Time passed way too fast again, I'm sorry for taking so long with this.

Until now, I've kept a clear goal of having at least 3000 words written for a chapter before publishing it, but I've noticed it just makes my updates slower and causes unnecessary hold-ups. So from now on, while 3000 words will remain the goal, I've lowered the bare minimum to 2000 words. Hopefully you won't mind this change, I believe it's for the best of all of us.

Anyways, thank you for picking up this chapter, and all the lovely reviews and all! You're great!

Kagami stared at Kuroko with concern as the shadow was pulled along with Tetsuya #2 they were taking out for a walk. They had decided to take him out before their senpais would arrive, and they were already heading back. The light had originally offered to hold the leash, but Kuroko had insisted he would be fine. During the whole walk Kagami had tried his best to stop himself from taking the leash away every time the dog saw something interesting and tried to run after it, surprising Kuroko and almost getting away.

A girl was approaching them, and Kagami swiftly wrapped his hand around Kuroko's shoulder to pull him away from her way. Instantly he noticed that Kuroko's temperature had indeed lowered from this morning, and he sighed in relief. He just hoped it would stay down as well.

"Thank you." Kuroko said warmly, and Kagami could have sworn he even snuggled a little closer to him, like he was seeking warmth. He was wearing a warm jacket – mostly because of Kagami's insistence – but he must've still be feeling a little bit of the cold, even if his fever was gone. The girl gave them a quick look before flashing a smile and the red-hair felt his cheeks heat up. Luckily the shadow hadn't seen it… not that he would have probably cared. Kagami sometimes envied the occasional care-freeness Kuroko had.

The apartment building was already in sight, and the light came to the conclusion he could share his warmth the rest of the way. There shouldn't be many by-passers in this short distance.

And he had missed his shadow this whole day, he didn't really want to let go of him. Kuroko didn't seem to mind either. Kagami could smell the faint fragrance from Kuroko's hair, and he had to restrain himself from burying his face into the teal-colored mess. He really was too dependent on his shadow nowadays; something in his mind tried to remind him that he should probably try to learn to live without his partner.

But he didn't really want to listen to it. He wanted to think that Kuroko wouldn't mind being with him for years to come. As they walked, he briefly remembered what Kuroko had said to him yesterday, right before Midorima had arrived.

"Well, I would be glad to have Kagami-kun as either one."

Kagami hoped it meant what he thought it could. Even if it was just a slight possibility, it gave him some cheer. Maybe all the times Kuroko had let him close meant something.

But now wasn't the best time to bring it up, no matter what. He was too worried of his partner and just wanted to make sure he was alright first. Making him stress unnecessarily and possibly even making things awkward right now was too much of a risk.

He just hoped he could completely trust Kuroko's claims of being fine, so that this unsettling feeling would leave him.

Kuroko took a better hold of the leash when he felt Tetsuya #2 pulling it. He didn't want to get dragged along with the dog now, not as long as Kagami had his arm draped over his shoulders. It felt warm and safe here, and he was going to stay here as long as Kagami just allowed him to. He knew that the by-passers the light had helped him dodge had passed them long ago, but Kagami didn't seem to mind.

It was definitely warm now; he had felt like the jacket by itself had been over-reaction from Kagami's part, but it had proven to be quite needed. The wind had not reached the balcony as strongly after all, and it had taken him by surprise. His partner was however radiating warmth, but just as he was about to snuggle a bit closer Kagami suddenly moved away from him. For a second Kuroko was completely confused.

"You're already here?!" Kagami raised his voice out of nowhere and it almost made Kuroko flinch in surprise. The situation cleared up for him when he heard Riko's voice answer back, and he relaxed.

"Yup! We accidentally left a bit earlier than intended. Was this a bad timing?" She said cheekily and Kuroko shook his head. For a brief moment there was a silence and Kuroko tilted his head in confusion when nothing happened.

"… Whatever, let's just go inside. We have yet to eat though, so I need to cook first…" Kagami grumbled and Kuroko could hear him starting to walk faster towards the house, and he did his best to keep up. Soon enough they seemed to have reached Riko and Hyuuga, as Kuroko could faintly smell the light perfume Riko wore on her days off.

"Hello there, Kuroko-kun. Has your fever gone down?" She asked and Kuroko nodded.

"Yes, I'm feeling better now. I apologize for missing practice."

"Don't worry about it, geez! Your health is more important here. Have you gotten used to not seeing yet?" She continued asking, and Kuroko slowly realized he'd be answering her for a while. He'd just have to make sure she wouldn't get too worried; he didn't want to give fuel to any concerns everyone probably had about his well-being already.

Riko had kept talking with Kuroko almost completely without a break after they arrived, and Kagami couldn't blame the shadow when he slipped away to the bathroom after almost half an hour of answering questions. He was almost finished with making their dinner as well, when Riko approached him.

"Uh, I don't want to make you worry here, since I could be wrong about this…" She started tentatively, and Kagami could immediately tell he wasn't going to like what she had on her mind, "But I might have been too optimistic with what I said during practice. It really does seem like Kuroko is trying to hide how bad his condition actually is. But I don't know, I could be reading it wrong or it might not even be anything big, honestly." She said, resting her elbows against the counter.

