"Why is it that every time we go out, this one is always here?" Aomine asked Kuroko, narrowing his eyes at Kagami.

The three of them were spending their time at Maji Burger like usual, only Aomine thought it was going to be just him and Kuroko. Kagami always showed up somehow when Aomine thought it'd be a date.

"I should be asking that same thing," Kagami responded, narrowing his eyes right back at Aomine. Rival sparks could be seen between the two.

Kuroko rolled his eyes, swallowing down his beloved vanilla shake. "Why can't you two get along? I get along with your friends, Aomine-kun."

"Of his friends consist of the Generation of Miracles; I don't think that counts," Kagami poked fun.

"Oi!"

"Please be quiet, you two. You're drawing attention," Kuroko scolded, back to his drink. He was used to his boyfriend and best friend constantly at each other's necks. He just wanted them to get along.

Kagami and Aomine turned away from each other with a huff.

"Now, if you two are done with your lunches, I still need help with that errand."

The three of them quickly threw out their trash before following Kuroko to whatever task he needed done. Neither Kagami nor Aomine knew what Kuroko needed them for, just like how they didn't know the other was coming along. Inwardly, they both felt they didn't need the other to help Kuroko. Until they made it to the pet store.

"Does Nigou really eat this much?" Kagami exasperated, holding a large bag of dry dog food. Aomine was holding the second bag.

"Nigou is a growing puppy. You're not usually there when he eats, but yes, he is starting to eat a lot," Kuroko answered, putting his wallet away as they walked out the pet store. "We just need to drop one bag off at school, then the other at my house."

"Think you can handle that, Bakagami?" Aomine challenged.

"No sweat, Ahomine," Kagami spat back.

The two of them were back to glaring, following Kuroko to Seirin. However, once reaching the high school, neither blockheaded teen would put down the dog food.

"Put the bag down, Bakagami."

"And what? Let you follow Kuroko home and do god knows what to him? I don't think so, Ahomine."

"Oi, I'm just helping you out. I mean, Nigou is waiting for his meal at Tetsu's, isn't he?"

Kagami noticeably tensed, however his glaring didn't falter.

"And I don't want to keep him waiting, so will one of you just put a bag down," Kuroko said with an annoyed sigh. "If you two want to come over, I'm fine with that. Can we just get Nigou his meal?"

"Fine," Aomine and Kagami said at the same time, both putting down the bag. They were back to glaring at each other a second later, giving looks that read 'really' when seeing the other put down their bag.

"I am prepared to just call Kise-kun to help me," Kuroko said, frowning.

"I got it," Aomine responded, grabbing the dog food. Three was already a crowd. Adding Kise would just be a pain.

"God, if you wanted a green-eyed monster boyfriend, you should've gone for Midorima, Kuroko," Kagami said to his partner in a tone that mocked Aomine.

Aomine glared again. "Excuse me?"

"It's not easy with him, Kagami-kun."

"Tetsu! You're not supposed to agree with him!" Aomine complained as Kagami laughed.

"But you are a very jealous person, Aomine-kun. Even back at Teikou before we dated. You wouldn't let Kise-kun lay a hand on me," Kuroko responded.

"But you hated when he latched onto you! I was doing you a favor!" Aomine defended himself.

"Don't worry, Aomine-kun. I find how jealous you get sweet. Sometimes…"

"I don't get jealous!"

"Yeah, you do," Kagami interrupted. "You always get so bother when I'm around Kuroko and you."

"Anyone would be bothered with you around," Aomine responded.

"You–!"

"Alright," Kuroko interrupted. "You're not the jealous type then," he finished, lying for his boyfriend's sake.

"That's right," Aomine huffed, taking the bait.

"Does that mean you won't mind if the both of you are together tomorrow as a thank you from me for helping carry Nigou's food?"

Aomine glared again at Kagami as the redhead smirked. Kagami was just waiting for Aomine to word his irritation.

"Nope, that's perfectly fine," Aomine lied, still giving in.

"Wonderful," Kuroko responded with his small smile.

Before the three of them continued to Kuroko's house, Aomine's phone signaled a text.

Aomine casually tossed the bag to Kagami, who stumbled to catch the heavy bag. Ignoring Kagami's yelling, Aomine checked the message. He sighed silently under his breath before pocketing his phone.

"Actually, can you manage to make it home without my help?" Aomine asked Kuroko, still ignoring Kagami.

