"Kise, are you alright?"

"Hm?" The blonde looked up from the floor he'd been staring at, blinking at the bluenette before him. "Oh, yeah, Kuroko-cchi~ I was just thinking."

Kuroko sat atop the blonde's desk, regarding him carefully. "Classes ended five minutes ago, Kise. Why are you still here?"

Kise smiled, leaning back in his seat. "Oh, I just got caught up in my thoughts. Oh! I should be going! I have a photoshoot in fifteen minutes!"

Kuroko frowned as he watched his friend run out the door. Despite Kise's reassurance, he felt as though something was wrong. In the end, he shrugged it off, assuming that the blonde really had just been lost in thought. Of what, though, he wondered.

Kise arrived to his photo shoot early, as he had lied about it being in only fifteen minutes. In truth, he had ten minutes to spare. The blonde sighed as he fell into an empty chair, waiting for his agent to find him. Pulling out his phone, he found a familiar name written across the screen, a text awaiting him.

From: Yori-cchi

'You went, didn't you?'

Kise sighed, slowly typing out his reply, trying not to say anything wrong.

'I'm sorry, Yori-cchi. If I quit now, my friends will know something is wrong.'

…

'Just lie.'

A sigh fell from his lips.

'I'm a terrible liar.'

He smiled bitterly at the next reply, 'Yeah, you're right.' The truth was, Kise was an excellent liar. He'd been with Kotaro for almost two years, the fights and violence having been a part of their relationship from the very start, and yet, none of his friends knew. He didn't even think Kotaro knew how much he'd hurt him. He hid his wounds well, forced himself to act as though he wasn't in pain, and always spoke of how kind his boyfriend was.

The only thing Kise didn't lie about lately was how much he cared for his lover. No matter how many times he raised a fist toward him, or yelled cruel things to him until his ears went deaf, he couldn't deny how much he cared for him. All he wanted was for him to be happy.

Well, he wished for himself to be happy, as well, but he'd long since given up on that.

"Kise, you're up."

The blonde was forcefully pulled from his thoughts as his agent called for him, and he put on his incredibly real but absolutely fake smile, following her to hair and makeup.

XXX

'Eh, Kise-chin, when is that party?'

'Oi, dumbass! When's that shit happening?'

'Kise, this weekend seems to be a very lucky time to have social gatherings.'

'Ryouta, Atsushi refuses to leave me alone with his complaining until we have a set date for your party. Please, make it stop.'

Kise sighed, scrolling through his friends' texts as he lay on the bed. He paused when he read the last one, from Kuroko.

'Kise, are you sure you're alright?'

"No, Kuroko-cchi," he whispered aloud.

"What?"

The blonde blinked, looking up to find Kotaro entering the room. He shook his head, putting his phone aside. "Nothing, how was your day, Yori-cchi?"

Kotaro sighed as he crawled into the bed, taking more space than he needed as he forced the blonde to the edge. "It would've been better if someone had listened to me."

Kise frowned, lightly touching his lover's arm, but his touch was shrugged off, and he curled into himself. "I'm sorry, Yori-cchi…"

He received no response as he closed his eyes, hoping for sleep to soon overtake him.

XXX

"Ryouta, how often do you and Yori have sex?"

Kise spat out his soda as he stared wide eyed at Akashi, the redhead's face completely blank and unfazed. "That's not something you just ask, Akashi-cchi!"

He blinked. "Why not? It's a simple question, and we all know that sexual intercourse is an important part of a relationship."

Kuroko rolled his eyes, nudging the redhead in the ribs. "Sorry, he's just overly curious. He seems to think that we need to have sex more often. Even though we have it almost every day."

Kise blinked. He remembered being like that. Back when he and Kotaro first started dating, they were so in love, so attracted to one another, that they couldn't go a single day without the physical interaction- sometimes multiple times. He tried to remember the last time they'd even thought of sex, and he held back a shudder at the thought.

It had been three weeks before, when Kise had gone through a rather troublesome shoot. It had seemed that everything that could've gone wrong, certainly had, and when he trudged into his home, all he wanted to do was fall into his bed and sleep for sixteen hours. Kotaro, on the other hand, had other plans.

Due to Kise's mother absolutely loving Kotaro, he was awaiting the blonde inside, even at eleven in the evening on a Tuesday. Kise had smiled at him softly, thinking that maybe this could be the night that Kotaro would prove to him once more that he loved him. That they could simply cuddle in each other's arms, and the other male would whisper sweet nothings into his ears as he fell asleep. But alas, this wasn't the case.

Kotaro had instantly lurched forward, forcefully pulling the blonde into a deep and passionate kiss- but not the kind of passion he wanted. It was full of hatred and disgust, and it made Kise sick to his stomach. Kotaro had pulled him down the hallway, locking them in Kise's room before pinning him to the bed. If done correctly, this would have made Kise very eager for what was to come, but the harshness of it all just hurt his chest. He couldn't help but curl into himself, hoping for it to go by quickly, but Kotaro noticed this, and it was not the right thing to do.

In a matter of minutes, Kotaro was gone, and Kise was left, bleeding onto the bed. His whole body ached, as he'd been torn from the inside and out. His cheeks were sore due to the slaps, his wrists raw from the iron grip that had held them, and his insides burned deeply.

Thinking back, Kise was glad they hadn't had sex in a while.

"Kise?"

The blonde blinked, coming back to reality as Kuroko stared at him with concern.

"Oh, sorry~ Hm, we usually have sex twice a week, at least."

Akashi frowned. "You're no help. What about you, Atsushi?"

"Ne, me and Mura-chin? Once a week, so much work."

"Shintaro?"

"Takao likes it frequently, but I prefer it in moderation. Thus, also once a week."

"What the hell is wrong with you guys."

XXX

Kise stared at his untouched food, wondering why he even fixed himself a plate, seeing as the moment he took a bite, Kotaro would have something to say about it. Deciding to test this, he did just that, and before the food could even reach his mouth-

"Don't you have an image to uphold?"

He blinked. "One bite shouldn't hurt, should it, Yori-cchi?"

Kotaro grunted, eyeing the blonde up and down. "One bite, Ryouta? It looks to me like you've had plenty."

Kise sighed, putting the food back onto his plate. "Yori-cchi, why do you have to stay after class so often?"

"Not this again, Ryouta."

"I'm just curious."

Kotaro stared at him for a long moment before speaking again. "As the class president, I have responsibilities. Sometimes, I am only able to attend those responsibilities during that time."

Kise blinked, turning his lover's words over in his head. "Responsibilities…"

"Yes, Ryouta. Someone around here has to be responsible."

"… Are you cheating on me?"

Kotaro immediately put his food aside, sighing heavily as he turned his gaze to Kise. "… If I were, Ryouta, who do you think would be to blame?"

"… Me?"

He nodded. "Indeed. And do you know why that is?"

The blonde paused, but shook his head.

"Because you are a disgrace. Have you looked at yourself lately? You're disgusting. I don't think even a blind man would wish to lie down with you."

Kise flinched at his words, forcing back tears yet again. "H.. How can I.. fix it?"

Kotaro smiled, nodding his head in approval. "That's good, Ryouta, you're showing initiative." He sighed. "You can start by perfecting your body. You have too much fat on you. No one likes that."

Kise bit down on the inside of his lip, nodding.