ACT TWO – The Lovestruck Period (or, Aomine and Kise are sickening because they are a new couple and cannot keep their hands [or anything else] to themselves)

The reason for Kuroko's disbelief is unveiled about three weeks later, which is the next time Aomine and Kise both manage to make an appearance at their court. This will probably be one of the last of these sessions – the season will pick up soon, and they'll have to be keeping new tools close to the chest – and it made Taiga feel a little sad. Tatsuya and Murasakibara dropped in for one of the afternoons two weeks back, when they'd taken the weekend to come down to Tokyo, and that was a really good weekend, with a few very intense three-on-three games.

He kind of hoped this became a thing – even though he didn't feel like he got along especially well with everyone all the time, it's still fun.

Kuroko managed to convince him to make food for everyone again this week, preying ruthlessly upon Taiga's soft-heartedness and wistful feelings about this whole event ending. So it was that he was grumbling at Kuroko as they approach the court when he saw it.

At first it seemed like a normal one-on-one between the two of them. They were playing in just as close quarters as always, verging on fouling, really; but after the point is won by Aomine, they continued standing close, pressed right into each other's personal space in a way that is definitely new, and the smiles have something a little different to them, and Taiga didn't have the time to put the pieces together himself because it's done for him when Aomine yanked Kise by the neck and kissed him.

Taiga almost dropped the food. Kuroko gave him a dirty look.

For once, Midorima and Takao have beaten them here. Taiga heard Midorima shout at them.

"How many times am I going to have to tell you to cease your vulgar public displays of affection?"

"Midorimacchi," Kise whined. "Don't be jealous."

Taiga caught a look at Midorima's face as they walk out towards the bench. He looked about as close to murderous as Taiga had ever seen him.

"You're late, Kagami," Aomine drawled.

"I guess you don't want any food," Taiga commented. "That's okay, I'll eat it."

"He will," Kuroko agreed. "Kagami-kun has a black hole where his stomach should be." He set his burden down on the bench. "Hello, Midorima-kun, Takao-kun. Have you been waiting long?"

"Long enough," Midorima rumbled, still looking pissy.

"Kurokocchi!" Kise called. He was sparkling, but he wasn't running up to him like he usually would – Taiga's not entirely sure that it's only because Aomine's arms seem to have become permanently attached to Kise's body, since he doesn't seem to be trying all that hard to get out of them.

"Hello, Kise-kun," Kuroko greeted him. "Shouldn't you be more conscious of the public nature of your work?"

Kise waved his hand. "Heaps of people already think I'm gay because I'm a male model. Besides, I've never been approached on this court, and if it was going to happen it would have happened by now."

"Usual teams?" Taiga asked.

"I wanna be on a team with Aominecchi!" Kise's pouting something shocking, and Taiga could feel a headache coming on thinking about trying to figure out how they're going to balance the teams. It seems pretty impossible without letting the Kise-Aomine-Kuroko team happen again, and Kuroko doesn't look enthusiastic about being teamed up with the new couple. Midorima looked pained.

The arguing about teams took twice as much time as normal, because Kise was way too set on playing on the same team as Aomine despite that they've talked about this, and finally, finally, they manage to get on the court in the usual teams.

Taiga found himself marking Midorima most of the time, and honestly, this whole thing would probably work better if they split to play two-on-two on the other side of the court – Kise and Aomine were making eyes at each other constantly, and they kept touching each other and it's really annoying, especially because Taiga was sure he'd seen Aomine grab at Kise's ass at least three times in the space of the last fifteen minutes, and Kise kept going to kiss Aomine and even though Kuroko kept elbowing him in the stomach to remind him that they were still playing basketball, he kept trying.

It was a mess.

"If you're not going to play properly," Midorima finally thundered, "then leave so that Kagami and I can have a proper match."

"But Kagamicchi cooked for us and everything," Kise wailed.

Kuroko was frowning. "But you and Aomine-kun aren't even playing properly. You don't deserve Kagami-kun's food, acting this way."

Taiga looked heard muffled laughter coming from Takao as both Kise and Aomine wilted a little under Kuroko's 'angry' face.

