Aomine blinked groggily, his brain still too slow to process everything in front of him: all the noise, the people queuing up, the soberly decorated hall. What was that huge thing even doing here, like he was going to assist some kind of show? He wasn't. Last thing he remembered, he was in his bed, listening to music, and...
Oh.
"I've had enough of you, Aomine Daiki!"
And then, his mother had yanked him inside the car by the scruff of his neck when she'd had enough of calling him from downstairs. Without caring about the fact that he was tired from practice, that it was late, and that didn't want to go outside because it was too damn cold to do any activity outdoors. Yeah, he remembered now.
His nape remembered.
He bent to glower at her. "Why the hell did you bring me there, Ma?!"
"Because you promised me you'd come last week," she replied simply, scanning the crowd on her tiptoes, as if she was looking for someone. Opening his mouth again didn't seem like a wise idea, because he knew he was going to give her a not-so-polite answer, and he doubted she would even think twice before hitting him, despite all the witnesses present here. "Your friend gave us these special seats last time, right? He looked like he really wanted us to come, and it seemed like a good reason to go out together. So I brought you along. It has been a moment since we last did something together, after all."
She had her own definition of 'bring along', then. 'Bring someone along' wasn't supposed to hurt.
Aomine sighed loudly. As much as he hated saying this, he did remember promising her something like that... And he was already outside, so there wasn't much he could do.
Honestly, had it been someone other than her, he would already have taken the bus to go home. But now he just had to suck it up and not complain too much. "Whatever. So, what's going to happen there? Some kind of show?"
"It's not just a show, Daiki; it's a fashion show! World's greatest couturiers are going to make their presentation today, in Japan! You'll even see Kise-kun there; he said that he'd exceptionally participate to the event! Oh, I really can't wait!"
He let out a sound halfway through a sigh and a yawn before following her, his hands shoved deep in his pockets. Truth to be told, and despite all of Kise's attempts, he did not care about fashion in the slightest. Another woman with short hair joined her, whom he recognized as Momoi's mother, that he greeted more automatically than anything.
Half a second later, fear did strike him with full force. He started to frenetically look around the woman for a sign that her daughter had come along. And found none.
Thank goodness.
All three went to another queue, a much shorter one that was surely one for VIPs. Some people at the doors begun checked their tickets and making them sign what seemed to be some kind of list, and he caught himself yawning once again during the process. It hadn't begun yet, but he already hoped it would end soon. He was so tired, he kept hearing Nigou barking again and again in his ears.
Inside was... pleasantly warm. His grimace of boredom smoothed up in something like slight amazement, and he took off his jacket to tie it around his waist. It had been neatly decorated in there, and the seats they were given were the closest ones from the platform. Obviously the best ones.
He was going to block everyone's vision by sitting there, but honestly, he didn't care. These seats looked beautiful, and were also really comfortable. Maybe he'd manage to get a little bit of sleep here, if that event wasn't too noisy.
"Aomine-kun, please don't spread your legs like this. You are going to crush Nigou."
He knew it.
"What the- Tetsu?! What the hell are you doing here?! You scared me!"
"Kise-kun gave us special passes last time he visited Seirin. He insisted that he really wanted us to come, and judging from what he said, it sounded like a pretty important event," Kuroko explained with a light smile.
Aomine put his elbows on his knees and leant forwards to smirk at the person next to his former shadow. "Gave us, huh... So you decided to come too, Kagami? Despite the fact that Tetsu brought his pup here? Seriously, I'm impressed."
"Does it happen to you to be bearable?" Kagami grumbled. "Hello to you too. Like Kuroko said, apparently it's important, so I was pretty much forced to come. I wasn't going not to go just because of a dog, Ahomine. I'm not scared of him."
Affirmation that was quickly proven wrong when the small dog leapt out of the bag to jump on Aomine's lap, earning a yelp from Kagami and several glares in his direction. Aomine barely contained his laughter. "Seriously?! I mean, what do you think he's going to do to you?! Eat you? He's so small."
