Kagami had known that Kuroko was going to be glad to see Nigou. He hadn't realized just how very, very glad he would be, though. After a couple of minutes passed and Kuroko was still kneeling there on the floor, still hugging Nigou with his knuckles turning white, Kagami started to shift uneasily. Aomine was giving him looks like he expected Kagami to explain what was going on. Kagami just shook his head and pressed his lips together. Not your business, not your business. Go away, idiot. Can't you see you're intruding?

At least Nigou was smart enough to be still and let Kuroko cling to him. He rested his chin on Kuroko's shoulder, occasionally taking a lick at his ear. Kuroko knelt there, holding him, his face hidden. Eventually Nigou gave a low, anxious whine, trembling all over, but he still made no attempt to escape.

"What the hell." Aomine stepped into the apartment and slammed the door behind him. Kagami tried to grab his arm, but Aomine slipped away, just like he did on the court. He didn't even take off his shoes, which was an astonishing breach of etiquette. He stalked all the way to Kuroko, bent forward like an animal on the prowl, and crouched down in front of him.

"The hell is this?" Aomine reached out to touch Kuroko's arm. Kuroko started at the touch but did not release his grip, nor did he raise his head. Aomine jerked his fingers away as if he'd been burned, and he turned his head to glare at Kagami. "The hell is this?" he demanded again. "He's shaking."

He looked back to Kuroko. Something dark and low lit in his eye, and his voice went quiet. "You're shaking, Tetsu. What the hell is going on?"

Kagami crossed his arms over his chest. "He missed his dog. What do you think is going on?"

Aomine snorted. "I know he missed his dog. He could have come and visited, though. I even offered to meet at a park somewhere. There was always some excuse. I thought it was taking too long, but this..." He shook his head. He had yet to look away from Kuroko. "Allergy filters, right? You said your dad had suddenly developed an allergy, and you needed to get filters installed, and then Nigou could come home. I knew it was taking too long."

Kagami said nothing. With Kuroko's confession of last night, he understood why Kuroko hadn't been able to visit, to see Nigou for only a little while. It would have been too little, and too much. Kuroko had been afraid that he wouldn't be able to let go, that he would put Nigou in danger with his selfishness or some such nonsense.

"Testu. Would you look at me?" Aomine's voice was low and growling. "I don't understand what's happening here, and it's pissing me off."

Kagami bristled. He took a step closer, his hands clenched into fists. "Oi, bastard! Don't force him! Since you don't know what's happening here, don't you think you should step lightly? Learn how to read a situation!"

Aomine stiffened. He'd reached out to touch Kuroko's arm again, but this time he refused to let go. He did not turn to look at Kagami. He remained focused on Kuroko. "If Tetsu wants me to go, I'll go. I'll leave without ever finding out what's going on here, why he's staying at your place all of sudden, why he looks like he's lost a bunch of weight. Why he's shaking while he clings to his dog. Why you're acting like a mama cat with a sick kitten. But I'm not going anywhere until Tetsu tells me to leave."

He firmed his jaw and lowered his head, trying to get a glimpse of Kuroko's face. "Tetsu? Do you want me to leave?"

His voice was almost...gentle. Kagami had never heard him sound like this before. Kuroko had told him stories about what a kind friend Aomine had been in middle school, how supportive he'd been of Kuroko long before anyone else believed in his potential. This was the first time Kagami really believed that any of those stories could be true. The Aomine he knew now was just...too removed from that sweet young kid.

But Aomine stayed there, crouching by Kuroko and Nigou, as solid and patient and still as a boulder in a riverbed. He would not be moved. Not until Kuroko responded.

After a long moment, Kuroko raised his head. Aomine started a bit at the sight, at his puffy eyes, the tears tracking over his flushed cheeks and pale skin. He looked awful. He looked ill.

Kuroko's eyes were down. Slowly, slowly, he dragged them upward, until he was looking into Aomine's face. Aomine stared back at him, his mouth open in astonishment and dismay.

"Tetsu..."

Kuroko tried for a smile. It was not a success. "You don't have to leave if you don't want to, Aomine-kun," he said softly. "I...I'd rather you didn't, actually."

"Then I won't." Aomine glared at Kagami, daring him to disagree.

Kagami slumped. There was no way he could kick Aomine out, now.

But...maybe this would be for the best. If Aomine could find it in himself to be kind and supportive again, even if just for one day... Kuroko needed all the support he could get. Kagami knew that.

Aomine was looking at Kuroko again. His body was still stiff, but his voice was careful. "Do you want to tell me what's going on, now?"

Kuroko opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He shivered and hunched over, clutching Nigou tight. His eyes sought Kagami, pleading. "Kagami-kun..."

