Two months later, things weren't any better at ShadowsX.

After the night Kise, Kuroko, and Mayuzumi drank together and Mayuzumi ran off, they had assumed that he'd be fine. And he was.

Mostly.

He made it home in one piece, and he counted that as being fine even if they didn't.

But they didn't really fix things since then.

Kise sighed as he sat down on the couch, cuddling with Kasamatsu who was replying to an email on his phone. "Mayuzumicchi hasn't been replying much to me. I miss him." It had been two weeks since That Day and Mayuzumi barely replied to Kise's multiple texts.

Kasamatsu put an arm around him after he finished with the email, then put his phone away. "Well, I see your side but I also see his. You guys tried to set him up with someone against his will and when it all went wrong, and then basically pinned the fault with it and Akashi on him. Good intentions and all that." He kissed Kise's forehead. Kasamatsu lifted his other hand to place it on Kise's cheek, bringing their faces close enough so Kasamatsu could kiss his lips. Kise was so thankful for how sweet Kasamatsu was being with him right now; he was so lucky.

"Akashicchi was a good guy too, Kuroko told me he went through a lot of stress with his dad and the company." Kise leaned his head down on Kasamatsu's chest and he wrapped both of his arms around his middle.

"You remember the last time you tried to help set Mayuzumi up, right?"

Kise winced. It had been back when they first met and he thought Mayuzumi was in need of some love—specifically a relationship and so he'd set him up with another model he knew, Haizaki. Mayuzumi didn't even know that's what Kise had been trying to do, but the model thought it would go well.

It didn't go well.

It went horrible, actually, and Kise thought Mayuzumi would never talk to him again. But eventually he got over it and told Kise that he appreciated the help, but he didn't need or want it at the moment so if he could please stay out of his love life. Kise had immediately agreed and instead went about giving Mayuzumi as much platonic love as he could give him—and it made Mayuzumi happy.

The tattoo artist was surprisingly receptive and reciprocated a lot of the affection Kise sent his way and it worked out well for all of them. They got matching tattoos; it worked out great. Even Kasamatsu enjoyed Mayuzumi's company and the three became really close.

And Mayuzumi looked happy, so Kise swore he'd never interfere with his friend's love life again.

Until Akashi came in and even Kise thought they'd be a good match.

Kise spent one shoot last month (after Mayuzumi ignored him for three weeks straight) crying during most of it, but instead of cancelling the shoot, the photographer was blown away by how beautiful Kise looked when he was crying, both with his eyes filling with tears and the way they slowly spilled down his cheeks, that she centered the shoot around that. Critics and fans everywhere applauded Kise's pictures because they looked so real, so full of emotion that the model was able to properly convey.

They never thought Kise actually felt as heartbroken as he looked.

Kise had shown up at Mayuzumi's apartment directly after that shoot to ask that they talk things out. Mayuzumi tried to stay angry, but he couldn't when confronted by Kise's tears and instead they spent an hour with Mayuzumi making sure Kise understood that he hadn't appreciated what happened but that they were still best friends and he hoped Kise would never do that again. Eventually in the early hours of the morning, Mayuzumi was laying down on the couch with Kise sleeping on top of him, Mayuzumi's arm wrapped around Kise's waist to keep him from falling off. The tattoo artist lightly kissed the top of Kise's head and the model just smiled in his sleep. Mayuzumi sent a picture of Kise's sleeping face to Kasamatsu who replied —I'm glad you two are alright now— along with a text saying that Mayuzumi needed to come over their house so they could hang out like before. And also so he could give him some hell for putting Kise through all that. Mayuzumi readily agreed and Kasamatsu gave him hell for a couple hours before the three of them brought out the horror movies and all got together on the couch with Mayuzumi in the middle.

Kise was later interviewed about his teary photoshoot. He just gave his best smile and said he had wanted to try something new and he appreciated his fans loving it—there was no way he'd tell them the truth, they were likely to find out Mayuzumi was the cause of that heartbreak and track him down and kill him. He had some crazy fans, he had to admit. Besides, things were good now with them.

Mostly.

Kuroko on the other hand, prepared himself for misery every time he had to go into work. He and Mayuzumi still saw each other, albeit Mayuzumi did take a few days off after That Day before coming into work.

Those steely eyes of Mayuzumi's were harsher and colder towards him than they had ever been before; they rarely even looked at him and he only talked to him when Mayuzumi absolutely needed to.

Gone were the days of playful banter, the days where sometimes Mayuzumi would go out and come back with a vanilla shake for Kuroko who'd had a long day. Gone were the days where Mayuzumi would willingly talk to Kuroko—he didn't even accept his apology. Or his lemon cupcakes. That Kuroko personally baked. Which he never did because he was terrible at baking (and cooking) but he tried so hard on these and he was so happy when they finally came out good.

