A/N:

Kurogamine-The Light Shadow: Aw thank you so much! I'm really happy you think that :)

Guest: thank you! Comments and reviews really do motivate me to write!

theOtakuMageofAwesomeness: Thank you! I like Haizaki's character so I'm glad you like how he is here! You're so right about Kise being our badass cinammon roll princess yep. And aaah I'm glad the humor is actually legit haha! Sometimes I feel like I'm not funny at all but then these characters are dorks so it just happens with them (and yeah! I know Fairy Tail and now that you mention it, it is pretty similar with them haha). About what happened to Kise to make him like that-well, you'll have to find out in the coming chapters ;) All that I'll say to you about it is that they've gone out into the world of adults and it's great and shining but it's also a dark place, so your "dark" assumptions might not be completely off the mark ;) (and when you said "this isn't that kind of story, or is it?" I'm not sure exactly what you're implying but I think I can safely say that it isn't as bright and happy a story as you think it is ;)) Hehe, thank you so much for the lovely review! And thanks for following this series of mine!

#

His chest hurt. It was painful to breathe, like Kise's lungs were starved of air and inhaled it like it was made of shards of glass. There was a throbbing in his legs and a muted pain coursing down his hips to his feet, but he wasn't shaking. Kise panted in small gasps, but his heart warmed his chest with a familiar feeling he'd both missed and didn't want to feel, an exhilaration he would never tire of that fueled his veins with life.

(Ah, damn it.)

He exhaled a shaky breath, trembling just as much as the energy coursing through him. He was drenched in sweat, gasping at air, and there was a sun blazing just a few feet away from him and he was a moon that was drunk on its light.

(He's so freaking cool.

The absolute style that no one can copy…)

He was wearing black and his skin was dark and he was the picture of the vast night sky, but Kise could only see a brilliant sun, and the light was almost blinding but he couldn't look away. It was impossible for the moon to not be dazzled by the sun.

(Once you look up to someone, you can't overtake them.)

And he would breathe in that light, feel it move his limbs and anchor his heart.

But the moon's light is only a copy of the sun's.

(While I wished to win,

I also wished he wouldn't lose.)

It hurt. His chest, his body, his heart. It hurt but he was happy. The future was a blurry world of uncertainty, and it was thrilling. He was bathing in the light of that brilliant sun, and he was burning but he felt alive. He could only get so close before being set aflame, but he would drink in that light, that power. He would take anything he could get, get scorched with the heat of that fierce and tremendous sun, and blaze on his own.

(I'll give up on looking up to him.)

#

The room was dim, everything cast in shadow as the daylight tried to peek inside. Kise opened his eyes, slowly blinking awake, and sighed against his pillow, relishing in the softness of his sheets snugly wrapped around him. He blinked a few more times and took a deep breath, releasing it in a long, satisfied exhale. He slowly started to push himself to sit up, stretching his body, then slung his legs over the edge of the bed. Kise quickly rearranged his sheets and pillows and made his bed, hopping off of it to step in front of his windows and draw the curtains open, greeting the new day.

Kise stretched his arms upwards, then brought them down with a huff. He smiled at the sun, not too high above the horizon yet, and nodded in approval. He felt calm and well-rested and ready to tackle the day, so he rolled his shoulders a couple of times and stepped out of his bedroom.

The moment he walked out of the door, the smell of bacon being cooked flittered into his nose and straight to his stomach. The appetizing sound of the frying pan sizzling the meat practically made Kise's mouth water, and the sound of the toaster dinging once made his feet move on its own, taking him to the dining room in no time.

As suspected, it was bacon and toast, with a bowl of rice on the side garnished with a glistening egg, everything still steaming and fresh. There was a small bowl of chopped fruits on the side and a glass of juice near it, and behind the kitchen stove, Haizaki was finishing up with cooking an extra helping of bacon.

"You're up," Haizaki said, spotting Kise. "Right on time."

"Shougo…" Kise muttered, glancing from the food to Haizaki. He blinked twice and shook his head awake. "Good morning." He smiled, small and bright.

