Now that the two have finally made up, what will happen next?
This chapter is a bit longer than the others. ^^ Hope you enjoy.


Slowly, the relationship between Aomine and Kagami had begun to repair itself. They eventually started to converse like normal and even spent some time with each other during lunch and occasionally went to Maji Burger after practices. Aomine even attended practices more often than he did at his last year at Teikou.

Kagami didn't get to talk to Kuroko as often since both of them were busy, but he took the opportunity to call him up to let him know about the situation with him and Aomine.

"That's really great news, Kagami-kun," even Kuroko's flat tone seemed a little cheery when Kagami told him.

"Yeah, I really hope we can work things out now. It almost feels like we're starting our friendship over again in some ways though," Kagami was a little concerned about that but was still hopeful.

"It'll take some time, I suppose. Although I think Aomine-kun deserved more than a punch to the face," Kuroko replied.

Kagami laughed, "You're probably right. I guess I just really have a hard time staying mad at him… Guess that makes me kind of an idiot, but oh well."

"It's because you care about him so much."

"Yeah, you're probably right about that too," Kagami smiled warmly. Even though they were talking over the phone, Kuroko knew the face Kagami was making at that moment. "Anyway, how about we all meet up again sometime? Like after our practices. You haven't really talked to him much either lately, right?"

"Yes, I avoided him at first because I needed a break from the Miracles, but I kind of forgave them for that a while ago. I just continued to avoid Aomine because he was being so terrible to you," Kuroko was a small guy but you really didn't want to have him on your bad side. "But I suppose since you two seemed to have worked things out, I can start talking to him again."

Kagami gave another laugh, "Well that's good. How about we meet up on Monday at Maji Burger? Maybe then you can give Aomine a piece of your mind."

"I'm afraid if I do that I may get banned from the establishment," Kuroko said in scarily calm voice.

"Wow, Kuroko, sometimes you can be kind of frightening," Kagami wasn't sure if Kuroko was kidding or not.

"Don't worry, I'll just give him a stern scolding," Kuroko reassured and Kagami kind of felt relieved that Kuroko was probably kidding before. Probably.

So Monday came and Kagami and Aomine headed over to Maji Burger after practice to meet up with Kuroko.

"You know, I feel kind of bad for not keeping in touch with Tetsu lately," Aomine seemed a little on edge about meeting up with Kuroko for the first time in a while.

"I think you should just be more worried about your safety more than anything," Kagami gave a smug smile.

"Huh!?" Aomine knew very well how Kuroko could be despite his smaller stature.

Kagami ignored Aomine's worried expression as they walked through the doors of the restaurant. It took them a while, but they finally spotted Kuroko at a nearby table.

"Took you two long enough to notice," Kuroko sighed, already sipping at a vanilla shake.

"Sorry…" Kagami still couldn't believe how hard it was to notice Kuroko sometimes.

Aomine sat down at the seat across from Kuroko. Kagami remained standing.

"I'll go order my food," he said heading towards the cash register, leaving Aomine and Kuroko alone.

"So, how's it been, Tetsu?" Aomine asked, a bit nervous from the stare he was getting from Kuroko.

The guy across from him didn't say a word but Aomine soon felt a swift kick right to his shin.

"Ow! What the hell, Tetsu!" Aomine growled and hunched over, grabbed his leg in pain.

"How could you do that to Kagami-kun?" Kuroko asked in a serious voice.

He didn't need to explain what he was talking about for Aomine to know. He knew! And he regretted it more than anything.

"I'm sorry! Ok? I was a jerk, but we're cool now…" Aomine rubbed the spot where Kuroko kicked him but it didn't take long until he felt a sharp pain on the foot on his opposite leg. "Dammit, Tetsu! That shit hurts! I said I was sorry!"

"Do you even know how much Kagami-kun was worried about you? He probably didn't tell you since he's nice, but almost every day he asked me about you. He was always concerned about if you were doing well even though you never answered his calls or his messages," Kuroko's usual expressionless face was now hardened into a serious glare.

Aomine's face dropped and his brow furrowed, "He didn't tell me that…" Aomine said quietly.

He knew he had hurt Kagami but he didn't know he worried him. He thought he was doing Kagami a favor by avoiding him but it just caused him to needlessly worry.

