(A/N: Because passive aggressive jealous Kise is the only kind of jealous Kise I can imagine. Also, it is my headcanon that the kryptonite for Aomine's basketball happens to be... ~~emotional turmoil~~. Do let me know what you think about this chapter, for some reason I felt it lacking... maybe I should re-write it, or maybe I am feeling so solely because Kise's appearance in it is small.)

It was not that he was worried. Or that he had missed Kise. Or that he felt let down. It just... felt out of ordinary? Yes, it was simply that Kise had instilled himself to his life so strongly, now even a few days of his absence felt strange.

Aomine found himself checking his phone more than usual by the third day – Tuesday to be exact – of Kise's absence. The man who called or messaged him almost daily had not showed his face or voice or emojis for three whole days. Could it be that he was mad at Aomine? Well, he would have every right to be so, if Aomine had to admit it.

Surely, it was not his fault that they had gone drinking. They had drunk casually like that many times before, in quite a few Friday nights too... The difference had been that by late in the night, partly fuelled by the alcohol in his veins and partly by the delectable pout Kise kept making at him, obviously still a little hurt about his loss in the court nevertheless fully defiant, bravely claiming that he would catch up very soon... Aomine had claimed that there was no way Kise could catch up to him in anything, not in basketball, or even in... drinking.

It was stupid. He had just wanted to tease Kise further, but it was stupid. Really, honestly, truly it was just stupid yet they were not the brightest of the bunch anyway and had riled up pretty quickly against each other about who could hold his liquor better and truth was that probably neither could hold up well. Still, they went at it and it quickly escalated to a full blown drinking contest, which Aomine liked to think that they both lost by the end because they were both so drunk that neither knew just how much each had consumed. Though Aomine had claimed victory regardless, there was no winner in reality, that was for sure.

It was stupid. He insisted on taking Kise up to his apartment but Kise had joked that they were both equally and miserably drunk anyway so even though they shared the same cab, Aomine stayed in the car and watched Kise walk – or rather painfully slowly drag himself – into his building. He had realised as soon as he reached home that in a few hours he was expected at the court to play his routine game against Kagami and Kuroko, Momoi would probably be there too. If he skipped, they would be incredibly mad and Momoi would probably blame his irresponsible ways and remind him of this particular time he didn't show up, for many many years to come. If he slept, he would in no way wake before late afternoon. He did not have many choices so he thought to give having a cold shower a chance. It turned out that in Winter, even if Spring was right around the corner, even if you were in your warm home, a cold shower was not a very good idea. It did wake him up quite a bit though and he felt alert enough. A few chocolate bars also helped his mind to work better and the court was not far away at all from his house anyway so he walked.

Well, the rest of his Saturday had not passed so well though...

What happened to Kise? Had he had a similarly awful Saturday and decided that hanging out with Aomine was a bad idea? Could it be that perhaps he was caught in such a drunken state by his manager and scolded or even punished? Or worse, considering how the blond had quite a few stalkers in the past, could something bad have happened to him?

The questions whirled in his mind and Aomine had to take a deep breath to silence them. No, there was no reason to worry. Kise was an adult. There was no need to worry so much. And so what if Kise would decide to not spend time with him anymore? It was not like he had initiated their... this little bond they had, whatever he could not yet name but this thing; but it was not like he was the owner of it! Oh no, it had definitely been Kise who had initiated this relationship and also maintained it through and if he did not like it anymore, they just would... not continue then...?

The idea soured both his face and stomach and he felt heavy and tired. He had to admit at least to himself that he did care about the blond and regardless of who had initiated it, this little thing they had... Aomine liked it. Almost cherished it. He cherished Kise and realising it so fully was rather terrifying.

Was he missing Kise? Oh God, hopefully not. Not that infatuated with him... Was he?

The days continued to pass uneventful... Actually, they had been eventful in the sense that his arrest rate soared that week as he focused all he had in his work, however inside of his mind and heart it felt extremely dull and boring, as though nothing of interest was happening to him. Kagami would try to catch his attention now and then but fail; the poor man did try quite a bit, even taking Aomine to an Italian restaurant for lunch once, claiming that they ate too many burgers. Not that Aomine minded burgers and he was sure that Kagami would prefer burgers over even the most gourmet fine dining. Kise would not probably. Though, probably Kise would like both burgers and say, foie gras. He was not posh but neither profane, somebody who truly enjoyed life or rather truly loved enjoying life... Small things could make him happy, Aomine had learnt, or grand things could make him happy – he would find something to be happy in anything and everything yet he also had this subtle sentimentality to him, something a little sadder, something a little deeper... He could not quite realise what it was but he would sometimes find the blond gazing upon emptiness and his joyful smile would be nowhere to be found; he would not be sad but he would not be cheerful either. It felt... lonely.