"Shut up! How could I have guessed that he'd just spring out of that damned bag?! H-He just surprised me! And sorry, but I think it's better to be scared of dogs rather than being scared of bees. I mean, they're so small. They aren't gonna eat you, are they?"
Aomine paled, too shocked to punch Kagami for that poor imitation of himself. "Who the hell told you that?"
"I did," answered Kuroko around a yawn. "I thought that you teased Kagami-kun too much about his fear of dogs, so I decided to reveal him one of your weaknesses. So that you'd be equal."
"...I hate you, Tetsu."
Kuroko relaxed in his chair and faced fully the scene, ignoring Aomine's growing fury and Kagami's obvious snicker. The lights went off. "It's looks like going to begin. Please don't argue, both of you. Kise-kun won't be happy if he sees you misbehaving during the event."
Aomine tsked at Kagami and leant back in his seat, making a mental note to prepare something with Nigou to terrorize him next time. Or maybe not just Nigou. With many dogs. All those he could find. The biggest, scariest ones.
Kise had said that he'd pass twice: first among the category of young models, then a little bit later on, to close the first part of the show. So he just had to hang on and resist the urge to close his eyes until then.
Or so he thought. But ten minutes later, he found himself almost not wanting it to end.
It turned out to be funny to watch. All models were pretty unique, whether it was their faces or their clothes, and he enjoyed criticizing each of them. The long red, silk dresses, the abnormally high shoes, and the oddly-shaped hats that almost hid their faces. Saying that he had paid close attention to what the couturiers said after their models were done parading would be a lie, but he still retained some information.
Kuroko had fallen asleep only a few minutes after it began - he made a mental note to wake him up when it would be Kise's turn - so he didn't reprimand him for laughing at some improbable clothes he saw, or making a little too much noise with Kagami.
And then came Kise. And finally, he needn't waking him up.
At least three quarters of the persons in the room had to be teenage girls. He couldn't find any other explanation for the wave of abnormally loud noise that suddenly rose and crashed in his ears. He even thought he'd heard someone crying, before he blocked the screams with his palms firmly pressed against his ears.
Make people happy was one thing, but make them cry? Kise's popularity level was getting ridiculous.
He was there, on stage, wearing a blinding smile as he waved energetically to his audience. Aomine wasn't going to admit it, of course. But seen like that... With all these people who'd come to see him, and the obvious joy to be here on his face...
A smile appeared on his lips. Honestly, Kise looked really cool.
When he looked down at their row, Kuroko gave him a little nod, and Kagami looked desperately like he wanted to smile despite the noise that was destroying his skull. Though they weren't all smiling to him, his friends' mere presence made him commit a grave mistake.
Grinning.
And the screams went again.
Then, what the announcer had said, none of the three teenagers had a clue. Kuroko read something like 'break' on his lips before the red curtains closed and people started to leave the room. Aomine's mother fanned herself with her hand - it had gotten quite warmer since the beginning - and checked her phone. Hopefully they wouldn't get home too late.
"Your friend is quite popular, huh Daiki?" She smiled at her son.
"You can say that again," grumbled the teen, praying that he hadn't become deaf because of this. "Damn it. He just put on some fancy clothes and it becomes this? Seriously. Some people are mad."
"Don't tell me you're jealous," teased Kagami. Aomine growled. Would Kuroko kill him if he threw Nigou on that idiot?
Kuroko promptly took his dog back from Aomine, reading his intention on his face. "Please don't throw my dog. Midorima-kun scared him enough as it is."
"Anyway... It's the break. I'm going to get us some food and drinks. What would you want, boys?"
"He's not here?!" exclaimed a masculine voice. Aomine labelled it as the one belonging to the man who had showed them to their seats earlier. And his eyes didn't prove him wrong.
He was a few meters away, obviously trying not to sound too panicked about what was told to him through his earphone. "What do you mean, not here? He couldn't have just disappeared! Look for him. We need him to end the first part."
He was about to say something else before noticing the five pair of eyes on him. Momoi's mother cocked her head to the side, and both Aomine and Kagami were watching him with a frown. Aomine's mother crossed her arms, but it was Kuroko who spoke first. "Sir, is something wrong?"
