Maybe it was because it was a Saturday, or early afternoon, perhaps even because it was both, but the subway was extra crowded today. Forget seats, even finding a place to stand was difficult. On every side of Aomine, someone was jabbing him somewhere or glaring at him to get out of their face. During more than one occasion, he had to squeeze closer to his blonde companions. Thankfully, Kise was carrying Taki in his arms, forming a sort of barrier between the two men. Aomine didn't know how he'd live if his face was any closer to the model's.

As the train moved further though, more of the passengers got out rather than on, and eventually there was enough breathing room to calm the pro's heart. From the corner of his eye, he spotted an empty spot and walked towards it.

"Kise," he said, gesturing for the other man to sit.

"Oh, I'm okay. You can go ahead."

"You must be tired and aren't you know... more fragile after that happened," he pointed at the oblivious girl.

The blonde gave him a strange look, "It's been five years. I don't think it's normal, even for women, after all of these years."

"Oh," he blushed, embarrassed.

Kise let out a shy smile, "Thanks anyways. Takicchi would probably like to sit down too," and the father-daughter pair plopped down onto the red velvet seats.

"Neh, papa, where are we going?" Taki tilted her head back, almost falling backwards to look at her dad.

Smiling, he rested his chin on his little girl's head, "Hm? I wonder that too. You'll have to ask Aominecchi."

"Where are you taking us and why, Ahomine?"

"What's with the sudden change of tone?" The blue haired man said.

"You appear out of nowhere and make us go out with you. Don't you have any friends? Oh wait, you're an Ahomine."

"Kise is my friend," actually ex-lover but she doesn't need to know.

Rolling her eyes she snapped, "Papa probably felt sorry for you and talked to you once."

He flicked her forehead and dismissed her statement.

"You are so not cute. Why can't you act sweet for me too?" Aomine raised his voice and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Say, 'Where are we going, Aomine-sama?"

Taki cringed and tried to hide herself in her father's chest, "Yuck. Don't be so gross and answer the question."

"Don't call me gross, you brat."

"Shut up, stupid."

"No, you shut up, stupid."

"Brat."

"Don't copy me!" they both said.

Taki pointed an accusing finger at him, "You copied me first!"

"I was thinking that you were stupid even before you said that I was. Besides, a brat shouldn't call someone else a brat."

"Stop calling me a brat."

"A brat is a brat."

She raised a shaking fist at him threateningly.

Kise patted her on the head, "Aominecchi, it'd be nice if you didn't bully my daughter."

"Hey, you can't gang up. Two on one isn't fair."

Their eyes met and an uneasy silence followed. It was awkward trying to act like the last five years never happened. But if they didn't, they wouldn't be able to get through the day.

"Next stop, - Zoo. Next stop - Zoo," the robotic female subway recording announced.

"We're getting off here," Aomine told the pair, while walking towards the exit.

"We're going to he zoo?" Kise followed but with a sceptical look on his face.

"Yeah. Got a problem with that?"

"Ah, no..."

Making their way up the stairs and out of the station, the group was met with a warm breeze and blaring sunlight. Across the street was a large sign with a giraffe on it.

"What is the zoo?"

"See? You are stupid."

"Be quiet, Ahomine."

"You're the idiot."

"Aominecchi..." Kise was glaring.

Putting up his hands as if to say he was just joking, the tanned man tried to calm down the blonde.

"Takicchi, the zoo is a place where we can see animals."

"Really? Like elephants and tigers!"

"Yes, like the ones in your picture books."

Aomine watched as her eyes grew wide from excitement. Wriggling to get down from the other man's arms, she tugged both of their hands.

"Come on! What are we waiting for? Time's a-wasting boys!"

"Slow down, hot-shot," he laughed, "We have to wait for the light to turn. Don't want to get run over before you get to see them."