Aomine liked to think that as their... relationship developed Kise was less and less in a daze like that... He liked to think that Kise was less lonely. But was he simply acting out desires of his considerably large ego? And was Kise really lonely to begin with? They were all his conjectures and he had never been too good with conjectures and hypotheses and anything to do with data or information really, Momoi or Kuroko or Akashi would be better in these kind of things.

"Oi! Are you okay?"

"What? Why?"

"You have been staring at your phone for like ten minutes... Dude, you're freaking me out these days. What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing. I am just bored."

"You seemed to be too intently in thought to be just bored."

"What are you now? Tetsu? You see the bare souls of people or something?"

"You know sometimes you are not that hard to read... Though it is rare. In those times one does not need to be Kuroko to read you."

"Yeah sure Professor Kagami."

"Jerk."

Aomine simply rose up in his seat and grabbed his phone and slid it into the pocket of his uniform. Lo and Behold, the Friday had come, a full week without a single note or message from Kise and he had been simply too irritated for that fact that he had been snapping at Kagami again and again for days. It was unfair. But even at times when he was unfair and wanted to rectify the situation, he could not do so honestly... He really sucked at sociability. So he did as much as his limited skills allowed him,

"Come on, Bakagami. I'll buy you lunch."

"What's the occasion? Or did you hit your head somewhere without me realising?"

"Nah I am just feeling extremely generous today and I have a wish for Kami-sama so buying you lunch will be my offering for him. You know feeding someone poor or something like that, charity."

"Hey! We earn the same amount of money!"

"Yeah whatever, or is it that you don't want lunch? And I was thinking I could eat some burgers..."

"Um, I'll come. Whatever."

"Good boy!"

Aomine donned his smirk as his partner punched his shoulder in mock anger. Teasing Kagami was a truly enjoyable thing though he often lost himself in his own teasing and actually got seriously riled up.

The day was as uneventful as the week had been. The night was even worse, he could not sleep properly and fell asleep only very late at night. As a result when he woke up in the morning he was tired and stressed out. He honestly did not understand why they had to have these weekly matches in such a godawful hour of the most cherished day of the week – Saturday – and just how they had gotten him to agree to it in the first place... Oh, he remembered how actually, a rare deluxe edition of a particular Horikita Mai picture book had been the bait.

His morning was only about to get worse though. Even though he was able to take off his mind of Kise, he could not truly focus to the game either. It was all off – minuscule changes in the angles, in the distances, in the speed... It all helped him earn a pathetic defeat with 5 points of difference to boot! A disgrace, really.

"You are actually breathing hard."

"Don't tell me you drank again!"

"I did not... I just could not sleep well last night."

"Oh, something is bothering you?"

"No. Let's go have something to eat. I did not even have breakfast."

The others did not comment much after that and he could sense how awkward he was acting because Kagami did not even gloat of his win. Now, Kagami normally always gloated of his victories. He did not blame the redhead, Aomine himself gloated twice as much even though he was usually the victor anyway. While Kagami did propose the fast food joint near by, Momoi vehemently disagreed and took them to a crepe place a few blocks away. It was such a tiny place with pale yellow walls adorned with various photographs of Paris and the dishes they served did not just look delicious but... decorated in an elaborately cute fashion.

Momoi giggled and "kya"ed as she received her order and she did so for others' orders as well. Kuroko did not seem fazed but did comment on how delicious indeed the meal was. Kagami was very much fazed and felt utterly out of place in the small and too delicate ambience and when finally served, he looked at his plate both with both wonder and horror – one would think that he was witnessing a miracle of God whereas he was simply looking at a waffle with fancy little cat designs out of chocolate and honey and ice cream and hearts out of strawberry syrup.

Aomine though, Aomine fell into a daze... The moment he entered the place he knew that Kise would love it. He would probably make comments about how cute the place was and how it would suit to take a date here. He would love the embellished dishes and their sweet taste though he would probably drink a bitter cup of café au lait without any sugar. He would beg Aomine to check this out or take a look at that and to come again...

Was he going to have a chance to see the bubbly blond again? Or had the man decided to leave Aomine's life completely? As he thought about Kise his eyes wandered to his mobile phone resting on the table right near his plate and his hand idly played with his food.

"You are looking at your phone again."

Kagami's voice was surely not quiet, if a little muffled due to the way he was stuffing his mouth with rather large chunks of waffle.

"I am not..."

"Yes you are. Like you have been. All week."

