Notes: I regret everything. I'm not sorry for this chapter, but also, I really am. OTL Thanks as always for the reviews, faves, and follows! Honestly, you guys had me giggling quite a bit at your conclusions and theories and general comments, which is wonderful.

This chapter is full of text messages, and those are all in italic. Bold, italic, and underlined are the contact names of the people who sent the messages, and those messages are directly under their contact names. If you're confused at all, then let me know! This hasn't been proofread, so there are likely mistakes. Please excuse them! ;D

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basket.


XXXVI. July 15, 2012 - Sunday

The alarm clock wakes him up at nine on the dot, and as he groans pitifully, rubbing a hand over his face, Shougo wistfully recalls a time when he last spent a weekend without anyone demanding his attention or shoving knowledge down his throat or - the fucking worst of the offenses - forcing him to be conscious so early in the morning. He's so ridiculously close to just cancelling the whole thing and making up some lie about being sick, and then - well, it dawns on him that he very much can do that. Why the hell not, right?

Not stopping to think about the repercussions, Shougo snatches his phone up from the bedside table, thumbs in his passcode, and then sends a group message to his friends stating very bluntly that he's sick and that no one should come over today. Satisfied, he tosses it on the table, lays back down, and drifts off to sleep rather quickly.

Fortunately - or perhaps unfortunately - he doesn't see or hear the barrage of messages lighting up his phone in response.

Flashy Bastard

9:04 - what?! r u ok?

9:04 - haizakicchi! (」゜ロ゜)」

phantom pain in my ass

9:05 - Although I am suspicious, I won't question the dubious nature of your illness. Best wishes.

Flashy Bastard

9:05 - u were fine last nite!

9:05 - that's what she said lol (*´ω`)o

9:06 - u there? dnt die on me! ヽ ( ꒪д꒪ )ノ

9:08 - i'm comin over!

Nijimura

9:10 - I swear to god if you're pretending...

9:12 - Don't make me kick your ass, moron

9:15 - I'll be over there later. You better be sick, idiot

Flashy Bastard

9:22 - i'm bringing medicine!

9:22 - I'll nurse u bck 2 health! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و

9:23 - wait

9:23 - wat do u have? is it a cold? a fever? diarrhea?

9:23 - i dnt know wat 2 bring u! ヾ( ๑´д`๑)ツ

9:24 - nm! I'll just bring everything!

9:24 - ill be there in an hr!

phantom pain in my ass

9:25 - Kise-kun, please don't spam the group with messages addressed solely to one person.

Flashy Bastard

9:25 - oh! srry kurokocchi! (⌣_⌣")

XXXVII. July 15, 2012 - Sunday

He startles awake, eyes shooting open and heart racing - only to find Ryouta straddling his waist, hands pinning his wrists to the bed and face entirely too close to Shougo's. Blood almost instantly rushes to his head, staining his neck all the way up to his ears.

"What are you doing?" He means to growl, but it comes out as a whisper. Ryouta is way too close.

Ryouta merely smirks, and then he slowly leans down, eyes searing, breath ghosting over Shougo's face, way, way too close- and he presses their noses together with a cheery, "Boop!"

He laughs at the flabbergasted expression on Shougo's face as he rolls over to sit beside him on the bed, and that's when the anger overtakes the mortification, and Shougo tackles Ryouta with a snarl.

"You fucker!" Shougo half-shouts, pissed that Ryouta would pull this stupid shit again and absolutely fucking furious that he- that he almost- that he wanted- He puts the fucker in an armlock and pushes his face down against the bed. "You asshat! What the fuck!"

Despite the painful position, Ryouta is still managing to laugh. "Ow, ow, ow! Stop, please, I'm sorry!" He doesn't seem even a little bit apologetic, and his struggling is halfhearted at best.

"If you were sorry, you wouldn't have done it at all!" Shougo scowls, not letting him up but reducing the amount force he's using. "And you wouldn't be laughing, asshole," he adds, rolling his eyes.

"No, no, really!" He insists, trying to stifle his smile. "It wasn't-" A laugh slips out before he continues, "-wasn't funny at all. I definitely regret my actions!"

