A jet black car entered the parking lot of a middle-class apartment with a faint screech of its tires. It was but a small noise, unworthy of anyone's particular attention, but in such a still night even the slightest squeak of a mouse might sound like that of a watchdog's angry bark. The humming engine remained for not more than a minute until it finally died down, exactly at the same time as the car's front and back lights fading out.

Aomine's tall, firm figure appeared from the opened door of the driver's seat. Stepping out to the concrete with messy sprouts of grass poking out from the small cracks between the blocks, he slammed the door closed and locked it before heading towards a set of stairs lying in wait a few steps away from where he parked his ride. Despite the sufficient lightings set in and around the vicinity, at a glance it still seemed difficult to spot someone like Aomine in the night without mistaking him for a passing shadow. His naturally tanned skin, a result of long exposure to sunlight due to excessive outdoor activities during his childhood and adolescence, couldn't be any worse when he wore a black coat over his uniform. That, and his dark blue-colored hair didn't make much difference.

As he walked through the corridor towards the door of his flat, the officer let out a tired yawn before stretching out his arms. It was a long day at work. Although his shift was already over, when a case came up without notice, he must be ready at all times, and that was the reason why he came home so late tonight. He didn't even have time to have dinner yet, but the weariness made him decided that he'd just take a quick shower and crash to bed afterwards. Or maybe he could just go straight to bed without giving a care about self-sanitation.

With this thought in mind, he approached the door on his left side and proceeded to insert the key into the lock. But to his surprise, it was already opened.

"Ah, Aomine-cchi, you're back!"

The sound of footsteps hastily coming towards him echoed throughout the entrance that for a second, Aomine was concerned that his neighbor below would complain. However, before he could think any further about it, a figure with shining bright golden hair bolted out from inside and literally threw himself at the confused officer.

"Welcome home!" a face much too familiar to him, glowing in joy and excitement, greeted his arrival with a smile as bright as the color of the strands on his head and the pair of spheres in his eyes. Rather than confused, Aomine was now completely taken by surprise that he could only stare at the blond before him in disbelief.

"Kise?!" he asked with startled voice, "When did you return?"

"A few hours ago. I came back here straight from the airport, but you weren't home yet," in a rather sad voice the blond replied, but the gloom in his face soon subsided as he broke another smile, "But never mind that. I'm glad I decided to wait. Welcome home, Aomine-cchi!"

"…Yeah. I'm back," although he was rather taken aback by an answer said with such high spirit, Aomine soon found himself relaxing at the sight of his lover's endearing smile and demeanor which he hadn't seen for quite a long time. He circled one arm around Kise's waist, kissing the blond's temple whose height was only a few centimeter shorter than his. "It's been awhile."

"Ehehe…" chuckling at the loving gesture he received, Kise leaned forward to give the blue hair one more hug before he finally took a few steps back, "I've prepared the bath. I figured you'd want to do it first before having dinner."

"You prepared dinner?"

"Well, actually it's just something I bought from the convenience store on my way home," the blond replied sheepishly, scratching at the side of his face with the tip of his index finger, "But we can heat it and eat together while having a chat later. I have a lot of things I want to talk with Aomine-cchi."

Letting out a faint sigh, Aomine of all people knew that there was no way Kise would back down once he got excited, but he didn't mind, not now especially. The young pilot had been away for approximately a month due to his busy long-haul flights schedule and during that time, they could only talk through webcam at most. Even that was actually not enough, considering the time difference and Aomine's own busy routine.

After taking a bath as Kise suggested, Aomine found his lover sitting on the long sofa in the living room. He wasn't aware that the blue hair was approaching, but Aomine could see that Kise had prepared the heated meals on the table in front of the sofa. It seemed that he didn't buy much, just enough to fill their stomach until tomorrow morning.

"Hey," he called the blond, settling himself down next to him. Seemingly surprised by the sudden arrival of the blue hair, Kise's shoulders jumped a bit as he turned at Aomine with his golden eyes widened.

"Ah, Aomine-cchi, you're here?" he asked with a rather awkward laugh, "I didn't notice you were coming."

"What? Does your piercing start getting in the way of your hearing?" the tanned male responded in his trademark nonchalant blurt, "Or maybe you're getting old."

"Meanie!" Kise puffed his cheeks in protest, only to have his nose pinched by his lover's long finger until he almost choked on his own breath.

"Come on, let's eat. I don't want 'em to go cold again," ignoring the blond's complains, Aomine shifted closer to the table and threw his gaze at the few menu spread on the table. Among them was a Teriyaki Burger, his favorite food.

"You haven't even thanked me for going through the trouble to pick the foods you l like, or said 'Welcome home' to me even though I was really looking forward to see you again," Kise folded his arms, pouting while turning his face aside.

"You just yelled it at me the moment I stepped into the house. Would be weird if you said 'Welcome home' and I said the same," still with the same indifferent voice, Aomine responded while unwrapping the burger. He came to a brief pause, however, before turning towards the blond. "But, well, okay you can have a bite of this. Consider it's a small token of my appreciation to your efforts."

"Really? Aahh—"

"On second thought, maybe no," right before Kise's mouth could reach the offered burger, Aomine pulled his hand back and chomped a big bite, leaving the blond dumbfounded in such an awkward position that his face skipped the phase of going red of embarrassment to plain childlike disappointment.

