Nakamura had been watching an American show online when Kuroko returned.

"Ah, Kuroko-san! I thought you'd never come back," he teased, approaching the other male who had been in the middle of taking his shoes off. The latter had kept his head bowed down as he untied his shoelaces with the wrinkled brown paper bag sitting next to him, as silent as the male who was crouched next to it. "Let me help you wi-"

Hiccup.

"...Kuroko-san?" The younger male knelt before him, worry plastered onto his face. "Kuroko-san, was it-? I'm so, so sorry. I shouldn't have let Akashi-san know, shouldn't I? I made such a foolish mistake-"

"It's okay," He managed to breathe out, raising a sleeved arm to wipe the tears escaping from his eyes. "Akashi-kun is your superior; you should listen to him."

The two of them stood up with the younger, brown-haired male holding the bag as he led Kuroko into his new room. Although the latter insisted that he couldn't leave his new housemate to eat on his own on their first day of living together, the Japanese-American only shook his head in response. "Please don't force yourself to do anything. If you want, we can just have our celebration dinner tomorrow," he offered. "Besides, I have somewhere to go tonight. If you want to give Kise-san or someone a call to come over so you won't be alone later, though, then by all means, Kuroko-san, don't hold yourself back."

"Nakamura-kun, you're starting to sound like an actual counsellor. Perhaps I'm a good use for therapist training," Blue orbs smiled kindly as Kuroko offered a joke to relieve the other from his tension. "The amount of comfort that you bring whenever I'm troubled is truly immeasurable, you know. So please know that I really appreciate it."

"It's the least I can do... as a friend, Kuroko-san."

Search: symptoms of a heart attack

Wrapped up in his white comforter to avoid the cold in his room, Kuroko flicked his thumb up his wet phone screen as his other hand clutched at his shirt. The bright page illuminated his face and dark room as it loaded.

Signs of a Heart Attack:

Chest discomfort or pain This discomfort or pain can feel like a tight ache, pressure, fullness or squeezing in your chest lasting more than a few minutes. This discomfort may come and go.

Check. He frowned, recalling that he had been feeling a tight swelling in his heart since he started walking back home from Maji Burger.

Upper body pain Pain or discomfort may spread beyond your chest to your shoulders, arms, back, neck, teeth or jaw. You may have upper body pain with no chest discomfort.

Kind of? No, not really.

Stomach pain: Pain may extend downward into your abdominal area and may feel like heartburn.

Yes, but only because I've been hiccuping from crying.

Shortness of breath: You may pant for breath or try to take in deep breaths. This often occurs before you develop chest discomfort, or you may not experience any chest discomfort.

Yes, but- I only felt that from crying, too.

Anxiety: You may feel a sense of doom or feel as if you're having a panic attack for no apparent reason.

...not really.

Only one of the signs that he had read so far applied to him wholly - which, in fact, he was thankful for, but what could be the cause of this tightness in his chest?

"Hm. It seems to me that you're showing signs of stress. Well, depression would be a better word," Midorima corrected himself, "but I can't confirm that as of now. Is something going on?"

"I... yes, but it's not a big deal. It's probably only because I only had a vanilla shake toda-"

"You know that isn't enough. Especially for someone who tends to be rather weak like you," He put bluntly. "I don't mean for it to sound rude, but you need to take care of yourself. I mean, not that I'm concerned or anything. Just that the professors enforced that during the time that I was still in med school," the doctor remarked, clearing his throat. "Plus, it's common sense, you know. You're not stupid; even I know that."

Kuroko didn't make any sounds for a while. No affirmations, no disagreements.

"'If there's something going on,'" the blue haired male recited to Kise over the phone, "'then tell someone, because that tightness in your chest is actually quite the warning.' That's what Midorima-kun told me before he had to leave. And so..." Kuroko balled his fist over his lap to fight the tears pushing to escape from his eyes, "I came to a conclusion that it would be best to tell someone that I trust."

"Kurokocchi..."

"You are one of them Kise-kun." There was a moment of hesitation before he continued. "If you think that this will be too much of a burden to you, though, I can always-"

"No! No. I want to listen. I'm here for you, Kurokocchi. I've just been waiting for you to open up to me this whole time." The voice on the other end of the line stay silent, with the occasional sniff and hiccup. "So tell me, what's been on your mind?"

The male was in awe. For someone who was affiliated with the group that he so unfortunately agreed to work for about eight years ago, the person that he was going to meet sure had quite an unbelievable amount of confidence in himself. The location of the meeting place was well-lit, well-populated, and well-equipped with the stores of brands that he was sure both the American and Japanese upper classes would enjoy themselves in.

But who was he to judge, when this person had earned his riches and managed his people singlehandedly?

Then again, this big-shot businessman was not deserving of his money. Nakamura sat still in his car, contemplating, taking deep breaths. He was not prepared with anything; only with the words that he had learned since he was able to speak. And only the reliance on his assumption and wisp of hope that this multi-millionaire, director of Japan's most-wanted human trafficking...

...would still have feelings, in spite of all that he had done.

I've been considering having my works(the new and old) read over and edited, so if you're someone who'd be willing to put up with my grammatical errors and super-late updates, feel free to let me know if you're interested by commenting or shooting me a message through my Tumblr ask! The link to it should be in my bio :-) Hope you're having a great day!