A/n : PLEASE READ. First things first. I am really really sorry. I expected this to turn out better, but it didn't and SOOO I REALLY NEED YOUR FEEDBACK. I DO. I'll appreciate it! There is another chapter coming up, so I don't wanna disappoint anyone. PLEASE ENJOY! THANKS!

Everything has to come to an end.

Kise knows that. But why?

Why, when it came, when the end came, he wasn't prepared?

Not prepared at all.

Teiko.

"Hey, Aominecchi!" The name felt fresh and new on Kise's tongue as he shouted from one end of the court.

Aomine turned around, bewildered, "'-cchi'?"

Giggling nervously, Kise explained a little, "That's just what I do when I acknowledge someone!"

"Oh, is that so? Anyway, what do you need help with?"

"Please teach me how to play basketball!" Kise bowed, causing Aomine to jump a little.

"Eh! Wait, don't be so formal with me! Fine, fine, I'll teach you," Aomine held up both hands, one hand holding a basketball.

Hey, Aominecchi, Aominecchi, did you know? You're the first person I had acknowledged.

"Uh... I'm not that good at explaining stuff so... I'm just gonna show how I do it, and I guess you just need to follow, alright?" Aomine got into position.

"Yes!" Kise stared intently.

Aomine did scored in a flash, from where he was standing - at the three-pointer line - and in a blink of an eye, he dribbled in, spun once, jumped and shoot.

Perfect.

Despite the speed, Kise saw everything. For a few seconds, he just stood there with his eyes wide open and his mouth hanging ajar. "Th... That was awesome, Aominecchi!" Kise clenched both his fists in excitement, his eyes glittering with admiration.

Hey, Aominecchi, Aominecchi, did you know? That was when I started looking up to you.

"Eh? Kise?" Kise turned to the source of the deep voice calling out to him. "What are you doing here? It's so late already."

"Aominecchi," Kise greeted. "Well, I'm just practising basketball."

"It's getting dark, you should head home soon," Aomine told him.

"No!" Kise objected. "I need to master this first!"

"Master what?" Aomine came over and placed his bag down beside Kise's. "I can help you."

"It's really frustrating: I can't copy your moves and your formless shots," Kise's face was filled with disappointment. "I've been at it for hours!"

Aomine knew that once Kise sees something, he would be able to copy it perfectly. However, both of them found out that Kise could never copy Aomine's no matter how hard he tried. Aomine could not help, either. It was a dead end for Kise.

Hey, Aominecchi, Aominecchi, did you know? You were the reason I walked down this path.

Thanks.

The Winter Cup was over and the final examinations were approaching, haunting the students.

Basketball practice had officially stood down for all the schools across Japan.

For Kise, he was feeling pretty restless and decided to call Aomine one Saturday to play streetball with him.

"Aominecchi, do you wanna go play basketball with me?"

"Ehh…? Don't ya needa study?" Aomine asked in a slur, as he had just woken up.

"Yeah, but… Argh! I can't take it anymore! I haven't been playing for, like, ages!"

"Okay, okay. Same place, alright?"

"Yeah!" Kise hung up.

Kise felt his heart flutter as he stepped onto the old basketball court where Aomine was warming up while yawning his head off. Seeing Aomine in a singlet and pants could never fail to make Kise grin sheepishly to himself.

The truth was, Kise had been in love with Aomine since his Teikō days but he never said anything, not to his friends, not to his family, not to Aomine. No one.

When he first peeked into the gymnasium where the basketball club was practising, he knew he just had to join.

The brilliant figure of Aomine as he dunked every time, the loud thump as he landed after that, and the way he smiled whenever they played one-on-ones with each other. Everything about him just hit Kise right in the heart when he first locked eyes with him. However, it wasn't love at first sight, it was more of a chemical reaction.

Unfortunately, everything needs to come to an end.

They moved on to high school and ended up in different ones. Kise was disappointed.

He wished his Teiko days could last a little longer.

"Well, at least I'll be able to face him off on the same court," Kise told himself and managed to cheer up.

Then something happened.

Then it happened.

After Aomine played against Seirin for the first time, he mumbled to Kise, "Hey Kise… I think, just maybe, I have something for Kagami. J-Just something."

"Eh?" Kise's voice was no more than a breath that leaked out. His eyes widened, he tried to force out a smile. "I-Is that so?" He did not know what to say, but he knew he had to say something. Just something, anything, to stop his hammering heart from breaking his ribcage. He needed to distract himself, from the sudden pain and realization that struck him hard, as soon as possible, as much as possible.

Damn.

Kise remembered that day, when Aomine called him out to play streetball with him a couple of days after his match. They were in the middle of a one-on-one when he suddenly mentioned about Kagami with a little tinge of red decorating his cheeks.

