"More rice porridge?" Kagami leaned over to pick up Kuroko's bowl, frowning when he saw how full it still was. "This is cold. I can heat it up for you."

Kuroko rolled his head to the side and let out an exasperated sigh. If he'd thought Kagami was pushy earlier, it was ten times worse now that Kuroko was sick. Well, kind of sick. It was only a fever. To listen to Kagami, though, you'd think it was a new and virulent strain of plague.

"No more food. I'm not hungry."

"You need to eat." Kagami patted his head as he straightened, then made his way to the kitchen.

Kuroko groaned and buried his face in the bedding. Kagami didn't know how to take no for an answer. Kuroko hadn't yet regretted asking Kagami to take care of him last night, but he was getting closer. Kagami was taking it very, very seriously.

The blanket fort continued to be home. Kuroko and Kagami had spent pretty much the entire day inside its comfortable walls, steadily working through all of the Studio Ghibli films Kagami had managed to download on his laptop. So far Princess Mononoke was Kagami's proclaimed favorite, though he'd gotten undoubtedly wistful over My Neighbor Totoro, as well.

Kuroko had wanted to ask him about that, but they'd moved on too quickly and he hadn't had a chance. Did Kagami miss the childhood he hadn't had in Japan? Or had he been remembering the years when he was very small, before his family moved to America? Or did the movie remind him of his time in LA in some way, just the feeling of it, the innocence and wonder of youth?

Before long, Kagami was back with the reheated rice porridge. He settled gracefully into a cross-legged position beside Kuroko, who was still lying face-down in the pillows. He nudged Kuroko's head and settled the bowl in front of his face, nestling it into the bedding so it wouldn't tip. Kagami had gotten a lot more relaxed about spilling food since yesterday morning, saying that they were going to have to wash it all anyway, so it didn't matter.

Kuroko raised his head and wrinkled his nose at the porridge. Kagami had added some fresh grated ginger and sliced green onions on top, too. Now that it was in front of him...it did smell good. Slightly appetizing. He might be able to eat some of it.

Kagami repositioned the laptop and lay down beside him so he could see the screen, too. "What's next? Castle in the Sky?"

Kuroko nodded and gave him a smile. "You'll like this one."

Kagami shrugged. "I've liked them all so far. You were right. You should never skip a Studio Ghibli film."

Kuroko hummed around his mouthful of porridge, content and satisfied. "Told you."

"Yeah, you did."

Kagami liked Castle in the Sky, too. Of course he did. Despite all of the action and beautiful imagery, though, Kuroko felt his eyes getting heavy. He'd been dozing off for short periods all day long. He usually woke to find that Kagami had draped a blanket over him, which he would then kick off. The only real irritation in the day (besides Kagami's pushiness) was Kuroko's inability to find a comfortable temperature. He was either too hot or too cold, constantly. He knew it was the fever, and it would pass eventually, but that didn't stop it from being dreadfully annoying right now.

This time, he drifted back to wakefulness because something had changed. The easy, relaxed atmosphere was clouded, a thread of tension sneaking through. Kuroko's eyes struggled to open, feeling like they'd been pasted shut by the weight of sleep. A heavy blanket covered him, and for once he felt comfortable, not too warm and not too cool, which made it all the more difficult to drag himself back to consciousness.

Kagami...Kagami was talking to someone. His voice was agitated and strident, though he was making efforts to keep the volume low. As Kuroko lay there, listening, struggling for comprehension, his voice receded and then returned. Low vibrations reached Kuroko through the floor. Ah. Kagami was pacing back and forth, talking to someone...

Kuroko forced his eyes open. He could see Kagami through the opening of the blanket fort, walking to and fro with one hand swinging freely and the other holding his phone to his ear. No matter how he wandered, he kept returning to where Kuroko could see him as if drawn by an invisible string. The laptop was closed, the movie paused. Kuroko turned his head sluggishly and tried to make out what Kagami was saying.

"...For the last time, idiot, no. You cannot talk to Kuroko. He's sleeping and he looks comfortable for once, so there's no way in hell I'm letting you disturb that... Whatever! Call me a mother hen all you want, I'm not insulted... You are the idiot to crown all idiots, what were you even thinking doing something like this without asking him... No, I'm not mad because you didn't invite me, that's ridiculous... Shut up, dumbass, I'm hanging up on you now..."

"Kagami-kun," Kuroko called, his voice thick with sleep and confusion. The pacing stopped. Kagami's voice halted.

After a moment of hesitation, he slowly moved back toward the opening and crouched down. His eyes were wide and guilty. He still held the phone to his ear, and Kuroko could hear the voice coming through on the other end, muffled and tinny.

"Kagami? Are you there? Did you hang up? It doesn't sound like you hung up..."

Aomine. Kuroko blinked, hard, still trying to escape the shackles of slumber. He freed one hand from his blanket and held it out for the phone. "I'm awake. I'll talk to him."

Kagami shook his head, his mouth set in disapproval. "I don't think you should. I think Aomine..." He growled this into the phone. "...is being an idiot and should let you rest."

Kuroko gave him a dull stare. "I'm awake now. I won't be able to sleep again until this is dealt with. May I please have the phone?"

Kagami huffed a breath in irritation, but he put the phone in Kuroko's hand and sat down beside him, eyebrows lowering. He clearly intended to sit there and listen to every word. Kagami's pushiness today was not limited to food, then.

Kuroko turned his attention to the phone. "Aomine-kun? Is something wrong with Nigou?" It was the only reason he could think of for Aomine to be so insistent on talking to him.

