Waiting.

Kise had been doing quite a bit of it for a while now.

Given what he did, it was pretty clear that he wasn't one of the straight guys.

Nope.

In fact, he had ended up falling for the very guy whom had inspired him to even get into basketball. It felt cheesy—hell, it was cheesy, falling for the person who inspired you? Gay.

The blond rubbed his fingers along his forehead, in slight frustration.

Everything about the situation was perfect, actually.

Aomine and himself had grown quite fond of each other as they played for the team; even more so when Kise actually made the first string. At first, Kise just wanted to play; be inspired more and more by him, but that inspiration went from that to infatuation. He wouldn't label it love just yet, he wasn't an idiot…he knew that love came after a bit of growing.

He'd just call it a really deep like for now.

And he knew that Aomine had a really deep like for him as well.

A sigh.

"Oi, Kise, am I boring you already?" Aomine's voice. The ace had just come back from the counter where their food had been served.

The same Maji's they had gone to whenever Aomine asked for Kise's evenings. Kise more than happily gave each and every evening to Aomine, if it meant getting just that much more time with him.

"Hm—What—no, no, you're not," Kise quickly replied. He immediately went for the pile of fries, eating three in one go.

"Then what's with all the sighing you've been doing today?" Aomine took a pause to stare the other down. For once, he couldn't read Kise. He honestly had the best pokerface going on.

"It's nothing, really." Kise shrugged and went for the drinks. 'Nothing I can tell you, anyway,' he thought to himself.

If Aomine could squint any harder without his eyes being closed, he would—but he'd settle on his narrowed eyes. All the blond did was keep his eyes on Aomine, the most innocent of looks on his face as he continued to eat. This bothered him. Sure Aomine wasn't a total genius when it came to reading more complex emotions, but he knew something was bothering Kise. That much was obvious. Kise was usually the most expressive out of the whole basketball team. Kise would make it clear just as to how exactly he was feeling at each moment anyone was around him.

Especially around him.

But that wasn't happening anymore, and it was only bothering him all the more.

That whole meal went by with minimal conversation; it was just them eating, chatting about how school went, and not much more.

This evening was going horribly, by Aomine's standards. He didn't understand why Kise was in such a sour mood. Sure, they were heading to the mall now; it was just across the street, maybe the fresh air would help cool Kise off? Why couldn't Kise just be more blunt?

Ugh.

'If I pissed you off, just tell me,' Aomine thought. Again, they weren't talking; it was just more silence. Kise was even looking down at the ground instead of him like he usually did.

'I'm just tired of waiting, that must be why I'm being such a grump,' Kise rationalised with himself. He was probably coming across as a dick, he knew that, but they were already almost done with this year and all Aomine had done was attempt to hit on him and—it was just weak, really. 'It's not that hard to ask someone out, Aominecchi…' The blond's line of sight moved from the concrete beneath him, and over to— 'Maybe it's just not supposed to happen—or maybe it shouldn't happen, if he can't even be confident around—' His train of thought paused as he took note of Aomine staring him down again.

"M-May I help you?" Kise furrowed his brow and quickly looked straight ahead as they reached the mall's entrance.

"I am boring you." Aomine.

"Ah, Aominecchi, you're really not," the model replied coolly before continuing. "I'm gonna punch you if you don't believe me. That's rude, you know." The blond reached over and took a grip of Aomine's forearm. "Since it's spring, let's go see the new collections, yeah?"

'Yeah?' He said as if he was actually asking. Nope. Kise just dragged Aomine into the first clothing store he saw.

"Kise did you forget we wear uniforms at school, or…" Aomine ran a hand through his hair as Kise busied himself looking through lighter clothing.

"Yeah, but I don't wear my uniform when I go out or anything. Have I even worn my uniform once when we went out?" Kise rose a brow as he pulled a cardigan from one of the many racks and held it front of himself.

"Well the first time—"

"Because you asked me out of the blue. That one doesn't count." Kise was quick to reply.

Aomine made a face and looked over at Kise once more. Kise seemed as though he couldn't tell if he liked the cardigan or not. "It looks good on you," he commented.

"You think? Maybe this blue is too heavy though…"

"Kise, anything in this store would look good on you. I'm pretty sure everything looks good on you. Did you forget you were a model now?"

