DISCLAIMER:: I do not own KNB or its characters. However, I do own this story. Please do not redistribute without permission.
Chapter VII: Diffusion
"Hello?" She spoke nervously, her hand shaking as she tried to grasp a tighter hold on her cellphone. Her uniform was obscure from completing her recent task and she shivered as a cold breeze made its way down the alley; it made her pay closer attention to her surroundings.
"He's here. He's going to be here for about another week. Get ready." The deep voice spoke lowly as the phone picked up the slight changes in frequencies.
"I thought you said you wouldn't call me while I'm at work. While I'm doing work." She was aggravated now, her task being interrupted by useless information that she already knew of. The voice chuckled on the other end of the line. There was a slight pause, and although the girl already knew what was going to be said, she still waited: patiently, obediently.
"You're going to be doing a lot more work now that he's here." The man hung up and left the woman with her thoughts and the cold to accompany her. She sighed, putting her phone back into her uniform and continuing to drag the dead body down the alleyway.
Akashi sat with one leg across his thigh, sipping at his wine endlessly while the morning sun shone through the bright curtains in the lounge. Z, had housed over 200 people last night and the party had been very successful. Akashi was practically beaming as he sat by himself, thinking about how much success he would gain from the event. A handful of businessmen at the minimum had came up to him to talk about revenue and stocks and his current investment in the market. Of course, being the sly guy that he is, Akashi couldn't end the night without cheating at least one person out of their money. His fingers tapped endlessly on the small table he was sitting next to and he beamed even more when he saw Aomine exit the elevator with a sleepy look on his face.
"Good morning Daiki. The party was superb. I'm very proud of all of you. Did you have fun last night?" Akashi grinned, drinking down the rest of his wine and placing it on the table. The bustling maids were rushing around, sweeping and picking up garbage and leftover wine glasses laying about. Aomine was wearing his usual black hoodie but paired with black shorts. He scratched the back of his head and yawned, not bothering to cover up his mouth. Akashi flinched at the action; it was rather rude. No one wanted to smell your morning breath or see the inside of your mouth.
"I wouldn't exactly call it fun." Aomine walked over and looked around the lounge, "hiring people to do the work for you, Akashi?"
Akashi chuckled and stood up, putting his hands in his suit pockets. It seemed as if he was always wearing a suit, always ready for an interview. This time it was Aomine who flinched.
"I have more than enough money. Besides, I have business to attend to." Without so much as a goodbye, Akashi kept a sharp smile on his face and walked past Aomine, chuckling as he did so. The blunette didn't know what to say, so he continued walking through the lounge and towards the kitchen. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he ate, so he walked up to the fridge and grabbed the last apple. The kitchen was slightly a mess as well. Icing was clumped up on the floor and in certain corners of the counters. The huge dining table was smothered with wine glasses and dirtied plates. It almost looked like a 10 year old had their birthday party in there. The maids were zooming past Aomine, not giving him any attention as they stayed focused on their task. One of them, however, bumped into him and bowed excessively as an apology, making the taller male laugh.
"It's alright. Just watch your step." Aomine smiled at the maid and she visually relaxed as the tension left her face. Aomine guessed that she was use to hard treatment from Akashi and scoffed internally. He didn't have to treat them like slaves. The maid looked eagerly at the apple in Aomine's hand and her eyes lit up.
"Would Kuroko-san like an apple as well? I can get more from the pantry and bring it to your room." The maid replied and blinked expectantly, waiting for Aomine to speak.
Huh? How did she know Kuroko was in his room? It was true that last night after they talked about Alex, Kuroko fell asleep on the blunette's bed. Being the gentleman that he sometimes was, Aomine tried to carry Kuroko back to his room but the small male made a scene and didn't want to get up, resulting in Aomine having to share his bed.
Considering that Aomine doesn't share his bed with anyone but Kagami—and even that was only a rare occasion—Kuroko had considering it a new level in their friendship. He was more than happy when he realized that Aomine had forgiven him for everything he did in the past, and that they had moved on. So now the small male was sleeping in Aomine's bed while the blunette was downstairs. Aomine didn't blame him though, they had talked almost all night just about Alex and how crazy it was that she was gone so fast. Just about the small things that they hardly ever talked about.
"No he's still asleep. Thank you though." Aomine bowed at the maid before returning to the elevator. He had one more task to do before returning to Kuroko, and that was to get his phone back from Kise.
