The Dick Doodle

by Araminthe Ispwitch

In a world where whatever you draw or write on your skin can appear on your soulmate's, Kagami Taiga finds out that his is an immature asshole. A few hours later, Aomine Daiki discovers his isn't afraid to express their opinions. Sounds like soulmate business isn't as easy as it's made up to be—even between two long-time friendly rivals.

Okay, I'm gonna make this short but anyways, this is my three-years-overdue—THREE YEARS—birthday gift to the lovely shooponthemoon, who I follow on Tumblr—and our first connections were on AoKaga, so I figured I must pay her kindness of dishing out lovely AoKaga fics back with a fic of my own!

And... it took... three... years... OTL

Just take it already pLEASE I'M TIRED I HAVE OTHER FICS TO WORK ON

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Important Stuff to Note:

1) This is my first AoKaga fic oh jeez.

2) Everything is the same except soulmates exist and this is set several years after college graduation and Extra Game is sorta applicable here.

3) Other than AoKaga, which is shoop's fave, I wrote in the rest of the side ships out of bias so please be open-minded for just a short amount of time lol.

4) This is inspired by shoop's soulmate fic "A Soulmate to Dye For" on AO3 but has also been heavily influenced by another soulmate fic that I will mention and discuss in the end notes.

5) This was supposed to be a simple short gift for shoop and ended up another overblown effort on my part. If the ending seems wobbly, I blame it on impatience. And lack of sleep.

6) The whole prompt for this oneshot is this:

let-gavin-free:
Soulmate au where when you write something on your skin with pen/marker/whatever the hell you want, it will show up on your soul mates skin as well.

princess-tuna:
Imagine having a super artistic soulmate who draws flowers and designs and really beautiful patterns all over their arms and person 2 just sits there and watches the little lines appear on their arms and they can't stop smiling and it's their favorite part of the day

Imagine person 1 being super forgetful so they scribble down all the places their appointments are and person 2 tries to decipher them and figure out where they're at and they meet and they see their writing on their hand from across the waiting room/ coffee shop/ etc. and they scramble to find a pen and write 'found you' on the back of their hand and person 1 sees it and they lock eyes and

Wow I like this au

let-gavin-free:
YES

diminuendodaydreams:
imagine person 1 drawing a giant penis on their forehead because they're an asshole

frozenmusings:
oh my god

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Cross-posted in: AO3

Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure KnB was just about basketball and not soulmates, so I'm also pretty sure the soulmate part is the only thing that's mine here.

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The Dick Doodle

---

The concept of soulmates was always one of fantasy. You couldn't really fault people for thinking that when this idea of having this one perfect person made just for you existed and enchanted the world since the dawn of time. But it did, and the concept was as real as it could be. Whether it was explained through scientific means or the more mystically-inclined found it magical, having a soulmate was for real.

Not everyone has one, though, and that always created societal exclusion—the kind that socially persecuted those whose soulmates never manifested. But recent times discovered various explanations for the phenomenon and in time, it no longer caused as much uproar and misplaced pity as it did in the old days.

In fact, there were even rarer cases of polygamous matches that had been shed light upon recently.

But right now, Kagami Taiga could care less about that. For all the ruminating and flowery prose he could apply while pondering on the subject, he still won't hold back on the gritty truth: that soulmate business can be a real shitty business.

Marking Manifestations occur around an obscure, if not frustratingly confusing stage in one's life. According to what Taiga knows—which is, of course, practically everything there is to research about since one's teenage years comprise of researching the hell out of the enticing subject—you can only find out about the existence of your soulmate once you mature. Unfortunately, this isn't mostly about physical appearance.

It's pretty random when you look at the statistics so far—there isn't actually a set estimation of age wherein the maturing stage of manifestation happens. So basically, it's like fate takes over and decides if you're mature and worthy enough to find out if you have a match. Which really sucks but Taiga's not gonna complain since that meant he wouldn't have to pine all throughout his life when a clue to his soulmate hasn't even popped up yet. The notion of manifestation alone poses a lot of questions that have boggled people for millennia and the redhead doesn't want to start with any of that shit.

Now, the stage after the manifestation? Oh, that's an annoying one.

Apparently, soulmates are linked through their skin. It sounds gross and weird, yes, but what the experts meant was that whatever is imprinted on one person's skin will be reflected on their soulmate's skin. Or well, specifically, whatever is written. Cuts and bruises don't show up. It has to be done by a writing tool.

And here, Taiga rebelliously questions: why the fuck did it have to be written stuff? Of all the ways for the identifying marks to manifest… Why couldn't it have been something like the soulmate's name imprinted on the wrist or maybe an impression of the person in the mind or something? Hell, why wasn't it cuts and bruises instead? At least people will understand each other a little better. Why was it so oddly specific and plain? Soulmates could easily find out about each other if they started a conversation with their skin-writing, right?

Well, it wasn't actually easy… but before that, yes, manifesting is discovered by written stuff on your skin that you know you've never done with your own hand.

(Actually, drawing on the skin counts, too—which is really cool, as far as Taiga is concerned. )

Anyhow, this was practically the only way to know if you have a soulmate yet. Taiga's parents had known about each other when his mother had sloppily jotted down a date on her palm while on the job and was later surprised to see words forming over the numbers saying, "You asking me out?"

It was cheesy as fuck, but Mom fell for it. Taiga rolled his eyes whenever his parents recounted their romance to him.

His surrogate brother, Tatsuya, had found out about his soulmate a year ago. He tried to see if he manifested yet and drew a tiny chibi sun near his wrist to test the waters. A reply came in the form of a request for a chibi pie and Tatsuya and his soulmate have been going back and forth about food ever since. Taiga's not too sure on the details—his brother's pretty quiet about it most of the time—but they're probably still exchanging names of good cake shops in Japan like businessmen exchange their cards. Tatsuya's soulmate is big on cakes, that's for sure.

Marking Manifestation sounded easy and simple, but it actually wasn't. Sometimes, not every imprint was clear. They would look blurred or faint and it would be hard to decipher them. Just like with the time of the manifestation, the markings come randomly, so no one can actually hold a complete conversation with it alone. There was a theory that the emotions behind the markings influence its legibility, but it was still a theory.

Which was really too bad because as of this exact moment—no, this very morning, more like it—Taiga wanted nothing more than to scribble hundreds of bold-lettered choice words on his body regarding his soulmate. And he wanted all of them to show up.

One large hand clenched the sink tightly as the redheaded occupant of the bathroom stared intently at his reflection, his other hand gripping his fringe backwards. Taiga didn't even register the footsteps approaching as he was too busy letting his oddly-shaped eyebrow twitch in irritation.

"Taiga, are you done yet? Hurry up or we'll b—Taiga?" His older brother hesitated just over the threshold to the redhead's bathroom, face scrunched in confusion at the sight of the other still in his pajamas and hand in hair. Taiga stared hard once more at the mirror before turning to Tatsuya with a stony expression.

Predictably, the black-haired man's visible eye widened in shock. "Taiga, what—what happened?"

The redhead's face subtly shifted into an even grimmer look. He turned back to his reflection, wherein his two-toned red hair was mussed from sleep, his jaw already had some stubble growing on it, his burgundy-red eyes were bright with fury, and his forehead had a crude caricature of a dick drawn on it.

"My soulmate is an asshole, that's what," growled Taiga, quickly leaving the bathroom to look for a pen.

---

"Dai-chan."

A groan sounded off from the bed, but the owner barely moved.

"Dai-chan."

The blanketed figure moved this time, but only by a fraction.

"AOMINE DAIKI!"

Daiki yelped, rocketing off his bed as his senses kicked into overdrive. Unfortunately, his half-asleep—usually graceful—reaction was clumsy and stiff, and so the blue-haired man landed on the floor with a loud thud instead, bringing his pillows and comforter down with him.

"What the fuck, Satsuki?!" he half-growled, half-moaned angrily as he massaged his behind and tried to wrestle with his comforter. But the message was lost on his childhood friend. Daiki blearily looked up to find livid pink-colored eyes glaring down at him.

"You have been sleeping for the entire day and the party is in one hour, Dai-chan," hissed Momoi Satsuki. She turned away, high heels clacking against the wooden floorboards and long-sleeved dress swishing about. "You promised you'd be my date! My punctual, not hung-over date!"

Daiki yelped in indignation as his bath towel was thrown and harshly smacked his face. But he couldn't really voice any retort. Not when the pink-haired woman was this pissed and catty and she was right and Daiki was feeling a bit hung-over and her high-pitched screeching was grating on his pounding brain and he just really wanted to go back to sleep.

Unfortunately, he couldn't. Not while Satsuki was around.

Dammit, he really shouldn't have let Haizaki goad him into another round last night.

More like I shouldn't have let Satsuki talk me into this stupid party of hers…

No, stop that, you idiot. You promised that this would be her day. Remember why you promised.

How had she known that he had been drinking, anyway?

Gingerly picking himself up, Daiki braced a hand on his nightstand and surveyed his room with bleary eyes. It was a miracle he even reached his bed after getting wasted on a bunch of stupid bets by Kise and Haizaki. They had started slow while watching a basketball game—Daiki had wanted to finally kick back and relax after a successful drug bust that lasted for months—but somehow it turned into a drinking game of sorts. Honestly, he was still wondering how the hell Kise got Haizaki "Too Cool for Anybody" Shougo to join them for drinks.

Glancing at his alarm clock, he found "6:00 PM" blinking at him. Fuck, he intoned inwardly as he grimaced. No wonder she was so angry.

But he hadn't even drunk that much…

Opening the door, the sound of clinking glass reached him. Suddenly, he vaguely remembered that he hadn't actually cleaned up all those bottles of beer last night after his rowdy guests left his apartment. Well, that answers how Satsuki knew. He didn't actually end up too wasted last night, but he had been tired enough on consecutive stakeout nights this week that just a few bottles sapped him the last of his energy. Was this what it felt like getting older? Damn, he was only 28. He quietly chuckled, finding the train of thought hilarious somehow, then frowned when he realized the silliness of what he was doing. Maybe I did drink too much.

Daiki wobbly stepped back when Satsuki re-entered his bedroom with a glass of water and a tablet of aspirin on hand. "Get showered, get dressed, and get your ass in gear, Detective," she sternly ordered with a mocking tone to his title—to which the navy-haired man only grunted at while taking the tablet. Daiki tried not to let his guilt and embarrassment show—they've been having this kind of conversation for years, now, after all—but he had to admit that his current situation wasn't befitting of his job.

But hey, it was the start of his vacation. Even as a cop, he can afford some liberties, can't he?

No, shut up, you can't. Not today, at least. Remember the promise.

Knowing the aspirin's effects will soon come, Daiki mumbled thanks and sleepily moved to fetch his towel—grateful to wash off the dry taste in his mouth. If Satsuki was already harping on him about all this, then it would be better to hear the rest of her lecture after a good bath and a full stomach. He knew she wasn't finished with him yet.

Well, maybe just a bath. There was going to be food at the party, anyway.

He rubbed his eyes, massaged the bridge of his nose, and brushed back his dishevelled hair—and that's when Satsuki saw it.

"Dai-chan, wait," she called out, reaching towards him. "What—"

Daiki raised a brow when she brushed back his hair plastered from his forehead some more—he really should give that a trim—but then his brows fully scrunched down in confusion when the pink-haired woman stared at him with a mixture of shock, disbelief, and a hint of unamused disgust. He immediately took offense. Hey, just because he looked like shit didn't mean that Satsuki could start visually insulting him, okay?

"Really, Dai-chan?" she voiced flatly, as if questioning his life choices.

Daiki just turned even more confused and chagrined. He wasn't the most perfect of guys, he knew that.

Satsuki sighed. "Look at the mirror."

The blue-haired detective quickly stalked to the bathroom, yanking the door open and flipping the light switch on in haste when his brain finally caught up to what she was implying. If those bastards did anything to him—

"Motherfucker," he breathed.

Satsuki cast her eyes heavenward as she leaned on the doorframe.

On his tanned forehead was a childish drawing of a penis. Of all the things he could be sporting right now, it was a fucking dick.

Daiki rubbed the ink, but it wouldn't come off by friction alone. Then he gasped quietly. He palmed his eyes, the headache lifting but the feeling of being an idiot settling in. Fuck.

"At this point, I'm no longer surprised," said Satsuki, shaking her head. "You got pranked like this in university, too, remember? That's what you get for overindulging."

"… It's not a prank."

The pink-haired woman blinked. "What?" She looked at Daiki and how he had hunched his form over the bathroom countertop. Taking a huge gulp of air, the man slowly straightened up—a peculiar tension coiling in his shoulders.

"It's… not a prank," he repeated dejectedly, looking even more tired than when he woke up.

"What do you mean it's not a prank?" asked Satsuki warningly, her voice starting to go voluminous.

Daiki grimaced and braced himself. "I lost a bet and had to draw this on myself," he replied in a rush. He could feel his cheeks heating up in embarrassment. Last night's events were still blurry, but he could clearly remember having to stand in front of the mirror to drunkenly draw the stupid thing. Due to exhaustion, though, his body quickly succumbed to sleep after the little get-together and he forgot to clean the embarrassing thing off.

Daiki wasn't looking directly at his childhood friend—having faced the mirror from the start—but he could practically feel the anger and exasperation rolling off her to his side. Satsuki slowly exhaled, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I don't even know why I bother, Aomine-kun," she said after a beat.

He heard the tired resignation in the words and the now-rarely-used moniker, and that suddenly got him scared. The detective scrambled to reassure her—that he could erase the stupid drawing in time for the party, that he wouldn't make a spectacle of himself, that she would genuinely have a good time tonight.

It's been about a month now, but Satsuki's nasty break-up with her boyfriend hadn't gone over any easier. Daiki had tried so hard to be there for her—hell, he'd tried so hard to track down the asshole who broke her heart, too, but the little shit knew who would be coming for him and had hidden himself pretty well—but his schedule just hadn't settled. The drug bust been a huge operation in the precinct that had taken up most of his time, and he never got to fully allot a good moment to properly comfort her as he should—as any self-respecting best friend should. Then again, Satsuki should've really told him from the very start instead of hiding the break-up from him and letting the asshole get away.

He made their other friends promise that they would make it up to her in his stead while he was busy, though. And Kise and Tetsu had already made good on their promise.

It was now his turn.

But today… Fuck, fuck, he was supposed to finally start today. Tonight. This was why he agreed to escort her—why he was willing to spend his hard-earned vacation with her first thing in the morning and let her drag him to a party later with a bunch of people he could care less about.

