Chapter 16

He just never changes

The doorbell rang.

"Tetsu, could you get the door? My hands are kind of full over here."

For a moment, this felt awfully like a déja vú for Kuroko, but he shook the thought away and went to open the door. His baby blue eyes widened in shock. This was a déja vú, no matter how he looked at it.

"Sorry, Kuroko. Would you… would you guys mind if I crashed for a few days?"

Kuroko was too startled to reply, so he just moved aside. At least this time, Takao was able to walk himself in, unlike last time. Yet, for some reason, his tear-stricken face and red eyes from crying made Kuroko feel almost as anguished as the time he'd showed up bruised and battered. Perhaps Takao's heart was as broken now as his body had been the day he'd collapsed at their door.

Kuroko took a deep breath. Takao had just finished telling them everything that had happened. Unlike last time, he didn't break down in tears and wail his woes for hours, sobbing and sniffling miserably, struggling to catch his breathe. Kuroko suspected Takao had already cried his eyes dry. Instead he sat there, his gaze glued to the ground, his raven bangs hiding his face away, and he calmly explained the situation and tried to laugh it off with feigned smiles.

"I should've seen it coming, haha." He'd forced a chuckle. "That guy... he just never changes, haha." His voice had broken a little, and the forced laughter sounded more like a whimper. He rubbed his eyes with his hands. "Sorry guys. I promise I won't impose on you for too long; I just need some time… to pick myself up and shit. Sorry, really." And he'd locked himself in the guestroom –with Nigou, who seemed very keen on comforting him, following close behind-, from where his sobs had been barely audible for the next three hours.

Kuroko was this close to picking up the phone and screaming some harsh truths on Midorima's ears, but that would be out of character for him.

"Want me to beat some sense into him?" Kagami-kun offered, as if he'd been reading his mind.

The phantom man sighed. "While I do think Midorima-kun deserves a rough wake-up call, I'm afraid violence is not the way to go about it."

His husband sat on the couch next to him, his arms spread as if offering himself for pillow, which Kuroko gladly accepted. "But we can't just let it be, can we? The wedding is in one month." His light commented with concern, as he tangled his fingers in between Kuroko's baby blue locks. "I just can't believe Midorima, seriously. He's such an idiot."

"He is." Kuroko buried his nose in Kagami's chest, allowing the gentle heartbeats to lull him. It seemed so unfair that Takao-kun couldn't be happy just because Midorima-kun was stuck in his traditional family values. While he understood how hard it was for Midorima-kun to turn his back on his family, that he loved so much, it was just dumbfounding that he would still let Takao-kun, whom he loved even more, and who made him so utterly happy, walk away from him twice.

He sighed once again and pulled away from his husband's embrace, reluctantly. "Kagami-kun, I am very upset right now. Would you mind running to Magi Burger and fetch me a vanilla milk-shake? I promise to reward you appropriately when you're back."

Kagami-kun, not obtuse enough to miss the implication, went red in the face, and before Kuroko could say anything else, he'd already dashed out of the door. Kuroko smiled, pleased to see he still had Kagami-kun wrapped around his little finger, and pulled out his cellphone.

The line rang twice before someone picked up. "Apologies, Akashi-sama is very busy right now, would you like to leave a message?"

Kagami-kun wasn't as hostile towards Akashi as he'd once been, but he still was mildly displeased to even hear his name uttered in conversation. Not that he could blame him, considering Akashi had tried to stab him with a pair of scissors once. Of course, Kagami was well aware that Akashi was different from back then, and he even acknowledged that his feelings were irrational, but that was a very harsh first impression to forget.

"Furihata-kun? Tell him it's Kuroko. He'll pick up the phone."

He heard his former teammate gasp in surprise on the other end of the line before calling for the red-headed emperor. "Sei, it's Kuroko!" came his high-pitched voice and Kuroko smiled. Seriously, if Akashi could be happy with Furihata-kun in spite of his father –who was much more strict than Midorima's family- it just stood to no reason that Midorima-kun was so stubborn about this.

