Another day, another chapter.

Big thanks to...

EDIT - took the reviews out to offer a better and more organized view after the story was completed - EDIT

My god, I need to write less but I love to reply guys! I want to thank you all for the lovely follows, favorites and reviews! It's always so amazing to read what you thought and liked, I'm so happy to hear that I could make you smile a bit!

The Winter Cup match is very close, I believe I'll write it the day after tomorrow! And once more I want to point out that I did kinda try to draw Mia...if anyone ever wondered how Karen and I imagined her. The picture is on my profile, a link. And stuff. I hope you'll continue to enjoy it!

DAY ONE HUNDRED FIFTY SIX

"We totally need to meet up."

Mia nodded as she looked up, her gaze landing on the traffic light which still allowed the cars to rush past them. She felt already happy enough that Nanami had thought about her and her birthday, the new novel she had wanted to buy badly had been a present; she had received by her in break today. Even though her friend always appeared to be calm and collected, she was surprisingly impatient if it concerned the girl.

The orange-head had nearly felt awkward as she had opened the beautiful package while being watched like a hawk. But to see the rare smile of Nanami as Mia lifted the gift into the air as if it was a treasure made her forget all about it in an instant. It was amazing how well they knew each other already.

"Let's make a movie night at my place." The orange haired girl offered as she looked at her friend again. The light changed, the green color signaling them that they could cross the street now safely. However, that meant as well that the girls needed to split up. The raven haired one needed to take the left path while Mia continued her walk towards the train station.

Nanami nodded, pushing her bicycle forward as she furrowed her brow lightly. "Are you free on Saturday, then? We could sleep through Sunday."

The girl was about to say 'Of course'. But as she opened her mouth she stopped herself from agreeing right away. She couldn't, actually. It was rare for her to not have time for her best friend but there was something important going on that day. Satsuki had already asked her if she had time. And whether the blue haired teen remembered or not...he had asked her as well to come to one of his matches.

"I can't." Mia confessed quietly. "On Sunday is the first match of the Winter Cup. I promised to go and watch it."

Nanami blinked at her quietly, the corners of her lips twitching ever so softly. "Heh~? You promised, eh?"

The orange-head scowled at her friend, her face reddening as she caught the obvious unspoken words of the other girl. It was sometimes hard to be friends with Nanami, she mused, her friend always wandered between serious advice and mere teasing. Mia didn't need to be a genius to see the amused twinkle in her eyes and stubbornly she crossed her arms in front of her chest, coming to a halt on the other side of the street.

"Shut up."

"I didn't say anything." The raven haired girl replied nonchalant.

"I can read your mind, remember? Stop it."

Nanami laughed breathlessly, leaning onto her bicycle as she shrugged with her shoulders. "I probably sound really cheesy but I do want you to be happy, you know."

Mia's frown softened as she heard that, amazed how easily her friend was able to cross the line between teasing and earnest compliments. She was sly. Clever. And somehow just right. Their friendship was a strange occurrence between all the other ones. Colorful and probably not perfect. But the orange haired girl started to smile anyway, her heart warming as her friend glanced at her through her thick eyelashes.

"But remember you can call my anytime, I'm confident that if his drug dealer can't kill him, I can."

"Satsuki-san is not a drug dealer, Nanami..."

The black haired girl lifted her forefinger into the air. "We haven't proved that one yet."

Mia started laughing; shaking her head at the stubborn idea Nanami still clung to. How in the world did it start anyway? She could barely remember. Instead of deepening the serious discussion about Aomine's background and possible shady friends she spoke about something else.

"How about Friday? We can buy snacks after school and be lazy through-out Saturday."

Nanami nodded satisfied with that idea. She finally climbed onto her bicycle, pushing her long hair over her left shoulder. "I'll buy you a birthday cake." For a second she glanced at her hands which rested on the handles. "A belated one." She added while Mia grinned.

"Looking forward to it."

"See you tomorrow, then."

The orange-head watched her classmate as she kicked the ground softly. With a low wave she started to ride away, down the pavement to her left where she lived somewhere. Locals surely were lucky, shops and school so close that they didn't need to depend on the public transportation. Mia still waved after her with a smile, waiting until the familiar black-head vanished in between the sea of people and colors. And only then did she turn away.

