Kagami hadn't gotten it when he first met Aomine. The guy was an asshole. What had Kuroko seen in him? And yeah, he was probably a bit bitter about being told that his light was too dim, and he really didn't like the way Aomine called Kuroko 'Tetsu' like they were still friends after the way he'd treated Kuroko.

He didn't even get it the first time they played against Aomine. It just confused him even more. Kuroko seemed completely traumatized, looking up at Aomine from the ground as Aomine told him he was no better than he was in middle school and that his basketball would never win. How had this guy and Kuroko been friends at all, much less best friends?

He'd asked before they next played him and watched a sad smile form on his friend's face. "He wasn't always like this. Would you believe me if I told you he used to love basketball with all his heart? He decided I was worth hanging out with because anyone who liked basketball couldn't be a bad guy, and he trained with me every day after school even though I wasn't getting any better. He nearly gave up his position on first string just to make sure I got to play."

Kagami actually did have trouble believing that. It was hard to imagine an arrogant prick who said stupid one liners like "No one can beat me but me," being that nice.

"I can accept that he's changed though. I have too. We're both different people. I just . . . maybe if I win against him he'll take me seriously."

And Kagami didn't read anymore into that than what Kuroko said. He could understand wanting a rival to take him seriously. He had to deal with that with literally every single member of the generation of miracles. They all seemed to think he was a waste of their time until he kicked their self-riotous asses at basketball. He didn't think about the fact that Kuroko hadn't said that kind of thing about any other members of his old team.

He only really understood when they next played Aomine and Kuroko told him about how he just wanted to see Aomine smile again while playing basketball. It wasn't something that Kuroko had seen in Aomine. It was something he still saw.

"You love him, don't you?" Kagami asked.

Kuroko looked up at him and blinked a few times before answering. "Well, yes. I thought you knew that already." He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and really now that Kagami thought about it, it kind of was.

"Well, I can't promise that him losing will change anything, but him winning definitely won't, so let's get out there and try to win."

Kuroko smiled at him and nodded.

"Hey, does Aomine know?" Kagami asked on their way back.

"I don't think so. He probably thinks I'm over my feelings for him. I just hope he isn't over his for me." Kuroko replied after a moment of thought.

"Wait, were you guys actually a thing back in middle school?" Kagami asked, eyebrows raising in question.

Kuroko shook his head. "No, nothing like that. We were still trying to figure out how we felt, I think. But you should have seen the way he would push Kise-kun or throw basketballs at him when Kise-kun got too close to me." Kuroko let out a light laugh. Kagami noted that it wasn't often that Kuroko laughed, but just talking about Aomine seemed to bring it out of him, even though it was tinged with a sadness that Kagami didn't like. "We talked about it sometimes, but never really did anything about it before things fell apart."

"You deserve better, you know. That guy treated you like trash." Kagami told him with a scowl.

"Yes." Kuroko agreed without hesitation. "If you hadn't noticed, I'm not throwing myself at him at this moment. I'm hoping things can change again, for the better this time."

"I still don't get why you're holding out for this guy."

"Kagami-kun will understand when he falls in love." Kuroko told him as they reached the locker room.

Kagami decided that if love put him through the kind of pain Aomine and Kuroko went through, were still going through really, then he wanted nothing to do with it.

Honestly he was a little surprised by how much Aomine losing really did change things between Aomine and Kuroko.

Suddenly Kuroko was getting shooting lessons from Aomine, and Kagami didn't miss that Kuroko was smiling more, and Aomine was popping up in their lives with shoes or at basketball games, or for one on one matches.

At one point Kuroko actually got detention because Aomine had gotten bored while cutting his own class and just kept on texting him. Kuroko had let him see the messages. Most of them consisted of "Oi! Tetsu, answer me!" The part that got Kuroko detention was when the teacher had taken his phone and sent a message to Aomine telling him to stop disrupting her class, and Aomine had messaged back saying he would stop if she would send him a picture of her tits. Since she didn't he kept on texting, mostly "Hey, lady, give the phone back to Tetsu." When Kagami had commented that Kuroko shouldn't be the one getting in trouble just because Aomine was an idiot Kuroko had shrugged and said things like that happened back in middle school a lot.

