Chapter fourteen: What matters

Aomine pressed his face to the side of his naked lover's face and sighed in content. They had been lying on the couch for an hour now and none neither of them wanted to move to the bed since it was too nice to cuddle with each other like this.

Kise yawned and brought one of his hands to Aomine's in order to entwine their fingers together.

"Are you sleepy?" asked quietly the tanned boy and pressed his lips to the other's cheek. Sweet gestures like this was were what made Kise fall for him more and more with each passing second.

The blond nodded and closed his eyes with a smile on his face.

"Mmmm... carry me to the bedroom later?" he asked in a dazed voice, already drifting off in his lover's embrace. His mind seemed to be fogged, no rational thought was able to break through the thick layers of pleasure and dizziness.

Aomine pulled him closer to make sure that Kise was getting all the warmth he needed so that he could sleep peacefully. The tanned boy didn't dare to move as he felt the blond's body become heavier and heavier until his lover was breathing lightly like a sleeping man.

It fascinated him just how easy they had gotten used to each other. There was no awkwardness when Aomine was running his fingers along that beautiful body of Kise's and even thought the model's chest was well toned and hard instead of nicely curved, it felt better than anything just to caress him there. Maybe Aomine had gotten soft but he couldn't care less. If enjoying Kise's presence and breathing deeply that nice smell of his body meant he was going to be called softy, he didn't mind at all.

Carefully, not to wake him up, Aomine shifted Kise's body in his arms and stood up. He frowned. Had Kise gotten lighter than before? Yeah, his ribs were showing more than they used to when the blond was back in Japan... He made a mental note to feed Kise properly once the blond was awake.

Not really caring about being naked, Aomine carried Kise to the king-sized bed in the bedroom and placed him down gently before pulling the sheets to the side so that he could join his lover. Just when he had wrapped his hands around Kise, Aomine noticed something.

Frowning, the Touou's ace pressed his lips to the model's forehead and cursed lowly under his breath.

Kise was burning.

Aomine replaced the already hot cloth on Kise's forehead with a new one that was cooler. He had been doing this for an hour now but Kise's fever didn't seem to get better. Thanks to the gods that were watching over them that it didn't get any worse as well.

The blond was on his back, covered with as much blankets as Aomine had managed to find. His face was flushed because of the temperature and his pink lips were parted. His breathing was ragged and swallow, indicating that Kise was... well, obviously sick.

"Damn it..." Aomine muttered and hurried to the bathroom to fill the basin with cold water. His hands were shaking.

How he hadn't noticed anything earlier? Now that he thought about it, Kise had been warmer than usual when the had sex earlier, but Aomine had ignored him. What is more, the whole day the blond was less cheerful and noisy than usual but the tanned boy had brushed that off as well.

Fuck him. He had screwed up again.

Aomine went back to Kise's room and quickly changed the cloth on his forehead. It had gotten so warm... and Kise's fever wasn't going down at all.

He was getting worried. Maybe he needed to call a doctor?

No, Kise had woken for a minute a while ago, begging him not to call for an ambulance. And Aomine complied because he knew how scared the model was from hospitals.

Okay... that left him with only one option.

He fished out his cell phone from the drawer and scanned through the contacts.

Thankfully, she picked up right away.

"Dai-chan! How is it in America?! How is Ki-chan?! Are you having nice time, you two?" Satsuki didn't even give him time to greet her.

"Oi, Satsuki, shut up for a second, I need help," he muttered and used his free hand to change the clothes again.

Momoi fell silent, wondering what that idiot had done wrong again.

"What did you do, baka!" she asked, preparing herself to kill her friend if he had made her precious Ki-chan sad again.

Aomine frowned.

"Kise is down with fever," he said quickly and dipped the warm cloth in the cold water. "I can't bring it down with just cloths on his forehead. Tell me what to do."

Thankfully, Momoi had gotten through basic medical education since she had been the one to take care of the whole Teiko's team's injuries back when they were playing together.

"Okay, Dai-chan, listen carefully..." she said and waited for a second to make sure that Aomine was paying attention.

"Get more clothes and wet them with cold water," teh girl instructed, trying to remember everything she had learnt. " Then wrap one around each of Ki-chan's ankles. Then use other to wrap it around his neck. You have too keep his head cool, you get that? Then go prepare hot bath. Keep him in it as long as the water is warm. Make sure he drinks a lot of liquids. And make him sage tea... I think that should be enough to bring the temperature down... if it's not working, take him to the hospital."

Aomine had memorized everything.

"Okay, thanks, Satsuki. I will call you later to tell you how is he." The tanned boy hung up before the girl had the chance to say anything.

Okay, now he needed more cloths. And he had to fill the bath tube.

Aomine slowly stripped off Kise's clothes. He had made the blond change into a pair of loose pants and one of the tanned's shirts with a lot of help from Aomine. Now, he was peeling away the garments one by one until Kise was just as naked as he was.

He leaned his lover's body against his own and tilted his chin up. Damn it... his face was still flushed.

"Oi, Ryouta, wake up.." Aomine tried to wake him, but he failed again. Just like the previous countless times.

He sighed and picked Kise up so that he could lower the both of them into the water. It took him a while until he found a comfortable position for both of them. In the end, he settled for Kise's body being pressed against his own.

Aomine used one of his hands to keep the model from drowning, while the other sank itself into the golden strands of hair to keep Kise's head against Aomine's shoulder in the most gentle way. The tanned boy sighed again and let his head fall back. He was tired from not having enough sleep with taking care of his sick lover but what troubled him the most was the fact that Kise's body felt so hot against his. Warmer than the water itself.

