I was frantically trying to get dressed and run a brush through my hair when I heard the knock at the door. I groaned loudly when my dad answered it and I heard him say, "Kise! It's so nice to see you again."

"Hello Mr. Haizawa," I heard Kise reply happily.

I gave up on my hair, grabbed my phone, and headed down the stairs, "Don't be a stranger, come on in," I heard my dad say as I reached the end of the stairs.

"Actually dad, we have to go," I said.

My dad turned his head towards me, "How disappointing."

Kise meanwhile, had taken up my dad's invitation to come inside and had planted himself in front of the fishbowl with a stupid grin on his face. He looked at me as I walked up to him, "How's Kise Jr. doing? Is he happy?" he asked me.

"I guess, I mean he's a fish," I replied.

Kise sighed, "I just hope he understands that Papa's really busy with basketball, school, and work, so I can't come and see him that often."

"Again he's a fish," I said apathetically.

Kise brought his hand to his chin and said dramatically, "Supporting a family is hard."

I rolled my eyes and pondered the question of Kise's sanity, which came across my mind daily. Ever since he had given me Kise Jr. he had periodically given me fish food and aquarium accessories a couple times a month, claiming that he had to "provide for his family". "Honestly, you're too much," I said.

"They like each other a lot," my dad said motioning towards the fish, "Maybe it's a sign~" he swooned.

Kise smiled widely and I glared at my dad, saying, "No."

"So Kise," my dad ignored me and continued, "It's a shame you two have to go, but how would you feel about coming to dinner tonight?"

"I'd love to-ssu," Kise said excitedly.

"Okay, we need to go or we're going to be late, and I'm not about to have Yuki bitch at me for the next three hours," I said to Kise.

"Fine. Bye Mr. Haizawa!" Kise said as I dragged him out the door.

I had a smirk on my face the whole way to the station. Kise was only excited and comfortable about coming to dinner because he knows my dad and how much he likes him. What he doesn't know is that my mother is coming home this afternoon, and will be present at this dinner. My mother, ex gang member, tough as nails, and current cutthroat hostile businesswoman; I wouldn't be surprised if she reduced Kise to a puddle of yellow slush with the consistency of wet snow. Is it cruel of me to keep this little piece of information to myself? Maybe. But who ever said I wasn't cruel?

"Shiracchi," I heard from the seat beside me.

"Yes blondie?" I asked.

"Are you as tense as I am right now?" he asked.

"Yeah," I answered honestly.

Kise twiddled his thumbs, "I should be thankful to Kurokocchi, he made me see basketball differently, and because of that I'm part of an actual team. I just hope he can make Aominecchi see the same thing."

"Well, I wouldn't expect anything drastic. Touou doesn't focus on team play that much, so if losing does anything, it'll probably help his personality," I said.

"That's good though! I want Aominecchi to go back to being the person he was before, the one who inspired me to play basketball," Kise replied.

"You have such a boy crush on him blondie," I said.

Kise's face turned red, "I do not!" he insisted.

I laughed, "Do yourself a favor and don't deny it, anyway, I hope it will make lighten up, then he can unfurrow his eyebrows and stop looking like such an old man."

Kise laughed, "Shiracchi, that's so mean!"

I smiled, "What? It's the truth, boy's gonna need botox in a couple years if he keeps going at this rate."

Kise giggled hysterically, before losing his smile and saying lowly, "But we're talking about it as if Kurokocchi and Kagamicchi will win, and that probably won't happen."

"Chin up blondie," I said running my fingers through his hair, "Where's that infamous Kise enthusiasm?"

"Where I left it. Back at the Interhigh," Kise grumbled.

I pulled out my phone and opened my Oha Osa app, "Let's see, Gemini's ranking is second, and your lucky item is...huh."

Kise looked at me through the corner of his eye curiously and asked, "What?"

I put my phone back in my pocket and reached for my ear, "A blue earring," I said, taking out my blue steel earring I had found on the street.

