Terribly sorry for the long wait; life has been hectic and other fics have been demanding - but here we are :)

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This was a bad idea.

As he bore a figurative hole with his eyes on the door, he was fully convinced about that. He should not have let himself be talked into this by Kise, who had no idea about his history with Kuroko or the details of this particular situation. He also should have hid that photograph Kagami had taken of the three of them – Kuroko, Momoi and him – at the beach; whose idea was it to have it on his rarely ever used tiny bookcase anyway? Momoi's. Yes, it was Momoi's stupid idea. "You need some personal touch to this place Dai-chan!" she had insisted and put the darn thing—

The door suddenly opened ripping him apart from his ruminating and thanks to his godly reflexes, instead of falling down on his ass, he was able to catch the dog jumping on him right on time.

"Aomine-kun…"

Kuroko's voice was soft and his ever so stoic expression was tinted with surprise.

"Hey… Tetsu."

He wasn't sure where to begin or if to begin at all. Being nervous was uncharacteristic to him and thus whenever he felt so, he avoided the source of his anxiety at all costs, fully believing that ignorance would eventually eat away the nerves. Alas, it rarely turned out that way and instead all his life he had these broken bonds and engagements, with things and people, avoided once and for all. He knew he could not afford Kuroko become one of those. No, his friend was too dear for leaving behind. Yet he was also utterly lost on how to begin; what was it that he was so anxious about? He was not even sure.

Slowly the hint of surprise turned into a hint of amusement on Kuroko's face and the tiniest of smiles tugged onto the edge of his lips.

"Do you mind coming with us? I need to walk Nigou…"

"Sure, no problem."

As they silently walked side by side, Aomine cursed himself internally and let the unnecessary anxiety flow out of him naturally and smoothly. The silence was neither deafening nor heavy, on the contrary it was almost liberating. They had known each other for years, since they were practically kids back in middle school, and he should have trusted in that history, in the understanding they have with each other. When the walk was over and they returned back to the apartment, Kuroko started talking about the weather and Aomine complained about it like always. As Aomine played around with Nigou at home, rolling on the floor with the dog that had grown so large over the years, Kuroko wandered to the kitchen and returned back ten minutes later with tea. Once they sat down to drink, as if triggered, Aomine blurted without thinking at all;

"I'm sorry."

Kuroko looked at him puzzled and he was sure he himself looked rather perplexed at his own admission. He had not planned to say "sorry". Or rather, he had wanted to but was almost certain he would not be able to. Yet the word had found its way out of his lips, so calmly yet abruptly. It was as if something inside of him had said "enough is enough you socially inept doofus" and forced his lips to move before his consciousness could intervene.

"I'm sorry too…" Kuroko replies, almost whispering.

"There's no reason for you to be sorry."

"I caused you to blow a whole operation and then receive a suspension."

"No operation is worth more than your life you idiot and suspension? It was pretty much a vacation."

Kuroko chuckled as he sipped from his tea, "I'm sorry regardless and I'm happy you're doing well…"

"I'm okay… It's good that you're doing well too… You are, right?"

"Yeah, I am. Please don't fuss over me; Kagami-kun is already excelling in that task."

Aomine snorted though he had no doubt about Kagami fussing over Kuroko.

"He better or else I'm kicking his ass."

Kuroko rolled his eyes but the tiny smile he kept on his lips did not waver at all. They made small talk about random things; Aomine mentioning a film he saw the other day (but deliberately avoiding to add that he went to see it with someone – that someone being Kise), Kuroko talking about his attempts at learning how to cook since he was off work and mostly at home – apparently it wasn't going well, not that Kuroko had outright admitted it but Aomine could read between the lines of his friend's sarcastic remarks. They did not realise how long it had been when the doorbell rang and Aomine furrowed his eyebrows seeing Kuroko stand up to get the door.

"Why is he not using his keys?"

Kuroko shrugged as he turned the knob, "he likes me opening the door I think…"

Without looking into the living room and thus realising Aomine's presence, Kagami stepped in and quickly gave a peck on Kuroko's forehead as he closed the door behind him. He did realise Aomine's presence a second later when Aomine let out a loud groan,

"Ew! Do you have to be so corny?"

Kagami's head shot up and finding their target his eyes gleamed with an angry glare,

"Okay, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Came to visit my best buddy. You know, the one who lives here. The one who owns the place?"

