Lost.
For the first time in his life he had lost a match, not counting all the one-on-one games he used to play with Aomine. Had this been a one-on-one with Kagami he'd have won without a doubt. That was just the problem, if only Kagami had been more like Aomine, he'd have tried to take on the blond all by himself and they'd have never even made it close to a tie between the two teams. But no, the redhead actually passed to Kuroko, and with that the whole game became a lot more difficult, not to even mention the fact that their ace seemed to be floating in that last second.

Thoughts were interrupted by a weird tingling feeling going down his cheeks, the further it went down the more noticeable it became, soon enough causing the blond to wipe a hand across his right eye. Crying, he had been called crybaby more often than not, but then again when you tell someone you have been crying into your pillow every night since they 'dumped you', also known as 'turned down your offer', you might just be asking for it. Still, it came as a bit of a surprise he was crying right now, and of course upon knowing he was doing so it only became worse. Losing sucked, and at the same time he couldn't help but feel motivated to train more and show them a thing or two next time they'd play a match.

It didn't take long, and was also no surprise when a foot was shoved harshly against his behind, and he wouldn't have to think twice to know who was standing behind him and delivering that kick. "Stop crying." Well he didn't plan on crying in the first place, but a kick to the butt surely helped him to quit, as weird as that might be. "And you've got some balls to say you've never lost before. I'll hit you!"

The only thing the blond could think at that moment was 'don't you always?' as his eyes were just focused on the ash grey eyes of his senior, facial expression remaining surprised as he listened to the words that followed, and gave a slight smile as if to say 'of course'. "You better add the word 'revenge' to that empty dictionary of yours!" Yup, that was Kasamatsu for you, always knew how to cheer one up while insulting them at the same time, you'd almost call it a talent.

The line-up had to be the worst thing when one had lost the match, even more so when you're constantly worrying about whether your eyes are red or not, and how noticeable it is. However as he, as the ace of Kaijo, was facing Kagami, he couldn't help but notice that the other wasn't showing anything like pity for him, nor did he seem to be laughing at him internally. If you'd take away his rude manner of speech and behavior, this guy might not be all that bad at all. Still, he had no reason to look beyond that, a 'might not be all that bad' was all the compliment he was going to give. He had potential, if he'd focus on that one skill he might just get to a level that could be considered equal to the rest of the Generation of Miracles. Still, Kise was nothing less but determined to win the next time they'd play, high jumps or not, team play or not, not even that sneaky coordination he had set up with Kuroko would stop him from winning next time.

While everyone was getting changed and ready to see Seirin off, Kise, as impossible as that sounds, managed to get away unnoticed and thus took away the chance to say goodbye to his former teammate. It wasn't what was bothering him though, moreover the inner conflict in his head was winning over the regret of not saying goodbye. The cold water running through his hair and cooling down his head helped a little, the running water covered up the sound of footsteps as they only became audible the moment the blond turned off the faucet.

"Gemini's horoscope predicted terrible luck for you today, but I didn't think you'd actually lose." Who else could that be but their past teams three point shooter, Midorima Shintarou. He knew no one else who would base a match off of an Oha-Asa horoscope. "You came to watch, Midorimacchi?" It wouldn't be so surprising if it wasn't for the distance between their schools, has the other really been that interested in this practice match that he'd come all the way out here? "Either way, it was an unfortunate game. Even a monkey could have managed those dunks." Ah that's right, Midorima had never been a big fan of dunks in comparison to his three pointers. He had once given the reason that he didn't understand why people liked dunking so much when it'd only gain a team two points compared to the three points he'd get. Kise had given him the answer that he thinks a dunk looks cooler, but Midorima had obviously never come to agree with him on that.

"It's no wonder fate didn't choose your side." Or maybe fate was just busy doing other, more important things than worry over a practice match at basketball. Honestly, it wasn't like he disliked Midorima. He respected his skills and they got along enough to talk about basketball casually, but it wasn't difficult to say the green haired teen was his least favorite when it came to the Generation of Miracles. They just never were on the same line, not to mention the other rejects him in nearly every way possible because god knows why. Not to forget, he had a tendency to be very bold with his words, often on the verge of just plain rude.

