Opening notes: This is a Sword Art Online AU fic. If you haven't read or watched Sword Art Online, and would like to or plan to, I advise against reading this fic, as it will likely contain a significant number of spoilers for the series.

"Satsuki, what's this game everyone's talking about lately?"

Daiki ignored his best friend's huff and eye roll. "Really, Dai-chan," was her response. "It's only kind of groundbreaking on a number of levels."

"I just want to know what it is, Satsuki."

It was a pretty normal day, all things considered. Daiki had been napping inside, as it was beginning to get uncomfortably cold outside.

"It's a Virtual Reality MMORPG," Satsuki told him. "It's a so called 'full dive' game, where essentially the player's entire consciousness is within the game, and you experience it yourself rather than through a remotely controlled avatar. It's received incredible reviews from the beta testers, and it marks an incredible future for both gaming and brain research. Why do you want to know, anyway? It's not like anything but basketball usually interests you."

Daiki shrugged. "I keep hearing people talk about it," he grumbled. "I dunno, I was just curious. It's supposed to be difficult. Basketball season's over and it's going to be too dangerous for street games soon with ice and snow. I was thinking about picking it up."

Satsuki looked thoughtful. "But all of the 10,000 preorders have already been snapped up, and hardcore gamers have been in line for days to get physical copies... Oh!"

Daiki cracked open an eye to look at Satsuki. "Oh, what?"

"Well... Ki-chan's agency was approached about using Ki-chan as a model for some official artwork. I think Ki-chan was offered a few copies in payment? If you're interested, you should ask him."

"I didn't think Kise was the type to play games," Daiki commented.

"Usually, that's true," Satsuki agreed, "but I think he might have been thinking along the same lines as you. And he's been aggravating his knee again with overtraining towards the end of this season. He's got doctor's orders not to exercise for a while."

Daiki frowned. "Idiot," he muttered. "He never learns."

They fell into silence, and Daiki started dozing again. He was jerked back awake when Satsuki hit his arm.

"Oi."

"Are you going to mail Ki-chan or not?" she asked.

"You do it."

"I'm not the one who wants to play!"

"You regularly mail him though. You know about his orders from his doctor."

"You're terrible, Dai-chan. It's my job to know these things. And Ki-chan would love to hear from you more often," Satsuki said. But Daiki could hear her texting, so he leaned back over onto his desk and closed his eyes.

He heard Satsuki's phone buzz – Kise always was so excitable when someone contacted him.

"He says he still has them, but said to remind you that you still need the NerveGear if you want to use it. He also says that Kagamin and Tetsu-kun have also expressed interest in it? Maybe all four of you could play together?"

Daiki sighed. "Tell him if he doesn't have the gear either, we can go get it together over the weekend," he mumbled through his arms. "I don't care if Tetsu or Bakagami tag along. They can play with Kise, and then I don't have to."

Satsuki was probably giving him a dirty look, but Daiki really didn't care. He just listened to her tapping away at her phone, and waited for it to buzz again with a response.

Her phone buzzed. And then he felt his buzz in his pocket.

"Ugh. Satsuki, why did he mail me?"

Her voice sounded amused as she answered. "Because you're the one making plans with Ki-chan, not me."

Daiki fished his phone out of his pocket, and then reluctantly opened his eyes to look at the screen.

'Aominecchi! I'm surprised you're interested in playing this game! But it'll be fun, don't you think? Anyway, I do need to go get the hardware if we are, so we'll meet at the shopping district this weekend? Near the train station around midday? Does that work for you, Aominecchi? If not, just tell me when suits you!'

"Ugh."

'sounds fine. see you then' Daiki mailed back. It was probably a little earlier than he'd like, but Kise was an overenthusiastic mailer, and if he left him the opportunity, his phone would be buzzing non-stop.

Still, he felt his phone buzz again.

'Waah! I'm so excited to play with Aominecchi! I'd ask to play one-on-one after, but my doctor says I'm supposed to avoid exercise for a while...'

Daiki didn't bother to respond to this.

"Aominecchi!"

Daiki would fiercely argue with all his breath against anyone who said that the sound of Kise calling him made him smile just a little bit. He looked up from his phone, where he'd been playing some mindless game or other, and waved.