I saw Kise blush as I reached over to his ear and took out his silver earring, and his ears grew a bright red as I put mine in, "What a-are you doing?" he stammered.

"I figure if you already have good luck today and you have your lucky item, things'll go your way. And what you want most right now is for Seirin to win right?" I explained.

Kise nodded, "But I feel bad, I can't just take your earring Shiracchi, you really like it."

"If you're that worried about it, then I'll wear yours. Then it's a trade," I said, going to put the earring in.

The only thing was, is that the piercing was at an awkward angle at the top of my ear, and the earring refused to go in smoothly. After about five minutes I looked at Kise saying, "Hey, blondie, I need your assistance."

"Sure thing," Kise said smiling, but I could feel his hands trembling when he took the earring from me.

"Calm down," I said as he fumbled with it nervously, "It's an ear, not like it's anything sexual."

"Scratch that. Ears are sexual," I added.

"They are not," Kise exclaimed.

"So innocent," I chuckled.

"Shiracchi, you're being mean again," Kise said a he managed to get the earring in.

"You should be used to it by now," I said.

"This is our stop. We could always just stay on this train and see where it takes us," Kise said.

I grabbed him saying, "And face the wrath of Kasamatsu Yukio? Hell no."

We managed to make it to the court early, and ran into Seirin as they were heading to their locker room. "Hi sweet panda, I'm rooting for you today," I said giving Kuroko a hug.

"Hello Shira-kun," Kuroko replied.

"Kurokocchi!" Kise yelled and attempted to hug him, a hug which Kuroko swiftly avoided.

I laughed, until I noticed a presence to my right, "Shira-kun, can I ask you a favor?"

I looked at Kuroko, "What?"

"Can you watch Nigou, he tends to wander off during our games and I would feel better if I knew where he was," he answered.

I looked down at the puppy sniffing my shoes, "Sure thing," I said, picking up Nigou.

"Aren't you just the cutest thing in the world?" I cooed as I scratched behind Nigou's ears.

"Excuse me Shiracchi, but I'm the cutest thing of the world," Kise said seriously.

"You embarrass yourself," I said apathetically.

"Kurokocchi, we have to go," Kise said suddenly.

"Right," Kuroko responded.

"Where are you going?" I asked them.

"To meet with Akashi-kun," Kuroko answered.

I sighed and turned to Kise, "Coach is gonna be mad, he specifically said that he wanted to have a team meeting before the start of the Winter Cup."

"Send my apologizes-ssu," Kise said as he walked away.

"Our family just expanded and the first thing you do is leave me!" I yelled after him as Nigou squirmed in my arms.

I earned quite a few weird looks from that statement, and a blushing Kise turned to me and yelled back, "Don't say things like that in public, people'll get the wrong idea!"

I looked back at Kagami, who had started following them, "Normally I'd tell you to go after your Asian princess, but you might want to avoid Akashi as much as possible," I said to him.

"Whatever, I'm going," Kagami grunted.

"Furihata, follow them," I heard Hyuuga order.

I looked at the cowardly shaking bundle of nerves that followed and looked at Nigou saying, "Well that's just going to work out perfectly; Akashi wants a meeting between the generation of miracles and he's about to get half of Seirin's team."

I walked into the building to find my team saying, "You know what that was Nigou? That was sarcasm."

When Kise joined us to watch the game, I could tell he was shaken up, "Hey, what happened?" I asked as he sat down next to me.

"Akashicchi...Kagamicchi...scissors," was his reply.

"I don't even want to know," I said.

Kise's demeanor changed and he started pouting, "Make sure to keep your eyes off of Imayoshi-ssu."

"And Aominecchi," he added.

"And Kagamicchi," he added again.

"Coach," I said to Takeuchi-sensei, who was seated below me, "Do I even have to be here, because I'm apparently not allowed to watch the game."

"Both of you shut up, the games about to start, and," he said looking up, "Kise, when I say there's a team meeting I expect you to be there."

"I understand, sorry-ssu," Kise said.

