Notes: Chapter 1 written for Day 2 of aokiseweek - Same School.

I couldn't bear to not write anything for every day but this was completely unplanned because I struggled with the prompt sobs

Neither of them expected to run into each other at university – despite that Akashi had simply commented that their futures were not something to be toyed with like their choice of high schools, none of them had seriously thought about the idea of them being in the same place.

Which was why, on the first day of practice at his university, Ryouta froze so fast he almost got whiplash upon seeing Aomine Daiki in the gymnasium.

"There you are!" called Momoi, waving. "You're late, Ki-chan!"

"What the fuck," said Aomine, looking over.

Ryouta couldn't help but internally agree with the sentiment.

It turned out that Momoi was in fact studying sports science at another (better) university – however, since they hadn't had a basketball team, and she was just as basketball obsessed as the rest of them, she'd requested to work with their team, as the universities weren't too far apart.

"How did you know I would be here, Momocchi?" Ryouta asks, although it's a stupid question. Of course she knew. She probably predicted where they were all going before they'd made their decisions about where they were going. (She probably knew where they were all going before they'd all received their basketball scouting offers or sat their exams)

Ryouta wasn't studying anything in particular. His projected career path at this point was torn between "professional basketball player" and "idol"; he hadn't really been sure about going to university, but he hadn't felt ready to commit to either one of the career paths in front of him, and studying was one of the few ways he had that could keep both options open and not entirely appear to be stalling.

(Ryouta wondered sometimes if Momocchi's analytical mind had already figured out his ultimate career path decision, and if she would tell him if he asked. He never seemed to be able to actually make the decision which way he wanted to go.)

Momoi looked at him like she was disappointed that he'd bothered to ask a question that they'd both known to be ridiculous. "Ki-chan, you know me better than that," she said airily. "Now come over here. The coaches are going to start speaking soon."

Ryouta walked over, feeling increasingly nervous with each step he took towards Aomine. Of all the people he'd expected to see here, Aomine was the one he'd expected the least, and probably the only one of his former teammates that would have evoked such mixed feelings of elation and disappointment upon learning that they would once again share a team and a jersey.

The disappointment was only natural – the best games Ryouta had played for Kaijou had been games against Aomine, or against Kuroko and Kagami. It made sense to be disappointed to be denied the thrill of challenge posed by facing off against Aomine.

But the excitement... well, that was more complicated.

Aomine elbowed him, startling him back to the present. "Oi, we're sitting out. We get to watch the rest of the hopefuls attempt to make the team."

He looked annoyed, like it was a waste of his time. If he didn't know him so well, Ryouta would probably believe that was the case; but he was at least 75% sure that Aomine was actually annoyed that he wouldn't get to play today.

He smiled, and followed Aomine over to the bench to sit down.

Ryouta let his mind pick up his thoughts again. The excitement was complicated for a few reasons. Playing at and for Teikou had been a formative experience – playing beside Aomine at that time was a special kind of experience, one that Ryouta treasured deep in his heart. It was in that place and time that he'd discovered basketball and Aomine, that he'd finally discovered a flame strong enough to light him up. There would always be a very special bond between the lot of them that most outsiders would never begin to understand; something deep and unshakable about being a Miracle.

And of course, Ryouta had loved Aomine. Ryouta had loved Aomine so much it had hurt, had loved him so fiercely that he'd thought it would burn him up and leave him a hollow figure of a person, because Aomine then was the kind of person who did that, the kind of person who inspired you to go to such lengths for them, the kind of person it was an enormous privilege to be burned by.

He was broken from his reverie again by another elbow to the side. He turned to look at Aomine.

"Let's grab a ball and get out of here," Aomine muttered. His eyes were on Momoi, who was watching the tryouts with a contented smile. "They don't need our input."

All of a sudden, what it meant to be on a team with Aomine again crashed into Ryouta. It meant one on ones whenever they liked, never being afraid of revealing their new secrets too soon; it meant talking to Aomine about where he should go next with his game; it meant spending time together again as teammates, hearing about Horikita Mai all the time and dinner sometimes after practice, and listening to Aomine grizzle as he's pulled away for an autograph of photo with a fan.

"Yeah," Ryouta answered quietly. "Yeah, okay."

"No way," Momoi said, not even looking at them as she did. Aomine's eyes narrowed at her. "That's so disrespectful." She sighed. "Dai-chan's always been such a terrible influence on you, Ki-chan."

And Ryouta wasn't even sure if he could argue that wasn't the case, so he could only smile sheepishly at Aomine. "After?" he asks in a low voice, and Aomine's glare softens and gives way to a slight upturn of his lips.

Ryouta hopes that Aomine's figured out what it means to be on a team again too.

"Well, they're not bad," Aomine says as they wander from the gymnasium after tryouts are done. He's stretching his hands above his head, and Ryouta's trying to ignore the way Aomine's muscles look so fantastic when he does that, so he dribbles the ball they took with them to distract himself. "They're a good team. Well, Satsuki wouldn't have recommended the team if it wasn't."

"Did Momocchi tell you I was going to be here?" Ryouta asks. He's pretty sure the answer is no, given his surprise when Ryouta arrived, but he wants to check.

"No." Aomine's face darkens. "She failed to mention it, but I know better than to think she didn't know. No offense, Kise, but if I'd known you were coming here I would have picked somewhere else. It's probably not going to be as interesting with us together."