"I really do feel like shit about it, really," Aomine continued, "That's why I want to make it up to him and fix our friendship. I won't do that to him ever again." He looked Kuroko in the eyes, "I mean it."

Kuroko casually took another sip of his shake. "As long as you've learned your lesson," he said a lot more calmly. "Now should I kick you for what you pulled last year with basketball?"

"P-Please don't," Aomine knew he probably deserved it but Kuroko's kicks were painful. "I've definitely learned my lesson with that; I go to practice more often…"

"Good," Kuroko took another sip.

Moments later, Kagami arrived with a tray filled with food.

"I'll always be surprised by how much you can fit in your stomach," Aomine said, staring at the massive amount of food. He got up to make his order and Kagami took his place, sitting across from Kuroko.

"You weren't too harsh to him, were you?" Kagami gave a small laugh, unwrapping his first burger.

"No, not really," the scary thing was that Kuroko didn't think that was a lie at all.

"That's good, I was actually kind of worried there for a minute," Kagami gave a nervous laugh.

It didn't take long for Aomine to return with much less food on his tray, but still a large portion. He took a seat next to Kagami.

"Oh yeah, how is your team so far, Kuroko?" Kagami asked.

"I think the team is pretty well balanced although it feels like maybe something is missing. That's why you should've come to Seirin instead, Kagami-kun."

"Hey, Taiga belongs on Touou's team," Aomine interjected.

"Funny, since I'm the one who actually asked him to come to my school," Kuroko threw Aomine a look. He still hadn't completely forgiven him, hadn't he? Aomine quickly shut his mouth as if his own mother was scolding him.

"You know, I really did consider going to Seirin. But there was just something in me that said I had to go to Touou. Well, it was probably due to the fact that I wanted to play with Aomine again," Kagami faintly smiled and Aomine slightly blushed.

Kuroko stared at the two; he couldn't believe how dense they were.

"Ah! Kurokocchi!" A cheery voice came from beside them and an attractive, blond-haired, high school student trotted up to their table. He smiled a huge grin, beaming with such happiness that you could almost see flowers floating around his face.

"Kise-kun…" Kuroko's expression didn't change despite this sudden visitor who was obviously ecstatic to see him.

"Aominecchi is here too! Ahh, I haven't seen you since high school started. And… I don't think I know you?" he looked at Kagami and you could almost see the cogs in his brain turning, trying to figure out if he had seen him before.

"This is Kagami-kun, he's my friend and Aomine-kun's childhood friend," Kuroko spoke up.

"How's it going?" Kagami gave a small wave. So this was Kise, huh? He had never really met any of the other Miracles besides Kuroko. He was told that Kise was a model and he definitely had the looks of one.

"Ohhh! I've heard about you!" Kise sat down next to Kuroko, inviting himself into their group. Kuroko glared at him but Kise didn't seem to notice.

"Really?" Kagami was a little surprised.

"Yeah! Aominecchi would bring you up a lot," he looked over to the man in question but Aomine didn't seem happy to have Kise here.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Aomine asked.

"Huh!? Ah… um…" Kise seemed to get flustered for some reason, even though it was a normal question.

"Yeah, you rarely come here since you watch your diet for your modeling," Kuroko added.

"W-Well," Kise seemed to try to come up with a good excuse, "I just happened to see Kurokocchi from the window! So I decided to come in and say hi."

"You just happened to notice him?" Kagami asked. It seemed unlikely to just suddenly notice him; even if you were looking for him he was kind of hard to find.

"I-It's not like I walk by here all the time and have learned that Kurokocchi sits in the same spot every time…" Kise was a terrible liar. Almost shockingly so.

Kuroko sighed, "Then why did you come in today of all days when I actually have company?"

"Well, I wasn't going to but then I noticed you were with Aominecchi and it made me realize that I kind of miss being around you guys…" Kise pouted. Kagami could almost see an animal… a puppy? Yeah, that was it. And he didn't necessarily like dogs all that much…

A smile actually crept on to Kuroko's face, "I guess we've missed you too."

"Don't say 'we'," Aomine added in a mumble.

Kise's smile returned to his face and obviously ignored what Aomine said. Either that or he didn't hear it, "Aww, Kurokocchi!" Now he was looking like his owner just praised him.

