Chapter 6

Two weeks before…

It was supposed to be a Christmas party, but whatever one immediately started picturing upon hearing those words could just be discarded; there were no chubby Santas or snowflakes or ribbons here, in fact the only really festive decoration seemed to be the neon red and green lights flashing from above, and Kagami heard a rumor about an elusive sprig of mistletoe hidden somewhere in the room. Apparently, when young adults and Christmas combined, a masterpiece did not the odd mixture make, and they simply turned it into another typical teenage party, complete with blaring music that sounded only vaguely like the familiar jingle and jangle, except more likely to light a fire in one's eardrums than their heart; and scattered red (and green, for good measure) plastic cups full of beer. Kagami hadn't gone to many American Christmas parties, but he got the feeling there wasn't much difference, and he was weirdly exasperated to find out that no matter how many oceans one crossed, no matter where one went in the world, teenagers were still teenagers.

Why Riko and half the former Seirin team was dragging him to this, he had no idea, but at the moment he would have given a fair few things for Kuroko's super powers so he could simply vanish and not have to face it. He supposed they were due for a reunion; the team members hadn't really met up since leaving high school behind, but holidays weren't really his thing; clusters of people and deafening excuses for music even less so.

He was immediately startled when the first person to bounce up to him was Kise; he'd been under the impression that only former Seirin graduates would be attending this party.

"Kise?" he stammered, taking a step back to escape the blond's smothering hug, "What are you doing here?"

Kise beamed and flipped one end of the bright red-and-green scarf around his neck over his shoulder, "Everyone from the Generation of Miracles is here! Aida-chan must have invited them for the special occasion; she said we could bring anyone we want!"

"Anyone?" No wonder it was crowded. His eyes scanned over the various dancing or chatting people, and he did in fact recognize a few that had attended Kaijou or Shutoku, even one or two from Touou, which should have meant…

He caught the dazzling smirk Kise shot his way, "I know who you're looking for, Kagamichi...You two aren't attached at the hip for once, but Aominechi's here. Check the back; maybe you can get him to loosen up a bit, he was being all….." He trailed off, and a spark in those tawny eyes told Kagami everything he needed to know. Aomine was stoned - which came as no shock - and Kise was bothered.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll handle him," he muttered. He didn't know how Aomine had slipped out of the apartment without his notice, but that did explain how quiet it had been this afternoon. Though they had lived together for a year, the two of them didn't constantly share the same space, and sometimes one or the other flitted off for a few hours, whether to go to work in the case of Kagami, out back to shoot some hoops for old time's sake, or on some other errand of sorts. It was a little surprising Aomine was here, though; of all people to not have a thing for parties, he probably took the cake….or at least got close enough to scrape off some frosting.

Squeezing through the mass of young, athletic bodies, he caught sight of several familiar faces; some former opponents, some former classmates, and once or twice he was stopped by someone for a greeting and either a handshake or a high five, depending. He ran into Izuki and Koganei at some point, both of whom kind of osmosised him into their group and started chatting it up cheerfully, oblivious to his attempts to end the conversation and politely keep walking the other way.

"You still doing that thing with that Aomine guy we played against back in the day?" Koganei asked, looking curious and maybe a little bit buzzed.

Kagami rolled his eyes slightly, "You mean that thing where we live in the same house and eat the same meals and sleep in the same bed? Yes. He's my boyfriend, we've been over this…"

"I still don't understand what you see in him," Izuki chipped in, with a tiny smile, "But you're still seein' him..."

Koganei and Kagami simultaneously groaned; Izuki's puns were as awful as ever, it seemed. Some things never changed.

Finally, Kagami managed to slip past his company, and hovered around the back of the group of people, leaning against the table there casually survey the scene. He wasn't surprised to see Murasakibara hanging around the table, munching on the array of refreshments and sticking out like a sore thumb. Releasing a low sigh, Kagami reached a hand in his pocket and extracted a cigarette from its pack, fishing in his other pockets for a lighter.

Without warning, a strong arm looped around his shoulders, and a familiar, husky voice spoke close to his ear, "Looking for this?"

He started in surprise and turned to see Aomine right beside him, holding the sleek metal object in question in the hand braced against his shoulder. He raised an eyebrow, "Trying to cut me off again?" he asked around the cigarette between his teeth.

Aomine laughed and shook his head, "Nope, I have my own uses for it, remember? I should get one of my own, but I'm flat broke."

