The last chapter! Thank you to everyone who has favourited, reviewed and followed this fic. I really hope you enjoyed it!

Ryouta stops seeing Kagawa – it's easier than he thought to put an end to things. Kagawa looks like he wants to say something as they say their goodbyes, but in the end he doesn't.

Summer training camp is intense, but Ryouta tries to keep in mind Momoi's warning about overdoing things. Now that he's so close to everyone, now that he's pretty much caught up, he doesn't have the same kind of desperation to his training, and it's easier than expected to stop before he pushes too far.

He supposes he's figured out some of his limits, and he smiles. It would have been better to figure them out without sustaining the injury last year.

After camp, the summer holiday is spent on street courts and doing cardio and strength workouts at his nearby gym, when he's not modelling or out with a rising star model. They're playing out a sweet summer romance story in the interests of keeping rumours about his sexuality down to a minimum, and also to raise her profile. It's a career move for both him and the girl, but Suzuki-chan is quite friendly, so Ryouta doesn't mind so much. They're seen out and about a lot. Suzuki-chan is tall for a girl, as is usual for models, but she doesn't come close to Ryouta's height. Her black hair falls in pretty waves and she has nice warm brown eyes. She isn't in any school clubs; she prefers to devote her spare time to her career. She's also quite smart, so Ryouta is more surprised than he should be when she brings up basketball.

"Well," she admits as they get ice cream after a lunch date one sweltering afternoon, "I did a bit of research before the first time we went out in case things were awkward. I thought you probably wouldn't want to bring up basketball yourself, and we might get stuck for conversation, so... you're very impressive, Kise-kun. I saw a few videos of your semi-final and final matches for this year's Interhigh."

Ryouta grins. It's probably a bit shameless of him, but it feels so nice sometimes to be acknowledged for the prodigy that he is.

"Thank you, Suzuki-chan," he replies. "Ah, but I still think that Aominecchi is much more impressive than I am."

Suzuki-chan nods. If she's done her research, as she said, she must at least be familiar with the names and the commonly-known history of the Generation of Miracles. "Aomine Daiki, right?" she clarifies, just in case. "You seem quite close with him. You looked like you enjoyed playing against him."

"Ah, I respect Aominecchi's talent," Ryouta says. Also, I'm stupidly in love with him. "He inspired me to play basketball, you know! And we played a lot together when we were at Teikou. I never beat him until this year, though." He smiled, thinking back to all the times he'd pitted himself against Aomine again and again.

Suzuki-chan seemed to regard him closely for a moment, and then smiled. "You like Aomine-san a lot, don't you? Now I think I understand why you were so clear about the rules of this relationship."

Ryouta felt his cheeks heat up. "Ah... no... I mean, that's not..."

She clasped the hand closest to her, and smiled up at him. "I probably could have fallen in love with the gentlemanly Kise-kun," she said. "So it's a shame that Kise-kun is so in love with Aomine-san. I'm glad, though, that you warned me that this would end with the summer."

It was probably a terrible thing to do, but with the sweetness of her acceptance and honesty, and the context of the staged date that they were on, Ryouta couldn't help it. He leaned down a little, somewhat thankful for her height, and kissed her gently.

"The man who marries you, Suzuki-chan, will be very lucky," he told her with a smile.

"Oh, I know," she replies, smiling in return.

Sometime before the summer ends, Ryouta finds himself playing on a street court during his limited free time. He's playing an imaginary game when he hears a familiar call.

"Oi, Kise."

He finishes his shot without pausing (he's quite proud of that, actually), before he turns towards the gap in the fencing. "Aominecchi," he returns. His heart feels the familiar squeeze – Aomine is a little bit in need of a haircut, but it's kind of adorable, and he's still in as good shape as he always is. He smiles, and goes to pick up his thrown basketball. "What's up?"

Aomine shrugs, slinging his bag to join Ryouta's. "I was kind of hoping you'd be here," he admitted. "Kagami's off in America with his family for the rest of the summer break, so there's no one interesting to play at the courts near home."