Slightly disappointed, Taki nodded in acknowledgement that the man was right, but was still jittery and impatient. She kept hopping, switching from one foot to another and bouncing up and down like she had ants-in-her-pants. Finally, the light turned red and the little white outline of a man appeared. Excited, she bolted right out onto the street – just as a car sped past the red-light.

"Takicchi!"

She froze, body rigid, dilating pupils. The rusting car tried to swerve away but anyone could have seen that it was too late for the driver to dodge.

She'd be hit.

I can't let that happen.

Aomine sprinted faster than he ever had before, not caring that his joints screamed and protested from the sudden burst. He reached his long tan arms around the petrified girl and shot their bodies forward, narrowly dodging the vehicle. Not having time to prepare for a landing, they crashed into the ground, skidding, and rolling on the pavement before hitting a pole.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the world spinning and was only vaguely aware of what was happening. He looked down and was shocked to see blood, dripping down the child's pale face.

"H-hey! Are you okay?"

She was cold, and trembling.

"Taki, can you hear me? Are you okay?"

Tears stemmed at the edges of her eyes, but she managed to nod her head slightly. She looked up with frightened eyes.

"Uh..."

"Where does it hurt?" he shouted, afraid that she could be dying before his eyes.

"Taki is... I am okay..."

"You are so not okay! You're bleeding!"

With a hand, she reached to touch his face. Where her fingers grazed sent a wave of pain through him, "The blood isn't mine. It's yours..."

Reaching for his pocket, he fumbled with his cell phone. Clumsily opening it, he discovered that he had scratches all over his right cheek and temple.

"Are you okay?" her voice trembled hoarsely with worry.

"Yeah, this is nothing," he tried to reassure her.

From the distance, he heard shouts and saw a crowd form. Staggering, he stood up, slightly dizzy from his injuries.

Taki grasped onto him and lowered her face as they approached the scene. Pushing others out-of-the-way, they saw a man getting his face pounded in by none other than Kise.

"You fucking asshole!" the model was screaming, "You could have killed her!"

Murmurs arose from around the crowd, some afraid and others egging the blonde on.

"Why were you so stupid? What would you have done if I lost them both!?"

His amber eyes had grown into the dark hazel which Aomine knew signalled that the man was losing control. Dropping the weakened girl onto her two little feet, he told her to stay put and wait for him, before pulling Kise off the driver.

"Let go of me! This bastard deserves to die!"

"Stop it, Kise!" he pleaded, "We're both okay. There's no point in becoming a murderer!"

Words weren't working and Aomine was glad that Kise had shrunken over the years he's been away. If the other man had continued building muscle the way he used to, holding him down would have proven even more difficult than it already was.

"Kise, it's over. Just stop!"

Without a choice, Aomine had to pin him down. Pushing the model face down, he pinned the man's arms behind his back and shivered when he saw his expression. It was a face twisted and consumed by rage, not unlike the face a mother bear made when someone threatened her cubs. He scolded himself for thinking this, but couldn't help but think how befitting it was considering how they're at the zoo and all.

Feeling that Kise was not ready to calm down, he glared at the bloodied driver, "If you value your life, get the fuck out of here. I never want to see your sorry face again!"

Scrambling like a frightened prey, the driver fled into his car and drove away.

To the rest of the crowd, he shouted, "Move along! There's nothing to see here."

Slowly, the people dispersed, some glowering at him for his attitude and others showing concern over the accident. Neither of their actions were of any help to them.

"Kise, he's gone now. Get yourself together now," he growled.

The model's rage remained unchanged, and Aomine began to wonder if he should knock the other man out. He didn't want to be here when the police came. "Top model beats the living daylight out of driver" as the headline of every paper wouldn't be very good publicity for Kise's career. He didn't care about the saying, "there's no such thing as bad publicity." What kind of idiot would want to be known as a cold-blooded killer?

Taki popped out from behind his aching back and began patting her papa's head, fearlessly, "Papa needs to cool down, or else you have to go sit in the time out corner."

