Hey guys, thank you soooo much for all the favorites, follows, and reviews~ Also, I apologize for the mistakes in the last chapter. I'd already tried uploading it four times, and I had to retype it three times, and it was three in the morning, and I was so done, haha. ^^; But anyway~ Thank you so much for reading!

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"Ooh, we should all go shopping!" Kise exclaimed, clapping excitedly.

Kuroko turned a pleading gaze to Aomine, but the man just smiled at his boyfriend. "That sounds great, Ryouta. What do you say, Tetsu?"

Kuroko frowned, suddenly under Kise's watchful, puppy-like eyes. "S-sure," he mumbled, though he instantly regretted it as the blond let out a loud shrill.

Aomine noticed the smaller bluenette flinch, and a knowing smirk found its way to his face. "Someone has a hangover, don't they?"

"Shut up," Kuroko mumbled, pulling a small laugh from his friend.

"Ne, what about you, Akashi-cchi?"

Akashi blinked as he stared up at the blond, his expression as dead as Kuroko felt. "Um... what?"

Kise rolled his eyes. "Shopping! Yes or no?"

"Uh, n-"

"Great, let's get ready then!"

"But-"

Kise pulled Aomine to his feet and lead him away, gleefully chatting about their shopping excursion. Kuroko let out a small bitter laugh as he turned to face Akashi. "Looks like we're in the same boat," he muttered.

Akashi sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Seems like it."

Kuroko frowned as he stared at the redhead. "Do you..." Akashi looked at him curiously, but the words died on his lips. "Never mind," he mumbled. Akashi blinked but didn't say anything as he turned away to stare blankly at the wall.

XXXXXXXXXX

It didn't take long for the four to arrive at the mall nearby. Kise was as energetic as ever, and Aomine was laughing at how cute the blond was, whilst Kuroko and Akashi followed quietly, their heads spinning from the noise and bright lights.

"Tell me why we're here again?" Akashi mumbled.

Kuroko glanced at him, unease settling in his stomach. "It's what they wanted."

The redhead scoffed. "Daiki doesn't even want to be here. He's just doing it for Ryouta."

Kuroko nodded. "Yes, and that's why we are, as well."

Akashi fell silent, and Kuroko breathed a sigh of relief. It was so hard for him to talk to Akashi like nothing had ever happened. It took a lot out of him, and he was already exhausted from the night before.

A couple of hours and forty-two shops later, the four found a place to rest inside a cafe. Kise sat beside Aomine and across from Akashi, leaving Kuroko to sit beside the dreaded redhead.

"So, Kuroko-cchi," Kise said happily, resting his chin on his hands curiously, "you're also a third year in university, right?" Kuroko nodded. "What are you studying for?"

"Ah, well, I don't really know yet. I haven't quite made up my mind."

Akashi glanced at him, a knowing look in his eye, for he knew that Kuroko had always known exactly what he wanted to do. Unfortunately for the redhead, Kuroko recognized that look, and bitterness began to swell in his his chest.

'That liar.'

Before he could speak his mind, Kise cut in again, oblivious to the aura now radiating from Kuroko. "Ah, well whatever you do, I'm sure you'll be great at it~ Akashi-cchi, you're still in business, right?"

The redhead nodded. "Yes. My father insists I complete my education before I even think of working for him, let alone taking over the company."

Kuroko was staring at his hands beneath the table, trying to calm himself, for Aomine and Kise's sake. He stood to his feet then, interrupting whatever conversation the others had now been in. "Excuse me," he said as he briskly walked toward the restroom.

Kise frowned. "Do you think he's okay?"

"I'm sure he's fine," Aomine said. The blond still looked rather worried, but he wouldn't say anything else now that Aomine had reassured him. However, Akashi would.

"I'll go check on him, just to be certain," he said as he followed after the bluenette calmly.

A small bit of relief fell over Kise as he watched the redhead go, and he rested his head upon Aomine's shoulder, cuddling into him.

Kuroko was washing his face with cold water when he'd noticed AKashi stroll in behind him. The redhead stood off behind him patiently, waiting for him to turn the water off. Only once he had did Akashi speak.

"Are you okay, Kuroko?"

Kuroko rolled his eyes and turned to face him directly. "I'm great, Akashi. How are you? Still running from your problems?"

Akashi simply blinked, but his heart was suddenly pounding. "Excuse me?"

"Please stop pretending. For two minutes. It's me you're talking to AKashi, come on."

