Hey y'all! It's been a while, hasn't it? To be real with you, I wasn't feeling it. I got a bunch of comments which pissed me tf off and I didn't want to update. I won't call anyone out, but please be careful of what you say in your comments, alrighty? Thanks.

Either way, to all the other people who gave me strength with their words, thank you so very much! I appreciate it with all my heart! Although I didn't make it in replying to all of your comments, I read and loved every single one of them! *hugs* Hope you enjoy this chapter as well! ^_^

XXXX

One month later.

The ball flew straight towards the hoop, but it bounced off the rim instead of getting in. Taiga cringed. He didn't know how many times he had attempted to score a three-pointer that day, however, he knew that out of the hundred times he tried, he hadn't even achieved ten.

He was out of his fucking game, for real.

Truth to be told, Taiga had a lot in his mind and this was pretty evident by his concentration. Or rather, the lack thereof. Good news were that he wasn't thinking about that unfortunate encounter with his ex. He was actually and very completely over her too; he gave no shit about her anymore. Bad news were that he had been messing up in practice too and Coach wasn't happy about it. At all. He made Taiga run miles and miles to repent for his sins, then proceeded to force push ups on him.

There were times Taiga couldn't feel his arms for days at once.

Either way, the point was that Taiga was thinking way too many things at once and he had troubles arranging them in some sort of intelligible order. His mind was in a state of chaos and everything was burning. It was fucking him up. And Aomine was the only one to blame. Because Aomine was the main protagonist of the mess in his head. Aomine was the one who set everything on fire, and Taiga wasn't sure if he hated him for that. Somehow he couldn't.

It was so fucking complicated; ever since the thought that he could possibly harbor feelings for Aomine crossed his mind a bunch of weeks ago, Taiga hadn't been himself. He had switched all the way into his overthinking mode, which was oh-so totally not helpful. See, the biggest part of him was saying that, yes, he did have feelings for Aomine. A lot of them actually. Aomine was really important to him and Taiga wanted to keep him around for as long as he could. He wanted to play basketball with him, to eat with him, argue with him too, watch movies and games with him, to coexist in the same space with him. It was good when Aomine was around, it felt so fucking right. Taiga never had this with anyone else but Kuroko. However, what Taiga couldn't quite put his finger on, what whether these feelings were simply friendly or...past friendly.

Could they possibly be romantic? For God's sake.

See, he knew for sure that what he felt for Kuroko was totally platonic. Kuroko was his best friend. He was someone who squeezed good things out of Taiga, despite the fact that Kuroko was an asshole most of the times.

But Aomine? Aomine drew different emotions from him, different reactions. Yes, Taiga argued with Kuroko a lot too, yet it was never like that; most of the times it was because Kuroko was being a smack-talking piece of shit and pissing Taiga off. It was only Taiga who burned with anger. With Aomine, everything burnt for hours after an argument. And the fire kept going until they smothered it with their bodies and sweat, a punch or a shove or a blinding release. Everything was explosive when it came to Aomine. It was...stronger, somehow. And that was mainly what confused Taiga so much.

Also, he then kinda wanted to snuggle Aomine while they watched movies. Question was, were these emotions just a part of being friends with Aomine or it they were because Taiga had the hots for him? Because, last time Taiga checked, snuggling was a pretty fucking gay thing to want. A weird one too, considering he mostly wanted it after they were done arguing the shit out of each other.

I don't even fucking know anymore, he mentally scoffed, tossing the ball towards the hoop again. He missed. Again. After that, Taiga finally gave up practicing. The sun had set, he was pissed and hungry, the latter making this mess of a situation even worse.

Stuffing his face with burgers was the best idea at the time. He knew neither Coach nor his arteries wouldn't approve of it, but going back to his place meant that there was a chance he would meet Aomine and Taiga wasn't ready for that just yet.

He had been so lost in his thoughts that when his phone began buzzing, Taiga jumped out of his skin. With his heart in his throat, he glanced at the screen only to see an incoming audio call from Kuroko. Jeez, had the asshole sensed Taiga thinking about him? Chuckling, Taiga plugged his headphones and answered. "Sup."