Kuroko petted Kagami's back as he moved back to the living room,

"Don't mind him. Aomine-kun is just jealous because he doesn't have someone."

"Says who?"

The moment the words left his mouth, he knew it was a mistake and both Kagami and Kuroko looking at him with obvious disbelief was enough of a proof. He quickly recovered, grumbling;

"I could get anyone I want… Just because I'm not into mushy romance doesn't mean I could not ace it."

Kagami chortled at the explanation and moved towards the couch Aomine was sitting, his hands tugging his already loose tie even further down,

"That just means you don't have someone. For a second there you fooled me but I should have guessed; who could stand a jerk like you?!"

Aomine simply glared in response as Kagami made himself comfortable on the other side of the couch, completely indifferent. Kuroko, however, had a peculiar glint in his eyes and Aomine knew right away that his friend was not convinced by his excuse. Nevertheless, Kuroko was rarely someone who pushed matters when Aomine was unwilling – at least not openly. So he dropped it within seconds and turned to Kagami,

"You don't mind cooking for us, right?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. I'm not cooking for this dumbass."

"But I already said you would… And I'm craving your special omurice."

The innocence on Kuroko's face was a calculated one but as expected it worked wonders on Kagami who simply huffed and puffed and then dragged himself off the couch and towards the kitchen without any word.

"I'll go help him," Kuroko said as he also made his way to the kitchen. Aomine shouted behind him, "I'm glad to have you as a friend and not as an enemy y'know…"

He swore he could hear a suppressed snigger from Kuroko before he disappeared into the kitchen.

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When his stomach growled in agony, he took a break from the paper work and looked over towards the window. The sky was pretty dark. It had been hours since he came home from work and it was a Friday to boot, yet here he was cooped up at home, drowning in papers. Well, figuratively 'papers'; he was busy reviewing records and reports on his laptop. He had done a good job so far but still had dozens of more pages to go through and he had not eaten anything since that single onigiri he had for lunch. However, he was feeling too lazy to cook and there was nothing much in his fridge anyway, having forgotten grocery shopping that week. For a moment he considered having cup-ramen but the idea sounded horribly unappealing that he decided to simply ignore his hunger for the moment. It was rather silly but he did manage to the point that he was perplexed for a second when someone started knocking on his door; he had been too engrossed in work and more than half an hour had already passed since his little break and internal conflict over food.

He sighed as the knocks on the door picked up a certain tempo and rhythm. There were only two people who could ever knock on his door so cheerfully and one of them had talked his ear off earlier in the morning that she had a date that night. Surely, the date could have gone wrong (in fact Aomine thought it was likely to) and if so, surely she would end up at his door for the usual venting session, but if so, her knocking surely would not be so giddy. He had not expected a booty call for the night, nevertheless the idea was attractive. Maybe they could go grab a bite before or after though. He put his laptop onto the low table he had dragged in front of him and got up to get the door, which continued to be pounded in that irritating tune till he actually opened it.

He had expected Kise to be in his usual sleek clothes and perhaps with a bottle of wine, but he had not expected Kise in a weary old hoodie, t-shirt, and dark jeans with a large plastic bag in his hand. Kise raised the bag that smelt too good and beamed at Aomine, gleeful as ever but more laidback than excited;

"You hungry?"

"Do I ever say 'no' to food? Get inside."

Kise chuckled as he made his way into the apartment. Aomine grabbed two beers from the fridge and settled on the couch near Kise who had already taken out the boxes of food and placed them on the small table.

"Fried rice?"

"Yeah, there is this little Chinese place near the club and though it's shabby they make the most delicious fried rice dishes so…"

"Smells good," Aomine took a bite from the plate put in front of him and nodded his head in approval to which Kise grinned large and toothy before starting to eat too.

His hunger finally being appeased went overboard and he gobbled up whatever was in front of him much faster than Kise who was equally engaged in blabber as he was in food. After at most ten minutes, Kise suddenly perked up and turned the TV on, going on and on about this drama series he had come to love. Aomine recognised the series and watched it absentmindedly as he finished rest of his food; Momoi had also taken a liking to this particular show which seemed to be romantic comedy mixed in with murder mystery and Aomine was not sure how they managed that particular combo in the first place. He had never been a fan of TV shows anyway, apart from having it as background noise or watching appearances of his favourite female idols.