Haizaki couldn't help the small upward curl of a corner of his lips. "Morning," he greeted. "Sit down, I'm almost done."

Kise gave a small nod, rubbing his eye sleepily. Haizaki tore his eyes away to focus on the food he was cooking—the fact that Kise could be so unreasonably attractive no matter the situation infuriated Haizaki to no end. It was no wonder the guy was a model: his face alone could horde cash and admirers in the thousands. Sometimes Haizaki glared daggers at the billboards Kise was on, and had these urges to just vandalize them a little, keep other people from seeing his stupid face. Sometimes, much like that morning, Haizaki was torn with either shoving a hand over Kise's face and just mashing it, hoping in vain to rearrange the features somehow; or just doing whatever it takes to see him smile. He turned off the stove and deposited the fresh bacons on a plate, finding himself doing the latter.

Kise's face lit up a few hundred watts, his smile widening as Haizaki set his food down in front of him. Haizaki huffed, pulled off his apron, and moved to wash his hands by the sink. Kise uttered a cheery "Itadakimasu!" and picked up his bowl to eat.

After a few munches, Kise's face was the picture of bliss. "You suck," Kise told him, stuffing his face. "Why do you cook so good."

Haizaki snorted, flopping down on the seat across Kise. "You say that every time I cook for you."

"'Cause it's true," Kise pouted, and Haizaki wanted to throw something at the cute face. "And it's been a while since you've cooked for me, so."

"'A while'? I made you breakfast last week," Haizaki pointed out, brows knitting.

"That's a while!" Kise defended. "You used to cook for me more often! I mean that's how you—"

"Okay shut up," Haizaki snapped, jerking his head away. "You've been having those godforsaken early ass shoots and shit is why. I'll cook you dinner instead."

Kise brought his eyes up at Haizaki, sparkling with so much appreciation and gratefulness that Haizaki almost flinched. "Dinner," Kise cooed. "I miss your unbelievably delicious dinners, you bastard."

Haizaki covered his face with his hand. "Goddammit Ryouta," he muttered, trying to control his blood flow somehow. "Just eat your breakfast."

Kise chuckled, chowing down on his food. Haizaki contented himself with resting an elbow on the table, leaning his cheek into his palm, and just watching as Kise ate. Haizaki had always cooked his own food—way before middle school, even—ever since his mom started coming home far too late in the night. It had always been pretty soothing to cook, and if he was going to eat his cooking anyway he at least wanted it to taste good. Cooking for someone else was something he wasn't used to, at least until Ryouta. It had become a habit before he realized it, and even then he would still feel that same warmth in his chest whenever Ryouta would just gorge down his food and tell Haizaki how good it is. Up until the end of high school, it had never really occurred to him how the rather mundane skill could save him so much, even now.

"Here," Kise spoke, lifting up a piece of bacon to Haizaki's face.

Haizaki raised an eyebrow at Kise, but before he could say anything, Kise made a face and nudged the piece forward. Haizaki sighed and bit the bacon off, and he held back on snorting when Kise snickered and held up another piece.

"I can eat later," Haizaki grumbled, frowning at Kise's stupid model face, still eating the offered food anyway.

"When you cook me dinner it has to be enough for two, okay?" Kise said firmly, finishing his meal and moving to eat the fruits. "It feels weird to be the only one eating."

"I live to make you feel uncomfortable," Haizaki responded easily.

Kise snorted at him. "Mmhmm."

"Like for example," Haizaki started, the beginnings of a sneer curling up at his lips. "Do you have any idea why you're just in a shirt and boxers?"

Kise froze, slowly looking down at his legs, which lacked anything but his underwear.

"Or how you somehow woke up in your bed?" Haizaki continued, the impish smile wider now. "And if you maybe forgot something?"

Kise looked back up at Haizaki, eyes wide. He swallowed his food, then proceeded to gape at him, mind suddenly kicking into third gear.

"Or rather," Haizaki said, completely evil. "Someone?"