"Sure. Is something wrong?" Kuroko asked back.

"Nothing bad. Something just came up. See you."

Aomine turned on his heel as he sped off, Kuroko waving goodbye. Kuroko and Kagami watched as Aomine then halted before speeding back. "Actually, one more thing; since Kagami is coming tomorrow, you mind if I invited a friend, too?"

"I don't mind," Kuroko answered. "Momoi-san is always welcome."

"It's not Satsuki," Aomine deadpanned.

"What are you talking about? She's your only friend, isn't she?" Kagami remarked.

"Excuse you, I have tons of friends!" Aomine yelled.

"The other Miracles don't count," Kagami argued back.

"I wasn't talking about them! Touou friends, Bakagami."

"Really?" Kagami asked in disbelief with a smirk.

"Yes, really," Aomine grumbled back.

"Aomine-kun, didn't you have something you needed to do?" Kuroko asked, stopping the fighting again.

"Right, see you tomorrow," Aomine said, taking off again.

Soon after Aomine's leave, Kuroko and Kagami started heading off as well.

Kagami let out another sigh. Even when Aomine wasn't around, he was still the cause for Kagami's temperament. "I don't have a problem with Momoi or anything, but the last time the four of us hung out, we were sitting awkwardly outside the girls' changing rooms…"

"As long as it's not in the lingerie department like that one time, I'm fine," Kuroko responded, frowning and turning to the ground at the horrid memory. "Momoi-san promised not to make us wait through that again."

"Women; they always find a way back there…" Kagami added, thinking about his own time with Alex.

The next day came rather quickly. Kuroko and Kagami had met each other at the entrance of a Tokyo park, Aomine texting saying he and his friend were already there. Again, Kuroko and Kagami wondered why Aomine didn't just say Momoi, assuming it was still the analytical manager joining them. It wasn't until a bit later did they learned why.

"Tetsu!"

Kuroko turned, seeing Aomine trotting up to him and Kagami. "Good morning, Aomine-kun."

"About time you made it," Aomine responded, smiling. "Usually I'm the one who comes after you."

"Where's Momoi-san—?"

"I told you it's not Satsuki!" Aomine interrupted. He let out another sigh. "My friend's right here—" Aomine had turned to his friend when about to introduce them, only to be met with a blank space.

"I see," Kagami taunted.

"Shut up!" Aomine hissed before looking for his friend. That's when a hunched over figure was spotted by a tree. "Ryou!"

The figured jumped at Aomine's voice, things flying out around him when he jumped.

"What did I say about drawing manga?" Aomine asked, heading back to the brown haired boy picking up the fallen items.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Sakurai-kun," Kuroko realized.

Aomine sighed, helping Sakurai pick up some stray drawing utensils and a sketchbook. "You guys know Ryou?"

"Oh, the mushroom!" Kagami called when he finally noticed who Sakurai was.

"'M-mushroom?'" Sakurai stuttered, still shaking as he clenched his things.

"Don't call Ryou a mushroom!" Aomine defended his friend.

"'Ryou?'" Kuroko noticed. The only people he knew Aomine called by name were him and Momoi.

"Sakurai Ryou," Sakurai formally introduced, bowing to Kuroko and Kagami. "It's a pleasure to meet you two formally. Aomine-san has mentioned a lot about you two in class."

"You two are classmates as well?" Kuroko asked, curious.

Sakurai nodded.

"He also makes the best bento," Aomine bragged, latching an arm around Sakurai's shoulders.

"I-it's not that great…" Sakurai mumbled timidly.

"Oh, you make lunch for Aomine-kun? That must be very tedious with how much he eats," Kuroko said.

"It's not a problem," Sakurai responded with a small smile.

"So, what were you drawing there?" Kagami asked, curious.

Sakurai went tense again. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he profoundly started apologizing again, scaring Kagami.

"What!? Why!?" Kagami yelped, eyes wide.

"I'm sorry! I'm not supposed to be drawing! I'm sorry!"

Kagami was still panicked, hating seeing people cry. He reached out, instinctively trying to help calm Sakurai down, but at the same time pulled back a lot, having just met the other boy. "W-why can't you draw?"

"Ryou, you're supposed to take a break from drawing your manga," Aomine said to Sakurai.