"You meanie! Meanie! Ahomine!" in a flare of tantrum, he began hitting at the blue hair with one of the sofa's pillow. Aomine, one the other hand, enjoyed the reaction of his lover thoroughly that he only laughed while continuing to feast on his meal until there was only one bite left.

"Okay, okay. Here you can have it," he shoved the last bite into the blond's mouth, still wearing a big grin for having successfully played with him. Now with a chunk of burger in his mouth, Kise sat there silently with a sullen face; his mouth munching on the meal hand-feed to him a second ago. Now this was an expression Aomine hadn't seen for awhile during the time they were apart, but no matter how many times he saw it, this never failed to amuse him. Ever since they started going out back in their younger days, Kise's pouting face always looked cute.

They spent the next hour talking about all sort of things they'd been missing in the past months. As usual, Kise had a lot of travel stories that he endlessly chanted one after another enthusiastically, almost as if he was trying to draw the exact scenes he'd encountered to the tanned male. Aomine, on the other hand, would act as the listener most of the times, only throwing several remarks here and there. The way his lover always shared those stories with those golden spheres glimmering in excitement made him unable to cut in and start telling his own story. He'd rather let Kise had his fun telling those stories while silently gazing at his adorable, childlike demeanor.

"So it happened like that. If only you were there, Aomine-cchi…" the young pilot concluded another one of his story. However, this time he was met with a different look coming from the pair of deep blue eyes in front of him. Tilting his head in wonder, he expressed his curiosity. "Is something wrong?"

"Not really…" replied Aomine, "It's just I've noticed you've always been saying that at the end of each story."

"Saying what?"

"If only you were there…" the tanned male rephrased his lover's words, "It sounds like you really want me to be there."

"Well, I…" with his cheeks beginning to be dyed in a flush of red, Kise shifted his gaze aside while muttering his answer in a small, sheepish voice, "Actually… I was kinda hoping…that you were really there with me in all of my travels."

"Were you lonely, Kise?"

To this question, the blond did not answer directly. At first, it looked as if he was taken aback by such blunt remark, but in the next moment, Aomine could see him dropping his gaze down before he plunged himself towards the blue hair, circling his arms around his firm torso.

"SUPER lonely," he said with a clear emphasize on the first word, "I would be anxious enough already if I couldn't see you for a few days. One month is really too much."

"Did you miss me then?"

"I did," pressing his head against his lover's broad chest, Kise tightened his hug and whispered, "I really missed Aomine-cchi. I missed you so much."

His voice was shaky, almost as if he was about to cry. Gently, Aomine placed his hand on those silky smooth strands of gold, running his fingers through it ever so slowly that Kise lifted his face in wonder. And when their eyes met, the blue hair kissed his forehead lovingly before resting his chin on the blond's head.

"Welcome home, Kise," he murmured those words, embracing Kise's slim waist into his arm so they could feel each other's warmth in such close distance. The young pilot twitched ever so slightly, lifting his face once again to meet his beloved and this time, it was their lips that touched each other's. The first time was merely a brief one, but the next was longer and more passionate. Aomine had been holding Kise's body on his lap, while the blond had his arms circling around the other's neck. Their eyes met once more as they separated, and Kise immediately rushed towards his lover, burying his face on his shoulder.

"I'm back," he said, choking back on his own voice, "I'm back, Aomine-cchi."

"Yeah, good to see you again," the tanned male responded in a soothing low voice with his hand patting at his lover's back, "Did you eat well during your travel?"

The blond replied with a nod.

"Did you sleep well?"

Another nod.

"Are you tired now?" this time, the answer he received was those golden spheres looking at him in confusion. The tanned male couldn't help but chuckle when he saw his lover getting so bewildered over such a simple question, but perhaps it was due to a different reason. "What? Are you surprised that I find that out?"

"I'm… I'm not tired."

"Liar… You wouldn't have dazed off if you weren't tired. Here, there're even dark circles around your eyes. It wasn't this bad before," with the tips of his fingers, he brushed the lower part of Kise's eyes which color was indeed darker compared to the surrounding area. His pale white skin made the difference even more obvious.

"You're also tired from work," as though unwilling to admit defeat, the blond still managed to pursed his lips and talked back, but to his remark, Aomine simply flashed his usual smirk.

"Yeah? At least I'm not having a jet-lag," he said confidently, "Just so you know, I still have enough energy to have fun with you, especially since it's been quite a long time. But just for tonight, I'll spare your life and let you go to sleep peacefully."

"…You're treating me as if I'm a weakling," still, his lover pouted while puffing his cheeks again.

"If you say so… Well, then… Why don't we just put it to test?"

With one strong haul, Aomine lifted the blond's body and strolled right into the bedroom where he immediately pushed him down on the mattress. It was already past midnight, but the moment they felt the heat of their counterpart, which they hadn't sensed for weeks, all reasons broke loose and they ended up losing track of the time.

Despite his mind starting to lose grip of consciousness, however, Kise still managed to form a trail of words and whispered them into Aomine's ears.

"Aomine-cchi… I love you…" he said with his voice nearly fading away.

"Stupid… I already know that," the blue hair broke into a smirked and lightly chuckled. He drowned his lover in another deep kiss until the other seemed as though he was about to run out of breath, and while gazing into those feverish golden eyes, Aomine softly bumped their foreheads together and he replied. "You already know my answer, too, don't you?"