"Oh... Nothing you need to worry about, Kuroko-san." He exchanged a nod with another member of the staff and gave the small group his full attention. "May I help you with something?"
"Yeah, telling us what's wrong. Who's missing? You said that someone disappeared."
None of them looked like they would let that little event be forgotten. "I'm sorry that you heard this, Aomine-san, but please don't worry. It's nothing. We merely... lost Kise-kun for a moment, but he shouldn't have gone far. He will be back by the end of the first part. More importantly, what is it that I can help you with? Maybe you're looking for the refreshments? It's this way."
Aomine's mother barely had time to nod at him that he led her away. For all he'd been nice and polite since they entered there, Kagami now hated this guy. What did that mean, 'nothing'? Kise suddenly disappearing wasn't nothing. And judging from his friends' expressions, that little remark had angered them as well.
Aomine hissed something unflattering under his breath before returning to his seat. "Aomine-kun, don't worry. If Kise-kun still doesn't show up at the end of the first part, then we're going to look for him ourselves. But if the members of the staff are already looking for him, then it should be okay."
Kuroko looked at both of his lights' faces before looking down. "As sad as it is to say it... It's like that, in this world. He surely said that it was nothing because Kise-kun could easily be replaced by someone else, if they still don't find him. I do not think the person in themselves do really count for them. As long as they can present what they have to present and interest their clients..."
That sounded pretty heartless. But judging from that employee's reaction, it couldn't be that far from the truth. The break ended, and people came back, excitedly chatting about the new collections presented, but none of the three teens cared about the rest of the show now. They just hoped that the next person they'd see would be Kise.
But the minutes passed, and so did the models.
And finally, one hour passed. "And with this collection, the first part ends! The creator is now going to explain us how..." Whatever was added was only listened by Aomine and Momoi's mothers, as well as Nigou.
Aomine, Kuroko and Kagami had left to find their friend.
They didn't know how they'd have done to get to Kise's dressing room without Kuroko's indications and misdirections, that seemed to work just as well now as it did on the court. Honestly, it could have been funny. Acting like soldiers listening to their commanders' orders, hiding in alleys and ducking from sight, were they not so worried about Kise.
Something must have happened to him, to disappear for a whole hour. It wasn't normal. And knowing that most members of the staff had stopped looking for him despite having no idea of his whereabouts was even more unnerving.
Kuroko made sure that the security agent wasn't looking at them before gently pushing open the door bearing his friend's name. Aomine and Kagami immediately came inside, and none of them liked what they saw.
Inside was absolutely trashed.
Kise's phone was on the floor, screen down, and what must have surely been expensive beauty products were splattered on the floor and on the magazines that had fallen. These signs of struggle did nothing to reassure them. "What the hell happened there?"
Aomine clenched his fists, trying not to let worry get the best of him despite the situation that didn't stop worsening. They'd pretty much checked the whole building before finally finding the dressing rooms, without seeing or hearing Kise once.
The only option left would seem to be that Kise had left the building. The problem would be to know where he could possibly have gone to without his phone and during a show that he was an important part of.
"Guys, there are stairs down there!" cried Kagami, who'd already left the room when he saw the state it was in. But his scream alerted a few members of the staff, who immediately turned towards them. Both of the aces froze like deers in the headlights. "Hey! What are you doing here, both of you?!"
Both of you. Once again, Kuroko found himself thanking his mother for his lack of presence.
He pushed Kagami and Aomine's back towards the stairs with both arms. "Go check downstairs, I will take care of this!" Aomine didn't even have enough breath to insult Kagami for his recklessness or scream at Kuroko to be careful, because the basement of that building indeed was the last part they hadn't verified.
If Kise wasn't there, then it would be time to freak out.
The show was horribly noisy above their heads, but not as noisy at their heartbeats in their ears. For better or for worse, the corridors were completely empty. This time, there really wasn't any other alternative. Either Kise had left, or he'd been...
"Damn it, Kise..."
