A/N: I feel bad this took so long, but at the same time I'm just glad it's over and I've got a plan.
People are also probs OOC, but I've come to the conclusion that they won't do what I want them to unless they are OOC, sooo...
Also, I changed the last chapter (awhile ago), but if you don't want to read it I'll sum up the important points here: Murasakibara was there (but he didn't do anything), there's only one rule (no direct confessing), and Akashi basically asked Kise out on a date, and then there was other stuff that just flat out didn't make sense.
If you can't already tell, I mainly wrote this when I was severely sleep-deprived, so yeah. Things that made sense then may not make as much sense now. I tried my best to weed that stuff out, but some things I found too amusing to remove, ahaha.

Thank you for all the follows/favorites/reviews! They bring dumb smiles to my face whenever I see them~ It always surprises me to see the follower/favorite count, honestly. Like, wow, people actually like something I wrote? Crazy. I forgot how motivating it is to see someone like your work!


For Aomine, this was Do or Die day. He had set up a planned one-on-one with Kise for today, snatching the upper hand in the same instance—and he was going to take full advantage of it. When you get the tip-off, you don't hand the ball over to the other team, after all.

(Not to mention Akashi already stuck in his claim, so he really needed to make this happen.)

So here he stands on the basketball court they'd agreed to meet at, waiting for Kise to show up. The other had called and said he'd be late due to a last-minute modeling… thing (just because he was willing to admit he liked Kise didn't mean he was willing to pay attention to every little thing the other had to say. That wasn't going to change).

The day before, Aomine had spent more time than he'd be willing to admit thinking up appropriate date-but-not-really-date ideas—and then promptly forgotten them all once he'd woken up the next morning. As such, he has no idea what he's going to do—except play basketball. Everything else he thought of sounded so damn lame. He wouldn't be able to, er, seduce (for lack of better words) someone like Kise with simple, stupid stuff like a movie and dinner, right? He was a model; he was probably used to that stuff—immune to it even. He frowns. So what do I do?

Aomine is not a romantic—not in the slightest. He'd never really dated anyone before, too preoccupied with basketball and gravure magazines to pay attention to some ditzy girl (no matter how big her boobs were). He had no experience in "the field". Hell, all the pickup lines he'd been working on were shoddy at best, and absolutely horrendous at worst—sometimes borderline insulting. He was working with pure personality alone, and everybody always liked to point out how terrible his was…

Shit. So far Do or Die day was not looking that great for him, and he hadn't even seen Kise yet. But he couldn't let that get him down. He had a tendency to go against any plans in place anyway—even if they were his own. He'd just wing it. That would probably work better anyway; Kise could be unpredictable sometimes (read: a lot of the time).

The power forward dribbles the ball in his hands, lining up his shot. Basketball always helped clear his head of outside distractions; he figured now shouldn't be an exception. He just needs to stop thinking about it. Yeah.

… Okay maybe that wasn't so easy. Dammit, Kise.

Aomine lets out a long breath, easing the tension in his body. This really shouldn't be so difficult. He drops the ball haphazardly and runs a hand through his hair. Don't get worked up.

But then he catches a flash of yellow out of the corner of his eye and hears the cheerful call of "Aominecchi!" and his heart just sort of stops for a moment before pounding hard and what the hell is wrong with me?

A bright grin graces Kise's features as he approaches. "I hope you weren't waiting too long," he says as Aomine turns to face him. "I got here as soon as I could."

The taller male swallows, giving a half shrug. "I got here a few minutes ago." he lies. You're supposed to say that, right? Right. But Kise laughs knowingly, like he can tell that wasn't true. Quickly looking to change the subject, he adds, "So, uh, how was your, uh, thing?" Wait—why am I making small talk?

Kise gives him an odd, but still amused look. "My 'thing' went well. Though I'd rather be here," And then that odd look is replaced with a strangely soft smile, and suddenly Aomine swallows again as something in his chest tightens almost painfully. What the hell is wrong with me!?

"What's that face for?" he asks, trying to keep his voice even.

But the blond just waves him off, smile widening (and Aomine is only a little disappointed, really). "Nothing, nothing," he assures, "Let's just play. You brought a ball, right?" Aomine nods, pointing in the direction it had rolled off in. Kise rolls his eyes as he moves to retrieve it.

Watching the other's back, Aomine can't keep his thoughts from roaming again. Kise seems to be in an especially good mood, and the power forward kind of just wants to blurt out what he's thinking right here and now. Akashi's words echo through his mind in warning, but screw him. Who says he has to find out anyway? There's no one here to tell on him.