Ryouta pouts. "I feel like I should be insulted," he whines. "You pick Kagamicchi over me."

Aomine's walked over closer now, and he cuffs the back of Ryouta's head. "Stupid," he said, but it's a fond tone he used. "I'm just lazy. You should know that by now. It takes longer to get here, and you're out and about a lot. It's a waste of my time to hang out here." Aomine's expression is petulant as he adds, "I had to get Satsuki to tell me when you were going to be here."

Ryouta laughs, and lobs the basketball at Aomine. "I must be getting predictable," he says.

Aomine shrugs, and throws the basketball at the hoop. Ryouta can't help the twinge of envy as the effortless shot finds its mark easily. "She says that she wishes things could be different for you and that chick you're with." Aomine looks at him. "I don't quite get what she means by that, though."

Ryouta's communication with Momoi has been regrettably sparse. He's been a little flaky this summer – he'll have to apologise to her.

"Ah, Suzuki-chan and I are just together for the summer," he explains as Aomine jogs to fetch the basketball, and throws it back to him. "It's just a career thing. She's really nice, though. If things were different... ah, it doesn't matter."

Aomine frowns. Ryouta makes a shot. It's not quite as smooth as Aomine's, but that's okay. "Did you want to play one-on-one?" Ryouta asks as he fetches the ball again.

"Why else would I come all the way out here?" Aomine asks. Ryouta passes him the ball, and they both settle into familiar stances.

"It's not that far, Aominecchi," Ryouta grumbles, and then they start, and they don't speak except to make jibes at each other when they win points.

They're both sweating and breathing heavily when they come to a stop. Ryouta's pretty sure Aomine won more than he did, but that's alright. He slumps back against the bench and fishes a water bottle from his bag.

"So, your girlfriend is cute," Aomine comments as he sits himself down next to Ryouta. Ryouta looks at him.

"Ah... yeah. Why do you keep bringing up Suzuki-chan, Aominecchi?"

Aomine shrugs. "It's just, what happened to that guy?"

Ryouta sighs, tipping his head back against the fence to look at the sky. "Kagawa and I... we were never together. We had some things in common, and he was really nice, and he understood the situation with me, and the sex was good." Ryouta flashed a grin at Aomine before continuing. "But you were right, you know, Aominecchi. Basketball's really important to me."

Aomine, thankfully, didn't seem disgusted by Ryouta admitting to sleeping with another guy. He'd been okay with the abstract idea of Ryouta with another man, but sometimes people could be funny when they couldn't deny such things in their mind.

"He wasn't good enough for you," Aomine said. His voice was gruff, and he didn't look at Ryouta as he said it.

"I don't know," Ryouta mused. "It takes a special kind of person to hang around when they're told that someone can't love you because they're in love with someone else, Aominecchi."

Oops. Ryouta went pink and looked at Aomine from the corner of his eyes. Aomine was very still, and frowning.

"Is that what Satsuki meant by extenuating circumstances, that time?" he asked. His words came slowly, as if he was wary about the area their conversation had turned to. Ryouta wasn't sure why, since this was hardly a divergence from their conversation about his relationship with Kagawa.

"Yeah," he said quietly.

"I knew it was important," Aomine grumbled.

"Yeah," Ryouta replied again, a smile tugging at his mouth.

He half expected Aomine to ask who it was, but he didn't. Ryouta wasn't even sure if he'd know what to say if he did ask.

Finally, Aomine pulled himself to his feet and slung his bag over his shoulder.

"You should mail Satsuki," he said. "She worries about you."

Ryouta nodded. "I'll try and remember," he promised. "You can mail me too, you know, Aominecchi, any time you want a game."

Aomine nodded, and turned away with a wave. "Bye, Kise."

It wasn't until Ryouta pulled himself to his feet that he realised he hadn't asked if Aomine was seeing anyone.