And yet, Mayuzumi left the bag of lemon cupcakes with vanilla icing sit on the counter for three days before Himuro had to take them into the trash because he was worried they'd rot and scare away the customers.

Kuroko had tried not to let that affect him, but honestly he missed his friend and it didn't matter how much he tried to apologize (he and Kise spent a whole day piecing together what had happened That Day because Kuroko blacked out and forgot everything but at least they tried) he felt bad.

Akashi hadn't even talked to him in the last couple months either. This all went so wrong. He just wanted his friends to be happy together, why was that so bad? Kuroko tried reaching out, sending simple texts and even just plain emojis. He'd tried sending some memes he liked but all he was met with was radio silence.

He made sure to keep an eye out on the news too in case anything happened with Akashi's company. Nothing. Stocks were doing good, no hints of a potential coup d'état, not even hints of merging companies. No news was good news, right?

"Kuroko, you doing ok?" Himuro asked, coming by to stand beside the tattoo artist who aimlessly spun around in his chair. "You're going to puke if you keep that up."

"Good, maybe then I'll have a good enough reason to go home and avoid everything."

"If this is about Mayuzumi's love life—"

"It's not."

Himuro frowned, reaching out to stop Kuroko's chair before he flung himself off it. They were lucky they didn't have any customers right now. Mayuzumi was out on his lunch break right now, so it was just the two of them. Kuroko winced, taking in a deep breath. He slowly let it out, looking pained to admit, "I miss him." The Kuroko from a year ago would've gagged and promptly thrown himself out of a window before admitting that but it was unfortunately true.

Mayuzumi wasn't ignoring Himuro completely but that cold shoulder he was giving Kuroko everywhere except when extremely necessary at work was brutal. He'd probably be impressed if it wasn't aimed at him.

They were honestly worried that Mayuzumi would just quit and work somewhere else and they didn't want that.

"I miss Akashi too. The last time I saw him he looked dead on his feet." Kuroko shook his head. "And that's my fault too, y'know?"

He tried to spin again his chair but Himuro kept a strong grip on it. Maybe he should bring in a stationary chair that wouldn't prove to be a little self-destructive for his friends. "Mayuzumi'll come around, he sees you almost every day. Akashi will be ok too, he's about to run a company, I'm sure he's just going to sort himself out first them come back ready for a tattoo."

Kuroko leaned his head back on the chair and stared blankly at the ceiling. "I wish I had your optimism."

Himuro patted his shoulder. "Incoming Mayuzumi." And then he was gone, disappearing off to the back room right before Mayuzumi opened the door to ShadowsX, the bell never making a single sound.

Mayuzumi didn't bother looking in Kuroko's direction, merely keeping his eyes on his phone which he was tapping away on. He went to his station and ignored the way Kuroko's blue gaze felt, all heavy and sad and apologetic.

Kuroko sighed. He had a two o'clock coming in, for a serpent snaking its way up the skin's arm, and he had to get ready for it because he was still at work and had to be professional about it.

When Mayuzumi's next client came in, a cheerful redhead looking to put an owl on her thigh, Kuroko looked over at them. Mayuzumi was all smiles and sweet words as they talked about her tattoo and got her ready for it. He called her sweetheart and she blushed, giggling as he expertly drew his lines on her. The client apparently said something funny and Mayuzumi laughed, looking like everything was back to normal in that moment and Kuroko felt even more sad.

He turned around, focusing on his station and trying to keep a positive mind about his life right now.

He didn't know how long Mayuzumi could go on with this cold shoulder but Kuroko was going to have to confront him one way or another and apologize.

Mayuzumi's laugh, along with his client's, interrupted Kuroko's thoughts which caused him to finish setting up his station bitterly mere moments before the bell rang, announcing his next client.

It was a cold night. Winter was creeping in more and more and Akashi normally enjoyed it, but these days he wanted to get far away from the cold. He wrapped his red scarf a little tighter around his neck in hopes of staving off the chill air for a bit, mind wandering as he aimlessly walked around the city.

He used to enjoy coming on walks after work, either to run some errands before going back home or just to walk and see where the world took him. Today was one of the latter only he wasn't enjoying it. His thoughts were still back at work, wondering what he was doing wrong because his father was currently winning their little standoff and he didn't seem to be any closer in taking the company out from under him.