Kagami shifted at the reference to what he needed the heat the flame gave off for, "You're always broke," he muttered, snatching the lighter from his hand and igniting the end of his cigarette, taking a slow drag and letting it out through his nose. He didn't used to be; in fact there had been a time when Kagami was the poorer of the two by far, but since he'd gotten an actual paying job - waiting tables at a restaurant that couldn't exactly be called esteemed, but that was besides the point - and heroin ate a hole through Aomine's wallet at a ridiculous rate, their roles had reversed, "So why are you here? You didn't have to show."

"Are you complaining?" Aomine smirked lazily, "It looked interesting; besides, an opportunity to get out of the house and get a look at some decent, real live boobs -"

Kagami let out a warning growl around the slender object in his mouth.

His boyfriend held up his hands in a placating way, still smirking, "Babe, chill; you've got the hottest ass this side of anywhere, I don't want or need anything else...but one can still look, and appreciate…"

He snorted a puff of smoke dismissively, "If I didn't already know you treated breasts like artwork, I might be more ticked off."

"So I'm forgiven?"

"Whatever."

Aomine was really only ever this relaxed and carefree - only ever able to be - when he was fresh off the needle and riding the almost immediate and long-lasting high that loosened his tongue and his posture and made him seem….weirdly healthier, and more alive. Of course, his suppressed, shallow breathing, the glitter of sweat on his forehead and neck and the glazed look of his dilated, dark eyes told a different tale, but for now Kagami disregarded that. It was a party after all, and he dampened the mood between them enough on a daily basis with his fretting.

They had drifted away from where Murasakibara was tenaciously chowing down, so they could keep talking in relative privacy, and had settled near the corner of the room, Aomine leaning against the wall, Kagami standing idly across from him. He had opened his mouth to speak, taking the cigarette out of it to do so, when a sudden, high-pitched squeal that was much too girly to have come out of Riko's mouth - yet somehow had… - was heard, ringing across the room. All eyes turned to the former coach who had released the sound, and then turned to Kagami and Aomine when it became clear what she was pointing at.

"Look who's under the mistletoe!" she sang happily, clapping her hands together with an excitement Kagami thought the situation didn't quite merit. He felt like someone had just put an enormous spotlight on him, and they might as well have, but damn if he didn't look up to see that treacherous cluster of white berries hanging down from the ceiling, right over his own and Aomine's heads. He felt heat crawl up his face, and tried to ignore the immature chants of "kiss! kiss!" some of the people gathered around were starting up.

Aomine grinned, not appearing to be terribly bothered. "Might as well," he said, wrapping a hand around the back of Kagami's neck and dragging him into a deep, messy, invasive kiss, shamelessly taking his lower lip between his teeth and pulling it when they broke away. There was some applause that was most likely teasing, and Kagami wondered how many of those people knew they were together and how many thought Aomine was just that unwilling to back down from a dare.

"What is it with you?" Kagami mumbled, returning the smoldering cancer stick to his mouth and sure his face was red as a beacon, only then registering that Aomine's familiar taste had been overlapped with something bitter, which he took a moment to analyze "Did you…? Were you drinking?"

"Not a party without a little booze," Aomine shrugged carelessly, "Everyone else is; why single me out?"

Never was Kagami so glad he was the perfect height to conk his boyfriend over the head, "Don't play stupid. First of all because I care about your dumb ass for some reason, and second, because none of them already have another, stronger downer in their system. It's dangerous for those to mix - hell, they're dangerous enough on their own - and you know it. You're not usually so reckless."

"Reckless?" Aomine echoed, "It's just a little -"

"Don't even start with me," Kagami growled shortly, "You won't win this one. ….And anyway, you're lucky you're still on your feet." Actually, he was lucky to still be breathing….Kagami himself wasn't really sure what the combination of heroin and alcohol would do, but two wrongs didn't make a right, and two depressants certainly wouldn't make anything pleasant.

Aomine fell silent, shifting his weight and looking at the floor, "Sorry…" he said after a moment, and Kagami nearly choked on his cigarette, coughing on a mouthful of ash. That was the second time he'd ever heard that word from him...it seemed he only used it when it hit him that he'd really messed up and his life was at risk, which in his mind didn't happen often. He seemed to have just now grasped the severity of what would otherwise be seen as an inconsequential, casual decision. "It was only a little, honest. I won't do it again…"

I just don't want to see you hurt yourself...or worse. He kept the thought silent as he caught his breath, meeting the apologetic pair of blue eyes briefly, "Just forget about it...what's done is done." But he was definitely going to keep an eye on Aomine, both to make sure he stayed standing and that he didn't do anything worse to his body tonight.

.

.