"You are waiting a call from someone? Aomine-kun?"

Ah great... Here they go again.

"Not really."

"So why do you keep looking at your phone then?"

"It is nothing. I told you I was not."

"You are not getting angry either..."

"What? Now that is an issue too? I am supposed to get angry Tetsu?"

"You know what he means Dai-chan. He means that the fact that you are not getting 'angry' like you always do in a mock manner pretty much means you have a problem. You are depressively calm. Why don't you just spill it?"

Momoi's tone was frustrated and her eyes were concerned and Aomine, if he had to be honest, hated making Momoi concerned but she was just too easily concerned and he really did not like baring himself. Especially like this.

"You guys are just exaggerating it. There is nothing wrong."

He pocketed his phone and turned all his attention to his food, taking small pieces but gobbling it fast, hoping that the faster he ate the faster he could escape. Momoi sighed and Kuroko simply observed him silently for a moment,

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

Aomine almost choked.

"No! God... Why is it the same question always?"

"We are just curious and you are acting weird and we are your friends."

Aomine sighed,

"Look, I am telling you, I am not dating anybody, I don't have love troubles and all this thing about me acting weird is just Kagami's stupidity contriving things because he is too bored and his arrest rate sucks."

"Hey! My arrest rate is fine! So far I am in the top ten this month!"

"And please do tell me who is ranked the first?"

Aomine smirked and Kagami glared,

"From what I know you are usually not even motivated to do your work so well, so if you are first right now, I would actually regard it to be weird."

"Yeah sure Tetsu. Why don't you just admit it?"

"Admit what?"

Aomine gobbled up the last chunk of his banana filled crepe,

"You are too overprotective of your little boyfriend. That's why you are going along with his whims and wild speculations."

Their relationship was an open secret and thus not really a secret but Kagami's face still turned crimson with a strong mix of timidity and anger and even Kuroko's pale cheeks blushed at the unexpected salvo.

"Well..."

"You bastard! This is about you! It is not about me or him!"

Momoi simply gave a judging glare at Aomine. Now Aomine knew any such insinuations especially pissed off Momoi because of her history in regards to Kuroko but he could not help it this time and it was not his fault if the two were so childishly innocent about it.

"Anyway, I am going home."

"Hey! You didn't even pay!"

"Because you will pay for me?"

"What the hell?! Why am I paying for you? For insulting my... I mean for insulting Kuroko?!"

"What? You still can't even say 'my boyfriend'? You two practically live together."

"As roommates! We have been living together for years, as roommates! And it – it is not... I mean... Goddamn it Aomine you jerk, pay your bill."

"But I lost! I lost the game and you are going to make me pay too?!"

"Huh?"

"What is it? You are trying to rub your victory to my face? I know you rarely win against me but I never thought you would be this petty... Such cruel boasting."

"Wait... This has nothing to do with the game."

"It has everything to do with the game. You not only won against me but you won't even pay for my meal to show your good intent."

Kagami was puzzled and paused for a few seconds during which Kuroko who understood where this was going sighed though the changing direction of the conversation had helped cool his cheeks and heart down a little. Momoi on the other hand just palmed her face.

"Uh... Fine. Whatever. I'll pay for this."

"Good idea Kagami. Now I am out..."

"Wait, Dai-chan, don't you want me to drop you?"

"Nah, I pass, I'll just walk..."

"You will walk?!" – all three said the same sentence with almost the same facial expression that Aomine thought it was funny, it almost made him laugh... almost.

"Yeah, see ya!"

He took off quickly and left behind three very confused people.

"I cannot believe this... That lazy-ass Aomine who almost always begs Momoi-san to take him home... 'will walk'. He passes the offer this time."

Kuroko sighed,

"I actually cannot believe you Kagami-kun."

"Huh? Why?"

"Last week we could not play but the week before, who won?"

"Aomine."

"And we went to eat afterwards, who paid the bill then?"

"I did."

"Why?"

"Well because Aomine kept on saying that losers should... pay up... as a punishment... Oh God damn it that bastard!"

Kagami leaned back covering his face with both his palms,

"I cannot believe you fell for it."

"Why didn't you saying anything?!"

"Well it was rather amusing even if embarrassing to watch you fall for that..." Momoi chimed instead,

"Jeez Momoi-san not you too... Argh, I hate that guy."

"He was really depressed though."

Kuroko commented and there was hint of a concern in his voice. Others agreed too, Momoi with a nod and Kagami with a sigh.