"Good morning, Kagami-kun," Kuroko politely answered, "Well, evening in your timezone."

"Fair enough," Taiga smirked, "You doing good?"

"Yes, thank you. What about you? Are you feeling any better?"

Taiga paused at that. He knew about what Kuroko was asking. See, the man knew all about the events with Taiga's ex, since Taiga had told him all about it, and he had been rather worried about Taiga's mental health ever since.

How was Taiga supposed to tell him that, in fact, he didn't give a shit about his ex anymore and he angsted over Aomine instead?

"Yeah," he sighed in the end, "I am over her, finally."

"That's good to know..." Kuroko stopped, hesitated. Then he said, "It seems that there is something bothering you though."

Taiga barked a humorless laugh. Talk about hitting the nail on the head. "Are you a psychic or something?"

"No, I just know you too well."

He has a point, not gonna lie. Taiga sighed, "It's...complicated."

"Is it about Aomine-kun again?"

"Stop reading my mind, it's creepy."

Kuroko chuckled airily. "What did he do?"

Taiga put his half-finished burger down and sighed again. "It's not that he did something," he muttered, picking on the upper bun, "It's me who feels sort of complicated about him..."

"Care to explain?"

"How should I..."

How should he, really? Was there an easy way to say, hey Kuroko, me and Aomine have been sort of fucking the past six months, taking a break only when I got a girlfriend but then started again, cool isn't it? Yeah. How should he explain this, really.

"In Japanese, if that is okay with you," Kuroko sassed shamelessly.

Kagami scoffed at him before taking a deep breath. "Listen," he hesitated, "Me and Aomine...have been intimate for a while. Before I got together with my ex and we started again after I broke up with her." Silence stretched from the other end. Taiga laughed nervously. "Shocking, huh?"

"Not really," Kuroko replied, voice surprisingly even. Wasn't he shocked that his two friends were...doing each other?

"What do you mean, not really?"

"I mean that tension had always existed between you and Aomine-kun. I don't see why it's strange that you decided to relieve it with sex."

Taiga was completely speechless, mouth hanging open and everything. "You don't think it's weird?"

"Bisexuality is not weird, Kagami-kun. It's just a sexuality. It would be hypocritical of me to reject yours when you've done nothing but accept mine."

Taiga recalled the relief in Kuroko's face when he had a replied "S'cool" that time Kuroko came out to him as asexual. "I guess you're right."

"So what's the problem?", Kuroko asked, "Do you now have romantic feelings for him?"

"What?! No!", Taiga shouted instictively. Heads turned his way and he pretended to shrink in his seat. "I mean..." He added in a quieter tone, pushing a hand through his hair. "I don't know?"

"What do you mean you don't know? You don't know if you wanna date Aomine-kun or not?"

Taiga blushed as red as his hair. Date Aomine... Jesus Christ, that was embarrassing. "I-It's not like that..."

"Then how is it?"

Kuroko was relentless. Taiga was having a hard time with it. "I...I don't know, Kuroko. Honestly? I don't know if what I feel is platonic or romantic. I love having sex with him, I love when we can just chill together and do nothing, I love playing basketball with him but...do I love him?"

"Kagami-kun, if Aomine-kun got a girlfriend now, would you be jealous?"

Taiga pondered on that. Would he be jealous? He wasn't sure. "I don't know. Perhaps? Perhaps not?"

Kuroko huffed, clearly frustrated. "Why are you asking me?"

With a disgruntled noise, Taiga went silent to think this through once again. He honestly didn't know, though. See, he'd seen Aomine kiss other people, he had, in fact, watched Aomine while he had sex with other people but Taiga never felt anything closely related to jealousy during these moments...or had he?

No, no, he really hadn't. Not back then at least. Because now, now that he brought these memories back, now that he pictured Aomine in someone else's arms, his stomach churned in...disgust. Something ugly bloomed in his chest and he grunted by the intensity of it. His heart started racing, loud enough to hear it all the way to his ears. Heat gathered in his face at the realization.