(Well, okay, the invited are actually their old high school buddies that he's really been itching to see again, but still.)

Fucking hell, he messed up. He knew he shouldn't have let Haizaki goad him into the bet and gotten himself into this embarrassing and disappointing situation. But he could still make it work. By god, he will make it work. Because if he disappointed Satsuki now—sweet, silly, ever-nagging Satsuki who never gave up on him once, even when he had given up on himself—he would never be able to forgive himself ever again.

He's disappointed her enough in the past.

Daiki knew it was the exhaustion and the hangover talking and spilling his innermost insecurities, but at this point, he hardly cared. He opened his mouth to start his one hell of a reassuring speech. But then Satsuki dropped her hand and looked at him, and suddenly gasped in shock.

Daiki blinked and looked to where her pink-colored gaze rested. Even he couldn't stop himself from gaping. As magically as it could get, a thick black line quickly painted his inner left tanned forearm.

Holy shit. Holy shit.

He was manifesting. He was fucking manifesting.

He had a soulmate!

Then suddenly, the thick blackness quickly spread, forming into bold-lettered words—until finally, into one coherent sentence.

"… Dai-chan…"

Daiki had never been too fluent in English, even back in high school. But he had encountered the common tongue well enough during his years on the police force that he could now easily read a simple sentence such as this.

All caps.

No punctuation.

"YOU ARE SO DEAD," it said.

For a minute, the navy-haired detective just stared at the letters. He couldn't understand the coldness spreading through him—couldn't comprehend the feeling of his very stomach caving in on him. Of all the marks that could manifest on his skin for the first time ever, why did this one have to be so unromantic? Weren't first marks supposed to invoke that weird butterflies-in-your-tummy feeling that every kid was told about? 'Cause he was pretty sure it wasn't butterflies flying around in his right now.

There was so much rage and hatred oozing in the inked words that Daiki could actually feel the letters burn into his skin. You couldn't actually feel the very process of your soulmate's writing or drawing. But sometimes—according to what Daiki found out years ago as a hormonal-slash-secretly-hopeless-romantic teenage boy, mind you—the emotion behind the words or drawings may be transmitted to the soulmate, depending on the intensity of what the other was feeling.

Daiki still couldn't understand, though. Why did his soulmate write this onto their forearm? Why were they so angry that they used a thick-pointed marker of some sort?

Satsuki sighed next to him. "Well, who wouldn't be offended?" At Daiki's dumbfounded look that he shot towards her, she had to frown. "Dai-chan, they're appropriately furious at you," she clarified when he continued to look confused.

The navy-haired man still looked perplexed, as if the aspirin hadn't cleared his head yet. Satsuki slapped her forehead.

"You drew that, you idiot!" she snapped, vehemently stabbing the offending caricature with her finger. "They're talking to you! They're angry at you!"

Momoi Satsuki had seen her fair share of Aomine Daiki going abnormally pale throughout the years, but she never truly tires of the sight. Serves him right, the jerk.

Daiki, on the other hand, was trying not to panic. He didn't stop himself from cursing his idiot brain and idiot friends, though. Of course his soulmate would be pissed! Even he himself had been only moments ago, berating his past self from last night for its stupid actions that led to this dick drawing imprinted on his noggin for all the world to see. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

The detective's navy-colored eyes shut in shame, a groan escaping his lips as he realized that it really was all his fault. If the drawing had been done by a different hand—namely Kise or Haizaki, but mostly Haizaki, that bastard—then his soulmate wouldn't even be sporting any temporary tattoo right now. Marking Manifestations only showed up when the marking had been created by the soulmate itself, not other people. So if anyone had painted anything on him while he was sleeping, it would never manifest on his soulmate.

But Daiki drew this.

He drew this himself.

He groaned into his hands some more. It had been naïve of him to think that he wouldn't be getting a soulmate any time soon.

"Dai-chan?"

Daiki looked up to find Satsuki looking torn between amusement and sympathy. But somehow, the traces of disappointment were gone. He sighed and took a deep breath. "How much time left?"

"Huh?"

"The party."

Satsuki blinked, surprised at the sudden change in mood. "Uh… Fifty minutes," she confirmed with a glance to her watch.

"Okay, just give me fifteen and we'll hit the road," he promised, ruffling Satsuki's coiffed locks, much to her chagrin.

He shooed the confused pink-haired woman away and locked the bathroom door. Finally alone, he inhaled slowly, letting the tension slither off from his body. Dark blue eyes glanced down. I'll deal with you later, he said quietly to the angry writing on his arm.

Then he eyed the doodle on his forehead and grimaced.

---

There was always something so uplifting about vindication. That feeling of justice being served by one's own hands. That feeling of triumph at knowing the offender has been rightly dealt with.

Of course, a threatening message hardly counted when the bastard responsible for Taiga's bad mood still walked the earth unscathed but the redhead can rectify that someday soon, and the feeling of having made his intentions clear was enough to satisfy him today.

Taiga smugly capped the black marker, eyeing the words he'd vehemently written just moments ago. He wasn't too sure if his soulmate was Japanese—fate didn't always group people by their races, after all—so he went with the other, more widely-known language that he was fluent at. There was still a chance that it wouldn't be understood, but Taiga was hoping the way he'd written it would convey the message loud and clear. He wasn't even worried that the sentence would wind up unintelligible to his soulmate because of the Manifestation's inconsistency in appearance—he just knew that this one would get through, emotion theory true or not.

Himuro Tatsuya, his surrogate brother and roommate, just watched his obvious satisfaction with what looks to be half-amusement and half-concern in his olive-green eyes.

Taiga knew what he was thinking: that he may be in way over his head with this. You just don't go around spouting death threats at your one true soulmate just after you discover their existence, after all, right? But leaving a shitty doodle on one's forehead hardly constitutes as proper and courteous soulmate behavior for marking introductions, so if Taiga had to share his life with this immature asshole, then by god, Tatsuya can bet that he was going to slap them seven ways to Sunday until they understand that he's not going to take any of their shit, dammit.

(But honestly, the redhead's kinda annoyed at the universe already. Why the fuck is he going to get saddled with a jackass?)

"You're right. It was a better idea to shower first," he said to the black-haired man with a grin as he started dressing, finally obscuring his inked forearm with a long-sleeved shirt. Taiga had been roaring for a fight as soon as he discovered the offending drawing this morning and he was all ready to write down all the different ways in which he would be castrating the bastard—male; his soulmate was a guy and Taiga was sure of it because no woman on earth would ever use the universal phallic symbol on themselves—but Tatsuya had managed to penetrate the angry haze clouding Taiga's senses by pointing out that he still needs to bathe because they were going to be late.

Tatsuya wryly smiled. "I didn't tell you that so you can exact revenge on some hapless soul."

"Well, that's his problem, then. If he thinks he can get away with humiliating me, then he can think again," retorted Taiga.

His brother sighed. "Taiga, have you even considered that maybe he didn't do it on purpose? Maybe someone… forced him. And how can you even be sure that your soulmate is a guy?"

The redhead turned to him with a frown. "If that's the case, then why isn't this disappearing yet? It's been ten hours, Tatsuya." He pointed to the dick doodle partially hidden behind his two-toned fringe. Like the markings manifesting on a soulmate's skin, the same goes when the marking is erased—and the "only the creator's work can appear" rule also applies to the erasing. If someone else erased it, it wouldn't work. In fact, the marking will outright refuse to disappear—reflecting its bond with the soulmate's skin.

(The only exception to this is the creator's soulmate, though, who can also erase it.)

This was the reason why Taiga went through with his message. After cooling his head off in the shower, he kept waiting for the drawing to be erased. But it never happened. All throughout the fucking day—attending his little cousin's ballet recital in the morning, shopping at the supermarket, having no choice but to swing by the fire station for some paperwork and the post office for errands from his dad—it never fucking happened. And he was already pressed for time again—tonight's party was in just an hour—and goddammit why does he have so many engagements today, of all fucking days?

It was as if his shitty soulmate had actually expected and counted on him to walk out there in broad daylight with the fucking dick doodle on him.

Asshole, indeed. Taiga was glad that he owned a cap.

Wait till he finally meets the lil' shit.

"Case in point, my soulmate wants me to suffer," he concluded to Tatsuya as he combed his hair and arranged his fringe to hide the damn drawing. "And honestly, it's obviously a guy." Taiga glared at his forehead in the mirror.

Tatsuya sighed once more, shaking his head. "But that doesn't mean that you should be acting brashly. Don't tell me you'll just outright punch him when you realize who he—oh my god, you will, won't you?"

Taiga flashed him a mock hurt expression. "I can't believe you'd think I'd do anything less than that," he said in English.

"Taiga, this is your soulmate we're talking about."

"Yeah, and this is me we're talking about."

Tatsuya sighed exasperatedly. "And here I was hoping that my adorable little brother would be a gentle lover…"

"I would be a gentle lover, if only my stupid soulmate wasn't such a bastard!" protested Taiga vehemently, but he couldn't help blushing at the teasing.

"We don't know that for sure. My theory on forced drawing still stands, okay? You haven't completely refuted it yet," pointed out the black-haired man with a raised eyebrow.

Taiga frowned and pointed at his forehead. "Evidence number one, Tatsuya."

"But it's still possible, isn't it?" persisted the other.

"Okay, look. Maybe it is possible," relented Taiga with a huff. "But outside of that, I'm still punching him if this doesn't disappear when we get to the party and someone fucking notices it, okay? I've been having close calls all day, dammit." Finishing up with dressing, he debated putting on a cap. It would be a ridiculous thing considering that the sun had already gone down, but the act of covering up the stupid marking had calmed him greatly today. He has a reputation to uphold in this city, after all.

But in the end, he managed to convince himself that his fringe would be enough. It was just an evening party—a little get-together with old high school friends and friendly rivals from their basketball days, that's all. He doubted their hosts for tonight would let them party like wild animals. Surely by now his soulmate was going to erase the damn thing in a few hours' time. Call it his last attempt to put faith in his stupid soulmate or something.

Besides, if he showed up with a cap on, his friends will no doubt comment on it and then he'll never be able to hide the doodle. Oh, joy.

Taiga sighed and fetched his jacket from the entrance hall.

Tatsuya couldn't fault his brother for his actions. They were going to a long-awaited party, after all. It's been a while since they last saw Kuroko and Akashi—the two's honeymoon had been an around-the-world year-long trip—and tonight was going to be the first time they see the couple again. And by extension, all their other high school friends. Taiga surely didn't want to make a fool of himself tonight.

Tatsuya idly wondered if Atsushi was back from France yet.

The drive to Akashi and Kuroko's penthouse was relatively quiet save for Taiga's constant fussing with a mirror and his hair as Tatsuya drove. Tatsuya had already lost count of how many times he's rolled his eyes at the redhead's ministrations. It wasn't as if he was going to be publicly humiliated tonight. As far as Tatsuya knew, all of the people attending the get-together are their high school basketball buddies. Kuroko had confirmed that they had invited all of the teams' upperclassmen and the olive-eyed man was really looking forward to catching up with his old senior teammates.

Surely everyone would just fondly tease Taiga if they found out? That's usually what happens when he gets into trouble, and they would probably sympathize with him once they explain things, anyway. There really was no reason for him to get worked up so much.

"Taiga, relax. Everything's going to be fine," he intoned with fond exasperation.

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one sporting an embarrassing tattoo," accused Taiga with a glare.

"I'm sure it's not a tattoo, Taiga. Even the toughest of thugs wouldn't want something like that on their head. Your soulmate's just probably sleeping in or something." Then again, if the aforementioned "bastard of a soulmate" actually turned out to be a tattoo artist capable of painting on himself, then Taiga would actually be in deeper shit right now…

But Taiga didn't need to hear that.

"Sleep—Sleeping in. Are you serious right now? Who the fuck sleeps in at six in the evening?!"

"Hey, not everyone is an early bird like you, who has to report in at the station in the morning. And besides, once you start getting busy, you'll be irregularly sleeping, too."

The redheaded firefighter opted to grumble an unintelligible response at him and continue fussing over his hair.

When they finally arrive at the condominium building, Taiga's eyes were darting all over the place. Tatsuya rolled his eyes and pushed him inside the lobby. No use backing out now—he was sure that even Akashi had missed the taller redhead, and the newlyweds would be disappointed if Taiga didn't show up even after enthusiastically promising that he would. The two of them had already missed many a reunion party since they went back to the States for several years after graduating.

He would just have to grin and bear it.

"Maybe I can slip out after a while…" mumbled the redhead to himself, obviously deep in thought as they rode the elevator all the way up to the penthouse.

Tatsuya smirked. He shot Taiga a mock-scandalized look. "Are you seriously going to let one silly marking ruin this party for you? You've been missing Kuroko for a year now! And your old teammates, too! Don't tell me you're just going to give up?"

Taiga glared at him with a mixture of peeved annoyance. He knew Tatsuya was baiting him. And it was kind of working. "I don't want them to see it, okay?!"

"Then don't let anybody see it."

"But what if they do?!"

"Then just explain and grumble about it like you always do. The worst that can happen is that someone takes a picture," he pointed out with a shrug. Predictably, Taiga glared harder at him with his cheeks turning red.

"That is so not helping, dammit!" He was lucky they were alone in the elevator right now.

Tatsuya smirked knowingly. "You're specifically worried about Aomine, aren't you?" At the name, Taiga blushed even brighter.

"H-He's the type to do that kinda thing and it's been ages since I last saw him and then he'll see me like this after so long? He'll never let me live it down!" The redhead wasn't aware of it, but there was a hint of genuine concern on his face as he rambled about the annoying blunette—as if Aomine's opinion of his appearance tonight mattered so much. And it did.

Tatsuya knew Taiga was attracted to him to some degree. No one could really deny that there was this spark between them whenever they faced each other, whether on or off the court. But Taiga being Taiga meant that the attraction never blossomed into anything—he was too much of a hopeless romantic to ever initiate a relationship with a boy who probably wasn't his soulmate. Mismatched couples of that sort never did last for long once one of them manifests.

But if you asked Tatsuya, once upon a time, he had actually wished for Aomine Daiki to be his little brother's Intended.

"Taiga, if you're seriously worried about him, then you can just ask Momoi-san and Kuroko for help," pointed out the black-haired man matter-of-factly. "They're good at handling him, after all."

Taiga looked away, ignoring the heat pooling in his cheeks. "I know that, dammit."