"Aominecchi...?" called a weak voice that made their hearts miss a beat in surprise. It continued before they could call it again, just as desperate as the first time. "Aominecchi, p-please come! Hurry!"
Both of them dashed towards its source without a second thought, only to find the blonde trying to open a door by pulling it with all his strength. "Kise, what the hell are you-"
"Help me!" Kise's voice was almost hysterical, Aomine was getting a little scared, to be entirely honest. His friend didn't look like he did back on the stage. His tie was loose, his jacket was open, his lip was bleeding, and the collar of his shirt was stained. "Th-That door... I can't open it!"
Without asking why he wanted to open it, Aomine and Kagami both grabbed the handle and started pulling it, hoping that their combined strength would be enough to break it. No such luck. And they understood why he wanted to open that door quite quickly; feeble and muffled screams were filtering through its wood.
"Everyone, move aside!"
Kuroko apparently had managed to get rid of the security's members, and was now catapulting the first thing he found that could help opening that door, which happened to be a fire extinguisher. A heavy one. And he only felt how heavy it was when his arm started pushing it.
The coach was going to kill him next time she'd see his arm.
But now it didn't matter, because it had destroyed the handle and that the door was open. And they were apparently just in time; an oddly thin, half-dressed young girl used her aggressor's surprise to free herself from his grip and run into Kise's arms, in tears. He took off his vest and enveloped her inside of it, his breathing easing a little bit. "Are you... Are you okay?"
If looks could kill, then the man inside the room would have been killed by Aomine's in an instant. He took a step forward. "What the hell were you going to do to her, bastard?!"
"You won't get away with this!" screamed the girl in a slightly lower voice than they'd thought it would be. "I... I will call the police! You think that I will let you get away with what you tried to do?!"
The man clearly was unfazed by her words, and that calm look despite what he'd planned to do was another reason Aomine wanted to strangle him until his face was as blue as his coat. "It's useless. Even if you did testify against me, no one would would believe you. I'm your director. And so, I'm always right. I just have to refute your claims, and it will be over."
"And did you forget us as witnesses?" growled lowly Kagami. "She will testify, and we will all be there to confirm how sick you are. I don't know who exactly you think you are, but-"
"Don't look at Kurokocchi like that." None of them had ever heard Kise's voice like this. So deep, so cold. But Kise had seen his eyes drift to his smaller friend while Kagami was talking, and he didn't like the look he'd been giving him, to say the least.
The adult smiled, and Kise frowned dangerously. "What's with that smile on your face? You think I'm going to let you touch him? You're not old enough not to hear what I just told you. Don't. Look. At. Him. Like. That."
"Hoy mean, Ryouta. Talking to me so coldly... If you're adding that suffix, then that means you respect him very much, huh? He must be a good friend of yours. I have to admit he's very cute, but don't worry." He winked. "You know I only have eyes for you."
To any stranger looking at the scene, it would seem like Kise hadn't heard these words at all. But his friends knew better. They saw Kise's shoulders sag so slightly it was barely perceptible, and imagined perfectly his tough expression fragilizing at these words. "It's not good to act all tough just because you're in front of your friends, Ryouta. You were huddled in a corner not even two hours ago, sobbing like a little girl after I was done playing with you."
"Kise... kun?"
"Are you done with your taunts?" he only said. His words had lost some of their earlier bite. "Because I think you should leave. Akemi-san's manager should come soon, and you'll get in trouble if she sees you there."
He snickered before calmly walking towards the exit. "Yeah, you're right. The event is going to end soon, so I should go home... It's getting pretty late."
Normally, Aomine wouldn't even have waited that he was within reach to smash his ugly face in, but now his feet were rooted to the spot. He was horrified by what he'd just heard, he supposed just as Kuroko and Kagami were, and that feeling only grew when he slowed down to place a soft kiss on Kise's temple.
"See you next time, pretty boy."
Kise stayed immobile as a statue, as if it hadn't happened. Only the young lady in his arms saw his face darken and his fists tighten. Time seemed to stop until another voice rang behind them. "Ah, there you were! Kise-kun, Akemi-san, we were looking for you! Where have you been all this time?!"
