Warnings: AU. KagaKise, AoKise.


Something is definitely bothering Ryouta, Seijuurou remarks at breakfast when the blond drops his toast for the third time and doesn't even seem to notice. Tetsuya glances at his older twin, silently pleading for help.

Seijuurou nods. Seeing Ryouta like this is unsightly.

"Ryouta." His voice isn't loud but Ryouta startles so bad he nearly falls off his chair. Seijuurou waits until he has the blond's eyes on himself before he continues. "Did Kagami do something?"

Ah. That must be it. Ryouta goes pale and then blushes furiously, trying to avoid having to answer by taking a bite of his toast – only to notice it isn't there anymore. "O-oh, I dropped it…"

As Ryouta dives under the table to recover his breakfast, Seijuurou turns to Tetsuya with a frown. "We need to talk to Kagami," he says quietly. "Ryouta is obviously shaken by whatever happened."

Tetsuya nods. Kagami needs to be interrogated.

That damn bastard is going to regret the day he was born if he has done anything to hurt Ryouta.


"Takaocchi, help!"

Takao holds the phone away from his ear and only once he's sure the blond won't attempt to make him deaf does he bring it closer again. "I sure hope it's nothing about the guys we saw yesterday."

"Eh? No, it's not…" Kise sounds extremely troubled. Takao frowns.

"Come on, just tell me already."

"…um. Yesterday, I told Kagamicchi about… about what happened with senpai. And stuff happened, I don't remember exactly how, but he k-kissed me." Kise's not even breathing properly anymore, his words coming out all strangled and muffled.

Takao's eyes go wide and he can't help but feel happy for his friend. So much so that he can feel a really stupid smile spreading on his face. "Kagami kissed you? Seriously?!"

"…" The lack of response from the blond quickly wipes away Takao's grin.

"…are you okay?"

"I don't know… I mean, I like him a lot… but he didn't really say anything afterwards, he just kinda ran out. And then there's Aominecchi." Kise closes his eyes. "What do you think I should do?"

"Wait, what about Aomine?" Silence. Takao inhales slowly as he tries to not burst into laughter. "Seriously? You seriously like them both?"

"…I'm sorry." Kise sounds almost hurt and Takao stops smiling. Sometimes talking with Kise is like taking a walk on a mine field.

"Nononono, I didn't mean it like that! It's just… well, don't you think that liking two people at the same time is kinda weird? I mean, it's okay if it's just a small crush but you like them both a lot, right?"

"It's not gonna work out with either of them anyway so who cares," Kise mutters bitterly and Takao's heart breaks a little. He wishes he could make the blond see how lovable he is, how there are plenty of people who would kill to be able to date him, and unless Takao's not completely mistaken, the chances of at least Kagami returning Kise's feelings are high. And not just because of the kiss; Takao's had his suspicions earlier as well.

But Kise would probably just laugh at him because in his eyes, it's impossible for someone to like him.

(Takao really wants to punch Kise's middle school 'friends' for breaking the blond so badly.)

Having Kise fall for Aomine and/or Kagami was kind of inevitable, Takao thinks: they're the first people who have actually put effort into making friends with Kise and not given up after noticing the blond likes to keep his distance. And being the good friend he is, Takao has of course being rooting for Kise's feelings to become reciprocated just so that the blond could believe that there's nothing wrong with being in love with a man and having that man love you back.

Still, if either of those two dares to break Kise's heart or hurt him, be it willingly or not, Takao will not hesitate to kill them. And he's pretty sure that Kise's brothers would gladly give him a hand.

And the fact that there are at least three people who care enough about Kise to be willing to inflict bodily harm on someone should that someone treat Kise badly should be enough proof that Kise is indeed not unlovable.


Kagami wakes up earlier than Aomine and Momoi and still feels like shit.

Usually when he's troubled about something, going for a jog helps him clear his mind. This time, however, he comes back after half an hour, feeling just as bad as he did when he left.

The scene from last night keeps replaying in his head as an endless loop until Kagami's going insane. He feels guilty, yes, but he also feels regret for not staying, for not kissing Kise again, pushing him into the wall, touching him, kissing him all over, fucking him –

Oh god. Kagami squeezes his eyes shut and tries to stop thinking.

Of course that just makes him think harder.

And then he realises he's getting hard and just what the fuck is wrong with him? After hearing what kind of shit Kise has had to go through, shouldn't he try to support the blond as a friend, not desire him twice as much as before?

What the hell am I supposed to do..?

"About what?" Kagami jumps about two metres into air when Momoi suddenly answers to the question he had posed to himself – apparently he did it out loud.

"U-uh, it's nothing." Momoi doesn't even know Kise, right? So telling her would be confusing.

"…okay." Momoi takes a seat and watches as Kagami goes about preparing breakfast. She looks a lot better than the night before, and Kagami hopes she also feels better. Not everyone needs to be tormented like he currently is.

"Dai-chan told me you've made friends with Kise Ryouta, the ex-model." Kagami actually drops a plate upon hearing that and Momoi startles.

"Wow, be careful, Kagamin!"