He didn't even have time to mentally prepare himself when Tatsuya just strode in, never once pausing, and rang the penthouse's doorbell. As if to further fuel his helplessness and paranoia, the entrance was quickly opened just after a beat.

"Himuro-san! Kagami-kun! Welcome!"

Taiga had spent a good amount of time being Kuroko Tetsuya's friend and partner during his teen years. He had become adept at reading the otherwise-passive man's facial expressions. But over the years, it didn't really take a genius to decode Kuroko's moods anymore—not since he and Akashi Seijuurou finally tied the knot, that is.

The blue-haired kindergarten teacher was practically glowing as he ushered Taiga and Tatsuya in, giving each of them a friendly hug that they knew was rarely given in Japan—more so with someone like Kuroko.

"I'm really glad you two could make it," said Kuroko—Akashi now, ugh, this is still kind of confusing—with a radiant smile as he pulled away from Taiga. The former phantom player's looks had greatly matured throughout these years, but there was something about married life that seemed to have enhanced his happy aura even more. Taiga couldn't say that it was a bad look on him. If he was being honest, he was actually kind of jealous.

Studying Kuroko's expression, it seemed he hadn't noticed what was hidden away beneath his fringe.

Yet.

It'll be fine. They won't notice. Just play it cool.

"We haven't seen you in a year, you idiot. Of course, we'll make it!" mock-scolded the redhead, slapping Kuroko's shoulder playfully. He didn't need to mention how much he'd been missing out since he went back and forth between America and Japan. In fact, he actually had to visit last year just because Kuroko had specifically asked him to be his best man.

Kuroko chuckled, gesturing them to the rest of the huge penthouse after they deposited their coats. "I wouldn't have minded if you had other engagements, though. I know how busy work can be for you two. We'll be having a house-blessing by the end of this year, anyways."

"Oh, so you're finally going house-hunting?" asked Tatsuya.

Kuroko fondly smiled as his cheeks turned light pink. "Yes. Seijuurou-kun and I have finally come to an agreement about living in a quieter residential area. It'll be a good place to raise children."

Taiga shared an amused glance and shrug with Tatsuya behind the blunette. They always knew Kuroko was the doting wife between him and Akashi.

"Are you sure it's okay that we still call you 'Kuroko', though? Wouldn't that offend your husband?" asked Taiga.

The kindergarten teacher just shot him a wry smile. "We've already talked about this back in my wedding, Kagami-kun. It's fine. What else are you going to call me if you don't want to use my first name?"

Taiga didn't voice out that "Tetsuya" was exclusively for Akashi Seijuurou's use, other than Kuroko's own parents, that is. They all knew how possessive and jealous the crimson-eyed man could get, despite his heterochromatic other self no longer dominant in him. Taiga could just call him "Tetsu", but that was Ahomine's nickname for him. The redhead had pondered about this for several days before their wedding and he had always come to the same conclusion: that it didn't feel right to copy the dark-skinned guy's moniker for Kuroko. Even after a few years of no basketball matches between them, the competitive spirit was still strong.

Taiga suddenly felt a strange pang of longing go through him.

"He could always just call you 'Akashi'," suggested a new voice.

Kuroko immediately retorted. "He calls you that."

Taiga looked up to find a smirking Akashi Seijuurou moving towards them with half-filled glasses on hand. Sometime during their college years, he had learned to be wary of the other redhead when it came to alcohol. He found out the hard way that Akashi could actually be a decent prankster when he wanted to be, and that revelation in itself was both incredulous and frightening. So he didn't bother repressing his brow quirking in suspicion when the crimson-eyed businessman handed him and Tatsuya a glass of their own. One could never really tell…

Akashi just amusedly smirked even more.

Now seeing them stand side-by-side solidified the fact that they're married even more. Truthfully, Taiga still found it hard to believe. It had already been almost a year since Kuroko and Akashi had exchanged vows and he had stood next to the blunette as his best man. Everything about that wedding felt so surreal to the redheaded firefighter that he still could hardly believe it. It was like a waking dream.

It wasn't as if he didn't want them together—hell, everybody in their basketball circle had more or less guessed that the two members of the Generation of Miracles would probably end up as soulmates—but it was still hard to believe that they've already gotten together before they hit their 30s. Most people weren't ready for life-long commitment at that age yet.

Then again, there was Midorima and Takao—or rather, Midorima and Midorima. Those two beat the Kuroko-Akashi couple by a year and a half. And no one was really surprised when they turned out to be meant for each other.

Taiga observed the two husbands before him, feeling a wry grin coming on. There really was something about married life that brought out this ethereal glow in couples. Even with just the four of them together outside the threshold of the living room and the rest of the party on the other side chattering faintly in the background, the couple was still enveloped in a strange aura that contrasted them starkly against him and his surrogate brother.

"Get a room, you two!" he half-scolded, half-teased when Akashi and Kuroko kept smiling stupidly and making goo-goo eyes at each other.

"How was the honeymoon?" asked Tatsuya, taking a sip of his drink to hide his amusement.

"Well, if you ask me…" started Akashi, looking at his husband with glee in his eyes.

"NEVER MIND! WE DON'T WANNA HEAR IT!" interrupted Taiga hastily, pointing an accusing finger at the other redhead. He caught that brief glimmer of gold in Akashi's left eye and knew his other self was deliberately teasing him. Hell, Akashi's monochromatic-eyed self was probably in cahoots with him, too. He'd really rather not hear what these perverts had done.

Kuroko's not innocent, too, he added grimly when the blunette tried to hide his smile at Taiga's obvious discomfort.

"It was amazing," answered Kuroko suggestively to Tatsuya's question with a smirk. "The constant travelling was tiring, of course, but all the different sights made it worthwhile."

"I'll bet. You two crossed the globe in one year, after all."

"Well, I must confess that it wasn't purely for pleasure," admitted Akashi with an apologetic smile towards Kuroko. Said blunette's lips quirked in mirth. That must mean that Akashi had used the opportunity to work while they were travelling.

Taiga snorted. Boy, Kuroko sure must've been pissed when he found out. "But nonetheless," Akashi continued as he wrapped an arm around his spouse's shoulders, "the trip was worth every penny."

"Ugh, please stop trying to make us jealous with your lovey-dovey married life," moaned Taiga, downing his glass in one go.

Tatsuya grinned slyly. "You're just saying that because you wish your soulmate acted more like them."

Taiga flinched, fighting the urge to spit out his drink and coughing violently behind his hand instead as he endured the burn on his throat. He tearily glared at his brother, all ready to give him hell for that slip about his supposed-to-be-non-existent-as-of-now soulmate.

"Kagami-kun…?"

The aforementioned redhead turned to Kuroko in confusion at the worried tone of his voice. Kuroko and Akashi both stared at him in surprised expressions. The blunette raised a finger and pointed at his head. "What's that on your—?"

Taiga turned away, quickly palming his forehead. "Shit!"

It didn't help at all when Tatsuya just laughed.

"Kagami-kun, are you okay? What's—"

"Y-Yeah! I'm fine! Can I use your bathroom for a sec?"

Kuroko's eyebrows rose in concern but he didn't think twice giving him the needed directions.

"I'll be right back!" said Taiga, handing Tatsuya his glass. But he didn't waste his chance when they got close enough. "Don't you dare," he hissed at the black-haired man warningly before whipping away towards the end of the hallway.

Unfortunately, Tatsuya was having too much fun teasing him. "The ever-observant duo already noticed. What makes you think they're not gonna interrogate me?" he called out to the redhead. All he got in response was an English "I'll kick your ass, Tatsuya!" before a door slammed.

As expected, Kuroko turned to him as soon as Taiga was gone. "Himuro-san, what was that on his forehead?"

"It looked like a drawing of some sort," supplied Akashi, his sharp crimson gaze fixing itself onto Tatsuya. "And what is this about Kagami being jealous? You mentioned a soulmate."

Tatsuya smiled and took a sip. "Oh, nothing. Just that his soulmate made himself known in the most… unorthodox of ways."

---

"I'm sorry."

The words echoed awkwardly inside the car, but Daiki endured the unease. Apologizing wasn't a forte of his—an old schoolmate had that one down pat—but throughout the years, he's learned that it was a needed skill if he wanted to keep his relationships with others happy and healthy. He had apologized to Satsuki thousands of times in his entire life already, but it never did make the process any easier. That feeling of dread in the silence that would follow always manages to set Daiki's teeth on edge.

He kept his eyes on the road, but he could clearly see the pink-haired woman sigh and chuckle softly.

"What are you apologizing for, Dai-chan?"

Daiki let out a slow exhale. She wasn't angry.

"For making you late for the party. For not waking up on time. For getting drunk," he enumerated quietly.

"Those aren't really new when it comes to you, you know," said Satsuki, mirth coloring her voice.

The dark-skinned man grimaced. "Don't remind me." To his friends, he had become the stereotypical troublemaker whose life was never on track. His laziness and disinterest during his teenage years hadn't help and had branded him as such—and now even as a cop, they still thought of him that way.

They always found it hard to believe that he became a detective at such a young age.

"It's fine, Dai-chan," reassured Satsuki, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You're trying to make up for it right now, aren't you?"

"I thought you'd be angrier since we haven't hung out in weeks and I screw things up when we finally could."

"Well, the fact that you'll be getting your ass kicked by your own soulmate more than makes up for everything," she replied sweetly, flashing him a smug grin.

Daiki grumbled. Figures.

Satsuki laughed at his disgruntled expression. "I still can't believe the first marking you got from your Intended was a death threat!"

"It's not funny, Satsuki," he said flatly, glaring at the road instead.

"Yes, it is~! That's what you get for your stupid antics. I wonder what they'll do to you…" said Satsuki, tapping a finger against her chin.

Daiki definitely did not want to wonder about that. Whoever his soulmate is had been confident enough to leave him an intimidating message. He wasn't too sure of their gender, but he had to give the person props. They sure were gutsy enough to threaten him, albeit never meeting each other yet.

Then again, they could actually turn out to be a person who can seriously kick ass, which is why they weren't afraid to voice their displeasure at the little "gift" he left them.

The inked message was currently hidden beneath his long-sleeved dress shirt and jacket, but the burning feeling of contempt still prickled his skin. Honestly, he was kind of pissed at his soulmate, too—not a lot of people talk to him like that nowadays and they were practically strangers saddled together by fate—but he also had to internally admit that the sliver of attitude that he's been shown so far actually turned him on.

This lil' spitfire was feisty. And he liked that.

The universe at least got one thing right with his preferences.

Now, let's hope it's a girl with nice boobs.

The doodle on his forehead was quickly dealt with during his shower, but as he suspected, he couldn't fully erase it. Daiki had to wonder what marker had he used to make the ink as stubborn as a mold stain. Currently, the color was mostly faded, but one could still see a faint outline if the lighting was bright enough. Fortunately, he wasn't as fair-skinned as his friends and he had kept his dark-blue fringe long throughout the years so it covered the drawing well enough. Now he just had to make sure that he left his hair alone. He would've borrowed a skin toner from Satsuki, but he knew she didn't have any for his color and she wouldn't have let him have it as punishment.

Hopefully, his actions had appeased his soulmate, if only lessened their anger a bit. He'll try to find a better solution later when he gets home.

"I wonder if they're all bark and no bite," he said aloud, smirking at the thought of his soulmate not actually being as tough as they sounded.

Satsuki rolled her eyes. "Knowing how soulmates work, I'm pretty sure they'll bite hard when it comes to you."

Daiki grinned. "Kinky."

Satsuki promptly smacked his arm.

The blue-haired detective couldn't help laughing at her disgusted expression. "Seriously, though," he started, sobering up. "I'm really sorry. I promise you'll have a good time tonight."

Satsuki smiled, knowing how rare it was for one Aomine Daiki to sincerely apologize. But she knew exactly why the blunette was kicking himself up over this. It wasn't her wedding they were attending—or anything important to her that she would never forgive him for if he fucked up. It was just one of Tetsu-kun and Akashi-kun's parties.

The real reason why he's frustrated about this was because of her situation.

"Dai-chan…" She gazed at the built profile of her childhood and best friend, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Is this because you haven't been there for me last time?"

As expected, the muscles underneath her fingertips tensed and Daiki kept his eyes trained on the road. Satsuki sighed. "Dai-chan, there's something you need to know."

"Oh, like where that asshole is hiding himself at? 'Cause he's pretty much overdue for some ass-kicking, I'll tell you that. I can't even believe you let him run."

"He was never my boyfriend."

"What?!" Daiki whipped his head to her in incredulity, but quickly turned back to his driving in panic. "What do you mean he was never your boyfriend? You two dated, didn't you? You introduced him to me as your boyfriend!"

"That's all it was, Dai-chan—dating," she explained. "We just hung out and never really committed to each other. And we lied to you guys so you wouldn't keep worrying about me." She retracted her hand and started toying with the zipper of her bag. "I mean… You know how it is for mismatched couples."

Daiki most definitely knew how it was for mismatched couples. He himself had his fair share of flings growing up—even now, one night stands were a part of his hectic life—and he most definitely knew that they never last unless both parties involved turned out to be mate-less and part of the growing minority in society. He's heard of mate-less couples who decided to get hitched and lived happily ever after—but never a mismatched couple wherein one has manifested.

It was unfair, but it was the reality of their universe.

"You guys dated for a year, Satsuki," he pointed out, still shocked that they never actually put a permanent label on their relationship. All this time, he thought somebody had finally captured his best friend's heart—hell, he and the rest of the Generation of Miracles even tested the guy to see if he was going to be loyal to Satsuki! But to think that…

"I know. I'm really sorry we tricked you. But I'm not sorry that I didn't tell you we broke up. I knew how you would act."

Daiki shifted the gear when they encountered a red light. "So what, he finally broke up with you because he couldn't keep acting?" he guessed sardonically.

Her voice didn't waver in the slightest, as if the pink-haired woman was nobly defending her ex-not-boyfriend from his contempt. "He broke up with me because he had to."

He had to.

Navy-blue eyes pierced Satsuki's pink-colored ones in the dimness of the car beneath orange streetlights.

Because he manifested and decided that the woman he had been seeing for the past year mattered less than the one he hadn't even met yet.

Daiki knew that despite years of honing a stony expression, his eyes never failed to betray his true emotions. But his best friend didn't need to see them to know what he was thinking.

"It's not his fault, Dai-chan. He couldn't help it."

"He couldn't help leaving you in the dust?"