"So, are we playing three-on-three or not?" Taiga asked.

They're a little better after that, though they're both a bit more handsy than is probably strictly necessary. Taiga dealt with it better than Midorima, who twitched every time he caught them doing anything. Kuroko seemed at least satisfied with having gotten them to play properly, but Taiga had a feeling that he was actually pretty happy for his two weird friends.

When they finally stopped for the afternoon, Taiga shoved the food at Kuroko to distribute again. Though Aomine didn't say thank you, Kise did, and Taiga just kind of took it for what it was.

He tried not to pay too much attention to Kise and Aomine (sitting side by side, knees touching) as Aomine stole food from Kise (and Kise stole kisses in return), and instead nudged Kuroko.

"You going to miss these afternoons when season starts up?"

Kuroko looked up at him. "Yes, I think so." He smiled a little. "But it will be nice to spend time with our teammates again too."

Aomine and Kise inform them all of their having finished eating by way of collapsing on top of each other. Taiga scrunched up his nose and prodded them with his foot.

"If you have to do that, can you not do it so close?"

Aomine looked up from where he was sprawled on top of Kise. "I didn't take you for the jealous type, Kagami," he said, grinning. Kise leaned up to whisper something in Aomine's ear, and he laughed.

Taiga felt somehow uncomfortable being the butt of whatever joke Kise had just made.

"Shameless," Midorima muttered to the side. Takao was stifling his laughter again.

"I find myself in agreement with Midorima-kun," Kuroko said. "Kise-kun, it is uncomfortable seeing you grab at Aomine-kun. Please keep such touching to private moments."

Kise had what looked like a fairly firm grasp on Aomine's ass. He grinned cheekily.

"This is a private moment—" Kise started to say, and then Aomine smacked the side of his head. This led to a very quick tactic change, as crocodile tears made a swift appearance.

"Aominecchi," he sobbed, "why?"

"You were being stupid," Aomine answered. "Was I too rough? Should I kiss it better?"

Taiga was definitely going to throw up.

Kuroko kicked Aomine in the side. Takao started laughing again as Midorima muttered under his breath.

"Still," Kuroko said quietly to Taiga, looking up at the sky, "I think these are precious days."

Beside them, Aomine bit Kise's neck.

"You and Kuroko-kun seem closer," Furihata commented.

"Hah?" Taiga turned toward him, ball in hand. "What are you talking about?"

They second years had been split up – half were doing shooting practice, and the others were doing passing drills. Coach had made sure Taiga and Kuroko were in separate halves.

"Well, you don't act different," he admitted, "I don't really know how to explain..."

Taiga shrugged. "Well, we played a lot of basketball with his annoying friends, I guess."

Furihata took on a mildly alarmed expression. "Oh. Um. That sounds... interesting..."

Taiga thought back to the final afternoon – Midorima and Takao hadn't come, but Aomine and Kise both turned up, grabbing hands and kisses just as prevalent as they had been the previous time. Taiga idly wondered if it was hard to date someone who went to a different school, and if their constant need to be in contact was some kind of reflection of that understanding.

...well, even if it was, they didn't have to subject all the rest of them to their awkward groping and making out.

Actually, now that Taiga thought about it, they probably wouldn't get to see Aomine or Kise again until tournament time, let alone have the chance to be annoyed by their touching and grossness. Taiga would never want to be like that with a partner, it would be way too embarrassing.

"It wasn't too bad," he finally said to Furihata. "Awkward sometimes, though."

It was at that point that Coach came over that hit them both. "Focus! You have time to gossip about the break after practice!"

After practice, though, Taiga found the second years fell straight into last year's patterns, and he himself ended up walking with Kuroko for their usual post-practice snack.

"Ah, it feels good to train again," Taiga commented, stretching his arms above his head. "You didn't look like you were struggling too much today either."

"Coach is lulling the first-years into a false sense of security," Kuroko answered. "It would have scared them off if one of their upperclassmen had been fainting or throwing up after already spending a year on the team."

Taiga couldn't help the smile he felt break out. "Just as weak as ever then, Kuroko?"