"I-it wasn't for my manga…" Sakurai mumbled, shifting his weight back and forth between his feet. "Yes, Aomine-san…"

Aomine curtly grabbed Sakurai's sketchbook, shocking the boy. Sakurai reach back for his sketchbook while profoundly apologizing again, in tears, but Aomine was still looking at the drawing.

"Yes, it is! This is one of your characters, Ryou!"

Sakurai only grabbed his sketchbook, continuing to apologize.

Aomine only sighed. Sakurai always made him feel rather guilty when he apologized like so.

"May I ask what's going on?" Kuroko asked, confused.

"Sorry," Aomine responded, turning to Kuroko to explain. "Ryou finished one of his manga manuscripts for a contest a few days ago and has been freaking out since. I've have been trying to get him to calm down, but he keeps apologizing and saying he there's a bunch of things wrong with his work that he should fixed. He's been trying to redraw everything himself before the deadline, even though his manga is perfectly fine. Even Satsuki couldn't find anything wrong with the story and drawings when we went to get her opinion.

"I invited him with us so he could take a break and get away from his desk, but here he is, still drawing." Aomine crossed his arms, not helping with Sakurai's excessive apologizing.

"Wait, so all the times you couldn't hang out was because you were helping Sakurai-kun?" Kuroko asked, remembering a few times recently when Aomine had to reschedule stuff with himself.

"Yeah, pretty much," Aomine answered.

"Hey, could I see?" Kagami asked Sakurai when Kuroko and Aomine spoke with each other.

Sakurai was a bit hesitant at first, but handed over his prized sketchbook. It didn't take Kagami long to be gaping at the work.

"Kuroko, you gotta see this!"

"I'm sorry!"

"No, don't be! It's so good!"

"Told you, Ryou. If an idiot like Kagami can tell it's awesome and appreciate your skills, then that's gotta mean something to you!"

Kagami was too busy being amazed by Sakurai's drawing to bite back an insult. "And this is a character from your manga? Is there any way I can see that, too?"

"W-well," Sakurai started stuttering, opening his satchel. "I have part of the redrawn draft with me–"

"Ryou! You brought it with you!?"

"I'm sorry!"

Aomine pinched the bridge of his nose before latching his arm around Sakurai's shoulders again, dragging him along with him. "Come on; you need a break now."

"Y-yes!" Sakurai yelped, following under Aomine's strength.

Kagami stared back and forth between Kuroko and the two Touou basketball players. Kuroko had a blank look on his face, but Kagami could feel it wasn't quite like his usual one. "Um, you alright there, Kuroko?"

"Of course, Kagami-kun," Kuroko answered, turning his line of sight to Kagami. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"No reason," Kagami responded, avoiding eye contact. Kuroko was not a force to be reckoned with when aggravated. "Y-you wanna see Sakurai's drawings?"

"No, thank you," Kuroko answered again, following behind Aomine and Sakurai with his head held high. Kagami wordlessly followed, browsing through the sketchbook.

During the whole trip to the Tokyo shopping area, Aomine had been in front with Sakurai, leaving Kuroko to guide Kagami and make sure he didn't run into anything while looking at the sketchbook. Kuroko's face had slowly started dropping to a frown.

Finally reaching the large department store, Kuroko rushed up and took Aomine by his free arm.

"Aomine-kun, didn't you mention you wanted to go see this season's new basketball shoes?" Kuroko asked. "You haven't had a chance to yet, have you?"

"Oh yeah, I haven't yet," Aomine remembered. "Now's a great time, huh?"

"Then let's not waste time," Kuroko said.

Kuroko started pulling Aomine along now, leading his boyfriend to the sporting store. When they reached the escalator, Kuroko turned around to face Aomine. Doing so allowed him to see that his boyfriend was still holding onto Sakurai as well. When Aomine started talking with the sheepish boy more, Kuroko's eyes narrowed.

"You've seen the sports center here, haven't you, Ryou?"

Sakurai shook his head. "Not really."

"What!?" Aomine yelled in disbelief. "It's the coolest store here!"

"I'm sorry! I just never really had a need to! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"But you're a regular on Touou's team," Kuroko deadpanned.

"I'm sorry," was all Sakurai responded, looking at his feet.

"Don't worry about it, Ryou," Aomine reassured. "You're checking it out now. Besides, since your main thing are those quick shots, I guess you don't need to play as hard and rough. Your shoes don't get beat up as fast."

Sakurai shook his head, smiling a bit now.

