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"Silly Dai-chan," Daiki had to lean forward to hear Satsuki's whispered words. "I already knew."

He reared back in surprise, almost toppling off the edge of Satsuki's bed in the process. He managed to catch himself just in time, clutching at the pristine white bedspread, mouth gaping as he stared into Satsuki's concerned face. "Huh?"

"I already knew," Satsuki repeated as she moved to wit with him on the bed. They both leaned back against the plain dark headboard, legs stretched out and only a foot of space between them. "I've always known. Dai-chan has been in love with Tetsu-kun almost as long as I have."

That was definitely news to Daiki.

"Wha-?! But you've loved him ever since Teikō! And I've only just figured out that I have feelings for him recently-" a dark flush spread across Daiki's cheeks. "So how can you say that you've always known, when I didn't even know!" Because while Tetsu had definitely always had a special place in Daiki's heart, it had only been because he was one of the few people that Daiki could really call a friend (not to mention their unique bond as light and shadow). The other Miracles only became friends after Tetsu had joined the team.

Satsuki's pink eyes were pinned on him. "Because I know everything, Dai-chan." Well, he couldn't deny that. "And you may have only just realized it, but that doesn't mean the feelings haven't been there all along."

"Wouldn't I know if I had fallen in love with someone?" Daiki pointed out.

"No. Because Dai-chan is an idiot."

Daiki scowled. The way she said that so certainly pissed him off. But still… "Why didn't you tell me, then?"

She flinched, and Daiki instantly felt like shit. How could he expect her to, when she was in love with Tetsu as well? They had only been middle schoolers at the time, and then… shit had happened.

"I'm sorry, Satsuki, I didn't mean that." Daiki awkwardly shuffled over so that their sides were pressed together. Apologizing still felt weird to him, he hadn't done it for so long. And he hadn't been an apologetic person in the first place. But for Satsuki, he could say it.

She lifted her face to him, and it was Daiki's turn to flinch. Aw jeez. Tears were pooling in her eyes, and he couldn't have felt worse. He had made Satsuki cry many a time in their lives, especially over the past two years, and admittedly hadn't felt very guilty about it at all. However, after the Winter Cup, when he had a chance to really examine all that he'd done, Daiki had secretly promised himself that he would never make Satsuki cry again. It was the least he could do for the girl who had stayed with him through everything.

"C'mon, Satsuki, don't cry," Daiki said, wrapping an arm around her small shoulders. "I really didn't mean it."

She pressed closer to him, shifting so that she was tucked up into his side. "I know you didn't, Dai-chan. That's not why I'm crying." Satsuki's words were muffled slightly by his body, but he managed to catch them just fine.

"Eh? Why're you crying, then?" He questioned confusedly.

"Because, because! Because I'm sorry, Dai-chan!" Satsuki buried her face in his chest, tears seeping through his t-shirt onto his skin.

Out of all the things Daiki had expected to come out of her mouth, that hadn't been one of them. What did she have to be sorry about? He was the one who had gone and fallen in love with the guy his best friend was already in love with.

"What are you talking about, Satsuki?" He eyeballed her candy-floss colored head skeptically.

"Dai-chan!" The tearful girl straightened up indignantly. "You just said it yourself, I should have told you!" She furiously wiped the tears out of her eyes, meeting his gaze head on. "It was selfish of me, but I didn't want Dai-chan to realize his feelings. He's the sort of idiot who would confess without even thinking about it, and, and-" Satsuki snapped her mouth shut, turning her head in the opposite direction to Daiki.

He heaved out an aggravated breath. Having a female best friend could be so exhausting. "C'mon, Satsuki, just hurry up and tell me already. Promise I won't be mad."

"I know you won't be," Satsuki murmured quietly. "I'm just too ashamed to say it out loud." She continued to face away from him, but Daiki could hear the quiver in her voice.

She was crying again.

Panicking slightly, Daiki used the arm slung across her shoulders to forcefully tug her further into him, so that she was leaning back against his side. Embarrassed, he dropped his face into her soft, sweet smelling hair to hide his blush, despite knowing that he'd purposefully made it so that she couldn't see him. "Tell me, Satsuki," he said softly. "Tell me."

Daiki felt the breath that she slowly let out, her body losing all the tension and settling in against him properly. Cheeks still burning, Daiki left his face where it was, pressed against the top of Satsuki's head. This was so embarrassing.

"I was afraid."

"Huh?" Satsuki's soft words took Daiki completely by surprise (again).

