A/N: So I wasn't planning on an OC, but it happened. Sorry?

Chapter Eleven:

Aomine was beyond nervous. He had not expected that he would need to explain her, nor had he expected her to re-enter his life. Think quickly, Aomine! Think quickly! A thin sheen of sweat was glistening on his forehead under the fluorescent lamplight, and Aomine didn't know what to do. Their breakfast of pancakes and sausage was undoubtedly cold by now; what a waste. Kuroko simply stood there, hands folded across his chest, patiently and stoically waiting for Aomine's explanation. And all Aomine could do was try to decide if he was going to tell the truth or try to get out of it for at least a couple of hours.

". . . Do you wanna eat breakfast now?"

". . . No."

" . . . Do you wanna watch a movie?"

"No."

Aomine was getting nervous; Kuroko's foot was beginning to tap his foot impatiently. It didn't look like there was any way that Aomine was going to be able to distract Kuroko from the events that had happened. " . . . Do you wanna—"

"No!" Kuroko shouted, his eyes flaring in a flash of frustration, "How many times are you going to ignore the problem before you realize you can't 'pretend' it away?" He was exasperated. Aomine couldn't run from this, and he wasn't going to let him imagine that there wasn't a problem when one clearly existed, even if he didn't know that it had existed before 40 minutes ago. He was irritated that some . . . woman had come in and brutally kicked them out of their little corner of bliss. All he wanted was for the last half hour or so to have never happened; he wanted Aomine to take him in his arm again and dance with him as he smiled that care-free smile. To be clear, he wasn't mad at Aomine, he was mad at that woman.

Aomine could only look at Kuroko dejectedly. "Her name is Akahime," he began slowly, carefully, not wanting Kuroko to miss anything that would make him have to repeat this story, "A couple of years ago she dated Kise, a good friend of mine and fellow life guard. You would have seen him; he's got bright blond hair, killer looks, all the ladies fawn all over him. Anyway, Akahime arrived at the pool one day—all long legs, frilly one piece with a giant red bow over her bust, and those stupidly huge brown eyes faking innocence. Kise fell hard. He had never fallen for any of the girls before, but for some reason she was the one he wanted." Aomine's face was screwed up in concentration as he tried to remember everything correctly. He didn't want to accidentally lie to Kuroko about past events.

"It's not like she wasn't nice. Akahime came to the pool every day and was polite to everyone, laughing and smiling like there were no cares in the world. She would lay back in the shallows and Kise would go over on his breaks to spend time with her; they would just sit there talking. I had never seen Kise so happy.

They dated for a couple of happy weeks, but something happened. Akahime became jealous really quick. So did Kise. Both of them were probably the prettiest people to ever come to the pool—present company aside of course—and they both had gaggles of boys and girls hanging around them at the pool, flirting and vying for their attention. It was just a lot of bad communication between the two, and it ended nastily." As Aomine continued talking, Kuroko listened intently and sadly. Aomine looked awful as he leaned against Kuroko's sofa, staring down at his feet as if they were the most fascinating things in the world. He refused to look up; he was afraid that once thing got turned bad in this story that Kuroko would walk out that door and never look back.

"They broke it off in the parking lot one night, and the fight was explosive. Some things were said about loyalty and cheating and the like. I took Kise home with me, and he was so messed up he didn't go to work after that night for, like, four days? I think. It was just a long time. What happened after that last day Kise was gone is something I'm not proud of: Akahime was so sad and lonely that she came up to me after work and asked if she could go over to my place. She told me that Kise had texted her asking to meet her there, and I thought nothing of it. Neutral territory, a mutual friend's place with said mutual friend there to mediate, it seemed like as good a place as any to meet up and for them to discuss what really had happened." Aomine trudged on through his monologue, hoping Kuroko would understand how upset he was about what happened.

"I think I made it into the apartment a couple of feet before she grabbed my arm and pulled me in for a kiss. I won't lie; I enjoyed it. A hot girl threw herself at me, and I didn't think about my best friend. I was an idiot, and I let her push me on that coach and straddle me. And he found us . . . and it was just really bad. Kise was unlucky enough to find us in the worst way."

Kuroko was startled. This was an unexpected turn of events, and he felt like he was missing something. Aomine looked up to catch the flash of confusion, and he smiled sadly and attempted to explain: "Akahime had texted Kise before coming over, telling him to meet her at my place. She wanted him to see her fucking me. She wanted him to feel like shit and feel torn apart, and I helped her." Pausing, Aomine listened carefully for quiet footsteps leaving the room and for the slamming of a door. Looking up, he saw Kuroko staring at him, waiting for the end of the story.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Aomine was able to tell him the bittersweet ending: "Kise pulled her off my dick and punched me out cold. When I woke up, Kise and Akahime were gone. When Kise got over what happened after a month or so of pleading, explaining, and bribing in order to make him believe that our friendship meant more to me than that, he told me that Akahime ran after him, leaving me unconscious, to blame me for what transpired that night."

"So that's it," Kuroko asked, not believing that this could be the ending. Shaking his head, Aomine replied that, "It's not the end, but I would like a glass of water. Talking that much has made my throat raw." Kuroko left to fetch a glass of water from the kitchen and then waited patiently upon his return for Aomine to drink enough water so that he may finish the sordid tale.

"I got text messages from her that whole month that blamed me for Kise's not wanting to get back together with her. She blamed me for her spiteful actions. Told me that I was no good and that Kise was never going to forgive me for what I did with her that night. Basically, she made me believe Kise and I could never be friends again. It was the worst summer of my life. And I don't really know why Kise finally let me explain everything or what made him realize I was telling the truth, but I'm grateful that he listened to me.

So now you know everything."

Kuroko paused for a long time, and the two stared at each other as Kuroko thought. Aomine began to sweat as Kuroko opened his mouth to ask a question. "So… what are you then?"

And the question made Aomine's face screw up with suppressed laughter that he was unable to contain for long. "After all of that," Aomine choked out through his spluttering, "all you took away was that I'm not exactly a definite gay or definite straight man?" Aomine let loose his laughter completely then, much to Kuroko's embarrassment. "You don't have to laugh at me, Aomine-kun; it's not polite." Kuroko started to speed past Aomine to get to his bedroom so he could pout in peace, but Aomine caught him and spun him into his arms.

"Kuroko," he whispered, one hand stroking his hair and the other his lower back, "I'm bi. What happened with Akahime was a one-time thing, and I'm not going anywhere." Kuroko pulled his face out of Aomine's chest and blushed at the happiness in his eyes as he looked at Kuroko.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

And they kissed; lips and tongues tangling together as Aomine leaned against the coach, holding Kuroko to him tightly, not wanting to ever let go.