He really, really, really didn't feel like talking to Kise right now and he damn sure wasn't ready to deal with him and his drunk hangover self. Surely he would realize that what he tried to do was wrong, wouldn't he? He probably thought Aomine was an easy target since he used to mess around in the past.
But now—now that Aomine had Kagami, he swore he would change. He wouldn't let one drunk friend change the promise he made to the one he cared the most about. He wondered what Kise was doing. Was he alone in his bedroom dealing with his hangover? Was he still sleeping? Was he crying about how Aomine how rejected him? The blunette suddenly remembered how picking up people was easy for Kise; since he was a model after all. Maybe last night shocked him to some extent? The sudden rejection from something that was so easy in the past because of modeling? Or maybe Kise was lonely. Maybe under his happy exterior he was just lonely because he could never have a serious relationship with anyone.
Aomine could relate to that; sometimes sleeping around got very unfrequented.
The blunette felt a small pang of guilt as he rode in the elevator. Maybe he was kind of to blame for the incident too. Sure, it wasn't his fault for Kise flinging himself onto him but he did tease Kise, a lot. Maybe the blonde thought that Aomine was interested in him from the constant teasing.
He arrived at the second floor with a shuffle of his aching feet and another yawn. He truly needed more sleep, but something told him to get up this morning and get his phone. Some kind of instinct—his gut—told him that he needed to get his phone as soon as possible. He ripped the stem off of his apple and took a bite, then he walked up to Kise's room door and knocked on the door.
He waited patiently for Kise to either groan from inside or open the door annoyed.
But nothing happened. He knocked again and took another bite out of the fruit.
"Jesus Kise open the door!" Aomine all but yelled as he knocked again. He was frustrated now. Was Kise ignoring him? Or was he passed out in the bathroom next to the toilet? The blunette groaned and kept gnawing away at his apple, thinking of what his next move was going to be.
"Fine. I'll just g-go fuck Kasamatsu."
Oh no. Aomine groaned again and rubbed his face with his free hand. He just had to remember what Kise said before storming off. Great. He didn't want to deal with a drunken Kise in Kasamatsu's bed. Finishing off his apple and throwing the core into the trash, Aomine made his way down the hall. Luckily, each door had the team's last name written on them, so Aomine was able to quickly and easily locate Kasamatsu's door. He knocked with his knuckles softly and waited, bracing himself for whatever was about to await him.
Still, nothing.
What the hell was up with everyone today? Did they all get wasted last night and partied like no tomorrow?
Aomine decided to knock one more time and wait again, his patience starting to cut thin. He was about to yell for Kasamatsu when the door opened slightly and Kise's blond hair was visible.
"What do you wantttttttttt?" Kise slurred on his words, still hooked on his hangover, and had to stare at Aomine for over 5 seconds before releasing just who he was. Aomine looked down at the model and had to bite his lip from laughing because the bed head that he was seeing right now was so ridiculous.
"A-Aomine..." Kise lowered his head and held on to the doorknob, still keeping a fair distance between himself and Aomine. The blunette couldn't tell what lay behind the door but he had a gut feeling that a drunk—and possibly naked—Kasamatsu was in the bed. Aomine stared a Kise, his sharp eyes trying to pierce through Kise's skull and force him to look up at him. For some reason the blond looked beyond sad, although he had gotten what he wanted, he still looked shaken up about it. Maybe he finally felt ashamed for what he had done—or tried to do—last night?
"I just came to get my phone. You accidently took it." Aomine stated with a rather grave tone. His morning voice of grumbles and grunts always had Kise hooked and the short male looked up at him with big eyes.
"Oh. That was your phone..." The blond's eyes returned to their normal size and he hung his head again. He stayed still for a moment, before processing that Aomine was waiting for him to either move and let him in or go get his phone and bring it back.
"Kise." Aomine almost snapped, his patience had whittled away and he wanted to move the blonde aside himself and go find his phone. He didn't know when, but he started feeling anxious. Something told him that he needed to get his phone and that feeling only increased as the time went by.
The blonde looked up again, his face visibly shaking. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes and something in Aomine's chest curled. Oh no, was Kise about to cry? He really didn't need this so early in the morning. The blunette was such a sucker for when people cried—especially Momoi—that he would either comfort them with no questions asked or completely walk away and deal with it later.
