For what seemed like so long, winning felt like a trap. It was something he wanted, but also something he hated. It meant that there wasn't really a point to basketball because no one was better than him. It meant continuing to play was pretty much useless. It meant taking another step closer to giving up something he loved. It was like falling into a black hole, and there was no escape from it.

But Aomine doesn't feel trapped right now, and it's... strange, in a word. He feels lighter, warmer. He knows he's probably felt like this before but somehow this feels new. He scans the court for Taiga, spotting him ruffling the hair of Sakurai who's uncharacteristically shouting for joy. His feet move before his mind consciously tells them to, heading for his direction, but once there's only Sakurai between them Wakamatsu manages to pull them all into a crushing group hug that soon becomes a clump of screaming teenagers as people from their bench flock to them to join in on the madness. Imayoshi stands away from chaos but his smile is genuine as he shakes his head at them.

A referee blows his whistle, breaking up their celebration to have the players line up and pay their respects to their opponents.

"That was something else." Taiga says, as the court clears out. He doesn't need to say more for Aomine to know that he means the second tier of the zone and not their wild group hug. Taiga's grin is wide but his expression is also disbelieving, like he can't quite grasp what they'd achieved. Aomine can relate.

After the referee formally announces the games results and both teams have shouted their thank yous; Akashi shakes his hand, tears welling up in his eyes, and says "Congratulations" like he means it. He doesn't say more than that, although the press of his lips makes Aomine think that maybe he wants to.

So when their handshake ends he says what feels right, "Next year will be even better".

Akashi's eyes widen a fraction before he lets out an amused huff "Yes I suppose it will be." He regards Aomine for a moment, then moves on to shake hands with the rest of Touou.

He's not particularly interested in talking to the rest of Rakuzan, so he hangs back and lets Imayoshi and Wakamatsu do most of the hand-shaking. Taiga seems to have done the same, but Nebuya approaches him and says "You two are monsters." He says it in a friendly way, but there's an obvious hint of resentment.

Taiga laughs "Maybe, but you five were practically Godzilla together."

Nebuya laughs then too, sincere and booming. He claps Taiga on the shoulder "Good game." he says "Next year we'll be the ones taking home the trophy though."

"You can try." Taiga snorts. Nebuya just shakes his head at him, then pats his shoulder one more time before falling back with the rest of Rakuzan.

"Stop staring." says Taiga, and it takes Aomine a second to realize he was talking to him.

He turns his head away quickly "I'm not staring." Not anymore at least.

Taiga snorts again and says "Sure." before heading back to their bench.

Satsuki is bouncing in place practically vibrating with excitement. Tears fall freely down her cheeks and she immediately embraces Taiga once he's in reach, paying no mind at all to how he's dripping in sweat.

Taiga complains about her hold being too tight but he settles a hand on her back and doesn't even squirm. Aomine can see some of their other teammates looking back and forth between himself and the two of them, and rolls his eyes at what he's sure everyone's thinking: that Taiga and Satsuki were a thing, and that Aomine was either being cheated on or dumped. Either way they seemed afraid of his reaction.

So he wraps his arms around their waists and grins down at Satsuki who lets out a choked laugh in response. Then he turns to Taiga who's – much too close.

Taiga's goes from beaming to slack mouthed the instant their eyes lock. There's barely two inches between their faces. Aomine tries to say something but he can't seem to think of anything other that how he can feel Taiga's breath on his skin.

Satsuki saves them from further embarrassment when she squirms in place so she can be the one wrapping her arms around them. Aomine looks back down at her and finds her sobbing into the space between them.

"I'm so happy for you." she mutters, so softly that Aomine suspects she might not have intended for anyone to hear it. He wonders if she means him, or Taiga, or the whole team. Probably all of the above. Probably she was glad for the whole team but particularly ecstatic for him and Taiga.

Why she's so moved by them winning when she was with a team that was thrice a champion is easy to see. Touou did things that Teikou had never considered. Aomine had done things that he may have never considered either had he not met Taiga.

It feels as if he's entered an entirely new stage of his life and Satsuki's compensating for the numb awe he's experiencing by being emotional on his behalf.