"Sorry!" As Kagami kneels to gather the shards, he notices his hand is shaking. Fuck. If only hearing Kise's name causes him to react like this, how will he ever be able to actually face the guy again?

"I used to be a huge fan of his when I was in middle school." Momoi sighs dreamily. "I mean, he's the same age as us, right, and yet he looked so mature, nothing like the boys in my school. I guess I had a bit of a crush on him. I even wrote him fan mail once but he never replied so I never tried again. And then when he suddenly quit, I was heartbroken." She blabbers on and on while Kagami crouches on the floor, trying to get his heartbeat under control again, and he can't help wondering why on earth she had to choose to talk about Kise of all the topics she could've picked.

"It's a small word, huh. To think that Dai-chan would make friends with an ex-idol of mine." Momoi shifts a little to glance at Kagami. "Aren't you gonna get up?"

"I just need to get all the shards so no one steps on them..." Kagami trails off lamely and really hopes Momoi would ignore his weird behaviour. She does.

"The part that surprised me the most, though, was that Dai-chan actually admitted to having a crush on Kise-kun. He's always been so into women that I never saw it coming." Momoi looks at Kagami with an amused smile. "So do you think I could meet him someday? I already know he's good-looking but I'd love to see what he's like when you're talking to him. Plus he did quit modelling quite some time ago so he's probably a lot more mature nowadays. He has to be something to make someone like Dai-chan fall for him, ne?"

That's it, Kagami can't handle this conversation right now. He drops the shards of the broken plate into the sink, not even realising there's a cut on his hand, and avoids Momoi's curious gaze as he says, "I, uh, don't really know about that. Kise's cool, I guess, but…" he trails off after realising he has absolutely no idea how to end that sentence. Because he does understand what Aomine sees in Kise.

(Way better than he'd like to.)

Momoi's smile widens. "Hmmm… sounds like Kagamin likes Kise-kun a lot too."

"Wh-what?" He doesn't even try to deny it, he just stares at Momoi like she's suddenly become an alien. Which is quite possible since she seems to have read Kagami's thoughts. How did she figure that out? He didn't even say anything!

Momoi bursts into laughter. "Aww you're so cute Kagamin! I was just teasing you, calm down."

"…what?"

"Why are you two being so loud so early?"

"Morning Dai-chan! We were just talking about Kise-kun." Momoi smiles innocently but Kagami is sure she actually read through him just now and now knows that he and Aomine both have feelings for Kise.

Great, now she'll tease them both forever. And if she ever actually gets to meet Kise… Kagami shudders. Damn Kise and his charms. Sometimes Kagami really wishes he hadn't made that stupid bet.


It's nice that Aomine's such a caring friend and all but right now it rather pisses Kagami off. Momoi doesn't seem to be in a hurry to leave, and of course Kagami feels sorry for her and all, but he also needs to talk to Aomine.

"Let's do one-on-one," Aomine suggests, Momoi agrees and Kagami is dragged along more or less forcibly. In other words, still no chance to talk to Aomine.

The game distracts Kagami enough; he doesn't think about Kise or even realise he hasn't checked his phone even once during the day until after they're home again and he's about to go to sleep. But even then he's not really worried about that.

Because he has class with Kise the next day. And he hasn't told Aomine about the kiss.

Kagami shuts his eyes and tries to breathe. Okay, it's not that bad. Maybe he'll sort out the situation with Kise first and then talk to Aomine. It's not like Aomine's going to die if he has to wait one day more; what you don't know can't hurt you, right?

The thing is, Kagami knows about the kiss and it definitely hurts him that he still hasn't told his best friend about it. And yet he's too tired to get up and go to Aomine's room now that they're finally alone.

…okay, maybe he's scared of how the guy might react, too.

Right, he should probably check his phone before going to sleep. Yawning, Kagami reaches for the device and unlocks it. Three unread messages? Now that's weird, who could've missed him that much? Kagami rolls on his stomach to read the messages. Which, he realises with slight horror, are all from Kise.

First message, at 11.23: Hey Kagamicchi, are you free today? I think we should meet and talk about yesterday.

The second one, at 11.51: Did you see my previous message? Or are you busy? Sorry to bother you x_x

And the third one, at 13.46: Will you please call when you have the time? We need to talk.

Fuck.

Kagami inhales deeply. Kise's probably been anxious the whole day, confused about the kiss, while he's been lazing around with Momoi and Aomine, thinking that it's okay if he doesn't talk to Kise?

Ah, now Kagami wants to die.

But he can still try to salvage the situation by calling Kise right now. Yes, a brilliant idea. Except that would mean actually talking to Kise.

"…fucking Kise..."


A/N: I've been reading a lot to improve my writing but the more I read, the more I start to think that my stories suck ahahahaha or this chapter does at least /throws self into a volcano

Yeeeeah. Anyway, thank you for reading and all the support! Updates will be slow-ish this spring as I've got to apply to uni and such. But I'll try to get as much writing done as I can, I love my ot3 too much to ignore this story ;u;

(also if you spot any mistakes, feel free to tell me. I should probably get a beta at some point but shhh :'D