Hell, this could be so damn easy.

So when Kise comes back with the basketball in hand, Aomine swallows down any doubts that could be lingering in his mind and says, "Kise, I really need to tell you something."

Seeing his serious expression, the smile drops from the small forward's face. "What? Is something wrong?"

"No," he assures, "it's just," No turning back now. But somehow it doesn't feel right, like this isn't the right time—or maybe it's not the right place; something just feels off. But can he really afford to wait? He steels himself, "Kise, I—,"

The world sort of blacks out for a moment, and when the blue haired teen is next aware, he finds himself sprawled out on the court, head throbbing. His senses are hazy as he blinks slowly with a grimace. How'd I end up on the ground…? A familiar voice filters through the fog, "What were you even aiming for!?" The tanned male groans. Shit.

"Aominecchi, are you okay?" Kise is by his side in an instant, leaning over him with a concerned expression. "That's going to be one big bruise…"

The taller pushes himself into an upright sitting position, "'M fine," he mutters, directing a scowl at the neighboring court where two unwelcome newcomers stand (though they might've been here the whole time, who knows): Seirin's light and shadow.

"That was a powerful shot, Kurokocchi," Kise comments idly, eyeing the lump forming on Aomine's head with a wince.

"It would have been more impressive if it hadn't hit me," Touou's ace gripes.

Kuroko and Kagami approach, and Aomine sees a satisfied light in the older boy's eyes. "Ah, my bad, Aomine-kun." The tanned teen's eyes narrow. The bastard could at least try to look sorry (of course he knows the other isn't sorry in the least, but whatever).

"What a coincidence that you guys are here too," Kise says, though his tone suggests he didn't think it was coincidental at all. Aomine frowns.

Kagami nods. "Yeah, didn't think I'd see you guys here."

There's a brief silence in which Aomine and Kuroko keep up a sort of stare off, both challenging in one way or another. The taller glares while the shadow remains passive in appearance. Kise glances between the two. "Um, since we're here," he starts, "we could play some two-on-two, or something…?" The taller power forward suppresses a grimace. The only way he'd agree to that was if Kise was—

"Then Kise-kun and I will play against Kagami-kun and Aomine-kun," Kuroko says, latching on to the small forward's arm. The blond blinks in surprise.

"Eh? Kurokocchi—,"

"No way," Aomine interrupts, leveling a defiant glare on his former shadow. "Kise's with me." No way in hell was he letting Kuroko butt in on this. He can get his own Do or Die day. "Besides, I couldn't team up with Bakagami if our lives depended on it." Kagami shrugs in begrudging agreement. It hadn't worked out well last time.

But Kuroko isn't keen on giving in either. "It would be a good exercise for you."

"But he's your teammate," Aomine argues, "you play with him!"

"Which is exactly why you should pair up. Kagami-kun and I play together all the time."

"Do I look like I care? I'm not being on a team with him!"

"It's only a short two-on-two. Be the bigger man, Aomine-kun."

"Don't pull that shit with me, Tetsu!"

Much to his chagrin, Kagami looks a bit offended. "Are you guys seriously that against playing with me?"

Kise steps in, pulling his arm away from Kuroko. "Uh, then maybe Kagamicchi and I should be a team…?" he suggests, glancing between the three. He gives his two former teammates questioning looks, receiving a hard stare from the taller and an impassive expression from the shadow.

Aomine starts to protest as Kagami shrugs. "Considering you're the only one who doesn't mind, I guess that's how we have to play." the redhead says, and it's all decided, much to Aomine's dismay. The navy eyed teen scowls at Kuroko as Kise and Kagami walk off to the middle of the court. The shadow shrugs—just shrugs.

"You act like you don't care," the Touou student hisses.

"As long as it's not you, it's fine." Kuroko says smoothly, and turns to walk over to join the others. Aomine leers after him.

This was not how he wanted to spend his afternoon.


All in all, the game ended up being more like a two-on-one.

Generally Kuroko isn't really good in those types of situations anyway, though he's gotten better. It doesn't really help that Aomine was pissed off at him either—or that Kagami was pretty consistent in detecting his presence on court. In any case, the shadow mostly just stood on the side of the court and watched. It was a small price to pay for insuring Aomine didn't do anything stupid—like confess.