"People are staring," Taiga says, not unkindly "there's still the awarding ceremony, c'mon."

Satsuki nods, releases them both to rubs the tears from her eyes. "Right," she says "and Imayoshi-san is still going to announce the new captain and vice-captain." she does a guts pose with two fists "Then, we celebrate!"

Taiga laughs, his face flushed and gleaming with sweat. Some of his hair is sticking to his forehead, and he looks as exhausted as Aomine feels.

"As long as it's not at my house." Taiga says teasingly. Satsuki pouts.

The awarding ceremony doesn't drag on too long. They present the team with the trophy, which Imayoshi receives on their behalf, and all the regulars get medals. Wakamatsu is especially noisy during the picture taking but everyone looks happy. Judging by the loud cheers and applause, a large portion of the crowd is really excited about their win too.

They bow to the Touou players up in the stands in thanks, then they grab their things from the bench and trail at the back of the line of Touou students filing into the dug out. In their locker room Coach congratulates them on the win and everyone cheers until Aomine thinks his ears might bleed. After the noise dies down Coach calls Imayoshi to stand beside him.

"I've talked about this with Coach, Susa and the other third years," he starts "everyone had the same person in mind for the team's new captain. Today proved that this team is going too have to change to win, in how you train, in how you play, in how you interact with each other on the court. I thought you'd need someone who's fit to lead you in this new direction, so it's been decided that Wakamatsu will be the new captain."

The only person who seems genuinely surprised by the announcement is Wakamatsu himself. "But captain," he says "not everyone will listen to me."

"You'll do fine." Imayoshi replies, without hesitation "And besides, we're making Kagami Vice-Captain."

That raises a few eyebrows. Aomine can see second years looking back and forth between each other as if unsure of how they should react to being passed over. Meanwhile Taiga's eyes look like they're bugging out of their sockets.

"Wh-why me?" he blurts out.

"The future of this team depends on you and Aomine in a lot of ways. It makes sense. Besides," Imayoshi smirks "I'm not sure anyone else can handle Aomine duty."

"That better had not been an insult." Aomine grunts.

"Of course not," says Imayoshi "I was complimenting Kagami."

"So you were insulting me then?"

"I was only stating facts."

Taiga snorts "And he's right."

"I am." Imayoshi nods "So if there aren't anymore objections..." he trails off and looks around. Once he's assured that no one else has questions he says "let's head back."

They're rowdier than they usually are inside the bus, but they're almost too subdued considering they're national champions now. Maybe it's just that Aomine's own growing jumble of feelings are dwarfing theirs. Maybe it's the fact that only six people in this bus actually played, so everyone else's happiness is understandably less overwhelming.

It's not that he actually cares. It's just... new, for the lack of a better way to put it, so he can't help but take notice. In Teikou they didn't really celebrate. That they'd win was sort of a given, just another day in the life. Everyone from the first to third string thought that way, and those who never got to play in a game in their three years on the team took pride in just being able to say they're from Teikou, but they had no illusions that they'd become starters.

Right now, the look in these first and second years' faces says "next year". They're happy they're part of a champion school, but they actually have ambition to be a part of that victory. Aomine's not sure how to feel about that, and it won't really affect him in any real way in the long run, but this post-championship atmosphere is what really drives home how much things have changed since Teikou.

In more ways then one, he thinks, with a bit of amusement.

He looks at Taiga who's dozing off beside him, head bumping into the window once or twice. He doesn't really think about what he's doing when he extends his arm to pull Taiga's head to his shoulder. Taiga, who was apparently not actually asleep but only just falling into it, stares up at him in shock.

Taking it back now would be even more embarrassing, so he says "Just sleep," while trying his best not to make it sound like a big deal.

It kind of is a big deal though, and he's pretty sure they both know that. He doesn't think anyone else would bat an eyelash at what they're doing, after all he'd been locked in a pretty intimate hug with Taiga and Satsuki in front of an entire stadium of people. But this? This is different. This is something people who are really comfortable with each other do. This is the classic cheesy romance scenario where one party lovingly looks at the sleeping face of the other. This feels intimate in a way that hug didn't. It feels intimate in the way their faces had been close during the hug.