Kise cheerfully latched onto his arm. "Hi, Aominecchi! It's been ages. How are you?"

Daiki shrugged him off. "I'm fine. Bored. You?"

Kise sighed, kicking at the street. "The same," he admitted. "I've been working a bit more, but I used to train so much... ah, but that's the reason I've been sidelined. Still, it's been hard finding things to do in all the spare time I have now."

Silence fell across the pair as they walked towards the shops.

"You know," Kise said, "I was really surprised to hear from Momocchi that you were interested in playing this game. I was just going to sell the copies that were given to me."

Daiki shrugged. "Well, it's supposed to be difficult, from what I've heard. If I'm going to play a game, I might as well pick a challenging one."

Kise smiled. "That sounds about right," he said, laughing. "Oh, here we are."

As he watched Kise wander towards the desk to talk to the assistant, Daiki paid particular notice to Kise's legs. It was barely there, but he noticed that Kise was walking with a slight favouring of his bad leg, and frowned before walking over to join Kise.

"Ah, Aominecchi! You're so slow," Kise complained. "I've gotten the assistant to go and get two, but she says that she'll need to make two trips because they aren't really light. She wanted me to help but..."

Daiki snorted. "She probably wanted to kiss you in the back room," he said to Kise, who flushed.

"Probably," Kise muttered, and Daiki had the feeling he hadn't intended for him to hear. "It wouldn't be the first time."

Daiki absently wondered if Kise often got accosted in stores by fans who worked there.

So, of course, he asked. "Do you often get jumped by fans who work in stores?"

"Well, sometimes," Kise finally admitted after a long moment. He seemed distinctly uncomfortable, but Daiki just grinned. "After the time a girl got herself into my changing room I got a lot more careful... I can't go shopping on my own anymore. I don't mind though!" He was clearly making an effort to sound cheerful. "I like having company, though sometimes it's hard to find someone willing to come with me." His face fell a little, and Daiki felt an uncomfortable stab of guilt. "It's bad for my image if I would get caught fooling around with girls in stores," Kise added. "And somehow these things always get out... I think sometimes the girls like to brag and it just..."

Daiki wasn't sure how he felt about this conversation. He'd gone after the topic because it looked like it made Kise uncomfortable, and he was terrible enough to admit that he enjoyed making people uncomfortable. But now it was just getting awkward, because he was becoming terribly aware that Kise likely had far more experience with girls than he did, and he really didn't want to admit to that.

Kise had always been popular, but relationships were light hearted and fleeting in junior high, and although Kise had had girlfriends, it was painfully obvious with Kise's increasing devotion to the basketball club that he hadn't really done any more than maybe kiss a couple of the girls who he dated. Daiki himself hadn't had any girlfriends until toward the end of junior high when basketball became disappointing, and though he might have liked to do more than some making out here and there, girls usually became frustrated by his apathy or jealous of the close relationship he had with Satsuki.

Daiki tore himself from his thoughts to pet Kise's head. "How troublesome it must be to have girls all over you."

Kise had the grace to look embarrassed. "Shut up, Aominecchi. You're just jealous because your terrible personality drives away all the girls who might be interested in you."

"I do not have a terrible personality," Daiki argued. Kise just looked at him.

Before their discussion could continue, the girl returned with another associate carrying the gear.

"Oh, you're wonderful," Kise told the other associate. The boy seemed torn between being displeased – Daiki guessed he was interested in the girl – and being charmed. It was hard not to fall just a little for Kise, if you didn't know him.

Daiki could remember the first time he saw Kise. A ball had gone flying out of the gymnasium, and he'd chased off after it. He remembered watching it strike a head of blond hair, and seeing Kise's face in person for the first time, after hearing about the elusive model student who excelled in every sport he tried in the school whispers for months. But that wasn't Daiki's Kise Moment, as Teikou's regulars had ended up calling it. Daiki's Kise Moment had been when he'd followed after him, and when he'd looked over at the door after making his way past three defenders, and seeing the way Kise had looked at him in that moment.

Of course, not everyone had a Kise Moment. Daiki had never told the first string he'd had one, for sure, though he was pretty sure Tetsu had figured it out, if only because he was pretty sure Tetsu had had one as well. Satsuki cheerfully admitted to having had one before Kise had joined the basketball club.