"I haven't seen you since middle school. It's good to see you again." Kise mumbled. It must have been very obvious that he wasn't really agreeing with his own words that much, but who would be happy to see someone after they'd compare you to a monkey? "I see you haven't stopped taping your fingers." A habit the blond found a little over the top, which was a whole lot of something coming from him, but he could understand the other felt the need to keep his fingers from any damage or physical change as much as possible. "Anyway, who cares if I dunk as long as it goes in?"

"That's why you're no good. Getting the ball in from up close is easy, getting it in from far away has true value." That was somewhat true, but that still didn't take away that there shouldn't be any complaints about dunking as long as he makes the shot, or so he thought. "Didn't anyone teach you to 'do the likeliest and God will do the best'?" Kise couldn't do anything but just stare at him with a straight face, wondering where he got all these sayings from and whether they actually made sense or not. Some just sounded like someone grabbed a bunch of fancy words and tossed them all together.

"Optimal effort makes you worthy of fate's grace." A towel was tossed at the blond. Who, a little clumsily, grabbed it as it started making its way down to the ground. "I always do my best, and I always keep the Oha-Asa horoscope's lucky item on me. By the way, today's item is a toy frog." As cute as it was, the fact Midorima didn't mind walking around with a toy frog at hand in public was somewhat insulting as he'd always make a fuss about Kise walking with him or even standing close to him in public. Though maybe he was just not looking forward to being surrounded by any possible fans of the model, maybe? "That is why my shots never miss." Again, how his former teammate connected his Oha-Asa horoscope to his play during basketball remained a mystery to Kise.

"Shouldn't you be talking to Kurokocchi instead of me?" Roughly translated 'please go take your frog elsewhere because you're not making my day any better'. "There's no need. B-blood types like me and A-blood types like him never get along." Just when you'd think it couldn't get any weirder than the horoscope stuff, he starts about blood types, typical.

"I not only acknowledge his style, but respect it. But I cannot accept his decision to attend an obscure school like Seirin." Finally something they could somewhat agree on. However whereas Midorima couldn't accept it, Kise just didn't understand why Kuroko had chosen to go to Seirin and join a team that couldn't draw out his full potential. The blond would have loved to see him join Kaijo and play a match with him once again, instead of against him. "I simply came because we'll play them in the division preliminaries." Which could be identified as nonsense, seeing as there'd be matches before theirs more close to Shutoku rather than Kaijo. Of course there was no way Kise would point this out to someone with a sense of pride like his.

"But honestly they're not good enough."


Shit.

Shit, shit and nothing else but shit.

'Say, I'll be around for a shoot tomorrow morning. Want to go somewhere after~? (〃・ω・〃)'

It actually sent. In the panic of cancelling another message, he had actually sent it. The silence had been going on for nearly five minutes now, no response from the other side and it was damn near killing him, suffocating even more so than usual. Hands trembled as they tried to follow his brain, trying to think of something to type to kill this awkward silence, though everything up there had shut down as much as the rest of his body. Thumbs hovered over the buttons as the phone suddenly gave a light buzz and a ring, message popping up on the screen and it brought a sigh of relief from Kise's lips.

'What time?'

Maybe it wasn't all that bad he had accidently sent the message, at least it got him some time together with Kagami. The blond could only hope the other wouldn't invite Kuroko along, or assume Kuroko would have been invited as well. No, he just wanted some time with the redhead for himself, just this once.

'hmmm, 12:30 at Maji burger? They still have those salads, right? (゚ペ)'

'I think so..'

'Then I'll see you tomorrow~'

There was no reply, no confirmation if he'd really be there or not. But Kise would just assume he would be, he had to be around the area anyway so it was no big deal if he'd end up not coming at all. "Not showing up would be rude though, Kagamicchi." He put the phone aside and let out another sigh, slowly feeling his body relax as he draped his arms over the chair's armrests. "So you better be there.."


12:48

He was late.
He was running and he was running late. Had he not been sprinting his butt off, he'd probably be cursing at himself all the way to the meeting point. The only thing going through his mind was how he hoped the other would still be there by the time he'd arrive, or rather he hoped the other had shown up in the first place.