Or maybe Aomine is overthinking everything. Maybe he's just overly conscious of Taiga because, frankly, he really wants to kiss him right now.

Taiga's body is stiff as he looks up at Aomine, searching his eyes for god knows what before finally relaxing and resting his cheek on Aomine's shoulder. It's not long before he finally falls asleep. Aomine lifts his hand from Taiga's head but is then faced with dilemma of not really knowing where to put it. Squirming to place it back on his side would wake Taiga up, and putting it on Taiga's waist seems too... it's a lot of things that Aomine doesn't want to think about in a bus full of other people.

He tries lowering it in the space behind Taiga's back, slowly moving it down to the seat. It's not until he gets his hand there and it's too late to take it out that he realizes he's put his hand right at Taiga's ass.

Well at least no one can tell, he thinks, discretely scanning the rest of the bus. He looks at Taiga one more time before closing his own eyes. Small comfort.

-o-o-o-o-o-

If Momoi hadn't watched Aomine trip over himself in front of his crushes in elementary school, she might have never noticed. Well, if she was going to be honest with herself, if she hadn't seen the two of them look at each other up close in a way that gave her the feeling that they wanted to lean into each other (audience be damned), she would have never have interpreted Dai-chan's impulsive move in the bus correctly.

She takes pride in her woman's intuition, so it's a bit embarrassing that it takes having it almost literally smacked right at her face before she gets it. She'd tried to shift her arm in a way that would bring them closer but all she succeeded doing was destroying the moment. It was for the best maybe, considering how relieved they'd both looked afterward.

She wonders if she should have a talk with either of them, but she would rather not meddle in something so delicate. She thinks it must be pretty new too, since both of them don't seem to have any idea what to do about it. Then again, they can both be huge idiots. They could be so wrapped up in their own feelings they're completely misreading or missing the other's feelings.

Maybe she should consult Alex-san.

The rest of team is much noisier on the way back to Touou than what she's used too, but if Coach isn't scolding them she doesn't really mind either. They're gushing about the match, some of them are even talking about next year, and a few of them even brazenly proclaim that they'll definitely become a starter once the next inter-high rolls around. It will be an interesting few months for sure, seeing as there's only one out of five spots left.

Their "twin power forwards" are pretty much a given, so is brand new Captain Wakamatsu, and, unless someone new comes in, there's currently no one on the team who can compete with Sakurai-kun as a shooting guard. That leaves the key position of point guard up for grabs, and Momoi cannot wait to scope out the talent.

Everyone who actually participated in making their win happen is either asleep or subdued. Imayoshi-san and Susa-san have chosen to sit in front, so Momoi can't tell if they're asleep or not, but they're definitely not talking. Wakamatsu and Sakurai are definitely asleep, they're seated in the row behind Aomine and Kagami. Wakamatsu's leaning against the window while Sakurai's leaning on him. Momoi's pretty sure it's unintentional, unlike say, the cuddling Aomine instigated.

When the bus comes to a stop Momoi decides to nudge all four boys awake. Sakurai furiously apologizes to Wakamatsu who just ruffles his hair and tells him to stop it because he didn't mind. Aomine and Kagami walk out of the bus without looking at each other. Momoi is beginning to understand some of their weirder past interactions.

She hooks her arms around theirs and smiles "So where are we celebrating?"

"Somewhere with food." Kagami says. "Lots and lots of food."

"Meat preferably." Aomine adds.

"I could go for some Yakiniku." Wakamatsu-san pipes in, and then loudly so everyone hears "Hey, who wants Yakiniku!?"

The other second years laugh and ask him if he's paying. Wakamatsu angrily denies that which prompts even more teasing. As early as now Momoi can see why Imayoshi made Wakamatsu captain. People listen to him, but they find him approachable too. Imayoshi was the perfect leader for Touou's individualistic style, but Wakamatsu is the sort of leader they need for the future.

"If everyone's coming I'd rather go home." Aomine mutters under his breath.