Her father had awoken her this morning with a loud call. The man bursted into her room, clapping his hands as he sung her a silly song in German - something he did every year. Although she surely preferred to sleep instead of being shaken awake by him. Grinning at her with his bright twinkling eyes, he always resembled a child. His eyes light and pale green in contrast to her dark ones she had inherited from her mother made him look so young.

With hurried steps she rushed into the train who was about to leave the station. At home her mother awaited her with her favorite food, the woman had come home early today from work to prepare it while her father was probably trying to get off of work right now, too...

Mia's train of thought broke as her mobile phone started to vibrate and whine in her school bag. Hectically she rummaged through her books and pens for the certain device, pulling it out of the depth of her bag to accept the unexpected call.

"Yeah?"

"Where are you?"

It was Aomine's voice which buzzed through the line. Her forehead wrinkled in confusion as she turned around, half-hearted scanning the blur of houses and cars outside which rushed passed her thanks to the train's movement.

"In the train? I'm on my way home."

She could hear shifting, his deep sigh filling her hearing senses before he mumbled something quiet to himself.

"Get out."

"Wha-? Why, I'm already-"

"Now."

His command made her tense, the word left him ungraciously as his annoyance overcame any other emotion he might have felt. The compartment she stood in came to a trembling halt as they reached the first station after her high school, the door behind her swiftly opening. Mia's eyes widened as she quickly stepped out of train, her brain had taken a bit time to get over the harsh demand. But as the doors closed and the train moved on she took a calming breath.

"I'm out..."

"Where?"

"Uh...Fujimori Street."

The basketball player sighed once more heavily. "Wait right there."

"O...okay."

Mia stared at her mobile phone after he had ended their call. Her tall classmate had told her this morning 'happy birthday'...well, more like stated it, really. But that he still even remembered it was already nice enough, the girl thought to herself. She didn't expect anything, she hadn't given him anything on his own birthday either. If Satsuki hadn't asked her to distract him, then she wouldn't have known it at all.

But now she stood there, rolling back and forth on her soles because she suddenly couldn't stop thinking why he told her to wait. They would see each other on Sunday, she had already talked with Satsuki about it. And she'd see him really play for the first time as well. The girl looked forward to it.

Stuffing her phone into the pocket of her cardigan she rubbed her palms against another.

"It's surely getting cold." Mia whispered to herself, watching people walk past her to wait for the next train.

Of course it would be getting cold. November was slowly coming to an end, December right around the corner. It rarely snowed in Tokyo...but maybe it would this year? Winter was always great with hot chocolate, comfy blankets and the amazing Christmas decoration they always hung up in the shopping district around the certain time of the year. But Aomine probably wouldn't like it, cold meant that he couldn't get out to play basketball, right?

Although she could imagine that all he did was sleeping throughout the freezing season anyway. Mia laughed into her hands, her warm breath keeping her fingertips from trembling as she imagined the basketball player curling up like a cat in his bed. And snoring, the basketball player snored - quietly - but she could always hear him when he chose to take a nap in class.

"Ya always run off after school like that, it's a pain."

Mia jumped, slightly startled as she heard his hoarse voice suddenly in front of her. Her eyes looked up to meet his. The navy colored orbs staring right back at her as he frowned ever so slightly at her form. It took her a bit before she understood the words he had spoken, her head tilting to the side as she rubbed her hands against another once more.

"Well, I don't exactly run."

Aomine snorted at her silly argument, his narrow gaze falling to her hands.

"Cold?"

"A bit." She mused quietly, breaking their eye-contact for a second to watch the train rush past them he had used to get here.

The teen put the plastic bag, he had carried with him, down onto the ground between them, his tanned hands reaching for her small hands until he easily engulfed them completely. His stiff expression slipped off his face as he blinked at her at her surprised, his lips curling into a lopsided grin.

"Jeez, your fingers are always freezing."

Mia pursed her lips as she glared up at him half-hearted. "My hands are always cold if winter comes."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

The basketball player rubbed her hands with his, the friction causing more warmth to spread throughout her fingertips and arms. She didn't even need that, the heat the teenager in front of her created was already enough. She didn't know if hot-headed people always had higher body temperatures or not but in his case it was true. He was like a walking fireplace.