He knew his former light would pull something right off the bat. It was the power forward's style—brash and unthinking. So he had to keep that from happening. That wasn't to say it had been his idea. No, Kagami had been the one to suggest they play. It just so happened that his light had wanted to play at the same court Aomine and Kise were at.

And now here they are.

"I can't believe we lost."

The four stand outside a convenience store near the park. They'd decided (read: Kagami had suggested and Kise had agreed) to stop for ice cream before going back home. To say the least, Aomine was less than pleased. Still, he came along with minimal outward complaint, as Kise had begun resorting to dragging him along by the arm. The action had been reminiscent of a child pulling his mother towards the toy isle in a store. Kagami had scoffed; Kuroko had not.

"It's your fault for losing my lead," Kise complains. Kagami protests, but goes unheard. The blond cuts him off before he can really get started, "Anyway, you should quit stalling and buy our ice cream." He glances over at the dark haired teen beside him, who shrugs. Somehow the two power forwards had been "recruited" to treat the blond and the shadow.

"I'm not in any hurry," Aomine says lowly, giving Kuroko a pointed look. The shadow returns it with a bland expression. He knows Aomine is reluctant to leave the two alone after today's incidents. It didn't matter, though; Kuroko certainly wasn't going to do anything.

Kagami waves dissmissively. "Come on." He leads an unenthusiastic blue haired ace inside the small store, Touou's ace shooting a warning look to his former teammate (which goes unnoticed by the blond).

Once they're inside, Kise turns to Kuroko. "Hey, that was a pretty fun game, huh?" he says, somehow… prompting, earnest. Kuroko is cautious as he nods. A disarming, friendly smile is on the other's features, but the Seirin student is aware of the underlying intent in those golden eyes trained on him. "You and Aominecchi played really well together."

That's a lie. Aomine had been actively keeping the ball away from Kuroko. But if only to placate the other, Kuroko offers up, "Yes. It's been a while since we've played cooperatively." Though the streak still stands…

Kise nods maybe a bit too vigorously. "I know! I mean, you and Kagamicchi are a great team, but I don't know. There's just something about watching you and Aominecchi play that's so… different, is all I can think to say." His eyes dart away, brows pulling together in thought as he reaches for the right words.

He's exaggerating, right? He has to be; there was nothing special about today. It was easy for him to see Kuroko didn't even touch the ball, wasn't it? That's hardly cooperative play. Unless…

Unless he'd only been focused on Aomine; unless he didn't notice Kuroko off to the side; unless he really only thought Aomine was the amazing one.

"Ah," The blond seems to give up, shrugging uselessly before letting his hands fall back to his sides. "Aominecchi's just that cool, I guess." This conversation is veering off into territory Kuroko is desperate to avoid.

"Have you talked to Akashi-kun since he invited you?" Kuroko wants to smack himself, which is odd considering most of the time he wants to smack the idiots around him (he keeps that inside, for the most part). He's never been one to blurt out random thoughts.

Kise sort of draws back, and Kuroko can see his posture stiffen. "Uh, yeah. He called last night. Why?"

"You seemed uncomfortable when he asked you," the shadow comments, trying to recall the day before. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay with it." And see if I can get any useful information.

The blond shrugs, "I'm… I'm not uncomfortable," he says, not really meeting the other's eyes. "It's fine. I guess I just don't understand why he asked me to go," His smile becomes more strained. The pale haired teen keeps his expression clear, though internally thoughts are swirling in his mind. What did Akashi-kun tell him? Why does Kise-kun seem so apprehensive about going to Akashi-kun's party? But then the Kaijou student relaxes and changes the subject. "But Aominecchi—,"

Not thinking, Kuroko's hand reaches out to grip one of Kise's. The taller boy cuts himself off in his surprise, his golden eyes questioning as he gazes at the boy in front of him. "It was nice running into you today, Kise-kun." Kuroko says, realizing how stupid this must seem. "We should hang out more often. I… miss having you around all the time."

Kise is frozen for several, several moments. He doesn't even blink. Kuroko wonders if he's having some sort of mini-seizure. He's about to ask if the other's alright when a wide smile threatens to split Kise's face in half. Kaijou's ace practically throws himself at the smaller boy, yanking Kuroko into a suffocating hug. It's fleeting, but he recognizes the relief shining in golden eyes. "I miss Kurokocchi too!" And, wow, yes, this is sort of a painful hug. It's kind of awkward too, his face pressed into Kise's chest like this. He smells like perfume. It's kind of odd. He'd just been playing basketball; shouldn't he be all gross and sweaty? And then he realizes that's sort of a strange thing to think.