Momoi's about to scold him but Kagami beats her to it.

"Don't be an asshole," he says, glaring "we're going to be playing with these guys next year."

Aomine snorts "They don't have to like me to trust me."

"Sure would help though. Don't make the second tier harder than it already is, we were just lucky that they trusted us enough for it this time around. Who knows what the new guy will be like?"

Aomine purses his lips, then turns away with a huff "Whatever, I want to eat yakiniku anyway."

Momoi's eyebrows shoot up. Dai-chan has it that bad huh, she thinks, if he can't even stay stubborn about something.

"If you have something to say Satsuki just spit it out." Aomine snaps.

"You don't have to say it like that." she snaps back.

"Hey," Kagami says, loudly as to speak over them "can we please not do this? I'm tired. We won. We should be happy and celebrating like you said Momoi."

"We should, but some people are grumpy for some reason," she pouts, exaggerates it a bit "and even after you had such a comfortable nap in the bus."

Seeing Dai-chan choke on his own spit is incredibly worth it. He flits a look at Kagami, who looks on bewildered at Aomine's coughing fit, then turns away. Momoi knows from experience what an embarrassed Aomine looks like, and right now, the furrow of his eyebrow and the way he's biting the inside of his cheeks makes it clear that he wants to sink into a hole and disappear.

Well, she thinks, might as well go for it.

"I'm glad you're close enough friends now that you're comfortable sleeping on Aomine-kun's shoulder Kagami-kun."

Kagami flushes "Uh," he clears his throat "well uh, Aomine volunteered so."

"And I'm glad he did that!" she grips their forearms tightly "We've come a long way from that time you ditched us Dai-chan."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Aomine says through gritted teeth.

Kagami chuckles, in a way Momoi can only describe as fond. "That wasn't even a year ago, and yet.." he shakes his head and laughs again "God, I was so pissed. You really were an asshole though, Ahomine. Well, you still are," he smiles, flashing his teeth at them "but you aren't so bad really, not anymore."

"Is that a compliment Taiga?" Dai-chan asks, though his face says he's determined to take it as a compliment whatever the answer.

"Guess it is." Kagamin has a small smile on his face, looking almost shy.

"Oh," Dai-chan's gaping, apparently at a loss for words "ok then." he clears his throat "Thanks I guess."

Now both of them look embarrassed, and though their gazes dart towards each other somehow they never meet. It's tiring to watch, but Momoi doesn't think pushing them is a very good idea. Inwardly, she sighs.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Kagami criticized Aomine all the time for not being a team player but he kinda feels like he has to reexamine his own life now, since he can't remember most of his teammates' names. The problem is he's only ever really played and hung out with their regulars, so practically everyone else is a stranger to him.

At least he's not alone in that, Sakurai also seems to be struggling to socialize (although maybe it's mostly just because his default is apologetic and slightly terrified). Wakamatsu-senpai on the other hand does seem to know everyone's names, which Kagami guesses is one of the many reasons he's the captain now.

The only reason that Kagami's vice-captain is sitting right beside him pointedly not talking to anyone.

"Would it kill you to try and make nice?" he whispers furiously.

Aomine snorts "Well it looks like it's killing you."

"Shut up."

"That's what I was doing before you started bothering me."

God he's insufferable. "Sometimes, I really hate you."

Aomine tilts his head and smirks at him "And all the other times?"

Kagami glares and doesn't answer. There was no answer to that question that he was willing to say out loud. Anyway, complimenting Aomine's personality once in a day was already once too many. Wouldn't want the bastard's ego to get any bigger.

Aomine doesn't stop smirking and knocks their shoulders together, apparently in a good mood again. His recent mood swings are hard to understand. He's dealing with something, and it's not just the changes that he's going have to make with his playing style. It started, Kagami's sure, when he slept over at Aomine's house. Aomine had said that Kagami wasn't the problem, but he can't help but doubt that a little, considering the timing.