Well, that was a bit of a lie. He had some underlings—coworkers, that had expressed being on his side and after thoroughly checking them, he was sure they wouldn't betray him. He even had a recent hire, Midorima Shintaro, who was extremely competent. Along with Takao Kazunari, the new pair were a formidable team, if a little bit of a weird duo. But Akashi could work with weird because he saw the results were all going in his favor and he was so close to his goal he could feel it. And there were others. His father would lose this little game of theirs.

How terrible was it to be an Akashi and be literally gambling an entire company on a little pissing match between father and son, the current head and future heir.

It was like he was starring in his own little drama.

He wondered what his mother would think if she could see him and his father now. She probably would've put his father in his place so that it wouldn't come to this. She might've taken his side but Akashi doubted it because he remembered how sweet and kind she was to him when he was little.

He sighed, pulling his phone out to check the time. 11:55. Almost midnight. Akashi should probably just head home now, since it didn't seem like he'd get any sleep tonight either way.

He didn't even know where he was. He just hoped he didn't get himself accidentally lost on the other side of the city like what happened last year.

So he raised his gaze, in time to turn a corner, to see where he was.

When he promptly walked right into someone.

"My bad, I wasn't—oh."

That voice.

Red eyes looked up and saw Chihiro, standing there in front of him, adjusting his scarf against the chilly wind, looking at him with those blank eyes of his.

Akashi didn't know what to say.

They stared at each other, unmoving. Red locked onto silver and they stood there, just a couple feet apart. The closest they've been in months.

Chihiro looked like he wanted to take a step forward, to bring them closer, but he hesitated at the last second, taking a step back instead. He turned around to walk away without a word.

"Wait," Akashi called out, surprising himself and Chihiro.

The tattoo artist froze, not looking back at him. But he waited for Akashi to continue.

"Can…" He took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. He was the heir to Akashi Industries. He was the man who would take that company out from under his father and get back his old life. He was the man that knew exactly what kind of tattoo he wanted, he just needed to find the time to do it. He was definitely the man who could talk to the other man he still had a crush on, about why the sudden radio silence, about what they could do now, if they were still friends. If they could be something more. "Can we talk?"

The ball was in Chihiro's court now; he had to decide what to do with it. He knew that if Chihiro decided never to talk to him again, he'd be in the right and Akashi would just have to honor that decision.

Chihiro slowly turned to look back at him. He eyed him a little as the night wore on, as the cars drove by in the street, as the chilly air became more frigid, as the moon peeked out from behind the clouds high up in the sky.

"Ok. Let's talk."

Half-passed midnight found Akashi and Chihiro in a nearby Starbucks that was the only coffee place still open. They wanted some neutral ground to talk things out. The barista flirted with Chihiro when he'd ordered his drink (a simple hot chocolate though Chihiro asked if there was any cayenne pepper lying around to add to it, which surprisingly there was) and practically ignored Akashi when he took his order (a venti strawberry açai no water). Chihiro had no idea the guy was flirting with him, but he did smile at him, friendly despite the time of night. Akashi saw the guy at the counter scribble his number on Chihiro's receipt but the tattoo artist hadn't noticed, simply tossing the receipt in the trash after they got their drinks without even looking at it.

Akashi was surprised but at least the barista hadn't noticed Chihiro obliviousness.

After they got their drinks, they went to sit at a small table for two, the only patrons in the store right now.

Chihiro sipped at his hot chocolate, eyeing the man in front of him but neither saying a word.

Akashi looked like he'd seen better days. He had bags under his eyes, just barely noticeable, but they hadn't been there the last time Chihiro had seen him. Those red eyes of his had lost some of their vibrancy, the grace and powerful aura he'd carried before seemed to be barely hanging on. His suit still looked elegant and anyone could tell that he was a businessman just by looking at him but there was something off, he looked like something was weighing him down. Chihiro watched Akashi sip at the strawberry açai and thought he'd never get to sleep tonight if he finished that. All that caffeine from the green coffee extract was going to keep him going straight until morning.

There was a vulnerability at this time of night.

"How are you, Akashi?"

The redhead blinked, lifting his gaze from the table to the man before him. "I'm okay."

"Really?"

Akashi sipped more of his strawberry açai. "I've been better." He chewed on the end of his straw, something Mayuzumi didn't expect him to do. It made him look cute. He licked his lips and stared unwaveringly into silver eyes. "Chihiro, I want to apologize to you."

Chihiro didn't say anything. He took a sip of his hot chocolate.

Akashi figured Chihiro was waiting for him to continue, so he did. "I was having problems with," he took a breath and tried again, "I should've explained why I stopped coming by and stopped talking to you. You weren't at fault."

Chihiro raised a brow, waiting for him to continue.