Kuroko did not like him smiling at Aomine, nor how Aomine smiled back.

"Um," Sakurai started up, looking around them, "where's Kagami-san?"

Kuroko and Aomine perked up. Kuroko had forgotten about Kagami when starting to feel crossed with Sakurai while Aomine rarely kept track of Kagami outside basketball.

The three of them looked around from the top of the escalators, soon finding Kagami at the bottom. His nose was still in the sketchbook. Must've slowed him down when following the three of them.

"We'll wait for Kagami-kun on this floor," Kuroko said, walking off the escalator and to the side.

"Or we can just leave him be," Aomine suggested.

"Heard that, Ahomine," Kagami spat back when reaching the others. He walked to the side with them.

"Kagami-kun, maybe you should give the book back," Kuroko said.

"But, Kuroko, look at them." Kagami held out the open book for his friend to see. "I can't even draw stick figures and look what he's drawing."

Kuroko only took the sketchbook from Kagami, turning to return it to Sakurai. However, Sakurai wasn't with them.

Kuroko looked around for the apologetic boy when realizing his absence. He spotted him a little bit away, eyes gleaming at a stationary store.

"Looks like someone wants to go in," Aomine teased his friend.

Sakurai tensed up. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! We were going up!"

"Don't worry about it, Ryou," Aomine said, latching his arm around Sakurai's shoulders again. "Those shoes aren't going anywhere. Plus, you needed to fill up on your screentones, didn't you? During a sale would be a good time." He didn't miss the giant sign by the screentone section Sakurai was intensely looking at.

"No, no—!"

"Go," Aomine interrupted before Sakurai started apologizing, already shoving him in. Sakurai yelped as he was forced in with a high-strung 'okay.'

"I thought he was supposed to take a break from manga," Kuroko said, his tone going unnoticed by Aomine.

"Drawing manga he needs a break from," Aomine responded. "And worrying over his finished one."

"And being in a store made for drawing manga is supposed to help?"

Aomine paused. "You know, maybe I'll go in with him. Just in case."

"Wait, that's not what I mean—"

Aomine didn't even hear what Kuroko had to say before walking in after Sakurai. Kuroko allowed a frown to form on his face.

"Uh, want me to go after him? Switch with him?" Kagami asked in attempts to help Kuroko's growing jealousy.

"No need," Kuroko responded, putting up a false smile. He started heading in the store. "Let's look around as well."

Kuroko and Kagami followed Aomine to Sakurai. Sakurai was scanning through shelves and shelves of paper, eyes narrowed in focus.

"Wow, Ryou, only time I've seen you looking this serious is during an intense game," Aomine teased.

Sakurai went stiff, twitching when shaken from concentration. He apologized once again while Aomine reassured him he was only kidding.

Sakurai continued scanning through the store to shop, this time Aomine helping him hold some things. The two of them didn't seem to notice Kuroko or how he was seething despite his neutral expression. On the other hand, Kagami did. The Seirin ace did his best to distract his best friend without getting his own head chewed off.

"Do you think popular mangaka shop in here, too?" Kagami nervously asked. "Like, what if one of these shoppers is Fujimaki Tadoshi?"

Kuroko turned indignantly at Kagami. "What are you talking about?" He shook Kagami off a second later. "Never mind. How long does it take to get paper?"

"Not too much longer apparently," Kagami answered. "Looks like they're done."

Just as Kagami said, Sakurai was heading over to the checkout counter as Aomine was heading back to the two of them.

"You two sure took your time," Kuroko said when Aomine reached them.

"Yeah, there were some new screentones or something that Ryou wasn't sure if he should get or not," Aomine explained. "Ended getting them though, so it's fine."

"But we've been here for a while," Kuroko argued. "Didn't you want to see the shoes?"

"It's fine," Aomine responded, not catching Kuroko's tone once again. "Ironically, looking at this manga stuff actually got his mind off his own. And, look, he's just finishing up."

Aomine headed over to Sakurai, once again leaving his boyfriend and Kagami. Before Kuroko could clench his jaw or anything, Kagami quickly guided Kuroko to follow behind Aomine.

"All good?" Aomine asked Sakurai.

Smiling, Sakurai nodded. "Yes. I'm sorry it took a while. We can look at your shoes now."

Aomine gave his own smile as well. "Awesome."