"But that doesn't change the fact that you interrupted my conversation with Aomine-kun and Kagami-kun," Kuroko added.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Kise went back to pouting, "I guess I'll excuse myself then."

"You don't have to go. I mean, if the others don't mind…" Kagami wasn't sure why he said that, maybe because he actually felt sorry for Kise in some strange way.

"Well if Kagami-kun doesn't mind, I don't," Kuroko said.

"Whatever…" Aomine grumbled.

"Kagami is really nice too," Kise smiled and stayed in place. "Hey, tell me some things about when you and Aominecchi were growing up!"

"Ehh, not much, really? We played a lot of basketball."

"Oh yeah! I remember Aominecchi saying you were really good at playing. Which high school do you go to?"

"Mine," this time Aomine answered.

Kise muffled a laugh, "Psh, 'mine', that sounds so possessive, Aominecchi."

Aomine stared an intimidating look at Kise and he quickly dropped the subject.

"A-Anyway, I'm really curious as to how you play. I hope we get to play a game against each other soon."

"Yeah, I'm sure we will. I want to play a game against you too, and the rest of the Miracles," Kagami said.

"With Aominecchi on your team, I'm sure you'll be playing all of them eventually," Kise smiled.

All of them continued their small talk until they had to leave and part ways. Kagami waved goodbye to all of them and could see Kise insisting he walk Kuroko home, with Kuroko continuously denying him. Kagami laughed and started towards his apartment. So that was Kise, huh? He seemed a little eccentric but not necessarily a bad guy. He thought Kuroko was exaggerating when he said he was clingy but tonight proved he was telling the truth. Kagami wondered how the rest of the Miracles were as he continued his walk home.


The team was just finishing up one of their weekend practices and everyone was in the locker room changing out of their clothes. This was always a really difficult challenge for Aomine and that's why he rarely stuck around very long in the locker room when they were changing. He didn't really care about anyone else but it was really hard not to gawk at Kagami while he was changing. He'd catch a few glimpses but if he stared any longer, not only could Kagami catch him but anyone else in the locker room could notice too.

Kagami just had a really nice body and even though it was very masculine and he had no boobs to speak of, Aomine liked looking at it. The other guys on the team had nice bodies too, of course, but he was only interested in Kagami's. He guessed it was just because it belonged to him that made it so much more appealing.

Kagami finished up and walked over to Aomine.

"Hey, do you want to hang out at my house a little? You haven't seen my new place yet and I can make us something to eat," Kagami seemed a little anxious.

Aomine stood there looking kind of dumb-founded for a moment, thinking that Kagami noticed him staring at him while changing but he seemed to be in the clear, "S-Sure…"

"Ah, great," Kagami gave a quick smile and the left the locker room together.

They both left the locker room; Kagami said that if he wanted, Aomine could just use the shower at his apartment. That was an offer he wasn't so sure he was going to take up… He was really curious about Kagami's apartment, though. He considered inviting himself over one day but decided not to be too pushy as they were still trying to mend their friendship.

They started their walk to Kagami's apartment and not much later, it started to get awkwardly quiet. They hadn't spent time alone since Kagami had moved back to America. Sure they had gone out to eat at Maji Burger with just the two of them but they were always surrounded by other people and sometimes a few other members of the team tagged along. Aomine decided to break the awkward silence to put himself at ease.

"So… You can cook?"

"Oh, yeah. I cooked often in America since my parents came home late all the time, and of course I live by myself now so I can't depend on convenience store food, it's kind of unhealthy," Kagami seemed to be happy about the sudden presence of conversation. He was probably feeling the awkwardness of their silent trek to the apartment too.

"You must be a good cook then," Aomine said with a smirk.

"Hah, yeah, I guess so. I kind of enjoy doing it, too."

"Really? You'll make a good housewife then," Aomine laughed.

"Huh!? Shut up!" Kagami pushed Aomine; his face was redder than necessary.

'Damn, why is he so cute?' Aomine thought to himself, looking at the flustered Kagami.

This joke did lighten the mood a bit between them, though. And before they knew it they had reached Kagami's apartment.

"You can sit down on the couch and watch TV while you wait. Or you can take a shower if you want," Kagami said, setting his bag down and heading straight into the kitchen.