Daiki made sure to pay first and he took charge of both of the bags.

"There's no need for you to carry them both, Aominecchi," Kise protested as they walked out.

Daiki just looked at him. "You're already favouring your bad leg," he said to the blond bluntly. "Satsuki will get mad at me. Don't ask how she'll know, she just always does. Besides, this could easily have been done separately. Model-san must have known I would carry his bags for him if he got me to come along."

Daiki loved teasing Kise – he had some of the best reactions. This remark caused Kise to turn pink.

"You're awful."

"If I was awful, I'd make you carry both of the bags. You can buy me lunch if you feel so badly about it."

He grinned at Kise, and the other boy let out a long-suffering sigh.

"I don't know how Momocchi puts up with you all the time," Kise replied. Daiki looked at him curiously. Was he teasing him?

Daiki nudged Kise in the ribs gently with his elbow, "I happen to have a few redeeming features," he said. He was still smiling.

Daiki didn't hear it when Kise mumbled, "Yeah," under his breath.

"Did you have a nice time out with Ki-chan yesterday?"

Satsuki had wandered around to his place, under the pretence of getting him to study. Since they both knew that the chances of her actually getting him to study were very slim, this was clearly not the reason she'd decided to make her way over to his house.

Daiki shrugged. "I didn't hate it," he offered. "It was kind of weird, though. It's been a long time since we did something which wasn't basketball together."

Satsuki patted his head. "Both of you are hopeless," she commented, but there was a gentle, caring tone to her voice.

"So, why'd you come over, Satsuki?"

She sighed, as if she wished he didn't know her so well. "How's Ki-chan's leg?"

He frowned, looking at the roof. "He favours it a little when he's walking around," he said, his voice quiet. "He's going to really injure himself one of these days."

A frown tugged at Satsuki's mouth, although Daiki knew that this was exactly what she was expecting. "Ki-chan's Perfect Copy is incredible, but it's so hard on his body," she murmured. She was thinking to herself. She looked sharply at Daiki's own knees. "But hardest on his body is imitating your style, I think. That's where the initial over-work started. Midorin's shots require power and stamina, more than any big demand on the joints, and Akashi-kun's eyes... well, I don't even know how he does that. It's easy for someone of Ki-chan's size to move with the speed that Muk-kun does, although the way he imitates his reach and power... but in the end, it's the way he moves like you, Dai-chan. What kind of training can we suggest for his coaches so that he won't destroy himself?"

As Satsuki began thinking to herself, Daiki mulled over what she'd said.

"Wait, Satsuki." Daiki was stuck on her last point. "Do you think he could permanently injure himself?"

The look Satsuki gave him was equal parts disappointed and concerned. "Of course he could, Dai-chan."

Daiki wasn't sure he liked the cold feeling that trickled through him at the idea that Kise would never be able to play against him again. Kise had become one of very few people he could really play against, and people like that were rare. The thought of losing one of them was almost horrifying.

He frowned and stared at the ceiling. What had they done, so that Daiki's knees had the ability to take the strain of his play style? Just like everything else about himself and basketball, Daiki just wasn't sure. Everything about it was instinctive. Usually, Daiki didn't care, or even enjoyed that the way he played had everything to do with sensing and feeling and doing, more than thinking. At this moment, though, he was just frustrated.

"I carried his things for him," Daiki admitted to Satsuki quietly. She smiled at him.

"Sometimes, Dai-chan," she said, "it's nice to see you can be sweet even though you're a jerk."

"Oi. Hey, help me set up the gear, will you? I can't make a heads or tails of how to set it up."

Satsuki sighed, but she smiled as she pulled the things out from the bag Daiki had left in the corner of the room. "You're really hopeless, Dai-chan," she told him. She looked at the instruction book. "You could do this yourself if you would just read the instructions properly... oh what am I saying, it's you."

"Oi."

"Kagamicchi and Kurokocchi are going to dinner with the rest of Seirin to see off their seniors before they join us."

Kise was on speaker, and the phone sat safely on his bedside table. Daiki was lazing about on the bed, chucking a basketball at the wall. He wasn't, strictly speaking, supposed to, but his parents had given up on stopping him years ago, and as such, the wall was pitted with dirt marks from where his basketballs had hit it.