And today was one of those comforting days, even if he didn't want to admit it.
"A-aominecchi... I-I'm s-so-" For some reason, Kise couldn't form a complete sentence as his breath hitched in his throat and his tears let gravity take over as they slowly fell down his face. The blond slowly studied the ground as he turned on his heels, disappearing into the darkness of the bedroom. Aomine was baffled; he didn't know how to comfort a crying Kise. Especially when the one who was crying had realized what they had did wrong. When the blond returned, he held his hand out and revealed the phone—which Aomine quickly took grasp of—and kept his head downwards.
"I had it in my pocket for most of the night... A-and then it fell to the floor. So sorry if someone contacted you and I didn't answer." His voice held serious dejection and the blunette could feel his tension surround them like a cloud blanketing the sky. Was he obliged to forgive him? Did he even want to forgive him? Forgetting his thoughts and stuffing his phone in his pocket, Aomine turned on his heels and looked towards the end of the hall before saying something to the blond that was quite hopeful for him. In Aomine's mind, this was the closest to comforting he could get.
"We can talk later. Just, calm yourself first." Aomine looked Kise in his golden eyes that held more reflection than usual due to their crying state, and debated rubbing a tear off of his cheek with his thumb. But he figured that doing so would only makes things worse, so he nodded before leaving the doorway and out of Kise's sight. He stifled a sigh as he made his way to the elevator, checking his phone once the doors had closed.
"3 calls, a voicemail and 20 messages... What the hell." Aomine voiced his thoughts out loud as he checked his phones call history and then flipped to his messages.
"They're all from Kagami. I hope he's ok." Aomine had his eyes glued to the phone and went to check the voicemail, holding the phone up to his ear before pressing the play button.
"Aomine you better fucking pick up right now. I cant believe you fucking did this after everything I've been through today. Well I guess it's over now. I actually thought that you would be loyal in our relationship but I guess fucking not. We're done and I hope to never see your fucking face again." Kagami's wavering voice was heard through the tiny speaker and the tanned male voiced his uncertainty out loud.
"Eh?!" Aomine screamed in the elevator, glaring at the phone with all the built up confusion he was feeling. It's over? Cheating? What? Without another thought he went back to his messages and read most of them before he reached his floor.
Kaga-butt: Are you fucking kidding me?!
Kaga-butt: Aomine please...
Kaga-butt: I can't believe this.
Kaga-butt: ANSWER THE PHONE.
Kaga-butt: Why won't you answer me...
Kaga-butt: Why... How could you do this...
Kaga-butt: ...It was Kise all along..
Kaga-butt: You fucking cheater. I hope you rot in hell...
Aomine read the texts with knotted eyebrows and quivering lips. He noted the constant fluctuation in Kagami's attitude but he just couldn't wrap his head around what was going on.
"Cheat on him?! I didn't cheat on him? What the hell is this idiot talking about?!" Without so much as a second though, Aomine pressed the call button, hoping that Kagami would explain his irrational behavior.
But the ring went on for ages, and in the end he didn't answer.
"Dammit!" Aomine almost threw his phone on the floor, his limbs were filled with frustration. He stomped out of the elevator once he had reached his floor and burst through the door, totally forgetting about his sleeping friend in the bed.
"A...Aomine-Kun?" Kuroko rolled over in the bed, familiar with the voice that was cursing and stomping about. A throb ensued in his head and he gripped the pillow, throwing it over his face to try and mute the ever growing growls coming from the door.
"Ugh dammit! Who does he think he is?! Really, honestly, he thinks I would cheat. He's the one who practically let you kiss him. And what the hell were you thinking Kuroko? Kissing someone else's boyfriend? Is that what this is about?!" Evidently, Aomine didn't forget about the smaller male sleeping in his bed and instead blamed him for whatever Kagami was talking about; obviously not knowing where or who to center his anger towards.
"What?" This time Kuroko sat up, fully alert to what was going on around him. There Aomine was, flustered, beyond chaotic as he stomped in circles, his dark blue eyes nearly glowering.
"You heard me! Kagami thinks I cheated on him! Hah! How? I didn't even do anything?!"
"Wait Aomine-kun calm down... When did this happen?" Kuroko blinked slowly, trying to reason with his friend who was acting like a wild animal.