Kise put the cardigan away. 'Because I'm a model, huh…Why can't you just hit on me because you think I'm hot, Aominecchi? You don't have to need a reason to do it…' It was a poorly worded statement, but, well. It was Aomine. He pulled out his phone to look at the date; it was literally so close to when they were supposed to all part ways. Kise already had a school in mind, and…well. If he went there and nothing happened, it probably never would, would it? They wouldn't have any reason to see each other anymore—unless Aomine went to the same high school.

But even that was unlikely.

What was he doing? Bracing himself to get over a broken heart that had no reason to actually be broken?

He couldn't even help the pathetic laugh that left his lips.

"You think it's funny?" Poor Aomine. He was literally getting the butt end of the stick today. Kise truly was horrible.

"No, no, sorry. I'm just. I'm being an idiot today. I'm not really fun right now, am I?" The blond fiddled with the sleeve of one of the many cardigans.

"No, not really." Bluntmine.

Kise turned to glare at him.

"What? You asked."

"Let's just go," Kise rolled his eyes and wandered out of the store.

And like the obvious genius he was, he totally and completely forgot about the new ad he had modeled for had been launched.

Girls. Girls everywhere. Mall. After school.

'No.' The whisper left his lips as quicker than he had intended.

"Well." Aomine stared ahead as the girls flocked to the same point. Rude ass girls shoved everyone who they could—Aomine—included just so that they could get that much closer to Kise. All he could do was watch as Kise let out one of his signature laughs followed by the signature smile. Pictures here and there, permanent marker so much so that the air was starting to smell like it. Ew. It was annoying. He wasn't exactly sure if he was annoyed by the fact that girls dared shove him away or that Kise was just swarmed by girls and happily spoke with them despite the fact that he was with Aomine on their own time.

He was pretty certain that he could've left at any time; he wanted to, that was for sure. But that would just make him a dick; so…he'd wait. Wait.

And he did. For nearly a full hour. Not once did he notice Kise's gazes and silent S.O.S.'s, anything to be able to pull him out of the minor disturbance they were causing.

Kise had sighed for the trillionth time.

It irked him. "Ugh, why do they have to bother you when you're not being the model Kise?" Aomine asked, looking around. The last of the girls were slowly clearing away.

"You get used to it." Said model's voice sounded the most annoyed it had been all day. "That's kinda normal for me. I can't even go with my parents or anything without that happening too." He turned on his heels and made a beeline for the nearest possible bench.

Aomine followed after him, "It sounds annoying."

"Well…I mean when I get caught alone, yeah, because they build this wall and its just impossible to get out of it," the blond sighed and took a seat. "I can't tell you how many people have bailed because they found it annoying like you."

"I think you're worth the annoyance."

"Oh, well, thank you…I think?"

"No, Kise, I really think you're worth it."

"Okay, Aominecchi, I appreciate your…vigor."

Aomine sighed and shook his head. "I mean that I wouldn't mind dealing with that because I'd still be the one who got you at the end of the day."

Oh.

Oh, wait.

Kise stared. "What do you mean by that, exactly, Aominecchi?" His heart was starting to race. 'Just say it bluntly, Ahominecchi—'

Aomine stared right back. "…I…" He immediately looked away. "Never mind, it's stupid."

The blond reached for Aomine's sleeve. "Ahominecchi, just say it."

"It's…stupid…?" Aomine was slightly confused at the quick reaction.

Kise slumped his head in defeat. No. It wasn't happening. Not today. What a let down. Stupid, even. Hah.

"I'm not even sure how you ask another bro if you could be their boyfriend, anyway."

"You're really stupid, Aominecchi," Kise stood up and dusted his bottom off. "You're just supposed to have the balls to ask."

"Can I be your boyfriend?"

"I—" Kise had been waiting so long; he hadn't actually thought about how he would react if Aomine ever asked.

"What? You said—"

"Shh." Kise placed his hand over Aomine's mouth. "You don't just ask like that because I said that's how; you gotta actually mean it."

Aomine pulled Kise's hand away by the wrist. "And I do." The confident look in Aomine's features was there; the grip he had on his wrist. Everything that attracted him in the first place was there.

That was all he needed to confirm if he was serious this go around.

Kise sighed out.

"I'm going to punch you right in that pretty boy face if you sigh one more god damn time, Kise."

"Finally." The blond showed a much brighter expression. His smile was on full blast, this was probably the happiest he'd been all day. He even had the lightest of flushes on his face. "Finally you ask me, you idiot. Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you?"