"I'll be fine on the couch…" Aomine wasn't very mentally prepared to be naked in Kagami's house right now, even if it was for something as innocent as a shower.

"Suit yourself," Kagami replied, washing his hands and getting all the utensils ready to cook.

Aomine turned on the TV and flipped through the channels. He glanced over to the kitchen to see Kagami opening a drawer and pulling something out, it was a blue piece of material that he proceeded to tie around his body.

'A-Apron!?' Aomine's eye's widened as Kagami tied the knot in the back like he had done it a hundred times before. 'That should be illegal! Damn you, Taiga! As if you couldn't get any cuter!' Aomine let out a frustrated moan.

"Are you alright?" Kagami asked, looking back to where Aomine was sitting.

"A-Ah, yeah. Just can't find anything good to watch." Close call.

"Yeah, there's nothing really good on anymore, is there?" Kagami said returning back to his cooking.

"Got that right…" Aomine took another glance at Kagami before deciding to just save himself from the torture and find a good station.

"Alright, it's ready."

Luckily, it didn't take too much longer for Kagami to finish his cooking.

Kagami walked over to the table with two plates in hand. Aomine lifted himself from the couch and joined Kagami at the table.

"I just made some fried rice with whatever leftovers I had. Sorry, I would've made something better but asking you to come here was kind of a spur of the moment thing," Kagami explained.

"No it's fine… These portions are huge," Aomine said, staring at the mound of rice on his plate.

"Really? I thought it was pretty normal," Kagami shoved a forkful into his mouth.

"Maybe to you, you've always eaten way too much – I don't know where it goes…" Aomine took his first bite, "Woah, this is really good!" He was honestly shocked at how delicious it was, who knew Kagami wasn't bragging when he said he was a good cook.

"You think so? It's just fried rice though," Kagami smiled a bit, a little proud of himself either way.

"Definitely! This is probably the best fried rice I've ever had," Aomine continued to shovel it into his mouth.

"Well, I'm glad you like it that much," Kagami gave a small laugh and fiddled with the necklace around his neck.

"Hey, what is that necklace for? I've noticed you wear it all the time since last summer," Aomine wondered about the necklace Kagami started wearing the last time he saw him but never really got to ask about it, especially since they had not really been on speaking terms over the past year. He was really curious now that he seems to still wear it all the time.

"Oh," Kagami held it out and grabbed it by the ring, "Tatsuya gave this to me."

Tatsuya… That was a name Aomine had started to forget about.

"R-Really?"

"Yeah, it was before he moved here. He has one too, it's kind of like, a sign of our friendship, I guess? Well, we're kind of more like brothers," a small smile started to creep up on Kagami's face as he stared at the ring.

Aomine couldn't help but feel extremely jealous. He cursed himself for not thinking of something like that! He and Kagami were never much of gift giving friends but now he regretted not having something like that with Kagami.

"Oh! Now you two can finally meet! Ah, we're all really busy with the Interhigh coming up but I'm sure we'll find time. He plays for Yosen. Hmm, maybe I can send him a message right now to see when he's available…" Kagami dug through his pockets for his phone.

Aomine came here in a great mood but now it had kind of soured. He didn't want to resent this Tatsuya who was obviously a good friend to Kagami, but it just seemed like while they were separated he had gotten closer to Kagami while Aomine drifted away. Kagami had often said that he was his one and only best friend but sometimes he really wondered if that was true.

While off in his own thoughts he heard a ring from Kagami's phone.

"He's free tomorrow! Daiki, do you think you'd be able to meet up?" Kagami said with a hopeful look on his face

He was a little curious to finally meet this guy. And the face Kagami was making was too adorable to say no to… "Yeah, sure. I have nothing better to do."

"Great! …Ah… if you want to, I suppose you could spend the night if that would be easier for you…" Kagami's mood turned a little shy as he looked back down at his phone.

"No… That's ok, I have some stuff to do before then so uh, thanks but no thanks," No way. No way could he spend the night, he wasn't sure if his self-restraint could handle that.

"Oh, that's fine, just figured I'd ask," Kagami said with a nervous smile.

They finished up their meal with a little more small talk until Aomine announced his leave.

"Good night, it was nice to have you over finally" Kagami said by the doorway, his face a little pink.

"Same here," Aomine said with a slight grin, "I'll see you tomorrow, then."