The first quarter was nerve wracking, and ended with Touou and Seirin tied at twenty two points. Kise turned to me and whined, "Shiracchi, my lucky item isn't working. You should give me a good luck kiss."

"I'll give you a good luck bruise, now shut up and watch the game," I replied.

The second quarter was just as tedious and intense, but ended with Touou leading by two points. "I need to get some air, does anyone want anything to eat or drink?" I asked, standing up.

As I ordered everything, I regretted my decision to ask a group of hungry teenage boys if they wanted anything to eat. I looked at the pile of food and drinks, and looked at the worker, "Do you have a bag or something?" I asked.

He shrugged, "Nope, I don't know what to tell you, maybe you should eat less."

A look of anger flashed on my face, and I was very close to punching the guy in his stupid face when a lazy voice said next to me, "Ne, that's a lot of food."

I looked beside me and was confronted with a huge wall. Craning my neck, I was able to see a head with eyes looking down on me, "Yes, yes it is," I said.

"You're so small, makes me want to crush you," the tall guy said as he patted my head.

I didn't bother getting angry at him because he seemed kind of out of it and I said quickly, "You're so tall it makes me want to climb you, or use you to reach things that are high, or," I said, getting an idea, "Use you to carry a crapload of food."

The guy glanced at my mountain of food, getting what I was implying, "Only if you give me a box of candy."

"Sure thing," I said, not questioning why he needed more food when I could see clearly that he was carrying a plastic bag full of snacks.

He picked up the pile of food and we made our way back to the gym, that was until we were interrupted by someone. I gathered he was on the same team as tall guy because they were wearing the same uniform, but I instantly didn't like him very much. His hair was what bothered me mostly, I felt like he was some emo scene kid. "Atsushi, we have to get back," he said to the tall guy.

Atsushi turned to me, "I can carry it the rest of the way, thanks for the help and here's your candy," I said to him and took the food.

When I returned to my seat Kise looked at me, "There you are Shiracchi, the third quarter's just about to start."

"What's the score again?" I asked him as I handed everyone their food.

"48-46," Kise answered.

Once I sat down I tugged Kise's jacket saying, "Come down here, you're too tall."

"What?" Kise asked as I pulled him down.

I gave him a small kiss on the cheek, which immediately caused him to turn red, "Shiracchi, what was that?" he asked.

I looked at him plainly, "It was a good luck kiss, I'm willing to do anything for my sweet panda to win."

Kise smiled, "Shiracchi, you don't actually believe in all that stuff do you?"

"Of course I do, have you ever borrowed Midorima's lucky pencil for a test? I swear that man's a wizard," I answered.

Kise laughed, "Shiracchi you're weird."

He looked at me and added wistfully, "But I love that about you."

I was caught off guard at his comment and couldn't make a snippy reply back, so I blushed slightly and looked away.

"Some of us are trying to watch a basketball game, so if you can flirt on your own time please," Kasamatsu said gruffly.

Kise quieted down and we commenced watching the game. The third quarter passed by and Touou was still in the lead, but the fourth quarter was on a whole other level. "What's different?" I mumbled to himself.

Nakamura, my handy dandy basketball interpreter to the right of me responded, "Kagami and Aomine are both in the zone."

"The zone?" I asked.

"They're pushing themselves past their limits," he explained.

"That sounds lame, and dangerous," I said.

"I can't imagine it's good for their bodies," Nakamura stated.

With only five seconds left in the game I watched as Kiyoshi missed a free throw, Kagami go for the rebound, only to be slapped away by Aomine. "Come on," I grumbled to myself.

I saw Kuroko pass the ball back to where Kagami and Aomine were, and Kagami catch the ball mid air and dunk it, finishing the game and winning by one point. Everyone stood up and cheered, but I found myself picked up and squeezed by Kise, "Shiracchi, our good luck charms worked!" he said excitedly.

"Blondie, you sound like a kid," I said as he put me down, "But I guess that's okay," I said smiling.

"Ahh, I'm so excited. I never thought that I could be this happy from a match that I didn't participate in~" Kise sang as he twirled through the street.