On the way home, Aomine hypothesised about just what could have had happened with Kise and at the end decided that it was simply stupid. In the week without any sign of Kise, he had realised that in all their time knowing each other, Aomine had called up Kise only twice and never messaged him first. The two times he called, the first did not really count because it was that initial time he had called after seeing Kise's phone number on the card – Kise had practically implicitly asked him to call... The other time, he had an emergency at work and thus had to cancel a previously planned one-on-one game. It was stupid but he realised that since he had never been the one to initiate their conversations and communication, he was truly clueless about how to do it now. Was it appropriate? What if he was busy? What if he would dismiss him? While insecurities that he did not know he had kept creeping up his spine, at a certain point about a few blocks away from his home, his courage finally kicked in and he thought that this was simply too pathetic.

He quickly typed a message for Kise and sent it:

"Yo! What's up? Saw you on the cover of a magazine at the convenience store the other day... It was strange. You looked weird."

Perhaps he should have had kept his courage chained till his manners had caught up. Right after sending the message he lamented it. It was not just lame but it was also offending to Kise. He had thought of saying things like "Are you free for a one-on-one this week?" or "I have not seen you around, are you doing good?" but somehow each sounded very needy and the damned pride in him did not allow his fingers to go any near typing such things. So instead he had opted for a white lie.

A white lie, really, because his eyes had wandered to the magazines section in the convenience stores many times in the last few weeks and he caught glimpses of Kise's shining career here and there often. He even had bought a few magazines, one just two weeks ago actually. He did not even really read them; he was not much interested in men's fashion or men's health. But Kise did look good in them and admitting that he bought it simply for that reason was extremely humiliating so he opted to thinking that well... he was just helping his friend's career. Yeah, just that.

Unlike any other time in the past when Kise would reply any message from Aomine in less than five minutes, no replies had come by the time he had made it to home – around ten minutes later. So he put his phone on the table and waited for a bit – for another ten minutes to be exact. Nothing was received. In a fit of frustration he went to his bedroom and started practising his uppercuts with the punching bag he had there. Punching intently and losing yourself in the action was always a great way of both letting time fly away and relieving stress. When he heard the tune of his phone ring, he was already sweaty and his breathing laboured, he had been going at it for more than an hour, not realising just how long it had been... Still, his ears caught the melody right away and he rushed to the living room despite his sore muscles and accelerated heartbeat and respiration – he almost fell actually as his feet tangled up for a second right when he was reaching for his phone. It was very pathetic and he thanked God silently that there had been nobody to witness how he was behaving.

"He-hello"

"Oh I am sorry you are busy, I am sorry, I'll hang up."

"O-oi! Wa-it! I... ah... am... not busy."

He was breathing twice just to utter every vowel and stuttering a little. He should not have kept up such a high pace when training.

"You are... breathing weird so I thought..."

"Ah... No... I... I was training. Punching... bag. Just let me... ah... catch my breath."

"Okay..."

And they stayed silent for a few moments (actually for exactly seven seconds, if either had counted they would know), and Aomine even closed his eyes savouring the pregnant silence between them, a little afraid of what talking would bring but very much thankful that he had gotten to hear Kise's voice again. He sighed loudly as he took inhaled and exhaled a deep breath and started speaking then,

"Okay. Better now. Sorry for that."

"Oh I am sorry for calling you... I should have just sent a message. I just thought... Well, since we had not talked for so long I thought I would call you. You know... to hear your voice."

Aomine could feel a warmth and the sweetest timidity in Kise's voice and it only tugged at his heart, not painfully, no not at all, instead with affection and content,

"Uh... I see."

"So... Um... Oh yeah so you saw me huh? Which magazine was it?"

Oh shit.

"Well I didn't check out the name to be honest..."

"Yeah I see... Not really your area of interest, is it? Those magazines never really have nude women in them."

Ouch.

"I am not so shallow that I read only such stuff... Okay may be a little shallow, but not that much. I just don't remember it..."

"I am curious though... I wonder which one was it. How did I look? What was I wearing?"

Great. Shit.

"Um..." Aomine tried to think of something and that moment he recalled the magazine he bought last month, one about men's health or something, which was still under his bed and it definitely had Kise on it and what was Kise wearing on that cover again?

Oh... Yeah...

"You were wearing a navy blue singlet I think... With some loose black sweatpants? I am not good at this stuff you know. It was pretty simple but brand stuff I think."

"Huh? Weird... That's the cover I did for a men's health magazine last month. It was partially to show off a particular brand of sports apparel and also about healthy men's diet, that's why I even had to slightly open my abdomen to show my abs... It was a little weird to be honest."

Oh, yeah.