Fuck.

He said it out loud too. Then he facepalmed. "Holy shit, I'd fucking strangle them."

There was a smile in Kuroko's voice when he said, "Well, then I suppose you would be jealous."

Taiga shuddered. "Fuck."

"Which means that, yes, you do have romantic feelings for Aomine-kun," Kuroko added mercilessly.

Great. Fucking great. Very fucking great.

Kagami Taiga had feelings for an asshole called Aomine Daiki? For real? According to Kuroko, yes; Taiga struggled to believe it just yet. However, this revelation cleared the mess in his head; the conflict was finally resolved. It brought back some temporary peace of mind. Not for too long, though, because a new brighter fire scorched everything inside him now.

Fuck, it totally was for real. Shit. Fuck. How perfect.

What the fuck am I supposed to do with that now?

"Somehow I wish I hadn't known," Taiga mumbled. Then he sighed heavily. "Why him?"

Kuroko laughed again. He sounded way too pleased with himself and it rubbed Taiga the wrong way. "Well, you and Aomine-kun were always way too similar and different at the same time but in a odd way, you complete each other. It's like you're soulmates."

Taiga cringed. Soulmates? Him and Aomine? Ridiculous at best. "Quit fucking around, that's gross."

"It's not gross. I think you two will be happy together."

"Are you brain dead or something? All we do is argue!"

"You're both unnecessarily hot-headed and stubborn, that's why."

Taiga made a face. "He pisses me off all the time! I can't understand him at all!"

"Aomine-kun isn't the easiest person to deal with, that's true," Kuroko retorted smoothly, "But since you're the same, Aomine-kun can't understand you at all either. Communication is the key."

"Why do you sound like our fucking marriage councelor?"

"If you say this again, I'm hanging up."

Taiga pursed his lips to a thin line and scratched the back of his head. At this point, with his head all fucked up like this, the last thing he wanted was to be left alone. "Sorry, this is just...a lot to take in. Gimme a sec."

"I understand."

Taiga let out a long, suffering breath. "What the fuck do I do?"

There was a pregnant pause before Kuroko answered, "Tell him?"

Huh? "Are you fucking serious, Kuroko?"

"Yes." He did sound a little too serious for Taiga's liking.

Taiga shook his head. "I very much can't do that."

"Why not? Are you afraid he'll reject you?"

"Yes?", Taiga questioned incredulously. "There's this other thing too; he'll get weirded out! As much as I don't want to be rejected, I don't want to lose him either! He's a good friend!"

"I understand your concerns," Kuroko sighed, "Then I suppose you have to approach him indirectly."

"Indirectly?"

Kuroko hummed. "How do we say this...uh, court him. Woo him. Test the waters?"

Taiga felt his face go red once again. Him? To woo Aomine? "That's embarrassing."

"It's the only way you will know if you have chances or not, though."

Taiga was suddenly too tired, too defeated. On one hand, he had just discovered than his pants were indeed dropping for Aomine's ugly (gorgeous) face; on the other, his soul wasn't ready to accept rejection. And now, he couldn't help but acknowledge that Kuroko's idea was the best approach on the sensitive subject called My Very Gay Crush On Aomine Daiki. He took a deep breath in, let it out noisily. Suddenly, he was pissed; pissed at Aomine, who had the audacity to make Taiga lose his mind over him, while he was simply chilling and getting on with his life.

"Alright," Taiga stated with determination, "I will see what I can do."

XXXX

Daiki was this close to losing his fucking mind.

What the fuck was Kagami doing exactly? Why the heck was he messing around like this?

It all started a while ago. Well, Daiki wasn't exactly sure when it started because it was so gradual and so subtle - yes, Kagami had been subtle, it was a miracle - that the realization hit Daiki with a small delay. But when it hit him, it hit him hard and left him flustered and confused.