When he got home, he texted Momoi.

'Aominecchi came to play with me today,' he sends.

'I thought that's where he might be,' is her quick-fire response. 'He wasn't at any of his usual courts. He's been a little grumpy lately.'

'Is it because Kagamicchi is off in America?'

'No, it predates Kagamin's departure,' is Momoi's response. 'I think I know what it might be, but I'm not entirely sure. Sometimes Dai-chan is difficult.'

Ryouta laughed. 'Sometimes? Anyway, we had a chat about Kagawa-kun and Suzuki-chan. I may have accidentally let slip that my extenuating circumstances are that I'm in love with someone.'

Momoi takes a moment to respond to this message. While he waits for her response, he busies himself checking his schedule. He has his last date with Suzuki-chan tomorrow – summer is ending soon. Ryouta looks at his unfinished homework with a feeling of dread, and sighs, before turning back to his phone.

Momoi still hasn't responded. Ryouta settles down to make a start on his summer homework.

He falls asleep in the middle of his English homework and wakes up an hour later and there's still no answer.

"I guess this will be our last date, huh?"

They're sitting in a nice restaurant. Suzuki-chan looks particularly lovely in a conservative red dress and her hair half up, half down and spiralling around her shoulders. Ryouta really wishes, when she's comfortable and looking soft and beautiful, that he could move past how much he loves Aomine.

Suzuki-chan smiles at him kindly. "Yes," she says simply.

It's a quiet dinner. The silence hangs uncomfortably between them, and Ryouta has the sudden realisation that this is potentially the future of his love life. Quiet, uncomfortable dates with people he wishes he could love, but ultimately can't.

It makes him angry and upset, but actually confronting this will have to wait until he gets home, because he's pretty sure if he thinks about it for one more minute, he will actually cry, and crying on his last date with Suzuki-chan is unfair to her, not to mention incredibly embarrassing for him. She's really been good to him; understanding, kind and cheerful. He's had fun spending time with her.

He grins and catches one of her hands to grab her attention.

"I can't think of anyone who would have been better to fake date this summer," he tells her. "You are an exceptional young lady, Suzuki-chan."

She laughs. "You're too much, Kise-kun."

After he drops her off at home with a kiss on her cheek later that night, Ryouta flops on the bed, and opens up his phone. There's a message from Aomine.

He can't help but smile.

'Wanna go one-on-one tomorrow?'

Ryouta was up bright and early the next morning, despite his late night. He's feeling pretty cheerful, all things considered – he should probably be pretending to mope when he's outside, but he really just can't.

I'm going to see Aominecchi today, he thought, and a smile came unbidden to his face.

When he thought about it, Ryouta couldn't remember the last time that he'd been really happy when seeing Aomine. When he was injured, he was feeling down, and like a failure. After that, he started the thing with Kagawa, and then with Suzuki, and the interactions with Aomine then were tinged with feelings of guilt.

Ryouta had no one in his life but Aomine now, and even though maybe Aomine didn't love him, at this moment Aomine wanted to be with him even if it was just to play basketball, and that was enough to make Ryouta happy.

So it was with a cheerful smile and a basketball that Ryouta left the house.

Aomine was already there when he arrived, playing against invisible defenders, moving gracefully and powerfully. Ryouta couldn't help but be captivated by the way he moved, even now. Even having stopped putting Aomine on a pedestal where he admired him from afar and convinced himself he could never reach him and be his equal, Ryouta respected the way Aomine moved on the court. He had to – he knew the kind of power and delicacy that the movements Aomine made could put a dreadful strain on the body.

"Ah, Kise. Took you long enough."

Ryouta squawked indignantly. "You're the one who's early, Aominecchi! I would never be late to play one on one!"

Aomine was smiling as he turned to look at him. "Yeah, yeah, pretty boy. Put your things down and get out here already."

Ryouta checked his phone quickly. He had a message from Momoi – when had he received that? He hadn't heard it go off.