"It's okay," Ryouta answers. "I would have gone somewhere else if someone had told me you would be here too."

For some reason, even though Aomine said it first, this doesn't seem to make Aomine any happier. Ryouta's just glad they've arrived at the nearest street court by now.

Usually they would have taken advantage of the fact they were already inside a fully equipped gymnasium, but it was as if everyone in the club had figured that the two of them were going to want to go head to head and hung around to see it. It had been somewhat off-putting for both of them; while neither was a stranger to being watched as they played after years of national tournament appearances, their one-on-one games at Teikou had never been considered a spectacle like that, and somehow the large audience made them both uncomfortable. As if something private was being intruded upon.

There were some kids playing on half of the court, but that was okay. Ryouta waved at them as they headed to the other half of the court, and they settled into wary stances to play.

They'd been at it about half an hour before Momoi interrupted them, swinging the gymnasium keys on her finger.

"The crowds are gone now," she told them. "And you came out here with only that basketball, not even water bottles. That wasn't very smart."

Aomine stood up straight and looked at her. "You brought them, didn't you?" he asked. Momoi puffed out her cheeks in outrage.

"Of course I did, but only because I felt so bad for Ki-chan!"

Ryouta couldn't help laughing as he wiped the sweat from his face with his shoulder. "Sorry, Momocchi, Aominecchi really is a bad influence after all."

"Oi!"

Ryouta trots over to Momoi for the proffered water bottle. "We should return this basketball to its home. You said the crowds are gone?"

Momoi nodded. "You can't just run away every time people want to watch," she said. "I know this is kind of special for you guys, but everyone really looks up to you, so it's not very nice to run away."

"They'll see us at practice," Ryouta whined. "This is ours."

Aomine sighed and walked over to join them. "We're going back then?" he asked Ryouta, who nodded.

"So, are you still living at home, Aominecchi?"

"Ah, yeah." Aomine ruffled the hair at the back of his head. "Since I want to get scouted, I don't have the time to devote to a job to pay for my own place. You lived closer to Kanagawa though, didn't you?"

Ryouta hummed. "Well, I had an apartment there," he said. "The commute to Kaijou would have been annoying from where my family lives. I have a new apartment nearer to here now." He smiled. "It's a little smaller than the Kanagawa place, but it's still nice."

"It must be nice to live on your own," Aomine muttered.

Ryouta tilted his head. "Well, sometimes," he admitted, "but it gets lonely sometimes too."

Momoi turned the topic to Ryouta's job then, and that conversation carried them back to the gymnasium.

"Ah, I should get going," Momoi said as they walked inside. "I want to get home before it's too dark. Are you coming, Dai-chan?"

"Hmm? Yeah." Aomine picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. Ryouta did the same.

"I'll see you at practice, Aominecchi," Ryouta called as they split.

Aomine waved, but didn't look back.

The days settled into an odd rhythm.

Most of Ryouta's classes were during the day, with a few early morning classes. He wasn't sure what Aomine was studying, but they didn't share any classes, though occasionally Ryouta caught glimpses of him around the campus.

And there was practice most afternoons. Aomine attended them all, despite that, Ryouta discovered, Momoi was only there once a week. It was odd – strange, to see the Aomine that he'd known for the last three years attending and working away at practice. He wasn't... the same kid that Ryouta had known at Teikou, before everything had gone wrong, but he wasn't the same bitter, jaded nasty guy he'd been either.

They wouldn't go one-on-one after every practice, but it was at least twice a week. They still tried to avoid being watched, when at all possible, but Ryouta pointed out that the nearest street court wouldn't exactly be hard to find if anyone really wanted to watch them.

They'd played late one evening and were getting dinner out when Aomine asked about Ryouta's plans.

"Eh?"

Aomine fidgeted, and repeated himself. "What's your plan?"

Ryouta sighed and leaned into the palm of his hand. "I don't know," he said. "I'm doing some general degree those kids who have no plans for their life do. My agent wants me to make a decision about whether we're going to go for professional basketball or we're going to try to do something with my established career. I could go be a supermodel, or an idol, bounce from the modelling thing and the fanbase I've already built. I just haven't made the decision yet. That's why I'm studying." Ryouta let his lip curl in one of the corners. "I'm not all that good in school, we both know that. But while I'm here I can still weigh the options. I don't have to choose one path or the other yet."

"Just pick basketball already and be done with it," Aomine said bluntly. Ryouta's head jerked straight and he looked at him. "Don't look so surprised. You're going to pick basketball. You, me, Kagami, there's only one place us idiots are going. We're not heirs to business conglomerates like Akashi, or stupid smart like Midorima, who's been planning on being a doctor since he was like, five, or Murasakibara who's at least got the brains to do something else if he wanted to."

Ryouta laughed. "You make it sound like such a simple decision."

Well, it was a simple decision for Aomine, after all.

"I could be famous," Ryouta says.

"If you wanted it," Aomine challenged, "you would have done it already. You don't love the idol stuff as much as you love the basketball, so why kid yourself about the outcome? Just commit already."

"My modelling pays for my apartment," he points out.

That makes Aomine pause. "Well... maybe you should share with someone."

Ryouta narrows his eyes. "You are not moving into my apartment."

Aomine moves in two weeks later, and Ryouta's brain wants to beat his stupid heart to death for giving in.

It's been easy to ignore, he thinks as he flops onto his bed, but now that Aomine's going to always be there, it's going to be harder.

The feelings have come back.