely hollow. Breathing was as painful as it
had been in the dream. His eyes were burning, but every other inch of his body
felt cold and heavy. He somehow managed to force himself up to a sitting
position, and when he did, he remembered the words he'd said, could still feel
them burning in his throat, taste them even. He shivered. With one hand, he
covered his mouth, trying to make any sense of what had just happened, of this
turbulence of painful emotions swirling in his chest.
An image of Kise's remorseful expression flashed through his mind, just as the
sound of his own voice speaking those words echoed inside him. The burn in his
eyes turned wet, and he felt a tear spill down his cheek. And another.
Something heavy and painful creeped up his body, choking him, and came out of
his mouth as a long, broken sob that wrecked his body as if it were being
shattered to pieces.
Chapter End Notes
     Whoops that took way longer and ended way more melidramatic than
     originally planned. Last semester was very hard on me, but I can't
     say I have any proper excuse for the last three months other than the
     muse abandoned me and my heart being swallowed up by other fandoms
     coughYurionIcecough.
     I'm pretty certain we only have two more chapters to go but I can't
     promise how long updates will take. I'm truly sorry for my erratic
     and unreliable posting schedule and I thank whoever's still following
     this story in spite of this. I do hope you're still enjoying it.
     If you enjoy my writing and want to know more about it/send me some
     love, you can hmu @ my_tumblr. Comments are always the most
     encouraging kind of support! if you're wondering why you're seeing
     this copy-pasted everywhere it's because I had to edit shit out due
     to a good samaritan report hahahaha
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