"Oh my god," Kise breathed, dropping his chopsticks. "Aominecchi."

"Bingo," Haizaki cheered mockingly. "Ten points for Mr. A-List Celebrity."

"Fuck," Kise gaped, his jaw ajar and his cheeks going pink. "I fell asleep again, didn't I?"

"Another ten points for Kise Ryouta!" Haizaki jeered.

"Fucking—did he carry me up here?"

"Ohh! You're on a roll."

"To my bed?"

"Wow Ryouta, you're on fire today."

Kise slammed his palms on the table. "Did Aominecchi change my clothes?"

Haizaki made a dinging sound, pointing a finger at Kise with a wink. "And Ryouta wins this round!"

Kise buried his face in his hands, feeling much like crawling back into his bed and just getting eaten by it. "Just let me melt and die."

Haizaki plucked out a grape from Kise's fruits, enjoying the sight of Kise's suffering while he could. "Sure, after your ten o'clock appointment maybe. Or maybe after your interview in the afternoon, you can announce your expiration there. Give your fans an advance notice, you know."

Kise bent over until his head hit the edge of the table, and Haizaki shrugged as he took the rest of Kise's fruits as a snack to the amusing show of Kise Ryouta's Embarrassment, snickering all the while.

After a few moments of Kise contemplating his life and inner death, he shot up, pulling his hands off of his still beet red face. "I have to find him."

"Try putting on some pants first. After taking a shower," Haizaki suggested, dumping the rest of the fruits in his mouth. The tips of Kise's ears went pink and he glared at him, then grabbed his juice and drank it all up to cool his head.

"Thanks for the meal," Kise muttered, unbuttoning his shirt as he trudged to the bathroom. He glanced to a clock on a drawer and briefly registered the time, and Haizaki counted to three before Kise promptly screamed, "Gaaah! Shougo!"

"What."

"It's this late already?!" Kise spun around to yell at Haizaki, the front of his shirt falling open to show his bare torso. Haizaki wanted to punch his exposed stomach. "Did you turn off my alarm?"

"Yep," Haizaki answered, heaving himself off of his seat to busy himself with washing the dishes, something he deemed more productive and civilized than wanting to grab Kise and maybe throwing him somewhere. Like out the window. "You set it way too damn early again," Haizaki grumbled, shooting Kise a look over his shoulder. "You need to catch up on sleep, or else you'll keep falling asleep on Daiki."

Kise grimaced, deflating just a bit. His frown turned into a pout, which Haizaki elected to ignore. Kise grumbled something incoherent, a confused jumble of suppressed angry grunts. "Hrngh…Fine. Thanks, I guess."

"Sure thing, superstar," Haizaki called out, a small smirk on his lips. Behind him, he heard Kise huff irritably, then plod into the bathroom and shut the door lightly.

Haizaki counted to eight before he heard Kise loudly wail from inside the showers, "Shougooo~"

"I got it, I got it, geez." Haizaki sighed, grabbing an unopened bottle of shampoo on the island counter and going for Kise's towel and robe as he walked to the bathroom, mentally preparing himself for the idiot-celebrity's stupid face.

He knocked once out of some misplaced sense of courtesy. "It's unlocked," Kise called from inside. (Of course it was unlocked.) Haizaki grumbled under his breath and let himself in, walking to hang the towel and robe on the wall next to the showers, trying to avoid glancing at Kise's silhouette behind the smoked glass.

"I'll just put 'em here," Haizaki grunted, unable to ignore the said silhouette in the corner of his vision.

The shower door slid open just a little, allowing Kise's head to pop out from the gap. "Thanks, Shougo," he said, one hand on the edge of the door.

Haizaki turned, half against his will, and half against his better judgment, and partially because he had to. Of course Kise was already drenched, golden hair sticking to his smooth fair skin, the tapering of his waist visible from how he peeked out the shower. He still had faint traces of his earlier blush tinting his cheeks with color, lips glistening with moist and droplets of water shivering on his long lashes like dewdrops on grass.