Aomine did make up for scaring him, when he asked suddenly if Kagami wanted to dance. Not particularly, if he was to be honest, but his curiosity was automatically piqued by the fact that he'd proposed it at all, so he accepted, snuffing out his cigarette under his shoe and letting himself be led to the edge of the dance floor; not caught up in the mass of roiling bodies, but close enough to be considered part of it. If given the choice, he would have thought Aomine was too lazy to want to dance, anywhere, ever, but boy did he prove him wrong, immediately bringing their bodies close together and moving to the throbbing music, swaying and grinding his hips, hooking his thumbs in his pockets to emphasize their motion. Kagami just followed his lead, and he got the feeling from his confidence that Aomine had either done this before, or was born with an unbelievable amount of natural talent, even outside the basketball court.

Eventually he found himself pressed against his lover, hands around his waist while Aomine's tangled in the back of his hair, lips occasionally meeting and wrestling as they moved with each other. It shouldn't have been so intimate and sexual, especially not to the tune of some Santa Claus Is Coming To Town remix, but it was, and Kagami could feel the heat building between them as hips undulated and feet shifted to some rhythm that was more felt than heard. And somewhere between Santa Baby and Jingle Bell Rock, the dance simply melted into a heated make out session, so they stepped aside, back to their corner, and let people believe it was just the mistletoe overhead that kept their lips glued together.

.

.

When most of the party guests had dwindled away to their own homes, Aomine slid down from where he was standing against the wall, slouching against it and mumbling that he was going to take a nap until it was time to go. Shaking his head with a blend of fond exasperation and the worry that never fully went away, Kagami joined him there, sitting beside him and offering a shoulder to lie against, which Aomine promptly accepted, only nuzzling against it for a moment because no one else was watching.

"How do you feel?" Kagami asked, as he typically did when Aomine seemed to be crashing, lightly rubbing his back. He didn't know how he planned to nap with the loud music and people surrounding him, but Aomine had surprised him before, and he'd found him curled up asleep in the weirdest places. Once he even fell asleep sitting at the dinner table, but had hit his head on the flat wooden surface as he slumped, which woke him up quickly enough.

"Tired," Aomine replied, "But otherwise pretty good still; I don't hurt or anything."

Kagami closed his eyes briefly, with the magnitude of the seemingly-simple statement that meant a lot more. He kept forgetting, even now, how screwed up Aomine's scale of feeling was….that his definition of bliss had become merely the absence of pain. The drug was no longer something that made him feel euphoria on its own; now it was just an extra-strength pain killer and normal life was the high...when it faded it hurt just to exist.

"Do you want to go home?" he prompted softly, but Aomine was already asleep, and he didn't have the heart to wake him. He always seemed the most peaceful when he was sleeping, and almost looked younger...it was easier to believe he was only nineteen, anyway.

"Well that's a sight I never thought I'd see," Kagami blinked and looked up to see Riko peering down at him, something like a wistful smile on her face.

"It's been awhile, Coach," he murmured, shaking her hand with his free one. The gesture felt weird, too formal, and judging from Riko's slight frown, she agreed. She wasn't his coach anymore, but Kagami thought it would be strange to call her anything else, and he would always respect her as such.

"It has...and it seems awfully quiet without all you boys stirring up trouble." she squinted at the bluenette nestled against his shoulder, fast asleep, and propped one hand on her hip, "Hey, what's your secret? You tamed the vicious panther or something…"

Kagami laughed softly and kept his voice in an undertone, so he didn't disturb his sleeping boyfriend, "Nah, he was like this when I got him...I might have just declawed him a little." He smiled to himself, "He can be really sweet when he wants to be."

Riko snorted, "Huh, right. I'll believe that when I see it. ...So how have things been for you?"

Kagami made a vague gesture with one hand, "It's had ups and downs; living with this guy has definitely been an adventure."

"I'll bet...it's amazing your house is still standing and you're both in one piece."

"For now," Kagami sighed, slightly teasingly, "What about you? Someone special in your life?"

She shook her head, short hair - though longer than he'd ever seen it - bouncing against her cheeks, "Not right now, I think I need a break from guys being idiots."

Kagami didn't hear a "no offense", but he supposed he hadn't expected to, and gave the "none taken" shrug anyway. Against his shoulder, Aomine started snoring softly, to an amused glance from both members of the company he was unaware of.

"I should get this idiot to bed," he muttered, "It was nice...talking to you again, even if it was short. Feels like old times."

Riko just nodded mutely, and after a second, Kagami shook Aomine's shoulder gently to wake him. It took a few tries, but narrow, hazier-than-normal eyes flitted open after a moment and looked at him blearily.

"Wha…?"

"It's time to get going, you big baby. Can you walk on your own, or do I have to carry you to the car?"