"Sorry, sorry!" said sheepishly Kise. His voice was... raspy. Like he'd screamed during hours. "Akemi-san... She wasn't feeling good, so I just proposed to stay with her a moment. But maybe you'd like to return to your dressing room now, right? Akemi-san?"
Her manager didn't give her time to answer and gently led her out of the room. "You shouldn't stay so lightly dressed, Akemi-san, you are going to catch a cold. And Kise-kun! Don't think you're going to get away like this! We will talk about it later!"
"Right, right, right, right, right. Sorry." She huffed out a frustrated sigh and left the three teens behind her in the silence. Kise breathed slowly in, then out. And again.
He wet his stinging lips, wincing a little at the slightly metallic taste in his mouth. No one knew whether he'd just softened his voice on purpose or if he was just feeling too weak to really speak louder, not even him. "Thank you for coming there, you three."
"Kise, who the hell was that man?!" cut immediately Kagami, his voice worried like it rarely had been before today. Kise stared at something on the ground, a veil of short blond hair coming to hide his eyes. "How do you know him?! What did he-"
Kise sighed inaudibly, his head low and his voice tired. "It's... It's nothing, Kagamicchi. Nothing you need to worry about."
"You think I-"
"Kagami-kun, please don't speak so loud. Your voice resonates in this room."
Kagami looked at Kuroko in betrayal. "B-But, Kuroko-!"
"Kise-kun, would you want to go outside?" proposed gently Kuroko. "Fresh air will surely do you some good. And drinking something too." Kise nodded, and after a few more seconds to collect himself, looked up from the floor to give them a smile. "If Kurokocchi proposed this... Then follow me. There is an exit only performers can use, but it will be okay if you're with me. The security won't bother you."
They followed him without a word, Kuroko hovering close and Aomine uncharacteristically silent, all still more or less shocked by the scene they'd just witnessed. And Kise's calm façade wasn't doing anything to relieve their common growing nausea. He was perfectly calm, eerily calm, save when he wiped his bleeding lip.
The guards didn't even notice the state Kise was in.
His shortcut lead to some kind of open, small balcony from where cars could be seen disappearing in the horizon. They guessed it wasn't used often, which was confirmed by Kise's sudden exclamation. "They refilled the vending machine! I thought it would never happen again."
Kuroko hadn't been all wrong about this one. Fresh air felt good, better than the stale air of that damned room. But thinking that that man was out there made Kagami shiver in pure disgust.
"Aominecchi, Kurokocchi, Kagamicchi, don't just stand there," complained the blond boy. In another situation, he would have rolled his eyes at the looks he received afterwards. Or laughed. "I know outside is beautiful, but you're not going to stare at it forever. You can sit down on the chairs over there. People shouldn't come before a moment, and that place isn't often visited anyway."
He placed a drink in each of their hands before taking the cap of his bottle of water off, wincing a little when it made contact with his busted lip. He even had to be careful to drink now? It sucked.
It took him a few tries, and when he finally managed to find a way not to hurt his aching body more trying to do something as simple as drinking, he realized that he'd already drank half of his bottle. He blinked at it in consternation and sighed before lowering it at his hip.
He hadn't thought he'd drink that much, to be honest. He must have cried more than he thought. "Kise-kun... Are you alright?"
Kuroko's voice was so quiet, Kise had barely heard it. He gave him a sad smile before nodding. "I'm fine. Don't worry, Kurokocchi. More importantly, I'm sorry..." He turned around and took a few steps to lean against the small balcony's railing. "I'm sorry for... for the way he looked at you. And what he said too. Really... Be careful if you see him in the future, okay?"
Kise's grip on the handrail tightened. "It's not that he's dangerous, but... More like persistent. Very persistent. And physically strong. He's not going to go after you, but he might try something if he sees you again. Tell me if he does."
"Kise-kun..."
"Kise, was it... was it him who hurt your lip?" murmured Kagami, unable to look away from him. Gathering all he'd seen and heard today painted a terrible, dark scenario. A scenario that genuinely wished didn't happen.