"What are you talking about, have you seen my guns?"

Kuroko had a blank face, but he had to know by now the default reaction that that question.

"You don't have any!" Taiga exploded anyway. Though his expression didn't change, Taiga somehow got the sense that he was amused. Taiga sighed.

"It's kind of a shame, though, that we won't get to play against your friends again for ages," he said.

"I think it's about time Kagami-kun admitted that Aomine-kun, Kise-kun and Midorima-kun are his friends as well," Kuroko put in.

"You excluded Takao," Taiga said. It was a clumsy attempt at subject change, he knew.

"That's because Takao-kun is easygoing and you would probably admit to being friends with him without being pushed."

Yeah, that played out pretty much the way Taiga had expected it to.

"We're not friends," Taiga said. "We're rivals! Opponents! Mortal enemies."

"You made them food and didn't poison it."

Taiga sighed and rubbed his face. "It would be a waste to kill worthy opponents."

"And they're you're friends."

It was just as well that Taiga could be just as hard-headed as Kuroko was sometimes. "We're not friends."

"That's so mean, Kagamicchi!"

Taiga felt his whole body tense up at the voice behind him. Kuroko turned around.

"Hello, Kise-kun. What brings you here?"

Kise smiled, and Taiga felt tired just looking at him. "I'm meeting with Aominecchi, of course!"

"Don't let us keep you, then," Kuroko said. "Aomine-kun isn't very patient. He might not wait if you're late for your date."

Kise's smile took on a knowing edge. "Aominecchi will wait for me," he said, and he sounded sure and confident. "Besides, it's not as if I was following you just because or anything. The place I'm meeting Aominecchi at is in this direction."

He took a few steps and got himself between the two of them. "Where are you going? Did you have practice today? Did you collapse again, Kurokocchi? What are your kouhai like? Mine are pretty nice, though they all kind of stare at me a bit, which is a little bit embarrassing, no one on Kaijou used to stare at me because they were all my senpai before..."

Taiga tuned Kise out, and he looked at Kuroko. Kuroko, who looked as if he was tuning Kise out, was probably actually listening to everything he said. Kuroko was like that, sometimes – Kise often needed a bit of a reminder that the world didn't actually revolve around him, but Kuroko really did care about his old teammates, so he never actually stopped listening to Kise.

It was just another one of those odd things about Kuroko that made him kind of special, Taiga guessed.

"This is our stop," Taiga interrupted as they arrived to Maji Burger. Kise stopped speaking at them to smile.

"Maybe I should ask Aominecchi to meet us here!" he suggested, and Taiga was fairly certain he was going to kill either himself or Kise, but maybe especially Kise, because Kuroko smiled a little and now Kise was definitely going to do it.

"We wouldn't want to get in the way of your date, Kise-kun," Kuroko said. "I don't think Aomine-kun will be very happy with your change of plans."

"I'll make it up to him," Kise chirped. His phone had already been retrieved from wherever he stored it and his fingers were flying across the smartphone's screen at an unbelievable speed. "Aominecchi's easy anyway; he really likes it when I do this thing with my tongue-"

"Stop right there or I will straight up kill you," Taiga snarled.

Kise looked up and took in Taiga's pink cheeks. "Oh my god, that's so adorable," he commented, and Taiga could literally hear his ego crashing into the ground, "Kagamicchi's so innocent!"

Taiga really wished that he could just disappear into the ground right now.

"Kise-kun is just too comfortable sharing private things," Kuroko said, and even though his tone was bland and even, Taiga knew it for what it was – a scold. Evidently, Kise understood it for what it was too, as he pouted.

"Kurokocchi," he whined.

Kuroko turned away to push the door open, and Taiga followed. Kuroko evidently expected Kise to follow, since he sat them down at a table for four instead of the usual table for two.

Kise sat down with them and chattered on about whatever floated through his head, and Taiga tuned him out again to look out the window. So he was the first to notice Aomine walking in.

Aomine raised a hand to his mouth to make a quiet gesture, and snuck up on Kise before putting his hands over his eyes.