Aomine and Sakurai lead the group out of the stationary store with Kuroko behind once again. Kagami was at the back behind everyone, inwardly questioning how idiotic Aomine was at the moment. Though, he did give the other Power Forward some credit when he gave Kuroko his attention once again.

"Tetsu, you needed a new ball, too, didn't you?" Aomine asked when the four of them walked out the store, remembering Kuroko mentioning the current state of his basketball before. "We can grab one while we're there."

Kuroko felt himself smiling now with Aomine giving him some attention. Sadly, the attention went away with a loud growl from his boyfriend's stomach.

Aomine instantly had his hand covering his stomach. Though, it didn't do much about the sound.

"Or we can go eat first?" Kuroko suggested while Kagami laughed behind him.

Aomine grumbled something incoherently, irked that Kagami was laughing at him. However, he perked up a second later after Sakurai spoke.

"I actually packed lunch for everyone," Sakurai timidly said. "Since you invited me to come along and everything."

Aomine patted Sakurai on the back. "Nice, Ryou."

"For everyone?" Kuroko asked. "Where?"

Sakurai went tense. Stiffly and frantically, he looked all around. "Oh no! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he frantically apologized again. "I-I had it packed a-and with me—! Oh no, I'm sorry!"

"Ryou," Aomine held Sakurai still by his shoulders, "calm down. Breathe."

Kuroko watched as Aomine helped Sakurai calm down. He had never seen Aomine step up and actually help someone with something that didn't include basketball before.

When Sakurai finally relaxed a bit, Aomine let go. "Okay, good. Now, what were you trying to say?"

Sakurai frowned. "I-I think I left the lunches I made b-back at the park."

"How'd you manage to forget that?" Kuroko found himself asking without a second thought.

Sakurai went back to apologizing while Aomine attempted to calm him down a second time. When it didn't help much, he turned to Kuroko with slightly narrowed eyes. "Tetsu, really?"

Kuroko was taken aback by Aomine, who turned his attention back to Sakurai.

"No worries, Ryou. I'm sure they're still there," Aomine reassured. "We'll head back there right now."

"For lunch we don't even know is still there?" Kagami asked, jumping in before Kuroko sharply said anything more. He knew how his friend could get. "I mean, there's food here."

"It's Ryou's cooking," Aomine spat at Kagami. "You have no idea how good it is."

With that, Aomine took Sakurai and briskly headed for the exit.

Kagami could feel a headache growing. Hesitantly, he turned to Kuroko. Yep, the smaller teen was not happy.

"I can run and grab the lunch with Sakurai—" Kagami started, but Kuroko already trotted off.

"Come on, Kagami-kun."

Kagami groaned, following behind. From now on, he was going to ask if Aomine would be coming whenever Kuroko asked him out.

The four basketball players made it back to the park in no time. There Sakurai's packed lunches still were, untouched beside the tree he was drawing under earlier.

"How'd you manage to forget all that?" Kagami asked, eyes wide. It was a fairly large stack. Sakurai must've learned about how Kagami's appetite was as large as Aomine's.

"I'm sorry," Sakurai said for the thousandth time.

"Hey, all that matters is that they're still here," Aomine reassured, excited for lunch.

The group decided to eat their lunch in the park. Sakurai handed out the bento along with utensils he packed. They all said their thanks and started their meal.

"It's rather… cutesy, isn't it?" Kuroko asked aloud, picking up an octopus wiener.

Sakurai gave a sheepish smile. "It's fun to make. I can show you some time, Kuroko-san."

"No need, Sakurai-kun. Personally, it feels like a waste to put so much effort into making something look good if it's only going to be eaten without a second thought," Kuroko responded, taking a bite.

"Tetsu…" Aomine softly warned.

"No, no, he's right. I'm sorry," Sakurai apologized, looking down at his own bento box. He jumped a bit when Kagami expressed how he felt about his cooking.

"Woah! How did you season this?" Kagami asked, amazed. As a fellow decent cook and foodie himself, he could appreciate a well cooked meal. He was shot down a moment later though by Kuroko.

"Kagami-kun," Kuroko warned this time.

"What? It's good," Kagami huffed, continuing to eat.

"It is," Aomine agreed with Kagami for once. It got Kagami more confident in his opinion. "See, Ryou makes the best food. The guy's practically a housewife."

Kagami's eyes widened. He knew that wasn't a word Aomine should've used with Kuroko around.