Kagami sighed and scraped a hand through his hair. He should have expected this. "Do you want me to tell him?"

Kuroko nodded and averted his eyes. It was all just too much for him.

Kagami braced himself. This was going to be rough. Aomine stared at him with hard, expectant eyes, though his hand was still gentle on Kuroko's arm.

"This...this is going to make you angry," Kagami said.

Aomine nodded briskly. "Just tell me."

Kagami's hands clenched into fists. "Kuroko's not staying with his father anymore. He's never going back there again."

"Why?" The word was harsh and clipped, bitten out.

"Because..." A shiver passed over Kagami's body. "Because he's been hurting Kuroko. Beating him. Hitting him." His breath caught, but he forced the last words out. He'd put this in writing, but he hadn't said it aloud before. "Abusing him. Kuroko's father was abusing him."

Kagami expected an angry outburst, a typhoon of emotion. He expected Aomine to jump to his feet, maybe kick the wall the way Hyuuga had, maybe even take a swing at Kagami. He wouldn't have been surprised if Aomine had stormed out and only come back later when he'd calmed down.

None of this happened. Instead, Aomine seemed to suddenly deflate. His stiff posture loosened, his shoulders falling down. The healthy brown skin of his face seemed to lose all color. The hardness in his eyes vanished, replaced with emptiness and loss.

Only the hand on Kuroko's arm remained the same. Aomine's fingers tightened, not gripping hard enough to hurt, but just making sure. "Tetsu..." The word was broken, the voice was faint. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Kuroko shook his head and looked away, unable to meet his gaze. The tears welled up, and he buried his face in Nigou's fur again. His shoulders heaved with silent sobs.

"He didn't tell anyone," Kagami said. The indignation and tension had run out of his body, too. All he felt was sadness. He moved closer, slowly so as not to startle either of them, and knelt beside them. He tried to catch Aomine's eyes, but the guy wouldn't look at him. It was like he was ashamed. "He didn't even tell me. I found out because I was there."

Aomine was shaking now, too. Kuroko let go of Nigou with one hand and reached out to Aomine without looking at him. Aomine took the hand in both of his and held it, pressed between his palms. "I should have been there," he whispered.

"He didn't even want me there," Kagami said. "It was an accident. He didn't want anyone to know. I was stubborn and persistent and pushy. If it had been up to Kuroko, no one would know. He'd still be there now."

Aomine looked at him. His eyes were large and blank and so, so sad. It reminded Kagami of the way he'd looked right after that game, the one where they'd finally beaten him. It had been such a long, hard fight, terrible and taxing for everyone involved. And this had been the result. I lost.

"Then thank God for you, Kagami Taiga," Aomine said. "If you're saying that Tetsu would still be with his abusive dad if you weren't a stubborn, rude, Americanized returnee brat who doesn't know when to quit... Thank God for you. You saved us all. Again."

Kagami didn't know what to say. He'd been trying to make Aomine feel better, not draw praise to himself. But Kuroko nodded into Nigou's fur, and Kagami could see the sweet young middle school kid looking out of Aomine's eyes, and that was that.

Kagami was saved by a timer ringing in the kitchen. He cursed and jumped to his feet, his face flaming red. "The batter's ready. I gotta go now or it won't be as good."

Aomine and Kuroko stared at him. Kuroko actually lifted his face just so he could stare at him.

Kagami scowled at them both. "Batter," he repeated slowly. "For buttermilk pancakes. You have to let it set out for ten minutes after you add the baking soda... You know what, never mind. I'm going to go cook." He looked at Aomine. "Would you help Kuroko get back to the blanket fort? He can rest in there with Nigou while I make breakfast."

Aomine's face somehow got even more empty, his mouth hanging open. "Blanket...fort...?"

Kagami waved a hand at him, already hurrying toward the kitchen. "Kuroko can show you. And take off your shoes, you barbarian!"

The griddle was starting to smoke by the time he got back. Kagami cursed and turned down the heat, then stirred the batter (bubbling perfectly), poured some oil in the pan, waited for it to heat, folded in chocolate chips, and scooped the batter on to cook. The kitchen started to smell amazing, not that this was unusual by any means. Throughout, Kagami was dimly aware of noises in the main room, of Aomine making incredulous grunts and exclamations when he saw the blanket fort, Kuroko's gentle murmur calming him down. Then it went quiet in there, which was fine with Kagami. He sang along with his music and tried not to think.

Aomine was going to make everything more complicated, wasn't he? Kagami didn't know how he was going to get rid of him now. He was maybe starting to regret texting him to bring over the mutt.

But no, the look on Kuroko's face when he saw Nigou put an end to any of that. Kagami would endure just about anything right now to see that look on Kuroko's face. Including a dog he was afraid of and a basketball player who got on his last nerve.

