Momoi didn't bring up the matter about the welcoming party the next day, which Kise was slightly grateful for. It wasn't until Thursday afternoon rolled around and she finally approached him in the break room, bringing up the uncomfortable subject once again, although she didn't know that. Of course he hadn't even mentioned the party to Kasamatsu yet and he never planned to.

"Ki-chan! I'm wondering if you're still bringing someone to the welcoming party tomorrow? I made reservations yesterday and made sure give him a seat, so don't forget to bring him." She said happily.

"Oh... I completely forgot about inviting him, Momoi-cchi." Kise told her, a guilty look on his face as if he was remorseful for forgetting, although he obviously wasn't .

"Really?" She pouted before adding, "Well, if it's still possible you can ask him sometime before tomorrow, maybe he doesn't have any plans yet."

Nodding, Kise promised her he would do just that, knowing that if he made up some excuse she would pester him until he at least asked Yukio.

Soon after the subject was dropped and the two of them begun to talk about some television show that was currently airing. The blonde smiled at he chatted with the girl, fondly remembering how much he missed genuinely talking with someone that didn't have any ulterior motive. Most of the people that bothered to strike a conversation with him were more interested in getting his number or getting in his pants than getting to know him.

Maybe that was why be had begun to think that relationships were overrated.

"Make sure not to forget about telling your friend Ki-chan!" Momoi said, reminding him once again, as he exited the break room. He merely nodded in response.

The rest of Kise's shift was going really well until the tell-tale ring of someone opening the front door rung and he looked up from where he was standing near the front counter. He immediately gritted his teeth as he watched the smartly dressed man walk toward the counter to make his order.

The blonde quickly grabbed the tray in front of him and headed back towards the table he was currently working. He made sure to lower his head as he walked pass the new customer, he really didn't need this now.

"Oi, Kise. You forgot this one." Aomine yelled from behind the counter as he placed another cup filled with coffee on top of it. The blonde visibly stiffened as he arrived at his table and handed out the drinks. He smiled as he fulfilled the orders and asked the group if they needed anything else. It only took a few minutes until he was back at the front counter, glaring at his new manager before he turned to greet the man that had conveniently placed himself on one of the bar stools.

"Good afternoon, Yukio." He smiled at the glaring man.

"Afternoon." He responded coldly.

"What brings you here today?" Kise fidgeted nervously, knowing fully well the man was angry at him for obvious reasons. He hadn't contacted his former captain since Sunday because he was too busy with work and since his boss had brought up the notion to invite his friend the welcoming party he had decided it was better to avoid the man altogether.

No texting, phone calls or meet ups.

The latter of the three wasn't even a regular occurrence anyway, but Kise was prone to texting people he was close with quite often. When he was in high school he would annoy his teammates to no end with his endless texts, not that he had cared back then. He had liked to keep in touch with people he saw daily, he had enjoyed being up to date on what was going on in other peoples lives and more importantly he had actually taken the effort out of his day to make friends. Nowadays there were few and far from many people that he liked to stay in touch with, however Yukio was one of them.

Which brought him back to his current dilemma.

"I was taking a coffee run." He said, holding up the paper cup in his hand.

"Hmm, I hope you enjoy it." The blonde nodded politely as he grabbed the missing cup from earlier. He didn't bother to spare another glance at Aomine, who was giving the couple a curious look as he prepared a cappuccino. "I'm sorry I've been so busy lately."

"Don't give me that bullshit, Kise." The raven said turned his body in the stool to fully face the blonde. "What have you been up to?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kise said as he turned his head to the side. "Besides, I'm working, this isn't the time."

"If you can't talk now, then tell me when you're free." The older man said menacingly.

"I wouldn't know when that is..." He said, feeling extremely uncomfortable with the whole situation.

"What about tomorrow, at seven." A gruff voice said. "Pretty boy here was probably too busy to tell you, but we've got a welcoming party for him."

"Welcoming party?" Kasamatsu echoed turning his gaze towards Aomine, who he had been eerily aware of the whole time. When he had entered the place he hadn't noticed the man until the blunette had called out to the blonde.

"Ahh, yeah, I was going to tell you about it tonight." Kise nervously explained. "I'm sure you're busy already though, you probably have plans wit-"

"Where is it?" The raven questioned, ignoring his kohei completely.

"He'll tell you." Aomine pointed to the blonde before placing another drink onto Kise's tray. "After he gets back to work of course."

"He better." Came the demanding response before Kasamatsu shot another look at Kise and promptly exited the establishment.

A few seconds later the blonde let the weight of his body lean against one of the stools as he recomposed himself.