Kagami wishes he'd just say whatever it is he wants to say and get it over with, much as he understands the urge to beat around the bush when it comes to things that involve feelings. Well, he's not entirely sure what Aomine's thinking about is related to feelings, maybe Kagami's overthinking that morning at Aomine's house. Maybe what Aomine's really been mulling about is aiming for the NBA.

Their celebration ends pretty late into the night, but not too late that those who aren't staying in the dorms had to rush to catch the last train. Kagami walks home with Aomine and Momoi, and they head for his apartment first, probably so none of them have to walk alone at any point.

They're quiet almost the entire way, Momoi's joyful humming aside. Aomine's either deep in thought or dead tired. It's hard to tell when the street lights only occasionally illuminate their faces. The walk isn't that long, but when they get to the front of his apartment building, Kagami's convinced that all he has the energy for is taking off his clothes and crashing into bed.

He fights back a yawn. "Well this is me then." he says, stopping in front of the entrance.

"See you tomorrow Kagamin!" Momoi replies, with all the energy that his own statement lacked.

Aomine opens his mouth to say something, then shoots a look at Momoi and clicks his tongue. He mutters a curse then says "Satsuki turn around."

"What? Why?"

"Turn. Around." he bites out. There's an edge to his voice that Kagami hasn't heard in a while.

Momoi's starts to protest, but then seems to realize something and wordlessly does as Aomine wants.

A moment passes with Aomine just standing there, glaring at Kagami. For some reason Momoi seems unbothered by the wait, suddenly taking an interest in her own fingernails and studiously keeping her gaze anywhere but behind her.

"Uh..." Kagami starts, unsure what to make of the situation "What's up?"

"Screw it." Aomine says, before stepping forward and planting his mouth on Kagami's.

It's clear pretty much immediately that Aomine doesn't know what he's doing, but he's enthusiastic, a bit rough. He's gripping Kagami's bicep firmly, but not so tightly that he can't shrug it off. His eyes are closed, but the crease on his eyelids makes it obvious he's forcefully keeping them shut – like he wants to peek but is desperately trying not to.

Kagami doesn't know how long it lasts, or if he pressed back, or if he gave any reaction at all besides shock.

Aomine pulls away and licks his own lips, gaze trained away from Kagami. "So anyway," he says "good game, see you tomorrow." And then he quickly grabs Momoi by the arm and pulls her away.

Momoi stumbles to keep pace with him at first, then spares one look at Kagami before turning back to Aomine to say something. Kagami doesn't hear it, so she's probably whispering it. Any other time he might have wondered about how uncharacteristic that was but right now his mind is busy replaying the last few minutes, unable to process it.

Mechanically he heads up to his apartment. Alex greets him with a congratulations once he's opened the door and he manages to give a weak reply before slumping down beside her on his couch.

"You seem dazed." Alex says, like a statement, but the unspoken why is clear.

"If..." he bites his lip, considering how to proceed "If someone kisses you, what does that mean?"

"Depends on why they kissed you really." Alex shrugs "Why who kissed you? Was it Dai-chan?"

He palms the back of his neck. "Well, yes."

"Ah," Alex nods "well it was bound to happen sometime."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you two should talk about it." she pats his knee "How did it happen anyway?"

"Well when we got in front of this apartment building, he told Momoi to turn around," Alex snorts "then he just planted one on me out of nowhere, said 'Good game, see you tomorrow' and ran away with Momoi in tow."

Alex starts guffawing "That's better than I imagined! Who could have guessed Dai-chan would be so awkward."

"I just," Kagami waves a hand "why?"

"You'll have to ask him," Alex's voice is just dripping with amusement "did you like it though?"

"Yes." he says immediately, almost instinctively, then "No."

"Which is it?"

"Both?"

Alex sighs "Well then you two really need to talk. Just make sure you have your feelings sorted out by then.

"Right." Kagami sighs, running his thumb over his lips. Right.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Dai-chan, what did you do?" Satsuki asks in a stage whisper, but Aomine doesn't dare reply until they're well out of Taiga's hearing range.

Finally, he says "I don't want to talk about it." although he knows Satsuki won't take that for an answer.

"What did you do!?" and true enough.