"Long time no see, Tetsuya. You must forgive Kouki, he gets upset when our private time gets interrupted."

Kuroko heard Furihata squeal in embarrassment in the background and he chuckled.

"Oh no, please tell Furihata-kun I'm sorry for the interruption. I just need a favor from you, if you are not too busy. It's about Midorima-kun."

Although he couldn't see his former captain, he could almost hear his interest growing when Midorima's name was brought up. So he hadn't been wrong in assuming Akashi was already involved in this to some extent. Someone had had to be pulling the strings to make Takao's abuser lose his corporate support and be thrown in jail after all.

"Anything to help our good stubborn friend Shintarou."

"Hey, coach, isn't Midorima-san coming? You promised he'd come." The team's shooting guard Makoto, asked, looking disillusioned. As a shooting guard, he was the one most excited to meet the legendary three-point machine.

"I'm sorry, he had a last minute emergency and couldn't make it." Takao replied with a sad smile. "But you still ought to do your best, you hear me? If you make it to the next round, I'll have Kagami from the Vorpal Swords come and practice with you guys, how's that sound?"

The kids' eyes sparkled with excitement and they cheered happily, rushing to the court to begin the game. He looked at them endearingly, remembering when he was a young kid who loved basketball and spent half of his life watching reruns of Michael Jordan's golden age. It was a good thing these kids' idols were people who lived in the same continent, and he hoped Kagami would forgive him for the commitment he'd just signed him to. Because he had no doubts that those kids would win, they were that good, and he was proud to say so as their coach.

He took a sideways glance at the crowd. As usual, it was mostly the kids' parents, a couple of passersby and a handful of scouts from schools with important basketball teams. No two-meter (actually 199 centimeters) tall green-headed giant.

Midorima was at his parent's home, reluctantly reviewing Kanako's guest list for the wedding. Why did they even need five hundred people to attend a damned business transaction? The groom's side was notoriously smaller than the bride's side, and when he stumbled with Takao's name he felt a knot forming down his throat and some tears prickling the corners of his eyes. He still didn't want to believe he'd lost the love of his life again. Fate had given him a second chance to make things right –even Oha-Asa had said it- and he'd screwed up again. Now he knew there was no going back. It was hard to believe that less than a week ago, he'd been holding his beloved in his arms and everything had seemed perfect.

He shook the thoughts out of his mind. Takao had been unfair too, he was trying to convince himself. He'd tried to push him for an answer, when Midorima wasn't ready to give it. He'd basically told him he had to throw his family away if he wanted to be with him. But Midorima loved his family. His mother had always been his support, back when he didn't have any friends and other kids would bully him for being so weird. His sister was an insufferable adolescent, but she'd been his accomplice for many years, helping him find his lucky items, and making up excuses for their parents every time he'd go to spend the night with Takao. And he loved their shop, the silence, the smell of tea leaves, the warm vapors of tea, the peace of mind the tea ceremony gave him. Takao had wanted him to give all that up, and he just couldn't.

The sound of the doorbell pulled him out of his musings. He wasn't really in the mood to humor unexpected visitors, and he was ready to tell the unwanted guest to shoo away, but he couldn't even open his mouth before another voice peeped from behind the door.

"Long time no see, Midorimacchi!"

This had to be a joke.

"Would you mind telling me what are the two of you doing here?" he finally asked with gritted teeth.

"Gee, what's up with the hostility? There's nothing wrong with checking up with old pals, is it?" Aomine replied, mockingly.

"Besides, we heard you're getting married! How mean of you not to invite us!" Kise continued, melodramatically.

Midorima huffed in annoyance. "It's an arranged marriage, I saw no need to invite anyone." He replied, handing teacups to his unwanted guests. The Midorima household's hospitality was not going to be put into question, no matter the circumstances.

Kise took a sip of his tea and grinned. "As always, Midorimacchi's tea is the best in town."