"So tell me..." Aomine spoke again as he continued to work on the next order, this time it was a mocha. The two of them were far enough away from the rest of the employees and patrons that allowed their conversation to be private, well for the most part. "Why didn't you give your boyfriend the heads up about your party?"

"I thought you'd be happy to show off your arm candy." The blunette said rudely. It was almost like an underhanded complement, considering the man had praised Kasamatsu for his good looks, but said it in such a way that obviously indicated that was all the man was good for.

"And I thought you'd grow up a little and move on from your petty grudges." Kise shot back, livid at the fact Aomine had dragged Yukio into this stupid game.

"I told you, I'd make your life a living hell." Aomine leaned forward enough to look down ever so slightly into Kise's amber eyes. Their height difference was almost unnoticeable, unless they were standing next to one another, but Aomine took it to his advantage. "I plan on keeping true to my word."

The blonde pulled back immediately as he realized the close proximity and instead of responding to the threat, he simply grabbed the tray that was now filled with orders, and headed back to his tables. There was no point in convincing Aomine of anything, it was a waste of time.

The blunette straightened himself up as he got back to work as well. Suddenly, he was way more excited for the party tomorrow, it would be interesting to say the least.

Kise fixed the cuff of his dress shirt as he looked at himself in the stand-up mirror. He was dressed in semi-formal attire which looked surprisingly good on him, but truthfully he looked good in almost anything he put on. Not that he was being conceited or anything, he was just aware of attractive things, or people.

"You ready?" He heard a voice call from the bathroom. "We're not going to be late because you can't stop looking at yourself." The raven said leaning on the doorframe that connected the bathroom to the bedroom.

"I'm ready!" Kise informed him defensively.

"You sure?" Kasamatsu questioned with a teasing look. "'Cause you don't look very good, well for your standards."

"Yukio, we both know that I look absolutely ravishing." He said, sticking out his tongue.

"Hmm, are you going to call me that all night?" He asked walking forward towards the mirror to take a look at himself. He was dressed in dark jeans and a simple blue button up shirt that allowed him to show of the strong muscles underneath. Although, there was no real reason to show off anything to anyone tonight.

"Yes." He said. "I will, and you should be too." The blonde warned the man.

"I should what? Call you by your first name?" Kasamatsu questioned as he stepped closer to his former underclassman. He was happy that the blonde had eventually caved in and invited him to the outing tonight. For whatever reason Kise was avoiding him all week, and although he hadn't been able to figure out the reason why, tonight posed as a good opportunity to get caught up in what was going on in the man's life.

"Try it... unless you don't wan- I mean unless you're uncomfortable with it." Kise mumbled. "I know I've been teasing you since we graduated high school about calling me Ryouta but-"

"I'm fine with it." Yukio interrupted, knowing the blonde was going to ramble on senselessly if he didn't stop him. "It's not the first time I've done it."

"But why haven't you ever tried? I mean it's not like we're strangers." He questioned. "Plus I call you by your first name all the time. Do you not like it?"

"Where did you get that idea from? Idiot, just because I don't refer to you as Ryouta doesn't mean I'm uncomfortable with you calling me Yukio." He furrowed his eyebrows as he hit the blonde on head lightly.

"Ouch, that hurt." Kise said, rubbing the spot on his scalp before he fixed his hair again.

"Good." Came the immediate rebuttal.

"Why're you asking anyway?"

"'Was just curious is all." Kise responded.

He knew that tonight would be very hard to get through, but there was no point in sulking about it now, the best he could do was have some fun while he was at it. Aomine had gotten him into this situation in the first place and although he was aware that he could've refused to text his former upperclassman the address to the restaurant, Kise knew that he was already in hot water when it came to the raven. He had been avoiding his closest friend for almost the whole week, and although the raven had been patient enough to give him some space the first couple of days, the man had grown irritated as half a week passed by.

Once Wednesday had rolled around Kise had gotten a few text messages from the raven indicating that he was not too happy about the sudden silence between the two of them.

[Kasamatsu]: Oi, are you okay?

[Kasamatsu]: Answer me when you see this idiot.

[Kasamatsu]: I know you're reading these messages Kise. Fucking answer, stupid.

The blonde decided after the fifth message it would be best to just respond to Kasamatsu, which turned out to be the wrong decision. See, the thing was, Yukio wanted answers as to why Kise had been avoiding his messages and the few phone calls he had made throughout the week. Sadly, the blonde didn't really have answers or an explanation as to why he was so distant all of a sudden.