"Oi, you can't get so close. He's dangerous right now."

She ignored him and kept her eyes on her father, "Violence is never the answer, papa you taught me that. Remember when you yelled at me when I hit stupid Souta? Does Taki need to yell at papa too?"

Aomine glanced nervously between the parent and child, but felt relieved when Kise's expression began to soften.

"Papa is supposed to be Taki's role model. You can't be like this," she scolded, "What if Taki grows up to be an abusive housewife when she's older?"

Kise's face eventually returned to a normal colour compared to the feverish red it was minutes before. His eyes lightened, and his muscles relaxed under the tanned man's hold.

"We can't have that, can we Takicchi?" His voice was strained and obviously faking humour.

With a tired voice the model also grumbled, "I'm okay now. You can get off me, Aominecchi."

He was hesitant, and shifted uncomfortably.

"The asshole's long gone. I won't do anything. What? Do you enjoy sitting on me?"

Kise joked wearily, and Aomine got up from embarrassment.

"Takicchi," the man whispered, and she ran into his open arms.

She embraced him desperately, and Kise held her, afraid to let go as if she'd disappear like a dream.

"You're okay, really okay?"

"Mm," she agreed, face buried in his hair.

"You can cry, you know."

The child shook her head aggressively, "Taki won't cry. Taki needs to be strong for papa."

"It should be the other way around. You're spoiling me," he murmured into her tiny shoulders.

"It's okay to be spoiled once in awhile," she whispered back.

Awkwardly, Aomine extended a hand, to which Kise grabbed hold of. With a tug, the tanned man helped the blonde to his feet.

Still snuggling with the young girl, Kise's eyes widened with worry when his eyes set on Aomine, "Aominecchi, you're bleeding."

"This?" he shrugged, "It's nothing. I'll live."

Creases appeared across Kise's forehead and the model grabbed hold of his hand.

"You are definitely not fine. Come, we need to get you to a first aid station. I'm sure the zoo has one."

"Ouch!" Aomine yelped in pain, "Be more gentle!"

"Man up," Kise frowned, but tried to use less force than before.

After he had calmed down, the blonde had frantically towed the basketball player to the front gates. Panicking, he had ran past all of the customers who waited in line, cutting them and earning their complaints. In a frenzy, he had demanded they let the three of them in, and yelled at the cashier when they asked for payment. Eventually, the manager had come out and Kise had babbled a barely eligible tale. Unable to take it anymore, Aomine had stepped in, paid for their tickets and set the manager straight. Finally understanding the situation, the manager had been kind enough to call a guard to escort them and explained to the grumbling patrons behind that it was an emergency.

Shamed of being so useless, Kise sat sulking while he treated the other man, highly conscious of the injuries he had sustained.

"It must hurt," he muttered, as he covered a scratch with a wide bandage.

"It's nothing."

Kise could feel the tears well up, and he wiped them away with his arm.

"Thank you," he whimpered, "Thank you for saving her, and thank you for coming back alive."

Aomine stared at him, and Kise felt suddenly flustered. He whipped his head away.

"Stop looking so sad," a hand grabbed hold of his own, "I'm fine. Who do you think I am?"

Turning back to face Aomine, he couldn't help but feel his face heat up.

Wow, he thought, our faces are so close.

Less than an inch away, their noses just barely touched. The blonde felt his chest tighten each time the other exhaled, moist warm breaths embracing his dry lips. So much, he wanted to lick his lips and lean in further...

"Kise," the tanned man raised a hand and touched his face, and Kise recoiled.

"Oh, um," he started flailing his arms wildly, "I-I'll go and return the kit! Takicchi, take care of him for me."

Aomine watched as he walked away in a hurry.

"What were you two doing?"

The blonde girl leaned over and climbed into his lap. He almost had forgotten that she was there.

"Nothing," he sighed.

Her eyes implied that she didn't believe that for a second, but chose wisely to not question him anymore. Nestling herself down, she rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes.

