"Kise, wake up."

The blonde slowly blinked his eyes opened, groaning as he looked up at the tanned male above him. "Wha..?"

"Come on, you slept in. We're going to be late."

Kise grumbled under his breath, moving to get up, when a sudden pain shot through his abdomen. Hissing in pain, he doubled over, and Aomine quickly sat next to him, reaching a hand out to the blonde. The bluenette frowned as Kise flinched away from his touch.

"Kise, are you okay?"

The blonde laughed softly, forcing his pain away as he stood up. "Yeah, I must've slept wrong, haha. Shit! We're going to be late!"

Aomine watched silently as Kise picked up his uniform and ran out of the room, heading straight for the restroom. His brows furrowed. Since when was Kise uncomfortable changing in front of him? They'd been on the same basketball team for years.

"Aomine-cchi, come on~"

He shook himself from his thoughts, following the blonde out of his apartment.

XXX

Aomine had left Kise just outside of his classroom, and he'd left his own class early to meet the blonde for lunch. As he stood outside of the other's designated room, he leaned against the wall, pulling his phone out. He sighed as he read Kuroko's name on the screen.

'I saw you go by. Where are you going?'

He checked the time, seeing he still had two minutes before classes ended. He hit reply, and began typing, 'I'm waiting for Kise outside his class. I'll see you at lunch.'

'Why are you so worried about him today?'

He sighed. 'I dunno.'

He put his phone away just as classes were dismissed, and he stared at the room's entrance, searching for the familiar blonde. His brows furrowed as the line of students exiting slowly dwindled to none, and he peeked into the room. He frowned, only finding Kotaro and some girl.

Aomine confusedly waltzed into the room, heading straight for the sickeningly flirtatious couple. "Oi, Kotaro, where's Kise?"

Kotaro smiled kindly up at the tanned male and shrugged. "He didn't show up today."

He frowned. "That's impossible."

The other boy raised a brow. "Why is that? Did you see him here this morning?"

Aomine paused. For some reason he felt something was off with Kotaro, he felt that he shouldn't necessarily answer him truthfully. "No, he just didn't mention not coming in today."

He turned and walked away then, not waiting for Kotaro's response. He had to find Kise. He pulled out his phone once more, texting everyone, even Takao and Himuro.

'Has anyone seen Kise?'

It wasn't long before his phone began blowing up with replies.

'Kise-chin is missing?'

'Ehh, goldilocks? Haven't seen him!'

'I thought you were at his class, Aomine.'

'Is something wrong with Ryouta?'

'I haven't seen him, but his luck is very dim today.'

'I saw him leave earlier. He looked pretty sick.'

Aomine's eyes widened as he read that last text, from Himuro. He quickly replied, 'Which direction?'

…

'Downtown.'

Aomine calmly walked toward the exit, but his heart was racing. This wasn't like Kise at all. As soon as he was outside, he bolted down the street, looking for any sign of the blonde.

It wasn't long before he spotted him, sitting alone at an outside café. Breathing a sigh of relief, the bluenette sprinted over to his friend, panting slightly as Kise looked up at him with wide eyes.

"A-Aomine-cchi?"

"What the hell, Kise?" he said, sitting opposite of the blonde. "Kotaro said you didn't even show up."

Kise frowned, tears coming to his eyes at the mention of the other boy's name. "I-I'm sorry, Aomine-cchi. I saw him with that girl, and I…"

Aomine sighed, leaning forward to capture the slightly smaller male's golden eyes. "I understand, but you should've at least told me you were leaving. I waited for you outside your class. I nearly had a heart attack when he told me that."

Kise blinked, looking away. "I d-didn't think about it, I'm sorry. I just needed some time…"

"Of course you do. You didn't even have a proper chance to grieve. Just, don't scare me like that."

A small smile crossed the blonde's face as he looked back into his friend's dark blue eyes. "I won't."

"Good. Now do you still, need time, or do you want to meet up with the others?"

He sighed, flashing his bright smile. "I'd like to see my friends."

XXX

"Kise! Where have you been?"

Kise was more than surprised when Kuroko jumped up from his seat, practically jumping the table to firmly grasp him by the shoulders. Though the bluenette could barely reach, Kise had to suppress his hiss of pain as Kuroko's hands landed perfectly on bruises more than half their size.

"I'm sorry, Kuroko-cchi~ I felt sick and went home for a little while. But I'm all better now!"

Kuroko regarded him carefully, looking for any sign of falsehood in the blonde's exterior. He sighed when he realized it was useless, as Kise was far too good at hiding his feelings anyway. "You sure you're okay?" he asked, finally releasing the taller boy's shoulders.

Kise relaxed slightly, slowly, so as to not bring attention to his former tense stance. "Yes, I'm fine~" He grinned broadly, just as Kotaro passed by.

The brunette paused, eyeing the blonde's smile. He stepped closer to him, smiling sweetly. "Ryouta, you seem to be doing lovely."

Kise visibly flinched, having not seen his ex-lover by his side. But he quickly masked his newfound fear as he smiled brightly up at the boy. "Yes, I am, Yori-cchi. So nice of you to still care~"

Kotaro nodded, his smile so loving and kind- though Kise knew what was truly behind that smile. That's what made this encounter all the more dangerous. "How can I not care about you, Ryouta? Even if our relationship has ended, we're still friends, aren't we?"

Kise's knees were threatening to buckle beneath him, but he continued forcing his smile, not backing down from this. He felt that if he were to do so, he would lose the only part of himself he still had- the dignity he held in the presence of others. "Of course, Yori-cchi. Always."

Kotaro turned his eyes to the rest of the group, his smile shining as bright as ever. "It seems like forever since I've spoken to you all. We should all catch up sometime." He shot one more smile to Kise before turning away.

It was then that Kise released the tension he'd been holding within himself, falling into his chair. "Fuck…"

"Eeh, you handled that really well," Murasakibara commented.

Himuro, who had decided to join the group for the day nodded. "It was very respectable of you, Kise."

"Respectable? I just don't want him to know how much pain he's caused me."

Midorima nodded. "Even so, that performance was admirable. I realize that you're a model, Kise, but where did you learn to act?"

A small smile graced the blonde's features, but bitterness rose within him. "I don't know what you mean, Midorima~"

XXX

"You haven't eaten all day."

Kise blinked, looking up from his phone to the bluenette that sat across from him. They currently sat at Maji Burger, due to Aomine's insistence on eating on the way home. The blonde smiled, shrugging.

"Not hungry~"

Aomine grunted, pushing a burger toward the other male. "Eat."

Kise's face scrunched up in disgust as he looked at the burger. "Ew, do you know how unhealthy that is?"

Rolling his eyes, Aomine threw another one at his face. "It's healthier than eating nothing, dumbass!"

Kise frowned, his lips puffing out in a pout. "So mean, Aomine-cchi…" he muttered, but he then silently unwrapped the burger and took a bite, making sure it was larger than normal to please Aomine.

Aomine watched him finish the food, satisfied at the moment. He wasn't sure when Kise got on this 'health kick,' but he was sure it wasn't good for him, and he intended to fix that. Unfortunately, even if he force fed the blonde, he couldn't stop him from vomiting it up in secrecy, which was exactly what Kise planned to do.

He couldn't let Kotaro win. He had to be thin.