"Stop beating around the bush. You wouldn't come down here all the way from Kanagawa just to 'check up'" Midorima really wanted to know what these two wanted so he could shove them out the door and have his miserable peace and quiet back.

Kise pouted childishly. "See? This is why we have to catch up! Daiki and I have been living together for four years, how come you didn't know about it? You're a terrible friend, Midorimacchi."

That took him by surprise. He knew those two had started dating at some point during High School, but he never imagined they would still be together after all these years. Hadn't it all started because Aomine was bitter about being rejected by Kuroko and because Kise was too infatuated to say no, even if it meant being a rebound? It's not like this was his first encounter with Kise since graduating high school, they met at least twice a year with their other former teammates. And he'd met Aomine less than a month ago, when the Tozai incident happen. Really, how come he didn't know about this?

"We have a pretty neat place in Ikebukuro, you should come visit someday. Maybe introduce us to the future Mrs. Midorima?" Kise continued, in his carefree teasing tone.

Mrs. Midorima. The thought hadn't really crossed his mind. Surely, Kanako wouldn't want to change her last name. But that wasn't really important. It just really started to sink in that he would be married in less than a month. To Kanako, who loved business much more than she could love any human being. Married, living together, having children to take over their respective family business... It suddenly dawned upon him that his future was a nightmare that was just a few weeks away from becoming true.

"By the way, isn't everyone getting married lately? It's making me feel old." Kise continued. The guy never stopped talking, really. "Akashicchi eloped with his Seirin beau to America to have a secret wedding, how romantic is that? And Kurokocchi and Kagamicchi got married in America some time ago too. And now even Midorimacchi's getting married. Daiki, we should get married too!"

Aomine looked taken aback by the sudden twist in the conversation and his dark skin reddened considerably. "W-w-wha-S-s-shut up, stupid! My police officer job can't afford the trip to America."

Kise sighed, disenchanted. "I guess that's true. My modeling gigs don't bring that much cash home either. I guess I'll have to find a real job if I want to marry Daiki…" he mused.

Aomine looked away, as if he was embarrassed of crushing his boyfriend's illusion. "I… I can get you a r-r-ring in the meantime…" he offered, almost inaudibly.

Kise's golden eyes sparkled and he threw himself at his lover, a giant grin plastered on his face. "Daiki, you're the best! I love you!" he squealed, planting a loud kiss on his cheek. Midorima was glad his parents weren't home, this scene would've scandalized them.

He sighed at the scene unfolding in front of his eyes, longingly. In many ways, Kise was a lot like Takao –so much so that they'd actually become good friends in their later years of high school-, and seeing him like that made him wonder whether Takao would've wanted to get married too. Before they broke up, they had promised to move in together, and they had been looking for apartments until the day everything collapsed. He imagined the church where he ought to marry next month, and imagined Takao standing next to him, holding his hand and smiling. He imagined sliding a golden band down his ring finger and kissing him for the world to see, and everyone would know that Takao Kazunari was his, just as he was Takao's, and that they would spend the rest of their lives together.

The tears he'd had to bite back earlier started stinging his eyes again.

"Guess it's time we stop beating around the bush after all." Aomine said out loud. Midorima hadn't realized at what point his two friends had stopped making out to look at him with deadly serious eyes.

"We actually came because we wanted to talk about you and Takaocchi."

To be continued

Even though I often say that Kise wouldn't go around calling everyone by –cchi, I absolutely believe he is Kazu's brother from another mother and they'd hit it off and become bffs right away (and if you're wondering why then didn't Kazu turn to Kise for help, it's because the first time Toujiro coincidentally dropped him off near Kuroko's place and now it's sort of become his go-to safe place)

I want to thank you all for the amazing response I received from last chapter, it made me very happy to receive so many nice, tearful comments. I hope you will continue to share your feelings with me and this story as we approach the end. Thank you, really, your encouragement really makes my days better.