"I can't take you seriously when it looks like you have arms growing out of your head." Aomine stopped walking in circles and pointed to Kuroko's bed head, which looked exactly how he described it.
"Better?" Kuroko asked once he flattened out his hair, unfazed by the event. The blunette then nodded and proceeded to answer the earlier question.
"It happened last night I'm guessing. When I got my phone back this morning I checked the messages."
Double checking the times, Aomine nodded to confirm that what he said was true.
"Yeah, definitely last night."
"And who had your phone last night?" Kuroko knew where this was going, so he waited to see if Aomine would catch on and how long it would take.
"Kise did duh! But I don't understand how that-" Aomine's eyes grew wide, a streak of terror flying across them.
"Uh no." He said, face frozen in some unspeakable horror that Kuroko didn't know about.
"What?"
"Oh no oh no oh no." Aomine stuttered, picking up his pace again and walking in circles. When Kuroko didn't answer him, he stopped and grabbed his head full of dark blue hair.
"Did Kagami call my phone while Kise was having sex with Kasamatsu? THINKING IT WAS ME?!" Aomine nearly screamed, too frustrated to do anything remotely normal with his body. Kuroko—seemingly indifferent to the whole situation—nodded at Aomine's rhetorical question.
"That's possible yes." He said, and once Aomine had stopped screaming he straightened up, a hard shell forming on his face.
"...I'm gonna kill him." Was all he growled in a deep low voice as he rearranged his clothes, as if to head right back out.
"Aomine a "butt call" isn't intentional. He probably didn't even notice it." Kuroko honestly wanted to see what would happen if Aomine approached Kise but he couldn't let his friend get pummeled to death so he tried to talk some sense into the blunette.
"Yeah, well. I'm going to fix this." The tanned male spouted as he walked back to the door. Before he exited, he turned around and gave one last look at Kuroko, who noted the difference in his voice.
"You probably won't see me for a while."
Kagami felt horrible.
Maybe it was because of the lack of food he was eating, or maybe it was because of the lack of sleep he was getting.
Or maybe it was because of the thousands of tissues he had cried into last night at calling his "said ex boyfriend", only to hear him cheating on him.
Whatever it was, it made his insides churn when he moved and his chest ache when he breathed. His whole body screamed at him when he tried to sit up and his consciousness told him to just drift away in the bed.
"You're gonna get bed sores like that." Himuro had called to him, brushing back his hair and fixing his shirt in the hotel mirror. He was going to go discuss funeral plans at a nearby place, and asked if Kagami wanted to go.
Of course he said no.
He had said no to every little thing that was told, asked or demanded of him.
"Kagami you should shower"
"No"
"Kagami you need to eat"
"No"
"Kagami you have to get up out of bed right now."
"No"
With a groan that had become his new way of communication, Kagami rolled over in his sheets, almost hearing his muscles cry from the pain. He was mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted.
"Just promise me you won't be in bed when I get back." Himuro told him, walking over to his brother and placing his hand on top of the redhead's.
"I'm worried about you." He said with concerned eyes, and was rewarded with an actual sentence that seemed void from Kagami's mind in the last 12 hours.
"Okay... I'll do something, promise." The red head croaked out, his voice obviously not ready for the task of speaking. This resulting in a slight nod from Himuro, who then got up and grabbed his phone and a small black suitcase, and made his way out of the hotel room. The click of the room door caused Kagami to slightly relax back into the sheets and close his eyes. He needed to get up and do something, the whole day was ahead of him for starters. Kagami visioned himself getting up out of bed and putting clothes on, brushing his teeth and making himself look nice for wherever he was going.
Hell it was almost two past noon, he should at least do something.
He was just about to exit the door and be on his way in his little dream when a vibrating noise shook him out of his sleep. He groggily reached for his slightly cracked phone that he had thrown across the room and saw the caller ID.
"Aomi-babe. Hah. Funny. I don't remember who that is exactly." Kagami slurred as he declined the call and placed his phone back down. However, no matter how indifferent he tried to sound, deep down, he was hurting like hell.
And he was sick of it.
He had done nothing wrong in his life to deserve this. Why was karma seeking revenge on him now? It seemed like his life was slowly descending into the deepest pits of hell because he felt every emotion of despair eat away at him.
But he also felt nothing.