"Well, what would you have done if you were in his shoes?"

Daiki opened his mouth, knowing exactly what to retort back, but stopped before he could say anything—realizing that no matter what, it would sound hypocritical of him and Satsuki would point it out. He didn't want to admit it, but looking at the situation… what her ex had done really was the best course of action.

But… was it really? He's got a soulmate now, but Satsuki…

"I wasn't angry when he told me," clarified Satsuki much too calmly for Daiki's taste. "In fact, I was glad that he decided to call it quits instead of stringing me along when he had the power to do so."

"You were dating," repeated the detective flatly. The woman smiled at the deceptively calm tone he rarely used.

"Yeah, but I didn't love him. That's why it was okay for me to let go. I was fond of him, yes, but I didn't really love him. It's like with Tetsu-kun. We tried dating for a short while, remember?" Satsuki looked ahead and relaxed against her seat. "But in the end, I realize that he just wasn't the one, as I had been daydreaming about."

"It's not fair," muttered Daiki, looking away. "He gets his happy-ever-after, but you're here and—"

"Hanging out with my best friend in the whole wide world," cut off Satsuki with a playful wink.

Daiki frowned. "Shut up."

Satsuki shook her head and held her palm up to his gaze. "Dai-chan. I'm fine. Really."

The blue-haired man huffed and looked back at the road, impatiently waiting for the green light.

"No, really, Dai-chan. Look!" He glanced to his friend out of her insistence, but she kept holding her palm up. "What?" A familiar black mark caught his gaze, just a few centimeters beneath her thumb. He turned back to the steering wheel with a raised brow.

A split-second later, his eyes widened and he whipped his head back to the hand, squinting in the dimness and disbelief of what he was actually seeing.

"Holy—"

BEEP BEEP

The two flinched, Daiki more so when he realized the light had already turned green, and he hurriedly shifted the gear. Once they were back on the road, though, he couldn't help glancing back and forth between Satsuki and the streets.

"How long have you had that?!"

"Almost a month ago…" said Satsuki, starting to feel giddy and shy at the memory.

"When Asshole left you?!"

"That's not his name but yes, just a few hours after he ended the whole thing."

"How could you keep something like this from me for a month?! This is Strike Two, Satsuki!" said Daiki, feeling indignant.

"W-Well, they never tried anything past completing it! And you were busy a-and…"

As Satsuki spouted out excuses, Daiki tried to remain calm. It was sort of easy considering that not too long ago, he also manifested right before his very eyes—but it was also hard considering that for ten years, both he and Satsuki had awaited the day the marking she left would finally be replied to. When they were still in high school, the pink-haired woman had thought of drawing half of a small simple marking on her palm every morning as a way of greeting her soulmate and checking to see if she finally manifested. Her drawings ranged from a half of a heart to a semi-circle, and every day they waited for an answer.

It became a ritual for Satsuki ever since. Daiki once thought of trying her method, but the sickeningly sweet romance of it all embarrassed him too much and he ended up scoffing at Satsuki for her hopeless pining.

(He would never admit that he did try it for a while before feeling ridiculous about himself, though.)

So for several years, Satsuki's markings stayed incomplete. Until a month ago.

Daiki took her hand and examined it more thoroughly after they stopped for another red light. She had drawn half of a star in black ink, and the other half—the one that was always blank—was now a faded shade of the color in a perfect half of the original star.

"This was a month ago?"

"Oh, no, I change the drawing every day, as usual."

He looked up at her. "And they reply every day?" he asked incredulously.

Satsuki nodded eagerly, a supressed smile beaming across her face. It was obvious that she so badly wanted to gush to him about the subject. Daiki let out a breathy chuckle, shaking his head. It was like a fairy tale come to life.

"Did you try anything else?" he asked as he drove once again.

"No. Just this." Satsuki cupped her hand, painstakingly tracing the markings on her palm. "I don't want to rush. I think they don't want to either."

"Funny how everyone's rushing to find their soulmates and you're here just exchanging doodles with yours," pointed out Daiki idly with a smirk on.

"Look who's talking," retorted Satsuki with a smirk of her own. The detective just rolled his eyes and opted to scoff to humor her.

The building Akashi and Tetsu were currently living at always did both impress and intimidate Daiki. It was in a good location, near the commercial district and a bit away from shady places, and the place manages to look classy without being too gaudy—something that lifted Daiki's confidence whenever he visited as he's aware that he's not the well-dressed type. He knew that Tetsu wants to live in a residential area and is planning on convincing his husband, though, so the dark-skinned man was at least glad that he wouldn't be seeing much of these high-end places after a while.

But he bet Tetsu would have no problem with the convincing. Akashi had always spoiled him rotten ever since they got together.

Before they even neared the spacious penthouse, they could already hear faint chatter and ambient music. Everybody invited must already be here. Satsuki happily skipped to the entrance and rang the doorbell. It took a few moments but they were finally greeted by a familiar face.

Himuro Tatsuya smiled and opened the door wider. "Momoi-san! Aomine! Come on in!"

"Ah, Tatsu-kun!" Satsuki hugged him in greeting after entering the hallway. "It's been a while!" She leaned back, casting him an accusing look. "I didn't know you were back from America already!"

As far as Daiki knew, Satsuki and Himuro had become close during their last few years of university. They had crossed each other's path one winter afternoon and began hanging out during lunch breaks until they graduated. Satsuki still contacted him from time to time, but hanging out became less frequent when Himuro went back to the States to help in the family business.

"Yeah, long time no see. I just got back two weeks ago, but I wanted to surprise you," answered Himuro with a laugh when he finally detached Satsuki from him. "I'm staying with Taiga again, but I'll be having my own place soon."

"So you finally got the job?" Satsuki asked excitedly.

"Yeah. I'll still have to make trips back and forth, but having a home back in LA makes it even easier for me," he explained proudly. If Daiki remembered correctly, Himuro had wanted to work for an international fashion brand.

"By the way, congratulations, Aomine," the black-haired man suddenly greeted. "I heard you got promoted."

"Thanks. Congrats, too. I'd flashed you my badge to complete the look, but…" he teased with a smug grin to Satsuki.

"I'll swat you, I swear to God," she threatened with a narrowing of her eyes. As expected, Daiki and Himuro laughed.

"Let me guess: you kept whipping it out for a while?" asked Himuro, chuckling.

"I wasn't the only one annoyed, I'll tell you that!" said the pink-haired woman, huffing and crossing her arms.

"Oh, yeah, you said you're staying with Kagami?" asked Daiki, changing the subject before his childhood friend ranted his ears off. "I didn't know he was back in town."

Truthfully, he hadn't heard much from the redhead himself for the past couple of years. Tetsu kept him updated—Kagami had gone back to America alongside Himuro when they graduated—but all he truly knew of the man now was that he became a firefighter instead of a professional basketball player. He does get to see him again every now and then whenever he visited Japan, and they manage to play a couple of one-on-ones just like in the good old days, but those had always been short-lived and he had to go back to the States after a while. They kept in touch—he had Kagami's number, email address, and social media contacts—but they never really kept much of a conversation up. He was busy aiming to be a cop and eventually a detective, while the redhead was busy working towards his own goals.

So to hear that Kagami Taiga finally had a place of his own in Japan again made him realize just how long it's been since he'd actually properly seen the guy. The last time was at Tetsu and Akashi's wedding.

Daiki couldn't say that he minded feeling excited about meeting him again.

"Yeah, he's working here now," answered Himuro, starting to lead the way once he and Satsuki finished depositing their coats.

"As a firefighter?" asked Satsuki.

"Yeah. He just got assigned to his team a week before I moved in."

"Where is he living now?"

"Oh, in just the next city."

Daiki was going to ask more—Is he here already? How has he been?—but he was stopped short when they finally reached the spacious living room and found a crowd of familiar faces turning towards them.

"Aomine! Momoi!" called out their former captain Imayoshi Shoichi, happily waving an arm and beckoning them to join the group. Among them were Sakurai, Captain Wakamatsu, Susa-senpai, and all their other kouhai who joined their team in their later years.

But before they could take a step, their two well-dressed hosts came forward and greeted them with hugs. Daiki yelped when his side was pinched. "You're late," scolded Tetsu flatly, giving the dark-skinned man his best deadpan look.

"You're off to a bad start in your career, Detective Aomine," joined Akashi with a teasing tone, clicking his tongue and letting his husband glare for the both of them.

"Technically, I've started my career years ago, dammit!" retorted Daiki while rubbing his side, hissing as the pain slowly subsided. Himuro gave him a sympathetic smile and left them while Satsuki just snickered at him, getting away scot-free. Years ago, he would've indignantly questioned why she wasn't scolded, but being friends with Akashi and Tetsu—hell, even with Midorima, Kise, and Murasakibara—had gradually taught him that they can always tell when things were his fault or not. And considering what happened earlier, they had accurately guessed once again that Daiki had been the reason why they arrived late.

"It's so good to see you two again!" squealed Satsuki, all but crushing Tetsu with her ample chest. Back in high school and college, Satsuki had been convinced that Tetsu was going to be her fated. But after several—a lot, really—instances of the blunette being nothing but platonically and brotherly kind and patient with her yet reserving this particularly searing look for Akashi, it finally sunk in that Kuroko Tetsuya might not be Satsuki's dreamy prince. That fact solidified even more once Tetsu finally manifested and it turned out Akashi was his soulmate all along. Satsuki, for her part, had taken the news quite well, considering that she had been pining for so long.

Honestly, Daiki didn't know how she did it.

"You're looking beautiful this fine evening, Momoi-san," said Akashi as he gently pried his spouse away from the woman's clutches.

"Flatterer," accused Satsuki playfully, letting Tetsu escape.

"We thought you weren't going to make it, Aomine-kun," remarked Tetsu.

"Huh? Why?"

"Kise notified us that you might be otherwise indisposed," explained Akashi.

Daiki quickly whipped his head to scan the room and soon enough, found the aforementioned blond belatedly hiding behind his former teammates from Kaijou. "Of course he'd say that. He's half of the reason why I'm late," growled Daiki, glaring at Kise when he tried peeking at him.

"And the other half?" asked Tetsu.

"Haizaki," he answered with a grimace. "The two bastards got me drinking too much last night."

His three companions shook their heads in exasperation, but they weren't surprised at the news. Somehow, which can only be explained by divine intervention, Haizaki had finally cleaned up his act and became a better guy come their university days—albeit still a jerk sometimes. After a while, he and Kise made amends, and they slowly became pals these past few years when they discovered a mutual dislike for a certain neighborhood playboy who both dated Kise's oldest sister and Haizaki's mother.

The Generation of Miracles had to thank their former Teikou captain, Nijimura Shuuzou, for successfully reforming Haizaki for good. Or rather, they had thanked the universe for matching the two of them for each other.

Daiki was surprised to find said Teikou captain chatting amicably with the bespectacled former Seirin captain—while Haizaki sat between them, looking wary at the two's apparent budding friendship, and the tall Seirin center was smiling at him with pity in his eyes. Seirin's small-chested ex-coach passed by their couch and smirked at Haizaki's face.

Serves him right for this stupid doodle on my head.

"How was the honeymoon?" he heard Satsuki ask.

"Well, if you ask me…" started Akashi—and Daiki didn't have to look to see that the crimson-haired businessman was grinning.

"O-On second thought, never mind!" hastily interjected the navy blue-haired detective, knowing fully well what that overly-happy tone Akashi had used meant. Damn Satsuki. She may like hearing about those kinds of exploits, but he didn't—and he most definitely didn't want to know about how his two friends are in the bedroom, thank you very much.

The three laughed at his obvious displeasure, and Tetsu leaned closer to his husband. It was still amazing to see that their former emperor of a captain and their phantom sixth man were now happily married to each other. He had to keep reminding himself that Tetsu was an Akashi now. As the two and Satsuki chatted about houses in the residential district of the city, Daiki silently studied them. There was definitely a glow about Akashi and Tetsu—one that contrasted them sharply to everyone else.

Well, maybe not everyone. The dark-skinned man looked at the other couples in the room.

Midorima and his husband Takao were chatting with some of the Seirin guys. Hayama, Akashi's former teammate, and his boyfriend Miyaji Kiyoshi, who was Midorima and Takao's senior, were by the buffet on the dining table and chatting with Mibuchi and Nebuya of Rakuzan, who were lovers since university graduation. Captain Imayoshi and Captain Wakamatsu—who only recently got together—were perusing through a song book while Izuki of Seirin and Moriyama of Kaijou—who started dating after Tetsu and Akashi's wedding reception—tried their skills on the karaoke. The pair Liu and Fukui of Yosen were playing some colorful card game with some of the younger guys—the strange match of bespectacled Nakamura of Kaijou and apologetic Ryou high-fiving when they managed to double-team a laughing Ogiwara, Tetsu's childhood friend, and take him out of the game.

All of the couples he knew had distinct auras of contentment surrounding them. After a beat, Daiki realized that all of them had manifested and were soul-matched. The detective wryly grinned—although there was a bitter, forced curve to it.

Of course they were all fated to each other.

Daiki turned back to the Akashi couple and found them looking excitedly at Satsuki's palm. Daiki wasn't sure who had known about her manifesting before he did—after all, it was already a month ago and she had hidden the truth about her break-up from him for a while. The blue-haired man felt another bout of jealousy creeping up to him. If only Satsuki hadn't kept things from him…

"I'm sure you'll meet them soon," said Tetsu, holding Akashi's hand.

"Yes, I'm sure they're just right around the corner," added Akashi, kissing his husband's fingers.

Daiki frowned. He wasn't too sure—Akashi had sounded teasing—but there was something else about the way he said it that—

"Please stop eye-fucking each other in front of your guests."

Daiki's eyes widened. Out of nowhere, a grimacing Kagami Taiga—dressed in a long-sleeved, pristine white button-down and an impressive pair of black slacks—came into the living room from the hallway. He was going to pass by them, actively ignoring Akashi and Tetsu's chuckles, but then dark blue hair caught his attention and he turned back to find Daiki gaping at him.

"Aomine…" he murmured in surprise.

"Kagami," muttered Daiki back, keeping his gaze on the other's burgundy-red eyes. How long has it been since he actually stared at that color?

"Kagamin~!" Daiki jolted as Satsuki ran up to the tall redhead and unabashedly hugged him. Kagami just laughed and set her down. He was better at being with Satsuki now—they discovered back in high school that he floundered around women—but there was still some pink dusting his cheeks.