It wasn't because his little secret had gotten out and he was trying to come to terms with his best friend knowing he liked men rather than women. No, Kise had gotten over that after Sunday when he saw the way the raven treated him like he always had, like he was still the same idiot he met back in high school. What he was worried about was the mixed feelings he had developed for his current boss.

Well... if he could call them feelings. That seemed too intimate, which although the two of them had been intimate in the past, that wasn't what he had in mind when he referred to those feelings. They were more unsettling than anything. Like he enjoyed the watchful eyes of Aomine even if it was provided with a glare and frown. It was as if he knew that this wouldn't go anywhere, in anyway, but he was interested in the man nonetheless.

The feelings, when Kise took a step back to look at them, felt superficial and pointless. He was interested, or intrigued, by the man because he liked playing with something, someone, he could never have. Like a priceless piece of art, he could look at Aomine, even touch him if he wanted too, but he would never have him.

It's not like he wanted to either way. Not when his heart was still fragile from the news he had received on Saturday, not when just last week he was still, probably still is, in love with his best friend. But as Kise recalled the misfortures he had in the past month, it seemed like Aomine was always there to make him forget about them. In the alleyway after he had lost his job, or in the bathroom after he lost the love of his life, Aomine was a good distraction to say the least.

Maybe that's why he didn't completely hate the man. As much as he should, he didn't. But then again, Aomine always had tonight to make him think otherwise.

With that in mind, the blonde grabbed his wallet and stuck it into the back pocket of his jeans before he informed Yukio he was ready to go. The raven was the one that had driven over to his apartment, insisting that he gave Kise a ride because if the blonde wasn't sober at the end of the night, Yukio would be the one dragging his ass back to his apartment. Kise had merely rolled his eyes at the accusation, telling himself that he was not getting drunk with his coworkers, or his boss.

Not when there were too many things that could go wrong if he did.

The two former classmates pulled up to the quaint establishment and Kasamatsu settled them into a parking space near the front. Both men soon exited the vehicle and entered the traditional Japanese styled restaurant, Kise telling the host what name the reservations were under, before a waiter directed them to their table.

The place was relatively busy, considering it was a Friday night and Kise wondered just how many people Momoi had been catering for. His question was answered when they rounded the corner to be directed into what looked like a private room. There were mats placed down to indicate where everyone should sit and the table was low to the ground.

Surprisingly, they were the last ones to arrive, if the two empty stops near the head of the table indicated anything. Kise rose an eyebrow at this as he was let into the room by the waiter, Yukio following shortly behind.

"Welcome! I'm glad you could make it Ki-chan!" Momoi cheered happily for her position at the head of the table.

"Thank you, Momoi-cchi." Kise smiled as he was greeted with a wave of welcomes. Most of the employees had brought someone or another and although he didn't know them he still smiled as he was greeted. "I didn't think everyone would be here already. Did I get the times wrong?"

"Oh, no. I told everyone to come at six thirty." She informed him as he took his seat next to her. "I wanted to surprise you with everyone. Besides, it is your party, you shouldn't be waiting for everyone to show up."

The blonde smiled fondly at the girl before turning to his side to check up on his former upperclassman. Kasamatsu was seated next to Sakurai who was currently talking to Imayoshi on his left side. There were a few unfamiliar faces, but for the most part Kise knew everyone. He was slightly surprised to see Aomine hadn't even bothered to strike a conversation with him as he settled himself in. Instead the man busied himself with Kuroko who seemed more interested in the meat that was being grilled in front of him, rather than the conversation he was having.

He wondered if those two were always like this outside of work, but then unpleasant memories came back and his question was soon answered.

"Why don't I introduce you to everyone." The beautiful girl started. She begun on the side Kise wasn't seated on, which was the right, and made her way down the line. Next to her, directly in front of Kise, was Aomine, then Kuroko. On the other side of the quiet blunette was a surprisingly familiar face, and he paused as the man looked up from the phone in his hand. He was dressed in a fitted suit, from what Kise could gather, and wore a stoic expression on his face. That is until he noticed the blonde and rose a curious eyebrow upon seeing him.

"Ryouta." The red-head said. "Long time no see."

The majority of the table turned their attention from the conversations they were having, to the blonde who looked almost shocked at the statement.

"Too long." He eventually said, "Akashi-cchi."

He ignored the look he was getting from the man in front of him and instead answered the question Momoi had blurted out the moment she realized they two knew each other.

"Oh, you're already acquainted with one another?" She asked, just as curious as everyone else at the table as to how the knew one another.

"Yes, Ryouta and I have known each other for sometime." The man said, not bothered by the eyes directed at him. Two pairs in particular that didn't seem too happy with the familiar manner in which the red-head referred to Kise.