"Housewife's not how I'd describe—"

"And who's housewife would he be, Aomine-kun?" Kuroko asked with a sharp undertone, cutting Kagami off.

"It's just a saying on his food—"

"What do you mean by that?" Aomine cut Kagami off this time, brows furrowed in confusion. "You've been acting weird today, Tetsu."

"Okay, 'weird' might not be the right—"

"Oh, so that's what you've noticed when it comes to me today?" Kuroko's rhetorical question shoved Kagami off again.

"Kuroko, he's stupid, remember—"

"What?" Kagami was ignored once more with Aomine's confused irritation.

Having enough, Kagami groaned and gave up on trying to help. He opted to watch the downfall.

"You notice every little thing when it came to him," Kuroko gestured to Sakurai, "but with your own boyfriend, you only notice that I'm weird?"

"Well right now, yes, Tetsu. You're not making any sense."

This time, Sakurai took a stab at trying to calm thing downs with a distraction. "I-I'm sorry to interrupt, but does anyone want something to drink—"

"You need to stop, you apologetic mushroom," Kuroko coldly said to Sakurai, making him twitch.

"Tetsu!" Aomine yelled. "Apologize to Ryou."

Kuroko glared, shooting up. "Of course you take his side," he said before stomping away.

"Tetsu!" Aomine called, going after Kuroko.

Kagami and Sakurai were left in heavy silence. They were unsure of what to do, only watching as Aomine went after Kuroko.

"Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry," Sakurai said to Kagami.

"No, no, it's not you," Kagami reassured. "Aomine's just an idiot and so is Kuroko for dating him. They'll be back."

Kagami was sure he'd be right despite how Kuroko and Aomine continued getting further and further away.

"Tetsu, hold on," Aomine said, finally stopping Kuroko by grabbing his arm. "God, why aren't you this fast during matches?"

Kuroko turned to give Aomine an annoyed look. "Why? So I can make quick shots?"

Aomine gave another confused look. "What?" He shook his head clear. "Tetsu, you're really not making any sense. What's wrong?"

Kuroko crossed his arms, looking away from a huff. "Nothing's wrong."

"We both know you're lying."

Kuroko refused to respond.

"Weren't you the one who wanted to hang out today? You said it was as a thanks for yesterday."

"Just for you and Kagami-kun though…"

"But you said it was fine if I brought Ryou."

"You didn't say it was Sakurai-kun."

"Alright, I said a friend—"

Aomine paused midsentence. Realization finally dawned on him, a mischievous smirk growing on his face. "Tetsu, are you jealous of Ryou?"

Kuroko's furrowed brows shot up in shock at Aomine's accusation.

"You're totally jealous!" Aomine continued teasing as Kuroko's face turned pink.

"I am not," Kuroko refuted.

"And just yesterday you were accusing me of being the jealous type, yet here you are," Aomine gushed.

"I am not jealous, Aomine-kun."

"Oh yeah? Then explain why you're so upset?"

"…Maybe Sakurai-kun makes me irritable…" Kuroko mumbled, not looking Aomine in the eye.

Aomine gave a soft smile, wrapping his arms around Kuroko from behind. "Tetsu, try again."

Kuroko pouted a bit, but finally gave in. "I didn't like how much attention you gave Sakurai-kun today when I was trying to make you happy, or how overly concerned you were about him, or how he makes you bento everyday…"

"Tetsu," Aomine drawled, hugging Kuroko reassuringly tighter. "You're the one I love, remember? I lost you once and I swore to myself I'd never let that happen again."

Kuroko felt his shoulders beginning to relax at the comforting words Aomine whispered in his ears. A smile grew on his lips as his face dusted pink once more when Aomine gave a chaste kiss on his cheek.

"I'm sorry for being jealous," Kuroko apologized, turning his head to finally face Aomine. He gave his boyfriend a kiss as well, a peck on the lips. "I love you, too, Aomine-kun."

Aomine smiled brightly, giving Kuroko one last tight hug.

When Aomine let go, the two of them finally went back to Kagami and Sakurai. They sat back down beside them, the two waiting before clearly unsure how to react. Kagami was cautiously eying Kuroko and Aomine while Sakurai was stiffly looking down at his fiddling hands on his lap.

"Sakurai-kun," Kuroko started.

Sakurai twitched once again, instinctively blurting, "I'm sorry."

