Aomine's mood took an extreme nosedive in the days after Ren went to London. He started skipping practices again, and skipping classes, and just lying on the school roof until Satsuki came and told him it was time to go home.

Satsuki also told him that what he was doing was unhealthy, and then Ren-chan would be incredibly disappointed, and Aomine just told her to shut up, because he knew Ren would be disappointed, but it was Ren's fucking fault for leaving him.

And he also knew how childish he was being, because of course Ren would want to see his family, and he didn't break up with him or anything. And it was Ren that called him every single day, and told him about what he did that day, and how he missed Aomine so much it was killing him.

And Aomine just listened to Ren, murmuring in agreement that he missed Ren as well, and that he loved him.

Aomine felt that something fishy was going on, when he asked Ren how his family was doing, and the boy let it slip that he wasn't seeing them much, before immediately covering up what he said. Which Aomine found odd, because, wasn't Ren there to visit his family? But he decided not to pry, because if it was important, Ren would have told him already.

The Inter High was also slowly coming to the final games. His next game was against Kaijou. Against Kise. For the first time since Ren had gone to London, Aomine's mood was slightly elevated. It was always fun playing against Kise, and he could always go all out.

Then his mood plummeted again, because he wished Ren was there to see his game with Kise, because it would have been a good game compared to the trash he was usually forced to play.


"I beat Kaijou today," Aomine informed Ren on the phone.

"That's amazing! I wish I could have seen the game," Ren murmured wistfully. "Maybe someone taped it, and I can watch it later."

"How much longer until you come back?" he asked. Aomine was hoping, praying, that Ren's trip would be shortened and he'd come back faster than he had said he would.

"Just a month more, Daiki. My flight lands in Tokyo on the 21st of July around two in the afternoon. If you're not busy, could you come get me from the airport?"

"Busy?" Aomine scoffed. "I have such a lack of things to do that I'm going to waste away slowly. I'll talk to you tomorrow, alright?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too. So much."

Aomine hung up the phone and fell back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He picked up his phone and dialed Kuroko's number.

"Yes, Aomine-kun?" came the reply of his soft-spoken friend.

"Wanna hang out tomorrow, Tetsu?"

"I'd like that. Can Kagami-kun come along?"

"The more the merrier, really. Maybe we can all play basketball. I'll ask Kise, too."

He heard, yes heard, Kuroko smile. "It'll be fun to hang out with Aomine-kun and Kise-kun again."


So it became almost a daily thing during the summer, on the days where none of them had practices or games. Aomine, Kise, Kagami and Kuroko, or some combination of the four, depending on who was busy that particular day and who wasn't, would go out to eat and then play street basketball until the sun went down.

Aomine's nighttime conversations with Ren had become more animated, the latter was extremely glad that Aomine was having fun.

"Maybe I can hang out with you and your friends when I get back."

"What do you mean, maybe? You're going to. I talk about you so much, that they're all dying to meet you. Especially Kise. He's started calling you Satocchi and he still hasn't met you," Aomine said, laughing.

"I'm honoured. Tell Kise-san I want to meet him properly, too," Ren said, happier than he had been during his entire vacation.

And so the remainder of the days until Ren's return flew by, and Aomine was waiting at the arrivals area of the airport, staring intently at the doors. Ren's flight had landed about half an hour previously.

His concentration was interrupted for a brief moment when heard a crash a few feet away from him, and an oh so familiar voice exclaiming sorry over and over again.

His view of the person was blocked by the woman who he had apparently knocked down, and was now helping her with her belongings. And when the woman finally moved, Aomine's mouth fell open, and he felt as if his eyes were about to bulge out of their sockets.

Because there, brushing himself off as he stood up, was Ren. He was wearing black skinny jeans that hugged his waist perfectly, and Aomine's Touou jersey that he had received for his birthday. His hair was tied back in his perfect ponytail, and a grey hoodie was loosely tied around his waist.

Aomine was staring. He couldn't stop. There was his boyfriend, his Ren. And he was walking towards the waiting area, where Aomine was supposed to be. Shaking his head, he somehow managed to croak out Ren's name, causing the boy to turn around, his face morphing into the widest grin Aomine had ever seen on anyone.

"Daiki!" he exclaimed, as Aomine ran towards him.

"The jersey, it looks good on you," he whispered, touching Ren's cheek.

Ren just took Aomine's face in his hands and kissed him with a furious sort of passion. "I missed you," he said quietly, panting.

Aomine just looked at him. "You look amazing. Like shit, I might get a boner in the middle of the airport kind of amazing." He clapped his hand over his mouth as he realized that he was speaking his thoughts aloud.

Ren laughed, the beautiful sound ringing in Aomine's ears. "That's my line," he said, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

"That aside, you're horrible. How could you keep this from me?" Aomine demanded, crossing his arms in a childish way.

Ren pecked Aomine's lips. "I wanted it to be a surprise. Now we can go on proper dates, and hold hands and stuff. And I can play one-on-one with Daiki. The reason I took an extra month in London was because I specifically asked for prostheses that I could run in, and play basketball in. So getting used to them took longer," Ren explained. "I'm sorry for not telling you Daiki, but it was covered by my parents' insurance in London…and it's so expensive otherwise. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. You understand…right?"

"I was just playing around, stupid," Aomine said gruffly. "And don't think our relationship will be any more proper now. It's just as proper now as it was when you were in a wheelchair."

Ren slipped his hand into Aomine's. "But now I can walk alongside you. And I can give you surprise kisses, because I won't have to ask you to bend down anymore," he said cheerfully, kissing his boyfriend's cheek.

"Hey. I'm really happy, you know? Seeing you…like this. Seeing you so happy. Shit, I'm crying," Aomine muttered, roughly wiping away the few tears that escaped. "You're still shorter than me though. I'm glad you're not eight feet tall."

"You're less than 20cm taller than me," Ren pouted, puffing out his cheeks. He gently, wiped away the remainder of Aomine's tears with his thumbs. "So, are you free for the rest of the day?"

Aomine squeezed Ren's hand. "I'm afraid not. I have a lot of catching up to do with my boyfriend. He just got back from vacation, you know?" he said, grinning.


Guys. GUYS. I think I died a little inside writing this chapter because of FEELS. And because I wanted to write this chapter since I started the fic. I FINALLY GOT TO WRITE IT. And now my brain is teeming with a tenfold amount of ideas someone stop me. - sarah