He was convinced that when they finished eating, Kise would switch gears to his usual sultry ways, however the blond seemed to be fully absorbed in the TV while mindlessly chewing his food slowly – he had not even finished eating. Aomine decided that continuing on with his paperwork would be the best given the situation, not particularly interested in what was on TV and he still had a lot of work to finish. He continued stealing glances at Kise though as he worked; first, it was to check if the blond had finished eating and thus perhaps they could engage in something more than lazily sitting on the couch together. This did not happen as after finishing his food, Kise simply continued watching the TV. However, Aomine continued glancing at him now and then; enjoying the constant wave of emotions on Kise's beautiful face. One minute, Kise frowned and his eyes gleamed with anger, the next he smiled and his cheeks donned a pretty blush. It was nonsensical how enthralled Kise was in a stupid TV series. Yet watching the blond's face don so many different expressions so quickly and in succession, somehow entertained Aomine.

Then the episode finished and Kise simply channel surfed for a bit, went to grab some ice cream from the fridge and then plopped himself on the couch once again, this time switching to a game show and carelessly eating ice cream.

Aomine thought of making a move but he still had work to finish and he found a strange kind of calm in their situation. So he opted to focus on his task at hand and thought that perhaps he would make a pass once he wrapped up all the work he needed to for the day. About an hour later, when he was finally done and stretched languidly, he realised that Kise had long fallen asleep. He was facing Aomine, his head lying on the backrest of the couch, his long hair messed up and his face peacefully in sleep.

It was not the first time Aomine Daiki had been cockblocked by sleep. Yet, instead of frustration he felt like humoured. He felt like chuckling – though he kept himself from it, careful to not awake Kise. He stared at Kise's form for a bit, noting the way the his chest moved up and down slowly, the soft rhythm of his breathing too silent to be snoring but audible, the way his unfairly thick eyelashes fluttered ever so slightly now and then… It was a little enchanting, if he had to admit; he did not want to admit, so instead of focusing on the weird bubbling feeling surfacing in his chest, he stood up to get a thin blanket from the bedroom. He covered Kise's lithe body with it and sat down again, glaring at his laptop's shining screen. He was not sleepy and did not want to wake Kise up either, so his best option was resuming work and perhaps doing some of the reports he had planned to do the next day. This way, he would have more time to himself on Saturday and maybe they could even go out somewhere with Kise. It had been some time since they played basketball and maybe they could go to a restaurant; after a week of terribly poor diet he was craving some good food.

Thus he worked and worked and worked and two hours later, his brain shut down and eyes started rebelling, watering… He decided to call it a night and put his laptop to sleep mode after saving his documents. He nudged Kise gently and the blond stirred right away, groaning and mumbling a barely audible "What?"

"Come on, you lazyass host… It's time to go to bed."

"M' ass 's not lazy…" was the murmured reply he received as Kise reached and held on to him. He sighed but could not bring himself to kick Kise off the couch, which was his usual method whenever something similar happened with Takao or Kagami. Instead he removed his arm from Kise's grasp despite the other's protests and snaked one arm around his waist, while moving Kise's own arm around his shoulders. Then he slowly stood, taking Kise with him. The short walk to the bedroom was a pain as he endured most of Kise's weight while the blond quietly huffed and puffed. Once they were near the bed, he threw Kise rather unceremoniously on it. He thought of letting his impromptu guest sleep in whatever was on him but figured he could at least get him out of his jeans; they would for sure feel very uncomfortable. After stripping Kise's jeans away, he slipped in between the sheets near him. It was not a particularly hot night nor was it cold. Still, Kise snatched onto him the moment he lay down and for a second he believed he had been played by the cheeky host – that Kise was never asleep to begin with. He was about to get angry when he realised Kise's eyes still gracefully closed and the way he snuggled quite naturally and obviously unconsciously.

There was a soft murmur in his lips for once second there; it sounded like "'minecchi…"

Aomine blinked and wished he was not so awfully aware of the heaviness in his stomach or the tingling nerves all over his body. He closed his eyes and calmed himself down in a few seconds and then, when he opened his eyes back, he positioned Kise's body properly such that his pretty face was resting on Aomine's chest while Aomine's arm was draped around Kise's frame over his shoulders down to his waist. Aomine's left side was definitely going to hurt in the morning given how heavy Kise was… He knew. Yet the thought only brought a tiny, only half-sarcastic smile to his lips and he simply let the sleep claim him as well…