"We'll meet them when they come on later, then. Have you decided on a name? They need to know at least one of our names to find us."

Against his better judgement, somehow, Kise had gotten him to agree to play with him, Tetsu and Kagami.

"Well, sort of," Kise replied. "I'm not terribly imaginative, and you know they only let you use the English alphabet for names? Ugh, I'm so bad at English, Aominecchi."

"You're bad at school full stop, Kise."

"I'm better than you... though... that's not really saying much, is it, Aominecchi?"

Daiki grunted and threw the basketball again, sour about the jibe. Kise wasn't stupid – Kise was just incredibly busy, and with basketball and his modelling, he often ended up without the time to do homework and sometimes missing class. He'd heard Satsuki despairing over Kise one afternoon at practice, demanding to know how his grades had dropped from average to failing marks so quickly. Daiki did not have Kise's excuse of business – he was just lazy, slept through class and never tried to put in any effort to understanding his classwork. The fact that he maintained the bare minimum of a pass to continue playing basketball was Satsuki's handiwork more than his own.

"Just put your name into a translator and play with the letters or something. I don't know."

"What are you going to do, Aominecchi?"

"Probably what I just told you to do."

He hears Kise sigh on the other end of the line and chucks the ball at the wall again.

"I miss basketball," Kise whines, correctly identifying the cause of the thump. "I'm so sick of being banned from our gym. Any time the seniors see me anywhere near the gym they start yelling at me."

Daiki laughed, which was probably a little bit mean. He was pretty sure Kise would be pouting or something on the other end of the phone.

"Well, you need to be more careful then," he answered. "Pushing your body like that; you're so stupid sometimes, Kise."

The line was quiet for a moment. "But how am I supposed to catch up if I don't?" It was a hesitant question, like he was afraid of something, though Daiki wasn't sure what. He rolled his eyes.

"Idiot. You'll catch up faster if you stop sidelining yourself because you're injured."

Kise is quiet again. It's starting to get annoying. Daiki looks over to check the time.

"So, figured out a name yet? It'll be time to start soon, won't it?"

He's avoiding the subject, but Daiki won't bring himself to pursue it. He made a non-committal noise and chucked the basketball at the wall again. "I don't know. I'll just use my name. I can't be bothered with figuring out a name."

"You're so lazy, Aominecchi," Kise sighs on the other end. "But at least I guess I'll be able to find you easily enough... have you done the calibrations yet?"

"Yeah, yeah, calm down Kise. I don't want to have to waste too much time with setup either, you know."

"Anyway, Aominecchi, if you're just going to use your name, then I'll text Kurokocchi so he and Kagamicchi know, and I'll talk to you when I find you there, okay?"

"Mmm."

"Alright! See you soon, Aominecchi!"

The dial tone sounded. Daiki reached over to pick up the phone to end the call from his side too, and then pushed himself up to pick up the NerveGear helmet. He turned it over in his hands before sliding it over his head and sprawling back on his bed.

"Link start."

The experience of colour flying past was still odd; but everything seemed in order, with senses correctly connected. Setting the language to Japanese, Daiki grumbled to himself when he had to set up the account. Effort.

Still, it was done quickly, and then he was in character creation. Why did this have to take so long, anyway? Still, this was more interesting than administrative things like account creation.

Daiki didn't have many, if any, issues with his body or appearance in person, and he never claimed to be enormously creative. He imagined that Tetsu would laugh at him later, but he essentially created himself again. Tetsu will make himself taller, he thought to himself as he looked at the avatar he'd pulled together. Tall, though perhaps not his monstrously tall height as usual – muscular but not beefy; he always had preferred speed to power, though it was nice to have both. He picked to have a darker skin tone, but elected to have black hair instead of his eye-catching dark blue. Kise might be able to get by at home – blond was a normal hair colour – but Daiki had always been annoyed by his ridiculous hair and the weird looks he got because of it, and he could always do in-game dye later when it was normal for people to have weird hair colours if he really wanted it back.

Finally all done, Daiki found himself surrounded by blue light, and then looking at an enormous square.

There were hundreds of people here. Most of them moved around tentatively at first, as if still getting used to the way their bodies moved. Daiki found that while his centre of gravity was a little lower, this body moved much the same way as his usual one, and strolled off to the side.