"What? No, of course not." Aomine sounded so confused by the idea that Kuroko immediately relaxed. "He's fine. He wanted to come with me, but I wouldn't let him."

Come with him...? Kuroko became aware of noises in the background of the call, voices and thumps and bangs. He thought he recognized some of the voices, but it was so unexpected and he was still so befuddled with sleep and fever that he couldn't quite place them. They sounded upset, though...

"That's not why I called," Aomine said before he could ask. "I'm really am sorry, Tetsu, I know you need your rest and I'm interrupting, and I think I made a mistake. But I have to ask now, because I'm never coming back here again."

Wait, what? Kuroko blinked, feeling himself wake up a little more. What was going on here? "Never...coming back?" he echoed in bewilderment.

Aomine drew a deep breath, then plunged on. "There's a picture on the wall. Outside the main room, in the hallway. Of you and your parents. It was the only picture I could find of your mom, but your dad is in it, too. Do you want it?"

Kuroko went still. His mind was a complete blank.

"Tetsu? Do you want it? I'll get it for you if you do."

"Yes," he breathed. He could barely hear himself. His head was buzzing as if it was full of summer cicadas. "Yes, I want it."

"Then I'll get it for you. I'll bring it to you. It's yours."

"Okay." The phone sank toward the pillow beneath his head, too heavy for Kuroko to hold it up anymore.

Kagami snagged it gently from his fingers. His eyes were trained on Kuroko's face, watching him with intense concern. Kuroko blinked at him. He didn't have anything to say.

There were people in his house. His old house, the one that didn't belong to him anymore. He'd heard their voices behind Aomine. They had sounded angry and upset. Kise, Midorima. Others, too. How many?

How many people knew?

Ever since that awful night when Kagami found out, Kuroko felt that the world was split into two distinct groups of people. There were the people who knew, and the people who didn't. Kagami was the first to know, and that was almost okay. It was pretty much inevitable, really, when Kuroko stopped to think about it. They spent too much time together, and Kagami cared too much about him not to notice that something was going on, no matter how carefully Kuroko tried to hide it. And he had. Oh, he had tried very hard.

So Kagami found out, and that was almost all right, because Kagami understood that he didn't want anyone to know. He was careful to respect Kuroko's wishes, his desire for privacy, his attempts to avoid troubling anyone else with his affairs. If Kuroko had to choose any single person in the world who would have to know, Kagami was the one.

Then the team found out, and that was Kuroko's fault, so he had to accept it. Most of them didn't know the details, at least, and the three who did were trustworthy and reliable. Their immense kindness in that moment—apologizing for things that were none of their fault, for pity's sake—had convinced him that it was okay for them to know. He could trust them with this great shame.

And Aomine... Kuroko couldn't avoid Aomine knowing. Once Aomine grabbed hold of something, he couldn't let it go.

But it had still been a relief to know that there were a lot of people in Kuroko's life who had no idea. His teachers, his classmates, strangers on the street... None of them needed to know how weak he was, how foolish and lost. How his family had slipped through his fingers and he couldn't go home anymore, could never go back again.

Kuroko's life had fallen down around his ears, but at least not everyone knew. He could pretend the walls were still standing. He could hold his head up and look straight ahead.

But now what? How many? How many people?

Kagami's eyes were still on him, watching carefully, though he held the phone to his ear. His lips moved, but Kuroko couldn't hear what he was saying. The buzzing drowned him out. Kagami finished the conversation and set the phone aside, then reached out and placed his big hand over the top of Kuroko's head.

"Kuroko?" The word traveled to him as if echoing down a long tunnel. "Kuroko? Are you okay?"

Kuroko blinked and shifted his head, but did not try to escape Kagami's touch. The buzz was fading away, slowly, slowly. Kagami was an anchor preventing him from drifting off into the discordance.

Kagami patted his head, ever so gently. "They're going to come over in a little while. They're bringing your things from your old house. Aomine just wanted you to have your belongings, that's all. He's an idiot, but he didn't mean any harm."

Kuroko nodded, slow and sluggish. He knew that. Aomine never meant any harm. Sometimes he hurt Kuroko anyway, but he never meant to.

"How...many?" Kuroko asked. Kagami had to know. He had to be able to tell him.

Kagami blinked. "How many...things?"

"No. How many...people?"

"Oh." Kagami settled back, his hand sliding away from Kuroko's head. "I'm not sure. I think he asked some of your old teammates to help."

Kuroko nodded. He stared at his hands, curled loosely on the pillow in front of his face. They were empty.

"Is that too much?" Kagami asked. "Should I tell them not to come in when they get here? They can just drop off your things and leave."

Kuroko shook his head. It almost didn't matter. They knew. What did it matter if they saw even more? "It's all right. They can come in."

"Okay." Kagami fell silent, just sitting there and watching him. Kuroko couldn't meet his eyes again, not even for a second.

"Do you want to finish the movie?" Kagami asked after a while.

Kuroko tucked his chin back under the blanket and drew his hands against his chest. "No, thank you. I want to go back to sleep."

"Yeah. You looked really comfortable. For a while."

Kuroko closed his eyes. If he could sleep, he could forget about everything. It would be so nice to forget, even if it was only for a short time.

After a little while, he felt Kagami lie down next to him, close enough that Kuroko could feel his presence but not so close as to intrude. The sound of Kagami's breathing filled the space, strong and smooth. It was...pleasant.

Kuroko didn't want to be alone. He was glad Kagami had remembered that.

But he didn't sleep.