Still such a dork, thought Daiki with an internal chuckle. But he wasn't wholly amused with what his best friend did.

"Long time no see," Kagami greeted to both of them. Daiki saw in his peripheral vision that Akashi and Tetsu decided to leave them to it and moved to entertain their other guests.

"Yeah, it's been a while," answered Daiki. "You're still behind the points."

To his delight, the redhead grinned challengingly. "We'll see about that. Next day-off we share and one-on-ones from dawn to dusk? I'm good tomorrow."

"Oh, it's on, Tiger." This was what he liked about Kagami—he understood Daiki on a whole different level from Satsuki, Tetsu, and Akashi. As if the other was a reflection born to mirror him.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I would've thought you two were flirting with each other," remarked Satsuki offhandedly, moving to join Aida Riko at the buffet table. Predictably, the two ex-power forwards started and reddened at her comment.

"S-Shut up, Satsuki!" called out Daiki, trying to rein in his embarrassment. It did sound flirty.

And the problem was that Daiki hadn't minded.

"I, uh, heard you became a detective," said Kagami, trying to lighten the subject. They were by the edge of the living room where the chatter was vibrant, but for some reason, standing next to each other felt as if they were alone.

"Yeah…" answered Daiki, finding his voice strained. He coughed. "Just last month, actually. Though it's more like I'm the errand boy again."

"Oh."

Dark blue eyes darted to the tall redhead. "And you? Heard you finally got a job here."

"Ah, yeah. At the fire station two cities from here."

Daiki shook his head in amusement and inclined Kagami to follow him, taking a seat near the dining table. Himuro was sitting near them and chatting with Furihata of Seirin, so Kagami took the seat next to him, placing his feet almost perpendicular to Daiki's. "And here I thought you were gonna go pro," Daiki elaborated, leaning back and stretching his legs.

Kagami shrugged. "I had a dream job. And besides, I thought you were gonna go pro no matter what."

The detective shrugged in return. "Well, I had a dream job, too." He wasn't about to voice out that while basketball had always surpassed his wanting to be a cop, he had actually given up on becoming a professional basketball player because Kagami had no plans on being one. That would just be too sappy. He was willing to admit that it was all thanks to Kagami—and Tetsu, too—that he fell in love with basketball again back in high school. But telling him that playing would be all for nothing if Kagami wasn't going to play against him?

He might as well just say that he had always been attracted to him.

Daiki frowned. He was not. What the fuck. He already had this conversation with himself years ago.

Kagami raised a brow. "Aomine?" At the name, Daiki blinked and waved him away with an unconcerned shake of his head—but internally, the blunette was cursing himself for letting slip his inner turmoil. Cops weren't supposed to be transparent.

(Okay, maybe we are, but that's beside the point.)

Kagami eyed him curiously some more, before turning to Himuro when the other noticed him sitting there. Daiki took the opportunity to stand up and head to the table behind them for a drink.

"So how was it?"

"It's gone!"

Raising a brow, Daiki paused in pouring beer onto his mug. That was Himuro and Kagami. For some reason, Kagami sounded victorious. Also, they seemed to be speaking in hushed tones.

"Just a while ago?" asked Himuro, sounding surprised.

"Yeah! I watched it vanish while I was looking at the mirror. Still has faint marks, though, but the worse of it is gone."

"What's gone?"

Daiki could practically see the surrogate brothers turn to Furihata in shock. To his credit, Kagami didn't flounder as much. "Oh, uh, this really annoying rash I got this morning. I thought it would never go away."

Daiki stared unseeingly for a bit, before shaking his head ruefully. What the hell was he doing eavesdropping? He wasn't on duty, and he most definitely didn't need to know about Kagami's rash. Picking up the two mugs he filled, he went back to his seat and offered one to the redhead.

Kagami gratefully accepted it as Daiki greeted Himuro again and exchanged pleasantries with Furihata. He wasn't expecting a shock to run up his fingers when they brushed against Kagami's, but he was proud to say he hadn't dropped the mug.

The party was in full swing now, and to distract himself from the redhead next to him—Christ, those pants should be illegal—Daiki watched as Satsuki flitted around the place, greeting old friends left and right as if she was the host. It helped that she was looking vibrant tonight, with her silver long-sleeved asymmetrical dress and matching heels, and her long pink hair exquisitely coiffed into a messy updo.

Daiki found that the three others with him were watching her, as well. "Momoi-san is looking wonderful tonight," commented Himuro with a smile, taking a sip from his glass.

"Yeah…" agreed Daiki quietly, chuckling when she found the Midorimas and proceeded to glomp the bespectacled doctor, much to his chagrin and his black-haired husband's delight.

"It's hard to believe that she just recently broke up with her boyfriend."

Daiki looked at Himuro, and the olive-eyed man gave him an apologetic smile. Fucking hell, was he really the only one who hadn't known?

But maybe he was the only one who knows that she was never in a relationship to begin with. It was possible. Satsuki never told him that she had confessed that to the rest of the Miracles. It was possible he was the first one she admitted it to.

"If I only found out sooner, that bastard would be sporting a broken jaw by now," he muttered instead, growling at the thought of Satsuki's ex-never-was-boyfriend and his stupid manifestation.

"I heard Akashi had him hunted down," mentioned Furihata lowly, sighing exasperatedly at the aforementioned man's antics.

"Did they find him, then?" asked Kagami hesitantly.

"Nope. Which is why he still doesn't have a broken jaw."

Annoyed, Daiki took a large gulp of his beer. Looking around the place, he slowly realized that there was something missing from the familiar scene before him. He glanced at the buffet and frowned.

"Hey, where's Murasakibara?" The purple-haired giant was nowhere to be seen at the places one would expect him to frequent in this party.

Himuro smiled ruefully. "Kuroko said he won't be able to make it tonight. His flight got delayed, so he'll be arriving in the morning instead. He'll join him and Akashi for breakfast to make up for it."

Daiki snorted in amusement. Looks like their hosts will have their hands full feeding one overly-tall man-child tomorrow. "Too bad. He hasn't visited once after Tetsu's wedding."

"I think it was because Nebuya finally beat him in their eating competition at the reception," mused Kagami.

"No, it's because Himuro walked down the aisle with someone else instead of him," corrected Daiki with a snort.

"What? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everyone knows Murasakibara is close with Himuro," answered Furihata matter-of-factly, as if Kagami only forgot.

"Well, yeah, but… what could he do? It was already in the program!" Kagami pointed out.

Daiki took another sip, reminiscing that crazy, happy day.

Aside from the grooms, there were fourteen others in the entourage of the wedding. Kagami was Tetsu's best man, while Furihata himself was Akashi's. Daiki could still hardly believe that the brown-haired Chihuahua from their first year had become one of Akashi Seijuurou's best friends throughout the years.

Apparently, when the original personality of the redhead finally met the cowardly point guard who faced off against his daunting other self, they became fast friends at Tetsu's birthday party after that fateful Winter Cup. Then Furihata became Seirin's captain on his third year and was instantly considered Akashi's rival during Seirin vs. Rakuzan matches. Somehow, the cowardly Chihuahua managed to develop his own technique in dealing with the lion emperor's plays. Their friendship didn't end with high school graduation. They still hung out in university as Akashi started courting Tetsu—he was sure Furi became both their wingman during that time—and when Furihata finally landed a job as a banker, Akashi didn't hesitate to steal him away to be his private accountant. They've been the best of buddies for years now.

Next in line on the entourage had been him and Mibuchi. Daiki was pretty sure everyone had been enjoying his discomfort when Mibuchi kept making passes at him as they walked down the aisle. For his part, he was proud of his self-control—then again, if he so much as harmed a single hair on the effeminate man, Nebuya will no doubt bury him alive. Which was totally unfair because it was his boyfriend who was batting his eyelashes.

Satsuki and Mayuzumi, Akashi's brief second version of the Phantom Sixth Man in Rakuzan, had walked after them. Mayuzumi wasn't much of a people-person, but similar to the case of Furihata, he got along well enough with the original personality of Akashi and thus they became good friends after several years. In fact, Akashi was proud that the gray-haired man had finally opened up to his former teammates in Rakuzan after a while, when they stuck with Akashi after high school. This led to Mayuzumi and Tetsu finally developing a friendship of their own—and here Daiki was sure that Furi also contributed to it. The spiky-haired brunette had proven himself to be a steadfast and loyal man, able to keep people together when times got rough.

(Funnily enough, he remembered that most of the guests found Mayuzumi and Satsuki a handsome-looking pair while they walked together. Mayuzumi turned out to be a pretty dashing guy when he cleaned up.)

Takao and Midorima were the fourth pairing to walk down the aisle. Takao had been Tetsu's classmate in a few of his subjects in their university, so it was inevitable that the connection forged a friendship for them. Takao was a sociable person, anyway, and him becoming Midorima's best friend—though the green-haired man wouldn't admit it, at first—was proof of that. Midorima, on the other hand, was the Miracle second only to Tetsu in terms of closeness to Akashi. They had attended the same university, and Akashi had been Midorima's best man on his own wedding.

Kise and Murasakibara's pairing was the oddest of the group. The two were at least amicable towards each other, but Furihata was right: everyone had been expecting Murasakibara to walk with Himuro. It was a perfect set-up, after all. The giant chef stayed close friends with Akashi all this time, while Himuro became closer to Tetsu because of Kagami and Satsuki.

But instead, Himuro had walked with one of Akashi's younger female cousins that day, and Ogiwara and Tetsu's older female cousin were paired up.

Daiki glanced at the olive-eyed man. Himuro had been silent while they talked about Murasakibara's preferences. But now when they mentioned the entourage, he opened his mouth. "You all know why. We had no choice in the line-up. My partner was Miyako-san, one of Akashi's few cousins, remember? She wasn't actually going to attend the wedding because she got sick a few days before, but she recovered just in time so they had to adjust the pairings."

Kagami frowned at the memory. Then his face cleared. "Oh, right! She's that huge fan of Kise's. But why couldn't she have just walked with him?"

"Because her possessive and hot-tempered boyfriend came as her plus one and Akashi didn't want any trouble," reminded Himuro exasperated. "So I volunteered to walk with her."

Daiki himself frowned. There was something weird about that statement—him "volunteering." Even at the wedding itself, Daiki found it strange. It was rare that Himuro would stray away from Murasakibara—the two of them were another pair of best buds almost bordering on lovers, actually. Some speculation had even circled around the guests that day, that maybe the two had a falling-out. It didn't help that just after the wedding, Murasakibara left for France. To gain experience from a renowned pastry chef, is what they all say.

"I'm surprised Murasakibara stayed so long overseas. You know how that guy can be," remarked Daiki, carefully watching Himuro. But the black-haired man only chuckled softly.

Kagami snorted. "Tatsuya probably promised him something good to make him complete his course."

And just like that, Himuro let his façade fall—but only by a fraction, which impressed Aomine. "Taiga," he chastised.

The redhead just grinned at his brother's look. "Hey, I know that's how you motivate him."

Himuro looked away, sipping his drink. "What could I possibly promise him for something like that?"

Furihata slightly frowned and so did Kagami. Daiki shook his head. Everyone knew how Murasakibara saw Himuro. It was too obvious. So why were they holding back?

A voice in his head piped up, unwelcomed. Because soulmates are a thing.

The blunette tossed back his drink a bit too quickly.

---

"Satsuki-chan, over here~!"

Satsuki turned to find the Akashi couple and the old Rakuzan team crowded around the breakfast nook in the open kitchen. "Reo-chan! How are you?" she greeted the black-haired man with a kiss on the cheek.

"Ugh, totally flummoxed, darling! Can you believe that my request for a day-off tomorrow wasn't granted?" complained Mibuchi, donning a pout. "How can I properly party tonight knowing I need beauty sleep for tomorrow?!"

Nebuya moved to gently grasp his arms from behind. "I told you, we can just—"

"Oh, no you don't!" warned Mibuchi with a toss of his head. "We are not going home yet! We haven't seen Sei-chan in a while, and this is the first reunion party we have with almost full attendance! I don't plan on wasting any of this precious time!"

The Kuroko-Akashi couple chuckled at his determination. "This isn't the last time we'll throw a party, Mibuchi-san," reassured Kuroko.

"And this is most definitely not the last time you'll see me," added Akashi. The two had become ever so closer throughout high school and college, even though they attended different universities. Mibuchi rivaled Furihata in being Akashi's best friend, which was funny seeing as Mibuchi is both so amazed and fond of the small brunette.

Mibuchi only pouted some more. "But it's not the same!"

Suddenly, a commotion from the living room caught the group's attention. Satsuki's eyes widened when she discovered that her childhood friend was at the center of it. "Dai-chan? Not again…"

"Is that Haizaki and Ryouta-chan?"

"I wonder what happened."

Kuroko smiled conspiratorially at the couple. "Apparently, Kise-kun and Haizaki-kun had gotten Aomine-kun late today."

"That's not much of a reason to try and chase them around the couch, though, don't cha think?" remarked Hayama when he joined their spot to refill his drink.

Satsuki reluctantly chuckled. "Well… let's just say that's not the only reason."

Her childhood friend was getting pretty pissed off now, however, and Satsuki decided with a sigh that it was time for an intervention, lest some expensive furniture—and a certain detective's wallet—met their doom. "Excuse me for a minute. I need to save two idiots." Leaving her drink with Tetsu-kun, she hurried to the flailing cop in the middle of the living room.

"You asses! Do you guys know how hard it was to scrub off?!"

"Hey, you were the one who chose the marker! Not our fault it wasn't washable!"

"Alright, that's enough, Dai-chan," appeased Satsuki calmly, pulling back Daiki's arm. "We're at a party. You can take your revenge another time."

Haizaki practically sputtered at her. "What? No way!"

"Momocchi!" called out Kise in betrayal.

But Satsuki only flashed the two a sweet smile. "You made us late, so I'm helping Dai-chan."

Daiki had calmed down now and was looking mighty devious. "… You know what? You're right." He let Satsuki hook her arm to his and smirked. "I need the perfect plan anyway."

They didn't bother looking at the two rapidly-paling men and returned back to the seats. The encouraging laughter in the penthouse was good enough for them. Satsuki looked to Tetsu-kun and Akashi-kun for a secretive smile—

"Ah!"

But she couldn't help yelping at the abrupt coldness sliding down the side of her dress. When Satsuki looked up, she was greatly surprised to find a shocked and apologetic-looking Mayuzumi before her.

