"I'm home," Kise announced, walking through the front door and carefully taking off and setting his shoes aside.

"Welcome back," Takao called out from the living room.

Kise walked over to Takao who had situated himself upside-down on the couch, his legs draped over the back and head hanging off the seat, holding a book out above his head.

"You studying?" Kise asked, sitting down next to Takao who closed the book and rested it on his stomach.

"Yeah, I have a test tomorrow. It's a pain to learn all of these terms in Latin – no one even speaks it anymore, so why do we still use it for all the medical stuff?" Takao groaned and righted himself on the couch. "Anyway, how was your day?"

"Exhausting," Kise sighed and slumped against the couch. "Kasamatsu-san booked me for what seemed like a thousand appointments today. It's probably strange to say – but some days I wish I wasn't so popular."

Takao giggled and rested his head on Kise's shoulder, "Oh, what a burden, you're attractive and you have girls and boys alike swooning over you everywhere you go."

"Yeah, yeah," Kise gave a playful thunk on Takao's head. "And you're the lucky guy who gets to live with me."

"Yeah, it does feel pretty good to be the envy of all your fangirls," Takao smirked "I could tell them so many embarrassing stories about you too. Like how you spend your free time dancing and singing to K-pop music. Or how you cry during almost every movie, even the ones that aren't that sad." He paused for a moment and gave a devious smile. "Or I could show them those really embarrassing pictures from that one party a few years ago."

"Eh!? You wouldn't do that!" Kise sat up straight, causing Takao to lose his resting spot, but it didn't really matter as he started laughing at Kise's seriously concerned face.

Kise pinched and poked at his side, right where Takao was ticklish. Takao let out a howl of laughter, falling off the couch with a thump. Kise laughed as soon as he gathered that his friend hadn't hurt himself from the fall, helping him up when their laughter had subsided.

Takao wiped a tear from his hysterics from his eye and climbed his way back on the couch, Kise looking over at him with a smirk on his face.

"I guess you're feeling better today?" Kise asked. He hadn't asked his friend about how he was doing since the night of his break-up.

"Oh, I'm fine," Takao gave a reassuring smile. "It hurts to get dumped like that... But I'm kinda used to it. I don't need a guy like that if he's going to drop me so easily anyway." Takao stretched his arms over his head and settled them on the back of the couch. "Its' back to the single life for me, I guess. I'm just lucky that you so happened to be single when I needed you the most," he joked.

"I still would've been there for you, silly. Just not in... that way," Kise ruffled Takao's hair playfully.

"I knowww," Takao hummed and plopped his head on Kise's lap. "Because you loooove me~" He smiled slyly up at his best friend.

"Of course I doooo." Kise gave an amused huff and pinched Takao's nose, who gave a squeal of protest.

Takao grumbled as he waited for his most boring class to start. It was in one of those gigantic lecture halls since pretty much every student at the campus needed to take this class for a mandatory credit. Takao had put off taking this class the past semesters, but with this new semester, he knew he had to suck it up and take it eventually. It hadn't been very long into the semester and he was already sick of the boring professor that droned on for the entire hour and a half.

He glanced around the room, noticing that almost everyone who took this class was probably in their first or second semester as none of them looked familiar. So obviously, none of his friends were in this class to save him from his boredom.

At least he felt a little better about his break-up after Kise and him went out for a drink the other night to let loose. Despite a few people recognizing Kise and fangirling over him, the night went smoothly and it was nice to just forget about everything and have fun. Not even a few rabid fangirls could get in between he and Kise's friendship, and that's when he knew that he definitely had a friend for life.

Kise was always that comforting constant in his life, so it made sense that his best friend always made him feel better, even after all of his shitty experiences in his dating life. If only he and Kise could work out romantically - it'd be perfect. Oh well, he thought, at least there was one person in his life that'd never let him down.

He sighed, crossing his arms on the table and setting his head down, eyeing the entrance into the lecture hall as he waited for the professor to walk through the doors. A few people walked in as the minutes passed, but no professor. It made sense, as he always came right when the class started.

But someone else came through the doors that caught Takao's attention: the guy he ran into the other day. He was surprised he never noticed that he was in this class before; it was pretty hard to miss that green hair of his. And today he didn't have that silly frog statue. Instead he held a mini-daruma in his taped fingers. He walked in quickly and quietly and sat a few rows in front of Takao. Takao just watched as he efficiently took out his book and pencil and neatly set them on the desk in front of him, setting the daruma on the desk as well.