He'd brought up the idea of Kuroko just asking Aomine out, but he'd rejected it immediately, because he was too busy with the Winter Cup, and things were just starting to become good for them again. He said that he could deal with his feelings. He wasn't going to let them ruin things after being apart from Aomine for so long.

Kagami still thought Kuroko could do better. Aomine was slightly more tolerable, but he was still an asshole after all. He told Kuroko as much, but Kuroko didn't seem to care.

So, when the Winter Cup was over and everyone had gotten some rest, Kagami stole Aomine's number form Kuroko's phone and texted him for a game of one on one.

"I'm still not sure what Kuroko see's in you." Kagami said after their game when they were both taking a break and drinking from their water bottles.

Aomine glanced over at him, and it wasn't hostile, but it wasn't friendly either. "Says the guy who just lost."

"I'm not talking about in basketball."

"Wrong. If you're talking about Tetsu you're always talking about basketball. Everything in his life is tied to it somehow." Aomine replied, lying down on the asphalt with his arms folded behind his head.

Kagami rolled his eyes, but decided not to argue since that wasn't the point. "I meant you as a person. You're an asshole, you don't appreciate him the way he deserves, and you put him through hell in middle school."

Now the glare that Aomine was giving him was distinctly hostile. "Is there a point to this or do you just want me to kick your ass?"

"I'd like to see you try." Kagami challenged. "But there is a point. While I may not get it, he does see something in you. But he's too afraid of losing you again to do anything about it."

"I don't know what you're talking about. He's over me. He's got you now." Aomine sounded resigned as he said it, and Kagami had a suspicion that if he looked at Aomine's eyes right now he would see the same lingering sadness he sometimes saw in Kuroko when Kuroko talked about Aomine.

Kagami rolled his eyes. "And people call me the idiot. Both of you have got to be the biggest dumbasses I've ever met."

Aomine had sat up in an instant and grabbed the collar of Kagami's shirt. "Oi! You can talk shit about me all you want, but don't you dare start talking bad about Tetsu." He growled out.

"Get off me." Kagami shoved Aomine's hand away from his shirt. "Would you actually let me finish? I'm saying you're both stupid for not seeing what's right in front of you. You're both so in love with each other that it's almost painful to watch you do nothing about it because of the constant staring when you think no one is watching. That applies to both of you, by the way, and you're both really bad at hiding it. I've told him to do something about it, and he won't, so now I'm telling you to. Please, for the love of god, treat him right this time too, because I don't want to have to be doing this a year from now just because you fucked up again and I don't think he's gonna stop giving you second chances."

Aomine looked at a loss for words, and Kagami could admit that he was childish enough to feel smug at leaving Aomine speechless.

"You're wrong. There's no way Tetsu loves me after all the shit I put him through. I'm amazed he still talks to me. Besides, he replaced me with you."

"As a basketball partner. Not a romantic one. I don't happen to be gay."

"Neither am I." Aomine said with a shrug.

"Yeah, but you're not straight either."

"True."

"I am."

Aomine looked skeptical. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm fucking sure! Are you going to sit around questioning my sexuality or are you going to make things right with Kuroko?" Kagami asked with annoyance.

He could almost regret it latter when he kept on hearing about 'Aomine-kun' this and 'Aomine-kun' that. And it eventually became 'Daiki' this and 'Daiki' that. And Aomine was around all the time it seemed. But he only almost regretted it. He couldn't deny he was proud to have helped in causing that smile to start appearing on Kuroko's face more and more often without the sadness that used to linger in it.

Yeah, he could deal with their constant lovey dovey looks. At least they both finally seemed happy.