"So you think so too…" Kagami sighed as he felt his thoughts getting relentless. He didn't want to think about it, but it really was starting to seem Kuroko was still lying to him and while he hated being suspicious of his friend, even more he hated the fact that Kuroko might be feeling awful right now and he wasn't doing anything about it. The shadow had said they were partners but maybe the words had rang shallower than it had originally seemed.

The worst part was that he didn't know what was wrong with Kuroko. At least his temperature wasn't up anymore – this he had confirmed when he came home – but other than that, he didn't really have any clue. Heck, he didn't even know whether his health was declining or whether he was just feeling stressed or depressed.

He didn't know anything.

"Oh yeah, I'm just asking but you did call Kuroko-kun during the lunch break too, right? What did you talk about then" Riko asked, pulling Kagami away from his thoughts.

"Hm? Uh, I just asked how he was hanging on and had his headache gone away. Apparently I woke him up back then though, so I probably shouldn't have called. How so?" Riko had started to frown slightly while listening to Kagami's explanation, and the light wasn't sure how he should take that.

"No, it's just… I just felt like something was off when I asked Kuroko-kun about it, but I have no idea what. Might have been my imagination, really. By the way, this smells really good." She said as she leaned closer to the pan, only to be shooed away by Kagami.

"That's dangerous, coach." He said and turned off the stove, "It'll be ready soon, so go sit on the table with captain… please." He added quickly as he realized his own rudeness. Riko just grinned and walked to the table to join the abandoned Hyuuga. She sat down just in time as Kuroko returned to the room.

Kagami really just hoped his partner was just as alright as he claimed to be. He stirred the food one final time before heading to set the table, reflexively avoiding looking at Kuroko. Somehow he was afraid of looking at his partner, scared of seeing the way his skin seemed to be paler than usually and the bags under his eyes. If they weren't just signs of exhaustion, he'd have to face the fact that Kuroko was indeed hiding things from him.

Riko was trying her best to hold her grin in, as she watched how Kagami was pre-slicing the piece of steak for Kuroko. It reminded her of a mother preparing food for a young child, and even though she knew Kagami was surprisingly homely, it was still a sight to see. It was almost cute, the way Kagami tried so hard to assist Kuroko with his sudden disability. The gentleness of the light was something she wouldn't have never believed the first day she had met him.

"Oh yeah, I guess Kuroko can't cut the steak on his own…" Hyuuga said aloud, making Riko want to smack the back of his head as Kagami's face flared red. Though, it was an interesting sight to see as well.

"W-well that's just how it is!" Kagami said unnecessarily loudly as he finished slicing the steak and gave the utensils to Kuroko.

"I really appreciate this, Kagami-kun." Kuroko said, smoothing the situation a little. After Kagami took his own share of the food, they all paid their gratitude for the meal and started to eat. Just after taking one mouthful Riko got once again a reminder of her own cooking skills. She had been practicing, but it seemed like she still wasn't getting any better. His father did always finish the meals she made, but that idiot would do it even if she was feeding him poison.

For a moment a silence filled the room as they all focused on eating. Riko glanced at Kuroko, who was eating surprisingly confidently despite having few misses here and there. He was resilient, she had to give him that. It still didn't erase the worry from her mind however.

She hadn't wanted to say it to Kagami, but it hadn't been just the talk about the lunch-break call that had bothered her. Many things Kuroko had explained had stroke to her as odd or somewhat missing, like he had been making up some of the stuff on the roll. The doctor had said that one of the rarer symptoms would be difficulty recalling some stuff, and even though there wasn't any clear signs of that yet, Riko felt like she should keep her eyes on the situation for now. But as long as it was just her suspicion, she didn't want to raise any unnecessary worry in anyone else.

So when they began to converse after their worst hunger had ceased, Riko noticed right away the way Kuroko didn't really even try to participate in the conversation. Not that he usually was the most talkative of them, but he seemed distant and he seemed to snap out of his thoughts every once so often only to fall back into them again. She soon got so absorbed into observing him, that she completely fell out of the conversation too and had to be brought back by Hyuuga.

As she began to talk, she still kept half of her attention on Kuroko. She was going to find out the truth.

Kuroko found his thoughts getting distracted constantly, and he was getting annoyed by it. He wanted to keep up with the conversation, but his eyelids felt heavier each passing second and nausea was twisting his stomach again. He also felt slightly uncomfortable, like someone was staring at him. And while that might be the case, he had no real way of knowing and it was terribly haunting thought.

Overall, he felt awful.

He barely managed to empty his plate, and he politely refused when Kagami offered to give him some more. He didn't want to stay another day alone in the house, and for that purpose he had to make sure he kept his nausea hidden. After all, it was just side-effect from the injury, so it wasn't contagious and he wasn't putting anyone under any risk of getting sick.

He quietly listened to the others talking and eating, trying to take in their words and participate in the conversation as well as he could. It didn't take long till he started to feel himself nodding off, and he realized there was nothing he could do to fight against at this point.

So in his half-asleep state, he leaned his head against Kagami's shoulder, his eyes closed. He could feel Kagami tense up, before relaxing and calling his name softly. Kuroko pretended like he hadn't heard it – he wasn't sure he could've answered anything coherent anyways at this point - and just let himself slowly fall asleep.

Thank you for reading all the way here! I hope to quicken my update-pace and I wish you will be patient with me! And also, this fic can now also be found in AO3 by the same name, so check it out there if you prefer it!

Thank you for your support and I hope to see you again!