Akashi sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "How'd you know?"

"That look you gave me out there. More importantly, why are you still doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Running."

Akashi scoffed, "I'm not running from anything, Tetsuya."

"Fine. Then why are you still trying to hide me?"

The redhead fell silent, and he could barely hear Kuroko's voice over the pounding in his ears. An acrimonious laugh escaped the bluenette. "Of course you have no answer," he muttered. He made his way to the exit, and Akashi reacted on instinct, swiveling on his heels to catch Kuroko, but he was just out of reach.

"Tetsuya, wa-"

His words fell silent on his tongue as an icy blue stare faced him. "You have no right to call me by that name, Akashi. We're not friends."

XXXXXXXXXX

A couple of days had passed since their mall adventure, and the four "friends" were once again together, as Aomine had invited Kise and Kuroko over to his place, and naturally Akashi had come, as well.

Kuroko was starting to hate being around Kise. Not because of the blond himself, but because he was always with Akashi.

Aomine had noticed since Kuroko had come back from the restroom that day that something was off. He'd just assumed it was still because Akashi didn't remember him, until he noticed that Akashi was suddenly much more rude than before. But only when Kuroko was around. This was proven when the four sat at the table for dinner, and Akashi wouldn't speak a word to either Kuroko nor Aomine.

"So Akashi, I heard your family's company is making a pretty big deal soon."

Silence.

Kise smiled and tried to laugh off the aura that was coming from the redhead. "Yeah, Akashi-cchi may even have a chance to work there before his classes are through."

Kuroko angrily poked at his food with his chopsticks. "Oh, lucky him~" he muttered.

Akashi grit his teeth and glared at the table, but he made no move to confront Kuroko.

Aomine shot a half glare toward his friend, though he didn't notice. "Oi, Tetsu, be nice."

A small bitter smile crept onto the bluenette's face. "I was just saying..."

Akashi rolled his eyes and turned to look at Kuroko. "What were you just saying?" he asked, irritation layered in his voice.

"Oh nothing, just that you're a coward that's still too afraid to tell your own father you don't want to work for him," Kuroko said simply, but there was so much acid in his voice, Kise could hardly believe this was the man he'd met only a few days before.

"What would you know, Tetsuya?"

"I told you not to call me that."

"I'll call you whatever the hell I please!"

The two glared at one another in silence for a long while, leaving Kise to try to wrap his head around the situation, whilst Aomine held his head in his hands. "This was obviously a bad idea," he muttered to himself.

Akashi smirked, making Kuroko's blood boil. "I couldn't agree more." He pushed himself up and headed toward the door.

"Akashi-cchi!" The blond looked helplessly toward Aomine, and he nodded.

"Go on, I'll talk to Tetsu."

Kise jumped up and eagerly ran after his friend, calling his name in desperation. Aomine sighed as he turned back to Kuroko. "Alright, what's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Bullshit. Tetsu, the two of you just randomly started yelling at each other in front of me. You can't say it's nothing."

Kuroko sighed and buried his head in his hands. "He lied, Aomine."

The tan man blinked. "About what?"

"He remembers me. He remembers what he did."

Aomine's eyes widened as he put a hand out to brush Kuroko's hair out of his eyes. He was more than surprised to find tears streaming down his usually emotionless face. He frowned deeply. "I think it's time for you to tell me what he did to you."

Kuroko froze for a moment, but eventually nodded. "It started in middle school," he began softly. "Akashi didn't even notice me for forever. But I noticed him... I guess you could say I had a crush on him. I remember the first time we spoke to one another was during a class project. I thought it was fate that we'd been randomly assigned together." The bluenette laughed humorlessly, shaking his head. "I've never regretted something more in my whole life."

Aomine frowned. "What happened?"

A small, sad, yet genuine smile found its way to Kuroko's lips. "He was perfect," he breathed. "He was everything I'd expected and more. Smart, kind, and even funny at times." Aomine's brows furrowed as he tried to picture Akashi being either of the last two. "And I felt lucky that day. Extremely lucky. And that feeling multiplied tenfold when he asked me out."

Aomine's eyes widened so much that Kuroko feared they might shoot out of his head. "H-he asked you out? Like, on a d-date?" A small blush crept onto the smaller man's cheeks, and he averted his gaze, nodding slowly. "Shit... And you said?"

"Yes, of course. You must understand, Aomine, Akashi is not the same person he was then. He was much worse."