Speaking of which... Aomine sauntered into the kitchen and leaned on the edge of the counter on his hip, staring at Kagami without blinking. Kagami tried to ignore him. He'd just flipped three pancakes and he needed to keep an eye on them. As soon the steam stopped rising and the pan stopped sizzling, they'd be ready...

Kagami's eyes strayed to Aomine, though, and caught him with his fingers in the cookie jar. Or the bag, anyway. "Oi! Don't eat my chocolate chips!"

Aomine raised his eyebrows and slowly, deliberately tossed his head back as he threw the chips into his mouth. "Why not?"

"Because I only have one bag!" Kagami stomped over, fuming, still holding his spatula in one hand like a tiny, useless weapon. He snatched the bag of chocolate chips away and put it up on the highest, farthest shelf he could find.

Aomine wandered around the counter to stare down at the pan. "What are you making?"

"I told you. Pancakes." There! They were ready. Kagami flipped the pancakes onto a plate in quick succession and put them in the oven with the others to keep warm.

Aomine shook his head. "You're so weird."

"There's nothing weird about pancakes."

"You put chocolate chips in them, though. That's weird."

"It's completely normal."

"No, it isn't."

The last of the batter was safely in the pan, so Kagami was free to turn and give Aomine his hardest glare. "Why do you care, anyway?"

"I don't." Aomine stared down at the batter in the pan with fascination, watching the bubbles begin to form. "I just wanted to make sure you're making enough for all three of us."

Kagami blew out a breath in exasperation. "Who invited you, anyway?"

Aomine gave him a bland look. "You did. And Tetsu asked me to stay."

It was a fair point. Kagami grunted and turned away. "Clearly that was a terrible idea."

"So are you making enough or not? If not, I'll just run down to the convenience store and get something for myself."

Kagami glanced at him. Aomine was looking at the floor as he nudged his sock-clad toe against the bottom of a cabinet. He looked uncomfortable, out of his element. But he was determined to stay here.

Kagami could relate. He sighed, shoulders slumping in resignation. "Yeah, I'm making enough for three," he grumbled. He was making enough for six, not to put too fine a point on it, but he intended to eat more than half himself. Aomine's presence wouldn't be an unreasonable burden on the food supplies.

Aomine raised his head. His expression had lightened.

"But you're not getting any of my maple syrup!" Kagami had to put his foot down somewhere.

Aomine waved a hand, already slumping his way out of the kitchen. "Fine, fine. I'm going to go make the blanket fort bigger."

Kagami froze. "Wait...what?"

"There's not enough room in there for three. Don't worry, Tetsu and I can handle it."

"No, don't!" Kagami raced after him. Some of those supports were far too flimsy to handle any rough handling from an athlete who didn't know his own strength...

It was too late. Aomine had already grabbed one of the chairs and pulled it away from the fort. The blanket roof collapsed right on top of Kuroko and Nigou, fallen in a like a sad, sad cream puff that had failed to rise in the oven. Only two small, startled lumps in the middle of the mess showed where Kuroko and his dog were.

"You idiot!" Kagami grabbed at Aomine, prepared to strangle the life out of him. "What do you think you're doing...!"

"It was an accident!" Aomine danced out of the way, eluding Kagami's grasping fingers. "You're getting batter all over the place, you slob!"

"I would have been better off inviting an elephant over to have pancakes than you, dumbass!" Kagami grabbed for him again.

"You gotta be quicker than that if you wanna catch me, slowpoke! How you ever beat me at basketball, even by a fluke, I'll never understand."

A small, high-pitched sound stopped them in their tracks. Aomine and Kagami froze, staring at each other. Their eyes were wide and startled. Kagami was still holding his spatula.

Nigou barked, sharp and delighted. Aomine and Kagami look at each other, then slowly made their way over to the collapsed fort and stared down into the mess in the middle. The Kuroko-lump was shaking. The Nigou-lump was moving around in circles, barking happily. The sound came again.

It was. It was a giggle. Kuroko was giggling.

"Kuroko?" Kagami asked cautiously.

"Tetsu?" Aomine's voice was no less hesitant. He craned his neck over to get a better look. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine!" Kuroko's voice was high-pitched and cracking. "Please, continue your fight! It's very, very ridiculous!"

Kagami and Aomine looked at each other, then slowly backed away. The momentum had been broken, and neither could quite remember what they were fighting about now.

"Kuroko?" Kagami asked. "Is it okay if we don't fight, and just fix the fort instead?"

"Yes, that's fine," Kuroko called.

So that was what they did.

Kagami only narrowly rescued his pancakes from burning.