Shougo sighs, swiftly moving from blazing anger to exasperation. "Yeah, yeah." He releases the grinning idiot and moves to the edge of the bed, swinging his legs over the side.

He glances at him over his shoulder, brows furrowed. "Why are you here anyway? I canceled."

"I came to see you because you were 'sick,'" Ryouta tells him, and Shougo can hear the quotation marks over that last word. "Lying to your friends, Shougo? How mean!" He whines, but his eyes are fucking twinkling.

"I am sick," Shougo says, dryly. "Sick of you."

"Ah!" Ryouta gasps dramatically, clutching his chest. "That hurt me right here!"

Shougo chooses not to respond to that. Instead, he asks, "Wait, why would you bother coming over if I was sick?"

"To take care of you, of course!" Ryouta chirps, running a hand through his thoroughly mussed hair. He gestures to a plastic bag near the door, explaining, "I even brought medicine!"

"I was excited to nurse you back to health! I even bought a nurse outfit," Ryouta is saying with a pout, but Shougo is still stuck on that first sentence - because what the hell?

Who even-? Is that a normal thing that friends do? It's... frustrating that he doesn't even know where Ryouta's eccentricities begin and simple friendship ends. Future knowledge is practically useless when it comes to this kind of thing, which is fucking great.

Regardless, there's a pleasant warmth flooding his body at the fact that Ryouta would risk catching his (imaginary) illness just to take care of him. Just to make sure he's okay. Fond and pleased and utterly happy, Shougo's not really sure what to do with himself, so... So he just smiles at Ryouta and says, "Thanks."

For some reason, Ryouta's face goes slack, and his eyes widen, and honestly, he looks like a startled animal. He makes a choked sort of noise, and then he pounces, knocking into Shougo and pushing them both onto the floor in a tangled heap. How many times must this happen?!

"Ow," Shougo grimaces. Ryouta's elbow jabbed his stomach upon impact, and now there's a knee wedged between his thighs. "The fuck'd you do that for?" He groans, glaring down at Ryouta, who is hiding his face in Shougo's neck.

Ryouta mumbles something, but he can't make it out. "What?" Shougo grunts, stretching out one of his legs and removing his arm from between their chests.

Ryouta says, petulantly, a little louder this time, "That was unfair, Haizakicchi."

"What?" Shougo asks again, confused and a little irritated. "What are you talking about?"

"You can't just- do that to me," Ryouta whines, lips brushing against his skin every time he speaks and making it buzz. "I wasn't prepared!"

"You're not making sense," Shougo says, squirming away from Ryouta, but he's all over him. "Get off." Ryouta squeaks, and Shougo growls, "If you make a dirty joke now-"

He struggles to sit up, a voice in his head pointing out - rather accusingly - just how often they end up draped over one another, and he ends up dragging Ryouta along since he's clinging pretty tightly to Shougo's neck.

"Would you let go?" He demands, trying not to be distracted by how weirdly amazing this flashy bastard smells. Who the hell wears cologne over to a friend's house?

When Ryouta only makes a noncommittal noise, Shougo peers down at him, and- "Are you blushing?" He asks, incredulous.

"No!" Ryouta denies instantly, but rather tellingly, he doesn't show his face.

"You are," Shougo says, and damn it, why is he getting all embarrassed too? Fucking-! "I'm not doing this right now." He removes Ryouta's arms from his neck, stands up without looking at him, and then leaves with a flat, "I'm taking a shower."

Nope, nope, nope.

XXXVIII. July 15, 2012 - Sunday

When he steps out of the shower, Shougo realizes with a quiet dread that he forgot to grab a change of clothes. Shit.

He stalls for a few minutes by brushing his teeth, but despite some very good arguments for doing so, he can't stay in this bathroom forever. He secures the towel around his waist and cracks open the door, and when he doesn't see anyone - namely, Ryouta - he hurries to his bedroom and closes the door behind him.

It's empty. He sighs in relief, immediately grabbing some clothes and beginning to change. He drops the towel and slips on his boxers first, hurriedly. Next are his sweatpants, and it's as he's pulling them up that his door slams open. He barely made it.