"Aominecchi!" Kise greeted him. "Look, I found Kurokocchi and Kagamicchi!"

"Yes, yes, I can see that," Aomine said. "I thought you wanted to go on a date tonight?"

"But I saw Kagamicchi and Kurokocchi, and I remembered how we're not meeting up this weekend to play basketball and it made me sad."

Aomine let himself drop into the seat beside Kise, an arm slung around the back of Kise's chair. "You're hopeless," he said, and sighed.

Kise glanced around, and then leaned over to rub his face into Aomine's shoulder briefly. "I like playing basketball with Aominecchi and everyone else."

Aomine kissed Kise's head before shoving it away. Taiga felt himself losing his appetite and scowled. Then Aomine stole one of his burgers, and Taiga had to stop himself from going to punch him. Kuroko put a hand on his arm, and the violent urge subsided. It was then that Taiga realised Kuroko had no food.

"Idiot, how are you supposed to get anywhere if you don't eat anything?" he griped, picking up one of the burgers and sending it skittering in front of his friend.

Kuroko's mouth quirked. "I don't need to eat as much as Kagami-kun, who is a monster."

Taiga could see Kise whispering in Aomine's ear out the side of his vision. "Just eat it, idiot," he muttered, looking back down at his food and getting out another burger.

Now it was Aomine's turn to lean over and whisper in Kise's ear. Kise smirked to whatever he'd said, and while Aomine was still leaned in close, kissed him quickly.

"Do you guys ever stop?" Taiga asked. They both turned to look at him.

"Kagamicchi, you need to be more honest with yourself," Kise said. He leaned over to wiggle a finger in Taiga's face, making him flinch away. "Just because you—"

Kise yelped. Aomine frowned and looked at Kuroko.

"Oi, the only one allowed to hurt Kise is me!"

Kuroko stared him down – actually, that was pretty impressive, if Taiga thought about it. Sometimes Kuroko seemed like one of those beast tamers you'd find in a circus, that gets big cats to do a bunch of tricks.

"Ah, but Kasamatsu-senpai hits me all the time," Kise added.

"Kise-kun needs tough love because he can be very dense about some things," Kuroko commented. "And Aomine-kun is too gentle with you."

Taiga could almost see the way Kuroko's words brutally stabbed at their egos.

"I am not gentle," Aomine muttered. "I'm a tough guy."

Taiga heard a very gentle snort from beside him, and smothered his own smile into his food.

"Kurokocchi, you're so slow," Kise said. "If you would just..."

"I didn't interfere with you," Kuroko responded quickly and coldly. "Please extend me the same courtesy and do not stick your nose into places where it isn't wanted."

Kise huffed, pouted and crossed his arms, but Taiga knew a defeat when he saw it, and wondered what exactly it was that he'd just missed.

"I just want you to be happy, Kurokocchi," he whined. "Seriously."

Aomine pinched his side, and he yelped.

"Stop paying so much attention to Tetsu," he grumbled. "We're supposed to be on a date."

"Everyone's so mean to me," he sobbed. Taiga finished the last of his food.

"Kuroko, did you want to stop by the court on the way back?" he asked as he gathered the trash on the tray.

Kuroko nodded, and stood. "Good evening, Kise-kun, Aomine-kun." Taiga just waved a hand at them.

"Bye, Tetsu, Bakagami," was Aomine's farewell.

"Kurokocchi, Kagamicchi, we'll play again soon, right?" was Kise's.

"Your friends are such hard work," Taiga said to Kuroko as they left.

Kuroko smiled. "They're your friends too."

In the end, it turned out that Taiga had no reason to feel melancholic over the end of the weekend games, because he ended up seeing Aomine and Kise all the time, and he'd forgotten, somehow, that without basketball to dull the knowledge, they were actually really fucking weird.

At least Midorima and Kuroko still didn't get along very well, and avoided each other thusly.

Kise liked to stop by at least once a week to hang all over Kuroko (Taiga never did get a good answer out of him about why he was draping himself all over Kuroko when he had a perfectly decent boyfriend to do that to, who wouldn't elbow him in the gut and/or collapse underneath his weight), and Aomine liked to stop by and sigh at Kuroko about Kise (and Taiga never got a good answer from Kuroko about why Aomine had to do that with them rather than with Momoi).

