It was starting to get dark as Momoi made her way home from the train station, keeping her head held high and avoiding eye contact with everyone she passed. Ever since Teiko, she'd had to learn the best ways to keep random men from approaching her in the street, and she'd found that very obviously ignoring their presence was the easiest method to take.

Still, nothing ever worked one hundred percent of the time, and Momoi frowned as a boy with ratty, greasy hair fell into step with her.

"Hey, babe."

Not saying anything, Momoi kept her eyes forward, hoping that the guy would take the hint. He wasn't that much bigger than her, and her intuition placed him as annoying yet largely harmless, but she wasn't planning on humouring him.

"Didn't you hear me?" The hand that grabbed her upper arm too tightly made her wince and she stopped short, fighting to keep her expression neutral so that she didn't come across as willing, vulnerable or aggressive.

"Please don't touch me," she said pleasantly enough, unsuccessfully trying to dislodge her arm.

"It's alright sweetheart," the guy grinned, and it was a truly unpleasant sight. "I just want you to come join me and some friends for the night."

Pulling a little harder yet still unable to break his grip, Momoi forced a polite smile as she declined with a firm, "No thank you."

"Don't be like that!" The stranger's expression hardened, and just as Momoi was wondering how hard she should kick him in the balls, she found herself being forced a few steps back as someone appeared between them, forcibly removing the first guy's grip on her arm.

"Hey Momocchi, who's your friend?"

The cheerful voice didn't sound particularly threatening, but as Momoi looked up at her blond saviour, she knew that the creepy stranger was in trouble. She'd spent enough time with Kise to recognise his darker side.

"The fuck are you, pretty boy?" The stranger spat, letting Kise's designer clothes and feminine features overrule the fact that the blond probably had five inches in height on him, not to mention quite a lot of sleek muscle.

"I am pretty, aren't I?" Kise grinned, making Momoi turn away and cough in an effort to hide her own smile. "But I think you should probably keep moving."

Kise's upbeat tone didn't waver, but only an idiot would miss the seriousness of his suggestion. Apparently the stranger was an idiot, because he drew a hand back, quite clearly about to throw a punch. It was only because of Momoi's trained eyes that she saw what happened next, Kise shifting forwards incredibly quickly and sinking a fist into the guy's stomach, making him double over with a pained groan.

"Get out of here."

Hearing such a cold voice coming from Kise made the hairs on the back of Momoi's neck stand up, and she shivered as Kise turned to face her, eyes still narrowed with dangerous intent in the split second before they softened to his usual cheerful demeanour.

Momoi had to look away for a moment, focusing instead on the stranger stumbling as he disappeared off down the street. By the time she looked back at Kise, he was watching her with wide, worried eyes, allowing her instincts to calm down.

"Are you okay, Momocchi?" He asked, and Momoi made herself forget the harshness of his previous expression, knowing that this was just Kise and she was perfectly safe.

"I'm fine. Thank you, Ki-chan." Gently patting him on the arm, Momoi couldn't help but smile as Kise grinned at her, his entire face lighting up with genuine happiness.

"I hope you don't mind, I know you can take care of yourself but you shouldn't have to get your hands dirty with people like that."

Kise looked a little shocked as Momoi suddenly grabbed him in a tight hug, pressing her face against his chest and enjoying the smell of his expensive cologne. It was just so nice for her to hear that someone believed she could do something for herself that wasn't investigating, and also that she deserved to be looked after: most people seemed to assume that she was completely useless without Aomine looming over her shoulder, and although she knew he appreciated her, he would never say as much.

"Would you like me to walk you home?" Kise asked as he patted her on the back, feeling her nod against his chest. Letting go, Momoi started in the direction of her house, Kise a reassuringly cheerful presence beside her. She let him chatter on for a while, only interrupting once the weirdly coincidental nature of the evening finally occurred to her.

"Why are you out this way, Ki-chan?"

"Oh! Well I went to an exhibition over here with Kurokocchi, but then Kagamicchi appeared and they went out for dinner, so I figured I should just go home and was heading for the station when I saw you." Kise's smile wavered for a second, and Momoi could relate; ever since Kuroko and Kagami started dating in second year, it felt like Kuroko had a lot less time for anyone who wasn't his redheaded boyfriend.

Momoi had learnt to be fine with the fact that Kuroko was never going to be her boyfriend, but there was a sadness in Kise's eyes that reminded her of just how lonely the blond seemed to be under his exaggerated joy.

If she had Aomine, Kuroko and Kagami had each other, Midorima had Takao, Murasakibara had Himuro, and Akashi was, well, Akashi, then who did Kise have? The screaming girls who gathered around him could hardly be considered friends, and the current Kaijou team seemed to keep a polite distance between themselves and their ace.

Feeling her heart break a little for the boy who just so obviously wanted to be treated like something other than an annoyance, Momoi made sure to keep her voice casual as she asked, "Would you like to have dinner at my house and spend the night? I got Dai-chan to agree to go shopping tomorrow and I think you'd be a massive help, if you want to come."

Kise brightened almost immediately, until a flash of wariness toned down the intensity of his beaming smile. "...Only if you're sure I wouldn't interrupt your time with Aominecchi."

Apparently still feeling the sting of being dismissed as a third wheel, Kise fiddled awkwardly with his earring, and Momoi just didn't understand how such an adorable creature seemed to be alone so often.

"Of course not," she reassured, turning her gaze forward as they walked. "Dai-chan will be grumpy that I'm making him buy something other than basketball shorts, so it'll be nice to have someone to talk to while he sulks."

"...Thank you," Kise said quietly, pulling out his phone to message his mother and tell her he wouldn't be home. "Will your parents be okay with me staying?"

"Dai-chan has a bad habit of appearing without warning and demanding to be fed, so we always have plenty of extra food. And they won't mind you sleeping over, just as long as you don't try anything that would make Dai-chan want to hurt you."

The way that Kise flushed and stuttered at her teasing confirmed Momoi's information, and she hid her vindicated smile from the blond next to her.

"I'm not...I wouldn't...I don't like...um...women," Kise damn near whispered, and Momoi was suddenly struck by the thought that she may have been one of the first people Kise had ever come out to. She felt bad about practically cornering him into the confession, but it was too late for her to take it back now, and so she briefly let her fingers brush against his.

"It's okay, Ki-chan, I already know."

"How do y-...Oh, right. Of course you know," Kise laughed, sounding like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. They were both quiet for the last couple of minutes it took to get to Momoi's house, Kise recognising the building from the rare few occasions he'd needed to visit Aomine just down the street.

Momoi called her greetings as they entered the house, introducing Kise to her mother when she came out to greet them. Despite the fact that Kise proceeded to spend the evening charming her parents with his not-entirely-genuine public face, Momoi could tell that he was legitimately happy to have been included, and she knew that she would have to make an effort to spend more time with the pretty blond.

Not only did she genuinely appreciate the company of someone who saw her as more than a pair of tits, while also not being Aomine, but she also figured that it would be good for her long-time friend to rebuild some of the relationships he'd shattered with his apathy. Since his Winter Cup defeat eighteen months ago, Aomine had definitely been better, but he still hadn't managed to completely reconnect with his old friends.

Momoi's mind was whirring as she laid back in her bed, Kise already asleep on a futon in one corner of the room. It hadn't taken any effort to convince her parents to let the male sleep in her room, as she assumed that her mother had sized up the blond and come to the same conclusion that Momoi had quite some time ago, and that had been confirmed for her just hours earlier.

She just wanted all her friends to be happy, and she was damn well going to make it happen.