"I was having troubles with the company, my father-" he grimaced, "-blackmailed me in order to prevent me from entering your shop, and essentially stop seeing you." Akashi unconsciously started playing with his fingers and stopped when he finally noticed. "I shouldn't have listened to him, I should've done something else but I didn't mean to just drop you like that. I miss you and Tetsuya and the store."

Chihiro sighed into his hot chocolate, eyes staring at the rim of his cup. He raised his gaze, "When you said you were going to apologize, I thought you meant about you and Kuroko trying to set me up with you."

Akashi's heart stopped for a moment, eyes widening a little. "What?"

"I'm not mad about it, not anymore. Not really." He took a sip. "But clearly there's no communication going on here because I didn't know there was some shit going in the background." He put down his hot chocolate. "You could've told me what was going on, I would've understood. You didn't have drop me out of nowhere like that."

"I'm sorry, I—"

"Let me finish?" Chihiro politely cut in, waiting for Akashi to give him the okay. Finally the redhead nodded, and Chihiro continued.

"I think you can tell that I don't have many friends, and I'm alright with that, I don't think I need them." He played with the handle on his cup, eyes lowering to it. "I was happy when I met you, you and I had a good dynamic."

Akashi's heart was breaking a little, but he let Chihiro speak.

"I thought I did something wrong when you stopped coming by, and when you stopped replying to me. I knew you were still talking to Kuroko, but you just stopped communicating with me." Chihiro looked up at him. "I assumed that you were just busy because you own a company so of course you would be and I completely understand that, we are all adults after all, but then Kuroko told me about trying to set us up. Here I thought we were friends when this whole time you two had been planning for something more. I've been giving him the cold shoulder for a couple months now and I hate it but I can't bring myself to just sweep it all under the rug. He said it was my fault you were gone. I don't have a lot of friends, Akashi, I don't like losing the few that I do have."

Akashi opened his mouth to speak but decided against it. He would let Chihiro finish, even if it hurt.

"And this isn't all his fault either. And I hate that I'm preaching about communicating while I'm doing just the opposite with him. It's hurting him but," he shook his head, "But I don't like people interfering in my love life. It makes me very uncomfortable. I don't like losing friends because of that either. And I do like you, I like you a lot, but I'm not sure I want us to be 'us,' at least not right now." Chihiro looked away from those red eyes that were going through one emotion after another and he looked so unsure about things; Akashi didn't like that uncertainty on him.

But he liked him. And Chihiro said he liked him too.

"Chihiro, I'm so sorry." He finally said, tilting his head until he caught Chihiro's eyes again, drawing them back up. "I—we, never meant for things to get like this. I really did go to your shop the first time because I was curious about getting a tattoo. And I will get one. Tetsuya didn't mean any harm—"

"I know he didn't."

"But you're right. We should've all communicated better and we didn't."

"It's ok. We live and learn. And I can't be sitting here giving you crap when I'm doing it to Kuroko."

"I should've done something or said something. I didn't expect my father to bring up this mess. Things were going so well; I was so interested in you." Those red eyes got back a little bit of the spark Chihiro remembered seeing in them. "I still am, but I will respect what you want to do, or not do."

Chihiro looked away from those scarlet eyes; his hot chocolate was almost gone at this point. "I think that's a conversation for another day. I think you have plenty on your plate without adding this serving."

"Can we go back to the way things were before?"

Chihiro took in a deep breath, slowly letting it out. He hadn't expected to have this kind of conversation tonight. He didn't even think he'd see Akashi either. He was just wandering around the city, hoping to find something to do so he could avoid sleeping. This was definitely keeping him up now. "I don't think we can."

Akashi swallowed, nodding slowly.

"I don't mean that we can't be friends anymore, this all got so serious so quickly, but dynamics change and I think ours did too." Chihiro shrugged. "I do miss you though. And it breaks my heart that I'm hurting Kuroko. I wouldn't be surprised if I tried to apologize to him now and he'd deck me. And that you're hurting because of all this."

"Are you hurting too?"

"I'll be ok."

Akashi hesitated to reach across the small table for one of Chihiro's hands which had started to fidget. Seems they had that in common. But he let himself do it, and Chihiro didn't pull his hand out from under Akashi's. "I am sorry, Chihiro. I came in and disrupted your life."

"I forgive you. I like having you in my life."

Akashi squeezed Chihiro's hand. "Thank you for accepting me back into it."

Chihiro moved his hand so that his fingers intertwined with Akashi's. "You'll talk to me again?"

"Yes. I can't promise I'll be consistent as I am in the middle of a hostile takeover against my father, but I'll try."

"And I understand that. Completely. Also, a hostile takeover?"