"No, no," Kuroko interrupted. "There's no need for you to apologize." He bowed. "I'm sorry for the things I said to you. I was really rude to you when you have done nothing wrong and I really shouldn't have. I'm sorry."

Sakurai didn't know what to say. He looked back and forth from Kuroko to Aomine, but was still clueless. Since he couldn't stay quiet forever and keep Kuroko hunched in a bow, Sakurai cleared his voice. "It's okay, Kuroko-san. I'm alright."

Kuroko hesitantly sat back upright, meeting Sakurai's smile.

"I mean, I guess I shouldn't have intruded on other people's plans, huh?" Sakurai joked with a sheepish laugh.

Kuroko shook his head. "No, no, please. Any friend of Aomine-kun is a friend of mine." Kuroko gave his own smile. "Though, I'm surprised at how you're friends with Aomine-kun considering how he is."

"Oi!" Aomine yelped, offended, as Kagami laughed. "Great, back to insulting me?"

Sakurai gave his own little laugh. "It can be hard being classmates and everything. He used to take my lunch before I even noticed."

Kuroko gave Aomine an incredulous look. "Aomine-kun."

"Ryou! Don't tell him that!"

Sakurai laughed again. "Maybe I exaggerated a bit. I'm sorry."

The atmosphere finally lightened up, everyone cheery as they finished up their lunches. Kuroko complimented Sakurai's cooking and asked if his offer to teach him still stood. Sakurai was gladly willing to teach Kuroko, Kagami jumping in on the offer as well. Aomine refused to be left out, so they arranged another day to hang out.

"This was really fun," Sakurai said. "I'm glad you made me stop drawing, Aomine-san."

"Oh yeah, you were making a manga," Kuroko recalled. "I'd love to see it some time. Or at least more of your art."

Sakurai blush. "O-okay…" He then perked up, remembering something. "Actually…"

Sakurai pulled his satchel towards him, opening up the bag. He then gestured for Aomine to scoot over to him. When the taller teen did, he showed him what was in the bag. "I finished touching it up when you mentioned meeting with Kuroko-san today," Sakurai whispered as Aomine's cheeks heated up. "Wanna give it to him?"

"Give him what?" Kagami asked, bluntly peaking in as well.

Sakurai yelped as Kagami started in amazement, "Woah!"

"Oi, go away, Bakagami!" Aomine hissed, shoving Kagami away from them. He then cleared his voice, taking whatever was in Sakurai's satchel when the smaller teen handed it to him.

Aomine then walked on his knees over to Kuroko. He was hiding the item behind his back before, now presenting it to Kuroko.

"I kinda had a picture of us that I sort of commissioned Ryou to draw out maybe for you," Aomine sheepishly grumbled as Kuroko received the print from him.

Kuroko gaped at the print, speechlessly amazed. Sakurai's sketches were one thing, but an official and commissioned drawing, it was entirely different.

Kuroko recognized the original photo was one Kise took back in Teikou. It was a selfie with Kuroko and Aomine peacefully napping behind Kise, leaning against each other on a snowy ride home from a match. Of course Sakurai drew Kise out along with other things crowding the original photo. In the drawing, they were placed in a different setting: an empty train against a window with a snowy night view. There were very few colors, but the muted look made it stand out even more.

"Sakurai-kun, you drew this?" Kuroko asked once finding his words again. "It's incredible. Thank you," he said to both Aomine and Sakurai.

Sakurai smiled bashfully. "I'm glad both you and Aomine-san like it. If you know anyone who would like a print, send them my way if you could." He presented a cute little business card to Kuroko with his penname and contact info.

"How do you have time for manga, commissions, and basketball?" Kagami asked Sakurai, receiving a card as well.

"I actually don't get much commissions, and usually I have help with making manga," Sakurai answered.

"Somehow, we end up getting worked to the bone because of him," Aomine answered, talking about Touou's basketball club. But that was another story…

"Well, I love this. Thank you, again," Kuroko said, sharing smiles with his new friend.

My first full AoKuro story outside KnB Kiddies! Sorry if any of them are ooc! I feel like I see a lot of Jealous!Aomine stories, but I feel Kuroko can be jealous of Sakurai, too! HE'S MY BABY! Also, I headcanon Sakurai's art style to look like Asada Hiroyuki's. I really recommend google image-ing the name. Speaking of art, anyone get that mangaka reference?~ BTW, Momoi was the one who texted Aomine about Sakurai going drawing crazy again hehe