The alabaster skin and toned muscle structure exposed scandalously with a few graceful fingers... It had caught Aomine's eyes right away when he saw it at the convenience store and he had felt so awkward and weird even buying the magazine, he could not imagine Kise posing for it.

He did not realise how silent he had gotten until,

"Aominecchi?"

"Uh-huh, yes?"

"I mean that magazine is last month's. It is really weird that you came across it..."

Damn.

"Yeah maybe they had a few left overs from last month or something? Don't know, it was a small convenience store anyway. Really shabby place. So what's up? How have you been?"

Aomine prayed to any god out there to help him convince Kise to change the subject, it seemed his prayers were heard,

"Nothing much, regular work schedule I guess..."

"Oh really? Since you didn't call I thought you had been busy."

Why was he bringing this up? How had he brought it up? Aomine cursed himself silently as soon as he finished speaking. He could not even imagine himself asking Kise this so how come his lips had pronounced the comment so carelessly and without control.

"Well... I did call you last weekend but your girlfriend took the call and you weren't available... Then you didn't say anything and well I thought perhaps I was taking too much of your time away from your girlfriend and also I guess I felt a little guilty about getting you drunk."

"My girlfriend? I don't have a girlfriend!"

Why is everyone asking the same shit?! Even Kise...

"Oh you don't? Well a woman received the call when I called you..."

Had Aomine recognised a peculiar interrogative tone in Kise's statement? Was he insinuating something? Or was Aomine imagining things. Then he thought for a second but really, he did not have to ponder long about an answer because there was only one woman who was ever present in his home and would ever be comfortable enough to answer his phone,

"It must have been Satsuki. I kind of messed up big on Saturday morning, I puked and stuff... Hadn't slept either so I got really bad at one point... She took me home and stayed till evening to ensure I was okay."

"Oh... So it was Momoi-san... She took care of you."

It was interesting how Aomine had expected the poison in Kise's tone to disappear after confessing that it was Momoi but somehow the poison remained alive and intact in Kise's tone.

"Yeah?"

"I see..."

There was an awkward silence and he really could not bear it,

"It was not your fault you know."

"What was not?"

"Me getting drunk. Plus you got pretty drunk too. I don't even remember who ended up drinking more. And I was the one who mocked you at the beginning, riled you up and got you involved in the stupid drinking contest... If anybody is to blame it is me."

"I cannot blame you and after all, I did go along with it... with a lot of enthusiasm too. It was stupid."

"Yeah but that's why we have so much fun together, isn't it?"

It was a simple statement and it had no romantic connotations so Aomine wondered why, just why the statement had brought upon a tingling feeling and heat over his face. He could hear the slight chuckle from the other end of the line and hearing Kise's chuckle – however slight or small – relieved him quite a bit.

"It is... I guess."

"How did you deal with it?"

"Oh I just slept till late afternoon really. Then I got up, took some medication, ate a bit, had a shower and all... It was not that bad but I did have a terrible headache. I called you as well but yeah, Momoi-san apparently took the call. Then... Well I wasn't feeling well so I just stayed home. Apart from work, I stayed home mostly this week anyway..."

Aomine felt the hand of guilt pull on his heart but he was not sure why he was feeling guilty. There was nothing to feel guilty about.

"Hmm... Okay..."

Another standstill of silence. He had wanted to hear this man's voice so much, had waited it so much despite all his inner refutations and now they were able to talk but why was he choosing silence? Something... something to say to Kise.

"I went to a crepe place."

"Huh? Crepes really don't sound like you."

"It was delicious. We went altogether after today's game."

"I see..."

"Want to go?"

"Huh?"

"Want to go have crepes sometime this week? It is so close to the play we normally play basketball too."

"Would you... Would you want to play one-on-one with me this week then?"

"Yeah I guess. Not like I have anything better to do."

"God... Aominecchi, you were the one inviting but now you are the one acting all reluctant, you know."

There was a playfully capricious tone in Kise's words and it not only brought a blush to Aomine but also warmed him up inside; for some reason he found the young man's mercurial mood and childish expressions intensely captivating.

"You are such a child. I bet you are even pouting now."

"So what if I am pouting?! There is no rule that says adults cannot pout... How was your match today by the way?"

"Well I lost."

"Really?! I cannot believe it!"

"Yeah... For some reason I couldn't concentrate at all..."

"Is that so?"

Aomine sensed a hopeful curiosity and subtle pleasure in the way Kise pronounced each vowel in that question; had he caught something that was present or had he just made it up to satisfy his own inner whims? He was unsure, but either way it felt good.

"Yeah." he said, smirking and it was the first time he ever smiled or smirked when talking about a defeat on the court.