"I was afraid!" The older girl burst out, shuddering under Daiki's arm. "You and Tetsu-kun used to be so close, Dai-chan. If you had realized your feelings and confessed to him, I thought that maybe Tetsu-kun would accept you. It was very selfish of me, but I didn't know what to do." Satsuki paused, as if waiting for Daiki to condemn her; he had nothing to say. He didn't know how to reply, didn't even know what he was feeling.

So she continued. "Dai-chan has always been my best friend, even though he's an annoying, perverted, ganguro, basketball idiot-" Daiki twitched, quickly jabbing his pointer and middle fingers into Satsuki's side in retaliation for the insults. She squealed, attempting to scramble away, only to be held in place by Daiki's formerly-comforting-but-now-restraining arm across her shoulders. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry, Dai-chan!" Satsuki cried out, giggling helplessly. Daiki grinned triumphantly.

Who's an idiot now?

Having successfully lightened the mood some, Daiki rapped his knuckles lightly on the side of Satsuki's head. "I'm still not mad you, y'know."

She let out one final giggle, reaching up and moving his arm away from its place across her shoulders/the top of her chest. She instead hugged it to her, intertwining their fingers. Daiki just tried not to focus too hard on the feel of Satsuki's boobs pressed against his arm. In love with a boy he may have been, but he was still a predominantly straight teenage boy.

"I knew you wouldn't be, Dai-chan." Satsuki informed him. "But it was still terrible of me, because I was so relieved that you were too much of an idiot to figure it out, and so I wouldn't lose you or Tetsu-kun to each other."

"Haaahh? Me? Why would you think that?" Daiki was honestly confused. It was one thing to not want the boy you liked to date anybody else; he understood that much, and he couldn't blame Satsuki for feeling that way. But losing him? To Tetsu? That just didn't make sense.

Satsuki squeezed his trapped hand between both of hers – inadvertently pressing his arm closer to her chest, which Daiki attempted to ignore. "I just said, Dai-chan," she stated exasperatedly. "You're my best friend. You've always been my best friend. I don't know what I would have done if you had stopped paying attention to me."

Oh.

Oh.

Well.

That was embarrassingly straight-forward. Daiki wasn't quite sure how to reply to that. He tried to imagine how he would have felt if Satsuki and Tetsu had ever started dating; his two best friends, with a special bond that he wouldn't have been a part of, and going on dates that didn't include him. He felt sick.

He would have been so lonely. Lonely and left out. Even though Daiki was pretty sure that none of the three of them were the type to enter a relationship and forget about everybody else, he still would have felt like that. Was this what Satsuki had been dealing with, the fear of being left behind by two of her dearest friends?

A rare surge of sympathy passed through him. Satsuki may have thought it was selfish, but Daiki knew selfishness very well. He was basically the definition after all.

"Don't worry about it anymore, Satsuki," Daiki ended up telling her. "It's probably better like this anyway. Everything would have just been even more fucked up if I had confessed back then or whatever."

She jabbed an elbow back into his ribs. "Language, Dai-chan!" She scolded him. "But, if you're really sure…?"

Daiki sighed aggrievedly. He was so over this conversation; he wanted to go play some basketball and clear his head. "I'm really sure, Satsuki. Don't apologise anymore, don't feel bad about it, and for God's sake, don't cry."

Satsuki giggled and cuddled his arm closer. "You're really the best, Dai-chan."

Yeah – the best at pretending that his oldest friend's boobs weren't affecting him in any way, shape, or form.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Daiki waved his free hand nonchalantly, absurdly glad that Satsuki couldn't see his face. "Just let me go already, I wanna go down to the street court."

Satsuki, who apparently knew Daiki better than he knew himself, released his arm and stood, smiling understandingly. "Okay, Dai-chan. I think I'm going to call Ki-chan to come shopping with me, so I'll talk to you later, alright?"

Absently wondering when Kise and Satsuki had become shopping buddies, Daiki nodded. Satsuki seemed to hesitate, before she slowly leaned forward and pressed her lips to his temple.

"I will always love you, Aomine Daiki. So follow your heart, and don't ever forget that."

The next second, she was gone, leaving Daiki with an inexplicable ache in his chest, and feeling more confused than he ever had in his life.


AN: I honestly meant to get this out way earlier, but I got distracted by other fics and bingeing on anime, so my apologies. I know it's still short, but it's longer than the first one, and the chapters will continue to get longer :). Lemme know what you thought!

- Kelly