'You can trust Dai-chan,' was all it enigmatically read. He chucked it back into his bag and settled his ball on top of the bag.

"Hurry up," Aomine complained.

"You're really impatient today, Aominecchi," Ryouta answered, laughing. "What's the rush? It's not like you care if you finish your summer homework."

Aomine just fixed him with an angry look, and Ryouta hurried out. "Okay, okay."

Their game that day felt somehow extra intense. Ryouta fell over after their last point.

"I give," he gasped. "You're being brutal today, Aominecchi."

Having said that, he'd given as good as he'd taken. Aomine was breathing hard and covered in sweat, and he looked incredibly pleased with a small grin on his face.

"Ah, that was good," Aomine replied, sitting down next to Ryouta. "You've been slacking over summer, Kise."

"I've been busy," he huffed. "Some of us don't get to live and breathe basketball, as much as we would love to."

Aomine looked at him. "Hmm. I suppose."

They were quiet for a moment as they caught their breath.

"Hey, Kise."

Kise sat up and looked at Aomine. "Yeah, Aominecchi?"

"You said you're in love with someone."

"That's right," he confirmed, suddenly feeling nervous.

"How did you know?"

Ryouta frowned. "That's a hard question, Aominecchi," he said slowly. "Because I think people fall in love in different ways. Like... for me... it was impossible to not know. Like, the day I met them, it was like my world shifted all at once." Ryouta laughed. "It sounds girly, doesn't it? But this person, to me... they made me believe in destiny, in things like love at first sight and the red thread of fate. Why do you want to know?"

Aomine had a puzzled look on his face. "I don't know if I've ever been in love," he admitted. "I guess I figured since you passed up opportunities to be with two really hot people, you would know how to tell."

Aomine's logic doesn't really make sense, but that's just Aomine all around. "Do you think you might love someone, Aominecchi?" Ryouta's heart felt like it was going to collapse in his chest.

"Hmm." Aomine glanced at him. "I'm not sure," he said slowly. "But I think I know a way to find out."

Aomine stood up, and held out a hand to Ryouta. The gesture was so familiar it made Ryouta's heart ache as he took it.

Aomine pulled him up, and into his body. Ryouta felt them collide with a thud, and oh god what is going on.

He was staring. He knew he was staring, and yet he couldn't stop himself. His heart was pounding wildly, and it felt like there was something lodged in his throat. He was so very intimately close with Aomine, and that seemed to be the intention, because there was a very powerful arm curled around his body keeping him close.

"Aominecchi." His voice quavered almost pathetically. Too close, too close he was too close—

And then there was a gentle, rough-skinned hand on his face, tipping his head up just a little bit because they really weren't that far apart in height and then there was just sensation as his breath hitched and eyes closed and he was being kissed, Aomine was kissing him oh god oh god.

And it was a really nice kiss too, he thought, dazed, as it ended. Aomine looked worried as Ryouta stared.

"Kise? Say something."

Why did he look so worried? Ryouta curled his hand around Aomine's neck to pull him back down again, and was mildly relieved when he could feel Aomine's mouth curving into a smile against his lips.

"That was nice," Ryouta mumbled when they parted. Aomine has a hand on his lower back and a hand in his hair and a pleased, calm expression on his face.

Aomine holds him close and tight, but careful, as if he is precious. It's a good feeling, being so close to each other. His head has gone to rest on Aomine's shoulder.

Although, it's a little bit gross. They are both covered in sweat.

"Kise."

Ryouta blinks and looks up. "Aominecchi?"

"You are in love with me, right?" It's strange to hear the hesitancy in his voice. Aomine is usually so sure about everything.

Ryouta thinks he likes hearing that note in his voice, knowing that he's the reason it's there. It's probably kind of terrible, but he's lived with the weight of these feelings for Aomine for years and been sure he'd never, ever get what he wanted, and if Aomine can experience just a fraction of that, then he's okay with that too.