"Shit—! I'm so sorry. I—"

"Satsuki!" Daiki now checked her for any injuries and—finding nothing but spilled liquor quickly turning her silver outfit damp black—immediately turned to glare at the offender. "Geez, man, watch where you're going! Are you drunk already or something?"

"Dai-chan, I'm fine!" reassured Satsuki immediately. She couldn't afford him to get angry here once more. Everyone was looking their way again, some of the people near them started to get napkins, and even Kise and Haizaki were looking curious. This may be normal with Dai-chan but he had a promising career now, and she'd really rather not let him ruin anything for it—even though this was just a party with friends. She turned to Mayuzumi with sincerity. Satsuki didn't know him as well as Akashi-kun and Tetsu-kun did, but the man had become good friends with them, despite his taciturn nature. She could easily see that he usually meant well even though he hardly showed it. "Don't mind him, Mayuzumi-san. I'm sorry about that. I—"

"No, no. I bumped into you. It was my fault," said Mayuzumi with a grimace, digging in his pocket with his free hand as he held his wet one with the glass of champagne away from her. She'd never seen much of Mayuzumi's facial expressions before—he was similar to Tetsu-kun in that regard so any kind of emotion seemed strange to imagine on him. "Here." He offered her a white handkerchief as Daiki started to pat her side dry with his own.

"Oh, thank you! Really, though, there was no har—"

Satsuki froze, the sentence promptly cutting off from her.

The hand offering her the piece of cloth had a small black star just beneath the thumb.

Daiki had paused when he'd registered that Satsuki stopped talking. But his brows scrunched in utter confusion when he saw her flushed red, looking dumbfounded at Mayuzumi's handkerchief. Mayuzumi wasn't any help either—he looked like he was slapped in the face and left shocked in silence as he equally stared down. The handkerchief was held out between them, and her hand, palm partially up, was frozen in nearly reaching it.

"Satsuki?"

She suddenly snapped out of it. "Ah! U-Uh, t-thank you! Thank you! Um, u-uh, I should, uh…"

And then she turned and left.

Daiki let his jaw drop. What the hell was that all about? It's been a while since he last saw her flail in embarrassment like that—the most vivid memory he could remember were those days when she was crushing on Tetsu hard—but damn, he couldn't ever remember seeing her be so red before.

Meanwhile, Mayuzumi was still weirdly gaping after her. It was definitely a weird sight, knowing how the guy usually is.

"Oi," snapped Daiki, quickly rounding to him. "The fuck did you do?"

Mayuzumi finally looked away, but his eyes were still surprised and unfocused—which, honestly, unnerved Daiki right now. He keenly noted that Mayuzumi suddenly curled his fingers over the handkerchief. "I… uh…"

Daiki frowned. "Never mind. Stay right where you are. I'll be right back."

"Is she okay?" piped Takao to their side, looking over his shoulder.

Daiki ignored the confused murmurs all around them as he quickly reached Satsuki, who had retreated to his place with Himuro, Kagami, and Furihata.

"Oi, Satsuki, what's wrong?"

But she didn't answer, instead opting to walk to the table behind them as she clutched her arms in front of her.

No, wait—she was clutching her hand?

Daiki turned back to where Mayuzumi was, but found him gone, and he almost bolted after him before spotting silver-colored hair alongside light blue and magenta red. Way over the breakfast nook, Tetsu and Akashi kept looking back and forth between the guy and Satsuki with concerned frowns.

"Momoi-san, are you alright?" asked Himuro gently, grasping her shoulders. But she was still silent, trying to calm down with deep breaths. Daiki looked back to Mayuzumi, who was oblivious to the looks given to him—and saw him stare down at his own hand.

"I-I'm fine, I'm fine."

Daiki switched back to Satsuki, waving Himuro away and shaking her head. He faintly saw Mayuzumi waving off Tetsu and Akashi, as well.

"Are you sure?" coaxed Kagami softly, the volume so unlike him.

"Yes, I'm fine. Really. I just… I—"

But at the sound of her choked gasp, Daiki's attention fully came back to her. Satsuki was holding her right hand over her mouth as she stared down at her left. Himuro, Kagami, and Furihata crowded over her shoulder, wondering what was wrong, and Daiki couldn't help cutting a path to her side to see what all the fuss was about.

When the dark-skinned man saw moving lines, he stopped breathing just as Satsuki did.

Slowly, thin black formed into a shaded semi-circle on her palm. Then next to it, a shaded oval that looked like half a heart. Then a shaded rectangle. Then a right angle. Then three shaded points of a half-star.

Satsuki was shaking now, but Daiki was both surprised and relieved to see that it was out of joy—her damp eyes sparkling in sheer happiness and disbelief. Daiki lifted his head to look at Mayuzumi—and found him with a pen to his own palm and looking uncharacteristically like he just came out of a sauna. Tetsu, Mibuchi, Nebuya, and Hayama all stared at him, and slowly lifted their gazes to exchange shocked looks at Daiki, Kagami, Himuro, and Furihata from across the room.

Everyone in the penthouse was now silent and staring back and forth between the two groups.

"Oh my god," whispered Satsuki, still focused on her palm.

Daiki faintly realized that only Akashi wasn't surprised, smirking at Mayuzumi before downing his drink. Then he remembered something that sounded weird a while ago.

"I'm sure you'll meet them soon."

"Yes, I'm sure they're just right around the corner."

Akashi had fucking known.

But even before the unfairness of that hit him, something else did that made Daiki start power-walking towards Mayuzumi.

He and Satsuki were soulmates.

This guy was his bestfriend's soulmate.

His bestfriend got dumped because of soulmates.

"Alright, listen up, fucker," he growled when he reached the breakfast nook.

"Dai-chan, no!" A pair of hands tugged at his arms hard, trying to pull him away. He saw Satsuki quickly glance around the penthouse—and obviously tried to avoid looking at the silver-haired guy before them—before hissing at him warningly. "We're at a party!"

"Satsuki, do I look like I give a shit at the moment?"

"Dai-chan."

Mayuzumi raised a hand to catch their attention. "Uh—"

Daiki flashed him a hard look. "No, I said listen up. I don't care who you are. You make this woman cry—"

"Oh my god, Dai-chan, you do not have to keep giving this speech to every guy—"

"You make her cry just once and I swear you're dead meat, fucker."

But unlike most of the men Satsuki had dated, Mayuzumi only looked away and muttered, "Pretty sure you don't have to do anything about that…"

Maybe it was the beer or the exhaustion from work or the residual anger on Satsuki's stupid ex—or, hell, even the frustration that came with soulmates and the unfairness of the universe—but Daiki came up to the other guy's face with a heated glare, ready to throw down if he so much as showed the detective that he wasn't worth Satsuki's time. "You sayin' something, pal?"

"Aomine Daiki, enough!" snapped Satsuki, yanking hard on his arm and half-turning him away. She sounded so scandalized that Daiki would even try something like this—and the fact that she finally met her soulmate and would have to be bound to this fucker whom Daiki pointedly remembered not ever giving a fuck about her just rubbed Daiki the wrong way so much that he couldn't help being openly aggressive all the more.

Why did something as unfairly complicated as soulmates ever existed?

Why do people have to be together just because some weird divine power told them to?

Why couldn't they just choose?

Why did I have to fuck up with mine?

In his rage, the blue-haired man idly noted Kagami and Tetsu closing in to intervene, and his hackles started to rise at that—but then suddenly, Mayuzumi sighed in exasperation and turned to face him with a chagrined look. "I said, you don't have to do anything about that—because Momoi can just kick my ass before you can."

As easily as they had begun, Daiki and Satsuki stopped struggling with each other and blinked in unison at Mayuzumi, both surprised at Rakuzan's ex-phantom player's blunt tone. As far as they knew, the man hardly kept himself updated with things outside of his former teammates' lives. Probably the only reason he even showed up tonight was because of said former teammates' presence. And again, Daiki couldn't remember a time the guy even looked Satsuki's way. Maybe at Tetsu's wedding just to be polite, but Mayuzumi just wasn't the type to care much about others. So how did he know?

In the background, they vaguely heard someone who suspiciously sounded like Wakamatsu-senpai snort and say, "Damn right she can."

Mayuzumi looked straight at Satsuki this time, his usually-bored eyes gazing steadily at her. "Besides, soulmate or not, I'd never even want to make her cry. Not after how her last date left her at their table." Suddenly, his brows furrowed at that, looking mildly irked for someone so placid all the time. "The asshole couldn't even be bothered to walk her home…"

Satsuki's mouth parted and Daiki felt her grip loosen. "You…"

Mayuzumi glanced away, looking mildly embarrassed. "I was sitting right behind you two that time and you had your back to me. You never noticed me and I was going to say hi after he left, but then some cocky guy walked up to you for a chat, and before I knew it, you had roasted him so hard to the whole restaurant in cold blood that I felt my plan was never needed in the first place. I don't even know why I thought about cheering you up when you could obviously handle yourself just fine."

Daiki wasn't surprised at that. Everyone who knew Satsuki well also knew she could ruin your life if she wanted to. What he was surprised at, however, was seeing her turn pink and look down with a growing smile. She only did this back when she had a crush on Tetsu.

"You… You still could've said hi," pointed out Satsuki with a shrug.

"I'm not much of a socializer, in case you forgot," replied Mayuzumi with his own shrug.

"Yeah, but I still would've appreciated your company."

"Well… maybe next time, then."

Daiki looked back and forth between the two, somehow feeling like he was getting excluded from a very special conversation. He should be "laying down the law," so to speak—he's Satsuki's BFF, dammit—but there was hardly any law-laying after Mayuzumi's rebuttal and that just felt…

Daiki narrowed his eyes. "Okay, hang on, you tw—"

A heavy arm suddenly draped itself over his shoulder, shaking him from his words. Daiki whipped his head to find Kagami suddenly pressed so close to him—and he had to ignore how his heart stuttered and his body froze at the wonderful proximity they now had.

"Whelp, now that that's settled…" Kagami grinned mischievously at him. "Ahomine, let's buy some more beer!"

"Wha—Kagami?!"

Akashi stepped forward. "Thank you for volunteering, Kagami. Here's something to foot the bill," he said with an amused smile—but Daiki wasn't fooled.

"Hey! I'm not finished, dammit! Akashi, you little shit!" Daiki struggled, but shockingly enough, Kagami hardly budged and started dragging him away, much to his growing consternation.

"Kagami-kun, can you buy some milkshakes?"

"Kuroko, your rich-ass and talented husband can make some in your kitchen. Just ask him."

"Go get us some convenience-store snacks, Aominecchi!"

"Kise, I'm pretty sure Akashi and Kuroko are fully stocked for tonight…"

"Not gonna lie, though, I'd really like some rice crackers right now."

"Wait, why are they buying beer if we're fully stocked for tonight?"

"Be careful, you two!"

"We won't mind if you don't come back at all, actually!"

"Have fun storming the convenience store!"

"Don't forget to use protection!"

"Kazunari, sit down!"

Red in the face now—because of an altogether different reason—Daiki squawked and struggled against Kagami's hold but it was no use. Wasn't he the least bit embarrassed at this?! "SHUT UP, YOU ASSHOLES! MAYUZUMI, WE'RE STILL GOING TO TALK, DAMMIT!"

Mayuzumi didn't even take his eyes off Satsuki as they continued to chat. Even Satsuki ignored him.

"OI! DON'T JUST—"

Kagami finally hauled him out of the penthouse and into the empty hallway, closing the front door behind him and tossing Daiki his coat. How the redhead even managed to do that with him struggling in his grip, Daiki didn't know, but he couldn't deny that it somehow made this strange feeling in his gut pop back up again, after so long. Eager to ignore them once more—and his sudden keen observation on just how well Kagami seemed to have kept his figure from high school—the cop irritably tossed off Kagami's arm from his head-locking grip, disheveling his hair up in the process. "The fuck, Bakagami!?"

Kagami snorted and started putting on his coat. "You're overreacting and you know it. Momoi finally met her soulmate and the first thing you do is to start posturing? Come on, Aomine! Be happy for her for once!"

"I am happy!"

"And not try to strangle the guy just because you're weirdly overprotective. I'm pretty sure Mayuzumi's not gonna turn out like the last guy, okay? I mean, c'mon, they're meant to be."

Daiki clicked his tongue in annoyance and started wearing his coat, as well, grumbling all the while. He didn't bother mentioning that Satsuki and her ex were in a fake relationship of sorts. "He better not be, otherwise you're gonna have to help me bury a body because you didn't let me finish my conversation."

Kagami rolled his eyes and huffed in laughter. "Well, at least he knows not to mess with… Momoi…"

Halfway into his coat, the detective turned his gaze to the firefighter when he heard him awkwardly trail off with his words. "Kagami?" He raised a brow in question, but Kagami only stared in confusion at him. It took them a moment of silence just staring at each other before the other finally spoke up.

"… What's that on your forehead?"

Daiki almost bit his tongue. Shit!

How the fuck did oblivious-as-balls Bakagami even notice there was something there?! No one had all evening! In his panic—because fuck—Daiki couldn't think of a good excuse on the spot and patted down his hair instead. "O-Oh, this? It's, uh—"

For a beat, Kagami stared at him with a strange expression—then he went up to Daiki in two strides and effortlessly threw off Daiki's covering hand due to his shock.

"Gah! K-K-Kagami, wha—!"

But instead of hearing Kagami's laugh, he heard something he hadn't been expecting at all.

"YOU BASTARD! IT'S YOU!"

Daiki gaped stupidly as Kagami's angry face reddened in front of his very eyes. His mind was practically whirling and he had already forgotten that he was supposed to be panicking at the thought of his embarrassing head tattoo being seen. What? What? Me? What?! What did I do?!

Kagami jabbed a finger onto his chest hard. "Do you have any idea what I had to go through this whole day just to hide that shit you left me?! Huh?!"

"What are you talking about, Kagami!?"

"THIS!"

The redhead pushed back his long fringe—and Daiki stared in silence at the missing twin of his indecent marker forehead tattoo.

There were a lot of things that simultaneously passed Daiki's mind that brief moment he was staring blankly at Kagami's forehead. First off, the dick drawing—no matter how faded against Kagami's lighter-colored skin—still looked pretty damn hilarious. There was just something so immaturely funny about the symbol that Daiki can't deny was making a childish part of him laugh uncontrollably inside and almost outside. Second, he really was a jerk because not only did he give that to Kagami without even thinking twice (even though he had the excuse of drunkenness) he also felt like laughing at it in the face of the other's obvious distress—which was why he wasn't laughing right now. And third, as he contemplated the first two thoughts, it just suddenly hit him that this hilarious and jerkass scenario had all been possible because he and Kagami are soulmates.