Mia watched their joined hands quietly, biting the inside of her cheek to keep her lips from twitching into a smile. It felt nice. Like a mix of hot chocolate, comfy blankets and snow. The orange-head had never someone like that who warmed her hands like this. She could already feel the blush crawl onto her face, the close proximity between them suddenly clear and she averted her eyes in hope he wouldn't notice her inner struggle.

However, as her gaze fell, it landed onto the certain plastic bag between them.

"Did you buy something?" She wondered curiously and his hands actually stopped moving, caging her small ones inside of them.

The abrupt halt gave her enough strength to look up. But instead of looking at her he avoided her gaze. His eyes stared off into the distance, far away from her. Mia didn't know why but that action made her feel suddenly embarrassed. As if she had asked something she shouldn't have. Carefully she tried to tug her hands away from his; the urge to bury them deep in the pockets of her cardigan came to the surface in her mind.

But his grip tightened, her movement forcing his gaze to return to her.

"Yeah." He grumbled.

Aomine slowly let go of her hands, bending down to grab the plastic bag before he offered it to her.

"Just stuff."

The girl accepted the bag with care. Staring at it as if it couldn't be real. Did he actually buy her something? It only made her feel more horrible because she didn't do the same on his birthday...now where she thought about it...she was afraid that she had been happier on his very birthday than he had been, too. He had held her hand there for the first time...they had played at the Game Arcade...they bought ice cream and...aah, she could feel her face burning.

Stupid. It only made it worse.

To distract herself she looked into the bag, scanning the familiar colorful package inside of it which she could recognize. It was the same logo of the certain dessert shop they had been at in summer. Mia picked up the package, opening it ever so slowly until the content revealed two pieces of cakes. Chocolate and cherry. Just like on that day.

The girl couldn't help but start to smile, her face only turning redder and redder as she closed the lid and put the literally sweet present back into the bag.

"Thank you." Mia mumbled, glimpsing at the teen in hope her bangs could somehow hide the obvious blush. "I mean it."

But as she saw his calm expression, scanning her face as if he tried to make sure she meant it, she quickly lifted her hands to hide it. Lazy Aomine was easy to handle, even the teasing or annoyed one. However, the moment he actually looked at her like that, it was impossible. The hard lines in his face had disappeared, no scowl or natural glare present. Just his sharp face, the deep blue eyes and his attention were left.

"Why are you hiding your face?" Aomine grunted, his thick voice filled with familiar annoyance.

"Because." Mia croaked into her hands.

"That ain't an answer."

But she had no other! Her mind yelled loudly while she only pressed her hands further against her face. He could probably see her red ears but she was afraid to lift her face. Satsuki had probably forced him to buy her something and the cakes were something simple and easy. Because both of them shared a memory with them...it was just ridiculous how happy it secretly made her.

Mia couldn't help it though and she was dying right here on the spot thanks to the twirls and twists her guts made. It wasn't fair of him to pull such a move, making it look like it was nothing special. He was always so sly. And the silly happiness filled her heart as she realized that he really made his way into the shopping district to buy it, calling her and hurrying here to give her it.

The lazy Aomine did such things for her birthday. The guy who skipped practice all the time and never did his homework because it was too much of a hassle.

The orange-head let her head fell forward, bumping into his chest to cut off his possible sight of her completely. Her face must look terrible. Burning against her cold hands while her lips formed a weird mix of a smile and frown...if only the earth would finally suck her up, she wasn't asking for much here.

She could feel his chest move as he took a deep breath, releasing a deep sigh afterwards. And ever so slowly his forehead bumped against the top of her head, the warmth of his whole body seeping through her skin.

"Happy birthday, Mia."

"Mhm..." The girl nodded helplessly against his chest, not trusting her voice in the slightest.

Her rather childish action caused Aomine to laugh, quietly and breathlessly. It made his body quiver, his chest trembling with the smooth sound as she could feel his breath on top of her head. He wasn't being fair at all, her inner voice hushed. She suddenly wanted more. More warmth. More everything.

But it was hard to sum all those thoughts up.

"...you're coming to my match, right?" Aomine muttered quietly, his head still resting on top of hers.

And finally Mia found enough courage to trust her voice once more.

"Definitely."

Just out of curiosity...IF, I do decide to write another KnB story after this one...who would you want it to be about? I did read requests and wishes, like Kise or Akashi. But I'd like to collect some ideas - for example what for an OC you imagine fits them because even though I did influence Mia, the main ideas came from Karen, haha.

What would you guys want?