Even still, he smiles at Aomine and puts him out of his misery. Aomine's arms have tightened around him, as if that will somehow change the answer if he's wrong.

"Of course I am, idiot," he breathes. "Who else could it have been?"

"I dunno, I could have been Tetsu," Aomine starts. Ryouta is already bored with the direction this is going in, so decides to shut him up with a kiss.

"Don't say such stupid things," he says when this kiss ends.

"So." There's that annoying smirk. "I changed your world, did I?"

Oh god. He's going to be insufferable.

"So," Ryouta answers, "you're in love with me too, right?"

Aomine is so adorable when he's all embarrassed and red. It's kind of fantastic. Ryouta can't help the giddy feelings in his stomach. Aomine hasn't actually said he's in love with him, but... you can trust Dai-chan, she had said.

Clearly, Momoi has been holding out on him. Ryouta should yell at her for that later – as if she didn't know her best friend was in love. Ryouta will eat his entire wardrobe before Momoi can't make such a simple deduction.

God, he's been a bit simple too, hasn't he? Those odd looks, spanning all the way back to his injury last year, the gentle way he'd helped Ryouta back to his house and the way Aomine had made him take his bed (but only after he changed the sheets) that night and slept on the couch instead, and the way he'd looked when he'd said I'll be watching, when Ryouta was disappointed when Kagawa had continually failed to make an appearance at his games. The way he'd never once referred to Kagawa by his name, always calling him that guy, the way he'd said he wasn't good enough for you.

Aomine shoved Ryouta's head to the side. "Maybe," he grumbled.

Ryouta smirked. "Are you still unsure?" he asked. He didn't wait for Aomine to answer before kissing him again, hard, pulling Aomine as close as he can get him.

"Okay, alright, I am," Aomine says, flustered, when Ryouta finally lets him free from the kiss. "We're outside in broad daylight, Kise, what the hell."

"You started it," Ryouta pointed out, though he works his way out from Aomine's arms and goes to fetch the basketball they'd been using anyway. He paused, and sent a sly smile over his shoulder.

"We can always fix that bit about being outside," he comments, casually. It's so interesting to watch Aomine's reactions – his face has gone red so quickly. Ryouta wouldn't have guessed it of him, and laughs quietly.

"Come on, then," he says, grabbing one of his hands. "Let's go back to my place and shower."

So, despite that he's seen some girls, Aomine's still kind of adorably innocent in a way that Ryouta didn't really expect. He's not sure if it's because they're both boys, or if it's because Aomine is simply kind of pure underneath the image he projects, but whatever it is, Ryouta really enjoys it. Ryouta almost wants to tell Aomine to get in the shower with him, but there's time enough for that later. He'd really hate to rush things. Ryouta's not sure if he's ready to sleep with Aomine. He's loved him for so long, and it would mean so much, Ryouta's sure he'd become overwhelmed and cry or something equally embarrassing.

Instead, Ryouta busies himself in the kitchen, gathering together some snacks and water in glasses. He insisted that Aomine shower first, as the guest. Aomine's never been inside Ryouta's house before, though he's dropped him off here before.

Will Aomine get bored while he's in the shower? The thought occurs to Ryouta all too late – he can hear the water turning off in the bathroom.

Aomine's hair is still wet as he leans in the doorframe and looks at Ryouta.

"Ah, I got some water and snacks," Ryouta says. "I can't really cook so."

Aomine nods.

"Which one's your room?" he asks.

"Oh! I'll show you," Ryouta answers. "The other rooms are my parents and sisters' rooms, and it wouldn't do for you to accidentally go in there..."

Guiding Aomine down the hall, he opened the door to his room. "This one's mine. I'd tell you not to touch anything, but the request would probably be lost on you, eh, Aominecchi?"

Aomine shrugged, and flopped down on his bed. Oh. He looked way too good there.

"I guess I should have known you'd just take a nap," Ryouta mumbled, smiling despite himself. He fished out a spare pair of clothes to change into after showering.