Aomine was actually kind of nervous about meeting this Tatsuya he had heard so much about. He wasn't sure why, maybe it was because he always felt like he had to compete with him for Kagami's attention. Well, he wasn't going to let that bother him today. With a deep breath, Aomine knocked on the door to Kagami's apartment.

Moments later, the door opened.

"Ah, hey, come in. Tatsuya's here already," Kagami cleared the way for Aomine to walk in.

He walked past the threshold and right away saw someone standing by the kitchen.

"Hello! I've heard so much about you, Aomine. It's nice to finally meet you, I'm Himuro Tatsuya," Himoru gave a kind smile and held out his hand.

"Same here," Aomine reached out and shook his hand.

'What the hell! He's friggin' beautiful!'

Aomine kind of wanted to scream. He had never seen any pictures of Himuro before but he could've never imagined he was this good looking. Aomine considered himself handsome but now he felt really plain standing next to this guy. It seemed like Himuro kept outdoing Aomine in everything and it was getting pretty frustrating. And yeah, like Kagami said, Himuro was wearing a necklace just like his.

"We were just making something to eat for lunch," Kagami said, walking up from behind Aomine.

"I assume you've had Taiga's cooking before? Isn't he the best?" Himuro smirked at Kagami.

"It's embarrassing when you say it like that," Kagami laughed and walked into the kitchen.

"Should I help?" Aomine was already starting to feel out of place.

"No, it's alright. We're almost done," Kagami shouted back.

Aomine sulked over to the couch and watched the two cook and talk about insignificant things. Some things were in English which made Aomine feel even more like a third wheel.

'I guess Himuro can cook too, huh?' he thought to himself as Himuro seemed to be chopping something.

'Uhg, and he's way too touchy feely,' Aomine furrowed his brow.

Himuro seemed to touch Kagami on the back or shoulder what seemed like every other minute. What's worse is Kagami didn't seem to mind.

Himuro took a glance behind him and Aomine turned his head away quickly. But not fast enough for Himuro to not catch the expression Aomine was making; a smirk formed on his face.

"Hey, Taiga, can I taste that?" Himuro asked in a voice that was a little louder than he was talking with before.

"Hm? Didn't you just taste it a minute ago?" Kagami asked, completely oblivious.

"I just want to taste it again~" Himuro said with a smile.

"Fine, fine. You're going to eat it all before we get to if you keep asking though," Kagami held out a piece of the fish he had cooked.

"Thank you!" Himuro took a bite right out of Kagami's hand.

It took a lot for Aomine to not knock the entire couch over.

'BASTARD!'

"What the heck was that, Tatsuya? Eat it like a normal person," Kagami said going back to preparing the food.

"Haha, sorry, I just wanted to see what it felt like having someone feed me."

"Weirdo," Kagami laughed.

Aomine could've sworn he saw Himuro give a little wink in his direction after that. Needless to say, his first impression of Himuro was not starting off good.

Only a few minutes of aggressively ignoring the two friends in the kitchen later the meal was ready. After all of them had sat down to their meals they ate for a while in silence with the occasional compliments about the food. Himuro then started up some small talk.

"So, how long have you been playing basketball?" Himuro asked Aomine.

"Since I was very young, before I met Kagami and before grade school even. I'm the one that introduced Kagami to it, by the way," Aomine responded smugly. 'And that's one area I beat you in,' he thought to himself.

"Yeah, Kagami told me that's how you two met," Himuro replied, "Ah, I bet Kagami was really cute back then." Himuro chuckled.

Aomine felt a twitch in his temple, "Hm, guess you'll never know, huh?" Aomine returned a condescending smile.

Even Kagami wasn't dense enough to not feel the tension in the air between them, which made the atmosphere kind of thick. He didn't even know how to interject or change the subject.

"That's true. At least I got to see him play during his first game in middle school, though. He seemed so nervous but I was pretty proud of him. The face he made when he won that game was pretty priceless, too," Himuro said, looking in Kagami's direction and smiling.

Kagami's cheeks started to blush from the conversation that was focused on him.

But Aomine's façade was breaking fast. "Too bad I missed that, but now we're on the same team together so I get to be by his side when he plays from now on. Too damn bad you won't be experiencing that, huh?" He really didn't care about controlling his anger anymore; Himuro was pushing his buttons a little too much.