So this was her idea of "taking care of me," he thought. Not that he minded. She was warm – really warm and Aomine thought to himself that this was probably why Kise loved hugging her so much. So soft, so warm and she smelled so sweet. He's embraced many women before, ever since his youth, but only she comforted him, even more than painkillers. No perfume or any other strong scents. She smelled of soap and shampoo.

Breaking his train of thought, two attractive young women approached the pair.

"Excuse me?"

"What?" he asked, tired.

"Are you two the ones who barely avoided getting run over?"

"I guess."

He wished they'd just hurry and go away.

"Oh my gosh!" the two girls – definitely too young for him – exchanged excited looks and squealed. Aomine resisted the notion to plug his ears. Taki, however, did so anyways unafraid of appearing rude, but they didn't seem to notice.

"That was like, so heroic!" Girl A shrieked.

"I love courageous guys like you," the other gushed.

He looked at them uninterestedly, but that didn't seem to discourage them.

"Is she your daughter? She's so cute!"

"Aws, like, she's got your eyes!"

"Like totally," her friend giggled, "Her cheeks look so soft!"

Both of them reached to pinch Taki's face – who in turn spun away, hiding herself with Aomine's shirt – and fawned over the two.

Aomine brushed them off coldly, "Sorry. My 'daughter's' a little tired right now. Could you leave us alone?"

"I'm good with kids though," one of them (he forgot who was and A and who was B at this point) desperately bragged, "Let me hold her for awhile!"

She started tugging at the child who tightened her grip on the man's shirt.

"Come here, cutie pie," the girl ushered, "Let go of your daddy and come here!"

With a stern hand, he pushed her hands off of the uncomfortable child, "I said, could you go?"

His eyes bore right into them, and it made them back off.

"Oh, sorry," they sputtered, before running away.

"He's got a pretty good face but he's scary!" he heard one of them whine.

"It's too bad, I mean, look at that hot body!"

Like I'd be interested in you kids. If you're going to hit on me, at least have E-cups.

"They're gone," he whispered, down towards Taki and felt her loosen her hold.

"You're not Taki's daddy," she whispered back.

It stung a bit, but he tried to brush it off nonchalantly, "Yeah, I know, sorry."

"I wish you were."

"What?"

She looked at him with longing eyes, and he figured that indeed, he had heard her straight. Uncomfortable and incapable of dealing with the strange atmosphere, he decided to joke with her so that the regular, rude and obnoxious girl would return.

"What, not satisfied with your current one?"

"No," she lightly punched his chin upwards, "Don't be silly, Ahomine."

Although the girl acted like she usually would, her tone was still quiet and serious.

"Then you want two dads?" He was kidding, but her eyes didn't change.

Unamused, she nodded.

Ruffling with her hair he raised an eyebrow, "Shouldn't you be wishing for a mom instead?"

Cursing himself for his lack of tact, he regretted saying that a little too late. Thankfully, she didn't seem affected by the thought of her missing mother (who was actually Kise, but he doubt she knew).

"Papa doesn't need another woman in his life, he only needs me," she said.

Aomine, for a second, thought that it was possessiveness that led her to say that. Before he could talk to her about that though, she carried on.

"Papa is a man, so he protects Taki when things get rough. But Papa can also be weak and vulnerable at times. Taki used to think that Taki could protect papa only if she was older."

"I think you do well even now," he tried to cheer her up sheepishly.

She shook her head forlornly, "No, I can't do anything, and probably never can. No woman can shelter him and give him the security papa needs – deserves.

Lowering her voice, she said, earnestly, "Sometimes I wish I was you, even though you're just an Ahomine."

"Me?"

"Yeah. Although stupid, you're big and strong. Papa needs someone big and strong to protect him because I can't."

"You're awfully grown up about this. Here I thought you just didn't want to share the spot light with another girl."