But at the same time he thinks, what if this is my chance?

His only goal was to keep Aomine from doing anything; he'd never intended to get the blond alone like this. So why not? He wouldn't break any rules; Akashi had only said they weren't allowed to confess directly. He never said anything about indirect confessing—or anything else like that.

The shadow is weighing the consequences of returning the hug when Kise begins to pull away. Kuroko blindly grabs at the other's shirt, "Wait," He blurts out, surprising them both. Ah, this isn't good. He hadn't been thinking; he was still stuck on thinking about what he was going to do, rather than what he was currently doing. He tries to relax his grip, though Kise's arms remain wrapped loosely around him.

"Kurokocchi?" His voice, which had been loud and jubilant moments ago, is now soft with an undertone of concern. "Are you okay?" To be honest, yes, Kuroko is pretty content just standing here like this. With Kise's grip more relaxed than crushing, it's admittedly nice. He feels uncharacteristically clingy and just wants Kise to indulge him.

So he nods his head, "Yes, I'm alright." He assures. His own pale arms tentatively reach around to embrace the taller teen. "I just wanted to stay like this for another moment," The shadow twists his head up to see the other's expression. That was as good as indirect confessions get, he muses to himself. Actually, their previous conversation was a fairly good indirect confession. Honestly, Kise would have to be extremely dense to not recognize the shadow's feelings. He's surprised, however, as Kise gazes down at him with something akin to sympathy.

"Okay, whatever you say," The blond smiles, but there's something really off about it, and Kuroko can't decipher it. He opens his mouth to say something, pulling back slightly himself, when they're suddenly forced apart.

Kise lets out a startled noise as Aomine hauls him back. "Oi. How long did you think we'd be gone?" He's glaring heatedly at the Seirin student, and Kuroko returns it with a flat stare.

"Aww," Kise coos, a cheeky grin breaking out on his face. "Is Aominecchi jealous?" He twists around, leaning over to wrap his arms around the taller male's middle. "You can have a hug too~!"

Aomine's face flushes and he shoves the blond back. "Cut it out," he says. Kise whines, though Kuroko cuts him off.

"Where's Kagami-kun?"

"I left him inside."

"Aominecchi! How could you?" Kise frowns disapprovingly.

The Touou student shrugs. "So what? It's not like I went far,"

A sudden shout of, "Ahomine, you asshole!" cuts off further debate. Kagami rushes up to them, glaring at said asshole. "Don't just leave me like that!"

The tanned male rolls his eyes. "Whatever. You still got the ice cream, right?" The redhead nods and lifts his hand, waving three packages of ice cream. Dark eyebrows pull together in slight confusion as Aomine asks, "Why are there only three?"

"I never agreed to get you any," Kagami says simply as he hands a package to Kuroko and Kise.

Aomine actually looks kind of upset. "Who's the asshole now!?"

"Still you,"

"Bastard—!"

Kise sighs, amused, as he pulls open his ice cream. "Here," he says, breaking it in half and handing over one half to the taller power forward. "You can have some of mine, okay? So don't whine about it."

Touou's power forward takes the treat from the blond, a sort of faraway look crossing his features. It's quickly brushed aside, however, and Aomine takes a large bite out of the ice cream. "I don't even like this flavor," he mumbles, though his face contains a barely noticeable red tint. The blond hums his acknowledgement, looking too fond for the shadow's liking.

As discreetly as possible, Kuroko guides Kise forward, "It's getting late," it's not, "We should probably get back home." Aomine and Kagami follow behind after them, both annoyed for different reasons.

"Already?" Kise pouts, but quickly concedes. "Yeah, I'm busy tomorrow anyway." He pulls a displeased face.

As usual, Kise leads the conversation as they walk down to the station. He and Kagami get into a discussion about upcoming movies they're looking forward to, with the two blue haired teens offering up their opinions every now and then (in which both Kise and Kagami are highly critical of Aomine's choices and Kise offers positive input on the movies Kuroko brings up). That conversation takes up most of the walk, and soon they've reached their destination. The blond offers each of them an over-affectionate hug goodbye before parting ways.

"I'll hold you to your word, Kurokocchi!" He calls just before he leaves. Kuroko merely waves. Aomine gives him a look, but otherwise doesn't say anything. Kagami glances between them, looking at the other power forward strangely.