He wasn't sure what Kise was going to look like, although if he had to guess, he'd say he'd be much the same. Kise might be annoying, but his most unfortunate quality was his vanity, which was sadly encouraged by the fact that he was actually quite good looking.

"Aominecchi, I might have known you'd look just like yourself," he heard his friend say to his side.

He'd been correct – Kise looked, by and large, mostly the same as usual. He was a similar height, though like Daiki, seemed to have chosen to be slightly shorter than his usual height. His hair was just as bright a shade of golden blond as usual, although his hair was long, but when he looked at Kise's face, he noticed that the face didn't look overly similar to his normal appearance.

It was weird to hear his friend's voice come out of that unfamiliar face.

"I already told you I'm not very creative," Daiki answered. "Are you right to go?"

"Yep!" Kise answered, grinning. "Where should we go, Aominecchi?"

"Away from all these people."

"You should be more friendly, Aominecchi," Kise whined as they moved away from the square. They seemed to be on a street full of markets – Aomine pulled up the menu as they walked. The amount of money – Col – they started with was nowhere near enough to buy anything in here.

"I don't need to be friendly," he answered. "I'll have you and Tetsu and Kagami to play with, why would I need anyone else?"

That sounded unfortunately more sentimental than he'd intended, and he scowled. Kise's (frustratingly unfamiliar) face glowed, and Daiki noticed as Kise looked away that he was smiling.

"Ah! That looks like the exit to the town," Kise said, grabbing Daiki's wrist. "Come on, let's figure out how fighting works so we can teach Kurokocchi and Kagamicchi quickly when they get on."

Daiki nodded. That was what they were here to do – the point of the whole game.

They walked out onto the plains from the road, and Daiki pulled the beginner's sword out from where it was sheathed at his hip. He watched Kise do the same as they approached a pig-animal.

"Let me have a look at the guidebook," Kise requested, pulling the item out.
"Fuck that," Daiki answered, feeling the excitement thrumming through his body. "I don't need a book to tell me what to do."

He launched himself at the thing and swung the sword. He missed, and the pig came back around and butted into him.

"Oi!"

He heard Kise attempt to smother a laugh behind him and scowled. He'd put the book away.

"How about Aominecchi lets me show him what I just learned," he teased, and then he took a battle position. The sword in his hand hummed and glowed, and he charged.

The sword connected, and Daiki watched as the health bar of the thing dropped, before emptying out and the pig exploded in a shower of light.

Kise grinned and turned to look at him. Daiki scowled.

"I promise I won't be too mean if you want to ask me how I did it, Aominecchi."

"You're so annoying, Kise."

Kise pouted. "I won't tell you if you're mean to me!"

Daiki sighed. Surely it couldn't hurt his pride too much... and he did really want to make something explode like Kise had just done.

"You won't tell Tetsu or Kagami, right?" he asked slowly.

Kise's smile was excited as he answered. "Of course not!"

They walked over to where another pig monster had spawned. "It's called a boar," Kise told him. "The beta tester guide book says they're equivalent to slimes in other games. I don't really know what that means, but I guess it just means they're weak? They're recommended for new people to learn the battle system on because they'll lose interest in fights quickly so if you get low on health and want to escape rather than incur the death timer you can get away from them."

Daiki nodded. "So how did you do it?"

"Get your sword ready," Kise instructed him. "And then you have to like... okay, the book says you need to add a pause in or something, to engage the sword skill system. The sword will glow and hum when it's engaged, and then the system will make sure that your sword connects. Ah, you'll be able to feel it when it's working. Or at least, I did..."

Daiki nodded, and prepared his sword. He felt it, like Kise had said, a little bit like a surge, and moved to strike. This time, he connected.

"Ah."

Kise grinned and bounced. "This is fun. I can't wait until Kagamicchi and Kurokocchi get here! I told them to add you as a friend when they get in, that you'd be under Aomine because you're not very creative."

Daiki rolled his eyes. "What did you call yourself, again?" he questioned.

"Kisery! You should accept my friend request, Aominecchi."

Daiki opened up the menu panel again. "Yeah, yeah. I've accepted, are you happy now?"

"For now." Kise grabbed at his wrist again and tugged. "Come on, Aominecchi, standing around isn't fun! We should totally try to get a level on Kurokocchi and Kagamicchi."