But Kise had been missing more than hour. And many things could happen during an hour.
"Yeah," he quietly answered. "You're right, he's the one. But it's okay, Kagamicchi. It's just a small cut, and it will heal soon. In four days or so it will be gone."
"It's obviously not okay!" burst Tōō's ace. Kise only closed his eyes, too tired to ask him to make less noise. "Damn it, Kise! What did that... that guy do to you, to be like this?! Don't just answer you're okay each time we ask you something and talk, damn it! Don't you get how serious it is?!"
It was driving him mad. Not only this stubborn silence, but also to imagine someone hurting his friend right under his eyes. Someone punching him until his lips bled, someone printing the hand-like bruises around his neck, someone destroying him until he thought it was normal for it to happen. "Kise-kun... Please don't tell me that man..."
"You're not really interested in modeling, so you probably don't know that, but... That man is a director." He stayed silent a moment before sitting with his back against the small vending machine. "A very, very famous one. It's a common occurrence in this job, you know. Anyone above you is going to use their power, and even power that they don't actually have, to force you doing certain things they want you to do. There is nothing you can do.
"If what you've been trying to ask me is if he abused me, then... Then I'd say yes. I guess that's how it's called. He quit the agency I'm working in a few months ago, though. I didn't think I'd ever see him again, and it wasn't supposed to happen... But then this event happened, and he was called here. I guess his old habits die hard. He can't help it."
"Was it... Kise, was it because of him that you didn't pass the second time?"
He sloshed the water in his bottle a few times and put it down. "...Yeah."
"Kise, what... What did he do to you? Did he... D-Did he force you to kiss him?"
His lips suddenly ached a little more. "...That's possible."
"Did he touch you...?"
And his empty stomach cramped more. "...That's also possible."
"Don't tell me it was like that girl... N-No, Kise... It was worse than her, wasn't it? He didn't just... He..."
"Stop crying... It's not like it was my fault you're so pretty. You'll see, you'll like it. All you have to do is to be a good boy and keep quiet, like you've learnt to do all these years. Hopefully I didn't lose my touch... You'll tell me if I did, anyway."
Kise's silence was...
"Damn it, Kise... That's going too far. We have to denounce him to the police! It's too grave not to-"
"But even if we did so, we wouldn't win. It's just a waste of time to try to go against him. Trust me," he murmured. Kagami made a genuinely heartbroken sound at that.
"Can't we just talk about something else? The crowd must be gone now, and talking about depressing stuff isn't going to..." He looked up at a slight sound he'd picked up, and let out a gasp. He jumped to his feet, his expression one of complete helplessness. "K-K-Kurokocchi! Kurokocchi, w-why are you crying?!"
"I'm not crying," he lied, uselessly wiping his eyes again and again. He turned his head so that Kise wouldn't see his face. "I'm just t-tired."
"Kurokocchi..."
"This..." He didn't know how else call it. It shouldn't be named; it shouldn't happen. "E-Ever since Teikō...? Kise-kun, has he... been doing t-these things to you... f-for years...?"
Aomine's breathing stopped short. Struck by genuine horror as he had been, he hadn't even considered that. "It's not really... Kurokocchi, calm down. It hasn't been going on for years. Right, the first time had been at Teikō, but it wasn't always physical contact. Sometimes it was just words, or sometimes it was someone else, but... I-I mean... Agh, please don't make that face! Kurokocchi, you're making me feel terrible."
Kise was feeling terrible? Then how did he think he was feeling, being comforted by someone who should be crying at least as hard as he was doing now? "What happened happened. It's all in the past now, so no need to cry for this. C'mon Kurokocchi, I won't ask you to smile, but at least stop crying. I-It's okay, I assure you. Geez, were you always so sensible when you're tired?"
"It's all Kise-kun's fault. It's all because you made that... that show very late and that y-you're acting like none of this was important that I-I was crying. You should be a-ashamed of yourself."
"So mean, Kurokocchi." But at least he was calming down a little. "Come on, let's get out of this place. It's time to get home. Kagamicchi and Aominecchi, you're coming too?"