I laughed, "Calm down blondie, we're almost to my house."

"I know, I'm just so happy I can't contain it," he said.

"How is that any different from any other day?" I asked.

"Mean," Kise pouted.

"Stop pouting, we're here," I said opening up my door.

"Kise, my boy, it's so nice to see you," my dad said as soon as we walked in.

"It's nice to see you too Mr. Haizawa," Kise said smiling.

"So," a low voice said behind my father, "This is the Kise my husband's been talking about non stop."

My father stepped aside to reveal my mother, in all her intimidating glory; sitting in the armchair in the living room with a cigarette in her mouth and an intense glare that looked Kise up and down. I held back a laugh as Kise froze and started hyperventilating, and I walked over and gave my mom a hug saying, "Welcome home mom."

She nodded at me, "Yes, I'm Kise Ryouta, it's nice to meet you Mrs. Haizawa," Kise said and he must've bowed at least ten times.

My mom gave him a small nod of acknowledgment and turned to my dad asking, "Is the food ready."

"Yes dear," my dad answered.

We all made our way into the dining room, although I had to keep myself from laughing at Kise, who was walking stiffly and had a look of terror on his face. We sat down to eat, and that's when my mother began to assault Kise with a barrage of questions.

"How old are you?"

"What's your family like?"

"I'm told you're a model."

"What are your grades like?"

"Do you plan to make a career out of basketball?"

"Are you violent?"

"Are you a pushover?"

"Who are your friends?"

"Where do you live?"

Kise answered simply to most of the questions, and was followed up by my dad saying something positive about him. That was until my mom narrowed her eyes and said slyly, "You're a pretty popular model right? You must have had a bunch of girlfriends by now."

"Not really, and Shiracchi is the only girl I've ever loved!" Kise said passionately.

My dad clapped his hands together, "See how wonderful he is dear?"

My mom rested her head on her hands, "Maybe so, but you two are pretty different right?"

"That's true," Kise said lowly.

"I love how everyone's discussing this like I didn't reject his confession, we're just friends," I said.

"Don't worry Kise, give her some time and she'll realize that she wants a good guy like you," my dad said, giving Kise a thumbs up.

"I'll work hard to become the man Shiracchi needs me to be!" Kise said with a newfound sense of determination.

My dad looked at Kise with sparkles in his eyes, and my mom and I just looked at each other with disappointment on our faces.

"It's late, are you sure you don't want to stay over?" my dad asked.

"No, my house is close by," Kise answered.

"Okay, bye," my dad said dejectedly and went to go sulk in a corner.

"I don't think your mom likes me very much, she didn't even say goodbye," Kise said with a worried expression.

"That's just the way she is, I wouldn't worry about it, she takes her time when forming an opinion on someone. And it doesn't help that you're pretty tough to figure out," I reassured him.

"You think so?" Kise asked smiling.

"Mmhm, I've known you for months and I still have no clue who you are," I answered.

"Should I try to be more clear," Kise mumbled.

"Nah, your complexity is the only thing keeping you from being a dumb blonde jock," I said.

"Oh, I almost forgot about your earring," Kise said, reaching for his ear.

"Keep it, it's officially been graced as a lucky item. We'll need it for Seirin's next game, who are they playing anyway?" I asked.

"Yosen," Kise answered.

I nodded, " I guess I'll see you then blondie."

"See you then," Kise said, before he gave me a quick kiss on the top of my head and then ran away with a red face.

"Idiot," I laughed as I closed the door.

Hello! I wanted to thank everyone who left a review or favorited/followed this story. To Amethyst, there will be a character showing up in the next chapter that will

make Kise jealous, but he's not exactly a threat per say, and the other characters won't be appearing until later on. I've written this fic to be 40 chapters, and those

characters won't appear till the last ten. To amy1945, I'm glad that you liked Shira's appearance at the hot springs because that was one of my favorite chapters to

write, it's the chapter that most shows Shira's character in my opinion. And to PouringRain-BlazingStorm, thank you for your support, and the fact that you like the

story makes my life.