He hugged him even closer and kissed the blond's temple.

"Get better soon, idiot," he pleaded and squeezed his eyes shut.

Kise was tired even though he had slept for more than ten hours. His whole body hurt like hell and his mind was so dizzy...

"Daiki..." he moaned and squirmed, trying to find his lover without having to open his heavy eyelids. It was just too hard.

A hand took his fingers and squeezed them tightly in a comforting manner.

"I am here, Ryouta," Aomine mumbled and Kise felt something being lifted from his forehead and replaced with another thing that was cooler. The touch of the damp cloth felt like heaven against his feverish skin.

The blond model smiled a little and gripped Aomine's hand before falling back into a deep sleep. After all, he needed rest in order to heal.

Aomine watched as Kise's expression went back to peaceful again. It has been twelve hours since Kise's temperature had gone up and thankfully, now it was coming down slowly and surly. Maybe he had to get Kise back in the tub? That seemed to help him a lot.

Feeling tired as hell, the Touou's ace placed his head down on Kise's pillow and closed his eyes for a second. He didn't want to fall asleep but the lack of sleep for more than a day was too much for him to handle. Without realizing it, the dark haired boy drifted off, holding Kise's hand in his own.

The next time Kise woke up was a lot of hours later and he felt way better than before. Sure, he was still feeling a little dizzy and his heart still ached but at least he had enough energy to lift his lids up.

It surprised him to see that it was still night but one quick glance at the digital clock on the bedside table informed him that a whole day had passed by while he was asleep.

Geez... It has been a while since I have been sick enough to sleep this long...Hey, something his tickling my neck...

He looked to the side and his lips curved into a soft smile. Aomine had his head right next to Kise's and his breath was going out directly against the blond's sensitive neck. The model frowned a little when he realized that Aomine wasn't lying on the bed. The bottom half of his body was on the ground. One of his arms was folded into an obviously uncomfortable manner under his head while the other was busy holding Kise's fingers. Right next to him on the ground Kise saw a half empty basin. And a couple of cloths. The model brought his free hand to his forehead and removed slowly the one there.

Then he looked back at Aomine with disbelieve. Could he really...?

He really stayed up all this time in order to take care of me?

Now that he mentioned it, Kise actually recalled something like being with Aomine in the bathtub. The other was speaking softly to him while Kise was half awake, barely realizing what was going on around him.

"Get better soon, idiot..."

This was too much for Kise to handle. He covered his stinging eyes with his left hand and tried to hold back the tears. Aomine had taken care of him.

A quiet sob made its way out of Kise's moth and no matter how inaudible it was, it seemed enough to stir Aomine.

The tanned boy took in a sharp breath as he realized that he had fallen asleep against his will. Aomine quickly shot up, ready to changed the cloth on his lover's forehead when he realized that Kise was awake.

And crying.

An alarm went off in his mind.

"Ryouta?" he asked confused and brushed off Kise's hair away from his covered face. "What is going on?" His voice was so soft that it made Kise cry harder, not believing what was going on.

Up until then all of this, of them, seemed like a sweet dream to him but now... he understood that Aomine was there. With him. And he wasn't going to disappear.

Realizing he was making his lover worry, Kise removed his hand and tried to smile.

"You stayed up to take care of me..." he said between sobs. The tears were running down his face.

Aomine blinked, not sure how to react. He was torn between telling the blond that he was an idiot for thinking that he wouldn't do it and hugging Kise close.

Aomine settled for the second.

"Of course I would take care of you, moron," he whispered against his ear and let Kise cling to him and cry his heart out. "I love you after all..."

Kise froze when he heard those words.

Aomine smiled, pulling away a little.

"What?" he teased him with a grin. "You thought I didn't?"

When he got no spoken reply, just a blank stare, Aomine started to get worried.

"Ryouta..." he groaned and grabbed the other's chin. "Look at me. Look me in the eye."

Slowly and hesitantly, Kise obeyed and moved his gaze to Aomine's. What he saw there, left him too vulnerable.

"Listen to me carefully," the tanned boy begged. "I know this might be shocking for you, but I really love you. Why else would I come all the way to America to get you back, hm? Why would I make love to you when it had always been only sex with all of the girls?" Kise's eyes widened more.

It was true... Aomine wasn't the kind to act sweet to anyone. And yet... ever since his arrival in New York he had acted in no other way than gentle towards him. And what they had shared together wasn't just sex to satisfy their physical needs. it had been way deeper than that.

Daiki loves me.

"You are what matters the most to me, idiot," whispered Aomine and kissed him. "Now... I guess you are hungry?"

Ah, romantic as ever... He just confessed to me and he is already back to normal...

Kise smiled and nodded, deciding that he was going to give Aomine an answer later.

Momoi was surprised to see Akashi waiting for her in front of Touou's gym.

Oh, fuck, I am in trouble.

She put a wide smile on her face and waved at her friend.

"Akashi-kun!" she greeted him. The red haired boy's eyes were shining with something Momoi didn't exactly like. "What is going on?"

The Teiko's captain narrowed his eyes.

"I believe you and Tetsuya went behind my back and played a little trick on Daiki and Ryouta without telling me something, Sastsuki..." His voice was low and dangerous, making the pink haired girl gulp.

She laughed nervously and mentally cursed herself and Tetsu for not thinking about the consequences of their actions when Akashi would find out.

"Crap..." she muttered.

Akashi smiled darkly.

"Now, I order you to tell me everything."

A/N:I hope all of you enjoyed it! Thanks for the reviews! And, of course, thanks to everyone who is reading this story! I will try my best to update as soon as possible!