The lights exchanged a long, long look. After a silence that lasted a good five seconds, they both faced the blonde to nod grimly. Kagami looked... sad. Terribly saddened by what he had just learnt. A little like Kuroko. Honestly, Kise hadn't thought the ace would react so strongly to this. After all, it was just a little misadventure of a friend's friend, wasn't it?
Kagami followed without fuss, starting to lag behind Aomine and Kise to try to cheer his shadow up a little bit - Kise heard the words 'bees' and 'Aomine' in the same sentence, it couldn't mean anything good - but Aomine wasn't going to let it at that.
It sickened him to the very core that something so dark had happened to the ray of sunshine that his friend was, and he wasn't done talking about it. "Kise. Whether you want it or not and whether I get to beat him up after that or not, I don't care. That man is going behind bars."
"I know," he responded softly. "You're not the type to let things drop, anyway... I had thought you'd say something like that, Aominecchi. And I thank you for that, but, just... Not tonight. Please. I don't want to talk about it anymore."
Aomine wished he could pat him on the shoulder, take him in his arms; do anything that would comfort him, even if it was just a little bit, because Kise acutely needed reassurance right now.
But he was too rough and just not cut out for this, and couldn't find the words. It wouldn't do anything good to Kise; he knew this. It wasn't in his nature.
So he just kept his mouth shut and repeated in his head the future moment when that human being would be dismembered once Akashi would learn about it. His heart felt like it was being held in a rough hold, preventing him to beat. A little like the purple bruise on Kise's arm. "Are you... alright?"
And Kise offered him an empty, professional smile, perfectioned over the years. Hopefully it would make Aomine feel better. Even if it had stopped working for him a long time ago. "I'm fine, don't worry."
They made a halt to the dressing rooms on their way to leave the building; so that Kise could take a few minutes to make himself a little more presentable, and tidy up his dressing room too.
He almost didn't believe the face reflected in the mirror was his. He was sickly pale, looked almost as tired as Kuroko had this night, and his eyes were bloodshot. It wasn't just an impression, then. He really had cried a lot, during that hour.
How pathetic.
He took five good minutes to cry once alone in his room - cry even more, though he was the one who had let this happen - and, when came out of it about twenty minutes later, he looked almost like another person. A happy one.
A new clean suit, the same color as his Kaijō uniform, makeup that hid his pallor, a bouquet of red flowers and a wide smile on his face. "Sorry for the wait, everyone! Are you all ready to leave?"
He looked a little bit better like that. It was almost believable that he was okay, if no one looked at his eyes. "Yes. We've just been waiting for you, Kise-kun."
Aomine sighed once they'd reached the middle of a corridor. "Don't tell me these flowers are for your fans. We don't have time for to make a special distribution. It's way too late."
"Of course it's not for my fans, Aominecchi. You should know it; if it was for them, then I would have brought at least a thousand more!" he laughed with that sunny, carefree smile of his. Though it was soon replaced by a concerned frown. "Uh, Aominecchi? You do know why I bought these, don't you?"
"Why the hell should I know?!" growled the ace. "I'm not your mother."
"Wow... Aominecchi, I don't want to be rude or anything, but that's, like, pretty sad." Kuroko shook his head helplessly at his former light's cluelessness. "Aomine-kun, sadly, you never change. Even after all these years..."
Kise got away from the group to walk with energetic strides towards two women that Aomine recognized as his mother and her friend. Kise offered the former the bouquet he'd hid behind his back. "Aomine-san, happy birthday!"
Oh right. He'd completely forgotten.
His mother accepted it with a smile that he'd rarely seen on her face before, and Kagami stared at him in disbelief. "I knew you were an idiot, but to forget your own mother's birthday? You're really the worst. Ahomine."
He mumbled a small 'Shut up' and tried to ignore his mother's happy voice. He knew and entirely acknowledged the fact that he was a jerk, but he didn't think he'd go as far as to forget a birthday... He hadn't even bought her a cake, or given a present.