Daiki grinned then, and fell into step with Kise. "Yeah. Hey, does that book tell you where to go?"

"Please, please pick up," Satsuki muttered desperately into her phone. "Please, let you be the basketball idiots I know you are, tell me you got diverted at a street court, please, please, Tetsu-kun..."

She wanted to wring her hands as she paced back and forth in front of Kagamin's apartment building. He didn't appear to be home, but that wasn't saying anything much.

Finally, it connected. "Momoi-san?"

"Don't use the NerveGear, don't log into Sword Art Online," she begged. "Tetsu-kun, they're trapped, it's a trap."

She heard a sharp intake of breath on the line that wasn't related to exertion. "Momoi-san, what's happened?"

She trembled as she sank down onto the step. "Tell me Kagamin is with you."

"Kagami-kun is with me," he reassured her.

Despair and relief warred within her. "Thank heavens," she mumbled. "I'm so glad I caught you in time." She felt her throat close up as she thought back to Dai-chan's bedroom and her desperate call to the Kise household as she gripped tight to Dai-chan's large, warm, slack hand.

"Momoi-san, what's going on?"

She took a deep, shaky breath. "It's a trap, Tetsu-kun. Ten thousand people have been trapped inside the server. If you remove the NerveGear, it fries their brain. And if they die in the game... then they die here too."

"Aomine-kun and Kise-kun..." Tetsu-kun trailed off, probably hoping she would give him the answer they're fine, they didn't log on, they're not trapped in a death game, and she choked, and felt her tears begin to fall.

"I... Dai-chan is... Tetsu-kun..."

"Where are you?"

"I'm at Kagamin's apartment," she managed to get out. "I had to... I had to..."

I had to be here to stop you.

"We're on our way, Momoi-san. Would you like me to stay on the phone?"

Satsuki heaved a shuddering breath. "I need to call Akashi-kun," she mumbled.

"It can wait," Tetsu-kun told her. "Let us be with you."

She didn't know how to tell him she needed to be doing something. That having a goal and a plan made her feel less hopeless, gave her something to focus on that wasn't the way Dai-chan laid on his bed, unmoving, his head cradled inside the machine that threatened his life. The machine she'd hooked up for him.

If I hadn't done it, would he have been ready to log in? Would I have had the chance to stop him, if he'd been delayed trying to set it up?

She could hear Tetsu-kun's laboured breath and the thuds of two pairs of running feet over the connection. He wasn't speaking – he probably couldn't speak when he was running so fast.

She saw them turn the corner, and she lowered her phone from her ear.

"Momoi-san." Tetsu-kun had that look about him that was familiar from their days at Teikou – like he wasn't sure if he was going to throw up or pass out from the exertion.

She felt no desire to throw herself into his arms, although she was sure it would be as comforting as it ever was. She had often sought the comfort of Tetsu-kun when Dai-chan was being horrible, but usually, when she was distressed, she would turn to Dai-chan. Even when he didn't care, he would listen, and when she was particularly unhappy sometimes he'd give her one of his rare hugs, the ones that sheltered her from everything. Dai-chan had a very protective streak through his core when it came to those he cared about the most, and it could be felt in the way that he'd give her that brief respite from her battles, giving her the power to soldier on beside him.

It wasn't that they were in love with each other, but their friendship was soul-deep and powerful, and Satsuki had known that they'd spend their lives beside one another, their children growing up with each other the same way that they had grown together.

Except maybe now they wouldn't, and it was perhaps the most shattering realisation of Satsuki's life.

"Tetsu-kun," she whispered. "What am I going to do?"

She'd never realised she was so dependent on Dai-chan's existence in her life, even when he was at his most impossible.

She felt herself pulled into a hug. It didn't make her feel any better.

"First we'll call Akashi-kun," Tetsu-kun said. She could hear Kagamin digging through his bag for his keys. There was no basketball-shaped object in his bag; the two idiots had left the one they were using behind at the court. Somehow, this made her feeling of despair intensify.

"Come in," Kagamin said, and Satsuki felt herself being guided inside, her phone continuing to beep the signal that the connection had been severed.

Closing notes: I haven't worked ahead on this, so I'm not sure when the next chapter will be done. I have started working on it, though.

I hope you enjoyed that chapter.