Takao definitely knew he was one of those serious-types. He was most likely in medical school to become a doctor, possibly a surgeon. He looked pretty goody-goody too; his parents were probably rich.

As Takao made up scenarios about the stranger in his class, he failed to notice that the professor had already walked into the room and begun the lecture. He sat up out of his daydreams and shook the thoughts out of his head. If he didn't pay attention in this class, as boring as it was, he'd probably have to repeat taking it. And there was no way he was going to do that.

"Here is your water, Kise-san," Kuroko said flatly, and seemingly out of nowhere as Kise jumped a bit in surprise.

"O-Oh, thanks, Kuroko," Kise smiled lightly and took the water from his temp-assistant.

Kuroko had been filling in as his assistant for about a week now and he still couldn't quite figure out how this guy managed to sneak up on him every single time, even though he always claimed to have been there the whole time.

Kise took a swig of his water before the make-up artist went in to touch-up his face. He was only halfway done with his photo shoot for today.

"Ah, you don't have to be so formal with me either," he looked at Kuroko through the mirror, "You're my age, right? It feels weird if you address me so politely," he gave a reassuring smile.

"Um, okay, Kise… kun?" Kuroko tilted his head a bit.

"Eh, good enough!" Kise set the bottle on the table in front of him.

His new assistant was pretty cute, but he was one, big question mark. Despite him being easy on the eyes, there was just way too much mystery behind his innocent face. Kise wouldn't mind getting to know him better, but just knowing that he wouldn't be there for long kind of ruined any chance of that happening. At least he had a cute assistant while it lasted.

The make-up artist patted him on the shoulder, signaling that she was done with his touch-up. Kise lingered in his seat for a bit as there was still a few more minutes until he had to go back out.

"Kise!" An excited Kasamatsu came running up to him. "I have amazing news!"

"What is it?" Kise asked with interest, it was rare to see Kasamatsu so worked up.

"You just got an offer to play a role on a television drama! And not only that – it's a main character role! Can you believe it?"

Kise's eyes widened and mouth dropped in surprise. "Huh!? Really?"

"Yes! Kise, if you don't take this offer you'll be making a huge mistake. This is a terrific opportunity," Kasamatsu went back to his serious demeanor and seemed be threatening Kise more than encouraging him.

"But, I've never acted before…" Kise had only done a few commercials, and even in those he was just being himself and saying a few lines. So besides that, he had never done any sort of acting before in his life. Well, except one time in a 3rd grade play.

"You'll be fine! You do well in interviews and at live events, you're charismatic and charming. I'm sure you'll pick up acting easily," Kasamatsu pressed, hovering over Kise with every word.

"Well…" Kise thought for a moment. He had never heard Kasamatsu say such nice things to him before, he kind of wanted to revel in it, but he knew his manager was saying those things mostly to get him to take on the role. But Kise really would love to do something different than just photo shoots and interviews. He had considered acting as many of his model co-workers had done it, but he never really pursued it. Maybe this was his chance for something different in his life.

"I think you should do it, Kise-kun."

Kise's head turned to his other side, where he had almost forgotten that Kuroko had been standing there and hadn't left. "Huh?"

"I believe you can do it. I may have only been your assistant for a week, but after watching you for this short amount of time, I think you can do anything if you try," Kuroko kept a straight face but his words were genuine.

"Kuroko…" Kise looked up at him, slightly taken aback. This whole time he thought Kuroko had been incredibly indifferent to him, he never would've thought that he felt any sort of emotion towards him. "I'll… I'll do it." He said with a resolve. "Well, I at least want to know about it before I make my final decision."

"Great! Don't worry, we'll have a meeting with the producers before they get your final decision. Trust me, Kise, this is the best decision for you at this moment," Kasamatsu gave a reassuring grin and a firm pat on the shoulder before running off and pulling out his cellphone to call whoever.

Kise turned his head to thank Kuroko for his encouraging words, but he was gone from the room without a trace. He looked around a bit but to no avail – once again Kuroko had came and vanished like some sort of ghost. He settled back in his chair and let out a thoughtful sigh. His life was probably going to change a lot from today on. He felt the excitement and nervousness finally start to wash over him as he realized that this was something incredibly major.