...Why on earth didn't he lock it? Stupid. Ugh. He ignores Ryouta, who quickly turns around upon spotting Shougo, and pulls his shirt over his head. After changing so many times in team lockers, he's not exactly body conscious. He's just sure Ryouta would find a way to make it weird.

"Putting on a show for me, Haizakicchi?" Ryouta teases, but his voice sounds kind of strained. See? It's weird.

"In your dreams," is his offhanded response, but then he thinks about it and adds, "Actually, not there either. Don't even think about it."

Ryouta laughs, spinning around to face him. "You can't police my dreams, Haizakicchi!" Then he blows a kiss.

"Ugh," Shougo grimaces, dodging the freaky anime heart. "Let's stop talking about this."

Belatedly, he wanders over to pick up his phone, and he grimaces again at all of the missed messages. Resigned, he opens the messaging app and scrolls to the beginning of the one-sided conversation, and he feels a throbbing in his temple as he reaches the irritating end.

Flashy Bastard

10:34 - i'm here! σ(≧ε≦o)

10:42 - whoops! he's super sick guys! (っ- ‸ – ς)

10:42 - u def shouldn't come over!

Nijimura

10:43 - Really

10:43 - Because I find that hard to believe

Flashy Bastard

10:44 - he's totes sick! super duper sick! ✧*。ヾ(。﹏。)ノ゙✧*。

phantom pain in my ass

10:46 - Truly, your kaomojis display the seriousness of Haizaki-kun's condition.

Flashy Bastard

10:46 - u kno it!

10:48 - so sick! (ᗒᗩᗕ)՞

10:48 - but no worries, u guys! nurse kise is on the case! ٩(•̤̀ᵕ•̤́๑)ᵒᵏᵎᵎᵎᵎ

Attached to that cocky proclamation is a photo of Ryouta making a faux-serous expression with a nurse cap on, and taking up the entirety of the background is Shougo's sleeping body, covers kicked off, his shirt bunched up enough to show most of his stomach, and his face relaxed and vulnerable. It's the most mortifying thing he's ever fucking seen, and he sees Ryouta's ugly mug almost every day.

His eye is twitching, and he's gripping his phone a little too tightly as he continues reading.

Nijimura

10:50 - That idiot's just sleeping!

10:50 - and where the hell did you get that hat? Why are you wearing it?

Flashy Bastard

10:51 - that's not true!

10:51 - he's love sick!

10:51 - i'm a nurse so u cn trust me! ヽ( ˘ω˘ )ゝ

Nijimura

10:52 - You're a moron

10:52 - and you didn't answer my question

Flashy Bastard

10:52 - mean! ‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚

10:52 - i'm a nurse! it's part of my uniform!

Nijimura

10:53 - Yeah, okay

10:53 - You do realize he's gonna flip his shit when he sees that picture

Flashy Bastard

10:57 - i kno! might as well take another 1! (。•̀ᴗ-)✧

Again, there's an image attached. This one is somehow even worse. Ryouta is right next to his face, cheesing the camera, and there's Shougo, still asleep and looking stupid. But the problem is that it looks like they're in bed together. Shit. This is awful. Fuck. He keeps scrolling.

phantom pain in my ass

11:00 - Kise-kun, Haizaki-kun definitely won't like that you took pictures of him without his permission or that you sent them to us.

11:00 - At the very least, you should not have done so in the group chat, which he has access to.

11:00 - As you can see, I had no part in this, Haizaki-kun.

Flashy Bastard

11:01 - kurokocchi! r u sucking up 2 haizakicchi? (ง •̀_•́)ง

11:01 - don't listen to him!

11:01 - he convinced ur mom 2 show him baby pictures of u!

phantom pain in my ass

11:02 - That was you, Kise-kun.

Flashy Bastard

11:02 - oh yeah

11:03 - well! he copied ur answers 2 his English hw!

phantom pain in my ass

11:03 - ...

11:03 - That was also you, Kise-kun.

Flashy Bastard

11:04 - oh (;゜Д゜)

phantom pain in my ass

11:04 Since it's difficult to relay through tone alone, I'd like you to know that I'm silently judging you, Kise-kun.