"I'm not a grown up. If I was, papa wouldn't have to cry. I would have been able to shield him all of those times, so he wouldn't need to fake a smile and then shed tears all alone in his room."

She smiled sadly, looking so alike to Kise that it made his heart ache, "Remember that time you hurt papa? If I was grown up, I could have protected him then."

Never, did this young child cease to amaze him. Sometimes, she'd act like a child. Then she'd act like a child but display talent that would brand her as a prodigy. Out of the blue, she'd display maturity beyond her years, as she was doing now. On the outside, it would seem amazing, but for some reason it made his heart hurt.

Ah, that's right.

Maturity didn't always have to do with personality – knowing Kise and himself, there's no way she would have inherited that trait from them – and in her case, it definitely wasn't a matte of nature. Her high mental development was due to her circumstance. She didn't grow up because she wanted to, but because she had to.

"Sorry," he murmured.

"It's okay. How would you have known..."

If only you knew...

"Taki, actually I'm – "

"Time to go, Ahomine," she stopped him mid-sentence and hopped down to the ground, "Papa will be back in ten seconds."

"Huh? What are you..."

"Takicchi! Aominecchi!"

From around the corner, Kise waved to them juggling three cones.

He gave her a look, asking her how she knew.

She smirked and ignored him as if to say "I'm still his number one."

"Ice cream!" Taki suddenly switched back to "Daddy's little girl" mode so quickly that it made the man jump. She ran towards her papa but under her breath muttered, "Don't tell papa about what I said."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered as he accepted the vanilla ice cream Kise handed him.

Observing the other two, he watched as Taki happily received her own chocolate cone. After, she whispered something about needed to tell Kise a secret and the model brought his face to match her height. Giggling, she pecked him on the cheek, making his whole pale face glow.

So she can be cute after all.

A mischievous thought popped up and with a sly grin, he snuck up behind Kise who was now smothering the girl with kisses lovingly. Wrapping his arms around the other man's shoulders, he leaned forward and took a bite of her chocolate treat.

"Consider that payment," he smirked.

"You..." she looked at her ice cream and then at him and then back, trying to convince herself that it was just a dream. When she realize it wasn't she burst, "You Ahomine!"

Squirming against a flustered Kise's arms, eventually she was let down. Face red, she pounded his leg with her free hand and jumped to try and eat his. Meanly, he lowered his cone, just low enough for her to almost reach – and then brought it up quickly so that she'd have no chance of getting it.

"That's so not fair!" she complained, "Your height is a cheat!"

Aomine snorted, "It's not a game, you idiot."

She growled at him.

"Hey, look. It's a wild tiger cub. I think we'll need to contact the zoo keepers and put you in a cage."

"Roar," she imitated the call of one which made Kise laugh.

"Papa," she pouted.

"Forgive me, Takicchi. But you were so cute," he winked.

The compliment perked her up and she smiled. Aomine pinched her cheeks and grinned evilly, "Don't get a big head. You weren't that cute."

She stuck her tongue out, "Weren't that cute? So you admit that I am cute!"

"Don't put words in my mouth!"

"Lalalalala! I can't hear you!"

"You brat!"

"A brat shouldn't call someone else a brat!" She sang.

"Don't copy me!"

"You got what you deserved," Kise chimed in, "Takicchi learns really quickly."

"Hmph, just like you," he said, "You had a really annoying copying ability."

"You remember?"

"How could I not?"

Kise felt the blush creep in again and changed the subject, "L-let's go see the animals, before it gets dark."

To the girl, the model asked, "Where should we go first?"

"Let's see the reptiles."

"Eh? Takicchi?"

She denied it, "No, I didn't say anything."

Both of the blondes turned to see Aomine open and close his mouth again, "I said, let's go see the reptiles."

"...I heard nothing, did you papa?"

"Eh? Oh... no..."

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't ignore me!"

"Let's go papa, nothing to see here..."

"Hey – get back here!"

"I hate you, Ahomine."