"Probably," Aomine agreed.

Ryouta paused to take in the sight of Aomine sprawled out on his bed. He'd closed his eyes already, and knowing him, was probably already half way to being lightly asleep. When he rested, his face lost some of the severity it held, and the softness that Ryouta could remember from before Aomine spiralled into darkness re-appeared.

Ah, he really wants to kiss him when he looks like that.

Well, why not?

Before he can lose his nerve, he takes the few steps needed to be next to Aomine and kisses his cheek, before leaving the room, feeling his cheeks burn. Ryouta's not sure why it's so embarrassing, since they already kissed earlier. Maybe it's because it's all so new.

Ryouta spends most of his shower worrying about whether if he gets out too quickly, Aomine will think he rushed, or if Aomine will be grumpy if he takes too long, and trying to stop feeling like his face is on fire because he kissed Aomine's cheek. They're silly things to worry over, Ryouta knows, but he can't move past the feeling that everything that happens means something, means too much, and what happens if he does something wrong? What if Aomine breaks up with him?

Ryouta's pretty sure he's been ruined for everyone else since the fateful Aomine Event, and today's kiss just seems to have rammed that knowledge into the forefront of his brain where he can no longer hide from it.

Still, it'd be rude to leave Aomine alone for too long, so he finished his shower and gets dressed before returning to his room, towelling off his hair as he goes.

Aomine looked over as he came in, and Ryouta couldn't help the blush that crept back on his face. Instead of looking at Aomine, he busied himself by going to pick up Aomine's towel from where he'd dropped it on the floor.

"You're such a boy sometimes, Aominecchi," he mumbled. "The dirty things go in there, I'm sure you saw it..."

"I did," his voice said, and a hand reached out quickly and latched onto Ryouta's arm, pulling to topple him down onto the bed. Ryouta couldn't help the squeak that escaped as he found himself sprawled over Aomine.

"Aominecchi! That was unnecessary!"

"But I wanted to."

Ryouta let his forehead drop onto Aomine's shoulder.

"You know, I really love you, Aominecchi," he mumbled into his shirt.

Aomine didn't say anything, but his hands came to rest on the back of Ryouta's head and his lower back.

"You're not allowed to leave me," he added, "because you've ruined me."

He felt Aomine's body jerk in a huff of laughter; and the hand on his head moved, and tipped his face up and he was drawn into a kiss.

"I can't promise we won't break up," Aomine said slowly after he broke the kiss, "because I'm terrible at this whole relationship crap. But I don't want to see you with anyone else. No one else can understand you like I do." Aomine's grip on him was tight, and he pulled Ryouta up into another kiss, this one fiercer than the gentle kisses that they'd exchanged before. "You're mine," he breathed.

Ryouta's going to have to ask Momoi for a translation of this particular sentiment, because he's pretty sure there's a message there that he's missing. Still, he decided, that's enough serious discussion for now. There's time enough for that later, and so Ryouta slid his hands up to curl in Aomine's hair and slides up on his body a little to level their faces and kiss him hard.

It's probably a super terrible idea to make out on his bed, but Ryouta really doesn't care because he's making out with Aomine on his bed, and Aomine's being rather tentative about where he touches and its heart wrenchingly sweet. Aomine's lips are dry and a little rough and it's somehow so boyish and charming and of course Aomine's lips would be like that.

As the kisses slow down a little, Ryouta pulled back and smiled down at Aomine.

"I'm hungry," he announced, and disentangled himself from Aomine, who made a petulant face, but didn't disagree. Ryouta swipes his phone as they head back out to where Ryouta left the snacks earlier, and mails Momoi.

'You're absolutely terrible, Momocchi,' he sends.

'I'm very happy for you and Dai-chan,' she responds.

"Stop mailing Satsuki and come over here," Aomine complained from where he'd thrown himself on the couch. "I've had to wait all summer to kiss you; you should be starting to pay me for my patience."

Ryouta smiled and put his phone down.