A/N: hello everyone! Thanks once again to my amazing readers/reviewers/favourites :) FLUFF ALERT! Enjoy this chapter, the next update will be on Tuesday or Wednesday. Let me know what you think!

I glared down at my phone, willing it to break so I wouldn't have to pick it up and make the call. Taiga was just one room over in the guest bed, and I didn't want to wake him and make him sit beside me and hold my hand. Steeling myself, and hoping it wouldn't take long, I picked up the phone and was just about to call my mother when I heard the familiar jingle of the keys in the front door.

I waited patiently on my bed, knowing it could only be one person. He lumbered up the stairs and stuck his head into my doorway, grinning in his usual fashion (it was strangely comforting).

"Mornin'," he smiled, setting his bag down beside my desk before he flopped down on my bed beside me. I didn't bother asking him why he was at my house at five-thirty am when we caught the bus together at six-thirty, but I smiled at him nevertheless, still snuggled up in my pyjamas.

"What're you doing?" he noted my hand – outstretched towards my phone.

"J-" I cleared my throat, "Just about to call my mother."

The smile eased off his face, and I knew he was remembering my red-rimmed eyes as I walked into the café yesterday.

"Oh. Did you want me to step out for a bit-"

"No," I might've been too loud, but I really didn't want him to go, "stay. Please?"

He nodded, and I picked up the phone, hitting the call button at last.

"Satsuki. What kind of time is this? Why are you calling now?"

"Mother? I just thought, because you told me to call in the-"

"I'm busy now, dear. Call at some other time of the morning," she laughed, and I flinched, "can't do anything right, can you?"

The line went dead, and I turned away from Daiki, letting my feet dangle off the edge of the bed. I should've expected something along those lines – my mother was never one to play fair when she was mad. Running a hand through my hair, a shot Daiki an apologetic smile over my shoulder, "Sorry."

He frowned, "Kagami's right. Your mother is a bitch."

I looked anywhere but him, trying to ignore the frustration prickling at my eyes, "I know. I tell myself that it doesn't matter. But sometimes it's hard – because she's my mum, and it hurts when she does stuff like that."

I felt him shuffle closer – and his warm hand was suddenly on my back, "I know how you feel. My parents aren't particularly fond of their basketball idiot son. Think I'm a waste of time and whatnot."

My hand found his and I squeezed gently, the thought of a young Daiki dealing with parents that thought he was a no-hoper making me cringe.

"They say all these nasty things," he continued, tones low and understanding, "about how you're no good, and your life is going to be wasted and whatnot…" he squeezed my hand a little tighter and it hurt, "And it's totally okay for them to love you, but it's not okay for them to make you feel like this."

"You know," I said after a moment, "they were wrong about you."

I turned to meet his confused gaze.

"You're not a waste of time. At school they weren't teaching you in a way that you understood. You're incredibly intelligent, and I believe that you've got what it takes to prove your parents wrong with how well you end up doing this year."

His eyes were wide – shocked – but I kept going.

"You're capable of so much, Daiki. So much. I know it because I've seen you focus – truly focus – when you're playing ball. With that level of concentration, I know you can do whatever you set your mind to. Besides," I grinned down at his stoked face, "they've obviously never seen you analyse a basketball game. You're so incredible, the way you know things instinctually, the way you break things down – things that only a player would understand – into something that I can understand-"

He tugged me down then – and held me tightly against his chest (which a frantic thumping was emanating from), and murmured, "Thank you," into my hair.

I laughed, and hugged him as best I could, "For what, Dai-chan?"

"For believing that I'm more than what everyone makes me out to be," he ran a hand through my hair, "More than a stupid basketball idiot."

I chuckled and shook my head, "You're still a basketball idiot, you know?"

"Oh, shut it, you!" but his tone was light, and I felt lighter, too.

"So," I sighed, content with lying against him a little longer, "Kise's, huh?"

He chuckled then, "Yeah, we do it off Akashi's radar as much as we can. He can't do much other than assign extra laps. Plus, we don't get smashed to the point of having a hangover, but we don't exactly stop at two standard cups of alcohol either."

I nodded in understanding, "Yeah. Hey," I hoped I wasn't treading into no man's land, "can I ask you something?"

"Shoot," he yawned.

"Why did every single girl you were with last week ask me if my boobs were real?" I sounded grumpy, but I was just curious, "Is it that hard to believe that I grew them myself?"

Daiki laughed then, heartily and warm, and I couldn't help smile despite the fact he couldn't see it.

"You're strange, Satsuki," he sighed once he'd calmed down, "don't know what the heck I see in you. Oh, by the way, Kise's changing the date to Wednesday just in case any of us gets hung over. Wouldn't want to play the match on Saturday as drunk as uncle Goro."

At a loss for words, I stuttered, "O-Oh. Okay. Y-Yeah," because surely Daiki realised that he just spoke to me as though I were his girlfriend?

Unfortunately, he didn't.