Kagami was standing next to Aomine in his small kitchen, washing them dishes then passing them to Aomine to dry. Aomine was being uncharacteristically quiet, in fact the situation was just downright worrisome. He hadn't complained or kicked up any kind of fuss when Kagami told him to help with the dishes, and now he was obediently drying them beside him.

A quiet Aomine was new to him, and he didn't know what to make of it.

Another issue that elbowed its way to the front of his mind was that since he was worried, he was keeping half his attention on Aomine to figure out what was going on. This wasn't the problem itself but it was definitely the trigger. He found himself noticing things he wouldn't have otherwise.

Aomine looked nervous.

Not even the normal kind of nervous, no, this was full on 'I just killed your parents' nervous.

His breathing hitched on occasion, his eyes darted around and he seemed like he was trying to speak, but the words just wouldn't come out.

It was very unsettling.

Kagami had no idea what to do and he doubted anything he did would actually be helpful since even an accidental brush of their fingers in passing the dishes led to Aomine flinching and avoiding his skin.

What the hell was eating at him?

Kagami grabbed a pot and scrubbed viciously, trying to expel his frustration at the situation on the poor object. Why the sudden change in Aomine's demeanor? He had been fine a little while ago, Kagami had actually been enjoying himself and been under the impression that it was the same on both sides, but Aomine suddenly snapped into this strange state.

While Kagami continued his inner grumbling and Aomine continued his weirdness, they managed to finish the dishes, a few new scratches added to the pots courtesy of Kagami's scrubbing.

"Hey I've got a couple of DVDs on the NBA, wanna watch?"

It was worth a try. If anything could put Aomine back into his normal sate, it was basketball. Granted, they couldn't go back out and play at this time so a DVD was the closest thing there was.

Aomine nodded and followed him into the living room, sat down in a corner of the couch, then drew his knees up to rest his chin on.

Kagami almost fell into another laughing fit. How could he help it, Aomine looked like a little kid brooding about being denied a cookie!

Kagami managed to control himself, slip the DVD in to the player and plopped himself down next to Aomine on the couch.

Aomine obviously hadn't been expecting that and stiffened visibly.

Kagami's worry increased. He had never seen the other act anything like this.

Aomine gripped onto his knees so tightly his knuckles looked white, and with his skin colour, that was a pretty impressive feat. He leaned his upper body away from Kagami and appeared as though he was trying to shuffle himself further away without bringing it to attention.

Kagami pondered his options for a moment before choosing the direct approach.

"Hey."

It was just a simple word, yet Aomine looked like he had barely prevented himself from shrieking in surprise.

Yeah something definitely wasn't fine.

"Are you okay? You're acting really strangely."

Aomine's eyes widened slightly. Oh, so he wasn't aware of his actions.

"Yeah I'm fine. I'm just acting like I always do."

"Umm lets go with no. You're seriously making me worry over here."

"That bad huh?"

"Yeah. You been like this since the end of dinner."

Aomine frowned at that and seemed to sink deeper into his thoughts.

Kagami didn't know what to do so he used the textbook approach, hoping it would help a little bit.

"You know you can talk to me when something's eating at you, right? I won't judge you and if you don't want me to I won't even respond. It might help to get it off your chest though."

Aomine stared at Kagami, eyes like daggers.

"You won't judge? Is that an ironclad promise?"

"Sure."

Aomine seemed to relax a bit. His gaze softened a little and he leaned back on the couch with his head tilted towards the ceiling. He just stared for a bit before he decided to speak.

"I'm confused. I'm really, really confused. There's someone I've seriously fallen for, but I don't have any idea of how to make an approach. I see this person often enough but there's no way I can just confess out of the blue."

Oh shit.

Love problems.

Thankfully, this was one of the few things Kagami had some knowledge on. He had never seriously dated someone before but he knew enough about the entire process.

Kagami decided to just wait it out to see if there was more Aomine had to say. After another few minutes of silence, Aomine's voice rang out again.

"I don't know what to do. I want to run forwards, yet I also want to run as far away as I can."

Kagami was slightly shocked at the raw emotion that appeared in Aomine's voice. He must truly like this person then, to be agonizing over it so much.

"Hey, you don't have to, but if you tell me who it is I might be able to help you out a bit."

Aomine's eyes slid in their sockets to stare at him instead of the ceiling. His mouth twisted in a sad, half grin.

"Actually if I told you who it was half of the problem would already be solved."

Huh?

What was this idiot going on about now?

Why the hell hasn't he spilled it then?

Kagami was just about to voice his thoughts when Aomine open his mouth again and Kagami had the good sense to shut up and listen.

"This is going to sound weird as hell."

Aomine sat up and turned so his torso was pointing at Kagami.

"The person I'm in love with is Kagami."

What.