Kise had never seen Aomine like that before. Never.

Kise was scared.

For the next few days, he contemplated hard, whether to confess or not. He thought about it all week, in school, at home, even during practice when he couldn't even focus anymore.

"Maybe I should just confess and get over with it," Kise mumbled to himself while he fidgeted with his basketball on the bed. "But what if, I confess, and Aominecchi had already fallen for Kagamicchi?"

Kise fell into a deep silence.

"Then I'll need to do it as quickly as possible, don't I?!" Kise jolted upright before softening into a jelly-like mess onto the bed again. "No, but… What if Aominecchi doesn't even like me…? I would just make a fool out of myself!" Kise set the ball aside and buried his head in his pillow, exhausted and mentally worn out from all the thinking. He screamed into the pillow for five long seconds.

Sighing, finally, he came to a conclusion, "I should just let nature take its course…"

Oh, how he wished he never did.

During the game with Tōō, Kise stopped admiring Aomine, and was able to play on par with him. However, he lost.

The loss was not something Kise wanted, but after the game, he knew he had fallen even deeper.

Deeper in love with Aomine.

Ah… What the hell am I doing? Loving him…

He shouldn't have.

Maybe I should've confessed earlier…

"It really hurts now," Kise muttered to himself as he walked home that day. He knew Aomine had spent a lot of time with Kagami since their first match together, and he was feeling pretty lonely since then.

Of course, Aomine still walked home together with Kise every now and then, but it did not satisfy Kise.

But I can't just stop loving him. That's asking for the impossible. There's nothing I can do. I can only… Refrain myself for going further than this.

Damn.

I kinda miss him.

Jealousy ate at Kise mercilessly.

Many times, countless times, Kise wanted to tell Aomine how much he loved him and how long he had been in love with him. However, whenever he stopped Aomine at the corner of corridors or just past the gates of the school, his mouth refused to move and the words refused to leave his tongue. Every time he reluctantly, unintentionally, muttered, "Oh, it's nothing", his heart could only ache more.

His heart ached with the heavy burden of his unsaid confession.

But no matter how hard he tried, the fear and worry would just gnaw at him like a starving piranha:

What if I screw up?

What if Aomine doesn't like me?

What if he had already confessed to Kagami?

What if, what if, what if…

What do I do?

"Here," Aomine handed Kise his blueberry popsicle.

"Thanks."

They walked in silence, shoulder to shoulder, eating their popsicles.

"Oh yeah, Akashi told us to meet up at his house to study this Saturday. Do you wanna come?" Aomine asked.

"Oh, okay. Sure."

Silence again.

"Then I'll see ya tomorrow," Aomine said before he turned the corner.

The conversation was short and dry, and it left a lump in Kise's throat as he regretted not saying more while he walked home.

The next day, all of the members from the Generation of Miracles met up at Akashi's house with bags full of books and worksheets.

All of them, except Aomine, had no problem with their studies. In the end, they spent the whole day teaching Aomine the basics of all the subjects and covered all the key topics over and over until he got it.

Everyone was more than just exhausted.

That day, no one - I repeat, no one - had any idea how lovingly Kise stared at Aomine when he was watching him write down and solve equations, just like how a person in love will do.

The eyes of someone in love tell a thousand words.

Kise looked at Aomine's face, his eyes absorbed in concentration, his brows furrowed together, his fingers gripping the pen desperately as it flew across the paper while he mumbled the equation to himself. What Kise did not know was that the more he watched him, the bigger the smile that gradually grew across his face.

Ahh... It feels like we're alone in this room, cramming for finals on a Saturday morning...

Nothing could possibly feel better than being with someone one loves. Nothing. It was the best feeling in the world.

Whether or not the other person loves him back.

That day, everyone went home feeling exhausted and accomplished, while Kise wished it could last a little longer.

Finals came and went.

Fortunately, the Generation of Miracles' efforts paid off and Aomine managed to pass his examinations.

"Man, this year was close!" Aomine said to his former teammates who decided to play basketball together after the examinations ended.

"Congratulations, Aominecchi!" Kise waved to him from the court.

"You did well," Akashi praised him.

"You should be grateful to us, Aomine," that was Midorima.

"Congratulations, Aomine-kun," Kuroko smiled.

"Hey, let's hurry up and play already… It's been a long time since we've meet up to play," Murasakibara complained.

All six of them played for two hours straight before going to Maji Burger to have lunch together. As usual, Murasakibara ordered a ton and the rest had to stuff down whatever was left that Murasakibara stubbornly refused to eat. They were fooling around for a minute or two before actually eating, and one of the waitresses had to go over and told them to keep their volume down, making Akashi feel embarrassed for being the former captain of such a noisy team.