"And how exactly did that happen?" Kasamatsu spoke up from next to the blonde.

"When he was a model, I happened to meet him at a board meeting." Akashi explained, many of the people at the table surprised to hear the blondes former career, but in hind sight it should've been expected given his looks.

"At the time, I was merely an executive but Ryouta and I kept in contact throughout his career." He explained and Aomine noted the way Akashi referred to a high ranking position as one would refer to a job at a fast food place. "It was shame he quit, considering he was quite good at it."

"We both know I had my reasons, Akashi-cchi." Kise chimed in before the man could say anything else, but the blonde knew that if Akashi wanted to he could reveal whatever he wished and Kise would have no say in it. After all, there no way he could defy the man.

"That you did."

The conversation went elsewhere after that, Momoi soon continued with the introductions. Wakamatsu Kousuke was seated across from Imayoshi, next to the red-head, apparently Momoi had invited him and lastly Yoshinora Susa was seated at the end of the table, his invitation was from Imayoshi.

Kise had deduced that Kuroko was the one that had most likely invited Akashi after the introductions were over, and he wondered how the two knew each other, but decided there was no point in questioning it now. Instead he took the liberty to introduce his best friend, making sure he presented him as just that, a friend.

The night after that continued on without much problem. Small talk was scattered throughout the table, and Kise smiled as he begun to feel just a little bit more comfortable with the atmosphere. It must've been because Aomine was more interested in talking with anyone but him, not that Kise minded. He had been able to catch up with Yukio about their weeks and talk with Momoi about what it had been like to be a model. Not so surprisingly the girl was very much interested in his former career and he was happy to talk to her about it.

It wasn't like he hated modeling. He quit the job for one particular reason, and besides Akashi, who had been their to help him, he hadn't really told anyone about it. He never planned to either.

As the night drowned on, Momoi insisted to sit between Aomine and Kuroko, in order to be closer to the shorter boy, although she didn't say that out loud. Instead she pushed her best friend out of his seat next to Kuroko and into her seat. Kise ignored sudden change and instead he turned his attention back towards the raven beside him. Apparently Imayoshi and Kasamatsu had both been captains of their basketball teams back in high school and the two decided it would be better if Kasamatsu switched seats with Sakurai to have a better conversation with the bespectacled male.

The blonde was happy his best friend was making friends, but sadly with that action, he was now stuck talking to either Sakurai who seemed nervous all the time, and Aomine , who he would much rather avoid. At least for tonight.

"Oi, Ryou." Came the husky voice next to him, and the blonde visibly stiffened at the name.

Was Aomine calling him by his firs-

"Y-yes." The brown haired boy next to him stuttered as he turned his attention to his boss.

A wave of embarrassment washed over the blonde at the misconception and all of a sudden he was much more interested in the meat grilling in front of him rather than the people around him.

"Make me some food." Aomine demanded.

"R-right away." The innocent looking man said as he begun to place the uncooked meat onto the grill. Kise frowned at the action.

"Don't order him around." He said as he finally made eye contact with the taller man. "We're not at work."

"And you don't know what kind of relationship I have with him." Aomine stated. "Switch seats with him, I'm sure you'd much rather be next to your friend again, right?"

The conversation went unheard by everyone other than Kise, which was quite surprising since Aomine seemed quite hostile towards him. The former model immediately got up from his position, making a gesturing motion with his hands for Sakurai to slide into his now empty seat, so he could take the brunettes old seat.

"Happy now?" He asked, as he settled himself in.

"Very." Aomine said as he leaned to his left to slight an arm around his employee and take a piece of meat that was being held in the boys chopsticks.

Kise ignored the unsettling feeling he got as he watched the odd closeness between the two of them and instead he struck a conversation with Kuroko who was trying his best not to eat the piece of vegetable Momoi had just cooked for him.

This night would be longer than he expected, that much was for sure. Kise thought. He just hoped it wouldn't be one he regretted.

A/N: Hope you liked the chapter, feel free to leave a review on what you thought about it. As for the relationships at the moment, I hope you guys know that although I love AoKise, I also don't want things to be unrealistic. Relationships are slow, and as much as I'd love to preserve both of them to fall in love with one another without dating, or sleeping, with anyone else, that's obviously not going to be the case. I just can't imagine seeing Aomine wake up one day and suddenly fall for one person.

So with that being said, please bear with the content about both Aomine and Kise with other people. I'm trying to make this real, not a love story. Just keep that in mind.

Anyway, I love you guys and hope you stick with me until the next chapter!