Kagami had been acting...strange; that was the only way to put it. He was doing some small things which were normal, considering it was Kagami but abnormal at the same time because...it was Kagami. Exhibit A: in the morning, when his classes were earlier than Daiki's, he always left a small breakfast on Daiki's bedside table. Exhibit B: when Daiki was out studying in the library, Kagami texted him things like, hey are you coming back soon? I cooked us dinner, or hey, get your ass here I am sort of in the mood, or God forbid, Daiki's most hated one because it slayed his poor gay heart - Come back soon, I miss you. Exhibit C: these looks. These motherfucking looks Kagami kept giving him at times; when Daiki vented about some stupid shit that happened in his classes, or when Daiki whined about people annoying him - soft looks, tender even, as if Kagami hadn't heard anything more important in his life but the shit that came out of Daiki's mouth.

Could a sensible fucking person explain to Daiki what the fuck was that? Because it was mildly (majorly) freaking him out and destroying his love-sick heart.

A small, hopeful voice in his head kept repeating that perhaps Kagami is in love with you too, yet Daiki stomped on it mercilessly every time. He didn't want hope; he didn't do hope. Not anymore. Last time he did, Kagami killed him with the girlfriend declaration and honest to God, Daiki didn't want any of that pain ever again. He knew he was going to suffer when Kagami found another significant other, however, he would be ready for it; he wouldn't be delusioned by wistful thinking ever again.

So since Kagami didn't have feelings for him...what the fuck was he doing?

Whatever the fuck it was, Daiki wished he would quit it. Because it made Daiki feel all fluffy and important and special, which wasn't true, not for Kagami. And it hurt a lot. See, Daiki didn't mind the sex, he didn't mind the never-ending arguments, but he couldn't stand Kagami pulling him to his chest and caressing his hair until Daiki fell asleep or the welcome home kisses that the redhead seemed very fond of. No, he couldn't stand them; they made him love Kagami even more and that would end up hurting both of them in different ways.

Yet...it was so difficult. It was so difficult to resist Kagami's affections when they were so abundant and so obviously directed at him. It nearly damn killed Daiki every time he had to pretend he wanted to go back to his bed after they had intimate moments. But Daiki was strong; he was strong enough to kill every ounce of hope his traitorous mind conjured up in order to get him hurt in the end. See? His mind wasn't with him on this.

With a sigh, Daiki walked into the campus' gym. He briefly nodded a greeting at the guy in the front desk before he walked towards the lifting benches, where he saw the reason for his inner turmoil lifting a heavy-looking bar up and down...and up and down... Daiki watched with almost religious reverence, how the ripped muscles of Kagami's chest and arms flexed and shifted under the weight and without realizing it, Daiki opened his water bottle and took a sip.

Damn right, he was thirsty as fuck. Because he had experienced first-hand how strong these muscles were and how good they felt against him; recalling it always got him hot and bothered.

Daiki walked behind Kagami's bench, helping the man position the bar on the stand. He saw Kagami's flushed face light up and he died a little inside.

Fuck, I love him so much.

"Sup," Kagami gasped, "You're here to practice?"

I'm here because I missed your dumb ass, even though I have been lowkey avoiding you. Daiki, of course, didn't say that. Instead, he said, "Coach has banned me from weight lifting until my elbow heals."

Kagami sat up. Daiki offered him his water bottle and watched sweat rivulets roll down Kagami's bobbing throat. He swallowed.

"Then why are you here?", Kagami then asked, snapping him out of his excessively thirsty thoughts.

"I was hungry." Not a total lie. "And you weren't picking up your phone."

Kagami half-scoffed, half-laughed. "Is food the only thing you want me for?"

I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to smack your dumb ass with my cane when we are old and wrinkly.

"Yeah, basically," Daiki smirked teasingly. A lie. "And sex," he then added. Not a total lie.

Nevertheless, Kagami rolled his eyes just like Daiki had expected him to. "Asshole."

"You sure like this asshole, considering how often you eat me out."

This made Kagami laugh, cheeks reddening. "That's true."