Afternoons when they individually decided to come over and disrupt Taiga's life and routine were quickly became a sore point for Taiga, since their presence meant no basketball. But worst were the afternoons when both of them came around to Seirin, because it meant no basketball and having to watch Aomine and Kise flop all over each other and smile at each other and the groping had not toned down at all (Taiga had lost count of how many times he'd seen one of them grab at the others' ass).

It was mostly just them interrupting basketball and after-basketball routines with Kuroko, so he wasn't entirely sure why it annoyed him so much that they liked to burst into his life in a flurry of colour and eccentricity, but it did.

Maybe it annoyed him because Kuroko always smiled at them so softly and indulgently; because he knew that Kuroko got genuine pleasure from watching those idiots be stupid at each other. Taiga didn't get anything out of it but a headache and a vague desire to find out if there was any way that he could unsee Aomine's tongue shoved down Kise's throat.

Taiga finally expressed his dissatisfaction with this whole set up (two interruptions to their basketball schedule a week is too many) to Kuroko about a month after the season started.

"Well, I suppose we could always organise a weekly event that won't coincide with time we play basketball," Kuroko offered.

"Then we'll have to invite Midorima or he'll be even more insufferable," Taiga said, and felt horror begin to grip at his chest when Kuroko's pleased quirk of the lips made reappearance.

Kuroko got out his phone, and sometimes, Taiga really wondered why he put up with this bastard.

He didn't want to go and spend his weekend with the weird people, but somehow Kuroko managed to get him out of his apartment and walking in the direction of Aomine's home that weekend. Taiga ran the scenario through his head a number of times as they walked, and even as they approached he still had no idea how the smaller boy had done it. He remembered opening the door, and Kuroko telling him the plan for the day, and refusing to go, and then, somehow before he knew it, he was locking the door and following Kuroko.

If he didn't know Kuroko's lack of presence was inherited from his mother, Taiga was pretty sure he would have to have considered asking if Kuroko was secretly involved in some kind of witchcraft or deal with the devil.

He was certainly evil enough.

Taiga debated his ability to break away from Kuroko and get far enough that no one would bother to chase him down. Kuroko's gaze moved from the door to him, and he pretty much figured his odds were in negative numbers.

And then the door opened.

"Ah, it's Kurokocchi and Kagamicchi! Come in, come in!"

Taiga bit back a heavy sigh – Kise's neck was splotchy and red – and followed Kuroko inside.

Aomine looked like he wanted to kill them when they wandered into the living room. Taiga almost wished that he would when Kise dropped himself into Aomine's lap and Aomine's arms automatically moved around him.

"What's the plan?" Taiga asked, more to distract himself from the way Aomine was still glaring at them than because he actually wanted to know.

"We're going to play video games!" Kise cheered, looking excited. "Aominecchi has a really good collection; and they aren't even all basketball games!"

"Yours is better," Aomine mumbled.

"My house has my sisters," Kise answered, wrinkling his nose.

Their back and forth was so domestic. Taiga didn't even know what to do with that; it felt like it should disturb him. Maybe he was finally becoming immune—no, it was just a lower level of obnoxious, because,

"Aomine-kun, Kise-kun, you have guests," Kuroko reminded them, which caused them to break their lip-lock. Taiga could probably have lived without seeing that really sappy face on Aomine.

"Just because you're not getting any," Aomine muttered. Kuroko's expression immediately darkened, and Taiga stepped away almost on instinct.

Kise scrambled from his boyfriend's lap. "You're on your own, Aominecchi," he told him as he fled from Kuroko's temper.

"What do you—ack!"

That was a very impressive punch; Taiga had to give Kuroko some props for it. He'd seen Kuroko give out some pretty good ones, but this one was at least top five.

"Please desist," Kuroko said calmly over Aomine's wheezing, "on making comments on my personal life, Aomine-kun."

Kise busied himself setting up the console and picking a game.