Momoi would already have hit him for that. "-ki? Daiki, are you coming home too? We've been waiting for you."
"What? Oh, no... Go home without me, Ma. I'll stay with Kise this night."
"You will?" asked both Kise and his mother in unison. He nodded, his head hung low and massaging the base of his neck. "Just for this night. I'll be home by tomorrow morning. And when I return home, I'll..."
As much as he hated to admit it, he blushed. "H-How about I give you a massage? Like I used to, before. A-After your work..."
There was an instant of silence before his mother sniffled. That sound only meant one thing; she was going to do something that would greatly embarrass him in front of his friends.
Which, this time, was taking him in her arms and pinch his cheeks. Did she have to do it in front of Kagami, of all people?! "When did you become such a sweet little boy?! Of course I would like it! Thank you for proposing, Daiki! You're adorable!"
"Okay, okay, I got it! Let me go now, Ma! You're crying all over my clothes!" Thankfully, she stepped back before he made her to do it himself. Kagami could barely contain his laughter, even under Aomine's glare. "Well... If Daiki stays here, then I will go home. Kuroko-kun, Kagami-kun, do you need me to offer you the ride?"
"This is a generous offer, Aomine-san, but I will decline it. I am going to stay with Kise-kun as well."
"Yeah, me too. Thank you for proposing, though, Aomine-san. And happy birthday too. Even if your own son forgot it was today..."
Tuning out the sound of the lights arguing, Momoi's mother smiled at Kise. His earlier expression of I-wasn't-consulted-about-this turned into something more heartfelt and fragile. "I'm glad for you, Kise-kun. You found very good friends." He blushed a little and looked away.
They weren't just good friends; they were the best.
Both women then took their leave - Kuroko regretted not to have asked them to give him Nigou back, it felt lonely without him - and as they were walking towards the exit, all eyes were on Aomine, who was still faintly blushing at what his mother had done. An Aomine who was quickly getting annoyed by the eyes on him.
Kise was the first to speak, his voice mischievous and amused. "Aominecchi, aren't we a good influence on you? Your mother looked so glad that you proposed to do something for her! But why did you look so embarrassed when she took you in her arms? When I'm sure you wanted her to hug you a little more... Right, Aominecchi? Or maybe should I call you 'My adorable little Daiki', hmm?"
"You know, Kise..." yawned the ace, his voice extremely calm despite what he'd just heard. "I think you speak a lot, for someone's going to be on the floor in a few seconds."
"On the floor? What do you mean, Aominecchi?"
"You're late!"
A quick kick to the stomach almost immediately sent him to the ground. He needn't looking up to know who had just done this; he wasn't sure what to think about it, but these kicks were familiar now. "Kasamatsu-senpai! It hurts!"
"Shut up! If you hadn't made us all wait for so long in the cold then I wouldn't have needed to hit you!" growled his captain. "You make all that fuss for us to come, contaminate the gym with your stupid flyers, and then you don't even show up to greet your team?!"
"You... You all came to see it?"
"Yeah," replied Moriyama before Kasamatsu opened his mouth to begin another angry rant. "Maybe you didn't see us, but we were on the first row too. And it wasn't just us. I saw that green-haired shooter from Shūtoku leave with his sidekick, and Seirin's team too. Kasamatsu even smiled when he saw how glad the crowd was to see you."
"I didn't! Won't you shut up, Moriyama?! I'd rather have you talking about girls than hearing you complimenting this idiot!"
"...Is this true?"
"Of course not!"
Something sparked in the depths of Kise's eyes before he got back to his feet. Had he always had such great friends - such great persons - at his sides? "Then, since I made you wait for so long, how about we all go the restaurant to celebrate?! My treat!"
Kise was smiling again now, bright and strong, as if the horror of earlier had never happened. And, as he watched him chattering with fondly with all his friends, Aomine was torn. Kise adored this job, this much was obvious, but...
Even as he remembered that dazzling smile he'd offered his fans on the scene...
Even as he remembered how he excitedly showed his pictures in the magazines...
Aomine really wasn't sure he wanted him to continue his modeling career.