"Yeah sure," Haizaki responded with a curt nod, mouth pressed into a hard line. Daiki's little moniker popped in his head and rolled out of his mouth unbidden, releasing some of the tenseness in his shoulders and lips as he handed Kise his shampoo. "Princess."

Kise pouted, cheeks puffing up like a damn child. He flicked his head up, nose upturned in a brief snort of petulance. Haizaki couldn't help a small snicker sneak past his throat, and he turned away to leave, but not before catching the small upward tug of a corner of Kise's lips as he retreated back into the shower.

Haizaki sighed as the sound of spraying water turned back on behind him, and he chanced a glance at the mirror to make sure he didn't look as stupid and annoyed as he felt. His brows were just a little wrinkled and his expression just slightly stupid, so it wasn't a complete failure, at least. He turned away before his reflection could change, his grip on the doorknob a bit too tight as he twisted it. He mentally cursed, feeling a surge of irritation at himself for the stupid way his stomach was fluttering and the loud thumping of his heart. And it's been years, he's more or less gotten used to it, but it never stopped making him feel so goddamn stupid.

Haizaki stepped out of the bathroom, ignoring the blood crawling up his face and the warmth it brought down to his chest against his drumming heart; and he made sure to lock the door behind him as he returned to the kitchen.

#

Over the years, Kise had developed the practice of ticking down the things he has to do for the day, mentally running over each task and meeting so that he'd always be appropriately prepared. Rika would quiz both Kise and Haizaki about every day's schedule, making them rattle off each appointment, the time it was set to happen, and the people involved. They would owe her a penalty fee whenever they got something wrong or forgot, and Haizaki had almost ripped his wallet in half with how much he was losing because of it. Eventually, he and Kise spent dinners and breakfasts and car rides together reciting (read: yelling) the day's schedule at each other until it became as natural as remembering to eat three meals a day. They'd developed the ability to remember each scheduled event and activity, put names to the many faces they encountered during work, remember all the important people and who's involved with who, the rivalries and competition, what was supposedly trending, and then some. It had taken a while, and Haizaki had avoided popping a vein from the frustration more times than he'd liked, but they learned. Their memory became stellar, and something they could be rather proud of—though whenever they'd be reminded of how great their memorization skills had become, they'd grumble about how it would have saved them a lot of stress back when they were in school, especially when competing in games depended on their grades.

When they'd brush those thoughts off, albeit bitterly, everything ended up working out for them for the better. Haizaki had developed immaculate patience (by Haizaki standards, at least) and had become bodyguard-slash-assistant-manager: more involved with Kise's career than just simply being his bodyguard with a salary raise that made nearly getting broke for the job worth it.

On the other hand, Kise eventually learned to remember a whole week's worth of work, and going through the bullet points in his head proved to be an almost relaxing stress reliever, despite all those points being partially to blame for the said stress. It felt like simple steps on a set of stairs, just a level up each time he'd finish each one. Every time he'd cross out an item in that schedule, Kise would get a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction, like a small win for finishing that level. It was a secret feeling that he was playing a game, but it was also work—practically his life already, a part of it just as much as his brain and heart and were. And even though that was the case, work was also distracting. It demanded a lot of focus and attention, and Kise was glad it took his mind off of whatever personal problems and issues he had.

Most of the time, at least.

But it was easy for Kise's mind to wander, back to his past, his decisions; back to the previous day where he'd sat beside Aominecchi in the backseat of his car, eating fast food like how they did in front of Maji Burger, and how Kise magically found himself waking up in his own bed the next day, just like that. With a grimace, he felt the guilt gurgle in the pit of his stomach. He should have known he'd conk out like a damn idiot in the car—heck, it was pretty amazing he didn't fall asleep within the first five minutes of the ride, even.

Kise groaned, and it was the fifth time he did that ever since getting to the parking lot.

"Shut up, Ryouta," Haizaki barked at him, glancing around the streets as he drove.