"So? Are we gon'eat out or you're gonna cook?"

Kagami stood up and stretched his arms over his head. The sound he then made should have been classified as illegal; sinful; the Devil-themselves-would-be-scandalized kind. Daiki was this close to dropping to his knees and sucking him off in order to hear that sound again. Man, I am so thirsty today.

"I'll cook," Kagami sighed, "I'm feeling up to it. What you want to eat?"

You. "Katsudon."

"Katsudon? We need to go shopping then, we don't have meat."

We. Daiki couldn't get used to how much he loved that we.

Kill me with your domestic shit, Kagami; do it.

"Sure thing."

At the silence that followed, Daiki watched Kagami put down the water bottle, glance around once and twice before he stepped closer. Then, Kagami's large hands landed on Daiki's sides and Daiki's stomach quivered, his knees almost giving out when Kagami leaned in and kissed him long and hard and special.

What the fuck am I doing, was the only thing Daiki could think of as he kissed back with urgency. Am I trying to break my own damn heart again?

He was weak, goddamn it. He was too in love and he couldn't, for the sake of his sanity, resist.

When they finally managed to tear away from each other, Kagami gazed at Daiki all flushed and dazed. The look suited him in Daiki's opinion; he liked it on Kagami a lot.

"I love it when you kiss me like that."

Daiki clenched his teeth at the sound of these words. There it fucking was again; those damn words. Kagami sounded so earnest, so...in love. Daiki almost got his hopes up again, but he knew better. No hope for him; zero hope for him.

But...Why was Kagami doing this, damn it?

So he didn't reply to it. It was the best solution he could come up with at the time. Instead, he just took a step away from Kagami and began to walk away. He didn't miss how dejected Kagami looked but he pretended not to see it. Instead, he said, "Move it, I'm hungry."

After a while of silence, Daiki fleetingly heard a low, "Okay."

Daiki waited outside for ten minutes until Kagami finally came out, casual clothes on and a disappointed expression on his face. Daiki ignored it all the way to the store, all the way back home and all the time they spent cooking katsudon. But then, he initiated a playful argument because he lowkey felt bad and awkward about this tense atmosphere between them, and thankfully Kagami's spirits seemed to lift a little.

Once the katsudon was done, they picked up their excessively full plates and indulged while watching a movie on Kagami's laptop.

"Man, this shit's good," Daiki sighed once he swallowed the first bite. Good was an understatement actually; Daiki's taste buds had just had an orgasm in his damn mouth but he always sucked at giving Kagami's cooking compliments. Why? Because he was afraid he would turn himself in.

Still though, Kagami's face lit up with a toothy grin. His cheeks were full of the bite he hadn't swallowed yet and he looked like a goddamned chipmunk. Daiki had never seen anything cuter in his life and he was so darn fucking weak.

"Thanks! You helped too though."

"I just cut the meat, it's not biggie."

"To be honest, I was afraid I'd eat your fingers instead of that pork."

Daiki glared at Kagami's smirking face. "Shut the fuck up, asshole."

"I can't praise you and not drag you straight after, sorry."

"And that's probably the only straight thing you can do, you gay nerd."

"Fuck you, you aren't any better."

Zero lies detected in that statement. Daiki barked out a laugh and went back to eating.

They settled in a peaceful silence after that, the buzzing dialogues of the movie being the only sound in their room. After finishing his plate, Kagami leaned against Daiki's shoulder and went into a mild hibernation mode, like he always did after he ate, leaving Daiki with his heart tap dancing in his throat. Like always. Because all he wanted was to cradle Kagami in his arms and nuzzle his hair while the redhead slept; because, at times like this, all of the affection he had for that stupid idiot, increased to its maximum.

I am so weak.

Just at the time the movie ended, Kagami started to stir awake. "About damn time," Daiki scoffed at him, already missing Kagami's warmth as the man shifted away.

"Sorry."

"It's alright. I don't mind it."