So instead of laying in his own depression he sat up, rubbing his temples and glaring at the sun that was shining outside. It had been forever since he had last seen his friends in America, and he already abused seeing them since Alex had passed.
Kagami rubbed his aching chest slowly, feeling a knot well up inside.
"Great.." His raspy voice spoke out into the open air and made him clear his throat since he sounded more broken than he had thought.
The hotel room was set up in a elegant suite style, and Kagami hadn't really taken in the surroundings since the only place he had acquainted himself with was the queen bed. The floor was lined with a soft light brown carpet that had tribal symbols running down the sides and near the trims of the wall. The furniture was also light brown with chestnut colored desks and a huge flash screen mounted around a tribal wall painting. The room was big enough for Kagami to see Himuro's bed on the other side before curving around to the kitchen; which was lined with tan marble floors and accompanied by mahogany counter tops. Near Kagami's side of the huge room was the window looking out over the rest of the city and the door that lead out into the hallway. The color scheme seemed to be light browns and reds, which Kagami preferred over other styles. Himuro must have picked it with that fact in mind. The red head chuckled and rubbed his hands through his hair violently.
"Why am I so pitiful? You're Taiga. Get yourself together." He had to slap his cheeks a few times, letting the stinging sensation spark life into his face. His dark red tank top clung to his muscular chest and gained the red heads attention. Kagami slowly raised his arms and sniffed, trying to figure out how badly he needed to shower on a scale of 1 to 10.
"Definitely an 11." He snorted as he took a whiff of his body odor. He started to remove the covers that seemed to be suffocating his legs but he heard his phone ring again. The cockiness that he had earlier started to built and without even looking at the caller ID he swiped the screen and tried to muster up the meanest voice he could.
"Look AHOMINE, I don't want to fucking speak to a cheater like yo-" Kagami started to grit his teeth, seemingly pissed off at who he thought was his boyfriend on the other end of the phone. But before he could finish he was cut off by an unknown voice.
"Uh hey, Kagami? It's Mike." Kagami froze in his awkward position of half-on-half-off the bed with his heart racing like crazy. Like the hot head, forgetful idiot he was, he failed to remember how he had texted Mike after Himuro and himself made their way back from the hospital one night. So of course, Mike had his number and could call him at any time now. Cursing under his breath, Kagami shuffled out of the blankets and stood up, letting out a heavy sigh that he didn't know he was holding.
"Oh uh, hey Mike... Sorry about that." Kagami tried to shake it off with a nervous chuckle, which earned him a small laugh from Mike.
"Hey don't worry about it. Boyfriend troubles?" Mike asked a little too obviously, treading over a thin line that he didn't know he shouldn't dare to cross.
"Uhm. Yeah. Anyways, what did you call for?"
"Do you want to hang out at this frozen yogurt spot to catch up? I haven't heard anything from you in a couple of days besides that 'hey it's Kagami' text. Are you okay?" Kagami had to choke back a cough when Mike asked how he was doing. Surely he wasn't that slow and understood that something had happened if Kagami hadn't spoken to him in days
After some slow thought and intense quietness from both lines of the phone, Kagami figured that he would tell him over frozen yogurt and nodded to himself. It would be good to get away from his encouraging depressed sleeping place and his backstabbing boyfriend. Besides, he had made Himuro a promise to actually get up out of bed.
"Yeah. Just let me take a shower." Kagami almost flinched when he smelled himself again, and started to rummage through his suitcase to find a decent outfit.
"Okay. I'll text you the address. See you in an hour." Mike chimed in and before Kagami was able to reply, the phone was hung up. The red head just shrugged and continued his search for clean clothes.
"I take it back. I should've showered two times." Kagami had said to himself, standing around outside the small frozen yogurt shop. It was surprisingly sunny that afternoon, no gloomy clouds covering the city with rain like the redhead's mind had pictured, no dreary people hanging with their heads down. After Alex passed away surprisingly quickly, Kagami's mind had followed suit; and everything he thought took a turn for the worse. Even when Himuro would get up to make some food Kagami would object, telling Himuro that it could be spoiled or that they should just starve. But today the air was calm, the sky was clear and the birds were loud. People walked by, concentrating on their busy day ahead. Some had coffee in their hands, some had phones. While Kagami was waiting for his company, he quickly glanced at his phone screen.
