Kasamatsu woke at five am, the same time as the past three years of his life, and stared at the light fixtures on the ceiling until he remembered that he was the living room because Kise had gotten drunk and insisted on coming over.

He put his hand over his eyes. Ugh, he didn't know what to do about Kise's life crises, apparently triggered by coming in second place at the Rookie Cup. He barely had his own university worked out. If he had to deal with keeping Kise on the straight and narrow until she left Kaijou, he didn't think he could handle it.

He needed to clear his head. Kasamatsu climbed the stairs to his room and looked down on the sleeping angel. It was incredibly weird to see Kise in his bed, all wrapped around his sheets and pillow like a croissant, so he grabbed his blanket and yanked until Kise slid off the bed and onto the floor.

"Mah," said Kise, burying her face in the blanket.

"Wake up," said Kasamatsu grimly. "I'm going to do my run. You are going to wash up, then get out and go home. I should be gone forty minutes." Kise blinked pathetically up at him, looking young and vulnerable and not like a dissolute alcoholic, but Kasamatsu hardened his heart.

"You're only going to run for forty minutes?" said Kise, sleepily.

"I'm cutting back in the off-season," said Kasamatsu. "Wash, text me, go."

"What do I do if I meet your parents," said Kise.

"Don't meet them," said Kasamatsu. "Say nothing. Pretend you're a burglar and dive out the window."

Kise put her head back down and murmured a complaint.

Kasamatsu put his hand on the back of her head, frowning. "How bad is it?" he said. He moved his hand to between her shoulder blades. She didn't seem to be heaving, or breathing heavily. "If you're going to be sick-"

Kise mumbled incoherently and curled up a little tighter. At a loss for action, Kasamatsu rubbed her back in extremely tiny circles, trying hard not to go near the- near the- he couldn't even think it. For someone who looked like such a party girl, Kise was taking her night of drinking hard. "This is your own fault," he said. "No more underage drinking. Ever."

"I'm sorry," said Kise penitently, peeking out at him. "I feel a little better, but I think you should rub harder."

"Stop acting like a baby," Kasamatsu said severely, but he dug in on her muscles and Kise squeaked as she was driven into the blanket.

"There," he said, standing up. "Now go wash up. Don't do this again."

"Okay," said Kise, in an obedient little-girl voice, still buried face-first in his blanket on the floor.

That really should have tipped him off.

.0.

Kasamatsu came back into the house to the smell of something burning. For fuck's sake.

"KISE, YOU-" he started, then he stopped.

Kise, leaning on the kitchen counter wearing one of his bigger shirts, said, "Good-morning, sempai," as though butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. She was braiding her hair over her shoulder and Kasamatsu steadfastly refused to look down at her legs.

His brother, wrestling at the stove with the frying pan, said, "I'm making eggs!"

"I thought you two ate cereal in the morning," said Kasamatsu. The other one was obviously still asleep.

"Mommy said if Kise was here I could use the stove," said Yukito. "She went to work."

"Kasamatsu-san is so nice," said Kise.

"I told you to leave," Kasamatsu said to her. He put his head under the sink.

"She said if I wasn't feeling well, I could stay for breakfast until you returned," said Kise. "Though I missed your dad, I think he went for work before we woke up."

Yukito formed his lips into an O of delight, but Kasamatsu cut him off with a snapped, "Take that thing off the heat, it's burning."

"You had a girl over," Yukito said, dumping a mass of char onto a plate. He presented Kise with it, beaming proudly.

Kise took it and began to eat with every sign of enjoyment.

"Sit down," said Kasamatsu, taking the pan from him and fetching a new carton of eggs. "I'll make yours and mine." He looked at Kise's pile. "And second helpings for you."

"Thank you sempai," said Kise.

"Don't think I didn't notice the shirt," said Kasamatsu.

"Thank you sempai," said Kise.

"If you went through my closet you are in deep shit," said Kasamatsu.

"Your clothes are a lot more stylish than I would have imagined," said Kise. "How else was I going to get something to fit me?" She sketched a midriff top around her torso with her fork, which was a lie, a filthy lie, he didn't have shirts that much smaller than her. "It would have been indecent."

"You are," retorted Kasamatsu, taking refuge in stirring eggs while he blushed heavily.

"Is Kise your girlfriend?" said Yukito, staring avidly between them.

Having been asked this question approximately five million times over the course of the year, he was prepared for this. "No," said Kasamatsu.

"But she's so pretty," said Yukito. "Does she have another boyfriend?"

It occurred to Kasamatsu that he didn't know if Kise had a boyfriend, and in fact, wasn't likely to, now that he had nearly graduated and there would no longer be a gossip hotline which operated at the speed of light to inform him of stuff like 'Kise's curled her hair' or 'Kise's brought a new bag to school!' or 'that's the third failed love confession this week!'.

"No," said Kise sweetly.

"When are you getting married," said Yukito.

Kise drew breath to answer.

"WE ARE NOT GOING OUT," said Kasamatsu loudly. He pointed the spatula at Kise's face. "Don't play along with him."

"But I was just thinking, we're way too young to get married right now," said Kise, laughing.

He sort of saw her as the type to pick out an adoring harem member right after university, but he wasn't about to tell her that. "That's not funny," he said. "Although the way you're going..."

"What if I promise to reform my wicked ways," said Kise.

"I thought you were already reformed," said Kasamatsu. "Now, you go to practices."

"I go to all the practices," said Kise brightly. "I didn't really drink that much last night, anyway. It was a one-off."

Kasamatsu stared at her. "Then what the hell was that about this morning?"

"Because... it makes me sick like that," said Kise. "That's why I didn't drink so much. Because... I knew it would make me sick."

"Then why were you drinking at all?" said Kasamatsu.

"It's a long story," said Kise, glancing at Yukito. Oh, now she came over shy. Now this wasn't an appropriate topic of conversation.

He let Kise change the topic to the guitar in his room, and used up the entire carton of eggs.

.0.

He finally succeeded in kicking her out after breakfast, telling her to keep the shirt.

"But," said Kise.

"Keep. It."

"Okay," said Kise. She sat on the floor and laced up her sports shoes. Kasamatsu hadn't even showered, but it wasn't like he could care about that when Kise had been right there beside him during seven and eight hour practices. He scratched his head.

"Look," said Kasamatsu. "If you do have. Worries. Thoughts. Thinking too much about stuff, and what's going on, and what you're going to do."

"Yes?" said Kise, blinking innocently at him.

"Go to one of your girlfriends or your sisters or something and talk it out," he said. "Then you can call me, and we can shoot some hoops, get some food or something, get your mind off it. No more this." He indicated her entire person. "But you can call me. Okay?"

Kise stood up and hugged him before he could get away. He froze but shouted internally at himself not to push her away, this was support, he was being supportive, it was only Kise, who was vain, self-centered, spoilt, beautiful, and had come to him when she wanted help. Only Kise.

He patted her back awkwardly. "You're not getting a free pass on today, though," he said.

Kise pulled away but still held him at arm's length. "But it wasn't even my fault," she protested. "Haizaki was the one who spiked my drink!"

"What?"