Flashy Bastard

11:05 - mean!

Nijimura

11:05 - I'm judging both of you. Stop blowing up my phone with stupid shit

phantom pain in my ass

11:06 - I apologize, Nijimura-san.

Flashy Bastard

11:06 - my bad

The conversation ends there. Shougo glances up at Ryouta, seething. "You took selfies with me while I was asleep?!" He growls, tucking his phone in his pocket before he throws it at the idiot. "Bastard."

"Uhhhhhhh," Ryouta says, slowly backing away and towards the open door as Shougo glares him down. "About that..." He reaches the doorway, and with a rushed, "I'msorry!" he turns tail and runs.

Shougo gives chase. "What the fuck, Kise?!"

Ryouta doesn't pause or look back. "I'm sorry! But I had to do it! There was no other choice!"

"Wha-? Why?!" Shougo barks, reaching the top of the stairs just as Ryouta makes it about halfway down.

"You were asleep and couldn't stop me!" He answers cheerfully, hopping over the last step and running straight for the front door.

"Fucking asshole!" Shougo shouts back, almost stumbling as he leaps over about three steps and lands hard on his feet. "I'm gonna fucking strangle you!"

"Some other time!" Ryouta responds, kicking off his guest slippers, dipping down to grab his shoes, and yanking open the door.

He closes it just in time, slamming it right in Shougo's face. "Coward!" He says through the door, and he hears fading laughter. "Ugh," he groans, rubbing his hands over his burning face.

"So that happened," Shion says, grinning as he pokes his head out of the kitchen. "Boyfriend trouble?"

"Shut up," Shougo almost whines, sounding strangely like Ryouta.

He cringes at the thought, pushing past his brother as he walks into the kitchen. This whole morning has been so fucking weird.

XXXIX. July 15, 2012 - Sunday

Somehow this day has gotten even fucking weirder. Shougo stops gaping at his captain and collects himself enough to demand, "What are you doing here?"

Nijimura smirks down at him, but that doesn't really mean anything. That's like his default expression. Either way, as always, Shougo glares right back at him. "I'm picking you up. Let's go," Nijimura tells him casually.

"Wha-? Wait, why? Where are we going?" Shougo asks, frowning in puzzlement.

"Stop asking so many questions, and just do it," Nijimura scowls.

"Don't tell me what do," is his instinctive reply.

Snorting, Nijimura kneads his damn knuckles into Shougo's skull. "Why are you so damn difficult? Listen to your captain, damn it!"

"Okay, okay, I'll do it!" Shougo grouches, gingerly patting the spots of pain blooming on his head when Nijimura releases him. "Ass," he grumbles under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Shougo says, plopping down in the entryway in order to put on his shoes.

"That's what I thought." Nijimura rolls his eyes, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe while he waits on Shougo.

A few minutes later, they're walking to some unknown destination (to Shougo), snarking back and forth like usual. Despite the strangeness of going anywhere with Nijimura outside of a school setting or in their roles as captain and player, Shougo feels at ease. Must be because of their close proximity during tutoring these last few weeks. It's gotten him familiar enough with Nijimura that being alone with him is no longer cause for panic.

Still, he is curious. "Where are you taking me?" Shougo tries again, peering up at his captain.

Nijimura is clad in a grey jacket, a white shirt, and dark pants, and he looks good like this. Stylish. Cool. Confident. That's what Shougo likes most about him - how he always seems to be in control and how he never lets anything crack his composure. Even when his dad was in such a bad condition, he never let on that anything was out of the ordinary with him. Shougo's envious of that unflappability, and maybe that's what drew his attention to Nijimura in the first place. You know, besides his admittedly handsome face.

Nijimura spares him an amused glance before growing serious. "I didn't bother saying anything before because you guys looked like you were having a lot of fun, but Anami-sensei actually told me you could quit tutoring at anytime." He gauges Shougo's reaction before nodding. "Yeah, I didn't think you'd be surprised. You're above average in all of your classes."

His eyebrow is raised in askance, so Shougo shrugs, kind of uncomfortable at this sudden questioning. "I just- I didn't think there was any point in... trying," he admits.