"2 new messages" The screen read, and the reader sighed once he realized who they were probably from. Before he could voice out his own thoughts, a voice sprung out into the open air and startled Kagami in his tracks.
"Taiga!"
"Oh. Hey Mike." The redhead replied happily after being startled half to death; but not too enthusiastically. He didn't want Mike to feel as if his happiness was faked, or that he didn't actually want to be there.
"How are you?" Mike asked vaguely, he scratched the back of his neck, as if to apologize for asking such a stupid question at the moment. Some strands of hair were laying astray on his neck as Kagami noticed his loose man bun at the back of his head. His dark brown hair turned into a milky chestnut color as it shone in the afternoon sun. The rays of light attracted Kagami to Mike's face—which was well shaven—and surprisingly sharp. He looked professional but laid back at the same time without even having to try. His denim jacket and lumberjack boots completed the look that was currently trending in California. The "messy lumberjack" as Kagami liked to call it, also known as the "let me not really try but half try to look smooth" look.
But it suited Mike, and for some reason Kagami wasn't bothered by it.
"I've been better. How's your work coming along?" The redhead asked, slowly stepping close to the outside walls of the shop to let other people effortlessly walk by the two.
"Good good! I've recently been assigned to accompany these two models in London soon. It'll be fun. So I won't be around here much longer." Mike replied easily, flashing a smile that showed plenty of pearly teeth and bright pink lips that reminded Kagami of Aomine's—very rare—smile. It was genuine, effortless, priceless, and it truly conveyed the emotions that he had always seeker out in his boyfriend. Or shall he say, ex boyfriend.
"Ah... That must be nice." Kagami unconsciously let his mind wonder back to Aomine. He wanted to reply with "oh hey yeah my ex boyfriend is suppose to leave for London soon with one of our mutual friends what a coincidence", but didn't have the courage to. He thought about what the blunette could be doing, thinking. Maybe he's thinking about him since he called and texted him multiple times? What is he doing right now? Is he sleeping? Is he playing basketball? Is he eating at Maji Burger? Is he shopping with Satsuki? Is he thinking about modeling with Kise?
"Shall we?" Mike's voice melted through his thoughts like slow simmering chocolate and Kagami had to shake his head more than once that gather his brain back to reality. He needed slowly and Mike walked ahead of him, his broad back the only view in front of Kagami. Although the where about the same size, Mike had advanced to the top of the staircase in front of the shop, leaving Kagami with a view that reminded him too much of his boyfriend—whom he was missing dearly.
"Come on Kagami you're suppose to be having fun with Mike! This isn't even a date! You promised Himuro you would get out of the house!" He thought to himself while walking up the stairs, nodding to Mike who graciously held the door open a little too eagerly.
Once they made their way inside, a sweet aroma filled Kagami's nostrils and he took a deep breath, letting the smell travel around his lungs completely before exhaling again. It put his mind at ease. The cool air, the sweet smell and the colorful frozen yogurt machines made the red head smile. It had been a long time since he had frozen yogurt; and he was missing it dearly.
The marble colored floor was an off-white, with tiny specks of red, yellow and blue splattered around. A couple cashiers waved at the two males to greet them and eagerly waited to get their money.
Multiple circular tables were scattered about but only a few of them were packed with customers.
"Good," Kagami thought, "it's not as packed as I assumed it would be."
"So..." Kagami trailed off, not really knowing what to say as he followed Mike through the frozen yogurt line. He picked up a small foam bowl, and proceeded to think extra hard about what kind of frozen yogurt he wanted.
"How is it like trying to get back into the culture?" The other male asked, getting his frozen yogurt and continuing down the line to top it with desserts. Kagami could tell that he was struggling to keep the conversation going.
"Crazy. Eastern and Western are just so different you know?"
"Exactly. Sometimes it's hard to fall back into place." Mike noted, drizzling some chocolate syrup on top of his candy toppings.
"Yeah..." Kagami said, immediately thinking about Aomine back home and dreading on the thought. He didn't talk the rest of the time while they were in line, and offered to pay once they got to the cashier but Mike objected, saying that it was his pleasure since he asked him out in the first place.
They eventually sat down at one of the white round tables and started eating slowly, quietly. The tension was starting to build as neither of them said anything; just focused on eating their food.