And here his thoughts halted.

He and Kagami are soulmates.

Kagami is his soulmate.

Kagami Taiga, who, for several long years, Daiki had watched from afar and tried not to want because the universe had a habit of disappointing him, is now his goddamn soulmate.

Any thoughts on funny doodles and angry redheads were lost on Daiki. All he could think about was why his heart was pounding and why his palms were sweating and why the damn ventilation in the building didn't seem to be working. That's why if he's ever asked years later on why he did what he did the moment after, he'll be hard-pressed to admit that it was because he made a fourth surprising discovery: he was actually scared.

Which was why he bolted to the emergency stairs.

"OI! AOMINE!"

Daiki was grateful he was faster than Kagami no matter how many times the redhead beat him in basketball. Before the other could even open the door to chase after him, he was already on the floor below and sprinting towards the elevators. He heard the redhead angrily shout his name again when the elevator door shut closed and he was left all alone with his racing thoughts.

Daiki blankly stared at his blurry reflection on the metallic door. SHIIIIIIIIT WHY DID I DO THAT?!

Finally, after minutes of a frozen expression, the grown man of a detective let out a self-frustrated whine echo inside the enclosed space, and he let himself bang his forehead on the door, too. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did he run?! Kagami was already mad at him. The least he could've done was apologize!

Yeah, and maybe let Kagami sock me right in the kisser!

But at the last word, Daiki only whined again and hid his rapidly-heating face.

It was all just too much. The blunette leaned heavily against the elevator wall and took a deep breath. He had been trying to ignore this feeling for years, ever since he realized it one lazy afternoon during his second year in high school—that he was stupidly in love with Kagami Taiga and would probably be that way for years to come. And he was right, because even when Kagami left for America and hardly stayed in Japan, Daiki still couldn't help feeling those weird butterfly thingies in his stomach every time he's with the guy.

Not attracted, his ass. Aomine Daiki was already too far gone with his crush, no matter how much he denied.

Sometimes, when he couldn't sleep, he'd think about his soulmate and what might happen. He'd wonder if he'd stop crushing on Kagami just because he finally had his soulmate. Every single time he did, he'd end up in a bad mood the whole night until he could fall asleep. Now clutching the arm that had his soulmate's—Kagami's—angry death threat hours before, Daiki was confused on whether he should feel happy, horrified, scared, nervous, or so damn happy.

He's… mine.

The detective felt his cheeks heating up again, but the previous embarrassment was now missing.

He's actually…

But the elevator door dinged and opened, and Daiki didn't have time to continue his thoughts. Loud stomping from the stairs echoed to the lobby and his instincts instantly led him to ignore the employee at the desk and the guard by the entrance as he ungraciously bolted out of the building. He was probably going to hear from Akashi and Tetsu about this. But he needed to hide—Kagami was still pissed and Daiki was still too shocked with all that's been revealed by tonight that he needed to be alone with his thoughts first. Of course, Kagami will still be mad, but if he completely gets rid of the marker on his forehead, the redhead will probably less likely want to kill him the next time they met.

"AHOMINE, YOU ASS!"

Yep. Best idea ever.

And his best idea ever would have gone smoothly if he hadn't bumped into someone on the sidewalk just outside the building.

"Watch it, punk!"

Daiki used to be gung-ho about picking fights and all that, but growing up and training to become a cop gave him some much-needed life lessons about maturity—and even then, he was in way too much of a hurry to even pick a fight now. He was probably the one at fault, anyways. So he just blurted out a quick sorry and moved to sprint to his car again.

But unfortunately, the universe didn't work like that.

A hard hand clamped on his shoulder and spun him. "Whaaaat? 'Is all you've gotta say?! 'Got some nerve, bastard!"

You know what? Maybe Daiki wasn't as mature he thought.

But before he could even say anything back, that same hand instantly punched him in the jaw—and wow okay he did not need this right now. Daiki turned back to the idiot with a black glare and he quickly noted with a strong whiff of beer that the troublemaker was stupid and drunk.

Great.

Daiki figured that it would be best to just scare the guy with his badge. Drunks usually back off with that. See? He's even willing to be the bigger person between the two of them. But then suddenly, Kagami practically flew out of the building's entrance and Daiki swore he saw the redhead get even angrier when he locked eyes with him. Shit!

Before he could get his bearings, Kagami ran to him—and knocked the living daylights out of the drunken man.

Daiki's jaw dropped. "Kagami?!"

---

Taiga would be willing to admit that even after all these years, he still doesn't stop to think before acting. It was a fatal flaw of his that frustrated his friends to no end. Like that one time he almost broke Kuroko and Akashi up because he had no tact with his words or that one time he recklessly charged inside a burning school that was about to collapse to save a student. Even he himself found it annoying at times when he had to deal with the aftermath.

"Ow! Careful!"

Like right now.

Sitting on Taiga's shared couch with Tatsuya, Detective Aomine Daiki grimaced and glared up at him as he dabbed a cotton swab of disinfectant on the corner of his bleeding lip. In hindsight, maybe Taiga should've thought some more before acting.

Almost an hour ago, he had been chasing Aomine down Akashi and Kuroko's place—which tired out Taiga, by the way, because those stairs were a lot. Damn Aomine took the only elevators and left him behind… But he couldn't blame Aomine for bolting. He had been so angry at discovering that his stupid rival was the one who drew that dick on him—indirectly but still—that he had just exploded right then and there. Judging from what he could remember of Aomine's expression back then, Taiga's face had probably spelled "bloody murder."

Halfway down the building stairs, however, Taiga realized a very important fact that had slipped past him in his anger: Aomine was his soulmate.

Aomine Daiki—annoying friend, favorite rival, stupid pervert, the source of high-schooler Taiga's sleepless nights and sweating palms, and who had that stupid-ass face wearing that stupid-ass drawing on his head and a stupid-ass look that reminded Taiga why he left Japan in the first place—was his goddamn soulmate.

Taiga had been really glad railings existed, otherwise he would've been spending his night at the hospital and not in front of said goddamn soulmate.

The same goddamn soulmate who has been hissing at him for the past several minutes, by the way.

"Easy," muttered Aomine with a grimace—grimacing even more when that made his injured lip throb.

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't run away in the first place," pointed out Taiga as he applied a small bandage—so not pouting at that fact.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Who socked that guy out cold again?"

"You got hit first because, again, you ran away."

"Well, maybe I wouldn't have if someone hadn't gone all batshit crazy on me."

"YOU DREW A DAMN DICK ON YOUR FOREHEAD! AND MINE, BY EXTENSION! I HAVE EVERY RIGHT, OKAY?!"

"I ALREADY SAID I WAS SORRY!"

Taiga and Aomine glared at each other silently, visible veins throbbing and mirroring from each of them. Inevitably, it was Taiga who turned away with a huff, because someone has to be the mature one between the two of them and that was definitely not going to be the guy who drew the dick doodle in the first place. But as the redhead packed away his first-aid kit, he had to admit that said guy could be mature when he put his mind to it.

When Taiga had bursted out of the building's front entrance, he had been ready to tackle Aomine to the ground because one, he couldn't let the bastard get away without fixing their problem first, and two, because Taiga had been planning on apologizing about his outburst. Dick doodle aside, Aomine was his soulmate and Taiga shouldn't have shouted at him just because he was angry. It was their first official meeting as destined mates and he just had to go and be an ass about it. And as the redhead had come down the stairs, he had realized that maybe Tatsuya was right and there was actually a good reason as to why his soulmate left that drawing on him. In any case, Taiga wanted Aomine to set things straight with him and he had a sinking feeling that if he didn't catch the blue-haired detective tonight, bad feelings will come out of their current relationship.

So when he had come out onto the streets and saw Aomine getting punched in the face, his adrenaline flew to another direction.

Taiga palmed his face after putting away the kit in the bathroom cabinet. Once again, he didn't think, just acted on impulse. It was Aomine who had to get him away from the stranger knocked out on the ground. And thank god Akashi, Kuroko, Momoi, and Tatsuya had come out afterwards, otherwise the guard by the entrance might have called the police and they would've gotten into more trouble. Taiga sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. That was another messy affair. Apparently, everyone in the penthouse had actually heard him suddenly yelling at Aomine after they went out, and Kuroko said he had sounded angry enough that they were immediately concerned. The four, after leaving the party in Mibuchi's care, followed after them and had been surprised to find him looking murderous at the guy on the pavement and Aomine actually holding him back and looking worried and alarmed. They were confused at first, but Akashi quickly took over the situation as Aomine explained what happened.

Turns out the stranger was just some stupid drunk who didn't want to leave Aomine alone even after he apologized for bumping into him. And Aomine had just been planning on scaring the guy away. Taiga was the one who made things worse by jumping to conclusions and socking the life out of him. Why did he even do that? What had he been thinking? Taiga didn't want to delve on that just yet. All he knew was that when he saw Aomine stumbling from the hit, his anger lurched to new heights.

When things were finally explained, the building staff hauled the drunken idiot away as Akashi took care of things—apparently, the guy was actually a tenant there. Kuroko had berated him and Aomine in his own Kuroko-special way for causing trouble and demanded an explanation on how they even went from going out to buy beer to chasing each other and punching a stranger. Then Tatsuya—ever-sharp Tatsuya—pointed it out: Aomine was sporting a faint dick doodle on his head.

"No way," whispered Tatsuya with growing excitement.

"Don't," hissed Taiga in warning.

"You're soulmates!"

"What?!" Momoi stared at him, before turning to Aomine and turning back to him again as she unabashedly gaped.

"They're soulmates! Finally!"

"Tatsuya!?" Taiga was horrified—his surrogate brother was now lifting his arms up to the sky and shouting happily. Himuro Tatsuya didn't just do that.

"Oh my god, Dai-chan…" Momoi started tearing up again, and the look of unrestrained glee and relief she had both confused and embarrassed him. Aomine only looked away.

Meanwhile, Kuroko and Akashi stared at them in silence. Then Kuroko glanced at his husband. "You owe me ¥50,000."

And so out of sheer embarrassment, he had pulled Aomine away, drove them back to his and Tatsuya's shared apartment, had finished tending to his injuries, and is now actually contemplating on making him dinner.

Nice, Kagami Taiga. Way to handle the situation.

The redhead hesitated by the doorway to the living room. He hadn't expected things to go this way. Aomine just let him lead without much of a fuss, only grumbling during the car ride after he explained his side of the story with the dick doodle—Haizaki and Kise are so gonna get it—and complaining while he got patched up. Now Taiga wasn't sure what to do next. How do you even interact with your soulmate? This isn't fair. He and Aomine have been friends for years. It shouldn't feel so awkward between them. If Taiga had to freely admit it, yes, sometimes the idiot made him feel strange inside—and he caught himself thinking about what it would be like if they were more than friends—but it shouldn't be so hard to transition from friends to that, right? Right?

Right there, in his living room, was the guy who looked at Taiga one lazy afternoon of lying down after basketball and smiled at him so softly that Taiga almost forgot how to breathe.

He was the same guy who had pulled Taiga underneath a table after they ran away from a drunken prank they did at Akashi and Kuroko's wedding and huddled so close to him in such a comfortable way like they've known each other their whole lives.

Taiga tried not to let the memories of seeing Aomine tonight, feeling his heart skip, and throwing his arm on Aomine's shoulder and dragging his solid and warm body away in jest make his face heat up so much. After all, if Momoi could talk to her soulmate so easily after minutes of discovering each other, then so could he.

Yeah, he could do this.

He walked back inside the living room and opened his mouth. "Oi, let's scrub that shit off."

Taiga internally cringed. What is wrong with him?

Thankfully, Aomine only looked doubtfully at him, idly tugging a lock of hair. "Can you?"

"Yeah, with alcohol, probably," picked up Taiga gratefully. "Don't tell me you don't know how to get rid of marker stains?"

Aomine had the grace to look cowed. "I didn't know it was permanent marker. And we were running late to the party. I didn't have much time."

Taiga just rolled his eyes and grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball from that one hallway table Tatsuya had insisted they needed. From now on, he was going to make sure Aomine never gets piss-drunk again.

(He ignored how his heart skipped another damn beat at the thought of doing something—anything—to Aomine.)

Aomine hadn't moved from his seat on the couch, so Taiga only had to return to stand in front of him again. But the position still made him a bit nervous. This soulmate business is really confusing. He should be happy. Instead, he's acting like Aomine will bite him.

Or kiss him.

Stop it!

In his distraction, Taiga ended up pushing back Aomine's hair a bit too roughly and the man yelped and frowned at him. "I already said I was sorry…" he grumbled. "You weren't the only one who was shocked. It was even worse for me since you gave me your reply in that chicken-scratch of a penmanship."

"I'm not erasing that," sniped Taiga, scrubbing off black marker with a bit more force than was necessary. He had been vindicated in writing his threat and seeing it fully written on Aomine's arm. It was time for the man to deal with the taste of his own medicine.

"What?! That's not fair!"

Taiga smirked. "You let me deal with this for half a day. It's your turn."

Aomine visibly controlled his mouth, trying not to snap, but Taiga was still surprised when all he said was: "Fine. But the timer started a few hours ago."

Huh. He was expecting a bit more pushing. Chancing a glance at the man seated before him, he saw Aomine actually pouting—but his attention was more riveted on the darkening of the man's cheeks as he pointedly looked away from Taiga. Seeing the blunette actually blush now made Taiga keenly aware of just how close they are, and he ended up hurrying his ministrations in order to put some distance between them. As soon as he was finished, Taiga glanced at the wide mirror above the hallway table and pushed back his hair. Hallelujah—the dick doodle was finally gone.

He heard Aomine snort behind him, but no comment was made.

So now there's nothing else to do.

Putting away the alcohol and cotton, Taiga bit his inner cheek. The night was still young—they could go back to the party. Or… he could actually cook dinner or something. It just didn't feel right to part ways already—never mind that Taiga felt nervous about being all alone with Aomine now that they've realized they were destined for each other. God, make up your mind! Do you want to stay with him or not?!

Aomine beat him to it. "Thanks for... well, helping me." The man shrugged, standing up, and moved to leave the living room. He was avoiding Taiga's startled eyes. "See you around, Kagami."

"W-What? Are you going back?"

"No, I'm going home."

Taiga's eyes widened even further. "Already?" He decided to tease the man a bit, masking the reluctance in his voice. "What, you tuckered out so early?"