A left turn, sharp. The amount of people he nearly bumped into had reached the double digits by now and it still didn't get him to slow down his pace. Feet swiftly avoiding running into anything, only coming to a halt when a busy crossroad made it impossible to go on without getting run over. Though as soon as lights turned green he just continued as if he never had stopped at all, not even for a second. Another turn, a right turn this time and the giant 'M' sign, standing out above all else, couldn't make him any happier right now. A few more steps, just about three, two..

One…

His back leaned against the wall, lungs burning as he tried to catch his breath. Left hand running through his hair, tugging loose strands out of his face as his right hand fetched the red phone from his pocket, turning it on just to check the time.

12:52

Nearly half an hour late, maybe he should've texted Kagami he'd be running late. Then again, what if he hadn't shown up at all? That would've been an awkward conversation. Finally feeling his heart no longer trying to burst out of his chest, as well as his breathing returning to a somewhat normal rhythm, the blond pushed himself away from the wall and went inside, eyes scanning the place for a hint of red. He could spot red vests, red bags, red scarves but so far those weren't exactly the things he was hoping to find. In the corner of his eyes he could see a small bit of a dark crimson color, turning his head to see the one he had been hoping to find, staring out the window with, of course, a cheeseburger locked between his teeth. Had he been waiting for him there the whole time? Or rather, had he been gazing out the window, looking for him during the time he had been sitting there? Going by the empty wrappers scattered across the table, the redhead had already gone through more than half of his stack of burgers. It'd never cease to amaze him how much of an appetite this guy had.

His appearance had caused for a slight bit of commotion in the establishment, however his golden eyes never left that one specific bit of red, as his feet started moving him towards it. A smile plastered onto his face, Kise plopped himself down on the seat across Kagami's, elbows planted on the table and fingers intertwined to form a place he'd rest his head. "Ka-ga-mi-cchi~" He said in the usual playful tone, all syllables of his name (plus –cchi) divided. Eyes, a same crimson color, looked up to meet Kise's own and he could swear he felt his heart skip a beat and bump against his ribcage again. He'd admit, he missed startling the other a little, but he probably got used to having Kuroko show up out of nowhere by now.

Though the eye contact didn't last long, as the other went back to whatever he was looking at outside soon enough. This caused a slight pout to form on the model's face, something he was sure would look childish, but he couldn't care less right now. "I'm sorry for being late. The shoot was delayed and I couldn't just leave early. Look! I ruined my best shirt for you, running all the way here!" The blond whined, tugging at his shirt as to emphasize his words, though it being a white shirt there wasn't much of a stain to be seen.

"Next time just send me a text you'll be late or something, it's not like you don't have my number." Was the reply he got, along with a slight glare but at least he wasn't ignoring him now. "Fine fine, got it~" Maybe his response was a bit too cheerful, but why wouldn't it be when he knew he'd be spending his day with this stubborn 'friend' of his? 'Next time' though. If that meant what he thought it did, it might just be time to make room in his schedule for some more 'dates' with Kagami. His line of thought was broken as a small, carton box was pushed in front of him. "Eh? Kagamicchi, you know I can't eat burgers this much. I've got to watch my weight." As stupid as that probably sounded, it was nothing but the truth. Kagami being able to stuff himself and still stay in perfect shape, he didn't have that ability at all. Rather, he had about the exact opposite.

With a loud click of the tongue, the other replied to the blond's remark. "It's a salad! Didn't you ask me yesterday?!" He seemed a bit annoyed, something that could be forgiven though considering the blond had been late. Now that he mentioned it though, Kise did recall asking him whether they still had salads or not. "I didn't expect you to order one for me though. How much was it?" His fingers curled around the carton and carefully opened the box, indeed showing nothing but a salad. Lettuce, cucumber, tomato, something that was most likely small bits of ham or something alike, it was meat for sure, and in a separate, small plastic bag was the salad dressing. "Hey, it's not like I'm broke after buying one salad. Just eat it, my treat."

'Kagamicchi, you're too kind.' Was all he could think, looking down at the salad again and before he could even ask whether it came with a fork or anything like that, Kagami tossed a plastic one at him, the blond caught off guard a little and barely catching it with two hands. This wasn't quite like their first meeting where it was a basketball flying at him, which he managed to catch with one hand and here he was, holding a white, plastic fork with two hands, a shocked expression on his face and his breath stuck in his throat. It'd be hilarious if it weren't downright embarrassing. Regaining his composure, the model held the fork in one hand now, locked between his fingers as his eyes gave the carton box in front of him a judgmental look. "It's a little illogical that they put something like a salad in a carton box though, don't you think?" Looking up at Kagami, he could only see the other give him a shrug in reply as another burger got taken out of its wrap and almost immediately ended up between the redhead's teeth. It proved difficult not to stare, even though the way he was eating was nothing close to proper manners.