Finally Mike broke the silence, which Kagami inwardly sighed in relief. He didn't want to be the one to try and break the silence and end up saying something stupid in the end.
"Hey what's wrong? Is this about earlier with your boyfriend?" The other male asked slowly, knowing that certain words could trigger certain emotions that he didn't want the other male feeling.
After a short pause, Kagami finally sighed.
"Well... I think he may have cheated on me..." He said as he picked at the mochi resting on top of all his other sweets. Mike didn't say anything, as if waiting for the other to continue.
"I called him and heard him having sex with a mutual friend.. His voice was; different.. But that's just because he was having sex. And he answered and got caught.." Kagami finished, still poking around at the frozen yogurt. Sure, he was hungry. But he wasn't in the mood to eat after thinking about the situation.
"Well, he's an idiot for obviously missing out on what he had." Mike said softly, smiling as he continued to eat.
"Thanks... But I still love him so it hurts. I just, I guess I need to see him in person or something. I don't know if I can handle being away from him like this. Especially now."
"I see.. He surely messed up on a good thing." Mike said again, almost restating the exact compliment from earlier. He looked at the way Kagami reacted to it; tentatively, scared. He tried to divert the conversation on to Mike, he was too camera shy.
"Yeah.. But enough about me. Do you have any boyfriends we should discuss?"
"My past is pretty... dark. I don't really like to talk about specifics, but, once I find a guy I'm interested in, I'm watching him. Forever." Mike laughs, almost sourly as if to joke about his last sentence. Kagami laughs along nervously, not knowing if that was a joke or not. He was uncomfortable. The hair on the back of his neck felt cold and he rubbed his hand on his neck unconsciously. Mike finally looked up from his mochi, then smiled a soft, almost sweet smile as he stared at Kagami; his eyes a soft green.
"I can't let them slip away, now can I?"
"Mine-chin isn't here." The giant mouthed through a face full of cookies. His eyes were fierce, focusing on the topic at hand; which was always eating. Kuroko could tell that Murasakibaa didn't want to be bothered, so he just nodded and left the purple giant to his sweets, continuously walking through the lounge to try and find his friends.
When Aomine had stormed out of his own room, Kuroko had sighed and laid back down, deciding that he needed to rest some more before trying to tame the wild tanned beast. But when he had finally opted to get up, Aomine was no where to be seen. He had started with Momoi; since she usually knew of his whereabouts no matter how unpredictable they could be. But even she came up empty. He had searched the Touou hallway, the Seirin hallway, and finally he landed in the lounge where Murasakibara was eating sweets and watching the world go by.
As Kuroko continued to walk, he considered the male who had started this whole fiasco. He pulled out his phone and dialed up the number of the usually bright and beyond beautiful model. As the ring continued, Kuroko decided to make himself comfy and sit on one of the small pearl white love seats that was scattered about in the lounge.
"...hello." The voice broke through the speaker and Kuroko could automatically tell that Kise was down in the dumps, or so to speak. He usually answered the phone with a bright and chirpy hello that ended with a high pitch tone. But today he answered with an irritated tone, as if he didn't want to be bothered.
He was unenthusiastic. Something that Kuroko rarely saw or heard from the other.
"Kise-kun. Have you seen Aomine-kun?" Kuroko asked as he exited the main lounge area, looking through multiple rooms on the main floor. There was a long pause before Kuroko heard a sigh escape the other male's mouth.
"Yeah this morning. But that was it..." There was another pause, as Kuroko could tell that Kise still had more to say. And that he did.
"Kurokocchi what if our modeling trip is canceled. What if he doesn't want to model anymore because I... Because I..." Kise was taking sharp breaths that were similar to sobbing as he tried to finish the rest of his sentence.
"Kise-kun. Don't worry. I'll knock some sense into him okay? As soon as I find him." Kuroko tried to reassure his friend, but the sobbing breaths wouldn't stop. The blunette let his friend cry his emotions out as he sat there, trying to tell him that it would be okay.
The maids that were tidying up the lounge sometimes gazed at Kuroko, for they could hear the obnoxious wails from feet away.
"I'm such an idiot. I'm so dumb." Kise sobbed into the phone, and Kuroko knew that there was more to this than just Aomine's phone and Kise's one night stand.
"Kise-kun. What exactly happened last night?" Kuroko tried to ask politely, for he didn't want to overstep his boundaries. He heard a sharp sob from Kise and then silence, and he knew that he had struck a nerve.