"Yeah, actually."

Okay, he was not expecting that—and that subdued voice. Taiga couldn't see Aomine's expression, even as he hurried after the man quickly striding towards the front entrance of the apartment. His heart was beating faster for a whole different reason now. "W-Wait, you haven't had dinner yet, right…?" He could only remember seeing Aomine sipping his beer, not even snacking.

"It's fine," replied the cop, waving a hand at Taiga behind him. Taiga tried not to feel the growing disappointment in him.

"Are you sure?" he asked again after Aomine finished putting on his shoes and coat. "I don't mind whipping up something—"

But Aomine shook his head. "Nah, it's fine. I, uh…" The man scratched the back of his neck, looking sheepish. "Sorry 'bout the…" Pointing at his forehead, Taiga got the hint and waved it away. "And uh, thanks," continued Aomine before Taiga could say anything. "For saving me back there."

Taiga waved it off again, feeling the embarrassment rise up once more. "Eh, I think I just made things worse—"

"I meant at the party."

The redhead looked at Aomine again and found him looking… tired. "If you hadn't stepped in, I might've ruined Satsuki's big moment," he explained, pocketing his hands. "So… thanks."

Taiga didn't know what to say. Mentioning Momoi brought up soulmates and… they should be talking about this. They had talked about the doodle, but he had… yet to hear Aomine actually acknowledge that they were soulmates. He had expected the man's usual teasing, especially now that they have this status, but for some reason, Aomine seemed to be adamant in avoiding the topic—in ignoring it.

Did he expect them to just… go on as they have been doing so for the past few years?

But… we hardly ever talked then…

The pit in his stomach grew larger.

Before he could say anything again, Aomine turned, quickly walking away from him. "Good night, Kagami," he said with another wave.

The last look on Aomine's face had demanded silence. Taiga hated that he hadn't found the strength to defy him.

---

To say that Taiga had a horrible time sleeping last night was an understatement. It was as if he was the one who partied hard, even though Tatsuya very well knew that he hadn't gone back to Akashi and Kuroko's place after what happened with Aomine. Taking a sip of his coffee, the black-haired man quietly watched as his surrogate little brother sluggishly plated their scrambled eggs. Tatsuya had been excited to talk to him last night, wanting to know how his new status with Aomine had worked out after they left. But the redhead had already gone to bed when he came home—and when Tatsuya had woken up, Taiga was strangely subdued as he went about his morning routine. There was no more distasteful doodle on him—nor any English death threats on his arm—so that would mean he and Aomine had fixed the Manifestation problem, at the very least. But for some reason, he didn't seem happy.

Tatsuya put down his empty cup and checked his phone when it pinged. There was a long message from Momoi. When Taiga deposited the last plate of breakfast choices on the table, Tatsuya got up. "I gotta go, little brother."

Taiga frowned in confusion. "Where?" He knew Tatsuya had some errands to run today, but he didn't think they'd be this early. "Aren't you at least gonna eat breakfast?"

"Sorry. I'm in a hurry."

Tatsuya was surprised to find Taiga looking miffed. Had he put extra care into breakfast today? Then Tatsuya saw it happening—and he had to stop himself from sounding triumphant and excited like last night. "Taiga, your hand!"

When the redhead looked down at his left hand, he saw the neat Japanese characters for "Morning" being written on his palm. Taiga quietly gasped, his chest suddenly constricting. Then the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it."

In his daze, Taiga hadn't noticed how eager Tatsuya had sounded. Then he heard the voice he had been missing since last night.

"Hey, Himuro."

"Aomine! Nice to see you again!"

Taiga forgot to be embarrassed at stumbling to the door in his haste. "Aomine?!"

There the detective was, standing outside their apartment and holding up a basketball. What was even more surprising was that Aomine smiled softly at him—and Taiga almost choked. " 'Morning, Kagami."

"G-Good morning…"

Tatsuya joined Aomine outside with his coat on. "Why don't you come inside, Aomine? Taiga made you breakfast."

The redhead gaped confusedly at him. "What?"

As he walked away, Tatsuya only said with a wave, "I have to go, so behave, you two,"—ignoring his little brother's rapidly-reddening face and their surprise guest's amused look.

"Wha—Tatsuya?!" But the black-haired man only laughed and continued on to descend the building stairs.

"So, uh… are you free?"

Taiga swiftly turned back to Aomine, who was now looking nervous as opposed to his calm demeanor moments ago. " 'Cause you mentioned you were free today and, uh…" muttered the man uncertainly, looking at anywhere besides Taiga. "I figured we could have another one-on-one and um…" He sighed, seeming to brace himself, and then he turned back to stare determinedly at Taiga. "I'm sorry about last night."

Taiga was about to say something—what it was, he wasn't too sure—but Aomine beat him to it. "I should've—We should've—I'm sorry that we didn't get to talk. I… I needed to be alone for a while and… You wanted to talk last night, didn't you? But I ran away…" He shook his head, looking even more determined than last. "I'm sorry, Kagami. I hope I can make up for it today."

Taiga stared him. "… Why did you need to be alone?"

He almost slapped himself. Shit. That wasn't the right question.

But fortunately for him, Aomine thought it was. The blue-haired detective gazed at him steadily. He visibly gulped. "… Because I've always wished it'd be you."

Burgundy-red eyes widened.

Now, Aomine reddened—if the dark splotches on his cheeks were any indication. "I-I did and for a while, I thought it was a joke that we were s-soulmates because last night, I was… I was still kinda…. jealous… that Satsuki found her soulmate just like that—while all this time, I had to tell myself that it… might not be you in the end…"

Taiga was still staring. He faintly felt that it should be improper, but he just couldn't help it. Was this just his imagination or were the words actually coming out of Aomine's mouth?

"So, uh, w-what I'm trying to say is… is…"

"… I wished it'd be you, too."

Daiki's gaze had gotten lower and lower the longer he had rambled, but at the softly-spoken words, his eyes snapped back to the redhead in front of him—who was now almost the same shade as his hair. "You—?"

Kagami coughed, looking away, before glancing back at him with a small shy smile. "Yeah."

"O-Oh."

The two men stayed quiet for a while, both gazing pointedly down at the floor, before they opened their mouths.

"Breakfast?"

"Basketball?"

The blushes and darting gazes came back once more. In an effort to sound nonchalant, Taiga chuckled and tried to ask, "Well, first, is this just hanging out or does this already count as a d-date?"

Aomine's lips quirked and he muttered, "I thought we've already been dating…"

"W-What?!"

"Well, y-you know… You said you were wishing for it, too!"

Taiga couldn't tell how red his face was anymore. This wasn't good for his heart. There wasn't even flirting involved—but Aomine in casualwear and red cheeks was already making him feel weird again. He didn't know the first thing about proper etiquette with soulmates. But his parents' number one advice with any kind of relationship rang through his head: communication was key. And Aomine was here now—and didn't seem inclined to go away again, unlike last night.

They both sucked at this, for sure, but they can probably succeed as long as they work together.

Remembering all the friends he had who've already found their Intended, Taiga tried again. "W-Well, either way, the food's gonna get cold so we should eat already."

Grateful, Aomine flashed him that smile again—and Taiga's stomach flipped instead of growling. Opening the door wider, he welcomed the man inside and promised himself they'd work on this. Taiga was sure a few rounds of b-ball later will help with that. He and Aomine always have synced well on that field.

Standing hidden by the stairs, Himuro Tatsuya and Momoi Satsuki grinned at each other and finally made to exit the building.

"You surprised me back there," admitted Tatsuya to her. "Considering how upfront those two usually are with each other, I didn't think we would already have to stage an intervention."

"I feel the same," replied Satsuki with a sigh, "but over the years, I noticed that Dai-chan's had problems when it came to Kagamin and his feelings. I thought he had finally gotten over it during high school, but when you two returned to America, it only got worse. I called him last night after the party and I could instantly tell he hadn't tried to fix the problem when the opportunity came up."

Tatsuya exasperatedly sighed in return, shaking his head. "And Taiga had decided to study abroad back then, thinking he was helping. Honestly, those two…"

When they reached the morning-lit street, Satsuki looked up at the clouds. "Do you remember when Tetsu-kun had to choose which of them was going to be his best man?" And Tatsuya had to chuckle at that. "Who didn't?"

Satsuki smiled. "Tetsu-kun told me he chose Kagamin because he wanted to force him to come back to Japan and see Dai-chan again, if only for a while."

"And it worked, actually," remarked the black-haired man. He looked up at the condominium building he and Taiga were currently living at with a fond look. "I could tell Taiga had missed Aomine a lot and they had such good fun at the wedding because of that. And don't tell anyone else this but before we went back to LA, I found him secretly looking at available apartments we could buy here."

Satsuki giggled. "I'm glad." She joined him in gazing at the building before softly saying, "I think they'll be okay."

"Yeah, I think so, too." Then Tatsuya flashed her a mischievous wink. "In any case, we won't let them mess up too much."

"Maybe we can recruit Tetsu-kun next time," agreed Satsuki.

"As long as Akashi gets a shot at it, as well."

Chuckling, they both walked together to the coffee shop by the corner of the street. "So are you meeting Mayuzumi later?" asked Tatsuya with a knowing smile as they halted in front of the shop.

Satsuki blushed and nodded. "Reo-chan gave us tickets yesterday to see this school play at Rakuzan. We're going for brunch in a bit."

Tatsuya patted her shoulder. "Good luck, then. And text me the juicy details later."

"What about you?"

At that, Tatsuya sighed and suddenly gave her a determined look that she usually saw back in their high school basketball matches. "I'm fetching Atsushi at the airport today. Akashi and Kuroko canceled their breakfast party with him—but he doesn't know yet."

Satsuki stared at him with surprise at first, then understanding as she took note of his entire demeanor. Tatsuya answered her unspoken question.

"I asked them to cancel it."

For a beat, the pink-haired woman merely gazed at him—then she gave him a quick, bracing hug before pulling away with an encouraging smile. "Good luck, Tatsu-kun. You can do it."

Tatsuya smiled wryly. "Let's just hope it'll go smoothly. Lord knows everyone's always been hoping it would be with me and him."

"If Mukkun acts up, just tell me and I'll give him a piece of my mind!"

When a car finally pulled up beside the curb, Tatsuya tried not to grin too much at the sight of its driver. Satsuki promptly gave him a peck on the cheek and waved goodbye, getting into the front seat with an excited smile for Mayuzumi. Tatsuya waved them goodbye as they drove away, and he took in a deep breath before marching back towards the condominium building to fetch his own car. On the way to the parking lot, he glanced at his wrist and the newly-drawn lollipop on it. A reply of a chibi custard roll was next to it, plus the name of an up-and-coming bakery Tatsuya's heard about. He took another deep breath when he felt his palms go cold.

If Taiga's wish with his soulmate's identity could come true, then so could his. All he needed was faith that the universe knew whatever it was doing.

His phone rang with a text and when Tatsuya checked it, he almost barked in laughter.

From: Taiga

To: Tatsuya

THIS ASSHOLE IS DRAWING DICKS AGAIN I CANT BELIEVE THIS WHY DID YOU EVER INVITE HIM IN

Yes, Tatsuya was sure the universe knew exactly what it was doing.

---

A/N:

Were you expecting a first meeting or them getting together? Sorry lol but in the process of writing this, I was influenced by a particular fic that made me explore the whole soulmates thing. While it's true that shoop's oneshot soulmate story started the idea, I ended up putting in angst and the discussion of how singular and linear soulmates seemed to be because of the Star Trek AOS ship fic of Leonard "Bones" McCoy x Khan Noonien Singh/John Harrison, a slow-burn story titled "Where Gods Lose Their Way" by Dizzydodo and can be found here and in AO3.

(I swear to god the above fic is the single greatest Bones x Khan fic ever not to mention the only Bones x Khan fic that's substantial and the fact that the author ended up exploring the idea of soulmate restrictions when most soulmate fics only show meet-cutes was such a wonderful bonus and I really hope get get to finish this I should give a detailed review for encouragement guys if you're curious and know the Star Trek reboot movies I suggest trying this story)

Anyways, this fic is what made me not turn my story into a First Meeting between Kagami and Aomine. I realized that there's something to be said about the angst of people falling for others but restraining themselves because they don't know their soulmates yet, and honestly? Wow? I didn't think I'd be half-turning my first-ever AoKaga into drama. I just wanted the hilarity of the dick doodle lol. The whole angsting is what lengthened this past my intended limit.

But finally, after 3 years, I am done with this thank god. orz

Most of the numerous minor ships I mentioned here are, again, my bias lol:

- AkaKuro - just something I wanted to try because I ship and will write AkaFuri more. I love AkaKuro, too, and figured I should express that love every now and then. To complement it, I wrote platonic/BFFs AkaFuri yay!

- MidoTaka - it's a given considering my KnB high school fic lol

- Hayama x Miyaji - a fave I only ever gave love to at incorrectknb

- NebuMibu - I read this hilarious oneshot of them that was part of a drabble and was hooked ever since

- ImaWaka - GHSR fans will understand lol

- Izuki x Moriyama - all thanks to incorrectknb

- Liu x Fukui - I hardly get to show my appreciation for this pair

- Nakamura x Sakurai - Nakamura is that glasses guy from Kaijou. This ship was born from an AoSaku story I was planning...

- NijiHai - another fave of mine

- HyuuKiyo - not too noticeable here but they're soulmates

- KiKasa - it was never mentioned here bc they haven't found out they're meant for each other just yet lol

- MuraHimu - it may be a bit confusing but yeah they're soulmates. Their problem is similar to AoKaga's but it's Himuro who's distancing himself while Mukkun doesn't give a shit—which is why they had a falling-out. So the ending here is Himuro gearing himself up to face Mukkun again—and he's praying that his hunch about who his soulmate is is correct.

- MayuMomo - LOOK IT'S RISQUE TENDENCIES' FAULT OKAY I DIDN'T ASK TO BE DRAGGED INTO THIS SUPER RAREPAIR HELL BUT I CAN TELL YOU NOW THAT I PLAN TO WRITE THEIR OWN FICS GODDAMMIT BC SOMEONE HAS TO

All in all, three years of my writing style has involved and bled into this and I just hope you were entertained enough to leave some kudos or a comment telling me what your fave part was. I don't plan on continuing this or anything, but I guess we'll see?

shoop, belated happy happy birthday and I hope you know that you will always be my shoop(onthemoon)