"Geez, are you still sulking? How would I have known that you were such a scaredy cat?"

"I-I'm not!" she corrected him, hiding her embarrassment by slamming her head into his shoulder.

"Man, that hurt. You've got a head for a rock?"

"Haha, very funny!" Taki responded, sarcastically.

Evening had come and the sun was setting, casting dark shadows and a chilly wind. Even after all of the fiascos during the afternoon, the three of them were able to see some of the animals. First, they had visited the reptile pavilion, much to Taki's disapproval. Surprisingly, she was afraid of snakes and almost cried when Aomine made Kise hold one during a presentation done by the snake keeper. The girl had yelled that her "papa would be eaten," and nearly fainted when the tanned man brought her face to face with it.

"Come on, we went to see all of your favourites afterwards."

"... The otters were cute," she admitted reluctantly.

"They were, so stop pouting. You won't be popular with guys if you do."

"No one asked you, idiot!"

Kise smiled at their interaction and thought that they really seemed like father and daughter. They quarreled and at first, that unnerved the man. Now, he could see that it was just their way of getting along. A warm feeling spread within him and he couldn't help but wish this moment would last forever.

Forever was short though, as the trio found themselves boarding the train back home. Since it was late, past rush hour, the cars were empty save for one or two couples. Together, they found empty seats near the end of the train car, blocked by a divider so others couldn't see them. The ride was long, and soon Kise felt his eyes getting heavy. Shaking his head, he tried to shake the sleep out of him. Maybe a conversation would keep him awake.

"Takicchi, Aomine – "

In front of him, the larger man was snoring with his arms and legs crossed, head back against the seat. Their daughter was in deep sleep, head resting against Aomine, with the latter's jacket wrapped around her for warmth.

The announcer stated the next stop, which Kise recognized as the one before theirs. Standing up, he put a hand on the other man and tried to wake him.

"Aominecchi, wake up. We have to get off soon."

The blue haired man grumbled, "A little longer, Kise."

His face was so peaceful, so handsome. The model felt all of the old emotions swell up. Leaning in, he closed his eyes and tilted his head, kissing Aomine with a deep desire. He forced open the sleeping man's mouth and felt their tongues entwine. Pulling away, he opened his eyes, and found dark blue eyes right in front of his own amber ones.

"Kise?"

His blood grew cold and he felt frozen as ice.

"What did you just...?" Aomine touched his lips, still half asleep.

"Oh," the tanned man paused, and looked up at him with eyes that showed him slowly understanding, "Did you just ki – "

"Ahahahahahahaha!" Kise laughed awkwardly and scooped up the still sleeping child, "L-look at that! It's my stop! I've got to go. Thanks for today Aominecchi. See you next time, hahahaha."

The automatic doors opened and Kise ran out. Confused, Aomine sat there and only got up when he heard the warning chime. Bolting out of his seat, he ran to exit but the doors slammed shut, and he smacked face first into them. With his face smashed against the glass, he could make out the blonde running towards the stairs, face hidden behind the body of the slumbering child. Giving up, he sat back down his seat and touched his lips once more.

It was warm, he thought, his lips were wet and warm.

And they were pressed against mine.

Covering his mouth with one of his large, tanned hands, he felt the familiar heat rush to the back of his neck and the tips of his ears.

He just kissed me, right?

He pinched his biceps.

Nope, not dreaming.

A/N: Their first "date" in five years and all of that happens! Haha. Kise took the initiative for that this time. I actually don't have much to say about this chapter so I'll just end it here. Right, please excuse me if this chapter has more grammar or spelling mistakes or whatnot. I didn't have much time to re-proofread it and I wanted to release today /. Hope you enjoyed it, nevertheless! ;D

Regarding future updates though, I really won't be able to update as quickly anymore. I underestimated my work load urggh. I plan on updating at least weekly though~ Hopefully that'll work out. My weekends are usually free for me to just sit and write ~~

Until next time, with love!