"I'd rather not talk about it Kurokocchi..." The blond's voice sounded broken and scratchy through the mobile device, making Kuroko think that there was a connection problem. In the end, the model gave no more clues as to what else had occurred that night, furthering Kuroko's suspicion but not letting him act out on impulse.
"Alright. Well, Goodbye Kise-kun. I'll fix this." The blond responded with a small grunt and Kuroko found himself huffing as the phone call ended.
Why was he stuck between all of this? Why was Aomine no where to be seen? Why did Kise—out of all people—act like a depressed housewife?
The short blunette sighed once again and ruffled a hand through his former bed hair and looked around the lounge.
For some ironic reason, finding a loud, obnoxious 6'3'' tanned Japanese young adult in a mansion full of thousands of rooms was more difficult than Kuroko imagined. Especially when said person was usually lazy as hell and enjoyed to sleep all day.
He had no idea where to start next. Where the hell could Aomine be this time in the afternoon? As Kuroko began to shift his weight onto his legs to stand up, his phone started to vibrate and he sighed for the third time(but with relief) when he saw that the caller ID.
"Yo Kuroko. Do me a favor and tell Akashi that I won't be going on the modeling trip with Kise." The infamous Aomine that Kuroko had been searching for so desperately decided to grace the smaller male with his voice. But the triumph didn't last for long because Kuroko didn't understand a damn thing that the tanned male had just said.
"What why? You know how much that trip means to him?! He's been wanting to go with you forever! And-"
"Yeah yeah I know but after what happened, I'm not really okay with that right now." Aomine spoke through the phone but the sound was muffled—along with multiple voices and noises going on in the background.
Kuroko was greatly confused.
"Are you kidding? Where are you anyways?! I've been looking for you all day!" He shouted and shot up, stomping his foot on the ground. He was frustrated with Aomine's frantic, deficit attitude and his jump-into-it-head-on plans.
"I'm in line. Jesus Tetsu hold on." Aomine sounded annoyed as he muffled the phone, but the next voice that Kuroko heard was one he would never forget.
"Flight 392 will be leaving for California, USA in 30 minutes. Please prepare for departure."
Was Kuroko hearing things?
Was this actually happening?
The small male finally got the nerve to speak up and put his hand on his forehead.
"...Aomine-kun. Is that what I think it is?" He asked the rhetorical question that he hoped Aomine would prove him wrong about.
But nope, he had let his hopes down.
"I'm fixing the problem head on. I gotta go. I'll call you later." With a swift click, Aomine had ended the phone call and left Kuroko staring emptily in the lounge.
Aomine was going to America.
Great.
A/N;; HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGRRRRRRRR guys I'm so sorry I'm just PFT GONE WITH THE WIND. Between school, studying, and my job I have not found ANY TIME TO WRITE GOD IDK WHAT IM DOING ANYMORE.
And when I actually did have the time to write, I had such a big writers block that I didn't have the motivation to continue. I've just been so tired and I would look at my draft and be like "mmm nah"
But then I looked at all the reviews again, and I read every single one over again and reminded myself that people do like my story, no matter how bad it seems to be to me; their are actually people(you guys) who wait eagerly for the next chapter and I love you. All of you.
Thank you. Sincerely, thank you.
bloodybrain33: YOU'RE WELCOME hehe. I was glad that it didn't turn out as you expected it to c:
EminaRukiax: TOO LATE I USED HIM AS A SEX TOY OOPS. Haha I had a tough time trying to figure ot how to make them friends again. So I tried to do it through Alex dying. Their bonding again? Did it work? I hope it was believable ;_;
Guest: HEHE DMMD MOD FOR DAYZ. I'm surprised no one else caught that ;).
ZeaAoi: I'm so glad, thank you. Here is your very delayed update.
ken aozora: HERE YOU GO. IM HAPPY THAT YOU LIKE IT I HOPE YOU CONTINUE TO LIKE IT!
akira noruma: hehe here you go love.
ChordOverstreetFan: Ohohohoh I can't reveal any events or the future plot but oooo. Okay here's a one word hint: suspicion.
If you want to send me a message my tumblr is Woirick. I'll respond faster there. And if there's a typo or anything seems out of place please feel free to contact me on my tumblr or here.
-Cryle