He lets go of her wrist and clicks his tongue, "Fine." he roughly scratches the top of his head "I kind of, sort of, definitely kissed Taiga."

"Oh," Satsuki gasps "oh wow. I didn't–" she lifts a hand to her chest "well I didn't think this would happen so soon."

There are implications to her answer that he'd rather not dwell on just yet so instead he says "I was pissed off."

"And that's why you kissed him? Kagamin wasn't doing anything that should have pissed you off though?"

"Not at him!" he shouts. Satsuki shushes him.

"Not so loud Dai-chan."

"Sorry." he replies, lowering his volume so that only the two of them could hear "I just, this situation wasn't working for me anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, that I wanted to kiss him from the moment we won to the moment we were in front of his apartment and hell, even way before that, and I just didn't think I could go for two more years of not doing it."

Satsuki gives him an incredulous look "So you just kissed him and ran? Dai-chan that's terrible! You're not thinking of Kagami-kun's feelings at all!"

"I know dammit!" he runs a hand through his hair, closing his eyes to take a calming breath "It's just been driving me crazy trying not to think about it so I thought, hey, get it over with, call it a joke the next day, maybe then it will be easy not to think about it."

"Obviously it's not easier to stop thinking about it then."

Aomine throws his hands up in the air "Obviously!"

Satsuki crosses her arms "So talk with Kagami-kun."

"Right," Aomine nods "what should I say?"

"I'm sorry I kissed you and ran I really like you so please go out with me?"

"Can you imagine me saying that in any universe?"

"It's romance Dai-chan!" she shakes him by his shoulders "It doesn't need to be in character!"

"That doesn't make any sense at all!"

Satsuki huffs, brows furrowed in frustration "I don't mean that you have to pretend to be someone else, I just mean that what's 'normal' for you two is useless when you're obviously moving beyond that."

Aomine tries to absorb the determination and certainty in Satsuki's eyes because he doesn't really seem to have any of that right now.

"It's going to be fine Dai-chan," Satsuki takes his head in hear hands, pressing firmly at his cheeks with her palms "it is fine."

It's times like these when Aomine remembers why he loves Satsuki so much, why he should appreciate her more like Taiga says. It's easy to forget, when they've been in each other's company for longer than either of them can remember, when Satsuki's nagging is as much of a given as his mother's. He's been so used to having Satsuki in his life he often forgets how lucky he is to have someone like her in it. Someone who'd stick with him through everything.

He closes his eyes and swallows, "Thanks." he says "I should call him tonight."

"No, you should probably think about what to say first Dai-chan, sleep on it. Remember that it should be from the heart."

"The heart." he opens his eyes again, pursing his lips slightly "Right."

Satsuki snorts "It's late, we should go home. It's not polite to be loud out on the street this late at night anyway."

She takes him by the wrist, and he lets himself get pulled.

-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: I'm sorry this is so late, I was having a bit of a writers block. Basically I wanted this chapter to be so many things so I had a hard time writing it hahaha. Anyway. I'm nervous about posting this but this is the best version of this chapter I'd written so.

+ I said in the last chapter that the basketball part of this fic is over and it is in so far as matches are concerned, but basketball is such an integral part of Aomine and Kagami's relationship (and their relationship with Momoi in this fic too) that there's definitely going to be some basketball talk still.

+ This fic is probably a few chapters away from being finished, I know that more than a year ago I also said something like this, but this time I'm pretty sure of it. I'm not going to go chronicle their lives into adulthood despite my summary, but maybe there will be an epilogue set in the future, we'll see.

+ On another note, I think that it's probably more obvious in this chapter than in the others that all three of the pov characters in this fic tend to be unreliable narrators although in different ways. It's intentional, idk if I've mentioned it before, but anyway, I always operated under the rule that the narration of this story is based on what I think a) the pov character would focus on, and b) what the pov character's stream of consciousness is probably like (thus my tendency to overwrite literally everything in this story lol).

+ Also, if it's it not obvious by now, I love Momoi.

+ I'm not sure when the next update will be, since I am about to become very VERY busy again. Thank you all for the support! I really appreciate it.