"Anywhere you want to go today, Kagamicchi?"


A long silence fell, all eyes on Kise as his were focused on Kagami's hand. Or, more specifically, his own hand holding Kagami's down to the table firmly.

To keep a long story short, as per usual Kagami and Aomine felt the need to bother each other in a one-on-one game. Something Kuroko seemed to find interesting as he had taken a seat at the nearest bench, and of course, for the blond, the temptation was too big to not seat himself down right next to the smaller male. So that is exactly what he did, and why he was there in the first place, well that was confidential and most definitely another shoot for a magazine, but he was definitely not walking around the area afterwards to spot a certain redhead 'by coincidence'. Back to the now though, blue eyes shifted to look at him for a second, acknowledging his presence before turning back to watch the game, the straw of a milkshake between his lips and it didn't look like it'd be removed until said milkshake would be gone until the last drop.

"Kagamicchi is improving quickly, don't you think?" Were the first words leaving the blond's lips, and it made him wonder when Kagami became his first subject in a conversation. Usually he'd either start about himself or the person he was having the conversation with. "I guess." A small reply as to not miss out on the vanilla milkshake for too long, or so it probably was. Though, what was with that reply? You'd think playing basketball alongside each other nearly every day would make improvement easy to notice, or maybe it was the opposite?

A bit of small talk was all he could get out of this right now. Kise whining about how he disliked being so far away from Kuroko and how he wanted to play basketball with him again someday. Whatever conversation was going on quickly was forgotten though when he heard his name being called. "Kise!" eyes, somewhat resembling the color scheme of a sunflower the way the outer ring was near yellow compared to the brown color around his pupil, turned their attention towards the source of said call. Tthe corners of his lips curled up as that 'certain redhead' from before came running at them, the ball held firmly beneath his arm and pressed against his ribs, Aomine not too far behind him but walking at a regular pace, as expected.

The other stopped only a few feet away from where they were sitting, a smile on his face as his gaze went from Kise to Kuroko, pulling the blond out of his daze. However it didn't last long before those crimson eyes turned back to look at him, and he wasn't sure whether it was a good or a bad thing that his gaze was able to bring the model's breathing to a halt.

"So.. are you—"
"—Joining you for lunch, Kagamicchi? I thought you'd never ask~"

He certainly hadn't been paying attention to Kagami's little habits and patterns, that'd be a lie. By now he could probably copy him to the point it'd become downright creepy. Not that he could help it when those little quirks and habits of his were so adorable and one was unable to ignore once they'd notice. For example how he'd always prefer sitting by the window at a food establishment, and would look outside before even taking a single bite. Unless he was nearly starving, then looking out the window could wait for about a cheeseburger or two. Considering Kise got his information from a few meet-ups and what he heard from others, maybe he should cut down on his observations a little…

As if he could ever do that.

Lunch was, of course, going to be at Maji Burger. With Kagami liking their burgers and Kuroko liking their vanilla milkshakes, there wasn't all that much choice. Not that it was that far of a walk, but it was a little funny how the pair never had to even think about where to lunch next. Arriving at the place, the other three, surprisingly Aomine had tagged along, went in line to place their orders. Kise however, just went ahead and sat at one of the bigger tables, tossing his bag onto the seat next to him and watching the rest of their little group get their lunch. He hadn't been doing all that much ever since breakfast, and eating when you're not hungry seemed a little pointless, especially when you'd have to watch your weight and all, like he had to.

Aomine next to him, Kuroko across Aomine and right in front of him would be a giant pyramid of burgers hiding 'his Kagamicchi', though it might've seemed less giant had he been sitting up straight and not draped across the table, head placed down on top of his arms.