"Daiki!" Kagami finally spoke up, putting a sudden halt to the conversation. Aomine glared over in his direction.

The room was silent for a moment and the awkwardness level had reached its peak. But the silence was quickly interrupted.

"Oh, sorry but I need to use the restroom real quickly," Himuro said, getting up from his chair. He didn't seem the least bit phased by Aomine's words as he got up and walked down the hall.

"What the HELL are you doing?!" Kagami said in an angry whisper once he made sure Himuro left the room.

"That bastard started it! Bragging about you like he knows you better than I do!" Aomine could barely maintain a whisper in his anger.

"I doubt that's what he's doing! He's just telling you about our time in America since you guys are both my friends and being friends with me and basketball are things you have in common. He's just making conversation!"

Aomine was getting even angrier because Kagami seemed to be defending Himuro instead of him. "No he's not! He's trying to act like he's better than me!"

"You sound like you're jealous or something!" Kagami hissed.

"Maybe that's because I am!" Aomine blurted out.

Whatever Kagami was planning to say next got stuck in his throat as silence swept through the room once again. On the other side, Aomine was feeling the heat of embarrassment at his confession that he sure as hell didn't plan on letting Kagami know about but let slip anyway.

"Y-You…" Kagami's face started to turn a shade of red, "You don't have to be jealous over something that stupid…"

"I'm not really jealous…" Aomine tried to play it off but his ears still burned with embarrassment.

"My relationship with you and my relationship with Himuro are different… Well, you're both my friends but Himuro is kind of like my brother. But you're…" Kagami seemed to struggle with trying to find the word to use.

'Isn't it 'best friend'? It's not that hard to remember, you always say it,' Aomine thought, watching Kagami stare at his plate.

"To me you're…" Kagami looked up at Aomine with a sort of pain looked on his face.

"Taiga…" Aomine wondered why it was so hard for Kagami to say it when he's said it more times than he could count.

"Ah, sorry about that you guys," Aomine almost jumped out of his chair when he heard a voice from behind him. He had almost forgotten that there was someone else in the apartment.

Kagami, however, seemed relieved. "Oh, it's fine," he said with nervous laughter.

"Actually, I should probably head out soon. I promised my mom I'd help her do some errands on the way back from your house. It's too bad we couldn't play some basketball together, I would've loved to see you in action, Aomine," Himuro gave him that smile he kept giving him all night.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Aomine said with clear sarcasm. He felt a foot kick his leg under the table as Kagami glared at him.

"That's fine, I'll walk you to the door," Kagami gave a serious look to Aomine that said 'you too!' and reluctantly, Aomine obeyed.

All three gathered at the door and just as Himuro was about to leave, he looked like he had just remembered something.

"Ah! I almost forgot! Taiga, that CD I let your borrow, do you think I could get it back? If it isn't any trouble."

"Oh crap, good thing you reminded me. Hold on, I'll go get."

Aomine gave a look to Kagami as if to say, 'please don't go' but with another serious look from Kagami, Aomine gave up and stayed standing by the door while Kagami went off to his room.

"I hope that helped," Himuro said in a quiet voice.

Aomine looked at him confused, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Hm, I just think you needed a push. If you don't start getting serious, someone's going to take what you want away from you right underneath your nose. I hope you know that," Himuro replied.

"What are you talking about-"

"Found it!" Kagami shouted from behind them, CD in hand.

"Thanks! I guess I'll get going, then. Once again, it was nice meeting you, Aomine. I enjoyed the dinner; I'll call you later, Taiga." Himuro waved and closed the door behind him.

Kagami heaved a huge sigh, "I didn't think you two meeting would be that hectic. I know you don't seem to like him so much right now but please just try to get along with him, okay?"

"Y-Yeah…" Aomine responded. Really, he was just preoccupied with figuring out what exactly Himuro meant a minute ago. Was that guy trying to be helpful or something? Whatever it was, Aomine wasn't so sure he'd necessarily be friends with him, but he'd at least pretend to get along with him if only for Kagami's sake.


End of Chapter.

Himuro!? Are you friend or foe!?

Things seemed to have gotten a little more light-hearted again. I think we all need that after the previous chapters.

As always, thank you for reading and the support!