"Carryin' would be nice," Aomine slurred, a hint of sarcasm somehow still finding its way into the half-awake statement, and he leaned his cheek against his shoulder again, as though not in a great hurry to move.

Kagami snickered, "Piggyback or bridal style?"

"'Could jus' put me over your shoulders like a dead deer." he mumbled sleepily against Kagami's shirt.

Kagami heard Riko stifle a giggle against the back of her hand, and Aomine seemed to realize he had an audience besides his boyfriend, because he stopped leaning against him and sat up, though he still slouched slightly and his eyes still looked a little unfocused.

"Do you still play?" Riko asked, as Kagami started to get to his feet, motioning for Aomine to do the same.

"Of course," they both chorused immediately, as if stopping playing basketball was simply out of the question….which it was. Obviously, it wasn't all day every day anymore, but they did play often, both individually and against each other.

"Should've known," the former Seirin coach grinned, "Once a basketball idiot, always a basketball idiot."

"Maybe we could get the old team together and play a game," Kagami suggested, putting an arm around Aomine's shoulders despite his disgruntled scowl.

The bluenette snorted derisively, "Your weakling friends? I could crush them all with one hand."

"Down boy," Kagami teased, nudging him with his elbow, "I'm sure you'd have fun; you'd be playing against me too. Or you could call up your Touou buddies and we could make it a real match...like old times."

"I guess," Aomine said shortly, lifting his shoulders slightly in a shrug, "...Weren't we leaving?"

"I don't mean to hold you up," Riko chipped in, "It does sound like a good time to get the gang back together; I'll give you a call. ...Oh, and Merry Christmas to both of you, by the way."

"Right back at you. See you soon," Kagami nodded, steering Aomine in the direction of the exit before he could give a cheeky remark.

The air outside the building was brisk, icier and more biting than it had been the past week, and their breath clouded before them as they trudged to where Kagami had parked the car. Aomine wrapped his jacket tighter around himself and gave a dramatic shiver, and it occurred to Kagami that the sweat that was ever-present on his brow must have been making him even colder, and he drew his boyfriend closer to his side, hoping his body heat would help.

Once in the car, he cranked up the heat, and had paused to take out a cigarette to warm himself up on the inside, when he noticed Aomine's disapproving frown.

"Not in here; you'll either set the steering wheel on fire or make me want one," he muttered.

"I'll take my chances," Kagami sighed, lighting up and taking a slow breath of the relaxing nicotine. "Here," he added, tossing another cigarette to the passenger seat, which Aomine attempted to catch in midair and missed. His reflexes are sluggish; not like he doesn't have enough drugs in his system...he shouldn't add any more, but I can't control what he does. Placing the object between his lips, Aomine held out his hand for the lighter and followed suit, inhaling deeply and tipping his head back to blow whorls of smoke at the ceiling of the car, watching them dissipate with almost childlike interest.

Kagami shook his head slowly to himself, "Why do you still glare at me for smoking, and then turn around and do it yourself?"

Aomine made a sound that could have been a grunt or a laugh, not looking at him, "I have a lot of values and I live by none of them. ...Buckle your seatbelt."

"Huh. Case in point," Kagami said bluntly, doing what he said, though Aomine neglected to do the same, slowly pulling out of the parking space and onto the road.

Aomine was silent for a moment, dropping his gaze, and then spoke again, "Besides...I don't really care where I end up, but I care where you do. Just...whatever you do, don't be an idiot and follow my example."

Kagami took a moment to deduce that Aomine had essentially called himself an idiot, which, considering his ego, was pretty surprising, "Hmm, if I didn't know you were some bizarre mix of drunk and very very high right now, I'd say you've gone soft, Ahomine."

Aomine held up his forefinger and thumb about a centimeter apart, "Only a tiny bit drunk; I don't feel any different."

"Well if we get stopped by a cop, we could have him check your blood-alcohol concentration, and then I'll know if you're lying."

Blue eyes turned to his, and he spared a glance at them before turning back to the road, "Come on, don't you trust me?"

It was a loaded question, and it took Kagami several seconds to think of an answer, rolling down the window despite the cold air whipping past to let out some of the smoke that was fogging up the windshield. Part of him wanted to say no. Hell no, even. Aomine had lied blatantly, on multiple occasions, sometimes even directly to his face, had been sneaky and dishonest, and had given Kagami very little reason to place his trust in him for anything.

But...he remembered Aomine admitting he'd had something to drink tonight, and almost immediately swallowing his pride and apologizing when he saw how badly it scared Kagami, he remembered him acknowledging a moment ago that the path he'd taken was wrong and stupid, and he knew in his heart that he would leave it if he wasn't in so deep.

He sighed, "Yeah...yeah, I trust you."

TBC