"I'm gonna take off too," the redhead says. "I've got stuff to do before tomorrow…" he trails off when he realizes neither of the two are paying attention. There's a pause as he futilely waits for them to snap back into reality. They don't. "Okay, see you later,"

Once he's gone, Aomine takes the opportunity to speak. "You're such a little bastard, Tetsu."

"I wouldn't have had to intervene if you hadn't tried to confess." And it's true (for the most part). Kuroko would have (probably) left the two alone if the Touou student hadn't tried to break the one and only rule. He was looking out for his former light, honestly (read: not strictly).

"I wasn't—," he cuts himself off. They both knew lying about the previous incidents was useless at this point. "Still, that doesn't give you the right."

"I'm sure Akashi-kun would disagree." The power forward grimaces and seats himself on a nearby bench. He leans back heavily, head resting on the back of the bench.

"Don't stand there and tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing." He retorts lowly, nonetheless letting out a resigned sigh. Kuroko doesn't bother responding; he can't exactly refute, after all. If their roles had been reversed, there may have been a slight chance the shadow would have thrown caution to the wind and expressed his feelings. Then again, Kuroko was more wary of Akashi's warnings than the power forward should be. The ace was too brash, too reckless; he'd get himself in real trouble one day.

That isn't to say he hadn't gotten in trouble before; no, that was quite the opposite. It was mostly minor things, however. But the way he was so quick to take action and slow to think of the outcome could work in someone else's favor, if manipulated correctly. Kuroko squashes the thought; he'd try to play nice.

Aomine over at the shadow from the corner of his eye as his former teammate also sits down on the bench. "Hey," he starts in a quiet tone. The look on his face is completely serious. "You aren't really going to listen to him, are you?" Kuroko simply blinks. "So what if he thinks it's 'wrong'? That isn't how this stuff works, y'know?" Dark eyebrows furrow, "At least, I'm pretty sure…"

"What do you mean?"

He shrugs, albeit a bit awkwardly in his current position. Instead of elaborating his point, he says, "A bastard like him can't really like someone, can he?"

"Just because you don't like Akashi-kun doesn't mean he can't have feelings for someone as well." Kuroko points out. Still… "It is odd that all of us have the same feelings for Kise-kun," Though is it really, all things considered…? The blond had a magnetic personality specially crafted to draw people in—it was practically his job to get others to fall for him. Was it so surprising they had fallen hook, line, and sinker for it?

Though even Akashi-kun…?

"Tch, no kidding. Guess it's got something to do with why he's so popular." Aomine shakes his head, closing his eyes. "Everybody likes Kise." Everybody: as in cute, busty girls who'd drop everything and flock to him at a moment's notice. He was pretty enough to coerce any guy to be with him. Who's to say any of them can compete with that?

The tanned male sighs. "You know… I'm not sure whether I like the idea of chasing him or not. It seems… backwards." His brows pull together in thought again. Kuroko is mildly surprised the other hasn't had an aneurysm from all the thinking he's done.

But maybe he has a point.

Kuroko can only offer another shrug in reply. "Kise-kun doesn't chase me like he chases you." He thinks the other tenses at his words.

"Yeah…"

They fall silent after that, simply lost in their own thoughts. Seirin's passing specialist is surprised Touou's power forward isn't angry with him—if anything, the other just seems disappointed, frustrated. Kuroko would say he shares the sentiment, though that would be a slight lie. He's frustrated at himself for underestimating Kise's obliviousness, yes, but he also feels a slight satisfaction knowing he had accomplished more than his former light. Honestly, wasn't that today's goal?

But now it really is getting late, and Kuroko needed to buy that special dog food for Nigou before the store closed. So he stands and offers a quick, "Goodbye, Aomine-kun," and leaves after he receives a noncommittal grunt in reply.

He doesn't know what's going through the ace's head; frankly, he doesn't care. It's irrelevant. Because Kuroko won't let this slip away.


A/N: Kagami is only here to keep me sane.
Funny story: I couldn't figure out what to write so I just randomly started writing things I don't like about Aomine, and lo and behold, inspiration had struck!
I feel like Kuroko is insanely OOC, but I really can't write his character type at all, so I just... kinda... give up.
On the subject of giving up, does anyone care about MuraKise as much, because I am extremely stuck on that front. So unless someone has some ideas they're willing to share, I'm just gonna push it to the very (very, very) bottom of my priority list...

Regardless of all that, I hope you enjoyed at least a little bit! I hope to get the next chapter up sooner, but don't hold me to it, orz.