Kise frowned, elbows perched on the backrest of the front seats—he'd practically been groaning in Haizaki's ear for the past five minutes. He bumped his head with a small groan to the side of Haizaki's, making the bodyguard jerk in surprise. "Fuck Ryouta quit it your hair's making me itchy," Haizaki snapped, veering the car to the left.

Kise sighed, grunting ruefully. He tilted his head away from Haizaki's, resting his cheek on his arm. He started muttering his schedule for the day. "Pass by Aominecchi's and apologize, go to the fashion show rehearsals—review program flow and confirm fitting schedules—move to IG Studios for the tour of their new sets, confirm training and rehearsal schedules with Kisaragi-san, go to the—"

"We're here," Haizaki announced, pulling up to the entrance of a condo.

Kise stiffened, his train of thought completely crashing. He peeked up at the building looming above them, where Aominecchi was supposed to be staying in, and swallowed, feeling his guilt creep back up as he grimaced.

"Are you gonna go or what?" Haizaki said, glaring at Kise. "'Cause if not then I'm driving you to—"

"I'm going, I'm going!" Kise wailed, shoving himself away from the front seats. He groaned for the nth time, making Haizaki roll his eyes, and Kise pushed open the door and stepped out the car.

"Good luck," Haizaki said from inside, window rolled down to stare at Kise with an ill-concealed expression of amusement.

Kise frowned at him, putting on a cap. "You're not coming with me?"

"You think you'll get attacked or something?" Haizaki raised a brow. "You need me to keep you from chickening out? Or maybe hold your hand?"

"Ugh shut up, I get it, you douche," Kise said, grumpy.

Haizaki snickered. "I'll just park somewhere, alright? I'll follow after. Just go so that we're not fucking wasting time. You're lucky this place was on the way."

Kise's expression softened, and he exhaled through his nose, giving a small nod. "Yeah, okay."

"Don't try acting your way out of it, superstar," Haizaki said last, driving away and leaving a pouting Kise behind.

Kise huffed, forcing his feet to move and enter the building, going straight for the elevators and making sure not to draw attention to himself. He pulled out his phone to check Momoicchi's message about where Aominecchi was staying, even though he'd already committed it to memory. He almost jumped when the elevator dinged open, grumbling under his breath as he stepped inside, thankful that it was empty.

Kise fidgeted with his hands and phone on the way up, and he did jump when the elevator dinged again, doors sliding open. He ran a hand over his face, telling himself to get his shit together, and walked into a hall. He scanned every door plate and said, "Dammit," out loud when the room he was looking for appeared almost immediately, just after a few doors. He checked his phone again to make sure, and glanced up at the number on the door. Momoicchi's information matched, and Kise started thinking that maybe he should have texted Aominecchi first, told him he was going to visit, or maybe he should have brought some kind of gift or something—Kise shook his head. No, the first thing he decided to do was talk to him as soon as possible, and he was always the kind of guy to go through with whatever he's set out to do, even if his own mind was trying to confuse him. He sucked in a breath, ignoring his nervously thumping heart and the flutters in his stomach, and brought his hand up to the doorbell before he could think twice about it.

Kise waited, eyelids sliding closed as he rearranged his expression, calming his twitchy features. He was an actor, dammit, he could at least put on a better face that didn't make him look like a stupid guilty idiot. He's a damn adult already and he was going to act like one, but Kise almost couldn't help the small wrinkle of his brow when the image of Aominecchi popped up in his head. Aominecchi getting mad, or waving Kise off and losing any desire to hang out with him anymore. Aominecchi greeting him and smiling and sticking his warm hand in Kise's hair, smiling like a dork with a mouth full of burger—

Kise slapped himself, eyes jolting open with a start. He stared at the space between him and the door with wide, confused eyes, thinking a very solid "What the hell?" in his even more jumbled up mind. He shook his head again and let out a decisive huff, straightening up to face the door. After a few beats, the thought that maybe Aominecchi was still asleep crossed his mind—what if he was waking him up from proper jetlag-free sleep? He'd probably be pissed at him, or ignore him altogether, and KIse would be the most insensitive prick ever, falling asleep when he shouldn't and disturbing someone else's shut-eye. Kise groaned, bumping his head on the door in defeat.