"Keep an eye out on the news."

Chihiro finally pulled away his hand after one last squeeze. "This was a good night. I was worried I'd drink myself stupid while bar hopping but this turned out so much better than I thought."

Akashi nodded. "I was just wandering around the city. I'm glad I got to see you." He checked his watch. "It's past two in the morning, we should probably go home."

Chihiro finished the last sip of his hot chocolate as he watched Akashi finish his strawberry açai. "You're going to be up all night because of that."

"I know. That's why I got it."

Chihiro shook his head. "Anyway, I have somewhere to go before going home."

"Tetsuya might kill you if you show up at his house unannounced at this time of night."

"He's already gonna off me for giving him the cold shoulder, why not give him another motive?"

"I hope you two patch things up."

"Me too."

They walked out of Starbucks, the barista sighing sadly after having been watching them from afar. They looked like they were in love, he thought the taller one was attractive but it seemed his heart was already with someone else. He wished them the best.

They each called a taxi and parted on friendly terms.

Akashi barely waited until he put on his seatbelt after telling the taxi driver where to go, when he pulled out his phone.

Goodnight, Chihiro, he texted.

Goodnight Akashi, Mayuzumi replied.

Mayuzumi stood outside Kuroko's apartment door, shivering. The night air at nearing three a.m. was frigid as fuck now that they were deeper in winter and that hot chocolate only kept him warm for so long.

Kuroko was probably going to kill him, if he ever decided to ring the doorbell.

Mayuzumi rung the bell.

There, he signed his death wish. This was where he met his demise.

He rung it again.

Just to make sure Kuroko would make his death quick and painless.

The door opened a few moments later, and a sleepy, angry Kuroko appeared. He looked like he was a second away from bitching out whoever was at his door but his eyes widened when he saw who it was, all anger suddenly disappearing off his face.

He stood there, behind the door, in his big t-shirt that made him look even smaller than he—wait a minute that was one of Mayuzumi's shirts he'd thought he lost like last year. He left it at Kuroko's no wonder he never found it.

"Kuro—"

He didn't even finish when Kuroko threw himself at him, hugging him tightly.

"Mayu."

Mayuzumi stood frozen for a moment before he wrapped his arms around Kuroko too, both showing a rare display of affection to each other.

"I'm sorry I never ate your lemon cupcakes, I'm sure they were delicious and I didn't deserve them and if you ever make them again I would worship the ground you walk on."

Kuroko pulled back in his hug just enough to punch him in the arm. Mayuzumi chuckled. But then Kuroko pulled Mayuzumi inside the apartment and hugged him again after he closed the door, burying his face into Mayuzumi's chest.

Both knew whatever they said right here at this moment wouldn't leave Kuroko's apartment.

"I'm sorry I didn't put your feelings into consideration. I should've known better."

"I'm sorry I ignored you for so long, I should've just talked to you."

"I'm sorry I kissed you."

"Are you?"

Kuroko punched him again. Mayuzumi only laughed again. "I'm sorry I caused you both so much trouble."

"You didn't. We can pin most of this bullshit on Akashi's dad."

"True but still."

Mayuzumi pulled back just a bit to look down at the blue bedhead. "I'm sorry I woke you up before the ass crack of dawn when I could've waited till work started in a few hours."

"No you're not."

"You're right I'm not. I thought you were going to kill me."

"I still might."

"You're wearing my shirt."

"Shut up, I missed you."

"I missed you too."

They parted slowly again, Kuroko for once looking soft and warm and those blue eyes of his looked a little watery (but that could've just been from recently waking up) and Mayuzumi watched him bite his lip and look away. "The guest bed isn't made and there's stuff all over the couch…" he trailed off and Mayuzumi smirked.

"You're trying to get me into your bed."

Kuroko punched him in the same spot on his arm again. Mayuzumi was going to have a bruise there.

Mayuzumi eventually borrowed Kuroko's biggest pajamas and joined Kuroko in bed, knowing they'd both have to get up in a few hours—Mayuzumi even earlier because he needed to go home and change clothes first.

But for now, with this one night off the record, they let themselves change their dynamic, just for tonight.

"I'll buy you all the vanilla shakes you want," Mayuzumi murmured after a yawn.

Kuroko turned over so they faced each other. He could feel sleep taking a hold of him. "You don't have to," he whispered.

"I want to. I hurt you. I'm sorry."

Kuroko, in a rare moment of shyness and affection, reached a hand out to touch Mayuzumi's. "I forgive you." He hesitated as they both started losing the fight against sleep. "We're ok?"

Mayuzumi held his hand. "We're ok."