"Your appetite is horrifying, as usual." The oldest of the four spoke in a sigh, slightly irritated by the lack of a good view. "Does he always eat this much, Tetsu?" Yes, yes he does and it's unfair how he stays in shape even though he stuffs himself like this. Is what the blond thought but again, this was one of those things about Kagami he considered to be adorable. "Don't worry, Kagami-kun will eat it all by himself." At that, Kise recalled the time he and Midorima were told the exact same thing, and how much it confused him at first. "That's exactly why I asked! How can you two consider this normal?!" Ah, now that he asked, when exactly had he started to consider it normal?

No change whatsoever in the past three minutes.

Somehow, whatever topic they were talking about had turned into an arm wrestling match. Of course, Kuroko forfeited right from the start, saying he values his arms too much for something like that. For someone who specializes in passing, not a strange thing to say. But now Aomine and Kagami had been trying to push the other's arm to the table for over five minutes. Where at first there was a bit of a sway, the least bit of a chance one would be going down, right now they were just in the same spot, no advantage for either of them and it was starting to get extremely—"Boring…"

As the word fell from his lips, two pair of eyes (Kuroko's had drifted off to watch whatever was going on outside long ago) turned to look at him, almost spitting fire at him had that been possible. "Alright then, pretty boy. You're up!" Seirin's ace pulled back his hand and placed his elbow right in the middle of their table, eyes locked on Kise as he held his hand out for him to take up on the challenge. "You know I'm not going to lose this, right?" The blond gave one of his trademark smiles and copied Kagami's posture, hand firmly wrapping around the one being held out to him as he was immediately faced with the other trying to push his hand back to the table.

Kise's honey colored eyes were glued to crimson ones, unable to break eye contact unless he had to blink, drifting off into thoughts he completely stopped paying attention to what was happening around him, including this arm wrestling match he got dragged into. This guy across him, this idiot with that determined grin on his perfect face was sitting right fucking across him. The blond had been giving him smiles, winks, flirty looks and remarks so much it was starting to become embarrassing and yet the other never noticed any of that! How many times he deleted a text because of all this, how many times he had to reread his own words to make sure he didn't just type his thoughts out, the feelings this idiot made him go through, the smiles he'd give upon seeing him, why does he never notice anything?!

A loud slam…

By the time Kise had calmed down in his mind a little, all eyes were on him, including Kuroko's. Confused, he tried to figure out what he did to get their attention like this. That's when he felt a slight twitch beneath his fingers, gaze turning to see his own hand, firmly pressing down the hand of 'this idiot' to a point where he was worried it was physically hurting him and pulled his own hand back in less than an instant. Not a word was spoken for at least a minute, and even his former teammates seemed speechless on how he, apparently, had beaten the redhead at his own little game in less than a minute. The model gave another cheeky smile at them and directed his eyes right at Kagami's again. "Told you I wouldn't lose~" He said playfully and noticed the other withdrawing his hand in silence, only to grab one of the few burgers he had left and toss it at the only person at this table who was currently smiling. "Congrats." Was the response he got along with it, not noticing any specific, negative mood or feeling behind the words and thus turning his attention towards the wrapped bundle in his hands. As sweet as it was, he could feel the grease sticking to his fingers and could only pray he wasn't supposed to eat this, maybe he could place it back with the others unnoticed?


The day had been perfect. Just him and Kagami, walking through town together. They went through a few shops selling sport supplies, including shoes, where Kise discovered the other had quite an unusual size. He knew Kagami had a size larger than his, but when he heard '29,5' it sounded so ridiculously large it had him look down to his feet immediately and wonder just how much space would be left if he'd try on one of Kagami's shoes. Every now and then the blond would see something to his liking in the display window and drag the other ace with him to try on an outfit or two… or more. In the end they got some food at a snack bar close by before the fun was abruptly ended.

He should've checked the weather for that day in the first place.
Rain, and not even a little bit.

It was as if someone was emptying a giant bucket above them, a shower would be a mild description compared to this waterfall that was happening right now. With how sudden the rain came falling down, and how little spots there were to shelter, both of them were quite drenched in no time before finding a bus stop that managed to shelter them for a bit. The first thing to do was of course pull a displeased face at how his outfit was looking right now, soon followed by complaints of how cold it was compared to the relatively sunny weather before. Though, the moment he saw the other parting his lips to speak, Kise froze in place and felt his face being drained from any color.

"We could go to my place, at least until it settles down."

Well shit.


** End Chapter 2 **