"So? Are you going to tell me what this big news is?" Takao questioned eagerly. He and Kise were sitting on their couch. Takao had just gotten off of his part-time job at the bookstore and he had been waiting to see what this special news of Kise's was ever since he got a text about it earlier that day.

"I got a really great job opportunity," Kise said. Takao nodded with interest, encouraging him to continue. "I got asked to be a main character on an upcoming romance drama!"

"Woah, that's amazing!" Takao jumped up a bit off the couch "Please tell me you're going to take that job."

"Kasamatsu-san and I still have to meet with the producers, but apparently they're really eager for me to have this part and I decided that I'm going to take it," Kise couldn't help but smile over his friend's excitement.

"Awesome!" Takao shouted and tackled Kise into a bear hug. "Ahhh I'm so proud of you! My little Ryou-chan is growing up!"

Kise laughed and patted Takao on the back.

"Ah, we have to celebrate!" Takao jumped off the couch and ran into the kitchen. "I think this is the perfect moment to break out the good wine."

"You mean the wine that I got as a gift for doing that one magazine shoot?" Kise joked as he walked into the kitchen after Takao.

"Details, details. I'm not a superstar like you so its not like I can get this kind of alcohol every day," Takao dug through the drawers for the corkscrew while Kise got out two wine glasses.

Once the bottle was opened and the wine was in the glasses, they toasted to Kise's success. They moved their drinking out onto the veranda where they talked and joked for the rest of the night. Neither of them really cared about their responsibilities the next morning, because this was a rare opportunity for them to let loose and have fun despite their busy lives.

"Oh man, I don't know if I can handle seeing you on TV saying some cheesy romantic lines," Takao slurred a bit, pouring his fourth glass of wine.

"Ahhh don't let me think about that, that's what I'm worried about the most," Kise grumbled.

"Why? It's not like you haven't already charmed the pants off of a bajillion people already; you should be a pro at it by now," Takao snickered, taking a sip.

"Yeah, but that and being romantic are different," Kise pouted, "and you know I suck at being a romantic."

"Nahhhh you're plenty romantic," Takao vehemently disagreed. "Try it on me right now. Say something that'll get me to fall head-over-heels for you.

"Kazucchi, we already tried this before," Kise slowly reached for the wine bottle to fill his empty glass.

"I know, but just pretend I'm someone different. Someone you know that isn't me," Takao encouraged.

"Hmmmm..." Kise thought for a moment, "Kasamatsu-san would just beat me no matter what, so I can't pretend you're him." Takao let out a guffaw; he had met Kasamatsu on a few occasions and knew exactly what Kise was talking about. "My fans would fall for me even if I just said 'hello' to them. Umm…" He took a thoughtful sip of his wine. "Ah! I'll pretend you're my new assistant."

"Oh? Are they cute?" Takao asked and wiggled his eyebrows which got a laugh out of Kise.

"Yeah, he's pretty cute, but he's so difficult to read. Nice guy, though," Kise remembered the words of encouragement he had provided earlier that day. Kuroko seemed like a good neutral as his make-believe 'romantic interest', so he apologized in his head to his temp-assistant for using him as practice material. "Well, here goes," Kise cleared his throat, trying to get into acting mode as much as possible while inebriated.

"Kuroko, there's been something I've been wanting to tell you for a long time," Kise looked at Takao seriously. Takao was already trying his best to not burst out laughing. Kise was feeling a bit strange, picturing his young assistant in his mind that he barely knew while he thought of a good fake confession. "Whenever I think of you, my heart beats like crazy. It feels like I'm floating on air, I'm happy just being near you. I feel like I'm a complete person when I'm with you. Kuroko, I…" he made a dramatic pause. "I love you."

Takao couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing. Kise whined and playfully hit Takao on the shoulder for laughing at his acting.

"Oh man! I can't take it!" Takao managed to say in between laughs.

"Ehh, Kazucchi is mean!" Kise pouted and crossed his arms like a child not getting his way.

Takao's laughs calmed down a bit and he wiped a tear from his eye, "That was great though, really, it was cheesy enough to be in one of those dramas."

Kise groaned, "But I don't want to make the drama 'cheesy'! That was me trying seriously too."