"Eh? Kagami-kun," Kuroko said, his gaze fixed at the entrance of the fast food restaurant while sipping his vanilla shake. Kise whipped over and saw Kagami walking in, catching all of their attention.

"Yo, Kuroko. What a coincidence," Kagami greeted back, ignoring the rest of them. He then went over to the counter to - also - order a ton of burgers before settling down at another table.

Kise could feel his heart sink for a reason he could not quite pinpoint.

He did not want him here.

He was the last person he wanted to see that day.

Aomine went to dispose his trash and return his tray before going over to Kagami, which was something that Kise really did not want to see. Nudging him, Aomine said, "We should play again someday. I'd love to play with you in the zone again."

"Mm? Oh, okay, sure," Kagami tried to grin with his cheeks full.

When Aomine came back, Midorima said, "I didn't know you're that close to him."

"Well, I did buy basketball shoes for him, and he was the first to make me feel alive in a match," Aomine replied. "Anyway, I'll be going now, my mum wants me back home to do some chores."

The other five members waved goodbye as Aomine stepped out of the restaurant.

Kise could feel something in him disintegrate as he watched him walk away.

So this is why my heart has been hurting much more lately.

"Sorry, I need to go as well," Kise left, his head low, enduring the throbbing pain in his chest.

Same thing, the rest waved goodbye.

It was a couple of days before Valentine's Day.

"Hey, Aominecchi, what are you gonna do this year?" Kise asked Aomine as they ate together.

"Hm? What? Valentine's Day?"

"Mhmm."

"Well, I'm gonna go on a date with Kagami…" Aomine looked away shyly, lightly scratching his neck. Kise kind of expected that answer, probably deep down, which he did not want to submit to. "But, I've got a problem, Kise."

"Problem? What's wrong?" Kise perked up, anticipating his answer, since he wanted to help him as much as he can, even if it hurts him.

"I… I haven't bought a gift yet."

"What?!" Kise half-shouted, shocking some of the customers around them. "Ahem… What? It's almost Valentine's Day!"

"I know! Anyway, I need your help, is that okay?"

"Since it's your first date, I have to, don't I? So, besides buying a gift, what else?" Kise tried to act normal.

"I don't… I don't know what to say to him on that day itself…" Aomine felt pathetic for saying such a thing.

"Well… We can't prepare a script or something. All you need to do is act natural, but don't just say whatever that comes to your mind… But if you think about it, I guess Kagamicchi should know you well enough by now, so you can just shoot," Kise said. "For the gift, we can deal with that as soon as we finish eating. Let's not waste time."

Of course, Aomine finished his food faster than Kise.

After that, they were on their way to the mall.

They spent a total of four hours searching for a suitable gift, but to no avail.

"Hey, how about this?" Aomine was about to take a pair of shoes from the shelf in a sports store.

"But you already bought shoes for him!"

"Oh… Yeah, I forgot."

"Mou, Aominecchi!"

They argued here and there, stopped here and there, but in the end, they could not find something that Kagami would definitely like. It was frustrating.

After walking for a few more minutes, they encountered a store specifically selling all kinds of chocolate.

All kinds, literally.

"I guess we should just settle with something normal. We've been at it for centuries!" Kise whined wearily.

"Okay, okay," Aomine gave in, too.

They browsed the shop, from top to bottom, for one end to the other.

Alas, both of them could not decide on one they both liked, even though the gift was for Kagami.

Kise was sighing when he heard Aomine's voice calling out to him from one corner of the store, "Oi, Kise! I think I found the perfect one!"

Kise trudged over.

"This!" Aomine pushed a box of chocolates to Kise. At one glance, everyone would think that it was just any other normal type of chocolate. However, it wasn't.

The chocolates were basketball-shaped!

Moreover, there were many different flavors which resulted in different colors, like orange and blue.

It was the perfect gift.

"I'm getting this!" Aomine grinned and - Kise could literally feel his heart melt - went over to the counter to pay for it.

As they walked out of the shop together, Aomine said, "Thanks, Kise. You were a big help today."

"Eh? But I didn't really do anything," Kise blushed a little at his words.

"Without you, I wouldn't have been able to actually even bother coming out here to shop."

"Ah, then... Welcome," Kise said as he flashed his brightest smile, his cheeks aflame.

Before they parted ways, Kise blurted out what was lingering on his tongue for quite some time, despite knowing he would just get hurt - from his own words, "Good luck for your date!"

Yeah, it really did hurt.

Hey, Aominecchi, Aominecchi, did you know? I was in love with you from the very start.

Did you know?

I love you.