Aomine pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to make sense of it all. "Okay. So, what changed?"

Kuroko frowned, and his eyes grew distant. Aomine could tell he was reliving the experience as he spoke. "After a couple of dates, we became an official couple. The only catch, was that it had to be a secret."

Aomine snorted, crossing his arms across his chest. "Yeah? Sounds like something that brat would do."

Kuroko ignored the comment, and continued, "His father would not approve of us. And Akashi has never been one to question his father. Not outright, anyway."

"So, what then? Were you really okay with that?"

Kuroko scoffed, more tears forming in his eyes. "Like hell I was," he muttered. "But it was for Akashi, and I would have done anything for Akashi." Aomine's frown deepened, and his heart clenched at seeing his friend like this.

"But it only got worse, Aomine... Some kids from school had seen us out a few times. One day, they were teasing Akashi, asking about his new boyfriend, just poking fun. They didn't mean anything by it." He stopped to pull in a long, shaky breath. "But he snapped. I belive his exact words were, 'Like hell I'd ever be caught dead in a relationship with Tetsuya. I just feel sorry for him.' He didn't know I'd been right outside the roojm. At first I thought, Akashi would never mean that, he's just under pressure. But the longer I stood there, the more his words stung, and it wasn't long before I was crying my eyes out."

Aomine was silent for a long while, trying to think of something to say. Even though he still had no idea, he opened his mouth to let some random words escape, to end the uncomfortable silence, but Kuroko cut him off.

"I never confronted him," he said, looking directly into Aomine's eyes now. The tan man could see all the pain Akashi had caused him, and his hands clenched instinctively into fists at his sides. "But every time we were together, it ended with me being shoved into the closest object- or person, a few harsh words, and a lot of people staring. Not only did he break my heart-"

"He humiliated you..."

Kuroko nodded, rage suddenly taking over his features as his tears were forced back. Aomine shook his head. "I'm sorry I made you do this, Tetsu."

XXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, Kise had finally managed to catch up to Akashi, who was still seething as the blond held him by his shoulders.

"Akashi-cchi, tell me what's going on," he pleaded.

The redhead sighed heavily and pushed Kise's arms away. "I lied, Ryouta," he said simply, and the blond's eyes filled with even more confusion.

"Lied? About what?"

"I know Kuroko. I remember him. I've never forgotten about him. Hell, how could I?"

It took a moment for the words to register in Kise's mind, but when they did, a look of utter betrayal enveloped his features. "You lied? To me? Why would you do that?" Tears threatened to stream out of the blond's eyes, but he wouldn't allow them.

Akashi sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, his anger leaving his body all at once at the sight of hurting his friend. "I'm sorry, Ryouta."

"Why would you do that?" Kise asked again, his voice loud and sharp and.. hurt. And why wouldn't he be? In the three years he'd known Akashi, he'd assumed they'd always told each other the truth. And now he was finding out that his best friend had lied directly to his face.

"Ryouta, I-"

"Why?" he screamed again, and Akashi coudln't take seeing his friend like this anymore.

"I needed this, Ryouta! I needed to protect myself."

"From what?" the blond asked incredulously.

"Kuroko!"

Kise blinked, long and slow, his expression blank until a bitter smile crossed his lips. "Kuroko. You needed protection. From Kuroko."

Akashi groaned. "You don't understand-"

"Then make me!"

The redhead was silent as he tried to gather his thoughts. "Fine," he said finally, "I'm in love with him, okay?"

Kise's eyes widened dramatically. "B-but... then... how is that bad?"

Akashi laughed. "How is that bad? It's awful, Ryouta. Because I fucked up." The blond was visibly confused. "I hurt him," he continued softly, "a long time ago. I was foolish and naive, and I hurt the one person I've ever loved."

Kise frowned. "Then why don't you fix it? Instead of yelling at each other at dinner?"

Akashi sighed. "Because I'm still being foolish. All Kuroko ever wanted was for me to return his feelings, not only in our privacy, but out in the world, as well. And I still can't do that."

A look of understanding flashed across the blond's face. "Your father..."

Akashi glared at the ground beneath him as he nodded. "My father."

Kise sighed. "You still could have told me."

The redhead closed his eyes. "I needed this to be a blank slate for us. I can barely live with what I've done to him, as is. I just want to forget..."

Kise wrapped him in a warm hug then, and though Akashi would normally threaten him for doing so, he simply rested his head on the blond's shoulder, and cried.