"Coming!"

Kise jumped, jerking away from the door with a start. Did he hear that right? He brought his ear close to the door and heard some muffled thumping from inside. His heart started doing some flips again, and he stepped back to try to square his shoulders and smother his nervous frown.

(In any normal situation, he would have noticed that the voice he heard from inside didn't sound quite right, but his brain was still whirling and his stomach was doing a set of cartwheels to go with his heart's flips.)

"Sorry!" came a call from inside. "I'll be right there, just—"

Kise held off on answering "It's alright, take your time," as if he were saving words in his mouth or else he'd run out of them when he needed them later.

It was just then that Kise noticed how something was off. He would have expected to start bouncing in place upon hearing Aominecchi respond, to feel his heart beat harder at the sound of his deep voice. But it was just then that he realized that the voice that had called from inside didn't sound like Aominecchi. Kise's brow wrinkled in thought, not quite putting together what that was supposed to mean.

(Kise would have been able to recognize that voice, to put a name and a face to it that he'd easily pair with the brighter and more boyish voice. He would have, if he weren't so distracted about seeing Aominecchi again so soon.)

He started hearing some more muffled sounds from inside, like stifled growling and maybe some thuds that sounded like stomping or wrestling. For a moment Kise realized quite stupidly and rather belatedly that it was someone else inside, and he panicked. Did he get the wrong room? He'd checked the information more times than he'd willingly admit, and Momoicchi didn't like giving out false information, not like that.

Kise started unconsciously backing away from the door, but he froze when he heard that not-Aominecchi voice growl, "Oi, Aomine, get your ass into some damn pants already, dammit," followed by Aominecchi's voice grumbling in response (and Kise did bounce in place upon hearing it).

Kise suddenly felt like he'd been electrocuted into the ground, soldering his feet solidly onto the tile beneath him. Okay, so he did get the right room. But then someone else was in there with Aominecchi, who was apparently lacking pants. Okay. An unexpected development, but Kise was used to getting surprised, especially on national television. It shouldn't be that big of a deal, even if Aominecchi was involved.

It shouldn't.

Before Kise could rearrange his thoughts, try to come up with various possible responses he could fall back on while his eyes darted around to check for escape routes (not that he was going to escape, Kise told himself), he heard footsteps approaching—large strides, by the sound of them, with how few they were and how quickly they'd come to the door—and a quick "Yes—?" before the door swung open.

And Kise was met with not-Aominecchi: a man his height who was wearing no shirt and a some sweatpants hanging loosely around his hips, just low enough to be considered illegal, probably. He had pretty fair skin—just a little more sun-kissed than Kise's, but definitely nowhere near as tanned as Aominecchi—and had a strong build like Aominecchi, muscles defined from the robust curves of his shoulders and biceps, the angled line of his hips, and the firm cut of his abs. (It was a basketball player's build, but that didn't occur to Kise as soon as it should have.)

Atop all that was a shock of red hair, and Kise's eyes locked with similarly red ones that grew wide upon seeing Kise, the eyebrows over them stark lines on his face that Kise was all too familiar with, and really should have noticed and recognized first.

"Oh—" came his voice, and a ways behind him, Kise spotted Aominecchi stumbling into a pair of pants and glancing at the door.

"Kise?" Aominecchi said immediately.

And Kise was too surprised to control the light flush that crept up his cheeks, his eyes going from Aominecchi to the man at Aominecchi's door, standing half-naked with an expression of recognition that grew into a bright smile directed at Kise.

"Whoa, Kise! Hey!" he said, pleasantly surprised.

Kise blinked owlishly, unable to mask the open shock on his face. "Kagamicchi?!"

#

[tbc]

A/N: As always, thank you for the favs and reviews! They really keep me going with this :) If anyone wants to chat or ask questions about this, you can message me over on kittlekrattle on tumblr!