It's not technically a lie, which is why it's not really anything he wants to talk about. Back in school - before this time travel shit - he'd been disillusioned with so many things, and succeeding academically for him had always, always been followed up with pure shock at the mere notion that someone who looked and acted like Haizaki Shougo could possibly be anything more than a dumb delinquent.

"It doesn't matter," he says stubbornly.

"Okay," Nijimura says, thankfully dropping it. "We're here."

'Here' is a ramen shop, and once inside, they snag a seat at the bar. ...This isn't a date, right? No, obviously not.

"And we're here... Why?" Shougo asks warily, leaning forward on his forearms.

Nijimura glances around the room, taking in the busy workers and happy customers and deliberately not looking at Shougo. "To be honest, I expected you to bitch at me about the coupon, and as the generous Senpai I am, I would have taken you somewhere better than Maji Burger," he says idly. "Like a ramen shop."

He adds, almost like an afterthought, "Didn't expect you to take someone else."

While Shougo processes whatever that's supposed to mean, the chef comes over to take their order.

"Miso Ramen for me," Nijimura says, turning to Shougo expectantly.

"Oh, uh, I want Tonkotsu Ramen," Shougo fumbles to say, and the guy walks off.

'Didn't expect you to take someone else.' Did that-? Should he read into that? Or is this another friendship thing Shougo is painfully unaware of? Ugh.

"So congrats on bringing your grades up," Nijimura says, smiling a half-smile. "Knew you could do it."

"Uh, thanks," Shougo replies, off-balance because of this whole situation. "It's- I wouldn't have done it without you."

"You, being modest?" Nijimura huffs a laugh. "Never thought I'd see it."

"Shut it, bastard," Shougo scowls, and this- this is familiar. "You'd better pay for this too. That shitty coupon didn't even cover my whole meal."

"Yeah, yeah," he smirks, and Shougo finds himself mirroring the expression. "Cheeky brat."

Shougo laughs, and their food arrives, steaming. It's delicious, and the rest of the not-date is fun and interspersed with lots of insults and teasing. Afterward, Nijimura walks him home - despite much protesting - and all the way up to Shougo's front door.

"Thanks for the free meal," Shougo says, smugly. "Your company wasn't as shitty as I thought it'd be."

"Same to you, brat," Nijimura responds, smirking. "See you tomorrow."

"See ya," Shougo says, but Nijimura is still there, watching him intently.

Nijimura steps forward, lifting his hand and resting it atop Shougo's head, likely preluding an entirely unnecessary hair ruffling. Shougo scowls, opening his mouth to complain, but suddenly, the hand on his head slides to cup his cheek and turn his head to gently to the side, allowing Nijimura to leave a chaste kiss on his cheek.

Shougo freezes, scarcely even breathing, and Nijimura pulls away after a moment, still smirking but now definitely seeming satisfied. Shougo's whole body is on fire, and his heart is beating a mile a minute. And he is so, so confused.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Nijimura says again, releasing Shougo and walking away, hands in his pockets and body language relaxed.

In contrast, Shougo is a taut string, shoulders tense and legs weak. Numbly, he touches a hand to his cheek, and his only coherent thought is a word that describes a good portion of the shit that happens to him:

Fuck.


End Notes: I've got nothing to say. I'm just as surprised as you are. Now I have to shuffle around the plot again.

Review Replies: [sorry they're so late again!]

Guest 2 - Thank you! Honestly, I can't imagine his sisters as anything else now. I hadn't originally planned to use that song, but once I thought of it, I just had to. ;D

Fye - That's okay! I hope everyone had a good time! Every time I've gone out to play Pokemon Go, it's rained like crazy. Starting to think I control the weather... Coming up with innuendos for Kise is honestly my favorite thing. I'm pretty excited to unleash Kuroko's sass on the MiraGen. Oh god, Shougo's face when he hears 'harem.' Shion might be ready to bang his head against the wall. Haizaki's never seen Kise serious about anything but basketball, so he'd be pretty shocked to see him act like his sister. "Kise, Kise, fall in love~! Man, if your crush is oblivious, I guess you gotta spell it out to them." ...you're killing me.

1 - Thank you for the kind review! ;D