"Aw, there, there," Takao patted Kise on the shoulder, "I think you turned me on a bit though, so it must've worked."

"That's just because you get horny when you drink," Kise mumbled into his whine glass.

"Ah, oh yeah," Takao giggled and finished off the rest of the wine in his glass. He stood from his chair (a bit wobbly) and went over to Kise, sitting on his lap so that they were face to face. "I'll let you do whatever you want with me as your congratulatory present then." He wrapped his arms around the back of Kise's neck.

Kise scoffed playfully at Takao's behavior. It always came to this, but tonight was a night they were letting lose anyway. "Hmm, tempting, but what if I say no?" Kise settled his hands on Takao's hips.

"I'll be sad considering I'm painfully hard right now," Takao said bluntly.

Kise laughed, "Wanna do it out on the veranda?"

"Oh, that sounds kinky as hell," Takao sounded a little too enthused.

"…We are not doing that," Kise gave a light pat on Takao's back and made to get up out of the chair. Takao nearly stumbled when he got up.

"Shit, I wonder if I'm even going to remember this in the morning. You better make it memorable," Takao grumbled.

Kise smirked and walked back inside the apartment, Takao following close by.

Takao slapped at his face for the umpteenth time in a poor attempt to stay awake during his most boring lecture of the day. He and Kise stayed up way too late doing way too many things for him to be in class at the moment, not to mention the killer hangover he had, but he was committed to not missing any of his lectures.

His gaze occasionally went to his green-haired classmate – today it seemed that he brought a small cactus. An actual cactus. Takao had tried figuring out exactly why he brought some random item to school every day, but he hadn't figured out what it could possibly be.

Takao was grateful when the lecture finally ended and he could finally grab some lunch and something with lots of caffeine to get him through the rest of his classes. He noticed that the guy with the green hair usually went to the cafeteria the same time as him and always sat by himself in a lonely corner. It was a bit sad to see day after day when Takao could usually find someone he knew already at the cafeteria to chat and hang out with.

And yet again, he was sitting all by himself, eating his lunch quietly. Takao wasn't really sure why, but he decided that today was the day that he'd attempt talking to him again. Maybe all the guy really wanted was a friend, as Takao had never seen him interacting with anyone else before.

Takao grabbed a sandwich and a canned espresso, paid for his food, and made his way over to the table where his lone subject sat.

"Anyone sitting here?" He asked as he approached, knowing the answer before even asking.

"…No," the man replied curtly, barely sparing Takao a glance.

Takao smiled slightly and sat across from him, wondering how this was going to play out. The man across from him kept his eyes downcast at his food and continued eating despite the presence of company. Takao waited a few seconds to see if he'd make any attempts at conversation... it didn't look like that was going to happen.

"Hey, again," Takao said cheerfully. "I'm really sorry about running into you the other day, but I thought maybe we could get to know each other or something."

At that the man looked up, Takao just now noticing how long his eyelashes were. His eyes made a glint of realization as he remembered Takao.

"Oh. You're the guy who was late to class," he pushed up his glasses. "Be lucky that you didn't end up breaking Kerosuke."

'Who the hell is Kerosuke?' Takao thought to himself, but didn't bother to ask out loud. "Y-Yeah, sorry about that. Anyway, I noticed that you're in my-"

"What is your sign?" The man interrupted in a stern tone.

"Err, my sign? You mean like, astrology?" Takao asked.

"Yes."

"Um, it's Scorpio, but I don't…" Takao didn't manage to finish his sentence before the green-haired man promptly gathered his things, stood up from his seat, and walked off.

Takao just watched, dumbfounded. He couldn't even process fast enough what just happened before the guy was gone and out of sight. He didn't do anything for a moment as he just stared at the now empty seat across from him.

"He seriously just walked off without saying anything…" he said under his breath.

Takao slumped in his chair and looked out across the cafeteria. After a moment of thinking about what just happened, he let out a short laugh.

End of Chapter.

I'm really excited about this story and I hope you guys are too! I'm so excited about it that it didn't take me long to crank out another chapter ^^ Yay for no delays! Midorima and Takao & Kise and Kuroko will start interacting with each other more starting next chapter. I also enjoy writing about Kise and Takao's daily lives.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words and the people that have followed and reviewed so far! I'm glad to see the interest in this story. :3 I hope you continue to read~ See you next chapter. (^_^) /