Kagami chuckled weakly and reached out to tenderly caress Daiki's cheek, pushing some of Daiki's hair behind his ear. It made Daiki shudder. It broke his fucking heart. And all that pain irritated him. He let Kagami do it though, pretending he wasn't noticing a thing, waiting for Kagami to stop at some point.

But Kagami didn't. He didn't stop. He didn't stop and he was looking at Daiki with stars in his eyes. And that was the last straw for Daiki's patience. He jerked away and slapped Kagami's hand away, suddenly furious. "Stop fucking messing around," he hissed.

The confusion written all over Kagami's face didn't do much to sooth his anger. "What?", the redhead asked.

"What the fuck has gotten into you lately?", Daiki continued, pushing a hand through his hair, "Why the fuck are you treating me as if I'm your damn boyfriend or something? Just because we fuck sometimes, it don't mean anything. So stop doing it, it's weird."

It's not weird. At all. I love it. I'm sorry. I love you.

Daiki saw Kagami's astonished expression flatten in a way he had never seen before. The fire in his eyes went completely out, replaced by some dull, almost dead emotion. Instantly, Daiki regretted the words that had come out of his mouth but he couldn't exactly take them back. He didn't know how to. He didn't want to apologize either. So he just sat there, unmoving, staring at Kagami's expressionless face with his heart racing in his chest. There was this awful feeling at the pit of his stomach; this feeling which somehow told him that he had done something very bad just now.

The feeling told him that he had just broken something completely. And he didn't know what to do with it. He didn't know how to put everything back.

The tense silence between them eased only because Kagami stood up from the bed. "Alright," Kagami muttered tightly. He stiffly walked to their closet and grabbed his sweater, then his keys and bag and with a gruff, "I'll go to the library," he simply left.

Yeah, Daiki mused to himself, already at the toilet to throw up Kagami's katsudon, Something went terribly wrong just now.

And it's all my fucking fault. Like always.

XXXX

Taiga stared at the blinking stars above his head and let out a pained sigh. The burning ache in the middle of his chest made it very hard to breathe but at the same time, it made him wonder; how was it possible to hurt this much? Taiga knew pain; he remembered how much it had hurt when Tatsuya told him he didn't want to be his brother anymore; he remembered how much he had hurt when his ex cheated on him. But this pain? This was something else. This one felt as if he was getting stabbed and scorched at the same time.

He didn't know why Aomine's words had hurt him so bad though. It wasn't that Taiga had been in love with him for long; he only recently realized his feelings for the blue-haired man. So why? Why did Aomine's words always hurt him more than anyone else's?

You and Aomine-kun are kind of like soulmates.

Kuroko's words echoed in his mind and somehow it answered all of Taiga's questions. He chuckled, without humor.

Soulmates. No fucking wonder it hurts so bad then.

Taiga fished his phone from his pocket and called Kuroko. It rang for a while before his best friend picked up.

"Kagami-kun," his soft voice spoke, "Isn't it kind of late to be awake?"

"I'm giving up, Kuroko," Taiga simply said. His chest ached more than he and ever felt it before. He couldn't breathe.

The other line stayed silent for a while. Then Kuroko said, "Are you sure it's the right thing?"

"He literally told me to knock it off," Taiga sighed, at the verge of tears. "Heh, he couldn't be any clearer than that, could he?"

"...I'm so sorry, Kagami-kun."

Tears trickled down Taiga's cheeks. His whole body then began shaking. "Yeah," he breathed, "So am I." And with that, he ended the call.

Then...he cried.

XXXX

Ugh, I'm so sorry my children. I hurt you too much.

Comments, comments, comments; I can't begin to explain how necessary they are. Tell me if you enjoyed this update, tell me if it feels forced, tell me if y'all can keep up with it; I wanna know. And while we are at it, I'll let you in on a little secret: every artist needs feedback. And it's not about me being insecure or paranoid; it's about whether y'all enjoy what I'm putting up or I'm just wasting my damn time. So don't be shy or lazy. Lack of feedback makes me lazy too.

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