"Kuroko, did you say if Midorima and Takao were coming?" Taiga asked as they waited.

"I did." He sounded like he was judging Taiga quite a lot for not listening to him properly. "They aren't coming. Midorima-kun said something about it being a waste of their time."

Taiga rolled his eyes. "What's the deal with them, anyway, does anyone know?"

"Oh! I know!" Kise turned away from the console, looking gleeful and sparkly. Aomine sighed and took over fiddling with the wires as Kise shuffled over. "They are together, Takao-kun told me. Midorimacchi's just super shy about showing affection. But Takao-kun said that was okay because he's more the type for showering his lover with affection anyway. They're super cute together, Takao-kun showed me these pictures-"

"No one cares, Kise," Aomine drawled from behind him, done connecting up the game system. He'd also dug out four controllers.

Kise pouted. "But Aominecchi, I was really worried about Midorimacchi, you know! He's so weird; I didn't think he'd ever find anyone who could understand him."

"That's Midorima's business, not yours," Aomine replied, and dumped three of the controllers into Kise's lap. "I'm Player 1, everyone else can be whatever, because I'll beat all of you anyway."

"No way," Kise challenged, and fished the second player control out from the mess before offering the other two to Taiga and Kuroko. "I'm just as good as you are at this."

"Please, what do you think I was doing with all that time I wasn't playing basketball?" Aomine said, and yawned as he collapsed back onto the couch.

"I imagine most of us thought you were sleeping and doing indecent things while looking at magazines of Horikita Mai-san," Kuroko commented, blank-faced as usual.

"Well, yeah, that too I guess," he replied. At moments like this, Taiga couldn't help but feel that he and Kise were a good match; they were both completely shameless.

Taiga and Kuroko were pretty bad at the first game, some kind of first-person-shooter – neither Aomine nor Kise took the time to teach them very much about it, instead immediately launching into attempts to kill each other in increasingly desperate ways, occasionally killing Taiga and Kuroko when they were happened upon. They played a racing game after that, which was much better – racing games were pretty universal in terms of basic controls, after all – though clearly Aomine and Kise spent more time playing together, since they still seemed to out-perform both Taiga and Kuroko.

"Oi, did you bring food?" Aomine asked after they'd finished up another race. He'd won by the slightest of margins over Kise in the last race, and they probably would have launched straight into the next race if Aomine's stomach hadn't gurgled at them all.

"Of course not," Taiga answered. "You're the host, Ahomine."

"I can't afford to feed your gluttonous face."

Kise curled a hand around Aomine's neck, forcing him to lean over, ad kissed his cheek in an attempt to forestall more pointless bickering between the two. "Come on," he wheedled, "we'll just go out to eat, don't start fighting. We'll be here forever and then we'll never get to the good bit."

Aomine seemed about to keep arguing anyway when Kise's repeated kisses seemed to tell him something, and a very smug look sneaked over his face.

"Yeah, okay," he rumbled. "We'll go out to eat. Then you two can get the fuck out of here."

"I'd be happy to leave now," Taiga muttered. Kuroko elbowed him.

Being unfamiliar with the area meant that Taiga and Kuroko ended up behind Kise and Aomine as they walked towards a nearby restaurant that Aomine said wasn't too bad. The two of them held hands as they walked, and Kise occasionally swung their arms, and Taiga must be getting sick or something, because honestly, how else could he explain the vague feeling of envy that was sneaking up on him? It just seemed so nice, holding hands with someone. He'd never really done it, actually. And he hated to admit it, but Kise and Aomine's hands looked particularly striking the way their skin colours contrasted.

"I'm really glad they managed to sort things out," Kuroko said. Taiga looked at him – he was looking at Taiga, and smiling.

"They could stand to be less obnoxious," Taiga pointed out, feeling defensive and grumpy.

"I like it," Kuroko said, after pausing a moment. "It suits them, I think."

"Would it suit you?" Taiga asked, and then realised how suggestive that sounded. "Wait, shit, I didn't mean it like that-"

Kuroko's eyes laughed at Taiga as he looked him in the eye. "It could," he answered, and he smiled.